Brian Padden VOA News SEOUL — U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday refuted the assessment made this week by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, in which he said that trying to persuade North Korea to denuclearize «is probably a lost cause.” “We will not accept North Korea as a nuclear […]readmore
Jeff Seldin VOA News Fears that the Islamic State is beginning to mass in its self-proclaimed Syrian capital of Raqqa and the possibility that the terror group may launch attacks from there are prompting the United States and its Western allies to put Raqqa in their crosshairs in the coming weeks. U.S. and Western officials […]readmore
An independent United Nations expert is bitterly condemning the world body for refusing to accept legal responsibility for a cholera outbreak in Haiti that has killed more than 9,300 and sickened 800,000. A U.N. expert on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, calls the U.N. stance a disgrace and a debacle. «If the United […]readmore
Heather Murdock QAYYARAH, IRAQ — Fleeing fighting, abandoning their villages, and returning to formerly IS controlled areas, Iraqis are on the move. Aid workers are setting up camps for the one million people who may be displaced by the battle for Mosul, while many recaptured villages and towns remain virtually empty, littered with bombs and blackened […]readmore
VOA News A 46-year-old Iranian-American says a court in northeastern Iran has sentenced him to 18 years in prison after convicting him of «collaborating with a hostile government.» Details of the trial and sentencing of Gholamrez Reza Shahini emerged Tuesday, after Shahini made contact with family members in the United States and after he managed […]readmore
VOA News Salem Solomon The demolition of the camp that came to symbolize Europe’s refugee crisis is underway in Calais, France. Commonly known as “the jungle,” the camp has been home to an estimated 6,500 people, according to the French government, including 1,200 unaccompanied and separated children. Some of those children are now being offered […]readmore
Carla Babb VOA News PENTAGON — The United Nations said Tuesday it has preliminary reports of extrajudicial killings and summary executions by Islamic State fighters around the northern city of Mosul, including the militants using civilians as human shields. U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva the reports have not been fully verified, […]readmore
Daniel Schearf VOA News MOSCOW — In Russia’s so-called «information war» with the West, the pro-Kremlin youth group SET (Network) is a foot soldier fighting primarily on the internet. At their roomy headquarters in an upscale office compound in Moscow, the group designs online videos criticizing the West and praising President Vladimir Putin – videos they […]readmore
VOA News An extremist attack targeting non-Muslims along Kenya’s northeast border with Somalia on Tuesday has killed 12 people, according to a Kenyan official. Militants belonging to the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab attacked the Bisharo Guest House, a lodging in Mandera County that hosts out-of-towners, with grenades and IEDs, Mandera County commander Job Boronjo said. […]readmore
Ayaz Gul VOA News ISLAMABAD — lslamic State has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that targeted a police training center in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 61 recruits and wounding more than 120 others. The assault began just before midnight in Quetta on Monday, with three assailants entering the hostel for recruits inside the complex […]readmore