New sanctions punishing Russia for its interference in last year’s US presidential election cleared a key step Tuesday as the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill expanding Congressional checks on President Trump’s ability to ease those penalties. VOA’s Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill. …
The European Commission has pledged another $116 million to Italy to help its government manage the Mediterranean migration crisis. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, said in a letter to Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Tuesday that he was setting up a special “contact team” in Brussels to coordinate with Italian authorities. The additional financial assistance the commission pledged to Italy raises by 12.5 percent the funds already allocated to Rome, to a total of over $1 billion. Through the first half of 2017, nearly 84,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea, 20 percent more than during the …
Katinka Hosszu has a case full of medals. She wants so much more. From marketing marvel to ambitious businesswoman to fledgling union organizer, the Hungarian swimmer known as the “Iron Lady” knows how to make a splash – in and out of the pool. Along with American star Katie Ledecky, Hosszu is perhaps the biggest name at the world championships this week, the home-country favorite whose face seemingly appears on every billboard around Budapest, whose every appearance at Duna Arena is accompanied by foot-stomping, flag-waving euphoria. She lived up to the enormous expectations in her first event of the meet, …
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized Israel for security measures at the al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem. Rising tensions over the mosque could threaten attempts at rapprochement between Israel and Turkey. Erdogan chose his weekly address to his parliamentary deputies to launch a strong attack on Israel for the introduction of security measures to access the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site for Muslims. Erdogan said Israel’s legitimacy makes sense to the extent it respects the rights of itself, Palestine and Palestinians. He said the restrictions on the mosque are not due …
Police with search hounds hunted on Tuesday for a chainsaw-wielding loner who mostly lived in the woods, a day after he stormed into an insurance office in the Swiss town of Schaffhausen and wounded two staff members. Police have identified the suspect as 50-year-old Franz Wrousis, a drifter with a criminal record, and warned residents that he could still be armed for attack. It was not clear what may have prompted the man to assault the two office workers, one of whom was badly hurt. CSS, whose office Wrousis stormed, said he was a client. Two other customers in the …
New Zealand will be one of the first nations Britain will strike a trade deal with once it formally leaves the European Union — a promise made Tuesday by visiting British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson held talks in Wellington with Prime Minister Bill English on the second day of his two-day visit to Britain’s former colony. Britain’s chief diplomat insisted that New Zealand would not be negatively affected once Brexit is a done deal. “I’ll say this until I’m blue in the face,” Johnson affirmed, “Brexit is not, was not, will not be about Britain turning away from the …
The parents of the critically-ill British infant, Charlie Gard, dropped their legal bid Monday to send him to the United States for experimental treatment after new medical tests showed such treatment could no longer help. VOA’s Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports on the heart wrenching story of baby Charlie that attracted worldwide attention and sympathy. …
The International Monetary Fund is more optimistic about the economy of the 19-country eurozone after a run of elections saw populist politicians defeated and risks to its outlook abated. In an update to its April projections published Monday, the IMF revised up its growth forecasts for many eurozone countries, including the big four of Germany, France, Italy and Spain, after stronger than anticipated first quarter figures. Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is projected to grow by 1.8 percent, up 0.2 percentage point on the previous estimate, while France is forecast to expand 1.5 percent, up 0.1 percentage point. Projections …
Serbia’s new chief war crimes prosecutor has filed a request to resume the landmark trial of eight former Bosnian Serb police officers charged with taking part in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. The proceedings were halted after an appeals court ruled this month that the charges were invalid because they were filed when Serbia did not have a chief war crimes prosecutor. The trial marked the first time that a Serbian court had dealt with the killings by Bosnian Serb troops of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, Europe’s worst single atrocity since World …
Ilir Meta took the oath of office as the new president of Albania in front of the country’s legislature on Monday. Meta was elected to the largely ceremonial post in late April by members of parliament, who gave him 87 out of 89 votes. The balloting was boycotted by the opposition, which had left the legislative body to protest of the Socialist Party government of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Meta, 48, is a veteran politician who has served in several governments since the collapse of communism in the early 1990s. He has served twice as deputy prime minister, as well …
