DRULAP

With tariffs taking center stage in the Trump administration, experts warn that industries dependent on cross-border trade will feel the biggest impact. Stephanie Martinez explains.
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WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning a reorganization that includes cutting over 80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency that provides health care and other services for millions of veterans, according to an internal memo obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top-level officials at the agency Tuesday that it had an objective to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000. That would require terminating tens of thousands of employees after the VA expanded during the Biden administration, as well as to cover veterans impacted by burn pits under the 2022 PACT Act.

The memo instructs top-level staff to prepare for an agency-wide reorganization in August to “resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure.” It also calls for agency officials to work with the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency to “move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach” to the Trump administration’s goals. Government Executive first reported on the internal memo.

“Things need to change,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins said in a video posted on social media Wednesday afternoon, adding that the layoffs would not mean cuts to veterans’ health care or benefits.

“This administration is finally going to give the veterans what they want,” Collins said. “President Trump has a mandate for generational change in Washington and that’s exactly what we’re going to deliver at the VA.”

Veterans have already been speaking out against the cuts at the VA that so far had included a few thousand employees and hundreds of contracts. More than 25% of the VA’s workforce is comprised of veterans.

The plans underway at the VA showed how the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is not holding back on an all-out effort to slash federal agencies, even for those that have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement that the president “refuses to accept the VA bureaucracy and bloat that has hindered veterans’ ability to receive timely and quality care.” She added that the changes would “ensure greater efficiency and transparency” at the VA.

The VA last year experienced its highest-ever service levels, reaching over 9 million enrollees and delivering more than 127.5 million health care appointments, according to the agency’s figures.

However, Michael Missal, who was the VA’s inspector general for nine years until he was fired last month as part of Trump’s sweeping dismissal of independent oversight officials at government agencies, told the AP that the VA is already suffering from a lack of “expertise” as top-level officials either leave or are shuffled around under the president’s plans.

“What’s going to happen is VA’s not going to perform as well for veterans, and veterans are going to get harmed,” said Missal, who was a guest of Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. at Trump’s Tuesday address to Congress.

In Congress, Democrats have decried the cuts at the VA and other agencies, while Republicans have so far watched with caution the Trump administration’s changes.

Rep. Mike Bost, the Republican chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement that he would “continue to ask questions and keep a close eye on how, or if, this plan evolves.”

“I have questions about the impact these reductions and discussions could have on the delivery of services, especially following the implementation of the PACT Act,” Bost added.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican chair of the Senate Budget Committee, was displeased the VA had not given lawmakers an advance notification of the changes, saying it was “political malpractice not to consult Congress.”

“Maybe you’ve got a good reason to do it,” he said. “But we don’t need to be reading memos in the paper about a 20% cut at the VA.”

The changes underway at the VA are already prompting worry among veterans groups as they face layoffs and confusion about whether their services will be affected.

Brent Reiffer, a Marine veteran who receives medical care through the VA and advocates with the Wounded Warrior Project, said that among his community “confusion that leads to frustration” is setting in.

“If you draw that to a conclusion sometimes, it’s the veteran just throws the hands up and sort of doesn’t go to the VA,” Reiffer said. “What you end up with is a lot of veterans that are not getting the care that they deserve.”

Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees veteran’s affairs, said in a statement that the Trump administration “has launched an all-out assault” against progress the VA has made in expanding its services as the number of covered veterans grows and includes those impacted by toxic burn pits.

“Their plan prioritizes private sector profits over veterans’ care, balancing the budget on the backs of those who served. It’s a shameful betrayal, and veterans will pay the price for their unforgivable corruption, incompetence, and immorality,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

Democratic leaders in the House also spotlighted the impact of Trump’s cuts on veterans Wednesday.

Rep. Katherine Clark, the No. 2 ranked in House Democratic leadership, said at a news conference, “Democrats are here to say in unison we will not allow our veterans to be defined as government waste.”
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The U.S. Justice Department announced indictments Wednesday against 12 Chinese nationals accused in a global hacking campaign targeting U.S.-based dissidents, news organizations, government agencies and a large religious organization. 

According to court documents, China’s Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of State Security used a network of private companies and hackers-for-hire to steal information and help locate dissidents and critics throughout the world.  

“Today’s announcements reveal that the Chinese Ministry of Public Security has been paying hackers-for-hire to inflict digital harm on Americans who criticize the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” said Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division in a statement. 

