Month: December 2017

Peru’s president has survived an impeachment effort stemming from allegations of his involvement with Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company that is mired in Latin America’s largest corruption scandal. A congressional vote late Thursday handed President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski a surprise victory. The impeachment motion fell just eight votes shy of the 87 needed to remove …

Read more “Peru’s President Survives Impeachment Effort”

The UN Security Council is due to vote on December 22 on proposed new sanctions against North Korea that would sharply restrict its oil imports, return home all of its foreign workers within a year, and crack down on the country’s shipping, media reported. …

The toys your kids unwrap this Christmas could invite hackers into your home. That Grinch-like warning comes from the FBI, which said earlier this year that toys connected to the internet could be a target for crooks who may listen in on conversations or use them to steal a child’s personal information. The bureau did …

Read more “Is That Toy Spying on You?”

Writhing in agony on the dirt floor of his hut, Bob Wol traced the recent gunshot wounds on his thigh and back with his fingers. “I was trying to get food and my government tried to kill me,” the 29-year-old told The Associated Press.   It’s been almost 25 years since more than 1 million …

Read more “Civil War Pushing South Sudan Closer to Starvation”

Voters in Spain’s Catalonia region are choosing members of their regional parliament Thursday in an election called after the separatist lawmakers made a unilateral declaration of independence in October. …

Myanmar wants to continue working with the United Nations on human rights but its investigator must be fair, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, a day after special rapporteur Yanghee Lee was barred from visiting the country. “Myanmar is still cooperating with the special rapporteur mechanism,” said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Kyaw Moe Tun. …

Read more “Myanmar Says Still Working with UN, Wants a Rights Investigator Who is Fair”

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL. …

The television station belonging to Kyrgyz opposition politician Omurbek Babanov is on the air despite the fact that its property has been impounded by the authorities. …

Two opposition parties, the Gorran and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), have withdrawn from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), party sources said. The withdrawals came Wednesday after two days of violence in the region, as Kurdish demonstrators protest years of austerity measures and unpaid public sector salaries. Regional tensions escalated after the central government …

Read more “2 Opposition Parties Withdraw from Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government”

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday vowed to ensure the rule of law, fight corruption, enact laws that attract investors and conduct free and fair elections next year. But the opposition says the country’s new president and his government are no different from the old regime of Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa pledged that Zimbabwe would unveil …

Read more “Zimbabwe’s President Vows Reforms, Credible Elections”

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein says he will step down from his position next summer, saying he does not want to serve “in the current geopolitical context,” news outlets are reporting. …

Scientists warn a campaign to eradicate polio in central Africa is falling short because of upheaval in the Lake Chad Basin area, where the Boko Haram militant group remains active.  On the positive side, on country – Gabon – has been declared polio-free. Professor Rose Leke, who heads the Africa Regional Certification Commission for polio …

Read more “Militants in Lake Chad Region Block Polio Program”

Anonymous bomb threats that had prompted mass evacuations in several Russian cities have resumed. …

President Donald Trump continues to emphasize the potential for cooperation with Russia, but U.S. actions appear to be following a tougher line. …

A court in Vienna decided against extraditing Ukrainian oligarch Dymitro Firtash from Austria to Spain, saying Madrid had not provided enough proof linking Firtash to alleged crimes. …

The United States and Canada said Tuesday that nations from around the world would convene January 16 to show solidarity against North Korea’s nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, meeting in Ottawa, said the meeting would take place in Vancouver. The meeting will involve the “sending states” …

Read more “Nations to Hold N. Korea Meeting in Canada in January”

South Carolina’s capital on Tuesday could become the first U.S. city to ban the use of bump stocks, a gun accessory that has drawn national scrutiny after being found among the Las Vegas mass shooter’s arsenal of weapons in the October rampage. Last month, Massachusetts became the first state to pass a law that explicitly …

Read more “South Carolina Capital Could Be First US City to Ban Gun Bump Stocks”

Two U.S. Cabinet secretaries visited Puerto Rico on Tuesday and promised to speed up recovery efforts and increase federal assistance for an island struggling nearly three months after Hurricane Maria. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said officials talked about areas “where things are not moving as quickly as they could,” speaking during a one-day trip …

Read more “2 Top US Officials Pledge More Help for Puerto Rico”