U.S. President George Bush has signed legislation expanding the government's surveillance powers. VOA's Paula Wolfson reports from the White House the measure also protects telecommunication companies from lawsuits stemming from assistance they prov...
U.S. commanders in Iraq are concerned that Shiite insurgents are using a new type of high-powered homemade weapon that uses rockets made in Iran and elsewhere. In the most recent attack, on Tuesday in northeastern Baghdad, an Iraqi soldier and a U.S...
Delegates from Zimbabwe's main political parties are meeting in Pretoria, South Africa to discuss future negotiations toward ending the crisis in Zimbabwe. VOA's Delia Robertson reports from our southern Africa bureau in Johannesburg. Zimbabwe's Pre...
Pakistan's government has reached a new peace agreement aimed at stopping a militant group from threatening the northwestern city Peshawar. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad on the latest in a series of controversial agreements that critic...
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is appealing for $72.5 million to support a three-year emergency and recovery program for victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma. The Red Cross says hundreds of thousands of poor peopl...
This week's summit of advanced economy leaders in Japan produced first steps toward a global climate agreement. However, it also spotlighted gaps on the issue both between rich and poor nations and between the world's biggest polluters and several n...
He made his fortune in oil, but energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens has now embarked on a national public relations campaign to move the country away from oil and towards a renewable energy future. But, as VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, many ene...
Senator Ted Kennedy, battling brain cancer, surprised Senate colleagues Wednesday when he returned to the chamber to cast a decisive vote on government health care legislation for the elderly and disabled, known as Medicare. His vote was key to pass...
At least 15 would be migrants, many of them young children, have died off the coast of Spain in an attempt to reach Europe from Africa in a small boat. The incident is the second this week in which would-be migrants to Spain have perished, and comes...
The U.S. envoy to six nation talks on disarming nuclear North Korea has said they reached agreement on the principles for verifying Pyongyang's denuclarization. However, the envoy, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, says negotiators...
Thailand's foreign minister has announced his resignation from the government just days after a court ruling said he had violated the constitution by signing a communiqu with Cambodia without parliamentary approval. As Ron Corben reports from Bangko...
Afghanistan and Pakistan are urging each other to do more to stop terrorism, blaming each other for violence in their countries during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. From United Nation's headquarters in New York, VOA's Margaret...
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Wednesday's Iranian missile tests provide further evidence of the need for a European missile defense system, but he says the tests do not make military confrontation with Iran any more likely. VOA's Al Pessi...
There has been wide-ranging debate in Washington and the Middle East recently regarding the possibility of a military attack on Iran's nuclear program. The war of words between the United States, Israel and Iran has escalated and has military and po...
A U.S. general formerly in charge of training Iraq's army and police forces since 2007 says they will require long-term assistance from the United States. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill, where lawmakers on the House Armed Services Comm...