America

HAVANA — Cuba started releasing some prisoners Wednesday as part of talks with the Vatican, a day after President Joe Biden's administration announced his intent to lift the U.S. designation of the island nation as a state sponsor of…
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President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to serve as secretary of state faced questioning from lawmakers Wednesday. Republican Marco Rubio told senators that if confirmed he would make U.S. national interest a priority. VOA Congressional…
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WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday removed the Republican chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee, who was a vocal supporter of assistance for Ukraine and held other views that put him at odds with…
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One of the buildings that survived last week’s severe and deadly fire in California city of Pacific Palisades houses a local American Legion Post. The fire destroyed more than 5,000 structures and killed at least eight people. Today, U.S.…
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Taiwan plans to spend $4.56 billion to boost its startup ecosystem and has set up a liaison center in Silicon Valley designated to attract American venture capital and talent to Taiwan. Liu Chin-ching, minister of the National Development…
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WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the CIA signaled substantial changes are in store for America’s premier spy agency, telling lawmakers that it must be more aggressive both in collecting intelligence and pushing back…
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Russia’s nearly three-year invasion of Ukraine has become a “war of attrition” and a “stalemate” that must be ended, Senator Marco Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be secretary of state, told senators at his confirmation…
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On Wednesday the U.S. Department of Commerce announced it would implement new export controls on certain biotechnology equipment, citing national security concerns relating to artificial intelligence and data science. The Commerce…
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Usha Vance will be the next second lady of the United States, making the Yale-educated lawyer the first vice presidential spouse of South Asian origin. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell takes a look at her life story – and how it…
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TAIPEI, TAIWAN — As TikTok’s Sunday deadline to divest or face a U.S. ban approaches, hundreds of thousands of American users of the popular social media video app say they are migrating to another Chinese social media app, Xiaohongshu, or…
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