Month: February 2017

White House national security adviser Michael Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Moscow’s ambassador to the United States during the month before President Donald Trump took office, the Washington Post  reported on Thursday. Citing unnamed current and former U.S. officials, the Post said some senior U.S. officials interpreted the contacts as a “potentially …

Read more “Trump Adviser Discussed Sanctions with Russian Envoy – Washington Post”

The Kremlin says Russian air strikes that killed three Turkish soldiers in Syria were launched based on coordinates provided by the Turkish military. …

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rallied on February 10 to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. …

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL. …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan approved a constitutional reform bill, paving the way for an executive presidential system, his office said Friday, and a deputy prime minister said a referendum on the issue was expected April 16. Erdogan says the reform will provide stability at a time of turmoil and prevent a return to the fragile …

Read more “Erdogan OKs Constitutional Changes; Referendum Likely Mid-April”

Four people have been arrested in and around Montpellier, southern France, on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, police and justice sources said on Friday. Those in custody included a 22 year-old man and his 16 year-old girlfriend, both known to authorities for connections with radical Islam, after authorities found TATP explosives and other bomb-making …

Read more “Sources: Four Arrested in France for Planning Attack”

Authorities in Zimbabwe Thursday released a pastor facing a charge of trying to subvert President Robert Mugabe’s government, a day after the country’s High Court had granted him release on $300 bail. Upon pastor Evan Mawarire’s release, journalists outside Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison were begging him to get out of the vehicle he was in …

Read more “Zimbabwe Authorities Release Detained Pastor on Bail”

Senator Jeff Sessions was sworn in as the next U.S. attorney general Thursday at the White House, where he stressed that the U.S. needs a “lawful system of immigration” that serves the interest of the American people. President Donald Trump lauded Sessions with praise as he congratulated him on being sworn in, calling the new …

Read more “Sessions: US Needs ‘Lawful’ Immigration System”

Construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under a North Dakota reservoir has begun and the full pipeline should be operational within three months, the developer of the long-delayed project said Thursday, even as an American Indian tribe filed a legal challenge to block the work and protect its water supply. The Army granted Energy Transfer …

Read more “Tribe Files Legal Challenge to Stall Dakota Access Pipeline”

U.S. President Donald Trump has assailed veteran Senator John McCain after the Arizona Republican disputed the administration’s claim that the recent military raid in Yemen was a “success.” …

A North Korean defector who has lived in Russia for nearly two decades is facing a possibly deadly deportation. …

In a region where manmade catastrophes can seem as likely as any natural disaster, the idea of mandatory military service was not necessarily well-received by everyone. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.) …

A Guatemalan Supreme Court judge was arrested on Wednesday accused of influence trafficking, prosecutors said, in the latest anti-corruption drive in the Central American country. Blanca Stalling was walking in the capital, Guatemala City, when she was arrested while wearing a red wig and sunglasses, according to Julia Barrera, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s …

Read more “Guatemala Arrests Supreme Court Judge in Corruption Probe”

Yemen said on Wednesday it had not suspended counterterrorism operations with the U.S. government, despite controversy over a U.S. commando raid on al-Qaida militants in which several civilians were also killed. The raid in al-Bayda province, approved by new U.S. President Donald Trump, resulted in a gun battle that left one Navy SEAL dead and …

Read more “Yemen Keeps Counterterrorism Operations With US Despite Raid”

Sri Lanka says it needs more time to fulfill promises given to the U.N. human rights body to investigate war crime allegations from the nation’s long civil war, which ended nearly eight years ago. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera told foreign correspondents late Tuesday that the government will seek more time at the next U.N. human …

Read more “Sri Lanka to Ask UN for More Time to Probe War Crimes”