Rubio heads to Central America as Washington intensifies efforts to curb illegal migration

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STATE DEPARTMENT — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Panama and other countries in Central America amid President Donald Trump’s push to reclaim the Panama Canal and Washington’s efforts to curb illegal migration.  

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce confirmed that Rubio will travel to Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic starting late next week.The trip is expected to mark Rubio’s first foreign visit as secretary of state.  

The State Department said that Rubio is prioritizing engagement within the Western Hemisphere. 

A spokesperson told VOA, “Engaging with our neighbors is a vital element in addressing migration, supply chains and economic growth, which are key to Secretary Rubio’s pursuit of foreign policy focused on making America strong, prosperous, and safe.”  

Trump has said he has not ruled out the possibility of either military or economic measures to achieve his stated goal of bringing the Panama Canal back under U.S. control.  

Earlier this week, Rubio outlined his foreign policy priorities, including halting the mass entry of undocumented migrants into the United States.  

“The State Department will no longer undertake any activities that facilitate or encourage mass migration,” Rubio said in a statement. “Our diplomatic relations with other countries, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, will prioritize securing America’s borders, stopping illegal and destabilizing migration, and negotiating the repatriation of illegal immigrants” to their home countries. 

 
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Vietnam’s media restructuring will lead to more propaganda, critics warn

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HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM — Critics warn that Vietnam’s ongoing push to restructure the country’s media will allow authorities to have tighter control over news outlets and more effectively spread propaganda.

The media restructuring started in 2019 when former Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed the “National Press Development and Management Planning until 2025” policy. According to the plan, 180 press organizations will be shut down, and 8,000 reporters and editors will lose their jobs.

Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, told VOA the media restructuring has become more severe under General Secretary To Lam, who took over as leader of the Communist Party after the July 2024 death of his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong.

“There’s little doubt that this so-called ‘reform’ will result in the Vietnamese people getting even less real news,” Robertson wrote in an email. “This is precisely the path one expects an authoritarian like To Lam to take, doubling down on government control of what the people hear and see.”

To Lam’s broader ambitions for government reform include consolidating 14 ministries into seven. Under the government’s plan, dubbed Resolution 18, each ministry will be allowed to have one official news publication, further cutting the number of news outlets in the country. The move could cut the number of news outlets in half, some analysts say.

The government plans to concentrate resources into six national media conglomerates. The six outlets include Nhan Dan — the newspaper of the Communist Party — as well as the outlets of the Defense Ministry and Public Security Ministry.

Vietnam Television will become the sole national television channel, absorbing smaller broadcasters. On Jan. 15, broadcasts for 13 channels operating under Vietnam Multimedia Corporation, or VTC, ended, along with Voice of Vietnam TV and Nhan Dan TV. VTC was the country’s second-most-popular television broadcaster and had been operating for 20 years.

One 21-year-old journalism student was working as an intern at VTC in Hanoi when it shut down at midnight on Jan. 15. He said all the staff gathered on the first floor and had a countdown until all the TV monitors were turned off. Afterwards, they had fireworks. He said approximately 1,000 VTC employees lost their jobs that night.

“Everyone was crying,” he said, asking to be referred to as Justin. “After 20 years working at the station, doing a lot of collaboration, doing a lot of programs, doing a lot of special news, they have been kicked out for no reason. That’s how they are feeling.”

A regular VTC viewer in northern Vietnam who described herself as a housewife said it’s painful to see the broadcast shuttered.

“Honestly, I don’t want any channel to close,” she wrote on Facebook in Vietnamese. “I consider those channels as family members. Losing a channel is like losing a person.”

‘Bitter medicine’

On Dec. 1, To Lam spoke during a national conference on the implementation of Resolution 18. He stated the restructuring is designed to streamline the political system and remove institutional bottlenecks.

“This is really a difficult issue,” To Lam said. “It will involve thoughts, feelings, aspirations and affect the interests of a number of individuals and organizations.

“The implementation in many units will certainly encounter difficulties,” the General Secretary said. “However, we still have to proceed because to have a healthy body, sometimes we have to ‘take bitter medicine.’”

Trinh Huu Long, a democracy advocate and co-founder of the Taiwan-based nonprofit Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, said the government is rushing to finalize its media restructuring and the consolidation of government ministries.

“Everyone is working around the clock,” he said. “They’re planning to finish everything in March, when the Congress will hold a special session to rubber stamp this massive restructure.”

Nguyen Hong Hai, a senior lecturer at Hanoi’s VinUniversity, told VOA that while working in the public sector, he saw the need for reform firsthand.

“There’s the fact that there are a lot of employees who are not working, in the real sense, and there’s a lot of waste,” he said. “Every society needs reforms. But the thing is, how to do it effectively?”

Justin, the journalism student in Hanoi, supports the government reforms although he said change is happening “too fast” and without new opportunities for those who lost their livelihoods. That includes his uncle, who worked for VTC for some 20 years.

“We have cried, but we still 100% agree with what the government decided,” he said. “We just want to comment, ‘Please, if you want to kick me out, give me a new job.’ … Do not change so rapidly so that people will be shocked, like right now, kicked out from the job and with no other proposal for the future.”

Pushing propaganda

Long said that as Hanoi focuses its resources into six national media conglomerates, authorities will have more power to push Hanoi’s agenda.

“The government will invest in a small number of state agencies to make them a lot more effective in propaganda,” Long said. “The number one function of every state-media outlet is to promote and defend the [Communist] Party. Serving readers is secondary.”

In a November 2024 report, Legal Initiatives for Vietnam stated that there are currently 17 independent journalists behind bars in the country, all of whom were jailed within the last five years.

While all media outlets in Vietnam undergo government censorship, some outlets are funded by private corporations, although they must receive their licenses from government ministries. Long said these semi-privatized outlets, which have been the most professionalized and provided news which has not entirely aligned with Hanoi and government policy, are being pushed out.

“The quality is going to go south very, very quickly,” he said.

Long gave the example of Zing News.

In July 2023 the news site was suspended for three months after it was investigated by the Ministry of Information and Communications. The outlet came back after the suspension but was rebranded as Z News and the quality and frequency of its content was greatly downgraded, effectively making the outlet “irrelevant,” Long said.

He said that the outlet was punished for writing articles about Russia’s war on Ukraine that created “pro-Ukraine sentiment among the Vietnamese public.”

“They published a lot of articles about the Ukraine war that fell out of the [Communist] Party’s line, which is always to be pro-Russia,” Long said.

