Year: 2019

A former Buddhist monk has died in eastern Tibet after setting himself on fire this week to protest China’s repressive rule, a spokesperson for the monastery told VOA Tibetan Service. Yonten, a 24-year-old former monk at Kirti Monastery in Amdo Ngaba, in the western China…

A Russian-backed bank payment card, introduced after Western sanctions upended Russia's financial system five years ago and prompted Visa and Mastercard to deny electronic services to some of the country's leading banks, is set for its European debut on London Wednesday, when a pilot project…

China summoned the U.S. ambassador in Beijing Thursday to "strongly protest" President Donald Trump's signing of bills on Hong Kong's human rights. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told Ambassador Terry Branstad the move constituted "serious interference in China's internal affairs" and described the action…

Iran on Thursday condemned the burning of its consulate in southern Iraq hours earlier, which came amid an escalation in Iraq's anti-government protests that erupted nearly two months ago.                     Violence across southern Iraq had continued throughout the night, with security forces killing 16…

A TikTok post by a young woman, pretending to give eyelash curling advice while actually condemning China's crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang, has gone viral on the Chinese-owned app that has been accused of censoring anti-Beijing content. The clip by US teen Feroza Aziz, who…

The enemy next door. Plugged In takes you to the Iraqi town of Shoura, once controlled by the Islamic State. Now, Shoura's residents are trying live side-by-side with the wives and children of the ISIS fighters who terrorized the town. VOA Middle East Correspondent Heather Murdock brings us the story…

At least three workers were injured in an early morning explosion on Wednesday that sparked a blaze at a Texas petrochemical plant, the latest in a series of chemical plant accidents in the region. An initial explosion at a TPC Group complex in Port Neches,…

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has agreed to expand its anti-bias training and expressly forbid anti-Semitism in campus policies as part of an agreement with the U.S. Education Department following complaints about a March conference featuring a rapper accused of anti-Jewish bias.…

Many new refugees in America experience culture shock when they first arrive in the United States.  Many have to deal with a new language, culture, and even holidays. But settled refugees can play a big role in helping new arrivals adapt to life in the…

Critics say the widespread African tradition of giving cash and gifts to a bride's family before marriage, known as a "bride price," degrades women by putting a required, monetary value on a wife. In Nigeria, the financial pressure in a recent case ended in suicide,…

Israel's attorney general Avichai Mandelblit says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can stay on as head of government even after he was indicted last week for alleged corruption. Although Cabinet ministers are required to step down after an indictment, the laws about a prime minister are…

Turkish riot police used force to break up a march by thousands of women calling for what they call an "end to impunity" for men guilty of violence against women. Police stopped more than 2,000 from marching up Istikal Street in Istanbul’s main shopping district.…

A Lebanese-born business tycoon says he is donating Hitler's top hat and other Nazi memorabilia he won at an auction to an Israeli Jewish group to keep the stuff out of the hands of neo-Nazis. Abdallah Chatila, who made his fortune in diamonds and Swiss…

Feature films on slavery have been part of Hollywood since the beginning of the film industry in United States. However, only recently, movies on slavery have been told from the perspective of the slaves, and now, with the film "Harriet" from the perspective of a…

When politicians try to win votes by blaming foreigners for stealing jobs, economists say they ignore technology, which is what is really replacing many of these jobs. However the issue remains that many workers and small businesses do not benefit from foreign trade as much…

Hong Kong pro-democracy forces won a landslide victory in local elections Sunday. Though primarily symbolic, the vote represents a stunning rebuke to Beijing, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Hong Kong. ...

Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the Congressional committee investigating President Donald Trump, refused to answer questions Sunday as to whether he met with a former Ukrainian official to gather information on the son of former vice president Joe Biden. A lawyer representing Lev Parnas,…

Machine gun fire answers rock-throwing protesters. Motorcycle-riding Revolutionary Guard volunteers chase after demonstrators. Plainclothes security forces grab, beat and drag a man off the street to an uncertain fate. As Iran restores the internet after a weeklong government-imposed shutdown, new videos purport to show the…

More than three dozen people are reported dead in a series of security-related incidents in Afghanistan, including a fatal attack on a U.N. vehicle in the capital, Kabul. Several of the dead were civilians. Afghan officials said Sunday that Taliban rebels assaulted a security outpost…

Iraqi security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters Saturday, killing two people in a third day of fierce clashes in central Baghdad, security and hospital officials said.    Two protesters were struck with rubber bullets and died instantly and…

Hong Kongers are voting Sunday in a local election widely seen as a de facto referendum on pro-democracy protests that have recently taken a more aggressive turn.  The territory is on edge following days of intense clashes between police and groups of mostly student protesters,…

President Donald Trump's new national security adviser is criticizing what he says is silence from the rest of the world about China's confinement of more than 1 million Muslims in re-education camps, linking the lack of a global outcry to China's economic clout.    National…

A Hong Kong university campus under siege for more than a week was a deserted wasteland Saturday, with a handful of protesters holed up in hidden refuges across the trashed grounds, as the city’s focus turned to local elections. The siege neared its end as…

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland has been a key witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Sondland was appointed to his post after donating $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee. The practice of awarding ambassador positions to wealthy political supporters…

In late December, it will be one year since Moscow detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan on espionage charges. During his 11 months in the infamous Lefortovo prison, Whelan has denied the allegations and complained of systematic mistreatment. His family in the U.S. is working to…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's indictment is expected to sharpen the battle lines in Israel's already deadlocked political system and could test the loyalty of his right-wing allies, Israeli commentators said Friday.                     The serious corruption charges announced Thursday appear to have dashed already slim…

Tens of thousands of people in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore are at risk of respiratory disease because of poor air quality related to thick smog hanging over the region, an international rights group said Friday.                     Amnesty International called for “urgent action” for…

Pope Francis Friday called on bishops in Thailand to keep their doors open for priests and to spread the faith as their missionary predecessors did. "Be close to your priests, listen to them and seek to accompany them in every situation, especially when you see…