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President Donald Trump’s immigration policy has mainly been focused on migrants trying to cross into the US at its border with Mexico, some having made the perilous trek from as far as South America. Out in the western Pacific Ocean, some Chinese are taking an equally dangerous route into the US VOA’s Yu Yao and Jiu Dao have their story, narrated by Elizabeth Lee.
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BALTIMORE — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aimed at restricting gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19.

The judge’s ruling came after a lawsuit was filed earlier this month on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children who allege their health care has been compromised by the president’s order. A national group for family of LGBTQ+ people and a doctors organization are also plaintiffs in the court challenge, one of many lawsuits opposing one of the many executive orders Trump has issued.

Judge Brendan Hurson, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden, granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order following a hearing in federal court in Baltimore. The ruling, in effect for 14 days, essentially puts Trump’s directive on hold while the case proceeds. The restraining order could also be extended.

Shortly after taking office, Trump signed an executive order directing federally run insurance programs to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care. That includes Medicaid, which covers such services in some states, and TRICARE for military families. Trump’s order also called on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice.

The lawsuit includes several accounts from families of appointments being canceled as medical institutions react to the new directive.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue Trump’s executive order is “unlawful and unconstitutional” because it seeks to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress and because it violates anti-discrimination laws while infringing on the rights of parents.

Like legal challenges to state bans on gender-affirming care, the lawsuit also alleges the policy is discriminatory because it allows federal funds to cover the same treatments when they’re not used for gender transition.

Some hospitals immediately paused gender-affirming care, including prescriptions for puberty blockers and hormone therapy, while they assess how the order affects them.

Trump’s approach on the issue represents an abrupt change from the Biden administration, which sought to explicitly extend civil rights protections to transgender people. Trump has used strong language in opposing gender-affirming care, asserting falsely that “medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex.”

Major medical groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics support access to gender-affirming care.

Young people who persistently identify as a gender that differs from their sex assigned at birth are first evaluated by a team of professionals. Some may try a social transition, involving changing a hairstyle or pronouns. Some may later also receive puberty blockers or hormones. Surgery is extremely rare for minors.
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NEW YORK — The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan resigned Thursday after refusing a Justice Department order to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Two senior Justice Department officials also quit after the department leadership in Washington moved to seize control of the case.

Danielle Sassoon, a Republican serving as interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced her resignation in an email to her staff. The move was confirmed by a spokesperson for the office. Adams’ case has yet to be dropped.

After Sassoon declined to dismiss the case, the department’s public integrity section in Washington was asked to take over, according to a person familiar with the matter. Two senior officials who oversee the unit, including the acting chief, resigned in response, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

The exits came days after a high-ranking Justice Department official directed federal prosecutors in New York to end the case against Adams, a Democrat who was accused of accepting illegal campaign contributions and bribes of free or discounted travel from people who wanted to buy his influence. He has pleaded not guilty.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said in a memo Monday that the case should be dismissed so Adams could aid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and campaign for reelection free from facing criminal charges. The primary is four months away and Adams has multiple challengers.

Bove had directed that be done as soon as “practicable,” but there have been no public statements or actions by the prosecution team. On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said she would “look into” why the case had yet to be dismissed. As of Thursday afternoon, the charges remained in place.

In the email to her staff, Sassoon did not give a reason for her resignation. In the note, the contents of which were obtained by The Associated Press, she said she had just submitted her resignation to Bondi.

“As I told her, it has been my greatest honor to represent the United States and to pursue justice as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York,” Sassoon wrote.

The Justice Department did not ask Sassoon to resign, according to a department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The department declined public comment on Sassoon’s exit. A message seeking comment was left for Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro. A spokesperson for the mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government’s decision to end the Adams case because of political considerations, rather than the strength or weakness of the evidence, alarmed some career prosecutors who said it was a departure from long-standing norms.

The directive from Bove, a former Trump personal lawyer, was all the more remarkable because Bove had been a longtime prosecutor and supervisor in the Southern District and because department leaders are historically reluctant to intervene in cases where charges have been brought — particularly in an office as prestigious as that U.S. attorney’s office.

