VOA News The lower house of Russian parliament, Duma, has unanimously approved a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin to suspend a deal with the United States on the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium. Earlier this month, Putin said there is an “emerging threat to strategic stability” as a result of Washington’s «unfriendly actions.» Putin said […]readmore
Carla Babb VOA News PENTAGON — More than 100 American troops are accompanying Iraqi and Kurdish peshmerga forces in their push to take back the city of Mosul from Islamic State forces. Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters Tuesday the Americans are assisting about 10,000 Kurds, 18,000 Iraqi Security Forces and another couple thousand […]readmore
After years of bitter legal wrangling, the Austrian government announced plans Monday to demolish the house where Adolf Hitler was born and replace it with a new building in efforts to erase any link to the Nazi dictator’s birthplace. Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said in an exclusive interview with Austrian newspaper Die Presse the Hitler […]readmore
Margaret Besheer VOA News UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations is bracing for what could be its biggest humanitarian challenge. As Iraqi and Kurdish forces move to liberate Iraq’s second-largest city from Islamic State fighters, the U.N. said Monday as many as 1 million civilians could try to flee the fighting. «Of the million, upward of […]readmore
Jeff Seldin PENTAGON — One day into the Iraqi-led operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State terror group, a hopeful Pentagon proclaimed the effort “ahead of schedule,” well aware the outcome could have a significant impact on U.S. strategy in the region. About 30,000 Iraqi troops and 4,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters began advancing on […]readmore
VOA News The prisoner who wrote Guantanamo Diary, a memoir recounting his daily life as a detainee in a controversial U.S. military prison, has been released from captivity after 14 years. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, 45, has gone home to his native Mauritania after spending more than a decade at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Mauritanian had […]readmore
Esha Sarai As Haiti continues to count its dead and assess damage following devastating Hurricane Matthew, doctors and public health officers warn the risk of cholera must urgently be addressed. Unprecedented flooding, particularly in the hard-hit southwestern peninsula, has contaminated already-scarce safe drinking water, drastically increasing the risk of a cholera outbreak. Once contracted, dehydration […]readmore
VOA News /AP HAMILTON, BERMUDA — Authorities in Bermuda closed schools and government offices Wednesday as the British territory prepared for a direct hit from Hurricane Nicole. The Category 2 storm was expected to strengthen a bit before striking the island Thursday morning. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Nicole was located about 270 […]readmore
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Endorses Aid-in-Dying Bills Worldwide (Cape Town, South Africa – Oct. 7, 2016) Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, 85, has recorded a video saying he wants the option of assisted dying “when the time comes … to pass” and endorsing bills worldwide to authorize this end-of-life option. The video with English language and […]readmore
Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts in securing the end of a five-decade conflict with Marxist rebels. «I’m so honored and so grateful…this is a very important event for my country, for the victims of this war and this is a commitment to keep trying […]readmore