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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is creating a new process aimed at cutting the time it takes to decide the fates of newly arrived migrants in immigration courts from years to roughly six months at a time when immigration is increasingly a concern among voters.  Under the initiative announced Thursday, single adult migrants who have just entered the country and are going to five specific cities would have their cases overseen by a select group of judges with the aim of having them decided within 180 days.  That would mark a vastly quicker turnaround time than most cases in the country's overburdened immigration system, which can average four years from beginning to end. And by deciding the cases faster, authorities can more quickly remove people who don't qualify to stay.  But it's unclear how many migrants would go through this new docket, raising questions about how effective it will be. The details were laid out by senior administration officials during a call with reporters Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with guidelines set by the administration.  The new docket will be in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. The officials said those cities were chosen because judges there had some availability to hear the cases and because they were big destination cities for migrants.  Right now, when migrants arrive, particularly families, they are almost always released legally into the country, where they wait out their asylum court dates in a process that takes years.   Detractors say this essentially serves as an impetus for migrants to come because they know they'll be able to stay in America and often work while they're here. The longer they're in the United States and have established families or community ties, the more opposition there is to eventually send them back to their home country.  The goal of quickly processing migrants who have just arrived is that by swiftly sending new arrivals back who don't qualify to stay, it sends a message to other people thinking of migrating north that they can't count on living in America for years while their case plays out in court.  A record 3 million cases right now are clogging the nation's immigration court. There are roughly 600 judges. The plan announced Thursday would not include money for more judges.  A bipartisan border agreement endorsed by President Joe Biden earlier this year offered funding for 100 new immigration judges and aides. But Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, urged fellow Republicans to kill the deal, and it quickly died.  The administration has tried for years to move more new arrivals to the front of the line for asylum decisions, hoping to deport those whose claims are denied within months instead of years. The Obama and Trump administrations also tried to accelerate the process, going back to 2014. In 2022, the Biden administration introduced a plan to have asylum officers, not immigration judges, decide a limited number of family claims in nine cities. 

This week on The Inside Story: NATO conducts an airborne training exercise in Sweden featuring paratroopers. American politicians navigate the complexities of U.S. relations in Africa. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues as Kyiv strives to maintain control over a nearly 1,000km front line. Don't miss this week's episode of The Inside Story: NATO and the Russian Threat.

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.

