washington — The Biden administration has been making a diplomatic push for talks with North Korea with more explicit public proposals for engagement than at any other time since taking office.

“We want dialogue, and there are lots of valuable discussions” that could be had with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, said Jung Pak, the U.S. senior official for North Korea.

Those items for discussion could include sanctions, humanitarian cooperation and confidence-building measures, Pak said at a March 18 event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.

She added that the U.S. wants North Korea to take risk-reduction steps to avoid miscalculation and inadvertent escalation. The U.S. also wants to see Pyongyang take interim steps toward denuclearization, Pak said at another event held by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on March 5.

Joseph DeTrani, who served as the special envoy for six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea from 2003 to 2006 during the George W. Bush administration, told VOA via email on Friday that the Biden administration is making this approach now as opposed to earlier in its term because “tension on the Korean Peninsula has increased exponentially, and all efforts must be made to stop this escalation and defuse this tension.”

Since the beginning of the year, Pyongyang has repeatedly called Seoul its “primary foe” and denounced unification while rallying North Korea to prepare to occupy South Korea if a war breaks out.

North Korea has launched multiple rockets and cruise missiles and conducted several artillery firing drills this year.  In its latest test on March 18, North Korea conducted a drill involving “newly equipped super-large multiple rocket launchers” that could cause “disastrous consequences” if a war breaks out, its state-run KCNA news agency said. 

Since its term began in 2021, the Biden administration has said it is open to denuclearization talks with North Korea without preconditions. But it has been silent on what it would offer Pyongyang or how it thinks denuclearization should proceed, although it has hinted at incremental steps toward that goal.

After completing a monthslong policy review on North Korea in April 2021, then-White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the Biden administration sought a middle ground between “a grand bargain” and “strategic patience.”

Former President Donald Trump sought to strike “a grand bargain” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump’s predecessor, former President Barack Obama, pursued a policy approach dubbed “strategic patience,” which involved waiting to engage Pyongyang until it reduced tensions.

In an interview with VOA on March 18, Pak said, “Our policy is the same since we rolled out our policy review back in the spring of 2021, which is that we are absolutely looking for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

She continued, “When we talk about ‘interim steps,’ we’re making explicit what has always been implicit, which is a complete denuclearization will not occur overnight.”

Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, told VOA in a telephone interview on Monday that “perhaps it was almost frustration” that prompted the Biden administration to make its approach to North Korea more explicit and public now.

U.S. officials “have tried many channels, including through third countries, trying to get messages to the North Koreans and indicating they’re willing to talk not only about denuclearization but about other nonnuclear issues, including risk reduction or confidence-building measures [and] humanitarian assistance,” Klingner said.

Mira Rapp-Hooper, special assistant to the president and senior director for East Asia and Oceania at the White House National Security Council, said at a CSIS-hosted virtual event on March 3 that North Korea “has not answered” multiple U.S. calls for dialogue made through “many channels.”

She continued, “This is increasingly problematic, of course, because we now see the DPRK taking increasingly escalatory behavior.”

Robert Rapson, who served as charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, said, “I was struck by the continued priority given ‘risk reduction’ as an initial discussion topic, which reflects, in my view, growing U.S. concerns about the escalatory situation on the Korean Peninsula.”

While North Korea increased missile launches and verbal hostilities toward South Korea, it has been making weapons shipments to Russia in defiance of international sanctions.

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said at a press briefing on March 18 that Pyongyang has shipped about 7,000 containers of weapons to Russia since last year.

DeTrani said that is “all the more reason why we should be open and creative in getting North Korea back to negotiations.”

VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching contributed to this report.
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washington — First lady Jill Biden will publish a children’s book in June called Willow the White House Cat — about her cat, Willow.

The publisher, Simon & Schuster, announced Wednesday that the book tells the story of Willow’s journey to the White House.

The short-haired tabby cat entered the Bidens’ life after she jumped on stage as the first lady was speaking at a Pennsylvania farm during President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. Soon after, Jill Biden adopted the cat and named it after her hometown, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

“As Willow bounds from room to room, exploring history in her new home, she learns quickly about all of the incredible people who make the ‘People’s House’ run,” the first lady said in the publisher’s announcement.

“They welcomed Willow with love and care, just as they did Joe and me, the First Families who came before us, and all of the people who step foot into this home.”

The Bidens began their White House tenancy with Willow and several German shepherd dogs. However, one dog, Champ, died in 2021, and two others, Major and Commander, were sent away for aggressive behavior after biting security personnel and White House staff.

This makes 4-year-old Willow the only presidential pet currently residing at the White House.

Presidential pets have long been a source of public fascination. Willow now meows among the ranks of fellow famous felines such as President Bill Clinton’s black and white cat named Socks, who became iconic for her photo ops on the White House lawn.

Socks had her own book, written by then-first lady Hillary Clinton, called Dear Socks, Dear Buddy, which included fan mail address to Socks and her canine companion Buddy the chocolate labrador retriever.

