Author: Fworld

In Turkey, new controls regulating internet broadcasting have come into force. The government says all broadcasters need to abide by the same rules, but critics claim the new measures are an attempt to silence the last platform for independent journalism. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

U.S. President Donald Trump denies that the United States has abandoned Kurds in Syria ahead of Turkey’s planned invasion on Kurdish-held territories in northern Syria. In a tweet Tuesday, Trump said that “any unforced and unnecessary fighting by Turkey will be devastating to their economy.” But Syrian Kurdish fighters who were crucial in an offensive …

The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has issued a bipartisan report that calls on the U.S. government and private industry to prevent social media sites from being used to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, as they were in 2016.The report, released Tuesday after more than two years of investigating foreign electoral meddling, found the Kremlin-backed …

The International Organization for Migration reports fatalities from a shipwreck Monday off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa has pushed the migrant death toll on the Mediterranean Sea this year to 1071.The boat, which capsized seven miles from the coast of Lampedusa, reportedly departed from Tunisia with between 50 and 55 people aboard.  …

Steve Herman at the White House, Carla Babb at the Pentagon and Nike Ching at the State Department contributed to this report.Turkish military officials say their troops are ready to launch a long-planned incursion into Syria to take out Kurdish forces branded by Ankara as terrorists, but viewed by much of the West as key …

A Moscow court has ruled to extend the house arrest of U.S. investor Michael Calvey until January 13.The Moscow City Court announced the ruling on Tuesday, five days before a previous extension of Calvey’s house arrest was to expire.Calvey and several other executives and employees of the Russian-based private-equity group Baring Vostok were detained in …

France has delivered to India its first Rafale fighter jet from a series of 36 aircraft purchased in a multi-billion dollar deal in 2016.Defense Minister Florence Parly and her Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, who is on a three-day visit to France, attended a ceremony Tuesday at aircraft maker Dassault Aviation facility in Merignac, southwestern France.The …

Russia in the last school year enacted a law establishing Russian as the main language at all schools.  The legislation is raising concern among ethnic minorities in far-flung republics who fear the change is helping promote the gradual destruction of their cultures.  For VOA, Ricardo Marquina reports from the Russian republic of Buryatia. VOA’s Jim …

It was by Vladimir Putin’s swashbuckling standards all rather low-key. There was no riding horses bare-chested or allegedly saving a television crew by shooting a tranquilizer dart at a wild tiger which obligingly appeared from out of nowhere in the woods.No stripping to the waist to wade deep in the waters of mountain rivers to …

The White House announced Sunday that U.S. troops will pull out of northern Syria as Turkey moves forward with a military offensive. The decision has led to condemnations from Congress, clarification from the Pentagon and fear from local allies. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports. …

Russian President Vladimir Putin spent his pre-birthday weekend hiking the mountains of southern Siberia with his defense minister.Putin, who turned 67 on Monday, can be seen walking up steep hills and picking wild mushrooms in photos and video released by the Kremlin.Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traversed the vast Taiga forest, at one point …

The U.N. refugee agency warns the battle to stamp out global statelessness is being threatened by growing anti-refugee and migrant sentiment, as well as rising nationalism. More than 220,000 people have acquired citizenship since the U.N. refugee agency launched a 10-year global campaign in 2014 to end statelessness.  Now at the mid-point of the campaign, activists …

Climate protesters around the world started two weeks of demonstrations on Monday, engaging in acts of civil disobedience to demand action on cutting carbon emissions.In London, police arrested 276 people who blocked bridges and roads, while in Berlin, around 1,000 protesters blocked the Grosser Stern, a traffic circle at the Victory Column.The protests, organized by …

Kurt Volker, the former special U.S. envoy to Ukraine and a key witness in the burgeoning impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives, has resigned from his post as executive director of a prestigious institute bearing the name of the deceased U.S. senator John McCain.The Washington-based McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State …

The Spaniard set to become the European Union’s point-man in Iran says the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran must be preserved.   During a parliamentary confirmation hearing to become the next EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell said Monday that “we have to keep this agreement alive in order to defend our interests, our security …

Ukraine doesn’t want to be dragged into U.S. political battles, the nation’s foreign minister said Monday.A July 25 phone call in which U.S. President Donald Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate hoping to challenge Trump next year, has triggered a congressional impeachment …

As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic.Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani …

Arrests, the threat of long jail terms and the harassment of political and environmental activists doesn’t appear to be having the desired effect for the Kremlin in deterring anti-government protests, according to a new study.In the first half of 2019 there were 863 protests and by year’s end the total is likely to be in …

French and German attempts to end the conflict in east Ukraine risk increasing tensions that were already rising in the European Union over how to handle Russia and which could complicate peace efforts.Progress at talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys have raised hopes of convening the first international summit in three years on ending the …

Bence Pardy spent his summers as a child by Hungary’s second main river, the Tisza.Now, at 32, he has given up his job to move back there permanently to collect plastic waste which pollutes its waters.The Tisza, one of the main rivers in eastern Europe, starts in Ukraine and flows across Hungary to join the …

The parents of a British teenager who was killed when a U.S. diplomat’s wife collided her car into the teenager’s motorcycle have reached out to U.S. President Donald Trump after she left the UK, claiming diplomatic immunity.”It’s just such a dishonorable thing to do, to just leave and go back and abscond back to her …

Turkey summoned a top American diplomat Sunday after the U.S. Embassy’s official Twitter account “liked” a tweet that said the people of Turkey should prepare for a political era without the leader of Turkey’s national party, who is reportedly ill.The Foreign Ministry said the U.S. charge d’affaires Jeffrey Hovenier was summoned despite an embassy statement …

The center-left Socialist Party collected the most votes in Portugal’s general election Sunday, an exit poll indicated, leaving it poised to continue in government for another four years.However, with the exit poll predicting they would get between 36-40% of the vote, the Socialists could fall short of a majority in parliament.That could mean they have …

Greek authorities were transferring around 570 migrants from an overcrowded camp on the island of Lesbos on Sunday, officials said.A regularly scheduled ferry left Lesbos carrying the migrants, who used to live in the migrant camp of Moria.Authorities say this is part of the plan to reduce overcrowding at the camp, where about 13,000 people …

Thousands of demonstrators are rallying in Kyiv against President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s plan to hold local elections in eastern Ukrainian territory that is under the control of Russia-backed separatists.Protesters at the rally are denouncing the plan as capitulation to Russia.On October 1, Ukraine, Russia, and mediators Germany and France signed a tentative agreement with the separatists …

Voting has begun in Kosovo’s snap parliamentary elections after a campaign dominated by the issues of corruption, high unemployment, and a possible peace deal with Serbia that would clear the way for Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations.Valdete Daka, head of the Central Election Commission, was among the first to vote in Pristina on Sunday …