The Swedish indie pop duo, Flora Cash, is new in the pop/rock world but has been gaining popularity with a hit song on the charts and a newly-released record. It also has been gaining a following, especially among Albanian-American fans because one of its members, Shresa Lleshaj, is of Albanian descent. The duo recently performed in Baltimore, and VOA’s Ardita Dunellari was there. …
Like other summer camps in America, AileyCamp helps its participants learn valuable leadership skills. But it has something that others probably don’t: rhythm. That’s because the camp was created by world-renowned dancer, choreographer and director Alvin Ailey. As Faith Lapidus reports, the program is now in its 31st summer. …
After a blaze engulfed Notre-Dame in April, it sparked a debate over how best to restore the Gothic cathedral to its former glory. Tucked away in the French countryside, a medieval castle may hold some of the answers. Faith Lapidus explains. …
China’s government uses advanced technology to monitor and censor daily life of people in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous region, according to Jewher Ilham, daughter of prominent jailed Uighur scholar and economist, Ilham Tohti. Her observation comes amid reports that the U.S. government is considering sanctions against Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision for its role in China’s treatment of its Uighur minority in the internment camps. State Department correspondent Nike Ching has more. …
In response to President Donald Trump’s call for tougher penalties on violent crimes, the U.S. Justice Department this week lifted a federal moratorium on the death penalty. VOA’s Brian Padden reports this controversial decision has been denounced by opponents as immoral and inhumane, but advocates say imposing the ultimate punishment for the ultimate crime is the right thing to do, and is supported by a majority of Americans. …
Iran has test-fired a medium-range missile, a U.S. military official said, further escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf region. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Thursday Iran fired a Shahab-3 missile Wednesday that did not threaten shipping or U.S. military bases in the area. The projectile flew about 1,100 kilometers across Iran after it was launched from Iran’s southern coast and landed east of the capital of Tehran. The official said the U.S. had been closely watching the Iranian test site as it prepared for the launch. The test came as tensions in the region have further …
VOA’s U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report from New York. WASHINGTON – At least six of the most severely wounded people in Wednesday’s suicide attack in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, have been airlifted to Qatar for treatmen, Somali government officials said. “A military ambulance jet from Qatari Armed Forces have taken the wounded to Doha for treatment,” Mogadishu regional spokesperson, Salax Hassan Omar, told VOA Somali. Among those on board was the mayor of the Somali capital Mogadishu, Abdirahman Omar Osman — who also is the governor of Banadir. Osman was severely wounded in Wednesday’s attack as he was …
Rachel Whalen remembers feeling gutted in high school when a former friend would mock her online postings, threaten to unfollow or unfriend her on social media and post inside jokes about her to others online. The cyberbullying was so distressing that Whalen said she contemplated suicide. Once she got help, she decided to limit her time on social media. It helps to take a break from it for perspective, said Whalen, now a 19-year-old college student in Utah. There’s a rise in cyberbullying nationwide, with three times as many girls reporting being harassed online or by text message than boys, …
Saudi Arabia has stopped issuing visas to people from Congo while citing the Ebola outbreak there, even as the World Health Organization recommends against travel restrictions. Some Muslims in Congo had planned to take part in the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia next month. A letter from the Saudi foreign ministry to Congo’s embassy in Riyadh, obtained by The Associated Press and dated Wednesday, says the kingdom made the decision to protect pilgrims and others. The letter refers to the WHO decision this month to declare the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo a global health emergency. More than …
A village in central Turkey where Boris Johnson traces his Turkish ancestry to is abuzz with excitement and pride over the news that a man they see as one of their own has become the new prime minister of Britain. Residents of the mainly farming village of Kalfat, in Cankiri province, 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Turkish capital Ankara, gathered at its main assembly place on Tuesday to celebrate after Johnson won a Conservative Party leadership contest triggered by the resignation of Theresa May, according to town administrator, Bayram Tavukcu. Johnson took office as British prime minister on …
U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Ukraine’s new president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on holding parliamentary elections which Zelenskiy’s party won, and offered U.S. help to promote reforms in Ukraine, Zelenskiy’s office said on Thursday. Zelenskiy, a television sitcom star who was elected in a landslide in May, called an early parliamentary election to replace a parliament dominated by loyalists of his predecessor. His party won a majority of seats in the vote, held on Sunday. Trump told Zelenskiy by phone he was confident that the new Ukrainian leadership would improve the country’s image, Zelenskiy’s office said. Zelenskiy thanked Trump for maintaining and …