A researcher of Vietnamese media, who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, told VOA that the digitizing of national media allows it to “masquerade” propaganda as news.

“I think it’s very depressing. … It’s going to be uniform news, and it’s going to be only from the government’s point of view,” the researcher said. “There’s going to be fewer and fewer people dedicated to work as journalists and seeking out the news that matters to the Vietnamese people.”
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Malawian woman creates haven for children, teen mothers

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Tusaiwe Munkhondya knows what it’s like to feel alone in the world. She was abandoned by her mother at age six and raised by her grandmother. She now rescues abandoned babies, vulnerable children, and teen mothers in Malawi. Chimwemwe Padatha has this report.
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Debate heats up in New York over demands to ban face masks

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Calls to ban face masks in public are sparking debate in New York City. Supporters say it could curb subway crime, while critics argue it risks civil liberties. Aron Ranen has more.
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UK watchdog targets Apple, Google mobile ecosystems with new digital market powers

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London — Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS are facing fresh scrutiny from Britain’s competition watchdog, which announced investigations Thursday targeting the two tech giants’ mobile phone ecosystems under new powers to crack down on digital market abuses. 

The Competition and Markets Authority said it launched separate investigations to determine whether the mobile ecosystems controlled by Apple and Google should be given “strategic market status” that would mandate changes in the companies’ practices. 

The watchdog is flexing its newly acquired regulatory muscles again after the new digital market rules took effect at the start of the year. The CMA has already used the new rules, designed to protect consumers and businesses from unfair practices by Big Tech companies, to open an investigation into Google’s search ads business. 

The new investigations will examine whether Apple or Google’s mobile operating systems, app stores and browsers give either company a strategic position in the market. The watchdog said it’s interested in the level of competition and any barriers preventing rivals from offering competing products and services. 

The CMA will also look into whether Apple or Google are favoring their own apps and services, which it said “often come pre-installed and prominently placed on iOS and Android devices.” Google’s YouTube and Apple’s Safari browser are two examples of apps that come bundled with Android and iOS, respectively. 

And it will investigate “exploitative conduct,” such as whether Apple or Google forces app makers to agree to “unfair terms and conditions” as condition for distributing apps on their app stores. 

The regulator has until October to wrap up the investigation. It said it could force either company to, for example, open up access to key functions other apps need to operate on mobile devices. Or it could force them to allow users to download apps outside of their own app stores. 

Both Google and Apple said the work “constructively” with the U.K. regulator on the investigation. 

Google said “Android’s openness has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps. It’s the only example of a successful and viable open source mobile operating system.” 

The company said it favors “a way forward that avoids stifling choice and opportunities for U.K. consumers and businesses alike, and without risk to U.K. growth prospects.” 

Apple said it “believes in thriving and dynamic markets where innovation can flourish. We face competition in every segment and jurisdiction where we operate, and our focus is always the trust of our users.”
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Rubio says US committed to Philippines in call about China’s ‘dangerous’ actions 

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New U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed China’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” with his Philippine counterpart on Wednesday and underscored the “ironclad” U.S. defense commitment to Manila. 

“Secretary Rubio conveyed that (China’s) behavior undermines regional peace and stability and is inconsistent with international law,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement on the call with Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo. 

The Philippines has been embroiled in wrangles at sea with China in the past two years and the two countries have faced off regularly around disputed features in the South China Sea that fall inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone. 

Rubio’s call came after he hosted counterparts from Australia, India and Japan in the China-focused “Quad” forum on Tuesday, the day after President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The four recommitted to working together. 

Quad members and the Philippines share concerns about China’s growing power and analysts said Tuesday’s meeting was designed to signal continuity in the Indo-Pacific and that countering Beijing would be a top priority for Trump. 

In the call with Manalo, Rubio “underscored the United States’ ironclad commitments to the Philippines” under their Mutual Defense Treaty and discussed ways to advance security cooperation, expand economic ties and deepen regional cooperation, the statement said. 

China’s foreign ministry said its activities in the waters were “reasonable, lawful and beyond reproach.” 

Speaking at a regular press conference, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the United States was “not a party” to the South China Sea dispute and had “no right to intervene” in maritime issues between China and the Philippines. 

“Military cooperation between the U.S. and the Philippines should not undermine China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, nor should it be used to endorse the illegal claims of the Philippines,” Mao said. 

The Philippines, a U.S. defense treaty ally, is among the first countries to engage with the new U.S. administration to discuss critical security matters, Manila’s defense department said in a statement. 

Its defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro and U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz met at the White House on Thursday to reaffirm the enduring alliance between their two countries. 

Just ahead of Trump’s inauguration, the Philippines and the United States carried out their fifth set of joint maritime exercises in the South China Sea since launching the joint activities in 2023. 

Security engagements between the allies have soared under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has moved closer to Washington and allowed the expansion of military bases that American forces can access, including facilities facing the democratically governed island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own. 

Visiting the Philippines last week, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said a trilateral initiative to boost cooperation launched by Japan, the U.S. and the Philippines at a summit last year would be strengthened when the new U.S. administration took over in Washington. 
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Trump scheduled to tour Los Angeles fire damage Friday

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President Donald Trump is expected to visit hurricane- and fire-damaged areas of the US on Friday. The president will stop in North Carolina, which was hit by Hurricane Helene in September, and Los Angeles, where fires continue to burn and over 100,000 people are under evacuation orders. From Los Angeles, Genia Dulot has our story.
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Gabon to hold presidential election April 12

Posted on by SeeAF

LIBREVILLE, GABON — Gabon’s transitional government said presidential elections would be held on April 12, a key step to reestablish civilian rule after a coup ended the Bongo dynasty’s decades-long reign.

Government spokesman Seraphin Akure Davain made the announcement early Thursday following a Cabinet meeting.

“Voting will start at 7 a.m. and end at 6 p.m. in line with current laws,” he said.

The oil-rich central African country, which had been under the rule of the Bongo family for 55 years, adopted a new constitution in a November referendum.

It provided for a maximum of two seven-year presidential terms, no prime minister and no dynastic transfer of power.

On Monday, a new law allowed military officials to stand in elections, subject to certain conditions.

Transitional President General Brice Oligui Nguema, who swiftly took over as leader after the August 2023 coup, has made no secret of his ambitions to remain in power.
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Deadly Russian missile attack hits Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region

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Officials in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said Thursday a Russian ballistic missile attack killed at least one person and injured 24 others.

Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram that Russian drones also destroyed an energy facility and knocked out power to tens of thousands of people.

In the Mykolaiv region, Governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram that Ukrainian air defenses shot down nine Russian drones. Debris from the drones damaged several houses, Kim said.

Ukraine’s military also shot down several drones over the Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Serhiy Lysak said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down four Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region located along the Russia-Ukraine border.

Trump-Putin

The Kremlin said Thursday it did not see any particularly new elements in U.S. policy toward Russia under President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday threatened to impose sanctions on Russia if it does not end its war in Ukraine.

“He likes these methods, at least he liked them during his first presidency,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Peskov said Russia remains ready for “mutually respectful dialogue.”

Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to end his “ridiculous war” against Ukraine or the United States would soon impose new “high levels” of taxes, tariffs and sanctions on any Russian exports to the West.

Trump, two days into his second term in the White House, told Putin in a social media post that he was “not looking to hurt Russia” and that the U.S. “must never forget” that Russia helped the U.S. win World War II, but that it was time to end Moscow’s nearly three-year invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

“All of that being said,” Trump noted on his Truth Social account, “I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE.”

“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon,” Trump said he would “have no other choice” but to impose the taxes, tariffs and sanctions. Under President Joe Biden, who left office on Monday, the United States and its European allies frequently sanctioned key sectors of the Russian economy and oligarch friends of Putin, worsening the country’s economy but failing to stop the war.

Trump said, “Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way – and the easy way is always better. It’s time to “MAKE A DEAL.” NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!”

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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South Korea investigators recommend Yoon be charged with insurrection, abuse of power

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korean investigators recommended Thursday that impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol be charged with insurrection and abuse of power, as they handed over the results of their probe into his ill-fated declaration of martial law to prosecutors.

The official charges against Yoon were “leading an insurrection and abuse of power,” the Corruption Investigation Office said after a 51-day probe into his Dec. 3 attempt to suspend civilian rule.

The CIO said it “decided to request the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office file charges against the sitting President, Yoon Suk Yeol, in connection with allegations including leading insurrection.”

Yoon had “conspired with the former Minister of National Defense and military commanders on December 3, 2024,” it said.

The leader, currently suspended from duties, “declared martial law with the intent to exclude state authority or disrupt the constitutional order, thereby inciting riots.”

Under the South Korean legal system, the case file of the suspect — identified as “Yoon Suk Yeol: president” — will now be handed to prosecutors, who have 11 days to decide whether to charge him, which would lead to a criminal trial.

The prosecutors’ office has “complied with the CIO’s request for a case transfer,” the investigators said.

Yoon was arrested in a dawn raid last week on insurrection charges, becoming the first sitting South Korean head of state to be detained in a criminal probe.

South Korea was plunged into political chaos by Yoon’s botched martial law declaration, which lasted just six hours before lawmakers voted it down. They later impeached him, stripping him of his duties.

Since his arrest, Yoon has refused to be questioned by the CIO, which is in charge of the criminal probe.

He has declined to cooperate with the probe and “consistently maintained an uncooperative stance,” Lee Jae-seung, deputy CIO chief, said in briefing to reporters.

Yoon’s security detail also “obstructed searches and seizures, including access to secure communication devices like classified phones,” Lee said.

The CIO said it had decided, in view of Yoon’s efforts to block their investigation, it would be “more efficient” for prosecutors to handle the case, as they have the authority to indict suspects.

His lawyers have repeatedly said the CIO has no authority to investigate insurrection.

Yoon’s legal team said Thursday that they urged prosecutors to “conduct an investigation that adheres to legal legitimacy and due process.”

‘Abused authority’

During the night of Dec. 3, Yoon purportedly ordered troops to storm the National Assembly and prevent lawmakers from voting down his declaration of martial law.

The CIO said its probe found that Yoon “abused his authority by compelling police officers from the National Assembly Guard Unit and martial law forces to perform duties beyond their obligations.”

He also “obstructed the exercise of lawmakers’ rights to demand the lifting of martial law,” it added.

Yoon has denied instructing top military commanders to “drag out” lawmakers from parliament to prevent them from voting down his decree.

Yoon, who remains head of state, is being held in a detention center.

In addition to the criminal probe, he is also facing a Constitutional Court case, where judges will decide whether to uphold his impeachment, which would officially remove him from office.

If the court rules against Yoon, he will lose the presidency and elections will be called within 60 days.

Yoon, who attended a court hearing this week, will appear again Thursday when the judges will call witnesses to hear details of how martial law unfolded.
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New wildfire erupts in Southern California

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A new wildfire erupted Wednesday in Southern California, scorching more than 39 square kilometers of trees and brush in the mountains north of Los Angeles. 

The Hughes Fire is the latest wildfire to erupt in parched Southern California. It is burning near Lake Castaic, a recreation area about 65 kilometers from the Eaton and Palisades fires that are continuing to burn in the region for a third week. 

The fire, less than 1 square kilometer when first reported, quickly grew to 20 square kilometers with the aid of the Santa Ana winds, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. It was later reported to be 39 square kilometers in size.

“This fire had a robust response today, and as you can see behind us, the responders are doing great work to try to contain this fire,” Joe Tyler, director of Cal Fire, said. “Certainly, we are not out of the woods yet.”

Winds were gusting at 67 kph Wednesday afternoon and expected to increase to 96 kph in the evening and throughout Thursday, the National Weather Service posted on X.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate, and about 23,000 were under evacuation warnings.

Kayla Amara drove to a Castaic neighborhood to retrieve items from a friend’s home. As she was packing, she grabbed a hose and began watering down the property.

“I hope there’s a house here to return to,” Amara said as police cars raced through the streets and flames engulfed trees in the distance.

Before the Hughes Fire, firefighters and Southern California residents were bracing for the possibility of more wildfires fueled by the strong dry winds. Rain is forecast, but meteorologists have warned it would not be enough to end the fires. Forecasters predict a 60% to 80% chance of rain in the region beginning Saturday, with rainfall totals in most areas not exceeding 0.8 centimeters.

The National Weather Service said dangerous fire conditions would persist in the region through Thursday or Friday. Cal Fire spokesman David Acuna said officials are concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could break their containment lines.  

  

The chance of thunderstorms bringing heavier rainfall has raised fears of mudslides, with debris flowing down hilly areas that have been scorched by two weeks of wildfires. 

 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said an executive order she signed Tuesday is designed to curb the flow of toxic debris from the region’s fires and protect the area’s beaches and oceans.

