In an interview with VOA, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign downplayed the new single-event fundraising record set on Saturday by Donald Trump’s campaign. Analysts point out, however, that money alone won’t secure either candidate’s return to the White House. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the story.
Israel’s prime minister says there will be no cease-fire in Gaza at the six-month mark of Hamas’ deadly October 7 attacks. This, as international pressure builds against Israel concerning the humanitarian toll of its war against the militant group in Palestinian territories. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
Paris — China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao is due in Paris Sunday for talks that are expected to cover China's fast-growing export of cheap electric vehicles (EVs) into the European market. Four sources briefed on Wang's trip told Reuters in late March that the discussions would focus on a European Commission investigation into whether China's EV industry has benefited from unfair subsidies. European carmakers have a fight on their hands to produce lower-cost electric vehicles and erase China's lead in developing cheaper models. Читать дальше...
Muscat, Oman — Oman's foreign minister called Sunday for de-escalation during a visit by his Iranian counterpart who started a regional tour in Muscat where he met a spokesperson for Yemen's Houthi rebels. The visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian came almost a week after an airstrike in Damascus leveled the Iranian Embassy's consular annex and further raised regional tensions. The attack, which Tehran blamed on Israel, killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members including two generals. Читать дальше...
Dubai, UAE — Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian traveled to Oman on Sunday on the first leg of a regional tour, the ministry said, almost a week after a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. "Amirabdollahian is traveling to Oman as the first destination of his regional tour at the head of a political and parliamentary delegation. Bilateral and regional issues such as Gaza will be discussed," the ministry said. Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's... Читать дальше...
JAYAPURA, Indonesia — Two Papuan separatist leaders were killed in a shootout between security forces and their rebel group near one of the world’s largest gold mines in Indonesia’s restive Papua region, police said Sunday. Clashes Thursday between independence rebels of the Free Papua Movement and a joint police and military force near the mining town of Tembagapura in Central Papua province left two of the group’s regional commanders dead; Abubakar Kogoya, known as Abubakar Tabuni and Damianus Magay, commonly known as Natan Wanimbo. Читать дальше...
KIGALI — Rwandan President Paul Kagame blamed the inaction of the international community for allowing the 1994 genocide to happen as Rwandans on Sunday commemorated 30 years since an estimated 800,000 people were killed by government-backed extremists. Rwanda has shown strong recovery and economic growth in the years since, but scars remain and there are questions about whether genuine reconciliation has been achieved under the long rule of Kagame, whose rebel movement stopped the genocide and seized power. Читать дальше...
Moscow — Russia’s government declared the situation in flood-hit areas in the Orenburg region a federal emergency Sunday, with preparations for possible flooding underway in three other regions, state media reported. The floods, caused by rising water levels in the Ural River, forced over 4,000 people, including 885 children, to evacuate in the Orenburg region, the regional government said. State news agency Tass said that a further 2,000 homes were flooded, bringing the total to nearly 6,300 in the region. Читать дальше...
Des Moines, Iowa — The jackpot has a cash value of $621 million if the winner chooses to take a lump sum rather than an annuity paid over 30 years. The winning numbers were: 22, 27, 44, 52, 69 and the red Powerball 9. No one had won Powerball's top prize since New Year's Day, leading to 41 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner. The $1.326 billion prize ranks as the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history. The odds of winning were 1 in 292.2 million. DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Powerball player... Читать дальше...
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Sophomore Christian Adams expected he would be studying Chinese when he enrolled at West Virginia University, with a dream of working in labor or immigration law. He didn’t foresee switching his major to politics, a change he made after West Virginia’s flagship university in September cut its world language department and dozens of other programs in subjects such as English, math and music amid a $45 million budget shortfall. And he certainly didn’t expect to be studying ... Читать дальше...
President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Japan and the Philippines Thursday. The first trilateral summit between Washington and its two Asian allies is set to launch initiatives including bolstering maritime cooperation in the South China Sea. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports.
taipei, taiwan — Taiwan was struck Wednesday by its most powerful earthquake in a quarter of a century. At least nine people were killed and hundreds injured, buildings and highways damaged and dozens of workers at quarries stranded. Taiwan is no stranger to powerful earthquakes yet their toll on the high-tech island's 23 million residents has been relatively contained thanks to its excellent earthquake preparedness, experts say. Here is a closer look at Taiwan's history of earthquakes: Why so many temblors? Читать дальше...
