SAN FRANCISCO — Social media giant Meta on Thursday announced it would begin testing its new “Community Notes” feature across its platforms on March 18, as it shifts away from third-party fact-checking toward a crowd-sourced approach to content moderation.
Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the new system in January as he appeared to align himself with the incoming Trump administration, including naming a Republican as the company’s head of public policy.
The change of system came after years of criticism from supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, among others, that conservative voices were being censored or stifled under the guise of fighting misinformation, a claim professional fact-checkers vehemently reject.
Meta has also scaled back its diversity initiatives and relaxed content moderation rules on Facebook and Instagram, particularly regarding certain forms of hostile speech.
The initiative, similar to the system already implemented by X (formerly Twitter), will allow users of Facebook, Instagram and Threads to write and rate contextual notes on various content.
Meta said approximately 200,000 potential contributors in the United States have already signed up across the three platforms.
The new approach requires contributors to be over 18 with accounts more than six months old that are in good standing.
During the testing period, notes will not immediately appear on content and the company will gradually admit people from the waitlist and thoroughly test the system before public implementation.
Meta emphasized that the notes will only be published when contributors with differing viewpoints agree on their helpfulness.
“This isn’t majority rules,” the company said.
Moreover, unlike fact-checked posts that often had reduced distribution, flagged content with Community Notes will not face distribution penalties.
Notes will be limited to 500 characters, must include supporting links and will initially support six languages commonly used in the United States: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French and Portuguese.
“Our intention is ultimately to roll out this new approach to our users all over the world, but we won’t be doing that immediately,” the company said.
“Until Community Notes are launched in other countries, the third party fact checking program will remain in place for them,” it added.
Meta said that it would not be “reinventing the wheel” and will use X’s open-source algorithm as the basis of its system.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month warned that the rollbacks to fact-checking and moderation safeguards were “reopening the floodgates” of hate and violence online.
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Deadly Russian aerial attacks hit Ukraine’s Kherson region
Russian aerial attacks overnight killed at least two people in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, officials said Thursday.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram his region came under attack by Russian drones and shelling, and that one other person was injured.
In the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Serhiy Lysak said at least three people were hospitalized after a Russian attack hit the city of Dnipro.
Lysak said on Telegram the attack damaged multiple apartment buildings, including blowing out windows.
Officials in the Sumy region reported Thursday that Russian drones fell on a set of garages, setting about 20 of them on fire.
Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 74 of the 117 drones that Russian forces launched overnight.
The intercepts took place over the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions, the military said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 77 Ukrainian drones, most of them in regions located along the Russia-Ukraine border.
Vladislav Shapsha, governor of the Kaluga region, said the attacks injured one person and damaged an industrial building, a communication tower and a power line.
The Russia military said it destroyed 30 of the drones over Bryansk, while officials in the region reported no damage or casualties.
Russian air defense also shot down drones over Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov and Belgorod, the military said.
The daily aerial attacks continue amid a U.S. push to secure a cease-fire in the conflict. The U.S. has proposed a 30-day halt in fighting, which Ukraine has said it would accept.
U.S. officials are expected to discuss the plan with Russian officials in the coming days.
The latest fighting came as Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to troops in Russia’s western Kursk region Wednesday, ordering soldiers to swiftly retake the region from Ukrainian forces.
Dressed in military fatigues, Putin told the troops he was considering setting up a new buffer zone inside Ukraine’s Sumy region, adjacent to Kursk, to prevent any future Ukrainian incursions.
“Our task in the near future, in the shortest possible timeframe, is to decisively defeat the enemy entrenched in the Kursk region and still fighting here, to completely liberate the territory of the Kursk region, and to restore the situation along the line of the state border,” Putin said. “And of course, we need to think about creating a security zone along the state border.”
Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Taiwan president warns of China’s ‘infiltration’ effort
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Thursday that China has deepened its influence campaigns and infiltration against the democratic island, pledging measures to tackle Beijing’s efforts to “absorb” Taiwan.
Taiwan has accused China of stepping up military drills, trade sanctions and influence campaigns against the island in recent years to force the island to accept Chinese sovereignty claims.
Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting with senior security officials, Lai said Beijing had used Taiwan’s democracy to “absorb” various members of society, including organized crime groups, media personalities, and current and former military and police officers.
“They (China) are carrying out activities such as division, destruction, and subversion from within us,” Lai told a news briefing broadcast live from the presidential office.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Citing government data, Lai said 64 people were charged for Chinese espionage last year, three times more than in 2021. He said the majority of them were current or former military officials.
“Many are worried that our country, hard-earned freedom and democracy and prosperity will be lost, bit by bit, due to these influence campaigns and manipulation,” Lai said.
By making these efforts, Lai said China constituted what Taiwan’s Anti-Infiltration Act defined as “foreign hostile forces.”
The president proposed 17 legal and economic countermeasures, including the strict review of Taiwan visits or residency applications by Chinese citizens, and proposals to resume the work of the military court.
Lai also said his government would make “necessary adjustments” to the flows of money, people and technology across the strait. He did not elaborate.
In addition, he said the government would issue “reminders” to Taiwanese actors and singers performing in China on their “statements and actions,” a response to what Taipei sees as an ongoing Chinese campaign to pressure pop stars to make pro-Beijing comments.
“We have no choice but to take more active actions.”
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.
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EPA announces rollback of dozens of environmental regulations
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced a wave of regulatory rollbacks on Wednesday including a repeal of Biden-era emissions limits on power plants and automobiles, as well as reduced protections for waterways.
The announcements from Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency align with the president’s vows to slash regulations to boost industries from coal to manufacturing and ramp up oil and minerals production. But they are also destined to weaken bedrock environmental rules imposed by past presidencies to protect air and water quality and fight climate change. “Today is the most consequential day of deregulation in American history,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a video message posted on X.
In total, his agency announced more than 30 deregulatory measures in a dizzying succession of press releases. Zeldin started the day by announcing he will narrow the definition of waterways that receive protection under the Clean Water Act — a move that could ease limits on runoff pollution from agriculture, mining, and petrochemicals.
The agency later said it would review the Biden-era clean power plant rule that seeks to reduce carbon emissions from power plants to fight global warming and would also roll back greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy- and light-duty vehicles for model year 2027 and later.
The power and transport industries together make up around half of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and were vital targets in former President Joe Biden’s efforts to slow climate change. The agency also said it will take steps to undo a scientific finding from 2009 that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health, a provision that forms the bedrock of the EPA’s greenhouse-gas regulations so far.
