Ukraine inches closer to EU dream after decade of war

Ukraine inches closer to EU dream after decade of war
The European Union agreed Friday, June 21, 2024, to start membership negotiations with embattled Ukraine and Moldova, another step in the nations’ long journey to move closer to the West and mute Russia’s influence. (AP)
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Updated 24 June 2024
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Ukraine inches closer to EU dream after decade of war

Ukraine inches closer to EU dream after decade of war
  • EU to launch accession talks with Ukraine on Tuesday
  • Start will cap Kyiv’s long campaign for closer ties

KYIV: A veteran of Ukraine’s 2014 revolution who is now fighting Russian forces, Yehor Sobolev knows the price of Kyiv’s decade-long drive to join the European Union as well as anyone.
Having backed tough reforms as a lawmaker after the pro-democracy uprising 10 years ago, he says he will look on proudly from the front as formal accession talks open on Tuesday.
“We Ukrainians know how to fulfil our dreams,” said the 47-year-old deputy commander of a special army unit.
The launch of talks, though largely ceremonial, is an important step for a nation that has spilled blood and pushed through the reforms required in its pursuit of EU membership.
“Ukraine is returning to Europe, where it has belonged for centuries, as a full-fledged member of the European community,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.
Kyiv filed its request to join the EU days after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. It sees membership as validation of its fight to embrace European values.
It now faces a lengthy path to accession, and needs to overhaul a bureaucracy still riddled with vestiges of Soviet days.
The task will be complicated by the war with Russia that has no end in sight, with Ukrainian towns and cities under constant threat of Russian air strikes that have killed many civilians as well as soldiers, forced millions from their homes and damaged critical and energy infrastructure.
In many ways, Sobolev’s story is a picture of Ukraine’s trajectory over the past decade.
He was a prominent figure in the Maidan revolution that toppled a Russia-backed leader after protests triggered by him breaking a promise to develop closer ties with the EU.
Sobolev later worked on legislation that formed the foundation of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure, central to securing financial aid and backing for Kyiv’s integration with the EU.
He also co-authored a law aimed at erasing traces of Ukraine’s Soviet legacy and Russian influence by paving the way for the renaming of thousands of streets, towns and cities, and the removal of monuments.
In 2021, Sobolev donned a uniform and rose from a rank-and-file Ukrainian soldier to officer, as Russia broadened a war that Kyiv says began in 2014 after Moscow seized the Crimea peninsula and fueled an insurgency in the east.
“The top corrupt officials that we dealt with on the Maidan are the same kinds of leaders of the ‘Russian world’ like (President Vladimir) Putin,” he said.
“So for me it’s one war.”

LONG ROAD AHEAD
The accession talks are expected to start at a ministerial meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday, days before Hungary, which has closer ties to Russia than other member states, takes over the EU’s six-month rotating presidency.
Ukraine cleared initial hurdles to accession in December by showing progress in fighting corruption and rebuilding its judiciary, among other areas the EU considers fundamental.
Now it must map out a more detailed plan to achieve lasting results that will be measured by a range of benchmarks, said Leonid Litra of the New Europe Center, a think tank in Kyiv.
It will later move on to fields ranging from agriculture and taxation to tackling climate change.
“If you want to have a merit-based and predictable process, you need to get a very clear to-do list,” he said.
Sobolev, a father of four, knows the road ahead will not be easy, citing old mentalities that are still firmly rooted in some parts of government.
But Ukrainians are likely become “much more serious students” of good governance as the prospect of joining the 27-nation bloc comes closer into focus, he said.
“In this sense, war forces a society to grow up,” he said.


