MOSCOW — United Russia, the ruling political party best known for its loyalty to President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, has essentially become a tool of political legitimization for organized crime, according to an opposition party report published Tuesday titled «The Criminal Russia Party.» «I think that the title of the report quite accurately reflects its […]readmore
VOA News Reports from Syria say the Islamic State group’s second-ranking leader, who served as the extremist group’s chief propagandist and also was linked to recruiting activities and attacks in Europe, has been killed in Aleppo province. Islamic State announced Abu Muhammad al-Adnani’s death Tuesday, saying only that he was killed «while surveying the operations […]readmore
U.S. officials suspect Russian hackers were responsible for breaking into two state election databases earlier this month. «This is the closest we’ve come to tying a recent hack to the Russian government,» one official told NBC News on Monday. The FBI has not identified the two U.S. states whose data bases were attacked, but Yahoo […]readmore
GENEVA — U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein is calling on all French seaside towns to rescind «discriminatory bans» on the burkini and other forms of dress worn by Muslim women. In weighing in on this controversial issue, the U.N.’s top human rights official, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, did not disguise his disdain for […]readmore
Luis Ramirez VOA News ST. ETIENNE DU ROUVRAY, FRANCE —France’s controversy over the full-body swimsuit known as the burkini has exposed the country’s battle between its secularist society and its Muslim minority — at 7.5 percent of the population, the largest in Europe. Those tensions, some subtle and some not, have grown in the wake […]readmore
The polls are chosen with the professional advice of Dr. Frank Newport, Editor in Chief of Gallup. They are selected based on: The reliable frequency of polling and sample size used by the polling organization The soundness of the survey methodology employed by the polling organization The longevity and reputation of the polling organization The […]readmore
PROVIDENCE, RI – In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Senator Jack Reed today joined members of the NPS’s Junior Ranger program in presenting the NPS with a birthday cake at Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence. Senator Reed was accompanied by several children who were participating in the […]readmore
VOA News The United States says it still hopes to complete a massive trade pact with the European Union by the end of 2016, even after French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday that negotiations had stalled. The White House said President Barack Obama was sending his top trade official, Michael Froman, to Europe in September […]readmore
The head of the U.S. Central Command scolded Iran Tuesday for «provocative» naval actions in the Persian Gulf, following recent close encounters between U.S. warships and Iranian gunboats. General Joseph Votel spoke just days after the coastal patrol ship USS Squall was forced to fire warning shots to ward off an Iranian gunboat that was […]readmore
Smita Nordwall VOA News U.S. President Barack Obama cut short the sentences of 111 federal inmates Tuesday, in another round of commutations for those convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. The early release is part of Obama’s effort to correct what he views as unreasonably long mandatory minimum sentences. His push to lessen the burden on […]readmore