The so-called “endangerment finding” came as a result of a Supreme Court ruling in the 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA case that greenhouse gases are covered by the Clean Air Act.
The EPA under former President Barack Obama finalized the finding in 2009, and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act – Joe Biden’s signature climate law – codified language deeming greenhouse gases are air pollutants.
Obama’s EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Wednesday was “the most disastrous day in EPA history.”
Environmental groups said they will fight the rollback.
“This move won’t stand up in court. We’re going to fight it every step of the way,” said Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. Other environmental groups slammed Trump’s broader deregulation agenda.
“EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is driving a dagger straight into the heart of public health,” said Abel Russ, a director at the Environmental Integrity Project.
Industry groups expressed support for the announcements. “Voters sent a clear message in support of affordable, reliable and secure American energy, and the Trump administration is answering the call,” said Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute.
The National Mining Association, which represents some coal miners, applauded the rollback of the clean power plant rule, saying it was “long overdue” as datacenters and AI increased electricity demand.
Decades of precedent
The Trump administration plans to roll back other air and water regulations that have been in place for decades for the power industry.
The EPA, for example, said it will reconsider mercury and air toxics rules that had been updated under Biden that it says were designed to target coal-fired power plants. It also said it plans to revisit standards set under the Biden administration to reduce soot and air particulate matter.
Reuters had reported that review earlier in the day.
The EPA also announced measures that would dial back regulations for the oil and gas industry, including required reporting of methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure. It would also consider allowing the reuse of drilling wastewater, potentially for agriculture and industry.
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Japan eyes boosting rice exports eightfold by 2030
TOKYO — Japan wants to boost its rice exports almost eightfold by 2030, a ministry official said Thursday, despite currently suffering a domestic shortage of the grain.
The country’s rice consumption has more than halved over the past 60 years as diets have expanded to include more bread, noodles and other energy sources.
The new target is part of a long-term national policy to boost overseas shipments of the staple, and make farming it more efficient, especially as the ageing population shrinks.
“We plan to set a goal of 350,000 tons in 2030,” an objective likely to be approved by the cabinet this month, Masakazu Kawaguchi, an agriculture ministry official in charge of the rice trade, told AFP.
The target is 7.8 times the 2024 volume — around 45,000 tons — which was sold for 12 billion yen, or $81 million.
However, rice is in short supply at the moment.
This week the government began a rare auction of its emergency rice stockpiles in a bid to help drive down prices, which have nearly doubled over the past year.
The shortages have been driven by various factors, including poor harvests caused by hot weather and panic-buying prompted by a “megaquake” warning last summer.
Exacerbating the problem, some businesses are also thought to be keeping their inventories and waiting for the most opportune time to sell.
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Archaeologists find million-year-old fossil of a human ancestor
WASHINGTON — A fossil of a partial face from a human ancestor is the oldest in western Europe, archaeologists reported Wednesday.
The incomplete skull — a section of the left cheek bone and upper jaw – was found in northern Spain in 2022. The fossil is between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, according to research published in the journal Nature.
“The fossil is exciting,” said Eric Delson, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the study. “It’s the first time we have significant remains older than 1 million years old in western Europe.”
A collection of older fossils from early human ancestors was previously found in Georgia, near the crossroads of eastern Europe and Asia. Those are estimated to be 1.8 million years old.
The Spanish fossil is the first evidence that clearly shows human ancestors “were taking excursions into Europe” at that time, said Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program.
But there is not yet evidence that the earliest arrivals persisted there long, he said. “They may get to a new location and then die out,” said Potts, who had no role in the study.
The partial skull bears many similarities to Homo erectus, but there are also some anatomical differences, said study co-author Rosa Huguet, an archaeologist at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in Tarragona, Spain.
Homo erectus arose around 2 million years ago and moved from Africa to regions of Asia and Europe, with the last individuals dying out around 100,000 years ago, said Potts.
It can be challenging to identify which group of early humans a fossil find belongs to if there’s only a single fragment versus many bones that show a range of features, said University of Zurich paleoanthropologist Christoph Zollikofer, who was not involved in the study.
The same cave complex in Spain’s Atapuerca Mountains where the new fossil was found also previously yielded other significant clues to the ancient human past. Researchers working in the region have also found more recent fossils from Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens.
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Kuwait frees group of jailed Americans, including contractors held on drug charges
WASHINGTON — Kuwait has released a group of American prisoners, including veterans and military contractors jailed for years on drug-related charges, in a move seen as a gesture of goodwill between two allies, a representative for the detainees told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The release follows a recent visit to the region by Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s top hostage envoy, and comes amid a continued U.S. government push to bring home American citizens jailed in foreign countries.
Six of the newly freed prisoners were accompanied on a flight from Kuwait to New York by Jonathan Franks, a private consultant who works on cases involving American hostages and detainees and who had been in the country to help secure their release.
“My clients and their families are grateful to the Kuwaiti government for this kind humanitarian gesture,” Franks said in a statement.
He said that his clients maintain their innocence and that additional Americans he represents also are expected to be released by Kuwait later.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The names of the released prisoners were not immediately made public.
Kuwait, a small, oil-rich nation that borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia and is near Iran, is considered a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio paid tribute to that relationship as recently as last month, when he said the U.S. “remains steadfast in its support for Kuwait’s sovereignty and the well-being of its people.”
The countries have had a close military partnership since America launched the 1991 Gulf War to expel Iraqi troops after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded the country, with some 13,500 American troops stationed in Kuwait at Camp Arifjan and Ali al-Salem Air Base.
But Kuwait has also detained many American military contractors on drug charges, in some cases, for years. Their families have alleged that their loved ones faced abuse while imprisoned in a country that bans alcohol and has strict laws regarding drugs.
The State Department warns travelers that drug charges in Kuwait can carry long prison sentences and the death penalty. Defense cooperation agreements between the U.S. and Kuwait likely include provisions that ensure U.S. troops are subject only to American laws, though that likely doesn’t include contractors.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, his Republican administration has secured the release of American schoolteacher Marc Fogel in a prisoner swap with Russia and has announced the release by Belarus of an imprisoned U.S. citizen.
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Advocates for jailed publisher Lai turn to Trump administration
WASHINGTON — The son of imprisoned pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai this week brought the campaign to secure his father’s release to the Trump administration in Washington.
Nearly two months into President Donald Trump’s second term, Lai’s son Sebastien and their international legal team were in Washington this week to meet with Trump administration officials and lawmakers in hopes that the United States can help push for Lai’s release.
