Month: January 2023

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

When Abdul Khalil Rasoli fled threats in Afghanistan earlier this year, he thought he was guaranteeing his family a brighter future.

But now the journalist is trapped in Iran on an expired visa and with limited options.

“We don’t know what is going to happen to us,” Rasoli said, explaining that the family’s visas expired three months ago. They have applied for refuge in France but have not heard if they will be successful.

“Every minute, it is possible that [Iran will] deport us to Afghanistan. Now, we can’t pay the fine for overstaying. It is 2,000,000 rial ($50) per person per day, and I do not have the money,” he said.

Rasoli, 36, had moved from his home province in Herat to Kabul two months before the Afghan capital fell.

After the Taliban regained power in August 2021, he moved his wife and two daughters, ages 10 and 6, to Tehran in Iran.

But a return to their home country is risky.

“I can’t go back to Afghanistan,” Rasoli told VOA. “My life is in danger there.”

Threatening calls, texts

When he lived in Herat, the journalist used to report on a range of issues for the daily newspaper Hasht-e Subh.

But when he started to receive threatening calls and text messages, he moved his family to the capital.

“I continued to write after the fall of Kabul. I wrote, for example, on the issues that the universities and local media were facing under the Taliban in the western provinces,” Rasoli said.

His colleagues also were coming under pressure. In October 2021, the newspaper reported about the Taliban acting interior minister hosting an event to honor suicide bombers responsible for the deaths of thousands in Afghanistan.

Shortly after, Taliban fighters stormed the paper’s office in Kabul, Rasoli said, and warned the staff “not to publish anything that is not in line with the group’s policies.”

Rasoli said the Taliban were angry that the paper had used the term “suicide attackers” instead of “self-sacrificing.”

The Taliban did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.

For Rasoli, the threats continued even while he was in Kabul.

“We lived in a shelter in Kabul for a while and then moved to Mazar-e-Sharif,” he said, referring to one of Afghanistan’s main cities.

The family later moved to Tehran, joining other journalists fleeing Afghanistan since August 2021.

Dwindling options

Media watchdogs say news outlets and their staff face violence, censorship and economic hardships.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported in August that 213 out of 543 media outlets were closed, and more than 6,400 journalists lost their jobs, with women the most affected.

In November, the United Nations assistance mission in Afghanistan said it had recorded more than 200 cases of threats, arbitrary arrest, and ill-treatment of journalists since the Taliban takeover.

The Taliban rejected UNAMA’s statement.

“We consider these claims to be far from the truth,” Hayat Mahajer Farahi, deputy minister of information and culture, was cited as saying in local media that the Taliban will “uphold all the fundamental rights of journalists.”

Search for safety

In Tehran, Rasoli is in contact with around 20 to 25 Afghan journalists who also moved to Iran. But he hopes to move to Europe.

“I came here with my family to get visas to France,” he said.

He shared a letter in which the French media group Syndicat National des Journalistes and the International Federation of Journalists advocated for his application to be granted quickly.

“After consultations with our affiliate in Afghanistan, the IFJ is convinced that Abdul Khalil Rasoli has a well-founded fear for his safety inside Afghanistan,” stated the IFJ letter viewed by VOA.

Nicola Edge of the SNJ told VOA that she and her colleagues — a group of volunteers within the syndicate— have been helping to guide journalists to organizations that can assist with relocation.

She estimated that about 300 journalists fled Afghanistan mainly to Pakistan but also to Iran, Turkey and Uzbekistan, “hoping to get a visa” and relocate to a third country.

The process of getting visas is getting “difficult and complicated,” she said, adding that it is “slowing down for most of the countries.”

Nationwide antigovernment protests in Iran since September have further complicated the visa process, she said.

Edge’s organization is appealing to governments to speed up the process, noting that many journalists, especially women in Pakistan or Iran, face economic problems.

Aqila Mobarez Haidari has been in Iran for eight months and, like Rasoli, is trapped waiting for a visa to move to a new country.

Before leaving Afghanistan, Haidari, 24, worked with Negah TV and Radio, and Marefat Radio in Kabul. She hosted political programs on Negah’s radio show, where they discussed the Taliban.

“When they came to power, my life was at risk,” she said.

Even now, Haidari believes her life would be in danger if she were forced to return.

The journalist traveled with other families when moving to Iran to avoid being stopped by the Taliban “for not being with a mahram [a male relative].”

“It is difficult to leave one’s country and work, but I was only thinking about how to flee Afghanistan because of the Taliban,” Haidari said.

She has filled out forms requesting to be relocated to a third country, but has not heard back. Meanwhile, Haidari has overstayed her visa for Iran.

“It is painful that we live in uncertainty all these months,” said Haidari. Returning to Afghanistan under the Taliban rule is not an option she said, as the group is “against women.”

But, she said, “I do not know about my future.” 

This story originated in VOA’s Afghan Service.

