Category: World

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is set to appear on June 15 before a panel investigating allegations against his family’s offshore companies and money laundering. …

Somali security forces ended the al-Shabab siege of a Mogadishu restaurant early Thursday after battling the militants for almost 11 hours. Major Abdifatah Bashir Ali, commander of police in the Hodan district of the city, told VOA Somali that special security forces launched a major operation just before 6 a.m. local time and were able …

Read more “Mogadishu Restaurant Siege Ends, 19 Civilians Dead”

The real estate firm owned by the family of Jared Kushner has withdrawn a request for a big tax break for one its buildings in Jersey City, New Jersey, the latest setback for the company in the area.   The Kushner Cos. sent a letter withdrawing its application for a 30-year break from city taxes …

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The special counsel investigating Russia’s influence on last year’s U.S. elections and possible links to the campaign of President Donald Trump has expanded to include looking at whether the president has obstructed justice. The revelation came late Wednesday in articles published by the Washington Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal, based on accounts …

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A suspect is in custody after gunfire erupted at a baseball field in Virginia, where Republican Representative Steve Scalise was shot and badly injured. The shooting took place shortly after 7am. as lawmakers were practicing for an annual Congressional baseball game set for tomorrow.  Colleagues of Scalise immediately took to Twitter to express their shock …

Read more “Republican Rep. Steve Scalise Shot – ‘Badly Hurt’ – at Congressional Baseball Practice in Virginia”

Firefighters on Wednesday continued to battle one of London’s biggest fire disasters in recent memory as a rapid-moving blaze raced through a 24-story apartment building in West London. Hours after the fire was first reported, crews worked to rescue people trapped inside and count the number of dead. …

Russia’s space agency says an unmanned supply ship has been launched and is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). …

The ombudsman of Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, has accused city authorities of “provoking” unsanctioned protests. …

U.S. Congressman Stephen Scalise was shot Wednesday in Alexandria, Virginia just south of Washington, according to local emergency response officials. Scalise is reported to be in stable condition after being shot in the hip as he and other Republican congressional lawmakers were practicing for an annual baseball game scheduled for Thursday. Reports say at least …

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is scheduled to testify before a House panel on June 14, as Congress moves closer to cementing existing sanctions against Moscow and imposing new ones. …

Uber’s embattled CEO Travis Kalanick announced Tuesday that he is taking a leave of absence from the company for an unspecified amount of time. He made the announcement to employees over email saying he needed to mourn the loss of his mother, who died in a boating accident last month. He also said he need …

Read more “Uber CEO Takes Leave of Absence Amid Controversies”

Members of Army medic James McCloughan’s unit in Vietnam called him “Doc.” Now, those soldiers, several of whom McCloughan saved during the ferocious, dayslong Battle of Nui Yon Hill in 1969, will have a new name for him: Medal of Honor recipient. Army spokeswoman Valerie L. Mongello said Tuesday that the 71-year-old from South Haven, …

Read more “Michigan Vietnam Vet Is Trump’s 1st Medal of Honor Recipient”

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has defended President Donald Trump’s proposal to sharply cut spending on diplomacy and foreign aid while proposing large increases in military spending. The president’s 2018 proposed budget would cut spending at the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by 32 percent and boost Defense Department spending …

Read more “Tillerson Defends Proposed Cuts to Diplomacy, Foreign Aid Programs”

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin has bestowed the Family Glory award on a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses — just one month after the Russian Supreme Court declared the group an illegal “extremist” organization. …

Uzbek police are investigating the death of a teenager who was allegedly bullied and beaten by fellow students. The fatal incident sparked a public outcry, triggered a rare protest rally, and seemingly spurred authorities to react. …

Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin has been sentenced to 15 days in prison following his arrest at an anticorruption protest in Moscow. (RFE/RL’s Russian Service) …

The Trump administration is throwing out proposed rules aimed at keeping endangered whales, turtles and other sea life from getting caught in Pacific Coast fishing nets. The regulation was proposed under the Obama White House in 2015 by not only government experts, but also members of the Pacific fishing industry. It would have shut down …

Read more “US Agency Kills Proposal to Protect Endangered Sea Life From Fishing Nets”

The U.S. Secret Service said Monday it doesn’t have any recordings or transcripts of any tapes recorded within President Donald Trump’s White House, a disclosure that failed to rule out whether any tapes exist of Trump’s conversations with ousted FBI Director James Comey. The agency made the disclosure in response to a freedom of information …

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Kosovo could be heading towards lengthy talks on forming a coalition government, delaying economic reforms, official preliminary results showed on Monday. Early elections were held on Sunday after the PDK-led government of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, accused by the opposition of failing to meet pledges to improve the lives of young people, lost a no-confidence …

Read more “Lengthy Coalition Talks Ahead for Kosovo, Could Delay Reforms”

An audio message purporting to come from the spokesman of the Islamic State extremist group has called on followers to launch attacks in the United States, Europe, Russia, Australia, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and the Philippines during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which began late last month. …

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine has requested that the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine and International Committee of the Red Cross help locate Stanislav Aseyev, a blogger missing since June 2. …

Georgia’s law enforcement and the former Soviet republic’s “repressive” drug laws have come under heavy criticism after a pair of local rappers were arrested on possession charges punishable by decades in prison. …

Police in Russia’s Far East have detained several people trying to demonstrate as part of nationwide anticorruption protests organized by opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and his supporters. …