Category: World

Several hundred women marched in Kyiv on March 8, demanding equal rights in a demonstration on International Women’s Day. …

In a protest against China’s rule of Tibet,  a Tibetan man set  himself on fire Wednesday and died in Meruma Township in Ngaba County, Sichuan Province, eastern Tibet.  Tibetan sources and social media said Tsekho, a father of two, set himself ablaze around 5 p.m. local time.  Tsekho’s protest occurred just days before the anniversary of …

Read more “Another Tibetan Man Dies in Fiery Protest”

Sierra Leone’s main opposition leader called for calm Wednesday night after his supporters engaged in running street battles with police, resulting in at least one injury at the end of an otherwise peaceful day of polling in the West African nation. “I want every Sierra Leonean to behave themselves in a very peaceful manner so …

Read more “Sierra Leone Roiled by Unrest After Polls Close”

Florida state lawmakers gave final passage on Wednesday to a gun-safety package that raises the legal age for buying rifles and imposes a three-day waiting period on all firearms sales, while also allowing the arming of some public school personnel. The bill was spurred by the shooting rampage three weeks ago that left 17 students …

Read more “Florida Lawmakers Pass Gun-School Safety Bill 3 Weeks After Massacre”

An Iranian woman who removed her Islamic head scarf on a Tehran street has been sentenced to two years in prison, local media report. …

An Uzbek court agreed to look into allegations of torture by journalist Bobomurod Abdullaev, as his trial got under way in Tashkent on March 7. …

Russian leader Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President Donald Trump as a “balanced” man he can negotiate with, but he also assailed the West for “illegitimate and unfair” Ukraine-related sanctions imposed on Moscow. …

Voters in Sierra Leone are heading to the polls Wednesday to choose a new president they hope will lead the west African nation out of an economy left in shambles from the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak. Sixteen people are running to succeed outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma, who has served his constitutionally allowed two five-year …

Read more “Presidential Election Takes Place in Sierra Leone”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling on all parties in Syria to implement a nationwide cease-fire, as the U.N. Security Council prepares to meet Wednesday to discuss the ignored 30-day halt in fighting it demanded in a resolution nearly two weeks ago. The cease-fire’s failure prompted Britain and France to request the closed door meeting.  …

Read more “UN Security Council to Meet on Ignored Syria Cease-Fire”

North Korea’s announcement expressing willingness to negotiate with the United States on denuclearization is a positive step but one that needs to be dealt with cautiously, say former U.S. officials who have dealt extensively with North Korea.  On Monday, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, told a South Korean delegation visiting Pyongyang that he is …

Read more “Experts Take Positive View of N. Korea’s Willingness to Hold Talks”

The winter of 2017-2018 was the warmest on record for the Arctic, U.S. and Russian scientists reported in separate studies. …

Russia’s ban from international athletics over widespread doping was extended by the sport’s governing body on March 6 and the country was warned it could face further sanctions this year. …

New sanctions on Russia over Moscow’s alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election will be announced “within a week,” a top U.S. intelligence official has said. …

A South Korean official says North Korea signaled there was no need to keep its nuclear program if military threats against the country are eliminated and indicated it is willing to hold talks with the United States. “The North side clearly affirmed its commitment to the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and said it would …

Read more “North Korea Willing to Scrap Nuclear Program if Threats Removed”

Transgender people gathered at a police station in Peshawar, as Pakistan issued its first driving licenses with an ‘X’ on the spot where the driver’s gender is recorded. …

South Korea says it has agreed with North Korea to hold summit talks between the two countries’ presidents in late April. …

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Syrian rebels, in addition to civilians, are free to use evacuation corridors to leave the besieged eastern Ghouta area. A ministry statement said the fighters could take their guns and their families, but did not specify where they would go. Continuing violence has undercut a U.N.-demanded nationwide cease-fire in …

Read more “Russian Military Says Syrian Rebels Can Leave Ghouta”

Bangladesh handed over a list of more than 8,000 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar last week to kick-start their repatriation. But Rohingya community members in Bangladesh say they are not willing to return to Myanmar because the situation for them is still hostile in Rakhine, where they lived.  “Persecution of the Rohingyas is still going on …

Read more “Rohingya Say They Won’t Return to Myanmar Now”

Reports from Britain say a man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance is the alleged former Russian spy Sergei Skripal. …

The Academy Award for best documentary has gone to Icarus, a film that investigates allegations of widespread doping within elite Russian sporting circles. The film’s director, Bryan Fogel, said it reveals “corruption at its highest level.” His main collaborator on the documentary, a former anti-doping official, is now in hiding under threat of prosecution by …

Read more “Icarus, Documentary On Russian Doping Scandal, Wins Oscar”

Hundreds of rights activists marched through Yangon City Monday to oppose proposed amendments to a bill that regulates peaceful protesting in the Southeast Asian nation. VOA Burmese reports that around 500 protesters marched through the city Monday, while nearly 200 civil society groups in Myanmar signed a petition against the amendment. Amendments to the 2011 …

Read more “Myanmar: Hundreds March Against Proposed Amendments to Protest Laws”

Waves nearly 30 feet (9 meters) high from a U.S. winter storm slammed into Puerto Rico on Monday, forcing authorities to evacuate dozens of families and close roads and schools across the U.S. territory. Huge waves downed palm trees, knocked over cement benches and forced curious crowds to flee as saltwater flooded streets and homes …

Read more “Huge Waves Slam Into Puerto Rico, Force Evacuations”

“They kicked us out of our home and stole our furniture and valuables,” said Rugya Saleem, a mother of six, plucking at the carpet of the tent in a desert refugee camp. She said her husband was forced to join Islamic State militants, and then was later killed by victims of the group. “They said …

Read more “New Wave of Families Flees Post-Islamic State Iraq”

Having lived his whole life in the shadow of the dictator who executed his father, Aleksei Nesterenko now pickets each Wednesday, calling for a museum in the Moscow building where his father was executed on Stalin’s order. …