Author: Tage

The U.S. government flew 177 Venezuelan migrants from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras on Thursday, from where they are set to be transferred on to Venezuela, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security said. Earlier on Thursday, the Honduran government said about 170 Venezuelan migrants were set to arrive in the Central American nation from the United States, before being transported immediately back to Venezuela. The transfer of the migrants would take place at Soto Cano, a joint U.S.-Honduras military air base, the Honduran government said. Venezuela requested the repatriation of the citizens who it said were unjustly taken to Guantanamo naval base, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said in a statement posted on Telegram, adding they would be flown from Honduras by Venezuelan airline Conviasa. The arrival in Venezuela is expected Thursday evening local time. Lawyers representing at least half a dozen of the deportees said they learned about the deportations on Thursday afternoon. The deportations come after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last week seeking access to dozens of migrants flown to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying they were being denied the right to an attorney. The deportees included 126 people with criminal charges or convictions, 80 of whom were allegedly affiliated with Tren de Aragua, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said, adding that 51 had no criminal record. There are no migrant detainees left at Guantanamo after Thursday’s deportations, the spokesperson said. The U.S. has designated Tren de Aragua a global terrorist organization along with other organized crime groups, as President Donald Trump steps up immigration enforcement against alleged gang members in the United States.  …

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order intended to expand the White House’s authority over various independent regulatory agencies that Congress set up to be shielded from direct White House control, including the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. The order, signed Tuesday, would require independent agencies to submit proposed regulations to the White House for review. The order also would require agencies to consult with the White House on their “policies and priorities” and “strategic plans.” “These regulatory agencies currently exercise substantial executive authority without sufficient accountability to the President, and through him, to the American people,” the order said. The executive order, titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” is expected to face challenges in court, according to legal experts. The move came as the president has worked to consolidate power within the executive branch, including by removing more than a dozen inspectors general who provided oversight at various government agencies. In addition to the FCC, agencies that would be affected by the new order include the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The FCC does not directly regulate major news networks, but it does evaluate the actions of broadcasting stations around the U.S. that hold FCC licenses to use public airwaves. Former FCC chairs told VOA that the move would be a significant change for the FCC. “It makes an independent agency that was created to be independent like an agency in the executive branch,” said Tom Wheeler, who served as FCC chairman under former President Barack Obama. Reed Hundt, who served as FCC chairman under former President Bill Clinton, agreed that the order would mark a departure from the agency’s nearly 100-year history. “For 90 years, the governmental idea was that the president should not be regulating the media,” Hundt told VOA. Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a Republican who served as an FCC commissioner under Clinton, told VOA that the order “would have a major effect on rulemaking” at the FCC. He added that other areas, like enforcement, might not be affected. Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told VOA that she was concerned by the order. “Our informed decision-making is meant to be consistent with our technical expertise, not subject to political pressure,” Gomez told VOA in an emailed statement. Gomez added that Congress already provides oversight over the FCC. “Efforts to expand executive influence on the FCC will only further diminish our standing as … “Trump order challenges independence of FCC, other agencies” →

WASHINGTON — PRC is out. China is in. That is among the significant modifications to the U.S. State Department’s online fact sheet on China, which drops the country’s official name, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in favor of just China. Former President Joe Biden’s administration routinely referenced the Beijing government with the PRC abbreviation. Since former President Richard Nixon began the process to normalize relations with Beijing — which would end recognition of the government in Taipei, officially known as the Republic of China, on Jan. 1, 1979 — the United States has maintained diplomatic ties with the communist-run government on the mainland, while reducing the relationship with Taiwan to unofficial but friendly.  “Taipei should take solace in the fact that the change in the term [from PRC to China] does not represent a policy change in the United States. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. still has its ‘One China’ policy, and under that policy, it maintains diplomatic relations with Beijing and robust unofficial relations with Taipei,” Russell Hsiao, Global Taiwan Institute executive director, told VOA. “Since 1979, Washington has recognized the government in Beijing of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, so the change in term is essentially a different way of presenting the same set of facts, all of which haven’t changed,” Hsiao said. China considers Taiwan a rogue province. Nationalist forces, backed by the United States and commanded by Chiang Kai-shek, fled the mainland for Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the communist forces led by Mao Zedong. Chiang became Taiwan’s relatively benign dictator until his death in 1975. Mao ruled over the mainland as a rigid authoritarian until his death a year after Chiang died. Washington continues to provide Taipei with weapons and has left the question ambiguous as to whether the United States would use its military to defend the island if Taiwan were to be attacked. The Taiwan Relations Act commits the United States to help Taiwan defend itself, but the final decision on military intervention would rest with the president and Congress. Language changes last week by the State Department eliminated a reference to Washington not supporting Taiwan independence, but left intact was content noting that the United States opposes “unilateral changes to the status quo” by either side of the Taiwan Strait. A significant change to the State Department’s … “US State Department tweaks online fact sheet on China” →

