Category: Євросоюз

AL-ARISH, Egypt — About 1,000 people from Gaza have been treated in a French field hospital aboard a ship off the coast of Egypt, its captain said, providing care for some as health infrastructure in the war-devastated enclave collapses. The Dixmude, a French helicopter carrier, has been docked in the Egyptian port of al-Arish, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Gaza Strip, since November. The vessel is equipped with wards, operating theaters and 70 medical staff. Nearly 120 injured people have been hospitalized on board, while hundreds more have been seen for outpatient consultations, including follow-ups on injuries and psychiatric …

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ISLAMABAD — A Russian private jet carrying six people is believed to have crashed in a remote area of rural Afghanistan, authorities said Sunday. The crash happened Saturday in a mountainous area near Zebak district in Badakhshan province, regional spokesperson Zabihullah Amiri said, adding that a rescue team had been dispatched to the area.  Badakhshan police chief’s office also confirmed the report of the crash in a statement.  From Moscow, Russian civil aviation authorities said a Dassault Falcon 10 went missing with four crew members and two passengers. The plane had been operating as a charter ambulance flight on a route …

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london — Two British warships collided in a harbor in Bahrain, causing damage to the vessels but no injuries, the Royal Navy said. The HMS Chiddingfold appeared to reverse into the HMS Bangor as it was at a dock, according to video posted on social media. “Why this happened is still to be established,” said Rear Admiral Edward Ahlgren. “We train our people to the highest standards and rigorously enforce machinery safety standards, but unfortunately incidents of this nature can still happen.” Ahlgren said an investigation is underway into what went wrong. The two minehunters have been based in the Middle …

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PARIS — A French court on Friday convicted three police officers of “voluntary violence” toward a youth worker in a Paris suburb who suffered serious injuries to his rectum after being assaulted with a police baton during an identity check seven years ago. All three officers received suspended prison sentences. The officer who used the baton to strike Theo Luhaka was given a suspended sentence of 12 months, while the other two present on the scene got three months each. Luhaka, a youth worker of African descent who was 22 years old at the time, filed a lawsuit accusing the officers …

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BEIJING — Russia leapfrogged Saudi Arabia to become China’s top crude oil supplier in 2023, data showed on Saturday, as the world’s biggest crude importer defied Western sanctions to purchase vast quantities of discounted oil for its processing plants. Russia shipped a record 107.02 million metric tons of crude oil to China last year, equivalent to 2.14 million barrels per day (bpd), the Chinese customs data showed, far more than other major oil exporters such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Imports from Saudi Arabia, previously China’s largest supplier, fell 1.8% to 85.96 million tons, as the Middle East oil giant lost …

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NEW YORK — New York prosecutors on Friday returned two pieces of art they say were stolen by Nazis from a Jewish performer and collector murdered in the Holocaust. The artworks were surrendered by museums in Pittsburgh and Ohio, but prosecutors are still fighting in court to recover third artwork by the same artist, Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele, that was seized from a Chicago museum at the same time. On Friday in Manhattan, the estate of Holocaust victim Fritz Grünbaum accepted Portrait of a Man, which was surrendered by the Carnegie Museum of Art and Girl with Black Hair, surrendered by …

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london — America’s allies in Europe are debating how to prepare for a possible second term for Donald Trump in the White House after he secured a record win at Monday’s Iowa Republican caucuses, cementing his place as front-runner to take on Joe Biden in November’s election.   Questioned at a televised news conference Wednesday about the possibility of a Trump comeback, French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe must be prepared.   “I’ve always had the same philosophy: I take the leaders that people give me. And I commit to serve France and its interests and to dialogue with whomever. I …

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. ambassador to Russia on Thursday visited American journalist Evan Gershkovich at Lefortovo Prison in Moscow. Following Ambassador Lynne Tracy’s visit, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said that Gershkovich “remains resilient and is grateful for the support of friends, family and supporters.” “We continue to call for Evan’s immediate release,” the embassy said in a statement on its Telegram channel. Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been detained for nearly 10 months on espionage charges that he denies. He is one of two American journalists detained by Russia in 2023. The other, Alsu Kurmasheva, works with …

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BRUSSELS — NATO will launch its biggest military exercises in decades next week with around 90,000 personnel set to take part in months of drills aimed at showing the alliance can defend all of its territory up to its border with Russia, top officers said Thursday. The exercises come as Russia’s war on Ukraine bogs down. NATO as an organization is not directly involved in the conflict, except to supply Kyiv with nonlethal support, although many member countries send weapons and ammunition individually or in groups and provide military training. In the months before President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into …

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moscow — Russia’s top diplomat on Thursday dismissed a U.S. proposal to resume a dialogue on nuclear arms control, saying it’s impossible while Washington offers military support to Ukraine.  Speaking at his annual news conference, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of fueling global security risks by encouraging Ukraine to ramp up strikes on Russian territory and warned that Moscow would achieve its goals in the conflict despite Western assistance for Kyiv.  Commenting on a U.S. proposal to resume contacts in the sphere of nuclear arms control, Lavrov described it as “unacceptable,” saying that Moscow had put forward its stance …

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Turkey has joined with Bulgaria and Romania to clear mines from the Black Sea, facilitating Ukrainian efforts to export grain to world markets. But as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, Turkey is also resisting calls to allow NATO mine-clearing ships. …

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The need to move wounded soldiers from remote front lines to safety with limited resources has forced Ukrainian volunteers to innovate a way to turn used SUVs into casualty evacuation vehicles, or CASEVACS for short. Lesia Bakalets visited a workshop in Kyiv where old cars are repurposed into lifesaving vehicles. VOA footage by Evgenii Shynkar. …

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berlin — Heavy snow and freezing rain hit parts of northern and central Europe on Wednesday, bringing transport to a halt in some Scandinavian regions and causing major disruption at airports in Frankfurt and Oslo.  At Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest, freezing rain forced a halt to takeoffs, German news agency dpa reported. The airport cited a danger of deiced aircraft icing up again as they taxied toward the runway. Some departures resumed in the afternoon as the rain subsided. Hundreds of flights already had been canceled.  The airport in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, was closed temporarily as heavy snow reduced visibility …

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