Donald Trump Jr. returned to the stand Monday as defense lawyers started calling witnesses in the New York civil fraud trial that threatens his father’s real estate empire.

Donald Trump’s eldest son returned two weeks after state lawyers quizzed him during a long stretch of the trial that also featured testimony from the former president and Don Jr.’s siblings Eric and Ivanka Trump.

“You thought you were rid of me, your honor,” he quipped as he took the stand.

Trump Jr., a Trump Organization executive vice president, originally testified on Nov. 1 and 2. He said he never worked on the annual financial statements at the heart of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit. He said he relied on the company’s longtime finance chief and outside accountants to verify their accuracy.

James alleges that Donald Trump, his company and executives including his sons exaggerated his wealth by billions of dollars on financial statements given to banks, insurers and others. The documents were used to secure loans and make deals. James is seeking more than $300 million in what she says were ill-gotten gains and a ban on defendants doing business in New York.

Before the trial, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that the defendants committed fraud by inflating his net worth and the value of assets on his financial statements. He imposed a punishment that could strip Trump of marquee properties like Trump Tower, though an appeals court is allowing the former president to remain in control for now.

The Trumps have denied wrongdoing. Their lawyers contend that the state failed to meet “any legal standard” to prove allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. The state rested its case last Wednesday after six weeks of testimony from more than two dozen witnesses. Among them: company insiders, accountants, bank officials and Trump’s fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen.

The trial is proceeding after Engoron rebuffed the defense’s request last week to end it early through what’s known as a directed verdict. Engoron did not rule on the request, but indicated the trial would move ahead as scheduled.

Trump lawyer Christopher Kise, seeking a verdict clearing Trump and other defendants, argued last Thursday that the state’s case involved only “successful and profitable loan transactions” and that “there is no victim. There is no complainant. There is no injury.”

After testifying in early November, Donald Trump Jr. echoed his father’s claims that the case was “purely a political persecution” brought by James, a Democrat, to blunt Trump’s chances as the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“I think it’s a truly scary precedent for New York — for me, for example, before even having a day in court, I’m apparently guilty of fraud for relying on my accountants to do, wait for it: accounting,” Trump Jr. told reporters on Nov. 2.

On Monday, Trump Jr. was to be questioned first by the defense lawyers representing him, his father and other defendants. A state lawyer is also expected to question him on cross-examination. Trump Jr. is expected to testify Monday and Tuesday, followed by a tax lawyer who also testified as a state witness.

The defense also plans to call several expert witnesses as part of their case in an attempt to refute testimony from state witnesses that Trump’s financial statements afforded him better loan terms and insurance premiums and were a factor in dealmaking.

When he became president in 2017, Donald Trump handed day-to-day management of his company to Eric and Donald Trump Jr. and named Trump Jr. as a trustee of a trust he established to hold his assets while in office.

In Donald Trump Jr.’s prior testimony, when asked if he ever worked on his father’s “statement of financial condition,” the scion said: “Not that I recall.” Trump Jr. said he signed off on statements as a trustee, but left the work to outside accountants and the company’s then-finance chief and co-trustee, Allen Weisselberg.

“I had an obligation to listen to the people with intimate knowledge of those things,” Trump Jr. testified. “If they put something forward, I wasn’t working on the document, but if they tell me that it’s accurate, based on their accounting assessment of all of the materials. … These people had an incredible intimate knowledge, and I relied on it.”
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When U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet Wednesday in California, U.S. officials do not expect any major breakthroughs that could dramatically improve the relationship.

Instead, White House officials say one of their main summit goals is simply to ensure that both sides continue talking, to reduce the chances that U.S.-China tensions spiral into conflict.

“We’re not talking about a long list of outcomes or deliverables,” a senior Biden administration official conceded during a telephone briefing to preview the Biden-Xi meeting.

“The goals here really are about managing the competition, preventing the downside risk of conflict, and ensuring channels of communication are open,” the official added.

The meeting, which will occur on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, will be the first in-person interaction between the two men in about a year. It will be Xi’s first U.S. visit in six years.

During that time, relations have sunk to perhaps their lowest point since the United States and China established diplomatic ties in 1979.

The two sides not only disagree over issues including Taiwan, trade, human rights, and global governance – U.S. and Chinese military planes and ships now regularly have close and dangerous encounters in the East and South China Sea

The Pentagon has repeatedly warned that such encounters could turn deadly. But until recently, U.S. officials have had fewer and fewer venues to raise such complaints, as Beijing closed many of the communications channels to protest U.S. actions.

Beijing’s change in tone

In the months leading up to the Biden-Xi meeting, China’s opposition to dialogue began to soften.

