Ukraine’s top diplomat to visit China this week to talk peace, Kyiv says
KYIV/BEIJING —Ukraine’s top diplomat will visit China on Tuesday at the invitation of Beijing for talks that Kyiv said would focus on how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and on a possible Chinese role in reaching a settlement. Nearly 29 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will discuss bilateral ties at […]
Russia convicts 2nd American journalist in secret trial
A Russian court confirmed Monday that American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was convicted in a closed-door trial seen widely as retaliatory. Kurmasheva, who works at VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, or RFE/RL in Prague, was sentenced Friday to six and a half years in prison for spreading false information about the Russian army, according […]
Israel orders evacuation of part of Gaza humanitarian zone
The Israeli military on Monday ordered the evacuation of part of an area in the Gaza Strip it has designated a humanitarian zone. The military said it is planning to begin an operation against Hamas militants who have embedded themselves in the area and used it to launch rockets toward Israel. The area includes the […]
Tenuous Taliban control gives life to al-Qaida, Islamic State
Taliban efforts to solidify the group’s control over Afghanistan are bringing a measure of peace and stability to its residents, but intelligence gathered by United Nations member states suggests the reprieve is not likely to last. A report issued late Wednesday by the U.N. sanctions monitoring team warns that Afghanistan will almost certainly remain a […]
Indonesia sentences former agriculture minister to 10 years for corruption
Indonesia’s anti-graft court sentenced a former agriculture minister to 10 years in prison Thursday after finding him guilty of corruption-related extortion, abuse of power and bribery involving ministry contracts with private vendors. The case has tarnished President Joko Widodo’s credibility in fighting corruption. Five other members of Widodo’s Cabinet have been sentenced to prison terms […]
The whole room was covered in blood’: Inside the Russian missile strike on a Kyiv children’s hospital
Mother of child inside Kyiv hospital films moments following Russian missile strike lena Danylova and her eight-year-old daughter watched as black smoke started to seep through the ceiling into the bomb shelter where they had just fled a Russian missile attack. Moments earlier, her young daughter, who she asked not to be named, had been […]
At least 7 dead and more than 2 million without power in Beryl’s aftermath
Beryl is now a tropical depression, but more than 21 million people are under flood watches from Arkansas to Michigan as it moves northeast. At least six people have died in Texas and one in Louisiana from Hurricane Beryl, as a huge clean-up and restoration operation gets underway to reconnect 2.3 million energy customers who […]