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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, whose frail health has been a growing source of concern in recent weeks, appeared in better shape on Wednesday ahead of a busy Easter week schedule.  The 87-year-old pontiff read out in full pre-prepared texts for his weekly audience, rather than delegating an aide to read most of them, as he had done in the previous four weeks, and made a few off-the-cuff remarks.  Francis made fresh appeals for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, and publicly greeted two men in the audience, one Israeli and one Palestinian, who have both lost daughters in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  He described them as two friends "who love one another and who have experienced the same crucifixion."  Vatican media named them as Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan of the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF), an Israeli-Palestinian group that brings together relatives of victims of the conflict.  Aramin's daughter Abir, 10, was fatally wounded by an Israeli border police officer in 2007, while Elhanan's daughter Smadar was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber in 1997, just before she turned 14.  The pope, who is in daily phone contact with a Catholic parish in Gaza, also wrote an open letter to Catholics in the Middle East, expressing sympathy for "your sufferings and your struggles, particularly in the course of these recent months."  Prison ritual  The pope has been suffering on and off from what has been described as a cold, bronchitis and influenza for more than a month, leading him to limit public speaking, cancel some meetings and visit a hospital for medical checks.  Concerns about his condition were renewed three days ago, when he skipped his homily at a Palm Sunday service in St. Peter's Square.  The pontiff is due to preside over a number of religious services and ceremonies leading up to Easter on Sunday, including a washing of the feet ritual in a women's prison in Rome on Thursday.  Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar, celebrating the day on which Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead.  Francis, who also has restricted mobility due to a knee problem, arrived in the Paul VI audience hall on Wednesday walking with a cane, rather than in a wheelchair that he sometimes uses.  He sounded in good spirits as he told the faithful that the event had been moved indoors at the last minute, forcing crowds to relocate from St. Peter's Square, due to rainy weather.  "It's true that you're going to be a bit crammed, but at least we won't be wet," he said.

AZACUALPA, Honduras — The construction workers who went missing in the Baltimore bridge collapse all hailed from Mexico or Central America before they settled in the Maryland area.  Police managed to close bridge traffic seconds before a cargo ship slammed into one of the Francis Scott Key Bridge's supports early Tuesday, causing the span to fall into the frigid Patapsco River. There wasn't time for a maintenance crew filling potholes on the span to get to safety.  At least eight people fell into the water and two were rescued. The other six are missing and presumed dead, but the search continued Wednesday.  The governments of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras confirmed that their citizens were among the missing.  Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, 38, was the youngest of eight siblings from Azacualpa, a rural mountainous area in northwestern Honduras along the border with Guatemala.  Eighteen years ago, he set out on his own for the United States looking for opportunities. He had worked as an industrial technician in Honduras, repairing equipment in the large assembly plants, but the pay was too low to get ahead, one of his brothers, Martín Suazo Sandoval, said Wednesday while standing in the dirt street in front of the family's small hotel in Honduras.  "He always dreamed of having his own business," he said.  Maynor entered the United States illegally and settled in Maryland. At first, he did any work he could find, including construction and clearing brush. Eventually, he started a package delivery business in the Baltimore-Washington area, his brother said.  Other siblings and relatives followed him north.  "He was the fundamental pillar, the bastion so that other members of the family could also travel there and later get visas and everything," Martín Suazo Sandoval said. "He was really the driving force so that most of the family could travel."  Maynor has a wife and two children, ages 17 and 5, his brother said.  The pandemic forced Maynor to find other work, and he joined Brawner Builders, the company that was performing maintenance on the bridge when it collapsed.  His brother said Maynor never talked about being scared of the work, despite the heights he worked at on the bridges. "He always told us that you had to triple your effort to get ahead," Martín Suazo Sandoval said. "He said it didn't matter what time or where the job was, you had to be where the work was."  Things had been going well for him until the collapse. He was moving through the steps to get legal residency and planned to return to Honduras this year to complete the process, his brother said.  Even though Maynor had not been able to return to Honduras, he had financially supported various nongovernmental social organizations in town, as well as the youth soccer league, his brother said. The area depends largely upon agriculture — coffee, cattle, sugarcane — he said.  Maynor's employer broke the news of his disappearance to his family, leaving them devastated, especially his mother, who still lives in Azacualpa, Martín Suazo Sandoval said.  "These are difficult moments, and the only thing we can do is keep the faith," he said, noting that his younger brother knew how to swim and could have ended up anywhere. If the worst outcome is confirmed, he said the family would work to return his body to Honduras.  In Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said three Mexicans were on the bridge when it fell — one who was injured but rescued and two who were still missing. He said he wouldn't share their names for the families' privacy.  The tragedy illustrated the contributions that migrants make to the U.S. economy, Lopez Obrador said.  "This demonstrates that migrants go out and do risky jobs at midnight. And for this reason, they do not deserve to be treated as they are by certain insensitive, irresponsible politicians in the United States," he said.  Guatemala's Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that two of its citizens were among the missing.  El Salvador's foreign minister, Alexandra Hill Tinoco, posted Wednesday on X that one Salvadoran citizen, Miguel Luna, was among the missing workers.  Federal and state investigators have said the crash appears to have been an accident. 

