Month: August 2022

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed the future of the opposition movement with VOA’s Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze on Monday. On August 9, 2020, Tsikhanouskaya was the opposition candidate in a disputed presidential election in which President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory. The widely discredited claim led to violent protests that were brutally suppressed. …

Read more “VOA Interview: Belarusian Opposition Leader Tsikhanouskaya”

French environmentalists prepared Tuesday to move a beluga whale that strayed into the Seine River last week to a saltwater basin in Normandy, hoping to save the life of the dangerously thin marine mammal.  A medical team plans to transport the 4-meter-long (13-foot-long) whale to a coastal spot in the northeastern French port town of …

Read more “Rescuers to Move Whale Stranded in French River to Saltwater”

The World Meteorological Organization or WMO reports the month of July was one of the three warmest on record globally. This, despite a weak La Nina event, which is supposed to have a cooling influence. Meteorologists warn the heatwave that swept through large parts of Europe last month is set to continue in August. They …

Read more “WMO: July Is One of Warmest Months on Record”

In what he calls his humanitarian voyage, American Neale Bayly has been riding his motorcycle around Ukraine — not only to see the sights, but also to bring attention to its war against Russia, and raise funds for the children he meets along the way. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. VOA footage by Yuriy Dankevych. …

Powerful explosions erupted at a Russian air base in Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding five others, authorities said, but the cause of the blasts was unknown. Russia’s Defense Ministry said munitions blew up at the Saki base in the region seized by Russia in 2014, but it emphasized the installation …

Read more “Explosions Rock Russian Air Base in Crimea”

Over the past few months, a small team of dedicated volunteers have managed to evacuate more than 600 bedridden people from areas of heavy fighting in war-torn eastern regions of Ukraine. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. VOA footage by Yuriy Dankevych. …

A Russian offensive is continuing toward the hub cities of Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in the eastern Donetsk region as the enemy tries to inflict “maximum losses” on Ukrainian forces, the Ukrainian Army’s General Staff said early on August 9. It said the Russian Air Force was bombarding military facilities in the direction of Donetsk in …

Read more “Kyiv Says Russians Trying to Dislodge Its Forces in Donetsk, As Nuclear Concerns Persist”

The European Union on Monday said it put forward a “final” text to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as four days of indirect talks between U.S. and Iranian officials wrapped up in Vienna. “What can be negotiated has been negotiated, and it’s now in a final text. However, behind every technical issue and every …

Read more “EU Lays Down ‘Final’ Text To Resurrect Iran Nuclear Deal”

The first cargo ship to reach its final destination after departing from Ukraine under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv docked in Turkey on Monday, Kyiv said, while a consignment due in Lebanon reported delays. Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, was forced to halt almost all deliveries after Russia’s invasion, but Black …

Read more “Ukraine ‘Optimistic’ After Arrival of First Grain Shipment”

The Balkan country of Kosovo has recently been at the receiving end of what its leaders say is Russian disinformation. Leonat Shehu and Artan Haraqija have more from Pristina, Kosovo. …

A London museum agreed Sunday to return a collection of Benin Bronzes looted in the late 19th century from what is now Nigeria as cultural institutions throughout Britain come under pressure to repatriate artifacts acquired during the colonial era.  The Horniman Museum and Gardens in southeast London said that it would transfer a collection of …

Read more “UK Museum Agrees to Return Looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria”

The scheduled arrival Sunday of the first grain ship to leave Ukraine and cross the Black Sea under a wartime deal has been delayed, a Lebanese Cabinet minister and the Ukrainian embassy said. The cause of the delay was not immediately clear and Marine Traffic, which monitors vessel traffic and the locations of ships at …

Read more “Ukraine Grain Headed for Lebanon Under Wartime Deal Delayed”

Heatwaves sweeping Europe this summer have brought not just record high temperatures and scorched fields: the drought-stricken waters of Italy’s River Po are running so low they revealed a previously submerged World War Two bomb. Military experts defused and carried out a controlled explosion on Sunday of the 450-kg (1,000-pound) bomb, which was discovered on …

