Section: KXAN (USA)
Surrogate-born babies stranded in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s human rights ombudswoman has appealed to authorities to find a solution for scores of infants born to surrogate mothers for foreign parents who are stranded because the country’s borders are closed under coronavirus restrictions. Ukraine has a thriving surrogate industry and is one of the few countries...
Ukraine approves law on banks in a bid for IMF aid
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has passed a law preventing former owners of nationalized or liquidated banks from regaining ownership or receiving state compensation, a move that allows the country to get $5.5 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund. The bill, which some lawmakers tried to sandbag with over 16,000 amendments, was...
Czech-Russian relations plunge amid differences over history
PRAGUE (AP) — It began with the dismantling of a statue of a Russian World War II hero and the renaming of a Prague square. Now three of the Czech capital’s mayors are under police protection, fearing they are the targets of a Russian assassin carrying a deadly toxin, and Russian-Czech relations are in crisis. “There’s a Russian here...
Serb leader praises Russian arms 21 years after NATO bombing
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s president thanked Russia on Saturday for making the country’s military “10 times” stronger than when it was bombed by NATO in 1999. Aleksandar Vucic spoke Saturday while visiting an air defense unit near Belgrade that has recently been equipped with the Russian Pantsir-S1 system, which is designed to...
Top diplomats discuss peace plans for eastern Ukraine
MOSCOW (AP) — Top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany discussed ways to advance the peace process for eastern Ukraine in Thursday’s call, but failed to achieve any tangible progress. The call follows a December summit in Paris where the leaders of the four nations agreed to make additional steps toward ending the fighting...
Belarus holds day of civic labor despite rising virus cases
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of state employees in Belarus, including doctors and nurses, took part in a government-decreed national day of civic labor Saturday despite worries about the country’s sharply rising coronavirus infections. The work, including painting, tree-planting and general clean-ups, was ordered by President...
Ex-president of Georgia accepts top Cabinet job in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Georgia’s former president on Friday accepted a top Cabinet job in Ukraine — a move that angered his home country. Mikheil Saakashvili, who served as Georgia’s president from 2004-2013, told reporters that he accepted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s offer to become a deputy prime minister in charge...
UN rejects 2 COVID-19 resolutions from Russia, Saudi Arabia
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. officials said the General Assembly rejected two resolutions on the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday, one from Russia and one from Saudi Arabia. It was the second defeat for a Russian resolution on COVID-19 by the 193-member world body. Under voting rules instituted because the assembly isn’t holding meetings during...
Orthodox churches empty for Easter amid pandemic
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Orthodox priests in much of Europe held Easter services in churches empty of parishoners because of restrictions imposed to block the spread of coronavirus. In Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kyiv, priests at the services that began late Saturday night wore the elaborate robes that characterize Orthodoxy’s most important...
New wildfires in area round Ukraine’s Chernobyl plant
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Three new wildfires have started in the radiation-contaminated evacuation zone around Ukraine’s wrecked Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident 34 years ago, emergency officials said Thursday. A statement from the Emergencies Ministry said the fires were small and posed no...