First lady Barbara Bush also wrote a book about the family pet. Millie’s Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush is a dog’s-eye view of the White House during the George H.W. Bush administration.

First lady Biden has previously written several children’s books, including Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops and Joey: The Story of Joe Biden. She published her memoir, “Where the Light Enters,” in 2019.

Proceeds from book sales will be given to charities that support military dogs.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press.
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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Protesters in Slovakia formed a human chain around the country’s public television and radio building Wednesday in anger over a takeover plan by the government whose populist, pro-Russia prime minister recently labeled several private media outlets his enemies. 

The takeover plan was drafted by Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova, who represents an ultra-nationalist member party of the coalition government and has worked for an internet television outlet known for spreading disinformation. 

The plan has been condemned by President Zuzana Caputova, opposition parties, local journalists, international media organizations, the European Commission and others who warn that the government would be taking full control of public broadcasting. Slovak journalists have called the plan an attack on all free media. 

Wednesday’s was the latest protest against the policies of Prime Minister Robert Fico, known for his tirades against journalists. His critics worry Slovakia under him will abandon its pro-Western course and follow the direction of Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban. 

Simkovicova has said taking over public media is needed because she believes the current broadcaster is biased, giving space only to mainstream views and censoring the rest. The broadcaster has denied that. 

According to her plan, the current public radio and television known as RTVS would be replaced by a new organization. A new seven-member council with members nominated by the government and parliament would select the broadcaster’s director and have the right to fire the director without giving cause. 

The current broadcaster’s director was elected by parliament, and his term in office will end in 2027. 

The hundreds of protesters unveiled a banner reading “HANDS OFF RTVS!” and chanted to local journalists, “We’re by your side.” Thousands of people rallied in a similar protest earlier this month. 

Fico returned to power for the fourth time last year after his leftist party Smer, or Direction, won the parliamentary election on a pro-Russian, anti-American platform. 
…

Washington — Russian media and analysts are reporting a spike in hate crimes and violence against migrants from Central Asia following last week’s terror attack on a Moscow concert hall, which has led to the arrests of seven people of Tajik origin.

Responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 139 people and injured nearly 200, has been claimed by the Islamic State terror group’s Afghan affiliate, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, which includes a number of Central Asians in prominent roles.

“A market owned by Tajiks in Blagoveshchensk, Amur Region, was torched. Unknown persons beat three Tajik migrants in Kaluga,” said Edward Lemon, president of the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs in Washington.

“Tajiks have reported being evicted without reason. Screenshots have circulated on social media showing taxi riders on apps like Yandex refusing to ride with Tajik drivers. Law enforcement have launched raids across the country to find and detain illegal immigrants,” Lemon added. “Viral videos are circulating on social media calling for Tajiks to be deported, claiming they are all ‘terrorists’ and calling for the death penalty to be reintroduced.”

Tajiks are not the only victims of the backlash, according to Russian media reports and activists. In Yekaterinburg, security officials have reportedly threatened to fine businesses that refuse to list any Central Asians working for them. Kyrgyzstan has warned its citizens to avoid travel to Russia, while Uzbekistan’s External Labor Migration Agency issued a travel advisory outlining security precautions.

While publicly seeking to lay blame for the attack on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has behind the scenes been in talks with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, to discuss ways to strengthen counter-terrorism measures. Lemon said that one possible outcome could be the extradition of some Tajik citizens to Russia.

“From the Tajik side, my sources say that the government is already hoping to link the attacks to the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan in a bid to crack down on its actual and alleged supporters,” Lemon told VOA.

“Rahmon will seek to ensure that we don’t see mass violence against Tajik migrants in Russia or deportations that could destabilize his regime,” he said. “Putin needs to tread a tightrope as the Russian economy needs migrants.”

Other analysts see Central Asian migrants, who already face a difficult life in Russia despite the vital role they play in the economy, as convenient targets for the public’s discontent.

“It seems that in the end, everything will only come down to the persecution of migrant workers,” said analyst and Gazeta.ru columnist Semyon Novoprudsky.

He told VOA this is happening “despite the fact that they are critically important for some sectors of the Russian economy because of a growing shortage of laborers, especially in construction.”

Boris Dolgin, a visiting scholar at Estonia’s Tartu University, agrees. “Instead of truly engaging in terrorism prevention and working in communities where radical ideas can be spread, they chose migrant workers as scapegoats,” he said.

Farhod Abduvalizade, a journalist speaking with VOA from Khujand, Tajikistan, pointed out that “none of the suspects have been proven guilty.” He said many of his compatriots doubt that the real culprits are the battered and bruised men Russian authorities have been parading on TV.

“The public is closely watching how events are unfolding because almost every household in Tajikistan has someone working or studying in Russia,” he said.

