Author: Worldman

Muslim organizations in the Netherlands have criticized disparaging comments about Moroccans made by anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, but say they are just the latest in a long string of insults.   Launching his campaign Saturday for the Netherlands’ March 15 parliamentary election, Wilders criticized what he called “Moroccan scum” for making the Netherlands unsafe.   …

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The U.S Embassy in Kyiv has said Russia’s decision to temporarily recognize documents issued by Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine is incompatible with the Minsk process on regulating the conflict. …

Hundreds of demonstrators marched in the Belarusian city of Gomel to protest a law against “social parasitism.” …

The U.N. is warning that hundreds of thousands of Somali children will be malnourished this year, including 185,000 who will be in need of urgent lifesaving support. To avert a major humanitarian disaster, the U.N. is calling for “scaled up” humanitarian assistance for the country. The worst hit regions in Somalia are Bay and Bakool …

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In his first major foreign policy speech, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has said at the Munich Security Conference that America will be ‘unwavering’ in its support for the NATO alliance – but warned allies that they must step up defense spending. Amid controversy over the Trump administration’s ties to Moscow, Mr. Pence said the …

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United States-backed airstrikes launched Friday took out an Islamic State group headquarters located in a hospital in western Mosul, U.S. military officials said Saturday. In a statement released Saturday, the U.S. task force in Iraq and Syria said IS militants had been using a building located within the Al Jumhuri medical complex in Mosul for …

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he received a “very strong message supporting Ukraine” in a meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and recent talks with other top U.S. officials. …

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree temporarily recognizing identification documents issued in separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine. …

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called for the immediate release of two staff members abducted during an ambush in northern Afghanistan last week that killed six workers. …

Sea ice normally melts in the summer in the Arctic and Antarctic, and recovers in both poles in their respective winters. But not this year. The World Meteorological Organization reports that sea ice extent in the Arctic and Antarctic was the lowest for the month of January since satellite records began 38 years ago. David …

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday raised the need to “create a level playing field for trade and investment” in his first meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to the State Department. In the readout by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both had agreed to “strengthen cooperation in the fields …

Read more “US Readout of Top Diplomats’ First Meeting Signals Priorities Set by President”

This is the Top Five Countdown! We’re rewarding the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending February 18, 2017. Welcome to our post-Grammy countdown, which sees “nearly” all the artists participating in the big weekend.   Number 5: The Chainsmokers Featuring Halsey “Closer” The Chainsmokers and …

Read more “Top 5 Songs for Week Ending Feb. 18”

Bosnia-Herzegovina says it will appeal a 2007 United Nations court ruling that cleared the government in Belgrade of genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. …

The Pentagon says leaders of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group are starting to flee their Syrian stronghold of Raqqa as U.S.-backed Arab-Kurdish fighters step up their offensive against the city. …

The United Nations says the number of children in urgent need of humanitarian aid in eastern Ukraine has nearly doubled during the past year to 1 million. …

It didn’t take long for President Donald Trump to start running out of the custom-made Cross pens he uses to sign executive orders.   “I think we’re going to need some more pens, by the way,” he said on Inauguration Day four weeks ago. Trump was handing them out as souvenirs for members of Congress …

Read more “After Flurry of Executive Orders, Trump Awaits More Pens”