The US Naval Station at Rota in the south of Spain has often been the target of protests by anti-war activists and environmentalists. But ever since the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged Spain’s tourism industry, it has been a vastly different scenario. Jon Spier narrates this report by Alfonso Beato in Rota. Producer: Rob Raffaele. …
Polish border forces on Wednesday said they were attacked with stones by migrants at the border with Belarus and responded by using water cannons against them. The Border Guard agency posted video on Twitter showing a water cannon being directed across the border at a group of migrants in a makeshift camp in freezing temperatures. …
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Russian officials on Tuesday rejected accusations that they endangered astronauts aboard the International Space Station by conducting a weapons test that created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk. U.S. officials on Monday accused Russia of destroying an old satellite with a missile in what they called a reckless and irresponsible strike. The debris could …
Read more “Russia Rejects Accusations that Anti-satellite Missile Endangers ISS Astronauts”
Greece and U.S. tech giant Microsoft have teamed up to digitally revive one of the ancient world’s most sacrosanct sites: the birthplace of the Olympic Games. The ambitious project uses technology to immerse viewers in the world of ancient Olympia. The collaboration between Microsoft and the Greek Culture Ministry will allow millions of visitors to immerse themselves in an experience that organizers say brings history to life. At a recent news conference in Olympia, the birthplace of the …
Read more “Greek Birthplace of Olympic Games to be Digitally Preserved”
Belarus appeared to be moving Monday to de-escalate a long-running standoff with Poland and the European Union. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said he is preparing to start repatriating around 4,000 asylum-seekers camped out in freezing temperatures at the border with Poland. “Active work is underway in this area, to convince people —please, return home,” Lukashenko …
Read more “Minsk Blinks Ahead of EU Sanctions, But Crisis Not Over, Warn Diplomats”
Germany’s capital, Berlin, joined several German states Monday in limiting access to restaurants, cinemas, museums and concert venues to only people who have been vaccinated or recently recovered, as new COVID-19 cases continue to surge. The country’s infectious disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, reported Monday that the country’s number of new cases per …
Read more “Germany Implements New COVID-19 Restrictions as Cases Surge”
The British government Monday announced Monday an expansion of the nation’s COVID-19 booster shot program to people ages 40 and up, to fight off a potential winter surge of the deadly disease. Until now, only British residents ages 50 and up, those clinically vulnerable because of underlying conditions, and frontline health workers were eligible for …
Read more “Britain Expands COVID-19 Booster Availability to Ages 40-49 “
Police in Britain said Monday an explosion in a taxi outside a hospital in the city of Liverpool is being treated as a terrorist incident. Authorities told reporters that the passenger in the taxi was carrying an improvised explosive device and asked to be taken to the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, but that a motive or …
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised an agreement by nearly 200 countries to boost efforts to combat climate change, while expressing disappointment the result of a U.N. climate conference was not stronger. “We can lobby, we can cajole, we can encourage, but we cannot force sovereign nations to do what they do not wish to do,” Johnson said at a …
Read more “Johnson Says Climate Deal ‘Death Knell for Coal Power’”
Bulgaria’s new centrist political party was seen winning parliamentary elections on Sunday, according to four exit polls, increasing chances of an end to a political deadlock in the European Union’s poorest member state. Political wrangling prevented opponents of former Premier Boyko Borissov from building a government after the previous two elections in April and July. …
Read more “New Anti-graft Centrist Party Seen Winning Bulgaria’s Election”
British police arrested three men under terrorism laws Sunday after a car exploded outside a hospital in Liverpool, killing one man and injuring another. Counter-terrorism police said the three men, whose ages ranged from 21 to 29, were detained in the Kensington area of the northwest England city under the Terrorism Act. Police also cordoned …
Read more “Three Arrested Over Car Explosion Outside Liverpool Hospital”
Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are considering asking NATO to hold emergency talks as they struggle to manage a tense migration standoff on their borders with Belarus, the Polish prime minister said Sunday. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he and his two Baltic counterparts are discussing whether to ask for such talks under the NATO treaty, …
