The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking at how artificial intelligence can be used to help identify goods made with child or forced labor and prevent those goods from entering the country. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. VOA footage by Adam Greenbaum.
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Month: June 2023
Kenyan Police Fire Teargas at Protesters Marching Against Finance Bill
Kenyan police fired tear gas near parliament on Tuesday at hundreds of people protesting a proposed finance bill that would hike taxes on fuel, housing and digital content.
President William Ruto, who won election last August on a platform of helping the poor, is under pressure to raise revenues in East Africa’s economic powerhouse in the face of rising debt repayments.
But his proposal to do so has drawn sharp criticism from civil servants and political opponents, who say that the cost of living is already too high.
Police fired tear gas to disperse about 500 protesters who marched to parliament to present a petition against the bill, a Reuters witness said. Eleven protesters were seen being detained by police.
Ruto has defended bill, saying its provisions are needed to ensure financial stability and create jobs for young people by building new houses financed through a housing levy. The legislation is expected to be voted on next week.
The opposition Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) party, which has since March led protests against the government over the high cost of living and alleged fraud in last year’s election, has said the bill would take the country back to 1980s, when the economy started to deteriorate.
Last week, the opposition suspended bipartisan talks in parliament aimed at ending their row with the government, and its leader Raila Odinga has threatened to hold more protests.
Labour unions, including one representing health workers, also protested against the bill last week.
your ad hereClashes Between Sudan’s Warring Factions Intensify, No End in Sight
Sudan’s warring military factions clashed by air and on the ground in the country’s capital on Tuesday, as increased violence and spreading lawlessness added to the misery of residents already struggling with limited food and medicine.
Fighting between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, now in its eighth week, has killed hundreds of civilians, and driven 400,000 across borders and more than 1.2 million out of the capital and other cities.
Saudi Arabia and the United States had brokered talks that had led to imperfectly-observed ceasefires with the aim of providing humanitarian assistance. But talks collapsed last week and while delegations remain in Jeddah no direct talks have been announced.
The fighting has inflicting heavy damage on the capital where the remaining residents are at the mercy of battles, air strikes and looting.
Artillery and air strikes continued overnight, with residents in southern and eastern Khartoum and northern Bahri reporting hearing sounds of artillery and gun clashes on Tuesday morning.
Overnight, the two forces clashed in the streets of the city of Omdurman, around the army’s key Engineers Corps base. The army, which tends to prefer air strikes to ground fighting was able to maintain its positions around the base but could not push back the RSF, which controls most of the rest of the city.
“Our neighbourhood has become a war zone. There are fierce clashes and strikes all around us because our house is next to the Engineers’ Corps,” said 45-year-old Jawahir Mohamed.
“We are scared of dying but we are also scared of leaving our house and being burgled,” she added.
Looters, some of whom Khartoum residents and neighborhood committees say belong to the RSF, have pillaged neighborhoods across the capital, stealing cars, breaking open safes, and occupying homes.
Aid groups have struggled to provide extensive assistance to Khartoum residents, who face electricity and water shortages as well as dwindling supplies in shops and pharmacies.
Neighbourhod-based resistance committees have organized such assistance, but have struggled as fighting has intensified.
“We could not distribute medicines because of the air and artillery bombardment,” said one activist who asked not to be named.
Fighting has expanded beyond Khartoum to the Darfur region to the West, where the RSF originated and maintains a power base. Also hit by fighting is the city of El Obeid, a key route between Khartoum and Darfur.
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Russia Copying Iran’s Playbook to Evade Western Sanctions, Report Claims
Russia is copying Iran’s tactics in trying to evade Western sanctions, according to a report from the Royal United Services Institute, a British policy institute. Henry Ridgwell has more from London.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell
Produced by: Henry Hernandez
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Italy Reviewing Pirelli Ownership Structure
Italian regulators are looking into efforts by China’s Sinochem to tighten control over Italian tire maker Pirelli.
Sinochem owns 37% of Pirelli and a new shareholders agreement gives it the ability to choose nine members of Pirelli’s 15-member board.
Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera sold the 150-year-old company to ChemChina in 2015. ChemChina is now part of Chinese state-owned chemical company Sinochem.
The Italian government has the ability to review such matters under what are called “Golden Powers” — rules governing assets considered strategic to the country.
The probe comes amid concern by Western governments about China’s influence and potential interference by the government in business affairs.
Some information for this report came from Reuters
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Israel-Saudi Relations on Agenda as Blinken Heads to Saudi Arabia
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels Tuesday to Saudi Arabia for talks about security and economic issues.
Ahead of the trip, Blinken said Monday the United States “has a real national security interest in promoting normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.”
Dating back at least to the administration of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the United States has worked to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab nations, including Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
Blinken told a meeting of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC that part of his visit to Saudi Arabia would involve working toward boosting Israeli-Saudi relations.
“We believe that we can and indeed we must play an integral role in advancing it,” Blinken said. “Now, we have no illusions that this can be done quickly or easily.”
Blinken’s schedule includes a ministerial meeting Wednesday with the Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss promoting “security, stability, de-escalation, regional integration, and economic opportunities across the Middle East,” the State Department said.
On Thursday, Blinken and his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan co-host a meeting of the 80-strong coalition of countries fighting the Islamic State group.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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Some American Jews Question Support for Israel
For decades, American Jews have been Israel’s strongest supporters, from raising money for the nascent Jewish state to encouraging U.S. government support of Israel. But the Israeli government’s current plan to overhaul the judiciary has some American Jews questioning their support. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen.
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Ugandan Soldiers Survive Six Days Hiding From Al-Shabab, Says Military
Ugandan soldiers hid for six days before being rescued after al-Shabab militants overran their base, a spokesperson for the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) told VOA Somali.
Brigadier General Felix Kulaigye said the four soldiers, including a lieutenant, survived by hiding within and around the base in the town of Bulo Marer, 110 kilometers south of Mogadishu.
He said the troops were found after the Ugandan contingent retook the base on Thursday.
“When we recovered, they were weak because they were only surviving on urine,” Kulaigye said.
He said each of the soldiers was hiding alone, in separate locations.
“They were weak out of hunger,” he said.
