As the last American journalist to be detained in Russia and falsely accused of espionage, Nicholas Daniloff has some understanding of what Evan Gershkovich is going through.

“It’s a tough situation to be in,” the veteran reporter told VOA.

Daniloff was held for about a month during the Cold War in 1986 under circumstances similar to Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

Moscow has accused Gershkovich of espionage, without providing evidence. It’s a charge The Journal and Gershkovich’s lawyer strongly deny.

“It’s very easy to accuse journalists of espionage because some of the work is rather similar,” Daniloff told VOA this week. “Digging up information, particularly information that’s not widely known — that gives something of an impression of espionage, although it’s not.”

U.S. President Joe Biden has called Russia’s detention of Gershkovich “totally illegal.”

The president, who spoke with Gershkovich’s parents on Tuesday as he flew to Belfast, has condemned the reporter’s arrest.

“We’re making it real clear that it’s totally illegal what’s happening, and we declared it so,” Biden said earlier that day before he left Washington.

Few people understand the plight of Gershkovich like Daniloff. The pair are among the lone members of a club no journalist wants to join.

Different time, same prison

Daniloff had just a few days left of his five-year tour as Moscow bureau chief for U.S. News & World Report when on August 30, 1986, the KGB arrested him in a park while he was saying goodbye to someone he thought was a friend.

Daniloff was then accused of being a spy and taken to Moscow’s Lefortovo prison — the same prison where Gershkovich is being held.

It’s the kind of prison the Kremlin uses “to house prisoners when Moscow wanted to make an example of them,” Daniloff wrote in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.

Daniloff was released following negotiations between U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. The reporter and two human rights dissidents were swapped for a Soviet physicist who was caught receiving classified U.S. information in the New York subway.

Daniloff, now 88 and living in Boston, Massachusetts, said the memories of that time have started to fade, but he has been thinking about Gershkovich since the reporter’s arrest.

“Some of it is very upsetting,” he said.

Daniloff said his initial reaction on hearing of Gershkovich’s arrest was, “This stinks.”

“Being arrested and held in the custody of Russian authorities is never a happy situation,” he added. “But if you speak Russian,” which both Daniloff and Gershkovich do, “when you are dealing with your jailers, you discover that they also are human beings,” Daniloff said.

Daniloff said his primary concern about Gershkovich is his physical safety.

“If I had a conversation with him at this moment, the first thing I want to know is, ‘How are you being treated? Are you being treated like a human being?’” Daniloff said. ‘Or are you being in some fashion denigrated by the folks who are holding you?’”

‘An intimidating signal’

Daniloff and Gershkovich are also linked in other ways. Daniloff is the American grandson of a Russian general who fled after the Russian Revolution, whereas Gershkovich is the American son of Soviet-born Jewish emigres.

“Arresting a journalist who speaks Russian and has family ties to the country is designed to send an intimidating signal to others,” Daniloff wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

Gershkovich’s arrest was likely intended to frighten all foreign reporters still working inside Russia, according to Julia Davis, founder of Russian Media Monitor, which tracks Russian state TV.

“It serves as a message to other journalists who are still there and who would dare to talk about what’s really happening with Russia’s economy and with its defense industry,” Davis said. “That if they do that, they will be portrayed as a spy and not a journalist, and might end up being imprisoned, which is especially horrific in a country like Russia that is truly lawless under (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”

That apparent lawlessness is what gives Daniloff particular concern about what could happen to Gershkovich.

“It seems to me that you have to stand up for the things that you believe in as a Western correspondent, which probably will irritate your so-called hosts,” Daniloff said. “The thing that impresses me are the journalists who find themselves in this situation who don’t crumble but who stand up for the values that they have been taught by their Western background and their Western mentors. And I think you need to stick with that.”

Russia’s Washington embassy did not reply to a VOA email requesting comment.

‘Try to avoid crumbling’

Daniloff said the most important thing Gershkovich can do is to remain strong as best he can.

“The question is, ‘How do you behave when you are in custody?’” he said. “I think that one should try to avoid crumbling. One should try to avoid coming under the sway of your captors. And you should try to speak the language of the free press and so forth. That’s not so easy to do. But I would hope that that would be the stance that one might take.”

Since Gershkovich was arrested, a lot of attention has been paid to updates on his situation from the media and the U.S. government.

Less than two weeks after his arrest, and just a few days after he was formally charged with espionage, the State Department on April 10 designated Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained,” a label that unlocks additional government resources to help free the reporter.

‘It’s important to stand up’

Daniloff said he hopes that attention will not wane in the coming weeks.

“I think coverage of his situation is important. And it’s important from the point of view of […] journalists who try to tell the truth so they know it. Because on their side of the border, there might well be a temptation to say things that are not completely true,” he said.

Despite the obvious safety risks facing foreign reporters inside Russia, Daniloff said he still thinks it is important for foreign reporters to do their best to cover the country from within.

“I think that it’s important for journalists — Western journalists — to be there and to try to live by Western standards,” Daniloff said. “Western standards may well violate customs or perhaps even laws in Russia. Still, it’s important to stand up and speak out.”
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Electronic cigarette-maker Juul Labs will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, marking the largest settlement the company has reached so far for its role in the youth vaping surge, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Wednesday.

The agreement with New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington, D.C., marks the latest in a string of recent legal settlements Juul has reached across the country with cities and states.

The vaping company, which has laid off hundreds of employees, will pay $7.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company violated West Virginia’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act by marketing its products to underage users, the state’s Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Monday. Last month, the company paid Chicago $23.8 million to settle a lawsuit.

Minnesota’s case against Juul went to trial last month with the state’s Attorney General Keith Ellison asserting that the company “baited, deceived and addicted a whole new generation of kids after Minnesotans slashed youth smoking rates down to the lowest level in a generation.”

Like some other settlements reached by Juul, this latest agreement includes various restrictions on the marketing, sale and distribution of the company’s vaping products. For example, it is barred from any direct or indirect marketing that targets young people, which includes anyone younger than 35. Juul is also required to limit the purchases customers can make in retail stores and online.

“Juul lit a nationwide public health crisis by putting addictive products in the hands of minors and convincing them that it’s harmless,” James said in a statement. “Today they are paying the price for the harm they caused.”

James said the $112.7 million due to New York will pay for underage smoking abatement programs across the state.

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement that Juul “knew how addictive and dangerous its products were and actively tried to cover up that medical truth.”

A spokesperson for the Washington, D.C.-based Juul said that with Wednesday’s settlement, “we are nearing total resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future.”

The spokesperson added that underage use of Juul products has declined by 95% since 2019 based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey. According to the CDC, since surveys were administered online instead of on school campuses during the pandemic, the results cannot be compared to prior years.

