Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89.

A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.

Blake, the star of the 1970s TV show “Baretta,” had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the ordeal that began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced, and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.

Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the center of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many remembered him not as the rugged, dark-haired star of “Baretta,” but as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant.

In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press, he was adamant that he had not killed his wife. A jury ultimately acquitted him, but a civil jury would find Blake liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family $30 million, a judgment that sent him into bankruptcy. The daughter he and Bakley had together, Rose Lenore, was raised by other relatives and went for years without seeing Blake until they spoke in 2019. She would tell People magazine that she called him “Robert,” not “Dad.”

It was an ignominious finale for a life lived in the spotlight from childhood. As a youngster, he starred in the “Our Gang” comedies and acted in a movie classic, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s true crime best seller “In Cold Blood.”

Blake’s career peaked with the 1975-78 TV cop series, “Baretta.” He starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time,” was often quoted.

Blake won a 1975 Emmy for his portrayal of Tony Baretta, although behind the scenes the show was wracked by disputes involving the temperamental star. He gained a reputation as one of Hollywood’s finest actors, but one of the most difficult to work with. He later admitted to struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his early life.

In 1993, Blake won another Emmy as the title character in “Judgment Day: The John List Story,” portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children.

Blake’s career had slowed down well before the trial. He made only a handful of screen appearances after the mid-1980s; his last project was in David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” released in 1997. According to his niece, Blake had spent his recent years “enjoying jazz music, playing his guitar, reading poetry and watching many Hollywood classic films.”

Once a wealthy man, he wound up living on Social Security and a Screen Actor’s Guild pension.
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After three nasty years, the La Nina weather phenomenon that increases Atlantic hurricane activity and worsens Western drought is gone, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday.

That’s usually good news for the United States and other parts of the world, including drought-stricken northeast Africa, scientists said.

The globe is now in what’s considered a “neutral” condition and probably trending to an El Nino in late summer or fall, said climate scientist Michelle L’Heureux, head of NOAA’s El Nino/La Nina forecast office.

“It’s over,” said research scientist Azhar Ehsan, who heads Columbia University’s El Nino/La Nina forecasting. “Mother Nature thought to get rid of this one because it’s enough.”

Global impact

La Nina is a natural and temporary cooling of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide. In the United States, because La Nina is connected to more Atlantic storms and deeper droughts and wildfires in the West, La Ninas often are more damaging and expensive than their more famous flip side, El Nino, experts said, and studies show.

Generally, American agriculture is more damaged by La Nina than El Nino. If the globe jumps into El Nino, it means more rain for the Midwestern corn belt and grains in general and could be beneficial, said Michael Ferrari, chief scientific officer of Climate Alpha, a firm that advises investors on financial decisions based on climate.

When there’s a La Nina, there are more storms in the Atlantic during hurricane season because it removes conditions that suppress storm formation. Neutral or El Nino conditions make it harder for storms to get going, but not impossible, scientists said.

Over the last three years, the U.S. has been hit by 14 hurricanes and tropical storms that each caused $1 billion or more in damage, totaling $252 billion in costs, according to NOAA economist and meteorologist Adam Smith. La Nina and people building in harm’s way were factors, he said.

Influence of climate change

Climate change is a major factor in worsening extreme weather, alongside La Nina, scientists said and numerous studies and reports show. Human-caused warming is like an escalator going up – It makes temperatures increase and extremes worse – while La Nina and El Nino are like jumping up and down on the escalator, according to Northern Illinois University atmospheric sciences professor Victor Gensini.

La Nina has also slightly dampened global average temperatures, keeping warming from breaking annual temperature records, while El Nino slightly turbocharges those temperatures, often setting records, scientists said.

La Nina tends to make western Africa wet, but eastern Africa, around Somalia, dry. The opposite happens in El Nino, with drought-struck Somalia likely to get steady “short rains,” Ehsan said. La Nina has wetter conditions for Indonesia, parts of Australia and the Amazon, but those areas are drier in El Nino, according to NOAA.

El Nino means more heat waves for India and Pakistan and other parts of South Asia and weaker monsoons there, Ehsan said.

Signs that La Nina’s leaving

This particular La Nina, which started in September 2020 but is considered three years old because it affected three different winters, was unusual and one of the longest on record. It took a brief break in 2021 but came roaring back with record intensity.

“I’m sick of this La Nina,” Ehsan said. L’Heureux agreed, saying she’s ready to talk about something else.

The few other times that there’s been a triple-dip La Nina have come after strong El Ninos, and there’s clear physics on why that happens. But that’s not what happened with this La Nina, L’Heureux said. This one didn’t have a strong El Nino before it.

