Anticipation is growing in Russia for a summit – yet to be scheduled – between U.S. President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. On the streets of Moscow, many Russians welcome what they see as a thaw in relations with Washington, and what some hope is the beginning of the end of their country’s isolation from the West. Jonathan Spier narrates this report.
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Category: United States
United States news. The U.S. national government is a presidential constitutional republic and liberal democracy with three separate branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. It has a bicameral national legislature composed of the House of Representatives, a lower house based on population; and the Senate, an upper house based on equal representation for each state
North Korea behind $1.5 billion crypto theft, FBI says
WASHINGTON — The U.S. FBI on Wednesday accused North Korea of being behind the theft of $1.5 billion worth of digital assets last week, the largest crypto heist in history.
“(North Korea) was responsible for the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit,” the FBI said in a public service announcement.
The bureau said a group called TraderTraitor, also known as the Lazarus Group, was behind the theft.
It said they were “proceeding rapidly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and other virtual assets dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains.”
“It is expected these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted to fiat currency,” the FBI added.
Lazarus Group gained notoriety a decade ago when it was accused of hacking into Sony Pictures as revenge for The Interview, a film that mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea’s cyber-warfare program dates back to at least the mid-1990s.
It has since grown to a 6,000-strong cyber-warfare unit known as Bureau 121 that operates from several countries, according to a 2020 U.S. military report.
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US, Ukraine to sign rare earth minerals deal, Trump says
US President Donald Trump says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be at the White House on Friday to sign an agreement granting the US access to Ukraine’s lucrative rare earth minerals. But Ukraine’s leader says a few outstanding issues remain. White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
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Clint Hill, Secret Service agent who dove to protect Kennedy, dies at 93
Special Agent Clint Hill, a member of the Secret Service detail assigned to protect President John F. Kennedy the day he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, has died at age 93. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh, who interviewed Hill several times over the years, has the story.
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Security experts highlight pros, cons of Ukraine-US minerals deal
Ukraine and the United States are set to sign a landmark minerals agreement, marking a significant step toward strengthening economic ties between the two nations. However, security experts tell VOA that concerns persist about the broader implications of the deal.
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers approved the agreement Wednesday and U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign it.
The deal includes provisions for the co-ownership and management of a post-war reconstruction fund for Ukraine, to which Ukraine will allocate 50% of future revenues from the country’s natural resources.
The agreement states that the U.S. will maintain a “long-term financial commitment to the development of a stable and economically prosperous Ukraine.”
The deal makes no direct reference to efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though, or about future security arrangements for the Eastern European country, apart from a single line: “The Government of the United States of America supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.”
While the deal aims to unlock Ukraine’s mineral wealth and bolster its economic recovery, security experts warn it may fall short in addressing Ukraine’s ongoing security challenges amid continued Russian aggression.
American business perspective
Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, explained to VOA by telephone that the deal aims to establish a new American-Ukrainian fund, focusing on state-owned enterprises and Ukraine’s rich subsoil resources, including gas, oil, and critical minerals.
A representative of American business in Ukraine, Hunder expressed optimism about the agreement’s potential impact: “We’re excited. Professional fund managers can turn these enterprises profitable very quickly. This is a win-win for both Ukrainian and American taxpayers,” he told VOA on Wednesday.
Hunder said the fund could unlock profits rapidly by introducing professional management to Ukraine’s state-owned enterprises, which currently face mismanagement issues.
“Ukraine has the second highest number of state-owned enterprises in the world, many of which are being managed, or some are being mismanaged, by the Ukrainian state. So, I think we get new professional fund managers into these entities, and this is where you could seal profits and turn them around very, very quickly,” he said.
Hunder revealed that discussions about Ukrainian economic potential were high on the agenda between the two countries in 2024, “[s]tarting when Senator Lindsey Graham came in March and May of 2024, and we have looked into this, and we see opportunity.”
“To take advantage of this opportunity, the war must end, and this deal, in his view, is a step toward a peaceful solution. I think this is really what the new administration under President Trump is focusing on — finding ways to stop the killing of Ukrainians by the Russians. We do expect a ceasefire this year, in 2025, and now is the time when Ukraine will present the biggest opportunity, the largest recovery, and the reconstruction of a nation in Europe since World War II,” he said to VOA.
