At the 2015 Paris summit, world leaders pledged to take steps to avoid catastrophic climate change. This November in Bonn, Germany, U.N. negotiators will be back, working out the details of how to cut emissions of planet-warming gases. It is the first conference since President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw from the agreement. That leaves questions about the direction of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. As VOA’s Steve Baragona reports, the answer is not straightforward. …

Tuesday is Halloween, the spookiest day of the year. Some people like to use the holiday to visit scary attractions like haunted houses. In historic Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a ghost tour takes visitors to places that are said to be haunted. But that’s no surprise to locals, who say they often see and hear paranormal activity. VOA’s Deborah Block has the spine-chilling story. …

It was one of Donald Trump’s very first actions as president: pulling the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a free-trade deal he said was hurting the American worker. The TPP was one of the centerpieces of former President Barack Obama’s so-called Asia “pivot,” an economic, political and military realignment toward a region seen as key to America’s future. Nine months into his presidency, Trump’s decision to abandon the TPP remains perhaps the clearest evidence yet he intends to ditch the Asia pivot, or perhaps pivot there in his own way. U.S. officials have not said whether they will unveil a similar, definitive policy to replace the pivot. But signs of a broader strategy could emerge next week when Trump leaves on his first trip to Asia as president.   WATCH: Asia Awaits Trump’s Regional Policy Trump skipping regional summit The trip will include stops in Japan, …

For much of President Barack Obama’s presidency, U.S. officials touted the so-called “Asia Pivot,” an economic, political and military realignment toward a region seen as key to America’s future. Nine months into the Trump administration, U.S. officials are taking a different approach to Asia. And, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports, some are concerned the White House is signaling a lack of commitment to the region. …

Under pressure in advance of hearings on Russian election interference, Facebook is moving to increase transparency for everyone who sees and buys political advertising on its site. Executives for the social media company said Friday they will verify political ad buyers in federal elections, requiring them to reveal correct names and locations. The site will also create new graphics where users can click on the ads and find out more about who’s behind them. More broadly, Rob Goldman, Facebook’s vice president in charge of ad products, said the company is building new transparency tools in which all advertisers, even those that aren’t political, are associated with a page, and users can click on a link to see all of the ads any advertiser is running. Users also will be able to see all of the ads paid for by the advertisers, whether those ads were originally targeted toward them. 3,000 …

Tropical Storm Philippe is soaking Cuba with heavy rains before heading toward the Florida Keys later Saturday, and on to the Bahamas by Sunday morning. Philippe, which formed Saturday afternoon off the Cuba coast, was moving quickly, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), which is based in Miami. The NHC said Philippe, which had top winds of 65 kph (40 mph), was about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of the Florida Keys late Saturday. The Florida Keys and South Florida were hit in September by Category 4 Hurricane Irma, which brought punishing winds and rains, and a dangerous tidal surge. Irma caused about $30 billion in damage. The NHC said western and central Cuba could see up 4 to 10 inches (1- to 25 centimeters) of rain, and areas of South Florida could see up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain by Sunday night. …

Cuba’s foreign minister told a group of Cubans living in the United States Saturday that U.S. allegations of mysterious sonic attacks on U.S. diplomats in Cuba are “political manipulation” meant to undermine bilateral relations. Bruno Rodriguez told his audience in Washington that “the so-called sonic attacks … are totally false.” The U.S. has not officially blamed Cuba for the mysterious high-pitched sounds that left U.S. diplomats with hearing loss, headaches, dizziness and nausea. But last week, President Donald Trump said he believes Havana is responsible. The White House has said it believes the Cuban government could put a stop to the noises, which caused enough tension that the United States withdrew more than half its diplomatic staff from the island and expelled 15 Cuban diplomats from Washington. The U.S. government has also begun restricting issuance of travel visas to Cuba and warning applicants about the sonic attacks. Cuban officials have …

A U.S. federal grand jury has approved the first charges in an investigation of Russian influence on U.S. elections, according to several major news outlets. The grand jury’s action, resulting from the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, was first reported by CNN on Friday evening. It quoted sources as saying anyone who was charged could be taken into custody as soon as Monday. The exact charges were unclear. Reuters, The Wall Street Journal and NBC News subsequently issued similar reports. All the reports were attributed to unnamed sources. President Donald Trump on Saturday visited his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. He sent three tweets but they did not refer to the reports. On Friday evening, the president did post a social media message linking to a New York Post story headlined: How Team Hillary played the press for fools on Russia. White House officials have not …

