New York — Critics lambasted it and audiences didn’t grade it much better. But despite the turbulence, Mel Gibson’s “Flight Risk” managed to open No. 1 at the box office with a modest $12 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. On a quiet weekend, even for the typically frigid movie-going month of January, the top spot …
Read more “Mel Gibson’s ‘Flight Risk’ is No. 1 at box office, ‘The Brutalist’ expands “
London — Ireland called in help from England and France on Sunday as repair crews worked to restore power to hundreds of thousands of people after the most disruptive storm for years. More than 1 million people in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland were left without electricity after Storm Eowyn roared through on Friday. In Ireland, …
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned of the “scourge of antisemitism” in his Angelus prayer on Sunday, the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, noting it marks 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. “The horror of the extermination of millions of Jewish people and others of different faiths during those years …
Read more “Pope Francis warns of ‘scourge of antisemitism’ ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day “
MINSK — Belarusians voted on Sunday in an election set to hand President Alexander Lukashenko a seventh term, prolonging his three-decade authoritarian rule. Lukashenko — a 70-year-old former collective farm boss — has been in power in reclusive, Moscow-allied Belarus since 1994. Speaking after casting his vote in the capital Minsk, the self-avowed “dictator” dismissed …
Read more “Belarusians vote in election to extend Lukashenko’s 30-year rule “
When American conservative commentator Tucker Carlson interviewed Russian IT entrepreneur Pavel Durov in April, he had an additional unexpected audience: scammers. After the video was published, a phony Russian-language transcript of the interview tried to attract “investors” to a cryptocurrency scheme that promised monthly earnings of $13,000. That scheme came to VOA’s attention because its …
Read more “Facebook scammers use fake VOA article to push Russian cryptocurrency scheme”
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — As the Year of the Snake approaches, a pet store in Taipei is offering adventurous customers an opportunity to enjoy the company of snakes while sipping coffee, hoping to break down some of the prejudice against the animal. Taiwan has been plastered with images of the reptile ahead of the start of the …
Read more “Taipei pet shop strives to break down anti-snake prejudice”
JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Centuries-old stone Buddha statues and precious jewelry repatriated by the Dutch government to its former colony are on display at Indonesia’s National Museum, providing a glimpse into the country’s rich heritage that the government had struggled to retrieve. The collection is part of more than 800 artifacts that were returned under a Repatriation …
Read more “Indonesia showcases returned artifacts it had sought for decades from Netherlands”
ROME — Italy’s prime minister addressed growing criticism Saturday of the repatriation of a Libyan warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court, as Giorgia Meloni cited an appeals court order and security concerns. The repatriation of Ossama Anjiem to Libya, a key partner in Europe’s efforts to keep migrants from crossing the Mediterranean and landing on …
Read more “Italy’s Meloni defends repatriation of Libyan warlord wanted by ICC”
HALLE, GERMANY — Tens of thousands of Germans rallied Saturday against the far right ahead of next month’s legislative elections, as U.S. tech billionaire Elon Musk again endorsed the anti-immigrant AfD party. Musk, speaking by video link, told thousands of AfD supporters gathered in the eastern city of Halle that their party was “the best hope …
Read more “Tens of thousands protest Germany’s far right as Musk endorses AfD “
More than 50 exiled Russian artists who left the country for Europe to escape the war have raised more than $100,000 in an online charity auction. The funds will be sent to various Ukrainian initiatives aimed at helping Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war or providing assistance to those still residing close to the front line. …
Read more “VOA Russian: Exiled Russian artists raise funds to help Ukraine “
President Vladimir Putin openly admits that demographics present Russia with one of its most serious challenges. U.S. experts believe that even without taking into account the effects of the war with Ukraine, Russia’s population will shrink further substantially in the next several decades, possibly up to 11% by 2045. However, the continuing losses on the …
Read more “VOA Russian: War plunges Russia deeper into demographic crisis “
In 2016, Herschel Hepler was browsing Google Images to practice his paleography — the study of historical writing systems — when he stumbled upon an eerily familiar photo that would lead to a groundbreaking discovery. “I recognized it immediately and said, ‘That’s a manuscript in our collection,’” Hepler, a curator at the Museum of the …