Roman Opimakh, former general director of the Ukrainian Geological Survey. agrees the deal could benefit both countries.
It will help the U.S. to diversify its rare metal supply and “decrease dependence on China,” he said. For Ukraine, he said, the deal could enable post-war re-industrialization and economic growth. We can renew the industrial potential of our country and actually increase the role of Ukraine globally,” Opimakh said by phone.
While the deal indicates strong U.S. interest in Ukraine’s economic future, security experts caution that it is not a comprehensive solution to Ukraine’s security challenges.
Former defense minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk, now the chairman of the Center for Defense Strategies in Ukraine, told VOA in a phone call the deal has broader implications: “The U.S. framed this deal as a demonstration of vested interest in Ukraine, signaling support for Ukrainian stability. Investments of this scale serve as anchor investments, potentially attracting more resources to Ukraine’s economy.”
Zagorodnyuk cautioned that economic ties are “not enough” to guarantee Ukrainian sovereignty in the face of Russian aggression. To deter future attacks, Ukraine needs military power — either on its own or in partnership with NATO and European allies, he stated to VOA.
“We recognize that Russia might be attempting to manipulate the situation and convey to Trump’s administration that even if they continue their aggression for any reason, they would still respect American interests or something like that,” he said.
Asked by VOA what Ukraine needs from the U.S. for long-term security, Zagorodnyuk said ideally, the country would have NATO. However, “if NATO isn’t an option, there should be a package that enables Ukraine to defend against aggression. This package must be robust, and that strength needs to be clear to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” he said.
Agreement details
According to VOA sources, who cannot be named because they are not authorized to speak about the matter, negotiations concerning the details of the deal continued right up to the Cabinet ministers’ meeting late Wednesday afternoon, Kyiv time.
According to news reports, Ukraine negotiated more favorable terms than the U.S. originally proposed, bringing down an initial U.S. demand for a $500 billion claim on its natural resources.
The deal does not include explicit U.S. security guarantees, which Kyiv had originally sought. The U.S. will maintain decision-making authority within the fund under its own legal framework, with ownership terms to be defined in later agreements.
Geopolitical ramifications
Despite praising the agreement as a step toward strengthening Ukraine’s economy, Trump sparked controversy recently by labeling Zelenskyy a “dictator” without elections and pressuring him to finalize the deal quickly. The U.S. administration has described the deal as a way for the U.S. to recover tens of billions of dollars in military aid sent to Ukraine.
The question remains whether this economic partnership also can foster lasting peace and stability in Ukraine.
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Ukrainian officials say deadly drone attack hits Kyiv region
Ukrainian officials said Wednesday a Russian drone attack killed at least one person and injured two others in the Kyiv region.
Kyiv Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said on Telegram that the attack also damaged five houses and four multi-story residential buildings.
Fragments from destroyed drones damaged apartment buildings, a university building, and a theater in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, the regional governor said Wednesday.
Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it shot down 110 of the 177 drones that Russian forces used in their latest overnight attacks.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday its air defenses destroyed 130 Ukrainian drones, more than half of which were shot down over the Krasnodar region located along the Black Sea.
Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram that the attacks damaged homes in three districts but did not hurt anyone.
Russian air defenses also shot down drones over Russia-occupied Crimea, the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea and Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions, the Defense Ministry said.
Some information for this story was provided by Reuters
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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 hereUS 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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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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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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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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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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Trump says Dan Bongino to be FBI deputy director
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said in a post on social media Sunday that Dan Bongino, a conservative talk show host, will be deputy director of the FBI.
Bongino will join Kash Patel, who was recently confirmed by the Senate as director of the FBI. Trump said Bongino was named to the role by Patel. The position does not require Senate confirmation.
“Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice!” Trump posted on his social media network, Truth Social, calling Bongino “a man of incredible love and passion for our Country.”
Bongino was previously a New York City police officer, and a member of the U.S. Secret Service. He most recently had been known as a conservative radio host and podcaster.
Trump said in his post that Bongino is “prepared to give up” his program as he steps into the new role. “The Dan Bongino Show” was most recently the 56th-ranked podcast in the United States, according to Spotify.
