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After a series of attacks on Ukrainian ports, residents say they feel the country’s now-defunct grain deal with Russia allowed them a modicum of protection, which is also now lost. Port officials say they are working to expand alternative routes where they may, at best, only export roughly a third of the agricultural goods they did before the war. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports with videographer Yan Boechat from Odesa, Ukraine.
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Angry Turkish Cypriots punched and kicked a group of international peacekeepers who obstructed crews working on a road that would encroach on a U.N.-controlled buffer zone in ethnically divided Cyprus, the United Nations said Friday.

It said the attack happened as peacekeepers stood in the way of work crews building a road to connect the village of Arsos, in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north, with the mixed Greek Cypriot-Turkish Cypriot village of Pyla, inside the buffer zone and abutting the Greek Cypriot south, where the island’s internationally recognized government is seated.

A video seen by The Associated Press showed scores of Turkish Cypriots accosting a much smaller group of Slovak and British U.N. soldiers trying to hold them back from starting work inside the buffer zone. Some peacekeepers suffered blows to the face as they linked arms to push back the advancing Turkish Cypriots. The U.N. said three soldiers had to be treated for minor injuries.

The violence constitutes a serious escalation of tensions not seen on the island in years.

The road would give Turkish Cypriots direct access to Pyla by circumventing a checkpoint on the northern fringe of a British military base, one of two bases that the U.K. retained after Cyprus gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960.

Greek Cypriots perceive the road construction as a move with a military purpose at a sensitive spot along the buffer zone, which spans 180 kilometers (120 miles).

“Threats to the safety of U.N. peacekeepers and damage to U.N. property are unacceptable and constitute a serious crime under international law which will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” the peacekeeping force, known as UNFICYP, said in a statement.

UNFICYP spokesman Aleem Siddique told The Associated Press that the U.N. wouldn’t back down from continuing to “block or frustrate construction of the road by nonviolent means,” despite Friday’s assault. He said construction of the road would violate the forces’ mandate of maintaining the status quo inside the buffer zone.

Turkish Cypriot authorities blamed U.N. peacekeepers for the altercation, calling their actions “unacceptable” and dismissing the UNFICYP statement as “unfounded allegations.”

They accused UNFICYP of being “biased” against the Turkish Cypriot side and said the force should “immediately cease” its efforts to physically obstruct construction of a “humanitarian” project.

EU Council President Charles Michel and the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, condemned the assaults and urged a de-escalation of the situation.

The embassies of the U.K., France and the United Nations issued a joint statement expressing “serious concern” over construction of the road, calling for an immediate halt to the work and condemning the assaults as “completely unacceptable.”

Maintaining the status quo of the buffer zone is enshrined in the U.N. mission’s mandate since 1974, when Turkey invaded in the wake of a coup mounted by Greek junta-backed supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey, which maintains more than 35,000 troops in the island’s northern third, recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence.

The U.N. says both sides have repeatedly infringed on the buffer zone over the years. But this road construction is seen by the Cyprus government as “an attempt at a very serious violation of the status quo.”

Cyprus government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis condemned what he called the “organized violence,” adding that the government is in touch with the U.N., the EU and other governments to prevent “Turkish designs.”

The situation is likely to hamper the Cypriot government’s efforts to restart negotiations to resolve the island’s division.
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The United States has given the nod to allies Denmark and the Netherlands to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, according to officials. It was not immediately clear when Ukraine might receive the jets, which it has been seeking for a long time to counter Russia’s air superiority.

In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said: “We welcome Washington’s decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.”

The U.S. must approve F-16 transactions because the jets are made in the United States. Despite the news, it was not immediately clear when Ukraine would receive the jets.  Pilots must undergo extensive training before Ukraine can receive the jets.

Earlier Friday, Ukraine attempted to launch a drone attack on Moscow, but Russian forces downed the unmanned aerial vehicle.

After Russia shot down the drone, debris from the attack fell on Moscow’s Expo Center, a massive exhibitions space, located less than 7 kilometers from the Kremlin.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that the wreckage from the drone fell near the Expo Center but “did not cause significant damage.”

