http://www.voanews.com Voice of America is an international news and broadcast organization serving Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, the Middle East and Balkan countries http://www.voanews.com/img/voa/rssLogo_VOA.gif http://www.voanews.com en-US 2012 - VOA 60 Wed, 22 May 2013 16:43:13 -0400 Pangea CMS – VOA Fighting between Taliban militants and Afghan government forces has erupted in a highly-volatile corner of Helmand province. Afghan officials claimed victory Wednesday in southern Helmand province, saying they turned back a series of attacks by Taliban militants in Sangin. A spokesman for the provincial governor estimated the number of attackers at close to 1,000, including Arabs and Chechens linked to al-Qaida. Taliban officials also claimed victory in the Sangin offensive, telling ... http://www.voanews.com/content/fresh-clashes-conflicting-claims-in-afghanistans-helmand-province/1666197.html http://www.voanews.com/content/fresh-clashes-conflicting-claims-in-afghanistans-helmand-province/1666197.html Wed, 22 May 2013 12:35:58 -0400 Asia VOA News The official at the center of the U.S. tax collection agency's targeting of conservative groups says she did nothing wrong and has invoked her constitutional right to not answer questions from a Congressional committee. Lois Lerner, who heads the office that decides whether groups qualify for tax exemptions, invoked her right against incriminating herself Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Before refusing to answer questions, Lerner told the panel she ... http://www.voanews.com/content/official-treasury-department-had-no-role-in-irs-targeting/1666116.html http://www.voanews.com/content/official-treasury-department-had-no-role-in-irs-targeting/1666116.html Wed, 22 May 2013 11:12:27 -0400 USA VOA News A senior North Korean military official sent to China as a special envoy has met with a top Chinese official, at a time of strained relations between the two traditional allies.   Choe Ryong Hae, director of the General Political Bureau of the North Korean army, held talks in Beijing Wednesday with Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of China's Communist Party.   Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the two men planned to exchange views on the situation ... http://www.voanews.com/content/north-korean-envoy-meets-with-chinese-official-in-beijing/1666112.html http://www.voanews.com/content/north-korean-envoy-meets-with-chinese-official-in-beijing/1666112.html Wed, 22 May 2013 11:12:13 -0400 Breaking News VOA News Afghan President Hamid Karzai has given a "wish list" of military equipment to India in hopes of securing more aid before international troops leave his country next year. The Reuters news agency said Karzai presented the list to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during talks in New Delhi. An Indian website, firstpost.com, said the list included artillery, medium-lift aircraft, bridge-laying equipment and trucks. Karzai is seeking India's assistance to help strengthen ... http://www.voanews.com/content/afghan-president-asks-india-for-military-aid/1665997.html http://www.voanews.com/content/afghan-president-asks-india-for-military-aid/1665997.html Wed, 22 May 2013 09:37:26 -0400 Asia VOA News The FBI says a man being questioned in the Boston Marathon bombings probe was fatally shot when he attacked an FBI agent in Florida.   An FBI statement said the shooting occurred early Wednesday in the city of Orlando as the FBI agent and other law enforcement officers were interviewing the man.    A friend of the dead man identified him as Ibragim Todashev.  He said Todashev had lived in the Boston area before moving to Florida several months ago and knew bombing suspect ... http://www.voanews.com/content/fbi-kills-florida-man-with-suspected-ties-to-boston-bomb-suspect/1665967.html http://www.voanews.com/content/fbi-kills-florida-man-with-suspected-ties-to-boston-bomb-suspect/1665967.html Wed, 22 May 2013 09:19:04 -0400 USA VOA News British Foreign Secretary William Hague says the Syrian government is "increasingly dependent" on foreign support, marking a threat to regional security that shows the urgency of talks to find a political solution to the country's crisis. He spoke Wednesday in Amman, Jordan, where top diplomats from 11 countries in the so-called Friends of Syria group are set to discuss a proposed Syrian peace conference. Organizers want to hold those negotiations involving the Syrian ... http://www.voanews.com/content/british-top-diplomat-stresses-need-for-syria-confence/1665888.html http://www.voanews.com/content/british-top-diplomat-stresses-need-for-syria-confence/1665888.html Wed, 22 May 2013 07:45:38 -0400 Middle East VOA News Chinese rebel artist and rights activist Ai Weiwei has released a provocative new heavy rock music video that recreates his 81 days in secretive police detention. The five-minute video posted online Wednesday is full of raunchy images and symbols that will likely upset China's communist leaders, who have long viewed the dissident artist with disdain. The video depicts Ai being interrogated by police while handcuffed