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read moreU.S. Ambassador Meg Whitman has strengthened U.S. ties with Kenya, helping elevate the nation’s status to a major non-NATO ally. The U.S. has a long-standing, cordial relationship with Raila Odinga, Kenya’s veteran opposition leader. …
read moreGeneva — World Health Organization officials say Israel has given United Nations agencies the go-ahead to start inoculating hundreds of thousands of young Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip against polio. A mass polio vaccination campaign to immunize more than 640,000 children under the age 10 against the crippling disease is set to begin Sunday, according…
read morePANAMA CITY — Panamanian authorities deported a group of migrants to Ecuador on a second flight financed by the United States, as part of an agreement between the U.S. and Panama to discourage irregular crossings and reduce the flow of mostly U.S.-bound migration. The flight carrying 30 Ecuadoreans departed on Thursday evening en route to the…
read moreKINGSTON, New York — On a residential block in upstate New York, college students dug and sifted backyard dirt as part of an archeological exploration this summer of a centuries-old cemetery for African Americans. Now covered with green lawns in the city of Kingston, this spot in 1750 was part of a burial ground for people…
read morenew york — Donald Trump asked a federal court late Thursday to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, seeking a pathway to overturn his felony conviction and indefinitely delay his sentencing scheduled for next month. Lawyers for the former president and current Republican nominee asked the federal court in Manhattan to seize the…
read moresavannah, georgia/washington — Kamala Harris vowed a tougher approach to migration along the U.S. southern border and said she would not withhold weapons to Israel, in her first interview with a major news organization since becoming the Democratic nominee for president. In the interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash, Harris sought to show she is in…
read moreThe arrest in France last Saturday of Pavel Durov, the billionaire boss of the social media platform Telegram, is reverberating around the world as Russia urges France not to turn the investigation into ‘political persecution.’ Durov is under formal investigation over alleged illegal activities on Telegram, as Henry Ridgwell reports. …
read moreWashington — Beijing has adopted a conciliatory tone in its reporting on this week’s visit by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, emphasizing cooperation and open communication channels while claiming that Washington remains “incorrect” on its China policies. Sullivan’s tightly scheduled three-day trip to Beijing ended Thursday after he met with Chinese officials, including the…
read morewashington — The Biden administration is restarting an immigration program that allows migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to come to the United States, and it is including “additional vetting” of their U.S.-based financial sponsors following fraud concerns. The Department of Homeland Security had suspended the program earlier this month to investigate the concerns but…
read moreUnited Nations — A senior World Health Organization official said Thursday that Israel has agreed to a series of daily nine-hour humanitarian pauses for the duration of a massive polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip, where the first case of the disease was found in a baby earlier this month. “The campaign will start on…
read moreWashington — Vietnam’s minister of national defense, Phan Van Giang, is set to visit Washington next month for a high-level meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, U.S. and Vietnamese officials tell VOA. The minister is expected to visit Washington from September 7-9 to strengthen defense cooperation between the two countries, according to a Vietnamese defense…
read moreGaborone, Botswana — The entry of Elon Musk’s Starlink into the Botswana market this week has been hailed as a “game-changer.” Analysts concur the introduction of the satellite internet service provider will improve internet access but there is concern over subscription costs and the service potentially pushing local internet providers out of business. Starlink this week…
read moreLondon — Russia on Thursday warned France not to turn the investigation of Pavel Durov, the boss of Telegram, into a “political persecution” after the billionaire 39-year-old CEO was put under formal investigation relating to activities on his social media platform. Moscow has implied there are political motivations behind the arrest of Durov, who was detained…
read moreAustin, Texas — U.S. universities are welcoming international students as the academic year begins. But while the total number of foreign students is steadily growing, the top sending country, China, is showing signs of leveling out or shrinking. Industry analysts say the negative trend is mainly due to higher costs amid China’s struggling economy, with a…
read moreWashington — The U.S. economy expanded more than initially estimated in the second quarter this year, the Department of Commerce said Thursday, on stronger consumer spending than originally anticipated. The world’s biggest economy grew at an annual rate of 3.0% in the April-to-June period, up from 2.8% according to an earlier estimate. Analysts had expected no…
read moreBerlin — The suspects in the foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna earlier this month sought to kill “tens of thousands” of fans before the CIA discovered intelligence that disrupted the planning and led to arrests, the agency’s deputy director said. The CIA notified Austrian authorities of the scheme, which allegedly included links…
read moreInvasive plants and animals disrupt food supplies, carry diseases and cause an estimated $423 billion in damage every year around the world. When an Asian fish called the snakehead invaded waterways near Washington, experts warned it might devour the competition and upset of the ecosystem. But, as VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, that’s not what ended…
read moreBeijing — U.S. President Joe Biden is looking forward to talks with Xi Jinping in the “coming weeks,” top White House aide Jake Sullivan told the Chinese leader Thursday as they met for rare talks in Beijing. Sullivan, the first US national security advisor to visit China since 2016, met Xi as he wrapped up three…
read morePARIS — A lawyer for Telegram boss Pavel Durov, who is being investigated in France, said it was “totally absurd” to suggest the head of a social network was responsible for any criminal acts committed on the platform, French media said. A French judge put Durov under formal investigation on Wednesday, saying he was suspected of…
read moreTOKYO — The intrusion of a Chinese spy plane into Japanese airspace is a “wake-up call” for Tokyo about the aggressive nature of China’s leadership, U.S. lawmaker John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, said Wednesday. The incident on Monday involving a Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft flying near the southern Kyushu island was the…
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