USA

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Venezuela has agreed to receive all Venezuelan undocumented migrants captured in the United States and pay for their transport. “Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. He said Venezuela …

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday fired a group of prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 criminal cases and demanded the names of FBI agents involved in those same probes so they can possibly be ousted, moves that reflect a White House determination to exert control over federal law enforcement and purge agencies of career employees seen as insufficiently loyal. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil …

OXON HILL, MARYLAND — Democrats, seeking a new message and messengers to push back against the Trump administration, will elect a new leader Saturday in a low-profile Democratic National Committee election that could have big implications for the party’s future. More than 400 DNC members from every state and U.S. territory have gathered in suburban Washington for the election, which features a slate of candidates dominated …

Donald Trump said Friday that any collective bargaining agreements reached with federal workers within 30 days of his inauguration will not be approved, the latest salvo in the U.S. president’s bid to remake the federal workforce. In a memo addressed to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, Trump said former U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration purposefully finalized collective bargaining agreements with federal employees …

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — The Alaska Gold Rush town of Nome faced a bleak winter. It was hundreds of miles from anywhere, cut off by the frozen sea and unrelenting blizzards, and under siege from a contagious disease known as the “strangling angel” for the way it suffocated children.  Now, 100 years later, Nome is remembering its saviors — the sled dogs and mushers who raced for …

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze $45 million in U.S. federal funding for over 400 Burmese students has left many in shock and dismay as their scholarships were abruptly canceled. The move has also raised concerns about the broader impact it could have on Burmese in Myanmar, a country already grappling with political turmoil and a collapsing education system under military rule. Students in …

Public health data disappeared from websites, entire webpages went blank and employees erased pronouns from email signatures Friday as federal agencies scrambled to comply with a directive tied to President Donald Trump’s order rolling back protections for transgender people. The Office of Personnel Management directed agency heads to strip “gender ideology” from websites, contracts and emails in a memo sent Wednesday, with changes ordered to …

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said on Friday, but it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in swift price increases to U.S. consumers. Trump, a Republican, had been threatening the …

Fire and emergency service officials in Washington said Friday that more than 40 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of a commercial passenger jet and military helicopter that collided and crashed into the Potomac River late Wednesday. Operations to recover the bodies of 67 people killed in the collision resumed at dawn Friday. The National Transportation Safety Board — or NTSB, the federal agency …

Many people first learn about the horrors of the Holocaust through the diary of Anne Frank, a Jewish teenager who with seven others spent more than two years hiding from the Nazis inside a secret annex in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Recently, an exhibition opened in New York, bringing a replica of the hiding place to Manhattan. Anna Nelson has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographers: Olga …

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to embark on his first official trip as the nation’s top diplomat on Saturday, with planned visits to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic from Saturday to Thursday. Officials and experts say the visit is partly aimed at countering China’s growing influence in the region. The trip comes as President Donald Trump …

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — When Chinese startup DeepSeek released its AI model this month, it was hailed as a breakthrough, a sign that China’s artificial intelligence companies could compete with their Silicon Valley counterparts using fewer resources. The narrative was clear: DeepSeek had done more with less, finding clever workarounds to U.S. chip restrictions. However, that storyline has begun to shift. OpenAI, the U.S.-based company behind …

McALLEN, TEXAS — A federal judge extended a court agreement on Thursday ensuring safe and sanitary conditions for migrant children in federal custody a day after U.S. Customs and Border Protection was set to begin self-monitoring. The agreement originally ended Wednesday, but District Judge Dolly M. Gee in California decided to extend it by 18 months. “CBP is not yet capable of wholly fulfilling its responsibilities …

NEW YORK — Dick Button was more than the most accomplished men’s figure skater in history. He was one of his sport’s greatest innovators and promoters. Button, winner of two Olympic gold medals and five consecutive world championships, died Thursday, said his son, Edward, who did not provide a cause. He was 95. As an entrepreneur and broadcaster, Button promoted skating and its athletes, transforming a …

Braver Angels, a nonprofit organization, aims to bridge the political divide by fostering civil dialogue across differences. We take a brief look at one of their initiatives, the 1:1 Conversation, where individuals with opposing views spend a couple of hours engaging in meaningful discussion. …

U.S. lawmakers Thursday weighed the impact that President Donald Trump’s 90-day foreign aid freeze will have on competition with China. Trump signed an executive order within hours of being sworn in as president ordering a halt to all U.S. international assistance while the new administration determines whether the aid aligns with his “America First” policy. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch said the move …

CHICAGO — Alderman Michael Rodriguez represents Chicago’s 22nd Ward, including the “Little Village” neighborhood on the west side of the city. Outside his office windows, he has an up-close view of 26th Street, an important thoroughfare with stores and merchants attracting immigrants from across the region. “26th Street is known as the capital of the Mexican Midwest,” Rodriguez told VOA. “Our local economy here is thriving …

NEW YORK — U.S. President Donald Trump is making plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence and create a new national sculpture garden while reviving efforts to harshly punish those who vandalize or destroy existing statues and monuments. Trump signed an executive order Wednesday establishing a White House task force to plan what he says will be a “grand celebration worthy of the momentous …

GENEVA — The U.N. human rights chief appealed on Thursday for $500 million in funding for 2025 to support its work, such as investigating human rights abuses around the world from Syria to Sudan, warning that lives hang in the balance. The U.N. human rights office has been grappling with chronic funding shortages that some worry could be exacerbated by cuts to U.S. foreign aid by …

The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is set to question former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as she seeks confirmation to become the nation’s director of national intelligence. Gabbard is expected to face questions about her 2017 visit to Syria, when during her time in Congress she met with then-President Bashar al-Assad. At the time she faced criticism for what opponents of the trip said was legitimizing Assad …

WASHINGTON — The State Department on Wednesday sought to clarify President Donald Trump’s order to freeze and review foreign development aid after the top U.S. diplomat blunted some of the chaos that ensued with an emergency order that could shield the world’s largest HIV program from the 90-day funding freeze.    At the White House, Trump said his pauses to foreign and domestic funding are part …

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate kicked off Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing Wednesday. Candidates for the President’s Cabinet must be confirmed by the Senate. But individuals considered for politically appointed positions are thoroughly vetted during presidential transitions by a president-elect’s legal team. What to know about this process.  Click here for the full story in Mandarin. …

NEW YORK — Former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes of gold and cash and acting as an agent of Egypt — crimes his own lawyer said earned him the nickname “Gold Bar Bob.”  U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein announced the sentence after the Democrat tearfully addressed the judge, saying he’d lost everything he cared about, …

According to Harvard University, about 200 copies of the original Declaration of Independence were produced in 1776. Only about two dozen remain. In New York, a new copy from the times of the Founding Fathers was discovered. On Jan. 24, it was put on auction. Elena Wolf has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Michael Eckels …