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Sulaymaniyah, Iraq — Four Yemeni workers were killed Friday in a drone attack on an Emirati-owned gas complex in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdistan region, local authorities said.   The Khor Mor complex owned by the United Arab Emirates firm Dana Gas has been hit several times in recent years, but Friday's drone strike was the first deadly attack.   "Four Yemeni workers were killed and the field was severely damaged," Kurdistan regional government spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani said.    He said the attack would cause "power shortages." “These repeated attacks must stop," Hawramani added.   He called on the federal government in Baghdad to "find the perpetrators of this terrorist act."   Iraqi security forces said they formed an investigative committee to probe the attack, vowing that the "aggressors" would be punished.  A drone hit the site about 6:45 p.m. local time (1545 GMT), said Ramak Ramadan, district chief of Chamchamal, where the Khor Mor complex is located.  He said it targeted a fuel storage tank.   The attack disrupted gas supply to the region's power plants, resulting in the loss of 2500 megawatts of electricity, local electricity authorities said.   Efforts are underway to repair the damage and restore the gas supply, it added in a statement.    There was no immediate claim of responsibility.   Threat to stability  Kurdish authorities denounced the attack and called on the federal government in Baghdad to find ways to prevent further ones.  "These attacks threaten the peace and stability of the country," regional President Nechirvan Barzani said, urging the federal authorities in Baghdad to "do their duty to stop these attacks, find the perpetrators whatever their affiliation, and punish them."      The gas field that came under attack lies between the cities of Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah, in a region administered by Kurdish authorities. Unclaimed Katyusha rocket attacks have targeted the same complex several times in recent years without causing significant damage.   Kurdish officials have previously blamed the attacks on pro-Iran groups.  In January, two Katyushas targeted the gas field, causing a blaze but no casualties. This occurred during a time when pro-Iran Iraqi groups were attacking military bases hosting American forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria.    Kurdistan Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani condemned the latest attack on the Khor Mor complex.    He called on the Iraqi government and local Kurdish authorities to "swiftly launch an investigation and take serious measures to prevent the recurrence of such attacks." 

LONDON — Britain's King Charles III will return to public duties next week for the first time since being diagnosed with cancer as he makes good progress following treatment and a period of recuperation, Buckingham Palace said on Friday. In February, the palace revealed that the 75-year-old king had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer detected in tests after a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate. Although Charles continued with official state business, the diagnosis led him to postpone public engagements to begin treatment and rest. "His majesty’s treatment program will continue, but doctors are sufficiently pleased with the progress made so far that the king is now able to resume a number of public-facing duties," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said. "His majesty is greatly encouraged to be resuming some public-facing duties and very grateful to his medical team for their continued care and expertise." Although it was too early to say how much longer his cancer treatment would last, the spokesperson said his doctors were "very encouraged by the progress made so far and remain positive about the king’s continued recovery." No further details about his condition or his treatment were given, in line with the usual stance on medical privacy. While pictured and filmed carrying out some official duties in private, Charles's only public appearance since his cancer diagnosis came last month when he greeted well-wishers in an impromptu walkabout after an Easter church service in Windsor, raising hopes that his health was improving. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak responded to the news of the king's return to public duties, saying on social media site X: "Brilliant news to end the week!" Japanese emperor visit To mark his return, Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, will visit a cancer treatment center in London next Tuesday, the palace said. It was also confirmed that the Japanese Emperor Naruhito and his wife, Empress Masako, would pay a state visit in late June. However, Charles will not carry out his usual summer program and his plans will be crafted in consultation with his medical team to minimize risks to recovery, the palace said. The king's absence has coincided with news that his daughter-in-law Kate, wife of his son and heir Prince William, was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after tests in the wake of major abdominal surgery revealed cancer had been present. The Princess of Wales, often known by her maiden name Kate Middleton, will herself only return to public duties when her medical team say she is well enough to do so. Charles's health scare came less than 18 months into his reign after he succeeded from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, and less than a year since his coronation, Britain's biggest ceremonial event for seven decades. "As the first anniversary of the coronation approaches, their majesties remain deeply grateful for the many kindnesses and good wishes they have received from around the world throughout the joys and challenges of the past year," Buckingham Palace said.

