Author: PolitCens

Pentagon — U.S. Africa Command chief Gen. Michael Langley is starting to reshape the U.S. military presence on the continent following the U.S. military withdrawal from Niger.

Uncertainty about the next phase of the counter-terror fight in West Africa stems from America’s lost access to two critical counter-terror bases in Niger. In the east, international participants and troop numbers for the new African Union Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) have yet to be finalized less than three months before the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) ends on December 31.

In an exclusive interview at the VOA on Thursday, Langley said the Islamic State in Somalia had grown about twofold and explained how al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab had taken advantage of tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia to increase recruitment.

Below are highlights from his discussion with VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, edited for brevity and clarity:

On the growing U.S. partnership with Angola:

AFRICOM Chief General Michael Langley: Angola has displayed their leadership across southern Africa … I’m very encouraged by the actions of Angola.

With Angola and all the countries across the periphery, you have over 38 countries in Africa that have a shoreline. Economic viability is heavily dependent upon their economic exclusive zones … In the maritime and maritime awareness of some of these countries, we have a number of engagements, whether it be Exercise Obangame Express in Gabon this past summer … We have shared type objectives. They want to be able to stabilize and grow their economy through their fishing industries, but it’s hampered by other countries that are going across their economic exclusive economic zones.

On Chinese aspirations for a second military base in Africa:

Langley: I think they do have, in my best military opinion, aspirations for another military base… We’re actively watching.

On Russia’s Africa Corps:

Langley: As you can see, they’re already in Mali. They’re already in Burkina Faso and, to some degree, in Niger. They’ve been in CAR for a while, Central African Republic, and also in Libya. … (Wagner) has transitioned to the Russian MOD and the introduction of the Africa Corps, trying to replicate what we do best in partnering with these countries and trying to say that their security construct is better. It has proven not to be … I don’t have particular numbers that they’ve introduced to Mali, limited numbers in Burkina Faso and also in Libya. It’s in the hundreds. I’ll just put it that way. It’s not extensive just yet.

On how the disputes between Ethiopia, Somalia and others in east Africa are affecting the war against al-Shabab:

Langley: Well, it comes down to troop-contributing countries: who’s going to play and who’s going to be a troop contributing country in the transition from ATMIS to AUSSOM, and that starts at the end of the year. The sunset of ATMIS is 31 December, and then AUSSOM is supposed to take effect. The unknowns are who are going to be the troop-contributing countries to the AUSSOM construct…It is not finalized yet. That’s the UN, that’s the AU and that’s the government of Somalia doing that. We’re not in those discussions, but it’s going to be revealed soon. I hope so. So, in the ATMIS construct, one of the anchor and frontline countries was Ethiopia. So that’s what has me concerned. Ethiopia, especially in the South West State and their contributions to the liberation and stabilization, has been valuable … So time will tell if they can settle their differences and coalesce into a force that’s very effective, because when they do work together, they’re very, very effective at clearing out al-Shabab … There’re limited operations with the Ethiopians at this time.…Al-Shabaab leadership will try to exploit those disagreements and use that as a recruiting mechanism.

VOA: We’ve heard that they’ve had a stronger recruitment because of that situation. Would you agree with that?

Langley: Yes, I will agree with that. They have used that to their advantage.

On whether U.S. forces may be needed during that transition from ATMIS to AUSSOM to try to supplement security:

Langley: That’s not what we’re there for. We’re there … helping President Hassan Mohamud be able to build his army. He’s going through the force generation … all of our initiatives and our approach on the African continent, with our African partners, will be Africa-led and U.S.-enabled. So our piece of enabling is not our boots on the ground. We’re there to advise and assist, and assist in the training, but the fight is theirs… That’s not my mission… President Sheik Mohammed does not ask for our boots on the ground.

On June comments from senior U.S. defense officials who told VOA that al-Shabab had reversed Somali National Army gains in central Somalia:

Langley: I will say it ebbs and flows…They’re still building the Somali National Army. So as they go on offensive operations, it is stress on the force. As they clear and liberate a region, you have to have a credible holding force there so stabilization activities and efforts can initiate and turn the populace and faith in the federal government of Somalia with the services they provide. So that’s a very, that’s a very fragile period. And if they can’t sustain that, because they’re moving to the next region or next district, it ebbs.

