A senior U.S. State Department official said the United States is not asking the world’s top chipmakers to provide “trade secrets” in response to a request for supply chain information to help address the global chip shortage. 

“We’re not asking for information that will be public. It’s confidential information that will be kept confidential,” said Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez in an interview with VOA on Tuesday. 

“It’s intended to do what we need to do, which is to find ways to ease the bottleneck in supply chains.” 

Fernandez led U.S. participation in the second U.S.-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue (EPPD), an initiative launched last November, as the United States seeks closer economic ties with Taiwan. 

Taiwan is home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Any disruption in Taiwan affecting TSMC production could strain the global supply chain to the snapping point. Many link the survival of this self-ruled democracy to U.S. supply chain security. 

Fernandez said TSMC’s decision to build a new plant in Japan, which is slated to open in 2024, is a good move that “diversifies” the supply chain locations. 

He also confirmed the State Department has changed the name of the Clean Network, an initiative launched during the Trump administration to promote a trusted 5G network supplier while discouraging other nations from using equipment from Chinese telecom Huawei to build theirs. It is now called the Trusted Network. 

“I like ‘Trusted Network.’ It’s not a question of cleanliness. It’s a question of who do you trust,” Fernandez said. 

The following are excerpts from the interview. It has been edited for brevity and clarity. 

VOA: On Monday, you led U.S. officials’ participation in the second U.S.-Taiwan EPPD. What was discussed? What was agreed on? And what can we look forward to? 

FERNANDEZ: We discussed a number of items that are important to both the U.S. and to Taiwan: supply chain issues, economic coercion, science and technology changes, things that we can do to try and deepen our people-to-people relations as well as to deepen our economic partnership. And I think you will see a number of suggestions implemented from that dialogue. For example, we are going to start creating private-sector engagement between the two private sectors to make sure that both Taiwan and the United States are able to benefit from our deep economic ties. 

VOA: Countering economic coercion was among the topics discussed. What specific measures is the United States considering? 

 FERNANDEZ: One of the things that the U.S. can do is to try and, first of all, provide moral support and statements of support to countries such as Lithuania, Australia and others who are being pressured. But also, we can do things such as replacing export credits that China takes away when it doesn’t like the actions that are being taken. …One of the points that we discussed with Taiwan is what can the U.S. do going forward to anticipate and to try and counter economic coercion on the part of China. 

VOA: There is a very strong pushback in Taiwan about the U.S. asking Taiwan to share semiconductor chip data such as inventory, orders and sales records, which are considered trade secrets. What exactly is the U.S. asking for? If the situation were reversed, the U.S. would probably not comply with such a request. 

FERNANDEZ: I’m so glad that you asked that question, because there’s a lot of misinformation as to what we’re asking. What we’re trying to do is to figure out why there are supply chain bottlenecks in countries. Why, for example, … are car companies unable to receive those kinds of semiconductors that they need in order to build their cars? What we’re asking for is information from consumers, also from producers, from intermediaries, we want to find out why is there a bottleneck so that we can actually work to get rid of those bottlenecks. We’re not asking for information on trade secrets. We’re not asking for information that will be public. It’s confidential information that will be kept confidential. … We are not going to use it in order to benefit our companies. 

VOA: TSMC announced plans to build a new plant in Japan and start operations there in 2024. Do you think this will diversify the supply chain?   

FERNANDEZ: I think, you know, it’s a commercial decision. But what we try to promote on any supply chains, not just semiconductors, is diversity of suppliers, diversity of locations, diversity of products. Anything that diversifies the supply chains is good both for our industry and for the world economy.    

VOA: Concerning 5G network security, is it fair to say the U.S. is still discouraging countries from using Huawei equipment to build their 5G networks? If so, why not continue using the name “Clean Network.” Why call it “Trusted Network”? What is the difference? 

FERNANDEZ: We are going to continue to talk to countries about the danger of unsecure networks. The bottom line is, telecommunications equipment has to be secure. It is in many ways the backbone of our economy. It is a national security asset. And so we talked to countries about why they need to make sure that their telecom networks are secure.

We in the United States … believe very strongly that Huawei is not secure. Why is it not secure? Because it depends on the PRC government. It is an entity that has to follow the dictates of the PRC. And so we talked to countries about what are the risks, and we talked a little bit about alternatives. There are alternatives, not just the traditional 5G telecom network providers but also new technologies such as O-RAN and many others. And, you know, these are not just U.S. companies — they’re companies from around the world.

