LOS ANGELES — In 2019, Brandon McDowell was contacted by a sophomore in college who asked to buy Percocet, a prescription painkiller. 

What the 20-year-old sold her instead were counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that can be lethal in a dose as small as 2 milligrams. Hours later, Alexandra Capelouto, also 20, was dead in her Temecula, California, home. 

It is an increasingly common scenario as fentanyl overdoses have become a leading cause of death for minors in the last five years, with more than 74,000 people dying in the U.S. from a synthetic opioid in 2023, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

McDowell has been behind bars since 2022 with a fentanyl possession conviction. But the Capeloutos have now won an additional $5.8 million judgment against him for the death of their daughter. 

“We’ve won the battle but not the war,” said Matt Capelouto, Alexandra’s father. “We still have a long ways to go in terms of holding drug dealers accountable for deaths.” 

Baruch Cohen, the Capeloutos’ lawyer, said this was the first time a drug dealer has been held liable civilly for someone’s death, to his knowledge. 

“Here’s the hope that this judgment will be the shot that’s heard around the world, so to speak,” Cohen said. “Because if it inhibits another drug deal from going down, where the drug dealer … realizes that, besides the jail sentence, he is liable for millions of dollars of damages, maybe he’ll think twice.” 

McDowell, now 25, first pleaded guilty in California federal court in 2022 for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, a charge that carries a 20-year minimum sentence if linked to death or serious injury and convicted by a jury. McDowell was sentenced to nine years in prison. 

Alexandra’s father felt that wasn’t enough. He and his wife, who was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer that year and has been battling it since, decided to sue McDowell for wrongful death. 

“For taking somebody’s life, that was not a fair sentence,” he said. “I was going to pursue every means possible to make sure justice was served.” 

While McDowell filed for bankruptcy, the Capeloutos won a judgment of about $5 million against him. The Superior Court of Riverside County found he sold harmful narcotics with “willful and malicious” intent that led to Alexandra Capelouto’s death. A few months later, the Capeloutos filed another case in federal bankruptcy court to ensure that McDowell could not escape his debt under bankruptcy. 

“Bankruptcy is designed for honest debtors, not crooked criminal debtors,” Cohen said. “This judgment will haunt him the rest of his life, and when he does make money, we’ll garnish it. When he does buy property, we’ll put a lien on it.” 

Judge Mark Houle ruled in the Capeloutos’ favor, ordering a $5.8 million judgment against Brandon McDowell that includes a year and half of interest in addition to the initial $5 million. 

Since his daughter’s death, Matt Capelouto founded the non-profit Stop Drug Homicide to advocate for families and push for more legislation to hold drug dealers accountable. One is Alexandra’s Law, which would require a formal warning be given to anyone with a drug-related conviction to inform them of the dangers of dealing drugs and that they could be charged with murder if they distribute drugs that lead to someone’s death. 

In California, it can be difficult for prosecutors to charge drug dealers with someone’s death because they must prove the dealer had knowledge that the drugs could cause death, Capelouto said. Having an admonishment on the record for dealers who have been convicted of a drug-related crime could be used as evidence in future cases if someone dies from the drugs they sold. Alexandra’s Law is included in Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime ballot measure that Californians will vote on in November. 

Capelouto is also part of a group of 60 families suing Snapchat for its role in the distribution of deadly narcotics. Alexandra Capelouto and Brandon McDowell had communicated over Snapchat when she bought pills from him. 

Justin McDowell, Brandon’s father, said it is unfair for his son to take all the blame. He said his son was struggling with drug abuse and had been in rehab, and he didn’t live with him at the time because the McDowells had younger children. 

“My son is no drug dealer at all. They were both users. They both had an addiction,” he said. “He was a stupid 20-year-old kid.” 

Justin McDowell said he felt like the Capeloutos were seeking revenge through their lawsuits, and he did not have the money and resources to fight on his son’s behalf in court. Brandon McDowell was being held at the federal prison in San Pedro during the lawsuit and did not have lawyers to defend himself in civil or bankruptcy court. 

“I think that’s sad, that shouldn’t be allowed,” Justin McDowell said. “We’ll wait for him to get out of prison, give him a hug, and figure out how to deal with the situation … the kid’s never going to make $5.8 million in his life.” 

Matt Capelouto said there was no evidence of his daughter having a drug addiction, and Brandon McDowell’s addiction does not absolve him of responsibility in her death. 

“When you go from drug user to drug dealer, you cross a line from needing help to needing to be held accountable,” he said.
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Washington — When activists, policymakers and representatives from across the globe gather next week in New York to participate in climate week, one pressing issue on the agenda that is less frequently discussed and known will be the environmental impact of seabed mining. 

As countries look for ways to lower emissions, critical minerals are playing a key role in that transition. Critical minerals are used in all kinds of green technologies, from solar panels and wind turbines to batteries in electric vehicles. And one place where those mineral resources are abundant is deep under the sea. 

The debate over accessing seabed resources is heated. Supporters say the technology exists to safely access these critical minerals undersea, but environmentalists and activists say the potential of undiscovered biodiversity on the seafloor is too important to endanger. 

During climate week, which will take place on the sidelines of U.N. General Assembly meetings, organizers are expected to host a roundtable on the environmental impact of seabed mining and other discussions about critical minerals. 

