Despite rising uncertainty over waning U.S. support, growing existential questions and ongoing Russian advances, polls find Ukrainians remain generally optimistic about their future. Lesia Bakalets reports from Kyiv, Ukraine. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianet.
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Month: February 2025
Apple shareholders reject proposal to scrap company’s diversity programs
Apple shareholders rebuffed an attempt to pressure the technology trendsetter into joining President Donald Trump’s push to scrub corporate programs designed to diversify its workforce.
The proposal drafted by the National Center for Public Policy Research — a self-described conservative think tank — urged Apple to follow a litany of high-profile companies that have retreated from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives currently in the Trump administration’s crosshairs.
After a brief presentation about the anti-DEI proposal, Apple announced shareholders had rejected it. In a regulatory filing submitted Tuesday evening, Apple disclosed that 97% of the ballots cast were votes against the measure.
The outcome vindicated Apple management’s decision to stand behind its diversity commitment even though Trump asked the U.S. Department of Justice to look into whether these types of programs have discriminated against some employees whose race or gender aren’t aligned with the initiative’s goals.
But Apple CEO Tim Cook has maintained a cordial relationship with Trump since his first term in office, an alliance that so far has helped the company skirt tariffs on its iPhones made in China. After Cook and Trump met last week, Apple on Monday announced it will invest $500 billion in the U.S. and create 20,000 more jobs during the next four years — a commitment applauded by the president.
Tuesday’s shareholder vote came a month after the same group presented a similar proposal during Costco’s annual meeting, only to have it overwhelmingly rejected, too.
That snub didn’t discourage the National Center for Public Policy Research from confronting Apple about its DEI program in a pre-recorded presentation by Stefan Padfield, executive director of the think tank’s Free Enterprise Project, who asserted “forced diversity is bad for business.”
In the presentation, Padfield attacked Apple’s diversity commitments for being out of line with recent court rulings and said the programs expose the Cupertino, California, company to an onslaught of potential lawsuits for alleged discrimination. He cited the Trump administration as one of Apple’s potential legal adversaries.
“The vibe shift is clear: DEI is out, and merit is in,” Padfield said in the presentation.
The specter of potential legal trouble was magnified last week when Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a federal lawsuit against Target alleging the retailer’s recently scaled-back DEI program alienated many consumers and undercut sales to the detriment of shareholders.
Just as Costco does, Apple contends that fostering a diverse workforce makes good business sense.
But Cook conceded Apple may have to make some adjustments to its diversity program “as the legal landscape changes” while still striving to maintain a culture that has helped elevate the company to its current market value of $3.7 trillion — greater than any other business in the world.
“We will continue to create a culture of belonging,” Cook told shareholders during the meeting.
In its last diversity and inclusion report issued in 2022, Apple disclosed that nearly three-fourths of its global workforce consisted of white and Asian employees. Nearly two-thirds of its employees were men.
Other major technology companies for years have reported employing mostly white and Asian men, especially in high-paid engineering jobs — a tendency that spurred the industry to pursue largely unsuccessful efforts to diversify.
your ad hereAU, Somalia agree on troop numbers for new mission
The federal government of Somalia and the African Union have agreed on the number of troop-contributing countries for a new AU mission following weeks of differences between Ethiopia and Somalia, and later on between Somalia and Burundi over the number of troops coming from each country.
An AU official, who requested anonymity because he does not have authorization to speak with media, told VOA that Burundian forces who have been in Somalia since 2007 will be leaving the country after the two governments disagreed on the number of troops coming from Burundi.
The African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, or AUSSOM, is expected to have 11,900 personnel operating on the ground in Somalia, including soldiers, police and civilian support staff, according to Somali and AU officials.
The new arrangement allocates 4,500 soldiers to Uganda, 2,500 to Ethiopia, 1,520 to Djibouti, 1,410 to Kenya and 1,091 to Egypt, according to the official.
A second AU diplomat who requested anonymity for the same reasons told VOA that the negotiations about Burundian soldiers in Somalia are still ongoing.
“The departure of Burundi would have significant political and financial repercussions for the AU,” the second diplomat said.
“In addition, there is still a major issue of funding for AUSSOM that has not been resolved. Burundi sacrificed a lot, and they deserve to have their concerns addressed,” he added.
There will also be several hundred police personnel from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Egypt, to be based in Mogadishu, Jowhar, and Baidoa.
The completion of the troop-contributing countries was delayed by diplomatic tension between Somalia and landlocked Ethiopia over the latter’s controversial sea access deal with Somaliland on Jan. 1, 2024. Mogadishu protested the deal as a “violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Somaliland is a breakaway region of Somalia.
The tensions eased after the two sides reached a breakthrough agreement on Dec. 11 in Ankara with the mediation of Turkey, where they pledged to end their differences.
This week, Somalia and Ethiopia signed an agreement that secured the participation of Ethiopian troops in the new African Union mission in Somalia.
The agreement followed a visit to Mogadishu over the weekend by an Ethiopian delegation led by military chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, accompanied by Ethiopian intelligence chief Redwan Hussien, where they met with their Somali counterparts, General Odawa Yusuf Rage and Abdullahi Mohamed Ali Sanbalolshe. State media in Somalia and Ethiopia both confirmed the visit.
Somalia’s National News Agency, or SONNA, said the talks focused on counterterrorism, regional stability and the role of Ethiopian forces in AUSSOM.
“The chiefs underscored the role of ENDF (Ethiopian National Defense Force) in African Union peace support operations and agreed on the Force disposition of ENDF in the African Union Support and Stabilization mission in Somalia (AUSSOM),” said a communique published by SONNA.
Ethiopian troops will be deployed to the same Somali regions where they were stationed over the years — Gedo, Bay, Bakool and Hiran regions. The only new troops joining the mission will come from Egypt, which supported Somalia in Mogadishu’s dispute with Ethiopia.
Ethiopia also maintains troops outside the AU mission based on a bilateral agreement. This week’s deal between Ethiopian and Somali officials extends that arrangement.
“At bilateral level, the Chiefs agreed to develop a Status of Force Agreement a (SOFA) for all the bilateral forces that will operate in Somalia,” Sunday’s communique read.
