The arrest in France last Saturday of Pavel Durov, the billionaire boss of the social media platform Telegram, is reverberating around the world as Russia urges France not to turn the investigation into ‘political persecution.’ Durov is under formal investigation over alleged illegal activities on Telegram, as Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Month: August 2024
North Korea reverses decision to publicly register submarines
washington — In an unexplained and puzzling move, North Korea this week placed 13 of its several dozen known submarines on a public list maintained by an international maritime agency, only to have them removed a day later.
North Korea on Tuesday registered 11 Sang-O II-class submarines, as well as two more sophisticated vessels, with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS), even though military craft are not normally listed on the registry.
By Wednesday, all 13 submarines had been removed from the list.
When asked about the removal, a spokesperson for the IMO told VOA Korean on Thursday that “member states may request to have their own data updated.”
“GISIS is an online hub for the sharing of shipping-related data, based on information provided by member states,” the spokesperson added.
Rare move
It is unclear what motivated Pyongyang’s initial registration of the submarines, which was first reported Tuesday by VOA Korean.
Besides the 11 Sang-O II-class submarines, Pyongynang registered the Yongung, which is capable of launching ballistic missiles, and the Hero Kim Kun Ok, which is believed to have the capability to carry nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.
The Hero Kim Kun Ok was described by North Korea as its first operational “tactical nuclear attack submarine” at a launch ceremony in September 2023, just days before North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson told VOA Korean on Thursday that “the government is monitoring closely the situation related to North Korea’s acquisition of IMO vessel identification numbers” after the registration was reported.
A unique seven-digit identification number is assigned to a ship that registers with the IMO.
The same day the submarines were taken off the list, North Korea boasted that its naval forces “have developed into elite matchless ones” and referred to August 28 as “the Day of the Navy of the Korean People’s Army,” according to the country’s state-run media KCNA.
Choi Won Il, the retired captain of South Korea’s sunken naval ship Cheonan, told VOA Korean on Wednesday he found it “unusual” that North Korea had listed its submarines on a public registry, “because submarines are designed to be stealthy warships.” South Korea accused the North of sinking the Cheonan in 2010.
The IMO is a U.N. agency responsible for regulating maritime traffic, but warships are not required to be placed on its registry. The 13 submarines were registered as nonmerchant vessels operated by the Korean People’s Army Naval Force.
‘Unlawful’ weapons
A spokesperson for the State Department told VOA Korean on Wednesday that the U.S. was “aware of reports that the DPRK registered 13 military submarines” with the IMO and was “consulting closely” with South Korea, Japan and other allies and partners.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
The spokesperson continued, “We condemn the DPRK’s continued efforts to advance its unlawful WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and ballistic missile programs” and “call on the DPRK to refrain from its further destabilizing actions and return to dialogue.”
North Korea test-fired a 240 mm multiple rocket launcher with a new guidance system under the supervision of Kim, KCNA said Wednesday.
In addition to its ground capabilities, North Korea in recent years has emphasized boosting its underwater capabilities.
In January, North Korea said it test-fired the Pulhwasal-3-31, a newly developed submarine-launched strategic cruise missile, and the Haeil-5-23, an underwater nuclear launchable drone.
In April, construction of a new submarine similar to the Hero Kim Kun Ok at North Korea’s Sinpho South Shipyard was detected on commercial satellite imagery examined by 38 North, a program of the Stimson Center devoted to analyzing North Korea.
Growing threat
North Korea has one of the world’s largest submarine fleets, with an estimated 64 to 85 vessels, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonpartisan global security organization.
“Submarines are viewed as an asymmetric capability whose stealth allows them to be a dangerous security threat,” said Terence Roehrig, a professor of national security and a Korea expert at the U.S. Naval War College.
“Though North Korean submarines are noisy” and “limited in how far they can operate from coastal waters,” the nation has “one of the largest submarine forces in the world and remains a serious maritime concern,” he said.
North Korea first acquired Soviet-era Romeo-class submarines from China in the 1970s, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
All submarines that were previously registered with IMO are considered diesel-powered submarines.
The Yongung is a Gorae-class, also known as the Sinpo-class submarine, which was launched in 2014 and has limited capability to stay underwater for more than a few days without surfacing, according to NTI.
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US set to extend African railway project through Tanzania
nairobi, kenya — The U.S. government says it is set to expand the Lobito Corridor – a railway project that runs from Angola to Zambia through the Democratic Republic of the Congo – all the way to the Indian Ocean through Tanzania. The railway would connect African countries to global markets and enhance regional trade and economic growth, supporters say.
Speaking to reporters online Wednesday, Helaina Matza, the U.S. acting special coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, spoke about progress made on upgrading and extending the Lobito Corridor.
Matza, who just finished a weeklong trip to the DRC and Tanzania, said the trip focused on “relaunching our partnership with the DRC and engaging with the Tanzanian government and private sector on next steps towards extending the economic corridor to the Indian Ocean. As President [Joe] Biden has said from day one of the launch of this flagship effort, this corridor has never just been about building infrastructure. It’s about offering high-quality, sustainable infrastructure projects that deliver lasting economic growth.”
The U.S. government, with the support of the European Union, African financial institutions, and the governments of Angola, the DRC and Zambia, is working to rebuild and revive the Benguela railway line that the countries used to export materials and minerals even before independence.
The project will be financed by $250 million supplied by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
U.S. officials say the improved railway line is meant to enhance export possibilities for Angola, the DRC and Zambia. The partly refurbished railway has already carried shipments of Congolese copper to Angola’s Lobito port for shipment to the city of Baltimore on the U.S. East Coast.
Erastus Mwencha, former deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, said transport systems like the Lobito Corridor can help improve trade among African countries.
“One of the reasons intra-Africa trade is low is because of poor transport networks,” Mwencha said, adding that goods can sometimes be brought from Europe to Africa at more competitive rates than goods being moved from one African country to another.
But Mwencha is worried that the ports and railways used to export Africa’s raw materials remain largely the same as they were during colonial times, and that Africa is also still operating on a colonial-era business model.
“Are we going to follow the colonial model of just bringing these raw materials and minerals and exporting them, or are we going to add value?” he said. “To me, that’s the more important aspect.”
Studies show that a poor transportation network in Africa adds 30 percent to 40 percent to the cost of goods traded among African countries, hampering the development of the private sector.
Matza said the Lobito project would benefit not only the U.S. but also African countries and would facilitate business on the continent.
“When you bring trade routes down from 45 days to 36 hours,” she said, “it opens up a whole new world for markets, and that’s what we’re testing here today: How can we help new agribusiness develop? What are the right places to think about cold storage, warehousing, logistics? What local food producers can we help support along the way?”
