Author: PolitCens

New York — Paul McCartney’s previous New York-area performance took place three years ago at MetLife Stadium, capacity 82,500. His surprise show Tuesday night at the Bowery Ballroom fit, at most, 575.

It was probably less than that since McCartney’s sound board and gear — too much to fit backstage — occupied a portion of the floor space at the venerable downtown theater. The whole thing felt like, and was, a lark. McCartney announced the show just hours before taking the stage.

Like an echo of Beatlemania, the news swept through Manhattan and beyond earlier in the day, sending New Yorkers sprinting down Delancey Street for a chance to snag one of the few tickets at the Bowery. Most in attendance, including McCartney, himself, could hardly believe it was happening.

“So, here we are,” McCartney said, grinning. “Some little gig. New York. Why not?”

Later, before launching into “Let Me Roll It,” he added: “I can’t quite believe we’re here, doing this. But we are here, doing this.”

It was not McCartney’s first impromptu concert. The Beatles famously performed in 1969 atop the roof of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row in London. Since then, he’s made something of a habit of it on trips to New York.

In 2009, McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater, site of the Beatles’ famous U.S. debut, and performed above the marquee. In 2018, he popped up in Grand Central Terminal to promote the release of his “Egyptian Station.”

With temperatures in the low 30s on Tuesday, McCartney, 82, this time opted for an intimate, indoor show. Tickets were sold only physically at the venue, one per person. All were snapped up within about 30 minutes.

For those quick enough, it was like hitting the lottery.

Amy Jaffe, 69, was at home about 30 blocks north when she saw the announcement on Instagram. “I thought: I can do this,” Jaffe said before the show. “I put on jeans, grabbed a coat, called a Lyft.”

Jaffe has seen McCartney many times before, including with the Beatles in 1964 in Forrest Hills, Queens. But she was still incredulous, smiling and shaking her head: “I don’t actually believe it.”

Phil Sokoloff, 31, was on his way to work nearby when he saw the news. He ran in and told his co-worker, Mat Fuller, and they rushed over to the Bowery Ballroom.

“We just got lucky,” Sokoloff said. “I’m always learning about these things the day after.”

McCartney took the stage roughly on time at 6:30 p.m. with his regular band, along with a three-member horn section. They had only rehearsed once, the day before, McCartney said. Someone shouted: “You don’t need to rehearse!”

If the location was stripped down, the former Beatle didn’t come with a minimized show, packing in a blistering tour through his entire catalog, from Beatles classics to Wings hits. He began with “A Hard Day’s Night” and also performed “Got To Get You Into My Life,” “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Lady Madonna,” “Jet,” “Get Back,” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude.”

“Blackbird” was a solo number on acoustic guitar, and afterward McCartney reflected on how he wrote it for the Civil Rights Movement, a memory that brought back his first trips to the United States.

“We were just kids,” McCartney said. “I’ve got grandchildren older than that now.”

In the early days, he said, he and John Lennon were always writing for the audience, and the songs were all about reaching out: “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “From Me to You.”

“It had everything to do with the fans, really,” McCartney said.

Before playing the Wings song “Mrs. Vanderbilt,” McCartney spoke of playing it in front of 350,000 people in Kyiv, when Ukraine was exuberant with a newfound freedom. “Let’s hope it gets back to that soon,” he said.

Conversation, mixed with shouts from the audience, peppered the set. After one particularly shrill scream, McCartney responded. “That was a Beatles scream.” Then he asked for more, saying, “OK, let’s get it out of the way. Girls, give me a Beatles scream.” All in attendance obliged.

McCartney also performed the so-called last Beatles song, “Now and Then,” a ballad penned by Lennon in the late ’70s but only released in 2023 with the help of the some of the technology used in Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary, “The Beatles: Get Back.” The song made McCartney wistful for his songwriting partner, whom he noted loved New York.

“Let’s hear it for John,” he said.

McCartney, who was spotted Sunday at the Super Bowl in New Orleans chatting with Adam Sandler, was in New York for the upcoming “Saturday Night Live” 50th anniversary festivities. He’s to be a guest on the star-studded television special Sunday.

It was unclear if McCartney was playing a single show or preparing for something more. He wrapped the Got Back Tour in December and has said he’s hoping to finish a new album this year.

For now, though, it was a one-night-only event. One crowd member asked McCartney if it could go all night. “Some of us need to get some sleep, you know,” he replied.
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NEW YORK — A giant schnauzer named Monty won the top prize at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show Tuesday night.

Monty bested six other finalists to take best in show at Madison Square Garden. The award is considered the most prestigious prize in the U.S. dog show world.

Each dog is judged according to how closely it matches the ideal for its breed.

Winners get a trophy, ribbons and bragging rights, but no cash prize.

Other finalists included a bichon frisé called Neal, a Skye terrier named Archer, a whippet and repeat runner-up known as Bourbon, a shih tzu called Comet who’s been a finalist before, a German shepherd named Mercedes, who came in second last year, and an English springer spaniel called Freddie.

Monty made the finals for a third year in a row and won the huge American Kennel Club’s big show in December.

A Westminster win is considered the most prestigious award in the U.S. dog show world. Each dog is judged according to how closely it matches the ideal for its breed.

Winners get a trophy, ribbons and bragging rights, but no cash prize.

Every dog at Westminster is a titled champion, but they also are household pets. Some also do therapy work, search-and-rescue or other canine jobs.

“A good German shepherd is an all-purpose dog,” said co-breeder and co-owner Sheree Moses Combs of Wardensville, West Virginia. Some of her pups have become service dogs for wounded veterans, she said.

