Author: Worldman

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has told European Union officials that Belgrade’s top foreign policy priority after Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic assumes Serbia’s presidency on May 31 will continue to be joining the EU. …

The U.S. government on April 24 announced the imposition of “sweeping sanctions” against Syrian government officials in response to what Washington says was a sarin gas attack against Syrian civilians by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in early April. …

Afghan officials say the country’s army chief and the defense minister have resigned following the weekend Taliban attack at a northern army base that killed more than 100 military and other personnel. The officials say President Ashraf Ghani accepted the resignations on Monday. It was not immediately clear who would replace Defense Minister Abdullah Habibi …

Read more “Afghan Army Chief, Defense Minister Resign Following Attack”

North Korea has detained a U.S. citizen, the third being held by the communist country for alleged offenses against the state. The 50-year-old university professor was arrested Saturday at Pyongyang International Airport as he was about to leave the country. His arrest comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and North Korea over its …

Read more “Amid Tension with US, North Korea Arrests Third US Citizen”

Results of France’s first round presidential elections confirm that centrist Emmanuel Macron and nationalist, anti-immigration crusader Marine Le Pen are heading into a runoff in two weeks, marking what analysts describe as a political earthquake in France. Final results Monday show Macron with 23.8 percent and Le Pen 21.5 percent of the vote, qualifying them …

Read more “Macron, Le Pen Head to Final Round of French Presidential Race”

Countries in Central Europe showed the largest relative increases in military spending in 2016, at least partially as a result of the perceived increased threat from Russia, a new study says. …

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine remain an obstacle to improved U.S.-Russian relations and he reiterated his “firm” support for Kyiv. …

Belarus upset higher-ranked Switzerland 3-2 on April 23 in Minsk to reach the Fed Cup tennis final for the first time ever. …

Violent attacks on Jews dropped for a second straight year in 2016, but other forms of anti-Semitism are on the rise worldwide, particularly on U.S. university campuses, according to a report released Sunday. Researchers at Tel Aviv University said assaults specifically targeting Jews, vandalism and other violent incidents fell 12 percent last year. They recorded …

Read more “Report: Anti-Semitism Rises, But Violence Against Jews Falls”

Afghanistan is observing a national day of mourning after a Taliban suicide raid on a military base in the north of the country killed scores of soldiers, in the deadliest attack on Afghan forces since 2001. Witnesses said a group of 10 heavily armed suicide bombers aboard two army vehicles and disguised as government soldiers …

Read more “Afghanistan in Mourning after Deadly Taliban Assault on Afghan Army Base”

Three policemen were killed on Sunday in a suicide attack south of Mosul, the northern Iraqi city where Islamic State is fighting off a U.S.-backed offensive, security sources said. A group of about 10 assailants, including four suicide bombers, had tried to infiltrate a Federal Police helicopter base in Al-Areej, a police captain told Reuters. …

Read more “3 Iraqi Policemen Killed in Suicide Attack South of Mosul”

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on April 23 that a member of one of its patrols was killed and two more were injured after a special-monitoring-mission vehicle hit a mine in eastern Ukraine. …

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has called for a legal ban on types of Islamic dress that he says are not compatible with Kazakh traditions. …

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has said U.S. President Donald Trump is looking for an excuse to end the nuclear deal with Iran, but added, “We will not let it happen.” …

Coffins bearing the remains of Afghan soldiers were loaded onto trucks on April 22, one day after a Taliban attack on a military compound in Balkh Province reportedly left more than 130 army personnel dead. (RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi) …