Feed aggregator

Toronto — Police said nine people are facing charges in what authorities are calling the biggest gold theft in Canadian history from Toronto's Pearson International airport a year ago. Peel Regional Police said Wednesday that 6,600 gold bars worth more than 20 million Canadian dollars ($14.5 million), and 2.5 million Canadian dollars ($1.8 million) in foreign currencies were stolen. The gold was melted down and used to purchase illegal firearms, police said. Those charged include an Air Canada warehouse employee and a former Air Canada manager who gave police a tour of cargo of the facility after the theft. A jewelry store owner is also charged. "This story is a sensational one and which probably, we jokingly say, belongs in a Netflix series," Peel Regional Chief Nishan Duraiappah said. Peel Reginal Detective Sgt. Mike Mavity said the gold bars, weighing 419 kilograms (923 pounds), and foreign currency, ordered from a refinery in Zurich, were transported in an Air Canada flight on April 17 last year. "They needed people within Air Canada to facilitate this theft," Mavity said in front of the truck police say was used in the theft. Mavity said police are searching for the Air Canada manager who gave police a tour of the facility in the days after the theft. He said that the manager left his job last summer. Mavity said some of the suspects were known to police and some were not. "I don't think I ever imagined they would have to deal with the largest gold heist in Canadian history," said Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ontario. "It's almost out of an 'Ocean's Eleven' movie or ‘CSI.’" Among those who have been arrested are: Air Canada employee Parmpal Sidhu, 54, from Brampton, Ontario; jewelry store owner Ali Raza, 37, from Toronto’ Amit Jalota, 40, an Oakville, Ontario resident; Ammad Chaudhary, 43, from Georgetown, Ontario; and Prasath Paramalingam, 35, from Brampton. Mavity said the truck driver that allegedly picked up the gold, Durante King-Mclean, a 25-year-old from Brampton, is in custody in the U.S. on firearms and trafficking related charges. Police are searching for former Air Canada manager Simran Preet Panesar, 31, from Brampton as well as Archit Grover, 36, from Brampton and Arsalan Chaudhary, 42, from Mississauga Ontario. Peel Regional Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said only 90,000 Canadian dollars ($65,000) of the more than 20 million Canadian dollars has been recovered. Brinks, an American cash handling company, arrived at the airport cargo facility the night of April 17 to pick up the gold and were told the gold and currency was missing after a search. Brinks sued Air Canada over the theft last year. According to the company's filing last year, a thief walked away with the costly cargo after presenting a fake document at an Air Canada warehouse on April 17. In a November 8 statement of defense, Air Canada rejected "each and every allegation" in the Brink's lawsuit, saying it fulfilled its carriage contracts and denying any improper or "careless" conduct.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti — Haitian business leaders said in a letter addressed to Kenyan President William Ruto that they were "extremely concerned" over a delay to a United Nations-backed security mission his government has pledged to lead to fight gangs in the Caribbean nation. In a letter dated Monday but distributed on Wednesday, the leaders of eight top business chambers said they were concerned as the mission has yet to deploy more than six months after its approval and as the end of its initial mandate fast approaches. The U.N. Security Council had on October 2 approved a voluntary corps of international troops to deploy to Haiti to help its under-resourced police battle gangs that have cemented their control over nearly all of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The authorization is valid for 12 months with a review after nine, but the mission has yet to deploy, and some countries that did pledge funds or troops have struggled to get these approved by their parliaments or have been slow to hand over the resources. Kenya is the only country that has offered to lead the mission, but as of early March, it had not yet presented a letter to the United Nations formalizing its contribution.   On March 11, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who had first requested the deployment back in 2022, announced his resignation, prompting Kenya to put its plans on pause. Days earlier, Henry and Ruto had signed a deal intended to fast-track the force. Haiti has yet to formally install a transition council to take over from Henry, though it named the designated representatives on Tuesday after extended delays that prompted critics to accuse the government of delaying the process. Meanwhile, gangs have further escalated their assaults on parts of the capital they do not yet control. Key ports have been closed for over a month, blocking supplies of food and essential goods while millions go hungry, and hundreds of thousands are internally displaced. Pointing to the transition council's "imminent formation," the letter said Haiti's business leaders "look forward to welcoming the Kenyan forces in a relatively short order."