“Dog shows are fun, but that is what our breed is all about,” she said.

Big dogs had their day at Westminster on Tuesday, when “working” breeds had their turns in the ring. First-round competitor Brina, for instance, is a 71.6 kilogram Neapolitan mastiff.

“I’ve been struck by this breed since I was 12. … They’re so unique,” owner Yves Belmont, Ph.D., said as Brina napped in her crate, equipped with a 7.5-liter water bucket.

With their size, jowly heads and guard-dog history, the breed was developed to be imposing. But Belmont, who currently has several of them at his family’s Atlanta-area home, said he also is impressed by their intelligence.

A trip to Westminster is a reminder of dogs’ variety, even just among purebreds. The same day Brina competed, Tyra the miniature bull terrier also strutted her stuff. Formally called GCH CH Rnr’s Top Model, she’s named after fashion model Tyra Banks.

The hardy terrier breed is “a big dog in a small package, but they always keep you smiling,” said owner and co-breeder Jessica Harrison of Austin, Texas. Asked where the 2-year-old Tyra falls on the mischief meter, Harrison smiled, “like a nine, for sure.”

“You can’t be upset with them because they’re just so cute,” she said as Tyra rolled on her back to get a belly rub from a passerby at the Javits Center, the convention venue that hosted the first-round judging of each breed.

Regardless which dog gets the trophy at Westminster, others also have scored points with the crowd.

During two nights of semifinals, spectators shouted out breeds and names of canine competitors as if they played for one of the pro teams that call the Garden home, the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers.

“Love you, Lumpy!” someone yelled to a Pekingese named Lumpy, who earned laughs for his ambling gait.

The arena erupted with cheers for a golden retriever named Tuffy, a representative of a popular breed that has never won. Calaco, a Xoloitzcuintli, got huge applause for a confident performance that also earned him some recognition from the judge. Xoloitzcuintlis, are hairless dogs with deep roots in Mexico.

A Doberman pinscher called Penny got whoops of approval from spectators, too. Despite her dignified, focused appearance, Penny can be “a mush,” breeder and co-owner Theresa Connors-Chan of Ontario, Canada, said earlier in the day.

Westminster also featured agility and obedience championships, held Saturday. The agility prize went to a border collie named Vanish, and an Australian shepherd called Willie triumphed in obedience.
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WASHINGTON — After the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba last week, the two nations voiced alignment on Trump’s “peace through strength” approach toward countering China in the Indo-Pacific region, analysts said.

“The prime minister and I will be working closely together to maintain peace and security — and I also say – peace through strength all over the Indo-Pacific,” said Trump, at a press conference after his meeting Friday with Ishiba in Washington.

“We agreed to cooperate even more closely to combat the Chinese economic aggression, which is quite aggressive,” Trump said.

Ishiba said: “Further strengthening the strong and unwavering Japan-U.S. alliance to achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific” is key “to advance the national interests of both of our countries in synergy and to realize peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”

Analysts say the first official meeting between Trump and Ishiba succeeded in striking agreements on what both leaders consider crucial: combating China’s aggression and strengthening their national interests.

Security commitment

Ishiba continued to forge close ties with the U.S. to maintain multilateral alliance security cooperation close to home in the Indo-Pacific, while Trump secured Japanese investments and purchases.

Taken together, analysts say, Ishiba is aligned with Trump’s vision of making the U.S. strong at home in his “America First” approach as a prerequisite for maintaining peace through strength in the Indo-Pacific, a region crucial to Japan’s defense.

“The U.S.-Japan leaders’ communiqué went a long way to reaffirm Trump’s peace through strength approach to the Indo-Pacific,” said Kenneth Weinstein, the Japan chair at Hudson Institute.

“The U.S.-Japan leaders’ communiqué, which President Trump signed off on, highlighted the importance of multilateral networks in the Indo-Pacific,” Weinstein told VOA on Sunday.

“The two leaders intend to advance multilayered and aligned cooperation” with the Quad security dialogue and three separate trilateral ties with South Korea, Australia and the Philippines “to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Trump and Ishiba said in a joint statement.

There were concerns by some that Trump would not support alliance security formations aimed at maintaining peace and security in the region.

“A big concern on the part of the Japanese” was whether the Biden administration’s emphasis “on the centrality of alliance” or the “so-called multilayered structures” or “mini laterals” would continue, said Daniel Sneider, a lecturer in East Asian Studies at Stanford University.

Sneider told VOA on Monday, “It was reassuring for the Japanese and for those in the U.S. who are worried whether those types of policies would have continuity that there was at least a written affirmation of those things in the joint statement.”

In their joint statement, Trump and Ishiba also expressed “strong opposition” to China’s attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea and its unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea.

They also expressed support for Taiwan’s “meaningful participation in international organizations” and opposed China’s efforts to disturb stability across the Taiwan Strait.

At a press briefing held in Beijing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun, said, “The part of the U.S.-Japan joint statement on China constitutes open interference in China’s domestic affairs and an attack and smear against China, which is also aimed at scaremongering in the region.”

Increased investment

Trump announced at the press conference that Japan will invest $1 trillion in the U.S., participate in the Alaska LNG project, and invest in, rather than buy, U.S. Steel.

In one of the first executive orders Trump signed on Jan. 20, he made Alaskan natural resources open to development and production and its liquefied natural gas available for sale to U.S. allied nations within the Pacific region.

Ishiba said, “An unprecedented investment” from Japan to the U.S. and the Japanese investments in U.S. Steel are “mutually beneficial” and “contribute not only to the United States and Japan but also to the whole world.”  

