Ukraine and Russia on Wednesday exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war, in the first such swap in almost five months. Russia released 230 POWs, among them 213 soldiers and sergeants, 11 officers and six civilians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media. In exchange, Ukraine released 248 Russian military personnel in a deal brokered by … Read more
It’s been a busy year in EU policy land as lawmakers, leaders and officials raced to tie up loose ends before the European Parliament election next June, with some efforts more successful than others. The EU’s green ambitions became the center of a right-wing backlash as the real-life impact of proposed reforms started to bite. … Read more
Romania and Bulgaria will join the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone for air and sea travel in March 2024, while an opening of land borders will be discussed in the coming year, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced Wednesday. “We have a political agreement on this!” Ciolacu said in a social media post. “From March next year, … Read more
KUALA LUMPUR: Negotiations between Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officers and “Kepung Demi Palestin” protesters at the US Embassy here were in a stalemate in the early hours of Wednesday (Dec 27) morning. The negotiations started at around 1am, when a group of DBKL officers was seen arriving at the makeshift “campsite” that had been … Read more
BERLIN — Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany on Saturday rejected claims that Berlin may be pressuring Kyiv behind closed doors to reach a peace deal with Russia. The speculation has been fueled by a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel on Friday about a secret “Russia dinner” in the German embassy in Washington in late … Read more
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the way Israel is conducting its offensive against Hamas is “creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza,” in a post on X Friday night. The Portuguese diplomat issued his statement shortly after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling for increased aid deliveries to Gaza. … Read more
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Thursday the European Commission is blackmailing Hungary by withholding billions in frozen funds over rule-of-law concerns. Orbán said the blackmail is “a fact,” even admitted by the blackmailers themselves — members of the European Parliament. “In our view, Hungary fulfils all the qualities of the rule of law, and … Read more
PARIS — France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Wednesday that parts of her government’s own draft law on immigration were unconstitutional, a day after a nail-biting vote in favor of the bill which has left Emmanuel Macron’s coalition badly battered. Late on Tuesday, the National Assembly passed Macron’s flagship immigration bill that was much toughened during … Read more
DUBLIN — The Democratic Unionists dumped a lump of coal in the British government’s Christmas stocking Monday, declaring that their party will maintain its stubborn blockade of Northern Ireland’s cross-community government into the new year — a deadlock that could take billions in extra U.K. finance to break. Hopes were dashed of a pre-Christmas breakthrough … Read more
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The European Union says it’s time for the oil boss presiding over this year’s global climate talks to step up and push for a fossil fuel phaseout. Spanish Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera, who represents EU governments in the negotiations, said Sultan al-Jaber, the COP28 president and CEO of the … Read more
