…

pentagon — The United States is providing a new round of military aid for Ukraine valued at up to $300 million, the first such announcement since late December, in what defense officials have called an “ad hoc” package made possible through U.S. Army procurement savings.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced the 55th presidential drawdown authority (PDA) package at the White House on Tuesday and said it would include artillery rounds and munitions for HIMARS, weapons desperately needed on the Ukrainian front lines where shortages abound.

The funding for this package came from savings garnered in “multiple contract actions over multiple months” where the Army was able to “buy things at a better price” than initially budgeted, according to senior defense officials who spoke to reporters on conditional of anonymity ahead of the White House announcement.

“This is a bit of an ad hoc or one-time shot. We don’t know if or when future savings will come in, and we certainly can’t count on this as a way of doing business,” one of the senior defense officials said.

In one example provided by the officials, the Army had initially estimated the cost of 25 mm rounds at $130 but was able to negotiate the price down to $93.

The savings were then placed back into the U.S. funding pot for Ukraine aid, a process that has happened several times but wasn’t considered as newsworthy during those times because the fund wasn’t “broke” before, according to defense officials.

$10 billion shortfall

The aid package comes despite a Pentagon funding shortfall of about $10 billion for U.S. military weapons needed to replace those already sent to Ukraine, a shortfall that requires additional money from Congress to fix, according to top defense officials.

“We don’t foresee a likely alternative outside of the supplemental funding [bill] or having that money added into an appropriations bill in order to achieve the replenishment that we need,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told reporters on Monday.

Pentagon officials expected to get the funding to replenish those stocks in a supplemental request from the Biden administration, which included billions of additional dollars in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. However, Congress has yet to pass a supplemental aid bill because of arguments on spending and U.S. border security.

Because it has been 15 months since Congress last approved money to help Ukraine, defense officials say Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has expressed concerns about any future drawdowns.

The department still has about $4 billion in authority to send weapons to Ukraine, but there is no congressionally approved money left to replenish the Pentagon’s weapons stockpiles.

“We have the ability to move funds out of our stocks, but without the ability to replenish them, we are putting our own readiness at some risks,” according to one senior defense official.

The $10 billion shortfall is tied to the way the Pentagon has accounted for the aid sent to Ukraine. Last June, the Pentagon said it overestimated the value of weapons sent to Ukraine by about $6.2 billion over the past two years.

When calculating its aid package estimates, the Department of Defense was counting the cost incurred to replace the weapons given to Ukraine, while it said it should have been totaling the cost of the systems actually sent, officials told VOA at the time.

The error provided the Pentagon the legal cover needed to send more aid to Ukraine, but the problem remained that more funds would be needed to replenish U.S. military stockpiles with newer, costlier weapons.

Asked by VOA why the Pentagon was willing to use its savings to send more aid for Ukraine but was not willing to dip into this the $4 billion of remaining presidential drawdown authority, one of the senior defense officials told reporters that “the lack of clarity” from Congress on whether they will approve additional aid makes the Pentagon “very reluctant to dig the hole deeper.”

“In this case, we are not digging the hole deeper. We’re staying even, while recognizing that Ukraine is in a very tough spot this moment,” the defense official added.
…

Turkey’s new naval agreement with Somalia places the Turkish navy in a strategically vital region, underlining Ankara’s growing naval ambitions. However, analysts warn that the agreement threatens to escalate current tensions with Somalia’s neighbor Ethiopia. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
…

…

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The trial began Tuesday in Norway for a man accused of aggravated terrorism for the deadly shooting at an LGBTQ+ festival in Oslo’s nightlife district. 

Two people were killed and nine seriously wounded in the shooting at three locations, chiefly outside the London Pub, a popular gay bar, on June 25, 2022. 

Prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo said Zaniar Matapour, 44, allegedly fired 10 rounds with a machine gun and eight shots with a handgun into a crowd. Matapour, a Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, Henriksbo said. 

Matapour was detained by bystanders. Following the attack, a Pride parade was canceled, with police saying they couldn’t guarantee security. 

Matapour has refused to speak to investigators. If found guilty, he faces 30 years in prison. 

