The Trump administration has cut funding to the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees, calling the organization “irredeemably flawed.” The U.S. State Department ended decades of support to the organization Friday, saying “the administration has carefully reviewed the issue and determined that the United States will not make additional contributions to UNRWA (United Nations ReliefRead more

A media rights group is condemning what it calls “harsh sentences” that Iranian authorities imposed on at least seven journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Friday that the reporters were jailed this summer for their coverage of protests in February by the Gonabadi Dervish religious order.  The New-York based group said Iranian courts inRead more

An Iranian police officer has deserted his post and fled Iran, saying his life was in danger for refusing orders to suppress anti-government protests that have swept the country this year. Fariborz Karamizand, a member of Iran’s ethnic Kurdish minority, spoke to VOA’s Kurdish Service on Thursday. In an exclusive Skype video interview, he saidRead more

U.N. and international aid agencies are working to move refugees and migrants out of harm’s way in Libya as local militia and tribal leaders, vying for control of the capital, clash for a fifth day. Libyan authorities report 30 people, many of them civilians, have been killed and 96 wounded during the fighting. The charityRead more