worldwide news
Tons of waste dumped in poorly regulated riverside landfills or directly into the waterways that flow across three countries end up accumulating behind a trash barrier in the Drina River in eastern Bosnia during the wet weather of winter and early spring. This week, the barrier once again became the outer edge of a massive …
Read more “Sections of Balkan River Become Floating Garbage Dump”
RT France, the French arm of the Russian state broadcaster, will shut down after its French bank accounts were frozen over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the channel’s director said Saturday. “After five years of harassment, the authorities in power have achieved their goal: the closure of RT France,” Xenia Fedorova said in a Twitter …
Read more “Russia’s RT France to Close After Accounts Frozen”
Thousands of people packed into central Madrid Saturday to protest the Socialist government and accuse it of undermining the constitution, in a rally backed by rightist parties. Protesters massed in the Plaza de Cibeles in front of City Hall, waved Spanish flags, called on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to resign and shouted out “traitor.” More …
Read more “Thousands Join Rightist Rally Against Spanish Government”
The European Union says it faced “unprecedented challenges” at its borders last year, with a sharp rise in asylum-seekers arriving on Europe’s southern shores and millions of Ukrainians fleeing to Europe to escape Russia’s invasion. As Henry Ridgwell reports, there are fears that Moscow is planning to create a new migrant crisis on the EU’s …
Read more “EU Borders Facing ‘Unprecedented Challenges’ Amid Fears Russia Will Weaponize Migration “
The U.N.’s top human rights official, Volker Türk, appealed Friday for $452 million to fund the critical work of the high commissioner’s office in protecting and defending human rights throughout the world this year. The high commissioner’s office is the guardian and defender of human rights. It is the global watchdog of abuse and violence. …
Read more “UN Rights Chief Launches $452 Million Appeal to Protect, Defend Human Rights”
Turkey has canceled the Swedish defense minister’s planned visit to Ankara because the Nordic country has given permission to protesters to hold an anti-Turkey demonstration outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said there was “no point” to Swedish Defense Minister’s Pål Jonson’s January 27 trip because Sweden has not taken …
Read more “Turkey Cancels Swedish Defense Minister’s Planned Visit to Ankara”
Britain’s prime minister has been fined for not wearing a seat belt while taping a social media clip in the back of a car in northwest England. When Rishi Sunak uploaded the video to Instagram, his error was widely noticed. Viewers complained to Lancashire police. Lancashire police said Friday, “After looking into this matter, we …
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says Ukrainian forces will train to use Leopard 2 battle tanks, despite Western allies’ failure Friday to reach a decision on whether to supply Kyiv with the German-made tanks. Reznikov told VOA’s Ukrainian Service on Friday that Ukraine’s troops will train on the tanks in Poland and described the development …
Read more “Ukraine Defense Minister: Troops Will Train on German Tanks in Poland”
The White House on Friday announced it will designate the Wagner Group, the Russian private military company supporting Moscow’s war on Ukraine, as a Transnational Criminal Organization, hitting it with sanctions and limiting its ability to do business around the world. Declaring Wagner a TCO freezes its assets in the U.S. and prohibits Americans from …
Read more “US Sanctions Russian Wagner Group, Urges Others to Follow”
The White House announced Friday new sanctions to be put in place by the U.S. Treasury Department next week on the Wagner Group, designating the Russian private military company as a transnational criminal organization. The Biden administration urged other countries to join the U.S. in targeting the group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian oligarch and …
Read more “Q&A: US Urges Countries to Join Sanctions on Russian Paramilitary Group”
A Uyghur rights group’s legal challenge against the British government for not investigating the import of cotton produced in the Chinese region of Xinjiang was dismissed by a London court Friday. The World Uyghur Congress, an international organization of exiled Uyghur groups, had taken legal action at London’s High Court against Britain’s Home Office, tax …
Read more “Uyghur Rights Group Fails in Legal Challenge Against UK Government”
VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara speaks with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby about the significance of administration actions against the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company. …
A new study has found that Germany could save almost three times more carbon dioxide emissions than previously thought by introducing a speed limit on its highways, increasing pressure on Berlin to reconsider the politically sensitive issue. Data from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) published on Thursday show a speed limit of 120 kilometers per …
Read more “German Speed Limit Could Cut More CO2 Than Thought, Study Finds”
The World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos wrapped up Friday after a week that featured feverish discussion of the war in Ukraine, rifts over global trade, and Greta Thunberg crashing the party of the global elite. Here’s a summary of the hottest topics and main events: Tanks Ukraine sent a huge delegation to Davos to …
Read more “From Tanks to Subsidies: The Main Topics at Davos”
No Leopard tanks will be given to Ukraine by Germany at this time, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark A. Milley said Friday at a briefing at U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany following an international conference on Ukraine support. The international meeting was …
Ukraine’s new media law has divided critics, with journalists warning it gives the government new, expansive powers, and Kyiv arguing that it brings the country closer to the European Union and will help fight propaganda. Signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and set to take effect in April, the bill was developed in line …
A French Irish citizen held in Iran has suspended his dry hunger strike at the request of his family, who fear for his life, his sister told AFP on Friday. Bernard Phelan, detained in Iran since early October, will accept food and fluids again, Caroline Masse-Phelan said, but remains determined, and will “start again if …
Read more “French Irish Citizen Held in Iran Suspends Hunger Strike, Sister Says”
European Council officials said Friday they expect additional European Union sanctions to be placed on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), one day after the European Parliament called for the group to be added to the EU terror list. In a nonbinding resolution late Thursday, the parliament voted by a large majority to add the …
Read more “EU Parliament Calls for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to Be Added to Terror List”
Russia said Friday it had reached “conceptual agreements” with Pakistan on the supply of crude oil and petroleum products, noting the two sides also agreed the payments will be made in “currencies of friendly countries.” Visiting Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov made the announcement at a news conference in Islamabad following meetings with his Pakistani …
Read more “Russia: Oil Supply Deal with Pakistan in ‘Final Stage’”
Ireland’s foreign minister said Thursday the government was doing all it could to secure the release of a French-Irish citizen held in Iran after his family urged Dublin to intensify talks because of concerns for his health following a hunger strike. Micheal Martin told a news conference in Dublin that “we’re going to do everything …
Read more “Dublin Doing ‘Everything’ to Free French-Irish Citizen Held in Iran”
Campaigners from troubled Kashmir, Chad and Venezuela on Thursday won the Martin Ennals Award, one of the world’s most prestigious human rights prizes, with the jury hailing their “courage.” The winners are Khurram Parvez, a prominent rights activist in restive Indian-administered Kashmir; Delphine Djiraibe, one of Chad’s first female lawyers; and Feliciano Reyna, a rights …
Read more “Chad, Venezuela, Kashmir Activists Share Top Rights Prize”
Oleksandr used to come every year with his loved ones to the Holy Dormition Lavra monastery in Svyatogirsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region to submerge himself in the freezing river to mark Orthodox Epiphany on January 19. But this year, the monastery and the tradition have been marked by the almost year-long war with Russia. “I …
Read more “Orthodox Epiphany Tradition Marked by Conflict Near Ukraine Front Lines”
The European Union will add 37 individual entries to its sanctions against Iran on Monday, two European diplomats told Reuters, as the bloc works on listing Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. “We will adopt the fourth package of sanctions against Iran on Monday, and we believe we should already start working …
Read more “EU to Impose New Sanctions on Iran, Diplomats Say”
France was hit by massive walkouts and protests Thursday against a government plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The plan is shaping up as a test for French President Emmanuel Macron and for the labor unions that oppose it. Thousands of protesters had gathered at Paris’ iconic Place de la Republique …