As Russian and Ukrainian forces intensify their fight for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, residents there are finding it harder and harder to remain. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports on the challenges as Ukrainian diplomatic efforts to gain international support continue. …
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says there would be “consequences” if China sent weapons to Russia for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, but he’s optimistic that Beijing will refrain from doing so. Scholz’s comments came in an interview with CNN that aired Sunday, two days after he met U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington. U.S. officials have warned recently that China could step off the sidelines and begin providing arms and ammunition to Moscow. Ahead of his trip, Scholz had urged Beijing to refrain from sending weapons and instead use its influence to press Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. Asked …
“Italy here we come!” cheered the young men, in Urdu and Pashto, as they filmed themselves standing on a boat sailing in bright blue waters. They were among around 180 migrants — Afghans, Pakistanis, Syrians, Iranians, Palestinians, Somalis and others — who left Turkey hoping for a better, or simply safer, life in Europe. Days later, dozens of them were dead. So far, 70 bodies have been recovered from the Feb. 26 shipwreck near the small beach town of Steccato di Cutro, but only 80 survivors have been found, indicating that the death toll was higher. On Sunday, firefighter divers …
Much of Russia’s yearlong invasion in Ukraine has devolved into infantry fighting in the eastern regions of the country, in part because Moscow’s forces are short on artillery munitions, the British Ministry of Defense said Sunday. In its latest assessment, London said, “Recent evidence suggests an increase in close combat in Ukraine. This is probably a result of the Russian command continuing to insist on offensive action largely consisting of dismounted infantry.” The ministry said that late last month, Russia mobilized reservists who have described “being ordered to assault a Ukrainian concrete strong point armed with only ‘firearms and shovels.’ …
Violent clashes broke out between police and protesters outside the Greek parliament in Athens on Sunday as thousands attended a rally following the nation’s worst rail disaster that killed 57, AFP reporters saw. Some demonstrators set fire to rubbish bins and threw Molotov cocktails, while police responded firing tear gas and stun grenades, clearing Syntagma Square of the protesters within a few minutes. Police said 12,000 people had gathered by the large esplanade in front of the parliament to demand accountability for Tuesday’s head-on collision near the central city of Larissa that has sparked widespread outrage. They had released hundreds …
Anyone arriving illegally in Britain will be prevented from staying, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in an interview published on Sunday, ahead of new legislation which is expected to be set out next week. Under pressure from his own lawmakers to find a solution to the flow of migrants arriving in Britain across the channel from Europe, Sunak has made stopping small boats one of his five key priorities. “Make no mistake, if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay,” Sunak told the Mail on Sunday newspaper. A new law to tackle the issue is due …
Ukrainian diver Stanislav Oliferchyk proudly bears the name of his late grandfather, who died in brutalized Mariupol. Russia’s troops turned the Ukrainian port city into a killing zone in the process of capturing it. The elder Stanislav could no longer get the cancer treatment he needed in the ruins, his grandson says. He was 74 when he died last October. Another victim of the months-long Russian siege of Mariupol was its gleaming aquatic center. Oliferchyk had planned to use the refurbished sports complex as his training base for the 2024 Paris Olympics. But it was bombed the same day last …
Climate activists splashed a dark liquid over an artwork Saturday near the German parliament building. Desecrating the art, engraved with key articles from the country’s constitution, drew condemnation from the speaker of parliament and other lawmakers. The Last Generation group said supporters symbolically “soaked in ‘oil’” the outdoor installation — a series of glass plates on which 19 articles from the German Constitution setting out fundamental rights are engraved. They pasted posters over the work that read, “Oil or fundamental rights?” The group said in a statement that “the German government is not protecting our fundamental rights” and argued that …
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday announced a gender equality law that will require more equal representation of women and men in politics, business and other spheres of public life. The Equal Representation Law will apply gender parity measures to electoral lists, the boards of directors of big companies, and governing boards of professional associations. Sanchez made the announcement during a Socialist party rally ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8. It will be approved during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting before going for debate in parliament. He said the government was “not only taking a step in favor of …
Italy’s government will hold a cabinet meeting near the southern seaside town where dozens of bodies washed ashore after a migrant ship broke up on rocks last month, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday. Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi after meeting United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan to discuss migration flows among other topics, Meloni rejected accusations that her government had failed to act to prevent the incident. She also dismissed calls from the opposition for Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi to resign. “Frankly, they ask for the resignation of a different minister every day,” she …
