Author: Freered
Ukraine Urged To Reverse Ban On Broadcasts Of Independent Russian TV Station
14/01/2017
Ukrainian authorities should “immediately” cancel an order banning a prominent independent Russian television station from broadcasting in the country, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says. …
CPJ Urges Belarus To Release Russian Blogger Wanted In Azerbaijan
14/01/2017
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is calling on Belarusian authorities to “unconditionally” release a Russian-Israeli blogger who is wanted in Baku on separatism charges. …
How Trump’s Cabinet Nominees Disagreed with the Incoming Boss
14/01/2017
From Russia to Iran, and from Pacific trade to nuclear proliferation to climate change, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees to lead his government this week staked out sharply different positions than those taken by candidate Trump. Many of the disagreements covered the signature issues the New York businessman rode to the White House, and seemed to …
Obama to Hold Final News Conference Wednesday
14/01/2017
President Barack Obama will hold his final news conference as the U.S. leader on Wednesday, two days before he leaves office. The White House announced the press event on Friday as it revealed Obama’s public schedule for his last week as president. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama will begin the week Monday by …
Iranian Women Arrested for Riding Motorcycle; Video Fuels Backlash
14/01/2017
Iranian police have arrested two women for riding a motorcycle in a western city — an incident that went viral when images appeared online and sparked a social-media backlash against the country’s political and religious authorities. State news agency IRNA said the two women were detained Sunday in Dezful, whose law enforcement chief, Ali Elhami, …
Obama Extends Sanctions On Russia Over Aggression In Ukraine By One Year
14/01/2017
U.S. President Barack Obama on January 13 extended all U.S. sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea and aggression in Ukraine by one year through March 2018. …
White House Announces Final Obama News Conference
13/01/2017
The White House says that President Barack Obama will hold his final news conference on January 18, two days before he leaves office. …
The Specter Of Nationalism And Redrawn Borders
13/01/2017
Relations between the former Yugoslav Balkan states are at their worst in some time. …
Kerry Visits Vietnam on Last Trip as US Secretary of State
13/01/2017
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Vietnamese leaders Friday during his last trip as the top diplomat for the United States. He held separate meetings with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and acting Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son. Kerry later left for Ho Chi Minh City to meet a group of Vietnamese youth and …
President-elect Trump’s Emerging Foreign Policy
13/01/2017
President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign and Twitter pronouncements on world affairs have won him many foreign policy labels: a non-interventionist, an isolationist, a unilateralist and a realist. As Trump prepares for his inauguration January 20, VOA’s Masood Farivar reports on three forces driving Trump’s foreign policy. …
Trump Nominees Mattis, Pompeo Tough on Russia
13/01/2017
Retired Marine General James Mattis, president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, testified at a confirmation hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday, as Mike Pompeo, nominee for CIA director, testified in front of the Senate’s Select Committee for Intelligence. As Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports, both gave testimony openly independent of some …
Job Outlook Not Improving In Russia Despite Return Of Economic Growth
13/01/2017
The slow return of growth to Russia’s economy this year will not provide much help to people looking for jobs, with unemployment expected to remain elevated, the International Labor Organization said on January 12. …
Biden Praises Pence’s Knowledge Of Russia, Gives Him Tips On Ukraine
13/01/2017
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has praised the man who will replace him, saying Vice President-elect Mike Pence knows more about Russia than his running mate, Donald Trump. …
Olympians From Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan Sanctioned For Doping
13/01/2017
Eight athletes have been disqualified from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics in Beijing and London after drug retests, including two Belarusians and six athletes from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and China. …
Vice President Biden to Make Swansong Visit to Ukraine
12/01/2017
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will fly to Kiev on Sunday on a farewell visit by one of Ukraine’s strongest political supporters, as the country looks forward with apprehension to the new administration of Donald Trump. Biden, whose visit was announced by the office of President Petro Poroshenko, has been the front man for U.S. …
France Orders Release On Bail Of Former Kosovo PM
12/01/2017
A court in France has ordered former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj released from custody pending a decision on his possible extradition to Serbia. …
Trump’s Nominees to Lead Pentagon, CIA, HUD Get Confirmation Hearings
12/01/2017
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Defense gets his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, while the same committee considers legislation necessary to make him even eligible for the job. Retired General James Mattis will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is expected to give him approval. Mattis would become the …
Clapper: US Intel Sources Did Not Leak Russian Allegations to Media
12/01/2017
U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Wednesday he told President-elect Donald Trump the intelligence community did not create a document featuring claims Russia compiled information to attempt to compromise Trump. CNN, which first reported the unsubstantiated allegations Tuesday, did not give details of the compromising information. But the BuzzFeed digital media site posted …
World Bank Warns Russia On Lagging Competitiveness
12/01/2017
In a new report, the World Bank has said Russia must diversify its economy, improve its investment climate, and make major infrastructure investments if it hopes to be competitive in the global economy. …
Tajikistan Protests Remarks By Afghan Ambassador To Russia
12/01/2017
The Tajik Foreign Ministry says that it summoned the Afghan ambassador in Dushanbe late in December and lodged a diplomatic protest over remarks made by the Afghan ambassador to Russia. …
Former UN Chief Returns to South Korea, Hints at Presidential Run
12/01/2017
Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he’ll soon announce whether he will run for South Korea’s top job as he returned home and strongly hinted at his political ambitions before hundreds of cheering supporters. Ban’s return will likely heat up local politics because he’s considered the only major conservative contender in a possible …
Taliban Releases Video of Foreign Hostages
11/01/2017
Afghanistan’s Taliban has released a video message of two foreign hostages, an American and an Australian, five months after they were seized at gunpoint in Kabul. The captives, Kevin King and Australian Timothy John Weeks, are shown pleading with the United States to negotiate their release with the Taliban to save their lives. The pair …
North Korea’s Nuclear Threat Seen as Attention-grabbing Stunt
11/01/2017
While North Korea’s recent claim of an imminent intercontinental ballistic missile test is spreading alarm globally, U.S. experts see it as a bid for attention and a gambit to intimidate the incoming U.S. administration. On Sunday, the North’s state-run news agency, KCNA, reported that the country can fire off an ICBM “anytime and anywhere,” reiterating …
Cameroon Football Looking Not So Indomitable
11/01/2017
Cameroon’s national football team is trying to rebuild as they head to the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Gabon. Thousands of fans of the Indomitable Lions cheered their team Tuesday in an international friendly between Cameroon and the Mighty Warriors of Zimbabwe. The Lions came from behind to secure a one-all tie after Zimbabwe’s …
Tillerson Backs ‘Full Review’ Of Iran Nuclear Deal
11/01/2017
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state says he supports a “full review” of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which the incoming president has previously pledged to renegotiate or scrap altogether. …
Afghan Taliban Releases Video Of U.S., Australian Captives
11/01/2017
The Afghan Taliban has released a video showing an American and an Australian who were kidnapped in August. …