In addition to refurbishing existing lines, the project envisions adding 1,300 kilometers of railway from Zambia to Tanzania. The project is slated to be finished by 2029.
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China takes mild tone on US official’s visit
Washington — Beijing has adopted a conciliatory tone in its reporting on this week’s visit by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, emphasizing cooperation and open communication channels while claiming that Washington remains “incorrect” on its China policies.
Sullivan’s tightly scheduled three-day trip to Beijing ended Thursday after he met with Chinese officials, including the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping.
In a readout of Sullivan’s meeting with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, the Foreign Ministry of China on Wednesday called the conversation “candid, substantive and constructive,” a phrase that was echoed by a White House statement regarding the meeting.
Sullivan was the first White House national security adviser to visit China in eight years, a period that saw contacts between the countries grow increasingly contentious over issues that included military-to-military relations, cybersecurity, espionage and the war in Ukraine.
It was Sullivan’s fifth in-person meeting with Wang since May 2023. The two had previously held talks in Bangkok, Vienna, Washington and Malta. But Wednesday’s meeting marks the first time in this series of talks that Beijing included some of the U.S. side’s views in its readout.
“The U.S. and China will coexist peacefully on this planet for a long time,” Sullivan was quoted as saying in the Chinese readout. “The goal of U.S. policies is to find a way that allows for a sustainable development of the U.S.-China relations.”
According to Beijing’s readout, Sullivan defined the two countries’ ties as a mixture of cooperation and competition, a characterization that’s been the core principle of the Biden administration’s China strategy.
Some experts say the fact that China allowed space in its readout for U.S. talking points signals Beijing’s increased openness to working with Washington.
Dali Yang, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, told VOA Mandarin Service that China used to reject the Biden administration’s characterization of the U.S.-China relationship.
“But it looks like the China side is now relatively more accepting of the U.S. side’s view,” Yang said. “Or at least Beijing has accepted that this is the kind of U.S. position that China must deal with.”
After Wang, Sullivan met separately with Xi and senior military official Zhang Youxia. These meetings focused on topics that included Taiwan, the South China Sea, trade policies, U.S. sanctions on Chinese businesses and entities, conflicts in Gaza and the war in Ukraine.
The meetings appeared to be cordial. Photos and footage released by Chinese state media show Sullivan shaking hands with a smiling Xi and a smiling Zhang.
US ‘incorrect’ in Beijing’s narrative
Smiling faces and words of cooperation aside, however, Beijing continues to paint the U.S. as the one that needs to adjust its policies and move closer to Beijing’s positions on issues.
Xi told Sullivan the U.S. should “work with China in the same direction, view China and its development in a positive and rational light, see each other’s development as an opportunity rather than a challenge, and work with China to find a right way for two major countries to get along.”
Zhang urged the U.S. to “correct its strategic perceptions of China” and respect China’s “core interests” by halting arms sales to Taiwan and to “stop spreading false narratives on Taiwan.”
Prior to Sullivan’s arrival in Beijing, the Global Times, China’s state media outlet, published a commentary criticizing Washington’s “incorrect” understanding of China.
“The U.S. needs to fundamentally change its perception of China and its strategic positioning toward China,” according to the article.
The Global Times told Sullivan that “truly listening to and understanding Beijing’s words and making a proper contribution to establishing the correct understanding between China and the U.S. should be one of the standards to evaluate the success of his visit to China.”
China’s political commentators have gone even further, calling on Beijing to remain tough.
In a commentary, Shen Yi, an international relations professor at Fudan University in Shanghai who has a huge following on social media, wrote that the U.S. is in no position to make any demands toward China because of the domestic economic difficulties in which he contends Washington is trapped.
“China should be sufficiently confident that it’s the U.S. who needs help from China,” he wrote. “Under this new frame of understanding, we have reasons to believe that China does not need to compromise with the U.S.”
This kind of tough narrative, often pushed by Beijing and adopted by online commentators during the past decade, remains popular on social media. But Yang of the University of Chicago told VOA Mandarin Service that Beijing seems to be moving away from this kind of rhetoric.
“When China is facing a variety of challenges, and when the leaders of China have to maintain and manage China-U.S. relations, they have to think beyond just making tougher and tougher talks” and relying on this type of approach to be effective.
“The two sides actually have a lot of common interests,” he said.
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More food, other relief reaching millions of famished Sudanese
geneva — Breakthroughs providing for greater humanitarian access that were achieved in the first round of U.S.-mediated peace talks on Sudan are holding and expanding, the United States’ special envoy for Sudan said. The talks wrapped up in Geneva last Friday.
“We were able over a couple of weeks working intensively around the clock and with other partners and back in our capitals around the world for this ALPS [Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan] group to be able to produce some very significant breakthroughs,” Tom Perriello told journalists at an online news conference Thursday.
He credited the ALPS group, which includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union and the United Nations, for negotiating the opening of two of three vital access routes “into areas of famine and acute hunger.”
“We were able to get agreement on the opening of the Adre border, agreements from the RSF [Rapid Support Forces] and SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] to guarantee access along those routes,” he said, adding that negotiators received similar pledges from the warring parties of guarantee of access “across the Dabbah Road coming east from Port Sudan.”
“Both of those remain active and open now with dozens of trucks crossing. Nearly 6 million pounds of food and emergency relief are reaching areas in need. We need that to continue and to accelerate,” Perriello said. “And we are actively negotiating on a daily basis for additional expansions, including access through Sennar State into the heartland of Sudan.”
The negotiators estimate that the opening of the three routes combined would reach 20 million people with lifesaving food, medicine and other crucial aid.
The World Food Program reports that more than half of Sudan’s population — 26.5 million people — is suffering from acute hunger, including more than 755,000 people on the verge of famine.
Since the rival parties went to war in April 2023, the United Nations reports, more than 18,800 people have been killed and more than 33,000 injured. The U.N. calls Sudan the world’s largest displacement crisis, noting that more than 12 million people have been uprooted from their homes — 10.7 million displaced inside Sudan and another 2 million as refugees in neighboring countries.
Considering the multiple dangers — the bombings, shelling, violence and abuse to which the Sudanese people are subjected every day — negotiators sought and were able to achieve another breakthrough on civilian protection.
“We were able to get a commitment to a code of conduct by the Rapid Support Forces with a deadline by the end of the month of being able to put that out publicly to all those fighting under their auspices,” Perriello said, adding, “We have made that same request of the army.”
Still no peace accord
However, he noted that the Geneva talks failed to reach an agreement on the cessation of hostilities.
