Month: September 2024

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is traveling to once-strong bastions of Christianity in the heart of Europe to try to reinvigorate a Catholic flock that is dwindling in the face of secular trends and abuse scandals that have largely emptied the continent’s magnificent cathedrals and village churches. Francis stops first Thursday in Luxembourg, the European Union’s …

Read more “Pope Francis heads for Luxembourg and Belgium on a trip to a dwindling flock”

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NEW YORK — Among the issues on the agenda for world leaders who gathered this week for the United Nations General Assembly is Russia’s war against Ukraine. In an interview in New York with VOA’s Ukrainian Service, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his nation stands “shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainians” and will provide Ukraine with military …

Read more “UK foreign secretary: ‘We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainians’”

The war in Ukraine, Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, and an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah dominated the second day of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer reports. …

HELSINKI — A zoo in Finland has agreed with Chinese authorities to return two loaned giant pandas to China more than eight years ahead of schedule because they have become too expensive for the facility to maintain as the number of visitors has declined. The private Ahtari Zoo in central Finland some 330 kilometers north of …

Read more “Zoo in Finland with financial woes to return giant pandas to China”

Madrid — Mexican president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum angered Spain on Wednesday by barring its King Felipe VI from her swearing-in ceremony, accusing him of failing to acknowledge harm caused by his country’s conquest of Mexico five centuries ago. The decision prompted Spain to boycott the event altogether, with its Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling the Mexican decision …

Read more “Mexico excludes Spanish king from president’s swearing-in”

Oslo, Norway — Norwegian police on Wednesday said they had arrested a man on suspicion of incitement to commit crimes against humanity in Cameroon, where a radio station identified him as “separatist leader” Lucas Cho Ayaba.  The Kripos police unit that deals with war crimes and crimes against humanity said in a statement that it had …

Read more “Norway arrests Cameroonian ‘separatist leader’ for crimes against humanity”

Washington — The Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives demanded on Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fire his ambassador to the United States over Zelenskyy’s trip this week to a factory in Pennsylvania. “I demand that you immediately fire Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova,” Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in a …

Read more “US House Speaker wants Ukraine’s ambassador fired over Zelenskyy ammunition plant visit”

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis took the unusual decision Wednesday to expel 10 people — a bishop, priests and laypeople — from a troubled Catholic movement in Peru after a Vatican investigation uncovered “sadistic” abuses of power, authority and spirituality. The move against the leadership of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, or Sodalitium of Christian Life, followed …

Read more “Pope expels bishop, 9 others from Peru movement over ‘sadistic’ abuses”

Geneva — As Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine grinds on for a third year, a United Nations report says all dissenting voices in the Russian Federation have been muzzled, civic and political rights have been shut down, and the human rights situation in the country “has significantly worsened.” “The country is now governed by a state-sponsored …

Read more “UN: Russia muzzling dissent amid climate of fear, repression”

A volunteer group is searching for the remains of people killed in the conflict with Russia in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The group Platsdarm says it has recovered around 2,000 bodies since 2014. Yaroslava Movchan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Dmytro Hlushko …

HELSINKI — Finland will return two giant pandas to China in November, more than eight years ahead of time, as the zoo where they live can no longer afford their upkeep, the chair of the zoo’s board told Reuters on Tuesday.  The pandas, named Lumi and Pyry, were brought to Finland in January 2018, months after …

Read more “Finland zoo returns giant pandas to China over cost”

Athens — Greece and Turkey will explore whether they can start talks aimed at demarcating their maritime zones, Greece’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Neighbors Greece and Turkey, both NATO allies but historic foes, have been at odds for decades over a range of issues from airspace to maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean and ethnically …

Read more “Greece and Turkey explore holding talks on maritime zones “

Helsinki — Environmental activists sprayed red paint on Finland’s parliament building on Wednesday to protest against the peat industry, sparking strong criticism from politicians. Activists from Extinction Rebellion Finland and Swedish organization Aterstall Vatmarker (Restore Wetlands) smeared several granite columns at the building’s main entrance in red paint resembling blood. They told AFP they were protesting …

Read more “Environmentalists value peat, smear Finland’s parliament in red paint “

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WARSAW, Poland — Climate change has made downpours like the one that caused devastating floods in central Europe this month twice as likely to occur, a report said on Wednesday, as its scientific authors urged policymakers to act to stop global warming. The worst flooding to hit central Europe in at least two decades has left …

Read more “Climate change doubles chance of floods like those in Central Europe, report says”

Joe Biden used his final presidential address before the U.N. General Assembly to urge unity in the face of challenges that include conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from New York. …

A new school year begins in Russia, the third that is starting with Moscow’s war in Ukraine as a backdrop. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina on what critics say are Russia’s moves to militarize education by introducing new subjects that explain and justify its full-scale assault on Ukraine. …

GENEVA — Police in northern Switzerland said Tuesday that several people have been detained and a criminal case opened in connection with the suspected death of a person in a “suicide capsule.” The “Sarco” capsule is presumably designed to allow a person sitting in a reclining seat inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas …

Read more “Swiss police detain several people in connection with ‘suicide capsule’”

rome — Despite suffering a mild flu Monday, Pope Francis still plans to travel later this week to Luxembourg and Belgium to visit a once-solid bastion of Roman Catholic culture that now has decreasing church attendance and increasing use of euthanasia. Michele Dillon is a sociologist and the dean of the University of New Hampshire’s College …

Read more “Pope Francis takes on Belgium, Luxembourg and perhaps euthanasia, too”

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