BERLIN — Tesla’s European Gigafactory near Berlin halted production and was left without power after suspected arson set an electricity pylon ablaze in a field close to the site early on Tuesday morning.

Police said the fire brigade was working to put out the fire in the area southeast of the German capital, adding that the blaze had not spread to the Tesla plant itself.

A spokesperson for the U.S. electric vehicle maker confirmed production had stopped and the site had been evacuated. Tesla’s Frankfurt-listed shares were down 2.8% at 1006 GMT.

Police are investigating a possible arson attack in the area, which has been the focus of environmental protests against the Tesla plant’s planned expansion.

They would not confirm media reports that bomb disposal units had been deployed after emergency services found a sign saying “ordnance buried here.”

Workers for energy company E.ON, which is in charge of the plant’s grid connection, are repairing the damage to the high-voltage pylon, which knocked out electricity in the area, the company said.

Tesla’s ambitions to expand its plant, which has a capacity of around 500,000 cars a year, hit a roadblock when local residents voted down a motion to fell trees to enlarge it.

The U.S. EV maker wants to double the site’s capacity to 100 gigawatt hours of battery production and 1 million cars per year, setting it up to dominate the European market.

Environmental activists have built and occupied treehouses in the forested area they expect to be cleared if the expansion goes ahead.

A spokesperson for the Robin Wood, one of the groups that is protesting against the expansion, said they had no knowledge of what could have caused the incident.

“We’re totally surprised by the situation,” the spokesperson said by phone, adding that a full statement would be made later.

Citizens in Gruenheide last month voted against a motion to clear enough forest for the company to build extra logistical spaces like a train station and warehouses, leaving it to local authorities to decide how to proceed.

The plant’s production ramp-up has slowed though the carmaker produced 6,000 cars in a week for the first time in January.
…

…

…

NEW ORLEANS — As the Republican Party primary contests continue into their third month, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is the only remaining challenger to former U.S. President Donald Trump. 

The primaries will determine who is the GOP’s nominee for president and who will challenge President Joe Biden in November’s presidential election.

Trump has won all but one of the 11 primaries and caucuses so far, racking up 276 total delegates to Haley’s 43. (Haley earned her first victory in Washington D.C. this past weekend, a contest long predicted to go her way.) With 15 states casting their votes for a nominee on March 5, a day known as “Super Tuesday,” Republicans are divided on whether Haley should remain in the race or get out of the former president’s way.  

“If you’re a Democrat, you probably want Haley to stay in the race because she’s distracting Trump from focusing on defeating Biden,” explained Bob Carreto, a Trump supporter from Chalmette, Louisiana. “But if you’re a real Republican, you want her to drop out of the primaries as fast as possible.”

“She’s forcing Trump to spend money defeating her, and it’s not good for the Republican Party,” Carreto said. “But the reality is, she doesn’t stand a chance, so she should just quit.”

Even though Trump has won each of the contests so far, not all voters who could cast their ballot this November for a Republican think Haley should exit.

“I think she’s incredibly brave for staying in the race, especially given that Trump is a maniacal egoist who attacks anyone who challenges him,” Abby LaCombe, an independent voter from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told VOA. 

“She’s facing a lot of attacks for refusing to withdraw, and she’s giving people who vote Republican a choice — the ability to choose someone other than Trump, a politician who has shown he has no respect whatsoever for democracy,” LaCombe said.

The Haley campaign did not respond to VOA’s request for comment when asked what Haley would say to those questioning why she is staying in the race.

Uphill battle

The Trump campaign has been insistent on undercutting Haley’s challenge by 

highlighting her many stumbles at the ballot box. In her home state of South Carolina, for example, the former president collected 60% of the vote to her 40%.

Michigan is a more moderate state where independent voters — thought to be more receptive to Haley’s message — are allowed to vote in the Republican primary. Still, in the state’s recent primary, Trump’s margin of victory was even greater (68% to 27%).

“She can’t name one state she can win, let alone be competitive in,” Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, said in a statement last week.

The Haley campaign did not respond to VOA’s request for comment when asked where she believes she can win on Super Tuesday or beyond.

On Sunday’s “Meet the Press” talk show, Haley said, “I think we fight. You’re going to have 16 states and territories that are voting on Tuesday. And so, a lot of people’s voices are going to be heard. And that’s what this has all been about.”