UK renationalizes first train operator under Labour reforms

Updated 16 sec ago
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UK renationalizes first train operator under Labour reforms

UK renationalizes first train operator under Labour reforms
LONDON: A private train operator servicing parts of southern England, including London, on Sunday became the first to be returned to public ownership under a government plan to renationalize Britain’s much-maligned railways.
All UK rail operators are due to be renationalized within the next two years in a key policy launched by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following his Labour party’s return to government last July after 14 years in opposition.
“South Western Railway is now under public ownership. And this is just the start,” Starmer said on X, formerly Twitter, naming the service kickstarting his government’s plan.
He vowed the renationalization “will put passengers first,” with “better services, with simpler ticketing, on more comfortable trains.”
Train passengers in Britain suffer from frequent cancelations, in addition to high ticket prices and regular confusion over which services they can be used on.
The privatization of rail operations took place in the mid-1990s under the Conservative prime minister of the time, John Major, but the rail network remained public, run by Network Rail.
Four of the 14 operators in England are already run by the state owing to poor performance in recent years, but this was originally meant to be a temporary fix before a return to the private sector.
Labour triumphed over the Conservative party in elections last year, with its manifesto including promises to fix the country’s ailing transport services.
Legislation was approved in November to bring rail operators into public ownership when the private companies’ contracts expire — or sooner in the event of poor management — and be managed by “Great British Railways.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said in a statement that will end “30 years of fragmentation,” but warned that “change isn’t going to happen overnight.”


“We’ve always been clear that public ownership isn’t a silver bullet, but we are really firing this starting gun in that race for a truly 21st-century railway, and that does mean refocusing away from private profit and toward the public good,” she added.
In an example of how passengers might not immediately notice much difference, South Western’s first service under public ownership on Sunday was set to include a rail replacement bus because of engineering work.
Government figures show that the equivalent of four percent of train services in Britain were canceled in the year to April 26.
The rate was three percent for South Western.
Rail unions — which have staged a stream of strikes in recent years over pay and conditions due to a cost-of-living crisis — welcomed the state takeover.
“We’re delighted that Britain’s railways are being brought back where they belong — into the public sector,” said Mick Whelan, general secretary of union Aslef.
“Everyone in the rail industry knows that privatization... didn’t, and doesn’t, work,” he added.
Two operators serving towns and cities in southeastern and eastern England are next to be brought back into public ownership by late 2025.
All the current contracts are set to expire by 2027.
UK media reported that the renationalization of South Western means a third of journeys are now on publicly owned services.
The government has said renationalization will save up to £150 million ($200 million) per year because it will no longer have to pay compensation fees to rail operators.
The main rail operators in Scotland and Wales, where transport policy is handled by the devolved administrations in Edinburgh and Cardiff, are also state-owned.

Man killed by automatic gunfire in French city of Dijon

Man killed by automatic gunfire in French city of Dijon
Updated 25 May 2025
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Man killed by automatic gunfire in French city of Dijon

Man killed by automatic gunfire in French city of Dijon
  • The police criminal investigation unit determined the shooter
  • The southern Chenove district where the killing occurred was known for drug trafficking

LYON: A 29-year-old man was fatally shot overnight in the eastern French city of Dijon, the local prosecutor said on Sunday, adding that a gangland killing was suspected.
The southern Chenove district where the killing occurred was known for drug trafficking, the prosecutor, Olivier Caracotch, said in a statement.
“A dozen shell casings used by an automatic weapon” were found in the street where the killing took place, he said.
Nearby vehicles and a third-floor apartment were hit by some of the shots, but there were no other casualties, he said.
The police criminal investigation unit determined the shooter had approached a group that included the victim around midnight, opened fire, then escaped by car, Caracotch said.
The man killed lived in the city and had no police record for drug-related crimes, he said, adding that the investigation opened was for organized gang murder and criminal association.


