Category: Євросоюз

Paris — France has closed down its embassy in Niger until further notice, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, barely two weeks after the last French troops left the country in the wake of a coup that ousted a key Paris ally. The closure of the embassy in Niamey represents one of the final chapters in the winding down of a French presence in its former colony following the July coup that left the country in the hands of military leaders. “The French embassy in Niger is now closed until further notice,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding the …

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lviv, ukraine — Russian drones attacked a university and a museum linked to two of the most prominent 20th-century defenders of Ukrainian national identity on Monday, leaving locals vowing to repair the damage. The first smashed windows and much of the roof at the National Agrarian University, outside the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where Stepan Bandera — a hero in Ukraine but a villain according to the Kremlin —studied. It hit on what would have been Bandera’s 115th birthday. The second ravaged a nearby museum devoted to Roman Shukhevych. Both men were key figures in nationalist resistance to Soviet rule …

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BERLIN — German authorities said Monday they detained another suspect in connection with an alleged threat of an attack on the world-famous Cologne Cathedral over the holidays, bringing the overall number of people detained in connection with the alleged plot to five. The latest suspect, a 41-year-old German-Turkish man, was detained Sunday night in the western city of Bochum in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Police detained three people Sunday morning and one man last week. All the detained suspects allegedly belong to a larger Islamic extremist network that included people across Germany and in other European countries, according to Cologne …

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London — Nearly 30,000 migrants crossed the Channel to Britain from mainland Europe in small boats in 2023, an annual drop of more than a third, government figures released Monday showed. However, the unauthorized arrivals of 29,437 people on the southeast English coast remains the second largest yearly tally since officials began publishing the numbers in 2018. The perilous journeys across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes have become a huge political problem for the Conservative government, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledging last year to “stop the boats.” One of five key promises he made for 2023, the persistently …

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London — John Pilger, an Australia-born journalist and documentary filmmaker known for his coverage of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, has died, his family said Sunday. He was 84. A statement from his family, posted on X, formerly Twitter, said Pilger died Saturday in London. “His journalism and documentaries were celebrated around the world, but to his family he was simply the most amazing and loved dad, grandad and partner,” the statement said. Pilger, who had been based in Britain since 1962, worked for Britain’s left-leaning Daily Mirror newspaper, broadcaster ITV’s investigative program “World In Action” and for the Reuters news …

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Pristina, Kosovo — A long-awaited European Union’s visa liberalization scheme allowing Kosovo nationals to travel to Europe’s borderless zone without a visa came into force Monday. The new regime, which came into force at midnight (2300 GMT Sunday), enables Kosovars to travel to the passport-free Schengen zone without a visa for periods of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Kosovo, with a population of 1.8 million, was the last of the six countries in the Western Balkans to get the waiver. The reform is perceived in Pristina as another step toward full recognition and a boost for the ambition …

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COPENHAGEN — Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II will abdicate on January 14 next year after 52 years on the throne and will be succeeded by her eldest son Crown Prince Frederik, she said her annual New Year’s speech on Sunday. The 83-year-old queen, who took over the throne in 1972, is the longest-serving monarch in Europe following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. In February, she underwent successful back surgery. “The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future – whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation,” she said in the …

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Berlin — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a helicopter flight Sunday to check the flooded regions in the northwest of the country, where rivers have swelled and overflowed homes, roads and fields after weeks of heavy rain. In recent days, hundreds of people have been evacuated from affected areas in northern and eastern Germany as a precaution. Scholz landed in the morning in the town of Verden in Lower Saxony where dikes along rivers were soaked with water and close to bursting in some parts of the state. Talking to reporters near the Aller river which has flooded parts of Verden, …

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London — Eurostar warned customers travelling from London on Sunday of potential delays after flooding forced the cancelation all Saturday trains. The first Eurostar train left London St Pancras International shortly after 8:00 am (0800 GMT). Engineers had brought water in two tunnels in Kent in southern England under control meaning that at least one tunnel was useable, it said. But Eurostar cautioned that “there will be some speed restrictions in place in the morning which may lead to delays and stations are expected to be very busy.”  The company operates services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. It announced …

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london — Two-time Oscar-nominated actor Tom Wilkinson, who starred in “The Full Monty” — a movie about a group of unemployed steel workers who launched new careers as strippers — died suddenly on Saturday.  The British actor’s death was confirmed in a statement released by his agent on behalf of his family. He was 75.  “It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30. His wife and family were with him.”  Wilkinson was nominated for Academy Awards for actor in a leading role for “In The Bedroom” in 2001, …

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MEXICO CITY — Venezuela said Saturday it will keep nearly 6,000 troops deployed until a British military vessel sent to neighboring Guyana leaves the waters off the coast of the two South American nations. In a video posted to X, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino appeared surrounded by military officers in front of a map of Venezuela and Guyana, a former British colony. Padrino said the forces are “safeguarding our national sovereignty.” “Armed forces have been deployed not just in the east of the country, but across the entire territory,” he said. “They will be there until this British imperialist boat …

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TIRANA, ALBANIA — An Albanian court Saturday ordered house arrest for former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who leads the opposition Democratic Party and is being investigated for possible corruption. Judge Irena Gjoka of the First Instance Special Court on Corruption and Organized Crime, which covers cases involving senior officials and politicians, accepted prosecutors’ request to put Berisha, 79, under house arrest after he violated the previous restrictive measures of reporting every two weeks. He was also barred from traveling abroad. His lawyer, Genc Gjokutaj, said the court also barred Berisha from communicating with people other than members of his family who …

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BELGRADE, SERBIA — Thousands of people rallied in Serbia’s capital Saturday, chanting “Thieves!” and accusing the populist authorities of President Aleksandar Vucic of orchestrating a fraud during a recent general election. The rally in central Belgrade capped nearly two weeks of street protests over reported widespread irregularities during the December 17 parliamentary and local ballot — irregularities that were also noted by international election observers. The ruling Serbian Progressive Party was declared the election winner, but the main opposition alliance, Serbia Against Violence, has claimed the election was stolen, particularly in the vote for the Belgrade city authorities. Serbia Against Violence …

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