About 97% of internet users in Taiwan use Facebook. The island also has Asia’s second highest smartphone penetration after South Korea. Given these statistics, the first announced by Facebook in 2018 and the other by a market research firm, it made sense that a lot of campaigning for tomorrow’s presidential …
U.S. President Donald Trump sent a happy birthday message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korea’s national security adviser Chung Eui-Yong said Friday. Chung, who met Trump in Washington this week, told reporters that he was given a message to pass to North Korea and it was delivered …
President Donald Trump wrongly dismissed the continuing threat of the Islamic State group and spread a false tale of the U.S. paying out billions of dollars to Iran as part of the multinational deal freezing its nuclear program in an address Wednesday that fell short on facts. Full Text of …
French rail workers, teachers, doctors, lawyers and others joined the fourth nationwide day of protests and strikes on Thursday to denounce President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to overhaul the pension system. As the government and unions pushed on with crucial negotiations about the changes, street protests were staged in Paris and …
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has netted an endorsement from Rep. Anthony Brown of Maryland, the first black member of Congress to throw his support to the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. The endorsement is significant for Buttigieg, who has been criticized within the party for his scant support …
Outgoing Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said Wednesday that his government had not agreed to receive Mexicans who sought asylum in the U.S. Morales, whose presidency ends next week, said he had told U.S. officials that the issue would have to be negotiated with his successor. “It’s more than clear, in the agreement …
Investors are closely watching the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran. Oil prices have fluctuated since the targeted killing of Iranian General Qassem Suleimani, but overall are holding steady. VOA’s Ardita Dunellari spoke with market analysts to understand what investors are thinking. …
Leaders in the autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq said Wednesday that they were worried that any further escalation between the United States and Iran on Iraqi soil could throw the already unstable nation into a more volatile situation. They also said they didn’t want their relatively safer region to be …
The escalating U.S.-Iran conflict is complicating South Korea’s possible participation in a U.S.-led maritime coalition to protect international shipping in and near the Strait of Hormuz. There are increasing calls in South Korea for the government to reject, or at least rethink, U.S. requests to join the force, amid fears …
For decades, U.S. universities have attracted large numbers of foreign students, who add brainpower to American classrooms while adding billions to the U.S. economy. But international students seem less enthusiastic about the United States of late. VOA’s Kathleen Struck and Bronwyn Benito take a look at the factors prompting a …
As Iran Tuesday launched missiles at U.S. troops in Iraq in an apparent retaliation for U.S. killing of its top commander, Middle East experts warn that the region could be heading towards a new wave of violence marked by a looming breakout of violence from Iran and its proxies against …
France has warned it will retaliate with the full backing of the European Union if the United States imposes tariffs on up to $2.4 billion worth of French products, including Champagne, Roquefort cheese, handbags, and lipstick. The U.S. is considering 100% tariffs on some French goods in response to France’s …
A strong earthquake struck Puerto Rico early Tuesday morning, the latest in a series of quakes to hit the U.S. territory in recent days. The 6.4-magnitude quake was located near the southern coastal city of Ponce, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, revising its initial reading of 6.6-magnitude. The Pacific …
Authorities in Japan have issued an arrest warrant for the wife of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, who fled the country last week while awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct. Prosecutors have accused Carole Ghosn of providing false testimony in a Tokyo court last year in her husband’s case. …
Former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said Monday he would testify at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial if the Senate subpoenas him, potentially giving Democrats key behind-the-scenes testimony about Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to launch investigations to benefit himself politically. Bolton, a tough advocate for U.S. power across …
The wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was granted bail by Zimbabwe’s High Court on Monday after spending three weeks in detention for allegedly trying to kill her husband. Prosecutors say Marry Mubaiwa, who denies all charges, tried to unplug Chiwenga’s life support tubes in a South African hospital in …
A 5.8-magnitude quake hit Puerto Rico before dawn Monday, unleashing small landslides, causing power outages and severely cracking some homes. It was one of the strongest quakes yet to hit the U.S. territory that has been shaking for the past week. There were no immediate reports of casualties. …
The Golden Globes are famously unpredictable, but a few sure things seem to be in store for Sunday’s awards: Streaming services will play a starring role; five-time host Ricky Gervais will snicker at his own jokes; and Brad Pitt is all but assured of taking home an award. Plenty of …
The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said the U.S. military in the Middle East “will pay the price” in response to the death of a powerful Iranian commander in a U.S. strike. During a televised speech on Sunday marking the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and several Iranian-backed …
Thousands of people rallied Sunday in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi and clashed with police while trying to force their way toward the tightly guarded American consulate to denounce the killing of Iranian commander Qasim Soleimani. An American airstrike on Friday eliminated Soleimani in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, dangerously …
The body of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike, arrived Sunday in Iran to throngs of mourners, as President Donald Trump threatened to bomb 52 sites in the Islamic Republic if Tehran retaliates by attacking Americans Soleimani’s death Friday in Iraq further heightens tensions between …
Austria’s Foreign Ministry is facing a “serious cyberattack,” it said late Saturday, warning another country could be responsible. “Due to the gravity and nature of the attack, it cannot be excluded that it is a targeted attack by a state actor,” the ministry said in a statement shortly before …
The death toll has risen to at least 24 and 23 more people are listed as injured in the collapse of a building in Cambodia that trapped workers under rubble, officials said Sunday. The seven-story concrete building collapsed Friday in the coastal town of Kep, about 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Phnom Penh. It occurred a year …
Wildfires are burning out of control in southeastern Australia. Thousands of people have already fled their homes but some have waited too long. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service has advised those who have not evacuated areas at risk that, “It is too late to leave. Seek shelter as …
Africa could emerge as a venue for confrontation between the U.S. and Iran as Tehran threatens to retaliate after the U.S. airstrike that killed the Iranian Quds Force commander, General Qassem Soleimani. Iran has sought to increase its influence in certain countries in Africa in recent years through activities such …
The U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian commander at Baghdad’s airport in Iraq has created an earthquake that will have “reverberations around the globe,” according to Jason Brodsky, policy director of the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran. “Qassem Soleimani was not just a symbol. He also had substantive …