In March, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the creation of a marine sanctuary across a wide swath of the Pacific Ocean. If finalized, it would help the U.S. meet its goal of protecting 30% of its oceans by 2030. The public comment period is underway, revealing the competing interests of conservation and economic development across the region. VOA’s Jessica Stone reports.
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Month: June 2023
US Employers Added 339,000 Jobs in May as Labor Market Stays Durable
The nation’s employers stepped up their hiring in May, adding a robust 339,000 jobs, well above expectations and evidence of strength in an economy that the Federal Reserve is desperately trying to cool.
Friday’s report from the government showed that the unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, from a five-decade low of 3.4% in April.
The stronger hiring demonstrates the job market’s resilience after more than a year of rapid interest rate increases by the Fed. Many industries, from construction to restaurants to health care, are still adding jobs to keep up with consumer demand and restore their workforces to pre-pandemic levels.
Having imposed 10 straight rate hikes since March 2022, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to skip a rate increase when it meets later this month, though it may resume its hikes after that. Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have made clear that they regard strong hiring as likely to keep inflation persistently high because employers tend to sharply raise pay in a tight job market. Many of these companies then pass on their higher wage costs to customers in the form of higher prices.
The May jobs report adds to other recent evidence that the economy is still managing to chug ahead despite long-standing predictions that a recession was near. Consumers ramped up their spending in April, even after adjusting for inflation, and sales of new homes rose despite higher mortgage rates.
Some cracks in the economy’s foundations, though, have begun to emerge. Home sales have tumbled. A measure of factory activity indicated that it has contracted for seven straight months.
And consumers are showing signs of straining to keep up with higher prices. The proportion of Americans who are struggling to stay current on their credit card and auto loan debt rose in the first three months of this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Fed officials are expected to forgo a rate increase at their June 13-14 meeting to allow time to assess how their previous rate hikes have affected the inflation pressures underlying the economy. Higher rates typically take time to affect growth and hiring. The Fed wants to avoid raising its key rate to the point where it would slow borrowing and spending so much as to cause a deep recession.
The U.S. economy as a whole has been gradually weakening. It grew at a lackluster 1.3% annual rate from January through March, after 2.6% annual growth from October through December and 3.2% from July through September.
The Federal Reserve’s so-called Beige Book, a collection of anecdotal reports mostly from businesses across the country, reported this week that the pace of hiring gains in April and May had “cooled some” compared with previous reports. Many companies reported that they were fully staffed.
At the same time, despite some high-profile job cuts by financial and high-technology companies, the pace of layoffs remains unusually low. The number of people seeking first-time unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, barely rose from a low level last week.
Many employers are still engaged in so-called “catch-up hiring,” particularly in such sectors as restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues. Even as customer demand in these industries has spiked, the number of employed workers remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Consumers, who drive roughly two-thirds of economic activity, are still mostly spending at a solid pace, despite higher prices and borrowing rates. Their spending jumped 0.8% in April, the fastest monthly pace since January, as Americans flocked to airports, restaurants and concert halls, among other places.
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Biden Administration Urged to Back UN-Sanctioned Tribunal on Russian Aggression
Two influential Democratic senators are urging the Biden administration to change course and back the establishment of a U.N.-sanctioned special tribunal to hold Russian leaders accountable for the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Democrats Ben Cardin and Tim Kaine, both prominent members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a resolution calling on the administration “to use its voice and vote in international institutions to support the creation of a special international criminal tribunal to hold accountable the leaders of the Russian Federation who led and sanctioned aggression in Ukraine.”
The resolution supports a long-standing Ukrainian demand: a special tribunal for Russia’s “crime of aggression.” The U.N. General Assembly would have to greenlight the proposed tribunal, terms of which Ukraine and the United Nations would negotiate.
Different treatment
The crime of aggression – defined as “planning, preparation, initiation or execution” of an act of aggression, such as an armed invasion – is distinct from war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.
The International Criminal Court can prosecute those other crimes, but not the crime of aggression. Its jurisdiction over this crime extends only to countries that have ratified the Rome Statute that established the court. Russia, like the United States, is not a party to the treaty.
That is why Ukraine and its allies have been pushing for an alternative mechanism to hold Russian leaders accountable.
In March, the Biden Administration proposed an “internationalized tribunal” within Ukraine’s judicial system but with outside support.
International elements
“We envision such a court having significant international elements — in the form of substantive law, personnel, information sources and structure,” Beth van Schaack, the State Department’s top diplomat for global criminal justice, said in announcing the administration’s endorsement.
The court could initially function outside Ukraine, elsewhere in Europe, she said.
The U.S. plan has the support of the Group of 7 bloc of nations but faces opposition from Ukrainian officials who say implementing it would require a constitutional amendment that is impractical during wartime.
Ukrainian officials say a U.N.-sanctioned, Nuremberg-style tribunal would close a “gap in accountability” in international law and, unlike a court based in Ukraine, enjoy international legitimacy. Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his call for such an initiative, which is supported by several small European countries.
“If we want true justice, we should not look for excuses and should not refer to the shortcomings of the current international law but make bold decisions that will correct the shortcomings of those norms,” Zelenskyy said in a speech at The Hague last month.
In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of forcibly deporting hundreds of Ukrainian children to Russia. But the warrant was for Putin’s involvement in alleged war crimes, not the crime of aggression.
Russia has blasted the arrest warrant and questioned the legitimacy of a special tribunal.
Legal experts say the U.S. plan hinges on Ukrainian support. They also say Putin and his inner circle will escape prosecution as long as they remain in power.
“I’m worried that by supporting this sort of hybrid model, the message that the U.S. sends is that it cares about accountability for aggression in a way that protects the architects of the crime,” said Rebecca Hamilton, an associate professor of law at American University, Washington College of Law,
A State Department spokesperson said the department does not comment on proposed legislation or resolutions and referred VOA to van Schaack’s testimony.
“As Ambassador… Van Schaak has expressed: There can be no peace without justice in Ukraine. Justice for the millions who have had their lives disrupted and destroyed, as a result of the senseless, unprovoked, and illegal war of territorial conquest launched by Vladimir Putin,” the spokesperson said.