I think our main concern is to make sure that these are trusted networks that will not impair and will not jeopardize the security of a national telecommunication system. I like “Trusted Network.” It’s not a question of cleanliness. It’s a question of who do you trust. 

VOA: You came to the U.S. as an immigrant from Cuba. Can you share your personal journey with our audience?

FERNANDEZ: Oh, you don’t have time for that! We came to this country when I was 11 from Cuba. We settled in New Jersey. Cubans, for most part, either go to Miami or they go to northern New Jersey. You know, my mother worked in a factory as a seamstress. My father worked at a bank. It was hard. But we also got a lot of help from many people in this country — from teachers, from churches. And I think back on those days, of the courage of my parents for basically leaving it all behind. But also with a lot of gratitude. I had a lot of luck, but I also had a lot of people who were willing to help. 

VOA: What went through your mind when you were coordinating the charter flights to bring Afghans out of the country? 

FERNANDEZ: So this happened a day or two after I got into this job. I was confirmed on a Tuesday and on Thursday we had to start dealing with this here. So I didn’t have a lot of time to get prepared. I saw a lot of faces that reminded me of the faces that I had seen as I was leaving [Cuba]. … I didn’t go home for three weeks. You know we were able to, after August 31, we were able to get out hundreds and hundreds of Americans, and not just Americans but also locally employed staff, humanitarian workers. I’m very proud of the work we’ve done. And I’m also very proud of my colleagues because they showed the devotion that makes the State Department such a special place. 

 
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Malikah Shabazz, one of six daughters of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X, was found dead in her home in New York City, police said Tuesday. She was 56. 

Shabazz was found Monday in her home in Brooklyn, a police spokesperson said. Her death appeared to be from natural causes, he said. 

Malikah and her twin sister, Malaak, were the youngest daughters of Malcolm X, who was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965. Their mother, Betty Shabazz, was pregnant with the twins when their father was killed. 

Malikah Shabazz’s death comes days after two of the three men who had been convicted of killing Malcolm X were exonerated. 

A Manhattan judge dismissed the convictions of Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam  after prosecutors and the men’s lawyers said a renewed investigation found new evidence that undermined the case against them. 

Bernice King, a daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., said on Twitter, “I’m deeply saddened by the death of (hash)MalikahShabazz. My heart goes out to her family, the descendants of Dr. Betty Shabazz and Malcolm X.” 

Malikah Shabazz and her daughter, Bettih Shabazz, were arrested in Maryland in 2017 on animal cruelty charges after authorities said several injured dogs were found inside a stolen U-Haul truck they were driving. They were acquitted of the charges in 2018. 
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The House committee investigating the January 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection issued more subpoenas Tuesday, this time to extremist organizations, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers as well as their leaders, in an attempt to uncover the plotting and execution of the deadly attack.

“The Select Committee is seeking information from individuals and organizations reportedly involved with planning the attack, with the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6th, or with efforts to overturn the results of the election,” Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel, said in a statement.

The subpoenas are the latest in a wide net the House panel has cast in an effort to investigate the riot, when supporters of former President Donald Trump, fueled by his false claims of a stolen election, assaulted police and smashed their way into the Capitol to interrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. 

The committee has interviewed more than 150 people across government, social media and law enforcement, including some former Trump aides who have been cooperative. The panel has subpoenaed more than 20 witnesses, and most of them, including several who helped plan the “Stop the Steal” rally the morning of January 6, have signaled they will cooperate. 

The latest subpoenas were issued to the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and 1st Amendment Praetorian organizations as well as their members, requesting documents and testimony. 

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, chairman of the Proud Boys, was among those subpoenaed. He hasn’t been charged in the riot as he wasn’t there January 6. He’d been arrested in an unrelated vandalism case as he arrived in Washington two days earlier and was ordered out of the area by a judge. Law enforcement later said Tarrio was picked up in part to help quell potential violence. 

But despite him not being physically present, the committee believes he may have been involved in the Proud Boys’ preparation for the events at the Capitol. 

Jason Lee Van Dyke, a lawyer previously affiliated with the Proud Boys and subpoenaed as part of the congressional investigation, said he would give the committee records that aren’t protected by attorney-client privilege, but emphasized that his affiliation with the Proud Boys International LLC ended in November 2018.

