Sydney — A Lithuanian rower was rescued from storm-tossed seas off Australia on Monday after paddling into a tropical cyclone while trying to cross the Pacific Ocean alone.  

An Australian navy vessel plucked long-distance rower Aurimas Mockus from the Coral Sea, where Tropical Cyclone Alfred on Monday was whipping up 100-kilometer (60-mile) per hour winds and seven-meter (20-foot) swells.

Mockus first activated his emergency beacon Friday evening, enduring three nights at sea as the looming cyclone hampered rescue efforts.  

Vice Admiral Justin Jones said Mockus — who has used the attempt to drum up support for Ukraine’s war effort — was safely on board and undergoing medical checks.  

“The ship is on its way back to Australian shores,” said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in a statement.  

Aerial photos taken before the rescue showed his modified rowboat bobbing on white-capped waves in a turbulent, dark ocean.  

Mockus fell just short of his goal to row 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) across the Pacific Ocean from the United States to Australia.  

He started the grueling journey in September 2024, according to his website.  

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is forecast to bring damaging waves and strong winds as it moves toward Australia’s eastern coast later this week, the government weather bureau said.
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is in a stable condition as he fights double pneumonia in hospital for the 17th day, and is resting having had a peaceful night, the Vatican said on Sunday.

The Vatican said on Saturday evening that the 88-year-old pontiff’s condition had stabilized, following an “isolated” breathing crisis a day earlier.

“The night was peaceful, the pope is still resting,” said a one-line note from the Vatican on Sunday morning that did not provide more details. A full medical update on the pope’s condition is expected Sunday evening.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 with severe respiratory problems that swiftly degenerated into double pneumonia – a serious infection in both lungs that can inflame and scar them, making it difficult to breathe.

The pope suffered a constriction of his respiratory airways on Friday, akin to an asthma attack.

However, in a more upbeat tone on Saturday, the Vatican said the pope did not have a fever and did not show signs of an increased white blood cell count, adding that his blood flow and circulation remained stable.

An elevated white blood cell count often indicates the presence of an active infection or inflammation.

“The Holy Father’s clinical condition remained stable,” the Vatican said on Saturday, adding that the prognosis was still guarded, meaning he was not yet out of danger.

The Vatican added on Saturday that for a second day running the pope required noninvasive, mechanical ventilation, alternating between this and “long periods of high-flow oxygen therapy.”

Francis has experienced several bouts of ill health over the last two years and is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.

The pope has not been seen in public since entering hospital, his longest absence from view since his papacy started in March 2013, and his doctors have not said how long his treatment might last.

Francis will not lead his usual Sunday prayer with pilgrims for the third week running. The text of the prayer will be published rather than read out by the pontiff. 
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LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday gave Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a warm welcome in London, a day after the Ukrainian leader’s clash with U.S. President Donald Trump. 

The two countries also unveiled a $2.84 billion loan agreement to support Ukraine’s defense capabilities, to be paid back with the profits of immobilized sovereign Russian assets. 

Supporters cheered as Zelenskyy’s convoy swept onto Downing Street, where he was embraced by Starmer and posed for photographs before heading inside the U.K. leader’s home. 

“You’re very, very welcome here in Downing Street,” Starmer told Zelenskyy.

“And as you’ve heard from the cheers street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom, and we stand with you with Ukraine for as long as it may take,” he added. 

“I want to thank you, the people of the United Kingdom, for such big support from the very beginning of this war,” responded Zelenskyy, who is due to meet King Charles III on Sunday. 

The pair met behind closed doors for around 75 minutes and embraced again as Starmer escorted Zelenskyy to his car. 

Earlier Saturday Zelenskyy had stressed that Trump’s support was still crucial for Ukraine despite their row the previous day. 

The clash was a further shock to Kyiv’s European allies, still adjusting to Washington’s new stance on the war. 

On Friday, Trump berated Zelenskyy for not being ready for peace with Russia, triggering alarm across Europe. 

“Yesterday evening underlined that a new age of infamy has begun,” said Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Starmer were among several other European leaders who reiterated their support for Kyiv after the row. 

In an interview with the BBC, NATO chief Mark Rutte said that he had told Zelenskyy he had to “find a way” to restore his relationship with Trump. 

Russian politicians were delighted, however. 

Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev called Zelenskyy an “insolent pig” who had received “a proper slap down in the Oval Office.” 

