Month: April 2017

Before the U.S. attack on a Syrian air base, President Donald Trump accused his predecessor of doing nothing when Syria’s government used chemical weapons against its population in 2013. Trump is right that President Barack Obama issued what amounted to an empty threat of military action. The circumstances, though, were more complicated than Trump described. …

Read more “AP FACT CHECK: Trump and Lawmakers on Syria, Jobs, Court”

A proposed addition to Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code is being debated that some believe would be open to broad interpretation and potential abuse. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.) …

India and Bangladesh signed a slew of agreements on Saturday, including a $4.5 billion concessionary line of credit from India for development projects in Bangladesh, as the South Asian neighbors try to deepen their ties. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, held wide-ranging talks in New Delhi, exchanging views on …

Read more “India Extends $4.5 Billion Line of Credit to Bangladesh”

Thousands of people have gathered outside the Serbian government headquarters to protest the election of powerful Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic as the country’s new president. …

Eleven weeks into his presidency, President Donald Trump’s response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria is being seen as evidence that mature voices have taken the helm of the administration’s security decision-making. Veteran observers who spoke to VOA said the apparently successful missile strike on the Syrian air base from which the attack was …

Read more “McMaster’s Influence on Trump Security Policy Seen in Syria Airstrikes”

Russian courts have sanctioned the arrests of the eight suspects who have been detained in connection with the deadly April 3 bombing in the St. Petersburg subway. …

Providing sanitary pads to schoolgirls is a controversial subject in Uganda. During the 2016 election campaign, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni pledged to buy sanitary towels for girls in need. The government estimates that 30 percent of Ugandan girls from poor families miss school because of lack of sanitary towels. But in February this year, the …

Read more “Ugandan Girls Make Reusable Sanitary Pads to Stay in School”

A look at the best news photos from around the world. …

Oil prices have risen in the wake of a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base, as investors worried about potential supply disruptions in the event of a wider conflict. …

Military analysts say that Russia’s sophisticated air-defense systems stationed in Syria could not intercept the U.S. cruise-missile strike on a Syrian air base because they were out of range. …

New Delhi and Dhaka are set to sign an umbrella agreement to increase defense cooperation during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s four-day visit to India, which begins Friday. All deals would be struck maintaining the friendly terms between the two countries, and there will be nothing detrimental to the interests of Bangladesh in the agreement, …

Read more “Many in Bangladesh Oppose Proposed Defense Pact With India”

Jupiter is extra close and extra bright this week, and that means some amazing, new close-ups. The Hubble Space Telescope zoomed in on the solar system giant Monday, and NASA released the pictures Thursday. Jupiter was a relatively close 415 million miles (668 million kilometers) away. The planet’s Great Red Spot is especially vivid. It’s …

Read more “Jupiter Aligns With Earth for Its Extra Bright Close-up”

Collapsing Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria will not be enough to slow the terror group’s plots against the West and elsewhere, according to multiple U.S. and Western officials. U.S. officials, in particular, are bracing for what could be a “significant lag” between the time Islamic State is routed from its remaining holdings …

Read more “Less Potent Islamic State Still Something to Fear, Officials Say”

The United States is reportedly weighing possible military responses to the apparent use of chemical weapons by the military of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. …

In what is being hailed by Israeli media as an “unexpected, unprecedented, and curious move,” Russia has said it envisions West Jerusalem as the future capital of Israel and East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state. …

The government of Moldova has condemned a recent appeal by the de facto authorities in the country’s breakaway Trandniester region asking Russia to recognize the region’s travel documents. …