Rich in cash, Japan automaker Toyota builds city to test futuristic mobility

Posted on by SeeEA

SUSONO — Woven City near Mount Fuji is where Japanese automaker Toyota plans to test everyday living with robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous zero-emissions transportation.

Daisuke Toyoda, an executive in charge of the project from the automaker’s founding family, stressed it’s not “a smart city.”

“We’re making a test course for mobility so that’s a little bit different. We’re not a real estate developer,” he said Saturday during a tour of the facility, where the first phase of construction was completed.

The Associated Press was the first foreign media to get a preview of the $10 billion Woven City.

The first phase spans 47,000 square meters (506,000 square feet), roughly the size of about five baseball fields. When completed, it will be 294,000 square meters (3.1 million square feet).

Built on the grounds of a shuttered Toyota Motor Corp. auto plant, it’s meant to be a place where researchers and startups come together to share ideas, according to Toyoda.

Ambitious plans for futuristic cities have sputtered or are unfinished, including one proposed by Google’s parent company Alphabet in Toronto; “Neom” in Saudi Arabia; a project near San Francisco, spearheaded by a former Goldman Sachs trader, and Masdar City next to Abu Dhabi’s airport.

Woven City’s construction began in 2021. All the buildings are connected by underground passageways, where autonomous vehicles will scuttle around collecting garbage and making deliveries.

No one is living there yet. The first residents will total just 100 people.

Called “weavers,” they’re workers at Toyota and partner companies, including instant noodle maker Nissin and Daikin, which manufactures air-conditioners. Coffee maker UCC was serving hot drinks from an autonomous-drive bus, parked in a square surrounded by still-empty apartment complexes.

The city’s name honors Toyota’s beginnings as a maker of automatic textile looms. Sakichi Toyoda, Daisuke Toyoda’s great-great-grandfather, just wanted to make life easier for his mother, who toiled on a manual loom.

There was little talk of using electric vehicles, an area where Toyota has lagged. While Tesla and Byd emerged as big EV players, Toyota has been pushing hydrogen, the energy of choice in Woven City.

Toyota officials acknowledged it doesn’t expect to make money from Woven City, at least not for years.

Keisuke Konishi, auto analyst at Quick Corporate Valuation Research Center, believes Toyota wants to work on robotic rides to rival Google’s Waymo — even if it means building an entire complex.

“Toyota has the money to do all that,” he said.
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Congo’s president says he’ll create ‘unity government’ as violence spreads

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KINSHASA — Congo’s president says he is going to launch a unity government, as violence spreads across the country’s east and pressure mounts over his handling of the crisis. 

On Saturday, in some of his first statements since M23 rebels captured major cities in eastern Congo, President Felix Tshisekedi, told a meeting of the Sacred Union of the Nation ruling coalition not to be distracted by internal quarrels. 

“I lost the battle and not the war. I must reach out to everyone including the opposition. There will be a government of national unity,” said Tshisekedi. He didn’t give more details on what that would entail or when it would happen. 

M23 rebels — the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control and influence in eastern Congo — have swept through the region seizing key cities, killing some 3,000 people. In a lightning three-week offensive, the M23 took control of eastern Congo’s main city Goma and seized the second largest city, Bukavu. 

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, over 1,000 miles away. 

Rwanda has accused Congo of enlisting ethnic Hutu fighters responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. 

M23 says it’s fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and wants to transform Congo from a failed state to a modern one. Analysts have called those pretexts for Rwanda’s involvement. 

On Saturday, Tshisekedi paid tribute to soldiers who were killed and vowed to prop up the army. 

The DRC government has officially designated the M23 rebel group as a terrorist organization, while the United Nations and the United States classify it as an armed rebel group. 

The DRC government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, a claim that Rwanda denies. 
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Kremlin hails Putin-Trump dialogue as promising 

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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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Russia signs memorandum to build port, oil refinery in Myanmar 

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Moscow — Myanmar and its close ally Russia signed a memorandum on investment cooperation in a special economic zone in Dawei, including construction of a port and an oil refinery, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development said on Sunday.  

The document was signed by the head of the Russian ministry, Maxim Reshetnikov, and Myanmar’s minister for investment and foreign economic relations, Kan Zaw, during a visit of a Russian delegation to the Southeast Asian country.  

“The text of the memorandum contains the basic parameters of several large infrastructure and energy projects that are being implemented jointly with Russian companies in Myanmar,” the Russian ministry cited Reshetnikov as saying in a statement.  

“We are talking about projects to build a port, a coal-fired thermal power plant and an oil refinery.” 

He added that “oil refining is still the most complex element,” and there was no final decision on construction of a refinery. 

“As for the refinery — there is a desire of the Myanmar side to have a refinery. Our companies are still studying the economics of such a project, it is very complicated from the point of view of economic feasibility,” Interfax news agency cited Reshetnikov.  

According to the Russian ministry, the Dawei special economic zone is a 196 square-kilometer project in the Andaman Sea which is planned to house high-tech industrial zones and transport hubs, information technology zones and export processing zones.  

Russia has become Myanmar’s closest ally since the military coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government in February 2021. 

Moscow and Naypyidaw have been discussing a deeper energy cooperation, including Russia’s participation in the construction of a gas pipeline to the Myanmar’s main city Yangon. Russia has also had plans for a nuclear research reactor in the country. 
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Vatican: Ailing Pope Francis ‘rested during a peaceful night’

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ROME — Pope Francis, in critical condition with a complicated lung infection, rested well during a peaceful night following a respiratory crisis and blood transfusions, the Vatican said Sunday.

Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni’s one-line statement didn’t mention if Francis was up or eating breakfast. “The night passed quietly, the pope rested.”

The brief update came after doctors said the 88-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, was in critical condition. On Saturday morning, he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection.

The pope received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.

The Saturday statement also said that the pontiff “continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair although in more pain than yesterday.” Doctors said the prognosis was “reserved.”

Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease.

