Category: Світ

Germany Arrests British Embassy Worker Accused of Spying for Russia

German authorities said Wednesday that they had arrested a British citizen and accused him of spying for Russia while working at the British Embassy in Berlin.The man, identified only as David S., is suspected of passing documents to Russia for money since at least November. He reportedly worked as a local hire.The British government confirmed …

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Russian Opposition Leader Faces New Charge, More Jail

Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny faces a new charge that a non-profit organization he created encouraged Russians to break the law.The charge, which was announced Wednesday by Russia’s Investigative Committee, is punishable by up to three years in prison.The committee says Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption group encouraged Russians to “perform unlawful acts” by encouraging …

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Austria Protests Detention of 2 Journalists in Belarus

The Austrian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday protested the detention of two journalists who were working in Belarus for Austria’s national broadcaster ORF.ORF correspondent Carola Schneider and her camera operator were detained Monday in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and taken to a police station.The broadcaster cited a Belarusian human rights group as saying that plainclothes …

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Six EU Countries Want to Maintain Deportations of Afghan Asylum-Seekers 

Half-a-dozen European Union countries have told Brussels they want to continue deporting Afghan migrants whose asylum-applications are denied — despite the Taliban’s recent military successes, including overrunning eight of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals in the past week. EU officials told reporters during a briefing Tuesday that they found it inconceivable any EU member states would want to …

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Greece Gains on Wildfires, Faces Climate Change Criticism

Massive forest fires have gripped Greece for more than a week. The government has come under fierce criticism for failing to heed warnings of wildfires amid a protracted heat wave affecting not just Greece but the Balkans and southern Europe.Some of the nearly 600 wildfires that have sparked across Greece, have been brought under control. But fresh ones flared on the island of Evia and in the Peloponnese, adding to the 62 evacuation orders authorities issued over the past week across the country. Several mayors …

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Greek Officials Defend Wildfire Response

Firefighters in Greece continue to battle wildfires as officials defend their response amid unusually high temperatures and dry conditions. “We handled an operationally unique situation, with 586 fires in eight days during the worst weather conditions we’ve seen in 40 years,” Greece’s civil protection chief Nikos Hardalias said at a Tuesday news conference. “Never was there such a combination of adverse …

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Britain’s Prince Andrew Faces Rape Lawsuit

Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has filed a lawsuit against Britain’s Prince Andrew, alleging he raped and sexually abused her several times when she was 17 years old.Andrew, who is Queen Elizabeth II’s second son and ninth in line to the British throne, has consistently denied …

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Germany’s COVID-19 Vaccine Program Has Slowed Dramatically, Merkel Says

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday Germany has fallen behind other European countries in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts, and with new infections on the rise, the government must take steps to speed up the program or run the risk of seeing its health care system overwhelmed.Merkel spoke to reporters Tuesday following a meeting with Germany’s …

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Messi Gets Hero’s Welcome in France After Agreeing to Join Paris Saint Germain

Six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi received a hero’s welcome after flying to France on Tuesday to join Paris Saint Germain (PSG) following his shock departure from Barcelona.The agreement to sign the 34-year-old Argentine is a major coup for wealthy PSG, who will add one of the best soccer players of all time to an …

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‘Undesirable’ and ‘Foreign’: How Russia Is Muzzling the Media in an Escalating Crackdown

Recent weeks have seen a spate of police raids on independent media companies and the homes of journalists in Russia, as part of an intensifying crackdown. Kremlin-critical media face fines, arrests, and violence. Some journalists are relocating to other countries to avoid an increasingly hostile environment. …

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Messi Agrees to Join Paris Saint-Germain, Flies to France

Lionel Messi finalized agreement on his Paris Saint-Germain contract and was flying to France on Tuesday to complete the move that confirms the end of a career-long association with Barcelona.The 34-year-old Argentina star has agreed a two-year deal with the option for a further season, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated …

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Russia Opens Criminal Case Into 2 Navalny Allies 

Russia has opened a criminal investigation into two exiled allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny for raising funds for organizations deemed by the authorities as “extremist.” The Investigative Committee said in a statement on August 10 that the case was opened against Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov and other unnamed individuals. FILE – Leonid Volkov, chief …

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Prince Andrew Sued, Accused of Sexual Assault

An American woman who has long accused the late businessman Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse sued Prince Andrew on Monday over alleged sexual assault. Virginia Giuffre filed the lawsuit in federal court Monday in Manhattan under the Child Victims Act. Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, said she was 17 when the assault by the member …