In Oslo District Court, Matapour asked the judge why the trial was held during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Judge Eirik Aass replied, “I have not perceived that there is a conflict in carrying out the case even though it is Ramadan.” 

Henriksbo said that Matapour was born in Iran of parents of Kurdish background. The family fled to Norway when he was 12. 

The shooting shocked Norway, which has a relatively low crime rate but has experienced so-called lone wolf attacks in recent decades, including one of the worst mass shootings in Europe. In 2011, a right-wing extremist killed 69 people on the island of Utoya after setting off a bomb in Oslo that left eight dead. 
…

Cape Canaveral, Florida — Four astronauts from four countries caught a lift back to Earth with SpaceX on Tuesday to end a half-year mission at the International Space Station.

Their capsule streaked across the U.S. in the predawn darkness and splashed into the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida Panhandle.

NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli, a Marine helicopter pilot, led the returning crew of Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russia’s Konstantin Borisov.

They moved into the space station last August. Their replacements arrived last week in their own SpaceX capsule.

“We left you some peanut butter and tortillas,” Moghbeli radioed after departing the orbiting complex on Monday. Replied NASA’s Loral O’Hara: “I miss you guys already and thanks for that very generous gift.”

O’Hara has another few weeks at the space station before leaving aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.

Before leaving the space station, Mogensen said via X, formerly known as Twitter, that he couldn’t wait to hear “birds singing in the trees” and also craved crunchy food.

NASA prefers multiple travel options in case of rocket trouble. Boeing should start providing astronaut taxi service with a two-pilot test flight in early May.
…

WASHINGTON — Consumer prices in the United States picked up last month, a sign that inflation remains a persistent challenge for the Federal Reserve and for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, both of which are counting on a steady easing of price pressures this year. 

Prices rose 0.4% from January to February, higher than the previous month’s figure of 0.3%, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Compared with a year earlier, consumer prices rose 3.2% last month, faster than January’s 3.1% annual pace. 

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called “core” prices also climbed 0.4% from January to February, matching the previous month’s increase and a faster pace than is consistent with the Fed’s 2% target. Core inflation is watched especially closely because it typically provides a better read of where inflation is likely headed. 

Pricier gas pushed up overall inflation, with pump prices rising 3.8% just from January to February. Grocery prices, though, were unchanged last month and are up just 1% from a year earlier. The cost of clothing, used cars and rent also increased in February, raising the inflation figure. 

Despite February’s elevated figures, most economists expect inflation to continue slowly declining this year. At the same time, the uptick last month may underscore the Fed’s cautious approach toward interest rate cuts. 

Overall inflation has plummeted from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022, although it’s now easing more slowly than it did last spring and summer. The prices of some goods — from appliances to furniture to used cars — are falling after clogged supply chains during the pandemic sent prices soaring higher. There are more new cars on dealer lots and electronics on store shelves. 

By contrast, prices for dental care, car repairs and other services are still rising faster than they did before the pandemic. Car insurance has shot higher, reflecting rising costs for repairs and replacement. And after having sharply raised pay for nurses and other in-demand staff, hospitals are passing their higher wage costs on to patients in the form of higher prices. 

Voter perceptions of inflation are sure to occupy a central place in this year’s presidential election. Despite a healthy job market and a record-high stock market, polls show that many Americans blame Biden for the surge in consumer prices that began in 2021. Although inflationary pressures have significantly eased, average prices remain far above where they stood three years ago. 

In his State of the Union speech last week, Biden highlighted steps he has taken to reduce costs, like capping the price of insulin for Medicare patients. The president also criticized many large companies for engaging in “price gouging” and so-called “shrinkflation,” in which a company shrinks the amount of product inside a package rather than raising the price. 

“Too many corporations raise prices to pad their profits, charging more and more for less and less,” Biden said. 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled in congressional testimony last week that the central bank is getting closer to cutting rates. After meeting in January, Fed officials said in a statement that they needed “greater confidence” that inflation was steadily falling to their 2% target level. Since then, several of the Fed’s policymakers have said they believe prices will keep declining. One reason, they suggested, is that consumers are increasingly pushing back against higher prices by seeking out cheaper alternatives. 

