Year: 2022

 Italian voters rewarded Giorgia Meloni’s euroskeptic party with neo-fascist roots, propelling the country toward what likely would be its first far-right-led government since World War II, based on partial results Monday from the election for Parliament.  In a victory speech, far-right Italian leader Giorgia Meloni struck a moderate tone after projections based on votes counted …

Read more “Italy Voters Shift Sharply, Reward Meloni’s Far-Right Party”

A billowing column of dark smoke towered over Paris Sunday from a warehouse blaze at a massive produce market that supplies the French capital and surrounding region with much of its fresh food and bills itself as the largest of its kind in the world. Firefighters urged people to stay away from the area in …

Read more “Fire Breaks Out at World’s Biggest Produce Market in Paris”

A right-wing alliance led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party looks set to win a clear majority in the next parliament, exit polls said Sunday after voting ended in an Italian national election. An exit poll for state broadcaster RAI said the bloc of conservative parties, that also includes Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio …

Read more “Italy’s Right-wing, Led by Meloni, Wins Election – Exit Polls”

Several thousand people protested in Moldova’s capital Sunday for the second straight weekend to demand the resignation of the country’s pro-Western government amid mounting anger over spiraling natural gas prices and inflation. The small east European nation, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, has seen political tensions rise in recent months as gas prices soar following …

Read more “In Moldova, Thousands Protest in New Call for Government’s Resignation”

Nearly 800 people have been detained in Russia as protests against the country’s partial military mobilization continue in cities across the country. As of Sunday, at least 796 people had been detained in 33 cities, with almost half of the total reported in the capital, Moscow, according to OVD-Info. The human rights group, which monitors …

Read more “Hundreds Arrested in Russian Crackdown on Anti-Mobilization Protests  “

Pope Francis traveled to southern Italy on Sunday to close out an Italian church congress that coincided with Italy’s national election, and delivered a message that hit on key domestic campaign issues including immigration. Neither Francis nor his hosts referred to the vote during the open-air Mass, though Italy’s bishops conference had earlier urged Italians …

Read more “Pope urges Italians to Have More Children, Welcome Migrants “

The Italians voted Sunday in an election that could move the country’s politics sharply toward the right during a critical time for Europe, with war in Ukraine fueling skyrocketing energy bills and testing the West’s resolve to stand united against Russian aggression.  Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0500GMT) and by noon turnout was equal to …

Read more “Italians Vote in Election That Could Take Far-Right to Power”

Haitian Italian designer Stella Jean returned to the Milan runway after a two-year hiatus with a tour de force that highlighted the talents of 10 new designers of color whose design history is tied to Italy. Jean pledged in 2020 not to return to Milan Fashion Week, which opened Wednesday, until she was not the …

Read more “Milan Fashion Week Hears Calls for More Designer Diversity”

Russia’s foreign minister has dismissed Ukrainian and Western condemnation of what they say are sham referenda in four regions of Ukraine. “The hysteria which we have seen is very telling,” Sergey Lavrov told a news conference at the United Nations on Saturday, after he addressed the General Assembly’s annual meeting. Voting began Friday and will …

Read more “Russia’s Lavrov Dismisses Western ‘Hysteria’ Over Ukraine Referenda”

What had been a lightning push by Ukraine to drive Moscow’s forces from the eastern Kharkiv region slowed to a brutal slog Saturday, stalled by heavy rain and Russian resistance. In the frontline town of Kupiansk against a background of constant shelling noise a column of dark smoke rose across the Oskil River, which separates …

Read more “Ukrainian Push Slowed by Rain, River and Russian Holdouts”

The United Nations reports the human rights situation in Belarus has seriously deteriorated as the government seeks to maintain control over its people, stripping them of their civil and political rights. The report, submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council, finds the climate of repression continues throughout Belarus two years after Alexander Lukashenko was reelected …

Read more “UN: Climate of Repression in Belarus Stifles Civil, Political Rights”

