The Supreme Court is plunging back into the issue of whether electoral districts can be too partisan. Disputes have arisen in cases involving North Carolina’s heavily Republican congressional map and a Democratic congressional district in Maryland, and the justices said Friday they will hear arguments in March. The high court could come out with the…
read moreA partial U.S. government shutdown showed no sign of ending soon Friday as White House and congressional aides prepared to work through the weekend to try to resolve a stalemate over funding for U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall. Trump said he’d had a “very productive” meeting with congressional leaders to try to…
read moreA surge in U.S. job creation and some reassuring words from the head of the U.S. central bank sent U.S. stocks soaring Friday. The Labor Department reported a net gain of 312,000 jobs in December, far more than economists predicted. The unemployment rate, however, rose slightly, to 3.9 percent. Many analysts said the rising unemployment…
read moreOn Thursday, the first Muslim women to serve in Congress, Democrats Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan were sworn into office, as inspired young Muslim Americans and refugees watched closely. …
read moreMarriott International Inc said Friday that fewer than 383 million customer records were stolen in a massive cyberattack disclosed last month, down from its initial estimate that up to 500 million guests were affected. The hotel operator also said that some 25.55 million passport numbers were stolen in the attack on the Starwood Hotels reservation…
read moreIt sounds like a Hollywood caper: A group of investors and officials convince European banks to loan a total of $2 billion to a resource-rich African nation trying to rebuild after a bruising civil war. The money promptly disappears, and then this caper turns tragic. The government doesn’t learn of the loans until three…
read moreThe Chinese Jade Rabbit 2 rover is making tracks on the soft, snowlike surface of the far side of the moon. The rover drove off its lander’s ramp and onto the lunar surface late Thursday, about 12 hours after the Chang’e-4 spacecraft made the first-ever landing on the moon’s far side. China’s space agency posted…
read moreNancy Pelosi, who is again the U.S. House speaker, called for mutual respect and transparency in the work of the new Congress. The Democrat from California, addressed lawmakers during a swearing-in ceremony Thursday. As VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports, Pelosi called for a Congress that works for all Americans. …
read moreThe new Democratically led House of Representatives has voted to reopen the federal government and to fund the Department of Homeland Security until early February. But neither of the two measures the House approved includes the $5 billion President Donald Trump wants for a wall along the U.S. southern border, making passage in the Republican-controlled…
read moreThe Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether Ryan Zinke lied to Interior Department investigators. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the Justice Department’s public integrity section had begun the probe of the interior secretary, who left office Wednesday. Zinke told the Associated Press that he had not lied to the investigators looking into possible…
read moreHerb Kelleher, who changed the airline industry by helping create and lead Southwest Airlines, a low-fare carrier that made air travel more accessible to the masses, has died. He was 87. Southwest confirmed that Kelleher died Thursday. Kelleher was a lawyer in San Antonio when a client came to him in the late…
read moreThree former Credit Suisse Group AG bankers were arrested in London on Thursday on U.S. charges that they took part in a $2 billion fraud scheme involving state-owned companies in Mozambique, a spokesman for U.S. prosecutors said. Andrew Pearse, Surjan Singh and Detelina Subeva were charged in an indictment in Brooklyn, New York federal court…
read moreBehind Apple’s disconcerting news of weak iPhone sales lies a more sobering truth: The tech industry has hit Peak Smartphone, a tipping point when everyone who can afford one already owns one and no breakthroughs are compelling them to upgrade as frequently as they once did. Some manufacturers have boosted prices to keep up profit,…
read moreStock markets around the globe dropped Thursday after tech giant Apple said that sales of its devices had fallen sharply in China last month, perhaps signaling a broader slowing in the world economy. The widely watched Dow Jones industrial average of 30 prominent U.S. stocks plunged 2.8 percent — more than 660 points — by…
read moreForget vending machines, PepsiCo is testing a way to bring snacks directly to college students. The chip and beverage maker says it will start making deliveries with self-driving robots on Thursday at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Students will be able to order Baked Lay’s, SunChips or Bubly sparkling water on an…
read moreDivided government returns to the United States Thursday with the swearing-in of a new Congress. After two years in which Republicans controlled the White House, Senate and the House of Representatives, Democrats will be the majority in the House. That is the result of the November midterm elections in which Democrats made big gains to…
read moreA Chinese spacecraft Thursday made the first-ever landing on the far side of the moon in the latest achievement for the country’s growing space program. The relatively unexplored far side of the moon faces away from Earth and is also known as the dark side. A photo taken by the lunar explorer Chang’e 4 at…
read moreThe new Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives is expected to approve bills Thursday to end a partial government shutdown. The Republican leader of the Senate says he will not bring the measures to a vote. President Donald Trump expressed his willingness to keep the shutdown going “as long as it takes” to get border wall…
read moreThis year marks the 50th anniversary of mankind’s first steps on the moon, so it is fitting that there are a number of exciting projects pushing us back into space. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports on some of 2019’s biggest stories in space. …
read moreThe sweet aroma of mutton smoke drifts through a maze of crumbling alleyways, a barbecue tang that for decades has lured meat-eaters from across Pakistan to the frontier city of Peshawar. The ancient city, capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has retained its reputation for some of Pakistan’s tastiest cuisine despite bearing the brunt of…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has criticized U.S. generals for not defeating the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan after 19 years of involvement. Speaking to reporters at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Trump said the generals were given “all the money they wanted” and “didn’t do such a great job in Afghanistan.” The president questioned justification for the…
read moreNew Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued an executive order Wednesday making the Agriculture Ministry responsible for decisions concerning lands claimed by indigenous peoples, in a victory for agribusiness that will likely enrage environmentalists. The temporary decree, which will expire unless it is ratified within 120 days by Congress, strips power over land claim decisions from…
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