UNHCR reports at least 52 Somalis died when the boat smuggling them across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen broke down, leaving them adrift with no food or water for 18 days. The UNHCR says this latest tragedy coincides with a recent upsurge in people smug...
The Italian government confirmed the release of a group of 19 Europeans and Egyptians who were kidnapped more than a week ago during a desert safari in Egypt. Among them were five Italians. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome. European tourists, w...
The global trade in precious stones is a multi-billion dollar business. It touches the lives of people in the mines of South Africa, stone cutters of India, and countless others around the world. These precious gems adorn, kings, queens, movie stars...
A gem stone plucked from the earth, the sea, or riverbed, often travels across continents to cutting and polishing workshops; and those are increasingly found in India. Far away, the Belgian city of Antwerp is still king in diamond trading. In these...
The last unions holding out against a deal to salvage ailing Italian carrier Alitalia have agreed to the project. But the unions, which represent mostly flight attendants, said this is no cause for celebration. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome....
Jews in Israel and around the world are observing Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem. An Ultra-Orthodox Jew prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, before start the holiday of Rosh H...
U.S. President George Bush is urging Congress to move quickly to pass the $700 billion financial rescue package unveiled Sunday. VOA White House Correspondent Paula Wolfson reports Mr. Bush says it is an extraordinary agreement to deal with an extra...
The ocean is our planet's life-support system, but it's getting clogged with trash. Discarded beverage bottles, plastic bags and cigarette butts kill countless seabirds, marine mammals and sea turtles each year. But each September, on the third Satu...
Gems come in all sizes, colors and shapes, but they have one thing in common, they shine and sparkle as they catch the light, dazzling the beholder. But, this is not how they start out. Gem stones are forged deep in the earth and, in the rough, appe...
Precious stones and metals have long held an attraction, sometimes a fatal one. The gem trade is a multi-billion dollar business, and precious stones are a highly prized commodity. This has helped some countries develop into success stories and has...
They are hacked out of the earth, cut, polished and bought and sold along the way -- to finally be shown in all their glory. Gems, these tiny bits of mineral formations from the mines of South Africa, Burma, Brazil, Colombia, Russia or Canada eventu...
The annual monsoon rains have unleashed flooding in several parts of India, killing nearly 1,500 people and leaving millions of others homeless. The worst affected region is the eastern state, Bihar, where a river burst its embankment, last month, a...
Opposition candidates failed to win any of the seats up for grabs in Belarus' parliament elections, in a closely watched race. Preliminary results, announced early Monday, show the opposition candidates did not succeed in garnering any of the 110 pa...
Four months before the Bush administration leaves office in January, Defense Secretary Robert Gates laid out his vision for U.S. military strategy on Monday, saying the Pentagon needs to strike a balance between conventional capabilities and the abi...
The U.S. Navy says more American warships have been sent to the east coast of Somalia, where a vessel carrying more than 30 tanks and other military equipment is being held by pirates. As VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bur...
