Category: Світ

A Russian court has extended by more than two months the detention of a former U.S. Marine accused of espionage.In a closed hearing in Moscow’s Lefortovo Court Friday, the presiding judge prolonged Paul Whelan’s detention until October 29th — the latest phase in an eight-month investigation by the country’s Federal Security Services, or FSB, that …

Malta has agreed to allow a charity ship carrying 356 migrants, including more than 100 minors, mainly from Sudan, to dock. Malta gave the Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking permission to dock after six European Union countries reached an agreement to take in the migrants. The ship has been anchored in the Mediterranean for two weeks, awaiting port access. …

Italian President Sergio Mattarella agreed to a new round of consultations with party leaders Tuesday to resolve Italy’s political crisis. Speaking to reporters in Rome Thursday, two days after the collapse of the country’s populist government, the president said if no coalition wins a parliamentary approval, he could form a caretaker government or hold early …

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Friday used his first statement after being released from jail to predict that opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin and protests against the authorities would only grow.Navalny, who tries to garner popular support by exposing what he says is appalling official corruption, was speaking minutes after being freed from prison …

U.S. President Donald Trump and leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan will be in France this weekend for the annual Group of Seven, or G-7 summit. The summit host, French President Emmanuel Macron, has declared there will be no communique at the end of the summit because of disagreements between President Trump …

The United States and Russia traded accusations Thursday at the U.N. Security Council over the recent collapse of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.“We are here today because the Russian Federation preferred a world in which the United States continued to fulfill its INF Treaty obligations, while the Russian Federation did not,” U.S. envoy …

Social media users are fueling a burgeoning appetite for acquiring wild otters and other endangered animals as pets, conservationists say, warning the trend could push species toward extinction.Popular Instagrammers posting selfies with their pet otter may simply be seeking to warm the hearts of their sometimes hundreds of thousands of followers, but animal protection groups …

Nations around the world moved Thursday to protect giraffes as an endangered species for the first time, drawing praise from conservationists and scowls from some sub-Saharan African nations.Thursday’s vote by a key committee at the World Wildlife Conference known as CITES paves the way for the measure’s likely approval by its plenary next week.The plan …

Italy’s center-left Democratic Party and the country’s quirky anti-establishment Five Star Movement are exploring whether they can form a new government to spare Italians an election this year.     The one thing the two parties have in common is fear of Matteo Salvini, leader of the populist Lega Party, who hopes to sweep into power at …

French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis agreed to push for more solidarity in the European Union over the migrant crisis.   Mitsotakis, who took office on July, met with Macron in Paris on Thursday. He said the migrant crisis must not weigh only on the countries that are on the front …

VOA White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman contributed to this report.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has expressed his appreciation to Denmark as a U.S. ally, after President Donald Trump canceled a state visit to the country.The State Department said Pompeo spoke to his Danish counterpart by phone Wednesday and discussed “strengthening cooperation with the …

The controversy over U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly postponing his trip to Copenhagen continues, as he criticized Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, calling her “nasty” and “inappropriate.” The Danish leader had rebuffed Trump’s overture to buy Greenland, the Arctic country that is part of the kingdom of Denmark. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story. …

Kosovo lawmakers voted to dissolve parliament Friday, paving the way for a parliamentary election after Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj resigned last month.A total of 89 deputies voted to dissolve the 120-seat parliament. An election should take place within 45 days.Haradinaj resigned after being summoned for questioning by the country’s war crimes prosecutor over his role …

A Spanish navy frigate sailed from Cadiz Wednesday to escort the humanitarian vessel Open Arms back from Italy with a token number of 10 refugees Spain has agreed to take in what could be the Barcelona-based ship’s last voyage under mounting pressure to stop rescuing shipwrecked African migrants.The Italian government said Tuesday it would hold the …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the test of a new U.S. missile banned under a now-defunct arms treaty has raised new threats to Russia and will warrant a response.The U.S. tested a modified ground-launched version of a Navy Tomahawk cruise missile that accurately struck its target more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) away. …

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants Russia back at the Group of Seven summits of the world’s leading economies, even though it still controls Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.Moscow was booted from the group over its unilateral 2014 annexation of the peninsula.As the G-7 leaders head to the French Atlantic seaside town of Biarritz for …

Iceland’s leader has announced that she will skip U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to her Nordic nation, opting instead to keep “prior commitments” by attending a trade union conference in Sweden. Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said that she’s planned for months to give the keynote speech for the Council of Nordic Trade Unions’ annual meeting …

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make his debut on the world stage Saturday at the G7 Summit in France – where he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss a trade deal. Johnson has tried to put a positive spin on the political chaos over Britain’s European Union exit later this year – …

Updated Aug. 20, 2019, 12:10p.m.Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday she regretted and was surprised that U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his scheduled visit to Denmark when she rebuffed his overture to buy Greenland, the Arctic country that is part of the Danish kingdom.”I had been looking forward to the visit, our preparations …

Italy’s president begins consultations on Wednesday on seeing if there is any way another working coalition government can be formed following Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s resignation. The head of state wants to see if he can avoid dissolving parliament three-and-a-half years ahead of schedule. If not, the country will hold a snap general election in …

Russian politicians are accusing the United States of trying to interfere in Moscow’s upcoming elections by helping to organize mass rallies, a charge the U.S. denies. Parliament members meeting this week have formed a committee to investigate to investigate foreign meddling, as Yulia Savchenko reports from Moscow. …

Updated 10pm EDTMore than 80 migrants are back on dry land after nearly 20 days at sea after Italy seized their Spanish charity rescue ship.One by one, the migrants walked down the gangplank of the Open Arms vessel and on to Italy’s Lampedusa island. Many were limping and some were bandaged.The Open Arms rescue ship …

Firefighters battling Spain’s largest wildfire of the year got a break Tuesday as wind gusts abated. More than 12,000 hectares have burned on Gran Canaria island in Spain’s Canary Islands chain, located in the Atlantic Ocean northwest of Africa. Some 9,000 people have been forced to flee their homes on the island, which is one of Spain’s …

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is postponing a planned meeting with Denmark’s prime minister due to her lack of interest in selling Greenland to the United States.”Based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in …

More than 80 migrants on board a Spanish charity rescue ship exploded with joy at the news that Italy is seizing the boat, allowing them to get off on the island of Lampedusa.The Open Arms rescue ship has been at sea for 19 days, spending much of that time anchored in the Mediterranean within sight …

Russia told an agency that verifies a ban on nuclear tests that a military test accident in the country’s north this month was none of its business and that handing it any radiation data was voluntary, Interfax news agency reported Tuesday.The Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said on Monday that two Russian monitoring sites …