Lai, a businessman and founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong, stands accused of collusion with foreign forces and sedition under a Beijing-imposed national security law. He rejects the charges, but if convicted in an ongoing trial, he could face life in prison.
“We were incredibly grateful that President Trump said that he will help release my father. It’s given us as a family a lot of hope,” the younger Lai said at a Wednesday event at the Cato Institute think tank in Washington.
In October 2024, Trump said he would “100%” be able to secure Lai’s release if he were reelected.
“I’ll get him out. He’ll be easy to get out. But we don’t have people that even talk about it,” Trump said in an interview with conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt.
The White House did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment on whether the Trump administration had any specific plans to help secure Lai’s release.
But a State Department spokesperson reaffirmed that the United States calls for Lai’s immediate release.
“Lai’s lengthy trial and unjust detention are an example of how China uses vague national security laws to suppress fundamental freedoms and political discourse,” the spokesperson added in a statement emailed to VOA on Wednesday.
Lai, a 77-year-old British national, has been held in solitary confinement in Hong Kong since late 2020. His trial, which was originally estimated to last about 80 days, has been ongoing since December 2023 and is widely viewed as politically motivated.
Hong Kong authorities have rejected accusations that Lai’s trial is unfair and maintain that press freedom and the rule of law are intact.
Speaking at the Cato Institute event, Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, suggested that the U.S. government should use sanctions against Hong Kong officials as a way to push for Lai’s release.
Clifford, who previously served on the board of Apple Daily’s parent company, also suggested the United States could shutter the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in Washington, New York and San Francisco.
“There’s a pretty good tool kit that the administration has,” Clifford said.
Even though the government-appointed judges are likely to find Lai guilty, Mark Simon, who worked with Lai for decades in Hong Kong, argued that releasing Lai may be in Beijing’s interest.
“Your influence as a dissident is at the height when you’re in prison. The world is campaigning for you. If you’re China and you release him, his influence goes down,” Simon said at the Cato Institute. “If he dies in prison, then you don’t control anything.”
Jimmy Lai’s international legal team has expressed concern about the conditions in which the publisher is being held, including prolonged solitary confinement and no access to specialized medical care for diabetes. Hong Kong authorities have rejected those claims.
“Everybody realizes that the clock is ticking, and time is running out for my father,” Sebastien Lai said.
But even though his father’s physical health has become fragile, Sebastien Lai said his mind has stayed strong.
“He’s still strong mentally, and he’s still fighting,” the younger Lai said. “That’s something that should inspire all of us.”
Before concluding his cross-examination in Lai’s national security trial last week, Hong Kong prosecutor Anthony Chau read out the charges, alleged conspiracies and co-conspirators, and asked the elder Lai if he agreed with them.
“Of course I disagree. Totally rubbish,” Lai said.
After 52 days in the witness box, Lai completed his testimony in the trial last week. Lawyers from both sides aren’t expected to return to court to deliver their closing statements until August, marking the trial’s latest months-long delay.
Lai’s plight has received bipartisan support in Washington, according to Caoilfhionn Gallagher, the attorney leading Lai’s international legal team.
She told VOA she hopes the United States and the United Kingdom can coordinate their efforts and work together to secure Lai’s release.
“We’re extremely worried for his health and well-being, and indeed, his life,” Gallagher said. “It’s in no one’s interest for this brilliant man to die in prison.”
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Zimbabwe journalist still in custody after case adjourned
A High Court judge in Zimbabwe on Wednesday adjourned the case of a journalist arrested over his interviews with a war veteran-turned-politician who criticized the country’s president.
Blessed Mhlanga, a journalist with NewsDay and Heart and Soul Television, has been in custody since Feb. 24 over accusations of incitement.
Lawyers for the journalist had requested that he be bailed out, but at a hearing in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, Justice Gibson Mandaza requested more time to examine the case.
Chris Mhike, who represents Mhlanga, told VOA he was waiting for the High Court to announce when the case would resume.
Mhike said it would be “improper” to go into the arguments because the case was active but said the judge “indicated that it was necessary for him to consider the issues that are at stake.”
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Mhike said the arrest of Mhlanga sent a chilling message.
The arrest is related to his interviews with war veteran and politician Blessed Geza in November and January, in which Geza said that he would mobilize public protests to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa out of office, citing economic issues and what he called the president’s failure to govern.
On Friday, Geza was expelled from the Zanu PF party for what the party described as violating regulations in public comments about the president.
Mhike said he believed his client’s arrest served as a warning to others to refrain from discussing political topics, such as whether Mnangagwa should seek a third term. Zimbabwean presidents serve five-year terms, which are renewable once.
Mhlanga’s arrest “has had a chilling effect on the practice of journalism, as is always the case when journalists are either harassed, or put through the legal process, really for activities that are directly linked to their work,” Mhike told VOA.
It is “worrisome to many in the journalistic fraternity,” he added. “This has been the impact, and this has been my client’s position: that he is being tormented purely on grounds of him carrying out his work as a journalist.”
Mhlanga, who faces two charges relating to “transmitting of data messages inciting violence or damage to property,” denies the charges against him.
Mhike said his client’s arrest also could be unconstitutional. Zimbabwe’s Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom to seek, receive and communicate ideas and other information, and entitles citizens to freedom of the press.
Farai Marapira, the Zanu PF information director, said he expected courts to preside fairly over the case.
“I believe people should allow the court process to pursue this matter as it is designed to find out what are the material facts of the matter, and I’m sure the courts will deal fairly with this issue,” Marapira said.
Marapira also said Mhlanga’s arrest was not a reflection of the state of press freedom in the country.
“People write about Zanu PF every day — people write positively, people write negatively, some even write and insult Zanu PF,” he said.
Marapira then rhetorically asked aloud: “Who is dead? No one is dead. So, what are they fearing for their lives from? Where is the example? Where are the examples of killed journalists? So, like I said, this is all overexcitement.”
The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said that conditions for journalists have improved since the end of longtime leader Robert Mugabe’s rule. But, it noted in its press freedom index, media have faced greater persecution since the 2023 election.
In the past two years, journalists have been blocked or harassed while covering events and briefly detained and assaulted, media groups said.
Mhlanga himself has had a previous brush with the law. In 2022, he and his colleague Chengeto Chidi were arrested for taking photos of the police during the arrest of an opposition lawmaker.
In his latest case, international and local media rights organizations have condemned Mhlanga’s arrest and urged the Zimbabwean government to drop all charges against him.
Tobias Mudzingwa contributed to this report.
