Audiobook Compiles ’60 Minutes’ Interviews with Barack Obama

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More than a dozen “60 Minutes” interviews with former President Barack Obama, beginning when he was a U.S. Senator, have been compiled into an audio release. Simon & Schuster Audio announced Thursday that “Barack Obama: The 60 Minutes Interviews” will come out Oct. 13. The audiobook features CBS News journalist Steve Kroft, who first met with Obama in January 2007 and spoke with him throughout his presidency, culminating in a discussion shortly before Obama left office in 2017. “Over the span of just a few years, Barack Obama evolved from inexperienced freshman senator into one of the most powerful peoplemore

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Facebook to Halt New Political Ads Week Before US Election

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Facebook Inc said on Thursday it would stop accepting new political ads in the week before the U.S. presidential election in November, bowing to concern that its loose approach to free speech could once again be exploited to interfere with the vote.   The world’s biggest social network also said it was creating a label for posts by candidates or campaigns that try to claim victory before the election results are official, and widening the criteria for content to be removed as voter suppression.   Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post announcing the changes that he wasmore

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House Subpoenas Embattled Postal Service Leader Over Delays

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The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday subpoenaed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for records about the widespread mail delivery delays that have pulled the Postal Service into the political spotlight as it prepares to handle an onslaught of ballots in the November election. The subpoena, which seeks documents related to operational changes that have slowed mail and the agency’s plans for the presidential election, comes after committee chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney said DeJoy has not sufficiently answered the panel’s requests for more information. “It is clear that a subpoena has become necessary to further the Committee’s investigation and help inform potentialmore

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More Charges Brought in College Admissions Bribery Scandal

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Another wealthy parent was charged Wednesday with trying to bribe his child’s way into an elite university as a fake athletic recruit, a day after two former college coaches caught up in the nationwide admissions bribery scandal were hit with additional charges. Amin Khoury, 54, of Palm Beach, Florida, and Mashpee, Massachusetts, in May 2014 paid $200,000 to get former Georgetown University tennis coach Gordon Ernst to designate his daughter as a tennis recruit even though her “tennis skills were below that of a typical Georgetown tennis recruit,” the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said in a statement. Khoury is the 57thmore

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Biden to Visit Kenosha Thursday, Two Days After Trump

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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says he is visiting Kenosha, Wisconsin, Thursday, two days after Republican President Donald Trump walked along a street in the Midwestern city left in rubble in the aftermath of civil unrest spawned by the shooting of a Black man by a white police officer.   Biden’s campaign said the former vice president would hold a community meeting in Kenosha, a 100,000-resident city on the shores of Lake Michigan.   “What we want to do is — we’ve got to heal,” Biden said at a news conference Wednesday. “We’ve got to put things together. Bringmore

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Markey Defeats Kennedy in Massachusetts Senate Primary

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U.S. Senator Ed Markey won a high-profile Democratic primary Tuesday, defeating a challenge by Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy III.The 39-year-old Kennedy had cast the 74-year-old Markey as out of touch after a long career in Congress and drew a late endorsement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.But Markey had strong popularity in Massachusetts and had the support of prominent progressives in the Democratic Party, including Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.Markey will be a strong favorite in the general election in November when he faces Republican candidate Kevin O’Connor.Several Democratic House incumbents also fended off primary challengers Tuesday.House Ways andmore

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Melania Trump’s Ex-Adviser Says She Taped Calls for Protection

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A former friend and adviser of Melania Trump said Tuesday that she made recordings of her conversations with the first lady because she needed evidence to protect herself amid questions about the costs of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, whose book “Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady,” was released this week, helped produce Trump’s inauguration and later worked for the first lady as an unpaid White House adviser. Wolkoff left the White House in February 2018 when her contract was terminated. The White House blasted the book as “full ofmore

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Facebook, Twitter Suspend Russian Network Ahead of Election

