Month: October 2024

ROME — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was city-hopping across Europe on Thursday to promote a “victory plan” that he said “aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war” against Russia, detailing the proposals to European allies after a summit with President Joe Biden was derailed by Hurricane Milton. Zelenskyy’s talks in …

Read more “Ukraine’s Zelenskyy city-hops across Europe, promoting ‘victory plan’”

STOCKHOLM — Swedish police said on Thursday they were investigating a shooting near an Israeli target in the city of Gothenburg, which the national broadcaster said was a unit of Israeli defense electronics firm Elbit Systems.  Police said in a statement it had apprehended a young suspect at the scene and launched a probe into suspected …

Read more “Police investigate shooting near Israeli target in Sweden; no injuries reported”

washington — The article in the Seattle Tribune had everything: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Adolf Hitler and a $15 million classic car. Unsurprisingly, it spread like wildfire across Russia’s state and pro-Kremlin media. But the subject was a strange one for a news site about a U.S. city; such outlets usually cover only local stories. In …

Read more “Russian propagandists push fake story that Zelenskyy bought Hitler’s car”

WASHINGTON — Russian opposition politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza was released from a Russian prison on August 1 as part of a wide-ranging exchange of prisoners between Russia and several Western countries. He had been jailed in April 2022 on charges of treason for criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine. He was almost fatally poisoned twice, in …

Read more “Russian opposition politician Kara-Murza: ‘Putin must lose in Ukraine’ “

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WASHINGTON — Neither rising death tolls nor plunging temperatures are likely to change the trajectory of Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to senior U.S. officials charged with supporting Kyiv’s fight against Moscow’s forces.  The officials, briefing reporters Wednesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss battlefield developments, said fighting over the past several weeks has resulted …

Read more “Russia-Ukraine war appears frozen in place as winter approaches”

WASHINGTON — “What Americans are really worried about now is not wars, shootings or homelessness. It’s the puzzling absence of any issues with China,” declares a blonde influencer on TikTok, speaking in near-fluent Mandarin. “A U.S. presidential candidate recently stated that America should learn from China and stop causing trouble,” she added, displaying an image of …

Read more “On TikTok, AI-generated ‘Russian’ women deliver pro-China messages with sales pitch”

WASHINGTON — A prominent Ukrainian news outlet reported Wednesday it is facing “ongoing and systematic pressure” from the office of the Ukrainian president that is threatening the outlet’s work. In a statement on its website, the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda said officials are being blocked from communicating with the outlet’s journalists, its reporters are being denied …

Read more “Ukrainian news outlet says it faces ‘pressure’ from Zelenskyy’s office”

LONDON — That long-held Wimbledon tradition of line judges dressed in elegant uniforms is no more.  The All England Club announced Wednesday that artificial intelligence will be used to make the “out” and “fault” calls at the championships from 2025.  Wimbledon organizers said the decision to adopt live electronic line calling was made following extensive testing …

Read more “Wimbledon tennis tournament replaces line judges with AI in break with tradition”

BEIJING — China’s anti-dumping measures against brandies imported from the European Union are “legitimate trade remedy measures,” the commerce ministry said on Wednesday, a day after imposing the temporary curb. French brands such as Hennessy and Remy Martin will face the strictures, adopted just days after the 27-nation bloc voted for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles …

Read more “China says anti-dumping move on EU brandy is legitimate trade measure”

BEIJING — Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy will visit China next week, sources familiar with the plan said, as the new Labor government seeks less confrontational ties with the world’s second-largest economy and to resume trade and investment talks. British officials have said they want to recalibrate many of the previous Conservative Party-led government’s positions on …

Read more “British Foreign Secretary Lammy to visit China in bid to reset ties, sources say”

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LONDON — Renewable energy sources are set to meet nearly half of all electricity demand by the end of the decade, but to fall short of a U.N. goal to triple capacity to reduce carbon emissions, an International Energy Agency (IEA) report showed on Wednesday. The world is set to add more than 5,500 gigawatts (GW) …

Read more “Renewable energy to fall short of UN goal to triple by 2030, IEA says”

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PARIS — France’s minority government survived a no-confidence vote on Tuesday, two weeks after taking office, getting over the first hurdle placed by left-wing lawmakers to bring down new conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier.  The vote was a key test for Barnier, whose Cabinet is forced to rely on the far right’s good will to be …

Read more “France’s minority government survives no-confidence vote, 2 weeks after taking office”

The European Commission has filed a lawsuit over Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection legislation, saying it violates EU law. Opponents see the law as a threat to the few remaining independent media outlets in Hungary, which rely on international funding sources. VOA’s Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from Budapest. VOA footage and video editing by …

Read more “Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection law a threat to independent media, analysts say”