The United States is investing $3.2 billion in the development of antiviral pills for COVID-19 and other viruses that could spark new pandemics.
The top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, made the announcement Thursday at a White House briefing as part of a new initiative called the Antiviral Program for Pandemics.
The program will support research into the development of new drugs to address symptoms caused by the coronavirus and other potentially dangerous viruses.
Pills for COVID-19 are already in the developmental stage and could begin to be available by the end of 2021 if clinical trials are successful.
The funding will expedite the trials and bolster support for private sector research, development, and manufacturing.
The U.S. previously approved the antiviral drug remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19. It has also authorized for emergency use three antibody combinations that help fight the virus. But the drugs must be infused at hospitals or other medical facilities, a logistical issue that has resulted in weak demand.
Pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Roche have begun testing antiviral medications in pill form.
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Month: June 2021
Kenneth Kaunda, Father of Modern Zambia Dies at 97
The man known as Zambia’s founding father has died at the age of 97. Kenneth Kaunda rose to power during Africa’s heady post-independence period, when dozens of former European colonies gained their freedom. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Johannesburg on the death of this African giant.Produced by: Zaheer Cassim
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Cameroon Deploys Troops to Fight Separatists
Cameroon this week deployed an additional 300 troops to Bui, a northwestern administrative unit that the military says has become a stronghold for separatists. The troops are conducting house-to-house searches for weapons and destroying improvised explosive devices and rebel camps. But Civilians accuse both sides of abuses and rights violations.Cameroon’s military says Bui, an administrative unit in the English speaking North West Region, is becoming an epicenter of separatist atrocities. About 35 improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, were destroyed by the military within the past two weeks.Other IEDs planted by separatists, the military says, destroyed vehicles and roads.Troops sent to restore order in June killed seven fighters including three self-proclaimed separatist generals, authorities said. Four soldiers died while seizing weapons from fighters.General Valere Nka is commander of government troops fighting the separatists.He said 300 additional troops have been deployed this week to Bui with a mission to destroy IEDs and separatist camps.Nka said there is no time to rest for his troops as killings and looting by rebels is still rife in Bui. He said fighters continue to threaten freedoms and liberties of civilians. He said President Paul Biya, who is commander-in-chief of Cameroon’s armed forces, has instructed the military to destroy separatist camps and neutralize rebels and their self-proclaimed generals. Nka urged civilians to assist the military in reporting suspects and helping identify their hideouts.The Presbyterian Church in Bui said dozens of its members, especially motorcycle riders who transport travelers, have fled months of fighting. Forty-year-old Christopher Tatah said he escaped to the French-speaking western town of Bafoussam. He said government forces seized his motorcycle in Kumbo, the capital of Bui.“When they [the military] come, they break into houses and then they loot. They collect telephones, musical sets and then any other electronical gadget that they need. When they see any motor bike, they just collect and they do not give it back. So, we are pleading. The government should see [negotiate] a way that this war [separatist crisis] should come to an end,” he said.Tatah said civilians accused of collaborating with the military are targeted and tortured by fighters.He said before leaving Kumbo last Sunday, six civilians were killed when an explosive device planted by fighters detonated.Separatists have been fighting for the creation of an independent English-speaking state called Ambazonia.Capo Daniel is a self-proclaimed deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, a rebel group in Cameroon’s western regions. He claims responsibility for the IEDs, but says fighters target only the military. He spoke via the messaging app, WhatsApp.“Those civilians that were affected by those bombs [IEDs] were civilians who were being transported in Cameroonian military vehicles. Those military vehicles are legitimate targets for our forces on the ground. We will continue to target them and any civilians that allow themselves to be transported in military armored personnel carriers will definitely come under fire.”Capo blamed the military for most of the atrocities. Nka said the military has remained professional and respects the rights of citizens.Deben Tchoffo is the governor of Cameroon’s Northwest region. He said the troops deployed to Bui this week have been instructed to search homes and seize illegal weapons said to be in wide circulation.“There are some prophets of doom who want to bring chaos in our region by destabilizing the population of the Northwest region. We instructed the administrative authorities and the security forces [the military] to recuperate all those guns, ammunition that are circulating in the region. The process is ongoing. We are going to make sure all those that are still keeping guns and ammunition in the region are brought to book and prosecuted,” Violence erupted in 2017 in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority. The military reacted with a crackdown and separatist groups took up weapons, claiming that they were protecting civilians. The U.N. says 3,000 people have been killed and more than 50,000 displaced in French-speaking towns and in neighboring Nigeria.
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At Summit With Putin, Biden Raises RFE/RL’s ‘Foreign Agent’ Designation
During their summit in Geneva on June 16, U.S. President Joe Biden raised the issue of Kremlin pressure against RFE/RL’s Russian-language services in Russia with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The United States has accused Russia of attempting to drive RFE/RL out of the country by listing it as a “foreign agent” media organization and imposing fines against it for failing to comply with requirements that all its materials be prominently labeled. President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland.”I also raised the ability of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty to operate and the importance of a free press and freedom of speech,” Biden said at his press conference in Geneva when listing some of the issues the two leaders discussed. The same day, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) agreed to hear an appeal by RFE/RL against the Russian government over the “foreign agent” label and the labelling requirements. At his own separate news conference following the summit talks, Putin said that Biden “raised the question of the work of Liberty and, uh, their Free Europes in Russia.” Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks during a news conference after his meeting with U.S President Joe Biden at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.He repeated the Kremlin’s assertion that the labeling of RFE/RL’s Russian-language outlets — including Current Time, a network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA — as “foreign agents” was a response to a 2017 decision by the United States to compel Russian state-controlled network RT, sometimes known as Russia Today, to register under a 1938 law called the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Russia Using Foreign Agent Law to Attack Journalism, Media SayExorbitant fines, repressive accounting of all personal spending, and labels that sow distrust are part of Russia’s ‘fight against the spread of ideas,’ say those affected by legislation”It should be noted that Russia Today fulfills all the demands of the [U.S.] regulators and the law — they registered as required and so on,” Putin said. “Unfortunately, the American media don’t completely comply with the requirements of Russian law.” FARA does not require that every news story be prominently labeled as the product of a “foreign agent” media organization. The U.S. decision to compel RT to register came after a January 2017 U.S. intelligence finding that RT and Russia’s Sputnik news agency spread disinformation as part of a Kremlin effort to undermine faith in the U.S. democracy and influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Republican candidate and eventual winner Donald Trump. Moscow has denied any such effort. In Geneva, Putin expressed the “hope” that “we will manage to settle this” diplomatically. ‘Patriotic Russians’ In a statement following the Geneva summit, RFE/RL President Jamie Fly rejected the “foreign agent” label. “RFE/RL journalists are not ‘foreign agents,'” Fly said. “They are patriotic Russians who are only trying to serve their fellow citizens by giving them objective news and information. The Kremlin’s ongoing attacks against our journalists and other independent media outlets only serve to deprive the Russian people of their right