Europe

Icebreaker deal would challenge Russian supremacy in Arctic

Ship-building pact among US, Canada, Finland aims to defend sovereignty against Russian, Chinese threats

As Arctic climate warms, even Santa runs short of snow

The town of Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland — marketed by tourism officials since the 1980s as the "real" home of Santa Claus — seeing milder and more unpredictable winters

Explosion damages canal feeding Kosovo's main power plants

Plants generate nearly all of the country's electricity

Moody's downgrades Hungary outlook on institutional 'weaknesses'

Georgian protesters clash with police for 2nd night after EU talks suspended

Clashes between police and protesters also erupted late Friday in the Black Sea port of Batumi

North Korea: Russia has right to exercise self-defense against Ukraine 

'The US and the West made Kyiv authorities attack Russia's territory with their own long-range strike weapons,' North Korea's Kim Jong Un is quoted as saying

From VOA Russian: Who is the Belarusian soldier extradited from Vietnam to Minsk?

From VOA Russian: Astana welcomes Putin, but its oil exports set to bypass Russia 

Putin claims new Oreshnik missile is unstoppable, sparking doubts

Russia struck Dnipro, Ukraine, with an experimental Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile on November 21. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the day after that the missile could not be intercepted. The claim is likely false. Leonid Martynyuk explains.

Kremlin critic convicted again, handed new prison term for opposing war in Ukraine

Sentences underscore Moscow’s intolerance of any dissenting voices

Ukraine asks NATO for membership invite next week, letter shows

'With a clear understanding that Ukraine's membership in NATO is inevitable, Russia will lose one of its main arguments for continuing this unjustified war,' the foreign minister wrote.