In a video address on New Year’s Eve, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned Russia’s missile barrage in Ukraine. 

“Today, this Russian missile attack is not the end of the year, no matter how much the terrorists want it. It’s the outcome of Russia’s fate,” he said. 

Reacting to the Russian air assault on Ukraine skies nationwide Saturday, Zelenskyy said, “The terrorist state will not be forgiven. And those who give orders for such strikes, and those who carry them out, will not receive a pardon. To put it mildly.” 

On Saturday morning, Russian missiles pummeled Ukraine. One person was killed and at least 30 were wounded across the country. Eight massive explosions rocked the capital, Kyiv, and other areas.  

“At Easter, they made such attacks, at Christmas, at New Year … They call themselves Christians, they are very proud of their Orthodoxy. But they are following the devil. They support him and are together with him,” Zelenskyy said. 

He then addressed the Russian people: “Your leader wants to show that he has the troops behind him and that he is ahead. But he is just hiding. He hides behind the troops, behind missiles, behind the walls of his residences and palaces,” he said. 

“He hides behind you and burns your country and your future. No one will ever forgive you for terror. No one in the world will forgive you for this. Ukraine will never forgive,” he continued. 

Putin’s New Year’s address 

Earlier Saturday, in his own a video message broadcast on Russian state TV, Putin said Russia was fighting in Ukraine to protect its “motherland” and to secure “true independence” for its people.   

He accused the West of lying to Russia and of provoking Moscow to launch what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.   

“The West lied about peace,” Putin said. “It was preparing for aggression … and now they are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and split Russia. We have never allowed this and will never allow anybody to do this to us,” Russian state-run news agencies quoted Putin as saying in a speech broadcast at midnight in Russia’s Far East.   

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu vowed victory in Ukraine was “inevitable” as he praised the heroism of Russian soldiers fighting on the front lines and those who had died during the 10-month war.   

However, a rift appears to be growing between the notorious Russian mercenary company, the Wagner Group, and the Russian military. As the front-line Donbas city of Bakhmut has become the site of some of the fiercest fighting in Ukraine, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin took aim at Russia’s military leadership and the stalling war effort, chiding officials about the lack of ammunition in their battles against Ukrainian forces. 

“When you’re sitting in a warm office, it’s hard to hear about the problems on the front line, but when you’re dragging the dead bodies of your friends every day and seeing them for the last time — then supplies are very much needed,” he said in a video.  

New Year’s Eve toll 

Earlier Saturday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that during the missile strikes, one person was killed in the western Solomianskyi district of the city, and that a Japanese journalist was among the wounded in Kyiv. Another person was hospitalized in critical condition. Klitschko warned residents to remain in shelters.   

In downtown Kyiv, missiles hit residential buildings, including a hotel, as well as the National Palace of Arts in the theater district and a concert hall.   

Explosions were reported in other regions of Ukraine, including the eastern Donetsk oblast. Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko said that missiles hit targets in an industrial zone, but no casualties were reported.     

Mykolaiv oblast Governor Vitaliy Kim said at least six people were wounded in the southern city of Mykolaiv. Three of them were hospitalized, with one listed in critical condition.   

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said four people were wounded by a missile strike in the western city of Khmelnytskyi. In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, residential buildings were damaged, but information about casualties and destruction is being clarified, he added.  

On Saturday afternoon, explosions were heard at the Dzhankoi airport in Russian-occupied Crimea, according to local Telegram channels. The Dzhankoi airport is a military air base operated by Russian occupying forces. Ukrainian armed forces also reported explosions at the airport.  

  

Telegram channels monitoring launches of missiles reported that Dzhankoi was allegedly hit by a high-precision weapon.  

  

Ukrainian authorities didn’t comment on the incident, and occupation authorities didn’t either.  

  

Fighting elsewhere 

On the eastern front, Ukrainian forces said they killed or wounded up to 10 Russian troops, destroying two vehicles and damaging three more near the occupied city of Donetsk, according to the Ukrainian General Staff’s evening briefing on Telegram.    

Intense fighting continues in the region. A dozen towns near Bakhmut have been damaged by recent shelling. Russian forces are also continuing to hit the southern city of Kherson with multiple rocket launchers, aircraft and kamikaze drones.  

  

In the weeks following the liberation of Kherson in November, Russia has intensified its attacks on the front line in Donbas, particularly around Bakhmut, where it has made incremental gains supported by mass artillery bombardments.    

Some material for this article came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.   

A look at some of the best photos of the day from around the world.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died. Below are highlights from his life.

April 16, 1927: Born Joseph Alois Ratzinger in Marktl am Inn, Germany, youngest of three children to Joseph and Maria Ratzinger.

1943-45: Assistant in Germany’s anti-aircraft defense and infantry soldier; imprisoned in 1945 in American POW camp in Neu-Ulm.

June 29, 1951: Ordained along with brother Georg Ratzinger in Freising.

1969-77: Professor at University of Regensburg.

