houston — A federal judge in Texas on Friday upheld a key piece of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy that allows a limited number of migrants from four countries to enter the U.S. on humanitarian grounds, dismissing a challenge from Republican-led states that said the program created an economic burden on them.

U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton ruled in favor of the humanitarian parole program that allows a total of 30,000 asylum-seekers into the U.S. each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela combined.

Eliminating the program would undercut a broader policy that seeks to encourage migrants to use the Biden administration’s preferred pathways into the U.S. or face stiff consequences.

Texas and 20 other states that sued argued the program is forcing them to spend millions on health care, education and public safety for the migrants. An attorney working with the Texas attorney general’s office in the legal challenge said that the program “created a shadow immigration system.”

Advocates for the federal government countered that migrants admitted through the policy helped with a U.S. farm labor shortage.

An appeal appeared likely.

Esther Sung, an attorney for Justice Action Center, which represented seven people who were sponsoring migrants as part of the program, said she was looking forward to calling her clients to let them know of the court’s decision.

“It’s a popular program. People want to welcome other people to this country,” she said.

A message was left seeking comment from the Texas attorney general’s office.

During an August trial in Victoria, Texas, Tipton declined to issue any temporary order that would have halted the parole program nationwide. Tipton is an appointee of former President Donald Trump who ruled against the Biden administration in 2022 on an order that determined whom to prioritize for deportation.

Some states said the initiative has benefited them.

Tipton questioned how Texas could be claiming financial losses if data showed that the parole program actually reduced the number of migrants coming into the U.S.

Proponents of the policy also faced scrutiny from Tipton, who questioned whether living in poverty was enough for migrants to qualify. Elissa Fudim, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, responded: “I think probably not.”

Federal government attorneys and immigrant rights groups said that in many cases, Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans are also fleeing oppressive regimes, escalating violence and worsening political conditions that have endangered their lives.

The lawsuit did not challenge the use of humanitarian parole for tens of thousands of Ukrainians who came after Russia’s invasion.

The program’s supporters said each case is individually reviewed and some people who had made it to the final approval step after arriving in the U.S. have been rejected, though they did not provide the number of rejections that have occurred.

The lawsuit is among several legal challenges the Biden administration has faced over immigration policies.
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Sweden became the 32nd member of NATO Thursday, as alliance troops participated in the bloc’s Steadfast Defender exercise this week. This operation aims to foster compatibility and cooperation on the battlefield among member nations, enhancing the alliance’s capacity to counter provocative behavior from the Russian Federation. Eastern Europe chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from the training ground in Poland.
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New York — Former President Donald Trump has secured a bond sufficient to support an $83.3 million jury award granted to writer E. Jean Carroll during a January defamation trial stemming from rape claims she made against Trump, his lawyer said Friday as she notified the federal judge who oversaw the trial that an appeal was underway.

Attorney Alina Habba filed papers with the New York judge to show that Trump had secured a $91.6 million bond from the Federal Insurance Co. She simultaneously filed a notice of appeal to show Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner, is appealing the verdict to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The filings came a day after Judge Lewis A. Kaplan refused to delay a Monday deadline for posting a bond to ensure that Carroll can collect the $83.3 million if it remains intact following appeals.

The posting of the bond was a necessary step to delay payment of the award until the 2nd Circuit can rule.

Trump is facing financial pressure to set aside money to cover both the judgment in the Carroll case and an even bigger one in a lawsuit in which he was found liable for lying about his wealth in financial statements given to banks.

A New York judge recently refused to halt collection of a $454 million civil fraud penalty while Trump appeals. He now has until March 25 to either pay up or buy a bond covering the full amount. In the meantime, interest on the judgment continues to mount, adding roughly $112,000 each day.

Trump’s lawyers have asked for that judgment to be stayed on appeal, warning he might need to sell some properties to cover the penalty.

On Thursday, Kaplan wrote that any financial harm to Trump results from his slow response to the late-January verdict in the defamation case over statements he made about Carroll while he was president in 2019 after she claimed in a memoir that he raped her in spring 1996 in a midtown Manhattan luxury department store dressing room.

Trump vehemently denied the claims, saying that he didn’t know her and that the encounter at a Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower never took place.

A jury last May awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding that Trump sexually abused Carroll in the 1996 encounter, though it rejected Carroll’s rape claims, as rape was defined by New York state law. A portion of the award also stemmed from the jury’s finding that Trump defamed Carroll with statements he made in October 2022.

The January trial pertained solely to statements Trump made in 2019 while he was president. Kaplan instructed the jury that it must accept the findings of the jury last May and was only deciding how much, if anything, Trump owed Carroll for his 2019 statements.

