World

  FILE - Salman Rushdie poses for a portrait to promote his book 'Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder' at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, May 16, 2024. NEW DELHI — The decadeslong ban of Salman Rushdie\'s The Satanic Verses in his native India is now in doubt — not because of a change of heart more than two years after the author\'s near-fatal stabbing, but because of what amounts to some missing paperwork. Earlier this week, a court in New Delhi closed proceedings on a petition filed five years ago that challenged the then-government\'s decision to ban the import of the novel, which enraged Muslims worldwide because of its alleged blasphemy, just days after its 1988 publication. In a ruling issued Tuesday, according ...

  BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — A 31-year-old American tourist was killed while on vacation in Hungary’s capital, and the suspect, a 37-year-old Irish man, has been arrested, Hungarian police said Saturday. The victim, Mackenzie Michalski of Portland, Oregon, was reported missing on November 5 after she was last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest. Police launched a missing person investigation and reviewed security footage from local nightclubs, on which they observed Michalski with a man later identified as the suspect in several of the clubs the night of her disappearance. Police detained the man, an Irish citizen, on the evening of November 7. Investigators said that Michalski and the suspect met at a nightclub and danced before leaving for ...

  In this photo taken from video, Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley, who was born in Kenya and immigrated with her family to the United States, speaks at the Minnesota State Capitol on Nov. 8, 2024, about her election as the first Kenya-born member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley made history November 5 by becoming the first Kenyan-born immigrant elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives. She describes her victory as a testament to resilience, determination and the realization of the American dream. Standing in the State Capitol for the first time on the morning of her orientation, Hiltsley told VOA she was overwhelmed with emotions and eager to start her journey as an elected offi...

  FILE - Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas speaks during a press conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sept. 26, 2024. Kasciunas urged Europe on Nov. 9, 2024, to find common interests with which it can cooperate with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. PRAGUE — European nations should not repeat the mistake of creating a barrier between them and President-elect Donald Trump but instead cooperate on issues of common interest, Lithuania’s defense minister said Saturday. Assuming that Trump will again apply what Laurynas Kasciunas called “his contract approach to our relations,” Kasciunas outlined areas where Europe and the new president could join forces: more investment in defense, European acquisition of American weapons and co...

  FILE - Residential buildings stand in front of the "Brienzer Rutsch" the rockfall danger zone in Brienz, Switzerland, on May 12, 2023. GENEVA — Authorities in eastern Switzerland on Saturday ordered residents of a tiny village to prepare to evacuate as an Alpine rockslide looming overhead threatened to break loose and spill down on their homes. It was the second time that residents of Brienz received evacuation orders, after a similar threat last summer. Local officials said in a statement to villagers that “high above Brienz, the top part of the uppermost part of the rubble pile has accelerated considerably. It cannot be ruled out that up to 1.2 million cubic meters of rock debris will be moving down the valley in a stream of...

  Rome unveils a pool to collect tourists' coins and wishes as the Trevi Fountain undergoes maintenance work, October 31, 2024. ROME — Tourists in Rome won’t be allowed to toss coins over their shoulders into the Trevi Fountain, following tradition, although an elevated walkway now gives limited access to the monument during maintenance work. Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri inaugurated the steel walkway Saturday, saying it will provide tourists with a close-up view of the fountain and calling it a “unique experience” that won’t be ruined by overcrowding. The walkway over the fountain’s basin will be able to accommodate about 130 people at a time. But tourists won’t be allowed to toss coins from there, as the fountain is currently draine...

  Masih Alinejad, 48, a prominent Iranian American human rights activist, poses for a photo during an interview with The Associated Press in Berlin on Nov. 9, 2024. BERLIN — In the middle of a Berlin hotel cafe, Masih Alinejad raises her voice and starts singing at the top of her lungs in Farsi, as waiters and her three German government bodyguards turn to watch. “I blossom through my wounds and my scars,” she translates the lyrics as. “Because I am a woman. I am a woman. I am a woman.” Alinejad was expressing her defiance and asserting her right to express herself following the news of Iranian murder-for-hire plots to kill her and Donald Trump that were disclosed by the U.S. Justice Department. She said that some Iranian women had been j...

  FILE - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Qataran Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in Doha on Oct. 24, 2024. Qatar will end its efforts to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, sources said on Nov. 9, 2024. DOHA, QATAR — Qatar will stop trying to mediate a Gaza cease-fire deal until Hamas and Israel show a "sincere willingness" to return to the negotiating table, an official briefed on the matter told Reuters on Saturday, in the biggest setback to efforts to reach a truce since the war began. The Gulf country has also concluded that Hamas\' political office in Doha "no longer serves its purpose," the official added, in a blow to the Palestinian militant group whose top leaders have been assassina...

  FILE - A demonstrator holds a picture of Iranian-German Jamshid Sharmahd with the lettering "Save Sharmahd" and "German politics has to act" during a demonstration for his release in front of the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin on July 31, 2023. TEHRAN, IRAN — Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Germany of defending a "terrorist" after the death in Iran of Jamshid Sharmahd, a dual national sentenced to execution, which triggered condemnation from Berlin. Iran on October 28 announced the execution of Sharmahd, 69, but eight days later the judiciary spokesperson said Sharmahd had died before the "imminent" execution could be carried out, implying natural causes. After the initial execu...

  FILE - Mohammad Javad Zarif, now Iran's vice president for strategic affairs, pauses at the coffin of Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who was killed in a helicopter crash, on May 23, 2024, in Tehran. Zarif on Nov. 9 called on Donald Trump to reassess his stance on Iran. TEHRAN, IRAN — Iran signaled an openness toward Donald Trump Saturday, calling on the president-elect to adopt new policies toward it after Washington accused Tehran of involvement in a plot to kill him. Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif urged Trump to reassess the policy of "maximum pressure" he employed against the Islamic republic during his first term. "Trump must show that he is not following the wrong policies o...