Dress in layers, lay off the booze and bring some hand warmers. Those are some of the tips offered for the huge crowd of revelers expected in Times Square for what could be one of the coldest New Year’s Eve ball drops on record. Brutal weather has iced plans for scores of events in the Northeast from New Year’s Eve through New Year’s Day, but not in New York City, where people will start gathering in Times Square up to nine hours before the famous ball drop. WATCH: A Crystal Ball of Serenity for the New Year “Hundreds of thousands have withstood very cold weather over the years for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we expect this year to be no different,” said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, which puts on the event. The coldest New Year’s Eve in Times Square came in 1917, when it was 1 …

The NYC Taxi Drivers Calendar is a tongue-in-cheek alternative to the famous firefighter pin-up, and it raises funds for charity. …

The Trump administration has fired the remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, also known as PACHA. Council members received a letter this week saying that their appointments to the panel were terminated, “effective immediately,” according to a report in The Washington Post. PACHA was established in 1995, during the Clinton administration, to advise the White House on HIV strategies and policies. Six of the members of the council, upset by White House actions on health policy, resigned in June. Scott Schoettes, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, a LGBT rights organization, was one of them. He wrote in Newsweek at the time that U.S. President Donald Trump “simply does not care” about people living with HIV. Schoettes said the Trump administration “pushes legislation that will harm people living with HIV and halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease.” He told The Washington Post …

At the hands of Mother Nature, 2017 was a deadly, devastating year. Wildfires in the US, volcanos in Indonesia, and mudslides and hurricanes across the world. Natural disasters took homes, power, water and lives. Arash Arabasadi looks back at some of the stories that made headlines. …

Gun violence in the US reached record heights in 2017 — more than 60,000 incidents, killing more than 15,000 people, according to a nonprofit organization that tracks gun violence. VOA’s Mariama Diallo looks back at some of the year’s deadliest US mass shootings. …

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has broken with previous foreign policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, refusing to certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal and taking a more aggressive stance toward North Korea. Views about these departures are mixed — with some welcoming the forceful projection of American power on the world stage, while others criticizing what they see as a dangerous course for the United States. More from VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo. …

Puerto Rico authorities said Friday that nearly half of power customers in the U.S. territory still lack electricity more than three months after Hurricane Maria. Officials said 55 percent of the nearly 1.5 million customers have power, marking the first time the government has provided that statistic since the Category 4 storm hit on Sept. 20 with winds of up to 154 mph. Officials had previously reported power generation, which stands at nearly 70 percent of pre-storm levels. “The damage was severe,” power company spokesman Geraldo Quinones told The Associated Press. “A lot of work remains.” One of Puerto Rico 78 municipalities remains entirely without power, and it’s unclear when some electricity will be restored to the central mountain town of Ciales. Crews this week restored power for the first time to parts of the southeast coastal town of Yabucoa, which received the first hit from Maria. ‘This truly consumes …

For only the second time since 9/11, America’s defense secretary didn’t visit U.S. troops in a war zone during December, breaking a long-standing tradition of personally and publicly thanking service members in combat who are separated from their families during the holiday season. Pentagon boss Jim Mattis, who spent more than four decades in the Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, made a five-day trip through the Middle East in early December. He stopped in Kuwait and Pakistan — countries adjacent to Iraq and Afghanistan — but didn’t cross the borders to see troops at war in either country. Last week, he visited troops in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at military bases in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina, wishing them holiday cheer. Streak ends at 15 years It has been 15 years since a U.S. defense chief didn’t travel to a war zone during the festive season. …

The United States is preparing to shift its approach in Syria, pledging to help with the initial recovery following the collapse of the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate. U.S.-backed forces liberated the terror group’s Syrian capital of Raqqa in October. Since then, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have focused their efforts on eradicating remnants of Islamic State. But with fewer than 1,000 IS fighters thought to be in areas under SDF control, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the time is right for what he described as “an attempt to move toward normalcy.” “What we will be doing is shifting from what I call an offensive, terrain-seizing approach,” Mattis told Pentagon reporters Friday. “You’ll see more U.S. diplomats on the ground.” Mattis did not share a timeline for when more diplomats and other civilian personnel would arrive in Syria, and he emphasized that none of the work should be characterized as …

The post-Christmas prolonged, dangerously cold weather across half the country has advocates for the homeless scrambling to get people off the streets and local officials urging residents to assist their elderly neighbors. Residents from the Midwest to the Northeast were dealing with sub-freezing temperatures and wind chills, while those in the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies were bracing for storms that forecasters warn can cause heavy mountain snow and freezing rain. The cold is expected to continue through the holiday weekend and likely longer, according to the National Weather Service, prolonging a stretch of brutal weather blamed for vehicle crashes, emergency room visits and at least one death. Wind chill advisories remained in place for many areas. Animal owners were urged to bring their pets indoors if possible or at least make sure they have sufficient warmth. Forecasters warned people to be wary of hypothermia and frostbite from the arctic …