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s makeover of the United States’ national security and law enforcement agencies took a major step forward Thursday, with Senate lawmakers voting 51-49 to confirm Kash Patel as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The vote puts Patel at the helm of the country’s premier law enforcement agency, where he has promised to lead an overhaul of the bureau at a time when critics of President Donald Trump have accused the administration of leading a purge to end the bureau’s tradition of independence and align the bureau with Trump’s priorities. Two Republicans — Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — voted with Democrats against Patel’s confirmation. But support from the rest of the Senate Republican delegation gave Patel a slim victory, with many hailing the new FBI director as an agent of change. “The FBI has lost trust among the American people in recent years. Much of that stems from a perception that politics has infected the FBI’s important work,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, ahead of Thursday’s vote. “We need all law enforcement working together and focused on the real threats facing our country,” Thune said. “I look forward to working with Mr. Patel to restore the integrity of the FBI and get it focused on its critical mission.” Other Republicans have echoed similar sentiments. “The FBI has been infected by political bias and weaponized against the American people,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley before advancing Patel’s nomination to the full Senate earlier this month, noting “Mr. Patel knows it, Mr. Patel exposed it, and Mr. Patel was targeted.” “The American people are sick and tired of two tiers of access, two tiers of treatment, and two tiers of justice,” said Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, also speaking earlier this month on the need for Patel to head the FBI. Patel is a former public defender and federal prosecutor who previously served as a Trump national security adviser and at the Pentagon. In a statement announcing Patel’s nomination in November, Trump praised him as having “played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability and the Constitution.” Democrats, however, have repeatedly questioned Patel’s qualifications and integrity, accusing him of describing some of the prosecuted, Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters as “political prisoners,” and of calling for the prosecution of Trump opponents. And … “Trump loyalist Kash Patel takes helm of FBI” →

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday, his 83rd birthday, that he will not seek reelection when his current term ends next year. First elected in 1984, McConnell made the announcement from the Senate floor. “Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate. Every day in between, I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here,” he said. “Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.” McConnell, a former Republican Majority Leader, will retire as the longest-serving Senate leader from any party. He has led the Republicans since 2007 both as majority and minority leader before giving up the position to Senator John Thune last year. McConnell’s storied political career saw him guide the Senate chamber through a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, presidential impeachment trials and fierce political fights. In what may be a lasting feature of his legacy, McConnell aggressively sought to outfit federal courts with more conservative justices. His final years as head of the Senate Republicans saw repeated political clashes with an increasingly populist party under the leadership of President Donald Trump. In recent years, McConnell had a series of health scares, including two separate incidents in which he froze while talking to reporters. He blamed those incidents on a previous concussion. In his comments Thursday, McConnell said he decided last year that he would not run for reelection. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that “strong Ukraine-U.S. relations benefit the entire world,” an apparent attempt to calm tensions with Washington after he and U.S. President Donald Trump traded barbs this week over efforts to end Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine. Zelenskyy said in Kyiv he had a “productive meeting” with Trump envoy Keith Kellogg on the “battlefield situation, how to return our prisoners of war and effective security guarantees” for Ukraine if the war is ended. Earlier in the week, Zelenskyy had complained that Ukraine was excluded from high-level talks in Saudi Arabia between the top U.S. and Russian diplomats as they discussed setting up negotiations about how to end the war and contended that Trump was living in a Russian-influenced “disinformation space.” Meanwhile, Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” and claimed falsely that Ukraine started the war three years ago next week, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated it. Kellogg said he went to Kyiv to listen to Zelenskyy’s views and would report back to Trump. The Trump administration has proposed that part of the settlement of war would involve the U.S. investing in Ukrainian mining operations. The U.S. would gain access to rare earth minerals it needs for the manufacture of American technology products and recoup some of the money for the tens of billions of dollars’ worth of munitions it has sent to Ukraine to fight Russian forces while also boosting the war-ravaged Ukrainian economy. Zelenskyy so far has balked at the proposition for what he sees as lack of adequate security for Ukraine if the war is ended. In Washington, Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, told reporters, “We’re going to continue to have discussions about where that deal is going again. We have an obligation to the taxpayer. I think this is an opportunity. The president thinks this is an opportunity for Ukraine. “Going forward, there can be, in my view, nothing better for Ukraine’s future and for their security than to have the United States invested in their prosperity long term,” Waltz said. “And then a key piece of this has also been security guarantees. Look, the reality that we’re talking about here is, is it in Ukraine’s interest? Is it in Europe’s interest? It certainly isn’t in Russia’s interest or in the American people’s interest, for this war to grind on forever and ever and ever. “Understand, this war … “Zelenskyy: Strong Ukraine relations with US ‘benefit entire world’” →

