Beijing — China confirmed on Friday that it had sentenced a British national in 2022 to five years in jail for spying. It was its first official comment of a case that had gone unreported until this week. A Beijing court in 2022 “sentenced in the first instance the British defendant … to five years in prison for the crime of illegally obtaining intelligence for overseas actors,” foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. After an appeal, he added, the case was upheld in September. The Wall Street Journal first broke news of the case of Ian Stones on Thursday. Citing his …
LONDON — An American scientist has sparked a trans-Atlantic tempest in a teapot by offering Britain advice on its favorite hot beverage. Bryn Mawr College chemistry professor Michelle Francl says one of the keys to a perfect cup of tea is a pinch of salt. The tip is included in Francl’s book Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea, published Wednesday by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Not since the Boston Tea Party has mixing tea with salt water roiled the Anglo-American relationship so much. The salt suggestion drew howls of outrage from tea lovers in Britain, where popular stereotype sees Americans as …
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Israel is set to hear Friday whether the United Nations’ top court will order it to end its military offensive in Gaza in a provisional ruling while the panel hears a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide. The International Court of Justice’s president, Joan E. Donoghue, will read out the highly anticipated decision taken by a panel of 17 judges. The ruling comes at an early stage in South Africa’s case alleging that Israel’s military action in its war with Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide. Israel vehemently rejects the accusation and has asked …
washington — Alsu Kurmasheva, an American journalist jailed in Russia on charges that press freedom groups say are politically motivated and baseless, marked 100 days in detention on Thursday, as her employer and family renewed calls for her immediate release. “To be honest, it’s all becoming slowly but surely less bearable,” Kurmasheva wrote in a January 13 letter. Kurmasheva is a longtime Prague-based editor at the Tatar-Bashkir service of VOA’s sister outlet, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A dual U.S.-Russian national, Kurmasheva traveled to Russia in May 2023 for a family emergency. Her passports were confiscated when she tried to leave the …
The conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are fueling Turkey’s interest in a new China-Europe trade route known as the Middle Corridor. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, Turkey’s support for the corridor is growing as Ankara makes a big turnaround in its previously frosty relations with Beijing. Dorian Jones reports. …
Baku, Azerbaijan — Efforts to free investigative journalist Hafiz Babali from prison in Azerbaijan failed last week when the Baku Court of Appeal denied a motion to release him to house arrest. Babali, an editor at the independent Turan News Agency, was detained on December 13 on charges of “smuggling foreign currency” and ordered to be held in pretrial detention for three months. His lawyer, Rasul Jafarov, told VOA that Babali denies the accusations and believes the case against him is related to his investigative journalism. Babali is editor of Turan’s economy section. Since late 2023, accusations of …
Tallinn, Estonia — A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years in prison for a cafe blast that killed a prominent pro-war blogger after he was given a bust of himself that later exploded. In a separate proceeding, a Moscow court convicted a former leader of separatist rebels in Ukraine who called President Vladimir Putin a coward of extremism and sentenced him to four years. Darya Trepova, 26, was convicted by a court in St. Petersburg of carrying out a terrorist attack, illegal trafficking of explosive devices and forging documents in the April 2 blast at the cafe …
LONDON/WASHINGTON — Britain and the United States on Thursday said they had sanctioned four senior Houthi officials for their roles in supporting or directing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping and stoked fears of global inflation. They have also deepened concern that fallout from the Israel-Hamas war could destabilize the Middle East. Those sanctioned were Houthi Defense Minister Mohamed Nasser al-Atifi, Commander of Houthi Naval Forces Muhammad Fadl Abd Al-Nabi, coastal defense forces chief Muhammad Ali al-Qadiri and Muhammed Ahmad al-Talibi, who the two governments described as the Houthi forces director of …
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal has asked Russia to send back hundreds of Nepali nationals who were recruited to fight against Ukraine and repatriate the bodies of those who died in the conflict, Nepal’s top diplomat said Thursday. The Russian army is estimated to have recruited more than 200 Nepali nationals to fight in Ukraine and at least 14 of them have died there, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We have asked Russia to immediately stop the recruitment of Nepali nationals in their army, immediately return those who are already serving in the …
washington — Depending on what kinds of weapons technology Moscow transfers to Pyongyang, the United States and South Korea may need to update their measures for dealing with North Korean threats, said analysts. John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesman, said the U.S. is watching “very closely” as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pursues advanced military capabilities from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kirby said at a press briefing on Tuesday that Kim’s ability to benefit from this relationship is concerning, but the U.S. and South Korean defensive posture on the Korean Peninsula “is appropriate to the risk.” Since …
kyiv, ukraine — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday that he’s worried that the war in Ukraine has been forgotten as the country prepares to mark two years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In an interview, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi also told The Associated Press it was important to remind the international community that Ukrainians were living through a brutal war despite other global crises taking the spotlight. Speaking at the end of a weeklong visit to Ukraine, Grandi said that the invasion launched by Moscow on Feb. 24, 2022, continues devastating civilians by leaving houses …
washington — As Ukrainian forces struggle to fend off Russia’s invasion with dwindling supplies of rockets and other munitions, some supporters are arguing that there is more the Biden administration could do to re-arm them without waiting for long-delayed congressional approval. The administration’s request for $61.4 billion in new military assistance is tied up in a partisan battle in Congress, where Republicans have linked it to demands for a package of tough new restrictions on migrants and asylum-seekers at America’s southern border. But some Ukraine advocates point out that the administration still has previously approved authority to ship $4.2 billion worth …
Ankara — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he and Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi agreed at a meeting on Wednesday on the need to avoid steps that could further threaten Middle East stability three months into the Gaza war. Turkey, which supports a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has harshly criticized Israel for its attacks on Gaza, called for an immediate cease-fire, and backed legal steps for Israel to be tried for genocide. Unlike its Western allies and some Arab nations, NATO member Turkey does not consider the Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel led …
NEW YORK — British billionaire Joe Lewis, whose family trust owns the Tottenham Hotspur soccer club, pleaded guilty Wednesday to insider trading and conspiracy charges in New York. The 86-year-old businessman entered the plea in Manhattan federal court six months after he was charged in the case. He had been free on $300 million bail, with a yacht and private plane serving as collateral. Lewis did not speak as he left court, and he was shielded from photographers by his aides, a lawyer and an umbrella. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the plea deal includes the largest financial penalty for insider …
BRUSSELS — The European Union on Wednesday unveiled plans to strengthen the bloc’s economic security, including measures to protect sensitive technology from falling into the hands of geopolitical rivals such as China. Brussels has bolstered its armory of trade restrictions to tackle what it deems to be risks to European economic security, following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and global trade tensions. The fallout from the war in Ukraine hit Europe particularly hard, forcing the bloc to find alternative energy sources. Now, it wants to avoid a similar over-reliance on China, which dominates in green technology production and critical raw materials. On …
London — Russia’s heavy losses in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine mean that Moscow now sees its battlefield nuclear weapons as increasingly important in deterring and defeating NATO, according to a new report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which warns that the West must wake up to the rising nuclear threat. On February 24, 2022, as the first tanks rolled over the Ukrainian border at the outset of the invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a televised address warning the world of “consequences you have never faced in your history” if anyone tried to stop Russia, a threat …