Політика

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US President Joe Biden is putting women’s health and reproductive rights at the center of his campaign in the run-up to the November 5th election. Biden, a Democrat, will face the Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump, who has spoken about abortion but has not fully clarified his position. VOA’s Laurel Bowman reports.
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A new Texas law prohibits public universities from having special programs supporting minority and LGBTQ students. Critics say these diversity, equity and inclusion programs are discriminatory and divisive. But many students say they are needed. Deana Mitchell has the story from the Texas capital.
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Maputo, Mozambique — U.S. officials pledged $22 million in new funding Thursday to help Mozambique fight Islamist militants in the country’s troubled, oil-rich Cabo Delgado, where an insurgency has intensified in recent weeks.

The United States already had pledged $100 million.

At the end of a five-day visit to Maputo, Anne Witkowsky, U.S. assistant secretary of state for conflict and stabilization operations, said the funding aims to help Mozambique with stabilizing and peacebuilding efforts in its northern provinces.

Calling security in north Mozambique critical, Witkowsky told VOA that the U.S.-financed programs provide training for local government officials to deliver services; promote social cohesion through peace clubs, sports and the arts; and increase educational and employment opportunities for youth.

“Mozambique is a priority partner country under our strategy to prevent conflict and promote stability,” she said. “So, the U.S. supports a Mozambique that is more prosperous, more secure, more resilient and more democratic for all.”

Since 2017, Mozambique’s province of Cabo Delgado has faced an armed insurgency, with some attacks claimed by an extremist group calling itself Islamic State.

On Monday, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi warned that terrorism could divide the country, advocating that citizens unite to fight rebel groups in the province.

Nyusi spoke after missionaries, priests and religious sisters were forced to flee from remote towns and villages to Pemba and other large cities, which are overwhelmed with persons displaced by the conflict.

Nyusi said resolution of the problem depends on the unity of Mozambicans and foreign forces supporting them.

The Reverend Marcos Macamo, a scholar of African theology and religious sciences, is part of a coalition of religious and civic advocacy groups that are urging the government to open negotiations with the militants. But, he said, even diplomacy has its own challenges.

“The terrorists … wouldn’t have power unless local people give them information,” Macamo said. “They [locals] open the doors slightly so that the enemy can enter.”

The insurgency in northern Mozambique began in 2017 but has seen an increase in attacks since the beginning of this year. In the last few days alone, there have been several raids on towns and villages, and people have been killed or kidnapped.

According to humanitarian agencies, the insurgency has killed at least 5,000 people and displaced more than 1 million.

Oil giants Exxon Mobil and Total are among international energy companies developing natural gas projects offshore of northern Mozambique.
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Чиновник уточнив, що відтепер користуватися освітніми документами у застосунку можна при вступі до навчального закладу або працевлаштуванні
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection has set up temporary centers to help expedite the processing of migrants entering the country. Cesar Contreras toured one of the facilities opened last year in El Paso, Texas, in this story narrated by Veronica Villafañe.
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Компанія ДТЕК повідомила про екстрені відключення в Донецькій та Дніпропетровській областях, в Одесі – стабілізаційні
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Guatemala city — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday that a Texas law giving state authorities the power to arrest and deport migrants who have entered the country illegally is unconstitutional.

“It is our strongly held view as a matter of law that SB4 [the Texas law] … is unconstitutional and it is our hope and confidence that the courts will strike it down with finality,” Mayorkas said during a joint news conference with Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo in the Guatemalan capital.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on the Texas law Wednesday but did not rule. The law is on hold for now.

Mayorkas was in Guatemala to work on the U.S.-led regional strategy toward immigration. He described it as seeking to “build lawful, safe and orderly pathways for people to reach safety from their place of persecution and, at the same time, returning people to their countries as a consequence when they do not take advantage of those lawful pathways.”

Among those safe pathways is a U.S. effort to streamline the process for those seeking U.S. asylum in the region through so-called safe mobility offices. They allow migrants to start the process where they are rather than making the dangerous and costly journey to the U.S. border.

Guatemala’s safe mobility office, unlike some others like Colombia’s, is only open to Guatemalans seeking U.S. protection. One of the requests made by Mayorkas’ delegation was that Guatemala allow the safe mobility office to process requests for migrants from other countries, according to a Guatemalan official who requested anonymity because the issue was still under discussion.