March 25, 1977: Named archbishop of Munich and Freising.

June 27, 1977: Made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.

Nov. 25, 1981: Named prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II; takes up post in March 1982.

April 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II dies.

April 8, 2005: As dean of the College of Cardinals, Ratzinger presides over John Paul’s funeral.

April 19, 2005: Elected 265th pope in one of the fastest conclaves in history. Choosing name Benedict XVI, he says he is merely a “simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.”

April 24, 2005: Installed as pope with Mass.

Aug. 18-21, 2005: First foreign trip, to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.

Sept. 24, 2005: Meets with dissident theologian Hans Kung at papal summer residence.

Dec. 25, 2005: First encyclical, God is Love, signed. Released Jan. 25, 2006.

May 28, 2006: During trip to Poland, visits Auschwitz concentration camp.

Sept. 12, 2006: During visit to Germany, delivers speech at University of Regensburg that enrages Muslims; quoting a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman,” particularly “his command to spread by the sword the faith.”

April 16, 2007: First volume of Jesus of Nazareth completed on his 80th birthday. Released April 13.

May 27, 2007: Signs letter to China’s Catholics, urging them to unite under his authority. Published June 30.

July 7, 2007: Removes restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass in major gesture to traditional Catholics.

April 20, 2008: During visit to United States, prays for victims of Sept. 11, 2001 attacks at ground zero.

July 19, 2008: During visit to Australia for World Youth Day, meets with victims of priestly sex abuse and during a Mass apologizes for their suffering.

Jan. 21, 2009: Lifts excommunication of Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson and three other ultra-traditionalist bishops of Society of St. Pius X, igniting outrage. Decree released Jan. 24.

March 10, 2009: Acknowledges Vatican mistakes in Williamson affair, says Vatican must make better use of Internet to prevent future controversies. Letter released March 12.

March 17, 2009: En route to Cameroon, tells reporters aboard papal plane that condoms are not the solution to AIDS and can make problem worse, prompting widespread criticism.

May 11, 2009: During visit to the Holy Land, lays wreath at Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem, says Holocaust victims “lost their lives but they will never lose their names.”

June 29, 2009: Third encyclical, Charity in Truth, signed. Released July 7, 2009.

July 17, 2009: Breaks right wrist in late-night fall at summer vacation home.

Oct. 20, 2009: Vatican announces pope is making it easier for Anglicans to convert en masse to Catholicism.

March 19, 2010: Rebukes Irish bishops for “grave errors of judgment” in handling clerical sex abuse but makes no mention of Vatican responsibility in letter to Irish faithful. Released March 20.

May 1, 2010: Orders major overhaul of Legion of Christ after Vatican investigation determines founder was a fraud.

Sept. 16-19, 2010: During first state visit by a pope to Britain, meets with Queen Elizabeth II, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and beatifies Anglican convert John Henry Newman.

Nov. 20, 2010: Revises controversial condom-AIDS comments in book and says male prostitutes who use condoms may be taking a first step toward a more responsible sexuality.

March 2, 2011: Issues sweeping exoneration of Jews for the death of Christ in Jesus of Nazareth-Part II. Book released March 10.

May 1, 2011: Beatifies John Paul II before 1.5 million people.

June 28, 2011: Tweets for the first time, announcing launch of Vatican news information portal.

Oct. 6, 2012: Pope’s former butler is convicted on charges he stole the pontiff’s private letters and leaked them to a journalist.

Feb. 11, 2013: Reveals in Latin that he is stepping down Feb. 28 during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, surprising even his closest collaborators.

Feb. 28, 2013: Departs Vatican City in a helicopter bound for Castel Gandolfo, where he begins his final journey as a “simple pilgrim.”

March 23, 2013: Receives Pope Francis for lunch at Castel Gandolfo; the two men pray side by side and Francis insists “We are brothers.”

April 28, 2014: Joins Francis on altar to canonize St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII, the first time a reigning and retired pope celebrate Mass together.

April 11, 2019: In an essay, blames the clergy sex abuse scandal on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and an absence of God.

January 2020: Contributes to a book reaffirming celibacy for priests at a time when Francis was considering an exception, sparking calls for rules governing future “popes emeritus.”

June 18, 2020: Travels to Germany to visit his ailing brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, who dies two weeks later, on July 1.

July 16, 2021: Has his signature relaxation of restrictions on celebration of old Latin Mass reversed by Pope Francis.

Jan. 21, 2022: Is faulted for his handling of four sex abuse cases while bishop of Munich in the 1970s and 1980s by independent report commissioned by German church.

Feb. 8, 2022: Asks forgiveness for any “grievous faults” in handling of Munich priests, but denies personal or specific wrongdoing.

Dec. 28, 2022: Pope Francis announces Benedict is “very ill,” asks for special prayers and visits him at his home.

Dec. 31, 2022: Benedict dies at 9:34 a.m. at his home in the Vatican Gardens at age 95.

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.