Main threat facing pope is sepsis

They have warned that the main threat facing Francis would be the onset of sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia. As of Friday, there was no evidence of any sepsis, and Francis was responding to the various drugs he is taking, the pope’s medical team said in their first in-depth update on the pope’s condition.

Saturday’s blood tests showed that he had developed a low platelet count, a condition called platelopenia or thrombocytopenia. Platelets are cell-like fragments that circulate in the blood that help form blood clots to stop bleeding or help wounds heal. Low platelet counts can be caused by a number of things, including side effects from medicines or infections, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Francis, who has chronic lung disease and is prone to bronchitis in winter, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs. They prescribed “absolute rest” and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.

Speculation that Francis might resign

Meanwhile, the Vatican hierarchy went on the defensive to tamp down rumors and speculation that Francis might decide to resign. There is no provision in canon law for what to do if a pope becomes incapacitated. Francis has said that he has written a letter of resignation that would be invoked if he were medically incapable of making such a decision. The pope remains fully conscious, alert, eating and working.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, gave a rare interview to Corriere della Sera to respond to speculation and rumors about a possible resignation. It came after the Vatican issued an unusual and official denial of an Italian media report that said Parolin and the pope’s chief canonist had visited Francis in the hospital in secret. Given the canonical requirements to make a resignation legitimate, the implications of such a meeting were significant, but the Vatican flat-out denied that any such meeting occurred.

Parolin said such speculation seemed “useless” when what really mattered was the health of Francis, his recovery and return to the Vatican.

“On the other hand, I think it is quite normal that in these situations uncontrolled rumors can spread or some misplaced comment is uttered. It is certainly not the first time it has happened,” Parolin was quoted as saying. “However, I don’t think there is any particular movement, and so far I haven’t heard anything like that.”

Holy Year celebrations continue

Deacons, meanwhile, were gathering at the Vatican for their special Holy Year weekend. Francis got sick at the start of the Vatican’s Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism. This weekend, Francis was supposed to have celebrated deacons, a ministry in the church that precedes ordination to the priesthood.

In his place, the Holy Year organizer was to celebrate Sunday’s Mass, the Vatican said. And for the second consecutive weekend, Francis is skipping his traditional Sunday noon blessing, which he could have delivered from Gemelli if he were up to it.

“Look, even though he’s not [physically] here, we know he’s here,” said Luis Arnaldo Lopez Quirindongo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico, who was at the Vatican on Saturday for the Jubilee celebration. “He’s recovering, but he’s in our hearts and is accompanying us, because our prayers and his go together.” 
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Encroaching desert threatens to swallow Mauritania’s homes, history

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CHINGUETTI, MAURITANIA — For centuries, poets, scholars and theologians have flocked to Chinguetti, a trans-Saharan trading post home to more than a dozen libraries containing thousands of manuscripts.

But it now stands on the brink of oblivion.

Shifting sands have long covered the ancient city’s 8th-century core and are encroaching on neighborhoods at its current edge.

Residents say the desert is their destiny. As the world’s climate gets hotter and drier, sandstorms are more frequently depositing centimeters of dunes onto Chinguetti’s streets and in people’s homes, submerging some entirely. Tree-planting projects are trying to keep the invading sands at bay, but so far, they haven’t eased the deep-rooted worries about the future.

Chinguetti is one of four UNESCO World Heritage sites in Mauritania, a West African nation where only 0.5% of land is considered farmable. In Africa — the continent that contributes the least to fossil fuel emissions — only Somalia and Eswatini have experienced more climate change impacts, according to World Bank data.

Mauritanians believe Chinguetti is among Islam’s holiest cities. Its dry stone and mud mortar homes, mosques and libraries store some of West Africa’s oldest quranic texts and manuscripts, covering topics ranging from law to mathematics.

Community leader Melainine Med El Wely feels agonized over the stakes for residents and the history contained within Chinguetti’s walls. It’s like watching a natural disaster in slow motion, he said. “It’s a city surrounded by an ocean of sand that’s advancing every minute,” El Wely, the president of the local Association for Participatory Oasis Management, said. “There are places that I walk now that I remember being the roofs of houses when I was a kid.”

He remembers that once when enough sand blew into his neighborhood to cover the palms used to make roofs, an unknowing camel walking through the neighborhood plunged into what was once someone’s living room.

Research suggests sand migration plays a significant role in desertification. Deserts, including the Sahara, are expanding at unprecedented rates and “sand seas” are being reactivated, with blowing dunes transforming landscapes where vegetation once stood.

“What we used to think of as the worst case scenario five to 10 years ago is now actually looking like a more likely scenario than we had in mind,” said Andreas Baas, an earth scientist from King’s College London who researches how winds and the way they blow sand are changing.

More than three-quarters of the earth’s land has become drier in recent decades, according to a 2024 United Nations report on desertification. The aridity has imperiled ability of plants, humans and animals to survive. It robs lands of the moisture needed to sustain life, kills crops and can cause sandstorms and wildfires.

“Human-caused climate change is the culprit; known for making the planet warmer, it is also making more and more land drier,” the U.N. report said. “Aridity-related water scarcity is causing illness and death and spurring large-scale forced migration around the world.”

Scientists and policymakers are mostly concerned about soils degrading in once-fertile regions that are gradually becoming wastelands, rather than areas deep in the Sahara Desert.

Still, in Chinguetti, a changing climate is ushering in many of the consequences that officials have warned about. Trees are withering, wells are running dry and livelihoods are vanishing.

Date farmers like 50-year-old Salima Ould Salem have found it increasingly difficult to nourish their palm trees, and now have to pipe in water from tanks and prune more thoroughly to make sure it’s used efficiently.

Salem’s neighborhood used to be full of families, but they’ve gradually moved away. Sand now blocks the doorway to his home. It’s buried those where some of his neighbors once lived. And a nearby guesthouse built by a Belgian investor decades ago is now half-submerged in a rippling copper-hued dune.

