Europe

Support for the far-right among young voters appears to be growing in several European countries – not least in Germany, where the AfD party is hoping to secure another victory in an upcoming state election. Henry Ridgwell has more from London. (Videographer: Henry Ridgwell) …

LONDON/DAKAR — Among the dozens of Wagner mercenaries presumed dead after a lethal battle with Tuareg rebels during a desert sandstorm in Mali in July were Russian war veterans who survived tours in Ukraine, Libya and Syria, according to interviews with relatives and a review of social media data. The loss of such experienced fighters exposes dangers faced by Russian mercenary forces working for military juntas, …

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Przemysl, Poland — The top U.S. and British diplomats headed together into Ukraine on Wednesday to discuss further easing rules on firing Western weapons into Russia, whose alleged acquisition of Iranian missiles has raised new fears. In a rare joint trip, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was taking the train to Kyiv with Foreign Secretary David Lammy, whose 2-month-old Labor government has vowed to keep …

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State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy addressed Indo-Pacific security and highlighted the need to maintain the status quo on the Taiwan Strait during their U.S.-U.K. Strategic Dialogue, underscoring its global significance.  “We also discussed joint efforts to ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and freedom of navigation and overflight of the South China Sea. For …

Taipei, Taiwan — Russia says it launched massive naval and air drills Tuesday that span a huge swath of oceans and involve more than 400 naval vessels, at least 120 military aircraft and upwards of 90,000 troops.   The large-scale military exercise, dubbed “Ocean-2024,” includes forces from China and will run until September 16 with at least 15 countries invited to observe the maneuvers, according to the …

Turkey is undertaking a massive expansion of its navy to make it one of Europe’s largest naval powers. The buildup is alarming some of its neighbors, but Ankara insists it is purely defensive and meant to meet Turkey’s growing regional commitments. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

London — Google lost its final legal challenge on Tuesday against a European Union penalty for giving its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage over rivals in search results, ending a long-running antitrust case that came with a whopping fine.  The European Union’s Court of Justice upheld a lower court’s decision, rejecting the company’s appeal against the $2.7 billion penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation …

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NOWY DWOR MAZOWIECKI, Poland — The new privates received their ranks amid military pomp in a town near Warsaw where a Napoleonic fortress attests to a long military history. The group was made up of a German shepherd, a Dutch shepherd and two Belgian Malinois. The dogs — Einar, Eliot, Enzo and Emi — were bestowed with their ranks Friday as part of a new Polish …

STOCKHOLM — An exiled Iranian opposition group said Monday that its offices in Stockholm were firebombed overnight, with police saying they had opened an investigation into arson.  According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the political wing of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), the building had been hit “with several Molotov cocktails” in what the group dubbed a “terrorist attack.”  “Several windows …

beijing — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday urged visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to play a “constructive role” in improving strained ties between Bejing and the European Union.  Sanchez for his part said he hoped the EU could avoid a trade war with China, even as Brussels weighs imposing tariffs on China-manufactured electric vehicles. In their meeting, Xi also talked up deepening commercial ties …

nicosia, cyprus — Cyprus and the United States have signed a defense cooperation framework agreement that outlines ways the two countries can enhance their response to regional humanitarian crises and security concerns, including those arising from climate change. Cyprus Defense Minister Vassilis Palmas and U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander hailed the agreement Monday as another milestone in burgeoning Cypriot-U.S. ties …

london — Kate, the princess of Wales, has completed chemotherapy and will make a limited number of public appearances in the coming months, bolstering Britain’s royal family after it was rocked by the twin cancer diagnoses of the princess and King Charles III. The 42-year-old wife of Prince William on Monday released a video in which she appeared alongside her husband and children as she described …

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FRANKFURT, Germany — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agree that Russia should be included in a future peace conference aimed at ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. He called for stepped up efforts to solve the conflict. A previous peace conference June 15-16 in Switzerland ended with 78 countries expressing support for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” but otherwise left the path …

Moscow — Russia said on Sunday its forces had taken full control of a town in eastern Ukraine as Moscow’s forces advance on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk and seek to pierce the Ukrainian defensive front lines. Russian forces, which control about a fifth of Ukraine since invading in February 2022, are advancing in eastern Ukraine in an attempt to take the whole of the …

Athens, Greece — Greek opposition leader Stefanos Kasselakis was ousted by his party’s central committee Sunday via a motion of no confidence, just a year after his election to the post by party cadres who accused him of being an authoritarian and not fully ideologically aligned with the party.  After an often tense and acrimonious two-day session, the central committee of the left-wing Syriza party approved …

Many Ukrainians are hoping the outcome of the U.S. elections will help bring an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine. While some worry that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will take a softer approach on Moscow, others are concerned that under the policies of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, aid – while significant -will be slow to arrive. Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv. VOA footage …

Milan, Italy — Italy’s coast guard recovered six bodies off the coast of Sicily, believed to be some of the 21 missing from a migrant shipwreck earlier this month, Italian media reported Sunday.  The Italian coast guard said Wednesday that seven people, all male Syrian nationals, were picked up from a semi-sunken boat southwest of the island of Lampedusa after a shipwreck.  The survivors told rescuers …

Paris — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Sunday urged President Emmanuel Macron to hold a referendum on key issues such as immigration, suggesting that giving the French a direct vote might help break the political deadlock. Last week Macron appointed the center-right Michel Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who acted as the European Union’s Brexit negotiator, as prime minister, seeking to move forward …

Paris — Tens of thousands of pupils in France are going through a slightly different return to school this autumn, deprived of their mobile phones. At 180 “colleges,” the middle schools French children attend between the ages of 11 and 15, a scheme is being trialed to ban the use of mobile phones during the entire school day. The trial of the “pause numerique” (“digital pause”), …

VENICE, ITALY — Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s first English-language movie “The Room Next Door,” which tackles the hefty themes of euthanasia and climate change, won the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday. Starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, the film received an 18-minute standing ovation when it premiered at Venice earlier in the week — one of the longest in recent …