Zimbabwe opposition politician Tendai Biti has been denied asylum in Zambia after authorities in Zimbabwe briefly detained him as he tried to cross the border.
Human Rights Watch reported the news in a tweet on Wednesday, saying Zambia is expected to send Biti and five others back to Zimbabwe. Biti was quoted as saying, "It looks like they have made a decision to hand us back to the Junta. We are truly in God's hands."
The BBC quoted Zambia's foreign minister as saying Biti's grounds for asylum were weak. He said Biti was being kept in "safe custody" until his return to Zimbabwe.
The country's main opposition party is hopeful it will win its challenge of the recent presidential election results despite its claims that state security officials are targeting its members.
Correspondent Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare.
The spokesman for the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance, told VOA Wednesday that many of its senior officials had gone into hiding, fearing arrests or abductions since the July 30 polls official warn by the ruling Zanu-PF party.
Despite what the opposition calls an operation targeting its members, it was too hopeful to be declared their win of the election.
Columbus Mavhunga, VOA news, Harare.
The World Health Organization and Congolese medical workers began vaccinating other health workers against the deadly Ebola virus on Wednesday.
The Health Ministry says 43 people are believed to have been infected in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces, 36 of whom have died.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been charged with three counts of money laundering after money disappeared from a state fund.
Officials say he raised suspicions when $10 million was transferred to his personal account.
This is VOA news.
The U.S. is set to impose sanctions on Russia later this month for using a chemical agent.
Associated Press Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports.
The State Department says Russia violated international law by using a chemical weapon, pointing to Moscow's use of a nerve agent in a bid to kill a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.
The UK says Russia was behind the attack in March which the Kremlin strongly denies. Two other British nationals with no ties to Russia have been poisoned since then by the same substance.
The sanctions are due to take effect in about two weeks.
Sagar Meghani, Washington.
The sanctions generally affect U.S. licenses for exporting sensitive national security goods to Russia, such as electronics.
On Wednesday, a senior State Department official said Russia could face another round of "more Draconian" sanctions within 90 days unless it provides reasonable assurances it is no longer using chemical or biological weapons.
More than a quarter million people in Yemen have been immunized against cholera. But, the three-day oral cholera vaccine between August 4 and 6 has fallen short of its mark.
Correspondent Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.
The World Health Organization reports more than 3,000 local health workers have reached 266,000 people above the age of one with oral cholera vaccine. This is about half of the one-half million people WHO and partners had hoped to immunize against this deadly disease.
The three-day campaign took place in two districts of Yemen's Hudeidah city and one district in Ibb Governorate.
Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva.
Venezuela's constitutional assembly was expected Wednesday to end immunity for some opposition lawmakers that it says were involved in an attempt to assassinate President Nicholás Maduro with exploding drones on Saturday.
One lawmaker was detained on Tuesday night.
Federal prosecutors filed insider trading charges Wednesday against Republican Congressman Chris Collins. He was arrested and appeared in federal court in Manhattan, the New York lawmaker, one of the first members of Congress to support then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced the charges against Collins in connection with an alleged insider trading scheme involving his investments in an Australian biotech company.
Collins is also charged with insider trading and lying to the FBI.
[He] The prosecutors allege Collins leaked information to his son and his son's father-in-law.
You can find more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Christopher Cruise, VOA news.
