U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that talks are underway with Russia to free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in a Moscow jail for more than 100 days on an espionage charge that he denies.

The Kremlin earlier this month said it was open to another prisoner swap with the U.S., one that would free Gershkovich, possibly in exchange for Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian in U.S. custody on cybercrime charges. But Moscow said the negotiations must be carried out in secret.

Biden, speaking at a news conference in Finland, made clear that the U.S. is interested.

“I’m serious on a prisoner exchange,” the U.S. leader said. “And I’m serious about doing all we can to free Americans being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else for that matter, and that process is underway.”

Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip. A Moscow court recently upheld a ruling to keep him in custody until August 30.

Russia has said an exchange could not occur until the charges against him have been adjudicated, but no trial date has been set.
…

The inflation rate in the United States fell sharply to 3% year-over-year in June, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Wednesday, signaling that efforts by the Federal Reserve to rein in soaring prices appear to have been effective.

The lower-than-expected report found that between May and June, prices increased by just 0.2%. The annual rate was a full percentage point below the 4% rate measured just a month ago, and far below the 9% rate that consumers were facing as recently as last summer.

Stripping volatile food and energy prices out of the equation, so-called “core” inflation was 4.8% year-over-year, also lower than economists had expected. Fed policymakers would like to see that core rate decline to 2%, meaning that there is still considerable room for improvement. But most analysts saw Wednesday’s report as very good news.

“We’ve been on quite the inflation journey over the past couple of years, but as we look at the Consumer Price Index, not only are these measurements better, but they’re better than expected. And that’s a good combination,” Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com, told VOA.

Biden celebrates

Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden took credit for the positive inflation news in a statement that attributed falling prices to his economic policies, which he referred to as “Bidenomics.”

“Good jobs and lower costs: That’s Bidenomics in action,” he said. “Today’s report brings new and encouraging evidence that inflation is falling while our economy remains strong. Annual inflation has fallen each of the last twelve months and is now down to 3%. We’ve made this progress while unemployment remains near record lows and a higher share of working age Americans are in jobs now than in 20 years.”

Biden went on to note that workers’ wages have been on the rise, particularly for those in lower-income brackets, and pledged to continue to “fight for lower costs for families every day.”

Fed still expected to raise rates

The Federal Reserve, after lowering interest rates to near-zero during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, in March 2022 initiated a series of sharp interest rate hikes that were meant to cool down the economy and bring the rate of price increases lower.

By May 2023, the central bank had increased the target federal funds rate by 5 full percentage points, to a range of between 5% and 5.25%. The federal funds rate, which banks charge each other for ultra-short term loans, is a critical benchmark that affects the interest rate consumers pay for myriad forms of credit, including mortgages, car loans and credit card debt.

The central bank took a much-publicized break from rate hikes in June, declining to bump rates up again at the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). However, policymakers are expected to increase rates again when they meet later this month.

Wednesday’s lower-than-expected inflation numbers sparked speculation about whether the expected July rate hike will mark the end of the central bank’s tightening phase.

In an appearance Wednesday morning on “Bloomberg Surveillance,” William Dudley, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said, “The Fed should be cheered by this, but I don’t think it’s going to change what they’re going to do at the July meeting.”

Dudley, a former member of the FOMC, added, “What I think this does do is open up the question of, ‘Will July be the last one?’ And that’s certainly possible.”

Consumers remain uncertain

While the Biden administration is celebrating the lower inflation figures, it is less clear whether the successful effort to lower prices has been resonating with the broader public, which has been watching prices rise at rates many adults have never experienced in their lifetimes.

When rates hit 5% in spring 2021, many Americans could recall similar inflation in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2008. However, as rates crept upward, historical comparisons receded further into the past. When rates hit a peak of 9.1% in June 2022, they were the highest recorded in the U.S. since 1981.

The experience has left its mark on U.S. consumers. Multiple recent surveys have found continued uncertainty about financial security and doubt about the future.

In a recent Bankrate survey, only 28% of American adults said they consider themselves financially secure, while 72% said they are not. The majority of Americans, 63%, blamed inflation for their feelings of financial insecurity.

However, Hamrick of Bankrate cautioned that consumer sentiment is typically a “lagging” indicator of the direction of the economy, meaning that sentiment may well remain depressed even after economic conditions have begun improving measurably.

“I would not look for consumer sentiment to be telling us what the future direction of inflation will be, except to the degree that maybe wage earners are going to be somewhat particular about trying to command a higher wage, and particularly if they’re changing jobs,” he said.

Overall, he said, the broad picture of the economy remains generally positive.

“There’s still a high demand for workers out there … and the employment rate is still below 4%,” Hamrick said. “Every time we get data that provides us some reassurance — and I would say broadly, that’s been the case with the consumer price index here, and the June employment report — all that suggests that the economy is in motion toward a better place.”
…

FBI director Christopher Wray defended his agency against Republican accusations of political bias Wednesday, dismissing claims he was “protecting” Democratic President Joe Biden’s family while going after former President Donald Trump, a Republican, and other conservatives.  

“Absolutely not,” Wray retorted during a combative House Judiciary Committee hearing when asked by Republican member and staunch Trump supporter Matt Gaetz if he was “protecting the Bidens.”  

“The FBI does not, has no interest in protecting anyone politically,” Wray said.  

The hearing marked Wray’s first appearance before the oversight panel since Republicans recaptured the House of Representatives following the 2022 midterm elections.  

Wray, who was appointed by Trump and retained by Biden, has become a lightning rod for Republican criticism that the Biden Administration has “weaponized” the FBI and the Justice Department against its political foes.  

The criticism has intensified over the past year, particularly after the FBI executed a search of Trump’s residence in Florida last August as part of an investigation into the former president’s mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House in 2021.     

The unprecedented search, which led to Trump’s indictment last month, has fueled Republican allegations that the FBI is out to get Trump.   

Republican criticism of the FBI is not limited to the Mar-a-Lago search. During the hearing on Wednesday, Republicans aired a litany of old grievances at the FBI, from the bureau’s alleged failure to investigate the Biden family for their alleged corruption to its proclivity to target pro-life activists and work with social media companies to “censor” conservative speech. 

Wray, a long-time Republican, scoffed at the notion that he was hostile to conservatives.  

“The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background,” Wray said.  

In his prepared testimony, Wray highlighted the FBI’s critical investigation and national security work, citing the arrest of more than 20,000 violent criminals and child predators and investigations of cartels and malicious Chinese activities.  

Those highlights fell by the wayside, though, as the hearing devolved into what has become a familiar display of partisanship before the House Judiciary Committee in recent years. 

The panel’s Republican chairman, Jim Jordan of Ohio, a staunch Trump supporter, said there is a “two tier system of justice” in the United States. 

Jerry Nadler, the Democratic ranking member of the panel, said that “it’s absurd that House Republicans are attacking the FBI and DOJ for doing their job and ensuring that no person is above the law.” 

Republicans angry at the FBI’s perceived “politicization” have threatened to “defund” the bureau. However, Wray warned that cutting off the bureau’s funding would be disastrous. 

“We’d have hundreds more violent criminals on the streets,” he said in response to a question. “Dozens more violent gangs terrorizing communities. Hundreds more child molesters on the loose. Hundreds more kids left at those predators’ mercy instead of being rescued. Scores of threats from the Chinese Communist Party being left unaddressed. Hundreds of ransomware attacks left unmitigated. Terrorist attacks, both jihadist-inspired and domestic violent extremists not prevented that would succeed against Americans.” 
…

A former Donald Trump supporter who became the center of a conspiracy theory about January 6, 2021, filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Wednesday, saying the network made him a scapegoat for the U.S. Capitol insurrection. 

