Author: Fworld

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced plans to open up 90 percent of America’s coastal waters to oil drilling, including off California and Florida, two areas where activists have worked for years to protect marine ecosystems from oil spills. The proposed five-year plan released Thursday is much more expansive than one issued by …

Ankara has slammed the conviction in the U.S. of a Turkish banker for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. “This is the scandalous verdict of a scandalous case,” Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalin told reporters at the presidential palace. “Unjust and unfortunate,” said the Turkish foreign ministry in a statement, adding, “the evidence was fake and open to …

The recreational use of marijuana is now legal in California. But only a few cities in the U.S. state are ready to start selling pot, which was officially legalized on Jan. 1. The logistics of creating new business models is complicated, but it’s clear the demand is high. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Attorneys for three men accused of plotting to bomb a mosque and apartment complex housing Somali refugees urged a federal judge on Wednesday to include prospective jurors from rural western Kansas because they are more likely to have voted for President Donald Trump. But the government countered that granting the request would as a matter …

Questions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tweets about North Korea appear to be exposing some possible rifts between the White House and the U.S. intelligence community over how best to read North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wednesday suggested the North Korean leader was mentally unstable when …

While much of the nation shivers in bone-aching cold, people in Alaska’s largest city are basking in warmer weather, jogging in short sleeves, ice-skating in T-shirts or walking dogs while just lightly bundled up. Anchorage saw an official high of 44 degrees Tuesday, tying the record set in 1981 and 2011. That was warm enough …

A senior Palestinian official said Wednesday the Palestinians “will not be blackmailed” by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to cut aid funding. Trump wrote on Twitter that the U.S. sends hundreds of millions of dollars each year and gets “no appreciation or respect.” “They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with …

The U.S. will no longer accept “contradictions” in its relationship with Pakistan, according to White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. The comment comes as Pakistanis react angrily to President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold U.S. aid in response to what he says is Islamabad’s support for terrorist groups. VOA’s Bill Gallo reports. …

Every day after work, Ariana Hawk drives to a water distribution center in Flint, Michigan, where the city provides free bottled water to its residents. Hawk’s 4-year-old son, Sincere Smith, became the poster child for Flint’s water crisis when his face, pocked by lead-poisoning scars, appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 2016. His …

The United States, Britain and Norway have called on parties in South Sudan’s conflict to stop violating a cease-fire signed last month, their heads of mission in the capital Juba said on Tuesday. The deal aimed to end a four-year war between the government of President Salva Kiir and rebels in which tens of thousands …

Bone-chilling cold gripped much of the U.S. as 2018 began, breaking century-old records and leading to several deaths that authorities attributed to exposure to the dangerously low temperatures.   The National Weather Service issued wind chill advisories and freeze warnings Tuesday covering a vast area from South Texas to Canada and from Montana through New …

VOA’s Pentagon Correspondent Nike Ching spoke with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Peek about the protests in Iran. Q: “Let me start by asking, what is the implication of the protests in Iran to Washington’s policy towards that country and to the region? What is the next step for the United States?” Peek: “Well …

New York, Chicago and Washington all experienced significant declines in homicides in 2017, though the murder rate rose in Baltimore, Maryland, amid drug problems and lingering racial tensions. And while its number of murders was down, Washington saw some particularly brutal killings, including a gruesome decapitation blamed on a gang, and authorities in every city …

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been quick and forceful in his support for Iranian anti-government protests, will have a chance later this month to further step up pressure on Tehran.  In mid-January, Trump faces another series of congressionally mandated deadlines to certify whether Iran is complying with the terms of the nuclear agreement between …

The Trump administration says it is “very concerned” about Tehran blocking Iranians from communicating via social media platforms in a bid to dampen four days of nationwide anti-government protests. Iran blocked access to messaging app Telegram and photo-sharing app Instagram on Sunday, with state media saying the moves were meant to maintain peace. Iranians had …

A man fired more than 100 rounds at sheriff’s deputies in Colorado early Sunday, killing one and injuring four others, before being fatally shot himself in what authorities called an ambush. Two civilians were also injured. Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost immediately after entering a suburban Denver apartment and …

President Donald Trump capped 2017 on Sunday with a video self-tribute touching on what he sees as the high points of his achievements and rhetoric from his first year in office. He gave a plug to American exceptionalism, too. In the video running 3½ minutes, scenes of Trump with military personnel, Border Patrol agents and …

The U.S. Library of Congress says it will no longer collect every single tweet published on Twitter as it has been doing for the past 12 years.  The library said this week that it can no longer collect everything across the entire social media platform because of recent changes Twitter has made, including allowing longer …

U.S. vice presidents historically have had widely varying influence in the White House, depending on their relationship with the president. As Donald Trump’s administration prepares for its second year, VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports on how Vice President Mike Pence’s role continues to broaden. …

Despite suffering what appear to be debilitating defeats on the ground in Iraq and parts of Syria, the Islamic State terror group is far from dead, according to military and intelligence officials from several countries that have long been tracking the threat. Even on the ground in Iraq and parts of Syria, where anti-IS coalition …

The Associated Press reported early Saturday that in the first month of U.S. President Donald Trump’s term in office, he sent “an American scholar” to meet with North Korean officials and to relay a message. The message was that the new administration was appreciative of a nearly four-month freeze of the North’s nuclear and ballistic …

Every attorney general leaves his imprint on the U.S. Justice Department. Jeff Sessions is no exception. Since being sworn in as the nation’s 84th attorney general in February, the former Republican senator and federal prosecutor has moved to radically overhaul the Justice Department and its approach to law enforcement. From scrapping civil rights protections for …

Readying for his first television interview, Alex Wang gazes at his reflection in the back window of his yellow cab. Wiping his windswept mane behind the ear, he adjusts his red Shanghai Tang jacket and takes a swig of steaming tea. “Ahh,” he pauses emphatically, “warms your whole body.” Wang opens the front door and …

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has broken with previous foreign policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, refusing to certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal and taking a more aggressive stance toward North Korea. Views about these departures are mixed — with some welcoming the forceful projection of American power on the world stage, …

Puerto Rico authorities said Friday that nearly half of power customers in the U.S. territory still lack electricity more than three months after Hurricane Maria. Officials said 55 percent of the nearly 1.5 million customers have power, marking the first time the government has provided that statistic since the Category 4 storm hit on Sept. …

For only the second time since 9/11, America’s defense secretary didn’t visit U.S. troops in a war zone during December, breaking a long-standing tradition of personally and publicly thanking service members in combat who are separated from their families during the holiday season. Pentagon boss Jim Mattis, who spent more than four decades in the …