VOA: So that was what was happening in this instance. They couldn’t hold the territory that they had gained?

Langley: Right.

VOA: And that’s where your training is coming in, to try to get them ready to be able to hold that territory?

Langley: Exactly. It takes time. It’s an investment to build an army … so they have staying power, and they can also close the military and civilian divide, where the local populace will have faith in the federal government of Somalia and the national army that is there trying to hold.

On why he’s “cautiously optimistic” the Somali forces will be successful against al-Shabab:

Langley: We are at an inflection point. This is unknown territory … However, when I say I’m consciously optimistic, I’m looking at the whole-of-government effort. … Every time I go there, stabilization activities are increasing…Yes, we need a credible holding force because sometimes the shadow governments of al-Shabab try to re-insert themselves back in that region and try to influence some of the local leaders … So it goes back and forth to some of these regions, but they’re being overridden by some of the stabilization activities that USAID, the biggest contributor, has put forth.

On the collaboration between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants and al-Shabab:

Langley: There’s probably aspirations. That’s something that we’re watching closely but, you know, I will stay tight lipped on …

We’re concerned, and we’re closely watching that, because this can turn into a bad neighborhood real quick. This is a strategic choke point on the globe…That’s where a lot of our commerce goes through. It could affect our global economy if those waters don’t have free flow of commerce…

With the Houthis and their actions, and al-Shabab and their actions and (Somali President) HSM trying to keep them from coalescing, that can interdict the free flow of commerce across those waters of the Gulf of Aden, Bab-el-Mandeb, the Red Sea, and through the Suez Canal.

On reports Islamic State in Somalia leader Abdulqadir Mumin is now the leader of Islamic State:

Langley: We have to take it as credible … As far as who is the overall leader–and ISIS professes that–sometimes you’ve got to take that seriously, because that person may have an act or aspirations or put forth operations that can affect our homeland. So yes, we’ve got to take that seriously.

On Islamic State in Somalia’s growth:

Langley: I am concerned about the northern part of Somalia and ISIS growing in numbers, and also the possibility of foreign fighters growing there.

Oh, wow … In the past year, it’s probably grown, probably twofold. Now, I won’t give numbers, but I’d say it’s probably, it’s more than what it was last year.

On whether France, the U.S. and Germany have failed the Sahel:

Langley: If we look at the numbers of the global index for terrorism across the Sahel … 40% of those killed across the globe came from the Sahel. So that’s concerning. It emanated from, the ideology, I would say, emanated down through Syria, through the Maghreb. Arab Spring contributed to it. The fall of Libya contributed to it. That’s how that has grown and metastasized to the numbers you have today…that jihad-type ideology is preying upon the civil society, preying upon the military-aged males.

We are engaging with coastal West African countries because as we look at what direction it’s metastasized, it’s on the northern regions of Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo and Benin. …They understand the enduring solution for terrorism …. it’s not about kinetics. So that’s why I don’t just go see the militaries. I get with USAID, and we sit down with these, with these administrators that go out in the field.

On the possibility of southern Libya providing a solution to the U.S. bases challenge in the fight against terror in the Sahel:

Langley: We’ve affected the conversation… I went in and talked to both sides, the GNU and the LNA leadership, but also I want to say that this is very much in the diplomatic realm. …We need to affect unity to move forward. They are at an impasse, a political impasse, because, for us to fully be able to support building their capacity to fight terrorism, anything emanating from the Sahel, we do need them in agreement, in concert, working together as a joint force.

But I will tell you, you know, there is another elephant in the room–elephant in that country–and it’s the Russian Federation. And so their activities are irrespective of the law of armed conflict, irrespective of rules-based order, irrespective to human rights. So we want to be the preferred partner. We don’t tell them to choose. We don’t give them ultimatums, but through our actions and whatever we offer in a value proposition that protects human rights, that’s mindful of the laws of armed conflict, protects the civil society … both the GNU and LNA understand that, and they have made overtures that they do want to work with us. So we’re in the nascent stages, but they need to address the political impasse that they have between the east and the west. And so our State Department is working that effort.
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washington — As a tight presidential election looms in the United States, journalist safety in the home of the First Amendment is no longer guaranteed, according to a report published Tuesday.

