Kosovo must grant Serbs more autonomy to join EU and NATO, US envoy says

BELGRADE (Reuters) -Kosovo must give greater autonomy to Serb-majority municipalities in the north of the country if it wants to move closer to joining NATO and the European Union, the U.S. envoy to the Western Balkans said on Wednesday. Violence has flared since Kosovo authorities installed ethnic Albanian mayors in offices in the municipalities after…

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Biden’s approval rating at 41%, Americans concerned about economy -Reuters/Ipsos poll

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s public approval was at 41% in recent days, close to the lowest level of his presidency but little changed following a tense negotiation with congressional Republicans over the federal government’s debt, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. The four-day poll, which ended on Monday, showed a marginal…

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Germany, US allay civilian air traffic disruption fears ahead of massive drill

BERLIN (Reuters) – The largest air deployment exercise in NATO’s history, involving 25 nations and 250 aircraft in June, will only cause minor disruptions to civilian air traffic in Europe, Germany and the U.S. said on Wednesday. “We anticipate minimal interruptions in the flow of civilian airlines,” Michael Loh, director of the U.S. Air National…

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Christie takes aim at ‘self-serving’ Trump as he launches White House bid

By Joseph Ax and Eric Beech (Reuters) -Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday launched his 2024 presidential campaign with a withering attack on the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, calling him a “self-serving mirror hog” and faulting other rivals for avoiding direct confrontation. Christie, 60, was an adviser to Trump’s successful 2016 White House…

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State of emergency imposed in Russia-controlled parts of Kherson

(Reuters) – A state of emergency has been imposed in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine’s Kherson region following the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam and the flooding of large area, Russia’s TASS state news agency reported on Wednesday. The agency, citing emergency services, said about 2,700 houses were flooded after the destruction of the dam…

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Overly optimistic markets might be caught out by rate hikes, ECB’s Knot says

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Inflation expectations in financial markets seem overly optimistic, increasing the risk of renewed stress if monetary policy needs to be tightened for longer to tame inflation, Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot said on Wednesday. “Financial markets are extraordinarily optimistic and are expecting inflation to drop as fast as it rose. For…

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