Lights off, heat down: central Europe governments save power to set example
Prague, Czech RepublicReuters Turning off lights, lowering thermostats and installing motion detectors are among the ways central European governments have begun energy saving, as part of efforts to trim costs and avoid shortages in the incoming heating season to address cuts in gas supplies from Russia. Central Europe is vulnerable to the standoff with Russia, […]
Stay or return home? Tough choice for Ukrainian refugees as school year starts
Warsaw, Poland Reuters Ukrainian children streamed into new schools across central Europe for the first time on Thursday, staying abroad after others returned home to familiar classrooms and the dangers of war. With many having not attended previously as their parents, after fleeing to central Europe, kept them out of local schools in hopes of […]
Flow of Ukrainian refugees testing limits of central Europe’s capacity
Prague, Czech Republic/Warsaw, PolandReuters Officials in Central Europe voiced concern on Sunday that they were reaching capacity to comfortably house some of the nearly 3.5 million refugees who have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion and are now camped in temporary accommodation. Most of the Ukrainians have arrived at border points in Poland, Slovakia, Romania and […]
“I don’t know what to do”: fleeing Ukrainians start arriving in central Europe
Medyka, Poland/Bucharest, RomaniaReuters Thousands of Ukrainians fleeing war with Russia started arriving in neighbouring central European countries on Thursday and the region braced for many more, setting up reception points and sending troops towards the borders to provide assistance. The countries on the European Union’s eastern flank were all once part of the Moscow-led Warsaw […]
Regret and defiance in Europe’s vaccine-shy east as COVID-19 rages
Riga, Latvia/Sofia, Bulgaria Reuters As Latvia goes into lockdown and hospitals in Bulgaria and Romania buckle under a COVID-19 surge while Poland sells surplus vaccine doses, many central and eastern Europeans are torn between defiance and regret over not getting inoculated. The region has the European Union’s lowest vaccination rates, an unwelcome distinction in which both […]
Nearly half of Jewish cemeteries in Europe are falling apart – report
RNS A new report cataloging 1,700 Jewish cemeteries across Central and Eastern Europe has found that almost half them are in a severe state of disrepair. The report, to be published in September, was undertaken by the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, a group funded by the European Union. It found that 44 per cent of the […]