The fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued Thursday, with Trump doubling down on his claim Zelenskyy is a dictator because he has not held elections since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has reaction from around the world. …
read moreAfter China’s DeepSeek gained global recognition, some argue that the U.S.-China rivalry in AI may be upended. In addition, the Chinese Communist Party is actively offering to help developing countries strengthen their AI capacity building. Observers said that China is selling its AI software to targeted regions, which can challenge U.S. AI and serve as…
read moreAn asteroid heading toward Earth will likely miss its chance to wipe out the planet. Plus, a possible new source of fuel for future flight. And the northern lights as only seen from above. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
read moreU.S. Senator Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday, his 83rd birthday, that he will not seek reelection when his current term ends next year. First elected in 1984, McConnell made the announcement from the Senate floor. “Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate. Every day in between, I’ve been humbled by the…
read moreU.S. envoy Keith Kellogg met in Kyiv Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but there was no immediate word on whether they had eased U.S.-Ukrainian relations after U.S. President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy traded barbs this week over Russia’s three-year war against Ukraine. Kellogg said upon arriving in the Ukrainian capital that he was there…
read moreBRUSSELS — The European Commission said Thursday it had approved 920 million-euro of German state aid, or $960 million, to Infineon Technologies for the construction of a new semiconductor manufacturing plant in Dresden. The measure will allow Infineon to complete the MEGAFAB-DD project, which will be able to produce a wide range of different types of…
read moreSEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korean state media on Thursday criticized the United States for a nuclear submarine deal with Australia under the AUKUS partnership signed in 2021, calling it a “threat to regional peace.” A commentary carried by KCNA said Washington should be wary of consequences for what it said were nuclear alliances, naming AUKUS…
read moreABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/ WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the United States, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump made the remarks to reporters on Air Force One and said “it’s possible” for the U.S. and China to have a new trade deal.…
read moreConservative leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and politicians from Argentina, Britain, Poland and Italy, are among those set to address a three-day meeting of conservatives outside of Washington beginning Thursday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance leads off the Conservative Political Action Conference, with other sessions Thursday set to include discussions of cryptocurrency and Middle…
read moreWASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday evening he has not seen the proposal being discussed by Arab leaders as an alternative to his plan to take over Gaza once the war between Hamas and Israel ends. “I haven’t seen it,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question on Air Force One. “Once I…
read morePresident Donald Trump on Wednesday repeated a claim that the United States has spent $350 billion on Ukraine’s war — a figure that far eclipses the amount recorded by the Department of Defense and the interagency oversight group that tracks U.S. appropriations to Ukraine. Since Russia’s illegal invasion in February 2022, the U.S. Congress has…
read moreWASHINGTON — 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…
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