France is facing a “new form of anti-Semitism” marked by violence, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Wednesday, deploring an assault this week in a Paris suburb on an 8-year-old boy wearing a Jewish skullcap. President Emmanuel Macron has denounced the attack Monday in Sarcelles, a northern suburb with a large Jewish population, as “heinous.”Read more
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson begins a six-day trip Thursday through Latin America in which he’s expected to rally the region’s governments in pressing democratic reforms in crisis-ridden Venezuela. Tillerson’s travels will take him to Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Colombia, with a final stop in Jamaica on February 7. The United States will useRead more
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson begins a six-day trip through Latin America Thursday in which he’s expected to rally the region’s governments in pressing democratic reforms in crisis-ridden Venezuela. Tillerson’s travels will take him to Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Colombia, with a final stop in Jamaica on February 7. The United States willRead more
Exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont has stunned Spain with private remarks picked up by TV news cameras in which he said Catalonia’s independence bid is “finished.” The shock admission came after Spain’s constitutional court ruled that Puigdemont could not be named president because he faced arrest and was not physically present to assume the presidency.Read more
Israel’s defense minister said Wednesday that Lebanon would “pay the full price” for Iran’s entrenchment in any future war, the latest in a series of Israeli warnings about Tehran’s growing presence in neighboring Lebanon and Syria. Avigdor Lieberman said Hezbollah guerrillas have sacrificed Lebanon’s national interests by subjugating the country to Iran. As a result,Read more
The Communist Party’s candidate for president would seem to be an odd choice: He’s a millionaire and proud of it. He also openly rejects the basic tenets of Communism. Pavel Grudinin is the Russian party’s first new nominee in 14 years as it hopes to rejuvenate itself and broaden its appeal from its traditionalRead more
In a rare interview, Eritrea’s president has expressed his displeasure with Israel’s plan to deport tens of thousands of African migrants, saying they deserve far more than the $3,500 they were offered to leave. President Isaias Afwerki’s interview on a government website Wednesday said the migrants from his country and Sudan paid a “high price”Read more
A U.N. negotiator has arrived in Macedonia for talks with the country’s leadership, in a revived effort to settle a peculiar but acrimonious dispute with neighboring Greece over Macedonia’s name. Matthew Nimetz, who has already met with Greek officials in Athens, says there appears to be momentum for solving the dispute that has poisoned theRead more
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said Israel will retain security control over the Palestinians as part of any future peace deal, deepening Palestinian fears that Israel and the Trump administration are colluding on a proposal that will fall far short of their dreams of independence. Netanyahu’s statement exposed a deepening rift that has emergedRead more
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva enjoys a strong lead ahead of the October 7 presidential elections despite his recent conviction on corruption charges, according to a poll published Wednesday. The Datafolha poll was the first since an appeals court last week upheld a corruption conviction against da Silva — a decision likelyRead more
Britain is a “divided and polarized” nation after its vote to leave the European Union, with the referendum exposing and exacerbating divisions across society, according to new research on the societal effects of the so-called Brexit. The splits cut across political lines, with sharp divisions emerging on key values such as attitudes to ethnic minoritiesRead more
Less than a week after threatening to cut aid to the Palestinians if they fail to pursue peace with Israel, the United States is sanctioning the political leader of Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip. The State Department Tuesday announced it has placed Ismail Haniyeh, president of the Hamas political bureau, onRead more
Climate change will be on the agenda for this year’s Group of Seven summit in Quebec despite Canada’s difference of opinion with the Trump administration. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s personal representative for the summit said in an interview Wednesday that implementation of the Paris climate accord will be discussed even though U.S. President Donald TrumpRead more
Africans account for only about five percent of undocumented migrants arriving in the United States. And activists say they are largely excluded from the broader conversation about immigration reform, especially along the U.S. border with Mexico. VOA’s Henok Fente reports from San Antonio, Texas where African asylum seekers face immediate detention and prolonged court battlesRead more
The head of UNRWA, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, is sharply criticizing severe funding cuts by the United States. He warns the action could lead to rising instability in Palestinian territories and the region. UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl says the agency is facing the worst financial crisis in its history becauseRead more
Tour guide Ronnie Chatah, 36, is once again doing what he loves after a four-year hiatus – telling the stories that have shaped Beirut’s history from ancient to modern times. Chatah put the walking tours on hold in late 2013 after the assassination of his father Mohamad Chatah, a former minister and diplomat. He wasRead more
The social divide revealed by Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union is not only here to stay but deepening, according to academic research published Wednesday. UK in a Changing Europe, a research initiative, said Britons were unlikely to change their minds about leaving the EU, despite the political and economic uncertainty it has brought,Read more
Mexican officials said Tuesday they are dispatching 5,000 additional federal police officers to several tourist cities after a series of violent incidents, including a lengthy shootout that rattled the Baja California resort city of La Paz. Renato Sales, the country’s national security commissioner, said the officers would be sent “to key cities” like LaRead more