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A heavy downpour and strong winds pounded Tokyo and surrounding areas Saturday as a powerful typhoon forecast as the worst in six decades approached landfall, with streets and train stations deserted and shops shuttered. Store shelves were bare after people stocked up on water and…

Edwin Bernard, 73, is no stranger to flames that have frequently menaced his sunburned corner of Los Angeles, but they never arrived as quickly or came as close to his home before. Fire swept down the hill across the street and spit embers over his…

The climate action movement known as "Fridays for Future" has spread to Nigeria, where it is being led by a 16-year-old school girl, Faithwins Iwuh.  The movement started by a Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg, now has millions of school children worldwide, who are demanding immediate…

Editor’s note: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was named Friday as this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. In late May, he gave his first interview to a Western news organization when he spoke to the Voice of America’s Horn of Africa service reporter…

Labor rights advocates are warning that an Oct. 1 U.S. ban on imports from a Malaysian rubber glove maker over evidence of forced labor won't be the country's last if employers fail to act quickly to mend conditions for long-suffering migrant workers. Washington announced the…

Sudan's ruling council has appointed the country's first woman chief justice. The appointment is seen as another step forward for female representation in the new transitional government.  The Sovereign Council has officially confirmed the pick of Neemat Abdullah as chief justice of the country's judiciary,…

The Swedish Academy's decision to bestow the 2018 Nobel Prize in literature on Polish author Olga Tokarczuk has given a rare morale boost to liberal Poles only three days before a national election that is likely to be won by the country's right-wing populist party.…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied that his American counterpart, Donald Trump, tried to blackmail him. Claims that Trump requested a corruption investigation into Hunter Biden, son of Democrat Joe Biden – in return for military aid - are the subject of an impeachment inquiry…

A woman who worked at NBC News claimed that Matt Lauer raped her at a hotel while on assignment for the Sochi Olympics, an encounter the former "Today" show host claimed was consensual. The claim outlined by Brooke Nevils in Ronan Farrow's book, "Catch and…

The United States has taken custody of two Islamic State prisoners accused of taking part in beheading American journalists in 2014, The Washington Post reports. The two men were taken from a Kurdish-run prison in northern Syria, where Kurdish forces can no longer guarantee they…

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Wednesday announced a cabinet reshuffle, declared three days of national mourning and said those who shot protesters would be punished as he sought to quell anti-government unrest that has roiled Iraq for days. Authorities fear that violence, which…

A U.S. Secret Service dog that prevented a potential attack on President Barack Obama in the White House in 2014 has been given the rare honor of an Order of Merit from a British charity, the first foreign animal to receive the award. Hurricane, a…

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has condemned deadly violence during protests in Iraq and called on the country's government to "exercise maximum restraint," the State Department said Tuesday. In a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, Pompeo "condemned the recent violence in…

A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday awarded $8 billion in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and one if its subsidiaries over a drug the companies made that the plaintiff's attorneys say is linked to the abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys. Johnson and…

Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders defended President Donald Trump's use of Twitter to get his message out and said Tuesday that the U.S. hopes that unrest in Hong Kong can be handled “both internally and peacefully.” Speaking at a forum in Taiwan, Sanders…

The White House announced Sunday that U.S. troops will pull out of northern Syria as Turkey moves forward with a military offensive. The decision has led to condemnations from Congress, clarification from the Pentagon and fear from local allies. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports.…

The Sengwer, an indigenous hunter-gatherer community in western Kenya, presented a petition Monday morning to the government in Nairobi demanding the return and protection of what they call their ancestral lands. The community says it faces threats of eviction as Kenya's government takes over conservation…

Steve Herman contributed to this report. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have issued subpoenas to the Pentagon and White House budget office as part of their impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, requesting documents relating to Trump's decision to withhold military aid to…

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees is calling for urgent action to resolve the global forced displacement crisis as increasing numbers of people flee conflict, natural disasters and grinding poverty. Filippo Grandi was speaking at the opening of UNHCR’s annual weeklong refugee conference. Forced displacement…

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees is calling for urgent action to resolve the global forced displacement crisis as increasing numbers of people flee conflict, natural disasters and grinding poverty. In recent years, nearly 71 million people have been uprooted from their homes. More than…

French and German attempts to end the conflict in east Ukraine risk increasing tensions that were already rising in the European Union over how to handle Russia and which could complicate peace efforts. Progress at talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys have raised hopes of…

Britain's Boris Johnson urged French President Emanuel Macron on Sunday to "push forward" to secure a Brexit deal and told him  the EU should not be lured into the mistaken belief that the U.K. would stay in the EU after Oct.31, the prime minister's office…

Rip Taylor, the madcap mustached comedian with a fondness for confetti-throwing who became a television game show mainstay in the 1970s, has died. He was 84. Taylor died Sunday in Beverly Hills, California, publicist Harlan Boll said. The man who would become known worldwide as…

A homeless man wielding a long metal bar rampaged through New York City’s Chinatown early Saturday attacking other homeless people who were sleeping, killing four and leaving a fifth with serious injuries, police said. Police recovered the weapon, which was still in the suspect’s hands…

A witness in the murder trial of a white Dallas police officer who fatally shot her black neighbor has been killed in a shooting, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing authorities. The newspaper reported that authorities said Joshua Brown, who lived in the same apartment…

Caviar, a food associated with luxury, is being produced for the first time in Madagascar. The product makes consumers in faraway France happy, and provides hundreds of jobs in this African country.  VOA's Jim Randle has our story.   ...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday defended the Trump administration's approach to Ukraine that is at the center of an impeachment inquiry. He rejected allegations it was at best inappropriate or at worst an illegal abuse of power for which Congress should remove…

U.S. President Donald Trump has asked for a substantial cut in the National Security Council staff, Bloomberg reported late on Friday, citing five people familiar with the plans. The step was described by some sources cited in the report as part of an effort from…