LONDON — Russian forces are expanding their attacks on Ukrainian border settlements close to the northeastern city of Kharkiv, opening up a new front in the war, as Kyiv struggles to hold off a renewed Russian offensive.  Speaking Thursday on a visit to Kharkiv, where he held a meeting with senior military leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the situation remained “extremely difficult” and that his forces were strengthening their presence in the region. With U.S. and European weapons finally due to arrive on the front lines in the coming weeks, can Ukraine hold back Moscow’s invading troops?  Kharkiv offensive Mobile units of Russian troops are attempting to capture Ukrainian villages including Vovchansk and Lyptsi, which lies 30 kilometers north of Kharkiv. Ukraine has fired missiles from the border region into Russia, including deadly strikes on the Russian city of Belgorod. Moscow wants to stop the attacks, said defense analyst Patrick Bury of Britain’s Bath University. “There's multiple reasons, I think, why Russia would try something here: obviously to create a buffer zone, but also to test the defenses and see what's going on. But the way (Russian forces) are set up — and the amount of troops that they have, maybe 30,000 to 40,000, not that much armor, attacking in small groups of infantry — it doesn't really suggest that they're trying to sort of encircle Kharkiv or anything like that,” Bury told VOA. Russian advance Kyiv said Thursday its defensive moves had slowed the speed of Moscow’s advance. Russian attacks are likely to continue, said analyst Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute in London. “Russia’s aim is not to achieve a grand breakthrough, but rather to convince Ukraine that it can keep up an inexorable advance, kilometer by kilometer, along the front,” Watling wrote in an email to VOA. “Having stretched the Ukrainians out, the contours of the Russian summer offensive are easy to discern. First, there will be the push against Kharkiv. Ukraine must commit troops to defend its second largest city and given the size of the Russian group of forces in the area, this will draw in reserves of critical material, from air defenses to artillery.” “Second, Russia will apply pressure on the other end of the line, initially threatening to reverse Ukraine’s gains from its 2023 offensive, and secondly putting at risk the city of Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine should be able to blunt this attack, but this will require the commitment of reserve units,” Watling added. Western weapons Ukrainian forces are still waiting for the bulk of the weapons deliveries under the United States’ $60 billion aid package that was finally passed last month, after a six-month delay. “The United States aid is crucial, so the unfortunate pause in the delivery of arms had a significant impact on the situation at the front and this is what we are seeing now,” said Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Rakhmanin, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security. Ukraine says Russian jets and missiles are easily able to attack their positions, before infantry move in. Kyiv has repeatedly asked for more air defense systems, especially U.S.-made Patriot missiles. Germany has agreed to supply two Patriot batteries to Ukraine, and it’s reported that the U.S. is also working on supplying another unit. The weapons will start to arrive in the coming weeks, analyst Patrick Bury said. “The U.S. has pre-positioned stocks of stuff in Germany, for example, and also has strategic airlift so it can move stuff quickly over (from the US) should it need to,” he said. “But it will take some time to be producing the number of shells that Ukraine needs at the moment, and they're outgunned at about at least five or six to one at the moment by Russian shells,” he added. Mobilization Last month, Ukraine passed a mobilization bill to address a shortage of personnel. RUSI’s Watling said Russia had amassed a force of 510,000 troops. “This means that Russia has established significant numerical superiority over the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he said. The next three months will be crucial for Ukraine, according to lawmaker Rakhmanin. “The Russians currently have a window of opportunity. The power of Ukrainian Armed Forces has decreased, and Russians feel it. They have amassed quite a sufficient amount of resources — weapons, ammunition, manpower and now they are trying to use up a maximum of their reserves. They are trying to spread our forces thin across the entire front line,” Rakhmanin told Reuters Wednesday. Bleak outlook Can Ukraine and its Western allies turn the tide of the war? “The chances of them taking back significant territory now in the medium term seem to be slipping away,” said analyst Bury. “Unless there’s some sort of step change in Western support — a large force-generation package and a long-term strategy for what success looks like — none of which at the moment are forthcoming, then I think Ukraine stays on the defensive and holds what it has,” he said. RUSI’s Watling agrees: “The outlook in Ukraine is bleak. However, if Ukraine’s allies engage now to replenish Ukrainian munitions stockpiles, help to establish a robust training pipeline, and make the industrial investments to sustain the effort, then Russia’s summer offensive can be blunted, and Ukraine will receive the breathing space it needs to regain the initiative.”

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.

Russian forces are expanding their attacks on Ukrainian border settlements close to the northeastern city of Kharkiv, opening up a new front in the war. With U.S. and European weapons finally due to arrive on the front lines in the coming weeks following delays, can Ukraine hold back Moscow’s invading troops? Henry Ridgwell has more

Voters in the Spanish region of Catalonia this week gave a clear victory to supporters of union with Spain after years of separatist tensions. Ricardo Marquina in Barcelona looks at the reasons behind this turnaround. Jonathan Spier narrates his report. Videographer Alfonso Beato contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the funding mechanism for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is constitutional, fending off a conservative attack on the agency. The vote in the nation's high court was 7-2, with four conservative justices siding with the three liberals and two conservatives dissenting. The CFPB was created by Congress in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis and serves as a watchdog over a variety of consumer issues ranging from mortgages to credit cards to student loans. The plaintiffs in the case — payday lending groups — had argued that the funding structure for the agency was unconstitutional. The CFPB receives its funding, currently around $600 million a year, from the U.S. Federal Reserve instead of through annual appropriations from Congress. The case ended up in the Supreme Court after conservative judges on a lower court ruled the funding mechanism violated the appropriations clause of the U.S. Constitution, which gives the power of the purse to Congress. Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the majority opinion, disagreed. "Under the Appropriations Clause, an appropriation is simply a law that authorizes expenditures from a specified source of public money for designated purposes," Thomas said. "The statute that provides the bureau's funding meets these requirements. We therefore conclude that the bureau's funding mechanism does not violate the Appropriations Clause." President Joe Biden welcomed the court's ruling, calling it an "unmistakable win for American consumers" and an agency that has "worked to protect consumers from abusive practices by lenders, servicers and special interests." "In the face of years of attacks from extreme Republicans and special interests, the Court made clear that the CFPB's funding authority is constitutional and that its strong record of consumer protection will not be undone," Biden said in a statement. The CFPB case was one of three the court heard during its current term that challenge the regulatory authority of federal agencies when it comes to banking, business, industry or the environment. One of the other cases stems from a requirement that herring fishermen in New England provide space onboard their vessels for observers from the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS. Several fishing companies complained that they are being effectively forced to pay for the federal observers who are monitoring their operations. A split appellate court ruled that the NMFS program was authorized under a 1984 Supreme Court ruling known as the "Chevron Doctrine" that says courts should defer to government agencies' interpretation of ambiguous federal laws. The other case on the docket would curtail the power of the Securities and Exchange Commission to adjudicate violations of federal securities laws. The Supreme Court will issue its rulings in those cases by the end of June. The conservative-majority court has previously ruled that the government's key environmental agency cannot issue broad limits on greenhouse gases, sharply curtailing powers of the Biden administration to battle climate change.

