WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions against the Foxtrot Network, a Sweden-based gang accused of carrying out attacks against Israeli interests in Europe on behalf of Iran. Describing Foxtrot as one of Sweden’s “most notorious criminal gangs,” the U.S. Treasury and State Departments also placed sanctions on its leader Rawa Majid, with…
U.S. lawmakers welcomed Tuesday’s announcement that Ukraine had agreed to a 30-day ceasefire as a step toward peace in Europe. “I’m very encouraged the parties have reached an agreement. I think the president now has decided to lift the freeze on intelligence and weapons — very significant,” Republican Representative Michael McCaul, former chairman of the…
PENTAGON — The United States has cleared out the last migrants being held at its naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sending them back to the U.S. mainland as they await deportation. Two U.S. defense officials told VOA on Wednesday that 40 detainees, including 23 “high-threat illegal aliens” incarcerated at the base’s detention center, were…
DUBAI — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the idea of holding negotiations with the United States over a nuclear deal, as a letter arrived from U.S. President Donald Trump calling for such talks. Trump said last week he had sent a letter to Khamenei proposing nuclear talks but also warning that…
As a legal organization that has fought in court to defend the rights of technology users for almost 35 years, including numerous legal challenges to federal government overreach, Electronic Frontier Foundation unequivocally supports Perkins Coie’s challenge to the Trump administration’s shocking, vindictive, and unconstitutional Executive Order. In punishing the law firm for its zealous advocacy…
The United States says China is the biggest threat to its national security, the pacing challenge that America’s military must stay ahead of to remain the world’s largest and most lethal fighting force. But as VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports, while the Chinese navy keeps growing, the number of ships in the U.S. fleet…
A federal court in New York has rejected a Russian businessman’s challenge to the U.S. government’s efforts to confiscate a luxury superyacht that allegedly belongs to sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov. The decision brings the United States closer to taking ownership of the yacht — known as Amadea — through a legal procedure known as…
The Anchorage Police Department (APD) has concluded its three-month trial of Axon’s Draft One, an AI system that uses audio from body-worn cameras to write narrative police reports for officers—and has decided not to retain the technology. Axon touts this technology as “force multiplying,” claiming it cuts in half the amount of time officers usually…
A self-described member of a Russian organized crime group told a court on Tuesday that he tried to kill the Iranian American journalist and VOA host Masih Alinejad in New York in 2022. Khalid Mehdiyev told jurors that he was arrested in July 2022 in his car in Brooklyn while in possession of an AK-47…
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that he is launching a robust review of the world body to improve its efficiency and cut costs as it faces a worsening liquidity crisis. “Resources are shrinking across the board — and they have been for a long time,” he told reporters. He said the…