Category: Світ

Iran condemns EU, UK sanctions on Tehran, denies providing ballistic missiles to Russia

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran condemned new EU and British sanctions on Tehran and denied providing ballistic missiles to Russia, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, said in a post on X on Tuesday. The European Union agreed on Monday to impose sanctions on seven people and seven organizations, including airline Iran Air, for …

Deadly Russian missile attack hits Mykolaiv

Officials in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region said Tuesday a Russian missile attack killed at least one person and injured 16 others. Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram the attack damaged an infrastructure facility, restaurant and shopping areas, as well as residential buildings. Ukraine’s military said Tuesday that Russia’s overnight attacks included nine missiles and 17 …

Europe’s water security under threat, environment agency warns   

Copenhagen, Denmark — Pollution, habitat degradation, climate change and overuse of freshwater resources are putting a strain on Europe, with only a third of its surface water in good health, the European Environment Agency warned  Tuesday. “The health of Europe’s waters is not good. Our waters face an unprecedented set of challenges that threatens Europe’s water …

Ailing and silenced in prison, Belarus activist symbolizes the nation’s repression

TALLINN, Estonia — The last time any of Maria Kolesnikova’s family had contact with the imprisoned Belarusian opposition activist was more than 18 months ago. Fellow inmates at the penal colony reported hearing her plead for medical help from inside her tiny, smelly cell. Her father, Alexander Kolesnikov, told The Associated Press by phone from Minsk …

German secret services alarmed by Russian threat

berlin — Increased acts of espionage and sabotage, possible direct military confrontation with NATO as early as 2030: German secret services sounded the alarm Monday about the growing danger they believe Moscow’s interference in Germany and Europe represents. It was a bleak picture that the three heads of the German intelligence services painted Monday during their …

Death toll in Bosnia’s floods reaches 26

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The death toll from this month’s devastating floods and landslides in Bosnia has reached 26 people, while rescue teams are searching for at least one more person still missing 10 days after a rainstorm caused havoc in the Balkan country, authorities said Monday.  Torrential rains and winds hit four municipalities in central and …

EU targets Iran officials, airlines for supplying drones, missiles to Russia 

BRUSSELS — The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on Iran’s deputy defense minister, senior members of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and three airlines over allegations that they supplied drones, missiles and other equipment to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.  Deputy Defense Minister Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari is one of seven senior officials now …

Polish leader Tusk defends decision to suspend asylum law

Warsaw — Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Monday defended a plan to temporarily suspend the right to asylum as human rights and civil society organizations express concerns about the move.   Poland has struggled since 2021 with migration pressures on its border with Belarus — which is also part of the European Union’s external border.   “It …

‘Innocent’ British nerve agent victim caught in global murder plot, inquiry finds

London — A British woman who died after being exposed to the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok was unwittingly caught up in an “illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt,” a public inquiry was told on Monday. Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old mother of three children, died in July 2018 after spraying herself with what she thought was perfume …

UN refugee chief urges states to drop border controls even as displacement crises worse

Geneva — The head of the U.N. refugee agency warned on Monday that displacement crises in Lebanon and Sudan could worsen, but said tighter border measures were not the solution, calling them ineffective and sometimes unlawful. Addressing more than 100 diplomats and ministers in Geneva at UNHCR’s annual meeting, Filippo Grandi said an unprecedented 123 million …

International Wine Organization calls for ‘sustainable development’ of vines

dijon, France — The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), a sort of “U.N. of wine” which brings together experts from the sector, called for “sustainable development” of the vine Sunday, following a ministerial meeting in France. “The effects of climate change amplify” the challenges facing the vine, stressed 37 members out of 50 participating …

Time with horses is helping some Ukrainian kids deal with war

Since May 2024, heavy fighting has been going on near the village of Hlyboke, some 30 kilometers from Kharkiv, and animals are the victims of active fighting just as much as locals. Volunteers recently rescued four ponies from Hlyboke, and now these horses are giving back… in their own way. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. …

Macron calls on Iran’s president to back Mideast ‘de-escalation’

Paris — French President Emmanuel Macron called on Iran’s leader Masoud Pezeshkian to support a “general de-escalation” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in a telephone conversation Sunday, his office said. Macron stressed “the responsibility of Iran to support a general de-escalation and to use its influence in this direction with the destabilizing actors that enjoy …