Most economists expect the Fed’s first rate cut to occur in June, although May is also possible. When the Fed cuts its benchmark rate, over time it reduces borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and business loans. 

One factor that could keep inflation elevated is the still-healthy economy. Although most economists had expected a recession to occur last year, hiring and growth were strong and remain healthy. The economy expanded 2.5% last year and could grow at about the same pace in the first three months of this year, according to the Federal Reserve’s Atlanta branch. 

Last week, the Labor Department said employers added a robust 275,000 jobs in February, the latest in a streak of solid hiring gains, and the unemployment rate stayed below 4% for the 25th straight month. That is the longest such streak since the 1960s. 

Still, the unemployment rate rose from 3.7% to 3.9%, and wage growth slowed. Both trends could make the Fed feel more confident that the economy is cooling, which could help keep inflation falling and lead the central bank to begin cutting rates. 
…

…

Bucharest, Romania — Internet personality Andrew Tate was arrested for 24 hours in Romania on a British warrant, his PR representative said on Tuesday, and the Bucharest Court of Appeals was set to decide on whether to extradite him.

Tate and his brother Tristan were detained on allegations of sexual aggression dating back to 2012-15, which they “categorically” deny, his PR team said. The warrant was issued by Westminster Magistrates Court.

“Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were forcibly detained for 24 hours and handed a European arrest warrant by UK authorities. The charges, dating back to 2012-2015, include allegations of sexual aggression,” Andrew Tate’s PR representative said in a statement. “The Bucharest Court of Appeal is slated to make a pivotal decision today on whether to execute the mandate.”

The court had yet to decide when it will convene to address the warrant. It was not immediately available for comment. 

Tate, who gained millions of fans by promoting an ultra-masculine lifestyle, was indicted in June in Romania along with his brother and two Romanian women for human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. They have denied the charges.

The case has since been with the Bucharest court’s preliminary chamber, which needs to decide whether the trial can start. A decision has yet to be made, with Romanian courts backlogged.

The Bucharest Court was also set to rule on Friday whether to maintain a seizure of Tate’s assets enforced by Romanian prosecutors at the start of 2023.

The Tate brothers were held in police custody pending the criminal investigation from late December 2022 until April, to prevent them from fleeing the country or tampering with evidence. They were placed under house arrest until August.

They have since been under judicial control, a lighter preventative measure meaning they have regular check-ins with the police but can move around freely except for leaving the country.
…

…

In its annual global threats assessment report Monday, the U.S. intelligence community told lawmakers that the war in Ukraine is at a turning point whose outcome will depend on American assistance. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from the Senate, where lawmakers called on the House to take up the $95 billion foreign aid bill.
…

WASHINGTON — The frozen military conflict between Ukraine and Russia is starting to thaw and will likely tilt in Moscow’s favor if the United States fails to quickly come through with additional military aid, according to top U.S. intelligence officials, in a grim assessment delivered to U.S. lawmakers.

Monday’s warning comes nearly a month after the U.S. Senate voted in favor of a stand-alone foreign aid bill that would send $60 billion in aid to Ukraine as it tries to hold on to territorial gains more than two years after Russian forces invaded.

But the lawmakers in the House of Representatives have refused to bring the bill up for a vote, leaving other Western nations scrambling to provide Ukraine with enough weapons and ammunition to hold off a renewed Russian offensive.

The $60 billion “is absolutely critical to Ukraine’s defense right now,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“Ukraine’s retreat from Avdiivka and their struggle to stave off further territorial losses in the past few weeks have exposed the erosion of Ukraine’s military capabilities with the declining availability of external military aid,” she said. “Without that assistance, it is hard to imagine how Ukraine will be able to maintain the extremely hard-fought advances it has made against the Russians.”

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency told lawmakers the war is at a crossroads, and that what happens next likely hinges on the provision of U.S. aid.

“The Ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity. They’re running out of ammunition,” said the CIA’s William Burns. “And we’re running out of time to help them.”

Both Haines and Burns reiterated previous assessments: that up until now, Ukraine’s military has inflicted serious damage on Russia’s forces.