Weinstein, at Hudson, said, “The announcement of a trillion dollars in foreign investment in the U.S. was the landmark moment, as was the announcement of the investments in the LNG sector” and “the pending U.S. Steel investment.”

“Ishiba is supporting what is in Japan’s best interest: an alliance with minimal distance between the U.S. and Japan,” he said. “So he understands he needs to back the America First approach to continue alignment with the Trump administration. A strong America is the best guarantee for global peace and stability.”

In explaining what foreign policy would look like under the Trump administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during his confirmation hearing in January, emphasized “a foreign policy centered on our national interest” and making the U.S. strong first at home as the prerequisite for maintaining peace and security around the world.

“Ishiba respects Trump’s America First” policy, but he is also a “Japan first” prime minister, said Yuki Tatsumi, director of the Japan Program at the Stimson Center.

She told VOA on Friday that “both leaders gained. Trump got a commitment of increased investment by Japan in the U.S., while Ishiba gained Trump’s articulation of the U.S. commitment to the defense of Japanese territory, including the Senkaku Islands, and the joint statement in which U.S.-Japan support for Taiwan was articulated.”

In the joint statement, Ishiba and Trump underscored the United States’ “unwavering commitment” to defending Japan using its full range of capabilities, including nuclear capabilities. The two also “reiterated their strong opposition to any action that seeks to undermine Japan’s long and peaceful administration of the Senkaku Islands.”

There is “continuity” from the Biden administration to the Trump administration, Tatsumi said, and that is to make U.S.-Japan ties “the hub of alliance cooperation and partnership across the Indo-Pacific.”
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WASHINGTON — Russia released American schoolteacher Marc Fogel on Tuesday following an unannounced visit to Moscow by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and he was headed for a White House welcome, U.S. President Donald Trump said.

The release of 63-year-old Fogel, who had been detained in Russia since August 2021 and was serving a 14-year sentence, came as Trump seeks to improve relations with Moscow as part of an effort to secure an end to the war in Ukraine.

Trump told reporters that Fogel would visit the White House on his return to the U.S. late on Tuesday, and White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said he would also be reunited Tuesday night with his family, who celebrated the news.

On a plane home, Fogel, who is from Pennsylvania, was shown with a raised glass, a cheese plate and his U.S. passport in a photo posted on social media by Trump’s chief hostage envoy Adam Boehler.

Asked what the United States gave up in exchange for Fogel, Trump said: “Not much” and called the release a show of good faith from the Russians.

“We were treated very nicely by Russia. Actually, I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that (Ukraine) war and millions of people can stop being killed,” Trump said.

Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug smuggling after he was detained in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in August 2021 with 17 grams of marijuana in his luggage. The marijuana had been medically prescribed in Pennsylvania, where it is legal, said Martin De Luca, a member of Fogel’s legal team.

Witkoff’s plane was on the ground in Moscow for a few hours before leaving with Fogel onboard, flying through central Europe and back to Washington, De Luca told Reuters.

“We are beyond grateful, relieved, and overwhelmed that after more than three years of detention, our father, husband, and son, Marc Fogel, is finally coming home,” the Fogel family said in a statement.

“This has been the darkest and most painful period of our lives, but today, we begin to heal.”

Fogel’s Russian lawyer Dmitry Ovsyannikov confirmed the release to state news agency RIA.

“For the moment, we don’t know on what grounds he was released from where he was serving time – a pardon or something else,” Ovsyannikov told TASS.

He told Russia’s Interfax news agency that Fogel was last week transferred from a prison in Rybinsk, north of Moscow, to a pre-trial detention center in Moscow ahead of his release.

Fogel was left out of a historic swap of prisoners in August that involved 24 prisoners – 16 sent from Russia to the West, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and eight sent back to Russia from the West.

Trump has indicated he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin but has been vague on the details other than to say he is insistent on ending the three-year-old Ukraine war.

“We’re making good progress there. I think, I really think we’re making some very good progress,” Trump told reporters about Ukraine on Tuesday.
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WASHINGTON — The White House fired the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development on Tuesday, several U.S. officials said. The dismissal comes a day after his office warned that the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian funds. 

The White House gave no reason for the firing of Inspector General Paul Martin, one of the officials said. The dismissal was first reported by CNN. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. 

Inspectors general are typically independently funded watchdogs tasked with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse at government agencies. The Trump administration earlier purged more than a dozen inspectors general. 

On Monday, Martin’s office issued a flash report warning that the Trump administration’s funding freeze and staff actions within USAID had left oversight of the humanitarian aid “largely nonoperational.” 

That includes the agency’s greatly reduced ability to ensure none of the $8.2 billion in unspent unhumanitarian funds falls into the hands of violent extremist groups or goes astray in conflict zones, the watchdog said. 

Multiparty lawsuit 

Separately, a lawsuit filed Tuesday alleged that the Trump administration’s fast-paced dismantling of USAID is stiffing American businesses on hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills for work that has already been done. 

The administration’s abrupt freeze on foreign aid also is forcing mass layoffs by U.S. suppliers and contractors for USAID, including 750 furloughs at one company, Washington-based Chemonics International, the lawsuit says. 

“One cannot overstate the impact of that unlawful course of conduct: on businesses large and small forced to shut down their programs and let employees go; on hungry children across the globe who will go without; on populations around the world facing deadly disease; and on our constitutional order,” the U.S. businesses and organizations said. 

An organization representing 170 small U.S. businesses, major suppliers, an American Jewish group aiding displaced people abroad, the American Bar Association and others joined the court challenge. 

It was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington against President Donald Trump; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; acting USAID Deputy Administrator Peter Marocco, a Trump appointee who has been a central figure in hollowing out the agency; and Russell Vought, Trump’s head of the Office of Management and Budget. 