Journalists in the United States are facing a slew of threats, including attacks by police, online harassment, violence and legal challenges, according to the report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The report primarily analyzes developments since 2020.

“There was a hope at the beginning of the Biden administration that things would get better for journalists. And what we’ve seen, actually, is that things haven’t really gotten better. They’ve stayed the same or worsened in some situations,” Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ’s U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator, told VOA.

The numbers paint a concerning picture. As of September 2024, assaults on journalists in the United States in relation to their work have risen by more than 50% compared to last year — from 45 to 68 assaults — according to data from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

‘Enemies of the people’

Even though former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, the report points to his legacy as a driving factor behind the hostile environment continuing to face journalists around the country.

During Trump’s presidency, he regularly referred to journalists as “corrupt,” “dishonest” and “enemies of the people.” Those kinds of attacks took place — and continue to take place — within the context of record-low trust in the media in the United States, according to a 2023 Gallup poll.

“Donald Trump’s treatment of the media still matters because it’s very much still an issue,” said Jacobsen, who authored the report. “It’s a really effective political tactic for changing the narrative and undermining the credibility of the media.”

Trump’s administration also escalated prosecution of news sources, interfered in the business of media owners, and harassed journalists crossing U.S. borders, according to a 2020 CPJ report.

Trump’s office and presidential campaign did not immediately reply to VOA’s emails requesting comment for this story. Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, also did not immediately reply to VOA’s request for comment.

Meanwhile, CPJ reached out to both the Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns, asking them to sign the organization’s pledge to affirm their support for press freedom. Trump’s campaign did not reply, and Harris’ campaign acknowledged receipt but did not sign the pledge.

Consequences continue

Trump hasn’t been in office for nearly four years, but his tenure in the White House continues to have consequences for journalists in the United States, according to Jacobsen.

“If Donald Trump’s anti-media rhetoric did not find resonance among the broader American public, then we wouldn’t even be talking about it,” Jacobsen said.

President Joe Biden’s administration has been markedly friendlier to the press, according to the report, but Jacobsen said that hasn’t translated to an improved media environment around the country.

A top threat facing journalists is violence, which has steadily increased against the media over the past decade in the United States, the report said.

Among the most prominent recent cases is the 2022 killing of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German, who was found stabbed to death outside his home. Robert Telles, a former local Nevada official, was found guilty of murdering German in late August.

Although journalist killings are rare in the United States, they can have a chilling effect on the media community, according to Jacobsen. Reporters told CPJ that hostility toward journalists makes them feel less safe working in their home environments.

“The killing of journalists, especially local journalists where the reporters are working in the community, going to the same grocery stores as the people that they’re writing about, creates this sense that nowhere is safe,” Jacobsen said.

Incidents involving police are another issue for journalists.

In a recent case, Chicago police arrested three photojournalists while they covered a pro-Palestinian protest during the Democratic National Convention in August.

And four years ago, at least 459 journalists were assaulted while covering the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, including at least 273 cases in which police targeted journalists, according to the Tracker.

“The press serves as the public’s eyes and ears, and if the press is removed completely from the scene, the public’s blind to what’s happening on the ground,” Gabe Rottman, a senior attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in the CPJ report.

Physical threats against journalists are exacerbated by online harassment against them, according to the report. A 2022 survey by Pew Research Center found that one-third of journalists surveyed reported being harassed on social media in the previous year.

With the election just over a month away, Jacobsen said it’s also important to remember the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on the Capitol in Washington.

Journalists were among the targets during the riots, with at least 18 journalists assaulted that day, according to the Tracker. But there hasn’t been much accountability in those cases, according to Jacobsen, and large swaths of the American public still don’t agree on what happened that day.

Some journalists who were present during the insurrection say grappling with the subsequent trauma has been difficult, according to the report.

