The United States last month formally opened a permanent military base in Poland, part of NATO’s missile defense system amid rising tensions with Russia. The Polish defense minister says the base is a testament to Polish-American cooperation. VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from Redzikowo, Poland. …
Elon Musk considers funding Nigel Farage’s populist party in UK
LONDON — It’s a photo that sent a tremor through British politics: Elon Musk flanked by British politician Nigel Farage and a wealthy backer, in front of a gilt-framed painting of a young Donald Trump. Taken this week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the image suggested that Musk, a key player in the incoming U.S. administration, could soon turn his disruptive attention to the U.K. …
US hostage envoy arrives in Syria as part of search for Austin Tice
WASHINGTON — A group of U.S. diplomats were in Syria to hold talks Friday with the country’s new leaders and seek information about the whereabouts of detained American journalist Austin Tice, following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, former special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein, and the Biden administration’s chief envoy for hostage negotiations, Roger Carstens, …
Finding home: Ukrainian teens adjust to life in New York
For Ukrainian teens displaced by war, adjusting to life in a new country is a complex journey. In New York City, there’s a school helping many of these students find a second home. Johny Fernandez reports from the Big Apple. …
Myanmar military appears to be using Thai fisherman as leverage, experts say
Myanmar’s recent arrest and sentencing of four Thai fishermen has heightened tensions between the Southeast Asian neighbors with some analysts telling VOA the move appears to be aimed at gaining legitimacy and recognition ahead of high-level government meetings in Bangkok this week. Earlier this week, a Myanmar court in Kawthoung sentenced the owner of a seized fishing vessel to six years in prison, and three …
Elon Musk gives nod to German far-right party as election looms
U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, set to join President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, waded into Germany’s election campaign on Friday, calling the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) the country’s savior. The AfD is running second in opinion polls and might be able to thwart either a center-right or center-left majority, but Germany’s mainstream, more centrist parties have vowed to shun support from the AfD at national level. …
Top US officials in Damascus to meet new Syrian rulers, State Department says
WASHINGTON — Top diplomats from the Biden administration are in Damascus on Friday to meet new Syrian authorities led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a State Department spokesperson said, the first in-person and official meeting between Washington and Syria’s de-facto new rulers. The State Department’s top Middle East diplomat, Barbara Leaf, Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and newly appointed Senior Adviser Daniel Rubinstein, who …
China’s Xi swears in new leader of casino hub Macao
MACAO — Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the casino hub of Macao to diversify its economy as he swore in the former Portuguese colony’s new government on Friday at an event marking the 25th anniversary of its handover to China. New Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai — Macao’s first leader born in mainland China — vowed to address the territory’s unbalanced and uncoordinated economic development. Since …
Australia announces $118 million deal to enhance policing in Solomon Islands
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Australia announced on Friday it will pay for more police in Solomon Islands and create a police training center in the South Pacific island nation’s capital, Honiara, where Chinese law enforcement instructors are already based under a bilateral security pact with Beijing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia would spend 190 million Australian dollars ($118 million) over four years on funding and training …
What Assad’s ouster means for the Middle East
A chapter in Syria’s prolonged civil war has ended with the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government. But what does this mean for the country’s future and that of the Middle East? …
VOA Russian: Europe targets Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’
Leaders of 12 European countries agreed at a meeting in Tallinn to expand sanctions against Russia’s “shadow fleet” that is used by Moscow to sell oil and evade Western sanctions. Several European states imposed new policies on Russian vessels transiting through European waters to curb Russia’s ability to use profits from illicit oil sales to fund its war in Ukraine. Click here for the full …
VOA Russian: Defense minister charts Kremlin’s path toward a war with NATO
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said that a conflict between Russia and NATO is possible within the next decade. VOA Russian spoke to experts who agreed that Belousov is most likely voicing the Kremlin’s true intentions, and that the West should treat these statements seriously. Click here for the full story in Russian. …
Earthquake-hit Vanuatu braces for possible cyclone
On Thursday, two days after Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu, was hit by a deadly 7.3 magnitude earthquake with numerous aftershocks, residents were told to prepare for heavy rains that could grow into a cyclone that would bring more destruction to the ravaged island. Earthquakes are commonplace in the Pacific Island archipelago, but Tuesday’s temblor was exceptional. Its shaking flattened buildings, destroyed reservoirs, …