The first AU contingent from Uganda was deployed in Somalia in March 2007 at a time when al-Shabab was gaining a foothold in the country.
The U.S.-designated terrorist group remains a threat to the international community-backed government. On Tuesday, al-Shabab launched multiple front attacks in central Somalia, entering small towns and villages before government forces repelled them.
In the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, security forces are continuing their almost two months long offensive against Islamic State militants, taking one town after the other.
Local security officials say they are confident of capturing the largest main base of the group within days.
This story originated in VOA’s Africa Division.
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German election winner: Europe must defend itself as US ‘does not care’
London — Germany’s likely next chancellor has warned that the United States cares little about Europe’s fate and has called for the continent to urgently organize its own defense capabilities, marking a profound shift in approach from Europe’s biggest economy.
“I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this in a TV show. But after Donald Trump’s remarks last week, it is clear that the Americans — or in any case, the Americans in this administration — do not care much about the fate of Europe,” Friedrich Merz said in a post-election televised debate after his Christian Democrats, or CDU Party, won 28.5% of the vote in Sunday’s election, 8% ahead of the second place Alternative for Germany Party, or AfD.
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” added Merz.
He said the NATO summit in June could be a defining moment, adding that it’s unknown whether allies “would still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defense capability much more quickly.”
Ukraine support
Until now, Germany has been the second-biggest donor of military aid to Ukraine, after the United States. Merz may seek to boost that support, according to Liana Fix of the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.
“Friedrich Merz has spoken in favor of Ukraine’s victory. In general, he has adopted a more hawkish position than [outgoing Chancellor] Olaf Scholz had. He advocated for German long-range missile deliveries to Ukraine, the Taurus. He made clear that support for Ukraine will have to continue, even if a ceasefire deal is reached,” Fix told VOA.
Merz’s election victory came on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Brandenburg Gate, once the frontier between east and west Berlin during the Cold War, was lit up Monday in the Ukrainian national colors to mark the anniversary.
The potential threat from Moscow loomed heavy over the German election. Berlin resident Juergen Harke, who was among those attending a pro-Ukrainian demonstration outside the Russian Embassy, said it was vital that Merz remains true to his word.
“I hope that the new government will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine, that it will work together with the European states to develop a major counterweight to Russia — and now also to Trump,” Harke told Reuters.
Shifts in US policy
Trump has engineered a dramatic change in U.S. policy toward Ukraine and its defense against the Russian invasion. Last week, he falsely blamed Kyiv for starting the war and labeled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator.”
On Monday, the U.S. joined Russia in voting against a European-backed resolution at the United Nations Security Council which blamed Moscow for the war and called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
Monday on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump congratulated Merz on his victory.
“Looks like the conservative party in Germany has won the very big and highly anticipated election. Much like the USA, the people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration that has prevailed for so many years,” Trump wrote, using all capital letters.
Russia, meanwhile, said it would wait to see how relations with the new German chancellor play out.
“Each time we want to hope for a more sober approach to reality, for a more sober approach to what could be issues of mutual interest [between Russia and Germany] and mutual benefits. But let’s see how it will be in reality,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
Europe defense
The sudden reversal in U.S. foreign policy has shocked Europe, said analyst Mattia Nelles, founder of the German-Ukrainian Bureau, a policy consultancy based in Dusseldorf.
“We are, as Germany, shocked and utterly unprepared for the end of the Pax Americana, the end of America providing security for Europe. And we now find ourselves in a difficult position to organize the transition away from U.S. being the leading provider of security to a more European-driven approach — not just to Ukraine, but to organizing our own self-defense,” Nelles told VOA.
“And that’s a huge effort. It’s going to require a lot of political will,” he said. “But Merz has said he’s willing to lead on that, and let’s see whether we are able to step up.”
Can Europe afford to pay for its own defense?
“Merz can agree to joint debt on the European level, which the conservatives always hated,” Fix of the Council on Foreign Relations said.
Europe is currently holding around $200 billion of Russian state assets, which were frozen following the invasion.
Merz “can agree to seizing Russian frozen assets, which has not been done so far but should be done soon before Hungary vetoes. He has talked about the U.K. and France having to extend the nuclear umbrella to Germany as a possible pathway,” Fix added.
German debt
In the election campaign, Merz supported maintaining Germany’s so-called “debt brake,” which limits annual government borrowing to only 0.35% of the country’s gross domestic product.
Germany’s budget deficit is among the lowest in the G7 group of nations, although critics say the policy blocks critical investment. Merz has hinted that the debt brake may be eased to boost defense spending.
“Given the challenges at hand, we’re looking at the reform of the so-called debt brake, and that requires constitutional amendments, for which there is not a majority of the centrist parties in parliament,” Nelles noted.
The Christian Democrats are well short of a majority, but Merz has ruled out forming a coalition with the far-right AfD.
Far-right firewall
The so-called “firewall” around the AfD, whereby German centrist parties have refused to rely on parliamentary votes or to enter any coalition with the far right, has been strongly criticized by Washington.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, echoed those concerns.
“We consider this blockade to be undemocratic. You cannot exclude millions of voters per se,” she told supporters on Monday.
Instead, Merz plans to begin coalition talks with the Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“The conservatives now have to negotiate and change the tone and find constructive agreement with the Social Democrats on the difficult issues ranging from migration to debt reform in Germany, public financing, rebooting the German economic model and of course, on Ukraine,” Nelles said.
Merz said Monday that he hoped a coalition government would be formed by Easter at the latest.
“There’s optimism that there is a reenergized focus now — with Germany soon having a functioning government again and a majority in parliament — reenergizing and joining this coalition of the willing, to rally more support for Ukraine and more support for European defense,” Nelles added.
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US consumer confidence drops sharply, survey shows
U.S. consumer confidence plunged in February in its biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dropped from 105.3 in January to 98.3 this month, the largest month-to-month decline since August 2021.
With U.S. consumer spending accounting for about 70% of the world’s largest economy, the three major stock indexes on Wall Street all fell on news of the report. The tech-heavy NASDAQ dropped by more than a percentage point.
