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BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — As nerves frayed and the clock ticked, negotiators from rich and poor nations were huddled in one room Saturday during overtime United Nations climate talks to try to hash out an elusive deal on money for developing countries to curb and adapt to climate change.

But the rough draft of a proposal circulating in that room was getting soundly rejected, especially by African nations and small island states, according to messages relayed from inside. Then a group of negotiators from the Least Developed Countries bloc and the Alliance of Small Island States walked out because they didn’t want to engage with the rough draft.

The “current deal is unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do,” said Evans Njewa, chair of the LDC group. When asked if the walkout was a protest, Colombia Environment Minister Susana Mohamed told The Associated Press: “I would call this dissatisfaction, [we are] highly dissatisfied.”

With tensions high, climate activists heckled United States climate envoy John Podesta as he left the meeting room. They accused the U.S. of not paying its fair share and having “a legacy of burning up the planet.”

The last official draft on Friday pledged $250 billion annually by 2035, more than double the previous goal of $100 billion set 15 years ago but far short of the annual $1 trillion-plus that experts say is needed. The rough draft discussed on Saturday was for $300 billion in climate finance, sources told AP.

Accusations of a war of attrition

Developing countries accused the rich of trying to get their way — and a small financial aid package — via a war of attrition. And small island nations, particularly vulnerable to climate change’s worsening impacts, accused the host country presidency of ignoring them for the entire two weeks.

After bidding one of his suitcase-lugging delegation colleagues goodbye and watching the contingent of about 20 enter the meeting room for the European Union, Panama chief negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez had enough.

“Every minute that passes we are going to just keep getting weaker and weaker and weaker. They don’t have that issue. They have massive delegations,” Gomez said. “This is what they always do. They break us at the last minute. You know, they push it and push it and push it until our negotiators leave. Until we’re tired, until we’re delusional from not eating, from not sleeping.”

With developing nations’ ministers and delegation chiefs having to catch flights home, desperation sets in, according to Power Shift Africa’s Mohamed Adow. “The risk is if developing countries don’t hold the line, they will likely be forced to compromise and accept a goal that doesn’t add up to get the job done,” he said.

Teresa Anderson, the global lead on climate justice at Action Aid, said that to get a deal, “the presidency has to put something far better on the table.”

“The U.S. in particular, and rich countries, need to do far more to show that they’re willing for real money to come forward,” she said. “And if they don’t, then LDCs [Least Developed Countries] are unlikely to find that there’s anything here for them.”

Climate cash deal is still elusive

Developing nations are seeking $1.3 trillion to help adapt to droughts, floods, rising seas and extreme heat, pay for losses and damages caused by extreme weather, and transition their energy systems away from planet-warming fossil fuels and toward clean energy. Wealthy nations are obligated to pay vulnerable countries under an agreement reached at these talks in Paris in 2015.

Panama’s Monterrey Gomez said even the higher $300 billion figure that was discussed on Saturday is “still crumbs.”

“Is that even half of what we put forth?” he asked.

Monterrey Gomez said the developing world has since asked for a finance deal of $500 billion up to 2030 — a shortened timeframe than the 2035 date. “We’re still yet to hear reaction from the developed side,” he said.

On Saturday morning, Irish Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said it’s not just about the number in the final deal, but “how do you get to $1.3 trillion.”

Ryan said that any number reached at the COP will have to be supplemented with other sources of finance, for example through a market for carbon emissions where polluters would pay to offset the carbon they spew.

The amount in any deal reached at COP negotiations — often considered a “core” — will then be mobilized or leveraged for greater climate spending. But much of that means loans for countries already drowning in debt.

Anger and frustration over state of negotiations

Alden Meyer of the climate think tank E3G said it’s still up in the air whether a deal on finance will come out of Baku at all.

“It is still not out of the question that there could be an inability to close the gap on the finance issue,” he said.

Ali Mohamed, chair of the African Group of Negotiators, said the bloc is “prepared to reach agreement here in Baku … but we are not prepared to accept things that cross our red lines.”

Despite the fractures between nations, several still held out hopes for the talks. “We remain optimistic,” said Nabeel Munir of Pakistan, who chairs one of the talks’ standing negotiating committees.

The Alliance of Small Island States said in a statement that it wants to continue to engage in the talks, as long as the process is inclusive. “If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement,” the statement said.
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Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a former NFL player who ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term.

