Iranian Says Secure Nuclear Deal Before Talks On ‘Other Issues’
A senior Iranian official says the West must ensure that the 2015 nuclear deal is a success before his country can begin to discuss other issues affecting the Middle East region. …
Feds Seek Citizenship of Man Who Violated Iraq Sanctions
The Department of Justice is seeking to revoke the citizenship of the former leader of a Missouri-based organization that illegally funneled money to Iraq. The federal agency filed a complaint Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, seeking to revoke the naturalization of Mubarak Hamed, once the director of the Islamic American Relief Agency, …
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Kurdish Fighters Capture 2 British IS Converts Known for Western Beheadings
U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters have captured two fugitive British Islamic State converts — part of a group of four terrorists known for torturing and beheading Westerners, U.S. officials say. The officials identify the two as Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee el-Sheikh. Kotey “likely engaged in the group’s executions and exceptionally cruel torture methods, including electric shock …
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Violence In Syria’s Idlib, Eastern Ghouta ‘Must End Now’ Says U.S>
The United States is calling on Syrian Bashar al-Assad’s forces and his ally Russia to put an end to their air strikes and alleged chemical attacks against rebel-held areas. …
U.S. Forces Target Taliban, Chinese Militants In Afghanistan
U.S. forces in Afghanistan have recently conducted air strikes against Taliban and Chinese militants in northern Afghanistan, the NATO-led mission said. …
Ten People Dead in Taiwan Earthquake; More Than 200 Injured
Search and rescue crews in eastern Taiwan continue to dig through the wreckage of an apartment complex that partially collapsed in a strong earthquake Tuesday. Ten people have now been confirmed dead in the disaster. The 12-story Yun Men Tsui Ti building in the popular tourist destination of Hualien was left teetering at a dangerous …
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Authorities: 8 dead at South China Subway Construction Site
Authorities in southern China say eight people have died and three are missing in a cave-in at a subway line construction site. The municipal government in Foshan said the collapse occurred at 8:40 p.m. Wednesday and that nine workers had been rescued and were in stable condition. Foshan is in the industrial heartland of Guangdong …
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Dutch Bank to Pay $369 Million in Drug Cartel Money-Laundering
Dutch lender Rabobank’s California unit agreed Wednesday to pay $369 million to settle allegations that it lied to regulators investigating allegations of laundering money from Mexican drug sales and organized crime through branches in small towns on the Mexico border. The subsidiary, Rabobank National Association, said it doesn’t dispute that it accepted at least $369 …
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Russian ‘OAR’ Olympic Athletes Open With Loss As Appeals Begin
Athletes from Russia competing under the Olympic flag have made their debut in the 2018 Winter Olympics, losing in a curling match to a U.S. team at a time when other Russian athletes were having their banning appeals heard in hopes of entering the games. …
U.S.-Led Forces ‘Kill More Than 100’ Syrian Pro-Regime Fighters
U.S.-led coalition air and local ground forces in Syria have killed more than 100 pro-Syrian fighters after an “unprovoked attack” on the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) headquarters, a U.S. official says. …
U.S. Shifts More Air Assets To Afghanistan, Calls It ‘Main Effort’
The United States has started shifting combat and intelligence-gathering air assets to Afghanistan as the battle against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group is winding down in Iraq and Syria, a top commander in Afghanistan says. …
Russia’s Election Commission Registers Three More Presidential Candidates
Russia’s Central Election Commission has registered three more candidates for the March 18 presidential election, raising the total number of candidates to six. …
Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Hospitalized in South Africa
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is undergoing cancer treatment at a hospital in neighboring South Africa. The 65-year-old leader of the Movement for Democratic Change has been in and out of the hospital since revealing last June that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer. An unnamed party spokesman told reporters Tuesday that Tsvangirai has …
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Pakistani Court Issues Death Sentence, Prison Terms For ‘Blasphemy’ Lynching
A Pakistani court has sentenced one person to death and five other people to life imprisonment over the mob lynching of a student who was falsely accused of blasphemy in 2017. …
The Daily Vertical: That Sovereignty Thing, Again
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL. …
Female Songwriters in Nashville Say "Time’s Up"
Female musicians in Nashville have long complained about the lack of representation on country radio, but now a collective of female songwriters are singing “Time’s Up.” The Song Suffragettes were formed in 2014 in response to a growing concern that women were being excluded by labels and radio and spurred by comments by a radio …
Russia’s Sobchak Brings Presidential Campaign To Washington
Ksenia Sobchak, the Russian TV celebrity, socialite, and daughter of President Vladimir Putin’s political mentor, brought her long-shot campaign for the presidency to Washington, saying that her political ambitions were genuine and long-term. …
Funding Impasse Looms Ahead of Possible US Government Shutdown
The U.S. Congress is poised to deadlock on extending government funding two days before another possible federal shutdown. The Republican-led House of Representatives is expected to pass a bill that funds the U.S. military for the rest of the fiscal year but extends domestic funding for just six weeks — something Senate Democrats are pledging …
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EU Lays Out Accession Path For Balkan Countries
The six Western Balkan countries that remain outside the European Union could join the bloc “in our generation,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said as she laid out a new strategy to integrate the region. …
‘Essence’ Honors ‘Game-Changers’ Haddish, Waithe, Others
“Girls Trip” changed the game for Tiffany Haddish, and now she’s being honored as one of Essence magazine’s “game-changers” at its annual “Black Women in Hollywood” awards. “Girls Trip” was one of last year’s big hits and made Haddish a breakout star. The comedian is one of four women being honored at the March 1 …
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Report: Politically Motivated Killings, Arrests on Rise in Burundi
In Burundi more than 500 people have been killed in the past year, most of them by the ruling party youth wing and security forces, according to a recent report from a Burundian human rights group. The allegations have raised concern as the country heads toward a contentious referendum. The report, titled “Do Not Play …
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Navalny Calls For ‘Anti-Idiocy’ Campaign Over ‘Nazi’ Photo Fine
Opposition activist Aleksei Navalny has called on backers to join an “anti-idiocy” campaign after a supporter was fined for publishing photo that graces Russian history books. …
U.S., Russia Clash Again At UN Over Alleged Syrian Chemical Weapons Use
Russia and the United States have clashed at the United Nations Security Council over allegations the Syrian government has again used chemical weapons in rebel-held areas of the country. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley on February 5 accused Russia of blocking an investigation of possible chemical weapons use by President Bashar al-Assad’s army in attacks in …
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Deal on US Immigration Reform Remains Elusive
With three days to go before U.S. government funding runs out yet again, the path to an immigration deal remained murky on Monday, with President Donald Trump rejecting core elements of a bipartisan proposal put forward in the Senate. “Any deal on DACA that does not include STRONG border security and the desperately needed WALL …