“The lieutenant had been wounded, his leg was in bad shape and they have been treated in hospital, but they are promising to recover very well.”
The news comes as President Yoweri Museveni disclosed that 54 Ugandan soldiers were killed in the May 26 attack.
“We discovered the lifeless bodies of fifty-four fallen soldiers, including a Commander,” Museveni said in a tweet.
Uganda sent a team led by land forces commander Lieutenant General Kayanja Muhanga to Somalia to investigate the attack.
Museveni singled out two commanders for making a “mistake” by ordering the soldiers to retreat.
“They have been apprehended and will face charges in the Court Martial,” Museveni said.
The al-Shabab militant group on Monday published a video purportedly from the raid on the UPDF base. In the video, the leader of al-Shabab, Ahmed Umar Abu Ubaidah, whose face is blurred, sends off the attackers.
Heartbreak
Officials said Ugandans were heartbroken and shocked by the news that 54 of their soldiers were killed.
Ugandan diplomat and former deputy head of the Africa Union Mission in Somalia, Simon Mulongo, who is now a security analyst, said people received the news of the attack and overrunning of the base by militants with shock.
“They felt their deaths were cruel,” he told VOA Somali.
“Uganda had never suffered such a deadly attack. There has been some attacks or attempted attacks and probing attacks, but we never lost some high number. And as such, it took us by shock.”
Mulongo also said the attack generated debate on whether to withdraw troops from Somalia or keep them to let the mission “pursue its objectives to its logical conclusion.”
“It’s a kind of mixed reaction but in both cases, it’s with pain,” Mulongo added.
Kulaigye observed similar mixed reactions.
“Some urge us to go on and make sure we revenge,” he said.
“Others felt the mission should get out because we are dying for other people, not for our country; and for us, we are saying we have to keep [troops] in [Somalia] so that the entire Africa is peaceful.”
Kulaigye said Uganda will not withdraw troops from Somalia unless the Africa Union asks them to do so.
“These casualties do not discourage our pan-African duty,” he said. “We do not take these attacks lightly; when you attack us, we bring the war to you as well.”
‘Total’ commitment
Mulongo says Uganda does not share a border with Somalia, but its commitment is “total.”
“We are there purely on humanitarian grounds, and [are the] best on pan Africanism as a driving philosophy,” he said.
“We believe that stable Somalia is the only alternative we can have of a neighbor with whom we can bloc in terms of economics, in terms of trade, in terms of technological transfer; and to benefit from them since they occupy a strategic position in the eastern region.”
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Pilot Seen Slumped Over Before Deadly Virginia Plane Crash, Officials Say
The pilot of the business jet that flew over Washington and crashed in Virginia appeared to be slumped over and unresponsive before the crash, the fighter jet pilots reported, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter. The officials were not authorized to discuss details of the military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Federal investigators trudged through rugged terrain Monday in search of wreckage from a business jet to solve the mystery of why the plane veered off course and slammed into a mountain, killing four people.
A day after the plane flew over the nation’s capital, prompting the military to scramble fighter jets, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a brief update that the pilot and three passengers were killed and that the plane was “destroyed” in the crash. Their identities weren’t immediately released.
NTSB investigator Adam Gerhardt told reporters it will take investigators a while to reach the remote crash scene about two to three miles north of Montebello. They expect to be on the scene for at least three to four days. Investigators had to hike to the site on foot because of the mountainous terrain.
Attention on the crash and its cause was heightened by its unusual flight path over Washington, D.C., and a sonic boom caused by military aircraft heard across the capital, and parts of Maryland and Virginia. The North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement that military aircraft were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds, which caused the sonic boom, in an effort to investigate the plane. The aircraft also used flares to try to get the pilot’s attention.
Air Traffic Control audio from the half-hour before the plane crashed captures voices identifying themselves as military pilots trying to communicate with the pilot of the plane, according to recordings on LiveATC.net.
“If you hear this transmission, contact us,” said one pilot who identifies as being with the Air National Guard.
Several minutes later, a military pilot says: “You have been intercepted. Contact me.”
Speaking at a briefing Monday morning, Gerhardt said the wreckage is “highly fragmented” and investigators will examine the most delicate evidence on the scene, after which the wreckage will be moved, perhaps by helicopter, to Delaware, where it can be further examined, he said. The plane is not required to have a flight recorder, but it is possible that it has other avionics equipment that will have data that can be examined, Gerhardt said.
Virginia State Police said the crash site is more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the Blue Ridge Parkway in Augusta County, near the Nelson County line. Along with NTSB, they are beginning evidence collection and body recovery efforts. Remains collected at the scene will be transported to the medical examiner’s office in Virginia for autopsy and positive identification.
Investigators will look at when the pilot became unresponsive and why aircraft flew the path that it did, he said. They will consider several factors that are routinely examined in such probes including the plane, its engines, weather conditions, pilot qualifications, and maintenance records, he said.
“Everything is on the table until we slowly and methodically remove different components and elements that will be relevant for this safety investigation,” Gerhardt said.
A preliminary report will be released in 10 days and a final report will be released in one to two years, he said.
Meanwhile, the White House expressed its “deepest condolences” on Monday to the family of those on board the plane.
“We need to keep them front and center,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.
Kirby deferred questions about a follow-up report on the security response over Washington airspace to the Pentagon and U.S. Secret Service. But he said, “What I saw was just a classic, textbook response.”
The White House was continuously informed as Air Force jets tried to contact the pilot of the civilian plane and monitored the small aircraft’s path from Washington airspace to rural Virginia, Kirby said.
Police said Sunday night that rescuers had reached the crash site in a rural part of the Shenandoah Valley and that no survivors were found. Virginia State Police said officers were notified of the potential crash shortly before 4 p.m. and rescuers reached the crash site by foot around four hours later.
Flight started in Tennessee
The FAA said the Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, on Sunday and was headed for Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. Inexplicably, the plane turned around over New York’s Long Island and flew a straight path down over D.C. before it crashed around 3:30 p.m.
The plane flew directly over the nation’s capital, though it was technically flying above one of the most heavily restricted airspaces in the nation.
