A Houston-area chemical plant that lost power after Harvey engulfed the area in extensive floods was rocked by two explosions early Thursday, the plant’s operator said. Arkema Inc. said in a statement on its website that the Harris County Emergency Operations Center reported two explosions and black smoke coming from the plant at about 2 a.m. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet that a deputy was taken to the hospital after inhaling fumes. Nine other deputies drove themselves to the hospital as a precaution. The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office said there had been “a series of chemical reactions” at the plant and advised people to stay away from the area. A spokeswoman for the plant in Crosby, Texas, said late Wednesday that the flooded facility had lost power and backup generators due to the flooding, leaving it without refrigeration for chemicals that become volatile as the …

The United States flew some of its most advanced warplanes in bombing drills Thursday with ally South Korea, a clear warning after North Korea launched a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear bombs over Japan earlier this week, South Korea’s military said. North Korea hates such displays of U.S. military might at close range and will likely respond with fury.   Two U.S. B-1B supersonic bombers and four F-35 stealth fighter jets joined four South Korean F-15 fighters in live-fire exercises at a military field in eastern South Korea that simulated precision strikes against the North’s “core facilities,” an official from Seoul’s Defense Ministry said. The B-1Bs were flown in from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam while the F-35s came from a U.S. base in Iwakuni, Japan, the official said. He didn’t want to be named, citing office rules.    The North, which claims Washington has long threatened …

The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to renew the mandate for a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon on Wednesday, following tense negotiations amid U.S. and Israeli criticism that U.N. troops should do more to stop Hezbollah gaining arms. The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) — established in 1978 – patrols Lebanon’s southern border with Israel. Washington regards Hezbollah, which supports the Syrian government and has a strong presence in south Lebanon, as a terrorist organization. US supports resolution U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Washington wanted the French-drafted resolution to renew UNIFIL’s mandate to “ensure UNIFIL is doing its job to the fullest extent possible.” After a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the UNIFIL mandate was expanded to task peacekeepers with making sure southern Lebanon was “free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons” other than those belonging to the Lebanese government. “For too long …

Escalating efforts to repatriate one of the ruling Communist Party’s most wanted exiles, Chinese police have opened an investigation on a new allegation, rape, against New York-based billionaire Guo Wengui, who has been releasing what he calls official secrets ahead of a pivotal party leadership conference.  Two Chinese officials with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that police are requesting a second Interpol arrest notice for Guo, 50, for the alleged sexual assault of a 28-year-old former personal assistant.  Guo and his representatives did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Sprawling case against Guo The rape allegation represents a new element in the sprawling case that Chinese prosecutors are building against the real estate tycoon, who is being investigated for at least 19 major criminal cases. Allegations against him include bribing a top Chinese intelligence official, kidnapping, fraud and money laundering.   The Associated Press reviewed …

U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen the Midwestern U.S. state of Missouri to push for a major tax overhaul that he said would spur economic growth and help ordinary Americans. He appealed to lawmakers to shun partisanship and to act swiftly for the benefit of the country. Trump proposed to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent and slash individual taxes, but offered few other details. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

Days of torrential rain have ended in Houston, but many neighborhoods are still under water, especially those near overflowing dams and rivers. The catastrophic weather has brought out a host of volunteers — from across Texas and from other states — to lend a helping hand. Many came with their boats. Vietnamese-American Peter Chau does not have a boat but decided to turn out to help. His home in the northwestern part of Houston was not flooded. His parents, who came to the United States from Vietnam, said he was doing “a good job” by volunteering for the search-and-rescue efforts. “We went to downtown Houston and rescued some people that were stuck in their home ’cause the levee broke down there,” Chau said. “We’re trying to get them out as fast as we can.” The volunteers may not have known each other before, he added, but they all feel like …

Even though the rain in Houston has stopped, many neighborhoods near dams and rivers are still under water. From around Texas and beyond, volunteers, who connected through social media, are in their boats giving a helping hand. They say, what’s happening in Texas is a good model for lawmakers in Washington. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee spent the day with rescuers in Houston. …

In the coming weeks, as Houston turns its attention to rebuilding areas devastated by Tropical Storm Harvey, people like Jay De Leon are likely to play an outsized role — if they stay around. De Leon, 47, owns a small construction business in Houston, and he and his 10 employees do exactly the kind of demolition and refurbishing the city will need. But like a large number of construction workers in Texas, De Leon and most of his workers live in the United States illegally, and that could make things complicated. The Pew Research Center estimated last year that 28 percent of Texas’s construction workforce is undocumented, while other studies have put the number as high as 50 percent. Construction employed 23 percent of working undocumented adults in Texas at the end of 2014, higher than any other sector, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Undocumented immigrants nervous However, undocumented …

