Month: January 2025

Podgorica, Montenegro — Several thousand people rallied in Montenegro on Sunday demanding the resignations of top security officials over the shooting earlier this week that left 12 people dead, including two children. Chanting “Resignations” and “Killers,” protesters outside the Interior Ministry building in the capital, Podgorica, demanded that Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic and Deputy Prime Minister …

Read more “Thousands in Montenegro demand ouster of security officials over mass shooting”

Athens, Greece — The head of the Albanian Orthodox Church, who was airlifted to a hospital in Athens due to complications from a virus, is in a critical condition, the Evangelismos hospital said Sunday. Archbishop Anastasios, 95, was taken to the Greek capital Friday evening, four days after being admitted to hospital in Tirana with what …

Read more “Albanian Orthodox archbishop in critical condition”

Paris — Convoys of farmers set off Sunday to try to block roads around Paris in protest of what they say is unfair competition from overseas and excessive regulation. Farmers from France, the European Union’s biggest agricultural producer, led European-wide protests at the start of 2024, but demonstrations fizzled out as the year went on. However, …

Read more “Farmers’ convoys head for Paris to restart protest movement”

Russia said Sunday that Ukraine has launched a new counterattack in the western Kursk region aimed at repelling Russian and North Korean troops trying to retake territory that Kyiv’s forces captured last August.  The Russian defense ministry said Kyiv deployed “an assault group consisting of two tanks, a mine clearing vehicle, and twelve armored combat …

Read more “Russia: Ukraine launches new Kursk region offensive”

Vienna — Austrian People’s Party on Sunday nominated its General Secretary Christian Stocker as interim leader after the expected resignation of Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Austrian news agency APA reported.  Nehammer announced Saturday he would resign in the next few days after coalition talks with the Social Democrats collapsed.  Stocker, a lawyer and member of the Austrian …

Read more “Austrian People’s Party nominates Christian Stocker as interim leader after Nehammer resigns “

ATHENS, GREECE — Costas Simitis, former prime minister of Greece and the architect of the country’s joining the common European currency, the euro, has died at age 88, state TV ERT reported.  Simitis was taken to a hospital in the city of Corinth early Sunday morning from his holiday home west of Athens, unconscious and without …

Read more “Costas Simitis, former Greek prime minister and socialist leader, dies at 88”

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew to Florida to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday, as the key European leader sought to buttress ties with Trump before his inauguration on Jan. 20. Members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort welcomed Meloni with applause after an introduction by the president-elect, according to …

Read more “Italian Prime Minister Meloni meets with Trump at his Florida resort”

KYIV, UKRAINE — The pro-Russian breakaway Moldovan region of Transdniestria, left without Russian gas supplies no longer transiting through neighboring Ukraine, faced longer periods of rolling power cuts on Saturday, local authorities said.  Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine to central and eastern Europe stopped on New Year’s Day after a transit deal expired between the …

Read more “Moldova breakaway region faces extended blackouts after gas cutoff”

WASHINGTON — An investigation by a U.S. Senate panel has found that troubled investment bank Credit Suisse concealed information during previous inquiries into Nazi-controlled bank accounts during World War II. Tens of thousands of documents discovered during an ongoing examination have provided new proof of the existence of account holders linked to the Nazis, the Senate …

Read more “US finds more records found linking Credit Suisse, Nazi accounts”

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will embark on what is expected to be his final overseas trip in office this weekend, traveling to South Korea, Japan and France.  The State Department announced Friday that Blinken would visit Seoul, South Korean, Tokyo and Paris beginning Sunday.  In South Korea, which is in the midst of …

Read more “Blinken heads to South Korea, Japan, France”

VIENNA — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Saturday he will resign in the coming days after talks on forming a new government failed a second time.  The announcement came after the People’s Party and the Social Democrats on Saturday continued coalition talks a day after the liberal Neos party’s surprise withdrawal from discussions.  “Unfortunately, I have …

Read more “Austrian chancellor to resign after talks to form new government fail”

Russia-appointed officials in Moscow-occupied Crimea announced a regional emergency Saturday, as oil was detected on the shores of Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city. Fuel oil spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers nearly three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, close to eastern Crimea — about 250 kilometers from Sevastopol, which lies on the southwest of …

Read more “Russia-appointed officials in Crimea declare emergency; oil spill reaches Sevastopol”

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned that bullying in schools prepares students for war rather than peace, in a speech to Catholic educators gathered at the Vatican on Saturday.  Speaking to about 2,000 Italian educators and parents, Francis stressed his message against bullying, asking the audience to pledge to fight against it both at school and …

Read more “Pope Francis: Bullying at school prepares students for war, not peace”

LONDON — Prince William expressed his shock and sadness Saturday at the news of the death of his former nanny’s stepson in the New Year’s truck attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people. London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed Saturday that they are supporting the family of 31-year-old Edward Pettifer, including helping them through the process of …

Read more “Prince William saddened by death of former nanny’s stepson in New Orleans attack”

BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’s staying “cool” against critical personal comments made by Elon Musk but finds it worrying that the U.S. billionaire makes the effort to get involved in a general election by endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD. Scholz was reacting after Musk, a close ally to U.S. …

Read more “German leader worried by Musk’s support of far-right AfD”

Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Nadiya in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region and had shot down eight U.S.-made ATACMS missiles. Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports. The ministry said its air defense systems had shot down 10 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on …

Read more “Russia shoots down 8 missiles, captures Ukraine settlement, says defense ministry”

Kyiv, ukraine — Moldova faces a security crisis, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said Friday, after its separatist pro-Moscow Transdniestria region, cut off from supplies of Russian gas, closed factories, restricted central heating and imposed rolling power blackouts.  Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine to central and eastern Europe were halted on New Year’s Day after a …

Read more “Moldovan PM warns of security crisis after cutoff of Russian gas “

VIENNA — Talks on forming a new three-party government in Austria collapsed Friday as the smallest of the prospective coalition partners pulled the plug on the negotiations. The talks had dragged on since Austria’s president tasked conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer in October with putting together a new government. That decision came after all other parties refused …

Read more “Talks on new 3-party Austrian government collapse as one party leaves”

PODGORICA, Montenegro — A top-level meeting in Montenegro on Friday looked for ways to curb illegal weapons after a gunman fatally shot 12 people in a second such tragedy in less than three years in the small Balkan country. An emergency session of Montenegro’s National Security Council is expected to call for a new gun law …

Read more “Montenegro to tackle gun control after mass killing left 12 dead “

DUBAI — Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the Italian ambassador on Friday over the detention of an Iranian national wanted by the United States for his alleged role in a deadly drone strike against U.S. forces, Iranian state media reported. The summons came a day after a similar move by Italy over Iran’s arrest of Italian reporter …

Read more “Iran summons Italian ambassador over arrest of Iranian wanted by US “

KYIV, UKRAINE — A Russian drone attack towards the Ukrainian capital on Friday killed one person and wounded four in the Kyiv suburbs, local officials said. Moscow’s forces have escalated their aerial strikes across Ukraine through the first weeks of winter, including a New Year’s Day drone attack targeting central Kyiv that killed two. “One person …

Read more “Russian drone attack kills 1 in Kyiv suburbs”