Month: January 2017

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence began their first full day in charge of the U.S. government by attending an interfaith prayer service at Washington National Cathedral on Saturday, where the clergy spoke of compassion and diversity. The service began with calls to prayer by the cathedral’s canon, the Reverend Rosemarie Duncan; a …

Read more “Trump, Pence Attend National Prayer Service Stressing Reconciliation”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he plans to meet with newly installed U.S. President Donald Trump soon to discuss what he sees as the dangers from Iran and its “cruel” government. …

Iranian rescuers on January 21 removed three more bodies from the rubble of a 17-story commercial building that collapsed in Tehran two days earlier. …

U.S. President Donald Trump has visited the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia — pledging his support for the agency and telling about 400 employees there that “I am with you 1,000 percent.” …

A look at more than 50 years of marches in Washington, by the numbers: 1995 — Organized and hosted by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, an estimated 850,000 to 1 million* African-American men came together for the Million Man March to rally for unity and revitalization of African-American communities. 2000 — More than 750,000 …

Read more “A Look Back at Washington Marches”

Thousands of people protested Saturday in the Kosovo capital of Pristina to urge France to release their former prime minister who was detained there on a Serbian arrest warrant. The protesters — mostly opposition party members and former guerrilla fighters of the 1998-1999 war for independence from Serbia — consider Ramush Haradinaj’s detention illegal. Haradinaj, …

Read more “Thousands of Kosovo Albanians Call for Ex-premier’s Release in France”

A bus carrying school children crashed in northern Italy overnight and burst into flames, killing 14 of the young passengers, Italian media reported Saturday. The bus was carrying students, mostly boys from Hungary between the ages of 14 and 18, when it struck a pylon and caught fire on a motorway near Verona shortly before …

Read more “14 School Children Killed in Bus Crash in Italy”

Hundreds of thousands of people at the National Mall in Washington looked on Friday as Donald Trump became the 45th U.S. president, and a far larger audience around the country and throughout the world witnessed the event through live broadcasts. VOA reporters talked to people around the globe who said they are looking at the …

Read more “World Reaction to Trump Inauguration Mixed “

Signaling a new era in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump takes the reins of power with the intent to undo much of his predecessor’s legacy. He vowed to act on behalf of “forgotten” Americans, in a speech that sounded the themes of last year’s election campaign. VOA’s National correspondent Jim Malone looks at the transfer of …

Read more “Trump Era Begins With Promise of Change”

Afghanistan’s first all-girl orchestra performed a concert in front of world leaders at the closing of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 20. …

As one of his first acts in office, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a government-wide freeze on new regulations on January 20, putting a halt to rules that his predecessor Barack Obama started. …

A chocolate maker owned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced on January 20 that it is planning to shut its factory in Russia for “economic and political reasons” and lay off 700 workers. …

Among the huge crowds expected in Washington for Donald Trump’s inauguration will be many planning to protest against his election and his plans for the nation. While hundreds of thousands of joyful Trump supporters thronged central Washington to celebrate Friday’s events, a similarly large crowd is expected Saturday for the anti-Trump Women’s March on Washington. …

Read more “Women Across US Prepare to March on Washington”

Ukraine has arrested a relative of Uzbekistan’s late President Islam Karimov who is wanted by Tashkent for the alleged embezzlement of hundreds of millions of dollars. …

After eight years of an on-again, off-again courtship of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims in what he called a “new beginning” between America and Islam, President Barack Obama is leaving office with dashed hopes and disappointed fans in much of the Muslim world. Obama remains popular around the world, with notable foreign policy achievements: the …

Read more “Is Obama’s Legacy Among World’s Muslims Tarnished?”