Author: Fworld

The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday passed the most significant gun control bill in years, expanding background checks to include gun shows and internet sales. The vote was 240 to 190, with Congressman Mike Thompson of California calling it a “new day” in Congress, with Democrats in control and making a “commitment to address the …

Members of a U.S. House Armed Services subcommittee on Wednesday heard testimony from five transgender members of the U.S. military, just over a month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can ban future transgender members of the military.    The ruling made Jan. 22, 2019, said transgender men and women already …

As Walmart moves to phase out its familiar blue-vested “greeters” at 1,000 stores nationwide, disabled workers who fill many of those jobs say they’re being ill-treated by a chain that styles itself as community-minded and inclusive.    Walmart told greeters around the country last week that their positions would be eliminated on April 26 in favor …

Former acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker agreed to meet with lawmakers to clarify his testimony, a congressional leader said on Tuesday, referring to an appearance where Whitaker was quizzed about whether President Donald Trump had sought to influence investigations. “I want to thank Mr. Whitaker for volunteering to meet with us to clarify his …

A few years ago, Hoda Muthana was a hard-talking 20-something from a religiously conservative Alabama family, with a propensity for aggressive tweets and an affinity for the Islamic State’s extremist rhetoric. “Americans wake up!” she posted on March 19, 2015, from her now-defunct @ZumarulJannah account. “Men and women altogether. You have much to do while …

A senior U.S. official said Tuesday the Trump administration would impose more sanctions on Venezuela in the coming days.  “We announced some sanctions yesterday, there will be more,” Special Representative on Venezuela Elliott Abrams told reporters at the United Nations, where he addressed a meeting of the Security Council called by the United States. “There …

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to meet Wednesday in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, to continue talks that began last year on a range of issues, most importantly the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from the site of the summit in Hanoi. …

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to meet Wednesday in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, to continue talks that began last year on a range of issues, most importantly the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from the site of the summit in Hanoi. …

Michael Cohen, the longtime personal attorney of U.S. President Donald Trump, goes before the Senate intelligence committee Tuesday for the first of three days of congressional testimony. Committee Chairman Richard Burr says there will be no question that is off limits, though the answers Cohen gives will be private due to the closed-door nature of …

President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un will meet this week in Vietnam for a second summit on denuclearization. In an interview Monday with VOA News Center Deputy Managing Editor David Jones, VOA’s Korean Service Chief Dong Hyuk Lee talked about the outcome of the 2018 summit and what can be expected …

U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to Hanoi for his second summit with Kim Jong Un amid hopes for a deal that would lead to the North Korean leader to give up his nuclear weapons. “I think we’ll have a very tremendous summit. We want denuclearization, and I think he’ll have a country that will …

West Point Sets Aside Day to Confront Sexual Harassment WEST POINT, NEW YORK West Point has suspended classes for a day so cadets can address sexual assault and harassment after a survey found an increasing number of incidents at the academy. U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams ordered a full-day “stand-down” at …

President Donald Trump is going after director Spike Lee, who used his Oscar acceptance speech to urge mobilization for the 2020 election. Trump tweeted Monday that Lee did a “racist hit on your President.” Trump claimed that he had “done more for African Americans” than “almost” any other president.   Lee won for best adapted …

Opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on the international community to consider “all options” to resolve Venezuela’s crisis, a dramatic escalation in rhetoric that echoes comments from the Trump administration hinting at potential U.S. military involvement. Guaido’s comments late Saturday came after a tumultuous day that saw President Nicolas Maduro’s forces fire tear gas and …

Trump Postpones New Trade Tariffs on China …

All the bill needed to become law was President Donald Trump’s signature. It would create a national archive of documents from civil rights cold cases. Students had been working on the project for years, families waiting on it for decades. But time was running out. Legislation dies in the transition from one session of Congress …

The United States has a long tradition of recognizing foreign figures by naming streets after them. Often that’s done at the request of an immigrant community with a significant presence in the area. That’s the case along of stretch of Brooklyn’s Coney Island Avenue in New York City, which has been renamed after the founder …

The real estate firm run by White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family has pulled off its biggest deal in more than a decade. Kushner Cos. paid $1.1 billion for a portfolio of about 6,000 apartments in Maryland and Virginia that had been owned by Lone Star Funds, according to a story published Friday by The …

Homes, highways, parks and bridges throughout the South have been flooded or put out of commission Saturday, as the toll of days of drenching rains swelled waterways and pooled over saturated lands amid a threat of severe storms. Interstate 40 near the Tennessee line with North Carolina was closed by a rockslide, one of the …

The attorney for Maria Butina, the Russian women whom U.S. federal prosecutors have charged with illegal foreign lobbying, says her passport has been handed over to U.S. immigration officials to expedite her anticipated deportation to Russia. In an interview with Russia’s state run TASS news agency, defense attorney Robert Driscoll said he hopes the U.S. …

Any day now — or perhaps weeks from now — a caravan of trucks hauling heavy equipment will begin the eight-mile climb up Mauna Kea, a sleeping volcano on the “Big Island” of Hawaii, the first step toward building the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), the largest in the world, and the first of its kind. …

The number of hate crimes, or crimes against a protected minority, has increased over the last several years in the United States. Advocates fear the alleged false reporting of a hate crime by an American actor may cause people to doubt real victims and prevent some victims from going to the police. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti …

Get ready for some fireworks over the long-awaited “Mueller Report.” Word that Special Counsel Robert Mueller may wrap up his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and issue his final report as early as next week has Washington on edge.   Speculation is rife over what Mueller will conclude in his …

Get ready for some fireworks over the long-awaited “Mueller Report.” Word that Special Counsel Robert Mueller may wrap up his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and issue his final report as early as next week has Washington on edge.   Speculation is rife over what Mueller will conclude in his …

The Afghan Taliban says it will resume negotiations Monday with the United States in Qatar, insisting the meeting “will prove positive” despite recent hiccups and propaganda against the peace process. Washington has engaged the insurgent group in direct talks since last fall in a bid to promote a political settlement to the war in Afghanistan. …

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says Amazon’s backing out of a deal to put one of its second headquarters in New York City is the “greatest tragedy” he has seen since he’s been in government. Cuomo said Friday on public radio station WAMC that losing the Amazon deal makes him sick to his stomach. Cuomo’s public comments …