In September, Juul agreed to pay nearly $440 million over a period of six to 10 years to settle a two-year investigation by 33 states into the marketing of its high-nicotine vaping products to young people. That settlement amounted to about 25% of Juul’s U.S. sales of $1.9 billion in 2021.

Three months later, the company said it had secured an equity investment to settle thousands of lawsuits over its e-cigarettes brought by individuals and families of Juul users, school districts, city governments and Native American tribes.

Juul rocketed to the top of the U.S. vaping market about five years ago with the popularity of flavors like mango and mint. But the startup’s rise was fueled by use among teenagers, some of whom became hooked on Juul’s high-nicotine pods.

Parents, school administrators and politicians have largely blamed the company for a surge in underage vaping.
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Broadcaster National Public Radio said Wednesday it would no longer post its news content on 52 official Twitter accounts in protest of the social media site labeling the independent U.S. news agency as “government-funded media.” 

NPR is the first major news organization to go silent on Twitter. The social media platform owned by entrepreneur Elon Musk at first labeled NPR as “state-affiliated media,” the same tag it applies to propaganda outlets in China, Russia and other autocratic countries. 

Twitter then revised its label to “government-funded media,” but NPR said that, too, was misleading because NPR is a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence. NPR says it receives less than 1% of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  

NPR chief executive John Lansing said that by not posting its news reports on Twitter, the network is protecting its credibility and would continue to produce journalism without “a shadow of negativity.” 

In an email to staff explaining the decision, Lansing wrote, “It would be a disservice to the serious work you all do here to continue to share it on a platform that is associating the federal charter for public media with an abandoning of editorial independence or standards.”  

He said that even if Twitter were to drop any description of NPR, the network would not immediately return to the platform. 

“At this point I have lost my faith in the decision-making at Twitter,” Lansing said in an article posted by NPR. “I would need some time to understand whether Twitter can be trusted again.”

Twitter has also labeled Voice of America, a U.S. government-funded but independent news agency, and the BBC in Britain, as “government-funded media,” a description more commonly employed in describing state-controlled propaganda outlets. VOA has not dropped its use of Twitter but said its description of the news outlet left the impression that it was not independent. 

Bridget Serchak, VOA’s director of public relations, said, “The label ‘government funded’ is potentially misleading and could be construed as also ‘government-controlled’ — which VOA is most certainly not.” 

“Our editorial firewall, enshrined in the law, prohibits any interference from government officials at any level in its news coverage and editorial decision-making process,” Serchak said in an email. “VOA will continue to emphasize this distinction in our discussions with Twitter, as this new label on our network causes unwarranted and unjustified concern about the accuracy and objectivity of our news coverage.” 

VOA is funded by the U.S. government and is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, but its editorial independence is protected by regulations and a firewall. The BBC said it “is, and always has been, independent.” 

Press freedom advocates have also objected to Twitter’s labeling of NPR, VOA and the BBC.

“The confusion between media serving the general interest and propaganda media is dangerous, and is yet further proof that social media platforms are not competent to identify what is and is not journalism,” Vincent Berthier, head of the technology desk at Reporters Without Borders, said in a statement. 

Liam Scott contributed to this report.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday proposed sweeping emissions cuts for new cars and trucks through 2032, a move it says could mean two out of every three new vehicles automakers sell will be electric within a decade.

The proposal, if finalized, represents the most aggressive U.S. vehicle emissions reduction plan to date, requiring 13% annual average pollution cuts and a 56% reduction in projected fleet average emissions over 2026 requirements. The EPA is also proposing new stricter emissions standards for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks through 2032.

The EPA projects the 2027-2032 model year rules would cut more than 9 billion tons of CO2 emissions through 2055 – equivalent to more than twice total U.S. CO2 emissions last year.

Automakers and environmentalists say the administration is moving quickly in order to finalize new rules by early 2024 to make it much harder for a future Congress or president to reverse them. Then President Donald Trump rolled back tough emissions limits through 2025 set under Barack Obama but the Biden administration reversed the rollback.

The agency estimates net benefits through 2055 from the proposal range from $850 billion to $1.6 trillion. By 2032 the proposal would cost about $1,200 per vehicle per manufacturer, but save an owner more than $9,000 on average on fuel, maintenance, and repair costs over an eight-year period.  

“A lot has to go right for this massive – and unprecedented – change in our automotive market and industrial base to succeed,” said John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation representing General Motors GM.N, Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE, Toyota 7203.T and others.

“Factors outside the vehicle, like charging infrastructure, supply chains, grid resiliency, the availability of low carbon fuels and critical minerals will determine whether EPA standards at these levels are achievable.”

The proposal is more ambitious than President Joe Biden’s 2021 goal, backed by automakers, seeking 50% of new vehicles by 2030 to be electric vehicles (EVs) or plug-in hybrids. Stellantis STLAM.MI said it was “surprised that none of the alternatives align with the President’s previously announced target of 50% EVs by 2030.”

The Biden administration is not proposing banning gasoline-powered vehicles, but wants comments on whether it should extend emissions rules through 2035 and on other alternatives. Some environmental groups want the EPA to set tougher rules, especially on heavy trucks.

“These standards are very ambitious and they track with the sense of urgency that the president and this administration have as we tackle the climate crisis,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a Reuters interview, declining to endorse setting a date to end the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles. He emphasized the proposal is a “performance-based standard” and not an EV mandate.

Under the EPA proposal, automakers are forecast to produce 60% EVs by 2030 and 67% by 2032 to meet requirements – compared with just 5.8% of U.S. vehicles sold in 2022 that were EVs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to propose parallel economy standards in the coming weeks.

California in August moved to require all new vehicles sold in the state by 2035 be electric or plug-in electric hybrids, but must still seek an EPA waiver to proceed. Regan would not to say how the EPA would react to a California request. “We’ll be on the lookout for that if it were to ever come,” he said.

Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign, said the EPA proposal should have been tougher.

“Automakers talk out of both sides of their tailpipes, promising electric vehicles while delivering mostly the same old gas-guzzlers and lobbying for weak, loophole-riddled rules,” Becker said.

Under the proposal, the EPA estimates 50% of new vocational vehicles like buses and garbage trucks could be EVs by 2032, along with 35% of new short-haul freight tractors and 25% of new long-haul freight tractors. Medium-duty vehicle rules are projected to cut emissions by 44% over 2026.
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Billionaire Elon Musk has told the BBC that running Twitter has been “quite painful” but that the social media company is now roughly breaking even after he acquired it late last year.

In an interview also streamed live late Tuesday on Twitter Spaces, Musk discussed his ownership of the online platform, including layoffs, misinformation and his work style.

“It’s not been boring. It’s quite a rollercoaster,” he told the U.K. broadcaster at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters.

It was a rare chance for a mainstream news outlet to interview Musk, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX. After buying Twitter for $44 billion last year, Musk’s changes included eliminating the company’s communications department.