On a blustery late-winter day in Shakespeare’s birthplace, the foyer of the Other Place theater is a cozy refuge. Visitors are having meetings over coffee, checking emails, writing poetry, learning to sew. It looks and feels like an arty café in the picturesque streets of Stratford-upon-Avon, but it’s a “warm hub” set up by the Royal Shakespeare Company drama troupe to welcome people struggling to heat their homes because of sky-high energy prices. Warm hubs have sprouted across Britain by the thousands this winter as soaring food and energy prices drive millions to turn down the thermostat or skimp on …
Archaeologists say they have uncovered a “unique” cache of well-preserved spices, from strands of saffron to peppercorns and ginger, on the wreck of a royal ship that sank off Sweden’s Baltic coast more than 500 years ago. The wreck of the Gribshund, owned by King Hans of Denmark and Norway, has lain off the coast off Ronneby since 1495, when it is thought to have caught fire and sank as the monarch attended a political meeting ashore in Sweden. Rediscovered by sports divers in the 1960s, sporadic excavations of the ship have taken place in recent years. Previous dives recovered …
Russia’s defense minister visited Russian soldiers in Ukraine on Saturday. The ministry said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram that Sergei Shoigu “inspected the forward command post of one of the formations of the Eastern Military District in the South Donetsk direction.” Shoigu has been criticized for Russia’s poor performance in its war against Ukraine. In a video released Saturday, the defense minister was seen handing out medals to Russian military forces. Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry said Saturday that “intense fighting” is underway in and around the Ukrainian Donbas town of Bakhmut. Victory in Bakhmut would be …
U.S. President Joe Biden is focused on shoring up NATO unity in supporting Ukraine in his meeting Friday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House, said John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, in an interview with VOA on Friday. Dismissing concerns about growing war fatigue on both sides of the Atlantic, Kirby said Biden was confident that Western allies’ unity remained “resilient, resolved and unified.” He repeated calls from the administration urging Beijing not to supply weapons to help Russia, warning of a “blow to China’s standing in the international community” should it decide to …
Protests have intensified in Greece days after the country’s deadliest rail disaster, as thousands of students took to the streets in several cities and protesters clashed with police in Athens. At least 57 people — including several university students — died when a passenger train slammed into a freight carrier just before midnight Tuesday. The government has blamed human error, and a railway official faces manslaughter charges. Friday night’s violence was not extensive, and the protests were otherwise peaceful. Clashes also occurred in Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki. In Athens, riot police outside parliament fired tear gas and flash grenades to …
Belgium’s Constitutional Court on Friday upheld a prisoner exchange treaty with Iran that could lead to the swap of a convicted Iranian diplomat for a jailed Belgian aid worker. Belgian lawmakers cleared the treaty in July, but it has been held up by legal challenges from an exiled Iranian opposition group. “The court rejects the action for annulment,” the Constitutional Court said in a press release. However, the judges also specified that the victims of any detainee being proposed for transfer must have the right to contest the specific case in court. “Thus, when the government takes a decision to …
The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on six Russians it said were involved in the arrest, prosecution or abuse of Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was detained last year after speaking out against the war in Ukraine. Kara-Murza was arrested by Russia in April and declared a “foreign agent.” He is currently being held on suspicion of spreading false information about the armed forces under new laws passed eight days after the February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine began. “The United States reiterates its call for Kara-Murza’s immediate and unconditional release, and is committed to ensuring that Vladimir …
Officials say the search for survivors at the site of Greece’s deadliest train crash has ended. At least 57 bodies and human remains have been removed from the wreckage, but an undisclosed number of passengers remain missing. VOA reports on the growing anger and frustration across the nation as protests come with the end of a three-day period of national mourning. Firefighters and volunteers say a final inspection of mangled passenger rail cars would be completed by the end of Friday, before fleets of cranes and heavy machinery moved to clear wreckage and restore the operation of Greece’s railway network. …
U.S. President Joe Biden will welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House Friday for discussions on continued support for Ukraine and bilateral cooperation on a range of global security and economic issues. The leaders first met in February of last year shortly after Scholz took office, and the visit comes after marking the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We’ve closely coordinated our support to Ukraine throughout this conflict, including through joint announcements in January to provide infantry fighting vehicles and tanks,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a Thursday briefing. “Germany …
Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison by a Belarus court. Bialiatski is the founder of Viasna, a prominent human rights group in Belarus that has provided legal and financial support to protesters, following a wave of unrest in 2020, following disputed election results that returned Belarus strongman President Alexander Lukashenko back into office, a position he has held for over 30 years. Lukashenko, a frequent ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is often called Europe’s “last dictator.” Bialiatski has said he is being persecuted for political reasons. Bialiatski was among …