to access uncensored information.” Russia’s so-called “foreign agent” legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as “foreign agents,” and to submit to audits. Later modifications targeted foreign-funded media. In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL’s Russian Service on the list, along with six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services and Current Time. The Russian Service of VOA was also added to the list. At the end of 2020, the legislation was modified to allow the Russian government to include individuals, including foreign journalists, on its “foreign agents” list and to impose restrictions on them. Several RFE/RL contributors were placed on the list in December 2020. Putin Signs Laws Imposing Fines for ‘Foreign Agent’ Law Violations, Protest-Related OffensesLatеst versions of the laws target foreign-funded media, including RFE/RL, and raise fines for acts of civil disobedienceThe Russian state media monitor Roskomnadzor last year adopted rules requiring listed media to mark all written materials with a lengthy notice in large text, all radio materials with an audio statement, and all video materials with a 15-second text declaration. RFE/RL rejects the “foreign agent” designation and has refused to comply with the rules, so the agency has prepared hundreds of complaints against RFE/RL’s projects. The total fines levied could run to more than $3 million. ‘Coercion and intimidation’ RFE/RL has called the fines “a state-sponsored campaign of coercion and intimidation,” while the U.S. State Department has described them as “intolerable.” Human Rights Watch has described the foreign agent legislation as “restrictive” and intended “to demonize independent groups.” In April, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said that “Russia’s actions against RFE/RL and other media organizations labeled as so-called ‘foreign agents’ reflect significant intolerance and oppressive restrictions.” “Should the Russian government continue to move to forcibly shut down RFE/RL, we will respond,” Price said, without elaborating. While RT distributes its programs freely in the United States on cable television, RFE/RL and VOA have no access to cable television in Russia. RFE/RL once had distribution agreements with nearly 100 radio channels inside Russia, but had lost them all by 2012 following a campaign of pressure by the authorities. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Each week, nearly 7 million people access RFE/RL’s news portals in Russia. Robert Coalson is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL who covers Russia, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe.
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Europe Questions Whether Biden-Putin Summit Will Stop Negative Spiral in Relations with Moscow
U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, remained tensely civil and cautiously polite before their much-anticipated summit in an eighteenth-century mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva. The press corps less so as American reporters and TV camerapersons were forced to jostle for space with obdurate Russian rivals.For some European newspapers, that seemed an apt metaphor. “If relations between the American and Russian press were anything to go by then the two nations have a real problem. While Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin sat in frosty silence the media contingents from their respective countries were involved in an unseemly scuffle with each other and officials,” Britain’s Daily Telegraph noted.“Mr. President, I’d like to thank you for your initiative to meet today. I know that you’ve been on a long journey,” Putin said before the shorter than expected meeting got under way in earnest. “Thank you,” Biden responded. “I think it’s always better to meet face to face.”Body languageBut stony faces and body language belied the words. As they spoke, the pair hardly made eye contact, diplomatic observers say, with both mostly casting their glances elsewhere. Biden sat bolt upright; Putin slouched.U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.And in their subsequent solo press conferences following the talks both leaders made clear the huge gulf that divides them with President Biden issuing no threats but a series of clear warnings. That included emphasizing red lines over alleged Russian cyberattacks on the U.S.And the U.S. leader warned of “devastating consequences,” if Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, were to die in jail. Several of Europe’s leading broadsheet newspapers, including the Financial Times, headlined that admonition. “It was important to meet in person so there could be no mistake about or misrepresentations about what I wanted to communicate. I did what I came to do,” Biden said, adding the real outcome of the summit would become apparent later.Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a screen via a video link during a hearing at the Petushki district court in Petushki, May 26, 2021.“The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We’re going to know shortly,” he said. That remark sums up much of both media and official reaction in Europe to the Geneva summit. President Biden has come under criticism from political rivals in the U.S. for instigating a meeting with Putin, which they say gave the Russian leader a gift.But that criticism hasn’t been echoed much in Europe. Seasoned European politicians say a U.S.-Russian summit was needed so that the Kremlin can be in no doubt now of a change of gears in the West since Donald Trump left the White House.Hours before Biden and Putin met, a former British foreign minister, Malcolm Rifkind, no stranger to summitry, noted: “It seems pretty certain that they will not reach agreement — and may not even make any progress — on Ukraine, or on Russian hacking in the U.S., or on human rights. But there is important common ground on a number of issues, including nuclear weapons arms control, climate change and defeating global terrorism.”Rifkind hoped the summit may have laid the groundwork for at least some cooperation on issues of mutual interest. Not that he expected the Biden-Putin summit would match the breakthrough encounter between Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1984.“By the end of their meeting they understood each other better, were impressed by each other’s personal qualities and, most importantly, had begun to trust each other,” noted Rifkind in a Chatham House commentary. He was in attendance for that breakthrough summit.No kumbaya momentThere was nothing in Geneva Wednesday to suggest to European diplomats or Western commentators that seeds of friendship were sown between Biden and Putin, despite both leaders saying there were areas of agreement, including the need for further talks on nuclear weapons control. Putin said in his post-summit press conference that they “spoke the same language” and called the talks “frank” and “substantive.”“The tone of the entire meeting was good, positive, there wasn’t any strident action taken,” Biden said. Biden’s emphasizing in his solo press conference that there was no “kumbaya moment” was also picked up widely by Europe’s media. “In Geneva, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin started a strategic dialogue at slow pace,” France’s Le Monde newspaper said.Putin Characterizes Summit with Biden as ‘Constructive’Biden was still responding to reporters’ questions when Putin said both sides agreed to return ambassadors to their posts, hold talks on strategic stability, cybersecurity Some in Europe question whether there will be any improvement in U.S.-Russia relations as a result of this encounter. “Neither side appeared to be under any illusions about the nature of their relationship,” the Daily Telegraph said in an editorial.“The Russian president used a lengthy press conference to, among other things, defend his repressive rule,” it said. “Mr. Biden had said in advance that he wanted a ‘stable, predictable relationship’ with Moscow. Few would consider that an unworthy aim. Given the character and record of the man who shows no sign of loosening his grip on the Kremlin, however, that may turn out to be wishful thinking,” it added mournfully.The same concern was echoed by officials in Brussels midweek. While Washington’s EU allies hope the summit will at least stop what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called a “negative spiral” in relations with Russia, they harbor few illusions.As the Biden-Putin summit began, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was warning the bloc’s diplomats that Europe’s relationship with Russia is likely only to worsen. Borrell, who came under scathing criticism in February for a three-day visit to Moscow which several of the bloc’s member states saw as a propaganda disaster, said the EU “needs to be realistic and prepare for a further downturn of our relations with Russia.”He told reporters in Brussels that he placed the blame squarely on Moscow. “The deliberate policy choices of the Russian government over the last years have created a negative spiral in our relations,” Borrell said. “This further downturn is the most likely outlook for the time being,” he said at a press conference held to unveil a report outlining a new EU realpolitik approach towards Russia, the three main elements being “Push back, constrain and engage.”Not so dissimilar from what Biden was outlining in Geneva.