Reporters who email the company to seek comment now receive an auto-reply with a poop emoji.

The interview was sometimes tense, with Musk challenging the reporter to back up assertions about rising levels of hate speech on the platform. At other times, Musk laughed at his own jokes, mentioning more than once that he wasn’t the CEO but his dog Floki was.

He also revealed that he sometimes sleeps on a couch at Twitter’s San Francisco office.

Advertisers who had shunned the platform in the wake of Musk’s tumultuous acquisition have mostly returned, the billionaire said, without providing details.

Musk predicted that Twitter could become “cash flow positive” in the current quarter “if current trends continue.” Because Twitter is a private company, information about its finances can’t be verified.

After acquiring the platform, Musk carried out mass layoffs as part of cost-cutting efforts. He said Twitter’s workforce has been slashed to about 1,500 employees from about 8,000 previously, describing it as something that had to be done.

“It’s not fun at all,” Musk said. “The company’s going to go bankrupt if we don’t cut costs immediately. This is not a caring-uncaring situation. It’s like if the whole ship sinks, then nobody’s got a job.”

Asked if he regretted buying the company, he said it was something that “needed to be done.”

“The pain level of Twitter has been extremely high. This hasn’t been some sort of party,” Musk said.
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The office of Mexico’s attorney general says it has launched a criminal investigation into the head of the country’s immigration agency in connection with last month’s deadly fire at an immigrant detention facility. 

A statement released late Tuesday night said National Immigration Institute (INM) chief Francisco Garduno failed to take steps to prevent the fire at the agency’s facility in the city of Ciudad Juarez that killed 40 migrants on March 27.   

The attorney general’s office says the agency knew about problems at migrant detention facilities after a migrant was killed in a fire at another detention center in 2020. 

Several other high-ranking officials of the INM are also under criminal investigation, but the statement did not specify what charges they are facing. 

Earlier Tuesday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the migrants were unable to escape the fire because the guards who had the keys to the cell door were absent.   

Five people were arrested last month in connection with a homicide investigation into the blaze after video surveillance footage appeared to show guards doing nothing to help migrants escape the fire engulfing their cell.   

Ciudad Juarez is a major crossing area for migrants or asylum-seekers wishing to enter the United States.     

The dead and injured were from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, with Guatemalans being the largest contingent, according to the attorney general’s office.      

Authorities said one migrant is believed to be responsible for igniting the fire.   

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Philippine leaders at the State Department as the two countries began their largest joint military drills Tuesday, amid increased tensions with China over Taiwan and Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has details.
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White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke by phone with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday amid signs that the Saudis and Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen are making “significant progress” toward finding a permanent end to their nine-year conflict, according to a senior administration official. 

The crown prince, often referred to by his initials MBS, has had a strained relationship with President Joe Biden over human rights and oil production concerns. But the de facto Saudi leader and the president’s top national security adviser decided to talk amid encouraging signs on winding down the long and bloody war, a top priority for Biden. 

The call came after Saudi diplomat Mohammed bin Saeed al-Jaber met with Houthi officials in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Sunday for talks that were aimed at accelerating negotiations on ending the war, a senior administration official familiar with the conversation told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. 

Biden’s special envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, is being dispatched to the Saudi capital Riyadh this week for follow-up talks with Saudi officials, the official said. CIA Director William Burns traveled to Saudi Arabia last week to meet with intelligence officials. 

Al-Jaber’s visit to the Houthi-held Yemeni capital came after the Saudis reached a deal with Iran last month — in China — to restore diplomatic ties that were cut off in 2016. Iran is the Houthis’ main foreign backer in Yemen’s conflict. 

It was a flashy moment of diplomacy for China — the United States’ top global competitor — that Beijing touted as evidence of its ability to be a diplomatic player in the Middle East. White House officials note significant progress was made during several rounds of earlier talks hosted by Iraq and Oman, well before the deal was announced in China during last month’s ceremonial National People’s Congress. 

Following Sunday’s talks, White House officials were “encouraged by the significant progress on a comprehensive roadmap to consolidate the truce in Yemen and ultimately end the war,” according to the official. 

The official said Sullivan and the crown prince largely focused on Yemen but also discussed Saudi Arabia and Iran’s reestablishment of diplomatic ties, Iran’s nuclear program, and other issues. 

Iran-allied Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen’s exiled government in 2015. 

Years of inconclusive fighting created a humanitarian disaster and pushed the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine. Overall, the war has killed more than 150,000 people, including over 14,500 civilians, according to The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. 

A six-month cease-fire, the longest of the Yemen conflict, expired in October. Biden has made finding a permanent peace among his highest priorities in the Middle East. 

The call also comes amid fresh concerns that the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance plans to cut oil production could stymie efforts to curb global inflation. 

OPEC+ announced last week it would cut oil production by 1.1 million barrels per day, or roughly 1% of global production, beginning next month. The Saudis have said the production cuts were “precautionary,” helping to keep up prices as the world economy appears to be slowing and demand for oil is dropping. 

But along with cuts announced in October, world oil supplies are down by 3%. April’s announcement could have a ripple effect on the U.S. economy in the form of higher gasoline prices, possibly forcing the Federal Reserve to be more aggressive in rate hikes to lower inflation. 

The official said Sullivan and the crown prince discussed macroeconomic issues but did not dwell on the OPEC move. 

As a candidate for the White House, Biden vowed that Saudi rulers would “pay the price” under his watch for their human rights record. But in July, amid rising prices at the pump around the globe, Biden decided to pay a visit to Saudi Arabia. During the visit, he greeted the crown prince, whom he once shunned, with a fist bump. 

Relations hit another rocky patch last fall. 

In October, the president said there would be “consequences” for Saudi Arabia as OPEC+ alliance moved to cut oil production. At the time, the administration said it was reevaluating its relationship with the kingdom in light of the oil production cut that White House officials said was helping another OPEC+ member, Russia, soften the financial blow caused by U.S. and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its ongoing war in Ukraine. 

The administration’s reaction to last week’s production cut was far more subdued, with Biden saying, “It’s not going to be as bad as you think.” 

Separately, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham met Tuesday with the crown prince in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Graham said they discussed ongoing reforms in the kingdom as well as trade between the countries. The Saudis announced last month that the two national airlines would order up to 121 jetliners from American aircraft manufacturer Boeing, a deal worth up to $37 billion. 

“I look forward to working with the administration and congressional Republicans and Democrats to see if we can take the U.S.-Saudi relationship to the next level, which would be a tremendous economic benefit to both countries and bring much-needed stability to a troubled region,” Graham said. 
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The Biden administration is ramping up efforts to address the fentanyl crisis, increasing sanctions on traffickers and announcing plans to set up a global coalition to combat the illicit drug trade.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid painkiller 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Drug overdoses from synthetic opioids killed more than 70,000 people in the U.S. in 2021, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a statement, the White House said it will work with international partners to build a global coalition to “prevent illicit drug manufacturing, detect emerging drug threats, disrupt trafficking, address illicit finance, and respond to public safety and public health impacts.”

