ЦІКАВЕ

At an international music festival in New York City, a Ukrainian-Canadian band sings songs about strength and resisting the Russian invasion. The band, Balaklava Blues, is one of 10 groups from all over the world performing at Globalfest. Joti Rekhi reports from New York City. Camera: Nick Jastrzebski
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Washington — A Maine court on Wednesday ordered the state’s top election official to reevaluate a decision to bar former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a related case from Colorado. 

State Superior Court Judge Michaela Murphy found that the Supreme Court’s decision to take the Colorado case “changes everything about the order in which these issues should be decided and by which court.” 

The judge ordered Maine Secretary of State Shanna Bellows, a Democrat, to reassess her decision to bar Trump from the ballot within 30 days after the Supreme Court rules. 

In December, Bellows determined that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was ineligible to hold office again under a provision in the U.S. Constitution that bars people who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion from holding office. 

Depending on the sweep of its ruling in the Colorado case, the U.S. Supreme Court could resolve the issue nationwide in the coming weeks, with oral arguments scheduled for February 8. 

Maine and Colorado are so far the only two states to disqualify Trump under the constitutional provision, known as Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Both states have put their decisions on hold while Trump appeals. 

Courts and election officials in several other states have rejected similar ballot challenges to Trump’s candidacy.  
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The health of the economy often plays a big role in how Americans vote in general elections, including for the next president. This year, there are early signs that other issues are equally important to people as they prepare to cast their ballots in November. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the story from Washington.
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NEW YORK — With Donald Trump looking on, writer E. Jean Carroll testified Wednesday that the former president shattered her reputation and continues to inspire venom against her from strangers because she claimed he sexually abused her decades ago. 

Carroll, 80, was the first witness in a Manhattan federal court trial to determine damages, if any, that Trump owes her for remarks he made while he was president as he vehemently denied ever attacking her or knowing her. A jury last year already found that Trump sexually abused her and defamed her in October 2022. 

During Carroll’s testimony, Trump grimaced, shook his head and animatedly turned to speak to his lawyer, who lobbed multiple objections seeking to prevent the jury from hearing details of her sexual assault allegations. 

“I’ve paid just about as dearly as it’s possible to pay,” she said, referencing the damage she said Trump had caused.

She took the stand after a hostile encounter occurred between Trump attorney Alina Habba and Judge Lewis A. Kaplan over the judge’s refusal to adjourn the trial on Thursday so Trump can attend his mother-in-law’s funeral. 

Habba called the judge’s ruling “insanely prejudicial” and the judge soon afterward cut her off, saying he would “hear no further argument on it.” 

Habba told the judge: “I will not be spoken to that way, your honor.” When she mentioned the funeral again, the judge responded: “It’s denied. Sit down. Bring in the jury.” 

Carroll’s testimony came less than a year after she was in the same chair convincing a jury in the hopes that Trump could be held accountable in a way that would stop him from frequent verbal attacks against her as he campaigns for the presidency. He is the front-runner on the Republican ticket and won the Iowa caucuses on Monday. 

“I’m here because Donald Trump assaulted me and when I wrote about it, he said it never happened. He lied and shattered my reputation,” she said. 

Carroll said Trump’s public lies about her began in June 2019 and have continued without interruption. 

“He lied last month. He lied on Sunday. He lied yesterday. And I am here to get my reputation back,” Carroll said. 

She said she opened a social media website on Tuesday and saw a post that said: “Hey lady, you’re a fraud.” 

Once, Carroll testified, she was a respected advice columnist. “Now, I’m known as the liar, the fraud and the whack job.” 

Because the first jury found that Trump sexually abused Carroll in the 1990s and then defamed her in 2022, the new trial concerns only how much more — if anything — he’ll be ordered to pay her for other remarks he made in 2019 while he was president. 

Trump, who is juggling court appearances with campaign stops, sat in on jury selection Tuesday. Before opening statements began, he left for a New Hampshire rally. 

He declared on social media Tuesday that the case was nothing but “fabricated lies and political shenanigans” that had garnered his accuser money and fame. 

