A flight carrying more than 100 Afghans arrived Monday in northern Greece. According to Greek officials, the group of 119 people included Mohibullah Samim, Afghanistan’s former minister of border and tribal affairs, as well as a lawyer who prosecuted Taliban fighters, women’s rights activists and a female judge. The evacuees are expected to remain in Greece until arrangements …
Amid concerns about the unusual buildup of Russian troops near the Russia-Ukraine border, the Ukrainian minister of defense came to Washington to talk about defense and strategic issues. Ostap Yarysh reports. Camera: Oleksii Osyka …
Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said Monday the current surge of COVID-19 cases in the country likely means that over the next three months – by the end of winter – everyone in the country will be “vaccinated, recovered or dead.” Spahn made the stark comment to reporters in Berlin as he discussed efforts to …
Read more “With Cases Surging, German Health Minister Issues Stern COVID Warning”
Russia’s troop buildup along the Ukrainian border is drawing alarm from U.S. officials who are warning of a potential new invasion. Ukrainian officials estimate 90,000 Russian troops are now positioned along the border and in Russian-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine. The issue topped the agenda earlier this month when Secretary of State Antony Blinken told …
Read more “US, Ukraine Scrutinize Russian Troop Buildup as Moscow Dismisses Invasion Fears”
Human rights groups and Western lawmakers are warning that Interpol’s powerful network of global police officers could end up under the sway of authoritarian governments, as the world police agency meets in Istanbul this week to elect new leadership. Representatives of countries like China and the United Arab Emirates are bidding for top posts in …
Read more “Interpol Election Raises Rights Concerns About Fair Policing”
Belarus does not want confrontation with Poland but wants the European Union to take in 2,000 migrants stranded on its border, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday, after Warsaw warned that tensions over the trapped people could flare up. The EU accuses Belarus of flying in thousands of people from the Middle East and pushing …
Read more “Belarus Says it Does Not Want Confrontation, Wants EU to Take Migrants”
When the Taliban took Kabul in August, Zakia was six months pregnant and in her first year of university while her husband, Hamid, was working as an auditor. They decided to flee, and along with five relatives, began a two-month odyssey that took them through Iran and Turkey. When it was time to cross the …
Read more “Sailboats Packed with Migrants Seek Italy in Latest Tactic “
Ahead of the Christmas holidays, Austria shut its shops, restaurants and festive markets Monday, returning to lockdown in the most dramatic Covid-19 restriction seen in Western Europe for months. The decision has prompted a fierce backlash, with tens of thousands taking to the streets, some blaming the government for not doing more to avert the …
Read more “Austria Re-enters COVID Lockdown as Europe Battles Virus Surge”
Riots broke out in cities across the Netherlands on Sunday, the third night in a row that police clashed with mobs of angry youths who set fires and threw rocks to protest COVID-19 restrictions. Unrest was reported in locations including Leeuwarden and Groningen in the north, the eastern town of Enschede and Tilburg in the …
Read more “Third Night of Rioting Erupts Over Dutch COVID-19 Rules”
Charging points for electric vehicles will be required to be installed in new buildings in Britain from next year under new legislation to be announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his office said in a statement on Sunday. It said the regulations would lead to up to 145,000 extra charge points being installed in England …
Read more “UK to Require Charging Points for Electric Vehicles in New Buildings”
French authorities sent police special forces to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France, as protests over COVID-19 restrictions erupted into rioting and looting for the third day in a row. On Sunday, many road blockades by protesters made traveling across the island nearly impossible. Firefighters reported 48 interventions overnight into Sunday …
Read more “France Sends Police Forces to Guadeloupe Amid COVID Riots”
People took to the streets in several European cities over the weekend to protest tighter coronavirus restrictions. As parts of the EU see record spiking cases, lawmakers in some of the bloc’s countries have begun limiting public life for the unvaccinated. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …
Violence broke out at a protest against anti-covid measures in Brussels on Sunday, where police said tens of thousands of people were participating. The march began peacefully but police later fired water cannon and tear gas in response to a group of participants throwing projectiles, an AFP photographer witnessed. Several of the demonstrators caught up …
