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Satellite imagery shows China expanding spy bases in Cuba
Washington — New satellite images of Cuba show signs the country is installing improved intelligence capabilities at four military bases with suspected links to China, potentially providing Beijing with a network of facilities that could be used to spy on the United States. The imagery, presented in a report Tuesday by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, was taken in March and April. It …
NY disbars Giuliani as court finds he repeatedly lied about election
NEW YORK — Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, federal prosecutor and legal advisor to Donald Trump, was disbarred in the state on Tuesday after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss. The decision was handed down by a New York appeals court in Manhattan. The court ruled that Giuliani be “disbarred from the practice of law, …
US Supreme Court to weigh in on flavored e-cigarette products
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court took up an e-cigarette case Tuesday, weighing whether the Food and Drug Administration wrongly blocked the marketing of sweet, flavored products amid a surge in vaping by young people. Vaping companies argue the FDA unfairly denied more than a million applications to market fruit or candy flavored versions of nicotine-laced liquid that’s heated by the e-cigarette to create an inhalable …
Trump seeks to set aside New York verdict hours after Supreme Court ruling
New York — Donald Trump’s lawyers on Monday asked the New York judge who presided over his hush money trial to set aside his conviction and delay his sentencing scheduled for later this month. The letter to Judge Juan M. Merchan cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier Monday and asked the judge to delay Trump’s sentencing while he weighs the high court’s decision and how …
Nikki Haley voters could swing US presidential election
Former South Carolina Governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley continued to draw support from Republican voters long after she dropped out of this year’s U.S. presidential race. VOA’s Dora Mekouar looks at how Haley supporters may help determine the winner of the election between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. …
Blinken: No main actors want war between Israel, Hezbollah
State Department — The United States is “determined” to prevent military conflict between Israel and Hezbollah fighters based in southern Lebanon from escalating into an all-out war, America’s top diplomat said Monday. While acknowledging “forces of momentum … may be leading” toward a war between Israel and Hezbollah, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “None of the main actors actually want a war.” “I don’t believe …
Could Biden’s party replace him as their presidential nominee?
U.S. presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump are back on the campaign trail following their first debate last week. Biden’s sometimes-struggling performance in that debate has some members of his political party looking at who might replace him as their nominee. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns has our story. …
LGBTQ+ Pride Month culminates with parades in New York, San Francisco and beyond
New York — The monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride reached its exuberant grand finale on Sunday, bringing rainbow-laden revelers to the streets for marquee parades in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere across the globe. The wide-ranging festivities functioned as both jubilant parties and political protests, as participants recognize the community’s gains while also calling attention to recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws, such as bans on transgender …
Expanding extremist groups in Africa fuel worries that they could attack the US, allies
GABORONE, Botswana — Violent extremist groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are growing in size and influence across Africa, fueling worries that as they improve their tactics they could attack the U.S. or Western allies. U.S. defense and military officials described the threats and their concerns about growing instability in Africa, where a number of coups have put ruling juntas in control, leading …
San Francisco store is shipping LGBTQ+ books to places where they are banned
SAN FRANCISCO — In an increasingly divisive political sphere, Becka Robbins focuses on what she knows best — books. Operating out of a tiny room in Fabulosa Books in San Francisco’s Castro District, one of the oldest gay neighborhoods in the United States, Robbins uses donations from customers to ship boxes of books across the country to groups that want them. In an effort she calls …
School’s out and NYC migrant families face a summer of uncertainty
NEW YORK — When Damien Carchipulla started his first school year in New York City in September, the first grader’s family was living in a Manhattan hotel for migrant families. In the 10 months since, the family of four from Ecuador has moved shelters three times under a policy Mayor Eric Adams imposed in the fall that limits the number of days migrants can stay in …
US, Europe warn Lebanon’s Hezbollah to ease strikes on Israel
WASHINGTON — U.S., European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants from spiraling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months. Hopes are lagging for a cease-fire anytime soon in Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza that would calm attacks by Hezbollah and other Iranian-allied militias. With that in mind, American and …
UN moving tons of aid from US-built pier after work suspended
JERUSALEM — Humanitarian workers have started moving tons of aid that piled up at a United States-built pier off the Gaza coast to warehouses in the besieged territory, the United Nations said Saturday, an important step as the U.S. considers whether to resume pier operations after yet another pause due to heavy seas. It was not clear when the aid might reach Palestinians in the Gaza …