Category: World

Launching a startup is no easy feat. Launching one outside your native country is even harder. But for certain French startups, the French government is there to help. A government-sponsored competition that began last year offers startups marketing and promotional assistance.   The Creative Next Challenge is a series of competitions sponsored by Business France, …

Read more “French Startups Venture Abroad for Chance at Global Recognition, Investment”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is making his first visit to Australia Saturday, in a sign that tensions early this year have eased and relations between the two Asia-Pacific neighbors are stable. Australia’s relationship with its heavily populated northern neighbor is often turbulent. It soured when Australia supported East Timorese independence from Indonesia in 2002.  More …

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A second suicide car bomber hit the location that an earlier of an explosion Friday near a Syrian village near al-Bab just one day after Turkish forces and their rebel allies took much of the strategic town from Islamic State (IS) fighters. The death toll has reached 65 people, including many civilians, rebel fighters and …

Read more “2 Syria Suicide Blasts Kill Scores Near Al-Bab”

The International Organization for Migration reports a surge in the number of migrant deaths on the Mediterranean Sea’s central route linking Libya to Italy in the first two months of the year. The IOM estimates 326 migrants and refugees have died this year while transiting by sea from Libya to Italy, compared to just 97 …

Read more “Migrant Fatalities Surge on Libya-Italy Mediterranean Route”

Top Turkish officials are increasing pressure on the United States to dissolve the American military partnership with Syrian Kurds in the battle against Islamic State. With just days to go before the Pentagon is expected to deliver to U.S. President Donald Trump a new war plan to defeat Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, Turkey, …

Read more “Turkey Ramps Up Pressure on Washington to Abandon Syrian Kurds”

Lawyers for Russian political activist Ildar Dadin have asked the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg for assistance in freeing Dadin, who continues to be held in a penal colony despite his sentence being annulled. …

U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to begin work on a wall on the Mexican border “way, way, way ahead of schedule” as well as a massive increase in military spending. …

This is where Russia and the European Union meet — the twin towns of Narva, in Estonia, and Ivangorod, in Russia: separated by a short bridge, but united by ties of blood and language. Current Time TV correspondent Vadim Kondakov has the story. …

The Justice Department will step up enforcement of federal law against recreational marijuana, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Thursday, offering the Trump administration’s strongest indication to date of a looming crackdown on the drug, even as a solid majority of Americans believe it should be legal. “I do believe you’ll see greater enforcement of …

Read more “White House: Crackdown Likely on Recreational Marijuana”

Bodies of 13 African migrants have been found inside a shipping container in western Libya. Officials of the Red Crescent in Libya said the victims appeared to have been locked inside the container for several days while being transported to a coastal town. The victims included a girl, 13, and a 14-year-old boy. Another 56 …

Read more “13 Migrants Found Suffocated in Libyan Shipping Container”

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday placed two alleged leaders of the militant group Nusra Front in Syria on its sanctions blacklist. U.S. authorities said the two men, Iyad Nazmi Salih Khalil and Bassam Ahmad al-Hasri, helped oversee Nusra’s operations in Syria, the Treasury Department said in a statement. The U.S. action orders American companies …

Read more “US Imposes Sanctions on Alleged Syria Militant Leaders”

After at first covertly sending thousands of undocumented Afghans to fight on the Syrian front, Iran is trumpeting their sacrifice with increasingly public funerals for the fallen and a giant rally planned for Friday in a Tehran square. Authorities in Kabul and human rights groups have roundly criticized the Iranian government for sending Afghans living …

Read more “Tehran Rally Highlights Iranian Support for Afghan Refugees on Syrian Front”

A blast at a chemical plant in the city of Ferghana in Uzbekistan has killed an undisclosed number of people, the Central Asian country’s Emergency Ministry has reported. …

The Netherlands’ lower house of parliament has voted for the ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, leaving a vote in the upper house — the Dutch Senate — as a final hurdle before the deal, which was signed in March 2014, finally can enter into force. …

Amid a recent surge in violence in eastern Ukraine and yet another failed cease-fire in the nearly 3-year-old conflict are a wave of new proposals to bring peace to the crisis-stricken nation — and from some unexpected places. …

Before Donald Trump won the November election, many analysts were sharply critical of his economic proposals. Some predicted big declines in financial markets, hiring slowdowns and a heightened risk of recession. But just a little more than a month since Trump became the 45th U.S. president, U.S. stocks have enjoyed the longest winning streak in …

Read more “Moody’s Sticks to Initial Assessment of Trump, US Economy”

U.S. lawmakers, back in their home districts during this week’s congressional recess, are hearing from angry constituents at local town hall meetings. The White House has dismissed the protests as a misrepresentation of the larger population. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni reports. …

Before Donald Trump won the election, many analysts were sharply critical of his economic proposals. However, in Trump’s first month in office, U.S. stocks have hit a series of record highs and consumer confidence improved. Did analysts get it wrong? Economist Mark Zandi, an early critic of Trump’s economic plans, said it’s still too soon …

Read more “Moody’s Economist Sticks to His Prediction: Trump Bad for Economy”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was satisfied he has established a dialogue with the Trump administration despite early predictions the American president would favor a closer relationship with Russia. …

Russia is open to dialogue with the United States on creating safe zones in Syria, but believes that any such plan needs to be coordinated with the Syrian government, Moscow’s top diplomat said. …

A Republican member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said she’s open to using a subpoena to investigate President Donald Trump’s tax returns for possible connections to Russia. …

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a measure that imposes fines on Internet providers that refuse to restrict access to online information banned by the authorities. …

The man who carried out a suicide car-bombing at an Iraqi military post in the city of Mosul last week was a British citizen who had been released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2004, Western security sources have said. …

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the United States to have a “balanced and farsighted” perspective on visas that enable thousands of skilled Indian professionals to work in the United States and sustain India’s booming $150 billion software industry. The Indian leader made his call for an open mind on work visas at a …

Read more “Indian PM Urges Farsighted, Balanced US View on Work Visas”