Biden aide Sullivan meets Xi, Chinese military brass in Beijing

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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

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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

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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

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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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China’s summer movie ticket sales nearly halved amid sluggish economy

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WASHINGTON — Movie ticket sales in China have generated more than $1.5 billion so far this summer, a little more than half of last year’s record total of $2.89 billion, according to China’s Film Data Information Network, an institution directly under the Central Propaganda Department. 

Summer is usually one of three lucrative periods for China’s movie industry, but industry analysts, observers and customers say a slower economy and a lack of creative domestic films are to blame for the decline.

Some would-be moviegoers explained why they are staying home this summer.

One posted on social media: “The impact from last year’s economic downturn officially appeared this year. Everyone thinks 40-80 yuan ($5-$11) per ticket is expensive.” 

“Many movies in theaters in July are on streaming services in August,” another posted. “We’d rather watch them at home than go to the theater.”

A moviegoer in Beijing who identified herself as Ms. Yu, told VOA that this year’s film market is sluggish because the themes are plain, and streaming services allow everyone to watch movies at home without spending money.

“Everyone’s life is already miserable,” she said, “so we don’t want to watch sad movies.”

Although the streaming services have become theaters’ biggest competitors, the economic downturn may be the main reason for the ticket sales plunge, said Shenzhen-based film director Zhang, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

 

“The spending power of young people and parents has decreased,” Zhang told VOA. “One [reason] is that young people don’t date, and parents whose income has been reduced are under great pressure to raise children, so they naturally cut the consumption activities except eating and drinking, not just movies.”

China’s economy has been struggling to stabilize since the pandemic, according to the World Bank, with growth falling to 3% in 2022 before a moderate recovery to 5.2% in 2023. The global lender expects China’s growth rate to drop back below 5% this year, while youth unemployment has surged.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics removed students from its unemployment calculation after China hit a record high 21.3% youth unemployment rate in June 2023, prompting authorities to temporarily suspend publication of the statistic. 

Darson Chiu, director-general of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Taiwan, told VOA that China’s controls on film and creativity have also contributed to the lackluster box office figures.

“China has a very strict censorship system,” Chiu said. “Cultural activities need creativity, and it must be bottom-up. But it is obviously a top-down [censorship] mechanism, so it [the Chinese film industry] is not as creative as it is in other more open and free economies.”

Lee Cheng-liang, an assistant professor of communications at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan, said Chinese cinemas in the summer mainly show domestic movies, which are struggling to find investors.

“The economy is declining; investors are more cautious to minimize risks. So they diversify the movie themes they invest in,” Lee told VOA. “If you focus on the Chinese market, you will not necessarily make money unless you are at the top of the pyramid.”

Director Zhang said the Chinese summer comedies “Successor,” which critiques the Chinese social education system, and “Upstream,” which portrays package deliverers, are movies that do not “empathize with the general public.” 

Commercial movies are often condescending, he said, with hypocritically fabricated plots to show the suffering of people at the bottom. “It is actually a very deformed route,” Zhang added.

Other film critics, however, find “Upstream” a great work with increasing favorable audience feedback, which uncovers China’s immense economic problems and the struggle of its army of gig workers.

China’s state Xinhua News agency said “Successor,” grossing nearly 3.2 billion yuan as of Aug 20, accounted for almost 30% of China’s summer box office sales.

Zhang said the more depressed the social and historical period is, the more popular comedy is because the audience wants to feel “dreamy and painless.”

Despite the poor summer box office showing, not all critics are negative about China’s film industry.  

“The ticket sales are not good this summer, but it does not mean that their [China’s] movies are bad,” Michael Mai, a film critic based in Taipei, told VOA. “Their audience is hard to please. Why? Because their appetite is too big. They have all kinds of movies.”

Mai noted that there are three major periods in the Chinese movie market: the Lunar New Year, in January and February; the summer season, from June to August; and the weeklong National Day season from Oct. 1.  

Movie ticket sales always have seasonal ups and downs, Mai said, so people should be focusing more on long-term trends.      

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Second elephant calf in 2 weeks is born at California zoo

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FRESNO, Calif. — The second elephant calf in two weeks has been born at a California zoo.

African elephant Amahle gave birth early Monday morning, according to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. The event came 10 days after Amahle’s mother, Nolwazi, gave birth to another male calf.

The new additions are the first elephants born at the zoo, about 240 kilometers southeast of San Francisco, which has embarked on a program to breed elephants in the hope that they can be seen by zoogoers in years to come.

“To have two healthy calves is a historic milestone,” Jon Forrest Dohlin, the zoo’s chief executive, said in a statement Tuesday. “We cannot wait for the public to see the new additions to our herd and share in our excitement.”

