Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized after tripping at a local hotel on Wednesday evening, a spokesman for the senator said. 

The Kentucky senator, 81, was attending a private dinner in Washington when he tripped. He was admitted to a hospital for treatment, spokesman Doug Andres said. 

McConnell’s office did not provide additional detail on his condition or how long he may be absent from the Senate.  

In 2019, the GOP leader tripped and fell at his home in Kentucky, suffering a shoulder fracture. At the time, he underwent surgery to repair the fracture in his shoulder. The Senate had just started a summer recess and he worked from home for some weeks as he recovered. 

First elected in 1984, McConnell in January became the longest-serving Senate leader when the new Congress convened, breaking the previous record of 16 years. 

The taciturn McConnell is often reluctant to discuss his private life. But at the start of the COVID-19 crisis he opened up about his early childhood experience fighting polio. He described how his mother insisted that he stay off his feet as a toddler and worked with him through a determined physical therapy regime. He has acknowledged some difficulty in adulthood climbing stairs. 

The Senate, where the average age is 65, has been without several members recently due to illness. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., 53, who suffered a stroke during his campaign last year, was expected to remain out for some weeks as he received care for clinical depression.  

And Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., 89, said last week that she had been hospitalized to be treated for shingles. 

The Democratic absences have proven a challenge for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is already navigating a very narrow 51-49 majority.  

The Republicans, as the minority party, have had an easier time with intermittent absences. It is unclear if McConnell will be out on Thursday and if that would have an effect on scheduled votes. South Dakota Sen. John Thune is the Senate’s No. 2 Republican. 
…

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to unveil his budget proposal for fiscal 2024 during a visit Thursday to the state of Pennsylvania.

“The president will deliver remarks on his plans to invest in America, continue to lower costs for families, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, reduce the deficit, and more,” the White House said ahead of the event in Philadelphia.

Part of Biden’s proposal is to raise taxes on the wealthy to help pay for his plans.

The White House has already announced that part of the budget proposal includes an increase in Medicare taxes for incomes above $400,000 a year and allowing Medicare to negotiate better prices for prescription drugs to bolster the federal health insurance program for older Americans and certain people with disabilities.

Republicans in Congress expressed opposition to the president’s Medicare plan, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell predicting it had no chance of approval in the Republican-held House of Representatives.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited the top House lawmaker in the United States to visit Kyiv to see “what’s happening here” in an interview broadcast Wednesday on TV news channel CNN.

“Mr. (Kevin) McCarthy, he has to come here to see how we work, what’s happening here, what war caused us, which people are fighting now, who are fighting now. And then after that, make your assumptions,” Zelenskyy told the news outlet through an interpreter.

Responding to CNN, House Speaker McCarthy said, “I don’t have to go to Ukraine or Kyiv” to understand it. He said he received information in briefings and other ways.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the U.S. has sent nearly $100 billion in military, economic and relief aid to Ukraine. That aid was sent when President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party controlled both chambers in Congress.

The Republican Party took control of the U.S. House after the midterm elections, and some Republicans have expressed opposition to sending additional arms and financial aid to Ukraine.

McCarthy has said he supports Ukraine but that House Republicans will not provide “a blank check” for additional U.S. assistance to Kyiv without closer scrutiny of how it is being spent.

In the CNN interview, Zelenskyy said, “I think that Speaker McCarthy, he never visited Kyiv or Ukraine, and I think it would help him with his position.”

Many U.S. lawmakers and officials and world leaders have visited Zelenskyy in Kyiv as a show of solidarity, including President Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Guterres calls invasion violation of law

Earlier Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres assailed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a violation of international law as he arrived in Kyiv for talks with Zelenskyy.

The two were to discuss extending grain shipments from the war-torn country and securing the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

“The sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine must be upheld, within its internationally recognized borders,” Guterres said ahead of talks with Zelenskyy.

“Our ultimate objective is equally clear: a just peace based on the U.N. Charter, international law and the recent General Assembly resolution marking one year since the start of the war,” he said.

But with fighting raging and no peace talks on the horizon, Guterres said the U.N. is trying “to mitigate the impacts of the conflict, which has caused enormous suffering for the Ukrainian people — with profound global implications.”

He called for the continuation of Ukrainian grain shipments through the Black Sea with Russian acquiescence. Since July 2022, he said, 23 million tons of grain have been exported from Ukrainian ports, much of it shipped to impoverished countries. Absent a new agreement, the program is set to expire March 18.

Guterres said the grain exports have “contributed to lowering the global cost of food” and offered “critical relief to people, who are also paying a high price for this war, particularly in the developing world. Indeed, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index has fallen by almost 20% over the last year.”

“Exports of Ukrainian — as well as Russian — food and fertilizers are essential to global food security and food prices,” he said.

Guterres also called for “full demilitarization” of the region around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest — where nearby fighting has periodically shut down the facility and raised fears of a catastrophic nuclear meltdown.

Attempts for months to end fighting in the region have failed, but Guterres said that safety and security near the power plant are vital so that the facility can return to normal operations.

EU defense ministers push for ammunition

Meanwhile, European Union defense ministers gathered Wednesday in Stockholm with a push to provide more ammunition to Ukrainian forces high on their agenda.

Under a plan by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the EU states would get financial incentives worth about $1 billion to send ammunition to Kyiv, while another $1 billion would be spent on procuring new ammunition, Agence France-Presse reported.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, who attended the Stockholm meeting, said Kyiv needed 90,000-100,000 artillery rounds per month, and that Ukraine’s military is using the ammunition faster than allies can manufacture them, AFP reported.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Wednesday, “There is enormous demand out there. … The current rate of consumption compared to the current rate of production of ammunition is not sustainable and therefore we need to ramp up production.”

Stoltenberg said the conflict is “now a war of attrition.”

He said he could not rule out the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut falling into Russian control in the coming days.

“Therefore, it is also important to highlight that this does not necessarily reflect any turning point of the war, and it just highlights that we should not underestimate Russia,” Stoltenberg said. “We must continue to provide support to Ukraine.”