Although Zelenskyy left the White House without having signed the deal on Kyiv’s rare minerals, he insisted he was still ready to sign it as “the first step toward security guarantees.” 

“It’s crucial for us to have President Trump’s support. He wants to end the war, but no one wants peace more than we do,” Zelenskyy said in a post on social media platform X. 

On Sunday, Zelenskyy will attend emergency talks with Kyiv’s European backers, also attended by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

Trump stunned many in Europe when he reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek a deal on Ukraine, which Moscow invaded three years ago. 

The president’s sudden shift on Ukraine, sidelining Kyiv and Europe while pursuing rapprochement with Putin, has rattled the transatlantic NATO alliance. 

Those concerns were only exacerbated Friday by the heated talks in the White House Friday. 

Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies with his change in U.S. policy, casting himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelenskyy and refusing to condemn the Russian invasion. 

He said in the Oval Office that he had “spoken on numerous occasions” to Putin — more than has been publicly reported. 

With fears growing over whether the United States will continue to support NATO, Sunday’s gathering in the U.K. will also address the need for Europe to increase defense cooperation. 

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to “open the discussion” on a possible future European nuclear deterrent. 

“We have a shield, they don’t,” he said in an interview with French newspapers appearing Sunday. “And they can no longer depend on the American nuclear deterrent.” 

Germany’s likely next leader, Friedrich Merz, also stressed the need for the continent to move quickly to “achieve independence” from the United States on defense matters. 

But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — the closest ally of Trump and the Kremlin in the European Union — vowed to oppose any EU-wide agreement on the conflict. 

“I am convinced that the European Union — following the example of the United States — should enter into direct discussions with Russia on a ceasefire and a sustainable peace in Ukraine,” Orban wrote in a letter. 
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The public spat Friday between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the White House has triggered European solidarity for Ukraine. Barring Hungary, major European powers led by Germany and France have thrown their weight behind Kyiv, calling it the victim of Russian aggression, while promising sustained support to the war-torn country. Experts say rising tensions in the transatlantic relationship would benefit one country – the People’s Republic of China. They argue that recent developments provide Beijing with an opportunity to make inroads in Europe.

Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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European leaders across much of the continent vowed to stand by Ukraine after a White House meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned into a heated exchange Friday, with Trump calling Zelenskyy “disrespectful.”

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said it has become clear that “the free world needs a new leader.”

“Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine,” Kallas wrote on the social media platform X.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on X, “Ukraine can rely on Germany — and on Europe,” while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on social media, “Ukraine, Spain stands with you.”

“Dear @ZelenskyyUa, dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone,” wrote Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters in Portugal, “Russia is the aggressor, and Ukraine is the aggressed people.”

Other European leaders, including from Finland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Norway, also took to social media to voice support for Ukraine.

Not all European leaders backed Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has long been critical of EU military aid to Kyiv, posted on X, “President @realDonaldTrump stood bravely for peace. Even if it was difficult for many to digest. Thank you, Mr. President!”

The meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy came as the two countries were seeking a deal that would allow the U.S. access to Ukrainian rare mineral rights. The discussion took a combative tone about 40 minutes into the meeting when Zelenskyy raised Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance immediately criticized Zelenskyy, accusing him of engaging in a “propaganda tour.”

Both Vance and Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of not being thankful for the assistance his country has received from Washington.

After the meeting abruptly ended, the White House confirmed that the mineral deal was not signed.

US response

In the U.S., many Republicans in Congress expressed support for Trump’s actions.

Senator Lindsey Graham, who has previously supported military aid to Ukraine, said, “What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful and I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again.”

House Republican leader Steve Scalise, who has also previously supported military aid to Ukraine, wrote on X, “President Trump is fighting for PEACE around the world and is putting America First as our best negotiator — he’s the only one to get Russia to the table to consider a serious and lasting peace agreement with Ukraine.”

Republican Representative Andy Biggs wrote on X, “Dictator Zelensky had the audacity to disrespect President @realDonaldTrump and VP @JDVance during what should have been a friendly meeting, and @POTUS rightfully showed him the door. This is the leadership America has craved for four years.”

Democratic leaders in Congress argued that Trump’s actions would only benefit Russia.

