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 [...]
Tag: USA
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
Governor calls for suspension over drum major’s hazing death
Florida‘s governor wants the president of Florida AM University suspended amid multiple investigations spurred by a drum major’s death. Republican Rick Scott called the chairman of the FAMU board on Thursday and asked him to suspend James Ammons immediately. The board met last week and discussed suspending Ammons, but instead voted to publicly reprimand him. [...]
December 16, 2011
Sopa battle hots up as US Congress debates piracy bill
Hollywood’s most powerful executives and Silicon Valley’s billionaires have been glued to the goings-on in a frills-free Washington committee room. At the cost of thousands of dollars an hour, their army of lobbyists and lawyers spent much of Thursday watching a young woman reading – as fast as she could – a bill that has [...]