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Trump administration fires 2,000 USAID workers, puts thousands of others on leave
Washington — The Trump administration said Sunday that it was placing all but a fraction of staffers at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave worldwide and eliminating 2,000 U.S.-based staff positions.
The move was the latest and one of the biggest steps yet toward what President Donald Trump and cost-cutting ally Elon Musk say is their goal of gutting the six-decade-old aid and development agency in a broader campaign to slash the size of the federal government.
The move comes after a federal judge on Friday allowed the administration to move forward with its plan to pull thousands of USAID staffers off the job in the United States and around the world. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected pleas in a lawsuit from employees to keep temporarily blocking the government’s plan.
“As of 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 23, 2025, all USAID direct hire personnel, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs, will be placed on administrative leave globally,” according to the notices sent to USAID workers that were viewed by The Associated Press.
At the same time, the agency said it was beginning a reduction in force that would eliminate 2,000 U.S.-based staffers. That means many of the Washington-based staffers who are being placed on leave would soon have their positions eliminated.
The Trump appointee running USAID, deputy administrator Pete Marocco, has indicated he plans to keep about 600 mostly U.S.-based staffers on the job in the meantime, in part to arrange travel for USAID staffers and families abroad.
USAID and the State Department did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
The move escalates a monthlong push to dismantle the agency, which has included closing its headquarters in Washington and shutting down thousands of aid and development programs worldwide following an effort to freeze all foreign assistance. Trump and Musk contend that USAID’s work is wasteful and furthers a liberal agenda.
Lawsuits by government workers’ unions, USAID contractors and others say the administration lacks the constitutional authority to eliminate an independent agency or congressionally funded programs without lawmakers’ approval.
The Trump administration efforts upend decades of U.S. policy that aid and development work overseas serves national security by stabilizing regions and economies and building alliances, a critical tool of U.S. “soft power” for winning influence abroad.
The notices of firings and leaves come on top of hundreds of USAID contractors receiving no-name form letters of termination in the past week, according to copies that AP viewed.
The blanket nature of the notification letters to USAID contractors, excluding the names or positions of those receiving them, could make it difficult for the dismissed workers to get unemployment benefits, workers noted.
A different judge in a second lawsuit tied to USAID has temporarily blocked the foreign funding freeze and said this past week that the administration had kept withholding the aid despite his court order and must at least temporarily restore the funding to programs worldwide.
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American Airlines flight from New York to Delhi lands safely in Rome after security concern
Rome, Italy — An American Airlines flight from New York to New Delhi, India, landed safely in Rome on Sunday afternoon after it was diverted due to a security concern , which later proved to be “non-credible,” the airline said.
American Airlines said Flight 292 “was inspected by law enforcement” after landing at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and “cleared to re-depart.”
It didn’t clarify the cause of the security concern, but added an inspection was required by protocol before the flight could land in New Delhi.
“The flight will stay in Rome overnight to allow for required crew rest before continuing to Delhi as soon as possible tomorrow,” the airline said.
An Associated Press reporter filmed two fighter jets flying over the airport shortly before the unscheduled landing. Fire trucks were visible on the landing strip on one side of the plane after it landed.
The airport continued to operate normally, a spokesman with Rome’s airport said.
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Kremlin hails Putin-Trump dialogue as promising
Moscow — The Kremlin on Sunday hailed dialogue between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — two “extraordinary” presidents — as “promising,” and vowed it would “never” give up territory seized in eastern Ukraine.
Trump broke with Western policy earlier this month by phoning Putin to discuss how to end the Ukraine conflict — a call hailed by Moscow as ending three years of isolation for the Kremlin leader since he launched his full-scale offensive in February 2022.
Top Russian and U.S. officials then met in Saudi Arabia last week to discuss a “restoration” of ties and start a discussion on a possible Ukraine ceasefire — all without the involvement of Kyiv or Europe.
“This is a dialogue between two extraordinary presidents,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV on Sunday.
“That’s promising,” he added.
“It is important that nothing prevents us from realizing the political will of the two heads of state.”
Trump’s overtures to Moscow have triggered alarm in Kyiv and across Europe.
But it is unclear whether his moves will be able to bring Moscow and Kyiv closer to a truce.
Peskov on Sunday ruled out any territorial concessions as part of a settlement.
