Rights groups are criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to keep the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba open. “I am keeping another promise,” Trump said Tuesday in his State of the Union address, having signed an executive order that cancels a 2009 order in which then-President Barack Obama pledged to shutter the facility. In his speech, Trump said such facilities were crucial in ensuring the U.S. has “all necessary power to detain terrorists” in the fight against the Islamic State and al-Qaida terrorists. The order maintains the U.S. “may transport additional detainees to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay when lawful and necessary to protect the nation.” The order also directs Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to develop a policy within 90 days on how to handle and transfer “individuals captured in connection with an armed conflict.” For ‘bad dudes’ Trump said during his campaign that he wanted to keep Guantanamo open and …

African leaders were very close to officially demanding President Donald Trump publicly apologize for reportedly crude remarks about the continent and immigration, but backed off, reports say. The African Union drafted its response to the president at a summit this week. The draft warned that Trump’s “racist and xenophobic behavior” puts the strategic partnership between the United States and Africa at risk. It says African heads of state are “appalled” by the presidents’ apparent remarks and “dismayed and shocked by the increasingly consistent trend from the Trump administration to denigrate people of African descent and other people of color.”  But the African Union decided not to release the draft. It pointed to a Jan. 25th letter from Trump in which he pledged his “deep respect” for Africa and announced that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will make an “extended visit” to Africa in March. Trump also met with Rwandan President …

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson begins a six-day trip Thursday through Latin America in which he’s expected to rally the region’s governments in pressing democratic reforms in crisis-ridden Venezuela.   Tillerson’s travels will take him to Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Colombia, with a final stop in Jamaica on February 7. The United States will use “all its political, diplomatic and economic tools to address the situation in Venezuela,” a senior State Department official said at a briefing this week on the trip. Venezuela is in its fifth year of a worsening political and economic crisis. In January, the U.S. Treasury added four current or former Venezuelan senior military officials to its sanctions list, accusing them of corruption and repression that have contributed to critical shortages of food and medicine and the erosion of human rights. The European Union also has imposed sanctions, and the Organization of American States’ secretary general, …

The United States says it is not aware of any specific threats to the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month, despite nuclear tensions with neighboring North Korea.   Senior State Department officials in charge of security for the U.S. Olympic team told reporters Wednesday they have been working closely with South Korea for two years to prepare for the 2018 Winter Games that begin with an opening ceremony February 9 in the town of Pyeongchang.  Assistant secretary for diplomatic security Michael Evanoff says his team is well aware of the nuclear tensions with North Korea and has prepared for all contingencies. “I mean, we’re only less than a hundred miles (160 kilometers) from North Korea, so we’ve planned for all contingencies.” Steve Goldstein, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, had high praise for the South Korean government. “Authorities of the Republic of Korea are responsible for the overall security …

President Donald Trump’s blueprint for reforming America’s immigration system is drawing fire from advocacy groups at both ends of the ideological spectrum. The Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which favors restrictive immigration policies and has cheered many of Trump’s stances on the topic, said Wednesday the president’s framework amounts to “instant amnesty” for 1.8 million undocumented youth brought to America as children. CIS Director of Policy Studies Jessica Vaughan said Trump’s plan to limit the ability of immigrants to bring family members to the United States, so-called “chain migration,” will take years to offset those who have been eligible for legal status under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a temporary program created by former president Barack Obama that expires in March. “In other words, there would be instant deportation relief for 1.8 million illegal aliens, but a very long wait for immigration relief for Americans,” Vaughan said in a post …

The FBI said Wednesday that it had “grave concerns” about the accuracy of a classified memo crafted by Republican lawmakers that allegedly shows bias at the Justice Department against U.S. President Donald Trump. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had “a limited opportunity” to review the four-page memo before the Republican majority on the House intelligence committee voted this week to release it, pending a review by Trump. The U.S. leader has not released it yet, but in a conversation picked up by a television camera after his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Trump told a congressman that he was “100 percent” in favor of its disclosure. White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah told VOA on Wednesday, “The memo is under review, and all thoughts about how we should act are being considered.” Asked when it might be released, he said, “We are looking at when …

USA Gymnastics, the sport’s U.S. governing body, said Wednesday that all its remaining directors have resigned following revelations that the longtime team doctor had sexually abused numerous athletes under his care. A USA Gymnastics spokeswoman on Friday had said that the full board intended to resign. The U.S. Olympic Committee threatened to revoke the organization’s governing authority if the full board had not stepped down by Wednesday, after former team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual assault charges. “We are in the process of moving forward with forming an interim board of directors during the month of February, in accordance with the USOC’s requirements,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement. “USA Gymnastics will provide information about this process within the next few days.” …

Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of occasional reports from this area. HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA —  “Yes, there exists this fear — the fear that this can happen [again],” said Raul, a 31-year-old Mexican national and longtime resident of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A fear of reprisal led to his request that VOA keep his surname and workplace confidential. Speaking in Spanish to VOA in the basement of a Catholic church in downtown Harrisburg, Raul recounted how he was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on his way to work in May, along with a van full of other immigrant workers. “They stopped us for no reason whatsoever,” Raul said. “They weren’t looking for anybody in particular. They simply asked all of us, ‘Are you here legally?’”  In Raul’s case, the answer is no. WATCH: One Undocumented Immigrant Talks Living in Fear Free for now after being held briefly …

Less than a week after threatening to cut aid to the Palestinians if they fail to pursue peace with Israel, the United States is sanctioning the political leader of Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip. The State Department Tuesday announced it has placed Ismail Haniyeh, president of the Hamas political bureau, on its terrorist list as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). The U.S. already lists Hamas as a terrorist organization, but the State Department said Haniyeh maintains close ties with the group’s military wing and has reportedly been involved in attacks on Israeli citizens. Also designated is Harakat al-Sabireen, an Iranian-backed group that operates mainly out of Gaza and the West Bank. Officials say Harakat al-Sabireen has planned and carried out attacks against Israel and has fired rockets at Israeli targets. Two Egyptian groups, Liwa al-Thawra, and Harakat Sawa’d Misr, were also added to the terrorist …

Democratic Congressman Joe Kennedy says President Donald Trump’s administration “isn’t just targeting the laws that protect us – they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection.” Delivering the minority party’s traditional response to the president’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, Kennedy said millions of Americans have been left “anxious, angry, afraid” during the first year of the Trump administration. He said the president has created a Justice Department that is “rolling back civil rights by the day” for people of color and the gay, lesbian and transgender community, and is pitting Americans from coast to coast as “bitter rivals” against each other.  The audience at the Diman Regional Technical School in Fall River, Massachusetts, gave him a standing ovation when he said the Trump administration has launched an assault on “the American Promise”… “the belief that we are all worthy, we are all …

U.S. President Donald Trump called for unity and touted what he sees as accomplishments on foreign policy and the economy, during his first State of the Union address on Tuesday.  “Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people we were elected to serve,” Trump said. During an 80-minute speech, Trump called for lawmakers to pass his proposal for overhauling the country’s immigration system and revamping the country’s infrastructure. On foreign policy, Trump promised a tougher stance, saying he would work to address the “fundamental flaws” in the Iran nuclear deal and show “total American resolve” in dealing with North Korea.  “Past experience has taught us that complacency and concessions only invite aggression and provocation. I will not repeat the mistakes of the past administrations that got us into this …

A new executive order, issued as U.S. President Donald Trump gave his State of the Union address, cancels a 2009 order in which President Barack Obama promised to close the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba. The White House made the announcement just before Tuesday’s State of the Union address. And, the president spoke about it in his speech. “I am keeping another promise.  I just signed, prior to walking out, an order directing Secretary Mattis, who is doing a great job, to reexamine our military detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities in Guantánamo Bay,” he said. “I am asking the Congress to ensure that, in the fight against ISIS and al-Qaida, we continue to have all necessary power to detain terrorists — wherever we chase them down, where ever we find them.” Sixteen years after the first prisoner arrived, 41 detainees remain at Guantanamo. Of the more …

The Hawaii state employee responsible for launching an erroneous January 13 warning of an incoming missile attack has been fired, following a report stating that the employee had a history of confusing practice exercises with real-life events. The information was revealed Tuesday in a report by Investigating Officer Bruce Oliveira to the director of Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency. Vern Miyagi, the administrator for the agency, resigned Tuesday, as the findings became public. The report said the employee responsible for the erroneous warning message did not realize an order for an emergency drill had been declared, and instead activated a real alert that went out to mobile phones and broadcast outlets across Hawaii. The Saturday morning incident led many Hawaii residents to believe for more than half an hour that they were under attack. The message said a missile attack was imminent, advised residents to seek shelter immediately, and emphasized, “This is …

The Trump administration’s delay in implementing congressionally mandated Russia sanctions provoked an outcry on Capitol Hill hours before President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address to lawmakers.  Congress last year overwhelmingly approved mandatory penalties against those who do business with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors. This week, the Trump administration said the law already has had a chilling effect on those sectors even before sanctions take effect. A chorus of Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, accused the administration of dragging its feet. “President Trump has failed time and time again to stand up to Vladimir Putin, despite the assault that he carried out on our democracy in the 2016 election,” said Schumer. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told a Senate panel the administration is still looking at imposing sanctions based on a list of Kremlin-affiliated business moguls the Treasury Department published Monday. “So this should in no way …

The AP is fact-checking prepared remarks from President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech. Here’s a look at some of the claims we’ve examined: MS-13   Trump: “We have sent thousands and thousands and thousands of MS-13 horrible people out of this country or into our prisons.” The facts: That’s an exaggeration and goes beyond how even how Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Trump administration’s most aggressive anti-gang enforcer, characterizes the scope of the effort.          Sessions said in a speech this week that federal authorities had secured the convictions of nearly 500 human traffickers and 1,200 gang members, “and worked with our international allies to arrest or charge more than 4,000 MS-13 members.” On other occasions, the attorney general has specifically said the 4,000 number reflects work done with “our partners in Central America.”          That suggests that at least some of the MS-13 …

