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 other world leaders are set to a stirring soundtrack as …
10 Killed in Fiery Crash Along Mexico’s Pacific Coast
Mexican authorities say five people visiting from the United States were among 10 people killed in a fiery car crash on a coastal highway in southern Mexico. Guerrero state security spokesman Roberto Alvarez Heredia said Sunday that the crash late Friday also left two U.S. residents hospitalized. A van carrying the family from Washington state collided with a motorcycle and another car. All of the …
Deadlines Loom as US Lawmakers Return to Washington
After a two-week holiday recess, U.S. lawmakers get back to work this week with a long to-do list and deadlines looming at the start of 2018. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Washington. …
New Year Celebrations around the World
New Zealand, Australia, and surrounding Pacific Islands were among the first places to ring in 2018 with fireworks displays, parties, and other festivities. Nearly 1.5 million people gathered to watch a rainbow fireworks display above Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and opera house. …
2018 Starts With a Bang as Fireworks Around the World Greet New Year
Thousands braved a frigid New York night to celebrate the start of 2018 in Times Square, an annual celebration that dates back to 1904. Tarana Burke, a social activist who started the #MeToo movement to draw attention to sexual abuse, pushed the button that started the famed ball drop – a hallmark of the New York celebration for 110 years.2017 saw a sea change in …
Library of Congress Will No Longer Collect Every Tweet Created
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 tweets, photos and videos. It said in a blog post …
Pence Carving out a Role as Presidential Envoy
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. …
Fugitive Catalonian Leader Seeks Talks With Spain
Catalonia’s fugitive former president has called for Spanish authorities to open negotiations regarding the restitution of what he calls his “legitimate government.” Carles Puigdemont said via social media channels from Brussels on Saturday that Spain should “recognize the election results of Dec. 21 and start negotiating politically with the legitimate government of Catalonia.” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy deposed Puigdemont and his Cabinet after Catalonia’s …
Polish Climbers Attempt Record Winter Ascent of K2
A group of Polish mountaineers set off for northern Pakistan on Sunday to attempt to be the first to scale K2, the world’s second highest peak, in wintertime. K2, in the Karakorum mountains along the border between China and Pakistan, is notorious for high winds, steep and icy slopes — and high fatality rates for climbers. In winter months, scant snowfall means the summit approach …
Defense, Intelligence Officials Warn Against Underestimating Islamic State
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 officials believe the terror group’s fighting force, which once numbered …
South Korea Seizes 2nd Ship Suspected of Carrying Oil to North Korea
South Korean authorities have seized a Panama-flagged vessel suspected of transferring oil products to North Korea in violation of international sanctions, a customs official said Sunday. The ship can carry 5,100 tons of oil and has a crew mostly from China and Myanmar, Yonhap News Agency reported, adding that South Korea’s intelligence and customs officials are conducting a joint probe into the vessel. The official …
Iranian Interior Minister: Protesters Will ‘Pay the Price’
Iran’s interior minister warned that those who “disrupt the order and break the law must be responsible for their behavior and pay the price,” after thousands of anti-government protesters marched for a third day on Saturday. Abdolrahman Rahmani Fazli, in a statement on Iranian state television Sunday, said “fear and terror will definitely be confronted.” At least two demonstrators were killed during clashes with police …
May Says 2018 Brexit Progress Will Renew British Pride
Prime Minister Theresa May said 2018 would be a year of “renewed confidence and pride” for Britain as it confronts the challenges of negotiating Brexit, in her New Year’s message out Sunday. Divorce talks between London and Brussels are set to move on to transition arrangements, trade and security next year as Britain prepares to leave the European Union in March 2019. May said 2017 …
Ukrainian Police Storm Post Office, Free Hostages
Ukrainian police on Saturday freed the remaining hostages being held in a post office by a man believed to be strapped with explosives. They arrested the hostage-taker after an hourslong standoff in the city of Kharkiv. “All hostages freed in Kharkiv. The assailant was arrested,” President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Twitter, while Interior Minister Arsen Avakov published a picture of the man, with blood streaming …
German Party Leader: Deport Young Refugees Involved in Crime
Germany should be able to deport unaccompanied minor refugees who commit crimes if their families can be identified, the head of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) said in remarks released ahead of publication Sunday. FDP leader Christian Lindner spoke amid growing debate about unaccompanied refugees after the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old German girl on Wednesday by a suspect later identified by police as her …
Media Group: 81 Reporters Died, Threats Soared in 2017
At least 81 reporters were killed doing their jobs this year, while violence and harassment against media staff has skyrocketed, the world’s biggest journalists’ organization says. In its annual “Kill Report,” seen by The Associated Press, the International Federation of Journalists said the reporters lost their lives in targeted killings, car bomb attacks and crossfire incidents around the world. More than 250 journalists …
Report: Suspect Detained in St. Petersburg Supermarket Blast
Russian news outlet Interfax is reporting that a suspect in Wednesday’s St. Petersburg bombing was arrested on Saturday. Interfax reported that “the organizer and direct perpetrator who triggered an improvised explosive device on December 27 in a supermarket in St. Petersburg was arrested during a special operation by the FSB,” the Russian security service. The report said the suspect was handed over to the Russian …
Court Upholds Ban on Navalny Running for Russian Presidency
Russia’s highest court has upheld election officials’ decision to bar opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running for president in March’s election. The Supreme Court on Saturday turned down Navalny’s appeal against the Central Election Commission’s move, saying that the decision to bar him from the race fully conforms to law. President Vladimir Putin, whose approval ratings top 80 percent, is set to easily …
AP: Trump’s Initial Outreach to North Korea Backfired
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 missile tests – and thought it “might just offer a …
How US Attorney General Jeff Sessions Has Rolled Back Obama-era Policies
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 transgender people to ending leniency in sentencing criminal defendants, Sessions …