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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

PARIS — Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in a brazen attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday during which a high-profile inmate escaped, officials said.  The van was transporting prisoner Mohamed Amra to Evreux jail after a court hearing in Rouen when it was ambushed.  Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said he would join a crisis unit to address the emergency. "All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilized," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin posted on X.  "This morning's attack, which cost the lives of prison administration agents, is a shock for all of us," French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X. "The nation stands alongside the families, the injured and their colleagues."  The attack prompted a significant law enforcement operation in the northwestern region of France as authorities worked to secure the area and apprehend the assailants. The assault took place late Tuesday morning on the A154 freeway, which has since been closed.  Amra was under high surveillance and had recently been sentenced for burglary. He was also under investigation for a kidnapping and homicide case in Marseille, according to public prosecutor Laure Beccuau.  French media reported that Amra was nicknamed La Mouche, or The Fly.  Beccuau announced an investigation into the attack, now considered a case of organized crime and murder. "At this stage, we mourn the death of two penitentiary agents in this armed attack," Beccuau said in a statement. The investigation will also address organized escape attempts, possession of military-grade weapons and conspiracy to commit crime.

Conflict has forced a record number of people around the world to become internally displaced – forced to flee their homes, but still living in their home countries, often in refugee camps. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the figure has increased dramatically in the past five years.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Seafaring robots are increasingly used for tasks ranging from ocean exploration to rescue missions. Matt Dibble has the latest in this week’s episode of LogOn.

With artillery ammunition in short supply, Ukrainian fighters improvised and started using first-person view drones, or F-P-Vs, to target Russian troops. These camera-equipped drones pack less punch but can be much more precise in their targeting. Now a special training center for operators of these drones has opened in Kyiv. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. Camera and edit: Pavel Suhodolskiy    

The United Nations is pledging to help Malawi recover from a widespread drought linked to the El Nino climate pattern. Government officials say the crisis has created a food shortage for nearly half of the country’s population. The pledge comes after U.N. officials visited Malawi to see the damage firsthand and identify ways to offer support. Lameck Masina has more from southern Malawi.

In the United States, each year there are fewer news organizations covering local communities, even near the nation’s capital. Some high school journalists are trying to help make up for the shortage. Robin Guess reports from Montgomery County, just outside Washington. Camera: Nazir Afzali.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a bundle of steep tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports including electric vehicles, computer chips and medical products, risking an election-year standoff with Beijing in a bid to woo voters who give his economic policies low marks. Biden will keep tariffs put in place by his Republican predecessor Donald Trump while ratcheting up others, including a quadrupling of EV duties to over 100%, the White House said in a statement. It cited "unacceptable risks" to U.S. economic security posed by what it considers unfair Chinese practices that are flooding global markets with cheap goods. The new measures impact $18 billion in Chinese imported goods including steel and aluminum, semiconductors, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells and cranes, the White House said. The announcement confirmed earlier Reuters reporting. The United States imported $427 billion in goods from China in 2023 and exported $148 billion to the world's No. 2 economy, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a trade gap that has persisted for decades and become an ever more sensitive subject in Washington. "China's using the same playbook it has before to power its own growth at the expense of others by continuing to invest, despite excess Chinese capacity and flooding global markets with exports that are underpriced due to unfair practices," White House National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard told reporters on a conference call. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the revised tariffs were justified because China was continuing to steal U.S. intellectual property and in some cases had become "more aggressive" in cyber intrusions targeting American technology. She said prior "Section 301" tariffs had minimal impact on U.S. economy-wide prices and employment, but had been effective in reducing U.S. imports of Chinese goods, while increasing imports from other countries. But Tai recommended tariff exclusions for dozens of industrial machinery import categories from China, including 19 for solar product manufacturing equipment. Even as Biden's steps fell in line with Trump's premise that tougher trade measures are warranted, the Democrat took aim at his opponent in November's election. The White House said Trump's 2020 trade deal with China did not increase American exports or boost American manufacturing jobs, and it said the 10% across-the-board tariffs on goods from all points of origin that Trump has proposed would frustrate U.S. allies and raise prices. Trump has floated tariffs of 60% or higher on all Chinese goods. Administration officials said their measures are "carefully targeted," combined with domestic investment, plotted with close allies and unlikely to worsen a bout of inflation that has already angered U.S. voters and imperiled Biden's re-election bid. They also downplayed the risk of retaliation from Beijing. Biden has struggled to convince voters of the efficacy of his economic policies despite a backdrop of low unemployment and above-trend economic growth. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month showed Trump had a 7 percentage-point edge over Biden on the economy. Analysts have warned that a trade tiff could raise costs for EVs overall, hurting Biden's climate goals and his aim to create manufacturing jobs. Biden has said he wants to win this era of competition with China but not to launch a trade war that could hurt the mutually dependent economies. He has worked in recent months to ease tensions in one-on-one talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both 2024 U.S. presidential candidates have sharply departed from the free-trade consensus that once reigned in Washington, a period capped by China's joining the World Trade Organization in 2001. China has said the tariffs are counterproductive and risk inflaming tensions. Trump's broader imposition of tariffs during his 2017-2021 presidency kicked off a tariff war with China. As part of the long-awaited tariff update, Biden will increase tariffs this year under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 from 25% to 100% on EVs, bringing total duties to 102.5%, from 7.5% to 25% on lithium-ion EV batteries and other battery parts and from 25% to 50% on photovoltaic cells used to make solar panels. "Certain" critical minerals will have their tariffs raised from nothing to 25%. The tariffs on ship-to-shore cranes will rise to 25% from zero, those on syringes and needles will rise to 50% from nothing now and some personal protective equipment (PPE) used in medical facilities will rise to 25% from as little as 0% now. Shortages in PPE made largely in China hampered the United States' COVID-19 response. More tariffs will follow in 2025 and 2026 on semiconductors, whose tariff rate will double to 50%, as well as lithium-ion batteries that are not used in elective vehicles, graphite and permanent magnets as well as rubber medical and surgical gloves. A step Biden previously announced to raise tariffs on some steel and aluminum products will take effect this year, the White House said.   A number of lawmakers have called for massive hikes on Chinese vehicle tariffs. There are relatively few Chinese-made light-duty vehicles being imported now. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown wants the Biden administration to ban Chinese EVs outright, over concerns they pose risks to Americans' personal data. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who warned China in April that its excess production of EVs and solar products was unacceptable, said that such concerns were widely shared by U.S. allies and the actions were "motivated not by anti-China policy but by a desire to prevent damaging economic dislocation from unfair economic practices." 