“This global coalition will develop solutions, drive national actions, and create synergies and leverage among like-minded countries who agree that countering illicit synthetic drugs must be a global policy priority,” according to the White House.

The initiative includes increasing coordination among U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies and with private sector companies, including chemical industries, shipping and delivery companies in the U.S. and abroad.

The White House did not name the countries involved in the partnership.

“We will have more details about our work with partners in the coming weeks and months, including as we build a global coalition to tackle this scourge,” a National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement to VOA.

A key step in this effort would be to internationally track the shipping of the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, said Earl Anthony Wayne, former ambassador to Mexico who is now a fellow at the Wilson Center.

“There’s no tracking right now,” Wayne told VOA. “What you need to do is start building an international consensus to put new limits on these things. That doesn’t happen overnight.”

There is a wide variety of substances that can be used to make fentanyl, and many of them have legitimate uses and are legal to sell, making them difficult to control internationally. The U.S. has been lobbying the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs to place international controls on 14 key fentanyl precursors and fentanyl analogues — drugs that have similar chemical structure and mimic the pharmacological effects of fentanyl.

Mexico and China

The fentanyl crisis has increased Washington’s tension with Mexico and China. The two countries are the primary sources for fentanyl and the precursor chemicals that are trafficked into the U.S., according to a report by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

U.S. officials say that since China started controlling fentanyl in 2021, Chinese traffickers shifted to exporting precursors for Mexican drug cartels to manufacture and traffic across the border, making up almost all fentanyl on American streets. They say Mexican cartels often make fentanyl look like other medications, such as Xanax, oxycodone or Percocet, or mix it into other drugs, including heroin and cocaine. Many people who die of overdoses in the U.S. do not know they are taking fentanyl.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denies that his country produces the drug.

“In Mexico, fentanyl is not produced. The raw material for fentanyl is not produced. If China’s government says they do not produce it either, then it is interesting. Who is producing it?” he said in a news conference on Monday, referring to Beijing’s response to his letter requesting that China help stop the flow of the drug.

In response to Lopez Obrador’s letter, China denied involvement in trafficking fentanyl and blamed the U.S. for its drug problems.

“The root cause of overdose lies in the U.S. itself, and the problem is completely made in the U.S. The U.S. should face up to its own problems and take more substantive measures to strengthen domestic supervision and reduce demand,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said last week.

China suspended all counternarcotics cooperation with the U.S. in August 2022 as a protest to then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.

“China subordinates its counternarcotics cooperation to the geostrategic relationship with the United States,” Vanda Felbab-Brown, director of the Brookings Institution’s Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, said in a March congressional hearing on China’s role on the fentanyl crisis.

In the absence of significant warming in the bilateral relationship, there is little prospect Beijing would intensify its anti-drug cooperation with the U.S., Felbab-Brown added.

“U.S. punitive measures, such as sanctions and drug indictments, are unlikely to change that.”

Target Mexico

Some U.S. congressional members have been calling on the Biden administration to increase pressure on the Mexican government to crack down on fentanyl trafficking. In March, Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said he would introduce legislation to designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and give the U.S. military the authority to stop them.

“We’re going to unleash the fury and the might of the United States against these cartels,” he said.

The administration rejected the plan.

“The United States has powerful sanctions authorities specifically designated to combat narcotics-trafficking organizations and the individuals and entities that enable them,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Some Republicans have even called for the U.S. military to target facilities of drug cartels inside Mexico. Legislation to put the U.S. “at war with the cartels by authorizing the use of military force” has been introduced by Republican lawmakers.

“We must start treating them like ISIS, because that is who they are,” said Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw, a co-sponsor of the bill.

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the administration is not considering military action in Mexico.

“We have robust law enforcement cooperation with Mexico, which has enabled us to take successful action against cartels, transnational criminal organizations, drug traffickers and human smugglers, and that will continue,” she said in a statement to VOA.

Lopez Obrador confirmed that members of his security Cabinet are in the U.S. this week to discuss fentanyl trafficking with U.S. officials. The meeting is a followup of the January summit in Mexico City to discuss better cooperation on various issues, including fentanyl trafficking, between U.S. President Joe Biden, Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
…

Russia’s cyber operations against Ukraine may not have made as big an impact as some Western officials and cybersecurity experts first feared following the start of last year’s invasion, but top U.S. officials warn that is no reason to underestimate Moscow’s cyber exploits.

Instead, these officials caution Russia’s cyber warriors remain actively engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with Ukraine, while learning from each attack and preparing, possibly, to expand their operations beyond Ukraine’s borders.

“In cyber, I think people have underestimated really how much game they [Russia] brought, whether it be the Viasat hack to nine or 10 different families of brand-new, unique wiper viruses that have been thrown in that ecosystem,” said Rob Joyce, the National Security Agency’s director of cybersecurity, to an audience Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“There’s continued attacks on Ukrainian interests, whether it’s financial, government, personal, individual, business — just trying to be disruptive,” he added.

‘It’s a constant fight’

Joyce is not alone in his assessment of the ongoing dangers from Russia’s cyber operations.

“We haven’t seen really any slowdown,” a senior defense official told reporters on the condition of anonymity late last month during a briefing to the Defense Writers Group in Washington.

“It’s a constant fight between what the adversary [Russia] is trying to do and what the Ukrainian network defenders are trying to do,” the official said. “We see and have information shared with us about efforts to continue to compromise various Ukrainian networks from MoD [Ministry of Defense] to critical infrastructure.”

Weeks earlier, NSA Director General Paul Nakasone told lawmakers that Moscow’s cyber activities against Ukraine remain under intense scrutiny.

“By no means is this done,” he said.

Ukrainian officials have also voiced increased concern, noting the pace of Russian cyberattacks has been increasing, even as Moscow works to better coordinate cyber operations with conventional military strikes.

The NSA’s Joyce, on Tuesday, agreed Russia’s tradecraft appears to be improving.

“There’s creative things going on,” he told the audience at CSIS.

“We’re watching the Russian hackers log in to public-facing webcams to watch convoys and trains delivering aid,” Joyce said. “But they’re also hacking those webcams where … they’re looking out the coffee shop security camera and seeing the road they need to see.”

Joyce also warned that Russia’s cyber operations have also put U.S. companies in their crosshairs.

“Most of the pressure is at the defense industrial base and the logistical transport companies who are moving lethal aid [to Ukraine],” he said. “They are under daily pressure from the Russians.”

China cyber ops

Joyce also voiced concerns about China’s ever expanding cyber capabilities.

