U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump says the Biden administration engineered his criminal convictions in New York to gain an advantage in this November’s election. President Joe Biden says the justice system should be respected. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns reports.
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Month: May 2024
As Russia confirms it jailed missing Ukrainian journalist, calls mount for her release
Washington — Nearly eight months after a freelance journalist disappeared on assignment in Russian-occupied Ukraine, Moscow confirmed that the reporter is in its custody.
Victoria Roshchyna, a contributor to Ukrainian media outlets including Ukrainska Pravda, had planned to report on what life is like for those living under Russian occupation.
But shortly after passing through a border post on Aug. 3, 2023, communication between Roshchyna and her family ended. Since then, her family and colleagues have been trying to locate the journalist.
Then last month, Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed in a letter to the family that the reporter has been detained in Russian territory.
The status of her health — as well as her specific whereabouts — are still unknown. It’s also unclear whether she has been charged with any crime.
For the International Women’s Media Foundation, or IWMF, which awarded Roshchyna its 2022 courage award, there was a certain amount of relief in knowing that the journalist was detained.
“Because there was also serious concern that she had been killed,” IWMF executive director Elisa Lees Munoz told VOA.
Now their attention is on trying to secure Roshchyna’s release.
“There’s no question that the detention is unjust. But there’s also little hope that there will be some sort of real justice applied in the near future,” Munoz said.
The Russian Defense Ministry delivered the news of Roshchyna’s detention in a letter to her father. He then alerted the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, or NUJU, about her detention.
The media union released a statement this week demanding “the immediate and unconditional release from captivity of Victoria Roshchyna and other illegally captured journalists.”
Russia’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.
Roshchyna’s family reported the journalist missing to Ukrainian authorities about a week after their last call, during which she said she had passed a border post.
At the time, the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, told the family that the journalist may have been captured by Russian occupation forces.
“We know that Ukrainian journalists working for independent media in the occupied territories are being hunted down by Russian forces,” Jeanne Cavelier, the head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders, said in an October 2023 statement, about two months into Roshchyna’s disappearance.
Russia ranks among the world’s worst jailers of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ. In late 2023, the press freedom group documented 22 journalists jailed by Russia.
Of those, 12 were foreign nationals, including two Americans and 10 Ukrainians.
Roshchyna was previously abducted by Russian forces in March 2022 while reporting in Berdiansk, in occupied southeastern Ukraine. She was released after nine days.
In an interview last year, Roshchyna’s father said that he had asked her to be careful after that incident. But, he said, she was “unstoppable — she was not able to stop covering the news of this war on the occupied territories for her readers.”
Munoz said that Roshchyna has long been known for being “an extremely vocal and brave journalist.”
“She really dedicated her career to writing about some of the most dangerous topics you could write about in Ukraine,” Munoz said.
She recalled how when the IWMF invited Roshchyna to the United States to accept the courage award in person, Roshchyna declined, saying she needed to keep reporting.
“That is who Victoria is,” Munoz said.
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Sumy region in Ukraine extensively shelled since start of 2024
The city of Sumy, Ukraine, is just 32 kilometers from the Russian border. Sumy and the region have been shelled more times in the first five months of 2024 than during all of last year, yet some villages on the Russian border still stand. Olena Adamenko visited the city for this story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Oleh Demianenko; Video editor: Mykhailo Zaika
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Gunmen kill 11 in attack in Nigeria’s southeast, army says
ABUJA — Armed men killed at least six civilians and five soldiers in an attack in Nigeria’s southeastern Abia state, the military said Friday, prompting the state government to offer a $16,850 reward for information on the gunmen.
The attack on Thursday was the latest in a string of raids in a region rife with separatist violence.
The assailants killed five soldiers deployed as peacekeepers in the area, and the six civilians who died were caught in the crossfire, defense spokesperson Major-General Edward Buba said.
No group claimed responsibility, but the army blamed the outlawed separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, which wants the surrounding region to secede from Nigeria.
The attack was at a military checkpoint at Obikabia junction in Obingwa local government area, Buba said in a statement.
“The military will be fierce in its response. We will bring overwhelming military pressure on the group to ensure their total defeat,” he said.
Abia information commissioner Prince Okey Kanu urged the military to show restraint in their response.
The military has previously been accused by rights groups of using excessive force and targeting innocent civilians when responding to similar attacks, charges it denies.
The unrest in the southeast has put pressure on a government and military already struggling to contain attacks and kidnappings in the northwest, a 15-year-old Islamist insurgency in the northeast, and sectarian and herder-farmer clashes in central regions.
IPOB campaigns for the secession of southeastern Nigeria, where the majority belong to the Igbo group.
The movement’s leader — Nnamdi Kanu, a British citizen arrested in Kenya in 2021 — is now on trial in Nigeria on terrorism charges.
More than a million people died, mostly from starvation, during a three-year civil war in the late 1960s when the region attempted to secede under the name of the Republic of Biafra.
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UN urges de-escalation on Korean peninsula after launch, missiles
New York — A senior United Nations official said Friday that the organization remains “deeply concerned” about growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, following North Korea’s latest attempted launch of a spy satellite and firing of ballistic missiles.
“We encourage all member states, and members of this council, to seek unity, and for all parties to create an environment conducive to dialogue and cooperation,” U.N. assistant political chief Khaled Khiari told a meeting of the Security Council. “At this particularly difficult moment in securing global peace and security, it is imperative to de-escalate the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”
Several council members, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, requested the meeting after North Korea unsuccessfully launched a spy satellite on May 27. That was followed on Thursday by the firing of a barrage of ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea.
