Month: November 2021

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is joining French President Emmanuel Macron at a ceremony Thursday in Paris to commemorate Armistice Day.  The ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe marks the 1918 agreement between Allied powers and Germany to end their fighting in World War I.  It follows a Wednesday visit by Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, to Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial outside of Paris where they took part in a wreath-laying ceremony in observance of Armistice Day and Thursday’s Veterans Day holiday in the United States.  The site honors American service members killed in both world wars and holds the remains …

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Ukraine’s foreign minister has held strategic security talks in Washington with the U.S. secretary of state. The meeting comes as Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reports that about 90,000 Russian troops have been positioned along their common border and in rebel-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine. VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports. Camera: VOA Ukraine Service. Contributing: Ostap Yarysh. …

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Authorities in Turkey say they arrested a shop owner and two employees Wednesday, one day after the collapse of a commercial building that trapped several people. The private DHA news agency reported that those arrested are suspected of having conducted unauthorized renovations. An investigation is continuing by local authorities in the city of Malatya in central Turkey. At the time of the collapse on Tuesday, about 20 people were inside the two-story building, which housed a coffee shop and other retail businesses, according to the Associated Press. Turkish emergency agencies said they sent 260 personnel to the site to search for people trapped under the rubble and rescue them. Local authorities said workers helped 13 people escape. They were taken to area …

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The World Health Organization said in its weekly epidemiological COVID-19 update that Europe again was leading the world in percentages of new cases and deaths from the disease. The WHO said the number of new cases in Europe rose by 7% last week and the number of deaths rose by 10%. Africa was the only other region to report an increase in new cases. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday called for an urgent meeting with state governors after the nation’s Robert Koch Institute for Infectious diseases reported a record number of COVID-19 cases for a single day. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert …

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet Wednesday with his Ukrainian counterpart in Washington as the Biden administration seeks to demonstrate support for the country in the face of Russian aggression while also pushing its leaders to carry out Western-backed reforms. Blinken’s talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other high-ranking officials follows on an agreement reached between President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in September to relaunch the U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Partnership Commission. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said it had been an important mechanism for the United States and Ukraine “to communicate …

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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki Wednesday accused Belarus of “state terrorism” regarding the migrant crisis at the border between the two nations.   Morawiecki made the comments to reporters during a joint news conference in Warsaw with European Council President Charles Michel, who came to Poland to show European Union support for Poland on the migrant situation Poland and the EU accuse the government of Belarus President Alexander Lukeshenko of “weaponizing” migrants – largely from Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan – by inviting them to enter Belarus and shepherding them to the Polish border, sometimes by force. Polish troops …

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French President Emmanuel Macron is set to host U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris for talks Wednesday at Elysee Palace with an agenda that includes climate change, the economy, global health and supply chain issues.  A senior U.S. administration official told reporters Tuesday that the bilateral meeting is important because the U.S. relationship with France is a global one, and that France and other European allies are key to the future of the United States.  In addition to meeting with Macron, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, are taking part in a wreath laying Wednesday at Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial outside of Paris to mark the …

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Turkey is being accused by Kurdish security forces of carrying out a drone attack Tuesday in northeastern Syria that killed three civilians in a car.  The strike took place in Qamishli, a city on the Syria-Turkey border that is controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The three victims were from the same family, according to a statement by SDF’s internal security forces, which also said the attack was “carried out by a Turkish drone.”  Turkey has not commented on the incident, but Kurdish forces say the Turkish military has increased targeted drone operations in northeastern Syria in recent …

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Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Pakistani Taliban for campaigning for girls’ education, got married on Tuesday in a small ceremony in Birmingham, central England, she announced on social media. “Today marks a precious day in my life. Asser (Malik) and I tied the knot to be partners for life,” she wrote on Twitter, where she also posted images of herself and her new husband on their wedding day. “We celebrated a small nikkah ceremony at home in Birmingham with our families. Please send us your prayers. We are excited to walk together for the journey ahead,” …

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As France approaches an election in which questions over the country’s image of itself are being raised, hunting has come under the spotlight. As the nation’s third most popular pastime, growing debate over the practice raises the issue of French tradition versus modernity. Jacob Russell reports for VOA from Charente-Maritime. …

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