“Yes, there is an enormous amount of unsophisticated loud Chinese threat, but there are also elite units that have tools and tradecraft that is very sophisticated,” he said. “That’s the concern as they’re able to scale and use that elite set of concepts and tools in a much bigger piece.”

As for how that could play out should China decide to invade Taiwan, Joyce encouraged private sector companies to start preparing now.

“You don’t want to be starting that planning the week before an invasion when you’re starting to see the White House saying it’s coming,” he said.
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The shooter who opened fire at a Louisville bank legally bought the weapon used from a local dealership a week ago, police said Tuesday.

Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said at a news conference that bank employee Connor Sturgeon, 25, bought the gun on April 4.

Armed with the rifle, Sturgeon killed five people — including a close friend of Kentucky’s governor — while livestreaming the attack Monday on Instagram, authorities said. Another eight people were wounded.

Gwinn-Villaroel also said that officers’ body camera video from shooting will be released Tuesday afternoon.

The chief said that a rookie officer who was shot in the head while responding to the mass shooting remained in critical but stable condition Tuesday morning.

“It’s looking hopeful,” Gwinn-Villaroel told WDRB-TV about Officer Nickolas Wilt, who had graduated from training just 10 days earlier.

She said Wilt and other officers “unflinchingly” engaged the shooter at Old National Bank and stopped him from killing more people.

Police arrived as shots were still being fired inside the building and killed the shooter, Gwinn-Villaroel said.

“The act of heroism can’t be overstated on yesterday. They did what they were called to do. They answered that call to protect and serve,” she said.

The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) to the south. That state’s governor and his wife also had friends killed in that shooting.

Four of the injured remained hospitalized Tuesday — one in critical condition and three in stable but fair condition, University of Louisville Hospital said in a statement.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said he lost one of his closest friends in the shooting.

“Tommy Elliott helped me build my law career, helped me become governor, gave me advice on being a good dad,” said Beshear, his voice shaking with emotion. “He’s one of the people I talked to most in the world, and very rarely were we talking about my job. He was an incredible friend.”

Also killed in the shooting were Josh Barrick, Jim Tutt, Juliana Farmer and Deana Eckert, police said.

“There are no words to adequately describe the sadness and devastation that our Old National family is experiencing as we grieve the tragic loss of our team members and pray for the recovery of all those who were injured,” Old National Bank CEO Jim Ryan said in a statement.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told WDRB-TV that his focus moving forward would be on trying to unify residents in the city.

“We can’t let the targeted acts of evil violence that we saw yesterday in our city deter us from continuing on the path to make our city the vibrant, safe, strong healthy city that we all know it can be and all want it to be,” he said.
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Getting a well-rounded education while maintaining one’s religious identity can be challenging in some U.S. classrooms. But there are 140 accredited Islamic-based schools in the U.S. that aim to do just that. VOA’s Rivan Dwiastono visited one such school in the state of Missouri. Camera: Ariadne Budianto, Virginia Gunawan
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Tennessee Democrats on Tuesday will press for the reinstatement of the second of two state representatives who were expelled for leading a rule-breaking gun policy protest on the floor of the statehouse, after the first was reinstated on Monday.

Justin Jones pumped his fist and declared “power to the people” as he returned to the state House of Representatives after being restored by the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County.

His colleague Justin Pearson, the other young Black legislator who was expelled, could get a similar vote for reinstatement on Wednesday when the Shelby County Board of Commissioners will consider reappointing him to his Memphis district.

“You might try and silence it. You might try and expel it. But the people’s power will not be stopped,” Pearson told supporters outside the council chambers. “This is what democracy looks like.”

Republican lawmakers ousted Jones and Pearson last week for breaking decorum.

The conflict has captured national attention and served as a rallying cry for Democrats over the issues of democracy, gun violence and racial inequality.

Throughout events, Jones and Pearson have attracted big crowds like the one that joined them on March 30 to protest Republican gun policies following the March 27 school shooting in Nashville that killed three 9-year-old school children and three adults.

On Monday, about 600 protesters gathered outside the Metropolitan Council as it voted 36-0 on Monday to make Jones, 27, the interim representative.

The vote set off a celebration as supporters shouted “Whose house? Our house!” and “No Justin, no peace” while displaying signs that read, “Protect kids, not guns” and “Stop sales of AR15.”

Many of them followed Jones to the statehouse, surrounding him as he was sworn in on the steps and cheering as he reclaimed his seat.

Republican lawmakers have remained largely silent since voting to oust Jones and Pearson. During the debate they underscored the severity of disrupting the normal course of business and drowning out representatives with differing views.

They still hold a 75-23 supermajority and have shown little concern for reprisal from voters. They kicked out Jones and Pearson but came up one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to expel Representative Gloria Johnson, a white woman who joined Jones and Pearson in the demonstration but unlike them did not break the rule of speaking through a megaphone.
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Many Americans aren’t yet sold on going electric for their next cars, a new poll shows, with high prices and too few charging stations the main deterrents. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to switch, but the history-making shift from the country’s century-plus love affair with gas-driven vehicles still has a ways to travel.

The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago shows that the Biden administration’s plans to dramatically raise U.S. EV sales could run into resistance from consumers. Only 8% of U.S. adults say they or someone in their household owns or leases an electric vehicle, and just 8% say their household has a plug-in hybrid vehicle.

Even with tax credits of up to $7,500 to buy a new EV, it could be difficult to persuade drivers to ditch their gas-burning cars and trucks for vehicles without tailpipe emissions.

Auto companies are investing billions in factories and battery technology in an effort to speed up the switch to EVs to cut pollution and fight climate change. Under a greenhouse gas emissions proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency, about two-thirds of all new vehicle sales could have to be EVs by 2032. President Joe Biden has set a goal that up to half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030 to cut emissions and fight climate change.

But only 19% of U.S. adults say it’s “very” or “extremely” likely they would purchase an electric vehicle the next time they buy a car, according to the poll, and 22% say it’s somewhat likely. About half — 47% — say it’s not likely they would go electric.

Six in 10 said the high cost is a major reason they wouldn’t and about a quarter cited it as a minor reason. Only 16% said the high cost would not be a factor in rejecting the EV.

New electric vehicles now cost an average of more than $58,000, according to Kelley Blue Book, a price that’s beyond the reach of many U.S. households. (The average vehicle sold in the U.S. costs just under $46,000.) Tax credits approved under last year’s Inflation Reduction Act are designed to bring EV prices down and attract more buyers.

But new rules proposed by the U.S. Treasury Department could result in fewer electric vehicles qualifying for a full $7,500 federal tax credit later.

Many vehicles will only be eligible for half the full credit, $3,750, an amount that may not be enough to entice them away from less-costly gasoline-powered vehicles.