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VOA Uzbek: EU boosts its Central Asia strategy
As the U.S. seeks to strengthen ties with resource-rich Central Asia, the European Union is also reaching out to the region. Having adopted a new strategy for Central Asia in 2019, the bloc appears to be making renewed efforts to implement it. EU Commissioner for External Relations Jozef Sikela has begun a tour of the region ahead of an EU-Central Asia summit in Uzbekistan in April.
Click here for the full story in Uzbek.
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VOA Mandarin: About 12 million graduates to join China’s shrinking job market
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — About 12.2 million college graduates are expected to enter China’s shrinking labor market this summer, Wang Xiaoping, minister of the Human Resources and Social Security Ministry told the country’s National People’s Congress Sunday. It is believed that the Chinese government will encourage young people to accept gig work or vocational trainings so as not to hike up the youth unemployment rate.
Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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China, Iran, Russia hold joint naval drills in Middle East
TEHRAN, IRAN — China, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills Tuesday in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran’s rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen’s Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships.
The joint drills, called the Maritime Security Belt 2025, took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil passes. The area around the strait has in the past seen Iran seize commercial ships and launch suspected attacks in the time since President Donald Trump first unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
The drill marked the fifth year the three countries took part in the drills.
This year’s drill likely sparked a warning late Monday from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which said there was GPS interference in the strait, with disruptions lasting for several hours and forcing crews to rely on backup navigation methods.
“This was likely GPS jamming to reduce the targeting capability of drones and missiles,” wrote Shaun Robertson, an intelligence analyst at the EOS Risk Group. “However, electronic navigation system interference has been reported in this region previously during periods of increased tension and military exercises.”
US-patrolled waters
Russia’s Defense Ministry identified the vessels it sent to the drill as the corvettes Rezky and the Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov, as well as the tanker Pechenega. China’s Defense Ministry said it sent the guided-missile destroyer Baotou and the comprehensive supply ship Gaoyouhu. Neither offered a count of the personnel involved.
Neither China nor Russia actively patrol the wider Middle East, whose waterways remain crucial for global energy supplies. Instead, they broadly cede that to Western nations largely led by the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. Observers for the drill included Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates — with the Americans likely keeping watch as well.
However, China and Russia have deep interests in Iran. For China, it has continued to purchase Iranian crude oil despite facing Western sanctions, likely at a discount compared with global prices. Beijing also remains one of the top markets for Iranian imports.
Russia, meanwhile, has relied on Iran for the supply of bomb-carrying drones it uses in its war on Ukraine.
Iran highlights drills
The drills marked a major moment for Iran’s state-run television network. It has aired segments showing live fire during a night drill and sailors manning deck guns on a vessel. The exercises come after an Iranian monthslong drill that followed a direct Israeli attack on the country, targeting its air defenses and sites associated with its ballistic missile program.
While Tehran sought to downplay the assault, it shook the wider populace and came as a campaign of Israeli assassinations and attacks have decimated Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” — a series of militant groups allied with the Islamic Republic. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was also overthrown in December, further weakening Iran’s grip on the wider region.
All the while, Iran has increasingly stockpiled more uranium enriched at near-weapons-grade levels, something done only by atomic-armed nations. Tehran has long maintained its program is for peaceful purposes, even as its officials increasingly threaten to pursue the bomb.
Iran’s nuclear program has drawn warnings from Israel and the U.S., signaling that military action against the program could happen. But just last week, Trump sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei seeking a new nuclear deal. Iran says it hasn’t received any letter but still issued a flurry of pronouncements over it.
Houthis renew threats
As a shaky ceasefire holds in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they were resuming attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as well as the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the two waterways.
The rebels’ secretive leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, warned Friday that attacks against Israel-linked vessels would resume within four days if Israel didn’t let aid into Gaza. As the deadline passed Tuesday, the Houthis said they were again banning Israeli vessels from the waters off Yemen.
Although no attacks were reported, it has put shippers on edge. The rebels targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, since November 2023.
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DRC, M23 rebels to begin direct peace talks, Angola says
LUANDA, ANGOLA — Direct peace talks between the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 rebels will begin in the Angolan capital on March 18, Angola’s presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Southern African country has been trying to mediate a lasting ceasefire and de-escalate tensions between the DRC and neighboring Rwanda, which has been accused of backing the Tutsi-led rebel group. Rwanda denies those allegations.
Angola announced on Tuesday that it would attempt to broker the direct talks.
Congo’s government has repeatedly refused to hold talks with M23 and on Tuesday said only that it had taken note of the Angolan initiative.
There was no immediate comment from Kinshasa on Wednesday.
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US drops lawsuit against shelter provider accused of sexual abuse of migrant children
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has dropped a civil rights lawsuit it filed last year against the national nonprofit Southwest Key Programs alleging its employees had sexually abused unaccompanied minors who were housed in its shelters after entering the country illegally, according to a court filing.
Austin, Texas-based nonprofit Southwest Key contracts with the federal government to care for young migrants arriving in the U.S. without parents or legal guardians. It has operated 27 shelters in Texas, Arizona and California. It is the largest provider of shelter to unaccompanied minor children.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued in July 2024 in the Western District of Texas alleging a pattern of “severe or pervasive sexual harassment” going back to at least 2015 in the network of Southwest Key shelters.
The complaint includes alleged cases of “severe sexual abuse and rape, solicitation of sex acts, solicitation of nude photos, entreaties for sexually inappropriate relationships, sexual comments and gestures.”
The department decided to drop the lawsuit after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stopped the placement of unaccompanied migrant children in shelters operated by Southwest Key and initiated a review of its grants with the organization, the department said in a press release on Wednesday. The department said it has moved all children in Southwest Key shelters to other shelters.
“For too long, pernicious actors have exploited such children both before and after they enter the United States,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in the release. “Today’s action is a significant step toward ending this appalling abuse of innocents.”
While Southwest Key did not immediately respond to a request for comment, it had previously sought to have the case dismissed and denied the allegations of sexual assault of children.
“Southwest Key takes pride in its record of providing safe shelter care, and it vehemently denies the allegations that there is any ‘pattern or practice’ of sexual abuse, harassment or misconduct at its facilities, or that it ‘failed to take reasonable, appropriate, and sufficient action to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and harassment of the children entrusted to its care,’” it wrote in a court filing last year.
The plans to dismiss the case were first reported by Bloomberg. In that story, the news outlet reported that an attorney for Southwest Key had reached out to the Justice Department and asked it to dismiss the matter, saying the case could hinder the crackdown on illegal immigration by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The reversal by the Justice Department comes at a time when Attorney General Pam Bondi has made combatting illegal immigration take priority over other initiatives that were pursued during President Joe Biden’s administration.