“I am the only one injured by this attempted EXTORTION,” read a post on his Truth Social platform. 

Carroll, an advice columnist and magazine writer, has said that Trump harmed her deeply. First, she claims, he forced himself on her in a dressing room after a chance meeting at a luxury department store in 1996. Then he publicly impugned her honesty, her motives and even her sanity after she told the story publicly in a 2019 memoir. 

Carroll has maintained she lost millions of readers and her longtime post at Elle magazine, where her “Ask E. Jean” advice column ran for over a quarter-century, because of her allegations and Trump’s reaction to them. Elle has said her contract wasn’t renewed for unrelated reasons. 

Trump asserts that nothing ever happened between him and Carroll and that he never met her. He says a 1987 party photo of them and their then-spouses “doesn’t count” because it was a momentary greeting. 

Trump did not attend the previous trial in the case last May, when a jury found he had sexually abused and defamed Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages. The jury said, however, that Carroll hadn’t proven her claim that Trump raped her. 

Carroll is now seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and millions more in punitive damages. 

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done. 
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NEW YORK — Fresh off a campaign victory in Iowa, Donald Trump sat in a New York courtroom on Tuesday to defend himself for a second time against charges that he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of raping her decades ago.

Trump watched from the defendant’s table as Carroll’s lawyer told a jury that the then-U.S. president made her life miserable when she went public in 2019 with her story that he had attacked her in a department store dressing room in Manhattan.

“He used the world’s biggest microphone to attack Ms. Carroll, to humiliate her, and to destroy her reputation,” lawyer Shawn Crowley said.

Carroll, 80, is seeking at least $10 million in damages in a civil case that will put the allegations of sexual assault back in the headlines while Trump pursues the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Jurors will only consider how much Trump should pay Carroll in damages, not whether the alleged assault took place or whether Trump lied about it afterward.

Crowley said Trump’s “horrible” lies unleashed a torrent of abuse from his followers and wrecked her sense of safety.

“As he’s campaigning for president of the United States, Donald Trump continues to lie about Ms. Carroll,” Crowley said.

Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba countered that Carroll was “basking in the limelight” in the years since she released her memoir and accused Trump of rape.

“She is looking for you to give her a windfall because some people on social media said mean things about her,” Habba said.

Trump, 77, has said he wants to testify.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan has barred him from arguing that he did not defame or sexually assault Carroll or that she made up her account.

Nevertheless, Trump accused Carroll on social media of lying as court proceedings got underway on Tuesday morning.

Shortly after the court adjourned for the day, Trump accused Kaplan of being politically biased against him, echoing complaints he has made against judges overseeing his other cases.

Trump could spend much of this year shuttling between campaign rallies and courtrooms, as he seeks to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

He won the first state contest in Iowa on Monday by a wide margin, and opinion polls show him leading in the next contest in New Hampshire a week from Tuesday.

“I should be in New Hampshire, campaigning and fighting for our Country, and I will be later today, but for now I had to spend time in a Federal Courthouse with a Trump Hating, Radical Left Judge,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after the court adjourned for the day.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in four criminal cases that could potentially land him in prison before the November presidential election, including two that accuse him of trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. He also is a defendant in at least two other civil cases.

Kaplan said he expects the trial to last three to five days.

Second trial

Trump’s high profile was apparent as prospective jurors were screened for the case. Many acknowledged they were familiar with Trump’s various legal troubles, though none said they knew the details of the first defamation trial.

One said she used to work for his daughter Ivanka. She was not chosen for the jury.

Jurors’ identities are being kept confidential.

Trump has already lost one defamation case against Carroll.

A jury last May ordered Trump to pay the former Elle magazine columnist $5 million for having sexually abused her during the encounter and defaming her in 2022 by denying that it happened. Trump skipped that trial.

Trump is appealing the $5 million award and could appeal any award at the second trial. Appeals could take years.

In both cases, Trump has said he did not know Carroll and that she invented their encounter to sell her memoir.

Kaplan has barred Trump from suggesting he did not rape Carroll, as New York’s penal law defines the term, because the first jury did not find that Trump committed rape. Kaplan has ruled that Carroll’s rape claim was “substantially true.”

