Month: December 2017

The United States is bracing for another wave of cyberattacks focused on disrupting or undermining the 2018 midterm elections, with some officials warning this is just the beginning of a much deeper and broader threat. Intelligence and security officials, as well as policymakers and other experts talking both on the record and on background say …

Read more “US Officials, Lawmakers Warn More Cyberattacks Coming”

President Donald Trump will sign a directive Monday ordering the National Air and Space Administration to revive the program to send American astronauts back to the moon, and eventually to Mars. “The president listened to the National Space Council’s recommendations, and he will change our nation’s human spaceflight policy to help America become the driving …

Read more “Trump to Revive US Manned Space Exploration Program”

Several thousand people have attended a ceremony in Zagreb to honor convicted Bosnian Croat war criminal Slobodan Praljak, who died of cyanide poisoning last month. …

In robocalls, president says ‘all of our progress will be stopped cold’ if Democrat Doug Jones wins …

Iranian media reports say an earthquake has struck western Iran, near the border with Iraq. …

Activists from a Russian nationalist group disrupted the Moscow screening of a film about the war in eastern Ukraine on December 10. (RFE/RL’s Russian Service) …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is in New Delhi on December 11 to meet with his Indian and Chinese counterparts, with talks expected to focus on security and trade issues in the region and elsewhere. …

Honduras’ electoral court finished a hand recount of votes in nearly 5,000 ballot boxes Sunday, saying that results were “extremely consistent” with original data for the presidential election two weeks earlier. Court president David Matamoros said the recount of less than one-third of the total number of boxes showed that tallies done at polling stations …

Read more “Honduras’ Electoral Court Finds Results ‘Consistent’”

Al Qaida is seeking to to exploit Muslim anger over President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to present itself as the true defender of Islam and the Palestinians. The jihadist group posted Saturday a 17-minute audio message from Osama bin Laden son’s, Hamza, in which he lambasts Saudi …

Read more “Al Qaida Seeks to Capitalize on Muslim Anger Over Jerusalem”

The United Nations children’s agency has called for an emergency evacuation of 137 sick children stranded in a rebel-held suburb outside the Syrian capital. The Eastern Ghouta suburb, home to 400,000 residents, has been cut off from food and medical aid since 2013. The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says five children have reportedly died there …

Read more “UN: 137 Children Need Emergency Evacuation from Syria”

Russia’s federation for biathlon – a winter sport combining cross country skiing and rifle shooting — has been relegated to provisional membership of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) over “the Russian doping conspiracy.” …

Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny says he will not recognize Russia’s upcoming presidential election if election officials continue to refuse to register him as a presidential candidate. …

Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party looked set to sweep Sunday’s nationwide mayoral polls, deepening opposition splits and consolidating President Nicolas Maduro’s position ahead of a likely 2018 re-election campaign. Major opposition parties were boycotting the elections for 335 municipal mayors around the South American nation of 30 million people, in protest of a vote system they …

Read more “With Opposition Sitting Out, Venezuela’s Socialists Set to Gain Mayors”

A sculptor who produced the image of Queen Elizabeth used on Britain’s coins has been chosen to create a new statue of Princess Diana, the office of Princes William and Harry said Sunday, to commemorate 20 years since her death. Ian Rank-Broadley, whose effigy of the Queen has appeared on all UK and Commonwealth coinage …

Read more “William and Harry Choose Sculptor for Diana Statue”

If God were a stonemason … Utah’s Arches National Park would be the back room of his workshop. The Arches National Park, established almost a century ago, is now one of the most popular destinations for Americans and tourists from around the world. The park has more than 2,000 natural stone arches, in addition to …

Read more “Arches National Park in Utah Attracts More Than a Million Visitors a Year”

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is scheduled to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rohani on December 10 as he continues efforts to gain the release of an Iranian-British woman jailed in Tehran. …

Russia has hit back against charges by the United States that Moscow is violating terms of an important Cold War arms treaty. …