Category: USA

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As Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu vows to enter Rafah to rid the Gaza Strip of Hamas, the United States military has started to build a pier off the coast in hopes of providing more aid to civilians trapped in the violence. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb explains why this has some lawmakers worried about what’s next.
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Cheng “Charlie” Saephan wore a broad smile and a bright blue sash emblazoned with the words “Iu-Mien USA” as he hoisted an oversized check for $1.3 billion above his head.

The 46-year-old immigrant’s luck in winning an enormous Powerball jackpot in Oregon earlier this month — a lump sum payment of $422 million after taxes, which he and his wife will split with a friend — has changed his life. It also raised awareness about Iu Mien people, a southeast Asian ethnic group with origins in China, many of whose members fled from Laos to Thailand and then settled in the U.S. following the Vietnam War.

“I am born in Laos, but I am not Laotian,” Saephan told a news conference Monday at Oregon Lottery headquarters, where his identity as one of the jackpot’s winners was revealed. “I am Iu Mien.”

During the Vietnam War, the CIA and U.S. military recruited Iu Mien in neighboring Laos, many of them subsistence farmers, to engage in guerrilla warfare and to provide intelligence and surveillance to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail that the North Vietnamese used to send troops and weapons through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam.

After the conflict as well as the Laotian civil war, when the U.S.-backed government of Laos fell in 1975, they fled by the thousands to avoid reprisals from the new Communist government, escaping by foot through the jungle and then across the Mekong River into Thailand, according to a history posted on the website of Iu Mien Community Services in Sacramento, California. More than 70% of the Iu Mien population in Laos left and many wound up in refugee camps in Thailand.

Thousands of the refugees were allowed to come to the U.S., with the first waves arriving in the late 1970s and most settling along the West Coast. The culture had rich traditions of storytelling, basketry, embroidery and jewelry-making, but many initially had difficulty adjusting to Western life due to cultural and language differences as well as a lack of formal education.

There are now tens of thousands of Iu Mien — pronounced “yoo MEE’-en” — in the U.S., with many attending universities or starting businesses. Many have converted to Christianity from traditional animist religions. There is a sizeable Iu Mien community in Portland and its suburbs, with a Buddhist temple and Baptist church, active social organization, and businesses and restaurants.

Cayle Tern, president of the Iu Mien Association of Oregon, arrived in Portland with his family in 1980, when he was 3 years old. He is now running for City Council. His father and uncle assisted American forces in Laos and he was born as his mother fled to a refugee camp in Thailand.

Many Iu Mien in the U.S. have similar stories, and Saephan’s Powerball win sheds light on the new lives they have made in Oregon and elsewhere after such trauma, he said. Tern knows all three of the Powerball winners, he said.

“You know, I think for me it’s more than just about the money. … We’ve been here since the late ’70s, but very little is known of us,” he said while sitting in his uncle’s restaurant in Troutdale, a Portland suburb.

“This attention that we’re getting — people are interested in what the community is, who we are, where we came from. That is to me is equally special.”

Saephan, 46, said he was born in Laos and moved to Thailand in 1987, before immigrating to the U.S. in 1994. He graduated from high school in 1996 and has lived in Portland for 30 years. He worked as a machinist for an aerospace company.

He said Monday that he has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.

“I will be able to provide for my family and my health,” he said, adding that he’d “find a good doctor for myself.”

The winning Powerball ticket was sold in early April at a Plaid Pantry convenience store in Portland, ending a winless streak that had stretched more than three months. The Oregon Lottery said it had to go through a security and vetting process before announcing the identity of the person who came forward to claim the prize.

Under Oregon law, with few exceptions, lottery players cannot remain anonymous. Winners have a year to claim the top prize.

The jackpot had a cash value of $621 million before taxes if the winner chose to take a lump sum rather than an annuity paid over 30 years, with an immediate payout followed by 29 annual installments. The prize is subject to federal taxes and state taxes in Oregon.

The $1.3 billion prize is the fourth-largest Powerball jackpot in history, and the eighth-largest among U.S. jackpot games, according to the Oregon Lottery.

