Month: January 2017

Plans to reintroduce tigers to Central Asia, using the Amur tiger from Russia, have been a topic of discussion for about a decade. But the idea got a scientific boost earlier this month when a study laid out the options for restoring tigers to the region and identified a “promising site” in Kazakhstan that could …

U.S. President Donald Trump will hold telephone conversations with a slate of world leaders Saturday, starting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the first foreign leader to meet with Trump after his election. Their phone call comes just days after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement that included the …

U.S. President Donald Trump says he hopes to develop a “fantastic” relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but concedes that he may not be able to do so in a phone call Saturday. The U.S. leader spoke Friday after meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May. She said both reaffirmed their support for NATO. VOA …

The debate over sanctuary cities in the U.S., whether local municipalities should comply with federal law enforcement in obtaining the citizenship status of residents, is an issue that affects even the youngest students across the country. In border towns like Chula Vista, California, it’s not uncommon for kids to consider both the United States and …

Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai decried U.S. President Donald Trump’s orders on January 27 barring refugees and immigrants from Syria and a raft of other Muslim countries. …

The new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, pledged to overhaul the world body and warned U.S. allies that if they do not support Washington, then she is “taking names” and will respond. …

U.S. President Donald Trump issued orders indefinitely barring Syrian refugees from the United States and temporarily suspending visits from a wide swathe of other Muslim countries. …

U.S. President Donald Trump is proving true to his word on the campaign promise that he would “hit the ground running” as soon as he takes office. During his first week in the White House, he has signed several executive orders, including one on the construction of the wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. …

The Trump presidency is less than a week old, but congressional and executive actions have already revived the long-running national debate on abortion. And with two major marches in just six days, supporters on both sides show no signs of backing down. VOA’s Katherine Gypson reports on the debate from Washington. …

Britain will continue to fulfill its obligation to the European Union while it seeks to strengthen trade ties with world partners, the British finance minister said.   Philip Hammond spoke to reporters Friday in Brussels, where EU finance ministers are gathering for the regular Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting.   “Britain remains a …

A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced six people to prison over an apartment-tower fire that killed 15 people in 2015. …

Pakistan has banned a popular television host after he said five bloggers who are missing were enemies who deserved to die under blasphemy laws. …

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev has signed constitutional amendments into law after they were adopted in a referendum in December. …

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has dismissed concerns that the U.S. Senate may not ratify the NATO-accession agreement for Montenegro. …

Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-nominated film The Salesman, says she will protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies by refusing to attend the Academy Awards ceremonies next month. …

India celebrated the anniversary of the day its constitution came into effect Thursday with an elaborate display of military hardware and cultural events.   The annual celebration included floats from the various Indian states and its defense and police forces.   Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was the guest of …

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree allowing troops from the United States and other NATO countries to carry out training missions in Ukraine during 2017. …

A counterterrorism unit in the Libyan capital Tripoli said it suspected Saturday’s car bomb near the recently reopened Italian Embassy was planted by backers of the powerful Libyan National Army (LNA) based in the eastern part of the divided country. The blast occurred in central Tripoli about 350 meters from the Italian Embassy. The bodies …

The chief of the Border Patrol has left the agency that’s in charge of securing America’s borders with Mexico and Canada.   According to a U.S. official and a former official, Border Patrol agents have been told that Mark Morgan is no longer on the job. It’s not immediately clear whether Morgan resigned or was …

Bulgaria’s newly appointed interim prime minister has pledged to maintain political stability and continuity as he leads the Balkan country towards a parliamentary election on March 26, its third since 2013. On Tuesday, President Rumen Radev named Ognyan Gerdzhikov, a law professor and former speaker of parliament, to head an interim cabinet following the resignation …

George Orwell’s 1984 novel about a dystopian future under an authoritarian regime, is back as a best-seller and being reprinted decades after it was written as readers grapple with the Trump administration’s defense of “alternative facts.” The book, first published in 1949, features a devious “Big Brother” government that spies on its citizens and forces …

3-D printers have moved from plastic to metal, and now to human tissue. Spanish scientists report they have designed a machine capable of printing a replacement for human skin using special bio-ink consisting of human skin cells and other biological components. The printer is in the research stage, but its designers hope it will eventually …

Iranian search teams on January 25 recovered eight more bodies from the site of a deadly building collapse in downtown Tehran, bringing the confirmed death toll to 15 – including 11 firefighters. …

Fed up with refugees in Germany and unwilling to submit their 10 children to sex-education classes in public schools, the Martens family pulled up stakes and moved to a tiny village in Siberia. Although their life there has been trying so far, they are together and confident in the future. …

Kazakhstan’s long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbaev says he will delegate some of his sweeping powers to parliament and to government ministers as he transforms his own leadership into a role he described as “Supreme Arbiter.” …

A Somali police officer says gunmen have fought their way into a hotel in the Somali capital after a suicide car bombing at its gates.   Capt. Mohamed Hussein said Wednesday that dozens of people, including lawmakers, are thought to have been staying at Mogadishu’s Dayah hotel at the time of the morning attack.   …