By Jim Malone Washington 15 February 2008 In the U.S. presidential race, Democrat Barack Obama continues to build momentum in the party nomination battle with rival Hillary Clinton. On the Republican side, John McCain is hoping some high-profile endo...
By Deborah Tate Capitol Hill 15 February 2008 The U.S. Congress has begun a 12-day recess without meeting President Bush's demand to renew a warrantless wiretap law set to expire on Saturday. President Bush is appealing to lawmakers to act when they...
By Peter Heinlein Mekele, Ethiopia 15 February 2008 The United Nations is halting peacekeeping operations in Eritrea, and closing its mission headquarters in Asmara. The pullout comes two months after the Eritrean government cut off vital fuel suppli...
By Meredith Buel Rawalpindi 15 February 2008 Voters in Pakistan go to the polls Monday in one of the most crucial elections in the South Asian nation's 60-year history. The elections to four provincial assemblies and the lower house of Parliament com...
By Peta Thornycroft Harare 15 February 2008 President Robert Mugabe is now officially the ZANU-PF candidate for the presidential poll on March 29. Peta Thornycroft in Harare reports for VOA, he and two others: opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and...
By Zulima Palacio Bogota 15 February 2008 Colombian and American officials say nearly half of the cocaine produced in Colombia is shipped through Venezuela and mostly goes to Europe. Producer Zulima Palacio traveled to Colombia to examine the drug tr...
By Paul Sisco Washington, DC 15 February 2008 Scientists have started analyzing data and images acquired when the Messenger space probe passed within 200 kilometers of the planet Mercury last month. It was the first flyby of the solar system's inner-...
By Nico Colombant Dakar 15 February 2008 President Bush is scheduled to make his first stop on his Africa tour in the small West African country of Benin. A brief airport meeting is planned Saturday with his counterpart Boni Yayi, to discuss aid and...
By Melinda Smith Washington, DC 15 February 2008 Obesity is becoming a worldwide problem, even in developing countries. But diet drinks and food prepared with sugar substitutes do not seem to help curb people's appetites. Now a new study may provide...
By Robert Raffaele Washington, DC 15 February 2008 Change in Afghanistan is not coming fast enough for many U.S. lawmakers. Frustration is growing in Congress about Afghanistan's booming opium trade, the resurgence of the Taliban and what some say is...
By Robert Berger Jerusalem 15 February 2008 There is growing public pressure on the Israeli government to send the army into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. But as Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, the government fears the consequences....
By Scott Bobb Nairobi 15 February 2008 The chief mediator in the Kenya reconciliation talks, Kofi Annan, says difficult steps remain before the government and opposition can reach a settlement to end the crisis over December's disputed elections, but...
By Phil Mercer Sydney 15 February 2008 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says rogue elements will not be allowed to derail democracy in East Timor. Mr. Rudd is visiting the country following this week's assassination attempts on the country's pres...
By Deborah Block Baghdad 15 February 2008 Thousands of people who fled Iraq because of sectarian violence, after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, have been returning in recent months. But the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says 2.5 million pe...
By Deborah Tate Washington 15 February 2008 The chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is to meet with his House counterpart Friday to try to resolve the political standoff over legislation to overhaul wiretapping legislation before curre...
