Washington — The U.S. on Thursday confirmed a historic prisoner swap with Russia that included the release of American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza. In total, the U.S. secured the release of 16 individuals, including five wrongfully detained Germans and seven Russian citizens, in return…
read moreEAUBONNE, France — Growing up in cutthroat New York gave Lauren Scruggs the competitive mindset needed to claim an unexpected fencing silver medal on her Olympic debut in Paris. The 21-year-old Queens native shared the podium with fellow American Lee Kiefer, who retained her Olympic title in the women’s individual foil event gold medal bout on…
read moreLONDON — Within hours of a stabbing attack in northwest England that killed three young girls and wounded several more children, a false name of a supposed suspect was circulating on social media. Hours after that, violent protesters were clashing with police outside a nearby mosque. Police say the name was fake, as were rumors that…
read morenew york — Over 8 million people live in New York City and yet lasting romantic relationships can still seem hard to come by. Because of this, many singles in the city have ditched swiping on dating apps for socializing in real life through in-person events such as running clubs, reading parties and singles meetups. In…
read morecolumbia, south carolina — South Carolina can execute death row inmates by firing squad, lethal injection or the electric chair, the state’s high court ruled Wednesday, opening the door to restart executions after more than a decade. All five justices agreed with at least part of the ruling. But two of the justices said they felt…
read moreThe United States said it was not involved in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in an overnight strike in Tehran. Haniyeh is the second Iran-backed militant group leader assassinated this week. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has the story. …
read moreWASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is prodding Congress to help him do more to combat the scourge of fentanyl before he leaves office. The Democratic administration is making the new policy push as Republican former President Donald Trump steps up attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, painting her as Biden’s feckless lieutenant in the battle to…
read morePrague/Washington — Portraits of Alsu Kurmasheva are scattered throughout the Prague apartment she shares with her husband and two daughters. But the journalist has not set foot here in more than a year. Perhaps the most striking of the paintings, all of which were done by her husband, Pavel Butorin, is the one that remains unfinished,…
read morewashington — U.S. State Department Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell says that whether it is exploring for rare earth minerals, establishing military bases in Africa, or building more ships and submarines, the United States needs to do more to compete with China. Speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Tuesday, Campbell called China the…
read moreFOREST RANCH, California — Fire crews worked Tuesday to hold on to the progress made against the largest blaze in California this year ahead of warming temperatures forecast for later this week. Authorities said containment was 14% and lifted evacuation orders in some communities of Butte County, where the Park Fire started last week before spreading…
read moreGENEVA — U.N. agencies warn that the demolition of a critical water facility in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip increases the risk of infectious diseases as people are forced to drink unsafe water while sanitary conditions continue to deteriorate. “Until recently, that reservoir served thousands and thousands of internally displaced people who had sought refuge…
read moreWashington — In the moments before NASA’s DART spacecraft slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos in a landmark planetary defense test in 2022, it took high-resolution images of this small celestial object and its larger companion Didymos. These images have enabled scientists to unravel the complicated history of these two rocky bodies located in the vicinity of…
read moreBILLINGS, Montana — At least 973 Native American children died in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system, according to the results of an investigation released Tuesday by officials who called on the government to apologize for the schools. The investigation commissioned by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland found marked and unmarked graves at 65 of the…
read moreA California company is developing a material that can cool things by sending heat into deep space. Matt Dibble has our story in this week’s edition of LogOn. …
read moreAccess to abortion is one of the main topics in this year’s U.S. presidential race. The Kamala Harris campaign is betting on support for abortion rights driving voters to the polls in November, while Donald Trump and the Republican party have toned down their anti-abortion public stances on the matter. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has…
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