“Trump and Vance are doing [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s dirty work. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for freedom and democracy,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a statement, “Today’s White House meeting with the President of Ukraine was appalling and will only serve to further embolden Vladimir Putin, a brutal dictator. The United States must not reward Russian aggression and continue to appease Putin.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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WASHINGTON — The issue of Ukraine’s next presidential election has emerged as a possible element in the peace deal between Russia and Ukraine that the United States is negotiating.

Ukrainian leaders and elections experts argue, however, that holding elections anytime soon would endanger lives and Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected in April 2019, and the next presidential election was scheduled for March or April 2024. However, martial law has been in effect since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, and Ukrainian law prohibits presidential elections when martial law is in effect.

U.S. President Donald Trump has lambasted Zelenskyy for not holding a presidential election.

In a Feb. 19 post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said of Zelenskyy, “He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’ A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”

Some members of the U.S. Congress and conservative commentators echoed Trump’s demand that Ukraine hold elections to prove its democratic credentials.

“Zelenskyy should hold elections. They are basically under martial law. That’s not good when you claim to be defending democracy. They need to practice it,” Republican Senator Josh Hawley told VOA.

Republican Representative Victoria Spartz told VOA that Ukraine should hold “transparent elections, and that not doing so allows Russia to say, ‘You have an illegitimate president signing these contracts and deals.’”

Russia has questioned the legitimacy of Ukraine’s president and government since 2014, well before Zelenskyy was elected to office.

During his televised question-and-answer event on Dec. 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested he couldn’t negotiate with Zelenskyy until his legitimacy is confirmed through elections.

“If someone goes to the elections, gains legitimacy there, we will talk with anyone, including Zelenskyy,” he said.

Zelenskyy said during a Feb. 23 press conference that he would step down as president if it meant “peace for Ukraine” but pushed back on the calls for holding elections.

“How can we call an election in which half of the country’s population won’t be able to vote?” he said. “How can we vote when today, [Ukraine was] attacked with 267 drones?”

His major political rivals, former President Petro Poroshenko, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, have also rejected the call for holding elections. According to a February poll, 63% of Ukrainians also reject it.

Many challenges

Ukrainian election experts say there are many challenges to holding free and fair elections under wartime conditions.

It would violate international principles of electoral law, according to Yevhenii Radchenko, a former deputy chair of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine.

“Elections must be universal, equal and free. During active hostilities, it is unrealistic to guarantee the safety of any of the participants, and due to massive Russian strikes, a significant part of the electoral infrastructure has been destroyed,” she said.

Radchenko, who joined Ukraine’s armed forces, texted VOA from the trenches at the Donetsk front.

On Feb. 27, OPORA, a leading Ukrainian nongovernmental organization involved in public oversight and advocacy in the field of elections, issued a statement signed by several other Ukrainian NGOs titled, “Statement of Ukrainian Non-Governmental Organizations on the Impossibility of Holding Democratic Elections without the Sustainable Peace.”

‘Armed forces or elections’

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian parliament, as required by the country’s constitution, introduced martial law, which prohibits elections.

OPORA chairperson Olga Aivazovska said the purpose of martial law is to preserve the state and mobilize society for defense.

“We have to choose either the armed forces or elections,” she told VOA.

Aivazovska noted that Ukraine held elections between 2014 and 2022, when the conflict with Russia was ongoing in eastern Ukraine, but before Russia launched air raids on Ukrainian territory.

“Even if a ceasefire is established, there are no guarantees that Russia would not violate it as it did many times between 2014 and 2022,” she said. “It can carry out a massive shelling of the Ukrainian territory on election day. It can organize terrorist attacks at the polling stations, killing voters, election workers and observers, or at the minimum, disrupt the process.”

Aivazovska said it would be easy to contest an election as illegitimate if only 5% to 10% of the population votes.

“If Ukraine begins the election process without a guarantee of its completion, it means that we are simply giving this tool away to Russia for abuse and manipulation,” she said.

Radchenko said that about 14 million citizens — out of a population of 41 million — would not be able to vote, given that the war has dislocated millions of Ukrainians, and nearly a million Ukrainian men and women are serving in the armed forces.

According to Aivazovska, it is also unclear how people in areas occupied by Russia, “where people are subjected to torture, kidnapping and other crimes,” will be able to cast their vote freely, even after lifting martial law.

Most of the 7 million Ukrainian citizens who fled the war abroad will also not be able to vote, unless their host countries heavily invest in organizing the process.

