Author: PolitCens

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s budget office on Wednesday rescinded a memo freezing spending on federal grants, less than two days after it sparked widespread confusion and legal challenges across the country.

The Monday evening memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget sparked uncertainty over a crucial financial lifeline for states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington and left the White House scrambling to explain what would and wouldn’t be subject to a pause in funding.

The reversal was the latest sign that even with unified control of Washington, Trump’s plans to dramatically and rapidly reshape the government has some limits.

The White House confirmed that OMB pulled the memo Wednesday in a two-sentence notice sent to agencies and departments but said that Trump’s underlying executive orders targeting federal spending in areas such as diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change remained in place.

Administration officials said the notice to halt loans and grants was necessary to conduct a review to ensure that spending complies with Trump’s recent blitz of executive orders. Agencies had been directed to answer a series of yes or no questions on each federal program by Feb. 7. The questions included “does this program promote gender ideology?” and “does this program promote or support in any way abortion?”

Still, the vaguely worded memo, combined with incomplete answers from the White House throughout the day, left lawmakers, public officials and average Americans struggling to figure out what programs would be affected by the pause. Even temporary interruptions in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.

The freeze was scheduled to go into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday but was stayed by a federal judge until at least Monday after an emergency hearing requested by nonprofit groups that receive federal grants. An additional lawsuit by Democratic state attorneys general was also pending.

“The Executive Orders issued by the President on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, blaming the confusion on the courts and news outlets, not the administration. “This action should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the President’s orders on controlling federal spending.”

Administration officials insisted that despite the confusion, the order still had its intended effect by underscoring to federal agencies their obligations to abide by Trump’s executive orders.

Although Trump had promised to turn Washington upside down if elected to a second term, the effects of his effort to pause funding were being felt far from the nation’s capital. Organizations such as Meals on Wheels, which receives federal money to deliver food to the elderly, and Head Start, which provides early childcare in lower-income communities, were worried about getting cut off.

On Tuesday, Trump administration officials said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans, including Medicare, Social Security, student loans and food stamps, would not be affected. But they sometimes struggled to provide a clear picture.

Leavitt initially would not say whether Medicaid was exempted from the freeze, but the administration later clarified that it was.

Democratic critics of the order moved swiftly to celebrate the action.

“This is an important victory for the American people whose voices were heard after massive pressure from every corner of this country — real people made a difference by speaking out,” said Senator Patty Murray. “Still, the Trump administration — through a combination of sheer incompetence, cruel intentions and a willful disregard of the law — caused real harm and chaos for millions over the span of the last 48 hours which is still ongoing.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, “Americans fought back, and Donald Trump backed off.”
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Washignton — President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. has ignited a legal and political debate, raising questions about the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the extent of presidential power.

The amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.

“We’re the only country in the world that does this with birthright, as you know. And it’s just absolutely ridiculous. But, you know, we’ll see. We think we have very good grounds and certain people have wanted to do this for decades,” Trump said while signing the executive order on his first day in office.

The United States is one of about 30 countries that grant automatic citizenship to individuals born on their soil, including Brazil, Mexico, and Canada, among others. The practice is known as jus soli (Latin for “right of the soil”). But the U.S. remains notable for its broad application of unconditional jus soli, as enshrined in the 14th Amendment.

Are there limits to 14th Amendment?

The amendment, ratified in 1868, was designed to address citizenship questions following the U.S. Civil War and to overrule the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision, which denied African Americans citizenship.

The text reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

“This language ratifies the traditional understanding that anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen,” John Yoo, a professor at University of California Berkeley Law School and visiting fellow at the Hoover Institute, told VOA in a phone intervie

However, critics argue that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” implies that at least one parent must be a U.S. citizen for a child to be granted citizenship.

According to Yoo, this interpretation aligns more closely with the European jus sanguinis, or “law of blood” approach, which ties citizenship to parentage rather than birthplace.

“To me, that just doesn’t make sense of the language of the 14th Amendment and historical practice,” Yoo said. “The Supreme Court, in cases like United States v. Wong Kim Ark, has consistently interpreted the amendment to mean birthright citizenship.”

Critics of Trump’s executive order say the 14th Amendment is a cornerstone of civil rights in the United States.

“The 14th amendment, it was created to give birthright citizenship. … Constitutional rights cannot be taken away by a president. They can only be taken away by Congress, and thus the executive order is illegal,” said Tuyet Duong, an immigration lawyer and policy expert with the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.

However, supporters of the executive order argue a more limited interpretation of the amendment is warranted.

“President Trump has made it clear that restoring fairness to our immigration system and defending the true intent of the 14th Amendment are central to his vision of making America great again,” Republican Congressman Brian Babin of Texas, told reporters during a press conference last Thursday.

Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, wrote in a report in 2019 that there is good reason for the United States to reconsider its long-standing policy of automatically granting citizenship to everyone born on U.S. soil.

Swearer argued that the 14th Amendment was intended to give birthright citizenship only to those U.S.-born children whose parents were “like the freed slaves, subject to the complete jurisdiction of the United States. In a modern immigration context, this would mean that the Constitution only mandates birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of citizens, nationals, and lawful permanent residents.”

Legal challenges

Trump’s executive order is facing significant legal challenges, with multiple lawsuits in progress. Twenty-two Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit arguing the order violates the 14th Amendment.

A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily stopped the birthright citizenship order from taking effect. Last Thursday, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour of Seattle temporarily blocked it, describing it as “blatantly unconstitutional.”

