Month: April 2024

Chinese nationalist trolls pretend to be Trump supporters ahead of US elections

Posted on by SeeUS

washington — British researchers say Chinese nationalist trolls have been posing as American supporters of former President Donald Trump on X to try to exploit domestic divisions ahead of the U.S. election.

A report released April 1 by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London think tank, says it found four previous Mandarin-tweeting accounts that went silent before re-emerging as American Trump supporter personas tweeting in English.

It linked them to China’s so-called Spamouflage network, which it described as a “long-running and widespread but largely ineffective” campaign to promote pro-Chinese Communist Party narratives.

But Elise Thomas, a senior researcher at the institute and author of the report, said pretending to be Trump supporters is a fresh and more effective tactic.

“They are posing convincingly as Americans, specifically Trump supporters,” she told VOA. “They are getting engagement from what look like real American users. That’s significantly different from what we’ve seen with Spamouflage in the past.”

She pointed out that a traditional Spamouflage tweet might have many likes and retweets, but upon further examination, it’s all from other Spamouflage accounts. Now, they are interacting with predominantly genuine American users.

“What they are doing that is quite different from other Spamouflage accounts is that they are building up authentic audiences using this thing called patriot follow trains, which is basically where people agree to mutually follow one another in order to each build their own follower accounts,” Thomas explained.

Using real viral videos and photos, these accounts seek to amplify divisive issues such as LGBTQ rights, immigration, race, gun control and crime rates.

Some of the accounts mock Biden’s age; others falsely claim that Biden is a pedophile. All seem to be promoting Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again (MAGA),” leading the report to dub this new tactic “MAGAflage.”

One of the X accounts, Ben MAGA 2024, was opened in 2010, but previous posts have been deleted. Since April 18, 2023, the account began to tweet in English with a main theme: Biden is a pedophile and cannot be trusted.

The account tries to build a persona as an American living in Los Angeles. It posted a picture in January with the caption “Good morning! Patriots, I’m 43 years old, and passionately and loyally supporting President Trump!”

In fact, the picture belongs to a travel blog by a Danish man with no indication that he’s a Trump supporter.

 

This account also retweeted a video from Russian state media Russia Today on February 18, claiming that Biden and the Central Intelligence Agency had sent a neo-Nazi leader to fight in Ukraine.

That post was retweeted by Alex Jones, an American far-right conspiracy theorist and radio show host with 2.2 million followers on X. The post had been viewed nearly 360,000 times as of March 4.

Thomas said by wrapping a topic in a U.S. partisan political frame, they got “a reasonable amount of engagement” from real American users.

This mimics Russia’s playbook during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when U.S. officials say Moscow used information warfare to damage the Clinton campaign, boost Trump’s chances and sow distrust in American democracy, which the Kremlin denies.

The report said some Spamouflage accounts could also be posing as left-wing Biden supporters, though they did not find any.

Twitter has since suspended all the accounts mentioned in the institute’s report.

While just a handful of accounts were identified, the report says there are almost certainly many more, which Thomas worries could have an unseen effect on the U.S. election.

“These [MAGAflage] accounts were very difficult to find. It took quite a lot of time, and I’ve only been able to find a relatively small number of them,” she said. “But because what we know from Spamouflage’s history is that everything it does, it does at massive scale. It would be really out of character for them to be only doing this, if it’s effective, at a small scale. So, that’s my concern, that it may be happening at a significantly larger scale.”

VOA reached out to the Trump and Biden campaigns for comment but did not receive a response as of publication time.

The Spamouflage network was discovered in 2019 by social media analytics firm Graphika and was first used to target Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.

Researchers said the network is tied to “individuals associated with Chinese law enforcement,” and has been active across thousands of accounts and more than 50 platforms and forums, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X.

 

On March 11, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued its annual assessment on the major threats to U.S. interests around the world and warned that China’s government may “attempt to influence the U.S. elections in 2024 at some level because of its desire to sideline critics of China and magnify U.S. societal divisions.”

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said in a statement sent to VOA that China is “committed to the principle of noninterference” and that claims about Beijing influencing U.S. presidential elections are “completely fabricated.”

Meta in August shut down close to 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups and pages associated with the Spamouflage network.
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Mortar fire kills three Tanzanian soldiers in DRC

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GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO — Mortar fire in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed three Tanzanian soldiers who were part of a southern Africa force deployed to help government troops battling M23 rebels, officials said. 

The regional force sent soldiers to North Kivu province in December to help Kinshasa regain ground from the M23 militia in the lawless east. 

The force includes soldiers from regional military heavyweight South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi. 

“This unfortunate incident happened after a hostile mortar round had fallen near the camp [where] they were staying,” the 10-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) said in a statement. 

It gave no further details. 

A source at the North Kivu governorate said the mortar attack struck last Thursday and a ceremony to honor the dead was held at SADC headquarters in the provincial capital, Goma, on Monday. 

A soldier from South Africa has also died in a hospital while being treated for health problems, the SADC statement said. 

After several years of dormancy, the mostly Tutsi M23 (March 23 Movement) group took up arms again in late 2021 and has seized swaths of North Kivu province. 

Decades of violence 

The region has been beset by violence in the decades since regional wars in the 1990s. 

The DRC, the U.N. and Western countries accuse Rwanda of supporting the rebels in a bid to control the region’s vast mineral resources, an allegation Kigali denies. 

The force suffered its first losses in mid-February when two South African soldiers were killed by mortars at Mubambiro camp, near the town of Sake, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Goma. 

A Congolese security source, asking not to be named, said the Tanzanian casualties happened at the same camp. 

The force was to take over from an East African peacekeeping force, whose mandate was ended by Kinshasa, which accused it of colluding with the rebels instead of fighting them. 

The U.N. mission in the DRC, MONUSCO, is also being wound down. 

The 15,000 U.N. troops deployed in the vast central African country started to leave in February at the request of the Kinshasa government, which considers them ineffective. 

The withdrawal is due to be completed by the end of the year. 

According to an internal U.N. document seen by AFP, M23 rebels have made new gains in the east after Indian U.N. troops abandoned positions near Goma. 

MONUSCO said in a note to staff that “the current security situation is becoming increasingly volatile as M23 has reached the northern outskirts of Sake.” 

The population of Goma has doubled to 2 million as refugees have fled the advance of the rebel group. 