The World Economic Forum says that if the globe wants to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, two-thirds of vehicles must be powered by electric batteries. And the International Energy Agency says that to reach that goal, the world needs six times more mineral resources by 2040 than it has today. 

Some of the largest mineral deposits are found on the ocean floor in the form of polymetallic nodules, or rocks.  

Ocean of resources 

According to the International Seabed Authority, or ISA, there are 21 billion tons of polymetallic nodules strewn across the seabed of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, or CCZ. Each nodule contains a combination of electric vehicle battery components such as nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt. The ISA plans to release regulations for mining in the international waters of the CCZ by 2025. 

The ISA has already awarded 17 exploration contracts for polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone – a large swath of the Pacific Ocean the size of the continental United States which sits between Hawaii and Mexico. Three of those exploration contracts went to The Metals Company, a Canadian deep-sea mining company.   

The Pacific Island Nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga have sponsored The Metals Company’s efforts to develop a portion of the seabed. In an interview with VOA, CEO Gerard Barron said the company is ready to begin as soon as the ISA allows mining. 

“Our collector methodology is to put a robot on the seafloor which crawls around the ocean floor and fires a jet of water at the nodule and it creates an inverse pressure and lifts the nodule up, and so we don’t go down and scour the seafloor,” said Barron via Zoom, adding that TMC has spent the past decade focused on testing this equipment and collecting data on its environmental impact as part of its permit application to the ISA. 

Moratorium needed 

Critics worry scooping up these mineral-rich rocks will disrupt important biodiversity – much of it still unnamed and some of it undiscovered. Researchers have found that 90% of the more than 5,000 species in the zone are new to science. Eddie Palu, president of the Tonga Fishery Association, wants a pause for more research. 

“We demand a moratorium on the seabed mining until the environmental, economic and social risk are comprehensively understood,” he said during a panel discussion at the recent Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga. 

Shiva Gounden from Greenpeace Australia Pacific, who also sat on the panel, agreed.  

“We know only very little of the deep sea, and the race for the final frontier could cause irreversible damages to the people and to the communities of our Pacific,” Gounden said. 

But scientists say no light and very little oxygen reaches the deep sea – limiting the life there to mostly bacteria and small invertebrates.  

The Metals Company’s Barron said combating climate change is a bigger threat to the planet than undersea mining, adding that the company’s environmental impact studies show that “we can safely collect these nodules” and turn them into battery metals without having “a negative impact on the ocean.” 

“The notion that we can do any extraction with zero impact is a dream,” added Barron. “The oceans are impacted by every single thing we do today, especially global warming. So, we need to address the main driver for climate change and reduce emissions.” 

Fueling innovation  

Still, the quest to do just that – access minerals on the seabed with minimal impact to the environment – has created competition between technology companies. 

U.S. tech startup Impossible Metals is testing a robot which can avoid nodules where it detects life and harvests those where it does not. 

“The vehicle hovers above the seabed, uses the camera and it actually picks up the nodules one by one. So this really minimizes all of the negative concerns around big sediment plumes,” CEO Oliver Gunasekra told VOA in an interview. 

Gunaskera’s company spun off Viridian Biometals. Its technology bypasses energy-intensive processes such as smelting with bacteria which can separate metal ore from the rock around it. The process creates no emissions or waste. 

“The bacteria need oxygen just like we do to breathe. And when there’s not enough oxygen in the water around them, the bacteria have learned that there’s oxygen in the rocks, and they have adapted to breathe that oxygen,” said Viridian CEO Eric Macris. 

Impossible Metals and Viridian Biometals say they are two to three years out from commercializing their technology, depending on funding. TMC says it could be ready to begin its collection operations as soon as international regulations are released next year.
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WASHINGTON — Americans can now renew their passports online, bypassing a cumbersome mail-in paper application process that often caused delays.

The U.S. State Department announced Wednesday that its online passport renewal system is now fully operational.

“By offering this online alternative to the traditional paper application process, the Department is embracing digital transformation to offer the most efficient and convenient passport renewal experience possible,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

After staffing shortages caused mainly by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in lengthy passport processing delays, the department ramped up hiring and introduced other technological improvements that have reduced wait times by about one-third over last year. It says most applications are now completed in far less than the advertised six to eight weeks. The online renewal system is expected to further reduce that.

The system will allow renewal applicants to skip the current process, which requires them to print out and send paper applications and a check by mail and submit their documents and payment through a secure website, www.Travel.State.Gov/renewonline.
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WASHINGTON — Tupperware Brands and some of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, the food container firm said in a statement.

The company, known for its trademark food storage containers, has been hit by dwindling sales in recent years.

Last year the New York Stock Exchange-listed firm warned of “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep operating in light of its poor financial position.

“Over the last several years, the company’s financial position has been severely impacted by the challenging macroeconomic environment,” president and CEO Laurie Ann Goldman said in a statement announcing the bankruptcy filing.

“As a result, we explored numerous strategic options and determined this is the best path forward,” added Goldman.

The company said it would seek court approval for a sale process for the business to protect its brand and “further advance Tupperware’s transformation into a digital-first, technology-led company.”

The Orlando, Florida-based firm said it would also seek approval to continue operating during bankruptcy proceedings and would continue to pay its employees and suppliers.

“We plan to continue serving our valued customers with the high-quality products they love and trust throughout this process,” Goldman said.