The last time the crime of aggression was prosecuted was in the 1940s when German and Japanese leaders were tried in Nuremberg and Tokyo for what the International Military Tribunal called the “supreme international crime.”
At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Senator Cardin criticized the Biden Administration’s plan. A Ukraine-based tribunal, Carden said, would face questions about “perceived impartiality” and potential claims of immunity from Russian officials.
Under international law, no national court can prosecute another country’s head of state or equivalent officials.
“I don’t know how you overcome that with the method you’re pursuing,” Cardin told van Schaack, referring to the court’s perceived impartiality.
Obstacles
Van Schaack responded that the Administration opted for a hybrid model because a U.N.-backed tribunal would face legal and practical hurdles of its own.
Legally, the U.N. General Assembly may lack the authority to set up a court with jurisdiction over Russia’s leaders.
Practically, “there are some serious concerns about whether we have the votes within the General Assembly to create a body of this nature,” she said.
But Cardin pushed back, urging the administration to enlist international support.
“It cannot be a sole U.S. effort,” Cardin said. “It has got to be a collective action. You’ve got to nurture this before you take it to a vote.”
A Cardin spokesperson said other senators might join as co-sponsors of the resolution but so far only Cardin and Kaine have signed on. She said in an email to VOA that there is no fixed date for a vote on the resolution.
Hamilton said the Cardin-Kaine resolution is significant because it is “a strong signal that [Congress] wants to go in a different direction from the one that the administration is proposing.”
“And I think it may also be significant for the proponents of an international tribunal, outside of the U.S. and in particular Ukraine, to hear that there are parts of the U.S. system that at least would support a truly international tribunal,” Hamilton, a former lawyer in the prosecutorial division of the International Criminal Court, said in an interview.
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US Wants to Engage Russia on Nuclear Arms Control, Officials Say
The White House is ready to have talks with Russia without preconditions about a future nuclear arms control framework even as it is enacting countermeasures in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to suspend the last nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will make clear the Biden administration’s desire for talks on building a new framework during an address to the Arms Control Association on Friday, according to two senior administration officials who previewed the address on the condition of anonymity.
Putin announced in February he was suspending Russia’s cooperation with the New START Treaty’s provisions for nuclear warhead and missile inspections amid deep tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Russia, however, said it would respect the treaty’s caps on nuclear weapons.
The officials said that Sullivan would underscore that the U.S. remains committed to adhering to the treaty if Russia does but will also “signal that we are open to dialogue” about building a new framework for managing nuclear risks once the treaty expires in February 2026.
The officials said that the Biden administration is willing to stick to the warhead caps until the treaty expires. Figuring out details about a post-2026 framework will be complicated by U.S.-Russia tension and the growing nuclear strength of China.
China now has about 410 nuclear warheads, according to an annual survey from the Federation of American Scientists. The Pentagon in November estimated China’s warhead count could grow to 1,000 by the end of the decade and to 1,500 by around 2035.
The size of China’s arsenal and whether Beijing is willing to engage in substantive dialogue will impact the United States’ future force posture and Washington’s ability to come to any agreement with the Russians, the officials said.
U.S.-Chinese relations have been strained by the U.S. shooting down a Chinese spy balloon earlier this year after it crossed the continental U.S.; tensions about the status of the self-ruled island Taiwan, which China claims as its own; U.S. export controls aimed at limiting China’s advanced semiconductor equipment; and other friction.
The White House push on Moscow on nuclear arms control comes the day after the administration announced new countermeasures over Russia suspending participation in the treaty.
The State Department announced Thursday it would no longer notify Russia of any updates on the status or location of “treaty-accountable items” like missiles and launchers, would revoke U.S. visas issued to Russian treaty inspectors and aircrew members and would cease providing telemetric information on test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The United States and Russia earlier this year stopped sharing biannual nuclear weapons data required by the treaty.
The treaty, which then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed in 2010, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers and provides for on-site inspections to verify compliance.
The inspections have been dormant since 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussions on resuming them were supposed to have taken place in November 2022, but Russia abruptly called them off, citing U.S. support for Ukraine.
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US, Taiwan Sign Trade Deal Over China’s Opposition
The United States signed a trade agreement Thursday with Taiwan over opposition from China, which claims the self-ruled island democracy as part of its territory.
The two governments say the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade will strengthen commercial relations by improving customs, investment and other regulation.
The measure was signed by employees of the unofficial entities that maintain relations between the United States and Taiwan, a center for high-tech industry. They have no formal diplomatic ties but maintain unofficial relations and have billions of dollars in annual trade.
The agreement is intended to “strengthen and deepen the economic and trade relationship,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement. The deputy USTR, Sarah Bianchi, attended the signing.
The Chinese government accused Washington of violating agreements on Taiwan’s status and demanded the U.S. government stop official contact with the island’s elected government.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war. The island never has been part of the People’s Republic of China, but the mainland’s ruling Communist Party says it is obligated to unite with China, by force if necessary.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government has stepped up efforts to intimidate Taiwan by flying fighter jets and bombers near the island. American and European politicians have visited Taiwan in a show of support for its elected government.
“The United States should stop any form of official exchanges with Taiwan” and “refrain from sending wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist forces,” said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning.
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9 Die in Clashes in Senegal, Following Opposition Leader’s Sentencing
Nine people were killed in clashes in Senegal on Thursday, after protests erupted following the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.
Interior Minister Antoine Diome said on national television, “We have noted with regret violence that has led to the destruction of public and private property and, unfortunately, nine deaths in Dakar and Ziguinchor.”
On Thursday, a court in Senegal acquitted Sonko on charges of rape but sentenced him to two years in prison for corrupting youth, disqualifying him, for now, from participating in next year’s presidential elections.
The 48-year-old Sonko, leader of the PASTEF-Patriots party, has maintained the charges were politically motivated since they were first made in 2021 and did not attend the court hearing Thursday. He had been accused of raping a massage parlor worker in 2021 and of making death threats against her.
Though a lesser charge than rape under Senegalese law, the conviction for “Corrupting youth,” which is defined as immoral behavior or encouraging such behavior of a person under the age of 21 — his accuser was 20 when he was charged — disqualifies Sonko from running for office.
