As Ukraine’s war against Russia’s invasion drags on, Ukrainians are fighting to preserve their history. They say Russia is deliberately attacking cultural monuments in a bid to erase the country’s history and identity as a separate nation. For VOA, Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv. VOA footage by Eugene Shynkar, Vladyslav Smilianets. …
paris — France on Wednesday expelled an Iranian suspected of influence peddling on behalf of Tehran and having links to the Revolutionary Guard’s ideological army, his lawyer and Iranian officials said. The deportation of Bashir Biazar, reportedly a former senior figure in state television in Iran, frustrated Paris-based activists who last month filed a torture complaint …
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Turkey’s bid to join the BRICS trading group is likely a topic discussed between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the bid has Erdogan playing a delicate balancing act in …
Read more “In bid to join BRICS, Turkey plays delicate balancing act”
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WASHINGTON — NATO will roll out “concrete ways” to accelerate Ukraine’s eventual membership in the Atlantic alliance during a summit next week in Washington, according to a senior U.S. official. Summit organizers are understood to be leaning toward language in a final declaration that would say Ukraine’s path to NATO is “irreversible,” but the official would …
Read more “NATO summit to unveil concrete steps for Ukraine’s membership”
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Paris — The far-right National Rally (RN) is the only party capable of winning an absolute majority in France’s legislative elections, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Wednesday, urging voters to block their rise to power. Attal admitted four days ahead of the polls that many French voters would have to hold their nose and vote for …
Read more “Only far right can win absolute majority, French PM warns “
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Arles, France — One of the world’s most renowned photo festivals, in the French town of Arles, returned this week with a timely ode to diversity at a moment when France is turning towards the far right. The Rencontres festival, which runs until Sept. 29, is spread across 27 venues in the ancient cobbled streets of …
Read more “France’s renowned Arles photo fest goes ‘beneath the surface’”
LONDON — Voting for the first time in a British election, Prathesh Paulraj and other immigrant voters are excited to take part in the July 4 ballot, hoping they can influence change in the country that they have chosen to call home. The opposition Labour Party is widely expected to win by a landslide, replacing Prime …
Read more “UK election gives hope to first-time immigrant voters”
NEW YORK — In the winter of 1789, around the time George Washington was elected the country’s first president, a Boston-based printer quietly launched another American institution. William Hill Brown’s The Power of Sympathy, published anonymously by Isaiah Thomas & Company, is widely cited as something momentous: the first American novel. Around 100 pages long, Brown’s …
Read more “What was the ‘first American novel’? On this Independence Day, a look at what it started”
NEW YORK — Robert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenplay writer of “Shampoo,” “The Last Detail” and other acclaimed films whose work on “Chinatown” became a model of the art form and helped define the jaded allure of his native Los Angeles, has died. He was 89. Towne died Monday surrounded by family at his home in Los …
Read more “Robert Towne, Oscar-winning writer of ‘Chinatown,’ dies at 89”
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Västernorrland, Sweden — Björn Alexander Düben, a German assistant professor at Jilin University’s School of Public Diplomacy, was mysteriously dismissed and instructed to leave China after a nine-year tenure, following his participation in an interview with Voice of America (VOA). This dismissal highlights the severe restrictions on free speech imposed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). …
Read more “Foreign professor fired from Chinese university after interview with VOA “
London — Britons look set to elect a new government by landslide as the country prepares to head to the polls on Thursday July 4. The vote comes amid weak economic growth and struggling public services, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza among the major foreign policy challenges lying ahead for the …
Read more “Britain set for general election, as polls indicate opposition landslide”
PARIS — Candidates in France on Tuesday faced a deadline to register for the run-off round of a high-stakes parliamentary election, as President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist camp and a left-wing alliance scrambled to prevent the far right from taking power. On Sunday, French people go to polls for the decisive final round of the snap election …
Read more “French left, Macron scramble to block far-right win”
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washington — The United States’ commitment to providing extended deterrence to South Korea is being put to the test, with some South Korean politicians publicly questioning the effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear umbrella after Russia and North Korea reached a new defense pact. Debate over the U.S. extended deterrence was sparked by Representative Na Kyung Won, …
Read more “Deepening Russia-North Korea ties test US-South Korea deterrence strategy “
France’s far-right has never been closer to power after winning the first round of snap legislative elections Sunday. It’s a stunning result that could see the far-right taking control of the government — and a far-right prime minister ahead of the Paris Olympics — if it wins big in the second round of voting July …
Read more “France’s left, center urge alliance against far-right ahead of 2nd round vote”
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