World

  Demonstrators gathered in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, call for the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, Nov. 2, 2024. Tel Aviv, Israel — Hundreds of protesters in Tel Aviv, Israel, voiced their frustration with the government Saturday for failing to secure a truce to bring the remaining hostages in Gaza home. Flag-waving demonstrators in the country\'s commercial hub held placards with slogans including "Deal now," "Stop the war" and "We won\'t abandon them," and beat drums and chanted "Why are they still in Gaza?" "There have been countless opportunities to end this crisis, and each o...

  During an interview with VOA in Washington, Mariana Katzarova, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, said Russia's "the state-sanctioned system of torture" is being used as "a tool" to control the country's people, Oct. 29, 2024. washington — Mariana Katzarova, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, reported Tuesday on the human rights situation in Russia at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, describing torture as Moscow\'s main tool of repression. In an interview with VOA, Katzarova detailed how the Russian government has turned brutality into the new norm and how Russians are persecuted for their anti-war views. This interview has been edited for clarity and bre...

  A Lebanese man points to the beach in Batroun, northern Lebanon, where Lebanese officials say a group of armed men landed and took away a ship captain, Nov. 2, 2024. BATROUN, Lebanon — Israeli naval forces captured a senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon, an Israeli military official said Saturday, as the conflict between the Iran-backed group and Israel showed few signs of easing. Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said it was investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese sea captain who was taken away by a group of armed men who had landed on the coast near the northern town of Batroun on Friday. "The operative has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated,"...

  ATHENS, GREECE — Greek anti-terror investigators have arrested a man in connection with a deadly explosion in Athens, police said Saturday, warning of "a new generation of terrorists" at work. Thursday\'s blast in an apartment in the capital, which killed a man and seriously injured a woman, is suspected to have been caused by the accidental detonation of a homemade bomb. Police sources told AFP they had identified the dead man from his dismembered remains as a 36-year-old from the port city of Piraeus who had been previously arrested in Germany. His fingerprints were in the international database of Europol, the European Union\'s law enforcement agency, the sources said. Investigators have also opened a case for alleged partic...

  A destroyed car marked "Press" is seen at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area where a number of journalists were located in the southern Lebanese village of Hasbaya on Oct. 25, 2024. WASHINGTON/NEW YORK — Achieving justice in the targeted killings of journalists is a difficult task made even more complicated in cases that take place in wartime, experts say. On a global scale, 85% of journalist killings around the world since 2006 remain unsolved, according to a report released by UNESCO on Saturday. In 2013, the United Nations declared November 2 the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. Impunity in journalist killings has long been the norm, and active conflict exacerbates the pr...

  Attiq Ur Rehman, 21, walks with his teammates along the beach as they prepare to surf at Turtle Beach in Karachi, Pakistan, Sept. 4, 2024. KARACHI, Pakistan — Attiq Ur Rehman is determined to follow his dream to become Pakistan\'s first professional surfer despite his father\'s concern for his future, a lack of equipment and the messy waves near Karachi. "I don’t care about the money right now. I just want to compete," the 21-year-old says, shrugging off his father\'s plea to take up fishing so he can get married and support his family. "It\'s my surfer attitude." Rehman\'s family are part of a poor coastal community in southern Pakistan that usually make a living from fishing or as lifeguards watching over more affluent residents of Karachi when they come for a day at t...

  This handout photograph provided by the Ukrainian State Emergency Service on Nov. 2, 2024, shows a multistory residential building burning as a result of fragments of a downed Russian drone. KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged its allies to stop “watching” and take steps before North Korean troops deployed in Russia reach the battlefield. Zelenskyy raised the prospect of a preemptive Ukrainian strike on camps where the North Korean troops are being trained and said Kyiv knows their location. But he said Ukraine can’t do it without permission from allies to use Western-made long-range weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia. “But instead … America is watching, Britain is watching, Germany is watching. Everyone...

  This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian State Emergency Service on Nov. 2, 2024, shows a multistory residential building burning as a result of fragments of a downed Russian drone fall. KYIV, Ukraine — Russia unleashed an overnight drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv that lasted into late morning and wounded at least one person, city officials said on Saturday. Debris from downed drones struck six city districts, wounding a police officer, damaging residential buildings and starting fires, according to city military administrator Serhiy Popko. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko had earlier reported that two people had been injured. "Another night. Another air-raid alert. Another drone attack. The armed forces of the Russian Federation attacked Kyiv agai...

  After five years of provoking controversy and myriad emotions among residents of New Zealand's capital, Quasi the sculpture, pictured Oct. 30, 2024, will be removed from the roof of City Gallery. WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Perched on two fingers on the roof of an art gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, the giant sculpture of a hand has loomed over the city for five years. Named Quasi, the 16-foot — almost 5-meter — creation of Australia-based sculptor Ronnie van Hout bears an unsmiling human face — because why not? Some found it disturbing, and now, after five years of provoking controversy and myriad emotions — from horror and revulsion to delight — among residents of New Zealand\'s capital, Quasi was set to be removed from the ...

  FILE - In this photo provided by the Belarusian Presidential Press Service, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko speaks to military personnel in the Oshmyany District, Grodno region of Belarus, March 26, 2024. A 22-year-old Russian man considered a political prisoner by activists has died in a penal colony in Belarus, human rights group Viasna said Friday. The rights group said it confirmed the death of Dmitry Shletgauer, who was recently transferred to a penal colony in Mogilev in eastern Belarus. Viasna said Shletgauer had been at the penal colony for a short time before his death. "Provisionally, this happened on October 11," the rights group said. "He spent less than a month in the penal colony. The exact cause of death is unknown." Shletgauer received a 12-year ...