Raymond Epps, a former Marine who said he was forced from his Arizona home because of threats, is asking for unspecified damages and a jury trial. 

He filed his lawsuit in Superior Court in Delaware, the same court where Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox for lies broadcast following the 2020 presidential election. Shortly before a trial was to begin this spring, Fox agreed to pay Dominion $787 million to settle the charges. 

Fox did not respond to texts, phone calls and emails seeking comment on Epps’ lawsuit. 

The suit also states that the Justice Department told Epps in May that he faces criminal charges for his actions on January 6. The lawsuit blames that on “the relentless attacks by Fox and Mr. Carlson and the resulting political pressure.” 

Epps, who had traveled to Washington for the January 6 demonstration, was falsely accused by Fox of being a government agent who was whipping up trouble that would be blamed on Trump supporters, the lawsuit claims. 

“In the aftermath of the events of January 6th, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican Party,” the lawsuit says. “Eventually, they turned on one of their own.” 

Although the lawsuit mentions Fox’s Laura Ingraham and Will Cain, former Fox host Tucker Carlson is cited as the leader in promoting the theory. Epps was featured in more than two dozen segments on Carlson’s prime-time show, the lawsuit said. Fox News fired Carlson shortly after the Dominion settlement was announced. 

Carlson “was bluntly telling his viewers that it was a fact that Epps was a government informant,” the lawsuit says. “And they believed him.” 

Carlson ignored evidence that contradicted his theory, including Epps’ testimony before a congressional committee investigating the insurrection that he was not working for the government, and videos provided by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that showed Epps’ efforts to try to defuse the situation, the lawsuit says. 

Carlson is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Epps’ lawyer, Michael Teter, noted that Carlson “was an employee of Fox when he lied about Ray, and Fox broadcast those defamatory falsehoods.” 

“Fox is therefore fully liable for Mr. Carlson’s statements,” Teter said. 

The former Fox star did not respond to a text message seeking comment. 

Also Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray, in an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, addressed Epps being a “secret government agent.” 

“I will say this notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous,” Wray told lawmakers. He refused to say, however, how many of the people who entered the Capitol and surrounding area on January 6 were either FBI employees or people with whom the FBI had made contact. 

Epps claims in his lawsuit that, as a result of the alleged defamatory statements made by Fox, he and his wife have been the target of harassment and death threats from Trump supporters, forced to sell the Arizona ranch where they ran a successful wedding venue business, and now face financial ruin. According to the lawsuit, Epps and his wife are now living in a recreational vehicle in Utah. 
…

China’s ambassador to the United States held a rare meeting at the Pentagon on Wednesday with the top U.S. defense official for Asia, the Pentagon said, in talks that followed U.S. criticism of Chinese reluctance to engage in military communications.  

A brief Pentagon statement said Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng discussed defense relations and “a range of international and regional security issues” in talks with Ely Ratner, an assistant secretary of defense. 

“Ratner also underscored the department’s commitment to maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication between the United States and the PRC,” Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Martin Meiners said, using the initialism for the People’s Republic of China.  

The discussions lasted about 90 minutes, Meiners said. 

In a statement, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Xie urged the U.S. to meet China halfway to gradually return relations between the two countries and their militaries to the right track. 

“A healthy and stable China-U.S. relationship is in the common interest of both countries,” Xie said in the meeting, according to the statement. 

Xie also requested “the U.S. side to take action to remove obstacles, manage differences, handle Taiwan and other important and sensitive issues cautiously in accordance with the principles of the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques.” 

A response, but no progress yet

Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, said the meeting was “quite unusual.”  

“The Chinese ambassador does not often meet with U.S. senior defense officials,” Sun said. “It suggests China is at least responding to U.S. concerns, but the actual progress still requires time and negotiations.” 

With U.S.-China relations at a low over national security issues, including Taiwan, U.S. export bans on advanced technologies and China’s state-led industrial policies, Washington has been trying to repair ties between the world’s two biggest economies. 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited China earlier this month and climate envoy John Kerry is expected to visit next week. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Beijing last month, the first trip to China by a U.S. secretary of state since 2018. 

But Beijing snubbed U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s efforts to hold an in-depth meeting with his Chinese counterpart at a defense forum in Singapore last month, and military communications have stalled.

“We have regularly reached out to thicken our crisis communications and crisis management channels with Beijing and they have serially pushed us off,” Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s top policy adviser, told a forum in London on July 10. 

China has publicly cited U.S. sanctions as an obstacle to military dialog. Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu has been sanctioned since 2018 over the purchase of combat aircraft and equipment from Russia’s main arms exporter, Rosoboronexport. 

But Kahl said in London that China appeared to be concerned that Washington was going to use crisis management channels “so we can have more crises.” 

“When we have these conversations with them, they’re like: ‘If you don’t want crises, there’s a simple answer … Get out. Like, you’re not a Pacific power,” Kahl said, adding that was a strange thing to hear as someone from the Pacific coast state of California. 

Sun said Beijing was unlikely to accept a defense minister-level meeting with Austin unless Washington addresses the sanction on Li.  

“Some have argued that the Li-Austin meeting would be a prerequisite for working-level mil-to-mil to resume. It doesn’t have to be, but it makes sense given the protocol,” Sun said. 
…

Wrapping up a two-day summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, U.S. President Joe Biden delivered an address highlighting how Washington and its allies are supporting Ukraine, defending democratic values and taking action to address global challenges. VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara reports.
…

The United States is defining the limits of NATO’s outreach in the Indo-Pacific region, saying its focus on challenges posed by China does not signal an intention to invite Asian nations to join the bloc.

Speaking Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Lithuania, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told VOA, “We’re not adding members from the Indo-Pacific.”

“We’re breaking down barriers between America’s Atlantic allies and America’s Pacific allies to look at common challenges like cybersecurity, emerging and disruptive technology, maritime security,” she said. “There’s a whole array of issues where we can learn from one another without bringing anyone from the Indo-Pacific formally into the alliance.”

Beijing criticized this week’s joint NATO statement that said China challenges the groups’ interests and security with “coercive policies.” A Chinese diplomat said the communique disregarded facts and misrepresented Beijing’s position.

NATO countries signed on to the joint statement that underscored that “stated ambitions and coercive policies” of the People’s Republic of China, or PRC, have “challenged the alliance’s interests, security and values.”

“The PRC employs a broad range of political, economic and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power, while remaining opaque about its strategy, intentions and military buildup,” the group’s leaders said in their communique. 

Beijing quickly rejected the claims. Instead of reflecting on its own responsibilities, NATO “has been making groundless accusations, meddling in affairs beyond its borders and creating confrontation,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Mission to the European Union said in a statement Tuesday.

NATO has sent mixed signals about whether to open a liaison office in Japan, the first of its kind in Asia. France has opposed it saying the bloc should keep focused on the North Atlantic, but NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said this week that it’s still up for discussion.

China has warned NATO against what it has called an “eastward movement into the Asia-Pacific region” and vowed to deliver a “resolute response” to actions that jeopardize its “legitimate rights and interests.”

In a speech in front of thousands of Lithuanians, President Joe Biden made no direct mention of China but alluded to themes commonly used by his administration in describing Beijing’s violation of international rules and norms.

