FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center right, meets with, from left, Marshall Islands Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Jack Ading, Palau President Surangel Whipps, Jr., and Micronesia President Wesley Simina, Sept. 26, 2023, at the State Department in Washington.

WASHINGTON — 
U.S. congressional negotiators released a bill Sunday that would fund key parts of the government through the rest of the fiscal year, which began in October 2023.
Among provisions in the appropriations package are critical funds to counter China in the Pacific as part of an agreement signed last year called the Compacts of Free Association, or COFA.
Under the compacts, Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands will receive $7 billion in economic aid over 20 years. In exchange, Washington will provide for their defense and can deny China access to their territorial waters, a maritime area larger than the continental United States.
The United States has had similar agreements in effect with Micronesia and the Marshalls since 1986 and with Palau since 1994. Citizens from these nations are allowed to travel, live and work in the United States as nonimmigrants.
Congresswoman Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, who represents the U.S. territory of American Samoa, told VOA on Sunday that House Speaker Mike Johnson reached her early Saturday morning to deliver the news.
Radewagen said she then called the presidents of the three Pacific allies to share the details.
“The COFA agreements send a clear message of U.S. commitment to the Pacific region and take a much-needed international strong stand for the ideals of democracy and freedom,” she told VOA in an email.
Senator Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat who has long supported the full funding of the agreement, issued a statement Sunday night.
“As we work to counter China’s growing influence in the Pacific, these agreements are extremely important for our national security and that of our allies, and also for the tens of thousands of COFA citizens who live, work and pay taxes in the U.S.,” she said.
The move comes after 26 senators, including Senators Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and John Barrasso, a Republican, urged Senate leadership to include the language that had previously been dropped from a Senate security spending bill on Feb. 12.
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“Failure to act on COFA opens the door to more corrupting influence and funding by the PRC in the region,” wrote the senators, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
Pacific Island leaders remain cautious.
President Hilda Heine of the Marshall Islands spoke to a Remembrance Day for victims and survivors of nuclear testing on March 1, the 70th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear test on Bikini Atoll.
“Our nation has been a steadfast ally of the United States, but that should not be taken for granted,” she told the audience, according to the news site Islands Business.
Palau President Surangel Whipps, Jr. told VOA:
"We are heartened that the leaders of both houses of Congress and the White House have reached a consensus on the legislation slated for action this week. We thank our friends in both parties for their continued support and partnership."
U.S. lawmakers face another threat of a partial shutdown if they fail to act by midnight Friday.
House Speaker Johnson has said he will bring the compromise bill to the floor for a full house vote on Wednesday.

