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Both U.S. President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump reacted Sunday to the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. Given its strategic interests in the Middle East, the U.S. is expected to keep a close eye on what lies ahead in Syria. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports. …

Washington — Celebrities, cultural icons and a few surprise guests are gathering for the annual Kennedy Center Honors celebration Sunday evening in Washington.  This year’s recipients of the lifetime achievement award for artistic accomplishment are director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, the Grateful Dead, jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, and singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt. In addition, the venerable Harlem theater The Apollo, which has launched generations of Black artists, is being recognized.  There will be personalized tributes with performances and testimonials from fellow artists during the gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Medallions were presented during the traditional Saturday night ceremony at the State Department.  The tribute performances are often kept secret from the recipients themselves, most notably in 2018 when Cyndi Lauper flat out lied to her longtime friend Cher about being unable to attend. Lauper appeared on stage to perform Cher’s hit, “If I Could Turn Back Time.”  Several of the latest honorees have themselves participated in past tributes to friends and colleagues at the Kennedy Center.  Coppola spoke during fellow director Martin Scorsese’s induction in 2007. Sandoval performed in the tribute to his mentor, jazz trumpet legend Dizzy Gillespie. Raitt has taken part in tributes to Buddy Guy and Mavis Staples. Raitt even attended the Kennedy Center Honors in the 1970s when her father, Broadway performer John Raitt, was taking part in a tribute to composer Richard Rogers.  The tribute to the Grateful Dead is expected to double as a memorial to the band’s founding bass player Phil Lesh, who died in October at age 84.  This could also be the last Kennedy Center Honors ceremony without political intrigue for a while.  During Republican Donald Trump’s first four years in office, Kennedy Center officials were forced to walk a public tightrope between the tradition of the president attending the ceremony and the open antipathy toward Trump from multiple honorees. In 2017, recipient Norman Lear threatened to boycott his own ceremony if Trump attended. Trump, who takes office in January, skipped the ceremony for the entirety of his first term.  Democratic President Joe Biden is scheduled to host a reception for the honorees at the White House and plans to attend the Kennedy Center ceremony afterward.  The show will air on CBS on Dec. 22.  …

U.S. President Joe Biden declared Sunday that the sudden demise of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad was a “fundamental act of justice,” but that it was “a moment of uncertainty” for the Mideast. Biden, speaking at the White House, said the collapse of the decades-long iron rule by the Assad family was “the best opportunity in a generation for the Syrian people to forge their own destiny.” Biden said that action by the U.S. and its allies over the last two years weakened Syria’s backers — Russia, Iran and Iran-supported Hezbollah militants in Lebanon — to the extent that “for the first time” they could no longer defend the Assad government. “Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East,” Biden said, after a meeting with his national security advisers at the White House. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that Assad had fled his country, which his family had ruled for decades, because close ally Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, “was not interested in protecting him any longer.” Trump’s comments on his social media platform came a day after he decried the possibility that the U.S. might intervene militarily in Syria to aid the rebels as they moved to oust Assad, declaring, “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.” The Biden administration had no intention of intervening, according to Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. The U.S has about 900 troops in Syria, including forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group. Biden said he intends for those troops to remain, adding that U.S. forces on Sunday conducted “dozens” of what he called “precision airstrikes” on Islamic State camps and operations in Syria. Biden said the U.S. is “clear eyed” that ISIS will try to take advantage of the situation in Syria. The Syrian opposition that brought down Assad is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The Biden administration has designated the group as a terrorist organization and says it has links to al-Qaida, although Hayat Tahrir al-Sham says it has since broken ties with al-Qaida. “We will remain vigilant,” Biden said. “Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses.” He added that the groups are “saying the right things now.” “But as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just … “Biden: Assad’s Syrian collapse a ‘fundamental act of justice’” →

