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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration presented a plan Thursday to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for U.S. aid projects as part of its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, leaving fewer than 300 workers out of thousands. Late Thursday, federal workers associations filed suit asking a federal court to stop the shutdown, arguing that President Donald Trump lacks the authority to shut down an agency enshrined in congressional legislation. Two current USAID employees and one former senior USAID official told The Associated Press of the administration’s plan, presented to remaining senior officials of the agency Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to a Trump administration order barring USAID staffers from talking to anyone outside their agency. The plan would leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of what are currently 8,000 direct hires and contractors. They, along with an unknown number of 5,000 locally hired international staffers abroad, would run the few life-saving programs that the administration says it intends to keep going for the time being. It was not immediately clear whether the reduction to 300 would be permanent or temporary, potentially allowing more workers to return after what the Trump administration says is a review of which aid and development programs it wants to resume. The administration earlier this week gave almost all USAID staffers posted overseas 30 days, starting Friday, to return to the U.S., with the government paying for their travel and moving costs. Workers who choose to stay longer, unless they received a specific hardship waiver, might have to cover their own expenses, a notice on the USAID website said late Thursday. Speaking to reporters Monday in El Salvador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the agency as historically “unresponsive” to Congress and the White House, even though the agency, he claimed, is supposed to take its direction from the State Department. “USAID has a history of sort of ignoring that and deciding that there’s somehow a global charity separate from the national interest,” Rubio said. “These are taxpayer dollars, and we owe the American people assurances that every dollar we are spending abroad is being spent on something that furthers our national interest.” Speaking in the Dominican Republic on Thursday, Rubio said the U.S. government will continue providing foreign aid. “But it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest,” he told … “Trump administration plans to slash all but a fraction of USAID jobs, officials say” →

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would create a White House faith office and direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead a task force on eradicating what he called anti-Christian bias within the federal government. Trump delivered remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol and used his speech to call for unity, telling lawmakers his relationship with religion has changed since a pair of failed assassination attempts last year. At a second prayer breakfast in Washington, Trump struck a more partisan tone, took a victory lap for getting “rid of woke over the last two weeks” and announced steps to protect Christians from what he said was religious discrimination. “The mission of this task force will be to immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS, the FBI and other agencies,” Trump said. He vowed his attorney general would work to “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.” The president did not cite specific examples of anti-Christian bias during his remarks but has previously claimed that the Biden administration used the federal government to target Christians specifically. Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to establish the task force and its responsibilities, which include recommending steps to terminate “violative policies, practices, or conduct.” Biden’s administration announced a strategy in December for countering anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry, and a similar plan to fight antisemitism in September 2023. The actions announced on Thursday could pose constitutional questions about the separation of church and state, with the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment limiting government endorsement of religion. In the last three election cycles, white evangelical Christian voters, who make up a critical piece of the Republican base, have supported Trump. He has embraced the conservative Christian world view and policies that speak to the bloc’s anxiety about changing gender norms and family patterns. The president on Thursday also announced he will create a White House Faith Office, led by the Rev. Paula White, who has served as a religious adviser to him for many years. Trump established a similar office at the White House during his first term and regularly consulted with a tight group of evangelical advisers. Trump also said he would create a new … “Trump to create religious office in White House, target ‘anti-Christian bias’” →

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee Russell Vought as budget director on Thursday, placing the reins of government funding in the hands of a hard-line conservative who has advocated for reducing Congress’s power over taxpayer dollars. The Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Vought after a marathon overnight session during which Democrats denounced him as a dangerous far-right ideologue and blasted Republicans for rubber-stamping Trump’s nomination. Vought, who also headed the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first presidential term, raised concerns among members of both parties by criticizing a 1974 law preventing presidents from unilaterally blocking congressionally approved funding, a practice known as “impoundment.” In his two confirmation hearings, Vought repeatedly said he believed a 1974 law was unconstitutional, a position that even the Republican committee chairmen said they did not fully support. Last week, the White House Budget Office issued a memo freezing hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants and loans. The White House said the freeze was necessary to ensure aid programs were aligned with Trump’s priorities including his executive orders to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The White House rescinded the memo and a federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze, but not before the action raised widespread fears about the future critical government-funded services and concerns that Trump could take unilateral action against other government funding. Democrats sought to link Vought’s role in the hard-right Project 2025 policy initiative to a range of administration actions, including the Trump administration’s unilateral actions to essentially shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development and fire prosecutors at the Justice Department. “Whether it’s with federal workers, whether it’s at USAID, whether it’s hurting Justice Department prosecutors, all of that is Russell Vought at work,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on a floor speech. “He’s working to hurt you, Mr. and Mrs. America.” Republicans championed Vought’s experience as budget director and the role they expect him to play in cutting wasteful government spending. “Identifying ways to rein in our spending – and to target government waste – has to be a priority. And I’m confident that Mr. Vought will help lead that charge,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said this week. “There is no question that he will be able to hit the ground running.”  …