“We, unfortunately, we see a lack of political will at the time for the parties to stop fighting, and in fact are accelerating. … We have to find a way to get the parties together to find an end to this war that is leading to the suffering of millions inside Sudan, as well as spilling over increasingly into neighboring countries,” Perriello said.
While the Rapid Support Forces sent a delegation, the Sudanese Armed Forces stayed away, citing concern about the presence of the United Arab Emirates at the negotiating table. The SAF alleges the UAE sent arms to the RSF, a claim the UAE denies.
Perriello acknowledged the difficulty of reaching a peace agreement with only one of the warring parties present. He said that despite this handicap, agreements on humanitarian issues have been reached because he has been in regular contact with SAF representatives by telephone. These efforts “are continuing, and the engagement with both the RSF and the army is a daily engagement,” he said.
Given the level of urgency presented by the crisis in Sudan, Perriello said, nonstop negotiations to improve the desperate plight of the Sudanese people are continuing virtually 24/7 with all participants.
“I do think in addition to the stark scale of humanitarian suffering, you also now have a crisis that represents a real regional threat to instability,” he said. “We do believe ultimately there is no military solution to this conflict, and a mediated solution is the quickest way to ensure a stable and sovereign Sudan.”
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China’s lending to Africa increased in 2023, study shows
Johannesburg — Chinese lending to Africa rose for the first time in years in 2023, new research by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center showed Thursday. But the $4.61 billion loaned last year is still far less than China’s commitments to the continent pre-pandemic.
In the heady early days of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, China’s loans to Africa surpassed $10 billion each year.
That lending dropped sharply at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and stayed low as China experienced its own economic slowdown. The decrease in loans also came as some African borrowers entered drawn-out debt overhauls.
Lucas Engel, a data analyst who co-authored the Boston University study, explained why he thinks lending was up somewhat in 2023 despite China’s troubles.
“Investment should be viewed in the context of China’s overall economic heft and the importance China attaches to its relationship with Africa,” Engel said, “especially strategically important long-term borrowers that China has developed close relationships with.”
The Boston University paper found a couple of trends when analyzing China’s loans to eight African countries and two regional financial institutions last year. The researchers said one thing that was unique was that more than half the money was loaned to African multilateral banks.
They said this was likely a form of risk mitigation, and Cobus van Staden, managing editor at the China Global South Project, a thinktank based in Pretoria, agreed.
“If you’re lending to African multilateral institutions, that means you are in a mix of lenders and there are de-risking mechanisms in place, partly because the risk is also separated across many actors,” van Staden said. “If you’re lending bilaterally, particularly to a government, then you … the risk impact is higher.”
Despite this growing risk aversion, the researchers noted China was still lending to three major longtime borrowers: Angola, Nigeria and Egypt.
Critics have accused China of ensnaring African countries in “debt traps,” by which large sums owed to Chinese companies make African governments beholden to Beijing economically and politically. However, economists have widely debunked the “debt trap” theory.
Another thing the Boston University research found was that China was once again committed to energy lending after a two-year hiatus. China committed loans to three renewable energy projects in Africa in 2023, in solar and hydropower.
This is in line with China moving away from the large infrastructure projects of the past to so-called “small is beautiful” projects and a “green BRI.”
Lauren Johnston, associate professor of China studies at the University of Sydney, said it was not surprising that despite the 2023 uptick, China’s loans to Africa hadn’t rebounded to anywhere near previous levels. She noted that initially China was financing large projects like the building of dams, roads and railways. Now, that’s done.
“Maybe this is like a period of consolidating those investments rather than just carrying on and building the next big investment,” Johnston said. “It’s a period to consolidate and grasp the economic value and imbed the returns and successes, and learn from any issues with those earlier loans.”
Next week, Xi will address African leaders gathered in Beijing for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
Van Staden said some new loan announcements may be made, but he added a caveat.
“I don’t necessarily expect a single big number,” he said. “I think the announcements will probably be more diffuse.”
Boston University’s Engel said it was difficult to estimate the volume of financing that would be announced at the summit, but he expected pledges in diverse areas of cooperation.
The Chinese embassies in Pretoria and Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment.
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Vietnam’s defense minister to visit US next month
Washington — Vietnam’s minister of national defense, Phan Van Giang, is set to visit Washington next month for a high-level meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, U.S. and Vietnamese officials tell VOA.
The minister is expected to visit Washington from September 7-9 to strengthen defense cooperation between the two countries, according to a Vietnamese defense ministry official and a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the trip has not been officially announced.
During the talks, the sides are expected to discuss a range of defense-related topics, including training initiatives and the lingering legacies of the Vietnam War. Giang is also expected to sign an agreement to purchase military equipment from the U.S., though Vietnamese officials said the details of the deal are still being work out.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Washington has yet to comment on the visit.
This meeting marks the first encounter between the defense chiefs of Vietnam and the U.S. since the two countries upgraded their bilateral relations to a Strategic Comprehensive Partnership a year ago, coinciding with U.S. President Joe Biden’s historic visit to Vietnam. It also signals a strengthening of military ties and could pave the way for further cooperation between the two nations in the future.
The expected visit follows the 13th Political, Security, and Defense Dialogue held in Hanoi on August 26, the first such dialogue since the relationship upgrade.
U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Bonnie Jenkins, who led the U.S. delegation at the dialogue, emphasized the U.S. commitment to enhancing defense and security cooperation with Vietnam. This cooperation includes programs on military training, medicine, peacekeeping, counter-terrorism, and cybersecurity.
The last face-to-face meeting between Giang and Austin took place in November 2023, during an ASEAN defense ministers’ meeting in Jakarta. During that encounter, the two discussed measures to boost bilateral defense cooperation, with a particular focus on efforts to address war legacies and provide humanitarian assistance.
Topics covered included demining and the removal of unexploded ordnances, dioxin cleanup, and accounting for Missing in Action (MIA) soldiers.
Vietnam’s defense minister also extended an invitation to U.S. defense companies to participate in Vietnam’s second international defense exhibition, scheduled for late 2024.
This article originated in VOA’s Vietnamese Service; Carla Babb is VOA’s Pentagon correspondent.
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Alleging illegal content, France charges Telegram boss; Russia gives warning
London — Russia on Thursday warned France not to turn the investigation of Pavel Durov, the boss of Telegram, into a “political persecution” after the billionaire 39-year-old CEO was put under formal investigation relating to activities on his social media platform.
Moscow has implied there are political motivations behind the arrest of Durov, who was detained Saturday as he disembarked his private jet at Paris-Le Bourget airport, near the French capital.