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order aimed at ending federal benefits for people in the country illegally, the White House said Wednesday, his latest in a blizzard of moves to crack down on immigration. The White House said the order seeks to end “all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens,” but it was not clear which benefits will be targeted. People in the country illegally generally do not qualify except for emergency medical care. Children are entitled to a free K-12 public education regardless of immigration status under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling. The order notes that a 1996 welfare overhaul denies most public benefits to people in the country illegally but says that law has been gradually undermined. “Over the last 4 years, in particular, the prior administration repeatedly undercut the goals of that law, resulting in the improper expenditure of significant taxpayer resources.” Trump’s words appear directed at former President Joe Biden’s extensive use of parole authority to allow people in the country temporarily, including more than 900,000 through an online appointment app called CBP One used at border crossings with Mexico and more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who flew to the United States at their own expense with a financial sponsor. Trump immediately ended both programs. Biden also granted parole to nearly 300,000 people from Ukraine and Afghanistan. People granted parole for at least a year are considered “qualified noncitizens,” making them eligible for some income-based benefits, but only after five years. They include Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Some states have shortened the five-year wait. Trump’s order appears to have other targets, some already subjects of earlier edicts and Justice Department lawsuits. It directs all departments and agencies to identify federal benefit spending that is inconsistent with the 1996 welfare law. It also seeks to ensure that state and local governments are not using federal funds for policies that support “sanctuary” policies or encourage illegal immigration. Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration on his first day in office. They included ending automatic citizenship for people born in the United States and asylum at the southern border. The birthright citizenship order has been temporarily halted in court. …

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korean state media on Thursday criticized the United States for a nuclear submarine deal with Australia under the AUKUS partnership signed in 2021, calling it a “threat to regional peace.” A commentary carried by KCNA said Washington should be wary of consequences for what it said were nuclear alliances, naming AUKUS and the trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan. Australia just made its first $500 million payment to the U.S. under the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal. Under AUKUS, Australia will pay the United States $3 billion to boost the capacity of the U.S. submarine industry, and Washington will sell several Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the early 2030s. The KCNA commentary also argued the U.S. sees North Korea as an obstacle to its establishment of hegemony in the region and said nuclear states will not sit idly by, referring to itself. North Korea has been criticizing the trilateral military cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S. and has called the relationship “the Asian version of NATO.” South Korea’s defense ministry on Thursday said that a joint air drill was held with the U.S. with at least one B-1B strategic bomber taking part. The drill was to show extended deterrent capabilities by the United States in response to threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile program, the ministry said in a statement. …

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/ WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the United States, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump made the remarks to reporters on Air Force One and said “it’s possible” for the U.S. and China to have a new trade deal. A conversation or interaction between Xi and Trump is seen as crucial to a potential easing or delay of trade tariffs. “We’ll have, ultimately, President Xi, we will have everybody coming (to the U.S.),” Trump said, while also speaking about other leaders potentially visiting the United States. Xi last travelled to the U.S. in November 2023, in his fifth visit to the country as Chinese president, for a summit with then U.S. President Joe Biden, resulting in agreements to resume military-to-military communications and curb fentanyl production. Trump and Xi had spoken just before Trump took office on January 20 and discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan. Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he was talking to China about TikTok as the United States seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese parent firm ByteDance. Trump said last week he had spoken to Xi since taking office as well, but did not offer details on the topics of that conversation. China’s foreign ministry did not directly comment on Trump’s remarks that day and instead referred reporters to their “scheduled” call before Trump took office. Washington and Beijing have had tense relations for years over differences ranging from trade and tariffs and cybersecurity, and TikTok, Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and the origins of COVID-19. Trump also again told reporters he could make a deal with Russia over the war in Ukraine. “We can make a deal with Russia to stop the killing,” Trump said, adding he thought the Russians wanted to see the war end. “I think they have the cards a little bit because they’ve taken a lot of territory, so they have the cards,” Trump said.  …