Windhoek, Namibia — Namibia's port authority, Namport, has proposed a port expansion on Shark Island, a heritage site that is sacred to the indigenous Nama ethnic group of southern Namibia.  The expansion is designed to facilitate green hydrogen production and export to Europe by a German energy company, Hyphen.  However, some locals view the port expansion as a new form of colonization, where African resources are extracted for the benefit of European markets.  Germany once ruled Namibia, then known as German South West Africa, and in the early 1900s German authorities ran a concentration camp on Shark Island where around 3,000 locals were killed.   Sima Luipert — a community activist and member of the Nama Leaders Association of Namibia, which has opened talks with the port authority — said the Nama consider the island as sacred ground.  "Shark Island has got historical meaning to the Nama and the Ovaherero people, and it should have the same historical meaning and heritage meaning for the entire Namibia and for the world," said Luipert.  "This is where genocide took place; this is where genocide was executed," said Luipert. "It was the first genocide of the 20th century and for that, the site needs to be protected."  Hans-Christian Mahnke of Namibia's Legal Assistance Center told VOA that Namibia's laws require developers to undertake environmental impact assessments in cooperation with local communities, who have the right to decline consent for any development they feel may violate their rights.  He said the Nama have grounds to reject the port expansion on Shark Island.   "Due to the increased capacity needs of the port in the make of the green hydrogen development then that Shark Island and the dignity of people are affected and linked to the drive by among others, the German government, to get cheaper cleaner energy also from Namibia," said Mahnke. "Yet genocide talks and the reparation talks have not yet been finalized and we are already doing again harm potentially to the descendants of the victims by tampering further on with this historical site."  Namport's executive for port engineering, Elezier Gelderbloem, said the Nama Traditional Leaders Association has expressed opposition to port expansion, and the port authority is working on mitigating those concerns.   He spoke with VOA at a conference for Namibia's emerging oil and gas industry being held in Luderitz.   "We are employing experts, environmental experts, archeologists, marine archeologists and they are investigating this to determine exactly what impacts we might have," said Gelderbloem. "So, we cannot answer yet whether we will have impacts. So, the EIA or the studies which we do will identify if there are impacts and if there are impacts it will also indicate what mitigating measures can we employ to reduce such impacts."  Namibia has been identified as a potential green hydrogen source for its abundant sunlight and access to the sea, which developers say is crucial for the production of green hydrogen and its by-products, which include ammonia and fertilizer. 