The elephants and their calves will continue to be monitored behind the scenes for now, Dohlin said. While the zoo expanded its exhibit in anticipation of growing its herd, some animal activists have opposed the breeding program, saying elephants shouldn’t be in zoos because of their complex needs.

In 2022, the zoo brought in male elephant Mabu hoping he’d breed with the two females. The future of elephants — which have relatively few offspring and a 22-month gestation period — in zoos hinges largely on breeding.
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China vows to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan

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WASHINGTON — China pledged support for Pakistan’s anti-terrorism campaign after Baloch insurgents, with a history of opposing Chinese investments in the region, carried out a series of attacks in the southwestern Baluchistan province Monday.

More than 40 civilians and military personnel were killed. The military reported killing more than 20 attackers.

The province is home to China-funded mega projects, including the strategic deep-water port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.

Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, condemned the latest attacks.

“China stands prepared to strengthen counterterrorism and security cooperation with Pakistan in order to maintain peace and security in the region,” Lin said during a Tuesday briefing in Beijing.

The insurgent group, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The multiple attacks in the resource-rich but impoverished Baluchistan province coincided with a trip to Pakistan by Li Qiaoming, the Chinese commander of the People’s Liberation Army ground forces, who met with Pakistan’s army chief General Syed Asim Munir.

“The meeting afforded an opportunity for in-depth discussions on matters of mutual interest, regional security, military training, and measures to further augment bilateral defense cooperation,” said a press release issued by the Pakistani army.

Baloch separatist groups have strongly opposed the China-Pakistan alliance in Baluchistan, launching their third major secession campaign since 2006. They have targeted Chinese interests within and beyond the province. No Chinese were targeted in the latest attacks.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told his Cabinet the attacks aimed to disrupt a multibillion-dollar set of projects in the province known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said in a statement, “these attacks are a well-thought-out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan.”

Growing violence in cash-strapped Pakistan, especially attacks targeting Chinese nationals and interests, have been a concern for Beijing.

Pakistan has been facing a prolonged debt crisis and has put all its eggs in China’s basket. Beijing had invested around $26 billion in Pakistan under CPEC, said Donald Lu, the U.S. State Department’s assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs, during a congressional hearing last month

“The recent attacks have apparently worried China, but what we see is that China kept pressuring Pakistan in the wake of [a past] attack, instead of helping it out in its fight against militancy,” Pakistani analyst Murad Ali told VOA.

He was referring to an attack by an Afghan citizen in March that killed five Chinese engineers.

“These attacks are particularly troubling for China, which has invested heavily in CPEC. The government is not doing enough to stop the violence,” Abdullah Khan, an Islamabad-based security expert, told VOA.

Last month, weeks-long violent demonstrations in Pakistan’s Gwadar port city aggravated concerns about the country’s security situation and its impact on the Chinese projects in the province.

China called on Pakistan in March to eliminate security risks to its nationals following the suicide attack that killed five Chinese engineers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan’s northwestern volatile province.

Following that attack, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian asked Pakistan at a news conference “to conduct speedy and thorough investigations into the attack, step up security with concrete measures, completely eliminate security risks, and do everything possible to ensure the utmost safety of Chinese personnel, institutions, and projects in Pakistan.”

Speaking in Islamabad in October Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong said CPEC had brought more than $25 billion in direct investments to Pakistan, created 155,000 jobs, and built 510 kilometers (316.8 miles) of expressways, 8,000 megawatts of electricity, and 886 kilometers (550.5 miles) of core transmission grids in Pakistan.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa Service. Ihsan Muhammad Khan and Malik Waqar Ahmed contributed to the story from Pakistan.
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US to finalize significant tariffs on selected Chinese imports

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STATE DEPARTMENT — The White House says U.S. officials continue to raise concerns about what they describe as unfair trade policies and non-market economic practices by the People’s Republic of China.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to unveil its final implementation plans for substantial tariff increases on selected Chinese imports in the coming days.

Some U.S. manufacturers, however, including those in the electric vehicle and utility equipment sectors, have requested that the higher tariff rates be reduced or delayed, citing concerns about rising cost.

On May 14, the White House announced a significant increase in tariffs on Chinese imports, raising duties on electric vehicles to 100%, doubling tariffs on semiconductors and solar cells to 50%, and introducing new 25% tariffs on lithium-ion batteries and other strategic products such as steel.

The move is seen as an effort to reshore U.S. manufacturing, enhance supply chain resilience, and protect domestic U.S. industries from what officials described as China’s overproduction.

This week, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their talks near Beijing that Washington will continue to take necessary actions to prevent advanced U.S. technologies from being used to undermine national security, while avoiding undue limitations on trade or investment.