“The people decided to join Russia a long time ago,” he said, referring to Moscow-staged votes in eastern Ukraine held amid the offensive that were slammed as bogus by Kyiv, the West and international monitors.
“No one will ever sell off these territories. That’s the most important thing.”
‘God willed it’
Putin said God and fate had entrusted him and his army with “the mission” to defend Russia.
“Fate willed it so, God willed it so, if I may say so. A mission as difficult as it is honorable — defending Russia — has been placed on our and your shoulders together,” he told servicemen who have fought in Ukraine.
Russia was on Sunday marking Defender of the Fatherland Day — a holiday hailing soldiers and veterans — a day before the three-year anniversary of the start of its full-scale offensive.
“Today, at the risk of their lives and with courage, they are resolutely defending their homeland, national interests and Russia’s future,” Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin.
Moscow’s army had overnight launched a record 267 attack drones at Ukraine, Kyiv’s air force said.
Among them, 138 were intercepted by air defense and 119 were “lost.”
Ukraine did not say what happened to the remaining 10 but a separate armed forces statement on Telegram said several regions, Kyiv included, had been “hit.”
AFP journalists in the Ukrainian capital heard air defense systems in operation throughout the night.
‘Inappropriate remarks’
Amid his outreach to Moscow, Trump has also verbally attacked Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy falsely claiming Kyiv started the war and that Zelensky was hugely unpopular at home.
The bitter war of words has threatened to undermine Western support for Kyiv at a critical juncture in the conflict.
Zelenskyy on Sunday called for the Western coalition that has been helping Kyiv fend off the Russian offensive for the last three years to hold strong.
“We must do our best to achieve a lasting and just peace for Ukraine. This is possible with the unity of all partners: we need the strength of the whole of Europe, the strength of America, the strength of all those who want lasting peace,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Moscow has reveled in the spat between Trump and Zelensky.
“Zelenskyy makes inappropriate remarks addressed to the head of state. He does it repeatedly,” Peskov said Sunday.
“No president would tolerate that kind of treatment. So his [Trump’s] reaction is completely quite understandable.”
Scrambling to respond to Trump’s dramatic policy reversal, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington next week to make the case for supporting Ukraine.
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New FBI Director Patel will also be named acting head of firearms agency, official says
WASHINGTON — New FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to be named the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a Justice Department official said Saturday.
Patel could be sworn in next week, the official said, putting Patel in charge of two of the Justice Department’s largest agencies in an unusual arrangement that raises questions about the future of the bureau that has long drawn the ire of conservatives.
The Justice Department official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the move before it’s announced publicly. White House officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday evening.
Patel was sworn in Friday as FBI director after winning Senate approval despite Democrats’ concerns about the steadfast Trump ally’s plans to radically overhaul the FBI.
ATF is a separate agency with about 5,500 employees and is responsible for enforcing the nation’s laws around firearms, explosives and arson. Among other things, it’s in charge of licensing federal firearms dealers, tracing guns used in crimes and analyzing intelligence in shooting investigations.
The move was first reported Saturday by ABC News.
The news comes days after Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ATF’s top lawyer. Bondi said in a Fox News interview Friday that she fired chief counsel Pamela Hicks because the agency was “targeting gun owners.” Hicks, who spent more than 20 years as a Justice Department lawyer, said in a social media post that being ATF chief counsel was the “highest honor” of her career.
Conservatives have long railed against ATF over its role in regulating firearms and have suggested shuttering the agency. Under the Biden administration, the ATF advanced new regulations aimed at cracking down on ghost guns and requiring thousands more firearms dealers to run background checks on buyers at gun shows or other places outside brick-and-mortar stores.
In an executive order earlier this month, President Donald Trump directed the attorney general to review all actions taken by the Biden administration around firearms “to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.”
Gun safety groups have raised alarm about putting Patel in charge of the FBI, with gun control group Brady calling him a “known gun rights extremist.” Gun Owners of America, a gun rights group, called his confirmation as FBI director “a major victory for gun owners and constitutional rights advocates nationwide.”
The last confirmed ATF director was Steve Dettelbach, a former federal prosecutor, who led the agency from July 2022 until last month. He was the first confirmed director since 2015 as both Republican and Democratic administrations failed to get nominees through the politically fraught process.
