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Головнокомандувач Збройних сил України Олександр Сирський озвучив вісім ключових пріоритетів своєї діяльності
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NEW YORK — A violin made in 1714 by the legendary luthier Antonio Stradivari sold for $11.3 million at an auction in New York on Friday, short of estimates that would have made it the most expensive instrument ever sold. 

Sotheby’s auction house had estimated that the “Joachim-Ma Stradivarius” violin could sell for between $12 million and $18 million, with the higher end of the range potentially eclipsing the record-breaking $15.9 million someone paid for another Stradivari violin at auction more than a decade ago. 

The “Joachim-Ma Stradivarius” is regarded as one of Stradivari’s best works, built during his “Golden Period” at the height of his craftsmanship and acoustic mastery, according to the auction house. 

Adding to the intrigue, the violin is believed to have influenced legendary composer Johannes Brahms when he wrote the famed “Violin Concerto in D Major” and was actually played during the concerto’s 1879 premiere. 

“This extraordinary violin represents the pinnacle of craftsmanship and classical music history, its unparalleled sound and storied provenance captivating collectors and musicians alike,” Mari-Claudia Jimenez, chair at Sotheby’s. “The Joachim-Ma Stradivarius garnered global attention, achieving one of the highest prices ever for a musical instrument — an acknowledgment of its rarity and historical importance.” 

$2M increase in seconds

Bidding at Sotheby’s began at $8 million and within seconds shot up to $10 million, as auctioneer Phyllis Kao scanned the room, looking for someone to put up $10.5 million. 

“Am I selling? At $10 million,” she said, looking to potential bidders. 

The room was quiet. 

“Last chance, at $10 million,” she said. “I can sell, and I will, at $10 million, unless you go on.” 

“Sold. $10 million,” she said, banging a gavel. 

The final price includes auction house fees. 

Sale funds scholarships

The name of the instrument comes from two of its famous violin virtuoso owners, Joseph Joachim of Hungary and Si-Hon Ma of China. Ma’s estate gifted the violin to the New England Conservatory in Boston after his death. 

The conservatory will use the proceeds to fund student scholarships. 

“The sale is transformational for future students, and proceeds will establish the largest named endowed scholarship at New England Conservatory,” said Andrea Kalyn, president of New England Conservatory. “It has been an honor to have the Joachim-Ma Stradivari on campus, and we are eager to watch its legacy continue on the world stage.” 
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JUNEAU, ALASKA — The Alaska Legislature passed a resolution Friday urging President Donald Trump to reverse course and retain the name of North America’s tallest peak as Denali rather than change it to Mount McKinley.

Trump, on his first day in office, signed an executive order calling for the name to revert to Mount McKinley, an identifier inspired by President William McKinley, who was from Ohio and never set foot in Alaska.

He said he planned to “restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs. President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent.”

The 19-0 vote in the state Senate came just over a week after the House passed the measure 31-8.

The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Maxine Dibert, a Democrat who is Koyukon Athabascan. Members of that tribe bestowed the name Denali, or “the high one,” on the mountain in interior Alaska.

“Denali is more than a mountain,” Dibert of Fairbanks said in a news release. “It’s a cornerstone of Alaska’s history, a tribute to our diverse culture and a testament to the people who have cherished this land for millennia.”

The Interior Department late last month announced efforts were underway to implement Trump’s renaming order, even though state leaders haven’t seen the matter as settled. An Interior spokesperson, J. Elizabeth Peace, earlier this week said the agency did not have any further updates.

According to the National Park Service, a prospector in 1896 dubbed the peak Mount McKinley for William McKinley, who was elected president that year. Although there were challenges to the McKinley name at the time it was announced, maps had already been circulated with the mountain’s name in place.

The name was formally recognized by the U.S. government until it was changed in 2015 by the Obama administration to Denali.

The name change reflected the traditions of Alaska Natives and the preference of many Alaskans, underscored by a push by state leaders decades earlier. The 6,190-meter mountain in Denali National Park and Preserve on clear days can be see from hundreds of kilometers away.

“Denali is the name of our mountain; a name of great importance to Alaska Natives and everyone across our state,” House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, an independent from Dillingham, said in the news release. “It is clear from the bipartisan support in the legislature that Alaskans should decide.”
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US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met at the White House on Friday, declaring a “new golden age” for US-Japan ties. The visit came amid Trump’s early foreign policy moves that have rattled allies and adversaries alike. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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Nineteen Democratic attorneys general sued President Donald Trump on Friday to stop Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans.

