Month: February 2024

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BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia on Sunday sent a protest note after Croatia’s foreign minister described Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic as a Russian “satellite” in the Balkans. It was the latest spat between the two neighbors that have been at odds for most of the time since the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Croatian …

Read more “Serbia Protests After Croatian Foreign Minister Calls Vucic ‘Russian Stooge’ “

Warsaw, Poland — Polish farmers on Sunday blocked a major highway into Germany in the latest such protest against EU regulations and taxes. Farmers across Europe have been protesting for weeks over what they say are excessively restrictive environmental rules, competition from cheap imports from outside the European Union and low incomes. On Sunday, farmers from …

Read more “Polish Farmers Block Key Road Into Germany “

TALLINN, Estonia — Polls opened Sunday in Belarus’ tightly controlled parliamentary and local elections that are set to cement the steely rule of the country’s authoritarian leader, despite calls for a boycott from the opposition, which dismissed the balloting as a “senseless farce.” President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for nearly …

Read more “Belarusians Vote in Tightly Controlled Election; Opposition Calls for Boycott”

VALENCIA, Spain — The death toll from a dramatic fire that left two residential buildings charred in the Spanish city of Valencia rose to 10 Saturday after authorities announced they had located the remains of what they believed was the last missing person. Forensic police found the 10th victim inside the scorched building, national government delegate …

Read more “Police Find 10th Body in Charred Spanish Apartment Block”

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london — The U.K.’s governing Conservative Party has suspended ties with one if its lawmakers after he accused London Mayor Sadiq Khan of being controlled by Islamists, as tensions over the Israel-Hamas war roil British politics.  The party said Saturday that Lee Anderson was suspended after he refused to apologize for remarks made about Khan in …

Read more “UK Lawmaker Suspended After Accusing London Mayor of Being Controlled by Islamists”

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PARIS — A strike by staff at the Eiffel Tower has ended, the company that runs one of the most visited tourist sites in the world said in a statement Saturday.  The tower will reopen Sunday, the Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, or SETE, which is owned by Paris City Hall, said.  Workers at the …

Read more “Eiffel Tower Staff Strike Ends; Site to Reopen Sunday”

LONDON — A World War II-era bomb whose discovery prompted one of the largest peacetime evacuations in British history has been detonated at sea, the Ministry of Defense said Saturday. The 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) explosive was discovered Tuesday in the backyard of a home in Plymouth, a port city on the southwestern coast of Britain. More than …

Read more “WWII-Era Bomb Prompts One of Largest Peacetime Evacuations in UK History”

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has canceled an audience scheduled for Saturday as a precaution after coming down with a mild case of the flu, the Vatican press office said in a short statement without adding further details. Francis was scheduled to meet with Rome deacons in the morning. Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said later Saturday …

Read more “Pope Francis Cancels Meeting With Rome Deacons Due to Mild Flu”

Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv on the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. …

GENEVA — The two-year-old Ukraine war is causing widespread suffering, anxiety and distress among affected children, many of whom have been separated from their families and friends, had schooling disrupted and lived for months in cold underground bunkers, a UNICEF spokesman told VOA Wednesday. “Two years of this war is wreaking havoc on children’s mental health …

Read more “UNICEF Says Ukraine War Wreaks Havoc on Children’s Mental Health”

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TALLINN, Estonia — Earlier this month, when Tucker Carlson asked Vladimir Putin about his reasons for invading Ukraine two years ago, Putin gave him a lecture on Russian history. The 71-year-old Russian leader spent more than 20 minutes showering a baffled Carlson with dates and names going back to the ninth century. Putin even gave him …

Read more “Kremlin Weaponizes Russian History To Justify War in Ukraine”

KYIV, Ukraine — The future looks bleak for war-weary Ukraine: It is beset by shortages in soldiers and ammunition, as well as doubts about the supply of Western aid. Ukrainian forces also face a Russian enemy that has recently seized the initiative on the battlefield. Two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion captured nearly a quarter of …

Read more “Questions Abound on Whether Kyiv Can Sustain Fight Against Russia”

PARIS — Angry farmers were back in Paris on their tractors in a new protest Friday demanding more government support and simpler regulations, on the eve of a major agricultural fair in the French capital. Dozens of tractors drove peacefully into Paris carrying flags from Rural Coordination, the farmers’ union that staged the protest. The protesters …

Read more “Angry French Farmers With Tractors Hold Another Paris Protest”

pentagon — The U.S. military has been forced to dip into its own funding to cover American training of Ukrainian forces, a strategy that could leave the Army short on finances in Europe as the Russian war on Ukraine enters its third year. “U.S. Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) is currently paying to fund Ukraine training …

Read more “US Army in Europe Dips Into Own Funds to Cover Ukraine Training “