Almost 2,000 innocent people have been killed by Russian forces in Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, Ukraine – some just for speaking Ukrainian or having Ukrainian symbols. VOA’s Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze was granted exclusive access to the scene of a mass graveyard in Izium in the Kharkiv region that contains more than 400 bodies. …

Read more “After Partial Russian Retreat, Chilling Signs of Horrors Against Ukrainians Revealed”

The Church of England said the daughter of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu could not be an officiant at her godfather’s funeral in England because she is married to a woman. The Rev. Mpho Tutu van Furth told The New York Times that she was “stunned” by the church’s “lack of compassion.” However, Tutu was …

Read more “Church of England Prohibits Tutu’s Daughter from Officiating Funeral”

Ukrainian officials announced on Friday that they had exhumed more than 400 bodies at a mass burial site near Izium, Kharkiv region, from which Russian troops recently retreated after a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Many of those buried there, they said, apparently died a violent death — bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, …

Read more “VOA Visits Mass Burial Site in Izium, Ukraine”

Western nations and Ukraine say voting is a sham that began Friday on Russian referendums aimed at annexing four occupied regions of Ukraine. Some local officials said voters were being intimidated and threatened. In the balloting, scheduled to run from Friday to Tuesday in the provinces of Luhansk, Kherson and the partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and …

Read more “Ukraine Says Residents Coerced Into Russian Annexation Vote”

U.N. investigators say there is evidence that Russian forces who invaded Ukraine in February 2022 committed war crimes. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine presented its findings Friday to the U.N. Human Rights Council.  The commission centered its inquiry on events from late February and March in the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv …

Read more “Russian Troops Have Committed War Crimes in Ukraine, UN Investigators Say”

Thousands of Russians are trying to flee the country to escape conscription into the military. President Vladimir Putin announced the move in a televised address Wednesday, as Russian armed forces have been suffering significant losses in the invasion of Ukraine in recent weeks. Henry Ridgwell reports. …

Thousands of Russians are trying to flee the country to escape the partial mobilization of civilians into the military. The move was announced Wednesday in a televised address by President Vladimir Putin, after Russian armed forces suffered significant losses in recent weeks of their invasion of Ukraine. Some European officials say this poses a security …

Read more “Thousands of Russians Flee Military Mobilization as Anti-War Protests Erupt”

Russia’s war on Ukraine is taking a brutal toll on its people. VOA recently met two young brothers, ages 8 and 14, at a Lviv hospital. The two lost their parents and were severely injured in a Russian missile strike. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. VOA footage by Yuriy Dankevych. …

The 25-year-old translator by day and trans drag performer by night felt overwhelming panic and anxiety when several thousand demonstrators gathered and marched Sunday in Turkey to demand a ban on what they consider gay propaganda and to outlaw LGBTQ organizations. The Big Family Gathering march in the conservative heart of Istanbul attracted parents with …

Read more “Turkey’s Anti-LGBTQ Display Reflects Nation’s Political Shift”

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong called on China to use its influence to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  Wong spoke to reporters Thursday after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Wong said she held a “constructive” meeting with her Chinese counterpart. …

Read more “Australia Calls on China to Help End War in Ukraine”

Italians will vote on Sunday in what is being billed as a crucial election as Europe reels from repercussions of Russia’s war in Ukraine. For the first time in Italy since the end of World War II, the election could propel a far-right leader into the premiership.   Soaring energy costs and quickly climbing prices …

Read more “‘Crucial’ Vote Could Move Italy to Right; Many Might Boycott”

Russian-orchestrated voting has begun in occupied regions of Ukraine in referendums that ask voters if they want their regions to become part of Russia. The voting began Friday in Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. The voting, widely viewed as a way for Russia to justify the annexation of the regions, has …

Read more “Russian- Orchestrated Voting Begins in Ukraine’s Occupied Regions”

U.N. Security Council members on Thursday condemned Russia for escalating the war in Ukraine, criticizing its mobilization of more troops and President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons. “Every council member should send a clear message that these reckless nuclear threats must stop immediately,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a special session …

Read more “At UN, Security Council Members Reject Putin’s Annexation Plans”