The case, filed in federal court in New York City, alleges the Trump administration allowed Musk’s team access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system in violation of federal law.

The payment system handles tax refunds, Social Security benefits, veterans’ benefits and much more, sending out trillions of dollars every year while containing an expansive network of Americans’ personal and financial data.

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

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, was created to discover and eliminate what the Trump administration has deemed to be wasteful government spending. DOGE’s access to Treasury records, as well as its inspection of various government agencies, has ignited widespread concern among critics over the increasing power of Musk, while supporters have cheered the idea of reining in bloated government finances.

Musk has made fun of criticism of DOGE on his X social media platform while saying it is saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office filed the lawsuit, said DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s data raises security problems and the possibility for an illegal freeze in federal funds.

“This unelected group, led by the world’s richest man, is not authorized to have this information, and they explicitly sought this unauthorized access to illegally block payments that millions of Americans rely on, payments for health care, child care and other essential programs,” James said in a video message released by her office.

James, a Democrat who has been one of Trump’s chief antagonists, said the president does not have the power to give away American’s private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.

Also on the lawsuit are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

The suit alleges that DOGE’s access to the Treasury records could interfere with funding appropriated by Congress, which would exceed the Treasury Department’s statutory authority. The case also argues that the DOGE access violates federal administrative law and the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine.

It also accuses Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent of changing the department’s longstanding policy for protecting sensitive personally identifiable information and financial information to allow Musk’s DOGE team access to its payment systems.

“This decision failed to account for legal obligations to protect such data and ignored the privacy expectations of federal fund recipients,” including states, veterans, retirees, and taxpayers, the lawsuit says.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said it’s not clear what DOGE is doing with the information in the Treasury systems.

“This is the largest data breach in American history,” Tong said in a statement. “DOGE is an unlawfully constituted band of renegade tech bros combing through confidential records, sensitive data and critical payment systems. What could go wrong?”

The Treasury Department has said the review is about assessing the integrity of the system and that no changes are being made. According to two people familiar with the process, Musk’s team began its inquiry looking for ways to suspend payments made by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Trump and Musk are attempting to dismantle. The two people spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Separately, Democratic lawmakers are seeking a Treasury Department investigation of DOGE’s access to the government’s payment system.

Also, labor unions and advocacy groups have sued to block the payments system review over concerns about its legality. A judge in Washington on Thursday temporarily restricted access to two employees with “read only” privileges. 
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WASHINGTON/LONDON/LOS ANGELES — U.S. President Donald Trump paused his administration’s repeal of duty-free treatment of low-cost packages from China on Friday, giving the Commerce Department time to make the order workable, after the rapid change sparked chaos for customs inspectors, postal and delivery services and online retailers.

The cancellation of de minimis means low-value e-commerce packages arriving in the United States with goods from China must use the “formal entry” process that requires additional information and duties before entering the country — a more time-consuming process.

The stop and restart of the United States Postal Service acceptance of those packages set off a swarm of disruptions that backed up Customs clearance for packages — even those that had paid duties — at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

“Well, that was a fun Tuesday through Friday, if you work in global e-commerce,” said Derek Lossing, CEO of e-commerce and global supply chain firm Cirrus Global Advisors.

The change, implemented with just 48 hours’ notice, caused the USPS to temporarily stop accepting packages from China and Hong Kong earlier this week.

Popular online retailers, including Shein, Temu and Amazon.com’s new Haul service, fly packages direct from Chinese factories to U.S. shoppers and use de minimis to keep prices low. Those retailers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Trump administration’s revision to the order was signed on Wednesday and published today, a White House spokesperson said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which has the job of screening e-commerce packages and collecting duties on them, on Thursday held a meeting with logistics professionals to discuss the status of more than 1 million packages piling up at JFK Airport, according to a source familiar with the meeting.

One logistics executive on Friday told Reuters that customs had begun releasing packages it was holding at JFK, which has been taking in about 60 million de minimis e-commerce packages annually.

Trump scrapped the duty-free treatment for Chinese goods with the stated aim of stopping the flow of fentanyl and precursor chemicals into the United States.

