Four people died and three were injured when a construction crane on the new Google Seattle campus collapsed Saturday, pinning six cars underneath. One female and three males were dead by the time firefighters arrived at the scene, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said. He said two of the dead were crane operators and the other two were people who had been in cars. A 25-year-old mother and her 4-month-old daughter as well as a 28-year-old man were taken to Harborview Medical Center, according to Seattle Fire spokesman Lance Garland. A fourth person also was injured and treated at the scene. Harborview spokeswoman Susan Gregg said Saturday evening that the mother and baby would be discharged, while the man injured was in satisfactory condition. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office said it would not release names of people who died until Monday. “My thoughts and prayers are with those killed and …

While many people have office jobs, working inside an office is not for everybody. And these days in the U.S. more people are turning to gig work — temporary jobs that allow them to work from home, hold multiple jobs and have flexible hours. More gig workers are now using smartphone apps to find jobs that set them free of office work. VOA’s Mykhailo Komadovsky spent time with one gig worker in Washington. …

Damaged money — burned, drenched or even shredded into pieces — can be legally exchanged at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The main condition is that more than 50 percent of the banknote should be identifiable as U.S. currency. Lesia Bakalets talked with Treasury Department experts and learned more about their unusual work. Anna Rice narrates her story. …

As Kim Jong Un returns from a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, questions linger as to the diplomatic support Kim garnered from Putin, and what will happen next in negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington. Meanwhile, a long-time observer of politics on the Korean Peninsula urges Washington and Seoul to re-examine the assumption underlying their strategy toward North Korea. In interviews with U.S. lawmakers, one thing is clear: U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have some bipartisan support in their dealings with Pyongyang. Ami Bera, a Democrat who represents California’s 7th congressional district and sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says he supports Trump’s decision to walk away from his second meeting with Kim held in Vietnam, as well as his willingness to engage in direct dialogue with Pyongyang. ​Let America decide who’s on our team “I don’t think we’ll be telling Chairman Kim who …

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to have Japanese automakers produce more vehicles in the United States, according to a readout of their recent meeting provided Saturday by the U.S. ambassador to Japan. The two discussed recent public announcements by Japanese automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp.’s decision to invest more in U.S. plants. “We talked about the need to see more movement in that direction, but I think the president feels very positive that we will see such movement because all the economics support that,” said Ambassador William Hagerty. Trump has prodded Japanese automakers to add more jobs in the United States as the White House threatens to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imported vehicles, on the ground of national security. Trump said Friday that it was possible that the United States and Japan could reach a new bilateral trade deal by the time he visits Tokyo in May, but he and Abe cited areas …

VOA’s Steve Herman contributed to this report from the White House.  One person was killed and three others were wounded Saturday when a gunman entered a synagogue in Poway, Calif., and opened fire.    At a news conference, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said a white male entered the synagogue shortly before 11:30 a.m. PDT and opened fire with “an AR-type assault weapon.” He said four people were hit by gunfire in the attack.   “Sadly, one of the individuals succumbed to their wounds,” Gore said.  He added that the other three victims were in stable condition.    Gore said the suspect was fired on by an off-duty Border Patrol agent who saw the man fleeing the scene, but the suspect was not hit.    San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said the suspect apparently contacted police and later surrendered to a San Diego police officer who was en route to the scene of the …

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shared their love of golf on a sunny, windy Saturday at the president’s northern Virginia course. Trump said on the eve of their outing they’d play a quick round at a “beautiful” place before he goes to Wisconsin for a rally. Meantime, Melania Trump and Akie Abe visited the Washington Monument after the two couples celebrated the U.S. first lady’s 49th birthday over dinner the previous evening. Abe has stressed the two men’s shared interest in golf as he’s become one of the few global leaders to build a personal relationship with Trump. They’ve played rounds together in both countries. For all the camaraderie, Abe’s visit also has been an occasion for each leader to express frustration about the other’s tariffs.   …

Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North said Saturday that he will not serve a second term as the president of the National Rifle Association amid inner turmoil in the gun-rights group. In a statement read to members of the group Saturday, North said he believes a committee should be set up to review the NRA’s finances. North was not present at the meeting when the statement was read by Richard Childress, the NRA’s first vice president. “There is a clear crisis and it needs to be dealt with” if the NRA is to survive, North’s statement said. His announcement came after an effort by some members to force out top executive Wayne LaPierre, who has long been the public face of the group. LaPierre sent a letter to board members Thursday saying that North was trying to push him out by threatening to release “damaging” information about him to the board. …

Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard successfully managed a surveillance flight over a U.S. aircraft carrier, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Saturday. The report included footage apparently from a Guard drone that flew over the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and another U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf. The images show fighter planes parked on the carrier deck. Tasnim did not say when the footage was shot. The development comes after the U.S. government earlier this month designated the Guard as a terrorist group to increase pressure on Iran and further isolate the country. Iran responded by labeling all U.S. forces as terrorists. Lt. Chloe J. Morgan, a U.S. Naval Forces Central Command spokesperson, said in an email that the Eisenhower has not been in the Persian Gulf since 2016. She said the U.S. and its allies are committed to freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The strait, which sees …

Shelley Berkley spent 14 years in Congress representing the western swing state of Nevada. The lifelong Democrat is worried about her party’s ability in next year’s presidential election to maintain the traditional support of her fellow Jews. “Growing up, I didn’t know anybody that was Jewish who wasn’t a Democrat. The two went hand in hand. If you’re Jewish, you’re a Democrat. Things have changed dramatically,” according to Berkley.    The party’s rising left wing is less inclined to reflexively support Israel, while President Donald Trump has decisively aligned with Israel’s right-wing president, Benjamin Netanyahu.   “There’s a lot of folks like Congresswoman Berkeley increasingly concerned about the direction and tone the Democratic Party is taking as it relates to the Jewish community and Israel,” says Matthew Brooks, national executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Staunch democratic Throughout most of the 20th century, Jews were staunch Democrats, traditionally allied …

U.S. border authorities say they’ve started to increase the biometric data they take from children 13 years old and younger, including fingerprints, despite privacy concerns and government policy intended to restrict what can be collected from migrant youths. A Border Patrol official said this week that the agency had begun a pilot program to collect the biometrics of children with the permission of the adults accompanying them, though he did not specify where along the border it has been implemented. The Border Patrol also has a “rapid DNA pilot program” in the works, said Anthony Porvaznik, the chief patrol agent in Yuma, Arizona, in a video interview published by the Epoch Times newspaper. Spokesmen for the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security did not return several messages from The Associated Press seeking comment on both programs. ‘Kids that are being rented’ The Border Patrol says that in the …

President Donald Trump says he welcomes Russia and China’s help with North Korea, after a summit this week in Russia between President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But with negotiations between North Korea and the United States stalled, analysts say Kim may have used the Putin summit to show that he has other powerful friends and allies, and is not dependent on his ties with Trump. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department. …

At the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, the nation’s most powerful gun rights lobbying group Friday, President Donald Trump declared that the United States is withdrawing from the 2013 United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, which sought to prevent illicit arms transfers to overseas conflicts. Patsy Widakuswara reports. …

The National Rifle Association was plunged into deeper internal turmoil Friday amid an effort by opponents of top executive Wayne LaPierre to drive out the man who has long been the public face of the gun-rights group. LaPierre sent a letter to board members Thursday outlining that the NRA’s president, Lt. Col. Oliver North, was trying to oust him by threatening to release damaging information about him to the NRA’s board. The Associated Press confirmed the contents of the letter. But several longtime and prominent board members told The Associated Press they were standing by LaPierre, who has symbolized the gun-rights movement for decades with his unwavering support of the Second Amendment. “Wayne has the confidence of a strong majority of the board,” said Todd Rathner, a board member from Arizona who began his tenure shortly after one of the last upheavals within the organization in the 1990s. “They trust …

The U.S. State Department on Friday said American citizens should reconsider travel to Sri Lanka because of the threat of terrorism after more than 250 people were killed in suicide bombings Sunday. In a statement, the department also said it had ordered the departure of all school-age family members of U.S. government employees. “Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Sri Lanka,” it said. …

More than 1,000 students and staff members at two Los Angeles universities were quarantined on campus or sent home this week in one of the most sweeping efforts yet by public health authorities to contain the spread of measles in the U.S., where cases have reached a 25-year high. By Friday afternoon, two days after Los Angeles County ordered the precautions, about 325 of those affected had been cleared to return after proving their immunity to the disease, through either medical records or tests, health officials said.   The action at the University of University of California, Los Angeles, and California State University, Los Angeles, which together have more than 65,000 students, reflected the seriousness with which public health officials are taking the nation’s outbreak. Those under the quarantine were instructed to stay at home and avoid contact with others, though it wasn’t clear how those orders might be enforced …

The U.S. Defense Department said Friday that it expected to send about 300 additional troops to the U.S. border with Mexico in roles that could allow them to come into contact with migrants, breaking past policy against interaction with them. The Pentagon said the additional troops would include about 100 military cooks who would hand out meals to migrants, as well as troops performing other support roles, including driving buses with detained migrants. “We will have some of our troops handing out meals. Therefore, [they] would come in contact with migrants,” Pentagon spokesman Charlie Summers said.  He said acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan had not yet signed the request for additional troops from the Department of Homeland Security, but that he was expected to do so. Summers said the proposal included an amendment to the current policy on avoiding contact with migrants. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said he would seek to move …