After much lobbying, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will not appear on a list of “in danger” World Heritage Sites. Environmentalists call this a “terrible” decision fueled by political pressure. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports. …
Scores of wildfires raging across forest and scrubland in the Western United States have belched so much smoke that it is helping an army of firefighters gain ground on the nation’s biggest blaze, Oregon’s Bootleg Fire, by blocking sunlight, officials said Saturday. Both the National Weather Service and officials with the Oregon Department of Forestry …
Read more “Smoke From Nearby Wildfires Helps Crews Gain on Biggest US Blaze “
The world champion U.S. women’s water polo squad began its quest for a third straight Olympic gold medal Saturday by storming into the record books with a 25-4 humbling of hosts Japan at the Tatsumi Water Polo Center. But the U.S. record for most goals scored in a single match at the Olympics stood just …
French anti-riot police fired tear gas Saturday as clashes erupted during protests in central Paris against COVID-19 restrictions and a vaccination campaign, television reported. Police sought to push back demonstrators near the capital’s Gare Saint-Lazare railway station after protesters had knocked over a police motorbike ridden by two officers, television pictures showed. Images showed a …
Read more “Protesters Opposed to COVID-19 Measures Clash With Police in Paris”
Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA senior diplomatic correspondent, Cindy Saine, and senior reporter for Marketplace, Nancy Marshall-Genzer, about growing congressional challenges on infrastructure, police reform, COVID-19 and the economy facing the Biden administration, the ramifications of a widespread cyber-attack on Microsoft allegedly conducted by China, controversial Israeli phone surveillance software …
Read more “US Infrastructure Proposal May Move Forward Despite Senate Stall”
Belarus is purging the space for information, local journalists say, pointing to raids on independent media outlets, arrests including of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondents, and moves to shutter the Belarusian Association of Journalists. Journalists, members of the opposition and activists have been targeted for arrest or harassment since widespread protests erupted last August over …
Read more “Raids, Arrests Will Not Deter Us, Belarus Media Say”
On this edition of Encounter, Ambassador Michelle Gavin, senior fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Ambassador to Botswana, and Frans Cronje, CEO of the Johannesburg-based Institute of Race Relations, analyze with host Carol Castiel the political, economic and social situation in South Africa following the arrest and detention of …
The funeral of Haiti’s assassinated president, Jovenel Moise, was disrupted Friday by tear gas used on nearby protesters as well as sounds of gunfire, prompting U.S. officials to leave before the end of the ceremony. Hundreds of protesters gathered Friday outside the site of the state funeral in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, burning barricades …
Read more “Funeral for Haiti’s Assassinated President Disrupted by Protests, Gunfire”
The Taliban say they don’t want to monopolize power, but they insist there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed. In an interview with The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, who is also a member of the group’s negotiating team, laid …
Read more “To Reach Peace Deal, Taliban Say Afghan President Must Go”
Members of a top Iraqi delegation in Washington say they expect to reach an agreement with the Biden administration to end the US combat mission in Iraq, ahead of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s summit with President Joe Biden on Monday. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report. Producer: Barry Unger …
The largest wildfire in the United States continued to burn Thursday in southern Oregon, but lower winds and higher humidity were assisting firefighting crews. In Northern California, a fire spread to the neighboring state of Nevada. Oregon’s Bootleg Fire grew to 1,616 square kilometers (624 square miles), yet firefighting crews were reportedly improving fire lines. …
A coalition of more than two dozen U.S. news outlets and press freedom organizations is calling on the U.S. government to help protect Afghans who worked with foreign media and may face risks from the Taliban as a result. Letters to President Joe Biden and top House and Senate leaders called on the United …
Read more “Calls Grow for Emergency Visas for Afghans Working With US Media”
China has rejected the World Health Organization’s proposal for a second phase of its investigation into the origin of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Zeng Yixin, the vice minister of the Chinese National Health Commission, told reporters in Beijing Thursday that he was extremely surprised when he read the proposal offered by the U.N. health agency …
Read more “China Rejects Second Probe Into Coronavirus Origin”
Excitement is building over the Tokyo Olympics, despite more athletes testing positive for COVID-19. While the Games are set to begin Friday, the head of the Tokyo organizing committee says there is still a chance they could be canceled due to the virus. Still, sports fans in the U.S. are eagerly gearing up to watch, …
Read more “US Fans Welcome Tokyo Olympics as COVID Threat Continues to Loom”
Pfizer and BioNTech have reached an agreement with a South African company to produce their COVID-19 vaccine for distribution in Africa, the biotechnology companies said Wednesday. The Biovac Institute in Cape Town will manufacture 100 million doses of the vaccine annually starting in 2022. The company will mix vaccine ingredients it receives from Europe, place …
Read more “Pfizer, BioNTech Agree to Produce COVID-19 Vaccine for Africa”
Heavy rainfall forced the subway system in Zhengzhou, capital of China’s Henan province, to shut down Tuesday, stranding passengers. Riders posted videos on social media as they awaited rescue in waist-high muddy waters. A passenger named Xiaopei posted on Weibo that “the water in the carriage has reached (their) chest.” Around 300 people have been …
Read more “Floods in Central China Leave Subway Passengers Stranded”
Resurgent pandemic worries knocked stocks lower from Wall Street to Tokyo on Monday, fueled by fears that a faster-spreading variant of the virus may upend the economy’s strong recovery. The S&P 500 fell 68.67, or 1.6%, to 4,258.49, after setting a record just a week earlier. In another sign of worry, the yield on the …
Read more “Stocks Skid as Virus Fears Shake Markets; Dow Falls 2.1%”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday announced a new Justice Department policy that prohibits federal prosecutors from seizing journalists’ phone and email records in leak investigations. This comes on the heels of a Biden administration decision that the U.S. government will discontinue a highly controversial practice of using subpoenas and secret orders for reporters’ …
Read more “New DOJ Policy Bars Prosecutors From Obtaining Journalists’ Records”
Egyptian authorities released three activists and three journalists Sunday after months in pre-trial detention, officials and lawyers said. The releases came after U.S. officials, among others, expressed concern over the arrests and harassment of rights advocates and critics of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s government. State security prosecutors ordered the release of the six pending ongoing …
Read more “Egypt Lets Journalists, Activists Go After US Concerns”
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The leader of the Taliban said Sunday that his movement is committed to a political settlement to end decades of war in Afghanistan, even as the insurgents battle in dozens of districts across to country to gain territory. The statement by Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada came as Taliban leaders were meeting with a high-level Afghan government delegation in …
Read more “Taliban Want Afghan Deal, Leader Says, Even As They Battle On”
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Afghanistan said Sunday it has asked all of its diplomats in Pakistan to return to Kabul until Islamabad addresses “all security risks” to them and brings to justice those behind last week’s brief abduction of the Afghan ambassador’s daughter. The announcement came a day after the Afghan government said Silsila Alikhil, daughter of …
Read more “Afghanistan Recalls Diplomats From Pakistan Over Kidnapping of Envoy’s Daughter”
Петро Заставний та його дружина, відома блогерка Аліна Френдій вакцинувалися в київській клініці Син збанкрутілого мера Тернополя та народного депутата Романа Заставного Петро потрапив у скандал з вакцинацією у приватній клініці. Він з дружиною, так званою блогеркою (а насправді шль) Аліною Френдій, кілька днів тому отримали щеплення в київській приватній клініці Verum Expert Clinic. …
Read more “Петро Заставний з Тернополя потрапили у скандал через вакцинацію”