In Beijing, China has vowed to take countermeasures.

Wang this week accused the U.S. of using overcapacity as an excuse for “protectionism.” He urged the U.S. to “stop suppressing China in the economic, trade, and technological fields and to stop undermining China’s legitimate interests.”

Sullivan and Wang have discussed arranging a call between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming weeks. Disputes over trade and tariffs are expected to be among the issues on the agenda.

Former U.S. officials told VOA that the leaders also are likely to have face-to-face talks before Biden leaves office next January.

“The first opportunity is the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) leaders’ summit in November, and the second is the G20 summit in November,” Ryan Haas, a former NSC senior official from 2013 to 2017 and currently a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told VOA on Wednesday.

Some analysts have downplayed the likelihood of immediate inflation, noting that the tariff increases announced in May target a relatively small portion of products — $18 billion in imports from China, which accounts for only 4.2% of all U.S. imports from China in 2023.

“Because many of the tariffs affect products that are not currently being imported in large quantities, and because they are phased in over two years, the immediate inflationary effect is likely to be small,” wrote William Reinsch, the Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in a CSIS analysis earlier this year.

This week, following the Biden administration’s May announcement, Canada said that it will impose a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicle imports and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from China, effective Oct. 1.

In Beijing, China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement expressing strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to Canada’s planned tariff increases, stating that they would disrupt the stability of global industrial and supply chains, severely impact trade relations, and harm the interests of businesses in both countries.

Some material in this report came from Reuters.
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Would-be Trump assassin saw ex-president as ‘target of opportunity’

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Washington — The 20-year-old gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump in July was dead set on carrying out an attack but appears to have seen the former U.S. leader and current Republican presidential candidate as a “target of opportunity.”

Senior FBI officials shared the updated assessment of Thomas Matthew Crooks on Wednesday, saying the findings are based on almost 1,000 interviews and extensive analysis of his internet search activity and social media accounts.

“We saw through our analysis of all his — particularly his online searches — a sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some event,” FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Rojek told reporters during a phone briefing.

“He looked at any number of events or targets,” Rojek said, adding that when the Trump campaign announced the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the shooter “became hyperfocused on that specific event.”

As for what motivated Crooks to carry out an attack in the first place, officials said that remains a mystery.

“At this time, the FBI has not identified a motive,” said Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch.

Wells also said the FBI investigation has found no credible evidence to suggest that the shooter told anyone of his plans or that he had any help from any individuals or foreign governments.

“I want to be clear. We have not seen any indication to suggest Crooks was directed by a foreign entity to conduct the attack,” he said.

The FBI officials further rejected conspiracy theories that have been circulating on social media regarding a potential second shooter.

They said a forensic examination of the shooter’s gun, an AR-style rifle, conclusively linked the weapon to all eight shell casings found on the roof of the building where he carried out the attack.

The FBI officials said only two other shots were fired — one by a local law enforcement officer, and one by a U.S. Secret Service sniper — which hit the shooter in the head, killing him.

FBI investigators have been scouring Crooks’ internet searches and social media activity, and talking to anyone who knew him, ever since he climbed on a roof of a building overlooking the Trump campaign rally in rural, western Pennsylvania and began shooting, leaving Trump with a bloody ear and killing a rallygoer and injuring two others.

Last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers that Crooks appeared to have become fixated on high-profile public figures and that just a week before the attempted assassination, he searched for information on the 1963 killing of U.S. President John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald.

“On July 6, he did a Google search for, quote, ‘How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?’” Wray said.

“That’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” Wray added. “That is the same day that he registered for the Butler rally.”

FBI officials on Wednesday presented a more-detailed account of Crooks’ mindset and planning, saying the shooter appears to have started preparing to carry out an attack or shooting as far back as September 2023, using an online account to look at Trump’s campaign schedule.

Starting in April of this year, officials said, the shooter began researching campaign events for Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden.

“In the 30 days prior to the attack, the subject conducted more than 60 searches related to President Biden and former President Trump,” said the FBI’s Rojek, adding the shooter also looked up the dates and locations of the Republican and Democratic national conventions.

But Rojek said that Crooks’ focus on carrying out an attack appears to go back even further, and that he began researching how to make explosives in September 2019.

He said there is also no indication, so far, that Crooks was motivated by any political leanings.

“We’ve seen no definitive ideology associated with our subject either left leaning or right leaning,” Rojek said. “It’s really been a mixture, and something that we’re still attempting to analyze and draw conclusions on.”

