President Trump is making no promises to change his decision on pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, something that made for awkward moments on the first day of his trip to France. But, as VOA Europe Correspondent Luis Ramirez reports from Paris, Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron focused on finding common ground on areas like Syria and counterterrorism. …
Saturday marks the first anniversary of Turkey’s failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but with a post-coup crackdown firmly in place, there are concerns about a deepening political divide as the government marks the turmoil. Turkish media broadcasts of the tumultuous events of July 15, 2016 include file coverage of soldiers opening fire on unarmed people on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge and jets bombing parliament. More than 240 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others were injured when a faction of the military attempted to seize power. “The soldiers took out their rifles and started shooting. At that moment, I …
U.S. first lady Melania Trump took her own path through Paris on Thursday as she and President Donald Trump began a two-day visit to the French capital, starting at a children’s hospital. At Necker Hospital, Melania Trump visited a ward decorated with images from “The Little Prince,” an iconic French novel written and illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. She spoke briefly in French to six children, asking how they were and introducing herself before switching to a translator to ask how long they expected to stay. One of the children, a 14-year-old girl named Ysatis, was in a wheelchair and …
President Trump attends the Bastille day celebrations in Paris, which also commemorates 100 years since America joined World War I. …
The man convicted of killing Kremlin critic and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov in 2015 was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Russian court Thursday. Shooter Saur Dadayev was given 20 years and four accomplices were given between 11 and 19 years, judge Yury Zhitnikov told the packed courtroom. Prosecutors had initially asked for longer sentences for all of the defendants, including a life sentence for Dadayev. In June the jury ruled by majority against brothers Shagid and Anzor Gubashev, Ramzan Bakhayev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Zaur Dadayev, who was found guilty of shooting Nemtsov six times in …
Russia has significantly increased its military activity in the skies around Western European NATO members, according to a new report that warns the tactic could present a danger to civilian aircraft. NATO forces in Europe scrambled fighter jets to intercept approaching Russian aircraft — so-called Quick Reaction Alerts or QRA — close to 800 times last year. That’s almost double the figure from 2014, according to London-based analyst group The Henry Jackson Society. Its report calls for improved communication and clearer rules of engagement between Western European powers and Moscow to avert potentially dangerous incidents. The tactic was routine in …
Spanish companies will commit millions of pounds of investment to Britain on Thursday, the British government said, as it seeks to limit the economic impact of leaving the European Union. The investment plans, which include building trains and trams in Britain, coincide with a three-day state visit to Britain by Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia. King Felipe and British trade minister Liam Fox are due to address a U.K.-Spain business forum in London on Thursday, before the Spanish monarch holds bilateral talks with Prime Minister Theresa May at her Downing Street residence. Britain said the investments would include Spanish …
Maltese lawmakers voted on Wednesday to legalize same-sex marriage on the Roman Catholic Mediterranean island, fulfilling Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s campaign promise to make this the first law brought before parliament in his new term. The law, which drew cross-party support, removes words including “husband,” “wife,” “mother” and “father” from the Marriage Act and replaces them with the gender-neutral “spouse,” “parent who gave birth” and “parent who did not give birth.” Muscat said such wording was needed to avoid categorizing any member of society. He rejected accusations that this could spell the end to “Mother’s Day” or “Father’s Day,” saying …
Poland’s conservative ruling party has pushed a bill through the lower house of parliament that would give lawmakers a dominant role in appointing judges, a move that opposition parties and rights groups said would make jurists subject to political influence. The proposed law would change the makeup of the National Judiciary Council. At present, the council’s members are appointed by sitting judges, and it is considered nonpartisan. The pending bill would give the legislature the power to select 15 of the 25 members, and thus control the process of selecting, reviewing and nominating all new jurists. The lower house, or …
Russian state-funded Sputnik Radio has started its first broadcasts in the Washington, D.C., area, in an effort to reach more Americans with what it calls “alternative news.” Sputnik, which says it gives voice to minority views outside mainstream media and supports an anti-establishment agenda, broadcasts on the 105.5 W288BS frequency. Critics say Sputnik functions as part of a Kremlin propaganda machine aimed at undermining Western institutions. Sputnik Radio staffers say its broadcasts into the Washington area will allow Americans in the nation’s capital to listen to them and not just to what is being said about them. “People heard …