Biden said nations must work together to safeguard rights and freedoms needed to protect “the flow of ideas and commerce” that “have enabled decades of global growth.” He said it was necessary to respect territorial integrity and sovereignty, “but also principles like freedom of navigation, and overflight, keeping our shared seas and skies open so that every nation has equal access to our global common space.”

As NATO committed to work together to address the systemic challenges posed by the PRC to Euro-Atlantic security, the most important action the alliance can take is to stay unified, said Mark Kennedy, director of the Wahba Institute of Strategic Competition at the Wilson Center.

“That was exhibited in the communique,” he told VOA. “The key will be to translate these commitments into reality.”

Indo-Pacific partners

Indo-Pacific partners attended the summit amid concerns about rising tension in the region from increasing Chinese military activities and threats from North Korea. On Wednesday, Pyongyang tested a suspected long-range ballistic missile.

This is the second time the Indo-Pacific partners have participated in the gathering of North Atlantic leaders, after last year’s NATO summit in Madrid. Participating leaders included Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Smith pointed to an initiative called the Individually Tailored Partnership Program, or ITPP, that NATO struck with Japan as an example of deepening ties with Indo-Pacific partners.

Collaboration will go beyond traditional security areas and extend to cyber, emerging and disruptive technologies, and strategic communications, Kishida said Wednesday about the deal.

Speaking alongside Stoltenberg, Kishida said the new arrangement is a response to challenges in the international security environment.

“Japan and NATO share the understanding that unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion will not be tolerated, regardless of where they occur in the world,” Kishida said.

In May, as he hosted the Group of Seven summit of the world’s wealthiest democracies in Hiroshima, Kishida emphasized that Japan has no plans to become a NATO member.

China–Russia

Beijing pushed back against NATO’s assessment of its “deepening strategic partnership” with Russia, which said the two countries are involved in “mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut the rules-based international order.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin urged NATO to “quit the outdated Cold War mentality” and stop seeking to “sow chaos here in the Asia-Pacific or elsewhere in the world.”

Wang criticized NATO’s condemnation of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, saying the alliance is “not a party to the Korean Peninsula issues.” He blamed the West’s military deterrence and “double standards on nuclear nonproliferation” as counterproductive to settling Korean Peninsula issues.

While Beijing has not provided lethal aid to Moscow, observers say its growing trade ties with Moscow have helped sustain the Russian economy, offsetting the effects of international sanctions.

VOA’s Celia Mendoza and Jorge Agobian contributed to this report.
…

HBO dominated Wednesday morning’s Emmy nominations, with the elite trio of “Succession,” “The White Lotus” and “The Last of Us” combining for a whopping 74, but the dominant theme darkening the scene is the ongoing writers strike and the looming possibility that actors may join them in as little as a day.

“Succession” and its deeply dysfunctional dynasty of 1 percenters led all Emmy nominees in its fourth and final season with 27, including best drama, which it has won two of the past three years. It got three nominations for best actor in a drama, with Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin all getting nods for playing men of the Roy clan, and Sarah Snook getting a best actress nomination. It also got four nominations for best supporting actor in a drama.

The cursed vacationers at a Sicilian resort from the second of “The White Lotus” truly dominated the supporting categories, however, landing five nominations for best supporting actress in a drama — including nods for Jennifer Coolidge and Aubrey Plaza — and four more for best supporting actor.

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, the duo on a fungus-filled quest in ” The Last of Us,” each got lead acting nominations. The show, an adaption of the popular Playstation video game, was second behind “Succession” with 24 nominations. “The White Lotus” had 23.

“Ted Lasso” was tops among comedies with 21 nominations, including best comedy series and best actor for Jason Sudeikis.

The nominations suggested that HBO can still dominate even as streaming-only outlets have taken over so much of elite TV — though the distinction is increasingly blurred, with a huge segment of viewers watching “Succession” and the cable channel’s other offerings on the streaming service now known as Max.

Cox, 77, got his best actor in a drama nod despite appearing in fewer than half of this season’s “Succession” episodes, though as the Roy family patriarch he loomed just as large over the episodes he didn’t appear in. A win would be his first in three nominations for the role, though he won an Emmy for best supporting actor in a TV movie in 2001.

Strong won in 2020 for playing “eldest boy” Kendall Roy. Culkin got his first nomination for best actor after two previous nominations in the supporting category.

Other nominees:

Drama series: “Andor”; “Better Call Saul”; “The Crown”; “House of the Dragon”; “The Last of Us”; “Succession”; “The White Lotus”; “Yellowjackets.”

Comedy series: “Abbott Elementary”; “Barry”; “The Bear”; “Jury Duty”; “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; “Only Murders in the Building”; “Ted Lasso”; “Wednesday.”

Anthology series: “Beef”; “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”; “Daisy Jones & the Six”; “Fleishman is in Trouble”; “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Best actress in a drama series: Sharon Horgan, “Bad Sisters”; Melanie Lynskey, “Yellowjackets”; Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale”; Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”; Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”; Sarah Snook, “Succession.”

Best actor in a drama series: Jeremy Strong, “Succession”; Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”; Kieran Culkin, “Succession”; Pedro Pascal, “The Last of Us”; Brian Cox, “Succession”; Jeff Bridges, “The Old Man.”

Best actor in a comedy series: Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”; Jason Sudeikis, “Ted Lasso”; Bill Hader, “Barry”; Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”; Jason Segel, “Shrinking.”

Best actress in a comedy series: Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”; Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; Christina Applegate, “Dead to Me”; Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday”; Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face.”

Best supporting actress in a comedy series: Sheryl Lee Ralph, “Abbott Elementary”; Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”; Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary”; Hannah Waddingham, “Ted Lasso”; Juno Temple, “Ted Lasso”; Jessica Williams, “Shrinking.”

Best supporting actor in a comedy series: Anthony Carrigan, “Barry”; Brett Goldstein, “Ted Lasso”; Phil Dunster, “Ted Lasso”; Henry Winkler, “Barry”; James Marsden, “Jury Duty”; Tyler James Williams, “Abbott Elementary”; Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Bear.”

Best supporting actor in a drama series: F. Murray Abraham, “The White Lotus”; Nicholas Braun, “Succession”; Michael Imperioli, “The White Lotus”; Theo James, “The White Lotus”; Matthew Macfadyen, “Succession”; Alan Ruck, “Succession”; Will Sharpe, “The White Lotus”; Alexander Skarsgård, “Succession.”

Best supporting actress in a drama series: Jennifer Coolidge, “The White Lotus”; Elizabeth Debicki, “The Crown”; Meghann Fahy, “The White Lotus”; Sabrina Impacciatore, “The White Lotus”; Aubrey Plaza, “The White Lotus”; Rhea Seehorn, “Better Call Saul”; J. Smith-Cameron, “Succession”; Simona Tabasco, “The White Lotus.”

Actors joining movie and television writers on strike would further shut down the industry and be the first time since 1960 that two Hollywood unions are on strike. While show and film releases will continue, work on upcoming projects would cease and the promotional interviews and appearances by actors to support the projects would cease.

The possibility of an industry debilitated by two strikes could dampen any joy for those nominated and could put the damper on the ceremony scheduled for September 18 on the Fox network.

The nominations were announced by “Community” star Yvette Nicole Brown and Television Academy CEO Frank Scherma, who referenced the labor disputes before at the top of Wednesday’s livestream.