Remittances last year accounted for over 48% of Tajikistan’s GDP, with most of it from Russia — $5.7 billion, according to the World Bank. Combined, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan received about $25 billion in remittances from Russia, where statistics show more than 10 million Central Asians present in the country. 

Central Asian militants in IS-K

University of Pittsburg professor Jennifer Murtazashvili, who has done extensive research in the region, elaborated on the role of IS-K militants from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

“They have used Afghanistan as a playground,” she wrote on X. “During the war against the U.S., the Taliban also benefitted from these militants,” with Tajik and Uzbek fighters participating in attacks against U.S. and allied forces.

“These fighters have also skillfully played the Taliban and IS-K off against each other,” she said, recalling that militants from Tajikistan took over large swathes of northern Afghanistan in 2021, killing members of the Afghan national security forces. Some recent reports indicate that the Taliban still rely on Central Asians to provide security in the north.

In its latest statement, IS-K denounced the Taliban’s engagement with Russia, China, Pakistan and other counties, even the United States. Still struggling for recognition as Afghanistan’s legitimate government, the Taliban claim they are at war with the group.

“Central Asia should be worried,” Murtazashvili told VOA. “The alliance of Central Asian leaders with Moscow makes them look very weak in the eyes of IS-K.”

VOA Russian stringer Victor Vladimirov contributed to this report. 
…

Washington — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss support for Ukraine during talks in Paris next week with French President Emmanuel Macron, the State Department announced Wednesday.

France is among the major military suppliers to Ukraine, which is facing an onslaught of Russian attacks.

President Joe Biden’s request for billions of dollars in new U.S. military aid to Kyiv is held up in the House of Representatives, led by the rival Republican Party.

“Secretary Blinken will meet with French President Macron to discuss support for Ukraine, efforts to prevent escalation of the conflict in Gaza and a number of other important issues,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

France has advocated for a permanent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, whereas the United States, Israel’s main ally, recently let pass a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for a cease-fire during the month of Ramadan.

It will be the first visit in nearly two years to France by Blinken, a fluent French speaker who grew up partly in Paris. Macron paid a state visit to Washington in December 2022.

After Paris, Blinken will head to Brussels for talks among NATO foreign ministers ahead of the alliance’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington in July.

Blinken will also hold a three-way meeting in Brussels with EU leaders and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has been seeking to branch out from his country’s historic alliance with Russia.

Blinken and the European Union will address “support for Armenia’s economic resilience as it works to diversify its trade partnerships and to address humanitarian needs,” Miller said.

Armenia was angered last year by Russia’s failure to prevent Azerbaijan from retaking the Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian rebels.
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WASHINGTON — In December 1900, John Wesley Powell received “the most unusual Christmas present of any person in the United States, if not in the world,” reported the Chicago Tribune.

The gift for this first director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Bureau of Ethnology was a sealskin sack containing the mummified remains of an Alaska Native.

The sender was a government employee hired to hunt Indian “relics,” who said the remains had been difficult to acquire because “to come into the possession of a dead Indian is a great crime among the Indians.”

The report concluded that it was the only “Indian relic” of this kind at the Smithsonian and it was “beyond money value.”

As it turned out, it was not the museum’s only Alaskan mummy. In 1865, even before the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia, Smithsonian naturalist William H. Dall was hired to accompany an expedition to study the potential for a telegraph route through Siberia to Europe. In his spare time, he looted graves in the Yukon and caves on several Aleutian Islands.

After the U.S. sealed the deal with Russia, the San Francisco-based Alaska Commercial Company won exclusive trading rights and established more than 90 trading posts in Alaska to meet the U.S. demand for ivory and furs.

It also instructed agents “to collect and preserve objects of interest in ethnology and natural history” and forward them to the Smithsonian. Ernest Henig looted 12 preserved bodies and a skull from a cave in the Aleutians in 1874. He donated two to California’s Academy of Science and sent the remainder to the Smithsonian.

More than 30 years after the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act meant to return those remains, a ProPublica investigation last year estimated that more than 110,000 Native American, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native ancestors remain in public collections across the U.S.

It is not known how many Indigenous remains are closeted in private or overseas collections.

“Museums collected massive numbers, perhaps even millions,” said anthropologist John Stephen “Chip” Colwell, who previously served as curator of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. “Out of the 100 remains we [at the Denver museum] returned, I think only about five or seven individuals were actually even studied.”

So, what sparked this 19th-century frenzy for collecting human remains?

Reconciling science, religion

From the moment they first encountered Indigenous Americans, European thinkers struggled to understand who they were, where they came from, and whether they could be “civilized.”

The Christian bible taught them that all humans descended from Adam and that God created Adam in his own image. So why, Europeans wondered, did Native Americans, Africans and Asians look different?

Some Europeans theorized that all humans were created white, but dietary or environmental differences caused some of them to turn “brown, yellow, red or black.”

Other Europeans refused to accept that they shared a common ancestor with people of color and theorized that God created the races separately before he created Adam.

