U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to pass the Democratic Party’s torch to Vice President Kamala Harris makes him a lame-duck president – one who remains in office without any hope of an additional term. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman at the White House looks at how Biden’s legacy may eventually compare to the previous…
read moreCHICO, California — California’s largest wildfire so far this year continued to grow Thursday as it chewed through timber in very hot and dry weather. The Park Fire has scorched more than 1,709 square kilometers since erupting July 24 near the Sacramento Valley city of Chico and burning northward up the western flank of the Sierra…
read moresan diego, california — Two Chinese giant pandas are now California residents as their enclosure at the San Diego Zoo opened to the public on Thursday in an international ceremony. The pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, are the first to enter the United States in 21 years and were welcomed by California Governor Gavin Newsom…
read moreDemocratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz’s ties to China will likely inform his work if elected. Where does he stand on key issues? And how does Beijing see him? Everyone has an opinion. VOA’s Anita Powell and Paris Huang report from Washington. …
read moreCAIRO — Security forces have arrested five people in connection with an attack this week at a military base in Iraq in which five U.S. troops and two U.S. contractors were wounded, Iraqi officials said on Thursday. The arrests were announced by the Iraqi Security Media Cell, an official body responsible for disseminating security information. “After…
read moreWashington — U.S.-led efforts to thwart attacks on international shipping by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen are nothing more than a “shock absorber” and are unlikely to lead to stability or safer seas, according to a senior U.S. commander. Vice Admiral George Wikoff, who heads the U.S. naval efforts in the Middle East, shared the blunt…
read moreMEXICO CITY — A U.S. federal judge in Massachusetts again dismissed a $10 billion Mexican government lawsuit against six U.S. gun manufacturers on Wednesday. Mexico had argued the companies knew weapons were being sold to traffickers who smuggled them into Mexico and decided to cash in on that market. However, the judge ruled that Mexico had…
read morewashington — President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he was not confident about a peaceful transfer of power in the United States if Republican Donald Trump loses the Nov. 5 presidential election. “If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News when asked whether he thought there would be…
read moreCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — What should have been a quick trip to the International Space Station may turn into an eight-month stay for two NASA astronauts if they have to switch from Boeing to SpaceX for a ride home. There’s lingering uncertainty over the safety of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, NASA officials said Wednesday, and the…
read moreSAN BERNARDINO, California — Firefighters battled on Wednesday the reawakened Park Fire, a massive blaze that re-exploded in Northern California on Monday after several days of slumber and grew by as much as 53 square kilometers, mostly in about 12 hours. The Park Fire, California’s largest so far this year and the state’s fourth largest on…
read moreTokyo — Japan this week restated its aim to rid the world of atomic weapons as it marks the 79th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — even as the Japanese government seeks assurances the United States would be willing to use its own nuclear arsenal to protect Japan. At 8:15 a.m. Tuesday…
read moreNow that both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have selected their running mates, the question is whether those picks will actually help boost the campaigns’ chances of winning the November election. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at the historical relevance of vice presidential candidates and what Tim Walz and JD Vance bring to their…
read moreThe two U.S. presidential tickets are set. Vice President Kamala Harris named her running mate Tuesday. But the Democratic Party nominee wasn’t alone making news in one of America’s oldest cities, Philadelphia, in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania. That’s where we find VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti. …
read moreTropical Storm Debby swirls over Atlantic, expected to again douse the Carolinas before moving north
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Tropical Storm Debby is taking a breather Wednesday over the western Atlantic Ocean but it isn’t done dousing the coastal Carolinas before it slowly marches north. Debby was expected to restrengthen and turn north toward the South Carolina coastline for a second landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday, weather officials said. The storm…
read moreTaipei, Taiwan — From teaching at a high school in China to his experience serving on a key congressional committee that focuses on relations between Beijing and Washington, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz has a decades-long connection with China dating back to the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. As an educator, Walz taught American…
read moreWASHINGTON — Harrison Li, the son of Kai Li, a Chinese American wrongfully detained in China since 2016, felt a mix of emotions after witnessing the recent return of Americans wrongfully imprisoned in Russia. Last Thursday, President Joe Biden and the families of those released celebrated the return of three Americans and a permanent resident, including…
read moreU.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday, capping off a whirlwind sequence of events since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee less than three weeks ago. Harris and Walz will kick off a seven-state trip to some of the biggest battleground…
read moreWashington — A Pakistani man alleged to have ties to Iran has been charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Prosecutors in Brooklyn announced criminal charges against Asif Merchant, accusing him of traveling to New York to try to hire a hitman for the assassinations. The…
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