![Baltic nations count final hours to ending electricity ties to Russia](https://gdb.voanews.com/B71CB8A4-DC25-4605-A0E6-11F1786856F4.jpg)
Baltic nations count final hours to ending electricity ties to Russia
Voice of America
A screen near the Energy Museum and Mindaugas Bridge indicates that on Feb. 8 the Baltic States will disconnect from the Russian electricity grid to synchronize with Continental Europe, in Vilnius, Lithuania, Feb. 4, 2025.
Nearly 3 1/2 decades after leaving the Soviet Union, the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this weekend will flip a switch to end electricity-grid connections to neighboring Russia and Belarus — and turn to their European Union allies.
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Guards stand in a corridor Syrian Democratic Forces-run Gweiran Prison, now called Panorama, which houses men accused of being Islamic State fighters in Hassakeh, northeastern Syria, Jan. 31, 2025. An inmate accused of being an Islamic State fighter stands inside a cell at the Syrian Democratic Forces-run Gweiran Prison, now called Panorama, in Hassakeh, northeastern Syria, Jan. 31, 2025.
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Tourists pass by closed shops in Fira town as Greek authorities are taking emergency measures in response to intense seismic activity on the popular Aegean Sea holiday island of Santorini, southern Greece, Feb. 3, 2025. Passengers board a ferry to Athens' port of Piraeus after a spike in seismic activity raised concerns about a potentially powerful earthquake in Santorini, southern Greece, Feb. 3, 2025.
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Cargo shipping containers sit on a container ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles on Feb. 3, 2025. China and the U.S. rolled out back-and-forth tariffs over the past two days. A photo released on Jan. 31, 2025, shows two suspects being presented with confiscated illegal drugs at an undisclosed location in Mexico. The Mexican government announced that day it had seized 18 kilos of fentanyl hidden in a bus.(Mexican Ministry of Defense and Navy via AFP) A 2024 Ford F-150 Raptor truck is displayed at the Dearborn Truck Plant, on April 11, 2024, in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford and General Motors are two companies that could be hit hard by Chinese tariffs, experts say.
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FILE - Workers sit in a queue to test for HIV/AIDS, in Lagos, Nigeria, May 1, 2023. USAID funding for Nigeria, which was recently suspended by President Donald Trump's administration, plays a pivotal role in the country's HIV/AIDS treatment programs. FILE - A health worker administers the malaria vaccine R21/Matrix-M to a child at the comprehensive Health Centre in Agudama-Epie, in Yenagoa, Nigeria, Dec. 9, 2024.
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FILE - Armed Taliban fighters parade atop humvee vehicles as they celebrate the first anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, near the former US embassy in Kabul on Aug. 31, 2022. FILE - Zabihullah Mujahid, chief Taliban spokesperson, talks with reporters in Doha, Qatar, June 30, 2024.