said Wednesday it will halt production after the US government ceased funding. The broadcaster had already laid off or furloughed more than 90 percent of staff and drastically scaled back production since President Donald Trump's administration in March axed most money to US government-funded media.Long a thorn in Beijing's side, RFA's closure comes just as Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping on an Asia trip and looks for better relations. Some of Trump's cuts were successfully challenged before courts, but Radio Free Asia faced a new halt to funding due to the shutdown of the federal government, which has lasted nearly a month.

RFA said it would have no choice but to halt all news production effective Friday, the first time it has done so since it went on air in 1996. Bay Fang, the president and CEO of RFA, said the decision means that remaining money can go to severance packages for staff who will now be formally let go. (Bssnews)