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During his first press conference as president-elect, Donald Trump mentioned U.S.-China relations, stating, “China and the United States can together solve all of the problems of the world.” The remark quickly trended on Weibo, sparking discussions among Chinese netizens. Click here for the full story in Mandarin. …
Leaders of 12 European countries agreed at a meeting in Tallinn to expand sanctions against Russia’s “shadow fleet” that is used by Moscow to sell oil and evade Western sanctions. Several European states imposed new policies on Russian vessels transiting through European waters to curb Russia’s ability to use profits from illicit oil sales to fund its war in Ukraine. Click here for the full story in Russian. …
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said that a conflict between Russia and NATO is possible within the next decade. VOA Russian spoke to experts who agreed that Belousov is most likely voicing the Kremlin’s true intentions, and that the West should treat these statements seriously. Click here for the full story in Russian. …
According to a recent report, Miami is among the 10 cities in the United States with the highest cost of living. The expenses that most affect family budgets are mortgages or rent, and vehicle financing. Click here for the full story in Spanish. …
PARIS — Feminists and other critics say the sentences handed down in France’s mass rape trial are too lenient with some calling them shameful. The trial has shocked the nation of France and made international headlines. Speaking to reporters in the southern French city of Avignon, 72-year-old plaintiff Gisele Pelicot said she respected the verdict. She said she never regretted going public — which she said aimed to give other victims of sexual assault the courage to speak out. Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique, received the toughest sentence — the maximum of 20 years in prison – for drugging his wife and allowing dozens of men to rape her as she slept. The attacks went on for nearly a decade until police detained him for another sexual incident and discovered scores of videos of the rapes. Some 50 other defendants received sentences ranging from three to 15 years — many less than what prosecutors had recommended. Some walked out free after receiving suspended sentences. It’s not immediately clear whether Dominique Pelicot or others will appeal their sentences. Protesters outside the court in Avignon slammed the sentences as shameful and insufficient. So did women’s rights activists like Laura Slimani, of the Women’s Foundation. On France Info radio, she criticized the French justice system for what she said was its inability to handle sexual violence cases. The Pelicot trial has sparked soul searching — and protests — in France about rape and other forms of gender-based violence. Pelicot herself has become something of a heroine for her courage and dignity. She said France’s so-called macho, patriarchal society must change how it looks at rape. After the verdicts, many again saluted her courage — including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “The shame must change sides,’” Sholz said on X. “Thank you, Gisele Pelicot.” …
As new potential threats from Chinese hackers were identified this week, the federal government issued one of its strongest warnings to date about the need for Americans — and in particular government officials and other “highly targeted” individuals — to secure their communications against eavesdropping and interception. The warning came as news was breaking about a Commerce Department investigation into the possibility that computer network routers manufactured by the Chinese firm TP-Link may pose a threat to the millions of U.S. businesses, households and government agencies that use them. Also on Wednesday, Congress took long-awaited steps toward funding a program that will purge other Chinese technology from U.S. telecommunications systems. The so-called rip-and-replace program targets gear manufactured by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE. Too far behind While experts said the recent actions are a step in the right direction, they warned that U.S. policymakers have been extremely slow to react to a mountain of evidence that Chinese hackers have long been targeting essential communications and infrastructure systems in the U.S. The lack of action has persisted despite law enforcement and intelligence agencies repeatedly sounding alarms. In January, while testifying before the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, FBI Director Christopher Wray said, “There has been far too little public focus on the fact that [People’s Republic of China] hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure — our water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural gas pipelines, our transportation systems. And the risk that poses to every American requires our attention now.” A year previously, Wray had warned lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee that his investigators were badly outnumbered. “To give you a sense of what we’re up against, if each one of the FBI’s cyber agents and intel analysts focused exclusively on the China threat, Chinese hackers would still outnumber FBI Cyber personnel by at least 50-to-1,” Wray said. Decades of complexity Part of the problem, experts said, is that it is difficult for policymakers to summon the political will to make changes that could be disruptive to the lives and livelihoods of U.S. citizens in the absence of public concern about the problem. “It still remains very, very difficult to impress upon average, typical everyday citizens the gravity of Chinese espionage, or the extent of it,” said Bill Drexel, a fellow with the Technology and National … “US slow to react to pervasive Chinese hacking, experts say” →