The Pentagon says the number of U.S. troops currently serving in Afghanistan is higher than they’ve previously reported. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb explains the change. …

The U.S. president and his defense secretary issued divergent comments about how to respond to North Korea’s advancing ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. VOA’s William Gallo reports. …

The United States has sent a reinforced detachment of fighter planes to police the skies over NATO members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia during a major Russian military exercise in the Baltic region next month. The Zapad war games, set for September 14-20 in Belarus, western Russia and Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad, have caused unease in the region, though Russia has said the large-scale exercise will rehearse a purely defensive scenario and will not be a springboard for invasion. Seven U.S. F-15C fighters landed at Siauliai airfield this week to patrol skies over the Baltic countries, three more than normally used since the NATO policing mission was upgraded after the Crimean crisis in 2014. The three Baltic states do not operate their own fighter aircraft and rely on their NATO allies for patrols. “We are reinforcing the air police mission for the period [of Zapad]. And we are glad to also …

Venezuela has offered $5 million to victims of Hurricane Harvey in the United States despite a major economic crisis in the South American country that has left millions short of food and medicine. Venezuela’s U.S.-based oil subsidiary Citgo, a unit of state oil company PDVSA, will cooperate with local authorities in Houston to distribute the funds, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said on state television. Venezuela’s socialist government has in the past given subsidized heating oil to poor Americans and sent aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Venezuela’s already strained relations with the United States took a nosedive this year with Washington imposing various sanctions against President Nicolas Maduro’s cash-strapped government. President Donald Trump went as far as to say a military intervention may be on the cards, though U.S. officials quickly rolled that idea back. Venezuela is suffering a fourth year of brutal recession, and has been rocked …

Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a resolution Wednesday strongly denouncing President Donald Trump’s new policy on Afghanistan and calling his and General John Nicholson’s statements on Pakistan “hostile and threatening.” President Trump had some of the harshest words for Pakistan when he announced his new policy on Afghanistan and South Asia on August 21. “We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists we are fighting,” he said in a speech. Soon after, in an interview with an Afghan TV channel, the top U.S. military commander in Kabul, General Nicholson said the U.S. is “aware of the presence” of Taliban leaders in the Pakistani cities of Quetta and Peshawar, and that they should not “sleep in peace.” Drone strikes a concern Many observers in the region interpreted that to be a threat of either drone strikes or unilateral military action. …

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has emphasized the U.S. is “never out of diplomatic solutions” when it comes to the North Korean crisis, after President Donald Trump said that “talking is not the answer.” Mattis was responding to a question about Trump’s tweet Wednesday morning about dealing with the threat of North Korea following the country’s most recent ballistic missile test over Japan.   “The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!” Trump tweeted, a day after he said “All options are on the table” for dealing with Pyongyang.   Defense Secretary Mattis welcomed his South Korean counterpart to the Pentagon on Wednesday, as the two countries try to figure out how to handle recent North Korean provocations.   “We continue to work together, and the Minister and I share a responsibility to provide for the protection of …

The U.S. economy rebounded sharply in the spring, growing at the fastest pace in more than two years amid brisk consumer spending on autos and other goods.   The gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, grew at an annual rate of 3 percent in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. It was the best showing since a 3.2 percent gain in the first quarter of 2015.   The result is a healthy upward revision from the government’s initial estimate of 2.6 percent growth in the second quarter. The growth rate in the January-March quarter was a lackluster 1.2 percent.   Improvements in consumer spending, particularly on autos, and business investment powered second-quarter growth. Those revisions offset a bigger drag from spending by state and local governments. This was the second of three estimates the government will provide for second quarter growth. Even with the upward …

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Harvey, the devastating storm that flooded a huge swath of Houston, Texas, and forced thousands of people from their homes, made landfall again Wednesday, moving to the east and drenching the neighboring state of Louisiana. But the National Hurricane Center predicted that the storm will gradually weaken as it moves inland and away from Houston, where untold numbers remain trapped in their homes, marooned by churning, muddy waters that often are waist deep. Tropical Storm Harvey was still packing 75-kilometer winds with higher gusts, and acting Homeland Security chief Elaine Duke warned that “catastrophic flooding is likely” for days, even after the historic rains end. “We expect a many-year recovery in Texas and the federal government is in this for the long haul,” she said. For the moment, Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long said, “We’re still in life-saving, life-sustaining mode.” Long said 30,000 people have been moved to …