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Facebook said Tuesday that it removed a small network of accounts and pages linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency, the “troll factory” that has used social media accounts to sow political discord in the U.S. since the 2016 presidential election.  Twitter also suspended five related accounts. The company said the tweets from these Russia-linked accounts “were low quality and spammy” and that most received few, if any, likes or retweets. The people behind the accounts recruited “unwitting” freelance journalists to post in English and Arabic, mainly targeting left-leaning audiences. Facebook said Tuesday the network’s activity focused on the U.S., U.K., Algeria and Egypt and other English-speaking countriesmore

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Pentagon: China Expected to Double Nukes in Next Decade

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A new Pentagon report predicts that China will “at least double” the size of its nuclear warhead stockpile over the next decade as it pursues its own nuclear triad to conduct nuclear strikes by land, sea and air. China’s modernization and expansion of its nuclear force is part of a broader effort aimed at matching, and in some cases surpassing, the United States military by 2049 as the dominant power in the Indo-Pacific region, according to the Pentagon’s annual “China Military Power” report to Congress that was released Tuesday. The report said the number of Chinese nuclear warheads is currently estimated tomore

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Treasury Secretary: COVID-19 Economic Aid ‘Still Needed’

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Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Tuesday a second massive round of aid addressing the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is “still needed,” even as the U.S. economy is showing signs of recovery.  Mnuchin’s testimony comes as talks for a second round of aid have remained stalled on Capitol Hill since $600 a week in expanded federal unemployment benefits to millions of out-of-work Americans expired in late July.  Congressional Democrats have proposed an extension of those benefits, while Republicans have put forward a proposal that would cap benefits at 70% of a worker’s earnings. The overall price tag for amore

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Trump Visits Kenosha After Sparring with Biden Over Security

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U.S. President Donald Trump traveled Tuesday to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protests turned violent last week after a white police officer shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back as officers tried to arrest him. Speaking to reporters Tuesday before departing, Trump said he didn’t know if he would speak to a member of Blake’s family during his visit.  On Monday, Trump told reporters he was not planning to meet with Blake’s family because they wanted a lawyer to participate. The president also declined to criticize the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenage vigilante who is accused of fatally shooting two people and wounding a third during a street demonstration in Kenosha two nights aftermore

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Trump Wins Delay in Handover of Tax Returns to Manhattan Prosecutor

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A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday granted President Donald Trump’s request to delay Manhattan’s district attorney from accessing his tax returns in connection with a criminal probe of his business practices. The unsigned order by a panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan was a victory for the president in his yearlong quest to block District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. from enforcing a grand jury subpoena for eight years of personal and corporate returns. Trump has been challenging an Aug. 20 decision by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero to let Vance obtain the returns from the president’s longtimemore

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US Justice Department Unveils Reforms for FBI Wiretap Applications

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The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it was implementing new compliance reforms at the FBI to minimize errors when it applies for wiretaps, following revelations it made numerous mistakes during its probe into President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. Attorney General William Barr released two new memos outlining sweeping changes, including the creation of a new internal auditing office as well as a list of additional steps the FBI must undertake before filing an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Under the new protocol, if the FBI is seeking to monitor communications of an elected official or candidate,more

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Trump to Visit Kenosha After Sparring with Biden Over Security

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U.S. President Donald Trump is traveling Tuesday to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protests turned violent last week  after a white police officer shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back as officers tried to arrest him. Trump told reporters Monday he is not planning to meet with Blake’s family because they wanted a lawyer to participate. The president also declined to criticize the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenage vigilante who is accused of fatally shooting two people and wounding a third during a street demonstration in Kenosha two nights after Blake’s shooting.  Rittenhouse, who claimed his goal was to protect businesses, faces five felony charges, including first degree intentional homicide.“They very violently attacked him,”more

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Court Filing Shows 11-3 Big Ten Vote to Postpone Football Season