“We hope the ongoing guild negotiations can come to an equitable and swift resolution. We are committed to supporting a television industry that stands strong in equity and where we can continue to honor all the incredible work you do,” Scherma said.
…

U.S. consumer prices rose 3% in June compared with a year ago, a marked drop in the inflation rate that was the smallest 12-month increase in more than two years, the government reported Wednesday.

A year ago, the U.S. inflation rate soared to an annualized rate of more than 9%, a four-decade high, but since then it has dipped steadily. Last month’s figure is close to the 2% annual inflation rate sought by policymakers at the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, and a further drop from the 4% annualized figure recorded in May.

The 3% annualized advance recorded in June was the smallest since March 2021 and affords U.S. consumers further financial relief, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics saying that prices for such diverse items as used cars, gasoline at service stations, meats and airfares dropped. 

The Federal Reserve policymakers have steadily raised their benchmark interest rate over the last 16 months, boosting the cost of consumer and business borrowing in an effort to curb inflation. The Fed is expected to impose another rate increase later this month.  

But with inflation now slowing, further rate increases could be delayed or curtailed. 

The U.S economy, the world’s largest, has remained resilient in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, continuing to grow. Hundreds of thousands of new jobs have been added month after month and pushed the unemployment rate to a near five-decade low.

Even so, voters have given President Joe Biden low marks for his handling of the U.S. economy because of the high inflation rate, which has squeezed family budgets, especially for the purchase of groceries and gas and monthly rental payments. 

Biden, running for a second term in the November 2024 election, was quick to take credit for the lowered inflation rate. 

“Good jobs and lower costs: That’s Bidenomics in action,” he said. “Today’s report brings new and encouraging evidence that inflation is falling while our economy remains strong. 

“Real wages for the average American worker are now higher than they were before the pandemic, with lower wage workers seeing the largest gains,” he added. “Our progress creating jobs while lowering costs for families is no accident.”

Bankrate.com economic analyst Mark Hamrick said, “The key readings of the Consumer Price Index turn out to be lower than expected across the board both on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis.”

He predicted that “the Fed will almost certainly raise its benchmark rate in a couple of weeks because officials have said as much. It remains to be seen whether they will feel compelled to raise rates further in September or beyond, but it is likely in doubt.”

The three major U.S. indexes all advanced sharply in midday trading on news of the taming of inflation. The benchmark Dow Jones average of 30 blue chip stocks was up nearly a percentage point, while the broader S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy NASDAQ exchange moved even higher.
…

Eighteen-year-old American citizens of the Gen Z generation will be eligible to vote in a US presidential election for the first time next year. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias interviewed several young adults about what political and legal issues are important to them
…

NATO leaders met Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as they close a summit in Lithuania’s capital, reiterating support for Kyiv to join the alliance but stopping short of any specific commitments or timeline that Zelenskyy has sought.

“Today, we meet as equals. I look forward to the day we meet as allies,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

In its written declaration Tuesday, leaders said they “will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met.”

Kyiv’s NATO membership in the middle of Russia’s invasion would require allies to apply the principle of “an attack on one is an attack on all” enshrined in the bloc’s Article 5 – putting members in direct conflict with Moscow.

While not extending a fast track to membership, NATO is dropping its requirement for Ukraine to fulfill its so-called Membership Action Plan, a list of political, economic and military goals it must meet before joining the alliance.

A day after blasting NATO’s lack of a clear timetable as “absurd,” Zelenskyy appeared more conciliatory and acknowledged concerns that allies do not want to be dragged into direct conflict with Moscow.

“Even during the full-scale war against Russia, Ukraine continues to conduct reform,” he said. “Therefore, we highly appreciate the recognition that Ukraine will not need an action plan on its way to NATO.”

NATO-Ukraine Council

Wednesday’s agenda features the first meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, a newly established decision-making body that carries more authority than the previous NATO-Ukraine Commission, which was a consultation-only platform.

Zelenskyy is also set to hold separate talks with U.S. President Joe Biden later Wednesday.

Alongside Zelenskyy, leaders of the Group of Seven wealthiest democracies, including Biden, will announce a new framework to provide long-term security and economic support for Ukraine through separate bilateral negotiations.

“This multilateral declaration will send a significant signal to Russia that time is not on its side,” said Amanda Sloat, National Security Council Senior Director for Europe, in a briefing to reporters.

Biden’s final item before leaving Vilnius is an address “highlighting how the United States, alongside our allies and partners, are supporting Ukraine, defending democratic values and taking action to address global challenges,” the White House said.

Immediately after his remarks Wednesday evening, Biden is scheduled to depart for Helsinki to meet with leaders of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. Now that Sweden will be joining NATO, all five Nordic countries are part of the military alliance.
…

Iowa’s Republican-led Legislature passed a bill banning most abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy during a marathon special session Tuesday that continued late into the night. Governor Kim Reynolds immediately said in a statement she would sign the bill Friday. 

The bill passed with exclusively Republican support in a rare, one-day legislative burst lasting more than 14 hours over the vocal — and sometimes tense — objections from Democratic lawmakers and abortion rights advocates protesting at the Capitol.  

Just after 11 p.m., lingering protesters in the gallery booed and yelled “shame” to state senators in the minutes after the bill was approved. 

Reynolds ordered the rare session after the state Supreme Court declined in June to reinstate a practically identical law that she signed in 2018. 

“The Iowa Supreme Court questioned whether this legislature would pass the same law they did in 2018, and today they have a clear answer,” Reynolds said in a statement. “The voices of Iowans and their democratically elected representatives cannot be ignored any longer, and justice for the unborn should not be delayed.”  

Abortion is currently legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. The legislation will take immediate effect with the governor’s signature on Friday. It will prohibit almost all abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. 

Preparations were already underway to quickly file legal challenges in court and get the measure blocked, once Reynolds signs it into law. 

“The ACLU of Iowa, Planned Parenthood, and the Emma Goldman Clinic remain committed to protecting the reproductive rights of Iowans to control their bodies and their lives, their health, and their safety — including filing a lawsuit to block this reckless, cruel law,” ACLU of Iowa Executive Director Mark Stringer said in a statement. 

In the meantime, Planned Parenthood North Central States has said they will refer patients out of state if they’re scheduled for abortions in the next few weeks. The organization, the largest abortion provider in the state, will continue to provide care to patients who present before cardiac activity is detected. 

There are limited circumstances under the measure that would allow for abortion after that point in a pregnancy where cardiac activity is detected — such as rape, if reported to law enforcement or a health provider within 45 days; incest, if reported within 145 days; if the fetus has a fetal abnormality “incompatible with life;” and if the pregnancy is endangering the life of the pregnant woman. 

For much of the morning and afternoon, chants from abortion rights advocates echoed through the rotunda and could be heard from rooms where state representatives and senators were meeting in the morning and afternoon. Members of the public for and against the bill alternated conveying their viewpoints to lawmakers from both chambers for nearly four hours in total. 

Sara Eide of the Iowa Catholic Conference encouraged lawmakers to vote in favor. 

“The unborn child is a distinct human life with her own value, with her own DNA, and with her own right to life and right to legal protections,” she said. “As a state and as a society, we should commit ourselves to protect all vulnerable populations wherever we find them.” 

Hilary McAdoo, a fertility nurse, said her two daughters motivated her to voice her opposition Tuesday. 

“Just because a person has the ability to become pregnant does not mean they should be forced to become a mother,” she said. “The people before me want to govern women’s bodies without understanding how they work.” 

McAdoo called the six-week cutoff “impossible and irresponsible.” 

