Travels News
French environmentalists are working around the clock to try and feed a dangerously thin Beluga whale that has strayed into the Seine River. So far, they have been unsuccessful. Marine conservation group Sea Shepherd France tweeted Saturday that “our teams took turns with the Beluga all night long. It always ignores the fish offered to …
Read more “Beluga Whale Caught in France’s Seine Not Accepting Food”
The head of Amnesty International’s Ukraine chapter has resigned, saying the human rights organization shot down her opposition to publishing a report that said Ukrainian forces had exposed civilians to Russian attacks by basing themselves in populated areas. In a statement posted Friday night on Facebook, Oksana Pokalchuk accused her former employer of disregarding Ukraine’s …
Read more “Amnesty International Ukraine Report Sparks Furor, Resignation”
Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined Amsterdam’s historic canals Saturday to celebrate the Canal Parade, a Pride flotilla of 80 brightly decorated boats packed with people partying, singing and waving rainbow flags, balloons and umbrellas. The boats representing rights groups, bars, clothing brands and even the Dutch military made their way slowly through the waterways …
Read more “Huge Crowds Watch Amsterdam Pride’s Canal Parade Celebration”
A bus with Polish license plates skidded off a highway in northern Croatia early Saturday, killing at least 12 people, according to authorities. Officials say at least 30 people were injured. The bus was filled with religious pilgrims traveling to a Catholic shrine in Medjugorje, a town in southern Bosnia. Reuters reports that all …
Three more ships carrying thousands of tons of corn left Ukrainian ports Friday, part of a grain deal between Kyiv and Moscow, as the two countries accused each other of damaging a major Ukrainian nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom said Russian shelling had hit the Zaporizhzhia power station, Europe’s largest nuclear …
Read more “Ukraine, Russia Trade Blame Over Damage to Nuclear Plant”
Seated at a table with his wife and a colleague in the small town of Leskovac, Dragan Marinovic was looking forward to a meal at his favorite restaurant. Then a stranger approached and started to threaten Marinovic, who is executive editor of the Serbian news website Resetka. The reason, Marinovic told VOA’s Serbian Service: a …
As a sex worker and adult film actor, Roc was relieved when he was among the first Spaniards to get a monkeypox vaccine. He knew of several cases among men who have sex with men, which is the leading demographic for the disease, and feared he could be next. “I went home and thought, ‘Phew, …
Read more “Spain Leads Europe in Monkeypox, Struggles to Check Spread “
Samantha Power won fame as a human rights advocate and was picked by President Joe Biden to lead the agency that distributes billions of dollars in U.S. aid abroad, including providing more food assistance than anyone else in the world. But since Russia invaded Ukraine, that job includes a new task with a Cold War …
Read more “AP Interview: US Aid Chief Counters Food Crisis, Russia”
Russia and the United States said on Friday they were ready to discuss a prisoner swap, a day after a Russian court sentenced basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison for a drugs offense. The case against Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, plunged her into …
Read more “After Griner Gets Jail, Russia Ready to Discuss Swap With US”
The Joint Coordination Center overseeing implementation of the U.N.- and Turkish-brokered deal to get commercial ships with Ukrainian grain to world markets said Thursday that three more ships are expected to sail Friday. The first ship, the Razoni, departed on Monday from Odesa and is en route to Lebanon with a cargo of corn. The …
Read more “Commercial Ship Scheduled to Leave Ukraine on Friday”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban received a warm reception Thursday in Texas, where he was a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a major event on the calendar of the right wing of the Republican Party. In remarks that ran for approximately 30 minutes, Orban demonstrated why he has become popular …
Read more “Hungarian Prime Minister Shows Why American Right Embraces Him”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. A just-concluded deal on freeing up Ukrainian grain, along with Russian backing for a new Turkish offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces will be on the agenda. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Friday meeting with …
Read more “Erdogan and Putin to Meet in Sochi for 2nd Time in a Month”
