Month: January 2018

With black snow falling in Kazakhstan’s northeastern city of Temirtau earlier in January, this latest Majlis session looked at the growing number of environmental problems in Central Asia. …

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki for a protest in a 27-year-old dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. …

According to a global authority on endangered wildlife, nearly one-third of more than 85,000 animal species are in danger of extinction, among them, African zebras and rhinos. Scientists and volunteer activists are increasingly using technology not only to keep them alive but also to support procreation. VOA’s George Putic reports. …

Rough estimates say about 2 of every 100 people around the world have or need replacement joints. Now, some Polish doctors are using stem cell technology to rebuild worn out cartilage, instead of replacing it with metal. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Bobsled and Nigeria are not two words typically used in the same sentence. But soon they will be heard together often. Bobsledders Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga will not be heading to February’s Winter Olympic Games just to be a “feel good” side story. They say they want to win something they can …

Read more “Nigeria Women Bobsledding Team to Make History as First Africa Team at Winter Olympics”

Russian teenager Alina Zagitova performed a near-flawless program to defeat fellow countrywoman Yevgenia Medvedeva and capture her first European figure-skating championship. …

Tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets of Bucharest to protest against proposed justice reforms by the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) that opponents say will make it more difficult to prosecute high-level corruption. …

A British tourist says he was brutally assaulted by a group of young men in central Kyiv who he believes targeted him because of his appearance. …

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic visited the northern Kosovar city of Mitrovica on January 20, where he paid his respects to Oliver Ivanovic, an ethnic Serb political leader in Kosovo who was shot dead earlier this week. …

Robots, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies were all on display at the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2018 trade show. The event showcased the ways retailers are keeping pace with shoppers’ round-the-clock spending. Tina Trinh reports. …

The Trump administration’s promise to exempt Florida from an offshore drilling plan is not a formal action, an Interior Department official said Friday in a statement that Democrats said contradicted a high-profile announcement by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Zinke has proposed opening nearly all U.S. coastline to offshore oil and gas drilling, but said soon …

Read more “Official: ‘No Formal Decision’ on Florida Offshore Drilling”

Iran’s mistrustful public has long chafed at official effort to push them onto Iranian-made apps when foreign ones are available, despite the obstacles. …

Russian police searching a suspect’s home for undeclared weapons in St. Petersburg unexpectedly found a large crocodile living in the basement, police said on January 19. …

U.S. health officials on Friday said they were revoking legal guidance issued by the Obama administration that had sought to discourage states from trying to defund organizations that provide abortion services, such as Planned Parenthood. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials also said the department is issuing a new regulation aimed …

Read more “US Health Agency Revokes Obama-era Planned Parenthood Protection”

Pope Francis traveled deep into the Amazon rainforest Friday demanding an end to the relentless exploitation of its timber, gas and gold and recognition of its indigenous peoples as the primary custodians to determine the future of “our common home.”    Speaking to a coliseum filled with indigenous men, women and children, many of whom …

Read more “Pope to Peru’s Indigenous: Amazon Is ‘Heart of the Church’”

At least a dozen soldiers were killed in Democratic Republic of Congo’s volatile eastern borderlands where the army is battling Ugandan Islamist rebels, Congolese security and diplomatic sources said on Friday. The armies of Congo and Uganda launched a military offensive last month against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, who were suspected of being …

Read more “At Least a Dozen Soldiers Killed in Eastern Congo”

A “Game of Thrones”-themed ice hotel complete with a bar and a chapel for weddings has opened in northern Finland in a joint effort by a local hotel chain and the U.S. producers of the hit TV series. Lapland Hotels said Friday they chose “Game of Thrones” to be the theme for this season’s Snow …

Read more “‘Game of Thrones’ Ice Hotel Opens in Finland”