Veteran Democrat Joe Biden campaigned for president in every way but name Saturday, declining to announce his 2020 plans but dropping hints, including a memorable gaffe that suggests he will soon be all in. As the number of Democratic White House hopefuls keeps growing, Biden is expected to jump into the crowded race to see…
read moreBrazil is considering granting an import quota of 750,000 metric tons of U.S. wheat per year without tariffs in exchange for other trade concessions, according to a Brazilian official with knowledge of the negotiations ahead of President Jair Bolsonaro’s visit to Washington. That is about 10 percent of Brazilian annual wheat imports and is part of a two-decade-old commitment to import 750,000 metric tons…
read moreIranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Saturday that frequent U.S. comments about oil prices had created market tensions, the ministry’s news website SHANA reported. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made the U.S. economy one of his top issues, has repeatedly tweeted about oil prices and the Organization of the Petroleum Producing Countries. He has expressed concern about higher prices,…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s first veto was more than a milestone. It signals a new era of ever perilous relations between the executive and legislative branches of government. Trump’s agenda was stymied even before his party lost unified control of Washington at the start of the year, and he has grown increasingly frustrated by his dealings…
read moreA federal appeals court told Mississippi lawmakers to redraw a state Senate district where a judge found that black residents’ voting power had been diluted. A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave the order Friday, denying a request by state officials to delay the impact of a ruling that U.S. District…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has issued the first veto of his presidency, overriding a congressional measure and protecting his national security declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. “Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it,” Trump said Friday in the Oval Office. Surrounded…
read morePresident Donald Trump and his national security team had an hourlong, classified meeting on Afghanistan on Friday, a day after a top Afghan official openly complained that the Trump administration was keeping his government in the dark about its negotiations with the Taliban. The meeting at the Pentagon included Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary…
read moreThey built their services for sharing, allowing users to reach others around the world. Now they want people to hold back. Facebook and other social media companies battled their own services on Friday as they tried to delete copies of a video apparently recorded by the gunman as he killed 49 people and wounded…
read moreThe U.S. Special Counsel’s Office on Friday asked a court to delay sentencing for U.S. President Donald Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates, amid “ongoing investigations” stemming from the Russia investigation. In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller cited Gates’ continued cooperation with multiple probes and…
read moreDemocratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Thursday that there should be a federal moratorium on executions. The senator from California discussed the matter on National Public Radio, a day after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California granted reprieves to 737 death row inmates and signed an executive order placing a moratorium on executions. Harris was…
read moreFormer Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke is the latest entrant into the crowded Democratic presidential field. O’Rourke was little known nationally before he nearly upset Republican Senator Ted Cruz last November, and now he hopes to ride that rapid rise to fame all the way to the White House in 2020. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone…
read moreFacebook Inc said on Thursday Chief Product Officer Chris Cox will leave the social media network after 13 years, adding to a recent string of high-profile exits. Also departing is WhatsApp Vice President Chris Daniels, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post. The company does not immediately plan to appoint anyone to…
read moreThe United States’ top general said on Thursday that the Chinese military was benefiting from the work Alphabet Inc’s Google was doing in China, where the technology giant has long sought to have a bigger presence. “The work that Google is doing in China is indirectly benefiting the Chinese military,” Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman…
read moreThe U.S. Congress on Thursday formally rejected President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration to fund border wall construction, as the Senate voted 59 to 41 to disapprove the executive action, weeks after the House of Representatives did the same. Twelve Senate Republicans joined a unified Democratic caucus to pass the disapproval measure in the Republican-led…
read moreVeteran Conservative lawmaker Nigel Evans has been in Britain’s House of Commons for more than a quarter-of-a-century and, like most of his parliamentary colleagues, is stunned at the turn of Brexit events. “I got elected in 1992 and I don’t know if I have known any time more uncertain than now,” he told VOA. He’s…
read moreThe House voted unanimously Thursday for a resolution calling for any final report in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation to be made public, a symbolic action designed to pressure Attorney General William Barr into releasing as much information as possible when the probe is concluded. The Democratic-backed resolution, which passed 420-0, comes as Mueller…
read moreFormer Texas lawmaker makes official announcement early Thursday, March 14 launching his bid for president of the United States. VOA’s Esha Sarai interviewed him in Houston during his 2018 Senate campaign about the issues he cares most about. …
read moreChina’s top legislature is expected to pass the country’s first Foreign Investment Law this week at a time when negotiators from Beijing and Washington work to hammer out a trade deal. Analysts and business groups say the legislation is a step in the right direction, but still falls short. In some ways, they add, it…
read moreInstagram is back up after suffering a partial outage for more than several hours, the photo-sharing social network platform said in a tweet, but its parent Facebook Inc.’s app still seemed to be down for some users around the globe. Certain users had trouble in accessing widely used Instagram, Whatsapp and Facebook apps earlier Wednesday,…
read moreThe human rights situation in China has seen no improvement in recent years, according to a new report presented on Wednesday. The U.S. Department of State also condemns Saudi Arabia in its annual report on human rights abuses around the world. The U.S. ally is cited for last year’s killing of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was in no rush to complete a trade pact with China and insisted that any deal include protection for intellectual property, a major sticking point between the two sides during months of negotiations. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had been expected to hold a summit at…
read moreThe U.S. Senate defied President Donald Trump Wednesday and voted to cut off support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen. Seven of Trump’s fellow Republicans sided with Democrats in passing the measure 54-46. It now goes to the House, which approved its own similar measure this year, only to have the process stall…
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