Travelers heading from the United States to Europe this summer can also help transport relief supplies to Ukraine. Khrystyna Shevchenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. …
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday the Western military alliance has the joint tasks of both supporting Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion and to prevent the conflict from spreading into a war between Russia and NATO. Speaking to a summer camp in his native Norway, Stoltenberg said NATO has a moral …
Read more “NATO Chief: World Will Be a More Dangerous Place if Russia Wins Ukraine War”
Liudmyla Chudyjovych used to have a career as a lawyer in Ukraine and big plans for the future. That was before the Russian invasion forced the 41-year-old to put her daughter’s safety first and leave both her job and home behind. Since fleeing the town of Stryj in western Ukraine in May, Chudyjovych has found …
Read more “Months Into War, Ukraine Refugees Slow to Join EU Workforce”
Closing arguments are expected Thursday in American basketball star Brittney Griner’s drug trial in a Russian court. Griner is facing a potential sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted. She was arrested at a Moscow airport in February with what she has acknowledged were vape cannisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. Griner’s lawyers …
Read more “Closing Arguments Expected in Griner’s Russia Trial”
A code red alert has been declared in Iceland after a volcano erupted Wednesday near the capital, Reykjavik, at a site that erupted last year, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said. The IMO said the eruption took place in an unpopulated area 30 kilometers from the capital city and that no lives were in danger. …
PARIS – Fanning out like urban guerrillas through Paris’ darkened streets well after midnight, the anti-waste activists shinny up walls and drain pipes, reaching for switches to turn off the lights. Click. Click. Click. One by one, the outdoor lights that stores had left on are extinguished. It’s one small but symbolic step in a …
Read more “Cold Showers, No Lights: Europe Saves as Russian Gas Wanes”
From the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Jewish community in Russia has not explicitly supported the military actions of the Kremlin, thus undermining President Vladimir Putin’s claim that Russian forces are on a mission to denazify Ukraine. Russian Jews avoid talking about this issue, and many have chosen to leave the country. …
Read more “Jews’ Silence Undermines Russia’s Claim of ‘Denazifying’ Ukraine”
Voting by Britain’s Conservative Party members to pick the next prime minister has been delayed after a British spy agency warned that cyber hackers could change people’s ballots, The Telegraph reported on Tuesday. There was no specific threat from a hostile state, and the advice was more general and about the voting process and its …
Read more “Britain’s Conservative Party Voting for Next PM Delayed After Hacking Alert”
A man was charged with intent to “alarm her Majesty” after being arrested at Queen Elizabeth’s Windsor Castle home with a crossbow on Christmas Day last year, police and prosecutors said. Jaswant Singh Chail, 20, a resident of Southampton in southern England, was arrested on the grounds of Windsor Castle, where the queen often resides. …
Read more “UK Charges Man with Intent to ‘Injure or Alarm’ Queen”
The U.S. imposed new sanctions Tuesday targeting Russian elites, including oligarchs and a woman — one-time Olympic rhythmic gymnast champion Alina Kabaeva — often named in news reports as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s lover and mother of four of his children. The Treasury Department froze the visa of Kabaeva, 39, and imposed other property restrictions …
Read more “US Imposes New Sanctions on Russian Elites, Including Putin’s Reported Lover”
Tensions between Jerusalem and Moscow are rising over a Russian attempt to close the Jewish Agency office in Moscow. The quasi-governmental Jewish Agency helps Jews immigrate to Israel, but Russia says it violates local laws by gathering information on Russian citizens. Israeli officials say they believe it has more to do with growing Israeli support …
The Supreme Court of Russia, acting on a request by the Prosecutor General’s Office, has designated Ukraine’s ultra-right Azov Regiment as a “terrorist” organization. The court announced the decision on Tuesday against the group, one of the most prominent Ukrainian military formations fighting against Russia in eastern Ukraine. The court ruled to “recognize the Ukrainian …
Read more “Russia High Court Labels Ukraine’s Azov Regiment ‘Terrorist’ Group”