U.S. officials believe at least 315,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded, and that two-thirds of Russia’s prewar tank inventory has been destroyed. The Russian military, which had been undergoing a modernization program, has been set back years.

Russia’s invasion has also served to galvanize the West, with Sweden and Finland joining the NATO military alliance.

But Haines and Burns told lawmakers that none of those strategic defeats have managed to change the calculus of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Putin continues to judge that time is on his side,” Haines said, cautioning that the Russian leader is as entrenched as ever.

“He continues to see NATO enlargement and Western support for Ukraine as reinforcing his long-held belief that the United States and Europe seek to restrict Russian power and undermine him,” she said, telling lawmakers that Putin’s response has been to push ahead with efforts to grow the Russian military, pouring more money into ammunition production and into the purchase of military supplies from Iran and North Korea.

U.S. intelligence officials also see signs Putin is continuing to move forward with plans to modernize and fortify Russia’s nuclear weapons arsenal, already thought to be the largest and most diverse in the world.

And there are signs that Russia is willing to take chances to gain an advantage.

“We remain concerned that Moscow will put at risk long-standing global norms against the use of asymmetric or strategically destabilizing weapons, including in space and in the cyber domain,” Haines said.

Some lawmakers echoed the concerns, urging colleagues to pass the legislation to get Ukraine the military supplies it needs.

“My fear is the decision thus far by the House of Representatives not to even take up legislation that would support Ukraine in the fight against Putin aggression has been one of the most short-sighted decisions on a national security issue that I can possibly imagine,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat.

“The impact and long-term consequences of us abandoning Ukraine … it’s a 50-year mistake that would haunt this country,” added independent Senator Angus King.

And U.S. intelligence officials warned of a cascading global impact if the additional aid for Ukraine fails to materialize.

“The consequence of that will not just be for Ukraine or for European security but across the Indo-Pacific,” said the CIA’s Burns. “If we’re seen to be walking away from Ukraine, not only is that going to feed doubts amongst our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, it’s going to stoke the ambitions of the Chinese leadership in contingencies ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea.”

The intelligence officials said while China remains wary, for now, it has been emboldened by Russia.

In particular, the intelligence officials said Russia was forced to grant China some long-sought concessions in exchange for support for Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

Iran and North Korea have likewise benefited, they said, warning the impact remains to be seen.

The changing dynamics have “the potential to undermine, among other things, long-held nonproliferation norms,” Haines said.

But she added that while Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are growing closer, the prospects for a true alliance are, for now, remote.

“Parochial interests, a desire to avoid entanglements, and weariness of harm and instability from each other’s actions will likely limit their cooperation … absent direct conflict between one of these countries and the United States,” Haines said.

Israel – Gaza

The U.S. intelligence officials also addressed concerns about the ongoing conflict in Gaza, where Israeli forces continue to pursue fighters of the Hamas terror group despite warnings from the United Nations and aid groups about the devastating impact on civilians.

“We’re going to continue to work hard at this — I don’t think anybody can guarantee success,” the CIA’s Burns told lawmakers when asked about ongoing efforts to get a temporary cease-fire.

Burn recently traveled to the Middle East to meet with officials from Israel, Egypt and Qatar.

He said the deal currently under consideration would provide for the return of about 40 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, most of them wounded or ill women or older men, in exchange for a six-week-long cease-fire that would allow the U.S. and its allies to surge in desperately needed aid.

“I understand Israel’s need, and the president [Joe Biden] has emphasized this, to respond to the brutish attack that Israelis suffered on the 7th of October [by Hamas],” Burns told Republican Senator Tom Cotton.

“But I think we all also have to be mindful of the, you know, enormous toll that this has taken on innocent civilians in Gaza,” he added.

Gaza fallout

Haines further warned lawmakers that the crisis in Gaza has “galvanized violence by a range of actors,” and that it “is likely that the Gaza conflict will have a generational impact on terrorism.”

But Haines said for now, Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, appear reluctant to try to push too hard to manipulate the fighting for their benefit.

“We continue to assess that Hezbollah and Iran do not want to cause an escalation of the conflict that pulls us or them into a full-out war,” she said.