Though many have departed, Salem remains, aware that each time a member of the community leaves, their home can no long serve as a bulwark and the rest of the community therefore becomes more likely to be swallowed by the desert. “We prefer to stay here. If I leave, my place will disappear,” Salem said.

Acacia, gum and palm trees once shielded the neighborhood from encroaching dunes, but they’ve gradually disappeared. The trees have either died of thirst or have been cut down by residents needing firewood or foliage for their herds to feed on.

Sandstorms are not new but have become increasingly intrusive, each leaving inches or feet in the neighborhoods on the edge of the city, retired teacher Mohamed Lemine Bahane said. Residents use mules and carts to remove the sand because the old city’s streets are too narrow to accommodate cars or bulldozers. When sand piles high enough, some build new walls atop existing structures.

“When you remove the vegetation, it gives the dunes a chance to become more active, because it’s ultimately the vegetation that can hold down the sand so it doesn’t blow too much,” Bahane said.

Bahane has for years taken measurements of the sand deposits and rains and says that Chinguetti has received an annual average of 2.5 centimeters of rainfall over the past decade. As rainfall plummets, trees die, and more sand migrates into town. And with shorter acacia trees submerged in sand, some herders resort to cutting down date palm trees to feed their flocks, further disrupting the ecosystem and date farming economy.

The sands also raise public health concerns for the community breathing in the dust, Bahane said. The solution, he believes, has to be planting more trees both in neighborhoods and along the perimeter of town.

Such “green belts” have been proposed on a continent-wide scale as Africa’s “Great Green Wall” as well as locally, in towns like Chinguetti. Mauritania’s Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Agriculture as well as European-funded NGOs have floated projects to plant trees to insulate the city’s libraries and manuscripts from the incoming desert.

Though some have been replanted, there’s little sign that it has contributed to stopping the desert in its tracks. It can take years for taproots to grow deep enough into the earth to access groundwater.

“We’re convinced that desertification is our destiny. But thankfully, there are still people convinced that it can be resisted,” El Wely, the community leader, said.
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Philippine village battles dengue by offering bounties for mosquitos — dead or alive

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MANILA, PHILIPPINES — A village in the densely populated Philippine capital region launched a battle against dengue Wednesday by offering a token bounty to residents for captured mosquitos — dead or alive.

The unusual strategy adopted by the Addition Hills village in Mandaluyong City reflects growing concern after the nearby city of Quezon declared an outbreak of the mosquito-borne illness over the weekend. Eight more areas reported an upsurge in cases of the potentially deadly viral infection.

At least 28,234 dengue cases have been recorded in the Philippines this year up to Feb. 1, a 40% increase compared to the same period last year, according to health department statistics. Quezon City declared a dengue outbreak Saturday after deaths this year reached 10 people, mostly children, out of 1,769 residents infected.

A urban village of more than 100,000 residents living in crowded neighborhoods and residential condominium towers, Addition Hills has done clean-ups, canal declogging and a hygiene campaign to combat dengue. But when cases spiked to 42 this year and two young students died, village leader Carlito Cernal decided to intensify the battle.

“There was an alarm,” Cernal told The Associated Press. “I found a way.”

Residents will get a reward of one Philippines peso (just over 1 cent) for every five mosquitos or mosquito larva they turn in, Cernal said.

Critics warned the strategy could backfire if desperate people start breeding mosquitoes for the reward. Cernal said that was unlikely because the campaign would be terminated as soon as the uptick in cases eases.

As the campaign began, about a dozen mosquito hunters showed up at the village office. Miguel Labag, a 64-year-old scavenger, handed a jug with 45 dark mosquito larvas squirming in some water and received a reward of nine pesos (15 cents).

“This is a big help,” Labag said, smiling. “I can buy coffee.”

Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection found in tropical countries worldwide. It can cause joint pain, nausea, vomiting and rashes, and in severe cases can cause breathing problems, hemorrhaging and organ failure. While there is no specific treatment for the illness, medical care to maintain a person’s fluid levels is seen as critical.

Officials in another village in Quezon City were considering releasing swarms of frogs to eat mosquitoes.

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said it’s crucial to clean up mosquito breeding sites, and for anyone who might be infected to seek immediate medical attention. Despite an increase in dengue infections, the Philippines has managed to maintain low mortality rates, he said.

Dengue cases surged unexpectedly ahead of the rainy season, which starts in June, likely because of intermittent downpours that have left stagnant pools of water where dengue-causing mosquitos can breed, Health Undersecretary Alberto Domingo said, adding that climate change was likely contributing to off-season downpours.
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New FBI Director Patel will also be named acting head of firearms agency, official says

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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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Macron, Starmer to meet Trump, offer ideas for Ukraine security guarantees

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LONDON/PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington next week amid alarm in Europe over U.S. President Donald Trump’s hardening stance toward Ukraine and overtures to Moscow on the three-year conflict.

The leaders of Europe’s two nuclear powers, who will be traveling separately, are expected to try to persuade Trump not to rush into a ceasefire deal with Vladimir Putin at any cost, keep Europe involved and discuss military guarantees to Ukraine.

Macron, who is trying to capitalize on a relationship with Trump built during their first presidential terms, has said agreeing to a bad deal that would amount to a capitulation of Ukraine would signal weakness to the United States’ foes, including China and Iran.

“I will tell him: deep down you cannot be weak in the face of President (Putin). It’s not you, it’s not what you’re made of and it’s not in your interests,” he said in an hourlong question and answer session on social media ahead of Monday’s visit to the White House.

The visits come amid a rift between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom Trump described as a “dictator.” That has alarmed Kyiv’s European allies, already reeling from a more aggressive U.S. posture on trade, diplomacy and even domestic European politics.

Philip Golub, a professor in international relations at the American University in Paris, said Trump’s rapid-fire moves in his first weeks in office, as well as the rhetoric from other U.S. officials, had been a major shock for the Europeans.

“They could not have expected that somehow within the United States would emerge this ultra-nationalist coalition of forces that would actually challenge Europe’s voice in world affairs in such a stark and strong way,” he told Reuters.