Residents said that M23 and Congolese forces exchanged artillery fire throughout the weekend around Sake and the western outskirts of Goma. 
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Trump says abortion laws should stay with states

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U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump says laws against abortion should continue to be made by each state. That position goes against some of his supporters who want a nationwide abortion ban. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns has our story.
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Nigeria’s former Central Bank boss denies fresh corruption charges

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abuja, nigeria — Nigeria’s former central bank governor on Monday pleaded not guilty to fresh charges brought against him by the country’s anti-corruption body,

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, last week filed 26 charges accusing Godwin Emefiele of corrupt practices and misuse of authority while in office. Emefiele appeared before the Lagos State High Court on Monday with a co-defendant, Henry Omoile.

In its suit filed April 3, the EFCC said Emefiele violated Nigeria’s corrupt practices act by receiving bribes and gifts and acquiring property through fraud.

The EFCC also accused Emefiele of arbitrarily allocating $2 billion dollars in foreign exchange without bids or due process and conferring undue advantage to his associates.

Emefiele and Omoile both pleaded not guilty to the charges. But the court remanded Emefiele into custody until Thursday, when a verdict on his bail application is expected.

Emefiele’s legal counsel was not immediately available to comment on the new charges.

But public affairs analyst Chris Kwaja said, “On the strength of the allegations, if he’s found wanting them, he’ll face justice as required by the laws of the land. For every individual that has been given the mandate to occupy public office, that mandate is a product of trust. This case represents that. The only thing for me is that in pursuit of accountability, the Nigerian state must be conscious of the right of every individual.”

Former President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Emefiele as CBN governor in 2014, and he served until last year. He was arrested in June, days after President Bola Tinubu took office.

Last year, the former Central Bank governor faced charges in another court in  Abuja, for illegally awarding contracts and violating Nigeria’s procurement laws — charges that he denied.

Eze Onyekpere, founder of the Center for Social Justice, wondered whether the government was looking for a scapegoat.

“I’m getting a bit worried, because we’ve seen this happen before in previous administrations,” Onyekpere said. “Let it not appear to be looking for a fall guy,  somebody that could easily be shaken off … and trying to provide excuses for their inability to manage the economy very well. It’s beginning to look a little bit not based on empirical legal evidence.”

Emefiele withdrew from a possible presidential bid in 2022.

Last July, Tinubu hired a special investigator to scrutinize the operations of the Central Bank under Emefiele. On Friday, the investigator said his work was complete, but his report has not been released.
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Experts fear Cambodian cybercrime law could aid crackdown

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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — The Cambodian government is pushing ahead with a cybercrime law experts say could be wielded to further curtail freedom of speech amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent. 

The cybercrime draft is the third controversial internet law authorities have pursued in the past year as the government, led by new Prime Minister Hun Manet, seeks greater oversight of internet activities. 

Obtained by VOA in both English and Khmer language versions, the latest draft of the cybercrime law is marked “confidential” and contains 55 articles. It lays out various offenses punishable by fines and jail time, including defamation, using “insulting, derogatory or rude language,” and sharing “false information” that could harm Cambodia’s public order and “traditional culture.”  

The law would also allow authorities to collect and record internet traffic data, in real time, of people under investigation for crimes, and would criminalize online material that “depicts any act or activity … intended to stimulate sexual desire” as pornography. 

Digital rights and legal experts who reviewed the law told VOA that its vague language, wide-ranging categories of prosecutable speech and lack of protections for citizens fall short of international standards, instead providing the government more tools to jail dissenters, opposition members, women and LGBTQ+ people. 

Although in the works since 2016, earlier drafts of the law, which sparked similar criticism, have not leaked since 2020 and 2021. Authorities hope to enact the law by the end of the year. 

“This cybercrime bill offers the government even more power to go after people expressing dissent,” Kian Vesteinsson, a senior research analyst for technology at the human rights organization Freedom House, told VOA.  

“These vague provisions around defamation, insults and disinformation are ripe for abuse, and we know that Cambodian authorities have deployed similarly vague criminal provisions in other contexts,” Vesteinsson said. 

Cambodian law already considers defamation a criminal offense, but the cybercrime draft would make it punishable by jail time up to six months, plus a fine of up to $5,000. The “false information” clause — defined as sharing information that “intentionally harms national defense, national security, relations with other countries, economy, public order, or causes discrimination, or affects traditional culture” — carries a three- to five-year sentence and fine of up to $25,000. 

Daron Tan, associate international legal adviser at the International Commission of Jurists, told VOA the defamation and false information articles do not comply with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Cambodia is a party, and that the United Nations Human Rights Committee is “very clear that imprisonment is never the appropriate penalty for defamation.” 

“It’s a step very much in the wrong direction,” Tan said. “We are very worried that this would expand the laws that the government can use against its critics.” 

Chea Pov, the deputy head of Cambodia’s National Police and former director of the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Cybercrime Department that is overseeing the drafting process, told VOA the law “doesn’t restrict your rights” and claimed the U.S. companies which reviewed it “didn’t raise concerns.”  

Google, Meta and Amazon, which the government has said were involved in drafting the law, did not respond to requests for comment. 

“If you say something based on evidence, there is no problem,” Pov said. “But if there is no evidence, [you] defame others, which is also stated in the criminal law … we don’t regard this as a restriction.”  

The law also makes it illegal to use technology to display, trade, produce or disseminate pornography, or to advertise a “product or service mixed with pornography” online. Pornography is defined as anything that “describes a genital or depicts any act or activity involving a sexual organ or any part of the human body, animal, or object … or other similar pornography that is intended to stimulate sexual desire or cause sexual excitement.” 

Experts say this broad category is likely to be disproportionately deployed against women and LGBTQ+ people. 

Cambodian authorities have often rebuked or arrested women for dressing “too sexily” on social media, singing sexual songs or using suggestive speech. In 2020, an online clothes and cosmetics seller received a six-month suspended sentence after posting provocative photos; in another incident, a policewoman was forced to publicly apologize for posting photos of herself breastfeeding. 

Naly Pilorge, outreach director at Cambodian human rights organization Licadho, told VOA the draft law “could lead to more rights violations against women in the country.” 

“This vague definition of ‘pornography’ poses a serious threat to any woman whose online activity the government decides may ‘cause sexual excitement,’” Pilorge said. “The draft law does not acknowledge any legitimate artistic or educational purposes to depict or describe sexual organs, posing another threat to freedom of expression.” 