The suspects include two officers in China’s Ministry of Public Security, eight employees of a company known as i-Soon, and two members of a group known as Advanced Persistent Threat 27 (APT27). 

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, told The Associated Press Wednesday that the allegations were a “smear” and said, “We hope that relevant parties will adopt a professional and responsible attitude and base their characterization of cyber incidents on sufficient evidence rather than groundless speculation and accusations.” 

All of those indicted are at large, and the Justice Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information about the MPS officers and i-Soon, the Chinese company that employed most of the hackers.  

The company is accused of selling stolen information “to China’s intelligence and security services to suppress free speech and democratic processes worldwide, and target groups deemed a threat to the Chinese government,” according to a news release from the FBI. 

i-Soon also conducted computer intrusions on its own initiative, charging “the MSS and MPS equivalent to between approximately $10,000 and $75,000 for each email inbox it successfully hacked,” the indictment said.  

The company also provided training in hacking skills to the government agencies. 

Among the group’s targets were a large religious organization critical of the Chinese government that previously sent missionaries to China, and a group that promoted human rights and religious freedom in China. 

The New York Assembly and multiple news organizations in the United States were targeted, including those that have opposed the Communist Party of China or delivered uncensored news to China. 

Foreign targets included a religious leader, a Hong Kong newspaper and the foreign ministries of Taiwan, India, South Korea, and Indonesia, according to the Justice Department release. 

Separate indictments were issued against the two men connected to APT27, Zhou Shuai and Yin Kecheng, “for their involvement in the multi-year, for-profit computer intrusion campaigns dating back, in the case of Yin, to 2013,” the Justice Department release stated. 

The State Department announced a reward of up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest of Zhou and Yin. They are accused of hacking numerous “U.S.-based technology companies, think tanks, law firms, defense contractors, local governments, health care systems, and universities, leaving behind them a wake of millions of dollars in damages,” the release stated. 

Yin is accused in a U.S. Treasury Department hack between September and December 2024. 

The two face several charges that include computer network conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.  

“As evidenced by today’s and previous announcements, China offers safe harbor for private sector companies that conduct malicious cyber activity against the United States and its partners,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. 

The indictments were the result of a joint investigation by the Justice Department, FBI, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Departments of State and the Treasury. 

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. 
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As European Union leaders prepare for emergency talks to ramp up military spending after the Trump administration suspended aid to Ukraine, several Russia experts say Moscow is trying to capitalize on fragmenting Western cohesion.

Following last week’s televised Oval Office clash between U.S. and Ukrainian leaders, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov on Monday accused Europe of seeking to prolong the war, adding that changes in U.S. “foreign policy configurations” largely coincide with Moscow’s vision.

The comments came before an EU financial summit planned for Thursday that aims to grapple with stabilizing continental security and helping Ukraine after decades of dependence on the U.S. defense umbrella.

In a recent interview with the military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called President Donald Trump a “pragmatist” whose motto is “common sense.” He also said, “All tragedies in the world” over the past 500 years “originated in Europe or occurred owing to European policies,” while “the Americans played no seditious, let alone ‘inflammatory,’ role.”

Calling Europe Enemy No. 1 is “becoming the main trend in the Kremlin’s policy,” said exiled independent Russian political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin. “Therefore, having changed his tune … [Lavrov] explained to the audience that the U.S. is, if not a friend, then a reliable partner, and that means Britain and France are always to blame for everything.”

Oreshkin also said the relatively positive U.S. depiction shows the Kremlin is hoping for an “aggravation of contradictions” between Europe and America.

But Novaya Gazeta columnist Andrei Kolesnikov said it was premature for Russian authorities to assume Trump is taking Russia’s side in the war.

Trump’s “interest, which he equates with the interests of the United States, is to end the conflict,” Kolesnikov told VOA. “But there are two sides to the conflict. And if during future negotiations … [Trump] remains dissatisfied with the intransigence of the Russian side, no one will stand on ceremony. New [U.S.] sanctions and measures to reduce oil prices will follow with the same decisiveness and speed as [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy’s ‘punishment.’”

Kolesnikov was referring to the contentious Feb. 28 Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, in which top U.S. officials accused him of being insufficiently grateful for U.S. military support.

The meeting concluded without the signing of an expected defense deal involving Ukrainian rare-earth minerals.

