Israel has announced a plan for a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron, which is holy to both Jews and Muslims and is a longtime flashpoint for violence. Palestinian officials condemned the move. Israel’s new defense minister Nafatali Bennet announced his approval for a new Jewish …
Three anti-government protesters were shot dead and at least 58 others were wounded in Baghdad and southern Iraq on Saturday, security and medical officials said, as Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi formally submitted his resignation to parliament. Lawmakers were expected to either vote or accept outright Abdul-Mahdi’s resignation letter in a …
Apple says it will reevaluate how it identifies “disputed borders” after receiving criticism for displaying Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia on maps and weather apps for Russian users. Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told Reuters on Friday that the U.S. technology giant was “taking a deeper look at …
Schools and universities have been shut in parts of Iran, including the capital, Tehran, because of high levels of pollution, state media reported Saturday. The decision was announced late Friday by Deputy Governor Mohammad Taghizadeh, after a meeting of an emergency committee for air pollution. “Due to increased air …
They left Vietnam carrying dreams of small fortunes and the heavy burden of family expectations. But they died in a box, and came home in coffins. For the 39 migrants who set off from one of the poorest parts of their Southeast Asian country in search of work in Britain, …
An approaching typhoon is threatening to complicate the hosting by the Philippines of the largest biennial games in Southeast Asia, already marred by logistical foul-ups that the president vowed to investigate. President Rodrigo Duterte is set to welcome Saturday the first few thousand athletes, coaches and sports officials from the …
Supporters cheered late Friday as once-powerful opposition leader and two-time Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori left the prison where she had been held while being investigated for alleged corruption. Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal approved her release. Smiling broadly, the daughter of jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori walked out of the women’s prison …
As he prepared to announce his candidacy for president on Sunday, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a page from an old political playbook. Appearing in a black church in the city’s Brooklyn borough last week, the multibillionaire media mogul apologized for long pushing a now-defunct policing tactic …
For medieval history buffs, the Czech town of Kutna Hora has two great attractions: St. Barbara’s Church, often called a cathedral because of its grandeur, and the Sedlec Ossuary, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints outside the town. St. Barbara’s is one of the best examples of Gothic architecture …
The Taliban said Friday they were ready to restart peace talks with the United States, a day after President Donald Trump made a surprise visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and said he believed the radical group would agree to a cease-fire. Trump’s Thanksgiving Day visit was his first to …
Dozens of French activists blocked an Amazon warehouse south of Paris in a Black Friday-inspired protest, amid increased opposition to the post-Thanksgiving sales phenomenon that has seen a group of French lawmakers push to ban it altogether. Protesters from climate group Amis de la terre (Friends of the Earth) spread …
When AIDS was first identified, more than 40 years ago, it was considered a death sentence. Since then, it has become a chronic but treatable disease. The yearly World AIDS Day observance is a way to make people realize AIDS is still with us and, despite advances, the epidemic isn’t …
Festive floats and giant balloons are on the move in New York City for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an annual, nationally-televised spectacle. Blustery weather had threatened to ground the balloons, a crowd favorite not permitted to fly in strong winds. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio drew cheers from …
Marko Kepi, an Albanian-American activist, is heading a fundraising campaign to aid victims of Wednesday’s earthquake. …
Albanian Defense Minister Olta Xhacka becomes emotional while reading names of victims of the strongest earthquake to hit Albania in more than three decades. …
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law congressional legislation backing protesters in Hong Kong despite angry objections from Beijing, with which he is seeking a deal to end a damaging trade war. The new legislation, approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate and by all but one lawmaker in …
U.S. prosecutors have arrested a Hawaii man they accuse of sending hundreds of unwanted service providers and others to a Utah home, including plumbers and prostitutes. Loren Okamura was arrested Friday in Hawaii following his indictment last month on charges of cyberstalking, interstate threats and transporting people for prostitution, court …
Pennsylvania enacted legislation Tuesday to give future victims of child sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits and to end time limits for police to file criminal charges. Gov. Tom Wolf signed new laws he said will help repair “faults in our justice system that prevent frightened, abused children from …
Donald Trump on Tuesday followed a White House Thanksgiving tradition by pardoning “Butter,” the turkey, and his alternate, “Bread.” The president also honored his own tradition of cracking jokes while granting clemency to the poultry. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story. …
Pope Francis on Tuesday closed his visit to Japan by telling students at a Catholic university of the need to work toward a “hope-filled future” that is more inclusive by addressing the disconnects in society. In his address at Sophia University, the pope said he sensed in Japan a desire …
The majority of Americans, including a growing share of moderate Republicans, are dissatisfied with U.S. government efforts to curb global warming, researchers said on Monday. In a survey by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based non-partisan think-tank, two-thirds of Americans said U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration was “doing too little” …
Russia faces a four-year ban from global sporting events, including next year’s Tokyo Olympics, because of a continued failure to cooperate with anti-doping investigators. The ban recommendation made Tuesday by the compliance panel of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), came after investigators found evidence of a further drug cover-up by …
Activists on Monday criticized as insufficient new French government efforts to fight one of Europe’s highest rates of so-called femicides, or the killing of women by their partners. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Monday announced millions of dollars in measures to protect women from spousal killings. They include beefing …
Got secrets? They’ll be safe in here. VOA Explains what a SCIF is. …
Kosovo prosecutors have filed terrorism charges against three women repatriated from Syria for allegedly joining terror groups there. Prosecutors said Monday that the three women had left Kosovo in 2013, 2014 and 2015 to join the Islamic State group in Syria and Al-Nusra in Iraq. Spouses of two …
In the parts of Beirut where protesters camp out, financial institutions remained shuttered this week, with cartoons of pigs with dollar-sign eyes spray-painted on the walls next to graffiti calling for revolution. In other parts of the city, the banks cautiously reopened, after being mostly closed for more than a …