“In 2004, the record number of Ukrainians living abroad voted at the polling stations in Ukrainian embassies and consulates — 103,000 citizens worldwide. There are simply no resources available to organize voting for 7 million people,” Aivazovska said.

Let Ukraine decide

Most of the members of the U.S. Congress interviewed by VOA said Ukraine should be free to decide when to hold its elections.

Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick said the United States and other democracies will encourage Ukraine to hold elections when it can do it safely and fairly, but not when “Ukrainians are still under invasion by an evil communist dictatorship.”

Democratic Representative Eugene Vindman, who was born in Kyiv in 1975, told VOA, “When 20% of the territory is occupied, when millions of Ukrainians are out of the country, it’s hard to imagine democratic elections representing the majority of the people being held.”

Vindman expressed confidence that Ukrainian society will hold elections as soon as it achieves a stable peace.

Republican Senator Kevin Cramer said the example of the United States holding elections during World War II is inapplicable because the U.S. didn’t have to fight on its territory.

Vindman noted that European countries also suspended elections for the duration of that war.

Democratic Representative Seth Magaziner suggested that a strong statement from Trump supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion would make it easier for Ukrainians to “develop a timeline for elections.”

Republican Representative Don Bacon pointed out that Russia is in no position to demand elections from Ukraine. “They haven’t had free elections in 25 years. Putin’s murdered all his rivals. They’ve been thrown off the buildings. They’ve been poisoned. They’ve been killed in GULAGs,” he told VOA in an email.

Katya Andrusz, spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, told VOA that at the request of Ukrainian authorities, her office has begun work to ensure that when all the prerequisites are in place, Ukraine can hold elections “in line with international standards and the commitments Ukraine has made as an OSCE country for holding democratic elections.”

“ODIHR is working with Ukraine in many areas, and we very much appreciate and respect the country’s democratic strength amidst all the ongoing challenges,” she said.

VOA’s Kateryna Lisunova contributed to this report.
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ROME — Nations cheered a last gasp deal reached Thursday to map out funding to protect nature, breaking a deadlock at United Nations talks seen as a test for international cooperation in the face of geopolitical tensions. 

Rich and developing countries worked out a delicate compromise on raising and delivering the billions of dollars needed to protect species, overcoming stark divisions that had scuttled their previous meeting in Cali, Colombia, last year. 

Delegates stood and clapped in an emotionally charged final meeting that saw key decisions adopted in the final minutes of the last day of rebooted negotiations at the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome.  

COP16 President Susana Muhamad of Colombia hailed the fact that countries worked together for a breakthrough, enabling progress “in this very fragmented and conflicted world,” she said. 

“This is something very beautiful because it’s around protecting life that we have come together, and there cannot be anything higher than that,” she said.

The decision comes more than two years after a landmark deal to halt the destruction of nature this decade and protect the ecosystems and wildlife that humans rely on for food, climate regulation, and economic prosperity. 

One million species are threatened with extinction, while unsustainable farming and consumption destroy forests, deplete soils and spread plastic pollution to even the most remote areas of the planet. 

The agreement on Thursday is seen as crucial to giving impetus to the 2022 deal, which saw countries agree to protect 30% of the world’s land and seas.  

Talks were also seen as a bellwether for international cooperation.  

The meeting comes as countries face a range of challenges, from trade disputes and debt worries to the slashing of overseas aid. 

Washington, which has not signed up to the U.N.’s Convention on Biological Diversity, sent no representatives to the meeting. 

“Our efforts show that multilateralism can present hope at a time of geopolitical uncertainty,” said Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change.  

Ousseynou Kasse of Senegal, speaking on behalf of the Africa Group, also threw support behind global cooperation.  

“We believe that this is the way that can save the world, and we must continue down this path,” he said.  

Countries must be “accountable to our children, to the generations to come,” he added. 

The failure to finalize an agreement in Cali was the first in a string of disappointing outcomes at environmental summits last year.  

A climate finance deal at COP29 in Azerbaijan in November was slammed by developing countries, while separate negotiations about desertification and plastic pollution stalled in December. 

Countries have already agreed to a goal to deliver $200 billion a year in finance for nature by 2030, including $30 billion a year from wealthier countries to poorer ones. 

The total for 2022 was about $15 billion, according to the OECD. The main debate in Cali and later Rome was over developing countries’ calls for the creation of a specific biodiversity fund, which has seen pushback from the EU and other wealthy nations, who have argued against multiple funds.   