The firm’s shares were trading at $0.5099 Monday, well down from $2.55 in December last year.

Tupperware said it had implemented a strategic plan to modernize its operations and drive efficiencies to ignite growth following the appointment of a new management team last year.

“The company has made significant progress and intends to continue this important transformation work.”

In its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Tupperware listed assets of between $500 million and $1 billion and liabilities of between $1 billion and $10 billion.

The filing also said it had between 50,000 and 100,000 creditors.

Tupperware, whose name became synonymous with its airtight plastic containers, in recent years lost popularity with consumers and an initiative to gain distribution through big-box chain store Target failed to reverse its fortunes.

The company’s roots date to 1946, when chemist Earl Tupper “had a spark of inspiration while creating molds at a plastics factory shortly after the Great Depression,” according to Tupperware’s website.

“If he could design an airtight seal for plastic storage containers, like those on a paint can, he could help war-weary families save money on costly food waste.”

Over time, Tupper’s hermetically sealed plastic containers also became associated with “Tupperware Parties,” where friends would gather with food and drink as a company representative demonstrated the items.
…

WASHINGTON/TOKYO — The U.S. national security panel reviewing Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel let the companies refile their application for approval of the deal, a person familiar with the matter said, delaying a decision on the politically sensitive merger until after the Nov. 5 presidential election.

The move offers a ray of hope for the companies, whose proposed tie-up appeared set to be blocked when the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) alleged on Aug. 31 the transaction posed a risk to national security by threatening the steel supply chain for critical U.S. industries.

CFIUS needs more time to understand the deal’s impact on national security and engage with the parties, the person said on Tuesday. Refiling sets a new 90-day clock to review the proposed tie-up and make a decision.

The review was expected to take close to the full 90 days, another person familiar with the matter said.

Nippon Steel declined to comment. CFIUS and U.S. Steel did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

“Extending the timeline takes pressure off the parties and, importantly, pushes the decision past the election in November,” said Nick Klein, a CFIUS lawyer with DLA Piper.

The deal has become a political hot potato. This month, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, said at a rally in Pennsylvania, the swing state where U.S. Steel is headquartered, that she wants U.S. Steel to remain “American owned and operated,” echoing a view held by President Joe Biden.

The White House reiterated that position on Tuesday.

Harris’ Republican rival Donald Trump has pledged to block the deal if elected. Both candidates have sought to woo union votes.

Postponing the decision to after the U.S. elections will “dial down” the political temperature but does not guarantee approval, said David Boling, a former U.S. trade official who is now an analyst at Eurasia Group.

“Regardless of the CFIUS review, Nippon Steel still must reach an agreement with the United Steelworkers,” Boling said. “Without that, it’s very hard to see this deal happening.”

The United Steelworkers Union, which vehemently opposes the deal, said on Tuesday “nothing has changed regarding the risks that Nippon’s acquisition would pose to national security or the critical supply chain concerns that have already been identified.”

The deal is being closely watched in Japan, a close U.S. ally and its biggest foreign investor.

“Further strengthening economic relations, including expanding mutual investment between Japan and the U.S., are essential for both countries,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshi Moriya told reporters on Wednesday.

Nippon Steel shares were up 1.1% in afternoon trading in Tokyo. U.S. Steel shares closed down 0.4% on Tuesday.

CFIUS is concerned Nippon Steel’s merger could hurt the supply of steel needed for critical transportation, construction and agriculture projects, it said in its August letter to the companies, exclusively obtained by Reuters.

It also cited a global glut of cheap Chinese steel, and said that under Nippon, a Japanese company, U.S. Steel would be less likely to seek tariffs on foreign steel importers. It added that decisions by Nippon could “lead to a reduction in domestic steel production capacity.”

In a 100-page response letter to CFIUS, also exclusively obtained by Reuters, Nippon Steel said it will invest billions of dollars in U.S. Steel facilities that otherwise would have been idled, “indisputably” allowing it to “maintain and potentially increase domestic steelmaking capacity in the United States.”

The company also reaffirmed a promise not to transfer any U.S. Steel production capacity or jobs outside the U.S. and would not interfere in any of U.S. Steel’s decisions on trade matters, including decisions to pursue trade measures under U.S. law against unfair trade practices.

The deal, Nippon added, would “create a stronger global competitor to China grounded in the close relationship between the United States and Japan.”

Robust CFIUS reviews take 90 days but it is common for companies to withdraw their filings and resubmit them to give them more time to address the panel’s concerns.

According to CFIUS’s 2023 annual report, 18% of companies seeking deal approval refiled their applications last year. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel filed for the review in March, and CFIUS allowed them to refile in June, starting a second 90-day clock that runs out on Sept. 23, Reuters reported on Friday.

In December, CFIUS could approve the deal, possibly with measures to address national security concerns, recommend that the president block it, or extend the timetable again.
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Washington — More than 50 Burmese Americans gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, protesting China’s alleged interference in Myanmar’s internal affairs.

The protest on Saturday, part of a global campaign, called on China to withdraw its support for Myanmar’s military junta and respect the will of the people, who have been fighting for democracy since the February 2021 coup.

The protest — with demonstrators waving banners that read “Reject Junta’s Sham Elections” and “Solidarity With the People of Myanmar” — was sparked by a statement released earlier Saturday by the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, saying that China was not interfering in the country’s affairs and would continue to promote peace and stability.

