Category: Світ

U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has issued a stark warning that climate change poses a rapidly growing global threat to human rights as dwindling resources due to global warming lead to increased hunger, migration and conflict.  Bachelet spoke at the opening of the 42nd session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.In a prelude to …

British Airways has canceled almost all its flights for 48 hours, affecting as many as 195,000 travelers, due to a strike by pilots over pay.The U.K.’s flagship carrier said in a statement Monday that it had “no way of predicting how many (pilots) would come to work or which aircraft they are qualified to fly.”As …

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, facing staunch opposition at home, told Ireland’s leader Monday that a new Brexit deal can be reached so Britain leaves the European Union by the Oct. 31 deadline.Speaking alongside Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Dublin, Johnson said a deal on the Irish border question can be secured in time …

Russian voters handed setbacks to Kremlin-affiliated candidates in Moscow and other local elections nationwide — losses that came despite a near total ban on opposition candidates that sparked a summer of street protests and mass arrests in the capital.  With most of the vote counted, returns showed pro-Kremlin candidates lost over a third of seats in …

More than 2,000 people – including the U.S. ambassador and several other Western diplomats – marched in Sarajevo Sunday for Bosnia’s first-ever gay pride parade.There were nearly as many riot police and other security forces at the march as participants after conservative Muslims and other religious groups demanded it be canceled.The marchers waved the universal …

World War II veteran Henry Ochsner, who landed on the beach at Normandy on D-Day and later received the French government’s highest honor for his service, has died. He was 96.Family friend Dennis Anderson says Ochsner died Saturday at his home in California City of complications from cancer and old age.As part of the U.S. …

A charity ship run by humanitarian groups in the Mediterranean spent a rainy Sunday searching open waters for a fragile rubber boat overloaded with migrants before finally plucking 50 people to safety not far off Libya’s coast.The Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking, which is operated jointly by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, sent its own boats …

A senior minister of Britain’s ruling Conservative party has resigned because she does not think the prime minister is serious about creating a Brexit divorce deal. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said late Saturday that Boris Johnson is not working to secure a Brexit withdrawal agreement. “There is no evidence of a deal,” Rudd said.  “There …

Pope Francis said on Saturday rapid deforestation and the loss of biodiversity in individual countries should not be treated as local issues since they threaten the future of the planet.Francis made his appeal on a visit to Madagascar, the world’s fourth-largest island, which research institutes and aid agencies say has lost about 44% of its …

In Russia, elections are Sept. 8 for municipal and Duma deputies and regional governors. The vote was preceded by months of protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Authorities used different tactics to prevent the spread of discontent around the country and contain any opposition. Yulia Savchenko reports from Moscow on how authorities attempted to keep the …

This story originated in VOA’s Ukrainian service. Some information is from Reuters and RFE. VOA Ukrainian’s Tatiana Vorozhko contributed reporting. WASHINGTON – Ukrainian security officials have a launched an investigation into “subversive” activities by one of the Eastern European country’s defense contractors over plans to supply military hardware to neighboring Russia.    Ukraine’s main government agency for counterintelligence and …

With the French back from summer vacation, the yellow vest movement is vowing to turn this month into a “black September” of protests. But there was little sign Saturday of the massive crowds that shuttered shops and disrupted France’s economy and politics not so long ago.  “We’re here, we’re here,” some in yellow vests sang, crossing a busy …

VOA’s Turkish Service contributed to this report. The leading figure from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is facing almost 10 years in prison on terror charges. Canan Kaftancioglu, 47, was sentenced Friday to nine years, eight months and 20 days in prison on charges of spreading terrorist propaganda, insulting the state, insulting the …

A long-awaited prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine has taken place, raising hopes of renewed efforts to end the war in Ukraine’s east between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists.Early Saturday, two buses were seen leaving Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison, while a Ukrainian state-emblemed plane landed at Vnukovo airport in the Russian capital Saturday morning.  Similar movements …

Winston Churchill’s grandson, who was expelled midweek from the Conservative party for voting to delay Brexit, launched Saturday a scathing attack on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who wrote a biography of his grandfather, saying he should stop comparing himself to Britain’s iconic wartime leader as he’s “nothing like” him.“Winston Churchill was like Winston Churchill because …

Venezuela opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is forming a shadow government from his refuge at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas, despite an agreement that prohibited him from engaging in political activity when the embassy granted him asylum five months ago.Lopez sought the protection of Spain’s diplomatic mission after he led a failed coup against embattled President …

A major prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine is underway — with multiple reports citing the transfer of prisoners out of Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison as well as the arrival of a Ukrainian state-emblemed plane to Vnukovo airport in the Russian capital Saturday morning.  While the exact number, list, and timing of the exchange is not …

Russians braced for key local elections in Moscow and St. Petersburg Sunday — as the exclusion of opposition candidates and imprisonment of anti-government demonstrators cast doubt on the legitimacy of races that analysts say Kremlin-backed candidates still risk losing.Indeed, with polls showing widespread discontent with President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party, the limited scope …

Britain’s bedeviling Brexit dilemma intensified Friday, as opposition parties refused to support Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s call for an election until he secures a delay to Britain’s exit from the European Union — something he vows he’ll never do.Johnson insists Britain must leave the EU in 55 days, and says an election is the only …

Anti-government protesters in Russia are increasingly relying on an encrypted and officially banned messaging app to pass on information in critical situations, from dodging riot police to giving those arrested a line to the outside.     Although officially banned in Russia, Telegram is still running, and experts say it’s harder to hijack than other …

Italy’s far-right populist Matteo Salvini has had his plans dashed to become the country’s prime minister. His poll numbers have dropped since he precipitated a political crisis, hoping he could engineer a snap election, win and emerge, in his words, with “full powers.”But he has been out-maneuvered.Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at Rome’s Quirinale …

Four candidates from three continents hope to succeed the late Yukiya Amano as the director general of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that Cornel Feruta of Romania, its chief coordinator under Amano and currently the acting director general, is one of the candidates.   Another candidate is Lassina Zerbo …

Maurice, a French rooster, now has a legal victory to crow about.    A court in Rochefort in western France on Thursday rejected complaints by Maurice’s neighbors that he was a nuisance and made too much noise.    The rooster’s owner, Corrine Fesseau, who lives in the village of Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron, was sued by neighbors who claimed …

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday the United States is ready to make a free trade agreement with Britain as soon as the country completes its exit from the European Union. In a keynote address at the International Trade Dinner in London’s Guildhall, Pence conveyed a message of strong support from President Donald Trump …

Hope, peace, and reconciliation were the three main pillars of Pope Francis’s message to lawmakers and youth Thursday during his first papal visit to Mozambique.Thousands of young Catholics packed a Maputo stadium to hear that message in a nation that, for decades, has struggled with conflict.The pontiff was greeted Wednesday night by President Filipe Nyusi, …

This story originated in Last week, a Ukrainian court released Vyshinsky on his own recognizance as he awaits trial on charges of high treason that were brought against him in 2018.Tsemakh’s release also comes a day after a group of 40 members of the European Parliament wrote a letter urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy not …