Most political experts, like University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock, agree that it will be difficult for Haley to win against the former president.

“I think it’s probably too late for her,” he explained to VOA. “This is Trump’s party, and he controls its voters. It’s a party dominated by an electorate who will stick with him no matter what — probably until he dies or withdraws from public view.”

Bullock, however, sees one way the Republican faithful could abandon him.

“A conviction,” he said. “Polling shows that if he is convicted of one of the several crimes he is accused of, then a substantial number of voters would abandon him. I think it’s possible that Haley is waiting, hopeful she could gather his votes if a conviction takes place.”

Trump faces 91 charges in four trials, including allegations he illegally tried to upend his 2020 election loss, whether he illegally took highly classified documents with him when he left office, and whether he falsified documents related to hush-money paid to a porn actor.

He has denied all the allegations.

Motivation for remaining in the race

A Reuters/Ipsos poll from last month found that 51% of Republican voters said they would not vote for Trump if he was convicted of any of the 91 felony charges brought against him across four criminal trials. A further 25% said they weren’t sure how they would vote in that case.

Fifty-eight percent said they would not vote for Trump if he were serving time in prison in November.

While experts like Bullock believe a Trump conviction might be Haley’s reason for staying in the race, others say she could have other motivations.

Henry Olsen, a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, believes Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, hopes if she can win several states, it will allow her to gain concessions from Trump during the Republican National Convention.

“She’s been spending her time in more moderate states and states where independent voters are also allowed to take part in the Republican primary,” Olsen said, adding, “states like Minnesota, where Marco Rubio beat Trump in the 2016 primary, and Colorado, where moderate Republican Senator Joe O’Dea beat a Trump-supported opponent by a wide margin.”

“Utah, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine are all in the same boat, and if she can win five states, Republican Party rules will give her more time and clout at the convention to voice her opposition to Trump,” Olsen continued. “Those wins are going to be a stretch for her, but if she gets them, Trump’s team will want to avoid any bad attention at the convention and may be willing to give concessions important to her, like a promise to support NATO.”

Other experts, like David Stack, a political scientist at Cleveland State University, thinks Haley might have one eye set on the 2028 presidential election.

“I just don’t see Haley having a path to the nomination this cycle,” Stack told VOA. “Her best bet for a win on Super Tuesday might be in Vermont, but even there she is down by about 30% in polling.”

“So, the question then is why is she staying in the race?” Stack said. “I think it could be to bolster her name recognition and collect donations for future elections. If she has a good amount of money in the bank after Super Tuesday, that could be a sign she is building a war chest for the future.”

Alternative to Trump

For her part, Haley insists her focus is on the present and that she believes she is the Republican Party’s best chance at unseating President Biden.

“This has never been about me or my political future,” Haley said last week after her defeat in the South Carolina primaries. “We need to beat Joe Biden in November. I don’t believe Donald Trump can beat Joe Biden. Nearly every day, Trump drives people away.”

She added, “I’m an accountant. I know 40% is not 50%, but I also know 40% is not some tiny group. There are huge numbers in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative.”

Jason Winder, a Republican from Uintah County, Utah, says he is one of those voters and is looking forward to casting his ballot for Haley on Tuesday.

“I like the idea of having a choice, and I’m grateful to still be able to show my dissent for Trump by backing someone who wasn’t involved in the January 6 insurrection,” Winder told VOA. “I hope the GOP leadership wakes up. He lost the popular vote in 2016 and 2020, and I think the margins will be even bigger this year. At least Nikki Haley gives us a chance.”

This week, Haley told supporters at a rally in Minnesota that Trump can’t win the general election if he’s losing 40% of the vote, and polling has shown a sizable portion of the Republican Party believe Trump is too extreme to defeat Biden. Nearly nine in 10 Haley voters in South Carolina said they would not be satisfied with Trump as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.

As a result, support in the form of fundraising dollars and endorsements from moderate segments of the Republican Party continue to find their way to the former governor.

On Friday, Haley received endorsements from two of the party’s most moderate senators, Susan Collins from Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska.

Despite that support, many in the party, including Trump’s most ardent supporters, continue to push Haley to exit the race.

