BLOGONITY

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday the U.S. plans to support Guatemala with new infrastructure projects and to sign waivers on foreign aid to strengthen the United States’ partnership with the Central American country. Speaking alongside Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo in a joint press conference, Rubio said he had signed “a letter of support” pledging full State Department cooperation on a partnership between Guatemala and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The initiative aims to “begin preliminary planning for the expansion” of “two new port facilities,” along with highway and railroad connections to position Guatemala as a regional trade hub and boost its economic opportunities. “Today, I’ll be signing waivers on foreign aid that will continue that partnership, and hope to build on it,” Rubio told reporters. Deportation flight Guatemala has reached a new migration agreement with the United States and will accept more deportation flights, Arevalo announced Wednesday after talks with Rubio. “In this framework, we have agreed to increase by 40% the number of flights of deportees” of Guatemalan nationals and “deportees from other nationalities” for repatriation, said the president through a translator. He clarified that the “safe third country” was not discussed in title or content, emphasizing that the new arrangement with the U.S. ensures safe and humane conditions for repatriation. Safe third country agreement In 2019, former Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales signed an Asylum Cooperative Agreement, commonly known as the safe third country agreement, with the first Trump administration. The agreement was seen as part of Trump’s strategy to curb the flow of migrants to the United States. In 2021, the Biden administration fulfilled a campaign promise and suspended the agreement, which allowed the U.S. to deny asylum seekers at the border and deport them to a designated third country, where they would be required to apply for asylum. Critics argued that the policy exposed asylum seekers to unsafe conditions. …

PENTAGON — The first undocumented migrants — described by U.S. officials as the “the worst of the worst” — are being held in jail cells at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, waiting to be sent home.  The Pentagon Wednesday confirmed 10 “high-threat illegal aliens” arrived Tuesday at the detention facility, where they are being held under the watch of officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.   VOA first reported on the transfer — and arrival — of the migrants, flown from Fort Bliss, Texas, to Guantanamo Bay aboard a U.S. military C-17 cargo plane Tuesday. According to the Pentagon, the detention of the high-threat migrants at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility is a temporary measure.  ICE “is taking this measure to ensure the safe and secure detention of these individuals until they can be transported to their country of origin or other appropriate destination” the Pentagon said in a statement.  U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday posted photos on X of some of the migrants as they prepared to board the military cargo plane, calling them “the worst of the worst,” and warning the effort to deport them is just getting started.  The Department of Homeland Security later said all of the migrants on the military flight were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang with transnational reach. Officials did not say when or how they were first taken into custody.    The White House has announced plans to designate Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.  Noem, posting on X on Wednesday, said her department has overseen the arrest of “convicted murderers, rapists, child abusers, drug traffickers, MS-13 gang members, cartel members,” in just the past few days.  Since President Donald Trump’s executive order last month, the Pentagon has deployed 300 Marines to Guantanamo to expand the facilities to support holding operations for undocumented immigrants. According to media reports, they have set up tents to house the migrants inside a fenced area at a separate part of the naval base. Those facilities are not yet ready for migrants, according to Fox News.  “The number of service members will continue to fluctuate as additional forces are tasked to deploy and will be scaled, based on the requirements of the Department of Homeland Security, which is the lead federal agency,” U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations in South America, Central America and … “10 ‘high-threat illegal aliens’ arrive at Guantanamo Bay” →

U.S. President Donald Trump’s idea for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip has shocked Israelis and Palestinians. While some Israelis welcome the idea, Palestinians categorically reject it. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. …

