Travels News
The European Union’s top diplomat said Monday that he has ordered the suspension of combat training for soldiers in Mali until he receives guarantees from the government there that the trainees will not be working with Russian mercenaries. Rebel Malian troops have launched two military coups in recent years. The junta has postponed elections meant …
Read more “EU Freezes Some Mali Army Training Over Mercenary Concerns”
As the Ukraine crisis continues, the West is rethinking its dependence on Russian energy, analysts say. According to Russian thinking, Europe’s energy dependence on Moscow would prevent it from interfering with Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Yet on February 22, two days before the invasion, Germany halted the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas …
Read more “Analysis: Ukraine Crisis Reshaping Global Energy Flows”
The European Commission is set to delay the publication of proposals on sustainable farming and nature that were expected this week, with the impact of the war in Ukraine on food supply leading some countries to question the European Union’s environmental push. The EU’s “Green Deal” is overhauling all sectors, including agriculture, which produces roughly …
Read more “Ukraine War Delays EU Sustainable Farming Proposals”
While much of the world is focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, analysts warn that nations should not ignore Islamist militants, who are increasing attacks in Africa’s Sahel region and spreading to West Africa’s coastal states. Since 2020, terror groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida have carried out attacks against Ivorian forces. In response …
Read more “International Community Trains Ivorian Forces in Preparation for Terror Threat”
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Anhelina sat and prayed in the basement of her home in Bucha after Russian forces overran her small town north of Kyiv this month after fierce fighting. “There was no light, water, or gas. It was impossible to go out because they shoot. People were being shot around the house, which is a terrible sound, …
Read more “Life Under Russian Occupation: Hunger, Fear and Abductions “
OSLO — Norway’s Equinor has shut its Snorre B oil platform as a precautionary measure following an earthquake in the North Sea, although no damage has been reported so far, the company said Monday. It was not yet clear when Snorre B, which produces between 30,000-35,000 barrels per day of oil, could resume normal operation, …
Read more “Norway’s Equinor Shuts Snorre B Oil Platform As Precaution After Earthquake”
A critical week for diplomacy, as US President Joe Biden heads to Europe for a special NATO summit aimed at defusing the conflict in Ukraine and imposing more consequences on Russia for invading their Western neighbor. European nations fear this conflict could spread into their territory. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington, …
Read more “Biden Heads to Europe to Meet with NATO, EU, G7 Heads Over Ukraine”
Forced civilian deportations from Ukraine’s besieged port town of Mariupol to Russia are “unconscionable,” U.S. officials said Sunday after authorities in Kyiv and Mariupol’s mayor accused Moscow of transporting thousands of people against their will. The claims are unverified so far but earlier this month Kyiv rejected an offer from Moscow to create “humanitarian corridors” …
Government says Russian invasion is a threat to international rules-based order …
Zelenskyy says he’s ready for negotiations with Putin …
Russia has given Ukraine until the early hours of Monday to surrender the besieged city of Mariupol, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is ready for peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, a short time later, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk rejected the ultimatum. “There can be no talk of any …
Read more “Russia Gives Ukraine Ultimatum to Surrender Mariupol”
Alona Fartukhova has been coming to Berlin’s Ukrainian Orthodox Christian community every day since she arrived in Germany five days ago from war-torn Kyiv. The 20-year-old refugee has been attending daily prayers for peace and helped organize donations for her compatriots back home. On Sunday, Fartukhova joined dozens of other Ukrainian worshippers at a red …
Read more “Across Europe, Ukrainian Exiles Pray for Peace Back Home”
The Russian editor who protested Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine during a state TV news broadcast called Sunday for other Russians to speak out against the “gruesome war.” While working for Channel One television in Moscow, Marina Ovsyannikova barged onto the set of an evening newscast Monday, holding a poster reading “No War.” She was subsequently …
Read more “Moscow TV War Protester Urges Other Russians to Speak Up”
India is considering establishing a payment mechanism in local currencies to allow it to continue trade with Russia, which has been hit with Western sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine. New Delhi is proceeding with purchases of Russian crude at discounted prices despite pressure from the United States. The state-run Indian Oil Corp. …
Read more “Amid Western Sanctions, India Explores Rupee-Ruble Mechanism for Trade with Russia “
A car slammed at high speed into carnival revelers in a small town in southern Belgium early Sunday, killing six people and leaving 10 more with life-threatening injuries. Several dozen were more lightly injured. “What should have been a great party turned into a tragedy,” said Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden. The prosecutor’s office said …
Read more “Car Runs into Carnival Revelers in Belgium, Killing 6”
There’s no room in the morgue at Mazyr. It’s filled with the bodies of Russian soldiers. At one hospital in this Belarusian city about 60 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, the hallways and wards are filled with the sounds of soldiers moaning from their battlefield wounds. At the main train station, Russian soldiers have …
Read more “In Belarusian Morgues and Hospitals, Clues to Russian Military Losses in Ukraine “
One of Europe’s biggest iron and steel works, Azovstal, has been badly damaged as Russian forces lay siege to the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, officials said Sunday. “One of the biggest metallurgic plants in #Europe destroyed. The economic losses for #Ukraine are huge. The environment is devastated,” tweeted Ukrainian lawmaker Lesia Vasylenko. Vasylenko posted …
Read more “One Of Europe’s Biggest Steel Works Damaged in Ukraine’s Mariupol”
Three companies have lodged a complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft, accusing the U.S. technology giant of anti-competitive practices in its cloud services, sources told AFP on Saturday, confirming media reports. Microsoft is “undermining fair competition and limiting the choice of consumers” in the computing cloud services market, said one of the three, French …
Read more “Microsoft Faces Anti-Competition Complaint in Europe”
When three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station wearing yellow flight suits with blue accents, some saw a message in them wearing the colors of the Ukrainian flag. They shot that down on Saturday. Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev said each crew picks the color of the flight suits about six months before launch because …
Read more “Russian Cosmonauts: Suits Not Inspired by Ukrainian Flag”
Pope Francis released his long-awaited reform program of the Holy See bureaucracy Saturday that envisions greater decision-making roles for the laity and gives new institutional weight to efforts to fight clerical sex abuse. The 54-page text, titled Praedicate Evanglium, or Proclaiming the Gospel, replaces the founding constitution Pastor Bonus that St. John Paul II wrote …
Read more “Pope Releases Vatican Reform, Gives Weight to Fighting Abuse”
Hoping to restore some normalcy after fleeing the war in Ukraine, thousands of refugees waited in lines in the Polish capital of Warsaw to receive local identification papers that will allow them to move on with their lives. The refugees started queuing by Warsaw’s National Stadium overnight …
Katya Hill tried to talk her brother out of it. She urged Jimmy Hill to postpone his trip to Ukraine as she saw reports of Russian tanks lining up at the border. But he needed to help his longtime partner, who has been suffering from progressive multiple sclerosis. “He said, ‘I don’t know what I …
Read more “American Killed in Ukraine Flew Into War to Help Sick Partner”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow in a video address released Saturday, as Russia reported its first hypersonic missile strike on Ukrainian territory. “The time has come for a meeting, it is time to talk,” Zelenskyy said. “The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, …