Several young African climate activists traveled thousands of miles to Glasgow, Scotland, to be part of the COP26 climate summit — and to convey their sense of urgency to world leaders. Henry Ridgwell spoke with some of them about their climate change experiences and what COP26 must deliver to help their communities back home. Camera: …
Read more “COP26: African Youth Demand Rich Nations Fulfill Promises”
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that Europe remains the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting 2 million new cases last week, the region’s highest number since the pandemic began. At a briefing in Geneva, the WHO chief said the region also reported nearly 27,000 deaths last week, more than half of …
Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch. UN staffers detained in Ethiopia Ethiopia’s federal government detained nearly two dozen of its nationals who work for the United Nations in the capital, Addis Ababa, earlier this week. …
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday the U.S. and France have renewed their “mutual commitment” to collaborate on combatting global terrorism, particularly in Africa’s troubled Sahel region. “We have a mutual concern there that relates to the ongoing challenges that the countries in the Sahel are facing. Among the many priorities that we share …
Read more “US Vice President Harris Announces US-France Recommitment to Combating Terrorism”
Russia dispatched paratroopers Friday to the Belarus border near Poland, where hundreds of migrants are camped out trying to cross into the European Union. The Kremlin said the sudden deployment is for snap drills, but it coincides with a buildup of Russian military forces near the Ukrainian frontier and is contributing to rising European and …
Read more “Russia Sends Paratroopers to Belarus-Poland Border as Tensions Soar”
Pope Francis said on Friday that the world had become deaf to the plight of the poor and condemned those who become disproportionately rich while blaming the needy for their own fate. Francis traveled to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis, to meet with about 500 poor people before the Catholic Church’s World Day of …
Read more “World Has Become Deaf to Plight of the Poor, Pope Says in Assisi”
Turkey’s Civil Aviation Authority said Friday that the country is halting airline ticket sales to Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni citizens wanting to travel to Belarus, which in recent months became a route for migrants and refugees trying to enter the European Union. EU leaders have put increasing pressure on airlines to stop bringing people from …
Read more “Turkey Halts Flights for Some Mideast Citizens to EU’s Door”
A new draft agreement was released Friday morning at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, detailing how countries plan to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the target agreed in Paris in 2015 and seen as critical in avoiding the worst effects of climate change. The deal must be agreed …
Read more “COP26: Draft Climate Deal Published as Negotiations Enter Crucial Final Hours”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday people have a duty to be inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine as a way of protecting not only themselves, but others as well. She made the comments in a virtual conversation with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. COVID-19 …
Read more “Germany Reports Record Daily High of 50,000 New COVID Infections”
Fans of England’s Crystal Palace soccer club were in a taunting mood. They unfurled a banner in the stands at the team’s stadium in south London during a match against Newcastle United, mocking their rivals’ new owner — the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who was portrayed wielding a blood-stained scimitar. The banner included a …
Read more “Saudi Purchase of English Soccer Team Sparks Debate About Premier League”
Witnesses, human rights lawyers, international prosecutors and academics gathered Thursday in London for the second day of the Iran Atrocities Tribunal to investigate how mostly peaceful protests turned violent two years ago. Iranian security forces killed hundreds and arrested thousands of people who were demonstrating against a sudden spike in fuel prices in mid-November 2019. …
Read more “Witnesses at Iran Tribunal Describe Lost Children, Injuries, Abuses “
The United States and European members of the U.N. Security Council condemned Belarus on Thursday for what they called the “cynical instrumentalization of migrants,” as tensions simmered along the Polish-Belarusian border. “We … condemn the orchestrated instrumentalization of human beings whose lives and well-being have been put in danger for political purposes by Belarus, with …
Read more “Western Nations Condemn Belarus at UN Security Council “
