Month: July 2024

NICE, France — At just 28 years old, Jordan Bardella has helped make the far-right National Rally the strongest political force in France. And now he could become the country’s youngest prime minister. After voters propelled Marine Le Pen’s National Rally to a strong lead in the first round of snap legislative elections on June 30, …

Read more “Bardella, 28, could become youngest French prime minister”

PARIS — Voting has begun in mainland France on Sunday in pivotal runoff elections that could hand a historic victory to Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and its inward-looking, anti-immigrant vision — or produce a hung parliament and years of political deadlock. French President Emmanuel Macron took a huge gamble in dissolving parliament and calling …

Read more “France votes in key elections that could see a historic far-right win or hung parliament”

Washington — The NATO summit scheduled for this week will include a discussion among the allies about strengthening security ties with South Korea and Japan against deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, experts said. The leaders of 32 NATO members will convene in Washington July 9 to 11 to discuss ways to provide continued …

Read more “NATO to discuss Russia-North Korea military cooperation”

Trollstigen, Norway — Far from her home in the tourist hotspot of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Cati Padilla is one of the growing number of travelers escaping heatwaves for cooler holidays in Nordic countries. Countries like Norway and Sweden in northern Europe are now promoting “coolcations” to attract visitors to their temperate climates. Why leave the Canaries …

Read more “Tourists seek out Nordic holidays to keep cool”

paris — Photos of blood-red hands on a Holocaust memorial. Caskets at the Eiffel Tower. A fake French military recruitment drive calling for soldiers in Ukraine, and major French news sites improbably registered in an obscure Pacific territory, population 15,000. All are part of disinformation campaigns orchestrated out of Russia and targeting France, according to French …

Read more “Russian-linked cybercampaigns focus on Olympics, French elections”

PARIS — French voters face a decisive choice Sunday in the runoff of snap parliamentary elections that could produce the country’s first far-right government since the World War II Nazi occupation — or no majority emerging at all.  Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, nationalist party National Rally stands a chance of winning a legislative majority for the …

Read more “French voters head to polls Sunday”

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Berlin — The German army will end operations at its air base in Niger by August 31 following the breakdown of talks with the Sahel country’s ruling junta, Germany’s defense ministry said Saturday.  All Bundeswehr soldiers stationed at the base will be withdrawn by August 31 and German military cooperation with Niger will end, the ministry …

Read more “German army to vacate Niger air base in August”

HAMBURG, Germany — He has a broken nose that requires him to wear a vision-limiting face mask. He is managing fitness issues stemming from the end of the club season. He has scored only one goal — from the penalty spot.  The European Championship is hardly going as planned for Kylian Mbappé, and he knows it.  …

Read more “Kylian Mbappé is enduring a tough Euro 2024”

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that he is scrapping a controversial Conservative policy to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda as he vowed to deliver on voters’ mandate for change, though he warned it will not happen quickly. “The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started,” Starmer said in his first news …

Read more “New UK PM says Rwanda deportation plan is ‘dead and buried’”

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KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched an overnight drone attack across Ukraine on Saturday, hitting an energy facility in the Sumy region in the northeast of the country, officials said. Ukrainian mobile drone hunter groups and air defense units shot down 24 of the 27 Russian drones fired on 12 regions, the air force said. National grid …

Read more “Russian drone attack on Ukraine hits energy facility in Sumy region”

LONDON — Newly elected British prime minister Keir Starmer on Saturday began his first full day in charge with a meeting of his Cabinet after his Labour party’s landslide election win ended 14 years of Conservative rule. Starmer held his first Cabinet meeting at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT), with Britain’s first woman finance minister Rachel Reeves …

Read more “Starmer begins Britain ‘rebuild’ after landslide election win”

BUCHAREST, Romania — A court in Romania’s capital ruled Friday that social media influencer Andrew Tate can leave Romania but must remain within the European Union as he awaits trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The Bucharest Tribunal’s decision to allow Tate, 37, to leave the …

Read more “Court: Social media influencer can leave Romania as he awaits trial”

Washington — The United States will host a NATO summit in Washington next week, at which more military support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing invasion will top the agenda.  Douglas Jones, deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, told VOA earlier this week that NATO will put forward “concrete …

Read more “Retired General Breedlove says NATO must not capitulate to Russia”