About three-quarters say too few charging stations is a reason they wouldn’t go electric, including half who call it a major reason. Two-thirds cite a preference for gasoline vehicles as a major or minor reason they won’t go electric.

“I’m an internal combustion engine kind of guy,” said Robert Piascik, 65, a musician who lives in Westerville, Ohio, a Columbus suburb. “I can’t see myself spending a premium to buy something that I don’t like as much as the lower-priced option.”

Although he has nothing against EVs and would consider buying one as the technology improves and prices fall, Piascik said the shorter traveling range, lack of places to charge and long refueling times would make it harder for him to go on trips.

In his 2017 BMW 3-Series, all he has to do is pull into a gas station and fill up in minutes, Piascik said. “The early adopters have to put up with a lack of infrastructure,” he said.

Biden has set a goal of 500,000 EV charging stations nationwide, and $5 billion from the 2021 infrastructure law has been set aside to install or upgrade chargers along 75,000 miles (120,000 kilometers) of highway from coast to coast.

Electric car giant Tesla will, for the first time, make some of its charging stations available to all U.S. electric vehicles by the end of next year, under a plan announced in February by the White House. The plan to open the nation’s largest and most reliable charging network to all drivers is a potential game-changer in promoting EV use, experts say.

High prices and a lack of available chargers are cited by at least half of Democrats and Republicans as main reasons for not buying an EV, but there’s a partisan divide in how Americans view electric vehicles. About half of Republicans, 54%, say a preference for gasoline-powered vehicles is a major reason for not buying an EV, while only 29% of Democrats say that.

James Rogers of Sacramento, California, a Democrat who voted for Biden, calls climate change an urgent problem, and he supports Biden’s overall approach. Still, he does not own an EV and isn’t planning to buy one, saying the price must come down and the charging infrastructure upgraded.

Even with a tax credit that could put the average price for a new EV close to $50,000, “it’s too much” money, said Rogers, 62, a retired customer service representative. He’s willing to pay as much as $42,000 for an EV and hopes the market will soon drive prices down, Rogers said.

In an encouraging finding for EV proponents, the poll shows 55% of adults under 30 say they are at least somewhat likely they will get an electric vehicle next time, as do 49% of adults ages 30 to 44, compared with just 31% of those 45 and older.

And people in the U.S. do see the benefits to an EV. Saving money on gasoline is the main factor cited by those who want to buy an EV, with about three-quarters of U.S. adults calling it a major or minor reason.

Making an impact on climate change is another big reason many would buy an EV, with 35% saying that reducing their personal impact on the climate is a major reason and 31% saying it’s a minor reason.
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A bipartisan group of more than 130 U.S. Congress members have signed a joint letter calling on the European Union to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. 

In the letter addressed to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the lawmakers said Iran is “a leading state sponsor of terror” and that for decades the IRGC “has freely and openly carried out plots targeting citizens in countries across the EU.” 

“We understand the legal complexities involved in designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization pursuant to EU law Common Position 931, and fully appreciate the need for this decision to be adjudicated by either a judicial or ‘equivalent competent authority,” the lawmakers said. “But given the growing threat Iran poses to EU member states and their citizens, we urge you to treat this issue with the utmost urgency.” 

The letter also cites a study by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point stating Iran “instigated at least 33 plots to surveil, abduct, or assassinate citizens in Europe” during the past five years. 

Borrell has said designating the IRGC as a terrorist group must first involve condemnation by a court in at least one EU member state. 

The United States declared the IRGC a terrorist group in 2019. 

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
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The U.S. national emergency to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic ended Monday as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to bring it to a close after three years — weeks before it was set to expire alongside a separate public health emergency. 

The national emergency allowed the government to take sweeping steps to respond to the virus and support the country’s economic, health and welfare systems. Some of the emergency measures have already been successfully wound down, while others are still being phased out. The public health emergency — it underpins tough immigration restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border — is set to expire on May 11. 

The White House issued a one-line statement Monday saying Biden had signed the measure behind closed doors, after having publicly opposed the resolution though not to the point of issuing a veto. More than 197 Democrats in the House voted against it when the GOP-controlled chamber passed it in February. Last month, as the measure passed the Senate by a 68-23 vote, Biden let lawmakers know he would sign it. 

The administration said once it became clear that Congress was moving to speed up the end of the national emergency it worked to expedite agency preparations for a return to normal procedures. Among the changes: The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s COVID-19 mortgage forbearance program is set to end at the end of May, and the Department of Veterans Affairs is now returning to a requirement for in-home visits to determine eligibility for caregiver assistance. 

Legislators last year extended for another two years telehealth flexibilities that were introduced as COVID-19 hit, leading health care systems around the country to regularly deliver care by smartphone or computer. 

More than 1.13 million people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 over the past three years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 1,773 people in the week ending April 5. 

Then-President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar first declared a public health emergency on January 31, 2020, and Trump declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency that March. The emergencies have been repeatedly extended by Biden since he took office in January 2021, and he broadened the use of emergency powers after entering the White House. 
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Al Jaffee, Mad magazine’s award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” has died. He was 102. 

Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson. He had retired at the age of 99. 

Mad magazine, with its wry, sometimes pointed send-ups of politics and culture, was essential reading for teens and preteens during the baby-boom era and inspiration for countless future comedians. Few of the magazine’s self-billed “Usual Gang of Idiots” contributed as much — and as dependably — as the impish, bearded cartoonist. For decades, virtually every issue featured new material by Jaffee. His collected “Fold-Ins,” taking on everyone in his unmistakably broad visual style from the Beatles to TMZ, was enough for a four-volume box set published in 2011. 

Readers savored his Fold-Ins like dessert, turning to them on the inside back cover after looking through such other favorites as Antonio Prohías’ “Spy vs. Spy” and Dave Berg’s “The Lighter Side.” The premise, originally a spoof of the old Sports Illustrated and Playboy magazine foldouts, was that you started with a full-page drawing and question on top, folded two designated points toward the middle and produced a new and surprising image, along with the answer. 

The Fold-In was supposed to be a onetime gag, tried out in 1964 when Jaffee satirized the biggest celebrity news of the time: Elizabeth Taylor dumping her husband, Eddie Fisher, in favor of “Cleopatra” co-star Richard Burton. Jaffee first showed Taylor and Burton arm in arm on one side of the picture, and on the opposite side a young, handsome man being held back by a policeman. 

Fold the picture in and Taylor and the young man are kissing. 

The idea was so popular that Mad editor Al Feldstein wanted a follow-up. Jaffee devised a picture of 1964 GOP presidential contenders Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater that, when collapsed, became an image of Richard Nixon. 

“That one really set the tone for what the cleverness of the Fold-Ins has to be,” Jaffee told the Boston Phoenix in 2010. “It couldn’t just be bringing someone from the left to kiss someone on the right.” 