According to the Pentagon, six F-16 fighter jets were immediately deployed to intercept the plane. Two aircraft from the 113th Fighter Wing, out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, were the first to reach the Cessna to begin attempts to contact the pilot. Two F-16 aircraft out of New Jersey and two from South Carolina also responded.
Flight tracking sites showed the plane suffered a rapid spiraling descent, dropping at one point at a rate of more than 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) per minute before crashing in the St. Mary’s Wilderness.
In Fairfax, Virginia, Travis Thornton was settled on a couch next to his wife, Hannah, and had just begun recording himself playing guitar and harmonica when they were startled by a loud rumble and rattling. The couple jumped up to investigate. Thornton tweeted that they checked in with their kids upstairs and then he went outside to check the house and talk to neighbors.
Passengers included mother and daughter
The plane that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc, which is based in Florida. John Rumpel, a pilot who runs the company, told The New York Times that his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, her nanny, and the pilot were aboard the plane. They were returning to their home in East Hampton, on Long Island, after visiting his house in North Carolina, he said.
Rumpel told the newspaper he didn’t have much information from authorities but suggested the plane could have lost pressurization.
“It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed,” Rumpel told the newspaper.
The episode brought back memories of the 1999 crash of a Learjet that lost cabin pressure and flew aimlessly across the country with professional golfer Payne Stewart aboard. The jet crashed in a South Dakota pasture and six people died.
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Sonic Boom Heard Over Washington Is a Rare Sound with a Rich History
People living in and around the nation’s capital experienced a rare, if startling, sound: a sonic boom.
The boom was heard Sunday after the U.S. military dispatched six fighter jets to intercept an unresponsive business plane flying over restricted airspace.
The Air Force gave the F-16s permission to fly faster than the speed of sound — something civilian aircraft rarely get to do — as the jets scrambled to catch up with the Cessna Citation. The result was a thunderous rumble that resonated across a metropolitan area that’s home to more than 6 million people.
The business jet eventually crashed in rural Virginia, killing the pilot and three passengers.
Below is an explanation of what sonic booms are, their history in the U.S. and their potential future.
What is a sonic boom?
Sonic booms are heard on the ground when airplanes overhead fly faster than the speed of sound. That speed is typically about 760 mph (1,220 kph) near sea level, but can vary depending on the temperature, altitude and other conditions, according to the Congressional Research Service.
As the plane speeds through the air, molecules are pushed aside with great force, “and this forms a shock wave, much like a boat creates a wake in water,” according to NASA.
“When this line of shock wave passes by, listeners on the ground hear a very loud noise,” according to an explanation from Australia’s University of New South Wales.
The F-16s flying over Washington on Sunday were “probably trying to go as fast it could to catch up” with the wayward Cessna airplane, said Anthony Brickhouse, an associate professor of applied aviation sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon can fly 1,500 mph (2,410 kph) or twice the speed of sound, known as Mach 2, according to the Air Force.
What is the history of supersonic travel — and sonic booms?
In 1947, test pilot Charles “Chuck” Yeager became the first person to fly faster than sound in an orange, bullet-shaped Bell X-1 rocket plane. His exploits were told in Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff, and in the 1983 film it inspired.
In the movie, someone on the ground asks, “What’s that sound?” as Yeager’s plane flies above the Mojave Desert and breaks the sound barrier.
Interest in supersonic flight initially focused mostly on military planes, according to the Congressional Research Service. But it grew to include supersonic civil aircraft in the 1960s.
For example, the Soviet Union became the first country in 1968 to fly a supersonic passenger plane, the Tupolev TU-144. But a fatal crash at the 1973 Paris Air Show ended that ambition.
In 1963, the U.S. government announced a major program to develop a supersonic passenger aircraft. But serious problems soon surfaced, including massive development costs and doubts about financial viability. The program was terminated in 1971.
During the 1960s, NASA was tasked with helping to develop commercial supersonic aircraft and researched the effects of sonic booms. It found that people who experienced them were not happy with the loud sounds, describing them as “annoying,” “irritating” and “startling.”
In 1973, the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited supersonic flights over land, “based on the expectation that such flights would cause a sonic boom to reach the ground,” the Congressional Research Service wrote.
The Concorde, an Anglo-French supersonic jetliner, saw success for a number of years after making its first commercial flights in 1976. However, its ear-rattling sonic booms irritated people on the ground and led to restrictions on where the jet could fly.
In the U.S., the plane flew mainly over the Atlantic to New York and Washington. It could fly at twice the speed of sound. And it promised to revolutionize long-distance travel by cutting flying time from the U.S. East Coast to Europe from eight hours to three and a half hours.
The Concorde never caught on widely. The plane’s economics were challenging, and its sonic booms led it to be banned on many overland routes. Only 20 were built; 14 of which were used for passenger service.
In 2003, British Airways and Air France both stopped Concorde service.
Sonic booms are still heard in the U.S. from the nation’s military aircraft. In 2021, a sonic boom from F-15 fighter jets caused widespread concern that there was an earthquake on the Oregon coast.
What is the future of supersonic passenger travel — and sonic booms?
In 2018, the Congressional Research Service noted a revival of interest in supersonic aircraft, with startups hoping new technology could make them quieter and profitable.
Since then, American Airlines and United have bought supersonic jets from manufacturer Boom Supersonic. The aircraft are still on the drawing board and years away from flying — and not all industry observers believe they’ll be profitable.
Meanwhile, NASA’s X-59 airplane is designed to fly faster than sound — but with drastically reduced noise — over land, according to an April blog post from the agency.
“People below would hear sonic ‘thumps’ rather than booms, if they hear anything at all,” NASA wrote.
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Exclusive: US Troops Forced to Leave Ukraine Turn Tragedy Into Triumph
Days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a team of U.S. soldiers training Ukrainians inside Ukraine were ordered to evacuate. Two months later, the soldiers — from the Florida National Guard’s Task Force Gator — restarted and expanded their training of Ukrainians in Germany. The public has not seen video of the training, because the Biden administration refused to release it — until now. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb traveled to Tampa, Florida, and Germany to bring you more on their mission.