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ICC takes custody of Philippine ex-president Duterte in crimes against humanity case
THE HAGUE — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was turned over Wednesday to the custody of the International Criminal Court, following his arrest on a warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity over deadly anti-drugs crackdowns he oversaw while in office.
The court said in a statement that “as a precautionary measure” medical assistance was made available at the airport for Duterte, in line with standard procedures when a suspect arrives.
The 79-year-old former president arrived at Rotterdam The Hague Airport earlier Wednesday on a flight from Manila following his arrest there on an ICC warrant on Tuesday, as announced by current Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Rights groups and families of victims hailed Duterte’s arrest.
Within days, he will face an initial appearance where the court will confirm his identity, check that he understands the charges against him, and set a date for a hearing to assess if prosecutors have sufficient evidence to send him to a full trial.
If his case goes to trial and he is convicted, Duterte could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The small jet carrying Duterte could be seen as it taxied into a hangar where two buses were waiting. An ambulance also drove close to the hangar, and medics wheeled a gurney inside.
A police helicopter hovered close to the airport as the plane remained in the hangar, largely obscured from view by the buses and two fuel tanker trucks.
“This is a monumental and long-overdue step for justice for thousands of victims and their families,” said Jerrie Abella of Amnesty International. “It is therefore a hopeful sign for them, as well, in the Philippines and beyond, as it shows that suspected perpetrators of the worst crimes, including government leaders, will face justice wherever they are in the world,” Abella added.
Emily Soriano, the mother of a victim of the crackdowns, said she wanted more officials to face justice. “Duterte is lucky he has due process, but our children who were killed did not have due process,” she said.
While Duterte’s plane was in the air, grieving relatives gathered in the Philippines to mourn his alleged victims, carrying the urns of their loved ones. “We are happy and we feel relieved,” said 55-year-old Melinda Abion Lafuente, mother of 22-year-old Angelo Lafuente, who she says was tortured and killed in 2016.
Duterte’s supporters, however, criticized his arrest as illegal and sought to have him returned home. Small groups of Duterte supporters and people who backed his arrest demonstrated on Wednesday outside the court before his arrival.
The ICC opened an inquiry in 2021 into mass killings linked to the so-called war on drugs overseen by Duterte when he served as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president. Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported and up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.
ICC judges who looked at prosecution evidence supporting their request for his arrest found “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is individually responsible for the crime against humanity of murder” as an “indirect co-perpetrator for having allegedly overseen the killings when he was mayor of Davao and later president of the Philippines,” according to his warrant.
Duterte could challenge the court’s jurisdiction and the admissibility of the case. While the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC, the alleged crimes happened before Manila withdrew from the court. That process will likely take months and if the case progresses to trial it could take years.
Duterte will be able to apply for provisional release from the court’s detention center while he waits, though it’s up to judges to decide whether to grant such a request. Duterte’s legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, told reporters in Manila that the Philippine Supreme Court “can compel the government to bring back the person arrested and detained without probable cause and compel the government bring him before the court and to explain to them why they (government) did what they did.”
Marcos said Tuesday that Duterte’s arrest was “proper and correct” and not an act of political persecution. Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, criticized the Marcos administration for surrendering her father to a foreign court, which she said currently has no jurisdiction in the Philippines.
She left the Philippines on Wednesday to arrange a meeting in The Hague with her detained father and talk to his lawyers, her office told reporters in Manila. Philippines no longer an ICC member state. Duterte withdrew the Philippines in 2019 from the ICC, in a move human rights activists say was aimed at escaping accountability.
The Duterte administration moved to suspend the global court’s investigation in late 2021 by arguing that Philippine authorities were already looking into the same allegations, arguing that the ICC — a court of last resort — therefore didn’t have jurisdiction. Appeals judges at the ICC rejected those arguments and ruled in 2023 that the investigation could resume.
The ICC judges who issued the warrant also said that the alleged crimes fall within the court’s jurisdiction. They said Duterte’s arrest was necessary because of what they called the “risk of interference with the investigations and the security of witnesses and victims.”
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Somali forces kill 50 militants in airstrikes after ending hotel siege
WASHINGTON — Security forces in Somalia say they killed all six attackers who laid siege to a hotel in the central town of Beledweyne and later killed at least 50 al-Shabab militants in airstrikes.
Speaking to reporters, Beledweyne District Commissioner Omar Osman Alasow confirmed that the hotel siege ended early Wednesday.
“Our security forces successfully got rid of six militants who attacked a hotel where traditional elders and security officials were meeting,” he said.
Al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the hotel attack on Tuesday.
Alasow said the government soldiers backed by African Union troops worked through the night to rescue elders, military officers and civilians trapped inside the hotel.
“During 18 hours of siege, our brave soldiers shot dead two militants, and four of them desperately blew themselves up when they realized that they could not escape,” he said. “Seven other people, including government security officials and two prominent traditional elders, were killed.”
Since August 2022, when Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called for a “total war” against al-Shabab, Beledweyne, a town near Somalia’s border with Ethiopia in Hirshabelle state, about 300 kilometers north of Mogadishu, has been the center of a local community mobilization against al-Shabab.
The city has suffered more terrorist attacks than any other in Somalia except Mogadishu. Since 2009, hundreds of people have been killed in suicide attacks and car bombs on hotels, restaurants and government bases. The single biggest attack, in 2009, killed at least 25 people and injured 60 others.
Airstrikes kill 50 militants
Hours after ending this week’s hotel siege, Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, or NISA, said the country’s security forces killed dozens of al-Shabab members elsewhere in Hirshabelle.
“Coordinated airstrikes by the Somali army and international partners in the Middle Shabelle region have killed at least 50 al-Shabab militants, including senior leader in charge of the coordination of the group’s combat vehicles,” the NISA statement said.
NISA said the airstrikes targeted the Damasha and Shabeelow areas and killed Mansoor Tima-Weeyne, a senior al-Shabab leader who masterminded the preparation and use of combat vehicles for terrorist attacks.
In a separate statement, the Somali Military Command said, “The operation was a significant blow to the group’s combat capabilities and part of ongoing efforts to weaken terrorism in the region.”
Media outlets closed
On another counterterrorism front, NISA said Wednesday that it closed 12 media outlets and websites linked to the Khawarij, a derogatory term referring to al-Shabab that loosely translates as “those who deviate from the Islamic faith.”
This latest announcement followed another crackdown on over 30 al-Shabab-related websites.