U.S. and Chinese officials now have held preliminary talks on a wide range of issues, including arms control, macroeconomics, and climate change.

In some instances, Xi surprised visiting U.S. delegations with a personal reception that many observers saw as notably warm.

“I have said many times, including to several presidents, we have 1,000 reasons to improve China-U.S. relations, but not one reason to ruin them,” Xi told a visiting group of U.S. senators in Beijing.

Analysts say Xi’s change in tone can be attributed to domestic factors, such as slower than expected post-Covid economic growth and China’s struggle to attract foreign investment amid U.S. trade restrictions.

By engaging with Washington, Xi may be trying to demonstrate to his domestic audience and international partners that he remains in control of China’s most important bilateral relationship, says Amanda Hsiao, a senior China analyst at the Crisis Group.

Beijing was also likely caught off guard “by just how hostile of an external environment that it’s facing now,” said Hsiao. She cites the international backlash to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in a “narrative of democracies versus authoritarian countries.”

“That created…a rallying effect for Washington and its allies and partners to form a bit of an anti-China coalition,” Hsiao added, citing expanded U.S. alliances with South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines.

Small steps

Though few expect the Biden-Xi meeting to transform the relationship, officials and analysts point to several areas of progress that could soon be announced.

Last week, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said the United States and China – the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters – have reached “understandings and agreements” that could lead to a more successful United Nations climate change conference later this month in Dubai. Details, Kerry said, would be released soon.

Biden may push Xi to take steps to reduce the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl, a dangerous narcotic that is responsible for tens of thousands of drug overdoses in the United States each year.

The fentanyl issue represents a possible area where the two sides “can work immediately to enhance mutual trust and cooperation,” said Zichen Wang, a research fellow at the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization research organization.

“According to press reports, China has a positive attitude towards the fentanyl issue and there is room to establish a regular communication and control mechanism with the U.S. on the matter,” Wang added.

China ended all talks over the fentanyl issue last year, after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in a show of support for the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing.

At the time, China also halted military dialogue with the United States – a matter of particular concern for Biden officials.

According to a White House official, Biden will press Xi “assertively” on Wednesday to restore more military-to-military communications.

However, Nathaniel Sher, a senior research analyst at Carnegie China, warns that one meeting is unlikely to create a durable floor under the U.S.-China relationship, especially ahead of elections in the United States and Taiwan.

“One meeting, however, can prevent relations from deteriorating further,” he said.
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Los Angeles motorists should expect traffic snarls indefinitely as crews assess how much damage was caused by a raging fire that closed a major elevated interstate near downtown, officials said Sunday.

Hazardous materials teams were clearing burned material from underneath Interstate 10 to make way for engineers to make sure the columns and deck of the highway can support the 300,000 vehicles that typically travel that route daily, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference.

“Remember, this is an investigation as to the cause of how this occurred, as well as a hazmat and structural engineering question,” Newsom said. “Can you open a few lanes? Can you retrofit the columns? Is the bridge deck intact to allow for a few lanes to remain open again?”

Newsom said answering those questions would be a “24-7 operation,” but officials couldn’t yet offer a timeline for when the highway might reopen.

Commuters were urged to work from home or take public transportation into downtown Los Angeles. The I-10 closure between Alameda Street and Santa Fe Avenue will have ripple effects on surface streets and other key freeways including State Route 60 and Interstate 5, the California Highway Patrol said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation. Flames reported around 12:20 a.m. Saturday raged through two storage lots in an industrial area underneath the highway, burning piles of wooden pallets, parked cars and support poles for high-tension power lines, Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said. No injuries were reported.

More than 160 firefighters from 26 companies responded to the blaze, which spread across 8 acres (3 hectares) — the equivalent of about six football fields — and burned for more than three hours. The highway’s columns are charred and chipped, while guardrails along the deck are twisted and blackened.

Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday afternoon and directed the state Department of Transportation to request assistance from the federal government.

The governor said Sunday that the state has been in litigation with the owner of the business leasing the storage property where the fire started. The lease is expired, Newsom said, and the business had been in arrears while subleasing the space. “This is a site we were aware of, this is a lessee we were aware of,” he said.

California Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin said storage yards under highways are common statewide and across the country. He said the practice would be reevaluated following the fire.

At least 16 homeless people living underneath the highway were evacuated and brought to shelters, Mayor Karen Bass said. Officials said there was no immediate indication that the blaze began at the encampment.

Bass said the fire’s long-term impact was reminiscent of damage from the Northridge earthquake that flattened freeways in 1994.

“Unfortunately, there is no reason to think that this is going to be over in a couple of days,” she said.

