Month: October 2024

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish police said on Wednesday they were investigating two blasts in the vicinity of Israel’s embassy in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen. “No one has been injured, and we are carrying out initial investigations at the scene,” Copenhagen police said on social media platform X. “A possible connection to the Israeli embassy, located …

Read more “Danish police investigate two blasts near Israel’s embassy in Copenhagen”

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ATHENS, Greece — Hundreds of firefighters and volunteers in southern Greece battled a wildfire for a third day that has killed two people and devastated a large forested area, prompting pledges of assistance from other European Union countries. Two waterbombing aircraft from Italy joined the firefighting effort late Tuesday after Greece requested help through the 27-country …

Read more “Firefighters battle forest fire raging in southern Greece”

GENEVA — The volume of Switzerland’s glaciers shrank again this summer, compounding the negative impact of climate change after a devastating two-year run that depleted the ice by more than 10%, scientific experts reported Tuesday. The cryosphere observation team at the Swiss Academy of Sciences reported that high temperatures in July and August, combined with the …

Read more “Swiss glaciers are receding again after 2 punishing years”

London  — Another overseas, nonpermanent judge at Hong Kong’s top court, 86-year-old Briton Nicholas Phillips, has chosen not to renew his term after it ended on Sept. 30, becoming the fifth foreign judge to step down from the Court of Final Appeal this year. Phillips told VOA through his chamber, Brick Court Chambers, in an email …

Read more “British justice at Hong Kong’s top court declines to renew term”

Madrid — Among those not present at Tuesday’s inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, was the Spanish monarch.  Sheinbaum did not invite King Felipe VI of Spain to the ceremony after the monarch did not respond to a letter demanding that he apologize for Spain’s 16th century defeat of Mexico’s powerful Aztec rulers.  Today, …

Read more “Dispute over Spain’s past domination of Mexico reveals domestic divisions”

London — As the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel approaches, many European countries are strengthening their calls for Israel to end its assault on Hamas targets in Gaza amid growing horror at the civilian death toll.   The militant attack killed 1,200 people, including Israelis and people of several other nationalities. …

Read more “Europe hardens cease-fire calls as October 7 anniversary of Hamas attack nears”

As the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas cross-border attack on Israel approaches, many European countries are strengthening their calls for Israel to end its assault on Hamas targets in Gaza amid growing horror at the civilian death toll. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …

Brussels — The new head of NATO vowed on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for war-ravaged Ukraine and expressed confidence that he can work with whoever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November. “There can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine,” new …

Read more “NATO’s new chief makes Ukraine support a top priority, says he’ll work with any US president”

Berlin — A Chinese woman has been arrested in the German city of Leipzig on suspicion of foreign agent activities and passing on information regarding arms deliveries, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Tuesday.  The suspect, named only as Yaqi X, is accused of passing on information obtained while working for a logistics company …

Read more “Chinese woman arrested in Germany on suspicion of espionage, prosecutor says “

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moscow — A Russian court Monday gave a life sentence to a man convicted in a car bombing that seriously wounded nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin. Prosecutors said the May 2023 bombing in the Nizhny Novogorod region was conducted at the direction of Ukraine’s security services. Prilepin was seriously injured, and his driver died in the bombing. …

Read more “Man gets life in Russian prison for car bombing that wounded writer “