Windhoek, Namibia — Environmentalists in Namibia have accused local wildlife officials of hiding the real extent of rhino poaching in the Etosha National Park, which holds the highest concentration of black rhinos in the world. The Ministry of Environment recently acknowledged that rhino killings at the park quadrupled during the first quarter of 2024.  Namibian police apprehended two suspects Sunday for the killing of an adult female black rhino and a medium-sized male calf black rhino at the park’s waterhole earlier that day. The two were found in possession of four rhino horns with an estimated value of $55,000.   The park has seen a steep increase in rhino poaching, with 28 rhinos killed during the first three months of the year, compared to seven in 2023.   Environmental activist and journalist John Grobler attributed the increase, in part, to a three-week mourning period for the passing of Namibia’s president, which led to a security lapse by law-enforcement officials.  But Grobler suspects officials are still not disclosing the full extent of the rhino poaching. “They still refuse to show us the rhino horn stockpile to show if everything is there, if all the ivory is there,” he said. “When you ask them things like this, they tend to sit on their hands for as long as they can before they make any kind of disclosure. My fear is that it could actually be worse than 28 rhinos, it could be more than that.”  A large number of rhino carcasses were discovered during the annual dehorning exercise undertaken in March. The media is usually invited but were not this year, further fueling concern that police did not want the public to know the real extent of rhino poaching in the area.   Police spokesperson Kauna Shikwambi said he could not verify or deny the extent of rhino poaching at the Etosha National Park and referred all queries to the newly appointed police commander for Etosha, Theopolina Nashikaku.   Nashikaku also refused to comment on the extent of poaching in the park.   “All I know is that the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, through the spokesperson of his ministry, has shed light on the number of rhinos discovered during the dehorning exercise,” Nashikaku said. “The ministry has enough scientists with the capacity to establish how long the animal has been dead. Perhaps for now let me just concentrate on my mandate.”  Rhinos are critically endangered, and Namibian authorities have previously said that disclosing the number of rhinos in the national park only puts them in harm’s way.  That idea is rebuffed by some conservationists, who say that organized poachers, because of their high level of sophistication, already know the rhino population, estimated at 6,000 black rhinos and 15,000 white rhinos globally.  A spokesperson for the environment ministry, Romeo Muyunda, said the plight of Namibia’s rhino population is a priority.  “Based on the urgency of this situation, the ministry is undertaking an assessment to establish the full extent of this problem and, also based on that urgency, we have called for an urgent meeting with the security cluster which includes the police and NDF [Namibian Defence Force] to make sure that we dissect the matter and come up with possible interventions,” Muyunda said.  In addition to the arrest of two men Sunday, Namibian police are reaching out to communities for assistance in identifying and apprehending more suspected rhino poachers.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Amman — Jordan’s King Abdullah says his country will not be a battleground for any party in the confrontation between Israel and Iran and the protection of its citizens and sovereignty are paramount. Iran’s recent attack on Israel underscores Jordan’s delicate geopolitical location. The kingdom was geographically sandwiched, sitting between Israel on one side and Iran and its proxies on the other - as Iranian drones and ballistic missiles flew over Jordanian airspace on their way to Israeli targets. In remarks to U.S. President Joe Biden, King Abdullah defended his military’s actions in helping intercept and shoot them down saying Jordan’s security and the protection of its citizens come above all other considerations. He said Jordan would not be a “theater of war” for any side, nor will it allow a regional war to unfold on its land. Jordanian analyst Osama Al Sharif told VOA that Jordan is in a delicate position. “It has to protect its sovereignty. It does not want to be dragged into an open conflict whether on the Iranian side or the Israeli side. The situation in Jordan is emotionally charged because of Gaza. For the last 6 months we have had almost weekly protests—very anti American, very anti-Israeli—they are not in a position to understand the very delicate situation that Jordan finds itself in. It wants to bring attention back to the Gaza war—the humanitarian crisis unfolding,” he said. Analyst Amer Al Sabaileh said that from the start of the Gaza conflict, leaders sensed the danger that it could escalate to a larger regional crisis that is already evident in Syria, Lebanon and the Red Sea. Now, he said Jordanians got a taste of the conflict when they saw the missiles and drones being intercepted in the skies above them. “It made people worry and see that it might have concrete consequences in Jordan and therefore His Majesty’s word is definitely reassuring and very clear that the priority for Jordan is the Jordanian security, stability, and security of its own people,” he said. Al Sabaileh said that while Iran could have launched its attacks from the territories of their allies in Syria or Lebanon, it chose the route over Jordanian airspace purposely: Iranian-backed groups in Syria have tried to infiltrate northern Jordan with drugs and weapons in past months. “We cannot see the Iranian attack far from the real risk that it represents for Jordan. It was obvious that the whole attack was concentrated in Jordan. It’s not seen far from what was going also on the ground in recent months from the northern borders to even trying to mobilize people inside Jordan. The strategy of Jordan is to send a clear and firm message that we will go against any attempt of violating of our sovereignty,” he said. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is a Middle East specialist at Rice University’s Baker Institute in Texas. He told the online Breaking Defense publication that “Iraq also could have intercepted munitions that overflew its airspace but chose not to due to “political dynamics.” Shortly after the attacks, Jordan’s foreign ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador over Iranian media comments in which the Iranian leadership appeared to threaten Jordan for joining the U.S.-led effort to support Israel. The reports said that if Jordan intervened, it would become the “next target.” In response, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Monday saying it wants to maintain good ties with Jordan. 

