Ansa news

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 17 - The centres in Albania "are needed and will continue to be needed: they are a sort of first example of what Europe is trying to establish," and Albania "is a candidate for EU membership and a country that should be included in the EU," Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said in an interview on La7's Coffee Break. "The new European immigration regulations should come into force next year," Piantedosi noted, adding that this will also resolve the legal issues, about which…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 17 - According to the news outlet Rzeczpospolita, a Polish missile, not a Russian drone, appears to have damaged a home in the Lublin region on September 10, when air defences were activated to counter the incursion of Russian unmanned aerial vehicles into Polish territory near the Ukrainian border. According to Rzeczpospolita, the damage to a home in the village of Wyryki could have been caused by a malfunction of an advanced AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missile launched…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 16 - The Bucharest Prosecutor's Office has officially charged Calin Georgescu, a far-right politician, and Horatiu Potra with complicity in a coup attempt. According to the Prosecutor General, as reported by local media, "the presidential candidate benefited from Russia's hybrid warfare actions." The elections in late 2024, which featured Georgescu as the surprise winner in the first round, were called off due to Russian cyberattacks on key institutions and aggressive online…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 16 - Ford will lay off up to 1,000 workers at its Cologne plant in Germany due to low European demand for electric vehicles. The plant will operate only one shift per day beginning in January 2026, the automaker announced, resulting in voluntary layoffs. "Demand for electric vehicles in Europe remains significantly lower than industry forecasts," the company said. The layoffs join the 2,900 job cuts already announced in Germany as part of a Europe-wide cost-cutting initiative.…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 16 - Albania is making rapid progress on its EU accession process. During the sixth EU-Albania intergovernmental conference in Brussels, Cluster 4, which covers the green agenda, energy, and transport, of the accession negotiations with the Balkan country, was launched. Tirana is thus getting closer to achieving Prime Minister Edi Rama's goal of opening all negotiating clusters by 2025. Five of the six clusters have already been opened, as planned in the revised enlargement…

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 16 - A Bologna court on Tuesday ruled that a Ukrainian man arrested in Italy on suspicion of involvement in the explosions in September 2022 that sabotaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Europe should be extradited to Germany. Serhii Kuznietsov, a former Ukrainian army captain held on a European arrest warrant while on holiday near Rimini last month, denies the charges. His defence lawyer, Nicola Canestrini, said he would appeal against the extradition to the…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 15 - "We are monitoring the joint strategic military exercise Zapad-2025 between Russia and Belarus—with the participation of an Indian contingent—and "we continue to call on Russia and Belarus to fully comply with the 2011 OSCE Vienna Document, which requires prior notification of military activity," stated EU foreign policy spokesperson Anitta Hipper during the press briefing. "We are actively preparing for any potential security threats related to Zapad 2025," she stated.…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 15 - According to a Median poll conducted for Czech Radio three weeks before the parliamentary elections, Czech citizens believe that a government supported by a single party rather than a coalition is the best outcome. The parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 3 and 4. Thirty-six years after the "Velvet Revolution" of November 1989, which deposed the communist KSC's single-party government, which had been in power since 1948, 41% of Czechs want a government led…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 15 - Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, declared that "NATO is de facto involved" in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict due to Western countries' support for Ukraine, according to TASS. "NATO is at war with Russia." "This is obvious and requires no further proof," Peskov stated, according to TASS. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 15 - According to the most recent election results in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, the CDU remains the leading party with 34.6% of the vote, a 0.3% increase over 2020, and the only significant change from initial exit polls. The SPD is the state's second-largest political force, with 22% of the vote, a 2.3% decline and potentially its worst result ever. The AfD is third at 15.3%, up more than ten points. The Greens are down 7.1% to 12.9%, while the…

(ANSA-AFP) - MOSCOW, SEP 15 - The Russian embassy in Romania has said a drone incursion in Romanian airspace was a "provocation" by Ukraine after Moscow's envoy was summoned by the foreign ministry over the incident. Ambassador Vladimir Lipayev said Romania's charge that Russia was responsible for the intrusion was "unfounded". An embassy statement said late Sunday: "All the facts lead one to believe that it was a deliberate provocation by the Kyiv regime" and added that Bucharest had failed to…

(ANSA) - BERLINO, SEP 14 - According to early forecasts in the Rhineland municipal elections, based on exit polls, the CHD remains the leading party with 34 percent, registering a slight decline of 0.3 percent. Afd rises to 16.5 percent with a jump of 11.4. The Spd is expected to come in at 22.5 percent, with a loss compared to the last municipal elections of 1.8 percent: a very negative result for the party. The Greens stop at 11.5%, down 8.5%, Linke up slightly with 5.5% (+1.7%). Turnout grows:…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 14 - Today, more than thirteen million Germans will vote in local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state. Voting is also taking place in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Bochum, and Bonn. Despite their purely local nature, the elections will undoubtedly have an impact on Friedrich Merz's federal government, which has its own polling station there. This will be the government's first real electoral test, and the chancellor is not holding back, stating…

(ANSA) - ROMA, SEP 14 - Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said that the Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace last week was an attempt by the Kremlin to test NATO's reaction with gradual escalations, without provoking a full-scale response. He told the Guardian during his visit to Kiev on Friday.Sikorski confirmed that although the drones used in the raid were capable of carrying ammunition, those that reached Poland were not loaded with explosives. "Interestingly, they were all…

(ANSA-AFP) - WIEN, 14 SET - Vienna hosted the first ever Tram Driver World Championship on Saturday, with the city's skilled drivers emerging victorious out of 25 teams from across the world battling it out in a tense competition. From early Saturday, spectators had gathered in front of the Austrian capital's neo-Gothic city hall to witness the competing teams from as far as Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and San Diego show off their driving skills. "We are celebrating a very special anniversary today…