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China Establishing ‘Commanding Lead’ with Key Military Technologies
Chinese research on some key military technologies is so far ahead that the United States and its key allies may never be able to catch up, according to a new analysis by an Australian think tank.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) issued its findings Tuesday based on a review of the top 10% of the most highly cited research papers, concluding China leads in 19 of 23 key categories, including some that are likely to play a major role in Beijing’s push for military prominence in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
China “has a commanding lead in hypersonics, electronic warfare and in key undersea capabilities,” the ASPI study found, further warning, “China’s leads are so emphatic they create a significant risk that China might dominate future technological breakthroughs in these areas.”
The analysis further found that for hypersonics, nine of the 10 leading research institutions are based in China, while China is home to all 10 of the top research venues for undersea drones.
Unlike ballistic missiles, which fly at hypersonic speeds but travel along a set trajectory, hypersonic weapons are highly maneuverable despite flying at Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.
And the gaps between China and everyone else are significant. With some technologies, like hypersonics, China produces more than 73% of all high-impact research, more than the U.S. and the next eight countries combined.
The analysis also found indications that China is using Western research institutions to its advantage.
More than 14% of “high-impact” Chinese authors — those who wrote the works cited most often — did their post-graduate training in the U.S., Australia or Britain, ASPI said, noting the percentage is close to 20% for researchers writing about hypersonic detections and close to 18% for electronic warfare.
There are some areas, however, where the U.S. and its allies maintain an edge.
ASPI said the U.S. leads in high-impact research on autonomous systems, quantum computing and quantum sensors, some areas of artificial intelligence and in protective cybersecurity.
When U.S. research efforts are combined with those of Australia and Britain, the so-called AUKUS partnership, the gap closes a bit more, though China still retains a considerable research advantage.
“The fact that the three AUKUS nations still trail China in some fields even when their efforts are tallied underscores the value of the technology-sharing agreement, whose aim is to accelerate shared technological development by enabling the partners to leverage one another’s strengths,” ASPI wrote in a statement accompanying the report.
ASPI also said it hopes the findings would “strengthen some calls for AUKUS to expand technology cooperation to other countries such as Japan.”
The U.S., Australia and Britain entered into the AUKUS agreement in September 2021 to address mutual concerns in the Indo-Pacific and to boost advancements in artificial technology, quantum computing and cyber defense.
One of the most prominent pieces of the three-country alliance included a U.S.-Australian plan to build Australia at least eight nuclear powered submarines.
U.S. defense and military officials have repeatedly voiced concerns about China’s expanding military and the advanced technology fueling the expansion.
In March, the Defense Intelligence Agency’s chief scientist told reporters in Washington that Beijing already has the world’s leading arsenal of hypersonic weapons.
The U.S. is developing its own hypersonic weapons but all of them remain in testing or development.
Other U.S. intelligence officials have also warned about China’s ability to leverage advanced technology.
In February, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned that the high-altitude spy balloon China sent over the continental U.S. could just be the start of Chinese surveillance efforts.
“As technology improves, as we start to see more high-altitude vehicles, in effect, we’re going to see more of this,” she said. “We’re going to have to understand that and manage it.”
Chinese officials continue to deny the high-altitude balloon that was ultimately shot down off the U.S. Atlantic coast was a surveillance device, arguing instead it was a weather balloon.
your ad hereAt Normandy D-Day Celebrations, Echoes of Ukraine’s Looming Fight
While U.S. military officers here caution against too direct a comparison between the 1944 D-Day landings and Ukraine’s upcoming counteroffensive, the echoes of what Kyiv faces today are a dominant theme of this year’s commemorations of the young U.S. soldiers who died on the Normandy beaches nearly 80 years ago.
For days the villages and towns surrounding Omaha and Utah beaches have held parades, memorial events, flyovers and parachute demonstrations to build up to the annual celebration of D-Day, the launch of Operation Overlord. The June 6, 1944, invasion marked the beginning of the Allies’ massive ground invasion which would eventually lead to Germany’s surrender and the end of World War II in Europe.
The celebration is taking place as Ukraine prepares to launch its own counteroffensive against Russia — an impending fight for which many of those same allied forces have now provided billions of dollars in weapons and training to Kyiv’s soldiers to best prepare them to win.
“There’s echoes of that of course,” said Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark Milley. However, he cautioned against making a direct comparison to World War II’s Normandy invasion, where more than 150,000 troops made landfall in Normandy in a 24-hour period and millions eventually fought across Europe to defeat the Nazis.
The goal “is certainly the same, to liberate occupied territory and to free a country that has been unjustly attacked by an aggressor nation, in this case, Russia,” Milley said.
Over the last several days, Ukraine has been a theme.
“[They are] very naive, those who think peace is eternal: history shows us quite the opposite,” said Alain Holley, mayor of Ste Mere Eglise, at a D-Day commemoration ceremony Sunday. “The proof is that today, the shells are again falling in Europe, two hours by plane from here. Where and when this new war will stop, no one knows today.”
Holley said it was imperative to stop “these arsonists, before the fire takes away our children, our grandchildren, as well as these brave young American paratroopers.”
At the spot where Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower established the first forward Supreme Allied Command headquarters in 1944, current U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander Gen. Darryl Williams said Eisenhower’s choice to push forward was like the West’s decision to continue arming Ukraine – that it was a sign of hope.
“We particularly need hope today, because the dark clouds of war once again hang over Europe.”
Just 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Omaha Beach, the larger town of Carentan was the site of a key victory allowing Allied forces to advance. The commander of the current 101st Airborne Division 2nd brigade air assault troops – whose predecessors gave their lives freeing Carentan one week after D-Day — said the grounds were a hallowed reminder of the present.
The unit was one of the first sent back to Europe after Russia invaded last year, to bolster Eastern European defenses.
“While we did not return to fight, we were ready to fight,” said Col. Ed Matthaidess, commander of 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (air assault). “So, we stand here in Carentan today, and across Normandy this week, in remembrance not only of our past, but also mindful of our present.”
Two days before the annual celebration of Operation Overlord, Ukraine’s ministry of defense posted a video to Twitter of soldier after soldier putting their finger to their lips, in a hint that Kyiv’s much anticipated counteroffensive is imminent.
