In the parts of Beirut where protesters camp out, financial institutions remained shuttered this week, with cartoons of pigs with dollar-sign eyes spray-painted on the walls next to graffiti calling for revolution. In other parts of the city, the banks cautiously reopened, after being mostly closed for more than a …
President Donald Trump was to pay respects Thursday to a pair of Army officers who were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Trump has said the responsibility of receiving the remains of fallen U.S. soldiers is “the toughest thing I have to do” as president. As the final day …
One of the Islamic State’s most feared affiliates has suffered a significant setback, though U.S. officials caution reports that the terror group was “obliterated” are overblown. U.S. officials confirmed Thursday that Islamic State-Khorasan, as the terror group’s Afghan affiliate is called, collapsed in the country’s eastern Nangarhar province following …
The fifth Democratic presidential candidate debates took place Wednesday in Atlanta. The candidates answered questions on a range of issues, including the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, foreign policy and health care. Here are some comments from each candidate: Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the U.S. Democratic presidential …
Susan Choi’s novel “Trust Exercise,” in which a high school romance is spun out into a web of memories and perspectives, has won the National Book Award for fiction. Sarah M. Broom’s family memoir “The Yellow House” won in nonfiction and Martin W. Sandler’s “1919 The Year That Changed America” …
Wednesday was the most explosive day yet in the House impeachment hearings and perhaps a crucial moment for the Trump White House when U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland testified that there was a quid pro quo between President Donald Trump and Ukraine. Trump has been denying allegations that …
U.S. Democratic presidential candidates hold their fifth debate Wednesday in Atlanta, with the showdown taking place amid shifting polls and a growing sense of uncertainty about where the primary race is heading. A total of 10 contenders will be on stage in a race that of late has been overshadowed …
U.S. Democrats hold their fifth presidential debate Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia. Ten Democratic contenders will debate each other in a presidential race that of late has been largely overshadowed by the impeachment drama in Washington involving President Donald Trump. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more on the Democratic race …
From 2008 on, Vietnam was mostly protected from the global financial crisis, not because its banks were stronger than the U.S. banks that created the crisis, but because it was less integrated into global trade back then. More than a decade later, Vietnam does far more trade with foreign countries …
Amnesty International says Iranian security forces have killed at least 106 people in nationwide anti-government protests since Friday, four times the death toll of Iran’s last mass protests two years ago. In a Tuesday interview with VOA Persian, the London-based rights group’s Iran researcher Raha Bahreini said Amnesty determined that …
DARPA, the main research and development arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, is funding researchers to develop wearable devices that would have military applications such as using the mind to control unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, commonly known as drones. Instead of using brain implants to achieve this, DARPA …
Google’s head of philanthropy says the company is having “a lot of conversations” internally amid worries about the tech giant’s bottomless appetite for consumer data and how it uses its algorithms. Vice President Jacqueline Fuller wouldn’t comment on specific data privacy controversies dogging Google lately, but says she …
The U.S. House of Representatives is holding its second week of public hearings on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump with testimony by eight aides and officials, including the top diplomat to the European Union, Tuesday through Thursday. Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, and Lt. …
When President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One to fly to a Kentucky campaign rally two weeks ago, a plan was in place for him to give final approval to a plan to ban most flavored e-cigarettes. By the time Trump landed back at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington a …
The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on four companies and two people operating in Syria, Turkey, the Gulf and Europe for providing financial and logistical support to Islamic State. The targets were blacklisted under an executive order that imposes sanctions on terrorists and those who have provided assistance or …
“Enough, we cannot deal with this anymore,” a visibly disgusted Predica Jean, coordinator for the League of Haitian Women for Reconstruction(Lig Fanm Ayisyen pou Rekonstruksyon) (LIFAR) said during a press conference in Port-au-Prince. “We’re asking all the political actors who are involved to resolve the situation quickly so we …
Hundreds of Haiti’s national police officers (PNH) were in the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the northern city of Cape Haitian Sunday, demanding better work conditions and a union to represent and defend their rights. This is the second time in a month police have protested. “We need a …
New research has found that U.S. agriculture uses child workers without proper training and care for their safety. The report published last week in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine says 33 children are injured every day while working on U.S. farms, and more child workers die in agriculture than …
Over the past five months, millions have marched through Hong Kong, demanding democratic reform in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. On Sunday, Hong Kongers will finally get a chance to express their opinion, albeit in a limited way, by casting votes. If the election goes ahead as planned, Hong Kongers will …
A trove of leaked Chinese government documents reveals details of its clampdown on Uighurs and other Muslims in the country’s western Xinjiang region under President Xi Jinping, the New York Times reported Saturday. United Nations experts and activists say at least 1 million Uighurs and members of other largely Muslim …
Samoa declared a state of emergency this weekend, closing all schools and cracking down on public gatherings, after several deaths linked to a measles outbreak that has spread across the Pacific islands. The island state of about 200,000, south of the equator and half way between Hawaii and New Zealand, …
A court in Pakistan has allowed ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad for four weeks for medical treatment. Sharif, 69, was given a seven-year jail term by an anti-graft court in 2018 for corruption and money laundering. But doctors say his health has deteriorated because he is …
Iranian protesters are on the streets in dozens of towns and cities across the country as anger spreads following a government decision to double the price of fuel. The protests appear to have gained momentum after the top Shi’ite cleric in neighboring Iraq, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, sided with protesters in …
A senior White House budget official arrived on Capitol Hill Saturday to testify behind closed doors before congressional investigators who are conducting an impeachment inquiry against U.S. President Donald Trump. Mark Sandy, a longtime career official with the Office of Management and Budget, is the first agency employee to be …
A federal jury found Friday that an anti-abortion activist had illegally recorded workers secretly at Planned Parenthood clinics and was liable for violating federal and state laws. The jury ordered him and others to pay nearly $1 million in damages. After a six-week civil trial, the San Francisco jury …
U.S. regulators on Friday approved a new medicine that can prevent some extremely painful sickle cell disease flare-ups. The Food and Drug Administration approved Novartis AG’s Adakveo for patients 16 and older. The monthly infusion, which halves occurrences of sickle cell pain episodes, will carry a list price of roughly …