A group of activists hopes to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza with a flotilla of vessels carrying aid. It is set to sail from Istanbul in the coming days. In a similar mission 14 years ago, Israeli forces intercepted a Turkish flotilla in a deadly raid that resulted in the deaths of 10 people. There …
Read more “International flotilla hopes to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza”
LONDON — The European Union on Monday demanded TikTok provide more information about a new app that pays users to watch videos and warned that it could order the video sharing platform to suspend addictive features that pose a risk to kids. The 27-nation EU’s executive commission said it was opening formal proceedings to determine whether …
Read more “EU may suspend TikTok’s new rewards app over risks to kids”
cologne, germany — For the past year, five fit, academically superior men and women have been spun in centrifuges, submerged for hours, deprived temporarily of oxygen, taught to camp in the snow, and schooled in physiology, anatomy, astronomy, meteorology, robotics, and Russian. On Monday, the five Europeans and an Australian graduated from basic training with a …
Read more “European Space Agency adds new astronauts in only fourth class since 1978”
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Lawyers for Armenia asked the top United Nations court on Monday to throw out a case filed by Azerbaijan over the Karabakh region that accuses Armenia of ethnic cleansing. Azerbaijan launched proceedings at the International Court of Justice in 2021 in the case, less than a week after Armenia brought its own …
Read more “Armenia asks UN court to dismiss Azerbaijan’s discrimination claim”
BAGHDAD — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Iraq Monday for his first official visit in more than a decade as his country seeks greater cooperation from Baghdad in its fight against a Kurdish militant group that has a foothold in northern Iraq. Other issues also loom large between the two countries, including water supply …
Read more “Kurdish separatists, water issues loom large in long-awaited Erdogan visit to Iraq”
Athens — Delegations from Greece and Turkey were meeting in Athens on Monday as part of long-standing efforts to improve often tense relations between the two neighbors, days after Turkey voiced objections over Greece’s plans to create marine nature reserves in the Ionian and Aegean seas. The two regional rivals are NATO allies but have been …
OSLO — Norway’s 87-year-old King Harald will permanently reduce the number of official activities in which he takes part out of consideration for his age, the royal household said on Monday following the monarch’s recent bout of illness. Europe’s oldest living monarch and Norway’s ceremonial head of state since 1991, Harald was hospitalized in February for …
Read more “Norway’s reform-minded King Harald, 87, to cut back activity”
Brussels, Belgium — With an energy crisis and record high inflation in the EU’s rearview mirror, Brussels believes the time has come for the bloc to focus on ensuring sound public finances. New spending rules will be voted on in the European Parliament on Tuesday. Once in place, each member state will be required to get …
Read more “New EU spending rules bring back debt discipline focus”
London — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged on Monday to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks, telling the upper house of parliament he will force the new legislation through despite its opposition. Sunak said the government had booked commercial charter planes and trained staff to take migrants to Rwanda, part …
Read more “UK’s Sunak promises to start Rwanda flights in 10-12 weeks”
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new york — Mary J. Blige,Cher, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & The Gang and Ozzy Osbourne have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a class that also includes folk-rockers Dave Matthews Band and singer-guitarist Peter Frampton. Alexis Korner, John Mayall and Big Mama Thornton earned the Musical Influence Award, while …
Read more “Mary J. Blige, Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, others picked for Rock Hall of Fame”
Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill on Saturday. The measure now heads to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to take up a vote early this week. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports. …
A Ukrainian version of the Minecraft game features Canadian actress Katheryn Winnick, U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly, and other celebrities from around the globe. The new game, called Minesalt, is based on Ukraine’s famous Soledar salt mines. Anna Kosstutschenko reports. Camera: Pavel Suhodolskiy. …
New York — “Civil War,” Alex Garland’s ominous American dystopia, remained the top film in theaters in its second week of release, according to studio estimates Sunday. The A24 election-year gamble, the indie studio’s biggest budgeted film yet, took in $11.1 million in ticket sales at 3,929 theaters over the weekend. The $50 million film, set …
Read more “‘Civil War’ continues box-office campaign at No. 1 “
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Residents of four Serb-majority municipalities are casting their votes Sunday on removing their ethnic Albanian mayors from office following last year’s mayoral elections, overwhelmingly boycotted by the Serb minority. The referendum — supported by the West — is an attempt to diffuse tensions between Kosovo and its neighboring Serbia as both countries vie …
Read more “Residents of 4 Serb-majority municipalities vote on Albanian mayors’ fates “
WARSAW — Polish voters are casting ballots Sunday to choose mayors in hundreds of cities and towns where no candidate won outright in the first round of local election voting two weeks ago. Mayors will be chosen in 748 places, including Krakow, Poznan, Rzeszow and Wroclaw. Those are places where no single candidate won at least …
Read more “Polish voters choose mayors in hundreds of cities in runoff election “
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London — Alexander Mutiso Munyao delivered another win for Kenya on a day the London Marathon remembered last year’s champion Kelvin Kiptum. A race that started with a period of applause for Kiptum, who was killed in a car crash in Kenya in February, ended with his countryman and friend running alone down the final straight …
Read more “Mutiso Munyao gives Kenya another London Marathon win after tribute to Kiptum”
Washington — Republican Mike Johnson came out of nowhere six months ago to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, before emerging as an ardent defender of military aid to Ukraine, which the chamber approved Saturday. The evolution of this 52-year-old Southerner with carefully coiffed hair has been stunning. An arch-conservative Christian from …
Read more “US House speaker, who strongly opposed Ukraine aid, ushers it through”
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon could get weapons moving to Ukraine within days once Congress passes a long-delayed aid bill. That’s because it has a network of storage sites in the U.S. and Europe that hold the ammunition and air defense components that Kyiv desperately needs. Moving fast is critical, CIA Director Bill Burns said this past …
Read more “Once foreign aid bill signed, this is how US can rush weapons to Ukraine”
Sundsvall, Sweden — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s short videos of his three-day trip to China this week proved popular in posts on Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, which the European Union, Canada, Taiwan and the United States banned on official devices more than a year ago, citing security concerns. By Friday, one video showing highlights of …
Read more “EU politicians embrace TikTok despite data security concerns”
Washington — The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday passed with bipartisan support a four-part, $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, putting the long-beleaguered legislation on track for enactment following a long, difficult path through Congress. The legislation includes $60 billion for Kyiv’s ongoing war against Moscow’s invasion, as well as $26 …
Read more “US House passes $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan”
BEIJING — Russia remained China’s top oil supplier in March, data showed Saturday, as refiners snapped up stranded Sokol crude shipments. China’s imports from Russia, including supplies via pipelines and sea-borne shipments, jumped 12.5% on the year to 10.81 million metric tons, or 2.55 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, according to data from …
Read more “China’s imports of Russian oil near record high in March”