“The main thing is for what is happening in France not to run into political persecution,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday. “Of course, we consider him a Russian citizen and, as much as possible, we will be ready to provide assistance. We will be watching what happens next,” Peskov said.
France strongly denies there are any political objectives behind his arrest and maintains the investigation is being conducted according to the rule of law.
Durov holds joint Russian, French and United Arab Emirates citizenship. He was released from police custody Wednesday evening on $5.6 million bail. He is banned from leaving France and must report to a police station twice a week.
TJ McIntyre, an associate professor at University College Dublin’s School of Law and an expert on technology law and cybercrime, said Durov faces a range of preliminary charges, “ranging from failure to take action on the sale of drugs on Telegram, failure to prevent the distribution of child sexual abuse material on Telegram, failure to provide information on users when requested as part of criminal investigations, going so far as to include accusations of money laundering.”
McIntyre added that it was unusual for the CEO of a social media website to be held liable for the content it hosts. “Now, he has, himself, been indicted, which takes the investigation to the next level.”
The preliminary charges, which were outlined Wednesday in a statement by Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, also appear to concern allegations involving organized crime, including “complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable an illicit transaction.”
Speaking outside the courthouse in Paris on Wednesday, Pavel Durov’s lawyer rejected the allegations. “Firstly, Telegram complies in every respect with European digital regulations and is moderated to the same standards as other social networks,” lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski told reporters.
“I’d like to add that it’s totally absurd to think that the head of a social network could be involved in criminal acts that don’t concern him either directly or indirectly,” Kaminski said.
Durov founded Telegram a decade ago. After reportedly facing regulatory pressures in his native Russia, Durov chose Dubai as the company’s headquarters, gaining UAE citizenship in 2021. Local media report that he was given French citizenship later the same year. His wealth is estimated by Forbes at upwards of $15 billion.
While other social media platforms have frequently been accused of harboring illegal content, French investigators say Telegram repeatedly failed to engage with regulators or to comply with laws on moderation.
“They are widely perceived as being a scofflaw when it comes to taking down illegal content posted by users. And if that’s true, if they were notified of specific content by users that violated the law and they didn’t take it down, then they’ve forfeited immunity under the big EU law on this, the Digital Services Act,” said Daphne Keller, director of the Program on Platform Regulation at Stanford Law School’s Cyber Policy Center.
Telegram made a point of refusing to comply with laws on content moderation, said McIntyre. “You have a lot of aggressive rhetoric from the owner saying in essence that this is a service which is dedicated to freedom of expression, [and] it will set out to refuse a lot of state requests. And that I think has come back to bite him now.”
Other social media platforms will be watching closely, according to Keller.
“I think we should assume that most ordinary big platforms, the Facebooks, the YouTubes, etc., are not endangered by this. They have massive teams operating content moderation systems and … removing illegal content if they’re notified about it. I don’t think they could be subject to charges like this.
“Now it may be that X, Elon Musk’s platform, actually has been dropping the ball on doing these things. Certainly, that’s something that EU Commissioner [for Internal Market and Services] Thierry Breton has alleged.”
Elon Musk, the owner of X — formerly Twitter — posted online in support of Durov this week, reposting comments he made in a March interview that moderation was “a propaganda word for censorship.”
Musk is likely worried about the implications of Durov’s arrest, said McIntyre.
“I think Mr. Musk shares a lot of his views with this particular defendant, and I think he would be rightly worried as to the implications of this for him and for his service in Europe in general. But it might not be as extreme a case as Telegram.
“Certainly, there are issues with Twitter [X] failing to respond to government requests, failing to take proper steps to moderate its content. And it’s not impossible that you’d see a similar action taken against him personally,” McIntyre told VOA.
Telegram has more than 900 million global users, including in Russia and Iran. It is widely used by the Russian and Ukrainian militaries in Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The platform does not use end-to-end encryption.
“To some extent, it gives this defendant a good deal of leverage — in that if he were to promise cooperation on some of these fronts, there would be a lot of very valuable information that he would have that could be made available to, for example, the French authorities. As a lawyer, I can only speak to the judicial procedure, but what happens behind the scenes may be as influential as the judicial procedure itself,” McIntyre said.
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X that the arrest of Durov was in no way a political decision. “France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship.”
Russia has in the past blocked access to Telegram after it refused to give state security services access to private conversations, and that move prompted large street protests in Moscow in 2018. Additionally, some Russian lawmakers are now accusing France of censorship.
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Economics, tensions blamed for Chinese students shifting from US to Australia, Britain
Austin, Texas — U.S. universities are welcoming international students as the academic year begins. But while the total number of foreign students is steadily growing, the top sending country, China, is showing signs of leveling out or shrinking.
Industry analysts say the negative trend is mainly due to higher costs amid China’s struggling economy, with a growing number of students going to less expensive countries like Australia and Britain, and tense ties between Washington and Beijing.
The number of foreign students studying in the U.S. in 2022-23 passed 1 million for the first time since the COVID pandemic, said Open Doors, an information resource on international students and scholars.
While the U.S. saw a nearly 12% total increase year-on-year for that period, the number of international students from China, its top source, fell by 0.2% to 289,526.
That’s 600 fewer students than the 2021-22 academic year, when their numbers dropped by nearly 9%. The COVID pandemic saw Chinese student numbers drop in 2020-21 by nearly 15%, in line with the world total drop.
While it’s not yet clear if the drop is a leveling out or a fluctuating decline, analysts say China’s struggling economy and the high cost of studying in the U.S. are the main reasons for the fall in student numbers.
Vincent Chen, a Chinese study abroad consultant based in Shanghai, said although most of his clients are still interested in studying in the U.S., there is a clear downward trend, while applicants for Anglophone universities in Australia and Britain have been increasing.
“If you just want to go abroad, a one-year master’s degree in the U.K. is much cheaper,” Chen said. “Many people can’t afford to study in the U.S., so they have to settle for the next best thing.”
Data from the nonprofit U.S. group College Board Research shows that in the 2023-24 academic year, the average tuition and fees for a U.S. private college four-year education increased 4% to $41,540 compared with the previous academic year.
The British Council said three to four years of undergraduate tuition in Britain starts as low as $15,000.
The number of Chinese students in Britain was 154,260 in 2022-23, according to the U.K. Higher Education Statistics Agency, HESA, up from 121,145 in the 2018/19 academic year.
Australia’s Home Affairs office said in the 2023-24 program year, China was the top source foreign country for new student visa grants at 43,389, up slightly (1.5%) from the previous year.
Chen said Chinese state media’s negative portrayal of the United States and concerns about discrimination have also contributed to the shift.
