WASHINGTON — The United States on Saturday marks its first U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day to commemorate Americans being held abroad.

First designated last year by bipartisan House and Senate legislation, the day marks the anniversary of the kidnapping of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who was considered to be the longest-held American hostage in history.

The legislation also created an official flag as a symbol to recognize those Americans.

Currently 56 Americans are held hostage or wrongfully detained, according to the Foley Foundation. The nonprofit was set up in memory of American journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped and later killed by extremists in Syria.

The Bring Our Families Home campaign, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, Richardson Center for Global Engagement and members of the Levinson family advocated for Congress to pass the legislation to broaden attention toward the issue.

“The establishment of this annual day of observance is an important symbolic milestone that not only recognizes the importance of the issue but will also encourage greater public awareness and understanding of this enduring national crisis,” Benjamin Gray of the Foley Foundation told VOA.

Senator Christopher Coons, a Delaware Democrat, and Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, introduced the legislation days after the release of American basketball player Britany Griner from Russian custody in March 2023.

Among the Americans held overseas are two American journalists.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been imprisoned in Russia for nearly a year. Moscow accuses him of espionage, which the reporter and his newspaper deny.

The American-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva has been in custody since October. Kurmasheva, an editor for VOA’s sister network Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, denies the charges against her, including failing to register as a foreign agent.

The Foley Foundation said in a statement to VOA: “We continue to advocate for the release of both journalists from captivity in Russia. We believe that both have been unjustly targeted by the Russian government for leverage against the United States. In the case of Alsu, we urge the U.S. government to declare her as wrongfully detained.”

President Joe Biden mentioned Gershkovich’s case during his State of the Union speech Thursday, saying that the U.S. “will work around the clock” to bring him home.

The reporter’s parents attended the annual address as guests of House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson.

The Bring Our Families Home campaign has expressed frustration with the administration and organized a sit-in Friday at the White House aiming to highlight what they called a “lack of substantive support and action” from Biden.

In a statement Friday, campaign spokesperson Jonathan Franks said: “While the hostage and wrongful detainee flag championed by the campaign is flown over the White House on a day that is supposed to spur action on their loved ones’ plights, families express their frustration and exhaustion in front of the closed doors of the White House.”
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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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Sweden formally joined the NATO military alliance Thursday, a decision officials said was prompted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The announcement came as the alliance was conducting large-scale exercises above the Arctic Circle as a show of force and unity. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.
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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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Ukrainian officials say the Russian military patrol ship Sergey Kotov sank in the Black Sea after being targeted by Ukrainian-made sea drones. The reported hit is calling attention to drones as effective weapons to keep Russian forces from taking control of the Black Sea. VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze gained exclusive access to the development and testing site of this cutting-edge drone technology. VOA footage and video editing by Vladyslav Smilianets.
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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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Turkey and Turkmenistan have agreed to work toward a major gas export deal, which analysts say takes Ankara closer to becoming a significant energy hub and eases Europe’s energy deficit. But they also warn that Moscow can yet thwart such aspirations. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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WASHINGTON/STOCKHOLM — Sweden is expected to formally join NATO in Washington on Thursday, two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced a complete rethink of its national security policy and the realization the alliance offered the best guarantee of safety.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is in Washington to hand over the final documentation, with the White House saying in a statement ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address that Sweden would join on Thursday.

“Having Sweden as a NATO Ally will make the United States and our Allies even safer,” the statement said.

The Swedish government said separately it would take the formal decision for the country to join NATO on Thursday.

For NATO, the accession of Sweden and Finland – which shares a 1,340 km border with Russia – is the most significant expansion for decades. It is also a blow for Russian President Vladimir Putin who has sought prevent any further strengthening of the alliance.

Sweden will benefit from the alliance’s common defense guarantee under which an attack on one member is regarded as an attack on all.

“We have to face the world as it is not how we sometimes wish it were,” Kristersson said after Hungary became the last NATO member to ratify Sweden’s accession last week.

Sweden adds cutting-edge submarines and a sizable fleet of domestically produced Gripen fighter jets to NATO forces and would be a crucial link between the Atlantic and Baltic.

Russia has threatened to take unspecified “political and military-technical counter-measures” in response to Sweden’s move.

While Stockholm has been drawing ever closer to NATO over the last two decades, membership marks a clear break with the past, when for more than 200 years, Sweden avoided military alliances and adopted a neutral stance in times of war.