The biggest U.S. lottery jackpot won was $2.04 billion in California in 2022.
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A majority of younger voters in this U.S. presidential election say they wish they had someone other than Joe Biden or Donald Trump to choose from. Some of that has to do with the candidates’ ages. But who are the younger voters backing one of the two? VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns reports.
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washington — State media in China, where social protest is strongly discouraged or punished, have been vocally supporting the pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses while decrying what they describe as a heavy-handed crackdown on free speech by authorities.

“Can blindly using violence to suppress students be able to quell domestic dissatisfaction with the government?” wrote Jun Zhengping Studio, a social media account operated by the News Broadcasting Center of the People’s Liberation Army, in an April 26 commentary.

“If American politicians really have a sense of democracy and human rights, they should stop supporting Israel, stop endorsing Israel’s actions, and do more things that are conducive to world peace. Otherwise, the only one who will suffer backlash is the United States itself.”

The People’s Daily, China’s state-owned newspaper, said in a video that American students are protesting because they “can no longer stand the double standards of the United States.”

On social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying echoed that comment and implied the U.S. government was cracking down on protests at home while supporting protests abroad.

She posted a clip of U.S. police arresting protesters with the question, “Remember how U.S. officials reacted when these protests happened elsewhere?”

The protests this month at scores of universities, including New York’s Columbia University and George Washington University in the U.S. capital, have opposed Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza over the large number of civilian casualties. The student protesters are demanding that their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel and are calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the protests are a symbol of American democracy, but he criticized the protesters for remaining silent on the attack by Hamas militants in October that killed more 1,200 Israelis and sparked the conflict.

Critics say antisemitic rhetoric emerged at some of the protests, and there have been clashes with police.

As of Monday, more than 900 students had been arrested, mainly for trespassing because of protest camps they erected on university property.

In an email to all faculty members and students, American University stated that the school’s policy of supporting free speech has not changed, but it explicitly prohibits “disruptive” behavior such as setting up camps.

“Any demonstration that continues to interfere with university operations or violate policies after engagement and de-escalation will not be permitted, and those responsible will face conduct actions, disciplinary sanctions, or arrest as appropriate,” the email said.

Reactions differ

The handling of the protests has been in stark contrast with the Chinese authorities’ crackdown on domestic dissent and any form of street protest.

China’s strict zero-COVID measures and censorship of critical voices during the pandemic spurred street protests in many Chinese cities in November 2022 that became known as the White Paper movement. Protesters would hold up blank sheets of white paper to symbolize support for the protests while not actually saying or doing anything, in hopes of not getting into trouble.

Nonetheless, Chinese police arrested and surveilled those caught holding up white paper. Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye accused “external anti-China forces” of being behind the protests and called them a “color revolution.”

Critics were quick to point out Beijing’s double standard when Chinese state media backed U.S. college protesters.

Sean Haines, a British man who worked for Chinese state media from 2016 to 2019, told VOA that Chinese state media’s extensive coverage of Western demonstrations is a consistent policy.

“At Xinhua, when we chose the running order for news, foreign protests were always promoted,” he said, “especially if it was around election times. ‘Look how scary foreign democracies are, aren’t you glad China doesn’t have this?'”

He said footage of protests is easy to find in places with a free press, such as the United States and the West, while there are almost no images of protests in China, a one-party authoritarian state where public demonstrations are quickly stopped.

“It’s ironic.” he said. “China is using [the] West’s free speech, openness, right to protest — against itself.”

Although Chinese authorities have not declared support for any side in the Israel-Hamas war, they were reluctant to condemn the militants’ October attack and repeatedly blamed Israel and the U.S. for the conflict in Gaza.

At the same time, antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments, including conspiracy theories, have been allowed on China’s highly censored social media.

A popular claim is that U.S. support for Israel is not because of history and democratic values but because a Jewish cabal secretly controls U.S. politics and business.

Hu Xijin, a special commentator and former editor-in-chief of China’s state-run Global Times, posted on social media site Weibo on April 19 that all walks of life in the U.S. “cannot suppress the protests of college students everywhere, which shows that the Jewish political and business alliance’s control over American public opinion has declined.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Amman, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept a proposed cease-fire deal in its conflict with Israel, saying that there are “no more excuses” and “the time to act is now.”