STATE DEPARTMENT — The United States has a treaty obligation to protect the Panama Canal if it comes under attack, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, amid confusion and what Panama has described as “lies” regarding whether U.S. Navy ships can transit the Panama Canal for free. “I find it absurd that we would have to pay fees to transit a zone that we are obligated to protect in a time of conflict. Those are our expectations. … They were clearly understood in those conversations,” Rubio said during a press conference in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. He held talks with Panamanian President Jose Rauu Mulino in Panama City on Sunday. Rubio was referring to a treaty signed by the U.S. and Panama in 1977. The top U.S. diplomat told reporters that while he respects Panama’s democratically elected government and acknowledges that it has “a process of laws and procedures that it needs to follow,” the treaty obligation “would have to be enforced by the armed forces the United States, particularly the U.S. Navy.” The U.S. intends to pursue an amicable resolution, Rubio said. Mulino posted on X that he planned to speak with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon. On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said, via a social media post on X, that U.S. government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without incurring fees, saving the U.S. government millions of dollars annually. But the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous agency overseen by the Panamanian government, disputed the U.S. claim, saying that it has made no adjustments to these fees. It also expressed its willingness to engage in dialogue with relevant U.S. officials. During his weekly press conference on Thursday, the Panamanian president denied his country had reached a deal allowing U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free, saying he completely rejected the State Department’s statement. Belt and Road Initiative Meanwhile, Mulino told reporters that the Panamanian Embassy in Beijing had provided China with the required 90-day notice of its decision to exit the Belt and Road Initiative, also known as BRI. He denied that the decision was made at Washington’s request, saying that he was taking time to assess Panama’s relationship with China and decide what would best serve his country’s interests. “I don’t know what the incentive was for the person who signed that agreement with China,” Mulino said … “Treaty obliges US to to defend Panama Canal, says Rubio” →

white house — The White House on Thursday said it was monitoring a complaint by China to the World Trade Organization that accuses the United States of making “unfounded and false allegations” about China’s role in the fentanyl trade to justify tariffs on Chinese products. The complaint was made Wednesday, a day after President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods by 10%. The White House said the new duties on Chinese goods were aimed at halting the flow of fentanyl opioids and their precursor chemicals. China said it was imposing retaliatory tariffs on some American goods beginning February 10, including 15% duties on coal and natural gas imports and 10% on petroleum, agricultural equipment, high-emission vehicles and pickup trucks. The country also immediately implemented restrictions on the export of certain critical minerals and launched an antitrust investigation into American tech giant Google. In the WTO filing, China said the U.S. tariff measures were “discriminatory and protectionist” and violated international trade rules. Beijing has requested a consultation with Washington. China’s request will kick-start a process within the WTO’s Appellate Body, which has the final say on dispute settlements. A White House official told VOA the administration was monitoring Beijing’s file but did not provide further details. Analysts say Beijing’s move is largely performative and unlikely to yield much relief. The Appellate Body has been largely paralyzed following the first Trump administration’s 2019 move to block appointments of appellate judges over what it viewed as judicial overreach. The Biden administration continued the policy. China recognizes the WTO is not going to put a lot of pressure on the United States because Washington is fully capable of blocking any legal process there, said Jeffrey Schott, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “So instead, I think the Chinese reaction has been moderate in indicating that they will act tit for tat against U.S. trade,” he told VOA. Schott added that there’s “a desire to keep things cool” and moderate the damage, just as what happened during the first Trump administration when a trade deal was agreed upon after initial retaliatory trade actions. On the U.S. side, the 10% tariffs against China are much lower than the up to 60% that Trump promised during his presidential campaign, he said.  Trump-Xi call Trump imposed import duties on Beijing after delaying his actions to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada following conversations Monday with … “White House monitoring China’s complaint on Trump tariffs at WTO” →

