A man accused of stabbing nine refugees, including six children, at a Boise, Idaho, birthday party was charged with murder Monday after the 3-year-old birthday girl died. Timmy Kinner is jailed without bail. He also faces nine charges of aggravated assault. The toddler died in a Utah hospital, where she was flown for treatment. Seven other victims are still being treated, some for life-threatening wounds. Police say Kinner was evicted Friday from the apartment complex that housed refugees because of what police say was his disturbing behavior. He returned the next day and allegedly stabbed children and guests at the birthday party, which was being held outdoors. The victims are from Ethiopia, Iraq and Syria. Boise police chief Bill Bones said Kinner is from Los Angeles and is not a refugee. Bones said the attack does not appear to be a hate crime, but that does not make it any …

President Donald Trump said the U.S. is not currently planning action against the World Trade Organization but warned that, “If they don’t treat us properly, we will be doing something.”   Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office alongside visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Trump reiterated his complaint that the Geneva-based organization has mistreated the U.S. and put the country at “a big disadvantage.”     Meanwhile, U.S. administration officials pushed back on reports the White House has drafted a bill that would allow Trump to determine tariff rates outside the jurisdiction of the WTO, in effect allowing Washington to walk away from its commitment to the international body that deals with rules of trade between nations.   White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said reports alleging the U.S. planning to leave the WTO are “inaccurate,” but that the president has concerns about certain aspects of WTO he …

Inside a small courtroom, a half-dozen immigrant teens and their families sat anxiously on wooden benches awaiting their immigration court hearing. An attorney for a nonprofit gave a quick overview in Spanish of U.S. immigration law and what they needed to do: Speak loudly. Ask for clarification if you don’t understand something. Be honest with the judge about what drove you to travel to the United States. Moments later, Judge Lori Bass peered at the crowd through red-rimmed eyeglasses and in a gentle voice asked the children their names, ages and if they were attending school, which many answered with a resounding “yes” in English. She then turned her attention to the moms, dads and uncles sitting beside them. “The purpose of these proceedings is to see whether the children can stay in the United States or whether they have to leave the United States,” she said. “This is extremely …

U.S. President Donald Trump says he had a “great talk” Monday with Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, holding out hope that they may be able to ease immigration tensions along their countries’ border. “I think the relationship is going to be a very good one,’ Trump said a day after the leftist Lopez Obrador’s landslide election to a six-year term. “I think he is going to try and help us with the border.” Trump said they talked for a half-hour about the influx of migrants — mostly from Central America — that trek through Mexico and cross illegally into the United States, along with contentious trade issues that are now being negotiated by Mexico, the U.S. and Canada in revamping the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump said the U.S. and Mexico could forge a new separate bilateral trade deal instead of redoing NAFTA. Trump has long …

Amid concerns North Korea appears to be bolstering — rather than dismantling  its nuclear and missile facilities, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week will make a third trip to Pyongyang.  Pompeo, who made his initial visit to North Korea earlier this year as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is scheduled to be in Pyongyang from Thursday through Saturday. His trip follows discussions Sunday at the Korean demilitarized zone between U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim and North Koreans.  It was the first time U.S. and North Korean officials are known to have met since President Donald Trump held talks with Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore.  “We’re continuing to make progress. We had good meetings yesterday,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in response to a VOA question at Monday’s briefing. “The secretary of state will be there later this week to …

Seven former U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations under both Republican and Democratic presidents urged U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday to restore U.S. funding for the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees. The United States, long the biggest donor to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), is providing just $60 million of a promised $365 million this year, agency head Pierre Kraehenbuehl told Reuters in April. U.S. President Donald Trump withheld the aid after questioning its value and saying Washington would only give aid if the Palestinians agreed to renew peace talks with Israel, while the U.S. State Department said the agency needed to make unspecified reforms. The United States is trying to kick-start stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, but has not yet revealed a peace plan. “This financial gap puts into question the ability of UNRWA to continue to deliver education and …

