Informing, engaging & connecting the people of the world. DECEMBER 13, 2019

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VIDEO: More than 70% of the African forest elephant species has been wiped out, primarily by poachers slaughtering them for their ivory. Park rangers are on the front lines defending them, but in the Central African country of Gabon these park rangers, also known as eco-guards, aren’t going it alone. Now, the U.S military is joining the fight by helping to train the rangers who protect the elephants. VOA gives an exclusive look at the counter-poaching effort in central Gabon.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On December 13, 2000, then Vice President Al Gore concedes defeat to then Texas Governor George W. Bush in in the 2000 presidential election. The concession came after weeks of legal wrangling and vote recounts in the crucial swing state of Florida. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled against Gore’s desire to continue vote recounting, effectively giving Bush Florida’s electoral votes and the presidency. During Gore’s televised concession speech, he said he disagreed with the court’s ruling but would accept it.

America’s chief negotiator for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, visited Pakistan on Friday, a day after he briefly suspended peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar in retaliation to this week’s attack by the insurgent group on the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

VIDEO: Haiti is already the western hemisphere’s poorest country. And things are getting worse. Plugged In examines the political, economic and social collapse of a country has yet to recover from a devastating earthquake nearly 10 years ago.

The use of robots in the U.S. workplace more than doubled from 2009 to 2017, the bulk of them in manufacturing. But the extent of manufacturing job losses in the Midwest was masked by the economic boom of the past 10 years. VOA looks at which states have the most robots.

VIDEO: This week, Rwanda co-hosted the annual Anti-Corruption Excellence Award summit to celebrate and encourage successes against graft, including at home. Transparency International ranks Rwanda as the fourth-least corrupt country in Africa, behind the Seychelles, Botswana and Cabo Verde.