The writer, journalist and contrarian Christopher Hitchens has died at the age of 62 after crossing the border into the “land of malady” on being diagnosed with an oesophageal cancer in June 2010. Vanity Fair, for which he had written since 1992 and was made contributing editor, marked his death in a memorial article posted [...]
Archives: December 2011
December 16, 2011
December 16, 2011
December 16, 2011
December 16, 2011
‘The Artist’ Leads Golden Globes Nominations
A French film that pays tribute to the silent movie era leads in nominations for the Golden Globes, a high-profile Hollywood award that recognizes the year’s best achievements in film and television. The Artist, a silent movie shot in black and white, received six nominations. They are Best Comedy or Musical, Best Actor for a [...]
December 16, 2011
Gingrich Leads Republican Presidential Race Polls
In less than three weeks, Republican voters in the Midwestern state of Iowa will attend caucus meetings to express their preference in the race for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Iowa will be the first test in what could be a lengthy battle for the party nomination that at the moment appears to be between [...]
December 16, 2011
Burma’s Year of Change Raises Hopes
Burma’s military-backed, but nominally civilian, government has surprised critics with its political and economic reforms this past year. The liberal moves resulted in a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December. During her trip, VOA’s Daniel Schearf spoke with residents of the main city, Rangoon, about what they think of the changes, [...]
December 16, 2011
Istanbul Working to Make Mosques More Female-Friendly
InTurkey’s largest city, a revolution is occurring in its mosques. A project has been launched to make the mosques female friendly. But the initiative is not without controversy. Kadriye Avci Erdemli is talking with one of Istanbul’s Imams over the state of the women’s section of his mosque. The small area is filthy and cramped. [...]
December 16, 2011
South Sudanese President Says Country Open for Business
South Sudan became an independent nation in July, and it’s looking for business. An international conference in Washington Wednesday and Thursday is focusing on the new country in Africa and featuring speeches from President Salva Kiir and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But a South Sudanese American living in Washington says there’s much more [...]
December 16, 2011
Fermilab Scientists Optimistic About Finding Higgs Boson Particle
Scientists at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland say they are encouraged by new data suggesting their Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful atom-smasher, is one step closer to finding an elusive sub-atomic particle known as the Higgs boson. The so-called “God particle” was the object of a three-decades-long search by particle physicists at [...]
December 16, 2011
Hit South Korean Podcast Sparks Controversy
A South Korean online radio show is one of the most downloaded programs on the Internet. It is a political satire that makes fun of President Lee Myung bak and criticizes many of his policies. But some observers say it crosses the line between comedy and conspiracy. From Seoul, reporter Jason Strother tells us more [...]
December 16, 2011
Nobel Winner Says Yemen Could Face Civil War
Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman of Yemen says her country could be pushed into a civil war unless the West stops supporting the current transition and takes strong legal and financial action against President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Karman met with Britain’s foreign secretary and other senior officials on Thursday. Karman says she told Foreign [...]
December 16, 2011
Hopes Rise for UN Action on Syria
Russia Thursday proposed a new draft resolution condemning the violence in Syria, giving rise to hopes the U.N. Security Council will end its relative silence on the nine month crackdown on protestors. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the United States is ready to work with Moscow on the proposal. Officials here say the Russian [...]
December 16, 2011
Google moves to delete fraud apps
14 December 2011 Last updated at 12:41 GMT Google’s Android platform is used on a large number of smartphones and tablet devices Google has removed 22 applications from its Android Market after they were discovered to contain fraudulent software. Apps posing as popular third-party software such as Angry Birds tricked users into sending premium text [...]
December 16, 2011
US factory prices up in November
15 December 2011 Last updated at 15:37 GMT Average car prices rose in November US producer prices rose by more than expected in November, according to data from the US Labor Department. The prices firms pay for goods from factories rose 0.3%, against a 0.3% fall in October, and higher than a 0.2% rise that [...]