The Conference Board said in a statement, “Views of current labor market conditions weakened. Consumers became pessimistic about future business conditions and less optimistic about future income. Pessimism about future employment prospects worsened and reached a 10-month high.”
Separately, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent contended Tuesday that the U.S. economy is more fragile under the surface than economic indicators suggest, and he vowed to “reprivatize” growth by cutting government spending and regulation.
In his first major economic policy address, Bessent told a group at the Australian Embassy in Washington that interest rate volatility, enduring inflation and reliance on the public sector for job growth have hobbled the American economy, despite general national economic growth and low unemployment.
Bessent blamed “prolific overspending” under former President Joe Biden and regulations that have hindered supply-side growth as the main drivers of “sticky inflation.”
“The previous administration’s over-reliance on excessive government spending and overbearing regulation left us with an economy that may have exhibited some reasonable metrics but ultimately was brittle underneath,” he said.
Bessent said that 95% of all job growth in the past 12 months has been concentrated in public and government-adjacent sectors, such as health care and education, jobs offering slower wage growth and less productivity than private-sector jobs.
Meanwhile, he said jobs in manufacturing, metals, mining and information technology all contracted or flatlined over the same period.
“The private sector has been in recession,” Bessent said. “Our goal is to reprivatize the economy.”
Consumers had appeared increasingly confident heading toward the end of 2024 and spent generously during the holiday season. But U.S. retail sales dropped sharply in January, with unusually cold weather throughout much of the U.S. taking some of the blame.
Retail sales fell 0.9% last month from December, the Commerce Department reported last week. The decline, the biggest in a year, came after two months of robust gains.
With inflation remaining a concern for consumers and uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s plan to impose new or stiffer tariffs on imports from other countries, policymakers at the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, have taken a cautious approach on whether to further cut its benchmark interest rate.
The Fed left its key borrowing rate alone at its last meeting after cutting it at the previous three.
“Consumers’ confidence has deteriorated sharply in the face of threats to impose large tariffs and to slash federal spending and employment,” Pantheon Macroeconomics chief Samuel Tombs wrote in a note to clients.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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More Thai firms turning up on US sanctions list for trade with Russia
BANGKOK — Thailand is emerging as one of Russia’s main pipelines for machine and computer parts with the potential for military use, with a growing number of local companies accused of helping Moscow evade Western export controls meant to cripple its war on Ukraine.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has imposed sanctions on seven companies in Thailand for exporting these “high priority items” to Russia, the last of them in December.
Trade data published last year by S&P Global, a financial analytics and services firm based in New York, also show a huge spike in these exports out of Thailand since 2022.
Thailand eluded mention when the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments started warning in mid-2023 of third countries being used to funnel high-priority items to Russia as a way of skirting the West’s export controls.
“So, it was a surprise to see them … as a new country or a new location which had been involved in this type of goods transaction,” Byron McKinney, a sanctions risk and supply chain expert at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told VOA of his team’s research.
Supply chains hit by sanctions, McKinney said, are “a little like water in a stream — if you try damming in one place, it will try and move around. So, Thailand kind of appeared in this way, as a country which wasn’t there originally for the transshipment or transit of these goods but has appeared later on.”
Within days of the 2022 invasion, the U.S. Commerce Department placed export controls on dozens of high-priority items it said Russia needed most “to sustain its brutal attack on Ukraine,” from ball bearings to microchips. These are commonly known as dual-use goods for their potential to be put to both civilian and military use.
A 2024 report by McKinney and his team shows China exporting or reexporting the vast majority of these goods to Russia since the invasion — over $6 billion worth in 2023 alone. It also shows countries funneling more such goods to Russia than Thailand.
But of the 14 countries whose exports and reexports to Russia that the report breaks down, Thailand saw the sharpest spike of any, from $8.3 million in 2022 to $98.7 million in 2023, a jump of over 1,000%.
Thailand’s 2023 shipments also included an especially large proportion of the most sensitive, high-priority goods such as microchips, designated by U.S. Customs as Tier 1.
More recent data shared with VOA by S&P Global show Thailand’s exports and reexports of high-priority goods to Russia again topping $90 million in 2024.
McKinney said the trade routes on which the goods are shipped are in constant flux.
But for the time being, he added, “Thailand just happens to be in an area where there’s the possibility to transit these goods easier or quicker because maybe the regulation is a bit more light touch, for example, than it would be in other locations. So, it kind of gets picked on from that particular perspective and … turns up as a particular transit or transshipment hub.”
The U.S. has put sanctions on seven Thailand-registered companies in the past 13 months.
The first was NAL Solutions in January 2024. In announcing the sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department said NAL was part of a network of companies controlled by Russian national Nikolai Aleksandrovich Levin channeling electronics and other goods from the United States and other countries to Russia.
Washington sanctioned another five firms in Thailand in October, including Intracorp, which Treasury accused of setting up other companies that send high-priority goods to Russia.
Treasury also tied Thailand’s Siam Expert Trading — added to the sanctions list in December — to the TGR Group, which it described as “a sprawling international network of businesses and employees that have facilitated significant sanctions circumvention on behalf of Russian elites.”
Five of the seven firms did not reply to VOA’s repeated requests for comment about the sanctions. The other two could not be reached.
Spokespersons for the Thai government and Ministry of Commerce, which oversees the country’s exports and company licensing, did not reply to VOA’s requests for comment either.
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Thailand has been keen to keep up warm diplomatic and economic ties with Russia.
At an international summit on China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing two years ago, Thailand’s prime minister at the time, Srettha Thavisin, hailed his country’s “close relations” with Russia, shook hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and invited him to Thailand.
“When Srettha became prime minister in 2023, he was focused like a laser on economic growth and viewed Russia as a useful economic partner,” Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, told VOA. “Visa-free entry was extended for Russian tourists, and the authorities turned a blind eye to incidents of antisocial behavior and illegal activities.”
He said Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who replaced Srettha last year, has carried on both his fixation on economic growth and neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.
Just last month at Putin’s invitation, Thailand joined BRICS, a group of developing countries with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa at its core, focused on forging closer economic ties.
