Vaccine inoculations have begun in Italy for medical staff and the most vulnerable, but the country’s daily death toll continues to be well over 500. All Italian primary school students and most middle school students returned to face-to-face lessons on Thursday. But not all regions in the country have agreed to re-open their schools to younger…
read moreIn more than 220 years, the U.S. Capitol had seen nothing like it: a roiling mob, forcing its way past its majestic marble columns, disrupting the passage of power, desecrating the seat of the world’s greatest democracy. But this was far from the first time the Capitol has been scarred by violence.1814 In 1814, just…
read moreMixed reactions of shock, sadness and sarcasm continue to be heard from around the world over Wednesday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump angry over his loss in November’s presidential election. “What happened today in Washington, D.C., is not America,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video message…
read moreSouth Korea, whose political development and systems of government have long been influenced in part by the United States, is reacting with bewilderment to this week’s deadly post-election violence in Washington, D.C.People angry at President Donald Trump’s defeat in the recent U.S. election forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, scuffling with police, vandalizing congressional offices,…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington is considering sanctions and other restrictions on those involved in the arrest of more than 50 people in Hong Kong and warned it could target the territory’s economic and trade office in the United States.In a move likely to further rile Beijing, Pompeo announced in the same…
read moreIt was a scene Americans never expected to see in their own country, as a riotous mob pushed into the U.S. Capitol building. Michelle Quinn reports. Producer: Matt Dibble …
read moreDemocrat Raphael Warnock is the projected winner of one of Georgia’s two Senate runoffs Wednesday, becoming the first African American to be elected to the U.S. Senate in the state’s history. Warnock, who defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler, is a pastor of the Atlanta church where American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. preached.…
read moreFacebook and Alphabet’s YouTube took down a video from President Donald Trump on Wednesday that continued to make the baseless claim the election was fraudulent as he told supporters who had stormed the U.S. Capitol to go home.Twitter restricted users from retweeting the video “due to a risk of violence,” as hundreds of protesters sought…
read moreInternational leaders expressed shock and condemned the unprecedented scenes on Capitol Hill as a pro-Trump riot breached the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. “Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress. The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power,” British Prime Minister Boris…
read moreThe Rev. Raphael Warnock, a pastor at the same Atlanta church where civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, is the first Black person ever elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of Georgia.Warnock, 51, who defeated incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler in Tuesday’s runoff election, is also the first Black Democrat to…
read moreNew strains of the coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic have evolved, raising alarms with public health experts. The viruses appear to be more infectious, making them harder to control. But experts say the new vaccines against them should still work. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more. …
read moreThe U.S. Department of Justice confirmed on Wednesday that it had been the victim of a massive hacking operation linked to Russian intelligence. In a statement, Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said about 3% of the agency’s email accounts appeared to have been compromised, although no classified information was accessed. “After learning of the malicious activity,…
read moreNew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that the city aims to vaccinate 10,000 police officers against the coronavirus by Sunday.At his daily briefing, De Blasio said police officers and jail guards were now eligible to receive vaccines under guidance provided by state officials. The guidelines released by the state do not explicitly…
read moreU.S. Capitol Police ordered a lockdown Wednesday across the Capitol Complex, citing an external security threat, as thousands of Trump supporters stormed the building to protest Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.The Senate entered into recess as it was proceeding to certify the electoral college votes for Biden, and Vice President Mike Pence reportedly was ushered out of the building by the Secret Service via underground tunnels.Video footage circulating…
read moreU.S. intelligence officials investigating last month’s massive cybersecurity breach that impacted thousands of companies and dozens of government agencies warn the hack is part of an ongoing intelligence operation, likely being carried out by Russia. The public conclusion, shared Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Office…
read moreDemocrat Raphael Warnock won one of two close Senate runoff races in the U.S. state of Georgia, putting Senate control within the party’s reach and making Warnock the first Black Democrat to win a Senate seat in a former Confederate state. Warnock, the pastor of an Atlanta, Georgia, church once led by civil…
read moreMalawi has introduced a mandatory quarantine on returnees from South Africa to control rising cases of COVID-19. Thousands of Malawians have returned from South Africa in recent weeks, and officials fear they could import the new, more contagious form of coronavirus.Malawi has seen a rapid increase of COVID-19 cases since the middle of December. …
read moreIndia has not imposed a ban on export of vaccines for COVID-19, the federal government said amid a controversy that it had imposed restrictions on an Indian company expected to be on the frontlines in supplying vaccines to developing countries. India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, is expected to play a pivotal role as…
read moreFormer President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter will not attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. It marks the first time the couple, 96 and 93, will have missed the ceremonies since Carter was sworn in as the 39th president in 1977. A spokeswoman at The Carter Center in Atlanta said the Carters have…
read moreMore than two-thirds of the 15 million coronavirus vaccines shipped within the United States have so far gone unused. As Mariama Diallo reports, some states are vowing to penalize hospitals that fail to dispense shots quickly enough. …
read moreControl of the U.S. Senate hung in the balance Wednesday with the result of one of two runoff elections in the southern state of Georgia still too close to call.Democrats moved closer to regaining control of the chamber with the Rev. Raphael Warnock’s projected defeat of Sen. Kelly Loeffler in one of Tuesday’s elections.U.S. media…
read moreTwo pivotal U.S. Senate runoff elections in the Southern state of Georgia were too close to call Tuesday night.The outcomes of the closely watched contests will determine political control in the Senate during the first two years of President-elect Joe Biden’s term in the White House. But with roughly 80% of the vote counted in…
read more