Category: World

The Biden administration is privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia and drop their public refusal to engage in peace talks unless President Vladimir Putin is removed from power, The Washington Post reported Saturday. The paper quoted unnamed people familiar with the discussions as saying that the request by American …

Read more “US Privately Asks Ukraine to Show Russia It’s Open to Talks, Washington Post Reports”

Italy allowed a humanitarian rescue ship carrying 179 migrants to enter a Sicilian port and begin disembarking minors early Sunday, while refusing to respond to requests for safe harbor from three other ships carrying 900 more people in nearby waters. Italy’s new far-right-led government has closed its ports to rescue ships run by non-governmental groups …

Read more “German Rescue Ship Enters Sicilian Port, Disembarks Minors”

Crouching in his hidden lookout on the edge of a forest, a Ukrainian border guard scans the horizon to the border with Russia and Belarus just a few kilometers to the north. With the rain pouring down and the clouds low, there will be no Russian drones overflying his remote outpost in northern Ukraine, the …

Read more “‘Never Again’: Ukraine Bolsters Defenses Along Belarus-Russia Border”

Hundreds of environmental activists wearing white overalls stormed an area holding private jets at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and stopped aircraft from leaving for hours by sitting in front of their wheels Saturday. Military police moved in and were seen taking dozens of the protesters away in buses. More than 100 activists were arrested, national broadcaster …

Read more “Climate Activists Block Private Jets at Amsterdam Airport”

Two German-run migrant rescue ships carrying nearly 300 rescued people were waiting off the eastern coast of Sicily Saturday, one with permission to disembark its most vulnerable migrants while the other ship’s request for a safe port has gone unanswered despite “critical” conditions on board. The situation describes the chaos and uncertainty resulting from the …

Read more “1,100 Migrants in Limbo as Italy Shuts Ports to Rescue Ships”

Behind wire fences in southeast England, children wave their arms and chant “freedom” to grab the attention of people on the other side. A young girl throws a bottle with a message inside. “We need your help. Please help us,” the note reads. The children are among thousands of people being held in dangerously overcrowded …

Read more “Prison-Like Center Puts Focus on UK’s Response to Migrants”

John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, spoke with VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara on whether President Joe Biden is signaling his support for regime change in Iran, the latest on the Ukraine war, North Korean provocations ahead of Biden’s trip to Asia and whether the president will meet with …

Read more “White House Discusses Iran Protests, Ukraine War, North Korean Missiles, US-Saudi Ties”

As war chokes Europe, a small nation wedged beneath Russia is enjoying an unexpected economic boom. Georgia is on course to become one of the world’s fastest-growing economies this year following a dramatic influx of more than 100,000 Russians since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s mobilization drive to drum up war recruits. As …

Read more “From Russia With Cash: Georgia Booms as Russians Flee Putin’s War”

Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday acknowledged for the first time that his country has supplied Russia with drones, insisting the transfer came before Moscow’s war on Ukraine that has seen the Iranian-made drones divebombing Kyiv.  The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian come after months of confusing messaging from Iran about the weapons shipment, …

Read more “Iran Acknowledges Sending Drones to Russia for First Time”

Only dialogue and diplomacy can end the devastating war in Ukraine, with total victory on the battlefield impossible for either warring party, members of a group of prominent former world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela said Friday. The group, known as The Elders, delivered that message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, telling him on a …

Read more “Global Statesmen: Only Diplomacy Can End Ukraine War”

A fire in a cafe in the Russian city of Kostroma killed 15 people and injured five others Saturday, local authorities said. The blaze erupted in the early hours after someone apparently used a flare gun during a dispute, authorities said. Rescuers were able to evacuate 250 people. The governor of the Kostroma region, Sergei …

Read more “15 Killed in Russia Cafe Blaze After Flare Gun Discharged”

Russia’s “newly mobilized conscripts likely have minimal training or no training at all,” Britain’s defense ministry said Saturday in its intelligence update. The report said that “Russia is probably struggling to provide military training for its current mobilization drive and its annual autumn conscription intake. The Russian Armed Forces were already stretched providing training for …