Bruce Zhang, a Chinese citizen who received his master’s degree in Europe after studying in China, told VOA Mandarin he had such an incident occur to him after he was admitted to a U.S. university’s Ph.D. program.
When he entered Boston’s Logan International Airport last year, Zhang said customs officers questioned him for more than an hour about his research, and if it had any links to the military, and took his computer and mobile phone for examination.
“Fortunately, I had heard that U.S. customs might be stringent in inspecting Chinese students, so I had relatively few study-related data and documents on my personal computer,” he said.
Zhang was allowed to enter the U.S. for his studies in materials science, but the questioning left him so rattled that he has encouraged other Chinese to study elsewhere.
Cui Kai, a study abroad consultant in Massachusetts told VOA Mandarin that experiences like Zhang’s or worse happen for a reason.
“Students who were questioned or their visas were revoked at the customs are usually those who completed their undergraduate studies in China and come to the U.S. for a master’s or doctoral degree in a sensitive major,” said Cui.
Former President Donald Trump signed Proclamation 10043 in June 2020, prohibiting visas for any Chinese student who “has been employed by, studied at, or conducted research at or on behalf of, an entity in the PRC that implements or supports the PRC’s “military-civil fusion strategy.”
The U.S. says China has been using students and scholars to gain access to key technology and, under Proclamation 10043, revoked more than 1,000 visas issued to Chinese nationals and has denied thousands more.
Critics say the policy is costly to the U.S. and is encouraging Chinese students to look to European and other universities.
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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China uses media trips in soft power play to boost image
Beijing is sending international reporters to Chinese cities to showcase culture, technology and tourism. What’s missing, say analysts, is an uncensored picture of China and its human rights abuses. Victoria Amunga for VOA News has the story. Videographer: Jimmy Makhulo
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Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia building Baltic defense line
Baltic countries are moving to protect NATO’s eastern flank in the face of Russian aggression. The Baltic defense line — a new fortification system along their borders with Russia and Belarus — is meant to shield NATO allies from potential attacks. VOA’s Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from the Latvia-Russia border. VOA footage and editing by Daniil Batushchak.
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Germany tightens security, asylum policies after deadly festival stabbing
Berlin — Germany’s coalition government on Thursday agreed to tighten security and asylum policies following a deadly stabbing attack linked to the Islamic State militant group which has fueled far-right opposition and criticism of Berlin’s migration policies approach.
Three people were killed and eight wounded in the attack which took place during a festival in Solingen as the western city was marking 650 years. The incident has heightened political dispute over asylum and deportation rules ahead of next month’s state elections as the suspect was a failed asylum seeker from Syria.
The package introduces stricter gun regulations, including tighter ownership rules, a general ban on switchblades, and an absolute ban on knives at public events such as folk festivals, sporting events and trade fairs.
Federal law officers will be authorized to use Tasers, and background checks for weapon permits will include new federal agencies to prevent extremists from obtaining weapons.
Berlin will also tighten asylum and residency laws and procedures, including lowering the threshold for “severe deportation,” when the deportee has committed a crime involving a weapon or dangerous tool.
Criteria for excluding individuals from asylum or refugee status will be tightened, including harsher penalties for serious crimes, including for youth offenders.
Asylum seekers will be excluded from receiving benefits in Germany if they have claims in other European countries and refugees who travel to their home countries without compelling reasons risk losing their protection status, the document read.
This rule would not apply to Ukrainian refugees, it said.
The government will push for reforms to the Common European Asylum System, simplifying transfers and deportations, and will also seek to enable the deportation of individuals who have committed serious crimes or are considered terrorist threats to Afghanistan and Syria.
The package also outlines measures to combat “violent Islamism,” including giving law enforcement authorities permission to use biometric data from publicly accessible online sources for facial recognition to identify suspects.
The government will strengthen the domestic intelligence agency’s powers when it comes to financial investigations and continue to ban Islamist organizations, according to a government document outlining the measures.
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Cameroon media denounce surge in attacks as 2025 election nears
Yaounde, Cameroon — Journalists in Cameroon say attacks on reporters have surged as the country prepares for next year’s presidential elections. Ninety-one-year-old President Paul Biya, who has ruled the country for over four decades, may run again. Rights groups say six journalists have been assaulted by gunmen in the past weeks, while several reporters and a radio station have been ordered to stop broadcasting.
The Network of Cameroon Media Owners, or REPAC, says four of its members have been brutally attacked by men armed with rifles and machetes in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, in the last three weeks.
Emmanuel Ekouli, publisher of the weekly newspaper La Voix du Centre and Cameroon correspondent for Reporters Without Borders, which promotes and defends press freedom, was attacked by armed men in front of his home last week, according to REPAC.
Ekouli told VOA he was stabbed several times and that his telephone, recording equipment and laptop were taken.
REPAC said that last week armed men also tried to abduct its president, Francois Mboke, the publisher of the newspaper Diapason, but that his neighbors raised an alarm and the armed men escaped.
Xavier Messe, publisher of the Le Calame newspaper and Arsene Nkonda, publisher of the Identities newspaper, were also attacked by men with machetes this month.
Besides the physical attacks on journalists, Cameroon media professionals say they are increasingly being silenced as Cameroon prepares for next year’s vote.
President Biya, who has ruled Cameroon for over four decades, has not said whether he will run in the October polls, but his supporters have called on him to seek reelection.
REPAC says Biya’s supporters, especially government ministers, are trying to intimidate the media organizations that criticize the president’s long tenure in power.
At RIS FM radio in the capital Yaounde, a guard told VOA that staff members, including journalists, have not been coming to work since armed policemen closed the station this month.
Innocent Tatchou, the station’s information director and editor-in-chief, says he is certain that government officials, uncomfortable with RIS FM’s strong denunciation of endemic corruption, ordered Cameroonian police to close the media outlet without prior notice. He says RIS FM has filed a court complaint for the seal to be lifted so that the station can resume broadcasting.
Cameroon’s National Communications Council says RIS Radio and its station manager, Sismondi Barlev Bidjoka, were suspended for six months for broadcasting what the council claimed were unfounded and offensive statements against Biya’s top aide, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.
Bidjoka has accused Ngoh of corrupt practices, a claim Ngoh denies.
Council President Joseph Chebongkeng Kalabubse denies allegations the government is using the council to silence journalists. However, he says some journalists need a refresher course on ethics.
“In the days ahead, we will deploy council members to organize workshops and seminars to be able to sensitize and educate our peers on what is at stake and the expectations from them,” he said, speaking on Cameroon state Radio CRTV. “All these are measures which the council is taking to ensure that as we gear up towards the 2025 presidential elections, we will be able to live up to expectations.”