“I really do think that January 6th was a warning shot,” Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, a freelance photojournalist who was on assignment at the Capitol during the riots, said in the CPJ report. “It was a wake-up call to the fragility of our democracy and trust in institutions — like journalism, like the government — that’s been eroding for a very long time.”

Jacobsen said she’s worried about ramifications for the media landscape if the results of the presidential election are contested. Trump has previously said that Democrats will cheat in the election and suggested that any election in which he does not win is likely to be fraudulent.

“It’s really important for journalists across the country to prepare themselves for the worst-case scenario and hope for the best,” Jacobsen said.
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Washington — China has been one of the most-discussed international topics during the U.S. presidential campaign.

VOA spoke with Rick Waters, former head of the Office of China Coordination at the State Department and deputy assistant secretary of state for China and Taiwan, about the Biden administration’s China policy.

Waters spoke about his experience dealing with his Chinese counterparts, and how he thinks Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump would handle China, if elected.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: How do you evaluate the progress made in U.S.-China relations after U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in California last year, and do you see real, meaningful results coming from the meeting?

Rick Waters: I think we have to look at this Woodside summit as the culmination of a number of things that happened in the administration.

The first is that for the first period, Biden was focused on rebuilding the U.S. domestic strength and reinvigorating partnerships and alliances globally, and then from that position, dealing with China from a position of relative strength. So during that first two-year period, the U.S. China relationship was, in some ways, arguably, not the priority. It was important, but it was managed largely through leader level diplomacy, which, in China’s current political configuration is the most important channel.

And then we know what happened in 2022 circumstances around the visit of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi [to Taiwan] led to a downward spiral, and Biden and Xi made an initial effort to stabilize relations that fall at their summit in Bali, but it only made it a few months, and then the surveillance balloon knocked things sideways again.

So, I think what we have now is a little bit more stable floor built around the leader level channels, a few modest areas where there is some common work underway, and a web of senior, empowered channels at the Cabinet level, including Jake Sullivan, who try to manage conflict and competition rather within bounds, within guardrails, to avoid the scenario of unmitigated downward spiral we saw in 2022.

VOA: Do you think a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is inevitable, or what should the U.S. do to deter that invasion?

Waters: I don’t think that conflict is inevitable, and I think at its core the U.S.’s interest is peace and stability. That’s what’s anchored the prosperity in the Indo-Pacific over the past couple of decades. The ability for commerce, for trade, for people-to-people flows regionally to thrive in an environment where there is no war.

And so, I think if we take that as our starting point, I don’t think that conflict is inevitable, but I do think that the U.S. and Taiwan are focused very much on the question of how to ensure that the leadership in Beijing never believe they have a viable military option and an acceptable cost. And if that condition holds, then I think it will fall to the diplomats and to the channels that exist between the parties to manage this issue carefully.

VOA: During your career as a U.S. diplomat, what’s your experience dealing with your Chinese counterparts? What are some striking and most challenging aspects or moments that left an impression on you?

Waters: I’ve been fortunate to deal with Chinese diplomats for the better part of 30 years. And what I will say is irrespective of what you think of China’s policy or political system, they do have a very professional diplomatic corps. They’ve got very talented people in the system. What I think has changed over the past few decades is it’s a much more disciplined system. So, it’s very difficult, especially in official meetings, for Chinese diplomats to move too far off of the established line.

So, I don’t think that we should misunderstand the level of talent in the system when we look at it through its structural constraints. But I do think that as China’s overall foreign policy has become more assertive, as you know, the leadership has talked about China playing a greater role on the international stage. It has gone through periods where the wolf warriorism, the change in tone from the podium, has characterized a different era of Chinese diplomacy than what we saw before.

But I actually think, in some ways, there are plenty in the system who understand the counterproductive nature of those tactics, and I’ve seen a little bit of a tactical recalibration over recent years in how they express their foreign policy views publicly.

VOA: In this election season, the Biden administration’s China policy has often been criticized by the Republican campaign for being too weak. What is your take on that?

