Year: 2019

Iran announced Monday that it has exceeded its low-enriched uranium stockpile limit, violating the amount it agreed to hold in the 2015 international deal. The move is aimed at forcing the signatories of the nuclear deal to give Iran relief from U.S. sanctions. VOA's Kurdish…

The U.S. military says it has struck an al-Qaida leadership and training facility in northern Syria where attacks threatening Americans and others were being planned. The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the strike occurred on Sunday near the northern province of Aleppo.…

India spends billions of dollars on social welfare support for the poor but corruption, fraud and inefficiencies often prevent the benefits from reaching them. But now, the government is starting to transform the way it gets welfare to the poor by linking welfare programs to…

A powerful car bomb-and-gun attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul is reported to have killed and wounded dozens of people. Officials said the ensuing clashes between the assailants and Afghan security forces were raging six hours into the siege. The Taliban claimed responsibility for…

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took his global message urging immediate climate action to officials gathered in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, where production of hydrocarbons remains a key driver of the economy.   Guterres is calling on governments to stop building new coal plants…

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across Sudan on Sunday against the ruling generals, calling for a civilian government nearly three months after the army forced out the long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir. The mass protests, centered in the capital, Khartoum, were the first since a…

Sometimes, modern problems require ancient solutions.     A 1,400-year-old Peruvian water-diverting method could supply up to 40,000 Olympic-size swimming pools' worth of water to present-day Lima each year, according to new research published in Nature Sustainability.   It's one example of how indigenous methods could…

Rest assured, British fans: Most baseball games are not like the one played Saturday in London, not even the crazy ones between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.   Each team scored six runs in a first inning that lasted nearly an hour, with…

Tens of thousands of people turned out for gay pride celebrations around the world on Saturday, including a boisterous party in Mexico and the first pride march in North Macedonia's capital.    Rainbow flags and umbrellas swayed and music pounded as the march along Mexico City's Paseo…

Thousands marched through Madrid on Saturday to ask the Spanish capital's new mayor not to ditch ambitious traffic restrictions in the center only recently set up to improve air quality.    "Madrid Central," as it is called, was one of the measures that persuaded the…

Mexico and the United States are scrambling to address rising numbers of immigrants arriving at their shared border. Mexican border guards are stepping up raids against immigrants traveling north. In the United States, an uproar over the treatment of children in U.S. detention facilities led…

A group of New York bikers has set out to save the environment by starting a bike-powered composting service. They collect food waste from restaurants and households for composting, and then use that compost as fertilizer to grow vegetables. In a city with a population…

The desktop personal computer changed the world when it was introduced back in the 1970s. But lately laptops and phones have slowly eaten away at that market. But the creators of a new PC that costs less than a trip to the grocery store are…

The U.N. migration agency says migrant children have died or gone missing at the rate of nearly one per day worldwide over the past five years, with treacherous journeys like those across the Mediterranean or the U.S.-Mexico border continuing to take lives. In its latest…

Hardly anyone in Congress opposes improving the horrific conditions awaiting many migrants caught spilling across the southwest border. Yet for Democrats, distrust of President Donald Trump runs so deep that a uniformly popular humanitarian aid bill prompted the party's deepest and most bitter divisions since…

R. Kelly's lawyers want a Chicago judge to toss a 2019 lawsuit alleging the singer sexually abused a minor a little over 20 years ago. The Chicago Sun-Times reports their motion to dismiss was filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court.   The lawsuit says…

Separatists in Cameroon's restive English-speaking regions have freed a prominent Catholic archbishop they kidnapped Tuesday.  Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua says he was abducted by separatist fighters in a locality called Njinikejem while on a trip to preach peace in regions where a separatist war has…

Kenyan activists are celebrating after a Chinese-backed plan to build East Africa’s first coal-fired power plant near the World Heritage site island town of Lamu has again been halted.  Ruud Elmendorp reports from Lamu on the continuing controversy.  ...

Another 10 Democratic U.S. presidential contenders will debate Thursday night, including a larger number of leading candidates, following a spirited Wednesday night debate in the first major event of the 2020 election campaign. Thursday's participants include former Vice President Joe Biden and other top-tier possible…

Kenya’s only ice hockey team is still trying to earn a bid for the 2022 winter Olympics, being held in Beijing. In a two-day friendly event held in Nairobi last weekend, the team qualified for the finals but fell to team USA in a nail…

A father and daughter from El Salvador were found dead Monday after they tried to cross the Rio Grande River from Mexico into the United States. A photo of their bodies published first by the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, has become widely circulated by news…

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday reversed a move to loosen gun control laws by presidential decree, in a strategic retreat after lawmakers pushed back on one of the far-right leader's key campaign promises. In May, Bolsonaro signed decrees easing restrictions on importing and carrying…

A Kenyan ice hockey team, the only one in East Africa, has hosted an exhibition tournament with teams made up by foreign diplomats.  The Kenya Ice Lions hope to bring more attention to the sport and its bid to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics. …

Just a month after a state visit to Japan, U.S. President Donald Trump this week heads to the East Asian country again.   In Osaka, Trump will attend the Group of 20 leaders’ summit, during which he is scheduled to meet one-on-one on the sidelines…

The United States is convening an economic workshop in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain Tuesday aimed at jumpstarting the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. America’s Middle East allies are attending but the key players are not there.    The “Peace to Prosperity”…

Britain appears to be moving closer to U.S. President Donald Trump’s position on Iran and hardening its attitude towards Tehran — the result, diplomats say, partly of talks during the American leader’s recent visit to London, but also because of aggressive Iranian actions. U.S. officials…

U.S. President Donald Trump says the letter he sent North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was a “very friendly” response to a letter he received from Kim earlier this month wishing him a happy birthday. Trump told reporters at the White House Monday that Kim…

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed what he described as "hard-hitting" new financial sanctions on Iran on Monday, specifically targeting the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump signed an executive order he said would curb access that Khamenei and the country have to world financial…