and covered with a black hood in a cell he says is an exact replica of ... http://www.voanews.com/content/ai-weiwei-releases-provocative-heavy-rock-music-video/1665836.html http://www.voanews.com/content/ai-weiwei-releases-provocative-heavy-rock-music-video/1665836.html Wed, 22 May 2013 04:54:02 -0400 Asia VOA News Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is speaking out in defense of a close aide whom authorities have barred from running in next month's presidential election. Iran's interior ministry said Tuesday the Guardian Council of clerics and jurists excluded Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei and former president Hashemi Rafsanjani from the list of approved candidates. Ahmadinejad described Mashaei on Wednesday as righteous, capable and beneficial for the country, and said the aide is a victim of ... http://www.voanews.com/content/ahmadinejad-criticizes-aides-election-ban/1665834.html http://www.voanews.com/content/ahmadinejad-criticizes-aides-election-ban/1665834.html Wed, 22 May 2013 04:41:50 -0400 Middle East VOA News Pakistani politician and former cricketer Imran Khan has left the hospital two weeks after he sustained injuries in a dramatic fall in Lahore. Hospital officials say the 60-year-old Khan left the hospital Wednesday and will be staying at his home in Lahore. Khan fractured several vertebrae and a rib when he fell more than four meters off a forklift at a campaign event on May 7. The accident largely knocked Khan out of the final campaigning days ahead of national elections, held May 11. He ... http://www.voanews.com/content/imran-khan-leaves-hospital/1665822.html http://www.voanews.com/content/imran-khan-leaves-hospital/1665822.html Wed, 22 May 2013 03:00:43 -0400 Asia VOA News U.S. President Barack Obama is planning a Sunday visit to Moore, Oklahoma, the city decimated by a powerful tornado that killed at least 24 people and flattened a wide swath of the community.   President Obama plans to meet with survivors of Monday's storm, as well as first responders who rescued as many as 100 children and adults buried in the rubble.   U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano traveled Wednesday to Moore to assess recovery efforts. The tornado left ... http://www.voanews.com/content/us-homeland-security-secretary-to-survey-tornado-response/1665820.html http://www.voanews.com/content/us-homeland-security-secretary-to-survey-tornado-response/1665820.html Wed, 22 May 2013 02:34:10 -0400 USA VOA News http://www.voanews.com/content/us-homeland-security-secretary-to-survey-tornado-response/1665820.html#relatedInfoContainer Authorities in Paris say a far-right French writer and activist has committed suicide in front of the altar in the city's famed Notre Dame Cathedral. Officials say 1,500 visitors were in the cathedral Tuesday when 78-year-old Dominique Venner shot himself in the head after placing a letter on the cathedral's altar. The contents of the letter were not immediately clear. However, recent posts on his blog included rants about France's recently passed same-sex marriage legislation ... http://www.voanews.com/content/suicide-at-notre-dame-in-paris/1665815.html http://www.voanews.com/content/suicide-at-notre-dame-in-paris/1665815.html Wed, 22 May 2013 01:36:53 -0400 Europe VOA News A top U.S. lawmaker who has long been a critic of Burma's former military government says he is ready to end key sanctions against the reforming Southeast Asian nation, despite lingering human rights concerns. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell made his comments Tuesday after meeting with Burmese President Thein Sein, who this week became that country's first head-of-state in nearly 50 years to visit the White House. McConnell said he would not support congressional renewal of ... http://www.voanews.com/content/time-to-end-sanctions-on-burma-mcconnell/1665813.html http://www.voanews.com/content/time-to-end-sanctions-on-burma-mcconnell/1665813.html Wed, 22 May 2013 01:33:17 -0400 Asia VOA News The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a massive immigration reform bill, voting to send it to the entire Senate for debate. Tuesday evening's vote was 13 to five. It came after one of the bill's eight sponsors, Democrat Patrick Leahy, withdrew an amendment that would have given same-sex couples the same legal protections in immigration questions as heterosexual couples. Several conservative Republicans said they would pull their support for the immigration bill if this ... http://www.voanews.com/content/us-senate-committee-approves-immigration-bill/1665775.html http://www.voanews.com/content/us-senate-committee-approves-immigration-bill/1665775.html Tue, 21 May 2013 21:21:54 -0400 USA VOA News Scientists and economists say the H7N9 bird flu outbreak in China has cost that country's poultry industry $6.5 billion, as consumers shun chicken and health officials make gains in controlling the deadly virus. The cost data, provided by China's agriculture ministry, was reported Tuesday at the World Health Assembly in Geneva. At the conference, United Nations experts warned health authorities worldwide to be on the lookout for the virus, which is known to have infected 130 people ... http://www.voanews.com/content/bird-flu-cost-in-china-set-at-63-billion-dollars/1665773.html http://www.voanews.com/content/bird-flu-cost-in-china-set-at-63-billion-dollars/1665773.html Tue, 21 May 2013 21:15:55 -0400 Asia VOA News Nigeria says it will release several Islamist suspects from prison, including the women in custody, as it seeks peace with Boko Haram extremists. The Defense Ministry said Tuesday the move is in line with what it calls "presidential magnanimity to enhance peace efforts." A panel set up by President Goodluck Jonathan is recommending the government open peace talks with Boko Haram Islamic militants.  