moscow — Marina and her family were used to hearing the distant boom of explosions from their village in Russia’s Kursk region, just a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border. On the night of August 6, the explosions became so loud their beds began shaking. “Nobody knew anything,” the 39-year-old hairdresser told Agence France-Presse at a humanitarian aid center run by the Orthodox Church in Moscow. Ukrainian soldiers and armored vehicles began pouring into the region in the early hours of that morning, mounting the biggest cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II. The operation came almost 2½ years …
Helsinki, Finland — Next week, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, TSMC, the world’s top advanced computer chipmaker, is expected to break ground on its first European factory in Dresden, Germany, as it seeks to diversify production from Taiwan and threats from China. TSMC is the biggest supplier of semiconductor chips used in everything from computers to cars and medical equipment. The company will run the nearly $11 billion plant, holding a 70% stake. The joint venture that includes minority investors Robert Bosch, Infineon Technologies and NXP Semiconductors, will be called European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or ESMC. Dresden’s mayor’s office confirmed to VOA that …
Berlin — Germany has asked Poland to arrest a Ukrainian diving instructor who was allegedly part of a team that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines two years ago, according to reports in German media published on Wednesday. However, one media outlet said the man appeared to be no longer living in Poland. The multi-billion-dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of blasts in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. German investigators believe the Ukrainian diver was part of a team that …
Vancouver, British Columbia — Tens of thousands of people have signed online petitions for the release of environmentalist Paul Watson, the controversial activist arrested in Greenland on an extradition request by the Japanese government. Watson’s latest legal journey started July 21 in Nuuk, Greenland, when he was arrested aboard his foundation’s ship, the John Paul DeJoria. His arrest and extradition appear to be tied to alleged actions in 2010 against the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru 2. For the past several decades, Watson has been known to take severe measures, including the ramming and disabling of whaling ships, to stop the …
LONDON — The Chinese government has resubmitted its plans to build a “super embassy” in London, a decision testing the new British government’s strategy for dealing with China after the victory of the Labour Party in the general election last month. According to the new plan, the super embassy will be built on the former Royal Mint Court site near the Tower of London, with a total area of about 576,000 square meters (620,000 square feet) — 10 times the size of China’s existing embassy in London. The project includes not only the embassy building but also 225 residences and a …
LONDON — British authorities have arrested more than 1,000 people following days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants, a national policing body said Tuesday. The riots, which followed the killings of three young girls in the northern English town of Southport, began after the July 29 attack was wrongly blamed on an Islamist migrant based on online misinformation. Violence broke out in cities across England and also in Northern Ireland, but there have been fewer instances of unrest since last week after efforts to identify those involved were ramped up. Many …
Warsaw, POLAND — Poland on Tuesday signed a $10 billion deal to buy 96 Apache attack helicopters from U.S. manufacturer Boeing in an upgrade to the country’s military capabilities. Poland has sharply accelerated the modernization of its armed forces since Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022. “This is the landmark purchase by Poland for its armed forces of … 96 state-of-the-art AH-64E Apache attack helicopters,” Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters. “Today we are taking a milestone in the transformation and equipping of the army,” he added, speaking at the Inowroclaw air base, where the Apaches are to be …
KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday defended his country’s shock incursion into Russia’s northeastern Kursk region. “Russia brought war to others. Now it is coming home,” President Zelenskyy said in a video posted on the social media platform Telegram. In his nightly televised address, Zelenskyy described the incursion as a national security issue, saying Russian forces had launched numerous strikes from Kursk on Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, which borders Kursk. Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Monday in a video posted on Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel that Kyiv controls about 1,000 square kilometers of the Kursk region. The Ukrainian operation …
Ukraine took the fight to Russia in recent days, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Monday his army’s move to “push the war out into the aggressor’s territory” with attacks in Russia’s Kursk region. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington. …
San Diego, Calif. — Belarus sentenced two more journalists to prison last week in what media groups say is a continuation of a crackdown on media since the contested 2020 election and protest movement. A court in the city of Mogilev sentenced freelance reporter Ales Sabaleuski to four years in prison and cameraman Yauhen Hlushkou to three years on extremism-related charges. Both were also ordered to pay fines of $2,450, according to media watchdogs. The charges are linked to the journalists’ work with the independent news outlet 6TV Bielarus, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ. Belarus had earlier …
ROME — Archaeologists in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have discovered the remains of two more victims of the volcanic eruption almost 2,000 years ago. The skeleton of a man and a woman were found in a small, makeshift bedroom in a villa which was being restructured when the eruption struck, the Pompeii archeological site said in a statement Monday. The woman was lying on a bed with gold, silver and bronze coins around her, along with jewelry including gold and pearl earrings. The man lay at the foot of the bed. The once-thriving city of Pompeii, near Naples, and …
dubai, united arab emirates — Iran has put its long-range Mohajer-10 drones on display at a defense exhibit in Russia, Iran’s official news agency reported Monday. U.S. officials have accused Iran of sending drones to Russia, including the Mohajer-10’s predecessor, the Mohajer-6, that Moscow had used in its invasion of Ukraine. Tehran denies this. Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency said the more advanced system was being shown at the Army 2024 International Military-Technical Forum, an event that runs from Monday to Wednesday in Patriot Park outside Russia’s capital. The report came as the Middle East braces for Iran’s threatened retaliation against …
London — A man has been arrested after an 11-year-old girl and a 34-year-old woman were stabbed in central London, London’s Metropolitan Police said Monday. The attack occurred in Leicester Square, a magnet for tourists with its shops, theaters and cinemas. The square and surrounding area have an estimated 2.5 million visitors every week. Police said the two victims were taken to a major trauma center. The extent of their injuries was not immediately clear. The stabbing occurred as Britain is on edge after violence for the past week as crowds spouting anti-immigrant and Islamophobic slogans clashed with police. The disturbances …
KYIV — An official in the Kursk border region of Russia on Monday urged more residents to evacuate due to the “very tense situation” in the area, where Russian forces are still scrambling to respond to a surprise Ukrainian attack after almost a week of fierce fighting. Russia’s emergency authorities say more than 76,000 people have fled their homes in areas of Kursk, where Ukrainian troops and armor poured across the border on Aug. 6, reportedly driving as deep as 30 kilometers into Russia and sowing alarm. The governor of the Belgorod region adjacent to Kursk also announced the evacuation of …
London — The people of Southport, England, came together Sunday for the first of the funerals for three girls killed during a dance class, remembering 9-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar’s radiant smile and calling for an end to the unrest that has convulsed Britain since the attack two weeks ago. Hundreds of mourners packed St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and spilled into the street outside, which had been decorated with pink ribbons and balloons in Alice’s honor. Chief Constable Serena Kennedy was among them, and she delivered the parents’ message that no one should commit acts of violence in their daughter’s name. …