“We reject the Chinese Embassy’s statement that they’re not interfering in Myanmar’s internal matters,” said Yin Aye, a protest leader who has been organizing demonstrations in the Washington area since the 2021 coup. “If they would stop supporting sham elections and truly pressure the military to stop causing so much pain to our people, we might believe them.”

Yin Aye referred to China’s close ties with Myanmar’s military junta and its alleged interference in the operations of ethnic resistance forces in northern Shan State, actions that have drawn widespread criticism from Burmese and pro-democracy groups.

On August 29, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, an armed ethnic group fighting against the junta in northeastern Myanmar, said it had received a letter from Chinese authorities in the border town of Ruili warning the group to halt its offensive in northern Shan State, where key Belt and Road Initiative projects are located, or face consequences.

Hla Kyaw Zaw, a veteran observer of China-Myanmar relations, said China’s recent actions, particularly its warning to the TNLA, have sparked outrage among the Myanmar public, who view it as a direct threat to ethnic resistance forces fighting for democracy.

“The language used in the letter was undiplomatic and threatening,” Hla Kyaw Zaw told VOA’s Burmese Service.

A spokesperson for the TNLA told VOA that Chinese authorities had warned the group in the letter to stop fighting, maintain stability along the China-Myanmar border and protect Chinese citizens. The letter warned that failure to comply would result in China “teaching them a lesson” and holding the group responsible for any consequences.

When asked about the letter at a regular press briefing in late August, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jian did not confirm or deny Beijing had sent the letter.

“China is closely following the situation in Myanmar and the developments of the conflict in northern Myanmar and has been working to promote peacetalks and ceasefire,” spokesperson Liu Jian said. “As Myanmar’s biggest neighboring country, China has all along sincerely hoped that Myanmar will achieve stability and development and has worked actively to this end.”

Since then, members of the Myanmar diaspora have intensified protests outside Chinese embassies worldwide, accusing China of supporting Myanmar’s military coup.

Protests worldwide

Saturday’s protest in Washington was part of a series of coordinated demonstrations by Burmese diaspora communities worldwide.

In July, activists in Washington, New York, San Francisco, London and Tokyo protested outside Chinese embassies and consulates.

In the July protest in Washington, protesters attempted to hand deliver an open letter to Chinese authorities, urging Beijing to halt its support for Myanmar’s military junta. However, the letter went unanswered.

“When we handed the letter to the Chinese embassy here in D.C., they refused to accept it. They didn’t even acknowledge our demands,” said Yin Aye.

Activists were instructed to send the letter by post, but previous attempts to mail similar letters to the Chinese Embassy were returned undelivered.

Despite the lack of formal response, Myanmar activists say the Chinese Embassy in Washington has been monitoring their protest activities in recent weeks.

“Now, we see them videotaping our protests,” Yin Aye said.

Voice of America reached out to the Chinese embassies in Washington and Yangon for comment about the protests but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

War crimes allegations

The Myanmar diaspora argues that China’s support for Myanmar’s military is not only undermining the will of the people but also enabling war crimes, including aerial bombardments and the targeting of internally displaced persons.

Minmin Berwald, an activist of Myanmar descent, was compelled to participate in the protest on Saturday.

“I want to ask China to immediately stop supporting this military regime and interfering in Burma’s internal affairs,” Berwald said. “It’s not just homes being set on fire. Internally displaced people who have fled war are being bombarded.”

China’s contradictory stance

China has maintained a complex position toward Myanmar since the February 2021 coup, balancing its own interests with regional stability, Hla Kyaw Zaw said. She noted that China has sent high officials to Myanmar, called for peace in the country and sponsored mediating talks between the junta and the armed ethnic groups.

After the coup, however, China’s official Xinhua news agency described the military’s takeover and replacement of elected ministers as a “major cabinet reshuffle,” avoiding the use of the term “coup.”

Beijing called for all parties in Myanmar to “resolve their differences” and refrained from condemning the military. In 2022, China also abstained from voting on U.N. Security Council Resolution 2669, which called for an end to violence in Myanmar. However, critics argue that China’s actions on the ground suggest deeper involvement.

A veteran China-Myanmar affairs expert in Yangon, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said China’s statements often appear contradictory. “It’s clear that China wants to control the situation to its advantage,” the expert said, referring to China’s public calls for peace while its actions suggest otherwise.

China, for its part, has denied interfering in Myanmar’s internal affairs on multiple occasions. In its statement Saturday, the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar reiterated its position of noninterference and called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The embassy also condemned what it called “unjustified accusations” from individuals and media.

The fight continues

Protesters also called for China to take a more active role in cutting off support to Myanmar’s junta, including halting the supply of jet fuel used in airstrikes against civilians. Amnesty International has documented multiple cases of the Myanmar military using airpower to target civilian areas, and activists argue that China’s continued engagement with the junta implicates them in these atrocities.

For now, the protesters have vowed to keep returning to the Chinese Embassy in Washington. “We will continue to protest, continue to speak out,” said Yin Aye.
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Washington — Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. Congress has appropriated $174 billion, including U.S. weapons and materiel, to respond to the crisis and help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s aggression.

U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch calls the oversight of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine his office’s “job one,” with more than 200 people assigned to that task.