White House officials have said Canada and Mexico are conduits for shipments of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals into the U.S. in small packages that are not often inspected by customs agents. While fentanyl traffickers have exploited a U.S. trade law, public data shows 0.2% of all fentanyl seized in the U.S. comes from the Canadian border, while the vast majority originates from the southern border.

Many shipping experts and attorneys warned that switch would overwhelm customs inspections because the agency does not have systems and processes in place. Its staff are also stretched thin because they fall under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which also is responsible for border security.

Companies like Shein and Temu had halted some air cargo flights, invoking force majeure to cancel agreements without penalties, said Kathy Liu, Director of Global sales and marketing, Asia-focused freight forwarder Dimerco.

U.S. shoppers also got hit with bills for duties on purchases of dresses, tops and baby clothing that previously were exempt. It is not immediately clear whether those consumers would be eligible for refunds for any duties paid.

“We’re navigating these significant changes to U.S. trade policy as they come, as best we can on behalf of our clients,” said Brian Bourke, global chief commercial officer for SEKO Logistics, which moves e-commerce packages targeted with new duties.

Delivery firms UPS, FedEx and DHL also handle those packages. Their representatives did not immediately comment on the Trump administration’s pause on duty collection.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace overtures toward Iran this week —  made as he signed a directive to put the country under “maximum pressure” for malign behavior — signal a revived policy that some analysts say has evolved from his first term as he adapts to Iran’s new circumstances.

Trump made his overture in a Wednesday post on his Truth Social platform, saying he seeks a “Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper” in return for ensuring that the Islamic Republic “cannot have a Nuclear Weapon.”

A day earlier, Trump also told a news conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “I would love to be able to make a great deal [with Iran], a deal where you can get on with your lives, and you’ll do wonderfully.”

In 2020, during Trump’s first term, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and then a senior adviser, made a similar, if more muted, appeal to Iran’s then-President Hassan Rouhani, in an interview with VOA.

“For President Rouhani, I would say it’s time for the region to move forward. Let’s stop being stuck in conflicts of the past. It’s time for people to get together and to make peace,” he said.

At the time, Trump said a key goal of his original “maximum pressure” campaign was to negotiate a new bilateral agreement to end Iran’s perceived malign behaviors that he said were not sufficiently addressed by Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Trump withdrew the United States from that deal in 2018 and started the pressure policy.

Trump revived his “maximum pressure” policy by signing a presidential memorandum Tuesday, directing a series of economic and legal measures to counter Iranian activities that threaten U.S. national interests. The document highlighted Iran’s development of nuclear weapons-related capabilities, ballistic missiles and its regional aggression through support of proxy forces.

‘Higher ambitions and more tools for pressure’

The new Iran policy is “qualitatively different” from what Trump pursued in his first term, Brian Katulis, a senior fellow of the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told VOA.

“It has higher ambitions and more tools for pressure,” he said.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded to Trump’s new policy Friday, saying Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal shows that negotiating with the U.S. “is neither rational, nor intelligent, nor honorable, and [we] should not engage in negotiations with it.”

Iranian state media said Khamenei made the comment while speaking to a gathering of air force personnel. They also quoted him as issuing the following warning to the U.S.: “If they threaten us, we will threaten them. If they carry out their threat, we will carry out our threat. And if they disrupt the security of our nation, we will definitely disrupt their security as well.”

Iran long has denied seeking nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said Iran suspended an active nuclear weapons program in 2003, but Israel, a U.S. ally, said in 2018 its agents in Tehran stole documents indicating the Iranian government had covertly continued that program.

Trump’s new “maximum pressure” memorandum includes two specific measures that were prominent features of his first term campaign — seeking to drive Iran’s export of oil, its highest revenue-earner, to zero and calling for a snapback, or return, of international sanctions the U.N. Security Council lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.

In the first announcement of new sanctions in Trump’s second term, the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday, targeted Iran’s oil exports by sanctioning an international network it said facilitates the shipment of “millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars” to China, Iran’s top oil customer.

Trump’s goals of reducing Iranian oil exports to zero and restoring international sanctions on Iran were not fully achieved in his first term.

An October 2024 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Iran’s crude oil and condensate exports reached a low of 0.4 million barrels per day in 2020 “due to the U.S. reimposition of sanctions in November 2018 and the decline in demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Trump’s first administration also unilaterally declared a restoration of international sanctions on Iran in September 2020, but most other U.N. Security Council members rejected the move. They asserted the U.S. had forfeited its right to trigger the return of international sanctions by quitting the 2015 nuclear deal that lifted those sanctions.