Laws such as Iowa’s ban abortion when a “fetal heartbeat” can be detected, a concept that does not easily translate to medical science. That’s because at the point where advanced technology can detect that first visual flutter, the embryo isn’t yet a fetus, and it doesn’t have a heart. An embryo is termed a fetus beginning in the 11th week of pregnancy, medical experts say. 

A district court found the 2018 law unconstitutional in 2019 based on rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and Iowa’s Supreme Court that had affirmed a woman’s fundamental constitutional right to abortion.  

After both bodies overturned those rulings last year, the governor sought to reinstate the 2018 law. But the state’s high court deadlocked last month without ruling on the merits of an abortion ban, leaving the law permanently blocked.  

And so Reynolds called lawmakers back to Des Moines. 

Democratic lawmakers proposed amendments to the language to expand the exceptions, which were swiftly rejected. 

“Iowa women are less free than they were a week ago and it’s because of the work of Republicans in the legislature and the governor,” said House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, who voiced concerned that there will be instant chaos and confusion when the bill is signed into law.  

“We will spend every day between now and Election Day letting voters know that the Republican Legislature was too extreme, went too far and voted against the interests of everyday Iowans,” she added. 

Most Republican-led states have drastically limited abortion access in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and handed authority on abortion law to the states. More than a dozen states have bans with limited exceptions and one state, Georgia, bans abortion after cardiac activity is detected. Several other states have similar restrictions that are on hold pending court rulings. 
…

NATO leaders are set to meet Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as they close a summit in Lithuania’s capital that has included emphasis on supporting Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion and discussion of Ukraine’s future within the alliance. 

“We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met,” NATO leaders said in a written declaration, reiterating their position supporting Ukraine’s membership but stopping short of any specific commitments or timeline that Zelenskyy has sought. 

Wednesday’s agenda features the first meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, and Zelenskyy is also set to hold separate talks with U.S. President Joe Biden. 

The U.S. leader is scheduled to deliver an address “highlighting how the United States, alongside our allies and partners, are supporting Ukraine, defending democratic values, and taking action to address global challenges,” the White House said. 

Britain said members of the G-7 group of nations planned to announce a new framework for allies providing long-term security support for Ukraine. 

Alliance expansion 

Biden said Tuesday the NATO summit represents a “historic moment,” as the security bloc prepares to enlarge while tackling issues around the grinding war in Ukraine.   

“Adding Finland and Sweden to NATO is consequential,” Biden said to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.  “And your leadership really matters. And we agree on the language that you propose, relative to the future of Ukraine being able to join NATO.”  

Stoltenberg said Tuesday he is “absolutely confident” that Turkey’s parliament will admit a new member, Sweden.  

At the same time, Zelenskyy continues to push for his nation’s inclusion in the security alliance – a step that NATO members seem unlikely to take at this high-stakes summit in Lithuania’s capital.   

“NATO will give Ukraine security,” tweeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Ukraine will make the alliance stronger.”  

Membership in the middle of a war would require NATO to apply the principle of “an attack on one is an attack on all” enshrined in the bloc’s Article 5 – putting the U.S. and Western nations in direct conflict with Moscow.   

Zelenskyy has said he accepts that situation, but shortly before leaders gathered for their meeting Tuesday, he tweeted complaints about what he said were “signals that certain wording is being discussed without Ukraine.”   

Stoltenberg said Tuesday in Vilnius that he had put forth a package during an informal NATO foreign ministers meeting in May that included removing the requirement for a membership action plan in Ukraine’s bid.     

Defense spending   

Another key issue at the summit is whether the members can agree on — and then meet — a commitment to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. Currently, only seven members fulfill that target.      

Several alliance members used the summit to announce new military aid for Ukraine, including a $770 million package from Germany including Patriot missile launchers, battle tanks and ammunition.  French President Emmanuel Macron said his government will supply long-range missiles to Ukraine.

Following the two-day summit, Biden heads to Helsinki on Thursday to meet with leaders of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. Once Sweden has joined NATO, all five Nordic countries will be members of the military alliance.     

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

From Lithuania, U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday this year’s NATO summit represents an ‘historic moment,’ as the security bloc prepares to enlarge while tackling issues around the grinding war in Ukraine. But although the path has been cleared for Sweden’s inclusion in the bloc, Kyiv is not getting a timetable for its membership. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports from Vilnius.
…

U.S. lawmakers expressed concern Tuesday over a proposed merger between Saudi-backed LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, saying that — if it is finalized — the deal could give Saudi Arabia an outsized role in American sports. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on what Congress plans next
…

As NATO leaders meet in Lithuania’s capital to hammer out key agreements amid a grinding war in Ukraine, John Kirby, director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, met with VOA to discuss the main issues at the high-stakes summit.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was withholding Sweden’s NATO bid for a long time until he pivoted yesterday, as we saw. What was the breakthrough moment?

Kirby: It’s a big decision. And we’re grateful to [Erdogan] because Sweden is a modern, capable military. They will lend to the alliance a terrific suite of military capabilities that are critical for NATO’s eastern flank. I’ll let those two leaders talk about how they got to where they got to. We have long believed that Sweden had met its commitments — commitments made on the margins of the Madrid summit last year, and we were also very glad to see that the conversation and the dialogue continued between both leaders.

VOA: Was your decision to provide F-16s to Turkey somehow related to the decision made by Ankara?

Kirby: The president has long supported F-16s for Turkey, as well as modernizing the F-16s that they already have. And that’s something that we have to work out with Congress, and we know that, and we’ve had those conversations.

VOA: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance agreed to remove the requirement for a Membership Action Plan, or MAP, for Ukraine to join NATO. I’ll quote him: ‘We will issue an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO when allies agree and conditions are met.’ Speaking of these conditions, are they any different from the Membership Action Plan that we have seen before?

Kirby: Ukraine is at a point now where the alliance doesn’t really feel like a MAP is required. Because we have been now working with Ukraine so closely, particularly over the last 16 months, we have such a strong sense of awareness about their military capabilities. So, MAP may not be the best process. But what the alliance will talk about with Ukraine in Vilnius is what the process, what the path needs to look like going forward. There’s still going to be reforms that Ukraine has to meet and make — political reforms, rule of law, democratic institutions — those reforms are still required to be a member of NATO. The other thing to remember is that they’re in the middle of a shooting war right now. And the president believes strongly that we’ve got to continue to focus on their needs on the battlefield.

VOA: Let me ask you straight: Is it an open door policy but just rephrased and restructured, or is it different?

Kirby: It’s still an open door policy. Every nation that aspires to become members of NATO — Finland and Sweden, who are now the 31st and 32nd members — they still had to apply. There’s still a process. And part of that process is having a healthy, vibrant democracy and healthy, viable, sustainable democratic institutions. And Ukraine still has some more work to do in that regard. We all understand that it’s difficult to work on political reforms when you’re in the middle of a war, which is why, again, the president wants to focus on getting them what they need on the battlefield and making a commitment to Ukraine after the war’s over and before NATO membership that they’ll continue to have support from the United States and for the allies for their own self-defense.

VOA: One of the requirements that Jens Stoltenberg outlined today was having armed forces which are interoperable with NATO. What is your assessment of the armed forces of Ukraine? Are they any closer to NATO standards?

Kirby: I think, without question, they’re getting closer to interoperability with NATO, because as the war has gone on, they have shed a lot of their Soviet systems. The way they operate on the battlefield has definitely Westernized as the last 16 months have transpired. They’ve got a lot of Western equipment. They have been trained by Western militaries, including the United States, even before this most recent invasion kicked off. So clearly, they are closer to a standard of interoperability now. Are they absolutely there yet? Again, I think that remains to be seen, and our focus right now is helping them succeed on the battlefield.