The mix of parties now working to form the next Czech government spans the spectrum from conservative to liberal, but all appear to share a commitment to the democratic principles espoused by founding President Vaclav Havel. And that, says a former Havel aide, could be bad news for China and Russia. Havel, the erudite playwright …
Read more “New Czech Government Expected to Take Tougher Line on China, Russia “
Extreme poverty and extreme wealth are growing around the world, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told leaders Thursday at the Paris Peace Forum. “By virtually every measure, the gaps have grown. We face a dramatic rise in inequality, and we must meet this moment,” she said, adding that no nation could fix these challenges alone. …
Read more “Harris Calls for Nations to Join in Fighting Financial Inequality “
German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the presumptive leader of the next government, presented an updated financial forecast Thursday indicating increased revenues for future government projects. At a news conference in Berlin, Scholz said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent “fourth wave” of new infections and the worldwide supply chain problems, Germany’s tax revenue …
Read more “Germany’s Presumptive Next Leader Forecasts Improved Financial Picture”
Ukraine will deploy another 8,500 troops and police officers, and 15 helicopters, to guard its border with Belarus, aiming to prevent possible attempts by migrants to breach the frontier, the Ukrainian interior minister said on Thursday. The European Union has accused Belarus of encouraging migrants to come to its territory then pushing thousands of them …
Read more “Ukraine to Deploy Troops, Helicopters to Guard Belarus Border”
Germany’s carnival season, a series of festivals among German Catholics, began Thursday but under strict COVID-19 restrictions, because of a surge in new infections in the nation. Costumed revelers in the western city of Cologne had to line up Thursday to show proof of their COVID-19 vaccinations before they could start the outdoor celebrations. Last …
Read more “Annual German Carnival in Cologne Underway Despite Surging COVID Cases”
Russia’s best known human rights group, Memorial, said on Thursday it had been notified by the Supreme Court that prosecutors had demanded it be dismantled over violations of the “foreign agents” law, a move it said was politically motivated. The move threatens to silence an organization that was born out of the “glasnost” reforms of …
Read more “Russia’s Top Rights Group Says It Faces Closure for Violating ‘Foreign Agent’ Law”
The European Commission lowered its forecast for Spanish growth this year as the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic lagged behind other European nations. The commission said Thursday it estimates that the rise of Spanish gross domestic product will be 4.6% this year and 5.5% next year, almost two points less than earlier forecasts of …
Read more “Brussels Cuts Growth Forecast as Spanish Economy Lags Behind Neighbors”
Hundreds of bots and thousands of fake accounts run by “troll farms” tried to manipulate social media debates in favor of the European Super League (ESL) after the project was announced last April, according to a study from a Spanish digital consultancy. The study from Pandemia Digital, which was first published by Spanish news outlet El …
Read more “Study: Bots Used to Manipulate Social Media in Favor of European Super League “
Simon Louagie dreaded losing Talbot House, a World War I soldiers’ club that has become an institution in remembrance tourism on the Western Front where soldiers from all corners of the globe fought amid untold carnage just over a century ago. For months last year, a COVID-19 lockdown closed the club which had always been …
Read more “In Europe, War Remembrance Tourism Fights for Life “
Iran is facing renewed scrutiny for its deadly suppression of nationwide protests in 2019, as a London tribunal organized by rights groups began hearing testimony Wednesday from relatives of those killed and others regarding alleged crimes committed in the crackdown. The event known as an international people’s tribunal opened in London’s Church House conference center. Its goal is to …
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is joining French President Emmanuel Macron at a ceremony Thursday in Paris to commemorate Armistice Day. The ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe marks the 1918 agreement between Allied powers and Germany to end their fighting in World War I. It follows a Wednesday visit by Harris and her husband, …
Ukraine’s foreign minister has held strategic security talks in Washington with the U.S. secretary of state. The meeting comes as Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reports that about 90,000 Russian troops have been positioned along their common border and in rebel-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine. VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. Camera: VOA Ukraine Service. Contributing: …
Read more “Blinken Warns Russia Against ‘Serious Mistake’ of Invading Ukraine”