Marocco defended the funding cutoff and push to put all but a fraction of USAID staff on leave in an affidavit filed late Monday in the lawsuit brought by the workers’ groups. 

“Insubordination” and “noncompliance” by USAID staffers made it necessary to stop funding and operations by the agency to allow the administration to carry out a program-by-program review to decide which U.S. aid programs could resume overseas, Marocco wrote. 

It is at least the third lawsuit over the administration’s rapid unraveling of the U.S. aid and development agency and its programs worldwide. Trump and ally Elon Musk have targeted USAID in particular, saying its work is out of line with Trump’s agenda. 

Marocco, Musk and Rubio have overseen an across-the-board freeze on foreign assistance and an agency shutdown under a January 20 executive order by Trump. A lawsuit brought by federal employees associations has temporarily blocked the administration from pulling thousands of USAID staffers off the job. The funding freeze and other measures have persisted, including the agency losing the lease on its Washington headquarters. 

Interceding for farmers 

The new administration terminated contracts without the required 30-day notice and without back payments for work that was already done, according to a U.S. official, a businessperson with a USAID contract and an email seen by The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal by the Trump administration. 

For Chemonics, one of the larger of the USAID partners, the funding freeze has meant $103 million in unpaid invoices and almost $500 million in USAID-ordered medication, food and other goods stalled in the supply chain or ports, the lawsuit says. 

For the health commodities alone, not delivering them “on time could potentially lead to as many as 566,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and unmet reproductive health needs, including 215,000 pediatric deaths,” the lawsuit says. 

Meanwhile, seven Republican lawmakers from farm states introduced legislation to safeguard a long-running $1.8 billion food-aid program run by the aid agency, by moving the Food for Peace program under the Department of Agriculture. 

Farmers, a politically important bloc for the Trump administration, have been affected by the administration’s funding freeze as well. Kansas Republican Senator Jerry Moran, who announced the legislation, over the weekend thanked Rubio for interceding to allow delivery of $560 million in U.S.-grown commodities intended for hunger programs worldwide but stuck in ports because of the administration’s abrupt cutoff of foreign assistance spending. 
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The latest offerings for electric vehicles take center stage at the 2025 Chicago Auto Show as some federal tax incentives could end. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more.
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Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained in Russia since August 2021 for bringing medically prescribed marijuana into the country, was freed by Moscow on Tuesday and headed back to the United States, the White House announced.

The 63-year-old history teacher, who had been serving a 14-year sentence, was expected to be reunited with his family in the eastern state of Pennsylvania by the end of the day.

He left Russian airspace aboard the personal aircraft of Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign affairs envoy who helped negotiate his release.

Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said the U.S. and Russia “negotiated an exchange” to free Fogel but gave no details about what the U.S. side of the bargain entailed. In such deals in recent years, the U.S. has often released Russian prisoners that Moscow wanted in exchange.

Instead, Waltz cast the deal for Fogel’s release in broader geopolitical terms, saying it was “a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine,” an invasion Russia launched against its neighbor in February 2022, with hundreds of thousands killed or wounded on both sides.

Trump had vowed to broker an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine before taking office Jan. 20, but his aides more recently have said he hopes to do it within the first 100 days of his new administration, roughly by the end of April.

“Since President Trump’s swearing-in, he has successfully secured the release of Americans detained around the world, and President Trump will continue until all Americans being held are returned to the United States,” Waltz said. The recent release of six Americans held in Venezuela and Fogel’s freeing are the only publicly known instances.

Fogel had been traveling with a small amount of medically prescribed marijuana to treat back pain. Once convicted by a Russian court, he began serving his 14-year sentence in June 2022, with the outgoing administration of former President Joe Biden late last year classifying him as wrongfully detained.

Witkoff is a billionaire New York real estate executive and close friend of Trump’s. He previously had helped negotiate the six-week Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza initiated by Biden in the last months of his presidency.

Witkoff also had been secretly negotiating the deal for Fogel’s release. Online flight trackers spotted his presence in Moscow when he flew there on his private jet.

With the U.S. leading the way in the West’s opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the first known trip to Moscow by a senior U.S. official since William Burns, then the Central Intelligence Agency director, flew to the Russian capital in November 2021, in an unsuccessful attempt to keep Russia from invading Ukraine.
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The Trump administration last month paused funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development amid reports that it may be put under State Department control as the president seeks to align it with his “America First” policy. Britain’s recent similar move to restructure its foreign aid could offer lessons for Washington. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S., U.K. and Australia on Tuesday sanctioned a Russian web-hosting services provider and two Russian men who administer the service in support of Russian ransomware syndicate LockBit.  

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and its U.K. and Australian counterparts sanctioned Zservers, a Russia-based bulletproof hosting services provider — which is a web-hosting service that ignores or evades law enforcement requests — and two Russian nationals serving as Zservers operators.  

Treasury alleges that Zservers provided LockBit access to specialized servers designed to resist law enforcement actions. LockBit ransomware attacks have extracted more than $120 million from thousands of victims around the world.  

LockBit has operated since 2019, and is the most deployed ransomware variant across the world and continues to be prolific, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.  

The Treasury Department’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley T. Smith, said Tuesday’s action “underscores our collective resolve to disrupt all aspects of this criminal ecosystem, wherever located, to protect our national security.” 

LockBit has been linked to attacks on airplane manufacturer Boeing, the November 2023 attack against the Industrial Commercial Bank of China, the U.K.’s Royal Mail, Britain’s National Health Service, and international law firm Allen and Overy.  