The birth of scientific racism

Presumptions that compulsory education and Christianization would force Native Americans to abandon their traditional cultures and become “civilized” into mainstream European-American culture proved untrue. So 19th-century scientists turned to advancements in medicine to “prove” the inferiority of Indigenous peoples.

“That’s when you see scientists like Samuel Morton, who invented a pseudoscience trying to place peoples within these social hierarchies based on their biology, and they needed bones to solidify those racial hierarchies,” said Colwell, who is editor-in-chief of the online magazine SAPIENS and author of “Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America’s Culture.”

Morton was a Philadelphia physician who collected hundreds of human skulls of all races, mostly Native American, that were forwarded to him by physicians on the frontier. In his 1839 book “Crania Americana,” Morton classified human races based on skull measurements. Morton’s conclusions were used to support racist ideologies about the inferiority of non-white humans.

“They are not only averse to the restraints of education, but for the most part incapable of a continued process of reasoning on abstract subjects,” he wrote of Native Americans. “The structure of [the Native] mind appears to be different from that of the white man, nor can the two harmonise in their social relations except on the most limited scale.”

Despite Morton’s legacy as an early figure in scientific racism — ideologies that generate pseudo-scientific racist beliefs — his work earned him a reputation at the time as “a jewel of American science” and influenced the field of anthropology and public policy for decades.

In 1868, for example, the U.S. Surgeon General turned his attention away from the Civil War to the so-called “Indian wars” and instructed field surgeons to collect Native American skulls and weapons and send them to the Army Medical Museum in Washington “to aid in the progress of anthropological science.”

“For museums, especially the early years of collecting, it was a form of trophy keeping, a competition between museums,” Colwell told VOA. “And some of it was a competition between national governments to accumulate big collections to demonstrate their global and imperial aspirations.”

All the rest, he said, were fragments of morbid curiosity.
…

When Russia imposed harsh laws on reporters covering its invasion of Ukraine, dozens fled. But physical distance doesn’t always keep exiled journalists safe. Steve Baragona narrates this story by Liam Scott in Berlin. (Camera and Produced by: Jonathan Spier )
…

Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwanese Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim wrapped up a whirlwind diplomatic tour to Europe last week, triggering Beijing as she made stops in three countries and Brussels and met with dozens of politicians.

Analysts and some who attended the meetings say the trip was an example of the type of high-level engagement Hsiao wants to continue after being officially sworn into office in May along with President-elect Lai Ching-te.

Hsiao met with parliamentary leaders in the Czech Republic, Poland and Lithuania. She also engaged with more than 30 lawmakers in the European Parliament in Brussels, including European Parliament First Vice President Othmar Karas.

According to Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, Hsiao emphasized Taipei’s “democratic alliance with European countries.” She also urged the European Union to sign an economic partnership agreement with Taiwan to “demonstrate its commitment to upholding regional prosperity.”

The ministry said her trip would help the EU understand Taiwan’s commitment to “maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits,” as well as expanding bilateral cooperation in various fields.

Some who attended events with Hsiao said she also reiterated Taipei’s commitment to support Ukraine, which is a priority on many Central and Eastern European countries’ agenda.

Introducing herself

The meeting in Prague “was an opportunity for Hsiao to introduce herself to Czech politicians,” Jakub Janda, director of the Prague-based European Values Center for Security Policy, told VOA by phone.

Janda said he attended a reception organized by Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil, where Hsiao spent about an hour and a half “meeting the politicians one by one.” “Her trip shows that the incoming Taiwanese government wants to maintain high-level engagement with Central and Eastern European countries,” he said.

In Lithuania, Hsiao held meetings with members of different political parties, including the two candidates in the upcoming presidential election, and delivered a speech at the Lithuanian Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science.

Lithuanian national security expert Marius Laurinavičius, who attended a closed-door meeting with Hsiao, said that her meetings with Lithuania’s ruling bloc and one of the opposition parties suggests some opposition parties may have adjusted their views on the Baltic state’s relationship with Taiwan.

“Hsiao’s visit is a good sign for both countries because it shows some political parties may have changed their positions on Lithuania’s cooperation with Taiwan,” he told VOA in a phone interview.

In Brussels, some European lawmakers think Hsiao’s trip helped raise awareness about Taiwan in Europe before the European Parliament election.

“According to current election polls, the European Parliament will have a significantly larger right-wing camp in the new mandate; unfortunately, there is a tendency in that camp to be less China-critical,” Engin Eroglu, a member of the European Parliament who met Hsiao in Brussels, told VOA in a written response.

He said Hsiao’s presence in Brussels could help remind European lawmakers about the threats Taiwan faces and the huge impact a potential Chinese invasion of the island could have on global trade.

Hsiao’s European tour comes less than two months before the new administration, under the pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive Party, comes into power. China has long opposed official interactions between Taiwan and other countries.