BELCOURT, NORTH DAKOTA — Native American activist Leonard Peltier was defiant toward the government but grateful for his supporters as they welcomed him home to North Dakota on Wednesday, a day after his release from a Florida prison where he had been serving a life sentence in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.  Peltier, 80, grew emotional as he addressed about 500 people who gathered at the festive event that included food, a drum circle and dancers at a center in Belcourt. The small town is just south of the Canadian border on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians’ reservation.  “I’m so proud of the showing and support you’ve given me,” Peltier said. “I’ve got a hard time keeping myself from crying. A strong warrior can’t be up crying in front of his people.”  Before leaving office, former President Joe Biden commuted Peltier’s life sentence to home confinement, leading to his release Tuesday from the Coleman penitentiary. Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences stemming from a 1975 confrontation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were killed, and while Peltier acknowledged firing shots during the confrontation, he denied being the person whose shots killed the men. Native Americans widely believe he was a political prisoner who was wrongly convicted because he fought for Indigenous rights as a member of the American Indian Movement.  For years, many in law enforcement argued against freeing Peltier. Current and former FBI agents disputed his claims of innocence. As Biden considered his options as his term ended, former FBI Director Christopher Wray sent the president a letter in which he called Peltier “a remorseless killer” who should remain in prison.  In a statement about the commutation, Biden said numerous individuals and groups supported releasing Peltier due to the time he spent in prison, his age and his leadership role among Native Americans.  For decades, Peltier has maintained he was innocent of the murder charges, and he said Wednesday: “I spent 49 years straight in prison for something I didn’t do.”  Peltier said he went into prison a young man and emerged far older at age 80. During all that time, Peltier said he tried to keep Native American issues in the forefront of his activism, and he thanked tribes across the nation for their decades of … “Native American activist Leonard Peltier, freed from prison, welcomed on reservation” →

Conservative leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and politicians from Argentina, Britain, Poland and Italy, are among those set to address a three-day meeting of conservatives outside of Washington beginning Thursday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance leads off the Conservative Political Action Conference, with other sessions Thursday set to include discussions of cryptocurrency and Middle East peace, and a panel featuring relatives of hostages being held in Gaza. The CPAC conference helped Trump emerge as a figure in conservative politics and one which he addressed every year during his prior term in office. He used an address last year at the conference to pledge that a victory in the November presidential election would bring “judgment day” for “the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and imposters who have commandeered our government.” In addition to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Thursday’s agenda also includes remarks from former British Prime Minister Liz Truss and Balazs Orban, the political director for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Santiago Abascal, head of the far-right Spanish political party Vox is set to address the event Thursday, as is British lawmaker Nigel Farage and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Later conference speakers include Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press. …

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday evening he has not seen the proposal being discussed by Arab leaders as an alternative to his plan to take over Gaza once the war between Hamas and Israel ends. “I haven’t seen it,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question on Air Force One. “Once I see it, I’ll let you know,” he added. Trump said early this month he wants to forcibly relocate almost 2 million Palestinians from Gaza into neighboring Jordan and Egypt. He said the United States will “own” the territory and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” which prompted rejection by Arab countries. It’s unclear whether Trump is serious or merely threatening to extract concessions from Arab states. During a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh this week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that it could be the latter, urging regional leaders to make a counteroffer. Envoys of Egyptian, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will meet Friday in Riyadh to discuss options, including an Egyptian plan to raise up to $20 billion over three years from Arab and Gulf states for Gaza’s reconstruction. Under this plan, Gazans would not be forced out and the strip would be governed by Palestinians. Saudi connection Trump spoke en route to Washington after delivering remarks at a conference in Miami, hosted by the Future Investment Initiative Institute, the nonprofit arm of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund led by the crown prince. His speech marked the first time a U.S. president addressed the annual gathering of global financiers and tech executives. It is a testament to how the Saudi crown prince, known by his initials MBS, has leveraged his connection to Trump, Laura Blumenfeld, senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, said. The prince established close ties during Trump’s first term and continued business ties with the Trump organization while the president was out of office, including investing $2 billion to a firm belonging to Trump’s son-in-law and former aide, Jared Kushner. “Trump believes in the Golden Rule, but not the Golden Rule from Sunday school,” Blumenfeld told VOA. “It’s if you’re rich, you’re right.” As Riyadh leads the charge to unify Arab nations to support postwar Gaza, there may be signs that Trump is softening his demand. In … “Trump says he has not seen the Egyptian counter to his plan for Gaza” →