Trump also cannot discuss DNA evidence or Carroll’s sexual activities or suggest that Democrats are bankrolling her case.

As at the first trial, jurors will be able to see the 2005 “Access Hollywood” video where Trump graphically described the ability of famous people like himself to have sexual relations with beautiful women.

Kaplan has said the video could offer “useful insight into Mr. Trump’s state of mind” toward Carroll.

On social media, Trump accused Kaplan of being “biased,” echoing attacks he has made on judges overseeing some of his other cases.
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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is expected to soon announce plans to redesignate Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as specially designated global terrorists, according to two people familiar with the White House decision and a U.S. official.

The move comes as the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The group says it has attacked the ships in response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The three people familiar with the decision were not authorized to comment and requested anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of the expected formal announcement.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken delisted the Houthis as both a foreign terrorist organization and as specially designated global terrorists in February 2021 as the administration sought to make it easier to get food imports and humanitarian aid into Yemen.

In its waning days, the Trump administration designated the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization over the strong objections of human rights and humanitarian aid groups.

The foreign terrorist designation barred Americans and people and organizations subject to U.S. jurisdiction from providing “material support” to the Houthis, which the groups said would result in an even greater humanitarian catastrophe than what was already happening in Yemen.

Shortly after the Biden administration took office, Blinken removed the designations in a step that was roundly criticized by conservative lawmakers and others but was intended to keep much-needed food, medicine and other aid flowing to Yemen.

Yemen, on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula bordering the Red Sea, is the poorest country in the Arab world. War and chronic misgovernment have left 24 million Yemenis at risk of hunger and disease as of 2023, and roughly 14 million in acute need of assistance, the United Nations says. About two-thirds of Yemenis live in territory controlled by the Houthis.

While supporters of broad sanctions argue it’s possible to shape any enforcement mechanisms to exempt food and humanitarian aid, aid organizations worry that fears of running afoul of U.S. regulation could scare away shippers, banks and other players vital to Yemen’s commercial food supply. Arid Yemen imports 90% of its food.

“This designation would add another level of uncertainty and threat for Yemenis still caught in one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises,” said Scott Paul, an associate director of Oxfam America. “The Biden administration is playing with fire, and we call on them to avoid this designation immediately and prioritize the lives of Yemenis now.”

The specially designated global terrorists label to be reimposed on the Houthis does not include sanctions for providing “material support,” and it does not come with travel bans that are also imposed with the foreign terrorist organization label, steps intended to help prevent the U.S. move from harming ordinary Yemenis.

Meanwhile, a senior White House official said Tuesday that addressing the ongoing threat by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on commercial vessels in the Red Sea is an “all hands on deck” problem that the U.S. and allies must address together to minimize impact on the global economy.

“How long this goes on and how bad it gets comes down not just to the decisions of the countries in the coalition that took strikes last week,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during an appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Iran-backed Houthi group has launched dozens of attacks since November on vessels in the Red Sea, a vital corridor for the world’s shipping traffic, in what they say is an effort to support Palestinians in the war with Israel. U.S. and British forces have responded by carrying out dozens of air and sea strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen since Friday. The attacks by the Houthis have continued.

Linda Thomas Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said last week that 2,000 ships since November have been forced to divert thousands of miles to avoid the Red Sea. Houthi militants have threatened or taken hostage mariners from more than 20 countries.

The Red Sea attacks have already caused significant disruptions to global trade. Oil prices have edged higher in recent days, though Brent crude futures were down slightly in early trading Tuesday.

The U.S. launched a new strike against the Houthis on Tuesday, hitting anti-ship missiles in the third assault on the Iranian-backed group in recent days. The strike came as the Iranian-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile attack against the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Zografia in the Red Sea. No one was injured.

Sullivan said it was critical that countries with influence on Tehran and other Middle East capitals make it clear “that the entire world rejects wholesale the idea that a group like the Houthis can basically hijack the world.”

President Joe Biden’s senior adviser acknowledged that the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea as well as groups allied with Iran carrying out attacks in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen pose concerns that the Israel-Hamas war could escalate even as Israeli officials have indicated a shift in intensity in their military campaign.

“We have to guard against and be vigilant against the possibility that in fact, rather than heading towards de-escalation, we are on a path of escalation that we have to manage,” Sullivan said.

The comments from Sullivan came after Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said during an appearance at the Davos forum that the situation in the Middle East is a “recipe for escalation everywhere.” He said Qatar believes that ending the conflict in Gaza will stop the Houthis and militant groups from launching attacks elsewhere in the region.

Sullivan on Tuesday met with Al Thani as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, according to the White House.

Iran fired missiles late Monday at what it said were Israeli “spy headquarters” in an upscale neighborhood near the sprawling U.S. Consulate compound in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region, and at targets linked to the extremist Islamic State group in northern Syria.

Iraq on Tuesday called the attacks, which killed several civilians, a “blatant violation” of Iraq’s sovereignty and recalled its ambassador from Tehran.
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Washington — The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a U.S. territory in the western Pacific, is the only place in the United States where Chinese nationals can enter without a visa for up to 14 days.

Security hawks in the U.S. Congress want to shut down the visa waiver program, arguing it is a backdoor for Chinese citizens to enter the United States. CNMI Governor Arnold Palacios was in Washington, D.C., last week discussing this issue with government officials. He sat down with VOA to share his views on the program and the economic challenges faced by his government. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: How important is tourism to your economy — and specifically Chinese tourism?

Palacios: Tourism is our primary industry. It is our economy, basically. The significance of Chinese tourism pre-pandemic, it was close to [nearly half] of tourists that come to the Commonwealth were from mainland China. So that’s our second largest market. South Korea being the number one market. The China market is a significant market for [our] tourism industry.

VOA: When you took over as governor in January 2023, were you already aware of the visa waiver program that was giving 14-day access to Chinese nationals?

Palacios: Yes. Those visa waivers were issued in 2005. And then it was adjusted down from 45 days to 14 days. The Commonwealth and [Customs and Border Patrol] in Homeland Security cut it down to 14 days. So that’s the existing visa system that we have for China.

VOA: Do you believe that this program is responsible for the volume of Chinese tourists that you get?

Palacios: Yes, I believe so.

VOA: So, members of Congress are worried that this is a backdoor to the United States, for Chinese spies to come into this country and do the U.S. harm. What is your opinion on closing the [visa waiver] program?

Palacios: In my inaugural speech, I explained and articulated why we need to wean ourselves from dependency on the Chinese market. We saw what happened in Palau. [Editor’s note: Palau’s president has suggested his country has suffered severe economic consequences for keeping diplomatic ties with Taiwan, citing a sharp drop in Chinese tourists, which once accounted for some two-thirds of visitors, but has since dropped to almost zero.]

That’s also a concern for people [in the] Commonwealth. We have [had Chinese] folks going from Saipan to Guam by boat, landing at Ritidian Point, which is the northernmost part of Guam … the closest point if you travel by boat. Ironically and coincidentally, that’s where our military bases are. That’s where Andersen Air Force base is. And so, yeah, there’s this reason to be concerned. Obviously.

VOA: Is there a middle ground to ensure that [CNMI gets] Chinese tourists and yet reassure the U.S. government that you can do it safely?

Palacios: They’re reviewing what is called EVS-TAP.

[It’s] a more robust pre-screening of tourists, by Homeland Security and [Customs and Border Patrol] to screen the folks that want to come to Saipan or the Commonwealth. And so it’s more robust than what we have today.

That program is under review or being drafted. We would like to review it also to make sure that that we also have a say — not to dilute the authority nor the robustness of the security part, but one of the biggest concerns that we have is we know that CBP is spread thin. It’s spread thin also in specific areas. And so we have personnel assets that could be trained to assist.

VOA: Has the Department of Homeland Security been receptive to that idea?

Palacios: We haven’t heard anything back regarding the status of that program or what are the rules for it, but if that program works, I think it will be OK.