Netanyahu Rival Visits US, Signals Wider Cracks in Israel’s Wartime Leadership

FILE - Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, second right, meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 8, 2024.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked a top Cabinet minister arriving in Washington on Sunday for talks with U.S. officials, according to an Israeli official, signaling widening cracks within the country’s leadership nearly five months into its war with Hamas.
The trip by Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival who joined Netanyahu’s wartime Cabinet following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, comes as friction between the U.S. and Netanyahu is rising over how to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and what the postwar plan for the enclave should look like.
An official from Netanyahu’s far-right Likud party said Gantz’s trip was planned without authorization from the Israeli leader. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu had a “tough talk” with Gantz and told him the country has “just one prime minister.”
Gantz is scheduled to meet Monday with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Tuesday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to his National Unity Party. A second Israeli official speaking on the condition of anonymity said Gantz's visit is intended to strengthen ties with the U.S., bolster support for Israel’s war and push for the release of Israeli hostages.
In Egypt, talks were underway to broker a cease-fire before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins next week.
Israel did not send a delegation because it is waiting for answers from Hamas on two questions, according to a third Israeli government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Israeli media reported that the government is waiting to learn which hostages are alive and how many Palestinian prisoners Hamas seeks in exchange for each.
All three Israeli officials spoke anonymously because they weren’t authorized to discuss the disputes with the media.
The U.S. began airdrops of aid into Gaza on Saturday, after dozens of Palestinians rushing to grab food from an Israel-organized convoy were killed last week. The airdrops circumvented an aid delivery system hobbled by Israeli restrictions, logistical issues and fighting in Gaza. Aid officials say airdrops are far less effective than deliveries by truck.
U.S. priorities in the region have increasingly been hampered by Netanyahu’s Cabinet, which is dominated by ultranationalists. Gantz’s more moderate party at times acts as a counterweight.
Netanyahu's popularity has dropped since the war broke out, according to most opinion polls. Many Israelis hold him responsible for failing to stop the Oct. 7 cross-border terror attack by Hamas, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 people as hostages into Gaza, including women, children and older adults, according to Israeli authorities.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, and U.N. agencies say hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine.
Israelis critical of Netanyahu say his decision-making has been tainted by political considerations, a charge he denies. The criticism is particularly focused on plans for postwar Gaza. Netanyahu wants Israel to maintain open-ended security control over Gaza, with Palestinians running civilian affairs.
The U.S. wants to see progress on the creation of a Palestinian state, envisioning a revamped Palestinian leadership running Gaza with an eye toward eventual statehood.
That vision is opposed by Netanyahu and the hard-liners in his government. Another top Cabinet official from Gantz's party has questioned the handling of the war and the strategy for freeing the hostages.
Netanyahu's government, Israel's most conservative and religious ever, has also been rattled by a court-ordered deadline for a new bill to broaden military enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews. Many of them are exempt from military service so they can pursue religious studies. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have been killed since Oct. 7, and the military is looking to fill its ranks.
Gantz has remained vague about his view of Palestinian statehood. Polls show he would earn enough support to become prime minister if a vote were held today.
A visit to the U.S., if met with progress on the hostage front, could further boost Gantz’s support.
Israel and Hamas are negotiating over a possible new cease-fire and hostage release deal. Vice President Harris said Sunday it is now up to Hamas to agree to it. “Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate cease-fire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table,” Harris said.
Israelis, deeply traumatized by Hamas’ attack, have broadly backed the war effort as an act of self-defense, even as global opposition to the fighting has increased.
But a growing number are expressing their dismay with Netanyahu. Some 10,000 people protested late Saturday to call for early elections, according to Israeli media. Such protests have grown in recent weeks but remain much smaller than last year's demonstrations against the government's judicial overhaul plan.
If the political rifts grow and Gantz quits the government, the floodgates will open to broader protests by a public that was already unhappy with the government when Hamas struck, said Reuven Hazan, a professor of political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
At least 12 people were killed, including five women and two children, in an Israeli strike Sunday that hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to an Associated Press journalist at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah. And two Israeli strikes southwest of Deir al-Balah killed at least five people and destroyed an aid truck, according to witnesses and staff at the hospital.
Amid concerns about the wider regional conflict, White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein was going to Lebanon on Monday to meet officials, according to an administration official who was not authorized to comment. White House officials want Lebanese and Israeli officials to prevent tensions along their border from worsening.

Thousands of Inmates Escape Haiti’s Main Prison During Police-Gang Gunfight

This screen grab taken from AFPTV shows tires on fire near the main prison in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 3, 2024, after several thousand inmates broke out of the facility.
WASHINGTON/PORT-AU-PRINCE — 
Thousands of prisoners fled Haiti’s National Penitentiary, located in the capital, during a Saturday night gunbattle between national police and armed gangs, an official told VOA.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry is currently overseas. He traveled last week to Kenya, where he signed a bilateral accord to authorize 1,000 Kenyan police officers who will lead a multinational security force. The United Nations authorized the force to help Haiti combat gang violence and reestablish security.
It was unclear where the prime minister was Sunday. Kenyan President William Ruto’s office did not respond to a request by VOA for information on Henry’s whereabouts.
The Henry government has not officially commented on what is happening in Haiti.
The U.S. Embassy in Haiti has not yet publicly commented on the weekend violence.
VOA journalists who went Sunday to the penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince saw bodies inside and outside the building.
An engineer, who wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of law enforcement officials, said he was working with the national police to survey the situation Sunday morning.
The engineer said 99 prisoners remained inside the jail. He said the penitentiary previously held close to 4,000 prisoners. He said he was not prepared to give an estimate of how many prisoners died during the jailbreak.