Washington — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to make swift and sweeping changes as he takes office on January 20, deporting millions of migrants in the country illegally, imposing tariffs on imported goods that could raise consumer prices for Americans and pardoning rioters who tried to upend his 2020 reelection loss. Six weeks ahead of taking office for a new four-year tenure in the White House, Trump seemed emboldened by his victory last month, making him only the second American president elected to a second, nonconsecutive term after Grover Cleveland in the 1890s. “People like me now, you know?” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview conducted Friday in New York and broadcast Sunday. “It’s different than the first — you know, when I won the first time [in 2016], I wasn’t nearly as popular as this,” he said. “And one thing that’s very important, in terms of the election, I love that I won the popular vote, and by a lot,” with about a 2.3 million-vote margin in his defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris out of the 155 million ballots that were cast. But Trump, a Republican, also lapsed into familiar grievances, refusing as he has for four years to concede he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden because of unfounded claims of fraudulent balloting and vote counting. Asked by NBC anchor Kristen Welker how, in his view, Democrats were able to steal that election but not the one a month ago, Trump said, “Because I think it was too big to rig.” Trump blamed Biden for the nation’s political divide and heaped insults on his perceived foes, including the nine-member House of Representatives committee that spent more than a year examining the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters trying to block lawmakers from certifying that Biden had won the 2020 election. He called the seven Democrats and two Republicans on the investigative panel “political thugs and, you know, creeps. For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail.” Trump said that on his first day in office he would be “acting very quickly” to pardon many of the more than 1,200 people convicted of an array of offenses linked to the rioting at the Capitol. Many of them have already completed their prison sentences while others have years to go or have to be tried. He has … “Trump: Sweeping changes starting on 1st day he takes office “ →

The oldest known wild bird in the world has laid an egg at the ripe age of about 74, her first in four years, U.S. wildlife officials said.  The long-winged seabird named Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago and laid what experts estimate may be her 60th egg, the Pacific Region of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said in a Facebook post this week.  Wisdom and her mate, Akeakamai, had returned to the atoll in the Pacific Ocean to lay and hatch eggs since 2006. Laysan albatrosses mate for life and lay one egg per year. But Akeakamai has not been seen for several years, and Wisdom began interacting with another male when she returned last week, officials said.  “We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, said in a statement. Every year, millions of seabirds return to the refuge to nest and raise their young.  Albatross parents take turns incubating an egg for about two months. Chicks fly out to sea about five to six months after hatching. They spend most of their lives flying over the ocean and feeding on squid and fish eggs.  Wisdom was first banded as an adult in 1956 and has raised as many as 30 chicks, Plissner said.  The typical lifespan of a Laysan albatross is 68 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. …

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA — Richard Andre Newman thought he would live the rest of his life in his quiet, leafy neighborhood in suburban Virginia. He was born and raised in Bren Mar Park, where children ride their bikes and neighbors wave hello. But now, as he’s approaching 60, he’s considering selling his Fairfax County home and moving away. That’s because he’s getting a new neighbor: Plaza 500, a 466,000-square-foot data center and an adjacent electrical substation to be built a few hundred feet from townhomes, playgrounds and a community center. Newman feels helpless to stop it. “I planned on staying here until I died,” he said, “until this came up.” The sprawling, windowless warehouses that hold rows of high-speed servers powering almost everything the world does on phones and computers are increasingly becoming fixtures of the American landscape, popping up in towns, cities and suburbs across the United States. Demand for data centers ballooned in recent years due to the rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and local governments are competing for lucrative deals with big tech companies. But as data centers begin to move into more densely populated areas, abutting homes and schools, parks and recreation centers, some residents are pushing back against the world’s most powerful corporations over concerns about the economic, social and environmental health of their communities. Tyler Ray, a vocal critic of data centers and leader in the fight against the Virginia project, said the incentives offered are not enough to counteract the consequences of building a facility so close to homes. “All that we are asking for is, as the county is trying to bring in this data center income, that they are doing it in a way that doesn’t run residents away from their homes,” he said. Dotting the hills in Northern Virginia In Northern Virginia, more than 300 data centers dot the rolling hills of the area’s westernmost counties. Cyclists who ride the popular Washington & Old Dominion trail are at times flanked by data centers, and the thousands of commuters who head into the nation’s capital each day can see them in the distance from the Metro. Plaza 500, one of the latest proposals in the area, is encroaching on neighborhoods like never before, said Newman, who heads a homeowners association in the community. The pitch from Starwood Capital Group, the private investment firm founded by billionaire Barry Sternlicht, to Fairfax … “As data centers proliferate, conflict with local communities follows” →

PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII — Ira “Ike” Schab, a 104-year-old Pearl Harbor attack survivor, was so determined to stand and salute during a remembrance ceremony honoring those killed in the Japanese bombing that thrust the U.S. into World War II some 83 years ago that he spent six weeks in physical therapy to build the strength to do so. On Saturday, Schab gingerly rose from his wheelchair and raised his right hand, returning a salute delivered by sailors on a destroyer and a submarine passing by in the harbor. His son and a daughter supported him from either side. “I was honored to do it. I’m glad I was capable of standing up,” he said afterward. “I’m getting old, you know.” Schab is one of only two servicemen who lived through the attack who made it to an annual observance hosted by the U.S. Navy and National Park Service on a grass field overlooking the harbor. A third survivor had been planning to join them but had to cancel because of health issues. The December 7, 1941, bombing killed more than 2,300 U.S. servicemen. Nearly half, or 1,177, were sailors and Marines on board the USS Arizona, which sank during the battle. The remains of more than 900 Arizona crew members are still entombed on the submerged vessel. Dozens of survivors once joined the event but their attendance has declined as survivors have aged. Today there are only 16 still living, according to a list maintained by Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. Military historian J. Michael Wenger has estimated there were some 87,000 military personnel on Oahu on the day of the attack. Schab agreed when ceremony organizers asked him earlier this year to salute on behalf of all survivors and World War II veterans. “He’s been working hard, because this is his goal,” said his daughter Kimberlee Heinrichs, who traveled to Hawaii with Schab from their Beaverton, Oregon, home. “He wanted to be able to stand for that.” Schab was a sailor on the USS Dobbin at the time of the attack, serving as the tuba player in the ship’s band. He had showered and put on a clean uniform when he heard the call for a fire rescue party. He hurried topside to see Japanese planes flying overhead and the USS Utah capsizing. He quickly went back below deck to … “Pearl Harbor survivors, ages 104 and 102, return to Hawaii for attack anniversary” →

LOS ANGELES — The White House said Saturday that U.S. priorities in Syria now are to ensure the country’s conflict does not encourage a resurgence of the Islamic State militant group or lead to a “humanitarian catastrophe.” U.S. President Joe Biden and his team are monitoring the “extraordinary events in Syria” are in touch with regional partners, the White House said on Saturday. “President Biden and his team are closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners,” the White House said in a statement. Spillover “is a concern,” said national security adviser Jake Sullivan, with particular worry about the so-called Islamic State, also known as ISIS. In previous phases of Syria’s long-running civil war, “at its worst, we saw the explosion of ISIS onto the scene,” he said at a conference in Simi Valley, California run by the Reagan National Defense Forum. The main priority is to ensure “that the fighting in Syria not lead to a resurgence of ISIS,” Sullivan said. “We are going to take steps ourselves, directly and working with the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurds, to ensure that does not happen.” The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria, including U.S. forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group, according to The Associated Press. Gen. Bryan Fenton, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told the AP he would not want to speculate on how the upheaval in Syria would affect the U.S. military’s footprint in the country. “It’s still too early to tell,” he said. What would not change is the focus on disrupting IS operations in Syria and protecting U.S. troops, Fenton said during a panel at the Reagan event. Rebel forces are in the midst of a lightning offensive and say they have begun to encircle Syria’s capital, Damascus. Sullivan said the Biden administration is working to ensure allies Israel, Jordan, Iraq and others in the region, “who would potentially face spillover effects from Syria, are strong and secure, and we’re in touch with them every day.” Washington is also alert to stopping a “humanitarian catastrophe, both in terms of civilians, access to life-saving necessities, and in terms of the protection of religious and ethnic minorities in Syria,” Sullivan said. “Of course, an event like this happens and ISIS immediately looks to take advantage. We have seen reports of ISIS trying … “White House on guard against Islamic State resurgence in Syria” →

