BREAKING: Two Big African Stories from the U.S. Plus you can now say "Alexa open Today News Africa" and listen to our stories on the go!!!

Here is our top story today: But first, you now LISTEN to Today News Africa on Alexa anywhere you are. Just say, “Alexa open Today News Africa” or “Alexa start Today News Africa” or “Alexa what’s the latest on Today News Africa”. Second, you can check the video below and watch my latest questions to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre this week. You can also read the report that was published by Mediaite as another reporter pressED that I and any other African reporter should be given questions during briefings. And to be completely honest, Karine has been fair to me and has given me many opportunities. Of course I need more but I will not lie against her or any other person. I have no complaint about her for now.

Here is our top story today: The Biden administration announced moments ago that it remains committed to resolving Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis and that the African Union Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, may soon announce a new date and place for direct talks between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the government of Ethiopia, the top Biden administration official for Africa, Mary Catherine Phee, told reporters from Kigali, Rwanda, on Thursday.

Phee, who is the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and Judd Devermont, the U.S. Special Assistant to President Biden and Senior Director for African Affairs at the White House National Security Council, have been traveling with Secretary Antony J. Blinken across Africa to win hearts and minds, strengthen ties with African nations and counter Russia and China on the continent, although officially the officials continue to say that their diplomatic moves have very little to do with China or Russia, but are mainly focused on how the United States intends to engage with African partners from now onward.

In Stuttgart, Germany, the first Black Secretary of Defense in the United States was raising the alarm about China and Russia in Africa.

Simon Ateba, Publisher and White House Correspondent for Today News Africa in Washington