He said Macron believed he had a “historic role to play” in going to Washington to ensure Europe can weigh in on the ultimate negotiations on Ukraine. “Whether he can actually achieve something, however, in this visit is an entirely different matter,” he added.

Starmer, who has also warned the end of the war cannot be a “temporary pause before Putin attacks again,” will be in Washington on Thursday.

Speaking on a Fox News podcast on Friday, Trump said Macron and Starmer had not “done anything” to end the war. “No meetings with Russia!” he said, although he described Macron as “a friend of mine” and Starmer as “a very nice guy.”

However, the two countries are keen to show Trump they are ready to take on a bigger burden for European security.

Britain and France are firming up ideas with allies for military guarantees for Ukraine and their two leaders will seek to persuade Trump to provide U.S. assurances in any post ceasefire deal, Western officials said.

Their respective militaries began initial planning last summer for the post-war scenario, but the discussions accelerated in November after Trump secured the U.S. presidency, a French military official and two diplomats said.

They have also been supported in putting together an array of options by countries like Denmark and the Baltic states as Europeans discuss what they would be ready to do should there be an accord and peacekeepers required, officials said.

While both Britain and France have ruled out sending troops to Ukraine immediately, the plans, still in concept stage, center around providing air, maritime, land and cyber support that would aim to deter Russia from launching any future attacks, Western officials said.

Air and sea assets could be based in Poland or Romania, restoring safe international air space and ensuring the Black Sea remained safe for international shipping, the official said.

Part of the British and French talks center around the possibility of sending European peacekeepers. While U.S. boots on the ground may not be necessary, deterrence in the form of U.S. medium-range missiles and ultimately nuclear weapons will remain crucial.

The options being discussed would center not on providing troops for the frontline or the 2,000-kilometer border which would remain secured by Ukrainian forces, but further to the West, three European diplomats and the military official said.

Those troops could be tasked with protecting key Ukrainian infrastructure such as ports or nuclear facilities to reassure the Ukrainian population. However, Russia has made it clear it would oppose a European presence in Ukraine.

A French military official said there was little sense in talking numbers at this stage because it would depend on what was finally agreed, what international mandate was given and whether non-European troops would also be involved.

“It’s not about the numbers of troops in Ukraine. It’s the ability to mobilize and the ability to arrange everything into a package of interoperability units,” the French official said.

A Western official said that even 30,000 troops could be on the “high side.” 
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US, Uzbekistan reaffirm commitment to Central Asia security

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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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Hundreds of Congolese police join rebels in occupied city

Posted on by SeeAF

Crowds of Congolese police officers who switched to the M23 rebel group sang and clapped in occupied Bukavu city on Saturday, preparing for retraining under the authority of the rebels who are intent on showing they plan to stick around and govern. 

The M23 rebels advanced a week ago into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s second-largest city, which was rocked by looting and unrest as Congolese forces withdrew without a fight. 

The M23’s capture of swaths of eastern Congo and valuable mineral deposits has fanned fears of a wider war and led the United Nations Security Council to demand unanimously Friday that it cease hostilities and withdraw. 

In Bukavu, there was no sign this call would be heeded. The assembled police, wearing brand new uniforms and black berets, were told they would leave for a few days of training and come back to support the M23 rebels. 

“May you come back to us in good shape so that together we can continue to liberate our country,” said Police Commander Jackson Kamba.  

Around 1,800 police officers have surrendered and were going for retraining with 500 more due to do so, said Lawrence Kanyuka, a spokesperson for the AFC rebel alliance that includes the M23 group. 

The Congolese government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The ongoing crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to escalate, with tensions involving the Congolese government, and the M23 rebel group. The DRC government has officially designated the M23 rebel group as a terrorist organization, while the United Nations and the United States classify it as an armed rebel group. 

Several locals expressed skepticism. The M23’s arrival in Bukavu “has paralyzed the entire life of the whole area, even if some activities are resuming in different ways,” said resident Josue Kayeye. “We cannot applaud anything done by force.” 

Congolese troops are under pressure on multiple fronts. The town of Minembwe in the mountains of South Kivu and its airfield were captured Friday by a Tutsi militia allegedly allied with the M23, a local official, a military source and a U.N. source said. A few days earlier, its leader, Colonel Makanika, was killed by a Congolese military drone. 

East African defense chiefs met in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday to discuss the crisis. An internal report on the meeting, seen by Reuters, showed that the group noted that there was “no clear picture of the situation on the ground” amid the escalation and M23’s occupation of major cities and airports.  

The group emphasized the need for direct engagement between all parties to the conflict, according to the report. 

Congo has repeatedly refused to hold talks with M23. 

The ethnic Tutsi-led M23 is the latest in a string of groups to take up arms in the name of Tutsis in Congo. The M23 and neighboring Rwanda reject allegations from Congo that it is a Rwandan proxy bent on looting the east’s reserves of gold and coltan. 
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1 dead, several police officers wounded in knife attack in France

Posted on by SeeEU

STRASBOURG, FRANCE — One person died and two police officers were seriously injured in a knife attack in eastern France on Saturday that occurred during a demonstration, the local prosecutor said.

Three more officers were lightly wounded in the attack in the city of Mulhouse, carried out by a 37-year-old suspect who is on a terror prevention watchlist, prosecutor Nicolas Heitz told AFP.

The list, called FSPRT, compiles data from various authorities on people with the aim of preventing “terrorist” radicalization. It was launched in 2015 following deadly attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices and on a Jewish supermarket.

The suspect attacked local police officers in Mulhouse shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) Saturday afternoon, France’s national antiterror prosecutors’ unit PNAT said in a statement.

A passerby was killed trying to intervene and help police, the prosecutor’s office said.

One of the seriously wounded police officers sustained an injury to the carotid artery, and the other to the thorax, Heitz said.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was expected to travel to the scene of the attack later Saturday.

Police established a security parameter after the attack, which happened shortly before 4 p.m. local time during a demonstration in support of Congo.