The British Defense Ministry said Friday in its daily update on Ukraine that Russia has published a new Russian history textbook for schools “in the occupied regions of Ukraine and throughout the Russian Federation,” beginning in September.  The ministry posted on X, that “Russia’s aim is to create a pro-Kremlin information space in the occupied regions in order to erode Ukrainian national identity.”

Ukraine claimed Thursday that its counteroffensive had retaken parts of Russian-controlled land in the southeastern part of the country in a push beyond the newly liberated village of Urozhaine.

The advance is an attempted drive toward the Sea of Azov, an effort to split Russia’s occupying forces in half.

“In the direction south of Urozhaine, [Ukrainian troops] had success,” military spokesman Andriy Kovaliov said on national television. He gave no more details.

Urozhaine, in the eastern Donetsk region, was the first village Kyiv said it had retaken since July 27 in what has proved to be a difficult, grinding warfare in heavily mined Russian-controlled territory.

Urozhaine lies just over 90 kilometers north of the Sea of Azov and about 100 kilometers west of Russian-held Donetsk city.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-installed official in parts of Zaporizhzhia controlled by Moscow, said Urozhaine and the neighboring village of Staromaiorske were not under Ukrainian control.

Drone footage, however, of the intense fight for Urozhaine, has emerged in which dozens of Russian troops can be seen fleeing to the village’s south.

Russia controls nearly one-fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula it annexed in 2014, most of Luhansk region and large tracts of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Kyiv says its counteroffensive is advancing more slowly than it had hoped for because of vast Russian minefields and heavily fortified Russian defensive lines.

Russian attacks on Ukrainian grain facilities

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that Russia damaged grain infrastructure at a port in the Odesa region in southern Ukraine as part of an overnight drone attack.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Telegram that the attack targeted the port of Reni on the Danube River. 

Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram that the attack damaged warehouses and grain storage facilities at the port.

Kiper said there were no reported casualties from the attack, and that Ukraine’s air force had downed 11 Russian drones over Odesa. The Ukrainian military said its air defenses destroyed 13 drones overnight and that Russia had used Iranian-made Shahed drones to target Odesa and Mykolaiv.

Black Sea shipping

The Hong-Kong-flagged container ship Joseph Schulte left Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Wednesday.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the vessel was the first to set off down a temporary Black Sea corridor that Ukraine established for civilian ships following Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The Joseph Schulte was carrying 30,000 metric tons of cargo, Kubrakov said. The vessel had been stuck in Odesa since Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia has not said whether it will respect Ukraine’s shipping corridor. On Sunday, a Russian patrol ship fired warning shots at a vessel after what Russia said was a failure by the captain to respond to a request for an inspection.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Ukraine attempted to launch a drone attack on Moscow early Friday, but Russian forces downed the unmanned aerial vehicle.

After Russia shot down the drone, debris from the attack fell on Moscow’s Expo Center, a massive exhibitions space, located less than 7 kilometers from the Kremlin.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that the wreckage from the drone fell near the Expo Center but “did not cause significant damage.”

Ukraine claimed Thursday that its counteroffensive had retaken parts of Russian-controlled land in the southeastern part of the country in a push beyond the newly liberated village of Urozhaine.

The advance is an attempted drive toward the Sea of Azov, an effort to split Russia’s occupying forces in half.

“In the direction south of Urozhaine, [Ukrainian troops] had success,” military spokesman Andriy Kovaliov said on national television. He gave no more details.

Urozhaine, in the eastern Donetsk region, was the first village Kyiv said it had retaken since July 27 in what has proved to be a difficult, grinding warfare in heavily mined Russian-controlled territory.

Urozhaine lies just over 90 kilometers north of the Sea of Azov and about 100 kilometers west of Russian-held Donetsk city.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-installed official in parts of Zaporizhzhia controlled by Moscow, said Urozhaine and the neighboring village of Staromaiorske were not under Ukrainian control.

Drone footage, however, of the intense fight for Urozhaine, has emerged in which dozens of Russian troops can be seen fleeing to the village’s south.