In March, authorities said they hosted civil society organizations to revisit the draft. They plan to complete the drafting process and send the law to Parliament for passage before the end of the year, according to Pov, the deputy head of police. 

Soeung Saroeun, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, told VOA “there was no consultation on each article” at the recent meeting. 

“The NGO representatives were unable to analyze and present their inputs,” said Saroeun, echoing concerns about its contents. “How is it [possible]? We need to debate on this.” 

The cybercrime law has resurfaced as the government works to complete two other draft internet laws, one covering cybersecurity and the other personal data protection. Experts have critiqued the drafts as providing expanded police powers to seize computer systems and making citizens’ data vulnerable to hacking and surveillance. 

Authorities have also sought to create a national internet gateway that would require traffic to run through centralized government servers, though the status of that project has been unclear since early 2022 when the government said it faced delays. 
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Biden, Trump hold different views on key foreign policy issues

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Washington — U.S. President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, hold very different views on key foreign and domestic issues. Here’s an overview of where each one stands on foreign policy.  

Russia-Ukraine  

Biden endorses sending military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine to aid its fight against Russia, while warning that Western countries cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to achieve victory. To date, the Biden administration has sanctioned Russian individuals and entities and sent $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine since the February 2022 Russian invasion. 

Biden said on March 7, 2024, “Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond. If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not. But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking. They are not asking for American soldiers.”  

Trump has said NATO countries are not paying their share of aid to Ukraine and claimed the United States has sent more than other countries. At a February rally, Trump said he told an unnamed NATO member that he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to any alliance member that does not meet spending guidelines on defense. In a 2023 speech in New Hampshire, Trump said, “Shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled.”  

Throughout his presidency, Trump faced multiple accusations of collusion with Russia and was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 18, 2019, for charges he leveraged U.S. aid to Ukraine in return for damaging information on potential political rival Joe Biden. Trump denied those charges and was later acquitted by the U.S. Senate.  

China 

Biden said on March 7, 2024, “We have the best economy in the world. And since I’ve come to office, our GDP is up, our trade deficit with China is down to the lowest point over a decade and we’re standing up against China’s unfair economic practices. We’re standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. I’ve revitalized our partnership and alliance in the Pacific. India, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Pacific Islands. I made sure that the most advanced American technologies can’t be used in China, not allowing to trade them there. Frankly, for all this tough talk on China, it never occurred to my predecessor to do any of that. I want competition with China, not conflict. And we’re in a stronger position to win the conflict of the 21st century against China than anyone else, for that matter, than any time as well.” 

During his presidency, Trump denounced the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party as the most significant foreign policy challenge of this generation. He said China was responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic and penalized China for ending the “one country, two states” policy in Hong Kong. In a May 2020 speech, Trump said, “The United States wants an open and constructive relationship with China, but achieving that relationship requires us to vigorously defend our national interests.”  

On his campaign website, Trump said, “To protect our country, we need to enact aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership of any vital infrastructure in the United States, including energy, technology, telecommunications, farmland, natural resources, medical supplies, and other strategic national assets. We should stop all future Chinese purchases in these essential industries. And we should begin the process of forcing the Chinese to sell any current holdings that put our national security at risk.”  

Israel-Palestinians  

Biden says Israel has a right to go after Hamas but has warned Israel against killing Palestinian civilians. In March, Biden announced the construction of an offshore port to deliver aid to Gaza.  

Biden said in New York on March 9, 2024, “I’m never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical, so there’s no red line I’m going to cut off all weapons, so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them. They don’t have … but there’s red lines that if he crosses and they continue … you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after, there’s other ways to deal, to get to, to deal with the trauma caused by Hamas.”  

Trump released a Middle East peace plan in 2020 calling for a two-state solution that would have given Israel control of a unified Jerusalem and maintained its settlements in the West Bank.  

In an interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper on March 25, 2024, Trump said of the current conflict, “What I saw October 7 was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. … You have to finish up your war. To finish it up. You got to get it done. And I am sure you will do that. And we got to get to peace; we can’t have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done. And you have to get on to peace, to get on to a normal life for Israel.”  

Iran 

Biden spent more than two years attempting to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration before declaring it “dead.” Last year, the Biden administration negotiated the release of five American hostages in return for unfreezing billions in Iranian assets.  

Biden said in Washington on March 7, 2024, “Creating stability in the Middle East also means containing the threat posed by Iran. That’s why I built a coalition of more than a dozen countries to defend international shipping and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. I’ve ordered strikes to degrade the Houthi capability and defend U.S. forces in the region. As commander in chief, I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and our military personnel.” 

Among Trump’s proudest achievements was the withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA. He also authorized the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force — the terrorist branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC — a move he called “the boldest action of his presidency.” 

North Korea 

The Biden administration has repeatedly stated it is open to negotiations with North Korea with no preconditions but has yet to offer any incentives in the form of economic assistance to encourage North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to open talks. Biden has met with regional allies and last year announced a new nuclear deterrence agreement, with South Korea, that would allow the U.S. to dock submarines in South Korean ports.  

During his presidency, Trump pursued “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization” of North Korea but eventually developed a good personal relationship with Jong-Un after multiple meetings. His personal diplomacy did not result in any agreements between the two countries. 

VOA’s Saqib Ui Islam contributed to this report.
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UN officials in Zambia to assess worst drought in 20 years

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Lusaka, Zambia — Two senior U.N. officials are wrapping up their visit to Zambia to assess the country’s worst drought in 20 years, which affected some 8 million people and left at least 6 million at risk of food insecurity. The officials say communities affected by the drought need immediate humanitarian aid and food assistance.

Reena Ghelani, the U.N. assistant secretary-general, and climate crisis coordinator for the El Niño and La Niña response, and Eva Kadilli, UNICEF regional director for eastern and southern Africa, called for international solidarity to support the humanitarian response during their visit to Zambia.

Speaking in Lusaka Sunday, Ghelani said the country received less than normal rainfall, leaving hundreds of thousands of hectares of maize destroyed. This accounted for more than half of the country’s cultivation of maize, which is a staple food in Zambia.

“That means there’s not going to be food on the table for many families, and they are not going to be able to purchase,” she said. “So we need to respond swiftly with assistance today. This might become the new normal so we need to prepare, as the president has said, for the future.”

The U.N. representatives met with government and local partners involved in ongoing efforts to address both the drought and a historic cholera outbreak that claimed more than 700 lives.