“I actually like Nikki Haley and I would vote for her if she was the nominee,” explained Harvey Wasserman, a resident of Daytona Beach, Florida. “But I’ve voted for Trump twice and I’m going to do it again in the primary. I don’t think she can win, so it’s time for her to give the stage to Trump so he can focus on Biden.”
…

BISMARCK, N.D. — Donald Trump won the North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses on Monday, adding to his string of victories heading into Super Tuesday.

The former president finished first in voting conducted at 12 caucus sites, ahead of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The result puts Trump back on the winning track, which was briefly interrupted on Sunday when Haley notched her first victory of the campaign in the District of Columbia’s primary.

The White House hopefuls now turn their attention to Super Tuesday, when results will pour in from 16 states in contests that amount to the single biggest delegate haul of any day in the presidential primary. Trump and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, are dominating their races and are on track to winning their nominations later this month.

Under North Dakota’s rules, candidates are eligible to win delegates if they finish with at least 20% of the vote. However, a candidate who wins at least 60% of the vote receives all of the state’s 29 delegates.

Four candidates were on the ballot, including Trump and Nikki Haley. The other candidates, who have received little attention, were Florida businessman David Stuckenberg and Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley, who recently ended his campaign.

Retired music teacher and librarian Karen Groninger, of Almont, said Monday that she voted for Trump, calling him the best choice. The 76-year-old cited Trump’s 2020 speech at the annual March for Life anti-abortion event in Washington, D.C. — the first by a sitting president — and his border policies.

Longtime Republican state Sen. Dick Dever, of Bismarck, said he voted for Haley, but added she’s unlikely to win. The retired factory representative, 72, said, “I hear an awful lot of people say that they really liked Trump’s policies, but they don’t like the way he conducts himself, and I think he’s gone overboard a bit.”

Caucus voters were encouraged to be paying party members, but those who wouldn’t pay $50 for annual membership were asked to sign a pledge to affiliate with the party, caucus Chair Robert Harms said.

North Dakota is the only state without voter registration. The caucuses followed official state voter identification protocols, such as providing a driver’s license. Voting was done only in person and on printed ballots, which will be hand-counted.

In 2016, it was a North Dakota delegate who helped Trump secure the number needed for the Republican presidential nomination.

He swept North Dakota’s three electoral college votes in 2016 and 2020, winning about 63% and 65% of those votes, respectively.

As president, Trump visited Bismarck and Mandan in 2017 to talk about tax cuts, and he campaigned twice in Fargo in 2018 for Kevin Cramer in the then-congressman’s successful Senate bid against Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.

North Dakota’s Democratic-NPL Party is holding a presidential primary almost entirely by mail, with mail-in voting from Feb. 20 to March 30, and limited in-person voting for residents of Indian reservations. President Joe Biden, Rep. Dean Phillips and six others are on the ballot.

A third party will count ballots in Fargo on March 30, with results available on the party’s website afterward.

Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in 2016 and 2020.
…

Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated Monday support for an “immediate” six-week cease-fire in Gaza, meeting with a top member of Israel’s war Cabinet as the conflict teeters on the five-month mark. But analysts and protesters note that stopping the conflict hinges on negotiations the Biden administration won’t discuss, and that may not yield a deal before the White House’s stated deadline – the start of Ramadan. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
…

…

washington — Lobbying firms in Washington are reportedly rushing to drop clients from China as lawmakers look to tighten scrutiny. The push comes in the wake of a surge in Chinese lobbying in recent years and growing concerns about China’s influence.

U.S. lawmakers say they are promoting legislation that would provide more transparency into who is lobbying for Chinese companies. The legislators aim to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from using gray areas to secretly advance policy agendas that harm the interests of the American people.

Republican Senator John Cornyn told VOA’s Mandarin Service last week that lawmakers are very close to completing work on legislation that aims to address the problem. Last year, lawmakers in the Senate passed the disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act and members of the House have introduced a similar bill. Cornyn was a co-sponsor of the Senate bill.

“We’ve encountered some dissent but will continue to work because it’s important to understand who is actually lobbying these policymakers,” Cornyn said. “The primary focus has been on making sure people register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. As you know, there’s been a lot of problems associated with people not disclosing their lobby contracts with foreign countries.”