Australia airdrops supplies to farmers stranded by floods

Australia airdrops supplies to farmers stranded by floods
Updated 25 May 2025
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Australia airdrops supplies to farmers stranded by floods

Australia airdrops supplies to farmers stranded by floods
  • Recovery is under way in the mid-north coast region of New South Wales state after days of flooding
  • About 32,000 residents of Australia’s most populous state remained isolated due to floodwaters

GHINNI GHINNI, Australia: Helicopters were airdropping animal feed on Sunday to farmers in Australia stranded by floods that have killed five and isolated tens of thousands in the country’s southeast.
Recovery was under way in the mid-north coast region of New South Wales state after days of flooding cut off towns, swept away livestock and destroyed homes. At least 10,000 properties may have been damaged in the floods, which were sparked by days of incessant rain, authorities estimate.
The floodwaters “trashed” Dan Patch’s house in rural Ghinni Ghinni near hard-hit Taree, and some cattle on the property have gone without food for days, he said.
“It’s the worst we’ve ever seen,” Patch told Reuters. “It’s the worst everybody’s seen around this area.”
About 32,000 residents of Australia’s most populous state remained isolated due to floodwaters that were slowly starting to recede, the state’s Emergency Services posted on the X platform.
“The New South Wales government is providing emergency fodder, veterinary care, management advice and aerial support for isolated stock,” state Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said in a statement.
It said 43 helicopter drops and around 130 drops by other means had provided “isolated farmers with emergency fodder for their stranded livestock.”
At their peak, the floods isolated around 50,000 people, submerging intersections and street signs in mid-north coast towns and covering cars up to their windshields, after fast-rising waters burst river banks.
Five deaths have been linked to the floods, the latest a man in his 80s whose body was found at a flooded property about 50km from Taree, police said. Taree sits along the Manning River more than 300km north of the state capital, Sydney.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that conditions remained critical in flood-affected regions as clean-up efforts began.
Australia has been hit with increasing extreme weather events that some experts say are the result of climate change. After droughts and devastating bushfires at the end of last decade, frequent floods have wreaked havoc since early 2021.


Bangladesh’s Yunus seeks unity with fresh political talks

Bangladesh’s Yunus seeks unity with fresh political talks
Updated 25 May 2025
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Bangladesh’s Yunus seeks unity with fresh political talks

Bangladesh’s Yunus seeks unity with fresh political talks
  • The South Asian nation has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in August 2024
  • There are 54 registered political parties in Bangladesh – not including the now-banned Awami League of fugitive former leader Hasina

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader will meet multiple parties on Sunday in marathon talks as he seeks to build unity and calm intense political power struggles, party leaders and officials said.

Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who leads the caretaker government as its chief adviser until elections are held, has called for rival parties to give him their full support.

The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted by a student-led revolt in August 2024, ending her iron-fisted rule of 15 years.

The talks come after meetings that stretched late into Saturday evening with major political parties, including those who have protested against the government this month.

“Chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus will meet the leaders of several parties on Sunday,” his press secretary Shafiqul Alam said.

There are 54 registered political parties in Bangladesh – not including the now-banned Awami League of fugitive former leader Hasina.

Alam did not specify how many parties were invited to this round of talks.

Mamunul Haque, leader of the Islamist Khelafat-e-Majlish party, said he was attending discussions expected to focus on “the ongoing crisis.”

Zonayed Saki of the liberal Ganosamhati Andolon party said he was also attending.

After a week of escalation during which rival parties protested on the streets of the capital Dhaka, the government led by Yunus warned on Saturday that political power struggles risked jeopardizing gains that have been made.

“Broader unity is essential to maintain national stability, organize free and fair elections, justice, and reform, and permanently prevent the return of authoritarianism in the country,” it said in a statement.

Microfinance pioneer Yunus, who returned from exile at the behest of protesters in August 2024, says he has a duty to implement democratic reforms before elections he has vowed will take place by June 2026 at the latest.

The caretaker government has formed multiple reform commissions providing a long list of recommendations – and is now seeking the backing of political parties.

Yunus last held an all-party meeting – to discuss efforts to overhaul Bangladesh’s democratic system – on February 15, and some parties cited frustration at the lack of contact.

But on Saturday, the government warned that it had faced “unreasonable demands, deliberately provocative and jurisdictionally overreaching statements,” which it said had been “continuously obstructing” its work.

