Category: World

After at first covertly sending thousands of undocumented Afghans to fight on the Syrian front, Iran is trumpeting their sacrifice with increasingly public funerals for the fallen and a giant rally planned for Friday in a Tehran square. Authorities in Kabul and human rights groups have roundly criticized the Iranian government for sending Afghans living …

Read more “Tehran Rally Highlights Iranian Support for Afghan Refugees on Syrian Front”

A blast at a chemical plant in the city of Ferghana in Uzbekistan has killed an undisclosed number of people, the Central Asian country’s Emergency Ministry has reported. …

The Netherlands’ lower house of parliament has voted for the ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, leaving a vote in the upper house — the Dutch Senate — as a final hurdle before the deal, which was signed in March 2014, finally can enter into force. …

Amid a recent surge in violence in eastern Ukraine and yet another failed cease-fire in the nearly 3-year-old conflict are a wave of new proposals to bring peace to the crisis-stricken nation — and from some unexpected places. …

Before Donald Trump won the November election, many analysts were sharply critical of his economic proposals. Some predicted big declines in financial markets, hiring slowdowns and a heightened risk of recession. But just a little more than a month since Trump became the 45th U.S. president, U.S. stocks have enjoyed the longest winning streak in …

Read more “Moody’s Sticks to Initial Assessment of Trump, US Economy”

U.S. lawmakers, back in their home districts during this week’s congressional recess, are hearing from angry constituents at local town hall meetings. The White House has dismissed the protests as a misrepresentation of the larger population. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni reports. …

Before Donald Trump won the election, many analysts were sharply critical of his economic proposals. However, in Trump’s first month in office, U.S. stocks have hit a series of record highs and consumer confidence improved. Did analysts get it wrong? Economist Mark Zandi, an early critic of Trump’s economic plans, said it’s still too soon …

Read more “Moody’s Economist Sticks to His Prediction: Trump Bad for Economy”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was satisfied he has established a dialogue with the Trump administration despite early predictions the American president would favor a closer relationship with Russia. …

Russia is open to dialogue with the United States on creating safe zones in Syria, but believes that any such plan needs to be coordinated with the Syrian government, Moscow’s top diplomat said. …

A Republican member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said she’s open to using a subpoena to investigate President Donald Trump’s tax returns for possible connections to Russia. …

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a measure that imposes fines on Internet providers that refuse to restrict access to online information banned by the authorities. …

The man who carried out a suicide car-bombing at an Iraqi military post in the city of Mosul last week was a British citizen who had been released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2004, Western security sources have said. …

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the United States to have a “balanced and farsighted” perspective on visas that enable thousands of skilled Indian professionals to work in the United States and sustain India’s booming $150 billion software industry. The Indian leader made his call for an open mind on work visas at a …

Read more “Indian PM Urges Farsighted, Balanced US View on Work Visas”

Religious scholars say the fundamentalist Salafi movement of Islam, widely practiced in Saudi Arabia, is gaining ground in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz officials have responded by banning several groups they identify as Salafi extremists and prosecuting clerics accused of promoting radical ideas. But the size of the movement and its influence remain unclear, as does the exact …

Read more “Questions Abound Over Salafism In Kyrgyzstan”

[[As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to sign a revised travel ban this week, the Department of Homeland Security has issued new guidelines that would increase deportations and tighten enforcement of immigration regulations. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni reports. …

Russia’s Supreme Court on Wednesday canceled the conviction of prominent anti-Kremlin activist Ildar Dadin and ordered his release from jail, Interfax news agency reported. Dadin, 34, was sentenced to three years in prison – reduced to two and a half on appeal – in December 2015 for a series of peaceful one-man protests against the …

Read more “Russian Supreme Court Scraps Conviction of Opposition Activist”

Protesters chant, “We want the death penalty|,” as 40 soldiers are led into an Ankara court. The soldiers are accused of trying to assassinate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup in July, in which more than 250 people were killed.   Erdogan, touring the country to rally support for an April referendum to …

Read more “Turkish President Resurrects Death Penalty Issue”

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis welcomed the naming of Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster as the new national security adviser, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday named McMaster as his new national security adviser, choosing a military officer known for speaking his mind and challenging his superiors. “Secretary Mattis …

Read more “Mattis Welcomes Naming of Trump’s Top Security Adviser, Pentagon Says”

Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that the U.S. is committed to working with European allies, despite occasional disagreements. “At the end of the day, no one should misinterpret occasional policy differences and debates as a signal of anything less than total commitment to our alliances in Europe. That commitment is …

Read more “Haley: US Committed to European Allies”

NATO is the “strongest alliance in history” and the United States is committed to its alliances in Europe, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on February 21. …

The leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church has returned to Georgia as controversy swirls over the arrest of an archpreist who authorities say was trying to carry cyanide to Germany, where the patriarch was undergoing medical treatment. …

To sue, or not to sue. That was the question facing Bakir Izetbegovic, the Bosniak member of the Bosnian Presidency, in connection with a 2007 decision by a UN court acquitting Serbia of genocide in the 1990s. …

Even the hyenas won’t eat the carcasses of Mohamed Aden Guleid’s sheep, goats and camels, which litter the landscape in Somalia’s northwest Somaliland region. There is too little meat on their bones because of a devastating drought. “I had 550 of these livestock; now only 50 of my livestock remain,” he said. “My family contains …

Read more “Somalia Faces Unprecedented Drought”

The Democratic Republic of Congo is brushing off demands for an independent investigation into the alleged executions of unarmed civilians by DRC troops in the Kasai region. Video emerged on social media over the last several days appearing to show soldiers shooting men and women as they lay on the ground. One of the videos …

Read more “US Demands Independent Probe of Alleged Civilian Massacre in DRC”