McALLEN, TEXAS — A federal judge extended a court agreement on Thursday ensuring safe and sanitary conditions for migrant children in federal custody a day after U.S. Customs and Border Protection was set to begin self-monitoring. The agreement originally ended Wednesday, but District Judge Dolly M. Gee in California decided to extend it by 18 months. “CBP is not yet capable of wholly fulfilling its responsibilities under the 2022 Settlement and the FSA (Flores Settlement Agreement) without the additional support provided by the JCM (Juvenile Care Monitor) and the Court,” the judge wrote in her order. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A court-appointed monitor will continue to visit and report on conditions for children in custody at U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso, Texas. Concerns were initially raised during the first Trump administration when reports surfaced of children separated from family for weeks and held in poor sanitary conditions. In 2019, a Guatemalan teenager died in custody as a result of a flu outbreak and a lack of proper medical care in a federal facility in Weslaco, Texas. The parties reached an agreement that was implemented in July 2022 for 2½ years. It allowed a court monitor to keep track of progress made by Customs and Border Protection. In the last report filed in December, the monitor noted positive changes while also mentioning a continued practice of separating some parents from their children during their time in custody. The monitor later told the court of discrepancies with Customs and Border Protection data suggesting the agency underreported the number of children who had exceeded the recommended time in custody of three days. Customs and Border Protection was scheduled to begin self-monitoring its facilities on Wednesday. The agency said in December it was ready for the task after issuing new guidance on family unity and increased training on detention policies, guidelines and regulations that rolled back court oversight under the Biden administration. Plaintiffs argued the agency was not ready, citing testimony from minors held in Customs and Border Protection facilities, and they requested the renewal of the court agreement. “No child should be forced to spend weeks inside a windowless pod in dirty clothes with no access to the outdoors. We are relieved the Court ruled to force CBP to meet its obligations under the settlement,” Mishan … “Judge extends court-monitoring agreement for children in Customs and Border Protection custody” →

NEW YORK — Dick Button was more than the most accomplished men’s figure skater in history. He was one of his sport’s greatest innovators and promoters. Button, winner of two Olympic gold medals and five consecutive world championships, died Thursday, said his son, Edward, who did not provide a cause. He was 95. As an entrepreneur and broadcaster, Button promoted skating and its athletes, transforming a niche sport into the showpiece of every Winter Olympics. “Dick was one of the most important figures in our sport,” Scott Hamilton said. “There wasn’t a skater after Dick who wasn’t helped by him in some way.” Button’s impact began after World War II. He was the first U.S. men’s champion — and his country’s youngest at age 16 — when that competition returned in 1946. Two years later, he took the title at the St. Moritz Olympics, competing outdoors. He performed the first double axel in any competition and became the first American to win the men’s event. “By the way, that jump had a cheat on it,” Button told the U.S. Olympic Committee website. “But listen, I did it and that was what counted.” That began his dominance of international skating, and U.S. amateur sports. He was the first figure skater to win the prestigious Sullivan Award in 1949 — no other figure skater won it until Michelle Kwan in 2001. In 1952, while a Harvard student, he won a second gold at the Oslo Games, making more history with the first triple jump (a loop) in competition. Soon after, he won a fifth world title, then gave up his eligibility as an amateur. All Olympic sports were subject to an amateur/professional division at the time. “I had achieved everything I could have dreamed of doing as a skater,” said Button, who earned a law degree from Harvard in 1956. “I was able to enjoy the Ice Capades (show) and keep my hand in skating, and that was very important to me.” With the Emmy Award-winning Button as the TV analyst, viewers got to learn not only the basics but the nuances of a sport foreign to many as he frankly broke down the performances. He became as much a fixture on ABC’s Wide World of Sports as Jim McKay and the hapless ski jumper tumbling down the slope. “Dick Button is the custodian of the history of figure skating and its quintessential … “Dick Button, Olympic great and voice of skating, dies at 95” →

WASHINGTON — A humming American economy ended 2024 on a solid note with consumer spending continuing to drive growth, and ahead of what could be a significant change in direction under a Trump administration. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product — the economy’s output of goods and services — expanded at a 2.3% annual rate from October through December. For the full year, the economy grew a healthy 2.8%, compared with 2.9% in 2023. The fourth-quarter growth was a tick below the 2.4% economists had expected, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet. Consumer spending grew at a 4.2% pace, fastest since January-March 2023 and up from 3.7% in July-September last year. But business investment tumbled as investment in equipment plunged after two straight strong quarters. Wednesday’s report also showed persistent inflationary pressure at the end of 2024. The Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge — called the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE — rose at a 2.3% annual pace last quarter, up from 1.5% in the third quarter and above the Fed’s 2% target. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PCE inflation was 2.5%, up from 2.2% in the July-September quarter. A drop in business inventories shaved 0.93 percentage points off fourth-quarter growth. But a category within the GDP data that measures the economy’s underlying strength rose at a healthy 3.2% annual rate from July through September, slipping from 3.4% in the third quarter. This category includes consumer spending and private investment but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending. Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, said that figure “suggests the economy remains strong, particularly given the fourth-quarter disruptions,” including a strike at Boeing and the aftermath of two hurricanes. President Donald Trump has inherited a healthy economy. Growth has been steady and unemployment low — 4.1% in December. The economy has proven remarkably resilient after the Fed’s inflation fighters raised rates 11 times in 2022 and 2023 to combat the biggest surge in consumer prices since the 1980s. Instead of sliding into a recession, as most economists predicted, GDP kept expanding. Growth has now topped 2% in nine of the last 10 quarters. On Wednesday, the Fed left its benchmark interest rate unchanged after making three cuts since September. With the economy rolling along, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters, “we do not need to … “US economy grows solid 2.3% in October-December on eve of Trump return to White House” →

