NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — Just days after Tennessee announced it had a new manual for executing death row inmates, the state’s top prison officials said they aren’t going to release the document to the public. The Tennessee Department of Correction had told The Associated Press to file a public records request to obtain a copy of the…
read morehonolulu — In recent years, occasions large and small — parties, Super Bowls, mixed martial arts fights, even Thanksgiving — have provided a reason for residents across Hawaii to set off illegal fireworks. The increasingly sophisticated displays, loved by some and loathed by others, are so prevalent that some people consider them part of the state’s…
read morePLAINS, GEORGIA — Mourners are to begin paying their respects to Jimmy Carter on Saturday, kicking off a carefully choreographed six-day farewell for America’s longest-lived president. Flags have been flying at half-staff across the country since Carter died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100 in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Carter’s state funeral officially…
read moreApple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices. The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a five-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated…
read moreDETROIT — U.S. new car sales in 2024 continued to rise from their pandemic lows, bolstered by replenished inventories, higher incentives and surging demand for hybrid vehicles, automakers reported on Friday. Sales of new vehicles finished at 15.9 million last year, according to Wards Intelligence, up 2.2% from the prior year, and the highest since 2019.…
read moreWASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration announced Friday that it will allocate $306 million to bolster the nation’s bird flu response before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The new funding will support national, state and local preparedness and monitoring programs, as well as research into potential medical countermeasures against the H5N1 virus. “While the…
read moreAn Army soldier who died in an explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas left a note saying it was a stunt to serve as a “wake-up call” for the country’s ills, investigators said Friday. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, a Green Beret from Colorado Springs, Colorado, also wrote in the note…
read moreWASHINGTON — On Feb. 15, 1951, Army Private Bruno R. Orig was returning from a mission when he found his fellow soldiers under attack in what’s now known as the Battle of Chipyong-ni. The infantryman provided first aid to his comrades wounded in the Korean War attack and began helping move those men to safety. He…
read moreThe holidays came with a side of flu for many Americans, with 40 states reporting high or very high levels of illness last week, according to the latest government health data. “A lot of flu out there,” said Carrie Reed of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of course, there are a number of…
read morewashington — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson retained the speakership in a first-round ballot Friday, as the 119th Congress came into session. Johnson won 218 votes, just enough to keep his job. Both the House and the Senate enter the new session with Republicans in the majority, the party having taken control from Democrats in the…
read moreThe U.S. Homeland Security Department and the FBI are warning federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to be vigilant for potential copycat incidents inspired by the New Year’s Eve truck-ramming attack in New Orleans that killed at least 14 people. In a joint intelligence bulletin released Friday, federal authorities warned the nation’s 18,000 law-enforcement…
read moreWASHINGTON/LONDON — Alcoholic drinks should carry a warning about cancer risks on their label, the U.S. surgeon general said Friday in a move that could signal a shift toward more aggressive tobacco-style regulation for the sector. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said alcohol consumption increases the risk of at least seven types of cancer, including breast,…
read moreJuba, South Sudan — More than 1.1 million doses of an oral cholera vaccine have arrived in South Sudan, as the government launched a program to inoculate more than 80 percent of the population. But the mass vaccination exercise faces numerous challenges, including a lack of access to the areas dealing with the worst cholera outbreaks.…
read moreOn the Middle East, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen as advisers two businessmen with whom he shares close personal ties. VOA’s Michael Lipin has our story. …
read moreWashington — U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday followed through on his pledge to block Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel, citing concerns the deal could hurt national security. The move, long expected, cuts off a critical lifeline of capital for the beleaguered American icon, which has said it would have to idle key…
read moreWASHINGTON — The 119th U.S. Congress will come into session Friday. After a contentious government funding battle last month, though, Republican Party control of both houses of Congress and presidency faces challenges. The Senate enters the new session as Republicans take the majority from Democrats and Senator Mitch McConnell steps away from party leadership for the…
read moreNEW ORLEANS — Less than 48 hours after Wednesday morning’s attack on their city’s iconic French Quarter neighborhood, New Orleanians are trying to find a way forward. It’s something they have had to do countless times in the Crescent City’s 307-year history. In the past two decades alone, residents and businesses have come back from a…
read morewashington — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has a complex legacy on the Korean Peninsula, former U.S. officials say, including the vital role he played in defusing a crisis between the United States and North Korea in 1994. Thomas Hubbard, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea from 2001 to 2004, told VOA Korean by phone Wednesday…
read moreIn the latest escalation of trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies, China on Thursday announced export control measures targeting 28 U.S. companies and added 10 U.S. companies to a list of entities barred from doing business in China. The larger group of companies is made up primarily of firms active in defense contracting…
read moreWashington — A U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday the Federal Communications Commission did not have legal authority to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules. The decision is a blow to the outgoing Biden administration that had made restoring the open internet rules a priority. President Joe Biden signed a 2021 executive order encouraging the FCC to…
read moreLONDON — A worker digging up clay in a southern England limestone quarry noticed unusual bumps that led to the discovery of a “dinosaur highway” and nearly 200 tracks that date back 166 million years, researchers said Thursday. The extraordinary find made after a team of more than 100 people excavated the Dewars Farm Quarry, in…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden is set to award the nation’s second highest civilian honor to 20 people at a White House ceremony Thursday. The recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal include Congressman Bennie Thompson and former Congresswoman Elizabeth Cheney, who led a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by…
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