Turner, 52, is the first Black person selected to be a member of the Republican’s Cabinet. Here are some things to know about him:

From professional football to politics

Turner grew up in a Dallas suburb, Richardson, and graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was a defensive back and spent nine seasons in the NFL beginning in 1995, playing for the Washington Redskins, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos.

During offseasons, he worked as an intern for then-Representative Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California. After Turner retired in 2004, he worked full time for the congressman. In 2006, Turner ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in California’s 50th Congressional District.

Turner joined the Texas House in 2013 as part of a large crop of tea party-supported lawmakers. He tried unsuccessfully to become speaker before he finished his second term in 2016. He did not seek a third term.

Motivational speaker and pastor

Turner also worked for a software company in a position called “chief inspiration officer” and said he acted as a professional mentor, pastor and councilor for the employees and executive team. He has also been a motivational speaker.

He and his wife, Robin Turner, founded a nonprofit promoting initiatives to improve childhood literacy. His church, Prestonwood Baptist Church, lists him as an associate pastor. He is also chair of the center for education opportunity at America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers to lay the groundwork if he won a second term.

Headed council in Trump’s first term

Trump introduced Turner in April 2019 as the head of the new White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. Trump credited Turner with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.”

The mission of the council was to coordinate with various federal agencies to attract investment to so-called “Opportunity Zones,” which were economically depressed areas eligible to be used for the federal tax incentives.

Role of HUD

The Housing and Urban Development Department is responsible for addressing the nation’s housing needs. It also is charged with fair housing laws and oversees housing for the poorest Americans, sheltering more than 4.3 million low-income families through public housing, rental subsidy and voucher programs.

The agency, with a budget of tens of billions of dollars, runs a multitude of programs that cover a range of responsibilities, from reducing homelessness to promoting homeownership. It also finances the construction of affordable housing and provides vouchers that allow low-income families to pay for housing in the private market.

During the campaign, Trump focused mostly on the prices of housing, not public housing. He railed against the high cost of housing and said he could make it more affordable by cracking down on illegal immigration and reducing inflation. Trump also said he would work to reduce regulations on home construction and make some federal land available for residential construction.
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«Світла пам’ять усім жертвам: дорослим і дітям – безневинним жертвам голодоморів» – президент
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«Види тортур описані, і по них вчаться. Це те, що не може собі уявити будь-який представник західної цивілізованої країни»
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За даними Федорова, впродовж доби війська РФ 433 рази обстріляли 16 населених пунктів Запорізької області
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«Ці матеріали доводять, що голод був свідомим інструментом упокорення українського народу»
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HONOLULU, HAWAII — The latest lawsuit to take aim at Hawaii’s gun laws challenges the state’s ban on gun ownership for young adults 18 to 20 years old, which Second Amendment advocates say is an unconstitutional restriction on Americans’ right to bear arms. 

Elijah Pinales, 19, and Juda Roache, who turns 18 next month, want to own guns for self-defense, according to their lawsuit filed Wednesday night in U.S. District Court in Honolulu. 

Their lawyers assert that Hawaii is the only state with a complete ban on acquiring and owning firearms and ammunition by those who are 18 to 20. Some states allow 18-year-olds to purchase a long gun and some allow for private party transfer of handguns, said Alan Beck, one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit and has lodged numerous other challenges to Hawaii weapons laws. 

Roache’s mother wants to give him a firearm and ammunition, the lawsuit says. 

Federal law requires a person to be 21 to purchase a handgun from a licensed firearm dealer and 18 to buy a long gun from a dealer, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. There’s an 18-year-old minimum for handgun purchases from unlicensed sellers and no minimum age for long guns, according to the group’s research. 

Chris Marvin, a Hawaii resident with Everytown, said states are raising the age for purchasing firearms and ammunition, noting a federal appeals court ruled earlier this month that a Colorado law raising the age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21 can take effect while the legal battle over it continues. 

New York and Illinois also have broad laws limiting people under 21 from possessing firearms, said David Pucino, legal director and deputy chief counsel for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 

“Hawai’i has some of the strongest gun laws in the country and it has among the very lowest gun death rates,” he said in a statement Thursday. “That’s not an accident, but it hasn’t stopped extremists from attacking Hawai’i’s gun laws at every turn.” 

Firearm suicide rate jumps

According to Everytown, firearms are the leading cause of death for young people ages 18 to 20, the firearm suicide rate in that age group has jumped 41% in the last decade, and 18- to 20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of those 21 and older. 