With long-held certainties about U.S. reliability as a security partner suddenly in doubt, EU and NATO leaders gathered Sunday in London to map out a path forward.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for uniting “around a new plan for a just and enduring peace,” while French President Emmanuel Macron said his country and Britain had agreed on an alternative peace plan envisaging a one-month partial ceasefire to end mutual attacks on energy infrastructure, followed by a second stage involving sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.

The White House on Monday announced temporary suspension of all U.S. military aid to Kyiv, although Trump during an address to Congress on Tuesday said Zelenskyy had signaled renewed interest in inking the U.S.-proposed defense deal.

According to U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, Trump on Wednesday halted intelligence cooperation with Ukraine.

Against this unclear backdrop, Russian officials have refrained from criticizing the U.S. administration and Trump personally while shifting their line of attack from the United States toward Europe.

Thursday’s summit in Brussels comes as the EU is arguably at its weakest point, fragmented by the steady rise of a hard right that is often pro-Russian.

EU leaders are also expected to discuss whether to place more arms contracts with Ukraine’s defense industry, and to help integrate it into the European industrial network.

The Trump administration has demanded that Europeans spend as much as 5% of GDP on defense, well beyond the NATO benchmark of at least 2%. Seven European allies still fall short of even that target. The U.S. spends around 3.4%, according to NATO figures, and a Pentagon audit that could reduce that is pending.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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Mayors of four of the largest cities in the U.S. appeared before lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday to defend their so-called “sanctuary city” laws, which restrict local officials in helping enforce federal immigration regulations.

The Republicans who lead the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee have long criticized such laws, as has U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House in January promising to deport more unauthorized immigrants, including asylum-seekers, than his predecessors.

In opening remarks, Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, told the mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City, all Democrats, that Congress should vote against sending even “a single penny” of federal funding to sanctuary cities.

“These reckless sanctuary policies also force federal immigration officers to go into local communities to apprehend criminal illegal aliens,” Comer said. “If sanctuary cities were to simply communicate and work with federal immigration authorities, then federal agents could arrest criminal illegal aliens in a secure environment like a state or local jail.”

The mayors defended the laws as making all their residents safer, even as lawmakers on the committee, which is known for its sometimes combative hearings, interrupted some answers that went beyond a “yes” or “no.” State and municipal officials have said the U.S. Constitution’s Tenth Amendment prevents the U.S. government from commandeering local officials to enforce federal law.

All the mayors said they have always and will always honor criminal arrest warrants issued by courts.

The specifics of sanctuary laws vary from city to city, and some have been on the books for decades, but they are generally intended to afford migrants similar due-process rights as those of citizens.

Ranking Member Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia, said sanctuary city laws are “in full compliance of federal law.”

“They do not obstruct ICE from carrying out its duties,” Connolly said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, adding that local police, not federal agents, were in the best position to ensure public safety.

New York Mayor Eric Adams has said he is willing to help with Trump’s deportation efforts as he tries to get Trump to dismiss a federal criminal indictment charging him with corruption. Some Republicans questioned Adams, a Democrat, more gently than they did the other mayors, while at least three Democrats asked Adams if, as some federal prosecutors have alleged, the mayor had struck an improper agreement with the Trump administration to escape prosecution.

“There’s no deal, there’s no quid pro quo, and I did nothing wrong,” Adams replied to Representative Robert Garcia, a Democrat from California, who also called on Adams to resign.

Adams, who is running for reelection, has said he wants the city’s laws weakened to allow cooperation with the federal government’s deportation efforts where a migrant has been only accused, but not convicted, of a serious crime. He also wants to allow federal immigration agents back on Rikers Island, the city’s main jail complex. New York City Council members have said they will not weaken the law.

In his remarks to the House, Adams said New York City always complies with local, state and federal law. He said he had no tolerance for criminals, but also that he “must create an atmosphere that allows every law-abiding resident, documented or not, to access vital services without fear of being turned over to federal authorities.”

“If an undocumented person refuses to seek medical care until they have a medical emergency, our city’s health care system will be strained, and if an undocumented individual witnesses a crime but is afraid to call 911 for fear of being turned over to federal authorities, criminals will roam free,” Adams said.

His fellow mayors relayed similar concerns about migrant children and parents being afraid of going to schools, police stations, churches or clinics, including migrants who had acquired legal permanent residency or U.S. citizenship but feared being profiled because of their accent or skin color.

