Month: September 2024

Washington — On a quiet May morning, two months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the homepage of Kremlin-owned news website Lenta.ru was flooded with anti-war and anti-government articles. The articles disappeared from the webpage within the hour, but because of the effort of internet archivists, they can still be viewed separately …

Read more “Russian journalism archive aims to protect independent voices from media suppression”

Budapest — Ukraine’s new foreign minister held a “frank” conversation with his Hungarian counterpart on “difficult issues” on Monday, against a backdrop of a frosty relationship between the neighboring countries. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been the only EU leader to maintain close ties with the Kremlin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. …

Read more “Ukrainian, Hungarian FMs have ‘frank’ discussion”

Since 2015, one of America’s oldest eye clinics, Wills Eye Hospital, has been helping wounded Ukrainian soldiers with severe head or face injuries get their vision back. For one surgeon with Ukrainian roots, the work is personal. Iryna Solomko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Pavlo Terekhov. …

Paris — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen denied violating any rules as she and her National Rally party and two dozen others went on trial on Monday, accused of embezzling European Parliament funds, in a case that has the potential to derail her political ambitions. Arriving at the court in Paris, Le Pen said she …

Read more “France’s Le Pen denies wrongdoing as she and her party go on trial accused of embezzling EU funds “

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VIENNA — Picknicking with friends in the park after prayers at a Vienna mosque, Saima Arab, a 20-year-old pedicurist originally from Afghanistan, is thankful for her freedoms in Austria. “We could never do this in Afghanistan, never cook, go out, just sit in public like this,” said Arab, who came to Austria in 2017. “Home is …

Read more “Austria’s rightward shift puts immigration in crosshairs”

HELSINKI — Norway may put a fence along part or all the 198-kilometer (123-mile) border it shares with Russia, a minister said, a move inspired by a similar project in its Nordic neighbor Finland. “A border fence is very interesting, not only because it can act as a deterrent but also because it contains sensors and …

Read more “Norway mulls building a fence on Russian border, following Finland’s example”

Moscow — Russia announced Sunday that Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Monday. The announcement came as Russia has condemned Israel’s “political murder” of Iran-backed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Mishustin will hold talks with Pezeshkian and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, the government statement said. “It …

Read more “Russian PM to meet with Iranian president in Tehran”

Lisbon — Thousands of protesters waving Portuguese flags and roaring the national anthem rallied in Lisbon on Sunday to express their anger at “illegal” and “uncontrolled” immigration. The demonstrators marched behind banners demanding the “end of mass immigration” and the expulsion of immigrants guilty of crimes, at the protest called by the far-right Chega party, the …

Read more “Thousands protest ‘uncontrolled immigration’ to Portugal”

Berlin — A man has been arrested after allegedly setting two fires in the western German city of Essen that left 30 people injured and driving a van into two shops, authorities said Sunday.  Emergency services were alerted to two fires in residential buildings in quick succession shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday, police said. The injured …

Read more “Suspect arrested after allegedly setting fires, driving into shops in Germany “

Kyiv — At least 11 people were wounded on Sunday in a series of Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, emergency services announced. The regional capital was hit by several “massive aerial strikes” at dawn, Ukrainian emergency services said in a statement. “A building and six houses in different city neighborhoods suffered a lot of …

Read more “11 wounded in southern Ukraine in Russian strikes”

Puerto de la Estaca, Spain — Rescue teams on Sunday resumed searching for at least 48 migrants who went messing the day before when their boat overturned just as it was being rescued off Spain’s Canary Islands, killing at least nine people. Hopes of finding survivors were slim as sea rescue teams searched the waters off …

Read more “Search resumes for 48 missing migrants off Spanish Canaries “

KYIV — More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia Sunday, officials said, sparking a wildfire and setting an apartment block alight in one of the largest barrages seen over Russian skies since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported that it had shot down 125 drones overnight across seven …

Read more “125 Ukrainian drones reported in attack sparking fires across Russia, Moscow officials say “

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BRUSSELS — Pope Francis on Sunday wrapped up a weekend trip to Belgium, where he faced some of the strongest criticism yet levied during one of his foreign trips. The 87-year-old pontiff was pressed by high-profile figures at three of the five major events on his three-day visit in unusual and sometimes fierce language for a …

Read more “Pope Francis, after Belgian criticism, says church has ‘no place for abuse’ “

KRITZENDORF, Austria — While shoveling mud out of gardens almost two weeks after torrential flooding battered the small Austrian town of Kritzendorf, Abulhkeem Alshater gestures towards a banner: “Austro-Syrians say: Thank you, Austria.”  Alshater, 45, originally from Homs, Syria, has been working with dozens of his countryfolk to help clean up the mess left by floods. …

Read more “Syrians in Austria do volunteer work to disarm doubts about migrants”

VIENNA — Austrians elect a new parliament Sunday with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) aiming to secure its first general election win in a neck-and-neck race with the ruling conservatives that has been dominated by economic worries and immigration. Having led opinion polls for months, the FPO’s edge over the Austrian People’s Party (OVP) has shrunk …

Read more “Austria holds tight election with far-right bidding for historic win”

UNITED NATIONS — European, Arab and Islamic nations have launched an initiative to strengthen support for a Palestinian state and prepare for a future after the war in Gaza and escalating conflict in Lebanon, Norway’s foreign minister said Friday. Espen Barth Eide told The Associated Press that “there is a growing consensus in the international community …

Read more “Europeans, Arab and Muslim nations launch initiative for Palestinian state”

paris — Hundreds of people came out Saturday in Paris, marching in support of the right to abortion for women across the world, just six months after France became the first country to guarantee in its constitution a woman’s right to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy.  The protest, organized by civil society groups to mark International Safe …

Read more “Hundreds rally in Paris to support world abortion rights”

brussels — Pope Francis’ burdensome trip through Belgium reached new lows Saturday when defiant Catholic university women demanded to his face a “paradigm change” on women’s issues in the church and then expressed deep disappointment when Francis dug in.  The Catholic University of Louvain, the Francophone campus of Belgium’s storied Catholic university, issued a scathing statement …

Read more “Belgian Catholic university denounces pope’s views on women’s roles in society”