The U.N. officials also heard from communities and NGOs working on the frontlines of the humanitarian crisis.

Eva Kadilli, UNICEF regional director for eastern and southern Africa, told VOA that about 3 million of the people in need are children. She said those most vulnerable to the impact of a climate crisis are children, specifically those under 5. They were also impacted by COVID and cholera, she said.

“Now to drought … this has a huge toll on children, on communities and families but also mothers, pregnant women lactating women as well, young adolescent girls,” she said.

Felesia Manico, a small-scale farmer in Chongwe near the capital Lusaka, told VOA that the drought has been a nightmare as she lost hundreds of hectares of crops such as maize and various vegetables.

“Our fields dried up one month in we couldn’t get anything from all the inputs that we put in,” she said. “We invested quite a bit in seed and labor and also fertilizer and all the other requirements that come with farming.”

Another small-scale farmer, Sam Tembo, said he has lost all 40 hectares of maize field to the drought. He borrowed $5,000 from the bank.

“All my crops are gone and now I cannot afford any meals,” he said. “Already I have lost money investing in the crops … but nothing came out. I don’t know how I am going to feed the children as it is.”

Worsened by climate change and the El Niño weather pattern, the crisis threatens national food security as well as water and energy supply, Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema said recently.

Zambia is highly dependent on hydroelectric power as experts warn that the drought consequences could last until early 2025.

The U.N. mission follows a recent declaration by Hichilema of a state of emergency and national disaster, as 84 of the country’s 116 districts are affected by the prolonged drought.

The crisis could have regional implications as Zambia is a major maize exporter in the region.
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Actor Jonathan Majors sentenced to probation, counseling for assaulting ex-girlfriend

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NEW YORK — Actor Jonathan Majors was sentenced to probation and ordered to complete a year-long counseling program but avoided jail time Monday for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in a high-profile case that derailed the once-promising star’s career. 

The 34-year-old star of “Creed III” and other films had faced up to a year behind bars after he was convicted of misdemeanor assault by a Manhattan jury in December. 

Judge Michael Gaffey also ordered Majors to complete an in-person batterer’s intervention program, and continue with his mental health therapy. 

Following the guilty verdict, Majors was immediately dropped by Marvel Studios, which had cast him as Kang the Conqueror, a role envisioned as the main villain in the entertainment empire’s movies and television shows for years to come. 

The conviction stemmed from an altercation last March in which Majors’ then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari accused him of attacking her in the backseat of a chauffeured car, saying he hit her head with his open hand, twisted her arm behind her back and squeezed her middle finger until it fractured. 

During a victim impact statement Monday, Jabbari said the incident left her with extreme emotional and physical pain. 

Majors claimed the 31-year-old British dancer was the aggressor, flying into a jealous rage after reading a text message from another woman on his phone. He maintained he was only trying to regain his phone and get away from Jabbari safely. 

After the sentencing, Majors did not comment as he left the courtroom. 

Majors had hoped his two-week criminal trial would vindicate him and restore his status in Hollywood. In a television interview shortly after his conviction, he said he deserves a second chance. 

“As he eagerly anticipates closing this chapter, he looks forward to redirecting his time and energy fully toward his family and his art,” Majors’ lawyers said in a statement last week after losing their bid to have the conviction tossed out. 

But the 34-year-old California native and Yale University graduate still faces other legal hurdles. Last month, Jabbari filed a civil suit in Manhattan federal court, accusing the actor of assault, battery, defamation and inflicting emotional distress. 

She claims Majors subjected her to escalating incidents of physical and verbal abuse during their relationship, which lasted from 2021 to 2023. 

Majors’ lawyers have declined to respond to the claims, saying only that they are preparing to file counterclaims against Jabbari. 

The actor had his breakthrough role in 2019’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.” He also starred in the HBO horror series “Lovecraft Country,” which earned him an Emmy nomination, and as the nemesis to fictional boxing champ Adonis Creed in the blockbuster “Creed III.” 

As for Marvel, a looming question remains whether the studio will recast the role of Kang or pivot in a new direction. 

Majors’ departure was among a recent series of high-profile setbacks for the vaunted superhero factory, which has earned an unprecedented $30 billion worldwide from 33 films.
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Ethnic guerrillas in Myanmar look set to seize important town on Thai border

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Bangkok — Guerrilla fighters from Myanmar’s Karen ethnic minority claimed Monday to be close to seizing control of a major trading town bordering Thailand, as soldiers and civil servants loyal to the military government appeared to be preparing to abandon their positions.

The occupation of Myawaddy town by the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union, or KNU, appeared imminent as the guerrillas seized or besieged strategic army outposts on the town’s outskirts, a spokesperson and members of the KNU said Monday.

Myawaddy, in Kayin state, is Myanmar’s most active trading post with Thailand, and its fall would be the latest in a series of shock defeats suffered by the army since last October, when an alliance of three other ethnic rebel groups launched an offensive in the country’s northeast. 

Over the past five months, the army has been routed in northern Shan state, where it conceded control of several border crossings, in Rakhine state in the west, and is under growing attack elsewhere.

The military government under Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has acknowledged it is under pressure, and recently introduced conscription to boost its ranks.

The nationwide conflict in Myanmar began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.

Three residents of Myawaddy town, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear being arrested by either warring side, told The Associated Press by phone that they had heard no sounds of the fighting outside since Sunday afternoon. They said most residents were working as usual, while others were preparing to flee to Mae Sot, just across the border in Thailand. Two of them said they had not seen any members of the government’s security forces since Sunday.

The situation was highlighted Sunday night when a Myanmar plane made an unscheduled flight to Mae Sot from Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city. Thai media reported that the plane had received permission from Thai authorities to evacuate people fleeing Myawaddy. It was not clear if those fleeing, described as military and civil servants loyal to Myanmar’s military government, had already crossed into Thailand over the river that marks the border.

Thailand’s Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed that approval was given for three flights on a Yangon-Mae Sot route to transport passengers and cargo, one each day on Sunday through Tuesday. Myanmar’s government later canceled its requests for the remaining two flights.

The Thai government was closely monitoring the situation along the border, and is ready to take all necessary measures to maintain peace and order, and to keep the people along the border safe, the Thai ministry said.

In times of fighting along the frontier, Thailand has generally granted temporary shelter to Myanmar villagers. There are also about 87,000 living in nine long-term refugee camps.

