Phrygian caps will be the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots as organizers look to to celebrate the French revolution’s spirit. “‘Phryges’ aim to show that sport can change everything, and that it deserves to have a prominent place in our society,” Paris 2024 brand director Julie Matikhine said on Monday. The Phrygian caps …
Read more “Olympics-Phrygian Caps to Be Paris 2024 Games Mascots “
Britain and France have joined forces to curb the tide of migrants crossing the English Channel into England. Under the new agreement, Britain is set to pay France $75 million to strengthen security that would prevent migrants and asylum seekers from navigating small vessels from France across the dangerous waterway. The deal provides for a …
Read more “England, France Join Forces to Stem Tide of Migrants Across English Channel”
U.S. President Joe Biden joined world leaders at the island resort of Bali, Indonesia, for the G-20 Summit hosted by President Joko Widodo. “I don’t think I’m going home,” Biden joked in a meeting with Widodo at the sidelines of the summit. “You had me staying on the beach.” “It’s great to see you again, …
Read more “Biden, Xi, Not Putin Gather at G20 Bali Summit in Diplomatic Win for Host Indonesia”
Art restorers in the Italian city of Florence have begun a six-month project to clean and virtually “unveil” a long-censored nude painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the most prominent women in the history of Italian art. Swirling veils and drapery were added to the “Allegory of Inclination” some 70 years after Gentileschi painted the …
Read more “Artemisia Gentileschi’s 1616 Nude to Be Digitally Unveiled”
Pope Francis ate lunch with hundreds of refugees, poor and homeless people on Sunday as he called for a renewed commitment to helping society’s weakest and denounced the “sirens of populism” that drown out their cries for help. Francis celebrated the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor by inviting an estimated 1,300 poor people …
Read more “Pope Lunches With Poor, Denounces ‘Sirens of Populism’”
Turkey’s interior minister said Monday that authorities have arrested 22 people in connection with the explosion Sunday at a popular Istanbul shopping center, according to Anadolu, a Turkish state-run news agency. One of those arrested is believed to be the person who left the bomb at the center. “Our assessment is that the order for …
At least one person was killed and others were wounded on Sunday when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul, sending people running from the fiery blast, according to the local governor and published videos. Ambulances rushed to the scene on the packed Istiklal Avenue, which police quickly cordoned off. The area, …
Read more “Deadly Blast Rocks Busy Central Istanbul Avenue, Cause Unknown “
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed energy and trade ties with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during a visit to Hanoi on Sunday, the first for a German leader in more than a decade. Scholz’s stop in Vietnam on his way to the G20 leaders’ summit in Indonesia, highlights Vietnam’s growing role in global supply …
Read more “Germany’s Scholz Visits Vietnam as Manufacturers Eye Shift From China “
Britain’s government on Sunday warned of impending tax hikes, especially for the wealthy, as it bids to repair economic havoc wrought by the short-lived tenure of former prime minister Liz Truss. Truss’s successor Rishi Sunak, who was heading to a G20 economic summit in Indonesia, has vowed to get soaring inflation under control even if …
Slovenians were voting on Sunday in a presidential election runoff, with former TV presenter Natasa Pirc Musar hoping to beat right-wing politician Andze Logar and become the country’s first woman president. Although Logar came first in the first round on Oct. 23, opinion polls have narrowly favored a victory on Sunday for Pirc Musar, an …
Read more “Slovenia’s Election May Produce First Woman President “
Britain’s Defense Ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence update on Ukraine that Russian Education Minister Sergey Kravstov has said that “military training will return to Russian schools, beginning in September 2023.” This training included “contingencies for a chemical or nuclear attack, first aid and experience handling and firing Kalashnikov rifles.” According to the report, …
Read more “Russia to Launch Military Training in Its Schools in 2023, UK Says”
Harrowing, previously unseen images from 1938’s Kristallnacht pogrom against German and Austrian Jews have surfaced in a photograph collection donated to Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial, the organization said Wednesday. One shows a crowd of smiling, well-dressed middle-aged German men and women standing casually as a Nazi officer smashes a storefront window. In another, brownshirts carry …
