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.
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Starbucks hit with $50 million fine for spilled drink injury
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.
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Trump vows accountability for those who pursued him in court cases
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.
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US to expel South Africa ambassador as relations deteriorate
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday that South Africa’s ambassador to Washington had been declared persona non grata, signaling worsening relations between the two countries.
In a post on X, Rubio said South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, was “no longer welcome in our great country.”
“Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS [President of the United States].”
There has been no immediate response from South Africa’s embassy in Washington.
Rubio’s move came amid tense relations between the U.S. and South Africa. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order suspending aid to South Africa over a controversial land expropriation act that Trump said would lead to the takeover of white-owned farms. Trump also said that South African farmers were welcome to settle in the United States.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a post on X, defended his government’s measure.
“We are guided by the Constitution, which places a responsibility on the state to take measures to redress the effects of past racial discrimination,” he said.
“We have expressed concern about the mischaracterisation of the situation in South Africa and certain of our laws and our foreign policy positions,” Ramaphosa said after Trump signed the executive order in early February.
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Millions celebrate Hindu Holi festival, approach of spring
Hindus across India and other South Asian countries, dressed mostly in white, smeared or sprayed friends and relatives with brightly colored powder Friday as millions celebrated the return of spring during Holi, the festival of colors.
Friday is a nationwide holiday in India, so people can participate in the raucous, joyfully messy celebration, which usually lands on the last full moon of the lunar month heralding the end of winter.
In neighboring Nepal, festival activities began Thursday and stretched across two days. The boisterous festival is observed in other South Asian countries and by many in the Indian diaspora.
Holi is one of India’s biggest festivals, and millions of people make nostalgic journeys to their hometowns to celebrate with loved ones by lighting bonfires on festival eve, which signifies the triumph of good over evil. Gathering around the flames, family members sing, dance and pray to Hindu gods.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted Holi greetings to the nation on social media Friday. In a post on X, Modi wrote about the important benefits of the festival in bringing people together.
“Happy Holi to all of you. It is my wish that this holy festival full of joy and happiness infuses new enthusiasm and energy in everyone’s life and also deepens the color of unity of the countrymen,” Modi posted in Hindi.
In one New Delhi park so many people hurled colored powder at one another that the air took on a rainbow haze, while others danced in the streets to music blaring from speakers. Water guns were the weaponry of choice for groups of young men who chased festival participants, already drenched in a variety of hues, through public parks and side streets.
Children took aim from a greater distance, perched on rooftops or balconies, where they flung water balloons filled with colored pigments and glitter at the revelers below.
The annual event also celebrates the mythical love affair between the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha. On a larger scale, it signifies rebirth and rejuvenation across Hindu culture.
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Military says death toll in Pakistan’s train hijacking rises to 31
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan officials confirmed Friday that 31 people, including 23 security personnel, lost their lives in Tuesday’s train hijacking by armed militants in the country’s restive Balochistan province.
In a news briefing, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said 18 off-duty military and paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel, three railway staff and five civilian passengers were among those killed in the initial attack.
Five Frontier Corps personnel were also killed in the attack and the ensuing battle with militants.
Separatist militants from Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a designated terror group, took over the Jaffar Express near Sibi hours after it left the provincial capital, Quetta, on Tuesday.
In the clearance operation that lasted more than 30 hours, the Pakistan military said it killed 33 BLA terrorists.
Chaudhry, director general of military public relations, said 354 passengers were freed, 37 of whom were injured.
Officials also revised the tally of passengers on the train downward to 425 from 440.
Speaking alongside Chaudhry, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said 425 tickets were sold for the cross-country train. However, passengers could board at any station along the roughly 1,600-kilometer route, which, Bugti said, largely explained the gap between the number of passengers and those rescued.
“Maybe some did not travel; some were boarding later, maybe some of those who ran [from the terrorists] lost their way, and maybe some got caught [by the terrorists],” the chief minister said.