Los Angeles motorists should expect traffic snarls indefinitely as crews assess how much damage was caused by a raging fire that closed a major elevated interstate near downtown, officials said Sunday.

Hazardous materials teams were clearing burned material from underneath Interstate 10 to make way for engineers to make sure the columns and deck of the highway can support the 300,000 vehicles that typically travel that route daily, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference.

“Remember, this is an investigation as to the cause of how this occurred, as well as a hazmat and structural engineering question,” Newsom said. “Can you open a few lanes? Can you retrofit the columns? Is the bridge deck intact to allow for a few lanes to remain open again?”

Newsom said answering those questions would be a “24-7 operation,” but officials couldn’t yet offer a timeline for when the highway might reopen.

Commuters were urged to work from home or take public transportation into downtown Los Angeles. The I-10 closure between Alameda Street and Santa Fe Avenue will have ripple effects on surface streets and other key freeways including State Route 60 and Interstate 5, the California Highway Patrol said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation. Flames reported around 12:20 a.m. Saturday raged through two storage lots in an industrial area underneath the highway, burning piles of wooden pallets, parked cars and support poles for high-tension power lines, Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said. No injuries were reported.

More than 160 firefighters from 26 companies responded to the blaze, which spread across 8 acres (3 hectares) — the equivalent of about six football fields — and burned for more than three hours. The highway’s columns are charred and chipped, while guardrails along the deck are twisted and blackened.

Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday afternoon and directed the state Department of Transportation to request assistance from the federal government.

The governor said Sunday that the state has been in litigation with the owner of the business leasing the storage property where the fire started. The lease is expired, Newsom said, and the business had been in arrears while subleasing the space. “This is a site we were aware of, this is a lessee we were aware of,” he said.

California Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin said storage yards under highways are common statewide and across the country. He said the practice would be reevaluated following the fire.

At least 16 homeless people living underneath the highway were evacuated and brought to shelters, Mayor Karen Bass said. Officials said there was no immediate indication that the blaze began at the encampment.

Bass said the fire’s long-term impact was reminiscent of damage from the Northridge earthquake that flattened freeways in 1994.

“Unfortunately, there is no reason to think that this is going to be over in a couple of days,” she said.

 
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In the Western United States, foresters are working to minimize threats from wildfires by thinning nearly 20 million hectares of forests. From the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado, Shelley Schlender reports on how scientists are using mushrooms to reduce wildfire risks organically.
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Activists protesting corporate profits, environmental abuses, poor working conditions and the Israel-Hamas war marched Sunday in downtown San Francisco, united in their opposition to a global trade summit that will draw President Joe Biden and leaders from nearly two dozen countries.

Protests are expected throughout this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ conference, which could draw more than 20,000 attendees, including hundreds of international journalists. The No to APEC coalition, made up of more than 100 grassroots groups, says trade deals struck at summits such as APEC exploit workers and their families.

It’s unlikely world leaders will even glimpse the protests given the strict security zones accessible only to attendees at the Moscone Center conference hall and other summit sites. But Suzanne Ali, an organizer for the Palestinian Youth Movement, says the U.S. government needs to be held to account for supplying weapons to Israel in its war against Hamas.

“Even if they cannot see us, as we’re mobilizing and marching together, they will know that we’re out there,” she said.

San Francisco has a long tradition of loud and vigorous protests, as do trade talks. In 1999, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Seattle during a World Trade Organization conference. Protesters succeeded in delaying the start of the conference and captured global attention as overwhelmed police fired tear gas and plastic bullets and arrested hundreds of people.

Chile withdrew as APEC host in 2019 due to mass protests. Last year, when Thailand hosted the summit in Bangkok, pro-democracy protesters challenged the legitimacy of the Thai prime minister. Police fired at the crowd with rubber bullets that injured several protesters and a Reuters journalist.

Chief Bill Scott of the San Francisco Police Department said he expects several protests a day, although it’s uncertain how many will materialize. He warned against criminal behavior.

“People are welcome to exercise their constitutional rights in San Francisco, but we will not tolerate people committing acts of violence, or property destruction or any other crime,” Scott said. “We will make arrests when necessary.”

APEC, a regional economic forum, was established in 1989 and has 21 member countries, including the world’s two largest economic superpowers — China and the U.S — as well as Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. An accompanying CEO summit is scheduled for this week, which critics also plan to protest Wednesday.

Headlining the summit is a highly anticipated meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who rarely — if at all — encounters protesters on home soil.

China has heavy security ahead of any events within its borders to ensure no protests occur. It also steps up border checks at city limits and at transit points such as railway stations and airports. Human rights activists based in China will often receive visits or phone calls from police ahead of important events as reminders to not demonstrate.