Sources in his office and a key political ally said on Thursday that Yunus had threatened to quit, but his cabinet said he would not step down early.

Yunus on Saturday met with the the key Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), seen as the election front-runners, who are pushing hard for polls to be held by December.

According to Bangladeshi media and military sources, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman also said this week that elections should be held by December, aligning with BNP demands.

Yunus also met with leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim-majority nation’s largest Islamist party, and the National Citizen Party (NCP) made up of many students who spearheaded the uprising that ended Hasina’s rule.

NCP leader Nahid Islam warned on Saturday that rival parties were pushing for swift elections to skip reforms and “assume power,” and that he believed there were “indications” that a “military-backed government could re-emerge.”


Opposition vows boycott as Venezuela holds new divisive vote

Opposition vows boycott as Venezuela holds new divisive vote
Updated 25 May 2025
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Opposition vows boycott as Venezuela holds new divisive vote

Opposition vows boycott as Venezuela holds new divisive vote
  • President Nicolas Maduro secures himself another term despite not producing detailed polling results
  • The opposition party published its own tally of results showing a win for Gonzalez Urrutia instead

CARACAS: Can Venezuelans be persuaded to return to the polls on Sunday, ten months after President Nicolas Maduro claimed a third term in elections marred by violence and allegations of fraud?
The issue of voter participation is the big unknown as the sanctions-hit Caribbean country returns to the polls to elect a new parliament and 24 state governors.
The main opposition led by Maria Corina Machado, an engineer and former MP, has urged Venezuelans not to legitimize what they see as yet another sham election by voting.
A small opposition faction led by two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles rejected the boycott call, arguing that previous voter stayaways had merely allowed 62-year-old Maduro to expand his grip on power.
“We must vote as an act of resistance, of struggle,” Capriles, who is running for parliament, said.


Tensions were high in the run-up to the election.
More than 400,000 security agents were deployed to monitor the vote.
On Friday, a leading opposition member and close ally of Machado, Juan Pablo Guanipa, was arrested on charges of heading a “terrorist network” planning to attack Sunday’s vote.
Cabello linked Guanipa, a former MP, to a group of 50 people arrested earlier in the week on suspicion of being mercenaries in the pay of foreign powers.
Venezuela, which frequently alleges foreign-backed coup plots, said the suspects entered the country from Colombia and closed the busy border with its neighbor until after the election.
Guanipa is just the latest opposition leader to be targeted by the authorities.
Opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia went into exile in Spain last year after a bounty was put on his head.
A message on Guanipa’s X account, shortly after his arrest, declared he had been “kidnapped by the forces of Nicolas Maduro’s regime” but would continue the “long fight against the dictatorship.”


Many opposition supporters in Venezuela lost any remaining faith they had in the electoral process after the July presidential election.
Maduro claimed to have won a third term, without producing detailed results to back his claim.
The opposition published its own tally of results from polling stations, which appeared to showed a convincing win for Gonzalez Urrutia.
A deadly crackdown on protests that erupted over Maduro’s victory claim cemented Venezuela’s pariah status on the world stage.
Only a handful of countries, including longtime allies Russia and Cuba, have recognized Maduro as the country’s rightful leader.
Sunday’s election comes as the country’s economy — once the envy of Latin America, now in tatters after years of mismanagement and sanctions — faces even further turmoil.
US President Donald Trump has revoked permission for oil giant Chevron to continue pumping Venezuelan crude, potentially depriving Maduro’s administration of its last lifeline.
Washington has also revoked deportation protection from 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in the United States and expelled hundreds of others to a brutal prison for gangsters in El Salvador.
The pressure has failed to sway Maduro, who continues to defy the world and spar with his neighbors.
On Sunday, Venezuela will for the first time hold elections for parliament and state governor in the disputed oil-rich region of Essequibo, on its border with Guyana.
Guyana has administered the region for decades but Caracas has threatened to partially annex it.