According to union sources, the suspect, born in Algeria, has been under judicial supervision and house arrest, and under an expulsion order from France.

“Horror has seized our city,” Mulhouse Mayor Michele Lutz said on Facebook. The incident was being investigated as a terror attack, she said, but “this must obviously still be confirmed by the judiciary.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that the deadly knife attack was “Islamist terrorism,” after France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office confirmed it was investigating the case.

“It is without any doubt an act of Islamist terrorism,” Macron told reporters on the sidelines of the annual French farm show, adding that the interior minister was on his way to Mulhouse.

The suspect has been arrested, the prosecutor’s office said.

Some information in this report is from Reuters.
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Malian army investigates deaths of civilians blamed on soldiers, Wagner group

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BAMAKO, MALI — Mali’s army said it is investigating soldiers who were accused by separatist Tuareg rebels of killing at least 24 civilians earlier this week. It is a rare probe of human rights abuses since the military took power in 2020.

The Front for the Liberation of Azawad, the Tuareg independence movement in the north of the country, accused soldiers and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group of intercepting two civilian transport vehicles bound for Algeria from Gao on Monday, and “coldly executing” at least 24 people among the passengers.

The general staff of the Malian armed forces, without referring to the killings, denounced the “intoxicating campaigns” against the army Wednesday. On Friday, the authorities announced the opening of an investigation into the civilian deaths.

Analysts say it’s unlikely the investigation would fault the troops or the Russian mercenaries.

“The objective of the investigations is going to be more about countering the allegations against [the army] and Wagner, rather than trying to find any wrongdoing by the latter. The conclusion of the investigation is likely to say that those allegations are false,” said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan think tank.

Mali has been in a crisis for more than a decade. In 2020, a military group, riding on popular discontent over attacks by armed jihadi groups, seized power in a coup that toppled the democratically elected president.
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Trump urges Musk to be more aggressive in bid to shrink US government

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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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Pope’s doctors say sepsis could threaten his fight against pneumonia

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ROME — The Vatican carried on with its Holy Year celebrations without the pope Saturday, as Pope Francis battled pneumonia and a complex respiratory infection that doctors say remains touch-and-go and will keep him hospitalized for at least another week.

Francis slept well overnight, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said in a brief early update Saturday.

But doctors have warned that the main threat facing the 88-year-old Francis would be the onset of sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia. As of Friday, there was no evidence of any sepsis, and Francis was responding to the various drugs he is taking, the pope’s medical team said in their first in-depth update on the pope’s condition.

“He is not out of danger,” said his personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone. “So, like all fragile patients, I say they are always on the golden scale: In other words, it takes very little to become unbalanced.”

Francis, who has chronic lung disease, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs. They prescribed “absolute rest” and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.

Carbone, who along with Francis’ personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, organized care for him at the Vatican, acknowledged he had insisted on staying at the Vatican to work even after he was sick “because of institutional and private commitments.” He was cared for by a cardiologist and infectious specialist in addition to his personal medical team before being hospitalized.

Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the head of medicine and surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said the biggest threat facing Francis was that some of the germs that are currently located in his respiratory system pass into the bloodstream, causing sepsis. Sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.

“Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of,” Alfieri told a press conference Friday at Gemelli. “The English say, ‘knock on wood,’ we say ‘touch iron.’ Everyone touch what they want,” he said as he tapped the microphone.

“But this is the real risk in these cases: that these germs pass to the bloodstream.”

“He knows he’s in danger,” Alfieri said. “And he told us to relay that.”

Deacons, meanwhile, were gathering at the Vatican for their special Jubilee weekend. Francis got sick at the start of the Vatican’s Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism. This weekend, Francis was supposed to have celebrated deacons, a ministry in the church that precedes ordination to the priesthood.

In his place, the Holy Year organizer will celebrate Sunday’s Mass, the Vatican said. And for the second weekend in a row, Francis was expected to skip his traditional Sunday noon blessing, which he could have delivered from Gemelli if he were up to it.

“Look, even though he’s not [physically] here, we know he’s here,” said Luis Arnaldo Lopez Quirindongo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico who was at the Vatican on Saturday for the Jubilee celebration. “He’s recovering, but he’s in our hearts and is accompanying us because our prayers and his go together.”

Beyond that, doctors have said that Francis’ recovery will take time and that, regardless, he will have to live with his chronic respiratory problems back at the Vatican.

“He has to get over this infection, and we all hope he gets over it,” said Alfieri. “But the fact is, all doors are open.”
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Vietnam’s railway drive raises risk of mismanagement, debt traps, analysts say

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HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM — Analysts are pointing to management and funding issues for Vietnam’s planned north-south, high-speed rail initiative and express concerns over potential “debt traps” and growing Chinese influence as Beijing funds a railway connecting the two countries.

The comments come as Vietnam is expanding its infrastructure by building railways using Chinese and Vietnamese funding, projects that could help the country’s outlook in the long term. As part of the effort, Vietnam’s National Assembly on Feb. 19 gave near-unanimous approval to legislation allowing the country to use Chinese loans for a new $8.3 billion rail link from the port city of Haiphong to China.

Nguyen Hong Minh, then the transport minister, announced Vietnam’s plans to use the Chinese loans for the 391-kilometer passenger and freight line from Lao Cai on the Chinese border and passing through Hanoi.

“Vietnam’s current railway system is outdated, and the country needs a new system to support its economic development,” Minh, now the construction minister, said, adding that construction is expected to begin this year and be completed by 2030.

The National Assembly vote followed its November approval of construction of a high-speed railway connecting Hanoi to the country’s southern economic hub, Ho Chi Minh City. That project is Vietnam’s most ambitious infrastructure initiative to date and is projected to cost Vietnam $67 billion. Authorities said construction should begin in 2027 and be completed by 2035.

Ha Hoang Hop, chair of the Hanoi-based Think Tank Viet Know, told VOA on Feb. 17 that while both projects could modernize the country’s transport network and improve its economy, “public sentiment is cautious.”

