Tulum, Mexico — Beryl weakened to a tropical storm Friday after hitting Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, with fierce winds causing material damage but no injuries along the touristic Yucatan Peninsula. Now headed for the Gulf of Mexico, Beryl is expected to intensify as it moves toward northeastern Mexico and the U.S. state of Texas by the end of the weekend, according to the Miami-based …
Storm Beryl spares Mexico’s Yucatan beaches, takes aim at Texas
CANCUN/TULUM, Mexico — Tropical Storm Beryl was blowing out to the Gulf of Mexico on Friday afternoon and appeared likely to reach Texas by late Sunday, after its strong winds and heavy rain largely spared Mexico’s top beach destinations. The core of the storm, downgraded from a hurricane, crossed the Yucatan Peninsula by Friday afternoon, with its maximum wind speeds slowing to around 105 kph after …
3 people attacked by sharks in Florida, Texas
NEW YORK — Sharks attacked three people on beaches in Texas and Florida on Thursday as the Independence Day weekend got underway, according to officials, adding to a growing list of such incidents in the U.S. this summer. A 21-year-old Ohio man was bitten on his foot while standing in knee-deep water at Florida’s New Smyrna Beach, said Tamra Malphurs, interim director of Volusia County Beach …
Former reporter gets $235,000, part of lawsuit over police raid on newspaper
TOPEKA, Kansas — A former reporter for a weekly Kansas newspaper has agreed to accept $235,000 to settle part of her federal lawsuit over a police raid on the paper that made a small community the focus of a national debate over press freedoms. The settlement removed the former police chief in Marion from the lawsuit filed by former Marion County Record reporter Deb Gruver, but …
Australia plans to build secret data centers with Amazon
SYDNEY — Australia said Thursday a $1.35 billion deal with U.S. technology giant Amazon to build three secure data centers for top-secret information will increase its military’s “war-fighting capacity.” The data centers are to be built in secret locations in Australia and be run by an Australian subsidiary of the U.S. technology company Amazon Web Service, the government said. The deal is part of Australia’s National …
Some voters blame media for US polarization as election nears
With four months remaining until the U.S. presidential election, political divisions among the electorate are stark. Some voters blame the media for deepening the sense of separation. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has more. …
Biden says he ‘screwed up’ in presidential debate
U.S. President Joe Biden says he “screwed up” in last week’s debate with Donald Trump but is staying in the race for reelection. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns looks at the presidential campaign as Americans celebrate Independence Day. Contributor: Evgeny Maslov. Camera: Vladimir Badikov. …
Puffin watching replaces Fourth of July fireworks in Oregon
The Fourth of July Independence Day holiday in the United States includes lots of fireworks. One town in Oregon is forgoing the noisy celebration that disturbs marine birds nesting on its rocky shore. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya takes us to The Great Puffin Watch Party. …
NYC’s interactive exhibition sends visitors on outer space journey
July 20 marks the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. An interactive exhibit at Manhattan’s Intrepid Museum reminds viewers of the enormity of that undertaking and what went into the first moon landing. Evgeny Maslov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Vladimir Badikov. …
Thousands evacuate as Northern California wildfire spreads, more hot weather expected
OROVILLE, Calif. — Firefighters lined roads to keep flames from reaching homes as helicopters dropped water on a growing wildfire Wednesday in Northern California that has forced at least 26,000 people to evacuate, as the state sweltered under extreme heat. The Thompson fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 110 kilometers north of Sacramento, near the city of Oroville in Butte County. It sent up a …
GM to pay $146 million in penalties for excess auto emissions
WASHINGTON — General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday that certain GM vehicles from the 2012 through 2018 model years did not comply with federal fuel economy requirements. The penalty comes after the …
TSA expects to screen a record number of July 4th travelers
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — Nicole Lindsay thought she could beat the holiday-week travel rush by booking an early morning flight. It didn’t work out that way. “I thought it wouldn’t be that busy, but it turned out to be quite busy,” the Baltimore resident said as she herded her three daughters through Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. “It was a lot of kids on …
After boosting ties, Japan, S. Korea, US try to keep them going
Seoul, South Korea — The United States, Japan and South Korea last week held what in some ways could be seen as their most important joint military exercise ever — and an indication of enhanced future cooperation. The inaugural Freedom Edge drill involved a U.S. aircraft carrier and multiple Japanese and South Korean ships and planes, mirroring other recent trilateral exercises held since the three countries …
VOA Exclusive: On board as US Coast Guard searches for migrants
Between the southernmost tip of the United States and Cuba lies a body of water called the Florida Straits. Coast Guard vehicles patrol these waters daily, looking for migrants illegally trying to enter the U.S. VOA earlier this year got an exclusive flight with the U.S. Coast Guard on patrol. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti takes us along on the ride. (Camera and produced …
What was the ‘first American novel’? On this Independence Day, a look at what it started
NEW YORK — In the winter of 1789, around the time George Washington was elected the country’s first president, a Boston-based printer quietly launched another American institution. William Hill Brown’s The Power of Sympathy, published anonymously by Isaiah Thomas & Company, is widely cited as something momentous: the first American novel. Around 100 pages long, Brown’s narrative tells of two young New Englanders whose love affair …
Robert Towne, Oscar-winning writer of ‘Chinatown,’ dies at 89
NEW YORK — Robert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenplay writer of “Shampoo,” “The Last Detail” and other acclaimed films whose work on “Chinatown” became a model of the art form and helped define the jaded allure of his native Los Angeles, has died. He was 89. Towne died Monday surrounded by family at his home in Los Angeles, said publicist Carri McClure. She declined to comment on …