Germans in the coastal state of Lower Saxony vote in a closely watched regional election Sunday, seen as a key test for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats amid an acute energy crisis. Polls open at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT), with the latest surveys putting Scholz’s center-left SPD slightly ahead of the conservative CDU party of …
Read more “German Regional Vote Tests Public Mood Amid Energy Woes”
Austrians vote Sunday in a presidential election expected to return incumbent Alexander Van der Bellen, seen as a beacon of stability as the Alpine EU member struggles with an energy crisis and inflation. Campaigning on a slogan of “clarity,” Van der Bellen is widely tipped to clinch a second mandate, with his six challengers — …
Read more “Austrians Vote in Presidential Election With Incumbent Set to Win”
Thousands of chanting, singing people held a solidarity demonstration Saturday in The Hague in support of protesters in Iran who have taken to the streets since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Protesters gathered on a central park in the city waved flags …
Several hundred people on Saturday joined an LGBTQ pride march in Montenegro, held amid strong opposition from the influential Serbian Orthodox Church in the small conservative Balkan country. Montenegro’s 10th pride event was dubbed “No more buts,” reflecting demands that more be done to stem hate speech and harassment of LGBTQ community despite huge steps …
Read more “Montenegro Holds Pride March Despite Opposition From Church “
The European Union’s top diplomat Saturday condemned “in the strongest possible terms” Russia’s attempt to annex the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and said Russia’s forces must fully withdraw from the plant and return control of it to Ukraine. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell called the seizure of the nuclear power plant “illegal, …
Read more “EU Condemns Russia’s Takeover of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant”
A train communications system in Germany was targeted by sabotage Saturday, forcing both passenger and cargo trains to halt for nearly three hours across the northwest of the country, authorities said. Operator Deutsche Bahn said early Saturday that no long-distance or regional trains were running in the states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Bremen. …
Read more “Sabotage Hits Trains in Northern Germany, Forcing 3-Hour Halt”
Seven people have been killed in an explosion at a gas station in County Donegal in Ireland’s northwest, police said on Saturday. The Garda Siochana police force said eight people had been hospitalized as “the search and recovery for further fatalities continues” at the site in the village of Creeslough. It said it “can now …
Read more “Seven Killed in Ireland Gas Station Blast, Police Say”
Russia’s defense ministry is coming under criticism from “increasingly diverse actors within the Russian system,” according to an intelligence update posted on Twitter Sunday by Britain’s defense ministry. The growing criticism is a result, the UK ministry said, of “continued battlefield setbacks for Russia over the last two weeks.” Critics of Russia’s military performance in …
Read more “Bad Battlefield Performance in Ukraine Subjects Russia to Increasing Criticism”
A giant fire sparked by a car bomb has broken out on a key bridge linking Crimea to Russia, which annexed the territory in 2014, Moscow said Saturday, without immediately blaming Ukraine. The road-and-rail bridge, built on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin and inaugurated in 2018, was a key transport link for carrying …
Read more “Moscow Says Car Bomb Sparked Fire on Key Crimean Bridge”
As concerns grow of a possible nuclear conflict between Russia and the West over Ukraine, there are hopes China could defuse the crisis. But Russia’s most influential ally may not have the desire or the ability to help, according to analysts. “If any power has influence over Putin, it is China,” said Steve Tsang, director …
Read more “Can China De-Escalate a Nuclear Crisis Over Ukraine? Will It?”
