PARIS - What will likely be Germany’s last Nazi-era war crimes trial is underway in Munich. On the dock is 89-year-old John Demjanjuk, a retired U.S. auto worker who is accused of participating in the killing of thousands of Jews at a concentration camp in Poland.
John Demjanjuk arrived at the Munich courthouse in an ambulance. […]
TEGUCIGALPA - Porfirio Lobo has won the presidential election in Honduras, with about 56 percent of ballots cast. Election officials say voter turnout was high, in spite of a call by ousted President Manuel Zelaya to boycott the poll.
Wealthy rancher Porfirio Lobo declared victory after election results showed a broad lead for the candidate from […]
GENEVA - The “Yes” vote - to amend the constitution in favor of banning minarets - stunned experts who had predicted the measure would be rejected. It also sent ripples of anxiety across the country’s Muslim community, which makes up about six percent of Switzerland’s population.
Some 57.5 percent of voters backed the initiative, which was […]
WASHINGTON - A U.S. Senate report says top military leaders during the Bush administration had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden in December 2001 in Afghanistan, but they failed to send enough American troops to attack his hideout.
The report, by staff of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, concludes that U.S. special forces, […]
TEHRAN - Iran’s government says it plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, upping the stakes in its tense standoff with international powers over its nuclear program.
Iranian media reported Sunday that the Cabinet approved the construction of 10 new uranium enrichment plants just two days after the International Atomic Energy Agency censured Iran for […]
CAIRO - An al-Qaida-linked militant group in Somalia has captured a key town near the border with Kenya, sending hundreds of people fleeing across the border.
Witnesses tell VOA heavily armed fighters with the hardline Islamist group, al-Shabab, met no resistance when they rolled into the southern city of Dobley early Saturday.
Before al-Shabab moved in, witnesses […]
GENEVA - Swiss voters are casting ballots Sunday in a referendum on amending the country’s constitution to ban the construction of Islamic minarets.
The nationalist Swiss People’s Party and a fringe party, the Federal Democratic Union Party, are behind the controversial proposal.
Many nationalists say they have no problem with the construction of mosques in Switzerland. But […]
WASHINGTON - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has agreed to upgrade relations with the Palestinian Authority in support of its quest for an independent Palestinian state.
Mr. Chavez hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Caracas Friday and promised to open a Venezuelan embassy in the West Bank, where Mr. Abbas’s government is based.
The Venezuelan president - a […]
MOSCOW - Officials in Russia say a train crash that killed at least 26 people and injured at least 50 late Friday may have resulted from an attack.
Prosecutors said Saturday they have begun a criminal investigation that could result in terrorism charges, but did not identify suspects. Investigators near the town of Bologoye are looking […]
ORLANDO - No. 1 men’s golfer Tiger Woods was slightly injured early Friday when he drove his Cadillac SUV into a tree near his home in an exclusive waterfront community in Orlando, Florida.
Woods was pulling out of his neighborhood when he struck a fire hydrant and then a tree around 0730 hours UTC Friday. The […]
WASHINGTON - The Friday after the American holiday of Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. According to lore it’s the day that store ledgers move into the black and companies become profitable.
On this day, retailers slash prices to get consumers to buy. It is also a time when many Americans start their Christmas shopping.
This day is […]
ISTANBUL - The ancient and modern worlds are colliding head on in the trenches of Turkey’s largest city as an engineering project to build a tunnel under Istanbul’s Bosphorus waterway continues.
The massive venture, called the Marmaray Project, aims to connect Asia and Europe by rail - and revitalize Istanbul’s transport system. But, history seems to […]
VIENNA - Members of the United Nations nuclear regulatory agency voted Friday to censure Iran’s nuclear activities, amid Western suspicions the country is developing atomic weapons.
Iran says the resolution “jeopardizes” the environment needed for productive international talks on its nuclear program.
The resolution, drafted by diplomats from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, […]
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how an uninvited couple was admitted to a White House state dinner for visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Washington Post says the couple from the northern part of the U.S. state of Virginia slipped through several layers of White House security despite not being on the […]
WASHINGTON - Each year, Americans gather with families and friends on the fourth Thursday of November to celebrate Thanksgiving. The celebration usually includes a meal of turkey, sweet potatoes, squash, cornbread, cranberries, and pumpkin pie.
The first Thanksgiving meal in North America is thought to have taken place in 1621 as European settlers gathered with Native […]
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration’s decision to try five alleged plotters of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States in the civilian court system has sparked angry opposition from congressional Republicans, and many questions from legal analysts.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said it was his toughest decision to date - to try alleged September […]
KABUL - A statement attributed to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is again rejecting a call for peace talks aimed at ending the country’s eight-year-old war.
Last week, President Hamid Karzai used his inauguration speech to repeat an appeal for talks with militants.
In a statement published on a Taliban Web site Wednesday, the reclusive militant […]
WASHINGTON - As the all important holiday shopping season approaches, worries over the U.S. economy remain front and center. New numbers released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday show the economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter — slower than original estimates, which pegged the nation’s growth at three and […]
WASHINGTON - The annual season of Hajj is now under way. Every Muslim who is financially capable is required by the Koran - the Muslim holy scripture - to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at the annual season of Hajj at least once is his lifetime.
The culmination of the Hajj is the Id-Al Adha, the festival […]
PENTAGON - The U.S. Defense Department spokesman says the United States expects its allies to send more troops to Afghanistan, if President Barack Obama decides to send more U.S. troops.
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell declined to speculate about what, if any, troop increase President Obama will order when he announces his revised strategy for Afghanistan, […]
WASHINGTON - Reports issued Tuesday say the U.S. economy grew a bit more slowly than experts first thought, home prices rose slightly and consumers are slightly less pessimistic.
Commerce Department experts say the U.S. economy expanded at an annual pace of 2.8 percent in July, August and September. That is seven-tenths of a percent less than […]
WASHINGTON - A White House spokesman says President Barack Obama has held his “final meeting” to discuss the Afghan war with members of his national security team, and will announce his revised strategy within days.
Robert Gibbs said after the meeting late Monday the president “has all the information he wants and needs to make a […]
WASHINGTON - World markets rallied sharply Monday amid positive U.S. economic data and an upbeat projection for U.S. economic expansion.
The beleaguered U.S. housing market got a boost last month as Americans rushed to purchase homes ahead of an anticipated end to government subsidies for first-time buyers. U.S. home sales rose just over 10 percent in […]
NEW YORK - The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University in Albany, New York reported Monday that state tax revenues across the country have fallen sharply, putting a strain on state government services.
The deputy director of the Institute, Robert Ward, gave a gloomy picture of the financial situation most states are […]