Russia controls nearly one-fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula it annexed in 2014, most of Luhansk region and large tracts of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Kyiv says its counteroffensive is advancing more slowly than it had hoped for because of vast Russian minefields and heavily fortified Russian defensive lines.

Russian attacks on Ukrainian grain facilities

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that Russia damaged grain infrastructure at a port in the Odesa region in southern Ukraine as part of an overnight drone attack. 

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Telegram that the attack targeted the port of Reni on the Danube River. 

Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram that the attack damaged warehouses and grain storage facilities at the port.

Kiper said there were no reported casualties from the attack, and that Ukraine’s air force had downed 11 Russian drones over Odesa. The Ukrainian military said its air defenses destroyed 13 drones overnight and that Russia had used Iranian-made Shahed drones to target Odesa and Mykolaiv.

Black Sea shipping

The Hong-Kong-flagged container ship Joseph Schulte left Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Wednesday.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the vessel was the first to set off down a temporary Black Sea corridor that Ukraine established for civilian ships following Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The Joseph Schulte was carrying 30,000 metric tons of cargo, Kubrakov said. The vessel had been stuck in Odesa since Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia has not said whether it will respect Ukraine’s shipping corridor. On Sunday, a Russian patrol ship fired warning shots at a vessel after what Russia said was a failure by the captain to respond to a request for an inspection.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu on Thursday visited Belarus and said his country would increase military cooperation with Russia’s neighbor and ally, where Moscow is deploying tactical nuclear weapons.

Shangfu met with strongman President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk and said “the purpose of my visit to Belarus is precisely the implementation of important agreements at the level of heads of state and the further strengthening of bilateral military cooperation.”

Neither side gave details of what the cooperation will entail, but the two countries have agreed to hold joint military exercises next year.

Li visited Russia just before going to Belarus.

Russian troops that were deployed in Belarus were part of Russia’s invading force in Ukraine and Russian troops and weapons remain there.

Belarusian forces have not taken part in the Ukraine war and Lukashenko on Thursday said China’s military assistance would not be directed against third countries. Lukashenko has previously said Belarus has taken delivery of Russian nuclear weapons and on Thursday he said they could only be used by Belarus if the country was under threat.

“Nuclear weapons, which are in Belarus, will not be used if there is no aggression against us,” Lukashenko said, adding that Belarus would not enter into hostilities against Ukraine as long as its border was not violated.

China claims to be neutral in the conflict in Ukraine but accuses the United States and its allies of provoking Russia and maintains strong economic, diplomatic and trade ties with Moscow.

Belarusian analyst Valery Karbalevich said the visit of the Chinese defense minister is “an important signal not only to the EU and the U.S., but also to Ukraine.”

“With this visit, China marks the scope of its military interests and shows that it is interested in building up ties with Minsk and Moscow, including military cooperation, despite the dissatisfaction of Western countries,” he told The Associated Press. “This is also a signal to Ukraine that the prolongation of the war can force China to take one side.”
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A total of 62 humanitarian aid workers have died this year around the world, the United Nations said Thursday as it prepared to mark 20 years since a devastating attack on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

The U.N. observes World Humanitarian Day on Aug. 19 each year as it remembers the suicide bombing, which claimed 22 lives, including that of Sergio Vieira de Mello, then the U.N. high commissioner for human rights and the head of the U.N. mission in Iraq.

Besides the 62 deaths this year in the world’s conflict zones, another 84 aid workers were wounded and 34 were kidnapped, according to the Aid Worker Security Database, compiled by the consulting firm Humanitarian Outcomes. The fatality figure for all of 2022 was 116.

For several years running, South Sudan has been the world’s most dangerous place for aid workers. As of Aug. 10, there had been 40 attacks on humanitarian staffers there with 22 lives lost, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Next on the list was Sudan to the north, with 17 attacks on aid workers and 19 deaths so far this year. Such high figures had not been seen since the Darfur conflict from 2006 to 2009.

Other countries where humanitarian workers died include the Central African Republic, Mali, Somalia, Ukraine and Yemen.

