European Union leaders have gathered in Salzburg, Austria, for an informal discussion of key issues, including the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc. Britain’s conservative government has lost a majority and with it the mandate for a so-called “hard Brexit,” in which Britain would leave the EU’s single market and customs union. It is now seeking a compromise. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

The world is making progress in its efforts to lift people out of extreme poverty, but the global aspiration of eliminating such poverty by 2030 is unattainable, a new report found. A World Bank report released Wednesday says the number of people living on less than $1.90 per day fell to a record low of 736 million, or 10 percent of the world’s population, in 2015, the latest year for…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted Israel’s offer to share detailed information on the Israeli airstrike in Syria that triggered fire by Syrian forces which downed a Russian reconnaissance plane, the Kremlin said Wednesday. Syrian forces mistook the Russian Il-20 for Israeli aircraft, killing all 15 people aboard Monday night. Russia’s Defense Ministry blamed the plane’s loss on Israel, but Putin sought to defuse tensions, pointing at “a chain of…

The United Nations says the number of civilian casualties in the conflict in eastern Ukraine has surged in the past three months. Fighting between Ukrainian government troops and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014. Hostilities have subsided since both sides signed a truce in 2015 but sporadic fighting persists and no progress has been made towards a political solution. The U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner…

Macedonia’s constitutional court has rejected two bids to declare illegal and unconstitutional the upcoming referendum on renaming the country “North Macedonia.” The vote on Sept. 30 has been hailed by western officials as a major chance for the small Balkan country to launch the process of joining NATO and the European Union. Judges voted 7-2 on Wednesday to reject the two bids, filed by the World Macedonian Congress, a Skopje-based…

European Council President Donald Tusk said on Wednesday he would call an extra Brexit summit of European Union leaders around mid-November to finalize a deal with Britain. Tusk told a news conference before chairing a summit of all 28 EU leaders in the Austrian city of Salzburg later on Wednesday: “The Brexit negotiations are entering their decisive phase. Various scenarios are still possible today but I’d like to stress that some…