One provision of Trump’s new Iran memorandum, setting a goal that was not explicitly stated in his first term, is ensuring neither Iraq nor the Gulf countries can be used by Tehran to evade sanctions.

Trump’s first administration had tried to stop such evasion by Iran, according to Elliott Abrams, a Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow who served as U.S. special envoy for Iran at the end of Trump’s first term.

Responding to a VOA question in a Federalist Society webinar on Thursday, Abrams said, “There were points at which we said to the Emiratis, ‘Look, Dubai is being used by the Iranians to get around sanctions. Close that down.’”

He said the second Trump administration appears to be giving that objective more public attention.

Another new feature of Trump’s pressure campaign is its order to “modify or rescind sanctions waivers … that provide Iran any degree of economic or financial relief … related to Iran’s Chabahar port project.”

India has been developing a terminal at the Iranian port under a 2016 agreement and secured a waiver from the first Trump administration in 2018 to continue the project to facilitate humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

The Biden administration extended the waiver, but when India signed a deal last year to operate the Iranian port for a decade, Biden’s State Department said that “anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk that they are opening themselves up to … sanctions.”

‘Enhanced’ campaign seen

Jason Brodsky, policy director of U.S. advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, told VOA he expects to see Trump pursue an “enhanced” maximum pressure campaign that is tailored to the “changed geopolitical realities of 2025, rather than to 2018.”

One of those new realities is a major rebound in Iranian oil exports, primarily due to what Brodsky said was lax Biden administration sanctions enforcement.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s October report, citing data from international energy analytics company Vortexa, said Iran’s oil exports increased to an average of 1.5 million barrels per day in the first eight months of last year.

The Biden administration rejected accusations of lax sanctions enforcement made by critics of its Iran policy while it was in office, highlighting its sanctioning of hundreds of entities for Iran-related activities. But Biden’s treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said in April 2024 that Iran was “continuing to export some oil” and added, “there may be more that we could do.”

Other new factors Brodsky cited as reasons for Trump to enhance his maximum pressure strategy include Iran’s progress in uranium enrichment during the Biden administration and Tehran’s recent regional losses. In the past year, Israel killed the leaders of Iran’s terror proxies Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon and Gaza, while Islamist rebels in Syria ousted longtime Iran-backed leader Bashar al-Assad from power.

But Brodsky said the new maximum pressure memorandum also raises questions about what Trump wants out of a potential new deal with Iran.

He noted the document calls for ending the “[Iranian] regime’s nuclear extortion racket” and asked whether this means Trump will demand that Iran stop uranium enrichment, as Trump did in his first term.

“We don’t have answers right now,” Brodsky said.
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U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to make the United States the cryptocurrency capital of the world. He is putting his plan into place in the early weeks of his second presidential term. VOA’s Michelle Quinn has the story.
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Президент зазначив, що провів зустріч із командирами підрозділів безпілотних систем: «досвід усіх наших найкращих буде масштабуватися»
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Відомство звинувачує чоловіка в тому, що він переказував кошти на підтримку ЗСУ, перебуваючи за кордоном
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WHITE HOUSE — U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on Friday, in a visit that Tokyo hopes will reaffirm the U.S.-Japan alliance amid Trump’s early foreign policy moves that have rattled allies and adversaries.

Trump and Ishiba are expected to discuss increasing joint military exercises and cooperation on defense equipment and technology, ramping up Japanese investments to the United States, and American energy exports to Japan, a senior Trump administration official said in a briefing to reporters Friday.

The official said they also will talk about improving cybersecurity capabilities, bolstering space cooperation and promoting joint business opportunities to develop critical technologies, including AI and semiconductors.

Ishiba’s visit comes amid anxiety in Tokyo as Trump has put pressure on some U.S. allies and partners, saying he wants to absorb Canada as a U.S. state, acquire Greenland from Denmark and take control of the Panama Canal.

“We would like to first establish a higher relationship of trust and cooperation between two countries, especially the two leaders,” a senior Japanese government official told reporters during a briefing Thursday.

The U.S. president has imposed fresh 10% tariffs on China and 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico — although the latter two have been at least temporarily delayed. He has warned of possible tariffs against other countries, especially those with whom the U.S. holds a trade deficit, such as Japan.