The KNU, which is the leading political body for the Karen minority, said in a statement posted on Facebook that its armed wing and allied pro-democracy forces on Friday had seized the army base on the road to Myawaddy at Thin Gan Nyi Naung. It had served for nearly six decades as the military’s regional headquarters.

It said that 617 members of the security forces and their family members had surrendered. The KNU posted photos of the weapons that it claimed to have seized and captured military personnel and their family members given shelter in a school.

Two Karen guerrillas involved in their group’s offensive told AP on Monday that they have surrounded an army garrison about 4 kilometers (3 miles) to the west of Myawaddy that is in charge of the town’s security, and an artillery battalion to the south. Negotiations were underway for their surrenders, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release information.

They also said the Karen have control of about 60% to 70% of Myawaddy township, and are almost certain to capture the town itself after the two bases surrender or are overrun.

The Karen, like other minority groups living in border regions, have struggled for decades for greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government.

Fighting between the army and Karen armed groups intensified after the military seized power in 2021. Several ethnic rebel groups including the Karen have loose alliances with pro-democracy militias after the military takeover, and also offer refuge to the civilian opponents of the military government.
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Sweden expels Chinese journalist, calling her threat to national security, report says

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Copenhagen, Denmark — Sweden has expelled a Chinese journalist, saying the reporter was a threat to national security, Swedish media reported on Monday.

The journalist, an unnamed, 57-year-old woman, was arrested by the Swedish security service in October and expelled by the government in Stockholm last week, Swedish broadcaster SVT reported. She is banned from returning.

The woman arrived in the Scandinavian country some 20 years ago. She held a residence permit and was married to a Swedish man, with whom she has children, according to the broadcaster.

The woman has had contacts with the Chinese Embassy and with people in Sweden who are connected to the Chinese government, SVT said.

Her lawyer, Leutrim Kadriu, told SVT the woman doesn’t believe she poses a threat to Sweden.

“It is difficult for me to go into exact details given that much is shrouded in secrecy, as this is a national security matter,” Kadriu told the broadcaster.

In neighboring Norway, broadcaster NRK said the journalist had also reported from there, and from other Nordic countries including Denmark, Finland and Iceland.

Relations between Stockholm and Beijing have been tense for years.

In 2020, a court in eastern China sentenced Chinese-born Swedish national Gui Minhai to 10 years in prison for selling books that were critical of the ruling Communist Party. He was charged with “illegally providing intelligence overseas.”

China has rebuked Sweden’s demands for Gui’s release.

He first disappeared in 2015, when he was believed to have been abducted by Chinese agents from his seaside home in Thailand.

The case led to an investigation of Sweden’s ambassador to China over a meeting she arranged between Gui’s daughter and two Chinese businessmen whom the daughter said threatened her father. The ambassador, Anna Lindstedt, was eventually cleared.

In 2018, a Swedish court found a man guilty of spying for China by gathering information on Tibetans who had fled to Sweden. Dorjee Gyantsan, a Tibetan who worked for a pro-Tibetan radio station, was found guilty of “gross illegal intelligence activity” and sentenced to 22 months in jail.
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Rwanda genocide survivors call for increased education

Posted on by SeeAF

Thirty years after the Rwandan genocide, survivors continue to grapple with fear and trauma. Their plight, they say, is exacerbated by ongoing battles against misinformation and genocide denial, prompting calls for increased education and awareness to foster a genocide-free world. Senanu Tord reports from Kigali, Rwanda. Moki Edwin Kindzeka contributed to this report.
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Regretting coming to US, some illegal Chinese immigrants return home

Posted on by SeeEA

Austin, Texas — Chinese migrants coming across the southern U.S. border say they made the treacherous journey to flee China’s authoritarian rule, to seek the American dream or escape growing political and economic uncertainty at home.

But the challenges do not end after they arrive, and some are deciding to return to China, while others have no choice.

Last April, Xia Yu arrived in the United States after traveling through more than 10 countries over a period of two months. Xia, a Chinese man in his 40s, asked to use a pseudonym so he could speak more freely with VOA Mandarin about his journey.

On his way to the U.S. border, he says, all his property was stolen, and his American dream did not come true: In immigration custody, he failed to pass the “credible fear interview” for asylum-seekers.

2023 surge

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, 52,700 Chinese immigrants arrived at U.S. borders without valid entry visas in fiscal 2023 — more than twice the number of just two years earlier. About half of them entered somewhere along the southern U.S. border where they were apprehended by Border Protection agents and sought asylum.

Individuals who pass the screening and establish that they have a credible reason to fear torture, persecution, or returning to their country, are allowed to stay in the U.S. to pursue their cases in immigration court.

Xia remained in the detention facility in the U.S. for months as he was processed for deportation, eventually landing at Shanghai Pudong Airport last August. Entering Chinese customs, he was fined $71 and had to sign a document admitting his crime of being deported after illegally entering another country. His passport was confiscated, and he was notified that he would be barred from leaving the country for three years.

The public security bureau in his hometown also questioned him about whom he encountered while on U.S. soil.

“They asked me to delete my foreign social media apps and foreign contacts,” he told VOA. “Then they told me not to contact these people because I would be deceived.” 

Xia said he thinks his WeChat account is being monitored to prevent him from inciting others to emigrate illegally. He said spending tens of thousands of dollars without even staying in the U.S. is nothing to brag about, and that he’d rather not mention his experience again.

‘A full life at home’

At 33, Wang Zhongwei from China’s Anhui Province now lives in Los Angeles, where has become a vocal advocate for immigrants since entering the United States in May.

Many Chinese who have crossed the border or are attempting to do so reach out to him for advice. Wang tells VOA Mandarin that while most who make the journey across the border stay, there are those who return because of loneliness, deceit, or family pressure.

Wang’s friend, Liu Ming, from Sichuan Province, came to the United States in the second half of 2023. Liu, 31, first stayed in Los Angeles for a month or two and then moved to New York to find work. After a long wait, he found a job working for a Chinese boss, but the pay wasn’t good.

In January, Liu’s boss refused to pay him, so he had no choice but to call the police. After receiving his salary the following day, Liu immediately went to the airport, messaging Wang: “I’m at the airport now and about to go back to China. I don’t like it here. See you again if destiny has it.”

In March, when Wang contacted him again, he found that Liu had used the self-service kiosk when entering China and wasn’t even interviewed by government staff.

Within months, Liu had returned to a life in China much as he knew it before.