Even though this La Nina has confounded scientists in the past, they say the signs that it’s leaving are clear: Water in the key part of the central Pacific warmed to a bit more than the threshold for a La Nina in February, the atmosphere showed some changes, and along the eastern Pacific near Peru there’s already El Nino-like warming brewing on the coast, L’Heureux said.

Think of a La Nina or El Nino as something that pushes the weather system from the Pacific with ripple effects worldwide, L’Heureux said. When there are neutral conditions like now, there’s less push from the Pacific. That means other climatic factors, including the long-term warming trend, have more influence in day-to-day weather, she said.

Without an El Nino or La Nina, forecasters have a harder time predicting seasonal weather trends for summer or fall because the Pacific Ocean has such a big footprint in weeks-long forecasts.

El Nino forecasts made in the spring are generally less reliable than ones made at other times of year, so scientists are less sure about what will happen next, L’Heureux said. But NOAA’s forecast said there’s a 60% chance that El Nino will take charge come fall.

There’s also a 5% chance that La Nina will return for an unprecedented fourth dip. L’Heureux said she really doesn’t want that but the scientist in her would find that interesting.
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The United States on Thursday announced more sanctions against people and firms associated with Iran and with what it said was an illicit banking network used to conceal transactions.

The U.S. said it placed the penalties on 39 firms linked to a shadow banking system that helped to obfuscate financial activity between sanctioned Iranian firms and their foreign buyers, namely for petrochemicals produced in Iran.

The Treasury Department said the companies — from Hong Kong to the United Arab Emirates — made up a “significant ‘shadow banking’ network” that gave cover to sanctioned Iranian entities to disguise petrochemical sales with foreign customers.

“Today’s action demonstrates the United States’ commitment to enforcing our sanctions and our ability to disrupt Iran’s foreign financial networks, which it uses to launder funds,” Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a written statement that the U.S. “will continue to disrupt attempts to evade U.S. sanctions.”

Also included in the Thursday announcement is a set of financial penalties on a China-based network of firms and one person accused of being responsible for the sale and shipment of thousands of drone components to Iran. 

Iran is accused of supplying Russia with drones that are used to bomb Ukrainian civilians as the Kremlin continues its invasion of Ukraine. 

Among other things, the sanctions deny the people and firms access to any property or financial assets held in the U.S. and prevent U.S. companies and citizens from doing business with them. 

The sanctions come one day after Iranian prison officials and others were hit with sanctions over the treatment of young women and girls. 

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are high amid months of anti-government protests in Iran and Western anger at Iran’s export of attack drones to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. 
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The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to block Washington’s Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022.

In a bipartisan vote of 81-14, lawmakers advanced the Republican-led resolution with 33 Democrats voting alongside every Republican and Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema.

The vote on the so-called resolution of disapproval came after the House of Representatives blocked the RCCA on February 9. The bill will now go to President Joe Biden, who has said he will sign the measure. Biden has been under increasing pressure from Republicans who have made reducing crime a political priority as he gears up for a likely announcement of his presidential reelection campaign in the coming months.

A congressional disapproval resolution has not succeeded in Washington in about three decades.

The Council of the District of Columbia passed the act in November, but Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed it in January. She released a letter saying that while she supports 95% of the bill, she is concerned about certain aspects that would reduce maximum penalties for certain offenses.

“It’s more important to get this opportunity right than to add policies and weaken penalties into what should be a bill that makes D.C. safer,” she wrote.

The council overrode her veto 12-1 on January 17.

Bowser has since introduced the Revised Criminal Code Amendment Act of 2023, which would alter some policies in the original version. It would not take effect until 2027.

“This is our capital city. But local politicians have let its streets become a danger and an embarrassment,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning.

In a statement released after Wednesday night’s vote, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said, “To overturn our local, democratically enacted laws — the product of 10+ years of collaboration between law enforcement, judges and policy experts — without any independent analysis, review or alternative proposal, is not only undemocratic, but also careless.”

The House delegate for the district, Eleanor Holmes Norton, released a statement Wednesday stating that she will continue working to persuade Biden to not sign the disapproval resolution.

“Even if President Biden signs the resolution and denies D.C. residents the very self-governance that he has claimed to support, this chapter of D.C.’s continuing fight for autonomy is, in itself, a powerful argument for the full rights that can only be provided by D.C. statehood,” she said.

“Statehood would give the nearly 700,000 residents of the nation’s capital voting representation in Congress and full local self-government, and would ensure that Congress and the Executive Branch will never again be able to overturn local D.C. laws. I will not stop until the job is done.”

What is the Revised Criminal Code Act?

The Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 is a rewrite of the existing criminal code that has been in the works for 16 years. The current criminal code hasn’t been comprehensively updated since 1901, and the new law would not take effect until 2025.