jerusalem — Missiles suspected to have been fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Friday damaged a ship traveling through the Red Sea, authorities said.  The attack followed an uptick in assaults launched by the Houthis in recent days after a relative lull in their monthslong campaign in response to Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.  The private security firm Ambrey said three missiles could be seen in the attack, which landed closest to a Panama-flagged, Seychelles-registered tanker it described as being "engaged in Russia-linked trade." The vessel was traveling from Primorsk, Russia, to Vadinar, India, Ambrey said.  Those details corresponded to a tanker called the Andromeda Star, which had been previously broadcasting its location off Mocha, Yemen, according to ship-tracking data.  The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile fire, though it typically takes the rebels several hours to acknowledge their attacks. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center also reported the attack off Mocha, saying a ship saw one missile land nearby and a second attack that damaged the vessel. It wasn't immediately clear if it was the Andromeda Star that was damaged in the attack.  The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, have seized one vessel and have sunk another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.  Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen, and shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat.   American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and their firing off drones and missiles steadily in the past months.  However, since Wednesday, there have been at least two attacks claimed by the Houthis. The first targeted the MV Yorktown, a U.S.-flagged, -owned and -operated vessel with 18 U.S. and four Greek crew members. Another targeted the MSC Darwin.  The Houthis have said they will continue their attacks until Israel ends its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.  Most of the ships targeted by the Houthis have had little or no direct connection to Israel, the U.S. or other nations involved in the war. The rebels have also fired missiles toward Israel, though they have largely fallen short or been intercepted. 

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 — As student protests against Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza continue at more than three dozen American universities, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the demonstrations were "a hallmark" of American democracy. At the same time, he criticized the students for their “silence" on Hamas. "It is also notable that there is silence about Hamas. It's as if it wasn't even part of the story," Blinken said to reporters Friday during a visit to Beijing. "But as I've also said repeatedly, the way Israel goes about ensuring that October 7th never happens again matters profoundly." Speaking in a country where dissent is often harshly suppressed, Blinken said he understood the war invokes "strong, passionate feelings" and voiced support for the students' right to protest. "It's a hallmark of our democracy that our citizens make known their views, their concerns, their anger, at any given time, and I think that reflects the strength of the country, the strength of democracy," he said. Protests have grown in campuses across the country since Columbia University in New York started cracking down on pro-Palestinian protesters occupying a lawn on its campus on April 18. Police interventions have led to hundreds of arrests but have failed to contain the spread of antiwar demonstrations. "We have students of all backgrounds and of all histories and identities coming out here to stand on the side of justice and to oppose genocide," said Malak Afaneh, who spoke with VOA from the encampment at the University of California-Berkeley. The third-year law student who has Palestinian parents said there has been an "outpouring of community support." In many universities, Jewish students participated in expressing their anger about U.S. support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza and their schools' financial and academic ties to Israel and to weapons manufacturers. "We have a university that's actively investing money into companies that are helping fuel [the war], kill these innocent people," a Jewish student from Georgetown University told VOA, declining to share her name because of security concerns. "And it's just not something that I morally can – I have never been able to stand by – but especially not now anymore." Yet some Jewish students have complained of rising antisemitism and have felt unsafe on their own campuses, including Columbia, because of the protests. Overall, the protests are peaceful, even as some are met with counterprotests from pro-Israel and pro-Zionist students. Demonstrations are broadly protected as free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Antisemitic language Still, the protests are potentially explosive for university administrators, particularly as some students have been called out for using antisemitic language. Interpreted differently by its supporters, a chant like, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," is seen by many Jews and Israelis as a call to dismantle the Jewish state and replace it with a Palestinian state that extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.  The demonstrations are also becoming a political headache for President Joe Biden. Student protesters and progressive Democrats who support their cause are important constituencies for Biden ahead of the November presidential election. His reelection bid depends in part to his ability to pacify progressives' anger about his administration's support of Israel, a close U.S. ally.  An added complication for Biden is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to portray the antiwar sentiment in the U.S. as antisemitic. On Wednesday, Netanyahu called the protests "horrific" and said they must be stopped.  "Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities," he said. "They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty." Netanyahu, who is facing protests demanding his resignation at home, said the American demonstrations are "reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s," drawing parallels to scenes that preceded the Holocaust under Nazi Germany. Ties are already tense as the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress demand that Israel improve its conduct of the war. In March, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, described the Israeli prime minister as an impediment to peace in the Middle East and called for a new election to replace him. Schumer is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S. Republicans decry protests Netanyahu's criticisms of the protests are echoed by Republican lawmakers who accuse the students of condoning terrorism and supporting Hamas. Republican-led committees in Congress have summoned university administrators to testify, accusing them of allowing campuses to become hotbeds of antisemitism. On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson and several other Republican lawmakers visited Columbia University, calling for the resignation of university President Minouche Shafik and decrying the student protests as violent and uncontrollable. "This is dangerous. This is not the First Amendment, this is not free expression," Johnson said, amid raucous booing and shouts from protesters. The speaker demanded that Biden call out the country's military reserve force to quell the protests. "There is an appropriate time for the National Guard," he said. "We have to bring order to these campuses." The White House declined to weigh in, saying decisions to call in National Guard units to break up protests are up to state governors.

