Voice of America

03/16/2025

Britain’s leader encouraged his global counterparts to continue pushing for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine at the start of a virtual meeting Saturday intended to end the fighting between the two countries.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a virtual meeting of mostly European leaders that “sooner or later” Russia would have to engage in talks on reaching a ceasefire in the three-year conflict.

He addressed the group, described as a “coalition of the willing,” of mostly European leaders as well as those from Australia, New Zealand and Canada but not the United States.

“Sooner or later, he’s going to have to come to the table,” Starmer said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

https://www.voanews.com/a/starmer-sooner-or-later-russia-must-yield-to-peace/8011681.html

03/16/2025

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday that South Africa's ambassador to Washington had been declared persona non grata, signaling worsening relations between the two countries.

In a post on X, Rubio said South Africa's ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, was "no longer welcome in our great country."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Ebrahim Rasool is 'no longer welcome in our great country'

03/16/2025

Cuba’s power grid failed Friday night, leaving millions of the island nation’s 10 million residents in the dark.

The outage, which began around 8 p.m. Eastern time, affected most of western Cuba, including the capital of Havana.

Cuba has struggled with blackouts in recent months, including a nationwide one in December. Friday’s power failure was the fourth widespread one in five months. Government officials blame U.S. economic sanctions for the ongoing crisis, while others point to aging infrastructure, fuel shortages and the island’s susceptibility to hurricanes.

Vicente de la O Levy, Cuba's minister of energy and mines, said on X Friday night that the country was making progress in restoring electricity. He gave no reason for the power grid’s crash apart from saying it started at the Diezmero substation, which then caused the National Electric System to fail.

03/16/2025

The replacement crew for the International Space Station was launched late Friday, paving the way for the return home of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two NASA astronauts stuck on the space station for nine months.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7:03 p.m. from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying Crew-10 members: NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. The crew is part of a routine six-month rotation.

Crew-10 and the Dragon spacecraft are expected to reach the space station around 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Returning to Earth alongside Wilmore and Williams will be NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Their return is scheduled for Wednesday, to allow for an overlap of the two crews to brief the new team.

The two have been stuck in space for nine months

03/16/2025

A U.S. federal appeals court Friday lifted a block on the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, pausing a lower court ruling blocking enforcement of a series of presidential executive orders halting support of DEI initiatives.

The three-judge panel on the Fourth Circuit of Appeals, in Richmond, Virginia, found that the directives by President Donald Trump were likely constitutional, disagreeing with a ruling in February by a federal judge in Maryland.

The judges are allowing the Trump administration to implement the policy while they consider a final decision on the constitutionality of the orders.

Administration contends it’s fighting unlawful discrimination

03/15/2025

A Friday report by the United Nations says Iran is using advanced technology, including drones, facial recognition and a citizen-reporting app to crack down on violations of its mandatory hijab laws.

A key element of the effort is the government-backed Nazer app, which enables the police and "vetted" members of the public to report alleged violations by women in vehicles, including those in ambulances, mass transit and taxis.

The report describes the app as allowing users to upload the vehicle license plate, location and time of an alleged violation. It then, according to the report, alerts police. Then, according to the report, the app "triggers a text message (in real-time) to the registered owner of the vehicle, warning them that they had been found in violation of the mandatory hijab laws, and that their vehicles would be impounded for ignoring these warnings."

Other tools include facial recognition, app

03/15/2025

One of the Islamic State terror group's most senior leaders is dead, killed in what U.S. and Iraqi officials describe as a joint operation.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani was first to share word of the successful counterterrorism strike, announcing on social media Friday that the country's intelligence service "successfully eliminated" IS deputy caliph Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rufay'i.

Sudani, posting on X, called the death a "significant security achievement."

https://www.voanews.com/a/iraq-says-key-islamic-state-leader-is-dead/8011115.html

03/15/2025

U.S. weather forecasters warned of the threat of tornados in multiple states this weekend following at least five twisters in the state of Missouri on Friday.

Friday's storms left some 100,000 buildings without power as severe weather continued into the night.

The tornado risk was expected to continue into the weekend in a slew of states including Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. AccuWeather predicted the storm risk to peak from Saturday afternoon to Saturday night.

The National Weather Service warned of heavy thunderstorms from the Midwest to the Mississippi Valley, bringing with them the chance of flash flooding, power outages, downed trees and travel disruptions.

https://www.voanews.com/a/forecasters-warn-of-tornadoes-in-us-in-coming-days/8011541.html

03/15/2025

The U.S. Department of Defense released photos showing F-15 fighter jets in action, Friday.

https://www.voanews.com/a/iraq-says-key-islamic-state-leader-is-dead/8011115.html

03/15/2025

NASA releases photos of Friday’s lunar eclipse

https://www.voanews.com/a/total-lunar-eclipse-to-be-visible-from-western-hemisphere-on-thursday/8009036.html

03/15/2025

Syria’s newly adopted constitution is facing criticism from legal experts and political groups arguing that its loopholes could deepen division and instability in the conflict-ridden country.

Three months after the fall of former President Bashar Assad’s government, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a constitutional declaration Thursday that will serve as Syria’s constitution during the five-year transitional period.

Al-Sharaa — leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that spearheaded the offensive against Assad’s leadership in December 2024 — said following the signing ceremony that he hoped the document would mark “the beginning of a new history for Syria, where oppression is replaced by justice, destruction by construction, ignorance by education and torture by mercy.”

The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration in north and east Syria, a de facto civilian authority affiliated with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that controls nearly one-third of Syria’s territory, was the first to reject the constitution, calling it exclusionary.

https://www.voanews.com/a/analysts-see-flaws-in-syria-s-temporary-constitution/8011117.html

03/15/2025

When Naveeda Khoshbo published her book of political analysis in 2019, she received widespread praise and recognition.

For many, "it was the first time that they were reading a book written by a young woman," she said.

So, when she received a text message from a friend and fellow journalist in November 2024, telling her the Taliban had banned her book, she was shocked.

Published by the Peace Publish Center in Kabul, her book covers political events and processes from 2001 to 2019. But last year it was included in a list circulated on social media of more than 400 books banned by the Taliban.

The list covers a range of topics: democracy, the arts, literature, poetry, history, religion, governance, rights and freedoms.

https://www.voanews.com/a/author-says-ban-on-her-book-reflects-taliban-s-repression-of-women/8011004.html