Section: KXAN (USA)
Shrinking country: Serbia struggles with population decline
BLAGOJEV KAMEN, Serbia (AP) — Uros Trainovic remembers when his small mining village in eastern Serbia was a vibrant home to 200 families, had a school of its own, a doctor and a shop. How times have changed. Now, 60-odd years later, it’s a ghost village with just eight residents. The transformation of Blagojev Kamen is not unique in a...
Brawl breaks out as Ukraine’s lawmakers debate land reform
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Ukraine’s parliament is debating a proposed law to allow sales of the country’s rich farmland, a high-tension issue that sparked a brawl among lawmakers Thursday. Proponents say that allowing sales of farmland that are currently outlawed would significantly boost Ukraine’s struggling economy. Opponents...
France’s Macron: Distancing of Russia a ‘major error’ for EU
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia of engaging in historical revisionism on World War II but said during a visit to Poland on Tuesday that a strong Europe needs to remain open to honest dialogue with Moscow. Macron addressed students and faculty members at Jagiellonian University in Krakow on the second day of...
Ukraine and separatists to pull back troops from a new area
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Ukrainian negotiators and Russia-backed separatists on Wednesday agreed on another area to disengage their troops in eastern Ukraine. The talks of between representatives of Ukraine, the separatists, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were held in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The...
Historians: Sobibor death camp photos may feature Demjanjuk
BERLIN (AP) — Historians have presented a collection of photos kept by the deputy commander of the Nazis’ Sobibor death camp that they say appears to include images of John Demjanjuk, the retired Ohio auto worker who was tried in Germany for his alleged time as a Sobibor guard. The collection unveiled Tuesday at Berlin’s Topography of...
Pompeo heads to Ukraine next week as impeachment winds down
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Ukraine next week, making his first trip to the country at the heart of President Donald Trump’s impeachment. As Trump’s Senate trial on impeachment charges continues, the State Department announced Friday that Pompeo would travel to Kiev as part of a five-nation tour of...
Belarus’ leader blasts Russia for pushing merger of 2 states
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The president of Belarus on Friday accused Moscow of pressuring his country to merge with Russia and vowed not to let it happen. Talking to workers of a paper plant in eastern Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko lambasted Russia, the country’s main provider of cheap oil and gas, for halting oil supplies in order “to dissolve...
Bulgaria charges 3 Russians in attempt to poison arms dealer
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian authorities on Thursday charged three Russian nationals with the attempted murder of the owner of a Bulgarian arms factory and two other people. The three unnamed Russians are accused of having attempted to kill the victims “in a way endangering the lives of many,” the chief prosecutor’s office said in a...
The Latest: Ukraine premier downplays resignation talk
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The Latest on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (all times local): 11:35 a.m. Ukraine’s prime minister says he is “not planning to go anywhere,” trying to tamp down “rumors” that he or his government might soon resign. Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk was initially evasive about whether he would step...
Belarus imports oil from Norway after Russia halts supplies
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus started importing oil from Norway on Tuesday after Russia, its main oil provider, suspended supplies earlier this month amid stalled talks on further strengthening economic ties between two countries. Belarusian state-run oil company Belneftekhim said its subsidiary bought 80,000 tones of crude oil from Norway, which...