It also appears Crooks was clear-headed and methodical in his attempt to kill Trump.  Lab tests showed no signs he was using alcohol or illicit drugs at the time of the attack, FBI officials said.
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Russian media ‘in survival mode,’ says recently freed American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva

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Following more than nine months of unjust detention, American-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva is adjusting to life in freedom with her family in Prague. While in Washington this week to receive an award, she tells VOA’s Liam Scott the fate of other political prisoners is on her mind. Camera: Cristina Caicedo Smit, Hoshang Fahim, Adam Greenbaum, Krystof Maixner, Martin Bubenik
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Terror groups’ use of drones ‘levels playing field’ in Africa, experts say

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In an interview with VOA, U.N. experts say terror groups in Africa are increasing their use of drones to carry out operations previously only possible for nation-states. Reporter Henry Wilkins looks at how this makes the work of African states fighting insurgencies even more difficult.
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Russian hacker attacks target former US ambassadors, reveal prior penetration

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Washington — Russian opposition politician Ilya Ponomarev says he saw no reason to be suspicious when he received what appeared to be an email from former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, a trusted contact with whom he communicates periodically.

“This letter was visually no different from his other letters. I believed that it was his letter because it was visually no different from his other letters,” Ponomarev told VOA Russian in a Zoom interview.

But this email from several months ago turned out to be one of numerous “phishing attacks” targeting U.S. diplomats and others that have been identified as the work of two cyber-espionage outfits linked to the Russian government. And the fact that it accurately mimicked McFaul’s previous messages indicated the attackers had already seen those earlier messages.

“The letter contained a reference to a report on Ukraine that McFaul supposedly intended to deliver in China, and also a request to check whether he had mixed something up,” Ponomarev said. McFaul did in fact deliver a lecture to Chinese students in April.

McFaul has confirmed to VOA that he was the target of a hacker attack but did not elaborate. The details of the attack were revealed in a recent joint report from the digital rights group Access Now and the Canadian research nonprofit Citizen Lab.

The report says the attacks were conducted between October 2022 and August 2024 by two “threat actors close to the Russian regime” known as ColdRiver and ColdWastrel.

According to The Washington Post, “multiple governments” have said that ColdRiver works for the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the successor agency to the Soviet KGB, while ColdWastrel is believed to be “working for another Russian agency.”

Among their targets were exiled Russian opposition figures, employees of U.S. think tanks, former U.S. ambassadors to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, political figures and academics, employees of American and European non-profit organizations, and media organizations.

VOA has spoken with several of those named as victims, including former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, a Russian journalist and a Russian human rights activist, as well as Ponomarev and McFaul.

The goal of phishing attacks is to try to get a user to click on a malicious link or enter their data – login and password – on a fake website. If the attack is successful, hackers gain access to the victim’s confidential information, including correspondence, contact lists and, in some cases, financial information.

Hackers conducting phishing campaigns employ a technique called “social engineering,” which a leading American cyber security software and services company described as using “psychological manipulation” designed to trick users into divulging sensitive information.

Herbst, who is currently director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, told VOA that he has been facing attacks from Russian hackers for the past 10 years.

The Kremlin “didn’t like from the beginning what I was doing because I was pointing out that they’re conducting an illegal invasion of Ukraine, I guess going back to 2014,” he said.

Herbst said that Russian hackers target people who take a public position aimed at countering Moscow’s aggressive foreign policy: “So, it’s not surprising that people like Steve Pifer or Michael McFaul, or myself have received attention from the FSB, the GRU [Russian military intelligence] and others.”

Herbst added: “I don’t want to overstate the attention they give to us. You know, we are pretty much tertiary or even less than tertiary players on the international political scene, but they know they have such a massive security apparatus that they give some low-level guy the job of following people like me.”

“The stuff that linked me with Mike McFaul or Steve Pifer … was a fishing expedition, right? [To] see if they could get one of them to say something in confidence to me, which would be embarrassing.”

Steven Pifer did not respond to a VOA request for comment on the details of the hacker attack.

Ponomarev said that he responded to the fake McFaul email, but did not have time to download the malicious file attached to it since he was on a plane when he opened the email, and it was inconvenient to download the file from a phone.

“When I opened it on my computer, I noticed that the address he sent it to me from was not his usual Stanford University address, it was something completely different,” Ponomarev told VOA.

“Being an IT guy, I looked at the IP address of the file in the email and was convinced that it was phishing. After that, I passed the information on to the competent authorities so that they could look into the matter further.”

Ponomarev added that the fact the email ostensibly sent by McFaul came from a Proton service mailbox did not initially arouse any particular suspicions.

“I also have an address on Proton, for some kind of confidential correspondence,” he said, noting that attackers can forge addresses on Proton by changing one letter, so that visually it still looks like a regular mailing address.

“They use it because it’s completely anonymous,” Ponomarev added. “You can’t trace an IP address to Proton, so when you use Proton, it’s a dead end, you can’t excavate it any further.”