Lin Jian’s remarks incorrectly draw a parallel between Article 23 and the U.S. legal system. Careful examination of Hong Kong’s new ordinance reveals that it is starkly different from U.S. principles and in effect undermines Hong Kong’s special status and autonomy.

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.

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 — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss support for Ukraine during talks in Paris next week with French President Emmanuel Macron, the State Department announced Wednesday. France is among the major military suppliers to Ukraine, which is facing an onslaught of Russian attacks. President Joe Biden's request for billions of dollars in new U.S. military aid to Kyiv is held up in the House of Representatives, led by the rival Republican Party. "Secretary Blinken will meet with French President Macron to discuss support for Ukraine, efforts to prevent escalation of the conflict in Gaza and a number of other important issues," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. France has advocated for a permanent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, whereas the United States, Israel's main ally, recently let pass a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for a cease-fire during the month of Ramadan. It will be the first visit in nearly two years to France by Blinken, a fluent French speaker who grew up partly in Paris. Macron paid a state visit to Washington in December 2022. After Paris, Blinken will head to Brussels for talks among NATO foreign ministers ahead of the alliance's 75th anniversary summit in Washington in July. Blinken will also hold a three-way meeting in Brussels with EU leaders and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has been seeking to branch out from his country's historic alliance with Russia. Blinken and the European Union will address "support for Armenia's economic resilience as it works to diversify its trade partnerships and to address humanitarian needs," Miller said. Armenia was angered last year by Russia's failure to prevent Azerbaijan from retaking the Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian rebels.

Hostilities in Central African Republic (CAR) are ongoing, with some 10,000 children fighting in armed conflicts among various rebel groups. Russia’s involvement with CAR’s leadership is replete with corruption, misappropriation of natural resources, mass violence and human rights abuses.

Famine is looming in Gaza as the U.S. and Israel continue to disagree over aid. Netanyahu remain defiant following UN resolution and Hamas’ leader is seen in Iran. The latest from Kyiv and more from the collapsed bridge in Baltimore. Plus, a look at elections in Africa.

By Gwen Short, Staff Attorney at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality and Raul Pinto, Deputy Director of Transparency at the American Immigration Council ABLE and the American Immigration Council published a report on March 19 analyzing data suggesting that the collusion between U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Sandusky Bay station and Ohio law enforcement […]

The post Border Patrol and Ohio Law Enforcement Engage in Racial Profiling in Northern Ohio, New Report Finds appeared first on Immigration 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 — China said Wednesday it had asked Pakistan to "speed up the hunt" for those behind the previous day's terrorist attack that killed five Chinese workers and their local driver.   The foreign ministry spokesman told a news conference in Beijing that both countries were working closely to ensure "effective steps" were taken to protect the safety and security of Chinese personnel in Pakistan. Lin Jian said that Islamabad "promised to thoroughly investigate the incident, provide timely updates on the progress of the investigation, (and) strengthen security measures for Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions."   A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a convoy of Chinese engineers in a mountainous northern Pakistani district on Tuesday, killing five of them and their local driver.   No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, though Islamabad suspected militants linked to the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, were behind it. The TTP, a globally designated terrorist group, denied its involvement in the attacks, saying it targets only Pakistani security forces. "China firmly supports Pakistan in fighting terrorism," Lin said, adding that the two countries " have the resolve and capability to make the terrorists pay the price." He reiterated that Beijing and Islamabad "are all-weather strategic cooperative partners" and "no attempt to sabotage" the cooperation "will ever succeed." The victims of Tuesday's suicide bombing were working on the Chinese-funded multibillion-dollar Dasu Dam in the Kohistan district on the Indus River, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan.   The attack was the second on Chinese engineers associated with the project. In mid-2021, a suicide car bombing targeted a bus convoy in the area, killing nine Chinese nationals and three Pakistani co-workers. In Islamabad, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired an emergency security meeting Wednesday to discuss Tuesday's "heinous attack" and vowed "to bring to justice swiftly" the perpetrators, his office said.   The statement said, "The acts targeting Pakistan-China friendship are particularly aimed at creating mistrust between the two iron brothers."   US Reaction The United States also condemned Tuesday's attack in Pakistan.   "We are deeply saddened by the loss of life and injuries sustained and share our heartfelt condolences with those affected by the attack," Mathew Miller, the State Department spokesman, told reporters in Washington.   "I'll note that PRC (People's Republic of China) nationals in Pakistan have also been the victims of terrorist attacks, and no country should suffer the acts of terror," Miller added.   Beijing and Islamabad have close economic and defense ties. In recent years, China has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan to build road networks, power plants, and the deep-water Arabian Sea port at Gwadar in southwestern Baluchistan province.   The collaboration is taking place under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, an extension of President Xi Jinping's global infrastructure program, the Belt and Road Initiative. Pakistan has recently experienced a dramatic surge in terror attacks that officials allege stem from TTP sanctuaries in Afghanistan. Islamabad says the violence has intensified since the Islamist Taliban reclaimed power in the war-ravaged neighboring country.   Earlier this month, Pakistani warplanes bombed TTP hideouts inside Afghan border provinces. Islamabad defended the military action, saying diplomatic efforts to pursue the Taliban to rein in the terrorists did not work.   Separatist insurgents have lately also stepped-up attacks against security forces in Baluchistan.   Over the past week, insurgents stormed a key government complex in Gwadar and assaulted a significant Pakistan Navy aviation base in nearby Turbat district. Several Pakistani security personnel and around a dozen assailants were killed in both attacks.  

