Month: May 2023

Voters in Turkey are heading to the polls Sunday for landmark parliamentary and presidential elections that are expected to be tightly contested and could be the biggest challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces in his two decades in power. The vote will either grant the increasingly authoritarian Erdogan a new five-year term in office …

Four sisters are building the first Hobbit-style village in southeast Europe in the green hills of central Bosnia, hoping to attract fans of “The Lord of the Rings” books and movies as well as sharing their childhood memories. “We have often held family gatherings on this hill and discussed what would be the best way …

The Group of Seven (G-7) rich nations is set to agree on establishing a new program to distribute vaccines to developing countries at next week’s summit of leaders, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper said Saturday. In addition to the G-7, G-20 nations such as India and international groups such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the …

Driving through the city of Hatay in Turkey is like touring a war zone in the months after a battle. Some apartment buildings are gutted, others are massive piles of rubble and tangled metal. “This city was a rose garden,” says Ali Kandenir, a 62-year-old truck driver, in a settlement of tents housing families displaced …

The family of a Frenchman released this week after he had been jailed by Iran said on Saturday he was “relieved” to be back in France. On Friday, Benjamin Briere, whose ordeal in Iran lasted three years, and French-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan, held since October, were freed from their prison in the northeastern city of …

New developments: Germany says it is preparing a new weapons package for Ukraine worth $3 billion, reportedly the nation’s largest package since Russia invaded its neighbor last year. Russia says its forces launched attacks on Ukrainian troops and military facilities on front lines in Kupyansk, Bundman and western Bakhmut. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in …

Sprinkle the sequins and pump up the volume: The 67th Eurovision Song Contest reaches its climax on Saturday with a grand final broadcast live from Liverpool. There will be catchy choruses, a kaleidoscope of costumes and tributes to the spirit of Ukraine in a competition that for seven decades has captured the changing zeitgeist of …

A senior adviser to the Biden administration and other experts say that deepening cooperation between China and Russia could overturn decades of stable international nuclear arms control. Pranay Vaddi, the U.S. National Security Council’s senior director for arms control, said that China and Russia have been deepening cooperation on key technologies for nuclear weapons while …

Troops from Azerbaijan and Armenia exchanged fire with weapons including mortars and drones on their joint border Friday, killing one soldier from each side two days before top-level talks on a long-term peace deal.  It was the second straight day of exchanges of fire ahead of Sunday’s planned meeting in Brussels between Armenian Prime Minister …

Experts from the United States and several other countries will begin working with Ukrainian counterparts within weeks to collect evidence and identify individuals involved in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine who can be prosecuted for the crime of aggression, a U.S. diplomat told VOA. VOA was told this week that the work, to be conducted by …

European Union ministers on Friday backed reducing the bloc’s economic dependence on China but will now have to figure out how to make that a reality, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. Borrell said foreign ministers gave broad backing to a plan to adjust policy on China to place greater emphasis on its role as …

Serbia’s populist leader has sharply denounced opposition plans to block a key bridge and motorway in Belgrade on Friday to press their demands in the wake of last week’s mass shootings in the Balkan country that left 17 people dead, including many children. President Aleksandar Vucic said that the planned opposition protest later on Friday …