Read more “Polish PM Mulls Asking NATO to Hold Talks Amid Border Crisis”
ith the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, or COP 26, now over, countries are looking to begin funding a global counterattack on rising temperatures on Earth. Meanwhile, scientists in Denmark are searching for clues to our warming planet’s future by studying ice from the past. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more …
More than 600 migrants, many of them Egyptians, arrived in southern Italy over the past 24 hours, officials said on Sunday, defying stormy winter seas in search of a better life in Europe. Italy has seen a sharp increase in boat migrants in recent weeks and the latest mass arrivals will put further pressure on …
Read more “More Than 600 Migrants Reach Italy by Sea from North Africa “
A Greek prosecutor has launched an urgent investigation into criminal organizations supplying fake vaccination certificates, both domestically and from neighboring states, mainly from Balkan countries. The probe comes as COVID-19 infections surge anew in Greece, mainly in the country’s northern areas bordering the Balkans, where fake vaccination certificates have become a hot commodity. It is …
Read more “Greek Prosecutor Probing Fake COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates”
Austria is placing millions of people not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus in lockdown as of Monday to deal with a surge in infections to record levels, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Sunday. Europe has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic again, prompting some governments to consider re-imposing unpopular lockdowns. Roughly 65% of Austria’s population …
Read more “Austria Orders Lockdown for Those not Vaccinated Against COVID-19”
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth did not attend Sunday’s Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph due to a sprained back, Buckingham Palace said, extending the 95-year-old monarch’s absence from public life after she was ordered to rest following a stay in hospital last month. A palace source said the sprain was unrelated to the unspecified ailment that …
Read more “Queen Elizabeth Misses Cenotaph Service Due to Back Sprain “
Nearly 200 countries signed the Glasgow Climate Pact at the end of the COP26 summit Saturday, pledging to speed up action on tackling climate change. However, last minute pressure from China and India saw key pledges on phasing out fossil fuels watered down. Henry Ridgwell reports from the summit. Camera: Henry Ridgwell …
Polish police said Saturday that the body of a young Syrian man was found in the woods near the border with Belarus, the latest victim in a political standoff at the European Union’s eastern border. The regime in Minsk has for months been encouraging illegal migration across its border into the EU nations of Poland, …
Read more “Young Syrian Latest Migrant to Die Along Polish-Belarus Border”
The husband of a British-Iranian woman who has been detained for more than five years in Iran said Saturday that he is ending his hunger strike outside Britain’s Foreign Office after 21 days. Richard Ratcliffe has been sleeping in a tent outside the Foreign Office’s main entrance to pressure the British government to secure the …
Read more “Husband of Woman Detained in Iran Ends 21-day Hunger Strike “
Russia is reporting a new daily record of COVID-19 deaths, while the total number of coronavirus infections during the pandemic in the country has topped 9 million. The surge in daily deaths and infections that began in mid-September appeared to plateau over the past week, but the national coronavirus task force said Saturday that a …
Read more “Russia’s COVID-19 Deaths Set Daily Record; Total Infections Top 9 Million “
Britain is denying a report by human rights activists that Iran’s nuclear negotiator threatened to curtail his involvement in upcoming talks with world powers unless British officials shut down the independent Iran Atrocities Tribunal hearings in London that are investigating Tehran’s deadly crackdown on 2019 protests. “We do not recognize the report of recent meetings …
Read more “Britain Denies Iran Threatened to Curtail Nuclear Talks if London Tribunal Continues “
Almost 200 nations accepted a contentious climate compromise Saturday aimed at keeping a key global warming target alive, but it contained a last-minute change that watered down crucial language about coal. Several countries, including small island states, said they were deeply disappointed by the change promoted by India to “phase down,” rather than “phase out” …
Read more “Nations Strike Climate Deal with Coal Compromise”
A Greek newspaper is facing criminal prosecution in Turkey from Turkey’s president, who is said to be insulted by what he perceived to be a vulgar headline. The Greek newspaper is portraying the action as an unprecedented affront to free speech. But it is finding little support from the government in Athens. It is not …
Read more “Turkey’s Erdogan Sues Greek Newspaper Over ‘Insulting’ Headline”