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US, Uzbekistan reaffirm commitment to Central Asia security
WASHINGTON — As the Trump administration begins to engage with Central Asia, Uzbekistan has expressed eagerness to expand its strategic partnership, highlighting what it calls its “enhanced” political dialogue on bilateral and regional issues and security cooperation, including its “solid connection” with the Mississippi National Guard.
The U.S. recently got back its seven Black Hawk helicopters from Uzbekistan that Afghan military pilots had flown there in 2021 while fleeing the Taliban.
This transfer and other bilateral exchanges within the last month have underscored Tashkent’s role as Washington’s key partner in Central Asia, according to U.S. officials. However, analysts see the military relationship as largely transactional and shaped by geopolitical complexities and regional tensions.
Talk between diplomats
In a phone conversation on February 21 with Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated U.S. support for the country’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, according to State Department’s spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
They discussed a joint effort through the C5+1 diplomatic platform, launched nearly a decade ago between Washington and five Central Asian republics. The Trump administration is interested in using this platform to support “a more peaceful and prosperous Central Asia.”
Saidov described his talk with Rubio as “candid and productive,” aiming to expand the “strategic partnership between our nations in all spheres without an exception. Building strong bridges between business communities, increasing trade volume in both directions, ensuring prosperous development in Central Asia.”
Cooperation with Pentagon, ties with Mississippi
Uzbek Ambassador Furqat Sidikov says his country’s forces “have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Mississippi National Guard in the best ways,” citing joint exercises and Pentagon-sponsored professional exchanges.
“We are a reliable partner of the United States in the region,” Sidikov said at a January 31 embassy reception, pointing to defense reforms and improvements in the Uzbek military’s equipment.
Mississippi National Guard Adjutant General Major General Bobby Ginn emphasized at the event that since 2012, the partnership has facilitated more than 170 engagements between U.S. and Uzbek soldiers, strengthening disaster response and readiness.
“Uzbekistan’s commitment to regional stability and contributions to counterterrorism efforts and border security” demonstrate the power of its armed forced, Ginn said.
Davis Florick, the Pentagon’s acting principal director for Eurasia, also attending the reception, thanked Tashkent for “storing” U.S. aircraft and diligently working with the U.S. toward the mutually beneficial solution. He confirmed that the seven Black Hawks were part of a fleet from Afghanistan that, according to multiple sources, included 24 helicopters, among them Mi-17s and UH-60s, and 22 fixed-wing aircraft, most of which were transferred to Uzbekistan last year.
Another high-level Pentagon official, Rear Admiral Erin Osborne, speaking at the same gathering, praised Uzbekistan as a “critical ally” that offered its airspace and an air base during the initial years of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan. The republic was also part of Pentagon’s Northern Distribution Network, delivering nonmilitary goods to the international coalition fighting in the neighboring country.
Osborne said that mutual trust and understanding were reflected in “capacity-building initiatives and the sharing of intelligence to counter common threats.”
The U.S., she added, is committed to working with Uzbekistan “to ensure its stability and sovereignty, as well as the stability and sovereignty of the entire Central Asian region.”
The Taliban and the Afghanistan factor
Even though the transfer of the Black Hawks back to the U.S. was disclosed at the embassy event, Uzbek officials have been tight-lipped about this collaboration to avoid any tension with the Taliban, which has condemned the handovers as an infringement on Afghanistan’s sovereignty. The Taliban’s Defense Ministry issued a statement denouncing the transfer as “unacceptable” and demanding the return of the aircraft.
Eighteen U.S. aircraft also ended up in Tajikistan in 2021, but Washington and Dushanbe have yet to settle the matter.
During a visit to the region in June 2022, U.S. Central Command commander General Michael Kurilla said the aircraft would not be returned to Afghanistan “because they do not belong to the Taliban … Our hope is to be able to hand over some or all of the aircraft to the Tajik government.”
Washington analysts view Uzbekistan as the most active U.S. military partner in the region, comparing it with the activities other republics in Central Asia have with their state partners, specifically Kazakhstan with Arizona, Tajikistan with Virginia, and Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan with Montana.
Still, they characterize Tashkent-Washington security relationship as more transactional than strategic.
“The Uzbeks want training and equipment. What do we want from them? A reliable partner in the region,” a former U.S. official with deep experience in Central Asia told VOA. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity for professional reasons.
