Month: November 2023

Acclaimed American artist Kehinde Wiley — known for portraying former US president Barack Obama and U.S. pop star Michael Jackson — has turned his brush to Africa. His “A Maze of Power” exhibit in Paris, portrays 11 former and current African presidents, exploring power through the lens of historical European portrait painting. Lisa Bryant went …

National and regional authorities in Spain signed an agreement Monday to invest 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in areas around the treasured national park of Donana in a bid to stop the park from drying up. Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera said the plan was aimed at encouraging farmers to stop cultivating crops that rely …

German missionary Father Hans Joachim Lohre who was kidnapped in Mali’s capital Bamako last year has been freed by his captor, a church official told Reuters on Sunday. Patient Nshombo of the Missionaries for Africa told Reuters by telephone that Lohre had been released. “Yes, he has been freed, but we have to wait for …

Greek police have arrested six people who they say are members of a large human trafficking gang that violently extorted money from migrants to assist them in crossing into neighboring Albania and travel to European Union countries to the north. The six suspects — a Syrian, a Palestinian and four Iraqis — were arrested Saturday …

Russia launched its largest drone strike to date on Ukraine over the weekend. Kyiv says it destroyed all but one, but falling debris caused several injuries and damaged buildings. A top U.N. official called for continued solidarity with Ukraine. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …

Russia has added the spokesperson of U.S. tech giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to a wanted list, according to an online database maintained by the country’s interior ministry. Russian state agency Tass and independent news outlet Mediazona first reported on Andy Stone’s inclusion on the list Sunday, weeks after Russian authorities in October …

Ten of thousands of people participated in a march against antisemitism in London on Sunday protesting a rise in hate crimes against Jews since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among the estimated 60,000 demonstrators in the first march …

The Ukrainian military destroyed eight of nine attack drones launched overnight by Russia, the air force said Sunday, a day after what Ukrainian officials said had been Russia’s largest drone attack of the war. There were no immediate reports of damage or about where the remaining drone had struck. Kyiv was rocked Saturday by Russia’s …

Pope Francis, suffering from a “lung inflammation,” appeared seated in the chapel of his residence instead of in St. Peter’s Square while an aide read the pontiff’s Sunday message.  The 86-year-old pope, wearing his traditional white robes and with a bandage on his right hand, remained seated next to the aide during the reading.   …

The British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence update on Ukraine that Russia’s recent transport movements indicate that Russia has “likely moved” its strategic air defense systems from its Baltic coast enclave of Kaliningrad. This move from Kaliningrad which is surrounded on three sides by NATO member states highlights “the overstretch the war has …

As he sits in Geneva, Michel Dreifuss does not feel all that far away from the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza. The ripples are rolling through Europe and upending assumptions both global and intimate — including those about his personal safety as a Jew. “Yesterday I bought …

Pepe’s meal is so good he licks the plate clean. In any other Rome establishment, slobbering on one’s chicken and mashed potato would be frowned upon — but this is “Fiuto”, Italy’s first dogs’ restaurant. The lighting is soft, lounge music plays in the background, attentive staff show people and pets to their tables and …

A Ukrainian soldier who was posthumously awarded a medal after a widely shared video showed him declaring “Glory to Ukraine” before apparently being shot dead, was commemorated with a statue in his northern hometown Saturday.  The video shared in March showed a man the military later named as Oleksandr Matsievskiy, a sniper with a unit …

One of the world’s largest icebergs is drifting beyond Antarctic waters after being grounded for more than three decades, according to the British Antarctic Survey.  The iceberg, known as A23a, split from the Antarctic’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986. But it became stuck to the ocean floor and had remained for many years in the …

Tens of thousands of people turned out on central London’s streets on Saturday for a pro-Palestinian march calling for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.  At least five people were arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred, police said.  The National March for Palestine was the latest of several huge protests staged in the British capital …

Tens of thousands took to the streets of Italy’s main cities Saturday to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, just as an Italian man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend was extradited from Germany. The slaying of 22-year-old university student Giulia Cecchettin, allegedly at the hands of her former boyfriend, sparked outrage …