Surveys show widespread Great Barrier Reef coral loss
sydney — Australian scientists said Wednesday that they had found a widespread decrease in coral cover in southern parts of the Great Barrier Reef. Researchers have just completed a routine annual underwater survey of reefs off central Queensland state a month after their analysis showed similar devastation in a northern section. The Australian Institute of Marine Science, a government research agency, said most of the damage …
UN chief tells Israel to stop bombing Syria
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on Israel to halt its airstrikes on Syria, calling them violations of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. “Syria’s sovereignty, territorial unity and integrity must be fully restored, and all acts of aggression must come to an immediate end,” Guterres told reporters. Since the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad abruptly fell earlier this month, Israel has carried …
Photo gallery: Syria’s Mazzeh air base destroyed, abandoned
Strategically located in the south edge of Damascus, the Mazzeh air base was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime more than a week ago. The airport was used by the Syrian army during the entire 13 years civil war that engulfed the country. The remains of aircraft and air defense air systems are still scattered around the air base, but …
Trump pushes for conflict-ending Ukraine-Russia ‘deal’
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says the leaders of Ukraine and Russia should be “prepared to make a deal” to end the brutal conflict that has consumed Ukraine since 2022. He also slammed President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory with U.S.-provided weapons – hinting that when he takes office, he may reverse that move. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington. …
HRW report: Israel committing genocide by depriving Gaza civilians of water
A new report Thursday from New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, or HRW, has accused Israel of committing genocide for intentionally depriving civilians in Gaza of an adequate water supply, likely resulting in the deaths of thousands. The 179-page report published on the group’s website outlines how, since the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas began in October 2023, Israeli authorities and …
US ambassador: US arms manufacturers could help boost Vietnam’s capabilities
HANOI, VIETNAM — U.S. weapons manufacturers could work with Vietnamese counterparts to help build Vietnam’s armed forces, the U.S. ambassador to the southeast Asian country said on Thursday. “Our goal is to ensure that Vietnam has what it needs to defend its interests at sea, in the air, on the ground and in cyberspace,” U.S. Ambassador Marc Knapper said at an international arms expo in the …
France’s Macron visits cyclone-devastated Mayotte as residents plead for aid
MAMOUDZOU, MAYOTTE — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Thursday in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte to survey Cyclone Chido’s destruction and was immediately confronted with a firsthand account of devastation across the French territory. “Mayotte is demolished,” Assane Haloi, a security agent, told Macron after he stepped off the plane. Macron had been moving along in a line of people greeting him when Haloi grasped …
UN chief names Mexican lawyer to determine fate of Syria’s missing
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that he is appointing the former head of Mexico’s National Search Commission to head an independent mechanism for determining the fate of tens of thousands of missing and forcibly disappeared persons in Syria. “We pledge our support to those who continue to live with the agony of uncertainty,” Guterres said of the families of the missing. In …
China lets Sweden, Finland, Germany, Denmark board ship in cable breach case
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — China has allowed representatives from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Denmark to board a Chinese bulk carrier at the center of an investigation into Baltic Sea cable breaches, the Danish foreign minister said on Thursday. The Yi Peng 3 vessel is wanted in Sweden for questioning over a breach of two undersea fiber-optic cables in November and has been stationary in waters nearby for …
White House: NATO membership necessary for Ukraine security guarantees but invitation decision up to next president
WASHINGTON — As President Joe Biden’s administration prepares to transfer power to the incoming team of President-elect Donald Trump, VOA Ukrainian Iuliia Iarmolenko spoke with Michael Carpenter, the National Security Council director for Europe. Carpenter discussed the Biden administration’s final efforts to strengthen Ukraine and why it would take more time and resources from Washington to start successful negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. VOA: In September, …
Putin says Assad ouster not a defeat for Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday rejected the notion that the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad represented a defeat for Russia. Putin said during his annual news conference that Russia had “achieved our goals” in Syria, where it rushed to provide direct military support for Assad’s government more than nine years ago to help push back rebel fighters. Russian forces operated out of a network …