“There have been several publicly funded railway and infrastructure projects in Vietnam that have led to public frustration due to delays, cost overruns and poor-quality outcomes,” Hop said.

“Public skepticism is also fueled by fears of debt traps associated with Chinese loans,” he said.

Hop cited fear the construction of the high-speed rail project could be dogged by the country’s “historical issues with project management and corruption.”

“There is indeed concern that the north-south, high-speed rail could face similar challenges given the scale and complexity of the project,” Hop said.

Mismanagement and corruption

Albert Tan, associate professor at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, told VOA on Feb. 18 that while Vietnam’s railway modernization will improve the country’s supply chain efficiency, the major problem is corruption.

“The corruption level in Vietnam is so high that when you have that amount of money that the Chinese are pumping in, I’m sure there will always be leakages,” he said.

Tan said railway funds ending up in “someone’s pocket” have caused delays and cost overruns for Vietnam’s two city Metro lines. In 2021, the Chinese-funded Cat Linh-Ha Dong Metro line began running in Hanoi, five years behind its originally planned opening. The first line of the Ho Chi Minh City Metro, primarily funded by Japan, opened in December 2024, six years behind schedule. Costs ballooned for both Metro lines while under construction and delayed payments to contractors slowed the process.

“Somehow the money doesn’t go back to the contractor. Money goes somewhere to other stakeholders,” Tan said.

For the north-south, high-speed rail, Hop said the country is planning to rely on domestic funding with capital likely to come in the form of “government bonds, public investment and possibly some low-interest loans.”

“A $67 billion project will still be a significant challenge requiring careful financial management,” Hop said.

Chinese influence

Hanoi’s decision to pursue domestic funding for its high-speed rail shows the country’s drive to “maintain strategic autonomy,” Hop said. As it looks to Chinese loans for another rail project, though, “there remains a significant portion of the populace wary of increasing economic dependency on China,” he added.

Tran Anh Quan, a Vietnamese social activist currently living in exile, told VOA on Feb. 18 he fears the Chinese-funded railway will leave Hanoi indebted to Beijing and could be a weak point if conflict were to break out between the countries.

“This is definitely a debt trap,” he said. “Expanding the railway to China would be very dangerous if China attacked Vietnam.”

Tan also shared concerns over the “one-way” flow of money. He said the Chinese loans are likely to be paid to Chinese firms that will “retain control over construction and maintenance, with little technology transfer to local engineers.”

Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA that Chinese influence in the region is already “massive.” He said Chinese funding for the Vietnamese railway is in line with Beijing’s goal to expand its influence in Southeast Asia.

The railway “fits right into China’s efforts to link the Mekong region, and to connect them to China,” he wrote in an email.

Kurlantzick said that in Vietnam’s delicate balancing act between Washington and Beijing, China is taking the upper hand as he sees U.S. influence waning with the withdrawal of funding to Vietnam through USAID and weakening public diplomacy more broadly.

“China is by far the dominant economic power in Southeast Asia already, increasingly the dominant security power, and now, with the U.S. giving up its soft power in the region, China will increasingly bolster its soft power in the region, too, making it even more dominant,” Kurlantzick said.

Minh Son To, a research assistant focused on Vietnamese and Chinese politics at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, told VOA February 20 Hanoi has looked to Laos with concern after a China-funded high-speed rail threw the country into an “existential debt crisis.” Still, he said many are eager to see Vietnam develop.

“Any ‘China’ label is bound to evoke some concern, though I wouldn’t overstate that,” he told VOA. “Vietnamese know that they need development and infrastructure, regardless of where it comes from.”
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Amid rising worldwide populism, America’s premier conservative conference goes global

Posted on by SeeEU

WASHINGTON — This week, thousands of conservative politicians, activists and influencers convened outside Washington for the Conservative Political Action Conference, the premier annual gathering of the American right.

The four-day event, hosted by the American Conservative Union since 1974, features U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, among other high-profile speakers from around the world.

Dubbed the “Woodstock for conservatives,” CPAC was once the go-to event for conservative Republicans and presidential hopefuls, with its presidential straw poll serving as a barometer of grassroots support. However, Trump’s political rise in recent years has transformed it into a platform for populism.

Driven by the rise of populist movements globally, the conference has ventured overseas in the past decade. It launched its first international conference in Japan in 2017, expanded to Australia, Brazil and South Korea in 2019, then added Hungary, Mexico and Israel in 2022. Argentina joined the fold last year following the election of populist President Javier Milei.

The international conferences, CPAC says, serve to “unite conservatives from all over the world, strengthen the movement, and challenge globalism.” They are also used for public outreach, recruitment and mobilization, according to a recent paper on CPAC by Grant A. Silverman, a research assistant at George Washington University in Washington.

CPAC’s growing international outreach mirrors a recent surge in far-right populism worldwide. Last year’s foreign speakers included Presidents Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and Javier Milei of Argentina, as well as Prime Minister Victor Orbán of Hungary.

Here’s a look at some of the foreign speakers for this year’s CPAC and what they’re saying:

Javier Milei, Argentine president

Milei, wielding a chain saw, electrified the CPAC crowd Thursday when he shared the stage with billionaire Elon Musk and presented Musk, Trump’s cost-cutting czar, with his signature campaign prop.

“This is the chain saw of bureaucracy,” Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, shouted, waving the tool.

As head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk, who made his first CPAC appearance, is spearheading the Trump administration’s massive governmentwide cost-cutting efforts.

This marks Milei’s third CPAC appearance. The self-styled “anarcho-capitalist” campaigned in 2023 on shrinking Argentina’s government, often brandishing a chain saw at rallies.

At last year’s Washington conference, he vowed to eliminate unnecessary government agencies, declaring, “We will not surrender until we make Argentina great again!”

Speaking at CPAC Argentina in December, Milei declared that the “new winds of freedom are sweeping through the world” and called on allies to fight against “lefties.”