In a joint effort to reinforce security on the border, authorities from Mexico and the United States have intensified joint operations in the area of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso. Click here for the full story in Spanish. …

WASHINGTON — The U.S. foreign aid agency broadly shut down by the Trump administration has long been criticized by Beijing. But as USAID projects wind down, will Beijing step in to try to build influence? Some analysts say although China will want to fill the vacuum, its own economic problems could limit what it will do.   U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is now the acting director of U.S. Agency for International Development, said he will bring the agency’s activities in line with the agenda of the new government.  “These are taxpayer dollars, and we owe the American people assurances that every dollar we are spending abroad is being spent on something that furthers our national interest,” he told reporters while visiting El Salvador earlier this week.  USAID had an annual budget of more than $40 billion and managed aid programs around the world, including a China-related program that has become a target of criticism by the White House.  On a “waste and abuse” fact sheet released on Feb. 3, the White House said USAID had given millions of dollars to EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S. organization working on protections against infectious disease. The organization has been accused of working with Wuhan Institute of Virology on coronavirus research that had caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Both EcoHealth Alliance and the Chinese government have rejected those accusations.  Agency has framed funding as strategy In recent years, USAID has increasingly framed its funding for China-related programs as a strategy to contain China’s global expansion through aid and investments.  An archived page of USAID’s now-closed website shows that the agency lauded its “Countering Chinese Influence Fund” as one of its “key accomplishments.” The fund “will advance national-security goals” to “build more resilient partners that are able to withstand pressure from the CCP and other malign actors.”  Michael Schiffer, former USAID assistant administrator for Asia, told a congressional panel in 2023 that the agency had for more than a decade supported data collection on China’s overseas investments through AidData, a research group at the College of William and Mary in the U.S. state of Virginia. The funding freeze has put at least one such USAID-funded project in financial trouble. Brian Eyler, a researcher at the Stimson Center in Washington, wrote in a public post on Facebook that his project, Mekong Dams Monitor, has difficulty continuing operation because of the freeze.  “We are ordered to stop … “Though China might aim to fill aid void left by USAID, its own challenges could limit it” →

The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Thursday new sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, targeting an international network that facilitates the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China. In a release, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, said the sanctions target Sepehr Energy, a front company through which Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, or AFGS, ships the oil. The sanctions include entities and individuals in China, India and the United Arab Emirates, as well as several vessels. The office said Sepehr Energy and its affiliate companies, which operate under the AFGS, use “deceitful evasion methods,” including the falsification of maritime documents, to disguise the Iranian origin of the oil that it trades and transports to overseas buyers, including China. The OFAC said each year, the illicit sales generate the equivalent of billions of dollars, which Iran uses to fund its destabilizing regional activities and support of multiple regional terrorist groups, including Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah. Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. In the statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran also uses the funds to develop its nuclear program and the production of deadly ballistic missiles and military drones. “The United States is committed to aggressively targeting any attempt by Iran to secure funding for these malign activities,” he said. In a separate statement, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the United States will not tolerate Iran’s destructive and destabilizing behavior. “We will use all tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable for its destabilizing activities and pursuit of nuclear weapons that threaten the civilized world,” she said. Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating the U.S. government impose maximum pressure on Tehran to dissuade it from pursuing its nuclear program. Iran has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. …