The Hawaii attorney general’s office said it had not been served with the complaint and declined to comment. 

“There can be no real argument that adults under 21 are not part of the national community,” the lawsuit said, noting that 18-to-20-year-olds have the right to vote. “They have the right to serve in the military and are otherwise full-fledged members of society and the People.” 

Court decision upends laws

The quest for a preliminary injunction against enforcing a prohibition on gun ownership for young adults comes as Hawaii continues to contend with a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that said Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense. 

The so-called Bruen decision upended gun laws nationwide and set a new standard for interpreting gun laws, such that modern firearm laws must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. 

There’s no historical tradition of prohibiting the purchase and ownership of firearms and ammunition by adults under 21, according to the lawsuit, which describes some of the nation’s founding figures such as Aaron Burr, who at 19 enlisted in the Continental Army with his own arms and ammunition, and James Monroe who did the same at 18. 

Hawaii’s gun ownership ban for young adults dates to 1994, the lawsuit said. The state “doubled down” this year by prohibiting the possession of ammunition by those under 21, the lawsuit said. 

Danger Close Tactical in Honolulu and JGB Arms on Kauai are federally licensed firearms dealers who are plaintiffs in the case because they want to do business with customers who are 18 to 20 years old, the lawsuit said. 

Another plaintiff is the Second Amendment Foundation, a nonprofit in Bellevue, Washington. 
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dallas — More than 60 years after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, conspiracy theories still swirl and any new glimpse into the fateful day of Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas continues to fascinate. 

President-elect Donald Trump promised during his reelection campaign that he would declassify all of the remaining government records surrounding the assassination if he returned to office. He made a similar pledge during his first term, but ultimately bent to appeals from the CIA and FBI to keep some documents withheld. 

At this point, only a few thousand of the millions of governmental records related to the assassination have yet to be fully released, and those who have studied the records released so far say that even if the remaining files are declassified, the public shouldn’t anticipate any earth-shattering revelations. 

“Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed,” said Gerald Posner, author of Case Closed, which concludes that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. 

November 22, 1963 

When Air Force One carrying Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy touched down in Dallas, they were greeted by a clear sky and enthusiastic crowds. With a reelection campaign on the horizon the next year, they had gone to Texas on political fence-mending trip. 

But as the motorcade was finishing its parade route downtown, shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository building. Police arrested Oswald, 24, and, two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer. 

A year after the assassination, the Warren Commission, which President Lyndon B. Johnson established to investigate the assassination, concluded that Oswald acted alone and there was no evidence of a conspiracy. But that hasn’t quelled a web of alternative theories over the decades. 

The collection 

In the early 1990s, the federal government mandated that all assassination-related documents be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration. The collection of over 5 million records was required to be opened by 2017, barring any exemptions designated by the president. 

Trump, who took office for his first term in 2017, had said that he’d allow the release of all of the remaining records but ended up holding some back because of what he called the potential harm to national security. And while files have continued to be released during President Joe Biden’s administration, some still remain unseen. 

The documents released over the last few years offer details on the way intelligence services operated at the time, and include CIA cables and memos discussing visits by Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies during a trip to Mexico City just weeks before the assassination. The former Marine had previously defected to the Soviet Union before returning home to Texas. 

Mark S. Zaid, a national security attorney in Washington, said what’s been released so far has contributed to the understanding of the time period, giving “a great picture” of what was happening during the Cold War and the activities of the CIA. 

Withheld files 

Posner estimates that there are still about 3,000 to 4,000 documents in the collection that haven’t yet been fully released. Of those documents, some are still completely redacted while others just have small redactions, like someone’s Social Security number. 

“If you have been following it, as I have and others have, you sort of are zeroed in on the pages you think might provide some additional information for history,” Posner said. 

There are about 500 documents that have been completely withheld, Posner said, and those include Oswald’s and Ruby’s tax returns. Those files, the National Archives says on its website, weren’t subject to the 2017 disclosure requirement. 

Trump’s transition team hasn’t responded to questions this week about his plans when he takes office. 

A continued fascination 

From the start, there were those who believed there had to be more to the story than just Oswald acting alone, said Stephen Fagin, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the story of the assassination from the building where Oswald made his sniper’s perch. 

“People want to make sense of this and they want to find the solution that fits the crime,” said Fagin, who said that while there are lingering questions, law enforcement made “a pretty compelling case” against Oswald. 

Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said his interest in the assassination dates to the event itself, when he was a child. 

“It just seemed so fantastical that one very disturbed individual could end up pulling off the crime of the century,” Sabato said. “But the more I studied it, the more I realized that is a very possible, maybe even probable in my view, hypothesis.”
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide the legality of a congressionally authorized fund operated by the Federal Communications Commission to expand access to telecommunications services in a challenge accusing Congress of unlawfully delegating its authority to an independent federal agency.

The justices took up an appeal by the FCC and a coalition of interest groups and telecommunications firms of a lower court’s decision that found Congress violated the U.S. Constitution by empowering the FCC to manage the fund. The court is expected to hear arguments in the case and issue a ruling by the end of June.

Congress in a federal law called the Telecommunications Act of 1996 authorized the FCC to operate the Universal Service Fund to promote broad access to services such as phone and broadband internet.

All telecommunications carriers contribute to the fund, which draws around $9 billion annually. The fund helps to extend service to people in rural areas, provides subsidies for low-income Americans, expands service in Native American tribal lands and assists schools and libraries.

A group of challengers including the conservative group Consumers’ Research filed lawsuits against the FCC and the U.S. government, arguing that Congress delegated its revenue-raising function to the FCC in violation of the Constitution. The challengers also argued that the FCC unlawfully transferred its authority to the Universal Service Administrative Company, a private nonprofit that helps the agency administer the fund.

The case involves the non-delegation doctrine, a legal concept that embraces the view that Congress cannot delegate the legislative powers given to it under the Constitution to other entities. The legality of the FCC’s handoff of power involves a similar concept known as the private non-delegation doctrine.

The FCC was established as an independent federal agency by the Communications Act of 1934 and is overseen by Congress.

Federal appellate courts have reached different conclusions on the legal question at issue in the case.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found the funding arrangement unconstitutional, granting an appeal by the FCC and various interest groups.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel hailed the court’s decision to hear the agency’s appeal.

“For decades, there has been broad, bipartisan support for the Universal Service Fund and the FCC programs that help communications reach the most rural and least-connected households in the United States, as well as hospitals, schools, and libraries nationwide,” she said. “I am hopeful that the Supreme Court will overturn the decision that put this vital system at risk.”

Three industry groups representing telecommunications companies said in a joint statement they were pleased the high court will review the lower court ruling.

“It threatens to undermine universal service programs that, for many decades, have served to promote the availability and affordability of critical communications services for millions of rural and low-income consumers, rural health care facilities, and schools and libraries across the nation,” said the Rural Broadband Association, Competitive Carriers Association and USTelecom, which represent AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and other major companies.

The justices have not acted on separate appeals by Consumers’ Research and other interested parties of lower court rulings that found the funding arrangement constitutional.

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has reined in the actions of federal regulatory agencies in a series of rulings in recent years, though those cases did not involve the non-delegation doctrine. 
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HEALDSBURG, California — Heavy downpours fell over much of Northern California on Friday, causing small landslides and flooding a river and some streets, including in parts of San Francisco. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people were still without power in the Seattle area after several days in the dark. 

The storm arrived in the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, mostly in the Seattle area, before moving through Northern California, where several roads were closed because of flooding and strong winds toppled trees. 

Forecasters warned about the risk of flash flooding and rock slides in areas north of San Francisco from this season’s strongest atmospheric river — a long plume of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows through the sky over land. 

On the East Coast, another storm brought much-needed rain to New York and New Jersey, where rare wildfires have raged in recent weeks. The rain eased the fire danger for the rest of the year and was a boost for ski resorts preparing to open in the weeks ahead. Parts of West Virginia were under a blizzard warning through Saturday morning, with up to 61 centimeters of snow and high winds making travel treacherous. 

In California’s Humboldt County, the sheriff’s office downgraded evacuation orders to warnings for people near the Eel River after forecasters said the waterway would see moderate but not major flooding. Officials urged residents to prepare for storm impacts throughout the week. 

Flooding closed scenic Highway 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, in neighboring Mendocino County north of Point Arena near the Garcia River, and there was no estimate for when it would reopen, according to the California Department of Transportation. 

Santa Rosa saw its wettest three-day period on record with about 32 centimeters of rain, according to the National Weather Service in the Bay Area. 

