The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Italy may have dropped, but it doesn’t feel that way in the picturesque town of Ventimiglia, near the French border. As winter bites, hundreds live in grim conditions as they wait for their chance to make it into France, and some have paid for their efforts with their lives. John Owens reports from Ventimiglia. …
British Prime Minister Theresa May will announce changes to her ministerial Cabinet Monday, but her foreign, finance, interior and Brexit ministers will keep their jobs, the Sunday Times newspaper reported. The Sunday Times said the reshuffle was aimed at bringing younger women and non-white lawmakers into the Cabinet in attempt to appeal to voters who dealt May a setback in an election last year. May is also expected to announce a new first secretary of state, effectively her No. 2, after long-standing ally Damian Green was forced to resign from the post last month, the newspaper said. May, who became …
Russia’s Supreme Court has upheld a ruling barring opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running in the March presidential election. The high court upheld the Central Election Commission’s decision banning Navalny from running because of his conviction on criminal charges. Navalny and his followers say those charges were politically motivated. Navalny has called for demonstrations across Russia on January 28 to protest the country’s upcoming presidential vote. Polls say that incumbent President Vladimir Putin will likely win another six-year term when the election is held on March 18. Navalny contends that Putin, who has spent the last 17 years …
Ex-Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili is vowing to fight the Georgian government if Ukrainian officials move to extradite him to Georgia in light of his conviction by a Tbilisi court Friday. The court tried and convicted Saakashvili in absentia of abusing his pardon powers while in office. Georgia’s prosecutor says Saakashvili, who was in office from 2004-2013, tried to cover up evidence in the 2006 murder of Sandro Girgvliani. The 28-year-old banker was found dead outside of Tbilisi with multiple injuries after he was seen arguing in a bar with high-ranking Interior Ministry officials. In 2008 Saakashvili pardoned four Georgian law …
Two U.S. senators have called for a criminal investigation of a former British spy who authored a salacious report about Donald Trump when he was a businessman, a report known as the Steele Dossier. The letter, released on Friday by Republicans Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham, adds to the turmoil that has plagued the Trump administration and will likely deepen the bipartisan rancor in Congress over both the dossier and also interactions between Trump associates and Russian officials. In their letter, the two called on the Justice Department to investigate Christopher Steele for what they alleged were false statements Steele …
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is one of two senior Turkish officials who have made or are making trips to European Union countries in what analysts say is a diplomatic offensive to reset relations with the 28-member bloc. The EU is Turkey’s No. 1 import and export partner. Relations between Ankara and the EU, however, have been strained in part over human rights in Turkey, a controversial referendum last year to extend his powers, refugee migration and Turkey’s quest for visa-free travel for its citizens across the EU. Erdogan met Friday in France with counterpart Emmanuel Macron for talks on …
The Italian Riviera, like its French counterpart, is known for its resorts, glamour and beauty. But away from the tourists, hundreds of migrants and refugees willingly endure grim conditions and risk their lives, making repeated attempts to cross the border. …
Officials say Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall are expecting their second child. Buckingham Palace said Friday the queen and the royal family are “very pleased” with the news. The pregnancy comes just over a year after Tindall suffered a miscarriage shortly before Christmas in 2016. She is an Olympic silver medal winner in equestrian events and the daughter of Princess Anne. Her husband is a former England rugby player. They have a three-year-old daughter named Mia. …
As a winter wind whips through the underpass and the sound of vehicles thunders above, residents of this makeshift camp pull blankets close to their faces, trying to ward off the cold. The underpass is in Ventimiglia, a picturesque town in the Italian Riviera that has become a launching point for African and South Asian migrants hoping to cross into France and begin new lives. The Italian Riviera, like its French counterpart, is known for its resorts, glamour and beauty. But away from the tourists, hundreds willingly endure grim conditions and risk their lives, making repeated attempts to cross the …
Somali State Minister for Defense Mohamed Ali Haga has confirmed to VOA Somali for the first time that the Turkish government has recently supplied weapons to the Somali army. In an interview with VOA Somali, Haga said the Turkish government has equipped a company-sized Somali army unit which graduated from the Turkish military training camp in Mogadishu two weeks ago. Haga said just over 400 soldiers were supplied with small weapons and machine guns allowed under a partial UN embargo on Somalia. Somalia cannot import certain heavy weaponry. Turkish media report that the weapons exported to Somalia are the MPT-76, …
