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Not Just Balloons: How US Sees China Spying as Major Worry

The Chinese balloon that traversed the United States before being shot down last weekend captivated public attention and drew sharp denunciations as a brazen spying effort. But if the vehicle for espionage seemed novel, the concept was anything but. In ways that are far less public, but often more worrisome, U.S. officials say, the Chinese government has been targeting U.S. industry and government agencies with spy operations designed to collect troves of commercial secrets and sensitive...

Toxic Gases Connected to Ohio Train Derailment Cause Concern

A big fireball and billowing smoke rose into the sky when officials released and burned toxic chemicals from the wreckage of a derailed train in an Ohio village where residents had been ordered to evacuate because of health risks from the fumes. AP explains the risks behind the substance that was burned, the resulting air quality concerns and how it's being monitored. Days after crews released and burned toxic chemicals transported by a wrecked train in Ohio, residents remain in the...

Ex-Twitter Execs Deny Pressure to Block Hunter Biden Story

Former Twitter executives conceded Wednesday they made a mistake by blocking a story about Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, from the social media platform in the run-up to the 2020 election, but adamantly denied Republican assertions they were pressured by Democrats and law enforcement to suppress the story. "The decisions here aren't straightforward, and hindsight is 20/20," Yoel Roth, Twitter's former head of trust and safety, testified to Congress....

US, States Weigh Farmland Restrictions After Chinese Balloon Incident

Near the banks of Montana's Musselshell River, cattle rancher Michael Miller saw a large, white orb above the town of Harlowton last week, a day before U.S. officials revealed they were tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the state. The balloon caused a stir in the 900-person town surrounded by cattle ranches, wind farms and scattered nuclear missile silos behind chain link fences. Miller worries about China as a rising threat to the U.S. but questioned how much intelligence...

Biden Touts Economic Gains, Pleads for Unity in State of the Union Address

Speaking in front of a divided Congress for the first time since he took office, President Joe Biden delivered his second State of the Union address Tuesday evening, touting low unemployment numbers and the end of pandemic emergency as he pleads for bipartisanship that’s even more elusive under a Republican-controlled House of Representatives. VOA's White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.

American Islamic State Emir Convicted on All Counts

A naturalized U.S. citizen who became so enamored with Islamic State that he abandoned his wife and child to join the terror group in Syria, eventually rising to the rank of emir, faces life behind bars after being convicted of all charges against him. The U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday that a jury has found the now 46-year-old Ruslan Maratovich Asainov guilty on five counts, including conspiracy to provide material support, receiving and providing training, obstruction of...

Memphis Officer Took, Shared Photos of Bloodied Tyre Nichols

Documents released Tuesday provided a scathing account of what authorities called the "blatantly unprofessional" conduct of five officers involved in the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop last month — including new revelations about how one officer took and shared pictures of the bloodied victim. The officer, Demetrius Haley, stood over Nichols as he lay propped against a police car and took photographs, which Haley sent to other officers and a female...