Bove’s memo also steered clear of any legal basis for the dismissal despite decades of department tradition dictating that charging decisions are to be guided by facts, evidence and the law.

Sassoon, a former clerk for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, was not the prosecutor who brought the case against Adams last year. That was then-U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, who stepped down after Trump’s election victory in November.

Sassoon had only been tapped to serve as acting U.S. attorney on January 21, the day after Trump took office.

Her role was intended to be temporary. Trump in November nominated Jay Clayton, the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to the post, an appointment that must be confirmed by the Senate. That has not happened yet.

The Southern District of New York is among the largest and most prominent prosecutor’s offices in the U.S., with a long track record of tackling Wall Street malfeasance, political corruption and international terrorism.

It has a tradition of independence from Washington, something that has earned it the nickname “the sovereign district.”

During Trump’s first term, the office prosecuted both the president’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and his strategic adviser, Steve Bannon, in separate cases. Cohen pleaded guilty to tax evasion and campaign finance charges. Trump ended the federal fraud case against Bannon by pardoning him, though nearly identical charges were then brought by state prosecutors.

This is the second Justice Department tussle in five years between Washington and New York officials to result in a dramatic leadership turnover.

In 2020, William Barr, who served as one of Trump’s attorneys general during his first term pushed out Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, in a surprise nighttime announcement. Berman initially refused to resign his position, creating a brief standoff with Barr, but did so after an assurance that his investigations into allies of Trump would not be disturbed.

Sassoon joined the U.S. attorney’s office in 2016. In 2023 she helped lead the fraud prosecution of Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. More recently, she had served as the office’s co-chief of criminal appeals.

Adams was indicted in September on charges that while he worked as Brooklyn borough president, he accepted over $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks such as expensive flight upgrades, luxury hotel stays and even a trip to a bathhouse.

The indictment said a Turkish official who helped facilitate the trips then leaned on Adams for favors, including asking him to lobby the Fire Department to let a newly constructed, 36-story diplomatic building open in time for a planned visit by Turkey’s president.

Prosecutors said they had proof that Adams personally directed political aides to solicit foreign donations and disguise them to help the campaign qualify for a city program that provides a generous, publicly funded match for small dollar donations. Under federal law, foreign nationals are banned from contributing to U.S. election campaigns.

As recently as Jan. 6, prosecutors had indicated their investigation remained active, writing in court papers that they continued to “uncover additional criminal conduct by Adams.”

Bove said in his memo that Justice Department officials in Washington hadn’t evaluated the evidence in the case before deciding it should be dropped — at least until after the mayoral election in November.

Federal agents also had been investigating other senior Adams aides. It was unclear what would happen to that side of the probe.
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WASHINGTON — The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman was involved in a collision at sea with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt, the Navy said Thursday.

The collision occurred late Wednesday while both ships were moving. It did not result in flooding or injuries aboard the carrier, and there was no damage to the ship’s propulsion systems, the Navy said in a statement.

None of the crew on the merchant ship, the Besiktas-M, were injured either, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not yet been made public.

The Truman, which is based in Norfolk, Virginia, deployed in September to the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It had just completed a port call in Souda Bay, Greece.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that his country would not accept any agreement on its fate decided bilaterally by Russia and the United States on how to end Moscow’s three-year war on Ukraine without Kyiv’s involvement.

“We, as an independent country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” Zelenskyy told reporters as he visited a nuclear plant on his way to the Munich Security Conference, where he plans to meet Friday with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and they agreed that negotiations to end the war should start immediately, with Trump suggesting the two of them might soon hold a summit in Saudi Arabia. Trump later talked with Zelenskyy and informed him of his discussions with Putin.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy said, “Today it’s important that everything does not go according to Putin’s plan, in which he wants to do everything to make his negotiations bilateral” with the U.S.

Still, on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said after talking with Trump, “We discussed many nuances, diplomatic, military, economic, and President Trump informed me of what Putin told him. We believe that America’s power is enough to, together with us, together with all partners, pressure Russia and Putin toward peace.”

Zelenskyy said he talked with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday, telling him that “no negotiations with Putin can begin without a united position from Ukraine, Europe, and the U.S. I emphasized that Ukraine must negotiate from a position of strength, with strong and reliable security guarantees, and that NATO membership would be the most cost-effective for partners.”