“The operation targeted platforms spreading extremist ideologies, inciting violence, and disseminating false information. During the operation the government seized critical data and identified individuals involved,” said a statement posted by the government’s National News Agency.
This story originated in VOA’s Somali Service.
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Democratic senator will not seek reelection in New Hampshire
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from the U.S. state of New Hampshire, will not seek reelection next year, a decision that will end the longtime senator’s historic political career and deals a significant blow to Democrats who were already facing a difficult path to reclaiming the Senate majority.
Shaheen was the first woman elected to serve as both governor and senator in the United States. She turned 78 in January.
A spokesperson confirmed her decision through email.
Even before Shaheen’s move, Democrats were facing a challenging political map in next year’s midterm elections — especially in the Senate, where Republicans now hold 53 Senate seats compared with the Democrats’ 47, including two independents who caucus with Democrats.
The party that controls the Senate majority also controls President Donald Trump’s most important political and judicial nominations — and his legislative agenda.
At least for now, Maine represents the Democrats’ best pickup opportunity in 2026. Senator Susan Collins, the sole Republican senator remaining in New England, is the only Republican serving in a state Trump lost who’s up for reelection.
But with a four-seat advantage in Congress’ upper chamber already, Republicans have legitimate pickup opportunities in Georgia, Michigan and now New Hampshire.
Shaheen has been a political force in New Hampshire for decades and climbed through the ranks of Senate leadership to serve as the top Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
She likely would have been easily reelected had she sought another term.
Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who served as ambassador to New Zealand in the first Trump administration, was considering a New Hampshire Senate bid even before Shaheen’s announcement. Brown challenged Shaheen unsuccessfully in 2014.
New Hampshire has narrowly favored Democrats in recent presidential elections, but the state has a long history of electing leaders from both parties. Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte was elected last fall, when Trump lost the state by less than 3 percentage points.
Shaheen became the first woman elected New Hampshire governor, in 1996. She served for three terms and was later elected to the Senate in 2008.
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Bosnian prosecutors order arrest of Bosnian Serb leader Dodik
SARAJEVO — Bosnian state prosecutors on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Russian-backed Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and his aides for ignoring a court summons, raising the stakes in a standoff that threatens the Balkan country’s stability.
The decision was taken two weeks after a separate case in which Dodik was sentenced to a year in jail for defying the rulings of an international peace envoy, a spokesperson from the state security agency, SIPA, said.
Prosecutors have sought the help of Bosnia’s State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in the arrest, which comes after Dodik and aides ignored a court summons. It was not clear if the plan was to detain Dodik or to accompany him to answer the summons.
The state prosecutors’ office was investigating Dodik, the pro-Russian nationalist president of Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic, for what it described as an attack on constitutional order after he initiated the adoption of laws barring state judiciary and police from the region after his sentencing.
“We have received a request from the court police of Bosnia and Herzegovina to assist them,” SIPA spokeswoman Jelena Miovcic said.
Serb Republic television, citing the regional government, reported that the state prosecution has also ordered the arrest of Serb Republic Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic and regional parliament president Nenad Stevandic over ignoring summons in the case of the attack on constitutional order.
The Serb Republic is one of two regions created to end a 1992-95 war that killed more than 1000,000 people in multi-ethnic Bosnia. They are linked by a weak central government in a state supervised by an international authority to stop it slipping back into conflict.
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Vietnam, Singapore agree to boost ties, cooperation on subsea cables
HANOI, VIETNAM — Singapore and Vietnam on Wednesday agreed to enhance cooperation in subsea cables, finance, and energy, marking an upgrade in their relations to Vietnam’s highest level, during a visit by its Communist Party Chief To Lam to the city-state.
Singapore is the third Southeast Asian nation, after Malaysia and Indonesia, with which Vietnam has established a “comprehensive strategic relationship.”
In a joint statement released following the upgrade, Lam and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong witnessed the exchange of six agreements and discussed cooperation in undersea cable development, digital connectivity, and cross-border data flows.
Southeast Asian countries, a major junction for cables connecting Asia to Europe, aim to expand their networks to meet the surging demand for AI services and data centers. Vietnam alone plans to launch 10 new submarine cables by 2030.
In December, Reuters reported that Singaporean asset manager Keppel and Vietnamese conglomerate Sovico Group were discussing plans for new undersea fiber-optic cables to boost the region’s data center industry, according to sources familiar with the matter.
In April last year, Vietnam’s state-owned telecom company Viettel and Singapore’s Singtel announced a preliminary agreement to develop an undersea cable linking Vietnam directly to Singapore, although no construction contract has been announced yet.
The two leaders also discussed green development, industrial parks expansion, and peace and stability in the region. Singapore pledged to support Vietnam in developing international financial centers, the joint statement said.
Singapore ranks among Vietnam’s top foreign investors, having invested $10.21 billion last year, which accounted for 27% of Vietnam’s total foreign investment, official data showed.
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G7 to discuss Ukraine after US restarts aid, proposes 30-day ceasefire
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — Foreign ministers from the G7 group of leading industrial nations are set to gather for several days of talks in Quebec, Canada, including meetings focused on support for Ukraine in its battle against a three-year Russian invasion.
The talks follow a decision by the United States to resume intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine, after senior officials from the two countries met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
After nearly eight hours of talks, Ukraine announced Tuesday its readiness to accept a U.S. proposal for “an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire” in the war with Russia, pending Kremlin approval.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the 30-day ceasefire proposal, saying Wednesday on X that it is “an important and correct step towards a just peace for Ukraine.”
“We stand with Ukraine and the United States and welcome the proposals from Jeddah. Now it is up to Putin,” Scholz said.
The Kremlin had no immediate comment on a ceasefire proposal from the U.S. and Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said only that negotiations with U.S. officials could take place this week.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters late Tuesday that Ukraine has taken a concrete step toward ending the war.
“Now hopefully we’ll take this offer now to the Russians. And we hope that they’ll say yes. That they’ll say yes to peace. The ball’s now in their court,” he said.
National security adviser Mike Waltz, who joined Rubio in leading the U.S. side in Jeddah, said he would speak with his Russian counterpart “in the coming days.”
On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will visit the White House. All these discussions are part of the efforts to advance the peace process.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not participate in the U.S.-Ukraine talks, but he said during his nightly address Tuesday that the ceasefire plan was a “positive proposal.”
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China boosting development of AI for use in trade war with US
NEW DELHI — Encouraged by the enthusiastic reception to its DeepSeek artificial intelligence platform in January, China’s leaders are going all out to encourage AI companies to harness the power of this technology to compete with the United States and other countries in business and military spheres.
