Russian President Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s address to the nation usually is rather anodyne and backed with a soothing view of a snowy Kremlin. This year, with soldiers in the…

Even by the standards of Turkey’s and Greece’s frequently strained relations, it was a remarkable escalation. Speaking to youths in a Black Sea town, Turkey’s president directly threatened his country’s…

Pope Emeritus Benedict served for just eight years before making history by stepping down in 2013, saying he didn’t have the mental or physical strength to run the church. VOA’s…

On New Year’s Eve, Russian missiles rained on Ukraine nationwide. At least one person was killed and at least 28 were wounded as eight massive explosions rocked the city of…

When Pope Benedict shocked the Roman Catholic Church in 2013 by announcing he would resign instead of ruling for life, he promised to stay in the Vatican “hidden from the…

When Pope Gregory XII, the last pope to resign before Benedict, died in 1417, the world was not watching. Gregory had stepped down two years earlier in 1415 and spent…

Behind the frontline near Kreminna, a strategically located Russian-controlled city in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv’s troops say they are facing a tough enemy. “We fight them every day, in any weather….

The condition of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI remains stable, the Vatican said Friday, as Catholics prayed for the 95-year-old former pontiff whose health has seriously deteriorated. The German, who in…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine continues to endure and repel waves of Russian air attacks and that Ukrainian air defenses have been made “stronger than ever.”  “In…

Romanian authorities have arrested divisive social media personality Andrew Tate on suspicion of human trafficking and rape.   Prosecutors in Bucharest asked a court Friday to extend by 30 days…

As the person who dressed the Sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwood, who died Thursday at 81, was synonymous with 1970s punk rock, a rebelliousness that remained the hallmark of an unapologetically…

Georgiy Yatsenko was hiding in the basement trying to comfort his anxious grandchildren on Thursday morning when an explosion rocked his normally sleepy street in southern Kyiv. The blast blew…

Kosovo has reopened the main border crossing with Serbia, as Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has announced dozens of other roadblocks in Northern Kosovo also would be removed.   Thursday, after…

A new wave of Russian missile strikes pounded cities throughout Ukraine on Thursday, damaging power stations and other critical infrastructure during freezing winter weather. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said…

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is lucid, conscious and stable but his condition remains serious, the Vatican said Thursday, a day after it revealed that the 95-year-old’s health had deteriorated recently. …

The Bulgarian foreign ministry on Thursday summoned Russia’s ambassador to explain why Moscow has placed a Bulgarian journalist working for an international investigative website on a list of wanted persons….

Kosovo reopened the country’s main border crossing with Serbia on Thursday after a nearby barricade that led to its closure was removed, while Serbia’s president said more than a dozen…

Recent Russian-Belarusian military exercises have raised fears of a second invasion of Ukraine from the north. While Ukrainians see Belarus as an aggressor, some observers and members of the Belarusian…

Russia attacked Ukraine with a barrage of missiles Thursday, including ones that targeted the capital, Kyiv, as well as the city of Kharkiv. Ukrainian presidential aide Miykhailo Podolyak tweeted that…

Bernard Phelan, a French Irish tour operator who has been detained in Iran for the past three months, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” his sister said…

A Turkish appellate court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of a leading critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan whose jailing has added to tensions in Ankara’s uneasy ties with the…

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby announced late December that Russia’s Wagner mercenary group is expanding its influence, recruiting convicts and receiving arms from North Korea. Garri Knyagnitsky has the…

The United States, NATO and European Union urged maximum restraint in the north of Kosovo, as authorities closed a third border crossing on Wednesday as tensions escalated with local Serbs…

NASA is exploring whether SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft can potentially offer an alternative ride home for some crew members of the International Space Station after a Russian capsule sprang a…

Italy is making coronavirus tests for visitors from China mandatory following an explosion in cases in China, the health minister said Wednesday. “I have ordered mandatory COVID-19 antigenic swabs, and…

  Pope Francis said Wednesday that former Pope Benedict is “very sick.”   Speaking during his general audience, the pope asked for special prayers for Benedict.     “I can confirm that in the…

Ukraine said Russia attacks Wednesday included missiles fired at civilian targets in the southern city of Kherson. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported 33 missiles fired at Kherson,…

French authorities were Tuesday investigating as suicide the drowning of an Iranian man in the southeastern city of Lyon; he had said on social media he was going to kill…