Washington’s envoy said Pyongyang is advancing its prohibited weapons program “at an alarming rate,” and has launched more than 100 ballistic missiles since the beginning of 2022.
“Each of these launches — successful or not — is a flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Robert Wood said. “Each launch informs the DPRK of its capability gaps and allows Pyongyang to further advance its weapons programs.”
DPRK is the abbreviation for North Korea’s official name: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
While the spy satellite exploded shortly after it was fired, an earlier launch in November was successful. In December, Pyongyang announced that it plans to launch three more military satellites this year.
North Korea’s U.N. envoy was defiant.
“We make it clear once again that the DPRK’s possession of space reconnaissance capabilities is an independent right that can never be abandoned or bartered for anything else,” Ambassador Kim Song told the council. “It is an important undertaking of absolute necessity for defense of the state sovereignty and legitimate self-defense.”
North Korea’s Monday launch took place just hours after a rare trilateral dialogue wrapped up in Seoul among China’s premier, Japan’s prime minister and South Korea’s president, with a call for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong said Friday it is imperative all parties adopt a rational and practical approach, swiftly resume dialogue, act calmly and not intensify tensions.
He expressed concern about a planned U.S. joint military exercise on the peninsula planned for August.
“Such a plan will only increase tensions and the risk of war and turmoil on the peninsula, making the goal of long-term stability ever more elusive,” he said. “China opposes the plan.”
South Korea’s ambassador said Pyongyang’s nuclear policy and its rhetoric are becoming increasingly hostile and aggressive towards his country.
“Pyongyang no longer regards its nuclear arsenal as just a deterrent against the U.S., but instead as a means to attack my country, the Republic of Korea, which the North Korean leader himself called in January not a fellow nation but, ‘the most hostile foreign enemy to be subjugated,’” Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook said.
Hwang added that North Korea announced Friday that the multiple short-range ballistic missiles it fired on Thursday were aimed at his country, and that Pyongyang says it will not hesitate to carry out a preemptive attack on “the enemies.”
“Faced with these menacing threats, the Republic of Korea has to take all necessary measures to protect national security and our people by maintaining a robust combined defense and deterrence posture,” Hwang said.
Russia-DPRK military cooperation
The United States and several other council members also raised, not for the first time, Russia’s procurement of weapons and munitions from North Korea for use in its war in Ukraine, in violation of the council’s own sanctions and arms embargo.
“The DPRK has also unlawfully transferred dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine, prolonging the suffering of the Ukrainian people,” Ambassador Wood said.
“We continue to monitor closely what North Korea gains in return,” said Ambassador Kazuyuki Yamazaki of Japan. “We cannot let the current situation become the new normal.”
Both Moscow and Pyongyang have previously denied the weapons allegations.
Several council resolutions prohibit North Korea from developing a ballistic missile program, as well as ban it from exporting arms or related material to other states.
Russia’s envoy said accusations that their activity with North Korea is illegal are “absolutely unfounded” and Moscow is simply cooperating with a friendly neighbor.
“The cooperation between Russia and the DPRK is exclusively constructive and lawful in nature,” Deputy Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said. “It doesn’t threaten anyone or violate anyone, and it will continue.”
On March 28, Russia used its council veto to shut down the panel of experts who monitor implementation of the Security Council’s sanctions on North Korea, drawing criticism that it was trying to shield itself from scrutiny.
Since 2006, the council has adopted several sanctions resolutions intended to limit North Korea’s access to funds and materials for its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs. The council created the panel of experts in 2009, and since then they have documented implementation and alleged violations of council resolutions. But despite tough sanctions, Pyongyang continues to advance its weapons programs.
VOA Seoul Correspondent William Gallo contributed to this report.
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Return to old national anthem sparks debate in Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria — Nigerian President Bola Tinubu responded to criticism Thursday over a law he signed this week that changed the country’s national anthem back to the old song adopted when Nigeria achieved independence in 1960.
Critics say the president’s priorities are mixed up and he is being insensitive to the plight of people dealing with inflation and insecurity.
Human rights activist Deji Adeyanju said, “His government is not serious. They do not understand the times that we’re facing. Our greatest challenge now [is] economic issues. He has one of the worst economic teams. That should’ve been the primary responsibility and concern of the government, but instead they’re spending precious time talking about the old national anthem. How does that solve inflation problems?”
The old — and now current — national anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee,” was written in 1960 by British expatriate Lillian Jean Williams and adopted as Nigeria’s anthem when the country won independence that year.
It was replaced in 1978 by “Arise O Compatriots,” which was written by a group of Nigerians in the aftermath of a brutal civil war.
The bill to restore the old anthem was introduced in parliament and passed within one week — exceptionally fast-paced for Nigeria, where most bills take several months to be considered.
Tinubu, in Abuja’s presidential village, said the old anthem represented the beauty of Nigeria’s diversity. He also teased critics who object to the old anthem being written by a British expatriate, saying it was Britain who named the country Nigeria, yet the country’s identity remains.
Nassarawa state resident Oliver Ugwu said reintroducing the old national anthem without public consultation was a questionable decision.
“A greater percentage of the masses are saying there’s no need of going back,” he said. “We have already gotten our independence, so [what] we want now is to move forward for more development.”
