Johannesburg, South Africa — In a carefully worded response this week, China voiced its support of the U.N.’s International Court of Justice, or ICJ, ruling that orders Israel to desist from the killing of Palestinians in Gaza. Experts tell VOA that privately China has reservations about the use of such courts to deal with allegations of …
Read more “China Circumspect After International Court Ruling on Israel”
Moscow — President Vladimir Putin vowed Wednesday to push back Ukrainian forces to reduce the threat of attacks on Russian territory as he met with activists running his campaign ahead of the March presidential election that he’s all but certain to win. Asked about plans for the military campaign in Ukraine, Putin said the line of …
Read more “Putin Vows to Make Military Gains in Ukraine as He Meets With His Campaign Staff”
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Nations’ top court on Wednesday rejected large parts of a case filed by Ukraine alleging that Russia bankrolled separatist rebels in the country’s east a decade ago and has discriminated against Crimea’s multiethnic community since its annexation of the peninsula. The International Court of Justice ruled Moscow violated articles of …
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Over 6 million Ukrainians have fled fighting in their homeland since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Even as the war continues, Ukrainian officials are laying the groundwork to get those citizens back in Ukraine when the war ends. Mariia Ulianovska has the story. VOA footage by Kostiantyn Golubchik. …
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Container shipping through the Red Sea has dropped by nearly one-third this year as attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday. “Container shipping … has declined by almost 30%,” said Jihad Azour, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia department, adding that “the drop …
Read more “Red Sea Container Shipping Down 30% Over Attacks, IMF Says”
BERLIN — Chancellor Olaf Scholz reminded Germans of their Nazi past on Wednesday as he called on citizens to reject the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which is second in most national polls. Hundreds of thousands of people have joined demonstrations across Germany against the AfD after a report that two senior party members had discussed …
Read more “Scholz Evokes Nazi Era as He Urges Germans to Reject Far Right”
Paris — Farmers have captured France’s attention by showering government offices with manure and besieging Paris with traffic-snarling barricades of tractors and hay bales. The farmers say their protests aren’t a moment too soon. Grievances have long been brewing in the European Union’s leading agricultural power. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused painful economic shocks, …
Read more “Protesting Farmers Have France’s Government in a Bind”
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PARIS — French cereal grower Jerome Regnault has spent years explaining his profession, as co-founder of a nonprofit to educate consumers about agriculture, and as a local lawmaker for the Ile-de-France region surrounding Paris. But last week, he chose to communicate another way — firing up his tractor to join a spreading farmers’ protest in France …
Read more “Behind European Farmers Protests: Anger, Hardship and No Easy Answers”
LONDON — Beijing’s revelation that it sentenced an elderly and well-connected British businessman who has lived in China for decades to five years in prison for espionage will further discourage business and trade, say analysts and a friend of the man. Last week, China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that in August 2022 a Beijing court found Ian …
Read more “China’s Jailing of Brit for Espionage Will Further Discourage Business, Analysts Say”
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Russia is facing the biggest demographic crisis in its recent history, a drastic drop in births that reflects the fear that many Russians have about starting a family in an uncertain economic and political landscape. Jonathan Spier narrates this report from the VOA Moscow Bureau. …
London — Pressure to approve Sweden’s accession to NATO is mounting on Hungary, the last member state yet to ratify Stockholm’s application. The Hungarian and Swedish prime ministers are due to meet on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the issue. Sweden and Finland applied simultaneously to join NATO …
Read more “Pressure Grows on Hungary to Approve Sweden’s NATO Bid”
Pressure is growing on Hungary to approve Sweden’s accession to NATO, the last member state yet to ratify its application. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, the Hungarian and Swedish prime ministers are due to meet on the side-lines of a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday. …
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Stockholm — French President Emmanuel Macron was welcomed Tuesday with pomp and ceremony at the start of a two-day state visit to Sweden during which he will meet Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the Scandinavian country’s monarch, King Carl XVI Gustaf. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, were greeted by the king in the inner courtyard of …
Read more “France’s Macron Gets Ceremonial Welcome as He Starts 2-Day State Visit to Sweden”
Brussels — European Union nations have decided to approve an outline deal that would keep in reserve the profits from hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian central bank assets that have been frozen in retaliation for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, an EU official said. The tentative agreement, reached late Monday, still needs formal approval but …
Read more “EU Slowly Moves Toward Using Profits From Frozen Russian Assets to Help Ukraine”
The Voronkov family lives in Donbas, some 20 kilometers from the front lines. In May 2023, a Russian missile destroyed their home, almost killing their teenage son who was hiding in the basement. But despite it all, the couple did not give up – instead, they started a business by opening a cafe. Anna Kosstutschenko met with them. VOA footage and video editing by …
Read more “Lost Their Home and Opened a Cafe: Donbas Couple Refuses to Let War Stop Them”
BALLYNAHINCH, Northern Ireland — The leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said it had reached a deal with the British government on the operation of post-Brexit trade rules that would allow it to return to the region’s power-sharing government. Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government for almost two years after the DUP …
Read more “Northern Ireland’s DUP Strikes Deal for Power-Sharing Government”
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Hundreds of cargo ships traveling from Asia to Europe are now avoiding the Red Sea and the Suez Canal route due to persistent attacks and hijackings by Houthi militants responding to the Israel-Hamas war. The International Chamber of Shipping, a major trade group, says these incidents have caused significant disruptions in global trade, leading to …
Read more “Houthi Ship Attacks Disrupting Global Supply Chain”
The debate over funding Ukraine in its war with Russia has wide-reaching implications, even far away from the front lines. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more on the impact to refugee resettlement in Chicago, the second-largest home in the U.S. to Ukrainians who have fled the war. …