united nations — Four hundred days. That’s how long American journalist Evan Gershkovich has been held in a Russian prison. Russia’s Federal Security Service detained him while he was on assignment for U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal in the city of Yekaterinburg and accused him of espionage. The newspaper and the U.S. government have denied…
read morepentagon — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was in Hawaii on Thursday to meet with leaders from Australia, Japan and the Philippines amid increasing concerns about Chinese military aggression in the Pacific. Defense officials said the talks would continue the allies’ “historic progress” on cooperation in their defense industries and military activities, including air and…
read moreNASA may soon have another way to get astronauts into space. Plus, the agency reconnects with an old friend and how to train a dog for a walk … on the moon. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
read moreThe number of Washington-based journalists covering the Capitol for local news outlets is dwindling. As the beat shrinks, so, too, does the ability of these regional reporters to hold elected officials to account, media advocates say. VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit and Liam Scott have the story, narrated by Caicedo Smit. …
read moreSTAVANGER, Norway — A convicted sex offender is asking the Norwegian Supreme Court to declare social media access is a human right. The case before the court Thursday involves a man who molested a minor and used the Snapchat messaging app to connect with young boys. The unnamed offender was sentenced last year to 13 months…
read moreWashington — Families of Americans wrongfully detained in foreign countries called Tuesday on the Biden administration to share more information about their loved ones and to step up efforts for their release. “My father, Jamshid Sharmahd, is a German American national who has been held hostage in Iran for three years and he is on a…
read morePolice remain on Columbia University’s campus, even after clearing out student protesters and their encampment. But questions remain about how the university and the students move forward. Tina Trinh reports from New York. …
read moreWASHINGTON — Hackers who breached UnitedHealth’s tech unit in February potentially stole data from a third of Americans, the largest U.S. health insurer’s CEO told a congressional committee on Wednesday. Two congressional panels grilled CEO Andrew Witty about the cyberattack on the company’s Change Healthcare unit, which processes around 50% of all medical claims in the…
read moreThe U.S. state of Florida has a new law banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. In this presidential campaign, Donald Trump is defending the right of states to regulate reproductive rights. Joe Biden says that decentralized authority threatens women’s lives. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns has the story …
read moreA Japanese diplomat’s act of defiance during World War II saved thousands of lives. It’s also the focus of an ongoing effort by an American musician to pay tribute to the “Japanese Schindler.” VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from Skokie, Illinois. …
read morephoenix — Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to repeal a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state’s highest court recently allowed to take effect. Voting wasn’t complete but the Senate had the 16 votes it needed to advance the bill. Fourteen Democrats in the Senate were joined by two Republican…
read morewashington — The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of violating the international chemical weapons ban by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents “as a method of warfare” in Ukraine. “The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to…
read moreLondon — Climate change will cut the average income of people around the world by one-fifth by 2050, according to a new report published in the journal Nature by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. As many parts of the world experience extreme weather, the global impacts of a changing climate are set to cost…
read moreThe average income of people around the world will be cut by one-fifth because of climate change by the middle of the century, according to a new report by Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, published in the journal Nature. Henry Ridgwell has more. …
read moreJerusalem — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday as talks continue in Cairo to resolve details of an elusive bid for a cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas militants in Gaza. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken “emphasized that it is Hamas that is…
read moreThe Center on Holocaust Survivor Care and Institute on Aging and Trauma helps older adults with a history of trauma cope with depression and anxiety resulting from their horrific experiences. These days, the center is also helping Holocaust survivors deal with the trauma of two modern wars in Ukraine and Israel. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the…
read moreWashington — A majority of Americans believe that China uses TikTok to shape U.S. public opinion, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted as Washington moves closer to potentially banning the Chinese-owned short-video app. Some 58% of respondents to the two-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, agreed with a statement that the Chinese government uses TikTok, which…
read moreAs Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu vows to enter Rafah to rid the Gaza Strip of Hamas, the United States military has started to build a pier off the coast in hopes of providing more aid to civilians trapped in the violence. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb explains why this has some lawmakers worried about what’s…
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