A U.S. service member was killed and six others wounded in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan’s Logar province late Friday.   NATO’s Resolute Support Mission office said the crash was “not the result of enemy action.”   “We have full accountability of all personnel and the crash site has been secured,” according to a press release circulated Saturday.   General John Nicholson, commander of the RS forces, expressed his “heartfelt sympathies” to the families of victims. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of our comrade,” he said in a statement.   Earlier, the Taliban had claimed responsibility for downing the helicopter. The insurgent group often makes claims that later turn out to be false.   The U.S. military said it is investigating the circumstances of the crash and will release more information when it is appropriate. …

The U.S. defense secretary says the U.S. will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea. Jim Mattis said Saturday in Seoul that the North’s aggressive nuclear and missile development programs are undermining the isolated nation’s security instead of securing it. Mattis warned the North that its military is no match for the military might of the U.S. and South Korea alliance. “Make no mistake,” Mattis said, “any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated and any use of nuclear weapons by the North will be met with a massive military response that is effective and overwhelming.” The secretary said once again as he as said all week on his Asian trip that diplomacy is the preferred way of dealing with North Korea. Mattis and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, held annual consultations with South Korean defense officials Saturday, marking the first …

U.S. border agents are searching nearly four times as many international travelers’ smartphones and other electronic devices as they did two years ago, expanding the use of a little-known search-and-seizure authority that has sparked fresh legal challenges from digital rights advocates and defendants in several criminal cases. The content searches of electronic devices, conducted without a warrant or any individualized suspicion, spiked during the final year of the Obama administration but have continued to surge this year as the Trump administration has adopted extreme vetting of travelers entering the country. In the first six months of fiscal 2017, which ended Sept. 30, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents searched the electronic devices of 14,993 arriving international travelers, according to the most recent CBP data. CBP has not released data for all of 2017, but unofficial estimates put the number of searched devices at 30,000. That compares with 19,000 in …

The Trump administration announced a shift Wednesday in foreign aid funding for persecuted minorities. Vice President Pence told a global assembly of Christians the U.S. would instruct the State Department to stop funding United Nations programs for persecuted minorities, instead providing funding through USAID and other faith-based NGOs. VOA’s Katherine Gypson reports from Washington on the consequences of the administration’s decision. …

Public anger is rising in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico as details emerge about a no-bid contract awarded to a little-known U.S. company to restore the island’s power grid, which was destroyed by Hurricane Maria. Among the details of the contract attracting attention are pay rates about five times higher than what is normal in Puerto Rico, and a clause prohibiting island or federal authorities from auditing those labor rates. U.S. politicians in Washington have begun demanding closer scrutiny of the $300 million contract, awarded less than a week after the hurricane to a company based in the U.S. state of Montana that had only two full-time employees at the time of the storm. ​Cause for concern For many residents of the island, however, the greater concern is that the controversy could further delay the restoration of power. More than 75 percent of the island is still without power …

President Donald Trump said late Friday that he will be releasing all files pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, with some redactions. Trump originally ordered Thursday that hundreds of the files would remain secret, at least temporarily, in the interest of national security. Trump said temporarily “withholding from public disclosure” the remaining documents was “necessary to protect against harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement or the conduct of foreign relations that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure.” Much of the scholarly interest in the assassination papers focuses on files concerning a visit by Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, to Mexico two months before the president’s visit to Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963. A White House official briefing reporters Wednesday refused to be drawn in when asked about the Mexico City files. Controversy and conspiracy theories sprung up within …

A White House spokeswoman said Friday that all of the women who have accused President Donald Trump of sexual harassment are lying, echoing the president’s statement last week that the accusations are “fake news.” Sarah Sanders took a question during the White House briefing from a television reporter asking about the White House’s official position on charges by at least 16 women that the president has engaged in inappropriate behavior. “Is it the official White House position that all of these women are lying?” asked Jacqueline Alemany of CBS News. “Yeah, we’ve been clear on that from the beginning, and the president’s spoken on it,” Sanders answered. The reporter asked the question after alluding to a number of other prominent men in the media who have lately been accused of harassment, such as movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, television host Bill O’Reilly, and journalist Mark Halperin, all of whom have lost …