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A court filing disclosed Monday shows Big Ten Conference presidents voted 11-3 to postpone the football season, bringing some clarity to a key question raised in a lawsuit brought by a group of Nebraska football players. The vote breakdown was revealed in the Big Ten’s response to the lawsuit.  The court documents did not identify how each school voted, but a person familiar with the outcome told The Associated Press that Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio State voted against postponing the fall football season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Big Ten was not planning on making the specificsmore

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Biden, Trump Clash Over Violent Protests

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Racial tensions in America have taken center stage in the U.S. presidential campaign, following deadly confrontations between Black Lives Matter protesters and white supporters of President Donald Trump. VOA’s Brian Padden reports how the president over the weekend responded to the protests with a strong law and order message, while his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, on Monday criticized Trump for “recklessly encouraging violence.” …

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US House to Subpoena Postmaster General Over Mail Delays

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The House Oversight Committee intends to subpoena Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for documents about disruptions in mail delivery operations that are now central to questions over the ability to handle an onslaught of mail-in ballots expected for the November election. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the committee chair, sent a memo Monday saying DeJoy blew past last week’s deadline to fully respond to the committee’s request for more information. He has not provided any new materials, she said. “It is clear that a subpoena has become necessary to further the Committee’s investigation and help inform potential legislative actions,” she said. Democrats are aggressively pursuingmore

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Trump, Biden Spar Over US Protest Violence

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Nine weeks from the national U.S. election, President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, sparred Monday over blame for street violence linked to racial injustice and police treatment of minorities that erupted in recent days. Trump tweeted Monday that he plans Tuesday to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protests turned violent last week in the aftermath of a police shooting of a Black man as they attempted to arrest him. A white teenage vigilante claiming to protect businesses in Kenosha was accused of fatally shooting two people and wounding a third during a street demonstration. Referring to Biden, Trumpmore

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US Court Denies Ex-Trump Adviser Flynn’s Bid to Halt Criminal Case 

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A U.S. appeals court on Monday denied a bid by Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, to immediately end the criminal case against him for lying to the FBI about his talks with a Russian official before Trump took office in 2017. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, rehearing an earlier decision by three of its judges, declined to issue an emergency order directing the judge hearing the case to grant the Department of Justice’s request for dismissal. The ruling allows U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to hear arguments on whether he must grantmore

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Trump, Portland Mayor Clash Hours After Fatal Shooting

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President Donald Trump exchanged barbs Sunday with the mayor of Portland, Oregon, less than 24 hours after a man was killed as Black Lives Matter protesters and Trump supporters clashed in the Pacific Northwest city’s streets.At a press conference Sunday afternoon, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler urged protesters not to turn violent or attempt retribution in the wake of Saturday night’s shooting death.The president, apparently watching the broadcast, tweeted his criticism.Ted Wheeler, the wacky Radical Left Do Nothing Democrat Mayor of Portland, who has watched great death and destruction of his City during his tenure, thinks this lawless situation should gomore

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Top US Intelligence Official Ends In-Person Election Security Briefings for Congress

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U.S. counterintelligence officials will no longer brief lawmakers on threats to the upcoming presidential election in November, telling them such in-person briefings have led to leaks of “sensitive intelligence” and the politicization of information.Officials with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) verbally informed key lawmakers and congressional committees of the change Saturday, saying the intelligence on threats to the November 3 presidential election would still be provided, just in a different form.”We are committed to meeting our statutory responsibilities and keeping Congress fully and currently informed,” an ODNI official told VOA on the condition of anonymity.”For claritymore

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Young Activists Take Center Stage at March on Washington

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When the son of famed civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. took to the stage in Washington on Friday – 57 years after his father’s famous “I Have a Dream” address – he stepped aside for yet another King.“I am so honored to be here,” Martin Luther King III said while standing at the Lincoln Memorial. “But before I say something, I want you to hear from the future of our nation.”Wearing a bright teal headband and a black-and-white dress, 12-year-old Yolanda Renee King adjusted the microphone lower and glanced sideways at her father, smiling nervously.The younger King launchedmore

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