WASHINGTON - A rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Friday carrying a replacement satellite to help improve the accuracy of the space-based U.S. navigation network, the Global Positioning System. The government hopes to enhance the system by linking it to a similar Russian satellite network and one being developed for Europe.
The new satellite is […]

PENTAGON - The U.S. Defense Department is looking for contractors to build a new facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where it can hold large-scale military trials for terrorism suspects held there. 
The U.S. Navy has issued the call for bids on a contract for work estimated to cost between $75-$125 million. The new courtrooms could host […]

WASHINGTON - Sounding a theme of unity, Republican leaders in Congress are vowing a comeback in the wake of major election losses. VOA’s Dan Robinson reports on the results of party elections Friday in the House of Representatives that reinstalled well-known faces to oppose Democrats who take over majority control of Congress in January.House Republicans […]

WASHINGTON - Rick West, a member of the Cheyenne Tribe that was relocated to the Plains state of Oklahoma, created a museum that shows native culture as American Indians, not outsiders, see it.
Like thousands of Native Americans, his ancestors were driven from their lands in Colorado and Wyoming and relocated to what was then called […]

WASHINGTON — Jefferson Calimlim Sr. and his wife Elnora Calimlim, both medical doctors in Milwaukee, Wis., were each sentenced today to four years in prison for forcing a woman to work as their domestic servant and illegally harboring her for 19 years in their Brookfield, Wis. residence. In a related matter, the Calimlims’ son, Jefferson […]

TOKYO - Former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix says it is doubtful talks can halt North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, unless any agreement includes a solid verification scheme. VOA’s Steve Herman reports from Tokyo, where Blix was presenting the recommendations of a commission he heads on weapons of mass destruction. 
Hans Blix says any international agreement […]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate has approved legislation that would allow civilian nuclear cooperation between the United States and India. It is a victory for President Bush, who has made congressional passage of the measure one of his top foreign policy objectives.
President Bush immediately hailed passage of the measure, saying in a written statement that […]

HANOI - President Bush has arrived in Hanoi for talks with Vietnam’s leaders prior to the Pacific Rim economic summit. Mr. Bush is also meeting privately with other participants in the APEC forum, discussing such issues as North Korea, trade and the war in Iraq.
Three decades after the end of the Vietnam War, a marching […]

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed a port security bill into law in October to strengthen security at America’s ports. The legislation authorizes the development of technologies for screening cargo containers for dangerous materials and requires radiation detection technology at the country’s 22 busiest ports. Experts fear that U.S. ports are vulnerable to terrorist attack, even […]

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Tennessee today charged five individuals with sex trafficking of a juvenile girl. Juan Mendez, Cristina Andres Perfecto, Raymundo Flores, Raul Santillan-Leon, and Fernando Reyes-Santillan were charged with causing a minor to engage in commercial sex acts. Mendez and Andres Perfecto were further charged with using force, fraud, and […]

WASHINGTON - The 2006 U.S. congressional elections are now history, but there is already plenty of activity in both parties looking ahead to the 2008 presidential campaign. VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone has an early preview from Washington.
Within days of the end of the 2006 congressional election campaign, Democrats and Republicans alike were already taking […]

LOS ANGELES - Plans by former football star O.J. Simpson to publish a book about how he would have murdered his ex-wife and her companion are getting strong reactions from the families of the victims.Fred Goldman, father of murder victim Ronald Goldman, said on U.S. television late Wednesday that people should neither buy the book […]

Iran: Activists Say New Dam Threatens Ancient Historical Sites
PRAGUE (RFE/RL) — One of Iran’s most controversial development projects, the Sivand Dam, is located about 60 kilometers from the ruins of the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis and about 12 kilometers from Pasargadae, the first capital of the ancient Achaemenids.
The dam is being constructed in the […]

Iraq: Saudi Arabia To Seal Off Border With Security Fence
PRAGUE - Saudi Arabia says it will begin construction next year of a hi-tech security fence to seal off its border with Iraq against extremists.
The fence – which will cost billions of dollars — will take six years to complete.
Saudi Arabia’s interior minister, Prince Nayaf bin […]

JERUSALEM - Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian gunman in a West Bank refugee camp, early Thursday. The clash was just the latest incident since an Israeli woman was killed by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants, Wednesday. Some senior Israeli officials say Palestinian militant leaders should be targeted by Israel, if the rocket […]

Queen Elizabeth II Announces U.S. Visit for America’s 400th Anniversary
British Monarch to Participate in Her Second Major Commemoration of England’s First Permanent Settlement in The Americas
WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia — This morning’s announcement that Queen Elizabeth II will visit the United States in May to participate in the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Va., caps 10 years of […]

Malden Narcotics Detective Sentenced To 15 Years For Cocaine Robbery, Reports U.S. Attorney
BOSTON — A senior Malden Police Department Narcotics Detective and his co-conspirator, a former federal convict, were sentenced today in federal court following their trial convictions earlier this year on cocaine distribution and related charges.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and June […]

Honoring the Past, Giving for the Future
Report Finds Native Americans Give Generously to Help Tribal Communities
WASHINGTON — Native Americans are repaying gifts they’ve received in their lives by giving back to their tribal communities.
A new report from the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers finds Native Americans are changing the traditional definition of a donor […]

New Study: 35 Million Americans Living on the Brink of Hunger
Charitable Food Distribution Network and Food Stamp Program Enrollment Continue to Meet Increasing Demands for Food Assistance 
CHICAGO — According to Household Food Security in the United States released today by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), more than 35 million Americans, including 12 million […]

UNITED NATIONS - A U.N. panel of experts has accused Iran, Syria and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia of providing weapons, training and financing to Islamic militants in Somalia. VOA’s Peter Heinlein at the U.N. reports the panel describes conditions in the east African nation as “volatile,” with competing forces engaged in a rapid military buildup.
In a […]

CAPITOL HILL - U.S. congressional Democrats, who will control the House of Representatives and Senate beginning in January, are calling on the Bush administration to hold direct talks with Iran about its nuclear program and its neighbor, Iraq.   
Democrats in the House and Senate favor bilateral U.S.-Iran talks, arguing that the discussions could lead to a […]

WASHINGTON - The Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera frequently makes news when it reports news.  The station has not only aired controversial interviews with terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden, but also top U.S. officials.  On Wednesday, Al Jazeera expanded its operation with a new international English language channel.  The organization declined a Voice of America […]

WASHINGTON - Law enforcement agencies from several English-speaking countries are joining forces to combat child abuse online. The are joining a Virtual Global Taskforce, which is designed to allow countries to share resources to identify and help children at risk of abuse and to prosecute the predators.
Law enforcement officials from the United States, Canada, Britain […]

JAKARTA - The U.S. launched an initiative in 2003 meant to bolster Indonesia’s education reform efforts. The White House says that when President Bush visits Indonesia next week, this program will be a major topic of his discussions with the government. One major focus of the program is modernizing teaching techniques at Muslim religious schools, […]

‘Save Iraq’s Persecuted Christians’ says Christian human rights leader 
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesFRONT ROYAL, VA (ANS) – The growing collapse of law and order in Iraq is a tragedy. All Iraqis are affected, but the country’s Christian minority is bearing the heaviest burden. Explains Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International (CFI): “What began […]