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan duo in the U.S. House is proposing legislation to ban the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek from federal devices, similar to the policy already in place for the popular social media platform TikTok. Lawmakers Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Darin LaHood, a Republican from Illinois, on Thursday introduced the “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act,” which would ban federal employees from using the Chinese AI app on government-owned electronics. They cited the Chinese government’s ability to use the app for surveillance and misinformation as reasons to keep it away from federal networks. “The Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that it will exploit any tool at its disposal to undermine our national security, spew harmful disinformation, and collect data on Americans,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “We simply can’t risk the CCP infiltrating the devices of our government officials and jeopardizing our national security.” The proposal comes after the Chinese software company in January published an AI model that performed at a competitive level with models developed by American firms like OpenAI, Meta, Alphabet and others. DeepSeek purported to develop the model at a fraction of the cost of its American counterparts. The announcement raised alarm bells and prompted debates among policymakers and leading Silicon Valley financiers and technologists. The churn over AI is coming at a moment of heightened competition between the U.S. and China in a range of areas, including technological innovation. The U.S. has levied tariffs on Chinese goods, restricted Chinese tech firms like Huawei from being used in government systems, and banned the export of state of the art microchips thought to be needed to develop the highest end AI models. Last year, Congress and then-President Joe Biden approved a divestment of the popular social media platform TikTok from its Chinese parent company or face a ban across the U.S.; that policy is now on hold. President Donald Trump, who originally proposed a ban of the app in his first term, signed an executive order last month extending a window for a long-term solution before the legally required ban takes effect. In 2023, Biden banned TikTok from federal-issued devices. “The technology race with the Chinese Communist Party is not one the United States can afford to lose,” LaHood said in a statement. “This commonsense, bipartisan piece of legislation will ban the app from federal workers’ phones while closing … “House lawmakers push to ban AI app DeepSeek from US government devices” →

WASHINGTON — Jamieson Greer, President Donald Trump’s choice to be the top U.S. trade negotiator, promised to pursue the president’s hard-line trade policies in testimony Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee. But he faced pushback from senators unsettled by Trump’s unpredictable actions on trade. Trump’s protectionist approach — involving the heavy use of taxes on foreign goods — will give Americans “the opportunity to work in good-paying jobs producing goods and services they can sell in this market and abroad to earn an honest living,” Greer said in remarks prepared ahead of his confirmation hearing. As U.S. trade representative, Greer would have responsibility along with commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick for one of Trump’s top policy priorities: waging — or at least threatening — trade war with countries around the world, America’s friends and foes alike. On Saturday, Trump signed orders imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico — America’s two biggest trading partners. Then on Monday, he turned around and gave those countries a 30-day reprieve from the tariffs after their leaders made modest concessions on stopping the flow of undocumented immigrants and illegal drugs into the United States. “Trump governs by whim, and in trade that hurts American families,” said Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the finance committee. “His tariff bluff created huge uncertainty that is costing American businesses and putting the global economy on a month-to-month lease.” Trump believes that imposing tariffs — import taxes — on U.S. trade partners can reduce America’s massive trade deficits, protect U.S. industry from competition, bring manufacturing back to the United States and pressure other countries into making concessions on a variety of issues, including reducing illegal immigration and cracking down on drug trafficking. The hostilities have already begun. On Tuesday, the United States imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese imports on top of levies imposed in Trump’s first term. Beijing promptly lashed back, announcing tariffs on U.S. coal, crude oil and other products, restricting exports of critical minerals and launching an antitrust investigation of Google. But the Chinese tariffs don’t take effect until Monday, buying time for the two countries to reach some kind of truce. That is what happened earlier this week. Trump had signed an order Saturday hitting imports from America’s two biggest trade partners, Canada and Mexico, with 25% tariffs. They were supposed to take effect Tuesday, too, but were called off — and delayed for … “Trump’s US trade negotiator pick vows hard-line policies” →

A food bank in the Southwest United States is tackling hunger and emergency food needs with a flavorful fundraiser that has local chefs competing for the best soup. Gustavo Martinez Contreras has our story from New Mexico. …