Still, Haines acknowledged other Iranian-linked groups, like the Houthis in Yemen, have become “aggressive actors,” launching dozens of attacks on international shipping.

Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.
…

lisbon, portugal — Portugal’s center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) won Sunday’s general election by a slim margin and is preparing to govern without an outright majority as the far-right Chega warned of instability if it is not included in government. 

With 99.1% of the vote counted, the AD won 79 seats in the 230-seat legislature, followed by the Socialists with 77 seats, prompting the latter to concede defeat. 

Chega, meaning “enough,” came in third, quadrupling its parliamentary representation to 48 lawmakers after campaigning on a clean governance and anti-immigration platform. 

Chega voters said before the poll that Portugal was in a bad way, and they wanted changes in housing, education, health care and justice in Western Europe’s poorest country. 

AD leader Luis Montenegro told reporters Sunday that he expected President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to formally invite him to form a government. 

Rebelo de Sousa, who will meet with political parties from Tuesday until March 20, told the Expresso newspaper Friday that he would do everything he could to prevent Chega from gaining power. Those remarks drew criticism as the head of state is mandated to remain neutral. 

Chega leader Andre Ventura told reporters the vote clearly showed that the country wants a government of the AD with Chega. 

Ventura said in an interview with the TVI broadcaster that he would vote against the state budget if the AD did not negotiate it with his party. 

“If there is no negotiation, that would be a humiliation for Chega and I would vote against it,” Ventura said. 

The outcome was broadly in line with pre-election opinion polls, but the AD’s victory was significantly smaller and Chega’s growth was larger than predicted, political scientist Andre Azevedo Alves told Reuters. 

Alves, a professor at Lisbon’s Catolica University and St. Mary’s University in London, added that the fragility of an AD government because of its reliance on either the Socialists or Chega to pass legislation made it unlikely to last for several years. 

Javier Rouillet from rating agency DBRS Morningstar warned that if the new government was unable to pass legislation, another round of elections could be held later this year or in early 2025. 

Chega’s surge was boosted by Ventura’s communication skills and widespread dissatisfaction with the mainstream parties, he said, factors that could help it garner even better results in the European Parliament elections. 

“Political disaffection was brewing for a very long time,” said political scientist Pedro Magalhaes, at Lisbon’s Institute of Social Sciences. “But there was no political supply to address this political demand.” 

Marina Costa Lobo, who heads institute, said she believed Montenegro would keep his word and not strike a formal deal with Chega but there might be “piecemeal” agreements between the two going forward. 

“It’s difficult to predict Chega’s behavior because they’re an anti-system party,” she said, adding the far-right’s success in Portugal was a harbinger of what can be expected in the European Parliament election in June. 

Out of the system 

Euro-intelligence consultants said the result marked a new political chapter in Portugal after alternate governance by two mainstream parties for the past 50 years. 

“We don’t know who’ll be in charge of the country. The far right has little or nothing to offer,” doctoral student Jorge Catanheira, 29, told Reuters. 

The election result underscored a political tilt to the far right across Europe and a dwindling of Socialist governance. 

Chega has since 2020 been part of the European Parliament’s Identity & Democracy group, which is expected to see gains in June. 

Spain’s far-right VOX and Matteo Salvini, who leads Italy’s co-ruling party Lega, congratulated Ventura. 

Portugal’s PSI stock index fell 0.3% at open, in line with a decline by European peers, before flattening out. 

“The impact of the elections on the market turned out to be nil,” XTB analysts said in a note. 

Under Socialist leadership since 2015, Portugal has grown at solid annual rates above 2%, except for the pandemic-induced slump of 2020, but many struggle to make ends meet because of low salaries and a housing crisis. 

Voter turnout was 66.23%, the highest in nearly three decades. 

Magalhaes said it was possible turnout reached such levels because voters who had been “out of the system” came back to support the radical right. 
…

MOSCOW — A South Korean citizen has been arrested in Russia on suspicion of espionage, Russian state news agency TASS reported Monday.