In response to her trip to the Czech Republic, the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged Prague to “take effective measures to undo the negative influence of the incident” and “strictly restrain certain politicians.”

Reinforcing ties with Europe

Some analysts say that Hsiao’s trip signals to countries in the region that Europe will remain important for Taiwan under the new administration.

“This visit corresponds to Taiwan’s overall effort to reinforce ties with Europe in recent years,” Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an expert on EU-Taiwan relations at the National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, told VOA by phone, adding that the countries Hsiao visited are those that have been more assertive about standing with Taiwan in recent years.

Since 2021, Taiwan has deepened its engagement with Central and Eastern European countries and the Baltic states by opening a new representative office in Vilnius, launching an investment fund worth $82.58 billion for Central and Eastern Europe, and signing agreements to deepen economic and cultural exchanges.

Building a role in the administration

In addition to continuing the foreign policy agenda established by the current administration, some experts say, Hsiao is using the European tour to “lay the groundwork” for her role in the new administration.

Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, said it appears that Hsiao is looking to continue to grow Taiwan’s influence internationally much like she did when she was Taiwan’s de facto ambassador in the United States.

“Hsiao’s got more political and social capital internationally than other Taiwanese politicians, so I think the trip is a matter of her and the incoming administration wanting to make sure that this capital doesn’t go to waste,” Nachman said in a phone interview.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s former President Ma Ying-jeou from the China-friendly Kuomintang is preparing for a trip to China next month. During that trip, Ma is widely expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Nachman said Hsiao’s European tour reflects the differences in Taiwan’s two main political parties’ foreign policy agenda.

“These trips further show the DPP’s approach of diversifying Taiwan’s external relations while the KMT favors the approach of rapprochement with the PRC,” he said.
…

NEW ORLEANS — A Texas law that allows the state to arrest and deport migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. will remain on hold for now, a federal appeals court ruled.

The 2-1 ruling late Tuesday from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals followed a March 20 hearing by a three-judge panel of the court. It’s just the latest move in a seesaw legal case over Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s strict new immigration law that is not yet ended.

The Justice Department has argued that Texas’ law is a clear violation of federal authority and would create chaos at the border. Texas has argued that President Joe Biden’s administration isn’t doing enough to control the border and that the state has a right to take action.

Judge Andrew Oldham, an appointee of former President Donald Trump and a former aide to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, dissented with the majority decision.

Oldham wrote that the Biden administration faced a high bar to take sovereign power that Texas has to enforce a law its people and leaders want. The judge predicted the same 2-1 split when the merits of the case are considered while the legal challenge plays out.

“There is real peril in this approach. In our federal system, the State of Texas is supposed to retain at least some of its sovereignty,” Oldham wrote. “Its people are supposed to be able to use that sovereignty to elect representatives and send them to Austin to debate and enact laws that respond to the exigencies that Texans experience and that Texans want addressed.”

The law was in effect for several hours on March 19 after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way. But the high court didn’t rule on the merits of the case. It instead sent the case back to the 5th Circuit, which then suspended enforcement while it considered the latest appeal.

The latest ruling keeps the block in place.

Spokespersons for Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton did not immediately return phone calls for comment Wednesday morning.

The law signed by Abbott allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally, but that brief window while the law was in effect revealed that many sheriffs were unprepared, unable or uninterested in enforcing SB4 in the first place.

Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland of Terrell County, which touches more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) of border, said during a gathering of about 100 sheriffs at the state Capitol last week said there’s no practical way for him to enforce the law.

Cleveland said he has no way to transport people, the county jail has space for just seven people and the closest port of entry is a drive of more than 2 1/2 hours away.

Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith, president of the Texas Sheriff’s Association, said the law will have little effect in his jurisdiction in East Texas, which is closer to Louisiana and Oklahoma than Mexico which is nearly 400 miles (644 kilometers) away.

Once in custody, migrants could either agree to a Texas judge’s order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry. Migrants who don’t leave could face arrest again under more serious felony charges.

Texas did not announce any arrests during the brief time the law was previously in effect. Authorities have offered various explanations for how they might enforce the law. Mexico has said it would refuse to take back anyone who is ordered by Texas to cross the border.

The law is considered by opponents to be the most dramatic attempt by a state to police immigration since an Arizona law more than a decade ago that was partially struck down by the Supreme Court. Critics have also said the Texas law could lead to civil rights violations and racial profiling.

Supporters have rejected those concerns, saying arresting officers must have probable cause, which could include witnessing the illegal entry or seeing it on video. They also say that they expect the law would be used mostly in border counties, though it would apply statewide.
…

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA — A Nevada judge tentatively set an August 5 trial date for a former Las Vegas-area elected official accused of killing an investigative journalist.

But she acknowledged that more time might be needed to finish searching the slain reporter’s computers for possible evidence.

Robert Telles, a former Democratic county administrator of estates, has pleaded not guilty to stabbing Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German to death in September 2022.

