Author: Worldman

Serbian voters cast ballots on April 2 in a presidential election that is likely to consolidate the power of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic as the country tries to balance its European goals with its relationship with Russia. None of the opposition candidates — including former Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and former Serbian Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic …

Read more “Serbia Elects New President”

When Durdana married for a second time and to a man of her own choosing, her parents threatened to kill her if she tried to see her new husband. They imprisoned her in their home, but she still had her mobile phone and had learned that a helpline for women had been set up. She …

Read more “Pakistan Sets up Unique Helpline for Women in Need”

Serbians voted for a new president on Sunday with conservative Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic the runaway favourite despite opposition warnings about the extent of his domination over the Balkan country. Most polls see Vucic, 47, winning in the first round with more than 50 percent of the vote, trailed in the low teens by a …

Read more “Serbian PM the Runaway Favorite to Become President”

From Bollywood superstars to political heavyweights, the Regal theater hosted some of India’s biggest names over more than eight decades. But with nostalgic theater-goers singing their way to the exits after a final showing of a Bollywood classic, the iconic New Delhi theater has closed its doors to make way for a multiplex. “It’s the …

Read more “Iconic New Delhi Movie Theater Shuts Down after 85 Years”

Central Asia often seems like a remote region. You don’t hear much about Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan playing roles in international affairs. A new book, Dictators Without Borders, argues that this is far from the case. …

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says some 50,000 displaced Syrians and refugees have returned to areas captured by Turkey and its opposition allies in northern Syria. …

Acclaimed Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko has died in a U.S. hospital at the age of 84. …

Over 100 people have been killed in a landslide following heavy rains in Colombia, the nation’s president confirmed Saturday. “It has just been reported to me that we have 112 people dead,” President Juan Manuel Santos said after arriving in Mocoa and declaring a state of emergency. “We will keep looking.” He warned that the …

Read more “More Than 100 Killed in Colombia Landslide”

The language at a small graduation ceremony inside a federal office building in Washington Friday morning was militaristic: Fighting. Frontlines. Enemies. War. For a fifth year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rather quietly has trained a small team of injured, wounded or sick military veterans for a different type of deployment – supporting the …

Read more “In War on Child Porn, US Turns Wounded Soldiers Into Hunters”

Iraqi state television has claimed that the second-in-command of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has been killed in an air strike near the Syrian border. …

As the U.S. Senate prepares for a confirmation vote on Republican President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Democratic opposition continues to mount. Three more Democratic senators, Claire McCaskill, Richard Blumenthal and Brian Schatz, announced their opposition to Gorsuch Friday, setting up a confrontation with Republicans. Democrats have said they will use a procedure …

Read more “Democratic Opposition to Trump Supreme Court Pick Mounting”

The Russian government has opened a criminal investigation against the unidentified people who have called for an unsanctioned anticorruption demonstration in Moscow on April 2. …

Friday marked the end of the week, the month and the first fiscal quarter of 2017. The first-quarter statistics were pretty impressive with the NASDAQ Composite delivering the best return of the three main indices of nearly 10 percent as the index broke through another record high on Friday, led by heavyweights like Apple (AAPL) …

Read more “First Fiscal Quarter Ends on Financial High Note”

Yevgenia Medvedeva of Russia successfully defended her world figure skating title in Helsinki, making her the favorite to win the gold at next year’s Winter Olympics. …

Poland says it expects to complete a deal to buy Patriot missiles from U.S. firm Raytheon by the end of the year, as it looks to bolster its defenses in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia. …

A lawyer for former national security adviser Michael Flynn says he’s in talks with congressional committees to testify before them in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Those committees are investigating Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election and potential ties between Russia and associates of President Donald Trump.   Trump’s attorney, Robert Kelner, said Thursday …

Read more “Questions, Answers About US Legal Immunity Process”

Austria’s top diplomat on Friday called on both sides of the conflict in Azerbaijan’s autonomous breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to renew the political settlement process. Marking the first anniversary of deadly clashes in the Azeri region, which is populated mostly by ethnic Armenians, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, current chairman of the Organization for Security …

Read more “OSCE Chairman Calls for Revitalized Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Process”

WASHINGTON – A leading Republican U.S. senator has called for deeper Justice Department investigation into the Washington lobbying firm connected to the explosive dossier compiled on President Donald Trump during last year’s election campaign and the firm’s alleged Russian ties. …