“I am now working in a restaurant in my hometown. I work eight hours and the food is super good,” he told Wang via WhatsApp. “I used to work 12 hours non-stop in a restaurant in the U.S., [where] I was bored and lonely … but I live a full life at home.

At one point, when he got sick in the U.S., he worried about dying in a foreign land. He also complained about not being able to meet women there.

“I don’t regret the trip to the U.S.,” Liu continued, allowing, however, that on getting sick he’d worried about dying in a foreign land, and that he’d found it difficult to meet women.

“What I saw in real life was different from what I saw online,” he concluded. “There are both good and bad things in America.”

Room for regret

Zhang Lin, who is in his 30s and asked to use an alias to protect his privacy, describes himself as a person of double regrets. He first regretted coming to the United States, and now he regrets returning to China.

Crossing the U.S. border, Zhang found a job as a massage therapist in Los Angeles because he had the training. There, he made about $150 a day, a substantial wage for an undocumented immigrant.

But after only a month he returned to China, where he now runs a foot spa in his hometown.

“There were so many things I wasn’t used to in the U.S., and I was lonely,” he said. “I felt very homesick, so I came back impulsively.”

When he went to the U.S., Zhang said, he’d hoped to make a lot of money and make his family the envy of his hometown neighbors.

But now, after returning to China, where he faced a 12-hour interrogation at customs but faced no penalties, he says he regrets his impulsive decision to return.

“Life in my hometown is really hopeless,” Zhang said, adding that he hopes to go to the U.S. illegally again. “When you go out, you realize that the outside world is different. Your mind is opened up.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Yellen says US will not accept Chinese imports decimating new industries 

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BEIJING — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned China on Monday that Washington will not accept new industries being decimated by Chinese imports as she wrapped up four days of meetings to press her case for Beijing to rein in excess industrial capacity. 

Yellen told a media conference that U.S. President Joe Biden would not allow a repeat of the “China shock” of the early 2000s, when a flood of Chinese imports destroyed about 2 million American manufacturing jobs. 

She did not, however, threaten new tariffs or other trade actions should Beijing continue its massive state support for electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels and other green energy goods. 

Yellen used her second trip to China in nine months to complain that China’s overinvestment has built factory capacity far exceeding domestic demand, while fast-growing exports of these products threaten firms in the U.S. and other countries. 

She said a newly created exchange forum to discuss the excess capacity issue would need time to reach solutions. 

Yellen drew parallels to the pain felt in the U.S. steel sector in the past. 

“We’ve seen this story before,” she told reporters. “Over a decade ago, massive PRC government support led to below-cost Chinese steel that flooded the global market and decimated industries across the world and in the United States.” 

Yellen added: “I’ve made it clear that President Biden and I will not accept that reality again.” 

When the global market is flooded with artificially cheap Chinese products, she said, “the viability of American and other foreign firms is put into question.” 

Yellen said her exchanges with Chinese officials had advanced American interests and that U.S. concerns over excess industrial capacity were shared by allies in Europe, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines and other emerging markets. 

Pushback 

China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, said in March the government would take steps to curb industrial overcapacity. 

But Beijing says the recent focus by the United States and Europe on the risks to other economies from China’s excess capacity is misguided. 

Chinese officials say the criticism understates innovation by their companies in key industries and overstates the importance of state support in driving their growth. 

They also say tariffs or other trade curbs will deprive global consumers of green energy alternatives key to meeting global climate goals. 

Trade curbs on Chinese electric vehicles would be disruptive to a growing industry and contravene World Trade Organization rules, the industry and information technology ministry said in a statement carried by state media CCTV and China Daily. 

The ministry added that it was committed to support EV exports and would help “accelerate the overseas development” of the industry including planning for shipping and logistics and support for firms to innovate and meet global standards. 

State news agency Xinhua quoted Li as saying the U.S. should “refrain from turning economic and trade issues into political or security issues” and view the topic of production capacity from a “market-oriented and global perspective.” 

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao voiced more pointed objections during a roundtable meeting with Chinese EV makers in Paris, saying U.S. and European assertions of Chinese excess EV capacity were groundless. 

Rather than subsidies, China’s electric vehicle companies rely on continuous technological innovation, perfect production and supply chain systems and full market competition, Wang said on his trip to discuss a European Union anti-subsidy inquiry. 

Yellen said a possible short-term solution was for China to take steps to bolster consumer demand with support for households and retirement, and shift its growth model away from supply-side investments. 

Yellen spoke about the issue at length with Premier Li Qiang and also met Finance Minister Lan Foan on Sunday. She met People’s Bank of China (PBOC) governor Pan Gongsheng and former vice premier Liu He on Monday. 

In a CNBC interview after the meetings, Yellen said she was “not thinking so much” about trade curbs on China, as much as shifts in its macroeconomic environment. But she reiterated she would notrule out tariffs. 

 
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Burkina Faso Wildlife Conservation Farm Struggling in Turbulent Times

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On his farm near Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, Clark Lungren studies and breeds wild animals, some of them endangered species. The Canadian, who has been living in the country for several decades, is also giving tourists an opportunity to see his animals up close. But fighting and unrest in the country has put the farm at risk. VOA’s Gildas Da has more in this report narrated by Jackson Mvunganyi. (Solomane Nikiema contributed to this report)
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Swapping of the Guard: French, British troops mark Entente Cordiale

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Paris — French and British troops on Monday swapped roles to take part in the changing of the guard ceremonies outside the palaces of the other country’s head of state, in an unprecedented move to celebrate 120 years since the Entente Cordiale.

Signed in 1904, the Entente Cordiale accord cemented an improvement in relations after the Napoleonic Wars and is seen as the foundation of the two NATO members’ alliance to this day.

“Even after Brexit and with war back in Europe, “this entente cordiale is somehow the cornerstone… that allows us to maintain the bilateral relationship,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video address on X, formerly Twitter.

“Long live the entente cordiale and long live the Franco-British friendship,” he said, switching to English.

Macron and British ambassador to France Menna Rawlings on Monday morning watched British guards taking part in the changing of the guard outside his Elysee Palace.

French guards were to do the same in London outside Buckingham Palace, the official residence of King Charles III.

At the Elysee, 16 members of the Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards of the UK embassy, wearing their traditional bearskin hats, relieved French counterparts from the first infantry regiment.

The French army choir then sang the two national anthems — God Save the King and La Marseillaise.