Telles, 47, has remained jailed since his arrest days after German’s body was found. Telles and his lawyer, Robert Draskovich, say he wants his murder trial to start as soon as possible.

Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt decided two weeks ago that a March 18 date was unrealistic. She agreed with prosecutors on Tuesday that August might also be too soon, but she said it was important to have a date to work toward.

Progress in the case stalled while arguments went to the state Supreme Court about opening German’s cellphone and computers, possibly exposing confidential information that is protected from disclosure under state and federal law.

Review-Journal employees are now reviewing those files, and attorneys say it might take months to finish.

German, 69, was found stabbed outside his home months after he wrote articles in 2022 that were critical of Telles and his managerial conduct while he was in elected office.
…

Berlin — At least five people were killed Wednesday when a bus headed from Berlin to Switzerland came off a highway in eastern Germany and ended up on its side, authorities said.

The accident happened on the A9 highway near Leipzig at about 9:45 a.m. and the road was closed in both directions.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the bus, which was operated by Flixbus and en route from Berlin to Zurich, came off the road. Rescue helicopters and ambulances were at the scene.

Police spokesman Olaf Hoppe told n-tv television that there were “numerous injured and at least five dead.”

Flixbus said there were 53 passengers and two drivers on board, German news agency dpa reported. The company said it was working closely with local authorities and rescue services and would do everything to clear up the cause of the accident quickly.

The A9 is a major north-south route that links Berlin with Munich. The scene of the accident was just north of a highway interchange at Schkeuditz, next to the Leipzig/Halle airport.
…

WROCLAW, Poland — Ukraine’s qualification for the Euro 2024 soccer finals has cheered a country suffering hardship in its conflict with Russia and for a few weeks in June and July the tournament will provide a welcome distraction from the harsh reality of war.

The team came from behind to defeat Iceland 2-1 in their playoff final in neutral Poland Tuesday and book a fourth successive appearance in the continental finals.

They will be in Group E with Belgium, Slovakia and Romania, who they face in their opening game in Munich on June 17.

Russia’s war with Ukraine has now entered a third year and, despite heavy casualties on both sides, it shows no sign of coming to an end following Russia’s invasion of February 2022.

“I am very proud to be a Ukrainian, to be of the same blood as those who are now giving their lives for our freedom,” team captain Oleksandr Zinchenko said after Tuesday’s victory.

“We need to talk about it, shout about it every day. This is the only way we can win. It was one of our most emotional games.

“It is an amazing feeling. I am very happy because it is another dream come true. A big thank you to our fans, they helped us through these difficult times amazingly.”

Coach Serhiy Rebrov said in the build-up to the Iceland match that it was hard for his team to concentrate on football.

“The missiles are flying every day. Our mission is to show that we’re all alive and fighting against the Russians and that we need Europe’s support,” Rebrov said.

He added that his players were “watching the news about the shelling of Odessa and Kyiv (and made) even more angry and eager to show our potential on the football field.”

The coach hailed the “character of our players and our nation” to keep going in a qualifying campaign where, as refugees from the war themselves, Ukraine have staged ‘home’ matches spread across Europe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the team’s resilience in difficult times.

“Thank you, team. For the important victory and making it to EURO,” Zelenskiy said in a post on X.

“For proving once again, whenever Ukrainians face difficulties they do not give up and continue to fight, Ukrainians certainly win.

“In times, when the enemy tries to destroy us, we demonstrate every day that Ukrainians are and will be. Ukraine is, and will be! Glory to Ukraine!”

Mission accomplished

Ukraine successfully completed its qualification mission in Poland, which has the largest concentration of Ukrainian refugees of any country.

Still, it has been no easy path to the finals.

Rebrov’s side came through a tough qualifying group that included European champions Italy and runners-up England, managing draws against both sides.

It followed the disappointment of losing to Wales in a playoff for a place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, after which former Ukraine striker Rebrov took over in June last year.

With Roman Yaremchuk and Artem Dovbyk in attack, the pace of winger Mykhailo Mudryk, guile of Zinchenko in midfield and steel of Illya Zabarnyi and Vitaliy Mykolenko at the back, Ukraine have a capable squad.

What they have proven now is that they can battle against the odds in the face of adversity and win the day, hoping that will become a unifying message for the country.

“It was very difficult to be on the coaching bench today, I saw how difficult it was for the guys,” Rebrov said.

“I am grateful to all of them for this gift for our country. In such a difficult time, it is very important.” 
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The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that could significantly restrict access to the drug mifepristone, which is used in medication abortions. Deana Mitchell has our story.
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DES MOINES, Iowa — Someone in New Jersey overcame the odds Tuesday night and won the $1.12 billion Mega Millions jackpot, breaking a winless streak that dated to last December.

The numbers drawn were: 7, 11, 22, 29, 38 and 4. The winning ticket was sold in New Jersey, according the the Mega Millions website.

