French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo doubled down on its ridicule of Iran’s religious rulers on Tuesday, with fresh cartoons of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, despite protests from Iran and its allies. “The mullahs aren’t happy. The caricatures of their supreme leader … do not seem to have made them laugh,” the paper’s editor, known …
Read more “Charlie Hebdo Doubles Down on Iran Leader Cartoons”
A court in Romania’s capital Bucharest has upheld the 30-day arrest of divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate on charges of organized crime, human trafficking and rape, an official said late Tuesday. Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanian anti-organized crime agency DIICOT, said the court rejected an appeal by Tate against a …
Read more “Romanian Court Upholds Arrest of Influencer Andrew Tate”
A Turkish-Swiss dual national who stabbed a passer-by to death in a rare jihadi attack in Switzerland was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in a psychiatric institution. Named only as Omer A., the 29-year-old was found guilty of murder, attempted murder, attempted arson in trying to blow up a gas station, support for the Islamic …
Read more “Turkish-Swiss IS Supporter Sentenced in 2020 Killing”
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday unveiled a contentious pension overhaul aimed at raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, which has prompted vigorous criticism and calls for protests from leftist opponents and worker unions. Speaking in a news conference in Paris, Borne said the minimum retirement age to be entitled …
Read more “French PM to Unveil Pension Changes that Upset Many Workers”
Military support for Ukraine and relations with Russia and China are among the key issues as Czech voters prepare to choose a new president Friday, with three candidates neck-and-neck in the polls. Among them is Andrej Babiš, the billionaire former prime minister who received a boost after he was acquitted of fraud Monday. Babiš was …
Read more “Czechs Prepare to Choose New President, as Rivals Clash Over Support for Ukraine”
Iran has sentenced a Belgian aid worker to a lengthy prison term and 74 lashes after convicting him of espionage charges in a closed-door trial, state media reported Tuesday. The website of Iran’s judiciary said a Revolutionary Court sentenced 41-year-old Olivier Vandecasteele to 12.5 years in prison for espionage, 12.5 years for collaboration with hostile …
Read more “Iran Sentences Belgian Aid Worker to Prison, Lashes”
Czech voters are preparing to choose a new president — with support for Ukraine and relations with Russia and China among the key issues. As Henry Ridgwell reports, three candidates are neck and neck in the polls. …
NATO and European Union leaders have reinforced their commitment to providing Ukraine with military support to counter Russia’s nearly year-old invasion, including providing advanced air defenses and other equipment. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters Tuesday she thinks Ukraine should get all the military equipment it needs to defend itself, “because they …
A mission to launch the first satellites into orbit from Western Europe suffered an “anomaly” Tuesday, Virgin Orbit said. The U.S.-based company attempted its first international launch on Monday, using a modified jumbo jet to carry one of its rockets from Cornwall in southwestern England to the Atlantic Ocean where the rocket was released. The …
Read more “Virgin Orbit Rocket Carrying Satellites Fails to Reach Orbit”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Monday he remained convinced of the need to coordinate weapons deliveries to Ukraine with allies as pressure mounts on Berlin to send Kyiv its Leopard 2 battle tanks. Germany announced last week it would provide Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles to help repel Russian forces. The announcement came on …
Read more “Scholz: Berlin Will Not Go It Alone as Pressure Mounts to Supply Kyiv Tanks”
A modified jumbo jet carrying a Virgin Orbit rocket took off from southwestern England Monday, marking the first attempt to launch satellites into orbit from Western Europe. Hundreds gathered for the launch cheered as the repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft, named “Cosmic Girl,” took off from Cornwall late Monday. Around an hour into the …
Read more “Plane Carrying Rocket Takes Off for First UK Satellite Launch”
Russian authorities on Monday announced parallel criminal probes against a famous actor critical of the war in Ukraine and a philanthropist who supports the Russian opposition, the latest in a months-long, sweeping crackdown on dissent. Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that its chief Alexander Bastrykin ordered the launch of a criminal case against …
Read more “Russia Launches Criminal Probes of Prominent Kremlin Critics”