More than 30 Proud Boys leaders, members or associates are among those who have been charged in connection with the attack. The group emerged from far-right fringes during the Trump administration to join mainstream GOP circles, with allies like longtime Trump backer Roger Stone. The group claims it has more than 30,000 members nationwide. 

The committee on Tuesday also subpoenaed the Oath Keepers — a militia group founded in 2009 that recruits current and former military, police and first responders — and its founder and leader Elmer Stewart Rhodes. The panel says Rhodes may have suggested members should engage in violence to ensure their preferred election outcome and that he was in contact with several of the more than a dozen indicted Oath Keepers members before, during and after the Capitol attack, including meeting some of them outside the Capitol. 

Rhodes has said there were as many as 40,000 Oath Keepers at its peak, but one extremism expert estimates the group’s membership stands around 3,000 nationally. Rhodes didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment that was left on the organization’s website.

The last organization on the committee’s list Tuesday was the 1st Amendment Praetorian, founded by a QAnon believer, which claims to provide free security for “patriotic and religious events across the country.” 

Its chairman, Robert Patrick Lewis, is wanted by the committee after being listed as a speaker on the permit for a January 5 rally on Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington. On the day of the attack, Lewis tweeted: “Today is the day that true battles begin.”

The subpoenas narrowing in on the organizations come one day after the panel issued subpoenas to five more people, including Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Some Trump allies have not cooperated. Steve Bannon, a longtime ally, was indicted on November 12 on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the House committee. The committee is giving former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows more time to comply with a subpoena before moving forward with a contempt vote. 

 
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Jurors deciding the fate of three white men accused of murdering a young African American jogger deliberated for about six hours Tuesday without reaching a verdict. The judge said they would begin again Wednesday morning. 

The trial, which has divided a southern U.S. community, once again is forcing America to reckon with an incident of deadly force being wielded against a racial minority member.

Earlier Tuesday, closing arguments ended in the high-profile trial of Gregory McMichael, 65, his son Travis McMichael, 35, and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, who are accused of chasing down and murdering Ahmaud Arbery outside of Brunswick, Georgia, in February 2020. 

During the lengthy trial, the jury heard conflicting accounts of what happened from defense attorneys and the state prosecutor.

“They made their decision to attack Ahmaud Arbery in their driveways because he was a Black man running down the street,” said lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski.

In an hourlong presentation, Dunikoski attempted to cast doubt on the defendants’ credibility and assertions that Arbery, 25, posed a danger to them. 

“They killed him not because he’s a threat to them. No weapon, no threats, no way to call for help. He (Arbery) ran away for five minutes,” she said.

In addition to murder and aggravated assault, the three Georgia men are charged with attempted kidnapping and a federal hate crime for allegedly racially profiling Arbery. The younger McMichael was the only defendant to take the stand, testifying that he fired his shotgun at close range at Arbery in self-defense.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty, contending they suspected Arbery, who was out on a jog, of burglarizing homes in their predominantly white neighborhood and pursued him in vehicles. Travis McMichael was captured on Bryan’s cellphone video confronting Arbery with a shotgun. The two are seen struggling before Arbery reached for the gun and was shot three times.  

In his closing argument, Jason Sheffield, one of the McMichaels’ lawyers, showed jurors the video in which it appeared that Arbery grabbed Travis McMichael’s gun before the shooting. 

“You are allowed to defend yourself,” Sheffield said. “You are allowed to use force that is likely to cause death or bodily injury if you believe it is necessary. At that moment Travis believed it was necessary, this is a law for a person in Travis’ situation.” 

The defendants said they believed Arbery to be a burglary suspect and sought to detain him under Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law, which has since been repealed amid outrage over the killing. A police officer testified during the trial that the defendants never mentioned trying to make a citizen’s arrest. The law, which dates back to 1863, allowed anyone to detain a person if there was reasonable and probable knowledge that the person was fleeing a serious crime they just committed. 

For its part, the prosecution attacked the claim of self-defense, noting the defendants themselves initiated the confrontation with Arbery. 

The jury, made up of 11 white people and one Black person, saw CCTV video of Arbery walking into a home construction site before the shooting, but he didn’t take anything before walking away.

“I don’t think the defense provided a robust argument to defend the aspect of a citizen’s arrest because the men had no knowledge Arbery committed a crime,” said former New York City police officer Darrin Porcher, in an HLN cable network interview. 

Arbery was unarmed, and prosecutors maintained the men “assumed the worst” as he ran through the neighborhood, which had experienced some recent break-ins of cars. 