And while bilateral trade between Russia and Thailand has been falling in recent years, Storey says Russians have become major players in Thailand’s property market. They have also helped boost Thailand’s tourism sector, a pillar of the economy.
In an interview with Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency in 2023, Vitaly Kiselev, president of the Thai-Russian Chamber of Commerce, said Western sanctions on Moscow were also opening up more trade opportunities between Russia and Thailand. He said chamber membership was on the rise.
Given Thailand’s priorities, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, Storey doubts that Thai authorities will step in to stop the country’s trade in dual-use goods.
“If Bangkok hasn’t taken action to crack down on this trade three years after the war started, there’s little chance that it will do so now, especially as the Trump administration is making nice with Russia,” he said.
Across Asia, only Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan have imposed trade restrictions or other sanctions on Russia since the 2022 invasion.
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Trial begins in Germany for 4 alleged Hamas members
BERLIN — A trial began Tuesday in Germany for four alleged members of U.S.-designated terror group Hamas who are suspected of organizing weapons caches across Europe.
The country’s top prosecutor accuses the men of membership in a foreign terrorist organization. It’s a pilot case for prosecutors, German news agency dpa reported.
“For the first time in Germany, people are facing charges of participating as members of the foreign terrorist organization Hamas,” prosecutor Jochen Weingarten said, according to dpa.
The men are accused of seeking out some weapons depots set up years ago, as well as setting up new ones, for Hamas across Europe so it could later use the firearms and ammunition for attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets on the continent, prosecutors said when filing charges last year.
The weapons were allegedly moved around Europe in preparation for Hamas’ terror attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, prosecutors said. Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in that attack, and about 250 taken hostage.
The attack triggered Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 48,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. The ministry says more than half the dead have been women and children.
Hamas also considered targeting the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, the area around Tempelhof Airport in the capital and the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany, authorities said.
Abdelhamid Al A., Mohamed B., Nazih R. and Ibrahim El-R. were arrested in December 2023. Prosecutors identified them only by their first name and last initial in line with German privacy laws.
All four had important positions within Hamas, prosecutors asserted.
The men allegedly set up a weapons cache in Bulgaria in 2019 and in Denmark later that year. They sought to find a spot in Poland but were unsuccessful, prosecutors said.
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Unknown illness kills over 50 in part of Congo with hours between symptoms and death
KINSHASA, DR Congo — An unknown illness has killed over 50 people in northwestern Congo, according to doctors on the ground and the World Health Organization on Monday.
The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours in the majority of cases, and “that’s what’s really worrying,” Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring center, told The Associated Press.
The latest disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo began on Jan. 21, and 419 cases have been recorded including 53 deaths.
According to the WHO’s Africa office, the first outbreak in the town of Boloko began after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours following hemorrhagic fever symptoms.
There have long been concerns about diseases jumping from animals to humans in places where wild animals are popularly eaten. The number of such outbreaks in Africa has surged by more than 60% in the last decade, the WHO said in 2022.
After the second outbreak of the current mystery disease began in the town of Bomate on Feb. 9, samples from 13 cases have been sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for testing, the WHO said.
All samples have been negative for Ebola or other common hemorrhagic fever diseases like Marburg. Some tested positive for malaria.
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Taiwan investigating Chinese-crewed ship believed to have severed an undersea cable
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese authorities are investigating a Chinese-crewed ship suspected of severing an undersea communications cable in the latest such incident adding to tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
Taiwan’s coast guard intercepted the Togolese-flagged cargo ship Hongtai in waters between its main island’s west coast and the outlying Penghu Islands early Tuesday, according to a statement by the coast guard.
The coast guard had earlier been notified by telecommunications provider Chunghwa Telecom that one of its undersea cables had been severed 6 nautical miles (11 kilometers) northwest of Jiangjun Fishing Harbor.
The Hongtai had been anchored in that same area since Saturday evening, the coast guard said. From Saturday until early Tuesday, authorities in the nearby Anping Port in Tainan had sent signals to the vessel seven times but had received no response. After the Chunghwa Telecom cable damage report, the coast guard approached the ship, which had begun to sail northwestward, and escorted it to Anping Port.
Taiwanese authorities said the ship’s entire eight-person crew were Chinese nationals and the case was being handled “in accordance with national security-level principles.”
“The cause of the underwater cable break, whether it was due to intentional sabotage or simply an accident, is still pending further investigation for clarification,” the coast guard said.
“The possibility of this being part of a gray-zone incursion by China cannot be ruled out,” it added.
Communications on the Penghu Islands were not disrupted because Chunghwa Telecom had successfully activated a backup cable, the coast guard said.
This is the latest in a series of incidents in recent years in which undersea Taiwanese cables have been damaged — with Taipei in some instances blaming China. Earlier this year, a Chinese cargo ship was suspected of severing a link northeast of the island.
In February 2023, two undersea cables serving Taiwan’s Matsu Islands were severed, disrupting communications for weeks.
Taipei fears China might damage its underwater communications cables as part of attempts to blockade or seize the island, which Beijing claims as its own.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said during a regular press briefing on Tuesday that he was not aware of the issue and it did not pertain to diplomacy.
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US again sends ‘high threat’ migrants to Guantanamo Bay
Washington — The United States has started sending more migrants deemed by officials to be “high threat” criminal aliens to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, just days after emptying out the base’s migrant facilities.
A U.S. defense official confirmed to VOA that a C-130 military cargo plane carrying migrants left Fort Bliss in Texas and arrived at Guantanamo Bay on Sunday.
A second defense official said all 17 migrants were assessed to be “high threat” and are being held at the base’s detention facility.
Both officials spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deportation operations.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is spearheading the U.S. deportation efforts, along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has not yet responded to questions about the identities of the latest round of detainees sent to Guantanamo Bay, their countries of origin, or the crimes with which they are charged.
The latest flight carrying migrants to Guantanamo Bay comes as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to visit the base Tuesday to review the military’s efforts to support the mass deportations ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Hegseth, according to a Pentagon statement, “will receive briefings on all mission operations at the base, including at the Migrant Operations Center and the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility.”
