Civilians and peacekeepers at risk, amid escalating Lebanon conflict
Intensified Israeli airstrikes on 23 September forced nearly 120,000 people to flee their homes within a week, according to UNHCR. As of 20 October, that number has spiked to 809,000 displaced within Lebanon. A further 425,000 – of whom around…
Syria facing alarming regional spillover, UN envoy warns
“The fires of conflicts are raging the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Gaza, and in Lebanon. And the heat is being felt in Syria too – spiralling escalation is already having a major impact on Syria and Syrian civilians,” Geir Pedersen…
US: North Korea has dispatched 3,000 troops to Russia for training
The United States said Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops were dispatched to Russia earlier this month and are being trained there, possibly to fight alongside Moscow’s troops in their 32-month war against Ukraine. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told…
E. coli outbreak tied to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder kills 1, sickens dozens in US
One person died and dozens fell ill from E. coli infections linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers in 10 states, led by Colorado, where 26 people were sickened, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said on Tuesday. The E. coli…
Ukraine’s prosecutor general resigns following draft-dodging scandal
Ukraine’s prosecutor general announced his resignation Tuesday amid charges that his office provided exemptions to the military draft for government officials. “Many shameful facts of abuse have been established within the system of the prosecutor’s offices of Ukraine,” Andriy Kostin…
VOA interview: US Army General Costanza discusses Russia’s threat to West
The war in Ukraine is reshaping the strategic landscape of Europe. While Western and Eastern European nations within the NATO alliance recognize the Russian threat, each day, NATO nations bordering Belarus and Russia feel the immediacy of the threat. In…
Ethiopia begins selling stakes in state-owned company
Ethiopia’s state-owned telecommunications company has started selling shares to the public, in a move aimed at establishing a new national stock market and giving Ethiopians a stake in the company, one of the country’s largest and most profitable. Ethio Telecom…
Polio resurfaces in Ivory Coast, threatening country’s children
Health officials say there have been six cases of polio reported in Ivory Coast in 2023, and one so far this year. It doesn’t seem like many, but any polio cases are cause for concern among health officials trying to…
Kremlin moves to silence Russia war critics in Central Asia
For Lev Skoryakin, a fugitive Russian political activist on the Kremlin’s wanted list for staging anti-government protests, luck ran out in June 2023. Having fled to Kyrgyzstan the previous summer, he managed to keep a low profile for more than…
Bilingual school in Hungary helps Ukrainian refugee children preserve identity
The United Nations says the war in Ukraine has displaced more than 6 million people and forced many of them to register as refugees across Europe. More than 60,000 of them — mostly women and children — are living in…