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US Jobless Benefit Claims Edge Higher after Dropping for 6 Straight Weeks
More jobless U.S. workers sought benefits last week, ending a string of six straight weeks of a falling number of claims, the Labor Department reported Thursday.The world’s biggest economy is on a path toward recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, but 412,000 newly laid-off workers filed for unemployment compensation last week, up 37,000 from the revised figure of the week before, the agency said. It was the first time in three weeks that the weekly figure topped 400,000. US Jobless Benefit Claims Drop for 6th Straight WeekWorld’s biggest economy steadily recovering from coronavirus pandemicState governors and municipal officials across the U.S. have been ending coronavirus restrictions, in many cases allowing businesses for the first time in a year to completely reopen to customers. That could lead to more hiring of workers.California, the country’s most populous state, fully reopened its economy this week.Nearly 55% of U.S. adults have now been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, boosting the economic recovery, although the pace of inoculations has dropped markedly from its peak several weeks ago. Officials in many states are now offering a variety of incentives to entice the unvaccinated to get inoculated, including entry into lucrative lotteries. The U.S. added 559,000 jobs in May, more than twice the 266,000 in April. Still, about 9.3 million people remain unemployed in the U.S., according to the government. With the business reopenings, many employers are reporting a shortage of workers, particularly for low-wage jobs such as restaurant servers and retail clerks.Many businesses complain they are unable to find enough applicants for the job openings. The jobless rate fell to 5.8% in May, still higher than the 3.5% rate in March of last year before the pandemic was declared. The federal government approved sending $300-a-week supplemental unemployment benefits to jobless workers through early September on top of less generous state-by-state payments. But at least 25 of the 50 states, all led by Republican governors, have started ending participation in the federal payments program, contending that the stipends let workers make more money than they would by returning to work and thus are hurting the recovery by not filling available job openings.US Unemployment Claims Reach Lowest in Over a YearWorld’s largest economy continues to show signs it is recovering from coronavirus pandemicSome economists say, however, other factors prevent people from returning to work, such as lack of childcare or fear of contracting the coronavirus.The U.S. government has determined that it has no authority to force the states to continue to make the payments into September. President Joe Biden recently reaffirmed rules for accepting the extra federal aid so unemployed workers could not game the system. “We’re going to make it clear that anyone collecting unemployment who is offered a suitable job must take the job or lose their unemployment benefits,” Biden said. “That’s the law.” The economic picture in the U.S. has been boosted as money from Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package filters through the economy. The measure has likely boosted consumer spending, as millions of Americans, all but the highest wage earners, are now receiving $1,400 stimulus checks from the government or have already been sent the extra cash. With more money in their wallets and more people vaccinated, Americans are venturing back to some sense of normalcy, going out to restaurants and spending money on items they had not purchased for a year. But consumers are encountering higher retail prices, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting last week that prices jumped 0.6% in May and 5% over the last year. Biden is proposing an additional $4 trillion in government spending on infrastructure repairs and assistance for children and families, but the assistance has been met with stiff resistance from Republicans. The fate of the proposals in the politically divided Congress remains uncertain but talks are planned between the White House and a bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats. Numerous Republican lawmakers have voiced opposition to the size of the Democratic president’s spending plans and his proposals to pay for them with higher taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Absent an agreement with Republicans, Democratic congressional leaders say they could attempt to push through Biden’s proposals solely with Democratic votes without any Republican support, as occurred with passage of the coronavirus relief package.
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Climate-Related Drought Disasters Threaten Development, UN Warns
The United Nations warns accelerating climate change is causing a dramatic intensification of global drought disasters, which are threatening agricultural production, the world’s safe water supply and other essential aspects of human development. The U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has launched a “Special Report on Drought 2021.” U.N. researchers say drought has affected more people around the world in the past four decades than any other natural disaster. The U.N. report warns the impact of the climate-driven drought emergency on the lives and livelihoods of people across the planet will worsen in the coming years. The U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Mami Mizutori says drought has directly affected 1.5 billion people so far this century. She says most of the world will be living with water stress in the next few years as drought disasters grow. She says drought is a major factor in land degradation and is responsible for declining yields of major crops. She adds shifting rainfall patterns and variability pose a risk to the 70 percent of global agriculture that is rainfall-dependent.”A warming planet threatens to multiply the number of people without access to safe water and sanitation, thereby seriously increasing the spread of diseases, the risk of displacement and the potential even for conflict over scarce water resources,” Mizutori said. G-7 Ministers Discuss COVID Vaccines, Climate ChangeForeign ministers of world’s wealthiest democracies are meeting ahead of a summit of the group’s heads of state next month While droughts always have been part of the human experience, the damage and costs resulting from them are seriously underestimated. The report estimates the global economic costs arising from drought from 1998 to 2017 of at least $124 billion.The World Health Organization considers drought to be the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world. It says water scarcity impacts 40 percent of the world’s population. WHO projects as many as 700 million people are at risk of being displaced by 2030 because of drought.Leading co-author of the report Roger Pulwarty agrees the data contained within the report is grim but does not see an apocalyptic picture ahead. “I do not think that there is in fact this issue surrounding the collapse of civilizations…We are not seeing truly an increase in the frequency of drought,” Pulwarty said. “But we are seeing that where they occur in the different regions in which they do exist, an increase in intensification when they occur and the rapid onset of drought.” Over the millennia, Pulwarty notes people have found ways to adapt to risks from drought and other natural disasters. He says lessons learned from over 20 cases around the world – including the Horn of Africa and the Euphrates and Tigris River system in Western Asia – have been incorporated in the report. However, he says tried and true drought management measures taken in the past must be adapted to meet the challenges of today’s changing nature of drought risk.