Blaming neighbors
Tuesday’s attack marked a dramatic escalation in the separatist insurgency that has seen a sharp increase in violence in recent months. In 2024, the BLA and other Baloch separatist groups killed nearly 400 people in over 500 attacks.
Pakistani officials blamed archrival India, accusing it of providing support to anti-Pakistan militants in Afghanistan, a charge New Delhi quickly rejected.
“We strongly reject the baseless allegations made by Pakistan,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters.
Bugti and Chaudhry reiterated the claim that Tuesday’s attack was orchestrated by militants with bases in Afghanistan, a charge Afghan foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi rejected Thursday.
Intelligence failure?
Pakistani officials acknowledged there was a security threat, but rejected questions that the brazen hijacking in the heavily militarized province was an intelligence failure.
“There was a threat in the general area,” said Chaudhry, adding that it was not specifically about an attack on the train.
“There are thousands of intelligence success stories too behind [such incidents], which you don’t know — incidents that did not happen because our intelligence was successfully able to detect them,” he said.
The military spokesperson said law enforcement agencies have conducted 11,654 intelligence-based operations across the country so far this year. Nearly 60,000 such operations were conducted nationwide last year, he said.
Resource-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least-populated province, where members of the ethnic Baloch minority say they face discrimination and exploitation by the government in Islamabad.
In the last 15 months, 1,250 terrorists from various groups have been killed in Pakistan, along with 563 security personnel, Chaudhry said.
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Russian foreign minister exaggerates Russia-China relations, ignores nuances
Relations between Russia and China are indeed closer than at any point since the 1950s, but they are shaped more by pragmatism, economic necessity and shared opposition to Western influence than by deep trust or historical affinity.
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US government shutdown likely averted; Democrats fracture
The U.S. Senate is set to pass a stopgap spending bill Friday that would avert a partial government shutdown, although many Democrats are expressing anger over plans by their party’s leadership to support the measure.
The measure cleared its first Senate hurdle early Friday evening, 62-38.
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 have 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.
Much of the party’s anger Friday was directed at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer who 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.”
Trump has 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.
Appropriations bills require a 60-vote threshold for passage in the Senate, which means Republicans need to secure at least eight Democratic votes.
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 Tuesday by a vote of 217-213. 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.
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 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.
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US envoy says Hamas misrepresented release of hostage
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.
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Author says ban on her book reflects Taliban’s repression of women
WASHINGTON — When Naveeda Khoshbo published her book of political analysis in 2019, she received widespread praise and recognition.
For many, “it was the first time that they were reading a book written by a young woman,” she said.
So, when she received a text message from a friend and fellow journalist in November 2024, telling her the Taliban had banned her book, she was shocked.
Khoshbo, 33, said she can’t figure out why the book, “Siyasi Jaj” or “Political Analysis,” was banned, saying “it did not address any sensitive topics.”
Published by the Peace Publish Center in Kabul, her book covers political events and processes from 2001 to 2019.
But last year it was included in a list circulated on social media of more than 400 books banned by the Taliban.
The list covers a range of topics: democracy, the arts, literature, poetry, history, religion, governance, rights and freedoms.
The Taliban’s deputy minister for the Ministry of Information and Culture, Zia-ul Haq Haqmal, told media his department had identified 400 books deemed “against Afghanistan’s national interest and Islamic values.”
‘Hostility is directed at women’
Khoshbo believes her book also was banned because it was written by a woman. She is now based in London.
“I believe their hostility is directed at women, and for them, the books written by women are the first to be targeted, regardless of their content,” she said.
About a dozen titles in the book ban are by women, or they were translated by women. Other titles include the book by Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, “I am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education.”
The Taliban, who seized power in August 2021, have imposed strict measures against women in Afghanistan, barring them from education, work, long-distance travel and participating in public life.
Afghan writer Nazeer Ahmad Sahaar told VOA the Taliban jettison anything they see as contrary to their ideology.
“Anything that is against the Taliban’s political and religious beliefs and narrative is banned under the Taliban,” said Sahaar.