“The risks we face are beyond human comprehension,” says a report compiled by NGOs including Doctors of the World, Action Against Hunger and Handicap International, with help from the European Union.

Every year more than 90% of the people who die in attacks on aid workers are locals, according to the International NGO Safety Organization.

This year World Humanitarian Day marks 20 years since the bombing in Baghdad against the Canal Hotel, which was serving as the U.N. headquarters in the Iraqi capital.

That 2003 blast, carried out amid the chaos of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, killed 22 people, including the Brazilian Vieira de Mello, and wounded around 150 local and international aid workers.

“World Humanitarian Day and the Canal Hotel bombing will always be an occasion of mixed and still raw emotions for me and many others,” said the U.N.’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths.

“Every year, nearly six times more aid workers are killed in the line of duty than were killed on that dark day in Baghdad, and they are overwhelmingly local aid workers,” he added. “Impunity for these crimes is a scar on our collective conscience.”

As upheavals around the world have grown, the United Nations says it is working to help nearly 250 million people living in crisis areas. That is 10 times more than in 2003.
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A civilian cargo ship sailing from Ukraine reached Istanbul on Thursday in defiance of a Moscow blockade that sent tensions soaring after Russia open fired on a Turkish-owned ship. 

The Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte left the port of Odesa on Wednesday — the first vessel to directly challenge Russia’s new bid to seal Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea. 

Marine traffic sites showed it approaching its final destination in Istanbul after moving along a western route that avoided international waters in favor of those controlled by NATO members Romania and Bulgaria. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the ship was using a “new humanitarian corridor” Kyiv established after Russia last month pulled out of a wartime agreement to export grain along the Black Sea. 

The Joseph Schulte’s mission came days after the Russian navy fired warning shots and boarded a Turkish-owned but Palau-flagged vessel that was sailing to the Ukrainian river port of Izmail. 

The Russian attack put immense pressure on NATO member Turkey to stiffen its officially neutral line in the war. 

The Turkish presidency broke a four-day silence on Thursday by announcing that it had “warned” Moscow about the need to avoid further maritime escalations. 

But the Turkish statement stressed that it was technically up to Palau — a Pacific archipelago often used as a “flag of convenience” by global shipping companies — to lodge a formal complaint. 

Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s shipping infrastructure since pulling out of the grain deal mediated by the U.N. and Turkey. 

Ukraine’s decision to confront Russia over sea access comes with world attention focusing on ways to secure grain export routes in time for this autumn’s harvest. 

Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grain and seed oil. 

New US push

Last year’s grain agreement helped push down global food prices and provide Ukraine with an important source of revenue to fight the war. 

Ukraine is now using the Danube River to ship out its grain. 

Much of that traffic flows down the river and ends up reaching the Black Sea at Ukraine’s border with Romania. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. officials are holding talks with Turkey and both Ukraine and its neighbors about increasing traffic along the Danube route. 

An unnamed U.S. official told the paper that Washington was “going to look at everything” — including the possibility of military support for the Ukrainian ships. 

But a Turkish defense official appeared to push back against Washington’s initiative on Thursday. 

“Our efforts are focused on making the grain corridor deal active again,” the unnamed defense official told Turkey’s NTV television. “We are not working on other solutions.” 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin this month for talks focused on the Black Sea. 

Erdogan has tried to use his good relations with Moscow and Kyiv to raise Turkey’s diplomatic profile during the war. 

Turkey hosted two early rounds of Ukraine peace talks and stepped up its trade with Russia while supplying Kyiv with arms. 

Diplomatic ‘counteroffensive’

Russia pulled out of the grain agreement after claiming that the pact had failed to fulfill the goal of relieving hunger across Africa and other famine-stricken regions. 

The Kremlin has since asked Turkey to help Russia export its grain to African countries without any involvement from Ukraine. 

African countries have become an important ally that Russia is using to counter its wartime isolation from the West. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AFP this week that Kyiv needed to launch a diplomatic “counteroffensive” on the continent. 