U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday designed to allay European concerns that U.S. intelligence agencies are illegally spying on them. It promises strengthened safeguards against data collection abuses and creates a forum for legal challenges. The order builds on a preliminary agreement Biden announced in March with European Commission President Ursula von …
Read more “Biden Order Promises EU Citizens Better Data Privacy “
Russia concentrated its attacks Friday on the area around Zaporizhzhia, one of the four areas of eastern Ukraine that it claims to have annexed. The Ukrainian governor of the Zaporizhzhia region said that Russian forces had fired more missiles at the regional capital on Friday and had used Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones there for the first …
Read more “Russian Strikes in Zaporizhzhia Region Raise Death Toll, Safety Fears “
The U.N. Human Rights Council has appointed a special rapporteur to monitor human rights in Russia. The resolution was adopted on a vote of 17 in favor, 6 against, and 24 abstentions. The debate on the initiative began just as a Belarusian activist and two humanitarian organizations based in Ukraine and Russia were announced …
Read more “UN Council Appoints Special Rapporteur to Monitor Human Rights in Russia”
Bulgaria does not supply weapons to Ukraine and is not actively supporting the war-torn country on diplomatic or legal fronts. It is, however, assisting Ukrainian refugees. Tatiana Vorozhko reports from its capital, Sofia. VOA footage by Svitlana Koval. Video editing by Oleksii Osyka and Anna Rice. …
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday held talks by phone with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to deepen relations. The talks are seen as likely to add to growing concerns among some of Turkey’s NATO partners over its relationship with Moscow and where its loyalties lie. The phone call was announced in a press statement …
Read more “Erdogan Works to Deepen Ties With Putin Amid Allies’ Concerns”
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three recipients: Ales Bialiatski, one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s – and two human rights groups – the Center for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian group, and Memorial, a Russian organization. All three recipients represent countries once part of …
Read more “Activists From Belarus, Ukraine, Russia Win Nobel Peace Prize”
Two Russians who said they fled the country to avoid military service have requested asylum in the U.S. after landing in a small boat on a remote Alaska island in the Bering Sea, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office said Thursday. Karina Borger, a spokesperson for the Alaska Republican senator, said in an email that the …
Read more “2 Russians Seek Asylum in US After Reaching Remote Alaska Island”
A new COVID-19 wave appears to be brewing in Europe as cooler weather arrives, with public health experts warning that vaccine fatigue and confusion over types of available vaccines will likely limit booster uptake. Omicron subvariants BA.4/5 that dominated this summer are still behind the majority of infections, but newer Omicron subvariants are gaining ground. …
Read more “COVID Wave Looms in Europe as Booster Campaign Makes Slow Start”
A superyacht connected to Russian tycoon Alexey Mordashov has anchored in Hong Kong this week amid moves by Western governments to seize yachts connected to sanctioned Russian businessmen. The megayacht Nord, worth over $500 million, arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon after traveling for over a week from Vladivostok, Russia, its last port of …
Read more “Yacht Owned by Sanctioned Russian Tycoon Docks in Hong Kong”
In recent days, Ukraine has seized control of large areas in the east and south of the country from invading Russian forces. With the Kremlin troops’ retreat, the war could be entering a critical new phase, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …
The risk of Armageddon is the highest it has been since the early 1960s, President Joe Biden said Thursday night as Russian losses in Ukraine prompt Russian officials to discuss the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons. “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Biden said at …
Read more “Risk of ‘Armageddon’ Highest Since 1962, Biden Says”
The war in Ukraine is likely entering a critical phase as Kyiv’s forces advance in the south and east of the country, forcing invading Russian troops to retreat. In recent days, Ukrainian troops have broken through Russian lines in the southern region of Kherson, liberating several villages along the Dnieper River. Kyiv’s forces now control …
Read more “Putin Faces ‘Most Perilous Moment’ as Russian Forces Retreat in Ukraine”
Leaders from 44 European countries met Thursday in Prague in the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community, a new regional group seeking to find strategies to address shared concerns such as energy, the economy and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The group was the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron and includes all 27 members …
Read more “New European Political Community Forum Holds Inaugural Meeting in Prague”
Turkey’s disinformation bill is one step closer to being signed into law, despite protests by the country’s media. Parliamentary debate on the “proposal on the amendment of the press law and other laws” started Tuesday. The Turkish government says the bill, suggested in May by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its alliance …
Read more “‘Public Will Be Silenced’ by Turkey’s Proposed Disinformation Bill”