Trump did not attend the May trial, but he testified briefly and regularly sat with defense lawyers at the January trial, though his behavior, including disparaging comments that a lawyer for Carroll said were loud enough for jurors to hear, prompted Kaplan to threaten to banish him from the courtroom.
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A son of Korean immigrants last week became the interim chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. He is the first Asian American to hold this position. Genia Dulot has the story.
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A pair of American aviators are helping Ukrainian fighter jet and helicopter pilots get some vital equipment. The gear is being donated by American and European pilots. Mariia Prus has the story.
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US President Joe Biden used his third State of the Union speech Thursday evening to announce a dramatic measure to facilitate aid into Gaza, push funding for Ukraine’s war efforts and to warn the country of the threat posed by Donald Trump, his likely opponent in the November election. VOA’s White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this wrap-up of what may be the most consequential speech ahead of the president’s reelection bid.
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BEIJING — U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday criticized China’s “unfair economic practices” and insisted he has done a better job standing up to Beijing than did former President Donald Trump, his rival in this year’s presidential election.

In his State of the Union address, Biden also touted other aspects of his China policy, including “standing up for peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits” and revitalizing “our partnerships and alliances in the Pacific.”

“I’ve made sure that the most advanced American technologies can’t be used in China … frankly for all his tough talk on China, it never occurred to my predecessor to do any of that,” Biden added.

Biden’s China comments, which made up only a brief part of his nationally televised speech, come a day after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi escalated his country’s verbal attacks on the United States.

On the sidelines of an annual meeting of China’s National People’s Congress, Wang accused the United States of trying to contain China through sanctions, and insisted that Washington has “wrong perceptions” about Beijing.

“The means to suppress China are constantly updated, the list of unilateral sanctions is constantly extended, and the desire to inflict punishment on China has reached an unimaginable level,” said Wang during what appeared to be a tightly scripted interaction with local and foreign media.

Wang’s comments were a contrast from September, when Biden met Chinese President Xi Jinping in California. At that meeting, both sides agreed to restart dialogue and cooperate on several initiatives, including to counter the flow of fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, into the United States.

While Wang acknowledged that “some progress” was made at what he called the “historic meeting,” he accused the United States of breaking some of its promises.

“If the United States always says one thing and does another, where will its credibility be as a major country? If the United States is nervous and anxious whenever it hears the word ‘China,’ where is the self-confidence of a major country?” Wang said.

Even as high-level talks resumed, the United States has expanded sanctions against China on a range of issues, from human rights abuses to its relations with Russia. U.S.-China ties are also strained over a wide range of other issues, including China’s behavior in disputed areas of the South China Sea, its military intimidation of Taiwan, and a growing U.S.-China technological competition.

Political cudgel

In his speech Thursday, Biden reiterated that he wants “competition with China, but not conflict,” while noting that the United States is “in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st century against China or anyone else for that matter.”

“For years, I’ve heard many of my Republican and Democratic friends say that China is on the rise and America is falling behind. They’ve got it backwards … America is rising,” Biden said.

“We have the best economy in the world. And since I’ve come to office, our GDP is up. Our trade deficit with China is down to the lowest point in over a decade,” he added.

China is expected to get more public attention as the U.S. presidential election campaign intensifies. On Thursday, both Biden, a Democrat, and U.S. Senator Katie Britt, who delivered the Republican response, used China to attack their political opponents.

“The Chinese Communist Party is undercutting America’s workers. China is buying up our farmland, spying on our military installations, and spreading propaganda through the likes of TikTok,” Britt said, referring to the popular video-sharing social media app owned by a Chinese company.

“The CCP knows that if it conquers the minds of our next generation, it conquers America,” Britt said. “And what does President Biden do? He bans TikTok for government employees, but creates an account for his own campaign.”

U.S. lawmakers are making a renewed push to pass legislation that would effectively force Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months or face a U.S. ban. Some U.S. lawmakers warn ByteDance could pass private information about U.S. users to China’s Communist Party – an allegation rejected by the company’s CEO. Previous attempts to ban TikTok have been unsuccessful.

But despite recent developments, U.S.-China relations remain more stable than in past years, said Wang Huiyao, the founder and president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization.

“We don’t want to see a downward spiral like we used to have. Because if that happens, that could be very dangerous for not only the U.S. and China, but for the world,” Wang told VOA during an interview at his office.

“I’m still cautiously optimistic,” Wang said. “Because people realize that [after] the last six, seven years, if the U.S. and China really get into a very ugly situation, then the whole world is finished.”
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Pentagon — As attacks by Iran-backed Houthis continue in the Red Sea, the commander in charge of U.S. military operations in the Middle East says the U.S. needs to stop Iran from providing the militants with weapons.

“The most important thing is to deny their ability to resupply from Iran. The Houthis are not building. They’re putting it all together and assembling, but they don’t create inertial navigation systems. They don’t create medium-range ballistic missile engines,” Gen. Erik Kurilla, the chief of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

The U.S. and British militaries have launched multiple combined operations against weapons facilities, radars and launch sites in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The U.S. has also continued near-daily strikes to take out weapons that were prepared to launch and shoot down incoming Houthi weapons, including strikes late Wednesday against two Houthi drones.