“Plans like silence,” the video text read. “There will be no announcements about the beginning,” according to a translation by the Kyiv Post.
There’s usually a Ukrainian military delegation here as part of the commemorations, but not this year, as they focus on the fight at home, said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Ste Mere Eglise became the first French town liberated by Allied forces; its namesake church was made famous by 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper John Steele, whose parachute got caught on the church steeple, leaving him hanging there for two hours during the initial invasion.
“D-Day is a commemoration. I think it’s also a warning,” said Army Col. Marty O’Donnell, spokesperson for U.S. Army forces in Europe. “While certainly there is not a world war going on right now, we certainly must reflect upon the history as we deal with current events.”
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Shelling, Looting in Sudan’s Capital as Military Factions Battle for 8th Week
Shelling and heavy clashes hit areas of Sudan’s capital Monday, residents said, with reports of spreading lawlessness in Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur after more than seven weeks of conflict between rival military factions.
Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensified after the expiry late Saturday of a cease-fire deal brokered by Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
The war has uprooted more than 1.2 million people within Sudan and sent about 400,000 fleeing into neighboring countries, inflicting heavy damage on the capital where the remaining residents are at the mercy of battles, airstrikes and looting.
On Monday, residents reported smoke rising in some areas after intense fighting across the three cities that make up the nation’s wider capital – Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri. They reported clashes in southern Khartoum and shelling in Omdurman.
“The neighborhood where we live in the center of Omdurman is looted publicly on a daily basis without anyone intervening to prevent it, with clashes and shelling continuing around us,” said 37-year-old resident Mohamed Saleh.
In Khartoum East district, RSF troops who have spread out in neighborhoods across the capital were in full control and were looting extensively, said Waleed Adam, a resident of the area.
“You see them right in front of you, taking cars, money, gold – whatever they can get their hands on,” he told Reuters by phone. “I guess it’s just a matter of time until they come to my street.”
The RSF says it has been working to protect civilians by arresting looters.
Darfur violence
Some of those who fled the war have headed to neighboring countries including Chad, South Sudan, and Central African Republic (CAR) that are already struggling with poverty, conflict, and a dip in humanitarian aid.
The arrival of nearly 14,000 people in northeastern CAR and a halt to cross-border trade “puts additional pressure on the limited resources available to the 130,000 extremely vulnerable people in the region,” Mohamed Ag Ayoya, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for CAR, told a news briefing in Geneva.
The war has also triggered unrest in Darfur in Sudan’s far west, a region that was already suffering from mass displacement due to earlier conflict and where residents in several cities and towns have reported attacks by militias linked to Arab nomadic tribes.
In recent days at least 40 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in Kutum in North Darfur State, according to activists who monitor the region. Residents have also reported widespread looting and insecurity in the area.
On Monday, the RSF, which has its powerbase in Darfur and its origins in the Arab-dominated militias, released a video purporting to show they had taken over the army headquarters in Kutum, a commercial hub and one of the larger towns in the state.
There was no immediate comment from the army, which Sunday had denied that the RSF had taken the town.
There have been long communication blackouts in parts of Darfur, where aid groups have found it especially complicated to bring in humanitarian supplies.
In El Obeid, a city 360 km (220 miles) southwest of Khartoum and on a key route from the capital to Darfur, residents reported large deployments of RSF troops and the closure of some roads.
Recent days have brought the first showers of the year in Khartoum, marking the start of a rainy season that is likely to complicate a relief effort already hampered by bureaucratic delays and logistical challenges.
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Rights Groups Urge Malawi to Stop Forced Refugee Relocations
An international rights group is asking the Malawi government to stop the forced relocation of 8,000 refugees living outside a congested camp.
Human Rights Watch says it is concerned by reports that children are among those caught up in the sweeps and forcibly taken to a prison in the capital, Lilongwe. The rights group says the forcible relocation violates international conventions for refugees which Malawi ratified.
Idriss Ali Nassah, who is with Human Rights Watch covering Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, told VOA the relocation of refugees is troubling.
“There are reports of this raid being carried out by military men and the police, who are arresting indiscriminately women, children and the elderly and taking them first of all to Maula maximum security prison in Lilongwe,” he said. “Not only are the authorities committing abuses during arrests and detaining children, but forcibly removing people from their homes amounts to unlawful forced evictions.”
Nassah said his organization has learned that 20 refugees and asylum-seekers at Maula Prison and Dzaleka refugee camp were allegedly assaulted during raids and that their money was taken.
Last week, Malawi police arrested two police officers for soliciting money from seven refugees from Burundi to spare them from forcible evictions.
Malawi started the forcible relocation last month following the expiration of the April 15 deadline the government gave the refugees to voluntarily relocate to the camp.
The government said by staying outside the camp, the refugees threaten national security. In addition, the encampment policy prohibits refugees from staying outside the camp.
Nassah said the policy contradicts agreements that the Malawi government ratified.
“But this is contrary to what Malawi itself endorsed in 2018 when it endorsed a Global Compact on Refugees, which seeks to include and integrate refugees into host communities,” he said. “Because by doing that, you allow refugees to become self-reliant if they are permitted to have access to education, labor market, access to entrepreneurship, and they contribute to the development of host communities and local economies.”
Dzaleka, the only refugee camp in Malawi, was meant to house 12,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, according to UNHCR. Instead, the camp holds more than 50,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and Ethiopia.
Several rights groups in Malawi and abroad, including the U.N. refugee agency, have asked Malawi to stop the relocations due to the congestion.
Patrick Botha, spokesperson for the Ministry of Homeland Security in Malawi, told VOA that the refugees outside the camp have long posed a security threat and need to be confined to the camp.
“The position of the Malawi government is that this is a necessary exercise,” he said. “Actually, you have seen that some of the people we are talking about have been found with illegal documentation in South Africa — the case of this Rwandese who is suspected to be a mastermind of the genocide.”
Botha said the recent arrest of a Rwandese national in South Africa who was allegedly using a Malawian passport has fueled the Malawi government to intensify relocation efforts.
However, Botha said refugees that are kept in a prison are not subjected to prison conditions.