Gregory McMichael told police he shouted at Arbery to stop before his son Travis McMichael confronted him with a gun.  

“The state has a duty to prove under the law that Travis at the time he raised that gun was not in fear of his life,” said Sheffield. “Travis McMichael is not guilty on all charges.”

Arbery’s death sparked nationwide protests last year after police did not charge the suspects for more than two months after the video of his killing was leaked and went viral on social media.

If convicted, all three men face life in prison. 

 
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The United States and its European allies are planning for “a number of contingencies,” fearing that Moscow’s saber-rattling may be more than tough talk. 

Multiple U.S. officials cited serious concerns Tuesday about what they consistently described as Russia’s “unusual military activity” along its border with Ukraine, as well as Moscow’s harsh rhetoric, insisting that no matter what happens next, Washington’s support for Kyiv is “rock solid.” 

“We have demonstrated that the United States is willing to use a number of tools to address harmful Russian actions, and we will not hesitate from making use of those and other tools in the future,” a senior administration official told VOA on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive subject.

“[We] call on Moscow to de-escalate tensions,” the official added. “A crucial first step is to restore the cease-fire to the low levels of violence reached in July 2020.” 

At the State Department on Tuesday, spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Washington’s consultations with its European partners, and with Ukraine, are ongoing. 

“We are sharing information, we are sharing intelligence,” he said, describing the talks as in-depth. “We are prepared and preparing for a number of contingencies.” 

The comments from the White House and the State Department came just hours after the senior-most U.S. general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, spoke with his Russian counterpart by phone. 

The two generals “discussed several security-related issues of concern,” the Pentagon said in a statement, adding the call was “a continuation of communication between both leaders to ensure risk reduction and operational de-confliction.”   

The Pentagon said, per prior agreement, additional details of the call would be kept private. 

Tuesday’s call between the U.S. and Russia comes after the senior-most U.S. and Ukrainian generals spoke twice within a four-day span to “share perspectives and assessments of the evolving security environment in Eastern Europe.”  

Ukrainian intelligence estimates have put the number of Russian troops along the border at about 90,000.  

U.S. officials have refused to address that figure publicly but called the Russian military buildup along its border with Ukraine worrisome.

“We don’t know what Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin might be planning,” the State Department’s Price told reporters.

“We do know the history and that history is not at all reassuring,” he added, pointing to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. 

Price also rebuffed recent Russian criticism of U.S. military drills in the region, saying the U.S. and its allies would continue to stand up the “rules-based international order.” 

Russian TASS news agency quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying Moscow was “witnessing a considerable increase in the U.S. strategic bombers’ activity near the Russian borders.” 

Shoigu also alleged U.S. strategic bombers “practiced employing nuclear weapons against Russia actually simultaneously from the western and eastern directions.” 

A day earlier, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, likewise criticized the U.S., posting on its website that the current situation with Ukraine is comparable to tensions with Georgia prior to the 2008 Russian invasion, noting Georgia paid a high price.  

The U.S. has provided Ukraine with $2.5 billion in security assistance since 2014, including $400 million in 2021 alone. 

Recent deliveries include patrol boats for the Ukrainian navy and 80,000 kilos of ammunition for Ukrainian forces. 

 
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The U.S. State Department is stepping up its push for Americans in Ethiopia to leave the country immediately, amid fears the country’s internal war is about to escalate.

At a news briefing Monday, Senior State Department officials said U.S. citizens in Ethiopia should leave the country now while commercial flight options are still available.  

“Our core message is: Do not wait until the situation gets worse to decide to leave; leave before things change,” said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The U.S. embassy is unlikely to be able to assist U.S. citizens in Ethiopia with departure if commercial options become unavailable.”

The official said there are no plans to bring the U.S. military into Ethiopia to facilitate evacuations, as the military recently did in Afghanistan. 

“There should be no expectation, particularly after we have issued so many warnings that advise departing immediately, that the U.S. will be able to facilitate evacuations via military or commercial aircraft in a non-permissive environment, including Ethiopia,” said the official. 

Officials said they did not have a firm number of how many Americans are in the East African country. 

The federal government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the rebel Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front have been at war for more than a year. On Monday, the prime minister said he would travel to the front lines to lead his troops against the advancing rebel fighters, who this week claimed control of Shewa Robit, a town 220 kilometers northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa. 

The U.S. embassy authorized the departure of non-essential U.S. government employees and family members from Ethiopia on November 3, and has since repeatedly warned Americans in the country to leave using commercial flights.