Polina Machold, publisher of Proekt, an independent Russian media outlet specializing in investigative journalism, told VOA that in the phishing attack targeting her, which took place last November, the hackers also employed social engineering and the Proton mail service.

“I received a letter from a ‘colleague’ from another media outlet, with whom we had previously done a joint project, asking to look at a new potential project or something like that,” Machold told VOA.

“We corresponded for some time, and when it came to opening the file, I discovered that something very suspicious was going on, because the link in the file supposedly led to Proton Drive, but the domain was something completely different.”

Machold said she called a colleague who confirmed that the attacker was pretending to be him. The information was passed on to Citizen Lab, which determined that hackers likely associated with the FSB were behind the attack.

Dmitry Zair-Bek, who heads First Department, a Russian rights group, said that a member of his group was among the first targets of a hacker attack “because we defend people in cases of treason and espionage.”

“One of our employees received an email from an address that mimicked the address of one of our partners,” he said. “The email contained a link that led to a phishing site.”

Zair-Bek added that the ColdWastrel group carried out the attack targeting First Department.

“They are the ‘C’ students of the hacker world,” Zair-Bek said of ColdWastrel. “The idea is the same as the ColdRiver group, they just paid less attention to some small details.

“The fact that they are ‘C’ students does not mean that they are less effective. They choose a person who from their point of view, on the one hand, has the largest amount of information that interests them and, on the other hand, is the most vulnerable.”

Even someone well-versed in digital security issues can fall for the bait of hackers, says Natalia Krapiva, an expert at Access Now, which co-authored the report on the Russian hacker attacks.

“The ColdRiver and ColdWastrel groups use quite sophisticated social engineering, a very good understanding of the context,” she told VOA.

“They know how the organization is structured in general, which people are responsible for finance, HR, politics, and so on. That is, they know which employee to send this [phishing] email to. They also understand with whom these organizations interact and on what issues.”

“We have seen examples of exploiting existing relationships between a Russian and an American human rights organization,” Krapiva added, noting that hackers knew that one of the organizations was waiting for a grant application and sent a malicious PDF file to the employee who was waiting for it.

This suggests that hackers already have a certain amount of information at the time they attempt to attack their victims, she said.
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2 men from Europe charged with ‘swatting’ plot targeting members of Congress, senior US officials

Posted on by SeeEU

WASHINGTON — Two men from Europe are charged in a plot to call in bogus reports of police emergencies to harass and threaten members of Congress, senior U.S. government officials and dozens of other people, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday. 

Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia targeted at least 100 people with “swatting” calls to instigate an aggressive response by police officers at the victims’ homes, the federal indictment alleges. 

The calls also included threats to carry out mass shootings at New York City synagogues and to set off explosives at the U.S. Capitol and a university, the indictment said. A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., handed up the indictment last Thursday. 

Online court records in Washington didn’t say if Szabo or Radovanovic have been arrested or if they are represented by attorneys. A court filing accompanying their indictment said investigators believed they were in separate foreign countries last week. A spokesperson for the office of Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, declined to elaborate. 

Szabo and Radovanovic are both charged with conspiracy and more than two dozen counts of making threats. The plot spanned more than three years, from December 2020 through January 2024, according to prosecutors. 

“Swatting is not a victimless prank — it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources, and inflicts significant emotional trauma,” Graves said in a statement. 

Szabo organized and moderated chat groups to coordinate swatting attacks against 40 private citizens and 61 officials, including cabinet-level members of the federal government’s executive branch, the head of a federal law enforcement agency, a federal judge, current and former governors, and other state officials, the indictment said. 

In December 2023 and January 2024, Radovanovic allegedly called government agencies to falsely report killings and imminent suicides or kidnappings at the homes of U.S. senators, House members and elected state officials, according to the indictment. One of the calls led to a car crash involving injuries, the indictment alleges.
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China-Russia cooperation in Arctic raises concerns

Posted on by SeeEU

Stockholm, Sweden — As China and Russia look to deepen cooperation in the Arctic, analysts cite concern about increasing geopolitical competition in the region, forcing countries to think more about how to respond to potential threats.   

Following a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow on August 21, China released an expansive communique outlining ways the two countries are boosting cooperation.  

On the Arctic, Beijing and Moscow pledged to strengthen cooperation in areas including shipping development, navigation safety, polar ship technology and construction.  

“Both countries will encourage their enterprises to actively engage in Arctic shipping routes cooperation based on market principles and pay special attention to the protection of the Arctic ecosystem,” according to the communique.   

Analysts say the latest announcement is part of Beijing and Moscow’s efforts to deepen collaboration in areas such as shipping, energy exploration and Arctic security.  

