Category: World

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it arrested 212 undocumented immigrants in southern California over the past week. ICE announced the arrests Friday, saying 122 businesses had been targeted during a five-day sweep. In a statement, ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan said, “Because sanctuary jurisdictions like Los Angeles prevent ICE from arresting criminal aliens in the …

Read more “US Agents Arrest 212 in California Immigration Raids”

Moscow is claiming the charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election are “blather.” Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, where dozens of world leaders are gathered this weekend, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday questioned the evidence presented by the U.S. Justice Department …

Read more “Russia Dismisses US Election-Meddling Indictments as ‘Blather’”

The Swedish Foreign Ministry On February 17 confirmed that it has granted citizenship to a Stockholm-based scientist who is being held in Iran and faces a death sentence. …

A minor kerfuffle broke out between Armenia’s president and an Azerbaijani diplomat during a panel discussion at a high-profile security conference in Germany on February 17 as the two men traded accusations over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. …

Russian laws ban using minors in election campaigns, but that hasn’t stopped a school in Daghestan from posting photos of children holding pro-Putin posters. …

As the world watches the Olympic Winter Games in South Korea, some American athletes in Washington are lacing up their skates to train for their own, major sporting event. Special in every way, these young people work to overcome their developmental obstacles to compete for gold — just like the world’s top athletes in Pyeongchang. …

Read more “Young People with Disabilities Skate Toward Glory at the Special Olympics”

Delivery robots could one day be part of the landscape of cities around the world. Among the latest to be developed is an Italian-made model that drives itself around town to drop off packages. Since the machine runs on electricity, its developers say it is an environmentally friendly alternative to fuel powered delivery vehicles that …

Read more “Robot Drives Itself to Deliver Packages”

A new exhibit showcases gadgets and inventions by designers striving to make disabled people’s lives easier — in style. Faith Lapidus reports. …

U.S. lawmakers and luminaries expressed alarm at the extensive efforts allegedly made by a ring of Russian operatives to influence the 2016 presidential election, as outlined in a surprise indictment by the U.S. special counsel. …

Serbs are unlikely to support full recognition of Kosovo’s independence in exchange for European Union membership, Serbia’s president told Reuters on February 16. …

Kosovo and Montenegro have agreed on a process for resolving disagreements over a border demarcation deal between the two countries, taking a step that could enable Kosovo to gain visa-free travel to the European Union. …

Police say gunmen have shot dead at least 18 people in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state.   State police spokesman Muhammad Shehu says an armed gang ambushed a group of residents in Birani village. He says the bandits were mobilized by cattle rustlers who had been prevented from stealing cows.   Some local media reports put …

Read more “Gunmen Shoot Dead 18 in Northwestern Nigeria Over Cattle”

A woman has been arrested in Iran after peacefully protesting against compulsory veiling, the latest such incident in recent months. …

A jailed Kazakh businessman has pleaded guilty to murdering a banker on a hunting trip in 2004 and told a court he did so at the behest of Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive tycoon and vocal critic of President Nursultan Nazarbaev. …

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the United States recognizes Turkey’s legitimate right to secure its border during a meeting on February 16 in Ankara aimed at easing tensions between the two NATO allies. …

…

Turkey has proposed to the United States that Syrian Kurdish YPG militia withdraw to east of the Euphrates River in Syria and that Turkish and U.S. troops be jointly stationed in the country’s Manbij area, according to a Turkish official. The official, who spoke to the Reuters news agency Friday on condition of anonymity because …

Read more “Tillerson Holds ‘Productive’ Talks with Turkish Officials”

The collapse of 13-month-long talks overnight Wednesday to restore a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland might force the British government to seek emergency powers and rule the province directly from London for the first time since 2007, acknowledge British officials. The move, which Protestant politicians in Northern Ireland are urging, would risk clouding relations between …

Read more “Britain Poised to Impose Direct Rule Over Northern Ireland”

You may not be familiar with the name Kam Mak, but you’ve probably seen his work.  In 2008, the Chinese-American artist was selected by the U.S. Postal Service to create an annual stamp through 2019 for its Celebrating Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Dog stamp is his latest, and Mak says it …

Read more “Postal Service Marks Lunar New Year with Stamp by Kam Mak”

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says Hezbollah’s growing arsenal and its role in regional conflicts threatens Lebanon’s security.  Tillerson, on tour of the Middle East, spoke in Beirut where he met with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.  Tillerson’s visit to Lebanon came amid simmering regional tensions over …

Read more “Tillerson Calls Hezbollah Threat to Lebanon”

Members of right-wing factions clashed with police outside a court in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, after Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov was released without bail pending a corruption investigation. The right-wing activists had apparently gathered to confront Trukhanov’s supporters. At least 30 people were detained and one police officer suffered a gunshot wound. …

Moscow says any new sanctions imposed by the United States would have little effect on its people or economy after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would impose new punitive measures on wealthy Russians “in the near future.” …

The HALO Trust demining group says it has cleared Afghanistan’s Herat Province of landmines as part of a 10-year project funded by the British government. …

Brett McGurk, the U.S. special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter the Islamic State group, talks with VOA about where the fight against Islamic State goes next. …