On Tuesday, the embassy also warned Americans in Ethiopia of the ongoing possibility of terrorist attacks. It urged U.S. citizens “to maintain a high level of vigilance and avoid areas frequented by foreigners.”
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The White House announced Tuesday a coordinated release of millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves in multiple countries to bring down energy costs.

The U.S. Department of Energy will make available 50 million barrels of oil, according to the White House statement.

China, India, Japan, South Korea and Britain are also participating. The statement did not specify how much oil each of those nations will be releasing.

“American consumers are feeling the impact of elevated gas prices at the pump and in their home heating bills, and American businesses are, too, because oil supply has not kept up with demand as the global economy emerges from the pandemic,” the White House said. “That’s why President Biden is using every tool available to him to work to lower prices and address the lack of supply.”

The Biden administration is also looking at potential price manipulation in oil and gas markets with a Federal Trade Commission investigation.
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Closing arguments continue Tuesday in the trial of three white men charged with murdering a Black man in the southern U.S. state of Georgia. 

Both prosecutors and the defense made final appeals trying to convince the jury Monday after 10 days of testimony in the case. 

The prosecution gets to rebut the defense’s closing arguments before the jury is left to decide the verdict. 

Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor Willian Bryan are facing murder and other charges in the February 2020 shooting of Ahmaud Arbery. 

The accused pursued Arbery after seeing him running through their neighborhood, and defense lawyers said the men intended to hold Arbery for police under the suspicion he had burglarized a nearby house that was under construction. 

The prosecution argued the men had no justification for trying to detain Arbery and chased him only because “he was a Black man running down the street.” 

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
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Jurors on Monday finished their second day of deliberations without reaching a verdict in the trial of white nationalists accused of conspiring to commit racially motivated violence at the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017. 

The jury has deliberated for about 15 hours over two days. At one point Monday, jurors indicated that they may be having trouble reaching a unanimous verdict on several allegations in a lawsuit filed by nine people who were physically hurt or emotionally traumatized by the violence. 

Jurors are being asked to decide whether white supremacists, neo-Nazis and white nationalist organizations are responsible for violence during two days of demonstrations. In addition to deciding whether the defendants are liable on six claims, jurors will also decide whether the defendants are liable for compensatory and punitive damages for nine people who filed a federal lawsuit after they suffered physical or psychological injuries. 

About noon Monday, the jury sent a note asking Judge Norman Moon: “If we cannot come to a unanimous decision on the first three claims, do we still decide on Claims 4, 5 and 6?” 

Moon told lawyers for the plaintiffs and the defendants that he would tell the jury to continue to try to come to a unanimous verdict. He also alluded to the Allen charge, a formal instruction given by judges to deadlocked juries to encourage jurors to continue deliberating until they reach a verdict. The instruction is often colloquially referred to as a “dynamite” charge. Moon said he thought it was too early to give the instruction to the jury. 

Moon also issued an order that indefinitely extended an earlier order prohibiting the parties and their attorneys from disclosing the names of or any personal identifying information about the jurors, saying there is reason to believe “the jury needs protection from interference or harm, given the highly publicized nature of this trial,” according to a description on the electronic case docket. 

Hundreds of white nationalists descended on Charlottesville on Aug. 11-12, 2017, ostensibly to protest the city’s plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. 

During a march on the University of Virginia grounds, white nationalists surrounded counterprotesters, shouted “Jews will not replace us!” and threw burning tiki torches at them. The next day, an avowed admirer of Adolf Hitler intentionally drove his car into a crowd, killing one woman and injuring 19. 

James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio, is serving life in prison for murder and hate crimes for the car attack. He is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. 

Lawyers for the plaintiffs are relying in part on a 150-year-old law passed after the Civil War to shield freed slaves from violence and protect their civil rights. Commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, the law contains a rarely used provision that allows private citizens to sue other citizens for civil rights violations.

During closing arguments, lawyers for the plaintiffs told jurors that the defendants “planned, executed and then celebrated” racially motivated violence that killed one counterprotester and injured dozens over the course of the two days. 

The defendants used their closing arguments to distance themselves from Fields. 

Several defendants testified that they resorted to violence only after they or their associates were attacked. They’ve blamed the violence on anti-fascist protesters known as antifa as well as one another. 

The lawsuit is being funded by Integrity First for America, a nonprofit civil rights organization. 

 
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