But if the case reaches the Supreme Court, the outcome could reshape the nation’s understanding of citizenship.

If the court were to side with Trump, the most immediate impact will be on newborns and those yet to receive birth certificates and Social Security numbers. And questions about retroactive application would arise.

“Figuring out how this rule would operate retroactively is extremely complex. Would it deny citizenship to people born here historically without citizen parents? How far back would it go? These are precisely the issues the 14th Amendment was designed to avoid,” Yoo told VOA.

While much of the focus is on judicial challenges, Yoo pointed out that Congress could settle the issue legislatively.

“Congress could extend birthright citizenship by statute, reaffirming the traditional understanding. But it’s unclear what Congress might do in this politically charged environment,” Yoo said.

Still, he believes the Supreme Court would uphold birthright citizenship.

“The text of the 14th Amendment, its history, and consistent Supreme Court rulings all point to birthright citizenship,” he said.
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Washington — The Trump administration has ended extended protections for Venezuelans with Temporary Protected Status, TPS, in the United States, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News in an interview on Wednesday. 

Noem said Homeland Security would not follow a Biden-era move that gave Venezuelans in the U.S. with the TPS program an additional 18 months of protections, adding: “We are going to follow the process, evaluate all of these individuals that are in our country, including the Venezuelans that are here.” 
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The Trump administration issued a memo Tuesday offering federal government workers a financial incentive to leave their posts by the end of September.

The resignation program is part of the administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce.

An email to many of the 2 million federal workers said they could remain on the government payroll until Sept. 30, the end of the government’s fiscal year, and could have their work duties reduced or eliminated in the interim.

Those workers would also be exempt from a Trump mandate that employees need to return to working in their offices full time.

Employees have until Feb. 6 to accept the offer, and were directed to do so with an email reply with the word “resign.”

The potential impact of the program on tax-payer services was not clear.

“While a few agencies and even branches of the military are likely to see increases in the size of their workforce, the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force,” the memo said.

People working in immigration, national security and for the Postal Service were not part of the offer.

The memo also said the “federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work.”

Unions representing federal employees criticized the administration’s move.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents about 150,000 federal workers, told its members the resignation memo “is designed to entice or scare you into resigning” and said “we strongly urge you not to resign in response.”

Everett Kelley, head of the American Federation of Government Employees union that includes some VOA employees, said in a statement that the offer “should not be viewed as voluntary” and that the administration’s actions show its goal is “to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said on Tuesday it will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented migrants at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado, further widening the Pentagon’s role in President Donald Trump’s undocumented immigration crackdown.

The decision comes on top of U.S. military deportation flights of undocumented migrants out of the country and the deployment of just over 1,600 active-duty troops to the U.S. border with Mexico following Trump’s emergency declaration on undocumented immigration last week.

The U.S. military’s Northern Command said in a statement it started providing facilities at Buckley to ICE starting on Monday “to enable U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stage and process criminal aliens within the U.S.”

“ICE requirements for the facility include a temporary operations center, staging area, and a temporary holding location for the receiving, holding, and processing of illegal aliens,” Northern Command said in the statement.

“This facility will be manned by ICE senior leaders, special agents, and analysts, as well as members of (Department of Homeland Security) components and other federal law enforcement agencies.”

Northern Command did not say how many undocumented migrants might be detained at Buckley or whether additional U.S. military bases might soon be opening for detention of undocumented migrants.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Buckley Space Force Base is located in the city of Aurora, a Denver suburb, which figured prominently during Trump’s presidential campaign last year. Trump said during his campaign that apartment complexes in Aurora had been taken over by members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, a claim refuted by top city officials at the time. During a campaign event there in October, Trump pledged to launch an Operation Aurora targeting gang members.

This is not the first time a military has been used to house undocumented migrants. The Pentagon had approved requests to house unaccompanied migrant children under Joe Biden’s administration and undocumented migrant children and families during Trump’s first term.

Trump, a Republican, issued an array of executive orders on Monday aimed at deporting record numbers of migrants in the U.S. without legal status.

In a little more than a week in office, Trump rolled back Biden-era guidance that limited arrests of non-criminal migrants, ordered other federal law enforcement to assist with immigration work, and scrapped a Biden policy that restricted enforcement at schools, churches, hospitals and other sensitive locations.

Immigration arrests have reached about 1,000-1,200 per day in recent days, according to ICE, far above the daily average of 311 in fiscal year 2024.

Critics say Trump’s immigration crackdown could separate families, hurt U.S. businesses and violate due process rights of migrants.
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WASHINGTON — America’s children have continued to lose ground on reading skills in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and have made little improvement in math, according to the latest results of an exam known as the nation’s report card.

The findings are yet another setback for U.S. schools and reflect the myriad challenges that have upended education, from pandemic school closures to a youth mental health crisis and high rates of chronic absenteeism. The national exam results also show growing inequality: While the highest-performing students have started to regain lost ground, lower-performing students are falling further behind.

Given every two years to a sample of America’s children, the National Assessment of Educational Progress is considered one of the best gauges of the academic progress of the U.S. school system. The most recent exam was administered in early 2024 in every state, testing fourth- and eighth-grade students on math and reading.

“The news is not good,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees the assessment. “We are not seeing the progress we need to regain the ground our students lost during the pandemic.”

