Europe

PARIS — France starts 2025 with a further drawdown of its military presence in its former African colonies, and fresh tensions ignited this week with controversial remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron. Chad, Senegal and now Ivory Coast have followed Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in asking France to withdraw its troops from their soil. The reasons vary — from growing anti-French sentiment to calls for …

MOSCOW — Ukraine launched drone attacks across several regions of Russia, striking two residential houses in the Tambov region and injuring at least three people, Russia said on Saturday. The regional head, Evgeny Pervyshov, said on the Telegram messaging app people were treated for injuries resulting from shattered windows as drones hit two houses in the town of Kotovsk, about 480 kilometers southeast of Moscow. He …

BERLIN — Germany was racing Saturday to secure a heavily loaded tanker stranded off its northern coast, towing the stricken ship it said was part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” away from shore to avert an oil spill. The 274-meter-long Eventin was sailing from Russia to Egypt with almost 100,000 tons of oil on board when its engine failed and it lost the ability to maneuver, …

Russia accused Ukraine of conducting a deadly missile strike Friday on a supermarket in the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk, while Kyiv reported a massive wave of Russian drone attacks on several regions and fierce fighting near the strategic logistics hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. The fighting on Friday came a day after the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Ramstein, Germany, where Kyiv’s allies …

The Famine Review Committee report on Sudan is backed by expert investigation and analysis proving millions are in acute need of food. …

GENEVA — The World Meteorlogical Organization says that preventive action cannot avert natural disasters such as the wildfires raging across Los Angeles, but that it can help save lives and mitigate loss of property. “Land management and prevention, regular clearing of underbrush play a key role in fire management, and evacuation plans are important in saving lives,” the WMO said Friday. “These are all part of …

The U.S. and Japan Friday imposed new sanctions on Russia, in moves designed to constrain Russia’s ability to continue funding its war on Ukraine. The U.S. sanctions, imposed through the Treasury Department and announced simultaneously through the State Department and the White House, are aimed at reducing Russia’s revenue from energy production, and target two of Russia’s largest oil producers, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas. Those …

London — Britain’s Treasury chief is travelling to China this weekend to discuss economic and financial cooperation between the countries, as the U.K.’s Labour government seeks to reset strained ties with Beijing. The Treasury said Friday that Rachel Reeves will travel to Beijing and Shanghai and will meet with her Chinese government counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng. Reeves’ trip is expected to revive the China-U.K. Economic …

Russia says it is closely watching the situation with Greenland, following US President-elect Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out military or economic measures to take control of the territory from Denmark. As Henry Ridgwell reports, geopolitical tensions are growing in the Arctic region amid rapid global warming. Camera: Henry Ridgwell …

KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukraine’s air force said on Friday on Russia attacked it with 72 drones overnight though it downed 33 of them while 34 others disappeared from radar without reaching their targets. Five drones struck various buildings in the northern region of Chernihiv, wounding one person, the air force said. One downed drone fell on a building in the capital Kyiv but did not cause …

WASHINGTON — Russia’s efforts to obtain China’s help in enhancing artificial intelligence is seen as a bid to challenge America’s lead in the field even as the outgoing Biden administration is expected to impose new export control measures to further curb Beijing’s access to AI chips. As the new year began, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s state-owned Sberbank, to work with China in researching …

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Denmark acknowledged Thursday that it had long neglected the defense of Greenland, a vast and strategically important Arctic island – and one that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has called vital for U.S. security. Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, said this week that U.S. control of Greenland – a sovereign Danish territory – was an “absolute necessity,” and he did not rule out …

london — Russia has said it is closely watching the situation with Greenland, following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out military or economic measures to take control of the territory from Denmark. “We are observing this rather dramatic development of the situation, but so far, thank God, [it remains] at the level of statements,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday. “The Arctic …

GENEVA — U.N. human rights experts have accused Russia of waging a war of attrition against Ukraine by pursuing a policy of mass destruction to crush the spirit of the nation. A report issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, Wednesday says that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, there has been “a dangerous escalation of hostilities,” …

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, GERMANY   — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday told allies and partners in Germany that it would be “crazy to drop the ball now” and end support Ukraine against Russia.  “It’s clear that a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world just 11 days from now,” Zelenskyy told the Ukraine Defense Contact Group during opening remarks in Ramstein Germany, referring to U.S. …

Beijing — China said Thursday that an investigation had found the European Union imposed unfair “trade and investment barriers” on Beijing, marking the latest salvo in long-running commercial tensions between the two economic powers.  Officials announced the probe in July after Brussels began looking into whether Chinese government subsidies were undermining European competition.  Beijing has consistently denied its industrial policies are unfair and has threatened to …

Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 46 of 70 drones that Russian forces used in attacks targeting areas in central and eastern Ukraine. Falling debris from downed drones damaged houses in the Cherkasy, Kharkiv and Sumy regions, the Ukrainian air force said. Ukraine’s air defenses also shot down drones in the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Poltava and regions. The attacks came a …

TALLINN, ESTONIA — An imprisoned opposition activist in Belarus resurfaced Wednesday in a video shot by a pro-government blogger after more than 700 days of no contact with his family, weeks before an election that is all but certain keep the country’s strongman leader in power. Viktar Babaryka, 61, has been denied meetings with his family and lawyers while serving a 14-year sentence in a penal …

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held bilateral meetings Thursday with his Ukrainian and British counterparts Wednesday before hosting the Ukraine Defense Contact Group one last time. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb is traveling with Austin as the U.S. is expected to announce its final military aid package for Kyiv under the Biden administration. …

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, GERMANY — The United States is providing Ukraine with $500 million in additional weapons and equipment from its existing military stockpiles, in what officials told VOA will be the final military aid package before President Joe Biden leaves office. The officials were speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, which is expected Thursday when U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd …

With the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, Turkey sees an opportunity to send home up to 4 million Syrians who came there during Syria’s civil war, amid growing public hostility toward the refugees. Many of those interviewed in Istanbul, however, have built new lives in Turkey and say that with no guarantees of safety or livelihood, they are not ready to return. Dorian Jones reports. …

A Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 13 people Wednesday and injured dozens more, Ukrainian authorities reported. The attack came minutes after regional Governor Ivan Fedorov warned that “high-speed missiles” and “glide bombs” were heading toward the Zaporizhzhia region. Bodies of the victims and people injured in the attack were strewn across a road and adjacent paved areas …

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was freed from an Iranian prison Wednesday and was flying home, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said. Her release came three weeks after she was detained in Tehran while working on a journalist visa. Iran had accused Sala of “violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Meloni’s office praised the “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels” in …

Ukrainian forces carried out what Russian officials said Wednesday was a mass drone attack on the Saratov region, causing damage to an industrial enterprise. Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said the attack targeted the neighboring cities of Saratov and Engels, an area that is home to an airbase for Russian bomber planes. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed 11 Ukrainian drones in the Saratov region, but …