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Japan to Ease COVID-19 Restrictions as Tokyo Olympics Near
Japan unveiled plans Thursday to slowly ease the coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and several other prefectures in time for next month’s opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that the government will switch to “quasi-emergency” measures once the state of emergency expires Sunday. The looser restrictions would remain in place until July 11, just 12 days before the start of the Olympic Games. In addition to looser restrictions, the government is expected to announce a plan to allow up to 10,000 spectators to enter venues holding Olympic events. FILE – Workers install additional security fence outside Olympic Stadium (National Stadium) for the Tokyo Olympic Games, June 10, 2021.The initial one-month state of emergency was first declared in April due to a surge in new COVID-19 infections in the Japanese capital and beyond, and was extended in late May. The surge prompted staunch public opposition against staging the Olympics, especially among a prominent group of medical professionals that urged Suga to call off the games. The Tokyo Olympics are set to take place after a one-year postponement as the novel coronavirus pandemic began spreading across the globe. Foreign spectators have been banned from witnessing the event. Disappointing results for CureVac vaccine Late-stage testing of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine has revealed some disappointing results. Preliminary findings show the vaccine developed by German biophaaceutical company CureVac is just 47% effective against the virus — below the 50% threshold set by the World Health Organization. FILE – A volunteer receives a dose of CureVac vaccine or a placebo during a study by the German biotech firm CureVac as part of a testing for a new vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Brussels, Belgium, March 2, 2021.The vaccine has been given to 40,000 volunteers in Latin America and Europe. Franz-Werner Haas, CureVac’s chief executive, has blamed the disappointing results on the huge number of COVID-19 variants that have emerged since the start of the pandemic.
The European Union had reached an agreement with CureVac to purchase at least 225 million doses of the vaccine. The company says the Phase 3 trial will continue, with final results expected within a few weeks. Growing concern in Africa A report by the Associated Press Thursday reveals that public health officials on the African continent are alarmed over the slow rate of vaccinations and a surge in new COVID-19 infections. The AP says the continent has received only 2% of all vaccine doses administered globally, despite its 1.3 billion people accounting for 18% of the world’s population. Some countries have yet to inoculate a single person. The World Health Organization says nearly 90% of African countries are set to miss the global target of vaccinating 10% of their people by September.
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Explainer: The Significance of China’s New Space Station
Adding a crew to China’s new orbiting space station is another major advance for the burgeoning space power.
Here’s a look at key developments: What’s The Mission’s Purpose?
The three-member crew is due to stay for three months in the station’s main living module, named Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony. They will be carrying out science experiments and maintenance, space walks and preparing the facility to receive two additional modules next year.
While China concedes it arrived late at the space station game, it says its facility is cutting-edge. It could also outlast the International Space Station, which is nearing the end of its functional lifespan.
The launch Thursday also revives China’s crewed space program after a five-year hiatus. With Thursday’s launch, China has now sent 14 astronauts into space since it first achieved the feat in 2003, becoming the third country after the former Soviet Union and the U.S. to do so. Chinese astronauts, from left, Tang Hongbo, Nie Haisheng, and Liu Boming listen to a journalist’s question during a press conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center ahead of the Shenzhou-12 launch from Jiuquan in northwestern China.Why Is China Building The Station?
As the Chinese economy was beginning to gather steam in the early 1990s, China formulated a plan for space exploration, which it has carried out at a steady, cautious cadence. While China has been barred from participation in the International Space Station, mainly over U.S. objections to the Chinese program’s secretive nature and close military connections, it’s likely the country would have built its own station anyway as it sought the status of a great space power.
At a news conference Wednesday, China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming told reporters at the Jiuquan launch center that the construction and operation of the space station will raise China’s technologies and “accumulate experience for all the people.”
The space program is part of an overall drive to put China on track for even more ambitious missions and provide opportunities for cooperation with Russia and other, mostly European, countries along with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Politics And Security
China’s space program has been a massive source of national pride, embodying its rise from poverty to the world’s second-largest economy over the past four decades. That has helped shore up the power of the Communist Party, whose authoritarian rule and strict limits on political activity have been tolerated by most Chinese as long as the economy is growing.
President and head of the party Xi Jinping has associated himself closely with that success, and Ji in his remarks cited Xi as setting the updated agenda for China’s rise to prominence in space. The first mission to the station also coincides with the celebration of the party centenary next month, an important political milestone.
At the same time, China is modernizing its military at a rapid pace, raising concerns from neighbors, the U.S. and its NATO allies. While China espouses the peaceful development of space on the basis of equality and mutual respect, many recall that China in January 2007 sent a ballistic missile into space to destroy an inactive weather satellite, creating a debris field that continues to be a threat. Who Are The Astronauts?
Mission commander Nie Haisheng, 56, and fellow astronauts Liu Boming, 54, and Tang Hongbo, 45, are former People’s Liberation Army Air Force pilots with graduate degrees and strong scientific backgrounds. All Chinese astronauts so far have been recruited from the military, underscoring its close ties to the space program.
For Nie, it is his third trip to space, and for Liu, his second following a mission in 2008 that included China’s first space walk. Tang, who was recruited as one of the second batch of candidates in 2010, is flying in space for the first time.
Future missions to the station will include women, according to officials, with stays extended to as long as six months and as many as six astronauts on the station at a time during crew changeovers. With China stepping up international cooperation and exchanges, it’s only a matter of time before foreign astronauts join the Chinese colleagues on missions to the station, Ji told reporters Wednesday. What Else Is China Doing in Space?
Along with its crewed space program, China has been moving boldly into exploration of the solar system with robotic space ships. It landed a probe on Mars last month that carried a rover, the Zhurong, which is conducting a range of surveys, looking particularly for frozen water that could provide clues as to whether the red plant once supported life.
Earlier, China landed a probe and rover on the moon’s less explored far side, joining the Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, rover that was part of an earlier lunar exploration mission. China also brought back the first lunar samples by any country’s space program since the 1970s and officials say they want to send Chinese astronauts to the moon and eventually build a research base there.