“Another key guarantee is serious investment in Ukraine’s defense industry. I also warned world leaders against trusting Putin’s claims of readiness to end the war,” Zelenskyy said.

Trump said, in all caps on his Truth Social media platform on Thursday, “Great talks with Russia and Ukraine yesterday. Good possibility of ending that horrible, very bloody war!!!”

Trump’s phone call with Putin came after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told other NATO defense chiefs that Ukraine’s goal of restoring its 2014 borders was unrealistic and that the U.S. does not foresee Ukraine joining NATO, the West’s key military alliance, as part of a negotiated settlement of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Moscow’s forces now hold about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean Peninsula it unilaterally annexed in 2014.

Zelenskyy said it was important for the United States and Ukraine to draw up a plan to end the war before talking to the Russian side. Ukraine has said it is working on a Zelenskyy-Trump meeting, but nothing firm has been announced.

Zelenskyy said he did not discuss the possibility of NATO membership during his phone call with Trump, although he said he knew that the United States was against the idea. NATO’s 32-nation bloc says it is committed to eventual Ukraine NATO membership but not while the Russia-Ukraine war rages.

Russian officials and state-backed media appeared triumphant after Wednesday’s call between Trump and Putin that lasted more than an hour.

“To us, the position of the current [U.S.] administration is much more appealing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s National Security Council, said in an online statement, “The presidents of Russia and the U.S. have talked at last. This is very important in and of itself.”

Trump in the past has declined to say he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia. On Wednesday, after talking with Putin and Zelenskyy, he said, “I’m backing Ukraine, but I do want security for our money,” with U.S. officials suggesting recently that Ukraine agree to supply the U.S. with rare earth minerals for manufacture of technology products in exchange for continued military support.
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Судді частково задовольнили клопотання обвинуваченого – Зінченку дозволили телефонувати батькові
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Під ударом була промислова зона та приватний сектор, зруйновані будинки, горів автомобіль
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Seoul — As a high school junior in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, Daneel Kutsenko never gave much thought to China.

Last month, though, as the U.S. government prepared to ban TikTok – citing national security concerns about its Chinese ownership – Kutsenko downloaded RedNote, another Chinese video-sharing app, which he felt gave him a new perspective on China.

“It just seems like people who live their life and have fun,” Kutsenko told VOA of RedNote, which reportedly attracted hundreds of thousands of U.S. users in the leadup to the now-paused TikTok ban.

Kutsenko’s move is part of a larger trend. Even as U.S. policymakers grow louder in their warnings about Chinese-owned apps, they have become a central part of American life.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, boasts 170 million U.S. users. China’s AI chatbot DeepSeek surged to the top of Apple’s App Store rankings, including those in the United States, for several days after its release last month.

Another major shift has come in online shopping, where Americans are flocking to digital Chinese marketplaces such as Temu and Shein in search of ultra-low prices on clothes, home goods, and other items.

According to a 2024 survey by Omnisend, an e-commerce marketing company, 70% of Americans shopped on Chinese platforms during the past year, with 20% doing so at least once a week.

Multifaceted threat

U.S. officials warn that Chinese apps pose a broad range of threats – whether to national security, privacy, human rights, or the economy.

TikTok has been the biggest target. Members of Congress attempting to ban the app cited concerns that China’s government could use TikTok as an intelligence-gathering tool or manipulate its algorithms to push narratives favorable to Beijing.

Meanwhile, Chinese commerce apps face scrutiny for their rock-bottom prices, which raise concerns about ethical sourcing and potential links to forced labor, Sari Arho Havrén, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based research organization, said in an email conversation with VOA.

“It raises questions of how sustainably these products are made,” Havrén, who focuses on China’s foreign policy and great power competition, said. Moreover, he said, “the pricing simply kills local manufacturers and businesses.”

Many U.S. policymakers also warn Chinese apps pose greater privacy risks, since Chinese law requires companies to share data with the government on request.

‘Curiosity and defiance’

Still, a growing number of Americans appear unfazed. Many young people in particular seem to shrug off the privacy concerns, arguing that their personal data is already widely exposed.

