Kurdish-led Syrian forces, backed by U.S. air power and military advisers, captured a number of Islamic State positions amid heavy fighting Monday north of the IS stronghold of Raqqa. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says there has been «no real progress» so far in the offensive. Islamic State has used as many as […]readmore
GOGJALI, MOSUL, IRAQ — «They use bullets in the school classrooms,» joked Ratima Ahmed. «One bullet plus one bullet equals two bullets.» Just hours before, she had fled her home in eastern Mosul, where the Iraqi Army now battles Islamic State militants. She sat in the dust with other women and children on the city’s outskirts, […]readmore
VOA News Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega appeared to have a clear path to a third consecutive term — this time accompanied by his wife as vice president — in Sunday’s presidential vote. Opinion polls said the former guerrilla fighter was likely to receive more than 50 percent of the votes and avoid a runoff in […]readmore
Henry Ridgwell A new law in Ukraine forcing senior officials to declare their wealth has revealed the scale of riches held by those in power. Members of the Cabinet alone hold $7 million in cash. Other lawmakers declared luxury cars, expensive watches and artwork. Analysts say the revelations show how far Ukraine still has to […]readmore
Svetlana Cunningham President Vladimir Putin has urged Russia’s parliament to develop and implement federal legislation on «the Russian nation» to clarify and further regulate ethnic relations in the country. While the proposal has not been fleshed out, it is receiving mixed reviews. «What we really absolutely can and must work on — what we should […]readmore
Lisa Bryant PARIS — France on Wednesday began busing an estimated 1,500 unaccompanied migrant youngsters from Calais to other parts of France, after days of bickering with Britain over who should take charge of them. The first busload of children left Calais, where a tent camp for migrants had been dismantled, for the southern town of […]readmore
VOA News The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that it would observe a ‘humanitarian pause’ on Friday to allow both rebels and civilians to leave the embattled city. «A decision was made to introduce a ‘humanitarian pause’ in Aleppo on November 4 from 9:00 to 19:00,» the chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov said […]readmore
Heather Murdock VOA News BARTELLA, IRAQ — Soldiers say the Iraqi army is closing in on Mosul, fighting less than a kilometer from the city limits as it battles Islamic State militants in Iraq.But in cities and villages outside the front lines, some locals say they fear as long as militants control the provincial capital nowhere […]readmore
Venezuela’s political standoff deepened Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in several cities and opposition leaders called for a general strike later this week. At one of the demonstrations in Venezuelan capital Caracas, Jesus Torrealba, secretary general of the opposition party, announced the 12-hour strike for Friday as another attempt […]readmore
A medida que aumenten las bajas en Irak y Siria, el grupo Estado islámico se verá obligado a concentrarse en mantener la capital del autodenominado califato. El temor de que el grupo Estado islámico esté comenzando a concentrarse en su autodenominada capital de Raqqa, en territorio sirio, y que pueda lanzar ataques desde allí, ha […]readmore