“We are using Maula premises not as a way of imprisoning them. Actually, we are using the Maula premises as the center for screening,” he said. “So, depending on what comes out of the documentation — they are either … sent back home, if they have legitimate papers of documentation.”
Nearly 2,000 refugees have relocated to the Dzaleka camp, where some refugees have told VOA they are living under dehumanizing conditions with no food, running water and shelter.
The World Food Program told VOA that the relocation exercise adds pressure on its already strained food assistance for Dzaleka camp refugees.
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California Attorney General Blames Florida for Migrant Charter Flight
Florida appears to have arranged for a group of South American migrants to be transported from Texas to California and dropped off in Sacramento, California’s attorney general said, noting that he’s looking into whether any crimes may have been committed.
If true, the 16 Colombian and Venezuelan migrants who turned up at the Roman Catholic Church diocese’s headquarters in Sacramento on Friday would be the latest to have been moved from a Republican-led state to one led by Democrats.
The migrants had documents that appeared to be issued by the state of Florida, though the circumstances surrounding their arrival were still under investigation, Attorney General Rob Bonta said Saturday.
He also said he’s evaluating whether violations of civil or criminal law took place.
“While we continue to collect evidence, I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting,” Bonta said in a statement.
The migrants entered the U.S. through Texas. Eddie Carmona, campaign director at PICO California, a faith-based group that helps migrants, said U.S. immigration officials had already processed the young women and men and given them court dates for their asylum cases when “individuals representing a private contractor” approached them outside a migrant center in El Paso, Texas, and offered to help them get jobs and get them to their final destinations.
“They were lied to and intentionally deceived,” Carmona said, adding that the migrants had no idea where they were after being dropped off in Sacramento. He said they have court dates in cities throughout the country, not only in Texas, and that none of them meant to end up in California.
The migrants were transported from Texas to New Mexico and then flown by charter plane to California’s capital, where they were dropped off in front of the diocese’s headquarters, California officials said.
The migrants’ documents said they were transported through a program run by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management and carried out by contractor Vertol Systems Co., said Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Bonta. She said she couldn’t share the documents because they are part of an active investigation.
Florida paid the same contractor $1.56 million last year to fly migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and for a possible second flight to Delaware that never took place. The Republican governors of Texas and Arizona have previously sent thousands of migrants on buses to New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., but the rare charter flights are an escalation in tactics.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination to run for president, has been a fierce critic of federal immigration policy under President Joe Biden and has heavily publicized Florida’s role in past instances in which migrants were transported to Democratic-led states.
DeSantis has made the migrant relocation program one of his signature political priorities, using the state legislative process to direct millions of dollars to it.
Before the flight from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last year, DeSantis signed off on a Republican-backed budget that earmarked $12 million to relocate people in the country illegally from Florida to other locations.
When questions arose around the legality of the Martha’s Vineyard fight because it originated in Texas, not Florida, in apparent violation of budgetary language, DeSantis had Republicans legislators create a program in his office dedicated to migrant relocations and specify that the state can transport migrants from locations anywhere in the country.
DeSantis’ administration has selected three vendors to help transport migrants.
Neither Vertol Systems nor DeSantis’ office responded to requests for comment. Alecia Collins, a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees Florida’s migrant flights program, said in an email Monday that she couldn’t immediately confirm whether the agency was involved in this latest instance.
The flight, if proved to have been arranged by Florida, would intensify a prolonged political feud between DeSantis and California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom. The two have offered conflicting visions on immigration, abortion and a host of other issues.
Newsom said in a statement that he also met with the newly arrived migrants and that officials were working to ensure that they are “treated with respect and dignity” through this process.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg issued a more forcefully worded statement: “Whoever is behind this must answer the following: Is there anything more cruel than using scared human beings to score cheap political points?”
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Mike Pence Files Paperwork to Run for US President
Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork Monday declaring that he was running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, a longshot bid to overtake his former boss, Donald Trump, to become the party’s standard bearer to try to reclaim the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden.
Pence, a conservative former Indiana governor, for four years was a loyal No. 2 to Trump but had a falling out with him when Pence refused Trump’s demands to upend the congressional certification of the 2020 election results showing they had lost, leading to the January 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters storming into the U.S. Capitol and the arrest of more than 1,000 people.
Pence, who had no constitutional power to overturn the election, fled for safety that day, hiding with his family and their security detail at a Capitol loading dock as some protesters shouted, “Hang Mike Pence!” and erected makeshift gallows on the National Mall within eyesight of the Capitol.
Trump tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” Pence has said that Trump “endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day” and that history will hold him accountable. More recently, Pence testified before a grand jury investigating Trump.
Now, Pence is hoping to convince Republican voters that he, not Trump nor an array of other declared or likely Republican candidates, deserve the Republican presidential nomination.
But national polls of Republicans show Trump, even as he faces multiple criminal investigations linked to his presidency, is far ahead in the nomination contest, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in second place 30 percentage points or so behind, and Pence and others even further back with less than 5% support apiece.
Pence is formally announcing his presidential bid Wednesday, his 64th birthday, in the midwestern state of Iowa, whose Republican caucuses next year kick off the party’s voting for the presidential nomination. He made his candidacy official Monday by filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
Pence, who has often described himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order,” is planning to campaign extensively in Iowa, hoping to capture the votes of evangelical Christians who favor his staunch anti-abortion stance and other right-wing positions.
In early campaign jousting, he has portrayed himself as favoring many of the policy positions from his time in the White House with Trump, but with a reserved persona and absent the frequent chaos of the Trump presidency.
Pence has warned against the growing populist tide in the Republican Party, and advisers claim he is the only traditional, conservative in the race, reminiscent of the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the country’s leader in the 1980s.
Aside from his conservative viewpoint on cultural issues, Pence has said the U.S. should offer more support to Ukraine against Russia’s military invasion, while rebuking “Putin apologists” among Republicans unwilling to stand up against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Pence is joining a crowded field of Republican presidential candidates that includes Trump, DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans to launch his own campaign Tuesday evening in New Hampshire, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is also announcing his bid Wednesday.
