Month: September 2017

A coalition headed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has agreed to a deal with the junior New Alliance for Kosovo party to form a government, ending three months of political gridlock sparked by inconclusive elections. …

Armenia says it never confirmed its participation in a multinational military drill under way in neighboring Georgia. …

Five of the world’s leading emerging economies have issued a statement that includes for the first time Pakistan-based militant groups as a regional security concern and calls for their patrons to be held accountable. …

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi is in Myanmar for meetings Monday with leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as the country’s military commander and national security adviser to discuss the ongoing crisis in Rakhine state. The U.N. refugee agency says 87,000 Rohingya have fled from Rakhine to neighboring Bangladesh since an eruption of violence …

Read more “Indonesia Urging Myanmar to Prevent Further Rakhine Violence”

Georgian troops have joined counterparts from the United States and other countries for the start of the Agile Spirit 2017 military drills — the seventh time the maneuvers have been held. …

Here’s a statistic for you to consider: the U.N. estimates that over 30 percent of the food that is produced every year never gets eaten. Now one enterprising Nigerian entrepreneur has built an app to help get some of that food to those who need it. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Globally, around one-third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted or lost before it can reach consumers. The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization says even if just one-fourth of that food could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people.For VOA, Faiza Elmasry reports, while Faith Lapidus narrates. …

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on fellow BRICS nations to unite in the battle against growing trade protectionism across the world and play a “more active role in world governance” in a summit overshadowed by renewed tensions on the Korean Peninsula. …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she wants to end European Union membership talks with Turkey, amid rising tensions between the two NATO countries. …

North Korea’s claim of a successful hydrogen bomb test marks a major step in the isolated country’s long-stated goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile that puts the U.S. mainland within range, experts say. North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sunday, which it said was a successful detonation of an advanced …

Read more “ANALYSIS – Possible Two-Stage Hydrogen Bomb Seen ‘Game Changer’ for North Korea”

Pope Francis travels to Colombia this week to encourage a fledgling peace process that ended half a century of war between a succession of governments and the guerrilla group FARC but has left the country deeply divided. Francis, making his 20th foreign trip as pontiff and his fifth to his native Latin America, will spend …

Read more “Pope Visits Colombia to Boost Peace Process after 50 Years of War”

Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Sunday that his coalition will not share power, two days after the Supreme Court annulled last month’s presidential election and ordered a new poll within 60 days. “We will not share power,” Odinga, speaking in Kiswahili outside a church in Nairobi, said. “We will not divide the loaf,” …

Read more “Kenya Opposition Leader Says Will Not Share Power”

Russia is urging the United States to return Russian diplomatic facilities it says U.S. authorities have “seized” in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., calling it an “openly hostile act.” …

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project looks to be lurching forward again. But the Kyrgyz president sees at least one problem with the proposed railway — it doesn’t have stops in Kyrgyzstan. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.) …

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are preparing to hold their annual summit, with a border dispute between China and India likely to create a tense atmosphere. …