The bill would lower penalties for offenses such as carjackings. The current sentence is from seven to 21 years, and 15 to 40 if armed. Under the revised code, carjacking is divided into three gradations depending on severity, with the lowest penalties for an unarmed offense running from four to 18 years and the highest penalties for an armed offense ranging from 12 to 24 years.

Many opponents of the bill are concerned that this will increase crime; however, the RCCA’s maximum sentence for armed carjacking is harsher than that of 15 states. The revised code also increases sentences for attempted murder, attempted sexual assault, misdemeanor sexual abuse and many other crimes.

Ward 5 Council Member Zachary Parker wrote in an email that he supports the legislation, saying, “Years of evidence-based research, dialogue, debate, public engagement and thoughtful improvements went into producing it. … I truly believe it will foster healthier communities by creating a more uniform penalty system, reducing sentencing disparities that fall hardest on Black men and their families.”

Black residents experience more aggressive and frequent policing by the Metropolitan Police Department. In 2020, a D.C. Council report showed Black people accounted for 88% of stops, 91% of arrests and 100% of use-of-force incidents in the district. As of January 2023, 90.3% of city inmates were Black, according to the Department of Corrections Facts and Figures report.

Although violent crime in the district decreased by 7% last year compared with 2021, homicides topped 200 for the second time in nearly two decades in 2022, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department.

As of March 2023, violent crime in the capital was down 9%, while property crime was up 31% compared with last year.

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

Editor’s note: Alice Albright, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, or MCC, gave an interview to Carol Castiel of VOA’s English to Africa Service on the “Press Conference USA” radio program on March 7, 2023, at our Washington headquarters.

As efforts to strengthen U.S.-Africa relations are in motion with plans for several high-level delegations to visit the continent following the December 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, Albright discusses the role of MCC in several African countries and the organization’s future goals. The following highlighted excerpts from their conversation have been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: How would you define the MCC’s unique mission and model?

Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO Alice Albright: MCC was created in 2004 with the intention of doing international aid in a somewhat different way. Our mission is to fight poverty through economic growth and our business model is quite distinctive.

We start with a very selective process for determining the countries with whom we work. There are essentially two pieces to that. One is whether or not a country is low-income enough. The second is whether or not a country passes what we call our “scorecard.” The scorecard measures three essential policy areas. One is: is a country managing its economy well; the second is whether a country is investing in its people. These are investments in health and education, for example. And the third is: whether or not a country is on a strong democratic pathway and trying to fight corruption.

Once a country gets through those two essential filters at the beginning, we then start working with countries to figure out jointly, as partners, what are the main challenges towards economic growth ahead of them. Finally, once we do a lot of design, evaluation and diagnostic work, we then deploy, in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars of grant money. This is significant, particularly in the current environment, to help countries invest in their biggest challenge.

One of the things that also really distinguishes it is how much we put at the heart of what we call country ownership, which is working with the countries on the problems that they think are their priorities.

VOA: Let’s talk about your stewardship. What do you bring to the agency, what unique vision?

Albright: Well, first of all, it’s an enormous honor to be at the agency and it is an agency of incredibly talented people. I just happened to be lucky enough to be nominated and confirmed for the job. I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about being there.

The agency already does incredible work. Some of the things that we’re currently working on are, for example, our gender and inclusion strategy. Even though MCC has had a lot of experience in that area we decided that it was important to sort of step it up a bit.

We’re spending a lot of time on the question of climate change and the need for climate resilience.

We’re very concerned about the impact. As you know, many countries have experienced all kinds of dislocation and migration for various reasons. Even though we are not a humanitarian assistance agency, we see the impact on countries of all of the forms of fragility.

I bring, perhaps, a different lens on a couple of things. I used to work very happily in a wonderful education partnership. So, I’m always asking: “What are we doing about education?” But it’s a terrific place and it’s just a terrific honor to be able to lead it and work with all my wonderful colleagues there.

VOA: In terms of the major sectors in which you work, they seem to be more infrastructure oriented. Talk about the sectors in particular that you support.

Albright: This is one of the more interesting aspects of the model. Unlike many other aid agencies where either they are a single sector by design or perhaps there are a number of earmarks over their choice of sectors, we are not sector confined. We can work almost in any sector.

Now, if you look at the breadth of sectors that we do work on, there are some clear similarities. A lot of it is infrastructure, but we work with countries on what we call the basics: Do they have energy? Do they have a road transportation network? Do they have an agricultural system that is scalable? Do they have health? Do they have education? Do they have transportation? Do they have ports? And so those tend to be major impediments to a country’s growth pathway, which is why we end up working with them.

And I can give you some great examples to just really boil it down to specifics. I was just in Sierra Leone last week. We’ve come to realize that it is in major need of upgrade to its electricity network. There’s a significant part of the country that does not have any reach of electricity. They also have a very fragmented generation capacity that is very heavily reliant on diesel. Their transmission and distribution lines are very inadequate relative to where the population lives. I was in a village talking to community members about what is the impact on their life of not having electricity. They’re not able to get their businesses off the ground. The children are not able to do their homework at night. Babies are being delivered in some cases by flashlight. And so, lack of electricity in a country is a fundamental barrier.