The author has written more than a dozen books. One of those, “Waziristan: The Last Stand” is also on the list of banned publications.
Sahaar sees the book ban as part of a larger crackdown on “women, the press and freedom of expression.”
Sahaar said the ban on books, though, is of little surprise.
“It was evident that they would impose restrictions in many areas,” he said.
Alongside the book ban and restrictions imposed on women, the Taliban return has led to restrictions on freedom of expression.
Media outlets work under rules that are not always clear about what can and cannot be covered, and in some cases must submit coverage for review before publication.
The Taliban also imposed restrictions on printing books.
An owner of a printing press in the eastern province of Nangarhar, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, told VOA that the provincial Directorate of Information and Culture instructed publishers not to print anything without prior permission.
“In a meeting with publishers, the Taliban officials said that ‘if you are publishing any book, you must first obtain permission from the directorate,'” said the business owner.
The owner said that businesses are struggling under the Taliban, but there is an increased demand for books, particularly ones that are banned.
“The Taliban’s restrictions have sparked social and cultural resistance,” he said, with people seeking ways to oppose the limitations, including by reading prohibited books.
‘It reflects the fear’
Abdul Ghafoor Lewal, an Afghan writer and former diplomat, told VOA the Taliban’s actions reveal fear of any opposition.
“It reflects the fear authoritarian regimes have of freedom of expression, books and knowledge,” said Lewal.
Khoshbo said the Taliban’s ban would not stop her and other women from writing and participating in social and political life.
“The Taliban can’t suppress our voices by “banning books,” said Khoshbo, but “women can’t be erased from society and politics.”
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Africa faces diabetes crisis, study finds
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Researchers warn that type 2 diabetes could affect millions more people in the coming decades after a study published this month revealed the disease is rising far faster among people in sub-Saharan Africa than previously thought.
Take 51-year-old security guard Sibusiso Sithole, for example. Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes came as a shock, he said, because he walked six miles to and from work every day and never thought his weight was a problem.
Then his wife noticed changes in his health.
Since his diagnosis 13 years ago, Sithole has been on a rigorous treatment for diabetes and high blood pressure.
“I have to take six … medications every day,” he said.
Diabetes is a condition in which the body struggles to turn food into energy due to insufficient insulin. Without insulin, sugar stays in the blood instead of entering cells, leading to high blood-sugar levels. Long-term complications include heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and amputations.
The International Diabetes Federation estimated in 2021 that 24 million adults in sub-Saharan Africa were living with the condition. Researchers had projected that by 2045, about 6% of sub-Saharan Africans — over 50 million — would have diabetes.
The new study, published this month in the medical journal The Lancet, suggested the actual percentage could be nearly double that.
By tracking more than 10,000 participants in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Burkina Faso over seven years, researchers found that poor eating habits, lack of health care access, obesity and physical inactivity are key drivers of diabetes in Africa.
Dr. Raylton Chikwati, a study co-author from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, said another risk factor is living in or moving to the outskirts of cities, or “peri-urban areas.”
“Access to health care, you know, in the rural areas is a bit less than in the urban areas,” Chikwati said, adding that increased use of processed foods in the peri-urban areas was a problem.
Palwende Boua, a research associate at the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro in Burkina Faso, said long-term studies are rare in Africa but essential to understanding diseases.
“Being able to have a repeated measure and following up [with] the same people … is providing much more information and much valuable information,” Boua said, “rather than having to see people once and trying to understand a phenomenon.”
Boua is preparing a policy brief for Burkina Faso’s government to assist in the fight against diabetes.
For Sithole, managing his diabetes has been a long journey. But with treatment and lifestyle changes, he has regained control over his health.
“What I can tell people is that they must go and check — check the way they eat — because that time I was having too much weight in my body,” he said. “I was wearing size 40 that time. Now I’m wearing size 34.”
Experts stressed that Africans should get their blood-sugar level tested and seek treatment when diabetes is diagnosed.
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Chinese officials look to limit social media and screen time in China
Washington — While some youth in China admit to spending an excessive amount of time on the internet, many are skeptical about new government proposals aimed at regulating the time young Chinese spend online and on social media sites.
In conversations at China’s annual political meetings that wrapped up in Beijing this week, retired international basketball star Yao Ming, called for some limits on internet access for young people in China. Yao was advocating for a plan that would mandate children turn off all electronics for one full day every academic semester and get outside and exercise.
Officials also called for tighter controls of online gaming and cited concerns about harmful online content, warning that excessive internet use is hurting the physical health and academic performance of Chinese minors under the age of 18.
China already has some of the world’s tightest internet controls, with tens of thousands of websites, foreign social media sites and content blocked. It also has a massive online population.
On social media in China some commenters praised the efforts, but many expressed frustrations with what they viewed to be an inherent contradiction within the policies. Some noted that children are already in school most of the day and rely on internet resources to complete assignments.
“Schools should assign less homework that requires phone check-ins and online research,” wrote one user from northern Hebei Province.
“Minors get home around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. at night, so when do they even have time to use social media?” wrote another user from Beijing.
A college student in Beijing, who spoke with VOA on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said she agreed with officials’ concerns, but added that policies like the one suggested by Yao are likely to have a limited impact.
“Chinese teenagers and young people are absolutely addicted to the internet. You can find people walking on the streets looking at their phones everywhere and all the time. We use the internet to do almost everything,” the student told VOA.
“I don’t really think proposals to limit internet accessibility for young people would be effective. The addiction is always hard to get rid of, so how can a ‘limit day’ alleviate the excessive internet use?” the student said, using the word “addiction” to describe the excessive use of the internet.
According to the “2024 China Game Industry Minor Protection Report” released by the Game Working Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, as of December 2023, the number of internet users in China under the age of 18 reached 196 million, with the percentage of minors who are on the internet and can access it reaching 97.3%.
Will Wang, a Chinese student attending college in the United States, said when he returns home in Beijing during school break his impression is that the internet is used heavily in everyday life, and that teenagers are very active on social media platforms.
“There’s definitely a significant increase in screen and internet usage across all ages in China…many Chinese teenagers are deeply engaged with TikTok, RedNote, Bilibili, and many internet platforms,” Wang said in a written response to VOA.
Amid the busy academic and personal lives of young Chinese, the internet provides them with a rare space for privacy, which Wang said is fueling high levels of internet use.
“Most Chinese teenagers don’t have a lot of private space for themselves at home or at school so [the] internet is the only option, especially with their busy schedules––nearly every kid has to attend some sort of classes or studying-related activities outside of school,” Wang said. “For teenagers, if anything, [the] internet makes them more connected with their friends and the world.”
Xu Quan, a media commentator based in Hong Kong, said online spaces can have a positive effect on children, who are often overwhelmed with parental and educational expectations.
“Contrary to what some might think, the internet helps them deal with stress to a certain extent. If you were to remove the internet from their lives, that would actually be harmful to their physical and mental well-being,” Xu told VOA.
The recent proposals to limit internet use build on previous regulations regarding youth internet use. In October 2020, China revised the “Law on the Protection of Minors,” adding an “internet protection” chapter requiring that social media, gaming and live streaming platforms implement tools to limit their excessive use. The law targeted gaming addictions in particular.
A 2021 notice required strict limits on gaming time allotments for children under 18. The regulation banned gaming between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., and limited minors to no more than one hour of gaming per day on weekdays or two hours per day on weekends.
During Chinese New Year this year, Tencent Games issued a “limited play order” for minors. During the 32-day break from academics, teenagers were only permitted to play the company’s games for a total of 15 hours.
However, all of these regulations can be circumvented through using or creating accounts belonging to adults, who are not subject to the restrictions.
Despite previous momentum, A Qiang, who used to work in the Chinese media industry, thinks proposals from the recently concluded political meetings in Beijing are just talk and won’t lead to any concrete policy change.
The real way forward, he argues, is by lessening burdens impacting the quality of minors’ lives offline such as intense academic pressure.
The problem is not that they have too much freedom online but have too little freedom offline, he said.
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Report: US bird population is declining
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.
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Exclusive: Second Iranian ship suspected of carrying missile ingredient leaves China
WASHINGTON — A second Iranian ship that Western news reports have named as part of a scheme to import a missile propellant ingredient from China is heading to Iran with a major cargo load, an exclusive VOA analysis has found. Ship-tracking websites show the Iranian-flagged cargo ship Jairan departed China on Monday, a month later than the expected departure cited by one of the news reports.
The Jairan was named in January and February articles by The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and CNN as one of two Iranian cargo ships Tehran is using to import 1,000 metric tons of sodium perchlorate from China. The three news outlets cited unnamed Western intelligence sources as saying the purported shipment could be transformed into enough ammonium perchlorate — a key solid fuel propellant component — to produce 260 midrange Iranian missiles.
The other Iranian cargo ship named in the news reports, the Golbon, completed a 19-day journey from eastern China to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas on Feb. 13. During the trip, it made a two-day stop at southern China’s Zhuhai Gaolan port and delivered an unknown cargo to Iran, according to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.
Both the Golbon and the Jairan are sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department as vessels operated by the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, which itself is sanctioned for being what the State Department has called “the preferred shipping line for Iranian proliferators and procurement agents.”
As the Golbon sailed from China to Iran in late January and early February, the Jairan’s automatic identification system transponder — a device that transmits positional and other data as part of an internationally mandated tracking system — reported the vessel as being docked at eastern China’s Liuheng Island.
In a joint review of the Jairan’s AIS data on MarineTraffic and fellow ship-tracking website Seasearcher, VOA and Dubai-based intelligence analyst Martin Kelly of EOS Risk Group determined that the Jairan reported no significant draught change while docked at Liuheng Island through February and into early March. That meant the Iranian vessel was sitting at the almost same depth in the water as when it arrived in eastern China late last year, indicating it had not been loaded with any major cargo since then.
The Jairan remained at Liuheng Island until March 3, when it headed south toward Zhuhai Gaolan and docked at the port on March 8. Two days later, the Jairan departed, reporting its destination as Bandar Abbas with an expected arrival of March 26. The Iranian ship also reported a significant draught change upon leaving Zhuhai Gaolan, transmitting data showing it was sitting more than 2 meters deeper in the water and indicating it had taken on a major cargo at the port, Kelly told VOA.
As of Friday, local time, the Jairan was in the waters of Indonesia’s Riau Archipelago, heading southwest toward the Singapore Strait.
The U.S. State Department had no comment on the Jairan’s departure from China when contacted by VOA. Iran’s U.N. mission in New York did not respond to a similar VOA request for comment, emailed on Tuesday.
Last month, the State Department told VOA it was aware of the January news reports by The Financial Times and Wall Street Journal regarding Iran’s purported use of the Golbon and Jairan to import sodium perchlorate from China.
A spokesperson said the State Department does not comment on intelligence matters but “remains focused on preventing the proliferation of items, equipment, and technology that could benefit Iran’s missile or other weapons programs and continues to hold Iran accountable through sanctions.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded to the news reports in a Jan. 23 press briefing, asserting that China abides by its own export controls and international obligations and rejects other countries’ imposition of what Beijing considers illegal unilateral sanctions.
In the past month, Chinese state media have made no reference to the Jairan, while China’s social media platforms also have had no observable discussion about the Iranian ship, according to a review by VOA’s Mandarin Service.
In its Jan. 22 report, The Financial Times cited “security officials in two Western countries” as saying the Jairan would depart China in early February, but it did not leave until March 10.
Gregory Brew, a senior Iran analyst at the Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk consultancy, said Iran may have wanted to see if the Golbon could complete its voyage from China without being interdicted before sending the Jairan to follow it.
“Ships carrying highly sensitive materials related to Iran’s missile industry, which is under U.S. sanctions, are at risk of interception, and the Iranians likely are conscious of that,” Brew said.
Eight Republican U.S. senators led by Jim Risch and Pete Ricketts sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the purported Iran-China chemical scheme dated Feb. 4, urging him to work with global partners of the U.S. “to intercept and stop the shipments currently underway” if the press reports proved accurate.
There was no sign of the Golbon being intercepted on its recent China to Iran voyage.
Responding to VOA’s query about the letter, a U.S. State Department press officer said: “We do not comment on Congressional correspondence.” Ricketts’ office also did not respond to a VOA inquiry about whether Rubio has responded to the senators’ letter.
VOA’s Mandarin Service contributed to this report.
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VOA Mandarin: China revises PLA regulations prioritizing war readiness
Three revised regulations that dictate everything from the Chinese military’s broad mandate to soldiers’ day-to-day life are slated to take effect on April 1. The revisions have placed an emphasis on the PLA’s combat readiness and wartime conduct, the latter of which appears 49 times. Analysts say the revised regulations show the priority of the PLA’s future reform and its challenges.
Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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Afghanistan denies link to train attack in Pakistan
The Afghan Taliban have rejected Pakistan’s allegation that Tuesday’s deadly hostage-taking of a train was planned and directed from Afghan soil.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Pakistan’s assertions “baseless,” in a statement Thursday.
“We categorically reject baseless allegations by Pakistani army spokesperson linking attack on a passenger train in Balochistan province with Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said in a statement posted on X.
Militants linked with the banned Baloch Liberation Army attacked a passenger train Tuesday near Sibi, Balochistan, taking hundreds hostage.
At least 21 passengers and four paramilitary troops died in the attack. The military claimed the killing of 33 terrorists.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of the Pakistani military’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations, had earlier said attackers collaborated with partners in Afghanistan.
“During the operation, these terrorists were in contact with their supporters and masterminds in Afghanistan via satellite phone,” Chaudhry told a private news channel as he declared the clearance operation over Wednesday night.
Later, the military’s media wing reiterated the assertion.
“Intelligence reports have unequivocally confirmed that the attack was orchestrated and directed by terrorist ringleaders operating from Afghanistan, who were in direct communication with terrorists throughout the incident,” a statement from the ISPR said.
Rebutting the claim, Balkhi said Islamabad must address internal issues.
“[We] urge Pakistani side to focus on resolving their own security and internal problems instead of such irresponsible remarks,” the Taliban foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Tuesday’s attack marked a dramatic escalation in the separatist insurgency that has ravaged Balochistan for nearly two decades.
The militants blew up tracks, bringing the train with nearly 450 passengers to a halt in a tunnel, where they stormed it.
Survivors told VOA the attackers singled out security personnel and ethnic Punjabi passengers, shooting many.
“Pakistan expects the Interim Afghan Government to uphold its responsibilities and deny use of its soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan,” the military said in written comments to the media Wednesday, repeating an increasingly frequent demand.
On Thursday, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan, repeated Islamabad’s stance.
“We urge Afghanistan to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers, of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and cooperate with the government of Pakistan to bring all those who are concerned with this attack, including the real sponsors of terrorism, to justice,” Khan told media at the weekly briefing.
Balkhi rejected the allegation that Baloch separatists have put down roots across the border.
“No members of Balouch opposition have presence in Afghanistan, nor have they ever had or have any links with the Islamic Emirate,” Balkhi said in his post on X. The Taliban refer to their government as the Islamic Emirate.
Pakistan has seen a sharp increase in terrorism in the last year, with deaths rising by nearly 45% in 2024 from the year before.
The country now ranks second on the Global Terrorism Watchlist with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, an ideological offshoot of the Afghan Taliban, and the separatist Baloch Liberation Army emerging as the deadliest outfits.
Speaking at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Afghanistan this week, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram, said Kabul was failing to rein in Baloch separatists.
“The Kabul authorities have failed to address the threat posed to the region and beyond by other terrorist groups, such as al Qaida, the TTP and Baloch terrorists, including the BLA and the Majeed Brigade, which are present in Afghanistan,” the Pakistani envoy said Monday.
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Shortage of Marines’ amphibious warships worrIes top US military officers
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.
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Homeland Security, rights group to meet in court over migrants at Guantanamo Bay
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.”
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Ukraine peace, global security top G7 agenda as diplomats convene in Canada
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.
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Foreign bloggers help China spread propaganda, analysis finds
Foreign bloggers who praise China rapidly gain popularity and millions of followers on Chinese social media platforms. VOA examined the facts and spoke with experts to shed light on the government’s efforts behind the phenomenon.
“It is a long-standing tradition of the Chinese Communist Party to use foreigners to voice its propaganda for added credibility,” said Mareike Ohlberg, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund.
Foreign influencers cooperate with the Chinese government, the media and third parties to create and boost content that supports government narratives, Ohlberg said. One of the most common topics that foreign influencers focus on is whitewashing human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The U.N. Human Rights Office and groups like Amnesty International estimate that more than 1 million people – mostly Uyghurs – have been confined in internment camps in Xinjiang.
One of the most recent and maybe most popular foreign characters in China is a French national, Marcus Detrez, who became a media sensation in 2024.
Japanese occupation photos
Last year, Detrez posted a series of historic photographs on the Chinese social media platform Douyin that depicted life under the Japanese occupation in the early 20th century. He claimed the images were taken by his grandfather and said he wanted to donate them to China.
Detrez enjoyed a year of celebrity treatment from Chinese authorities, including touring across China, while state media outlets profiled him as a hero. In February, however, historians exposed Detrez as a fraud. The photographs he claimed were unique family heirlooms turned out to be publicly available online in various museums around the world.
But the thread of glorified foreign bloggers started much earlier.
One of the pioneers on Chinese social media is a Russian internet celebrity, Vladislav Kokolevskiy, known in China as Fulafu. He amassed 12.89 million followers on Douyin, where he posts short video clips praising life in China.
In November 2023, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute wrote that in China, Fulafu has “become a household name through his ostentatious displays of affection for China,” identifying him as a Chinese government propagandist.
Kokolevskiy does not make commercial ad disclaimers. However, CMGM, an outlet covering China news, reported in January 2021 that he received advertisement contracts within 15 days for NetEase’s “Heavenly Oracle” mobile game and online retailers Pinduoduo and Tmall.
The companies paid about $11,000 for each ad, bringing Fulafu’s advertising revenue up to about $33,000 for January 2021 alone, according to the report.
Like Fulafu, dozens of foreigners grew to stardom on the Chinese internet during the last decade, Ohlberg said.
Among them is Gerald Kowal, known also as Jerry Guo, an American who has risen to popularity in China after an interview with state-owned CCTV in 2020. At the time, Kowal had been posting series of short videos critical of New York City authorities’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also repeated debunked conspiracy theories, claiming, for example, that the U.S. military brought the coronavirus to China. CCTV broadcasted his interview from New York live.
The China Newsweek magazine profiled Kowal in May 2020 as “one of the most influential internet celebrities,” calling him a “war correspondent” for his videos from pandemic-stricken New York.
Third-party promoters
The success of a large number of foreign influencers is closely tied to multichannel networks or MCNs, which are third-party organizations that promote the growth of certain content creators, operating behind the scenes.
One of the MCN industry leaders is YChina, founded in 2016 by Israeli businessman Amir Gal-Or and his Chinese partner and former classmate, Fang Yedun, as part of Gal-Or’s “Crooked Nuts Research Institute,” which focuses on documenting the lives of foreigners in China.
YChina started with the cross-platform sharing of short video interviews with Western expats living in China. It initially focused on cultural topics and soon accumulated more than 100 million followers among its internet influencers from over 30 countries, including Israel, the United States, Australia, Spain, Argentina, Japan and Thailand.
Chinese democracy activists in exile have accused YChina of supporting Chinese government propaganda about Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
In July 2024, the China Public Diplomacy Association, which is under the supervision of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gathered more than 30 foreign influencers from 25 countries to participate in a training camp and visit various cities in China. The bloggers were asked to record their experiences on video and share them online.
China’s state-controlled media outlets boost such bloggers, presenting them to domestic audiences within the narrative of a prosperous nation under the Communist Party.
For example, the Xinhua News Agency’s series in 2024 on foreign internet celebrities in China showed videos of influencers from all over the world walking the streets of China’s major cities praising their “cleanest streets in the world” and “efficient garbage disposal system.”
In using these foreign bloggers, the Chinese Communist Party wants to show that life in China is not what rights groups and China’s critics abroad say it is. The government exploits the idea that unless “you come and see, you have no right to judge,” the German Marshall Fund’s Ohlberg said.
The core of this idea is “very hypocritical,” Ohlberg added, because “the Communist Party allows these people to go only where it wants them to go and see only what it wants them to see. And if you’re critical, you certainly won’t get the opportunity to go on a field trip.”
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Children being brutalized in Sudan’s civil war, say UNICEF and MSF
UNITED NATIONS — The head of the U.N. children’s program, UNICEF, said Thursday that 16 million children in Sudan are suffering horribly from the country’s civil war, with many facing daily threats of violence, starvation, disease and sexual assault.
“The fighting is happening right at their doorsteps, around their homes, their schools and hospitals, and across many of Sudan’s cities, towns, and villages,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director, told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
She said children under the age of five are particularly at risk, with more than 1.3 million living in five famine hotspots in the country, and another 3 million at risk of diseases including cholera, malaria and dengue due to the failing health system. At least 16.5 million young people are out of school.
Russell said there were 221 cases of rape against children reported in nine of Sudan’s 18 states last year. She said two-thirds were girls.
“In 16 of the recorded cases, the children were under the age of five. Four were babies under the age of one,” she said.
While she demanded an end to the hostilities, she said it would not erase the pain those children have endured.
“The trauma these children experience and the deep scars it leaves behind do not end with the signing of a ceasefire or a peace agreement,” she said. “They will need ongoing care and support to heal and rebuild their lives.”
The head of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) told the council that his teams in Sudan have also seen evidence of sexual violence, having treated 385 survivors last year.
“The vast majority — including some younger than five — had been raped, often by armed men,” said Secretary General Christopher Lockyear. “Nearly half were assaulted while working in the fields. Women and girls are not merely unprotected, they are being brutally targeted.”
The children are caught up in a power struggle between two rival generals that began in the capital, Khartoum, in April 2023, but has since spread to large parts of the country, including the Darfur region. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces, and the United Nations says both sides have committed grave human rights abuses.
The head of MSF told the council that he was in Sudan six weeks ago and witnessed a scene of “utter carnage” at one of their partner hospitals in Omdurman, near the capital.
“I witnessed the lives of men, women, and children being torn apart in front of me,” Lockyear said.
He told the 15-nation Security Council that their repeated calls on the parties to end the war have gone unanswered.
“While statements are made in this chamber, civilians remain unseen, unprotected, bombed, besieged, raped, displaced, deprived of food, of medical care, of dignity,” Lockyear said.
He later told reporters that the situation in Sudan “is so catastrophic for millions of people, it should be something that is on all of our consciences on a daily basis.”
The UNICEF director said the agency needs a billion dollars this year to provide critical support to 8.7 million children in Sudan, including nutrition, water and sanitation, protection, health, and education. She and Lockyear both urged the council to press the warring parties to remove obstacles to the delivery of aid.
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US lawmakers running out of time to fund government
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.
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Can the US pry Russia away from China?
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.”
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The story of Chinese Americans who call Texas home
The state of Texas has the third-largest Asian American population in the U.S. Chinese Americans in the Lone Star State have roots that trace back for generations, just like those of their counterparts on the nation’s East and West coasts. While the history of these Texans might not be as well known, their stories are just as intertwined with America’s. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has more on this story.
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