PANAMA CITY — A group of migrants deported from the U.S. to Panama last week were moved on Tuesday night from a hotel in the capital to the Darien jungle region in the south of the country, a lawyer representing a migrant family told Reuters on Wednesday. Susana Sabalza, a Panamanian migration lawyer, said the family she represents was transferred to Meteti, a town in the Darien, along with other deported migrants. La Estrella de Panama, a local daily, reported on Wednesday that 170 of the 299 migrants who had been in the hotel were moved to the Darien. Panama’s government did not respond to a request for comment. The 299 migrants have been staying at a hotel in Panama City under the protection of local authorities and with the financial support of the United States through the U.N.-related International Organization for Migration and the U.N. refugee agency, according to the Panamanian government. The migrants include people from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, according to Panama’s president, Jose Raul Mulino, who has agreed with the U.S. to receive non-Panamanian deportees. The deportation of non-Panamanian migrants to Panama is part of the Trump administration’s attempt to ramp up deportations of migrants living in the U.S. illegally. One of the challenges to Trump’s plan is that some migrants come from countries that refuse to accept U.S. deportation flights, due to strained diplomatic relations or other reasons. The arrangement with Panama allows the U.S. to deport these nationalities and makes it Panama’s responsibility to organize their onward repatriation. The process has been criticized by human rights groups that worry migrants could be mistreated and also fear for their safety if they are ultimately returned to violent or war-torn countries of origin, such as Afghanistan. Sabalza said she had not been able to see her clients while they were held at the hotel in Panama City and said she is seeking permission to visit them at their new location. She declined to identify their nationality, but said they were a Muslim family who “could be decapitated” if they returned home. Sabalza said the family would be requesting asylum in Panama or “any country that will receive them other than their own.” Mulino said previously the migrants would be moved to a shelter in the Darien region, which includes the dense and lawless jungle separating Central America from South … “Migrants in Panama deported from US moved to Darien jungle region” →

WASHINGTON — Chinese social media users are not impressed by the newly released AI model Grok 3 by Elon Musk’s xAI, retaining their preference and support for DeepSeek, the free China-made AI model that rivals leading Western competitors while costing significantly less to train. Click here for the full story in Mandarin. …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday his country needs to build trust with the United States before his country’s three-year war on neighboring Ukraine can be resolved. Putin told reporters in Saint Petersburg that he was pleased with the outcome of high-level talks between top U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, rating them “highly,” and declaring that they were a “first step” in improving contentious relations between Moscow and Washington. But he added, “It is impossible to solve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis, without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States.” Putin said in televised remarks that he would like to hold a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, “but it needs to be prepared so that it brings results.” The Riyadh talks, led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, were the first significant discussions between the two superpowers in more than three years following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the U.S.-led Western effort to arm Kyiv’s forces to fend off the attack. “I was briefed [on the talks]. I rate them highly, there are results,” Putin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying at a drone factory in Saint Petersburg. “In my opinion, we made the first step to restore work in various areas of mutual interests.” Neither Ukrainian nor European officials were at the table in a Saudi palace for the talks, but the U.S. said they would be involved in future negotiations to try to end Europe’s most deadly conflict since World War II. Moscow launched the invasion three years ago next week. Russia failed to take over all of Ukraine in the first stages of the war but now controls about a fifth of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said repeatedly his country will not accept a dictated settlement of the conflict. While former U.S. President Joe Biden provided tens of billions of dollars in arms for Kyiv, new U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed for a fast end to the Moscow-initiated war. He contended Tuesday that Ukraine “should never have started” it. In a new comment Wednesday on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator,” claiming “the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle’ to get more military assistance.” “I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done … “Putin: Russia needs to build trust with US to end war in Ukraine “ →

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the UAE rejects “any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land” as Rubio made a visit Wednesday to Abu Dhabi. UAE state media reported the comments and said the president highlighted the need to prevent an expansion of the conflict in Gaza. “He also underscored the importance of linking Gaza’s reconstruction to a path that leads to a comprehensive and lasting peace based on the two-state solution, as the only manner of ensuring stability in the region,” the report said. Arab leaders have rejected plans suggested by U.S. President Donald Trump that Palestinians leave Gaza for other countries in the region, and that the U.S. take over and rebuild the Palestinian enclave. Rubio’s visit was part of a multi-nation tour that also included talks with leaders in Israel and in Saudi Arabia, which came as the first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip moved into its final weeks. Hostage release A top Hamas leader said Tuesday that the militant group plans to release six more living Israeli hostages from their Gaza captivity on Saturday and the bodies of four others on Thursday. Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya made the surprise announcement in a recorded statement, an apparent response to the Israeli decision to allow long-requested mobile homes and construction equipment into the Gaza Strip. The six living hostages are the last set to be freed under the first phase of the ceasefire that expires in early March, with Hamas believed to be holding about 70 more captives, half of them living. Four more bodies of hostages are set to be returned next week. So far during the ceasefire, Hamas has released 24 hostages, and Israel freed more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. The warring sides have yet to negotiate the second and more difficult phase of their truce, in which Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting halt to the fighting and a full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel has not backed off its goal, supported by the United States, of eradicating any military or governing role for Hamas in Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Tuesday that Israel was ready to open negotiations on the details of the second phase. Those talks were supposed to … “UAE says it rejects any attempt to displace Palestinian people “ →