Read more “Newly Discovered Photos Show Nazi Kristallnacht Up Close”
FTX was engulfed in more chaos on Saturday when the crypto exchange said it had detected unauthorized access and analysts said hundreds of millions of dollars of assets had been moved from the platform in “suspicious circumstances.” FTX filed for bankruptcy on Friday, one of the highest profile crypto blowups, after traders rushed to withdraw …
Read more “Collapsed FTX Hit by Rogue Transactions; at Least $600 Million Removed”
The United Nations refugee agency announced Friday it has launched a global funding campaign to help people forcibly displaced by war and persecution survive the bitterly cold winter ahead. The UNHCR’s campaign aims to raise $700 million this year to help families who are living under perilous conditions in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and across the Middle …
Read more “UN Campaign Aims to Protect Displaced Families from Winter Cold”
An Iranian who got stuck for 18 years in a Paris airport, inspiring a Steven Spielberg movie starring Tom Hanks, died on Saturday at the terminal, an airport official said. Mehran Karimi Nasseri died of natural causes just before midday on Saturday in terminal 2F at Charles de Gaulle airport outside the French capital, the …
Read more “Iranian Exile Who Inspired ‘The Terminal’ Dies in French Airport “
The White House hailed as an “extraordinary victory” Ukraine’s liberation of the city of Kherson from Russia forces. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Saturday, “It does look as though the Ukrainians have just won an extraordinary victory in Kherson, where the one regional capital that Russia had seized in this war is now back …
Read more “US Lauds Ukraine’s ‘Extraordinary Victory’ in Kherson”
Britain’s Defense Ministry said Saturday in its daily update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson, announced this week, “is a public recognition of the difficulties faced by Russian forces on the west bank of the Dnipro river.” In the intelligence update posted on Twitter, the ministry said that while the withdrawal …
Read more “UK: Russian Withdrawal From Kherson Shows Difficulties Forces Face”
Britain’s House of Lords shares some characteristics with the Chinese National People’s Congress: their signature colors are red, and neither is elected by popular vote. They are also the world’s two largest legislatures. After the rapid-fire departures this year of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss from 10 Downing Street, the House of Lords is set …
The place goes dark at 6 p.m. as scheduled, but customers at this upscale Kyiv restaurant are unfazed, happy to continue their meal and conversations. Guided by her phone’s flashlight, the waitress brings out dishes and distributes candles. She smiles as she waits for the generator to start. The atmosphere in the central Supra restaurant, …
Ukrainian forces entered the city of Kherson on Friday as Russian forces retreated in haste. Villagers came out of hiding to welcome the Ukrainian troops and recounted horror stories of Russian soldiers killing civilians and looting homes. According to Serhiy Khlan, deputy for the Kherson Regional Council, the city was almost fully under the control …
Read more “Ukrainian Forces Enter Kherson as Russian Troops Withdraw”
“Mariupol. Unlost Hope” is a new documentary focusing on the war in Ukraine. It premiered in the U.S. in early November and shows the war through the eyes of ordinary people who managed to survive. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Max Avloshenko, Dmitrii Vershinin, Vladimir Badikov. …
Officials in Brussels said Friday the suspect in a stabbing attack on two police officers Thursday — killing one, wounding the other — had been on a terrorism watch list. Prosecutors’ spokesperson Eric van der Sypt told a news conference the two officers were attacked in their squad car as they sat at a red …
Read more “Brussels Police Officer Killed, Another Wounded in Stabbing Incident”
A two-day peace forum opened Friday in Paris, aimed at offering a more hopeful note to a year marked by the war in Ukraine, skyrocketing hunger and prices, and the rising destruction from climate change. Latin America is also on the agenda. About 4,000 people including a raft of world leaders, humanitarians and business figures …
Read more “Paris Peace Forum Convenes, Looks for Solutions to Today’s Crises”
Leaving behind a better-than-expected Democratic performance in the November 8 Congressional elections, U.S. President Joe Biden heads to a whirlwind week of diplomacy with Southeast Asian and Indo-Pacific leaders amid an intensifying rivalry with China, Russia’s war on Ukraine, and increased provocations from North Korea. Here are the key points he’ll be dealing with during …
Read more “Biden Facing Rivalries With Beijing, Moscow During Southeast Asia Trip”