TASS quoted law enforcement agencies as saying the man, whom it named as Park Won-soon, had been detained in the far eastern city of Vladivostok before being transferred to Moscow for “investigative actions.”

The state news outlet said it was the first such case against a South Korean national. It did not provide any details on the nature of the alleged spying.

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement its consulate has been providing assistance since it became aware of the arrest. It declined to give more details as the matter was currently under investigation.

Russia regards South Korea as an “unfriendly” country because of Seoul’s support for Western sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, Russia has cultivated closer relations with North Korea, which the United States says is providing munitions to Moscow for use in the war. North Korea and Russia have denied this, although they have pledged to strengthen military cooperation.
…

MANILA, Philippines — The United States is constantly assessing the need to expand export controls to stop China from acquiring advanced computer chips and manufacturing equipment that could be used to boost its military, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Monday.

The U.S. export controls were launched in 2022 to counter the use of chips for military applications that include the development of hypersonic missiles and artificial intelligence.

Last year, the U.S. Commerce Department broadened the export controls, sparking protests from China’s Commerce Ministry that the restrictions violated international trade rules and “seriously threaten the stability of industrial supply chains.” 

China said it would take “all necessary measures” to safeguard its rights and interests and urged Washington to lift the export controls as soon as possible.

‘Are we doing enough?’

Asked if the U.S. was planning to further broaden the chip export controls to China, Raimondo said in a news conference in Manila that it was constantly under consideration.

“We look at this every single day,” Raimondo said. “Technology is changing faster than ever, which means we have to wake up every day and ask ourselves, ‘Are we doing enough?’ ”

She said her job “is to protect the American people” and to make sure China cannot access sophisticated U.S. technologies – including semiconductor technology and artificial intelligence technology – that could be used to bolster the Chinese military.

The U.S. would continue to sell semiconductors worth billions of dollars to China, Raimondo said.

“I want to be clear. We have no interest to decouple our economies,” she said, but added, “We cannot allow China to have access, for their military advancement, to our more sophisticated technology.”

‘Ironclad’ relationship

Raimondo said she was sent by President Joe Biden to Manila with a delegation of executives from 22 American companies, which she said plan to invest about $1 billion in the Philippines, Washington’s oldest treaty ally in Asia. The U.S. investments would include training large numbers of Filipinos to attain high-tech skills that could help them land high-salary jobs, she said.

“The U.S.-Philippine alliance is ironclad. It is sustained over 72 years, and we remain steadfast friends and increasingly partners in prosperity,” she said.

Raimondo met President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and quoted him as saying “he cannot imagine the Philippines’ future without a close bond with the United States.”

“I want to say here today: The feeling is mutual,” Raimondo said. “But President Biden acknowledges we can do more.”

Marcos invited businesses from the U.S., the third-largest trading partner of the Philippines, to invest in more than 198 planned infrastructure projects worth $148 billion.
…

orlando, fla. — Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms, provided it’s not part of instruction, under a settlement reached Monday between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”

The settlement clarifies what is allowed in Florida classrooms following passage two years ago of the law prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. Opponents said the law had created confusion about whether teachers could identity themselves as LGBTQ+ or if they even could have rainbow stickers in classrooms.

Other states used the Florida law as a template to pass prohibitions on classroom instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina are among the states with versions of the law.

Under the terms of the settlement, the Florida Board of Education will send instructions to every school district saying the Florida law doesn’t prohibit discussing LGBTQ+ people, nor prevent anti-bullying rules on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or disallow Gay-Straight Alliance groups. The settlement also spells out that the law is neutral — meaning what applies to LGBTQ+ people also applies to heterosexual people — and that it doesn’t apply to library books not being used for instruction in the classroom.

The law also doesn’t apply to books with incidental references to LGBTQ+ characters or same-sex couples, “as they are not instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity any more than a math problem asking students to add bushels of apples is instruction on apple farming,” according to the settlement.

“What this settlement does, is, it re-establishes the fundamental principal, that I hope all Americans agree with, which is every kid in this country is entitled to an education at a public school where they feel safe, their dignity is respected and where their families and parents are welcomed,” Roberta Kaplan, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an interview. “This shouldn’t be a controversial thing.”

