Month: November 2024

Taipei, Taiwan — A second Taiwanese volunteer fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers against Russia has been killed, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Sunday. The man was a member of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, the ministry said in a statement, expressing condolences to his family, who did not want him publicly identified. The ministry said it was informed of the man’s death Saturday and that Taiwan’s representative office in Poland had verified the information with the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. No further details were released about how he died. At the start of the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy openly invited foreigners to come to …

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BEIJING —   China has urged France to take on “an active role” to push the European Commission toward a solution acceptable to both the European and Chinese electric vehicle industries, Beijing’s commerce ministry said on Monday, citing its minister. Wang Wentao, in a meeting with French junior trade minister Sophie Primas in Shanghai on Sunday, reiterated the European Union’s investigation into China’s EVs is a major concern and has “seriously hindered” China-EU auto industry cooperation. The EU launched an anti-subsidy investigation into imports of Chinese-made battery EVs last year and in October voted for tariffs on those vehicles. China in …

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Spain’s government reports more than 200 dead and dozens still missing following the deadliest flash floods in that country’s modern history. Locals say they feel abandoned by their government. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …

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Madrid — Five bodies were found floating in the sea Sunday after the inflatable boat they were travelling in punctured around 90 km (56 miles) off the Spanish island of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, Spanish Sea Rescue services told Reuters. A spokesperson said a rescue aircraft sighted two inflatable boats heading toward the archipelago, and that one of them had one of its floats deflated. The aircraft launched two life rafts and was able to rescue 17 people from one vessel and 80 from another, but five bodies were also found. State agency EFE said the rescue services had rescued …

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BELGRADE — Angry protesters on Sunday left red handprints at the entrances of government buildings in the Serbian capital to demand the arrest of officials, two days after a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station, killing 14 people and injuring three.  Police formed a cordon outside the seat of the Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure in central Belgrade as several thousand people called for ranking government ministers, including Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, to immediately step down.  “Arrest, arrest!” chanted the crowd. They shouted at police officers outside the building that they are “guarding murderers” and that “your hands are bloody,” …

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Kyiv, Ukraine — Moscow sent 96 drones and a guided air missile into Ukraine overnight into Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, 66 drones were destroyed during the overnight barrage, along with the missile. A further 27 drones were “lost” over various areas, it said, likely having been electronically jammed, while one drone flew into Belarusian airspace. No casualties were reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia had launched around 900 guided aerial bombs, 500 drones and 30 missiles against Ukraine over the past week. Zelenskyy appealed Sunday on X to Ukraine’s allies to provide “long-range …

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VALENCIA, Spain — A crowd of angry survivors of Spain’s floods tossed mud and shouted insults at Spain’s King Felipe VI and government officials when they made their first visit to one of the hardest hit towns on Sunday.  Government officials accompanied the monarch who tried to talk to locals while others shouted at him in Paiporta, an outskirt of Valencia city that has been devastated.  Police had to step in with officers on horseback to keep back the crowd of several dozens.  “Get out! Get out!” and “Killers!” rang out among other insults.  After being forced to seek protection from …

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Berlin — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will hold meetings with his top two ministers to try to find common ground after they put forward contradictory plans to fix the nation’s ailing economy, a government source told Reuters on Sunday.   A document leaked by Christian Lindner’s finance ministry raised eyebrows in Berlin last week, with its push for tax cuts and fiscal discipline widely interpreted as a challenge to the multibillion-euro investment plan put forward by Economy Minister Robert Habeck just days earlier.   The stand-off is the latest escalation in a row over economic and industrial policy between the FDP, the Greens …

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