“Our focus right now is on getting a cease-fire and hostages home. That is the most urgent thing, and it’s also I think what is achievable because the Israelis have put a strong proposal on the table. They’ve demonstrated that they’re willing to compromise, and now it’s on Hamas,” Blinken told reporters as he wrapped up a visit to Jordan.

He also stressed the importance of getting more humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“This has been part of our work every single day. It’s also been the focus of every single one of my trips to the region,” Blinken said, adding that he will discuss the issue when he holds meetings in Israel on Wednesday.

Earlier, the top U.S. diplomat held separate talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and King Abdullah II before meeting with Sigrid Kaag, U.N. senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza.

Blinken thanked Abdullah for Jordan’s leadership in facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, including joint U.S.-Jordan airdrops that to date have delivered over 1,000 tons of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

The two leaders discussed joint efforts to expedite the flow of additional urgently needed aid to Gaza from Jordan through land routes. Blinken also commended the king’s commitment to economic modernization and vital public sector reforms.

Later on Tuesday, Blinken met with Palestinians from Gaza at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs before meeting with Kaag. Blinken told Kaag he was anxious to hear directly from her, adding, “The entire team is doing extraordinary work to ensure that people in Gaza get the help and support and the assistance they need.”

Israel declared war on Hamas after its October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages.

Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, a figure that Israel says includes several thousand Hamas fighters.

A delegation from Hamas participated in talks Monday in Egypt, which with Qatar has been seeking to broker a deal that would halt the Israeli offensive and see hostages freed.

U.S., Saudi talks

In Riyadh earlier this week Blinken said the United States is close to finishing a security agreement with Saudi Arabia that would be offered if the country makes peace with Israel.

“The work that Saudi Arabia, the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion,” Blinken told an audience at the World Economic Forum on Monday.

He said the two nations have done intensive work over the last month on Israeli-Saudi normalization.

Blinken disclosed that he was scheduled to be in Saudi Arabia and Israel on October 10 last year to focus specifically on the Palestinian part of the normalization deal because that is an essential component. But it did not happen because of the Hamas terror attack on Israel.

“In order to move forward with normalization, two things will be required: calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” Blinken said.

U.S. officials have said creating a pathway to a Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel is key to lasting peace and security in the Middle East and to Israel’s integration in the region.

The Saudis have demanded, as a prerequisite, to see an Israeli commitment to the two-state solution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the two-state solution and the return of the Palestinian Authority to control Gaza, demands that are widely supported by the international community.

Nimrod Goren, a senior fellow for Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute, told VOA in an email, “Saudi Arabia has been gradually opening towards Israel for a decade. Significant progress was made in the months prior to the Hamas attack of October 7, with the hope of linking an Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement to a pre-presidential election, U.S.-Saudi defense pact. The war stalled the process, but talks are continuing and are at a decisive phase.”

If Netanyahu’s opposition to the two-state solution remains unchanged, Goren said, he might struggle to secure normalization with Saudi Arabia.

VOA’s Cindy Saine contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — House Democrats will vote to save Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s job should some of his fellow GOP lawmakers seek to remove him from the position, Democratic leaders said Tuesday, avoiding a repeat of when eight Republicans joined with Democrats to oust his predecessor, former Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

Johnson, R-La., has come under heavy criticism from some Republicans for moving forward with aid for Ukraine as part of a $95 billion emergency spending package that passed this month. It would take only a handful of Republicans to remove Johnson from the speakership if the Democratic caucus went along with the effort.

But Democratic leaders took that possibility off the table.

“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” said a statement from the top three House Democrats, Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar. “We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”

Greene, R-Ga., earlier this month filed a resolution with the House clerk — called a motion to vacate — that would remove Johnson from office if approved by the House. And while Greene did not force the resolution to be taken up immediately, she told reporters she was laying the groundwork for future consideration. She had two co-sponsors, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.

Johnson was quick to distance himself from Democrats on the issue, saying he had no conversations with Jeffries or anyone else about saving his job.

“I was laser-focused on getting the supplemental done,” Johnson said, referring to the aid package. “I’ve had colleagues from both parties come up to me on the floor, of course, and say we won’t stand for this. … I’ve not requested assistance from anyone. I’m not focused on that at all.”