Rory McVeigh, sociology professor and director of the Center for the Study of Social Movements at the University of Notre Dame, said politicians use protests to gauge public opinion and that media attention helps.

“Probably a lot of protests just don’t make much difference, but occasionally they do, and occasionally they can make a huge difference,” he said.

The United Vietnamese American Community of Northern California plans to protest Xi and Vietnam President Vo Van Thuong. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines will be rallying for the rights of Indigenous Filipinos and protesting the presence of President Bongbong Marcos, the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Protesters are disappointed that San Francisco, with its rich history of standing up for the working class, would host CEOs of companies and leaders of countries that they say do great harm.

“It’s silly, from the mayor to the governor to the president, they want to say this is a great idea to have all these people who have been profiting off the intersecting crises of our time,” said Nik Evasco, a climate activist. “It’s just sickening.”
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English soldier Ken Hay was trapped behind German lines and captured while on night patrol in 1944, days after joining the Allied invasion of Normandy, a turning point in World War Two.

The ambush near the bitterly contested “Hill 112” came during weeks of fighting after the largest seaborne assault in history, which began the liberation of France from Nazi German occupation.

“Thirty of us went out, 16 including my brother got back, five of us got captured and nine got killed,” Hay said.

As many nations around the world commemorate last century’s wars and other conflicts during a weekend of remembrance, preparations are already under way to mark next year’s 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy.

Born in the English county of Essex, Hay took part in the early reinforcements of Juno Beach, which had been stormed under Canadian command on D-Day, June 6. He is now an active ambassador for the nearby British Normandy Memorial, overlooking Gold Beach in the U.K. sector.

Until two years ago, Britain was alone among allies on the Western front in not having a dedicated Normandy memorial.

An elegant rectangular colonnade now sits on former farmland chosen by veterans themselves at Ver-sur-Mer.

In total, 22,440 servicemen and two servicewomen of more than 30 nationalities who died under British command between June 6 and Aug. 31, 1944, are commemorated on 160 stone columns, as well as a ceremonial wall for those who perished on D-Day itself.

The 30-million-pound ($37 million) memorial was financed by fines levied on banks by the British government, as well as private donations.

Hay, 98, is helping raise funds for an educational pavilion in time for next year’s 80th anniversary, likely to be attended by Britain’s King Charles III and French President Emmanuel Macron.

With the average age of a dwindling number of veterans also 98, it will be the last major chance to gather some of those who helped their fallen comrades push back the Western front.

Unusually, the memorial is laid out by date of death.

“The fact that names are presented chronologically means you get an understanding of how the battle unfolded: the days that are particularly fierce,” said operations manager Sacha Marsac.

“When a whole unit is lost on the same day, their names are all next to each other.”

Too young

Neatly carved rows of names, ranks and ages can only hint at the personal stories. Four 16-year-olds presumably exaggerated their age to serve before the age of 18. The majority barely knew their 20s. The oldest: merchant seaman Thomas Hardwyre Milligan, 64.

Soldiers promoted unusually young, like a major of only 28, hint at heavy losses as their superiors were killed.

One name is honored with a special insignia. Corporal Sidney Bates posthumously received Britain’s Victoria Cross for “supreme gallantry” after repeatedly charging a critical German position with a light machine gun before dying of his wounds. He was 23.

A separate monument honors French civilians.

Veterans like Hay refuse to call themselves heroes, deferring to those who fell in battle. Yet many suffered hardship, injury and separation.

“I joined at the age of 17 in 1943, but they wouldn’t call me [to serve] until I was 17-and-a-half; they said I was too young to die,” Hay said in a recent interview.

For six days after capture, he and fellow prisoners were hauled in a cattle wagon to Stalag VIII-D prison camp, now in the Czech Republic. Later he was sent to work in a Polish coal mine.

Then, in early 1945, began a three-month march westward as German captors moved their prisoners ahead of the advancing Soviet army.

In a forest near Regensburg, Germany, guns approached from the West and the German commanding officer accepted the war was over.

“That was April 20. From Jan. 23, we had done 1,000 miles,” Hay said. “I’ve got a good pair of feet.”
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The nation’s top accident investigator said Thursday that a surge in close calls between planes at U.S. airports this year is a “clear warning sign” that the aviation system is under stress.

“While these events are incredibly rare, our safety system is showing clear signs of strain that we cannot ignore,” Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told a Senate panel on Thursday.

