The Trump administration scrambled Friday to distance itself from the decision to award a $300 million contract to help restore Puerto Rico’s power grid to a tiny Montana company from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s hometown. The White House said federal officials played no role in the selection of Whitefish Energy Holdings by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. The administration disavowed the contract amid a growing number of investigations and a bipartisan chorus of criticism from Capitol Hill. Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Zinke had given the president his personal assurance that he had nothing to do with what she described as “a state and local decision made by the Puerto Rican authorities and not the federal government.” The interior secretary also issued a fiery denial on Twitter, saying “Only in elitist Washington, D.C., would being from a small town be considered a crime.” Whitefish Energy Holdings is headquartered …

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday welcomed President Donald Trump’s declaration of the opioid epidemic as a public health emergency, saying he agreed with Trump that the war on addiction was “winnable.” Trump on Thursday directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare a 90-day public health emergency, but he stopped short of declaring the epidemic a national emergency or asking Congress for additional funds. Trump’s declaration nonetheless gives states more flexibility to use federal funds, although it will not provide funds specifically for the opioid crisis. The White House said the administration had allocated more than $1 billion for the opioid epidemic, including $800 million for prevention, treatment, first responders and prescription drug monitoring programs. ‘Make a difference’ Sessions, speaking to law enforcement officials at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, called Trump’s announcement a “rare step” that “will make a difference by getting …

Oregon’s two senators are demanding an explanation from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after viewing a video showing plainclothes ICE agents arresting a man without a warrant. The cellphone video was shot by a co-worker of the arrested man as the two were renovating a house in Portland, Oregon, on October 19. Posted on Facebook, the video has gotten more than 1.1 million views. In the video, “plainclothes agents appear to have illegally entered a private residence, exclaiming, ‘We don’t need a warrant to come in this home,’ ” Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Democrats, wrote to ICE’s regional director on October 20. “Americans do not lose their constitutional protection from warrantless search and seizure simply because ICE believes they may be immigrants,” they wrote. The nearly eight-minute video begins when three ICE agents are already inside the house. One of them demands identification from the man, …

Residents of a displaced persons camp in South Sudan say they were deeply disappointed when a visit by U.S. envoy Nikki Haley was cut short Wednesday, with several residents accusing the French charity that runs the camp of preventing Haley from seeing their wretched living conditions. Officials said at the time that Haley’s visit to the UNMISS (United Nations Mission in South Sudan) camp in Juba was cut short because of security concerns over a turbulent demonstration against President Salva Kiir. The cancellation sparked a second demonstration among the residents to express their anger over not being able to meet Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. But some of the IDPs charged this week that organizers of the visit who work at the camp did not want Haley to see the miserable conditions in which they live. The camp hosts more than 30,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who …

As the best-of-seven 2017 World Series shifts from Los Angeles to Houston at one game apiece, diehard fans of the hurricane-devastated city can sense a first-ever baseball championship within their grasp. Houstonians admit that a series victory — if only a momentary distraction — would lift the city’s spirits. Ramon Taylor reports from Minute Maid Park, home of the Astros. …

U.S. public health advocates welcomed President Donald Trump’s decision to declare the U.S. opioid epidemic a national public health emergency, but say the crisis needs additional funds to be addressed. The 90-day order enables states to use federal emergency funds to fight the crisis, but, although it can be extended, it does not provide a long-term budget. Also, as VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports, there are fears that emergency resources may be depleted by the cost of natural and other disasters. …

The US Congress is considering a range of options to pressure Myanmar, also known as Burma, to stop the deadly attacks that have forced hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims to flee their homes. Lawmakers are considering a stand-alone sanctions bill, but activists lobbying for the Rohingyas say a White House Executive Order could have the most immediate impact. VOA’s Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill. …

At a time when Republican unity is more critical than ever to salvage President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, the party is splintering on the issue of Trump’s governance and his fitness for office. As VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, Senate Republicans are attempting to regroup after two members announced their retirement while making blistering critiques of the president. Even so, many fellow Republicans are standing with Trump. …

U.S. officials have unveiled prototypes of President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall between Mexico and the United States. Eight prototypes were unveiled Thursday near the border in California and now will enter the “testing and evaluation period.” Workers wielding sledgehammers, torches, pickaxes and battery-operated tools will test the segments for 30-60 days. The tests will begin after about a month because some of the concrete needs to dry and cure. Ronald Vitiello, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s acting deputy commissioner, said the workers will try to answer basic questions: “Can it be climbed? Can it be dug under? Can it withstand cutting tools?’’ Results of the testing will dictate future wall construction, which has not yet been funded by Congress. In January, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Department of Homeland Security to plan, design and build a physical wall along the nation’s southern border. Trump has asked Congress …

A team of U.S. soldiers caught in a deadly ambush in Niger earlier this month was not the only U.S. force in the area, the Pentagon admitted Thursday. Four Americans and four Nigeriens were killed Oct. 4 after coming under attack near the village of Tongo Tongo by a group of about 50 heavily armed fighters thought to be connected the Islamic State terror group. Details surrounding the operation and how it went bad have been murky, with defense officials hesitant to release information while they conduct an investigation. But a top Pentagon official said Thursday the U.S. had a second team operating in the vicinity. “There are other teams that operate in Niger, there was one that had something to do with this operation,” said Joint Staff Director Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, saying more information would be released at the appropriate time. “It [the second team] is involved in …

