Month: August 2018

Human rights groups have called on the Tajik government to lift a “politically motivated travel ban” on an independent activist’s family, and put an end to its “vicious campaign of intimidation” against dissidents’ relatives. …

Twenty amputees have kicked off a trek of more than 600 kilometers across Afghanistan to call for an end to the country’s 17-year war. …

Former Ivory Coast first lady Simone Gbagbo is one of 800 prisoners who were granted amnesty Monday by President Alassane Ouattara for offenses related to the brief but deadly civil war in 2011. Simone Gbagbo was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2015 after she was convicted on a charge of endangering state security …

Read more “Ex-Ivory Coast First Lady Granted Amnesty”

The United States has reimposed economic sanctions on Iran that were originally put in place to pressure the country to limit its nuclear program and later lifted under a 2015 international agreement. President Donald Trump has been a frequent critic of that deal and withdrew the United States from the agreement three months ago, setting …

Read more “Trump Reimposes Iranian Economic Sanctions”

Authorities in the western U.S. state of California say a wildfire that began burning more than a week ago has become the largest in the state’s history. The blaze, known as the Mendocino Complex, is made up of two separate fires in the northern part of the state that have merged and collectively burned 115,000 …

Read more “California Fire Swells to Largest in State History”

A first wave of tough sanctions the United States is reimposing on Iran went into effect at midnight on August 7 as Washington and Tehran continued to exchange warnings over the far-reaching measures. …

Russian aluminum giant Rusal says U.S. sanctions are forcing it to shut down one of its smaller plants which catered to U.S. customers and find new jobs for hundreds of the plant’s workers. …

A longtime business partner of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman has detailed how he helped Paul Manafort hide millions of dollars that he earned from Ukrainian clients. …

Several people have been sentenced to prison terms of seven to eight years after being convicted of involvement in the torture and death of an inmate in Kazakhstan. …

According to a Levada poll, Russians’ opinions of the United States and European Union have significantly improved during the last month. …

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says that Russia’s motive in the five-day war with Tbilisi a decade ago was to attack “Georgian statehood,” asserting that Moscow was concerned because reforms had made the South Caucasus country a “role model” for others in the region. …

Joel Robuchon, a master chef who shook up the stuffy world of French haute cuisine by wowing palates with the delights of the simple mashed potato and giving diners a peek at the kitchen, has died. He was 73. A spokeswoman for Robuchon confirmed his death, with French TV station BFM and newspaper Le Figaro …

Read more “French Master Chef Joel Robuchon Dies at Age 73”

A human rights group is urging Bangladesh to reconsider its plans to move Rohingya refugees to a small, uninhabited island.  Human Rights Watch said in a report issued Monday that the mangrove-and-grass island of Bhasan Char has been “formed only in the last 20 years by silt from Bangladesh’s Meghna River.” In the 68-page report — …

Read more “HRW Opposes Plan to Move Rohingyas to Uninhabited Island”

Chinese military vessels are now patrolling the Northern Atlantic, and Russian submarines are prowling those same waters at a pace not seen since the end of the Cold War, the Navy’s top admiral told VOA in an exclusive interview. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson called China’s military presence in the North Atlantic a …

Read more “US Navy’s Top Admiral Cites Increased Threat in Ocean Nearest Washington”

Officials in Ethiopia’s Somali region say 29 people were killed as a result of violence Saturday in the regional capital, Jigjiga. Khadar Abdi Ismail, a senior official with the region’s ruling Ethiopian Somali People’s Democratic Party told VOA Somali he blames federal government forces for the deaths. Soldiers were deployed Friday in Jigjiga after an …

Read more “Violence Follows Ethiopian Army Deployment to Eastern Region”