International Edition - Voice of America

South Korea says it will consider sending arms to Ukraine after Russia and North Korea rattled the region and beyond by signing a pact to come to each other’s defense in the event of war. We talk to Gregg A. Brazinsky works on U.S.-East Asian relations and East Asian international history at George Washington University. Donald Sutherland, one of Canada's most versatile and gifted actors, who charmed and enthralled audiences in films such as "M*A*S*H," "Klute," "Ordinary People" and the "Hunger Games,” has died at the age of 88.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Vietnam early on Thursday for talks with the country's communist leaders after concluding a defense pact with North Korea It is his final stop on a two-nation tour of Asia. The head of a United Nations Commission of Inquiry, Navi Pillay, said on Wednesday that the Israeli military is carrying out the "extermination" of Palestinians. From Mecca to Maryland global heat waves create dangerous conditions. And Naomi Campbell becomes the first model to be featured in an exhibition at the V&A museum in London.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in North Korea for his first visit in 24 years and pledged strong support. We talk to Naoko Aoki, an associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation. June 19th is the U.S. holiday known as Juneteenth, which marks the day in 1865 when slavery ended in the former Confederate states of the American Civil War. U.S. lawmakers grilled Boeing's chief executive Tuesday about the company's plans to fix its manufacturing problems. Nvidia passes Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable company.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move that came after the departure from government of the centrist former military chief Benny Gantz. President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg as a record number of NATO allies are expected to reach the alliance's recommended defense funding amid the war in Ukraine. In Namibia, German charity Skate-Aid has built a skate park on the National Institute for Special Education campus.

Scores of participants attending a two-day international summit in Switzerland on peace in Ukraine, signed a document saying that Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” should be the basis for a peace agreement with Russia and that Kyiv should enter dialogue with Moscow on ending the war. Texas Christian University professor Ralph Carter provides analysis. Israel’s military announced a “tactical pause” Sunday in daytime fighting around a critical aid route in Gaza. The plan falls short of a total cease-fire outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden. VOA’s Ricki Rosen in Tel Aviv shares the details.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement on Thursday aimed at bolstering Ukraine's defense against Russian invaders and getting Ukraine closer to NATO membership. Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies agreed an outline of a deal on Thursday to provide $50 billion in loans for Ukraine using interest from Russian sovereign assets frozen after Moscow launched its invasion of its neighbor in 2022. We talk to Sergey Sanovich - a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. And Chinese scientists at a giant panda sanctuary in Ya’an say efforts to introduce the captive-bred bears back into the wild are “paying off” and that the wild giant panda population is growing.

While in Qatar, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Hamas’ response to the proposed cease-fire proposal includes “numerous” changes – some of which are “workable, some are not.” It comes on the same day that a United Nations inquiry finds that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes at the onset of the war. In this U.S. presidential campaign, guns continue to divide Americans. President Joe Biden wants a ban on assault weapons. His opponent, Donald Trump, says Biden is threatening the constitutional rights of gun owners. Inter-Korean relations have sunk to their lowest level in years, as both countries intensify cross-border psychological warfare. Australia’s national science agency warns a lack of scientists specialized in plant breeding could lead to "dire" food security implications around the world.

A 12-member jury in Wilmington, Delaware, federal court found Hunter Biden guilty on all three counts against him, making him the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. Hamas' response to a proposed Gaza cease-fire deal. The Humboldt penguin population has dramatically decreased in areas along the central coast of Chile, making them one of the most vulnerable of the world's 18 penguin species. And a private club in Los Angeles – where the dogs are the members, and the humans are the guests.

Hamas has welcomed a UN Security Council resolution proposed by the U.S. backing a plan for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying it is ready to cooperate with mediators over implementing the principles of the plan. We talk to University of California Los Angeles professor Saree Makdisi. In the balloon warfare between North Korea and South Korean activists, one Seoul-based group has honed its tech expertise to develop smart balloons capable of dispersing leaflets and electronic speakers hundreds of kilometers across the border. An aircraft carrying the Malawi’s vice president and nine others has gone missing. And people from all walks of life played colorful pianos at New York's Fosun Plaza in downtown Manhattan on Monday at a launch event for the Sing for Hope Pianos.

Far-right parties made major gains in European Union parliamentary elections, dealing stunning defeats to two of the bloc’s most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday (June 9) said he would dissolve parliament and call new legislative elections later this month. We talk with Matt Klink a political consultant with Klink Campaigns. Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel’s three-man war Cabinet, announced his resignation Sunday. And hundreds of naked cyclists rode through London and Mexico City streets to protest against car culture and demand rights for cyclists.