Mudslide danger 

A small mudslide threatened a home in the community of Fitch Mountain, near Healdsburg, nestled in hills along the Russian River in Sonoma County. Moderate rain was falling, and officials worried the slide could grow and hit several homes downhill. 

“Our concern is while this property may be OK, the earth between it and the road below is slipping, and the mudslide is affecting downhill properties,” said Tennis Wick, permits and resource director for Sonoma County. 

Dana Eaton, who lives in one of the downhill properties and was clad in a yellow rain slicker and hat, said she was worried, too. In 2019, mud cascaded into a neighbor’s garage. 

Asked what the past few days have been like, she laughed: “Wet. Constant rain. It’s like everywhere else in the county, but so far nothing major, just concerns.” 

Power outages 

In Washington state, nearly 127,000 people were still without electricity, mostly in the Seattle area’s King County, as crews worked to clear streets of downed lines, branches and other debris. Utility officials said the outages, which began Tuesday, could last into Saturday. 

People flocked to a suburban senior center in Issaquah to get warm food and plug in their cellphones and other devices. One of them, Melissa Tryon, said she had been unable to charge her electric motorized wheelchair and had to throw out all the food in her refrigerator after it went bad. 

“Today I kind of had a little bit of a meltdown,” Tyron said. “It’s hard to be cut off for that long.” 

Gale warnings were issued off Washington, Oregon and California, and high wind warnings were in effect across parts of Northern California and Oregon. There were winter storm warnings for parts of the California Cascades and the Sierra Nevada. 

The National Weather Service in Reno, Nevada, reported a 206-kph (128-mph) gust of wind in the morning at the top of Palisades Tahoe ski resort, about 10 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe, where some runs were open. Gusts up to 138 kph (86 mph) were recorded at Mount Rose, which closed because of the weather. 

The system roared ashore on the West Coast on Tuesday as a “bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly. It unleashed fierce winds that toppled trees onto roads, vehicles and homes.

Northeast welcomes rain 

In the Northeast, which has been hit by drought, more than 5 centimeters (2 inches) of rain was expected by Saturday morning north of New York City, with snow mixed in at higher elevations. 

Despite the mess, the precipitation was expected to help ease drought conditions in a state that has seen an exceptionally dry fall. 

“It’s not going to be a drought buster, but it’s definitely going to help when all this melts,” said Bryan Greenblatt, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Binghamton, New York. 

Heavy snow fell in northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Pocono Mountains, prompting a raft of school closures. Higher elevations reported up to 43 centimeters (17 inches), with lesser accumulations in valley cities like Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. More than 100,000 customers in 10 counties lost power, and the state transportation department imposed speed restrictions on some highways.
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Протягом дня на фронті відбулося 187 бойових зіткнень, 75 з них – на Покровському та Курахівському напрямках
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Командування повідомляло про загрозу ударів дронами по Сумській, Запорізькій та Харківській областях
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RIO DE JANEIRO — As the world’s two largest economies vie for influence in South America, Brazil sits at the heart of the global power struggle. The choices the country makes in the coming years could reshape the region’s economic and political trajectory, according to analysts.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Brazil for a state visit and the G20 Summit marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries and underscored Beijing’s expanding influence in South America amid intensifying U.S.–China competition.

Xi’s visit resulted in 37 trade and diplomatic agreements with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. These agreements spanned agriculture, renewable energy and infrastructure development, signaling a closer partnership between the world’s second-largest economy and Latin America’s largest nation.

“Brazil has the biggest Chinese investment in the Global South. Lots of Chinese money here,” said Mauricio Santoro, political scientist and international relations expert, and author of Brazil-China Relations in the 21st Century, in an interview with VOA.

“And the Chinese and Brazilians are backing a lot of the development of green technologies, wind power, solar power. So, there’s huge potential in that.”

During the visit, Xi and Lula discussed strengthening economic cooperation between China and Brazil, as well as addressing key global issues, including trade, sustainable development and geopolitical challenges. Despite the sheer volume of agreements, experts suggest that many were largely symbolic, focusing on reaffirming commitments rather than enacting concrete policies.

“Signing 37 agreements is huge. It’s likely they won’t have practical effects in the near term,” Livio Ribeiro, an expert on Sino-Brazilian trade, told VOA. “Most of them are very broad and unspecific. Though, linkages are being tied up. They are getting stronger. I think that’s the point.”

