Worldwide news. The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique while others talk of a “plurality of worlds”
Pirates seized a cargo ship off the coast of the West African country of Benin, robbing crewmembers and sailors and abducting six hostages before fleeing, Russia’s Interfax and marine news websites report. …
Health care officials in Sweden say a patient who was admitted to a hospital with a suspected case of Ebola was found not to be suffering from the highly infectious and potentially deadly disease after all. The male patient, whose identity has not been revealed, had recently returned to Sweden from a trip to Burundi and was …
A partial U.S. government shutdown showed no sign of ending soon Friday as White House and congressional aides prepared to work through the weekend to try to resolve a stalemate over funding for U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall. Trump said he’d had a “very productive” meeting with congressional leaders to try to …
Read more “Trump, Lawmakers Fail to End Shutdown; Weekend Talks Planned”
Scores of Bosnians have defied a ban and lit candles to honor a 21-year-old student whose unresolved death has fueled months of protests alleging a police cover-up. …
U.S. national security adviser John Bolton says he will travel to Israel and Turkey to discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and how Washington and its allies intend to counter Iran’s “malign behavior” in the region. …
U.S. General Mark Milley, chief of staff of the army, visited Kabul for talks with Afghan leaders, according to the Afghan president’s office. …
Residents of some of the more remote parts of Mali are now receiving free medical care. The United Nations Mission in Mali recently deployed armed peacekeepers to the landlocked African nation. The country has been in turmoil since the government temporarily lost control of the north in 2012. Arash Arabasadi reports. …
Sonbola Bakery in southern Lebanon is well known for its German breads as well as its staff. The bakers, all individuals with special needs, are defying odds and showing society they are quite capable of doing their jobs. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more. …
Ending our dependence on carbon in all of its forms — especially plastics and petroleum products — is a fairly constant endeavor of engineers and entrepreneurs. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports on two recent interesting advances in the sciences of recycling plastics and also moving beyond gas powered cars. …
The United States has warned Iran not to proceed with “provocative” plans to launch three space vehicles, claiming they are “virtually identical” to nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and would violate a UN resolution. …
China is meeting a growing demand for armed drones in the Middle East, adding new military capabilities to an already tense security situation, according to a new report from the London-based Royal United Services Institute. Report author Justin Bronk says Beijing asks few questions when selling the technology overseas. “Because the United States in particular …
Read more “China Meets Growing Demand for Armed Drones in Middle East”
China is meeting a growing demand for armed drones in the Middle East, adding new military capabilities to an already tense security situation, according to a new report from the London-based Royal United Services Institute. Iran is among the regional players using the new technology to undertake missions that would otherwise be too risky, as …
Read more “China Meets Growing Demand for Armed Drones in Mideast”
An Afghan court has convicted three men for their alleged involvement in the murder of a BBC journalist last year, officials say. …
A new law limiting alcohol in Turkmenistan has just gone into effect. Here are examples of other countries that also prohibit alcohol to some extent. …
A well-known Soviet-era Russian rock musician and composer, Kris Kelmi, has died at the age of 63, reports say. …
Israeli paramilitary police dragged dozens of Jewish settlers out of an illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank on Thursday and said more than 20 officers were hurt during violent resistance to the evacuation. Settlers had set up two caravans at the Amona outpost last month, in what they described as a protest against a …
Read more “Israeli Police, Settlers Injured in Evictions From Illegal Outpost”
U.S. immigration courts are among the bureaucratic casualties of the country’s partial government shutdown, now in its second week. The U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the immigration court system, announced last week that cases for immigrants who are detained will continue; those who are not detained will be “reset for a later date after …
Read more “US Immigration Courts Affected by Government Shutdown”
Scientists have found that a strain of cholera causing an epidemic in Yemen — the worst in recorded history — came from eastern Africa and was probably borne into Yemen by migrants. Using genomic sequencing techniques, researchers at Britain’s Wellcome Sanger Institute and France’s Institut Pasteur also said they should now be better able to …
Read more “In Yemen, World’s Worst Cholera Outbreak Traced to Eastern Africa”
A look at the best news photos from around the world. …
ASTANA — An internal investigation has been launched over a controversial video in which a police officer proudly calls Kazakhstan’s police forces a “gang” in a New Year’s greeting. …
A Russian businessman gives refuge to exotic wild animals which have been lost or abandoned by their owners. …
Tajikistan’s once thriving Jewish population has dwindled to an estimated 50 people. Most left for Israel in the 1990s to escape the country’s civil war. But one woman has returned to the city of her birth, Dushanbe, where she is keeping her faith and community alive with music. …
The works of 32 composers from countries affected by war and other conflicts will be featured in a concert Jan. 24 at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland — a suburb of Washington, D.C. Award-winning Israeli-American pianist Yael Weiss curated the concert, “32 Bright Clouds,” which she said was inspired by 32 …
Read more “Concert Asks Composers to Create Works About War, Intolerance”
Nicholas Haysom, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia, has been asked by the Somalia government to leave the country. “The decision came after the highest U.N. diplomat in Somalia violated the agency’s standards and the international diplomatic norms by intervening the national sovereignty of Somalia,” according to the statement published by the …