Among the few bright spots was an improvement in fourth grade math, where the average score ticked up 2 points on a scale of 500. It’s still 3 points lower than the 2019 pre-pandemic average, yet some states and districts made significant strides, including in Washington, D.C., where the average score increased 10 points.

For the most part, however, American schools have not yet begun to make progress.

The average math score for eighth grade students was unchanged from 2022, while reading scores fell 2 points at both grade levels. One-third of eighth grade students scored below “basic” in reading, more than ever in the history of the assessment.

Students are considered below basic if they are missing fundamental skills. For example, eighth grade students who scored below basic in reading were typically unable to make a simple inference about a character’s motivation after reading a short story, and some were unable to identify that the word “industrious” means “to be hard working.”

Especially alarming to officials was the divide between higher- and lower-performing students, which has grown wider than ever. Students with the highest scores outperformed their peers from two years ago, making up some ground lost during the pandemic. But the lowest performers are scoring even lower, falling further behind.

It was most pronounced in eighth grade math: While the top 10% of students saw their scores increased by 3 points, the lowest 10% decreased by 6 points.

“We are deeply concerned about our low-performing students,” said Lesley Muldoon, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policies for the exam. “For a decade, these students have been on the decline. They need our urgent attention and our best effort.”

The latest setbacks follow a historic backslide in 2022. In that year’s exam, student achievement fell across both subjects and grade levels, in some cases by unprecedented levels.

This round of testing again featured students whose lives were disrupted by the pandemic. When COVID hit in 2020, the fourth graders were in kindergarten, and the eighth graders were in fourth grade.

But Carr said poor results can no longer be blamed solely on the pandemic, warning that the nation’s education system faces “complex challenges.”

A survey done alongside the exam found in 2022 that fewer young students were reading for enjoyment, which is linked to lower reading scores. And new survey results found that students who are often absent from class — a persistent problem nationwide — are struggling the most.

“The data are clear,” Carr said. “Students who don’t come to school are not improving.”

The results provide fresh fuel for a national debate over the impact of pandemic school closures, though they’re unlikely to add clarity. Some studies have found that longer closures led to bigger academic setbacks. Those slower to reopen were often in urban and Democratic-led areas, while more rural and Republican-led areas were quicker.

The new results don’t show a “direct link” on the topic, Carr said, though she said students clearly do better when they’re in school.

Among the states that saw reading scores fall in 2024 are Florida and Arizona, which were among the first to return to the classroom during the pandemic. Meanwhile, some big school systems that had longer closures made strides in fourth grade math, including Los Angeles and New York City.

The success of big urban districts — 14 of which saw notable improvement in fourth-grade math when the nation as a whole saw only minor gains — can be credited to academic recovery efforts funded by federal pandemic relief, said Ray Hart, executive director of the Council of Great City Schools. Investing in efforts like intensive tutoring programs and curriculum updates is “really proving to make a difference,” he said.

Republicans in Congress were quick to cast blame on Democrats and former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, said the decline is “clearly a reflection of the education bureaucracy continuing to focus on woke policies rather than helping students learn and grow.”

“I’m thankful we have an administration that is looking to reverse course,” he said in a reference to President Donald Trump.

Compared with 2019 results, eighth grade reading scores are now down 8 points. Reading scores are down 5 points in both grades. And in fourth grade math, scores are down 3 points.

Yet officials say there’s reason to be optimistic. Carr highlighted improvement in Louisiana, where fourth grade reading is now back above pre-pandemic levels, and in Alabama, which accomplished that feat in fourth grade math.

Carr was especially laudatory of Louisiana, where a campaign to improve reading proficiency resulted in both higher- and lower-performing students exceeding 2019 scores.

“I would not say that hope is lost, and I would not say that we cannot turn this around,” Carr said. “It’s been demonstrated that we can.”
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Southeast and East Asia strategies will be aimed at countering China by toughening U.S. policies to secure regional peace and maximize American interests, analysts say.

Rubio gave a glimpse of what U.S. foreign policy will look like as he began his first day as the head of the State Department last week.

Speaking to his staff after he was sworn on Jan. 21, Rubio said, “Our job across the world is to ensure that we have a foreign policy that advances the national interest of the United States.”

Referencing President Donald Trump’s objective, Rubio continued that the “overriding goal of global policy is the promotion of peace, the avoidance of conflict.”

Putting “America First” and achieving “Peace through Strength” are twin pillars on which Trump said he will prop up the U.S. as he took office on Jan. 20.

Rubio is currently likely to consult with country directors of the region and coordinate with the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to formulate Asia Pacific strategies, said Richard Armitage, who served as deputy secretary of state during the Bush administration, to VOA Korean on Jan. 24.

“Secretary Rubio’s Southeast Asia policy will focus on countering China through stronger U.S. trade, security partnerships and supply chain diversification,” said Mark Kennedy, director at the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition, to VOA on Jan. 23

On Pyongyang and Moscow, “Rubio will ask China – as Trump did – to help convince North Korea to resume negotiations with the U.S.,” said Joseph DeTrani, who served as special envoy for six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea during the George W. Bush administration.

“If successful, with or without China’s help, this may help to distance North Korea from Russia,” DeTrani told VOA on Jan. 24.

Rubio’s roots

In shaping and executing regional policies, Rubio’s strong opposition to authoritarianism, communism, and human rights violations is likely to “color his approach at the State Department,” said Evans Revere, who served as acting secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs during the George W. Bush administration.