“We all know that President Trump pays a lot of attention to the deficit as an indication of the economic strength of the relationship. So, I’m sure discussions will happen about that,” the Trump administration official said.

Other strains on the U.S.-Japan relationship include former President Joe Biden’s blocking of a $15 billion acquisition bid by Japan’s largest steel producer, Nippon Steel, for Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel.

Biden blocked the deal during the final weeks of his term, citing national security concerns. Trump has said he also opposes the deal.

The White House has not responded to VOA’s query on Trump’s current position on Nippon Steel. The Japanese prime minister’s office did not respond to VOA’s query on whether the issue will be raised today.

Continuity on security front

Under then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Japan became a key player in what the Biden administration called a “lattice-like strategic architecture” to bolster deterrence against the two main U.S. adversaries in the Pacific: China and North Korea.

Biden’s approach connected Tokyo with other allies in trilateral formats and other groupings, including with South Korea, Australia and the Philippines, to deter regional threats in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea and Korean Peninsula.

Japan is anxious to maintain ties forged in recent years, during which time Tokyo has increased defense spending and intensified joint military exercises with the U.S. and other regional allies.

Japan needs a “multilayered network of security” to defend itself, the senior Japanese official said.

The Trump administration will continue to support trilateral efforts and some of the working groups that have come out from under those over the last few years, the Trump official said. “There may be some adjustments to where the focus is on trilateral cooperation, but I think largely you will see continuity.”

Under his first term, Trump and then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on the “free and open Indo-Pacific” framework to promote peace and prosperity in the region. The two countries also agreed to elevate what’s known as the Quad grouping with India and Australia.

The fact that the Trump administration sees those formats as a critical part of its strategy in the Pacific is important, said Jeffrey Hornung, the Japan Lead for the RAND National Security Research Division.

A key indicator to watch is whether the leaders will come out with a joint statement on a free and open Indo-Pacific. While it may sound like a diplomatic cliché, it would deliver a strong message to Beijing to not be provocative toward Taiwan, Hornung told VOA.

In dealing with the threats from Pyongyang, the Trump official underscored the U.S. is “committed to the complete denuclearization of North Korea.”

Making deals with Japan

While maintaining the security alliance, analysts say Trump may use the visit as an opportunity to broker deals that would further his “America First” agenda, using what he sees as Tokyo’s interests as leverage.

“Part of President Trump’s negotiating stance for almost all issues is that we don’t really know where he wants to land in the end,” said Kenji Kushida, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“If the promise to allow Nippon Steel to acquire U.S. Steel can be used as bargaining leverage, he may use this to get Japan to pay much more than they’re already committed, to help contribute to U.S. military bases and other defense costs,” he told VOA.

Ahead of Ishiba’s visit, Nippon Steel said its proposed acquisition is aligned with Trump’s goals of a stronger United States.

“From Japan’s perspective, they want to position themselves as the staunch ally of U.S. interests in Asia, and so fitting into that set of interests is Nippon Steel’s strategy here,” Kushida said.

Tokyo is aware of what Trump wants — investments in key industries such as AI and semiconductors, increasing Tokyo’s defense spending and American energy purchase.

“Those are all areas that Japan does have shared interests. They have technology. They have the money to invest in some of these areas, and so they’re able to use their leverage in a very strategic manner,” Hornung said. “At the same time, trying to promote with Trump the things that they’re interested in: making sure that U.S. forces remain in Japan, making sure that the U.S. remains committed to the Indo-Pacific.”

The best-case scenario for Ishiba is that Trump doesn’t ask beyond what Tokyo already expected, said Kushida.

“Perhaps an increase in the defense sharing burden, mainly buying U.S. military equipment, expansion of U.S. bases, perhaps, and then perhaps some other financial commitments, but nothing that would upset the sort of geopolitical status in East Asia to Japan’s disadvantage,” Kushida said. “Nothing very extreme, or to get mixed in with some of the issues In the Middle East in ways that Japan has been trying to keep out.”

The leaders are expected to hold a press conference later Friday.

Calla Yu and Kim Lewis contributed to this report.
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Також, за даними ОВА, у селі Пристін внаслідок російського обстрілу з РСЗВ пошкоджено сім житлових будинків
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«Мілітарні організації є невід’ємним інструментом пропаганди служби в армії РФ», заявляє відомство
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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration presented a plan Thursday to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for U.S. aid projects as part of its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, leaving fewer than 300 workers out of thousands.