“China has invested in Russia’s energy projects in the Arctic, cooperated with Russia in shipping and infrastructure development, and conducted military exercises in the strategically important region,” said Patrik Andersson, an analyst at the Swedish National China Center.  

In July, the U.S. Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command revealed that it had tracked two Russian and two Chinese long-range strategic bombers that appeared in the skies off coastal Alaska. 

Since 2023, Beijing and Moscow have worked jointly to develop the Northern Sea Route across Russia’s Arctic coastline, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has said is “absolutely fundamental.” The two also signed a memorandum of understanding aiming to deepen maritime security cooperation between their coast guards.

Despite attempts to deepen cooperation in the Arctic, Andersson said there are still several friction points between Beijing and Moscow.  

“Russia has historically been wary of inviting China into the Arctic because Moscow views the region as its backyard,” he told VOA in an interview in Stockholm.  

“As the bilateral power balance increasingly shifts in China’s favor since the start of the Ukraine War, Russia is becoming more economically and politically dependent on China, which may force Moscow to consider strengthening cooperation with Beijing in some areas where it was previously reluctant to do so,” Andersson said.  

And while the recent joint aerial patrol near Alaska has attracted a lot of attention, Andersson said the scope of their bilateral military cooperation in the Arctic remains unclear.  

“It’s difficult to determine how much these exercises mean that they are really ready to establish a closer military cooperation in the region or whether they are mainly about posturing and deterring the U.S. and its allies in the Arctic,” he told VOA.  

Growing Arctic awareness  

Even so, analysts say some Nordic countries are becoming more aware of the potential threat China may bring to the region through its cooperation with Moscow.  

“[While] officials in Finland are currently observing the developments in the Arctic, there’s definitely a growing awareness about the potential threats or challenges that come with the growing Chinese presence in the region,” said Minna Alander, an expert on Arctic security at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.  

She said Russia remains the main driver of the militarization of the Arctic but China could pose challenges to Finland and other Arctic states because of more opaque strategies.  

“There’s always this suspicion that most of the research that China is conducting at its research station in Norway’s Svalbard is not purely for ‘the advancement of human civilization,’” she told VOA by phone.  

Regional experts note that Nordic countries have yet to come up with a set of strategies to cope with the potential challenges.  

“I think we are realizing the complexity of hybrid threats that could be posed by China and Russia [in the Arctic] but we haven’t developed a toolbox to cope with those challenges,” Patrik Oksanen, a senior fellow at the Stockholm Free World Forum, told VOA by phone.  

He said economic ties with China complicate Sweden’s attempt to produce a strategic plan to cope with the new challenges.  

“There is an unwillingness to do something that could be interpreted as escalating the situation with China, but we will need to address the potential threats that China and Russia pose in the Arctic in a very short time,” Oksanen said.  

Ice pact 

Alander in Finland said she expects countries like Finland and Sweden, which became NATO members in 2023, to increase cooperation in the Arctic with other NATO allies. 

“Finland has an interest in developing relations with [other NATO members] in sectors such as security, economy, and trade, and Finland has gone all in on this transatlantic link,” she told VOA.  

In July, the U.S., Canada, and Finland announced a trilateral initiative, called the “Ice Pact,” to collaborate on the production of polar icebreakers.  

The Canadian government said the initiative recognizes the “joint priority of upholding safety and security in the Arctic, including the continued protection of long-standing international rules and norms.”   

In addition to increasing cooperation with NATO allies, Joar Forssell, a Swedish MP from the Liberal Party, told VOA that lawmakers from Nordic countries also are looking to deepen coordination on issues related to the Arctic.  

As NATO countries, along with Russia and China, look to increase cooperation with partners in the Arctic, Alander said the trend likely will lead to greater geopolitical tension in a region that’s long been free from global power struggle.  

“There used to be a slogan ‘High north, low tension’ [to describe the state in the Arctic] but unfortunately, it might be more like ‘high north, high tension’ in the future,” she told VOA. 
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Facing barriers in West, China to push green products at Africa summit    

Posted on by SeeAF

Johannesburg      — As the West clamps down on imports of green technology products from China, the world’s biggest manufacturer is looking for new markets, and that is a topic analysts say will dominate the agenda next month at a Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC, in Beijing.

The high-level meeting, held every three years, will be the first since the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and China suffered its own economic slowdown. It also comes amid growing geopolitical rivalry and as China shifts the priorities of its global infrastructure-building project, the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, to what it has dubbed “the green BRI” and “small is beautiful” projects.

The theme of the meeting, which takes place from September 4-6, is “Joining hands to promote modernization,” and Lin Jian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said it will “open up new vistas for China-Africa relations.” One of these areas, according to China’s ambassador to South Africa, Wu Peng, will be “to support Africa’s green development.”

