Protests in France have grown more violent after the alleged rape of a 22-year-old man by police using a baton. Four officers are under investigation, but that hasn’t calmed anger over what critics say is a broader problem of police brutality and racism. From the Paris suburb of Bobigny, Lisa Bryant takes a look at old problems and new hopes. …
The Trump administration says it cannot confirm that an Iranian general barred from foreign travel by the U.N. Security Council visited Russia this week, despite a prominent U.S. congressman and news outlet saying he had made the trip. In an emailed response to a VOA Persian query Friday, a U.S. State Department official who requested anonymity said the administration is aware of media reports about recent travel to Russia by General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the special operations Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). “We’re not in a position to confirm the travel ourselves at this time,” …
Republican Sen. John McCain delivered a withering critique of President Donald Trump in a speech Friday that highlighted fractures within the GOP as the new administration struggles to overcome a chaotic start. Speaking in Germany at the Munich Security Conference, McCain didn’t mention the president’s name, according to the prepared text, while he lamented a shift in the United States and Europe away from the “universal values” that forged the Western alliance seven decades ago. McCain is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Trump has repeatedly questioned the value of NATO, calling the military pact obsolete, and sought instead …
Emails accusing German soldiers stationed in Lithuania of rape were sent this week to local news outlets, the latest incident in what NATO officials say is a Russian “fake news” campaign aimed at eroding public support for the military alliance. The emails, which were sent to several Lithuanian media outlets on February 14, claimed German soldiers based in the Baltic state had raped an underage Lithuanian girl. Some Lithuanian outlets reported the claim, which was dismissed by Lithuanian police, who are trying to track the internet protocol address involved in the distribution of the allegation. “To our knowledge, Lithuanian police …
A seven-page document made public by WikiLeaks purports to show that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency ordered its spies to gather information on the 2012 French presidential election. The document , which WikiLeaks published late Thursday and described as “tasking orders,” suggest that American spies wanted an insider’s take on the race, including details of party funding, internal rivalries and future attitudes toward the United States. Although WikiLeaks’ publication of a purportedly secret CIA document was striking, the orders seemed to represent standard intelligence-gathering. French media, which are consumed with the upcoming electoral contest only two months …
“Hello, this is New York calling.” The words, in Russian, hit Russian airwaves on February 17, 1947 — the first Russian broadcast of the Voice of America. The broadcasts were an integral part of the United States’ propaganda campaign against the Soviet Union, which was seen as the new threat once World War II was over in 1945. VOA, which began during the war as a way to convey American news and policies to occupied areas, told its Russian listeners it was meant to “give listeners in the USSR a picture of life in America.” Like its other services, VOA’s …
Hungarian political movement Momentum has collected more than 200,000 signatures on a petition against Budapest’s 2024 Olympics bid, raising the prospect of a referendum, daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet reported on Friday. A Momentum spokesman declined comment to Reuters on the report, although they have scheduled a news conference for 1230 GMT on Friday, while spokespersons for both the government and bid organizers also opted against making statements. Momentum, launched by a group of students born around 1989 when communism collapsed in Hungary, will finish collecting signatures at the conclusion of a month-long campaign later on Friday and submit them to …
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visits Munich and Brussels during the next few days, his first overseas trip since being sworn into office last month. A senior White House foreign policy advisor says the trip is “an opportunity for the vice president to reassure our allies and our partners and also to lay out our U.S. priorities for the transatlantic relationship on behalf of” U.S. President Donald Trump. European leaders have been concerned about the Trump presidency after the U.S. president’s repeated expressions of admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump’s description of NATO last month as “obsolete.” Pence …
Russia reacted defensively and cautiously after the resignation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, considered among the most Kremlin-friendly in the new administration.Trump’s tougher stance on Crimea this week also ruffled feathers in Russia.VOA’s Moscow correspondent Daniel Schearf reports. …
A senior U.N. official warns Syrian civilians will starve to death unless the United States and Russia pressure the Syrian government and armed opposition to allow humanitarian aid to reach hundreds of thousands of people trapped in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. The special advisor to the U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, Jan Egeland, says people already are dying. In recent days, he says five people in the besieged Syrian cities of Medaya and Kefraya have died because the United Nations has been unable to evacuate them to receive urgent medical treatment. He says people in the two towns as well …
