The Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller appears to be entering a new phase in the wake of last week’s guilty plea by Michael Cohen, who had long served as President Donald Trump’s personal attorney. Now, legal analysts are debating whether the Russia investigation is moving toward a conclusion, and if so, what the stakes could be for the president and for the country.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On December 4, 1783, George Washington, who was commanding general of the Continental Army, informs his officers that following the defeat of the British forces, he will resign his commission and return to private life. Washington led American forces for six years during the Revolutionary War. In 1789, after being coaxed back into public life, Washington was elected first president of the United States. He was in office until 1797.

VIDEO: Pollution in the world’s lakes , rivers and bays is creating conditions in which algae thrive, but other forms of life suffer. Scientists have found they can put those algae to work cleaning up the pollution, and help generate clean power in the process. VOA visited the Port of Baltimore to see how it works .

VIDEO: Every year, thousands of visitors come to the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington to enjoy the Christmas decorations, holiday plants and model trains. This year, the garden has its largest ever display of toy trains chugging around replicas of historic railroad stations in the United States. The railroad stations are made from some unusual materials.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is in the throes of its worst-ever Ebola outbreak, with more than 420 cases in the country’s volatile east, and a mortality rate of just under 60 percent. But this outbreak — the nation’s tenth known Ebola epidemic — is unusual because more than 60 percent of patients are women .

France’s government has suspended a deeply unpopular planned fuel tax hike that unleashed nationwide protests by so-called yellow vests — a leaderless movement angry over the high cost of living and a government it claims cares only about the rich. However, there are sign that suggest the crisis is far from over, with many calling the measures insufficient.