Voice of America

One of the challenges of fighting HIV around the world is the difficulty of reaching those at risk. A new study from South Africa indicates that the homosexual community is at increased risk for HIV, and that widespread homophobia may keep these men from receiving the information and care that they need. Gay men in Africa face extreme homophobia and violence within their communities, and in many African nations, men who have sex with other men may be imprisoned, or even sentenced to death. ...

The U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights has strongly criticized Turkey's crackdown on anti-government protests, joining the European Union in condemning the police response.  But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hit back, defending the security forces and questioning the democratic legitimacy of his European critics.  After weeks of anti-government demonstrations in cities across Turkey, there was a moment of quiet as demonstrators staged silent protests.  In ...

The U.S. space agency says its proposed asteroid capture mission takes several of NASA's ongoing initiatives and aligns them for one major mission.   These chunks of ancient space rocks hold clues about the formation of the universe, pose threats to our planet, and present new territory for explorers. NASA's proposed asteroid mission is a logical next leap for the space agency, says associate administrator for human exploration and operations Bill Gerstenmaier. "It ...

U.S. President Barack Obama is in Berlin, where he will speak Wednesday at the historic Brandenburg Gate and meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  The president arrived in Berlin after two days at the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland, where the leaders focused much of their attention on efforts to end the bloody conflict in Syria. Obama and six other world leaders pressured Russian President Vladimir Putin to back away from his support of Syrian President Bashar ...

The U.S. military says that within three years, it will put women in key combat positions from which they once were excluded. Officials from all four branches of the U.S. military gathered at the Pentagon Tuesday to announce a timeline for changes to regulations banning women from more than 200,000 positions. A senior Pentagon official at the gathering, Juliet Beyler, called the announcement a milestone. She said the Pentagon's goal is to ensure the U.S. military mission is met with the ...

A Chinese government official is facing accusations of supporting a mistress with extravagant spending beyond his modest salary, in the latest sex scandal to hit the ruling Communist Party.   The scandal erupted Friday, when a 25-year-old female presenter for Chinese state television announced on her blog that she had a four-year affair with the deputy director of China's state archives, Fan Yue.   The presenter, Ji Yingnan, granted an exclusive television interview to VOA in ...

President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday sought to defuse a massive protest movement sweeping Brazil, acknowledging the need for better public services and more responsive governance as demonstrations continued in some cities around the country.   Speaking the morning after more than 200,000 Brazilians marched in over a half-dozen cities, Rousseff said her government remains committed to social change and is listening attentively to the many grievances expressed at the demonstrations.   ...

U.S. President Barack Obama says Ben Bernanke has done an "outstanding" job leading the central bank and coping with the worst recession in decades.  But some analysts say Obama is likely to appoint someone else to head the Federal Reserve in a few months. analysts have mixed opinions about Bernanke's efforts. President Obama praised Ben Bernanke during a recent television interview, but did not really answer when asked if Bernanke will be reappointed as chairman of the ...

The U.S. military says that within the next three years, it will put women in key combat roles from which they were previously excluded.  American women have been serving in combat roles and hundreds have been killed on the front lines for years, but they have been excluded from key positions in areas including Special Operations and infantry. In January, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced changes to regulations banning women from 237,000 positions.   On Tuesday, ...

Turkish anti-government demonstrators adopted a new type of protest Tuesday - silence. Hundreds of people joined performance artist Erdem Gunduz, who stood still and silent in Istanbul's Taksim Square for hours. Demonstrations in Istanbul and Ankara have for weeks been marked by violence, with police using tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators throwing rocks and gasoline bombs. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told parliament Tuesday that Turkish police ...

U.S. President Barack Obama is visiting Berlin this week, where he will speak at the historic Brandenburg Gate. The gate is not just one of Germany's emblematic symbols; it also chronicles the recent history of the European relationship with the United States. It has been the backdrop of U.S. presidential speeches in Germany for decades. The Brandenburg Gate is one of Berlin's most famous landmarks.  Built in the late 1700s as a monument to peace, Germany's fall in World ...

The court-martial of the U.S. soldier accused of providing reams of classified documents to WikiLeaks in a case illustrating the challenge of keeping secrets in the digital age must decide whether tweets and Web pages can be admitted as evidence.   Lawyers for Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, who is accused with providing more than 700,000 files to the anti-secrecy website in the biggest breach of classified U.S. data in the nation's history, argued on Tuesday that Twitter ...

Earlier this year, the U.S. postal service revealed plans for a new stamp set called Music Icons. The series shines the spotlight on three American originals. The first issue in the Music Icon series honored Lydia Mendoza, a pioneer of Tejano music, the style that comes from the Texas-Mexico border area. Lydia Mendoza was 18 years old when she walked into a San Antonio studio and recorded “Mal Hombre” or “Evil Man” in 1934. Known as the “Lark of the Border,” she continued performing into ...

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has ruled that Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto, must attend key segments of his trial on charges of crimes against humanity scheduled to begin in September, according to a court spokesman. Ruto and Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta face similar charges before the court in connection with their alleged role in the country’s 2007-2008 post-election violence. “The trial chamber has decided to grant the excusal from being present at the trial, except ...

In June, Japan made a five-year commitment of $32 billion dollars in public and private funding to Africa.  It will be used in areas prioritized as necessary for growth by the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (or TICAD).  Japan’s new pledge is nearly four times larger than its last commitment to the group. The plan of action is ambitious. Japanese funds will help in a number of areas, including trade, infrastructure, private sector development, health ...

Humanitarian agencies in Africa's Sahel region are struggling to deal with a cycle of chronic food crisis. Some are moving away from traditional food aid in favor of "cash for work" programs that pay villagers to work on community improvement projects. The U.S. government is considering shifting as much as 45 percent of its $1.4 billion of traditional food aid in this direction. One such program, funded by the USAID Food for Peace Initiative, has been underway for the past seven ...

Greece has avoided the uncertainty of an early election but the standoff over the state broadcaster's closure has weakened the prime minister and deepened mistrust in his fractious coalition.   A court ordered the ERT broadcaster back on air late on Monday as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his partners moved towards a compromise, ending a six-day impasse and easing fears of snap polls that would have plunged Greece into a new crisis.   Greeks and investors breathed a sigh of ...

Russia is steeply ramping up oil deliveries to China, with Asia now importing almost a fifth of oil exports from the world's largest crude producer in a strategic shift meant by the Kremlin to end reliance on weak and saturated European markets.   Russia will increase oil supplies to China by 13 percent in July-September from the previous three months, a shipping schedule obtained by Reuters showed on Tuesday.   Together with supplies to the Pacific port of Kozmino, Russia will ...

A senior United Nations diplomat says Libya continues to face a difficult transition from the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, whose 42-year rule ended in 2011. Tarek Mitri, the United Nations special representative for Libya, told the U.N. Security Council the risks in Libya should not be underestimated. But he added that the opportunities in that country should not be overlooked. Mitri, the Lebanese-born head of the U.N. Support Mission in Libya, said the Libyan elections last year to the ...

Work intensified on Tuesday to revamp the U.S. immigration system, but gaps widened between the Democratic-led Senate and Republican-led House of Representatives over what proposed changes should become law.   The net effect was to raise further doubts about the prospects for both houses approving a comprehensive measure that would grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants.   House Speaker John Boehner made a surprise announcement in telling reporters that he would ...