Yaounde — Cameroon’s military has moved over 300 civilians rescued from Boko Haram terrorist captivity along the central African states border with Nigeria and Chad this week to a northern Cameroon military post. The country's army says scores of militants of the Nigeria-based insurgent group were neutralized in a border operation called Alpha. Oumar Fatime, 37, tells Cameroon military and senior government officials that she was a successful vegetable farmer in Ngouboua village, until April 17 when heavily armed Boko Haram fighters abducted her and three of her family members. Ngouboua is a village in Chad located near the northeastern shore of Lake Chad, a water body shared by Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Fatime said the abductors took her and several dozen civilians to a bush area near Lake Chad and threatened to kill them if their families failed to pay ransom. Fatime is one of over 300 civilians Cameroon’s military says were rescued from Boko Haram captivity in several villages along the central African states border with Chad and Nigeria within the past seven days. Cameroon state TV showed video of the rescued civilians brought in military trucks to a military camp in Dabanga district near the border with Chad and Nigeria Monday. The Cameroon military said most of the freed hostages are women and children. About 200 government troops carried out the rescue operation, the Cameroon military said. Midjiyawa Bakari is the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region that shares a border with Chad and Nigeria. Bakari says Cameroon President Paul Biya dispatched him to Dabanga Monday to congratulate the troops that carried out the very successful rescue operation called Alpha. He says government troops seized several hundred weapons including rifles and explosives along with motorcycles and bicycles militants were using to attack communities and kidnap civilians for ransom. Cameroon’s military says it was assisted in assaults on some Boko Haram strongholds in border localities by government troops from Chad and Nigeria. Scores of militants were killed and several dozens wounded in the operation that lasted one week according to Cameroon officials. Cameroon says militants who surrendered are helping troops in investigations but gave no further details. VOA could not independently verify if Cameroon carried out joint border military operations with troops from Nigeria and Chad. But in April troops from Chad and Cameroon said they freed scores of civilians who were kidnapped for ransom or to fight with jihadist groups on both sides of the two central African states’ border. Cameroon says it is in negotiations with its neighbors to allow the rescued civilians who are Chadians and Nigerians to return to their countries voluntarily. Cameroon military says while waiting, the freed hostages will be taken to the center for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, or DDR, in Meri, a northern town near the border with Chad and Nigeria but did not say when. Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria report that Boko Haram militants have been returning to towns and villages where government troops had withdrawn after claiming that fighters' firepower had greatly reduced, indicating a return to peace. The three countries say Boko Haram is recruiting new militants and attacking villages for supplies. At least 36,000 people have been killed and 3 million have fled their homes since 2009, when fighting between Nigerian government troops and Boko Haram militants spread to Cameroon, Niger and Chad according to the United Nations.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

SYDNEY — Australia says it will impose limits on the number of international students coming into the country to ease stress on housing and to reduce immigration.   The government in Canberra has said that international education programs, under which foreign students come to study in Australia, were fertile ground for immigration and visa fraud. In 2023, official figures show that 787,000 international students studied in Australia, exceeding levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canberra government plans to cap the number of overseas students to ease stress on rental accommodation and to curb levels of immigration. Senior government ministers have said caps for education would be part of a broader plan to manage migration, increase the availability of housing and to address skills shortages in the economy. However, the university sector has insisted the proposals would damage Australia's global reputation as a welcoming, safe and world-class destination for students from other countries. Education has been one of Australia’s most lucrative exports, but the left-leaning government in Canberra has said the international education sector, which includes many smaller private English language colleges, vocational and training institutions as well as larger universities, has been used as a way for unskilled migrants to stay in Australia. Michael Wesley, the deputy vice chancellor at the University of Melbourne, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday that he hopes the government will target unscrupulous education providers. “We welcome the crackdown on non-genuine education providers, which provide a backdoor into permanent residency for people who are not genuine students," Wesley said. "We are confident that all of our international students are genuine students and, so, we would hope that the impact of these visa caps will be at the non-genuine end of the education sector.” Rental accommodation in many of Australia’s larger cities is often expensive and in short supply.   Analysts have said that surging prices are the result of years of underinvestment in affordable housing. Education institutions would be required to build accommodations for their students if they wanted to exceed limits of the caps.  Specific quotas for international students have not yet been made public. The government in Canberra said it will change Australia’s Education Services for Overseas Students Act to give the education minister the authority to set limits on student enrolments for each education establishment, including specific courses or locations. The majority of overseas students in Australia come from five countries: China, India, Nepal, the Philippines and Vietnam, according to government data.  They contribute billions of dollars to the Australian economy.