California Gov. Jerry Brown declared an end to the state’s drought emergency Friday after powerful storms quenched the state following four extraordinarily dry years that drained reservoirs and wells, devastated forests and farmland and forced millions of people to slash their water use. The turnaround has been stark. After years of brown fields and cracked earth, monster storms blanketed California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains this winter with deep snow that flows into the network of rivers and streams that supply most of the state’s water. Front lawns revived to bright green in neighborhoods throughout the state, and rivers that had become dry beds of sand and gravel are now charged with water swelling up in their banks. Restrictions remain Still, lifting the order is a largely symbolic measure that doesn’t remove most of the restrictions. Officials insisted they’re holding onto some conservation rules for the 40 million residents of the nation’s …

The U.S. government on Friday dropped its effort to force Twitter to identify users behind an account critical of President Donald Trump, the social media company said. In response, Twitter said it was dropping a federal lawsuit against the U.S. government that challenged the request to unmask the users. Twitter had sued just a day earlier, claiming the government overstepped its authority in issuing a summons to reveal the account owners. The lawsuit said that the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection had sought the identity of the users of Twitter handle @ALT-USCIS. ‘Alternative’ handles The account describes itself as “immigration resistance.” Its creators told media outlets the account is run by current and former employees of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security. It is one of several “alternative” handles purportedly created by current federal employees unhappy …

President Donald Trump on Friday chose Kevin Hassett, an economics adviser to past Republican presidential candidates, to be chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Hassett will play a critical role in analyzing the performance of the economy and impact of policy changes. Hassett is the research director for domestic policy at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank that he joined in 1997. He has provided economic advice to the presidential campaigns of John McCain, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. With a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, Hassett has worked as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve and taught at Columbia University’s business school. Jason Furman, the CEA chair under former President Barack Obama, hailed Hassett as an “excellent pick” on Twitter. “He is serious about substance, committed to dialogue, & knows how to navigate DC,” Furman wrote. An expert on …

Senior U.S. military officials said Friday that they were looking into whether Russia aided Syrian forces in this week’s deadly chemical attack on civilians in Idlib province. “We think we have a good picture of who supported them as well,” one senior military official told reporters at the Pentagon, adding that the Pentagon was “carefully assessing any information that would implicate the Russians knew or assisted with this Syrian capability.” The officials said that at a minimum, the Russians failed to rein in the Syrian regime activity that has killed innocent Syrian civilians. They said Russia also failed to fulfill its 2013 guarantee that Syria’s chemical weapons would be eliminated. The U.S. military officials noted that they had not seen evidence of Russian involvement in the chemical attack. However, the officials said the Russians had an aviation unit based at the airfield where the attack originated and have “chemical expertise …

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations told an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Friday that Washington was “fully justified” in striking a Syrian airfield overnight. “The United States took a very measured step last night,” Nikki Haley said, referring to the retaliatory missile strikes. “We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary.” The U.S. said Bashar al-Assad’s regime used the Shayrat airfield Tuesday to launch aircraft carrying poison gas that killed scores of civilians in the town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib province. “The United States will no longer wait for Assad to use chemical weapons without any consequences,” Haley said. “Those days are over.” Haley said that the international community must now move to a new phase in Syria — a drive toward a political solution. She said until this point, Assad and his allies have not taken political negotiations …

Russia on Friday condemned the U.S. strike on a government-controlled air base in Syria, saying it would bolster Syria’s air defenses in response. President Vladimir Putin’s office called the action a “significant blow” to the Russia-U.S. relationship. The tension comes just ahead of a visit to Russia by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. VOA’s Daniel Schearf reports from Moscow. …

The suspected sarin chemical attack on Syrian civilians and the subsequent missile strike by the U.S. has many asking what’s next. Others look back to the Obama administration and wonder whether the situation could have been handled differently. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti talks with Americans about what happened and what the future holds. …

The United States and Russia will maintain a hotline aimed at preventing midair collisions of their warplanes in Syria, senior U.S. military officials said Friday, contradicting Moscow’s claims that it has suspended the “deconfliction” talks in protest of America’s cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base. The officials also said they’re looking into whether Russia participated in the chemical weapons attack in Syria earlier this week that prompted President Donald Trump’s order for a retaliation. They said Russia has failed to control the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons or to account for chemical agents that were supposed to have been eliminated under a 2013 agreement, and may have been complicit in Tuesday’s horrifying strike that involved the use of a sarin-like nerve gas. In Moscow, the Russian government on Friday announced its own swift response to the American intervention against its Arab ally. It said it would cut …

U.S. President Donald Trump has accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping to make a state visit Beijing this year, although no date has been set. The news came in a briefing Friday by three U.S. Cabinet secretaries as Trump and Xi met at Trump’s resort home, Mar-a-Lago, in Florida, and was confirmed by Chinese state media. No other details were released. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross told reporters that the United States had a 100-day action plan on trade with China. He said the plan was “speedy” and included “way stations of accomplishment,” but offered few other details. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the two leaders discussed North Korea and agreed that the issue of its arms buildup had reached a very serious stage. Tillerson said the two sides shared a commitment to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and agreed to increase cooperation to that end. Questioned about …