“We must stand together, establishing channels of cooperation throughout the world,” he told the crowd.

Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil

Brazil’s former right-wing president is a CPAC regular. After Bolsonaro lost a reelection bid in 2022, his supporters stormed federal government buildings in an alleged attempt to seize power. Banned from seeking office until 2030, Bolsonaro faces charges of plotting a coup.

His son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, organizes CPAC Brazil. At last year’s conference in Balneario Camboriu, the elder Bolsonaro joined Milei and other right-wing politicians from Latin America to hail conservatism’s global rise and expressed hope for Trump’s return to office.

For his part, Milei used the platform to denounce socialism, saying it restricts liberties and breeds corruption.

Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia

Robert Fico makes his CPAC debut this year. Though he leads a left-wing populist party, he has drawn controversy for his attacks on journalists, immigrants and LGBTQ+ people.

In October, he called journalists “bloody bastards” and threatened new media restrictions. An opponent of same-sex marriage, he has called adoption by gay couples a “perversion.”

During the Ukraine conflict, Fico has opposed European sanctions on Moscow and echoed Moscow’s messaging, drawing comparisons to Hungary’s pro-Kremlin prime minister.

In May, he survived an assassination attempt by a gunman opposed to his stance against military assistance to Ukraine.

Mateusz Morawiecki, former Polish prime minister

After speaking at CPAC Hungary last year, Morawiecki makes his first U.S. appearance this year. He served as prime minister from 2017 to 2023 and is now a leading figure in the opposition Law and Justice Party.

Despite his party’s strong support for Ukraine, Morawiecki maintains close ties with Hungary’s Orban and Spain’s Santiago Abascal, leader of the conservative Vox political party. Abascal is an invited speaker at CPAC.

Immigration is a unifying issue for Europe’s right-wing populists. At last year’s Hungary conference, Morawiecki called Orban his friend and credited his tough response to Europe’s 2015 migration crisis with preventing “chaos” in Europe.

Liz Truss, former British prime minister

The former Conservative Party leader and prime minister made her second CPAC appearance in a row Wednesday. Calling Britain a “failed state” ruled by a socialist government, she called for a Trump-style MAGA movement to save it.

“We want a Trump revolution in Britain,” she said to applause, praising Trump’s second presidency as “the golden age of America.”

Blaming Britain’s decline on unelected bureaucrats, she urged the dismantlement of the “deep state,” a favorite theme among conference attendees.

“We want Elon and his nerd army of muskrats examining the British deep state,” Truss said.

Truss served just 49 days as prime minister and lost her Parliament seat last year. 
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VOA Spanish: Venezuela receives more deportees from the US

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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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From VOA Creole:  Haiti multinational force denies losing members in gunfight

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The Kenyan-led Multinational Support and Security Mission for Haiti denies losing officers during a gunfight with armed gangs in Kenscoff. Spokesperson Godfrey Otunge says news to the contrary published and shared on social media is “propaganda.”

Click here for the full story in Creole. 

 

 
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From VOA Mandarin: Congressman proposes ban on student visas for Chinese nationals

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Congressman Riley Moore recently wrote an op-ed urging the administration to ban all student visas for Chinese nationals to prevent the CCP from using U.S. academic institutions as platforms for espionage. Experts told VOA Mandarin that due to the number of espionage cases Chinese students in the U.S. involved in, it might be more helpful to close the CCP-sponsored Chinese students and scholars’ associations on U.S. campuses.

Click here for the full story in Mandarin.  
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UN Security Council demands rebels withdraw from captured Congolese cities

Posted on by SeeAF

united nations — The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Friday demanding that the M23 rebels in eastern Congo immediately cease hostilities and withdraw from territories they have seized. The council also threatened sanctions on those who prolong the conflict.

France, which drafted the text, said it sends a clear message that there is no military solution to the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The priority is to reach an effective, unconditional and immediate ceasefire agreement,” Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said. “A restoration of dialogue is urgent, with support from mediation at the regional level. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC needs to be respected.”

The resolution also calls on the Rwanda Defense Forces to cease their support “to the M23 and immediately withdraw from DRC territory without preconditions.” Council members accuse the Rwandan Defense Forces of “direct support” of the M23. Rwanda has repeatedly denied allegations that it supports the rebels.

The Security Council also strongly urged the the DRC and Rwanda “to return without preconditions to diplomatic talks as a matter of urgency” and to implement their existing commitments under two regional mediations known as the Luanda and Nairobi processes.

Land grab

Thousands of Rwandan-backed M23 rebels continue to seize territory in the mineral-rich eastern part of the DRC with little resistance from the national army.

Since mid-December, they have focused on the provinces of North and South Kivu, seizing North Kivu’s capital, Goma, in late January and moving to South Kivu’s capital, Bukavu, on February 14. The rebels have also taken control of other important towns, including Masisi, Sake and Nyabibwe, and have established “parallel administrations” in some of the territories they control.

On Friday, the head of the U.N. mission in the eastern DRC said the rebels appear to have their sights set on the capital, Kinshasa.

“Very public declarations and statements by AFC/M23, clearly repeated over time and including last week, show that the intent is to go up to Kinshasa,” Bintou Keita, the U.N. special representative of the secretary-general in the DRC, told reporters in a video briefing from Kinshasa. “It is our understanding, looking at what is going on in North Kivu, but also the onward push towards South Kivu, and we understand they are pushing a bit further to Tanganyika.”

Rwanda alleges that Kinshasa collaborates with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or the FDLR, a Hutu armed group with ties to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an allegation the DRC rejects.

“We believe that any outcome that doesn’t take Rwanda’s security concerns seriously will not offer a sustainable solution to the conflict,” said Rwandan Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo. “The security challenges posed by FDLR and its splinter groups are of very serious concern for Rwanda. DRC must be held accountable for its continued preservation of FDLR, embedding it in its army, equipping the FDLR with sophisticated weapons and using it as an ally and fighting force.”

