Author: PolitCens

U.S. Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday the Trump administration’s freeze of U.S. foreign assistance might permanently damage America’s security and standing abroad. Republicans counter that the review of U.S. Agency for International Development programs is necessary to combat waste and fraud. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — A federal judge on Wednesday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to carry out its federal worker deferred retirement program as the president moves to overhaul and downsize the U.S. government, handing a setback to unions trying to stop the plan.

The decision could clear the way for the Republican president’s administration to swiftly try to wrap up the program, though the unions could ask another court to halt the program.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston dissolved an earlier order he issued that had paused the program at the urging of unions representing more than 800,000 federal employees.

O’Toole concluded that the unions lacked legal standing to challenge the rule.

The American Federation of Government Employees and other unions have called the administration’s deferred resignation offer to more than 2 million federal civilian employees unlawful.

“The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees,” wrote O’Toole, an appointee of Democratic former President Bill Clinton. “This is not sufficient.”

The Office of Personnel Management, which announced the program in a January 28 email titled “Fork in the Road,” on Monday told employees it intends to close the program to new entrants as soon as legally permissible.

As of Friday, about 65,000 federal employees had signed up for the buyouts, according to a White House official, as the Trump administration ramps up plans to engage in wide-ranging job cuts throughout the government.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President Everett Kelley called the ruling a setback.

“Importantly, this decision did not address the underlying lawfulness of the program,” he said in a statement.

The unions that had filed the lawsuit argued that the plan announced in January was unlawful and that OPM lacked authority to implement the program.

Trump, who began his second term as president on January 20, has appointed Elon Musk a “special government employee” to oversee a sweeping effort called the Department of Government Efficiency with the stated aim of reducing federal spending and reshaping the United States’ 2.2 million-strong federal workforce, potentially purging thousands of workers.

He also signed an executive order on Tuesday to expand Musk’s influence and continue downsizing the federal workforce.

Democrats and other critics have accused Musk, who heads electric carmaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, of improperly taking over the federal government. Some federal workers have held protests against Musk’s actions.

In an email that was sent last month to nearly all federal employees, OPM said employees could choose to resign now and retain all pay and benefits until September 30.

The email said employees could remain on the payroll without having to work in person and possibly having their duties reduced or eliminated in the meantime. Interested employees needed only to reply with the word “resign” to take part.

The email’s title and contents mirrored a message that Musk, the world’s richest man, sent to Twitter employees after he acquired the social media platform, now called X, in 2022.

As the deadline approached, the Trump administration had repeated its warning that most federal agencies are likely to be downsized, a message seen by workers as pressure to accept the buyout offer.

The unions in their lawsuit argued that OPM’s buyout directive was “stunningly arbitrary” and violated the Antideficiency Act, a federal law that bars agencies from spending more money than Congress appropriated.

By encouraging employees to broadly quit without regard to their agency, job duties or institutional memory, OPM is ignoring the adverse consequences resignations could have on the government’s ability to function, the unions said.

At the request of the unions, O’Toole last week delayed an initial February 6 deadline for employees to resign to Monday. On that day, he put it on hold pending a further order of the court while he considered the case.

The unions asked that the deadline be put fully on hold to give them time to seek further relief through the courts and ensure that their members can make informed decisions.
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WASHINGTON — As his trade advisers finalized plans to enact reciprocal measures on every country that charges duties on U.S. imports, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he will push for lower interest rates alongside his tariff policies.

“Interest Rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!! Lets Rock and Roll, America!!!” Trump said on social media Wednesday morning.

To maintain the Federal Reserves’ autonomy from politics, U.S. presidents traditionally avoid even the appearance of meddling in monetary policy and the nation’s interest rates, which is the purview of the central bank.

Trump, however, has not shied from the practice. In a videoconference address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, Trump said he would “demand that interest rates drop immediately.”

“I know interest rates much better than they do,” he said of Fed officials. He has ramped up his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom he appointed in 2017 for a term that ends in 2026.

Trump’s push to lower interest rates is intended to go hand in hand with punitive measures on trading partners.

The president said Wednesday afternoon that he would approve reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday or Thursday.

“We’re going to be doing reciprocal tariffs,” he said. “Very simply, if they charge us, we charge them.”

