Category: World

The Moscow office of the Open Russia civic movement established by exiled former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was searched by the police on August 9, the group has said. …

The tools available for farming have come a long way since Dale Cope was a boy. “One of my chores for my parents is to go weed the garden with a hoe. Now, I’m not going to send a hoe out there, I’m going to fly out there with my drone, and I’m going to …

Read more “Drones Can Help Farmers Grow Better Crops”

Dozens of people, many of them children, were killed in Saudi-led coalition air strikes on August 9 in Yemen’s Saada province, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and local medical sources said. …

Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, can become an important tool for farmers around the world within the next 10 years. Researchers at Texas A&M University in College Station are looking at different applications of precision farming with drone technology. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details. …

Ukrainian Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova says “rapid actions” are needed to save the life of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who has been on a hunger strike in a Russian prison for nearly three months. …

On the heels of a deadly terrorist attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, Tajikistan’s interior minister has penned a play about a fictional mother who goes to Syria to search for her IS-fighter son. …

Belarus on Wednesday detained at least six more journalists in Minsk, including a freelance correspondent for Deutsche Welle, in a crackdown on independent media, ostensibly over unauthorized access to a state news agency.  The ex-Soviet country led by strongman Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday detained at least four journalists from two popular news sites, accusing them …

Read more “Belarus Detains More Journalists”

The organizers of the Oscars said on Wednesday they would create a new award category for popular movies and limit the annual, televised ceremony to three hours. In a letter to members, the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Pictures also said it would present some of the 24 Academy Awards during commercial …

Read more “Oscars to Create Award for Popular Movies, Limit Televised Ceremony”

Scattered protests, along with a heavy police presence in many places were reported Wednesday across Iran, one day after the first round of new U.S. economic sanctions went into effect. The Iranian parliament voted to remove Labor Minister Ali Rabie during a raucous debate Wednesday on new economic policies to tackle unemployment and bolster the …

Read more “Scattered Protests, Heavy Security Across Iran After New Sanctions”

U.S. Republican Senator Rand Paul says he delivered a letter from President Donald Trump intended for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin during the Kentucky politician’s trip to Moscow. …

Rick Gates, the U.S. government’s star witness in its financial-fraud prosecution of Gates’ former boss, Paul Manafort, has concluded three days of testimony and often withering cross-examination, detailing how a Ukrainian political party failed to pay $2.4 million in 2015, pushing Manafort into dire financial straits. …

The Trump administration says it is concerned about the whereabouts of retired Chinese university professor Sun Wenguang, who has not been heard from since he was detained during a live VOA interview last week. “We condemn China’s ongoing abuse of human rights, in particular, the suppression of the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and peaceful …

Read more “US Concerned for Chinese Professor, Arrested During Live VOA Interview”

Britain will always be a “tier one” military power, British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson told the Atlantic Council think tank Tuesday in Washington, contradicting recent comments by British Prime Minister Theresa May. In June, the prime minister asked Williamson to justify Britain’s role as a tier one military power at a Downing Street meeting, challenging …

Read more “UK Defense Chief: Post-Brexit Britain to Remain Strong”

Colombia’s youngest elected president was sworn in to office Tuesday, promising to “make corrections” to a peace deal with leftist rebels that has divided the country and to crack down on lingering armed groups still roaming the countryside. Ivan Duque, the 42-year-old protege of a powerful right-wing former president, now faces the task of implementing …

Read more “New Colombian President Promises ‘Corrections’ to Peace Deal”

The defense lawyer for President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort in a searing cross-examination has sought to undermine the credibility of the U.S. government’s star witness by accusing Rick Gates of stealing millions not only from Manafort but also possibly from Trump’s inauguration committee. …

Human rights groups have called on the Tajik government to lift a “politically motivated travel ban” on an independent activist’s family, and put an end to its “vicious campaign of intimidation” against dissidents’ relatives. …

Twenty amputees have kicked off a trek of more than 600 kilometers across Afghanistan to call for an end to the country’s 17-year war. …

Former Ivory Coast first lady Simone Gbagbo is one of 800 prisoners who were granted amnesty Monday by President Alassane Ouattara for offenses related to the brief but deadly civil war in 2011. Simone Gbagbo was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2015 after she was convicted on a charge of endangering state security …

Read more “Ex-Ivory Coast First Lady Granted Amnesty”

The United States has reimposed economic sanctions on Iran that were originally put in place to pressure the country to limit its nuclear program and later lifted under a 2015 international agreement. President Donald Trump has been a frequent critic of that deal and withdrew the United States from the agreement three months ago, setting …

Read more “Trump Reimposes Iranian Economic Sanctions”

Authorities in the western U.S. state of California say a wildfire that began burning more than a week ago has become the largest in the state’s history. The blaze, known as the Mendocino Complex, is made up of two separate fires in the northern part of the state that have merged and collectively burned 115,000 …

Read more “California Fire Swells to Largest in State History”

A first wave of tough sanctions the United States is reimposing on Iran went into effect at midnight on August 7 as Washington and Tehran continued to exchange warnings over the far-reaching measures. …

Russian aluminum giant Rusal says U.S. sanctions are forcing it to shut down one of its smaller plants which catered to U.S. customers and find new jobs for hundreds of the plant’s workers. …

A longtime business partner of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman has detailed how he helped Paul Manafort hide millions of dollars that he earned from Ukrainian clients. …

Several people have been sentenced to prison terms of seven to eight years after being convicted of involvement in the torture and death of an inmate in Kazakhstan. …