Jaffee was also known for “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” which delivered exactly what the title promised. A comic from 1980 showed a man on a fishing boat with a noticeably bent reel. “Are you going to reel in the fish?” his wife asks. “No,” he says, “I’m going to jump into the water and marry the gorgeous thing.” 

Jaffee didn’t just satirize the culture; he helped change it. His parodies of advertisements included such future real-life products as automatic redialing for a telephone, a computer spell checker and graffiti-proof surfaces. He also anticipated peelable stamps, multiblade razors and self-extinguishing cigarettes. 

Jaffee’s admirers ranged from Charles M. Schulz of “Peanuts” fame and “Far Side” creator Gary Larson to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who marked Jaffee’s 85th birthday by featuring a Fold-In cake on “The Colbert Report.” When Stewart and “The Daily Show” writers put together the best-selling “America (The Book),” they asked Jaffee to contribute a Fold-In. 

“When I was done, I called up the producer who’d contacted me, and I said, ‘I’ve finished the Fold-In, where shall I send it?’ And he said — and this was a great compliment — ‘Oh, please Mr. Jaffee, could you deliver it in person? The whole crew wants to meet you,'” he told The Boston Phoenix. 

Jaffee received numerous awards and in 2013 was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the ceremony taking place at San Diego Comic-Con International. In 2010, he contributed illustrations to Mary-Lou Weisman’s “Al Jaffee’s Mad Life: A Biography.” The following year, Chronicle Books published “The MAD Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010.” 

Art was the saving presence of his childhood, which left him with permanent distrust of adults and authority. He was born in Savannah, Georgia, but for years was torn between the U.S., where his father (a department store manager) preferred to live, and Lithuania, where his mother (a religious Jew) longed to return. In Lithuania, Jaffee endured poverty and bullying but also developed his craft. With paper scarce and no school to attend, he learned to read and write through the comic strips mailed by his father. 

By his teens, he was settled in New York City and so obviously gifted that he was accepted into the High School of Music & Art. His schoolmates included Will Elder, a future Mad illustrator, and Harvey Kurtzmann, a future Mad editor. (His mother, meanwhile, remained in Lithuania and was apparently killed during the war). 

He had a long career before Mad. He drew for Timely Comics, which became Marvel Comics; and for several years sketched the “Tall Tales” panel for the New York Herald Tribune. Jaffee first contributed to Mad in the mid-1950s. He left when Kurtzmann quit the magazine but came back in 1964. 

Mad lost much of its readership and edge after the 1970s, and Jaffee outlived virtually all of the magazine’s stars. But he rarely lacked for ideas even as his method, drawing by hand, remained mostly unchanged in the digital era. 

“I’m so used to being involved in drawing and knowing so many people that do it, that I don’t see the magic of it,” Jaffee told the publication Graphic NYC in 2009. “If you reflect and think about it, I’m sitting down and suddenly there’s a whole big illustration of people that appears. I’m astounded when I see magicians work; even though I know they’re all tricks. You can imagine what someone thinks when they see someone drawing freehand and it’s not a trick. It’s very impressive.”
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The World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings kick off this week with an ambitious reform and fundraising agenda likely to be overshadowed by concerns over high inflation, rising geopolitical tension and financial stability.

“Despite the remarkable resilience of consumer spending in the United States, in Europe, despite the uplift from China’s reopening, global growth would remain below 3%” in 2023, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva told a press conference on Monday.

The fund now expects global growth to remain at close to 3% for the next half decade — its lowest medium-term prediction since the 1990s.

Close to 90% of the world’s advanced economies will experience slowing growth this year, while Asia’s emerging markets are expected to see a substantial rise in economic output — with India and China predicted to account for half of all growth, Georgieva said last week.

Low-income countries are expected to suffer a double shock from higher borrowing costs and a decline in demand for their exports, which Georgieva said could fuel poverty and hunger.

Updated growth projections published in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook on Tuesday will provide a broader look at how different countries are coping, with additional publications to detail fiscal and financial challenges to the global economy.

The World Bank, which forecast a gloomier economic picture than the IMF earlier this year, is slightly raising its prediction for global growth in 2023, from 1.7 in January to 2%, spurred by China’s economic reopening, the bank’s president David Malpass said at a press conference on Monday.

Tackling inflation remains a priority

This year’s spring meeting will be held amid high inflation and ongoing concerns about the health of the banking sector following the dramatic collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Georgieva said last week that central banks should continue battling high inflation through interest-rate hikes, despite concerns that it could further inflame the banking sector.

“We don’t envisage, at this point, central banks stepping back from fighting inflation,” she told AFP in an interview.

“Central banks still have to prioritize fighting inflation and then supporting, through different instruments, financial stability,” she said.

Ahead of the spring meetings, the IMF and World Bank also called on wealthier countries to help plug a $1.6 billion hole in a concessional lending facility for low-income countries that was heavily used during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many low-income countries are now facing mounting debt burdens due in part to the higher interest-rate environment, which is also leading to capital outflows from many of the countries most in need of investment.

“For many of the developing countries it looks like they’re in a phase of decapitalization rather than recapitalization,” Malpass said on Monday. “That’s gravely concerning.”

US pushes for World Bank reforms

Malpass and Georgieva will use this year’s spring meetings to try and make progress on stalled debt restructuring reforms.

“The goal is to share information earlier in the debt restructuring process and work toward comparable burden sharing,” Malpass said.

There will also be a meeting on Wednesday to address war-torn Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction needs, with the World Bank estimating the country faces an “additional” $11 billion funding shortfall this year.

The spring meetings also provide an opportunity to make progress on an ambitious U.S.-backed agenda to reform the World Bank, so it is better prepared to tackle long-term issues like climate change.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told AFP she expects member states will agree to update the World Bank’s mission statement to include “building resilience against climate change, pandemics and conflict and fragility,” to its core goals.

Yellen said she also expects an agreement to “significantly” stretch the World Bank’s financial capacity, which “could result in an additional $50 billion in extra lending capacity over the next decade.”

The changes will likely fall to the bank’s next president to implement, with Malpass due to step down early from a tenure marked by concerns over his position on climate change.

He is widely expected to be replaced by U.S.-backed former Mastercard chief executive officer Ajay Banga, who was the only person nominated for the position.
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A Virginia grand jury on Monday indicted the mother of a 6-year-old boy on felony child neglect and a firearms charge stemming from the child’s shooting of an elementary school teacher three months ago in Newport News.

On January 6, 25-year-old teacher Abigail Zwerner was wounded by a first-grade student in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School after school officials received warnings that the boy had a gun.

The student’s mother, Deja Taylor, was charged with felony “child neglect and misdemeanor recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child,” Newport News, Virginia, prosecutor Howard Gwynn said in a statement.

