Author: Fworld

Russian leader Vladimir Putin travels to Saudi Arabia, a traditional U.S. ally, Monday, offering to act as a peacemaker between Riyadh and Tehran in a diplomatic offensive aimed at balancing Moscow’s relations across the Middle East.His second aim, say analysts, is to needle Washington. While courting Iran, Russia’s ally in Syria, the Kremlin has also …

Humanitarian groups on Sunday said they have rescued 74 migrants on a rubber boat in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya while Tunisian authorities reported blocking a smuggling boat carrying 110 migrants from setting off for Italy.Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee said their Ocean Viking ship rescued the migrants Sunday morning about …

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to brief his Cabinet on the progress of last-minute Brexit talks with the European Union.Britain is due to leave the 28-nation bloc on Oct. 31, and attempts to find a deal have foundered over plans for the border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland.   …

Poles are voting Sunday in a parliamentary election that the ruling party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski is favored to win easily, buoyed by the popularity of its social conservatism and generous social spending policies that have reduced poverty.Law and Justice is the first party since the fall of communism to break with the austerity of previous …

Britain remains a long way from agreeing on a final Brexit deal and the next few days will be critical if it is to reach departure terms with the European Union, a Downing Street source said Saturday.Negotiators for Britain and the EU entered intense talks over the weekend to see if they can break the …

Turkey’s military said it captured a key Syrian border town under heavy bombardment Saturday in its most significant gain since an offensive against Kurdish fighters began four days ago, with no sign of relenting despite mounting international criticism.Turkish troops entered central Ras al-Ayn, according to Turkey’s Defense Ministry and a war monitor group. The ministry …

Ali Javanmardi from VOA’s Persian Service contributed to this report from Irbil.The World Food Program says more than 100,000 people have been displaced so far by the Turkish invasion of northern Syria.The agency said those displaced have come from the towns of Ras al-Ayn and Tal Abyad.Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces deny that Turkish forces have …

The 5-year-old daughter of a British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran since 2016 has arrived back in Britain, her father said Friday, after making the “bittersweet” decision to bring her home.Gabriella Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been staying with relatives in Iran since her mother Nazanin’s detention on sedition charges, visiting her in jail each week.Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, stated …

VOA’s Dzeilana Pecanin and Ivana Kostantinovic contributed to this report.Almost immediately after Polish author Olga Tokarczuk and Austria’s Peter Handke were awarded the Nobel Literature Prize, reactions started to pour in, lamenting Handke’s positions about war crimes in the Balkans.Handke won the 2019 prize for “an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery …

Pakistan’s foreign minister says Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate will arrive in the capital, Islamabad, on a four-day visit next week.Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Friday the royal couple, known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will arrive in Pakistan on Oct. 14.He said the visit will further improve ties between Pakistan and …

Henry Ridgwell contributed to this report from Kyiv. WHITE HOUSE — The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine arrived on Capitol Hill Friday morning to testify privately before House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, despite previous efforts by the State Department to block officials from being deposed.Trump recalled Marie Yovanovitch from her …

The Pentagon on Friday urged Turkey to halt its military incursion into Syria, saying it threatens progress in combating the Islamic State group and risks harm to U.S. troops.It was the Pentagon’s most explicit criticism of the Turkish operation, which began Wednesday as a campaign against a Syrian Kurd-led militia that has partnered with U.S. …

U.S. President Donald Trump says the U.S. mission of defeating Islamic State in Syria is accomplished and that he plans to keep Turkey in line through economy and not military power. Trump told reporters Thursday that there are no U.S. combat forces in Syria and he does not think Americans would want to send thousands …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is threatening to “open the gates” to millions of refugees to enter Europe as criticism grows over Turkey’s ongoing military operation against a Syrian Kurdish militia.”Hey, European Union! Pull yourself together,” Erdogan said at a meeting of party supporters Thursday. “I repeat it: If you try to describe our operation …

The Swedish Academy’s decision to bestow the 2018 Nobel Prize in literature on Polish author Olga Tokarczuk has given a rare morale boost to liberal Poles only three days before a national election that is likely to be won by the country’s right-wing populist party.Tokarczuk, 57, is a literary celebrity in Poland, whose reputation has …

Thousands of people have watched the video uploaded by a gunman who killed two people Wednesday near a synagogue in Halle, Germany.The shooter livestreamed the attack for 35 minutes on the Amazon-owned gaming site Twitch.Twitch said only 5 people watched it live but subsequent recordings were viewed by another 2,200 people before the video was …

Protesters in New York City brought traffic to a standstill in the city’s busiest hub and an activist in London climbed atop a plane as climate change demonstrators entered the fourth day of rallies around the world.Protesters transported a green boat on a trailer into Times Square and then sat down and refused police orders …

The U.S. military has conducted an aerial survey of Greenland to assess the vast arctic island’s mineral potential as part of agreement between the two governments, a top U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday.The memorandum of understanding for cooperating on developing the mineral sector there was inked in June before a diplomatic flap between the United …

Two associates of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani have been arrested on federal charges of making illegal contributions to U.S. political campaigns.Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen, and Igor Fruman, a Belarus-born U.S. citizen, were detained late Wednesday in Virginia, a law enforcement official said.     The two men are expected to …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused his predecessor on Thursday of fomenting protests to derail a peace process for the country’s separatist-held east and said talks with Russia were the only way to end the five-year war there.Zelenskiy told reporters that Petro Poroshenko, the incumbent leader he defeated in April, was “pushing” people to oppose the …

Turkish ground forces pressed their advance against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria on Thursday, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said, launching airstrikes and unleashing artillery shelling on Syrian towns and villages the length of its border.The Turkish invasion, now in its second day, has been widely condemned around the world. In northern Syria, residents of the border …

National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin and VOA’s Kurdish and Turkish Services contributed to this report.The United Nations Security Council is set to meet Thursday to discuss the military operation in northeastern Syria that Turkey says is a “measured and responsible” anti-terror operation, while the mainly Kurdish fighters in the region appeal for help to “save …

Russia’s economic forecast is not looking good, with the central bank last month lowering its growth projections – though officials maintain the country is not sliding into a recession.  But in Russia’s far east, thousands of kilometers and several time zones away from Moscow, the effects of the economic downturn are obvious.  On the shores …

Ukraine’s president appears to be playing to both sides of the American political divide, hedging his bets to ensure U.S. financial and military aid keeps flowing no matter who wins next year’s election.First, a point for U.S. President Donald Trump’s team: Ukraine’s top prosecutor agreed to revisit past investigations into a gas company executive who …

The European Union’s 2019 cybercrime report said the number of online attacks is going down but criminals are targeting more data and profits.The European Union’s law enforcement agency developed the report that shows that ransomware remains the top cybercrime threat. Ransomware attacks block access to vital data and are described as being targeted, more profitable …

Turkey is facing calls for restraint by its Western allies as well as Russia and Iran after Ankara’s forces launched a military offensive against a Syrian Kurdish militia Wednesday.”[Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan cannot step back. He was under so much public pressure,” said Huseyin Bagci, an international relations professor with Ankara’s Middle East Technical …