The United Nations reports world hunger is rising because conflicts and problems related to climate change are multiplying. The report finds about 815 million people globally did not have enough to eat in 2016 — 38 million more than the previous year. The statistics in this report are particularly grim. They show that global hunger…
read moreFarmer Russ Higgins’ ancestors settled a wide expanse of land south of Morris, Illinois, in 1858. Through the U.S. Civil War and every major event since then, there has been someone from the Higgins family planting and harvesting on the land. Since the first plow churned up the fertile soil here nearly 160 years ago,…
read moreCalifornia lawmakers have approved a bill to make the most populous U.S. state a sanctuary state for immigrants who do not have legal residency. The measure would ban police from asking for the immigration status of people who have been arrested. It also would limit police cooperation with immigration officers. Governor Jerry Brown says…
read moreCalifornia Democrats approved a “sanctuary state” bill Saturday that would limit how local and state police can interact with federal immigration agents. The bill is intended to bolster immigrant protections in the state that are among the toughest in the nation. It will now be considered by Gov. Jerry Brown, who announced his…
read morePresident Donald Trump will push the case for tightening the global economic isolation of North Korea at next week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting, according to two senior officials who say he will argue that the failure of diplomacy increases the likelihood of war. At a White House briefing Friday, Washington’s U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and…
read moreA resolution condemning white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups has been approved by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, who faced criticism over his response to violence that erupted at a white nationalist rally last month in Charlottesville, Virginia. A 32-year-old woman, Heather Heyer, was killed and 19 others were injured…
read moreAttorney General Jeff Sessions can’t follow through — at least for now — with his threat to withhold public safety grant money to Chicago and other so-called sanctuary cities for refusing to impose new tough immigration policies, a judge ruled Friday in a legal defeat for the Trump administration. In what is at least a…
read moreThere is a price to pay for free speech, and the University of California-Berkeley forecasts inflation. It cost the famously liberal university an estimated $600,000 to put the campus on virtual lockdown as conservative commentator Ben Shapiro spoke Thursday night. That’s on top of another $600,000 spent in April to secure the campus during the…
read moreThe German Marshall Fund has documented Russian interference in the elections or political affairs of at least 27 countries since 2004, ranging from disinformation campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and other social media to cyberattacks. The Helsinki Commission focused on what it calls the “scourge of Russian disinformation” and U.S. efforts to set the record straight…
read moreWhen Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Coast, the Islamic Circle of North America arranged shelter. After it passed, they provided relief. Its volunteers — made up of immigrant and nonimmigrant, Muslim and non-Muslims — has opened minds and hearts wherever they go, to their shared desire to give back to the country. …
read moreWhen Hurricane Irma battered the Florida Coast, volunteers of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) arranged shelter. After it passed, they provided relief — from flood-damaged homes in Naples to uprooted tree trunk clearings in Cooper City, Florida. Abdulrauf Khan, a Pakistani immigrant and assistant executive director at ICNA Relief USA — a network…
read moreDuring natural disasters, why do some companies open their doors to the community while other take advantage of its members? Tina Trinh explores the reasons why businesses react the way they do and the cost to their public image. …
read moreThink of it as motorbike banking. For Vietnamese who live far from a retail bank branch, VietinBank scrambles scooters so its officers can meet clients where they live, tablet in hand. There’s also the strategy of DongA Bank, which decks out a van with four ATMs and parks it near factories to reach laborers. All…
read moreJim McIngvale was standing in the parking lot of Gallery Furniture, greeting drivers and directing cars as they trickled in one sunny afternoon. It had been a week and a half since his local furniture store chain opened the doors to its showrooms and offered shelter to hundreds of Houstonians during Hurricane Harvey. Everyone had…
read moreHarvard University on Friday withdrew a fellowship invitation to Chelsea Manning, the transgender U.S. Army soldier who was convicted of leaking classified data, after two top intelligence experts distanced themselves from the school over the invite. Manning, 29, was released in May from a U.S. military prison in Kansas where she had been serving time…
read moreThe violence that has caused nearly 380,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee western Myanmar is prompting the United States to reconsider its relationship with the country’s military-dominated government. The humanitarian crisis is also affecting Washington’s close relationship with Myanmar’s longtime democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports. …
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump made it clear Thursday no deal has been reached with Democrats regarding the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which protects undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. The administration’s plan to end the temporary measure has caused outrage. After a meeting with congressional Democratic…
read morePresident Donald Trump says he and Democratic congressional leaders are fairly close to a deal to extend protections for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Trump spoke the day after he hosted a White House dinner for Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, in what appears to be a strategic shift to…
read moreOne of China’s biggest bitcoin exchanges says it will end trading after news reports that regulators have ordered all Chinese exchanges to close caused the price of the digital currency to plunge. BTC China said on its website it will “stop all trading business” Sept. 30. The exchange said it was acting in the…
read moreA phalanx of police and a campus on virtual lockdown Thursday accomplished the University of California, Berkeley administration’s goal of allowing a conservative to speak at the famously liberal university, which has become known more recently for its violent demonstrations between those with opposing viewpoints. Outside, hundreds of protesters were allowed to voice their…
read morePresident Donald Trump will take his “America First” message to the United Nations next week and seek support for tough measures against North Korea despite his skepticism about the value of international groups like the 193-member body. Nearly eight months in office, Trump will stress his belief in the importance of national sovereignty and the…
read moreRadio Free Asia has joined the ranks of media outlets shuttered under the now almost blanket smothering of an independent press in Cambodia, as U.S. and European diplomatic efforts have failed, so far, to halt the county’s descent into authoritarianism ahead of elections next year. The closure of the U.S.-funded outlet, due to what it…
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