Category: News

Preliminary results Monday showed Germany’s center-left Social Democrats winning the largest share of the vote in national parliamentary elections as parties battle to see who will succeed outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel.  The Social Democrats received 25.7% of the vote Sunday, followed by 24.1% for Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union.  State Governor Armin Laschet of the …

Read more “Social Democrats Win Most Votes in German Election”

Iceland briefly celebrated electing a female-majority parliament Sunday, before a recount produced a result just short of that landmark for gender parity in the North Atlantic island nation. The initial vote count had female candidates winning 33 seats in Iceland’s 63-seat parliament, the Althing, in an election that saw centrist parties make the biggest gains. …

Read more “Recount Finds Iceland Just Misses Female-majority Parliament”

Switzerland voted by a wide margin to allow same-sex couples to marry in a referendum on Sunday, bringing the Alpine nation into line with many others in western Europe. Official results showed the measure passed with 64.1% of voters in favor and won a majority in all of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, or states.   Switzerland’s …

Read more “Swiss Approve Same-sex Marriage by Landslide in Referendum”

The EU and U.S. will this week embark on a tricky effort to deepen ties on tech regulation, but with France resisting the project in the wake of a falling out with Washington over a submarine deal. High-level talks will begin in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday despite efforts by Paris to …

Read more “EU-US to Seek Shared Tech Rules Despite French Anger”

The Cumbre Vieja volcano in the Spanish Canary Islands continues to spew lava and debris, one week after it erupted and forced thousands of people to flee their homes. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more …

A contentious campaign comes to a head Sunday as Swiss voters go to the polls to decide on whether same-sex marriage should be allowed. Earlier this month, thousands of people attended a high-spirited Pride parade in Zurich to support the legalization of same-sex marriage. They held up posters touting “Marriage for All” campaign slogans. They …

Read more “Switzerland Votes on Allowing Same-Sex Marriage”

In a first in Europe, women hold more than half of the seats in Iceland’s new parliament, final election results showed Sunday. Of the 63 seats in the Althing, 33 were won by women, or 52 percent, according to projections based on the final results. No other European country has had more than 50 percent …

Read more “Majority of Women in Iceland’s New Parliament, European First”

Germany’s 60 million eligible voters will set their country on a new course in Sunday’s parliamentary elections. The winning lawmakers will decide who will replace the country’s outgoing and popular chancellor, Angela Merkle. The newly elected politicians will likely have to form a coalition government, meaning it may take some weeks before Merkle’s replacement is …

Read more “Germany Votes for New Leader”

Britain will issue up to 10,500 temporary work visas to truck drivers and poultry workers to ease chronic staff shortages, the government announced Saturday, in a U-turn on post-Brexit immigration policy. The short-term visas, to run from next month until late December, come as ministers try to fix a shortfall of drivers and other key …

Read more “UK to Offer 10,500 Post-Brexit Visas to Counter Growing Worker Crisis”

Thousands of people demonstrated in cities across Italy on Saturday to support Afghan women and demand continued international pressure on the country’s Taliban leaders to let women participate in the educational and political life of the country.  Among the groups organizing the protests were members of the Pangea Foundation, which had worked for 20 years …

Read more “Italians Come Out to Demand Support for Afghan Women”

Iceland’s government was poised to win a majority in Saturday’s election, early results showed, though it remained to be seen if Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir’s left-right coalition would agree to continue in power together. The three-party coalition has brought Iceland four years of stability after a decade of crises. Jakobsdottir’s Left-Green Movement, the conservative Independence …

Read more “Iceland Government Poised to Win Majority, but Future Uncertain”

International recognition of the Taliban “at the present juncture is not on the table,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday at the United Nations. Among the Taliban’s promises are ensuring an inclusive government; respecting human rights, especially for women; and preventing Afghanistan from becoming a haven for terrorists. But the interim Taliban government, Lavrov said, …

Read more “World Recognition of Taliban ‘Not on Table,’ Russia Says at UN”