Waters: We’re in an election campaign, so obviously you’re never going to hear anyone say that someone’s policy is too tough. I think that the honest reality is that this election is not really, in my view, about China. It’s about other issues. China is present, but if you look at how much it’s featured in the speeches at the Republican and Democratic conventions, there are issues related to China that are important, but I think we have to maintain that perspective.

Second, I think that the issues that, in my view, matter most to voters center around trade and a perception of unfairness, a lack of reciprocity, and fentanyl, which for a number of years is a problem that has had a direct relationship to the producers of these precursor chemicals in China, and so I think those types of issues do matter on the margins, but they’re not central to U.S. voters, particularly in the swing states that will decide this election.

VOA: For the observers in China who are looking at this election, how is Harris’ China policy going to be different than President Biden’s, and what awaits China if Trump regains power?

Waters: I think how this is playing in China is a very different story. But I think what we have to say at this point is that we’re in the midst of a campaign. So, to be fair to both candidates, what we should judge is, once they form their Cabinets next spring, how will they translate political positions into new policy? I think Harris’s team has expressed a general view that her policy will be consistent with Biden’s. The Trump team and President Trump himself have talked about aspects of the relationship, particularly trade, where they feel that things are out of balance.

VOA: Biden and Xi are likely to meet and sit down again later this year. So, what are the prospects and expectations for this meeting?

Waters: It’ll be a critical moment, because this meeting — which will be either on the margins of the G20 [Group of 20 largest economies] summit in Brazil [November 18-19], or the APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] summit in Lima, Peru [November 10-16], depending on where it takes place — these meetings on the margins of summits are consequential during a presidential transition. I think they can use it as a chance to help bridge between the two administrations. That will be easier if it’s a Biden-to-Harris transition, because Democrat-to-Democrat is more likely to be able to talk about how the bridging will work. But if it’s, you know, Biden-to-Trump, I still think it’s consequential.

President Biden can give his advice about how to avoid returning to the events of 2022 [and] how they can reflect on the lessons of what has been achieved since the Woodside [California] Summit [in November 2023]. And I think you probably go into it with fairly modest expectations.
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WASHINGTON — The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Hilltop Youth, a group of extremist settlers in the Israeli -occupied West Bank who attack Palestinians and their property.

In addition, the State Department placed diplomatic sanctions on two men — Israeli settler Eitan Yardeni, for his connection to violence targeting West Bank civilians, and Avichai Suissa, the leader of Hashomer Yosh, a sanctioned group that brings young volunteers to settler farms across the territory, including small farming outposts that rights groups say are the primary drivers of settler violence across the territory.

The sanctions, which expose people to asset freezes and travel and visa bans, come as violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has exploded since the start of the Israel-Hamas war following the deadly terrorist attacks of October 7.

Palestinians report verbal and physical harassment and restriction of movement, and they face intimidation by settlers circling their properties on motorbikes, cars or horses and spying via drones.

The Treasury Department said Hilltop Youth has carried out killings and mass arson, while rights groups and Palestinians say the group is behind “price tag” attacks — attacks on Palestinian villages in retaliation for perceived efforts to hamper settlement construction.

The group may prove difficult to effectively sanction, as it is loosely organized and decentralized. In addition, Israel’s finance minister has previously vowed to intervene on sanctioned settlers’ behalf.

In the past, sanctioned settlers said that the measures had little impact on their finances.

Hilltop Youth has already faced sanctions from the EU and U.K.

The Biden administration has been criticized for imposing relatively few sanctions on Israeli extremists. According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, 27 extremists and entities have been sanctioned by the U.S. under President Joe Biden ‘s February 2024 Executive Order related to maintaining West Bank stability.

Treasury Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith said that the U.S. “will continue to hold accountable the individuals, groups and organizations that facilitate these hateful and destabilizing acts.”