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president said Wednesday that U.S. drone flights were part of a collaboration that has existed for years between the two countries, after U.S. media reported increased cross-border aerial surveillance of drug cartels. “There is nothing illegal, and it is part of a collaboration and coordination,” Claudia Sheinbaum said at her morning news conference. “It is a coordination and collaboration protocol that has existed for years between the United States and Mexican governments,” she said. According to The New York Times, Washington has stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico in search of fentanyl labs as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign against drug cartels. The CIA has not been authorized to use the drones to take lethal action, and any information collected is passed to Mexican officials, the Times said, adding that the covert program began under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, but had not been previously disclosed. Last week, Mexico’s government said U.S. military aircraft may have spied on drug cartels during recent flights near Mexican territory. Mexico was aware of two such U.S. military flights in late January and early February that were in international airspace, Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla said. …

MANILA, Philippines — The United States condemned the “dangerous” maneuvers of a Chinese navy helicopter that endangered the safety of a Philippine government aircraft patrolling a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, its ambassador to Manila said on Wednesday. In a post on X, Ambassador MaryKay Carlson also called on China “to refrain from coercive actions and settle its disputes peacefully in accordance with international law.” The Philippines said late on Tuesday it was “deeply disturbed” by the Chinese navy’s “unprofessional and reckless” flight actions and that it will make a diplomatic protest. Manila’s coast guard said the Chinese navy helicopter performed dangerous flight maneuvers when it flew close to a government aircraft conducting surveillance over the Scarborough Shoal, endangering the lives of its pilots and passengers. China disputed the Philippines’ account, saying on Tuesday its aircraft “illegally intruded” into China’s airspace and accused its Southeast Asian neighbor of “spreading false narratives.” Named after a British ship that was grounded on the atoll nearly three centuries ago, the Scarborough Shoal is one of the most contested maritime features in the South China Sea, where Beijing and Manila have clashed repeatedly. “The Philippines has undeniable sovereignty and jurisdiction over Bajo de Masinloc,” its maritime council said in a statement, using Manila’s name for the shoal. China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, a vital waterway for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, putting it at odds with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. A 2016 arbitration ruling invalidated China’s expansive claims but Beijing does not recognize the decision. …

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted to advance the nomination of Kash Patel to be the director of the FBI, putting a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and a critic of the bureau on track to run the most prominent U.S. law enforcement agency. The Senate voted 48-45 along party lines on a procedural measure setting the stage for a final confirmation vote on one of Trump’s most controversial nominees later this week. Patel, a former intelligence and Defense Department official in Trump’s first term, has called for a radical reshaping of the FBI, pledging to expand its role on illegal immigration and violent crime, core Trump priorities. Patel has been among the most vocal critics of FBI investigations into Trump on issues ranging from Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Florida club and his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Democrats have called Patel unfit to lead the FBI, pointing to his embrace of false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election and FBI agents fomenting the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. But Patel has attracted broad support from Republicans, who have touted him as a reformer. A Senate panel voted 12-10 along party lines last week to send his nomination to the full Senate. …

Washington — The Senate confirmed wealthy financier Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary Tuesday, putting in place a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump’s hardline trade policies. At the Commerce Department, Lutnick, who was CEO at the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, will oversee 50,000 employees who do everything from collecting economic statistics to running the census to issuing weather reports. But he’s likely to spend a lot of time — along with Jamieson Greer, Trump’s nominee to be the top U.S. trade negotiator — managing the president’s aggressive plans to impose import taxes on U.S. trading partners, including allies and adversaries alike. The Senate vote to confirm Lutnick was 51-45. Trump views the tariffs as a versatile economic tool. They can raise money to finance his tax cuts elsewhere, protect U.S. industries and pressure other countries into making concessions on such issues as their own trade barriers, immigration and drug trafficking. Mainstream economists mostly view tariffs as counterproductive: They are paid by import companies in the United States, which try to pass along the higher costs to consumers and can thereby add to inflationary pressures throughout the economy. At his confirmation hearing last month, Lutnick dismissed as “nonsense” the idea that tariffs contribute to inflation. He expressed support for deploying across-the-board tariffs “country by country” to strong-arm other countries into lowering barriers to American exports. Trump last week announced plans for “reciprocal” tariffs — raising U.S. import tax rates to match the higher taxes that other countries impose on goods from the U.S. The move would shatter the rules that have governed world trade for decades. Since the 1960s, tariff rates have mostly emerged from negotiations between dozens of countries. Trump is commandeering the process. The president has also imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese imports and effectively raised U.S. taxes on foreign steel and aluminum. He has threatened — and delayed until March 4 — 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico. Lutnick was CEO at Cantor Fitzgerald when its offices were hit in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. The firm lost two-thirds of its employees — 658 people — that day, including Lutnick’s brother. Howard Lutnick led the firm’s recovery and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Lutnick has promised to sell off his business holdings. They’re complicated. His financial disclosure statement showed that he … “Senate confirms Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary” →