An anti-ship ballistic missile launched earlier Wednesday from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen killed three crew members of the Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden, CENTCOM said in a statement. It was the first fatal strike by Iran-backed Houthi militants since the onslaught on international shipping lanes began in mid-November.

More than a dozen commercial ships have been impacted by Houthi drones or missiles during that time. Those vessels have included an aid ship with grain bound for Yemen and at least one ship with cargo bound for Iran. One vessel carrying fertilizer, the MV Rubymar, sank over the weekend after is was damaged in a Houthi attack last month.

On Tuesday, the Houthis targeted the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Carney, which shot down bomb-carrying drones and one anti-ship ballistic missile, according to CENTCOM.

Some senators on Wednesday expressed a desire for more forceful action against Iran, the Houthis’ supplier of weapons, funding and intelligence needed to attack vessels.

“Why are we not sinking those Iranian ships if there’s an Iranian spy ship providing targeting information,” asked Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska.

Gen. Kurilla said that deterring Iran requires a “whole of government” effort.

Last month, the United States carried out a cyberattack against two Iranian military ships. A U.S. official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity to discuss covert operations said the Iranian spy ship MV Behshad was one of the targeted ships. It had been collecting intelligence on vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis have said their attacks against international shipping lanes are carried out in solidarity with Hamas.

Hamas terrorists launched a brutal attack that killed hundreds of Israelis on October 7. Israel responded with an operation to root out Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an ongoing operation that has killed thousands.

Close calls

Shortly after the attack, Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria began a series of attacks against U.S. forces in the region. After more than 170 attacks that left dozens of service members injured, the militants flew a drone into Tower 22 air base in Jordan, killing three American service members and injuring dozens more.

Kurilla revealed on Thursday that U.S. forces had “several” close calls before the deadly Tower 22 attack, and that he had balanced the U.S. response options that he provided to the president against escalating the conflict.

Asked by Senator Roger Wicker, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, whether the militias in Iraq and Syria could have killed U.S. troops prior to the deaths in Jordan with “a little bit of extra luck,” Kurilla replied, “That is correct.”

“There were several incidents where UAVs (unidentified aerial vehicles) coming into a base hit another object, got caught up in netting, or other incidents where had they hit the appropriate target that they were targeting, it would have injured or killed service members,” he said.

VOA previously reported on one of these incidents that occurred in late October. A drone crashed into a barracks housing U.S. services members but failed to detonate, likely saving several lives, according to defense officials.

Threat from Afghanistan

As a result of the attacks on U.S. service members in the region and international shipping lanes, Kurilla said that the U.S. has had to divert intelligence and reconnaissance assets from Afghanistan to Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

He warned that the risk of an attack by violent extremists in Afghanistan on American and Western interests abroad is increasing, saying that Islamic State-Khorasan Province affiliates in Afghanistan and Syria “retain the capability and will to attack U.S. and Western interests abroad in as little as six months and with little to no warning.”

The general said such an attack would be more likely in Europe, as it would take “substantially more resources” to hit the U.S. at home.

U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. 
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Imprisonment based on political dissent is especially difficult for women, says Nadya Tolokonnikova, a creator of Pussy Riot, and someone who spent 16 months in a Russian prison. The Russian diaspora in Los Angeles gathered to write letters of support to women incarcerated on political grounds in their homeland. VOA News reports from Los Angeles, California; Steve Baragona narrates.
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VIENNA — The United States on Thursday threatened future action against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency if Tehran keeps “stonewalling” the U.N. nuclear watchdog by denying it the cooperation and answers it seeks on issues that include long-unexplained uranium traces. 

At a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors, Washington again told Iran to cooperate with IAEA inspectors who for years have been seeking explanations from Tehran on the origin of uranium particles at undeclared sites. 

The United States has stopped short, for now, of seeking a resolution against Iran. Diplomats have cited the U.S. presidential election in November as a reason Washington has been reluctant to do that. Tehran bristles at such resolutions and often responds by stepping up its activities. 

“We believe we have come to the point that we and the broader international community must consider anew how to respond to Iran’s continued stonewalling,” the United States said in a statement to the board meeting. “We cannot allow Iran’s current pattern of behavior to continue.” 

It is now more than a year since the last board resolution against Iran, which ordered it to cooperate urgently with the investigation into the particles. Tehran dismissed the resolution as “political” and “anti-Iranian” even though only China and Russia opposed it. 

The United States and its three top European allies, Britain, France and Germany, again opted against seeking a resolution against Iran at this week’s meeting. But the United States said that if Iran did not provide the necessary cooperation soon, it would act. 

“It is our strongly held view that Iran’s continuing lack of credible cooperation provides grounds for pursuing further Board of Governors action, including the possibility of additional resolutions and consideration of whether Iran is once again in noncompliance with its safeguards obligations,” it said. 

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 deal under which major powers lifted sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities. After sanctions were reimposed, Iran expanded those activities far beyond the deal’s limits. 

