Month: November 2018

Two devastating wildfires have ravaged parts of California, and the death toll Thursday reached 66, officials said. Experts suggest many causes for the fires, from population growth to equipment failures to climate change. They say this year’s deadly blazes may point to worse to come. Jennifer Balch, director of Earth Lab at the University of …

Read more “Experts Blame Multiple Causes for California Fires”

With a death toll of at least 66, two devastating wildfires have ravaged parts of California. Experts suggest many causes for the fires, from population growth and equipment failures to climate change. Mike O’Sullivan reports that this year’s deadly fires may signal there is worse to come. …

Even as vote-counting continues in a handful of races from this year’s midterm U.S. elections, both major political parties are focused on the next challenge — the 2020 presidential contest. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington. …

The first unit of Tajikistan’s Roghun hydropower plants is set to go into operation on November 16, decades after the multi-billion-dollar project was dreamt up by Soviet planners. …

Once completed, in 2028, the plant will be equipped with six 600 MW turbines (3,600 MW total), which will double Tajikistan’s capacity to produce electricity. …

U.S. court documents suggest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been criminally charged by prosecutors in a case that could be related to the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the U.S. elections. …

The disruption of Finland’s global positioning system (GPS) signal during recent NATO war games came from Russian territory, the Finnish foreign ministry said on Thursday. The Kremlin on Monday dismissed an earlier allegation from Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila that Russia may have intentionally disrupted the signal during the war games. Finland’s air navigation services …

Read more “Finland: GPS Signal Disruption During NATO War Games Came From Russia”

Five U.N. military personnel have been killed since Wednesday during operations in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a U.N. official. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told VOA News Thursday that the fatalities occurred “near Beni,” a city close to the offensive, during joint operations with the Congolese military against …

Read more “5 UN Soldiers Killed in DRC”

The United States flexed new muscle in Asia Thursday with pledges to counter China’s expansion in a contested sea and set up a second summit with the leader of North Korea, which Washington regards as a military threat to Western allies. “We all agree that empire and aggression have no place in the Indo-Pacific,” U.S. …

Read more “US Flexes New Muscle in Asia”

Protests took place in Pakistan following the apparent abduction and killing of a high-ranking police official. Protesters gathered November 15 in the capital, Islamabad, and in the northwestern city of Bannu after authorities said they found a body believed to be that of Tahir Khan Dawar in eastern Afghanistan. …

Taliban insurgents attacked a joint police and army outpost in Afghanistan’s western Farah Province, killing at least 38 officers and soldiers, as the onslaught against the country’s security forces mounts, officials say. …

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Russian authorities’ repeated arrests of opposition leader and anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny have been politically motivated. According to the decision announced on November 15, Russia violated the European Convention on Human Rights of which it is a signatory — mainly its Article 18 stating that …

Read more “European Court: Russia Arrested Navalny For Political Reasons”

The U.S. Census Bureau’s top scientist on Wednesday insisted the bureau can get a full count of American residents during the 2020 census, despite the Trump administration’s addition of a question on citizenship. The agency’s chief scientist, John Abowd, made the comments in testimony in federal court in New York, where a group of U.S. …

Read more “Official: Citizenship Query Will Not Cause US Census Undercount”

The United Kingdom and the European Union have agreed on a deal that will give London’s vast financial center only a basic level of access to the bloc’s markets after Brexit.  The agreement will be based on the EU’s existing system of financial market access known as equivalence — a watered-down relationship that officials in …

Read more “Draft Brexit Deal Ends Britain’s Easy Access to EU Financial Markets “

With time running out, Florida’s election recount drama lurched forward Wednesday amid a maelstrom of courtroom arguments, broken machines, allegations of irregularities and President Donald Trump’s ongoing criticism. Many counties have wrapped up their machine recount ahead of a Thursday deadline to complete reviews of the U.S. Senate and governor races, but larger Democratic strongholds …

Read more “Florida’s Bitter Recount Battle Lurches Toward Deadline”