The U.S. has trained Uzbek pilots to operate and maintain the transferred aircraft, but continued congressional funding — amounting to several million dollars — is crucial for sustained cooperation.
“There will be questions from Congress, of course,” the former official said. “The primary justification so far has been that these assets would help counter extremists from Afghanistan.”
Meanwhile, experts in Tashkent support Uzbekistan’s cautious approach to the Taliban. As officials have said, Uzbekistan will engage with whoever governs Afghanistan. While it does not officially recognize the Taliban, the administration of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has forged stable diplomatic relations with Kabul, holds significant investment and business agreements with the country, and provides humanitarian aid to the Afghan people. Last summer, Uzbekistan opened a free economic zone in the city of Termez on the border with Afghanistan, inviting neighbors to foster entrepreneurial cooperation.
U.S. interests and Central Asian security
The U.S. maintains military cooperation agreements with each Central Asian republic, with plans reviewed annually and subject to funding approval.
Despite intelligence-sharing efforts, there is no U.S.-Uzbekistan overflight agreement. Tashkent does not allow its territory to be used for strikes on neighboring soil, even against terrorist targets.
“The Trump administration may question this,” said the former U.S. official. “It complicates the case for cooperation with Uzbekistan because they’re centrally located, yet we must fly around them. It’s hard to justify what we’re getting in return.”
For years, the U.S. has also supported regional border security initiatives.
“That’s the big program,” the former U.S. official said, but added: “How many terrorists have we stopped? How many have been disrupted, killed, or captured? Do we have those hard numbers? We are still in the nascent stages of setting up the program.”
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Trump urges Musk to be more aggressive in bid to shrink US government
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday urged billionaire Elon Musk to be more aggressive in his efforts to shrink the federal government despite the uproar over layoffs and deep spending cuts.
“Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive,” Trump posted all in uppercase letters on his Truth Social platform. “Remember, we have a country to save, but ultimately, to make greater than ever before. MAGA!”
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — an entity created by Trump — has swept across federal government agencies, firing tens of thousands of federal government workers, from scientists to park rangers, mostly those on probation.
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VOA Spanish: Venezuela receives more deportees from the US
A total of 177 Venezuelan migrants were deported by the United States from the Guantanamo naval base, where they were detained, in another sign of cooperation between these historically feuding countries.
Click here for the full story in Spanish.
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Los Angeles mayor ousts fire chief for response to deadly fires
LOS ANGELES — Six weeks after the most destructive wildfire in city history, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ousted the city’s fire chief Friday amid a public rift over preparations for a potential fire and finger-pointing between the chief and City Hall over responsibility for the devastation.
Bass said in a statement that she is removing Chief Kristin Crowley immediately.
“Bringing new leadership to the Fire Department is what our city needs,” Bass said in a statement.
“We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch,” Bass disclosed. She added that the chief refused a request to prepare an “after-action report” on the fires, which she called a necessary step in the investigation.
The Palisades Fire began during heavy winds Jan. 7, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people in the Los Angeles neighborhood.
Another wind-whipped fire started the same day in suburban Altadena, a community to the east, killing at least 17 people and destroying or damaging more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.
Bass has been facing criticism for being in Africa as part of a presidential delegation on the day the fires started, even though weather reports had warned of dangerous fire conditions in the days before she left.
In televised interviews this week, Bass acknowledged she made a mistake by leaving the city. But she inferred she wasn’t aware of the looming danger when she flew around the globe to attend the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. She faulted Crowley for failing to alert her to the potentially explosive fire conditions.
Crowley has publicly criticized the city for budget cuts that she said made it harder for firefighters to do their jobs.
Crowley was named fire chief in 2022 by Bass’ predecessor at a time when the department was in turmoil over allegations of rampant harassment, hazing and discrimination. She worked for the city fire department for more than 25 years and held nearly every role, including fire marshal, engineer and battalion chief.
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US tax agency fires 6,000 amid federal government downsizing
A tearful executive at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service told staffers on Thursday that about 6,000 employees would be fired, a person familiar with the matter said, in a move that would eliminate roughly 6% of the agency’s workforce in the midst of the busy tax-filing season.
