China’s health officials say there is no danger that a new strain of coronavirus could cause a worldwide spread of pneumonia-like illness similar to the 2003 SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus) pandemic. More than 40 people have been diagnosed with the new virus in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province and one person has…
read moreThe White House is voicing strong support for Iranian protesters who took to the streets to decry the shoot down of a Ukrainian commercial jetliner outside Tehran last week. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, the Trump administration faces continued bipartisan pressure from Congress to provide more details on the intelligence that prompted the U.S.’s targeted killing…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi taunted each other Sunday as Trump’s Senate impeachment trial looms in the days ahead.The U.S. leader called Pelosi, his chief impeachment antagonist in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, “Crazy Nancy,” even before she told ABC News’ This Sunday show that Trump is “impeached for life” no…
read moreIn a defining week for President Donald Trump on the world stage, national security adviser Robert O’Brien was a constant presence at the president’s side as the U.S. edged to the brink of war with Iran and back again.The contrasts with O’Brien’s predecessor along the way — in secret consultations at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in…
read moreDemocratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, the spiritual guru and bestselling author, ended her campaign on Friday, weeks before voting begins, saying she did not want to make it tougher for a progressive to win.She also said she did not believe she would be able to gain enough support in the upcoming contests to make a…
read moreThe United States is hitting Iranian companies and eight senior officials with new sanctions, in response to Iranian missile attacks against bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq. Pressed for the rationale behind killing a top Iranian general last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted General Qassem Soleimani was plotting attacks on U.S. facilities. Pompeo…
read moreWhy did President Donald Trump order the drone strike that killed one of Iran’s top generals? His administration says there was an “imminent threat” against Americans, but it has failed to convince many Democrats that the strike was necessary. Some critics see a political motive in the president’s decision to act as impeachment looms ahead…
read moreWorld health officials say an outbreak of pneumonia in the central Chinese city of Wuhan is being caused by a new strain of the virus that led to the deadly SARS outbreak over a decade ago. VOA’s Jeff Custer reports from Washington. …
read moreWhen Martha Santiago moved to Polk County, Florida, from Puerto Rico in 1979 to teach in one of the county’s first bilingual schools, there were two certainties.One was that oranges were an economic engine in the county that is wedged between Tampa and Orlando. The other was that orange picking and other agricultural labor was…
read moreHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday the House will take steps next week to send articles of impeachment to the Senate for President Donald Trump’s Senate trial. In a letter to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said she has asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler to be prepared to bring to the floor next week a…
read moreU.S. government officials are watching and waiting, with many believing it is only a matter of time before Iran lashes out in cyberspace for the U.S. drone strike that killed Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani last week.According to the latest advisory from the Department of Homeland Security, there are still “no specific, credible threats” to…
read moreDemocratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer on Friday unveiled an immigration proposal seeking to make immigrants fleeing the effects of climate change eligible for legal entry into the United States. Like a lot of his White House rivals, Steyer is promising to use executive action to reinstate Obama administration protections for people brought to…
read morePresident Donald Trump Thursday announced changes to a 50-year-old environmental law that he calls “broken and outdated,” but that critics say will now give developers a green light to pollute.Trump said the National Environmental Policy Act “ties up and bogs down” infrastructure projects by an “outrageously slow and burdensome federal approval process.”The president alleges some…
read moreVietnamese startups are heading into the new year looking to avoid the mistakes of such companies as Uber and WeWork, which disappointed investors in 2019 for failing to turn a profit after so much buildup.Investors and entrepreneurs in the communist nation are taking a more critical look at their businesses after seeing others get burned…
read moreThe agency that oversees the United States’ nuclear arsenal says it doesn’t need to do any broad environmental reviews of a proposal that calls for ramping up production of plutonium triggers at federal installations in New Mexico and South Carolina.The National Nuclear Security Administration on Wednesday released a supplemental analysis related to the project, saying…
read moreBuilding a tech startup is not easy, especially in countries with less-established tech industries. Nevertheless, many global entrepreneurs are determined to succeed, and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is their chance to prove themselves to the rest of the industry. VOA’s Tina Trinh met with startup founders from Senegal, Ukraine and Thailand.…
read moreThe Trump administration on Thursday proposed greatly narrowing the use of one of the country″s landmark environmental laws, calling for changes that could allow projects ranging from oil pipelines to mines to move forward with far less federal review of their impact on the environment.President Donald Trump was set to present a proposed overhaul of…
read morePresident Donald Trump wrongly dismissed the continuing threat of the Islamic State group and spread a false tale of the U.S. paying out billions of dollars to Iran as part of the multinational deal freezing its nuclear program in an address Wednesday that fell short on facts.He also made an assertion that is as dubious…
read moreDemocratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has netted an endorsement from Rep. Anthony Brown of Maryland, the first black member of Congress to throw his support to the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.The endorsement is significant for Buttigieg, who has been criticized within the party for his scant support among African Americans. Brown, 58, belongs…
read moreDespite escalating pressure ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Facebook reaffirmed its freewheeling policy on political ads Thursday, saying it won’t ban them, won’t fact-check them and won’t limit how they can be targeted to specific groups of people.Instead, Facebook said it will offer users slightly more control over how many political ads they see…
read moreHealth officials in China say an outbreak of pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan has been caused by a new strain of the virus that led to the deadly SARS outbreak over a decade ago.State-run Xinhua news agency says a team of scientists identified the new type of coronavirus after tests run on 59…
read moreThe standoff over President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial deepened as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there will be “no haggling” with Democrats as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demands for more details and witnesses.McConnell’s Senate majority has the leverage Republicans need to launch Trump’s trial toward swift acquittal of the charges, but Pelosi’s reluctance to…
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