“Our strategy is not to replace Russia but to free Africa from Russia’s grip,” Kuleba said in a wide-ranging interview. 

Russia’s attempts to win unilateral control of Black Sea shipping routes come as Ukraine inches forward in its high-stakes but brutal summer offensive. 

Kyiv this week announced the capture of Urozhaine, a small village lying along one of Ukraine’s main lines of attack. 

Kyiv is trying to reach its southern coast and cut Moscow’s access to Ukraine’s Russian-seized peninsula of Crimea. 

NATO row

The offensive is relying on new Western equipment and training but progressing slower than Kyiv and its allies had hoped. 

The strength of Russia’s resistance has intensified debates in some Western capitals about a need to find a diplomatic end to the war. 

A top NATO official this week outraged Kyiv by suggesting that one possible solution to the war could involve Ukraine ceding territory in exchange for Kyiv’s membership in the U.S.-led alliance. 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg intervened on Thursday, reiterating the alliance’s position that it was “up to Ukrainians, and Ukrainians alone, to decide when the conditions for negotiations are in place.” 

Kuleba insisted that Ukraine was “not feeling” pressure from its Western allies to demonstrate quick results. 

“It’s easy to say that you want everything to be faster when you are not there,” he said.
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An Iranian journalist said Thursday she had no regrets over posting on social media a picture of herself without a headscarf in defiance of Iran’s dress laws, sharing a similar image following her latest release from jail. 

Nazila Maroufian last year interviewed the father of the young Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, whose death in police custody sparked months of protests. 

She walked out of Tehran’s Evin prison on Sunday after more than a month behind bars, posting on social media a picture of herself without a headscarf and the slogan “Don’t accept slavery, you deserve the best!” 

She was promptly detained again and moved outside of Tehran to Qarchak women’s prison, where conditions have been criticized repeatedly by human rights groups. 

But Maroufian, whose age is given by Persian media outside Iran as 23, was then released from Qarchak on Wednesday, she posted on social media. 

“Do you regret the photo you posted when you were released? Do you admit you made a mistake?” she asked herself in a rhetorical question in the post.   

“No; I didn’t do anything wrong,” she added in reply, posting a similar image of herself bareheaded in a white shirt with her right arm stretched up in a ‘V’ for victory sign. 

Arrested after publishing interview

Last October, Maroufian published an interview on the Mostaghel Online news site with Amjad Amini, the father of Mahsa Amini whose death in custody last September after she allegedly violated the dress rules sparked months of protests. 

In the interview, Amjad Amini accused authorities of lying about the circumstances of his daughter’s death. 

Iranian authorities have indicated she died because of a health problem, but the family and activists have said she suffered a blow to the head while in custody. 

Maroufian, a Tehran-based journalist from Amini’s hometown of Saqez in Kurdistan province, was first arrested in November.  

She was later released but in January said she had been sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for five years, on charges of propaganda against the system and spreading false news. 

Actions reminiscent of Gholian

Maroufian’s rapid return to prison after posting defiant images upon her release recalled the case of labor activist Sepideh Gholian.  

In March, Gholian was rearrested hours after she walked free from jail bare-headed and chanting slogans against Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Gholian, one of the most prominent female activists detained in Iran, remains in prison. 
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The U.N. mission in ethnically divided Cyprus said Thursday it will block construction by breakaway Turkish Cypriots of a road that would encroach on a U.N.-controlled buffer zone and likely raise tensions on the Mediterranean island nation.

The world body plans to “block or frustrate construction of the road by nonviolent means,” said Aleem Siddique, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNFICYP. The road would violate the forces’ mandate of maintaining the status quo inside the buffer zone, he said.

Work began earlier in the day on the road to connect the village of Arsos in the Turkish Cypriot north with the mixed Greek Cypriot-Turkish Cypriot village of Pyla, just south of the buffer zone and inside the Greek Cypriot south, where the island’s internationally recognized government is seated.

The road would give Turkish Cypriots direct access to Pyla by circumventing a checkpoint on the fringes of a British military base, one of two bases that the U.K. retained after Cyprus gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960.