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote next week on an annual defense bill that includes just over $3 billion for U.S. telecom companies to remove equipment made by Chinese telecoms firms Huawei and ZTE 000063.SZ from American wireless networks to address security risks. The 1,800-page text was released late Saturday and includes other provisions aimed at China, including requiring a report on Chinese efforts to evade U.S. national security regulations and an intelligence assessment of the current status of China’s biotechnology capabilities. The Federal Communications Commission has said removing the insecure equipment is estimated to cost $4.98 billion but Congress previously only approved $1.9 billion for the “rip and replace” program. Washington has aggressively urged U.S. allies to purge Huawei and other Chinese gear from their wireless networks. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel last week again called on the U.S. Congress to provide urgent additional funding, saying the program to replace equipment in the networks of 126 carriers faces a $3.08 billion shortfall “putting both our national security and the connectivity of rural consumers who depend on these networks at risk.” She has warned the lack of funding could result in some rural networks shutting down, which “could eliminate the only provider in some regions” and could threaten 911 service. Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan on Saturday praised the announcement, saying “funding is desperately needed to fulfill the mandate to remove and replace covered equipment and services while maintaining connectivity for tens of millions of Americans.” In 2019, Congress told the FCC to require U.S. telecoms carriers that receive federal subsidies to purge their networks of Chinese telecoms equipment. The White House in 2023 asked for $3.1 billion for the program. Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell said funding for the program and up to $500 million for regional tech hubs will be covered by funds generated from a one-time spectrum auction by the FCC for advanced wireless spectrum in the band known as AWS-3 to help meet rising spectrum demands of wireless consumers.  …

MINNEAPOLIS — A pair of iconic ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago fetched $28 million in an auction Saturday. Heritage Auctions had estimated that they would fetch $3 million or more. Online bidding opened last month and by Friday had reached $1.55 million, or $1.91 million including the buyer’s premium, a commission that the buyer pays, said Robert Wilonsky, a vice president with the Dallas-based auction house. More than 800 people were tracking the slippers, and the company’s web page for the auction had hit nearly 43,000 page views by Thursday, he said. As Rhys Thomas, author of the book, The Ruby Slippers of Oz, puts it, the sequined shoes from the beloved 1939 musical have seen “more twists and turns than the Yellow Brick Road.” They were on display at the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 when Terry Jon Martin used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018. Martin, now 77, who lives near Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, wasn’t publicly exposed as the thief until he was indicted in May 2023. He pleaded guilty in October 2023. He was in a wheelchair and on supplementary oxygen when he was sentenced last January to time served because of his poor health. His attorney, Dane DeKrey, explained ahead of sentencing that Martin, who had a long history of burglary and receiving stolen property, was attempting to pull off “one last score” after an old associate with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value. But a fence — a person who buys stolen goods — later told him the rubies were just glass, DeKrey said. So Martin got rid of the slippers. The attorney didn’t specify how. The alleged fence, Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, of the Minneapolis suburb of Crystal, was indicted in March. He was also in a wheelchair and on oxygen when he made his first court appearance. He’s scheduled to go on trial in January and hasn’t entered a plea, though his attorney has said he’s not guilty. The shoes were returned in February to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw, who had lent them … “Garland’s ruby slippers from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ auctioned for $28M” →