Another resident, Lukeman Ademola, said the national anthem law is a diversion from the country’s struggling economy.
“What do we need national anthem for; what is the national anthem doing in our lives; how does it even help the masses?” Ademola said. “Look at people suffering; the prices of commodities, the prices of goods and services are just going higher. They’re using fuel as a means of taking these things higher, and even if the fuel comes down, the prices still remain like that. How is this going to help us?”
Tinubu has faced a turbulent first year in office marked by widespread criticism and protests against his economic reforms, most prominently his scrapping of fuel subsidies that had kept prices more affordable for Nigerians.
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Uganda hits back at US over sanctions
KAMPALA, UGANDA — Ugandan authorities objected Friday to new U.S. sanctions over what the United States calls significant corruption and gross human rights violations, saying the sanctions target parliament Speaker Anita Among and other officials who backed the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Law.
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department placed travel and financial sanctions on Among for what it called significant corruption tied to her leadership position.
Others sanctioned were ministers Amos Lugolobi, Agnes Nandutu and Mary Goretti Gitutu for allegedly misusing public resources and diverting materials from Uganda’s neediest communities.
Ugandan State Minister for Foreign Affairs Oryem Okello argued that all the ministers who were sanctioned are currently facing Ugandan courts of law, which have yet to find rule on the cases.
The sanctions also target Lieutenant General Peter Elwelu for his role in clashes between Ugandan security forces and a local militant group that resulted in the deaths of over 100 people.
However, Okello said the U.S. government’s action is really targeting Among.
“My belief is that this is an insult and undermines our judicial system,” Okello said.
“The sanctions are unjust. They are punitive,” he said. “They are bullish because they know that we cannot do anything against it. And it’s just deliberate to punish the speaker for her role and leadership to fight LBGTQ and homosexuality in Uganda.”
The U.S. State Department said it stands with Ugandans advocating for democratic principles, a government that delivers for all its citizens and accountability for actions committed by those who abuse their positions through corruption and gross violations of human rights.
Ugandan political analyst Mary Anne Nanfuka said that those people targeted by the sanctions are not acting on their own and that sanctions never work as a deterrent.
“I see that these Western countries want to pander to their electorate,” Nanfuka said.
“They know very well that they need the government to cooperate with them in certain areas. So, once push comes to shove, they will let it pass. Yes, it’s a gesture, but no, we are still not impressed,” she said.
Chris Obore, the head of public affairs in the Ugandan parliament, said the corruption allegations are political and vendetta-driven, otherwise they would have targeted the entire Ugandan cabinet.
The State Department specifically mentioned a giveaway of iron roofing sheets that were meant for a poor community but were instead shared by top government members among themselves.
“It is a sign of their latent anger against the speaker for presiding over the anti-homosexuality law,” Obore said. “It is clear that the U.K., U.S., Canada have been putting pressure when that law was being debated here. Because it is not about iron sheets. How did the speaker personally benefit from those iron sheets when public schools that were roofed are there?”
Okello said Uganda will engage U.S. government officials and get to the bottom of how the State Department decided to approve the sanctions.
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US, Japan, South Korea hold talks to reaffirm cooperation on economic, regional security
Little Washington, Virginia — Senior officials from the United States, Japan, and South Korea convene in historic Little Washington, Virginia, on Friday, amid growing threats from North Korea and other pressing regional and global security issues.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell hosts Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano, and South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun at his farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Washington.
The trilateral dialogue, a key deliverable from the historic 2023 Camp David Summit, reaffirms cooperation on economic security, critical and emerging technologies, and maritime security.
It also addresses various regional and global challenges, including North Korean threats, Russia’s war on Ukraine, stability in the Taiwan Strait, and humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza, according to the State Department.
The latest trilateral talks follow North Korea’s launch of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea May 30, reported by South Korea’s military.
The launches occurred shortly after the country’s unsuccessful attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite and after North Korean balloons dropped feces and garbage on South Korea’s busy streets and public areas.
“Any kind of aerial object, certainly, we would find destabilizing and provocative, and we continue to consult closely with the Republic of Korea and Japan against these kinds of malign and destabilizing behaviors,” said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel during a briefing on Thursday.
“We condemn the DPRK’s May 29th ballistic missile launch,” he noted, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Friday’s talks follow the recent revival of high-level dialogue among China, Japan, and South Korea after almost five years.
The countries are expected to discuss the outcomes of the trilateral summit held in Seoul on Monday, attended by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Former U.S. intelligence officials and analysts said the alliance between Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul is especially crucial amid rising military threats from the People’s Republic of China.
James Fanell, a retired U.S. Navy captain and former director of intelligence and information operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said, “Given the current military threats from the PRC, as exemplified by last week’s large-scale drills near Taiwan, and the ongoing rapid military buildup, all three nations should break free from incremental changes and adopt a much more assertive approach to regional security.”
Others told VOA that countries in the region are not only worried about the economic fallout from any type of war, citing the importance of maintaining the status quo of the Taiwan Strait as an international waterway, but they also are very concerned about immediate Chinese threats following a potential forcible takeover of Taiwan.
“If China were to take Taiwan by force, then Chinese forces would be that much closer to their outlying territories. Especially in Japan, there’s a fear that this would be the first step toward Chinese seizure of some of the southwestern islands,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
On Friday morning, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Campbell met with South Korea’s vice foreign minister, Kim, for a bilateral discussion.