Closing loopholes

In pushing legislation, lawmakers are looking to close existing loopholes in the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA) and the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA) to demand more transparency regarding foreign governments and political parties that participate in the planning, supervision, direction or control of lobbying efforts regardless of whether they have made any financial contributions or not.

China is a unique challenge, Cornyn noted.

“The Chinese are unique in that there is no true solely private sector; they are forced to share information with the PLA and with their intelligence agencies,” he said. “So, I would say anytime we’re dealing with the Chinese-owned enterprise, it’s a cause for concern.”

U.S. lobbying is regulated by the LDA, which requires disclosure of domestic lobbying, and FARA, which requires disclosure of lobbying and other forms of influence by foreign governments and political parties. However, in 1995, FARA was amended to exempt those who represent foreign companies or individuals if the work is not intended to benefit a foreign government or political party. As a result, lobbyists registered under the far less transparent LDA and the result was a dramatic drop in FARA registrations.

Clients dropped

The effort to tighten scrutiny of China’s lobbying activities follows the U.S. Department of Defense’s release in late January of a list of “Chinese military companies” operating directly or indirectly in the United States known as the 1260H list.

Lawmakers subsequently said they were considering a measure prohibiting lobbyists who represent companies on the list from meeting with members of Congress, even to discuss matters on behalf of their American clients.

Following the release of the 1260H list, a chart began circulating on Capitol Hill that named various Chinese companies, including some military firms, as well as the names of their lobbying firms and whether they appear on the 1260H list.

Responding to the chart, at least five U.S. lobbying firms dropped Chinese clients as of late February. Steptoe LLP has terminated its contract with Shenzhen biotech company BGI. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld filed cease-and-desist documents to stop lobbying for Chinese LiDAR maker Hesai Group and terminated its cooperation with Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company not on the 1260H list. The Vogel Group has also dropped lobbying services for Chinese drone company DJI and Complete Genomics, a subsidiary of genetic technology company BGI.

DJI and Hesai are both on the 1260H list. Complete Genomics is not on the list, but its previous parent company, BGI, is on it.

Boycotting meetings

Republican Senator Marco Rubio told VOA that while it is difficult to pass a law prohibiting members of Congress from meeting with anyone, some congressional offices have decided not to meet with lobbying firms representing Chinese military companies.

“There are just certain entities we won’t meet with because we understand that while they may be doing it for commercial reasons, the interests that they’re representing are linked to Chinese goals, military goals and aspirations,” he said. “And so … we’ve made that decision unilaterally.”

Robert Sutter, professor of practice of international affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University, said historically, Chinese military entities’ lobbying activities have been an ambiguous area, and the enforcement has been weak.

“These [companies] lobbying for these firms … it’s probably legal in some way. But there is a reputational cost, and I think that’s what the Congresspeople are calling attention to in saying they will boycott these firms,” he said.

According to Open Secrets, a political money website, China’s lobbying has surged in recent years. China spent more than $330 million on lobbying between 2019 and 2023. That stands in sharp contrast to the $60 million it spent between 2015 and 2018.

China’s lobbying roster

Craig Singleton, a senior researcher with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, notes up until a few years ago, Chinese corporate lobbying in Washington was almost non-existent but that changed when the U.S. government went after Huawei.

After that, “Chinese firms switched gears and quickly scaled up, deploying lobbyists to protect their bottom lines in the face of increasing scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans alike,” he said. “Today, China’s lobbying roster reads like a ‘who’s who’ of Washington insiders, from retired Pentagon brass to former high-ranking congressional aides. The goal of these lobbying operations is simple: disrupting any actions that could negatively impact their clients’ market share, deflecting regulatory scrutiny and defending against sanctions.”

Singleton said the Department of Justice – which is responsible for administering and enforcing FARA – could play a bigger role in curbing the CCP’s malign lobbying influence on Capitol Hill.

“The U.S. Department of Justice currently mandates only two Chinese companies, Huawei and Hikvision, to disclose their lobbying activities under FARA, offering a comprehensive overview of their engagements,” he said. “Despite additional Chinese firms being flagged as national security risks by the Defense Department and FCC, the Justice Department has not extended FARA filing requirements to these problematic entities. The only apparent obstacle to such action is a lack of political will within the Justice Department itself.”

