When Behnoush Babzani turned 35 , she threw a party. She also used her birthday to ask friends to donate to a cause she cares about deeply: helping people who need bone marrow transplants. Using a new feature on Facebook, Babzani in a few clicks posted a photo of herself in a hospital gown when she was receiving treatment and she asked her friends to help raise $350.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On September 20 1973, top women’s player Billie Jean King, 29, beats Bobby Riggs, 55, a former top ranked men’s player. Riggs, who died in 1995, had repeatedly said he could beat any woman in tennis, despite his age. The match, deemed a “battle of the sexes” was played in front of over 30,000 in the Houston Astrodome and viewed by over 50 million on TV. Legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell called the match. King won 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. The event was later made into a movie.

The widow of an ex-KGB agent who was poisoned by a radioactive isotope in 2006 says Britain’s swift medical and diplomatic response to the recent nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter shows some improvement by British officials .

VIDEO: American farmers are in the crosshairs of a potential trade war between the U.S. and China. Tariffs are escalating on both sides. VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren speaks with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, a member of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.

Iranian Kurdish militants who were targeted by Iranian missile strikes earlier this month at a headquarters in Iraqi Kurdistan have declared intentions to step up their activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

VIDEO: The U.S. Senate remains divided over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh has denied an allegation by Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers in the 1980s. Ford and Democrats are seeking an FBI investigation into the alleged assault before she would testify at the Senate Judiciary Committee .