In an interview with Voice of America’s Ukrainian Service, Storch discussed the challenges in obtaining the information necessary for such oversight in a country that is fighting a war, suffers from endemic corruption and has no large-scale U.S. military presence.

According to the most recent quarterly Special Inspector General report to the U.S. Congress on Operation Atlantic Resolve (the name of the U.S. military response to Russian operations in Ukraine), issued in mid-August, there were 57 open investigations as of June 30, 2024. They involved “grant and procurement fraud, corruption, theft, program irregularities, and diversion and counter-proliferation of technology of weapons systems components.”

In January, Ukraine’s SBU security service reported that it had uncovered a $40 million corruption scheme, implicating defense ministry officials and arms supplier managers, that involved the embezzlement of funds for purchase of 100,000 mortar shells.

That case did not involve U.S.-provided materiel. However, in September 2023, Oleksii Reznikov was removed as Ukraine’s defense minister “over various corruption cases despite enjoying a solid reputation in representing Ukraine in its discussions with Western allies,” Reuters reported.

Storch told VOA that the Pentagon is working with Ukraine’s military to ensure that it provides timely and accurate information, and with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government to fight corruption. He said that in the days immediately following Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s armed forces were delinquent in providing information, but that the situation has improved, in part thanks to oversight.

While corruption remains endemic in Ukraine, Storch said that Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions are maturing and that the oversight community is working to ensure that such progress continues. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: You are overseeing numerous Pentagon programs. How robust is oversight of the delivery of weapons to Ukraine?

Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Defense Robert Storch: We are leading a robust, comprehensive oversight effort that really covers all aspects of U.S. assistance to Ukraine. I have responsibility over the security assistance that’s provided, and we partner very closely, hand-in-glove, with our great colleagues from the State Department Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General to make sure we’re covering all aspects of humanitarian or other assistance that’s being provided to Ukraine.

VOA: How large is your team that is overseeing the Ukrainian program?

Storch: We have a lot of things pulling at us and lots going on in the world with the Department of Defense. But Ukraine is very much job one. I always say it’s really a matter of the highest priority for my office and for my colleagues’ offices as well.

So, in the case of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, we have over 200 people who are engaged in one aspect or another of oversight over U.S. security assistance to Ukraine. That includes about 30 people who were forward deployed in the region. We have several offices in Germany. We have folks in Poland. And we have both investigators and programmatic oversight personnel at the [U.S.] Embassy in Kyiv. If you take all of our partners from State and AID in oversight entities, it is between 300 and 400 people who are engaged in oversight in this whole-of-government effort.

VOA: When you talk to Ukrainian officials, do they appreciate the importance of reporting?

Storch: Without exception, they acknowledge the importance of making sure that we get the information we need to be able to do our oversight to make sure there’s accountability, and frankly to be able to tell the decision-makers here in Washington that that’s going on. …

I go up to the Hill [Capitol Hill, location of the U.S. Congress] not infrequently. And you know, I’m not a policymaker. It’s up to the administration and the Congress to set what the policies are. But one of the things I get asked all the time is, ‘Are we getting the information we need to carry out our work?’ and we have been getting that, and we’re going to work to make sure we continue to.

VOA: The Pentagon transfers materiel to the Ukrainian armed forces. Do they understand the importance of oversight, and do they provide timely self-reporting?

Storch: We work really closely to make sure that’s the case. That’s one of the big lines of effort with regard to our oversight. We’ve done a number of reports looking at the monitoring and the reporting. There are obligations that the Ukrainian armed forces have for reporting on the status of the equipment, and U.S. personnel keep track and there’s a database. When things are lost or destroyed, they have to be reported in a certain way. … [T]hat’s one area where I like to think that our oversight has really made a difference. When we first started on that, the level of delinquency in that reporting was really pretty high, and some of that was because, when the war started, the U.S. personnel had to leave the country.

There was equipment being provided and really no one doing that sort of accountability and inventory. So, a lot of it has been playing catch-up. And … there are challenges with a wartime setting and a lot of this equipment is being used on the front lines and [in] really difficult and sad situations. And so being able to maintain accountability is difficult, but we do a lot of work on that.

VOA: In one of your reports, you mentioned endemic corruption in Ukraine. You worked in Ukraine in 2007 to 2009 to help the country overcome corruption. Can you compare the situation in Ukraine now to what you saw back then?

Storch: I actually had the opportunity to work and live in Ukraine back in 2007 to 2009, when I was with the Department of Justice working with the Ukrainians to help them develop measures to address official corruption. And I had the opportunity to go back on a number of occasions and provide assistance in the drafting of the anti-corruption legislation, and that created the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Office of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, so I have had a lot of experience out there and have seen the way these institutions have matured. The Ukrainians made it happen …

But Ukraine has had long-standing issues with corruption, obviously, and people are working to address it. One of the things we talk about in our quarterly reporting … is that they’re continuing to make efforts to address it, and we continue as the United States both to provide assistance in that, and then, in the oversight community, to do oversight over that to make sure that progress is being made.

VOA: Your report mentions that there are 57 investigations ongoing into allegations ranging from irregularities in procurement to corruption, diversion and theft. Have any of those allegations been substantiated?

Storch: At this point, based on our completed work, we haven’t substantiated those allegations, but obviously the investigations continue, right?

VOA: About half of the allegations involve the proliferation of weapons. How high is the risk of diversion?