VOA Mandarin reached out to the Department of Justice, but it declined to comment.

Yi-hua Lee and Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
…

For decades, the ethnically mixed, working-class Paris suburb of Saint-Denis has faced a raft of negative stereotypes. But it’s angling for a different image, when it welcomes part of this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games. Many hope the Olympics construction projects now underway will go beyond an urban facelift and deliver lasting change. Lisa Bryant has the story.
…

Geneva — U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warns the potential spillover of dozens of conflicts around the world is threatening global peace and causing human rights violations to surge in all regions.

Türk, who presented an update about the situation of human rights around the world at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva Monday, painted a frightening picture of a world where proliferating conflicts are devastating the lives of millions of civilians.

“Rarely has humanity faced so many rapidly spiraling crises,” he said, noting that 55 conflicts around the world are “battering people’s lives, destroying economies, and profoundly damaging human rights” by subjecting millions of people to widespread violations and “upending hopes for multilateral solutions.”

He said displacement and humanitarian crises have reached an unprecedented scale, legitimate governments are being toppled and those in power choose war to resolve national and international problems.

Türk warned all these conflicts are having a serious regional and global impact.

“Overlapping emergencies make the specter of spillover conflict very real,” he said. “The war in Gaza has explosive impact across the Middle East. Conflicts in other regions including in the Horn of Africa, Sudan and the Sahel could also escalate sharply,” adding that increasing militarization on the Korean Peninsula raises threat levels.

He said, “The war in Gaza already has generated dangerous spillover in neighboring countries and I am deeply concerned that in this powder keg, any spark could lead to a much broader conflagration. This would have implications for every country in the Middle East, and many beyond it.”

In zipping through the existing situations of dozens of countries, Türk provided a grim snapshot of prevailing conditions on the African continent. He called the deteriorating security crisis in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo alarming.

While commending Ethiopia for the steps it has taken in ending military operations against the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, he said the humanitarian situation in the northern region remained very serious and “persistent human rights violations in areas still under the control of Eritrean and Amhara forces, remain obstacles to durable peace.”

He called the human rights situation in both Mali and Burkina Faso very worrying, noting that military operations have intensified in these countries, with armed groups committing grave human rights violations against their civilian populations.

Elections could entrench autocrats

The High Commissioner reports more than 60 countries, where nearly half of the world’s people live, are holding elections this year. Unfortunately, instead of being a landmark for democratic principles, he said many of these elections are cementing autocratic rule, licensing corrupt practices, and depriving “people who are poor and dispossessed of their rights to determine their future.”

“In many parts of the world, many politicians are deliberately inflaming antagonism and xenophobia to garner support, particularly in electoral period,” he said. “In this headlong rush to abandon the common good for short-term personal benefit, they are tearing up the fundamental human rights principles that can unite us all.”

Türk also expressed concern by the prospect of intense disinformation campaigns in the context of elections, fueled by generative artificial intelligence. “There is an acute need for robust regulatory frameworks to ensure responsible use of generative AI, and my Office is doing its utmost to advance them,” he said.

He highlighted several countries that were holding elections to legitimize their authoritarian rule.

“In the Russian Federation, the authorities have further intensified their repression of dissenting voices prior to this month’s presidential election. Several candidates have been prevented from running, due to alleged administrative irregularities. The death in prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalny adds to my serious concerns about his persecution,” he said.

He added that since Russia invaded Ukraine, thousands of politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, and others have been criminally charged simply for speaking out against the war.

He blasted Iran’s legislative election three days ago which “took place in a country that has been deeply divided by the government’s repression of the rights of women and girls. He said the election was Iranians’ first opportunity to vote since country-wide protests broke out following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022, while in police custody. She was arrested for allegedly wearing her veil improperly.

“People who participated in the protests have been persecuted, imprisoned on long sentences and in some cases, put to death,” he said. “I have urged immediate reforms to uphold the rights of all Iranians.”

He expressed concerns about deteriorating human rights related to elections in a bevy of other countries around the world including Chad, Rwanda, Somalia, India, Bangladesh, Mexico, Venezuela, and Poland.