The cuts are part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping downsizing effort that has targeted bank regulators, forest workers, rocket scientists and tens of thousands of other government employees. The effort is being led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump’s biggest campaign donor.
Musk was on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, when Argentine President Javier Milei, known for wielding a chain saw to illustrate his drastic policies slashing government spending, handed him one.
“This is the chain saw for bureaucracy,” said Musk, holding the power tool aloft as a stage prop to symbolize the drastic slashing of government jobs.
Labor unions have sued to try to stop the mass firings, under which tens of thousands of federal workers have been told they no longer have a job, but a federal judge in Washington on Thursday ruled that they can continue for now.
Christy Armstrong, IRS director of talent acquisition, teared up as she told employees on a phone call that about 6,000 of their colleagues would be laid off and encouraged them to support each other, a worker who was on the call said.
“She was pretty emotional,” the worker said.
The layoffs are expected to total 6,700, according to a person familiar with the matter, and largely target workers at the agency hired as part of an expansion under Democratic President Joe Biden, who had sought to expand enforcement efforts on wealthy taxpayers. Republicans have opposed the expansion, arguing that it would lead to harassment of ordinary Americans.
The tax agency now employs roughly 100,000 people, compared with 80,000 before Biden took office in 2021.
Independent budget analysts had estimated that the staff expansion under Biden would work to boost government revenue and help narrow trillion-dollar budget deficits.
“This will ensure that the IRS is not going after the wealthy and is only an agency that’s really focused on the low income,” said University of Pittsburgh tax law professor, Philip Hackney, a former IRS lawyer. “It’s a travesty.”
Those fired include revenue agents, customer-service workers, specialists who hear appeals of tax disputes, and IT workers, and impact employees across all 50 states, sources said. The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.
The IRS has taken a more careful approach to downsizing than other agencies, given that it is in the middle of the tax-filing season. The agency expects to process more than 140 million individual returns by the April 15 filing deadline and will retain several thousand workers deemed critical for that task, one source said.
The Trump administration’s federal layoffs have focused on workers across the government who are new to their positions and have fewer protections than longer-tenured employees.
Meanwhile, the Trump White House is also preparing to dissolve the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service and absorb the independent agency into the Commerce Department, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Waiting for dismissal email
At the IRS’s Kansas City office, probationary workers found all functions had been disabled on their computers except email, which would deliver their dismissal notices, said Shannon Ellis, a local union leader.
“What the American people really need to understand is that the funds that are collected through the Internal Revenue Service, they fund so many programs that we use every day in our society,” Ellis told Reuters.
The White House has not said how many of the nation’s 2.3 million civil-service workers it wants to fire and has given no numbers on the mass layoffs. Roughly 75,000 took a buyout offer last week.
The campaign has delighted Republicans for culling a federal workforce they view as bloated, corrupt and insufficiently loyal to Trump, while also taking aim at government agencies that regulate big business — including those that oversee Musk’s companies SpaceX, Tesla and Neuralink.
The small unit within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that regulates the kind of autonomous cars that Musk says are the future of Tesla is losing nearly half of its staff, the Post reported on Thursday.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team has also canceled contracts worth about $8.5 billion involving foreign aid, diversity training and other initiatives opposed by Trump. Both men have set a goal of cutting at least $1 trillion from the $6.7 trillion federal budget, though Trump has said he will not touch popular benefits programs that make up roughly one-third of that total.
Democratic critics have said Trump is exceeding his constitutional authority and hacking away at popular and critical government programs at the expense of legions of middle-class families.
Most Americans worry the cost-cutting could hurt government services, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday.
Some agencies have struggled to comply with the rapid-fire directives Trump has issued since taking office a month ago. Workers who oversee U.S. nuclear weapons were fired and then recalled, while medicines and food exports have been stranded in warehouses by Trump’s freeze on foreign aid.
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Vance delivers warning to Europe at conservative gathering
Vice President JD Vance sketched his conservative view of foreign affairs Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, accompanied by foreign politicians who say they support President Donald Trump’s agenda. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
Camera: Anthony LaBruto
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European leaders push back on Trump’s claims Ukraine started war with Russia
The fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued Thursday, with Trump doubling down on his claim Zelenskyy is a dictator because he has not held elections since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has reaction from around the world.
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