Ransomware is the costliest and most disruptive form of cybercrime, crippling local governments, court systems, hospitals and schools as well as businesses. It is difficult to combat as most gangs are based in former Soviet states and out of reach of Western justice.  

Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokeswoman, said Tuesday’s sanctions “underscore the United States’ commitment, along with our international partners, to combating cybercrime and degrading the networks that enable cyber criminals to target our citizens.” 
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Paris — U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Europeans on Tuesday their “massive” regulations on artificial intelligence could strangle the technology, and rejected content moderation as “authoritarian censorship.”

The mood on AI has shifted as the technology takes root, from one of concerns around safety to geopolitical competition, as countries jockey to nurture the next big AI giant.

Vance, setting out the Trump administration’s America First agenda, said the United States intended to remain the dominant force in AI and strongly opposed the European Union’s far tougher regulatory approach.

“We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry,” Vance told an AI summit of CEOs and heads of state in Paris.

“We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship,” he added.

Vance criticized the “massive regulations” created by the EU’s Digital Services Act, as well as Europe’s online privacy rules, known by the acronym GDPR, which he said meant endless legal compliance costs for smaller firms.

“Of course, we want to ensure the internet is a safe place, but it is one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet, and it is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation,” he said.

European lawmakers last year approved the bloc’s AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology.

Vance is leading the American delegation at the Paris summit.

Vance also appeared to take aim at China at a delicate moment for the U.S. technology sector.

Last month, Chinese startup DeepSeek freely distributed a powerful AI reasoning model that some said challenged U.S. technology leadership. It sent shares of American chip designer Nvidia down 17%.

“From CCTV to 5G equipment, we’re all familiar with cheap tech in the marketplace that’s been heavily subsidized and exported by authoritarian regimes,” Vance said.

But he said that “partnering with them means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure. Should a deal seem too good to be true? Just remember the old adage that we learned in Silicon Valley: if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.”

Vance did not mention DeepSeek by name. There has been no evidence of information being able to surreptitiously flow through the startup’s technology to China’s government, and the underlying code is freely available to use and view. However, some government organizations have reportedly banned DeepSeek’s use.

Speaking after Vance, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he was fully in favor of trimming red tape, but he stressed that regulation was still needed to ensure trust in AI, or people would end up rejecting it. “We need a trustworthy AI,” he said.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also said the EU would cut red tape and invest more in AI.

In a bilateral meeting, Vance and von der Leyen were also likely to discuss Trump’s substantial increase of tariffs on steel.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was expected to address the summit on Tuesday. A consortium led by Musk said on Monday it had offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit controlling OpenAI.

Altman promptly posted on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

The technology world has closely watched whether the Trump administration will ease recent antitrust enforcement that had seen the U.S. sue or investigate the industry’s biggest players.

Vance said the U.S. would champion American AI — which big players develop — he also said: “Our laws will keep Big Tech, little tech, and all other developers on a level playing field.”
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New Delhi — As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to the United States for a two-day visit starting Wednesday, officials in New Delhi expressed optimism that the visit will herald a renewed and substantive partnership. However analysts said there will be contentious issues to navigate on trade and immigration, which are among U.S. President Donald Trump’s top priorities.

Underlining that Modi will be meeting Trump within weeks of his taking office, Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri said India-U.S. ties are solid and that “this has been one of our strongest international partnerships.”

Modi will reach Washington after visiting France, where he is attending a global conference on artificial intelligence.

Trade is important for both countries and India has taken steps to demonstrate that it is ready to address concerns of Trump, who has named India among countries that are “very big tariff abusers.” In a phone conversation with Modi last month, Trump called for moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship.

His top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, repeated such concerns on Monday. “India has enormously high” tariffs that lock out imports, he said in an interview with CNBC.

New Delhi, which wants to avoid trade tensions with the U.S., announced earlier this month that it will lower import duties on some items that will benefit American exports such as high-end motorcycles and cars.

It also may offer other concessions that could help American goods gain market access to India and boost energy imports from the U.S., say analysts.

“New Delhi thought it would take a first step and try to resolve differences on trade. But, certainly, as a great negotiator and bargainer, he [Trump] will ask for more,” said Chintamani Mahapatra, founder of the Kalinga School of Indo Pacific Studies. “India also bargains very well. So, somehow, we will try to make a compromise that will benefit both.”

For India, the stakes are high — the U.S. is its largest trading partner. Bilateral trade between the two countries was $118 billion, with a surplus of about $32 billion in India’s favor in 2023.

India has not been impacted so far by Trump’s tariff impositions — the latest 25 percent tariffs he imposed on steel and aluminum imports will have merely a marginal impact on India, as New Delhi is a small exporter of steel to the U.S., according to Indian officials.

Strengthening security and defense ties with the U.S., Indian officials say will also be discussed in Washington. According to analysts that could include potential purchases of weapon systems and technology. In the recent phone conversation with Modi, President Trump had called on Modi to increase procurement of American-made security equipment.

India, the world’s largest spender on military equipment, needs a range of weapons systems to modernize its military. As it diversifies its purchases from its traditional weapons supplier, Russia, India has been purchasing more arms from countries like France, Israel and the United States.

“The U.S. is a little concerned that it is losing out on the India [security] buys, so it has stepped up pressure to sell India a lot more defense equipment than India has bought in the last few years,” according to Rahul Bedi, defense analyst in New Delhi. “There is likely to be initiatives on transport aircraft, surveillance aircraft for the navy, and possibly even fighter aircraft, as well as a lot of technology transfers for aircraft engines, infantry combat vehicles.”