Cease-fire negotiations in Doha are at a “delicate phase” as the war threatens to widen to more of the region, and is becoming a major issue for America’s presidential candidates. The Ukrainian city of Chernihiv is hit by a barrage of Russian missiles and a humanitarian crisis in Sudan continues.

U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump is in a New York courtroom this week for jury selection in a case about his allegedly falsifying business records. Meanwhile, his Democratic opponent President Joe Biden is on the campaign trail talking about the candidates’ competing visions of economic fairness. VOA’s Scott Stearns has our story.

Washington — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that he will move to dismiss impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a move that would end the Senate trial before arguments even begin. Schumer, D-N.Y., said that the two articles of impeachment brought against the secretary over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border "fail to meet the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors" and could set a dangerous precedent.  "For the sake of the Senate's integrity and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it, senators should dismiss today's charges," Schumer said as he opened the Senate.  An outright dismissal of House Republicans' prosecution of Mayorkas, with no chance to argue the case, would be an embarrassing defeat for House Republicans and embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson, who made the impeachment a priority. And it is likely to resonate politically for both Republicans and Democrats in a presidential election year when border security has been a top issue.  Republicans argue that President Joe Biden has been weak on the border as arrests for illegal crossings skyrocketed to more than 2 million people during the last two years of his term, though they have fallen from a record-high of 250,000 in December amid heightened enforcement in Mexico. Democrats say that instead of impeaching Mayorkas, Republicans should have accepted a bipartisan Senate compromise aimed at reducing the number of migrants who come into the U.S. illegally.  The House narrowly voted in February to impeach Mayorkas for his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing in the two articles that he "willfully and systematically" refused to enforce immigration laws. House impeachment managers appointed by Johnson, R-La., delivered the charges to the Senate on Tuesday, standing in the well of the Senate and reading them aloud to a captive audience of senators.  As Johnson signed the articles Monday in preparation for sending them across the Capitol, he said Schumer should convene a trial to "hold those who engineered this crisis to full account."  Schumer "is the only impediment to delivering accountability for the American people," Johnson said. "Pursuant to the Constitution, the House demands a trial."  Once the senators are sworn in on Wednesday, the chamber will turn into the court of impeachment, with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington presiding. Murray is the president pro tempore of the Senate, or the senior-most member of the majority party who sits in for the vice president.  The entire process could be done within hours after the trial is called to order. Schumer said he will seek an agreement from Republicans for a period of debate — an offer they are unlikely to accept — and then allow some Republican objections. He will them move to dismiss the trial and hold a vote.  To win that vote, Schumer will need the support of all of the Senate's Democrats and three independents.  In any case, Republicans would not be able to win the support of the two-thirds of the Senate that is needed to convict and remove Mayorkas from office — Democrats control the Senate, 51-49, and they appear to be united against the impeachment effort. Not one House Democrat supported it, either.  While most Republicans oppose quick dismissal, some have hinted they could vote with Democrats.  Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said last week he wasn't sure what he would do if there were a move to dismiss the trial. "I think it's virtually certain that there will not be the conviction of someone when the constitutional test has not been met," he said.  At the same time, Romney said he wants to at least express his view that "Mayorkas has done a terrible job, but he's following the direction of the president and has not met the constitutional test of a high crime or misdemeanor."  Mayorkas, who was in New York to launch a campaign for children's online safety, reiterated that he's focused on the work of his department. "The Senate is going to do what the Senate considers to be appropriate as that proceeds," he said. "I am here in New York City on Wednesday morning fighting online sexual exploitation and abuse. I'm focused on our mission."  The two articles argue that Mayorkas not only refused to enforce existing law but also breached the public trust by lying to Congress and saying the border was secure. The House vote was the first time in nearly 150 years that a Cabinet secretary was impeached.  