From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Jonathan Jones reporting.

President Trump said the United States is "willing to go either way" in response to North Korea's development of nuclear-tipped missiles. He said on Tuesday "hopefully it's going to be the proper way."

The president's comments came after South Korea said Tuesday the North is willing to start talks with the United States about giving up its nuclear weapons.

Heavy fighting continued unabated in the Syrian rebel enclave of eastern Ghouta, one day before the U.N. Security Council meets to discuss the escalating violence.

The continuing violence has undercut a U.N.-demanded nationwide cease-fire in Syria, as well as Russia's self-declared daily "humanitarian pause" meant to allow civilians to leave eastern Ghouta. The cease-fire's failure prompted Britain and France to request a closed-door meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday.



A Russian transport plane has crashed in Syria, killing all 39 people on board.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the plane went down while trying to land at a Russian air base in Latakia Province. It said the plane hit the ground when it was about 500 meters short of the runway.

The Defense Ministry says it was "a technical problem" and that the plane was not shot down.



The U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State is asking for a pause in fighting in northwestern Syria where the Turkish government and its allied Syrian militias are fighting Kurdish forces in the town of Afrin.

The U.S. Army Colonel Thomas Veale, a spokesperson for the coalition, told VOA "We call on all parties to take measures to de-escalate violence and avoid endangering civilians."

This is VOA news.

This week's cabinet reshuffle in Cameroon appears unlikely to herald change in the government's approach to the crisis in the anglophone regions. The crisis began nearly a year-and-a-half ago and has only grown more violent. Stabilizing the anglophone regions is seen as a priority ahead of nationwide elections later this year.

Correspondent Moki Edwin Kindzeka reports for VOA from Yaounde.

There are two notable firsts in the new cabinet of President Paul Biya. Nalova Lyonga from Cameroon's English-speaking southwest region becomes the minister of secondary education. Paul Atanga Nji from the English-speaking northwest region assumes the job of minister of territorial administration.

Neither of those posts has ever been held by a member of the country's anglophone minority.

The government remains under the charge of Prime Minister Philomen Yang, who also hails from the English-speaking northwest.

Some see the new appointments as an effort to curb tensions in the English-speaking regions. However, teachers involved in the 2016 strike that kicked off the crisis say they are unconvinced.

Moki Edwin Kindzeka, for VOA news, Yaounde, Cameroon.

The U.S. Interior Department has opened the door for trophy hunters to again bring back elephant parts from Zimbabwe even while President Trump calls elephant hunting a "horror show."

With no fanfare, the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke issued a letter saying officials will review [quests] requests to import elephant parts on a "case-by-case" basis.

The Obama administration banned elephant trophy-hunting imports. The National Rifle Association and a group called Safari Club International were suing to have the ban overturned.

President Trump's top economic adviser is resigning, the White House announced on Tuesday. Gary Cohn's resignation comes after President Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, a move he strongly opposed.

Cohn is the director of the National Economic Council. He tried to orchestrate an eleventh-hour effort to push Trump to reverse course. But the president was resistant to those efforts, and reiterated on Tuesday that he will impose the tariffs in the coming days.

You can find more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. From the world headquarters of the Voice of America in Washington, I'm Jonathan Jones, VOA news.

That's the latest world news from VOA.