A U.S. federal grand jury has approved the first charges in an investigation of Russian influence on U.S. elections, a probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller. Media reports of the filing of the charges, which are sealed, came late Friday. The grand jury’s action was first reported by CNN, which quoted sources as saying anyone who is charged could be taken into custody as soon as Monday. The exact charges are unclear. A spokesman for Mueller’s office declined CNN’s request for comment. CNN said lawyers working on Mueller’s team were seen entering the federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., Friday, where the grand jury meets to hear testimony. Mueller has kept a tight lid on information about the probe. Mueller was appointed special counsel in May, shortly after the firing of then-FBI director James Comey, to look into allegations that the Trump campaign may have colluded with Russia to win …

A federal grand jury in Washington on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, CNN reported, citing sources briefed on the matter. The charges are sealed under orders from a federal judge, CNN said. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, CNN reported, citing the unnamed sources. It is unclear what the charges are, CNN said.   …

Botulism pills. Conspiracy theories. What the government might have known and still won’t say about Lee Harvey Oswald. The release of thousands of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy hasn’t settled the best-known, real-life whodunit in American history. But the record offered riveting details of the way intelligence services operated at the time and are striving to keep some particulars a secret even now. “The Kennedy records really are an emblem of the fight of secrecy against transparency,” said Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at the private National Security Archive research group in Washington.  “The ‘secureaucrats’ managed to withhold key documents and keep this long saga of secrecy going.” The 2,800 records released on Thursday night include some that had dribbled out over the years but are getting renewed attention from being in this big batch. Some highlights: HOOVER, WORRIED Just a few hours after Lee Harvey …

The Trump administration Friday proposed new health insurance regulations that could affect basic benefits required by the Affordable Care Act, but not for a couple of years. Loosening “Obamacare” benefit requirements was a major sticking point for congressional Republicans in thus-far fruitless efforts to repeal the law. The complex new plan from the administration would give states a potential path to easing some requirements. Starting in 2019, states could select from coverage levels in another state, which could be less generous. Ten broad categories of services required by the health law would still have to be covered, but the fine print could change. Plan issued late Friday Issued late in the day, the 365-page plan also proposes other changes to the inner workings of the health insurance markets created under the Obama-era law. The marketplaces offer subsidized private plans to people who don’t have access to job-based coverage. The changes …

The once-bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election has broken along partisan lines, with the committee’s top Democrat contacting witnesses independently and asking for a broad swath of new information. After months of negotiations with Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley stalled, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein sent five letters of her own on Friday to witnesses and companies involved in the probe. The letters were sent to the White House, Facebook, Twitter and President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. There is also a letter to Cambridge Analytica, a data firm working for Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election. The inquiries are designed to get more information about whether the Russian meddling was in any way connected with Trump’s campaign. Feinstein indicated this week that negotiations had broken down with Grassley, who has also sought to investigate issues surrounding Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The two …

China’s increasingly icy posture is thrusting Russia forward as North Korea’s preferred diplomatic partner, forcing the Trump administration to turn to Moscow for help in isolating the rogue, nuclear-armed nation. Beijing’s close ties to Pyongyang have been strained since leader Kim Jong Un ordered the 2013 execution of his uncle who had been the countries’ chief liaison. Since then, the allies once said to be as “close as lips and teeth” have moved further apart over China’s adoption of U.N. sanctions designed to starve North Korea of revenue for its nuclear and missile programs. But China isn’t North Korea’s only traditionally friendly neighbor. And for the United States, Russia’s increased importance comes at an uncomfortable time. The State Department on Friday warned countries and companies around the world they risk being blacklisted if they do business with dozens of Russian firms. Investigations also continue into allegations Russia interfered in last …

A major health care system serving the upper Midwest said this week that the number of opioid pills it prescribes has fallen by almost a quarter as it works to respond to America’s opioid epidemic. South Dakota-headquartered Sanford Health started analyzing its prescribing last year to direct its response to rising opioid and heroin overdose deaths, said Doug Griffin, who spearheaded the system’s data collection as vice president and medical officer for Sanford in Fargo, North Dakota. Griffin said the health system learned that the numbers are “staggering”: The system reported prescribing 4.3 million opioid pills in the first quarter of 2016, a figure that doesn’t include cancer patients’ prescriptions. Sanford took steps as a result, including mandating opioid education for providers and using its electronic health record system to alert doctors about safe prescribing habits, Griffin said. Sanford has since seen a significant reduction in both the number of …