washington — A Republican spending bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump failed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, leaving Congress with no clear plan to avert a government shutdown that could disrupt Christmas travel. By a vote of 174-235, the House rejected the spending package, which was hastily assembled by Republican leaders after Trump and billionaire Elon Musk scuttled a prior bipartisan deal. Despite Trump’s support, 38 Republicans voted against the package along with all but three Democrats. Government funding is due to expire at midnight on Friday. If lawmakers fail to extend that deadline, the U.S. government will begin a partial shutdown that would interrupt funding for everything from border enforcement to national parks and cut off paychecks for more than 2 million federal workers. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration warned that travelers during the busy holiday season could face long lines at airports. The bill largely resembled the earlier version that Musk and Trump had blasted as a wasteful giveaway to Democrats. It would have extended government funding into March, when Trump will be in the White House and Republicans will control both chambers of Congress, and would have provided $100 billion in disaster relief and suspended the debt ceiling. Republicans dropped other elements that had been included in the original package, such as a pay raise for lawmakers and new rules for pharmacy benefit managers. At Trump’s urging, the new version also would have suspended limits on the national debt for two years — a maneuver that would make it easier to pass the dramatic tax cuts he has promised and set the stage for the federal government’s $36 trillion in debt to continue to climb. Ahead of the vote, Democrats and Republicans warned that the other party would be at fault if Congress allowed the government to shut down. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that the package would avoid disruption, tie up loose ends and make it easier for lawmakers to cut spending by hundreds of billions of dollars when Trump takes office next year. Democrats blasted the bill as a cover for a budget-busting tax cut that would largely benefit wealthy backers such as Musk, the world’s richest person, while saddling the country with trillions of dollars in additional debt. “How dare you lecture America about fiscal responsibility, ever?” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said during floor debate. Some Republicans … “Trump-backed spending deal fails in House; shutdown approaches” →
Washington / belgrade, serbia — An encounter with police in the Serbian city of Pirot earlier this year unnerved investigative reporter Slavisa Milanov. A journalist for the independent media outlet FAR, Milanov was driving with a colleague in February when they were pulled over by police, who asked the pair to accompany them to a station to be tested for illegal substances. Once there, Milanov said he was asked to leave his phone and personal belongings behind during a check. The drug tests were negative, but when police handed Milanov his phone, he noticed the settings had been changed. Suspecting that spyware may have been installed, he reached out to Amnesty International. In a report published this week, the international watchdog confirmed Milanov’s suspicions, finding forensic evidence that spyware was installed on the phones of several journalists and activists, including Milanov. In at least two cases, software provided by Cellebrite DI — an Israeli company that markets products for government and law enforcement agencies — was used to unlock the phones prior to infection, the report found. Then, Serbian spyware called NoviSpy took covert screenshots, copied contacts and uploaded them to a government-controlled server. “In multiple cases, activists and a journalist reported signs of suspicious activity on their mobile phones directly following interviews with Serbian police and security authorities,” Amnesty said. ‘Major consequences’ seen Aleksa Tesic, who has reported on spyware in Serbia for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, said the Amnesty report precisely documented for the first time cases showing technology abuse for the purpose of affecting civil liberties. “We had various indications that this was happening before, because Serbia has been interested in advanced spy software for more than 10 years. But this could now have major consequences for democracy in Serbia,” Tesic said. Serbia’s Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) rejected the findings. In a statement on its website, the agency said the report contained “nonsensical statements,” and that the BIA operates within local law. The Serbian Interior Ministry also denounced the report as incorrect. Milanov said the existence of spyware on his phone could “jeopardize me, my family, colleagues and my sources.” “If anything happens to any of us, I will hold the state responsible for it. I don’t see who else it could be,” he told VOA Serbian. Milanov is based in Dimitrovgrad, at the border of Serbia and Bulgaria, 330 kilometers from Serbia’s … “After a police stop in Serbia, journalist finds spyware on phone “ →