Since then, Johnson delayed sending the articles to the Senate for weeks while both chambers finished work on government funding legislation and took a two-week recess. Johnson had said he would send them to the Senate last week, but he punted again after Senate Republicans said they wanted more time to prepare.  House impeachment managers previewed some of their arguments at a hearing with Mayorkas on Tuesday morning about President Joe Biden's budget request for the department.  Tennessee Rep. Mark Green, the chairman of the House Homeland Security panel, told the secretary that he has a duty under the law to control and guard U.S. borders, and "during your three years as secretary, you have failed to fulfill this oath. You have refused to comply with the laws passed by Congress, and you have breached the public trust."  Mayorkas defended the department's efforts but said the nation's immigration system is "fundamentally broken, and only Congress can fix it."  Other impeachment managers are Michael McCaul of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ben Cline of Virginia, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Michael Guest of Mississippi, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Laurel Lee of Florida, August Plfuger of Texas and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.  If Democrats are unable to dismiss or table the articles, they could follow the precedent of several impeachment trials for federal judges over the last century and hold a vote to create a trial committee that would investigate the charges. While there is sufficient precedent for this approach, Democrats may prefer to end the process completely, especially in a presidential election year when immigration and border security are top issues.  If the Senate were to proceed to an impeachment trial, it would be the third in five years. Democrats impeached President Donald Trump twice, once over his dealings with Ukraine and a second time in the days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Trump was acquitted by the Senate both times.  At a trial, senators would be forced to sit in their seats for the duration, maybe weeks, while the House impeachment managers and lawyers representing Mayorkas make their cases. The Senate is allowed to call witnesses, as well, if it so decides, and it can ask questions of both sides after the opening arguments are finished. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft said on Wednesday that Russian online campaigns to influence the upcoming U.S. presidential election kicked into gear over the past 45 days, but at a slower pace than in past elections.  Russia-linked accounts are disseminating divisive content aimed at U.S. audiences, including criticizing American support of Ukraine in its war with Russia, researchers at the tech giant said in a report.  The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment, but the Kremlin said last month it would not meddle in the November U.S. election. It also dismissed U.S. allegations that it orchestrated campaigns to sway the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections.  While the Russian activity Microsoft observed is not as intense as around the previous elections, it could increase in the coming months, the researchers said.   "Messaging regarding Ukraine — via traditional media and social media — picked up steam over the last two months with a mix of covert and overt campaigns from at least 70 Russia-affiliated activity sets we track," Microsoft said.  The most prolific of such Russian campaigns is linked to Russia's Presidential Administration, they added. Another one is aimed at posting disinformation online in various languages, with posts typically starting with an apparent whistleblower or citizen journalist posting content on a video channel. That content is then covered by a network of websites that include DC Weekly, Miami Chronical and The Intel Drop.  "Ultimately, after the narrative has circulated online for a series of days or weeks, U.S. audiences repeat and repost this disinformation, likely unaware of its original source," Microsoft said.  A "notable uptick" has been seen in hacking by a Russian group Microsoft calls Star Blizzard, or Cold River, which is focused on targeting western think tanks, the company said.  "Star Blizzard's current focus on U.S. political figures and policy circles may be the first in a series of hacking campaigns meant to drive Kremlin outcomes headed into November."  Malicious use of artificial intelligence by foreign rivals targeting the U.S. election is a key concern cited by American political observers, but Microsoft said it found that simpler digital forgeries were more common than deepfakes. Audio manipulations have a bigger impact than video, it added.  "Rarely have nation-states' employments of generative AI-enabled content achieved much reach across social media, and in only a few cases have we seen any genuine audience deception from such content," the researchers said.   "The simplest manipulations, not the most complex employment of AI, will likely be the pieces of content that have the most impact."