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Seven Punished by Spanish Government for Racist Insults Against Vinicius
Seven people involved in different racist attacks against Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr have been punished by Spain’s State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport, the country’s Sports Commission said on Monday.
Four men were fined $64,255 and banned from sports venues for two years after hanging a banner reading “Madrid hates Real” and an inflatable black effigy in a replica of Vinicius’ No. 20 shirt on a bridge near Real’s facilities before the team’s Cup match against Atletico Madrid on Jan. 26.
Three other people were fined $5,354.50 and banned from sports venues for one year after making racist gestures towards the Brazil international during a LaLiga match at Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium on May 21.
The sanctions come 11 days after the arrest of the four men on suspicion of hanging the effigy and their release on bail by a Madrid court.
Vinicius Jr has been in the spotlight for the past couple of weeks after calling LaLiga and Spain racist following the abuse he suffered during Real’s match against Valencia.
The sporting world has shown solidarity with the 22-year-old since then and the Brazilian government has called for severe sanctions against those responsible for the racial slurs.
Brazil will play friendlies against Guinea on June 17 and Senegal, three days later, as a part of an anti-racism campaign.
your ad hereGunmen Kill at Least 30 in Weekend Attacks in Northern Nigeria
Gunmen in Nigeria have killed at least 30 people and kidnapped a number of children in separate attacks in three northern states, police and residents said, the latest incidents in a region dogged by armed violence.
Armed gangs on motorbikes frequently take advantage of thinly stretched security forces in the region to kidnap villagers, motorists and students for ransom.
Residents said armed men had attacked Janbako and Sakkida villages in northwestern Zamfara state on Saturday, killing 24 people. The gunmen also abducted several children who were collecting firewood in a forest in neighboring Gora village.
Police spokesperson Ahmad Rufai said the neighboring state of Sokoto was also attacked in five villages of Tangaza local government on Saturday, with the dead buried on Sunday.
Hussaini Ahmadu and Abubakar Maradun, local residents in Janbako and Sakkida, told Reuters by phone that the gangs earlier in the week had demanded that villagers pay a fee to enable them to farm their fields but villagers did not do so.
Zamfara police spokesman Yazid Abubakar confirmed the attacks but said only 13 people had been reported killed and nine young boys and girls kidnapped.
Gunmen killed 25 people and set their houses on fire during an attack on Saturday on the Imande Mbakange community in north central Benue state, two residents said. The motive of the attack was not known.
your ad hereCaught Between Two Wars: Sudan’s Ethiopian Refugees
Tigrayans who fled Ethiopia’s civil war to neighboring Sudan say they are not receiving enough aid due to the outbreak of violence there, but that they are afraid to return to Ethiopia because of alleged ethnic cleansing. Others, resorting to desperate measures, are falling victim to human traffickers promising to help them find passage to Europe. Henry Wilkins reports from N’Djamena, Chad.
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US Sanctions Target Russian Influence Campaign in Moldova
The United States imposed sanctions on Monday on members of a Russian intelligence-linked group for their role in Moscow’s efforts to destabilize democracy and influence elections in Moldova, the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions target seven individuals, several of whom maintain ties to Russian intelligence services, the department said in a statement.
They include the group’s leader, Konstantin Prokopyevich Sapozhnikov, who organized the plot to destabilize the government of Moldova in early 2023.
“The sanctions imposed today shine a light on Russia’s ongoing covert efforts to destabilize democratic nations,” Brian Nelson, the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in the statement.
“Russia’s attempted influence operations exploit the concerns of the citizens of these countries, to destabilize legitimately elected governments for Moscow’s own interests.”
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Is It Real or Made by AI? Europe Wants a Label as It Fights Disinformation
The European Union is pushing online platforms like Google and Meta to step up the fight against false information by adding labels to text, photos and other content generated by artificial intelligence, a top official said Monday.
EU Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said the ability of a new generation of AI chatbots to create complex content and visuals in seconds raises “fresh challenges for the fight against disinformation.”
Jourova said she asked Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and other tech companies that have signed up to the 27-nation bloc’s voluntary agreement on combating disinformation to dedicate efforts to tackling the AI problem.
Online platforms that have integrated generative AI into their services, such as Microsoft’s Bing search engine and Google’s Bard chatbot, should build safeguards to prevent “malicious actors” from generating disinformation, Jourova said at a briefing in Brussels.
Companies offering services that have the potential to spread AI-generated disinformation should roll out technology to “recognize such content and clearly label this to users,” she said.
Jourova said EU regulations are aimed at protecting free speech, but when it comes to AI, “I don’t see any right for the machines to have the freedom of speech.”
The swift rise of generative AI technology, which has the capability to produce human-like text, images and video, has amazed many and alarmed others with its potential to transform many aspects of daily life. Europe has taken a lead role in the global movement to regulate artificial intelligence with its AI Act, but the legislation still needs final approval and won’t take effect for several years.
Officials in the EU, which is bringing in a separate set of rules this year to safeguard people from harmful online content, are worried that they need to act faster to keep up with the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence.
The voluntary commitments in the disinformation code will soon become legal obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act, which will force the biggest tech companies by the end of August to better police their platforms to protect users from hate speech, disinformation and other harmful material.
Jourova said, however, that those companies should start labeling AI-generated content immediately.
Most of those digital giants are already signed up to the EU code, which requires companies to measure their work on combating disinformation and issue regular reports on their progress.
Twitter dropped out last month in what appeared to be the latest move by Elon Musk to loosen restrictions at the social media company after he bought it last year.
The exit drew a stern rebuke, with Jourova calling it a mistake.
“Twitter has chosen the hard way. They chose confrontation,” she said. “Make no mistake, by leaving the code, Twitter has attracted a lot of attention and its actions and compliance with EU law will be scrutinized vigorously and urgently.”
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US Releases Video of Encounter With Chinese Warship Near Taiwan
The U.S. military Monday released a video of what it described as an “unsafe” Chinese maneuver in the Taiwan Strait over the weekend in which one of Beijing’s navy ships cut sharply across the path of an American destroyer, forcing the U.S. vessel to slow to avoid a collision.