Türk criticized some practices in the United States of America and called on the U.S. government “to ensure that suffrage is non-discriminatory, equal and universal.”

“A 2021 presidential executive order acknowledges that disproportionate and discriminatory policies and other obstacles have restricted the right to vote for people of African descent and emphasizes the need to overturn them.”

Despite this, he noted at least 14 states passed laws last year making voting more difficult. “In a context of intense political polarization, it is important to emphasize equal rights, and the equal value of every citizen’s vote,” he said.

The High Commissioner deplored escalating attacks against LGBTQ+ people and their rights, noting that discriminatory legislation and policies recently have been expanded, adopted, or are under consideration in several countries.

Among those he called out for rebuke are Belarus, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Lebanon, Niger, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Uganda, and several states within the United States.

“Recognizing the rights of LGBTQ+ people goes to the meaning of equality, and the right of everyone to live free from violence and discrimination,” he said.
…

Boston — Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to leaking highly classified military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine and other national security secrets.

Teixeira pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act nearly a year after he was arrested in the most consequential national security leak in years.

The stunning breach raised alarm over America’s ability to protect its most closely guarded secrets and forced the Biden administration to scramble to try to contain diplomatic and military fallout. The leaks embarrassed the Pentagon, which tightened controls to safeguard classified information and disciplined members found to have intentionally failed to take required action about Teixeira’s suspicious behavior.

Teixeira, 22, admitted illegally collecting military secrets and sharing them with other users on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. Prosecutors plan to seek nearly 17 years in prison for him, according to the plea agreement.

Teixeira, who was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, worked as a cyber transport systems specialist, essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks.

Authorities said he first typed out classified documents he accessed and then began sharing photographs of files that bore SECRET and TOP SECRET markings. The leak exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other national security issues.

Teixeira remains in the Air National Guard in an unpaid status, an Air Force official said.

Teixeira has been behind bars since his April arrest. The judge denied his request for release from jail last year after prosecutors revealed he had a history of violent rhetoric and warned that U.S. adversaries who might be interested in mining Teixeira for information could facilitate his escape.

Prosecutors have said little about a motive. But members of the Discord group described Teixeira as someone looking to show off, rather than being motivated by a desire to inform the public about U.S. military operations or to influence American policy.

Prosecutors have said Teixeira continued to leak government secrets even after he was warned by superiors about mishandling and improper viewing of classified information. In one instance, Teixeira was seen taking notes on intelligence information and putting them in his pocket.

The Air Force inspector general found that members “intentionally failed to report the full details” of Teixeira’s unauthorized intelligence-seeking because they thought security officials might overreact. For example, while Teixeira was confronted about the notes, there was no follow-up to ensure the notes had been shredded and the incident was not reported to security officers.

It was not until a January 2023 incident that the appropriate security officials were notified, but even then security officials were not briefed on the full scope of the violations.
…

NEW YORK — Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of Donald Trump’s company, pleaded guilty Monday in New York to perjury in connection with testimony he gave in the ex-president’s civil fraud case. 

Weisselberg, 76, pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury and will be sentenced to five months in jail — which would be his second stint behind bars after 100 days last year in an unrelated tax fraud case. 

The pleas related to testimony he gave at a July 2020 deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case against Trump, but in court Monday he also admitted, without pleading guilty, to lying on the witness stand at the former president’s civil fraud trial last fall. 

Prosecutors accused Weisselberg of lying under oath in the case about allegations that Trump lied about his wealth on financial statements given to banks and insurance companies. 

“Allen Weisselberg looks forward to putting this situation behind him,” his lawyer Seth Rosenberg said in a statement. 

After The New York Times reported last month that Weisselberg was in negotiations to plead guilty to perjury, Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over the fraud trial, ordered attorneys to provide details related to the Times’ report. 

Trump is appealing Engoron’s judgment ordering him to pay more than $454 million in fines and interest for submitting fraudulent information about his asset values on years of financial records. 

Weisselberg’s new criminal case comes just weeks before Trump is scheduled to stand trial on separate allegations that he falsified business records. That case involves allegations that Trump falsified company records to cover up hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations that he had extramarital sexual encounters. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing. 

Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen has said Weisselberg had a role in orchestrating the payments, but he has not been charged in that case, and neither prosecutors nor Trump’s lawyers have indicated they will call him as a witness. That trial is scheduled to begin March 25. 

Weisselberg’s case is separate from the criminal case that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought against Trump last year. 

Weisselberg previously served 100 days in jail last year after pleading guilty to dodging taxes on $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation from the Trump Organization. He is still on probation. Prior to that he had no criminal record. 

He left New York City’s notorious Rikers Island in April, days after Trump was indicted in his New York hush money criminal case. 

Under that plea deal, Weisselberg was required to testify as a prosecution witness when the Trump Organization was put on trial for helping executives evade taxes. He did so carefully, laying out the facts of his own involvement in evading taxes but taking care not to implicate Trump, telling jurors that his boss was unaware of the scheme
…

London — The European Union leveled its first antitrust penalty against Apple on Monday, fining the U.S. tech giant nearly $2 billion for breaking the bloc’s competition laws by unfairly favoring its own music streaming service over rivals.

Apple banned app developers from “fully informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services outside of the app,” said the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm and top antitrust enforcer.

“This is illegal, and it has impacted millions of European consumers,” Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, said at a news conference.

Apple behaved this way for almost a decade, which meant many users paid “significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions,” the commission said.

The 1.8 billion-euro fine follows a long-running investigation triggered by a complaint from Swedish streaming service Spotify five years ago.

The EU has led global efforts to crack down on Big Tech companies, including a series of multbillion-dollar fines for Google and charging Meta with distorting the online classified ad market. The commission also has opened a separate antitrust investigation into Apple’s mobile payments service.

Apple hit back at both the commission and Spotify, saying it would appeal the penalty.

“The decision was reached despite the Commission’s failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm, and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast,” the company said in a statement.

It said Spotify stood to benefit from the decision, asserting that the Swedish streaming service that holds a 56% share of Europe’s music streaming market and doesn’t pay Apple for using its App Store met 65 times with the commission over eight years.

“Ironically, in the name of competition, today’s decision just cements the dominant position of a successful European company that is the digital music market’s runaway leader,” Apple said.

The commission’s investigation initially centered on two concerns. One was the iPhone maker’s practice of forcing app developers that are selling digital content to use its in-house payment system, which charges a 30% commission on all subscriptions.

But the EU later dropped that to focus on how Apple prevents app makers from telling their users about cheaper ways to pay for subscriptions that don’t involve going through an app.

The investigation found that Apple banned streaming services from telling users about how much subscription offers cost outside of their apps, including links in their apps to pay for alternative subscriptions or even emailing users to tell them about different pricing options.

The fine comes the same week that new EU rules are set to kick in that are aimed at preventing tech companies from dominating digital markets.

The Digital Markets Act, due to take effect Thursday, imposes a set of do’s and don’ts on “gatekeeper” companies including Apple, Meta, Google parent Alphabet, and TikTok parent ByteDance — under threat of hefty fines.

The DMA’s provisions are designed to prevent tech giants from the sort of behavior that’s at the heart of the Apple investigation. Apple has already revealed how it will comply, including allowing iPhone users in Europe to use app stores other than its own and enabling developers to offer alternative payment systems.

The commission also has opened a separate antitrust investigation into Apple’s mobile payments service, and the company has promised to open up its tap-and-go mobile payment system to rivals in order to resolve it.
…

More states will hold primaries on Tuesday, March 5, than on any other day in this election cycle.
…

…

WASHINGTON — U.S. congressional negotiators released a bill Sunday that would fund key parts of the government through the rest of the fiscal year, which began in October 2023.

Among provisions in the appropriations package are critical funds to counter China in the Pacific as part of an agreement signed last year called the Compacts of Free Association, or COFA.  

Under the compacts, Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands will receive $7 billion in economic aid over 20 years. In exchange, Washington will provide for their defense and can deny China access to their territorial waters, a maritime area larger than the continental United States.

The United States has had similar agreements in effect with Micronesia and the Marshalls since 1986 and with Palau since 1994. Citizens from these nations are allowed to travel, live and work in the United States as nonimmigrants.

Congresswoman Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, who represents the U.S. territory of American Samoa, told VOA on Sunday that House Speaker Mike Johnson reached her early Saturday morning to deliver the news.

