Month: February 2023

As Antony Blinken makes his first visit to Central Asia as U.S. secretary of state this week, the Biden administration says it is focused on supporting the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the region’s five former Soviet republics, which maintain strong political, economic and socio-cultural ties with Russia. Blinken travels to Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy with the highest level of U.S. investment, as well as Uzbekistan, the most populous country. The trip is an opportunity to reach out and try to improve alliances as Washington looks to further isolate Russia for invading Ukraine. But democracy supporters also are …

READ MORE

Russia’s war of aggression took center stage at the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s five-and-a-half-week session in Geneva. As he kicked off this historically long and politically charged conference, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned what he called the carnage unleashed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which he said, “has triggered the most massive violations of human rights we are living today.” “It has unleashed widespread death, destruction, and displacements,” he told those gathered in Geneva. “Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure have caused many casualties and terrible sufferings.” Guterres presented a gloomy assessment of the state of human …

READ MORE

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Turkey on Monday, killing one person, injuring at least 110, and causing a number of already-damaged buildings to collapse. The new tremor came three weeks after a 7.8 magnitude shook Turkey and Syria and killed more than 50,000 people. Turkish authorities said that rescue teams were immediately deployed Monday to rescue people from the rubble. A father and daughter who were trapped beneath the ruins of a four-story building they had entered in the town of Yesilyurt to retrieve their belongings after the earlier quake were saved. Yesilyurt, in Malatya province, was the center …

READ MORE

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to deliver an address Monday revealing France’s new African strategy.    Later in the week, the French leader travels to Gabon, Angola, the Republic of Congo and Congo.  Macron’s visit to Africa comes as many nations there have expressed an anti-France sentiment that has included street protests in some West and North African countries.   France is also finding that its long economic ties with Africa are starting to fray as Russia, China and Turkey make inroads.   In addition, Mali has replaced the French troops stationed there with Russian military contractors, something France would not like …

READ MORE

Italian officials say at least 59 migrants died when the wooden boat they were in began splintering apart in heavy seas Sunday off the Italian coast. At least 12 of the dead are children.     Some bodies washed ashore at a resort in the Calabria region.   At least 80 people, including those rescued by emergency workers and others who were able to swim ashore after the boat disintegrated, survived the wreck, officials said.   Photos show big chunks of the vessel on the beach near the town of Steccato di Cutro, and pieces of wood and other debris all along the shore.   …

READ MORE

Yulian Dlaboha is U.S. a high school student whose mother is an immigrant from Ukraine and whose father is of Ukrainian heritage. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Yulian wanted to help, so he started collecting warm socks for Ukrainian soldiers. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vladimir Badikov. …

READ MORE

At least for now, the United States is declining to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. But as VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, there are some lawmakers in Congress who plan to push the White House to change its position. Video editor: Marcus Harton. …

READ MORE

Italian officials say a wooden boat carrying migrants towards Italy disintegrated before it could reach shore, killing 43 people, including a baby.  Authorities say about 80 people survived the ordeal.   Some of the bodies washed ashore Sunday at a seaside resort in the province of Crotone.      At least 100 people were aboard the ship, officials said.  “It’s an enormous tragedy,” Crotone Mayor Vincenzo Voce said.   Pope Francis said Sunday, “I pray for each of them, for the missing and the other migrants who survived.”    Francis also said he also was praying for the rescuers “and for those who give welcome” …

READ MORE

An elite Russian infantry force has suffered significant losses in Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday. The ministry said in an intelligence update that imagery from the Vuhledar section of Donetsk oblast shows “concentrated Russian vehicle losses,” with the vehicles probably from Russia’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade. The ministry said the Naval Infantry “has been tasked with some of the toughest tactical missions in the war and has suffered extremely high casualties.” The ministry update, posted on Twitter, said the capability of Naval Infantry brigades has “almost certainly been significantly degraded” because its units have been replenished with “inexperienced …

READ MORE