During the Saturday incident, the U.S. military said a Chinese guided-missile destroyer overtook the USS Chung-Hoon on its port side, then veered to the right across its bow at a distance of about 137 meters (150 yards), according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The American destroyer held its course, the video showed, but the military said its speed was reduced to 10 knots “to avoid a collision.”
The close encounter occurred as the American vessel and the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal were conducting a so-called “freedom of navigation” transit of the strait between Taiwan and mainland China, which China claims as part of its economic zone, while the U.S. and its Western allies say it is governed by the freedom of international passage.
After cutting across the bow of the U.S. ship, the Chinese vessel straightened out to again start sailing in a parallel direction.
The Chinese ship did not attempt a similar maneuver on the Canadian frigate, which was sailing behind the American destroyer.
“Chung-Hoon and Montreal’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the combined U.S.-Canadian commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the Indo-Pacific Command said. “The U.S. military flies, sails, and operates safely and responsibly anywhere international law allows.”
The incident came on a day when both U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu were in Singapore for an annual defense conference.
Li defended his country’s response Sunday, contending that the passage of the allied Western vessels on “freedom of navigation patrols” was a provocation to China.
Li told some of the world’s top defense officials at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that Beijing does not have any problems with “innocent passage” through the waters separating Taiwan from mainland China but that “we must prevent attempts that try to use those freedom of navigation (patrols), that innocent passage, to exercise hegemony of navigation.”
The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said in a statement that guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon and Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Montreal conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit “through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”
The bilateral transit, the statement said, “demonstrates the commitment of the United States and our allies and partners to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and while the U.S. recognizes a “one-China” policy and that Beijing claims Taiwan as its own, Washington continues to sell arms to Taipei.
Li suggested the U.S. and its allies had created the danger and should instead focus on taking “good care of your own territorial airspace and waters.”
“The best way is for the countries, especially the naval vessels and fighter jets of countries, not to do closing actions around other countries’ territories,” he said through an interpreter. “What’s the point of going there? In China we always say, ‘Mind your own business.'”
Austin told the same security forum Saturday that Washington would not “flinch in the face of bullying or coercion” from China and would continue regularly sailing through and flying over the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea to emphasize they are international waters, countering Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims.
In addition to Saturday’s maneuvering in the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. has said a Chinese J-16 fighter jet late last month “performed an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” while intercepting a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, flying directly in front of the plane’s nose.
Li refused Austin’s invitation to talk on the sidelines of the conference, though the two did shake hands before sitting down at opposite sides of the same table together as the forum opened Friday.
Austin said that was not enough.
“A cordial handshake over dinner is no substitute for a substantive engagement,” Austin said.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press.
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‘It Was Tough’: WWII Veterans Return to Utah Beach to Commemorate D-Day
Looking at the vastness of Utah Beach, its sand blowing in strong wind and bright sunshine, made Robert Gibson’s memory of D-Day even more vivid.
“It was tough,” the 99-year-old veteran said of the moment when he landed there on June 6, 1944 alongside more than 150,000 other Allied troops.
Gibson was among dozens of World War II veterans, mostly Americans and British, who traveled to Normandy this week to mark the 79th anniversary of D-Day, commemorating the decisive assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control.
He remembered “lots of casualties. We had almost run over bodies to get in the beach. Never forget we were only 18, 19 years old. I’m glad I made it.”
Gibson landed on Utah Beach on D-Day in the second wave, after the assault troops. He survived to continue fighting in Normandy and eventually into Germany.
The first job of his battalion, he said, was “to guard an ammunition dump and the first night it got struck. You didn’t know where you were to go. Bullets were going all over the place. But we ducked it.”
Andrew Negra also landed on Utah Beach. That was on July 18, 1944. He returned for the first time this year and was “amazed” by the warm welcome from local French people.
“Every place we went, people are cheering, clapping, and they’ve been doing this for I don’t know how many years,” he said.
At age 99, Negra is the only member of his battalion who is still alive. Braving the wind to walk on the beach for a few minutes, he said, “So many we lost. And here I am.”
Negra participated in combat operations until his division reached eastern Germany in April 1945.
On Sunday, over 40 American veterans of World War II formed a parade, using wheelchairs, along the streets of the small town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where thousands of paratroopers jumped not long after midnight on June 6, 1944.
Cheerful crowds applauded, calling out “Merci” and “Thank you.” Children waved, and many families asked for a photo with the men.
Donnie Edwards, president of the Best Defense Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps World War II veterans visit former battlefields, said, “For us, every year is a big one.”
Given the ages of the soldiers who fought more than seven decades ago, Edwards observed, “Nothing is guaranteed. So we want to make sure that we do everything we can to get them an incredible and enjoyable experience.”
The veterans then headed to Sainte-Marie-du-Mont for a brief ceremony at a monument honoring the U.S. Navy that overlooks Utah Beach.
“The fallen will never be forgotten. The veteran will ever be honored,” an inscription in the stone reads.
Some of the almost-centenarians asked volunteers to accompany them on the wide stretch of sand.
Matthew Yacovino, 98, became emotional as he remembered what happened there to his older brother, who almost died after his jeep blown up during the landings.
“The driver got killed and my brother fell on the beach unconscious,” Yacovino said with tears in the eyes.
His brother eventually recovered. Yacovino himself served as a combat air crewman during the war.
Like others who come to Normandy for historical reenactments of what transpired there, Valérie and Lionel Draucourt, visitors from the Paris region, dressed in khaki uniforms. They wanted to pay their respects to the veterans.
“Frankly, I don’t think we can quite fathom what they lived through. We can’t understand it, it’s so big, it’s crazy,” Lionel Draucourt said.
Veterans were due to take part in official ceremonies of the 79th anniversary on Tuesday, including at the Normandy American Cemetery.
On D-Day, Allied troops landed on the beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword and Gold, carried by 7,000 boats. On that single day, 4,414 Allied soldiers lost their lives, 2,501 of them Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded.
On the German side, several thousand were killed or wounded.
U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Mark Milley, stressed the significance of the commemorations “for memorializing the efforts that they did and what they did.”
“They were fighting to make sure that fascism and Nazism didn’t stay in control of Europe. Ultimately, we all know that they were successful,” Milley said.
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