Radewagen said she then called the presidents of the three Pacific allies to share the details.

“The COFA agreements send a clear message of U.S. commitment to the Pacific region and take a much-needed international strong stand for the ideals of democracy and freedom,” she told VOA in an email.

Senator Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat who has long supported the full funding of the agreement, issued a statement Sunday night.

“As we work to counter China’s growing influence in the Pacific, these agreements are extremely important for our national security and that of our allies, and also for the tens of thousands of COFA citizens who live, work and pay taxes in the U.S.,” she said.

The move comes after 26 senators, including Senators Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and John Barrasso, a Republican, urged Senate leadership to include the language that had previously been dropped from a Senate security spending bill on Feb. 12.

“Failure to act on COFA opens the door to more corrupting influence and funding by the PRC in the region,” wrote the senators, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

Pacific Island leaders remain cautious.

President Hilda Heine of the Marshall Islands spoke to a Remembrance Day for victims and survivors of nuclear testing on March 1, the 70th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear test on Bikini Atoll.

“Our nation has been a steadfast ally of the United States, but that should not be taken for granted,” she told the audience, according to the news site Islands Business.

U.S. lawmakers face another threat of a partial shutdown if they fail to act by midnight Friday. 

House Speaker Johnson has said he will bring the compromise bill to the floor for a full house vote on Wednesday. 
…

…

…

Zurich, Switzerland — Police have stepped up security measures at Jewish sites in Zurich following a serious knife attack on an orthodox Jewish man in the Swiss city overnight, local police said Sunday.

Police said they had taken action after a 15-year-old Swiss youth was arrested for inflicting “life-threatening” injuries on the 50-year-old Jewish man in central Zurich on Saturday night.

A Zurich police statement said it was not clear what sparked the attack, but that investigations were “explicitly including the possibility of a crime motivated by antisemitism.”

The extra security was put in place for “specific locations with a Jewish connection,” police said, following discussions with local Jewish organizations. They gave no further details.

Jonathan Kreutner, general secretary of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), told Swiss television that physical attacks on Jewish people in the country were rare.

“A case like this is really a new dimension,” he said.

Concern about the risk of antisemitic behavior in Switzerland has grown since the terror attacks by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on Oct. 7 and the subsequent campaign against the Islamist group by the Israeli government in Gaza.

Last month, the SIG raised concern about attitudes to Jewish people after local media reported police had opened an investigation into a sign in Hebrew displayed by a business in Davos which declared Jews were barred from renting ski gear.
…

Frankfurt, Germany — Germany’s defense minister said Sunday Russia was conducting an “information war” aimed at creating divisions within Germany, his first reaction to the publication in Russia of an audio recording of a meeting of senior German military officials.

Russian media published a 38-minute recording of a call Friday — in which German officers were heard discussing weapons for Ukraine and a potential strike by Kyiv on a bridge in Crimea — prompting Russian officials to demand an explanation.

On Saturday, Germany called it an apparent act of eavesdropping and said it was investigating.

“The incident is much more than just the interception and publication of a conversation … It is part of an information war that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is waging,” Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Sunday.

“It is a hybrid disinformation attack. It is about division. It is about undermining our unity.”

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied accusations of spreading false or misleading information when faced with allegations from other countries.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesperson said on social media Friday, “We demand an explanation from Germany,” without detailing its concerns.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin has not responded to an emailed request for comment.

Participants in the call discussed the possible delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv, which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has publicly so far firmly rejected. They also talked about the training of Ukrainian soldiers, and possible military targets.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke to journalists on Saturday about “cunning plans of the Bundeswehr (German armed forces), which became apparent due to the publication of this audio recording. This is a blatant self-exposure.”

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said Sunday the recording indicated that Berlin was preparing to fight Moscow.
…

…

…

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put many of the nation’s most at-risk patients in even greater danger, especially young cancer patients. But a Ukrainian charity working with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the U.S. is helping some Ukrainian kids receive care around the world. Iryna Shynkarenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Viacheslav Filiushkin.
…

Germany admits to leaked details of a military meeting outlining future munitions and battle plans for Ukraine. Russia calls Germany its “age-old” rival that is again its “sworn” enemy. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the story.
…