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Nigerian Female Activists Push to Overcome Biases
Nigeria’s women activists were on the frontline in last year’s mass protests against police brutality but say they do not always get the same recognition as their male counterparts. From Abuja, reporter Timothy Obiezu looks at the role of Nigerian women activists. Camera: Aisha Yesufu
Produced by: Bakhtiyar Zamanov, Jason Godman
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Poll Says Australians Highly Suspicious of China
Australians express deep mistrust of China’s government but want their own government to build better relations with Beijing, according to a new survey.The study, by the University of Technology Sydney, or UTS, was compiled this year amid rising trade and security tensions between Australia and its biggest trading partner, China.The authors have said it is the most comprehensive survey of public opinion on the Australia-China relationship to date. They note that the political relationship “has been enduring significant difficulties since 2017.”The results highlighted the complex nature of bilateral ties. Sixty-one percent of Australians want a stronger relationship with China, yet an overwhelming majority — more than three-quarters — expressed mistrust of the Chinese government.A majority of respondents — more than 60% — said their opinion on China “has become more negative following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.”“While Australians are clearly significantly concerned about both the downward spiral in relations and China’s assertiveness, they are not yet willing to give up on the relationship entirely,” said Elena Collinson, a senior researcher at the UTS.“And to that point Australians have refrained from putting the onus on one side to better relations, with an emphatic majority — 80% of the public — saying they believe that the responsibility for improving the current frostiness lies with both the Australian and Chinese governments.”Relations between Australia and China have been affected by a range of political, trade and foreign policy disputes. Beijing’s military expansion in the South China Sea and the treatment of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong are two sources of disagreement. Allegations of cyberespionage and interference in Australia’s domestic affairs have also caused friction, as did Australia’s decision to ban the Chinese tech giant Huawei from its 5G network.Last year, Australia called for a global inquiry into the origins of the new coronavirus, which was first detected in China in late 2019. This caused immense damage to the relationship, since Beijing interpreted Australia’s demand as criticism of its handling of the pandemic.Seventy-two percent of respondents to the UTS poll agreed with the statement that “the Australian government was right to publicly call for an international investigation into the origins of COVID-19.”Beijing responded to mounting diplomatic friction with a range of tariffs on some Australian farm exports and coal. Officials have accused Australia in the past of peddling “anti-China” hysteria.The UTS survey sampled the views of 2,000 Australians in March and April.
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Texas Loosens Gun Restrictions
The governor of the U.S. state of Texas has signed a new law that will allow people to carry handguns without possessing a permit or passing a background check.Gov. Greg Abbott was due to highlight the legislation as part of a ceremony Thursday.The measure, which goes into effect Sept. 1, applies to anyone who does not have any felony convictions or other legal barriers to owning a gun. Federal background checks for some gun purchases remain in place, and individual businesses can decide to not allow guns on their premises.Those supporting the measure argue it does away with barriers to their constitutional right to bear arms and improves self-defense.Opponents, including law enforcement groups, said lifting the restrictions will make it easier for criminals to obtain guns.Gun control groups also pointed to recent mass shootings in Texas, including a 2019 attack at a Walmart in El Paso.
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Pandemic Inspires Passion for Biking in LA
For some people, COVID has led to changes in lifestyle, or even a new job. That’s the case of a cyclist in Los Angeles, California, who ended up opening several bicycle shops to meet a growing demand by people wanting to get exercise while exploring their city. Mike O’Sullivan has more.
Camera: Mike O’Sullivan and Roy Kim
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UN Chief Criticizes Central African Republic Forces’ Actions
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly criticized the Central African Republic’s security and allied forces in a new report for an “unprecedented increase in hostile threats and incidents” targeting U.N. peacekeepers and alleged human rights abuses.His 37-page report to the U.N. Security Council obtained Wednesday by the Associated Press said people in the country continue to face an “unacceptably high level of violence.”He called on President Faustin Archange Touadera to place peace and reconciliation at the heart of his second term “and seize the opportunity to address the root causes of the conflict.”The mineral-rich Central African Republic has faced deadly inter-religious and inter-communal fighting since 2013.A peace deal between the government and 14 rebel groups was signed in February 2019, but violence blamed on the country’s former president, Francois Bozize, and his allies threatens to nullify the agreement. It erupted after the constitutional court rejected Bozize’s candidacy to run for president in December.Touadera won reelection in late December to a second term with 53% of the vote, but he continues to face opposition from forces linked to Bozize.Last week, the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the country and warned that attacks on U.N. peacekeepers there may constitute war crimes.At that contentious council meeting, U.S. political coordinator Rodney Hunter expressed outrage at reports that Russian military instructors led military offensives in the country “characterized by confrontations with U.N. peacekeepers, threats against U.N. personnel, violations of international humanitarian law, extensive sexual violence, and widespread looting, including of humanitarian organizations.”Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Anna Evstigneeva, accused the U.S. of making “baseless allegations” and said the U.S. action, coupled with a campaign in some media, “constitutes a coordinated action aimed at besmirching our effective … assistance to stabilization in the CAR.”Russia and Rwanda have troops in CAR, at the invitation of the government, that have battled rebels. The secretary-general’s report makes repeated references to “national security forces and bilaterally deployed and other security personnel” including in referring to attacks on peacekeepers, without singling out any “bilateral” country.Guterres said the security situation in CAR remains “fragile, particularly in the west, northwest and center of the country, due to continued clashes between armed groups … and national defense forces assisted by bilaterally deployed and other security personnel, resulting in loss of lives and displacement.”The report gave details on clashes leading to a May 30 border incident that has heightened tensions between the Central African Republic and Chad.Chad’s defense ministry said troops from CAR attacked a Chadian border post, killing one soldier and kidnapping and then executing five others. Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported three Russian military instructors, part of the mission to support the CAR military, were also killed during the operation by a mine explosion.The secretary-general said there were clashes on May 25 in ex-president Bozize’s stronghold in northwest Ouham prefecture between government and allied forces and other security personnel and elements from the CPC and 3R armed groups that support Bozize. The clashes led people to flee toward nearby Chad and Cameroon.On May 28, in Bang, which is close to the Chad and Cameroon borders, “national defense forces reportedly arrested and tortured approximately 20 civilians from the Muslim community, including five women, based on their perceived association with 3R combatants,” the report said.Two days later, on May 30, “3R elements reportedly crossed the border into Chad following clashes near Bang,” the U.N. chief said. “National defense forces and bilaterally deployed and other security personnel reportedly followed in pursuit, resulting in clashes with Chadian forces and casualties on both sides.”Guterres said government and allied forces obstructed U.N. access in Bang on May 30, and “sporadic gunfire in the border area continued on subsequent days.”According to the U.N. chief, between Feb. 1 and June 1, the human rights situation in CAR, “deteriorated significantly” and 152 security incidents involving U.N. personnel were recorded including 12 “hostile attacks,” nine arrests, and 16 cases of “road harassment” by national defense forces.The U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MINUSCA documented 344 violations of human rights and international humanitarian law affecting 628 victims and causing 82 conflict-related deaths during that period, the report said.“MINUSCA documented 140 incidents perpetrated by national and bilaterally deployed and other security personnel, affecting 249 victims, representing an increase of 278.4% and 289%, respectively, compared to the previous period,” the report said.Guterres said the formation of a new and inclusive government in CAR “will be critical” and he urged the president to ensure that a dialogue being prepared includes armed groups that have renounced violence, civil society, women, youth and religious leaders from all over the country — and to allow “legitimate grievances to be heard and acted upon.”
