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"EU nations to start membership negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova."

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Russ Roberts (https://trendsingeopolitics.blogspot.com).

What The World is Following EU nations to start membership negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova Credit: Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP The European Union agreed Friday 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. Belgium, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, said member states have agreed that talks will start June 25 in Luxembourg. Ukraine applied to join the bloc less than a week after Russia invaded in February 2022, and EU leaders acted with uncharacteristic speed in making it a candidate in June of that year. But the process has moved more slowly since then — and membership, if it comes, will take years or even decades. Still, the opening of talks sends another strong signal of solidarity with Ukraine on top of the huge financial support provided by the EU. Leaders from the 27-nation bloc agreed last year that accession negotiations should start with both Ukraine and Moldova. That was a necessary political agreement, and Friday's move lays the legal basis for the talks. Niger Nigerien military authorities have withdrawn the operating permit for a large uranium mine from the French company Orano, the company said, significantly escalating tensions between the military junta and the country's former colonial power. Niger, a landlocked country of 26 million, is the world's seventh biggest supplier of uranium, used for the production of weapons and nuclear power. In 2022, the country supplied over a quarter of the uranium used in the European Union, according to the bloc's nuclear energy agency, making it its second-biggest uranium source after Kazakhstan. Before the military coup last year, Niger was the West’s major economic and security partner in the Sahel, the vast region south of the Sahara Desert that has become a hot spot for violent extremism. But the military junta, which seized power on the pledge of cutting ties with the West, vowed to review mining concessions in the country and ordered the withdrawal of Western troops. China China said Friday it has banned a number of business units of American aviation manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp. and three of its executives over arms deals the company has signed with Taiwan, the self-ruling island it claims as its own territory. The statement from China’s Foreign Ministry said the company’s cooperation with Taiwan had violated the country’s sovereignty and standard terminology in its discussions of any outside dealings that support the island's government. The effects of the sanctions appeared largely symbolic since military cooperation between the US and China has been suspended since the People’s Liberation Army’s crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing and other cities in 1989. The sanctions targeted Lockheed Martin Missile System Integration Lab, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories, and Lockheed Martin Ventures. Top executives James Donald Taiclet, Frank Andrew St. John and Jesus Malave were banned from traveling to China. From The World Juneteenth offers a ‘window into the complexity’ of US history with slavery, says author Credit: Peter Dejong/AP June 19 commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. But the legacy of African enslavement continues to reverberate in much of the world. Howard French, the author of “Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War,” speaks with host Marco Werman about the persistent damage in West Africa and beyond. Palestinian arrests in the West Bank have skyrocketed Credit: Rebecca Rosman/The World There’s been a 100% increase in the number of Palestinians detained since Oct. 7. And watchdog groups are sounding the alarm on what they say are "brutal" conditions inside Israeli prisons. The grounds for the arrests are often murky, and many are put into administrative detentions that can last for weeks or months. At least 27 Palestinians have died while in Israeli prisons in the last eight months. Rebecca Rosman reports from Israel. Bright Spot Famous for its beaches and vibrant parties in the Southern Hemisphere's summer, Rio de Janeiro now has an attraction for winter: humpback whales. The tourism agency of Niteroi, Rio's sister city across Guanabara Bay, launched a whale-watching program on Thursday that enables tourists to observe the mammoth mammals closely. Between June and November, humpback whales migrate to Brazilian waters to breed. Around 25,000 humpback whales make a 2,500-mile journey from feeding areas in Antarctica to northeast Brazil. Most concentrate in the Abrolhos region, an area of coral reefs off the coast of Bahia and Espirito Santo states known for featuring the greatest marine biodiversity in the South Atlantic. 🐳 Credit: Silvia Izquierdo/AP In case you missed it on The World Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, RSS.  Thanks to our sponsor:

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