The indictments are the latest example of prosecutors charging parents of children who commit gun crimes or mass shootings. Last month, a Michigan appeals court ruled in favor of prosecutors seeking to take the parents of school shooter Ethan Crumbley to trial on involuntary manslaughter charges.

An Illinois father was arraigned in February on charges that he helped his underage son obtain a gun that the latter used to kill seven people at a Fourth of July parade near Chicago, despite signs the younger man was mentally disturbed.

In the Newport News school shooting case, Gwynn said the grand jury would continue to investigate and would consider whether additional charges were warranted.

“Every criminal case is unique in its facts, and these facts support these charges, but our investigation into the shooting continues,” Gwynn said.

While shootings committed by a young child in a classroom are extremely rare, school shootings happen with alarming frequency in the U.S., including the deadly attack last month at a small private Christian school in Nashville, where a former student killed three 9-year-old children and three adults.

In Newport News, Zwerner last week filed a $40 million lawsuit against school administrators, alleging they ignored warnings from staff and pupils that the boy had a gun.

School officials have confirmed they had received warnings that the boy had a gun at school, but that a search of his belongings before the shooting had not turned up any weapon.
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A U.S. warship sailed near a chain of islands Monday claimed by China, the Philippines, as well as other nations and Taiwan, while China held its third day of military exercises around self-governed Taiwan.

The U.S. Navy said the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius conducted a freedom of navigation operation near Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, a group of dozens of islands between Vietnam and the Philippines, to uphold the “lawful uses of the sea.”

“USS Milius demonstrated that Mischief Reef, a low-tide elevation in it its natural state, is not entitled to a territorial sea under international law,” the Navy said.

The Navy routinely sails near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea to protest what it calls China’s “excessive maritime claims.”

China has created thousands of hectares of artificial islands atop reefs in the Spratlys and claimed Monday that the United States was “illegally trespassing.”

Beijing has claimed every feature in the South China Sea to restrict navigation and stop the lawful commercial activity of vessels from the Philippines and Vietnam. China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam all claim the Spratlys as part of their territory.

“The United States upholds freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle. As long as some countries continue to claim and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority under international law, the United States will continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all. No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms,” the Navy said in a statement.

The operation occurred as China sent nearly a dozen warships and 70 fighter jets toward Taiwan on Monday in a third day of military drills since Taiwan’s president met with Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles last week.

Taiwan’s government said it responded to China’s moves by readying its navy and land-based missile defenses.

China’s foreign ministry has sharply criticized meetings between U.S. and Taiwanese officials. The Chinese Communist Party has said it wants to gain control of Taiwan, a democratic island, by 2027 and is prepared to use force, if necessary.

The Pentagon’s assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, Chris Meager, told reporters Monday that Beijing should not turn the Taiwanese leader’s visit to California into a “pretext to overreact.”

He said the U.S. continues to keep open communication channels with the People’s Republic of China but so far, Beijing has declined requests for engagement with both Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

The USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group and a Marine Amphibious Ready Group are currently in the region, and Meagher said they will continue to conduct routine operations there. 

“We will not be deterred from operating safely and responsibly in the seas and skies of the western Pacific, consistent with international law,” he said Monday. 
…

The instruction to feed the hungry is a common philosophy among most major world religions. Muslims are no exception, especially while the observe the fasting month of Ramadan. VOA’s Irfan Ihsan reports. Alam Burhanan and Ronan Zakaria contributed.
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Five people were killed and six others hospitalized in a shooting at a bank building Monday morning in downtown Louisville, police said.

The suspected shooter was also dead, Louisville Metro Police Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey told a news conference.

Witnesses who left the building told Louisville station WHAS-TV they heard gunfire inside the building.

Numerous police vehicles were seen on television footage. WHAS reporters said they saw people being taken from the scene in ambulances.

In a tweet, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he was heading to the scene.

“Please pray for all of the families impacted and for the city of Louisville,” Beshear said.

The FBI said its agents were also responding to the shooting.

The shooting happened in a building on East Main Street that houses the Old National Bank not far from the Louisville Slugger Field and Waterfront Park.
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The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has paused its practice of paying for emergency contraception — and in rare cases, abortions — for victims of sexual assault, a move that drew criticism from some victim advocates.

Federal regulations and state law require Iowa to pay many of the expenses for sexual assault victims who seek medical help, such as the costs of forensic exams and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Under the previous attorney general, Democrat Tom Miller, Iowa’s victim compensation fund also paid for Plan B, the so-called morning after pill, as well as other treatments to prevent pregnancy.

A spokeswoman for Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird, who defeated Miller’s bid for an 11th term in November, told the Des Moines Register that those payments are now on hold as part of a review of victim services.

“As a part of her top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance, Attorney General Bird is carefully evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds,” Bird Press Secretary Alyssa Brouillet said in a statement. “Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed.”

Victim advocates were caught off guard by the pause. Ruth Richardson, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said in a statement that the move was “deplorable and reprehensible.”

Bird’s decision comes as access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. plunged into uncertainty following conflicting court rulings on Friday over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone. For now, the drug the Food and Drug Administration approved in 2000 appeared to remain at least immediately available in the wake of separate rulings issued in quick succession.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone. But that decision came at nearly the same time that U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice in Washington state, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, essentially ordered the opposite.

The extraordinary timing of the competing orders revealed the high stakes surrounding the drug nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and curtailed access to abortion across the country. President Joe Biden said his administration would fight the Texas ruling.

In Iowa, money for the victim compensation fund comes from fines and penalties paid by convicted criminals. For sexual assault victims, state law requires that the fund pay “the cost of a medical examination of a victim for the purpose of gathering evidence and the cost of treatment of a victim for the purpose of preventing venereal disease,” but makes no mention of contraception or pregnancy risk.

Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, who served as director of the victim assistance division under Miller, said the longtime policy for Iowa has been to include the cost of emergency contraception in the expenses covered by the fund. She said that in rare cases, the fund paid for abortions for rape victims.

“My concern is for the victims of sexual assault, who, with no real notice, are now finding themselves either unable to access needed treatment and services, or are now being forced to pay out of their own pocket for those services, when this was done at no fault of their own,” she said.
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The U.S. Defense Department said Sunday that multiple agencies are working to assess the national security impacts from a leak of highly classified documents. 

“The Department of Defense continues to review and assess the validity of the photographed documents that are circulating on social media sites and that appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement.   

Singh said national security is the Pentagon’s highest priority and that U.S. officials have “engaged with Allies and partners and have informed relevant congressional committees of jurisdiction about the disclosure.” 

The U.S. Justice Department said Friday it had opened an investigation into the matter. 

The information, which includes apparent military assessments about Russia’s war in Ukraine and of U.S. allies, appeared on multiple social media sites. 

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