BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC — Human rights advocates and politicians in Central African Republic claim soldiers who disappeared after being detained last month were kidnapped by mercenaries backed by Russia. The Kremlin has in recent years deepened ties with the gold- and diamond-rich country’s military and government. Celestin Bakoyo and Elie Ngouengue — two soldiers who…

SIERRA MADRE, CALIFORNIA — Much of the Eastern United States braced for a renewed round of harsh, soggy weather Saturday, with thunderstorms and melting snow combining to pound the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. The lower Mississippi valley was facing the threat of strong tornadoes.  Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Arkansas were under flood warnings, and residents…

WASHINGTON — James Carafano, senior counselor to the president and national security expert at The Heritage Foundation, responsible for its defense and foreign policy team, spoke with VOA’s Ukraine Service about the Trump administration’s goals and considerations in the negotiation process to achieve peace in Ukraine. He explained that while not a vital interest, a free…

WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attention-grabbing overseas debut may have irritated some key Republicans and alienated allies in Europe, where his statements on Ukraine and NATO went down like a lead balloon. But his forceful comments gained him a nod from one key listener: U.S. President Donald Trump. And Hegseth — who on Saturday…

NEW YORK — The U.S. Justice Department asked a court Friday to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, with a top official from Washington intervening after federal prosecutors in Manhattan rebuffed his demands to drop the case and some quit in protest. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, the department’s second-in-command, and…

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — There is no need for one country to control the semiconductor industry, which is complex and needs a division of labor, Taiwan’s top technology official said on Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the island’s chip dominance. Trump repeated claims on Thursday that Taiwan had taken the industry and he wanted it…

Ukraine would have a “very, very difficult” time surviving without U.S. military support to fend off Russia’s invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a interview broadcast the night before he is scheduled to address the Munich Security Conference. “Probably it will be very, very, very difficult. And of course, you know in all the difficult…

After days of heavy rain, the strongest storm of the year brought dangerous debris flows and rock- and mudslides across Southern California on Friday, including in several areas that last month were ablaze with devastating fires. Some areas in the region received as much as 12 centimeters of rain this week, the National Weather Service…

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA — Panama has received the first U.S. flight carrying deportees from other nations as the Trump administration takes Panama up on its offer to act as a stopover for expelled migrants, the Central American nation’s president said Thursday.  “Yesterday a flight from the United States Air Force arrived with 119 people from diverse…

Ukraine’s vast reserves of critical minerals give it the potential to be a strategic supplier for the West. President Donald Trump is considering a deal that would continue U.S. support for Ukraine in the war against Russia in exchange for access to its minerals. That proposed agreement is set for discussion at the Munich Security…

Amid nationwide immigration raids, a community organization in Chicago is helping undocumented migrants who say they are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being detained. Veronica Villafane narrates this report by Enrique Garcia Fuentes. …

U.S. health officials have banned Red Dye No. 3 from American foods, decades after the synthetic coloring was banned in Europe. As VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, studies have linked the bright red color additive to cancer in male laboratory rats. …

The tragic deaths of Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov in a plane crash late last month in Washington have shone a spotlight on the role of Russian- or Soviet-born coaches in the world of competitive figure skating. Their influence has shaped a generation of American skaters, raising the question: Why have these coaches been so…

US President Donald Trump on Thursday made a range of energy and defense agreements with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his first visit to the White House in Trump’s second term. But the gains were offset by Trump’s threat to impose reciprocal tariffs on trading partners, something India sought to avoid. VOA’s Anita Powell…

The Trump administration is moving quickly with its mass deportation plans by sending some migrants to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and rapidly deporting others. VOA’s immigration reporter Aline Barros brings us this story. …

BALTIMORE — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aimed at restricting gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19. The judge’s ruling came after a lawsuit was filed earlier this month on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children who allege their health care has been compromised…

NEW YORK — The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan resigned Thursday after refusing a Justice Department order to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Two senior Justice Department officials also quit after the department leadership in Washington moved to seize control of the case. Danielle Sassoon, a Republican serving as interim U.S.…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is now housing about 68 detainees at its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of an effort to assist the Department of Homeland Security with mass deportations.  The commander of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, shared the updated figure with lawmakers Wednesday, but…

At this week’s Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, world leaders and technologists gathered to discuss the rapidly evolving field of generative artificial intelligence. Many are eager to join the global AI race, while others are proceeding with caution. Tina Trinh reports. …