After World War II, it built an international reputation as a champion of human rights, and when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, successive governments have pared back military spending.

As recently as 2021, its defense minister had rejected NATO membership, only for the then-Social Democrat government to apply, alongside neighbor Finland, just a few months later.

While Finland joined last year, Sweden was kept waiting as Turkey and Hungary, which both maintain cordial relations with Russia, delayed ratifying Sweden’s accession.

Turkey approved Sweden’s application in January.

Hungary delayed its move until Kristersson made a goodwill visit to Budapest on Feb. 23, where the two countries agreed a fighter jet deal. 
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COLOGNE, Germany — Germany faced strikes on several fronts on Thursday, as train drivers and airport workers walked off the job, causing chaos for millions of travelers and adding to the country’s economic woes at a time of looming recession.

The strikes are the latest in a wave of industrial actions to hit Germany, where high inflation and staff bottlenecks have soured wage negotiations in key parts of the transport sector, including national rail, air travel and public transport.

Industry has warned about the costs of such strikes, after Europe’s largest economy contracted by 0.3% in 2023 and the government warned of a weaker-than-expected recovery.

A one-day nationwide rail strike costs around 100 million euros ($107 million) in economic output, Michael Groemling, head of economic affairs at IW Koeln, told Reuters during GDL’s last strike in late January.

Train drivers began a fifth round of strikes in a long-running dispute at 2 a.m. (0100 GMT), after a walkout in the cargo division started on Wednesday evening.

Also on strike were airline ground staff at Lufthansa LHAG.DE and security staff at some airports. These included Germany’s busiest Frankfurt hub, whose operator Fraport said 650 of Thursday’s 1,750 planned flights had been canceled.

The train drivers’ walkout, set to last until Friday afternoon, marks the beginning of a series of strikes planned by GDL as it pushes for reduced working hours at full pay.

“The motivation is high to follow through with the conditions that we have set as GDL members,” said train driver Philipp Grams at the picket line in Cologne.

Just one in five long-distance trains was running, rail operator Deutsche Bahn said, but passengers showed some understanding.

“I don’t like it much, but if it makes a difference, if people want to change something, why not?” said Katerina Stepanenko, standing on the platform at Cologne’s main station.

Deutsche Bahn has accused the union of refusing to compromise.

“The other side doesn’t budge a millimeter from its maximum position,” spokesperson Achim Stauss said.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck, however, said he had lost sympathy for the strikers.

“It must be possible to find a solution and not push your own interests so radically at the expense of other people; I no longer think that’s right,” he told broadcaster RTL/ntv.

The ADV airport association, meanwhile, warned that strikes in the aviation sector, which on Thursday took place in Hamburg, Duesseldorf and Frankfurt, were damaging Germany’s reputation as a center for business and tourism.

Lufthansa ground staff began a two-day strike on Thursday, and further woes were brewing for Germany’s flag carrier after cabin crews voted on Wednesday for industrial action, with the UFO union assessing the next steps.

Reporting its annual results, Lufthansa warned that strikes were a factor that would lead to a higher-than-expected operating loss in the first three months of 2024.
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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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washington — On Facebook, Vadim Wolfson makes his political position clear. His profile picture shows him in a baseball cap emblazoned with the words “Puck Futin,” while his banner image features a Russian anti-war flag.

In words and memes, Wolfson criticizes Russian President Vladimir Putin, top Russian officials and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But Wolfson — who formerly went by the last name Belyaev and founded the Otkritie financial group, once Russia’s largest private bank — is now accused of crimes that would appear to contradict these political views.

U.S. federal prosecutors say that in 2018 and 2019, the Austin, Texas, resident helped Andrei Kostin, an oligarch and head of Russia’s state VTB Bank, to own and manage an elite mansion in Colorado. That would have violated U.S. sanctions against the banker.

Wolfson was detained in Austin on February 22 but was soon released on his own recognizance. He is charged with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which forms the foundation of the sanctions regime, and with conspiracy to violate it. Each charge could carry up to 20 years in prison.

Kostin is charged with sanctions violations, conspiracy to violate sanctions and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each count is also punishable by up to 20 years behind bars. He remains at large, likely in Russia.

The charges, announced in a U.S. Justice Department press release last week, shed light on the alleged holdings of Kostin, whose bank is sometimes called “Putin’s piggy bank,” and his alleged efforts to evade sanctions.