VOA: President Joe Biden has said inviting Ukraine to join NATO right now is an invitation to war, but Russia has no history of attacking NATO allies. Why not extend this invitation?

Kirby: What the president said was joining NATO now would be going to war with Russia. The allies in 2008, in the Bucharest declaration, made it clear that NATO is in Ukraine’s future. The president still believes that. He still believes in the open door policy. He just believes that right now, the focus has to be on helping Ukraine succeed on the battlefield, and in making sure that Ukraine has the appropriate security commitments from the United States and from our allies for when this war is over. Because they’re still going to have a long border with Russia, and we need to make sure that Mr. Putin doesn’t believe he can buy for time.

VOA: Is there a possibility for Ukraine to join NATO in the near future?

Kirby: I wouldn’t be able to put a timeline on that. They’re in a shooting war right now. Ukrainians are fighting and dying for their country, and we’ve got to focus on helping them succeed in that effort. Then we’ll set out a pathway for eventual membership that will allow Ukraine the time and space to work on some of these reforms, at the same time, enjoying security commitments and guarantees from the West so that as they continue to work on their reforms postwar, that they can still maintain a measure of safety and self-defense.

VOA: What kind of reforms are you looking into right now?

Kirby: These are reforms that President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and Ukraine were in some measure already working on — rooting out corruption and oligarchs, working on democratic institutions, strong judiciary, rule of law. All these are key tenets that any nation who aspires to be a member of NATO has got to ascribe to and make sure that they they rise to that level.

VOA: Let’s get back to Sweden. President Erdogan has to pass this bid through the parliament of Turkey, of course, and they have to support it. Can he bail?

Kirby: As every other NATO ally is going to have to do, there’s a ratification process here. But we’re comfortable and confident that Sweden will become the 32nd member of the NATO alliance.
…

A storm that dumped up to two months of rain in two days in Vermont and other parts of the Northeast brought more flooding Tuesday to communities marooned by water, including the state capital, where a dam just upstream was threatening to overflow. 

The flooding has already caused tens of millions of dollars in damage, officials said, with more to come: If water pours over the dam on the Winooski River that flows through Montpelier, it could surge through downtown blocks where the floods were already waist-high. City officials said Tuesday afternoon they had not seen any significant changes in the water levels at the dam for the last two hours and that they would continue to monitor it through the night. 

“Floodwaters continue to rise in some places, like our capital city, and have surpassed the levels seen during Tropical Storm Irene,” Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said. Irene killed six people in Vermont in August 2011, washing homes off their foundations and damaging or destroying more than 200 bridges and 500 miles (805 kilometers) of highway. 

The sun was out Tuesday and more sunshine was expected Wednesday. But more rain was forecast Thursday and Friday. 

“We are not out of the woods,” Scott said. “This is nowhere near over.” He tweeted that the roads around his house were impassable Tuesday morning, so he had to hike through the woods to reach the state’s emergency response center. 

One woman was swept away in New York. There have been no reports of injuries or deaths related to the flooding in Vermont, where swift-water rescue teams aided by National Guard helicopter crews have done more than 100 rescues, Vermont Emergency Management said Tuesday. 

That included an “extremely high-risk rescue” by a visiting New Hampshire team, of a person who decided to drive around a barricaded road, said Mike Cannon of Vermont Urban Search and Rescue. “The car was washed off the roadway almost into the river,” he said, urging drivers to pay attention to road closures. 

Dozens of roads and highways were closed, including many along the spine of the Green Mountains, and flash flood warnings and advisories were in effect for much of the state, from the Massachusetts line to Canada. 

Downtown Montpelier, a city of 8,000, was swamped between the capitol building and the Winooski River. Montpelier Town Manager Bill Fraser warned that the Wrightsville Dam several miles to the north could exceed capacity for the first time. 

“There would be a large amount of water coming into Montpelier which would drastically add to the existing flood damage,” he said, adding that there are very few evacuation options remaining. “People in at risk areas may wish to go to upper floors in their houses.” 

Just before noon on Tuesday, Montpelier Police said waters had risen to within a foot of the top of the dam, and every foot of water that goes over the spillway would double the flow into the city. 

Multiple rescue crews were positioned in Montpelier, where dispatch, police and fire operations were relocated to a water treatment plant after heavy flooding at City Hall and the police and fire departments. Also, the radio towers they use for emergency calls are not functional, Police Chief Eric Nordenson said. 

Shelters were set up at churches and town halls, but at least one refuge had to close as flooding worsened. Delivering food and water to more than 200 people sheltering at the Barre Municipal Auditorium has been a challenge. 

“We’re trying to find paths to get supplies in to them,” said John Montes, American Red Cross of Northern New England regional disaster officer. 

The slow-moving storm reached New England after hitting parts of New York and Connecticut on Sunday. Some communities received between 7 and 9 inches (18 centimeters and 23 centimeters) of rain by Monday night. Towns in southwest New Hampshire had heavy flooding, and road washouts earlier in the week. 

Syd Straw, who was trapped in her house near the small town of Weston, appreciated Tuesday’s sunshine, but said she still had water in her basement and a crumbled driveway that reminded her a bit of the Grand Canyon. 

“I can hike out of my broken driveway and get onto the sliver of dirt road that remains,” she said. 

The Connecticut River, swollen from the heavy rains in Vermont, was expected to crest above flood stage Wednesday in Hartford and towns to the south, causing minor to moderate flooding, according to the National Weather Service. 

President Joe Biden, attending the annual NATO summit in Lithuania, declared an emergency for Vermont and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help coordinate disaster relief efforts and provide assistance. 

FEMA sent a team to Vermont, along with emergency communications equipment, and is prepared to keep shelters supplied if the state requests it. The agency also is monitoring flooding in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire, regional spokesperson Dennis Pinkham said Tuesday. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre urged people on Tuesday “to please, please be safe, and follow safety protocols.” 

Road crews cleared debris Tuesday, reopening Interstate 89 as it follows the river between Montpelier and Middlesex. Rescuers from North Carolina, Michigan and Connecticut joined Vermonters in among those reaching towns that had been isolated since torrents of rain began belting the state. 

One of the worst-hit places was New York’s Hudson Valley, where a woman identified by police as Pamela Nugent, 43, died as she tried to escape her flooded home with her dog in the hamlet of Fort Montgomery. 

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point was pounded with more than 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain that sent debris sliding onto some roads and washed others out. 

“Nine inches of rain in this community,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a briefing on a muddy street in Highland Falls, just south of the academy on the west bank of the Hudson River. “They’re calling this a ‘1,000-year event.'”

Atmospheric scientists say destructive flooding events like these happen more frequently as storms form in a warmer atmosphere, and the planet’s rising temperatures will only make it worse. 
…

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday he is “absolutely confident” Turkey will ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO and that alliance leaders gathered for a two-day summit in Lithuania’s capital will “send a very strong and positive message” about Ukraine’s own desire to join. 

Stoltenberg said the NATO summit in Vilnius “is already historic before it has started” after talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yielded a breakthrough in a months-long impasse during which Erdogan accused Stockholm of not doing enough to crack down on their branch of a political party that Turkey’s government sees as extremists. 

Erdogan pledged to support the approval of Sweden’s bid in Turkey’s parliament, while Hungary, the other remaining NATO member yet to give its approval in a process that must be unanimous, is expected to follow suit. 