“A land ruled by fear is not the land of the free,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told the lawmakers, at times translating her remarks into Spanish and other languages.

In most cases, sanctuary laws forbid local officials from arresting or detaining a person the federal government suspects of violating its immigration laws unless a judge has issued an arrest warrant.

Even in sanctuary cities, ICE officials are free to arrest people they have cause to believe are living in the U.S. without authorization, typically a civil, not criminal, violation.

ICE has a major field office in Manhattan, and its officers arrest hundreds of migrants across New York City each year under both Republican and Democratic presidents.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security can deport non-citizens once an immigration judge issues a final order of removal.

The main point of contention has been over how cities handle what ICE calls detainer requests for the minority of migrants who end up in local custody. ICE officials routinely ask local prison, jail or police officials to continue to detain a migrant who was free to leave custody for up to 48 additional hours: the migrant has posted bail, a judge has ordered their release, or they have completed a prison sentence.

The majority of these requests come without a judge’s warrant, which some federal judges have ruled violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.

In New York City and elsewhere, local officials must ignore the requests unless they come with a judge’s warrant and the migrant has been convicted of a violent felony. ICE officials must instead arrest the migrant independently, typically at their home or place of work, which they say makes their job more difficult and dangerous.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston told the panel his city had honored more than 1,200 criminal arrest warrants from ICE in recent years.
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ISLAMABAD  — The U.S. Justice Department plans Wednesday to present in a federal court in Virginia the alleged mastermind of the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The justice department said Islamic State Khorasan operative Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as “Jafar,” was charged on March 2 with “providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death.”

Sharifullah is expected to appear in the justice system’s Eastern District of Virginia, the department said in a statement on its website.

President Donald Trump broke the news of Sharifullah’s capture Tuesday night in a speech to Congress on Capitol Hill.

“Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity,” Trump said. “And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.”

The Abbey Gate bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 26, 2021 also killed roughly 170 Afghans.

Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization linked with the Islamic State terror group, claimed responsibility.

The suicide attack came amid the chaotic troop withdrawal at the end of the 20-year U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

In this speech, Trump hailed Pakistan for helping with the mission to arrest Sharifullah.

“And I want to thank, especially, the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster,” the U.S. president said.

Sharifullah’s capture

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif identified Sharifullah as a “top tier commander” and an Afghan national in a post on X.

“The wanted terrorist was apprehended in a successful operation conducted in Pakistan-Afghan border region,” Sharif said, without sharing details.

The justice department said the mission was a multi-agency effort that also involved the CIA and the FBI.

“Sharifullah admitted to helping prepare for the Abbey Gate attack, including scouting a route near the airport for an attacker,” the department said.

Sharifullah admitted to recognizing Abdul Rahman al-Logari who detonated the suicide bomb and admitted to playing a role in other attacks in Afghanistan and Russia, the statement added.

Islamabad-based security affairs analyst Iftekhar Firdaus told VOA that Sharifullah, a resident of Kabul, joined ISIS-K in 2016.

“He was arrested in 2019 and then released during the jailbreak of the Afghan Taliban during their takeover of August 15, 2021,” said Firdaus, founder of The Khorasan Diary, an online platform that monitors militancy.

If convicted, Sharifullah could get a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, the justice department said.

Cooperation with Pakistan

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for acknowledging his country’s contribution in a post on the X social media platform.

“We thank U.S. President Donald Trump for acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan’s role and support in counter terrorism efforts across the region,” Sharif posted.

“We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability,” the prime minister added.

The arrest signals Islamabad and Washington are working closely on some security issues despite relations reaching a low since the end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power.

“The arrest shows that counter-terrorism cooperation between Pakistan and the US remains robust even though relations are largely confined to a narrow bandwidth focused on counterterrorism,” former Pakistani ambassador to Washington, Maleeha Lodhi, told VOA.

“This is the first major development between both countries since the Trump administration took office,” Firdaus said. “It also exemplifies the dependence of both countries on each other when it comes to counterterrorism cooperation.”

Thaw in ties?

Still, experts warned the joint effort and the public expression of gratitude from the highest offices should not be seen as a thaw in relations.

“One has to be careful not to over read the significance of a single event for Pakistan-US relations, that have been at a crossroads since the US exit from Afghanistan in 2021 and need high-level engagement for a reset,” Lodhi said.

Most military aid to Pakistan remains blocked since Trump put a freeze on it during his first term in office.

