The European Union’s executive intensified its legal standoff with Hungary on Friday by taking the country to the EU’s highest court over a restrictive law on LGBT issues and media freedom. The EU had already tried for a year to make Hungary change a law that bans content portraying or promoting homosexuality. The European Commission …
Read more “EU Takes Hungary to Highest Court Over LGBT, Media Rules”
U.S. officials say they are concerned about reports Turkey is planning a new offensive against U.S. backed, Syrian-based Kurdish fighters. Civilians in the Northern Syrian city of Qamishli say they are worried as well. For VOA, Zana Omar has this report from Syria, narrated by Rikar Hussein. …
Western finance ministers condemned Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine at G-20 talks in Indonesia on Friday, accusing Russian officials of complicity in atrocities committed during the war. The two-day meeting on the island of Bali began under the shadow of a Russian military assault that has roiled markets, spiked food prices and stoked breakneck inflation, a …
Read more “US, Canada Condemn Russia’s War on Ukraine at Indonesia G20 Talks”
“The simple truth is that, as we speak, children, women and men, the young and the old, are living in terror,” International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said at the opening of the Ukraine Accountability Conference in The Hague on Thursday, with about 40 nations in attendance. Khan said an “overarching strategy” is needed …
Read more “ICC Prosecutor: ‘Overarching Strategy’ Needed to Bring Ukraine War Criminals to Justice”
An Azerbaijani journalist imprisoned on what rights groups believe are trumped-up charges has had his appeal for parole rejected. The Supreme Court of Azerbaijan on Wednesday rejected the appeal of human rights defender and journalist Elchin Mammad to be freed after serving one-third of his sentence. Mammad, editor of the news website Yukselish Namine and …
Read more “Azerbaijan Denies Parole Appeal of Jailed Journalist”
The United States is pressing to implement a plan meant to force Russia to sell oil at artificially low prices on the global market, in order to deprive the Kremlin of funding for its war in Ukraine. Speaking at a news conference in Bali, Indonesia, before the start of a meeting of the finance ministers …
Read more “Yellen Pushes Plan to Cap Price of Russian Oil on Global Markets “
Stockholm’s District Court sentenced a former Iranian official to life in prison on Thursday for war crimes and the murder of political prisoners during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. At the time of the killings, Hamid Noury was a 27-year-old assistant to the deputy prosecutor at Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Iran. According to prosecutors, …
Read more “Ex-Iranian Official Imprisoned in Sweden for Executions”
A Russian arms dealer labeled the “Merchant of Death” who once inspired a Hollywood movie is back in the headlines with speculation around a return to Moscow in a prisoner exchange. If Viktor Bout, 55, is indeed eventually freed in return for WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, as some published …
Read more “Name of Russian Arms Dealer Surfaces in Possible Prisoner Swap”
An arson attack on a suburban Athens building that houses the offices of a Greek radio station and newspaper caused significant damage early Wednesday and drew condemnation from political leaders in Greece and elsewhere in the European Union. Explosions were heard before a fire broke out shortly after 3 a.m. at the building that houses …
Read more “Arson Damages Athens Building Housing Greek Media Outlets”
WNBA player Brittney Griner was back in a Russian court Thursday, a week after she pleaded guilty to drug charges. Despite the session being closed to reporters, lawyers for Griner said the head of the Russian basketball club for which she plays, UMMC Yekaterinburg, vouched for her good character. Club boss Maxim Ryabkov reportedly told …
Read more “Russian Basketball Official, Teammate Vouch for Griner in Russian Court”
Italian Premier Mario Draghi has told his Cabinet he will offer his resignation on Thursday evening to the nation’s president, following the refusal of a populist coalition ally to support a key government bill. “The majority of national unity that has sustained this government from its creation doesn’t exist any more,” Draghi said in a …
Read more “Italian Premier Draghi Says He Will Resign After Losing Ally”
Turkish officials say there is a potential breakthrough in efforts to release Ukrainian grain to world markets as global food prices soar amid Russia’s war with Ukraine. Turkey’s defense minister, Hulusi Akar, said an agreement is likely to be announced soon following four-way talks Wednesday among Russian, Ukrainian, United Nations, and Turkish officials in Istanbul. …
Read more “Turkey Notes Progress in Talks on Stalled Ukrainian Wheat Exports”
