Category: World

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Russia is facing the biggest demographic crisis in its recent history, a drastic drop in births that reflects the fear that many Russians have about starting a family in an uncertain economic and political landscape. Jonathan Spier narrates this report from the VOA Moscow Bureau. …

London — Pressure to approve Sweden’s accession to NATO is mounting on Hungary, the last member state yet to ratify Stockholm’s application. The Hungarian and Swedish prime ministers are due to meet on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the issue. Sweden and Finland applied simultaneously to join NATO …

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Pressure is growing on Hungary to approve Sweden’s accession to NATO, the last member state yet to ratify its application. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, the Hungarian and Swedish prime ministers are due to meet on the side-lines of a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday. …

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Stockholm — French President Emmanuel Macron was welcomed Tuesday with pomp and ceremony at the start of a two-day state visit to Sweden during which he will meet Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the Scandinavian country’s monarch, King Carl XVI Gustaf. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, were greeted by the king in the inner courtyard of …

Read more “France’s Macron Gets Ceremonial Welcome as He Starts 2-Day State Visit to Sweden”

Brussels — European Union nations have decided to approve an outline deal that would keep in reserve the profits from hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian central bank assets that have been frozen in retaliation for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, an EU official said. The tentative agreement, reached late Monday, still needs formal approval but …

Read more “EU Slowly Moves Toward Using Profits From Frozen Russian Assets to Help Ukraine”

The Voronkov family lives in Donbas, some 20 kilometers from the front lines. In May 2023, a Russian missile destroyed their home, almost killing their teenage son who was hiding in the basement. But despite it all, the couple did not give up – instead, they started a business by opening a cafe. Anna Kosstutschenko met with them. VOA footage and video editing by …

Read more “Lost Their Home and Opened a Cafe: Donbas Couple Refuses to Let War Stop Them”

BALLYNAHINCH, Northern Ireland — The leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said it had reached a deal with the British government on the operation of post-Brexit trade rules that would allow it to return to the region’s power-sharing government.  Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government for almost two years after the DUP …

Read more “Northern Ireland’s DUP Strikes Deal for Power-Sharing Government”

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Hundreds of cargo ships traveling from Asia to Europe are now avoiding the Red Sea and the Suez Canal route due to persistent attacks and hijackings by Houthi militants responding to the Israel-Hamas war. The International Chamber of Shipping, a major trade group, says these incidents have caused significant disruptions in global trade, leading to …

Read more “Houthi Ship Attacks Disrupting Global Supply Chain”

The debate over funding Ukraine in its war with Russia has wide-reaching implications, even far away from the front lines. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more on the impact to refugee resettlement in Chicago, the second-largest home in the U.S. to Ukrainians who have fled the war. …

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BELGRADE, Serbia — A trial started Monday in Serbia for the parents of a teenager who is accused of killing 10 people and injuring six in a mass shooting at his school last May that left the Balkan nation in shock.  The suspected shooter, 13-year-old Kosta Kecmanovic, has been held in a mental institution since the …

Read more “Parents of Teen, Who Fatally Shot 10, on Trial in Serbia”

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London — King Charles III and his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales, have both left a private London hospital following unrelated medical treatments that have made the health of the royal family headlines news in the United Kingdom. The 75-year-old monarch was admitted to the London Clinic on Friday for treatment of an enlarged prostate, which …

Read more “King Charles Discharged From London Hospital After Prostate Procedure “

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Skopje, North Macedonia — North Macedonia’s parliament Sunday approved a caretaker government with a mandate to organize a general election in May.  The government of the small Balkan country of 1.8 million people will be headed by the country’s first-ever ethnic Albanian prime minister, current parliament speaker Talat Xhaferi, 61.  The 120-member parliament approved the caretaker …

Read more “North Macedonia Approves Caretaker Cabinet With First Ethnic Albanian Premier”

Tehran, Iran — The trial of a Swedish EU diplomat wrapped up in Tehran on Sunday, with Iranian prosecutors seeking the maximum penalty for the man accused of spying for Iran’s arch-foe, Israel.     The prosecutor said that 33-year-old Johan Floderus — who works for the European Union diplomatic service — was charged with “very extensive …

Read more “Iran Wraps Trial of Swedish EU Diplomat, Awaiting Defense”

Ukrainian officials say they uncovered a massive defense procurement scheme that saw tens of millions of dollars spent for weapons that never materialized. The discovery follows the downing of a Russian military plane said to have been carrying Ukrainian POWs. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has this story. …

Madrid — Spanish opposition parties demonstrated in Madrid on Sunday in a last gasp effort to stop an amnesty for Catalan separatists over their role in a 2007 secession bid.    About 45,000 people heeded the call by the Popular Party to gather in the capital’s central Plaza de Espana, according to police estimates.    The …

Read more “Spanish Opposition Protests Catalan a
Amnesty Law “