In what appeared to be a last-ditch parry on the eve of the summit, Erdogan linked the Sweden issue with Ankara’s stalled demands to join the European Union.   

“The United States has always supported (Turkey’s) EU membership aspirations and continues to do so. (Turkey’s) membership application and process is a matter between the EU and (Turkey),” a National Security Council spokesperson told VOA. The official asked not to be identified, as is common practice when discussing administration policy. “Our focus is on Sweden, which is ready to join the NATO Alliance.”   

U.S. President Joe Biden, who is set to meet with Erdogan late Tuesday at the end of the first day of the summit, welcomed news of Turkey’s support for Sweden. 

“I stand ready to work with (Turkish) President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and (Turkey) on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area,” Biden said in a statement issued from Vilnius, where he is attending the summit of NATO leaders. “I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kristersson and Sweden as our 32nd NATO Ally.”   

Sweden and Finland applied jointly for membership last May, with both Nordic nations citing overwhelming popular support for the idea amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finland’s membership was finalized in April.    

Defense spending and Ukraine  

The summit still has important issues to cover in a short time. Those include whether the members can agree on — and then meet — a commitment to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. Currently, only seven members fulfill that target.   

Another key agenda is Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO, which allies in 2008 agreed in principle would happen without setting up a pathway for Ukraine’s membership. 

Stoltenberg said Tuesday that he had put forth a package during an informal NATO foreign ministers meeting in May that included removing the requirement for a membership action plan in Ukraine’s bid. 

Biden has candidly admitted there is no consensus within the alliance about admitting Ukraine. The U.S. is reluctant to grant quick membership for Kyiv for fear of dragging NATO into war with Russia.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he accepts that his country can only join after the conflict with Russia ends. Membership in the midst of a war would require the alliance to apply the principle of “an attack on one is an attack on all” enshrined in the bloc’s Article 5. 

Still, Zelenskyy has demanded a clear pathway to join the alliance, and during the two-day summit, NATO members will aim to nail down a compromise that will signal that Kyiv is moving closer to membership without making promises of a quick accession.    

Some NATO allies, including the U.S., U.K. and France, are set to come up with proposals to strengthen Ukraine’s armed forces, including its postwar needs, through a series of long-term commitments outside the NATO framework.   

The so-called security guarantees are going to be done in “extremely close coordination, given how high the stakes are,” however it will be “different from having an Article 5 agreement to defend Ukraine,” said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House, to VOA. 

Following the two-day summit, Biden heads to Helsinki on Thursday to meet with leaders of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. Once Sweden has joined NATO, all five Nordic countries will be members of the military alliance. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters
…

As U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen concluded her four-day trip to China, calling it “productive,” the ink was barely dry on China’s sweeping new Foreign Relations Law that appears to be aimed at countering U.S. trade sanctions. 

The day before the bill took effect on July 1, China’s official Xinhua News Agency quoted an unnamed person in charge of the Legal Work Committee of the powerful Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress as saying, “China’s foreign-related legal system still has some shortcomings. Especially in terms of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, there are still many legal gaps.” 

The new law aims to close those holes, stressing Beijing’s right “to take corresponding countermeasures” against acts that violate international law and norms and “endanger China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.”  

The law comes as the government of President Xi Jinping is pushing back against American efforts to cut off its access to technology to make advanced computer chips and efforts to reduce reliance on Chinese suppliers after the global pandemic revealed the consequences of disrupting the supply chain. 

Einar Tangen, an American political and economic affairs commentator in Beijing, said the law essentially provides a legal basis for China to counter sanctions issued by the U.S. and other nations. 

“They want to signal in their own way that they had enough, because after they announced this, a few hours later they were talking about taking away gallium exports,” Tangen said, referring to Beijing’s July 3 announcement that it would restrict exports of gallium and germanium — key raw materials widely used in semiconductors and electric vehicles.  

“There’s only one paragraph in the new law which is actually new that gives specific authority to respond for national security reasons,” Tangen said. “It’s more of a signal to the U.S. that two can play this game.” 

Suisheng Zhao, a professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, also said the law contains little new.  

“It actually systematizes and legalizes Xi Jinping’s diplomatic thinking. To some extent, it is an external propaganda to strengthen China’s soft power, describing China as a major responsible country in the world and systematically presenting China’s so-called core interests, diplomatic behavior and principles,” Zhao told VOA Mandarin. 

China is currently the largest producer of gallium and germanium, accounting for 94% and 83% of global production, respectively. They have a wide range of applications in optoelectronic displays, communications, lasers, detectors, sensors, solar energy and radar. 

Shu Jueting, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said that items related to the two metals have prominent dual-use properties for military and civilian purposes. She said it is an international practice to implement export controls on them. The regulations will come into force on August 1. 

Exporters who want to start or continue exporting items related to the two metals must apply for a license from China’s Ministry of Commerce and report details of overseas buyers and their applications.  

Hu Xijin, the influential former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, said on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, “China’s anti-sanctions, anti-interference, and anti-long-arm jurisdiction by certain countries require this law, and it will definitely increase the price for the United States and its allies to violate China’s interests.” 

The Global Times says with the law, China is “marking a milestone significance, as it is the first fundamental and comprehensive foreign-relations law that aims to fix the loopholes in the rule of law in foreign-related affairs amid new challenges in foreign relations, especially when China has been facing frequent external interference in its internal affairs under the Western hegemony with unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction.” 

Zhao told VOA Mandarin the new law “is mainly aimed at the domestic people. … Americans will not buy it. Xi Jinping’s international development initiative, international security Initiatives and the Belt and Road Initiative have been talked about a lot, and there is nothing new for the United States.”  

The Chinese government has long complained that the U.S. uses economic sanctions for diplomacy and says it passed the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law in 2021 to counter foreign sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals. However, China also frequently uses economic sanctions to exert political pressure on such countries as Australia, Canada, South Korea and Lithuania. 

The current chip war between China and the U.S. is an example of how both nations employ sanctions.   

In October 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced export controls on advanced semiconductor and chip manufacturing equipment to China.  

In May, the Chinese government announced a ban on the U.S. chip giant Micron, saying it caused a significant security risk to China’s critical information infrastructure supply chain. 

It followed Beijing’s announcement in February of sanctions against two U.S. arms makers — Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies — for supplying arms to Taiwan, including banning Chinese companies from doing business with them. 

Recently, the Biden administration is reported to be preparing to restrict Chinese companies from using U.S. cloud computing services. If adopted, the new regulation could require U.S. cloud service providers, such as Amazon and Microsoft, to obtain a U.S. government license before providing cloud computing services that use advanced artificial intelligence chips to Chinese customers. 

“This is sending a clear signal right before Yellen’s visit” to China, Tangen said. “The U.S. is … going to keep Chinese companies out of the cloud.” 

He said the rift is causing a “split between the countries in terms of technology.” 

“Right now, I don’t think Beijing is counting on changing the minds of Washington elites,” Tangen said. “What they’re betting on now is that the business community, which has an interest in China, is not having a world decoupled. It will cost all American businesses a tremendous amount of money to relocate to other countries or within the U.S. to do the same thing.”   

Zhao believes the law does not make much of a difference.  

“When it first came out, people couldn’t figure it out,” he said. “But the heat passed within a day or two … and now there are not many people discussing it.”

Adrianna Zhang  contributed to this report.        
…

U.S. federal prosecutors on Monday announced charges against a U.S.-Israeli man, saying he acted as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of China and tried to broker weapons and Iranian oil sales. 

