Category: World

Ukrainian authorities say three children have been killed in a fire at a youth camp in Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa. …

A U.S.-backed force fighting Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria has accused Russian jets of bombing its fighters in the Deir al-Zor Province, the last major IS stronghold in the war-torn country. …

London police say they are “chasing down suspects” in their investigation to determine who is responsible for the rush-hour bomb attack on a city subway. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said police have the remnants of the improvised explosive device that was partially detonated Friday morning on a subway car at the Parsons Green station. Images …

Read more “London Police: ‘Chasing Down Suspects’ in the Subway Explosion “

Fans of the American hip hop group the Insane Clown Posse will march on Washington Saturday in protest of their designation as a street gang by the federal government. On Saturday, the Insane Clown Posse (ICP), along with thousands of their diehard fans — who refer to themselves as “Juggalos” — will gather near the …

Read more “US Hip Hop Fans March on Washington to Protest Gang Designation”

The semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government on Friday upheld a plan to hold a referendum for independence from Iraq on Sept. 25, after calls for postponing the ballot from regional and Western powers. VOA’s Heather Murdock has this report from Irbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. …

The first charges against Russian athletes suspected of having been part of a doping ring at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi may soon be issued by the International Olympic Committee, the head of a committee investigation said on September 15. …

Ukraine’s prosecutor-general has said that former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych’s justice minister has been detained over allegations that he participated in an illegal “coup d’etat” in 2010. …

China and Russia have rejected a call from the United States to take more “direct actions” to deter North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, and said it is up to Washington to defuse the threat through negotiations. …

The German Marshall Fund says it has documented Russian interference in the elections or political affairs of at least 27 countries since 2004, ranging from disinformation campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and other social media to cyber attacks.   The Helsinki Commission held a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill focusing on what it called the “scourge” …

Read more “At Forum, Experts Slam Russian ‘Disinformation’ Campaigns Aimed at West”

An unregistered nationalist group in Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan has announced a rally to demand the reinstatement of mandatory Bashkir-language classes at all schools in the republic. …

After a 20-year mission, including two extensions, the spacecraft Cassini is preparing to make a final “death dive” Friday into the planet Saturn. Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory expect the spacecraft to plunge into the planet at 11:55 GMT. NASA said their decision to end the life of the spacecraft in this …

Read more “NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Takes ‘Death Dive’ Into Saturn”

NATO has called for a global response to North Korea’s latest missile launch. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday on Twitter, “North Korea’s missile launch is another reckless breach of U.N. resolutions — a major threat to international peace and security which demands a global response.” Earlier Friday, North Korea launched another missile over …

Read more “NATO Calls for ‘Global Response’ to North Korean Missiles”

President Vladimir Putin plans to visit Russia’s Leningrad region on September 18 to watch Zapad 2017, Russia’s joint military exercises with Belarus. …

Faiq Amirli, the financial director of the Azerbaijani opposition daily Azadliq (Liberty), has walked free after an appeals court replaced his prison term with a suspended sentence. …

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday welcoming recent efforts to bring opposing sides together on the conflict in Libya, which Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling ripe for mediation to end the chaos and restore peace. The resolution extends the U.N. political mission in the country until September 15, 2018, with a mandate …

Read more “UN Promotes Mediation to End Libya Chaos”

Trucks carrying emergency supplies to children affected by the Rohingya refugee crisis are making their way to Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of members of Myanmar’s Rohingya community have fled for safety, the U.N.’s children’s agency said Thursday. Up to 400,000 Rohingya so far have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh and, according to UNICEF, about 60 …

Read more “Emergency Supplies En Route to Rohingya Children”

SpaceX has put together a bloopers video showing “How NOT to land an orbital rocket booster.” Set to John Philip Sousa’s rousing march “The Liberty Bell,” the two-minute video posted Thursday shows rockets exploding at sea and over land. The opening blast, from 2013, is even synchronized to the music. SpaceX chief Elon Musk can …

Read more “SpaceX Bloopers Video: ‘How NOT to Land an Orbital Rocket’”

The U.S. Treasury Department has announced new sanctions against 11 individuals and entities for alleging supporting Iran’s banned ballistic-missile program or for being responsible for cyberattacks against U.S. financial institutions. …

Police in Kosovo say they have raided premises used by Serbia’s Red Cross in the country, confiscating documents suspected of being used to conduct an illegal census of ethnic Serbs. …

The international medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says the government of Pakistan is forcing it to pull out of a violence-plagued northwestern tribal region after a 14-year presence. …

President Donald Trump plans a visit Thursday to hurricane-ravaged Florida, where recovery is slow but steady. Trump plans to stop in Naples, on Florida’s west coast, which was directly in the path of Hurricane Irma. He has already declared the state a major disaster area, a move that speeds up the release of federal relief …

Read more “Trump to Visit Florida as State Slowly Recovers From Hurricane Irma”

U.S. human rights groups are suing the federal government over warrantless searches of phones and computers at the U.S. border. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced Wednesday that they have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of 10 American citizens and one U.S. permanent resident …

Read more “US Homeland Security Sued Over Warrantless Search of Electronics”

At least 32 people have been killed in clashes across Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regions following clashes between rival ethnic Somali and Oromo forces, a former Ethiopian lawmaker said. Speaking to VOA Somali Service, Boqor Ali Omar Allale said at least 32 ethnic Somalis, including his younger brother, were killed on  Monday night in Awaday, …

Read more “At Least 32 Killed in Ethiopia’s Oromia, Somali Regions”

More than 100 people gathered in front of Macedonia’s parliament to protest against a draft law to extend the official use of Albanian language to the entire country, as lawmakers started debating the bill. …