Many in Washington also blame Pakistan for the losses the United States incurred in the Afghan war.

In congressional hearings soon after the troop withdrawal, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said Pakistan’s role in providing sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban needed to be “fully examined.”

Antony Blinken, then-Secretary of State, told Congress in a September 2021 hearing that the Biden administration would look into the role Pakistan played during the war.

Nearly two dozen Republican senators also proposed a bill that called for “an assessment of support by state and non-state actors, including the government of Pakistan, for the Taliban between 2001 and 2020.”

Pakistan, a major non-NATO ally has consistently denied allegations of covertly providing support to Taliban while supporting the U.S. in the Afghan war.

“We remain steadfast in our resolve and unwavering commitment to combating terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations,” Sharif said in his X post Wednesday.

In a post on X, Washington-based South Asia expert Micheal Kugelman said Pakistan is interested in a new security partnership with the U.S.

“Pakistan wants to leverage U.S. concerns about terrorism in Afghanistan and pitch a renewed security partnership with the U.S.,” said Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, adding “it will be a hard sell to the administration.”

The joint counter-terrorism operation comes just days after the Trump administration released $397 million for a program that supports Pakistan’s use of F-16 fighter jets acquired from Washington. Islamabad is stipulated to use the fighter jets for only for counterterrorism purposes, and not against archrival India.
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NEW ORLEANS — Powerful storms killed two people in Mississippi, tore the roofs off an apartment building and a nursing home in a small town in Oklahoma and threatened more communities across the nation Tuesday with wide-ranging weather.

The large storm system also brought blinding dust storms to the Southwest, blizzards with whiteout conditions to the Midwest and fears of wildfires elsewhere.

In Irving, Texas, a tornado with winds up to 177 kph struck, while another touched down in the 16,000-resident city of Ada, Oklahoma, according to preliminary information from the National Weather Service. There were also two tornadoes in Louisiana’s northern Caddo Parish and at least five in eastern Oklahoma.

High winds forced some changes to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which moved up and shortened the two biggest parades, to wrap them up before the bad weather moved in.

The weather didn’t stop Shalaska Jones and her 2-year-old daughter from waving at passing Mardi Gras floats and hoping to catch one of the coveted coconuts thrown to the crowd.

“We was coming out, rain, sleet or snow,” Jones said.

The alarming weather could be one of the first big tests for the National Weather Service after hundreds of forecasters were fired last week as part of President Donald Trump’s moves to slash the size of the federal government. Former employees said the firing of meteorologists who make crucial local forecasts nationwide could put lives at risk, though it was too soon to know the impact on forecasts and warnings for this storm.

Deaths from storms in Mississippi

Two people died due to the severe weather, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves posted on the social platform X, without going into detail.

WAPT-TV reported that one person died from a falling power line in Madison County, while a driver in the same county was killed by a tree falling on his car.

Hundreds of thousands left without power

Storms that swept through Texas and Oklahoma brought high winds and rain, overturning tractor-trailers and damaging roofs. More than 178,000 customers were without power in Texas, about 23,000 in Louisiana, another 18,000 in Mississippi, about 88,000 in Alabama, more than 16,000 in Oklahoma and more than 23,000 in Tennessee, according to PowerOutage.us.

More outages were expected as a line of storms raced across Mississippi and Louisiana and headed for Alabama, producing gusts of 113 kph, the weather service said.

Central Plains and Midwest brace for blizzard conditions

Blizzard conditions were forecast that could make travel treacherous.

Schools will be closed Wednesday in several southern Minnesota districts with about 13 to 28 centimeters of snow expected. More concerning were winds forecasted to gust over 80 kph and stay high.

The National Weather Service in the Twin Cities said on X Tuesday night that travel was not advised over a large portion of southern Minnesota.

“It’s tough to find a @MnDOT road camera that isn’t covered in ice or blocked completely by blowing snow,” the post said.

South Dakota was expected to receive up to 12.7 centimeters of snow in some areas, and by Tuesday evening, high winds had already deteriorated road conditions.

Jay Jones, who works at Love’s Truck Stop in Sioux Falls, said he saw garbage cans flying around as winds gusted around 80.5 kph. Parts of Interstate 29 heading north to North Dakota were shut down.

“It looks really bad out there,” Jones said, adding that he walked to work and would have to “have to tough it out” on his way home.
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