Category: World

World leaders and dignitaries have gathered in the U.S. capital, Washington D.C., to pay their respects at the state funeral of former President George Bush …

NATO foreign ministers have agreed to activate the military alliance’s program of advice and assistance for Bosnia-Herzegovina, despite Bosnian Serb objections to membership. …

Meeting in Brussels, NATO’s foreign ministers have reaffirmed their countries’ commitment to Afghanistan’s “long-term security and stability” despite mounting Afghan casualties in the 17-year conflict. …

In the 1870 Jules Verne classic “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” underwater explorer Captain Nemo predicted the mining of the ocean floor’s mineral bounty – zinc, iron, silver and gold. India is catching up with that only now, as it prepares to unearth treasures down below, aiming to boost its economy. The floor of the …

Read more “Race to the Bottom? India Plans Deep Dive for Seabed Minerals”

An immersive “Wizard of Oz” exhibit will greet visitors to the Motion Picture museum in Los Angeles when it opens after a long delay in late 2019, organizers said on Tuesday. A pair of the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the classic 1939 musical, along with costumes, props and exhibits about the behind …

Read more “‘Wizard of Oz,’ Miyazaki to Star in LA Motion Picture Museum”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States will withdraw from a milestone Cold War-era nuclear treaty unless Russia returns to compliance. During a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels Tuesday, Pompeo said the United States will abandon treaties and multilateral institutions that are not bolstering U.S. national security and sovereign interests. VOA’s Diplomatic …

Read more “US Threatens To Withdraw from INF Missile Treaty With Russia”

Ukraine’s security agency said it has thwarted a massive cyberattack and blamed Russia for the attempted attack that targeted the country’s court system. …

In all, 47 airports were up for renaming under the contest, which was conducted online as part of the Great Names of Russia project. …

The U.S. special counsel investigating interactions between associates of President Donald Trump and Russian officials has recommended that Trump’s first national-security adviser receive no prison time when he is sentenced by a judge. …

Authorities in Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka region say they have launched a criminal investigation against a local leader of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion. …

Moldovan President Igor Dodon has thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for help in removing bureaucratic barriers that were preventing Moldovan labor migrants in Russia from returning to Moldova to take part in the country’s February 2019 parliamentary elections. …

Ukraine says Russia has begun allowing some ships to enter Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov, in what could be a possible sign of easing tensions in the area. A statement Tuesday attributed to Ukraine Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said the Berdyansk and Mariupol ports have been partially unblocked, adding that ships are coming …

Read more “Kyiv: Russia Allowing Some Ships to Enter Ukrainian Azov Sea Ports”

A Russian nongovernmental organization focused on preventing the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS says it has closed its office in the Siberian region of Altai Krai because it has not been able to raise funds to pay a fine for refusing to register in Russia as a “foreign agent.” …

The French government is suspending the planned tax increases on gasoline that sparked several days of violent protests on the streets of Paris. Prime Minster Edouard Philippe announced Tuesday in a nationally televised address that the new fuel tax, which was set to go into effect on January 1, would be put on hold for …

Read more “French Government Suspends Controversial Fuel Tax Increase”

A boat carrying 20 men believed to be Rohingya Muslims has landed on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, the latest in a growing wave attempting to flee persecution in Myanmar.  Myanmar authorities have recently been stopping scores of boats filled with Rohingya migrants attempting to sail to Malaysia. The detained Rohingyas were fleeing cramped refugee camps in …

Read more “Boat Carrying Rohingya Muslims Lands in Indonesia’s Sumatra Island”

NATO is expected to activate its program of advice and assistance for Bosnia-Herzegovina this week — a step in the Balkan country’s path to join the military alliance. …

Vladimir Medinsky has been one of the most vocal defendants of “Panfilov’s 28 men,” a Soviet wartime legend largely debunked by historians. …

Al-Shabab and pro-Islamic State militants in Somalia are engaged in an economic war, and it is the country’s business sector that is getting cut down in the crossfire. Somali businessmen and analysts say the rival Islamist groups are targeting companies to an unprecedented degree with demands for so-called taxes. Al-Shabab has already strong-armed business owners …

Read more “In Somalia, Businesses Face ‘Taxation’ by Militants”

Embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May has just eight days before the House of Commons votes on a contentious deal that would have Britain locked in a customs union with the European Union for several years while it negotiates a more permanent, but vaguely defined, free-trade settlement with its largest trading partner. In the temporary …

Read more “May’s Brexit Deal Appears Doomed in House of Commons”

The Pentagon says a fourth soldier has died from wounds suffered last week in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan. Sgt. Jason Mitchell McClary died Sunday at the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. He was 24 years old and from Export, Pennsylvania. Three other service members were killed in the explosion last Tuesday near …

Read more “Fourth US Soldier Dies From Wounds in Afghanistan Blast”

During a visit to Pristina, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn has urged Kosovo’s government to revoke a recent decision to impose a 100 percent tariff on imports from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. …

The chief of Britain’s foreign intelligence service will warn the Kremlin on Monday not to underestimate the West after a brazen nerve agent attack on a retired double agent in England stoked fears about Russian covert activity abroad. In his second major speech since being named in 2014 to head the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, …

Read more “UK Spy Chief to Tell Russia: Don’t Underestimate West”

Pierre Buyoya, Burundi’s former president, on Sunday dismissed as politically motivated an arrest warrant issued against him for his alleged participation in the assassination of his country’s first democratically elected leader. On Friday, Burundi’s attorney general issued 17 international arrest warrants for Buyoya and former senior military and civilian officials suspected of involvement in the …

Read more “Ex-Burundi Leader Rejects Warrant for His Arrest as Tactic”

Dancer and comic actor Ken Berry, who starred in two iconic U.S. television series, has died at 85. No cause of death was immediately announced. Berry was a stage and Broadway performer known for his athletic dance routines when he turned to comedy in the 1960s. He is best known as the clumsy Captain Wilton …

Read more “US TV Sitcom Star Ken Berry Dies at 85”