Sonko’s attorneys told reporters outside the court Thursday the conviction was designed to prevent him from running against current President Macky Sall in 2024. It is unclear if Sonko can appeal the verdict.
Sonko has been an outspoken critic of the current president and is widely viewed as Sall’s most competitive opponent in the upcoming election.
Earlier this week Sonko, who is popular with Senegalese youth, called for mass protests in response to the case brought against him. Agence France Presse reported Thursday demonstrations and fires set in the streets of the capital, Dakar.
The French news outlet also reports that security forces fired tear gas toward journalists staked out near Sonko’s residence. On its website, the news agency published video of a reporter and camera crew fleeing a cloud of gas.
The case against Sonko has raised tensions in the usually stable West African country. Last week, a “freedom caravan” led by Sonko from his hometown in southern Senegal to the capital led to clashes with security forces, and one person was killed.
On Wednesday, a day before Sonko’s sentencing, Sall launched a “national dialogue” he described as part of an effort to ease tensions, involving political forces, civil society, religious leaders and trade unions. The talks are scheduled to last about two weeks, with a large part of the opposition boycotting them.
Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Press.
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US Senate Approves Debt Ceiling Deal
The U.S. Senate voted Thursday night 63-36 in support of a measure that will allow the United States to continue to pay its bills. The U.S. had been on track to run out of cash in four days. The bipartisan legislation now goes to President Joe Biden for his signature.
“Tonight, senators from both parties voted to protect the hard-earned economic progress we have made and prevent a first –ever default by the United States,” Biden said in a statement.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted Wednesday night, with wide support from Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike, to allow the government to continue to borrow more money over the next year-and-a-half to meet its financial obligations, exceeding the current $31.4 trillion debt limit.
The legislation does not set a new monetary cap, but the borrowing authority would extend to Jan. 2, 2025, two months past next year’s presidential election.
In addition, the legislation calls for maintaining most federal spending at the current level in the fiscal year starting in October, with a 1% increase in the following 12 months.
“The responsible thing for America is to pass it,” one Senate leader, Democrat Dick Durbin, had told reporters.
Both Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, supported suspension of the debt limit and called for swift passage of the legislation.
Schumer told the Senate, “Time is a luxury the Senate does not have if we want to prevent default. There is no good reason — none — to bring this process down to the wire. … I hope we see nothing even approaching brinksmanship. The country cannot afford that now.”
The House approved the legislation on a 314-117 vote despite objections by far-right Republican lawmakers who said it did not go far enough to cut spending and from Democratic progressives who said it trimmed too much.
Seventy-one lawmakers from the majority Republican party in the House voted against the bill, as did 46 Democrats.
In a statement following Wednesday’s vote, Biden celebrated the agreement as a “bipartisan compromise.”
“It protects key priorities and accomplishments from the past two years, including historic investments that are creating good jobs across the country,” Biden said. “And, it honors my commitment to safeguard Americans’ health care and protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid [pensions and health care insurance for older Americans and welfare payments for impoverished people]. It protects critical programs that millions of hardworking families, students, and veterans count on.”
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who negotiated the deal with Biden, told reporters that getting the bill passed “wasn’t an easy fight.” He emphasized the budget savings and criticized Democrats who wanted to separate the debate about future government spending from the need to suspend the debt limit so current financial obligations could be met.
“We put the citizens of America first and we didn’t do it by taking the easy way,” McCarthy said. “We didn’t do it by the ways that people did in the past by just lifting [the debt ceiling]. We decided you had to spend less and we achieved that goal.”
McCarthy said he intends to follow Wednesday’s action with more efforts to cut federal spending.
The measure does not raise taxes, nor will it stop the national debt total from continuing to increase, perhaps by another $3 trillion or more over the next year-and-a-half until the next expiration of the debt limit.
Other pieces of the legislation include a reduction in the number of new agents hired by the country’s tax collection agency, a requirement that states return $30 billion in unspent coronavirus pandemic assistance to the federal government and extending from 50 to 54 the upper age bracket for those required to work in order to receive food aid.
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Biden Delivers Sober Warning to Air Force Academy Graduates
President Joe Biden spoke to graduates of the Air Force Academy at an uncertain time for global peace. VOA spoke to an alumnus of the institution who graduated at another uncertain time — the Vietnam era — about what it was like to be in that seat more than 50 years ago. Anita Powell reports.
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Sweden Approaches ‘Smoke-Free’ Status as Daily Use of Cigarettes Dwindles
Summer is in the air — cigarette smoke is not — in Sweden’s outdoor bars and restaurants.
As the World Health Organization marks “World No Tobacco Day” on Wednesday, Sweden, which has the lowest rate of smoking in the Europe Union, is close to declaring itself “smoke-free” — defined as having fewer than 5% daily smokers in the population.
Many experts give credit to decades of anti-smoking campaigns and legislation, while others point to the prevalence of “snus,” a smokeless tobacco product banned elsewhere in the EU but marketed in Sweden as an alternative to cigarettes.
Whatever the reason, the 5% milestone is now within reach. Only 6.4% of Swedes over 15 were daily smokers in 2019, the lowest in the EU and far below the average of 18.5% across the 27-nation bloc, according to the Eurostat statistics agency.
Figures from the Public Health Agency of Sweden show the smoking rate has continued to fall since then, reaching 5.6% last year.
“We like a healthy way to live, I think that’s the reason,” said Carina Astorsson, a Stockholm resident. Smoking never interested her, she said, because “I don’t like the smell; I want to take care of my body.”
The risks of smoking appear well understood among health-conscious Swedes, including younger generations. Twenty years ago, almost 20% of the population were smokers — which was a low rate globally at the time. Since then, measures to discourage smoking, including bans on smoking in restaurants, have brought down smoking rates across Europe.
France saw record drops in smoking rates from 2014-19, but that success hit a plateau during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — blamed in part for causing stresses that drove people to light up. About one-third of people ages 18-75 in France professed to having smoked in 2021 — a slight increase on 2019. About a quarter smoke daily.
Sweden has gone further than most to stamp out cigarettes, which it says has resulted in a range of health benefits, including a relatively low rate of lung cancer.
