Month: December 2017

Three Indian soldiers were killed by military fire near the line of control that divides India and Pakistan in the contested state of Kashmir, the Indian army said Saturday. According to the Indian military, Pakistani soldiers fired across the border and killed an army officer and two soldiers, violating a cease-fire. There was no immediate …

Read more “Indian Military Says 3 of Its Soldiers Killed in Kashmir”

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed a recently retired army general and a defense official Saturday as the country’s ruling party vice presidents. General Constantino Chiwenga, who retired last Sunday, led the military takeover in November that precipitated the resignation of the country’s longtime leader. Defense Minister Kembo Mohadi is the other person appointed as the …

Read more “Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa Taps Ex-general for Ruling Party VP”

One of Afghanistan’s most powerful regional politicians has vowed to defy his ouster as governor of the northern province of Balkh, posing a potential threat to the shaky Western-backed governing coalition of President Ashraf Ghani. …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are urging both sides in eastern Ukraine to live up to cease-fire agreements amid a recent upswing in clashes between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces.   The statement comes a day after U.S. officials said they would begin sending lethal weapons, including anti-tank missiles, to equip …

Read more “Germany, France Urge End to Renewed Fighting in East Ukraine”

Speaking at an annual gathering of Russia’s ruling United Russia party on December 23, its head and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the party wants the “ultimate victory” of President Vladimir Putin at the presidential election in March 2018 and will give him “all possible support” now and in the future. (Reuters) …

Russia’s Civil Initiative Party has officially nominated journalist and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak to run as its candidate in a presidential election next year that is widely expected to hand President Vladimir Putin another six-year term. …

An immigrant teen who was denied an abortion by a U.S. government official, even though her pregnancy was caused by rape, had threatened to harm herself if she was forced to have the child, according to a government memo released Friday. The memo is addressed to Scott Lloyd, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, …

Read more “Immigrant Teen Denied Abortion Threatened to Hurt Herself”

The United States and European Union say they oppose any action by Kosovo’s leadership to press for an end to a war crimes court linked to its 1998-99 independence struggle, calling it a “terrible idea” that will lead to the country’s isolation. …

As more residents return to Syria’s northern city of Raqqa after removal of the Islamic State, civilians say they are suffering from a lack of basic services such as water, electricity and fuel, even as the winter cold closes in. VOA’s Mahmoud Bali reports from the region. …

U.S. investigators said Friday that the engineer of a passenger train that derailed this week near Seattle remarked six seconds before the accident that the train was going too fast. Investigators said Friday that the engineer appeared to apply the brakes, but did not apply the emergency brakes before Monday’s derailment, which killed three people. The …

Read more “Safety Board: Engineer Remarked on Train Speed 6 Seconds Before Crash “

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on the need to expedite an exchange of prisoners held on both sides of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Merkel’s office says. …

The authorities have ordered mosques in central Uzbekistan to donate money for New Year’s street decorations. …

Six police officers have been killed in a suicide car bombing in southern Afghanistan, officials said. …

Negotiators meeting in Addis Ababa have signed an agreement on the cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians and humanitarian access in South Sudan in an attempt to end the four years of conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. The High Level Revitalization Forum was led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). …

Read more “South Sudan Warring Parties Ink a Cease-Fire Deal”

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow on December 22. …