Friday, April 20, 2018
Iranian Kurds say police have stepped up their intimidation of striking shop workers engaging in a sixth day of protests against government restrictions on border trade in Iran’s impoverished northwest. Kurdish residents of the region who contacted VOA Persian via social media said Iranian police briefly detained dozens of people Friday, ordering them to sign pledges to end the strikes before releasing them. They said police warned other shopkeepers to re-open their stores Saturday or...
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Friday, April 20, 2018
The United States has labeled China and Russia "forces of instability" because of their human rights records, along with North Korea and Iran. In its annual global human rights report released Friday, the State Department singled out those four countries for violating basic human rights, including freedom of expression and the protection of religious and ethnic minorities. Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan said in an introduction to the report that the four...
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Friday, April 20, 2018
North Korea says it has suspended nuclear tests and plans to close its nuclear test site. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the military is also suspending long-range missile tests and said the suspensions went into effect on Saturday. The announcement said the government is making the moves to shift its national focus and to improve the economy. The development comes less than a week before North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to meet South...
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Friday, April 20, 2018
The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday ordered ultrasound inspections of hundreds of jet engines like the one that blew apart at 32,000 feet in a deadly accident aboard a Southwest Airlines plane. The agency said the order affects 352 engines in the U.S. on new-generation twin-engine Boeing 737s, a workhorse jet widely used by airlines around the world. The National Transportation Safety Board believes one of the engine fan blades snapped on the Southwest flight Tuesday, hurling...
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Friday, April 20, 2018
Demanding an end to gun violence and tougher restrictions on firearms sales, thousands of students again walked out of classes across the United States on Friday, aiming to put pressure on politicians ahead of November's midterm elections. Timed to coincide with the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, students left classes at midmorning, many waving placards with slogans including "I should be worried about grades, not...
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Friday, April 20, 2018
Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director, is “very upset and disappointed” by comments made by his former boss James Comey that contradict his account of a disclosure to the news media, McCabe's lawyer said Friday. “Andy has at all times attempted to, and believes he’s been successful in, playing it straight with Jim,” Michael Bromwich told reporters as he again attacked an internal investigation process that led to McCabe's firing from the FBI last month and a criminal...
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Friday, April 20, 2018
Dozens of Saudi families flocked to the movies Friday for the first time in almost 40 years after the lifting of a ban on a form of entertainment once deemed corrupting and un-Islamic. Tickets for the American superhero movie Black Panther went on sale online at midnight for 75 riyals ($20) and sold out within minutes. Excited cinemagoers posed for selfies in the foyer and stood in line for popcorn. "It's like a historical event that happened...
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Friday, April 20, 2018
A internal CIA review in 2011 cleared U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice to head the agency, Gina Haspel, of wrongdoing in the destruction of videotapes depicting the harsh interrogation of an al Qaeda suspect, according to a memorandum that the CIA declassified and released on Friday. The spy agency released the memo in response to demands by U.S. lawmakers for more details on Haspel’s career and as part of its effort to bolster her nomination. Haspel’s bid to be the first woman CIA...
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Friday, April 20, 2018
Protests in Nicaragua over changes to social security have led to the deaths of at least three people, including a police officer, the Red Cross said Friday, heaping pressure on the leftist government of President Daniel Ortega. Nicaraguans have been protesting for three straight days against government changes to social security, signed into law earlier this week, that increase worker contributions and lower pensions. On Thursday, the police officer...
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Friday, April 20, 2018
As Iraq approaches an important election to choose a new parliament and government, the Islamic State terror group has vowed to carry out attacks against candidates running for office. Referencing the Jordanian radical Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's 2005 call for a "bitter war" on Iraq's parliamentary elections at the time, the group said Friday that candidates and voters who participated in the elections would be considered infidels and outside Islam. "Candidates in...
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