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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U.S. first lady Jill Biden wanted to put this year’s International Women of Courage recipients on the biggest stage possible, so she invited all 11 honorees to the White House on Wednesday for the awards ceremony held on International Women’s Day.

“Girls everywhere need to know that there are women fighting for them and winning,” Biden said Wednesday, speaking before a packed room of guests and honorees gathered for the U.S. secretary of state’s annual award. “Opening doors, transforming schools and communities and governments, building a better world for all of us. And, we’re also here to say to their brothers and fathers and husbands and friends: As much as we need women who are willing to speak up, we need more men who are willing to listen and act.”

For the first time this year, the award also honored a group, naming the women and girl protesters of Iran as the inaugural recipients of the Madeleine Albright Honorary Group Award. Countless women and girls led protests across the nation’s 31 provinces after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody in September, allegedly because she was not properly wearing her headscarf.

“The Iranian people — led by women — took to the streets in peaceful protest,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as she announced the award on Wednesday. “They followed in the footsteps of brave women before them, who sacrificed so much in the name of freedom. Through neighborhoods and classrooms, out of apartment buildings and car windows, the protesters chanted throughout Iran and around the world, creating a global chorus demanding gender equality and human rights. … To all the women and girls across Iran, know this: We will continue to stand with you in your fight for women, for life and for freedom.”

Fired, threatened, arrested, tortured

The 11 others — among them journalists, activists, educators, lawyers and a brigadier general — have been fired, threatened, arrested and tortured while seeking justice and equality.

Dr. Zakira Hekmat of Afghanistan had to attend high school in secret, in defiance of her country’s hard-line rulers. She became a doctor, working with refugees. She now lives in Turkey.

Brigadier General Bolor Ganbold flew over her military’s top hurdle, becoming the first female general in Mongolia and that country’s first female staff officer assigned to a U.N. peacekeeping operation.

Professor Daniele Darlan was fired from her nation’s top court after she refused to allow changes to the constitution of her country, the Central African Republic, to allow the president to extend his rule. That and other acts earned her the nickname “Woman of Iron.”

Iranian protesters recognized

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who introduced four recipients chosen for their defense of free speech, said the recognition of Iran’s protesters is hugely meaningful.

“We’re doing it right here at the White House, which we think is incredibly important for women around the world, but also women here and young girls here, to hear the stories of these incredible individuals,” Jean-Pierre said, in response to a question from VOA. “Girls everywhere need to know that there are women who are fighting for them.”

Analysts say the recognition shows that the Biden administration holds Iran to the same standard as the rest of the world.

“We’re three weeks away from the Summit for Democracy, where the administration is calling on countries around the world to reaffirm their support for democratic governance and support for civil society that’s pushing for democracy in authoritarian contexts,” Marti Flacks, a researcher who focuses on human rights at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA.

But the award is unlikely to impress those in power in Tehran, she said. Almost all of the members of the nation’s supreme council are men.

“They will find any opportunity to blame the United States or the West for their own challenges and governing their country,” Flacks said. “I think it’s quite clear from anyone following the situation in Iran that this is a homegrown movement. … So I don’t think that efforts by the regime to pin this on the United States are going to have much of an audience.”
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Over 113,000 Ukrainians have temporarily resettled in the United States, thanks to the U.S. government program Uniting for Ukraine. But many of these refugees are finding themselves lost in a new country. A Virginia agency is helping them start their new lives. Ksenia Turkova has the story. (Camera: Alexey Zonov)  
…

California’s desert is drawing artists from Bangladesh and from Mexico to the Coachella Valley for an unusual exhibition called Desert X. For VOA, Genia Dulot went to see.
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U.S. President Joe Biden will host his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeol, for an official state visit on April 26.   

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday President Yoon’s visit will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the security alliance between the United States and South Korea. The alliance was formed after the three-year long Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953, which left the Korean peninsula split between the communist-run North and democratic-run South.   

The visit is part of President Biden’s efforts to build and maintain relationships with regional partners as a means to counterbalance China’s growing military and economic presence, as well as North Korea’s continued nuclear and ballistic missile program despite numerous United Nations sanctions.  

Yoon’s visit would be the first official state visit for a South Korean leader since 2011, when then-President Barack Obama hosted Lee Myung-bak. It would also be the second state visit for Biden, since hosting French President Emmanuel Macron last December.   

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

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will soon travel to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden amid reports the two leaders will unveil details of a trilateral defense pact among Australia, Britain and the U.S. first announced in 2021. 

Prime Minister Albanese told reporters Wednesday before departing for India that he will travel to the U.S. after his three-day visit to the South Asian nation. But he would not confirm a report in The Sydney Morning Herald that he, Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet in San Diego next Monday to unveil details of the pact. 

The new partnership, known by the acronym AUKUS, will allow the three countries to share information and expertise more easily in key technological areas such artificial intelligence, cybertechnology, quantum technologies, underwater systems and long-range strike capabilities. The agreement also includes the building of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines for Australia. 

Analysts say the trilateral pact is an effort by the Western allies to blunt China’s increasingly aggressive military presence in the Pacific region.  

China has denounced the agreement, saying it would seriously undermine “regional peace and stability.”   

The agreement also angered France, which had a deal to sell Australia a dozen diesel-electric powered submarines for up to $66 billion.   

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.  
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Wednesday is International Women’s Day with a theme this year focusing on the need for gender equity. 

The annual observance, which dates to 1911 and fights for women’s rights, is a day for people everywhere to celebrate the achievements of women across society. 

The United Nations is putting the focus of its International Women’s Day programs on the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and working to address gaps in access to vital technology. 

The U.N. says worldwide 259 million fewer women have access to the internet than men, and that without access and the ability to feel safe online, “they are unable to develop the necessary digital skills to engage in digital spaces.”

In Washington, the International Women of Courage award ceremony is taking place at the White House for the first time. The award, which has been given to 180 women from 80 countries since 2007, “recognizes women from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equity and equality, often at great personal risk and sacrifice,” according to the U.S. State Department. 