Icelanders were voting Saturday in a general election dominated by climate change, with an unprecedented number of political parties likely to win parliamentary seats.   Polls suggested there wouldn’t be an outright winner, triggering complex negotiations to build a coalition government.   A record nine parties could cross the 5% threshold needed to qualify for …

Read more “Icelanders Vote in Volatile Election With Climate in Mind “

Lengthy queues of vehicles snaked their way to gas stations in Britain on Saturday where an acute shortage of truck drivers has led to fuel rationing, some empty pumps, and government consideration of issuing temporary work visas.  Across the country, motorists waited in long lines to fill up their vehicles. One big distributor said it …

Read more “Long Queues, Fuel Rationing Occur as Britain Faces Truck Driver Shortage”

Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans Saturday to give her would-be successor Armin Laschet their vote to shape Germany’s future, in a last-ditch push to shore up his beleaguered campaign 24 hours before Germans vote.   Laschet, 60, has been trailing his Social Democrat challenger Olaf Scholz in the race for the chancellery, although final polls …

Read more “Merkel Makes Final Push for Successor in Germany’s Knife-Edge Polls”

Women in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority province Diyarbakir cycled their well-decorated bikes to raise awareness about female cyclists in traffic. VOA’s Mahmut Bozarslan has filed this report, narrated by Ezel Sahinkaya. …

Young climate activists from Greta Thunberg’s Friday for Future movement resumed mass street protests on Friday for the first time since the pandemic began, demanding drastic action from global leaders ahead of U.N. climate talks in November. From Nairobi to Washington, marchers — including Thunberg, who joined protests in Berlin — carried placards and homemade …

Read more “‘A Lot of Impatience’: Youth Climate Protesters Return to the Streets”

Fatima Alzahra Shon thinks neighbors attacked her and her son in their Istanbul apartment building because she is Syrian.     The 32-year-old refugee from Aleppo was confronted on Sept. 1 by a Turkish woman who asked her what she was doing in “our” country. Shon replied, “Who are you to say that to me?” …

Read more “Refugees in Turkey Fearful as Sentiment Turns Against Them”

Fresh volcanic eruptions in Spain’s Canary Islands prompted the cancellation of flights, airport authorities said Friday, the first since the Cumbre Vieja volcano came to life again. New evacuations were also ordered as large explosions and new openings were reported at the volcano on La Palma island on Friday. A large cloud of thick, black …

Read more “Flights Scrapped as New Volcanic Eruptions Hit Canaries”

A potential deal to bring as many as 1,000 Russian mercenaries to Mali is likely to further destabilize the country, according to senior U.S. officials who are urging the interim government to instead focus on elections. Word of the not-yet-finalized deal, with Russia’s Wagner Group, has already rankled some French and European officials. And it …

Read more “US Cautions Mali About Using Russian Mercenaries”

Exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was awaiting a court hearing in Italy Friday following his arrest four years after fleeing Spain over an independence referendum that Madrid ruled illegal. The member of the European Parliament, who has been based in Belgium since late 2017, was detained Thursday in the Sardinian town of Alghero while …

Read more “Catalan Separatist Leader Puigdemont Due in Court After Italy Arrest”

Namibian activists and opposition members stormed parliament this week over a deal with Germany to atone for a colonial genocide more than a century ago. Opposition lawmakers also called for a renegotiation of the deal, in which Germany has agreed to fund about $1.3 billion in development projects over 30 years to redress land taken …

Read more “Namibian Protesters Storm Parliament, Criticize German Genocide Compensation”

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet reported the human rights situation in Belarus continues to worsen, as President Alexander Lukashenko stiffens repressive measures to quell dissent. The High Commissioner has submitted her latest update on Belarus to the U.N. Human Rights Council.   This latest report examines alleged human rights violations in Belarus since May …

Read more “UN Rights Chief Sounds Alarm on Growing Abuses in Belarus”

Officials on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma say the Cumbre Vieja volcano continued to erupt Friday, spewing lava and ash, and threatening the homes and livelihoods of the island’s 85,000 residents. Pictures and drone video taken of a single home that was surrounded but spared by the advancing lava has made it a …

Read more “Canary Island Volcano Eruption Continues for Sixth Day”