“The Secretary’s trip underscores the Department’s commitment to ensuring the security and operational effectiveness of Guantanamo Bay Naval Station,” the statement added.
ICE announced last Thursday that it had transported 177 migrants being held at Guantanamo Bay to Honduras, where they were to be picked up by the Venezuelan government.
U.S. officials had previously said that more than 120 of those detainees were dangerous criminals, including members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization.
The approximately 50 other individuals who were deported Thursday had been held at the base’s migrant facility, designed to hold nonviolent individuals.
Earlier this month, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, told lawmakers that the base’s migrant facility had the capacity to hold about 2,500 nonviolent detainees. Efforts are under way to allow it to house as many as 30,000 nonviolent migrants slated for deportation.
The American Civil Liberties Union, along with several immigration rights groups, earlier this month filed a lawsuit against DHS, alleging the detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility before being deported had been improperly denied access to lawyers.
DHS dismissed the lawsuit’s allegations.
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Pope Francis rested well all night, Vatican says
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, who is in critical condition in a hospital battling double pneumonia, rested well throughout the night, the Vatican said on Tuesday.
The 88-year-old pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14.
“The pope rested well all night,” the Vatican said in a one-sentence statement.
On Monday, the Vatican said the pontiff’s condition remained critical but had shown a “slight improvement,” adding that the “mild kidney insufficiency,” first reported at the weekend, was not a cause for concern.
Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs, making it difficult to breathe. The Vatican has described the pope’s infection as “complex,” and said it was caused by two or more microorganisms.
Francis, who has been pope since 2013, has suffered bouts of ill health over the past two years. He is particularly prone to lung infections because he developed pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
Thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Monday evening to pray for the pope’s recovery.
His friend, the Honduran cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, told La Repubblica newspaper: “I think…it’s not time for him to go to heaven yet.”
The pope signaled in early February that he had a bad cold, which meant he could not read out his speeches. Despite this, he continued to work, with multiple daily meetings and even taking part in open-air Masses, despite the chill.
Some well-wishers have said he should have taken better care of himself, but Maradiaga defended his work ethic.
“He is aware that he has a mission he must carry out, and nothing stops him. The pope explained that he did not accept his election (as pontiff) in order to rest,” he said.
In Monday’s statement, the Vatican said Francis had resumed working in his self-contained apartment within the Gemelli hospital, and had called the Catholic parish in Gaza, which the pope has done frequently during the Israel-Hamas war.
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China adviser pushes to lower legal marriage age to 18 to boost birthrate
HONG KONG — A Chinese national political adviser has recommended lowering the legal age for marriage to 18 to boost fertility chances in the face of a declining population and “unleash reproductive potential,” a state-backed newspaper said on Tuesday.
Chen Songxi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times that he plans to submit a proposal on completely relaxing restrictions on childbirth in China and establish an “incentive system” for marriage and childbirth.
Chen’s comments come ahead of China’s annual parliamentary meeting next week where officials are expected to announce measures to offset the country’s declining population.
The legal age for marriage in China is 22 for men and 20 for women, amongst the highest in the world, compared with most developed countries where the legal marriage age is 18.
Chen said China’s legal marriage age should be lowered to 18 “to increase the fertility population base and unleash reproductive potential.”
It is to be consistent with international norms, Chen said.
China’s population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, as marriages plummeted by a fifth, the biggest drop on record, despite efforts by authorities to encourage young couples to wed and have children.
Much of China’s demographic downturn is the result of its one-child policy imposed between 1980 and 2015. Couples have been allowed to have up to three children since 2021.
Chen said China should remove restrictions on the number of children a family can have to meet the “urgent needs of population development in the new era.”
However, a rising number of people are opting to not have children, put off by the high cost of childcare or an unwillingness to marry or put their careers on hold.
Authorities have tried to roll out incentives and measures to boost baby making including expanding maternity leave, financial and tax benefits for having children, as well as housing subsidies.
But China is one of the world’s most expensive places to bring up a child, relative to its GDP per capita, a prominent Chinese think tank said last year, detailing the time and opportunity cost for women who give birth.
CPPCC, a largely ceremonial advisory body, meets in parallel with parliament. It is made up of business magnates, artists, monks, non-communists and other representatives of broader society, but has no legislative power.
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Trump hosts French leader to discuss Ukraine endgame
President Donald Trump said Monday he’s nearing a deal with Ukraine and with Russia to end the war in Ukraine after a packed day of meetings at the White House with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Trump urged Europe to take a bigger role in funding, and Paris pushed for more assurances from Moscow.
The U.S. president pushed his desire for a deal to end the war, which struck its grim third anniversary Monday. He has said this will include an agreement with Ukraine for its critical minerals — a deal he hinted could be signed as soon as next week by Ukraine’s president.
“There’s tremendous distrust on both sides,” Trump said. “That’s why it’s good that I’m coming in now. But I think it’s to the very much benefit of Russia to make a deal and to go on with leading Russia in a very positive way. That’s what you have to do. But I really believe that he wants to make a deal. I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.”
Macron was more circumspect, correcting Trump in the Oval Office when Trump said Europe supported Ukraine with a loan. Macron then warned against trusting Moscow.
“Let’s try to get something first which … can be assessed, checked and verified,” he said in English. “And let’s be sure that we build sufficient guarantees in the short run. And this is where we are ready to be engaged. As for France, a lot of my European colleagues are ready to be engaged. But we do need this American backup, because this is part of the credibility of the security guarantees. And this is our collective deterrence capacity. And I have the feeling that the president has this capacity.”
Analysts spoke of what the two leaders accomplished in their meetings.
“It looks like they agreed to have European peacekeepers enforce the peace between Russia and Ukraine,” said William Pomeranz, a senior scholar at the Wilson Center Kennan Institute. “There are a lot of other side issues that I haven’t really been able to get a hold of, but yes, there are attempts to have a peace agreement and a use of peacekeepers to enforce the agreement between Russia and Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope and emphasized the importance of Washington’s role.
