As Libya’s two rival governments fight for control of the capital, Tripoli, airstrikes and artillery fire continue to batter the city. Nearly 1,100 people have died and more than 100,000 have been displaced by the war. As VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Tripoli, officials say if the fighting does not slow down, the country is…
read moreThe governor of Puerto Rico is not backing down despite massive street protests in the capital, San Juan, demanding his resignation. Thousands of people have taken to the streets after Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism published nearly 900 pages of leaked text messages in which Gov. Ricardo Rossello used homophobic and misogynistic language. VOA’s…
read moreThis week, President Donald Trump came under fire for verbal attacks on four minority Democratic congresswomen. The House of Representatives condemned some of the president’s comments as racist. And Democrats remain divided over whether to try to impeach Trump or focus on defeating him in next year’s presidential election. The clash has plunged the country…
read moreThe weather in Washington has been hot, sticky and relentless this week. So has the politics. In a period of a few days, the president of the United States told four members of Congress they could leave the country if they were unhappy and go back to the countries they came from, sparking passage of…
read moreSetting aside their usual bickering, South Korean liberal and conservative parties on Thursday vowed to cooperate to help the Seoul government prevail in an escalating trade row with Japan. After a meeting between the parties’ leaders and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at Seoul’s presidential office, they announced plans to create a pan-national” emergency…
read moreThe U.K. will plunge into recession if it leaves the European Union without a divorce deal, with the pound plunging in value and the economy shrinking by 2% in a year, Britain’s official economic watchdog said Thursday. The Office for Budget Responsibility made its assessment as chances of an economically disruptive no-deal Brexit appear to…
read moreIranian state television said Thursday forces from the country’s Revolutionary Guard seized a foreign tanker accused of smuggling oil. The report said the vessel was intercepted Sunday in a section of the Strait of Hormuz south of Iran’s Larak Island with 12 crew members on board. It said the tanker was involved in smuggling one…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump, who has made religious freedom a centerpiece of his foreign policy, met Wednesday with victims of religious persecution from countries like China, Turkey, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar. Trump counts evangelical Christians among his core supporters and the State Department is hosting a conference on the topic this week that will…
read moreJust four of 197 Republican U.S. House members voted to deem “racist” a series of remarks by President Donald Trump aimed at several nonwhite congresswomen. Will Hurd of Texas, Susan Brooks of Indiana, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Fred Upton of Michigan all split with congressional Republicans and the president to pass the legislative condemnation…
read moreThe Democratic-controlled House voted Wednesday to hold two top Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas related to a decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The House voted 230-198 to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt. The vote, a political…
read morePARIS — French prosecutors want Air France to stand trial for manslaughter in the 2009 crash of a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris that killed all 228 people aboard, a judicial official said Wednesday. Prosecutors also have asked that the case against Airbus, maker of the doomed aircraft, be dropped for lack…
read moreSTATE DEPARTMENT — “My father is a fixer, a bridge-builder, a connector. He knows that a better future is one where Han Chinese and Uighur children are in school together, are friends together and have the same opportunities,” said Jewher Ilham, who pleaded for the release of her father, prominent jailed Uighur scholar and economist Ilham Tohti. …
read moreAfter months of on-again, off-again talks, Sudan’s military and opposition leaders have signed a power-sharing deal that rotates control of an executive council, but leaves other key details to be determined. Under the deal, the 11-member Sovereign Council, the top level of government, will be made up of five civilians, five military officials, and one…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump heads to a campaign rally in North Carolina Wednesday night, promising to continue to talk about four “vicious young Socialist Congresswomen,” a day after the House of Representatives condemned him for “racist” remarks targeting the minority lawmakers. Trump on Twitter said he would talk to his supporters in the university town…
read moreUpdated at 2:57 p.m., July 17. The U.S. House of Representatives is voting Wednesday on whether to immediately consider impeaching President Donald Trump. It’s a proposition likely to fail, although the vote could show where the Democratic-controlled chamber stands on attempting to begin the process of removing the Republican from office. The impeachment vote is…
read moreColorado Sen. Cory Gardner had reeled in a big political fish. A major government agency, the Bureau of Land Management, was moving to his state and marking a victory years in the making for one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Republicans. But Gardner’s moment of triumph rolled out Monday in the shadow of President Donald…
read morePeruvian President Martin Vizcarra rejected the demand of a regional governor on Tuesday to cancel within 72 hours the construction permit for a copper mining project that has led to protests. Residents from the area bordering Southern Copper Corp.’s $1.4 billion Tia Maria copper mine project in the south of Peru, which is the second…
read moreJohn Paul Stevens, who served on the Supreme Court for nearly 35 years and became its leading liberal, has died. He was 99. Stevens’ influence was felt on issues including abortion rights, protecting consumers and placing limits on the death penalty. He led the high court’s decision to allow terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump’s recent outburst of tweets daring four Democratic members of Congress to “go back” to their countries of origin have been roundly condemned as racist by the Democrats and even some members of his own party. Trump attacked the lawmakers by charging that they “hate our country,” and should leave if…
read moreThe crowded field of Democratic presidential hopefuls has spent heavily on digital advertising, investing early in ads that may bring more name recognition and help raise money, according to disclosures filed late Monday. The timing of spending decisions for a presidential campaign could be critical. Candidates that spend too much too soon could find themselves…
read moreThe Democrat-led House of Representatives is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution “condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress,” in response to a series of tweets Trump issued attacking four lawmakers of color. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced the vote and said he hoped Republicans would “put country before party”…
read moreFormer Democratic U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke raised a lackluster $3.6 million for his struggling presidential campaign in the second quarter of the year, his campaign said on Monday. The fundraising haul was a warning sign for the Texas politician and a stark drop in campaign cash after he raised more than $9 million in two…
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