The former senator grew up in Miami with Cuban immigrant parents and has exhibited an aversion toward communist governments throughout his political career.

This stance, mixed with the twin foreign policy pillars, are likely to result in tough strategies for countries like North Korea and China and their activities in the region, according to analysts.

Rubio signaled this on a call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, stressing that “the Trump Administration will pursue a U.S.-PRC relationship that advances U.S. interests” and “the United States’ commitment to our allies in the region.” China’s official name is the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

He also expressed “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan and in the South China Sea.”

In line with the policy goal of avoiding conflict, Rubio may support Trump’s personal diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration.

North Korea said Sunday it conducted a sea-to-surface strategic cruise missile test the previous day.

Rubio, doubtful initially about Trump’s summits with Kim during his first term, said at a confirmation hearing earlier this month that Trump’s personal diplomacy was able to stop the country from testing missiles.

He spoke by phone with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul last week emphasizing the alliance is the linchpin of peace on the Korean Peninsula and across the Indo-Pacific.

In a meeting also last week in Washington, Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi discussed North Korea’s ties with Russia.

Rally against China

Among Southeast Asian countries, Rubio last week held calls with the foreign ministers of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, each time stressing stable maritime security in the South China Sea.

Particularly in his calls with Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo, Rubio underscored “PRC’s dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea.”

With Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Rubio expressed concern over “China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea.”

Gregory Poling, director of the Southeast Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told VOA on January 23 that the Trump administration “will look primarily to the Philippines and outside partners like Japan and Australia to defend freedom of the seas in the South China Sea.”

One of the first meetings Rubio held was with the Australian, Japanese and Indian leaders of the Quad security dialogue last week in Washington where they expressed opposition to unilateral actions to change the status quo of the region by force or coercion and vowed to keep the Indo-Pacific free and open.

Poling continued the administration will look “secondarily to Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia to deepen practical maritime cooperation.”

Rubio “may push Indonesia to take a stronger stance vis-à-vis Chinese activities in disputed waters, particularly in light of controversial Indonesia-China maritime development deal signed in November 2024,” Anreyka Natalegawa, associate fellow for the Southeast Asia Program at CSIS told VOA on Jan. 23.

Indonesia and China signed a $10 billion deal in November agreeing to develop fisheries, oil and gas exploration, among other things, across their private sectors.

Diplomatic balancing

Analysts say Washington’s push to have regional countries align more closely with Washington could lead to some tensions. Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar tend to lean more toward Beijing, and Indonesia tends to balance its engagement with China and the U.S.

Robert McMahon, a foreign relations expert at The Ohio State University, said Rubio’s harsh stance on China could put Indonesia in a “difficult position, since it has not been willing to join the anti-China bandwagon.”

He told VOA in December after Rubio was nominated as the secretary of state that “to the extent that the United States tries to pressure Indonesia to move in that direction, that could lead to some conflict.”

Rubio said to his State Department staff last week that he expects other countries “to advance their national interests” but hopes “there will be many – in which our national interests and theirs align.”

Seng Vanly, an assistant dean and lecturer at the Techo Sen School of Government and International Relations at the University of Cambodia, said Washington is likely to increase pressure on Cambodia over concerns for human rights, democratic setbacks, and restricted civil society activities, coupled with its growing ties with China.

However, analysts say U.S. foreign policy under Rubio will likely balance issues such as human rights with regional security and economic goals.

Rahman Yaacob, a research fellow for the Southeast Asia program at the Lowy Institute, said, “Washington will be more practical.”

“While it could raise human rights issues with regional countries, the Americans understand if they disengage from the region because of human rights, China will fill in the void,” Yaacob said.

Han Noy from Khmer Service, Yuni Salim from Indonesian Service contributed to this report.
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In his inaugural address, U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to put the Panama Canal, a key global shipping route, back under the control of the United States, amid fear of growing Chinese encroachment. U.S. senators examined security concerns surrounding the canal Tuesday and looked at next steps. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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TAIPEI, TAIWAN — A little more than a week after Beijing and Manila reached an agreement aimed at easing tensions in the South China Sea, the Philippines has accused Chinese coast guard vessels of fresh incursions, harassment and “aggressive maneuvers.” 

Analysts say the pressure campaign, which has stepped up in recent days, is part of Beijing’s attempt to test the United States’ commitment to support the Philippines. 

“They want to see how far they can push the Philippines under the new administration in the U.S.,” Ja Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, told VOA by phone. 

In a statement released on social media platform X last Saturday, the Philippine coast guard said two vessels from the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries encountered “aggressive maneuvers” from three Chinese coast guard vessels while heading to Sandy Cay for a marine scientific survey last Friday. 

In one video released by Manila, a large Chinese coast guard vessel was seen moving within a few meters of one Philippine vessel. Another video showed a Chinese helicopter hovering above two inflatable boats carrying Philippine crew members.

Philippine coast guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said the Philippine vessels were forced to suspend the scientific survey due to the “continuous harassment and the disregard for safety” shown by the Chinese coast guard.  

In response to Manila’s accusations, Beijing said Chinese coast guard vessels “thwarted” two Philippine vessels’ attempts to “land on” Sandy Cay, which China calls “Tiexian Reef.”  

“The vessels attempted to illegally land on the reef and conduct sand sampling. China Coast Guard [CCG] vessels lawfully obstructed the Philippine ships’ course and warned them away,” the Chinese coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said in a statement released last Friday. 

