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”
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports a major breakthrough in efforts to contain South Africa’s longest and largest recorded listeria outbreak. The current outbreak of listeriosis in South Africa began more than one year ago in January 2017. As of March 12, the WHO has recorded 978 lab-confirmed cases of this foodborne disease, including 183 …
Read more “Breakthrough Reported in South Africa’s Worst Listeria Outbreak”
Thousands of civilians streamed out of their towns in Syria’s north and south on March 17 as they sought to escape a military offensive by Syrian government forces on a rebel-held area near Damascus and Turkey’s operation against a Kurdish enclave. …
American counterterrorism airstrikes in northern Afghanistan are reported to have killed up to 35 Islamic State militants and wounded a dozen more. A regional Afghan military statement said Saturday the pre-dawn strikes took place in the Darzab and Qishtepa districts of Jowzjan province, where IS maintains bases. The statement noted that seven nationals of the …
Read more “Officials: US Strikes Kill 35 IS Militants in Afghanistan”
Afghanistan will host high-level talks with Pakistan on Saturday to “chalk out a way forward” to improve strained bilateral ties and enhance cooperation to further a recent Afghan offer of peace talks to the Taliban. Pakistani National Security Adviser Nasser Janjua will travel to Kabul for the daylong discussions “on a special invitation” from his …
Read more “Top Pakistan Security Official to Visit Afghanistan for Crucial Talks”
United Nations aid agencies are appealing for more than $950 million to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance this year for 1.3 million Rohingya refugees and the Bangladeshi communities hosting them in Cox’s Bazar. Nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees live in substandard, overcrowded settlements in Cox’s Bazar. More than 670,000 of them have fled to Bangladesh since …
Read more “UN Appeals for Nearly $1 Billion to Aid Rohingya Refugees”
FIFA has finally and fully approved video review to help referees at the World Cup. Also Friday, the world soccer body lifted its three-decade ban on Iraq’s hosting of international events. The cities of Irbil, Basra and Karbala were given the go-ahead to stage official matches. The last step toward giving match officials high-tech help in Russia …
Read more “FIFA Finally Approves Video Review to Use at World Cup”
Air strikes killed dozens of civilians in eastern Ghouta on March 16 and forced thousands more to flee, as Syrian troops continued their offensive on the last rebel stronghold near Damascus. …
The Russian Foreign Ministry has welcomed Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili’s proposal to seek ways of overcoming the lingering consequences of the August 2008 war in South Ossetia. …
Russians living in Ukraine will be unable to vote in Russia’s presidential election because access to Moscow’s diplomatic missions will be blocked, Kyiv said March 16. …
Pakistani authorities say a powerful blast in the southwestern town of Qillah Saifullah, near the Afghan border, has killed at least two people and wounded 10 others. …
The Pentagon says the U.S. Navy has experienced a major, unexplained drop in close encounters with Iranian vessels in the Persian Gulf since August. …
South by Southwest is a pop-up marketplace of ideas. Held in Austin, Texas, it combines music and film festivals with a tech conference. Its nine days of events draw people from around the world, including Africa, as Tigist Geme of VOA’s Horn of Africa Service reports. …
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people flock to Washington in the spring to see the cherry blossoms bloom. The buds on the trees can survive chilly temperatures but need warm days to burst open with their white or pink flowers. But because of fluctuating spring temperatures, it is not always easy to predict when …
Read more “Washington’s Famous Cherry Trees Blossoming Soon”
What comes next in the U.S. Congress to address gun violence, after thousands of students walked out of their classrooms to demand action in the wake of the Florida school massacre? As VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, it appears there is still no clear path forward as lawmakers consider gun laws and how to …
U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed the company founded by President Donald Trump for documents, including some related to Russia, media are reporting. …
Egypt has ordered the release of two freelance journalists who were arrested while preparing a report on a historic tramway in Alexandria. The defense lawyer for May al-Sabbagh and Ahmed Moustafa, arrested on Feb. 28, says prosecutors ordered their release on bail Thursday. Mohammed Hafez says they were charged with possession of visual …
Read more “2 Investigative Journalists Released on Bail in Egypt”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow will expel British diplomats “soon” in retaliation for British Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to expel 23 Russian diplomats over the poisoning of a former Russian double spy. In remarks Thursday in Moscow, Lavrov called May’s actions “boorish” and said it was intended to distract from Britain’s difficult …
Read more “Russia to Expel British Envoys in Retaliation for London’s Actions”
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL. …
Authorities in Nepal are struggling to identify the survivors of a deadly plane crash earlier this week, with many of the injured badly burned, in critical condition and unable to speak, officials said Thursday. Extensive burns, in both the living and the dead, have made identifications far more difficult, said police spokesman Manoj Neupane. …
Read more “Nepal Authorities Struggle to Identify Plane Crash Survivors”
Lawmaker and former Russian captive Nadia Savchenko has traded incendiary accusations with senior Ukrainian authorities, and faces possible arrest over what Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko alleged was a detailed plan for a devastating “terrorist” attack on parliament. …
As students staged a coordinated school walkout in districts across America, U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday grilled federal officials on the failure to act on repeated warnings about Nikolas Cruz, the alleged gunman who killed 17 people at a Florida high school last month. “It appears that the FBI did not communicate with local law enforcement,” …
Read more “Lawmakers Ponder Steps to Curb Gun Violence as Students Protest Outside Capitol “
A suicide bomb blast ripped through a police checkpoint in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding 18, officials said. Jam Sajjad Hussain, spokesman of a state-run rescue service, told Reuters his officials had taken seven dead bodies to hospitals. “Our rescuers are at work,” he said. “They have …
Read more “Suicide Blast Targeting Police Kills 7 in Pakistani City of Lahore”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Wednesday that the United States would challenge Indian government export subsidies because they hurt American workers and manufacturers. Lighthizer said he had requested “dispute settlement consultations” with the Indian government at the World Trade Organization because the subsidies allow India to sell goods at lower prices. He said his office …
Read more “US Pursues WTO Action on Indian Export Subsidies “
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on March 14 that his country is ready for a compromise over its dispute with Kosovo, which is key to Serbia’s bid to join the European Union. …