It is now enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons grade and far above the deal’s cap of 3.67%. Western powers say there is no credible civil explanation for enriching to that level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without producing a nuclear bomb. 

Iran says that its aims are entirely peaceful and that it has the right to enrich to high levels for civil purposes.  

The United States said Iran should provide the IAEA with cooperation including access “for the purposes of collecting environmental samples … and it must begin to do so now.”  

If it did not, it would ask IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to provide a “comprehensive report” on Iran’s nuclear activities more wide-ranging than his regular quarterly ones, it said. 

“Then, based on the content of that report, we will take appropriate action in support of the IAEA and the global nuclear nonproliferation regime,” it said. 
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Houston, Texas — A power company said Thursday that its equipment may have sparked the largest wildfire in Texas’ history.

Xcel Energy — the parent of Southwest Public Service Company, which provides electricity to part of the state — said it was working with officials investigating the cause of the fire that charred more than 400,000 hectares (988,421 acres).

“Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the company said.

Hundreds of homes are thought to have been destroyed in the fire, which is known to have killed at least two people and over 3,000 farm animals.

Xcel, which is facing at least one lawsuit, denied its equipment was improperly maintained.

“However, we encourage people who had property destroyed by, or livestock lost in, the Smokehouse Creek fire to submit a claim to Xcel Energy through our claims process,” the statement said.

The Washington Post reported the admission came after it saw evidence the grid in Texas was under stress in the hours before the fire broke out in strong winds on February 26.

The paper said Whisker Labs, a firm that monitors electricity supply grids, recorded 50 faults in the system.

These are typically logged when a power line has been toppled or has touched trees — events that typically result in the kind of sparks that can start fires in dry countryside.

It is not uncommon for U.S. power companies to be blamed for destructive wildfires.

Hawaii’s Maui County last year began legal action against the island’s electricity provider over the deadly fires that leveled the historic town of Lahaina.

Videos taken before the blaze ripped through the town, killing 100 people, apparently showed downed cables setting fire to vegetation.

In California, the almost 1-million-acre Dixie fire of 2021 began after power lines owned by Pacific Gas and Electric touched a tree.

A year earlier, the company pleaded guilty to more than 80 counts of involuntary manslaughter over the horrific Camp fire.
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Harare, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s government criticized the modification of U.S. sanctions this week that renew measures against President Emmerson Mnangagwa and some senior leaders while removing others from the list.

U.S. Embassy officials said the new sanctions aim to improve Zimbabwe’s human rights record and reduce corruption.

Zimbabwe Information Minister Jenfan Muswere on Wednesday condemned the United States and called for an immediate and unconditional removal of what he called “illegal” sanctions.

“Government of Zimbabwe would like to dismiss any suggestions that this is a new development between Harare and Washington,” he said, noting that Mnangagwa has long been under U.S. sanctions.

“To this end, the government of Zimbabwe condemns the perpetuation of the heinous sanctions against Zimbabwe and their intended effect to decimate our economy,” Muswere said. “Consequently, we do not celebrate the current delisting of other key players. … Zimbabwe was never supposed to be under any form of sanctions from another nation in the first place.”

U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Laurence Socha on Wednesday said the Biden administration was committed to ensuring the sanctions are relevant, timely and targeting those closely connected to corruption and serious human rights abuses, including Mnangagwa.

“In Zimbabwe we continue to witness gross abuses of political, economic and human rights, Socha said. “The targeting of civil society and severe restrictions on political activity have stifled fundamental freedoms, while key actors, including government leaders, have siphoned off government resources for personal gains. U. S. sanctions are not on the country of Zimbabwe.”

Zimbabwe’s government blames sanctions for the country’s economic struggles since the early 2000s. Critics attribute the decline to corruption and bad policies by Harare.

Marvellous Kumalo, spokesperson for the rights group Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe, said, “We have never invited sanctions or celebrated their existence. We are happy now because the Harare administration has always blamed sanctions whenever they failed to deliver in terms of social-economic goods. So now we will keep them in check and see whether they will deliver.”

He continued, “We urge Zimbabwe’s government to revise their human rights record, their public corruption, issues to do with reforms. We will be happier if they institute reforms that make Zimbabwe a better country.”

Obert Masaraure, president of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, said he hopes the new measures announced by Washington will do more than improve the economic picture.

“Zimbabwe keeps sliding back with respect to issues of human rights, democracy, holding credible elections,” he said. “We have also seen massive looting of our mineral wealth. All this has led to serious poverty among our people. Teachers are also affected; earning below the poverty datum line. That is why at least 4,000 are leaving the country annually to seek greener pastures.

“So, we hope that this [new] sanction regime can apply pressure on Harare so that it reforms and creates a governance architecture that carries the hopes and aspirations of our people,” he said. “That’s democracy.”

In announcing the modified sanctions, U.S. President Joe Biden also terminated the official U.S. state of emergency regarding actions and policies of the Zimbabwe government, which was first imposed in 2003 following reports of election rigging and human rights abuses.
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TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Thursday criticized the United States for trying to suppress China’s rise through sanctions and reiterated Beijing’s commitment to uphold the multipolar world order with partners such as Russia.