(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, SEP 13 - "The EU has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with all relevant global partners in the context of sanctions against Russia and their implementation." A spokesman for the European Commission said in connection with Donald Trump's post, which calls for NATO countries to impose duties from 50 percent to 100 percent against China. The spokesperson also recalled that President Ursula von der Leyen reiterated that EU sanctions "do not apply extraterritorially, following…

(ANSA) - PRISTINA, SEP 13 - The election campaign for the October 12 local government elections kicked off today in Kosovo. As the Election Commission in Pristina reported, a total of 93 political entities, 32 parties, 32 civic initiatives, two coalitions and 27 independent candidates are participating in the consultation. Favored in the consultation are candidates from Vetevendosje (VV), the ruling party of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, while primarily representing the local Serb population is Srpska…

(ANSA) - BELGRADO, SEP 13 - The next parliamentary elections in Serbia could be held in April, May or December next year, earlier than the natural end of the legislature. President Aleksandar Vucic said. "I would like them to be held in December next year. I would resign a little earlier as president because after almost 10 years I will not be able to run for president. Let's go all together to fair elections in December, until then citizens will be able to see what we will do, what we will accomplish,"…

(ANSA-AFP) - BELGRADE, SEP 12 - NATO chief Mark Rutte said Friday that the alliance would reinforce the defence of its eastern flank following the intrusion of Russian drones in Polish airspace this week. The announcement comes after NATO scrambled jets to shoot down Russian drones over allied airspace for the first time since the war in Ukraine started three-and-a-half years ago. "NATO is launching Eastern Sentry to bolster our posture even further along our eastern flank," Rutte told a joint news…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 12 - The United States has suspended the planned Strategic Dialogue with Kosovo indefinitely due to concerns about the interim government's actions, which have increased tensions and instability, limiting the US' ability to engage with Kosovo productively on shared priorities. "We remain committed to promoting the common interests of the United States and the people of Kosovo. Our relationship with Kosovo is built on a common goal: to strengthen peace and stability as the…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 12 - "We have also made our position clear with the 27 Member States' new statement on the intentional violation of an EU member state's airspace by drones, as well as our full solidarity with Poland. However, we also summoned the Russian and Belarusian envoys to separate meetings yesterday in response to this violation," EU Commission spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Anitta Hipper told a press briefing. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 12 - According to preliminary data from Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, irregular entries into the European Union fell by 21% in the first eight months of 2025, totalling 112.375. Significant drops were observed on the Western Balkan (-47%), Eastern Land Border (-44%), and Western African (-52%) routes. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 12 - The government of Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia and Herzegovina's Serb-majority entity, responded to Slovenia's decision to bar Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb leader and ousted president of the RS, from entering the country with a reciprocal ban on Slovenian President Natasha Pirc Musar and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon. The Bosnian Serb government expressed strong protest against Ljubljana's unilateral and "politically motivated" measure, which was adopted "without any legal…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 11 - Yet another shift in Novak Djokovic's life. According to international press reports, the former No. 1 tennis player is preparing to move to Greece after Serbia labelled him a "traitor." Djokovic flew to Athens with his family after Aleksandar Vučić's government criticised him for supporting student protests calling for new elections. Serbia, which has always regarded Djokovic as one of the country's most valuable assets and praised the champion's achievements, now…

(ANSA) - UDINE, 11 SET - Alleanza Contro il Cancro (Alliance Against Cancer), the Italian Ministry of Health's national oncology network, together with 28 partners across 12 countries and under the coordination of the National Cancer Institute of Milan, has designed a digital platform as part of the European IDEA4RC project to bring together clinical data on rare adult cancers into a shared system. The solution, compliant with the GDPR and the European Health Data Space (EHDS regulation, which takes…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 11 - Slovenia's government has decided to prohibit Milorad Dodik, the ousted President of Republika Srpska, from entering Slovenian territory, according to Slovenian news agency STA. According to STA, a government representative stated on Thursday that the decision's reasoning is confidential. Dodik was removed as president of the Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, in August after a verdict was upheld that jailed him for a year and barred him from politics…

(ANSA) - TRIESTE, SEP 11 - Enlargement, security, support for Ukraine, connectivity, and good governance, as well as the TEN-T network and the IMEC initiative as essential tools for economic development, were among the topics discussed today in Sofia by the Secretary General of the Central European Initiative (CEI), Franco Dal Mas, and Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev. Corridor 8, which connects the Black Sea and the Adriatic, was also mentioned. "Only through concrete cooperation can we…

(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, SEP 11 - The German parliament Thursday lifted the immunity of far-right MP Maximilian Krah, who is under investigation on suspicion of money-laundering and bribery while he was a member of the European Parliament. The Bundestag said in a statement it had "approved the execution of court search and seizure orders" against Krah, who denies accusation that he received money from Chinese sources. (ANSA-AFP).

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 11 - "The path we are pursuing together, now consolidated and increasingly broad and positive between Italy and Slovenia, is possible thanks to the role of the two linguistic minorities, the Italians in Slovenia and the Slovenians in Italy, who have understood how important it is to look to the future by pooling commitments, growing together, sharing well-being and prospects," said Italian President Sergio Mattarella. Mattarella addressed the Italian community in Koper, in…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEP 11 - The EU Court of Justice has overturned the European Commission's decision to approve Hungary's aid for the Paks II nuclear power plant, ruling that the EU executive should have verified whether the direct award of a contract for the construction of two new reactors to a Russian company complied with European public procurement rules. In 2017, the Commission approved Budapest's plan to provide aid to the state-owned company MVM Paks II for the construction of two new nuclear…