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.

MADRID — A prosecutor at Spain's High Court is seeking a prison sentence of 2-1/2 years for former soccer federation chief Luis Rubiales over his unsolicited kiss on player Jenni Hermoso, a court document seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed. Prosecutor Marta Durantez charged Rubiales with one count of sexual assault and one of coercion for his alleged actions in the aftermath of the kiss, offenses carrying jail terms of one year and one-and-a-half years, respectively. Rubiales, 46, unleashed a furor when he grabbed Hermoso and kissed her on the lips on Aug. 20 of last year during the awards ceremony after Spain's victory in the women's World Cup in Sydney.   Hermoso and her teammates said the kiss was unwanted and demeaning, but Rubiales argued it was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.   The prosecutor also accused the former coach of the women's national team, Jorge Vilda, the team's current sporting director, Albert Luque, and the federation's head of marketing, Ruben Rivera, of coercing Hermoso into saying the kiss was consensual. All three have denied wrongdoing when they appeared before the court. Durantez seeks to have Rubiales pay $54,080 in damages to Hermoso, and another $54,080 jointly paid by Rubiales, Vilda, Luque and Rivera. If the court were to convict Rubiales and impose the sentencing sought by the prosecutor he would not necessarily have to go to prison. Spain's criminal code allows judges to "exceptionally" suspend the execution of the sentence if - as in this case - none of the sentences imposed individually exceeds two years.

BEIJING — China's President Xi Jinping met American business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, as the government tries to woo back foreign investors and international firms seeking reassurance about the impact of new regulations.  Beijing wants to boost growth of the world's second-largest economy after foreign direct investment shrank 8% in 2023 amid heightened investor concern over an anti-espionage law, exit bans, and raids on consultancies and due diligence firms.  Xi's increasing focus on national security has left many companies uncertain where they might step over the line, even as Chinese leaders make public overtures toward foreign investors.  "China's development has gone through all sorts of difficulties and challenges to get to where it is today," Xi said, according to state media.  "In the past, [China] did not collapse because of a 'China collapse theory,' and it will also not peak now because of a 'China peak theory,'" he said.  Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder and CEO of private equity firm Blackstone, Raj Subramaniam, head of American delivery giant FedEx, and Cristiano Amon, the boss of chips manufacturer Qualcomm, were part of the around 20-strong all-male U.S. contingent.   The audience with Xi — organized by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the U.S.-China Business Council and the Asia Society think tank — lasted around 90 minutes, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.  The source, who declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media, had no immediate comment on what was discussed. The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and Asia Society did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the meeting.  A statement from U.S.-China Business Council said the participants "stressed the importance of rebalancing China's economy by increasing consumption there and encouraging the government to further address longstanding concerns with cross border data flows, government procurement, intellectual property rights, and improved regulatory transparency and predictability."  The U.S. and China are gradually resuming engagements after relations between the two economic superpowers sank to their lowest in years due to clashes over trade policies, the future of democratically ruled Taiwan and territorial claims in the South China Sea. 

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.