Indonesia’s President Signs Decree to Ban Radical Groups

Indonesia’s president has signed a decree giving the government the power to ban radical organizations, in a move aimed at outlawing groups behind an apparent rise in the political clout of hard-line Islam. The measure announced Wednesday by the country’s top security minister follows months of sectarian tensions in the world’s most populous Muslim nation …

Solar Panels Have Become Major Source of Energy in Ravaged Syrian Communities

Environmentalists promote solar energy as an option to reduce pollution, but in places without a central electricity supply solar panels can be a practical solution. They are frequently used by nomads moving through the desert, and people living in remote villages. In recent years solar panels have come to serve as a source of energy …

Tillerson Signs Pact With Qatar to Curb Terrorism Financing

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was scheduled to fly to Jeddah Wednesday from Kuwait City where, despite temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius, he scored a first tentative victory for cool diplomacy in his push to resolve the month-long blockade of Qatar by its Persian Gulf neighbors. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has more on …

Pentagon Officials: No Confirmation of Reports IS Leader Is Dead

Pentagon officials say they have no information to confirm reports that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Tuesday it has information confirming the death of the IS leader. “We learned of it today but we do not know when he died or how,” the monitoring …

Foreign Ministers Meet on Europe’s ‘Crisis of Confidence’

Austria’s foreign minister convened dozens of counterparts on Tuesday to overcome what he calls a “crisis of confidence” hobbling the work of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.   A forum born of Cold War attempts to ease disputes through compromise, the OSCE must reach decisions by consensus. However, regional and international rivalries …

Weakened UK Leader Theresa May Vows to Win ‘Battle of Ideas’

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Tuesday that she has to win a “battle of ideas” in Parliament and the country after losing her majority in last month’s election. In a speech both conciliatory and defiant, May urged her political opponents to contribute their “views and ideas” to help shape government policy. May spoke nearly …

Khmer Rouge Tribunal Explains Limits on Prosecutions

The U.N.-backed Cambodian tribunal trying Khmer Rouge leaders for atrocities committed while they ruled the country acknowledged Monday that only a handful of former high-ranking officials will face justice for their crimes. The tribunal explained in a statement the dismissal in February of a case against Im Chaem, a middle-ranking Khmer Rouge district chief whom …

Food Crises Getting Worse in Somalia, Kenya

Severe food crises are growing in Kenya and Somalia, as the Horn of Africa continues to receive below-normal rainfall, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network. The hunger-tracking group says 2.9 million people in Kenya and 3.2 million in Somalia are experiencing Phase 3 or higher on the network’s five-tier warning scale, with Phase …

Caucasus Report: Abkhazia Heads Into New Political Crisis

As Georgia seeks to pressure the international community to respond robustly to attempts by its breakaway Republic of South Ossetia to encroach on its territory by shifting border markers, a new political crisis is building in its other breakaway region, Abkhazia, where the opposition has repeatedly called for the resignation of de facto leader Raul …

Tillerson Shuttles to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Try to Break Impasse

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in Kuwait, in an effort to help resolve the impasse over the blockade of Qatar by its Persian Gulf neighbors Tillerson is also due to visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week. Tillerson met Monday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after a visit Sunday to Ukraine. Before …

Congo Election Head: Presidential Vote Unlikely This Year

The president of Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission said on Sunday that a vote to replace President Joseph Kabila will probably not be possible this year, violating a deal that let Kabila stay on past the end of his mandate. Kabila’s refusal to step down at the end of his second elected term in …