Baghdad — A Turkish opposition party delegation arrived in Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region Sunday against the backdrop of peace efforts between Ankara and a banned Kurdish separatist movement in Turkey. The delegation led by Sirri Sureyya Onder and Pervin Buldan, two senior officials with the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, in Turkey, met …

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Top U.S. officials headed Sunday to Saudi Arabia for talks with Russian diplomats in the coming days on ending Moscow’s three-year war on Ukraine, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed prospects for an immediate breakthrough. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed during an hour-long call last week to the immediate …

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London — Stars including Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Ariana Grande, Lupita Nyong’o, Timothee Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan walked the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall for the awards, known as BAFTAs. The prizes are closely watched for clues about who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards on March 3, in an unusually hard-to-call awards season. …

Read more “‘Conclave’ leads the pack, ‘Emilia Perez’ faces test at Britain’s BAFTA film awards”

London — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told a mother who has been on hunger strike for 140 days that he will press the Egyptian government to release her son.  In a statement Sunday, Starmer confirmed that he met Laila Soueif and said he will do “all that I can” to secure the release of …

Read more “UK’s Starmer to press Egypt for release of hunger-striking mum’s son”

Rome — Pope Francis had breakfast, read the newspapers and followed Mass on television Sunday after a second night sleeping well at the hospital where the 88-year-old pontiff is being treated for a respiratory tract infection, the Vatican said.   Francis’ condition was stable, as he continues his unspecified drug therapy, alternating in the afternoon between reading …

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KYIV — Russian troops have sharply stepped up their attacks in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv’s military said on Sunday, as a NATO official predicted Moscow would increase the pace and intensity of its assaults with talks to end the war approaching. The main attacks were concentrated near the imperiled logistics hub of Pokrovsk, Kyiv said, with U.S. …

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VIENNA — Austrian authorities said the man accused of stabbing six passersby in broad daylight, killing a 14-year-old boy and wounding five others, was motivated by “Islamic terrorism.”  The suspect, a 23-year-old Syrian man, was arrested after the attack in the southern city of Villach on Saturday.  Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said Sunday he felt “anger …

Read more “Austrian official says suspect in fatal stabbing attack had ‘Islamic terror motive’ “

LONDON — When Malcolm Weale saw the tiny, dirt-covered object he’d unearthed in an English field, he knew it was something special.  In his hand was a silver penny minted during the reign of Guthrum, a Viking commander who converted to Christianity and ruled eastern England in the ninth century as Athelstan II.  For Weale, finding …

Read more “With metal detectors, treasure hunters unearth pieces of British history”

MOSCOW — A year after Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny died behind bars, his supporters were set to hold memorial events on Sunday, with some risking reprisals by visiting his grave in Moscow. Remembrance events will take place as Russia’s opposition movement — driven into exile by unprecedented repression — has been plagued by infighting and …

Read more “Navalny supporters risk reprisals with memorial events a year after death”

MUNICH — Europe won’t have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks, Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy said on Saturday, after Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.  Trump shocked European allies this week by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting them or …

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ROME — An Italian nun is taking over a top management job in the Vatican: Sister Raffaella Petrini was named Saturday as president of the Vatican City State, making her essentially the governor of the 44-hectare (108-acre) territory in Rome that is home to the Catholic Church.  Petrini, 56, had previously been the secretary general of …

Read more “Nun takes top Vatican job running city state administration”

MUNICH/WASHINGTON — U.S. and Russian officials will meet in Saudi Arabia in coming days to start talks aimed at ending Moscow’s nearly three-year war in Ukraine, a U.S. lawmaker and a source familiar with the planning said on Saturday.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Germany on Friday, said …

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VIENNA — A 23-year-old man stabbed five passersby in southern Austria on Saturday in what police said was a random attack that left a 14-year-old dead, and four others injured.  The suspect was detained in the city of Villach, where the attack took place, police said. He is a Syrian national with legal residence in Austria, …

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WASHINGTON — James Carafano, senior counselor to the president and national security expert at The Heritage Foundation, responsible for its defense and foreign policy team, spoke with VOA’s Ukraine Service about the Trump administration’s goals and considerations in the negotiation process to achieve peace in Ukraine. He explained that while not a vital interest, a free …

Read more “Carafano: ‘A free, independent Ukraine is in America’s best interest’”

MOSCOW — A Moscow court has ordered a U.S. citizen suspected of drug smuggling held in pre-trial detention for 30 days, the Moscow courts press service said Saturday, days after a Moscow-Washington prisoner swap that the White House called a diplomatic thaw and a step toward ending the fighting in Ukraine.  The U.S. citizen, whom Saturday’s …

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MUNICH — G7 foreign ministers agreed Saturday to continuing working together to get a strong peace deal for Ukraine with robust security guarantees and linked future sanctions on Russia to good-faith negotiations by Moscow. “Any new, additional sanctions after February should be linked to whether the Russian Federation enters into real, good-faith efforts to bring an …

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ROME — Pope Francis slept well during a quiet first night in the hospital after being admitted with a respiratory tract infection and was up eating and reading Saturday, the Vatican said. Francis, 88, ate breakfast Saturday morning and read the newspapers while continuing his drug therapy, spokesperson Matteo Bruni said. The Argentine pope was admitted …

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KRAGUJEVAC, SERBIA — Serbia’s striking students and supporters of populist President Aleksandar Vucic were holding parallel rallies Saturday as both marked the country’s Statehood Day with notably contrasting messages. The student-led protest is the latest in a nationwide anti-graft movement that reflects mounting calls for fundamental political changes in the Balkan state, triggered after a concrete …

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attention-grabbing overseas debut may have irritated some key Republicans and alienated allies in Europe, where his statements on Ukraine and NATO went down like a lead balloon. But his forceful comments gained him a nod from one key listener: U.S. President Donald Trump. And Hegseth — who on Saturday …

Read more “US defense secretary’s Europe debut irks allies, wins Trump’s nod”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the creation of a unified European military force, saying the continent must be self-reliant amid a persistent threat from Russia and uncertainty about U.S. support — a situation he described as “this new reality.” “We must build the Armed Forces of Europe so that Europe’s future depends only on …

Read more “Zelenskyy calls for creation of ‘Armed Forces of Europe’”