By the end of the week, thousands of soldiers will be deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border in anticipation of caravans of migrants from Central America heading northward. The military presence is drawing reaction from those who live and work in border communities on both sides of the fence. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports from San Diego,Read more
Cuba’s foreign trade and investment minister said on Wednesday the country had signed nearly 200 investment projects worth $5.5 billion since it slashed taxes and made other adjustments to its investment law in 2014. Cuba began a major effort to attract foreign investment as socialist ally Venezuela’s economy went into crisis and has ratcheted itRead more
NATO and Russia envoys on Wednesday discussed their respective large-scale military exercises and a Cold War-era missile treaty that Washington vows to quit over accusations of Russian non-compliance, the Western alliance said. The talks, the first between the former Cold War foes since May, came against a backdrop of renewed tensions between the West andRead more
Fitch Ratings changed its outlook on Mexico’s long-term foreign-currency debt issues Wednesday from “stable” to “negative,” citing the potential policies of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The leftist Lopez Obrador has tried to smooth anxieties in the business community, but upset many on Monday by cancelling a partly built, $13 billion new airport on theRead more
Britain’s Brexit secretary has told lawmakers that he expects a long-elusive divorce deal with the European Union to be finalized before November 21, though there is still little sign of a breakthrough on the vexed issue of the Irish border. Dominic Raab told Parliament’s Exiting the EU Committee in a letter that he would giveRead more
Adding 16 teams to the 2022 World Cup is about far more than sports. The head of world soccer thinks the proposal can help solve the bitter diplomatic fight between host Qatar and a Saudi Arabian-led coalition trying to isolate the tiny nation. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has visions of the World Cup uniting theRead more
Rafael Nadal pulled out of his second-round match at the Paris Masters on Wednesday because of an abdominal problem, meaning Novak Djokovic will reclaim the No. 1 ranking next week. Nadal was returning from a right knee injury which forced him to retire from the U.S. Open semifinals, but took medical advice not to playRead more
A Turkish prosecutor says Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was killed by strangulation immediately after entering Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul, before his body was “cut into pieces.” The statement by chief Istanbul prosecutor Ifran Fidan comes as Turkey pressures Saudi Arabia to extradite the 18 people it detained in connection with Khashoggi’s killing. Fidan also saidRead more
An impoverished Mexican town nearly flattened by a 2017 earthquake welcomed thousands of tired and hungry Central Americans in a U.S.-bound caravan this week in quiet defiance of U.S. President Donald Trump’s condemnation of the group. On Monday, the same day that Trump ordered 5,200 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to block the migrants, residentsRead more
By the end of the week, more than 5,200 soldiers will be deployed to the southwestern border of the U.S. and Mexico in anticipation of a caravan of migrants from Central America heading northward. The military presence is drawing reaction from those who live and work in border communities on both sides of the fence.Read more
The future economy minister tapped by Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro insisted on Tuesday that he wanted to fast-track an unpopular pension reform to help balance government finances despite mounting resistance to getting it done this year. Paulo Guedes, whom Bolsonaro selected as a “super minister” with a portfolio combining the current ministries of finance, planningRead more
Five lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday that would punish with prison time certain kinds of speech criticizing elected officials and candidates in Guatemala, prompting charges that it would violate constitutional measures guaranteeing freedom of expression. The initiative targets “those who make acts of pressure, persecution and harassment” against politicians “in any medium of diffusion and/or onRead more
The United States is calling for a cease-fire in Yemen in order to support United Nations efforts to find a lasting, peaceful solution to more than three years of fighting. “(W)e want to see everybody around a peace table, based on a cease-fire, based on a pullback from the border, and then based on aRead more
Venezuela poses a clear threat to regional stability and its economic collapse could drag down key U.S. allies in Latin America such as Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, a senior Treasury Department official warned Tuesday. Marshall Billingslea, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the Treasury Department, also accused the government of President Nicolas Maduro of contaminatingRead more
Poking above the bright pink bougainvillea that spills into the street, the lone minaret of the Ta’la Al-Ali mosque towers over the Khalda neighborhood of Amman. Aside from its colorful stain-glassed windows and ornate calligraphy, this mosque stands out for another reason: its roof is covered with shining solar panels that make the building’s carbonRead more
The U.N.’s political chief cautioned Tuesday that planned local elections in two separatist areas of eastern Ukraine next month could contradict international agreements. “The U.N. urges all parties to avoid any unilateral steps that could deepen the divide or depart from the spirit and letter of the Minsk agreements,” Rosemary DiCarlo told a Security CouncilRead more
The first thing musician Fadhel al-Badri did when Mosul was liberated from Islamic State last year was breathe a sigh of relief. The militants who seized the city in 2014 had targeted artists like himself so when neighbours said they were hunting for him, he left home, called his wife to say he was likelyRead more
Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said Tuesday the United States and China “will meet each other more and more on the high seas” after a Chinese warship came close to a U.S. ship in the disputed South China Sea. The Chinese vessel came within 45 yards (meters) of the USS Decatur duringRead more