Category: Євросоюз

Iceland’s government was poised to win a majority in Saturday’s election, early results showed, though it remained to be seen if Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir’s left-right coalition would agree to continue in power together. The three-party coalition has brought Iceland four years of stability after a decade of crises. Jakobsdottir’s Left-Green Movement, the conservative Independence Party and the center-right Progressive Party were together credited with 38 of 63 seats in parliament, with more than a third of votes counted. But the Left-Green Movement was seen losing crucial ground to its right-wing partners, putting Jakobsdottir’s future as prime minister — and …

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International recognition of the Taliban “at the present juncture is not on the table,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday at the United Nations. Among the Taliban’s promises are ensuring an inclusive government; respecting human rights, especially for women; and preventing Afghanistan from becoming a haven for terrorists. But the interim Taliban government, Lavrov said, fails to reflect “the whole gamut of Afghan society — ethno-religious and political forces — so we are engaging in contacts, they are ongoing.” Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan, he said, are working to hold the Taliban to the promises they made when …

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Icelanders were voting Saturday in a general election dominated by climate change, with an unprecedented number of political parties likely to win parliamentary seats.   Polls suggested there wouldn’t be an outright winner, triggering complex negotiations to build a coalition government.   A record nine parties could cross the 5% threshold needed to qualify for seats in Iceland’s parliament, the Althing. Upstart parties include the Socialist Party, which is promising to shorten the workweek and nationalize Iceland’s fishing industry.    High turnout was expected, as one-fifth of eligible voters have already cast absentee ballots.   Climate change is high among …

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Lengthy queues of vehicles snaked their way to gas stations in Britain on Saturday where an acute shortage of truck drivers has led to fuel rationing, some empty pumps, and government consideration of issuing temporary work visas.  Across the country, motorists waited in long lines to fill up their vehicles. One big distributor said it was rationing sales, and a number of operators said they were having to close some pump sites, provoking panic-buying.  Government ministers and oil companies said there were ample stocks of petrol or diesel and there was no cause for alarm, but the lack of truck …

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Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans Saturday to give her would-be successor Armin Laschet their vote to shape Germany’s future, in a last-ditch push to shore up his beleaguered campaign 24 hours before Germans vote.   Laschet, 60, has been trailing his Social Democrat challenger Olaf Scholz in the race for the chancellery, although final polls put the gap between them within the margin of error, making the vote one of the most unpredictable in recent years.   Merkel had planned to keep a low profile in the election battle as she prepares to bow out of politics after 16 years …

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Women in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority province Diyarbakir cycled their well-decorated bikes to raise awareness about female cyclists in traffic. VOA’s Mahmut Bozarslan has filed this report, narrated by Ezel Sahinkaya. …

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Young climate activists from Greta Thunberg’s Friday for Future movement resumed mass street protests on Friday for the first time since the pandemic began, demanding drastic action from global leaders ahead of U.N. climate talks in November. From Nairobi to Washington, marchers — including Thunberg, who joined protests in Berlin — carried placards and homemade banners during the demonstrations, which drew fewer protesters than before COVID-19 in most cities. “It’s slightly disappointing there are less people than there used to be, but people will come back. The problem is not going away,” said Erin Brodrick, 17, one of about 250 …

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Fatima Alzahra Shon thinks neighbors attacked her and her son in their Istanbul apartment building because she is Syrian.     The 32-year-old refugee from Aleppo was confronted on Sept. 1 by a Turkish woman who asked her what she was doing in “our” country. Shon replied, “Who are you to say that to me?” The situation quickly escalated.   A man came out of the Turkish woman’s apartment half-dressed, threatening to cut Shon and her family “into pieces,” she recalled. Another neighbor, a woman, joined in, shouting and hitting Shon. The group then pushed her down a flight of …

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Germany is preparing to bid farewell to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is stepping down after elections scheduled for Sunday. She has led Europe’s biggest economy for the past 16 years and has played a major role in Europe and on the global stage.  Merkel was Germany’s first female chancellor and its first leader to have been raised in the former East Germany.  Her political career began as the Iron Curtain was falling in Europe. After German reunification in 1990, she was appointed minister for women and youth by her mentor, former Chancellor Helmut Köhl. German media dubbed her ‘Köhl’s girl’ …

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A potential deal to bring as many as 1,000 Russian mercenaries to Mali is likely to further destabilize the country, according to senior U.S. officials who are urging the interim government to instead focus on elections. Word of the not-yet-finalized deal, with Russia’s Wagner Group, has already rankled some French and European officials. And it now appears to be drawing increased attention from the United States, itself wary of Russian efforts across Africa. “We continue to be concerned about the rise … of malign influences on the continent,” a senior administration official said Friday in response to a question from …