Late Thursday, federal workers associations filed suit asking a federal court to stop the shutdown, arguing that President Donald Trump lacks the authority to shut down an agency enshrined in congressional legislation.

Two current USAID employees and one former senior USAID official told The Associated Press of the administration’s plan, presented to remaining senior officials of the agency Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to a Trump administration order barring USAID staffers from talking to anyone outside their agency.

The plan would leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of what are currently 8,000 direct hires and contractors. They, along with an unknown number of 5,000 locally hired international staffers abroad, would run the few life-saving programs that the administration says it intends to keep going for the time being.

It was not immediately clear whether the reduction to 300 would be permanent or temporary, potentially allowing more workers to return after what the Trump administration says is a review of which aid and development programs it wants to resume.

The administration earlier this week gave almost all USAID staffers posted overseas 30 days, starting Friday, to return to the U.S., with the government paying for their travel and moving costs. Workers who choose to stay longer, unless they received a specific hardship waiver, might have to cover their own expenses, a notice on the USAID website said late Thursday.

Speaking to reporters Monday in El Salvador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the agency as historically “unresponsive” to Congress and the White House, even though the agency, he claimed, is supposed to take its direction from the State Department.

“USAID has a history of sort of ignoring that and deciding that there’s somehow a global charity separate from the national interest,” Rubio said. “These are taxpayer dollars, and we owe the American people assurances that every dollar we are spending abroad is being spent on something that furthers our national interest.”

Speaking in the Dominican Republic on Thursday, Rubio said the U.S. government will continue providing foreign aid.

“But it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest,” he told reporters.

The Trump administration and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who is running a budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have targeted USAID hardest so far in an unprecedented challenge of the federal government and many of its programs.

Since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, a sweeping funding freeze has shut down most of the agency’s programs worldwide, and almost all of its workers have been placed on administrative leave or furloughed. Musk and Trump have spoken of eliminating USAID as an independent agency and moving surviving programs under the State Department.

Democratic lawmakers and others call the move illegal without congressional approval.

The same argument was made by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees in their lawsuit, which asks the federal court in Washington to compel the reopening of USAID’s buildings, return its staffers to work and restore funding.

Government officials “failed to acknowledge the catastrophic consequences of their actions, both as they pertain to American workers, the lives of millions around the world, and to U.S. national interests,” the suit says. 
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The Trump administration’s expansion of migrant detention facilities, notably its use of the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has reignited debate among human rights advocates and legal experts.

President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to curb legal migration and deport those in the U.S. without legal status.

Late last month, he instructed his administration to prepare the facility for the detention of up to 30,000 “high-priority” unauthorized immigrants with criminal records. The first group arrived on Tuesday.

Described as the “the worst of the worst” by administration officials, the detainees were identified by the Department of Homeland Security as part of the transnational criminal organization “Tren de Aragua,” which the U.S. designated a foreign terrorist organization on January 20.

VOA sent numerous requests to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding what crimes the migrants committed. ICE directed VOA to contact the Department of Homeland Security, which has not responded to emails.

Miriam Pensack, a historian who studies Latin America and the Caribbean and is a postgraduate scholar at Princeton University, said the U.S. government has been using Guantanamo Bay to hold migrants on and off for 30 years.

“There is an ICE office in Guantanamo. … But obviously what we’re seeing now is a huge expansion of that capacity,” she said.

Trump’s decision to use the naval base as a migrant detention center follows his signing of the Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention for those accused of theft or violent crimes while in the country unlawfully.

Supporters say that using Guantanamo will alleviate pressure on overcrowded detention facilities and serve as a stronger deterrent against illegal crossings to the United States.

Earlier this week, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described Guantanamo as the “perfect place” to detain migrants as he visited the border with Mexico.

The Pentagon will provide any necessary assets “to support the expulsion and detention of those in our country illegally,” he told Agence France-Presse.

Guantanamo and migrant detention

The U.S. first used Guantanamo Bay to detain migrants, mostly Haitian and Cuban asylum-seekers under President George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s.

Following a military coup in Haiti in 1991, thousands fled by boat to the U.S. but were intercepted at sea and taken to Guantanamo. In 1994, Guantanamo became the site of the world’s first and only prison camp for people with HIV, where more than 300 Haitian refugees, including children, were confined behind razor wire.

