Month: January 2023

Analysts who study democratic and authoritarian regimes are taking special note of recent protest movements in Iran, China and Russia. They caution that the authoritarian regimes in these three countries are strong, and a certain set of circumstances must line up for dictators to fall. VOA’s Laurel Bowman has our story. …

Croatia on Sunday switched to the euro and entered Europe’s passport-free zone — two major milestones for the country after joining the EU nearly a decade ago. At midnight local time (2300 GMT Saturday) the Balkan nation bid farewell to its kuna currency and became the 20th member of the eurozone. It is the 27th …

Mourners lined up quietly in the gold-adorned Collegiate Church of Altoetting in Pope Benedict XVI’s Bavarian homeland to pay condolences to one of this German region’s most famous sons, who died Saturday. Parents held their children’s hands tightly, older couples and nuns looked on in sorrow as they waited for their turn to write down …

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s address to the nation usually is rather anodyne and backed with a soothing view of a snowy Kremlin. This year, with soldiers in the background, he lashed out at the West and Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine cast a long shadow as Russia entered 2023. Cities curtailed festivities and …

Even by the standards of Turkey’s and Greece’s frequently strained relations, it was a remarkable escalation. Speaking to youths in a Black Sea town, Turkey’s president directly threatened his country’s western neighbor: Unless the Greeks “stay calm,” he said, Turkey’s new ballistic missiles would hit their capital city. Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comment on an otherwise …