Until the latest drawing, no one had matched all six numbers and won the Mega Millions jackpot since Dec. 8. That amounted to 30 straight drawings without a big winner.

It’s tough to win the Mega Millions jackpot because the odds are so long, at 1 in 302.6 million.

The prize is the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history.

The $1.12 billion jackpot is for a winner who is paid through an annuity, with an initial payment and then 29 annual payments. Most winners choose a cash payout, which would be $537.5 million.

The next big U.S. lottery drawing will be Wednesday night for an estimated $865 million Powerball jackpot. No one has won that prize since New Year’s Day, making for 36 drawings without a winner.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball also is played in those states as well as Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

 
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Top Biden administration officials urged Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to abandon plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinian civilians seek safety, as U.S.- Israel tensions brewed over Israel’s conduct in its 6-month-old war against Hamas. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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VEENDAM, Netherlands — A 420-meter, or quarter-mile, white steel tube running alongside a railway line in the windswept northern Netherlands could usher in a new era for the transportation of people and freight.

The tube is the heart of the new European Hyperloop Center that opens Tuesday and will be a proving ground in coming years for developers of the evolving technology.

Hyperloop, once trumpeted by Elon Musk, involves capsules floating on magnetic fields zipping at speeds of around 700 kph (435 mph) through low-pressure tubes. Its advocates tout it as far more efficient than short-haul flights, high-speed rail and freight trucks.

But since Musk unveiled the concept that he said could shuttle passengers the nearly 645 kilometers (400 miles) between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes, it has progressed at a much slower pace from the drawing board toward the real world.

“I expect by 2030, you will have the first hyperloop route, maybe 5 kilometers (3 miles) in which people will actually be transporting passengers,” said the center’s director, Sascha Lamme. “Actually, there’s already preparations being done for such routes in, for example, Italy or India.”

Not everybody is as optimistic about Hyperloop’s future.

“This is just another example of policymakers chasing a shiny object when basic investment in infrastructure is needed,” Robert Noland, distinguished professor at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, said in comments emailed to The Associated Press.

“It costs too much to build,” he added.

Lamme said skeptics should come and look for themselves.

“We built the European Hyperloop Center and from what we have built, we know that we can be competitive with high-speed rail,” he said. “And then, we have not even included all the cost optimizations that we can do in the coming decade to reduce that even further.”

The test center’s tube is made up of 34 separate sections mostly 2½ meters (more than 8 feet) in diameter. A vacuum pump in a steel container next to the tube sucks out the air to reduce the internal pressure. That reduces drag and allows capsules to travel at such high speeds.

A test capsule built by Dutch hyperloop pioneer Hardt Hyperloop will take part next month in the first tests at the center that is funded by private investment as well as contributions from the provincial government, the Dutch national government and the European Commission.

A unique feature of the Veendam tube is that it has a switch — where it splits into two separate tubes, a piece of infrastructure that will be critical to real-life applications.

“Lane switching is very important for hyperloop, because it allows vehicles to travel from any origin to any destination,” said Marinus van der Meijs, Hardt’s technology and engineering director. “So, it really creates a network effect where you sort of have a highway of tubes and vehicles can take an on- and off-ramp, or they can take a lane switch to go to a different part of Europe or to a different destination.”

While testing continues in Veendam, hyperloop developers hope that destinations for their technology are forthcoming.

“Really, the main challenge is finding government commitments to build routes. And on the other hand, finding new funding to realize the necessary test facility and technology demonstration that you need to do to make this happen,” Lamme said.
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Britain’s high court has ruled the United States must guarantee that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will not get the death penalty if he is extradited to the U.S. on espionage charges. Assange’s lawyers are fighting to allow a full appeal against his extradition on accusations related to Wikileaks’ publishing of stolen military files. For VOA, Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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As American journalist Evan Gershkovich marks one year in Russian prison, his family and colleagues fight for his release. VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit has the story. Camera: Mino Dargakis
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NEW YORK — Donald Trump on Tuesday was hit with a judge’s gag order sought by prosecutors in his upcoming criminal trial involving hush money paid to a porn star, restricting him from publicly commenting about witnesses and court staff. 

Ahead of the former U.S. president’s trial, which is scheduled to begin April 15 in the New York state court, Justice Juan Merchan granted a request for the order made last month by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. 

The prosecution sought an order blocking Trump from “making or directing others to make” statements about witnesses concerning their role in the case and from commenting on court staff and prosecutors other than Bragg himself. 

Silencing Trump was necessary because of his “longstanding history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, judges and others involved in legal proceedings against him,” prosecutors said.  

Trump’s lawyers argued that a gag order would violate his right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, leaving him defenseless against attacks by political opponents over the case. 

Merchan separately ruled on March 7 that jurors were to remain anonymous except to Trump, his lawyers, prosecutors and a handful of others, after prosecutors highlighted Trump’s history of publicly deriding trial jurors and grand jurors. 