Homendy warned that air traffic and staffing shortages have surged since the pandemic. She said there has been a “lack of meaningful” training — and more reliance on computer-based instruction — by the Federal Aviation Administration and airlines, and too many irregular work schedules among pilots and air traffic controllers.

“Where you end up with that is distraction, fatigue,” she told the aviation subcommittee. “You are missing things, you are forgetting things.”

The NTSB is investigating six close calls, or what aviation insiders call “runway incursions.” The FAA identified 23 of the most serious types of close calls in the last fiscal year, which ended Oct. 1, up from 16 the year before and 11 a decade ago. Independent estimates suggest those figures grossly understate such incidents.

Thursday’s hearing included only a momentary discussion of pilot mental health, which is on travelers’ minds because of the arrest of an off-duty pilot accused of trying to disable a plane in midflight and a co-pilot who allegedly threatened to shoot the captain. Critics have pointed out that federal screening relies on pilots to disclose whether they are taking medication or being treated for mental illness including depression.

The FAA said separately that it will appoint a committee of medical experts and aviation and union leaders to make recommendations “on breaking down the barriers that prevent pilots from reporting mental health issues to the agency.”

The Senate hearing produced no new ideas for increasing safety but brought a new warning about the potential for travel disruptions over the upcoming holidays because the FAA doesn’t have enough air traffic controllers.

“We are not healthier than we were last year, controller-wise,” said Rich Santa, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. “I think FAA’s own numbers indicate we have potentially six more air traffic controllers than we had last year.”

The union president said many controllers are forced to work 10-hour days or six-day weeks.

The Transportation Department’s inspector general criticized the FAA in a report this summer, saying the agency has made only “limited efforts” to fix a shortage at staffing at critical air traffic control centers.

Among the close calls in recent months, the scariest occurred in February in Austin, Texas. During poor visibility in the early morning hours, a FedEx cargo plane preparing to land flew over the top of a Southwest Airlines jet that was taking off. The NTSB has estimated that they came within about 30 meters of colliding.

An air traffic controller had cleared both planes to use the same runway. In other recent incidents, pilots appeared to be at fault by failing to follow orders from controllers.
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U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a Republican stopgap spending measure Saturday, aimed at averting a government shutdown, but the measure quickly ran into opposition from lawmakers from both parties in Congress.

“This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories,” Johnson said in a statement after announcing the plan to House Republicans in a conference call.

The House and Democratic-led Senate must agree on a spending vehicle that President Joe Biden can sign into law by Nov. 17, or risk a fourth partial government shutdown in a decade that would close national parks, disrupt pay for as many as 4 million federal workers and disrupt a swath of activities from financial oversight to scientific research.

Unlike ordinary continuing resolutions, or “CRs,” that fund federal agencies for a specific period, the measure announced by Johnson would fund some parts of the government until Jan. 19 and others until Feb. 2. House Republicans hope to pass the measure Tuesday.

The bill surfaced a day after Moody’s, the last major credit ratings agency to maintain a top “AAA” rating on the U.S. government, lowered its outlook on the nation’s credit to “negative” from “stable,” citing political polarization in Congress on spending as a danger to the nation’s fiscal health.

Johnson, the top Republican in Congress, appeared to be appealing to two warring House Republican factions: hardliners who wanted legislation with multiple end-dates; and centrists who had called for a “clean” stopgap measure free of spending cuts and conservative policy riders that Democrats reject.

But the plan quickly came under fire from members of both parties.

“My opposition to the clean CR just announced by the Speaker to the @HouseGOP cannot be overstated,” Representative Chip Roy, a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, said on the social media platform “X,” formerly known as Twitter.

“It’s a 100% clean. And I 100% oppose,” wrote Roy, who had called for the new measure to include spending cuts.

Democratic Senator Brian Schatz called Johnson’s measure “super convoluted,” adding that “all of this nonsense costs taxpayer money.”

“We are going to pass a clean short-term CR. The only question is whether we do it stupidly and catastrophically or we do it like adults,” Schatz said on X.

The House Republican stopgap contained no supplemental funding such as aid for Israel and Ukraine.

Johnson’s House Republicans have passed a $14.3 billion aid bill for Israel, which would be paid for by cuts to the Internal Revenue Service budget. He has also called for tying Ukraine aid to tighter security at the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats largely oppose both approaches.

“Separating out the CR from the supplemental funding debates places our conference in the best position to fight for fiscal responsibility, oversight over Ukraine aid, and meaningful policy changes at our Southern border,” Johnson’s statement said.

If Congress can pass a stopgap measure in time to keep federal agencies afloat, lawmakers are expected to use the time to negotiate spending legislation for the 2024 fiscal year that runs through Sept. 30.