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that his relationship with religion had “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year, as he advocated at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol for Americans to “bring God back into our lives.” Trump joined a Washington tradition of more than 70 years that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship. He was also to speak at a separate prayer breakfast at a Washington hotel sponsored by a private group. “I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief,” Trump said. “Let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.” Trump reflected on having a bullet coming close to killing him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, telling lawmakers and attendees, “It changed something in me, I feel.” He continued: “I feel even stronger. I believed in God, but I feel, I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened.” He drew laughs when he expressed gratitude that the episode “didn’t affect my hair.” The president, who’s a nondenominational Christian, called religious liberty “part of the bedrock of American life” and called for protecting it with “absolute devotion.” Trump and his administration have already clashed with religious leaders, including him disagreeing with the Reverend Mariann Budde’s sermon the day after his inauguration, when she called for mercy for members of the LGBTQ+ community and migrants who are in the country illegally. Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, has sparred with top U.S. leaders of his own church over immigration issues. And many clergy members across the country are worried about the removal of churches from the sensitive-areas list, allowing federal officials to conduct immigration actions at places of worship. The Republican president made waves at the final prayer breakfast during his first term. That year the gathering came the day after the Senate acquitted him in his first impeachment trial. Trump in his remarks then threw not-so-subtle barbs at Democratic then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who publicly said she prayed for Trump, and Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, who had cited his faith in his decision to vote to convict Trump. “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.” Trump said then in his winding speech, in which he also held up two newspapers with banner headlines about his acquittal. … “Trump attends National Prayer Breakfast” →

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. Japanese officials say they want to reaffirm the US-Japan alliance and build strong personal ties between Ishiba and Trump. VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Seoul, South Korea. Camera: Bill Gallo …

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, MEXICO — A line of Mexican National Guard and Army trucks rumbled along the border separating Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, among the first of 10,000 troops Mexico has sent to its northern frontier following tariff threats by President Donald Trump.  Masked and armed National Guard members picked through brush running along the border barrier on the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, pulling out makeshift ladders and ropes tucked away in the trenches, and pulling them onto trucks. Patrols were also seen on other parts of the border near Tijuana.  It comes after a turbulent week along the border after Trump announced he would delay imposing crippling tariffs on Mexico for at least a month. In exchange, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum promised she would send the country’s National Guard to reinforce the border and crack down on fentanyl smuggling.  Trump has declared an emergency on the border despite migration levels and fentanyl overdoses significantly dipping over the past year. The U.S. said it would, in turn, do more to stop American guns from being trafficked into Mexico to fuel cartel violence, which has rippled to other parts of the country as criminal groups fight to control the lucrative migrant smuggling industry.  On Tuesday, the first of those forces arrived in border cities, climbing out of government planes. Guard members in the Wednesday patrol confirmed that they were part of the new force.  “There will be permanent surveillance on the border,” José Luis Santos Iza, one of the National Guard leaders heading off the deployment in the city, told media upon the arrival of the first set of soldiers. “This operation is primarily to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, mainly fentanyl.”  At least 1,650 troops were expected to be sent to Ciudad Juárez, according to government figures, making it one of the biggest receivers of border reinforcements in the country, second only to Tijuana, where 1,949 are slated to be sent.  During U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s trip through Latin America — where migration was at the top of the agenda — the top American diplomat thanked the Mexican government for the forces, according to a statement by the Mexican government.  The negotiation by Sheinbaum was viewed by observers as a bit of shrewd political maneuvering by the newly elected Mexican leader. Many had previously cast doubt that she’d be able to navigate … “Mexico deploys the first of 10,000 troops to US border after Trump’s tariff threat” →

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of State said on Wednesday American government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees. “The government of Panama has agreed to no longer charge fees for U.S. government vessels to transit the Panama Canal,” the department said in a post on X. It said the agreement will save the U.S. government millions of dollars each year. The Panama Canal Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday during a trip to Central America. Panama has become a focal point of the Trump administration as President Donald Trump has accused the Central American country of charging excessive rates to use its passage. “If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” Trump said last month. Mulino has dismissed Trump’s threat that the U.S. retake control of the canal, which it largely built. The U.S. administered territory surrounding the passage for decades. But the U.S. and Panama signed a pair of accords in 1977 that paved the way for the canal’s return to full Panamanian control. The United States handed it over in 1999 after a period of joint administration. …

President Donald Trump is reigniting a fierce debate: Should everyone born on U.S. soil automatically become a citizen? This question strikes at the heart of American identity, history and law. Trump signed an executive order last month seeking to end the right, but two federal judges have placed injunctions on the order, pausing it indefinitely. Here’s what you need to know about birthright citizenship. …

The White House on Wednesday said President Donald Trump has not committed to using U.S. troops for his plan to redevelop Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” and that the relocation of Palestinians will only be temporary. The shift comes amid global backlash and a United Nations’ warning against “any form of ethnic cleansing.” White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. …