Category: World

For over a month, protesters in Belarus have demanded an end to the quarter century rule of longtime authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.  That follows what demonstrators say was a rigged presidential election and police crackdown aimed at keeping Lukashenko in power. And, as Charles Maynes reports, among those increasingly in police crosshairs are the 1.6 …

Read more “Belarus Government Targets Catholic Protesters as Struggle for Power Continues”

Leaked documents allege that some of the world’s biggest banks have allowed $2 trillion  worth of suspicious or fraudulent activity to take place – including money laundering for criminal gangs and terrorists. The so-called “FinCEN files” consist of more than two thousand Suspicious Activity Reports or SARs sent by banks to the U.S. Treasury, alerting …

Read more “Dirty Money, Criminal Cash: Bank Leaks Reveal Vast Scale of Global Fraud”

A spokesman for European Council President Charles Michel says a summit of European Union leaders scheduled for Thursday and Friday has been postponed, after Michel was forced to go into COVID-19 quarantine following contact with an infected security guard.  EU council spokesman Barend Leyts tweeted that Michel learned on Tuesday that a security officer, with …

Read more “EU Summit Postponed After Council President Quarantined”

Italy’s fragile coalition government breathed a collective sigh of relief Tuesday after voters denied the country’s populist leader Matteo Salvini the major electoral breakthrough he was seeking in hotly contested regional elections.  The center-left Democratic Party, PD, managed a comfortable victory in Tuscany, a region the left has ruled without interruption since regional governments were …

Read more “Italy’s Coalition Government Fends off Salvini”

The U.S. Justice Department and European law enforcement agency Europol Tuesday announced that 179 people were arrested following a nine-month operation aimed at disrupting opioid trafficking on the dark web. Most of the arrests took place in the United States, while others were apprehended in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Austria and Sweden, according to a …

Read more “US, Europol: Operation Disrupted Dark Web Opioid Trafficking “

Turkey is in the midst of a major naval construction program, seeking to restore regional maritime influence lost since the collapse of the Ottoman empire, and the project is already generating regional tensions.”Turkey will get back its fair share in the Mediterranean, Aegean and the Black Sea,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared last month. …

Read more “ Turkey Embarks on Naval Buildup, Stoking Tensions”

For the first time in its 75-year history, leaders of the United Nations’ 193 member states will deliver their annual speeches on the opening day of the world body’s General Assembly on videotape instead of in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Tuesday’s session will commence with a pre-taped message from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in …

Read more “United Nations General Assembly Opens Historic Session Tuesday”

The United Nations marked the 75th anniversary of its founding on Monday, amid a global pandemic and other serious challenges that the U.N. secretary-general said highlight the urgency for stronger international cooperation. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer has more.Produced by: Jesusemen Oni    …

Britain’s health minister went before parliament Monday to discuss the government’s response to a surge in positive COVID-19 cases in the nation.Matt Hancock acknowledged what the government’s top medical and science advisers had said earlier in the day – that COVID-19 has been surging across age groups throughout much of Britain.Among the steps the government …

Read more “British Health Minister Lays Out COVID-19 Response as Cases Surge”

Turkey is embarking on a major naval construction program to restore the regional maritime influence it lost after the Ottoman empire’s collapse. But the policy is already generating regional tensions – in particular – with its neighbor, Greece. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. Camera: Berke Bas    Producer: Jon Spier …

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny demanded Monday that Russia return the clothes he was wearing when he fell ill last month, saying the items are important evidence in the investigation of his poisoning.Navalny became sick while flying to Moscow on Aug. 20 and was taken to a hospital in Omsk. He wrote in his blog …

Read more “Navalny Demands Russia Return Clothes for Poisoning Investigation”

Foreign ministers of European Union member countries met with Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Brussels Monday, as they are discussing imposing sanctions on several Belarus officials, possibly including President Alexander Lukashenko. Tikhanovskaya urged the EU to “be more brave” in taking action to support the opposition’s battle against Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime.   Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya …

Read more “EU Foreign Ministers Meet Belarus Opposition Leader  “

Several global banks moved large sums of allegedly illicit funds over a period of nearly two decades, despite red flags about the origins of the money, BuzzFeed and other media reported Sunday, citing confidential documents submitted by banks to the U.S. government.The media reports were based on leaked suspicious activity reports (SARs), filed by banks …