Cameroon’s Union of Journalists reports that two presenters of political TV programs were also attacked by unknown men this month.
Eyong Tarh, secretary general of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, says African journalists and media organizations are often attacked before, during and shortly after elections because governments do not want reporters to expose the continent’s rampant corruption and theft.
“Whenever elections take place in Africa, international media, like the BBC, like the Voice of America and private media houses expose malpractices,” he said. “As a result, journalists, the media houses that are involved in such reporting usually go through so much intimidation from the governments.”
Human Rights Watch said in July that it is becoming increasingly difficult to speak freely in Cameroon, adding that as elections approach, authorities should fully respect Cameroonians’ freedom of expression.
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US second quarter growth stronger than estimated, government says
Washington — The U.S. economy expanded more than initially estimated in the second quarter this year, the Department of Commerce said Thursday, on stronger consumer spending than originally anticipated.
The world’s biggest economy grew at an annual rate of 3.0% in the April-to-June period, up from 2.8% according to an earlier estimate.
Analysts had expected no revision to the figure.
“The update primarily reflected an upward revision to consumer spending,” the Commerce Department said.
Unexpectedly robust consumption — even in the face of high interest rates — has helped to bolster the U.S. economy in recent times. But with households depleting pandemic-era savings, the anticipation was for consumption to pull back.
In the latest revision, the higher spending was partly offset by downward revisions in areas such as business investment, exports and government spending.
Imports, however, were revised higher.
The 3.0% figure for the second quarter this year was an uptick from 1.4% growth in the first quarter.
The Federal Reserve rapidly increased interest rates to tackle surging inflation in 2022. It is widely expected to make its first post-pandemic rate cut in September. This could provide a boost to the economy.
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Plot to attack Taylor Swift’s Vienna shows was intended to kill thousands, CIA official says
Berlin — The suspects in the foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna earlier this month sought to kill “tens of thousands” of fans before the CIA discovered intelligence that disrupted the planning and led to arrests, the agency’s deputy director said.
The CIA notified Austrian authorities of the scheme, which allegedly included links to the Islamic State group. The intelligence and subsequent arrests ultimately led to the cancellation of three sold-out Eras Tour shows, devastating fans who had traveled across the globe to see Swift in concert.
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen addressed the failed plot during the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit, held this week in Maryland.
“They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this,” Cohen said Wednesday. “The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”
Austrian officials said the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian man, was inspired by the Islamic State group. He allegedly planned to attack outside the stadium, where upwards of 30,000 fans were expected to gather, with knives or homemade explosives. Another 65,000 fans were likely to be inside the venue. Investigators discovered chemical substances and technical devices during a raid of the suspect’s home.
Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, previously said help from other intelligence agencies was needed because Austrian investigators, unlike some foreign services, can’t legally monitor text messages.
The 19-year-old’s lawyer has said the allegations were “overacting at its best,” and contended Austrian authorities were “presenting this exaggeratedly” in order to get new surveillance powers.
Swift broke her silence about the cancellations last week after her London shows had concluded.
“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” she wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”
She thanked authorities — “thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” she wrote — and said she waited to speak until the European leg of her Eras Tour concluded to prioritize safety.
“Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows,” she wrote.
Concert organizer Barracuda Music said it canceled the three-night Vienna run that would have begun Aug. 8 because the arrests made in connection to the conspiracy were too close to showtime.
The main suspect and a 17-year-old were taken into custody on Aug. 6, the day before the cancellations were announced. A third suspect, 18, was arrested Aug. 8. Their names have not been released in line with Austrian privacy rules.
The shows in London, the next stop after Vienna, came on the heels of a stabbing at a Swift-themed dance class that left three little girls dead in the U.K. In a statement issued after the Southport attack, Swift said she was “just completely in shock” and “at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.” News outlets reported that Swift met with some of the survivors backstage in London.
The Vienna plot also drew comparisons to a 2017 attack by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The bomb detonated at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist attack in the United Kingdom in recent years.
Cohen on Wednesday praised the CIA’s work in preventing the planned violence, saying that other counterterrorism “successes” in foiling plots typically go unheralded.
“I can tell you within my agency, and I’m sure in others, there were people who thought that was a really good day for Langley,” he said, referring to the CIA headquarters. “And not just the Swifties in my workforce.”
The record-smashing tour is on hiatus until the fall.
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Myanmar’s largest rebel group quietly gains strength amid civil war
Bangkok — In the shadow of Myanmar’s brutal and bloody civil war, a rebel army with close ties to China and the illicit drug trade is spreading out and bulking up without a fight.
Since the start of the year, the United Wa State Army, the largest and most powerful of Myanmar’s many ethnic armed groups, has been moving hundreds of its soldiers into new positions across the central part of Shan State, in the country’s east next to China, Laos and Thailand.
Officially, the UWSA says it is only trying to contain the fighting that has been spreading across Shan between the Myanmar military and other rebel groups since last year, and to shield its own properties and satellite offices. A spokesman for the group did not reply to VOA’s request for an interview.
With the junta’s control waning, analysts tell VOA the group sees a golden opportunity to build on its already formidable might, and that its growing footprint is likely both to advance China’s interests in Myanmar and give an already booming drug trade a boost.
“Part of what the UWSA strategy is here is to basically expand its power, influence and territorial control at very low cost,” said Jason Tower, Myanmar program director for the United States Institute of Peace, a U.S.-government funded think tank.
The UWSA is by far Myanmar’s biggest and best-equipped rebel army with some 30,000 soldiers. Tucked away in the rugged hills of the eastern part of Shan State, it controls two enclaves on the Chinese and Thai borders over an area greater than that of Belgium, running them much like an independent state for the ethnic minority Wa.
Secure in its remote strongholds, the UWSA has largely stayed out of the civil war that has followed the military’s 2021 coup, even after a trio of ethnic armed groups it allies with joined the fight on the side of those across Myanmar vying to oust the junta.
In January, though, the UWSA quietly took control of two towns recently seized from the junta by its rebel allies north of the Wa’s enclaves. In the last two months, it has moved hundreds more soldiers into other towns to the west, some recently seized by allied rebel groups, others still held by the junta.
The moves give the UWSA valuable new footholds west of the Salween River, which splits Shan in two from north to south.
Having built and nurtured relationships with all sides in the conflict, from business deals with the military to arms trades with other rebels, the UWSA has pulled it all off without having to do any of its own fighting.
“They do not have [to fire] a single shot … and they already occupy two [new] townships at least, and they have more influence in at least three to four,” said Amara Thiha, a Myanmar analyst at the Peace Research Institute Oslo in Norway.