We are in the process of helping them identify the particular gaps in their overall energy landscape that need to be invested in. We’re really studying those carefully with the government, and then, as we proceed, we will probably invest a significant amount of money to help them upgrade their energy network.

VOA: President Joe Biden is trying to increase engagement in Africa based on the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. How do you play a role in that?

Albright: The president and the administration have indicated significant interest in the continent. And the African Leaders Summit in December was a real success and a really very important moment in terms of continuing to foster strong relations on the continent. It was really an honor for MCC to be so involved in that.

We signed our first regional compact for just a little bit over $500 million that enabled us to help Benin and Niger build a road transportation network that will increase trade between Niamey down to Cotonou. And we also had a number of terrific meetings with heads of state. It was a really successful few days, I think, and we found it very, very valuable.

VOA: Africa wants to integrate through the creation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement. So, this regional type of compact that you just mentioned between Benin and Niger, that plays right into that overall goal of the continent.

Albright: Yes, it very much matches what the continent aspires for itself. When you talk to leaders, what you hear about is how interested they are in greater integration as a way of driving economic growth, and there’s all kinds of interesting statistics that compare the degree of regional trade with other parts of the world and there’s certainly room to grow.

Benin and Niger were the first one and we’re now looking forward to getting on with it in terms of the implementation. We are also working on a regional power integration compact. It will be essentially situated in Cote d’Ivoire and it will map the geographic footprint of the West African power pool. It will help bring greater investment to that power network, which is essential to the overall power availability in that part of the continent.

And then, just in December, our board approved a third regional compact, which will be initially situated in Senegal and some of its neighbors. But we’ve got to start the process by looking at what are the means of regional integration opportunities that could be in and around Senegal, and then we’ll go from there.

It’s an authority that is difficult to use, but very powerful and we’re very enthusiastic about using it. Not only on the continent, but you can also think about where it could have application elsewhere in the world.

This interview originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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Touting reforms designed to protect Americans’ privacy, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that the number of times the FBI searched U.S. citizens’ information in a database of warrantless surveillance dropped by more than 93% in 2022.

“And that is not an aberration,” Wray said during testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, adding that compared with 2020 levels, the 2022 number was about 85% lower. 

The surveillance program, known as Section 702, allows U.S. spy agencies to collect foreigners’ online communications for intelligence purposes, but controversially, FBI analysts are also allowed to search Americans’ data “incidentally” collected under the program. Civil liberties advocates call the warrantless searches unconstitutional.

The program is set to expire at the end of the year, and Wray and other top intelligence officials urged lawmakers to reauthorize it. 

While Wray did not disclose the total number of searches the FBI conducted in 2022, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has reported that the FBI in 2021 ran nearly 3.4 million queries of individuals in the U.S. That suggests that the number of such queries in 2022 stood at a little more than 200,000. 

Critics say the warrantless searches infringe on Americans’ privacy and civil liberties. 

Reacting to Wray’s comments, Elizabeth Goitein, senior director for liberty and national security at the Brennan Center for Justice, tweeted that even with the sharp drop in the number of queries, “the FBI is conducting up to 559 warrantless searches for Americans’ phone calls, texts, and emails every day.”

But Wray said concerns over the FBI’s use of the data predate “important reforms” that the bureau has implemented in recent years “to make sure people are using the authority in a surgical and judicious way.”  

Among the reforms, he cited the creation of an internet audit office, changes to the bureau’s database system to prevent inadvertent searches, and new oversight and preapprovals.  

“We take very seriously our role as stewards of these authorities,” Wray said. 

Originally enacted in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has been increasingly used by U.S. intelligence and security agencies to combat a range of new threats, officials say.

“It is hard to overestimate, frankly, the importance of this authority to our work across the board,” Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, told lawmakers. “FISA section 702 provides unique intelligence on foreign intelligence targets at a speed and reliability that we cannot replicate with any other authority.”

Wray said the FBI increasingly uses Section 702 to “protect American victims from malicious cyber actors.”

Section 702’s reauthorization faces an uphill battle in Congress, where a coalition of conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats are demanding major changes before greenlighting renewal.

Republican Senator Mike Lee said last week that there was “not a chance in hell we’re going to be reauthorizing [Section 702] without some major, major reforms.”

“Your department is not trusted, because it has been politicized,” Lee told Attorney General Merrick Garland during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, echoing a long-standing Republican accusation. 

Garland rejected the Republican charge. 

 
…

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. 
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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)  
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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. 
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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. 
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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.
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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. 
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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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