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President-elect Donald Trump has been named Person of the Year by Time magazine, ringing the opening bell Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange. Time editors noting the choice was a measure of Trump's remarkable comeback from an ostracized former president who refused to accept his election loss four years ago to a president-elect who won the White House decisively in November. As Trump marked the ceremonial start of the day’s trading, the magazine cover featuring him was projected onto a...

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the annual defense authorization bill, sending the mammoth measure to the Senate for consideration.  Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the legislation would help the U.S. better deter China.   Click here for the full story in Mandarin. 

China’s Communist Party wrapped up its two-day Central Economic Work Conference on Thursday, where the ruling party signaled bolder stimulus measures for 2025. However, analysts tell VOA Mandarin that they have little of substance beyond slogans. Economists say the  measures appear to be “very incremental and lack detail,” which may suggest that the ruling Communist Party is “out of ideas.” Click here for the full story here in Mandarin.

The Russian anti-war committee, a group founded by Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other Russian politicians who were forced into exile after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, is expanding its work to help hundreds of thousands of ordinary Russians who have also fled their country. The group is trying to help Russians in unfamiliar countries, from Lithuania and Britain to Georgia and Montenegro. Click here for the full story in Russian.     

On the 30th anniversary of the first Chechen war that became a turning point in Russia's modern history, VOA Russian interviewed Abubakar Yangulbayev, the 32-year-old outspoken exiled Chechen activist and personal enemy of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Yangulbayev says Russia's storming of Grozny in December 1994 was a war against democracy in Chechnya that then developed into Putin's war against democracy in Russia as a whole. Click here for the full story in Russian.     

Anger in the Syrian capital is palpable as families search for loved ones who are now missing or have died in their fallen government’s brutal prison system. At a rally in Damascus, VOA’s Heather Murdock reports that crowds are calling for the execution of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

Analysts call for justice for decades of crimes against media and call on militant group to respect press freedoms

President cuts short visit to Poland to make announcement

In the aftermath of the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government, many Syrians flocked to the Sednaya Prison, infamously known as "the human slaughterhouse," in search of clues about their missing loved ones. Veronica Villafane narrates this report from Joan Cabases Vega in Sednaya.

Join us this week as we report from New York. We examine the impact of the downfall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Plus, we continue our coverage on missing journalist Austin Tice, who has been held in Syria for more than a decade. Tune in to The Inside Story: A Free Press Matters.

Donald Trump's casualty figures align with July-October Western intelligence, defense, and military sources, differing from Ukrainian estimates. All Western data indicate Russia has suffered greater military losses than Ukraine in the conflict.

The politician and former journalist will need approval from a bipartisan board

The report from the Justice Department inspector general's office knocks down a conspiracy theory that the FBI played a role in instigating the events that day

A look at the best news photos from around the world.

More than 20 years later, four men face justice for the attempted murders of journalists

Trump’s promise to 'save TikTok' has likely motivated ByteDance to appeal the ‘ban or divest’ deadline, analysts say

Foreign diplomats have typically attended the US transfer-of-power ceremonies, not heads of state

Israeli airstrikes destroy much of Syria’s military capability