“Our teams are already working productively with the U.S. on an economic agreement, which we hope to sign in Washington,” he said in English. “And President Trump, we would really like to hear from you, because all our people, all our families, are very worried: ‘Will there be support from America? Will America be the leader of the free world?’ And I want to be very honest, very honest with you: For our people, for life in general, it is so important that American support, American assistance remains.”
But other world leaders expressed concerns that Ukraine was kept out of high-level discussions in Saudi Arabia between Washington and Moscow. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently met with Zelenskyy in Ankara, also said Russia hasn’t always been part of the process.
“Apart from the Istanbul process, Russia has been excluded from the tables established so far, and therefore the desired result has not been achieved,” Erdogan said. “If results are to be obtained from the new process, Ukraine must definitely be included in the process, and this war must be ended through mutual negotiations.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that so far, talks have not been specific.
“During the phone conversation and at the meeting in Riyadh, we certainly touched on issues related to the Ukrainian crisis,” he said. “However, it was not discussed in essence. We only agreed that we would approach it. That being said, of course, we are not rejecting the participation of European countries.”
Some analysts warn that Trump’s idea of a deal is not advantageous to Ukraine.
“We have to see this as a move by Donald Trump to undermine the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — and in the worst case, as Trump advocating for Russia’s position, which has been in the past that elections have to be part of a negotiation process in Ukraine, although it’s an entirely Ukrainian domestic issue,” said Liana Fix, a fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“So, it’s not only a back and forth between Trump and Zelenskyy. We do see a broader realignment here of U.S. policy towards a normalization of relations with Russia, where Ukraine is perceived as a problem to this normalization,” she said.
Meanwhile in Europe, as Ukraine somberly marked Monday as the third anniversary of the war, Paris’ most famous icon, the Eiffel Tower, burned brightly in the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag.
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Top US general in Asia begins 2-day visit to Cambodia
The top U.S. Army officer for the Asia-Pacific region began a two-day visit to Cambodia Monday in a trip designed to expand and improve frayed ties between the two nations.
General Ronald P. Clark, the commanding general of the United States Army Pacific met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and senior Cambodian military officials in Phnom Penh.
Ties between the U.S. and Cambodia have been strained with Washington’s criticism of Cambodia’s political repression and human rights violations.
However, the U.S. and other countries are also greatly concerned with Cambodia’s close ties with China. Of special interest is China’s access to the Ream Naval Base near the disputed South China Sea, a waterway China claims almost in full.
In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague rejected China’s sweeping claims. The naval base is strategically located in the Gulf of Thailand, which borders the western section of the South China Sea. The base’s renovation was funded by China.
China has contributed massive amounts of money to Cambodia’s updating of its infrastructure with the help beginning when the prime minister’s father, Hun Sen, was leading the country.
That funding continues and later Monday, Manet met with Yin LI, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, according to a post on the prime minister’s Telegram account.
The post said the Li praised the progress on “all cooperation in all fields” between Cambodia and China.
During the meeting, Clark also expressed his admiration for Cambodia for sending U.N. peacekeepers to several international locations, according to the prime minister’s office.
The prime minister also thanked the U.S. for its assistance in helping to clear explosives from Cambodia after years of war that left Cambodia in the late 1990s with 4 million to 6 million land mines and other unexploded ordnance, including unexploded U.S. bombs.
Clark also met Monday with General Mao Sophan, Cambodia’s military chief.
The two military generals had “constructive discussions,” the army said in a statement. Topics of their talks included defense, trade, tourism, counterterrorism, peacekeeping and demining, the Cambodian army said.
Their discussion also included the possible revival of the Angkor Sentinel exercise, the joint military exercises previously held by the U.S. and Cambodia that were abandoned nearly 10 years ago, the army said.
Some information provided by The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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Deadly floods in Botswana kill 9; nearly 2,000 people evacuated
GABORONE, BOTSWANA — Botswana authorities say at least nine people were confirmed dead Monday, as rare flooding hit the semi-arid country. More than 5,000 people have been affected by the floods as record rainfall fell over the last week.
Addressing Parliament on Monday, Moeti Mohwasa, the minister for state president, said the nine people who died had all drowned. Of the deceased, six were minors.
“While the risk level has generally reduced … I regret to inform this house that we have lost one more person yesterday evening, bringing to nine the total number of fatalities to date. … So far, the number of people evacuated has increased to 1,806 from 1,749 reported yesterday,” Mohwasa said.
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) said at least 600,000 schoolchildren were experiencing disruptions due to the floods.
Schools have been closed since last week, but Mohwasa said most are expected to reopen Tuesday.
“After a thorough assessment of the situation, I am happy to announce that schools will reopen tomorrow, February 25, 2025,” he said. “Another positive note is that our critical infrastructure remain[s] stable, with both electricity and water supply fully restored. Our 24-hour clinics, primary hospitals, and referral hospitals are operational and accessible to all, although there may be occasional interruptions in service provision.”
While the situation is improving with rain subsiding, more than 600 people remained at evacuation centers Monday.
Calvin Moalosi, a Gaborone resident who was at one of the centers, said he lost his belongings due to the floods.
“I have never seen so much water in my life. The house became a pool of water, and it is really sad that some people were swept away in the floods,” Moalosi said. “The government has done its best to evacuate people and take them to safe areas.”
Most parts of the country recorded heavy rains from 150 mm (6 inches) to 200 mm (8 inches) in a 24-hour period several times last week.
Kutlwano Mukokomani, chief executive at the local Red Cross Society, said the organization is continuing to provide relief at evacuation centers across the country.
“The Botswana Red Cross Society provided relief items to evacuation centers. We continue to provide these relief items to ensure that our communities are kept safe. We provided food items, blankets, mattresses and also hygiene packs. We are also doing assessments so that they can further guide our response,” Mukokomani said.
Botswana, like most southern African countries, has been recovering from the devastating El Nino-induced drought.
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US lawmakers rush to avoid March 14 government shutdown
U.S. lawmakers are one step closer to funding the government past a March 14 deadline, but Congress still has serious issues to resolve as they come back to work in the nation’s capital this week.
