Category: News

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”

Beijing/Paris — China imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on imports of brandy from the EU on Tuesday, hitting French brands including Hennessy and Remy Martin, days after the 27-state bloc voted for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, or EVs. China’s commerce ministry said preliminary findings of an investigation had determined that dumping of brandy from the European …

Read more “China targets brandy in EU trade tit-for-tat after EV tariff move”

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moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian for talks Friday at a forum in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan, a senior aide said Monday.  Yury Ushakov, Putin’s aide on foreign policy, told journalists the leaders would meet in Ashgabat while attending an event celebrating a Turkmen poet.  “This meeting …

Read more “Putin to meet Iran president Friday in Turkmenistan “

Tirana, Albania — Clashes broke out late Monday in Tirana between police and opposition protesters seeking that longtime leftist Prime Minister Edi Rama resign, leaving 10 officers injured police said. A few thousand people gathered in the Albanian capital at demonstrations organized by the country’s right-wing opposition. Scuffles first broke out in front of the government …

Read more “Clashes erupt at Albania anti-government protest”

TALLINN, Estonia — A Belarusian-American has had his prison term extended to a total of 13 1/2 years in the latest move in a relentless crackdown on dissent by Belarus’ repressive government, rights activists said Monday. Yuras Zyankovich, a lawyer who has dual Belarusian and U.S. citizenship, has been held behind bars since 2021. He was …

Read more “Sentence for Belarusian-American extended as Belarus cracks down on dissent”

With most flights out of Lebanon canceled and ticket prices skyrocketing, a small port in Turkey is operating as an alternative route for people fleeing the country. VOA’s Onur Erdogan has more from Mersin province. Bezhan Hamdard narrates. …

washington — Media groups have welcomed the life sentence handed to a French jihadi linked to the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack. A French court last week found Peter Cherif guilty of “belonging to a criminal organization” in connection to his work with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, according to AFP. Cherif, 42, is suspected of training …

Read more “Watchdogs: Sentencing of jihadi linked to Charlie Hebdo attack ‘important verdict’”

The European Union is braced for retaliation from China after the bloc voted Friday to impose tariffs on the import of Chinese electric vehicles, which Brussels says receive unfair state subsidies. As Henry Ridgwell reports, there’s speculation that Beijing could target individual European countries that voted for the measures. …

London — The European Union is bracing for retaliation from China after the bloc voted last week to impose tariffs on the import of Chinese electric vehicles, or EVs, amid speculation that Beijing could seek to target individual European countries that voted for the measures. The EU is divided on the issue, with 10 member states …

Read more “Europe braces for Chinese retaliation over EV import tariffs”

Tirana, Albania — Opposition forces in Albania on Monday were holding a nationwide protest in the country’s capital demanding that the government be replaced by a technocratic caretaker Cabinet before next year’s parliamentary election. The conservative opposition accuses the leftist government of manipulating earlier voting and of usurping powers, including that of the judiciary. The Democratic …

Read more “Albanian opposition rallies, seeking technocratic Cabinet before election”

GENEVA  — Billions of people are facing a future of water scarcity as global rivers dry up, glaciers melt, and intense heat and other extreme weather events caused by climate change create critical changes in water availability around the world, according to the State of Global Water Resources report issued Monday by the World Meteorological Organization.  …

Read more “World water resources decreasing as global rivers dry up”

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s government said Monday it would lift a ban on the entry of products from Serbia at one border crossing, 16 months after it halted imports to prevent what it said could be hidden shipments of weapons for Serb separatists.  The reopening is in line with efforts by Western partners to promote reconciliation …

Read more “Kosovo lifts ban on entry of products from Serbia at border”

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MOSCOW — A Russian court on Monday sentenced a 72-year-old American in a closed trial to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.  Prosecutors said Stephen Hubbard signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and he fought alongside them until being …

Read more “Russian court sentences 72-year-old American to nearly 7 years in prison for fighting in Ukraine “