House Republican hardliners have been pushing to cut fiscal 2024 spending below the $1.59 trillion level that Biden and Johnson’s predecessor agreed in the May deal that averted default. But even that is a small slice of the overall federal budget, which also includes mandatory outlays for Social Security and Medicare, and topped $6.1 trillion in fiscal 2023.

Johnson, who won the speaker’s gavel less than three weeks ago, could put his own political future at risk if his current plan fails to win support for passage and he is forced to go with a standard CR that Democrats can accept.

His predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted from the job by eight Republican hardliners early last month, after he moved a bipartisan measure to avert a shutdown on Oct. 1, when fiscal 2024 began. McCarthy opted for the bipartisan route after hardliners blocked a Republican stopgap measure with features intended to appease them. 
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President Joe Biden said America’s veterans are “the steel spine of this nation” as he marked Veterans Day during a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. 

In remarks at the Memorial Amphitheater, the commander in chief recounted famous battles fought by U.S. troops and said those deployments of soldiers are “linked in a chain of honor that stretches back to our founding days. Each one bound by a sacred oath to support and defend. Not a place, not a person, not a president, but an idea, to defend an idea unlike any other in human history. That idea is the United States of America.” 

November 11, once known as Armistice Day, is the anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I in 1918. Biden said that was “unlike any war the world had ever seen before.” 

The ceremony was personal for Biden and first lady Jill Biden. 

Biden’s son Beau enlisted in 2003 in the Delaware Army National Guard and deployed to Iraq in 2008 for a year as a member of the 261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade. A captain, he earned the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star. Beau Biden later served two terms as the state’s attorney general. He died in 2015 of brain cancer. 

“We miss him,” the president told the crowd, recounting how he pinned the bars on his son on the day he joined the National Guard. 

“We come together today to once again honor the generations of Americans who stood on the front lines of freedom. To once again bear witness to the great deeds of a noble few who risked everything, everything, to give us a better future,” he said, paying tribute to “those who have always, always kept the light of shining bright across the world.” 

Biden said that as commander in chief, “I have no higher honor. As the father of a son who served, I have no greater privilege.” 

He said that “our veterans are the steel spine of this nation and their families, like so many of you, are the courageous heart.” 
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Pope Francis on Saturday forcibly removed from office the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and some of his priorities.

A one-line statement from the Vatican said Francis had “relieved” Bishop Joseph Strickland of the pastoral governance of Tyler and appointed the bishop of Austin as the temporary administrator.

Strickland, 65, has emerged as a critic of Francis, accusing him in a tweet earlier this year of “undermining the deposit of faith.” He has been particularly critical of Francis’ recent meeting on the future of the Catholic Church during which hot-button issues were discussed, including ways to better welcome LGBTQ+ Catholics.

The Vatican earlier this year sent in investigators to investigate his governance of the diocese, amid reports he was making doctrinally unorthodox claims.

The Vatican has not released the findings of the investigation, and Strickland had insisted he wouldn’t resign voluntarily. He had said in media interviews that he was given a mandate to serve by the late Pope Benedict XVI and couldn’t abdicate that responsibility, and he had complained that he hadn’t been told what the pope’s investigators were looking into.

It is rare for the pope to forcibly remove a bishop from office. Bishops are required to offer to resign when they reach 75. When the Vatican uncovers issues with governance or other problems that require a bishop to leave office before then, the Vatican usually seeks to pressure him to resign for the good of his diocese and the church.

That was the case when another U.S. bishop was forced out earlier this year following a Vatican investigation. Knoxville, Tennessee, Bishop Richard Stika resigned voluntarily, albeit under pressure, following allegations he mishandled sex abuse allegations and his priests complained about his leadership and behavior.

But with Strickland, the Vatican statement made clear that he had not offered to resign, and that Francis had instead “relieved” him of his job.

Most recently, Strickland had criticized Francis’ monthlong closed-door debate on making the church more welcoming and responsive to the needs of Catholics today. The meeting debated a host of previously taboo issues, including women in governance roles and welcoming LGBTQ+ Catholics, but in the end, its final document didn’t veer from established doctrine.

Ahead of the meeting, Strickland said it was a “travesty” that such things were even on the table for discussion.

”Regrettably, it may be that some will label as schismatics those who disagree with the changes being proposed,” Strickland wrote in a public letter in August. “Instead, those who would propose changes to that which cannot be changed seek to commandeer Christ’s Church, and they are indeed the true schismatics.”

There was no immediate comment from the diocese, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops merely posted an English translation of the Vatican statement with data about the size of the diocese.