This year’s event will feature 12 honorees, including an award for the women and girls in Iran who have led protests since the September death in police custody of Mahsa Amini. 

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
…

In March 1990, Lithuania became the first republic to break away from the Soviet Union by declaring itself an independent state, a decision the White House applauded.

Thirty-three years later, this Baltic country of around 2.7 million people is making bold moves to counter China, the century’s rising global power, and finding support from Washington as the Biden administration seeks to leverage transatlantic partnerships amid Western fears that Beijing is considering supplying Russia with weapons in its war on Ukraine.

High-level, bilateral consultations were held Tuesday in Washington between Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell. A statement said they discussed a “shared commitment to democratic values, human rights and support for the international rules-based order” and “the importance of supply chain resiliency,” diplomatic speak for policies aimed to counter China’s influence.

“We have long supported Lithuania in withstanding coercion by the PRC (People’s Republic of China) and trying to turn that coercion into economic opportunity,” John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters.

“We’re going to continue to work together to strengthen Lithuania’s robust economic partnership with Taiwan, toward Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international fora as well as developing and deepening those people-to-people ties,” Kirby said, using language from a joint statement by Landsbergis and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Tensions have been brewing in recent years as Lithuania expands diplomatic and trade ties with Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing considers its breakaway province.

Days after the establishment in 2021 of the “Taipei Representative Office in Lithuania,” Taiwan’s de facto embassy, Beijing downgraded diplomatic relations and blocked most trade with Vilnius over what it calls a violation of the One China policy. The action prompted the European Union to sue China at the World Trade Organization over “discriminatory trade practices” against Lithuania that it said threatened the integrity of the EU single market. Beijing denies instructing Chinese companies to stop doing business with Lithuanian partners.

Lithuania had minimal trade with China, so Beijing’s punitive trade actions had limited effect. Still, in November 2021 the U.S. provided $600 million in an export credit agreement to help the country withstand pressure from China and joined the WTO lawsuit in support of Vilnius.

Fears of China arming Russia

The consultation with Vilnius is happening amid a flurry of diplomatic activities in Washington. In recent and upcoming days, European NATO allies will decide whether to join Washington in imposing sanctions on China, should it decide to supply arms to Moscow.

President Joe Biden, who met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House last week, spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron Tuesday and will meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen later this week to discuss the matter.

So far, there is no indication that China is providing more than rhetorical support as it continues to purchase cheap Russian oil.

Observers say Beijing’s interests are to ensure Western focus remains on pouring resources into Ukraine, distracting it from the Indo-Pacific region.

However, tensions are ramping up. In remarks during the annual session of parliament on Monday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping made a rare, explicit comment accusing the United States of leading an international coalition to contain China.

“Western countries led by the U.S. have implemented comprehensive containment, encirclement and suppression against us, bringing unprecedented severe challenges to our country’s development,” Xi said.

Xi’s comments were followed by harsh criticisms from new Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who blamed the U.S. for deteriorating bilateral relations and for undermining peace efforts in Ukraine to extend the conflict for Washington’s benefit.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden’s approach to China has not changed.

“We’ve been very clear; we do not seek conflict and we do not want conflict. What we’re seeking is competition, and we’ve been very clear about that these past two years,” she said in a press briefing Tuesday.

Lithuania-Taiwan ties

Vilnius has emerged as one of Taipei’s most unlikely yet outspoken allies in Europe, particularly after Lithuania’s December 2020 election, in which the ruling coalition set out to pursue a “values-based foreign policy” to defend “those fighting for freedom around the world, from Belarus to Taiwan.”

The new foreign policy translated into steps that angered Beijing, including criticizing China for its handling of a World Health Organization study into the origins of COVID-19, accusing Chinese smartphone manufacturers of building censorship capabilities into their products and withdrawing from the “17+1” initiative established by Beijing to strengthen ties with Central and Eastern European countries.

Lithuania’s history as a small country in a geopolitically volatile environment that is subject to foreign communist imperialist power is partly what drives its support for Taipei, said Konstantinas Andrijauskas, associate professor of Asian Studies and International Politics at Vilnius University.

“It is only natural that there is a certain amount of skepticism within the Lithuanian society and among decision-makers towards all the communist, authoritarian and totalitarian regimes,” Andrijauskas told VOA. “At the same time, there is quite the support to the people who suffer from those respective regimes.”

But there is also a realpolitik rational for the Baltic country to be vocal against Beijing, particularly as it gears up to host the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

Lithuania is a member of the Bucharest Nine, a grouping of NATO’s newest members on the bloc’s easternmost flank. The group is wary that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds in Ukraine, he would target these countries next.

“The way that China has positioned itself in the war in Ukraine has definitely cemented feelings in Europe, that Russia and China are an axis,” Viking Bohman, associate analyst at the Swedish National China Centre, told VOA. “Lithuania is gaining some visibility from this, of being this principled.”

Despite 10,000 kilometers of land and ocean between Vilnius and the Indo-Pacific, Lithuania is developing its strategy for the region, which was a key focus of high-level bilateral consultations with Vilnius in Washington Tuesday.
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U.S. National Security Agency director Paul Nakasone on Tuesday expressed concern about Chinese-owned video app TikTok’s data collection and potential to facilitate broad influence operations.

In response to a lawmaker’s question about any concerns he has on the influence of TikTok on American children, Nakasone told a Senate hearing, “TikTok concerns me for a number of different reasons.”

Nakasone said his concerns include “the data that they have.”

“Secondly is the algorithm and the control of who has the algorithm,” Nakasone added.

Nakasone ended his comments by asserting that the TikTok platform could enable sweeping influence operations. Nakasone said his concern is not only the fact that TikTok can proactively influence users, but also its ability to “turn off the message,” and noted its large number of users.

The app is used by more than 100 million Americans.

The NSA, part of the Defense Department, is the agency responsible for U.S. cryptographic and communications intelligence and security.

A TikTok representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TikTok, a unit of China’s ByteDance, has come under increasing fire over fears that user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, undermining Western security interests. TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew is due to appear before the U.S. Congress on March 23.