Greek Cypriots perceive the road construction as a move with a military purpose at a sensitive spot along the buffer zone spanning 180 kilometers (120 miles).

Maintaining the status quo of the buffer zone is enshrined in the U.N. mission’s mandate since 1974, when Turkey invaded in the wake of a coup mounted by Greek junta-backed supporters of union with Greece.

The United Natioins says there have been numerous infringements of the buffer zone by both sides over the years. But this road construction is seen as “an attempt at a very serious violation of the status quo,” according to Cyprus government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis.

Letymbiotis said that the Cyprus government is working with the U.N. peacekeepers to thwart the road construction.

The Cypriot government has been pushing hard to restart moribund negotiations to resolve the island’s division and warned that construction of the road would entail “negative repercussions” on efforts to resume talks and on Turkey’s relations with the EU.
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The United States on Thursday imposed new sanctions on four Russian security agents it accused of being involved in the 2020 poisoning of imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

The Treasury Department said the four Russians are linked to Moscow’s Federal Security Service. Treasury officials blocked any U.S. assets they may hold and prohibited them from conducting U.S. financial transactions, while the State Department ended the possibility of visa rights to enter the U.S.

In a statement, Treasury anti-terrorism official Brian Nelson said, “Today we remind Vladimir Putin and his regime that there are consequences not only for waging a brutal and unprovoked war against Ukraine, but also for violating the human rights of the Russian people.

“The assassination attempt against Alexey Navalny in 2020 represents the Kremlin’s contempt for human rights, and we will continue to use the authorities at our disposal to hold the Kremlin’s willing would-be executioners to account,” Nelson said.

Navalny, a longtime Putin critic, was detained in January 2021 after returning to Moscow from Germany where Western doctors had treated him for what they said was poisoning by a Soviet-era nerve agent.

The Kremlin at one point accused Navalny of working with the CIA to undermine Russia. Moscow has denied any involvement in what happened to him and denies persecuting Navalny.

Navalny, 47, has become a target of Putin’s crackdown on dissent. Navalny had been serving a nine-year sentence on fraud and embezzlement charges but was recently sentenced to serve another 19 years on extremism-related charges.

The Russian agents were identified as Alexey Alexandrovich Alexandrov, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov and Vladimir Alexandrovich Panyaev.

Some material in this report came from Reuters.
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England will play Spain in the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Sydney on Sunday. Spain beat Sweden 2-1 in its semifinal while England defeated co-hosts Australia 3-1 to reach the final.

Thirty-two teams started the 2023 Women’s soccer World Cup co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia. Two remain.

On Tuesday, Spain defeated Sweden by two goals to one at Eden Park in Auckland to reach its first World Cup final.

Spain first qualified for the event in 2015 and will face England, the current European champion, in Sunday’s final at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.

England defeated co-hosts Australia in front of more than 75,000 supporters in Sydney. It was arguably the biggest match on home soil in the host nation’s football history.

Australian player Mary Fowler told reporters after the game that it was an honor to play in a team that had inspired the nation.

“It was unreal tonight, just like it has been for all the games, actually,” she said. “It is really nice even when we are under the pump and we are down by some goals to hear the crowd get behind us and really try to cheer us on. Not many people get to experience that in their life being able to play at a home World Cup and really feel the support of the country behind them. So, [it is] something, you know, we are all very lucky to be part of.”

The Australians – known as the Matildas – had reached the World Cup semifinals for the first time. Co-host New Zealand failed to advance from the group stage of the competition, where four teams competed in eight sections. The top two countries progressed to the knockout round of 16.

Players – both past and present – as well as coaches and administrators hope that the co-hosts’ world cup journey will leave a legacy for female sport in Australia and New Zealand.  It is hoped the performances of other nations, including Nigeria, Morocco and South Africa, will also promote the sport in other parts of the world.

Angela Iannotta, a former Matilda forward who scored Australia’s first World Cup goal in 1995, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that women’s football is changing dramatically.