The White House on Thursday blasted a federal court action temporarily blocking the Trump administration from enforcing a directive that disqualifies a significant proportion of mostly Central American asylum-seekers who reach the U.S.-Mexico border. “We intend to pursue all available options to address this meritless ruling and to defend this Nation’s borders,” the White House’s press secretary said in a statement. Late Wednesday, Judge Jon Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an injunction halting the administration’s new asylum rule, saying it fails to ensure that asylum-seekers rejected by the United States and sent …
With the United States mulling sanctions over Turkey’s recent procurement of Russian missiles, Ankara is warning that America’s use of a critical military air base could be at risk. The U.S.’s decades-long use of Incirlik Air Base is seen as not only of vital military importance, but underscores the strategic relationship between the two NATO allies. “We are currently running the process [of retaliatory measures], whether it’s Incirlik, Kurecik [U.S. radar base in Turkey] or other issues,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned Washington this week, in the latest ratcheting up of bilateral tensions. “If America has very negative steps …
Drake has two new partners: SiriusXM and Pandora. The two companies which merged earlier this year announced Thursday that they have signed a new creative partnership with the superstar rapper. The new deal includes “a dedicated station, curated music, and collaborations with creative talent.” The roll-out will start later this year. Drake is one of the world’s top-streamed artists. He previously had a radio show on Apple Music, did a commercial for the brand and launched new music on the streaming platform, giving Apple an exclusive for a time period over competitors. Drake has had 35 Top …
Airlines are tallying up the damage and talking to Boeing about compensation for the grounding of the troubled 737 Max jet. On Thursday, two of the three large U.S. airlines that own Max jets updated their estimates of how the plane is hurting their bottom lines. American Airlines said its 2019 earnings will be reduced by $400 million _ $50 million more than its previous estimate. Southwest Airlines announced that because it has fewer planes without the Max, it will end service at a major airport in the New York City area. Southwest also dropped the plane from …
Facebook said Wednesday that new data privacy rules and forthcoming privacy-focused product changes would slow its revenue growth and significantly raise expenses, driving down its shares in after-hours trade even as quarterly revenue topped estimates. The outlook came soon after the company agreed to pay $5 billion to settle a data privacy probe and disclosed that it faces a new U.S. government antitrust investigation. While the quarterly results and the settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over privacy issues demonstrate significant progress in tackling two of Facebook’s biggest challenges, the newly disclosed FTC antitrust probe and the continuing privacy …
MEXICO CITY – A senior Mexican lawmaker plans to present a bill in Congress to tax purchases on Amazon, Uber, Airbnb and other digital platforms to help fill a multibillion-dollar revenue hole stemming from changes in how state oil company Pemex contributes to government finances. Alfonso Ramirez Cuellar, a member of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) who chairs the budget committee in the lower house of Congress, told Reuters in an interview that applying Mexico’s value-added tax (VAT) to purchases on the platforms would help balance the government’s books. “We believe applying VAT …
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday blamed the United States for a second widespread blackout this year that cast most of the South American nation in darkness amid an opposition campaign to overthrow him. Cuban officials, meanwhile, underscored that their support for Maduro is unwavering, saying U.S. attempts have failed to divide the communist island from the ideologically aligned Venezuelan leader. The most recent power outage hit Venezuela at rush hour Monday, leaving millions without basic services such as cellphone service, lights and running water while freezing Caracas’ subway and snarling traffic. ‘High-tech’ attack …
China warned on Wednesday it was ready for war if there was any move toward Taiwan’s independence, accusing the United States of undermining global stability and denouncing its arms sales to the self ruled island. This month, the United States approved sales of weapons requested by Taiwan, including tanks and Stinger missiles, estimated to be worth $2.2 billion. China responded by saying it would impose sanctions on U.S. firms involved in any deals. China’s Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian leaves as journalists are asking question on Hong Kong’s recent protests after a press conference at the State Council Information Office …
Holding a violin, saxophone or clarinet with handcuffed hands, some two-dozen prisoners were transported in an armored bus to learn music alongside the symphony orchestra in the national theater in Lima, the Peruvian capital. The recent excursion is part of a pioneering project to rehabilitate criminals, some convicted of murder, robbery and drug trafficking. The goal is to create a prison symphony in time for when Peru celebrates its bicentennial in 2021, and things are on track: The inmates have already learned to play the theme from “Game of Thrones” and pieces by Beethoven. For Martin Reano, sentenced to 20 …