WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked some parts of the military to propose what could be cut as part of a potential 8% spending reduction for them over each of the next five years, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, although it was unclear if the total defense budget would shrink. In a memo…
read moreWASHINGTON — Chinese social media users are not impressed by the newly released AI model Grok 3 by Elon Musk’s xAI, retaining their preference and support for DeepSeek, the free China-made AI model that rivals leading Western competitors while costing significantly less to train. Click here for the full story in Mandarin. …
read moreAs Russia’s war on Ukraine enters its fourth year, European leaders warn that the outcome of ongoing peace talks between Moscow and Washington will have profound implications for all of Europe. But as Henry Ridgwell reports, leaders of the continent’s nations — including Ukraine — fear they are being excluded from deciding their own fate.…
read moreThe new head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said seeking a federal solution to ban China from purchasing farmland in the United States will be one of her top priorities. “One of the very, very top of the list perhaps is the Chinese purchase of our farmland. A lot of that land is around…
read moreA recent study found doctors were able to detect breast cancer more often when they used artificial intelligence to help read mammogram results. As VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, AI helped boost the breast cancer detection rate by more than 17%. …
read moreNAIROBI, KENYA — Milk and egg vendor Caroline Mukundi has lost a lot of her stock in her years of selling fresh food at a Nairobi market. Mukundi said she had no way to keep food fresh, and the cost of refrigerating was out of reach. “The food would go bad,” she said, and she would…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia said Wednesday the United States understands the need for security guarantees for Ukraine, as he visited the country for talks with Ukrainian officials. Gen. Keith Kellogg told reporters in Kyiv that he was in Ukraine “to listen,” hear the concerns of Ukrainian leaders and return to…
read moreMANILA, Philippines — The United States condemned the “dangerous” maneuvers of a Chinese navy helicopter that endangered the safety of a Philippine government aircraft patrolling a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, its ambassador to Manila said on Wednesday. In a post on X, Ambassador MaryKay Carlson also called on China “to refrain from coercive…
read moreWASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted to advance the nomination of Kash Patel to be the director of the FBI, putting a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and a critic of the bureau on track to run the most prominent U.S. law enforcement agency. The Senate voted 48-45 along party lines on a…
read moreMeasles is making a comeback in the United States. Fifty-eight cases of the highly contagious disease were reported Tuesday by health officials in rural West Texas, while eight cases were confirmed in neighboring eastern New Mexico. Texas officials say the outbreak there, the largest in almost 30 years, is mainly confined to Gaines County,…
read moreWASHINGTON — A federal judge refused Tuesday to immediately block billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing government data systems or participating in worker layoffs. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found that there are legitimate questions about Musk’s authority but said there isn’t evidence of the kind of grave legal harm that…
read moreWEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to study how to expand access to in vitro fertilization and make it more affordable. The order calls for policy recommendations to “protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments,” according to the White House.…
read moreJohannesburg — South Africa will host a meeting of foreign ministers from the G20 group of major economies later this week, but the chief diplomat for the world’s largest economy, the U.S., is skipping it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X earlier this month that he would not attend the meeting, taking place Thursday…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the United States is working toward a “fair” and “sustainable” solution to end Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine, but that both Moscow and Kyiv would have to make concessions to achieve peace. Rubio offered his assessment after he and other key U.S. officials met for several…
read moreKAMPALA — Uganda discharged on Tuesday the last eight patients who recovered from Ebola, health authorities reported, and there were no other positive cases in the outbreak declared last month. World Health Organization described the recoveries as a milestone that “reflects the power of Uganda’s quick and coordinated response.” Most of the Ebola patients were treated…
read moreSUMTERVILLE, FLORIDA — Native American activist Leonard Peltier was released from a Florida prison on Tuesday, weeks after then-President Joe Biden angered law enforcement officials by commuting his life sentence in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents. For nearly half a century, Peltier’s imprisonment has symbolized systemic injustice for Native Americans across the country who…
read moreWashington — The Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner has stepped down from her role at the agency over Department of Government Efficiency requests to access Social Security recipient information, according to two people familiar with the official’s departure who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Acting Commissioner Michelle King’s departure from the agency over…
read moreManila, Philippines — The Philippines has detected foreign attempts to access intelligence data, but its cyber minister said on Tuesday no breaches have been recorded so far. Attempts to steal data are wide-ranging, said minister for information and communications Ivan Uy. Advanced Persistent Threats or APTs have repeatedly attempted but failed to infiltrate government systems, suggesting…
read moreA Russian drone hit an apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Dolynska, officials said Tuesday, injuring at least three people. Andriy Raikovych, governor of the Kirovohrad region where the attack took place, said on Telegram that authorities evacuated dozens of people from the building and that those injured included a mother and two…
read moreTop U.S. and Russian diplomats are set to meet Tuesday in Saudi Arabia for discussions about relations between their countries and a potential end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Both sides have tempered expectations, describing the talks as an initial step that could lay the framework for direct talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and…
read moreSan Jose, Costa Rica — Costa Rica announced Monday it would receive migrants from other countries who were deported by the United States, following in the footsteps of Panama and Guatemala. “The Government of Costa Rica agreed to collaborate with the United States in the repatriation of 200 illegal immigrants to their country,” the Costa Rican…
read moreNEW YORK — Four top deputies to New York City Mayor Eric Adams are resigning in the latest fallout from the Justice Department’s push to end a corruption case against Adams and ensure his cooperation in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — a bargain that has raised questions about the mayor’s political independence and ability to…
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