Headlines
The jail terms handed down to the two civil society leaders and to seven other senior Catalan officials resulted from the vague definition of the crime of sedition in the Spain’s Criminal Code, and an overly broad and dangerous interpretation of this definition by the Supreme Court
In southern Kyrgyzstan, entire regions live off illegal coal mining. The work is dangerous. Six miners died in an accident in October. But locals say there is no other work for the region’s men
Six members of a traditional satirical group received a second prison sentence Monday from a Yangon-based court for mocking Myanmar’s military in a performance earlier this year during the country’s annual New Year’s celebration, the defendants and their lawyer said
Nigeria’s decision to close land border trade to stop smuggling is affecting regional trade and prices of goods being forced through already bogged-down water ports. Nigeria’s neighbors argue it’s against the principles of free trade but Nigerian rice farmers have welcomed the move to support local industry. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja~VOA NEWS
The Ukrainian journalist Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed in Russia for reporting on the country’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were among those honored at the recent Magnitsky Awards ceremony in London
While 59 other countries have elected female heads of state, the United States has yet to shatter what former Democratic nominee for president Hillary Clinton called the “highest, hardest glass ceiling.” Clinton’s loss to President Donald Trump in 2016 may have blazed a trail for five female candidates currently running for president in 2020, but as VOA’s Brian Padden reports it also reinforced doubts that a woman can be elected to the nation’s highest office
People in the Serbian city of Bor have been protesting over dangerous levels of pollution linked to a nearby mining and smelting complex. Environmentalists say the problem has worsened dramatically since a Chinese company took over the mining operation last year
Dozens of student protesters in Hong Kong made frantic efforts Monday to escape a university that has been surrounded by riot police, as the campus siege entered a second day
Almost 70% of India’s apple supply comes from the federally administered regions of Jammu & Kashmir. But the lockdown of the region since August has badly hurt the industry
The Women’s Self-Defense Forces recently opened its first academy in northeastern Syria with the aim of providing military and ideological training to female fighters who voluntarily join the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces