DHAKA, BANGLADESH — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is getting a first-hand look at the situation of more than 1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh as fears mount of serious aid cuts across the world following Washington’s decision to shut down USAID operations.
Bangladesh’s foreign affairs adviser, Touhid Hossain, welcomed Guterres at Dhaka’s main airport on Thursday. Guterres’s four-day visit — his second to Bangladesh — is seen as crucial after the announcement of possible aid cuts by the World Food Program, or WFP, and others in the aftermath of the USAID shuttering.
Bangladesh’s interim government — which came to power last August after a mass uprising ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina — hopes the visit will boost international efforts to mobilize aid for the Rohingya refugees and attract new global attention to their crisis.
A letter from the U.N. food agency earlier this month said cuts to food rations could take effect from next month at Cox’s Bazar, home to dozens of camps housing Rohingya refugees. The WFP said the food rations could be reduced to $6, from the current $12.50 per month — unless adequate funding is secured.
According to WFP spokesperson Kun Li, if the WFP is unable to secure sufficient funding — $81 million to sustain operations through the end of the year, including $15 million needed for April — it will have no choice but to reduce rations starting in April.
Ahead of Guterres’ visit, Amnesty International urged the international community to urgently step up and deliver the necessary support to avoid the devastating impact on the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
“The funding shortfall will only exacerbate the existing desperate shortage of essential supplies and services in the camps,” said Smriti Singh, regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International.
“The Rohingya community in Cox’s Bazar have little alternative but to rely on WFP aid,” Singh said, adding that the Bangladesh government prohibits the refugees from leaving the camps and finding jobs.
Guterres and Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, are to visit Cox’s Bazar district on Friday. On Saturday, the two will hold talks at Yunus’ office in Dhaka, the country’s capital, and jointly talk to reporters afterward.
Bangladesh’s interim government has said that the end of USAID payments would stop other projects in the country but that funding for Rohingya refugees would continue to flow.
The U.S. has been the top donor to Bangladesh for Rohingya refugees, providing the United Nations with emergency food and nutrition assistance. The U.S. usually provides almost half of the aid money spent on the humanitarian response to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, which provided about $300 million in 2024.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have lived in Bangladesh for decades and about 70,000 crossed the border from Myanmar in 2024. During fighting with the military junta, the opposition force known as the Arakan Army effectively took over the Rakhine state where Rohingya were displaced and took shelter in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh says repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar, which has been accused in an international court of genocide against Rohingya, is the ultimate solution of the crisis, but complexities over verification and other diplomatic and political issues have made the future of the refugees bleak.
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Meta tests ‘Community Notes’ to replace fact-checkers
SAN FRANCISCO — Social media giant Meta on Thursday announced it would begin testing its new “Community Notes” feature across its platforms on March 18, as it shifts away from third-party fact-checking toward a crowd-sourced approach to content moderation.
Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the new system in January as he appeared to align himself with the incoming Trump administration, including naming a Republican as the company’s head of public policy.
The change of system came after years of criticism from supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, among others, that conservative voices were being censored or stifled under the guise of fighting misinformation, a claim professional fact-checkers vehemently reject.
Meta has also scaled back its diversity initiatives and relaxed content moderation rules on Facebook and Instagram, particularly regarding certain forms of hostile speech.
The initiative, similar to the system already implemented by X (formerly Twitter), will allow users of Facebook, Instagram and Threads to write and rate contextual notes on various content.
Meta said approximately 200,000 potential contributors in the United States have already signed up across the three platforms.
The new approach requires contributors to be over 18 with accounts more than six months old that are in good standing.
During the testing period, notes will not immediately appear on content and the company will gradually admit people from the waitlist and thoroughly test the system before public implementation.
Meta emphasized that the notes will only be published when contributors with differing viewpoints agree on their helpfulness.
“This isn’t majority rules,” the company said.
Moreover, unlike fact-checked posts that often had reduced distribution, flagged content with Community Notes will not face distribution penalties.
Notes will be limited to 500 characters, must include supporting links and will initially support six languages commonly used in the United States: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French and Portuguese.
“Our intention is ultimately to roll out this new approach to our users all over the world, but we won’t be doing that immediately,” the company said.
“Until Community Notes are launched in other countries, the third party fact checking program will remain in place for them,” it added.
Meta said that it would not be “reinventing the wheel” and will use X’s open-source algorithm as the basis of its system.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month warned that the rollbacks to fact-checking and moderation safeguards were “reopening the floodgates” of hate and violence online.
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Taiwan president warns of China’s ‘infiltration’ effort
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Thursday that China has deepened its influence campaigns and infiltration against the democratic island, pledging measures to tackle Beijing’s efforts to “absorb” Taiwan.
Taiwan has accused China of stepping up military drills, trade sanctions and influence campaigns against the island in recent years to force the island to accept Chinese sovereignty claims.
Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting with senior security officials, Lai said Beijing had used Taiwan’s democracy to “absorb” various members of society, including organized crime groups, media personalities, and current and former military and police officers.
“They (China) are carrying out activities such as division, destruction, and subversion from within us,” Lai told a news briefing broadcast live from the presidential office.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Citing government data, Lai said 64 people were charged for Chinese espionage last year, three times more than in 2021. He said the majority of them were current or former military officials.
“Many are worried that our country, hard-earned freedom and democracy and prosperity will be lost, bit by bit, due to these influence campaigns and manipulation,” Lai said.
By making these efforts, Lai said China constituted what Taiwan’s Anti-Infiltration Act defined as “foreign hostile forces.”
The president proposed 17 legal and economic countermeasures, including the strict review of Taiwan visits or residency applications by Chinese citizens, and proposals to resume the work of the military court.
Lai also said his government would make “necessary adjustments” to the flows of money, people and technology across the strait. He did not elaborate.
In addition, he said the government would issue “reminders” to Taiwanese actors and singers performing in China on their “statements and actions,” a response to what Taipei sees as an ongoing Chinese campaign to pressure pop stars to make pro-Beijing comments.
“We have no choice but to take more active actions.”
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.
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China accuses New Zealand’s top spy of spreading ‘false information’
BEIJING — China’s embassy in New Zealand on Thursday accused Wellington’s top spy of lying after the intelligence chief warned of security risks posed by Beijing’s growing influence in the Pacific.
In a speech in Wellington last week, New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service Director-General Andrew Hampton said the focus of Pacific nations on economic and transnational crime issues had opened the door for China to sign strategic deals with them that linked economic and security cooperation.
“The relevant remarks are totally baseless, all fabrication, and amount to spreading false information,” the Chinese Embassy in Wellington said.
“For someone holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
In recent years, Beijing has struck deals with a number of Pacific nations, worrying New Zealand, a member of the Five Eye intelligence alliance along with Britain, the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
Hampton said last week that China wanted to “create competing regional architectures, and expand its influence with Pacific Island countries,” which posed foreign interference and espionage risks.
The Cook Islands, a self-governing Pacific nation in free-association with New Zealand, is at the heart of recent tensions between China and New Zealand.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown travelled to China in February, signing a comprehensive strategic partnership deal with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. That angered Wellington, which complained about the lack of consultation and transparency around Brown’s visit.
Relevant cooperation documents have been made public, the Chinese statement said, adding that there is no “secret agenda” in China’s relations with the Cook Islands.
China’s embassy in Wellington also handles the country’s diplomatic relations with the island nations of Niue and the Cook Islands.
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EPA announces rollback of dozens of environmental regulations
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced a wave of regulatory rollbacks on Wednesday including a repeal of Biden-era emissions limits on power plants and automobiles, as well as reduced protections for waterways.
The announcements from Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency align with the president’s vows to slash regulations to boost industries from coal to manufacturing and ramp up oil and minerals production. But they are also destined to weaken bedrock environmental rules imposed by past presidencies to protect air and water quality and fight climate change. “Today is the most consequential day of deregulation in American history,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a video message posted on X.
In total, his agency announced more than 30 deregulatory measures in a dizzying succession of press releases. Zeldin started the day by announcing he will narrow the definition of waterways that receive protection under the Clean Water Act — a move that could ease limits on runoff pollution from agriculture, mining, and petrochemicals.
The agency later said it would review the Biden-era clean power plant rule that seeks to reduce carbon emissions from power plants to fight global warming and would also roll back greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy- and light-duty vehicles for model year 2027 and later.
The power and transport industries together make up around half of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and were vital targets in former President Joe Biden’s efforts to slow climate change. The agency also said it will take steps to undo a scientific finding from 2009 that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health, a provision that forms the bedrock of the EPA’s greenhouse-gas regulations so far.
The so-called “endangerment finding” came as a result of a Supreme Court ruling in the 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA case that greenhouse gases are covered by the Clean Air Act.
The EPA under former President Barack Obama finalized the finding in 2009, and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act – Joe Biden’s signature climate law – codified language deeming greenhouse gases are air pollutants.
Obama’s EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Wednesday was “the most disastrous day in EPA history.”
Environmental groups said they will fight the rollback.
“This move won’t stand up in court. We’re going to fight it every step of the way,” said Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. Other environmental groups slammed Trump’s broader deregulation agenda.
“EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is driving a dagger straight into the heart of public health,” said Abel Russ, a director at the Environmental Integrity Project.
Industry groups expressed support for the announcements. “Voters sent a clear message in support of affordable, reliable and secure American energy, and the Trump administration is answering the call,” said Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute.
The National Mining Association, which represents some coal miners, applauded the rollback of the clean power plant rule, saying it was “long overdue” as datacenters and AI increased electricity demand.
Decades of precedent
The Trump administration plans to roll back other air and water regulations that have been in place for decades for the power industry.
The EPA, for example, said it will reconsider mercury and air toxics rules that had been updated under Biden that it says were designed to target coal-fired power plants. It also said it plans to revisit standards set under the Biden administration to reduce soot and air particulate matter.
Reuters had reported that review earlier in the day.
The EPA also announced measures that would dial back regulations for the oil and gas industry, including required reporting of methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure. It would also consider allowing the reuse of drilling wastewater, potentially for agriculture and industry.
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Kuwait frees group of jailed Americans, including contractors held on drug charges
WASHINGTON — Kuwait has released a group of American prisoners, including veterans and military contractors jailed for years on drug-related charges, in a move seen as a gesture of goodwill between two allies, a representative for the detainees told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The release follows a recent visit to the region by Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s top hostage envoy, and comes amid a continued U.S. government push to bring home American citizens jailed in foreign countries.
Six of the newly freed prisoners were accompanied on a flight from Kuwait to New York by Jonathan Franks, a private consultant who works on cases involving American hostages and detainees and who had been in the country to help secure their release.
“My clients and their families are grateful to the Kuwaiti government for this kind humanitarian gesture,” Franks said in a statement.
He said that his clients maintain their innocence and that additional Americans he represents also are expected to be released by Kuwait later.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The names of the released prisoners were not immediately made public.
Kuwait, a small, oil-rich nation that borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia and is near Iran, is considered a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio paid tribute to that relationship as recently as last month, when he said the U.S. “remains steadfast in its support for Kuwait’s sovereignty and the well-being of its people.”
The countries have had a close military partnership since America launched the 1991 Gulf War to expel Iraqi troops after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded the country, with some 13,500 American troops stationed in Kuwait at Camp Arifjan and Ali al-Salem Air Base.
But Kuwait has also detained many American military contractors on drug charges, in some cases, for years. Their families have alleged that their loved ones faced abuse while imprisoned in a country that bans alcohol and has strict laws regarding drugs.
The State Department warns travelers that drug charges in Kuwait can carry long prison sentences and the death penalty. Defense cooperation agreements between the U.S. and Kuwait likely include provisions that ensure U.S. troops are subject only to American laws, though that likely doesn’t include contractors.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, his Republican administration has secured the release of American schoolteacher Marc Fogel in a prisoner swap with Russia and has announced the release by Belarus of an imprisoned U.S. citizen.
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Advocates for jailed publisher Lai turn to Trump administration
WASHINGTON — The son of imprisoned pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai this week brought the campaign to secure his father’s release to the Trump administration in Washington.
Nearly two months into President Donald Trump’s second term, Lai’s son Sebastien and their international legal team were in Washington this week to meet with Trump administration officials and lawmakers in hopes that the United States can help push for Lai’s release.
Lai, a businessman and founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong, stands accused of collusion with foreign forces and sedition under a Beijing-imposed national security law. He rejects the charges, but if convicted in an ongoing trial, he could face life in prison.
“We were incredibly grateful that President Trump said that he will help release my father. It’s given us as a family a lot of hope,” the younger Lai said at a Wednesday event at the Cato Institute think tank in Washington.
In October 2024, Trump said he would “100%” be able to secure Lai’s release if he were reelected.
“I’ll get him out. He’ll be easy to get out. But we don’t have people that even talk about it,” Trump said in an interview with conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt.
The White House did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment on whether the Trump administration had any specific plans to help secure Lai’s release.
But a State Department spokesperson reaffirmed that the United States calls for Lai’s immediate release.
“Lai’s lengthy trial and unjust detention are an example of how China uses vague national security laws to suppress fundamental freedoms and political discourse,” the spokesperson added in a statement emailed to VOA on Wednesday.
Lai, a 77-year-old British national, has been held in solitary confinement in Hong Kong since late 2020. His trial, which was originally estimated to last about 80 days, has been ongoing since December 2023 and is widely viewed as politically motivated.
Hong Kong authorities have rejected accusations that Lai’s trial is unfair and maintain that press freedom and the rule of law are intact.
Speaking at the Cato Institute event, Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, suggested that the U.S. government should use sanctions against Hong Kong officials as a way to push for Lai’s release.
Clifford, who previously served on the board of Apple Daily’s parent company, also suggested the United States could shutter the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in Washington, New York and San Francisco.
“There’s a pretty good tool kit that the administration has,” Clifford said.
Even though the government-appointed judges are likely to find Lai guilty, Mark Simon, who worked with Lai for decades in Hong Kong, argued that releasing Lai may be in Beijing’s interest.
“Your influence as a dissident is at the height when you’re in prison. The world is campaigning for you. If you’re China and you release him, his influence goes down,” Simon said at the Cato Institute. “If he dies in prison, then you don’t control anything.”
Jimmy Lai’s international legal team has expressed concern about the conditions in which the publisher is being held, including prolonged solitary confinement and no access to specialized medical care for diabetes. Hong Kong authorities have rejected those claims.
“Everybody realizes that the clock is ticking, and time is running out for my father,” Sebastien Lai said.
But even though his father’s physical health has become fragile, Sebastien Lai said his mind has stayed strong.
“He’s still strong mentally, and he’s still fighting,” the younger Lai said. “That’s something that should inspire all of us.”
Before concluding his cross-examination in Lai’s national security trial last week, Hong Kong prosecutor Anthony Chau read out the charges, alleged conspiracies and co-conspirators, and asked the elder Lai if he agreed with them.
“Of course I disagree. Totally rubbish,” Lai said.
After 52 days in the witness box, Lai completed his testimony in the trial last week. Lawyers from both sides aren’t expected to return to court to deliver their closing statements until August, marking the trial’s latest months-long delay.
Lai’s plight has received bipartisan support in Washington, according to Caoilfhionn Gallagher, the attorney leading Lai’s international legal team.
She told VOA she hopes the United States and the United Kingdom can coordinate their efforts and work together to secure Lai’s release.
“We’re extremely worried for his health and well-being, and indeed, his life,” Gallagher said. “It’s in no one’s interest for this brilliant man to die in prison.”
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Zimbabwe journalist still in custody after case adjourned
A High Court judge in Zimbabwe on Wednesday adjourned the case of a journalist arrested over his interviews with a war veteran-turned-politician who criticized the country’s president.
Blessed Mhlanga, a journalist with NewsDay and Heart and Soul Television, has been in custody since Feb. 24 over accusations of incitement.
Lawyers for the journalist had requested that he be bailed out, but at a hearing in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, Justice Gibson Mandaza requested more time to examine the case.
Chris Mhike, who represents Mhlanga, told VOA he was waiting for the High Court to announce when the case would resume.
Mhike said it would be “improper” to go into the arguments because the case was active but said the judge “indicated that it was necessary for him to consider the issues that are at stake.”
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Mhike said the arrest of Mhlanga sent a chilling message.
The arrest is related to his interviews with war veteran and politician Blessed Geza in November and January, in which Geza said that he would mobilize public protests to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa out of office, citing economic issues and what he called the president’s failure to govern.
On Friday, Geza was expelled from the Zanu PF party for what the party described as violating regulations in public comments about the president.
Mhike said he believed his client’s arrest served as a warning to others to refrain from discussing political topics, such as whether Mnangagwa should seek a third term. Zimbabwean presidents serve five-year terms, which are renewable once.
Mhlanga’s arrest “has had a chilling effect on the practice of journalism, as is always the case when journalists are either harassed, or put through the legal process, really for activities that are directly linked to their work,” Mhike told VOA.
It is “worrisome to many in the journalistic fraternity,” he added. “This has been the impact, and this has been my client’s position: that he is being tormented purely on grounds of him carrying out his work as a journalist.”
Mhlanga, who faces two charges relating to “transmitting of data messages inciting violence or damage to property,” denies the charges against him.
Mhike said his client’s arrest also could be unconstitutional. Zimbabwe’s Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom to seek, receive and communicate ideas and other information, and entitles citizens to freedom of the press.
Farai Marapira, the Zanu PF information director, said he expected courts to preside fairly over the case.
“I believe people should allow the court process to pursue this matter as it is designed to find out what are the material facts of the matter, and I’m sure the courts will deal fairly with this issue,” Marapira said.
Marapira also said Mhlanga’s arrest was not a reflection of the state of press freedom in the country.
“People write about Zanu PF every day — people write positively, people write negatively, some even write and insult Zanu PF,” he said.
Marapira then rhetorically asked aloud: “Who is dead? No one is dead. So, what are they fearing for their lives from? Where is the example? Where are the examples of killed journalists? So, like I said, this is all overexcitement.”
The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said that conditions for journalists have improved since the end of longtime leader Robert Mugabe’s rule. But, it noted in its press freedom index, media have faced greater persecution since the 2023 election.
In the past two years, journalists have been blocked or harassed while covering events and briefly detained and assaulted, media groups said.
Mhlanga himself has had a previous brush with the law. In 2022, he and his colleague Chengeto Chidi were arrested for taking photos of the police during the arrest of an opposition lawmaker.
In his latest case, international and local media rights organizations have condemned Mhlanga’s arrest and urged the Zimbabwean government to drop all charges against him.
Tobias Mudzingwa contributed to this report.
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VOA Mandarin: China, Walmart discuss response to US tariffs
China’s Commerce Ministry reportedly held talks with Walmart on Tuesday after the U.S. retail giant had requested a 10% price cut from its Chinese suppliers to offset U.S. tariff costs, state media CCTV said. The report added that the ministry is believed to have expressed concern over Walmart’s “unfair” practice, which it believes may create the risk of supply chain disruption and harm the interests of Chinese and American companies and American consumers.”
Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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VOA Uzbek: EU boosts its Central Asia strategy
As the U.S. seeks to strengthen ties with resource-rich Central Asia, the European Union is also reaching out to the region. Having adopted a new strategy for Central Asia in 2019, the bloc appears to be making renewed efforts to implement it. EU Commissioner for External Relations Jozef Sikela has begun a tour of the region ahead of an EU-Central Asia summit in Uzbekistan in April.
Click here for the full story in Uzbek.
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China, Iran, Russia hold joint naval drills in Middle East
TEHRAN, IRAN — China, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills Tuesday in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran’s rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen’s Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships.
The joint drills, called the Maritime Security Belt 2025, took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil passes. The area around the strait has in the past seen Iran seize commercial ships and launch suspected attacks in the time since President Donald Trump first unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
The drill marked the fifth year the three countries took part in the drills.
This year’s drill likely sparked a warning late Monday from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which said there was GPS interference in the strait, with disruptions lasting for several hours and forcing crews to rely on backup navigation methods.
“This was likely GPS jamming to reduce the targeting capability of drones and missiles,” wrote Shaun Robertson, an intelligence analyst at the EOS Risk Group. “However, electronic navigation system interference has been reported in this region previously during periods of increased tension and military exercises.”
US-patrolled waters
Russia’s Defense Ministry identified the vessels it sent to the drill as the corvettes Rezky and the Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov, as well as the tanker Pechenega. China’s Defense Ministry said it sent the guided-missile destroyer Baotou and the comprehensive supply ship Gaoyouhu. Neither offered a count of the personnel involved.
Neither China nor Russia actively patrol the wider Middle East, whose waterways remain crucial for global energy supplies. Instead, they broadly cede that to Western nations largely led by the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. Observers for the drill included Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates — with the Americans likely keeping watch as well.
However, China and Russia have deep interests in Iran. For China, it has continued to purchase Iranian crude oil despite facing Western sanctions, likely at a discount compared with global prices. Beijing also remains one of the top markets for Iranian imports.
Russia, meanwhile, has relied on Iran for the supply of bomb-carrying drones it uses in its war on Ukraine.
Iran highlights drills
The drills marked a major moment for Iran’s state-run television network. It has aired segments showing live fire during a night drill and sailors manning deck guns on a vessel. The exercises come after an Iranian monthslong drill that followed a direct Israeli attack on the country, targeting its air defenses and sites associated with its ballistic missile program.
While Tehran sought to downplay the assault, it shook the wider populace and came as a campaign of Israeli assassinations and attacks have decimated Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” — a series of militant groups allied with the Islamic Republic. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was also overthrown in December, further weakening Iran’s grip on the wider region.
All the while, Iran has increasingly stockpiled more uranium enriched at near-weapons-grade levels, something done only by atomic-armed nations. Tehran has long maintained its program is for peaceful purposes, even as its officials increasingly threaten to pursue the bomb.
Iran’s nuclear program has drawn warnings from Israel and the U.S., signaling that military action against the program could happen. But just last week, Trump sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei seeking a new nuclear deal. Iran says it hasn’t received any letter but still issued a flurry of pronouncements over it.
Houthis renew threats
As a shaky ceasefire holds in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they were resuming attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as well as the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the two waterways.
The rebels’ secretive leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, warned Friday that attacks against Israel-linked vessels would resume within four days if Israel didn’t let aid into Gaza. As the deadline passed Tuesday, the Houthis said they were again banning Israeli vessels from the waters off Yemen.
Although no attacks were reported, it has put shippers on edge. The rebels targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, since November 2023.
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DRC, M23 rebels to begin direct peace talks, Angola says
LUANDA, ANGOLA — Direct peace talks between the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 rebels will begin in the Angolan capital on March 18, Angola’s presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Southern African country has been trying to mediate a lasting ceasefire and de-escalate tensions between the DRC and neighboring Rwanda, which has been accused of backing the Tutsi-led rebel group. Rwanda denies those allegations.
Angola announced on Tuesday that it would attempt to broker the direct talks.
Congo’s government has repeatedly refused to hold talks with M23 and on Tuesday said only that it had taken note of the Angolan initiative.
There was no immediate comment from Kinshasa on Wednesday.
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US drops lawsuit against shelter provider accused of sexual abuse of migrant children
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has dropped a civil rights lawsuit it filed last year against the national nonprofit Southwest Key Programs alleging its employees had sexually abused unaccompanied minors who were housed in its shelters after entering the country illegally, according to a court filing.
Austin, Texas-based nonprofit Southwest Key contracts with the federal government to care for young migrants arriving in the U.S. without parents or legal guardians. It has operated 27 shelters in Texas, Arizona and California. It is the largest provider of shelter to unaccompanied minor children.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued in July 2024 in the Western District of Texas alleging a pattern of “severe or pervasive sexual harassment” going back to at least 2015 in the network of Southwest Key shelters.
The complaint includes alleged cases of “severe sexual abuse and rape, solicitation of sex acts, solicitation of nude photos, entreaties for sexually inappropriate relationships, sexual comments and gestures.”
The department decided to drop the lawsuit after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stopped the placement of unaccompanied migrant children in shelters operated by Southwest Key and initiated a review of its grants with the organization, the department said in a press release on Wednesday. The department said it has moved all children in Southwest Key shelters to other shelters.
“For too long, pernicious actors have exploited such children both before and after they enter the United States,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in the release. “Today’s action is a significant step toward ending this appalling abuse of innocents.”
While Southwest Key did not immediately respond to a request for comment, it had previously sought to have the case dismissed and denied the allegations of sexual assault of children.
“Southwest Key takes pride in its record of providing safe shelter care, and it vehemently denies the allegations that there is any ‘pattern or practice’ of sexual abuse, harassment or misconduct at its facilities, or that it ‘failed to take reasonable, appropriate, and sufficient action to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and harassment of the children entrusted to its care,’” it wrote in a court filing last year.
The plans to dismiss the case were first reported by Bloomberg. In that story, the news outlet reported that an attorney for Southwest Key had reached out to the Justice Department and asked it to dismiss the matter, saying the case could hinder the crackdown on illegal immigration by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The reversal by the Justice Department comes at a time when Attorney General Pam Bondi has made combatting illegal immigration take priority over other initiatives that were pursued during President Joe Biden’s administration.
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Somali forces kill 50 militants in airstrikes after ending hotel siege
WASHINGTON — Security forces in Somalia say they killed all six attackers who laid siege to a hotel in the central town of Beledweyne and later killed at least 50 al-Shabab militants in airstrikes.
Speaking to reporters, Beledweyne District Commissioner Omar Osman Alasow confirmed that the hotel siege ended early Wednesday.
“Our security forces successfully got rid of six militants who attacked a hotel where traditional elders and security officials were meeting,” he said.
Al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the hotel attack on Tuesday.
Alasow said the government soldiers backed by African Union troops worked through the night to rescue elders, military officers and civilians trapped inside the hotel.
“During 18 hours of siege, our brave soldiers shot dead two militants, and four of them desperately blew themselves up when they realized that they could not escape,” he said. “Seven other people, including government security officials and two prominent traditional elders, were killed.”
Since August 2022, when Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called for a “total war” against al-Shabab, Beledweyne, a town near Somalia’s border with Ethiopia in Hirshabelle state, about 300 kilometers north of Mogadishu, has been the center of a local community mobilization against al-Shabab.
The city has suffered more terrorist attacks than any other in Somalia except Mogadishu. Since 2009, hundreds of people have been killed in suicide attacks and car bombs on hotels, restaurants and government bases. The single biggest attack, in 2009, killed at least 25 people and injured 60 others.
Airstrikes kill 50 militants
Hours after ending this week’s hotel siege, Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, or NISA, said the country’s security forces killed dozens of al-Shabab members elsewhere in Hirshabelle.
“Coordinated airstrikes by the Somali army and international partners in the Middle Shabelle region have killed at least 50 al-Shabab militants, including senior leader in charge of the coordination of the group’s combat vehicles,” the NISA statement said.
NISA said the airstrikes targeted the Damasha and Shabeelow areas and killed Mansoor Tima-Weeyne, a senior al-Shabab leader who masterminded the preparation and use of combat vehicles for terrorist attacks.
In a separate statement, the Somali Military Command said, “The operation was a significant blow to the group’s combat capabilities and part of ongoing efforts to weaken terrorism in the region.”
Media outlets closed
On another counterterrorism front, NISA said Wednesday that it closed 12 media outlets and websites linked to the Khawarij, a derogatory term referring to al-Shabab that loosely translates as “those who deviate from the Islamic faith.”
This latest announcement followed another crackdown on over 30 al-Shabab-related websites.
“The operation targeted platforms spreading extremist ideologies, inciting violence, and disseminating false information. During the operation the government seized critical data and identified individuals involved,” said a statement posted by the government’s National News Agency.
This story originated in VOA’s Somali Service.
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India, Mauritius upgrade strategic ties with eye on China
NEW DELHI — India and Mauritius have upgraded their ties, say leaders of both countries — a move analysts say is aimed at increasing New Delhi’s influence in the Indian Ocean as it seeks to counter China’s expanding footprint in the region.
The announcement of upgraded ties came during a two-day visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mauritius, an island nation that sits along vital seaways in the western Indian Ocean.
Modi, who was chief guest at Mauritius’s National Day celebrations on Wednesday, said that the countries had elevated ties to the status of “enhanced strategic partnership.”
Following talks with Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, both leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to a “free, safe, secure and open Indian Ocean.”
Mauritius conferred the country’s highest civilian honor on Modi, and the prime ministers signed eight pacts to boost cooperation in several sectors including maritime security.
Modi announced that New Delhi would invest about $11 million in several community development projects and that India will cooperate in building a new parliament for Mauritius, calling it a gift “from the mother of democracy.”
China trade with Mauritius on rise
While India has long enjoyed good relations with Mauritius, where 70% of the population is of Indian origin, analysts said Modi’s visit came amid a recognition that India needs to step up its engagement with a country that is called the gateway to the Western Indian Ocean and Africa, and where Beijing’s presence has grown.
“China’s rise in the island has been quite phenomenal and it is now one of the most important economic players in Mauritius,” according to Harsh Pant, the vice president of studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. “So, to offset that, it is necessary for India to have constant engagement with Mauritius and help them build capacities in areas such as health, education, and maritime capabilities to demonstrate that it can assist in meeting such challenges.”
In 2019, China signed a free trade agreement with Mauritius that went into effect in 2021. A page for Mauritius on China’s Foreign Ministry website that outlines relations states that the two have a strategic partnership. Bilateral trade between the two countries hit $1.1 billion, a 10.1% increase from the previous year, according to the website.
As the region becomes a hotspot for geopolitical competition, India and China have stepped up efforts to build ties with Indian Ocean countries.
Underlining India’s naval cooperation with Mauritius, an Indian navy contingent participated in the National Day parade and an Indian warship — the INS Imphal, a stealth guided-missile destroyer — paid a visit to the capital, Port Louis.
Last year, India helped Mauritius build an airstrip and a jetty in Agalega — two tiny islands covering 25 square kilometers that are located north of the main island. Although Mauritius has said that the facilities are not for military use, they give India a foothold to monitor traffic in the western Indian Ocean, say analysts.
“India’s construction of logistics infrastructure on Agalega Island underlines both Mauritius’s enduring geopolitical significance in the Indian Ocean and Delhi’s growing maritime stakes in regional security,” political analyst C. Raja Mohan wrote in the Indian Express newspaper.
India backs Chagos handover
Indian officials have also said that New Delhi would support a planned deal between Britain and Mauritius to hand over control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius that is being finalized. One of the islands on the archipelago, Diego Garcia, has been home to a joint U.K.-U.S. military base since the 1970s. British media have reported that Britain will cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands and lease back Diego Garcia from Mauritius to allow the military base to remain.
“We support Mauritius in its stance on its sovereignty over Chagos, and this is obviously in keeping with our long-standing position with regard to decolonization and support for sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries,” Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri said Saturday while announcing plans that Modi will soon also visit the Maldives.
Although officials have made no comment, analysts point out that India backs the continuation of the military base in Diego Garcia. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was “inclined” to go along with the deal between Mauritius and Britain over the future of the base.
“From New Delhi’s standpoint, it helps if there is some American presence there because it balances out the strategic realities of the region,” said Pant.
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Democratic senator will not seek reelection in New Hampshire
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from the U.S. state of New Hampshire, will not seek reelection next year, a decision that will end the longtime senator’s historic political career and deals a significant blow to Democrats who were already facing a difficult path to reclaiming the Senate majority.
Shaheen was the first woman elected to serve as both governor and senator in the United States. She turned 78 in January.
A spokesperson confirmed her decision through email.
Even before Shaheen’s move, Democrats were facing a challenging political map in next year’s midterm elections — especially in the Senate, where Republicans now hold 53 Senate seats compared with the Democrats’ 47, including two independents who caucus with Democrats.
The party that controls the Senate majority also controls President Donald Trump’s most important political and judicial nominations — and his legislative agenda.
At least for now, Maine represents the Democrats’ best pickup opportunity in 2026. Senator Susan Collins, the sole Republican senator remaining in New England, is the only Republican serving in a state Trump lost who’s up for reelection.
But with a four-seat advantage in Congress’ upper chamber already, Republicans have legitimate pickup opportunities in Georgia, Michigan and now New Hampshire.
Shaheen has been a political force in New Hampshire for decades and climbed through the ranks of Senate leadership to serve as the top Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
She likely would have been easily reelected had she sought another term.
Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who served as ambassador to New Zealand in the first Trump administration, was considering a New Hampshire Senate bid even before Shaheen’s announcement. Brown challenged Shaheen unsuccessfully in 2014.
New Hampshire has narrowly favored Democrats in recent presidential elections, but the state has a long history of electing leaders from both parties. Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte was elected last fall, when Trump lost the state by less than 3 percentage points.
Shaheen became the first woman elected New Hampshire governor, in 1996. She served for three terms and was later elected to the Senate in 2008.
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Vietnam, Singapore agree to boost ties, cooperation on subsea cables
HANOI, VIETNAM — Singapore and Vietnam on Wednesday agreed to enhance cooperation in subsea cables, finance, and energy, marking an upgrade in their relations to Vietnam’s highest level, during a visit by its Communist Party Chief To Lam to the city-state.
Singapore is the third Southeast Asian nation, after Malaysia and Indonesia, with which Vietnam has established a “comprehensive strategic relationship.”
In a joint statement released following the upgrade, Lam and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong witnessed the exchange of six agreements and discussed cooperation in undersea cable development, digital connectivity, and cross-border data flows.
Southeast Asian countries, a major junction for cables connecting Asia to Europe, aim to expand their networks to meet the surging demand for AI services and data centers. Vietnam alone plans to launch 10 new submarine cables by 2030.
In December, Reuters reported that Singaporean asset manager Keppel and Vietnamese conglomerate Sovico Group were discussing plans for new undersea fiber-optic cables to boost the region’s data center industry, according to sources familiar with the matter.
In April last year, Vietnam’s state-owned telecom company Viettel and Singapore’s Singtel announced a preliminary agreement to develop an undersea cable linking Vietnam directly to Singapore, although no construction contract has been announced yet.
The two leaders also discussed green development, industrial parks expansion, and peace and stability in the region. Singapore pledged to support Vietnam in developing international financial centers, the joint statement said.
Singapore ranks among Vietnam’s top foreign investors, having invested $10.21 billion last year, which accounted for 27% of Vietnam’s total foreign investment, official data showed.
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G7 to discuss Ukraine after US restarts aid, proposes 30-day ceasefire
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — Foreign ministers from the G7 group of leading industrial nations are set to gather for several days of talks in Quebec, Canada, including meetings focused on support for Ukraine in its battle against a three-year Russian invasion.
The talks follow a decision by the United States to resume intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine, after senior officials from the two countries met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
After nearly eight hours of talks, Ukraine announced Tuesday its readiness to accept a U.S. proposal for “an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire” in the war with Russia, pending Kremlin approval.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the 30-day ceasefire proposal, saying Wednesday on X that it is “an important and correct step towards a just peace for Ukraine.”
“We stand with Ukraine and the United States and welcome the proposals from Jeddah. Now it is up to Putin,” Scholz said.
The Kremlin had no immediate comment on a ceasefire proposal from the U.S. and Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said only that negotiations with U.S. officials could take place this week.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters late Tuesday that Ukraine has taken a concrete step toward ending the war.
“Now hopefully we’ll take this offer now to the Russians. And we hope that they’ll say yes. That they’ll say yes to peace. The ball’s now in their court,” he said.
National security adviser Mike Waltz, who joined Rubio in leading the U.S. side in Jeddah, said he would speak with his Russian counterpart “in the coming days.”
On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will visit the White House. All these discussions are part of the efforts to advance the peace process.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not participate in the U.S.-Ukraine talks, but he said during his nightly address Tuesday that the ceasefire plan was a “positive proposal.”
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Pakistani military rescues 155 passengers after Balochistan train attack
ISLAMABAD — Security sources said Wednesday a Pakistani military operation rescued 155 passengers and killed 27 terrorists, a day after an attack on a train in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province.
The Jaffar Express, with roughly 450 people on board, was traveling north from Quetta, Balochistan, to Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when it came under a bomb and gun attack Tuesday.
The train has been blocked in a tunnel near Sibbi, Balochistan since Tuesday afternoon.
Injured in the initial attack, the driver of the train has died. At least 37 injured people are in hospitals for treatment.
The Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, quickly claimed responsibility for the brazen attack. In a statement to media, the banned separatist militant group claimed to be holding more than 200 hostages, which it said were security and intelligence personnel.
Without sharing details about the number of hostages or their background, security sources said Wednesday that potential suicide bombers were holding hostages in three different places.
Suicide bombers are wearing suicide jackets, security sources said, adding that suicide bombers were using innocent people as human shields.
Threatening to kill the hostages, BLA demanded the release of political prisoners, missing persons, and what it called resistance workers held in Balochistan prisons. In the statement released hours after the attack, the group gave authorities 48 hours to comply.
Reaction
Officials have not publicly responded to BLA’s demands.
“The attack on Jaffar Express is an attack on national security and will be responded to with full force,” Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said, condemning the attack.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the Ramadan attack shows, “terrorists have no link with Islam, Pakistan or Balochistan.”
Freed passengers shaken by the incident told media they heard a blast and gunfire soon after the train entered a tunnel.
“Don’t look back,” Shafiq-ul-Rehaman said armed men who boarded the train told passengers, ordering them to leave with their families.
“We took cover under the seats,” Ghulam Nabi, another freed passenger, told media about the moments soon after the attack.
Earlier, Imran Hayat, divisional superintendent railways in Quetta told VOA that 70 passengers had arrived at Paneer train station Tuesday evening, about 6 kilometers from the site of that attack.
Militants said they released dozens of women, children and Baloch passengers early on. However, security sources say the military rescued all 155 passengers freed so far.
Difficult terrain
Although just around 150 kilometers from the provincial capital Quetta, the scene of the attack, located in barren mountains, is hard to reach.
“So far, it’s no foot on the ground,” railway official Hayat told VOA, noting the inability of railway staff to reach the scene.
“It’s a no signal area. They [attackers] stopped the train at a spot where there is no signal support,” Hayat said.
Provincial spokesperson Shahid Rind, earlier, told media that security forces, a rescue train and ambulances had been dispatched.
An emergency was declared at the government hospital in Sibbi, to facilitate receiving the injured.
BLA surges
The United States and Pakistan have both designated BLA as a terrorist group.
According to the Global Terrorism Index 2025 released last week, Pakistan experienced a 45% increase in terrorism deaths last year, compared to 2023. That is the largest year-to-year rise in more than a decade. The BLA emerged as one of the top two militant groups driving the increase.
According to the report, the separatist group launched 504 attacks in 2024, compared to 116 in 2023. Deaths in the attacks surged from 88 in 2023 to 388 in 2024.
The separatist group has been fighting a deadly insurgency against the Pakistani state, accusing it of exploiting the rich natural resources of the impoverished province. The group also opposes Chinese investment in Balochistan, which is home to the China-funded Gwadar port and the country’s biggest, yet largely unused airport.
Both Pakistan and China reject the claims that their joint ventures are depriving ethnic Baloch from economic opportunities and their share in the province’s mineral wealth.
Security sources have said those involved in Tuesday’s attack are based in Afghanistan. Islamabad has blamed several recent attacks on militants present on Afghan soil. Afghan Taliban routinely deny providing sanctuary to anti-Pakistan fighters.
Recent attacks
Since the beginning of the year, the BLA has ramped up attacks on security forces, settlers and workers, primarily from the eastern Punjab province.
Earlier this month, a female suicide bomber detonated her explosive devices near a military convoy in Balochistan’s Kalat district, killing at least one security worker and injuring four others.
Last month, BLA insurgents ambushed a bus transporting a paramilitary force in Kalat and killed 18 of those on board.
Days later, a roadside bomb blast killed 11 coal miners in the city, while the BLA took credit for attacking a military vehicle securing a supply convoy for a mining company operated by China.
Pakistani authorities reported the convoy was passing through Kalat when it came under attack, resulting in injuries to eight security personnel.
Murtaza Zehri of VOA Urdu Service contributed to this report from Quetta.
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China boosting development of AI for use in trade war with US
NEW DELHI — Encouraged by the enthusiastic reception to its DeepSeek artificial intelligence platform in January, China’s leaders are going all out to encourage AI companies to harness the power of this technology to compete with the United States and other countries in business and military spheres.
China considers AI an important tool to handle U.S. restrictions on Chinese business, particularly after DeepSeek shook up Wall Street, resulting in a loss of $589 billion for Nvidia stockholders in late January.
“The government in China works directly with the private sector and universities in the advancement and deployment of AI technology and are reducing their dependence on imports of high-technology products,” said Lourdes Casanova, director of Cornell University’s Emerging Markets Institute.
The past few weeks have seen China rolling out several new AI models, including Manus, which experts say can rival the latest model of ChatGPT. Industry experts were more than surprised to find that DeepSeek was equally efficient as ChatGPT, though it used older generation Nvidia chips. The U.S. has banned the supply of advanced chips.
“China and the U.S. have pulled way out front in the AI race. China used to be one to two years behind the U.S. Now, it is likely two to three months,” Jeffrey Towson, owner of Beijing-based TechMoat Consulting, told VOA.
“Alibaba’s Qwen is now a clear leader internationally in LLMs [large language models]. Chinese Kling AI and Minimax are arguably the global leaders in video generation,” Towson said.
Government involvement
In 2017, China released an AI development program to make the country a world leader by 2030. The government’s Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan said that AI would be adopted across different sectors and drive economic transformation.
“China has the most elaborate AI strategy compared to any other country,” Rogier Creemers, assistant professor in Modern Chinese Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told VOA.
China has established a National Computing Power Grid — somewhat like electricity grids — making it possible for Chinese AI companies to invest less in their own computing power. In the U.S., each company must fend for itself, Creemers said.
Competition
ChatGPT’s updated GPT4 large language model has gotten the attention of several top-ranking CEOs of Chinese tech companies. Baidu chief Robin Li recently said his firm was under “huge pressure and a sense of crisis” after seeing the updated ChatGPT. Baidu, which has launched Ernie Bot, said “the gap [between China] and leading international levels [in the field] has widened.”
“AI plus robotics is likely where China will take a commanding lead over the U.S., just like in EVs,” Towson said. “Chinese companies like Unitree are already pulling ahead. Watch for China to surprise everyone in personalized robots, industrial robots and speciality robots,” he said.
Communist Party control
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently convened a meeting with heads of private companies, including tech firms, calling on them to “show your talent” in overcoming challenges such as an economic slowdown and U.S. restrictions on Chinese business.
“There are discussions that the growth of large language models — the technology behind chatbots like DeepSeek and ChatGPT — may be hindered by media censorship, because the models will have less diverse data to work with,” said Creemers.
On the other hand, the government’s control ensures industrial policy coordination, which is helpful in the growth of AI in China.
China is focusing more on specialized software for health and other industries, which can largely tolerate political censorship. Chinese AI models are improving diagnostic accuracy in diverse areas from detecting rib fractures to cancer.
US ban on advanced chips
“It will take some time, but it would not be a surprise if China is also soon capable of building advanced chips for AI,” Cornell’s Casanova said.
Companies such as Huawei have shown that they can design and manufacture advanced chips successfully, thereby overcoming restrictions imposed by the U.S., she said.
Towson said China is 100% dedicated to building an independent semiconductor supply chain.
“It is advancing faster than anyone thought possible. But the frontier is always advancing, and it’s unclear how this will play out over time,” he said.
“But you can do a lot with software,” Creemers said. “China can work with more chips with less computing power or with fewer sophisticated chips.”
The risk for China is not limited to chips, because the Trump administration could impose restrictions on the Chinese AI model. It could also react to China’s restriction on the use of ChatGPT, because it can violate its censorship rules.
AI and the military
China’s air force is using AI-powered biometric tests to screen potential pilots as part of a rigorous hiring process, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“AI now plays a crucial role in interpreting candidates’ biological signals, revealing underlying health risks that might not be immediately apparent to human evaluators,” CCTV said. “This data-driven approach allows the air force to predict long-term risks, ultimately ensuring that only the most suitable candidates are chosen.”
Chinese researchers have also revealed that the Chinese army has been using Meta’s publicly available Llama model to develop an AI tool for potential military applications.
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House Republicans block Congress’ ability to challenge Trump tariffs
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to block the ability of Congress to quickly challenge tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump that have rattled financial markets.
The 216-214 vote, largely along party lines, delays lawmakers’ ability for the rest of the year to force a vote that could revoke Trump’s tariffs and immigration actions.
Trump has made a blitz of tariff announcements since taking office, upending relations with key trading partners, including Mexico and China. This week he has ramped up a trade war with Canada, sending markets reeling and prompting business leaders to warn of weakening consumer demand.
Trump has said the tariffs will correct unbalanced trade relations, bring jobs back to the country and stop the flow of illegal narcotics from abroad.
Tuesday’s vote effectively derails an effort to challenge Trump’s Canada and Mexico tariffs, sponsored by Democratic Representative Suzan DelBene of Washington, which had been due to take place later this month.
“Every House Republican who voted for this measure is voting to give Trump expanded powers to raise taxes on American households through tariffs with full knowledge of how he is using those powers, and every Republican will own the economic consequences of that vote,” DelBene and a fellow Democrat, Representative Don Beyer from Virginia, said in a statement.
Rule changes governing the House voting processes in the majority’s favor are a common affair on Capitol Hill.
“This is an appropriate balance of powers and we trust this White House to do the right thing, and I think that was the right vote and it was reflected in the vote count,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said when asked by Reuters why he was comfortable giving more trade power to the executive branch.
The provision was tucked into a procedural vote related to the Republicans’ six-month stopgap funding bill.
DelBene had sought to force a vote under the National Emergencies Act, which gives the president special powers in an emergency and was cited by Trump in his tariff actions. That law also allows for representatives to force a vote in the House within 15 days to revoke the president’s emergency authority. The Senate would have to also pass the resolution for it to take effect.
But Tuesday’s vote tweaks how the House will count calendar days for the remainder of 2025, effectively blocking a vote of this kind this year.
The voting change is the latest example of the legislative branch offloading its constitutional trade authority to the executive branch.
“The international emergency economic powers have not been used before to impose tariffs, and many members want to have a chance to weigh in,” said Greta Peisch, former general counsel to the U.S. Trade Representative. “Without a fast-track voting process, they are unlikely to have an opportunity to do so.”
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VOA Mandarin: US House passes bill to restrict use of Chinese-made batteries
The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed two bills involving China. One will restrict the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries made by Chinese companies. The other will set up a working group in the Department of Homeland Security to monitor and respond to threats from China. The bills will now await consideration by the Senate.
Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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Malawi lions get birth control in effort to save their prey
In Malawi’s Majete Wildlife Reserve, conservation experts are testing birth control methods on lions. The goal of the wildlife management effort is to control the lion population to ensure antelopes and other prey species continue thriving. Lameck Masina reports from the reserve in the Chikwawa district.
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Measles cases rising in southwestern US as more states report infections
Measles outbreaks in West Texas and New Mexico are now up to more than 250 cases, and two unvaccinated people have died from measles-related causes.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that is airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
Texas state health officials said Tuesday there were 25 new cases of measles since the end of last week, bringing Texas’ total to 223. Twenty-nine people in Texas are hospitalized.
New Mexico health officials announced three new cases Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 33. The outbreak has spread from Lea County, which neighbors the West Texas communities at the epicenter of the outbreak, to include one case in Eddy County.
Oklahoma’s state health department reported two probable cases of measles Tuesday, saying they are associated with the West Texas and New Mexico outbreaks.
A school-age child died of measles in Texas last month, and New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult last week.
Measles cases have been reported in Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an outbreak as three or more related cases — and there have been three clusters that qualified as outbreaks in 2025.
In the U.S., cases and outbreaks are generally traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. It can then spread, especially in communities with low vaccination rates.
The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
People at high risk for infection who got the shots many years ago may want to consider getting a booster if they live in an area with an outbreak, said Scott Weaver with the Global Virus Network, an international coalition. Those may include family members living with someone who has measles or those especially vulnerable to respiratory diseases because of underlying medical conditions.
Adults with “presumptive evidence of immunity” generally don’t need measles shots now, the CDC said. Criteria include written documentation of adequate vaccination earlier in life, lab confirmation of past infection or being born before 1957, when most people were likely to be infected naturally.
A doctor can order a lab test called an MMR titer to check your levels of measles antibodies, but health experts don’t always recommend this route and insurance coverage can vary.
Getting another MMR shot is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says.
People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from killed virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said. That also includes people who don’t know which type they got.
There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.
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