U.S. congressional lawmakers return to work this week with a lengthy agenda of contentious issues and only 41 legislative days left in the year to complete it.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On Sept. 9, 1942, a Japanese plane drops incendiary bombs on an Oregon forest, near the town of Brookings, in the first air attack on the continental United States. The floatplane, piloted by Nobuo Fujita, was launched from a submarine, and the goal of the mission was to start massive forest fires. While there was very little damage done by the bombing President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a news blackout of the event ostensibly to protect morale. Fujita attempted another attack later in the month, but it’s not clear if the bombs detonated. His attacks are the only cases of an aerial attack on the continental U.S. Fujita later returned to Japan where he trained navy pilots. In 1962, he was invited to Brookings where he was warmly received.

VIDEO: In a wide-ranging interview on the new global arms race, former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he wished “diplomacy had been given a little more chance” before the U.S. and Russia let the INF treaty expire. Panetta, who was also CIA Director and a Congressman from California, told VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren that the U.S. has fallen behind “developing the kind of defenses” necessary to protect satellites in space from attacks by China

Vietnam, a steady economic outperformer in Asia, expects another surge in GDP growth this year due to spillover from the Sino-U.S. trade dispute.

VIDEO: Anyone who has tried booking interesting and affordable accommodations in New York City knows how difficult it is. Renting a room for less than $30 a night sounds impossible. But you can find them, even if the accommodations are a bit unconventional.

VIDEO: An Iraqi resort is welcoming visitors again after years of war, terrorism and chaos kept families away. Habbaniya Lake was once one of Iraq’s most popular tourist destinations. Now, managers say they plan to restore it in the next couple of years.