A bipartisan group of 12 U.S. senators is set to introduce legislation on Tuesday that would give Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo new powers to ban TikTok and other foreign-based technologies if they are found to pose national security threats.

The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful national security body, in 2020 unanimously recommended ByteDance divest TikTok because of fears that user data could be passed on to China’s government.
…

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are getting the vegan treatment.  

The Hershey Co. said Tuesday that Reese’s Plant Based Peanut Butter Cups, which go on sale this month, will be its first vegan chocolates sold nationally. A second plant-based offering, Hershey’s Plant Based Extra Creamy with Almonds and Sea Salt, will follow in April.

The chocolates are made with oats instead of milk, Hershey said.

Hershey has experimented with vegan chocolate before. It sold an oat-based chocolate bar called Oat Made in some test markets starting in 2021. But the new products will be the first sold throughout the U.S. under the “Plant Based” label.

Hershey said consumers want choice and are looking for products they consider healthier or with fewer ingredients, including reduced sugar and plant-based options. Hershey also introduced an organic version of Reese’s Cups in February 2021.

Younger consumers, in particular, are looking to reduce consumption of animal-based products, says Euromonitor, a market research firm. In a 2021 survey, Euromonitor found that 54% of Generation Z consumers were restricting animal-based products from their diets, compared to 34% of Baby Boomers.

Nestle has sold its KitKat V, a vegan KitKat bar, in Europe since 2021, while Cadbury sells a vegan chocolate bar in the United Kingdom. But so far, U.S. vegan chocolate options have generally been limited to premium brands, like Lindt, or organic chocolatiers like Hu Kitchen.

Hershey said it developed plant-based versions of Reese’s Cups and Hershey bars — some of its most popular products — because there’s a dearth of mainstream plant-based chocolates in the U.S. market.

The plant-based versions will cost more. Hershey wouldn’t share details because it said retailers set final prices. But Rite Aid lists a 1.4-ounce package of two plant-based Reese’s Cups at $2.49; that’s about $1 more than consumers would pay for a regular package. Hershey charges a similar premium for organic versions of its Reese Cups, which went on sale in 2021.

And ditching the dairy won’t cut calories. While Hershey didn’t release all of the nutritional facts, the 1.4-ounce package of plant-based Reese’s Cups have 210 calories; that’s the same number of calories as a 1.5-ounce package of traditional Reese’s Cups. 
…

The top U.S. Army commander in the Indo-Pacific recently gave a ground-up view of the challenges posed by China’s military buildup in the region, citing munitions shortage as among the areas the United States should strengthen to effectively deter potential Chinese aggression.

“I’ve been watching the ground forces and the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] since 2014,” Commanding General Charles A. Flynn of U.S. Army Pacific told an audience in Washington last week. He was on a rare break from the Indo-Pacific theater, where he started off as Commanding General of the 25th Infantry Division based in Hawaii.

Sitting alongside U.S. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, Flynn described China’s military forces as extraordinary and “on a historical trajectory,” noting that “they’re rehearsing, practicing, experimenting, and they’re preparing those forces for something.”

He shared with the audience gathered at the American Enterprise Institute the steady buildup of the Chinese military’s presence and capacity in the Indo-Pacific region from 2014 to today, highlighting force reorganization combined with modernization that China undertook in 2015, and the establishment of newly structured theater commands that ensued.

Flynn said that by 2018, China had built and armed artificial islands in the South China Sea while ramping up joint operations. Today, he observes a significant increase of “payload of activities that they’re doing with all of their services, from the rocket forces to the strategic support forces, to space, cyber, land and sea.”

“Absent them slowing down, that’s a dangerous trajectory that they’re on,” he warned.

Flynn noted three advantages China currently holds over the United States.

“They’re operating on what’s called interior lines. They’re right next to their primary objective. And make no doubt about it — the prize is Taiwan and the land.”

“The second thing they have is, they have mass,” [I.E., numbers], he continued.

“And then, of course, they have magazine depth.” “They have a lot of munitions, a lot of arrows in their quiver,” Flynn explained.

The magazine depth issue is a “real one,” Wormuth said, telling the audience that America needs to recalibrate its strategy on munitions supplies.

“Everything we’re seeing in Ukraine shows us that we have to ramp up production,” Wormuth pointed out, especially considering a protracted conflict.

The current U.S. peacetime supply chain model falls short of demand, she warned, while sharing with the audience that the U.S. Army has already taken steps to bolster strength in this area.

“We’re doing a lot in the Army to ramp up our own organic industrial base, and to work very closely with industry to see them ramp up their industrial base,” she said.

The Army chief acknowledged that “logistics will be very hard in the Indo-Pacific in the event of a conflict,” and said the Army is focusing on this area of preparedness.

The Army is creating what Flynn called “joint interior lines” to both bolster and deter against a background of the Chinese military’s footprint of expansion in the Indo-Pacific.

Among the significant footprints China has amassed in the region are 12 airfields that fall under China’s Western Theater Command, “most of them [are] the size of Dulles,” Flynn pointed out, referring to the huge international airport located just outside of Washington.

The Western Theater Command, one of the five military commands established on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s watch, exercises operational jurisdiction over China’s borders with Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Myanmar.

Adding to the above, Beijing has also moved two army corps to be positioned along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border between China and India, built heliports and surface-to-air missile sites, and “choked off freshwater in the Mekong River,” Flynn warned. Dams built by China in upstream locations within its territory have been described by researchers and investigators as by turn depriving livelihood and constituting a strategic chokehold to downstream nations and communities in southeast Asia.

Lines of communication “being cut through Myanmar and Pakistan to get access to the Ottoman Sea” was another worrisome development, Flynn noted, adding that the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh also posed a potential challenge. “And that’s just South Asia, alone.”

While Southeast Asia is trending in a positive direction, according to Flynn, in terms of relations with the United States, Oceania, he said, currently is “under duress.” There, China has made great inroads by compromising local elites, Flynn said.

“Their currency is corruption.” Ultimately, China seeks to gain “access to terrain,” he said.