China views almost all of the South China Sea as its territory and is engaged in a series of disputes with several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, that have overlapping claims over the strategic waterway.  

Apart from the incident near Sandy Cay, the Philippine coast guard said its vessels had successfully kept Chinese coast guard vessels from operating in waters near the coastline of the Philippines’ Zambales province since last Friday.  

“The Philippine Coast Guard [PCG] vessel has maintained the China Coast Guard vessel to keep a distance of 90-100 nautical miles away from the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone,” said Jay Tarriela from the Philippine coast guard in a post on social media platform X on Sunday.

Then on Monday, the Philippine coast guard said its vessels were hindered by Chinese coast guard vessels while trying to recover the body of a dead Philippine fisherman from a Philippine fishing boat.  

The series of incidents comes more than a week after senior Chinese and Philippine diplomats vowed to settle territorial disputes in the South China Sea through dialogues during a bilateral consultation. 

Although the agreement has allowed the Philippines to conduct resupply missions to its forces near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal since late last year, some experts say the latest incidents are part of a bigger effort by Beijing to drive a wedge between Manila and Washington.   

“Beijing isn’t happy with Manila’s assertive stance in the South China Sea and its close ties with the United States, so [these factors] serve as convenient justifications for Beijing to try to push Manila in the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh, a maritime security expert at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.  

Despite the persistent Chinese aggression, Koh said some in Manila think the Philippines can maintain its current approach in the South China Sea since there is bipartisan support for a more assertive position against China in the U.S. and some Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, have reiterated Washington’s “ironclad” defense commitment to the Philippines during interactions with their Philippine counterparts last week. 

“Manila appears to be more cautiously optimistic that it can maintain the current policy, knowing that there is U.S. backing for that,” he told VOA by phone.  

To counter Beijing’s pressure campaign, Don McLain Gill, a lecturer in international studies at De La Salle University in the Philippines, said it’s important for the Philippines and its allies, including the United States, to maintain close collaboration in areas such as joint maritime exercises. 

Since China is expected to “continue pressing the Philippines into submission with its grey zone operations, which are now shifting from low intensity to high intensity, this must be addressed with more robust presence operations between the alliance and like-minded partners, along with continued support in the Philippines military modernization in line with the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defence Concept,” he told VOA in a written response.  

With the Trump administration’s announcement to suspend new funding for almost all U.S. foreign assistance for 90 days, however, Chong in Singapore said Beijing may think there is a window of opportunity to pressure countries like the Philippines. 
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Washington — U.S. President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders on Monday to remove diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, from the military, reinstate thousands of troops who were kicked out for refusing COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic, and take aim at transgender troops.

Earlier on Monday, Pete Hegseth, who narrowly secured enough votes to become defense secretary, referred to the names of Confederate generals that were once used for two key bases during his remarks to reporters as he entered the Pentagon on his first full day on the job.  

Trump signed the executive orders while flying back from Miami to Washington, D.C.

One of the executive orders signed by Trump said that expressing a “gender identity” different from an individual’s sex at birth did not meet military standards.

While the order banned the use of “invented” pronouns in the military, it did not answer basic questions including whether transgender soldiers currently serving in the military would be allowed to stay and, if not, how they would be removed.

Trump’s plans have been heavily criticized by advocacy groups, which say his actions would be illegal.  

“President Trump has made clear that a key priority for his administration is driving transgender people back into the closet and out of public life altogether,” Joshua Block, with the ACLU, said earlier on Monday.  

During his first term, Trump announced that he would ban transgender troops from serving in the military. He did not fully follow through with that ban  his administration froze their recruitment while allowing serving personnel to remain.  

Biden overturned the decision when he took office in 2021.  

The military has about 1.3 million active-duty personnel, Department of Defense data shows. While transgender rights advocates say there are as many as 15,000 transgender service members, officials say the number is in the low thousands.  

When Trump announced his first ban in 2017, he said the military needed to focus on “decisive and overwhelming victory” without being burdened by the “tremendous medical costs and disruption” of having transgender personnel.

Internal focus  

Hegseth has promised to bring major changes to the Pentagon, and he has made eliminating DEI from the military a top priority.  

Trump’s executive order on ending DEI in the military said service academies would be required to teach “that America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history.”

The Air Force said on Sunday that it will resume instruction of trainees using a video about the first Black airmen in the U.S. military, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, which has passed review to ensure compliance with Trump’s ban on DEI initiatives.

Hegseth was warmly greeted on the steps of the Pentagon by the top U.S. military officer, Air Force General Charles Brown, whom Hegseth criticized in his latest book. Asked if he might fire Brown, Hegseth joked that he was standing right next to him.

“I’m standing with him right now. I look forward to working with him,” as he patted Brown on the back.  

Reuters has previously reported about the possibility of mass firing among top brass, something Hegseth repeatedly refused to rule out during his confirmation process.

Hegseth referred to Fort Moore and Fort Liberty by their previous names, Fort Benning and Fort Bragg, while speaking with reporters.

The names honoring Confederate officers were changed under former President Joe Biden as part of an effort to reexamine U.S. history and the Confederate legacy.

“I’m thinking about the guys and gals in Guam, Germany, Fort Benning and Fort Bragg,” Hegseth said.

Much of Hegseth’s focus at the Pentagon could be internal to the military, including making good on Trump’s executive order on bringing back troops discharged for refusing COVID vaccines.

Thousands of service members were removed from the military after the Pentagon made the vaccine mandatory in 2021.