The previous day, the State Department’s second-ranking diplomat held an inaugural vice-ministerial meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Okano, to focus on infrastructure development cooperation in other countries. That initiative is widely viewed as a key part of the two allies’ strategy to counter China’s influence in Southeast Asia and beyond.
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Biden allows Ukraine to hit Russia with American weapons near Kharkiv
WASHINGTON — In a shift from his previous position, U.S. President Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to use American-provided weapons to counter Russian attacks in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, located just 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Russia.
Speaking from Prague on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed the change in policy. “Over the past few weeks, Ukraine came to us and asked the authorization to use weapons that we’re providing to defend against this aggression, including against Russian forces that are massing on the Russian side of the border and then attacking into Ukraine,” he said.
Blinken left open the possibility of the policy being applied to other regions of the conflict. “Going forward, we’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing, which is, as necessary, adapt and adjust, he said.
U.S. policy prohibiting the use of long-range missiles known as ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile System, that could hit targets deep inside Russia has not changed.
“This applies to counter-fire capabilities that are deployed just across the border. It does not apply to ATACMS or long-range strikes,” said Michael Carpenter, senior director for Europe at the White House National Security Council.
“This is meant to enable Ukrainians to defend themselves against what would otherwise be a Russian sanctuary across the border,” Carpenter said in a Friday interview with VOA.
Fearing escalation, Biden had been reluctant to authorize the use of weapons to hit targets inside Russia despite pressure from Ukraine and European allies. However, Moscow’s advances on Kharkiv in recent weeks may have persuaded him.
The White House’s decision “does the minimum to help Ukraine with a difficult situation in the northeast,” removing “a major burden on Ukraine’s efforts to defend civilians in Kharkiv and to stop the Russian offensive,” said John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. At the same time, it “makes public a range of restrictions that seem designed to temper Moscow’s reaction.”
“This half step is certainly better than none,” Herbst said, but it “does not send the necessary message of American resolve to the Kremlin.”
Russian assets
Biden is hosting Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo at the White House on Friday, following formal adoption of a plan by the European Union earlier this month to use profits from Russian central bank assets frozen in the EU for Ukraine’s defense.
To punish Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, G7 economies, including the United States and the EU, have immobilized vast sums of Russian central bank assets. U.S. and European officials have been debating on how to unlock these funds to help Kyiv.
Biden signed legislation in April allowing Washington to seize the roughly $5 billion in Russian assets located in the United States. However, most of the approximately $280 billion Russian assets are in Europe, including $225 billion held by EU countries, the majority of which are frozen in Belgium.
Last week G7 finance ministers said they will back the EU’s plan. Biden and other G7 leaders are set to formally give their support during their summit in Bari, Italy, this June.
Under the plan agreed to by the EU, interest and other investment returns accruing on these assets could total more than $3 billion each year and will be used by Western allies to pay themselves back for funds they provide to Ukraine in the near term.
Details of the plan are still unclear, said Ian Lesser, distinguished fellow and adviser to the president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
“What is clear is that it’s going to be collected and used in the European level,” he told VOA. The funds could be used for economic support for Ukraine but also to back the purchase arms for Ukraine and support the European defense industries, he said.
Russian officials have suggested they could retaliate by confiscating U.S. and European assets in Russia. While some countries may be concerned by the threat, others are worried about the precedent of using frozen assets under international law.
“If this goes ahead, others who may be exposed to historic grievances of all kinds may find that they are having their assets ceased as reparations,” Lesser said.
The plan is projected to yield as much as $50 billion for Ukraine in the near future. However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the ultimate goal is to seize Russian assets, not just the interest. “With all our gratitude for this decision today, the amounts are not commensurate [with the amount of frozen assets],” he told reporters.
De Croo’s visit to Washington came days after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Belgium. The leaders signed a security agreement which includes the delivery of 30 U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, another move to bolster Kyiv’s defense capabilities against Moscow.
“These F-16 jets will be provided to Ukraine as soon as possible. Our aim is to be able to provide first aircraft before the end of this year, 2024,” De Croo said at a press conference with Zelenskyy earlier this week.
However, he underscored those jets cannot be flown in Russian territory.
De Croo is also expected to urge Biden to exert more pressure on Israel to change its war conduct and allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
After Spain, Ireland and Norway said they would recognize a Palestinian state earlier this week, several parties pushed the Belgian Federal Government to do the same but failed to reach an agreement.
Iuliia Iarmolenko contributed to this report.
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Australian researchers find simple, cost-effective desalination method
SYDNEY — Australian researchers say a simpler and cheaper method to remove salt from seawater using heat could help combat what they call “unprecedented global water shortages.” The desalination of seawater is a process where salt and impurities are removed to produce drinking water.
Most of the world’s desalination methods use a process called reverse osmosis. It uses pressure to force seawater through a membrane. The salt is retained on one side, and purified water is passed through on the other.
Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) say that while widespread, the current processes need large amounts of electricity and other expensive materials that need to be serviced and maintained.
Scientists at ANU say they developed the world’s first thermal desalination method. It is powered not by electricity, but by moderate heat generated directly from sunlight, or waste heat from machines such as air conditioners or other industrial processes.
It uses a phenomenon called thermo diffusion, in which salt moves from hot temperatures to cold. The researchers pumped seawater through a narrow channel, which runs under a unit that was heated to greater than 60 degrees Celsius and over a bottom plate that was cooled to 20 degrees Celsius. Lower-salinity water comes from the water in the top section of the channel, closer to the heat.
