Month: August 2022

The Belgian parliament’s recent decision to ratify its prisoner-exchange treaty with Iran is a grave mistake, and one which exemplifies the many downfalls of dealing with Iran’s human-rights abuses on a case-by-case basis.

An EU embargo on Russian coal imports came into effect at midnight on Thursday, as part of sanctions designed to starve Moscow of fossil-fuel revenue.

Estonia summoned Russia’s ambassador in Tallinn Wednesday to complain about violation of its airspace by a Russian helicopter Tuesday. “Estonia considers this an extremely serious and regrettable incident that is completely unacceptable,” its foreign ministry said. It made a similar complaint in June, amid mounting Russian assertiveness in the Baltic region, which has also put […]

Denmark has promised to train Ukrainian soldiers in the UK and at home as part of Western efforts to see Russia lose its invasion of Ukraine. “Denmark will support a British-led training project with 130 Danish soldiers and at the same time offer to train Ukrainian soldiers in Denmark,” its foreign ministry said Wednesday. Training […]

Greece will be more free to spend its own money and borrow on markets after exiting an “enhanced surveillance framework” on 20 August imposed by international creditors in 2018 after three bailouts worth €260bn. “A difficult chapter for our country comes to a close,” Greek finance minister Christos Staikouras said. “Greece returns to a European […]

Ambitions to ship between 2m and 5m tonnes of grain out of Ukraine each month via a safe corridor for international shipping were “achievable”, the UN has said. “We’re expecting to see a big uptick in applications for transit,” from shipping firms, senior UN official Frederick Kenney said in Istanbul Wednesday, Reuters reports. Some 12 […]

Ukrainian officials says Russia launched 120 ‘Grad’ rockets at an area around the town of Nikopol overnight killing three people and wounding seven, reports Reuters. “The enemy is concentrating its efforts on establishing full control over the territories of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions,” said Ukraine’s General Staff, in a report issued on Thursday. It […]

Some 50 people are feared to have drowned after a boat carrying 80 migrants from Turkey capsized in stormy weather off the coast of Greece Wednesday. “Protecting human life is a daily concern and our absolute priority,” Greek shipping minister Ioannis Plakiotakis said, The Guardian reports, amid ongoing coastguard efforts to seek survivors. Greece has […]

Italian far-right politician Giorgia Meloni told Italian, French, and Spanish press Wednesday that “the Italian right has handed fascism over to history for decades now” and that “we fiercely oppose any anti-democratic drift” in Italy. Meloni, who tops polls to become prime minister in September, used to be a self-avowed fascist, but blamed left-wing media […]

Sweden overtook France as the biggest net exporter of power in Europe during the first half of this year, as France shifted from a net exporter to a net importer of energy, amid structural problems in its nuclear sector. Sweden exported 16 terawatt hours (TWh), energy data analyst EnAppSys found. In addition to France, Norway […]