In a statement, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ office described the deal as a “major win” with the law formally known as the Parental Rights in Education Act remaining intact.

“We fought hard to ensure this law couldn’t be maligned in court, as it was in the public arena by the media and large corporate actors,” said Ryan Newman, an attorney for the state of Florida. “We are victorious, and Florida’s classrooms will remain a safe place under the Parental Rights in Education Act.”

The law has been championed by the Republican governor since before its passage in 2022 by the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature. It barred instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade, and it was expanded to all grades last year.

Republican lawmakers had argued that parents should broach these subjects with children and that the law protected children from being taught about inappropriate material.

But opponents of the law said it created a chilling effect in classrooms. Some teachers said they were unsure if they could mention or display a photo of their same-sex partner in the classroom. In some cases, books dealing with LGBTQ+ topics were removed from classrooms and lines mentioning sexual orientation were excised from school musicals. The Miami-Dade County School Board in 2022 decided not to adopt a resolution recognizing LGBTQ History Month, even though it had done so a year earlier.

The law also triggered the ongoing legal battles between DeSantis and Disney over control of the governing district for Walt Disney World in central Florida after DeSantis took control of the government in what the company described as retaliation for its opposition to the legislation. DeSantis touted the fight with Disney during his run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, which he ended earlier this year.

The civil rights attorneys sued Florida education officials on behalf of teachers, students and parents, claiming the law was unconstitutional, but the case was dismissed last year by a federal judge in Tallahassee who said they lacked standing to sue. The case was appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kaplan said they believed the appellate court would have reversed the lower court’s decision, but continuing the lawsuit would have delayed any resolution for several more years.

“The last thing we wanted for the kids in Florida was more delay,” Kaplan said.
…

U.S. President Joe Biden opened his State of the Union address last week with a pledge to continue to support Ukraine, giving Ukrainians hope that a U.S. aid package will be approved. But a foreign aid bill that includes more assistance to Ukraine faces opposition in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives. For VOA, Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv. VOA footage by Eugene Shynkar.
…

…

In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States and Europe imposed significant economic sanctions on Russia. But two years into the war, Moscow’s economy remains resilient. Liliya Anisimova has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Andrey Degtyarev.
…

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he still believes TikTok poses a national security risk but is opposed to banning the hugely popular app because doing so would help its rival, Facebook, which he continues to lambast over his 2020 election loss.

Trump, in a call-in interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” was asked about his comments last week that seemed to voice opposition to a bill being advanced by Congress that would effectively ban TikTok and other ByteDance apps from the Apple and Google app stores as well as U.S. web hosting services.

“Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it,” Trump told the hosts. “There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok. But the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok you’re going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media.”

“When I look at it, I’m not looking to make Facebook double the size,” he added. “I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections.”

Trump has repeatedly complained about Facebook’s role during the 2020 election, which he still refuses to concede he lost to President Joe Biden. That includes at least $400 million that its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife donated to two nonprofit organizations that distributed grants to state and local governments to help them conduct the 2020 election at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The donations — which were fully permitted under campaign finance law — went to pay for things like equipment to process mail ballots and drive-thru voting locations.

TikTok, a video-sharing app, has emerged as a major issue in the 2024 presidential campaign. The platform has about 170 million users in the U.S., most of whom skew younger — a demographic that both parties are desperately trying to court ahead of November’s general election. Younger voters have become especially hard for campaigns to reach as they gravitate away from traditional platforms like cable television.

Biden’s 2024 campaign officially joined TikTok last month, even though he has expressed his own national security concerns over the platform, banned it on federal devices and on Friday endorsed the legislation that could lead to its ban.

The bill passed unanimously by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee calls on China’s ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok or effectively face a U.S. ban. Top Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, support the bill. Johnson has indicated it will soon come up for a full vote in the House.

As president, Trump attempted to ban TikTok through an executive order that called “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China)” a threat to “the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States.” The courts, however, blocked the action after TikTok sued, arguing such actions would violate free speech and due process rights.