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Fires in Greece Show No Signs of Slowing

More than 600 firefighters continue to battle a massive wildfire ravaging the Greek island of Evia that has charred buildings and pine forests and forced thousands to evacuate.The fire covering the country’s second-largest island has been blazing, uncontrolled, for seven consecutive days, resulting in the deaths of a volunteer firefighter and an Athens official.The United …

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US, Along With UK and Canada, Slaps More Sanctions on Belarus

The United States, in coordination with Britain and Canada, rolled out new sanctions on Belarus on Monday, the one-year anniversary of the start of protests in the eastern European country against elections that were widely seen as fraudulent. Since that time, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has taken harsh action against peaceful demonstrators and political opponents. “Rather than …

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Arsonists Behind More than Half of Italy’s Wildfires, Officials Say

About 800 wildfires have struck Italy this year, tripling the normal annual average and causing millions of dollars in damage. But more than half of them were likely started by arsonists or farmers breaching fire rules, authorities say.A 50-year-old sheep and goat farmer was arrested last week after a surveillance camera captured him setting undergrowth …

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Hundreds in Warsaw Protest Political Repression in Belarus

Hundreds of people, among them many Belarusians living in exile in Poland, marched Sunday in Warsaw to protest political repression in neighboring Belarus — a demonstration held on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Belarus presidential election that they consider rigged.Many carried the Belarusian opposition’s red-and-white flag, which is banned in Belarus, and …

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Wildfire Rips Through Greek Island as Evacuations Continue

A days-old fire burned through Greece’s second-largest island Sunday, prompting more evacuations.   Thousands of tourists and residents have fled the forested island of Evia since the blaze began on August 3. Scores of homes and other buildings have been destroyed, and reports show limited visibility beneath the haze and orange sky.   Evacuation orders …

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US, Russia Continue Diplomatic Tug of War

Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, said the United States has asked 24 Russian diplomats to leave the country when their visas expire in September. The move comes shortly after the U.S. embassy in Moscow was forced to lay off dozens of Russian nationals working at the mission. Daria Dieguts has the story. …

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Blaze Ravages Evia Island on Sixth Day of Greek Wildfires 

Thousands of people have fled their homes on the Greek island of Evia as wildfires burned uncontrolled for a sixth day on Sunday, and ferries were on standby for more evacuations after taking many to safety by sea.Fires that had threatened northern suburbs of Athens in recent days died back. But the blaze on Evia, …

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Emotional Messi Says He Wasn’t Prepared to Leave Barcelona 

Struggling to control his emotions, Lionel Messi said Sunday in his farewell to Barcelona that he wasn’t prepared to leave the club.Messi began crying even before he started speaking at his farewell ceremony at the Camp Nou Stadium.”This is very hard for me after so many years, after being here my entire life,” he said. …

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NY Times: More Than a Million Students Failed to Show Up for Classes Last Year 

A New York Times report says as the coronavirus swept across the U.S., more than 1 million children, many of them in poor neighborhoods, failed to show up for public school classes, either online or in person.  The steepest decline the report said was among kindergarten students.    The newspaper said more than 340,000 kindergarten …

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Along With COVID-19, EU Faces a More Fundamental Battle

Hungary’s growing list of European Union worries includes controversial LGBT legislation and potentially hacking the phones of journalists, rights activists and political opponents.Poland has rebuffed a ruling by the bloc’s highest court, claiming its own constitution has precedence over the EU laws it vowed to follow when it joined the club in 2004, although it …

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Greece Battles Wildfires for Fifth Day in ‘Nightmarish Summer’

Flames swept through a town near Athens overnight and hundreds of people were evacuated by ferry from the island of Evia as wildfires burned across Greece for a fifth day Saturday.On Evia, east of the capital, a fire that began Tuesday quickly burgeoned into several fronts, ripping through thousands of hectares (acres) of pristine forest …

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Some Experts Concerned About Closer Ukraine-China Ties

While Ukraine’s president prepares for a visit to Washington, Kyiv is accepting COVID-19 vaccines from China and has signed a major infrastructure agreement with Beijing to cooperate on roads, bridges and railway projects. Some experts worry China is attaching strings to the ventures, as VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. …

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No End to Greek Inferno as Wildfires Rage Into Night

Wildfires in Greece raged into the night burning more forest and homes in the northern outskirts of Athens and other parts of the country and forcing more evacuations as more international aid was on the way.Authorities struggled with 154 wildfires across the country on Friday with the biggest fronts still burning in the north of …

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