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U.S. President Joe Biden is used to scrutiny over how he reconciles his strong Roman Catholic faith — particularly around issues of gender, sexuality and reproduction — with his duty to lead an explicitly secular government. On Friday, he will face those questions anew in a meeting at the Vatican with Pope Francis, the Catholic …
Read more “For Biden and Pope, Meeting Is Personal and Political”
The Vatican on Thursday canceled the planned live broadcast of U.S. President Joe Biden meeting Pope Francis, the latest restriction to media coverage of the Holy See that sparked complaints from White House- and Vatican-accredited journalists. The live broadcast of Biden’s Friday visit was trimmed to cover just the arrival of the president’s motorcade in …
Read more “Vatican Cancels Live TV Broadcast of Biden Greeting Pope”
A new British research ship, named for British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, has arrived in London to call attention to climate change ahead of next week’s Glasgow climate summit. The 129-meter RSS Sir David Attenborough has completed sea trials and is ready for service. It sailed up the Thames River on Wednesday to be part …
Russia is warning Turkey over arms sales to Ukraine after a Turkish-made drone attacked Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine. A Kremlin spokesman has warned that Turkey’s ongoing arms sales to Ukraine threaten to destabilize the region. The warning follows Kyiv’s release of the video Tuesday showing a Turkish-made drone used for the first time against Russian-backed …
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry spoke in London Thursday ahead of next week’s climate summit in Glasgow, saying that addressing the climate crisis is the only choice, and the cost of not doing so is far greater than the cost of taking action. Kerry said the effects of climate change are being felt now. He …
Read more “Ahead of Climate Conference, Kerry Says Stakes Could Not Be Higher”
British sailors will begin training aboard Canadian icebreakers in a new agreement that reflects the United Kingdom’s heightened interest in developing a more robust Arctic military capability. Britain is just the latest nation to focus fresh attention on the far north as climate change opens the region to new opportunities for navigation and resource exploitation. Countries as diverse and distant as China, …
Read more “UK-Canada Naval Training Pact Reflects Rising Interest in Arctic”
Here’s a look at what U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats have been doing this week: Sudan The United States called on Sudanese military forces to release all civilian leaders in detention, amid growing international condemnation of the military takeover. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the U.S. support …
Eyes in Beijing and Moscow are trained on Central Asia, prompted by the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The security threat in Afghanistan and the desire to shut off Central Asia from other powers, such as the U.S., is motivating Beijing and Moscow to cooperate and gloss over their differences, according to Emil Avdaliani, director of …
Read more “China, Russia Working Together on Security Threats in Central Asia”
Iran said Wednesday it would resume talks with world powers about its nuclear development program by the end of November. There was no immediate confirmation of new negotiations from the other parties to the 2015 international pact aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear arms development. The agreement then included the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, …
The Cumbre Vieja volcano continued erupting Wednesday for the 38th consecutive day, and geologists say it could continue for as long as three months. The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute, known as Involcan, posted a video to its Twitter account showing fountains of lava during an eruption. The Associated Press reported that Wednesday’s eruption followed the …
In an effort to stop a 4th wave of COVID, Russian authorities have decided to halt commercial activity and social gatherings. Russia’s national inoculation strategy is falling short: only 33% of the population is fully vaccinated. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from the VOA Moscow bureau. …
Leaders of Germany’s newly-installed Bundestag – the lower house parliament – said Wednesday they will not extend the “epidemic situation of national scope” when it expires next month, though certain public health measures will remain to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The declaration of the health emergency allows the federal and state governments to …
British Court to Rule on Assange Extradition Request …
Turkey is threatening to launch a new military operation against Syrian Kurdish forces after a deadly attack in Syrian territory where Turkish forces are present. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …
A British court will consider this week whether Julian Assange, founder of the Wikileaks website, can be extradited to the United States on charges of hacking and theft. The two-day hearing is scheduled to begin Wednesday in London’s high court. U.S. prosecutors appealed a British district court verdict from January, which ruled that Assange should …
Read more “British Court to Rule on US Extradition of Wikileaks’ Julian Assange”
For the first time since last month’s elections, Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, met Tuesday and elected a new speaker from the winning center-left Social Democrats (SPD) party to lead the 736-member body. The 53-year-old Baerbel Bas, from the western German city of Duisburg, has been in the Bundestag since 2009. She served …
Read more “German Parliament Elects New Speaker as Merkel Steps Aside”
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has pulled out of the COP26 conference in Glasgow next week after she was advised by doctors to rest, Buckingham Palace said on Tuesday, in a blow to the United Nations climate summit. A palace source said the decision to not attend had been taken as a “sensible precaution” and to let …
Read more “UK’s Queen Elizabeth Pulls Out of COP26 Following Advice to Rest”
Global pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions are just a fraction of what’s needed to prevent catastrophic global warming. That’s the warning from the United Nations, ahead of the critical COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, Britain next week – where world leaders will try to agree on further action to combat global warming. Henry Ridgwell …
Read more “COP26 Climate Summit: What’s At Stake For Planet Earth?”
After a 10-month investigation, law enforcement officials in the United States and Europe have arrested at least 150 people suspected of drug trafficking over the darknet, the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday. Officials also seized over $31 million in cash and cryptocurrency and 45 guns. The darknet is a part of the internet that is accessible only by using specialized anonymity tools such as the …
Read more “At Least 150 Arrested in US-Europe Darknet Drug Bust”
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, was released from a Washington hospital Monday morning after an overnight stay early in his 12-day visit to the United States. Bartholomew, 81, was scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden later Monday at the White House, and also to meet with Secretary of State …
Read more “Orthodox Patriarch Released from Hospital, Set to Meet Biden”
Journalists who cover Russia’s space program say they may adopt a more cautious approach to their reporting after several aspects of Roscosmos were effectively declared off limits. A Federal Security Service (FSB) order, which took effect October 11, lays out information that it says could be used to threaten national security if received by foreign …
Read more “Parts of Russia’s Space Agency Off Limits in New Security Order “
A German woman received a 10-year prison sentence Monday for allowing a young Yazidi girl, who was being kept as a slave in Iraq by the woman and her husband, to die of thirst in the hot sun. German authorities said the 30-year-old convert to Islam, identified only as Jennifer W., was a member of …
Read more “German Court Sentences Islamic State Member to 10 Years in Prison”
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told British lawmakers Monday that the social media giant “unquestionably” amplifies online hate. In testimony to a parliamentary committee in London, the former Facebook employee echoed what she told U.S. senators earlier this month. Haugen said the media giant fuels online hate and extremism and does not have any incentive to …
Read more “Facebook Whistleblower Presses Case with British Lawmakers “
“Belfast”, a film drama by acclaimed actor and director Kenneth Branagh, chronicles the beginnings, in 1969, of the thirty-year political and sectarian violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. Penelope Poulou reports. …