US missile defense

Trump also signed an executive order that “mandated a process to develop an ‘American Iron Dome’.”

The short-range Iron Dome air defense system was built by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with U.S. backing, and it was built to intercept rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza toward Israel.

Each truck-towed unit fires radar-guided missiles to blow up short-range threats such as rockets, mortars and drones in midair.

The system determines whether a rocket is on course to hit a populated area. If not, the rocket is ignored and allowed to land harmlessly.

Any such effort would take years to implement in the United States. 
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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Monday that it had fired more than a dozen employees who worked on criminal prosecutions of President Donald Trump, moving rapidly to pursue retribution against lawyers involved in the investigations and signaling an early willingness to take action favorable to the president’s personal interests. 

The abrupt termination targeting career prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s team is the latest sign of upheaval inside the Justice Department and is consistent with the administration’s determination to purge the government of workers it perceives as disloyal to the president. 

The norm-shattering move, which follows the reassignment of multiple senior career officials across divisions, was made even though rank-and-file prosecutors by tradition remain with the department across presidential administrations and are not punished by virtue of their involvement in sensitive investigations. The firings are effective immediately. 

“Today, Acting Attorney General James McHenry terminated the employment of a number of DOJ officials who played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump,” said a statement from a Justice Department official. “In light of their actions, the Acting Attorney General does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the President’s agenda. This action is consistent with the mission of ending the weaponization of government.” 

It was not immediately clear which prosecutors were affected by the order, or how many who worked on the investigations into Trump remained with the department as Trump took office last week. It was also not immediately known how many of the fired prosecutors intended to challenge the terminations by arguing that the department had cast aside civil service protections afforded to federal employees. 

The action was the latest effort to turn the table on criminal investigations that for years shadowed Trump, resulting in separate indictments that never went to trial and were ultimately abandoned. 

On his first day in office, he issued sweeping pardons and sentence commutations to the more than 1,500 supporters charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, a massive clemency grant that benefited even those found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of failed plots to keep the Republican in power. 

Trump has long sought to exert control over a Justice Department that investigated him both during his first term as well as during the last four years under former Attorney General Merrick Garland. He has repeatedly said he expects loyalty from a law enforcement community trained to put facts, evidence and the law ahead of politics. 

He’s moved to put close allies in high-level positions, including replacing his first FBI director, Christopher Wray, with loyalist Kash Patel. 

Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, said at her confirmation hearing this month that she would not play politics but did not rule out the potential for investigations into Trump adversaries like Smith. 

Smith resigned from the department earlier this month after submitting a two-volume report on the twin investigations into Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election and his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. At least one other key member of the team, Jay Bratt, also retired from the department this month after serving as a lead prosecutor in the classified documents case. 

Both the election interference case and the classified documents prosecution were withdrawn by Smith’s team following Trump’s presidential win in November, in keeping with longstanding Justice Department policy. 

The firings were first reported by Fox News. 
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Chinese researchers backed by a Hangzhou-based hedge fund recently released a new version of a large language model (LLM) called DeepSeek-R1 that rivals the capabilities of the most advanced U.S.-built products but reportedly does so with fewer computing resources and at much lower cost.

High Flyer, the hedge fund that backs DeepSeek, said that the model nearly matches the performance of LLMs built by U.S. firms like OpenAI, Google and Meta, but does so using only about 2,000 older generation computer chips manufactured by U.S.-based industry leader Nvidia while costing only about $6 million worth of computing power to train.

By comparison, Meta’s AI system, Llama, uses about 16,000 chips, and reportedly costs Meta vastly more money to train.

Open-source model

The apparent advance in Chinese AI capabilities comes after years of efforts by the U.S. government to restrict China’s access to advanced semiconductors and the equipment used to manufacture them. Over the past two years, under President Joe Biden, the U.S. put multiple export control measures in place with the specific aim of throttling China’s progress on AI development.

DeepSeek appears to have innovated its way to some of its success, developing new and more efficient algorithms that allow the chips in the system to communicate with each other more effectively, thereby improving performance.

At least some of what DeepSeek R1’s developers did to improve its performance is visible to observers outside the company, because the model is open source, meaning that the algorithms it uses to answer queries are public.

Market reaction

The news about DeepSeek’s capabilities sparked a broad sell-off of technology stocks on U.S. markets on Monday, as investors began to question whether U.S. companies’ well-publicized plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI data centers and other infrastructure would preserve their dominance in the field. When the markets closed on Monday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index was down by 3.1%, and Nvidia’s share price had plummeted by nearly 17%.

However, not all AI experts believe the markets’ reaction to the release of DeepSeek R1 is justified, or that the claims about the model’s development should be taken at face value.

Mel Morris, CEO of U.K.-based Corpora.ai, an AI research engine, told VOA that while DeepSeek is an impressive piece of technology, he believes the market reaction has been excessive and that more information is needed to accurately judge the impact DeepSeek will have on the AI market.

“There’s always an overreaction to things, and there is today, so let’s just step back and analyze what we’re seeing here,” Morris said. “Firstly, we have no real understanding of exactly what the cost was or the time scale involved in building this product. We just don’t know. … They claim that it’s significantly cheaper and more efficient, but we have no proof of that.”

Morris said that while DeepSeek’s performance may be comparable to that of OpenAI products, “I’ve not seen anything yet that convinces me that they’ve actually cracked the quantum step in the cost of operating these sorts of models.”