WASHINGTON — Immigration has been a defining challenge of the Biden presidency, marked by record numbers of asylum-seekers and other migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. President Joe Biden pledged to modernize the nation’s immigration system and rebuild a refugee resettlement program that had hit historic lows under the previous administration. But despite issuing a record number of immigration-related executive actions — surpassing the Trump administration — Biden’s efforts drew criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Critics on the right said the administration was being too lenient, while those on the left said it was too harsh. The Biden administration inherited a fractured immigration system, including a backlog of asylum cases, a reduction in refugee processing capacity, and policies such as Title 42 that significantly shaped migration patterns. During a webinar, Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at Migration Policy Institute (MPI), provided an overview of the Biden administration’s record. He noted that Biden’s approach to enforcement away from the border has been seen as largely favorable by experts and immigration advocates. He said Biden administration officials focused on enforcement guidelines, rather than trying to deport everyone, yet the crisis at the border cast a long shadow over his legacy. He emphasized the success of legal immigration under Biden, pointing to the high numbers of visas issued, the record number of naturalizations and the resurgence of refugee admissions. About “3.5 million people were naturalized under the Biden administration, the highest of any one-term presidency,” he said. However, Chishti said the administration’s handling of border security was less successful. The administration faced overwhelming numbers of migrants, many arriving from countries beyond Mexico and Central America. “The Biden presidency entered office with a crisis at the border, which was precipitated by the COVID crisis and Title 42,” he said. The administration’s failure to call the situation a crisis, he added, contributed to a perception of mishandling, despite efforts to manage it through new programs like the CBP One app and various parole initiatives. Handling the border Marielena Hincapie, a visiting scholar at Cornell Law School who participated in the webinar, praised efforts under the Department of Homeland Security’s leadership to increase naturalization rates, expedite work permit processing, and implement innovative policies such as deferred action for undocumented workers who had experienced labor disputes. These measures, she said, benefited not only immigrants but also the broader U.S. workforce and economy. Hincapie also … “Biden’s immigration legacy is a complex one” →
WASHINGTON — A senior White House official on Thursday said nuclear-armed Pakistan is developing long-range ballistic missile capabilities that eventually could allow it to strike targets outside of South Asia, including in the United States. In his stunning revelation about the onetime close U.S. partner, deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said Islamabad’s conduct raised “real questions” about the aims of its ballistic missile program. “Candidly, it’s hard for us to see Pakistan’s actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States,” Finer told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace audience. “Pakistan has developed increasingly sophisticated missile technology, from long-range ballistic missile systems to equipment that would enable the testing of significantly larger rocket motors,” he said. If those trends continue, Finer said, “Pakistan will have the capability to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including in the United States.” His speech came a day after Washington announced a new round of sanctions related to Pakistan’s ballistic missile development program, including on the state-run defense agency that oversees the program. …
The Unforgettable Chorus in New York is using music to help people with memory loss reconnect with family, friends and themselves. Since 2011, the choir has been a beacon of hope, offering a space where those living with dementia can sing, participate and be part of a community. Johny Fernandez reports from New York City. …
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says the leaders of Ukraine and Russia should be “prepared to make a deal” to end the brutal conflict that has consumed Ukraine since 2022. He also slammed President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory with U.S.-provided weapons – hinting that when he takes office, he may reverse that move. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington. Iuliia Iarmolenko, Kim Lewis and Kateryna Lisunova contributed. …
HANOI, VIETNAM — U.S. weapons manufacturers could work with Vietnamese counterparts to help build Vietnam’s armed forces, the U.S. ambassador to the southeast Asian country said on Thursday. “Our goal is to ensure that Vietnam has what it needs to defend its interests at sea, in the air, on the ground and in cyberspace,” U.S. Ambassador Marc Knapper said at an international arms expo in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. The expo, held at the Gia Lam airport, brought together 250 exhibitors, including geopolitical rivals such as the United States, China, Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Iran. U.S. exhibitors included Boeing and Textron Aviation. China was present with Norinco and Gaodu International Trade. Iran’s defense ministry pavilion wasn’t far from booths set up by Israeli companies Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. Several Russian firms also attended, along with Ukraine’s Motor Sich. Vietnam has been trying to increase its domestic arms manufacturing while reducing its reliance on Russia for weapon imports. In 2022, Russia made up around 60% of all of Vietnam’s military purchases, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. But Vietnam’s longstanding efforts to diversify its imports have been accelerated by the war in Ukraine. It has also been trying to boost its own capacity to make arms and displayed military equipment it made at the expo. A key driver for Vietnam is the escalating tensions in the South China Sea, a key trade and security route. It is a flashpoint in Asia and a fault line in the U.S.-China regional rivalry. Vietnam has been critical of China’s increasingly hostile actions in the disputed waters. Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries have overlapping claims in the busy sea passage. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hailed the event as a “message of peace, cooperation and development.” He was later given a tour of a military plane made by U.S. firm Lockheed Martin. …