At question is how and when to enact a proposed extension of the 2017 tax cuts and how to pay down the U.S. deficit without cutting key safety net programs that help American voters.
President Donald Trump has called for lawmakers to pass “one big, beautiful bill” that will be a key part of enacting his domestic policy agenda.
Despite Trump expressing his preference for the House of Representatives version of the budget, the Senate passed a funding resolution Friday that provides $150 billion in military funding and $175 billion for border security. That measure also avoids the controversial Medicaid cuts in the House version.
Senate leadership has proposed passing the tax cuts in a separate bill later this year.
“Republicans are moving forward on legislation to fund continued efforts to deport criminal aliens, as well as provide other necessary resources to secure our border, discourage illegal immigration and restore respect for the rule of law,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday on the Senate floor.
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer characterized the vote as a first step toward extending the tax cuts.
“What are Republicans doing? They’re spending precious time trying to cater to the wishes of the absolutely richest people in America, instead of working to avoid a disastrous halt of services that help tens of millions of middle-class American families,” Schumer said Monday.
The Senate moved forward with a vote on its version of the budget due to uncertainty over the potential success of the vote on the House version. The two versions will have to be compromised to be signed into law.
The House is set to hold a procedural vote on Tuesday, but Speaker of the House Mike Johnson holds a slim Republican majority and cannot afford to lose any members of his own to pass his version of the budget.
Republican Representative Tony Gonzales led a group of seven other House Republicans warning against potential cuts to health care program Medicaid, food assistance funding and other social safety net programs.
“Slashing Medicaid would have serious consequences, particularly in rural and predominantly Hispanic communities where hospitals and nursing homes are already struggling to keep their doors open,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Johnson sent last week.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, also expressed concern about the version of the budget up for a vote, along with several other undecided House Republicans who have not yet announced their votes on the measure.
Congressional Democrats also object to the Republican tax cut proposal, arguing it will harm lower-income and middle-class Americans who are already concerned about the cost of living and inflation.
In a “Dear Colleagues” letter sent Monday morning, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote, “Far-right extremists are determined to push through $4.5 trillion of tax breaks for wealthy Republican donors and well-connected corporations, explode the debt and saddle everyday Americans with the bill by ending Medicaid as we know it. We must be at full strength to enhance our opportunity to stop the GOP Tax Scam in its tracks.”
Trump posted on Truth Social last week that “The House and Senate are doing a SPECTACULAR job of working together as one unified, and unbeatable, TEAM, however, unlike the Lindsey Graham version of the very important Legislation currently being discussed, the House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it!”
If lawmakers cannot reach a compromise by March 14, there will be a partial government shutdown, leaving millions of federal employees temporarily without pay and suspending some non-essential government services.
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VOA Mandarin: Taiwan responds to new US tariffs on chips
President Donald Trump pledged last week to impose an additional 25% tariff on U.S.-bound imports of cars, semiconductors and medical products, possibly after April – a move that experts believe could significantly affect Taiwan.
TSMC, which is based in Taiwan and the world’s largest contract chipmaker, may suffer the most as 60% of its revenues are believed to be generated in the U.S.
Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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VOA Creole: Kenyan police officer killed in Haiti anti-gang operation
A Kenyan police officer died Sunday during a shootout with armed gangs in the Savien region of Haiti. The officer was evacuated by plane to a hospital for treatment after sustaining injuries in the gun battle but later died. He is the first member of the multinational security force for Haiti (MMSS) to be killed.
Click here for the full story in Creole.
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At UN, competing resolutions on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine approved
The U.N. General Assembly marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine by narrowly approving competing resolutions on ending the war, one drafted by Kyiv with the European Union, and a second from the United States.
“Russia believed Ukraine would surrender. Russia believed we would fall in three days. Russia believed our government would flee. However, Russia miscalculated gravely,” Mariana Betsa, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, told the gathering, saying Ukrainians continue to stand firm and resist.
In the weeks leading up to the meeting, there was only the Ukrainian draft resolution, which reflected previous ones adopted by the 193-member body. That resolution included a reference to Russia’s “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” and called for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in line with the United Nations Charter and “within its internationally recognized borders.”
Then late Friday afternoon, the United States put forward its own brief text, titled: “The Path to Peace,” which called for “a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.” It did not mention Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s U.N. ambassador called the U.S. draft “a good move.”
“This is our opportunity to build real momentum toward peace,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Friday.
European diplomats met through the weekend to find a way to prevent the U.S. draft from undermining international support for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war. On Monday, they proposed three amendments to the U.S. text, all of which were adopted by the General Assembly.
They added language to the U.S. text that included replacing the wording “the Russia-Ukraine conflict” with “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.” A paragraph was inserted that said: “Reaffirming its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters.” The paragraph also included language on supporting the U.N. Charter and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.
When the amended U.S. text was put to a vote, Washington abstained on its own resolution. It was adopted with 93 states in favor, 8 against and 73 abstentions.
“These amendments pursue a war of words rather than an end to the war,” U.S. envoy Dorothy Shea said. “The attempt to add this language detracts from what we are trying to achieve with this forward-looking resolution: A firm consensus from the members of this body to unite behind a resolution calling for the end to this conflict.”
Russia also voted against the U.S. draft, because their attempt to amend it with language to address what it says are the root causes of the conflict was rejected by the Assembly.
“The essence of it has become completely distorted,” Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, but he welcomed the U.S. move and said he hoped it would be followed by other new initiatives.
“I think that today, our American colleagues have seen for themselves that the road to peace in Ukraine will not be an easy one, and there will be many who will try to make sure the peace does not come for as long as possible,” Nebenzia said.
The Ukrainian resolution was approved to loud applause with 93 states in favor, 18 against and 65 abstentions. It was the weakest support Ukraine has had over the course of the last three years in the Assembly.
The United States voted against the Ukrainian text as did Russia, its allies Belarus and North Korea, several African states, European Union outlier Hungary, and Israel.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do carry the moral weight of the international community.
The United States is expected to still bring its original draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council later Monday for a vote. It would need the support of at least nine of the 15 members and no veto from any permanent member — Britain, China, France, Russia or the United States.