Doubts about origins

Lennart Heim, a data scientist with the RAND Corporation, told VOA that while it is plain that DeepSeek R1 benefits from innovative algorithms that boost its performance, he agreed that the general public actually knows relatively little about how the underlying technology was developed.

Heim said that it is unclear whether the $6 million training cost cited by High Flyer actually covers the whole of the company’s expenditures — including personnel, training data costs and other factors — or is just an estimate of what a final training “run” would have cost in terms of raw computing power. If the latter, Heim said, the figure is comparable to the costs incurred by better U.S. models.

He also questioned the assertion that DeepSeek was developed with only 2,000 chips. In a blog post written over the weekend, he noted that the company is believed to have existing operations with tens of thousands of Nvidia chips that could have been used to do the work necessary to develop a model that is capable of running on just 2,000.

“This extensive compute access was likely crucial for developing their efficiency techniques through trial and error and for serving their models to customers,” he wrote.

He also pointed out that the company’s decision to release version R1 of its LLM last week — on the heels of the inauguration of a new U.S. president — appeared political in nature. He said that it was “clearly intended to rattle the public’s confidence in the United States’ AI leadership during a pivotal moment in U.S. policy.”

Dean W. Ball, a research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, was also cautious about declaring that DeepSeek R1 has somehow upended the AI landscape.

“I think Silicon Valley and Wall Street are overreacting to some extent,” he told VOA. “But at the end of the day, R1 means that the competition between the U.S. and China is likely to remain fierce, and that we need to take it seriously.”

Export control debate

The apparent success of DeepSeek has been used as evidence by some experts to suggest that the export controls put in place under the Biden administration may not have had the intended effects.

“At a minimum, this suggests that U.S. approaches to AI and export controls may not be as effective as proponents claim,” Paul Triolo, a partner with DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, told VOA.

“The availability of very good but not cutting-edge GPUs — for example, that a company like DeepSeek can optimize for specific training and inference workloads — suggests that the focus of export controls on the most advanced hardware and models may be misplaced,” Triolo said. “That said, it remains unclear how DeepSeek will be able to keep pace with global leaders such as OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Mistral, Meta and others that will continue to have access to the best hardware systems.”

Other experts, however, argued that export controls have simply not been in place long enough to show results.

Sam Bresnick, a research fellow at Georgetown’s University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology told VOA that it would be “very premature” to call the measures a failure.

“The CEO of DeepSeek has gone on record saying the biggest constraint they face is access to high-level compute resources,” Bresnick said. “If [DeepSeek] had as much compute at their fingertips as Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, etc, there would be a significant boost in their performance. So … I don’t think that DeepSeek is the smoking gun that some people are claiming it is [to show that export controls] do not work.”

Bresnick noted that the toughest export controls were imposed in only 2023, meaning that their effects may just be starting to be felt. He said that the real test of their effectiveness will be whether U.S. firms are able to continue to outpace China in coming years.
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NEW YORK — U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and “await further guidance.”

Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as brewing global threats. It also comes as health authorities around the world are monitoring bird flu outbreaks among U.S. livestock.

The Associated Press viewed a copy of Nkengasong’s memo, which said the stop-work policy applied to “all CDC staff engaging with WHO through technical working groups, coordinating centers, advisory boards, cooperative agreements or other means — in person or virtual.” It also says CDC staff are not allowed to visit WHO offices.

President Donald Trump last week issued an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from WHO, but that did not take immediate effect. Leaving WHO requires the approval of Congress and that the U.S. meets its financial obligations for the current fiscal year. The U.S. also must provide a one-year notice.

His administration also told federal health agencies to stop most communications with the public through at least the end of the month.

“Stopping communications and meetings with WHO is a big problem,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a University of Southern California public health expert who collaborates with WHO on work against sexually transmitted infections.

“People thought there would be a slow withdrawal. This has really caught everyone with their pants down,” said Klausner, who said he learned of it from someone at CDC.

“Talking to WHO is a two-way street,” he added, noting that the two agencies benefit from each other’s expertise. The collaboration allows the U.S. to learn about new tests, new treatments and emerging outbreaks — information “which can help us protect Americans abroad and at home,” Klausner said.

The CDC details nearly 30 people to WHO and sends many millions of dollars to it through cooperative agreements. The U.S. agency also has some of the world’s leading experts in infectious diseases and public health threats, and the two agencies’ staffers are in daily contact about health dangers and how to stop them.

The collaboration halt isn’t the only global health effect of Trump’s executive orders. Last week, the president froze spending on another critical program, PEPFAR or the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The anti-HIV program is credited with saving 25 million lives, including those of 5.5 million children, since it was started by Republican President George W. Bush. It was included in a Trump administration freeze on foreign aid spending slated to last at least three months.

PEPFAR provides HIV medication to more than 20 million people “and stopping its funding essentially stops their HIV treatment,” International AIDS Society President Beatriz Grinsztejn said in a statement. “If that happens, people are going to die and HIV will resurge.”

A U.S. health official confirmed that the CDC was stopping its work with WHO. The person was not authorized to talk about the memo and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A WHO spokesperson referred questions about the withdrawal to U.S. officials.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. And CDC officials didn’t respond to the AP’s request to speak with Nkengasong about the memo.
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WASHINGTON — On Jan. 22, Donald Trump — just two days after being inaugurated for his second term as U.S. president — again called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the “ridiculous” war with Ukraine, but this time he added a threat.