Flynn identified some of the features on or about the terrain that China seeks access: IT backbone, electrical grid, warehouses, piers, airfields and ports.

Flynn named Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, as places where Chinese influence poses a particular challenge.

Looking around the region, he pointed out other areas where tension has risen. “Of course, the activity in the South and East China Sea, and around Taiwan,” he said.

“I can’t go into great detail here on what’s happening on the ground, but I can tell you that the PLA Army and the PLA Rocket Force and the Strategic Support Force are in dangerous positions,” Flynn alerted the audience in Washington.

He also hinted at a unique role the Army could play to counter China’s strategy in the Taiwan Strait.

“The A2AD arsenal that the Chinese have designed is primarily designed to defeat air and maritime capabilities,” he noted. “Secondarily, it’s designed to degrade, disrupt and deny space and cyber,” he continued.

China is said to employ an A2AD [anti-access and area-denial] strategy concerning Taiwan aimed at keeping the United States and other friendly forces out of that theater during a potential invasion.

The A2AD strategy, Flynn pointed out, “is not designed to find, fix and finish mobile, networked, dispersed, reloadable ground forces that are lethal and nonlethal, that are operating amongst their allies and partners in the region.”

This, he said, “is an important point.”

Another point he emphasized is the United States would much prefer not to engage in a military conflict with China.

“Our goal out there is no war. But we have to be in a position and be forward with combat-credible forces to deter that from happening,” Flynn said. If deterrence “happens to fail, then we’re at least in a position to take advantage [together] with the joint force, to achieve the national objectives set up by the National Command Authority and the president.”

Wormuth noted that the U.S. is also paying attention to scenarios of potential conflict with China beyond the Taiwan Strait. Spikes in border clashes between China and India, Beijing’s belligerent behavior in the South China Sea or around the Senkaku Islands, a contentious point between China and Japan, are among those scenarios, she noted.
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Many states have enacted or contemplated limits or outright bans on transgender medical treatment, with conservative U.S. lawmakers saying they are worried about young people later regretting irreversible body-altering treatment.

But just how common is regret? And how many youth change their appearances with hormones or surgery only to later change their minds and detransition?

Here’s a look at some of the issues involved.

What is transgender medical treatment?

Guidelines call for thorough psychological assessments to confirm gender dysphoria — distress over gender identity that doesn’t match a person’s assigned sex — before starting any treatment.

That treatment typically begins with puberty-blocking medication to temporarily pause sexual development. The idea is to give youngsters time to mature enough mentally and emotionally to make informed decisions about whether to pursue permanent treatment.

Puberty blockers may be used for years and can increase risks for bone density loss, but that reverses when the drugs are stopped.

Sex hormones — estrogen or testosterone — are offered next. Dutch research suggests that most reports from doctors and individual U.S. clinics indicate that the number of youth seeking any kind of transgender medical care has increased in recent years.

How often do transgender people regret transitioning?

In updated treatment guidelines issued last year, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health said evidence of later regret is scant, but that patients should be told about the possibility during psychological counseling.

Dutch research from several years ago found no evidence of regret in transgender adults who had comprehensive psychological evaluations in childhood before undergoing puberty blockers and hormone treatment.

Some studies suggest that rates of regret have declined over the years as patient selection and treatment methods have improved. In a review of 27 studies involving almost 8,000 teens and adults who had transgender surgeries, mostly in Europe, the U.S and Canada, 1% on average expressed regret. For some, regret was temporary, but a small number went on to have detransitioning or reversal surgeries, the 2021 review said.

Research suggests that comprehensive psychological counseling before starting treatment, along with family support, can reduce chances for regret and detransitioning.

What is detransitioning?

Detransitioning means stopping or reversing gender transition, which can include medical treatment or changes in appearance, or both.

Detransitioning does not always include regret. The updated transgender treatment guidelines note that some teens who detransition “do not regret initiating treatment” because they felt it helped them better understand their gender-related care needs.

Research and reports from individual doctors and clinics suggest that detransitioning is rare. The few studies that exist have too many limitations or weaknesses to draw firm conclusions, said Dr. Michael Irwig, director of transgender medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

He said it’s difficult to quantify because patients who detransition often see new doctors, not the physicians who prescribed the hormones or performed the surgeries. Some patients may simply stop taking hormones.

“My own personal experience is that it is quite uncommon,” Irwig said. “I’ve taken care of over 350 gender-diverse patients and probably fewer than five have told me that they decided to detransition or changed their minds.”

Recent increases in the number of people seeking transgender medical treatment could lead to more people detransitioning, Irwig noted in a commentary last year in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. That’s partly because of a shortage of mental health specialists, meaning gender-questioning people may not receive adequate counseling, he said.

Dr. Oscar Manrique, a plastic surgeon at the University of Rochester Medical Center, has operated on hundreds of transgender people, most of them adults. He said he’s never had a patient return seeking to detransition.

Some may not be satisfied with their new appearance, but that doesn’t mean they regret the transition, he said. Most, he said, “are very happy with the outcomes surgically and socially.”
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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit Tuesday to Iraq, two weeks ahead of the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion that knocked President Saddam Hussein from power. 

“I’m here to reaffirm the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership as we move toward a more secure, stable, and sovereign Iraq,” Austin tweeted upon his arrival. 

The United States has about 2,500 troops in Iraq with a mission to advise and assist Iraqi troops in the fight against Islamic State militants. 

A senior U.S. defense official told reporters that Austin would express a commitment to “retaining our force presence.” The official said the United States is also “broadly interested in a strategic partnership with the government of Iraq.” 

Austin’s visit follows one last week by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who pledged “deep solidarity with the Iraqi people and my hope that Iraq will face a future of peace and prosperity and with consolidated democratic institutions.” 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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Vice President Kamala Harris says the United States is working to mitigate the impacts of climate change because competition for diminishing resources can lead to instability. She spoke about drought and climate change in the Western U.S. state of Colorado. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns has our story.
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A nuclear power plant in Georgia has begun splitting atoms in one of its two new reactors, Georgia Power said Monday, a key step toward reaching commercial operation at the first new nuclear reactors built from scratch in decades in the United States. 

The unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. said operators reached self-sustaining nuclear fission inside the reactor at Plant Vogtle, southeast of Augusta. That makes the intense heat that will be used to produce steam and spin turbines to generate electricity. 

A third and a fourth reactor were approved for construction at Vogtle by the Georgia Public Service Commission in 2009, and the third reactor was supposed to start generating power in 2016. The company now says Unit 3 could begin commercial operation in May or June. 

Unit 4 is projected to begin commercial operation sometime between this November and March 2024. 

The cost of the third and fourth reactors was originally supposed to be $14 billion. The reactors are now supposed to cost more than $30 billion. That doesn’t include $3.68 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid to the owners after going bankrupt, which brings total spending to more than $34 billion. 

The latest set of delays at Unit 3 included a pipe part of a critical backup cooling system that was vibrating during startup testing. Construction workers had failed to install supports called for on blueprints. The company has also said it had to repair a slowly dripping valve and diagnose a problem involving water flow through reactor coolant pumps. 

Georgia Power said Unit 3 would continue startup testing to show that its cooling system and steam supply system will work at the intense heat and pressure that a nuclear reactor creates. After that, operators are supposed to link the reactor to the electrical grid and gradually raise it to full power. 

“We remain focused on safely bringing this unit online, fully addressing any issues and getting it right at every level,” Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power, said in a written statement. “Reaching initial criticality is one of the final steps in the startup process and has required tremendous diligence and attention to detail from our teams.” 

Georgia Power owns a minority of the two new reactors. The remaining shares are owned by Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the city of Dalton. Oglethorpe and MEAG would sell power to cooperatives and municipal utilities across Georgia, as well in Jacksonville, Florida, and parts of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. 

Georgia Power’s 2.7 million customers are already paying part of the financing cost, and state regulators have approved a monthly rate increase of $3.78 a month as soon as the third unit begins generating power. The elected Georgia Public Service Commission will decide later who pays for the remainder of the costs. 

Vogtle is the only nuclear plant under construction in the United States. Its costs and delays could deter other utilities from building such plants, even though they generate electricity without releasing climate-changing carbon emissions. 
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Tribal leaders, scientists and conservation advocates buried Southern California’s most famous mountain lion Saturday in the mountains where the big cat once roamed. 

After making his home in the urban Griffith Park — home of the Hollywood Sign — for the past decade, P-22 became a symbol for California’s endangered mountain lions and their decreasing genetic diversity. The mountain lion’s name comes from being the 22nd puma in a National Park Service study. 

The death of the cougar late last year set off a debate between the tribes in the Los Angeles area and wildlife officials over whether scientists could keep samples of the mountain lion’s remains for future testing and research. 

Some representatives of the Chumash, Tataviam and Gabrielino (Tongva) peoples argued that samples taken during the necropsy should be buried with the rest of his body in the ancestral lands where he spent his life. Some tribal elders said keeping the specimens for scientific testing would be disrespectful to their traditions. Mountain lions are regarded as relatives and considered teachers in LA’s tribal communities. 

Tribal representatives, wildlife officials and others discussed a potential compromise in recent weeks, but a consensus was not reached before P-22 was buried in an unspecified location in the Santa Monica Mountains on Saturday. 

“While we have done everything we could to keep the carcass intact, the Tribes and agencies involved are still working toward a conclusion about some of the samples,” the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement Monday. “What is important to understand is that the Tribes and agencies involved all agreed on moving forward with the burial and it was a moving ceremony. We have come to a better place of understanding, and we look forward to continued growth from this place.” 

It was not clear whether the unspecified samples might also be buried with the animal in the future or if the tribes have agreed to let scientists keep some specimens for additional testing. 

Saturday’s traditional tribal burial included songs, prayers and sage smoke cleansings, according to Alan Salazar, a tribal member of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and a descendent of the Chumash tribe. 

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where the cougar’s remains had been kept in a freezer before the burial, called the burial a “historically significant ceremony.” 

“The death of P-22 has affected all of us and he will forever be a revered icon and ambassador for wildlife conservation,” the museum said in a statement Monday. 

Salazar, who attended the ceremony, said he believes P-22’s legacy will help wildlife officials and scientists realize the importance of being respectful to animals going forward. 

Beth Pratt, the California executive director for the National Wildlife Federation who also attended the ceremony, wrote on Facebook that the burial “helped me achieve some measure of peace” as she grieves the animal’s death. 

“I can also imagine P-22 at peace now, with such a powerful and caring send-off to the next place,” she wrote. “As we laid him to rest, a red-tailed hawk flew overhead and called loudly, perhaps there to help him on his journey.” 

Los Angeles and Mumbai are the world’s only major cities where large cats have been a regular presence for years — mountain lions in one, leopards in the other — though pumas began roaming the streets of Santiago, Chile, during pandemic lockdowns. 

Wildlife officials believe P-22 was born about 12 years ago in the western Santa Monica Mountains but left because of his father’s aggression and his own struggle to find a mate amid a dwindling population. That drove the cougar to cross two heavily traveled freeways and migrate east to Griffith Park, where a wildlife biologist captured him on a trail camera in 2012. 

His journey over the freeways inspired a wildlife crossing over a Los Angeles-area highway that will allow big cats and other animals safe passage between the mountains and wildlands to the north. The bridge broke ground in April.

P-22 was captured last December in a residential backyard following dog attacks. Examinations revealed a skull fracture — the result of being hit by a car — and chronic illnesses including a skin infection and diseases of the kidneys and liver. The city’s cherished big cat was euthanized five days later. 

Los Angeles celebrated his life last month at the Greek Theater in Griffith Park in a star-studded memorial that featured musical performances, tribal blessings, speeches about the importance of P-22’s life and wildlife conservation, and a video message from Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

To honor the place where the animal made his home among the city’s urban sprawl, a boulder from Griffith Park was brought to the gravesite in the Santa Monica Mountains and placed near P-22’s grave, Salazar said. 
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U.S. lawmakers will take an important step towards repealing a decades-old authorization of presidential war powers this week, as an effort to reassert Congress’ authority appears to have growing support.