Immigration is another issue of concern to both countries. Although India has cooperated with the U.S. and said it is ready to take back undocumented migrants, reports of 104 undocumented Indians being shackled for 40 hours while being brought back to India on a military plane last week from the U.S. led to an uproar and protests by opposition parties.

Indian officials have said that New Delhi will call for better treatment during future deportations.

At the same time, India’s top priority during discussions will be to protect legal channels of immigration for skilled Indian workers and students heading to American universities. Indians are the largest beneficiaries of H1B visas, which allow U.S. employers to hire foreign professionals in specialized fields, such as technology.

“People-to-people relationships constitute the bedrock of our deepening ties with the United States,” Indian foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told lawmakers, while responding to concerns about the transport and treatment of the deportees.

In a statement before leaving New Delhi, Modi called his upcoming meeting with Trump an opportunity to build upon the successes of their collaboration in Trump’s first term.

Mutual concerns about an assertive China are likely to keep the two countries aligned, according to analysts. Along with the U.S., Australia and Japan, India is a partner in the Quad, a strategic security grouping focused on the Indo-Pacific. Analysts point out that the two countries have convergence on geostrategic issues.

“It was president Trump in his first term, who dusted off the Quad, which was in a dormant state for about ten years, and he was solely responsible for reviving it,” said Mahapatra. “This is an area where both the countries have a lot of things in common for maintaining peace, stability and contributing to the growth story in the Indo-Pacific region.”
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — One person was killed and others were injured when a private jet owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil collided with another jet Monday afternoon at the Scottsdale Airport in Arizona, authorities said.

Neil’s jet was landing at the airport when it veered off the runway and collided with another parked plane, Neil’s representative Worrick Robinson, IV, said in a statement. There were two pilots and two passengers on Neil’s plane, but he was not among them.

“Mr. Neil’s thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved, and he is grateful for the critical aid of all first responders assisting today,” Robinson said.

The arriving jet veered off the runway and collided with the Gulfstream 200 jet that was parked, according to Kelli Kuester, aviation planning and outreach coordinator at the Scottsdale Airport. It appeared that the primary landing gear of the arriving jet failed, resulting in the collision, she said.

Kuester said four people were on the arriving jet, which had come from Austin, Texas, and one person was in the parked plane.

Two people injured in the collision were taken to trauma centers and one was in stable condition at a hospital, Scottsdale Fire Department Capt. Dave Folio said. He said they were working to recover the body of the person killed in the collision.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody involved in this,” Folio said.

The runway has been closed and will remain closed “for the foreseeable future,” Kuester said.

Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky said in a statement that she is closely monitoring the situation and is in touch with the airport, police and federal agencies.

“On behalf of the city of Scottsdale, we offer our deepest condolences to those involved in the accident and for those who have been taken to our trauma center for treatment,” she said. “We will keep all affected by this tragedy in our prayers.”

The airport is a popular hub for jets coming in and out of the Phoenix area, especially during big sports weekends like the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament, which attracts huge crowds just a few miles away.

The Scottsdale collision comes after three major U.S. aviation disasters in the past two weeks. 

A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near the nation’s capital on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground. And last week a small commuter plane crashed in western Alaska on its way to the hub community of Nome, killing all 10 people on board.
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A wintry mess was bearing down on mid-Atlantic states Tuesday with forecasts of significant snow and ice accumulations prompting warnings of potential power outages.

The National Weather Service said travel would become treacherous Tuesday through early Wednesday in much of Virginia and West Virginia.

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, allowing state agencies to assist local governments. Schools and government offices throughout Virginia were set to be closed Tuesday.

The heaviest snow, up to 25.4 centimeters, was forecast in portions of northern and central Virginia and eastern West Virginia. Ice accumulations could range from a glaze in Kentucky and West Virginia to 1.3 centimeters in the Roanoke Valley of southwest Virginia, the weather service said. Power outages and tree damage were likely in places with heavy ice buildups.

“Did you think winter was over? Think again!” the weather service’s office in Blacksburg, Virginia, said in a post on the social media platform X.

Appalachian Power, which serves 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said it has requested 700 additional workers from neighboring utilities to assist with problems by Tuesday morning.

In northern Virginia, the National Park Service closed a portion of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a narrow highway that winds its way through woods along the Potomac River. The parkway connects multiple small national park sites and has historically been a trouble spot during winter storms for abandoned cars that created a slalom course for snowplows and other vehicles.

Winter storm warnings extended from Kentucky to southern New Jersey, and a flood watch was posted for a wide swath of Kentucky, Tennessee, southwest Virginia and northern Georgia. The snow-and-ice mix was expected to become all rain as temperatures climb by Wednesday afternoon.

A separate storm system is set to bring heavy snow from Kansas and Missouri to the Great Lakes on Wednesday, the weather service said.

Dangerous cold was forecast Tuesday from an Arctic air mass stretching from Portland, Oregon, to the Great Lakes.

The temperature was expected to bottom out Tuesday morning at minus 36 degrees Celsius in Butte, Montana, where over the past two winters at least five people died due to cold exposure, said Brayton Erickson, executive director of the Butte Rescue Mission. Advocates for the homeless in the city of about 35,000 planned to be out on the streets distributing sleeping bags, jackets, mittens and other cold weather gear to anyone who needs them, Erickson said.

“When it gets this cold, we kind of pull out all the stops,” he said. “Having all those resources available literally can save their life or keep them from frostbite.”

 
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White House — President Donald Trump on Monday fired another volley in his ongoing trade war, announcing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and canceling exemptions and duty-free quotas for major suppliers.

“It’s a big deal,” Trump said, the thick black marker in his right hand hovering over the executive order. 

