Illinois, the largest Midwestern state in the U.S., is beginning 2020 with the implementation of a new law that allows people to legally buy marijuana for recreational use. The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act also also allows the governor to pardon thousands for past low-level cannabis convictions. VOA’s Mariama Diallo …
General Qassem Soleimani, the larger-than-life head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, had escaped death many times, but he couldn’t flee the U.S. drone-launched missile that struck his convoy shortly after he arrived in Baghdad from Lebanon. The repercussions from the targeted strike on a road adjacent to Baghdad International Airport …
Beth Jensen suffered a stroke when she was just eight years old, and though she survived, she was almost completely paralyzed and unable to talk as a result. Yet, Jensen has refused to let her condition stop her from living a life filled with activities, art and love. Iryna Matviichuk …
Newly passed legislation will push the U.S. State Department to disclose how it polices the sale of cyber tools and services abroad. The move followed a Reuters investigation which revealed that American intelligence contractors clandestinely assisted a foreign spying operation in the United Arab Emirates, helping the monarchy to crack down …
A motion sanctioning the deployment of armed forces to Libya easily passed the Turkish Parliament on Thursday, but the specter of Turkish forces entering the Libyan civil war is triggering alarm and condemnation. Passing with a 325-184 vote, the motion gives Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a one-year mandate to …
As former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein goes to trial on rape charges next week in Manhattan, lawyers will need to keep an eye out for jurors who want to use the case to make a statement about sexual abuse following the rise of the #MeToo movement, legal experts said. Once …
A factory caught fire and collapsed in the Indian capital Thursday, causing injuries to several people, including some fire officials. A fire official said three people were rescued from the debris of the building in Peera Garhi area in western New Delhi. Thirty-five fire engines were at the site, and …
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook northeastern Iran Thursday, state television reported, adding that there were no immediate reports of damage. The quake hit the town of Sangan at a shallow depth of 8 km (5 miles) it said. The town, which has a population of about 10,000, is located near …
Former commissioner of the National Basketball Association David Stern, who oversaw the NBA turning from a struggling U.S. league into a global powerhouse, died in New York Wednesday. He was 77. The NBA said Stern had been seriously ill since emergency surgery for a brain hemorrhage in early December. Stern …
Pope Francis wished for peace in the world at the start of the New Year. Thousands of people packed Saint Peter’s Square to hear his word on World Peace Day. The pope also used strong words during a morning mass in the Vatican Basilica to decry violence against women and …
Taiwan parliament’s passage of a bill Tuesday banning infiltration by political rival China dealt a new blow to relations that have already sparked military threats and diplomatic tug-of-wars in the past four years. Legislators gave final approval to a bill that allows sentences of five years in prison or a …
The leader of France’s hardline CGT union on Wednesday urged all workers to join pension strikes that have crippled public transport over the past month, as a showdown with President Emmanuel Macron enters a second month. In his New Year’s address Tuesday Macron vowed not to back down on his …
The Arab League called Tuesday for efforts to “prevent foreign interference” in Libya in the wake of military and maritime agreements signed by Turkey with the U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli. Permanent representatives of the pan-Arab organization, in a meeting at its Cairo headquarters requested by Egypt, passed a resolution “stressing …
Plugged In with Greta Van Susteren looks back on the biggest stories of 2019 and examines how that will shape 2020. Joining Greta: Michael; O’Hanlon from the Brookings Institution, VOA White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara and Plugged In’s Mil Arcega. Air Date: January 1, 2020. …
A Slovak court handed a 15-year prison sentence to a man charged with facilitating the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak in 2018 in a plea deal on Monday, a spokeswoman said. The killing of Kuciak and his fiancee, both 27, at their home outside Bratislava in February 2018 sparked …
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leaves this week for Ukraine — the country at the center of President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Pompeo will be in Kyiv on Friday, the first stop of a five-nation European and Central Asian tour that will also take him to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and …
Erik Prince, a major Republican donor and founder of controversial security firm Blackwater, has been referred to the U.S. Treasury Department for possible sanctions violations tied to his recent trip to Venezuela for a meeting with a top aide of President Nicolas Maduro, two senior U.S. officials said. There’s no …
New York City’s counterterrorism czar expects Times Square to be “the safest place on the planet Earth” on New Year’s Eve. Thousands of police officers will be on duty for Tuesday night’s festivities, along with specialized units armed with long guns, bomb-sniffing dogs and other measures. For the first time, …
Amid sudden changes in the upper echelons of Algeria’s government, the new President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is looking to establish stability and put his stamp on the country’s future. On Saturday, Tebboune appointed Abdelaziz Djerad as the country’s prime minister, according to state-owned Algeria Press Service. Previous prime minister, Noureddine Bedoui, …
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday said airstrikes against a pro-Iran militant group in Iraq and Syria succeeded, and he did not rule out additional action “as necessary.” “The strikes were successful. The pilots and aircraft returned back to base safely,” Esper told reporters after F-15 jet fighters hit …
Democratic congressman John Lewis, an icon in the fight for civil rights, announced Sunday he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. “I have been in some kind of fight — for freedom, equality, basic human rights — for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the …
Greece wants to be included in U.N.-sponsored talks in January on the Libya conflict, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Sunday, as tensions escalate with neighbors Turkey over the issue. Libya has become another diplomatic front for Greece and Turkey as the traditional rivals jostle over Mediterranean maritime rights and the …
Halting production from Iraq’s southern Nassiriya oilfield on Saturday by protesters will not affect the country’s exports and production operations, the oil ministry said on Sunday. Iraq will use additional output from southern oilfields in Basra to make up for the missing shipments from Nassiriya field and the closure of …
Hate crime in America’s five largest cities rose sharply in 2019, with New York, Los Angeles and Chicago all setting highs not seen since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a new report from California State University. The Jewish community was the most frequent target of hate …
Health authorities say about two dozen people, mostly laborers, were killed Saturday when a minibus collided with a truck on a highway in Port Said in northern Egypt. Officials said in a statement that the minibus, a vehicle widely used in Egypt as communal taxis, was bringing the laborers from …
A U.S. astronaut set a record Saturday for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, breaking the old mark of 288 days with about two months left in her mission. Christina Koch, a 40-year-old electrical engineer from Livingston, Montana, arrived at the International Space Station on March 14. She broke …