Pressed on whether he still believed the app posed a national security risk, Trump said Monday: “I do believe it. And we have to very much go into privacy and make sure that we are protecting the American people’s privacy and data rights.”

“But,” he went on to say, “you have that problem with Facebook and lots of other companies, too.” Some American companies, he charged, are “not so American. They deal in China. And if China wants anything from them they will give it. So that’s a national security risk also.”

Biden in 2022 banned the use of TikTok by the federal government’s nearly 4 million employees on devices owned by its agencies, with limited exceptions for law enforcement, national security and security research purposes.

He also recently signed an executive order that allows the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to take steps to prevent the large-scale transfer of Americans’ personal data to what the White House calls “countries of concern,” including China.

Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that TikTok owner ByteDance could share user data — such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers — with China’s authoritarian government. TikTok said it has never done that and wouldn’t do so if asked. The U.S. government also hasn’t provided evidence of that happening.

Trump had first voiced support for the app in a post on his Truth Social site last week. “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better,” he wrote. “They are a true Enemy of the People!”

Trump, in the interview, said he had not discussed the company with Jeff Yass, a TikTok investor and a major GOP donor. Trump said the two had recently met “very briefly” but that Yass “never mentioned TikTok.”

Trump also confirmed he met last week with Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who has increasingly aligned himself with conservative politics. Trump said he didn’t know whether Musk would end up supporting his campaign, noting they “obviously have opposing views on a minor subject called electric cars,” which Trump has railed against.
…

A teenage girl from Ukraine, which is dealing with the horrors of a Russian invasion, becomes pen pals with a teenage girl from the U.S. Their correspondence gives insight into two teenagers’ perception of the conflict.
…

…

New Delhi — India has signed a free trade pact with a group of four European nations that aims at drawing in investment of $100 billion over the next 15 years.

The deal announced Sunday with the European Free Trade Association, whose members are Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, comes weeks ahead of India’s national elections in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made economic growth a key poll plank as he seeks a third term in office.

The trade deal is one of several New Delhi is pursuing as it steps up efforts to grow its exports and take advantage of geopolitical shifts that are seeing many Western countries trying to reduce trade dependence on China.

The pact was sealed after about 16 years of negotiations. “The pact is significant because it is India’s first with developed countries,” according to Biswajit Dhar, trade analyst and Distinguished Professor at the Council for Social Development in New Delhi. “So far India, which has many protectionist barriers, only had such agreements with developing countries.”

To ease access to its vast market of 1.4 billion people, India will reduce tariffs on goods ranging from industrial imports to processed foods, beverages and items such as Swiss watches. New Delhi hopes to boost its exports in areas such as information technology and business services.

India is the European Free Trade Association’s fifth-largest trading partner after the European Union, the United States, Britain and China with two-way trade adding up to $18.65 billion in 2022-23.

The investment pledge by the four European countries will create one million jobs, according to Indian Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal.

“It’s for the first time that we are inking a free trade agreement with a binding commitment to invest $100 billion in India,” Goyal said. “It is a modern trade agreement, fair, equitable and win-win for all five countries.”

European officials said pledging the investment made it a “balanced” deal for both sides. “If you look at the different market sizes, India offers 1.4bn population, plus it’s a door to the global world,” Helene Budliger Artieda, Swiss state secretary for economic affairs, told reporters.

However, trade analyst Dhar said that it remains to be seen how the investment promise translates on the ground. “These four countries had invested just $10 billion in the last 23 years. So taking this up to up to $100 billion in 15 years is a tall order, it does not seem realistic,” he said.

In recent years, India has stepped up efforts to pursue trade agreements to boost its fast-growing economy. In the last two years, it has concluded a free trade pact with the UAE and a preliminary agreement with Australia. Officials are also trying to finalize deals with Britain and Oman.

“This landmark pact underlines our commitment to boosting economic progress and create opportunities for our youth,” Modi said in a post on X after the deal with the European countries was concluded.

Modi is promising to make India, which is a lower middle-income country, a developed nation by 2047.

Bucking the trend of slowing growth in many countries, the Indian economy is growing briskly. It is expected to grow at more than 7% in the financial year that ends in March — the fastest growth among major economies.
…

…