Storch: Sure, there’s a significant risk there, but we always want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to address it, and that’s why I mention the programmatic oversight.

We have a website [with] links to the hotlines that my office and our counterparts operate. I really encourage folks to take advantage of that to report that information. So, people can look into it.

VOA: There is reporting that the Pentagon overestimated the value of some of the U.S. equipment destined for Ukraine. Do you think this accounting error will persist or is it being corrected?

Storch: We’re doing everything we can to help the [Defense] Department to address it. We became concerned about that pretty early on and consulted with the department about it and, without getting too complex, basically the department was using a methodology to value the materiel that was being provided that resulted in an overvaluation of it. If you were donating your car, you probably wouldn’t be able to donate the cost of buying a new car like that, right? It’s a little more complicated than that, but basically it resulted in an overvaluation. Initially the Department looking into it found about $6.2 billion that they thought was overstated. We came in and did additional oversight, which is reflected in our reporting, and found about $1.9 billion additionally.

So, the answer to your question is we made recommendations to help the Department address the issues, and we’re going to keep working to make sure those recommendations are carried out and the problems addressed.
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London — Meta said it’s banning Russia state media organization from its social media platforms, alleging that the outlets used deceptive tactics to amplify Moscow’s propaganda. The announcement drew a rebuke from the Kremlin on Tuesday. 

The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said late Monday that it will roll out the ban over the next few days in an escalation of its efforts to counter Russia’s covert influence operations. 

“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets: Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” Meta said in a prepared statement. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov lashed out, saying that “such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable,” and that “Meta with these actions are discrediting themselves.” 

“We have an extremely negative attitude towards this. And this, of course, complicates the prospects for normalizing our relations with Meta,” Peskov told reporters during his daily conference call. 

RT was formerly known as Russia Today. Rossiya Segodnya is the parent company behind state news agency RIA Novosti and news brands like Sputnik. 

“It’s cute how there’s a competition in the West — who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better,” RT said in a release. 

Rossiya Segodnya did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. 

Meta’s actions comes days after the United States announced new sanctions on RT, accusing the Kremlin news outlet of being a key part of Russia’s war machine and its efforts to undermine its democratic adversaries. 

U.S. officials alleged last week that RT was working hand-in-hand with the Russian military and running fundraising campaigns to pay for sniper rifles, body armor and other equipment for soldiers fighting in Ukraine. They also said RT websites masqueraded as legitimate news sites but were used to spread disinformation and propaganda in Europe, Africa, South America and elsewhere. 

Earlier this month, the Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two RT employees of covertly providing millions of dollars in funding to a Tennessee-based content creation company to publish English-language social media videos pushing pro-Kremlin messages. 

Moscow has rejected the allegations. 

Meta had already taken steps to limit Moscow’s online reach. Since 2020 it has been labeling posts and content from state media. Two years later, it blocked state media from running ads and putting their content lower in people’s feeds, and the company, along with other other social media sites like YouTube and TikTok, blocked RT’s channels for European users. Also in 2022 Meta also took down a sprawling Russia-based disinformation network spreading Kremlin talking points about the invasion of Ukraine. 

Meta and Facebook “already blocked RT in Europe two years ago, now they’re censoring information flow to the rest of the world,” RT said in its statement. 

Moscow has fought back, designating Meta as an extremist group in March 2022, shortly after sending troops into Ukraine, and blocking Facebook and Instagram. Both platforms — as well as Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, which is also blocked — were popular with Russians before the invasion and the subsequent crackdown on independent media and other forms of critical speech. The social media platforms are now only accessible through virtual private networks. 
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NEW YORK — Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been hit with three federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.  

Combs, 54, was arrested in Manhattan by federal agents on Monday night, following a year in which his career was derailed by several lawsuits accusing him of physical and sexual abuse. 

Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lawyer, said he was disappointed with the decision to pursue an “unjust prosecution” of the rapper and producer. 

“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community,” Agnifilo said on Monday night. “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal.” 

Agnifilo added that Combs voluntarily relocated to New York in anticipation of the charges. 

Combs, who has also been known as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, was a major figure in hip-hop in the 1990s and 2000s. He founded the label Bad Boy records, and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars. 

His reputation came under fire last November when former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, accused him in a lawsuit of serial physical abuse, sexual slavery and rape during their decade-long relationship. She agreed to an undisclosed settlement one day after suing, even as Combs denied her allegations. 

His legal pressures mounted, and he has faced several civil lawsuits by women and men who accused him of sexual assault and other misconduct. His lawyers have been fighting those cases in court. Federal agents raided his homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach, Florida six months ago. 

Singer Dawn Richard, formerly of Danity Kane, last week accused Combs in a lawsuit of sexual assault, battery, sex trafficking, gender discrimination and fraud. 

A Michigan judge this month ordered Combs to pay $100 million to Derrick Lee Smith, who said Combs drugged and sexually assaulted him at a party almost 30 years ago, after Combs failed to show up to defend himself in court. A lawyer for Combs said he would seek to dismiss that judgment. 

Combs has also rejected claims in a February sex trafficking lawsuit by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who Combs employed as a producer on his 2023 release “The Love Album: Off the Grid.” 