After repeated cycles through the channels, the ANU study asserts, the salinity of seawater can be reduced from 30,000 parts per million to less than 500 parts per million.
Juan Felipe Torres, a mechanical and aerospace engineer at the Australian National University and the project’s lead chief investigator, explained his pioneering work.
“We use a phenomenon people have not used before,” he said. “We are exploring its applicability in this context but in essence (it) should be something super simple, something as simple as a channel where you have water flowing through it and you are going to produce some sort of separation, and this is what thermal desalination is doing.”
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has stated that by 2025, 1.8 billion people around the world are likely to face “absolute water scarcity.”
Torres said the ANU’s invention could help ensure water supplies to communities under threat because of climate change.
“Our vision, let’s say, for the future to have a more equitable world in terms of water security and food security is a method that does not require expensive maintenance or to train personnel to continue running it. So, we think thermal desalination would enable that,” he said.
The ANU team is building a multi-channel solar-powered device to desalinate seawater in the Pacific kingdom of Tonga, which is enduring a severe drought.
The research is published in the journal Nature Communications.
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Trillions of cicadas pop up in parts of US
It’s an emergence that’s been more than a decade in the making. Trillions of cicadas that have burrowed underground for 13 or 17 years are now emerging in parts of the Midwestern and Southern United States. And, VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, they are ready to mate.
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Pakistan launches communication satellite with Chinese assistance
Washington — Pakistan’s space agency on Thursday launched its second satellite in a month from a launch site in China’s northwest Sichuan province.
According to Pakistan’s Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), PakSAT-MM1 is a high-power multimission satellite designed to provide a range of communication services.
“Based on advanced communication technologies, PakSAT-MM1 will play a pivotal role in the socio-economic uplift of the country,” SUPARCO said on its website, adding that the satellite is “the hallmark of technological cooperation between” China and Pakistan.
SUPARCO added, “It will prove to be a stepping stone in the transformation of the country into digital Pakistan.”
Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Thursday that the country successfully launched Pakistan’s multimission communications satellite.
“At 20:12 on May 30, my country [China] successfully launched Pakistan’s multi-mission communication satellite into space using the Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center,” Xinhua said. “The satellite smoothly entered its predetermined orbit, marking a complete success of the launch mission.”
According to Xinhua, the launch marks the 524th flight of the Long March series of carrier rockets.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif congratulated the nation on the launch of the satellite, according to a tweet by the Government of Pakistan.
“The satellite will play a key role in improving the communication system, enhancing e-commerce, economic activities, and e-governance,” Sharif said.
According to PTV, Pakistan’s state broadcaster, the satellite will provide top-tier internet services nationwide, enhancing TV broadcasts, cellular connectivity and broadband. Its services are set to launch in August.
Prior space collaboration
Beijing-Islamabad space cooperation dates to 1990 when a communication satellite developed by Pakistan was launched into space aboard a Chinese Long March 2E rocket.
This collaboration has since evolved, culminating in the recent launch of Pakistan’s first lunar satellite, ICUBE-Qamar (ICUBE-Q), on May 3, aboard China’s Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province.
The ICUBE-Q satellite, a joint project between Pakistan’s Institute of Space Technology, SUPARCO, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, captured its first image of the moon on May 8, according to Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai.
Ge Ping, deputy director of the China National Space Administration’s Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, said that this ongoing cooperation enhances friendship between the two countries and fosters diverse aerospace collaboration.
“I believe that this cooperation is of great significance to promoting friendly relations between the two countries and enriching people’s understanding of the moon,” Ge said. “We welcome Pakistan’s participation in China’s lunar and deep space exploration missions, and we will conduct extensive exchanges and cooperation related to space technology.”
During the first satellite launch this month, Pakistan’s Sharif remarked in an official statement that the friendship between Pakistan and China has “gone beyond borders to reach space.”
He described the Pakistan-China friendship as “higher than the Himalayas, deeper than the oceans, and sweeter than honey,” emphasizing that it has now expanded to transcend the boundaries of space with this mission.
On its website, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Pakistan regards China as one of its closest friends and partners, while China considers Pakistan its “Iron Brother.”
Economically, China stands as Pakistan’s largest trading partner and a significant investor, particularly in the infrastructure and energy sectors, according to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.
Pakistan, hosting a multibillion-dollar flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, maintains a close relationship with its neighbor China.
Pakistan shares a border with China’s northwest region of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where some Western parliaments and the U.S. government accuse Beijing of committing genocide and crimes against humanity against its Muslim Uyghur population. However, Beijing vehemently denies these accusations, and Pakistan supports Beijing’s policy in Xinjiang.
Notably, Pakistan delivered a statement on behalf of more than 70 countries at the U.N. General Assembly last October, expressing support for China’s actions in Xinjiang toward Uyghur Muslims.
BRI and beyond
Beijing views space cooperation as integral to its BRI, referring to these endeavors as the “Space Silk Road,” according to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.
China’s Space Silk Road aims to connect China’s BRI partner countries through China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).
BDS serves as an alternative to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s GLONASS, and the European Galileo system. BDS offers China and its BRI partners global positioning, navigation and tracking capabilities for both civilian and military uses.
In 2018, Pakistan ended reliance on the GPS system and fully transitioned to China’s BDS, which covers the entire country.
According to the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, China has become Pakistan’s foremost arms supplier in value terms over the past decade, with Pakistan receiving nearly 40% of Beijing’s arms exports.
