Author: Fworld

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to review the protected status of federal lands known as national monuments. Trump says the move returns the lands to the people. As Mike O’Sullivan reports, critics say it could open dozens of protected natural areas to potential development. …

The U.S. Congress was moving closer to crafting a deal to avoid shutting down at the stroke of midnight on Friday, but the details and even broad strokes of an agreement were still murky. Some lawmakers are optimistic they can hammer out a budget bill to take the government to the end of the current …

In some of the lowest performing elementary and middle schools in the U.S., students are learning in an unconventional way.    “I like to act and I like to sing and I like to dance,” said 10-year-old Kayla Driakare, whose teachers at Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School are incorporating much of what she loves doing …

President Donald Trump is tackling another major campaign promise: reforming the federal tax system. An administration plan to overhaul the tax code is expected Wednesday. As VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, while nearly everyone supports the concept of simpler, fairer taxes, getting a reform package through Congress will be a challenge. …

The number of immigrants in the U.S. illegally fell to 11 million since 2009, largely because of a drop-off in the number of Mexicans without legal status, according to a study released Tuesday. The report by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center — using survey data from 2015 — showed the number of immigrants lacking legal …

President Donald Trump will mark the end of his first 100 days in office with a flurry of executive orders, a tool he once derided. Trump’s frequent use of executive orders points to his struggles getting legislation through a Congress controlled by his own party, and few of the orders themselves appear to deliver the …

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has admonished the warring parties in South Sudan, saying they have done nothing to end the suffering of their people and are only exacerbating it. Haley spoke of the on-going violence, worsening food insecurity, massive displacements, and the dangers to humanitarian workers in the young but failing country. …

About 5,000 American and Philippine troops will hold humanitarian exercises next month instead of annual war games, scaling back military drills in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s disdain for their longstanding defense alliance. Troops taking part in “Balikatan” will simulate a response to a devastating super typhoon in the central Philippines, modeled on typhoon Haiyan …

President Donald Trump complained on Monday that the United States is shouldering an unfair burden of the cost of the United Nations, but said if the world body reforms how it operates, the investment would be worth it. Trump, who has frequently criticized the cost to the United States of supporting the NATO alliance, took …

For the first 20 years of Markus Rindt’s life, he knew just how far he could travel — no further west than the wall that split Germany in two. “I grew up with walls around me —it was a weird situation, to see that the world seems to end at this wall,” remembers Rindt. “You …

The head of Bethel Heights Vineyard looked out over the 100 acres of vines her crew of 20 Mexicans had just finished pruning, worried about what will happen if the Trump administration presses ahead with its crackdown on immigrants. From tending the plants to harvesting the grapes, it takes skill and a strong work ethic …

Robert De Niro helped Burt Reynolds onto the red carpet for the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of his new movie “Dog Years” Saturday night in New York. It was a rare appearance for the 81-year old actor, who at times struggled to walk. Reynolds was given a chair on the red carpet, so that he …

A federal judge revoked the U.S. citizenship of a man who prosecutors say ran a communications hub for an Egyptian terrorist group out of his northern California apartment, authorities said. Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last week ordered the “denaturalization” of Khaled Abu al-Dahab, 57, for lying …

Two Harvard researchers say they have found a rare parchment copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence — in England. The only other known parchment copy is housed in the National Archives in Washington. Researchers Emily Sneff and Danielle Allen found the document in the archives of the small town of Chichester in Sussex, in southern …

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is in Djibouti, the tiny east African nation that’s home to the United States’ only military base on the continent. Mattis arrived Sunday at Camp Lemonnier before visiting the Djiboutian president and minister of defense. Officials say Camp Lemonnier is one of the most strategically important areas for the United …

The Blackfeet Indian Reservation rolls across the plains just east of Glacier National Park. There’s a hotel and casino. There are gas stations, a few eateries and a museum about the culture and history of the people that have occupied the territory long before the arrival of the U.S. Cavalry and the hordes of modern-day …

The U.S. Surgeon General under the Obama administration has resigned and been replaced, at least, temporarily, by his deputy. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that Vivek Murthy was asked to resign after “assisting in a smooth transition” from the Obama administration to that of President Donald Trump. Murthy’s replacement is his …

Scientists are taking the unprecedented step of staging marches in more than 600 cities worldwide in the face of what they see as a growing political assault on evidence-based knowledge. Thousands of scientists and their supporters are attending March for Science events Saturday across the globe, including those in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cape Town, London …

The desperate effort this week to find two hikers who disappeared at the bottom of the Grand Canyon represented the National Park Service’s most extensive use yet of drones in a search-and-rescue mission.   The Grand Canyon is the only national park with its own fleet of unmanned aircraft for locating people who have gotten …

The United States has offered to help fund Mexico’s efforts to eradicate opium poppies, the U.S. assistant secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) said Friday, as Mexican heroin output increased again last year. “We would be prepared to support (opium eradication efforts) should we reach a basic agreement in terms of how …

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed Friday to continue their tough approach to illegal immigration, warning of the dangers of cross-border gangs and sanctuary cities. Speaking in San Diego on the second day of a trip through the U.S. Southwest, where border concerns are most prominent, Kelly …

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a full review of the powers given to government regulators to oversee the banking and finance industries following the financial meltdown of 2008. Trump went to the Treasury Department on Friday to sign three executive orders that start the process of fulfilling his campaign pledges to undo regulations that …

The Los Angeles River spans 80 kilometers through Los Angeles and its suburbs, and for much of its route it’s encased in concrete. Like many urban waterways, the river is being restored to its natural state, and volunteers are helping for three weekends in April in an annual cleanup. The sprucing up coincides with Earth …

Arkansas has executed an inmate for the first time in nearly a dozen years as part of its plan to execute several inmates before a drug expires April 30, despite court rulings that have already spared three men.   Ledell Lee’s execution was the first in the state since 2005. He was pronounced dead at …

The Los Angeles River runs for 80 kilometers through the sprawling city of Los Angeles. For much of the route, however, it’s a concrete drainage channel that is dry in summer. Like many other urban waterways, the river is being restored, and volunteers have been doing an annual cleanup. Mike O’Sullivan asked why they are …

South Korean Presidential candidates debated this week how to manage relations with Seoul’s increasingly forceful U.S. ally, as tensions mount over the North Korean nuclear threat. An early South Korean presidential election, scheduled for May 9, was precipitated by the impeachment of ex-President Park Geun-hye for her alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar corruption scandal. …