Month: October 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden is used to scrutiny over how he reconciles his strong Roman Catholic faith — particularly around issues of gender, sexuality and reproduction — with his duty to lead an explicitly secular government.  On Friday, he will face those questions anew in a meeting at the Vatican with Pope Francis, the Catholic leader who once guided the Biden family through personal grief and who perches permanently behind the president’s shoulder in a framed photo that overlooks the Oval Office.  The two have met three times and exchanged letters, administration officials said, and Biden met with both of …

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A new British research ship, named for British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, has arrived in London to call attention to climate change ahead of next week’s Glasgow climate summit. The 129-meter RSS Sir David Attenborough has completed sea trials and is ready for service. It sailed up the Thames River on Wednesday to be part of a three-day public celebration hosted by the British Antarctic Survey to raise awareness of the importance and relevance of polar science and why it matters to everyday life. In a launch event on the ship Thursday, Attenborough, known for his documentaries on nature and …

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Russia is warning Turkey over arms sales to Ukraine after a Turkish-made drone attacked Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine. A Kremlin spokesman has warned that Turkey’s ongoing arms sales to Ukraine threaten to destabilize the region. The warning follows Kyiv’s release of the video Tuesday showing a Turkish-made drone used for the first time against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Independent defense analyst Arda Mevlutoglu said Kyiv sees the Turkish drones as a potential game changer in its fight against separatists, which it has been battling since 2014. “A single armed drone equipped with a couple of bombs may destroy a …

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U.S. climate envoy John Kerry spoke in London Thursday ahead of next week’s climate summit in Glasgow, saying that addressing the climate crisis is the only choice, and the cost of not doing so is far greater than the cost of taking action. Kerry said the effects of climate change are being felt now. He said, “The planet is already at its hottest and least stable point in 125,000 years and people are dying because of that.” He said some of the impact is already irreversible. “Is all the world fully aligned with what science says we must do to …

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British sailors will begin training aboard Canadian icebreakers in a new agreement that reflects the United Kingdom’s heightened interest in developing a more robust Arctic military capability.  Britain is just the latest nation to focus fresh attention on the far north as climate change opens the region to new opportunities for navigation and resource exploitation. Countries as diverse and distant as China, Turkey and India are also eyeing the region. The U.K.-Canada agreement, signed earlier this month, calls for British sailors to train aboard Canada’s fleet of 20 Coast Guard icebreakers as they crunch their way through the Arctic ice sheets, clearing the way for other vessels to …

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Here’s a look at what U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats have been doing this week:    Sudan  The United States called on Sudanese military forces to release all civilian leaders in detention, amid growing international condemnation of the military takeover. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the U.S. support for a civilian-led transition to democracy while speaking to Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok after his release from military custody.  Sudanese Security Forces Arrest 3 Leading Pro-Democracy Activists  Iran  The United States said it is prepared to return to Vienna for talks aimed at restoring …

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Iran said Wednesday it would resume talks with world powers about its nuclear development program by the end of November.  The U.S. State Department is aware of the reports but did not have “any further details,” a spokesman said, about new negotiations from the other parties to the 2015 international pact aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear arms development, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.  “As we have said many times, we are prepared to return to Vienna, and we believe that it remains possible to quickly reach and implement an understanding on return to mutual full …

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Eyes in Beijing and Moscow are trained on Central Asia, prompted by the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The security threat in Afghanistan and the desire to shut off Central Asia from other powers, such as the U.S., is motivating Beijing and Moscow to cooperate and gloss over their differences, according to Emil Avdaliani, director of Middle East Studies at Georgian think tank Geocase. “They purposefully avoid forming an alliance as that — as Moscow and Beijing argue — would constrain their foreign policies rather than create better conditions for coordination,” Avdaliani told VOA. While China is the economic power in …

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Leaders of Germany’s newly-installed Bundestag – the lower house parliament – said Wednesday they will not extend the “epidemic situation of national scope” when it expires next month, though certain public health measures will remain to prevent the spread of COVID-19.   The declaration of the health emergency allows the federal and state governments to order key coronavirus prevention measures without the approval of parliament. It was first established by the Bundestag in March 2020 and has been repeatedly extended.   But speaking to reporters in Berlin, leaders of the Social Democrat Party (SPD) – winners of last month’s parliamentary …

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In an effort to stop a 4th wave of COVID, Russian authorities have decided to halt commercial activity and social gatherings. Russia’s national inoculation strategy is falling short: only 33% of the population is fully vaccinated.  Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from the VOA Moscow bureau. …

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