MAMOUDZOU, MAYOTTE — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Thursday in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte to survey Cyclone Chido’s destruction and was immediately confronted with a firsthand account of devastation across the French territory. “Mayotte is demolished,” Assane Haloi, a security agent, told Macron after he stepped off the plane. Macron had been moving along in a line of people greeting him when Haloi grasped his hand and spoke for a minute about the harrowing conditions the islands faced without bare essentials since Saturday when the strongest cyclone in nearly a century ripped through the French territory off the coast of Africa. “We are without water, without electricity, there is nowhere to go because everything is demolished,” she said. “We can’t even shelter, we are all wet with our children covering ourselves with whatever we have so that we can sleep.” Numbers of dead unknown At least 31 people have died and more than 1,500 people were injured, more than 200 critically, French authorities said. But it’s feared hundreds or even thousands of people have died. Macron arrived shortly after The Associated Press and other journalists from outside were able to reach Mayotte to provide accounts from survivors of the horror over the weekend when winds howled above 220 kph (136 mph) and peeled the roofs and walls from homes that collapsed around the people sheltering inside. In the shantytown Kaweni on the outskirts of the capital Mamoudzou, a swath of hillside homes was reduced to scraps of corrugated metal, plastic, piles of bedding and clothing, and pieces of timber marking the frame where homes once stood. “Those of us who are here are still in shock, but God let us live,” Nassirou Hamidouni said as he dug in the rubble of his former home. “We are sad. We can’t sleep because of all of the houses that have been destroyed.” Macron took a helicopter tour of the damage and then met with patients and staff at a hospital, who described having to work around the clock. A woman who works in the psychological unit became emotional as she described staff becoming exhausted and unable to care for patients. “Help the hospital staff, help the hospital,” pleaded the woman, whose name was not known. “Everyone from top to bottom is wiped out.” More help on the way Macron, who was wearing a traditional red, black and gold Mayotte scarf over … “France’s Macron visits cyclone-devastated Mayotte as residents plead for aid” →
ATLANTA, Georgia — A state appeals court on Thursday removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others but did not dismiss the indictment, leaving the future of the prosecution uncertain. The case against Trump and more than a dozen others had already been largely stalled for months while the Georgia Court of Appeals considered the pretrial appeal. The new ruling means it will be up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to find another prosecutor to take over the case and to decide whether to continue to pursue it, though that could be delayed if Willis decides to appeal to the state Supreme Court. But whether it is ultimately Willis or another prosecutor in charge, it seems unlikely that a prosecution against Trump could continue while he’s president for the next four years. But there are 14 other defendants who still face charges. Two federal criminal cases against Trump have already been abandoned after the Republican won the presidency in November. Meanwhile, a judge in New York has refused throw out his hush money conviction from earlier this year, though the future of that case is uncertain. A grand jury in Atlanta indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn Trump’s narrow 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the state. Four of them have since pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty. Trump and some of the remaining defendants tried to get Willis and her office removed from the case and to have the case dismissed. They argued that her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest and that she made improper public statements about the case. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that no conflict of interest existed that should force Willis off the case. Trump and the others appealed that ruling. …
HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pennsylvania — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO will return to New York to face murder charges after agreeing to be extradited Thursday during a court appearance in Pennsylvania where he was arrested last week after five days on the run. Luigi Mangione waived a preliminary hearing on the Pennsylvania charges in exchange for the prosecutor giving him a 20-page investigative report from the Altoona Police Department. Mangione also waived extradition to New York. Blair County Judge David Consiglio ordered that Mangione be turned over to the New York Police Department. At least a dozen uniformed NYPD officers were in the courtroom. The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate is accused of ambushing and shooting Brian Thompson on Dec. 4 outside a Manhattan hotel where the head of the United States’ largest health insurer was walking to an investor conference. Authorities have said Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, fake IDs and about $10,000 when he was arrested on Dec. 9 while eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Mangione, 26, of Towson, Maryland, was arrested on Dec. 9 when police were called to a McDonald’s restaurant on a commercial strip in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was reported to match the description of Thompson’s killer. The shooting of Thompson was captured on security video, but the suspect eluded police before Mangione was captured 446 kilometers west of New York. Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a prominent family, was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies “parasitic” and complained about corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week. …