‘More to defeat Russia’

British Foreign Minister David Cameron and his French counterpart, Stephane Sejourne, celebrated their countries’ “close friendship” in a joint op-ed published late on Sunday.

They said it was key at a time when NATO is mobilized to ensure Ukraine does not lose its fight to repel the Russian invasion.

“Britain and France, two founding members and Europe’s nuclear powers, have a responsibility in driving the alliance to deal with the challenges before it,” the diplomats wrote in Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper.

“We must do even more to ensure we defeat Russia. The world is watching –- and will judge us if we fail.”

A French presidential official said it was “the first time in the history of the Elysee” that foreign troops had been invited to participate in the military ritual.

At the end of 2023, Macron made the changing of the Republican Guard public again, on the first Tuesday of each month, although the ceremony is much less spectacular than its counterpart outside Buckingham Palace.

Two sections of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiment of France’s Republican Guard were to participate in the London ceremony alongside guards from F Company Scots Guards and other British forces, the French presidential official said.

It would be watched by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh — Prince Edward and his wife Sophie — accompanied by the UK chief of the general staff, General Patrick Sanders, and French chief of the army staff Pierre Schill.

The event on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace was to mark the first time a country from outside the Commonwealth — which mostly includes English-speaking former British colonies and possessions — has taken part in the changing of the guard.

Tensions after Brexit

The signing of the Entente Cordiale on April 8, 1904, is widely seen as preparing the way for France and Britain joining forces against Germany in World War I.

While the accord is often used as shorthand to describe the Franco-British relationship, ties have been bedeviled by tensions in recent years, particularly since the United Kingdom left the European Union. 

Migration has been a particular sticking point, with London pressuring Paris to halt the flow of migrants across the Channel.

But a state visit by King Charles last autumn — one of his last big foreign engagements before his cancer diagnosis — was widely seen as a resounding success that showed the fundamental strength of the relationship. 
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Vatican blasts sex change surgery, surrogacy and gender theory as grave threats to human dignity

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Vatican City — The Vatican on Monday declared sex change operations and surrogacy as grave threats to human dignity, putting them on par with abortion and euthanasia as practices that violate God’s plan for human life.

The Vatican’s doctrine office issued “Infinite Dignity,” a 20-page declaration that has been in the works for five years. After substantial revision in recent months, it was approved March 25 by Pope Francis, who ordered its publication.

In its most eagerly anticipated section, the Vatican repeated its rejection of “gender theory” or the idea that one’s gender can be changed. It said God created man and woman as biologically different, separate beings, and said they must not tinker with that plan or try to “make oneself God.”

“It follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception,” the document said.

It distinguished between transitioning surgeries, which it rejected, and “genital abnormalities” that are present at birth or that develop later. Those abnormalities can be “resolved” with the help of health care professionals, it said.

The document’s existence, rumored since 2019, was confirmed in recent weeks by the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, a close Pope Francis confidante.

He had cast it as something of a nod to conservatives after he authored a more explosive document approving blessings for same-sex couples that sparked criticism from conservative bishops around the world, especially in Africa.

And while rejecting gender theory, the document takes pointed aim at countries — including many in Africa — that criminalize homosexuality. It echoed Francis’ assertion in a 2023 interview with The Associated Press that “being homosexual is not a crime” making the assertion now part of the Vatican’s doctrinal teaching.

The new document denounces “as contrary to human dignity the fact that, in some places, not a few people are imprisoned, tortured, and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation.”

The document is something of a repackaging of previously articulated Vatican positions. It restates well-known Catholic doctrine opposing abortion and euthanasia, and adds to the list some of Francis’ main concerns as pope: the threats to human dignity posed by poverty, war, human trafficking and forced migration.

In a newly articulated position, it says surrogacy violates both the dignity of the surrogate mother and the child. While much attention about surrogacy has focused on possible exploitation of poor women as surrogates, the Vatican document focuses almost more on the resulting child.

“The child has the right to have a fully human (and not artificially induced) origin and to receive the gift of a life that manifests both the dignity of the giver and that of the receiver,” the document said. “Considering this, the legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a ‘right to a child’ that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life.”

The Vatican published its most articulated position on gender in 2019, when the Congregation for Catholic Education rejected the idea that people can choose or change their genders and insisted on the complementarity of biologically male and female sex organs to create new life.

It called gender fluidity a symptom of the “confused concept of freedom” and “momentary desires” that characterize post-modern culture. 

The new document from the more authoritative Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith quotes from that 2019 education document, but tempers the tone. Significantly, it doesn’t repurpose the 1986 language of a previous doctrinal document saying that homosexual people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect but that homosexual actions are “intrinsically disordered.”

Francis has made reaching out to LGBTQ+ people a hallmark of his papacy, ministering to trans Catholics and insisting that the Catholic Church must welcome all children of God.

But he has also denounced “gender theory” as the “worst danger” facing humanity today, an “ugly ideology” that threatens to cancel out God-given differences between man and woman. He has blasted in particular what he calls the “ideological colonization” of the West in the developing world, where development aid is sometimes conditioned on adopting Western ideas about gender and reproductive health.

“It needs to be emphasized that biological sex and the sociocultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated,’” the new document said.

The document comes at a time of some backlash against transgender people, including in the United States where Republican-led state legislatures are considering a new round of bills restricting medical care for transgender youths — and in some cases, adults. In addition, bills to govern youths’ pronouns, sports teams and bathrooms at school are also under consideration, as well as some books and school curriculums. 
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Top UN court opening hearings in case accusing Germany of facilitating Israel’s Gaza conflict

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Preliminary hearings are opening Monday at the United Nations’ top court in a case that seeks an end to German military and other aid to Israel, based on claims that Berlin is enabling acts of genocide and breaches of international humanitarian law in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Nicaragua argues that by giving Israel political, financial and military support and by defunding the United Nations aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, “Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide.”

While the case brought by Nicaragua centers on Germany, it indirectly takes aim at Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the deadly Oct. 7 attacks when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its toll doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it has said women and children make up the majority of the dead.

Israel strongly denies that its assault amounts to genocidal acts, saying it is acting in self defense. Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker told judges at the court earlier this year that the country is fighting a “war it did not start and did not want.”

Germany rejects the case brought by Nicaragua.

“Germany has breached neither the Genocide Convention nor international humanitarian law, and we will set this out in detail before the International Court of Justice,” German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer told reporters in Berlin on Friday.

