African leaders have elected South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the new head of the African Union – the first woman and the first South African to hold that post. Dlamini-Zuma defeated incumbent Jean Ping at the AU summit Sunday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after four rounds of voting. She is the ex-wife […]
Clinton Offers Aid to Egypt’s Feuding Civilian, Military Leaders
Posted July 15th, 2012 at 6:20 pm (UTC-5)
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Tel Aviv after ending two days of talks with Egypt’s quarreling civilian and military leaders. She offered them U.S. assistance for the struggling Egyptian economy without publicly taking sides in their ongoing power struggle. A U.S. State Department official said Clinton discussed U.S. aid proposals at a […]
Clinton Stresses Rights, Promises Economic Aid During Egypt Visit
Posted July 15th, 2012 at 5:10 pm (UTC-5)
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Tel Aviv after spending two days in Egypt, pledging U.S. economic aid to its struggling young government. Clinton held talks Sunday with Egyptian military chief Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Aides say he told Clinton that reviving the economy is his country’s priority. Clinton stressed the importance […]
Aid Group Describes Desperate Scenes in North Korea
Posted July 6th, 2012 at 8:35 pm (UTC-5)
A Danish aid group is getting a rare look at the food situation in North Korea, and it says the conditions there are desperate. The managing director of the group Mission East, Kim Hartzner, told VOA Friday that during the past week he oversaw the distribution of food aid in the city of Haeju , […]
US Job Growth Weak in June
Posted July 6th, 2012 at 11:25 am (UTC-5)
The sluggish U.S. labor market added just 80,000 new jobs in June, as the country’s jobless rate stayed at 8.2 percent. Some economists had projected that the American jobs market might regain more strength. But the government reported Friday that the American economy has now added an average of only 75,000 jobs a month over […]
Uighurs: China’s Xinjiang a ‘Police State’ 3 Years After Riots
Posted July 5th, 2012 at 4:35 pm (UTC-5)
An exiled Uighur group says Chinese authorities have turned the northwestern region of Xinjiang into a “police state,” three years after the outbreak of deadly riots between ethnic Uighurs and settlers of China’s Han majority. A Washington-based spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, Alim Seytoff, Thursday said Xinjiang security forces have intensified street patrols of […]
US Puts Sanctions on 6 for al-Shabab Support
Posted July 5th, 2012 at 1:55 pm (UTC-5)
The United States has placed financial sanctions on two Eritrean officials and four other East Africans it accuses of supporting Somali militant group al-Shabab. The Treasury Department designated the six men on Thursday under a 2010 presidential order that allows the government to freeze property of individuals contributing to the conflict in Somalia. The Eritreans […]
Zimbabwe Bank Chief: Don’t Indigenize Foreign Banks
Posted July 5th, 2012 at 8:45 am (UTC-5)
The head of Zimbabwe’s central bank has warned the government against its plan to make foreign banks give up majority shares in their local operations. A government notice published this week said foreign banks and other firms have one year to transfer a 51 percent stake to black Zimbabweans. In a statement Wednesday, Gideon Gono […]
Romanian Lawmakers Move to Impeach President
Posted July 5th, 2012 at 7:25 am (UTC-5)
A coalition of Romanian lawmakers is moving to try to impeach President Traian Basescu as part of a power struggle with the country’s prime minister. The coalition’s action is the latest move in a month-long campaign of attacks by Prime Minister Victor Ponta against President Basescu. Lawmakers from the three-party Liberal Social Union , including […]
Syrian Opposition Meeting Ends in Chaos
Posted July 3rd, 2012 at 11:00 pm (UTC-5)
An Arab League-sponsored conference in Cairo aimed at uniting the fractured Syrian opposition ended in chaos Tuesday when the Kurdish delegation stormed out. Some witnesses report fistfights and loud arguments. The Kurds complained that they are being marginalized as the opposition tries to unite in preparation for a post-Assad Syria. The delegates did issue a […]
