Top Republican members of the House of Representatives say lawmakers have begun discussions about Russia’s war in Ukraine in an effort to carry out President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to quickly end the conflict there. Lawmakers told VOA’s Ukrainian Service that they are optimistic that Trump can achieve his goal. Republican Representative Mike Waltz, who…
read moreU.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to run the Interior Department, as his new Cabinet continues to take shape. The transition team officially announced the pick Friday, though Trump first announced the selection late Thursday during a dinner at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. Additionally, Trump announced Friday that Burgum also…
read moreSTATE DEPARTMENT — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Taiwan’s envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Lin Hsin-I, on Thursday ahead of the bloc’s Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Lima, Peru. The discussion centered on economic cooperation, as Blinken highlighted in a social media post. “Met with Lin Hsin-i in Lima. We spoke…
read moreBAKU, Azerbaijan — Cities in Asia and the United States emit the most heat-trapping gas that feeds climate change, with Shanghai the most polluting, according to new data that combines observations and artificial intelligence. Seven states or provinces spew more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, all of them in China, except Texas, which…
read moreMELBOURNE, Australia — How do you remove children from the harms of social media? Politically the answer appears simple in Australia, but practically the solution could be far more difficult. The Australian government’s plan to ban children from social media platforms including X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram until their 16th birthdays is politically popular. The opposition…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden will meet with leaders of South Korea and Japan Friday to come up with a “coordinated” response to the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to help Moscow’s war against Ukraine and on Pyongyang’s nuclear threat more broadly, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima, Peru.…
read moreUS President-elect Donald Trump is turning to an old ally to lead the CIA and an outsider some see as a potential disruptor to oversee American intelligence agencies when his second term begins in January. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin has more. …
read morewashington — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on his early November election victory. President Joe Biden has not hosted Erdogan at the White House though the two have met on sidelines of international summits and spoken by phone. Speaking to journalists accompanying his return…
read moreMADISON, Wisconsin — Enbridge’s contentious plan to reroute an aging pipeline around a northern Wisconsin tribal reservation moved closer to reality Thursday after the company won its first permits from state regulators. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials announced they have issued construction permits for the Line 5 reroute around the Bad River Band of Lake…
read moreTaipei, Taiwan — China is ramping up efforts to smooth ties with the European Union in the wake of the U.S. elections, with a top Chinese official and state media maintaining that improved ties are in the interest of both Brussels and Beijing. As countries worldwide try to anticipate what President-elect Donald Trump’s victory might mean…
read moreDonald Trump may not be moving into the White House until January, but he is laying the groundwork and making domestic policy plans for the next four years. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti has our story. VOA footage by Henry Hernandez. …
read moreA study by the World Bank on Thursday said urgent action is needed to address rising sea levels in the Pacific atoll islands of Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, which under current projections could be 50% to 80% submerged in the next 50 years. The World Bank’s “Pacific Atoll Countries Country Climate and Development…
read moreBrussels — The European Commission on Thursday fined Meta Platforms $840.24 million over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace, it said in a statement, confirming an earlier report by Reuters. “The European Commission has fined Meta … for breaching EU antitrust rules by tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook…
read moreBefore the U.S. presidential election, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump opposed a Japanese company’s planned $14 billion purchase of U.S. Steel, a once-iconic pillar of America’s industrial age. With the election over, there are indications that the deal may go through. VOA Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman went to Braddock, Pennsylvania, to…
read moreIslamabad — The World Health Organization has labeled a forced repatriation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan as a “major setback” for polio eradication efforts, contributing to the regional resurgence of the paralytic disease. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two polio-endemic nations, reporting 49 and 23 cases respectively, so far this year, up from only…
read moreBAKU, Azerbaijan — For the third straight year, efforts to fight climate change haven’t lowered projections for how hot the world is likely to get — and recent developments in China and the United States are likely to slightly worsen the outlook, according to an analysis Thursday. The analysis comes as countries come together for the…
read moreSeoul, South Korea — Following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral victory, world leaders have scrambled to secure calls and send delegations to strengthen ties with his team. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is taking a different approach: golf practice. South Korean presidential officials confirmed to VOA that Yoon recently took up golf for the first…
read morewashington — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he is nominating Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a senior member of both the foreign relations and intelligence committees and former political rival, to be secretary of state. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who…
read moreWASHINGTON — Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump. A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. Republicans…
read morewashington — A hack of U.S. telecommunications systems linked to China that initially appeared to focus on the American presidential campaigns goes much deeper, according to investigators, and is likely part of a vast effort by Beijing to spy on the United States. The FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned on Wednesday…
read moreWashington — National Geographic scientists say they’ve discovered the world’s largest coral near the remote Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean — an undersea mass that is so big, it can be seen from space. The man who found it, Manu San Felix, director of cinematography for National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas, a program dedicated to…
read moreThe world’s largest coral colony has been discovered near the remote Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean – an undersea mass that is so big, it can be seen from space, National Geographic scientists announced Nov. 12, 2024. …
read more
