Month: February 2018

Britain has made clear its desire to be part of China’s so-called ‘One Belt One Road Initiative’ — a cornerstone of President Xi Jinping’s vision to boost Chinese investment and influence across Asia, Europe and Africa. There are, however, concerns over the financial and humanitarian costs of the vast infrastructure projects being undertaken. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the United States has issued a blunt warning over what it sees as the dangers of being tied to China’s huge investment projects. …

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A record-setting Russian spacewalk ended with a critical antenna in the wrong position Friday outside the International Space Station. NASA’s Mission Control reported that the antenna was still working. Nevertheless, Russian space officials were convening a special team to see whether further action would be necessary. The antenna is used for communications with Russia’s Mission Control outside Moscow. The trouble arose toward the end of the more than 8 hour spacewalk — the longest ever by Russians and the fifth longest overall — after Commander Alexander Misurkin and Anton Shkaplerov successfully replaced an electronics box to upgrade the antenna. Antenna …

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The Pentagon has released its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, adding nuclear capabilities and updating the United States’ current arsenal in order to deter nuclear attacks. “What we’re trying to do is ensure that our diplomats and our negotiators are in a position to be listened to when we say we want to go forward on nonproliferation and arms control,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters ahead of the review’s release Friday. “You have to do that when you’re in a position of persuasion, not of hoping.” U.S. President Donald Trump said he ordered Mattis to conduct the Nuclear Posture Review …

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Spain has extradited to the United States a Russian citizen who is suspected of being one of the world’s most notorious spammers. Pyotr Levashov, a 37-year-old from St. Petersburg, was arrested in April while vacationing with his family in Barcelona. U.S. authorities had asked for him to be detained on charges of fraud and unauthorized interception of electronic communications. He was scheduled to be arraigned late Friday in a federal courthouse in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where a grand jury indicted him last year. A statement from Spain’s National Police said officers handed Levashov over to U.S. marshals Friday. The extradition was …

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Britain has made clear its desire to be part of China’s so-called “One Belt One Road” initiative — a cornerstone of President Xi Jinping’s vision to boost Chinese investment and influence across Asia, Europe and Africa. But there are concerns about the financial and humanitarian costs of the vast infrastructure projects being undertaken. British Prime Minister Theresa May recently visited Beijing, leading a delegation of ministers and business leaders in an effort to boost trade after Britain’s European Union exit. The two countries signed deals worth $12.7 billion, and May hailed a “golden era” of Sino-British relations. Her ambassador to …

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“Put on a thick jacket,” the 18-year-old son of Albanian immigrants instructed the 12-year-old German-Iraqi boy over the Internet on how to carry out a Christmas market attack last year in the Rhineland town of Ludwigshafen. “Then go behind a hut and light and run,” he advised. Fortunately, the crude nail-bomb device failed to work and the 12-year-old was arrested by police in December trying for a second time to pull off an attack, this time outside Ludwigshafen’s city hall. The chilling mentoring by the 18-year-old from his home in neighboring Austria was detailed last month in court papers. And …

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The International Court of Justice has laid down definitive maritime boundaries between Costa Rica and Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean and a small land boundary in a remote, disputed wetland. As part of the complex ruling, the United Nations’ highest judicial organ ruled that a Nicaraguan military base on part of the disputed coastline close to the mouth of the San Juan River is on Costa Rican territory and must be removed. Ruling in two cases filed by Costa Rica, the 16-judge U.N. panel took into account the two countries’ coastlines and some islands in drawing what …

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Poland’s new bill banning any suggestion that the country was complicit in the Holocaust has drawn outrage from Israel and many other countries, as well as many people in Poland. Polish senators approved the draft law Feb. 1, just days after the world marked Holocaust Remembrance Day on the anniversary of the liberation of the notorious Auschwitz Nazi camp. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports opponents are calling on the Polish government to withdraw the bill. …

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The term “lone wolf” has become part of our common vocabulary, as the terror threat has evolved from large-scale attacks to individuals seemingly radicalized in relative isolation. But, a new report claims that the lone wolf typology is highly misleading and can even be counterproductive in the fight against terror. There have been dozens of attacks across the globe in recent years, carried out by individuals. They include: the March 2017 Islamist-inspired vehicle and knife attack on Westminster Bridge in London; three months later, a far-right supporter drove his van into worshippers outside a mosque in the same city; in …

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As fighting in Syria’s Afrin region nears the end of its second week, soldiers say the battle is moving slowly, with both sides heavily armed and civilian casualties occurring in and around the war zone. VOA’s Heather Murdock is with Turkish and Syrian opposition forces in Soran, in northern Syria. …

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Turkey’s judiciary is facing growing international condemnation for the ongoing imprisonment of the local head of Amnesty International. Thursday, an Istanbul court reversed an earlier decision to release Taner Kilic from pre-trial detention, ruling he should remain in jail for the duration of his case.  In a rare move, the prosecutor had turned to a second court to overturn Wednesday’s release order. The dramatic succession of events has provoked international condemnation.  “A disgrace and an outrageous travesty of justice,” Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty declared in a statement.  In a similar vein, Rebecca Harms, a member of the European …

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