Minister: Many Russian Track Coaches Can’t Work Without Doping
Russia’s deputy prime minister in charge of sport has admitted that many Russian coaches have been responsible for track-and-field athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. …
Melania Trump Lawsuit Says ‘Daily Mail’ Article Cost Her Millions in Business
U.S. First Lady Melania Trump has re-filed a defamation lawsuit against the company that publishes the Daily Mail’s website, saying an article posted there in August 2016 harmed her ability to earn millions of dollars during a time when she would be “one of the most photographed women in the world.” The article discussed false …
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The Daily Vertical: Vive Le Agitprop!
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL. …
Iraqi Forces Light Up Sky, Thwarting IS Attack
Soldiers say they fired mortars with explosives so bright they could scan the Tigris River after hearing Islamic State militants were preparing boats to once again approach Iraqi-forces controlled eastern Mosul late Saturday. VOA’s Heather Murdock is on the scene in Mosul, where Iraqi forces say they believe the lights deterred the potential militant attack. …
South Sudan President Says Soldiers Who Rape Should Be Shot
The president of South Sudan said on Monday that soldiers who rape civilians should be shot, trying to mollify citizens outraged by abuses by security forces and quell growing international anger over attacks. South Sudan was plunged into a sporadic civil war in 2013 when Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fired his deputy, an ethnic …
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Despite Scandal, Fillon Continues French Presidential Campaign
French presidential candidate Francois Fillon says he will continue his campaign, despite criticism amid media reports he paid his wife an unjustified salary for 15 years while he was a member of parliament. Claiming his wife was paid fairly for work she did, Fillon only apologized for the “error” of judgement in employing his family, …
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From Russia With Love For Trump
In January, Russian media mentioned Donald Trump more often than Vladimir Putin, according to the Interfax news agency. What are Russian news outlets saying about the new U.S. president? (RFE/RL’s Russian Service) …
Russia, Turkey, Iran Discuss Syria Cease-Fire In Kazakhstan Talks
Russia, Turkey, and Iran on February 6 discussed the implementation of the cease-fire they brokered in Syria and reportedly agreed to meet again later this month. …
Wife Says Sweden-Based Researcher Sentenced To Death In Iran On Spy Charges
The wife of a Swedish-based academic and researcher says Iran has sentenced her husband to death on espionage-related charges. …
Cameroon Crowned African Football Champions, Defeating Egypt 2-1
Egypt loses African soccer cup, Hamada Elrasam documents, the Egyptian soccer supporters reactions during and after the game, at one of the biggest gathering for soccer fans in Cairo. …
Kurdish Forces Reportedly Seized IS Phones Rigged With Explosives
Kurdish security forces have captured dozens of cellphones the so-called Islamic State (IS) rigged with explosives for terrorist attacks in northern Iraq. …
Serbs in Mitrovica Tear Down Controversial Wall
Serbs in Kosovo’s ethnically divided city of Mitrovica Sunday tore down a controversial wall that ethnic Albanians say aggravated an already tense situation. Bulldozers quietly knocked down the 2-meter concrete barrier after talks between the ethnic Albanians and the city’s Serb minority, mediated by the European Union and U.S. diplomats. EU foreign policy chief Federica …
Controversial Wall Torn Down in Kosovo’s Mitrovica
Local Kosovar Serb authorities in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica have demolished a concrete wall they had built near the Ibar River in December 2016 that they called a landslide barrier. However, the Kosovar government saw it as a provocation, and parliament voted to knock it down. The demolition was carried out on February …
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White House Warns Iran To ‘Think Twice’ Before Testing U.S. Resolve
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has warned Iran “not to test the resolve” of the Donald Trump administration days after the U.S. imposed new sanctions on the Islamic republic over a ballistic-missile test. …
A Century Later, Faberge Still Dazzles
A century ago, Faberge produced its last legendary Easter egg. The following year, in 1918, in the early days of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution, the legendary Russian jewelry firm was nationalized and destroyed. The Faberge family and many of the firm’s masterpieces found refuge in the West, where the firm’s legacy is being preserved today. …
State Elections Test the Popularity of India’s Modi
Nearly three years ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a sweeping national election victory with promises to develop the economy and root out corruption. But with a series of key state elections beginning this weekend, Modi’s popularity — and his surprise currency decree that sparked months of financial uproar — is now being tested. …
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Women Thrive in Computer Science at California College
Women are underrepresented in high tech industries, and at American universities, they make up only 1 in 6 students of computer science. That’s changing on some campuses, as Mike O’Sullivan reports from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, near Los Angeles, where more than half of last year’s graduates in computer science were women. …
A Step Toward a Large-scale Quantum Computer
Quantum computers, once they become available, are likely to help us solve problems too complex for the fastest computers today. So far, several laboratories around the world say they have created small quantum chips as the proof of concept. Scientists in Britain now say they have created the first blueprint for a large-scale quantum computer. …
Iranian Professors Call For Easing Travel Restrictions For U.S. Citizens
A group of professors has urged Iranian President Hassan Rohani to respond to a recent order by U.S. President Donald Trump temporarily barring travel by Iranians to the United States by easing travel restrictions for U.S. citizens visiting their country. …
Trump Tells Poroshenko U.S. Will Work To Restore Peace In Ukraine
The White House says President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko the United States will work to restore peace along the country’s tense border with Russia. …
Faberge And His Eggs
They are some of the most exquisite objects ever created and, a century after the last Faberge Egg was created, in 1917, the tiny treasures continue to fascinate for both their beauty and the tragic story that entangled them. …
Suspended DRC Talks to Resume Next Week
Opposition groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the umbrella group Rassemblement are expecting talks with the government will begin next week, despite the death of the group’s leader, Etienne Tshisekedi. Opposition supporters and civil society organizations expressed concern that Tshisekedi’s demise could imperil the transition agreement recently signed with the government. The …
Separatists In Eastern Ukraine Say Top Commander Killed In Car Bombing
Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine say one of their top commanders was killed when his car exploded early on February 4. …
Would The Real Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov Please Stand Up?
But if he looks like President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the person who’s been hitting the campaign trail in the last week or so doesn’t much act like Berdymukhammedov.(The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.) …