The indictment is not Combs’ first brush with the law. He was acquitted in March 2001 of bribery and weapons charges in a criminal trial stemming from a nightclub shooting that left three people wounded.
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PHOENIX — A judge has rejected a bid by Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff to President Donald Trump, to move his charges in Arizona’s fake elector case to federal court, marking the second time he has failed in trying to get his charges out of state court.

In a decision Monday, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi said Meadows missed a deadline for asking for his charges to be moved to federal court, didn’t offer a good reason for doing so and failed to show that the allegations against him related to his official duties as chief of staff to the president.

Meadows faces charges in Arizona and Georgia in what authorities allege was an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Trump’s favor. He had unsuccessfully tried to move charges in the Georgia case last year. It’s unknown whether Meadows will appeal the decision. The Associated Press left phone and email messages for two of Meadows’ attorneys.

While not a fake elector in Arizona, prosecutors said Meadows, while chief of staff, worked with other Trump campaign members to submit names of fake electors from Arizona and other states to Congress in a bid to keep Trump in office despite his November 2020 defeat. Meadows has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Arizona and Georgia.

In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.

The decision sends Meadows’ case back down to Maricopa County Superior Court.

In both Arizona and Georgia, Meadows argued his charges should be moved to federal court because his actions were taken when he was a federal official working as Trump’s chief of staff and that he has immunity under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says federal law trumps state law.

Arizona prosecutors said Meadows’ electioneering efforts weren’t part of his official duties at the White House.

Meadows last year tried to get his Georgia charges moved but his request was rejected by a judge whose ruling was later affirmed by an appeals court. Meadows has since asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling.

The Arizona indictment says Meadows confided to a White House staff member in early November 2020 that Trump had lost the election. Prosecutors say Meadows also had arranged meetings and calls with state officials to discuss the fake elector conspiracy.

Meadows and other defendants are seeking a dismissal of the Arizona case.

Meadows’ attorneys said nothing their client is alleged to have done in Arizona was criminal. They said the indictment consists of allegations that he received messages from people trying to get ideas in front of Trump — or “seeking to inform Mr. Meadows about the strategy and status of various legal efforts by the president’s campaign.”

In all, 18 Republicans were charged in late April in Arizona’s fake electors case. The defendants include 11 Republicans who had submitted a document falsely claiming Trump had won Arizona, another Trump aide and five lawyers connected to the former president.

In August, Trump’s campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, signed a cooperation agreement with prosecutors that led to the dismissal of her charges. Republican activist Loraine Pellegrino became the first person to be convicted in the Arizona case when she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to probation.

The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to the forgery, fraud and conspiracy charges in Arizona.

Trump wasn’t charged in Arizona, but the indictment refers to him as an unindicted coconspirator.

The 11 people who were nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claimed Trump had carried the state.

A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.

Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme.
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An apparent assassination attempt on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over the weekend raised new questions Monday about political violence in the United States. Democratic and Republican leaders called for more resources for the U.S. Secret Service. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more
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America’s adversaries are ramping up efforts to impact the outcome of the U.S. presidential election and down-ballot races. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin reports on the expanding array of sophisticated influence operations taking aim at U.S. voters
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NEW YORK — A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges stemming from an alleged plot to assassinate an American politician in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards top commander Qassem Soleimani. 

Asif Merchant, 46, entered his plea to one count of attempting to commit terrorism across national boundaries and one count of murder for hire at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in Brooklyn. 

The judge ordered that Merchant be detained pending trial. 

Federal prosecutors say Merchant spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the plot. 

Merchant told a confidential informant he also planned to steal documents from one target and organize protests in the United States, prosecutors said. 

The defendant named Donald Trump as a potential target but had not conceived the scheme as a plan to assassinate the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

Court papers do not name the alleged targets, and no attacks were made. As president, Trump had in 2020 approved the drone strike on Soleimani. 

There are no suggestions that Merchant was tied to an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course on Sunday, or a separate shooting of the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.  

Merchant was arrested in Texas on July 15. 

Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in August that the “modus operandi” described in Merchant’s court papers ran contrary to Tehran’s policy of “legally prosecuting the murder of General Soleimani.”
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Donald Trump is safe after what officials say was the second, unsuccessful assassination attempt in two months. The FBI took the lead after Sunday’s shooting with the suspect in custody — and with Americans facing another dramatic event in what is already a high-stakes, high-drama election. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
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LOS ANGELES — “Hacks” won the comedy series at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, topping “The Bear,” which took home several of the night’s honors.

“Shogun” won the best drama series win, collecting a whopping 18 Emmys for its first season, just one of several historic wins.

Hiroyuki Sanada won best actor in a drama for “Shogun” on Sunday night at the Emmy Awards, and Anna Sawai won best actress as they became the first two Japanese actors to win Emmys.

Their wins gave the FX series momentum going into one of the night’s top awards, where “Shogun” won best drama series.

“The Bear” came back for seconds in a big way at the ceremony four times including best actor, best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a comedy, while British upstart “Baby Reindeer” won four of its own, including best limited series.

The star of FX’s “The Bear” Jeremy Allen White won best actor in a comedy for the second straight year, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach repeated as best supporting actor.

A surprise came when Liza Colón-Zayas won best supporting actor over major competition.

“How could I have thought it would be possible to be in the presence of Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett,” Colón-Zayas said as tears welled in her eyes as she accepted the award on the stage of the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

She is the first Latina to win in the category.

“To all the Latinas who are looking at me,” she said, “keep believing and vote.”

