Ukraine has appealed for its European allies to urgently step up weapons supplies as it struggles to hold ground against invading Russian forces. As Henry Ridgwell reports, Germany has called for allies to provide more air defense systems, as Russian drones and missiles rain down on Ukrainian cities. …
Paris, France — French authorities Friday detained a man suspected of entering the Iranian consulate in Paris and falsely claiming to be armed with an explosive vest, police and prosecutors said. No explosives or arms were found on the man or the premises after he surrendered to police following the incident. The man, born in 1963 in Iran, had been convicted for setting fire to tires in front of the entrance of the Iranian embassy in Paris in 2023, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Police arrested the suspect, who has not been named, when he left the consulate of his own …
In Ukraine, more than 200 libraries have been destroyed and about 400 damaged since Russia launched its war, say Ukrainian officials. Lesia Bakalets reports from Kyiv on how librarians are trying to ensure libraries survive the war. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets …
london — European nations are struggling to agree on providing urgently needed weapons to Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces struggle to hold ground against invading Russian forces. Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure faced waves of drone and missile attacks from Russia again on Friday, with at least eight people killed, including two children, in an attack in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. An attack on the city of Chernihiv on Wednesday killed at least 13 people. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for NATO allies to provide more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine following this week’s two-day European Union Special Council meeting …
CORTE, CORSICA — The colorful graffiti sprinkled across this mountain town offers one clue about some political sentiments here. “Liberty for Stephanu Ori,” is plastered on one peeling wall, referring to a Corsican militant arrested last month. Another pays tribute to nationalist Yvan Colonna, killed in jail where he was serving time for the assassination of a top French official. Still others offer the shorthand call — AFF — for French to leave the island. Perched on a hill of rugged northern Corsica, Corte is the undisputed cultural and political heart of this French Mediterranean island, which has long fought for …
LONDON — Right-wing politicians in Europe called for an end to Western support for Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders, as hundreds of people gathered in Brussels this week for the European National Conservatism Conference, which ended Wednesday. An effort by the Brussels mayor to shut down the conference on security grounds prompted accusations of an assault on the right to free speech. Orban speech Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban topped the list of speakers at the event. In his sights were familiar foes: the European Union, immigration and multiculturalism. “I think that nations have the right to decide about …
Right-wing politicians, academics and campaigners from across Europe gathered in Brussels this week for a two-day National Conservatism Conference that organizers said was aimed at “preserving the nation-state in Europe.” As Henry Ridgwell reports, an effort by the Brussels mayor to shut down the conference prompted accusations of an assault on the right to free speech. …
BERLIN — Two German-Russian men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of espionage, one of them accused of agreeing to carry out attacks on potential targets including U.S. military facilities in hopes of sabotaging aid for Ukraine, prosecutors said Thursday. The two, identified only as Dieter S. and Alexander J. in line with German privacy rules, were arrested Wednesday in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth, federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors allege Dieter S. had been discussing possible acts of sabotage in Germany with a person linked to Russian intelligence since October, and that the main aim was to undermine military support …
LONDON — Patients in the U.K. and European Union are facing shortages of vital medicines such as antibiotics and epilepsy medication, research published Thursday found. The report by Britain’s Nuffield Trust think-tank found the situation had become a “new normal” in the U.K. and was “also having a serious impact in EU countries.” Mark Dayan, Brexit program lead at the Nuffield Trust think tank, said Britain’s decision to leave the European Union had not caused U.K. supply problems but had exacerbated them. “We know many of the problems are global and relate to fragile chains of imports from Asia, squeezed by …
TBILISI, GEORGIA — Georgia’s parliament gave initial approval on Wednesday to a bill on “foreign agents” that the European Union said risked blocking the country’s path to membership and triggered protests for a third straight night. The fate of the bill is widely seen as a test of whether Georgia, 33 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, intends to pursue a path of integration with the West or move closer toward Russia. Critics compare the bill to a law that Russia has used extensively to crack down on dissent. As many as 10,000 opponents of the bill gathered outside …
washington — An American journalist jailed in Russia will mark six months behind bars on Thursday over charges that press freedom groups have condemned as bogus and politically motivated. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor at the Tatar-Bashkir Service of VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was arrested on October 18, 2023, and has been held in pretrial detention since then. The dual U.S.-Russian national stands accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent” and spreading what Moscow views as false information about the Russian military. Kurmasheva and her employer reject the charges against her, which carry a combined sentence of …
Twenty-five years ago this week, Serbian forces killed 53 Albanians in the Kosovar village of Poklek, making it one of the worst massacres of the war in Kosovo. Today, some survivors still seek justice for their families. VOA’s Keida Kostreci reports. Camera: Burim Goxhuli, Bujar Sylejmani. …
SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft said on Wednesday that Russian online campaigns to influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election kicked into gear over the past 45 days, but at a slower pace than in past elections. Russia-linked accounts are disseminating divisive content aimed at U.S. audiences, including criticizing American support of Ukraine in its war with Russia, researchers at the tech giant said in a report. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment, but the Kremlin said last month it would not meddle in the November U.S. election. It also dismissed U.S. allegations that it orchestrated …