Author: Fworld

Maame Biney, a 17-year-old from Ghana, will be the first African-American woman to represent the U.S. on the speedskating short track team at the 2018 Winter Olympics Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in February. VOA’s Salem Solomon visited her where she first started skating in a local ice rink in Reston, Virginia, and has this …

Minneapolis’ top prosecutor on Thursday said more investigation is needed before he decides whether to charge a police officer in the fatal shooting of an Australian woman in July that led to the police chief’s resignation. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement that he would not decide before the end of 2017 …

An Oregon state appeals court Thursday let stand $135,000 in damages levied against the owners of a Portland-area bakery for discrimination after they refused on religious grounds to prepare a wedding cake for a local lesbian couple. A three-judge panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals rejected a petition by Melissa and Aaron Klein, former …

Despite initial concerns about an untested new leader, the world’s largest economy will end the year on a high note. The US economy is expanding at the fastest pace in more than two years, buoyed in part by low unemployment, soaring stock prices and a broad economic recovery around the globe. The momentum is expected …

More than two weeks after losing a special election to the U.S. Senate, Alabama Republican Roy Moore has filed a last-minute court challenge to prevent state election officials from certifying his Democratic opponent’s victory. Moore filed a complaint in a state courthouse late Wednesday afternoon, just hours before Doug Jones is set to be officially …

Most Americans will spend the rest of the year dealing with arctic temperatures and biting winds. The Eastern and Central United States are gripped by the cold weather, which is expected to continue through the first week of 2018. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

The Nigerian air force said on Wednesday the United States had agreed to sell fighter planes to Nigeria, as the West African country continues its eight-year conflict with Islamist insurgency Boko Haram. The sale of the 12 A29 Super Tucano aircraft, with weapons and services, is worth $593 million. The U.S. ambassador to Nigeria presented …

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday U.S. President Donald Trump would fail in his hardened stance towards Iran, saying Tehran was stronger than during the time of the “more powerful and smarter” Ronald Reagan. “Reagan was more powerful and smarter than Trump, and he was a better actor in making threats, and …

A New York literature professor held in the Central African nation of Cameroon since early this month after writing an article that criticized the government was released Wednesday, his lawyer said.   Stony Brook University Professor Patrice Nganang was expelled from Cameroon and has been told not to return to the country where he was …

The sauvignon blanc boasts brassy, citrus notes, but with one whiff, it’s apparent this is no normal Sonoma County wine. It’s infused with THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that provides the high.  Move over, pot brownies. The world’s largest legal recreational marijuana market kicks off Monday in California, and the trendsetting state is set …

Three large U.S. cities are suing the Defense Department for allegedly failing to provide “significant numbers” of records to the FBI’s national background check system for gun ownership. New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia filed the lawsuit after the U.S. Air Force disclosed that it had failed to report the criminal record of a man who shot …

Before becoming president, Donald Trump railed against US wars overseas, saying it was better to spend money at home than, in his words, “waste” it overseas. But as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports, Trump has at times struggled to carry out what he calls his “America First” approach to the world during his first year as …

A North Korean ambassador to the United Nations says the U.S. claim that Pyongyang was behind the Wannacry ransomware attack earlier this year is a baseless provocation and demanded Washington back up its accusations with evidence. The North’s U.N. ambassador in charge of U.S.-related issues says North Korea believes Washington is using the allegation to …

Despite the best efforts of some Philadelphia schoolchildren, Mother Nature blew in and scuttled the annual re-enactment of George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War. Organizers said high winds forced them to cancel Monday’s planned crossing, the highlight of a historical re-enactment that draws thousands of people to the banks of …

Christians around the world are celebrating Christmas. But in the Holy Land, Israeli-Palestinian tensions have put a damper on festivities. Bells at the Church of the Nativity summoned the faithful to celebrate Christmas at the traditional birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. But turnout was sparse in the wake of three …

Doug Jones was a little speechless at first. Then he thanked the various voters who elected him the first Democratic senator from Alabama in 25 years. “I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than to divide us.” His stunning victory was a fallout from a barrage of sexual harassment …

Widespread allegations of sexual harassment rocked many American institutions in 2017, including Congress, the media and the film industry. By the end of the year, numerous prominent men were suspended, fired or forced to resign from their highly visible jobs because of allegations of sexual harassment and even assault against women that happened in many …

With control of the White House and Congress, Republicans expected a historic opportunity to carry out an ambitious legislative agenda in 2017. But the party’s narrow margins in the Senate slowed progress on a range of priorities. VOA’s congressional reporter Katherine Gypson looks back on a consequential, and often unexpected, year for the U.S. Congress. …

President Donald Trump is sending Christmas greetings to U.S. troops stationed around the world.   From the Florida estate where Trump is spending the holidays, he spoke by video hook-up on Christmas Eve to members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, stationed in Qatar, Kuwait and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.   Trump …

A federal judge ruled Saturday that the U.S. military must provide legal counsel to an American citizen who was picked up months ago on the Syrian battlefield and accused of fighting with Islamic State militants. The unidentified American, who has not been charged, surrendered to U.S.-backed fighters in Syria around Sept. 12 and is being …

In his newly unveiled National Security Strategy, U.S. President Donald Trump vows to “ensure the balance of power remains in America’s favor in key regions of the world.”  The Indo-Pacific led the list of “key regions” identified by the White House, followed by Europe and the Middle East. How Washington will accomplish this strategic goal …

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the focus of criticism over the past year from President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, plans to retire in 2018, The Washington Post reported Saturday. McCabe, 49, is the No. 2 official in the FBI and had been acting director after Trump fired the former director, James Comey, in …

The new U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands apologized Saturday after denying he once said the country was in “chaos” because of Muslims and accusing an interviewer of peddling “fake news,” only to be caught out by Dutch television in a bizarre exchange. Pete Hoekstra, who starts as ambassador to The Hague next month, made the …

Americans are traveling in record numbers this season, according to the American Automobile Association’s (AAA) annual estimate, which forecasts more than 107 million will travel by road, rail or air between now and the start of 2018. Despite higher gas prices, travel volume is expected to be 3.1 percent higher than last year’s holiday season, …

Louisiana officials have chosen a sugar cane farm as the next home for residents of a tiny, shrinking island, a move funded with a 2016 federal grant awarded to help relocate communities fleeing the effects of climate change. Dozens of Isle de Jean Charles residents are to be relocated about 40 miles (64 kilometers) to …

The sounds of the holidays have a familiar ring in cities across the United States, and in cities in South Korea, Japan, Chile and many European countries. In November and December, bell ringers stand next to Red Kettles belonging to the Protestant Salvation Army organization. VOA’s Deborah Block takes us to Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington, …