A collision between a passenger jet and U.S. Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport late Wednesday marked the first time in more than 15 years that there had been a mass fatality event in U.S. airspace related to commercial aviation. The accident, which killed a reported 67 people, took place while American Airlines Flight 5342 was making its final approach to the runway. The Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet and the Sikorsky H-60, commonly known as a Black Hawk, collided only a few hundred meters above the ground, officials said. The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. There were three service members aboard the military helicopter, including the pilot. Both aircraft crashed into the icy waters of the Potomac River, and authorities said Thursday that they didn’t believe there were any survivors. The accident took place in darkness at 8:47 p.m., and no significant weather problems were reported. As of Thursday, authorities had not identified the cause of the accident. However, The New York Times on Thursday, citing an “internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report” it reviewed, reported that staffing at the airport’s air traffic control tower was “not normal” Wednesday night. The newspaper said a single air traffic controller was directing incoming and outgoing plane traffic as well as helicopter traffic in the area. Those jobs are usually split between two controllers. Experts consider crash an anomaly Aviation experts said as tragic as the accident was, it should be considered an anomaly in an air traffic system that has been notably free of major disasters for many years. “Some of it was luck. Some of it is technology. And mostly it was the tremendous job that the pilots and air traffic controllers do,” former United Airlines pilot Captain Ross “Rusty” Aimer told VOA. “They literally perform miracles every day because our system is extremely congested everywhere you go. … And Washington National Airport is, perhaps in my 60 years in aviation, one of the most demanding and busiest airports in the world.” It is necessary to look back to 2009 to find a comparable commercial disaster in U.S. airspace. At that time, a Colgan Air jet en route from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York, stalled during its approach and crashed into a house, killing 49 passengers and crew, as well as one individual in the house. In 2013, an Asiana Airlines jet crashed … “Washington crash mars long record of US aviation safety” →

washington — The White House says President Donald Trump is going to pursue the denuclearization of North Korea, although analysts say that is easier said than done. White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told VOA Korean via email this week that “President Trump had a good relationship with [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un,” and that Trump’s “mix of toughness and diplomacy led to the first-ever leader-level commitment to complete denuclearization.” Trump and Kim met three times in 2018-19, in Singapore, Hanoi and over the inter-Korean border at Panmunjom. Trump, who has recently called North Korea “a nuclear power,” said in an interview with Fox News last week that he would reach out to Kim again, adding, “He liked me, and I got along with him.” Commitment to denuclearization Former U.S. government officials say there is no doubt that Trump is serious about resuming talks with Kim. Susan Thornton, a former senior U.S. diplomat for Asian affairs, told VOA Korean on Wednesday via email it “seems clear that President Trump plans to pick up where he left off with Kim Jong Un in his first administration.”    Thornton, who was acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs during the first Trump administration, said Trump would “like to hold Kim and North Korea to the 2018 Singapore joint statement that included Kim’s commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”     However, “much has changed since then, and Kim’s hand is stronger, so it won’t be easy,” Thornton said, referring to Pyongyang’s development of more advanced weapons. The state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, reported Wednesday that Kim said it was “indispensable” to bolster nuclear forces, as North Korea continues to face “confrontations with the most vicious, hostile countries.” Last Saturday, the North test-fired what it said were sea-to-surface strategic cruise-guided missiles. Kim, who inspected the test launch, said the country’s war deterrence means are “being perfected more thoroughly,” according to KCNA. Evans Revere, former acting secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs during the George W. Bush administration, told VOA Korean on the phone Wednesday that Kim would agree to come back to the table if he believed reengaging with Washington “could help him attain any of his own goals with respect to his nuclear and missile programs and relations with the United States.” Revere is skeptical that any of Kim’s goals … “Experts: Trump faces tough task to denuclearize North Korea “ →

