Category: Новини

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is “in good health and good spirits, considering the circumstances” after his arrest in Russia late last month. Speaking to reporters in Japan, Blinken said the United States continues to “call for his immediate release from this unjust detention.” U.S. …

The European Union ambassador to Sudan was attacked in his home in Khartoum on Monday, the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said, as fighting between rival generals gripped the nation. “A few hours ago, the EU Ambassador in Sudan was assaulted in his own residency,” Borrell wrote on Twitter, without detailing any injuries to the …

With Turkey nearing hotly contested presidential elections in May, international rights groups are condemning a crackdown on independent media that have challenged the incumbent president’s control of the mainstream media. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

The Dutch national intelligence agency painted a grim picture Monday of a growing number of internal and external threats to the rule of law in the Netherlands compounded by Russia’s war in Ukraine, international cyberattacks and espionage. In its annual report, the General Intelligence and Security Service called China “the biggest threat to the Netherlands’ …

VOA travels to Chasiv Yar, a city next to Bakhmut where the longest and bloodiest battle in this war is taking place, as the front lines grow closer and more deadly. Yan Boechat has this photogallery for VOA.   …

In part one of this series we met families who buried their loved ones in their gardens because their cemetery is on the front lines of the war in Ukraine. Now, in part two, VOA travels to Chasiv Yar, a city next to Bakhmut, the longest and bloodiest battle in this war. And experts say Chasiv Yar is now halfway surrounded by Russian forces. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports. Camera: Yan Boechat.  …

Slovakia has delivered the remaining nine of the 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets that it promised to Ukraine, the Slovak Defense Ministry said on Monday. The ministry said the warplanes were transported overland for security reasons in a “complicated logistics operation.” The first four were flown from Slovakia to Ukraine by Ukrainian pilots on March …

French firefighters are trying to extinguish a large fire that has broken out on the country’s southern border with Spain. It is France’s first major forest fire of the season. “We deplore the loss of nearly 1,000 hectares,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Monday. The fire is under control, but it has not been fully …

Japanese video games group Sega has offered to buy Angry Birds maker Rovio, valuing the Finnish company at over $770 million, the companies said Monday.    “Combining the strengths of Rovio and Sega presents an incredibly exciting future,” Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, CEO of Rovio, said in a statement, which added that Rovio was recommending shareholders to accept …

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel is to be decorated with Germany’s highest possible honor on Monday in recognition of her near-record 16 years at the helm of the country.  President Frank-Walter Steinmeier plans to bestow the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit for special achievement on the four-term chancellor, who will become only the third …

Russia and Belarus won’t be allowed to compete in International Ice Hockey Federation tournaments if the war in Ukraine continues, the group’s president said Sunday. With both nations already barred from competing in IIHF events through 2024, its president, Luc Tardif, said a decision on the two countries’ eligibility in 2025 will be made in …

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday that he will press for a trade agreement between the European Union and Indonesia as part of his country’s efforts to reduce its reliance on China for crucial raw materials. Speaking at the opening of the annual Hannover Messe trade fair, Scholz told Indonesian President Joko Widodo that a …

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed his country’s broad ties with China on Sunday, including military cooperation, as he met with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu in Moscow.  “Development of relations between our two nations is going well in all areas — in the economy, social, cultural and educational sectors, and in military departments,” Putin said …

Sunday marked the second wartime celebration of Orthodox Easter in Ukraine. Russian forces and the paramilitary Wagner Group freed 130 Ukrainian prisoners of war, while one of Ukraine’s top military commanders marked the holiday by visiting front-line troops. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …

New developments: Ukraine says more than 100 prisoners of war were freed in a major Orthodox Easter exchange with Russia Sunday. It’s the second time Orthodox Ukrainians are marking the holiday since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion. Russian shelling overnight hit an Orthodox church in Zaporizhzhia province despite the holiday. At least four civilians were …

New developments: Eleven people were killed and 21 were injured in Russian airstrikes in the Ukrainian city of Sloviansk. Rescue crews are trying to reach victims trapped in the rubble of an apartment building. Russian President Vladimir Putin has enacted a law making it easier to mobilize Russians into the military, even as one of …

Pope Francis on Sunday publicly defended St. John Paul II, condemning as “offensive and baseless” insinuations that recently surfaced about the late pontiff. In remarks to tourists and pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said he was aiming to interpret the feelings of the faithful worldwide by expressing gratitude to the Polish pontiff’s memory. Days …