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “The actions of these individuals have contributed to creating an environment where violence and instability thrive. Their actions, collectively and individually, undermine peace, security and stability in the West Bank.”
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A new exhibit in Washington sheds some light on a little-known layer of the sea and the strange creatures that live there. Artechouse art center and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution collaborated on the spectacle, called Twilight Zone: Hidden Wonders of the Ocean. Maxim Adams has the story.
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Washington is trying to keep a Mideast war from snowballing after a dramatic weekend in Lebanon, but regional powers are expressing concerns as Israel’s leadership seems determined to continue. From the White House, President Joe Biden has called for a cease-fire, but VOA’s Anita Powell asks: Will anyone listen?
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ASHEVILLE, N.C. — President Joe Biden was set to survey the devastation in the mountains of Western North Carolina on Wednesday, where exhausted emergency workers continued to work around-the-clock to clear roads, restore power and cellphone service, and reach people left stranded by Hurricane Helene. The storm killed at least 133 people and hundreds more were still unaccounted for on Monday night, four days after Helene initially made landfall.

Meanwhile, election officials across the South were making emergency preparations to ensure displaced residents would be able to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

Officials in the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville said their water system suffered “catastrophic” damage that could take weeks to fully repair. Government officials, aid groups and volunteers were working to deliver supplies by air, truck and even mule to the town and surrounding mountain communities. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville.

The North Carolina death toll included one horrific story after another of people who were trapped by floodwaters in their homes and vehicles or were killed by falling trees. A courthouse security officer died after being submerged inside his truck. A couple and a 6-year-old boy waiting to be rescued on a rooftop drowned when part of their home collapsed.

Rescuers did manage to save dozens, including an infant and two others stuck on the top of a car in Atlanta. More than 50 hospital patients and staff in Tennessee were plucked by helicopter from the hospital rooftop in a daring rescue operation.

How some of the worst-hit areas are coping

The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. Rainfall estimates in some areas topped more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) since Wednesday, and several main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides. That includes a 6.4-kilometer section of Interstate 40 that was heavily damaged.

Joey Hopkins, North Carolina’s secretary of transportation, asked people on Monday to stay off the roads.

“The damage is severe, and we’re continuing to tell folks if you don’t have a reason to be in North Carolina, do not travel on the roads of western North Carolina,” Hopkins said at a news conference. “We do not want you here if you don’t live here and you’re not helping with the storm.”

At an Ingles grocery store in Asheville, Elizabeth Teall-Fleming was standing in line with dozens of others waiting to get inside and hoping to find some non-perishable food, since they have no power. She planned to heat up some canned food over a camping stove for her family.

“I’m just glad that they’re open and that they’re able to let us in,” she said.

Teall-Fleming said she was surprised by the ferocity of the storm.

“Just seeing the little bit of news that we’ve been able to see has been shocking and really sad.”

In one neighborhood, residents were collecting creek water in buckets to flush their toilets.

Others waited in a line for more than a block at Mountain Valley Water to fill up milk jugs and whatever other containers they could find with drinking water.

Derek Farmer, who brought three gallon-sized apple juice containers, said he had been prepared for the storm but now was nervous after three days without water. “I just didn’t know how bad it was going to be,” Farmer said.

Helene roared ashore in northern Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved north. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, where deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. Officials warned that rebuilding would be lengthy and difficult.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that shelters were housing more than 1,000 people.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper took an aerial tour of the Asheville area and later met with workers distributing meals.

“This has been an unprecedented storm that has hit western North Carolina,” he said afterward. “It’s requiring an unprecedented response.”

Worries about the presidential election

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said during an emergency board meeting on Monday that they are looking at options for voters in the hardest-hit counties. She planned to provide more information at a Tuesday news conference, including how someone could declare “natural disaster” as their reason for not being able to provide a photo ID.

Election employees across Georgia returned to work even as some offices faced power outages, limited internet and infrastructure damage.

In Lowndes County, staff at the local board of elections were working off of two computers instead of the usual eight, said election supervisor Deb Cox. The office is also without wifi.

“We’re fully up and running as of this morning,” said Cox. “It’s just slower than normal because we have less resources.”

In Columbia County, poll worker training will still begin this week, said Nancy Gay, the county’s elections director, but she may have to change the location because of the power outage.

