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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants to restart nuclear arms control talks with Russia and China and that eventually he hopes all three countries could agree to cut their massive defense budgets in half. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in …
WASHINGTON — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Britain for the first time on Thursday, marking the restart of a diplomatic dialogue mechanism that has been paused for nearly seven years. Wang had talks with Britain’s foreign minister and national security adviser and briefly met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The top Chinese diplomat’s visit restarts …
As U.S. President Donald Trump announced talks to end Russia’s war with Ukraine, Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer in an exclusive interview with VOA Russian describes how Trump will need to use a carrot and a stick to persuade Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire. Bremmer believes that although Trump has far more leverage …
Read more “VOA Russian: Expert says Trump needs ‘carrot and stick’ with Putin”
Sunday marks one year since the sudden death of top Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny in his arctic prison. VOA Russian looks back at how the investigation into what happened has stalled over the past year with no new leads or information available. Russian activists have asked the United Nations to launch an international investigation …
Read more “VOA Russian: One year since Navalny’s death, investigation stalls”
PENTAGON — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has called for NATO’s European members to increase their role in the defense of Europe as the United States focuses on defending the alliance’s Pacific flank. It is a move that he says will likely require European allies to significantly increase defense spending from 2% of GDP to …
Read more “Pentagon chief calls on NATO partners to increase role in Europe’s defense”
At this week’s Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, world leaders and technologists gathered to discuss the rapidly evolving field of generative artificial intelligence. Many are eager to join the global AI race, while others are proceeding with caution. Tina Trinh reports. …
French police were searching Thursday for an unidentified man who threw a grenade into a bar late Wednesday in the southeastern Alpine city of Grenoble, wounding 15 people, at least two of them seriously, according to health officials. Regional prosecutor Francois Touret de Coucy told reporters witness at the scene reported that shortly after 8 …
DACHAU, GERMANY — U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial on Thursday, walking the solemn halls with a group that included a Holocaust survivor once held at the site of so much suffering and mass murder and experiencing firsthand a powerful symbol of World War II. The tour came amid an ongoing …
Read more “Vance visits Dachau concentration camp ahead of Zelenskyy meeting”
Ukraine and the United States are considering a crucial minerals deal at this week’s Munich Security Conference, according to officials from the two countries. After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the proposed agreement as a potential “long-term security shield” for Ukraine when its war with Russia comes to …
Northern Europe’s Baltic Sea is bordered by nations including Germany, Russia and Latvia. Many critical cables and pipelines cross the seafloor. But with tensions rising in the region, NATO is looking for ways to ensure all that infrastructure stays safe. Vladislavs Andrejevs has more in this story, narrated by Anna Rice. (Produced by: Vladislavs Andrejevs, …
Read more “NATO working to keep Baltic Sea’s strategic infrastructure safe ”
Brussles — Thousands of Belgians took to the streets on Thursday in protest over the new government’s planned pension reforms in the first day of a multi-day strike that halted all air traffic in the country. Brussels airport canceled 430 flights on Thursday, a spokesperson said, adding that the disruption to the air traffic sector would …
Read more “Anti-government protest halts air traffic in Belgium”
BERLIN — A car was driven into a crowd in Munich, Germany on Thursday, injuring at least 28 people. Police said authorities detained the driver, and during the arrest fired a shot at the vehicle. They identified the suspect as a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker. The incident took place as members of a service workers’ union …
Read more “Driver hits crowd in Munich, injuring at least 28”
Ukrainian officials said Thursday a Russian drone attack injured one person and damaged port infrastructure in the southern region of Odesa. Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said the attack hit the Izmail area, which is located along the Danube River. Close to the same area, Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said Thursday its systems detected a …
Read more “Russian drone attack hits Odesa port infrastructure”
LONDON — Hundreds of world leaders and delegates are set to attend the Munich Security Conference in Germany this weekend, with conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo high on the agenda, alongside simmering tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. It’s the first major global summit for the new administration in …
Read more “US allies seek clarity on Ukraine support at Munich Security Conference”
Hundreds of world leaders and delegates are set to attend the Munich Security Conference this weekend — with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and simmering tensions in the Indo-Pacific, on the agenda. As Henry Ridgwell reports, all eyes will be on the approach of the U.S. delegation under the new administration of President …
Read more “US allies seek clarity on Ukraine support at Munich Security Conference”
Multiple NATO allies expressed support Thursday for boosting defense spending, while highlighting the need for Ukraine and other European nations to be a part of any negotiated end to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The comments came as NATO defense ministers gathered in Brussels for a meeting focused on defense spending targets, boosting industrial capacity and …
Read more “NATO defense ministers to discuss military spending, Ukraine aid”
Following a successful prisoner swap with Russia, U.S. President Donald Trump launched a multifront diplomatic blitz Wednesday to end the Ukraine conflict, saying he would meet with Russia’s leader soon and dispatching a vice president-led team to meet with Ukraine’s leader on Friday. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell catches up on the latest, from …
Read more “Trump launches diplomatic blitz to end Ukraine war”
Talks in Austria to form a coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party and the conservative People’s Party collapsed Wednesday after the two sides failed to agree on disputed policy points. The coalition talks were the latest in a series of negotiations that have failed since parliamentary elections were held in September. Herbert Kickl’s Freedom …
Read more “Austria’s far-right leader fails to form a government after coalition talks collapse”
Russia occupies and uses Europe’s largest nuclear power plant for military demands. Moscow continues attacks on Ukraine electric stations that keep country’s nuclear power plants running. …
KYIV, UKRAINE — Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday accused each other of blocking the rotation of staff from the International Atomic Energy Agency at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. Moscow’s troops seized the facility, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, in the first days of its invasion of Ukraine. Both sides have repeatedly accused …
Read more “Russia, Ukraine trade blame for IAEA disruptions at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant”
WASHINGTON — A journalist with VOA’s sister outlet, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was released from Belarus on Wednesday, after spending more than three years imprisoned in a case that was widely viewed as politically motivated. Andrey Kuznechyk, a journalist with RFE/RL’s Belarus service, was released from Belarus on Wednesday, the U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, …
Pakistan rolls out the red carpet Wednesday for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader will jointly hold the 7th session of the Pakistan-Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation Council with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif during his brief visit ending Thursday. VOA Pakistan bureau chief Sarah Zaman reports on key topics of discussion. …
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he and Russia’s leader agreed in a phone call to “immediately” begin negotiations with Ukraine’s leader to bring an end to the nearly three-year-conflict. “We will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now,” Trump said on …
Read more “Trump vows to ‘immediately’ negotiate for end to Ukraine war”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO military allies on Wednesday that Ukraine’s hoped-for return to its 2014 borders is an “unrealistic objective,” and that the United States does not believe that Kyiv membership in NATO is a “realistic outcome” of a negotiated end to Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine. Speaking in Brussels at NATO …
Read more “US defense chief: Return to Ukraine’s 2014 borders ‘unrealistic’”