Asked during the joint news conference if the U.S. government had asked Guatemala to sign a safe third country agreement, which Guatemala’s previous president had agreed to during the Trump administration, Mayorkas did not directly answer. Such an agreement would require migrants from other countries passing through Guatemala to seek protection from the Guatemalan government rather than at the U.S. border.

Asked again in the interview with the AP, Mayorkas said that Guatemala could be a safe destination for some migrants, but that he deferred to Arevalo’s administration on that.

The U.S. has sought to improve cooperation with countries along the migrant route, including Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador, but Mayorkas acknowledged that it has been more challenging in Nicaragua and Venezuela, where the U.S. has strained relations with those governments.

Arévalo explained the talks in similar terms.

“We are operating under the principle that the immigration phenomenon is a regional phenomenon and that for that reason has to have answers framed in the collaborative efforts of different countries,” he said.

Mayorkas also offered words of support for the Guatemalan leader, whose election victory last year was challenged and whose party still faces prosecution from Guatemala’s attorney general.

“We know that the forces of corruption continue to seek to threaten democracy and the well-being of the people of Guatemala and beyond,” Mayorkas said. “The United States stands with President Arevalo and his fight for democracy against the forces of corruption and for the people of Guatemala.”
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Sacramento, California — The California Legislature on Thursday voted to give prospective college students more time to apply for two of the state’s largest financial aid programs after a glitch in the federal government’s application system threatened to block up to 100,000 people from getting help.

California had already extended the deadline for its financial aid programs from March 2 to April 2. On Thursday, the state Senate gave final approval to a bill that would extend it again until May 2. The bill now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom.

“Clearly, our students need our help,” Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, a Democrat from Riverside who authored the bill, told lawmakers during a public hearing earlier this week.

California has multiple programs to help people pay for college. The biggest is the Cal Grant program, which gives money to people who meet certain income requirements. The state also has a Middle Class Scholarship for people with slightly higher incomes.

Students can apply for these state aid programs only if they first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as FAFSA.

This year, a computer glitch prevented parents from filling out the form if they did not have a Social Security number. That meant many students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents but whose parents are not were blocked from completing the form and thus could not apply for California’s aid programs.

California has a large population of adults who are living in the country without legal permission. The California Student Aid Commission, the state agency in charge of California’s financial aid programs, estimates as many as 100,000 students could be affected by this glitch.

The U.S. Department of Education says it fixed the problem last week, but those families are now a step behind. Democrats in Congress raised alarms last month, noting that the delay could particularly hurt students in states where financial aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, including Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Oregon and Texas.

Advocates fear that the chaos of this year’s process could deter students from going to college at all, especially those for whom finances are a key part of the decision.

The computer glitch is just one part of larger problems affecting FAFSA.

The notoriously time-consuming form was overhauled in 2020 through a bipartisan bill in Congress. It promised to simplify the form, going from 100 questions to fewer than 40, and it also changed the underlying formula for student aid, promising to expand it to more low-income students.

But the update has been marred by delays, leaving families across the country in limbo as they figure out how much college will cost.

The form is typically available to fill out in October, but the Education Department didn’t have it ready until late December. Even then, the agency wasn’t ready to begin processing the forms and sending them to states and colleges, which only started to happen this month.

The problems appear to have already reduced California’s application numbers. Through March 8, the number of California students who had completed FAFSA was 43% lower than it was at the same time last year.

“The data most concerning me seems to suggest that these drops are more acute at the schools that serve low-income students or large populations of students of color,” Jake Brymner, deputy chief of policy and public affairs for the California Student Aid Commission, told lawmakers in a public hearing earlier this week.

The issue has caused problems for colleges and universities, too. The University of California and California State University systems both delayed their admissions deadlines because so many prospective students were having trouble with FAFSA.
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Поміж іншого, умови оренди передбачають капітальний ремонт та усунення порушення умов пожежної безпеки в будівлі
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Документ передбачає забезпечення прав поліцейських на одноразову грошову допомогу в разі втрати працездатності або їхнім рідним – у разі загибелі (смерті)
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