Reciprocal tariffs are “absolutely a high priority for the president,” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters Wednesday, promising “a lot more action on it today.”

Hassett said the White House has begun negotiations with other countries early to lay the groundwork for imposing such tariffs, although he acknowledged the details about which sectors or how they will be implemented is a “work in progress.”

Under World Trade Organization rules, member countries have the right to impose tariffs on imports. Countries negotiate those rates at the WTO to determine the maximum tariff rate a member country can impose on imports from other member countries.

Inflation, looming trade war

U.S. inflation rose to 3% in January, according to government data released Wednesday. Last month, the annual pace was 2.9%.

Trump campaigned on lowering high consumer prices he blamed on his predecessor, Joe Biden. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt again attributed the increase to the previous administration.

“This is an indictment on the Biden administration’s mismanagement of the inflation crisis and their lack of transparency,” she said during her briefing Wednesday.

Trump wants to lower interest rates and inflation, she said. “He believes that the whole of government economic approach that this administration is taking will result in lower inflation.”

However, some economists warn that combining high tariffs and low interest rates will have the opposite effect.

Trump’s plan reflects a “misunderstanding of how the economy works,” said Joseph Gagnon, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

“Tariffs raise prices directly, that is inflationary, but also cutting interest rates is inflationary if you do it excessively,” he told VOA. “Especially with today’s data, cutting interest rates would not be a good idea.”

During testimony Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said the Fed was in no rush to cut interest rates because the economy had stabilized. He noted that inflation, while still above the Fed’s 2% target, was at 2.6% last year, and he said the labor market was cooling without plummeting, with the unemployment rate at 4%.

Gagnon also warned of a looming trade war. Trump already had announced Monday his decision to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports beginning March 12.

The duties will hit top U.S. steel supplier Canada, followed by Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Germany. Additionally, Canada is the leader in aluminum exports to the American market.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday the move “will not go unanswered,” saying it will trigger tough countermeasures from the 27-nation bloc, potentially targeting iconic American industries such as bourbon, jeans and motorcycles. EU trade ministers are meeting Wednesday to determine their next moves.

China, Mexico and Canada

Last week, Trump imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods, which the White House said was aimed at halting the flow of fentanyl opioids and their precursor chemicals.

On Monday China began slapping retaliatory actions on some American goods, including 15% duties on coal and natural gas imports and 10% on petroleum, agricultural equipment, high-emission vehicles and pickup trucks. The country also immediately implemented restrictions on the export of certain critical minerals, and it launched an antitrust investigation into American tech giant Google.

Trump delayed enacting a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada for a month — until March 4 — to allow negotiations over his demands for the U.S. neighbors to secure their borders and stop the flow of the illegal drug fentanyl.

The duties could affect about $1.323 trillion in trade imports that come from China, Mexico and Canada, according to U.S. government data. This accounts for 43% of U.S. imports and 5% of the $27 trillion U.S. gross domestic product.

If enacted, the new import taxes on Canada, Mexico and China will increase the average tariff rate from its current level of 3% to 10.7% based on contemporary trade patterns, said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at financial advisory firm RSM.

“Should the trade skirmishes escalate to include the European Union and turn into an all-out trade war, expect U.S. economic growth to ease back to 2% as the tariffs drag down growth and employment, stoke inflation and widen the current account deficit, all amid higher interest rates,” he wrote on RSM’s Real Economy Blog.

VOA’s Celia Mendoza contributed to this report.
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The future of the United States’ military presence in Syria is in question, with President Donald Trump facing competing demands from Turkey and Israel over the 2,000-strong force that is supporting a Syrian Kurdish-led coalition fighting Islamic State. Israel wants the U.S. to keep supporting Kurdish forces in Syria, while Turkey opposes that strategy. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he and Russia’s leader agreed in a phone call to “immediately” begin negotiations with Ukraine’s leader to bring an end to the nearly three-year-conflict.  

“We will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. “I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful.”

Trump did not specify what the terms might be to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. But Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in Germany Wednesday for a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, ruled out a key demand by Ukraine’s: eventual membership in NATO.

“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said.  

Trump’s top hostage negotiator on Wednesday credited Trump’s “great friendship” with Russia’s leader and with Saudi Arabia’s prince as key in releasing American teacher Marc Fogel from Russian custody late Tuesday.  

