Month: September 2024

united nations — Russia’s foreign minister reinforced the Kremlin’s disagreements with the West in his United Nations General Assembly remarks Saturday and showed no interest in a genuine peace with Ukraine.  “I’m not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear …

Read more “At UN, Russian foreign minister dismisses Zelenskyy’s peace plan as ‘doomed’”

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces hit a medical center in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday morning, then struck again as the building was being evacuated, killing a total of nine people, Ukrainian officials said. Ukrainian prosecutors said that at the time of the attacks, 86 patients and 38 staff members were in the hospital. “The …

Read more “Ukraine says Russian attacks on medical center in Sumy kill 9”

WARSAW, Poland — The death toll in Poland from recent floods rose to nine after two more bodies were found, the national police chief said Saturday.  One person is still missing, police chief Marek Boron said during a government meeting on the effects of the floods that hit southwestern Poland earlier this month.  The floods following …

Read more “Poland’s flooding death toll rises after more bodies found”

prague — The main Czech opposition group led by former populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis won an election Saturday for a third of the seats in Parliament’s upper house, the Senate. The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Petr Fiala still retained a majority in the Senate. With all the votes from the two-day ballot counted, Babis’ …

Read more “Czech opposition party wins most seats in election for third of Senate”

Madrid — A boat carrying migrants capsized off Spain’s Canary Islands overnight, killing at least nine people and leaving 48 missing, the national maritime rescue service said Saturday. Eighty-four people were on board and 27 were saved after rescuers responded to a distress call received shortly after midnight from off El Hierro, one of the islands …

Read more “9 die in migrant boat shipwreck off Spanish island; 48 missing”

United Nations — China ‘s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Saturday against the expansion of the war in Ukraine, which has accused Beijing of assisting Russia in its war. Kyiv has been particularly scornful of Beijing’s calls for talks to resolve the conflict, but Wang reiterated China ‘s offer to help broker an end to fighting. …

Read more “China warns against ‘expansion’ of Ukraine war”

Islamabad — Taliban leaders in Afghanistan have defended their Islamist rule amid intensified accusations of “gender-based” discrimination against women and girls at this week’s U.N. General Assembly. “The situation is not as it is portrayed and propagated abroad,” Maulavi Abdul Kabir, the Taliban deputy prime minister for political affairs, asserted in an interview with an Afghan …

Read more “Taliban push back against allegations of gender bias, rights abuses”

The number of Ukrainian citizens seeking to adopt children has increased dramatically since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Lesia Bakalets reports from Kyiv, Ukraine. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets. …

New York — Among those in New York City for the 79th United Nations General Assembly is exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. On Monday, Tsikhanouskaya and Evgenia Kara-Murza, the Russian human rights activist and wife of former political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza, received the annual human rights prize awarded by the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights …

Read more “Exiled opposition leader: ‘We want Belarus to return to family of European countries’”

Former U.S. President Donald Trump met Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York, where Trump repeated claims that he would be able to end the war in Ukraine by making a deal with Russia. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. …

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Washington — Former President Donald Trump is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York on Friday, amid increased skepticism of U.S. support for Ukraine’s war efforts from the Republican presidential nominee and lawmakers loyal to him. Trump announced the meeting at a press conference Thursday, which was confirmed for VOA by Zelenskyy’s …

Read more “Trump to meet Zelenskyy amid tension, Republican criticism of Ukraine”

BRUSSELS — s the war in Ukraine enters a critical period, the European Union has decided that it must take responsibility for what it sees as an existential threat to security in its own neighborhood and is preparing to tackle some of the financial burden, perhaps even without the United States. EU envoys have been working …

Read more “As Ukraine war enters a critical period, the EU moves ahead without the US “

NEW YORK — Donald Trump is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as public tensions have been rising between the two over Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion.  Trump said Zelenskyy asked for the meeting. The visit is set for about 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time at Trump Tower in New York, less than a day …

Read more “Trump and Zelenskyy will meet as tensions rise over US backing for Ukraine “

New York — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This meeting between the countries’ top diplomats comes amid growing U.S. concerns over Chinese firms supplying chips and drones to Moscow, which have …

Read more “Blinken to meet Chinese counterpart amid concerns over China’s drone supply to Russia”

According to the International Energy Agency, the world now invests almost twice as much in clean energy as it does in fossil fuels. But with that shift comes environmental risks related to the mining of critical minerals. VOA’s Jessica Stone looks at how nations are navigating the environmental challenges of creating a renewable future. …

WASHINGTON — A network of people and virtual currency exchanges associated with harboring Russian cybercrime were hit with sanctions on Thursday, in a government-wide crackdown on cybercrime that could assist Russia ahead of President Joe Biden’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  U.S. Treasury sanctioned alleged Russian hacker Sergey Ivanov and Cryptex — a St. Vincent …

Read more “Cryptocurrency exchange network accused of helping Russia hit with sanctions”

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White House — U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House Thursday, where the Ukrainian leader is set to discuss his plans for winning the war against Russia, as Republicans accuse him of “election interference.” Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet separately with Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris following …

Read more “Zelenskyy meets with Biden, Harris amid Republican allegation of election interference”

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