Author: Fworld

U.S. prosecutors said Friday they would seek the death penalty for a former University of Illinois graduate student charged with kidnapping and killing a visiting scholar from China.  Brendt A. Christensen, 28, of Champaign, Illinois, is charged with the June 9, 2017, killing and abduction of Yingying Zhang, 26, an international scholar at the university.  …

A former software engineer for IBM in China has been sentenced to five years in prison for stealing the source code for highly valuable software developed by the tech company, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday. Xu Jiaqiang, 31, was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge in White Plains, New York, months after he pleaded guilty …

International opinion polls indicate that one year into Donald Trump’s presidency, America’s standing in the world is at a low point. But notwithstanding his tweets and rhetoric, analysts say, Trump’s foreign policy has turned out to be mostly conventional. “Despite all the bombast that has made life more anxious and unsettled than it perhaps needs …

The worst nightmare for parents is probably a child wandering off and getting lost. And for parents who want to keep their kids within their reach and still give them a chance to play freely and be adventurous, a New York company is offering a solution. Faiza Elmasry has the story. Faith Lapidus narrates. …

The 45th annual March for Life rally takes place Friday in Washington. President Trump says he will speak at the anti-abortion event from the White House. The rally also coincides with the 45th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, a Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in the United States. Pro-choice supporters favor the law, while …

President Donald Trump marks his first year in office Saturday, Jan. 20. Trump’s tumultuous first year was unlike any other in recent U.S. political history, and 2018 could offer more of the same. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington. …

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Thursday the United States has made inconsistent statements about its plans to create a Kurdish-led Syrian border guard and called on Washington to stand with Turkey against the emergence of such a force.   Turkey has reacted angrily to the U.S.-led coalition’s stated plans to form a 30,000-strong Kurdish-led …

Syria’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday the U.S. military’s presence in Syria is an act of aggression and a violation of sovereignty. The comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlined plans in a speech Wednesday for the United States to remain engaged diplomatically and militarily in Syria long after the defeat of the …

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the United States was considering a big “fine” as part of a probe into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property, the clearest indication yet that his administration will take retaliatory trade action against China. In an interview with Reuters, Trump and his economic adviser Gary Cohn said China had forced …

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Russia is helping North Korea get supplies in violation of international sanctions and that Pyongyang is getting “closer every day” to being able to deliver a long-range missile to the United States. “Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea,” Trump said during an Oval Office …

Steve Bannon’s attorney relayed questions, in real time, to the White House during a House Intelligence Committee interview of the former Trump chief strategist, people familiar with the closed-door session told The Associated Press.   As lawmakers probed Bannon’s time working for President Donald Trump, Bannon’s attorney Bill Burck was asking the White House counsel’s …

Apple is planning to build another corporate campus and hire 20,000 workers during the next five years as part of a $350 billion commitment to the U.S. economy. The pledge announced Wednesday is an offshoot from the sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code championed by President Donald Trump and approved by Congress last month. …

As relations get hotter between the United States and North Korea, U.S. officials say they are trying to cut off Pyongyang’s income sources any way they can, especially on the African continent. The U.S. argues that every penny, won, rand and franc that flows into North Korea from African countries is used to further North …

The Department of Homeland Security will be working with states to ensure they follow proper protocols when issuing safety alerts and can quickly retract incorrect alerts, like Hawaii’s warning of a ballistic missile over the weekend, Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Tuesday. Senator Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat, said it’s clear that human error initiated the …

A former Central Intelligence Agency officer was arrested at a U.S. airport on Monday night in connection with charges that he illegally retained highly classified information, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a U.S. citizen who now lives in Hong Kong, used to maintain a top secret clearance and began working …

In a wide-ranging hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a Senate committee she did not remember hearing President Donald Trump use vulgar language to describe Haiti and African countries during a meeting last week with lawmakers at the White House. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing follows a busy, …

A U.S. Army dog who saved the lives of his platoon during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943 has been posthumously awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal, which recognizes the actions of animals serving in military conflict and is seen as the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. “Chips” began life as a beloved pet …

Two thousand-seventeen was the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom, according to Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World Report. While experts say China, Russia, and North Korea, among other countries, put global stability at increased risk, there are signs of progress and global development across other regions, including Latin America and Africa. …

A U.S. Army dog who saved the lives of his platoon during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943 has been posthumously awarded the PDSA ‘Dickin’ Medal – which recognizes the actions of animals serving in military conflict. Chips, a Husky-cross, took part in the beach landings on the Mediterranean island as the United States …

South Africa is the latest country to call in an American diplomat to explain U.S. President Donald Trump’s reported vulgar remarks about African and Haitian immigrants to the U.S. Trump stunned lawmakers in a recent White House meeting on immigration when, according to multiple reports, he asked, “Why are we having all these people from …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Russia does not support U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls to renegotiate the international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program. Trump said Friday he was waiving for the last time sanctions the U.S. agreed to lift under the 2015 deal, and that Congress and European partners had 120 days …

Fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s reported slur against impoverished, predominantly black nations further complicates a push for bipartisan immigration legislation that has eluded U.S. lawmakers for more than a decade. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Washington, a failure to reach a deal on thorny immigration topics could make a partial U.S. government shutdown more …

U.S. Homeland Security Chief Kirstjen Nielsen said Sunday it was “unfortunate” there was a false emergency alarm about an incoming missile in Hawaii, but said authorities are “all working to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Officials continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Saturday incident in which residents of the western-most U.S. state, in …

U.S. President Donald Trump contended Sunday that a U.S. program to protect young immigrants from deportation is “probably dead,” saying that opposition Democrats “don’t really want it,” but just want to be able to talk about the issue. The fate of the program protecting nearly 800,000 immigrants from deportation who were brought to the U.S. …

Iran’s president said Sunday the United States had failed to undermine a nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers, and hailed the accord as a “long-lasting victory” for Iran, state television reported. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday delivered an ultimatum to European signatories of the deal to fix the “terrible flaws” of the agreement …

An Islamic State offshoot is claiming it carried out the October attack in Niger that killed four U.S. soldiers and four Nigerien troops and sparked questions about U.S. military involvement in West Africa’s vast Sahel region. The Mauritanian Nouakchott News Agency reported Friday that Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi with the self-professed IS affiliate claimed responsibility for …