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said Wednesday that its border security forces killed a group of seven "terrorists," who were attempting to cross over from Afghanistan.  A military statement said the overnight infiltration occurred in North Waziristan, a volatile Pakistani district on the Afghan border. It stated that “the infiltrators were surrounded, effectively engaged, and, after an intense fire exchange,” all of them were killed.   The statement said that Pakistani security forces also “recovered a large quantity of weapons, ammunition, and explosives” from the slain militants.  The veracity of the official claims could not immediately be ascertained from independent sources.     The military said in its statement that Islamabad had consistently asked the Taliban government to “ensure effective border management” on the Afghan side, and it “is expected to fulfill its obligations” to prevent “acts of terrorism against Pakistan.”   No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s alleged border incident.   Pakistan blames fugitive commanders and fighters of an anti-state militant group known as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, for orchestrating cross-border attacks from sanctuaries in Afghanistan.    Authorities say the violence has intensified and killed hundreds of Pakistanis, including security forces, since the Taliban reclaimed power in the neighboring country in 2021.  Last month, Pakistani fighter planes carried out strikes against TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan, raising bilateral military tensions.  The United States and the United Nations have designated TTP as a global terrorist organization.  The Taliban deny they are allowing anyone to threaten neighboring countries from their territory, claiming no foreign militants, including TTP, are based in Afghanistan. 

taipei, taiwan — A Vietnamese delegation’s visit to China last week has underscored increasingly close economic ties between the territorial rivals, which analysts say is posing a challenge to the dominance of South Korean investment in Vietnam. Vietnam’s National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue led the high-level delegation from April 7 to 12 and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Hue proposed the two countries create a new push for trade development and "connect Vietnam to China's large development strategies." He also met with the heads of many large Chinese companies that want to participate in Vietnam's infrastructure construction. China is Vietnam’s largest trade partner and on the way to becoming its biggest foreign direct investor. A representative of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or KCCI, in Vietnam last week told Nikkei Asia that Chinese companies are pushing back South Korean firms as China steps up investment in Vietnam. "Looking at the cumulative amount of investment in Vietnam since 1988, South Korea ranks first with $85.8 billion, ahead of Singapore and Japan. However, in recent years, Korea has been in a neck-to-neck competition with China," Kim Hyong-mo told the Japan-based Asia news magazine. More current figures provided by Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment put South Korean foreign direct investment since 1988 at $87 billion, accounting for more than 18% of the total, followed by Singapore at $76 billion, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But in 2023, South Korea ranked fifth after Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and China, which led in terms of newly registered projects. According to Joeffrey Maddatu Calimag, an assistant professor at the Department of Global Business Management at Kyungsung University in Busan, South Korea, competition between South Korean and Chinese companies is increasingly fierce. "South Korean conglomerates like Samsung Electronics Limited have notably ramped up or increased their investment or R&D spending to counter the investments of China's in terms of this sector, the mobile technology,” he told VOA. “And Chinese companies have demonstrated impressive R&D growth, which can heighten the competition for South Korean firms in Vietnam. These combined with China's technological advancements, presents a formidable challenge to South Korean companies operating in the region," he said. South Korea’s Samsung is by far the largest single foreign investor in Vietnam. Vietnam’s Hanoi Times newspaper reports Samsung invested more than $1 billion in Vietnam in 2023, for a total of more than $22 billion, and is expected to invest a further $1 billion per year. South Korean lens module manufacturer LG Innotek announced last year that it would invest an additional $1 billion in capital in Haiphong City, bringing the company's total investment in Vietnam to more than $2 billion. But China’s investment is heating up. Vietnam's Trade Ministry said this month that Chinese automaker Chery signed a joint venture agreement with a Vietnamese company to build a factory in Vietnam at an investment of $800 million, becoming the first Chinese EV manufacturer in Vietnam. China’s BYD, the world’s largest EV maker, also plans to set up a factory in Vietnam. Reuters reported in November that Chinese solar panel manufacturer Trina Solar, one of five Chinese solar firms the U.S. says used plants in Southeast Asia to avoid duties on panels made in China, plans to nearly double its investment in Vietnam to almost $900 million. China-based economist and finance commentator He Jiangbing notes that since U.S.