An inmate waves through a cell window at the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, March 3, 2024. Thousands of inmates fled Haiti's main prison after armed gangs stormed the facility overnight.
Among the bodies outside the building were civilians who had been caught in the crossfire, he said, adding that the police commissioner would publish official numbers later. The Associated Press reported that at least five people had been killed.
“Those who remain (inside) are ill, prisoners who were being treated at the dispensary for various illnesses,” the engineer told VOA.
Haiti’s National Penitentiary houses several high-profile prisoners. Among them: Cholzer Chancy, former president of the Chamber of Deputies who led the parliament between 2016 and 2018; Joseph Felix Badio, a key suspect in President Jovenel Moise’s assassination, Clifford Brandt, a convicted drug dealer who is the son of one of the richest men in Haiti.
The engineer told VOA Brandt had been transferred out of the prison before the gunbattle.
“No, Brandt is not here. They took him out and brought him to another location,” he said. He did not provide any other details.
A video widely shared on social media shows Brandt being taken out of the prison, accompanied by armed policemen and transferred to a police armored vehicle. VOA could not verify when the video was recorded.
Marcelin Myrthil, arrested in connection with the grassroots anti-gang Bwa Kale movement, was also imprisoned at the penitentiary.
The Bwa Kale movement targeted suspected gang members, many being chased by citizens and lynched or executed in the streets. Myrthil distributed machetes to communities plagued by gang violence and encouraged civilians to execute suspected thugs. Myrthil had been relocated by the police, the engineer told VOA.
“He is in a secure place. I can’t tell you where he is,” the engineer said.
Eighteen former Colombian soldiers, accused in connection with the Moise assassination, were among the 99 prisoners who chose to remain in their jail cells. VOA spoke to a prisoner who identified himself as Francisco Eladio Uribe.

A burned car is seen outside the National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 3, 2024.
Speaking in Spanish, the man told VOA: “I did not escape last night because I don’t owe anyone anything. I am innocent. I came to this country to work toward a better future for my family. I ended up getting caught in the middle of a plot planned by an American company called CTV. It’s because of their trap that I’m in this situation today.”
In a video post that was widely shared on Haitian social media Saturday, the soldiers pleaded with the Colombian government, their families and the international community for help.
A 2022 Human Rights Watch report on Haiti’s prisons cited overcrowding, lack of food and drinkable water, and unsanitary conditions that resulted in outbreaks of disease.
World Prison Brief, a nongovernmental organization that monitors prisons worldwide, found that in 2020, Haiti’s prisons were 302% over capacity.
Jimmy Cherizier, known as “Barbecue,” leader of Haiti’s powerful G9 gang alliance, told journalists last week the rival gangs had “united” and launched a “revolution” to remove from power Prime Minister Henry. On Friday, he appealed to national police officers to join the gang effort.
Cherizier is a former policeman who has been targeted by sanctions issued by the United Nations and the U.S. Department of Treasury.
The U.S. accused him of complicity in the La Saline massacre that targeted a Port-au-Prince slum and resulted in at least 71 civilian deaths.
The U.S. State Department condemned the violence in Haiti in a statement emailed to VOA Friday.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and condemn destabilizing efforts in Haiti by those acting in their own self-interest,” a spokesperson said.

On Sunday, the State Department did not respond to a request from VOA for comment regarding the jailbreak.

China's Embassy Condemns Philippine Envoy's Remarks on South China Sea

FILE - Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez speaks during a ceremony in Manila, Philippines, Aug. 6, 2022.