ACCRA, Ghana — When Efua, a 25-year-old fashion designer and single mother in Ghana, became pregnant last year, she sought an abortion at a health clinic but worried the procedure might be illegal. Health workers assured her abortions were lawful under certain conditions in the West African country, but Efua said she was still nervous. "I had lots of questions, just to be sure I would be safe," Efua told The Associated Press, on condition that only her middle name be used, for fear of reprisals... Читать дальше...
WASHINGTON — Climate change and water scarcity are harsh realities facing Central Asia. Glaciers in the east, in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, are rapidly melting, while in the west, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the Aral Sea has turned into a desert. According to the World Bank, almost a third of the region's 80 million people lack access to safe water, highlighting the urgent need to modernize outdated infrastructure. Afghanistan is building a canal that could exacerbate the crisis. Читать дальше...
washington — Education and immigration advocates say African students face high denial rates when seeking visas to study in the United States, and they are pushing for changes. Visa rejection rates are higher than elsewhere in regions of the Middle East, South America and Africa, with Africa experiencing the highest levels of disproportionate refusals, according to a Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration report released in July 2023. “Whenever we see that sort of data for any country... Читать дальше...
KEAN SVAY, KANDAL PROVINCE, Cambodia — Five years ago, Lun Sam Ath took out a $12,000 loan to build a new wooden house and repay a previous loan that she had used to buy a motorbike. The 45-year-old mother of five owed $200 a month to Amret, one of the country’s largest microfinance institutions (MFI), which she figured she could repay with help from her older daughter’s earnings from a garment factory job. But then her husband contracted hepatitis, and treatment was costly. After her husband died... Читать дальше...
WARSAW — Poles vote in local elections on Sunday, selecting thousands of councilors and mayors who will play a key role in allocating billions in European Union funds and giving an early indication of their satisfaction with the government of Donald Tusk. Tusk's appointment as prime minister in December marked a turning point for the largest country in the EU's east, drawing a line under eight years of nationalist rule that set Warsaw at odds with Western allies and putting the nation of 38 million people on a resolutely pro-European course. Читать дальше...
Beirut — The Israeli military said on Sunday its fighter jets had struck Hezbollah sites in eastern Lebanon, where the Iran-backed group has a strong presence, in retaliation for one of its drones being shot down. A source close to Hezbollah earlier told AFP in the Baalbek region in eastern Lebanon that the strikes had targeted Janta and Sinfri in the Bekaa Valley. The Israeli military said on Telegram that "fighter jets struck a military complex and three other terrorist infrastructure sites... Читать дальше...
GUNTUR, India — There's a pungent odor on Ratna Raju's farm that he says is protecting his crops from the unpredictable and extreme weather that's become more frequent with human-caused climate change. The smell comes from a concoction of cow urine, an unrefined sugar known as jaggery, and other organic materials that act as fertilizers, pesticides and bad weather barriers for his corn, rice, leafy greens and other vegetables on his farm in Guntur in India's southern Andhra Pradesh state. The... Читать дальше...
ROME — An international campaign to ban surrogacy received a strong endorsement Friday from the Vatican, with a top official calling for a broad-based alliance to stop the "commercialization of life." A Vatican-affiliated university hosted a two-day conference promoting an international treaty to outlaw surrogacy, be it commercial arrangements or so-called altruistic ones. It's based on the campaigners' argument that the practice violates U.N. conventions protecting the rights of the child and surrogate mother. Читать дальше...
BUNEOS AIRES, Argentina — An Argentine judge on Friday ruled that 20 cloistered nuns had suffered abuse for more than two decades at the hands of high-ranking clergy in the country's conservative north, and ordered the accused archbishop and church officials to undergo psychological treatment and training in gender discrimination. The ruling in the homeland of Pope Francis cast a spotlight on the long-standing of abuse of nuns by priests and bishops in the Catholic Church. Though long overshadowed by other church scandals... Читать дальше...
