Month: September 2022

Armenia and Azerbaijan, two long-time adversaries, accused each other Wednesday of instigating new hostilities across their disputed border. Armenia’s Defense Ministry contended that Azerbaijani forces launched combat drones in the direction of the Armenian resort town of Jermuk overnight and renewed shelling with artillery and mortars in the morning, again targeting Jermuk, along with the village of Verin Shorzha. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani military charged that Armenian forces shelled its positions in the Kalbajar and Lachin districts of Azerbaijan, near the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers have been killed in the fighting that erupted early …

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The United States said Wednesday it is setting up fund in Switzerland to manage $3.5 billion of Afghan reserves to be used to help stabilize Afghanistan’s economy. A board of trustees will manage the Afghan Fund. The U.S. Treasury said the fund will “protect, preserve and make targeted disbursements” of the Afghan money. The funds could go toward items such as electricity imports, debt payments to international financial institutions and ensuring Afghanistan remains eligible for development aid. The Taliban-run Afghan government has sought the return of billions of dollars in assets held in U.S. banks. U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally …

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Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth II is set to be taken Wednesday from Buckingham Palace to London’s Westminster Hall where she will lie in state at parliament. King Charles III will walk behind the carriage carrying the queen’s coffin. Joining him will be his sons, William and Harry, and his siblings, Anne, Andrew and Edward. Large crowds are expected along the route, with tens of thousands of people expected to travel to Westminster to pay their respects. The procession will also be accompanied by guns firing at Hyde Park and the tolling of parliament’s Big Ben bell. The queen will lie …

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From the world’s second-smallest state, Monaco, to the most populous country, India, representatives from more than 20 governments and international organizations on Monday condemned the Taliban’s policies of shutting down secondary schools and denying other fundamental rights to Afghan girls and women. Even Pakistan, the purported benefactor of the Taliban, voiced concern at a United Nations dialogue on human rights in Afghanistan about the denial of education for Afghan girls. The dialogue was part of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 51st session, which opened Monday in Geneva. Russia and China notably did not join in the criticism. A Russian diplomat …

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Armenia and Azerbaijan reported nearly 100 troop deaths Tuesday in their worst fighting since a 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.  The last wave of fighting over Azerbaijan’s tense Armenian-populated enclave ended in a fragile truce brokered by Russia.   But on Tuesday, the defense ministry in Baku said, “50 Azerbaijani servicemen died as a result of Armenia’s large-scale provocation,” while Armenia earlier reported the deaths of at least 49 of its soldiers.  Azerbaijan accused Armenia of violating the cease-fire after a night of clashes that renewed fears of another all-out conflict between the historic foes.  Russia said it …

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The coffin of Queen Elizabeth is flown to London from the Scottish capital of Edinburgh after lying in St. Giles’ Cathedral. In London, her coffin will be driven to Buckingham Palace, her official home. …

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As Africa reflects on the legacy of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, Kenyans remember how a princess visiting the country in 1952 left a queen. Analysts note how Elizabeth helped steer the end of Britain’s empire and exploitative colonial rule. But while relations were repaired and improved under the monarch, colonialism left lasting wounds, as Juma Majanga reports from VOA’s Africa News Center in Nairobi, Kenya. VOA footage by Amos Wangwa. …

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