Informing, engaging & connecting the people of the world. NOVEMBER 22, 2019

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VIDEO: An emerging and lucrative business has farmers buzzing to cash in on a newly legal crop. Experts say the global hemp market may grow at least five-fold by 2025. But as VOA reports, the transition from illegal to legal has not been completely smooth.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated while riding through Dallas, Texas, in an opened-topped vehicle. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who rarely accompanied her husband on political trips, was by his side when he was shot. Thirty minutes later, Kennedy, 46, was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Shortly afterward, Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the nation’s 36th president with Mrs. Kennedy by his side.

The U.S. government agreed this week to give another coast guard vessel to Vietnam so the Southeast Asian country can increase its defense against China. But behind that move, Vietnam and the United States are struggling over a growing trade deficit that has alarmed U.S. officials.

Two weeks of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine have deepened the already sharp divide between Democrats and Republicans and have prompted many lawmakers to place more of a premium on party loyalty than the quality of testimony, some political analysts say.

President Donald Trump’s visit this week to an Apple manufacturing plant in Texas highlights the ongoing dance between the iPhone maker and the Trump administration over China and tariffs.

A Russian who participated in the torture of a captive in Syria and filmed the prisoner’s dismemberment and beheading has been identified by media outlets as a former policeman from Stavropol in southern Russia who served as a mercenary employed by the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-sponsored private military contractor.