worldwide news
An Uzbek man charged with killing eight people by ramming a truck down a New York City bike path is willing to plead guilty and accept a life sentence in prison if prosecutors do not seek the death penalty, his lawyers said. …
Hong Kong actress Kara Wai says she is ecstatic over receiving this year’s Asian Film Awards’ Excellence in Asian Cinema Award. “This is not an acting award, it’s an achievement award, so I’m thrilled and feel as if I’m walking on clouds,” the star of Wu Xia said in a recent interview. With a career that …
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The U.N. children’s fund warns more than one-half million Rohingya refugee children in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, are at risk of disease outbreaks leading to many deaths during the upcoming cyclone and monsoon season. Bangladesh gets battered by tropical storms during two seasons every year. Aid agencies in Cox’s Bazar are looking ahead with dread toward …
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The head of the United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees said Wednesday he is looking for “new funding alliances” after the United States announced it is withholding tens of millions of dollars. Pierre Krahenbuhl said the U.S. decision leaves the U.N. Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) with the most critical financial situation it has ever …
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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL. …
Ukraine’s military says two of its soldiers were killed and five wounded after an explosive device damaged a military vehicle in the eastern part of the country, where the conflict with Russia-backed separatists persists despite a longstanding cease-fire deal. …
The bail verdict in an increasingly high profile Cambodian espionage case against Australian filmmaker James Ricketson was postponed on Wednesday because the prison delivered him to the court late. Ricketson, who was charged with espionage after reportedly flying a drone at an opposition rally in Phnom Penh in June, arrived briefly at Cambodia’s Supreme Court …
Read more “Cambodian Court Delays Bail Decision on Accused Australian Spy”
William Courtney, an ex-U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan talks about 2 1/2 decades of bilateral relations. …
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called for continued sanctions pressure on North Korea to force it to abandon its nuclear weapons program. …
Venezuela’s government says rogue pilot Oscar Perez was among seven “terrorists” killed in an operation to arrest him Monday. Interior minister Nestor Reverol said Tuesday seven members of a “terrorist cell” were killed in the police operation to arrest Perez, who dropped several grenades on the Supreme Court building and fired shots at Interior Ministry …
Kremlin economic aide Andrei Belousov has said that the Russian government is considering a possible boost in social spending, as President Vladimir Putin steps up his campaign for the March presidential election. …
U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Democrat lawmakers Tuesday, saying their demands to include protections for young undocumented immigrants in a bill that would prevent a government shut-down this week would cost the military. “The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security.The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding …
Read more “Trump Continues to Criticize Democrats Over DACA Demands”
Three Pakistani celebrities have revealed they were sexually abused as children, using the #MeToo hashtag, amid a national outcry over last week’s rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl. As Twitter users responded with an outpouring of support, other women have come forward to share similar stories, defying taboos about discussing sex in the conservative …
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Nigeria will punish all those behind an outbreak of deadly clashes between cattle herders and farmers, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday pushing back at accusations that he failed to take action against members of his own ethnic group. At least 83 people have been killed since the start of the new year in violence …
Read more “Nigeria’s Buhari Vows to Punish All Those Behind Ethnic Violence”
A Brazilian court on Monday ordered the world’s largest iron ore miner Vale SA to repair environmental damages its operations caused in land belonging to a community of descendants of escaped slaves in northern Brazil. Federal prosecutors announced the ruling in a statement that said the electricity transmission lines and a bauxite pipeline damaged soil …
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Fighting in Ukraine that erupted in 2014 escalated the spread of HIV throughout the country as millions of infected people were uprooted by violence, a study published Monday found. Conflict-affected areas such as Donetsk and Luhansk, two large cities in the east of Ukraine, were the main exporters of the HIV virus to other parts …
Read more “Scientists: Conflict in Ukraine Escalated Spread of HIV”
Pakistani officials have briefed a visiting senior U.S. diplomat on recent efforts to fight against terrorism, after the United States suspended security assistance to the South Asian country. …
Russian state broadcaster RT says France’s presidency has turned away journalists from its new French-language channel twice in a week. …
Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose says he is stepping down after losing the backing of his party. …
The Afghan government says President Ashraf Ghani has met with a top-level UN Security Council delegation that included the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley. …
Iraq’s Interior Ministry spokesman says a double suicide bombing in central Baghdad has killed at least 16 people. Maj. Gen. Saad Maan says the rush-hour attack struck at the city’s Tayran Square on Monday morning. He says it was carried out by two suicide bombers and that the explosions also wounded at least 65 people. …
Read more “Double Suicide Bombing in Baghdad Kills At Least 16 People”
The Argentine Navy says that Russian search specialists will return to the area where a submarine went missing in the South Atlantic on November 15 with 44 crew members aboard. …
The Iraqi Interior Ministry says at least 16 people have been killed and 65 injured by two suicide bombings in central Baghdad. …
Americans on Monday celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring a man who embodied the U.S. civil rights movement and who understood that the success of the movement depended on its nonviolent principles. Every year on the third Monday in January, Americans honor the slain civil rights leader who in the 1950s and 1960s organized …
Read more “Americans Celebrate Slain Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr.”