President Donald Trump’s decision to authorize cruise-missile strikes on a Syrian government air base has drawn rare bipartisan support from congressional leaders. However, a number of lawmakers from both parties also expressed concern, saying that if the president plans any escalation of military action, Congress has a constitutional role to play. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the “well-executed” action sent a powerful message to U.S. allies and adversaries that “you don’t use chemical weapons without consequences.”  The senator from Kentucky also suggested Trump’s military action could have policy implications ranging beyond Syria: “America is back, in terms of playing a leadership role, and trying to be constructive in a variety of different places around the world.” McConnell added that the cruise-missile raid could be read “as a message to Iran, and North Korea, and the Russians, that America intends to lead again.” Asked if he would counsel Trump to …

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he ordered a targeted military strike against an airfield controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. A deadly chemical attack was launched this week from that base. Here are the reactions of some members of Congress: House Speaker Paul Ryan “This action was appropriate and just. Resolving the years-long crisis in Syria is a complex task, but Bashar al-Assad must be held accountable, and his enablers must be persuaded to change course. I look forward to the administration further engaging Congress in this effort.” Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham “Building on tonight’s credible first step, we must finally learn the lessons of history and ensure that tactical success leads to strategic progress. That means following through with anew, comprehensive strategy in coordination with our allies and partners to end the conflict in Syria.” Senator Bob Corker, chairman Senate Foreign Relations “It is …

The U.S. attack on a Syrian air base Friday morning came after years of heated debate and deliberation in Washington over intervention in the bloody civil war.   Chemical weapons have killed hundreds of people since the start of the conflict, with the U.N. blaming three attacks on the Syrian government and a fourth on the Islamic State group.  Here’s a timeline of this week’s events: April 4, 2017 One of the worst chemical attacks came Tuesday in rebel-held northern Idlib where dozens were killed in the town of Khan Sheikhoun. Witnesses said the attack was carried out by either Russian or Syrian Sukhoi jets. Moscow and Damascus denied responsibility.   That attack prompted President Donald Trump, on day 77 of his presidency, to dramatically shift U.S. policy on Syria. Trump issued a statement saying that the “heinous” actions of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government are the direct result of …

The Senate is poised to confirm President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Neil Gorsuch, after Republicans forced a historic change in the rules governing the chamber. As VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Capitol Hill, no longer will the minority party have the power to block a high court nominee on its own. …

Twitter on Thursday sued to block an order by the U.S. government demanding that it reveal who is behind an account opposed to President Donald Trump’s tough immigration policies. Twitter cited freedom of speech as a basis for not turning over records about the account, @ALT_uscis. The account is claimed to be the work of at least one federal immigration employee, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court. The acronym USCIS refers to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the account describes itself as “immigration resistance.” Trump has vowed to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and has promised to deport millions of illegal immigrants. Following Trump’s inauguration in January, anonymous Twitter feeds that borrowed the names and logos of more than a dozen U.S. government agencies appeared to challenge the president’s views on climate change and other issues. They called themselves “alt” accounts. …

U.S. President Donald Trump said to light laughter at a Thursday evening dinner he hosted for Chinese President Xi Jinping that after a long discussion, “I have gotten nothing, absolutely nothing” from his guest. But Trump added that the two leaders, who chatted earlier at the president’s Florida resort, had quickly “developed a friendship,” and he predicted that “long term we’re going to have a very, very great relationship and I look very much forward to it.” Xi did not make remarks while reporters were in the Mar-a-Lago dining room, and Trump did not answer questions about Syria or North Korea directed at him by journalists. Earlier, Trump and members of his administration made it clear they hope to pressure Beijing into doing more to rein in North Korea’s nuclear weapons development. Trade high on agenda In remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the roughly $310 billion …

Pirooz Parvarandeh, a longtime Silicon Valley executive, saw a problem. Although he has lived in the United States for more than 40 years, he knew little about the contributions and accomplishments of Iranian Americans like himself. That lack of knowledge is widespread, he feared, and in his view makes Iranians in America more subject to stereotypes, discrimination and attacks. “What image comes up with ‘Iranian’? A terrorist? A hostage-taker? Or a contributing member of society?” he asked at a talk this week at the University of California, Berkeley. “If we don’t know the contributions of Iranian Americans, how can we expect the American public to know? If the public is not with us, why would policymakers want to stick up for us?” Last year, Parvarandeh met with other Iranian Americans to come up with the Iranian Americans’ Contribution Project, a nonprofit that uses technology to gather and analyze data about …

When the U.S. president hosts a foreign leader at his home, it can be seen as a sign of hospitality, an indicator of warm relations, and a chance to put American culture on display. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously hosted the king and queen of England at his Hyde Park estate, where he served hot dogs for dinner. President Ronald Reagan hosted Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at his California ranch. President George H.W. Bush hosted a string of international leaders at the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, and his son President George W. Bush did the same at his family home in Crawford, Texas. With so many precedents, why would anyone point fingers at President Donald Trump for hosting foreign dignitaries at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida, estate? The answer is money. Mar-a-Lago functions as a vacation home for the Trumps, but it also …