Worldwide news. The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique while others talk of a “plurality of worlds”
Russian intelligence agencies had been spying on Sergei and Yulia Skripal for at least five years before they were poisoned with a nerve agent, Britain’s National Security Adviser Mark Sedwill said on April 13. …
On April 13, 1943, Nazi Germany announced the discovery of a series of mass graves containing the bodies of thousands of Polish officers who had been arrested and then executed by the Soviet Army. Seventy-five years later, the Katyn massacre is still a sensitive issue between Poland and Russia. …
The European Union’s ambassador to Russia has returned to Moscow less than three weeks after being recalled by the EU foreign-policy chief amid severe tensions, the EU has confirmed to RFE/RL. …
Human rights group Amnesty International says it has recorded a decrease in executions in Iran, where authorities have suspended the use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses. In an annual report released Wednesday, the London-based group said Iran executed at least 507 people in 2017, an 11 percent reduction from the year before. It …
Read more “Amnesty Reports Drop in Iran’s Drug-Related Executions in 2017”
A federal jury in Washington on Thursday convicted former Texas Republican Congressman Stephen Stockman of numerous counts of fraud, including stealing charitable contributions for campaign and personal expenses. U.S. attorneys said Stockman used his position as a public servant to defraud donors and break federal law. They say his conviction shows no one is above …
Read more “Federal Jury Finds Ex-Congressman Guilty of Fraud”
A look at the best news photos from around the world. …
Pakistani police have arrested a man suspected of shooting dead a pregnant singer during a party. …
Tajik authorities have concluded that a recent case of mass fainting at a village school was caused by hysteria, ruling out poisoning. …
CIA Director Mike Pompeo has said that a “couple hundred Russians” were killed in eastern Syria during U.S. artillery and air strikes in early February, an attack that remains shrouded in mystery. …
Operating in one of the most culturally diverse communities in the United States, Refuge Coffee is a nonprofit business founded on a simple premise: improving the lives of refugees living in the U.S. Not only has it become a meeting place for people from all cultures, Refuge Coffee in Clarkston, Georgia, helps refugees improve their …
Read more “Georgia Coffee Shop Place People ‘Want to Reach Out to Each Other’”
A data leak that enabled political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to access personal information from about 87 million Facebook users has generated an uproar and concerns over online privacy and the power of the major internet platforms. On VOA’s Plugged In with Greta Van Susteren experts explore the issue and next steps to better protect …
Read more “Experts Explore the Way Forward after Facebook Data Leak”
U.S. lawmakers are about to get a glimpse into the world view of the man tapped by President Donald Trump to shape U.S. foreign policy. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, will be on Capitol Hill Thursday for confirmation hearings. Pompeo’s attitudes on perceived global threats posed by North Korea, Iran …
Read more “Trump’s Nominee to Lead State Department to Face Questioning”
CIA Director Mike Pompeo will say he intends to take a harder line toward Russia during his confirmation hearing to become U.S. President Donald Trump’s new secretary of state, according to excerpts of his testimony. …
The head of the United Nations and a former U.S. president warned against allowing the war in Syria to spiral out of control hours after President Donald Trump told Syrian ally Russia to “get ready” for retaliatory missile strikes. …
Serbian parents who say their newborn children were illegally taken from them in maternity hospitals protested in front of the parliament in Belgrade on April 11. …
The United Nations says it hopes the Democratic Republic of Congo will attend a donors’ conference in Geneva later this week aimed at raising $1.7 billion for life-saving aid. DRC authorities say they will boycott the conference because the UN’s description of Congo’s humanitarian crisis as “catastrophic” is false and gives the country “a bad …
U.S. media reports say House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan will not run for re-election this November. Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, has been House speaker since 2015. He has served in the House since 1999. …
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday his company would step up efforts to block hate messages in Myanmar as he faced questioning by the U.S. Congress about electoral interference and hate speech on the platform. Facebook has been accused by human rights advocates of not doing enough to weed out hate messages on …
Read more “Zuckerberg Vows to Step Up Facebook Effort to Block Hate Speech in Myanmar”
No debate here: As Azerbaijan prepared to hold an early presidential election, even the challengers were singing the incumbent’s praises. …
Russians tend to view former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin more favorably than 10 years ago. …
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the country will cope with the latest round of U.S. sanctions, as the ruble fell for a third straight day following the imposition of the new restrictions. …
A military court has referred 36 defendants accused of taking part in deadly church bombings to Egypt’s top religious authority for consideration of the death penalty, state television reported Tuesday. The defendants are suspected of involvement in bombings that hit three Coptic churches — one at Cairo’s Coptic Cathedral in December 2016 that killed at least 25, and …
Read more “Egypt Military Court Refers 36 Defendants for Death Penalty Consideration”
European Council President Donald Tusk confessed he gets furious about Brexit, describing Britain’s departure from the EU as very sad on Tuesday as he used a speech in Dublin to call for unity in Europe. The former Polish prime minister, who chairs meetings of the European Union’s national leaders, cited his dislike of Brexit in …
Read more “Furious About Brexit, Tusk Calls for EU Unity From Dublin”
After a pair of crashes involving U.S. Navy ships in the Asia-Pacific killed more than a dozen people last year, the Navy’s efforts to develop its leaders is receiving renewed attention. Last week, the Navy inaugurated the College of Leadership and Ethics at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island. Seventeen sailors were killed …
Read more “After Deadly Crashes in Pacific, US Navy Refocuses on Leadership”