Read more “WW2 Bomb Revealed in Drought-Hit Waters of Italy’s Po River”

France on Sunday braced for a fourth heatwave this summer as its worst drought on record left parched villages without safe drinking water and farmers warned of a looming milk shortage in the winter. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s office has set up a crisis team to tackle a drought that has forced scores of villages …

Read more “Temperatures Rise as France Tackles Worst Drought on Record”

A group of friends in California is organizing food festivals to help Ukraine – volunteers cook Ukrainian food and teach everyone willing to learn. VOA Russian visited a festival in this report narrated by Anna Rice. …

Natalia Popova has found a new purpose in life: Rescuing wild animals and pets from the devastation wrought by the war in Ukraine. “They are my life,” says the 50-year-old, stroking a light-furred lioness like a kitten. From inside an enclosure, the animal rejoices at the attention, lying on her back and stretching her paws …

Read more “Ukrainian Risks Her Life To Rescue Wild Animals From War”

Four grain ships are to sail from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports Sunday. The Joint Coordination Center, the body set up under the Black Sea Grain Initiative to monitor its implementation, has authorized the departures through the maritime humanitarian corridor. The ships moving out of Ukrainian ports are headed to China, Italy and two locations in …

Read more “Tons of Grain Leaving Ukraine”

The head of Amnesty International’s Ukraine chapter has resigned, saying the human rights organization shot down her opposition to publishing a report that said Ukrainian forces had exposed civilians to Russian attacks by basing themselves in populated areas. In a statement posted Friday night on Facebook, Oksana Pokalchuk accused her former employer of disregarding Ukraine’s …

Read more “Amnesty International Ukraine Report Sparks Furor, Resignation”

French environmentalists are working around the clock to try and feed a dangerously thin Beluga whale that has strayed into the Seine River. So far, they have been unsuccessful. Marine conservation group Sea Shepherd France tweeted Saturday that “our teams took turns with the Beluga all night long. It always ignores the fish offered to …

Read more “Beluga Whale Caught in France’s Seine Not Accepting Food”

Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined Amsterdam’s historic canals Saturday to celebrate the Canal Parade, a Pride flotilla of 80 brightly decorated boats packed with people partying, singing and waving rainbow flags, balloons and umbrellas.  The boats representing rights groups, bars, clothing brands and even the Dutch military made their way slowly through the waterways …

Read more “Huge Crowds Watch Amsterdam Pride’s Canal Parade Celebration”

A bus with Polish license plates skidded off a highway in northern Croatia early Saturday, killing at least 12 people, according to authorities.   Officials say at least 30 people were injured.  The bus was filled with religious pilgrims traveling to a Catholic shrine in Medjugorje, a town in southern Bosnia.  Reuters reports that all …

Read more “12 Poles Killed in Croatia Bus Crash”

Three more ships carrying thousands of tons of corn left Ukrainian ports Friday, part of a grain deal between Kyiv and Moscow, as the two countries accused each other of damaging a major Ukrainian nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom said Russian shelling had hit the Zaporizhzhia power station, Europe’s largest nuclear …

Read more “Ukraine, Russia Trade Blame Over Damage to Nuclear Plant”

Seated at a table with his wife and a colleague in the small town of Leskovac, Dragan Marinovic was looking forward to a meal at his favorite restaurant. Then a stranger approached and started to threaten Marinovic, who is executive editor of the Serbian news website Resetka. The reason, Marinovic told VOA’s Serbian Service: a …

Read more “Threats Cast Chill Over Serbia’s Media “

As a sex worker and adult film actor, Roc was relieved when he was among the first Spaniards to get a monkeypox vaccine. He knew of several cases among men who have sex with men, which is the leading demographic for the disease, and feared he could be next.  “I went home and thought, ‘Phew, …

Read more “Spain Leads Europe in Monkeypox, Struggles to Check Spread “