Month: October 2021

European Union leaders met Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, pledging to strengthen ties and support the eastern European nation, particularly on the issue of Russia and energy security. Zelenskiy hosted EU Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for the 23rd EU-Ukraine summit, a meeting …

Read more “EU Officials Pledge to Support Ukraine’s National Energy Security “

A report produced by the British parliament says a state of “groupthink” among government officials led to a costly delay in ordering a nationwide lockdown in the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The 151-page report from the joint science and health committees in the House of Commons says Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet deliberately …

Read more “British MPs Slam Government’s Initial COVID Response”

It was late last Christmas Eve when the European Union and Britain finally clinched a Brexit trade deal after years of wrangling, threats and missed deadlines to seal their divorce. There was hope that now-separated Britain and the 27-nation bloc would sail their relationship toward calmer waters. With Christmas closing in again one thing is …

Read more “Divorced UK and EU Head for New Brexit Fight Over N Ireland”

With Afghanistan facing humanitarian and economic crises, G-20 leaders are set to meet virtually Tuesday to discuss ways to meet aid needs and address security concerns following the Taliban’s August takeover.  Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is hosting the summit, with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, U.S. President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and …

Read more “G-20 Leaders to Discuss Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan”

The German city of Cologne says it will start allowing mosques to broadcast the call to prayer, or azan, over loudspeakers.  The city said Monday the call to prayer could be broadcast on Friday afternoons for up to five minutes. Mosques will need to apply for a permit to broadcast and must comply with volume …

Read more “German City of Cologne Allows Mosques to Broadcast Call to Prayer “

Russia, Germany and France have agreed that their foreign ministers should meet to discuss the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.  French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone Monday on the issue of Ukraine.  Both the German and Russian governments said the leaders agreed that their foreign …

Read more “Russia, Germany, France to Hold Ministerial-Level Meeting on Ukraine “

European Union officials have warned that the bloc “is at risk of collapse” unless it challenges a ruling by Poland’s top court over the supremacy of EU law, which is seen as a central pillar of European integration.  Vera Jourova, the EU commissioner from the Czech Republic, said Monday: “If we don’t uphold the principle …

Read more “‘Polexit’: Is Poland About to Quit the European Union?”

The Italian glassblowers of Murano have survived plagues and pandemics. They transitioned to highly prized artistic creations to outrun low-priced competition from Asia. But surging energy prices are shattering their economic model.  The dozens of furnaces that remain on the lagoon island where Venetian rulers transferred glassblowing 700 years ago must burn around the clock, …

Read more “Murano Glassblowing Model Shattered by Methane Price Surge”

Austria’s new Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg pledged on Monday to work closely with his predecessor Sebastian Kurz, who quit in the face of corruption allegations, fueling opposition assertions that the new leader will simply do Kurz’s bidding. The Greens, the junior partner to Kurz’s conservatives, had demanded Kurz’s head after he and nine others including senior …

Read more “Austria’s New Leader Defends Kurz as Opposition Calls him Kurz’s Puppet”

Next month, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, will get under way, setting the climate agenda for decades to come, and ahead of the summit, Western leaders have been scrambling to make promises to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Some economists, however, are warning that in the pledge-making …

Read more “Energy Crunch Prompts Questions About Net Zero Promises”

British police said on Monday they would be taking no further action after conducting a review of evidence relating to sex crime allegations against Queen Elizabeth’s son, Prince Andrew, and the late U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein.  London’s police chief, Cressida Dick, said in August that detectives would look at the allegations for a third time …

Read more “UK Police: No Further Action on Prince Andrew, Epstein Allegations”

The mynah bird squawks from a new cage in the French ambassador’s sunlit living room in Abu Dhabi, a far cry from its life as the pet of a young Afghan woman who has since found refuge in France.  Talkative, yellow-beaked “Juji” had a brief star turn on social media, its story of survival amid …

Read more “A Bird Stars in Rare Feel-good Tale About Afghan Evacuations “

The United States and Britain warned their citizens on Monday to avoid hotels in Afghanistan, days after dozens were killed at a mosque in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group active in Afghanistan, Islamic State Khorasan.  The Taliban, which seized power in August and declared an Islamic emirate, are seeking international recognition and assistance …

