worldwide news
Russian immigrants in many countries hit the streets Sunday, protesting on the three-year anniversary of the imprisonment of Russia’s best-known opposition leader, Alexey Navalny. Richard Green narrates VOA’s report from Los Angeles. …
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Jerusalem — Israel’s cabinet approved a plan for frozen tax funds earmarked for the Hamas-run Gaza Strip to be held by Norway instead of transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA), officials said Sunday. Under interim peace accords reached in the 1990s, Israel’s finance ministry collects tax on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to …
Read more “Israel OKs Plan for Norway to Hold Gaza Tax Funds”
Russia says at least two dozen people are dead after a neighborhood of a Russia-annexed city came under shelling by Ukrainian forces. In a separate attack, a Russian chemical transport terminal also came under fire. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the story. …
Washington — A thwarted Iranian plot to assassinate two journalists working for a Persian TV network in London has renewed focus on the ways hostile governments try to target critics outside their jurisdiction. Details of the plot, uncovered by the British news outlet ITV News late last year, included a plan to kill the journalists Sima …
Read more “Analysts: Assassination Plot Shows Extremes Iran Employs to Target Critics”
London — Britain and Ireland braced Sunday for powerful wind and rain from Storm Isha that were expected to batter a wide swath of the island nations and disrupt travel. The Met Office issued an unusual blanket wind warning for all the U.K., saying gusts could reach 90 miles per hour (145 kilometers per hour) in …
Read more “Storm Isha’s Rain, Wind Expected to Batter UK, Ireland “
AL-ARISH, Egypt — About 1,000 people from Gaza have been treated in a French field hospital aboard a ship off the coast of Egypt, its captain said, providing care for some as health infrastructure in the war-devastated enclave collapses. The Dixmude, a French helicopter carrier, has been docked in the Egyptian port of al-Arish, 50 kilometers …
Read more “French Warship Treats Around 1,000 Injured Gazans Off Egyptian Shore “
Munich, Germany — Tens of thousands gathered across Germany again on Sunday to protest the far-right AfD, after it emerged that party members discussed mass deportation plans at a meeting of extremists. The influx of demonstrators was so large in Munich that organizers were forced to cancel a planned march and ask people to disperse for …
Read more “Tens of Thousands Stage Protests Against Far Right in Germany “
Zimbabwe is attempting to boost its agricultural sector with support from controversial partner Belarus, which is under sanctions for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visited Zimbabwe this week on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, Zimbabwe. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe. …
Site of the biggest nuclear accident in history, Chernobyl has become over the years one of the biggest tourist attractions in Ukraine. Despite still harboring high radiation levels, Chernobyl was one of Russia’s first military targets in its invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago. The Russians took control of the plant, the villas, and …
Read more “Ukrainians Say They Fear Russians Might Attack Chernobyl Once Again”
The United States says Russia is violating the New START Treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the two countries. In August, Russia suspended inspections of its nuclear facilities as required by the treaty. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. Contributed to by Harry Knyagnitsky. …
Freddy Versluys does not like to be called an arms dealer. But he does have a big warehouse full of second-hand tanks for sale. Standing next to dozens of German-made Leopard 1 tanks and other military vehicles in the chilly warehouse in eastern Belgium, Versluys stressed he is the CEO of two defense companies with …
Read more “Belgian Arms Trader, Defense Minister Tangle Over Tanks for Ukraine”
Ukrainian authorities raided an influential billionaire’s home on Wednesday in what an ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy touted as a sweeping wartime clampdown on corruption that would change the country. Separate raids were carried out at the Tax Office and on the home of an influential former interior minister, two days before Kyiv hosts a …
Read more “Ukraine Raids Tycoon’s Home, Tax Office in Wartime Clampdown”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed Wednesday that Turkey won’t allow Sweden to join the NATO military alliance as long as the Scandinavian country permits protests desecrating Islam’s holy book to take place. Turkey, which has been holding off approving Sweden and Finland’s membership in the Western military alliance, has been infuriated by a series …
Read more “Erdogan: Sweden Can’t Join NATO if Quran-Burning Is Allowed”
The past year saw little progress in tackling global corruption due to greater violence and insecurity, according to the organization Transparency International’s “Corruption Perceptions Index 2022.” However, there are some encouraging signs that corruption is being successfully tackled in parts of Africa. “Most of the world continues to fail to fight corruption: 95 percent of …
Read more “Global Corruption Worsens, but Africa Makes Progress”
The past year saw little progress in tackling global corruption due to greater violence and insecurity, according to the organization Transparency International. Their annual index measures citizens’ perceptions of the level of corruption. As Henry Ridgwell reports, there are some encouraging signs that corruption is being successfully tackled in Africa. Videographer: Henry Ridgwell …
A court in Moscow on Wednesday sentenced a Russian journalist in absentia to eight years in prison on charges of disparaging the military, the latest move in the authorities’ relentless crackdown on dissent. Alexander Nevzorov, a television journalist and former lawmaker, was convicted on charges of spreading false information about the military under a law …
Read more “Russian Journalist Sentenced for Speaking Out on Ukraine “
Russia said Wednesday that supplies of long-range weapons to Ukraine would not deter Russian forces, but would increase tensions and escalate the conflict. The comments from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov came amid reports the United States is preparing a new round of aid that would include longer-range rockets to help Ukrainian forces fight off a …
Read more “Russia Says Longer-Range Western Weapons Would Escalate Ukraine Conflict”
Until last year, many countries in Western Europe had long-standing policies against sending weapons into war zones. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine quickly changed all that. Those countries — most notably Germany, Sweden, and Norway — changed course, eventually donating several rounds of arms to help Ukraine fight a battle they see as decisive for Europe’s …
Thousands of schools in the U.K. closed some or all of their classrooms, train services were paralyzed and delays were expected at airports on the biggest day of industrial action Britain has seen in more than a decade, as unions stepped up pressure on the government Wednesday to provide better pay amid a cost-of-living crisis. …
Read more “Day of Disruption in UK as up to Half a Million Join Walkout”
Hungary slid to bottom place among EU nations in a corruption index, with graft watchdog Transparency International on Tuesday alleging misuse by “political elites” of state and bloc funds. Hungary has been embroiled in a long-running spat with Brussels over corruption and rule of law concerns that have led to the freezing of billions of …
Read more “Hungary Most Corrupt EU Member in 2022: Watchdog”
Anti-corruption efforts in seemingly “clean” advanced economies have stalled even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought to the fore that nation’s role in fostering kleptocracy in recent decades, Transparency International said in a report on Tuesday. While painting a grim picture of the global fight against corruption, the Berlin-based watchdog put the spotlight on …
Read more “Report: Advanced Economies Complicit in Transnational Corruption”
The U.S. accused Russia on Tuesday of violating the nuclear arms control START treaty, contending that Moscow was refusing to allow inspection activities inside Russia. The treaty, the last major pillar of post-Cold War nuclear arms control efforts, took effect in 2011 and was extended in 2021 for five more years. It sets a limit …
Read more “US Contends Russia Violating Nuclear Arms Treaty”
Striking workers disrupted French refinery deliveries, public transport and schools on Tuesday in a second day of nationwide protests over President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to make people work longer before retirement. Huge crowds marched through cities across France to denounce a reform that raises the retirement age by two years to 64 and poses a …
Read more “France Hit by New Wave of Strikes Against Macron’s Pension Reform”