With less than two weeks before U.S. President Joe Biden leaves office, his aides are working with President-elect Donald Trump’s team in a last-ditch push for a ceasefire in Gaza. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports. Anita Powell contributed. …
read moreMIAMI, FLORIDA — About 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 230,000 Salvadorans already living in the United States can legally remain another 18 months, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday, barely a week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office with promises of hard-line immigration policies. Biden’s administration has strongly supported Temporary Protected Status, which he has…
read moreA New York judge Friday sentenced President-elect Donald Trump to an “unconditional discharge” over 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The sentence spares him penalties but allows the convictions to stand. During sentencing, the president-elect again said the case was politically motivated. VOA senior Washington correspondent Carolyn Presutti reports. Contributor: Kim Lewis; Video editor: Rob Raffaele…
read moreWASHINGTON — U.S. hiring picked up unexpectedly in December as employers added a strong 256,000 jobs, another sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of high interest rates. Job growth rose 212,000 last month from November, the Labor Department reported Friday. For all of 2024, the economy added 2.2 million jobs, a solid number but…
read moreNew York — In a singular moment in U.S. history, President-elect Donald Trump faces sentencing Friday for his New York hush money conviction after the nation’s highest court refused to intervene. Like so much else in the criminal case and the current American political landscape, the scenario set to unfold in an austere Manhattan courtroom was…
read moreAuthorities in the western U.S. state of California say at least 10 people have been killed in massive wildfires that have ravaged the city of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County medical examiner late Thursday announced the new death toll, which doubled from earlier reports. Officials warn that number could increase once the fires have…
read moreSix days of official funeral ceremonies honoring the life and legacy of US President Jimmy Carter concluded in his home state of Georgia, where VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more. Camera: Kane Farabaugh …
read morewashington — Republican Vice President-elect JD Vance said Thursday that he would resign from his U.S. Senate seat from Ohio at midnight ahead of his inauguration later this month. President-elect Donald Trump and Vance defeated the Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in the Nov. 5 U.S.…
read morelondon — Russia has said it is closely watching the situation with Greenland, following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out military or economic measures to take control of the territory from Denmark. “We are observing this rather dramatic development of the situation, but so far, thank God, [it remains] at the level of statements,”…
read moreWASHINGTON — As they filed into the front pews at the National Cathedral, wearing dark suits and mostly solemn faces, one current and four former presidents came together for Jimmy Carter’s funeral. For a service that stretched more than an hour, the feuding, grievances and enmity that had marked their rival campaigns and divergent politics gave…
read moreLAS VEGAS — So much of the technology showcased at CES includes gadgets made to improve consumers’ lives — whether by leveraging AI to make devices that help people become more efficient, by creating companions to cure loneliness, or by providing tools that help people with mental and physical health. But not all innovation is good,…
read moreJimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. President, is being honored with the pageantry of a state funeral in the nation’s capital, The Associated Press reported. He will later be honored a second service and burial in his tiny Georgia hometown that launched a Depression-era farm boy to the world stage. …
read moreALBANY, 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 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. …
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