After a French court Thursday found all 51 defendants guilty in a drugging-and-rape case, the victim, Gisele Pelicot said that the trial has been a “difficult ordeal,” but that she never regretted making the case public. Following a four-month trial in the southeastern city of Avignon, Pelicot’s ex-husband of 50 years, 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot, received a sentence of a maximum of 20 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in September to repeatedly drugging his wife, raping her while she was unconscious and recruiting strangers to join him over a period of 10 years. The five-judge panel handed Pelicot’s 50 co-defendants, a group of men from 27 to 74 years old, sentences ranging from three to 20 years in prison. In her first comments following the verdicts, Gisele Pelicot told reporters her first thoughts were with her three children and her grandchildren, “because they are the future, and it is also for them that I have fought this battle.” She said she was also thinking of all the other families affected “by this tragedy.” Finally, she said, “I think of the unrecognized victims whose stories often remain in the shadows. I want you to know that we share the same struggle.” Pelicot has become a symbol of courage and resilience to many, and crowds of supporters gathered outside the courthouse as the case went on. Asked by reporters about complaints by her supporters that the sentences were too lenient, Pelicot said she respected the court and the decision. She said, “I trust, now, in our capacity to collectively seize a future in which each one of us, woman and man, may live in harmony with mutual respect and understanding.” Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. …
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — China has allowed representatives from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Denmark to board a Chinese bulk carrier at the center of an investigation into Baltic Sea cable breaches, the Danish foreign minister said on Thursday. The Yi Peng 3 vessel is wanted in Sweden for questioning over a breach of two undersea fiber-optic cables in November and has been stationary in waters nearby for a month while diplomats in Stockholm and Beijing discussed the matter. Investigators quickly zeroed in on the ship, which left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on Nov. 15, and a Reuters analysis of MarineTraffic data showed that the vessel’s coordinates corresponded to the time and place of the breaches. The Baltic Sea cables, one linking Finland and Germany and the other connecting Sweden to Lithuania, were damaged on Nov. 17 and 18, prompting German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to say he assumed it was caused by sabotage. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Thursday said his country had facilitated a meeting earlier this week between representatives from Germany, Sweden, Finland and China, helping break a monthlong standoff. “It is our expectation that once the inspection has been completed by this group of people from the four countries, the ship will be able to sail towards its destination,” Lokke Rasmussen said. LSEG data showed Yi Peng 3 remained anchored in the same spot in the Kattegat strait between Denmark and Sweden. Swedish police in a statement said they participated on board the vessel as observers only, while Chinese authorities conducted investigations. “In parallel, the preliminary investigation into sabotage in connection with two cable breaks in the Baltic Sea is continuing,” the police said. The actions taken on board the ship on Thursday were not part of the Swedish-led preliminary investigation, the police added. The breaches happened in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone and Swedish prosecutors are leading the investigation on suspicion of possible sabotage. Western intelligence officials from multiple countries have said they are confident the Chinese ship caused the cuts to both cables. They have expressed different views on whether these were accidents or could have been deliberate. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had urged the ship to return to Sweden to aid the investigation. The was no immediate response from the Chinese Foreign Ministry outside of business hours on Thursday. …
Islamabad — Pakistan sharply criticized the United States Thursday for imposing new sanctions against the nuclear-armed country’s long-range ballistic missile program, labeling the move as “double standards and discriminatory practices.” U.S. State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller announced the measures on Wednesday, saying they were imposed under an executive order that “targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.” Miller said the sanctions cover Pakistan’s state-owned National Defense Complex and three entities collaborating with it in the development of long-range ballistic missiles, including the Shaheen services of missiles. Pakistan’s foreign ministry rejected the move as “unfortunate and biased.” The ministry statement said Islamabad’s defense capabilities are aimed at safeguarding Pakistan’s sovereignty and preserving peace in South Asia. “The latest installment of sanctions defies the objective of peace and security by aiming to accentuate military asymmetries,” the ministry said, apparently referring to Pakistan’s rivalry with nuclear-armed neighbor India. “Such policies have dangerous implications for the strategic stability of our region and beyond,” the ministry warned, without elaborating. The designation of National Defense Complex and other firms freezes all U.S. property they own and