WASHINGTON — A federal judge refused Tuesday to immediately block billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing government data systems or participating in worker layoffs.  U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found that there are legitimate questions about Musk’s authority but said there isn’t evidence of the kind of grave legal harm that would justify a temporary restraining order.  The decision came in a lawsuit filed by 14 Democratic states challenging DOGE’s authority to access sensitive government data. The attorneys general argued that Musk is wielding the kind of power that the Constitution says can only be held by those who are elected or confirmed by the Senate.  The Trump administration, for its part, has maintained that layoffs are coming from agency heads, and asserted that despite his public cheering of the effort, Musk isn’t directly running DOGE’s day-to-day operations himself.  DOGE has tapped into computer systems across multiple agencies with the blessing of President Donald Trump, digging into budgets and searching for what he calls waste, fraud and abuse, even as a growing number of lawsuits allege DOGE is violating the law.  Chutkan recognized the concerns of the group of states, which include New Mexico and Arizona.  “DOGE’s unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion,” she wrote. Their questions about Musk’s apparent “unchecked authority” and lack of Congressional oversight for DOGE are legitimate and they may be able to successfully argue them later.  Still, at this point, it remains unclear exactly how DOGE’s work will affect the states, and judges can only issue court only issue orders to block specific, immediate harms, she found.  Chutkan, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, previously oversaw the now-dismissed criminal election interference case against Trump in Washington.  …

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to study how to expand access to in vitro fertilization and make it more affordable.  The order calls for policy recommendations to “protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments,” according to the White House. On the campaign trail, Trump called for universal coverage of IVF treatment after his Supreme Court nominees helped to overturn Roe v. Wade, leading to a wave of restrictions in Republican-led states, including some that have threatened access to IVF by trying to define life as beginning at conception.  Trump, who was at his Florida residence and club Mar-a-Lago, also signed another executive order and a presidential memorandum. The second executive order outlined the oversight functions of the Office of Management and Budget, while the presidential memorandum called for more transparency from the government, according to White House staff secretary Will Scharf, who Trump called to the podium to detail the orders.  The order called for “radical transparency requirements” for the government, requiring it to detail the “waste, fraud and abuse” that’s found as the Department of Government Efficiency, overseen by Elon Musk, looks to cut government spending.  DOGE has often fallen short of the administration’s promises of transparency. Musk has taken questions from journalists only once since becoming Trump’s most powerful adviser, and he’s claimed it’s illegal to name people who are working for him. Sometimes DOGE staff members have demanded access to sensitive government databases with little explanation.  According to a fact sheet provided by the White House, Trump’s IVF order will focus on prioritizing whether there are any current policies “that exacerbate the cost of IVF treatments.”  Last year, Trump declared public support for IVF after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. The decision, which some Republicans and conservatives cheered, touched off immediate backlash.  Families ‘appreciative,’ says Trump On the campaign trail, IVF quickly became a talking point for Trump, who said he strongly supports its availability.  In vitro fertilization offers a possible solution when a woman has trouble getting pregnant. The procedure involves retrieving her eggs and combining them in a lab dish with a man’s sperm to create a fertilized embryo, which is then transferred into the woman’s uterus in an attempt to create a pregnancy. IVF is done in cycles, … “Trump signs order to study how to make IVF more accessible, affordable” →

