ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria adopted a new national anthem Wednesday after lawmakers passed a law that replaced the current one with a version dropped nearly a half-century ago, sparking widespread criticism about how the law was hastily passed without much public input. President Bola Tinubu’s assent to the law comes a day after it was approved …
Read more “Nigeria’s new anthem, written by a Briton, sparks criticism”
LONDON — Even as he prepared to embark for the battlefields of Normandy, Pvt. Mervyn Kersh was summoned by his commanding officer and threatened with arrest. Why, the officer demanded, had Kersh refused to eat his army rations of canned beef and vegetables, subsisting only on canned peaches? Was he trying to make himself so weak …
Read more “Jewish veteran prepares to mark 80th anniversary of D-Day”
London’s Chinatown is at the beating heart of the capital’s entertainment district – with unique flavors that link back to Britain’s colonial history, as Henry Ridgwell reports …
BUDAPEST, Hungary — A crowd of tens of thousands gathered in Hungary’s capital Saturday in a show of strength behind Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a week ahead of European Parliament elections, a contest he has cast as an existential turning point between peace in Europe and a world war. The demonstration, dubbed by organizers as a …
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LONDON — Voters in Iceland are choosing a president Saturday, selecting from a field of 12 people that includes a former prime minister. The candidates are vying to replace outgoing President Gudni Th. Johannesson, who didn’t seek reelection for the largely ceremonial post. The winner will be the seventh president of Iceland since the founding of …
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MILAN, ITALY — While Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni adopts a reassuring Western-allied foreign policy, cultural wars at home are preserving her far-right credentials heading into a European parliamentary election, where her neo-fascist-rooted Brothers of Italy party is projected to secure significant gains — and a possible coalition role. In less than two years leading the EU’s …
Read more “European vote could tip the balance on Meloni’s far-right agenda in Italy”
SINGAPORE — Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy arrived in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue conference on Saturday, where he planned to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and discuss support for his embattled country in an address to delegates. After arriving at the conference venue in a motorcade amid heavy security, Zelenskyy said in a statement on …
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washington — Chinese artists walk a tightrope when trying to create content acceptable to Beijing’s standards while attempting to seek success among Western audiences. More than one artist who has gained recognition in the West has been punished by Chinese censors, with Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye being the most recent case. The 2024 Cannes Film Festival …
Read more “Chinese artists caught between Beijing, desire for Western success”
KYIV — Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones on Saturday, damaging energy facilities in five regions across Ukraine, officials said. Ukraine’s national grid operator Ukrenergo said the attack damaged energy facilities in the eastern Donetsk, southeastern Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, central Kyrovohrad region, and Ivano-Frankivsk region in the west. “Today morning the Russians launched …
Read more “Russian air attack damages Ukrainian energy infrastructure in 5 regions”
BRUSSELS — Around 400 million European Union citizens go to the polls next month to elect members of the European Parliament, or MEPs, in one of the biggest global democratic events. Far-right parties are seeking to gain more power amid a rise in the cost of living and farmers’ discontent, while the wars in Gaza and …
Read more “European Parliament election is next month. What’s at stake?”
UNITED NATIONS — The United States and allies South Korea and Japan clashed with China and Russia Friday over North Korea’s latest satellite and ballistic missile launches and threats to use nuclear weapons that have escalated tensions in northeast Asia. The scene was an emergency open meeting of the U.N. Security Council called after North Korea’s …
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THE WHITE HOUSE — Less than a day after U.S. President Joe Biden granted Ukraine authorization to strike inside Russia with American weaponry, Michael Carpenter, senior director for Europe at the National Security Council, spoke with VOA’s Iuliia Iarmolenko to discuss details of the new policy and explain what prompted the president’s reversal of a longstanding …
Read more “White House Q&A: US policy evolves with threats against Ukraine”
WASHINGTON — Marian Shields Robinson, the mother of Michelle Obama who moved with the first family to the White House when son-in-law Barack Obama was elected president, has died. She was 86. Robinson’s death was announced by Michelle Obama and other family members in a statement that said, “There was and will be only one Marian …
Read more “Marian Robinson, mother of Michelle Obama, dies at 86”