“We were early in restricting smoking in public spaces, first in school playgrounds and after-school centers, and later in restaurants, outdoor cafes and public places such as bus stations,” said Ulrika Årehed, secretary-general of the Swedish Cancer Society. “In parallel, taxes on cigarettes and strict restrictions on the marketing of these products have played an important role.”
She added that “Sweden is not there yet,” noting that the proportion of smokers is higher in disadvantaged socioeconomic groups.
The sight of people lighting up is becoming increasingly rare in the country of 10.5 million. Smoking is prohibited at bus stops and train platforms and outside the entrances of hospitals and other public buildings. Like in most of Europe, smoking isn’t allowed inside bars and restaurants, but since 2019 Sweden’s smoking ban also applies to their outdoor seating areas.
On Tuesday night, the terraces of Stockholm were full of people enjoying food and drinks in the late-setting sun. There was no sign of cigarettes, but cans of snus could be spotted on some tables. Between beers, some patrons stuffed small pouches of the moist tobacco under their upper lips.
Swedish snus makers have long held up their product as a less harmful alternative to smoking and claim credit for the country’s declining smoking rates. But Swedish health authorities are reluctant to advise smokers to switch to snus, another highly addictive nicotine product.
“I don’t see any reason to put two harmful products up against each other,” Årehed said. “It is true that smoking is more harmful than most things you can do, including snus. But that said, there are many health risks even with snus.”
Some studies have linked snus to increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and premature births if used during pregnancy.
Swedes are so fond of their snus, a distant cousin of dipping tobacco in the United States, that they demanded an exemption to the EU’s ban on smokeless tobacco when they joined the bloc in 1995.
“It’s part of the Swedish culture, it’s like the Swedish equivalent of Italian Parma ham or any other cultural habit,” said Patrik Hildingsson, a spokesperson for Swedish Match, Sweden’s top snus maker, which was acquired by tobacco giant Philip Morris last year.
WHO, the U.N. health agency, says Turkmenistan, with a rate of tobacco use below 5%, is ahead of Sweden when it comes to phasing out smoking, but notes that’s largely due to smoking being almost nonexistent among women. For men the rate is 7%.
WHO attributes Sweden’s declining smoking rate to a combination of tobacco control measures, including information campaigns, advertising bans and “cessation support” for those wishing to quit tobacco. However, the agency noted that Sweden’s tobacco use is at more than 20% of the adult population, similar to the global average, when you include snus and similar products.
“Switching from one harmful product to another is not a solution,” WHO said in an email. “Promoting a so-called ‘harm reduction approach’ to smoking is another way the tobacco industry is trying to mislead people about the inherently dangerous nature of these products.”
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Biden Administration Urged to Back Tribunal on Russian Aggression
Two influential Democratic senators are urging the Biden administration to change course and back the establishment of a U.N.-sanctioned special tribunal to hold Russian leaders accountable for their invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Democrats Ben Cardin and Tim Kaine, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a resolution calling on the administration “to use its voice and vote in international institutions to support the creation of a special international criminal tribunal to hold accountable the leaders of the Russian Federation who led and sanctioned aggression in Ukraine.”
The resolution advances an idea long favored by Ukraine: a special tribunal for Russia’s “crime of aggression,” which would be recommended by the U.N. General Assembly and negotiated between Ukraine and the United Nations.
Different treatment
The crime of aggression is treated differently in international law from war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. Those other crimes are being investigated by the International Criminal Court in The Hague and Ukrainian prosecutors, with the support of the United States.
But the Biden administration favors another approach to prosecuting the crime of aggression, which is defined as the “planning, preparation, initiation or execution” of an act of aggression, such as an armed invasion.
While the ICC has authority to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, its authority to prosecute the crime of aggression extends only to countries bound by the Rome Statute that established the court. Russia, like the U.S., is not a signatory.
In March, Beth van Schaack, the top U.S. diplomat for global criminal justice, announced Washington’s endorsement of an “internationalized” tribunal for Russia, embedded in Ukraine’s judicial system but drawing on outside support.
International elements
“We envision such a court having significant international elements — in the form of substantive law, personnel, information sources and structure,” van Schaack said.
The court could initially operate outside Ukraine, elsewhere in Europe, she said.
The U.S. proposal is backed by the G-7 countries, but faces resistance from Ukrainian officials who say implementing it would require a constitutional amendment that is unfeasible during wartime.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his call for a special ad hoc tribunal sanctioned by the U.N. General Assembly. Such a tribunal would close what Ukrainian officials have called a “gap in accountability” in international law.
“If we want true justice, we should not look for excuses and should not refer to the shortcomings of the current international law but make bold decisions that will correct the shortcomings of those norms,” Zelenskyy said in a speech at The Hague last month.
The last time the crime of aggression was prosecuted was in the 1940s when German and Japanese leaders were tried in Nuremberg and Tokyo for what the International Military Tribunal called the “supreme international crime.”
In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the abduction of children from Ukraine. The arrest warrant was for war crimes in Ukraine, not the crime of aggression.
Critics of the U.S. proposal say a Ukraine-based tribunal would face questions about its impartiality and resistance from Russian officials who could claim immunity. Under international law, no national court can prosecute another country’s head of state or equivalent officials.
“I don’t know how you overcome that with the method you’re pursuing,” Cardin told van Schaack during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, referring to the court’s perceived impartiality.
Obstacles
Van Schaack responded that a U.N.-backed tribunal faces legal and practical hurdles.
Legally, the General Assembly may lack the authority to set up a court with jurisdiction over Russia’s leaders.
Practically, “there are some serious concerns about whether we have the votes within the General Assembly to create a body of this nature,” she said.
But Cardin pushed back, urging the administration to mobilize international support.
“It cannot be a sole U.S. effort,” Cardin said. “It has got to be a collective action. You’ve got to nurture this before you take it to a vote.”
A Cardin spokesperson said other senators might join as co-sponsors of the resolution, but so far only Cardin and Kaine have signed on. She said in an email to VOA that there is no fixed date for a vote on the resolution.
A State Department spokesperson said the department does not comment on proposed legislation or resolutions and referred VOA to van Schaack’s testimony.
Rebecca Hamilton, an associate professor of law at American University Washington College of Law, said the Cardin-Kaine resolution is significant because it is “a strong signal that [Congress] wants to go in a different direction from the one that the administration is proposing.”