Speaking to local and foreign media during the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, Wang said while relations between China and the United States have improved since the summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November, Washington’s misconception of China remains strong and it has not honored the promises made during the summit.

“The U.S. continues to renew their means of suppressing China while expanding the sanctions list,” he said, adding that Washington’s desire to punish Beijing has reached an “unimaginable level.”

Questioning Washington’s credibility as a great power, Wang urged the U.S. to view China’s rise and development objectively and rationally handle its interactions with Beijing.

“We urge the U.S. to recognize the general trend of historical development and put its promises into practice,” Wang added.

Some analysts say Wang’s criticism of the U.S. reflects Beijing’s concern about facing technological bottlenecks and economic encirclement by Washington and its allies.

“Beijing is hoping to elicit further American concessions and it’s asking the U.S. to lower its walls on technological de-risking from China,” Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist at Australian National University told VOA in a written response.

While Wang urged the U.S. to promote a healthy and stable development of bilateral relations alongside China, he touted Beijing’s close partnership with Russia, saying both countries continue to deepen political mutual trust while pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation.

“As major world powers and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China, and Russia have forged a new paradigm of great power relations that adheres to permanent good neighborliness while deepening comprehensive strategic cooperation on the basis of nonalignment, nonconfrontation and nontargeting of third parties,” Wang said.

Some experts say China’s efforts to double down on its “no limits partnership” with Russia is mainly due to its attempt to build an alliance that can resist pressure imposed by the United States.

“Since Russia is anti-U.S., China needs an ally to help it resist pressure from Washington,” Liu Dongshu, an expert on Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong, told VOA by phone.

Since China has been highlighting the importance of its partnership with Russia before the Ukraine war, Liu said China may feel the need to stick with that commitment.

“It’s difficult for Beijing to admit that it’s made a mistake in being too supportive of Russia, so for the sake of saving its face, China needs to insist that it’s not wrong for maintaining the partnership with Russia,” he added.

As the war in Ukraine and the Middle East continue, Wang, a 70-year-old veteran diplomat who returned to the role of foreign minister last year following the mysterious dismissal of former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, said China is actively putting forward proposals for resolving regional and global issues.

He said the only way to end the vicious cycle extended from the conflict between Israel and Hamas is to “comprehensively implement the two-state solution” and said Beijing supports establishment of a Palestinian U.N. member state.

On the Ukraine war, Wang said China has always “maintained an objective and impartial position” and reiterated Beijing’s support for convening an international peace conference that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine.

Liu in Hong Kong said China is facing a dilemma where it wants to present itself as a responsible great power internationally, but it doesn’t want to take action to address the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“Unlike the U.S., which has experience in mediating global conflicts, China has long adopted this nonintervention approach,” he told VOA. “China is unwilling to take actions to get involved in these conflicts and it also may not be capable of doing that.”

Amid rising tension across the Taiwan Strait in recent weeks, with Chinese coast guard vessels increasing efforts to patrol disputed waters near Taiwan’s outlying islands, Wang said Beijing will never allow Taiwan to be separated “from the motherland” and warned countries around the world not to support Taiwan’s potential pursuit of independence.

“Whoever engages in ‘Taiwan independence’ on the island will be held accountable by history and whoever in the world supports ‘Taiwan independence’ will get burned for playing with fire and taste the bitter fruit of their own doing,” he warned during the 90-minute press conference.

Sung from Australian National University said Wang’s comments on Taiwan are intended to intensify pressure on Taiwan’s diplomatic partners and ensure Taiwan remains internationally isolated. Wang is trying to “warn other countries about the consequences of offering support for Taiwan while reiterating Beijing’s ultimate goal of achieving unification,” he told VOA.

As tension between China and the Philippines grows because of repeated confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea, Wang said China has always exercised “a high degree of restraint” when handling maritime disputes.

“China has always respected historical and legal facts and sought a solution that’s acceptable to each party,” he said, adding that Beijing will not allow its “good intentions” to be abused or the law in the sea to be “distorted.”

After Wang set the tone for China’s foreign policy in 2024 through the press conference on Thursday, some analysts think Beijing will likely adopt a multiprong approach to manage its relationship with different countries.

“China will focus on managing ties with Europe, maintaining close relations with Russia and other pariah states, heightening tensions with Taiwan, India and in the South China Sea, cautiously testing the waters with the U.S. while seeking to court the Global South,” Sana Hashmi, a postdoctoral a fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, told VOA in a written response.
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Nadio Momand was a journalist and a law student in Afghanistan. But with the Taliban back in power, she has left her home and her dreams behind. Muska Safi has the story, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.
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Washington — The State of the Union address is traditionally the venue where American presidents highlight domestic successes, and President Joe Biden is expected to discuss his handling of the economy, reproductive rights, gun control, and immigration Thursday evening.