China considers AI an important tool to handle U.S. restrictions on Chinese business, particularly after DeepSeek shook up Wall Street, resulting in a loss of $589 billion for Nvidia stockholders in late January.
“The government in China works directly with the private sector and universities in the advancement and deployment of AI technology and are reducing their dependence on imports of high-technology products,” said Lourdes Casanova, director of Cornell University’s Emerging Markets Institute.
The past few weeks have seen China rolling out several new AI models, including Manus, which experts say can rival the latest model of ChatGPT. Industry experts were more than surprised to find that DeepSeek was equally efficient as ChatGPT, though it used older generation Nvidia chips. The U.S. has banned the supply of advanced chips.
“China and the U.S. have pulled way out front in the AI race. China used to be one to two years behind the U.S. Now, it is likely two to three months,” Jeffrey Towson, owner of Beijing-based TechMoat Consulting, told VOA.
“Alibaba’s Qwen is now a clear leader internationally in LLMs [large language models]. Chinese Kling AI and Minimax are arguably the global leaders in video generation,” Towson said.
Government involvement
In 2017, China released an AI development program to make the country a world leader by 2030. The government’s Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan said that AI would be adopted across different sectors and drive economic transformation.
“China has the most elaborate AI strategy compared to any other country,” Rogier Creemers, assistant professor in Modern Chinese Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told VOA.
China has established a National Computing Power Grid — somewhat like electricity grids — making it possible for Chinese AI companies to invest less in their own computing power. In the U.S., each company must fend for itself, Creemers said.
Competition
ChatGPT’s updated GPT4 large language model has gotten the attention of several top-ranking CEOs of Chinese tech companies. Baidu chief Robin Li recently said his firm was under “huge pressure and a sense of crisis” after seeing the updated ChatGPT. Baidu, which has launched Ernie Bot, said “the gap [between China] and leading international levels [in the field] has widened.”
“AI plus robotics is likely where China will take a commanding lead over the U.S., just like in EVs,” Towson said. “Chinese companies like Unitree are already pulling ahead. Watch for China to surprise everyone in personalized robots, industrial robots and speciality robots,” he said.
Communist Party control
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently convened a meeting with heads of private companies, including tech firms, calling on them to “show your talent” in overcoming challenges such as an economic slowdown and U.S. restrictions on Chinese business.
“There are discussions that the growth of large language models — the technology behind chatbots like DeepSeek and ChatGPT — may be hindered by media censorship, because the models will have less diverse data to work with,” said Creemers.
On the other hand, the government’s control ensures industrial policy coordination, which is helpful in the growth of AI in China.
China is focusing more on specialized software for health and other industries, which can largely tolerate political censorship. Chinese AI models are improving diagnostic accuracy in diverse areas from detecting rib fractures to cancer.
US ban on advanced chips
“It will take some time, but it would not be a surprise if China is also soon capable of building advanced chips for AI,” Cornell’s Casanova said.
Companies such as Huawei have shown that they can design and manufacture advanced chips successfully, thereby overcoming restrictions imposed by the U.S., she said.
Towson said China is 100% dedicated to building an independent semiconductor supply chain.
“It is advancing faster than anyone thought possible. But the frontier is always advancing, and it’s unclear how this will play out over time,” he said.
“But you can do a lot with software,” Creemers said. “China can work with more chips with less computing power or with fewer sophisticated chips.”
The risk for China is not limited to chips, because the Trump administration could impose restrictions on the Chinese AI model. It could also react to China’s restriction on the use of ChatGPT, because it can violate its censorship rules.
AI and the military
China’s air force is using AI-powered biometric tests to screen potential pilots as part of a rigorous hiring process, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“AI now plays a crucial role in interpreting candidates’ biological signals, revealing underlying health risks that might not be immediately apparent to human evaluators,” CCTV said. “This data-driven approach allows the air force to predict long-term risks, ultimately ensuring that only the most suitable candidates are chosen.”
Chinese researchers have also revealed that the Chinese army has been using Meta’s publicly available Llama model to develop an AI tool for potential military applications.
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Irish PM visits White House amid divisions on economy, Ukraine, Gaza
WASHINGTON — For more than 70 years, Irish leaders have visited the White House for the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration of Irish-America heritage.
But this year, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin will need to present President Donald Trump with more than just the traditional gift of a bowl of shamrock, as he navigates potential friction over Ireland’s low defense spending, support for Palestinians in Gaza and Ukrainians, and the large trade imbalance between the two countries.
While past Irish prime ministers enjoyed warm White House hospitality from former President Joe Biden, who often highlighted his “fierce pride” of his Irish ancestry, Wednesday’s meeting will largely be a test of Martin’s diplomatic acumen as he navigates the relationship with a crucial partner his country depends on economically.
Martin appeared clear-eyed about the stakes of his visit.
“I am very, very conscious that in a very challenging world, thousands and thousands of jobs depend on the economic relationship between the United States and Ireland,” he said Monday at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, where he began his U.S. tour.
“And my overriding objective is to copper fasten that for the time ahead and to protect those people who are working in jobs,” Martin said.
The meeting comes amid concern in Ireland about Trump’s moves to impose steep new tariffs on Canada and Mexico, neighboring countries that have large trade imbalances with the United States.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Ireland holds the fourth-largest trade surplus with the U.S., about $87 billion, behind Vietnam, Mexico and China but ahead of Canada. Trump has also threatened to apply tariffs on goods from the European Union, which would also affect Ireland, an EU member.
Ireland is also highly dependent on long-standing investment from U.S. multinational companies for jobs, tax revenue and exports. According to data from the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, around 970 U.S. companies directly employ 211,000 people and indirectly support a further 168,000 jobs across Ireland.
Major American companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta and Pfizer have established European headquarters in the country, lured by its English-speaking and skilled workforce, access to the European single market, and its low corporate tax rate of 12.5%.
As president-elect, Trump pledged to slash the U.S. corporate tax rate to match the Irish rate and “reshore” American companies, bringing back their business activities and their tax dollars.
The U.S. is an “absolutely critical partner,” and the Irish have “a lot of trepidation” on what Trump might bring up during this meeting, said Eoin Drea, senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies.
“The best-case scenario would be if there is no public bust up or major disagreement” between the leaders, Drea told VOA.
Ukraine and Gaza
Taxes and tariffs aside, Martin will also need to navigate geopolitical divides, including on Ukraine and Gaza.
The Irish prime minister will be the first foreign leader to visit the White House following the fiery exchange between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 11 days ago. Dublin’s position mirrors that of Kyiv’s, in that Ukraine needs U.S.-backed security guarantees to secure a ceasefire with Russia.