Many House Republicans are eager to move past the divisions that have tormented their ranks ever since taking the majority last January. At a closed-door session Tuesday morning, much of the discussion focused on how to create unity in the party heading into the November elections.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., said Republicans heard from Michael Whatley, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, who emphasized that Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, wants to unify the majority in the House. He said that’s a message that certainly helps Johnson.

“What he wants is a unified Republican majority, so my message is singing from the same song sheet as President Trump,” Barr said.

Still, Greene indicated she may still move forward with the effort to remove Johnson, tweeting on X that she believes in recorded votes to put “Congress on record.” She also called Johnson “officially the Democratic Speaker of the House” and questioned “what slimy deal” he made for Democratic support.

“Americans deserve to see the Uniparty on full display. I’m about to give them their coming out party!” Greene tweeted. “Uniparty” is a derisive term some Republicans use to describe cooperation between some fellow Republicans and Democrats.
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Campus protests of the war in Gaza continue, despite college administrations’ warnings — and new ones are being launched. VOA Natasha Mozgovaya reports from an encampment set up Monday at the University of Washington in Seattle.
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houston — Time marches on and all good things must come to an end. But don’t tell that to The Rolling Stones.

What many believe to be the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon as they kicked off their latest tour Sunday night at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

The Stones have been touring for more than 60 years. Frontman Mick Jagger and lead guitarist Keith Richards are both 80, with guitarist Ronnie Wood not far behind at 76. Their tour is being sponsored in part by AARP.

But during a vibrant two-hour show, the Stones played with the energy of a band that was on tour for the first time.

“It’s great to be back in the Lone Star State,” Jagger told the packed stadium, filled with longtime fans, many wearing faded concert shirts from previous tours.

Jagger often strutted up and down the stage with seemingly boundless energy while Richards and Wood played many familiar guitar riffs beloved by fans. Jagger often led the audience in sing-alongs.

“The energy level is up and it’s always up with them. The age doesn’t show,” Dale Skjerseth, the Stones’ production director, said Friday before the concert.

The Stones have hit the road to support the release of their latest album, “Hackney Diamonds,” the band’s first record of original music since 2005.

Houston was the first stop on the band’s 16-city tour across the U.S. and Canada. Other cities on the tour include New Orleans, Philadelphia and Vancouver, British Columbia. The tour ends on July 17 in Santa Clara, California.

During Sunday’s 18-song concert set list, the Stones played several tracks off the new record, including the lead single, “Angry.” They also played classics including “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Honky Tonk Women” and “Start Me Up.”

After playing “Beast of Burden,” Jagger said that concertgoers in Houston had voted to include it on the set list.

“You can’t go wrong with that,” one man in the audience could be heard screaming.

The Stones also played some unexpected choices, including “Rocks Off,” from their 1972 double album “Exile on Main St.” and “Out of Time,” a 1966 song that Jagger said during the concert had not ever been played by the band in the U.S.

With the 2021 death of drummer Charlie Watts, the Stones are now comprised of the core trio of Jagger, Richards and Wood. On Sunday, they were backed by various musicians including two keyboardists, a new drummer, backup singers and a brass section.

While the stage was surrounded by a large collection of video screens projecting images throughout the show, the main focus of the concert was the band and their songs.

Before Sunday’s concert, Jagger spent time on Friday touring NASA’s Johnson Space Center in suburban Houston, posting photos on his Instagram account of him with astronauts inside Mission Control.

“I had an amazing trip to the space center,” Jagger said.

When asked if the band might be thinking about retiring, Skjerseth said he doubts that will happen.

“This is not the end. They’re very enthused,” he said.
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Here’s a look at how the tradition of calling states that usually favor Republicans “red” and Democrats “blue” came about.
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Top US diplomat is in Middle East for talks on Gaza, regional security
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WASHINGTON — U.S. House and Senate negotiators said early Monday they had reached a deal to boost air traffic controller staffing and boost funding to avert runway close-call incidents, but will not increase the airline pilot retirement age to 67 from 65.

The U.S. House of Representatives in July voted 351-69 on a sweeping bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that would also raise the mandatory pilot retirement age to 67 but the Senate Commerce Committee had voted in February to reject the retirement age increase. International rules would have prevented airline pilots older than 65 from flying in most countries outside the United States.