Now, he added, “they can try to use this leverage to extend their influence. And they are playing a role in providing logistics, in providing all these armaments, and they can gain all the economic benefit out of it, so they are probably the biggest winner, without losing anything yet.”
Anthony Davis, a security analyst with the Jane’s intelligence company, says the UWSA has been creeping into south and central Shan since the coup, but in the guise and support of another allied rebel group, the Shan State Progress Party. What is new, he adds, is how big and bold its moves have become.
“The scale of Wa military movement west of the Salween is certainly something new, but perhaps as important is the fact that it’s public, in the open, in their own uniforms,” Davis told VOA.
“They see the [Myanmar military] as in a historically weak position, so I don’t think this is necessarily aimed at putting their finger on the scales, if you like, one way or the other. They’re basically taking advantage of a situation which is to their own benefit while remaining ostensibly neutral,” he said.
The analysts say the UWSA’s growing reach may also end up working to the advantage of China, which has billions of dollars invested in energy and mining projects across the country.
While Beijing has publicly stood by the junta, it is widely believed to be frustrated with its abject failure to end the fighting. It is also known to have long-running political and military ties with some of the armed groups on its border, none closer than with the UWSA.
Given the close ties, Tower said, the UWSA’s recent expansion could help give China more influence over eastern Myanmar, the overlapping Mekong River system, and the notorious Golden Triangle, where the crime-riddled borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. He said China could gain especially if the UWSA can realize its longtime goal of linking its two enclaves on the Thai and Chinese borders.
Davis says the growing reach of the UWSA could, for one, help China move forward on planned hydropower dam projects if and when Myanmar is stable enough, a prospect, he adds, is probably some years away.
If a long-stalled Chinese dam project in the far north, the Myitsone, continues to flounder, for example, he said damming the Salween would look that much more attractive, and feasible, with the Wa in a position to help.
“If the UWSA is dominant along both banks of the Salween through much of Shan state, that can hardly be bad for China’s infrastructure objectives in the long term,” said Davis.
The UWSA is also known for playing a major role in the multibillion-dollar illegal drug trade radiating out of the Golden Triangle, which has only grown since the coup, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The UWSA has repeatedly said it abandoned the drug trade long ago.
But in 2008 the U.S. Treasury Department called the group “the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in Southeast Asia.”
Davis too says the UWSA has remained deeply involved, with most of its methamphetamine business set up east of the Salween.
“But there are indications that the expansion of Wa influence west of the river via the close relationship with the SSPP [Shan State Progress Party] may already have seen some production outsourced to the west, and in future this is only likely to grow,” he said.
Tower too said the UWSA’s growing reach could serve the crime syndicates it protects.
“The Wa are one of the main players in terms of providing an umbrella and protection to that trade, and so the expansion of Wa power, the expansion of Wa territory would give … individuals involved in that trade new spaces to exploit,” he said.
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Britain resumes bid for tougher police powers over street protests
LONDON — Britain has revived its attempt to give police wider powers to impose conditions on street protests, a decision that a civil rights group said showed a worrying disregard for the rule of law.
The group, Liberty, successfully challenged the changes to public order laws made by the country’s previous Conservative government. London’s High Court ruled in May that the government exceeded its powers by lowering the threshold for police to impose conditions.
The interior ministry’s appeal against the ruling was delayed in July – shortly after Labor won a parliamentary election – to allow for talks with Liberty about the change.
Britain’s new government this month decided to pursue the appeal which Liberty director Akiko Hart said was a disappointing decision.
A spokesperson for the interior ministry said all public order legislation had to be balanced against the fundamental right to protest.
“However, we disagree with the court’s ruling in this case and have appealed their decision,” the spokesperson said.
Liberty’s case focused on the Public Order Act, under which police can impose conditions on a protest which could cause “serious disruption to the life of the community.” The law was amended last year to allow police to impose conditions where a protest could cause “more than minor” disruption.
Liberty said the new powers gave police almost unlimited powers to shut down protests, citing the arrest in Britain of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was later acquitted.
The High Court ruled the new powers were unlawful, but put the quashing of the new powers on hold pending appeal.
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Biden aide Sullivan meets Xi, Chinese military brass in Beijing
Beijing — Top White House aide Jake Sullivan held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, after a senior military official warned the United States to stop “collusion” with Taiwan in a rare one-on-one meeting.
Sullivan, the first U.S national security adviser to visit China since 2016, stressed the importance of stability in the tense Taiwan Strait as he met with senior Chinese army chief Zhang Youxia at the Beijing headquarters of the Central Military Commission.
The White House adviser met Xi on Thursday afternoon, state media said, as he wrapped up three days of talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other high-ranking officials.
Sullivan’s visit came as China became embroiled in security rows with U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines.
“It’s rare that we have the opportunity to have this kind of exchange,” Sullivan told Zhang in opening remarks.
The two officials agreed to hold a call between the two sides’ theatre commanders “in the near future,” a readout from the White House added.
Sullivan also raised the importance of “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea, where China and the Philippines have clashed in recent months, and “stability” in the Taiwan Strait, Washington said.
Zhang, in turn, warned that the status of the self-ruled island was “the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations.”
“China has always been committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” he said, according to a readout by Beijing’s defense ministry.
“But ‘Taiwan independence’ and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are incompatible,” he said.
“China demands that the U.S. halts military collusion with Taiwan, ceases arming Taiwan, and stops spreading false narratives related to Taiwan,” Zhang added.
He also asked Washington to “work with China to promote communication and exchanges between the two militaries and jointly shoulder the responsibilities of major powers.”
‘Destabilizing actions’
Thursday’s talks also saw Sullivan express “concerns about (Chinese) support for Russia’s defense industrial base,” the readout added — echoing long-standing U.S. claims that Beijing has rejected.
He also raised “the need to avoid miscalculation and escalation in cyber space, and ongoing efforts to reach a cease-fire and hostage deal in Gaza,” the White House said.
On Wednesday, Sullivan and Wang discussed plans for their leaders to talk in the coming weeks — and clashed over China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions.
Sullivan “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to defending its Indo-Pacific allies,” the White House said.
He also “expressed concern about (China’s) destabilizing actions against lawful Philippine maritime operations” in the disputed South China Sea, it said.
Chinese state media reported that Wang issued his own warning to Washington.
“The United States must not use bilateral treaties as an excuse to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor should it support or condone the Philippines’ actions of infringement,” Wang told Sullivan, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Wang and Sullivan previously met five times over the past year and a half — in Washington, Vienna, Malta and Bangkok, as well as alongside U.S. President Joe Biden and Xi in California last November.