“Our poll workers are being affected,” Gay said. “They don’t have power. They don’t have gas. You’ve got to allow the workers time to process everything and try and get a plan in place before I can really expect them to come and show up for training.”

Mark Ard at the Florida Secretary of State’s office said the Division of Elections is recommending that local elections supervisors reach out to U.S. Post Office officials to discuss a mitigation plan for ballot mailing, delivery, and return.

Why western North Carolina was hit so hard

Western North Carolina suffered relatively more devastation because that’s where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall.

Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding. Plus, the ground already was saturated before Helene arrived, said Christiaan Patterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“By the time Helene came into the Carolinas, we already had that rain on top of more rain,” Patterson said.

Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones, sometimes within hours.

Destruction from Florida to Virginia

Along Florida’s Gulf Coast, several feet of water swamped the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, forcing workers to move two manatees and sea turtles. All of the animals were safe but much of the aquarium’s vital equipment was damaged or destroyed, said James Powell, the aquarium’s executive director.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the storm “literally spared no one.” Most people in and around Augusta, a city of about 200,000 near the South Carolina border, were still without power Monday.

With at least 30 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.

Tropical Storm Kirk forms and could become a powerful hurricane

Tropical Storm Kirk formed Monday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become a “large and powerful hurricane” by Tuesday night or Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was located about 1,285 kilometers west of the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 95 kph. There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system was not a threat to land.
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New York — The union representing U.S. dockworkers has signaled that 45,000 of its members will walk off the job at midnight, kicking off a strike likely to shut down ports across the East and Gulf coasts.

The coming work stoppage threatens to significantly snarl the nation’s supply chain, potentially leading to higher prices and delays in goods reaching households and businesses if it drags on for weeks. That’s because the strike by members of the International Longshoremen’s Association could cause 36 ports — which handle roughly half of the goods shipped into and out of the U.S. — to shutter operations.

ILA confirmed over the weekend that its members would hit the picket lines at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. In a Monday update, the union blamed the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, for continuing to “to block the path” toward an agreement before the contract deadline. 

“The Ocean Carriers represented by USMX want to enjoy rich billion-dollar profits that they are making in 2024, while they offer ILA Longshore Workers an unacceptable wage package that we reject,” ILA said in a prepared statement. “ILA longshore workers deserve to be compensated for the important work they do keeping American commerce moving and growing.” 

ILA also accused the shippers of “gouging their customers” with sizeable price increases for containers over recent weeks. The union said that this will result in increased costs for American consumers. 

The Associated Press reached out to a USMX spokesperson for comment. 

If drawn out, the strike would force businesses to pay shippers for delays and cause some goods to arrive late for peak holiday shopping season — potentially impacting delivery of anything from toys or artificial Christmas trees, to cars, coffee and fruit. 

A strike could have an almost immediate impact on supplies of perishable imports like bananas, for example. The ports that could be affected by the strike handle 3.8 million metric tons of bananas each year, or 75% of the nation’s supply, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. 

Americans could also face higher prices as retailers feel the supply squeeze. 

“If the strikes go ahead, they will cause enormous delays across the supply chain, a ripple effect which will no doubt roll into 2025 and cause chaos across the industry,” noted Jay Dhokia, founder of supply chain management and logistics firm Pro3PL. 

Dhokia added that East Coast ports aren’t the only ones at risk for disruption, as concern leading up to the strike has already diverted many shipments out West, adding to route congestion and more pressure on demand. Impacts will also be felt internationally — particularly in places like the United Kingdom, he said, where the U.S. is its largest trading partner. 

ILA members are demanding higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks used in the loading or unloading of freight. 

The coming strike by the ILA workers — set to impact ports from Maine to Texas — will be the first by the union since 1977. West Coast dockworkers belong to a different union and aren’t involved in the strike. 

If a strike were deemed a danger to U.S. economic health, President Joe Biden could, under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, seek a court order for an 80-day cooling-off period. That would suspend the strike. 

All eyes are on what, if any, action the administration might take — particularly just weeks ahead of a tight presidential election. But Biden has signaled that he will not exercise this power. 

During an exchange with reporters on Sunday, Biden said “no” when asked if he planned to intervene in the potential work stoppage. 

