Category: Світ

The rector of Notre Dame Cathedral says the Paris landmark is still so fragile that there’s a “50% chance” the structure might not be entirely saved, because scaffolding installed before this year’s fire is threatening the vaults of the Gothic monument.                     Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said restoration work isn’t likely to begin until 2021 …

Pope Francis assured the faithful on Christmas Eve that God loves everyone — “even the worst of us” — as he celebrated the joyous birth of Christ after a less-than-joyful year of scandals and opposition.With a choir singing the classic Christmas hymn “The First Noel,” Francis walked down the center aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica …

A Russian court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of an American being held on espionage charges.Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who holds US, British, Canadian and Irish citizenship, has been jailed in Russia since he was arrested at a Moscow hotel on December 28 last year.The Moscow court extended his detention until March 29, …

President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia has got a strong edge in designing new weapons and that it has become the only country in the world to deploy hypersonic weapons.                     Speaking at a meeting with top military brass, Putin said that for the first time in history Russia is now leading the …

Russia has released five Japanese fishing boats and their 24 crewmen after detaining them for a week for allegedly violating fishing agreements near a group of disputed islands.  The five ships and their crews were accused of exceeding their catch quota for octopus when they were detained on December 17.  The boats were released after …

A Russian court on Tuesday extended until late March the pre-trial detention of a US man already held in jail for a year despite Western requests for his release.Paul Whelan, who also has Irish, Canadian and British citizenship, was arrested on December 28 last year for allegedly receiving state secrets.On Christmas eve the Moscow City …

The Church of England has launched a study into an existential question: do its investments in big-tech giants contradict the Christian faith?The Church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG) will determine whether some of the new technologies undermine “the very idea of God”, a spokesman for the Church told AFP on Monday.The year-long review was first …

France’s armed forces said Monday it had carried out a drone strike for the first time, during operations in Mali at the weekend in which it said 40 “terrorists” were killed.On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron had announced that French forces had “neutralized” 33 jihadists in the central Malian region of Mopti, in an operation …

A report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights finds civilians in conflict-torn eastern Ukraine remain at risk of human rights violations and death  despite an easing of hostilities between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed rebels in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.The U.N. report welcomes recent diplomatic measures taken by the …

Protesters scuffled with police at Gare de Lyon station in Paris on Monday as a nationwide strike against plans by French President Emmanuel Macron to change the country’s pension system dragged on into a 19th day.French TV station BFM showed footage of riot police tangling with around 30 protesters at the Gare de Lyon, one …

For the first time in more than 200 years, France’s historic Notre Dame Cathedral will be dark and silent for Christmas.The iconic Gothic structure was ravaged in April by a fire that destroyed parts of the roof, the spire and vault.”This is the first time since the French Revolution that there will be no midnight …

Croatia’s conservative president trailed her leftist rival in Sunday’s election, but garnered enough votes to force a runoff early next year.With nearly 98% of the votes counted, former prime minister and leader of the Social Democrats Zoran Milanovic was leading with nearly 30% of the vote, followed by President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic with about 27%.Milanovic …

Polls have closed in Croatia Sunday evening after a presidential election in which no candidate is expected to win an outright majority.Political analysts predict there will be a run-off election in two weeks, though exit polls show leftist former prime minister Zoran Milanovic with a slight lead.Milanovic is challenging incumbent president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, a conservative …

Holiday travelers across France scrambled for alternatives Sunday as an 18-day-old transport strike over pension reform saw train services slashed yet again.President Emmanuel Macron issued an appeal on Saturday for a truce over the holidays, three days after talks between the government and unions failed to ease the standoff and labor leaders called for further …

UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization reports it is expanding its so-called Qualification Passport program, which enables refugees and vulnerable migrants to continue their studies or get employment in countries of exile. More often than not, refugees and migrants who have had a secondary or tertiary education at home have difficulty applying for higher …

The lawyer of an Iranian-British woman convicted on spying charges in Iran has asked that she be released after serving half of her sentence, a request that was immediately rejected by the Tehran prosecutors’ office, the state IRNA news agency reported Sunday.Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has struck a defiant tone, saying the Nord Stream 2 and Turk Stream gas pipeline projects will be launched despite U.S. sanctions.Quoted by the Interfax news agency on December 22, Lavrov said that Russia planned to respond to the new measures.U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill on December 22 …

Many experts say the most remarkable news from the recently held NATO summit in London is that NATO, history’s most lasting and effective alliance, for the first time defined China as a strategic challenge. They contend that Beijing aims to dominate the world’s high-tech industry through its technology giant Huawei, forge a military on par …

Voters in Croatia on Sunday cast ballots in a tight presidential election, with the ruling conservatives seeking to keep their grip on power days before the country take over the European Union’s presidency for the first time.Some 3.8 million voters in the European Union’s newest member state can pick among 11 candidates, but only three …

At the end of a difficult year, Queen Elizabeth has posed for photographs with her son Prince Charles, grandson Prince William and great-grandson Prince George in an apparent message about the continuity of the British royal family.Buckingham Palace released photographs on Saturday of the Queen and the three immediate members of the line of succession …

Eight West African countries Saturday agreed to change the name of their common currency to Eco and severed the CFA franc’s links to former colonial ruler France.   The CFA franc was initially pegged to the French franc and has been linked to the euro for about two decades.   Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced Russia and China on Saturday after the two countries vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on allowing cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria.    “The Russian Federation’s and China’s veto yesterday of a Security Council resolution that allows for humanitarian aid to reach millions of Syrians is shameful,” Pompeo said in a …

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to boost the fight against Islamic extremism in West Africa as French troops killed 33 Islamic extremists in central Mali.    Macron spoke Saturday on the second day of his three-day trip to Ivory Coast and Niger that has been dominated by the growing threat posed by jihadist groups.  …

Russia and Ukraine announced terms of a new gas transit deal on Saturday, under which Moscow will supply Europe for at least another five years via its former Soviet neighbour and pay a $2.9 billion settlement to Kyiv to end a legal dispute.The deal is a major breakthrough for both countries, which have been seeking …

The United States is “very concerned” about the intensification of the conflict in Libya, with a rising number of reported Russian mercenaries supporting Khalifa Haftar’s forces on the ground turning the conflict into a bloodier one, a senior State Department official said on Saturday.The United States continues to recognize the Government of National Accord (GNA) …

In his four-hour, stage-managed year-end news conference Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin went out of his way to back U.S. President Donald Trump in the impeachment saga unfolding in Washington.Lambasting American Democrats for what he termed “made-up reasons” to impeach Trump, a Republican, the Russian leader accused them of nursing a grudge over losing the …