Additionally, China has supported Pakistan’s nuclear weaponization efforts, aiding in bomb designs and explosive component development, and enhancing nuclear delivery capabilities by developing and transferring solid-propellant missiles.
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US, Chinese defense leaders exchange views over contentious issues in Singapore
Singapore — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun held their first in-person meeting on the sideline of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday.
The two officials exchanged views on a range of contentious issues, including the rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, the ongoing confrontation between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, as well as major global conflicts like Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Middle East conflict.
During the 75-minute meeting, Austin and Dong both highlighted the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the two militaries and vowed to resume the hotline between theater commanders from both sides in the coming months.
Austin reiterated Washington’s concern about China’s recent two-day military exercise encircling Taiwan and urged Beijing not to use Taiwan’s political transition, which he characterized as part of a routine democratic process, as “a pretext for coercive measures” against the democratic island.
At a news conference Friday following the meeting between the two defense officials, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian told journalists from more than a dozen Chinese and foreign media outlets, including VOA, that the Taiwan question remains purely China’s internal affairs and that external forces “have no right to interfere in the issue.”
Washington’s behavior “severely violated the commitments made by the U.S. side” and sent wrong signals to “the Taiwan independence separatist forces,” Wu said during the 50-minute news conference.
In addition to the rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, Austin and Dong also exchanged views on the ongoing confrontation between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.
Austin said the United States will continue to “fly, sail, and operate” wherever international law allows safely and responsibly while stressing the importance of respecting high seas freedom of navigation under international law, especially in the South China Sea.
During the meeting, Dong said the Philippines has broken its promises due to support from “outside forces” and keeps making provocations on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, which both Beijing and Manila view as its territories, according to Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu.
The Chinese defense minister also criticized Washington for deploying mid-range missile systems to the Philippines “under cover of a military exercise,” warning that such a move poses a real threat to regional security.
“We remain committed to resolving the disagreements with the Philippines side through consultation on an equal footing, but our tolerance for continued and intensified provocations will have a limit,” Wu told journalists during the press conference.
Apart from the two contentious issues in the Indo-Pacific region, Austin and Dong also exchanged views on the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The U.S. defense secretary expressed Washington’s concerns about North Korea’s “direct contributions to Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine.”
Dong reiterated that China has maintained a “just and impartial position” on the Ukraine conflict, honored the promise of not providing weapons to either side in the war and strictly controlled the “export of military items and dual-use goods in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.”
He urged the United States not to shift the blame for the ongoing war onto China and said that Beijing will continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace talks, according to Wu.
The Chinese Defense Ministry said the two sides will have ongoing consultations regarding future exchanges between the two militaries, with engagements between military academies and potential bilateral policy dialogues being the potential starting point.
“We believe that having meetings is better than no meeting and having dialogues is better than having no dialogue at all,” Wu told journalists, adding that bilateral exchanges like this meeting can help develop “the sound and stable” military-to-military relationship.
Some analysts say the meeting between Austin and Dong is mainly focusing on “posturing” and sharing the fundamental and core interests and red lines from Beijing and Washington’s perspectives.
“The talk is not about negotiation or high-level diplomacy but more about establishing lines of communication for the hard work that usually goes on at the lower level,” Stephen Nagy, a regional security expert at the International Christian University in Japan, told VOA.
While military-to-military communication between Beijing and Washington is important and has the effect of de-escalating growing regional tensions, one thing that remains to be seen is whether the Chinese side will “pick up the phone” in the event of an actual crisis.
“Due to the nature of China’s political system, power has been highly centralized under Xi Jinping, [so] we are not sure if our Chinese counterpart would be able to pick up the phone, communicate and make decisions in a crisis situation,” he added.
Despite this uncertainty, some experts say conversations between defense leaders remain “incredibly helpful.” The two officials “can have a conversation about intentions that’s incredibly stabilizing to the overall relationship, [but] I don’t think there is a lot of room for adjusting each side’s red lines,” Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, told VOA by phone.
But with tensions rising in several parts of Asia, including the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, and the Korean Peninsula, some observers, say Friday’s dialogue between Austin and Dong will be increasingly crucial for the region, especially at a time when there are two ongoing military conflicts in the world.
“It is a way both sides can turn down the temperature, exchange information in a multilateral security forum, and have corridor diplomacy, which is extremely important for high-context Asian culture that shies away from talking about volatile issues openly and frankly in the public,” Lim Tai Wei, Professor at the National University of Singapore, told VOA in a video interview.
VOA Seoul Correspondent William Gallo contributed to this report.
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Ukraine missiles hit oil terminal in Russia’s Krasnodar region, military says
KYIV — Missiles fired by the Ukrainian navy struck an oil terminal at the Russian port of Kavkaz in the Krasnodar region on Friday, the Ukrainian military said via the Telegram messaging app.
The military reported explosions at the site as it worked to verify the damage from the attack carried out with Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles.
Ukrainian drones also struck another oil depot in the Krasnodar region, the statement said.
“Russia’s ‘modern’ and ‘effective’ air defense system once again proved powerless against our missiles and unmanned systems and failed to protect important facilities used for logistics and supply of the Russian army,” the Ukrainian military said.
The Russian defense ministry said on Telegram that its air defense systems destroyed five missiles and 29 drones targeting Krasnodar.
Falling drone debris sparked a fire at an oil depot in the Temryuk district, damaging several tanks filled with fuel and injuring two people, according to local Russian officials.