The agreement reached in Rome leaves it to the 2028 COP to decide whether to set up a specific new fund under the U.N. biodiversity process, or to name a potentially reformed existing fund to play that role. 

One achievement in Cali was the creation of a new fund to share profits from digitally sequenced genetic data from plants and animals with the communities they come from. 

The fund, officially launched on Tuesday, is designed for large firms to contribute a portion of their income from developing things like medicine and cosmetics using this data.  

Delegates in Cali also approved the creation of a permanent body to represent the interests of Indigenous people. 
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JOHANNESBURG — The Group of 20 major economies has been instrumental in coordinating the response to crises like the COVID pandemic. But top officials from the U.S. and several other member states skipped the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in South Africa this week, raising questions about the group’s continued relevance in a splintered global environment.

The two-day meeting in Cape Town ended without a communique, with current G20 leader South Africa saying there was not sufficient consensus to issue one.

In his opening remarks at the event, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to the fractured geopolitical climate and stressed the importance of international cooperation.

“At this time of global uncertainty and escalating tension, it is now more important than ever that the members of the G20 should work together,” Ramaphosa said. “The erosion of multilateralism presents a threat to global growth and stability.”

He said the G20 finance ministers meeting had to address major issues like climate change financing, ensuring debt sustainability for developing countries, and Africa’s need to process its own critical minerals for inclusive growth.

But it appeared the world’s largest economies were not able to find common ground on a number of issues. South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted this wasn’t the first time.

“The issue of the communique and the absence of it is not something new,” Godongwana said. “To my knowledge, I mean, since the Russia-Ukraine war, it has been difficult to find a joint communique. Now, new differences have emerged on a number of other topics.”

Climate adaptation funding was one of the areas where there was a “difference of opinion,” he said.

The finance ministers meeting was beset with similar problems faced by last week’s G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg, which laid bare the discord in current geopolitics.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent skipped the event amid a spat with host country South Africa, and after the U.S. criticized the themes around climate change and “solidarity, equality and sustainability.”

The finance chiefs of other large economies, including Japan, India and China also sat it out. However, all of them, including the U.S., sent representation at various levels.

Still, the absence of some top officials underscores global divisions sparked by Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the “America First” administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, said Professor Alex van den Heever of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

“I think that this has caused a sort of a general review of how people see global issues,” van den Heever said, “with people becoming a lot more insular and not really looking at sort of global social solidarity in any way, shape or form – largely looking to look after their own situation.”

However, Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, who was in Cape Town for the meeting, added to Ramaphosa’s call for unity, posting on social media platform X, “Productive and successful collaboration with our international partners is front of mind, now more than ever.”

Asked about the issue of tariffs, Godongwana said there had been, “general agreement against protectionism” at the G20 meeting.
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NOUADHIBOU, MAURITANIA — Eager students from throughout west Africa raise their hands as teachers guide them through math and classical Arabic. Then they race outdoors to meet their parents, who clean houses, drive informal taxis or gut sardines in Chinese factories.

Outside, government billboards urge these families and others to fight “migrant smuggling,” showing overcrowded boats navigating the Atlantic’s thrashing waves. Inside, posters warn the ocean can be deadly.

Such messaging is hard to escape in Nouadhibou, Mauritania’s second-largest city and a launch point on an increasingly popular migrant route toward Europe. As authorities strengthen security measures on long-established routes, migrants are resorting to longer, more perilous ones. From Mauritania, they risk hundreds of kilometers of sea and howling winds to reach Spain’s Canary Islands.

The route puts new strain on this port city of 177,000 people at the edge of the Sahara. Outdated infrastructure and unpaved roads have not kept pace as European and Chinese investment pours into the fishing industry, and as migrants and their children arrive from as far away as Syria and Pakistan.

The school for children of migrants and refugees, set up in 2018 as an early response to the growing need, is the kind of program envisioned as part of the $219 million accord the European Union and Mauritania brokered last year.

The deal — one of several that Europe has signed with neighboring states to deter migration — funds border patrol, development aid and programs supporting refugees, asylum-seekers and host communities.

It’s a response to rising alarm and anti-migration politics in Europe. Nearly 47,000 migrants arrived on boats in the Canaries last year, a record “fueled by departures from Mauritania, even as flows from other departure points declined,” according to the EU border agency Frontex. Almost 6,000 were unaccompanied children under 18.