Chinese carmaker GAC considers making EVs in Europe as tariffs loom

Paris — Chinese state-owned carmaker GAC is exploring the manufacture of EVs in Europe to avoid EU tariffs, the general manager of its international business told Reuters on Sunday, joining a growing list of Chinese companies planning local production.  The company is among China’s largest automakers and is targeting 500,000 overseas sales by 2030. It does …

Colleagues pay tribute to Ukrainian journalist who died in Russian custody

Ukraine’s human rights envoy urges response to alleged killings of Ukrainian POWs in Kursk

Kyiv — Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman urged international organizations Sunday to respond to a claim that several Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv had launched an incursion in August. DeepState, a Ukrainian battlefield analysis site close to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, said Russian troops shot and killed nine Ukrainian “drone operators …

Ukrainian move to ban Moscow-linked church stirs anger in Russia

moscow — Speaking behind the thick white walls of Moscow’s ancient Danilov Monastery, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk is adamant: People must not be forbidden to pray in their chosen branch of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. He speaks calmly, but Yakimchuk is one of many Orthodox Christians in Russia who are angry about a law passed by Kyiv in …

Afghan man imprisoned in France, accused of planning ‘violent action’

paris — A 22-year-old Afghan was indicted and imprisoned in France on Saturday, accused of supporting the ideology of the Islamic State (IS) and of having “fomented” a “plan for violent action” in a football stadium or a shopping center. His arrest, which took place Tuesday in Haute-Garonne, has “links” with the arrest of an Afghan …

Lithuanians elect new parliament amid cost of living, security worries

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuanians elect a new parliament Sunday in a vote dominated by concerns over the cost of living and potential threats from neighboring Russia, with the opposition Social Democrats tipped to emerge as the largest party but well short of a majority. The outgoing center-right coalition of Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has seen its …

North Kosovo ethnic tensions at risk for violence, NATO official says

PRISTINA, KOSOVO — Persistent ethnic tension in north Kosovo could trigger a repeat of violence seen in the area last year when four people died in a gun battle and NATO peacekeepers were hurt in clashes, a senior official from the military alliance warned Saturday. Kosovo is predominantly ethnic Albanian, but about 50,000 Serbs in the …

Iran sends satellites to Russia for rocket launch, Tasnim reports

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Iran has sent two locally made satellites to Russia to be put into orbit by a Russian space vehicle, the semi-official news agency Tasnim reported Saturday, in the latest space cooperation between the two U.S.-sanctioned countries. The development of Kowsar, a high-resolution imaging satellite, and Hodhod, a small communications satellite, is …

Ukraine, Russia each say they foiled dozens of drone attacks

Kyiv, Ukraine — Russia said on Saturday it had downed 47 Ukrainian drones while Kyiv reported neutralized 24 drones fired by Moscow. The Ukrainian air force said many missiles were fired from the Russian border region of Belgorod, without specifying the number or the type. It said Russia had fired 28 drones at Ukraine, of which …

Nazi-looted Monet artwork returned to family generations later

NEW ORLEANS — On the eve of World War II, Nazis in Austria seized a pastel by renowned impressionist artist Claude Monet, selling it off and sparking a family’s decadeslong search that culminated Wednesday in New Orleans. At an FBI field office, agents lifted a blue veil covering the Monet pastel and presented Adalbert Parlagi’s granddaughters …

Alexey Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir

new york — Russian dissident Alexey Navalny, who was President Vladimir Putin’s top political opponent before his death in February, believed he would die in prison, according to his posthumous memoir, which will be released October 22. The New Yorker published excerpts from the book Friday, featuring writing from Navalny’s prison diary and earlier. “I will …

Meta removes fake accounts in Moldova ahead of presidential election

STOCKHOLM — Meta Platforms said on Friday that it had removed a network of group accounts targeting Russian speakers in Moldova ahead of the country’s October 20 election, for violation of the company’s policy on fake accounts. Authorities in Moldova, an ex-Soviet state lying between Romania and Ukraine, said they had blocked dozens of Telegram channels …

Gunmen kill police officer, 2 others in Russia’s North Caucasus