Voice of America

01/24/2025

Business has been intertwined with American politics since before the nation’s founding. And although unelected business leaders play a major role in financing campaigns and policy initiatives, few in recent memory have taken as personal and public a role in politics as Elon Musk.

Even before the 2024 election, the South African-born entrepreneur often interacted with the U.S. government via his companies. His electric car manufacturer, Tesla, has received green energy subsidies, while his company Space X holds multiple contracts with NASA and the U.S. military to provide space-launch services, develop vehicles and operate flights.

Through SpaceX, Musk also played a key role in U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion by providing Starlink satellite internet terminals to Ukrainian forces. Musk’s involvement in the war became a source of concern after reports emerged that he was directly making decisions regarding the terminals’ use in the field and was in personal contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials.

Musk’s purchase of Twitter and influence in Trump administration harks back to an era of wealthy moguls at the forefront of American political life

01/24/2025

📷: U.N. troops deploy outside Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jan. 24, 2025, as M23 rebels are reported to close in on the town.

Panic spread in eastern Congo's main city Thursday, with M23 rebels steadily inching closer to Goma and seizing a nearby town as they battle the Congolese army. Bombs were heard going off in the city's distant outskirts, and hundreds of wounded civilians were brought to the main hospital from the area of the fighting.

The rebel group has been making significant advances in recent weeks, closing in on Goma, which is home to around 2 million people and a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts. On Thursday, the rebels took Sake, a town only 27 kilometers (16 miles) from Goma and one of the last main routes into the provincial capital still under government control, according to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

https://www.voanews.com/a/fighting-reaches-outskirts-of-eastern-congo-s-largest-city-as-rebels-close-in-/7948493.html

📷: AP

01/24/2025

📷: President Donald Trump is briefed on the effects of Hurricane Helene at Asheville Regional Airport in Fletcher, N.C., Jan. 24, 2025, as first lady Melania Trump looks on.

https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-scheduled-to-tour-los-angeles-fire-damage-friday/7947275.html

📷: AP

01/24/2025

📷: Smoke rises, during an Israeli military raid in Jenin camp, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jan. 24, 2025.

👉 Israeli forces will remain in southern Lebanon beyond a Sunday deadline stipulated in a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah because the terms of the agreement have not been fully implemented, the Israeli prime minister's office said on Friday.

Under the agreement, which began on November 27, Hezbollah weapons and fighters must be removed from areas south of the Litani River and Israeli troops should withdraw as the Lebanese military deploys into the region, all within a 60-day timeframe due to conclude on Sunday at 4 a.m. local time.

The deal, brokered by the United States and France, ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah. The fighting peaked with a major Israeli offensive that left Hezbollah severely weakened and displaced more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon.

The United States, Britain and other Western countries have designated Hezbollah as a terror group.

https://www.voanews.com/a/israeli-forces-to-stay-in-south-lebanon-beyond-withdrawal-deadline/7948894.html

01/24/2025

U.S. immigration agents rounded up undocumented migrants as well as American citizens in a raid of a Newark, New Jersey, worksite on Thursday that the city's mayor said involved detaining a military veteran and violations of the people's rights.

The raid in New Jersey's most populous city, hailed in the past by Mayor Ras Baraka for its "sanctuary" policies protecting migrants, follows President Donald Trump's pledge to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

Trump issued a raft of executive orders after taking office on Monday that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration. He has taken steps to punish officials who resist enforcement of his sweeping crackdown.

Newark mayor calls raid unconstitutional

01/24/2025

📷: U.S. President Donald Trump walks with first lady Melania Trump during departure from the White House for his first trip as the new president, in Washington, Jan. 24, 2025.

👉 President Donald Trump is heading to hurricane-battered western North Carolina and wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles, California on Friday, using the first trip of his second administration to tour areas where politics has clouded the response to deadly disasters.

The Republican president has criticized former President Joe Biden for his administration’s response in North Carolina, and he’s showered disdain on California leaders for water policies that he falsely claimed worsened the recent blazes.

Trump is also considering overhauling the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some of his conservative allies have proposed reducing how much the agency reimburses states for handling floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and other calamities. (AP)

https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-scheduled-to-tour-los-angeles-fire-damage-friday/7947275.html

01/24/2025

The mineral wealth on the Arctic island of Greenland is in the global spotlight after U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants to take control of the territory from Denmark, prompting alarm from European allies.

Trump's words were echoed in a January 12 interview on "Fox News Sunday" by Vice President JD Vance, who said, "There is a deal to be made in Greenland," and that the island has "a lot of great natural resources."

Until now, Greenland's mining industry has struggled to turn a profit, but could that be about to change?

Danish-owned Arctic island is rich in rare earth elements, but investors remain wary of risks

01/24/2025

Italy's highest court on Thursday upheld the slander conviction of American defendant Amanda Knox in a case related to the sensationalized 2007 murder of her British roommate.

Knox was convicted of slandering her former boss, Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba, by falsely accusing him of murdering Meredith Kercher.

A 21-year-old exchange student, Kercher was found stabbed to death in 2007 in the Perugia apartment she shared with Knox.

Italy's highest court on Thursday upheld the slander conviction of American defendant Amanda Knox in a case related to the sensationalized 2007 murder of her British roommate. Knox was convicted of slandering her former boss, Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba, by falsely accusing him of...

01/24/2025

Firefighters in southern California continued to confront multiple blazes on Thursday amid high winds and dry conditions.

The Hughes Fire in the mountains northwest of Los Angeles near Castaic Lake broke out Wednesday, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders for more than 50,000 people. Health advisories for smoke and windblown dust and ash have been issued for areas near the Hughes Fire.