China’s expanding influence

China has cemented itself as Brazil’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade valued at close to $160 billion in 2023. Trade between the two countries has increased by nearly 10% in the first 10 months of 2024, reported China’s state news agency, Xinhua. Over the past decade, Chinese investments in Brazil, particularly in energy and infrastructure, have surged.

As China deepens its footprint in South America, the United States has emphasized soft power strategies, particularly in combating climate change — a central element of Lula’s international agenda. The Biden administration increased its climate finance to $11 billion annually and contributed $50 million to Brazil’s Amazon Fund.

However, analysts say China’s rise poses challenges to U.S. influence in South America. Bilateral currency agreements between Beijing and countries such as Brazil and Chile enable trade in Chinese currency, the renminbi, gradually undermining the dollar’s dominance in the region.

“Most American administrations look at Latin America as a problem. As a source of instability, of undesirable immigration, organized crime, border troubles and so on,” said Santoro. “But when China looks to Latin America, it basically sees opportunities.”

The Trump factor

The incoming Trump administration may shift the dynamics of U.S.–China competition in the region, and Trump’s proposals, including a possible sweeping tariff on Chinese imports, could alienate South American nations and draw them closer to Beijing, according to experts.

“As we have Trump coming into office in January 2025, the balance of power will change,” Ribeiro told VOA. “And for me the great question is whether Trump, knowing and understanding that he’s losing Latin America, if he will try to regain it or he’ll just let it go.”

He said higher interest rates in the U.S. and a stronger dollar may exacerbate economic challenges in South America, devaluing local currencies and increasing borrowing costs. Such volatility could make Chinese partnerships more appealing.

Chinese officials “don’t believe that Trump will be able to build good relationships with the leaders of these countries,” Santoro said.

Brazil’s balancing act

President Lula has maintained a careful approach, strengthening ties with China without alienating the United States. His decision not to join China’s global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) reflects a strategy to preserve Brazil’s diplomatic flexibility, experts said.

“That’s the precise way Brazil should deal with it,” Ribeiro told VOA. “Because he [Lula] did not sign the Belt and Road Initiative. Therefore, the U.S. can’t say that we are going into the opposition.”

Analysts note Brazil can potentially still benefit from the BRI project — for example through a proposed Brazil-Peru transcontinental railway that remains in the planning stage — while balancing diplomacy between the global rivals, analysts said.

“We are trading more and more [with China]. We are using infrastructure. We are receiving Chinese money. So, the integration that comes along with the Belt and Road is reaching us,” said Ribeiro.

Some experts see opportunities for Brazil in the U.S.–China rivalry.

“If China is suffering economically with the imposition of U.S. tariffs, it could quite possibly make a deal with Brazil to bring the trade to us, using our established trade partnership,” said Brazilian writer Sergio Farias in an interview with VOA.

“I think there’s a great possibility of Brazil benefiting from this.”
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President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to serve as the next U.S. secretary of state is Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who has been in the Senate since 2011 and serves on the chamber’s foreign relations and intelligence committees. VOA’s Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman has more.
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Виплати здійснюватимуться за рахунок залишків бюджету, які не мають військового призначення, кажуть у Кабміні.
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В Офісі генпрокурора нагадують, що вбивство військовополонених є грубим порушенням Женевських конвенцій та кваліфікується як тяжкий міжнародний злочин
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NEW YORK — A New York judge on Friday granted Donald Trump permission to seek dismissal of the criminal case in which he was convicted in May of 34 felony counts involving hush money paid to a porn star in light of his victory in the November 5 U.S. presidential election.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan formally delayed the sentencing of Trump, which had been scheduled to take place Tuesday. Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office this week asked Merchan to consider deferring all proceedings in the case until after Trump, 78, finishes his four-year presidential term, which begins on January 20.

Lawyers for Trump, a Republican, have argued that the case must be dismissed because having it loom over him while he is president would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to his ability to govern.

Bragg’s office said it would argue against dismissal, but he agreed that Trump deserves time to make his case through written motions.

Merchan on Friday set a December 2 deadline for Trump to file his motion to dismiss and gave prosecutors until December 9 to respond. The judge did not set a new date for sentencing or indicate how long proceedings would remain on hold. Merchan also did not indicate when he would rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss.

Representatives for Trump’s campaign and for Bragg’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case stemmed from a $130,000 payment Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.

A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. It was the first time a U.S. president — former or sitting — had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.

Trump pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has sought to portray as a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to interfere with his campaign.
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