Read more “Violence Erupts at COVID Curb Protest in Brussels”
China reduced the level of its diplomatic relations with Lithuania to below ambassador level Sunday in retaliation for the Baltic nation allowing Taiwan, the island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory, to open a representative office. China earlier expelled the Lithuanian ambassador, reflecting its intense sensitivity over the status of Taiwan, which …
Read more “China Reduces Ties with Lithuania in Taiwan Spat “
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Sunday called the migrant crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border, the EU’s eastern frontier, the “greatest attempt to destabilize Europe” since the Cold War. The premier issued his strong remarks as he prepared to meet with EU leaders at a time when Warsaw is facing not only a border crisis …
Read more “Poland Says Border Crisis ‘Greatest’ Bid to Destabilize Europe since Cold War”
Seven Turkish citizens who were being held in eastern Libya have been brought back safely to Turkey, the country’s foreign ministry said on Sunday. The seven people were mostly restaurant employees and had been held in Libya’s east for two years, according to state-owned Anadolu news agency. Qatari intelligence cooperated with Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency …
Read more “Turkey Repatriates 7 Citizens Held in Eastern Libya”
As coronavirus infections hit Ukraine, a single shift for Dr. Oleksandr Molchanov now stretches to 42 hours — 24 of them in Kakhovka’s hospital, followed by another 18 hours spent visiting tents set up to care for 120 COVID-19 patients. While vaccination rates in Eastern Europe have generally lagged, Ukraine has one of the lowest …
Read more “COVID-19 Wave Pushes Ukraine’s Doctors to the Limit”
They are shivering in barracks without heat, going hungry and have no money. They say their passports have been taken by their Chinese employer and that they are now stuck in Serbia with no help from local authorities. These are the Vietnamese workers who are helping build the first Chinese car tire factory in Europe. …
Read more “Vietnamese Workers at Chinese Factory in Serbia Cry for Help”
Police arrested seven rioters in The Hague on Saturday night after youths set fires in the streets and threw fireworks at officers. The unrest came a day after police opened fire on protesters in Rotterdam amid what the port city’s mayor called “an orgy of violence” that broke out at a protest against coronavirus restrictions. …
Read more “Dutch Riot Over COVID Restrictions a Second Night; 7 Arrested”
Tens of thousands of people, many of them far-right supporters, protested Saturday in Vienna against coronavirus restrictions a day after Austria’s government announced a new lockdown and said vaccines would be made compulsory next year. Whistling, blowing horns and banging drums, crowds streamed into Heroes’ Square in front of the Hofburg, the former imperial palace …
Read more “Tens of Thousands March in Vienna Against New COVID Measures”
Police opened fire on protesters in rioting that erupted in downtown Rotterdam around a demonstration against COVID-19 restrictions late Friday night. The Dutch city’s mayor called it “an orgy of violence.” Police said that two rioters were hospitalized after being hit by bullets, and investigations were underway to establish if they were shot by police. …
Read more “Dutch Police Open Fire on Rioters Protesting COVID Restrictions”
This was supposed to be the Christmas in Europe where family and friends could once again embrace holiday festivities and one another. Instead, the continent is the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic as cases soar to record levels in many countries. With infections spiking again despite nearly two years of restrictions, the health crisis …
Read more “Europe’s COVID Crisis Pits Vaccinated Against Unvaccinated”
Guillermo Arránz spends his days in a forest hacking into pine trees to extract what is to him, liquid gold. Some might see it as lonely and backbreaking work, but to Arránz it brings great satisfaction. He is his own boss and spends his days enjoying nature. Arranz is one of Spain’s resineros, or resin …
Read more “Spain’s Ancient Practice of Resin Harvesting May Hold Key to Energy Future”
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili agreed on Friday to end a 50-day prison hunger strike that had raised political tensions in the former Soviet republic and drawn expressions of concern from the United States. Saakashvili agreed to end his protest after authorities offered to move him to a military hospital from a prison hospital where …
Read more “Georgia’s Ex-president Saakashvili Agrees to End 50-day Hunger Strike “