Eastern European countries like Slovakia and Hungary are preparing for an increase in the number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine in the coming months as winter approaches. Russia has targeted power and heating plants in Ukraine in the past few months. Temperatures drop below zero Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), with lows of minus …
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The first North American tour of two Belarusian rock legends just ended in the US. For both artists this tour was about more than just making music. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. …
American basketball star Brittney Griner has been sent to a penal colony in Russia to serve her sentence for drug possession, her legal team said Wednesday. A Russian court rejected an appeal of her nine-year sentence last month. The eight-time all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist was convicted …
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India will expand economic ties with Russia and continue to buy oil from Moscow, India’s foreign minister said, pointing out that imports of discounted crude from Moscow have worked to its advantage. Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said during a visit to Moscow that as the world’s third-largest consumer of oil, it is “our fundamental obligation” …
The United States and Russia will soon hold talks on resuming suspended nuclear arms control inspections that had been put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic and languished after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the State Department said Tuesday. State Department spokesman Ned Price said negotiations on the inspections would take place “in the near future” …
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Ukraine urgently needs more air defense systems from the West, according to a new report, which warns that Russia could seek to repeat the tactics it used in Syria to bombard Ukrainian cities from the skies. The analysis from Britain’s Royal United Services Institute says that in the early days of the invasion in February …
Read more “Ukraine Needs Air Defense Systems to Counter Russian Bombardments, Report Warns”
Ukraine urgently needs more air defense systems from the West — or Russia could repeat the tactics it used in Syria, to bombard Ukrainian cities from the skies, according to a new report. Henry Ridgwell has more from London. …
UNICEF warns millions of children caught in climate-induced disasters are at risk of starvation, disease, exploitation, and death. A UNICEF analysis released Tuesday finds 27.7 million children in 27 countries have been affected by flooding so far this year. Among them, Chad, the Gambia, and northeast Bangladesh have recorded the worst floods in a generation. …
Read more “UNICEF: Children Suffer Most from Climate Crises Not of Their Making”
Greece’s Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into allegations that the country’s intelligence service was tapping the phones of nearly three dozen politicians, businessmen, and journalists. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has denied the allegations but the scandal, analysts say, may force him to resign as leader of the country’s center-right party. The scandal is being …
A German humanitarian group said its ship docked in southern Italy early Tuesday and disembarked 89 people rescued at sea, ending one migrant rescue saga as others continue under Italy’s new hard-right government. Mission Lifeline posted videos on social media of the 25-meter (80-foot) Rise Above freighter docking in Reggio Calabria and said the “odyssey …
Read more “German Aid Group: 89 Migrants Allowed to Disembark in Italy”
Chinese authorities behind a major trade expo in Shanghai pulled an opening ceremony address by the European Council president that was set to criticize Russia’s “illegal war” in Ukraine and call for reduced trade dependency on China, diplomats said. The pre-recorded video by Charles Michel was meant to be one of several from world leaders …
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Ukraine is boosting its ties with Southeast Asian nations, signing a key foreign relations pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) later this week in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba is expected to sign, in person, the so-called Instrument of Accession to the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation …
The captain of Humanity 1, a German charity rescue ship, was ordered to leave the port of Catania Sunday after 144 rescued migrants were allowed to disembark, but 35 people remained on board. The captain refused to leave. Italy allowed the ship carrying 179 migrants to enter the Sicilian port early Sunday, while rejecting safe …
Read more “Amnesty International: Italy Not Adhering to Law of the Sea “
Some former members of Afghanistan’s special forces who fled to Iran after the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan are now being recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine and for Iran in Yemen, two former senior Afghan security officials told VOA. The former Afghan army chief, General Haibatullah Alizai, said Tehran is using the vulnerability of …
Read more “Former US-Trained Afghan Commandos Recruited by Russia, Iran”
Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is visiting Moscow for talks expected to focus on economic and political issues. The two-day visit during which the Indian minister will meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Industry, Denis Manturov, will be the first by a senior Indian official to …
Read more “Indian Foreign Minister Heads to Russia for Talks Expected to Include Ukraine Conflict “
Britain announced Monday that a trade minister was heading to Taiwan for the first in-person talks since the coronavirus in a bid to strengthen ties with the island, a trip that sparked a rebuke from Beijing. Trade Policy Minister Greg Hands will co-host annual talks and meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during his two-day …
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The captain of a charity-run migrant rescue ship refused Italian orders to leave a Sicilian port Sunday after authorities refused to let 35 of the migrants on his ship disembark — part of directives by Italy’s new far-right-led government targeting foreign-flagged rescue ships. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s two-week-old government is refusing safe port to four …
Read more “Ship Refuses to Leave Italy Port Until All Migrants Are Off”
Several thousand ethnic Serbs rallied in Kosovo Sunday as a dispute over vehicle license plates heightened ongoing tensions between Serbia and its former province. The government’s decision to gradually ban Serbia-issued license plates has angered Kosovo Serbs, most of whom do not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. Members of the ethnic Serb minority left …
Read more “Ethnic Serbs Rally in Kosovo After Leaving Jobs in Protest”
In Kherson, residents were without lights and water Sunday, as the city’s Russian-installed officials accused Ukraine of “sabotage” without evidence. The Kremlin-installed administration in Kherson said an airstrike, the “result of an attack organized” by Ukraine, damaged “three concrete poles of high-voltage power lines.” The authorities said energy specialists were working to “quickly” resolve the …
Read more “Kherson Region Without Water, Lights After Airstrike”
The mayor of Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv is warning residents that they must prepare for the worst this winter if Russia keeps striking the country’s energy infrastructure — that means there might not be any electricity, water or heat when temperatures fall below freezing. “We are doing everything to avoid this. But let’s be frank, …
Read more “Kyiv Prepares for a Winter With no Heat, Water or Power”
Britain’s Defense Ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence report about Ukraine that there has been a “series of dismissals of senior Russian military commanders since the onset of the invasion in February 2022.” The report said, “These dismissals represent a pattern of blame against senior Russian military commanders for failures to achieve Russian objectives …
Read more “UK Reports Dismissals of Russian Commanders Since Ukraine Invasion”
The German version of the television show The Voice had a special guest Saturday on its final episode of the season. Rana Mansour, an Iranian American singer, performed the protest song For, (Baraye) a song dedicated to Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who died recently after being arrested by Iranian police. Amini was detained …
Read more “Iranian American Guest Performs on Germany’s ‘The Voice’”
European lawmaker Jordan Bardella replaced his mentor Marine Le Pen on Saturday at the helm of France’s leading far-right party and pledged to defend French civilization from perceived threats posed by immigration and work closely with far-right parties around Europe. Bardella, 27, won an internal party vote with 85% support, marking a symbolic changing of …
Read more “French Far-Right Party Elects New Leader to Replace Le Pen”
The Biden administration is privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia and drop their public refusal to engage in peace talks unless President Vladimir Putin is removed from power, The Washington Post reported Saturday. The paper quoted unnamed people familiar with the discussions as saying that the request by American …
Read more “US Privately Asks Ukraine to Show Russia It’s Open to Talks, Washington Post Reports”