Month: March 2017

Pakistan has indefinitely closed two border crossings with Afghanistan after opening them for two days to let through Afghans with visas, officials said on Thursday. The official border crossings were abruptly ordered closed last month after a series of attacks Pakistan blames on militants sheltered in Afghanistan, heightening tension between the neighbors. But Pakistan temporarily …

Read more “Pakistan Indefinitely Closes Border with Afghanistan Amid Rising Tension”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw her weight behind Donald Tusk to retain one of the European Union’s top jobs Thursday, despite staunch opposition from his home country of Poland. The 28 EU leaders are due to decide during the opening session of their summit in Brussels who will be president of the EU Council for …

Read more “Germany Backs EU Chief for Second Term”

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is seen well ahead in the  first round of the presidential election but losing the second round by a wide margin to independent centrist Emmanuel Macron, an opinion poll showed on Thursday. The monthly Cevipof survey for Le Monde newspaper has a much larger sample than most French election …

Read more “Le Pen Seen Ahead in First Round of French Election, Losing Second”

Stalin’s Soviet Union comes to life in full color with the discovery of a long-hidden collection of images. …

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

The United States has publicly accused Russia for the first time of deploying a cruise missile in violation of a 30-year-old arms control agreement. Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman General Paul Selva confirmed on Capitol Hill the deployment of the land-based missile violates the “spirit and intent” of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. …

Read more “US Accuses Russia of Deploying Missile in Violation of Arms Control Treaty”

Hungary’s parliament has passed a law allowing the detention of all asylum seekers in border camps and the summary deportation of any illegal migrants back to the country from which they came. The U.N. refugee agency and several human rights groups, say the policy violates international and European Union laws, as Henry Ridgwell reports from …

Read more “Hungary’s Plan to Detain All Asylum Seekers Sparks Outrage”

Siri, Lock My Bike …

There are mounting calls in Russia to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest this year, with pro-Kremlin lawmakers accusing host country Ukraine of being anti-Russian and a prominent pop star calling Ukraine’s victory last year political and unfair. …

Volunteers in Baku handed treats out to female street cleaners to mark International Women’s Day on March 8. (RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service) …

The vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff says Russia has deployed a land-based cruise missile that violates the “spirit and intent” of a Cold War-era nuclear arms control treaty — and that it did so to “pose a threat to NATO.” …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration pledged on Tuesday to show “great strictness” over restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities imposed by a deal with major powers, but gave little indication of what that might mean for the agreement. The 2015 deal between Iran and six major powers restricts Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting …

Read more “Trump Administration Pledges ‘Great Strictness’ on Iran Nuclear Deal”

All 100 U.S. senators have signed a letter to the nation’s top three law enforcement officials asking for more federal help for Jewish centers and schools dealing with numerous bomb threats. “These cowardly acts aim to create an atmosphere of fear and disrupt the important programs and services offered by JCCs [Jewish community centers] to …

Read more “US Senate Asks for Federal Help for Jewish Centers Getting Bomb Threats”

Todd Schmitz from Boscobel, Wisconsin, discusses his feeling on immigration with VOA. “Just be a little more diligent about watching who comes in and out,” he said. “I mean, the majority of people aren’t here to kill me and my family, or Americans. But there are a few that make it bad for everybody that …

Read more “Wisconsin Trucker Shares Immigration Views With VOA: Enforce Laws ‘We Already Have’”

Turkmenistan has unveiled a monument to Islam Karimov, the late leader of neighboring Uzbekistan, in a gesture that comes as the two former Soviet republics in Central Asia seek to improve ties. …

Conscious of its image as a leading source of Islamic State recruits in the Middle East, Kosovo tries to stem religiously fueled radicalization in its prisons. …

Europe’s top human rights court has prolonged its suspension of an attempt by the government in Tbilisi to put the country’s biggest independent television station under the control of an alleged close government ally. …