VOA News The top suspect linked to the November 13 terror attacks in France has been arrested in Belgium, a Belgian minister said Salah Abdeslam was arrested by Belgian police during a raid Friday in the Molenbeek area of Brussels. Belgian immigration minister Theo Francken confirmed the arrest in a tweet that said «We got […]readmore
VOA News Russia’s defense ministry said more of its planes left Syria Wednesday, continuing its withdrawal as the U.N. held more indirect peace talks with Syria’s warring sides in Geneva. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry plans to travel to Moscow next week for talks with Russian Vladimir Putin about the drawdown and the new […]readmore
VOA News Turkish security officials said Monday that a woman who was a Kurdish militant was one of the two suspected suicide bombers who carried out the deadly blast in Ankara that killed at least 37 people and injured another 125. The authorities did not name the woman, but said she was born in 1992, lived […]readmore
NORTHERN IRAQ—An American member of Islamic State has surrendered to Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, near the town of Sinjar. Sarbaz Hama Amin, a Kurdish Peshmerga commander in Iraq, told VOA his forces noticed the suspect while on patrol Monday. “Our Peshmergas who were patrolling the frontline said they saw something unusual and started […]readmore
VOA News Thousands of migrants trying to reach northern Europe are now stranded in Greece after Macedonia closed its border Wednesday, police officials said. The decision comes a day after Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia closed their borders to transiting migrants, with exceptions being made only for asylum-seekers. It effectively closes the so-called «Balkan route» taken […]readmore
VOA News Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on Russia to free a Ukrainian military helicopter pilot who is accused of killing two Russian journalists in a mortar attack. Poroshenko posted video on social media Wednesday, calling the trial of Nadiya Savchenko, who has been refusing food and water since last week, a «farce» conducted […]readmore
Lisa Bryant PARIS—European Union leaders said Tuesday they have reached a possible deal with Ankara to return thousands of migrants to Turkey, and that they are confident a full agreement can be reached at a summit next week.After months of disagreements and increased bickering among the 28 EU nations, the leaders said they agreed to […]readmore
Zaza Tsuladze TBILISI, GEORGIA—When he left his village in Georgia, Beslan Mukhtarov seemed destined to be a doctor. He arrived in Turkey, and was admitted to a prestigious medical school in Istanbul. But Mukhtarov’s life took a radical turn. According to Turkish security officials, Mukhtarov crossed into Syria last November and joined Jabhat al-Nusra, the […]readmore
Dorian Jones ISTANBUL—The leader of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party has accused the European Union of ignoring the deteriorating human rights situation in the country in a bid to secure a migrant deal with Ankara. As the EU looks for cooperation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stem the growing number of migrants entering Greece […]readmore
Reuters PADANG/JAKARTA, INDONESIA—All 22 of the early-warning buoys Indonesia that were deployed after the 2004tsunami disaster were inoperable when a massive undersea earthquake struck off the country’s coast on Wednesday, a national disaster mitigation agency official said. The 7.8 magnitude quake did not trigger a tsunami, and there were no deaths and no major damage, but it did expose […]readmore