 

 

“This is to prevent additional damage to areas already ravaged by fire and also to protect our watershed, beaches and ocean from toxic runoff,” the mayor said. 

City workers will remove toxic materials and set up barriers to direct the flow of debris into the sewer system. 

In addition, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved emergency measures facilitating the installation of flood control infrastructure and the removal of sediment in the burned areas. 

Residents are being encouraged to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice with their prepared emergency evacuation kits. They are also being encouraged to look at the city’s website to learn how to protect themselves from ash in the air that can include heavy metals, arsenic and other harmful substances, according to L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. 

 

The fires that broke out in Southern California on January 7 have killed at least 28 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. The death toll is expected to climb as emergency workers comb through the ashes. 

President Donald Trump, who has been critical of the response to the fire, is expected to travel to Los Angeles this week.  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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Europe posts record year for clean energy

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A record 47% of the European Union’s electricity now comes from solar and other renewables, a report Thursday said, in yet another sign of the growing gap between the bloc’s push for clean energy and the new U.S. administration’s pursuit of more fossil fuels.

Nearly three-quarters of the EU’s electricity doesn’t emit planet-warming gases into the air — with another 24% of electricity in the bloc coming from nuclear power, a report released by the climate energy think tank Ember found. This is far higher than in countries like the United States and China, where nearly two-thirds of their energy is still produced from carbon-polluting fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

Experts say they’re encouraged by Europe’s fossil fuel reductions, particularly as the U.S. looks set to increase its emissions as its new president pledges cheaper gas prices, has halted leases for wind projects and pledged to revoke Biden-era incentives for electric vehicles.

“Fossil fuels are losing their grip on EU energy,” said Chris Rosslowe, an energy expert at Ember. In 2024, solar power generated 11% of EU electricity, overtaking coal which fell below 10% for the first time. Clean wind power generated more electricity than gas for the second year in a row.

2024 data wasn’t available for all countries. Ember’s data for the world’s largest generators of electricity for 2023 show Brazil with the largest share of its electricity from renewables, almost 89%, with much of that coming from hydroelectric power. Canada had about 66.5%, China 30.6%, France 26.5%, the U.S. 22.7% and India 19.5%.

One reason for Europe’s clean power transition moving at pace is the European Green Deal, an ambitious policy passed in 2019 that paved the way for climate laws to be updated. As a result of the deal, the EU made their targets more ambitious, aiming to cut 55% of the region’s emissions by the end of the decade. The policy also aims to make Europe climate neutral — reducing the amount of additional emissions in the air to practically zero — by 2050.

Hundreds of regulations and directives in European countries to incentivize investment in clean energy and reduce carbon pollution have been passed or are in the process of being ratified across Europe.

“At the start of the Deal, renewables were a third and fossil fuels accounted for 39% of Europe’s electricity,” Rosslowe said. “Now fossils generate only 29% and wind and solar have been driving the clean energy transition.” The amount of electricity generated by nuclear energy has remained relatively stable in the bloc.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also spurred the move to clean energy in Europe. Gas prices skyrocketed — with much of Europe’s gas coming from Russia becoming unviable — forcing countries to look for cheaper, cleaner alternatives. Portugal, Netherlands and Estonia witnessed the highest increase in clean power in the last five years.

The transition to clean power helped Europe avoid more than $61 billion worth of fossil fuel imports for generating electricity since 2019.

“This is sending a clear message that their energy needs are going to be met through clean power, not gas imports,” said Pieter de Pous, a Brussels-based energy analyst at European think tank E3G. De Pous said the EU’s origins were “as a community of coal and steel because those industries were so important,” but it is now rapidly becoming a “community of solar and wind power, batteries and smart technologies.”

Nuclear growth in the bloc, meanwhile, has slowed. Across the European Union, retirements of nuclear plants have outpaced new construction since around the mid-2000s, according to Global Energy Monitor.

As President Trump has pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement aimed at curbing warming and is pursuing a “drill, baby, drill” energy policy, Rosslowe said the EU’s leadership in clean power becomes all the more important. “It’s about increasing European energy independence, and it’s about showing this climate leadership,” he said.

On Tuesday, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said: “Europe will stay the course, and keep working with all nations that want to protect nature and stop global warming.”
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Trump escalates campaign against diversity, threatens private sector probes

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U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his campaign against diversity programs on Tuesday by pressuring the private sector to join the initiative and telling government employees in offices administering such programs they would be placed on paid leave.

On his first day in office, Trump issued a series of executive orders to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which attempt to promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people and other traditionally underrepresented groups.

Civil rights advocates have argued that such programs are necessary to address long-standing inequities and structural racism. Trump and his supporters say DEI programs end up unfairly discriminating against other Americans and weaken the importance of candidates’ merit in job hiring or promotion.

In an executive order issued on Tuesday, Trump revoked executive orders dating as far back as 1965 on environmental actions, equal employment opportunities and encouragement to federal contractors to achieve workforce balancing on race, gender and religion.

The 1965 order that was revoked was signed by then-President Lyndon Johnson to protect the rights of workers employed by federal contractors and ensure they remained free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin, according to the Labor Department.

The Trump executive order seeks to dissuade private companies that receive government contracts from using DEI programs and hiring on the basis of race and sex — what the order called “illegal DEI discrimination and preferences” — and asks government agencies to identify private companies that might be subject to civil investigation.

“As a part of this plan, each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars,” the order said.

Full details on how the Trump administration would enforce “civil compliance investigations” were not immediately available.

The order issued on Tuesday stipulates that federal and private-sector employment preferences for military veterans could continue.

The executive order was celebrated by conservative activists and Republican leaders. It was also met with condemnation from civil rights leaders who are strategizing how to respond to Trump’s actions.

Reverend Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, formally announced Wednesday the organization and its partners plan to identify two companies in the next 90 days that will be boycotted for abandoning DEI pledges. Reuters first reported the coordinated action ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Basil Smikle Jr., a political strategist and policy adviser, said he was troubled by the Trump administration’s assertion that diversity programs were “diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work and determination” because it suggested women and people of color lacked merit or qualifications.

“There’s this clear effort to hinder, if not erode, the political and economic power of people of color and women,” Smikle said.

“What it does is opens up the door for more cronyism,” he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters to address criticism from civil rights advocates.

Separately, the Trump administration instructed U.S. federal government departments and agencies to dismantle all DEI programs, advising employees of such programs that they would be immediately placed on paid leave.

The government should by the end of business on Wednesday inform employees of any government offices or units focused exclusively on DEI that their programs will be shut down and employees placed on leave, the Office of Personnel Management said in a memorandum.

The Tuesday memo also included a template for agency heads to use, encouraging federal employees to report alleged attempts by “some in government to disguise” continued use of DEI programs and initiatives “by using coded or imprecise language.” A directive, using nearly identical wording, was distributed Wednesday to staff at various federal agencies and departments, including the State Department, according to a memo viewed by Reuters.

Trump also signed a memorandum on Tuesday that ends a Biden administration initiative to promote diversity in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), ordering the FAA administrator to immediately stop DEI hiring programs, the White House said.

Trump ordered the FAA to conduct a safety review that would replace any employees who fail to demonstrate their competence.

“President Trump is immediately terminating this illegal and dangerous program and requiring that all FAA hiring be based solely on ensuring the safety of airline passengers and overall job excellence,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
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Russia’s Arctic militarization behind Trump’s focus on Greenland

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Nuuk, Greenland — A blizzard whips the Danish, Greenlandic and Faroe Islands flags above the Joint Arctic Command headquarters overlooking the harbor of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.

The small military outpost staffed by around 80 personnel oversees Danish security for the vast Arctic island of some 2.1 million square kilometers.

Greenland’s government is largely autonomous, but the island is part of the Danish Kingdom, and Denmark retains responsibility for its security.

U.S. President Donald Trump has made clear his determination to take ownership of the island for the United States and hasn’t ruled out using economic or military force.

Speaking hours after his inauguration, Trump reiterated his view that U.S. control was necessary for “international security” because, he explained, “You have Russian boats all over the place. You have China boats all over the place, warships. And [Denmark] can’t maintain it.”

Russian missiles

The United States has long viewed Greenland as vitally important for its defense, explained Marc Jacobsen, an analyst at the Royal Danish Defense College in Copenhagen.

“There’s no doubt that it’s geostrategically important in defending the U.S. national security against Russian missiles,” Jacobsen told VOA. “The shortest route for Russian missiles towards the U.S. is via the North Pole, via Greenland.”

Russia has invested heavily in its Arctic military footprint in recent years. Its northernmost Nagurskoye air base on Siberia’s northern coast hosts nuclear-capable strategic bombers, missile and surveillance systems.

Russian nuclear submarines patrol the Arctic seas, while a growing fleet of nuclear-powered ice breakers projects Kremlin power across the region.

China and Russia have conducted joint military drills in the Arctic. Beijing is also seeking access to valuable minerals beneath the ice.

“There is definitely a threat, especially from Russian military capacities in that region. And NATO countries are right now moving to increase their capacity,” Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen, also of the Royal Danish Defense College, told VOA.

Denmark’s defense

Denmark’s military capabilities on Greenland consist of four aging naval patrol vessels, a surveillance plane and dog sled patrols.

Copenhagen announced plans last month to invest in new surveillance drones, two new ships and additional personnel, along with upgrading an existing air base to accommodate F-35 fighter jets. The exact cost has yet to be decided, but the government said it would spend a “double-digit billion amount” in Danish kroner, or at least $1.5 billion.

Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen admitted, however, that the government has failed to invest in Greenland’s security.

“We have neglected for many years to make the necessary investments in our ships, in the aircraft that will help to monitor our kingdom, and that is what we are now trying to do something about,” he told reporters on Jan. 9.

“We will hopefully create an investment package where we will strengthen our ability to monitor what is happening in the Arctic, and also for some new capacities to be put into place.”

Denmark hopes the upgrades will go toward “meeting American demands for increasing the surveillance of Greenland,” Jacobsen said.

US Space base

The U.S. military has been present in Greenland since World War II, when American forces were deployed to the island following Denmark’s fall to Nazi Germany. At the height of the U.S. deployment, Greenland hosted more than 10,000 U.S. service personnel.

The Pituffik Space Base on Greenland’s northwest coast, formerly known as the Thule Air Base, is the United States’ northernmost military facility. It now hosts around 200 military personnel, alongside missile warning, defense and space surveillance systems.

“The military protection of Greenland de facto relies on the U.S.,” Rahbek-Clemmensen said. “And the big question is then whether the U.S. wants to enhance that presence, perhaps to be able to do other types of military operations in that area.”

That may be why, he added, Danish officials appear to be approaching the issue in a manner that maintains good U.S. relations.

“The Danish government has been trying to touch on that word ‘control’ that Trump uses, which is a very ambiguous term,” he added. “What does control mean? Does it mean owning a piece of territory? Or does it mean having a certain amount of military equipment on that territory?”

US-Danish relations

At Denmark’s Arctic command center in Nuuk, the U.S. flag flies alongside the Danish, Greenlandic and Faroe Islands colors. The building also hosts the U.S. Consulate — a sign that, for the time being, U.S.-Danish relations remain cordial.

Before Trump’s inauguration, the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen said there were no plans to expand U.S. military presence in Greenland.

That could change under the new president.

For now, Denmark and its European allies are hoping that Trump’s comments are part of a strategy to force NATO allies to spend more on defense.

“There’s an important element which is about his personality, which he brings into the way that U.S. diplomacy, or his diplomacy, is carried out,” Jacobsen said.

“In a positive light, if the USA increases its presence in the Arctic, it will increase the NATO presence, because the seven Arctic states — besides Russia — we are all members of NATO now.”
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Nigeria’s new BRICS partner status sparks economic optimism, debate

Posted on by SeeAF

ABUJA, NIGERIA — Nigerian authorities said this week that the nation’s new partnership status with the BRICS bloc could unlock critical opportunities in trade, investment and agriculture.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser told Lagos-based Channels Television that the partnership, which became official Friday, is pivotal to promoting trade, investment, food security, infrastructure development and energy security.

The adviser, Daniel Bwala, said the pact enables Nigeria to forge deeper strategic relationships with BRICS members beyond traditional bilateral partnerships.

BRICS — an acronym for the founding members of Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa added a year later — is a political and economic bloc. BRICS introduced the “partner country” category in October. Partner nations are a step below full membership.

Economist Emeka Okengwu praised the arrangement.

“Look at the members of BRICS and the economies that they bring to the table. Brazil is probably the biggest producer of livestock and its products globally, then to aircraft, aviation and renewable energy,” Okengwu said. “Look at Russia, India, China and South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia. These are big populations.

If you put them together, they probably bring 10 times the value of whatever Europe and America can give to you,” he said.

In total, the 10 BRICS member states make up 40% of the global economy and 55% of the global population.

In a statement, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the country’s participation in BRICS reflects its commitment to leveraging global economic opportunities to advance national development goals.

Last December, Nigeria intensified efforts to join not only BRICS but also the G20 organization of the world’s major economies and the BRICS New Development Bank.

Okengwu said the partnership will help Nigeria at “being productive, taking goods and services in there, being able to meet global standards and being competitive.”

“It would’ve been horrible if Nigeria was not in BRICS and then we would’ve been left hanging with all these challenges we’re having with our neighbors in the Sahel,” Okengwu said.

Despite the optimism, analysts say Nigeria faces significant hurdles.

The country’s struggling economy and inadequate infrastructure raise concerns about its capacity for meaningful growth through BRICS. There’s also concern about how Nigeria will balance its alliances with Western nations while deepening ties with BRICS.

However, Ndu Nwokolo, an economist with Nextier, suggested the challenge is manageable.

“It’s about how smart you are to benefit from everybody,” Nwokolo said. “With what we’re seeing by some of the pronouncements of [U.S.] President [Donald] Trump, Nigeria may benefit from it because already Trump is talking about increasing taxes [tariffs] even within ally states.

“So, if he’s going to do that with countries we think are traditional partners, so who’s telling you that he will not do more with countries that he considers outsiders,” he said. “So, we’re looking at a situation where countries that are not originally traditional allies of America will try to pull together, and Nigeria may benefit from that.”
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17-year-old shooter kills female student, himself at Nashville high school, police say

Posted on by SeeUS

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — A 17-year-old shooter killed himself after fatally wounding a female student in a shooting at a Nashville high school on Wednesday, police said. 

Two others who were wounded in the shooting at Antioch High School are being treated at a hospital, Don Aaron, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, said during a news conference. 

The school has about 2,000 students and is located in a neighborhood of Nashville about 16 kilometers southeast of downtown. 

School officials are asking parents not to go to the high school to pick up their children. They were asked to go to a nearby hospital instead. Students will be bused there as they are released from the school by police. 

School shootings have been top of mind in Nashville. In March 2023, a shooter killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in the city, The Covenant School.
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Death toll in flooding, landslides in Indonesia rises to 21

Posted on by SeeEA

JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Indonesian rescuers retrieved four more bodies after they resumed their search Wednesday for people missing after floods and landslides on Indonesia’s main island of Java, bringing the death toll to 21.

Water from flooded rivers tore through nine villages in Pekalongan regency of Central Java province, and landslides tumbled onto mountainside hamlets after the torrential rains Monday.

Videos and photos released by National Search and Rescue Agency showed workers digging desperately in villages where roads and green-terraced rice fields were transformed into murky brown mud and villages were covered by thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees.

National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said flooding triggered a landslide that buried two houses and a cafe in the Petungkriyono resort area. The disasters all together destroyed 25 houses, a dam and three main bridges connecting villages in Pekalongan. At least 13 people were injured, and nearly 300 people were forced to flee to temporary government shelters.

The search and rescue operation that was hampered by bad weather, mudslides and rugged terrain was halted Tuesday afternoon due to heavy rain and thick fog that made devastated areas along the rivers dangerous to rescuers.

On Wednesday, they searched in rivers and the rubble of villages for bodies and survivors in worst-hit Kasimpar village, said Budiono, who heads a local rescue office.

Scores of rescue personnel recovered three mud-caked bodies, including a 5-month old baby, as they searched a Petungkriyono area where tons of mud and rocks buried two houses and a cafe. Another body was pulled out from under a broken bridge near a river in Kasimpar village. Rescuers are still searching for five people reported missing.

Landslides and floods were also reported in many other provinces, Muhari said. On Monday, a landslide hit five houses in Denpasar, on the tourist island of Bali, killing four people and leaving one missing.

Heavy seasonal rain from about October to March frequently causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.
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Botswana closes doors on foreign teachers, truck drivers

Posted on by SeeAF

GABORONE, BOTSWANA — A Botswanan official said this week the nation will no longer issue work permits to foreign teachers and truck drivers in order to protect local jobs.

Minister of Labor and Home Affairs Pius Mokgware told a group of unemployed teachers protesting in Gaborone that the government already has stopped issuing permits to foreign educators and truck drivers.

He said that last month the government rejected 140 applications for work permits.

Thabang Kopelo, who was representing the unemployed teachers, said they want the new government, which took office in October, to go a step further.

“We now demand the cancellation and the immediate suspension of issuing of work permits to teachers who come from outside of Botswana. … There are [already] thousands and thousands” of local teachers, Kopelo said.

The group’s actions weren’t xenophobic, Kopelo said, but a plea to the government to prioritize citizens in hiring teachers.

“In other countries … they are being attacked,” Kopelo said. “Derogatory language is being used against them. We are not moving in that approach; we are fellow brothers and sisters.”

In neighboring South Africa, clashes between migrants and locals have often turned deadly, with citizens arguing foreigners are taking their jobs.

Gaborone-based Congolese teacher Patrice Okomi said there is not much foreign workers can do except abide by the host government’s regulations.

“We are here at the mercy of the government, and it is entirely up to the Botswana authorities to decide our future,” Okomi said. “If the feeling is that we have overstayed our welcome, there is not much we can do except to prepare for our exit.”

Botswana’s stable economy has attracted migrant workers, the majority fleeing hardship in neighboring Zimbabwe.

According to figures from the government office Statistics Botswana, there are 4,581 holders of foreign work permits in Botswana, with teachers comprising 18% of the total.
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Murdoch’s UK tabloids apologize to Prince Harry, admit intruding on Diana

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LONDON — Prince Harry claimed a monumental victory Wednesday as Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloids made an unprecedented apology for intruding in his life over decades and agreed to pay substantial damages to settle his privacy invasion lawsuit.

News Group Newspapers offered a “full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life,” Harry’s attorney, David Sherborne, read from a statement in court.

The statement even went beyond the scope of the case to acknowledge intruding on the life of Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana, and the impact it had on his family.

“We acknowledge and apologize for the distress caused to the duke, and the damage inflicted on relationships, friendships and family, and have agreed to pay him substantial damages,” the settlement statement said.

His phone was hacked, and he was spied on

It was the first time News Group has acknowledged wrongdoing at The Sun, a paper that once sold millions of copies with its formula of sports, celebrities and sex — including topless women on Page 3.

Harry had vowed to take his case to trial to publicly expose the newspaper’s wrongdoing and win a court ruling upholding his claims.

In a statement read by his lawyer, Harry claimed he achieved the accountability he sought for himself and hundreds of others, including ordinary people, who were snooped on.

News Group acknowledged “phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators” aimed at Harry. News Group had strongly denied those allegations before trial.

“This represents a vindication for the hundreds of other claimants who were strong-armed into settling without being able to get to the truth of what was done to them,” Sherborne said outside the High Court in London.

Wrongdoing alleged at the top

The bombshell announcement came after the trial’s start was postponed a day as last-minute settlement talks heated up outside court.

Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, and Tom Watson, a former Labour Party member of Parliament, were the only two remaining claimants out of more than 1,300 others who had settled lawsuits against News Group Newspapers over allegations their phones were hacked and investigators unlawfully intruded in their lives.

The company engaged in “perjury and cover-ups” to obscure the truth for years, deleting 30 million emails and other records, Harry and Watson said in a joint statement read by Sherborne.

“There was an extensive conspiracy,” the statement said, in which “senior executives deliberately obstructed justice.”

News Group said in a statement that it would have disputed at trial that evidence was destroyed and that it continues to deny those allegations.

While News Group had issued an unreserved apology for its wrongdoing at the shuttered News of the World, it had never done so at The Sun and had vehemently denied those allegations.

The statement read by Sherborne took aim at Rebekah Brooks, now the CEO overseeing News Group, who had been the editor at The Sun when she was acquitted at a criminal trial in a phone hacking case.

“At her trial in 2014, Rebekah Brooks said, ‘When I was editor of The Sun, we ran a clean ship,'” he said. “Ten years later when she is CEO of the company, they now admit, when she was editor of The Sun, they ran a criminal enterprise.”

News Group apologized for wrongdoing by private eyes hired by The Sun, but not for anything done by its journalists.

Two cases down, one to go

In all the cases that have been brought against the publisher since a widespread phone hacking scandal forced Murdoch to close News of the World in 2011, Harry’s case got the closest to trial.

Murdoch closed the paper after the Guardian reported that the tabloid’s reporters had in 2002 hacked the phone of Milly Dowler, a murdered 13-year-old schoolgirl, while police were searching for her.

Harry’s case against News Group was one of three he brought accusing British tabloids of violating his privacy by eavesdropping on phone messages or using private investigators to unlawfully help them score scoops.

His case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror ended in victory when the judge ruled that phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at the newspaper and its sister publications.

During that trial in 2023, Harry became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court since the late 19th century, putting him at odds with the monarchy’s desire to keep its problems out of view.

The outcome in the News Group case raises questions about how his third case — against the publisher of the Daily Mail — will proceed. That trial is scheduled next year.

Source of a bitter feud

Harry’s feud with the press dates to his youth, when the tabloids took glee in reporting on everything from his injuries to his girlfriends to dabbling with drugs.

But his fury with the tabloids goes much deeper.

He blames the media for the death of his mother, who was killed in a car crash in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi in Paris. He also blames them for the persistent attacks on his wife, actor Meghan Markle, that led them to leave royal life and flee to the United States in 2020.

The litigation has been a source of friction in his family, Harry said in the documentary “Tabloids On Trial.”

He revealed in court papers that his father opposed his lawsuit. He also said his older brother, William, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, had settled a private complaint against News Group that his lawyer has said was worth over 1 million pounds ($1.23 million).

“I’m doing this for my reasons,” Harry told the documentary makers, although he said he wished his family had joined him.

Harry was originally one among dozens of claimants, including actor Hugh Grant, who alleged that News Group journalists and investigators they hired violated their privacy between 1994 and 2016 by intercepting voicemails, tapping phones, bugging cars and using deception to access confidential information.
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TikTok’s US reprieve comes as other countries limit social media use

Posted on by SeeUS

Singapore — TikTok’s short-lived shutdown in the United States has opened a wider debate in other countries regarding access to popular social media platforms by children.

TikTok went dark temporarily Sunday in the U.S. after a new law banning it went into effect. The law required TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance to sell the app’s U.S. operation due to national security concerns over its ties to Beijing.

After his inauguration on Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting the ban for 75 days, giving ByteDance additional time to find a buyer.

The order provides relief to the app’s 170 million American users, many of them young adults. More than 60% of teenagers in the U.S. ages 13 to 17 use TikTok, with most of them accessing the platform daily, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

The U.S. is not the only country looking to regulate social media and other platforms such as online gaming. While the reasons behind the restrictions vary, a growing number of countries already regulate technology or are proposing legislation to restrict its use.

In Australia, a high-profile social media ban for young adults under the age of 16 will take effect at the end of the year, prohibiting them from creating accounts on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X and Snapchat. The government said the ban was a necessary measure to protect children.

“Social media is doing harm to our kids, and I’m calling time on it,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters last November.

Websites like YouTube that do not require an account to view content will likely be excluded from the ban.

The Australian government said the onus will be on the social media companies to “take reasonable steps” to prevent children under 16 from creating accounts on their platforms. Companies that do not comply could face fines of more than $30 million. Details of how the law will be enforced remain scarce, with age verification technologies currently being trialed.

Some young Australian users of the platforms remain skeptical about how effective a ban will be.

“I think people will manage to find ways around it, maybe by lying about their age,” 15-year-old Theodore Cagé told VOA.

While Cagé concedes that social media can be a “big distraction from school,” he is against a blanket ban, favoring more measured approaches such as limiting screen time or blocking specific content.

“I reckon it definitely should be more targeted, not just a total ban on everything, because there’s a lot of good stuff out there. It’s not all bad,” he said.

The impending ban has also raised concerns that some children will be left isolated.  

“Social media serves as a lifeline for those youth who do not have supportive homes or local environments. They can find supportive communities on social media”, Lisa Given, a professor of information sciences at RMIT University in Melbourne, told VOA.

Australia’s ban will be closely watched, especially by countries in Asia that are considering their own restrictions for young users.

Indonesia’s communications minister said the Southeast Asian nation is planning a minimum age for social media use and discussed plans last week with President Prabowo Subianto. 

In neighboring Singapore, teenagers under 18 will be moved to a more restrictive Teen Accounts on Instagram starting January 21.

The city-state also issued guidelines in schools to limit screen time for children. Starting March 31, app stores in Singapore will block children under 12 from downloading apps, including TikTok and Instagram.

But in the Southeast Asian financial hub, which prides itself on technological advancements and connectivity, social media still plays a significant role in the daily lives of young people.

Platforms like Snapchat and Instagram “are pretty important for engaging in new relationships or finding new friendships,” 17-year-old Pablo Lane of Singapore told VOA. “It [social media] has had big benefits for me, just broadening the scope of people I can contact.”

China has gone further than other countries in Asia to control children’s access to online networks. In 2021, Beijing introduced new measures restricting children under 18 to just three hours a week.  

 

And in late 2024, new guidelines from China’s cybersecurity regulator called for mobile devices to be equipped with a “minors mode” that would limit screen time for children under 18, including an overnight curfew.

The setting, which parents can turn off, restricts 16 to 18-year-olds to two hours of phone use a day, with eight to 16-year-olds allowed just one hour.

Jeremy Daum, a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, said China is also focused on protecting children from harmful content online rather than implementing blanket bans.

“They’re really trying, from a number of different angles, to make a safe web for kids,” he Daum.

Questions remain over whether China’s model could apply elsewhere. 
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India builds naval prowess with eye on China

Posted on by SeeEA

India recently inducted three new warships into its navy as it steps up efforts to counter China’s growing footprint in Indian ocean countries. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi.
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 Trump expresses possibility of more sanctions against Russia for Ukraine war

Posted on by SeeEU

U.S. President Donald Trump signaled the possibility of placing additional sanctions on Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Asked about the prospect while speaking to reporters Tuesday, Trump responded, “Sounds likely.”

Trump said his administration has been in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and would be speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon.”

He said the European Union should be “paying a lot more than they’re paying” to aid Ukraine, while falsely stating the U.S. has contributed $200 billion more than the EU.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has committed about $175 billion in aid for Ukraine. The European Union says the bloc and its member states have made about $145 billion in aid available.

Trump says Europe should be paying more because its proximity means the war has a greater effect on the EU than the United States.

“I mean, what are we, stupid? I guess the answer is yes, because they must think so,” Trump said.

He has previously complained that NATO allies are not allocating enough of their spending to defense and called for increased defense budget targets.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said during a speech Wednesday at an EU Defence Agency conference that, in terms of general defense spending, Trump is “right to say that we don’t spend enough,” and that the EU needs to invest more.

She called for the EU to provide “more, faster and stronger” support to Ukraine, saying that Ukrainians “are fighting for their freedom and ours.”

“There is absolutely no doubt that we can do more to help Ukraine,” Kallas said. “With our help, they can also win the war.”

Aerial attacks

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday the country’s air defenses shot down dozens of drones overnight, including in Mykolaiv where Governor Vitaliy Kim said falling debris damaged an apartment building and injured two people.

Officials in the Khmelnytskyi and Sumy regions also reported drones being shot down in their areas.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed six Ukrainian drones over the Rostov region, while also knocking down a drone over Kursk and another over Voronezh.

Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar said drone fragments fell in the courtyard of a house, but that no one was injured.

Ceasefire provisions

Zelenskyy said Tuesday that if a ceasefire deal were enacted with Russia, “at least 200,000 European peacekeepers” would need to be on the ground in Ukraine to defend the Eastern European country against a possible attack by Russia.

Zelenskyy said Europe must “take care of itself.” He said 200,000 peacekeepers from European countries would be the minimum number of peacekeepers required, “Otherwise, it’s nothing.”

“Let’s not forget, there is no ocean separating European countries from Russia,” Zelenskyy said in his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Ukraine’s president said Russia’s demand that Ukraine reduce its army to one-fifth of its current size of 800,000 is not an option. 

Ukraine’s best defense during a ceasefire deal, Zelenskyy said, would be its membership into NATO. 

Alliance members have declared the Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to membership, but the United States, Germany and others oppose allowing Ukraine to join while the war is ongoing for fear of sparking a wider conflict..

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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Gabon dispatches government ministers to encourage voter registrations

Posted on by SeeAF

Yaoundé, Cameroon — Civilians in Gabon are being encouraged this month to register to vote in presidential elections scheduled for August 2025, as ordered by transitional President General Brica Clotaire Oligui Nguema.

The planned elections are envisioned to end a two-year transition to civilian rule.

Voter registration began Jan. 2 and is due to conclude at the end of the month.

Gabon’s political opposition says voter registration has not been as robust as expected because civilians believe the transitional president wants to confiscate power, assertions that Nguema denies.

The elections are part of a plan for a return to constitutional order after an Aug. 30, 2023 coup that ousted longtime President Ali Bongo Ondimba.

Gabon officials say at least 300,000 new voters, who have either reached the legal voting age of 18 or who are not yet registered, are expected to be added to the 860,000 or so civilians that registered as part of Gabon’s November 16, 2024 constitutional referendum, and whose names are already in the elections database.

This week, officials of the central African nation said senior state functionaries were deployed to encourage civilians to register before the January 31 deadline.

Ministers dispatched to towns and villages this week are expected to work with voter enrollment teams and make sure civilians are formally registered as voters so they can participate in the August elections and cast ballots. 

But Gabon’s opposition and civil society groups say civilians are not heeding calls by government officials to register because they are not sure Nguema is ready to hand power to civilian rule.

Cyrille Bissiengou is the deputy coordinator of Yes Volunteers, a group created in 2024 to encourage civilians to take part in Gabon’s electoral process.

Bissiengou said he is not sure that 300,000 new voters will register before the Jan. 31 deadline, as Gabon’s government expects.

Many young people told Yes Volunteers they weren’t sure about Nguemas’ willingness to hand power to civilians. 

Bissiengou spoke on Gabon’s state TV on Tuesday. 

Jean Remy Yama, leader of Unitary Dynamics, one of Gabon’s leading worker trade unions and member of Gabon’s senate, also expressed skepticism.

Yama said if Nguema truly wanted to hand power to civilian rule, he should have allowed Gabon’s parliament and senate to set up an independent elections management body to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.

He said by asking a minister appointed by transitional rulers to register voters and organize elections, Nguema is indicating that he wants to hold power.

Gabon’s constitution, voted in a Nov. 16 referendum to lay the groundwork for elections, bars transitional government members from running in the 2025 presidential polls but permits Nguema to run for president. 

Nguema has not said whether he will be a candidate and the transitional government refutes claims the military leader is planning to maintain power. 
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TikTok’s US survival hinges on President Trump

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Millions of U.S. TikTok users are looking to newly sworn-in President Donald Trump, who has given the app’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, 75 days to strike a deal with a U.S. buyer.
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