Congress has temporarily extended authorization for the FAA through May 10 as it works on a new $105 billion, five-year deal. The Senate is set to vote this week on the more than 1,000-page bipartisan proposal.

The bill prohibits airlines from charging fees for families to sit together and requires airlines to accept vouchers and credits for at least five years, but did not adopt many stricter consumer rules sought by the Biden administration.

The bill also requires airplanes to be equipped with 25-hour cockpit recording devices and directs the FAA to deploy advanced airport surface technology to help prevent collisions.

Efforts to boost aviation safety in the United States have taken on new urgency after a series of near-miss incidents and the Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9

door plug mid-air emergency.

Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell, the panel’s top Republican, Ted Cruz, House Transportation Committee chair Sam Graves and the committee’s top Democrat, Rick Larsen, in a joint statement announced the agreement and said, “now more than ever, the FAA needs strong and decisive direction from Congress to ensure America’s aviation system maintains its gold standard.”

The proposal raises maximum civil penalties for airline consumer violations from $25,000 per violation to $75,000 and aims to address a shortage of 3,000 air traffic controllers by directing the FAA to implement improved staffing standards and to hire more inspectors, engineers and technical specialists.

Congress will not establish minimum seat size requirements, leaving that instead to the FAA. The bill requires the Transportation Department to create a dashboard that shows consumers the minimum seat size for each U.S. airline.

The bill boosts by five the number of daily direct flights from Washington Reagan National Airport.

Cantwell said the agreement – including a five-year reauthorization for the National Transportation Safety Board – demonstrates aviation safety and stronger consumer standards are a big priority.
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U.S. President Joe Biden’s jokes were well-received by those who attended the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington Saturday. But his political rival, Donald Trump, criticized the event as he gears up for a new round of campaign stops and court appearances this week. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the details.
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HOLDENVILLE, Okla. — At least two people, including a child, died in tornadoes that swept through Oklahoma, authorities said Sunday as emergency crews assessed the extensive damage to homes and businesses from the high winds, hail and flooding. 

Dozens of reported tornadoes have wreaked havoc in the nation’s midsection since Friday, with flood watches and warnings in effect Sunday for Oklahoma and other states — including Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. 

In Oklahoma, a tornado ripped through Holdenville, a town of about 5,000 people, late Saturday, killing two people, and injuring four others, Hughes County Emergency Medical Services said in a statement Sunday. Holdenville is roughly 129 kilometers (80 miles) from Oklahoma City. 

“My prayers are with those who lost loved ones as tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma last night,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement. 

He issued an executive order Sunday declaring a state of emergency in 12 counties due to the fallout from the severe weather as crews worked to clear debris and assess damage from the severe storms that downed power lines. 

Nearly 33,000 customers were without power in Oklahoma as of Sunday morning, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks electric utility outages. In Texas, nearly 67,000 customers were without power. 

Significant destruction from the storm was reported in the southern Oklahoma community of Sulphur and well as around Marietta, where a hospital was damaged, according to the Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management. 

Residents in other states were also digging out from storm damage. A tornado in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, demolished homes and businesses Saturday as it moved for kilometers through farmland and into subdivisions, then slammed an Iowa town. 

Fewer than two dozen people were treated at Omaha-area hospitals, said Dr. Lindsay Huse, health director of the city’s Douglas County Health Department. 

“Miraculous” she said, stressing that none of the city’s injuries was serious. Neighboring communities reported a handful of injuries each. 

The tornado damage started Friday afternoon near Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial building in Lancaster County was hit, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated, and the three injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said. 

One or possibly two tornadoes then spent around an hour creeping toward Omaha, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, with winds of 217 to 266 kilometers per hour (135 to 165 mph), said Chris Franks, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Omaha office. 

Ultimately the twister slammed into the Elkhorn neighborhood in western Omaha, a city of 485,000 people with a metropolitan-area population of about 1 million. 

Staci Roe surveyed the damage to what was supposed to be her “forever home,” which was not even two years old. When the tornado hit, they were at the airport picking up a friend who was supposed to spend the night. 

“There was no home to come to,” she said, describing “utter dread” when she saw it for the first time. 

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spent Saturday touring the damage and arranging for assistance for the damaged communities. Formal damage assessments are still underway, but the states plan to seek federal help. 

 
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