PAMPLONA, Spain (AP) — Bulls from Spain´s revered Miura ranch starred in a fast and uncomplicated final running of the bulls at this year´s San Fermín Festival on Thursday. The Navarra regional government said six people were treated for minor injuries following Thursday’s run that lasted just over two minutes. Initially, the Spanish Red Cross …
Read more “Spain’s Running of Bulls Ends With Swift Race, 6 Hurt “
Two candidates were knocked out of the race to replace U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, leaving six lawmakers battling to lead a Conservative Party — and a country — hoping to move on from months of scandal and division. Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi failed to reach the …
Read more “2 Candidates Knocked Out of UK Conservative Leadership Race”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russia of forcibly deporting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from areas it controls in the east and south of the country to Russia. Blinken said an estimated 900,000 to 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, have been interrogated, detained, and deported from their homes to Russia, …
Read more “US Accuses Russia of Forcibly Deporting Ukrainians”
Thousands of firefighters battled more than 20 blazes that raged across Portugal and western Spain on Wednesday, menacing villages and disrupting tourists’ holidays amid a heat wave that pushed temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius in some parts of Europe. In France, hundreds of firefighters, supported by six water-bomber aircraft, battled two wildfires in the southwest, …
With thousands of sanctions already imposed on Russia to flatten its economy, the U.S. and its allies are working on new measures to starve the Russian war machine while also stopping the price of oil and gasoline from soaring to levels that could crush the global economy. The Kremlin’s main pillar of financial revenue — …
Read more “US, Allies Aim to Cap Russian Oil Prices to Hinder Invasion”
British Conservative Party lawmakers cast ballots Wednesday in the first round of the election to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Eight candidates have secured the necessary support of 20 of their colleagues to make the first ballot. If necessary, further rounds of voting will take place on Thursday and next week. Once only two candidates …
Read more “UK Conservatives Vote in First Round of Leadership Race”
Like most of his predecessors as Conservative Party leader, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is wealthy, white and male. There’s a good chance his successor will be different. The eight candidates running in a party election to succeed Johnson are four men and four women, with roots in Iraq, India, Pakistan and Nigeria as well as …
Read more “UK Conservative Hopefuls Strikingly Diverse, Firmly on Right”
Officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations are due to meet Wednesday in Istanbul in an effort to resume grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has hindered Ukrainian exports, helping push up global prices on grain, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer. Turkey and the United Nations have been …
Read more “Four-way Talks Aim to Aid Ukrainian Grain Exports”
France’s new foreign minister said on Tuesday there were only a few weeks before the window of opportunity to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers would close. Speaking to lawmakers, Catherine Colonna said the situation was no longer tenable and accused Iran of using delaying tactics and going back on previously agreed positions …
Read more “France: Only a Few Weeks Left to Save Iran Nuclear Deal”
More than 1.8 billion people worldwide are at risk of severe floods, new research shows. Most reside in low- and middle-income countries in Asia, and four out of 10 live in poverty. The figures are substantially larger than previous estimates. They show that the risk is concentrated among those least able to withstand and recover …
Read more “Nearly One-Fourth of World’s Population at Risk of Floods: Study”
Russian journalist Yury Dud was fined 120,000 rubles ($2,024) by a Moscow court Tuesday under a law that bans “propaganda” in support of gay relationships. Lefortovo district court said the 35-year-old was fined for disseminating “propaganda for non-traditional sexual relationships among minors.” Former sports reporter Dud is one of Russia’s top media stars, having risen …
Read more “Russian Anti-War Journalist Fined Under ‘Gay Propaganda’ Law”
Eight British Conservative Party lawmakers have made the cut to replace outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who resigned earlier this month amid scandals. Each of the eight needed support from at least 20 fellow Conservative Party lawmakers before the Tuesday deadline. Runoff voting among fellow Conservative lawmakers, to narrow the field to two, is …
Read more “8 British Lawmakers Make Cut to Replace Outgoing PM Johnson”