Louis DeJoy, the head of the U.S. Postal Service, intends to step down, the federal agency said Tuesday, after a nearly five-year tenure marked by the coronavirus pandemic, surges in mail-in election ballots and efforts to stem losses through cost and service cuts. In a Monday letter, Postmaster General DeJoy asked the Postal Service Board of Governors to begin looking for his successor. “As you know, I have worked tirelessly to lead the 640,000 men and women of the Postal Service in accomplishing an extraordinary transformation,” he wrote. “We have served the American people through an unprecedented pandemic and through a period of high inflation and sensationalized politics.” DeJoy took the helm of the Postal Service in the summer of 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term. He was a Republican donor who owned a logistics business before taking office and was the first postmaster general in nearly two decades who was not a career postal employee. DeJoy developed a 10-year plan to modernize operations and stem losses. He previously said that postal customers should get used to “uncomfortable” rate hikes as the Postal Service seeks to stabilize its finances and become more self-sufficient. The plan calls for making the mail delivery system more efficient and less costly by consolidating mail processing centers. Critics, including members of Congress from several states, have said the first consolidations slowed service and that further consolidations could particularly hurt rural mail delivery. DeJoy has disputed that and told a U.S. House subcommittee during a contentious September hearing that the Postal Service had embarked on long-overdue investments in facilities and making other changes to create “a Postal Service for the future” that delivered mail more quickly. DeJoy also oversaw the Postal Service during two presidential elections that saw spikes in mail-in ballots. Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge limited one of the Postal Service’s cost-cutting practices after finding it contributed to delays in mail delivery. DeJoy had restricted overtime payments for postal workers and stopped the agency’s longtime practice of allowing late and extra truck deliveries in the summer of 2020. The moves reduced costs but meant some mail was left to be delivered the following day. DeJoy said in his letter that he was committed to being “as helpful as possible in facilitating a transition.” …

Johannesburg  — South Africa will host a meeting of foreign ministers from the G20 group of major economies later this week, but the chief diplomat for the world’s largest economy, the U.S., is skipping it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X earlier this month that he would not attend the meeting, taking place Thursday and Friday in Johannesburg, because he objected to the meeting’s agenda, which he described as anti-American. He said South Africa was “using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, & sustainability.’ In other words: DEI and climate change. My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.” DEI is short for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and in President Donald Trump’s first week in the White House, he signed an executive order to end DEI policies and hiring practices in the federal workforce. “I think the whole topic of the G20 gathering is one that I don’t think we should be focused on, talking about global inclusion, equity, and these sorts of things,” Rubio later told the press. He continued by saying the forum should be focused on issues “like terrorism and energy security and the real threats to the national security of multiple countries.” The G20 is a group of the world’s 19 major individual economies as well as the EU and African Union. This year marks the first time an African country is in the rotating presidency position of the G20. While Rubio will not attend, the South African government has confirmed the U.S. will still have a presence at the meeting, likely at a lower level. South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation responded to Rubio in a statement saying: “Our G20 Presidency, is not confined to just climate change but also equitable treatment for nations of the Global South, ensuring an equal global system for all.” Ronald Lamola, minister of international relations and cooperation, told local TV that the meeting’s agenda had been adopted by all members of the G20 and carries on the themes from previous summits, such as the one in Brazil last year. Deteriorating relations Even before the announcement that Rubio would not be taking part in the foreign ministers’ meeting, there had been a swift deterioration in U.S.-South Africa relations under the new administration in Washington. President Trump accused South Africa’s government of engaging in land grabs and mistreating white minority Afrikaners. He … “Rubio snubs South Africa’s G20 meeting amid diplomatic tensions” →

Washington — The Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner has stepped down from her role at the agency over Department of Government Efficiency requests to access Social Security recipient information, according to two people familiar with the official’s departure who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Acting Commissioner Michelle King’s departure from the agency over the weekend — after more than 30 years of service — was initiated after King refused to provide DOGE staffers at the SSA with access to sensitive information, the people said Monday. The White House has replaced her as acting commissioner with Leland Dudek, who currently works at the SSA, the people said. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields released a statement Monday night saying: “President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner.” Fields added, “President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long.” King’s exit from the administration is one of several departures of high-ranking officials concerned about DOGE staffers’ potential unlawful access to private taxpayer information. DOGE has accessed Treasury payment systems and is attempting to access Internal Revenue Service databases. Since Republican President Donald Trump has retaken the White House, his billionaire adviser Elon Musk has rapidly burrowed deep into federal agencies while avoiding public scrutiny of his work through the DOGE group. Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the preservation of Social Security benefits, said of DOGE’s efforts that “there is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred.” “The information collected and securely held by the Social Security Administration is highly sensitive,” she said. “SSA has data on everyone who has a Social Security number, which is virtually all Americans, everyone who has Medicare, and every low-income American who has applied for Social Security’s means-tested companion program, Supplemental Security Income.” “If there is an evil intent to punish perceived enemies, someone could erase your earnings record, making it impossible to collect the Social Security and Medicare benefits you … “Social Security head steps down over DOGE access of recipient information: AP sources” →

Lawmakers in the U.S. state of Oklahoma are looking at a plan to start collecting information on the immigration status of students and parents in public schools. It’s a proposed rule that some local school officials are already saying they will refuse to enforce. Scott Stearns narrates this story from Daria Vershylenko in Oklahoma. …