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Zelenskyy attends security meeting, seeks support for Ukraine peace summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is attending the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference Saturday in Singapore, where he will try to raise support from Asia-Pacific countries for the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland later this month. That summit will focus on the…

Uganda tackles yellow fever with new travel requirement, vaccination campaign

KAMPALA, Uganda —  Uganda has rolled out a nationwide yellow fever vaccination campaign to help safeguard its population against the mosquito-borne disease that has long posed a threat. By the end of April, Ugandan authorities had vaccinated 12.2 million of…

Russian air attack damages Ukrainian energy infrastructure in 5 regions

KYIV —  Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones on Saturday, damaging energy facilities in five regions across Ukraine, officials said. Ukraine’s national grid operator Ukrenergo said the attack damaged energy facilities in the eastern Donetsk, southeastern Zaporizhzhia, and…

White House Q&A: US policy evolves with threats against Ukraine

THE WHITE HOUSE —  Less than a day after U.S. President Joe Biden granted Ukraine authorization to strike inside Russia with American weaponry, Michael Carpenter, senior director for Europe at the National Security Council, spoke with VOA’s Iuliia Iarmolenko to…

Sumy region in Ukraine extensively shelled since start of 2024

The city of Sumy, Ukraine, is just 32 kilometers from the Russian border. Sumy and the region have been shelled more times in the first five months of 2024 than during all of last year, yet some villages on the…

Biden allows Ukraine to hit Russia with American weapons near Kharkiv

WASHINGTON —  In a shift from his previous position, U.S. President Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to use American-provided weapons to counter Russian attacks in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, located just 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Russia….

Australian researchers find simple, cost-effective desalination method

SYDNEY —  Australian researchers say a simpler and cheaper method to remove salt from seawater using heat could help combat what they call “unprecedented global water shortages.” The desalination of seawater is a process where salt and impurities are removed…

Trillions of cicadas pop up in parts of US

It’s an emergence that’s been more than a decade in the making. Trillions of cicadas that have burrowed underground for 13 or 17 years are now emerging in parts of the Midwestern and Southern United States. And, VOA’s Dora Mekouar…

Pakistan launches communication satellite with Chinese assistance

Washington —  Pakistan’s space agency on Thursday launched its second satellite in a month from a launch site in China’s northwest Sichuan province. According to Pakistan’s Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), PakSAT-MM1 is a high-power multimission satellite designed…

Situation in southern Gaza ‘horrific and apocalpytic’: WFP

Matthew Hollingsworth, WFP Country Director in Palestine, warned that with limited access to the south “we will no doubt see what we saw happen in the north in the first months of the war”. Mr. Hollingsworth recently spent 10 days…