Russia’s foreign spy chief, who is under U.S. sanctions, met last week outside Washington with U.S. intelligence officials, two U.S. sources said, confirming a disclosure that intensified political infighting over probes into Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Sergey Naryshkin, head of the Russian service known by its acronym SVR, held talks with U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and other U.S. intelligence officials, the sources said. The sources did not reveal the topics discussed. A Russian Embassy tweet disclosed Naryshkin’s visit. It cited a state-run ITAR-Tass news report that quoted Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, as telling Rossiya-1 television that Naryshkin and his U.S. counterparts discussed the “joint struggle against terrorism.” Antonov did not identify the U.S. intelligence officials with whom he met. The Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment. Coats’ office said that while it does not discuss U.S. intelligence officials’ schedules, “any interaction …

Virtual reality, neural feedback and digital therapy were among five ideas to help solve the U.S. opioid crisis that won a global technology challenge on Tuesday. Winners were selected from hundreds of ideas submitted by researchers, caregivers, service providers and individuals from Ohio, other states and nine countries. The winning entrants will receive $10,000 each to take their ideas to the next phase. The $8 million Ohio Opioid Technology Challenge was modeled after the Head Health competition launched by the National Football League, Under Armour and General Electric to address traumatic brain injuries suffered playing football. It’s part of a two-pronged strategy Ohio is pursuing to fight the deadly epidemic tied to prescription painkillers; the state has also awarded $10 million in research-and-development grants. Besides the top prizes awarded to ideas with the highest likelihood of success, 40 runners-up — 20 laypeople and 20 technical professionals or experts — will …

Often regarded as a symbol of gun violence in the United States, Chicago was ranked the best city in the world for having fun and enjoying life in an index published Tuesday. Propelled by its buzzing restaurants and bars, the third-largest U.S. city came out on top for the second time in a row in a global index by the British culture and entertainment magazine Time Out, followed by Porto, New York, Melbourne and London. “This Midwestern city offers its dwellers endless opportunities to eat and drink well, be happy and experience cultural opportunities at every turn,” Morgan Olsen, editor of Time Out Chicago, said in a statement. The magazine asked 15,000 people in 32 cities, from Mexico City to Bangkok, to score them on their food, drink, culture, friendliness, affordability, happiness and livability. Chicago enjoyed above-average results overall, including top scores for eating and drinking, with safety as its only …

A Hawaii employee who issued a false missile warning mistook a test drill for an actual attack, the U.S. Federal Communications said on Tuesday, faulting the state’s handling of the issue. The false alarm, which went uncorrected for 38 minutes after being transmitted to mobile phones and broadcast stations, caused widespread panic across the Pacific islands state. The FCC blamed the error in part on a miscommunication and a lack of supervision of the test drill by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. The employee who transmitted the alert said in a written statement to Hawaii that he or she believed it was an actual alert, rather than a drill, and clicked yes in response to a prompt that read: “Are  you sure that you want to send this Alert?,” the FCC said in a presentation. The drill recording did not follow the standard script for a practice and included the …

President Donald Trump will herald a robust economy and push for bipartisan congressional action on immigration in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, as he seeks to rally a deeply divided nation and boost his own sagging standing with Americans. The speech marks the ceremonial kickoff of Trump’s second year in office and is traditionally a president’s biggest platform to speak to the nation. However, Trump has redefined presidential communications with his high-octane, filter-free Twitter account and there’s no guarantee that the carefully crafted speech will resonate beyond his next tweet. Still, White House officials are hopeful the president can use the prime-time address to Congress and millions of Americans watching at home to take credit for a soaring economy. Though the trajectory of lower unemployment and higher growth began under his predecessor, Trump argues that the tax overhaul he signed into law late last year has boosted business confidence …

The U.S. Treasury Department has released a congressionally mandated list of Russian politicians and business figures who are close to President Vladimir Putin’s government, along with their relationship to top leaders and their net worth. The list of more than 200 people does not carry any new sanctions, though a number of the figures are already subject to earlier U.S. sanctions. Last August, U.S. President Donald Trump reluctantly signed a bill that was passed almost unanimously by Congress aimed at penalizing Russia for its interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump said at the time the bill “improperly encroaches on executive power, disadvantages American companies and hurts the interests of our European allies.” The measure gave the Trump administration 180 days to produce the list, which includes Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and top spy agency officials. Among the business figures are aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, …

President Trump’s immigration framework proposing a pathway to citizenship for almost 2 million undocumented immigrants faces a tough road ahead on Capitol Hill. A week after an impasse over immigration policy briefly shut down the U.S. government – and with only a few working days left before another possible shutdown – congressional leaders of both parties are running out of time to make a deal. VOA’s House correspondent Katherine Gypson has more. …