Tracking deaths at sea is difficult, but the Spanish nonprofit Walking Borders says at least 6,800 people died or went missing while attempting the crossing last year. Conditions are so harsh that boats drifting off course can end up in Brazil or the Caribbean.

Though many praise initiatives that fulfill migrants and refugees’ overlooked needs, few believe they will be effective in discouraging departures for Europe — even the head of the group that runs the Nouadhibou school.

“We can’t stop migration,” said Amsatou Vepouyoum, president of the Organization for the Support of Migrants and Refugees, the city’s leading migrant aid group. “But through raising awareness, we want to improve the conditions under which people leave.”

Preparing for an uncertain future

The organization years ago surveyed the migrant population and found that education was one of the biggest barriers to integration in Mauritania.

Bill Van Esveld, a children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that’s true around the world. Many countries that migrants and refugees pass through erect bureaucratic hurdles to school access, he said.

“Without literacy or numeracy, how can you advocate for yourself as someone who has human rights in today’s world?” Van Esveld said.

Mauritania’s Education Ministry in a January directive affirmed that refugee children have the right to attend public school. But that hasn’t applied for many migrants who don’t qualify as refugees and face difficulty enrolling because they lack birth certificates, residency papers or school records.

The school for Nouadhibou’s migrant and refugee children ages 5 to 12 runs parallel to Mauritania’s school system and teaches a similar curriculum as well as Arabic, aiming to integrate children into public classrooms by sixth grade.

Families often don’t plan to stay in Mauritania, but parents still describe the school as a lifeline for kids’ futures, wherever they will be.

“Sometimes life’s circumstances leave you somewhere, so you adapt, and what ends up happening leads you to stay,” Vepouyoum said.

Weak oversight and worried parents

From Europe’s perspective, funneling aid toward such initiatives is part of a larger effort to persuade people not to migrate. Some experts say it also demonstrates a disconnect between political goals and on-the-ground realities.

“The European Union always announces these big sums, but it’s very difficult to figure out how the money is actually spent,” said Ulf Laessing, the Sahel program director at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German think tank.

Both the school and the Organization for the Support of Migrants and Refugees have had their work highlighted by the EU and member states, along with United Nations agencies. None have said how much money they have spent on the school or on other programs aimed at migrants in Mauritania.

The school said it also charges students based on what families can afford so it can pay rent on its two-story cinderblock building and utilities, Vepouyoum said.

But four parents, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they worried about their children getting kicked out, said the baseline monthly fee of $15 per child was too much.

“If you can’t pay, they’ll kick you out,” a father of two students from Mali said.

He said many parents want to give children opportunities they lacked in their home countries. He has heard from other parents that enrolling in school is easier in the Canary Islands, but limited access to education is also a problem there.

The school in Nouadhibou says it has educated over 500 students. It has not tracked the number who continue on toward Europe.

Pressures to move on

Times are changing in Nouadhibou. Community leaders and business owners worry that increasing competition for jobs has fueled suspicion toward foreign-born communities.

That includes workers from neighboring Senegal and Mali who settled in the city years ago. Aid groups say outreach is easier among long-term migrants because newcomers worry about drawing attention to themselves — sometimes because they’re looking for smugglers to help them move on, said Kader Konate, a community leader from Mali. 

Many migrants say they just need help.

“We are doing this because we feel have no other choice,” Boureima Maiga said.

The 29-year-old graduate with a teaching degree fled Mali as extremist violence escalated. On many days, he waits at the Nouadhibou port alongside hundreds of other migrants, hoping for work in fish factory “cold rooms.”

But without residency or work visas, they are often turned away, or have pay withheld — an abuse they fear would bring retaliation if reported.

Maiga feels trapped in a country where deep racial divisions between Arab and Black Africans make integration nearly impossible, with discrimination by employers widespread. He is unsure where to go next.

“Just let me work. I can do a lot of jobs,” he said. “Everyone knows how to do something.”

Meanwhile, every day, he picks up his nieces at a Catholic school, hoping it will give them a life beyond such worries. 
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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will sign a deal giving the United States substantial rights to Kyiv’s lucrative rare earth minerals and to compensate Washington for weapons sent to Ukraine to fight Russia’s three-year war of aggression.  

Trump, at the first Cabinet meeting of his new presidential term, said that Zelenskyy will be at the White House on Friday to sign the pact and for discussions about the state of the war. 