Read more “US, UK Warn Citizens to Avoid Afghanistan Hotels”

Jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on a hunger strike since October 1, needs to be hospitalized, as his condition is worsening, his doctor said Sunday in a television interview. Saakashvili declared a hunger strike after he was arrested on October 1 and incarcerated in the city of Rustavi, hours after he …

Read more “Doctor: Jailed Former Georgian President Saakashvili Needs Hospital Treatment”

Beekeepers Mustafa Alti and his son Fehmi were kept busy tending to their hives before wildfires tore through a bucolic region of Turkey that makes most of the world’s prized pine honey. Now the Altis and generations of other honey farmers in Turkey’s Aegean province of Mugla are scrambling to find additional work and wondering …

Read more “Turkish Fires Endanger World Pine Honey Supplies”

Paul McCartney has revisited the breakup of The Beatles, flatly disputing the suggestion that he was responsible for the group’s demise. Speaking on an episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life” that is scheduled to air on Oct. 23, McCartney said it was John Lennon who wanted to disband The Beatles. “I didn’t instigate …

Read more “Paul McCartney: John Lennon Responsible for Beatles Breakup”

A performer of Russia’s legendary Bolshoi Theater was killed in an accident on stage during the performance of an opera, the Moscow company said.  The theater said the incident took place Saturday during a set change in Sadko, a 19th-century opera by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. “The performance was immediately stopped, and the audience was …

Read more “Bolshoi Performer Killed in Accident on Stage”

Austria’s president on Sunday welcomed Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s resignation and demanded that the country’s politicians work hard to restore voters’ trust after a several-day drama that brought the government to the brink of collapse. President Alexander Van der Bellen said he will swear in Alexander Schallenberg, currently Austria’s foreign minister, as chancellor on Monday. Kurz, …

Read more “Austrian President Demands That Government Restore Trust”

Pope Francis on Sunday met with Gloria Cecilia Narvaez, a Franciscan nun from Colombia, a day after she was freed by jihadists in Mali after more than four years of captivity, a Vatican spokesman said.    Sister Gloria was taken hostage on February 7, 2017 in southern Mali near the border with Burkina Faso where …

Read more “Pope Meets Colombian Nun Released by Mali Jihadists”

Dressed as endangered fish or tigers or wearing toy polar bears on their heads, demonstrators marched through Brussels on Sunday to push world leaders to take bolder action to fight climate change at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow starting this month.  Thousands of people and 80 organizations took part in the protest, aiming for …

Read more “Thousands March in Brussels to Demand Tougher Climate Action “

Three weeks since its eruption upended the lives of thousands, the volcano on Spain’s La Palma island is still spewing out endless streams of lava with no signs of ceasing.  Authorities on Sunday monitored a new stream of molten rock that has added to the destruction of over 1,100 buildings. Anything in the path of …

Read more “La Palma’s Volcanic Eruption Is Going Strong 3 Weeks Later “

A Russian plane crashed over the Tatarstan region Sunday, killing 16 people and injuring seven, the emergencies ministry said. The L-410 Turbolet plane crashed with 23 people on board, including a group of parachute jumpers, around 9:23 a.m. local time near the town of Menzelinsk, the ministry said, adding that seven people had been rescued …

Read more “16 Killed in Russia Plane Crash”

When Russian regulators approved the country’s own coronavirus vaccine, it was a moment of national pride, and the Pavlov family was among those who rushed to take the injection. But international health authorities have not yet given their blessing to the Sputnik V shot. So when the family from Rostov-on-Don wanted to visit the West, …

Read more “Russians Travel to Serbia for Western-Made COVID-19 Vaccines”

Britain will tell the European Union again next week that “significant change” to the Northern Ireland protocol is vital for the restoration of genuinely good relations between London and Brussels. The protocol was part of the Brexit divorce settlement Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU, but London has said it must be rewritten …

Read more “Britain Wants ‘Significant Change’ in Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol”