https://www.voanews.com/z/599 The latest news and analysis about United States culture, education, entertainment, race, immigration, politics, and religion. https://www.voanews.com/Content/responsive/VOA/en-US/img/logo.png https://www.voanews.com/z/599 en 2026 - VOA 60 Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:11:35 -0400 Pangea CMS – VOA The replacement crew for the International Space Station was launched late Friday, paving the way for the return home of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two NASA astronauts stuck on the space station for nine months. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7:03 p.m. from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying Crew-10 members: NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. The crew is part of a routine six-month rotation. Crew-10 and the Dragon spacecraft are expected to reach the space station around 11:30 p.m. Saturday. Returning to Earth alongside Wilmore and Williams will be NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Their return is scheduled for Wednesday, to allow for an overlap of the two crews to brief the new team. Wilmore and Williams arrived aboard the International Space Station in June 2024 and expected to stay in space for about 10 days. But their return was delayed after mechanical issues with their spacecraft, which, after weeks of troubleshooting was subsequently sent back to Earth without them. Their return was continually pushed back due to other technical delays. https://www.voanews.com/a/nasa-spacex-launch-crew-to-space-station-to-retrieve-stuck-astronauts/8011575.html https://www.voanews.com/a/nasa-spacex-launch-crew-to-space-station-to-retrieve-stuck-astronauts/8011575.html Sat, 15 Mar 2025 06:04:44 -0400 USAScience & Healthwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) A California jury Friday imposed a $50 million fine on Starbucks in the case of a delivery driver burned by a scalding cup of hot tea at a company location in Los Angeles. Michael Garcia was picking up three drinks in 2020 but one, he claimed, was "negligently" unsecured and spilled in his lap. He claimed that he consequently "suffered severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals" and he was taken to an emergency room by paramedics. "Michael Garcia’s life has been forever changed," his attorney, Nick Rowley, said. "No amount of money can undo the permanent catastrophic harm he has suffered, but this jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility," he added. Starbucks said it planned to appeal the verdict. "We sympathize with Mr. Garcia, but we disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive," company spokesperson Jaci Anderson said in a statement. "We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks," she added. https://www.voanews.com/a/8011572.html https://www.voanews.com/a/8011572.html Sat, 15 Mar 2025 05:47:48 -0400 USAwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) A U.S. federal appeals court Friday lifted a block on the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, pausing a lower court ruling blocking enforcement of a series of presidential executive orders halting support of DEI initiatives. The three-judge panel on the Fourth Circuit of Appeals, in Richmond, Virginia, found that the directives by President Donald Trump were likely constitutional, disagreeing with a ruling in February by a federal judge in Maryland. The judges are allowing the Trump administration to implement the policy while they consider a final decision on the constitutionality of the orders. U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore had blocked implementation of Trump’s executive order nationwide pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought by the city of Baltimore and groups that claimed, among other things, the executive orders -- one abolishing DEI programs in the federal government and another requiring recipients of federal grants to not operate DEI programs -- improperly targeted constitutionally protected free speech. The Trump administration maintains the orders do not ban or discourage any speech but target instead unlawful discrimination. In addition to directing federal agencies to end diversity programs, the executive orders also precluded federal contractors from having them. Trump also ordered the Justice Department and other agencies to identify businesses, schools and nonprofit organizations that were deemed unlawfully discriminating through DEI policies. https://www.voanews.com/a/us-appeals-court-allows-dei-crackdown/8011570.html https://www.voanews.com/a/us-appeals-court-allows-dei-crackdown/8011570.html Sat, 15 Mar 2025 05:35:26 -0400 USAwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) U.S. weather forecasters warned of the threat of tornados in multiple states this weekend following at least five twisters in the state of Missouri on Friday. Friday's storms left some 100,000 buildings without power as severe weather continued into the night. The tornado risk was expected to continue into the weekend in a slew of states including Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Accuweather predicted the storm risk to peak from Saturday afternoon to Saturday night. The National Weather Service warned of heavy thunderstorms from the Midwest to the Mississippi Valley, bringing with them the chance of flash flooding, power outages, downed trees and travel disruptions. In Alabama, Governor Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency on Friday, extending into Sunday. In her proclamation, she said "this severe weather could cause significant damage to public and private property and poses a danger to the health and safety of the people of Alabama, including potential disruption of essential utility systems, personal injury and loss of life." The proclamation means the state National Guard will be on alert and could be activated. Missouri also declared a state of emergency. Forecasters expect the thunderstorms to swamp the South and move toward the East Coast on Saturday night into Sunday. Although the tornado threat is expected to decrease, the East Coast will likely face hail and potentially damaging wind gusts. The storm system is expected to move off into the Atlantic Ocean sometime Sunday night into Monday. https://www.voanews.com/a/forecasters-warn-of-tornadoes-in-us-in-coming-days/8011541.html https://www.voanews.com/a/forecasters-warn-of-tornadoes-in-us-in-coming-days/8011541.html Sat, 15 Mar 2025 02:11:12 -0400 USAwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) U.S. President Donald Trump promised to seek accountability for those who pursued legal cases against him when he was out of office, speaking Friday at the Justice Department. "Our predecessors turned this Department of Justice into the Department of Injustice. But I stand before you today to declare that those days are over, and they are never going to come back. They're never coming back," Trump said. During his years out of office, the department twice indicted Trump on charges that he illegally stored classified documents at his Florida estate and that he worked to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Both cases were dismissed after Trump won election in November, with the department citing a long-standing policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. "Now, as the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred. The American people have given us a mandate, a mandate like few people thought possible," Trump said. Trump has fired prosecutors who investigated him during the Biden administration and scrutinized thousands of FBI agents who investigated some supporters of the president who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Representative Jamie Raskin, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called Trump’s speech a "staggering violation of [the] traditional boundary between independent criminal law enforcement and presidential political power." Speaking outside Justice shortly after Trump spoke, Raskin said, "No other president in American history has stood at the Department of Justice to proclaim an agenda of criminal prosecution and retaliation against his political foes." Trump has long been critical of both the department and the FBI. He has installed political allies into top leadership positions at both of those agencies. FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi attended Friday’s talk. In introducing Trump, Bondi said, "We all work for the greatest president in the history of our country. ... He will never stop fighting for us, and we will never stop fighting for him and for our country." During his speech, Trump promised "historic reforms" at the agencies and said, "Under the Trump administration, the DOJ and the FBI will once again become the premier crime fighting agencies on the face of the Earth." His speech had echos of his campaign rallies, with music blaring from speakers before Trump entered the department’s Great Hall and his address hitting on some of the main themes from his campaign, including border security and fighting violent crime. On crime, Trump said that homicides, property crime and robberies rose during the Biden administration. "I have no higher mission as president of the United States than to end this killing and stop this law breaking and to making America safe again. And that's what you're all about in this room. We want to protect Americans, and we protect everybody that's in our country," he said. https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-vows-accountability-for-those-who-pursued-him-in-court-cases-/8011522.html https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-vows-accountability-for-those-who-pursued-him-in-court-cases-/8011522.html Fri, 14 Mar 2025 23:12:18 -0400 USAwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) Federal judges in two separate cases ruled this week that recent mass firings of employees as part of President Donald Trump’s push to cut the size of the federal workforce were illegal and ordered thousands of probationary employees to be reinstated — at least for now. The Trump administration pushed back, filing appeals in both cases. "This injunction is entirely unconstitutional," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday. "You cannot have a low-level district court judge filing an injunction to usurp the executive authority of the president of the United States," she added. In the suit filed by federal employee unions, U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California said that the process had been a “sham,” as some employees were told they were being fired for poor performance. Just before issuing his ruling Thursday, Alsup said, "It is sad, a sad day. Our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie." The departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs were ordered to “immediately” rehire the employees. Alsup, however, noted that federal agencies may still proceed with reductions in force, following proper procedure. Later Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Bredar also ruled that probationary employees must be reinstated after finding that 18 agencies had acted illegally in firing them. Democratic attorneys general representing the District of Columbia, Maryland and 18 other states argued that agencies failed to follow proper procedures for mass layoffs, including providing states with 60 days' notice. "Lacking the notice to which they were entitled, the states weren't ready for the impact of so many unemployed people. They are still scrambling to catch up," Bredar wrote in his memorandum explaining his decision. https://www.voanews.com/a/judges-rule-mass-firings-of-agency-employees-to-be-illegal-/8011510.html https://www.voanews.com/a/judges-rule-mass-firings-of-agency-employees-to-be-illegal-/8011510.html Fri, 14 Mar 2025 22:03:43 -0400 USAwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) March 14 is Pi Day, an annual celebration of the mathematical constant of pi, representing the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The holiday is observed on March 14 or 3/14 because 3.14 are the first three digits of the infinite number pi — 3.14159 ... and on and on. The celebration of Pi Day was the brainchild of physicist Larry Shaw and was first observed in 1988 at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, a science museum, and has since grown into an international event. At that first simple salute to pi in 1988, Shaw and his wife, Catherine, took — guess what? — pies — and tea to the museum for the celebration of the infinite number. Shaw became known as the Prince of Pi and reigned over the museum’s annual honoring of the never-ending number for years, until his death in 2017. Pi Day festivities grew to include the honoring of mathematical genius Albert Einstein because he was born on March 14. The U.S. House of Representatives officially designated March 14 as National Pi Day in 2009. The Exploratorium posted on its website that this year’s observance of pi would include the annual Pi Procession, which the museum described as being executed by “a high spirited crowd” through the museum and would circle the museum’s Pi Shrine 3.14 times, while “waving the digits of pi and dancing along” to a brass band. And, of course, all participants in the revelry would be rewarded with a free slice of pie. Pi Day is now celebrated around the world by pi lovers and is viewed as a way to arouse interest in the sciences among young people. Pi lovers had a special treat in 2015, History.com reports. That year Pi Day was celebrated on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 a.m. The combined numbers of the date and time represent the first 10 digits of pi — 3.141592653. https://www.voanews.com/a/pi-day-counts-on-never-ending-numerical-sequence-for-march-14-celebrations-/8011286.html https://www.voanews.com/a/pi-day-counts-on-never-ending-numerical-sequence-for-march-14-celebrations-/8011286.html Fri, 14 Mar 2025 19:57:14 -0400 USAScience & Healthwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) The U.S. Senate passed a stopgap spending bill Friday evening, averting a partial government shutdown and overcoming Democratic opposition to the measure. The bill passed 54-46 after clearing a more difficult procedural hurdle to stop debate on the measure, which required at least 60 votes. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the bill earlier this week to meet a March 14 deadline to keep the government running. Senate Democrats had fractured over whether to support the short-term continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government for the next six months, reduce total government spending by about $7 billion from last year's levels and shift money to the military and away from non-defense spending. Many Democrats expressed anger after the top-ranking Democrat in the chamber, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, announced Thursday night that while he disliked the bill, a shutdown was a “far worse option.” Speaking on the Senate floor Friday morning, Schumer said not passing the Republican funding bill would give more power to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort led by Elon Musk, including which agencies would be shut down. "A shutdown would allow DOGE to shift into overdrive," he said. Dozens of House Democrats, who opposed the funding measure in the lower chamber, sent a letter to Schumer on Friday, expressing their "strong opposition" to his plan to vote for the bill. Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Senate Democrats to go against their leader. In a Friday statement, she wrote, "America has experienced a Trump shutdown before — but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse." When questioned by reporters Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries refused to say whether he backed Schumer’s leadership. Trump had called on Congress to pass the funding bill and on Friday praised Schumer for supporting it. "Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took 'guts' and courage!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform. "I have great respect, by the way, for what Schumer did today. He went out and he said that they have to vote with the Republicans because it's the right thing to do," Trump said during a speech at the Department of Justice. Appropriations bills require a 60-vote threshold for passage in the Senate, which means Republicans needed to secure at least eight Democratic votes. The bill cleared the procedural hurdle 62-38. Several amendments to the bill failed, but one that proposed eliminating funding for DOGE drew the support of one Republican. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has been outspoken in her criticism of the initiative by Musk. Schumer previously called for the Senate to pass an earlier version of the CR that Democrats were involved in negotiating. "Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort. But Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input, from congressional Democrats," Schumer said on the Senate floor late Wednesday. The House passed the short-term spending measure 217-213 on Tuesday. One Democrat voted for the bill and one Republican against it. The chamber went out of session for the rest of the week starting Tuesday afternoon, putting pressure on senators to pass its version of the CR. House Speaker Mike Johnson quelled dissent from within his Republican Party to pass the spending measure. He told reporters Tuesday the seven-month continuing resolution was an important step toward implementing Trump's agenda of rooting out government waste and abuse through DOGE. "It allows us to move forward with changing the size and scope of the federal government. There is a seismic shift going on in Washington right now. This is a different moment than we have ever been in. The DOGE work is finding massive amounts of fraud, waste and abuse," Johnson said. "We have a White House that is actually dedicated to getting us back onto a fiscally responsible track." Independent watchdogs and analysts, however, say DOGE is using overly broad claims of fraud to generate support for large-scale cuts to federal programs and offices. Representative Thomas Massie was the lone Republican holdout, despite Trump's post Monday night on Truth Social calling for Massie to lose his seat if he voted against the spending measure. The continuing resolution buys lawmakers time to reach a compromise on Senate and House versions of government spending for the next fiscal year, which begins in October, a key tool for implementing Trump's domestic policy agenda. At question is how and when to enact a proposed extension of the 2017 tax cuts and how to pay down the U.S. deficit without cutting key safety net programs that help American voters. https://www.voanews.com/a/us-government-shutdown-likely-averted-democrats-fracture/8011226.html https://www.voanews.com/a/us-government-shutdown-likely-averted-democrats-fracture/8011226.html Fri, 14 Mar 2025 19:03:31 -0400 USAwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said a Hamas statement issued Friday announcing it had agreed to release an American-Israeli soldier was, in reality, a condition of a "bridge" ceasefire proposal offered by U.S. officials earlier this week. Early Friday, the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas issued a statement saying it had agreed to release Edan Alexander, believed to be the last living American hostage held in Gaza, as well as the bodies of four other hostages after receiving a proposal from mediators to resume negotiations on the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal. The statement said the proposal had been offered by unnamed mediators as part of the work in Qatar to restart ceasefire negotiations. The United States, Egypt and host Qatar have been mediating the ceasefire talks. Hamas expressed its "complete readiness to begin negotiations and reach a comprehensive agreement on the issues of the second phase." Later Friday, in a joint statement issued along with the National Security Council, Witkoff's office explained he and National Security Council Senior Middle East Director Eric Trager had presented the bridge proposal to extend the current ceasefire beyond Ramadan and Passover and allow time to negotiate a framework for a permanent ceasefire. In the statement, Witkoff said that under the proposal, Hamas would release additional living hostages in exchange for prisoners, and that the extension of the phase-one ceasefire would allow more time for humanitarian aid to resume into Gaza. He said the U.S. had its Qatari and Egyptian mediating partners convey to Hamas "in no uncertain terms" that the new proposal would have to be implemented soon and Edan Alexander would have to be released immediately. "Unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly claiming flexibility," Witkoff said in the statement, "while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent ceasefire." In a statement released on the X social media platform, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that while Israel had accepted "the Witkoff framework," Hamas "continues to wage psychological warfare against hostage families." The statement went on to say that the prime minister would convene his ministerial team Saturday evening for a detailed briefing from the negotiating team and "decide on steps to free the hostages and achieve all our war objectives." Hamas is believed to be holding 24 living hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered its war with Israel. The group also is holding the bodies of 34 others who were either killed in the initial attack or in captivity, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in 2014. In comments to FOX Business news Friday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was wary of taking Hamas statements at face value but emphasized that U.S. President Donald Trump was working "diligently" to bring hostages home. Witkoff told reporters at the White House early in March that gaining the release of Alexander was a "top priority." A ceasefire has been in place since January. During the first phase of the three-phase ceasefire, Hamas exchanged 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israel has been pressing Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase, which ended March 2. Hamas had said it wanted to move to the second phase of the agreement, which would involve the release of more hostages and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. https://www.voanews.com/a/us-envoy-says-hamas-misrepresented-release-of-hostage/8011067.html https://www.voanews.com/a/us-envoy-says-hamas-misrepresented-release-of-hostage/8011067.html Fri, 14 Mar 2025 15:35:19 -0400 USAMiddle Eastwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) The on-again, off-again tariffs between the United States and other countries are again under scrutiny, with the U.S. president not budging. VOA White House Correspondent Carolyn Presutti reports. https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-intent-on-imposing-global-tariffs/8010989.html https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-intent-on-imposing-global-tariffs/8010989.html Fri, 14 Mar 2025 14:35:26 -0400 USAEconomywebdesk@voanews.com (Carolyn Presutti) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that there were reasons for "cautious optimism" regarding a proposed ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia, following talks between a U.S. envoy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Speaking to reporters in a telephone news briefing, Peskov referenced comments from Putin on Thursday in which he expressed qualified support for a U.S. ceasefire proposal to halt Russia's war with Ukraine for 30 days but said some questions needed to be answered. Peskov said that while much remains to be done, Putin "expressed solidarity with [U.S. President Donald] Trump's position." He said Putin held late-night talks Thursday with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, during which Putin "conveyed information and additional signals to President Trump." The Kremlin spokesman said both sides agreed Putin and Trump should speak, adding that the timing of the conversation would be agreed upon once Witkoff had conveyed the new information to Trump. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social website Friday morning that "there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end." He also said he had "strongly requested" that Putin spare the lives of "thousands" of Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk border region who were "completely surrounded" by the Russian military. "This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II," Trump wrote on social media. Later Friday, Putin told the National Security Council in Moscow that if the Ukrainian troops laid down their arms and surrendered, they would not be killed. Ukraine's military, however, denied that its forces in Kursk were surrounded by Moscow's troops and said reports to that effect were Russian manipulation. In his nightly address to his nation Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Putin's comments to Witkoff were "very manipulative," and that he thought Putin's qualified support for the U.S. plan was an effort to lay the groundwork for rejecting it. "He is in fact preparing a rejection at present, because Putin is, of course, scared to tell President Trump that he wants to continue this war, that he wants to kill Ukrainians," Zelenskyy said. He noted Ukraine had accepted the U.S. proposal and was ready to organize monitoring and verification. "We are not setting conditions that complicate the process; Russia is," Zelenskyy said. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that no discussions between Trump and Putin had been scheduled, but she said that could change. She called the talks in Moscow on Thursday "a productive day for the United States of America and for the world in terms of peace." On Thursday at the White House, ahead of talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump said it would be "very disappointing" if Russia ended up rejecting U.S. efforts to end the fighting. Meanwhile, Britain's Defense Ministry said Friday that Russia's prioritization of funding its war with Ukraine had likely resulted in insufficient funding for average Russians' health care, leading to shortages of medical staff and equipment. In its Defense Intelligence report, the ministry said Russia reportedly closed at least 160 hospitals in 2024, including 18 maternity facilities and at least 10 children's clinics. The report said Russia's small towns and villages had been particularly affected. The Defense Ministry said the 500,000 casualties Russia has sustained in the war in Ukraine most certainly continue to put a strain on all levels of care in the Russian military medical system. https://www.voanews.com/a/kremlin-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-ceasefire-deal/8010812.html https://www.voanews.com/a/kremlin-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-ceasefire-deal/8010812.html Fri, 14 Mar 2025 12:13:20 -0400 UkraineUSAEuropewebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) The U.S. bird population is declining at an alarming rate, according to a report published Thursday by an alliance of science and conservation groups. Habitat loss and climate change are among the key contributing factors to the bird population losses, according to the 2025 U.S. State of the Birds report. More than 100 of the species studied, have reached a "tipping point," losing more than half their populations in the last 50 years. The report revealed that the avian population in all habitats is declining, including the duck population, previously