While many African countries — some of which are facing energy crises — will welcome help with their transition to renewables, Paul Nantulya, a research associate for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, explained that China also “benefits greatly.”

“If you look at green growth for instance, the technology which is marketed to African countries, which African countries have to buy, either through loan finance or directly through commercial entities, that’s one way in which China benefits,” he told VOA.

And China needs new buyers.

China’s overproduction woes

China is the largest producer of solar batteries in the world and in 2023 accounted for three quarters of global investment in overall green technology manufacturing, according to data from the International Energy Agency. It also produced more than half of the electric vehicles sold worldwide last year.

Its lead in these industries has resulted in rising competition with the West. The United States and European Union have enacted protectionist policies, increasing tariffs on products from China including electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels and critical minerals. Europe and the U.S. want to boost their own manufacturing and create jobs.

“We see China’s products are increasingly facing restrictions in the U.S. and Europe, and I believe China will be looking for alternative markets in Africa,” Cliff Mboya, an analyst with the Pretoria-based China Global South Project, told VOA.

However, he said African governments could use China’s woes on that front as a bargaining chip. While China is the continent’s biggest trade partner, it exports a lot more to Africa than it imports.

“We know that China previously promised more market access for African products, so as China looks for the African market for some of its products that are facing high tariffs and limitations in the West…it presents an opportunity to negotiate for more access of African products into the Chinese market,” Mboya said.

The West is concerned about possible “dumping” by China, in which it floods foreign markets with cheap exports to get rid of its global trade surplus. Mboya said that should also be a concern for African governments.

“We should also be able to negotiate and ensure it doesn’t lead to dumping of these products into the continent because we also need to create employment for our youth and also ensure that we are also able to produce some basic goods in the continent,” he said.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 70% of the population is under the age of 30, according to data from the United Nations.

Ambassador Wu didn’t mince his words when talking about the “sensitive issue” at an event in South Africa earlier in August.

“In 2023, China also produced nearly 9.5 million electricity vehicles, EVs, and exported nearly 1.8 million EVs to the world,” he said. “Some people blame China for so-called overcapacity.”

“Europeans or the U.S. already — or will — levy high tariff rates against these EVs.”

“Let’s wait and see alright? If they can catch up to produce more EVs, affordable for the customers in a very quick way…no problem. But if they don’t, I think it’s a little bit unreasonable,” he continued.

China, however, is facing a mismatch in supply and demand for its products. Last year, its solar cell production doubled global demand and in July, major solar panel company Longi Green Energy Technology logged a net loss of some $750 million.

“There’s significant parallels between the excess capacity China faces now in its clean technology sectors, as with the excess capacity a decade ago in heavy industry and infrastructure, which was when the BRI was initially launched,” Yunnan Chen, a researcher at London-based research group ODI, told VOA.

China used the BRI to “offshore” its domestic industries and build markets for its infrastructure in developing countries, and it is now doing the same with renewable energy, she added.

“Tariffs from Western markets is another accentuating pressure that will make middle-income emerging markets even more important for Chinese goods, and even for the offshoring of production lines and supply chains to be able to access EU and Western markets via third countries – as we’re already seeing in Vietnam and Mexico,” she said.

Pivot to Africa

Chinese Ambassador Wu said the FOCAC will focus the needs of African countries in the energy transition and that “China will encourage Chinese enterprises to invest.”

He said that new energy cooperation could become a growth driver and a highlight in economic and trade cooperation between China and South Africa specifically.

But Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said FOCAC’s focus on green technology and energy wouldn’t necessarily be a boon for Africa.

“It does not necessarily put Africa in an advantaged position in the global supply chain. For example, China has a number of lithium assets (mines) in Africa and that technically could be called green energy and technology cooperation between China and Africa,” she said.

“Traditionally, Africa had been a source of raw materials for China, such as oil and minerals. If now it is lithium and other critical minerals used for green energy, how is it different from before?” she added. “Mining and processing whose benefit for locals are debatable.”

Besides green technology, the analysts expect FOCAC will also focus on areas including agricultural modernization and trade, information technology and connectivity, and education and training. African leaders will also be looking to get a one-on-one with China’s leader, Xi Jinping.

Some African countries, which borrowed heavily from China and are saddled with debt, are facing pressure at home.

Kenya, for example, has been rocked by anti-government protests. But experts say they doubt African leaders will push for debt restructuring publicly, to avoid embarrassing China.
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Japan issues emergency warning as powerful Typhoon Shanshan nears

Posted on by SeeEA

Tokyo — Southwestern Japan braced on Wednesday for what officials say could be one of the strongest storms to ever hit the region, as some residents in the path of Typhoon Shanshan were ordered to evacuate and major firms like Toyota closed factories.