More than 300 American rabbis and cantors are petitioning Israel to stop selling weapons to Myanmar, which the U.N. says is responsible for ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims. “As American citizens and as Jews, we refuse to accept any involvement by the U.S. or Israel in training or arming a military that is carrying out a brutal ethnic cleaning against a minority population,” the petition, released Thursday, states. The clergymen and women demand that Israel stop selling arms to Myanmar’s military and that the U.S. stop military exercises. They say the words “never again,” which emerged out of the ashes of the Nazi Holocaust, apply to violence against all minorities. A separate group of Israeli rabbis has made a similar appeal. Israel’s foreign minister has “vehemently denied” any involvement in the violence in Myanmar, also known as Burma. But an Israeli official said the government was “reassessing” its weapons sales …

The United States appears to be flexing its military might in the Pacific, sending three aircraft carriers to the region for potential exercises. Pentagon officials Thursday downplayed the deployment of the USS Nimitz, the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Theodore Roosevelt to the region, saying it had been planned “for quite a while.” “It’s just an opportunity to exercise three carrier strike groups together,” said Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff. “We always seek to do that when we have an opportunity to do that; it doesn’t come along very often.” Officials also said the deployments were not directed at recent provocations by North Korea, but would likely bolster U.S. allies in the region. “It does demonstrate a unique and powerful capability that has a very significant assurance effect on our allies,” McKenzie said. Each carrier strike group can include up to 10 ships with as …

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois discusses the Rohingya refugee crisis, Myanmar and his efforts along with those of fellow senators to allow third parties into Rahkine state, hold those responsible for the atrocities and repatriate the Rohingya. …

The Trump administration has settled lawsuits with tea party groups that received extra, often burdensome scrutiny when applying for tax-exempt status, ending another chapter in a political scandal that dogged the Obama administration and remains a source of outrage for Republicans. The Internal Revenue Service is apologizing to the groups as part of the proposed settlement agreements outlined in court filings Wednesday. The groups and the Justice Department are asking a judge to declare it illegal for the tax agency to discriminate based on political views, according to the agreements, which still must be approved by a judge. Republicans erupted in 2013 after the IRS apologized for submitting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to intensive scrutiny, in part by zeroing in on groups with words like “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names. Many had their applications delayed for months and years. Some were asked improper questions about their donors …

When Jo Ann Davidson ran for the Reynoldsburg, Ohio, city council, she picked up a book that explained everything a candidate needed to know about running for office.  It had just three pages tailored for females. “There really was nothing out there at the time,” said Davidson, “to help a woman candidate.” Davidson lost that first race in 1965, but she returned strong. And won. And continued winning. She held that seat for 10 years until she was elected and re-elected to serve a total of 20 years as a state legislator. Her legislative peers elected her as the first female Speaker of the Ohio General Assembly — her enormous portrait graces the walls of the Ohio House Chamber and a second one is in the Ladies’ gallery. Davidson also served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.   Now, she holds an eight-month program to encourage and train Republican women …

On November 3 U.S. President Donald Trump will embark on a 12-day trip to Japan; South Korea; China; Vietnam, where he will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit; and the Philippines. VOA Northeast Asia Correspondent Brian Padden reports the United States’ key military allies in the region are expected to handle Trump with care, and focus on areas of mutual agreement, especially regarding North Korea, when they host the president. …

Robert Salazar has been playing with origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, since he was 8 years old. When he sees a sheet of paper, his imagination takes over and intricate animals take shape. “Seeing the single uncut sheet, it has everything you need to create all of the origami that have ever been folded. It is all in the single sheet so there is endless potential,” Salazar said. The endless potential of origami, folding a single sheet of paper into an intricate sculpture, reaches all the way to space. Salazar’s 17-year experience with origami is appreciated at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As a contractor and intern, Salazar is helping create objects that may one day be used in space exploration. “Origami offers the potential to take a very large structure, even a vast structure, and you can get it to fit within the rocket, go up, then deploy back out again. …

Thousands of pages of long-classified documents about the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will be released to the public Thursday. The documents, contained in more than 3,000 files, will be released automatically under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Record Collections Act of 1992 unless President Donald Trump decides to stop them. But that is unlikely. On Saturday, Trump tweeted that he would allow the release of the documents: “Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.”   WATCH: Final Release of JFK Assassination Files Expected Thursday The documents reportedly contains multiple references to assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Mexico City, where he traveled in September 1963, two months before he shot and killed Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Gerald Posner is author of the 1993 book Case Closed, …

A final batch of government documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy is expected to be released Thursday, perhaps shedding new light on a tragic event that has fascinated the public and JFK experts for decades. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington. …

The Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, delivered her report to a United Nations committee Wednesday, saying she finds the recent events in Rakhine state devastating. Amnesty International has accused Myanmar of committing crimes against humanity, as nearly 600,000 Rohingya have fled for their lives into Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department wrestles with what to call the ongoing atrocities. VOA Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department. …

U.S. President Donald Trump says Islamic State in the Middle East is being defeated and the militants are moving to parts of Africa and other places. But a top U.S. security official says the departure of Islamic State does not spell the end of terrorism in the region. In an interview with Alhurra television this week, National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster warned of Iran’s dangerous influence in the Middle East. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …