ALBANY, NEW YORK — New York’s highest court on Thursday declined to block Donald Trump’s upcoming sentencing in his hush money case, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court as the president-elect’s likely last option to prevent the hearing from taking place Friday. One judge of the New York Court of Appeals issued a brief order declining to…
read moreThe United States Supreme Court has fast-tracked oral arguments on a challenge by the Chinese company ByteDance — the owner of TikTok — to a new law that would ban the social media platform on grounds of national security. VOA’s Steve Herman reports. …
read moreFor the first time, a person in the United States has died after being infected with the bird flu. Louisiana health officials reported the death on Monday. The World Health Organization says the risk of infection for the general population remains low, but as VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, some medical experts are still sounding the…
read moreWASHINGTON — Nearly a quarter of animals living in rivers, lakes and other freshwater sources are threatened with extinction, according to new research published Wednesday. “Huge rivers like the Amazon can appear mighty, but at the same time freshwater environments are very fragile,” said study co-author Patricia Charvet, a biologist at Brazil’s Federal University of Ceará.…
read moreWASHINGTON — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is set to be honored Thursday with a funeral at Washington National Cathedral before being buried in his home state of Georgia. Carter’s living presidential successors – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden – are due to attend the Washington funeral, with Biden…
read moreMore than 130,000 people in the Los Angeles area were under evacuation orders early Thursday as firefighters battled multiple major wildfires that already killed at least five people and destroyed more than 1,000 structures. A new, fast-moving fire broke out late Wednesday in the Hollywood Hills, prompting the latest round of orders for people to…
read moreU.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held bilateral meetings Thursday with his Ukrainian and British counterparts Wednesday before hosting the Ukraine Defense Contact Group one last time. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb is traveling with Austin as the U.S. is expected to announce its final military aid package for Kyiv under the Biden administration. …
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved a federal emergency declaration for California’s wildfires that will release money and resources to battle the blazes. The president warned that area’s recovery will take time. The Los Angeles County Fire Department faced four life-threatening wildfires that have killed at least two people, burned more than 1,000 buildings,…
read morePresident-elect Donald Trump says he will undo a sweeping new ban on offshore oil and gas drilling after he takes office on Jan. 20. President Joe Biden on Jan. 6 announced the prohibition covering most U.S. coastal waters. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has more. …
read moreWashington — Thousands of people braved freezing temperatures to come to the U.S. Capitol to pay their respects to former President Jimmy Carter, who lay in state Wednesday in the heart of American democracy ahead of his pomp-filled state funeral. Mourners, who included numerous elected officials and Vice President Kamala Harris, highlighted the achievements and the…
read moreFormer President Jimmy Carter lies in state Wednesday in the heart of the U.S. Capitol. A pomp-filled state funeral Thursday will bring all of his living successors together, under one roof, to mourn him. VOA’s Anita Powell reports. Mykhailo Komadovsky and Kim Lewis contributed. …
read moreCalifornia firefighters battled wind-whipped wildfires that tore across the Los Angeles area, destroying homes, clogging roadways as tens of thousands fled and straining resources as officials prepared for the situation to worsen early Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. …
read moreVisitors honored Jimmy Carter this week, as the body of the nation’s 39th president and Nobel Peace Prize winner will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol in Washington for two days, allowing the American public to pay its final respects. …
read moreLOS ANGELES — California firefighters battled wind-whipped wildfires that tore across the Los Angeles area, destroying homes, clogging roadways as tens of thousands fled and straining resources as officials prepared for the situation to worsen early Wednesday. The flames from a fire that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the inland foothills northeast…
read morePresident-elect Donald Trump did not rule out using military or economic coercion to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland during a wide-ranging news conference in Florida on Tuesday. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports his remarks came hours after his son made a surprise trip to Greenland. …
read moreCARACAS, VENEZUELA — Two U.S. citizens have been arrested in Venezuela, part of a group of seven whom President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday branded as “mercenaries” in the latest roundup ahead of the embattled leader’s expected inauguration to a new term later this week. Maduro said the detained U.S. citizens were “very high level” but did…
read moreLOS ANGELES — Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter best known as one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary, the folk-music trio whose impassioned harmonies transfixed millions as they lifted their voices in favor of civil rights and against war, has died. He was 86. Yarrow, who also co-wrote the group’s most enduring song, “Puff the Magic Dragon,” died…
read moreOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that there would be a wider range of speech on Facebook and other Meta platforms. “We’re going to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram,” he said. Here are some of the key changes: Gone will be third-party fact-checkers eyeing Facebook posts…
read moreIndia TV’s claims that HMPV is a mysterious virus, or speculation that a new virus may have arisen out of China, are false. …
read moreWASHINGTON — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday held an omnibus press conference at his Florida estate, where he explained his stances on key foreign policy issues as he prepares to take office in two weeks. He forcefully called for the release of hostages seized in Israel more than a year ago by militant group Hamas,…
read moreWashington — A U.S. judge temporarily blocked Special Counsel Jack Smith from releasing a report on his investigations into President-elect Donald Trump for his mishandling of classified documents and attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a court order showed on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who presided over the now-dismissed case accusing Trump of…
read moreThe eldest son of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump arrived in Greenland on Tuesday for a private visit that heightened speculation that the incoming U.S. administration could seek to take control of the mineral-rich Danish territory. The Danish state broadcaster reported that Donald Trump Jr.’s plane landed in Nuuk, capital of the vast and icy territory…
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