State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said cooperation with Panama has sent “a clear message” the U.S. will act to curb illegal immigration, as he observed a U.S.-funded deportation flight departing from Albrook International Airport in Panama on Monday morning. The flight returned dozens of undocumented Colombians to their home country. According to…

U.S. President Donald Trump said he spoke Monday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a day before the start of new tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China. Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he and Trudeau would talk again at mid-afternoon, while pushing his argument that the new tariff was aimed…

London — World Health Organization member states will discuss cutting part of its budget by $400 million in light of President Trump’s move to withdraw the United States, its biggest government funder, from the agency, a document released on Monday showed. Opening the agency’s annual executive board meeting, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also defended…

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders gather on Monday to discuss how to bolster the continent’s defenses against Russia and how to handle U.S. President Donald Trump after his decision to impose tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China. At a royal palace-turned-conference center in Brussels, the leaders of the EU’s 27 nations will also lunch…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Monday with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff during a visit to Washington focused on Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas and other regional issues. Netanyahu’s office said he and Witkoff would discuss Israel’s ceasefire positions. The talks come as negotiations are expected to open this week on…

U.S. President Donald Trump said he planned to speak Monday with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, days after announcing tariffs on goods from those countries and China that have were met with pledges of retaliatory tariffs and other actions. The new tariffs affect the top three U.S. trading partners, but Trump said the move…

Washington — FBI employees were ordered Sunday to answer a detailed list of questions about any work they may have done on criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, stoking fear among staff about a fresh round of firings at the law enforcement agency.…

Los Angeles — Former President Jimmy Carter has won a posthumous Grammy award.  Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, died in December at age 100. Prior to his passing, Carter was nominated in the audio book, narration, and storytelling recording category at the 2025…

Washington — The Trump administration has placed two top security chiefs at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Elon Musk’s government-inspection teams, a current and a former U.S. official told The Associated Press on Sunday.  Members of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency,…

The Trump administration continued making its case Sunday on the need for tariffs on imports from Canada, China and Mexico. The three countries have threatened retaliatory measures, but say they are still open to dialogue and cooperation with the United States. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the story. …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he will discuss his country’s self-declared “victory over Hamas,” countering Iranian aggression and expanding diplomatic relations with Arab countries as he meets this week with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. Trump Tuesday is set to greet Netanyahu, the first foreign head of state he is…

Taipei, Taiwan — U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose 10% tariffs on Chinese goods has been met with mixed reactions from Beijing, with the Chinese government threatening to roll out countermeasures and some Chinese businesses expressing concerns about potential disruption to their exports to the U.S. market. While the Chinese Ministry of Commerce vowed to…

LOS ANGELES — Anthony Obi never imagined the night of Jan. 7 would be the last time he’d step inside his safe haven.  The Houston rapper, known professionally as Fat Tony, has lived in the Altadena neighborhood for a year and says he and his neighbors were prepared for heavy winds and perhaps a few days…

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, Hamas frees three more Israeli hostages — including a dual U.S. citizen — and Israel frees dozens of Palestinian prisoners. The next phase of the Gaza ceasefire is expected to be on the agenda when the leaders…

WASHINGTON — U.S. warplanes took aim at the Islamic State affiliate in Somalia, hitting what officials described as high-ranking operatives in the terror group’s mountainous stronghold. U.S. President Donald Trump announced the precision strike Saturday on social media, describing the main target as a “Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led.” “These…

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, in an unprecedented move, announced late Friday it would remove four media organizations including The New York Times from their dedicated office spaces in the Pentagon, citing a desire to make room for others.  The memo on a “New Annual Media Rotation Program” said it would also remove National…