Pope Francis will travel to Lesbos on Sunday to meet asylum-seekers at a migrant camp there on his second visit to the Greek island that was at the forefront of Europe’s refugee crisis. Francis is on a five-day trip to Cyprus and Greece during which he has highlighted the struggles of refugees and migrants, an …
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France on Saturday said more than 50,000 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, as COVID-19 cases rocketed despite millions receiving a vaccine booster shot. The country recorded 51,624 new daily cases of Covid, health authorities said. France’s record daily cases number was nearly 118,000 in mid-April, according to Johns Hopkins …
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U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to discuss rising tensions Tuesday along the Russian-Ukranian border, where a Russian troop buildup is seen by the West as a sign of a potential invasion. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the meeting Saturday to Interfax news agency, saying it would take place on …
Read more “Kremlin Says Biden and Putin to Discuss Ukraine Crisis Next Week”
Thousands of people blocked roads across Serbia in an anti-government demonstration targeting two new laws that environmentalists say will let foreign companies exploit local resources. Serbia’s government has offered mining rights to two companies, China’s Zijin copper miner and Rio Tinto. Green activists say the projects will pollute land and water in the Balkan nation. …
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Pope Francis warned Saturday that democracy in Europe and elsewhere is being threatened by populist politicians, who appeal to disgruntled citizens with easy solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. The pope’s remarks were made during a visit to Athens, Greece, widely viewed as the birthplace of democracy, the second and last stop on a …
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The leaders of right-wing populist parties gathered Saturday in Warsaw to discuss how they can work together to bring change to the European Union, which they accuse of acting like a super-state that is eroding the traditions and powers of the EU’s 27 member nations. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s nationalist ruling party, opened …
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French President Emmanuel Macron insisted Friday he hadn’t forgotten the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as he defended his decision to visit Saudi Arabia during his Gulf tour. On Saturday, Macron will become one of the first Western leaders to meet the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, since Khashoggi was …
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A Belarusian court has designated the official Telegram channel of RFE/RL’s Belarus Service and some of the broadcaster’s social media accounts as extremist in a continued clampdown on independent media and civil society, The decision to label RFE/RL’s accounts “extremist” – including its YouTube channel – was made by the Central District Court on December …
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U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters Friday he has been developing a set of initiatives that will make it “very, very difficult” for Russia to escalate the situation at its border with Ukraine, where Moscow has been building up troops and equipment for weeks. The situation at Ukraine’s eastern border has raised fears Moscow is planning to invade its neighbor. Russian aggression was the focus this week of a NATO …
Read more “Biden Says He has a Plan to Protect Ukraine from Russia”
China and Russia have strengthened their political, economic and military relations this year, despite their uneasy history in the past, as both countries say they resent what they call growing pressure from the West. So far this year, the two have held a series of military exercises and issued joint diplomatic statements aimed at Western …
Top German health officials Friday warned that the omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was likely to worsen the fourth wave of infections the nation is facing and was threatening to overwhelm the health care system. German Health Minister Jens Spahn and Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, spoke with …
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Austria’s ruling party on Friday named Interior Minister Karl Nehammer to lead the conservative camp and the country after the shock resignation of former chancellor Sebastian Kurz as party head caused fresh political upheaval. “I wanted to announce that today I was unanimously appointed by the OeVP (People’s Party) leadership as party head and at …
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with both the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers in Stockholm on Thursday, amid concerns over troops amassed at their common border. Blinken stressed America’s strong commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and called on both sides to seek a diplomatic solution, as VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. …
Read more “Blinken Dismisses Russian Claims It Is Threatened by Ukraine”
The tale of two South Sudanese brothers recently rescued in the Mediterranean Sea is a common one among the many African migrants seeking better lives in Europe. The two men left Libya on a flimsy boat, but the engine broke down and they were eventually picked up by the Ocean Viking rescue ship. Reporter Ruud …
Read more “Two South Sudanese Migrants Rescued at Sea Tell of Dreams, Hopes”
A Serbian court Thursday jailed four former intelligence officers for up to 30 years over the brutal 1999 murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija, a fierce critic of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic. The special court sentenced Serbia’s former secret police chief, Radomir Markovic, and the head of Belgrade’s intelligence branch, Milan Radonjic, to 30 years in …
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The European Union this week launched a $340 billion fund to boost global infrastructure — which analysts say is aimed a rivaling China’s Belt and Road initiative. But can it compete? Henry Ridgwell has more. Camera: Henry Ridgwell …
The European Union this week launched a $340 billion “Global Gateway” fund to boost global infrastructure, which analysts say is aimed at rivaling China’s Belt and Road Initiative. But can it compete with Beijing’s billions? The EU says its Global Gateway will finance high-quality digital, climate, and energy and transport infrastructure, including fiber-optic cables, road …
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Authorities in Belarus raided the homes of dozens of journalists and activists Wednesday, according to a human rights group, in what appeared to be the biggest one-day crackdown on dissent in the past three months. Independent journalists, human rights advocates and activists in at least nine large Belarusian cities had phones and computers seized during …
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The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada have announced a new round of sanctions against Belarus officials and entities, citing the government’s “ongoing attacks on democracy, human rights, and international norms, and for their brutal repression of Belarusians both inside and outside the country,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said …
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Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her likely successor, current Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, Thursday announced new restrictions on the nation’s unvaccinated in an effort to fight the surge in new COVID-19 infections. Merkel and Scholz told reporters in Berlin that under the new rules, the unvaccinated will be excluded from nonessential stores and cultural …
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The Duchess of Sussex on Thursday won the latest stage in her long-running privacy lawsuit against a British newspaper publisher over its publication of parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father. The Court of Appeal in London upheld a High Court ruling that the publisher of The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline …
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned his Russian counterpart Thursday of “serious consequences” if Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine and appealed to him to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict between the Eastern European countries. Blinken’s warning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov came before the two senior diplomats met in Stockholm and one …
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President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow would seek Western guarantees precluding any further NATO expansion and deployment of its weapons near his country’s borders, a stern demand that comes amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian and Western officials have worried about a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine, saying it could signal …
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Last week, a small inflatable boat capsized in the English Channel killing 27 migrants who were attempting to cross from France to the United Kingdom. The family of one of the victims spoke to VOA’s Ahmad Zebari from Soran, Iraqi Kurdistan, about the tragedy’s impact. Rikar Hussein narrates the story. Camera: Ahmad Zebari Produced by: Ahmad Zebari …