The president is accusing them of basically freeloading off the United States. He said that American taxpayers are sick of it, that American cannot afford to do it, and suggested that America has much less to gain from the NATO alliance than European allies. That is something that's really shock to America's longtime allies who feel that the NATO alliance is still incredibly important, all the more important considering Russia's recent aggressions.
The U.S. spends about 3.5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense. That is far higher than other NATO members. It provides 70 percent of NATO's budget.
The NATO leaders did, however, say on Wednesday that they have agreed to contribute more money to their defense.
The Trump administration is proposing stepping up the pressure on China in a burgeoning trade war.
Associated Press correspondent Mike Gracia reports.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is proposing 10 percent tariffs, amounting to $200 billion, on a list of 6,031 Chinese product lines ranging from burglar alarms to mackerel.
The tariffs would come on top of 25 percent tariffs imposed by the U.S. just last Friday on $34 billion worth of Chinese products. China responded to last week's round of tariffs with the same amount of tariffs on U.S. imports.
The Trump administration says the new levies would be a response to China's decision to retaliate.
Mike Gracia, Washington.
Croatia is going to its first World Cup final. Mario Mandzukic scored in the 109th minute to give the Croats a 2-1 victory over England on Wednesday.
This is VOA news.
Two heavily armed suicide bombers stormed into an Education Department office in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday, killing at least 11 people.
Witnesses said the assailants fired indiscriminately at staffers inside the building in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province in the east.
Pakistan hosted an unprecedented meeting Wednesday of heads of intelligence agencies from Russia, China and Iran to discuss counterterrorism cooperation. They reportedly focused on the buildup of the Islamic State terrorist group in Afghanistan.
Now that the 12 boys have been freed from a cave in Thailand, Hollywood is moving in.
Associated Press correspondent Ed Donahue reports.
The co-founder of Pure Flix Entertainment believes the story about the boys and their coach is ripe for movie adaptation.
Michael Scott is already in Thailand. The producer behind Christian films like "God's Not Dead" has begun talking to some of the participants about their "life rights."
Scott says this would not be "a religious film," but "an inspirational film."
Ripped-from-headlines movies have not been setting the world on fire. 2015's "The 33" about the 2010 mining disaster in Chile barely made a blip at the box office.
I'm Ed Donahue.
The Trump administration, having missed the Tuesday deadline for reuniting all migrant children under age five with their families, will have to update a federal judge on Thursday.
A California federal judge is telling government officials they need to speed up the process and then include less use of DNA testing. Birth certificates and other documentation is sufficient.
The American Civil Liberties Union and its attorney Lee Gelern are advocating for the immigrant families.
"Just giving the child back to the parent you've taken the child from. Streamline the procedures. Use those procedures and get this done."
Although the government argues DNA testing is safer and prevents mismatches, it's also creating a problem. Medical ethicists report there may be cases where the DNA doesn't match because the parent isn't really biologically the parent and might have been misled.
I'm Jackie Quinn.
Ugandan police on Wednesday used tear gas and bullets to break up a street protest against a new tax targeting users of social media.
Two protesters were arrested in downtown Kampala after a scuffle in which some policemen were assaulted.
The protest was organized by a popular lawmaker who's also a pop star. He says the tax will have negative impact on the marketing of his music and the music of other singers.
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. I'm Christopher Cruise, VOA new.
