Category: World

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet warns a proliferation of human rights violations around the world is eroding fundamental freedoms and heightening grievances that are destabilizing.Presenting a global update Friday to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Bachelet zipped through a long litany of global offenders. No region was spared. Few countries …

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U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet warns a proliferation of human rights violations around the world is eroding fundamental freedoms and heightening grievances that are destabilizing.Presenting a global update Friday to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Bachelet zipped through a long litany of global offenders. No region was spared. Few countries …

Read more “Global Proliferation of Human Rights Violations Eroding Fundamental Freedoms, Bachelet Says”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Friday took part in a European Union summit to discuss security and defense priorities for the alliance. Stoltenberg joined European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel at EU headquarters in Brussels where they addressed other EU leaders by videoconference. Ahead of the meeting, at …

Read more “EU, NATO Leaders Discuss Security Priorities for Europe”

The U.S. is expected to release a declassified intelligence report Friday that blames Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the 2018 grisly murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was a U.S. resident with U.S. citizen children.     Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul …

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On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the Russian invasion and seizure of Crimea, the United States and European Union have reaffirmed their positions that Crimea belongs to Ukraine.   “Russia’s invasion and seizure of Crimea” is “a brazen affront to the modern international order,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a …

Read more “On Eve of Russia Invasion, US, EU Reaffirm Crimea Belongs to Ukraine”

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been sent to a prison outside Moscow to serve his sentence, his lawyer said Thursday, a move that came despite a demand by Europe’s top human rights court for his release.Navalny lawyer Vadim Kobzev did not immediately name the prison where Navalny was sent. Russian news reports have previously …

Read more “Kremlin Critic Navalny Transferred to Prison Outside Moscow”

After two years of discreet silence about his detention without charges in China, Irish businessman Richard O’Halloran finally spoke up this month. His youngest child was only 5 years old when he traveled to Shanghai in February 2019 on what he expected to be a short business trip, O’Halloran said in an interview with FILE – …

Read more “China’s Detention of Irish Businessman Spotlights Global Issue”

French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Thursday that 20 French regions or departments, including Paris and surrounding areas, will be under “reinforced surveillance” for COVID-19 and could be placed under weekend lockdowns beginning March 6 if infection rates do not improve. In a televised news conference along with Health Minister Olivier Veran, Castex said “the health …

Read more “French Prime Minister: 20 Regions Under ‘Reinforced Surveillance’ for COVID-19”

Workers from Latin America are already among the lowest paid in Britain. Now, advocates say the pandemic has left nearly half of them without a job, creating what some are warning is a new migrant crisis in Europe.  For VOA, Joana Ramiro reports from London. …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is calling for a reset in U.S. – Turkish relations. Relations between the two NATO allies have been strained, particularly over Ankara’s deepening ties with Moscow and its purchase of a Russian missile system. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. Producer: Henry Hernandez  …

The World Health Organization said Thursday that one in 10 COVID-19 patients experience persistent ill health 12 weeks after having had the virus and urged health authorities to take their situation seriously. At a virtual news conference Thursday, WHO’s Europe division released a policy brief that documents how different countries in the region have responded …

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A Serbian court has sentenced a former mayor to four years in prison for ordering an arson attack on the home of an investigative journalist.In a trial that lasted nearly two years, a court Tuesday found Dragoljub Simonovic guilty of ordering the December 2018 attack on Milan Jovanovic, a reporter for the news website Zig …

Read more “Former Serbian Mayor Convicted in Arson Attack on Reporter”

German customs authorities Wednesday announced the largest seizure of cocaine in European history, more than 23 tons discovered in two raids this month at ports in Hamburg, Germany and Antwerp, Belgium.German customs official Rene Matchke told reporters the 28-year-old owner of a Dutch import company was arrested Wednesday in the Netherlands, where police say both …

Read more “Police in Germany, Belgium Seize Record 23 Tons of Cocaine”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law bills that impose fines for violating a controversial law on “foreign agents” as well as other legislation relating to protests, such as the financing of rallies and disobedience of law enforcement.   According to the laws, signed by Putin Feb. 24, releasing information about so-called “foreign agents” …

Read more “Putin Signs Laws Imposing Fines for ‘Foreign Agent’ Law Violations, Protest-Related Offenses”

The French government Wednesday said the COVID-19 situation is deteriorating in about 10 French regions, including the Paris-Ile-de-France area around the capital, and said it is considering additional restrictions to address the situation. At a news conference in Paris, government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters infection numbers and infection rates have started to climb over the …

Read more “France Weighs More COVID-19 Restrictions as Infections, Hospitalizations Rise”

Police stormed the party offices of Georgian opposition leader Nika Melia and detained him Tuesday, deepening a political crisis that prompted the prime minister to resign last week.   Melia’s supporters had barricaded themselves in the offices, using furniture to block the doors. Scores of police surged into the building during the early morning raid, …

Read more “Georgian Police Detain Opposition Leader as Political Crisis Deepens”

A German court has convicted a former member of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s secret police of accessory to crimes against humanity for facilitating the torture of prisoners.   The court in Koblenz sentenced Eyad Al-Gharib to 4 1/2 years in prison.   Prosecutors accused him of being part of a unit that arrested protesters and …

Read more “German Court Convicts Assad Official”

The European Union has imposed sanctions on four Russian officials following the jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. As Henry Ridgwell reports, supporters of Navalny want the EU to go much further — and sanction close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.Camera: Henry Ridgwell  …

Three men suspected of having supplied the bomb which killed Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 were arrested on Tuesday, police said. Their arrest came as a man accused of carrying out the killing agreed to a plea deal, accepting his responsibility for the assassination in return for a reduced, 15-year jail term instead …

Read more “Three Held on Suspicion of Supplying Bomb that Killed Malta Journalist”

The European Union has imposed sanctions on four Russian officials following the jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. As Henry Ridgwell reports, supporters of Navalny want the EU to go much further — and sanction close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.Camera: Henry Ridgwell  …

A European Union foreign ministers’ decision to impose fresh sanctions on Russia for jailing Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has frustrated Russian political activists, who say the proposed punitive action is feeble and warn it will have little impact on Moscow.The EU agreed Monday to impose what it described as “landmark sanctions” against several senior Russian security …

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Less than a week after a key summit gathering of France and its five regional military partners in the Sahel conflict, fresh casualties in Niger offered a reality check to the high-level discourse on achievements.  Killed in a landmine explosion Sunday were seven election officials — as Nigeriens voted for their next president — adding …

Read more “For France and Sahel Partners, Many Ideas Emerging But No Clear Strategy”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday he is very optimistic that all COVID-19 restrictions in England could end June 21.   Johnson made the comment as he toured a south London school to talk about his hope to open all schools by March 8, part of the “road map” to lifting restrictions and ending …

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Georgian police raided the main opposition party’s headquarters Tuesday and arrested opposition leader Nika Melia. Authorities accuse Melia, head of the United National Movement party, of organizing “mass violence” during anti-government protests in 2019. Melia says the charges are politically motivated. The U.S. Embassy in Georgia expressed concern about Melia’s detention, saying in a statement Tuesday that Georgia …

Read more “Georgian Authorities Arrest Opposition Leader Melia”