Nicaragua has asked the court to hand down preliminary orders known as provisional measures, including that Germany “immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military assistance including military equipment in so far as this aid may be used in the violation of the Genocide Convention” and international law.

The court will likely take weeks to deliver its preliminary decision, and Nicaragua’s case will probably drag on for years.

Monday’s hearing at the world court comes amid growing calls for allies to stop supplying arms to Israel as its six-month campaign continues to lay waste to Gaza.

The offensive has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population. Food is scarce, the U.N. says famine is approaching and few Palestinians have been able to leave the besieged territory.

The case “will likely further galvanize opposition to any support for Israel,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of law and international peace studies at the University of Notre Dame.

On Friday, the U.N.’s top human rights body called on countries to stop selling or shipping weapons to Israel. The United States and Germany opposed the resolution.

Also, hundreds of British jurists, including three retired Supreme Court judges, have called on their government to suspend arms sales to Israel after three U.K. citizens were among seven aid workers from the charity World Central Kitchen killed in Israeli strikes. Israel said the attack on the aid workers was a mistake caused by “misidentification.”

Germany has for decades been a staunch supporter of Israel. Days after the October 7 attack by Hamas, Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained why: “Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust, makes it a perpetual task for us to stand up for the security of the state of Israel,” he told lawmakers.

Berlin, however, has gradually shifted its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza have soared, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and speaking out against a ground offensive in Rafah.

Nicaragua’s government, which has historical links with Palestinian organizations dating back to their support for the 1979 Sandinista revolution, was itself accused earlier this year by U.N.-backed human rights experts of systematic human rights abuses “tantamount to crimes against humanity.” The government of President Daniel Ortega fiercely rejected the allegations.

In January, the International Court of Justice imposed provisional measures ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and acts of genocide in Gaza. The orders came in a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention.

The court last week ordered Israel to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into the war-ravaged enclave.

 
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Philippines will continue dialog with China to ease South China Sea tensions, says president

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MANILA, Philippines — Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday called on China to talk to prevent more incidents like ramming vessels and the use of water cannons in the South China Sea.

The Philippines continues to talk with China, and is exhausting all options to speak to Chinese leadership so as not to heat up tensions in the waterway, Marcos said.

He added he hopes the recently concluded joint maritime activity with Japan, Australia, and the United States will reduce incidents at sea with China.

Defense forces of the four nations on Sunday conducted a “maritime cooperative activity” involving five warships in the South China Sea.

Later this week, leaders of Japan, the United States and the Philippines will hold a summit in Washington to discuss issues like recent incidents in the South China Sea.

China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Biden to talk student debt relief in Wisconsin after primary voting delivers warning signs

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is traveling to Wisconsin to announce details of a new plan to ease student loan debt for millions, a trip that comes a week after primary voting in the Midwest battleground highlighted weaknesses for the Democratic president and Donald Trump, his Republican challenger.

Biden is slated to make the announcement Monday in Madison, the state’s liberal capital and home of the University of Wisconsin’s flagship campus.

The new federal rule paving the way for student debt relief is not expected to be issued by the time the president speaks, but Biden plans to highlight a plan the Department of Education started working on after the U.S. Supreme Court last year foiled his first attempt to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt.

Immediately after the court said Biden needed Congress to approve his original plan, the president said the decision was a “mistake” and “wrong” and announced that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona would undertake a new process using his authority under the Higher Education Act to waive or compromise student loan debt in specific cases.

A fresh announcement on student loan relief, an important issue for younger voters, could help energize parts of Biden’s political coalition that have become disillusioned by his job performance. These are people whose support the president will need to defeat Trump in November.

In Wisconsin’s primary elections on April 2, nearly 119,000 Republicans voted for a GOP candidate other than Trump, the party’s presumptive nominee. And more than 48,000 Democratic voters chose “uninstructed” instead of Biden, more than double Biden’s narrow margin of victory in Wisconsin in 2020.

Nearly 15% of Democrats in Dane County, home to the University of Wisconsin and Madison, voted “uninstructed.” That is nearly double the statewide total of 8%.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents Madison in Congress, said he was struck that concerns about Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza were top of mind among voters at five town halls over the past two weeks in more rural parts of his district.

“I was surprised to see the intensity on the issue of Gaza coming not from a student voice out of Madison, but older voters in more rural parts of the district,” Pocan said.

Pocan said the number of “uninstructed” votes shows the concern in Wisconsin and that Biden needs to address it. He said he planned to talk directly with Biden about it on Monday.

“I just want to make sure he knows that if we’re going to have a problem, that could be the problem in Wisconsin,” Pocan said.

Biden’s new plan would expand federal student loan relief to new yet-targeted categories of borrowers through the Higher Education Act, which administration officials believe puts it on a stronger legal footing than the sweeping proposal that was killed by a 6-3 court majority last year.

The plan is expected to be smaller and more targeted than his original plan, which would have canceled up to $20,000 in loans for more than 40 million borrowers.

The department laid out five categories of borrowers who would be eligible to get some or all of their federal loans canceled. The plan is focused on helping those with the greatest need, including many who might otherwise never repay their loans.

Among those targeted for help are people whose unpaid interest has snowballed beyond the size of the original loan. The proposal would reset their balances back to the initial amount by erasing up to $10,000 or $20,000 in interest, depending on their income.

Borrowers paying down their student loans for decades would get all remaining debt erased under the plan. Loans used for a borrower’s undergraduate education would be canceled if they had been in repayment for at least 20 years. For other types of federal loans, it’s 25 years.

The plan would automatically cancel loans for those who were in for-profit college programs deemed “low-value.” Borrowers would be eligible for cancellation if, while they attended the college, the average federal student loan payment among graduates was too high in relation to their average salary.

Those who are eligible for other types of cancellation but haven’t applied would automatically get relief. It would apply to Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Borrower Defense to Repayment, programs that have been around for years but require infamously difficult paperwork.

Under pressure from advocates, the department also added a category for those facing “hardship.” It would offer cancellation to borrowers considered highly likely to be in default within two years. Additional borrowers would be eligible for relief under a wide-ranging definition of financial hardship.

A series of hearings to craft the rule wrapped up in February, and the draft is now under review. Before it can be finalized, the Education Department will need to issue a formal proposal and open it to a public comment period.

The latest attempt at cancellation joins other targeted initiatives, including those aimed at public service workers and low-income borrowers. Through those efforts, the Biden administration says it has canceled $144 billion in student loans for almost 4 million Americans.

 
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