The Europeans have said they will bring their three amendments to the council for a vote as well. A senior State Department official said Monday that Washington would veto any amendments — European or Russian — to its original text.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in Geneva on Monday, where he said countries “must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the U.N. Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.”
Macron in Washington
The diplomatic drama at the United Nations was taking place as French President Emmanuel Macron was at the White House for a meeting and lunch with President Donald Trump that included discussions about the war in Ukraine.
Macron said last week that he planned to tell Trump the U.S. leader “cannot be weak” in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to visit Washington later this week for similar talks, and like Macron has emphasized the need for Ukraine’s sovereignty to be at the center of any peace effort.
A group of leaders including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Kyiv on Monday in a show of support for Ukraine.
“We are in Kyiv today, because Ukraine is Europe,” von der Leyen said on X. “In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake. It’s Europe’s destiny.”
New EU sanctions on Moscow
European Union foreign ministers on Monday approved a new round of sanctions against Russia, which EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said include measures against ships that work to evade restrictions on transporting certain goods, banks that circumvent sanctions and equipment used to pilot drones.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the new sanctions “entirely predictable,” and said the European nations seemed to want the war to continue.
Fighting continued Monday with Russia saying it shot down 23 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 16 over the Oryol region.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Americans discuss US economy after first month of Trump’s presidency
Immigration and the economy were among U.S. voters’ priorities when they went to the polls in the November 2024 general election. But how do Americans feel now about the U.S. economy a month into President Donald Trump’s presidency? VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias spoke to people in the nation’s capital, with Genia Dulot contributing from California.
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Three years into Russia’s war on Ukraine, it’s business as usual for Kharkiv entrepreneurs
Russian forces have been shelling Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine almost daily since the start of their invasion three years ago. Despite the constant bombardment, local business owners continue working, and volunteers from all over the world are on hand to offer support. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. VOA footage and video editing by Pavel Suhodolskiy.
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Projectiles thrown at Russian consulate in France, one explodes, says security source
MARSEILLE, France — Two projectiles were thrown at the perimeter wall of Russia’s consulate in the southern French port city of Marseille on Monday, one of which exploded, a French security source said.
It was not immediately clear if the projectiles cleared the wall. BFM TV said the projectiles were Molotov cocktails and that they landed in the consulate’s garden.
Russia demanded a full French investigation and said the incident looked like an act of terrorism, state news agency TASS reported.
No one was injured, the security source said. Consulate staff were kept indoors and police set up a security perimeter around the consulate.
The incident in the southern French city took place on the third anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war.
“The explosions on the territory of the Russian Consulate General in Marseille have all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack,” TASS quoted Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
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China says rising food demand requires production boost
Beijing — China’s rising demand for food calls for increased efforts to boost grain production even after record-high output in recent years, China’s Central Rural Work Leading Group said on Monday.
“More than 1.4 billion of us want to eat, and we want to eat better and better,” Han Wenxiu, a director from China’s Central Rural Work Leading Group told a news conference.
More people eat meat, eggs and milk in greater volumes, which requires a large-scale increase in grain for feed, Han said.
China is the world’s largest agriculture producer and importer, bringing in more than 157 million metric tons of grain and soybeans last year, when it also reported record grain production of 706.5 million tons.
In its annual rural work policy blueprint released on Sunday, known as the No. 1 document, the State Council sharpened China’s focus on self-sufficiency and supply stability to counter potential disruptions to agricultural trade with the United States, the European Union and Canada.
Last year’s bumper harvest helped to stabilize prices and relieved consumers’ concerns, Han said.
But he cited “the current complex and severe domestic and international environment,” and said the need to buffer shocks from extreme weather conditions called for increased output.
“The central government’s policy is clear: grain production can only be strengthened, not relaxed. We must not say that grains have passed the test just because of a momentary downturn in prices,” he said.
China has further potential to develop and integrate biotechnology, strengthen equipment support and build a diversified food supply system to ensure food security, he said.
The agriculture ministry aims to increase grain production by 50 million tons by 2030, which would be a 7% increase over 2024’s grain harvest.
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UN to vote on Russia-Ukraine war resolutions
A resolution drafted by the United States and another drafted by Ukraine and backed by the European Union calling for an end to the war in Ukraine are set for votes Monday at the United Nations.
The U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote on the Ukrainian resolution, followed by the U.S. resolution. The U.N. Security Council is expected to hold its own vote on the U.S. resolution later in the day.
The U.S. calls for “a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.”
The U.S.-drafted measure does not mention Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began three years ago Monday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the resolution would “affirm that this conflict is awful, that the U.N. can help end it, and that peace is possible.”
“This is our opportunity to build real momentum toward peace,” Rubio said in a statement.
The more extensive Ukrainian resolution says the Russian invasion “has persisted for three years and continues to have devastating and long-lasting consequences not only for Ukraine, but also for other regions and global stability.”
It calls for “a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine” and highlights the need for the war to end this year.
The Ukrainian draft says earlier resolutions adopted by the General Assembly need to be fully implemented, including those calling for Russia to fully withdraw from Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do carry the moral weight of the international community.
At the Security Council, a resolution needs the support of at least nine of the 15 members, with none of the permanent members—Britain, China, France, Russia, or United States—using their veto power. The U.S. measure is expected to have enough support Monday.
The votes come as French President Emmanuel Macron visits the United States for talks with President Donald Trump that are expected to include the war in Ukraine.
Macron said last week that he planned to tell Trump the U.S. leader “cannot be weak” in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to visit Washington later this week for similar talks, and like Macron has emphasized the need for Ukraine’s sovereignty to be at the center of any peace effort.
A group of leaders including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Kyiv on Monday in a show of support for Ukraine.
“We are in Kyiv today, because Ukraine is Europe,” von der Leyen said on X. “In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake. It’s Europe’s destiny.”
Fighting continued Monday with Russia saying it shot down 23 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 16 over the Oryol region.
Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov said falling debris from a downed Ukrainian drone caused a fire at an industrial enterprise.
Ukraine’s military said Monday it shot down 113 of the 185 drones that Russia used in overnight attacks.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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