A historical film about the last Russian czar’s affair with a ballerina has been cleared for release, the Culture Ministry said Thursday, despite passionate calls for its ban. “Matilda,” which describes Nicholas II’s relationship with Matilda Kshesinskaya has drawn virulent criticism from some Orthodox believers and hard-line nationalists, who see it as blasphemy against the …

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The chairman of Kenya’s election commission said Thursday its voting system was attacked one week before Tuesday’s presidential election but was not compromised. “Hacking was attempted but did not succeed,” Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati told reporters at a news conference in the capital of Nairobi. Chebukati did not provide details. Kenyans, meanwhile, continue to anxiously …

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A 91-year old woman in Thailand has earned a college degree after spending more than 10 years studying for it and has received her diploma from the country’s king.   Public television broadcaster ThaiPBS says Kimlan Jinakul was granted the Bachelor of Arts degree in human and family development Wednesday at the government-run Sukhothai Thammathirat …

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A Russian court has sentenced a journalist from a respected business daily to 3 1/2 years in prison after convicting him on extremism charges in a case denounced by rights activists and scores of fellow journalists. …

The state prosecutor in the politically charged bribery trial of Kyrgyz opposition party leader Omurbek Tekebaev has recommended a 10-year prison sentence if he is convicted. …

Iran has executed a 21-year-old man who was arrested at age 15, Amnesty International and an Iranian news agency reported. …

The exchange of threats and harsh rhetoric between North Korea and Donald Trump has rattled many investors. Stock prices fell in Asia, Europe and the United States, while demand rose for safe-haven investments like gold. Key stock indexes in Hong Kong, Germany, and France were down by one percent or more. U.S. stocks were down …

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Five transgender members of the U.S. military, including Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, sued President Donald Trump on Wednesday, challenging his ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces. Trump said on Twitter on July 26 that the U.S. government “will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity” in the …

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Abu Ghazi stood smoking a cigarette outside what used to be his home in Mosul’s Old City, where only the sound of the footsteps of a few soldiers on patrol and twisted pieces of metal and fabric flapping in the wind disturb the eerie silence. “They should just bulldoze the whole thing and start over,” …

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The FBI has searched the Virginia home of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, U.S. media report, amid an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election. …

French police have shot and arrested a suspect following a highway chase after a car rammed into soldiers outside a barracks in a Paris suburb, injuring six. …

Supporters of ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his party thronged the streets of Islamabad to give him a rousing sendoff. (RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal) …

Hun Sen shopping. Hun Sen working out. Hun Sen, family guy. For the 65-year-old prime minister of Cambodia, a onetime Khmer Rouge commander, his recent about-face to show a warm and fuzzy side is a startling development. The man who now has 8.5 million Facebook followers oversaw Cambodia’s emergence from civil war and has dominated …

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The U.S. Marine Corps for the first time is eyeing a plan to let women attend what has been male-only combat training in Southern California, as officials work to quash recurring problems with sexism and other bad behavior among Marines, according to Marine Corps officials. If approved by senior Marine leaders, the change could happen …

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Lawyers defending Brazilian President Michel Temer against corruption allegations asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to remove the prosecutor general from the investigation, arguing he was no longer fit to lead it. In a filing to the top court, Temer’s lawyers said Brazil’s top federal prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot, who has charged the president with taking …

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North Korea said on August 9 that it is “carefully examining” plans to launch a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific island of Guam hours after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang that any threats would be met with “fire and fury.” …

The Taliban released 235 hostages from a remote village in northern Afghanistan where it allegedly massacred as many as 50 mostly Shi’ite civilians in a rare joint assault with Islamic State insurgents, officials said on August 8. …

Tajikistan on August 8 accused Iran of backing high-profile killings during the Central Asian nation’s civil war in the 1990s, including the assassination of the former chairman of the Tajik parliament Safarali Kenjaev in 1999. …