The replacement crew for the International Space Station was launched late Friday, paving the way for the return home of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two NASA astronauts stuck on the space station for nine months. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7:03 p.m. from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying Crew-10…
read moreA California jury Friday imposed a $50 million fine on Starbucks in the case of a delivery driver burned by a scalding cup of hot tea at a company location in Los Angeles. Michael Garcia was picking up three drinks in 2020 but one, he claimed, was “negligently” unsecured and spilled in his lap. He…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump promised to seek accountability for those who pursued legal cases against him when he was out of office, speaking Friday at the Justice Department. “Our predecessors turned this Department of Justice into the Department of Injustice. But I stand before you today to declare that those days are over, and they…
read moreFederal judges in two separate cases ruled this week that recent mass firings of employees as part of President Donald Trump’s push to cut the size of the federal workforce were illegal and ordered thousands of probationary employees to be reinstated — at least for now. The Trump administration pushed back, filing appeals in both…
read moreMarch 14 is Pi Day, an annual celebration of the mathematical constant of pi, representing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. The holiday is observed on March 14 or 3/14 because 3.14 are the first three digits of the infinite number pi — 3.14159 … and on and on. The celebration of…
read moreThe U.S. Senate is set to pass a stopgap spending bill Friday that would avert a partial government shutdown, although many Democrats are expressing anger over plans by their party’s leadership to support the measure. The measure cleared its first Senate hurdle early Friday evening, 62-38. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the bill earlier…
read moreU.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said a Hamas statement issued Friday announcing it had agreed to release an American-Israeli soldier was, in reality, a condition of a “bridge” ceasefire proposal offered by U.S. officials earlier this week. Early Friday, the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas issued a statement saying it had agreed…
read moreThe on-again, off-again tariffs between the United States and other countries are again under scrutiny, with the U.S. president not budging. VOA White House Correspondent Carolyn Presutti reports. …
read moreOfficials tell VOA the shortage of amphibious warfare ships has reached a breaking point. While the ships make up just 10% of the fleet, they are the go-to alternative to aircraft carriers when commanders need something more precise or expedient. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb reports. …
read morePENTAGON — U.S. government lawyers are expected to face off with attorneys for civil and immigration rights groups over the use of a U.S. naval base in Cuba to hold migrants slated for deportation. Arguments in the two lawsuits over operations at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, filed against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi…
read moreWASHINGTON — Donald Trump took the fight over his attempt to restrict automatic U.S. birthright citizenship to the Supreme Court on Thursday as the Republican president’s administration asked the justices to narrow a judicial block imposed on this key element of his hardline approach toward immigration. The Justice Department made the request challenging the scope of…
read moreU.S. lawmakers are running out of time to pass a short-term continuing resolution, or CR, that will fund the government past a March 14 deadline. “Democrats need to decide if they’re going to support funding legislation that came over from the House, or if they’re going to shut down the government. So far, it’s looking…
read moreDemonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of Trump Tower on Thursday to denounce the immigration arrest of a Columbia University activist who helped lead student protests on the Manhattan campus against Israel’s war in Gaza. The Jewish Voice for Peace protesters, who wore red shirts reading “Jews say stop arming Israel” and carried…
read moreThe state of Texas has the third-largest Asian American population in the U.S. Chinese Americans in the Lone Star State have roots that trace back for generations, just like those of their counterparts on the nation’s East and West coasts. While the history of these Texans might not be as well known, their stories are…
read moreWASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced a wave of regulatory rollbacks on Wednesday including a repeal of Biden-era emissions limits on power plants and automobiles, as well as reduced protections for waterways. The announcements from Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency align with the president’s vows to slash regulations to boost industries from coal to manufacturing and ramp…
read moreWASHINGTON — The U.S. budget deficit for the first five months of fiscal 2025 hit a record $1.147 trillion, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday, including a $307 billion February deficit for President Donald Trump’s first full month in office that was up 4% from a year earlier. The October-February deficit, which included nearly four months…
read moreNEW YORK — A U.S. judge on Wednesday extended his order blocking federal authorities from deporting a detained Columbia University student, in a case that has become a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s pledge to deport some pro-Palestinian college activists. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman had temporarily blocked Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation earlier this week and extended…
read moreWASHINGTON — Kuwait has released a group of American prisoners, including veterans and military contractors jailed for years on drug-related charges, in a move seen as a gesture of goodwill between two allies, a representative for the detainees told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The release follows a recent visit to the region by Adam Boehler,…
read moreAs the U.S. seeks to strengthen ties with resource-rich Central Asia, the European Union is also reaching out to the region. Having adopted a new strategy for Central Asia in 2019, the bloc appears to be making renewed efforts to implement it. EU Commissioner for External Relations Jozef Sikela has begun a tour of the…
read moreWASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has dropped a civil rights lawsuit it filed last year against the national nonprofit Southwest Key Programs alleging its employees had sexually abused unaccompanied minors who were housed in its shelters after entering the country illegally, according to a court filing. Austin, Texas-based nonprofit Southwest Key contracts with the…
read moreWASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions against the Foxtrot Network, a Sweden-based gang accused of carrying out attacks against Israeli interests in Europe on behalf of Iran. Describing Foxtrot as one of Sweden’s “most notorious criminal gangs,” the U.S. Treasury and State Departments also placed sanctions on its leader Rawa Majid, with both…
read moreA self-described member of a Russian organized crime group told a court on Tuesday that he tried to kill the Iranian American journalist and VOA host Masih Alinejad in New York in 2022. Khalid Mehdiyev told jurors that he was arrested in July 2022 in his car in Brooklyn while in possession of an AK-47…
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