worldwide news
The United States has warned Pakistan that there will be repercussions for bilateral ties unless Islamabad takes action to detain and charge a U.S.-wanted militant accused of masterminding a deadly attack in India. …
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on Russia to recognize the famine that killed millions of people in Ukraine under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin as genocide, “or at least repent for it.” …
Pope Francis heads to Myanmar and Bangladesh with the international community excoriating Myanmar’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims as “ethnic cleansing,” but his own church resisting the label and defending Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the only hope for democracy. Francis will thus be walking a fraught diplomatic tightrope during the Nov. 27-Dec. …
Read more “Pope’s Role as Champion of Refugees Faces Test in Myanmar”
Pope Francis visits Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh next week amid international outrage over what the U.S. describes as the ethnic cleansing, of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority. During the Nov. 26 through Dec. 2 trip, the pope will meet with Myanmar’s civilian and military leaders as well as Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. As Jesusemen Oni reports, …
Read more “Pope Francis Faces Diplomatic Challenges with Visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh”
Slowly but steadily, the consciousness about the need to protect and preserve the natural environment is rising all over the world. Grassroots initiatives get more coverage, and those involved in them say it feels good to be a part of a beneficial movement. VOA’s George Putic reports on two of the latest initiative in Indonesia. …
Pakistani police have launched an operation to clear an intersection linking the capital, Islamabad, with the nearby city of Rawalpindi where sympathizers of an Islamist group have camped out for the past three weeks. …
Police have defused a bomb attached to a car carrying four journalists in northwestern Pakistan, and detained the vehicle’s occupants for interrogation. …
At least 12 people died on November 24 as a fire ripped through a hotel in Georgia’s Black Sea resort city of Batumi, officials say. …
Egyptian security officials said suspected militants attacked a packed mosque Friday in the volatile northern Sinai Peninsula, killing 85 people. Authorities said the extremists targeted supporters of the security forces at al-Rawdah mosque in the town of Bir al-Abd west of the provincial capital el-Arish. They said men in four off-road vehicles opened fire on …
A Czech court has ruled that a suspected Russian hacker at the center of a tug-of-war between Washington and Moscow can be extradited to the United States. …
The equivalent of one garbage truck full of plastic waste is dumped into the world’s oceans every minute, equal to 8 million tons a year. New research suggests that 90 percent of that waste gets into the oceans through 10 major river systems. “It seems that larger rivers preferentially transport plastic and these are rivers …
Read more “Most Ocean Plastic Pollution Carried by 10 Rivers”
The equivalent of one garbage truck full of waste plastic is dumped into the world’s oceans every minute – or 8 million metric tons a year. New research suggests that the vast majority of that waste is transported to the oceans by just a handful of major river systems – and tackling the pollution at …
Read more “Scientists: Rivers in Africa, Asia Responsible for Most Ocean Plastic Waste”
The corruption trial of former Economy Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev and Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin’s role in putting him in the dock are providing a rare window into the high-stakes power struggles in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. …
Ukraine’s military says that five of its soldiers have been killed and four wounded in clashes with Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country. …
Kosovo has declared neighboring Albania’s independence day a national holiday. …
Some Republicans are hoping lawmakers will soon wrap up investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election that have dragged on for most of the year. But with new details in the probe emerging almost daily, that seems unlikely. Three congressional committees are investigating Russian interference and whether President Donald Trump’s campaign was in any …
A look at the best news photos from around the world. …
Three Georgian soldiers were injured when their vehicle came under attack near Bagram Airfield outside the Afghan capital, Kabul. …
Syria opposition representatives meeting in the Saudi Arabian capital called Thursday for direct and unconditional negotiations with the Syrian government over the more than 6-year civil war that would lead to the launch of a transitional period. The opposition didn’t condition its participation in upcoming U.N-based negotiations on the departure of President Bashar Assad …
Read more “Opposition Calls for Direct Talks With Syria Government”
The British daily The Guardian has reported that authorities in Iran have set a date for the trial of British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, citing the woman’s husband. …
The 14-century-old Rabban Hormizd Monastery in northern Mosul has become a popular destination for thousands of Iraq’s Christians who were targeted by the Islamic State group. Visitors say the monastery represents the ability of Christians to survive during one of the most turbulent times in Iraq. VOA’s Kawa Omar reports. …
The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen said Wednesday that it would reopen the country’s main international airport and a vital Red Sea port to humanitarian traffic. The easing is supposed to begin Thursday. The airport in the capital of Sanaa will reopen to U.N. aircraft, and the seaport of Hodeida will be …
Read more “Saudi-led Coalition to Begin Allowing Aid Into Yemen”
The U.S. Attorney General says federal agencies must do a better job of keeping track of criminals who are not supposed to be able to buy guns. On Wednesday, Jeff Sessions ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to investigate an administrative foul up that allowed felon Devin …
Read more “Attorney General: Feds Must Do More to Keep Guns From Criminals”
A court in Pakistan has ordered the release from house arrest of an Islamist leader accused of masterminding the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people, his lawyer and a prosecutor say. …