“And I think it may also be significant for the proponents of an international tribunal, outside of the U.S. and in particular Ukraine, to hear that there are parts of the U.S. system that at least would support a truly international tribunal,” Hamilton, a former lawyer in the prosecutorial division of the International Criminal Court, said in an interview.
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Prosecutors Have Tape of Trump Discussing Keeping Classified Documents
Justice Department prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of former President Donald Trump from a meeting held after he left office in which he talks about holding on to a classified Pentagon document related to a potential attack on Iran, according to media reports.
CNN, which first reported on the tape, said Trump suggested on the recording that he wanted to share information from the document with others but that he knew there were limitations about his ability to declassify records after he left office.
The comments on the recording, made in July 2021 at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, would seem to undercut the former president’s repeated claims that he declassified the documents he took with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, after leaving office. The recording could also be key for prosecutors looking to prove Trump knew his ability to possess classified documents was limited.
A Trump spokesman said in a statement that the investigation was “meritless” and amounted to “continued interference in the presidential election.”
The recording has been provided to special counsel Jack Smith, whose team of prosecutors has spent months investigating the potential mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and whether Trump or anyone else sought to criminally obstruct the probe. The investigation shows signs of being in its final stages, with prosecutors having interviewed a broad cross-section of witnesses before the grand jury.
A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment. No one has been criminally charged.
The criminal investigation began last year after the National Archives and Records Administration alerted the FBI to the presence of classified documents in 15 boxes of records sent back, belatedly, from Mar-a-Lago by Trump and his representatives.
Investigators initially issued a subpoena for the remaining classified records, but after they received only about three dozen during a June 2022 visit to Mar-a-Lago, returned with a search warrant two months later and recovered about 100 more documents marked as classified.
Smith, the special counsel, is also investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election — the subject of a similar, ongoing inquiry by prosecutors in Atlanta. New York prosecutors charged Trump earlier this year with falsifying business records.
According to the CNN report, the recording was made during a gathering at Bedminster with aides to Trump and two people who were working on the autobiography of Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
It said Meadows’ autobiography includes a description of what appears to be the same meeting. A lawyer for Meadows declined to comment Wednesday when reached by The Associated Press.
CNN said witnesses including General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have been questioned about the episode. A spokesman for Milley declined to comment on reports that he had been interviewed.
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Meta Threatens to Block News Content in California in Potential Blow to Press Freedom
Meta on Wednesday threatened to block all news articles on Facebook and Instagram in California if state lawmakers move forward with a bill that would tax the tech company for news content.
The California Journalism Preservation Act would tax the advertising profits that platforms like Meta and Google make from distributing news articles. About 70% of the money collected would then go to support newsrooms around the state.
Meta has warned it will pull news links from Facebook and Instagram entirely if the bill is passed.
“If the Journalism Preservation Act passes, we will be forced to remove news from Facebook and Instagram, rather than pay into a slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement on Wednesday.
Katie Harbath, chief executive at the tech policy firm Anchor Change and a former director of public policy at Facebook, said this latest threat from Meta is “following a pattern.”
Meta previously pulled news from Facebook in 2021 in response to an Australian law that forced the platform to pay for news content. Meta reversed the ban a few days later once the government agreed to change elements of the law.
Tech giants are also threatening to pull news content in Canada if a similar measure is enacted there.
“This all feels like it’s sort of the dance that the platforms and regulators and the news organizations go through when these types of bills pop up,” Harbath added.
Media freedom groups see these sorts of threats as a danger to press freedom.
“Meta’s blackmail threats when confronted with the possibility of having to compensate news organizations for using their content have become all too common,” said Vincent Berthier, the head of the tech desk at Reporters Without Borders.
“Being one of the leading platforms means having the responsibility to defend everyone’s right to access information, not having the power to cut off people’s access to journalism if legislators don’t bend to its will,” he told VOA in a statement Thursday.
“Meta should stop trying to blackmail elected leaders and instead focus on showing that the company is compatible with democratic principles,” Berthier added.
Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, previously condemned Meta’s threat to block news content in Canada, saying in a March statement that the ultimatum “directly threatens the survival of Canadian media and, at the same time, access to news and information, one of the pillars of democracy.”
“It is unacceptable to threaten journalism with banishment,” Berthier said in the statement. “Meta should seek to show that it is able to play a positive role in the fight against disinformation and for access to pluralistic information, rather than trying to influence public policies that might jeopardize its economic interests.”
In a statement Wednesday, the California Broadcasters Association, California News Publishers Association and News/Media Alliance criticized Meta’s latest ultimatum.
“Meta’s threat to take down news is undemocratic and unbecoming,” the statement said. “We have seen this in their playbook before and they have been publicly admonished in other countries for this behavior.”
The California bill is an attempt to support a news industry that has been floundering for years. Between 2008 and 2020, about 30,000 journalism jobs disappeared, according to the Pew Research Center, marking a 26% drop in newsroom employment.
“As news consumption has moved online, community news outlets have been downsized and closing at an alarming rate,” the California bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, said at a hearing on the bill in May.
“Every day, journalism plays an essential role in California and in local communities, and the ability of local news organizations to continue to provide the public with critical information about their communities and enabling publishers to receive fair market value for their content that is used by others will preserve and ensure the sustainability of local and diverse news outlets,” the bill says.
The Australian law generated nearly $150 million for news organizations, Columbia University’s Bill Grueskin found.
But Harbath said she’s skeptical that the California bill will be enough to help the news industry.
“I don’t know that these bills are going to necessarily achieve what people think they’re going to achieve,” she said. “I just don’t know if they’re really going to get as much money as they actually need by doing this.”
It’s important “to think creatively going forward about what these business models should look like,” Harbath added.
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Amazon to Pay $31 Million in Privacy Violation Penalties for Alexa Voice Assistant, Ring Camera
Amazon agreed Wednesday to pay a $25 million civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations it violated a child privacy law and deceived parents by keeping for years kids’ voice and location data recorded by its popular Alexa voice assistant.
Separately, the company agreed to pay $5.8 million in customer refunds for alleged privacy violations involving its doorbell camera Ring.