bars U.S. citizens from engaging in business transactions with them. “Pakistan’s strategic program is a sacred trust bestowed by 240 million people upon its leadership. The sanctity of this trust, held in the highest esteem across the entire political spectrum, cannot be compromised,” the foreign ministry stated Thursday in response to the U.S. announcement. The accompanying U.S. State Department fact sheet said the Islamabad-based National Defense Complex has worked to acquire items “intended to be used as launch support equipment for ballistic missiles and missile testing equipment” to advance the country’s missile development program. The other companies hit with U.S. sanctions are Affiliates International, Akhtar and Sons Private Ltd., and Rockside Enterprise, all located in Karachi, according to the fact sheet. “The United States will continue to act against proliferation and associated procurement activities of concern,” Miller said. Pakistan’s Shaheen surface-to-surface rocket is capable of carrying nuclear warheads to a range of approximately 2,750 kilometers, with experts saying the range enables the solid-fueled, multistage missile to reach targets anywhere in India and parts of the Middle East. New Delhi and Islamabad conducted their first nuclear weapons tests in May 1998, raising fears another war between the arch-rivals could escalate into a nuclear exchange in South Asia. Both nations have fought three wars, resulting in strained relations … “Pakistan defends ballistic missile development amid new US sanctions” →
WASHINGTON — As President Joe Biden’s administration prepares to transfer power to the incoming team of President-elect Donald Trump, VOA Ukrainian Iuliia Iarmolenko spoke with Michael Carpenter, the National Security Council director for Europe. Carpenter discussed the Biden administration’s final efforts to strengthen Ukraine and why it would take more time and resources from Washington to start successful negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. VOA: In September, we talked about Ukraine’s “victory plan” and now it seems like the conversation is moving towards the negotiation process. Do you think the victory of Ukraine is still possible? And is there something that the Biden administration can still do to help Ukraine achieve that goal? Michael Carpenter, Senior Director for Europe at National Security Council: I do. I do think victory is possible. I think Ukraine must prevail. I think for the good of the international order, for the good of security in Europe and for the good of all those brave Ukrainians that are fighting for their freedom, it must prevail. The question is, what can we do now to set Ukraine up to be in a position of strength? It’s going to take a dedicated effort of providing additional security assistance in order to stabilize the lines. And it’s going to take a range of other efforts, including macro financial assistance, humanitarian support, support for the energy sector. But this is underway. And this administration, although it only has a month left in office, will continue to surge the support and it will spend every penny. Every dollar of security assistance that has been authorized for Ukraine will be obligated by the end of this year. VOA: But is there enough time? The Pentagon yesterday said that they might not be able to use every dollar, every penny of the remaining funding to provide security assistance. Michael Carpenter: Oh, they will. They will. Now, some of that security assistance is on contract, so some of it will not arrive until 2025. But all of the money will be spent down by January 20th. VOA: Air defense continues to be the biggest issue for Ukrainian civilians. In that remaining time, will the air defense be prioritized in order to give Ukrainian civilians some kind of protection? Michael Carpenter: Of all the capabilities that Ukraine needs, air defense is the most important one because this goes to the protection of cities which … “White House: NATO membership necessary for Ukraine security guarantees but invitation decision up to next president” →
AVIGNON, France — A French court found all 51 defendants guilty on Thursday in a drugging-and-rape case that horrified the world and transformed the victim, Gisele Pelicot, into a stirring symbol of courage and resilience. Pelicot’s ex-husband of 50 years, Dominique Pelicot, had pleaded guilty to drugging her repeatedly for almost a decade to rape her and to offer up her unconscious body for sex to dozens of strangers he had met online, while video recording the abuse. A panel of five judges sentenced him to the maximum 20 years in jail, as requested by prosecutors. The court imposed generally shorter terms than the four-to-18 years demanded by the prosecution for the other defendants, almost all of whom were accused of raping the comatose Gisele Pelicot. In all, the court found 47 of the defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault. A cheer went up outside the court in the southern French city of Avignon among the victim’s supporters when news of the first guilty verdicts filtered out. Many of the accused had denied the charges, saying they thought it was a consensual sex game orchestrated by the couple and arguing that it was not rape if the husband approved. Dominique Pelicot, 72, denied misleading the men, saying they knew exactly what they were doing. “I am a rapist like the others in this room,” he said during testimony. Gisele, who is also 72, waived her right to anonymity during the trial and demanded that horrifying videos of the serial abuse, which were recorded by her former husband, should be seen in court, saying she hoped this would help other women speak up. The trial has triggered protest rallies around France in support of Gisele, and spurred soul searching, including a debate on whether to update France’s rape law, which at present makes no mention that sex should involve consent. Gisele stared down her abusers with steely determination in the packed courtroom day after day, scoffing at any claim that she might have been a willing participant. “I’ve decided not to be ashamed, I’ve done nothing wrong,” she testified in October. “They are the ones who must be ashamed,” she said. Horrifying secrets The Pelicots’ children, David, Caroline and Florian, arrived in court to hear the verdict alongside their mother. The siblings have spoken out forcibly against their father, rejecting his … “Dominique Pelicot jailed for 20 years in landmark French mass rape trial” →
Moscow — President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russian forces were moving towards achieving their primary goals on the battlefield in Ukraine and touted what he said was the invincibility of Russia’s new hypersonic missile. Fielding questions on state TV during his annual question and answer session with Russians, Putin said Moscow’s forces were advancing along the whole of the battle front. “I must say that the situation is changing dramatically… There is movement along the entire front line. Every day,” he said. Western and Russian military analysts say Russia is advancing in eastern Ukraine at the fastest pace since 2022, taking village after village and threatening strategically important cities such as Pokrovsk, a major road and rail hub. “Our fighters are reclaiming territory by the square kilometer every day,” Putin said. He said the fighting was complex, so it was “difficult and pointless to guess what lies ahead… (but) we are moving, as you said, towards solving our primary tasks, which we outlined at the beginning of the special military operation.” “Everyone is fighting, literally heroically. And they are fighting right now. Let us wish them all…good luck, victory and to return home,” he said. Discussing the continued presence of Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, Putin said Kyiv’s troops would definitely be forced out, but declined to say exactly when that would happen. Putin also touted what he said was the invincibility of the “Oreshnik” hypersonic missile which Russia has already test- fired at a Ukrainian military factory, saying he was ready to organize another launch at Ukraine and see if Western air defense systems could shoot it down. “There is no chance of shooting down these missiles,” said Putin. “Let Western experts propose to us, and let them propose to those in the West and the U.S. who pay them for their analysis, to conduct some kind of technological experiment, say, a high-tech duel of the 21st century. “Let them determine some target for destruction, say in Kyiv, concentrate all their air defense and missile defense forces there, and we will strike there with Oreshnik and see what happens. We are ready for such an experiment, but is the other side ready?” he said. …
NEW YORK — U.S. life expectancy jumped last year, and preliminary data suggests there may be another — much smaller — improvement this year. Death rates fell last year for almost all leading causes, notably COVID-19, heart disease and drug overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday. That translated to adding nearly a year the estimated lifespan of Americans. Experts note it’s part of a bounce-back from the COVID-19 pandemic. But life expectancy has not yet climbed back to prepandemic levels, and the rebound appears to be losing steam. “What you’re seeing is continued improvement, but slowing improvement,” said Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, a University Minnesota researcher who studies death trends. “We are sort of converging back to some kind of normal that is worse than it was before the pandemic.” Last year, nearly 3.1 million U.S. residents died, about 189,000 fewer than the year before. Death rates declined across all racial and ethnic groups, and in both men and women. Provisional data for the first 10 months of 2024 suggests the country is on track to see even fewer deaths this year, perhaps about 13,000 fewer. But that difference is likely to narrow as more death certificates come in, said the CDC’s Robert Anderson. That means that life expectancy for 2024 likely will rise — “but probably not by a lot,” said Anderson, who oversees death tracking at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Life expectancy is an estimate of the average number of years a baby born in a given year might expect to live, given death rates at that time. It’s a fundamental measure of a population’s health. For decades, U.S. life expectancy rose at least a little bit almost every year, thanks to medical advances and public health measures. It peaked in 2014, at nearly 79 years, and then was relatively flat for several years. Then it plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping to just under 76 1/2 years in 2021. It rebounded to 77 1/2 years in 2022 and, according to the new report, to nearly 78 1/2 last year. Life expectancy for U.S. women continues to be well above that of men — a little over 81 for women, compared with a little under 76 for men. In the last five years, more than 1.2 million U.S. deaths have been attributed to COVID-19. But most of them occurred in 2020 … “US deaths are down and life expectancy is up, but improvements are slowing” →
