Category: World

The head of United Nations peacekeeping says rising ethnic tensions in Central African Republic are likely to spur greater conflict between the Muslim and Christian communities unless action is taken to defuse the situation. U.N. Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix says ethnic hate speech is running in parallel with an increase in violence in …

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Firefighters in Australia are bracing for what they fear will be one of the worst bushfire seasons on record.  They say warmer conditions have combined with a very dry winter to raise the threat level. Australia had one of warmest-ever winters in 2017, and forecasters are predicting dry conditions for spring, prompting fears that the …

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Could several pointy hills north of Sarajevo be hiding a set of pyramids bigger and older than the famous ones in Egypt? Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Indiana Jones believes so, even if few others do. …

In Photos: Hurricane Irma’s Aftermath in Haiti …

It’s dry county in Ashgabat these days after authorities banned the sale of alcohol in the run-up to the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games that Turkmenistan (AIMAG) is hosting later this month. …

The Syrian Army and its allies recaptured an oil field from the Islamic State extremist group near the eastern city of Deir al-Zour on September 9, state TV reported. …

The U.S. State Department says it is “very concerned about sustained allegations of abuses” in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state and “very focused” on restoring humanitarian assistance to that area. Patrick Murphy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Southeast Asia, told reporters by phone Friday that the United States is urging all parties to take steps …

Read more “US Says ‘Very Concerned’ About Alleged Abuses in Myanmar’s Rakhine State”

Pope Francis called Friday for reconciliation in Colombia and said any efforts to permanently end the country’s more than 50-year civil conflict would “fail” without concessions. During a large open air Mass in Villavicencio, the pope said, “Every effort at peace without a sincere commitment to reconciliation is destined to fail.” He also said, “Reconciliation …

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U.S. immigration officials say the government is canceling nationwide immigration enforcement actions in the face of one devastating hurricane in Texas and a storm expected to pummel Florida over the weekend. NBC reported Thursday night about planned enforcement actions across the United States targeting 8,400 undocumented immigrants in a series of September raids described as …

Read more “With Hurricane Looming, US Immigration Officials Cancel Planned Raids”

Are the authorities in Moscow deterring voters from turning out for weekend municipal elections in which opposition candidates hope to grab seats? …

A bomb has exploded in a car in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, killing one man and injuring two other people in what police suspect is the fourth targeted car bombing in just over a year. …

After being stripped of Ukrainian citizenship by President Petro Poroshenko, Mikheil Saakashvili will try to return to his once-adoptive country despite the threat of extradition to Georgia. …

They may differ on policy, but agree on one thing — hurricane victims need help. The five living former U.S. presidents — Democrats Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and Republicans George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush — have launched what they call the “One America Appeal.” It is a joint effort to …

Read more “5 Ex-US Presidents Team Up to Raise Money for Hurricane Victims “

They call it the Big One — a mythic, massive hurricane that would obliterate the densely populated southeast coast. And it has long been the stuff of Florida’s nightmares. Irma, it appears, could be it. The storm has triggered near-panic in a region of more than 6 million people that includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale and …

Read more “Irma Looms as Mythical ‘Big One’ Florida Has Long Feared”

A U.S. government watchdog said Thursday that more than a third of U.S. Navy ships based out of Japan had expired warfare training certifications, as lawmakers raised concerns about readiness after a series of collisions involving the Navy this year. The U.S. Navy recently removed Seventh Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin after a predawn …

Read more “GAO Report: A Third of US Pacific Fleet Not Ready for Operations”

U.S. President Donald Trump says nations in the Middle East must confront parties “such as the Iranian regime” as part of efforts to defeat “murderous” terror groups and radical militias in the region. …

A Ukrainian teenager whose disappearance in Belarus has triggered claims of a Moscow-orchestrated kidnapping is being held in a detention center in Russia, his father and Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) have confirmed. …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son told Senate investigators that he met with a Russian lawyer in 2016 because he wanted to determine if she had damaging information about his father’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, U.S. media are reporting. …

The center of powerful Hurricane Irma passed just north of Puerto Rico overnight and was set to go through the waters near the Dominican Republic and Haiti later Thursday while hitting all three with its powerful winds and rain. By Thursday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center expects the storm will close in on the …

Read more “Hurricane Irma Passing Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic With Eye on Florida”

After the last space shuttle mission ended, in July 2011, the activity at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, seemed to be waning. NASA’s next launch vehicle was still in the early stages of design, so launch activity was transferred to the Russian space center in Baikonur. But this opened new opportunities for …

Read more “Space Business Booming in Cape Canaveral”

U.S. congressmen have approved a bill to deploy self-driving cars and prevent states from blocking them. The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday passed the bill that would allow automakers to obtain exemptions to deploy up to 25,000 vehicles without meeting auto safety standards in the first year. That number would increase to 100,000 vehicles annually …

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son will testify privately before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 7 as it investigates allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. …

U.S. prosecutors have charged several former top aides to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with involvement in a conspiracy to secretly help Iran evade U.S. sanctions. …

Facebook has informed U.S. investigators that the social network recently discovered it sold advertisements to a Russia-based operation targeting U.S. voters during last year’s presidential election. …