Category: Світ

Finland’s parliament chose Sanna Marin as the country’s new prime minister Tuesday, making the 34-year-old the world’s youngest sitting head of government.Marin is heading a five-party, center-left coalition. The four other parties in the coalition are headed by women _ three of whom are in their early 30s.The Nordic country’s Parliament, the 200-seat Eduskunta approved …

Hungary’s government submitted plans to parliament on Monday to tighten its control over theaters, triggering protests from actors and audiences who feel that artistic freedom is under threat.On a cold wet day, about 1,000 to 2,000 people demonstrated against the legislation in downtown Budapest, with banners saying “Pigs, hands off the theater!”Leading actors, theater directors …

Russian and Ukrainian leaders agreed to implement a ceasefire and a prisoners’ swap by years end, following four-way talks in Paris on Monday that also included France and Germany. The four heads of state said they had made progress and that just talking was a key step forward. They are to meet again in four months.Ukraine’s …

Turkey Defense Minister Hulusi Akar warned Washington on Monday that Turkey will seek alternatives if Washington doesn’t end its embargo on the sale of the F-35 jet.The impasse over the fighter jet, deemed key to Turkey’s future defense, is rekindling memories of a similar century-old dispute.Hoping that a “reasonable and sensible” way could be found …

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, are meeting for the first time in Paris for long-awaited talks on resolving the military conflict in eastern Ukraine that has left more than 13,000 people dead since 2014.After a series of bilateral meetings at the Elysee Palace on December 9, Putin and Zelenskiy sat …

The International Federation of Journalists said Monday that far fewer journalists are being killed this year compared to last but warned that part of the reason is that media workers may go in fewer numbers to the most dangerous areas.The IFJ said that 49 journalists have been killed so far this year, down from 95 …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov heads to Washington for hastily scheduled meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and, possibly, President Donald Trump, on Tuesday.While a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said the mission’s purpose would be to discuss “important issues” in U.S.-Russian relations, White House officials are signaling arms control will top the agenda, …

The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) executive committee has sent a “robust” rebuke of Russia’s sports authorities, banning the country’s athletes and officials from the Olympics and world championships in a range of sports for four years.The committee made the move “unanimously” on Monday after WADA concluded that Moscow had tampered with laboratory data by planting …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will welcome his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday — the Russian’s first visit to Washington since a controversial 2017 meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, the State Department announced.The brief statement about the meeting, to be held at the State Department, said Pompeo and Lavrov would “discuss a …

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday welcomed a Lebanese-born Swiss real estate mogul who purchased Nazi memorabilia at a German auction and is donating the items to Israel.Rivlin called Abdallah Chatila’s gesture an “act of grace.”Chatila, a Lebanese Christian who has lived in Switzerland for decades, paid some 600,000 euros ($660,000) for the items at …

Thousands of people gathered in the center of Kyiv on Sunday to send a message to Ukraine’s president, who meets his Russian counterpart on Monday, that Ukrainians will not accept a peace deal at the cost of the country’s independence and sovereignty.”We are here because we are not satisfied with the peace at any costs …

Thousands of people holding hands formed a human chain in central Brussels on Sunday to draw public attention to the need for urgent, joint action against climate change.Some 2,400 people took part in the peaceful demonstration, police said, which encircled the Belgian federal parliament and the Royal Palace.The two-hour demonstration took place as policy-makers from …

France is ready to go to the World Trade Organization to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to put tariffs on champagne and other French goods in a row over a planned French tax on internet companies, the finance minister said on Sunday.”We are ready to take this to an international court, notably the WTO, …

French President Emmanuel Macron this week faces the first major test of his policy of directly engaging with Russia that has disturbed some European allies, as he hosts a summit seeking progress in ending the Ukraine conflict.Joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Macron will bring together Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr …

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Saturday he still plans to shift the American military’s focus to competing with China and Russia, even as security threats pile up in the Middle East.Esper outlined his strategic goals and priorities in a speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum, an annual gathering of government, defense industry and military …

The prospect of Russian interference in Britain’s election flared anew Saturday after the social media platform Reddit concluded that people from Russia had leaked confidential British government documents on Brexit trade talks just days before the general U.K. vote. Reddit said in a statement that it had banned 61 accounts suspected of violating policies against vote …

France’s most serious nationwide work stoppage in decades frustrated weekend travelers Saturday as truckers blocked thoroughfares and vital transportation services continued to operate far below normal capacity.Concern that President Emmanuel Macron’s proposed pension overhaul would force millions of people to work longer or face less lucrative benefits triggered the union-led strike on Thursday, bringing much …

Russian efforts to weaken the West through a relentless campaign of information warfare may be starting to pay off, cracking a key bastion of the U.S. line of defense: the military.While most Americans still see Moscow as a key U.S. adversary, new polling suggests that view is changing, most notably among the households of military …

Strikes disrupted weekend travel around France on Saturday as truckers blocked highways and most trains remained at a standstill because of worker anger at President Emmanuel Macron’s policies.Meanwhile, yellow vest protesters held their weekly demonstrations over economic injustice in Paris and other cities, under the close watch of police. The marchers appear to be emboldened …

Britons vote next Thursday in the country’s third general election in under four years, with pollsters and politicians warning it isn’t going to be easy to forecast the outcome. As the clock ticks toward the most consequential vote in a generation, the battle for Downing Street appears to be coming down once again to the two …

A court in Moscow has handed popular blogger Yegor Zhukov a three-year suspended sentence after finding him guilty of inciting extremism online in a case condemned as politically motivated.    The Kuntsevo district court announced the verdict Friday as hundreds of supporters of Zhukov, 21, a student at Moscow’s prestigious Higher School of Economics, gathered outside the …

Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in Madrid Friday to join thousands of other young people in a march to demand world leaders take real action against climate change.                     After making it through a swarm of media cameras and microphones at the Spanish capital’s northern train station, the Swedish teen posted an ironic tweet …

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine hold their first face-to-face talks in Paris next week as part of a European summit aimed at ending the five-year war between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine.     In advance of the latest attempt to end the bloodshed in Ukraine’s Donbas region, observers caution …

A nationwide strike about planned pension reforms that has paralyzed most of France enters its second day Friday.Concern that the proposed pension overhaul would force millions of people to work longer or have less lucrative benefits has prompted the strike, bringing much of the country to a halt.Tens of thousands of workers in France walked …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel entered the hallowed grounds of the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz on Friday as she began her first ever visit to the most notorious site of the atrocities that Adolf Hitler’s regime inflicted on Europe.                     Merkel also brought a donation of 60 million Euros ($66.6 million). The …

Russia and Turkey are working on a contract for the delivery of a new batch of Russian S-400 missile systems, the Interfax news agency cited a senior official at a Russian military cooperation agency as saying on Friday.Such a deal would be likely to further strain Ankara’s relations with Washington which has suspended Turkey from …