Month: December 2024

NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump wants to turn the lights out on daylight saving time.  In a post on his social media site Friday, Trump said his party would try to end the practice when he returns to office.  “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a…

washington — Less than 10 minutes was all it took for a large pile of toys donated by the White House staff to disappear as Jill Biden and children from military families sorted them into boxes as part of the annual Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots campaign for the less fortunate. The White House is…

Patricia Hubbard Fox, the sister of the 72-year-old U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard sentenced to jail in Russia for almost seven years on charges of “being a mercenary” for his alleged participation in fighting in Ukraine, says in an exclusive VOA Russian interview that she is still unsuccessfully trying to find out the location of his…

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team told VOA Persian on Friday that all options remain on the table when it comes to addressing Iran’s nuclear program. “The Trump administration is committed to reestablishing peace and stability in the Middle East,” Brian Hughes, spokesperson for Trump’s transition team, said in an email, responding to an inquiry…

The U.S. mid-Atlantic state of Maryland may seem like an odd place for hula dancing. Yet every weekend, dancers gather in downtown Silver Spring to practice the ancient form of storytelling, despite the thousands of miles between them and Hawaii, the tropical island state where hula was born. VOA’s Keith Lane has the story. …

He may be better known to the world as the father of Tesla and Space X, but in a few months, Elon Musk is expected to take aim at U.S. government spending. VOA’s senior Washington correspondent Carolyn Presutti explains what skills Musk brings to the advisory committee known as DOGE. …

ANKARA, TURKEY — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began talks with Turkey’s top diplomat Friday after reassurances that Ankara would never allow any let-up in the fight against rebels in Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. Blinken began meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan at 9:40 a.m., a U.S. official said. He flew…

LOS ANGELES — The former head of a notorious Syrian prison was charged Thursday in the United States with torturing opponents of the now-collapsed government of Bashar al-Assad, the Justice Department said. Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 72, who has been in the U.S. since 2020, allegedly ran Damascus Central Prison — known colloquially as Adra Prison —…

DAMASCUS, SYRIA — An American who disappeared seven months ago into former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system said early Friday he was released by the “liberators” who arrived in Damascus a day after the longtime ruler fled the capital. Travis Timmerman called his release a “blessing” when he spoke to The Associated Press from…

New York — The man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was not a client of the medical insurer and may have targeted it because of its size and influence, a senior police official said Thursday. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York in an interview Thursday that investigators have uncovered evidence…

Top aides to U.S. President Joe Biden are in the Middle East this week, to push for a ceasefire in Gaza and to deal with the fallout in Syria following the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. The visits come amid military maneuvers from neighboring countries including U.S. allies Israel and Turkey. White House Bureau Chief…

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to have Kari Lake, a politician and former Arizona journalist, appointed head of the international government-funded broadcaster Voice of America. Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that Lake would be appointed director of VOA. Lake is a close political ally of the president-elect and…

WASHINGTON — The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot even though the bureau did prepare for the possibility of violence on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a watchdog report Thursday. It also said no undercover FBI employees were present that day and none of the bureau’s informants was authorized to…

How much U.S. foreign assistance is allocated and where it goes are two key questions as the Trump administration prepares to take office in January. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at some sectors where cuts are expected and others that may be a priority. …

New York — President-elect Donald Trump rang the opening bell Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange after being recognized for the second time by Time magazine as its person of the year.  The honors for the businessman-turned-politician are a measure of Trump’s remarkable comeback from an ostracized former president who refused to accept his election…

President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to carry out the largest deportations in US history raises questions about its feasibility and its legality. VOA’s immigration correspondent Aline Barros reports on how the U.S. military may be involved in those plans. …

WASHINGTON — Following the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, the Biden administration said it would fully support a transparent and inclusive transition process toward a nonsectarian government accountable to the Syrian people. “The transition process and new government must also uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of…