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Austin meets Chinese counterpart in Singapore
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, in person for the first time Friday on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the details.
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UN refugee chief: 114 million have fled homes because nations fail to tackle causes of conflict
UNITED NATIONS — The number of people fleeing their homes because of war, violence and persecution has reached 114 million and is climbing because nations have failed to tackle the causes and combatants are refusing to comply with international law, the U.N. refugee chief said Thursday.
In a hard-hitting speech, Filippo Grandi criticized the U.N. Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, for failing to use its voice to try to resolve conflicts from Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan to Congo, Myanmar and many other places.
He also accused unnamed countries of making “short-sighted foreign policy decisions, often founded on double standards, with lip service paid to compliance with the law, but little muscle flexed from the council to actually uphold it and — with it — peace and security.”
Grandi said non-compliance with international humanitarian law means that “parties to conflicts — increasingly everywhere, almost all of them — have stopped respecting the laws of war,” though some pretend to do so.
The result is more civilian deaths, sexual violence is used as a weapons of war, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure are attacked and destroyed, and humanitarian workers become targets, he said.
Calling himself a frustrated humanitarian and looking directly at the 15 council members, Grandi said that instead of using its voice, “the council’s cacophony has meant that you have instead continued to preside over a broader cacophony of chaos around the world.”
The high commissioner for refugees told the council it’s too late for the tens of thousands who have been killed in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other conflicts.
“But it is not too late to put your focus and energy on the crises and conflicts that remain unresolved, so that they are not allowed to fester and explode again,” Grandi said. “It is not too late to step up help for the millions who have been forcibly displaced to return home voluntarily, in safety and with dignity.”
It’s also not too late to save millions of people from the scourge of war, the refugee chief said.
But the Security Council is increasingly polarized, and its five veto-wielding permanent members are at odds, with the U.S., Britain and France often strongly opposed to the views of Russia and China.
On the Gaza war, the council has not called for a cease-fire because of opposition from the United States, Israel’s closest ally. And on Ukraine, the council has been ineffective as Russia, a key party to the conflict after Moscow invaded its smaller neighbor in February 2022, would veto almost any resolution.
Grandi called what’s happened in Gaza since Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 and the “atrocious” recent events in the southern city of Rafah after an Israeli airstrike led to a deadly fire at a camp for displaced Palestinians an example of the “brutal conduct of hostilities meant not only to destroy but also to terrify civilians,” who increasingly more often have no choice but to flee.
He said Gaza is also “a tragic reminder of what happens when conflicts (and by extension a refugee crisis) are left unattended” for decades. He also pointed to Syria where after 13 years of conflict, 5.6 million Syrian refugees remain in neighboring countries including Lebanon and Jordan which also host Palestinian refugees.
Grandi said violations of international law, including forcing people to flee, are having a devastating effect on people around the world.
For example, in Myanmar, more than 1.5 million people have been displaced by fighting since October, bringing the total to over 3 million, “with many trying to seek refuge in neighboring countries,” he said.
In Ukraine, international humanitarian law is violated every day with Russian attacks on the country’s power networks, houses and other civilian infrastructure, he said.
And in Congo, Grandi said, “violence between men with guns is so common that no other place on Earth is as dangerous for women and children than the east of that country.”
“But how can members of the United Nations, how can ‘we the peoples’ pay so little attention and have so much inaction in a place where sex with a child can be bought for less than a cold drink?” the refugee chief asked.
“What a shameful stain on humanity!” Grandi said.
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Some EU nations allow 16-year-olds to decide in June polls
BRUSSELS — Youth leader Rareș Voicu remembers like it was yesterday when he went to the polls five years ago for the European Union elections in his Romanian hometown of Brăila.
The problem was that he was 16 years old at the time and not eligible to cast a ballot. Once his family went into the voting booths, he knew he could not.
“I had done so much research on the parties and on the candidates, and I knew who I would have voted for,” Voicu said. “So I know firsthand the frustration, and how frustrating it can be as a young person when you’re 16, when you’re 17.”
Now 21, Voicu is leading a drive to make sure as many 16- and 17-year-olds as possible go to the June 6-9 polls in the five member states of the 27-nation bloc that allow them to vote. In the other nations, the minimum voting age still stands at 18, like it is in the United States.
The voting age is set at 16 in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta and 17 in Greece. In Belgium, voting is mandatory.
Nateo Carnot from Celles in southern Belgium, who is 16, won’t have to deal with the issue Voicu had, but he knows that teens like him will have to step up and overcome political apathy, even helplessness.
“Youth sees politics as something from up high — men in big ties in big cars that won’t listen. So there is a disinterest,” he said. “Whatever we do. It won’t change anything. They won’t listen,” is the reasoning of many.
Yet lowering the bar to 16, as Belgium did for these elections, shows improvement, Carnot said. “It shows politicians start to show interest in us and realize that we are mature enough to express our voice.”
Some see the lowering of the minimum voting age as a ploy to get an easy vote from unwitting teens who have barely outgrown childhood. Voicu vehemently disagrees.
“When you’re 16, when you’re 17, you often have the right to make medical decisions for your own body. You have the obligation to pay taxes if you have a job. You can enter civil partnerships or you can get married. So you have all of these duties, all of these obligations,” he said.
“What we’re asking for is for the democratic rights of young people to match their responsibilities. We think it’s only fair,” said Voicu, who also wants more countries to lower the voting age.