VOA: Is there a revenue source to replace lost income from the Chinese tourism market?

Palacios: Not right now, so it’s very significant. We’ve had to make drastic sacrifices in government operations and public services. People are leaving the Commonwealth because of the depressed state of the economy right now, because of the major impact of losing close to half-a-billion to a billion dollars’ worth of economic activities.

VOA: Largely because of the loss of Chinese investment and Chinese economic activity?

Palacios: Right. We are a U.S. territory, but actually most of the economic investments come from the Asian countries and the Pacific. For the past 30 years, Chinese businesses have played a significant role in economic activities in the Commonwealth, and sometimes policies that were made, you know, 9,000 miles away, sometimes they forget that they need to look at it closer, and how it impacts the American community out [here.]

At the end of the day, we will make our voices heard to our federal partners, the agencies, and hope that they understand and hopefully craft a policy that is going to meet national security standards. And at the same time, not completely kill the economy in the Commonwealth.
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JERUSALEM — U.S. Navy SEALS seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry from a ship bound for Yemen’s Houthi rebels in a raid last week that saw two of its commandos go missing, the U.S. military said Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, a new ship came under suspected fire from the Houthis in the Red Sea and sustained some damage, though no one was wounded, officials said. 

The raid marks the latest seizure by the U.S. Navy and its allies of weapon shipments bound for the rebels, who have launched a series of attacks now threatening global trade in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The seized missile components included types likely used in those attacks. 

The attacks, U.S.-led retaliatory strikes and the raid all have raised tensions across the wider Middle East, which also saw Iran conduct ballistic missile strikes in both Iraq and Syria. 

The SEAL raid happened last Thursday, with the commandos launching from the USS Lewis B. Puller backed by drones and helicopters, with the U.S. military’s Central Command saying it took place in the Arabian Sea. 

The SEALs traveled in small special operations combat craft driven by naval special warfare crew to get to the boat. As they were boarding it in rough seas, around 8 p.m. local time, one SEAL got knocked off by high waves and a teammate went in after him. Both remain missing. 

The SEALs found cruise and ballistic missile components, including propulsion and guidance devices, as well as warheads, Central Command said. It added that air defense parts also were found. 

“Initial analysis indicates these same weapons have been employed by the Houthis to threaten and attack innocent mariners on international merchant ships transiting in the Red Sea,” Central Command said in a statement. 

Images released by the U.S. military analyzed by The Associated Press showed components resembling rocket motors and others previously seized. It also included what appeared to be an anti-ship cruise missile with a small turbojet engine — a type used by the Houthis and Iran. 

Also included in the photos was a warhead similarly seen in the Iranian anti-ship missiles which are based off an earlier Chinese design, said Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. 

“Looking at the size and the robustness of the thing, it looks a lot like an anti-ship warhead,” Hinz said. 

Hinz also noted the warhead in the photo has a sticker reading “GHAD” on it. Iran has an anti-ship missile called the Ghadir. 

The U.S. Navy ultimately sunk the ship carrying the weapons after deeming it unsafe, Central Command said. The ship’s 14 crew have been detained. 

The Houthis have not acknowledged the seizure and Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

A United Nations resolution bans arms transfers to Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Tehran has long denied arming the rebels, despite physical evidence, numerous seizures and experts tying the weapons back to Iran. 

Meanwhile Tuesday, a missile struck the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Zografia in the Red Sea. The vessel had been heading north to the Suez Canal when it was attacked, the Greek Shipping and Island Policy Ministry said. 

The ship — managed by a Greek firm— had no cargo on board and sustained only material damage, the ministry said. The crew included 20 Ukrainians, three Filipinos and one Georgian. 

Satellite-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Zografia still moving after the attack. 

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which monitors incidents in the Mideast’s waterways, earlier acknowledged an attack in the vicinity of the Zografia. 

Since November, the Houthis have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea, saying they were avenging Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas. But they have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for global trade. 

U.S.-led airstrikes targeted Houthi positions on Friday and Saturday. In response, the Houthis launched a missile at a U.S.-owned bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden, further raising the risks in the conflict. 
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