The Alexa-related action orders Amazon to overhaul its data deletion practices and impose stricter, more transparent privacy measures. It also obliges the tech giant to delete certain data collected by its internet-connected digital assistant, which people use for everything from checking the weather to playing games and queueing up music.
“Amazon’s history of misleading parents, keeping children’s recordings indefinitely, and flouting parents’ deletion requests violated COPPA (the Child Online Privacy Protection Act) and sacrificed privacy for profits,” Samuel Levine, the FCT consumer protection chief, said in a statement. The 1998 law is designed to shield children from online harms.
FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said in a statement that “when parents asked Amazon to delete their kids’ Alexa voice data, the company did not delete all of it.”
The agency ordered the company to delete inactive child accounts as well as certain voice and geolocation data.
Amazon kept the kids’ data to refine its voice recognition algorithm, the artificial intelligence behind Alexa, which powers Echo and other smart speakers, Bedoya said. The FTC complaint sends a message to all tech companies who are “sprinting to do the same” amid fierce competition in developing AI datasets, he added.
“Nothing is more visceral to a parent than the sound of their child’s voice,” tweeted Bedoya, the father of two small children.
Amazon said last month that it has sold more than a half-billion Alexa-enabled devices globally and that use of the service increased 35% last year.
In the Ring case, the FTC says Amazon’s home security camera subsidiary let employees and contractors access consumers’ private videos and provided lax security practices that enabled hackers to take control of some accounts.
Amazon bought California-based Ring in 2018, and many of the violations alleged by the FTC predate the acquisition. Under the FTC’s order, Ring is required to pay $5.8 million that would be used for consumer refunds.
Amazon said it disagreed with the FTC’s claims on both Alexa and Ring and denied violating the law. But it said the settlements “put these matters behind us.”
“Our devices and services are built to protect customers’ privacy, and to provide customers with control over their experience,” the Seattle-based company said.
In addition to the fine in the Alexa case, the proposed order prohibits Amazon from using deleted geolocation and voice information to create or improve any data product. The order also requires Amazon to create a privacy program for its use of geolocation information.
The proposed orders must be approved by federal judges.
FTC commissioners had unanimously voted to file the charges against Amazon in both cases.
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China Eyes Spain in Drive to Conquer European EV Market
The International Energy Agency says Chinese car manufacturers are emerging as a major force in the global electric car market, with more than 50% of all electric cars on roads worldwide now produced in China. Spain is the second-largest vehicle manufacturer in Europe after Germany and its market has become a target for Chinese automakers. From Barcelona, Alfonso Beato has this report, narrated by Marcus Harton.
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US Sanctions Iranian Operatives Accused of Assassination Plots Abroad
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on members and affiliates of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its external operations arm, the IRGC-Quds Force, whom Washington has accused of participating in terrorist plots targeting former U.S. government officials and Iranian dissidents, including journalists.
The U.S. Treasury Department said the action targeted three Iran- and Turkey-based individuals, a company affiliated with the IRGC-QF, and two senior officials of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization who have been involved in plotting external lethal operations against civilians, including journalists and activists.
“The United States remains focused on disrupting plots by the IRGC and its [Quds] Force, both of which have engaged in numerous assassination attempts and other acts of violence and intimidation against those they deem enemies of the Iranian regime,” Brian E. Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
“We will continue to expose and disrupt these terrorist activities and efforts to silence opposing voices, particularly those who advocate for respect for the universal human rights and freedoms of the Iranian people,” Nelson said.
This is the latest slate of U.S. sanctions against Iranian operatives accused of targeting U.S. officials and Iranian dissidents. In 2021, the Treasury Department sanctioned Iranian operatives for attempting to kidnap Iranian critic and VOA Persian host Masih Alinejad.
Among those newly sanctioned was Mohammad Reza Ansari, a Quds Force member who the Treasury said has supported the IRGC-QF’s operations in Syria, and Iranian national Shahram Poursafi, who the Treasury said had planned and attempted to assassinate two former U.S. government officials.
The Treasury also penalized Hossein Hafez Amini, a dual Iranian-Turkish national based in Turkey. The Treasury accused Amini of using his Turkey-based airline, Rey Havacilik Ithalat Ihracat Sanayi Ve, to assist the Quds Force’s covert operations, including kidnapping and assassination plots targeting Iranian dissidents in Turkey. The airline also was sanctioned.
The Treasury also sanctioned two individuals affiliated with the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization, including Rouhallah Bazghandi, former IRGC-IO counterespionage department chief, who the department said has been involved in planning and overseeing IRGC-IO operations in Iraq and Syria. Additionally, Bazghandi is accused of being involved in plots to assassinate journalists and Israeli nationals in Istanbul.
Reza Seraj, foreign intelligence chief of the Intelligence Organization, was also sanctioned.
All property of the five individuals and the company subject to U.S. jurisdiction is blocked as a result of these new sanctions.
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SpaceX’s Starlink Wins Pentagon Contract for Satellite Services for Ukraine
SpaceX’s Starlink, the satellite communications service started by billionaire Elon Musk, now has a Defense Department contract to buy those satellite services for Ukraine, the Pentagon said Thursday.
“We continue to work with a range of global partners to ensure Ukraine has the resilient satellite and communication capabilities they need. Satellite communications constitute a vital layer in Ukraine’s overall communications network and the department contracts with Starlink for services of this type,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Starlink has been used by Ukrainian troops for a variety of efforts, including battlefield communications.
SpaceX, through private donations and under a separate contract with a U.S. foreign aid agency, has been providing Ukrainians and the country’s military with Starlink internet service, a fast-growing network of more than 4,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, since the beginning of the war in 2022.
The Pentagon contract is a boon for SpaceX after Musk, the company’s CEO, said in October it could not afford to indefinitely fund Starlink in Ukraine, an effort he said cost $20 million a month to maintain.
Russia has tried to cut off and jam internet services in Ukraine, including attempts to block Starlink in the region, though SpaceX has countered those attacks by hardening the service’s software.
The Pentagon did not disclose the terms of the contract, which Bloomberg reported earlier on Thursday, “for operational security reasons and due to the critical nature of these systems.”
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Whether DRC-China Mining Deal Will Be Restructured Remains Uncertain
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi faces an uphill battle in his promise to overhaul what he says is an unfair minerals-for-infrastructure deal with China before the resource-rich but conflict-plagued country’s December elections, analysts said after the African leader’s visit to Beijing the past week.