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China Launches First Crew to New Permanent Space Station
China launched the first crew of its new permanent space station into orbit Thursday morning.Veteran astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming and rookie Tang Hongbo blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China aboard the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft.A crowd of well-wishers bid the three astronauts farewell in an elaborate ceremony before they boarded a van to take them to the launch pad to board their spacecraft. The mission is China’s first manned space flight in five years.The trio is expected to reach the first module of the station, dubbed Tianhe, or “Heavenly Harmony,” by Thursday evening, where they will spend the next three months outfitting the module with equipment and testing its various components.This mission is the third of 11 needed to add more elements to the space station before it becomes fully operational next year. The new station is expected to remain operational for 10 years.The station could outlast the U.S.-led International Space Station, which may be decommissioned after its funding expires in 2024. China has never sent astronauts to the ISS due to a U.S. law that effectively bars the space agency NASA from collaborating with China.China is aggressively building up its space program as an example of its rising global stature and technological might. It became the third country to send a human into space in 2003, behind the United States and Russia, and has already operated two temporary experimental space stations with manned crews.Just this year, it sent an unmanned probe into orbit around Mars, while another probe brought back the first samples from the moon in more than 40 years.
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Biden and Putin Exchange Diplomatic Pleasantries, but Differences Remain
U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ended their summit with positive assessments of their meeting, but clear differences remain. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report from Geneva.
Producer: Kimberlyn Weeks
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Top Official Warns Foreign Disinformation Is Feeding US Domestic Terrorism
Newly unveiled efforts to combat a growing domestic terrorism threat in the United States will have to find a way to overcome a major obstacle: carefully crafted campaigns by foreign countries and terrorist groups to incite violence.The warning, from a senior U.S. Department of Homeland Security official, comes just a day after U.S. President Joe Biden issued his long-awaited National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, described by his administration as the first of its kind.The Biden administration has downplayed direct links between violent extremists in the U.S. and those outside the country; one senior official noted that intelligence agencies “did not find a robust nexus between domestic terrorism and foreign actors.” Other officials caution, however, that is because the relationship does not follow a standard command-and-control model.“A central element of the current threat is to take narratives that may influence violent behavior and get it out as broadly as you can,” Department of Homeland Security Counterterrorism Coordinator John Cohen told a webinar Wednesday hosted by The George Washington University Program on Extremism.“We are seeing common narratives that seem to be resonating with individuals who are looking for extremist ideological beliefs to serve as the justification for violence being introduced by foreign nation-states, being introduced by foreign terrorist organizations,” Cohen said.“There are threat actors, whether it’s foreign governments like Russia or Iran or China, or extremist thought leaders or terrorist groups that are taking advantage of that anger and the polarization of our society,” he said.Concerns about foreign influences on domestic extremists in the United States are not new.An unclassified assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, issued this past March, raised concerns about connections between white supremacists in the U.S. and those in other countries, noting small numbers of extremists have been traveling in an effort to forge stronger ties.Cohen, though, warned those types of connections pale in comparison with those that are developing in the virtual environment.“This is not a threat that we can investigate, or we can mitigate simply by looking at the physical activities of individuals who may be involved in preparing to conduct an attack,” he said. “We have to understand more about how extremist thought leaders and those working in a leaderless resistance structure will use these private and public online platforms to spread narratives broadly in the hopes that they will influence the behavior of disaffected, socially disconnected, angry individuals.”Russia has been a particular concern for top U.S. officials.During her confirmation hearing in January, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testified that the Kremlin was using active measures against the U.S. political right and the U.S. political left “to promote extremism, in a sense.”DNI nominee Haines says #Russia pushing on both US right & left, “to promote extremism in a sense” w/their active measures— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) January 19, 2021Current and former officials, as well as analysts, have also warned Russia is actively cultivating a new generation of influence peddlers focused on building followers among the far right and far left.As part of the new domestic terrorism strategy, officials have pledged to find ways to “counter the polarization often fueled by disinformation, misinformation and dangerous conspiracy theories online, supporting an information environment that fosters healthy democratic discourse,” according to a White House handout.Officials also note that Washington has joined the Christchurch Call to Action to Eliminate Terrorist and Violent Extremist Content Online — an initiative named after the New Zealand city where a far-right gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in 2019.But countering the threat from disinformation in particular will be difficult, according to Homeland Security officials, who point to the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, for which almost 500 people have been arrested.“Now what united all of those people?” asked Cohen, who noted many of those at the Capitol that day were not affiliated with any groups.“Among other things, they were all encouraged to come here by a disinformation narrative that the election was fraudulent and that had been stolen and that it was their responsibility to act,” he said.And officials worry the spread and influence of disinformation could soon get worse as U.S. adversaries, whether countries or eventually criminal or terrorist networks, gain access to artificial intelligence, or AI.“Artificial intelligence could generate disinformation scale in a way that brings real concern,” Anne Neuberger, White House deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, told a virtual forum last month.
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Hong Kong’s Apple Daily Newspaper Says Police Arrest 5 Directors
Hong Kong police arrested five directors at the Apple Daily newspaper early on Thursday morning, including its editor-in-chief, local media reported, in the latest blow to the newspaper’s jailed owner Jimmy Lai.Hong Kong Police’s National Security Department said in a statement that five directors of a company had been arrested on suspicion of collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.It said only that the five included four men and a woman aged between 47 and 63. It did not provide other details.Apple Daily said five of its directors, including Editor-in-Chief Ryan Law, Chief Executive Officer Cheung Kim-hung, Chief Operating Officer Chow Tat-kuen, Deputy Chief Editor Chan Puiman and Chief Executive Editor Cheung Chi-wai had all been arrested in morning raids.The newspaper said at about 7:30 a.m. local time about 100 officers arrived at the newspaper’s headquarters and cordoned off the area.The move is the latest blow to Apple Daily after authorities last month directed Lai’s shares in Next Digital, publisher of the newspaper, to be frozen.Lai was arrested in August last year and later charged under the national security law imposed by China on its freest city. The pro-democracy activist’s assets were also frozen under the same law.He has been in jail since December after being denied bail in a separate national security trial. He faces three charges under the new law, including collusion with a foreign country.
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Updated Circuit Revives Hope for Formula One Racing in South Africa
The last Formula One race on the African continent was in 1993 – at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit north of Johannesburg. The circuit has now gotten a facelift in hopes of once again hosting motor racing’s most prestigious events. Romain Chanson filed this VOA report narrated by Carol Guensburg.