The room in Istanbul’s main court house was packed as the trial of 17 journalists working for Cumhuriyet newspaper got underway. The trial is widely seen as pivotal for the future of press freedom in Turkey with Cumhuriyet one of the last remaining mainstream newspapers critical of the government and president. The first day of the hearing Monday was devoted to reading the terrorist charges against the journalists. Most have been charged with “membership of a terrorist organization” or “actions that support a terrorist organization while not being a member.” The charges have been widely used since the introduction of emergency …
French President Emmanuel Macron faced the first grassroots revolt from within his own camp on Monday when hundreds of activists asked a court to halt voting on new rules for the political party that helped him win power in May. The challenge came on the heels of a poll showing a slump in the 39-year-old president’s approval rating after a series of politically testing events, including a budget row that prompted the head of the army to quit. Members of Macron’s Republic on the Move party (LREM), which espouses a break with old ways of doing politics, are taking part …
Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, is being interviewed Monday by the Senate Intelligence Committee in connection with allegations that Trump’s election campaign had contacts with Russia. The closed-door meeting on Monday (July 24) is part of the probe into Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …
Turkey’s president has condemned Israeli security precautions at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site saying the Islamic world would not remain silent. Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed reporters Sunday in Istanbul before departing on a visit to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar. He says: “No one can expect the Islamic world to remain unresponsive after the humiliation Muslims suffered with the restrictions at the Noble Sanctuary.” Earlier this week, Israel installed metal detectors at the shrine in response to a deadly attack by Arab gunmen there which killed two Israeli policemen. The metal detectors are perceived by the Palestinians as an encroachment …
Russia is responsible for the “Hot War” in Eastern Ukraine, the newly appointed U.S. special envoy to Ukraine said Sunday. Kurt Volker, who was appointed by the State Department earlier this month to negotiate an end to more than three years of fighting that has killed 10,000 people, visited Ukraine on the eve of telephone talks between its leader and Russian, German, and French counterparts. “This is not a frozen conflict, this is a hot war and it is an immediate crisis that we all need to address as quickly as possible,” Volker said in the city of Karamatorsk in …
Lucy Harris thinks Britain’s decision to leave the European Union is a dream come true. Nick Hopkinson thinks it’s a nightmare. The two Britons — a “leave” supporter and a “remainer” — represent the great divide in a country that stepped into the unknown just over a year ago, when British voters decided by 52 percent to 48 percent to end more than four decades of EU membership. They are also as uncertain as the rest of the country about what Brexit will look like, and even when it will happen. Since the shock referendum result, work on negotiating the divorce from …
The U.S. Congress is moving toward adoption of new sanctions against Russia for its interference in the 2016 election, but it was unclear Sunday whether President Donald Trump would sign the legislation. Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director, told CNN, “You’ve got to ask President Trump. My guess is he’s going to make that decision soon.” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told ABC News “the White House supports where the legislation is now.” Key Republican and Democratic lawmakers reached accord Saturday on the measure, which does not include changes Trump wanted to make it easier for …
Authorities in Madrid asked Spain’s anti-trust watchdog on Saturday to investigate whether Uber’s new low-cost airport transfer service constitutes unfair competition. The city council’s request follows the ride-hailing app’s return to the Spanish capital last year after the CNMC competition regulator called for the government to lift a ban on the U.S. company. The firm’s recently launched Uber Airport service offers a tariff of 15-29 euros for a ride between Madrid’s Barajas international airport and the city center. Standard taxi fares for the trip are fixed at 30 euros. “(Uber Airport) could violate several articles of the Law of Unfair …
Germany has warned Russia that breaches of sanctions including the relocation to Crimea of four gas turbines delivered to Russia by Siemens are straining political relations between the two countries, Bild am Sonntag reported Sunday. The newspaper quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying the German government had on several occasions brought to Moscow’s attention looming breaches of existing sanctions and unlawful behaviors by Russian companies. Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured Sigmar Gabriel, then German economy minister, at the time of delivery that the turbines were not for Crimea, the spokesman told the mass circulation paper. Gabriel is now …
Sergei Kislyak, Russia’s controversial ambassador to Washington, on Saturday departed from the United States as he ended his nine-year term as Moscow’s chief diplomat to its main global rival. The Russian Embassy said his departure was part of a scheduled reassignment for the 66-year-old ambassador. Russian state-run Interfax news agency quoted a source as saying Kislyak’s next move could be to become a member of Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council. A replacement has not been announced. The embassy said that Denis Goncha, listed as the minister-counselor and deputy chief of mission, would serve as charge d’affaires until a successor …