“They could get all the data they want. And anyway, I’m 16 – what are they going to find? Oh my gosh, he goes to school? There’s not much,” Kutsenko said.

Ivy Yang, an expert on U.S.-China digital interaction, told VOA many young Americans also find it unlikely that they would ever be caught up in a Chinese national security investigation.

“What they’re chasing is a dopamine peak. They’re not thinking about whether or not the dance videos or the cat tax pictures they swipe on RedNote are going to be a national security threat,” Yang, who founded the New York-based consulting company Wavelet Strategy, said.

Yang said the TikTok ban backlash and surge in RedNote downloads may reflect a shift in how young Americans see China – not just as a geopolitical rival, but as a source of apps they use in daily life.

She also attributes their skepticism to a broader cultural mindset – one shaped by a mix of curiosity, defiance, and a growing distrust of institutions, including conventional media.

Jeremy Goldkorn, a longtime analyst of U.S.-China digital trends and an editorial fellow at the online magazine ChinaFile, said growing disillusionment with America’s political turmoil and economic uncertainty has intensified these shifts.

“It makes it much more difficult for, particularly, young people to get worked up about what China’s doing when they feel so horrified about their own country,” Goldkorn said during a recent episode of the Sinica podcast, which focuses on current affairs in China.

Polling reflects this divide. A 2024 Pew survey found 81% of Americans view China unfavorably, but younger adults are less critical – only 27% of those under 30 have strongly negative views, compared to 61% of those 65 and older.

Digital barrier

While Chinese apps are expanding in the United States, in many ways the digital divide remains as impenetrable as ever.

China blocks nearly all major Western platforms and tightly controls its own apps, while the U.S. weighs new restrictions on Chinese tech.

Though President Donald Trump paused the TikTok ban, his administration has signaled broader efforts to curb China’s tech influence.

Trump officials have hinted they could take steps to regulate DeepSeek, the Chinese digital chatbot.

The Trump administration also recently signaled it intends to close a trade loophole that lets Chinese retailers bypass import duties and customs checks.

Broader challenges

Even as Washington debates how to handle the rise of Chinese apps, some analysts say the conversation risks obscuring the deeper issue of the broader role of social media itself.

Rogier Creemers, a specialist in digital governance at Leiden University, told VOA that while Chinese apps may raise valid concerns for Western countries, they are just one part of a larger, unaddressed problem.

“There’s a whole range of social ills that emerge from these social media that I think are far more important than anything the Chinese Communist Party could do,” he said, pointing to issues like digital addiction, declining attention spans, and the way social media amplifies misinformation and political unseriousness.

“And that would apply whether these apps are Chinese-owned or American-owned or Tajikistani-owned, as far as I’m concerned,” he added.

The United States, Creemer said, has taken a more hands-off approach to regulating online platforms, in part due to strong free speech protections and pushback by the tech industry.

Apps or influence?

For millions of Americans, the bigger debates about China and digital influence barely register when they open TikTok.

Kutsenko said neither he nor his friends have strong opinions about U.S.-China tensions. They just wanted an alternative to TikTok – one that felt fun, familiar, and easy to use.

It’s a sign that while policymakers see Chinese apps as part of a growing tech rivalry, for many Americans they’re just another way to scroll, shop, and stay entertained, no matter where they come from.
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Речник міністерства розповів, що добровольці зможуть позачергово проходити ВЛК
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«Осколками було уражено автомобіль, всередині якого перебувала жінка. Вона отримала уламкове поранення стегна»
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LONDON — Hundreds of world leaders and delegates are set to attend the Munich Security Conference in Germany this weekend, with conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo high on the agenda, alongside simmering tensions in the Indo-Pacific region.

It’s the first major global summit for the new administration in Washington under President Donald Trump and comes amid speculation that his America First agenda could presage significant changes in U.S. foreign policy.

US delegation

The U.S. delegation includes Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“We are very happy that we will have a strong representation of both the administration of the new American government there, as well as representation from Congress,” said conference chairman Christoph Heusgen.

“And so, the American point of view will also be presented on stage, as will the European point of view, and that of other regions. And then, and that is what Munich stands for, there will be a dialogue, a discussion about the many issues at hand,” Heusgen told Reuters.