Israel’s defense minister publicly challenged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday over the country's post-war plans for the Gaza Strip. Robert Fico, Slovakia’s Prime Minister who was shot yesterday remains in serious condition; authorities say Wednesday’s assassination attempt was politically motivated. Iran has resumed its crackdown on women not wearing the Hijab while Ukrainians celebrate their traditional clothes. U.S. forces are with NATO in Poland, Vladimir Putin is in China and a look at the issues important to young people in India as they go to the polls.

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.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Gaza’s southern city of Rafah and many more are on the move as fighting between Israel and Hamas intensifies near the border with Egypt. Palestinian families say they have no safe place to flee to, and no aid available when they get there. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Istanbul with Nedal Hamdouna, Amjed Tantesh and Enas Tantesh in Rafah, Gaza. (Camera: Enas Tantesh)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — South Africa urged the United Nations' top court on Thursday to order a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip during hearings over emergency measures to halt Israel's military operation in the enclave's southern city of Rafah. It was the third time the International Court of Justice held hearings on the conflict in Gaza since South Africa filed proceedings in December at the court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, accusing Israel of genocide. The country's ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, urged the panel of 15 international judges to order Israel to "totally and unconditionally withdraw" from Gaza. The court has already found that there is a "real and imminent risk" to the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel's military operations. "This may well be the last chance for the court to act," said Irish lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, who is part of South Africa's legal team. Judges at the court have broad powers to order a cease-fire and other measures, although the court does not have its own enforcement apparatus. A 2022 order by the court demanding that Russia halt its full-scale invasion of Ukraine has so far gone unheeded. During hearings earlier this year, Israel strongly denied committing genocide in Gaza, saying it does all it can to spare civilians and only targets Hamas militants. The country says Rafah is the last stronghold of the militant group. The latest request focuses on the incursion into Rafah. South Africa argues that the military operation has far surpassed justified self-defense. "Israel's actions in Rafah are part of the end game. This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza," lawyer Vaughan Lowe said. According to the latest request, the previous preliminary orders by the court were not sufficient to address "a brutal military attack on the sole remaining refuge for the people of Gaza." Israel will be allowed to answer the accusations Friday. In January, judges ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive that has laid waste to the Palestinian enclave. In a second order in March, the court said Israel must take measures to improve the humanitarian situation. South Africa has to date submitted four requests for the international court to investigate Israel. It was granted a hearing three times. Most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people have been displaced since the fighting began. The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. Gaza's Health Ministry says over 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in its count. South Africa initiated proceedings in December 2023 and sees the legal campaign as rooted in issues central to its identity. Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel's policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to "homelands." Apartheid ended in 1994. On Sunday, Egypt announced it plans to join the case. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Israeli military actions "constitute a flagrant violation of international law, humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the protection of civilians during wartime." Several other countries have indicated they plan to intervene, but so far only Libya, Nicaragua and Colombia have filed formal requests to do so.