Read more “Reports: ‘FinCEN’ Documents Show Banks Moved Suspect Funds”

A fire broke out Sunday evening in the reception and identification center for asylum-seekers on the Greek island of Samos but is now “under control,” according to police and firefighter sources.”The fire is under control but two or three containers were destroyed without causing any injuries,” a police source said. Refugees stay in containers.  According …

Read more “Greece: Fire in Migrant Camp on Samos Island ‘Under Control’”

For Rahaf al Mohammed, the Moria refugee center was a living hell, but now, after militant arsonists last week razed what has been frequently described as the worst in Europe, she refuses relocation to a new, fenced encampment 10 kilometers south.“Not good,” the 29-year-old Syrian mother said, “It is like [a] prison. Terrible prison.”“We went …

Read more “Greece Scrambles to Rehouse Homeless Migrants, Refugees on Lesbos “

Syrian opposition sources said Russian jets bombed rebel-held northwestern Syria on Sunday in the most extensive strikes since a Turkish-Russian deal halted major fighting with a cease-fire nearly six months ago.   Witnesses said the warplanes struck the western outskirts of Idlib city and that there was heavy artillery shelling in the mountainous Jabal al-Zawya region in …

Read more “Russian Jets Strike Syrian Rebel-Held Bastion in Heaviest Strikes Since Cease-fire “

Facebook has told Ireland’s High Court it cannot see how its services could operate in the European Union if regulators freeze its data transfer mechanism, the Sunday Business Post reported, citing court documents seen by the paper.The U.S. social media giant last week said that the Irish Data Protection Commission, its lead EU regulator, had …

Read more “Newspaper: Facebook Tells Irish Court That Probe Threatens Its EU Operations”

The United Nations says an operation to shelter thousands of migrants and refugees made homeless by fires that devastated the Moria center on the Greek island of Lesbos is proceeding smoothly despite fears of violent disruptions.  More than 12,000 asylum seekers who fled fires that destroyed the Moria reception center nearly two weeks ago have …

Read more “UN: Rehousing of Moria Fire Victims on Lesbos Island Proceeding Smoothly”

With precision and boundless energy, a team of carpenters used medieval techniques to raise up — by hand — a 3-ton oak truss Saturday in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, a replica of the wooden structures that were consumed in the landmark’s devastating April 2019 fire that also toppled its spire.The demonstration to mark European …

Read more “Carpenters Wow Public with Medieval Techniques at Notre Dame”

A late draft to the Tour de France, Neilson Powless didn’t have time to scramble together a turtle necklace, the spirit animal of his Native American tribe, or paint one of their wampum bead belts on the frame of the bike that he’s ridden for three punishing weeks, over 3,300 kilometers of roads.But although unable …

Read more “First Native American Racer Blazes Trail at Tour de France”

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he is recovering his verbal and physical abilities at the German hospital where he is being treated for suspected nerve agent poisoning but that he at first felt despair over his condition.Navalny, the most visible opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell ill on a domestic flight to Moscow …

Read more “Russia’s Navalny Says He’s Now More Than ‘Technically Alive’”

Police in London clashed with protesters Saturday at a rally against coronavirus restrictions, even as the mayor warned that it was “increasingly likely” that the British capital would soon need to introduce tighter rules to curb a sharp rise in infections.Scuffles broke out as police moved in to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in …

Read more “Police, Protesters Clash as London Eyes Tighter Virus Rules”

U.N. officials say a cease-fire that took effect in July in eastern Ukraine appears to be holding and has resulted in a significant drop in civilian casualties.The cease-fire between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatists is giving rise to hope that the period of relative calm, the longest since the conflict began in April 2014, …

Read more “Civilian Casualties Drop in Eastern Ukraine as Cease-fire Holds”

Belarusian police detained hundreds of protesters in central Minsk on Saturday, a witness said, as around 2,000 people marched through the city demanding that President Alexander Lukashenko step down.   Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, has been rocked by mass street protests since Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in an Aug. …

Read more “Belarus Police Detain Hundreds of Protesters in Minsk”