WASHINGTON — The United States on Saturday announced a new $988 million military assistance package for Ukraine as Washington races to provide aid to Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.  It nearly halves the available $2.21 billion remaining in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) as the Biden administration works to commit to buying weapons from industry, rather than pull from U.S. weapons stocks.  Trump’s victory in the November election has cast doubt on the future of American aid for Ukraine, providing a limited window for billions of dollars in already authorized assistance to be provided before he is sworn in next month.   The package features drones, ammunition for precision HIMARS rocket launchers, and equipment and spare parts for artillery systems, tanks and armored vehicles, the Pentagon said in a statement.  The Biden administration has often used Presidential Drawdown Authority, which authorizes President Joe Biden to transfer excess articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval during an emergency.  The USAI funds are separate and will go to purchase new weapons from the defense industry or partners rather than drawn from American stocks, meaning it will not immediately arrive on the battlefield.  It follows a $725 million package announced Monday that included a second tranche of landmines as well as anti-air and anti-armor weapons.  The outgoing U.S. administration is working to get as much aid as possible to Ukraine before Trump — who has repeatedly criticized U.S. assistance for Kyiv and claimed he could secure a ceasefire within hours — takes over.  Trump’s comments have triggered fears in Kyiv and Europe about the future of U.S. aid, and Ukraine’s ability to withstand Russian attacks in the absence of further American support.  The United States has spearheaded the push for international support for Ukraine, quickly forging a coalition to back Kyiv after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 and coordinating aid from dozens of countries.  Ukraine’s international supporters have since then provided tens of billions of dollars in weapons, ammunition, training and other security aid that has been key to helping Kyiv resist Russian forces.  The Biden administration still has about $6 billion of congressionally granted presidential drawdown authority, including funds authorized in 2024 and funds discovered by the Pentagon after overestimating the value of arms shipped to Ukraine.  Since the Russian invasion in February 2022 the U.S. has committed more than $62 billion worth of security assistance to … “US announces nearly $1 billion in military aid for Ukraine” →

NEW YORK — New York’s mayor said Saturday “the net is tightening” on the man suspected of gunning down a top health insurance executive before fleeing the city.  Mayor Eric Adams said detectives knew the name of the fresh-faced suspect, an image of whom was released by investigators Thursday and who has now been on the run for almost four days.  Adams praised “the manner in which (investigators) were able to follow his footsteps to recover evidence — some of it is known, some of it is unknown — but the net is tightening and we’re going to bring this person to justice,” he said, the New York Post reported.  Adams was quoted by the Post as saying the police were withholding the suspect’s name for now.  “We don’t want to release that,” the mayor said. “If you do, you are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking, and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all. Let him continue to believe he can hide behind the mask.”  “We revealed his face,” the mayor continued, referring to numerous security camera photos and video released after Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare was gunned down. And eventually, “we’re going to reveal who he is and we’re going to bring him to justice,” Adams said.  The masked assailant was caught on camera entering a bus station in a northern neighborhood of Manhattan in the wake of Wednesday’s slaying, but he could not be identified exiting the facility on foot, a police spokesperson confirmed to Agence France-Presse.  “They believe he’s not in New York City,” the spokesperson added.  The image of the smiling suspect was obtained from a youth hostel where the gunman apparently stayed before the hit, detectives said, with media reporting he lowered his mask to flirt with a receptionist.  The FBI, which said it was assisting the New York police, offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his capture.  ‘Delay’ and ‘deny’  The gunman on Wednesday sprayed Thompson of United Healthcare — one of the country’s largest medical insurers — with bullets in front of bystanders, in an audacious attack captured by a surveillance camera and now seen by millions.  Thompson was attending an investor conference in the Midtown business district.  Police have yet to suggest a motive and would not confirm media reports that the words “delay” and “deny” — … “‘Net is tightening’ on man suspected of shooting executive, says official” →

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday the U.S. should not be involved in the conflict in Syria, where rebel forces are threatening the government of President Bashar Assad. “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. Trump said because Russia, an Assad ally, is tied up fighting a war with Ukraine, it “seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.” If Russia were forced out of Syria, it “may actually be the best thing that can happen to them” because “there was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia,” Trump said. Trump’s comments appeared to reflect his opposition to the presence of some 900 U.S. troops in Syria, mostly of them in the northeast, where they have backed a Syrian Kurd-led alliance in preventing a resurgence of Islamic State militants. Trump announced in 2018 during his first term that he wanted to withdraw the U.S. troops because he said Islamic State was near defeat. But he held off as advisers warned that a pullout would leave a void that would be filled by Iran and Russia. …