Month: December 2017

A highly anticipated Bolshoi Theater ballet about the life of Russian dance legend Rudolf Nureyev has premiered while its acclaimed director, Kirill Serebrennikov, remains under house arrest on fraud charges that have stunned the Russian artistic world and elicited support internationally. …

Queen Elizabeth’s representative in Australia has officially signed same sex marriage into law following a landmark vote in the federal parliament.  The first weddings can take place in a month’s time (Jan 9). The passing of the historic same sex marriage bill Thursday prompted songs and celebrations in the Australian parliament.  The new law brings …

Read more “Australia’s First Same Sex Weddings to Be Held Within Weeks”

A senior Russian general who was accused in a recent investigation of being a coordinator of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine and of possibly playing a role in the downing of a civilian airliner in July 2014 has said he plans to sue the authors of the report for defamation. …

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson arrived in Tehran on December 9 for talks with his counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, about imprisoned British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is already serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government while traveling there with her toddler daughter, faces fresh …

Read more “British Foreign Secretary In Iran To Push For Jailed Briton’s Release”

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has said that his country’s war against Islamic State (IS) militants has come to a successful conclusion. …

At least 6 armed separatists and a police official have been killed and several people wounded in the southwestern Cameroon English speaking town of Mamfe during an attack on a military post. The attack occurred after a special envoy from Nigeria assured Cameroon that they want to work jointly to reduce terrorism on their frontiers. …

Read more “Separatists Attack Cameroon Police”

Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from Gaza killed two men Saturday, in the latest fallout from the announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump that Washington is recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and plans to move its Israeli embassy there. Hamas said two of its gunmen were killed in the …

Read more “Israeli Airstrikes Hit Gaza as Muslim World Protests Continue Against Trump’s Jerusalem Decision”

Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee are pressing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to turn over records detailing any financial ties between President Donald Trump, his family and associates and Russian interests. The push for documents by ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters of California and other Democrats renews an earlier attempt from last May that …

Read more “House Democrats Want Financial Records Tied to Russia Probe”

Net neutrality is a simple concept but a dense and often technical issue that has been argued over for years in tech and telecom circles. Now everyday folks are talking about it. That’s because the Federal Communications Commission has scheduled a vote next week to gut Obama-era rules meant to stop broadband companies such as …

Read more “Net Neutrality Advocates Speak Up as FCC Set to Strike Down Rules”

The United Nations refugee agency says conditions are not ripe for the safe and stable return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar, a country they recently fled to escape violence and persecution. Some 645,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, since the end of August, the United Nations …

Read more “UN: Conditions Not Ripe for Return of Rohingya Refugees to Myanmar”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief reiterated the EU’s “unwavering” support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity as the bloc considered moves to extend economic sanctions on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine. …

U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker said a UN peacekeeping mission is necessary to protect monitors of the conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Speaking on the sidelines of a Vienna meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on December 8, he said that without a UN-mandated …

Read more “U.S. Envoy Volker Says UN Peacekeeping Mission Needed In Ukraine”

The United States said it was taking military and economic measures against Moscow in response to a festering, and increasingly tense, dispute over a Russian missile that Washington says violates an important Cold War treaty. …

Breaking with decades of U.S. policy, President Donald Trump on Wednesday recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a declaration that set off a wave of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces and drew sharp criticism from U.S. allies in the Middle East and beyond. Here’s a look at why U.S. recognition of the holy city as …

Read more “Why It Matters: The US Pivot on Jerusalem”

Pakistan’s Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights announced Thursday that it would talk to recovered missing persons to inquire about the circumstances under which they went missing. Nasreen Jalil, chairman of the Senate committee, told VOA’s Urdu service that the recovered missing persons will be summoned in three weeks to participate in an on-camera question-and-answer …

Read more “Pakistani Senate to Question Recovered Missing Persons About Disappearances”

Congress has passed an emergency spending bill to fund the federal government for two more weeks, avoiding a partial shutdown that would have taken effect Friday night.  Thursday’s 235-193 vote in the House split mainly along party lines. The Senate later passed the bill 81-14 and sent it to President Donald Trump for his signature. The …

Read more “US Congress Passes Emergency Spending Bill”