Category: Світ

Analysts say the African Union (AU) is unlikely to offer Ukraine much support against Russia despite a passionate address Monday by Ukraine’s president.  Many African nations have historical ties to Russia and have refused to condemn its invasion of Ukraine. In his speech to the African Union Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of …

Russia has summoned the European Union’s envoy to Moscow to “strongly” protest new restrictions on goods shipments to its Kaliningrad exclave through EU member Lithuania while threatening the Baltic state with “retaliation.” The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said on Tuesday that EU Ambassador to Moscow Markus Ederer was informed of the “inadmissibility of such actions” …

Lawyers for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange are urging the Australian government to do more to gain the release of the Queensland-born activist. Assange is to be extradited from Britain to the United States to face espionage charges, in a move approved by the British government late last week. To his supporters, Julian Assange is a …

Dmitry Muratov, editor of one of Russia’s last independent newspapers, auctioned off his 2021 Nobel Peace Prize medal on Monday, bringing in a record-shattering $103.5 million to benefit children displaced by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Organizer Heritage Auctions did not identify the winning bidder of the auction, which took place on World Refugee Day. The …

British rail workers launched their biggest strike in decades on Tuesday.  Last-minute talks to avoid the stoppage failed Monday, with the rail management and the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union unable to resolve a dispute about pay and job security.  Union leaders say pay has failed to keep pace with inflation.  British Transport Secretary …

Two Americans detained in Ukraine while fighting on the Ukrainian side of the war were mercenaries who endangered the lives of Russian servicemen and should face responsibility for their actions, the Kremlin said Monday. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, interviewed by the U.S. television network NBC, also said U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, held in Russia …

According to United Nations estimates, since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, some 2.5 million Ukrainians have crossed the Polish border and gone back to Ukraine. Iryna Martynenko was among those who returned to her native city of Sumy, in the northeast. Olena Adamenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera and video editing …

Two months after French President Emmanuel Macron won reelection, his second term is now threatened with gridlock and a possible political crisis after his centrist party lost its ruling majority in the lower house of the National Assembly Sunday. Legislative vote saw a surging far left and far right — and near-record abstention. France’s Prime …

The tooth of assassinated Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first democratically elected leader, is scheduled to be handed over to his family Monday. The Belgium government will hand over the tooth to Lumumba’s family in an official ceremony in Brussels. Lumumba elected as Congo’s first democratically elected prime minister in 1960 and was hugely popular with his …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “we should expect greater hostile activity from Russia” this week as European Union leaders consider whether to support candidate status for Ukraine in the EU. “And not only against Ukraine, but also against other European countries. We are preparing. We are ready. We are warning partners,” Zelenskyy said in his …

French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to lose parliamentary majority, according to the first estimates of returns from Sunday’s legislative elections. The returns showed Macron’s centrists appeared set to remain the biggest party in the National Assembly, or lower house, but with the far-left NUPES coalition scoring strongly as the biggest opposition bloc. Initial results also …

Firefighters in Spain and Germany struggled to contain wildfires on Sunday amid an unusual heat wave in Western Europe for this time of year. The worst damage in Spain has been in the northwest province of Zamora where over 25,000 hectares (61,000 acres) have been consumed, regional authorities said, while German officials said that residents …

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Sunday a new British law to change part of a Brexit deal to try to ease trade with Northern Ireland was “unilateralism of the worst kind” and urged the government to resume talks. The European Commission launched two new legal proceedings against Britain this month after London published …

More than 100 migrants were rescued early Sunday off the island of Mykonos in the Aegean Sea and four are missing, the Greek coastguard said. Port police responded to a distress call sending three boats and a tug boat to help the stricken vessel which had come from Turkey, the coastguard told AFP. It said …

Despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, couples there continue to get married. For many, the war itself prompted them to officially tie the knot – especially military couples. At least one jewelry store provides military couples with free wedding bands; wedding ceremonies are often held online, at times, literally from the front lines. Anna Kosstutschenko …

Fine Italian knitwear packed in boxes addressed to retailers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kursk sit stacked in a Lombardy warehouse awaiting dispatch. Although not subject to sanctions to punish Russia for invading Ukraine, the garments are not likely to ship any time soon. Missing payments from the Russian retailers who ordered the garments are …

Czech Senate Leader Milos Vystrcil was little known to the world until he led a Czech parliamentary and business delegation to Taiwan in autumn 2020, defying threats of severe retaliation from Beijing. And that is just how his late father would have preferred it. “He would always insist that we live a normal, average life, …

Lithuanian authorities said a ban on the transit through their territory to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad of goods that are subject to EU sanctions was to take effect Saturday. News of the ban came Friday, through a video posted by the region’s governor Anton Alikhanov. The EU sanctions list notably includes coal, metals, construction …

Thousands of supporters of North Macedonia’s main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE gathered Saturday evening in the center of the capital Skopje to pressure the leftist government to call an election two years before the end of its term.  Center-right VMRO-DPMNE accused the ruling Social Democrat-led government of miring North Macedonia in corruption, devastating the economy and …

Thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday in a protest over the soaring cost of living in Britain. Huge crowds flooded into the British capital for the rally to demand that the government do more to help people faced with bills and other expenses that are rising more quickly than their wages.  Prime …

A third suspect in the murder of British journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon rainforest was arrested Saturday, Brazil’s federal police said. Jeferson da Silva Lima was on the run, but he surrendered at the police station of Atalaia do Norte in the remote Javari Valley bordering Peru and Colombia. “The detainee will be questioned …

The far-right Alternative for Germany on Saturday elected two prominent figures to lead the party for the next two years, after one of its co-chairs quit in January saying it had become too radical. Delegates voted for Alternative for Germany’s remaining co-chair, Tino Chrupalla, to head the party together with parliamentary caucus leader Alice Weidel. …

A former hotel housekeeper who fought for the rights of her coworkers has become a symbol of the recent revival of France’s left, which is expected to emerge as the main opposition force in the French Parliament to President Emmanuel Macron’s government. Rachel Kéké, 48, is poised to win election as a lawmaker when France …

A celebrated Ukrainian medic whose footage was smuggled out of the besieged city of Mariupol by an Associated Press team was freed by Russian forces on Friday, three months after she was taken captive on the streets of the city.  Yuliia Paievska is known in Ukraine as Taira, a nickname she chose in the “World …

News that police in France arrested two men suspected of traveling to the city of Nantes to kill an Azeri blogger will be of little surprise to journalists in Azerbaijan. Attacks, especially over reporting that is critical of authorities, are common, and a lack of bringing perpetrators to justice makes matters worse, journalists and analysts …

Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.    UN human rights chief won’t seek second term  U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Monday that she will step down when her term finishes at the …