Month: May 2024

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ROME — Pope Francis pressed his campaign Friday to urge Italians to have children, calling for long-term policies to help families and warning that the country’s demographic crisis was threatening the future. “The number of births is the first indicator of the hope of a people,” Francis told an annual gathering of pro-family groups. “Without children …

Read more “Pope urges Italians to have babies as a measure of hope for future”

Chinese President Xi Jinping departed Hungary Friday after a five-day trip to Europe. Xi pledged to work with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a new “multipolar world order.” As Henry Ridgwell reports, analysts say Xi wants to exploit the West’s different approaches to Beijing. …

BARCELONA, Spain — Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia’s fugitive former leader, stares confidently out the backseat window of a car, the sun illuminating his gaze in a campaign poster for Sunday’s critical elections in the northeastern Spanish region. The image plays on another one imagined from six years prior when Puigdemont hid in the trunk of a car …

Read more “Election will show how far has Spain moved past Catalonia’s secession crisis”

london — Chinese President Xi Jinping departed Hungary on Friday after a five-day trip to Europe, his first visit to the continent in five years. Xi pledged to work with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a new “multipolar world order.” Analysts say Beijing is courting its allies in Eastern Europe to exploit Western divisions. Xi …

Read more “China’s Xi courts European allies, seeks to exploit Western divisions, analysts say”

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — Vietnamese officials are hopefully anticipating an unannounced visit to Hanoi by Russian President Vladimir Putin, possibly as early as next week on his way to Beijing for meetings with Chinese leaders. Experts say such a visit would allow the Russian leader to show that Western efforts to isolate his government …

Read more “Putin may visit Vietnam as Hanoi aims to secure power balance”

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belgrade, serbia — Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Serbia this week brought out a crowd waving Serbian and Chinese flags and praising the “ironclad” friendship of two countries. Elsewhere in the West, it raised many questions about Serbia’s future role in Europe.  Analysts say that was exactly the idea. At a time of global rivalry …

Read more “Analysis: Is the West losing a battle with China for Serbia’s heart? “

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WASHINGTON — North Macedonia elected its first woman president Wednesday as the ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedonia suffered historic losses in presidential and parliamentary elections. With nearly all the votes counted, university professor Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, the presidential candidate of the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE opposition party, won nearly 65% of the vote, with incumbent President Stevo Pendarovski …

Read more “North Macedonia’s right-wing opposition scores victory in elections”

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visits Turkey on May 13 for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The leaders hope to ease tensions that have brought the two NATO members close to armed confrontation several times in recent years. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. Camera: Berke Bas. …

Athens — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has officially dedicated an ancient Byzantine church as a mosque, drawing a protest from Greece. Many Greeks want a summit scheduled for Monday in Ankara between Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to be canceled.  Greece’s criticism centers on the formal opening of the Church of St. Saviour …

Read more “Greece criticizes Turkey for converting ancient church to mosque”

In mid-April, the United States deployed a Tomahawk missile system to the Philippines, a move condemned by both Russia and China. The medium-range launcher can reach targets up to 1,600 kilometers away. Now, Russia says it plans to ramp up its production of similar missile systems.  Kateryna Besedina has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. …

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Warsaw, Poland — Poland’s defense minister said Thursday his country is strengthening the metal barrier along its border with Belarus to deter illegal migration. “We are mending the barrier on the Polish-Belarusian border, we are strengthening this barrier,” Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on private Radio Zet. “The spending on these purposes is the highest in [Poland’s] history.” …

Read more “Poland bolstering its border with Belarus to deter illegal migration”

The European Union has agreed in principle to a deal that would use the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to supply weapons for Ukraine. As Henry Ridgwell reports, allies in Washington want the EU to go much further …

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