German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared unsteady and was seen shaking for the second time in just over a week at a ceremony in Berlin on Thursday. Merkel, 64, folded her arms across her chest while her body trembled for around two minutes as she stood alongside President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at an indoor event where Germany’s…
read moreAt least sixteen people were facing the death penalty in a trial that started Thursday over the gruesome death of a young Bangladeshi woman that sparked protests and government promises of tough action. Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 19, was set on fire in April after allegedly refusing to withdraw claims of sexual harassment against the head…
read moreAfghan President Ashraf Ghani has begun a two-day official visit to Pakistan to pursue what aides say would be the normalization of the relationship between the two uneasy neighboring countries. The Afghan leader held delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan shortly after arriving in Islamabad at the head of a large delegation comprising Cabinet…
read moreWhite House correspondent Steve Herman contributed to this report. WASHINGTON — Ten U.S. Democratic presidential contenders held a spirited debate Wednesday night in the first major event of the 2020 election campaign, all looking to oust Republican President Donald Trump after a single term in the White House. The immediate focus was on Sen. Elizabeth…
read moreTen Democratic presidential contenders who want to defeat U.S. President Donald Trump next year faced their first major test of the 2020 campaign cycle Wednesday — a nationally televised debate held in Miami. The candidates often targeted Trump and occasionally each other in the first night of debate. Another 10 Democratic White House hopefuls will…
read moreThe U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved bipartisan legislation to address the humanitarian crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border with more than $4 billion in supplemental funds and new requirements for the care of detained migrants, especially children. The 84-8 vote came amid renewed scrutiny of the Trump administration’s treatment of minors in its custody and amid…
read moreJust a month after a state visit to Japan, U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to the East Asian country again. In Osaka, Trump will attend the Group of 20 leaders’ summit, during which he is scheduled to meet one-on-one on the sidelines with such fellow world leaders as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump blasted former special counsel Robert Mueller, who agreed to provide open testimony before congressional committees next month. “The Mueller thing never stops,” Trump said on the White House South Lawn before his departure to the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan. “How many times do we have to hear it? It never…
read morePaul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for U.S. President Donald Trump, will be arraigned Thursday in a New York court in Manhattan on state criminal charges, after having been convicted last year on federal fraud charges. Manafort, 70, is scheduled to appear before Justice Maxwell Wiley of the state Supreme Court at 2:15 p.m. EDT…
read moreVOA’s Victoria Macchi contributed to this report. WASHINGTON — More than 200 children held in a border facility described as unsafe and unsanitary last week were transferred to the care of another U.S. agency by Tuesday, U.S. health authorities confirmed. In a statement emailed to VOA, U.S. Health and Human Services acknowledged it worked with U.S.…
read moreA heat wave is set to descend upon Europe this week, weather so intense that a forecaster in Spain warned, “El infierno (hell) is coming.” El infierno is coming. pic.twitter.com/j0iGEYF0ge — Silvia Laplana (@slaplana_tve) June 24, 2019 The heat wave is expected to peak between Wednesday and Friday when temperatures are expected to top 40…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday during a visit to Afghanistan that the Trump administration is aiming for a peace deal in the war-ravaged country by September. His visit came as American and Taliban negotiators are scheduled to meet in Qatar later this week (June 29) for the next round of talks in…
read moreA federal judge on Tuesday refused to put on hold a lawsuit by about 200 Democratic lawmakers accusing President Donald Trump of violating an anti-corruption provision of the U.S. Constitution with his private business dealings, a move that clears the way for them to seek some of his financial records. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan…
read moreStephanie Grisham, the chief spokeswomen for U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, has been named the new White House Press Secretary. The first lady made the announcement on Twitter, saying she can think of no better person to serve the administration & our country. I am pleased to announce @StephGrisham45 will be the next @PressSec &…
read moreA sizable number of U.S. voters say they’d have some hesitancy about supporting an LGBT candidate for president, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In fact it’s an issue for many more than a candidate’s race or gender. In the poll, 32% of registered voters said they…
read moreSenior U.S. officials say they are already busy buttressing the nation’s defenses against foreign interference for the 2020 presidential election. Only they admit the public may be kept in the dark about attacks and intrusions. Intelligence and election security officials have warned repeatedly that Russia, among other state and nonstate actors, remains intent on disrupting…
read moreDays before the first Democratic presidential debates, Sen. Bernie Sanders and House progressives came out with legislation to cancel all student debt, going farther than a signature proposal by Sen. Elizabeth Warren as the two jockey for support from the party’s liberal base . By canceling all student loans, Sanders says the proposal would address…
read moreDemocratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, unveiling his immigration policy outline ahead of the first 2020 debates , is calling for Congress to grant citizenship immediately to more than 800,000 U.S. residents who were brought to the country illegally as children. The former vice president and Democratic polling leader unveiled some of his immigration priorities…
read moreEthiopian security is hunting for the leader of the failed coup in the northern Amhara region where security is tight, as well as in the capital, Addis Ababa. An internet shutdown remains in force across the country, following the assassinations of Amhara’s governor and an adviser in the regional capital, Bahir Dar, Saturday. Later…
read moreA plate-hurling, screaming quarrel with his latest girlfriend has turned the spotlight fully on where Boris Johnson’s advisers didn’t want it — on his character and chaotic private life, which even his friends have described as “unruly.” The altercation, recorded by neighbors in south London who phoned the police, has thrown a wrench into Johnson’s…
read moreThe United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is urging Hong Kong authorities to “consult broadly before passing or amending” an extradition bill or “any other legislation,” as protests in the autonomous territory continue. Speaking at the opening of a three-week session of Human Right Council in Geneva, Switzerland, Michelle Bachelet also said that she…
read moreA group of Oregon state Republican senators have gone into hiding to stop the passage of a landmark climate change legislation. The western state’s House bill 2020 would set limits to carbon emissions with permits auctioned off to polluting industries. Republicans say the bill would hurt rural Oregonians. Democrats have a majority in both chambers…
read more