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Fresh volcanic eruptions in Spain’s Canary Islands prompted the cancellation of flights, airport authorities said Friday, the first since the Cumbre Vieja volcano came to life again. New evacuations were also ordered as large explosions and new openings were reported at the volcano on La Palma island on Friday. A large cloud of thick, black ash spewed into the air, forcing several airlines to call off flights. La Palma had six inter-island flights scheduled for Friday operated by Binter, Canaryfly and Air Europa, while the national carrier Iberia had a single service from Madrid to the mainland. All were scrapped. …

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U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet reported the human rights situation in Belarus continues to worsen, as President Alexander Lukashenko stiffens repressive measures to quell dissent. The High Commissioner has submitted her latest update on Belarus to the U.N. Human Rights Council.   This latest report examines alleged human rights violations in Belarus since May 2020. Bachelet said the government has refused to cooperate or grant access to U.N. experts to undertake their probe, so all information has been gathered remotely.  She called the findings very disheartening.  “I am deeply concerned by increasingly severe restrictions on civic space and fundamental freedoms, …

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Namibian activists and opposition members stormed parliament this week over a deal with Germany to atone for a colonial genocide more than a century ago. Opposition lawmakers also called for a renegotiation of the deal, in which Germany has agreed to fund about $1.3 billion in development projects over 30 years to redress land taken and tens of thousands killed from 1904 to 1908. Critics said the amount was insufficient. Activist Sima Luipert vowed legal action if the Namibian parliament approved a bill accepting the deal. She said the deal, which the Namibian and German governments reached in May, violated the …

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Officials on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma say the Cumbre Vieja volcano continued to erupt Friday, spewing lava and ash, and threatening the homes and livelihoods of the island’s 85,000 residents. Pictures and drone video taken of a single home that was surrounded but spared by the advancing lava has made it a symbol of the natural disaster that began Sunday. The Associated Press, citing a European Union monitoring agency, reports nearly 400 buildings have been destroyed by the advancing lava flow, including homes, businesses and banana plantations. The manager of the island’s banana producer’s association, Sergio Caceres, …

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Poland’s broadcasting regulators extended the license of Discovery Inc.-owned TVN24 at the last moment Wednesday but also adopted a resolution to pressure the American company to sell its majority stake in the TV news channel, which airs coverage that is critical of Poland’s government.     The National Broadcasting Council, known by the Polish acronym KRRiT, had delayed the renewal of TVN24’s license for almost two years. The independent television channel is watched by millions of people daily in Poland. Its current license expires on Sunday.   Discovery said the news of the extensions was “bittersweet” because it showed there …

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Exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was arrested in Italy on Thursday, his lawyer and an aide said, four years after fleeing following an independence referendum that Madrid ruled unconstitutional. The European MEP was expected to appear in court on Friday at a hearing that could see him extradited to Spain to face sedition charges. The Catalan leader — who has been based in Belgium since the 2017 referendum — was detained in Alghero, Sardinia, his chief of staff, Josep Lluis Alay, wrote on Twitter. “At his arrival at Alghero airport, he was arrested by Italian police. Tomorrow (Friday), he’ll …

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Britain is in talks with U.S. nuclear reactor company Westinghouse on building a new atomic power plant on Anglesey in Wales, the British newspaper The Times reported. If it gets the go-ahead the new plant at Wylfa would be able to generate enough electricity to power more than 6 million homes and could be operational in the mid-2030s, The Times said. Japan’s Hitachi Ltd scrapped plans to build a nuclear power plant at the Wylfa site a year ago after it failed to find private investors or secure sufficient government support for the project. The decision left only the British …

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Belarus and Myanmar registered a significant decline in global internet freedom ratings following political turmoil in which authorities in the two countries arrested journalists and blocked access to the internet.     In its annual Freedom on the Net report, the global nonprofit Freedom House found digital rights had declined globally for the 11th consecutive year, with China ranking the worst for the seventh time, and the U.S. seeing a decline for a fifth year.   Freedom on the Net is an annual assessment of digital rights in 70 states, with each country given a score on a 100-point scale …

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French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday that it would take “time” and “actions” to repair ties with the U.S. in the wake of a submarine deal that undercut a French agreement to supply Australia with diesel subs.  Last week, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia announced a deal under which the U.K. and U.S. will instead supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.  The move angered France, which withdrew its ambassadors from the U.S. and Australia.  Earlier in the week, Le Drian expressed concern about what he characterized as “deceit” by one …

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Jets of red hot lava shot into the sky on Spain’s La Palma on Thursday as a huge cloud of toxic ash drifted from the Cumbre Vieja volcano toward the mainland and jeopardized the island’s economically crucial banana crops.   Walls of lava, which turn black when exposed to the air, have advanced slowly westward since Sunday, engulfing everything in their path, including houses, schools and some banana plantations.   Farmers near the town of Todoque raced to save as much as possible of their crop, piling their trucks high with sacks of the green bananas, on which many of …

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