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe outlined a plan Wednesday to address the high number of migrants arriving in the country, but conceded he has no “magic wand” to resolve a situation that is larger than France and won’t go away any time soon. The plan calls for speeding up asylum claims, creating more housing for asylum-seekers and other measures to make life easier for people hoping to remain in France. A new law in the making would help enforce expulsions of those deemed to be in the country illegally. Addressing the carrot and stick approach at a news …
Donald Trump Jr. has released emails confirming/indicating that he met a Russian attorney last year in the belief that she was a Kremlin agent ready to hand over information damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president. VOA White House correspondent Peter Heinlein reports the emails have added to the Trump administration’s troubles as it tries to fend off charges of campaign collusion with Russia. …
Not all the action now underway at Wimbledon is on the tennis court. In back rooms on the tournament site, technology is taking the matches to a whole new level. It offers the most immersive view to tennis fans, whether they are in the stands, or following the play on screens around the world. VOA’s Faiza Elmasry has this report narrated by Faith Lapidus. …
Russia’s assessment of North Korea’s latest missile launch puzzles many U.S. experts, who say the Kremlin “mischaracterized” the nature of Pyongyang’s test, either as a result of technical flaws or possibly for political reasons. According to Russian state-run media, Moscow’s U.N. mission submitted a letter to the U.N. Secretariat that described the North Korean projectile fired on July 4 as an intermediate-range rocket. That assessment is at odds with U.S., South Korean and Japanese findings that classified the Hwasong-14 as a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). China has not yet commented details of the rocket involved. “A Voronezh-type radar station …
Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of instigating last year’s failed coup, says he has no plans to flee the United States and would accept extradition if Washington agrees to a request by Ankara to hand him over. In an interview in his gated compound in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, Gulen, 79, denied a Turkish government allegation from February that he was preparing to leave for Canada to avoid extradition. “The rumors aren’t true at all,” he told Reuters. “If the United States sees it appropriate to extradite me, I would leave [for Turkey],” he said, sitting in …
Someone in Romania thought he’d made a fair amount of money when he sold an old typewriter for 100 euros at a flea market. He was wrong. The “typewriter” was in fact a German Wehrmacht Enigma I, a World War II cipher machine, and the collector who bought it put it up for sale at the Bucharest auction house Artmark with a starting price of 9,000 euros ($10,300). On Tuesday, Artmark sold it to an online bidder for 45,000 euros. “The collector bought it from a flea market. He’s a cryptography professor and … he knew very well what he …
Austria’s foreign minister convened dozens of counterparts on Tuesday to overcome what he calls a “crisis of confidence” hobbling the work of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. A forum born of Cold War attempts to ease disputes through compromise, the OSCE must reach decisions by consensus. However, regional and international rivalries are preventing agreement on issues ranging from the Ukraine crisis to filling key positions in the organization. Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz is acting chair of the 57-nation organization tasked with reducing tensions in Europe. The major player at the meeting, however, is not …
British Prime Minister Theresa May said Tuesday that she has to win a “battle of ideas” in Parliament and the country after losing her majority in last month’s election. In a speech both conciliatory and defiant, May urged her political opponents to contribute their “views and ideas” to help shape government policy. May spoke nearly a year after taking office, and just over a month after she suffered a setback from voters in a June 8 snap election. She acknowledged that the election result was “not what I wanted,” but said she remained committed to building a fairer Britain as …
Pope Francis has added a fourth pathway to possible sainthood. Until now, gaining consideration for sainthood in the Catholic Church required martyrdom, living a life of heroic values or — less frequently invoked — having a clear saintly reputation. The Vatican announced Tuesday that the pope has issued a new law outlining a new route: people who lived a good Catholic life and who freely accepted a certain and premature death for the good of others. This is the first change to the main sainthood requirements in centuries. Under the new category, a miracle must be attributed to the candidate’s …
Lithuania’s Defense Ministry says that long-range Patriot missiles are being deployed for the first time in NATO military exercises in the Baltic republics. The Tobruq Legacy 2017 drill, which began Tuesday, involves troops and air defense systems from five NATO countries, including Britain, the U.S., Latvia, and Poland. The ministry says the deployment “demonstrates the steadfast U.S. commitment to the security of Lithuania and its high readiness to send strategic capabilities” to the Baltic Sea region. Lithuania, which borders the Kaliningrad exclave, the home of the Russian Baltic fleet, has deep concerns about Moscow’s military muscle in …