Europe

BERLIN — A car was driven into a crowd in Munich, Germany on Thursday, injuring at least 28 people. Police said authorities detained the driver, and during the arrest fired a shot at the vehicle. They identified the suspect as a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker. The incident took place as members of a service workers’ union held a demonstration. Bavarian Governor Markus Soder told reporters that …

LONDON — Hundreds of world leaders and delegates are set to attend the Munich Security Conference in Germany this weekend, with conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo high on the agenda, alongside simmering tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. It’s the first major global summit for the new administration in Washington under President Donald Trump and comes amid speculation that …

Hundreds of world leaders and delegates are set to attend the Munich Security Conference this weekend — with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and simmering tensions in the Indo-Pacific, on the agenda. As Henry Ridgwell reports, all eyes will be on the approach of the U.S. delegation under the new administration of President Donald Trump. …

Talks in Austria to form a coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party and the conservative People’s Party collapsed Wednesday after the two sides failed to agree on disputed policy points. The coalition talks were the latest in a series of negotiations that have failed since parliamentary elections were held in September. Herbert Kickl’s Freedom Party, with its anti-immigration platform and opposition to the European …

Russia occupies and uses Europe’s largest nuclear power plant for military demands. Moscow continues attacks on Ukraine electric stations that keep country’s nuclear power plants running. …

KYIV, UKRAINE — Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday accused each other of blocking the rotation of staff from the International Atomic Energy Agency at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.  Moscow’s troops seized the facility, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, in the first days of its invasion of Ukraine. Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of risking a potentially devastating nuclear disaster by …

WASHINGTON — A journalist with VOA’s sister outlet, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was released from Belarus on Wednesday, after spending more than four years imprisoned in a case that was widely viewed as politically motivated. Andrey Kuznechyk, a journalist with RFE/RL’s Belarus service was released from Belarus on Wednesday, RFE/RL said. RFE/RL President Stephen Capus welcomed Kuznechyk’s release. “This is a joyous day for Andrey, his …

Pakistan rolls out the red carpet Wednesday for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader will jointly hold the 7th session of the Pakistan-Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation Council with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif during his brief visit ending Thursday. VOA Pakistan bureau chief Sarah Zaman reports on key topics of discussion. …

Ukrainian forces are trying to slow down an ongoing Russian advance toward the city of Pokrovsk in Eastern Ukraine’s Dontesk region. The Ukrainian government has been evacuating civilians from the region, but constant shelling is making it dangerous. Kateryna Besedina has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. (Camera: Artyom Kokhan, Anna Rice)   …

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday Russian forces launched overnight attacks involving ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones, killing at least one person in Kyiv. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that three other people also were injured as a result of the attacks. Kyiv emergency services reported fires and other damage at buildings in four districts in the city. Ukraine’s military said missiles also …

Russia’s emergency services said on Wednesday that it had rescued all 139 fishermen stranded on an ice floe drifting in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Western Pacific. Earlier, the ministry said that about 300 were stranded and that some of them refused “to leave without a catch, under any circumstances.” The ministry posted several videos from the rescue operation, including one showing fishermen walking …

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed American teacher Marc Fogel to the White House late Tuesday after Fogel was freed from Russia where he had been detained since August 2021 for bringing medically prescribed marijuana into the country. “I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” Fogel said as he stood next to Trump. Fogel praised the president, U.S. diplomats and lawmakers for working …

Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained in Russia since August 2021 for bringing medically prescribed marijuana into the country, was freed by Moscow on Tuesday and headed back to the United States, the White House announced. The 63-year-old history teacher, who had been serving a 14-year sentence, was expected to be reunited with his family in the eastern state of Pennsylvania by the end of …

The U.S. State Department has determined that dual U.S.-Russian national Ksenia Karelina, also known as Ksenia Khavana, was wrongfully detained in Russia. Karelina was jailed by a Russian court for 12 years for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity. The new determination will enable U.S. authorities to operate more actively in securing her release. Karelina’s civil partner remains optimistic that efforts by the administration of …

Europe says it will ease regulations on artificial intelligence at a key AI summit in Paris on Feb. 11, 2025, that brought together the U.S. and other global tech giants and politicians. But some experts see bigger challenges stalling the bloc’s ambitions to be an AI heavyweight, from the need to pool resources to attracting more investment and talent. After U.S. President Donald Trump’s massive …

London — As Washington debates the future of the U.S. Agency for International Development or USAID amid reports that it may be put under the control of the State Department, analysts say Britain could offer lessons for America on merging diplomacy and aid. The Trump administration last month paused funding for USAID, citing a need to align the agency with the president’s America First policy. British …

Paris — U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Europeans on Tuesday their “massive” regulations on artificial intelligence could strangle the technology, and rejected content moderation as “authoritarian censorship.” The mood on AI has shifted as the technology takes root, from one of concerns around safety to geopolitical competition, as countries jockey to nurture the next big AI giant. Vance, setting out the Trump administration’s America First …

Russia and Ukraine attacked each other’s energy infrastructure overnight, just days before U.S. and Ukrainian officials were set to discuss steps toward ending the nearly three-year war sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion. Russian strikes damaged natural gas production facilities in Ukraine’s Poltava region overnight, using a combined attack of 19 cruise, ballistic and guided missiles, the Ukrainian air force said. As a result of the …

Senior advisers in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump are preparing to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, according to an Associated Press interview with retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg. Kellogg, a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said planning continues for talks with Zelenskyy at the annual conference.  Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State …

French President Emmanuel Macron wants Europe to become a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, he told a global summit of AI and political leaders in Paris Monday where he announced that France’s private sector has invested nearly $113 billion in French AI. Financial investment is key to achieving the goal of Europe as an AI hub, Macron said in his remarks delivered in …

PARIS — In front of political and tech leaders gathered at a summit in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a strategy on Monday to make up for the delay in France and Europe in investing in artificial intelligence (AI) but was faced with a “counter-summit” that pointed out the risks of the technology.  The use of chatbots at work and school is destroying jobs, …

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS — Judges at the International Criminal Court have officially asked Italy on Monday to explain why the country released a Libyan man suspected of torture, murder and rape rather than sending him to The Hague. Italian police arrested Ossama Anjiem, also known as Ossama al-Masri, last month but rather than extraditing him to the Netherlands, where the ICC is based, sent him back …

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — Europe’s Euclid space telescope has detected a rare halo of bright light around a nearby galaxy, astronomers reported Monday. The halo, known as an Einstein ring, encircles a galaxy 590 million light-years away, considered close by cosmic standards.   A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. Astronomers have known about this galaxy for more than a century and so were surprised when Euclid revealed …

Bucharest, Romania — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced his resignation on Monday following mounting pressure from populist opposition groups, two months after a top court annulled a presidential election in the European Union country. “To spare Romania from this crisis, I am resigning as president of Romania,” he said in an emotional address, adding that he will leave office on Feb. 12. Iohannis, 65, held the …