“I think that getting Mark Fogel out was critical and the Russians were very, very helpful in that effort and very accommodating,” Witkoff said, speaking to reporters at the White House. “And I think that’s maybe a sign about how that working relationship between President Trump and President Putin will be in the future and what that may portend for the world at large for conflict and so forth. I think they had a great friendship. And I think now it’s going to continue and it’s a really good thing for the world.”

Trump welcomed Fogel to the White House late Tuesday. He had been detained since August 2021 for bringing medically prescribed marijuana into the country.  

“I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” Fogel said as he stood next to Trump at the White House late Tuesday.

Trump said he appreciated what Russia did in letting Fogel go home but declined to specify the details of any agreement with Russia beyond calling it “very fair” and very reasonable.”  

Trump also said another hostage release would be announced Wednesday.  

Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said earlier Tuesday the United States 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 January 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. 
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to overhaul the country’s intelligence apparatus appears set to move forward, with lawmakers confirming Tulsi Gabbard as the nation’s next director of national intelligence.

The Senate voted 52-48 in favor of Gabbard on Wednesday, narrowly rejecting concerns about her experience and past statements on leaks of classified intelligence and other matters.

Gabbard got support from every Republican senator except for former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who joined Democrats in opposing her confirmation.

“The intelligence community needs to refocus on its core mission — collecting intelligence and providing unbiased analysis of that information,” said Republican Majority Leader John Thune, praising Gabbard on Monday as lawmakers began debating her nomination.

“That’s what Tulsi Gabbard is committed to ensuring,” Thune said. “And I believe she has the knowledge and leadership capabilities to get it done.”

Democrats were less enthusiastic, making last minute pleas to their Republican colleagues to reject Gabbard.

“We simply cannot, in good conscience, trust our most classified secrets to someone who echoes Russian propaganda and falls for conspiracy theories,” said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, addressing lawmakers before Wednesday’s vote.

Schumer also alleged that most Republicans secretly agree.

“If we had a secret ballot, Gabbard might get 10 votes,” he said. “People know. That’s why they raise so many questions. But Donald Trump and Elon Musk evidently threaten them, and they’re changing their view.”

Trump selected Gabbard in November, praising her “fearless spirit.”

But the former Democratic representative from the state of Hawaii and one-time Democratic presidential candidate faced criticism from Democrats and some Republicans. Gabbard’s nomination to serve as director of national intelligence advanced to the full Senate by a 9-8 party-line vote in the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“It’s fair to say Ms. Gabbard’s nomination has generated a bit more interest and attention than do most nominees before this committee,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, a Republican, acknowledged during Gabbard’s confirmation hearing late last month.

During the hearing, Gabbard was questioned repeatedly by Republicans and Democrats about Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor accused of leaking thousands of classified documents before ultimately fleeing to Russia, and specifically about legislation she introduced to pardon him.

Each time they asked whether she considered Snowden a traitor, Gabbard declined to answer.

“Senator, my heart is with my commitment to our Constitution and our nation’s security,” Gabbard said during once exchange with Republican Senator James Lankford.

Senators also questioned Gabbard about a 2017 trip to Syria, during which she met with then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, despite allegations he had used chemical weapons against civilians, and about her comments about Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“I continue to have significant concerns about your judgment and your qualifications,” said Warner, a Democrat. “Repeatedly, you have excused our adversaries’ worst actions, [and] instead often blame them on the United States.”

Gabbard, however, managed to find common ground with the committee’s Republican senators, winning over Susan Collins and Todd Young.

Young also shared a letter from Gabbard in which she pledged to hold U.S. intelligence employees and contractors accountable for intelligence leaks and to “not advocate for any protections which should only be extended to lawful and legitimate whistleblowers.”

Gabbard further promised to not make any recommendation “regarding the legal standing of Edward Snowden” to the U.S. attorney general or to Trump.

And she pledged to support the use of warrantless surveillance capabilities despite her opposition to the program while she was a lawmaker.

VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.
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Russian-born fashion designer Dasha Pomeranz tells stories with the clothing she creates. Her latest collection is a tribute to women who were forced to leave their native countries and start new lives in the United States. Karina Bafradzhian has the story. (Videographer: Sergii Dogotar ; Produced by: Sergii Dogotar, Anna Rice   ) 
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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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