Their demands can be heard by the exceptionally young, too, since late teens can also run for office in many nations. The United States has a minimum age of 25 years to run for Congress, but most EU nations allow anyone 18 years or up to represent their electorate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, and Brussels.
Kira Marie Peter-Hansen was shocked when she found herself elected to the European Parliament on a Danish Independent Greens party ticket five years ago, at barely 20 years old. “I never expected to get elected, so I never planned for that either. And it wasn’t part of my childhood dreams.” Yet, she was thrown into EU politics at the deep end.
Working the hallowed halls of Parliament early on not only had her puzzled but EU politicians and staff too. “People thinking I’m an intern. And then checking my badge,” she said. “The first half year was super difficult and confusing.”
But she grew into it.
“So the last time I was the youth candidate. Now, I am the leading candidate while being young,” Peter-Hansen said.
If there is one thing she has learned over the past five years, it is that there are few specific youth-versus-elderly issues that need specific approaches.
“A lot of younger (and) a lot of older voters are concerned by the climate crisis, the nature crisis. So there are some places where we can meet across generations,” she said.
Many members of extreme right and populist parties expect that the youngsters will unite with the elderly in rejecting the traditional powers and parties that have ruled the EU Parliament for so long.
“They look at the future and the future looks grim,” said Tom Vandendriessche of the far-right Flemish Interest party, which is part of the Identity and Democracy Group.
“How could they have trust in these traditional parties … that have been governing us for decades and who brought us into this mess,” he said, mentioning the issues of migration and terrorism. “They are looking for answers which are different.”
Manon Aubry, a member of Parliament from the hard left France Unbowed party, pointed to different issues for the young to get riled up about, such as social exclusion, inequality and poverty. Aubry insisted the elections are the ideal moment to stand up to anyone from the Hungarian prime minister to the French president to the head of the world’s largest luxury goods company.
“It’s the only time, the only place when you, me, any youth has as much power as Viktor Orban, as Emmanuel Macron, as Bernard Arnault, one of the richest guys in the European Union,” she said.
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Lava spurts from Iceland volcano for second day
GRINDAVIK, Iceland — Lava continued to spurt from a volcano in southwestern Iceland on Thursday but the activity had calmed significantly from when it erupted a day earlier.
The eruption Wednesday was the fifth and most powerful since the volcanic system near Grindavik reawakened in December after 800 years, gushing record levels of lava as its fissure grew to 3.5 kilometers in length.
Volcanologist Dave McGarvie calculated that the amount of lava initially flowing from the crater could have buried the soccer pitch at Wembley Stadium in London under 15 meters of lava every minute.
“These jets of magma are reaching like 50 meters, into the atmosphere,” said McGarvie, an honorary researcher at Lancaster University. “That just immediately strikes me as a powerful eruption. And that was my first impression … then some numbers came out, estimating how much was coming out per minute or per second and it was, ‘Wow.'”
The activity once again threatened Grindavik, a coastal town of 3,800 people, and led to the evacuation of the popular Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, one of Iceland’s biggest tourist attractions.
Grindavik, which is about 50 kilometers southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, has been threatened since a swarm of earthquakes in November forced an evacuation in advance of the initial December 18 eruption. A subsequent eruption consumed several buildings.
Protective barriers outside Grindavik deflected the lava Wednesday but the evacuated town remained without electricity and two of the three roads into town were inundated with lava.
“I just like the situation quite well compared to how it looked at the beginning of the eruption yesterday,” Grindavik Mayor Fannar Jónasson told national broadcaster RUV.
McGarvie said the eruption was more powerful than the four that preceded it because the largest amount of magma had accumulated in a chamber underground before breaking the earth’s surface and shooting into the sky.
The rapid and powerful start of the eruption followed by it diminishing quickly several hours later is the pattern researchers have witnessed with this volcano, McGarvie said. It’s unknown when eruptions at this volcano will end.
“It could go on for quite some considerable time,” McGarvie said. “We’re really in new territory here because eruptions like this have never been witnessed, carefully, in this part of Iceland.”
Iceland, which sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic, sees regular eruptions. The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and led to widespread airspace closures over Europe.
None of the current cycle of eruptions have had an impact on aviation.
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Nigerians call President Tinubu’s first year in office ‘tough’
Nigeria is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation, leading to widespread hardship and anger. Some Nigerians are demanding a reversal of government policies one year after authorities embarked on bold but unpopular economic reforms. President Bola Tinubu has so far refused to change course, insisting his reforms will improve Nigeria’s ailing economy. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
Camera: Timothy Obiezu
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US-British strikes leave at least 2 dead in Yemen, Houthi TV says
CAIRO — The U.S. and British militaries said they launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday as part of efforts to deter the militant group from further disrupting shipping in the Red Sea, with Houthi media reporting at least two people killed.
The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that U.S. and British forces had hit 13 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
The British Defense Ministry said the joint operation targeted three locations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, which it said housed drones and surface-to-air weapons.
The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported at least two deaths and 10 injuries from strikes against a radio building in Hodeidah’s Al-Hawk district.
“As ever, the utmost care was taken in planning the strikes to minimize any risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure,” the British Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“Conducting the strikes in the hours of darkness should also have mitigated yet further any such risks.”
The Houthi-run media said a total of 13 strikes had been launched against Yemen, including six on the capital Sanaa.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital and most populous areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas militants, drawing U.S. and British retaliatory strikes since February.
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