Month: February 2020

The alleged rape of three American women by Afghan migrants is prompting a public examination of Spain’s legal system, with media commentators and politicians debating the veracity of the charges and the competency of Spanish authorities to handle the case appropriately.The Spanish press has delved into intimate details of the case, including speculation that the …

Read more “Alleged Rape of US Women Roils Spanish Politics”

A gritty tale set in France’s disenfranchised suburbs, or banlieues, ranks among the finalists for the best foreign language film at Sunday’s Academy Awards in Los Angeles. However, Les Miserables has also unleashed a debate about what has changed in France and what has not.  For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from the Paris suburb of …

Read more “French Movie Les Miserables Unleashes Debate in France”

Britain is set for another royal wedding. Buckingham Palace announced Friday that Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter Princess Beatrice will marry in London on May 29.The palace says 31-year-old Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 37, will wed in the Chapel Royal of St. James’s Palace. The chapel was the location for the wedding of Beatrice’s great-great-great-great …

Read more “Prince Andrew’s Daughter Princess Beatrice to Marry in May”

Russian authorities have added more than 200 Jehovah’s Witnesses to a register of extremists and terrorists, the organization said in a statement Friday.The latest move in a crackdown on the religious group effectively cuts the believers off from the country’s financial system, because being on list leads to one’s bank accounts being frozen and to …

Read more “Russia Blacklists More Than 200 Jehovah’s Witnesses”

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti pledges to abolish the 100% tariffs on Serbian imports, an impediment in normalization efforts between the two countries since 2018.Kurti, who was confirmed as prime minister by the Kosovo Assembly on Monday, said in an interview with Voice of America that the objective of the ruling coalition composed of his party, …

Read more “New Kosovo Prime Minister Pledges to Remove 100% Serbian Import Tariffs”

Britain is letting European Union citizens stay once the country completes its transition out of the EU at the end of 2020. But some are choosing to leave and move back to the continent.Hanneke van der Werf is a Dutch herbalist and garden designer living on the border of Wales and England. Britain has been …

Read more “As Britain Leaves the EU, Some Leave Britain”

Lawyers for former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo urged International Criminal Court judges Thursday to lift conditions they imposed on him last year when he was released following his acquittal on crimes against humanity charges.Gbagbo and former youth minister Charles Ble Goude both were cleared early last year of involvement in deadly post-election violence in …

Read more “Lawyers to ICC: Free Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo Unconditionally”

FBI Director Chris Wray said Wednesday that Russia is engaged in “information warfare” heading into the 2020 presidential election, though he said law enforcement has not seen ongoing efforts by Russia to target America’s election infrastructure.Wray told the House Judiciary Committee that Russia, just as it did in 2016, is relying on a covert social …

Read more “FBI Director Warns of Ongoing Russian ‘Information Warfare’”

Companies make bigger profits investing in Africa than in any other region of the world, according to a new report from the Overseas Development Institute — which urges global firms to seek profits on the continent rather than seeing it as a place to do charitable work. Henry Ridgwell spoke to African business leaders and …

Read more “Report: Africa Delivers Largest Profits on Investment”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Wednesday that China should join the United States in trilateral arms talks with Russia.  “The president believes that it shouldn’t just be the U.S. and Russia. We think that China is going to need to become involved in any serious arms control negotiation, so we’re going to work …

Read more “White House Official: China Should Join Nuclear Arms Talks With Russia”

The United States has imposed sanctions on a Bulgarian judge who the State Department says is involved in “significant” corruption in the Balkan country. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday in a statement that he was blacklisting Specialized Criminal Court Judge Andon Mitalov because of his involvement in “corrupt acts that undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the …

Read more “US Blacklists Bulgarian Judge Over Alleged Involvement In ‘Significant’ Corruption “

Journalists and free speech advocates say proposed laws to regulate Ukraine’s media pose a threat to free expression and independent reporting in the eastern European country.Before ascending to Ukraine’s highest office last year, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had campaigned on a pledge to limit the influence of oligarchs over national news outlets while safeguarding all media …

Read more “Journalists See Specter of Censorship in Ukraine’s Proposed Media Laws”

German sportswear company Adidas on Wednesday said it was temporarily shutting a “considerable” number of its stores in China due to the coronavirus outbreak which has killed nearly 500 people and infected thousands.The company said the fast-spreading virus was having a negative impact on its business but added that it could not yet assess to …

Read more “Adidas Closes ‘Considerable’ Number of Stores in China Due to Coronavirus”

Britain’s government announced Wednesday that it is considering a change in the way the BBC is funded that would hit the coffers of the nation’s public broadcaster.      Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative administration, which is increasingly at odds with the country’s news media, said it would hold a “public consultation” on whether to …

Read more “UK Government, At Odds With Media, Set to Review BBC Funding”