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”
For centuries, the majority of Central Asia’s people were illiterate. That changed during the 20th century, when written texts were made accessible to the masses. But it also necessitated the development of alphabets and the codification of languages. Regional authors were to play a key role in the process. (The views expressed in this blog …
Read more “The Lasting Legacy Of Central Asia’s Writers: The Soviet Era (Part 2)”
Iran’s interior minister warned that those who “disrupt the order and break the law must be responsible for their behavior and pay the price,” after thousands of anti-government protesters marched for a third day on Saturday. Abdolrahman Rahmani Fazli, in a statement on Iranian state television Sunday, said “fear and terror will definitely be confronted.” …
Read more “Iranian Interior Minister: Protesters Will ‘Pay the Price’”
A tip by a top Australian diplomat may have been what caused the FBI to begin its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, The New York Times is reporting. …
Power has been restored to all cities and towns on Russia’s Far East Sakhalin Island, which has been battered by cyclonelike weather over the past week, officials report. …
It’s not an Olympic sport, at least not yet, but pinball has a growing body of top-level athletes, and a growing number of international competitions. Faith Lapidus reports. …
The World Health Organization estimates more than 800,000 people around the world die every year because of unsafe drinking water. But researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology may have figured out a simple and inexpensive way to clean the world’s dirtiest water. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
A court order to kill several dozen gamecocks found at an illegal fighting ring is causing an uproar on Cambodian social media after a judge ruled the birds should be put down but delayed punishment for the human organizers. A video clip posted to Facebook showed police officers, following a raid on the operation, apparently …
Read more “Cambodians Angered by ‘Impunity’ of Killing Fighting Roosters”
The Russian Embassy in Washington said late on December 30 that it had refused entry to U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen because she’s on a “blacklist” that was created in reaction to sanctions imposed by the United States. …
Russia’s highest court has upheld election officials’ decision to bar opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running for president in March’s election. The Supreme Court on Saturday turned down Navalny’s appeal against the Central Election Commission’s move, saying that the decision to bar him from the race fully conforms to law. President Vladimir Putin, …
Read more “Court Upholds Ban on Navalny Running for Russian Presidency”
Annual nationwide pro-government rallies took place across Iran on December 30 amid large economic protests in several cities sparked by a surge in prices for basic food supplies. State television showed a rally in the capital, Tehran, and marchers carrying banners in support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad. …
Read more “Iran Holds Pro-Government Rallies Amid Wave Of Protests”
The Associated Press reported early Saturday that in the first month of U.S. President Donald Trump’s term in office, he sent “an American scholar” to meet with North Korean officials and to relay a message. The message was that the new administration was appreciative of a nearly four-month freeze of the North’s nuclear and ballistic …
Read more “AP: Trump’s Initial Outreach to North Korea Backfired”
Iranian hardliners rallied Saturday to support the country’s supreme leader and clerically overseen government as spontaneous protests sparked by anger over the country’s ailing economy roiled major cities in the Islamic Republic. The demonstrations, commemorating a mass 2009 pro-government rally challenging those who rejected the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad amid fraud allegations, …
Read more “Iran Hardliners Rally as New Protests Challenge Government”
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says he expects there will be a larger U.S. civilian presence in Syria soon since the fight against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group is nearing a conclusion. …
In a New Year telegram to U.S. President Donald Trump, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said a constructive dialogue between the two nations is essential for global stability. …
Germany’s constitutional court has ruled that a 96-year-old German must go to jail over his role in mass murders committed at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz during World War Two, refusing to overturn a lower court ruling. Oskar Groening, known as the “bookkeeper of Auschwitz” for his job counting cash taken from the camp’s …
Read more “Court Rules ‘Bookkeeper of Auschwitz,’ 96, Must Go to Jail”
The launch of Angelina’s Jolie’s Khmer language feature “First They Killed My Father” promised to deliver a much needed shot of exposure and enthusiasm into the arm of Cambodia’s emergent film industry. Instead of using the spotlight to springboard their productions though, leading Cambodian filmmakers are fearing a proposed tax enforcement drive could kill the …
Tajik authorities have attempted to place a homeless mother in an unregistered mosque after she pleaded with authorities to provide her shelter. Local residents, however, are not exactly rolling out the welcome wagon. …
Fed up with food shortages and exorbitant prices, Juana Medina joined hands Thursday with dozens of strangers on this capital city’s west side to register her fury. “This political and economic system is killing us with hunger,” Medina complained to VOA as she and others formed a human chain to demand that the federal government …
How would you sum up 2017 in one word or phrase? Correspondents for Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, asked people in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. …
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an eccentric nationalist firebrand whose party rarely defies President Vladimir Putin, has become the first officially registered candidate in Russia’s March 18 presidential election. …
Bitter cold weather has blanketed the Central and Eastern United States and it will stay in place for days into the new year. Forecasters are warning people to be on alert for hypothermia and frostbite as the temperatures plunge below freezing. The National Weather Service reports that International Falls, Minnesota, plunged to minus 37 degrees …
The World Health Organization is set to recognize gaming disorder as a serious mental health issue. In its 11th revision of the International Classification of Disease, a diagnostic manual to be published next year, the U.N. health agency defines gaming disorder as a “persistent or recurrent” problem that can cause “significant impairment” to the gamer’s …
Read more “WHO to Recognize Gaming Disorder as Health Issue”
Rohingya women who say they fled mistreatment by the military in Myanmar have told tales of horror that leading human rights groups have documented. Now, living in massive refugee camps and settlements near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, victims must deal with past traumas and face new risks. Rejina is a grandmother who didn’t want her last …
Read more “UN Gathers Horror Stories from Rohingya Women Fleeing Myanmar”
The Russian space agency says it has regained communications with an Angolan telecommunications satellite launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. …