He was once called a Lost Boy but today, his official title is Councilor-Elect.Chol Majok won the 3rd District Common Council seat in Syracuse, New York, this week, becoming the first former refugee in city history to do so, according to Onondaga County’s Board of Elections.“One of the things that I am certain about is…
read moreHouse Democrats will launch a new phase in the impeachment investigation of U.S. President Donald Trump next week with a round of public testimony from former administration officials. Those witnesses will provide a detailed picture of Trump’s alleged invitation of foreign interference into the 2020 presidential election. Newly released transcripts from the closed door testimony…
read moreFacebook says it is deleting the name of the person who has been identified in conservative circles as the whistleblower who triggered a congressional impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s actions.The company said Friday that mention of the potential whistleblower’s name violates Facebook’s “coordinating harm policy,” which prohibits material that could identify a “witness, informant,…
read moreU.S. health officials say they have found the likely cause of a mysterious illness in people who smoke e-cigarettes, describing the findings as a “breakthrough.”Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that a compound known as vitamin E acetate is a “very strong culprit” in the search for the cause…
read moreMichael Bloomberg plans to skip early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire if he launches a presidential bid and instead focus his efforts on the crush of states that vote on Super Tuesday and beyond. It’s a strategy that acknowledges the limitations of entering the race at this late stage and the opportunities afforded…
read moreIvanka Trump on Friday echoed her father’s view that the House impeachment investigation is an attempt to overturn the 2016 election. But, in an interview with The Associated Press, she parted ways with President Donald Trump by calling the identity of the impeachment whistleblower not particularly relevant.” The Republican president and some of his…
read morePresident Donald Trump said Friday his administration will pursue raising the age to purchase electronic cigarettes from 18 to 21 in its upcoming plans to combat youth vaping. Trump told reporters his administration will release its final plans for restricting e-cigarettes next week but provided few other details. “We have to take care of our…
read moreMercury is putting on a rare celestial show next week, parading across the sun in view of most of the world. The solar system’s smallest, innermost planet will resemble a tiny black dot Monday as it passes directly between Earth and the sun. Unlike its 2016 transit, Mercury will score a near bull’s-eye…
read moreTwo Somali-American women who won local elections this week are calling for full participation of women in Somalia’s politics, peace and development efforts.Voters on Tuesday elected Nadia Mohamed for an at-large seat in St. Louis Park, a western suburb of Minneapolis, in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, and chose Safiya Khalid to represent a ward…
read moreApple Inc on Wednesday said that U.S. military veterans who use its iOS devices and get medical care from the Veterans Health Administration will be able to access their health records on the devices.The Department of Veterans Affairs runs the largest integrated health care system in the United States, with 9 million veterans enrolled and…
read moreJuul Labs said Thursday it will halt sales of its best-selling, mint-flavored electronic cigarettes as it struggles to survive a nationwide backlash against vaping. The voluntary step comes days after new government research showed that Juul is the top brand among high schoolers who use e-cigarettes and that many prefer mint. “These results…
read moreDuring the 2016 campaign, candidate Donald Trump stood in front of largely white crowds and asked black voters to consider, “What the hell do you have to lose?” Four years later, the president has a new message for black voters: Look what I’ve delivered. Trump and his campaign on Friday will be launching…
read moreThis Friday, November 8th, marks the third anniversary of Donald Trump’s 2016 election as the 45th president of the United States. Trump remains a force of nature in American politics, but the third anniversary of his rise to power comes at a time when he is facing the gravest threat yet to his presidency: an…
read moreStudies show when people pet an animal, their blood pressure goes down along with stress and anxiety. That’s why therapy dogs are increasingly found in schools, counseling centers and even in hospitals. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports on two hospitals that use therapy dogs to help patients on their medical journey. …
read moreAnother Democrat may soon be joining the 2020 race for the White House.Former New York City Mayor and billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg is expected to file paperwork to run in the Alabama Democratic primary — a state which has an early deadline for qualifying for the ballot.Bloomberg has not made a final decision. But…
read moreThe social media application, TikTok, is booming in popularity especially with kids who use it to share short, usually funny videos. But TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is owned by China, and this is raising concerns by U.S. lawmakers worried about the security of the app’s American users. In Washington, Esha Sarai has more. …
read moreAnthropologists have found skeletons of at least 14 woolly mammoths that died after falling into traps built by humans 15,000 years ago. The two pits were found in Tultepec, just north of Mexico City, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said this week. Researchers speculated that ancient hunters probably chased the giant animals…
read moreTwo leading U.N. agencies are warning that growing mental health disorders among children and adolescents are driving them to engage in increasingly risky, self-destructive behavior. The World Health Organization and the U.N. children’s fund, which on Thursday opened a three-day conference on the issue in Florence, Italy, reported that up to 20% of adolescents globally experience…
read moreBernie Sanders is adding his support to a call by some of his fellow presidential hopefuls for decriminalizing illegal border crossings.The Vermont senator released a detailed immigration policy proposal Thursday, writing that unauthorized presence in the United States should be “a civil, not a criminal, offense.”Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren called in July for repealing the…
read moreA top aide to Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer in Iowa has privately offered campaign contributions to local politicians in exchange for endorsing his White House bid, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the conversations. The overtures from Pat Murphy, a former state House speaker who is serving as a top adviser…
read moreSaudi Arabia, frustrated by growing criticism of its leaders and policies on social media, recruited two Twitter employees to spy on thousands of accounts that included prominent opponents, prosecutors alleged Wednesday. The complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco detailed a coordinated effort by Saudi government officials to recruit employees at the…
read moreRussia is succeeding in imposing a highly effective internet censorship regime across thousands of disparate, privately owned providers in an effort also aimed at making government snooping pervasive, according to a study released Wednesday.The study by University of Michigan researchers says the model can be easily exported to other nations, and it challenges the notion…
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