Authorities accused Gal Luft of recruiting and paying a former U.S. government official who worked as an adviser to then president-elect Donald Trump and of trying to get the official to support policies favorable to China. 

Prosecutors also said Luft arranged meetings between Iranian officials and a Chinese energy company to talk about deals involving Iran’s sanctioned oil program. 

Luft serves as the co-director of a U.S. think tank focused on energy, security and economic trends and was arrested in Cyprus in February on U.S. charges. He fled after being released on bail and remains at large. 

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
…

The repeated harassment of U.S. drones by Russian fighter pilots in the skies over Syria is again drawing the ire of U.S. officials who now warn Russia’s antics are serving to help save key terror leaders from almost certain death.

U.S. military and defense officials have complained for months about increasing Russian harassment of U.S. drones and repeated incursions into the airspace over U.S. positions in Syria. But in the latest reported incident, the U.S. says Russian jets spent hours harassing two U.S. drones that were being used to track down and kill a senior Islamic State leader.

“It is almost as if the Russians are now on a mission to protect ISIS leaders,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said Monday in response to a question from VOA.

“They know exactly where we operate and so there is no excuse for Russian forces’ continual harassment of our MQ-9s after years of U.S. operations in the area aimed at the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Singh added, using an acronym for the Islamic State, also known as IS or Daesh.

U.S. Central Command announced Sunday the drones successfully tracked and killed Usamah al-Muhajir in eastern Syria on Friday, noting the same drones, earlier in the day “had been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours.”

Russia’s harassment of the drones used to kill al-Muhajir came a day after the U.S. accused Russian pilots of forcing U.S. drones to take evasive maneuvers in two separate incidents over a 24-hour period.

Those incidents, spanning this past Wednesday and Thursday, included what U.S. Central Command described as close flybys by Russian fighter jets that deployed flares and engaged their afterburners in an attempt to damage the drones’ electronic systems.

Singh declined to say Monday whether any of the incidents allowed other IS targets to escape, instead noting that at least on Friday the U.S. drones were able to successfully complete their mission.

Russia’s embassy in Washington has yet to respond to VOA requests for comment.

In June, the combined forces air component commander for U.S. Central Command accused Russian pilots in Syria of “buffoonery in the air.”

“Anytime you have an air force that has fallen so low on the professional ladder, that they’re giving medals for buffoonery in the air, you’ve really got to wonder what they’re thinking,” Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich told reporters at the time, adding Russia’s actions were allowing IS to rebuild.

“They are running training camps and they’re building up their capabilities because the Russians and the [Syrian] regime are either incapable or unwilling to put pressure on ISIS,” he said. “They’re letting the ISIS threat grow right under their nose.”

The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria to combat the threat from IS.

Intelligence estimates by United Nations member states shared in a report earlier this year indicate the terror group has about 2,500 to 3,500 fighters across Syria and Iraq.
…

The U.S. Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in a century as General David Berger stepped down as commandant on Monday and a Republican senator is blocking approval of his successor.

Berger took over as the 38th commandant in July 2019, and is required to leave the job after four years. General Eric Smith, currently the assistant commandant, has been nominated to be the next leader, but will serve in an acting capacity because he hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate.

Under the law, Smith can serve as the acting commandant, but he can do nothing that would presume confirmation. As a result, he can’t move into the main residence or the commandant’s office, or issue any new formal commandant’s planning guidance, which is traditional for a new leader. He has the authority to implement new policies such as budget, training and other personnel decisions.

Smith’s promotion delay is the first of what could be many top-level military officers held up by Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from the southern state of Alabama. Tuberville has stalled all nominations for senior military jobs because he disagrees with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision to have the Defense Department pay for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. Abortion is now illegal in Alabama.

Speaking at a ceremony at the Marine Barracks Washington, just down the street from Capitol Hill, Austin and Berger called on the Senate to take action.

“We need the Senate to do their job so that we can have a sitting commandant that’s appointed and confirmed. We need that house to be occupied,” said Berger, with a nod to the commandant’s quarters at the edge of the parade field.

Austin and other Pentagon officials have pressed the Senate to move forward, saying that delays are already impacting more than 200 military officers, and many key leaders.

“You know, it’s been more than a century since the U.S. Marine Corps has operated without a Senate confirmed commandant,” Austin said during the ceremony.

Because of Berger’s requirement to step down in July, the Marine job is the first of the military chiefs to be affected by Tuberville. The Army, Navy and Air Force are all expected to face the same delay later this year, as could the nomination of the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The current chairman, Army General Mark Milley, leaves his job at the end of September. General Charles Q. Brown, the current chief of the Air Force, has been nominated to replace Milley, and is scheduled to go before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his hearing on Tuesday.

The hold, however, is also impacting scores of one-, two- and three-star officers who are assigned to new commands but can’t move on. It also affects their families, who usually relocate over the summer to their new military communities so school-age children can settle in before fall.

“Smooth and timely transitions of confirmed leadership are central to the defense of the United States and to the full strength of the most powerful fighting force in history,” said Austin.

Smith hit the thorny issue head on during his remarks at the ceremony Monday — saying he wanted to get one thing out fast.

“If you’re saying, ‘what am I supposed to call you?’ ACMC. That is my title, and one that I’m proud of,” said Smith, using the shorthand for his assistant commandant role. But he quickly added, “to make sure that there is no confusion — all orders, directives and guidance, which were in effect this morning remain in effect, unless I direct otherwise. Further guidance to the force will follow.”

Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Monday that as of last Friday, there were 265 senior officers whose promotions have been held up by Tuberville, and that number could leap to 650 by the end of the year if the issue isn’t corrected. She noted that in more than 100 cases, officers — like Smith — would be forced to do two jobs at the same time because no one can move up.

The last time the Corps was led by an acting commandant was in 1910. 

Smith, a career infantry officer, is a highly decorated Marine who served multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, including time in Fallujah and Ramadi during heavy combat in 2004 and 2005 in Operation Iraq Freedom. He later was the senior military adviser to Defense Secretary Ash Carter and in 2019 took over as the deputy commandant for combat development. 
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U.S. President Joe Biden is in Vilnius, Lithuania, for the NATO summit after stopping in London to meet British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Their meeting was overshadowed by Washington’s announcement that it would send cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite the bombs being banned by 123 nations, including Britain. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara is traveling with the president and has this report.
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Larry Nassar, the disgraced U.S. sports physician who was sentenced to decades in prison for sexually abusing top American female gymnasts, was stabbed repeatedly in an altercation with another inmate at a federal prison, U.S. authorities reported Monday.

Nassar, 59, who once worked for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, was stabbed Sunday in the back, chest and neck at the United States Penitentiary Coleman in the southern state of Florida. Authorities said he was in stable condition and that an investigation is underway.

At trials in recent years, Nassar admitted to sexually assaulting athletes in the guise of medical treatment and examinations, with U.S. gold medalists Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman among his victims. In 2021, the athletes reached a settlement requiring the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, USA Gymnastics and their insurers to pay them $380 million in damages.

Judges sentenced Nassar to a minimum of 40 years and a maximum of 175 years in prison for his crimes. More than 160 girls, women and parents gave wrenching testimony at one trial describing the impact of his sexual abuse.

Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a scathing report detailing how senior officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States’ lead criminal investigative unit, failed to initially investigate sexual abuse claims against Nassar, allowing his abuse to continue.
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