Kostin has called these accusations “baseless.”

“I have never violated any legislation, including American legislation, I have never circumvented any sanctions, and I urge all my partners not to look for or invent any ways to circumvent them, but to build a different world, independent of the pressure of the political elite and the U.S. military lobby,” he said in a comment published by Russia’s state Tass news agency.

In a message, Wolfson declined to comment on the lawsuit or answer questions from VOA. Regarding his political views, he said the following: “Since you read my FB, draw your own conclusions.”

Home in the Rocky Mountains

According to the indictment, Kostin purchased a luxury home in Aspen, Colorado, for $13.5 million in 2010. The formal owner of the house was the Colorado company 40 North Star LLC, and Kostin controlled it through a series of offshore companies, prosecutors say.

Two years later, he purchased three artworks for the house for $1 million. According to the indictment, they are the paintings “Combing the Ridges” by William Robinson Leigh and “Long in the Saddle” and “Arapaho Attack” by Wilhelm Heinrich Detlev Koerner. Both artists are famous for depicting the people and landscapes of the American West.

Prosecutors say that from 2010 to 2017, Kostin and his family spent around two weeks at the Aspen home every year, usually during the winter holidays.

Wolfson and his family also spent time there.

Using the parcel map for Pitkin County, where Aspen is located, Voice of America was able to identify the mansion.

It is located to the southeast of downtown Aspen. According to real estate website Zillow, the 1,027-square-meter (11,054-square-foot) home includes seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and features a swimming pool, sauna, whirlpool spa, home cinema and billiard room.

Today, the house rents for $600,000 per month, according to Zillow. It is currently owned by a company that appears to have no connection to Kostin or Wolfson.

Voice of America also found an image of the painting “Combing the Ridges” by Leigh.

The situation became complicated in 2014, after Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea. The United States and European countries began imposing sanctions on Russia and prominent Russian politicians and businesspeople.

Soon, the Aspen mansion’s ownership structure changed.

According to prosecutors, in 2014, Altamonte Holding Limited, a company recently registered in the British Virgin Islands, purchased 40 North Star LLC for $10 million.

A database of offshore leaks maintained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists indicates that the beneficial owner of a BVI company with a nearly identical name — Altamonte Holdings Limited — is Vadim Belyaev (aka Wolfson).

A company ultimately owned by Kostin, Capital Business Finance, provided financing for the purchase, the indictment states.

In April 2018, the United States imposed sanctions on Kostin. The following year, Wolfson bought 40 North Star for $12 million through two financial transactions with a subsidiary of Capital Business Finance controlled by Kostin. The deal violated the sanctions, prosecutors state in the indictment.

In 2018-20, it was Wolfson who primarily used the Aspen home. According to the parcel register, in 2020 the home was sold to another company for $12.5 million. The current owner appears not to be connected to Kostin or Wolfson.

WATCH: Video of a 3-D illustration of Andrei Kostin’s former mansion in Aspen, Colorado. (Google Earth)

Out at sea

The indictment does not end with real estate and art. Prosecutors also contend Kostin controlled two yachts through offshore companies: Sea Rhapsody and Sea & Us.

According to the document, Kostin mainly used the former yacht with his wife and family, while he primarily spent time on the latter with his mistress.

That latter yacht appeared in a 2019 investigation by the late Russian opposition activist Alexey Navalny, which dealt with the relationship between Kostin and Nailya Asker-zade, a presenter on the state TV channel Rossiya.

Prosecutors say Kostin bought the 66-meter (217-foot) Sea Rhapsody for $65 million between 2008 and 2012. It was built according to his order. It features six luxury cabins, an infinity pool, a whirlpool spa and a cinema.

Sea & Us is 62 meters (203 feet) long and was custom built for the banker in 2016-18. He paid at least $70 million for it.

According to prosecutors, in 2018-22, Kostin and unnamed accomplices carried out a scheme to provide financing, goods and services to operate, maintain and improve the yachts.

The indictment states they engaged in money laundering by transporting monetary instruments and funds in and out of the United States but does not provide further details of these activities.

According to maritime analytics site marinetraffic.com, Sea Rhapsody is now moored in Victoria, the capital of the Seychelles.

Sea & Us was renamed Serenity and Unity. According to the tracker, it is currently off the coast of Turkey.

Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of property and funds that they say Kostin, Wolfson and others obtained by committing the crimes listed in the indictment.
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