“Both Democrats and Republicans have come to the same conclusion: we need to put the Iraq war squarely behind us once and for all. And doing that means we should extinguish the legal authority that initiated the war to begin with,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor last week, praising the bipartisan effort.

Lawmakers have made multiple attempts in recent years to repeal the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, or AUMFs, that were passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, giving U.S. presidents broad powers to conduct military operations without Congress’ constitutional right to approval.

To date, each attempt has failed amid criticism that repealing those authorizations endangers U.S. national security and U.S. forces abroad.

In addition to repealing the AUMF authorizing the 2003 war in Iraq, the legislation under consideration this week in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would also repeal the 1991 AUMF that authorized President George Herbert Walker Bush to send forces into Iraq.

“Iraq is a strategic partner of the United States in advancing the security and stability of the Middle East. Sadly, according to these laws that are still on the books, Iraq is still technically an enemy of the United States,” Republican Senator Todd Young, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement. “This inconsistency and inaccuracy should be corrected. Congress must do its job and take seriously the decision to not just commit America to war, but to affirmatively say that we are no longer at war.”

Presidents of both parties have used the 2002 AUMF as justification for military actions far beyond the scope of its original purpose. In 2014, Democratic President Barack Obama used the AUMF to justify airstrikes without congressional approval against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Republican President Donald Trump used that same AUMF in 2020 to authorize the airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassim Suleimani in Iraq.

A broad range of U.S. lawmakers now support the legislation, arguing that Congress has neglected its constitutional responsibilities for several decades. The last time Congress formally used its powers to declare war was in 1942 against Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Since that time, it has granted U.S. presidents broader authority to conduct military operations.

“Congress is responsible for both declaring wars and ending them because decisions as important as whether or not to send our troops into harm’s way warrant careful deliberation and consensus,” said Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, another co-sponsor of the legislation. “The 1991 and 2002 AUMFs are no longer necessary, serve no operational purpose, and run the risk of potential misuse.”

After the legislation passes committee, it will go to a full floor vote in the Democratic-majority Senate. It is expected to have enough Republican support to overcome a filibuster.

The chances of a repeal in the Republican-majority U.S. House of Representatives is much narrower. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has said he will allow an open amendment process, meaning any Senate-passed repeal would likely be added on to the annual National Defense Authorization for consideration later this year.

The Democratic-majority House of Representatives repealed the 2002 AUMF by a vote of 268-161 in June 2021 but it failed to pass the Senate. The 2001 AUMF authorizing the U.S. war in Afghanistan also remains law, despite earlier attempts at a repeal.
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Four American citizens were shot at and kidnapped by armed men after driving across the U.S. border into northeastern Mexico, the FBI said Sunday.

The Americans crossed into Matamoros, in Tamaulipas state, on Friday, driving a white minivan with North Carolina license plates, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico. 

“Shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen fired upon the passengers in the [minivan]. All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” the FBI said. 

Matamoros, located across the U.S. border from Brownsville, Texas, has been beset by violence linked to drug trafficking and other organized crime. 

Tamaulipas’s highways are considered among the most dangerous in Mexico due to the threat of kidnapping and extortion by criminal gangs. 

The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for help in the unidentified victims’ rescue and the arrest of the suspects. 

U.S. and Mexican authorities are investigating, the FBI said. 
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Novak Djokovic has formally withdrawn from the draw for the Indian Wells tournament, organizers said on Sunday in an indication that the world number one’s application for a COVID-19 vaccine waiver to enter the U.S. might have failed. 

The Serbian, who is one of the most high-profile athletes unvaccinated against the virus, applied to the U.S. government last month for special permission to play at ATP Masters events at Indian Wells and Miami. 

“World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the 2023 BNP Paribas Open. With his withdrawal, Nikoloz Basilashvili moves into the field,” organizers said in a statement late on Sunday. 

The U.S. currently bars unvaccinated foreigners from entry into the country, a policy that is expected to be lifted when the government ends its COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11. 

Djokovic has not competed at the back-to-back ATP Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami, two of the biggest tournaments on the ATP calendar and known as the “Sunshine Double”, since 2019. 

No one from Djokovic’s team was immediately available to comment on the withdrawal. 

Last Friday, Florida Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio wrote a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden urging him to grant the waiver request. 

Indian Wells tournament director Tommy Haas, the United States Tennis Association and the U.S. Open were among those also hoping the 22-time Grand Slam champion would be allowed to enter. 

He would have been a heavy favorite to win his sixth Indian Wells title when the tournament kicks off in the Southern California desert on Wednesday. 

Djokovic, who missed last year’s Australian Open due to his vaccination status and was not allowed into the U.S. for last year’s U.S. Open, has said he would skip Grand Slams rather than have a COVID shot. 

He won his record-tying 22nd major championships at the Australian Open in January.  
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Judy Heumann, a renowned activist who helped secure legislation protecting the rights of disabled people, has died at age 75.  

News of her death Saturday in Washington, D.C., was posted on her website and social media accounts and confirmed by her youngest brother, Rick Heumann.  

He said she had been in the hospital a week and had heart issues that may have been the result of something known as post-polio syndrome, related to a childhood infection that was so severe that she spent several months in an iron lung and lost her ability to walk at age 2. 

She spent the rest of her life fighting, first to get access for herself and then for others, her brother recalled. 

“It wasn’t about glory for my sister or anything like that at all. It was always about how could she make things better for other people,” he said, adding that the family drew solace from the tributes that poured in on Twitter from dignitaries and past presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. 

U.S. President Joe Biden said Heumann’s legacy should be an inspiration to all Americans.  In a statement Biden called her “a trailblazer – a rolling warrior – for disability rights.” 

Heumann has been called the “mother of the disability rights movement” for her longtime advocacy on behalf of disabled people through protests and legal action, her website says.  

She lobbied for legislation that eventually led to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act. She served as the assistant secretary of the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, beginning in 1993 in the Clinton administration, until 2001. 

