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This is VOA News. I'm Alexis Strope.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 115 prisoners of war from each side on Saturday after the United Arab Emirates acted as an intermediary. Reuters correspondent Jillian Kitchener reports. Video from the Russian Defense Ministry shows freed servicemen on their way back home. According to the Defense Ministry, the Russian servicemen swapped were captured in the Kursk region. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Ukraine's operation in the Kursk region was a preventative strike to stop Russian attacks in the north and towards the city of Sumy. In video released Saturday, freed soldiers saying the Ukrainian national anthem while holding the country's flag and military flags. The Russian Defense Ministry expressed gratitude for the United Arab Emirates for acting as an intermediary in the swamp. Jillian Kitchener from Reuters. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in strikes in southern Gaza on Saturday. AP correspondent Rica Ann Garcia reports. Israeli military stated that their troops targeted Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, killing several militants. Meanwhile, just south of the Gaza Strip, officials say at least three dozen Palestinians were killed in multiple Israeli strikes as preparations moved ahead for high-level cease-fire talks in the Egyptian capital, mediated by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar. Gaza's Nasser Hospital reported that around 11 members of the same family, including children, were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit their home in Khan Yunis. The hospital received a total of 33 bodies from three separate strikes. I'm Rica Ann Garcia. For pictures, video stories and more, follow the Voice of America on X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. And for additional stories 24 hours a day, visit voanews.com. This is VOA News. An Italian prosecutor has opened a manslaughter investigation into the deaths of British tech [mag...] magnet Mike Lynch and six others who were killed when a luxury yacht sank off Sicily this week. Reuters Sean Hogan reports. The head of the public prosecutor's office of Termini Imerese, Ambrogio Cartosio, said while the yacht had been hit by a very sudden meteorological event, it was plausible that crimes of multiple manslaughter and causing a shipwreck through negligence had been committed. The captain, James Cutfield, and the other survivors have been questioned this week by authorities. None of them have commented publicly on how the ship went down. Fifteen people survived, including Lynch's wife. His 18-year-old daughter Hannah was among those who died. The national head of the fire brigade's diving service, Giuseppe Petrone, told reporters the passengers were stuck as furniture had floated around the wreck. Retrieving the boat may help investigators determine what happened, but it's likely a complex and costly operation. Sean Hogan from Reuters. French acting Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin says police have apprehended a suspect who was responsible for an arson attack on a synagogue [in the] in a southwestern Mediterranean town in which a police officer has been injured. Anti-terrorism prosecutors opened an investigation into the attack on charges of attempted terrorist assassination. Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort town of La Grande Motte were set ablaze Saturday morning. A police officer who walked up to the site was injured after a propane gas tank [in one o...] in one of the vehicles detonated. NASA has decided to keep two astronauts in space until February, nixing their return on the troubled Boeing capsule. VOA's Christina Menenti has more. Veteran NASA astronauts "Butch" Wilmore and "Suni" Williams, who flew to the International Space Station in June aboard Boeing's faulty Starliner capsule, will need to return to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle early next year, NASA said on Saturday, deeming issues with Starliner's propulsion system too risky to carry its first crew home. NASA administrator Bill Nelson made the announcement on Saturday. "NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February." Starliner's propulsion system suffered a series of glitches beginning in the first 24 hours of its flight to the International Space Station, triggering months of cascading delays. Christina Menenti, VOA News. The Canadian arbitrator appointed to resolve a messy [railroad] railroad labor dispute to protect the North American economy has ordered employees at the country's two major railroads back to work so both can resume operating. The Teamsters union representing workers said Saturday that it will comply with the order, but will also move forward with a legal challenge. For additional stories 24 hours a day, visit our website voanews.com. I'm Alexis Strope, VOA News. |