-China trade tensions erupted in 2018, many Chinese companies have invested in Southeast Asia to avoid made-in-China tariffs. He says China's domestic overcapacity has also forced Chinese companies to accelerate their overseas deployment. "The focus of Southeast Asia is Vietnam because [China and Vietnam] are geographically closer. Vietnam also has a large population, with more than 100 million people. It also hoards a large part of the industrial chain transferred from mainland China," He said. "Wherever the industrial chain moves, Chinese companies will follow." Nguyen Tri Hieu, a Vietnamese American economist, says Vietnam is politically closer to China, a fellow one-party communist state, than democratic South Korea. "In Vietnam, there is a saying that the relationship between China and Vietnam is just like the teeth and the lips,” he told VOA. “South Korea is politically more remote. I would say [South] Korea is important but is not in the same position as China." But unlike Hanoi, Seoul has no territorial dispute with Beijing that could threaten to upend the relationship. China’s and Vietnam’s competing claims to areas in the South China Sea have not halted trade and investment but they have at times slowed it down amid clashes and tensions. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea as its own, putting it in conflict with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.   Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

The Biden Administration has launched a new effort to tackle the drug overdose epidemic in the United States, which in 2022 took more than 100,000 lives, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But as VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, some critics say there are some gaps in the government’s strategy to save lives.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Washington — The Republican leader in the House of Representatives announced Wednesday a vote on renewing long-delayed US military aid to Ukraine, as well as to Israel. The move sets up a showdown with his own far-right wing that for months has blocked helping the outgunned Ukrainian forces. "We expect the vote on final passage on these bills to be on Saturday evening," Speaker Mike Johnson announced. With Ukraine struggling to hold back Russia in the third year of President Vladimir Putin's invasion, Johnson faces huge pressure from the White House and much of Congress to allow the lower house to vote for aid already approved in the Senate. However, with loyalists to Donald Trump holding the balance of power in his party, the speaker's own position hangs by a thread. The announcement by Johnson came shortly after President Joe Biden described Ukraine and Israel as two US allies desperate for help in their conflicts. "While both countries can capably defend their own sovereignty, they depend on American assistance, including weaponry, to do it. And this is a pivotal moment," Biden wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. Biden called the Senate-approved version of the Ukraine and Israel aid package "strong and sensible." "It shouldn't be held hostage any longer by a small group of extreme Republican House members," he said. Investing in America Biden argued in the Journal that the aid is needed to help Ukraine, which is running out of ammunition, and Israel in the wake of last weekend's mass Iranian drone attack. But he said the assistance is just as important for US security. "Both Ukraine and Israel are under attack by brazen adversaries that seek their annihilation. Mr Putin wants to subjugate the people of Ukraine and absorb their nation into a new Russian empire. The government of Iran wants to destroy Israel forever -- wiping the world's only Jewish state off the map," Biden wrote. "America must never accept either outcome -- not only because we stand up for our friends, but because our security is on the line, too." In an attempt to address Republican criticism that the United States cannot afford to spend money on Ukraine's fight against Russia, Biden said it would not be "blank checks." The weaponry for Ukraine would be built in US factories, he said. "We'd be investing in America's industrial base, buying American products made by American workers, supporting jobs in nearly 40 states, and strengthening our own national security. We'd help our friends while helping ourselves," Biden said. He also sought to allay concerns about the aid to Israel within his own Democratic party, where growing numbers of members oppose arming Israel during its devastating war against Hamas in civilian-packed Gaza. The bill approved by the Senate, Biden said, includes funding to "continue delivering urgent humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza."