Russian and U.S. negotiators will hold talks in January to discuss Moscow’s demand that NATO halt its eastward expansion into the countries of the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, Russia’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said Wednesday. “We don’t want a war,” Lavrov said. “We don’t want to take the path of confrontation. But …
Turkish authorities arrested a U.S. diplomat in Turkey last month for allegedly selling a bogus passport to a Syrian national, according to Istanbul police. Authorities identified the diplomat Wednesday by his initials, D.J.K. Officials also said they had video of the envoy handing the passport to a person they described as suspicious at Istanbul airport …
Read more “Turkey Arrests US Diplomat for Allegedly Selling a Fake Passport to a Syrian National”
A media bill presented to Azerbaijan’s parliament has been criticized by some journalists who warn that it could restrict their ability to work independently. The About the Media bill was introduced in parliament on December 10. It is scheduled for a third and final hearing in the coming weeks, after which President Ilham Aliyev is likely to sign it …
Read more “Azerbaijani Journalists React to Draft Media Bill”
Dutch prosecutors have demanded life sentences for four suspects on trial for the 2014 downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine that killed 298 people. The prosecution closed three days of final arguments Wednesday by saying Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Igor Pulatov, along with Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, collaborated to get a …
Read more “Prosecutors Push for Life Sentences in Downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 “
Greece’s coast guard says one migrant has died and dozens are feared missing after a boat sank off the coast of the island of Folegandros. The body of the unidentified man was recovered during an ongoing search and rescue operation launched early Wednesday after the boat sank some 180 kilometers (112 miles) southeast of Athens. The …
Read more “Greece: Migrant Boat Sinks, 1 Dead, Dozens Feared Missing”
Germany’s justice minister says he will present legislation next month to remove from the country’s criminal code a ban on doctors “advertising” abortions, one of several more liberal social policies that the new government plans. The three parties that form Chancellor Olaf Scholz ’s government have long opposed the current rules, but they were defended by the …
Read more “Germany Moves to Scrap Ban on ‘Advertising’ Abortions”
Poland and Lithuania have backed Ukraine in urging Western powers to immediately impose sanctions on Russia over its military buildup along the Ukrainian border. As fears mount of a Russian invasion, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday “called upon the international community to step up sanctions …
Read more “Sanctions on Russia Still Being Debated as Europeans Fear Costs”
The United States believes bilateral talks with Russia over its massive troop buildup along the Ukrainian border could start in January, the State Department’s top diplomat for Europe said Tuesday, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the U.S. and its allies for tensions in the region. Karen Donfried, assistant secretary of State for European …
The U.N. human rights office is calling on Belarus and Poland to end what it calls appalling treatment of refugees and migrants stranded along their common border and to live up to their obligations under international human rights and refugee laws. A U.N. human rights team visited the region between November 29 and December 3 …
Read more “UN Calls on Belarus and Poland for Better Migrant Treatment”
A Belarusian blogger has been sentenced to three years in prison on charge of “insulting” Alexander Lukashenko by writing in a post that the country’s authoritarian ruler was “illegitimate” amid a wave of protests against the results of a presidential election last year that opposition figures say was rigged. A court in the western town …
Read more “Belarusian Blogger Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for ‘Insulting’ Lukashenko”
In Turkey, Uyghur refugees who fled Chinese detention centers and other alleged rights abuses say they fear the Turkish government is under increased pressure to prosecute or deport activists. But as VOA’s Heather Murdock finds at one school in Istanbul, some Uyghur children say their parents sent them here to find safety, when there was …
Read more “Children of Detained Uyghurs Find Refuge in Istanbul School”
As China’s crackdown on democratic freedoms in Hong Kong intensifies under Beijing’s so-called “National Security Law,” tens of thousands of citizens are fleeing the territory. In the first six months of the year, over 65,000 Hong Kong citizens applied to move to Britain, which controlled the territory until 1997, under a special new visa scheme. …
Read more “Fleeing Hong Kong, Families Make New Life in Britain”
