Month: September 2020

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday the causes of a military plane crash which killed 26 people would be investigated promptly and impartially.A military transport plane carrying air force cadets crashed and burst into flames near a highway in northeastern Ukraine on Friday evening.The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said 27 people had been …

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French authorities launched an anti-terrorism investigation Friday after an attacker stabbed two people in Paris near the former offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.In an interview with France 2 television station, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the attack was “clearly an act of Islamist terrorism.””Manifestly, the method was one of an Islamist terrorist,” …

Read more “2 Stabbed in Paris Attack Termed Act of Islamist Terrorism”

A Ukrainian military plane crashed and burst into flames on Friday evening, killing at least 22 people on board, authorities said.The aircraft crashed while trying to land at Chuhuiv’s airport in the Kharkiv region, about 400 kilometers east of the capital, Kyiv.”There were 27 people on the aircraft,” said Oleksii Kucher, Kharkiv governor. “There were …

Read more “At Least 22 Die in Ukraine Plane Crash”

German airline Lufthansa says it will have to make more staff cuts in addition to the previously announced reduction of 22,000 full-time positions — despite receiving a $10.5 billion (9 billion euro) government bailout in June. The airline said it would put some of its fleet into long-term storage and permanently decommission its seven remaining …

Read more “Lufthansa Cuts Jobs, Plans to Expand COVID-19 Testing”

Independent human rights experts from the United Nations on Friday urged the Belarusian government to free leading opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova, saying she faces a five-year prison term after being charged with undermining national security.The musician and political activist was jailed recently amid ongoing mass protests against the country’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, who was …

Read more “UN Urges Belarus to Release Opposition Figure Kolesnikova”

Thousands of mostly young people gathered Friday in Berlin to demand more action on climate change, part of a global day of action for the environment.Defying gray skies, the participants, many on bicycles, brought placards and banners to a rally near the iconic Brandenburg Gate. Most wore face masks as a COVID-19 precaution. COVID-19 is …

Read more “Thousands March in Berlin Climate Rally”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a pact with the United States to avoid interfering in each other’s elections and other domestic affairs.   Putin cited what he called the “risk of large-scale confrontation in the digital sphere,” according to a Kremlin statement Friday.   Earlier this week, the U.S. Office of the Director of …

Read more “Russia’s Putin Proposes Election Non-Interference Pact With US”

A new survey indicates more than 80% of people living in Britain with COVID-19 symptoms or who have had contact with someone who has tested positive are ignoring self-isolation guidelines.   The survey, released Friday and conducted by Kings College London and the National Health Service (NHS), found that only 18.2% of people who reported …

Read more “Eight in 10 Britons Ignore COVID-19 Self-Isolation Rules, Survey Finds”

A London police officer was shot and killed early Friday inside a London police station while detaining a suspect, officials said.   In a statement, London’s Metropolitan Police said the incident occurred at 2:15 am London time at the Croydon Custody Center on the city’s south side.     The British Broadcasting Corporation reports the …

Read more “London Police Officer Fatally Shot While Detaining Suspect”

Coronavirus cases are surging across most of Europe. France, Spain and Britain are seeing precipitous increases. But some countries, notably Italy and Germany, have yet to see a second wave of the pandemic, although their numbers are also rising, but far less steeply.In the past two weeks, Italy recorded slightly fewer than 35 new cases …

Read more “Why is Italy Seeing Fewer COVID Cases Than Its Neighbors?”

Last call came early Thursday at pubs and bars in England and Wales, as Britain tightened the rules to try to curb a coronavirus surge.The new restrictions, announced Tuesday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, mean that any establishment serving food or drink must close by 10 p.m. (2100 GMT).The new rules apply in Scotland from …

Read more “British Bars, Restaurants Close Early to Curb Virus Surge”

The French government is expected to soon unveil long-awaited anti-separatism legislation — with President Emmanuel Macron making a key speech on the subject next week. The details are still vague, but expectations are already strong and clashing — with the focus on France’s Muslim community, western Europe’s largest. Lisa Bryant reports for VOA from the …

Read more “France’s Muslims Say New Separatism Law Targets Them”

The growing rift between the United States and China and Russia was clearly evident on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly Thursday, threatening to overshadow international cooperation on the coronavirus response.This year’s assembly has been held online because of the pandemic, and its focus has been on confronting COVID-19, the disease caused by the …

Read more “US-China-Russia Rift Simmers at UN”

Sweden’s prime minister said Thursday that he would keep a ban on large gatherings after the nation recorded its largest spike in new daily COVID-19 cases since July.Sweden’s approach to the pandemic has been controversial in that it never implemented a mandatory national lockdown. Instead, it called for personal responsibility, social distancing, masks and good …

Read more “Sweden Keeps Ban on Large Gatherings as COVID-19 Cases Rise”

Helsinki Airport is getting creative when it comes to operating safely in the age of COVID-19. Beginning this week, travelers arriving at Finland’s busiest international airport will have the opportunity to take a voluntary coronavirus test that takes 10 seconds and is entirely painless — but it’s not the test that is unusual, rather, it’s …

Read more “Helsinki: Coronavirus-sniffing Dogs Could Provide Safer Travel”

Sir Harold Evans, the charismatic publisher, author and muckraker who was a bold-faced name for decades for exposing wrongdoing in 1960s London to publishing such 1990s best-sellers as “Primary Colors,” has died, his wife said Thursday. He was 92. His wife, fellow author-publisher Tina Brown, said he died Wednesday in New York of congestive heart …

Read more “Sir Harold Evans, Crusading Publisher and Author, Dies at 92”