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’s popular former Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared before the Supreme Court via video link from prison Thursday in connection with a lawsuit he has filed against disputed amendments to the country’s anti-corruption laws. It was Khan's first court appearance since his arrest in August 2023. The 71-year-old former Pakistani prime minister has since been prosecuted inside the prison near the capital, Islamabad. Khan has been sentenced on highly controversial charges of graft, a fraudulent marriage, and leaking state secrets. Media crews have been barred from accessing the trials to cover and film them. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ordered the government to make arrangements for Khan’s participation in the hearing on Thursday through video link, acknowledging his request to represent himself in the case instead of using a lawyer.  His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party posted on social media images from inside the courtroom of what it said was the “illegally incarcerated” former prime minister. It said the pictures were screen grabs from Khan’s virtual appearance. The Supreme Court adjourned Thursday’s hearing, with Khan not getting an opportunity to speak. The judicial proceedings were due to be streamed live on the Supreme Court's website and YouTube as usual, but the broadcast was canceled just before the judges convened under Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s leadership. Neither the court nor Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government explained why the hearing was not broadcast to the public. “The judicial process demands fairness and openness. Transparency can only be ensured through public view of proceedings; refusal to stream proceedings advances unfairness and non-transparency and must be condemned,” said a PTI statement.  Khan was ousted from office in 2022 through an opposition-led parliamentary vote of no-confidence. The succeeding Pakistani government amended the anti-graft law, limiting the National Accountability Bureau's powers to investigate corrupt practices of public office holders. The deposed prime minister has filed a petition claiming that the amendments were intended to dismiss corruption cases against influential figures, including the prime minister, the president, and other top officials in Pakistan’s current coalition government. Since his removal from office, Khan has faced scores of lawsuits, which he rejects as frivolous. He alleges that Pakistan’s powerful military was behind them to keep him from returning to power, charges both government officials and the military deny.   Khan has appealed his convictions in higher courts, resulting in suspended prison terms and bail in some cases, but he remains in jail and faces prosecution in connection with several other state-instituted lawsuits. His PTI-backed candidates won the most seats in national elections in February this year despite Khan being in jail, but they could not get enough seats to form a government. The split mandate allowed Sharif and allied parties to cobble together a coalition government. 

PENTAGON — The U.S. military says a temporary pier is now anchored to the shore of Gaza, the final step in completing a sea route to distribute aid to 2 million Palestinians affected by the Israel-Hamas war. "This morning, just a few hours ago, the pier was successfully affixed to the beach in Gaza. In the coming days, we will commence the delivery of aid," U.S. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told reporters Thursday. Cooper said about 500 tons of humanitarian assistance have been loaded onto ships, with thousands of tons more ready to be added to the distribution queue once that aid is distributed. “We are focused on flooding the zone with humanitarian assistance … to complement the provision of aid through land routes, which we know is the most efficient and effective pathway to move the necessary volume of assistance,” he said. The new maritime corridor has several parts, with aid first undergoing inspection and security checks in Cyprus. Loads are then being taken to a U.S.-built floating platform off the Gaza coast and transferred onto trucks, with smaller boats taking the trucks to the newly anchored pier that juts out several hundred meters from the Gaza coastline. Distribution Each boat can transfer between five and 15 trucks to shore. Once fully operational, the pier will be able to provide about 150 truckloads of aid to Gaza per day, according to U.S. officials. The United Nations will be in charge of receiving shipments and coordinating distribution on the ground. The arrangement is part of an effort to boost what humanitarian organizations say is a vastly insufficient amount of aid for Palestinian civilians. “The American corridor is absolutely essential to helping meet this gap in need to address the shelter, the food, the health, malnutrition and clean water sanitation needs,” said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq reiterated on Thursday that the maritime corridor is not the best solution. “Getting aid to people in need into and across Gaza cannot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute. Land routes are the most viable, effective and efficient aid delivery method, which is why we need all crossing points to be opened,” Haq said. Korde said the international community must continue to work on pushing more aid through all routes into Gaza.  “We're at a point in time when this is all hands on deck. We can't spare any effort,” she told reporters. Haq also raised fears Thursday that without fuel on the ground in Gaza, aid workers will not be able to distribute the humanitarian assistance coming from the pier. Korde, however, told reporters that USAID expects to "have the fuel necessary” for the operation. Aid has been slow to get into Gaza due to long backups of vehicles at Israeli inspection points. The United States and other nations have air dropped food into Gaza 38 times in recent months, but each air drop via military accounts for only about one to three truckloads of food, a U.S. official told VOA. Aid organizations have said several hundred truckloads of food are needed in Gaza each day. The pier’s completion was delayed for several days due to rough seas.   Security Security for the approximately 1,000 U.S. forces building the pier and aid organizations distributing the supplies has been the paramount concern for the Pentagon since the plan’s conception, according to Cooper. "This is a 100% humanitarian mission, and any attack on those working on it is an attack on aid for the people of Gaza, " said Cooper. Security forces have conducted rehearsals in preparation for the commencement of operations and will continue to assess and reassess security, Cooper said. Israel Defense Forces have dedicated a brigade of troops, along with ships and air assets, to help ensure force protection. IDF engineers prepared the beach for the temporary pier and secured it to the beach. Israel attacked Hamas in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 terror attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw hundreds more taken hostage. In the nearly seven months since the attack, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to Gazan health officials.

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