From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Anne Ball reporting.

United States President Donald Trump went on a road to talk about his recent tax cut plan.

"But the tax cuts are the most significant tax cuts, most significant reform, in American history, with tremendous tax relief for working families, the small businesses, for big businesses that produce jobs."

Visiting the H&K Equipment Company in Pennsylvania, while Congress worked on keeping the government open past midnight Friday.

A bill working its way through Congress has Trump's support.

A group of top Chinese Communist Party leaders is meeting in Beijing to discuss amendments to the country's constitution.

There is speculation that Xi could use the opportunity to amend Article 79 of the constitution that states the president and vice president of China can only serve two consecutive terms in office.

David Zweig said he doesn't believe Xi has the authority yet to pull off such a controversial move.

"I think he still probably needs to prove to his colleagues that he actually can deliver on many fronts before they are going to give him a third term."

Xi was approved to begin his second five-year term late last year and is now slated to step down in 2022. But many believe he wants to stay in office longer.



Zimbabwe's president says elections will be in May or June as he faces pressure at home and abroad to deliver a credible vote to cement his legacy.

This is VOA news.

[Humans Rights] Human Rights Watch has released its 2018 annual report, which looks at the state of human rights in more than 90 countries.

The report claims that human rights in the U.S. have come under attack since the election of Donald Trump, and Myanmar is strongly criticized in the report.

About 700 Rohingya Muslims have fled a violent government crackdown into neighboring Bangladesh.

Here is David Mepham. "What are the things we are calling for in the report is much more concerted pressure to be applied to the Myanmar authorities."

Mepham questions why world leaders and governments [have not called on targeted sanctions] have not called for targeted sanctions against the Myanmar military leaders.

Speaking to VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren on Wednesday was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. She said everything needed to be looked at with regard to the situation in Burma.

"I don't think that we should in any way be soft on what is happening in Burma with the government or with the military. I think they need to be held accountable for what they've done, and I think we need to make sure that we provide a safe place for the refugees because repatriation is not something that is going to come easily because they're too scared to go back."

Member states participating in a U.N. review of Burundi's human rights record have accused the central African government of wide-scale abuse, including extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence and repression of freedom of expression.

Burundi is one of 14 states under examination by the U.N. Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review. This is the third time that Burundi has been examined under the Universal Periodic Review. It's a unique process that scrutinizes the human rights records of all 193 U.N. member states.

Burundi's minister of human rights, social affairs and gender, described the progress in his country since its last U.N. review in 2013. He said major reforms have been made to promote and protect human rights, including addressing human trafficking, protecting victims of gender violence, and reducing prison overcrowding.

He fended off criticism of impunity by noting many bills have passed to prevent such action. But not everyone was persuaded by the arguments.

The head of the U.S. delegation expressed dismay at the continued threats against the U.N. personnel by government officials.

That's the latest world news from VOA.