Month: November 2017

Karachais in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Karachayevo-Cherkesia have marked the 74th anniversary of their mass deportation to Central Asia by Soviet leader Josef Stalin. …

The CIA’s release of documents seized during the 2011 raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has again raised questions about Iran’s support of the extremist network leading up to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.   U.S. intelligence officials and prosecutors have long said Iran formed loose ties to the terror organization from …

Read more “CIA Release of Bin Laden Files Renews Interest in Iran Links”

Google is partnering with AutoNation, the country’s largest auto dealership chain, in its push to build a self-driving car. AutoNation said Thursday that its dealerships will provide maintenance and repairs for Waymo’s self-driving fleet of Chrysler Pacifica vehicles. The agreement will include additional models when Waymo brings them on line. Terms of the multi-year deal …

Read more “Google, AutoNation Partner on Self-driving Car Program”

Kyrgyz lawmakers have approved a resolution that transforms the Soviet-era October Revolution Day holiday into a two-day holiday called Days of History and Commemoration of Ancestors. …

A computer recovered in the 2011 U.S. military operation that killed Osama bin Laden contained a video collection that included kids’ cartoons, several Hollywood movies and three documentaries about himself. The list of the videos was included in the release Wednesday by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency of nearly 470,000 files found on the computer …

Read more “CIA Releases New Tranche of Materials Seized in 2011 bin Laden Raid”

President Donald Trump wants to abolish the U.S. diversity lottery, which he said was responsible for giving a visa to the 29-year-old Uzbek citizen suspected in Tuesday’s attack in downtown Manhattan. The diversity lottery grants visas to people from countries that have low levels of immigration to the United States. Not only is the president …

Read more “Merit-based Versus Family-based Immigration Explained”

Hundreds of heavily-armed Ethiopian troops have crossed into Somalia, reportedly to assist a Somali government offensive against al-Shabab militants. Residents in the border town of Dolow, in Somalia’s Gedo region, say they saw at least 30 vehicles carrying Ethiopian troops crossing into Somalia late Tuesday. Witnesses who spoke to VOA Somali on condition of anonymity …

Read more “Ethiopian Troops Enter Somalia, Back Offensive Against Al-Shabab”

The Russian lawyer who met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s son during last year’s election campaign is seeking a new U.S. visa to testify in a now-closed money-laundering case linked to a massive tax-fraud scheme. …

The presidents of Iran, Russia, and Azerbaijan have called on all parties to the 2015 international nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers to adhere to their commitments. …

The president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carmel Agius, has met with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic. (RFE/RL’s Balkan Service) …

California Governor Jerry Brown is continuing his international fight against climate change with an 11-day trip to Europe starting Saturday that includes stops at the Vatican and a U.N. conference in Germany. Brown is a chief adversary to Republican President Donald Trump in the battle over U.S. climate policy, promising to help the country reach …

Read more “California Governor Heads to Europe for Climate Talks”

Five Malian soldiers and one civilian were killed in central Mali on Tuesday during an ambush on a convoy of the president of the High Court of Justice, the defense ministry said in a statement. It was not clear who was responsible for the attack, but the high-level target and army deaths pointed to the …

Read more “Six Dead After Ambush on Malian High Court’s President”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that at a time of political divisiveness, more civic activism was needed to solve community problems across the nation. Obama kicked off a two-day leadership summit in his hometown of Chicago by saying it marked the start of a wider effort to promote civic activism, a cause …

Read more “Former President Obama Seeks to Build US Civic Engagement at Summit”