Month: August 2017

The charges against Sasan Aghaei, who works for the reformist daily Etemad, are not clear. …

Iran’s parliament voted overwhelmingly Sunday to increase spending on its ballistic missile program and the foreign operations of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, chanting “Death to America” in a direct challenge to Washington’s newest sanctions on the Islamic Republic.   The lawmakers’ vote comes amid growing anger in Iran over U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to …

Read more “Iran Lawmakers Raise Missile, Guard Spending to Challenge US”

Kuwait battled Sunday to control an oil spill off its southern coast that stained its beaches, threatened to damage power plants and water stations and left long black slicks in the Persian Gulf.   It remained unclear where the spill originated, though Kuwait said it didn’t look like the spill came from its oil fields. …

Read more “Kuwait Says Oil Spill Strikes its Waters in Persian Gulf”

At least 15 people have been killed and at least 32 wounded in a bomb attack targeting a Pakistani military truck in the city of Quetta late on August 12, officials said. According to a statement from the Pakistani Army, seven civilians were among the dead. The statement also said that incendiary explosives were used, …

Read more “Pakistani Army Says Civilians Killed In Bombing Of Military Vehicle”

A senior Somali militant who had been on the run for several years has surrendered to the government, intelligence official tells VOA Somali. Mukhtar Robow Ali, known as “Abu Mansour,” met with government representatives early Sunday morning at his hideout in Abal village in southwest Somalia, and was later taken to the main town of …

Read more “Somali Insurgent Defects”

A Tajik police officer has been fired and his boss demoted after the officer stopped and questioned a young couple who were kissing on a Dushanbe street, the Interior Ministry says. …

Pakistan’s army says “terrorists” have targeted a military truck with a bomb killing eight soldiers and seven civilians in the southwestern city of Quetta. A military statement Saturday says the bomb also wounded 25 people, including 15 civilians. It says incendiary explosives were used in the blast that sparked fires in nearby vehicles. Sarfraz Bugti, …

Read more “Bomb Blast Kills 15 in Southwestern Pakistan”

U.S. President Donald Trump has urged people in the United States to unite after clashes in Virginia ahead of a scheduled white supremacist rally. …

Several bouts of violence broke out at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday as demonstrators clashed with counter-protesters in the streets surrounding the park where the rally was held. …

President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign into law Saturday legislation that extends a program allowing veterans to receive private health care. The bill, which allocates $2.1 billion for the six-month extension of the Choice Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), will be signed by the president at his private golf club in …

Read more “Trump Set to Sign Bill Extending Veterans Health Care Program”

Russia’s government has nominated Germany’s former chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, to join the board of the Russian state-owned energy giant Rosneft. …

Iran says it is in talks with the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus about the possible purchase of 48 helicopters for civilian use. …

Canada’s government has partly filled in a ditch so pedestrians surging through an illegal border crossing from upstate New York into Quebec won’t hurt themselves. It has set up processing tents and is hiring people to transport and feed the newcomers. Despite those welcoming gestures, Haitian asylum-seekers can’t get too comfortable, some immigration experts say. …

Read more “As Canada Takes in Haitian Asylum-seekers, Uncertainty Persists”

Saudi Arabia significantly increased the quota of Russian Muslims allowed to undertake the Hajj this year after learning of strong demand from Russians interested in making the pilgrimage, the head of a Russian Muslim organization said. …

The U.S. military denied reports on August 11 that an air strike in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar killed as many as 16 civilians, saying the operation killed only militant fighters. …

Developments in Washington, D.C., on Friday include President Donald Trump continuing the heated rhetoric against North Korea, warning of a possible U.S. military option in Venezuela, as well as a discussion of whether his tweets, and their use of rhetoric, keep the world on edge. Trump Says He Is Considering Military Action in Venezuela — …

Read more “DC Roundup: North Korea Warnings, Venezuela, White House Visit”

U.S. President Donald Trump says a military option against Venezuela is on the table, describing the situation there as a “dangerous mess.” “We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option, if necessary,” Trump told reporters at his golf resort in New Jersey. Trump said he’s “not going to rule out” a military …

Read more “Trump Says He Is Considering Military Action in Venezuela”

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was joking when he thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering deep cuts U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia in a move that saves the United States money. …