Trump said the deal “brings us great wealth,” but said his first goal is to end the war, which has killed or wounded several hundred thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians. 

“My No. 2 thing is to get paid back,” Trump said of the more than $100 billion in munitions Washington has shipped to Kyiv to support its fighters. “Without our equipment, that [war] would have been over very quickly,” with Russia overrunning Ukraine.  

As it is, Russia now controls about a fifth of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory and has vowed to not give any of it back in a would-be peace settlement. 

Trump said he expects to eventually reach a deal with Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the fighting. Trump initiated talks with Putin about ending the conflict but the first discussions last week between the top U.S. and Russian diplomats, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, excluded Ukrainian and European officials.   

“Because I got elected, this war is going to come to an end,” Trump declared. He said Putin “had no intention of settling this. We’re going to have a deal.”   

But he said Ukraine “could forget about” joining NATO, the West’s main military alliance, as part of a peace settlement.  

In Kyiv, Zelenskyy said at a news conference that the framework for the rare earth mineral deal was complete, but that U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine that the Kyiv government views as vital have yet to be settled. 

Trump has long expressed skepticism about continued U.S. military support for Ukraine. Last year, he refused to say he wants Ukraine to win the war.  

Trump has called Zelenskyy a dictator, without blaming Putin for the invasion.   

The U.S. leader has said he is particularly peeved that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, agreed to the Ukraine military assistance without any provision that Ukraine would pay back the cost. Biden led the coalition of Western allies in providing the military aid as a way to fight Russian aggression without sending their own troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces. 

 Zelenskyy says the U.S. military aid was a grant and not a loan that needed to be repaid but now has agreed to the deal for the rare earth minerals needed for manufacturing technology products.  

Zelenskyy said he expects to have wide-ranging substantive discussions with Trump.  

“I want to coordinate with the U.S.,” Zelenskyy said.  

The Ukrainian leader said he wants to know whether the U.S. plans to halt military aid and, if so, whether Ukraine would be able to purchase weapons directly from the U.S. He also wants to know whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for weapons investments and whether Washington plans to lift its economic sanctions on Russian entities and high-level associates and friends of Putin.  

Elements of the deal

Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the country’s public television channel that the agreement sets out the terms and conditions of an investment fund for the rebuilding of Ukraine.

Under terms of the deal, the plan would include investing 50% of proceeds from Ukraine’s minerals, oil and gas to create a “stable and economically prosperous Ukraine” if the war is ended, and half to a U.S.-controlled fund.  

The New York Times reported the economic agreement includes a line that says the U.S. “supports Ukraine’s effort to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace,” but does not spell out details on what that might entail.  

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting with Trump on Wednesday in Washington to spell out a European initiative for a 30,000-person peacekeeping force to enforce a Russian ceasefire with Ukraine if such a truce can be reached, although no peace talks have been scheduled.  

European leaders have said a peacekeeping force would require an American “backstop” of military assistance, such as American satellite surveillance, air defense or air force support. Trump has not committed the U.S. to such a plan but on Wednesday called the peacekeeping force “a good thing.”  

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 

 
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PARIS — France’s foreign minister said Wednesday that he wanted “all” European countries to cooperate and start cutting back visas available to nationals of countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants expelled by Paris.

Jean-Noel Barrot spoke after an Algerian-born man went on a stabbing rampage in the eastern French city of Mulhouse at the weekend, killing one person and wounding several others in what President Emmanuel Macron called an “Islamist terrorist act.”

The 37-year-old suspect was on a terrorism watch list and subject to a deportation order.

France had attempted to expel him multiple times, but Algeria refused to cooperate, French authorities say.

“If a country does not cooperate with the French authorities, I will propose that all European countries restrict the issuing of visas at the same time,” Barrot told broadcaster France 2.

“When we do it on a national level, it doesn’t work unfortunately,” he added.

But if foreign governments cooperate, the European Union also could consider reducing customs tariffs for such countries, Barrot proposed.

“It is a particularly powerful lever,” he said.

French authorities are seeking to tighten immigration policies and border controls, in a move emblematic of the right-ward shift in French politics.

“If we want our migration policy to be as effective as possible, there are many things that will be much more effective if we do it at a European level,” he said.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was set later Wednesday to chair a meeting on immigration controls.

Bayrou has called for a national debate on immigration and what it means to be French, suggesting that immigrants were “flooding” France.
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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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