Camera: Romain Chanson Producer: Betty Ayoub
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Nigerian Female Activists Press to Overcome Biases
Nigeria’s female activists were on the front lines in last year’s mass protests against police brutality but say they do not always get the same recognition as their male counterparts.From her homemade office, Nigerian activist Aisha Yesufu sets up her mobile device and records the day’s episode of her take on issues bedeviling the country.She reaches thousands of online listeners every week to address issues of inequality, injustice, bad governance and sometimes, improved conditions in Nigeria.Yesufu, 47, started participating in protests as a school student nearly three decades ago — but she says it has not been easy.“I’m not that typical person you’ll see coming out to make demands — ‘Here I am. I’m a Muslim. I’m a woman. I wear hijab.’” she said. “And then it’s like, typically, you’re not supposed to speak as a Muslim. That’s how a lot of people look at it.”In 2014, Yesufu gained prominence for co-founding the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, a group that raised global awareness demanding the release of 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria.Last October, she took part in the End SARS protests, which targeted police brutality in the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).A viral picture of her kneeling with her clenched fist into the air, while heavily armed police officials charged toward protesters, became the movement’s symbol. But she says she feared for her life.”The police were shooting at me. I literally thought I was going to die,” she said. “The only thing I said to God was, ‘God, please let it be a clean thing. Let whoever’s bullet is going to touch me, let it be straight to the heart. Let me fall dead, because I wouldn’t want to be on the floor in pain while some policemen and women will be standing over me and gloating.’”Yesufu’s resilience over the years has inspired many other women in Nigeria.During the End SARS protests, many women organized and led street demonstrations.Among them, 22-year-old Rinu Oduala, who led protests in Lagos.”I am constantly reminded that as a female growing up in Nigeria, I only need to be seen and not heard,” Oduala said. “So, I fight each day to use my voice and platform to talk about issues affecting my society.”Nigerian culture, like many others in Africa, is highly patriarchal. But Vivian Bellonwu, founder of Social Action Nigeria, says things are changing gradually due to increasing levels of women’s education.”It better exposes us to the rights and wrongs that have been going on,” Bellonwu said. “Not just that it exposes us, it also gives a kind of confidence that impossibilities do not exist and that conventions can always be challenged.”Last month, Nigeria’s women’s affairs minister moved for a constitutional review that would give women up to 35% representation in public offices. The current figure is just 7%.Bellonwu said it will take a major change before women are perceived as equals in Nigeria, something she said will not happen soon.
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France Arrests ‘High-Ranking’ Islamic State Fighter in Mali
French forces in Mali have captured a man they describe as a “high-ranking fighter of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara” (EIGS), the French military said Wednesday. Dadi Ould Chouaib, also known as Abou Dardar, was arrested June 11 in the flashpoint “tri-border” region between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, the site of frequent attacks by extremist groups, the military said in a statement. He was carrying “an automatic weapon, a night vision telescope, a combat vest, a telephone and a radio,” but surrendered without resistance. He was located during a helicopter sweep as part of a joint mission between troops from France’s Barkhane operation and Nigerien forces. Niger’s army said in a statement late Wednesday that the joint operation, launched June 8, had led to a clash Tuesday with “armed terrorists” that left a Nigerien dead and “12 terrorists neutralized.” The term “neutralized” means “killed” in West African military contexts. Dardar was formerly a member of the al-Qaida-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), many of whose fighters had joined EIGS. First arrested in 2014, he was handed over to Malian authorities. But he was one of around 200 prisoners released in October 2020 in exchange for four hostages, including French aid worker Sophie Petronin. Dardar is suspected to have been one of the armed men who mutilated three people at a market in Tin Hama in northern Mali on May 2, cutting off their hands and feet, according to local sources. According to the United Nations’ Mali mission, MINUSMA, the armed men were suspected of belonging to EIGS. Dardar’s arrest will come as welcome news for France, after President Emmanuel Macron promised in February to step up efforts to “decapitate” extremist groups in the Sahel region. FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron visits French troops in Africa’s Sahel region in Gao, northern Mali, May 19, 2017.France, the former colonial power in all three “tri-border” countries, is pursuing a strategy of targeting the leaders of militant groups. Its military presence in the semiarid Sahel, Operation Barkhane, recently called for the elimination of a high-ranking fighter of the al-Qaida group in the Islamic Maghreb, an adversary of EIGS in the area.Baye Ag Bakabo was responsible for the kidnapping and death of two French RFI journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, who were killed in northern Mali in 2013. Macron recently announced that France will wind down its 5,100-strong Barkhane force, which has battled extremist groups in the Sahel for eight years. He said earlier this month that he sees France’s future presence as being part of the so-called Takuba international task force in the Sahel, in which “hundreds” of French soldiers would form the “backbone.” FILE – The France-led special operations logo for the new Barkhane Task Force Takuba, a multinational military mission in sub-Saharan Africa’s troubled Sahel region, is seen Nov. 3, 2020.It would mean the closure of French bases and the use of special forces who would be focused on anti-terror operations and military training, he said. But Macron’s plans have fueled fears that certain areas of the Sahel, in particular northern Mali, will pass completely into the hands of extremist groups, as local authorities appear unable to restore their grip on the region.
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US Has Eye on China’s Influence at UN
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations reassured Congress Wednesday that she is working to monitor and rein in what she called China’s “malign influence” at the world body. “China has been aggressive and coercive in using its power at the United Nations,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She said Beijing promotes an “authoritarian approach to multilateralism.” The ambassador pointed to an array of actions, including its influence at three U.N. technical organizations where their nationals are in charge, and Beijing’s use of COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy to pressure some poorer nations. “We will be pushing hard against those efforts,” she said. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield testifies to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Biden administration’s priorities for engagement with the United Nations on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 16, 2021.She urged lawmakers to invest in the United Nations to restore U.S. influence there, which declined during the Trump administration. “Our adversaries and competitors are investing in the United Nations. We can’t expect to compete unless we do, too,” Thomas-Greenfield said. More than 40 legislators questioned the veteran diplomat over more than four hours during a hearing on the Biden administration’s priorities for engagement with the United Nations. Many expressed concerns about China’s persecution of minority Uyghur Muslims in the autonomous Xinjiang province. Human rights groups accuse China of sending more than a million Uyghurs to detention camps. China says the compounds are “vocational education centers” intended to stop the spread of religious extremism and terrorist attacks. U.S. Representative Michael McCaul asked Thomas-Greenfield if she agrees with the committee that the Chinese government is carrying out a genocide and crimes against humanity on the Uyghurs. FILE – A perimeter fence is constructed around what is officially known as a vocational skills education center in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, Sept. 4, 2018.”Yes, genocide is being committed against Uyghurs in Xinjiang,” she said. “And the PRC government is committing crimes against humanity. We have called the Chinese out on this.” Lawmakers also expressed concern about China’s sway over the World Health Organization, some charging that Beijing’s influence had made the WHO fail in its duty to warn the world of the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. Thomas-Greenfield made clear that the Biden administration supports “a robust and transparent” investigation into the origins of the pandemic. As for the WHO, she noted it has appointed an independent committee headed by former Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark to review WHO’s response. “I am confident in their abilities to get to the bottom of this, and I know they are working hard,” she said. “Their reputations are attached to this, and we are looking forward to seeing the results.” U.S. Representative Mark Green asked if Taiwan should participate at the United Nations. China has used its influence over the years to prevent its recognition. “We support Taiwan,” she said. “We want to see Taiwan recognized for the extraordinary democracy that it is.” Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. continues to push at the U.N. for Taiwan’s participation in programs that do not require member state status, such as the recent World Health Assembly. However, that effort failed. Thomas-Greenfield took up her post as U.N. ambassador and a member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet in February. The posting is the culmination of a wide-ranging, 35-year State Department career.