“These were refugees fleeing slaughter in their country, whose credible fear of persecution the U.S. officials who screened them acknowledged, who were held for no reason other than their HIV status. When these people protest detention, the response was brutal,” said Pardiss Kebriaei, senior staff attorney at the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights, to reporters during a press call last Thursday.

Legal challenges eventually forced the U.S. government to release the detainees, setting a precedent that indefinite offshore detention without due process is legally dubious.

In 2002, the George W. Bush administration built a detention camp in Guantanamo Bay to hold terror suspects following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan shortly after the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

But Guantanamo’s use for migrant detention continued with at least two presidents, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, using the base.

The Biden administration sought to close Guantanamo, but Congress never passed the legislation, leaving the base operational for future use.

“The idea of closing Guantanamo as a prison is one thing; closing Guantanamo as a 45-square-mile base held in Cuba is another,” Pensack said.

Legal and human rights concerns

Advocates warn that offshore detention facilities allow the U.S. to sidestep domestic constitutional protections and limit oversight.

Eunice Cho, attorney at the ACLU National Prison Project, told reporters during the press call last Thursday that “detaining immigrants on military bases in the United States and Guantanamo would subject people to dangerous conditions … and attempt to avoid scrutiny by lawyers, the press, and congressional oversight.”

Historically, legal challenges have helped curb indefinite detentions at Guantanamo. The Supreme Court ruling in Rasul v. Bush (2004) established that Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts. However, the Trump administration could attempt to argue that civil immigration detainees fall outside this precedent.

While prior administrations may have seen Guantanamo as a law-free zone, “That is not the case today,” said Kebriaei of the Center for Constitutional Rights, adding that migrants at Guantanamo now “have due process rights under the Constitution.”

“[Meanwhile], people would be detained. … and [litigation] would go on and people would suffer during that time,” she said.

In the meantime, the Trump’ administration border czar Tom Homan told reporters outside the White House on Thursday that “President Trump made a commitment that the worst of the worst will go to Gitmo.”

Broader immigration, policy implications

The Guantanamo facility has historically been used in moments of crisis, from Cuban and Haitian exoduses to post-9/11 military detention. The Trump administration’s decision to include Guantanamo in its mass detention strategy signals a shift toward increasingly punitive measures, according to some analysts.

Stacy Suh, program director at Detention Watch Network, emphasized the link between detention expansion and deportations.

“Detention plays a crucial role in deportation. … More detention means more people would be deported,” she said.

The Department of Homeland Security has yet to clarify whether the latest White House policy includes detention of migrants without criminal records or whether they would have access to asylum proceedings or be expelled outright.

Homan said the U.S. has had a migrant processing at “Gitmo for decades. So, we’re increasing our footprint there.”

Legal response

The administration’s decision has sparked backlash from advocacy groups, legal experts, and members of Congress, many of whom are calling for oversight hearings and possibly legal action.

Cho of the ACLU urged vigilance, saying there is a need for “a robust response from both the press, from government oversight agencies, Congress, advocacy organizations, and the community.”

With Guantanamo’s history of controversial and legally ambiguous detentions, experts predict judicial and political battles over its use for immigration enforcement.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of U.S. citizens or U.S. allies such as Israel, repeating action he took during his first term.  

The move coincides with a visit to Washington by Israel’s Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu, who — along with his former defense minister and a leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas — is wanted by the ICC over the war in the Gaza Strip.  

It was unclear how quickly the U.S. would announce names of people sanctioned. During the first Trump administration in 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan. 

The ICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sanctions include freezing any U.S. assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States. 

The 125-member ICC is a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression against the territory of member states or by their nationals. The United States, China, Russia and Israel are not members.  

Trump signed the executive order after U.S. Senate Democrats last week blocked a Republican-led effort to pass legislation setting up a sanctions regime targeting the war crimes court.  

The court has taken measures to shield staff from possible U.S. sanctions, paying salaries three months in advance, as it braced for financial restrictions that could cripple the war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month. 

In December, the court’s president, judge Tomoko Akane, warned that sanctions would “rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases, and jeopardize its very existence.”

Russia has also taken aim at the court. In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia has banned entry to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan and placed him and two ICC judges on its wanted list. 
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