Read more “How the oldest known Hebrew book landed in a Washington museum”
KYIV, UKRAINE — Moldovan President Maia Sandu visited Kyiv on Saturday for talks with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid growing tensions in Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist enclave of Moldova that neighbors Ukraine. The territory, which has a population of half a million, has seen heating, hot water and electricity cut-offs since the start of the year …
Read more “Moldovan president visits Kyiv to talk energy, security”
HAIFA, ISRAEL — Naftali Furst will never forget his first view of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, on Nov. 3, 1944. He was 12 years old. SS soldiers threw open the doors of the cattle car, where he was crammed in with his mother, father, brother, and more than 80 others. He remembers the tall chimneys of …
Read more “One of last Auschwitz survivors makes telling the stories his mission”
New online videos recently investigated by VOA’s Russian and Ukrainian services show how artificial intelligence is likely being used to try to create provocative deepfakes that target Ukrainian refugees. In one example, a video appears to be a TV news report about a teenage Ukrainian refugee and her experience studying at a private school in …
Read more “Russian deepfake videos target Ukrainian refugees, including teen”
BELGRADE, SERBIA — A woman rammed a car into a crowd of anti-government protesters in Serbia’s capital and injured one of them Friday, police said, as a student-led strike shut down businesses and drew tens of thousands of people to demonstrations around the country. The nationwide protests took place on the same day that President Aleksandar …
Read more “Driver rams anti-government rally in Serbia’s capital, hurts protester “
WASHINGTON — Ahead of Belarus’ presidential election this weekend, a media advocacy group filed a complaint Friday with the International Criminal Court accusing the country’s longtime leader of crimes against humanity against journalists. The complaint, filed by Reporters Without Borders, known by French acronym RSF, accuses President Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating a harsh crackdown on independent …
Read more “Ahead of election, media group accuses Belarus of crimes against humanity”
China’s annual mass migration ahead of the Lunar New Year will peak with billions of trips anticipated during this year’s holiday, which begins Tuesday. An estimated 9 billion trips are expected. This year’s holiday lasts from Jan. 28 through Feb. 4 and marks the arrival of the Year of the Snake. Authorities in China extended …
Read more “Lunar New Year travel offers boost to China’s economic woes”
LONDON — A London judge on Friday rejected a U.S. mother’s challenge to be extradited to Colorado to face murder charges in the deaths of two of her young children. Judge John Zani said in Westminster Magistrates Court that it would now be up to the British Home Secretary to order Kimberlee Singler returned to the …
Read more “London court says US mom can be extradited in children’s killings”
In the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado, the National Western Stock Show hosts nearly 30 professional rodeo events. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns takes us to a stock show competition for younger riders. And sheep. …
Near Auschwitz’s walls, the former home of the concentration camp’s commandant, Rudolf Hoss, stands as a symbol of denial and complicity, its windows overlooking the site of some of the Holocaust’s worst atrocities. As the world marks the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation (Jan. 27), plans are under way to transform the house into a …
Read more “Reclaiming Rudolf Hoss’s House as center countering hate, extremism and radicalization”
Officials in Ukraine say Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack Friday killing at least two civilians, wounding several others and damaging commercial and residential buildings. The interior ministry said two victims were killed by drone debris in the central Kyiv region. It said a multistory residential building and commercial buildings were …
Read more “Russia, Ukraine report large-scale overnight drone attacks”
NUUK, GREENLAND — The mineral wealth on the Arctic island of Greenland is in the global spotlight after U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants to take control of the territory from Denmark, prompting alarm from European allies. Trump’s words were echoed in a January 12 interview on “Fox News Sunday” by Vice President JD Vance, …
Read more “Will Trump spark a mineral ‘gold rush’ in Greenland?”
President Donald Trump laid out his approach to foreign investment to the world’s largest gathering of global business leaders, offering investors a take-it-or-leave-it deal to build in the U.S. or face stiff tariffs. VOA White House Correspondent Anita Powell reports. …