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Biden Strikes Realistic Tone After Meeting With Putin
U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have ended their summit in Geneva, with Biden describing it as “good” and “positive.”
But he further described the summit in a realistic tone, saying the next several months would serve as a “test” of whether relations between the two countries can improve.
“I am not sitting here saying because the president and I agreed that we would do these things that all of a sudden it’s going to work,” Biden said during the press conference after his more than three-hour meeting with Putin. “I’m not saying that.
“What I am saying is, I think there’s a genuine prospect to significantly improve the relations between our two countries, without us giving up a single, solitary thing based on principle and our values,” Biden said.
In his press conference after the summit, Putin, speaking through an interpreter, also described the meeting as “constructive.” He said there were “no hostilities,” calling the U.S. leader a “constructive person, well-balanced and experienced, a seasoned politician.”
After the summit, both the White House and the Kremlin released identical statements, noting that “even in periods of tension,” both countries have demonstrated they are able to make progress on “shared goals of ensuring predictability in the strategic sphere, reducing the risk of armed conflicts and the threat of nuclear war.”
Both governments said they will begin consultations on strategic stability to manage relations. In his press conference, Putin noted that as nuclear powers, the U.S. and Russia have a special responsibility to maintain relations.U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.”The recent extension of the New START Treaty exemplifies our commitment to nuclear arms control. Today, we reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” the White House and Kremlin statements said.
“Consistent with these goals, the United States and Russia will embark together on an integrated bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue in the near future that will be deliberate and robust. Through this Dialogue, we seek to lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures,” the statement said.
Sticking points
While both leaders noted the talks were productive, it is clear divisions remain.
Biden said there were disagreements, but “it was not done in a hyperbolic atmosphere,” adding that no threats were made during the meeting.
Those disputes include the issue of Ukraine, cyberattacks and human rights.
“I pointed out to him we have significant cyber capability, and he knows it. He doesn’t know exactly what it is, but it’s significant,” Biden said, noting that he told Putin that critical U.S. infrastructure should be “off limits” to cyberattacks.
Biden appeared to suggest that should Moscow launch such an attack, the U.S. may retaliate “in a cyber way.”
“I looked at him, I said, ‘Well, how would you feel if ransomware took on the pipelines from your oil fields?’” Biden said.
Putin denies U.S. accusations of election meddling and cyberattacks, including ransomware attacks on American businesses that U.S. intelligence agencies conclude may be coming from within Russian territories.Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference after his meeting with U.S President Joe Biden at the ‘Villa la Grange’ in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.Biden also said he “made it clear” to Putin the U.S. will continue to raise human rights issues.
“Human rights is going to always be on the table,” Biden sid. He said he brought up issues like the detention of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny and Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine imprisoned in Russia because “that’s who we are.”
Putin remained firm about his position on Navalny. “This man knew that he was breaking the law of Russia. He has been twice convicted,” Putin said, keeping his habit of not saying the opposition activist’s name aloud.
Repeating Russia’s official claim, Putin said Navalny violated bail conditions last year by going abroad while unconscious after an apparent Novichok poisoning and by failing to check in with Russian officials as required.
Biden underscored a demand for press freedom. “I also raised the ability of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to operate, and the importance of a free press and freedom of speech,” Biden said referring to the U.S.-funded media that were branded as “foreign agents” by the Russian government and accused of violating rules that could be punished with heavy fines, even imprisonment.
A recent incident in which a commercial airline was forced to land in Minsk, so that Belarusian authorities could arrest a prominent dissident, also was discussed, Biden said, adding that Putin “didn’t disagree with what happened.”
“He just said it’s a perspective of what you do about it,” Biden said. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko relies heavily on Putin for support.President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrive to meet at the ‘Villa la Grange’, June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland.Ukraine sovereignty
Ukraine appears to be another issue where the two leaders disagreed.
Biden said he communicated to Putin “unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
“We agreed to pursue diplomacy, related to the Minsk Agreement,” he said, referring to the 2014 deal to halt the war in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
Prior to the summit, Ukrainian officials played down the prospect of ending the war in the eastern part of the country, which has been simmering for seven years between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army.
“We have made it very clear to our partners that no agreement on Ukraine reached without Ukraine will be recognized by us,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
On the issue of Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Putin gave a terse assessment. “I don’t think there is anything to discuss there,” he said.
The Kremlin has stated that Ukraine’s entry into NATO is a “red line” for Russia. Asked earlier this week about whether Ukraine should join NATO, Biden said, “It depends on whether they meet the criteria,” including cleaning up corruption.
The administration announced earlier this month that Biden will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House sometime this summer. Biden has not invited Putin to Washington.U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet for the U.S.-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)No Cold War
Biden emphasized the “last thing” Putin wants now is a Cold War. He said that while the summit’s end is not a “Kumbaya moment,” it’s in neither country’s interest to be in a “new Cold War” situation.
Biden went on to say he thinks Putin understands this, though it doesn’t mean Putin is “willing to lay down his arms.” Biden assessed the Russian leader is still concerned that the U.S. aims to “take him down.”
Putin said in a bid to lower tensions, he and Biden agreed to return their ambassadors to their posts in the future. U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan and Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov left their posts earlier this year amid worsening U.S.-Russia relations. They both participated in expanded bilateral discussions at the summit.
According to a White House official, the summit ended at 5:05 CEST Wednesday when the expanded bilateral between the two delegations concluded. That meeting on the American side included five high-level officials in addition to Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The session was concluded after one expanded bilateral meeting, according to the official, not two as was previously scheduled.
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As US Withdraws From Afghanistan, CENTCOM Head Says NATO Assistance Essential
As the U.S. continues its withdrawal in Afghanistan, the commander in the region says help from NATO allies will be essential in keeping the pressure on terror groups. Help has arrived with the deployment of Britain’s newest aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb made a stop on the carrier as the only reporter traveling with the head of the U.S. Central Command.
Camera: Mike Burke
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