New York Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the Thursday fire that killed 12 people at an apartment in the Bronx was started by a three and a half year old boy playing with a stove. Nigro told reporters Friday the boy’s mother fled the apartment with her son and other child, leaving the door open.  The fire then spread quickly, with the five story building’s stairwell acting like a chimney.  Officials said housing records show the building had previous violations, including defective carbon monoxide and fire detectors. Firefighters arrived on the scene in just over three minutes. Nigro called the loss of life from the fire, the worst in New York in 25 years, “unprecedented.” Authorities say about 170 firefighters battled the blaze and rescued the building’s fleeing tenants. Officials say at least four people were seriously injured in the fire, a block away for the world-renowned Bronx Zoo. …

California adults not content to ring in the New Year with the traditional fizz of champagne can look forward to celebrating with the buzz of marijuana, purchased for the first time from state-licensed retailers of recreational pot. Dozens of newly authorized marijuana stores are due to open for business across California on January 1, launching yet another chapter in America’s drug culture and the largest regulated commercial market for cannabis in the United States — one valued at several billion dollars. The rollout is expected to be gradual and bumpy. The state only began handing out licenses in mid-December, issued on a temporary basis because implementing regulations were still under review. Newly permitted retailers will rely on a hodge-podge of marijuana producers in the state’s illicit “gray market” to stock their shelves for the next six months, until state-licensed growers can harvest their first crops. And many jurisdictions, notably Los …

President Donald Trump returned to a favorite target Friday, saying that the U.S. Postal Service should charge Amazon.com more money to ship the millions of packages it sends around the world each year.    Amazon has been a consistent recipient of Trump’s ire. He has accused the company of failing to pay “internet taxes,” though it’s never been made clear by the White House what the president means by that.   In a tweet Friday, Trump said Amazon should be charged “MUCH MORE” by the post office because it’s “losing many billions of dollars a year” while it makes “Amazon richer.” Amazon lives and dies by shipping, and increasing rates that it negotiated with the post office, as well as shippers like UPS and FedEx, could certainly do some damage.   In the seconds after the tweet, shares of Amazon, which had been trading higher before the opening bell, began …

China has denied facilitating oil shipments to North Korea in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump accused Beijing of doing so. “China has been completely and strictly implementing Security Council resolutions and fulfilling our international obligations,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters Friday at a media briefing. “We will never allow Chinese citizens and enterprises to engage in activities that violate Security Council resolutions.” Despite China’s insistence the sanctions are being enforced, doubts persist in the U.S., South Korea and Japan that loopholes continue to exist. And China’s repeated denials did not preclude Trump from tweeting Thursday he was “very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea.” The U.N. Security Council last week imposed new sanctions designed to limit North Korea’s access to oil in response to the country’s recent long-range missile test. In November, it test-launched …

The United States military says its support for the Federal Government of Somalia is making an impact in a year in which the Trump administration increased attacks against al-Shabab militants. In 2017, the U.S. conducted at least 34 strike operations against al-Shabab and a militant splinter group supporting the Islamic State, according observers of U.S. military activities against al-Shabab. Last year there were 14 strikes. Thirty-one of the strikes targeted al-Shabab while the other three targeted pro-Islamic State militants in northeastern Puntland region. Since U.S. President Donald Trump eased combat rules in March and declared parts of Somalia a “war zone,” strike operations conducted by the U.S. have killed more than 155 militants, according to a press statement given by the Africa command.  Striking at al-Shabab At least 100 of those were killed November 21 in a single attack on a training camp near Leb-Adde Mountains in Bay region. In addition, …

Maame Biney, a 17-year-old from Ghana, will be the first African-American woman to represent the U.S. on the speedskating short track team at the 2018 Winter Olympics Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in February. VOA’s Salem Solomon visited her where she first started skating in a local ice rink in Reston, Virginia, and has this story. …

Minneapolis’ top prosecutor on Thursday said more investigation is needed before he decides whether to charge a police officer in the fatal shooting of an Australian woman in July that led to the police chief’s resignation. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement that he would not decide before the end of 2017 as he had hoped in the death of Sydney native Justine Damond, 40, who was shot once by Somali-born Minneapolis Police Officer Mohamed Noor from his patrol car. “The investigation and review of the case will not be rushed. It is more important to get it right than to get it done quickly,” Freeman said. Noor has been on paid leave and has declined to be interviewed by Minnesota state investigators. Damond, who was living in Minneapolis and engaged to be married, had called police about a possible sexual assault near her house and approached …