“This is the beginning of making America rich again,” he said, dragging his distinctive jagged signature over the paper.

Billionaire financier Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee to lead the Commerce Department, watched from over Trump’s left shoulder in the Oval Office. Trump’s trade adviser said this move will help domestic producers and support U.S. economic and national security. Lutnick spoke of the 120,000 jobs this could bring back. 

“You are the president who is standing up for the American steelworker, and I am just tremendously impressed and delighted to stand next to you,” Lutnick said.

The nuts and bolts

Trump’s proclamations raised the rate on aluminum imports to 25% from the previous 10% that he imposed in 2018 to aid the struggling sector. And he restored a 25% tariff on millions of tons of steel and aluminum imports. 

Trump’s actions also will impose a new North American standard requiring steel imports to be “melted and poured” and aluminum to be “smelted and cast” in the region to curb imports of minimally processed Chinese steel.

The order also targets downstream steel products that use imported steel for tariffs. 

Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, said the measures would help U.S. steel and aluminum producers and shore up America’s economic and national security. 

“The steel and aluminum tariffs 2.0 will put an end to foreign dumping, boost domestic production and secure our steel and aluminum industries as the backbone and pillar industries of America’s economic and national security,” he told reporters. 

“This isn’t just about trade. It’s about ensuring that America never has to rely on foreign nations for critical industries like steel and aluminum,” Navarro said.

What now?

Trump first broached the steel and aluminum action Sunday — and the move drew instant pushback in what is unfolding as a tit-for-tat exchange.

Earlier Monday, Beijing enacted additional tariffs on U.S. goods as a countermeasure to Trump’s earlier 10% hike on Chinese goods.

“There are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars,” said Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “They harm the interests of the people of both countries. What is needed now is not unilateral tariff increases but equal dialogue and consultation based on mutual respect. We urge the U.S. to correct its wrong practices and stop politicizing and instrumentalizing economic and trade issues.”

Most economists believe tariffs raise consumer prices. Scholars of supply chains and logistics say Trump’s move also raises major global policy questions.

“It’s not clear whether this is a negotiating strategy, whether this is going to be permanent,” said Professor Sunderesh Heragu of Oklahoma State University. “Is this only restricted to Canada, Mexico and China as it is now, or is it going to expand to the European Union, for example, or even the BRICS countries, of which, you know, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and 12 or 14 other countries, are part of?” 

He said these concerns may prompt countries to realign their trade relationships, which will likely alarm producers.

“It clearly causes a lot of confusion, and you know, businesses, again, hate uncertainty,” Heragu said. “So, they’re going to put everything on pause. That means, you know, there could be a decrease in production activity, while at the same time, the tariffs could have inflationary effects.”

Some in the automotive industry in Detroit, the U.S.’ “Motor City,” echoed that concern.

“Sudden tariffs to a system — there isn’t a lot of good that comes out of that,” said Glenn Stevens Jr., executive director of MichAuto and vice president of automotive and mobility initiatives at the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Studies attempting to understand the impact of these moves yield mixed pictures. The Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation estimates that the tariffs will generate around $100 billion each year in federal tax revenue. 

Another analysis shows they could “impose significant costs on the broader economy: disrupting supply chains, raising costs for businesses, eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs and ultimately driving up consumer prices.”

Some information for this article came from Reuters.

 
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Hamas officials accused Israel of violating a ceasefire agreement Monday and threatened to delay releasing more hostages, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to say “all hell is going to break out” if all the remaining hostages are not turned over by Saturday.

The next exchange was set for Saturday, with three more Israelis set to be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners jailed by Israel.

A spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement the militants remain committed to the ceasefire terms “as long as the occupation adheres to them.”

Hamas accused Israel of delaying the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, although hundreds of thousands have returned. The group said Palestinians were targeted “with airstrikes and gunfire across various areas” and Israel has failed “to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid as agreed.”

However, a United Nations official said 12,600 humanitarian aid trucks have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began and the immediate threat of famine has dissipated.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said any delay by Hamas would be “a complete violation” of the ceasefire agreement. He placed the Israeli military on the highest level of alert.

In Washington Monday, Trump said he would propose canceling the ceasefire agreement if all the remaining hostages being held in Gaza were not released by 12 o’clock Saturday, but he did not specify whether that was noon or midnight, and he did not indicate a time zone. 

He also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don’t take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza.

Since the ceasefire took effect last month, Hamas has freed 21 hostages while Israel has released more than 730 prisoners.

Trump has proposed moving Palestinians living in Gaza to an unspecified location outside the territory. Under his plan for the enclave, they would have no right to return.

In an interview with Fox News released Monday, he called his plan for the narrow territory along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea a “real estate development for the future.”

“I would own it,” he said, adding that the 2.3 million Palestinians now living in war-ravaged Gaza would be moved to as many as six different sites outside Gaza under a plan that the Arab world, as well as U.S. allies and adversaries alike, have already rejected.

Trump, a billionaire New York real estate magnate before entering politics in 2015, did not say where the Palestinians would be relocated. But when asked by Fox anchor Bret Baier if they would be allowed to return home to Gaza, Trump said, “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing.”

“In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever — it’s not habitable,” Trump said of Gaza, decimated by 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

In the Fox interview, Trump said he would build “beautiful communities” for the Palestinians.

“Could be five, six, could be two. But we’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” Trump said.

On Sunday, Israeli troops withdrew from the Netzarim corridor, a narrow strip of land that bisects the territory. It allowed more Palestinians to return to the northern sector where they once lived, but much of the land has been leveled by fighting.

Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the withdrawal showed Hamas had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands” and that it thwarted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “Illusion of achieving total victory.”

Israeli officials did not disclose how many soldiers withdrew or to where. Troops currently remain along Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt and a full withdrawal is expected to be negotiated in a later stage of the initial 42-day ceasefire.

During the first six-week phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel in exchange for a pause in fighting, freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The deal also stipulated that Israeli troops would pull back from populated areas of Gaza as well as the Netzarim corridor.

In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm.” But details are unclear and yet to be negotiated.

The war in Gaza was triggered by the shock October 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages. Israel’s counteroffensive killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities. Israel says the death toll includes 17,000 militants it has killed.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

 
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RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — The lowly penny, the forgotten mainstay of coin jars and car cupholders everywhere, may soon be no more.

President Donald Trump announced Sunday he’s ordered his administration to cease production of the 1-cent coin, whose buying power is long past its prime.

Advocates for ditching the penny cite its high production cost — currently almost 4 cents per penny, according to the U.S. Mint — and limited utility. Fans of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and relative bargain in production costs compared with the nickel, which costs almost 14 cents to mint.

Trump’s surprise order comes after decades of unsuccessful efforts to pitch the penny.

“Only tradition explains our stubborn attachment to the penny. But sometimes traditions get ridiculous,” the Farmers’ Almanac said in its 1989 edition.

Here’s a look at some questions surrounding Trump’s order.

Can Trump really order the Treasury to stop minting pennies without Congress’ approval?

Yes, according to legal scholar Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard University.

U.S. code gives the Treasury Secretary the authority to mint and issue coins “in amounts the secretary decides are necessary to meet the needs of the United States.”

If Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent decides the amount necessary for the penny is zero, he’s within his legal rights, Tribe said.

“Unlike a lot of what the new administration has been doing pursuant to the flood of executive orders since January 20, this action seems to me entirely lawful and fully constitutional,” Tribe said, referring to the aggressive executive action Trump’s taken on other issues since taking office.

Congress, which dictates currency specifications like the size and metal content of coins, could make Trump’s order permanent through law. But past congressional efforts to ditch the penny have failed.

Pennies are mostly made of zinc, and the American zinc lobby has been a major opponent to suggestions that the penny be eliminated.

How many pennies are in circulation?

It depends on what you mean by circulation.

Pennies are the most popular coin made by the U.S. Mint, which reported making 3.2 billion of them last year. That’s more than half of all the new coins it made last year.

MIT Professor Jeff Gore, who founded Citizens to Retire the Penny, said coins are supposed to stay in circulation for about 30 years and that in the last three decades the U.S. Mint has made about 250 billion pennies.

But, he says, “because nobody wants to use pennies, they fall out of active circulation much faster than other coins.”

If pennies sit in drawer for a decade, Gore asks, “Does that qualify as being in circulation?”

Will Americans miss pennies?

Experience in other countries suggests no.

Canada started phasing out its penny a dozen years ago and urged store owners to round prices to the nearest nickel for cash transactions. Electronic purchases were still billed to the nearest cent. The move came after New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands and others dropped their lowest-denomination coins.

After dropping the penny or its equivalent, those countries have not looked back.

What comes next?

Trump’s order, which he announced in a social media post as he was departing New Orleans after watching the first half of the Super Bowl, was the latest in his administration’s rapid-fire efforts to cut government costs.

“Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump wrote in his post, which was light on details about plans for a post-penny future.

After Canada stopped minting new pennies, it began recycling them for their “valuable” copper and zinc, according to a 2022 report from the Canadian Mint.
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Boston — A jury found a Boston man not guilty on Monday of U.S. charges that he acted as an unlawful agent of China’s government by supplying officials information about individuals, dissidents and groups in the local Chinese community. 

Litang Liang, 65, was acquitted in federal court of charges that he acted as an unregistered Chinese agent in a case brought in 2023 that U.S. authorities had portrayed as part of their commitment to counter efforts by China’s government ato silence its critics abroad. 

Liang, a China-born U.S. citizen, had denied the charges and pleaded not guilty. His lawyer during the trial called the charges “ridiculous” and called them an effort to chill the free speech of a local community activist who advocated for the “reunification” of democratically governed Taiwan with mainland China — a view in harmony with China’s leaders. 

“Justice has finally arrived,” Liang told reporters through a translator following the verdict. 

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley, whose office pursued the case, said in a statement that while prosecutors “respect the jury’s decision, we are disappointed in (Monday’s) verdict.” 

Liang had worked at a hotel and for years had been an active member in his union as well as a community organizer and activist in the Chinese-American community in Boston, according to his lawyer, Derege Demissie. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Kistner told jurors on Friday during closing arguments in the case that China’s government sought out Liang because it “wanted someone already involved in the community who knew the people who were there.” 

Prosecutors said Liang from 2018 to 2022 provided Chinese officials with information on individuals and shared details about dissidents and groups with pro-Taiwan leanings. 

Prosecutors said that in 2018, after traveling to Beijing for meetings with an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, Liang founded the New England Alliance for the Peaceful Unification of China, which focused on promoting China’s goals with Taiwan. 

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future. 

Prosecutors said Liang, also at the direction of Chinese officials, in 2019 organized a counter-demonstration against pro-democracy protesters, and in 2022 provided an official with a Chinese agency, tasked with investigating political dissidents, information on two potential local recruits. 

Demissie in his closing argument to the jury countered that Liang made no secret of his activism and that his prosecution infringed on Liang’s right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. 

“This case would have meant nothing if it did not involve China,” Demissie said. “That’s what this is about. And it had the purpose of scaring people, and it achieved that purpose.”
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