But as the United States deals with wars in the Middle East and Europe, foreign policy may be higher on the agenda in Biden’s fourth, and potentially final, such speech to a joint session of Congress.

The president intends to highlight his achievements in “restoring American leadership on the world stage,” John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, told VOA during an interview on Wednesday.

American leadership, he added, gives it the ability to influence actions of world leaders and adversaries “in ways that are more in keeping with our national security interests.”

That influence has failed to overcome stark differences between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on issues including how to deliver more humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, the postwar role of the Palestinian Authority and the U.S. vision for a future Palestinian state.

On Ukraine, American leadership is overshadowed by House Republicans’ obstruction of a Senate-approved $95 billion foreign aid package that includes $61 billion to support Kyiv in its fight against Russia. The bill also includes $14 billion in security assistance for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian assistance and $5 billion to support partners in the Indo-Pacific, as Washington competes against Beijing for regional influence.

The wars in Ukraine and Gaza will be prominently featured in the foreign policy portion of Biden’s speech, as will the U.S. strategic rivalry with China. Analysts say the president will employ different approaches on the two issues as he considers voters’ sentiments ahead of his bid for reelection in November.

Push for Ukraine aid

Biden will use his address to again call for the passage of the foreign aid bill and argue that it is not in America’s interest to embrace isolationism amid signs of growing Russian expansionism.

“The president is going to continue to make his case that House Republicans need to move forward. The speaker needs to put the national security supplemental on the floor,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her briefing Wednesday. “We know that it would get overwhelming support.”

While the Biden administration has gathered international support for an effort that includes substantial military and economic aid to Ukraine, major sanctions on Russia and greatly increasing NATO’s military posture in eastern Europe, it has failed to provide a strong case for this policy for the American people, said John Herbst, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine who is now senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

“This in turn has made it easier for naïve voices, especially in the one corner of the Republican Party to block the assistance Ukraine needs to avoid a defeat,” Herbst told VOA.  

Vanderbilt University presidential historian Thomas Schwartz predicted Biden “will go all in” on Ukraine, particularly in light of the recent death of Alexey Navalny in a Siberian prison. The Russian dissident’s death has intensified U.S. views that supporting Ukraine’s efforts to push back against Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a real moral cause,” Schwartz told VOA. 

“This will also allow him to draw a sharp contrast with Trump, who has, of course, expressed admiration for Putin in the past and has not been as supportive on the Ukraine issue,” Schwartz added.

Polls show that Americans’ support for sending military aid to Kyiv is fractured along party lines, with voters of the president’s party largely sympathetic to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s war efforts.

According to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 67% of Democrats see it as a priority for the U.S. government to prevent Russia from gaining more territory in Ukraine and to help Ukraine regain territory that is currently occupied by Russia. Only 37% of Republicans agree.

Biden will use his address to rally support amid Americans’ war fatigue. Overall, 37% of respondents — 55% of Republicans and 17% of Democrats — say the U.S. government is spending too much on aid to Ukraine.

Tread carefully on Gaza

The president is likely to tout his immediate support for Israelis following Hamas’ October 7 attack and underscore the importance of ensuring that Israel can defend itself against the U.S.-designated terror group’s threats. 

But he will need to tread carefully on the issue, taking into account the division between pro-Israel Democrats and independents who support his stance on the conflict and progressive Democrats, as well as Arab and Muslim Americans, who are angered by it.

Outrage over the more than 30,000 people killed in Gaza and Biden’s refusal to put conditions on U.S. military aid for Israel has resulted in significant portions of Democratic primary election voters in Michigan and Minnesota marking their ballots “uncommitted” to signal their protest and demand an immediate and permanent cease-fire.

Negotiators have not yet been able to bring the fighting in Gaza to a halt ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend. On Tuesday, Biden said the fate of the temporary cease-fire deal is in the “hands of Hamas” after Israel agreed to a “rational offer” that had been put on the table.

Hamas has since responded saying there can be no hostage exchange without a permanent cease-fire and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The group accused Israel of stalling the talks.

Israeli politicians will be carefully watching Thursday to see who Biden blames for the deadlock and how critical he is of Israeli efforts to protect and deliver aid to Palestinian civilians, said Jonathan Rynhold, head of the Department of Political Studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.

As Biden is likely to reiterate his call for a two-state solution, Israelis will be anxious to see whether he calls on Israel to “present a clear vision that includes a Palestinian state,” Rynhold told VOA. “I doubt he’ll do it, but if he does, it’s bad for Netanyahu but not bad for the war.”

Biden is likely to focus his criticisms on the far-right elements within the Israeli government and signal displeasure at violence committed by what he calls “extreme Israeli settlers” in the West Bank, as he has done several times in the past.

Kirby said the president will also call for increasing humanitarian aid for Palestinians. With the Netanyahu government’s refusal to open more land crossings for aid convoys and the death of more than 100 people after Israeli troops opened fire as desperate Palestinians mobbed a convoy of food trucks, the U.S. has resorted to using military aircraft to drop supplies — a more expensive, inefficient and dangerous means to deliver aid.