The group is blamed for a series of deadly terrorist bombings in Nigeria, ... http://www.voanews.com/content/nigeria-to-free-all-female-islamist-suspects/1665747.html http://www.voanews.com/content/nigeria-to-free-all-female-islamist-suspects/1665747.html Tue, 21 May 2013 20:09:17 -0400 Africa VOA News Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered a shakeup of senior government security officers, as a weeks-long wave of violence grips the country and fears of all-out sectarian war spread.   The shakeup was confirmed on the prime minister's website, but details were not immediately clear. The move comes as authorities reported at least 21 deaths Tuesday in attacks that include a car bombing at a Sunni mosque that killed at least eight people and wounded about 20 ... http://www.voanews.com/content/iraqi-pm-orders-security-shakeup-as-violence-surges/1665656.html http://www.voanews.com/content/iraqi-pm-orders-security-shakeup-as-violence-surges/1665656.html Tue, 21 May 2013 16:33:15 -0400 Middle East VOA News Major League Baseball's New York Yankees and English Premier League football club Manchester City are joining together to enter an expansion team in U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS).   The new team will be named New York City Football Club and expects to begin play in 2015 as MLS's 20th franchise.   MLS Commissioner Don Garber said "this is a transformational development that will elevate the league to new heights in this country." He added that the league looks ... http://www.voanews.com/content/new-york-yankees-manchester-city-to-create-major-league-us-soccer-team/1665535.html http://www.voanews.com/content/new-york-yankees-manchester-city-to-create-major-league-us-soccer-team/1665535.html Tue, 21 May 2013 13:55:24 -0400 USA VOA News http://www.voanews.com/content/new-york-yankees-manchester-city-to-create-major-league-us-soccer-team/1665535.html#relatedInfoContainer IA conservative body in Iran has barred two prominent figures from competing in next month's presidential election: moderate former president Hashemi Rafsanjani and a leading conservative allied to current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian interior ministry said Tuesday the Guardian Council of clerics and jurists excluded the two politicians from a final list of eight candidates approved for the June 14 vote. Hundreds of people had applied to be candidates for the election. A ... http://www.voanews.com/content/iran-bars-election-candidacies-of-rafsanjani-ahmadinejad-aide/1665501.html http://www.voanews.com/content/iran-bars-election-candidacies-of-rafsanjani-ahmadinejad-aide/1665501.html Tue, 21 May 2013 13:51:21 -0400 Breaking News VOA News http://www.voanews.com/content/iran-bars-election-candidacies-of-rafsanjani-ahmadinejad-aide/1665501.html#relatedInfoContainer A new United Nations report says AIDS-related deaths in Africa are falling while the number of Africans getting treatment for the AIDS virus is on the rise. The report from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS says the number of people in Africa who receive anti-retroviral drugs increased from less than 1 million in 2005 to more than 7 million last year. It says AIDS-related deaths fell by nearly a third during that same period, and that new HIV infections are also falling. Many ... http://www.voanews.com/content/un-aids-deaths-down-treatment-up-in-africa/1665441.html http://www.voanews.com/content/un-aids-deaths-down-treatment-up-in-africa/1665441.html Tue, 21 May 2013 12:57:11 -0400 Health VOA News http://www.voanews.com/content/un-aids-deaths-down-treatment-up-in-africa/1665441.html#relatedInfoContainer Monday's deadly tornado in the central U.S. state of Oklahoma struck in an area commonly known as "Tornado Alley" - home to most of the nation's tornadoes. Tornado Alley is generally seen to span north to south from South Dakota to Texas between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, but there is no official consensus on the boundaries. The region is susceptible to tornadoes when cold, dry air moving south from Canada meets warm, moist air from the Gulf of ... http://www.voanews.com/content/deadly-us-twister-hit-tornado-alley/1665431.html http://www.voanews.com/content/deadly-us-twister-hit-tornado-alley/1665431.html Tue, 21 May 2013 12:45:49 -0400 USA VOA News http://www.voanews.com/content/deadly-us-twister-hit-tornado-alley/1665431.html#relatedInfoContainer