Europe

The British government said on Thursday it had imposed its biggest sanctions package in 18 months against Russia, targeting people involved in the Ukraine war, African mercenary groups and a nerve agent attack on British soil. The foreign ministry said it had sanctioned 56 entities and individuals, aiming to hurt Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort and Russia’s “malign activity globally.” Among them were 10 …

CHICAGO — For the second year in a row, Earth will almost certainly be the hottest it’s ever been. And for the first time, the globe this year reached more than 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming compared to the pre-industrial average, the European climate agency Copernicus said Thursday. “It’s this relentless nature of the warming that I think is worrying,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus. …

Ukrainian officials reported damage to residential buildings Thursday after overnight Russian drone attacks, while South Korea’s president said he would not rule out sending weapons to Ukrainian forces. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that the Russian attack damaged houses and apartment buildings in five districts in the Ukrainian capital. Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said Ukrainian air defenses shot …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was among the first world leaders to congratulate newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump. On the streets of Ukraine’s capital, many Ukrainians say they fear that Trump may fulfill a campaign promise to end the war by forcing them into a settlement that will favor Moscow. For VOA, Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv. …

London — U.S. allies in Europe have congratulated President-elect Donald Trump following his comprehensive victory in Tuesday’s presidential election, despite deep concerns across the continent over what his second term may mean for transatlantic relations. In Britain, the so-called “special relationship” with America has long been treasured. However, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer got off to a difficult start with the Trump team last month after …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday was quick to welcome Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory. The Turkish leader is eager to resume the close ties he had with the White House during Trump’s first term in office. Under U.S. President Joe Biden, relations between Ankara and Washington had become frosty. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

PARIS — A century of straw polls at the iconic Harry’s Bar in Paris have accurately called almost every U.S. election. This November was no different. The tallies displayed on the bar’s window on a chilly Wednesday morning were another reminder of Donald Trump’s decisive victory — with uncertain consequences for France and Europe. Even as some French celebrate the former president’s comeback to the White …

Over 160,000 Ukrainians fled their home country and came to the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia since the Russian invasion. Physicians were among the 50 thousand or so refugees who came to Latvia. Vladislavs Andrejevs spoke with some of them in Riga. Anna Rice narrates his story. (Camera: Vladislavs Andrejevs ; Produced by Yuriy Zakrevskiy) …

The FBI said more than 50 election sites across five battleground states received hoax bomb emails on Election Day in the U.S., and the emails in four of these states came from a Russian domain. None of the threats sent to polling sites in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona were deemed credible, and while causing a brief disruption, they did not affect the voting, …

Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it shot down 38 of the 63 aerial drones that Russian forces launched in overnight attacks. The Ukrainian air force said it intercepted the drones over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zhytomyr and Zaporizhzhia regions. Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, said on Telegram that Russia’s attack damaged energy infrastructure, but did not hurt anyone. Russia’s Defense Ministry …

berlin — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition faces a make-or-break moment on Wednesday as leaders of the three parties convene to forge compromises between their differing visions on rescuing the economy from decline. Relations between Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and free-market Free Democrats (FDP) have sunk to new lows over the past week as they aired their respective strategies without consulting one another. …

In Turkey, listeners of Acik Radyo are protesting after regulators revoked the Istanbul-based station’s license. For nearly 30 years, Acik sought to bridge the country’s divides. Analysts say the action against it is part of a wider government media crackdown. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

NOVI SAD, Serbia — Protesters threw flares and red paint Tuesday on the City Hall building in the Serbian city of Novi Sad in rage over last week’s collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station that killed 14 people. Police responded by firing tear gas canisters.  The protesters surrounded the building in central Novi Sad, breaking windows and throwing stones and other objects despite …

MALMO, Sweden — A Swedish court sentenced a far-right politician Tuesday to four months in jail for two counts of “incitement against an ethnic group” after making hateful comments at political rallies two years ago.  The Danish-Swedish 42-year-old man, who was not named but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, had been …

SEDAVI, Spain — Francisco Murgui went out to try to salvage his motorbike when the water started to rise.  He never came back.  One week after catastrophic flooding devastated eastern Spain, Maria Murgui still holds out hope that her father is alive and among the unknown number of the missing.  “He was like many people in town who went out to get their car or motorbike …

London — Brazilian police official Valdecy Urquiza will be the next chief of Interpol, the global police organization announced Tuesday. Urquiza was elected secretary-general by a vote of Interpol’s general assembly at its meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, and will take up the post when the gathering ends on Thursday. Currently Interpol’s vice president for the Americas, Urquiza is the first chief of the Lyon, France-based organization …

Russia will launch two Iranian satellites into orbit using a Soyuz launcher on Tuesday, Iran’s ambassador to Moscow said Monday, as the two U.S.-sanctioned countries deepen their scientific relationship.  “In continuation of the development of Iran-Russia scientific and technological cooperation, two Iranian satellites, Kowsar and Hodhod, will be launched to a 500 km orbit of Earth,” Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said in a …

Indonesia and Russia began their first-ever joint naval exercises Monday in the Java Sea. These bilateral drills work to support an Indonesian foreign policy agenda that prioritizes nonalignment in the face of conflict between world powers. The drills have been divided into two phases and will take place over the course of five days near Indonesia’s Surabaya city, east of the capital, Jakarta. In the …

belgrade, serbia — Serbia’s construction minister said Monday he was stepping down days after a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station, killing 14 people and severely injuring three. Minister Goran Vesic announced his resignation at a hastily called press conference as anger mounted in the Balkan country over the fatal collapse that happened just before noon on Friday in the northern city of Novi Sad. …

Tbilisi, Georgia — Thousands of opposition supporters rallied outside Georgia’s parliament for the second straight Monday to denounce the Oct. 26 election as illegitimate after the ruling party was declared the winner amid allegations of vote-rigging helped by Russia. The protesters, who waved Georgian and European Union flags, demanded a new parliamentary election under international supervision and an investigation of the alleged ballot irregularities. Opposition leaders …

Seoul, South Korea — South Korea and the European Union on Monday jointly condemned North Korea’s supply of weaponry to Moscow and demanded that it withdraw troops it has sent as Russia wages war against Ukraine. The EU and South Korea were holding their first “Strategic Dialogue” meeting in Seoul, shortly after Washington and Seoul sounded the alarm about North Korea sending soldiers to help Russia. …

Paris — The trial of eight people in Paris on terrorism charges started on Monday over the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, who was killed by an Islamic extremist after showing caricatures of Islam’s prophet to his middle school students for a lesson on freedom of expression. Paty’s shocking death left an imprint on France, and several schools are now named after him. Paty was killed …

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkey stripped three elected pro-Kurdish mayors of their posts in southeastern cities on Monday, for convictions and charges on terrorism-related offenses, the interior ministry said, appointing state officials in their places instead. Local governors replaced the mayors in the provincial centers of Mardin and Batman, while the mayor of Halfeti in Sanliurfa province was also unseated, it said. All belonged to the pro-Kurdish …

PARIS — Seven French families have filed a lawsuit against social media giant TikTok, accusing the platform of exposing their adolescent children to harmful content that led to two of them taking their own lives at 15, their lawyer said on Monday. The lawsuit alleges TikTok’s algorithm exposed the seven teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion told broadcaster franceinfo. The …