In a social media post sent a few hours before the Vatican’s noon announcement, Strickland wrote a prayer about Christ being the “way, the truth and the life, yesterday, today and forever.”
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The proportion of U.S. kindergartners exempted from school vaccination requirements has hit its highest level ever, 3%, U.S. health officials said Thursday.

More parents are questioning routine childhood vaccinations that they used to automatically accept, an effect of the political schism that emerged during the pandemic around COVID-19 vaccines, experts say.

Even though more kids were given exemptions, the national vaccination rate held steady: 93% of kindergartners got their required shots for the 2022-23 school year, the same as the year before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Thursday. The rate was 95% in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The bad news is that it’s gone down since the pandemic and still hasn’t rebounded,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, a University of Colorado pediatric infectious diseases specialist. “The good news is that the vast majority of parents are still vaccinating their kids according to the recommended schedule.”

All U.S. states and territories require that children attending child care centers and schools be vaccinated against a number of diseases, including, measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, whooping cough and chickenpox.

All states allow exemptions for children with medical conditions that prevents them from receiving certain vaccines. And most also permit exemptions for religious or other nonmedical reasons.

In the last decade, the percentage of kindergartners with medical exemptions has held steady, at about 0.2%. But the percentage with nonmedical exemptions has inched up, lifting the overall exemption rate from 1.6% in the 2011-12 school year to 3% last year.

Last year, more than 115,000 kindergartners were exempt from at least one vaccine, the CDC estimated.

The rates vary across the country.

Ten states — all in the West or Midwest — reported that more than 5% of kindergartners were exempted from at least one kind of required vaccine. Idaho had the highest percentage, with 12% of kindergartners receiving at least one exemption. In contrast, 0.1% had exemptions in New York.

The rates can be influenced by state laws or policies can make it harder or easier to obtain exemptions, and by local attitudes among families and doctors about the need to get children vaccinated.

“Sometimes these jumps in exemptions can be very local, and it may not reflect a whole state,” said O’Leary, who chairs an American Academy of Pediatrics committee on infectious diseases.

Hawaii saw the largest jump, with the exemption rate rising to 6.4%, nearly double the year before.

Officials there said it’s not due to any law or policy change. Rather, “we have observed that there has been misinformation/disinformation impacting people’s decision to vaccinate or not via social media platforms,” officials at the state’s health department said in a statement.

Connecticut and Maine saw significant declines, which CDC officials attributed to recent policy changes that made it harder to get exemptions.

Health officials say attaining 95% vaccination coverage is important to prevent outbreaks of preventable diseases, especially of measles, which is extremely contagious.

The U.S. has seen measles outbreaks begin when travelers infected elsewhere came to communities with low vaccination rates. That happened in 2019 when about 1,300 measles cases were reported — the most in the U.S. in nearly 30 years. Most of the cases were in were in Orthodox Jewish communities with low vaccination rates.

One apparent paradox in the report: The national vaccination rate held steady even as exemptions increased. How could that be?

CDC officials say it’s because there are actually three groups of children in the vaccination statistics. One is those who get all the shots. A second is those who get exemptions. The third are children who didn’t seek exemptions but also didn’t get all their shots and paperwork completed at the time the data was collected.

“Last year, those kids in that third group probably decreased,” offsetting the increase in the exemption group, the CDC’s Shannon Stokley said.
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Concerns about slow progress on political and economic reforms appear to have done little to dampen the atmosphere during talks this week between a U.S. delegation and government officials in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

“The United States reaffirmed its unwavering support for Uzbekistan’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” said a U.S. State Department statement on the November 6-7 talks, which were led on the American side by Donald Lu, the assistant secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs.

The discussions in both Astana and Tashkent focused on political, economic, security, human rights, and cultural dimensions, the department said. It quoted Lu expressing Washington’s gratitude to the presidents of both countries for their “active engagement” within the “C5+1” diplomatic platform in which the five Central Asian republics (the C5) and the U.S. hold periodic talks.

Human rights advocates regularly criticize the governments of both countries for their failure to allow real political opposition or tolerate dissent. However, the two are key players in a region where the U.S. sees an opportunity to increase its influence amid growing distrust of Russia after its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The energy-rich region also figures in the global competition for influence between the United States and China. Kazakhstan is the largest economy in the region, while Uzbekistan is the most populous, with median age under 30 in both countries.

Countries partner with U.S.

In the more than three decades since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have cemented themselves as strategic partners of the United States, supporting the 20-year U.S. campaign in Afghanistan and cooperating on counterterrorism operations, non-proliferation initiatives and other common goals.