A Gallup poll released this week shows 58% of Americans hold a favorable view of Israel, down from 68% last year, and the lowest favorable rating for the country in over two decades.   

Iuliia Iarmolenko contributed to this report.
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White House — The Biden administration is looking at options to support Ukraine amid House Republicans’ continued obstruction of a Senate-approved $95 billion foreign aid package that includes $61 billion to support Kyiv in its fight against Russia.

In a Wednesday interview with VOA, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden plans to use Thursday’s State of the Union address to emphasize the importance of continued support for Ukraine and highlight his administration’s success in “restoring American leadership.”

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: How will the president use this opportunity to convince lawmakers and House Speaker Mike Johnson of the urgent need for military support for Ukraine?

John Kirby, White House National Security Communications Adviser: I don’t want to get ahead of the president’s speech. Of course, he’s very much looking forward to the opportunity to talk to the American people, to the Congress, and actually, quite frankly, the world about all the incredible things that he has accomplished in these three and a half years as the president of the United States. From the economy to education, to health care, to employment, as well as on the world stage, and really restoring American leadership on the world stage.

Here’s what American leadership buys you. It buys you convening power. It buys you enormous capability. And it certainly buys you an effort to influence and affect the decision-making and the actions of other leaders around the world, particularly adversaries, in ways that are more in keeping with our national security interests. And supporting Ukraine is certainly first and foremost. That’s about helping Ukrainian soldiers succeed in these fights against Russian aggression, but it’s also a benefit to our national security because the landscape on the European continent has changed. And if we just walk away and let [Russian President Vladimir] Putin have Ukraine, which is what he still wants, then he’s right up against the doorstop of NATO.

VOA: Ukraine is rationing munitions and losing territory in part because of the lack of American support. Do you still see a path forward with the supplemental package or should Ukrainians be preparing themselves for the reality where there is no American assistance?

Kirby: We’re going to keep working with Congress to see if we can get that supplemental passed. It’s that important. We are also working with allies and partners about contributions that they might be able to make, not that they aren’t already making them — they are. But [we’re] seeing what more could maybe be done. And of course, we’re looking inside our own system, inside our own government, and across the administration to see if there’s anything else that we might be able to do to support Ukraine. But we’ve got nothing. None of those efforts are going to be able to replace the volume, the scale that the supplemental would provide us.

VOA: But there might be a Plan B?

Kirby: We have never not looked at what other opportunities we might have before us. But whatever they are, they’re not going to be as good as the supplemental. There’s no replacing the supplemental. As I’ve said many times, it’s not like there’s some magical source out there that can do what the supplemental can do. But are we looking at options? We absolutely are. We have to, given the situation on the ground — particularly in the east.

VOA: But do you still believe the supplemental may pass?

Kirby: It’s difficult to say with any certainty. That’s really going to be up to Speaker Johnson. We know — and Speaker Johnson knows — that if you put that to the floor, it’ll pass. There’s plenty of bipartisan support for that; both sides of the aisle in the House. No question about that. The question is really: Will he put it to the floor? And only he can answer that question.

VOA: Six countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Germany, Denmark and France, recently signed bilateral security agreements with Kyiv that are meant to give Ukraine security reassurance before Ukraine joins NATO. Should we expect such an agreement between the United States and Ukraine soon?

Kirby: We have long been working with the Ukrainians, obviously making sure that they have what they need in this war, talking to them about what they’re going to need whenever the war ends, because whenever and however the war ends, they’re still going to have a long border with Russia that they’re going to need to safeguard. So, yes, the United States is talking to our Ukrainian counterparts about what more we can do over the long term to help make sure that they can defend their own national security interests and [those of] the Ukrainian people. I don’t have anything to announce or speak to right now, but these are conversations we’re having with the Ukrainians.

VOA: More on the State of the Union: How will the president address the worsening situation in Gaza and U.S. strategic competition with China?

Kirby: Again, I’m not going to get ahead of the president’s speech, but I would point you to the things that he has said before. On Israel: How important it is to make sure Israel can defend itself against the still viable threat by Hamas, making sure that more humanitarian assistance gets in [to Gaza, and] making sure we get the hostages out. Trying to get this new hostage deal in place so that we can get a six-week temporary cease-fire to reduce the suffering on the ground and again try to find ways to help alleviate suffering of the Palestinian people.

And on China, as you know, the president wrapped up not too long ago a meeting with President Xi [Jinping] in San Francisco. Good, constructive dialogue. We’re not going to agree with China on everything, but the president believes strongly that this is the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world, and it’s incumbent upon both of us as two major powers — and both of them as two major leaders — to handle that relationship in a responsible way.

VOA: The president warned of a “dangerous” situation if there is no cease-fire by Ramadan. What did he mean by that? Is he warning of more bloodshed and potential regional spillover?