But out of all the potential irritants, Gaza might be the issue that needs the most delicate handling from Martin. Irish opposition leaders including Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Labour Party politician Duncan Smith have pressed Martin to stand up to Trump and advocate for the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Dublin is one of Europe’s staunchest critics of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, and one of only three European states, along with Norway and Spain, that in 2024 recognized the State of Palestine. It has also joined a South African legal action at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The Irish delegation would be wise to keep the focus on economic issues, where the two countries are “less diametrically opposed” as they are compared to their positions on Gaza, Drea said.
As Trump presses European countries to boost spending and rely less on Washington for its security, Ireland’s low defense spending, only 0.2% of the gross domestic product, is another area where the U.S. can exert pressure.
Ireland is not a member of NATO and relies heavily on the United Kingdom for its defense, including to protect the massive network of undersea cables that make the backbone of global internet and communication systems. Seventy-five percent of all transatlantic cables go through, or are close to, Irish waters.
To counter pressures from the deal-making American president, the Irish government “would be clever to induce some kind of personalized incentives,” Drea said, noting Trump’s properties in Ireland, including one of the country’s most famous golf courses.
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Russia’s gains in Kursk threaten Kyiv’s leverage
KYIV, UKRAINE — The images shared by Kremlin-controlled media were shocking: Russian troops hunched, dirt on their faces, as they crept through an empty gas pipeline under Ukrainian defense lines.
Since Kyiv launched its audacious cross-border assault into the Kursk region last August, Moscow has been pushing back hard, using unconventional tactics and deploying thousands of North Korean troops against the Ukrainian army.
They have since stepped up their advances.
In the past five days, Moscow has broken through Kyiv’s defensive lines, reclaiming dozens of square kilometers of territory, according to military bloggers.
Russian military bloggers reported Tuesday that Moscow’s troops had entered the town of Sudzha, the largest settlement in the region under Kyiv’s control.
“The enemy is retreating in panic and disorder without [having] received any orders. That’s it. It’s a collapse,” a Russian serviceman, who identified himself as Zombie, told Kremlin-run television.
The result is that Kyiv may have lost one of its only bargaining chips on swapping land with Russia, which has seized and occupied around a fifth of Ukraine since it took Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
For Ukraine, which has painted a more controlled picture of the fighting, the stakes of its difficult operation in Kursk could hardly be higher.
The assault last summer injected a much-needed morale boost into the Ukrainian war effort and represented the first and only incursion by a foreign army into Russian territory since World War II.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the operation was key to future negotiations on ending the war and that holding Russian territory would give Kyiv vital leverage.
But that leverage — just as Washington starts rounds of talks with Moscow and Kyiv — is dwindling as Russian forces press forward.
Franz-Stefan Gady, a military analyst, said Russia had built up its force in Kursk over recent weeks and escalated strikes on Ukraine’s supply route.
“The result is that now that the Russians are pushing a lot. Parts of the front line are actually giving way,” he told AFP.
The British defense ministry estimates Ukraine controls around 300 square kilometers of Kursk, a five-fold territorial loss since Kyiv launched its gambit.
On Monday, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky conceded the situation was worsening.
He dismissed reports Ukrainian troops were in danger of being encircled but acknowledged they had been forced to fall back and that he was sending forward reinforcements.
One Ukrainian soldier who had been deployed in Kursk told AFP on Monday his unit had “fortunately” withdrawn five days earlier and described fighting there as “very” hard.
Another, who had overseen operations from inside Ukraine and also asked not to be identified to speak freely about the dynamics of the fighting, said Russia’s use of drones to disrupt logistics was a key problem.
“It was the end, so to speak. And we started to get out of there because if we didn’t, we would have been surrounded,” he said, recounting the decision of some troops to leave Kursk because of resupply problems and Russian advances.
From the outset, analysts were skeptical of the purpose of diverting thousands of Ukrainian troops and key military assets from front lines inside Ukraine that were under immense Russian pressure.
With Moscow now clawing back land, this question remains.
Russia last week even claimed to have captured a village inside Ukraine, Novenke, which lies just several kilometers from the vital Ukrainian resupply route into Kursk.
The Institute for the Study of War has said that Moscow is consolidating its gains and likely preparing to attack the largest town still under Ukrainian control, Sudzha.
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House Republicans block Congress’ ability to challenge Trump tariffs
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to block the ability of Congress to quickly challenge tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump that have rattled financial markets.
The 216-214 vote, largely along party lines, delays lawmakers’ ability for the rest of the year to force a vote that could revoke Trump’s tariffs and immigration actions.
Trump has made a blitz of tariff announcements since taking office, upending relations with key trading partners, including Mexico and China. This week he has ramped up a trade war with Canada, sending markets reeling and prompting business leaders to warn of weakening consumer demand.
Trump has said the tariffs will correct unbalanced trade relations, bring jobs back to the country and stop the flow of illegal narcotics from abroad.
Tuesday’s vote effectively derails an effort to challenge Trump’s Canada and Mexico tariffs, sponsored by Democratic Representative Suzan DelBene of Washington, which had been due to take place later this month.
“Every House Republican who voted for this measure is voting to give Trump expanded powers to raise taxes on American households through tariffs with full knowledge of how he is using those powers, and every Republican will own the economic consequences of that vote,” DelBene and a fellow Democrat, Representative Don Beyer from Virginia, said in a statement.
Rule changes governing the House voting processes in the majority’s favor are a common affair on Capitol Hill.
“This is an appropriate balance of powers and we trust this White House to do the right thing, and I think that was the right vote and it was reflected in the vote count,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said when asked by Reuters why he was comfortable giving more trade power to the executive branch.
The provision was tucked into a procedural vote related to the Republicans’ six-month stopgap funding bill.
DelBene had sought to force a vote under the National Emergencies Act, which gives the president special powers in an emergency and was cited by Trump in his tariff actions. That law also allows for representatives to force a vote in the House within 15 days to revoke the president’s emergency authority. The Senate would have to also pass the resolution for it to take effect.
But Tuesday’s vote tweaks how the House will count calendar days for the remainder of 2025, effectively blocking a vote of this kind this year.
The voting change is the latest example of the legislative branch offloading its constitutional trade authority to the executive branch.
“The international emergency economic powers have not been used before to impose tariffs, and many members want to have a chance to weigh in,” said Greta Peisch, former general counsel to the U.S. Trade Representative. “Without a fast-track voting process, they are unlikely to have an opportunity to do so.”
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