A Russian businessman has been extradited from Switzerland to the United States to face charges of insider trading, the Swiss justice ministry said. Vladislav Klyushin, who reportedly owns a media and cybersecurity business called M13 that is linked to the Kremlin, is accused of “involvement in a global scheme to trade on non-public information …
Read more “Russian Extradited to US from Switzerland to Face Insider Trading Charges”
Russia expelled two German diplomats on Monday in response to Germany’s expulsion of two Russian diplomats last week. The dispute between the two nations started when a German court said last week that Russia had ordered the assassination of a former Chechen militant Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili in Berlin in 2019. A German court convicted Russian …
Read more “Russia Expels 2 German Diplomats in Retaliatory Move”
The White House said Monday the United States is ready to start diplomatic talks with Russia through multiple channels, but it made clear that Moscow must address Western concerns about its military buildup along the Ukrainian border. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with his counterpart, Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Russian …
Russia has not let up with a military build-up along the border with Ukraine since U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a two-hour video conference earlier this month, say Western security sources. Despite Biden warning in his talks with Putin that Russia would pay a “terrible price” in the event …
Read more “No Signs of Russia Deescalating on Ukraine Border”
Pope Francis has denounced domestic violence against women as “nearly satanic” and said parents should never slap their children. Francis made the comments in a televised encounter with an abused woman who recently fled her home with her four children. Their meeting was broadcast late Sunday on the private Mediaset network’s TG5 program and also …
Read more “Pope Tells Abused Mother Domestic Violence ‘Nearly Satanic’ “
Azerbaijan said Sunday it had freed 10 more Armenian soldiers captured last month during fighting between the Caucasus arch foes. “Azerbaijan, with mediation of the European Union, handed over 10 soldiers of Armenian origin” who had been captured on November 16, the Azeri committee in charge of prisoners of war said in a statement. Baku …
Read more “Azerbaijan Frees 10 More Armenian Prisoners of War”
Authorities in Russia evacuated 128 coal miners Sunday from a mine in Siberia amid reports of a fire in one of its sections. The news comes weeks after a devastating blast in another Siberian coal mine killed 51 people. Emergency officials told Russia’s Interfax news agency that a fire occurred in an abandoned mine gallery …
Read more “Russia Evacuates 128 Coal Miners Amid Reports of Fire”
Poles flocked to city centers across the country Sunday to defend a U.S.-owned television network that is being targeted by the country’s right-wing government and to protect media freedom in a European Union nation where democratic norms are eroding. Among the protesters were older Poles who decades ago resisted the country’s communist regime and who …
Read more “Poles Protest Across the Country to Defend Media Freedom”
The political crisis engulfing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has deepened with the resignation of a close ally, Brexit minister David Frost, who cited pandemic restrictions and the government’s “direction of travel.” Frost has been handling Britain’s post-Brexit negotiations with the European Union. Frost voiced his dissatisfaction with the government’s policies in a speech last …
Read more “Brexit Minister Resigns, Deepening Crisis Engulfing British Prime Minister”
Spain’s Catholic Church is to open an investigation into alleged sex abuse of hundreds of children by members of the clergy dating back 80 years that the newspaper El Pais has uncovered, the daily said on Sunday. The investigation will look into allegations of abuse against 251 priests and some lay people from religious institutions …
Read more “El Pais Newspaper: Catholic Church in Spain Faces Major Abuse Investigation”
“The Netherlands is shutting down again,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday in a televised address. The new measures, beginning Sunday, Rutte said, are because of a “fifth wave” of COVID-19, due to the highly contagious omicron variant. Under the new rules, all non-essential shops will be closed to at least mid-January. Only two guests …
Read more “Omicron Variant Spurs New Lockdown in Netherlands”
A senior member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet resigned Saturday night, adding to a sense of disarray within a government that has faced rebellion from his own lawmakers and voters this week. Brexit Minister David Frost said in a letter to Johnson that he was stepping down immediately after a newspaper reported that he …
Read more “UK Brexit Minister Quits as New COVID Rules Spark Anger”