Category: World

A kidnapped Italian aid worker who had been held in an al-Shabab-controlled area of Somalia has been freed. Silvia Romano arrived in Rome on Sunday after being freed outside Mogadishu on Saturday. She spent overnight in a safe location in Mogadishu before being flown home. Security officials told VOA Somali that Romano was recovered from a forest near the town of Afgoye, 30 …

Read more “Kidnapped Italian Aid Worker Held in Somalia Returns Home “

U.N. agencies are warning migrants and refugees crossing the central Mediterranean Sea risk losing their lives if European nations continue to prevent search and rescue vessels from saving those in distress. The U.N. human rights office expresses alarm at recent reports of rescue boats failing to assist migrants in trouble on the central Mediterranean Sea, considered …

Read more “Migrant Lives at Risk as Rescues on Mediterranean Sea Come to Halt “

The Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), a white supremacist group based in St. Petersburg, is increasingly expanding its outreach beyond Russia through the establishment of transnational networks with like-minded neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups, experts on the group warn.RIM adheres to an ultranationalist ideology and aims to bring Russia’s tsarist rule back. The group is known …

Read more “Radical Russian Imperial Movement Expanding Global Outreach”

The Serbian government Saturday protested to the European Union after one of the bloc’s educational websites described inventor and electricity trailblazer Nikola Tesla as a “famous Croatian.”Tesla was an ethnic Serb born under the former Austrian Empire in what is now Croatia.He spent most of his life in Western Europe and the United States, but …

Read more “Serbia Protests EU Site’s Reference to Inventor Tesla as Croatian”

Russia on Saturday marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, a day after its erstwhile Western allies in the fight against Nazi Germany.It was the continuation of a tradition dating to the era of Communist dictator Joseph Stalin, who dismissed the Nazi surrender to the Western allies signed …

Read more “Which Country Was Instrumental in Winning World War II?”

The European Union said Friday that its envoy to China made a mistake by allowing the country’s foreign ministry to censor an opinion piece by EU ambassadors without first informing headquarters or member states, amid concern that the bloc might be bowing to political pressure from Beijing. The op-ed by the EU’s 27 ambassadors was …

Read more “EU Says Its Envoy Erred After China Demanded Cuts to Op-Ed”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will keep Britain under a coronavirus lockdown until at least next month — to the frustration of some in his Cabinet, who behind the scenes are arguing that Downing Street now needs to prioritize the economy, which is heading for its worst recession in 300 years.Cabinet ministers and some senior Conservatives …

Read more “British PM Delays Lifting Coronavirus Restrictions”

France will slowly begin unwinding a two-month lockdown next week, but not for its restaurants. A new poll finds the coronavirus pandemic may put nearly one-third of French restaurants out of business – a tragic development if it happens for France, known worldwide for its fine cuisine. From the Paris suburb of Rueil-Malmaison, Lisa Bryant …

Read more “French Restaurants Cook Up Pro-Bono Response to COVID-19”

In Serbia, hundreds of people took to the streets of the capital, Belgrade, late Thursday to demonstrate against the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic.Protesters from the “Citizens’ Resistance” movement accuse Vucic of curbing democratic freedoms.”We are here because we are angry at our government, because of everything they did to us during the past two months, …

Read more “Hundreds Protest in Belgrade Against President’s Grip on Power”

Croatia’s defense minister has resigned after an air force training plane crashed shortly after takeoff from a military airbase in the southwest of the country.Both crew members were killed in Thursday’s crash. A similar accident three months ago, when a helicopter crashed, also killed two pilots.Damir Krsticevic announced his resignation, saying “we have to be …

Read more “Croatia Defense Minister Resigns Over Military Plane Crash”

For the first time since achieving independence in 1991, Ukraine has ranked among the top 100 countries in the world for press freedom, according to Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.But observers and journalists on the ground in Kyiv paint a more nuanced picture of the former Soviet state’s media landscape.Although Ukraine climbed six spots in RSF’s …

Read more “Ukraine Media Leaders Sound Alarm on Oligarchical Control at Virtual VOA Town Hall”

France’s leader on Thursday called for closer cooperation with Russia as the world struggles against the coronavirus, recalling the joint Allied effort to defeat Nazi Germany that ended 75 years ago.In a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Emmanuel Macron expressed “the recognition of the French people” as both countries prepare to celebrate the …