considered a triumph of conservation. "The only bright spot is water birds such as herons and egrets that show some increases," Michael Parr, president of the American Bird Conservancy, told Reuters. The decline in the duck population fell by approximately 30% from 2017, but duck population numbers still remain higher, however, than their 1970 numbers, according to an Associated Press account on the report. "Roughly one in three bird species (229 species) in the U.S. requires urgent conservation attention, and these species represent the major habitats and systems in the U.S. and include species that we've long considered to be common and abundant," Amanda Rodewald, faculty director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Center for Avian Population Studies told Reuters. Included among the birds with highest losses, Reuters reported, are the mottled duck, Allen's hummingbird, yellow-billed loon, red-faced cormorant, greater sage-grouse, Florida scrub jay, Baird's sparrow, saltmarsh sparrow, mountain plover, Hawaiian petrel, Bicknell's thrush, Cassia crossbill, pink-footed shearwater, tricolored blackbird and golden-cheeked warbler. Some of the birds in this "red alert" group are already protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the news agency said. "For each species that we're in danger of losing, it's like pulling an individual thread out of the complex tapestry of life," Georgetown University biologist Peter Marra. who was not involved in the new report, told AP. While the outlook may seem dire, it is not without hope, said Marra, who noted the resurgence of the majestic bald eagle. https://www.voanews.com/a/report-us-bird-population-is-declining/8010492.html https://www.voanews.com/a/report-us-bird-population-is-declining/8010492.html Fri, 14 Mar 2025 02:55:47 -0400 USAScience & Healthwebdesk@voanews.com (VOA News) Officials tell VOA the shortage of amphibious warfare ships has reached a breaking point. While the ships make up just 10% of the fleet, they are the go-to alternative to aircraft carriers when commanders need something more precise or expedient. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb reports. https://www.voanews.com/a/shortage-of-marines-amphibious-warships-worries-top-us-military-officers/8010115.html https://www.voanews.com/a/shortage-of-marines-amphibious-warships-worries-top-us-military-officers/8010115.html Thu, 13 Mar 2025 20:13:58 -0400 USAwebdesk@voanews.com (Carla Babb) PENTAGON — U.S. government lawyers are expected to face off with attorneys for civil and immigration rights groups over the use of a U.S. naval base in Cuba to hold migrants slated for deportation. Arguments in the two lawsuits over operations at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, filed against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem, are set for a U.S. District Court in Washington on Friday. The suits allege that the U.S. government has overstepped its bounds by denying migrants sent to Guantanamo Bay access to legal representation and also by attempting to send migrants to the base's facilities without the proper legal authority in violation of the U.S. Constitution. DHS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the upcoming hearing, but they have repeatedly denied the allegations while criticizing the groups bringing the lawsuits. "The American Civil Liberties Union appears far more interested in promoting open borders and disrupting public safety missions than in protecting the civil liberties of Americans," a DHS spokesperson told VOA in a statement earlier this month, declining to be named. "They should consider changing their name," the spokesperson added, further describing the legal challenges as "baseless." President Donald Trump first raised the idea of using the U.S. naval base in Cuba as part of his administration's plans for mass deportations shortly after taking office in January. Homeland Security's Noem said the base, which features a secure prison to hold captured terrorists, would be used to house "the worst of the worst." Trump and other U.S. officials also suggested the base could be used to hold up to 30,000 migrants while they awaited deportation. Those plans, however, never fully materialized. The U.S. began sending what officials described as "high threat illegal aliens" to Guantanamo Bay's detention center in early February, followed by other nonviolent migrants, who stayed at other facilities. At times, the facilities held close to 200 detainees, many of whom were deported to Honduras, Venezuela or other countries. But despite efforts to prepare the facilities for more migrants, capacity has been limited. According to a U.S. defense official, who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity, the prison as currently configured can hold only 130 detainees, while the base's Migrant Operations Center and a temporary tent city can hold, at most, 550 people. As VOA first reported, DHS officials decided to remove all 40 remaining migrants from the prison and other facilities at Guantanamo Bay this past Tuesday, flying them instead to the U.S. southern state of Louisiana. Neither DHS nor its subagency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have responded to requests for comment on the decision to evacuate migrants from the naval base or on their status or whereabouts since being returned to the U.S. mainland. The move — and lack of communication — has drawn criticism from immigrants' rights groups, including some of those involved in the current litigation. "The arbitrary and secret shuttling of people between Guantanamo and the U.S. demonstrates a complete disregard for human dignity, an affront to the rule of law, and a waste of public resources," said the International Refugee Assistance Project's Pedro Sepulveda. "No one should be detained at Guantanamo," Sepulveda added. "The Trump administration must stop these ill-conceived and cruel transfers and stop detaining immigrants at Guantanamo once and for all." https://www.voanews.com/a/homeland-security-rights-group-to-meet-in-court-over-migrants-at-guantanamo-bay-/8010057.html https://www.voanews.com/a/homeland-security-rights-group-to-meet-in-court-over-migrants-at-guantanamo-bay-/8010057.html Thu, 13 Mar 2025 19:09:03 -0400 USAImmigrationwebdesk@voanews.com (Jeff Seldin) CHARLEVOIX, QUEBEC — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations gathered Thursday in Charlevoix, Quebec, as host country Canada outlined its top agenda, focusing on achieving a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine” and strengthening security and defense partnerships as the G7 marks 50 years. During the opening remarks, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said, “Peace and stability is on the top of our agenda, and I look forward to discussing how we can continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russia's illegal aggression.” Joly also emphasized the importance of addressing maritime security challenges, citing threats such as “growing the use of growing shadow fleets, dark vessels” and “sabotage of critical undersea infrastructure.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he hopes a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine could take place within days if the Kremlin agrees. He also plans to urge G7 foreign ministers to focus on ending the Russia-Ukraine war. The G7 talks in Quebec follow U.S.-Ukraine talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine said it is ready to accept a U.S. proposal for "an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire." "Ukraine is committed to moving quickly toward peace, and we are prepared to do our part in creating all of the conditions for a reliable, durable, and decent peace," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote Wednesday in a post on social media platform X. He added that "Ukraine was ready for an air and sea ceasefire," and "welcomed" the U.S. proposal to extend it to land. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia supports the U.S. ceasefire proposal in principle, but key details still need to be worked out. “Ceasefire, they can't be coming with conditions, because all these conditions just blur the picture. Either you want to end this war, or you don't want to end this war, so we need to be very firm,” said European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas during an interview with CNN International. “What we need to keep in mind is that Russia has invested, like over 9% of its GDP on the military, so they would want to use it,” Kallas said, adding the European nations “are massively increasing” their “defense investments.” The G7 talks bring together ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.  Rubio has underscored the need for monitors if a ceasefire is implemented. He told reporters on Wednesday that “one of the things we'll have to determine is who do both sides trust to be on the ground to sort of monitor some of the small arms fire and exchanges that could happen.” Beyond Ukraine, G7 foreign ministers also discussed China’s role in global security, Indo-Pacific stability, and maritime security behind closed doors. Rubio is expected to have a pull-aside meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya on Thursday. https://www.voanews.com/a/ukraine-peace-global-security-top-g7-agenda-as-diplomats-convene-in-canada-/8010030.html https://www.voanews.com/a/ukraine-peace-global-security-top-g7-agenda-as-diplomats-convene-in-canada-/8010030.html Thu, 13 Mar 2025 17:46:06 -0400 UkraineUSAEast AsiaEuropeAmericaswebdesk@voanews.com (Nike Ching) NEW YORK — Wall Street's sell-off hit a new low Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump's escalating trade war dragged the S&P 500 more than 10% below its record, which was set just last month. A 10% drop is deemed a correction by professional investors, and the S&P 500's 1.4% slide on Thursday sent the index to its first since 2023. The losses came after Trump upped the stakes in his trade war by threatening huge taxes on European wines and alcohol. Not even a double-shot of good news on the U.S. economy could stop the bleeding. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 537 points, or 1.3% Thursday, and the Nasdaq composite fell 2%. The dizzying, battering swings for stocks have been coming not just day to day but also hour to hour, and the Dow hurtled between a slight gain and a drop of 689 points through Thursday's trading. The turbulence is a result of uncertainty about how much pain Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies to reshape the country and world as he wants. The president has said he wants manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S. government workforce and other fundamental changes. Trump's latest escalation came Thursday when he threatened 200% tariffs on Champagne and other European wines, unless the European Union rolls back a tariff it announced on U.S. whiskey. The European Union unveiled that move on Wednesday, in response to U.S. tariffs on European steel and aluminum. U.S. households and businesses have reported drops in confidence because of all the uncertainty about which tariffs will stick from Trump's barrage of on-again, off-again announcements. That's raised fears about a pullback in spending that could sap energy from the economy. Some U.S. businesses say they've begun to see a change in their customers' behavior because of the uncertainty. A particularly feared scenario for the economy is one where its growth stagnates but inflation stays high because of tariffs. Few tools are available in Washington to fix what's called stagflation. There was good news Thursday, and it came on both those economic fronts. One report showed inflation at the wholesale level last month was milder than economists expected. It followed a similarly encouraging report from the prior day on inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling. A separate report, meanwhile, said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. It's the latest signal that the job market remains relatively solid overall. If that can continue, it could allow U.S. consumers to keep spending, and that's the main engine of the economy. https://www.voanews.com/a/wall-street-tumbles-10-below-its-record-after-trump-escalates-trade-war/8010009.html https://www.voanews.com/a/wall-street-tumbles-10-below-its-record-after-trump-escalates-trade-war/8010009.html Thu, 13 Mar 2025 17:14:25 -0400 USAEconomywebdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press) WASHINGTON — Donald Trump took the fight over his attempt to restrict automatic U.S. birthright citizenship to the Supreme Court on Thursday as the Republican president's administration asked the justices to narrow a judicial block imposed on this key element of his hardline approach toward immigration. The Justice Department made the request challenging the scope of three nationwide injunctions issued against Trump's order by federal courts in Washington state, Massachusetts and Maryland. The administration said the injunctions should be scaled back from applying universally and limited to just the plaintiffs that brought the cases and are "actually within the courts' power." "Universal injunctions have reached epidemic proportions since the start of the current administration," the Justice Department said in the filing. "This court should declare that enough is enough before district courts' burgeoning reliance on universal injunctions becomes further entrenched." Trump's order, signed on his first day back in office on Jan. 20, directed federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of U.S.-born children who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order was intended to apply starting Feb. 19 but has been blocked nationwide by multiple federal judges. Trump's action has drawn a series of lawsuits from plaintiffs, including 22 Democratic state attorneys general, immigrant rights advocates and expectant mothers. They argue among other things that Trump's order violates a right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment that provides that anyone born in the United States is a citizen. The 14th Amendment's citizenship clause states that all "persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." The administration contends that the 14th Amendment, long understood to confer citizenship to virtually anyone born in the United States, does not extend to immigrants who are in the country illegally or even to immigrants whose presence is lawful but temporary, such as university students or those on work visas. Its request to the justices marks its latest trip to the top U.S. judicial body to defend Trump's actions. The Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump during his first term as president. Trump's push to restrict birthright citizenship is part of a broader immigration and border crackdown that includes tasking the U.S. military with aiding border security and issuing a broad ban on asylum. The judges who ruled against Trump's order faulted it as conflicting with the Constitution. An 1898 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a case called United States v. Wong Kim Ark long has been interpreted as guaranteeing that children born in the United States to noncitizen parents are entitled to American citizenship. Trump's Justice Department has argued that the court's ruling in that case was narrower, applying to children whose parents had a "permanent domicile and residence in the United States." https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-intervene-in-bid-to-curb-birthright-citizenship/8009956.html https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-intervene-in-bid-to-curb-birthright-citizenship/8009956.html Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:15:52 -0400 USAImmigrationwebdesk@voanews.com (Reuters) U.S. lawmakers are running out of time to pass a short-term continuing resolution, or CR, that will fund the government past a March 14 deadline. "Democrats need to decide if they're going to support funding legislation that came over from the House, or if they're going to shut down the government. So far, it's looking like they plan to shut it down," Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor Thursday. Appropriations bills require a 60-vote threshold for passage in the Senate, which means Republicans need to secure at least eight Democratic votes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for the Senate to pass an earlier version of the CR that Democrats were involved in negotiating. "Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort. But Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input, from congressional Democrats," Schumer said on the Senate floor late Wednesday. Democratic senators say they are concerned about easing the way for the Trump administration to continue large-scale changes to the federal government and social safety net programs. "I don't want a government shutdown," Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said in a statement Thursday. "And that's why I'd like to vote on a bill to keep the government open for 30 days while we have a bipartisan negotiation. But I will not support this Republican House bill that simply gives Elon Musk more fuel and more tools to dismantle big parts of the federal government in order to rig it for people like himself and the very rich." "Voting against the CR will hurt the American people and kill the incredible momentum that President [Donald] Trump has built over the past 51 days," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier this week. The Republican-majority House of Representatives passed a short-term spending measure Tuesday by a vote of 217-213. The House went out of session for the rest of the week starting Tuesday afternoon, putting pressure on senators to pass its version of the CR. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson quelled dissent from within his Republican party to pass the spending measure. He told reporters Tuesday the seven-month continuing resolution was an important step toward implementing Trump's agenda of rooting out government waste and abuse through the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. "It allows us to move forward with changing the size and scope of the federal government. There is a seismic shift going on in Washington right now. This is a different moment than we have ever been in. The DOGE work is finding massive amounts of fraud, waste and abuse," Johnson said. "We have a White House that is actually dedicated to getting us back onto a fiscally responsible track." Independent watchdogs and analysts, however, say DOGE is using overly broad claims of fraud to generate support for large-scale cuts to federal programs and offices. Representative Thomas Massie was the lone Republican holdout, despite Trump's post Monday night on Truth Social calling for Massie to lose his seat if he voted against the spending measure. The continuing resolution buys lawmakers time to reach a compromise on Senate and House versions of government spending, a key tool for implementing Trump's domestic policy agenda. At question is how and when to enact a proposed extension of the 2017 tax cuts and how to pay down the U.S. deficit without cutting key safety net programs that help American voters. Senate leadership has proposed passing the tax cuts in a separate bill later this year. https://www.voanews.com/a/us-lawmakers-running-out-of-time-to-fund-government/8009839.html https://www.voanews.com/a/us-lawmakers-running-out-of-time-to-fund-government/8009839.html Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:03:21 -0400 USAwebdesk@voanews.com (Katherine Gypson) Western politicians have repeatedly called on China to limit or cease tacit support for Russia’s bloody war against Ukraine. In response, China’s leadership insists it is committed to peace and respect for the territorial integrity of other nations. But unlike most United Nations member states, China has never condemned Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and their military-diplomatic partnership — from joint bomber flights near the U.S. state of Alaska to votes in the U.N. Security Council — has only helped the Kremlin overcome its international isolation. While President Donald Trump has said he has good personal relations with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, there is a consensus among experts in Washington that the China-Russia partnership poses a threat to U.S. interests, and that while Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, tried to establish a strategic dialogue with China, the Trump team appears to be prioritizing normalized ties with Russia while punishing China over trade. As the White House talks about the possibility of restoring economic cooperation with Russia, some of its officials are hinting at lifting or reducing the sanctions Washington has imposed on Moscow in recent years. Charles Hecker, an expert on Western-Russian economic ties and risks, and author of the book Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia, says some Western companies will quickly return to Russia if sanctions are lifted, particularly those involved in energy, metals and minerals. “There’s only so much oil in Norway, and there’s only so much oil in Canada; the rest of it is in some countries that have a very high-risk environment,” Hecker told VOA’s Russian Service. “And so, these kinds of companies are accustomed to business in these sorts of places, and they have the internal structures to help protect them. You know, there are energy companies doing business in Iraq right now. And I don’t want to compare Russia and Iraq, but they are high-risk environments.”  Still, Hecker cautions, their return to doing business in Russia wouldn’t signal an overall U.S.-Russian rapprochement — let alone a fracturing of Sino-Russian relations. “I think it will be very difficult for the West to pull Russia away from China,” he said. “Allowing Western companies back into Russia doesn’t necessarily change President Putin’s hostility towards the West. President Putin remains antagonistic towards a Western-dominated political and economic system, and he has said over and over again that he wants to create an alternative political and economic environment – an alternative to the West. “Part of that alternative includes China,” he added. “You have never heard President Putin say anything ideologically against China. And the two are now important energy partners.” Limited popular domestic appeal U.S.-based FilterLabs analyzes public sentiment in regions where polling is problematic. According to a recently published assessment of popular attitudes expressed on Russian and Chinese social media networks, Sino-Russian relations are “full of underlying tensions, mistrust, and diverging interests.” One of the report’s authors, Vasily Gatov, told VOA its research found that “the Chinese and Russian populations are far from happy with this alliance of their authorities.” "China does not perceive Russia as a reliable, safe and equal partner,” he said. “Russia annexed the Amur Region from China; Russia adopted a completely colonial policy towards China during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Therefore, in my opinion, it is entirely possible to consider historical frictions as a vulnerability.” A media analyst at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Gatov also noted that, despite the Kremlin’s expectations, China’s economic presence inside Russia today remains “several times smaller” than that of either Europe or the U.S. before Russia invaded Ukraine. Thus, while Russian and China have overlapping interests, they are not “marching in lockstep.” "They are very different, they have very different geopolitical focuses, very different political philosophies,” he said. Other experts, however, question the Filterlabs findings, warning that random Russian and Chinese opinions online are of limited value, especially as those casting the insights aren’t likely to influence policy. "People who have the time and desire to comment on things on social media do not have much influence on how state policy is conducted,” Alexander Gabuev, director of the Berlin-based Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told VOA. “And these people certainly do not have much influence on whether China transfers components for Russia's weapons or takes certain military technologies from it, since the people who comment on this simply do not have real knowledge of what is actually happening.” Gabuev added that “the Chinese leadership has reasons to think that they have something to take from Russia in terms of military technology,” suggesting that China is extremely interested in gaining Russian experience in countering Western weapons during Russia's war in Ukraine. Does Trump see China as a threat? One critical question about whether Washington’s improved ties with Russia will loosen the Sino-Russian pact, say some analysts, is how Trump perceives China. Ali Wyne, senior research and advocacy advisor on the U.S. and China at the International Crisis Group, describes Trump as an anomaly for U.S. policy. “Widespread bipartisan agreement in Congress and from one administration to the next [is] that China is American’s foremost strategic competitor,” he said. But “President Trump, in many ways, is the most prominent dissenter from this alleged China consensus.” “He doesn’t view President Xi [Jinping] in adversarial terms,” Wyne said. “He actually calls President Xi a ‘dear friend’ of his. And he believes that his personal rapport with President Xi will be the decisive dynamic in setting — or resetting — the U.S.-China relationship over the next four years.” https://www.voanews.com/a/can-the-us-pry-russia-away-from-china/8009771.html https://www.voanews.com/a/can-the-us-pry-russia-away-from-china/8009771.html Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:26:15 -0400 USAEast AsiaEuropeChina Newswebdesk@voanews.com (Danila Galperovich) A California federal judge on Thursday ordered six U.S. agencies to reinstate thousands of recently hired employees who were fired as part of President Donald Trump's purge of the federal workforce. The ruling made by U.S. District Judge William Alsup during a hearing in San Francisco applies to the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and the Treasury Department. Alsup last month temporarily blocked the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the human resources department for federal agencies, from ordering agencies to fire probationary employees, but he declined at the time to require that fired workers get their jobs back. Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, although some are longtime federal employees. They have fewer job protections than other government workers but, in general, can be fired only for performance issues. Alsup said on Thursday that OPM has no power to order firings, and there was evidence that it had improperly directed the termination of workers at the six agencies. He did not order the 16 other agencies named in the lawsuit by unions and nonprofit groups to reinstate workers. “It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” Alsup said. The potential scale of Trump's efforts to shrink the U.S. federal government could become clearer on Thursday, the deadline for government agencies to submit plans for a second wave of mass layoffs and to slash their budgets. https://www.voanews.com/a/judge-orders-trump-administration-to-reinstate-thousands-of-fired-government-workers/8009741.html https://www.voanews.com/a/judge-orders-trump-administration-to-reinstate-thousands-of-fired-government-workers/8009741.html Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:03:46 -0400 USAwebdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)