The European Union has warned the United States that placing tariffs on automobiles would end up hurting the U.S. economy and would probably result in retaliatory measures from its trading partners. In a letter sent to U.S. Commerce Department Friday, the European Union said tariffs on European cars and car parts were unjustifiable. U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed imposing a 20 percent duty on EU car imports, citing security concerns. It was not immediately clear what those concerns are. The EU letter said, “In 2017, U.S.-based EU companies, produced close to 2.9 million automobiles, which accounted for 26 percent of total U.S. production.” The submission said European car companies are “well established” in the United States. The European car industry in the United States supports some 120,000 jobs in its factories that are mainly in the southern region of the country. A tariffs war could adversely affect those jobs …

A U.S. congressional delegation is meeting with senior Russian officials in St. Petersburg amid preparations for a summit between the nations’ presidents. U.S.-Russian ties have hit the lowest point in decades due to sanctions over Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 election and disagreement over Syria, Ukraine and other topics.   St. Petersburg governor Georgy Poltavchenko told U.S. congressmen on Monday that he hopes for a warming of ties. “We look into the future with optimism and are ready for cooperation on all fronts,” he said.   Richard Shelby, a Republican senator from Alabama who heads the delegation, also called for dialogue, according to a statement from the governor’s office.   Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, would not say whether the congressmen would later meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.     …

China, though barred from the world’s largest multi-country naval exercises this year, will shrug off the slight because it has accumulated enough power in Asia’s disputed seas to cause it little concern about the U.S.-led maneuvers, experts believe.   The United States uninvited China from attending the Rim of the Pacific Exercise in view of Beijing’s naval expansion, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement June 2. The exercises better known as RIMPAC bring together 25 countries, 45 vessels and 25,000 people.   Beijing need not worry because it has already militarized its key islets in the South China Sea over the protests of Southeast Asian states and cultivated a blue-water navy that plies the open Pacific Ocean despite objections from Japan and Taiwan, analysts say.   “They’ll shrug it off,” said Jeffrey Kingston, author and history instructor at Temple University Japan. “I think they know there’s displeasure …

Border Patrol arrests fell sharply in June to the lowest level since February, according to a U.S. official, ending a streak of four straight monthly increases. The drop may reflect seasonal trends or it could signal that President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy to criminally prosecute every adult who enters the country illegally is having a deterrent effect. The agency made 34,057 arrests on the border with Mexico during June, down 16 percent from 40,344 in May, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the numbers are not yet intended for public release. The June tally is preliminary and subject to change. Arrests were still more than double from 16,077 in June 2017, but the sharp decline from spring could undercut the Trump administration’s narrative of a border in crisis.  Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol, declined to comment on the numbers, saying it …

A U.S. federal judge has ordered emergency officials to extend hotel vouchers for about 1,700 Puerto Ricans on the U.S. mainland whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Maria last year. The vouchers were to have run out early Sunday. Judge Leo Sorokin ruled the hotel vouchers will be good at least until Wednesday. He will hold another hearing Monday to determine if the vouchers should be extended even further. “The irreparable harm to the plaintiffs is obvious and overwhelming,” Sorokin wrote hours before the deadline. “Tomorrow morning, they will be evicted and homeless since by definition, each plaintiff’s home was rendered uninhabitable by the hurricane in Puerto Rico.” Sorokin also wrote that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has neglected to provide proper aid for the hurricane victims from the U.S. territory.  The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of Puerto Ricans against FEMA, saying the …

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday hailed the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Marking the date, Guterres in a statement said, “The NPT is an essential pillar of international peace and security, and the heart of the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. Its unique status is based on its near universal membership, legally-binding obligations on disarmament, verifiable non-proliferation safeguards regime, and commitment to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.” What is the NPT? The objective of the international treaty is to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons-making technology, allow its signatories to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and phase out the nuclear arsenal of the five original nuclear powers – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. When did the NPT take effect? The treaty was signed July 1, 1968. It came into …