While Tshisekedi’s spokesman told reporters that negotiations over the restructuring of the deal went “wonderfully” when Tshisekedi met with counterpart Xi Jinping, and a revised agreement should be complete by the end of the year, nothing concrete was actually mentioned in a post-meeting press release.
Tshisekedi has long said the multibillion-dollar deal made by his predecessor — which gave China 68% of a major mining stake in exchange for Chinese partners promising to build roads, hospitals and schools — unfairly benefits China more than the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The DRC government earlier this year released a report saying the country had not received nearly as much infrastructure as it should have from the $6.2 billion deal.
Kinshasa now wants to rewrite the agreement so it gets a larger share of the mining output.
“Tshisekedi is facing tremendous pressure from his political opponents ahead of the December elections,” Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, told VOA.
“China and this particular deal has become a major issue in this campaign,” he added. “It is perceived as patently unfair because obviously the Congolese side could have gotten a lot more.”
DRC is home to huge copper reserves as well as the world’s largest reserves of cobalt, a mineral essential to the batteries in electric vehicles, which are in high demand both in China and the West.
At the U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington in December, the DRC, the U.S., and Zambia — another major source of minerals — signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a supply chain for the electric car batteries, in what was widely considered by analysts as a move to counter China in the region.
Outcomes of state visit
After Tshisekedi’s pomp and ceremony-filled meeting with Xi, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said the two committed to strengthening bilateral relations but didn’t mention negotiations around the divisive mining deal, saying Beijing will “support the DRC’s industrialization strategy, strengthen cooperation with the DRC in such fields as energy, minerals, agriculture, infrastructure and manufacturing.”
In what appeared to be a slight dig at Congo, the press release said “China hopes that the DRC will provide policy support and convenient services to Chinese enterprises investing and doing business in the DRC, and foster a fair, just, and safe business environment.”
“Obviously, China is not happy about the one-sided evaluation that was made by the Congolese government” regarding how much infrastructure Congo has got from the deal, said Christian Geraud Neema Byamungu, francophone editor at the China Global South Project, a media organization focusing on Chinese international policies.
“Overall, Tshisekedi didn’t get what he wanted, at least what media were saying he wanted to get,” he told VOA.
“Both parties will have to meet and work together on evaluating the contract. It’s only from there that we will know if renegotiation will happen. It’s obvious that it won’t be an easy or quick process,” Neema Byamungu added.
Nantuyla echoed this, saying: “How are the Chinese partners likely to respond to this? … I think it’s fair to say that they’re going to try and keep their piece as big as possible.”
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Zimbabwe Government Moves to Rescue Worthless Local Dollar
Zimbabwe’s government has instituted several measures it says will increase demand for the local currency and raise its value, as well arrest demand for the U.S. dollar. But as Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, economists say the new measures will not work as Zimbabweans have lost faith in the local dollar which continues sliding against the greenback. Videographer: Blessing Chigwenhembe
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South Africa Searching for Source of Deadly Cholera Outbreak
Almost two dozen people have died from cholera just outside South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, over the past two weeks, and hundreds have been hospitalized. VOA spoke to residents who have been affected and officials who are still searching for the source. Kate Bartlett reports from Hammanskraal, South Africa. Camera: Zaheer Cassim.
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Us Calls on Sudan’s Warring Sides To Show Commitment to Cease-Fire
The United States said Thursday it is ready to facilitate discussions between Sudan’s warring sides if they show a commitment to abiding by a U.S.-Saudi-brokered cease-fire.
“Once the forces make clear by their actions that they are serious about complying with the ceasefire, the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are prepared to resume facilitation of the suspended discussions to find a negotiated solution to this conflict,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The statement came a day after Sudan’s military broke off talks and accused rival paramilitary forces of repeatedly violating the truce.
The two sides signed a seven-day cease-fire May 20 intended to allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. They agreed to a five-day extension on May 29.
The United States and Saudi Arabia are monitoring implementation of the cease-fire and have said both sides have violated it.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council met Wednesday in a 90-minute-long, closed-door session at the request of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. It is only the fifth time in his more than five-year tenure that he has requested such a meeting.
“We are facing a dramatic situation in Sudan, both on the political and the humanitarian end, and the secretary-general wanted to share some thoughts that he has with council members,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters.
Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, has been mired in violence since April 15, when fighting broke out between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after relations broke down between military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF chief General Mohamed Hamdan Degalo.
The two generals are former allies who together orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir.
Tensions between the generals had been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 coup.
UN role
Despite the insecurity, the U.N. and its aid partners have been delivering assistance where they can. Between May 24 and 30, 100 aid trucks were deployed. The World Food Program has reached more than 782,000 people with food and nutrition support over the past four weeks, and the U.N. Population Fund has started to provide vital medicines and reproductive health supplies to the maternity hospital in Wad Medani in Al Jazirah state.
The U.N. also has a political mission in Sudan, known as UNITAMS, which is mandated to assist with the transfer to a civilian-led government. A diplomat with knowledge of the council discussions told VOA that Guterres expressed his frustration over the lack of public support for the mission, which is up for renewal by Saturday.
“It is up to the Security Council to decide whether the Security Council supports the continuation of the mission for another period or whether the Security Council decides that it is time to end it,” Guterres told reporters of the mission during brief remarks after the meeting.
Council diplomats said a six-month technical rollover of the mission’s mandate is likely to be voted on later this week.
Guterres also expressed his “full confidence” in his envoy, Volker Perthes. Last week, Burhan wrote to Guterres calling for Perthes to resign.
The war has killed hundreds of civilians and left more than 1.2 million others internally displaced, with about 350,000 escaping to neighboring countries. Khartoum has been forced to endure frequent power cuts, with many areas without running water, and most of the hospitals out of service.
Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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White House Says Iran Nuclear Agreement Not a Priority
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday that the reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is not a current focus of the Biden administration.
Kirby said the United States remains committed to ensuring Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons and that President Joe Biden “still believes that a diplomatic solution to that would be highly preferable.”
But Kirby said Iran was not negotiating in good faith and has shown “no inclination to move in that direction.”
The nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
The United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018 due to what then-President Donald Trump said were terms too favorable to Iran. The Iranians reacted by stepping away from their commitments under the deal; employing more advanced centrifuges, enriching uranium to higher levels and keeping larger stockpiles of enriched uranium.
Kirby said part of the lack of prioritizing the issue at the White House is “domestic strife” in Iran as well as Iran’s role in supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
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Latest in Ukraine: Deadly Russian Missile Attack Hits Kyiv
Latest Developments:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanks United States for new $300 million aid package that includes air defense systems and ammunition.
U.S. announces temporary suspension of tariffs on Ukrainian steel has been extended for one year.
U.N. expresses concerns about repeated attacks on health facilities in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said Thursday a Russian missile attack targeted Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killing at least three people and injuring 10 others.
The Ukrainian military said it intercepted all 10 short-range missiles fire by Russia.
Kyiv officials said debris from the missiles damaged apartment buildings, a medical clinic and a water pipeline.
Russia carried out frequent aerial attacks on Kyiv in May as Ukraine prepared for an expected counteroffensive to try to take back territory Russian forces have seized since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine early last year.
The governor of western Russia’s Belgorod region said Thursday overnight shelling wounded multiple people in the town of Shebekino.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram the attack damaged several buildings as well. He blamed Ukrainian forces.
NATO support
In Oslo, NATO foreign ministers gathered Thursday to discuss increasing their support for Ukraine as well as Ukraine’s aspirations to join the military alliance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked that NATO fast-track his country’s acceptance, but NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week Ukraine joining NATO is “not on the agenda” while the war continues.
Stoltenberg expressed support for Ukraine becoming a member as he spoke to reporters Thursday in Oslo.
“All allies also agree that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance and all allies agree that it is for the NATO allies and Ukraine to decide when Ukraine becomes a member,” Stoltenberg said. “It’s not for Moscow to have a veto against NATO enlargement.”
Stoltenberg said the “most urgent and important task now is that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign and independent nation.”
Asked about attacks on Russian soil attributed to Ukraine, Stoltenberg said Ukraine was attacked by Russia and has the right to defend itself. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin can stop the war at any time, and that those responsible for war crimes in Ukraine must be held accountable.
Thursday’s meeting in Oslo comes ahead of a summit of NATO leaders next month in Lithuania where Stoltenberg said he expects allies will agree on a long-term commitment to support Ukraine. He said Ukraine needs to have the capabilities and strength to defend itself and deter any future attempts by Russia to repeat its invasion.
Stoltenberg had expressed hope that NATO allies would approve Sweden’s bid to join the alliance before the July summit. All existing members must give their approval, and to date only Hungary and Turkey have not.
The NATO chief said Thursday he will soon travel to Ankara to continue discussing the situation with leaders there. Turkey has accused Sweden of not doing enough to crack down on groups that Turkey considers terrorists. Stoltenberg noted that a new anti-terrorism law went into effect Thursday in Sweden and reiterated that he is confident Sweden will become a full NATO member.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Debt Ceiling Deal Wins House Approval
The effort to avoid a U.S. default shifts to the Senate after the House of Representatives approved a measure late Wednesday to suspend the country’s borrowing limit and cap some federal spending.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said they hope to get the bill approved in the Senate in the coming days and send it to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The U.S. Treasury Department has warned it will run out of money to pay the nation’s bills as early as Monday if the debt limit is not raised.
The measure passed in the House by a vote of 314-117 despite objections by Republicans who said it did not go far enough in cutting spending and by Democrats who said it cut too much.
Seventy-one lawmakers from the majority Republican party voted against the bill, as did 46 Democrats.
In a statement following Wednesday’s vote, Biden celebrated the agreement as a “bipartisan compromise.”
“It protects key priorities and accomplishments from the past two years, including historic investments that are creating good jobs across the country. And, it honors my commitment to safeguard Americans’ health care and protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It protects critical programs that millions of hardworking families, students, and veterans count on.”
McCarthy told reporters that getting the bill passed “wasn’t an easy fight.” He emphasized the budget savings and criticized Democrats who want to separate the debate about spending from the task of suspending the debt limit.
“We put the citizens of America first and we didn’t do it by taking the easy way,” McCarthy said. “We didn’t do it by the ways that people did in the past by just lifting it, we decided you had to spend less and we achieved that goal.”
McCarthy said he intends to follow Wednesday’s action with more efforts to cut federal spending.
The bill now heading to the Senate includes waiving the existing borrowing limit until January 2025 and a two-year budget deal that keeps federal spending flat in 2024 and increases it by 1% in 2025. The measure does not raise taxes, nor will it stop the national debt total from continuing to increase, perhaps by another $3 trillion or more over the next year and a half.
Other pieces of the legislation include a reduction in the number of new agents hired by the country’s tax collection agency, a requirement that states return $30 billion in unspent coronavirus pandemic assistance to the federal government and extending from 50 to 54 the upper age bracket for those required to work in order to receive food aid.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Austin Says ‘Unfortunate’ No Talks with Chinese Counterpart in Singapore
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday it was “unfortunate” that China declined a request for Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu to meet as both attend the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
Speaking alongside Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada during a visit to Tokyo, Austin said he would welcome “any opportunity to engage with leadership” and that he believes defense departments should have open channels of communication.
Austin told reporters that countries with “significant capabilities” should talk to each other in order to manage crises and prevent situations from spiraling out of control.
The lack of a meeting between the U.S. and Chinese defense officials comes at a time of cool relations that has included the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon by the U.S., tensions about U.S. support for Taiwan, and what the United States called a Chinese fighter jet’s “unnecessarily aggressive” interception of a U.S. Air Force aircraft over the South China Sea this week.
Hamada told reporters that he and Austin agreed to closely cooperate on challenges posed by China and said it is important to keep a frank dialogue with the Chinese.
Hamada also said Japan and the United States would work closely with South Korea in a concerted effort against what he called North Korea’s provocative actions.
His comments came a day after the failure of a North Korea launch of a spy satellite. U.N. Security Council resolutions bar North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.
Austin called North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs “dangerous and destabilizing.” He said the United States will take all necessary measures to secure its homeland and defend its allies.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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