State Department  — A U.S. review will decide whether certain Israeli military units violated the human rights of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank before the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, making them ineligible to receive U.S. military assistance. A source familiar with the investigation told VOA on Friday that the “process continues to be ongoing” and is consistent with a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Israel that requires Washington to consult with Israeli officials prior to any conclusion. The Israeli government will continue to receive U.S. military aid during the review process, in which the State Department is assessing whether the Israel Defense Forces are taking appropriate steps to remediate any violations. There will be restrictions on the provision of U.S. military assistance if it is determined that there has not been appropriate accountability and remediation taken by Israel’s military, according to the source. The review process has drawn sharp criticism from Muslim rights groups who say the Biden administration has not done enough to hold Israel accountable for human rights violations against Palestinian civilians. Some analysts also have said the protracted process indicates the “special treatment” that Israel continues to receive from the United States. The Leahy Law The review is being conducted under a U.S. law known as the Leahy Law, which prohibits U.S. funding from going to foreign security units implicated in severe human rights violations. However, exceptions exist, such as when a foreign government addresses the issue through "remediation" as well as when the U.S. equipment is used for disaster relief. The State and Defense departments have a joint remediation policy allowing resumption of assistance if the foreign government is effectively addressing the violations through investigations, adjudications and proportional sentencing. On Thursday, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the Biden administration takes “extensive steps to fully implement the Leahy Law” for all countries that receive applicable U.S. assistance. “That, of course, includes Israel, with whom we have a long-standing security relationship,” Patel told reporters during a press briefing. U.S. officials declined to identify the units under review, but Israeli media said they include Netzah Yehuda, a military unit made up mostly of ultra-Orthodox Israeli soldiers that operated primarily in the West Bank before it was reassigned to the northern border in 2022. The allegations related to the IDF units were based on incidents that took place before the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel. They are not connected to Israel’s military operations in Gaza after October 7, nor to actions against Iran and its proxies. One incident involved the death of an elderly Palestinian American, Omar Assad, in January of 2022. The Biden administration’s review process has drawn scrutiny from Muslim civil rights groups. In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said: “Sanctioning this unit is the least the Biden administration should have done, and suspending military aid altogether is what the administration should do now." The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, is the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. Blacklisted foreign security units If foreign security units are blacklisted by the U.S. because of serious human rights violations, they cannot receive U.S. military assistance, use U.S. weapons, or participate in U.S. training. However, technically, the foreign government can use its own funds to purchase U.S. weapons and issue them to any unit it chooses, according to analysts. “It's not really a sanction or a punishment. It's the way in which Congress frames its laws to advance certain values, like human rights in this instance,” Sarah Harrison from International Crisis Group told VOA. “The fact that the State Department is now slow-rolling its decision underscores this exceptional treatment that Israel continues to receive,” Harrison added. Pro-Palestinian protests by US college students The investigation comes amid rising international anger over the high death toll and suffering among Palestinian civilians in Gaza during Israel’s drive to destroy the militant group Hamas, whose October 7 attack in Israel claimed some 1,200 Israeli lives. U.S. college students have staged pro-Palestinian protests on campuses across the United States. Asked about the protests during a press conference Friday in Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that in America, it is a “hallmark of our democracy that our citizens make known their views, their concerns, their anger at any given time, and I think that reflects the strength of the country, the strength of democracy.” “This could be over tomorrow, it could have been over yesterday, it could have been over months ago, if Hamas had put down its weapons, stopped hiding behind civilians, released the hostages, and surrendered, but of course, it has chosen not to do that,” Blinken said. “And it is also notable that there is silence about Hamas” from the students. VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara and VOA White House Correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this story.

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 students at U.S. universities have been arrested in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the protests are a hallmark of U.S. democracy but criticized students for their silence on Hamas. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports.

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.

On April 19, forty minutes after the ostensible deadline to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Congress passed H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA). President Biden quickly signed it into law hours later. RISAA reauthorizes Section 702 for two years, provides modest reforms, and includes several controversial […]

The post Congress Expands Warrantless Surveillance of Immigrants Traveling to the US 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.

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.