Category: World

China has formally initiated a mediation bid to ease Afghanistan’s tensions with Pakistan and to encourage the two uneasy neighbors to jointly work for countering terrorism and promoting regional peace. Beijing’s diplomatic offensive comes as relations between Islamabad and Kabul have deteriorated in the past two years over mutual allegations of sponsoring terrorist attacks on …

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Britain’s Parliament was investigating a “sustained and determined” cyberattack on its email user accounts Saturday. Parliamentary officials said the attack seemed designed to identify weak email passwords. As a precaution, remote email access for MPs was disabled, said a statement released by the House of Commons. “Earlier this morning we discovered unusual activity and evidence …

Read more “British Parliament’s Email Network Hit by ‘Sustained’ Cyberattack”

The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan has stepped down. Laurel Miller left the office Friday without a replacement being named. The departure of the special envoy comes at the same time the U.S. is preparing to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan in its continued fight against the Taliban insurgency. Politico, the news …

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A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque at Mecca as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site in Islam just as the fasting month of Ramadan ends, Saudi security forces said Saturday.    The Interior Ministry said it launched a raid around Jiddah, as well as two areas in Mecca …

Read more “Bomber Blows Himself up as Saudis Foil Plot Near Mecca”

A deadly heat wave that has claimed at least six lives in parts of the American Southwest continues. While temperatures cooled off Friday in Los Angeles, residents are bracing for a long, hot summer. Planes were grounded for a time in Phoenix earlier this week, as temperatures in parts of the U.S. Southwest soared to …

Read more “US Southwest to See Little Respite From Hot Temperatures”

Qatar on June 24 labelled as “unreasonable” demands made by four Arab states to shutter the Al-Jazeera network, cut most ties with Iran, and close Turkey’s air base as the price of ending a regional boycott of the small Persian Gulf state. …

The Trump administration doesn’t believe its planned sale of high-tech surveillance drones to India poses a threat to Pakistan, a senior White House official said on June 24. …

Iran’s atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi, who helped forge the 2015 nuclear agreement, warned the United States on June 23 against upsetting the balance of power in the Middle East by siding with arch-rival Saudi Arabia. …

In his first televised face-to-face interview in six weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump said it is “very bothersome” that the man leading the probe into possible ties between his campaign and Russia is friends with former FBI Director James Comey. Trump told Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” that special counsel Robert Mueller is “very, …

Read more “Trump: Friendship Between Leader of Russia Probe, Fired FBI Director ‘Very Bothersome’”

A powerful car bomb killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens more in the Pakistani city of Quetta, near the office of Balochistan Province’s police chief. (RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal) …

Let’s recall how brutal Tajikistan’s 1992-97 civil war really was. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.) …

A fire that engulfed a London tower block killing at least 79 people started in a Hotpoint fridge freezer and cladding on the building failed all safety tests, London police said on Friday. Police Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack said the Hotpoint model, FF175BP, was not subject to recall and that the manufacturer was doing further …

Read more “Police: Deadly London Tower Blaze Began in Refrigerator”

The family of a Kazakh activist jailed for participating mass protest against land reforms says he has been in hunger strike for two weeks. …

Thousands of Nigerian refugees fleeing Boko Haram atrocities are trapped in difficult humanitarian and security conditions near Cameroon’s northern border. They are crammed in a makeshift camp not far from another camp hosting 2,000 internally displaced Cameroonians. Among the new arrivals at the camp on the outskirts of Kolofata is 51-year-old Nigerian cattle rancher Ibrahima …

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Turkey, Russia, and Iran are working on a mechanism to monitor the so-called “de-escalation” agreement in Syria, including involving U.S. troops in the establishment of zones of responsibility, a Turkish official says. …

A look at the best news photos from around the world. …

Russia’s Foreign Мinistry slammed new U.S. sanctions that target mainly Russian people and companies linked to the Ukraine conflict, saying the move puts at “serious risk” the entire bilateral relationship. …

VOA reporter Heather Murdock reports from Mosul, Iraq where soldiers from the Iraqi special forces are inspecting the damage after fighting, June 22, 2017. …

As U.S.-led coalition air strikes intensify on central Raqqa, more residents are fleeing their homes in Islamic State’s de-facto capital. A refugee camp in the nearby town of Eyn Isa is stretched to its limits and officials are calling for help. VOA’s Mahmoud Bali reports. …

U.S. President Donald Trump says he “did not make” and does not possess any audio recordings of his meetings with former FBI Director James Comey. …

A series of brutal, government-ordered evictions that left more than 30,000 Nigerians homeless were deemed unconstitutional in a landmark decision by the Lagos High Court on Wednesday, activists said. The judge ordered a stop to future evictions in a move that could prevent an estimated 270,000 other residents of Lagos from losing their prime waterfront …

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Cookie sales may take a back seat to fighting identity theft and other computer crime now that Girl Scouts as young as 5 are to be offered the chance to earn their first-ever cyber security badges. Armed with a needle and thread, U.S. Girl Scouts who master the required skills can attach to their uniform’s …

Read more “New Girl Scout Badges Focus on Cybercrime, Not Cookie Sales”

Military conflicts and growing threats around the world continue to underpin demand for weapons, but industry and government leaders from the United States, Europe, Russia and the Middle East say they don’t see a huge near-term spike in arms orders. Executives report being busier than ever at this year’s Paris Airshow, the oldest and biggest …

Read more “Threats, NATO Demands Underpin Global Arms Demand”

U.S. senators expressed concern on Wednesday about a plan to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, fearing a rush to consider the major legislation as Republican leaders prepare to unveil it. The healthcare bill will be released to the Republican Senate Conference on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. EDT and posted online, Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming …

Read more “US Senators Worry About Rush Over Healthcare Bill Ahead of Release”