Bragg’s case is one of four criminal indictments the Republican presidential candidate faces, with Trump pleading not guilty in all the cases and portraying them as politically motivated. 

It could be the only case to reach trial before his expected Nov. 5 rematch with President Joe Biden. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements to his former lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with Trump a decade earlier. 

Trump has denied having the encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.  

The requested gag order was similar to restrictions a federal judge imposed last year in a criminal case over Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. 

Trump also faces state criminal charges in Georgia over his push to reverse the 2020 results, and federal criminal charges in Florida over his handling of sensitive government documents after leaving the White House in 2021.  

In a separate civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, another New York state judge fined Trump $15,000 last year for twice violating a gag order against publicly talking about court staff.  

Trump is appealing a $454.2 million judgment in that case for misstating the values of his family real estate company’s properties to dupe lenders. On March 25, a midlevel state appeals court paused that judgment as long as Trump posts a smaller $175 million bond within 10 days. 
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London — A new report and research from a British defense research group has found that many Western nations are still reliant on Russian nuclear fuel to power their reactors, despite efforts to sever economic ties with the Kremlin following its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

“Russia may be able to take advantage of incongruencies in sanctions or other restrictions, as well as persistent contractual dependencies and supply challenges, to maintain access to Western nuclear fuel supply chains and continue generating revenue through its enriched uranium exports,” the Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI, says in its report.  

Rosatom 

Of those supplying nuclear fuel, Rosatom, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, “is the biggest supplier of uranium enrichment to the global market” and has continued to export significant volumes of enriched uranium product since February 2022. The report estimates that Russia sold enriched uranium worth $2.7 billion in 2023. 

Rosatom supplied some 30 percent of the enriched uranium purchased by European Union states in 2022, and 23 percent of that purchased by U.S. utility companies, according to the RUSI analysis of publicly available statistics. Not all countries publish their import or export figures for nuclear materials. 

Western companies may be finding it difficult to change long-term contracts with Rosatom, said Darya Dolzikova, author of the RUSI report. “In the enriched uranium space in particular, there are historical dependencies, so there are contractual obligations that might be difficult for certain utilities to get out of,” she told VOA. 

French dependency 

France, which has 56 nuclear reactors generating around two-thirds of the country’s electricity, is one of Russia’s biggest customers for enriched uranium, despite growing political tensions between Paris and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine. 

“Imports into France of Russian enriched uranium have increased significantly since the start of 2022. So there was an increase of about 184 percent in volume,” Dolzikova said.

French utility EDF is even planning a joint venture with Russia’s state-run Rosatom to process uranium at a site in Lingen, Germany.  

The RUSI report also details Russian uranium exports to the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. “Russia is still the biggest exporter of enriched uranium and enrichment services globally. They account for about 44% total capacity of enrichment services,” Dolzikova added. 

Decarbonization 

Global enthusiasm for nuclear power fell after the 2011 Fukushima reactor meltdown in Japan.  

However, as countries try to slash carbon emissions to combat climate change, many governments are rethinking their approach to atomic power. At a March 21 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Brussels, several world leaders called for a reinvestment in nuclear power.   

“Adapting supply chains take time. And doing it in a secure and reliable way takes time. But it is clearly one of the assignments to the industry and to governments working on this, is to adapt supply chains as fast as possible and also … to disconnect from Russian supply,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told delegates at the IAEA meeting. 

“But we need to balance things, I mean, in a sense, if you want to decarbonize, if you want to reduce CO2 production, we need to make sure that our nuclear power plants can continue,” De Croo added. 

China ‘displacement’ 

The report says Russian exports to China have also increased, raising suspicions that Beijing could be importing Russian enriched uranium to facilitate greater exports of China’s own enriched uranium supply — so-called “displacement.” 

“We know that China is also keen to increase its own role, expanded zone role on global nuclear fuel markets. So that raises questions as to whether the additional imports into China of Russian uranium could potentially be backing increased exports of Chinese material. That is very difficult to prove definitively,” said report author Dolzikova. 

Self-sufficiency 

Western nations are trying to boost their nuclear self-sufficiency. France is boosting uranium enrichment capacity by more than 30 percent at a site in the southern region of Valence, according to nuclear industry reports. The American firm Westinghouse and Ukrainian firm Energoatom have begun producing nuclear fuel that can supply former Soviet reactors in eastern Europe, from a site in Sweden.   

Dolzikova of RUSI said it will take at least two years for the West to end its reliance on Russian nuclear fuel. While boosting Western enrichment capacity is vital, the RUSI report also recommends that trade measures are tightened to cut Russia out of global markets. 

“Sanctions — or any kind of restrictions — need to be multilateral. Otherwise, because of the complexity of enriched uranium supply chains and fuel supply chains, Russia will find the weakest link in that wall of restrictions to try to continue accessing Western markets,” Dolzikova added.
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