BEIJING — 
The China Embassy in the Philippines said Sunday it "strongly" condemns the Philippine ambassador to Washington's recent China-related remarks, saying they "disregarded basic facts."
The remarks "wantonly hyped up the South China Sea issue and made speculations and malicious smears against China," the embassy said in a statement.
Jose Manuel Romualdez said Wednesday that while the United States sees both the South China Sea issue and a potential Taiwan conflict as "serious concerns," he believed the "real flashpoint is the West Philippine Sea" given "all of these skirmishes happening there."
The Chinese Embassy said, "Inviting wolves into the house and engaging in small circles will not only not help resolve the differences in the South China Sea, but on the contrary will complicate the regional situation, and undermine regional peace and stability."
It urged Romualdez to stop spreading the "China threat theory" and "paranoia of persecution," and to refrain from "acting as a spokesperson for other countries."
The Philippine Embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tensions have flashed over maritime disputes in the South China Sea, with Beijing and Manila trading sharp accusations over a slew of run-ins.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China's claims had no legal basis. But Beijing does not recognize the court’s authority.

15 US States Voting in Presidential Primaries on Tuesday

FILE - Candidate supporters stand outside a polling location in the presidential primary election, Jan. 23, 2024, in Windham, New Hampshire. Super Tuesday is feeling anything but for many Americans, with the leading presidential contenders already appearing set.

Voters are headed to the polls in 15 U.S. states and American Samoa on Tuesday in the biggest day of balloting in presidential primary elections, with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump expected to roll to more victories and an inevitable face-off in the November national election.
Biden, who defeated Trump’s 2020 reelection bid, is facing only token opposition in the Democratic primaries on what is known on the U.S. political calendar as Super Tuesday. Even so, Biden has fallen a few percentage points behind Trump in recent national polls and in several political battleground states that likely will determine the national outcome.
Trump on Saturday captured more delegates to this summer’s national party nominating convention in Republican contests in Michigan, Idaho and Missouri. He is predicted to cement his lead in the Tuesday voting over his remaining challenger, Nikki Haley, his one-time United Nations ambassador and a former South Carolina governor.
Trump faces an unprecedented four criminal indictments encompassing 91 charges, with the first trial scheduled in three weeks on charges that he tried to hide a hush money payment to a porn star ahead of his successful 2016 presidential campaign. But he has yet to lose a state in the 2024 campaign to Haley and lately has been all but ignoring her candidacy and instead focusing on Biden.
At a rally Saturday night in the mid-Atlantic state of Virginia, Trump called for a "landslide that's too big to rig" in the primary elections on Tuesday to send a “signal” to Biden.
“You know they have, like, the standard line: 'Donald Trump is a threat to democracy.' Some advertising agency wrote that down,” Trump said. "I'm not a threat. I'm the one that's ending the threat to democracy."
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Days after both Trump and Biden visited the U.S.-Mexico border to offer their plans to control the influx of migrants, Trump renewed his attacks against Biden, ignoring the incumbent’s call for passage of tougher immigration controls as proposed by a bipartisan group of senators, a Democrat, a Republican and an independent.
"Let's face it: This country is a mess,” Trump said. “We got 15 [million] to 16 million people came in, and they came in from prisons and jails. They come in from mental institutions and insane asylums. They're terrorists. They're drug dealers. We are really going to be a very different country.”
"We have to have it stopped. With your help, we will win big on Super Tuesday,” he said. “And this November, Virginia is going to tell crooked Joe Biden, you're fired. You're fired! Get out of here! Get out of here! Get out of the White House.”
Despite her early party primary and caucus losses to Trump and the prospect of more on Tuesday, Haley told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” show on Sunday she has no intention of dropping out of the race.
“As long as we are competitive, as long as we are showing that there is a place for us, I'm going to continue to fight,” she said.
Haley, who once signed a pledge to support the Republican presidential nominee, hedged on whether she will honor that commitment if Trump wins the party’s nomination.
“I think I'll make what decision I want to make,” she said. “I have always said that I have serious concerns about Donald Trump. I have even more concerns about Joe Biden.”