The U.S. commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Syria says a Russian air strike in northern Syria accidently struck U.S.-backed Syrian Arab forces who are part of the fight against so-called Islamic State (IS) militants. …

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has reiterated Washington’s support for the NATO alliance a day after President Donald Trump told the U.S. Congress that NATO allies “are beginning to” meet their financial obligations on military spending. …

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has been a master gamer in his relations with Russia. But the game is getting more dangerous. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.) …

A former employee of an electronics export company in the U.S. city of Houston has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally export about $50 million of microelectronics to Russia. …

Senior Russian and British military officials held rare talks in Moscow on February 28 aimed at avoiding clashes and lowering tensions that have spiked to their highest levels since the Cold War. …

Negotiators for the European Parliament and European Union member states have reached a deal to allow Ukrainian citizens to enter the political bloc without a visa. …

A Tibet women’s soccer team has been denied U.S. visas to participate in a tournament in Dallas.   Cassie Childers, a coach and executive director for Tibet Women’s Soccer, said that 16 members of the team were told at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, that they “have no good reason to visit the …

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Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear says U.S. President Donald Trump is not holding up his promise to help people “struggling to make ends meet,” and that his commitment to national security is “being tested.” Beshear gave the customary Democratic response to Trump’s joint address to Congress Tuesday night. “President Trump is ignoring serious threats to …

Read more “Democrats Questions Trump’s Record on National Security, Helping Poor”

Barack and Michelle Obama have book deals. The former president and first lady have signed with Penguin Random House, the publisher announced Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed for the books, which several publishers had competed for, although the deals are likely in the tens of millions of dollars. Both Obamas have published through Crown, …

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Pakistan has put in place extremely tight security measures in and around its capital, Islamabad, ahead of Wednesday’s regional economic cooperation summit, where presidents of Iran and Turkey will also be in attendance. The high-profile meeting of the 10-nation Economic Cooperation Organization, or ECO, has been convened at a time when Pakistan is experiencing a …

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Rahul Kolli, a 23-year-old engineering graduate from India’s southern Chennai city, was happy when he gained admission to Michigan Tech University in the United States to complete his masters degree in data analytics. He was chasing the same dream pursued for decades by tens of thousands of Indians – studying in an American university, working …

Read more “Tough Rhetoric Prompts Indian Students to Reconsider Plans for US Education”

Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to review the case of a kindergarten teacher who was imprisoned for reposting a child-abuse video in what she said was an innocent effort to raise awareness. …

A youth named by China as the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, but reviled as a fake by many Tibetans, has praised the Communist Party’s religious policies in Tibet in a lunar new year message, saying they made him feel “very happy.” Although officially atheist, China selected Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama in …

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The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. (The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.) …

At least 11 people were killed in airstrikes on Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province Monday, opposition activists said, in the latest spasm of violence to mar U.N.-brokered talks in Geneva between the Syrian government and the opposition. Separately, there were unconfirmed reports that a top al-Qaida official was killed in an airstrike, also in Idlib. The …

Read more “Jets Pound Northwest Syria as Geneva Talks Continue”