Braver Angels, a nonprofit organization, aims to bridge the political divide by fostering civil dialogue across differences. We take a brief look at one of their initiatives, the 1:1 Conversation, where individuals with opposing views spend a couple of hours engaging in meaningful discussion. …

All passengers are feared dead after an American Airline jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided midair with a U.S. Army helicopter with three soldiers onboard late Wednesday. While officials investigate the exact cause, President Donald Trump suggested government diversity hiring programs as a possible reason for the crash near Reagan Washington National Airport. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has the story. …

After the brief diplomatic standoff between Presidents Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump, relations between Colombia and the United States face an uncertain outlook.  Will this clash have consequences for the future? Click here for the full story in Spanish. …

A decades-old U.S. government ban on federally licensed firearms dealers selling handguns to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court held on Thursday, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings expanding gun rights. The ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals marked the first time a federal appeals court has held that the prohibition violated the right to keep and bear arms enshrined in the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. The appeals court had previously upheld that same ban in 2012. But that was before the 6-3 conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that established a new test for assessing modern firearms laws. In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court held that modern gun restrictions were required to be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” The federal ban on sales to people under 21 was first adopted by Congress in 1968 as part of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. A group of individuals between the ages of 18 and 20 along with the gun rights groups the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation challenged the ban in 2020 and was appealing a lower-court judge’s decision upholding the statutes. U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones, writing for Thursday’s three-judge panel, said that decision was wrong, as the statutes were “unconstitutional in light of our Nation’s historic tradition of firearm regulation.” The U.S. Department of Justice during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s tenure had defended the ban. But Jones said it put forth “scant” evidence to show that the gun rights of adults ages 18 to 20 were similarly restricted during the nation’s founding era in the 1700s. “Ultimately, the text of the Second Amendment includes eighteen-to-twenty-year-old individuals among “the people” whose right to keep and bear arms is protected,” wrote Jones, who like the other panel members was appointed by a Republican president. Brandon Combs, the Firearms Policy Coalition’s president, in a statement called the ruling a victory against “an immoral and unconstitutional age-based gun ban.” The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. …

Washington — Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, portrayed himself Thursday as the right leader of a law enforcement agency he said had lost public trust and told senators he would commit himself to “due process and transparency” if confirmed as director. At his confirmation hearing, Patel braced for deeply skeptical questioning from Senate Democrats about his loyalty to the president and stated desire to overhaul the bureau. He is a Trump loyalist who, before being nominated to lead the FBI, railed against the bureau over its investigations into the president and said that Jan. 6 rioters were mistreated by the Justice Department. Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the FBI is critical in keeping America safe from terrorism, violent crime and other threats, and the nation “needs an FBI director who understands the gravity of this mission and is ready on day one, not someone who is consumed by his own personal political grievances.” Patel was picked in November to replace Christopher Wray, who led the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency for more than seven years but was forced out of the job Trump had appointed him to after being seen as insufficiently loyal to him. A former aide to the House Intelligence Committee and an ex-federal prosecutor who served in Trump’s first administration, Patel has alarmed critics with rhetoric — in dozens of podcasts and books he has authored — in which he has demonstrated fealty to Trump and assailed the decision-making of the agency he’s now been asked to lead. He’s also identified by name officials he believes should be investigated. In one such podcast interview last year, he said that if he oversaw the FBI, he would “shut down” the bureau’s headquarters building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington and “reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state.’” “And I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to go chase down criminals. Go be cops,” he added. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Wednesday night, Patel did not address some of his more incendiary comments or criticism of the FBI, except to say that his time as a House staffer investigating flaws in the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation had shown him how “the FBI’s immense powers can be abused.” “I spearheaded the investigation that found … “Trump’s FBI chief pick, Kash Patel, says bureau has lost trust which he will restore” →

President Donald Trump is widely expected to impose tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada as early as February 1 as part of a plan he says will boost the U.S. economy. But with much about the specifics still unknown, economists, business owners and everyday consumers are still trying to understand how it could impact them. Johny Fernandez reports from New York City. (Produced by: Bakhtiyar Zamanov) …