Airlines and rail operators canceled some services for the coming days as the typhoon, categorized as “very strong,” barreled towards the main southwestern island of Kyushu with gusts of up 252 km per hour (157 mph). 

The meteorological agency issued an emergency warning saying the typhoon could bring flooding, landslides and wind strong enough to knock down some houses.

“Maximum caution is required given that forecasts are for strong winds, high waves and high tides that have not been seen thus far,” Satoshi Sugimoto, the agency’s chief forecaster, told a news conference.

After striking Kyushu over the next few days the storm is expected to approach central and eastern regions, including the capital Tokyo, around the weekend, the agency said.

Authorities issued evacuation orders for more than 800,000 residents in Kagoshima prefecture in southern Kyushu and central Japan’s Aichi and Shizuoka prefectures.

In Aichi, home to Toyota’s headquarters, two people believed to be residents of a house that collapsed in a landslide during heavy rains were unaccounted for. Three residents of the house had been pulled out, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Toyota will suspend operations at all 14 of its plants in Japan from Wednesday evening through Thursday morning, it said. Nissan  said it would suspend operations at its Kyushu plant on Thursday and Friday morning, while Honda  will also temporarily close its factory in Kumamoto in southwestern Kyushu.

Also, Mazda Motor plans to suspend operations at its Hiroshima and Hofu plants, both in western Japan, from Thursday evening through Friday, the automaker said.

Shanshan is the latest harsh weather system to hit Japan following last week’s Typhoon Ampil, which also led to blackouts and evacuations.

ANA said it would cancel more than 210 domestic flights in total between Wednesday and Friday slated to leave or arrive in southwestern Japan, affecting about 18,400 passengers.

Japan Airlines said it would cancel 402 domestic flights over the same three-day period. A total of 10 international flights operated by both airlines will also be suspended.
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Young people from conflict regions pledge to work for peace

Posted on by SeeUS

In the summer of 1993, 46 Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and American kids gathered at a camp in the state of Maine. The camp was the brainchild of journalist and author John Wallach, who wanted to provide children of war the chance to build a more secure future. Jeff Swicord reports. Videographer: Karina Chaudhury
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Flooding kills hundreds in Nigeria as authorities brace for more destruction

Posted on by SeeAF

Abuja — Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency is warning that fatalities caused by severe flooding in the country will increase in September and October – the usual peak period for rainfall. The floods have already killed more than 170 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more in Nigeria this year.

According to the latest tally on the National Emergency Management Agency tracker, some 170 people have died and some 205,000 displaced by flooding in 28 out of Nigeria’s 36 states.

Bauchi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, and Jigawa states are the most impacted.

The flooding has been caused by unprecedented rainfall and the rising Niger and Benue rivers. And officials worry more bad weather may be ahead.

Ezekiel Manzo is the NEMA spokesperson. He spoke to VOA via phone. 

“We are presently responding to a number of locations where flooding has occurred. The situation is not ending because we are just approaching the peak of the (rainy) season. The incidents we’re having are mostly in the northern part of the country [and] from the reports available to us, River Benue is rising, River Niger is also rising. And once the water level is high there it will ultimately flow into our country, so we’re expecting large volume of water coming from Niger,” he said.

The floods have also washed away thousands of hectares of farmlands, compounding an already dire food security situation caused by widespread insecurity.

Manzo said authorities have been advising and helping to evacuate locals in flood-prone plains as well as providing relief for hundreds of thousands already impacted.

“We are conducting assessments, we are increasing our awareness to sensitize the people to move immediately from the flood plains to avoid being washed away by the waters. The situation is still that of a threat and people need to be aware and move out of the danger zone,” he said.

The Nigerian government estimates 31 states will experience severe flooding this year.

In Jigawa – one of the most impacted states – authorities have been building embankments to reduce the impact of the flooding.

State Governor Umar Namadi told Al-Jazeera that the disaster is diverting crucial government funds.

“A lot of attention is being diverted to that area because you will need to save that situation. So, because of that, of course a lot of government revenue will be lost. Not only that a lot of extra expenditure will have to be incurred,” said Namadi.

In 2022, Nigeria recorded its worst flooding in a decade. The deluge killed more than 600 people and destroyed swathes of cultivated lands. 

Last week, the 2024 Global Report on Food Crises named Nigeria second among nations with the highest number of hungry people.

Nigeria’s minister of state for agriculture said up to 51 percent of farming areas are susceptible to flooding this year.

Manzo said Nigerian authorities will compensate the farmers – but that in the meantime, it is paramount for everyone to get to safety.
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