Month: October 2023

UEFA, Europe’s governing body of football, has abandoned its plan to admit Russia’s under-17 team into qualifiers later this month for the European championship to be held next year. In September 2022, the Union of European Football Associations suspended all Russian national teams from competing in European competitions, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Then last month, UEFA decided to allow Russian youth teams back into competitions without their colors or flag being presented or anthem being played, saying that children should not be punished for the actions of adults. Many football federations were angered by this decision, including the Ukrainian …

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The United States is providing up to $200 million in additional military aid for Ukraine in a package expected as soon as Wednesday, according to U.S. officials, as the Pentagon continues to dip into its aid arsenal despite Congress excluding new aid for Ukraine in a stopgap spending bill passed last month to prevent a government shutdown. The package includes weapons for air defense such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile, artillery munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), TOW anti-tank missiles, and 155mm and 105mm rounds, according to a U.S. official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity …

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Russia failed Tuesday in its bid to reclaim its seat on the controversial U.N. Human Rights Council after it was suspended by the General Assembly in April 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine. “U.N. member states sent a strong signal to Russia’s leadership that a government responsible for countless war crimes and crimes against humanity doesn’t belong on the Human Rights Council,” said Louis Charbonneau, Human Rights Watch’s U.N. Director. In a secret ballot vote, Albania, Bulgaria and Russia competed for two available seats designated for their Eastern Europe regional group. A majority of 97 votes was needed, Moscow achieved …

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A Moscow court on Tuesday rejected U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich’s appeal of his detention on spy charges and ordered him held until November 30. Gershkovich was arrested during a reporting trip at the end of March in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, becoming the first Western reporter to be jailed on spy charges in Russia since the Soviet era. The 31-year-old Wall Street Journal Moscow correspondent, his employer and the U.S. government have rejected the spying allegations.   Judge Yuri Pasyunin at Moscow City Court ruled to “keep (the detention) without changes” until November 30, an AFP reporter at the court …

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The United Nations General Assembly will hold a vote Tuesday on whether to allow Russia to rejoin the world body’s Human Rights Council, nearly two years after it ejected Moscow from the council following its invasion of Ukraine. The Geneva-based council is made up of 47 nations with each nation taken from five regional groups.  Russia, one of several nations seeking a three-year term on the Human Rights Council, is competing against Albania and Bulgaria for the two seats allotted to the East European region.  The General Assembly voted 93-24 to kick Russia off the Human Rights Council in April …

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew parallels Monday between Hamas attacks on Israelis and Russian strikes on Ukrainians, calling them “equally evil.” “And the Israelis themselves, the Israeli journalists who were with us, in Ukraine, who were in Bucha, now say that they saw the same evil where Russia came. Equal evil. And there is only one difference: There is a terrorist organization that struck Israel, here there is a terrorist state that struck Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told participants at a NATO meeting via video link. “The declared intentions are different, but the essence is the same. You see it. You see …

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In a sign that President Vladimir Putin may resume nuclear testing, Russian lawmakers were given until October 18 to examine ways to rescind Moscow’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a global nuclear test ban. The possible step was announced Friday by Russia’s envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). In a statement Monday, the head of the CTBTO, Robert Floyd, expressed concern about the developments. “Banning nuclear testing remains essential to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and to safeguarding current and future generations from the harmful effects of explosive nuclear testing,” he said Washington …

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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that aid fatigue is growing at a time when a record number of people are fleeing conflict, persecution, human rights violations, climate change, and grinding poverty. “It is mainly conflict that has driven forced displacement to unprecedented numbers — 110 million refugees and displaced people, the highest in decades,” said Filippo Grandi, UNHCR chief, as he opened the organization’s annual conference. The yearly event got off to a solemn start with a minute of silence to honor the victims of the recent earthquake in Afghanistan and the conflict in Israel — …

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Russia is seeking to reclaim its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council after it was suspended by the General Assembly in April 2022 following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “The Human Rights Council must be protected from misuse as a tool for settling political scores and from practice of double standards,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told attendees at a reception his mission held recently to mark their candidacy, according to remarks published on the mission’s website. “Those are tactics of certain states that proclaim themselves to be “human rights champions.” In a vote of 93 in favor, 24 against and 58 …

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