Author: Fworld

The Trump administration will be suspending travel from 26 European countries for 30 days, beginning Friday at midnight, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Vice President Mike Pence said Americans returning from Europe would Why was Britain left out of the ban?U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech Wednesday that he excluded Britain from …

French airlines expect to lose business as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend travel from Europe to the United States for a month because of the coronavirus outbreak. Transatlantic flights are among the most profitable parts of  Air France-KLM’s business.Air France alone serves more than 20 American cities and operates more than …

Speculation about the political future of Russian President Vladimir Putin became somewhat clearer this week.  He threw his weight behind proposals to amend Russia’s current constitutional cap on presidential term limits  — a move that would allow him to stay in power beyond the end of his current term in 2024. Charles Maynes reports. …

German authorities are formally placing parts of the far-right Alternative for Germany party under surveillance after classifying it as extremist, the country’s domestic intelligence agency said Thursday.Thomas Haldenwang, head of the BfV intelligence agency, said that after more than a year of examination his office has concluded that a radical faction within Alternative for Germany, …

The European Central Bank deploying new stimulus measures to cushion the economic pain inflicted by the virus outbreak, but avoided cutting interest rates in a situation where economists say monetary policy can do little more than limit the damage.The central bank for the 19 countries that use the euro decided Thursday to buy up to …

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos and the European Space Agency have decided to postpone the launch of a joint research mission to Mars until the fall of 2022 because of the situation around coronavirus in Europe, Roscosmos said on Thursday.”…The parties had to recognize that the final phase of ExoMars activities are compromised by the general …

A Las Vegas wedding with an Elvis impersonator: Canceled. A 3,500-kilometer (2,200-mile) trans-America road trip, a voyage of a lifetime that took months to prepare: On ice, too.The new anti-virus travel ban announced by U.S. President Donald Trump threw Europeans’ best-laid plans — family reunions, birthday celebrations, vacations, trips for both business and pleasure — into utter …

The World Health Organization Wednesday declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, with 114 countries confirming cases, while the United States announced a European travel ban and the National Basketball Association said its games are on hold for now.“In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the …

The president of France and the king of Spain paid homage Wednesday to victims of terrorism in a special ceremony prompted by attacks that hit both their countries and changed Europe’s security posture.France’s Emmanuel Macron and Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia led a ceremony on Trocadero plaza overlooking the Eiffel Tower with survivors of …

The conviction of the only man ever found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie aircraft bombing has been referred for an appeal to Scotland’s High Court, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission said on Wednesday.Pam Am flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 en route from London to New …

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has included pro-Kremlin social-media users, Russia’s communications regulator, and an Iranian state body tackling cybercrime on its list of press freedom’s 20 “worst digital predators” that it says represent a “clear danger for freedom of opinion and expression.”The Paris-based media freedom watchdog unveiled the list ahead of the World Day Against …

Turkey confirmed its first case of the coronavirus on Wednesday, becoming the last major economy to report an outbreak after taking what the World Health Organization (WHO) described as “vigilant, cautious” measures to delay the disease.Turkey’s tourism sector, which accounts for about 13% of its economy, stepped up calls on the government for financial help …

A ship captain involved in the worst accident in more than half a century on the Danube River went on trial in Hungary on Wednesday over the crash in Budapest that killed 25 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew last year.Yuri Chaplinsky’s cruise liner, the Viking Sigyn, hit a smaller tourist boat, the Mermaid, …

Russian leader Vladimir Putin threw his weight behind proposals to amend Russia’s current constitutional cap on presidential term limits — a move that opens the door to Putin, 67, staying in power far beyond the end of his current and, in theory, final term in 2024.Under the proposed changes, which Putin insisted would need backing …

As thousands of migrants continue to mass on the Turkey-Greece border, there were few signs of a breakthrough in emergency talks between Turkey and the European Union Monday.  Meanwhile five EU member states, Germany, Finland, France, Luxembourg and Portugal, agreed to take in unaccompanied migrant children who are stuck in Greece, though the numbers are unclear.Ankara …

Italian streets are empty after the government extends a clampdown across the entire country in a bid to slow Europe’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus. Elsewhere, Lebanon records its first casualty from the virus while guests at a Canary Islands hotel celebrate the end of a two-week lockdown. VOA’s Mariama Diallo has more. …

The cease-fire agreement that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin reached for Syria’s battered Idlib province was hanging by a thread Tuesday.All sides claimed violations of the terms of the deal that legitimized Turkey’s extended military presence in Syria’s northwest, while enshrining territorial gains by President Bashar al-Assad’s Russian-backed army.”Despite …

As thousands of migrants continue to mass on the Turkey-Greece border, there were few signs of a breakthrough in emergency talks between Ankara and Brussels Monday. Turkey is hosting around four million migrants, many of them escaping the war in Syria. But critics say accuse Turkey of weaponizing the migrants to blackmail Europe. Henry Ridgwell …

A European Union summit via computer. The EU parliament a virtual ghost village in a shortened session. The assembly’s president working from home, self-isolating because of coronavirus.The disease that shutdown Italy hasn’t hit Brussels in a major way, but it has struck at the heart of politics in Europe.In a rare event, the EU’s presidents …

Faced with the spread of COVID-19, the U.K. is advising its citizens to keep calm and carry on.      For some Britons, the stiff upper lip is starting to wobble. As Italy goes into lockdown and other European countries shut schools and ban large gatherings, U.K. authorities continue to advise most people to keep …

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he agrees with a proposed constitutional amendment allowing him to seek another term in office, but only if it is approved by the Constitutional Court.”In principle, this option would be possible, but on one condition — if the constitutional court gives an official ruling that such an amendment would not …

U.S. President Donald Trump will not be coming to Moscow for Victory Day celebrations on May 9, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Russia has repeatedly invited Trump to visit Moscow on the 75th anniversary of victory in World War II — the nation’s most important holiday. Trump said last year he appreciated the invitation, but wasn’t sure …

The death toll from coronavirus in Italy is mounting as nearly a quarter of the country’s population starts the week under travel and other restrictions. In the United States, the number of cases is surging – spreading to 34 states – with 22 people having died from the illness.  In China, a different picture, with …

Public health officials and epidemiologists are at odds over how deadly COVID-19 will prove to be, with forecasts ranging from 1% to 3.4% of infected people dying.​ ​ The disparity, disease modelers and virologists say, isn’t surprising for a novel virus. They warn national differences could skew predictions — especially if health care systems are …

The European Union outlined Monday a new partnership with Africa that seeks to build a more equal relationship between the two sides.    The strategy is still in the bare-bones stage. Many details still need filling in, including financial ones. European Union officials said they will be looking for feedback from African counterparts in the run-up to …

A Turkish court on Monday sentenced the ex-mayor of a major Kurdish city to more than nine years in prison after convicting him of “membership in an armed terror group.”  The Turkish authorities removed from their positions more than 20 mayors from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) last year over their alleged ties to …