During their latest encounter, they also discussed the tense issue of Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island that China claims.
China has kept up its saber-rattling since the inauguration this year of President Lai Ching-te, whose party emphasizes Taiwan’s separate identity.
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Germany expels head of banned Muslim association
FRANKFURT, Germany — Germany has told the Iranian head of the recently banned Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) that he is being expelled from the country and has two weeks to leave, authorities in Hamburg said on Thursday.
The interior ministry of the German city state of Hamburg said in a statement that it had informed Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh that he has until Sept. 11 to leave or else be deported.
Mofatteh had been head of the IZH since summer 2018, the statement continued.
He did immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment sent via social media.
According to findings by Hamburg’s domestic intelligence agency, he was the official deputy of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Germany as head of the IZH, until recently.
Bild newspaper and broadcaster NDR first reported on the expulsion orders.
Social media accounts associated with the IZH and its website have been taken down in Germany after the country banned the IZH and subsidiary organizations in July for “pursuing radical Islamist goals,” according to the federal interior ministry.
The ministry said the IZH, which includes one of the oldest mosques in Germany known for its turquoise exterior, had acted as a direct representative of Khamenei and sought to bring about an Islamic revolution in Germany.
Following the closure of the IZH, Iran summoned the German ambassador in Tehran.
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China’s airspace intrusion a ‘wake-up call’ for Japan, US lawmaker says
TOKYO — The intrusion of a Chinese spy plane into Japanese airspace is a “wake-up call” for Tokyo about the aggressive nature of China’s leadership, U.S. lawmaker John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, said Wednesday.
The incident on Monday involving a Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft flying near the southern Kyushu island was the first time a Chinese military aircraft had breached Japan’s airspace, according to Tokyo, which told Beijing it was “utterly unacceptable.”
The Chinese foreign ministry said Tuesday it was still trying to understand the situation.
We’ve “seen a very different China in the last few years and the question is what’s the best way to deter future aggression and malign activity,” Moolenaar, who is a Republican member of the House of Representatives, said in an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday.
His visit to Japan, with half a dozen members of a bipartisan committee that has looked at topics ranging from China’s exports of fentanyl precursor chemicals to Beijing’s influence over U.S. businesses, comes as President Joe Biden’s administration looks to expand restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment exports.
While Japan has worked with its U.S. ally to restrict shipments of such technology, unlike Washington it has avoided trade curbs that directly target its neighbor and largest trading partner.
A new rule that will broaden U.S. powers to halt semiconductor manufacturing equipment exports to China from some foreign chipmakers will exclude Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea, two sources told Reuters last month.
In Japan, Moolenaar met trade and industry minister Ken Saito, who oversees Japan’s technology exports and is meeting with the Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other senior Japanese officials.
“The question is what’s the best way to deter future (Chinese) aggression and malign activity. We don’t want to feed into a military complex that can be used against us,” Moolenaar said.
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French authorities issue preliminary charges against Telegram messaging app CEO
PARIS — French authorities handed preliminary charges to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on Wednesday for allowing alleged criminal activity on his messaging app and barred him from leaving France pending further investigation.
Both free-speech advocates and authoritarian governments have spoken out in Durov’s defense since his weekend arrest. The case has also called attention to the challenges of policing illegal activity online, and to the Russian-born Durov’s own unusual biography and multiple passports.
Durov was detained on Saturday at Le Bourget airport outside Paris as part of a sweeping investigation opened earlier this year and released earlier Wednesday after four days of questioning. Investigative judges filed preliminary charges Wednesday night and ordered him to pay 5 million euros bail and to report to a police station twice a week, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Allegations against Durov, who is also a French citizen, include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law.
The first preliminary charge against him was for ”complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group,” a crime that can lead to sentences of up to 10 years in prison and 500,000 euro fine, the prosecutor’s office said.
Preliminary charges under French law mean magistrates have strong reason to believe a crime was committed but allow more time for further investigation.
David-Olivier Kaminski, a lawyer for Durov, was quoted by French media as saying “it’s totally absurd to think that the person in charge of a social network could be implicated in criminal acts that don’t concern him, directly or indirectly.”
Prosecutors said that Durov is, “at this stage, the only person implicated in this case.” They did not exclude the possibility that other people are being investigated but declined to comment on other possible arrest warrants. Any other arrest warrant would be revealed only if the target of such a warrant is detained and informed of their rights, prosecutors said in a statement to the AP.
French authorities opened a preliminary investigation in February in response to ”the near total absence of a response by Telegram to judicial requests” for data for pursuing suspects, notably those accused of crimes against children, the prosecutor’s office said.
Durov’s arrest in France has caused outrage in Russia, with some government officials calling it politically motivated and proof of the West’s double standard on freedom of speech. The outcry has raised eyebrows among Kremlin critics because in 2018, Russian authorities themselves tried to block the Telegram app but failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020.
In Iran, where Telegram is widely used despite being officially banned after years of protests challenging the country’s Shiite theocracy, Durov’s arrest in France prompted comments from the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei weighed in with veiled praise for France for being “strict” against those who “violate your governance” of the internet.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that Durov’s arrest wasn’t a political move but part of an independent investigation. Macron posted on X that his country “is deeply committed” to freedom of expression but “freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.”
In a statement posted on its platform after Durov’s arrest, Telegram said it abides by EU laws, and its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving.”
“Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation,” it said.
In addition to Russia and France, Durov is also a citizen of the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
The UAE Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it was “closely following the case” and had asked France to provide Durov “with all the necessary consular services in an urgent manner.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he hoped that Durov “has all the necessary opportunities for his legal defense” and added that Moscow stands “ready to provide all necessary assistance and support” to the Telegram CEO as a Russian citizen.
“But the situation is complicated by the fact that he is also a citizen of France,” Peskov said.
Telegram was founded by Durov and his brother after he himself faced pressure from Russian authorities.
In 2013, he sold his stake in VKontakte, a popular Russian social networking site which he launched in 2006.
The company came under pressure during the Russian government’s crackdown following mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow at the end of 2011 and 2012.
Durov had said authorities demanded that the site take down online communities of Russian opposition activists, and later that it hand over personal data of users who took part in the 2013-14 popular uprising in Ukraine, which eventually ousted a pro-Kremlin president.
Durov said in a recent interview that he had turned down these demands and left the country.
The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital space, and Telegram and its pro-privacy stance offered a convenient way for Russians to communicate and share news.
Telegram also continues to be a popular source of news in Ukraine, where both media outlets and officials use it to share information on the war and deliver missile and air raid alerts.
Western governments have often criticized Telegram for a lack of content moderation.
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