Read more “Macron to Putin: Virus Crisis Shows Need for Peace-Building”

Municipalities and hospitals in northern Italy are bracing for a slew of lawsuits from families of coronavirus victims demanding compensation for alleged treatment errors, negligence and misinformation. Businesses disrupted by coronavirus lockdowns imposed by national and local governments are also mulling filing legal claims for alleged failures to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. Hundreds of relatives of coronavirus …

Read more “Italians Demand Compensation for Coronavirus Deaths “

Belarusian authorities have stripped two Russian journalists of accreditation after their reports about the growing coronavirus outbreak in the country.   The Foreign Ministry in Minsk did not give a reason for the move against journalist Aleksei Kruchinin and cameraman Sergei Panasyuk, who work for Russia’s Channel One television company.   But a Belarusian state …

Read more “Belarus Strips 2 Russian Reporters of Accreditation Amid COVID Pandemic”

Scotland’s First Minister says she believes the country needs to extend its COVID 19-related lockdown, despite British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s desire to lift restrictions next week.In her regular briefing Thursday in Edinburgh, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her government’s assessment of the evidence leads her to conclude the lockdown there must be extended.Her decision …

Read more “Scotland’s First Minister: Too Soon to Lift Restrictions”

Moscow is now in its second month of quarantine as the confirmed number of coronavirus infections in the capital – and across Russia – continues to rise.  The government faces criticism over the effectiveness of the country’s health system. The added uncertainty over how the battered Russian economy will recover from the lockdown is another …

Read more “In Russia, Unclear Recovery Strategy Among COVID Uncertainties”

French student Marion Nivard starting writing last year to a World War II veteran in Britain, thanking him for taking part in the Normandy invasion that freed her country from the Nazis. As VE Day approached, Nivard and her classmates in the Normandy region thought of 94-year-old Bill Ridgewell and other vets living in isolation because …

Read more “French Teens, Normandy Vets Swap Stories of Life in Lockdown “

As its coronavirus death rate ebbs, Spain is at last easing one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. But analysts fear its political polarization will hamper its ability climb back from what is expected to be the deepest economic recession since the 1936-39 civil war.Unlike some other European countries, where parties have made visible efforts to …

Read more “COVID Struggle Exposes Spain’s Deep Divisions”

Germany’s recent decision to ban the political activities of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has sparked a debate among experts, with some believing the move was necessary while others arguing it would have little impact on Hezbollah’s terrorist activities.German authorities last week declared the Iranian-backed group a “Shiite terrorist organization,” outlawing its activity on German …

Read more “Experts Split on Impact of Germany’s Hezbollah Ban”

Russia has announced plans for a gradual easing of coronavirus restrictions after the so-called non-working period ends Monday.Officials announced the decision after discussions with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, despite a stream of more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases a day in recent days. Russia now reports the world’s seventh-highest number of infections, about 166,000 …

Read more “Russia to Ease Shutdown Amid Steady Growth of COVID-19 Cases”

In the battle against COVID-19, Russia – like other nations – adopted new measures to reduce and control the movement of citizens. The measures, unimaginable just a few months ago, pose a challenge for those who defend individual liberties. In a report narrated by Jon Spier, Ricardo Marquina in Moscow looks at how some fear …

Read more “In Russia, Critics say Return to Totalitarianism is an Easy Step”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Wednesday the German soccer league Bundesliga can resume playing later this month, ending a two-month pause prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.Merkel made the announcement as one of a range of containment measures being relaxed, following a meeting with the country’s 16 state governors Wednesday. Pressure to relax the rules had …

Read more “Merkel Announces Germany’s Soccer League Restart”

Soccer players in Spain returned to their team’s training camps Wednesday for the first time since the country entered a lockdown nearly two months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.Players for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and other clubs started preparing for the return to training this week. They were all expected to be tested …

Read more “Spanish Soccer Players Return to Training Camps, Get Tested”

From the marbled halls of Italy to the wheat fields of Kansas, health authorities are increasingly warning that the question isn’t whether a second wave of coronavirus infections and deaths will hit, but when — and how badly.   As more countries and U.S. states chaotically reopen for business — including some where infection rates …

Read more “The Second Virus Wave: How Bad Will It Be As Lockdowns Ease?”