In its resolution, the council condemned “support provided by DRC military forces to specific armed groups, in particular the FDLR,” calling for it to stop. The council also urged the parties to rapidly implement “the harmonized plan for the neutralization” of the FDLR and the “disengagement of forces from the territory of the DRC.”

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been caught up in the fighting. The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that it needs $40.4 million to assist 275,000 internally displaced people in eastern DRC and to support a potential influx of 258,000 refugees and returnees going to neighboring countries.

The DRC government has officially designated the M23 as a terrorist organization, while the United Nations and the United States classify it as an armed rebel group.

Congolese Ambassador Zenon Ngay Mukongo welcomed the council’s action but said it came late, after weeks of repeated appeals from his government.

“In this particular case, the council’s paralysis gave free rein to the illegal occupation of DRC territory by the Rwandan Defense Forces and their supporters in the AFC/M23,” he said, “in the knowledge that every further day of inaction compromises regional and international peace and security, only strengthens the aggressor, and undermines the United Nations’ credibility.”

On Thursday, the United States unilaterally imposed sanctions on a senior Rwandan official and a spokesperson for a coalition of armed groups that includes the M23 for fueling violence in the eastern DRC.

“We applaud similar actions taken by other member states aimed at compelling Rwanda to return to the negotiating table and bring this violence to an end,” U.S. envoy Dorothy Shea said.

Sierra Leone’s envoy offered a lesson to the parties from his country’s 11-year civil war in the 1990s. Ambassador Michael Kanu said that at some point the parties realized the conflict would not end on the battlefield and that dialogue was the only viable path to sustainable peace.

“We had to talk with each other in good faith and commit to signing a peace agreement with the necessary political will,” Kanu said. “Talking to adversaries is hard. Perhaps a taboo for some. But we do not make peace with friends, but with adversaries.”
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Pope’s condition not life-threatening, but his life is still in danger, doctors say

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Pope Francis’ medical team said Friday that his medical condition was not life-threatening, but that the pontiff was not out of danger.

“If the question is, ‘Is he out of danger?’ the answer is, ‘No,’ ” Sergio Alfieri, the head of the team of doctors at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital taking care of the pope, said. “But if you then ask us if, at this moment, his life is in danger, the answer is [also], ‘No.'”

The doctors said Francis was in good spirits and had maintained his sense of humor. Alfieri said when he greeted the pope Friday in the pope’s hospital suite as “Holy Father,” the pope returned the greeting with “Holy Son.”

Francis, the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics, was admitted to the hospital last week after a case of bronchitis worsened. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with double pneumonia and a complex bacterial, viral and fungal infection, and doctors placed Francis on a strengthened drug therapy.

Francis also has been receiving supplements of oxygen when needed, his doctors said Friday. Alfieri said Francis was not on a ventilator.

Alfieri said there was a possibility that germs from Francis’ respiratory tract could enter his bloodstream, causing sepsis, but there was currently no evidence that it had happened. Sepsis is a complication of an infection that can lead to organ failure and death.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been able to get out of bed and do some work, according to his doctors. They said Francis would remain in the hospital “at least” through next week.

With his hospitalization, there has been speculation about Francis stepping down from his duties as head of the Roman Catholic Church, a post he has held since 2013. His immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was the first pope in 600 years to resign.

In a recent memoir, Francis addressed the possibility of his own resignation if he became incapacitated. He said such a move would be a “distant possibility,” justified only if he were facing “a serious physical impediment.”

However, in 2022, Francis confirmed he wrote a resignation letter not long after becoming pope. He said it was written in case medical issues prevented him from executing his papal duties.

The Catholic faithful around the world have been encouraged to pray for Francis’ rapid recovery. On Friday in the Philippines, a hourlong prayer was held for Francis at the Manila Cathedral. Francis celebrated Mass in a Manila park in 2015, drawing a record-breaking crowd of 6 million, according to official estimates.

Saturday is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, a day commemorating the authority Jesus gave to the pope. Catholics are set to gather outside Gemelli Hospital to pray for Francis’ health, according to the Catholic News Agency.

Some information for this article came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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Los Angeles mayor ousts fire chief for response to deadly fires

Posted on by SeeUS

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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Thousands rally in Slovakia to mark the 2018 slayings of an investigative journalist and his fiancee

Posted on by SeeEU

BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA — Thousands rallied across Slovakia on Friday to mark the seventh anniversary of the slayings of an investigative journalist and his fiancee.

The rallies are part of a wave of protests against the pro-Russia policies of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.

People in Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, observed a minute of silence to honor Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, both age 27. They were shot to death at their home in the town of Velka Maca, east of Bratislava, on Feb. 21, 2018.

The killings prompted major street protests unseen since the 1989 anti-communist Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. The ensuing political crisis led to the collapse of a coalition government headed by Fico.

Kuciak had been investigating possible government corruption, among other issues, when he was killed.

People applauded the parents of Kuciak and the mother of Kusnirova, who greeted them from the stage.

“I believe that our common fight will be successful,” said Jozef Kuciak, the father of Jan.

Marian Kocner, a businessman who had been accused of masterminding the killings, has been acquitted twice. Prosecutors have said they believe Kocner paid the convicted triggerman to carry it out and appealed.

The current anti-government protests are the biggest demonstrations since the 2018 slayings.

They are fueled by Fico’s recent trip to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a rare visit to the Kremlin by a European Union leader since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine began almost three years ago and his recent remarks that Slovakia might leave the 27-nation EU and NATO.

“We’ve had enough of Fico,” people chanted.

The crowds at rallies in 47 towns and cities at home and 16 abroad, according to organizers, demanded Fico’s resignation.

About 10,000 protesters chanted “Resign, resign,” at Freedom Square in Bratislava.

Fico’s views on Russia have sharply differed from the European mainstream. He returned to power last year after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won a parliamentary election in 2023.

He has since ended Slovakia’s military aid for Ukraine, criticized EU sanctions on Russia and vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO. He declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as an enemy after Ukraine halted on Russian gas supplies to Slovakia and some other European customers.
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