The U.N. human rights office is appealing for $253 million to pay for projects to stop growing xenophobia, racial and religious discrimination and other violations from spreading around the world. Two-hundred-and-53 million dollars may sound like a lot of money and the appeal is the most ambitious ever launched by the U.N. human rights office; but, this money represents only 3 percent of the overall U.N. budget. Human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the sum requested is only a pittance, considering human rights is one of the three pillars of the United Nations, along with peace and security. She told …
United States Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis on Thursday ruled out any military collaboration between the US and Russia, saying that the conditions just aren’t correct “right now.” “We are not in a position right now to collaborate on a military level. But our political leaders will engage and try to find common ground,” Mattis said during a news conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Before military cooperation takes place, Russia must “prove itself” able to comply with international law, Mattis said. WATCH: Mattis on Russia-US relations Mattis’ comments come after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow is …
Wrapped up in grey blankets, migrant boys, some as young as 10, warm themselves by a fire in a large, abandoned warehouse near the main railway station in Serbia’s capital Belgrade. Hungry, destitute and cold, they are often visited by Serbian men who offer to pay them for sex – knowing some are so desperate that they will do anything to survive. “They come here and target the foolish ones,” said Navid, a 16-year-old from Afghanistan, who did not wish to use his real name like other child migrants interviewed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “They ask how much money …
Portuguese prosecutors are bringing charges of corruption, money-laundering and forgery against Angolan Vice President Manuel Vicente as part of an investigation in Lisbon, Portugal’s attorney general’s office said Thursday. Vicente is suspected of bribing a Portuguese magistrate to favor him in two investigations, a statement said. It said Vicente was at the time of the alleged crimes the head of Angolan state oil company Sonangol. The magistrate, Vicente’s lawyer, and his representative in Portugal are also accused in the case, called Operation Fizz. The attorney general’s office said it would inform Vicente of the charges via Angolan …
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence heads to Europe this week to meet with allies seeking clarity on the Trump administration’s foreign policy strategy and its stance toward Russia after the resignation of the top White House national security aide. Pence, who has hewn more closely to Republican orthodoxy than his boss President Donald Trump, will attend the Munich Security Conference this weekend and will visit Brussels. The trip comes as turmoil swirls within the administration following the resignation of Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, on Monday. Flynn, who championed closer ties to Russia, stepped down after reports he had …
Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny did not fall into despair after a court in Kirov on February 8 upheld his guilty verdict in the Kirovles embezzlement case. The court’s ruling, which almost to the letter reiterated the verdict reached in a 2013 trial, has created a formal barrier to Navalny registering as a candidate in Russia’s presidential election, to be held in March 2018, given that Russian law bars those convicted of grave crimes from running for office. Navalny was found guilty of embezzlement and received a five-year suspended jail sentence in the Kirovles case, which he …
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed into law constitutional amendments aimed at giving him sweeping new powers under an executive presidency. The reforms are deeply divisive, with supporters saying they will strengthen democracy, while critics warn of dictatorship. Turks will decide in a referendum set for April 16. Doubts over its fairness are growing among opponents of the reforms, who claim a crackdown against them already has started. Leading right-wing politician Meral Aksener recently spoke at a rally to oppose the presidential constitutional reforms. The meeting ended up being held in darkness after the electricity to the venue …
The largest university in Kosovo has received a threat warning of attacks from Islamic State (IS), university officials said Wednesday. A threatening letter, allegedly signed by IS, was found at the campus as the University of Pristina as students and teachers prepared to mark its 47th anniversary. The letter was found in the ceremony hall where the anniversary celebration was supposed to take place, authorities said. After receiving the threat, school officials changed the venue for the annual celebration to another campus location. “When our staff went to make the final preparations, they found a letter with an inscription [text] …
Several thousand people have joined renewed protests in Belgrade over the shady demolition last year in an area marked for a United Arab Emirates-financed real estate project. No one has been held responsible for the nighttime destruction last April of a block of houses by a group of masked men despite repeated promises to the contrary by the government. Carrying anti-government banners and blowing whistles, protesters marched Wednesday through central Belgrade blocking traffic. Participants have demanded the resignation of mayor Sinisa Mali. UAE investors have been building a Dubai-style business and residential complex in the run-down urban area …
The leadership of Serbia’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) decided on Tuesday to nominate Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic as a candidate for the presidency. The presidential election is tentatively expected in April and will pit the SNS’s candidate against those from a fragmented and bickering opposition. While the president’s role is largely ceremonial, if he also controls the parliamentary majority he could then have huge sway over the government and a new prime minister. In a live interview with state RTS TV, Vucic said he would accept the nomination to secure stability and continuity for the country, which wants to …