Netflix’s darkly quirky “Baby Reindeer” won best actor and best writing for the show’s creator and star Richard Gadd and best supporting actress for Jessica Gunning, who plays his tormentor.

Accepting the best limited series award, Gadd urged the makers of television to take chances.

“The only constant across any success in television is good storytelling,” he said. “Good storytelling that speaks to our times. So take risks, push boundaries. Explore the uncomfortable. Dare to fail in order to achieve.”

“Baby Reindeer” is based on a one man-stage show in which Gadd describes being sexually abused along with other emotional struggles.

Accepting that award, he said, “no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better.”

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Gadd has.

Jodie Foster won her first Emmy to go with her two Oscars when she took best actress in a limited series for “True Detective: Night Country.”

The creator of “The Bear” was also a repeat winner. Christopher Storer took his second straight Emmy for directing, an award handed out by reunited “Happy Days” co-stars Ron Howard and Henry Winkler.

White said backstage that he was watching in the wings as Colón-Zayas won and “that was just the greatest.”

He also shouted out two acting wins the show had already scored at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, when Jamie Lee Curtis won best guest actress in a comedy for playing his mother, and Jon Bernthal won best guest actor for playing his big brother.

“The Bear” won six times including most of the top comedy categories at the strike-delayed Emmys in January.

While the third season of FX’s “The Bear” has already dropped, the trio won their second Emmys for its second, in which White’s chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto attempts to turn his family’s grungy Chicago sandwich shop into an elite restaurant. It could still win more Sunday night including best comedy series.

The father-son hosting duo of Eugene and Dan Levy in their monologue at the top of the show mocked the very dramatic “The Bear” being in the comedy category.

“In honor of ‘The Bear’ we will be making no jokes,” Eugene Levy said, to laughs.

Jean Smart won best actress in a comedy for “Hacks.” She has won for all three seasons of “Hacks,” and has six Emmys overall.

She beat nominees including Ayo Edebiri, who as co-star of “The Bear” moved from supporting actress, which she won in January, to lead actress.

Coming into the show the big story was “Shogun,” which had already taken the most Emmys for a show in a single season with 14 at the Creative Arts ceremony.

The FX series about lordly politicking in feudal Japan can still win best drama series.

If “Shogun” faces competition for the best drama prize, it could come for the sixth and final season of “The Crown,” the only show among the nominees that has won before in a category recently dominated by the retired “Succession.”

Elizabeth Debicki took best supporting actress in a drama for playing Princess Diana at the end of her life in the sixth and final season of the show.

“Playing this part, based on this unparalleled, incredible human being, has been my great privilege,” Debicki said. “It’s been a gift.”

Billy Crudup won best actor in a drama for “The Morning Show.”

Streep wasn’t the only Oscar winner trumped by a little-known name. Robert Downey Jr., the reigning best supporting actor winner for “Oppenheimer,” was considered the favorite to win best supporting actor in a limited series for “The Sympathizer,” but that award went to Lamorne Morris for “Fargo.”

“Robert Downey Jr. I have a poster of you in my house!” Morris said from the stage as he accepted his first Emmy.

Several awards were presented by themed teams from TV history, including sitcom dads George Lopez, Damon Wayans and Jesse Tyler Ferguson and TV moms Meredith Baxter, Connie Britton, and Susan Kelechi Watson.
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Washington — The FBI is investigating what it said was another assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The incident occurred Sunday at the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach in Florida where Trump, the former president, was golfing.

Law enforcement officials said Secret Service saw a man with a rifle in the bushes and shot at the suspected assassin.

The suspect fled the bushes and was later apprehended on a highway, according to law enforcement.

Previous attempt on Trump

In July, Trump was shot by a gunman during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in what the FBI said was an attempted assassination. The former president was wounded in the ear.

The Congressional Research Service says direct assaults against presidents, presidents-elect, and candidates have occurred on at least 15 separate occasions, with five resulting in death.

Below is a list of other previous attempts on the lives of American leaders, successful or not.

Assassinations

Four U.S. presidents were assassinated while in office.

Abraham Lincoln: Killed in 1865 by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington.

James Garfield: Shot in 1881 in Washington at a train station and died of his wounds two and a half months later.

William McKinley: Assassinated in 1901 by an anarchist in Buffalo, New York.

John F. Kennedy: Assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963 in Dallas, Texas, as the president rode in a motorcade.

Leaders who survived assassination attempts

Four presidents were wounded but survived assassination attempts, while in office or afterward.

Donald Trump: Trump had just started a campaign speech in Pennsylvania on July 13 when shots rang out. Trump was shot in the ear. He was rushed by security officials to a black SUV.

Ronald Reagan: He was shot in 1981 outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington. Reagan was wounded when one of the bullets ricocheted off a limousine and struck him under the left armpit.

Gerald Ford: Survived two attempts on his life in less than three weeks in 1975 without being hurt.

Theodore Roosevelt: He was shot in the chest in 1912 while campaigning for election in Milwaukee but insisted on delivering his speech to supporters before being taken to a hospital.

Assassination attempts on other US leaders

Robert F. Kennedy: A U.S. presidential candidate, and a U.S. senator, Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 by a gunman in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Alabama Governor George C. Wallace: A candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, he was shot in 1972 and became paralyzed from the waist down.
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