Kairat Umarov, Kazakhstan’s first deputy foreign minister, stressed during the talks in Astana that his country is in an “enhanced strategic dialogue” with Washington with open channels of communication, aiming to boost trade and investment, specifically in energy and technology.

Kazakh and U.S. officials also emphasize ongoing consultations on U.S.-led sanctions against Russia, Kazakhstan’s northern neighbor, that were imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.

Washington wants Astana to speed up systemic reforms, which President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev claims are a top priority. Umarov “underscored Kazakhstan’s commitment to fully implement” that program, and Lu reiterated Washington’s strong support, according to the U.S. State Department statement.

Media freedom and civil society issues are always part of the dialogue, say U.S. officials, adding that they want to increase educational exchanges.

Similar assurances were offered in the U.S.-Uzbek strategic partnership session. While Uzbekistan is counting on Washington’s assistance in joining the World Trade Organization, the U.S. wants to work closely with Tashkent on regional connectivity and security.

This week’s discussions focused on defense, law enforcement, border and customs cooperation, the State Department said.

A joint statement following the talks said the United States and Uzbekistan share “a desire to continue to grow and diversify trade and investment, advance agricultural reforms in Uzbekistan, improve women’s economic empowerment, and jointly address the climate crisis.”

Economic and political reforms remain problematic in Uzbekistan, where advocates argue that progress on expansive promises made by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev since taking office in 2016, has stalled or moved backward in recent years.

But Deputy Foreign Minister Gayrat Fozilov told the U.S. delegation his country is committed “to continue irreversible democratic reforms … promoting respect for human rights, including freedom of religion or belief, combating trafficking in persons and corruption, and preventing gender-based violence.”

To demonstrate U.S. support for women’s empowerment, Lu played hockey in Astana with young female athletes. In Uzbekistan, he met with Mirziyoyev’s closest aide, his eldest daughter Saida Mirziyoyeva.

“We discussed the current state and prospects of bilateral relations between our countries in education, culture, and ensuring the rights of women and children. We also exchanged views on issues of supporting the media and civil society in Uzbekistan and interaction in the field of human rights,” said Mirziyoyeva via social media.

Bloggers, media face scrutiny

Such conversations are taking place while yet another blogger is on trial in Uzbekistan. Olimjon Haydarov, 34, known in his native Ferghana for investigating corruption, believes the extortion and defamation charges against him are false and retaliation for his activism. Uzbek authorities say that he was caught “red-handed” taking a bribe.

Blogger Abduqodir Muminov, 33, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison this summer on similar charges. While he admitted acting illegally, Muminov claimed following the trial that he had been tortured in detention.

In September, guilty verdicts on charges of financial crimes were handed to three media figures: Khurshid Daliyev, founder of the Human.uz news site; Mavjuda Mirzayeva, a former Labor Ministry press secretary; and Siyovush Hoshimov, the former communications head of the state oil and gas holding company.

Daliyev and Hoshimov were sentenced to seven years behind bars, while Mirzayeva got a suspended punishment due to illness.

The Ezgulik Human Rights Society in Tashkent puts the number of officially targeted bloggers at more than 25 this year alone, with at least seven of them behind bars.

Uzbek media regulators tell VOA they want to see responsible journalism, free of corrupt practices. Many in the state and private media agree but point to the government as the main culprit and “chief censor.”

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan remain among the most repressive environments in terms of media and political freedoms, according to Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House.

Current rights concerns in Kazakhstan include the case of government critic Marat Zhylanbaev, whom authorities allege is a member of a banned extremist organization.

Human Rights Watch’s Central Asia senior researcher Mihra Rittman said, “The sum total of Zhylanbaev’s so-called wrongdoing is publicly but peacefully advocating for a political alternative to Kazakhstan’s authoritarian government, and he should be released.”

Call to release Muslims

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which hosted Mirziyoyev’s advisers last week in Washington, has been calling on Uzbek authorities to release “Muslims imprisoned in connection with their religious activities” and reexamine their convictions.

Uzbek Ambassador to the U.S. Furkat Sidikov said his government is open to tackling any issue and regularly engages the members of the U.S. Congress through the Uzbekistan Caucus in the House of Representatives.

He told VOA that he spoke this week at a special briefing at the Department of Labor, as a representative of a country “making significant progress against forced labor and child labor in recent years.”

Sidiqov and Kazakh Ambassador Yerzhan Ashikbayev have been pressing Congress to exempt their countries from a 1974 trade law that blocks them from having normal trade relations with the U.S. Such a step has been proposed by both Republicans and Democrats but has yet to be considered in either chamber.

The law, known as the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, was originally adopted to punish the Soviet Union for its human rights abuses and emigration restrictions.
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