Two VOA journalists were detained by Chinese police Monday evening while attempting to interview a retired Chinese professor who was taken away by authorities during a live television interview with VOA nearly two weeks ago. ‘It is outrageous that two journalists have been detained for nothing more than doing their jobs,’ said VOA Director Amanda Bennett. Correspondent Yibing Feng and VOA contractor Allen Ai were taken into custody after talking to the professor through a closed apartment door.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On August 13, 1918, women are allowed to enlist in the US Marine Corps for the first time and Opha May Johnson (right, in a picture taken shortly after she enlisted) becomes the first female marine. She, and 300 other women, join the Marine Corps Reserve during World War l. At the end of the war, the Marine Corps, along with all of the other services, begin to remove women, including Johnson, from active service.

‘I was not against setting up a Space Force.’ That’s the word from Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, who previously cautioned Congress against rushing into establishing a sixth branch of the military for space. President Trump says the Space Force is needed to ensure US dominance in space.

The US isn’t going to be pushed aside in Latin America by China or Russia, if Mattis and other high-ranking American officials have anything to say about it. Traveling to Brazil Sunday, the secretary of defense said stepped-up Russian and Chinese involvement in South America has had ‘zero impact’ on America’s relationships with its Latin partners.

VIDEO: By most indicators, the US economy is booming, an achievement President Trump takes credit for. But whether Americans agree often depends on how they vote.

Are you up for a cruise to North Korea on your next family vacation? South Korea’s tourism industry is looking to renew and expand tourism ties with North Korea. That will only happen if the US lifts economic sanctions that remain in place until Pyongyang dismantles its nuclear arsenal. Travel experts say expanding the South Korean cruise industry to include visits to the North Korean coastal city of Wonsan could make Northeast Asia a major tourist destination.

VIDEO: Magic is in the air at a unique store in New York City’s Little Ukraine. The shop specializes in witchcraft and has been a neighborhood fixture for more than 35 years, most recently under the watchful eye of a senior witch.