ROME — Efforts to release Italian journalist Cecilia Sala from prison in Iran are “complicated,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Saturday. Sala was detained on December 19 by police in Tehran and is being held in the city’s notorious Evin prison, according to her employer. “We are trying to resolve a complicated issue and to ensure in the meantime that Cecilia Sala is detained in …
Assad’s fall opens new dynamics in Middle East, regional analysts say
AMMAN, JORDAN — The overthrow of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime has opened the door to new dynamics in the Middle East, regional analysts say, with Turkey likely gaining superiority, Iran reeling and, with that, Iraq gaining more freedom from Iranian pressure. The Assad government in Syria spanned 54 years in power — first with the elder Hafez al-Assad and later with son Bashar of the minority …
Ukrainian soldiers find rest, restoration at Carpathian mountain retreat
As Russia’s war against Ukraine enters its third year, centers focused on soldiers’ rehabilitation and mental health are appearing across Ukraine. An active serviceman started one such place in his native village in the Carpathian Mountains. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. Videographer and video editor: Yuriy Dankevych …
Russia to stop gas exports to Moldova beginning Jan. 1
MOSCOW / CHISINAU, MOLDOVA — Russian energy giant Gazprom said Saturday it would suspend gas exports to Moldova from 0500 GMT on Jan. 1 due to unpaid debt by Moldova, which is bracing for severe power cuts. It said the company reserved the right to take any action, including terminating the supply contract with Moldova. Russia supplies Moldova with about 2 billion cubic meters of gas …
Turkey’s pro-Kurd party to meet jailed PKK leader on Saturday
ISTANBUL — A delegation from Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish DEM party is due on Saturday to visit jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence on a prison island off Istanbul, a party source said. “The delegation left in the morning,” the source told AFP, without elaborating how they would travel to the island for security reasons. The visit would be the party’s first …
Ukraine says it struck drone depot in Russia’s Oryol region
Ukraine said on Saturday it had struck a storage and maintenance depot for long-range Shahed drones in Russia’s Oryol region, adding that this had “significantly reduced” Russia’s ability to launch mass drone attacks on Ukraine. Ukraine military’s general staff said in a statement on Telegram the attack took place on Thursday and was conducted by Ukraine’s air force. “As a result of the strike, a …
Major Gaza hospital shut after Israeli raid, officials say
GAZA STRIP — An Israeli military raid targeting Hamas militants has forced a major hospital in northern Gaza out of service and led to the detention of its director, the World Health Organization and health officials said Saturday. The assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital has rendered the facility “useless,” further worsening Gaza’s severe health crisis, the Palestinian territory’s health officials said. “This morning’s raid on Kamal …
Israel says it intercepted missile from Yemen, day after Sanaa hit with strikes
SANAA, YEMEN — The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen early Saturday, a day after the Houthi-held capital Sanaa was hit by fresh airstrikes. Sirens sounded in areas of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea on Saturday as “a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted … prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the Israeli military said. The day before, a fresh airstrike hit …
Somali migrant who survived boat sinking wants to try again for Europe
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Idil Abdullahi Goley’s journey seeking a better life in Europe started in Somalia with a $6,500 payment to local smugglers. It ended a month later with fellow migrants around her dying at sea, one of them screaming and reciting the Muslim profession of faith. The deaths of 25 migrants last month in boats off the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar brought to light …
VOA Kurdish: Fears grow over sectarian tensions in Syria
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the rebel group now in control of Damascus, has bolstered its military presence in the Syrian cities of Homs, Tartus and Latakia following recent protests against the burning of a holy Alawite shrine in Aleppo. Experts warn that tensions could deepen sectarian and ethnic divisions in the country, causing further fragmentation of Syria’s diverse population. Click here for the …
WHO chief describes Israeli strike on Yemen airport
ZURICH — The head of the World Health Organization said Friday that he was not sure he was going to survive an airstrike on Yemen’s main airport carried out by Israel a day earlier during a series of attacks on the Iran-aligned Houthi movement. Speaking at the Sanaa International Airport on Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the explosions that rocked the building were so …
Engineer pleads not guilty in US case of deadly Iran-linked drone strike
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — A former engineer at a semiconductor manufacturer pleaded not guilty Friday to U.S. charges that he illegally procured technology for an Iranian firm that made a key component of a drone used in a January attack by Iran-backed militants in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members. Mahdi Sadeghi, who was fired by Analog Devices after his Dec. 16 arrest, pleaded not guilty …