Ryan Hendrickson is a retired Green Beret, a special forces unit of the U.S. Army. But today he is in Ukraine, helping to clear mines laid by invading Russian forces and keep soldiers and civilians safe. For VOA, Іa Meurmishvili talked to Hendrickson in this report. Video editor – Anna Rice. …
Five employees of what used to be authoritarian Belarus’s largest independent news outlet went on trial Monday in Minsk, facing several charges including tax evasion and “inciting enmity”, a rights group said. The outlet Tut.by covered large-scale protests in 2020 that erupted after President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a sixth term in office in a contested …
Read more “Independent News Outlet Staff Go on Trial in Belarus”
Britain’s foreign minister James Cleverly summoned Iran’s most senior diplomat on Monday after Iranian authorities executed protestors Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini. “Today I have summoned the Iranian charge d’affairs to condemn in the strongest possible terms the abhorrent executions we witnessed over the weekend,” Cleverly said in a statement. Since the death …
Read more “UK Summons Top Iranian Diplomat Following Latest Executions”
Pope Francis condemned Iran’s execution of protesters for the first time on Monday in his traditional New Year’s address to diplomats, and said the war in Ukraine was “a crime against God and humanity.” The pontiff made his remarks in a speech to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, his overview at the start of the …
Read more “Pope Condemns Iran’s Use of Death Penalty Against Protesters “
Ukrainian officials said Monday a Russian missile hit a market in the Kharkiv region, killing one person and wounding several others. The officials said the missile struck the village of Shevchenkove, located about 75 kilometers from the city of Kharkiv. “We brutally condemn this act of terror,” Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova tweeted along with …
Read more “Ukraine: Russian Missile Hits Market in Kharkiv Region “
A Prague court on Monday acquitted former Prime Minister Andrej Babis of fraud charges in a $2 million case involving European Union subsidies. A prosecutor requested a three-year suspended sentence and a fine of $440,000 for the populist billionaire. The prosecution still can appeal. Babis pleaded not guilty and repeatedly said the charges against him …
Read more “Czech Ex-Premier Babis Acquitted in EU Funds Fraud Case”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida begins a weeklong trip Monday to strengthen military ties with Europe and Britain and bring into focus the Japan-U.S. alliance at a summit in Washington, as Japan breaks from its postwar restraint to take on more offensive roles with an eye toward China. Kishida’s talks with U.S. President Joe Biden …
Read more “Japan’s Kishida Highlights Security Concerns on Trip to Europe, US”
Turkey, which has for months blocked NATO membership bids by Sweden and Finland, has made some demands that Sweden cannot accept, Sweden’s prime minister said on Sunday. “Turkey has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but it also says that it wants things that we can’t, that we don’t want …
Read more “Sweden Can’t Meet Some of Turkey’s Demands for NATO Bid, PM Says”
Ukrainian soldiers, family and mourners gathered in frigid weather in Kyiv Sunday to pay tribute to a soldier killed fighting against Russian forces in Bakhmut, the strategic city under siege on the eastern front. An open casket, outdoor service was held in Kyiv’s Independence Square for Maj. Oleh Yurchenko who was killed in Bakhmut Jan. …
Read more “Ukrainians Honor Dead Fighter at Outdoor Funeral in Capital”
Iranian hardliners Sunday burned French flags outside the French embassy in Tehran, protesting cartoons published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that lampoon Iran’s ruling clerics. The caricatures were published at a time of persistent anti-government protests in Iran, now in their fourth month. Demonstrators are calling for the downfall of its Islamic Republic …
Read more “Amid Unrest, Iran’s Hardliners Turn Their Anger to France”
Hundreds of people marched Sunday in France to honor an Iranian Kurdish man who took his own life in a desperate act of anguish over the nationwide protests in Iran. French police estimated the size of the crowd that gathered for Mohammad Moradi at about 1,000 people. They marched in the city of Lyon, where …
Read more “Marches in Europe Support Iran Protests, Assail Government”
Climate activists pledged Sunday to defend a tiny village in western Germany from being bulldozed for the expansion of a nearby coal mine that has become a battleground between the government and environmental campaigners. Hundreds of people from across Germany gathered for protest training and a subsequent demonstration in the hamlet of Luetzerath, which lies …
Read more “Climate Activists to Defend Village From Demolition by Coal Mine “