"Smoke and ash can harm everyone, even those who are healthy," Dr. Muntu Davis, L.A. County’s health officer, said in a statement.

Trump expected to visit region this week

01/24/2025

Iraqi officials said that an Israeli Russian researcher, who was kidnapped by an Iraqi militia nearly two years ago, is alive, and that they are working to secure her release.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Thursday told an Axios reporter in Davos, Switzerland, that Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton doctoral candidate, is alive and that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani was working on her release, according to Reuters.

Tsurkov, 39, was abducted in Baghdad in March 2023 shortly after her arrival in the Iraqi capital. The dual Israeli Russian citizen had traveled to Iraq to conduct fieldwork for her dissertation.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani is working on Elizabeth Tsurkov's release, the Iraqi foreign minister says

01/24/2025

📷: Vice President JD Vance swears in John Ratcliffe as CIA director as Ratcliffe’s wife, Michele, holds the Bible in the vice presidential ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington.

👉 U.S. lawmakers confirmed a key member of President Donald Trump’s national security team Thursday, voting 74-25 to make John Ratcliffe director of the country’s premier spy agency.

The vote came three days after Trump took the oath of office as the 47th president of the United States and three days after a plea from the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee for a speedy vote on Ratcliffe’s nomination to lead the CIA.

"Our world is far too dangerous for any delay in having a Senate-confirmed leader in charge of the CIA," Senators Tom Cotton and Mark Warner said in a statement Monday, after their committee advanced Ratcliffe by a 14-3 margin.

https://www.voanews.com/a/senate-confirms-trump-s-choice-for-cia-director/7948085.html

📷: AP

01/24/2025

South Korean investigators recommended Thursday that impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol be charged with insurrection and abuse of power, as they handed over the results of their probe into his ill-fated declaration of martial law to prosecutors.

The official charges against Yoon were "leading an insurrection and abuse of power," the Corruption Investigation Office said after a 51-day probe into his Dec. 3 attempt to suspend civilian rule.

The CIO said it "decided to request the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office file charges against the sitting President, Yoon Suk Yeol, in connection with allegations including leading insurrection."

Yoon had "conspired with the former national defense minister and military commanders on December 3, 2024," it said.

📷: AFP

https://www.voanews.com/a/south-korea-investigators-recommend-yoon-be-charged-with-insurrection-abuse-of-power/7947234.html

01/24/2025

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ couples married in Thailand Thursday as the kingdom became the third place in Asia to legalize same-sex unions. The decision carries serious economic potential in that country.

The new law came into effect on Thursday, following only Taiwan and Nepal in Asia. It also makes Thailand the first Southeast Asian nation to recognize same-sex marriage, in a region of several Muslim-majority nations where homosexuality is outlawed on religious grounds.

Now, in an administrative change that carries major consequences, the word “spouse” replaces “husband” and “wife” in statutes, unlocking access for same-sex couples to practical benefits previously only enjoyed by heterosexual marriages.

Those include the ability to adopt children, take out joint mortgages, pass on property after death, benefit from next-of-kin status and receive state benefits - as well as crucial medical rights to give consent on behalf of their partners in an emergency.

📷: AP

https://www.voanews.com/a/same-sex-marriages-in-thailand-now-legal/7947517.html

01/24/2025

2024 saw Africa deepen its ties with Russia, as more countries broke their Western partnerships, expelled troops, fined and delicensed businesses involved in exploiting natural resources, CNN reported on Jan. 18.

Most Sahel nations changed their foreign policy priorities after coups that brought Kremlin-loyalist juntas to power. Experts dubbed those countries a “coup belt.” Among others, that belt includes Burkina Faso.

Russia and the juntas frame the anti-West glissade as a start of decolonization processes leading to true sovereignty and prosperity.

On social media, junta-sympathetic influencers amplify the Kremlin’s narrative.

One example is African Hub, a content creator on social media platform X with more than 800,000 followers, which regularly praises Burkina Faso’s junta leader Ibrahim Traore.

“Burkina Faso dropped French as their official language. Removed French colonial ruler’s name from streets. Banned Colonial era Barrister Wigs,” the user posted on X on January 14. The post claimed that Burkina Faso:

“Paid off debt to the west & has control over resources.”

The claim is misleading.

https://www.voanews.com/a/burkina-faso-junta-has-not-paid-off-country-s-debt-doesn-t-control-resources-/7946685.html

01/24/2025

Many American voters hope that President Donald Trump’s second term, which began Monday, will usher in a period of economic prosperity — much like the one they experienced during his first term. However, the economy he is inheriting this time around is markedly different from the one he inherited eight years ago, before the pandemic. And he faces new challenges.

01/24/2025

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced Thursday that he is seeking arrest warrants for high-ranking Taliban leaders in Afghanistan accused of crimes against humanity, citing widespread discrimination against the country’s female population.

Karim Khan identified the suspects as the Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and his chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, saying his action is based on a thorough investigation and evidence collected in the process.

Chief prosecutor says action signals that the status quo for women and girls in Afghanistan is not acceptable

01/24/2025

Critics warn that Vietnam's ongoing push to restructure the country's media will allow authorities to have tighter control over news outlets and more effectively spread propaganda.

The media restructuring started in 2019 when former Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan P**c signed the “National Press Development and Management Planning until 2025” policy. According to the plan, 180 press organizations will be shut down, and 8,000 reporters and editors will lose their jobs.

Multiple TV news broadcasts went offline on Jan. 15, leaving thousands jobless; more are expected to lose their livelihoods in 2025

01/23/2025

President Donald Trump signs an executive order relating to AI in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington.

https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-promises-global-businesses-lower-taxes-for-products-made-in-us-tariffs-if-not/7947988.html