“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

The following day, Trump told reporters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had told him he’s ready to negotiate an end to the war. In an interview with Fox News aired that same day, Trump said Zelenskyy is “no angel” and “shouldn’t have allowed this war to happen.”

Does the new U.S. administration have sufficient economic leverage over Russia to force it to make peace, or at least talk about peace?

According to Konstantin Sonin, John Dewey distinguished service professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and former vice rector of Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, the U.S. has economic leverage, but some of its levers are clearly weaker than others.

“Russia’s trade with the U.S. is very small — less than $3 billion a year,” he told Danila Galperovich of VOA’s Russian Service. “Accordingly, even if any opportunity for U.S. companies to trade with Russia is completely closed, the damage to Russia will be small. There is an opportunity to strengthen secondary sanctions — that is, additional pressure, first of all, on China, on India, on other countries, so that they more strictly comply with the primary sanctions.

“There is also an opportunity to continue what [former U.S. President Joe] Biden did with sanctions against the Russian shadow tanker fleet,” Sonin added, referring to vessels that Russia uses to sell oil and evade Western sanctions.

“This requires great international cooperation, but, in principle, it can be done,” said Sonin.

Economist Vladislav Inozemtsev, a special adviser to the Russian Media Studies Project at MEMRI, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, and director of the Moscow-based Center for Post-Industrial Studies, also stressed the significance of secondary sanctions on countries that do business with Russia.

“Trump can somehow influence other countries so that they do not buy Russian products,” Inozemtsev told VOA. “For example, let’s say he can say that if India buys Russian oil, then the United States will impose 15% duties on all goods from India. This would have the most radical consequences. [I]f… countries trading with Russia are getting serious problems in the United States for all their products, then I think that this will be a very sobering moment. If it is possible to impose a virtually complete trade blockade through U.S. sanctions, then these will be devastating sanctions, of course.”

Sonin said that, over the longer term, deregulating oil production internationally would reduce world oil prices and thereby hinder Moscow’s ability to finance its military operations against Ukraine.

“Trump is famous for his good relations with Saudi Arabia, although they are unlikely to be so good that they will reduce oil prices at his request,” he said. “But nevertheless, it is possible to work towards lowering oil prices, which even without sanctions will reduce Russian income.”

Trump spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a Jan. 22 telephone call.

Still, Sonin said that economic levers, in and of themselves, cannot force Putin to do anything. “I would say that the most direct impact is still the supply of more powerful weapons to Ukraine. I do not know to what extent Trump wants to do this, but he mentioned it, and, in principle, it is possible to supply Ukraine with more powerful weapons in larger quantities.”

Inozemtsev, however, said that Putin, who has not previously changed his behavior in response to ultimatums, could do so this time.

“Trump is a person whose degree of radicalism and unpredictability corresponds to Putin’s,” he said. “Here, perhaps, it would be better for Putin to change his mind a bit. If Trump offers him: ‘Vladimir, let’s go, we’ll meet there, sit down at the negotiating table, bring your team, I’ll bring mine, and we’ll agree on something, we’ll discuss it for a day or two, but the issue needs to be resolved,’ I think Putin will go.”
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Israel’s leaders have high expectations for President Donald Trump’s second term, and analysts say Israeli officials hope his unconventional approach to foreign policy will get them the results they want on their top security priorities. But as Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem, Trump’s push for a peace deal with Saudi Arabia could cause tensions with the Jewish state. VOA footage by Ricki Rosen.
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Pentagon — New U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promised more changes are coming to the country’s military before even walking through the doors of the Pentagon.

Hegseth, a decorated veteran and a former Fox News host, was greeted just outside the Pentagon by General Charles Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after arriving for his first full day of work.

Hegseth said serving as defense secretary was the honor of a lifetime, telling reporters that the Defense Department will operate at a faster tempo.

“The lawful orders of the president of the United States will be executed inside this Defense Department swiftly and without excuse,” Hegseth said. “We’re going to hold people accountable.”

Hegseth won Senate confirmation late Friday by a 51-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking ballot.

He was sworn in on Saturday and spoke Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in what the Pentagon described as an “introductory call.”

“We will be no better friend to our allies and no stronger adversary to those who want to test us and try us,” Hegseth told reporters Monday before entering the Pentagon.

He said that President Donald Trump is expected to sign additional executive orders on Monday impacting the military, including orders calling for a U.S. version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, the removal of all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from the Pentagon, and the reinstatement of troops forced to leave the military after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccination.

Hegseth also said the Pentagon will make sure Trump has all the resources needed to secure the U.S. southern border.

“Whatever is needed at the border will be provided,” the defense secretary said. “This is a shift. It’s not the way business has been done in the past.”

“The Defense Department will support the defense of the territorial integrity of the United States of America, the southern border, to include reservists, National Guard and active duty in compliance with the Constitution and the laws of our land and the directives of the commander in chief,” he added.

Asked about the fate of Afghans who worked alongside the United States before the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021, Hegseth said, “We’re going to make sure there’s accountability for what happened in Afghanistan and that we stand by our allies.”

Hegseth also deflected questions about whether he plans to fire the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

“I’m standing with him right now,” Hegseth said. “I look forward to working with him.”
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Part of a U.S. military aid package to Ukraine in April 2022, the M113 armored personnel carrier has proved vital in conducting assault operations and providing protection for Ukrainian infantry. And many of these vehicles are still up and running nearly three years later. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. Camera: Pavel Suhodolskiy
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