worldwide news
The Kremlin appears to be losing patience with Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov’s manner of retaliation against manifestations of public dissent. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.) …
Dozens of Iraqi children, many of whom lost parents during the U.S.-backed fight to remove Islamic State from Mosul, are now working on the streets of the city to provide for their families. VOA’s Kawa Omar reports. …
A 53-year-old Massachusetts hospital worker stepped forward Thursday to claim the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in U.S. history — $758.7 million — after breaking the news to her employer the way the rest of us only dream of: “I called and told them I will not be coming back.” “The first thing I want to …
Read more “Massachusetts Hospital Worker Claims Record $758.7M Lottery Jackpot”
North Korea has opened a tourist office in Moscow to encourage Russians to travel to the reclusive country, promising that its nuclear weapons will keep all visitors safe. …
Amazon will close its $13.7 billion buyout of Whole Foods Market Inc. on Monday and plans to cut prices on grocery staples. Starting Monday, Whole Foods will offer lower prices on bananas, eggs, salmon, beef, and other products. Looking ahead, the Seattle company hopes to give Amazon Prime members special savings and other in-store …
Capital flight from Russia is now likely equal to the collective wealth of all Russian households, according to a new report by a respected U.S. research firm, a trend that has helped to drive the country’s income inequality to extreme levels. …
Leading parliamentarians from Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party met last week with representatives of 20 parliamentary and extraparliamentary opposition parties in a last-ditch attempt to reach a consensus over the country’s new draft constitution. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.) …
Even as tensions between the United States and Russia fester, there is one surprising place where their military-to-military contacts are quietly weathering the storm: Syria. It has been four months since U.S. President Donald Trump ordered cruise missile strikes against a Syrian airfield after an alleged chemical weapons attack. In June, the U.S. military shot …
Read more “As Syria War Tightens, US-Russian Military Hotlines Hum”
On Wednesday, Angola’s longtime president did something he hasn’t done in decades: He voted for someone else. Just after 9 a.m., retiring President Jose Eduardo dos Santos shuffled slowly through a side entrance of Luanda’s polling station 1047, at the law school named after his predecessor, Angola’s first president, Agostinho Neto, who died in 1979. …
Worry over having enough food is forcing people from drought-stricken Central America to migrate north to the United States, leaving families behind who grow more vulnerable to poverty, said an international report released Wednesday. Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala must address hunger-related migration by adapting agricultural practices to deal with increased water shortages and help …
Read more “Tackle Central American Hunger to Help Cut Migration, Report Says”
A former top Russian Central Bank official who is known for his criticism of Kremlin policies has denied media reports that he was detained at a Moscow airport for allegedly failing to make a customs declaration about Soviet-era medals. …
Moldova’s government has called on the United Nations to discuss the withdrawal of Russian troops from its breakaway Transdniester region at the upcoming General Assembly session next month. …
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Kyiv on August 23, as international officials confirmed that a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine timed to the start of the new school year would begin in two days. …
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says President Donald Trump has empowered U.S. commanders to make decisions based on conditions on the ground in Afghanistan, and that will alter the dynamics in the United States’ longest war. But as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, he also acknowledges it may be a war the U.S. cannot …
Read more “Tillerson: New Strategy Will ‘Turn the Tide’ From Losing Battle in Afghanistan”
Starbucks coffee shops recently installed the fastest Wi-Fi we regular folks can enjoy. It’s a blazing 9 megabits per second. But researchers in the Netherlands have some Wi-Fi that leaves that in the dust. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Oil is the main revenue source in Alaska. This year, the trans-Alaska pipeline celebrated 40 years of service. From Alaska, VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya looks at the history of North America’s largest oil field. …
The United States sent its first shipment of anthracite coal to Ukraine from the U.S. port Baltimore on August 22 under a deal designed to increase Ukraine’s energy security. …
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin his concerns about Iran’s military presence in Syria. …
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called on Russia and the Vatican to help fend off a U.S. “military threat,” and said he will soon go to Moscow to visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. …
North Korea on Tuesday described President Donald Trump as a leader who frequently tweets “weird articles of his ego-driven thoughts” and “spouts rubbish” to give his assistants a hard time. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency made the comments in response to tough talk in Washington and Seoul over threats posed by Pyongyang’s nuclear …
Read more “North Korea: Trump Tweets ‘Weird Articles,’ ‘Spouts Rubbish’”
The Trump administration has rejected a coal industry push to win a rarely used emergency order protecting coal-fired power plants, a decision contrary to what one coal executive said the president personally promised him. The Energy Department says it considered issuing the order sought by companies seeking relief for plants it says are overburdened by …
Read more “Trump Rebuffs Coal Industry; CEO Claims Promise Broken”
Iran’s new telecommunications minister says Twitter is ready to talk about unblocking access to the microblogging site. The state-owned IRAN newspaper quoted Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi on Tuesday as saying Twitter has “officially announced readiness to talk with Iran for resolving the problems.” San Francisco-based Twitter did not immediately respond to a request …
Read more “Report: Iran says Twitter ready to Talk on Unblocking Site”
If the Russian government doesn’t quickly start doing more to combat the spread of HIV infections and to treat those already infected, activists say, the country can expect 20,000 AIDS deaths this year and more in the following years. …
Kazakh authorities say they have detained eight Syrian nationals they said were caught using doctored Bulgarian passports when entering and leaving Kazakhstan. …