VOA Russian: Washington, Moscow, Beijing to form complicated strategic triangle in 2025
VOA Russian spoke with U.S. officials, politicians and experts to see how U.S. relations with China and Russia could change under the incoming Donald Trump administration. Experts say Beijing may be worried about Trump’s plans for the swift end of the war in Ukraine, while North Korea’s involvement in the war could become a lightning rod in China-Russia relations. Click here for the full story …
VOA Russian: Expert says Russian missile most likely caused plane crash in Kazakhstan
VOA Russian speaks to aviation expert Konstantin Kryvolap, who takes apart Moscow’s official versions of the crash of the Russia-bound Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan and says a Russian missile was the only viable cause. Kryvolap says as soon as the first photos and videos from the crash site started to trickle in, this became obvious, taking into account the shrapnel damage on the plane …
Boat sinks en route to Spain, dozens killed, Malian minister says
BAMAKO, MALI — Nearly 70 migrants died when their boat sank as they tried to reach Spain earlier this month, Mali’s Minister for Malians Living Abroad said. In a press release Thursday, Mossa Ag Attaher announced that a migrant boat bound for Spain sank on Dec. 19. The migrants in this boat “numbered 80 at the start, with only 11 survivors,” according to the Ministry. The …
Massive Chinese espionage scheme hit 9th telecom firm, US says
WASHINGTON — A sprawling Chinese espionage campaign hacked a ninth U.S. telecom firm, a top White House official said Friday. The Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. The White House earlier this month said the attack affected at least eight telecommunications companies and dozens of nations. Anne Neuberger, …
Montenegro approves extradition of cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon to US
PODGORICA, MONTENEGRO — Montenegro has approved the extradition of a South Korean mogul known as “the cryptocurrency king” to the United States, the Balkan country’s Justice Ministry said Friday. Minister Bojan Bozovic has issued a deposition allowing the handover of Do Kwon, the founder of the Singapore crypto firm Terraform Labs who was arrested in Montenegro last year, according to the ministry. It was not immediately …
Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees return from Turkey
Nearly 31,000 Syrians have returned home since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, Turkey’s interior minister said Friday. Turkey is home to nearly 3 million refugees who fled Syria after the start of the civil war in 2011. The recent fall of Assad’s government has raised hope that Syrian refugees in Turkey and elsewhere may be able to return. The …
Israeli forces raid northern Gaza hospital
Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan hospital on Friday, one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, burning large sections and forcing dozens of patients and hundreds of others to leave, officials said. Gaza’s Health Ministry said it had lost contact with staff inside the hospital in the northern city of Beit Lahiya. “The occupation forces are inside the hospital …
UN air crew member hurt in Yemen airport strike, WHO says
Sanaa — The United Nations air crew member hurt in an Israeli air strike on Yemen’s main international airport Thursday sustained serious injuries and is recovering in a hospital, a World Health Organization spokesperson said Friday. Israel said it struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen, including Sana’a International Airport. Houthi media reported that at least six people were killed and 40 …
Ukrainian drone attack was under way before Azerbaijani plane crash, Russian aviation chief says
Russia’s aviation chief said Friday that a Ukrainian drone attack was under way in the region of Chechnya at the time an Azerbaijani airliner attempted to land before diverting to Kazakhstan and crashing there earlier this week. Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, didn’t comment on statements by an Azerbaijani lawmaker and many aviation experts who blamed Wednesday’s crash on Russian air …
Driver who killed 35 in China car ramming sentenced to death
Beijing — A man who killed 35 people in a car attack in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai last month was sentenced to death on Friday, state media reported. On November 11, 62-year-old Fan Weiqiu deliberately drove through people exercising outside a sports complex in his small SUV, the worst attack in China since 2014. He was detained at the scene with self-inflicted knife injuries …
China sanctions 7 companies over US military assistance to Taiwan
BEIJING — The Chinese government placed sanctions on seven companies on Friday in response to recent U.S. announcements of military sales and aid to Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as part of its territory. The sanctions also come in response to the recent approval of the U.S. government’s annual defense spending bill, which a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said “includes multiple negative sections on …
NATO to boost military presence in Baltic after cables ‘sabotage’
Brussels — NATO will bolster its military presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage of an undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia this week, the Western military alliance’s chief Mark Rutte said on Friday. On Christmas Day, the Estlink 2 submarine cable that carries electricity from Finland to Estonia was disconnected from the grid, just over a month after two telecommunications cables were …