Heumann also was involved in passage of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was ratified in May 2008. 

She helped found the Berkley Center for Independent Living, the Independent Living Movement and the World Institute on Disability and served on the boards of several related organizations including the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Humanity and Inclusion and the United States International Council on Disability, her website says. 

Heumann, who was born in Philadelphia in 1947 and raised in New York City, was the co-author of her memoir, “Being Heumann,” and a version for young adults titled, “Rolling Warrior.” 

Her book recounts the struggle her parents, German-Jewish immigrants who got out before the Holocaust, experienced while trying to secure a place for their daughter in school. “Kids with disabilities were considered a hardship, economically and socially,” she wrote. 

Rick Heumann said his mother, whom he described as a “bulldog,” initially had to homeschool his sister. The experience of fleeing Nazi Germany left the parents and their children with a passion.  

“We truly believe,” he said, “that discrimination is wrong in any way, shape or form.” 

Judy Heumann went on to graduate from high school and earn a bachelor’s degree from Long Island University and a master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley. It was groundbreaking at the time, which shows just how much has changed, said Maria Town, the president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, 

“Today the expectation for children with disabilities is that we will be included in mainstream education, that we will have a chance to go to high school, to go to college and to get those degrees,” Town said while acknowledging that inequities persist. “But I think the fact that the primary assumption has changed is a really big deal, and I also think Judy played a significant role.” 

She also was featured in the 2020 documentary film, “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” which highlighted Camp Jened, a summer camp Heumann attended that helped spark the disability rights movement. The film was nominated for an Academy Award. 

During the 1970s she won a lawsuit against the New York Board of Education and became the first teacher in the state who was able to work while using a wheelchair, which the board had tried to claim was a fire hazard.  

She also was a leader in a historic, nonviolent occupation of a San Francisco federal building in 1977 that set the stage for passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which became law in 1990. 

Town, who has cerebral palsy, said Heumann was the one who suggested she use a mobility scooter to make it easier to get around. She wasn’t ready to hear it at first after a lifetime of being told she needed to appear less disabled. Eventually, though, she decided to give it a try. 

“And it’s literally changed my life,” Town said. “And that was part of what Judy did. She really helped people accept who they were as disabled people and take pride in that identity. And she helped so many people understand their own power as disabled people.” 
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Syria’s foreign ministry Sunday condemned a surprise visit by the United States’ top military officer to an army base in the Kurdish-held northeast, dubbing it “illegal,” state media said.

In his snap visit Saturday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley met U.S. troops stationed in areas of war-torn Syria under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

About 900 U.S. troops are deployed in several bases and posts across northeastern Syria as part of the fight against Islamic State group remnants.

The official news agency SANA quoted a foreign ministry official as saying, “Syria strongly condemns the illegal visit of the American chairman of the chiefs of staff to an illegal American military base in northeast Syria.”

Milley’s visit was “a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity” of Syrian territory, the official added according to SANA, calling on “the U.S. administration to immediately cease its systematic and continued violation of international law and support for separatist armed groups.”

President Bashar al-Assad’s government views the deployment of U.S. forces in SDF-held territory as “occupation” and accuses U.S.-aligned Kurdish forces of “separatist tendencies.”

Kurdish officials deny any separatist aspirations and say they seek to preserve their self-rule, which Damascus does not recognize.

Milley’s spokesperson, Col. Dave Butler, told AFP the U.S. general “visited northeast Syria Saturday… to meet with commanders and troops.”

It was Milley’s first trip to Syria since assuming the chairmanship in 2019. He visited the country before as an army chief, the spokesperson said.

During the visit, Milley “received updates on the counter-ISIS mission,” Butler added using an alternative acronym for the IS jihadis.

The general also “inspected force protection measures and asserted repatriation efforts for the Al Hol refugee camp,” home to more than 50,000 people, including family members of suspected foreign IS militants whose home countries have not taken them back.

The U.S.-led coalition battling IS provides support for SDF, spearheaded by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

After the jihadis lost their last territory to SDF-led forces in 2019, SDF has cracked down on remnants of IS, whose members still launch deadly attacks in Syria.

U.S. forces have killed or arrested IS figures in numerous operations, including the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2019.

On February 19, the U.S. military said troops working with SDF captured an IS provincial official.

The raid came a day after four U.S. troops were wounded as they conducted another raid to kill a senior IS group leader in northeastern Syria, the U.S. military’s Central Command said.
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BGI Group, one of the world’s biggest genetics analysis companies, said Sunday it never would be involved in human rights abuses after the U.S. government said there was a danger some of its units might contribute to Chinese surveillance.

Three BGI units were among Chinese companies added to an “entity list” last week that limits access to U.S. technology on security or human rights grounds. The Commerce Department cited a risk BGI technology might contribute to surveillance. Activists say Beijing is trying to create a database of genetic information from Muslims and other Chinese minorities.

The Chinese government accused Washington on Friday of improperly attacking China’s companies.

BGI, headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, said its services are only for civilian and scientific purposes.

The U.S. decision “may have been impacted by misinformation and we are willing and able to clarify,” BGI Group said in an emailed response to questions. It didn’t mention Uyghurs or other Muslim minorities but previously has denied it provided technology to surveil them.

“BGI Group does not condone and would never be involved in any human-rights abuses,” the company said.

The “entity list” designation requires BGI Research, Forensic Genomics International and BGI Tech Solutions (Hongkong) Co., Ltd. to obtain government permission to acquire sensitive U.S. technology.

Other Chinese companies were cited for their role in the ruling Communist Party’s military modernization or weapons development by Iran and Pakistan and suspected human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Washington has accused China of trying to use civilian companies to obtain processor chip, aerospace and other technologies with possible military or security uses.

Beijing retaliated for earlier U.S. restrictions by creating its own “unreliable entity” list of foreign companies that might endanger China’s national sovereignty, security or development interests.

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Technologies Corp.’s Raytheon Missiles and Defense unit were added to the restricted list last month after they supplied weapons to Taiwan, the island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. They are barred from importing goods into China or making new investments in the country.
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