Kirby: He’s referring to the fact that Ramadan is obviously the holiest time of the year for Muslims and it’s also a sensitive time, particularly in the Middle East, where actions take on an even larger meaning and can have an outsized impact. And so, we all want this temporary cease-fire in place as soon as possible. We obviously would have preferred to have it in place already. It’s not, we’re still working at that. But we recognize that as you get closer to Ramadan, whatever actions get taken is done in the context of this holiest of time for Muslims around the world.

VOA: Both the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, and the widow of a deceased Russian opposition leader Yulia Navalnaya declined the invitation to attend Biden’s State of the Union address. What message was the administration trying to convey by inviting them both?

Kirby: We certainly respect their desires in terms of not attending, but obviously Ukraine is such a key partner here. And they have been fighting bravely now for a little bit over two years. And, certainly, this was an opportunity to recognize America’s commitment to Ukraine, and to the fighting, the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people.

Again, we all mourned the passing of Alexey Navalny, and we all recognize his courage, his bravery, and we all of course continue to hold the Kremlin accountable for what happened to him. The president had a chance to meet with his wife and his sister to express his personal condolences and the condolences of the entire American people
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Every year, the United States president addresses a joint gathering of the House of Representatives and Senate to provide his or her view on the condition of the country and suggest the direction the nation should take. The State of the Union speech has become a major fixture in U.S. governance.
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WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday issued sanctions targeting two companies and two vessels that the Treasury Department said had facilitated commodities shipments on behalf of a network of an Iranian-backed Houthi financial facilitator.

The action targets two Hong Kong- and Marshall Islands-based ship owners and two vessels for their role in shipping commodities on behalf of Sa’id al-Jamal, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The revenue from the commodity sales supports the Houthis and their attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the department said.

Wednesday’s action represented the latest bid by the U.S. to pressure the Iran-backed Houthi militant group over attacks in shipping. Last month, Washington imposed sanctions on oil tankers as well as two companies it accused of working with al-Jamal.

 
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Super Tuesday — the night that has been known to make or break candidates in the past — is over. More convention delegates are awarded on Super Tuesday than any other night of the campaign year. Fifteen states and a U.S. Territory conducted primaries and caucuses for the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti brings us the highlights and tells us what’s next.
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WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation on Tuesday to give China’s ByteDance about six months to divest popular short video app TikTok or face a U.S. ban, seeking to tackle national security concerns about its Chinese ownership.

The bill is the first significant legislative move in nearly a year toward banning or forcing ByteDance to divest the popular app, after Senate legislation to ban it stalled in Congress last year in the face of heavy lobbying by TikTok.

Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairperson of the House of Representatives’ select China committee and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat, are among more than a dozen lawmakers introducing the measure, which is expected to see an initial vote on Thursday.

“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” Gallagher said. “America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States.”

The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest TikTok, which is used by more than 170 million Americans, or make it unlawful for app stores run by Apple, Google, and others to offer TikTok or provide web hosting services to apps controlled by ByteDance.

The bill would not authorize any enforcement against individual users of an affected app, however.

“This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it,” a company spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs,” the spokesperson said.

A White House National Security Council spokesperson called the bill “an important and welcome step” adding that the Biden administration would work with Congress “to further strengthen this legislation and put it on the strongest possible legal footing.”

The administration has worked with lawmakers from both parties to counter threats of tech services operating in the United States that pose risks to Americans’ sensitive data and broader national security, the official added.

TikTok says it has not, and would not, share U.S. user data with the Chinese government.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the bill unconstitutional, saying lawmakers were “once again attempting to trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points during an election year.”

The bill, which would require companion legislation in the Senate, will be considered at an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday for a vote.

The popularity of the app could make it tough to get legislation approved in an election year. Last month, Democratic President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign joined TikTok.

The bill would give the president new powers to designate apps of concern posing national security risks and subject them to the risk of bans or curbs unless ownership was divested.

It would cover apps with more than a million annual active users and under control of a foreign adversary entity, the bill says.

Concerns about Chinese-owned TikTok sparked efforts in Congress last year to tackle the risks from the short video sharing app or potentially ban it. Late in 2022, Congress barred federal employees from using it on government devices.

Last year the administration backed legislation sponsored by Senator Mark Warner and more than two dozen senators to give it new powers to ban TikTok and other foreign-based technologies if they pose national security threats.

That bill has never been voted on.

The new bill aims at bolstering the legal authority to address TikTok concerns. U.S. courts blocked an effort by previous President Donald Trump to ban TikTok in 2020.

Late in November, a U.S. judge blocked Montana’s first-of-its kind state ban on TikTok, saying it violated users’ free speech rights.
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The White House says it looks forward to working with the new Indonesian administration but stopped short of congratulating Prabowo Subianto on his apparent victory in Indonesia’s presidential election last month. Prabowo, for his part, has vowed to continue a policy that allows Jakarta to reap Chinese investments while maintaining security ties with Washington. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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