“It is quite interesting,” she said, “because I remember when I am sitting at the airport with the Australian tracksuit and people would say, ‘Oh, what are you doing with Australian colors?’ and I said, ‘Oh, I am playing for the Australian women’s football team.’ ‘Oh, have we really got a national team?’ So, yeah, and the crowds were like, you know, 100 people, 200 people and things like that. So, just to see this change and this growth in women’s football in Australia is really unbelievable.”

Australia’s Matildas play Sweden in the World Cup third- and fourth-place playoff in Brisbane on Saturday.

The final takes place between Spain and England in Sydney on Sunday.

England striker Chloe Kelly told reporters after the semifinal victory against Australia that reaching the final was “what dreams are made of.” 
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A business organization founded by Hong Kongers in London is launching a startup program to help new Hong Kong migrants establish businesses in the United Kingdom.

Hong Kong Business Hub, the organizer, unveiled the program in London on August 8. Successful applicants will each receive a minimum of $64,000 in equity investment, while total investment for the program is slightly more than $635,000.

Puifung Leung, co-founder and director of the Hong Kong Business Hub,  said that many Hong Kongers who move to the U.K. are interested in entrepreneurship but might not be familiar with the local business environment. Many of the hub’s members and potential program participants fled Hong Kong after 2019, when China began clamping down on the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony.

“They might have great ideas, but they might not have enough funds, experience, resources or knowledge to make it happen,” Leung said. “Hong Kong Business Hub hopes to help these friends through this startup training program. They can get funds and directly introduce their products and services to the investor to explain why they need this funding.”

‘Go on a date’

The hub did not reveal the identity of the investor who, Leung said, wants to support Hong Kong entrepreneurs from behind the scenes.

She said the group would ensure sufficient time for matching the parties.

“The investor and investees need to go on a date,” she said, explaining the process. “After they get to know each other, we play the role of a matchmaker. Once they get to know each other, then we will see if they can get married.”

The program is supported by the Federation of Small Businesses and the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, according to the Hong Kong Business Hub.

Founded in 2021, the hub aims to support, promote and connect Hong Kong entrepreneurs and companies developing in the U.K. and the U.S. Other co-founders include Simon Shen, an international relations scholar at Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-sen University, and Patrick Woo, former head of the Department of Microbiology of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong.

Eric Yung, the program director, said that the investor would secure a board seat in the startup that it is funding and may provide access to networks and advice, but it would not be involved in day-to-day management.

The investor’s equity stake would be negotiated with the successful applicant, with the investor’s ownership share usually not exceeding 20%, Yung said.

Successful participants could attend training and networking events for free and meet the potential investor, Yung said.

Requirements

The program will be accepting applications through September 17. Applicants must have established their companies in 2020 or later, the founding team must hold at least half of the shares, and one of the founders must be a new migrant from Hong Kong who holds at least 30% of the company’s shares.

A judging committee will review business elements and consider four additional factors for bonus points, including whether the business benefits the Hong Kong community and aligns with Hong Kong Business Hub core values. Successful applicants will be required to pay 1% of the investment amount as a referral fee to the hub to support the program’s operation and development.

Yung estimated that dozens of companies would apply.

Forster Chiu, a new Hong Kong migrant who runs a cybersecurity company, Cybergroot, in the U.K., is among those interested in joining the incubation program. His company already participates in a mentorship program organized by the Hong Kong Business Hub for its members. He expects that other mentees will be interested as well.

“Companies who wish to develop and grow in the U.K. would gain funding and resources from an external investor, which will support our businesses in a good way,” he told VOA Cantonese.

Chiu said that while he was concerned about learning the identity of the investor, he would accept the initial mystery as long as he learned the name before any agreements were signed.

Another new migrant from Hong Kong, who did not want to reveal his identity, given his immigration status, is applying for asylum and has yet to start his business. He told VOA Cantonese that he believed the program would help those newly arrived Hong Kongers who want to embark on new path.

“It is a rare opportunity for us to work on our dreams after leaving Hong Kong, as we do not have enough funds, training and network,” he said. “The program is a good entry point for people like me, who wish to start their own businesses and had to leave Hong Kong in a hurry.”
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