Read more “Britain Says Russian Conscripts Receive Little to No Training”

Nineteen-year-old-year-old Mykyta wants to be a doctor, but not right now. Instead, he, like other young men and women in Ukraine, has volunteered to join the fight against invading Russian troops. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. VOA footage and video editing by  Paviel Syhodolskiy. …

Europe’s challenges in formulating a common approach to China were on display this week as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz set out on a high-profile visit to Beijing while lawmakers from seven European countries and the European Union were winding up a show of solidarity in Taiwan. The eight lawmakers — from Belgium, Britain, the Czech …

Read more “European Lawmakers Visit Taiwan, Taking Different Path from Scholz”

Two U.S. senators met with families in Ukraine’s capital Thursday and promised continued humanitarian support for the war-torn country as winter nears. Democrat Chris Coons and Republican Rob Portman emphasized their commitment to the people of Ukraine while visiting a distribution center in Kyiv and speaking to families bracing for a dark, cold season with …

Read more “US Senators in Ukraine Promise Continued Aid Ahead of Winter”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz is making his first visit to China as German leader this week, a diplomatically delicate trip while Germany and the European Union work on their strategy toward an increasingly assertive and authoritarian Beijing. Scholz’s messages will face close scrutiny. While his nearly year-old government has signaled a departure from predecessor Angela Merkel’s …

Read more “Germany’s Scholz Makes Difficult Visit to Assertive China”

A landmark deal to allow grain exports from Ukraine, which was back on track Wednesday after being briefly suspended, has played a crucial role in easing a global food crisis sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Brokered by the United Nations and Turkey and signed by Moscow and Kyiv on July 22, the agreement …

Read more “Explainer: Why the Black Sea Grain Deal Is Vital for Global Food Security”

Europe has warmed more than twice as much as the rest of the world over the past three decades and has experienced the greatest temperature increase of any continent, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization.  The report on the state of the climate in Europe follows a summer of extremes. A record-breaking …

Read more “Report: Europe Warms More Than Any Other Continent in Last 3 Decades “

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to meet with China’s Xi Jinping on Friday. Scholz heads a delegation of business executives as the first EU leader to visit China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The visit comes less than two weeks after China’s leader Xi Jinping secured an unprecedented third term. VOA’s Mandarin …

Read more “Businessman Sees ‘End of an Era’ After 30 Years in China”

[[A series of prisoner swaps between Ukraine and Russia — the latest of which came on October 17 — are bringing relief and joy to the families of the released. But human rights activists say that an unknown number of Ukrainians — including some who were captured at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol — …

Read more “Families of Captured Ukrainian Fighters Describe Ordeal of Not Knowing Their Fate”

Ahead of the COP27 climate talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh next week, there are concerns that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has reversed progress on tackling global warming, diverting the world’s attention from the climate emergency. However, there is also some optimism that the energy crisis is turning some countries away from fossil …

Read more “COP27: Will Ukraine War Destroy Progress on Tackling Climate Emergency?”

In Turkey, the right of women to wear religious headscarves has once again become the subject of political debate. With elections less than a year away, the leaders of the country’s main political parties are vowing to legally enshrine women’s rights to wear religious attire, an issue that for decades was the center of a …

Read more “Debate over Headscarves Returns to Turkish Politics Ahead of Polls”

An overwhelming majority of killings of journalists across the world go unpunished, a United Nations agency reported on Wednesday. “Impunity for killings of journalists remains unacceptably high at 86 percent,” said UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization whose brief includes media issues. UNESCO called for “all necessary measures to ensure that crimes committed against journalists …

Read more “Most Murders of Journalists Go Unpunished: UNESCO”

The Dutch government on Tuesday ordered China to immediately close “police stations” in the Netherlands, which reports say were used to harass dissidents. The police posts in Amsterdam and Rotterdam purported to offer diplomatic assistance but they had not been declared to the Netherlands government, Dutch media reported last month. The reports followed an investigation …

Read more “Netherlands Tells China to Close ‘Police Stations’”