Officials in Russia’s Rostov region reported a fire Thursday at an oil refinery after a wave of attacks from several dozen Ukrainian aerial drones. Rostov acting Governor Yuri Slyusar said on Telegram that the fire happened at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery and was later extinguished. Slyusar reported one person was injured in the attack. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it destroyed 36 Ukrainian drones over Rostov, part of a total of 84 drones it shot down mostly over regions bordering Ukraine. The ministry said the other intercepts took place over Bryansk, Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Tambov and Krasnodar. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that Ukrainian drone attacks damaged several residential buildings. Ukraine’s military said Thursday its air defenses shot down 45 of 85 Russian drones used in overnight attacks targeting the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava and Sumy regions. The military also said Russian missiles damaged residential buildings and municipal property in Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy. Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram that the areas damaged included a school and a hospital in Kryvyi Rih. Some information for this story came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters. …
WASHINGTON — The Commerce Department’s efforts to curb China’s and Russia’s access to American-made advanced computer chips have been “inadequate” and will need more funding to stymie their ability to manufacture advanced weapons, according to a report published Wednesday by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The Biden administration imposed export controls to limit the ability of China and Russia to access U.S.-made chips after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. The agency’s Bureau of Industry and Security, according to the report, does not have the resources to enforce export controls and has been too reliant on U.S. chip makers voluntarily complying with the rules. But the push for bolstering Commerce’s export control enforcement comes as the incoming Trump administration says it is looking to dramatically reduce the size and scope of federal government. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” to dismantle parts of the federal government. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. BIS’s budget, about $191 million, has remained essentially flat since 2010 when adjusted for inflation. “While BIS’ budget has been stagnant for a decade, the bureau works diligently around the clock to meet its mission and safeguard U.S. national security,” Commerce Department spokesperson Charlie Andrews said in a statement in response to the report. Andrews added that with “necessary resources from Congress” the agency would be “better equipped to address the challenges that come with our evolving national security environment.” In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, chair of the subcommittee, pointed to news reports of the Russian military continuing to acquire components from Texas Instruments through front companies in Hong Kong to illustrate how the export controls are failing as an effective tool. Blumenthal in a statement called on “Commerce to take immediate action and crack down on the companies allowing U.S.-made semiconductors to power Russian weapons and Chinese ambition.” Texas Instruments said it opposes the use of its chips in Russian military equipment and the illicit diversion of its products to Russia. “It is our policy to comply with export control laws, and any shipments of TI chips into Russia are illicit and unauthorized,” the company said in a statement. “If we find evidence indicating product diversion, we investigate and take action.” … “US effort to curb China’s and Russia’s access to advanced computer chips ‘inadequate,’ report finds” →
WASHINGTON — They were promised a chance to earn money, get an education abroad, and gain work experience. Instead, they found themselves assembling military drones in Russia and, in one case, subjected to a Ukrainian drone strike. A series of investigative reports has shed light on a Russian labor recruitment program that has allegedly lured young African women to work at an industrial park in provincial Russia with false promises and coerced them into contributing to the Kremlin’s war effort in Ukraine. The reported victims of the program, which attracts recruits largely through online job advertisements, includes women from Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. Media reports from The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and others have exposed the operation, entitled Alabuga Start, but VOA reporting has found that African countries have largely failed to intervene or give an official response. Some even appear to be building ties with the Russian entity behind the program. That entity called the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, has been intensifying its outreach across the African continent, according to David Albright, founder of the Institute for Science and International Security and the researcher behind a report exposing the program that exploited the young women. “In some of the initial investigations of this, the recruiters in Africa were oblivious when they were asked where these women were going,” Albright said, adding that some are now aware and that he hopes there will be “pushback from these governments about what exactly [Alabuga is] recruiting these women to do.” Albright said representatives from Alabuga recently visited Sierra Leone, Zambia and Madagascar, signing memorandums of cooperation with local organizations, despite the reports of misleading recruitment practices and questionable labor actions. Albright said the young women are forced to handle toxic materials, which he says is forbidden in Russian labor law. But African and other governments have also been willing to send their citizens off to Alabuga Start. VOA discovered a series of documents online indicating the government ministries had officially promoted the program. VOA reached out to authorities of Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Nigeria but several emails and phone calls went unanswered. VOA also requested comment from Alabuga and the Russian Embassy in Washington but received no response. Recruitment under false pretenses Located 1,000 kilometers to the east of Moscow in Russia’s Tatarstan region, the city of Yelabuga, … “Expert: Several African governments unaware of young workers in Russian drone factories” →