Vance is scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Munich.

Ukraine’s war against Russia’s full-scale invasion is about to enter its fourth year. Zelenskyy said this week he shared a “common vision” with the Trump administration.

“Of course, there may be different opinions, but a common vision of the main things — of how to stop [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and how to give guarantees of security to Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Monday.

‘Unrealistic’

However, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that American troops would not be deployed to Ukraine following any ceasefire deal with Russia and ruled out NATO membership for Kyiv. He also described Ukraine’s hopes to return to its pre-2014 borders with Russia as unrealistic.

“European allies must lead from the front,” Hegseth told reporters in Brussels following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

President Trump has made clear he wants a quick end to the war but it’s not clear how that might be achieved. Trump announced Wednesday he and Putin agreed in a phone call to “immediately” begin negotiations with Ukraine to bring an end to the nearly three-year-conflict.

NATO allies

Nevertheless, U.S. allies sense a change in tone from the president since his inauguration last month, said Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, a London-based research group.

“Though Trump has said a lot of things to worry a lot of people on tariffs, on trade, on Gaza and so on, he hasn’t yet said anything particularly crazy from a European point of view about Ukraine or NATO. He hasn’t repeated his threat to pull out of NATO. He said the Europeans should spend more [on defense] but most of us agree with him on that. He hasn’t said he’s going to cut off all aid for Ukraine,” Grant told VOA.

“One of the issues that will come up in Munich is to what extent the Europeans should help to keep the peace if there is a ceasefire in Ukraine. And certainly, President [Emmanuel] Macron of France, and to some degree the British, and possibly Friedrich Merz who may well be the next German chancellor, are all in favor of sending troops to keep the peace in Ukraine, if there’s a peace to be kept,” Grant added.

Ukrainian hopes

On the streets of Kyiv, some Ukrainians expressed hope that the Munich conference will strengthen Ukrainian ties with the Trump administration.

“We hope that this personal meeting between President Zelenskyy and Vice President Vance will give an opportunity to convey the real situation of what is happening today in the Russian-Ukrainian war,” sociologist Asked Ashurbekov told The Associated Press.

Ukrainian journalist Borden Semeniuk was less optimistic.

“The country has been living in expectation for three years, and because of this, belief in this expectation has decreased. … I would like to see some relief from the situation. But it is impossible to live in the hope that it will 100 percent happen at this meeting,” Semeniuk told AP.

Russia and Iran have not been invited to Munich. Last year, the conference organizers said their governments had not shown a serious interest in negotiations.

China

The official report of the Munich Security Conference cites the “multipolarization of the international order” — a theme welcomed by China, which is sending a large delegation to the summit.

“The report shows that the international community’s acceptance of a multipolar world is on the rise. … China has always called for an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization,” Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday.

Earlier this week, the U.S Navy sailed two warships through the Taiwan Strait, prompting an angry response from Beijing.

China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent months. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that someday will be reunified with the mainland, while Taipei considers the island a sovereign state.

Secretary of State Rubio is due to hold a trilateral meeting with allies Japan and South Korea while in Munich.

Gaza

Conflict in the Middle East will also top the agenda at the Munich conference, amid fears that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is at risk.

President Trump’s repeated suggestion that Palestinians should leave Gaza will overshadow the conference, said analyst Charles Grant.

“I don’t see it happening because you can’t just eliminate 2 million people and put them nowhere at all,” Grant said.

“But I think most European governments are hoping that Trump will just push this for a while, and he’ll get bored of it and talk about something else – and hope he will kind of move on and forget it. But so long as he does talk about it, it’s very disruptive and creates a lot of ill-feeling between European and many other governments, and the U.S.,” Grant told VOA.

The conference will also host sessions on the conflicts in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Climate change, energy security and artificial intelligence also feature on a packed agenda across the three-day conference.
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Hundreds of world leaders and delegates are set to attend the Munich Security Conference this weekend — with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and simmering tensions in the Indo-Pacific, on the agenda. As Henry Ridgwell reports, all eyes will be on the approach of the U.S. delegation under the new administration of President Donald Trump.
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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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