Nearly 30 civilians, including children, have been killed by airstrikes in the rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta, outside the Syrian capital, Damascus. The Britain-based watchdog Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the Syrian civil war, said most of the airstrikes were carried out by Russian jets. There was no immediate confirmation by the Russian military, which is providing air support to government forces fighting rebels. A government forces base, the only one in the region, was surrounded by rebels earlier this week. Syrian state television said “army units had launched an assault to break the siege.” Rami Abdel …
Ankara has slammed the conviction in the U.S. of a Turkish banker for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. “This is the scandalous verdict of a scandalous case,” Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalin told reporters at the presidential palace. “Unjust and unfortunate,” said the Turkish foreign ministry in a statement, adding, “the evidence was fake and open to political exploitation.” Mahir Unal, the spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AKP, pointed the finger directly at Washington. “The purpose of the case in United States is interference in the internal affairs of Turkey. This case is a violation of international law and a legal disaster. It …
A political storm is brewing ahead of Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s May 19 wedding over whether to crack down on homeless people and beggars in the well-to-do English town of Windsor. Homeless charities are reacting angrily to borough councilor Simon Dudley’s call for police to clear the streets so the town makes a favorable impression on visitors drawn to see what they can of the royal nuptials. They reject his assertion that the homeless in Windsor are living on the streets by choice, a view expressed in a letter Dudley sent to police and to Conservative Prime Minister Theresa …
French President Emmanuel Macron will head to China next week to strengthen commercial ties with the world’s second-largest economy. It will be Macron’s first state visit to China since he won election last year. According to the Elysee, Macron will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 9 after visiting the ancient imperial capital of Xi’an. Talks also will focus on North Korea, the fight against terror financing and international efforts against climate change. Macron’s office on Thursday said a number of commercial deals are expected to be signed during the three-day visit but they have yet to be …
Turkey dismissed Thursday a U.S. court conviction of a Turkish banker in connection with a billion-dollar plot to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran. The court in New York City convicted Mehmet Hakan Atilla on four counts of conspiracy, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, plus one count of bank fraud. The 47-year-old Turkish national was acquitted on a charge of money laundering. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Thursday the ruling was unfair and unfortunate, and also an unprecedented interference in Turkey’s internal affairs. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Twitter the jury’s decision does not carry legal value …
Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 70 people, including 58 serving soldiers, in an investigation targeting supporters of the U.S.-based cleric accused of orchestrating an attempted coup in July 2016, state media said Thursday. The operation was focused on the central Turkish province of Konya, with police carrying out simultaneous raids at addresses across 27 provinces, state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Twelve of the 70 suspects had previously been expelled from the Turkish armed forces, Anadolu said. Police operations to detain suspects accused of links to the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen have been a near daily occurrence since the …
A Turkish banker has been convicted in a U.S. court for participating in a billion-dollar plot to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran. A court in New York City has convicted Mehmet Hakan Atilla on four counts of conspiracy, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, plus one count of bank fraud. The 47-year-old Turkish national was acquitted on a charge of money laundering. The case has strained relations between Turkey and the United States. Atilla is a deputy general manager at Turkey’s state-run Halkbank. U.S. prosecutors charged him with helping to facilitate a deal in which Iran traded oil and …
A storm disrupted air traffic at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Wednesday, with many flights canceled or delayed. Airlines canceled 176 out of a total of more than 1,200 incoming and outgoing flights on Wednesday morning, a spokesman for the Dutch national airport said. That number was expected to rise, as the storm would grow stronger during the day, with wind gusts reaching speeds of up to 120 kph (75 mph). Flights that were not canceled faced an average delay of about an hour, the airport said. Schiphol is Europe’s third busiest airport in number of total passengers per year, after …
A Russian military MI-24 helicopter crashed in Syria on Dec. 31 due to a technical fault, killing both pilots, Russian news agencies cited the Ministry of Defence as saying on Wednesday. The helicopter crashed en route to the Hama air base, RIA news said, citing the ministry. …
France’s national electricity provider says a violent windstorm has left some 200,000 households without electricity across the country, including 30,000 in the Paris region. The windstorm, Eleanor, battered northern France Wednesday with winds reaching over 140 kilometers per hour. Photos of destroyed cars, collapsed scaffolding and uprooted trees have appeared across social media. Some 2,000 agents have been deployed to reconnect the energy supplies in the 49 French departments that have been placed on high alert. Winds of up to 117 km/h also battered Paris’ biggest airport Charles de Gaulle. Paris’ airport authority said that flights have been disrupted with …