“Because it’s collective bargaining, I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” he said. 

At a briefing Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated that the administration had never invoked Taft-Hartley “to break a strike and are not considering doing so now.” She added that top officials were still urging both parties to return to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith.
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little rock, arkansas — Arkansas sued YouTube and parent company Alphabet on Monday, saying the video-sharing platform is made deliberately addictive and fueling a mental health crisis among youth in the state.

Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office filed the lawsuit in state court, accusing them of violating the state’s deceptive trade practices and public nuisance laws. The lawsuit claims the site is addictive and has resulted in the state spending millions on expanded mental health and other services for young people.

“YouTube amplifies harmful material, doses users with dopamine hits, and drives youth engagement and advertising revenue,” the lawsuit said. “As a result, youth mental health problems have advanced in lockstep with the growth of social media, and in particular, YouTube.”

Alphabet’s Google, which owns the video service and is also named as a defendant in the case, denied the lawsuit’s claims.

“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls,” Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement. “The allegations in this complaint are simply not true.”

YouTube requires users under 17 to get their parent’s permission before using the site, while accounts for users younger than 13 must be linked to a parental account. But it is possible to watch YouTube without an account, and kids can easily lie about their age.

The lawsuit is the latest in an ongoing push by state and federal lawmakers to highlight the impact that social media sites have on younger users. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in June called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms about their effects on young people’s lives, like those now mandatory on cigarette boxes.

Arkansas last year filed similar lawsuits against TikTok and Facebook parent company Meta, claiming the social media companies were misleading consumers about the safety of children on their platforms and protections of users’ private data. Those lawsuits are still pending in state court.

Arkansas also enacted a law requiring parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts, though that measure has been blocked by a federal judge.

Along with TikTok, YouTube is one of the most popular sites for children and teens. Both sites have been questioned in the past for hosting, and in some cases promoting, videos that encourage gun violence, eating disorders and self-harm.

YouTube in June changed its policies about firearm videos, prohibiting any videos demonstrating how to remove firearm safety devices. Under the new policies, videos showing homemade guns, automatic weapons and certain firearm accessories like silencers will be restricted to users 18 and older.

Arkansas’ lawsuit claims that YouTube’s algorithms steer youth to harmful adult content, and that it facilitates the spread of child sexual abuse material.

The lawsuit doesn’t seek specific damages, but asks that YouTube be ordered to fund prevention, education and treatment for “excessive and problematic use of social media.”
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west palm beach, florida — Ryan Routh, the 58-year-old man accused of plotting to kill Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course, pleaded not guilty on Monday to several federal charges.

His lawyer Kristy Militello entered the not guilty plea during a brief arraignment in a West Palm Beach federal courthouse and requested a jury trial.

Wearing a beige prison uniform and shackles on his wrists and ankles, Routh answered “yes, your honor,” when the magistrate judge asked him if he was aware of the charges against him.

Routh was arrested on September 15 after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking out from brush on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round.

The agent opened fire and Routh, who fled in a vehicle, was arrested shortly later.

He has been charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and firearms offenses.

A federal judge ruled last week that Routh, identified as a Hawaii resident, should remain in custody.

FBI analysis of Routh’s phone showed he had been in Florida since August 18, and his devices were located multiple times between that date and September 15 near Trump’s golf course and his Mar-a-Lago residence, according to prosecutors.

Before being spotted by the Secret Service agent, Routh spent nearly 12 hours in the vicinity of the Trump International Golf Club, according to his phone location data.

Court documents said Routh allegedly dropped off a box at an unidentified person’s home several months before the attempted assassination containing various letters.

One letter, addressed to “The World,” allegedly said: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you.”

“I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster,” it said. “It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”

It was the second assassination attempt on Trump this summer. The first took place on July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman opened fire on the former president, killing one person and wounding Trump in the ear.

The candidate was otherwise unharmed, and the gunman was killed at the scene.

The Routh case has been assigned at random to federal District Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee who dismissed criminal proceedings against the former president earlier this year over his retention of top-secret documents at his private residence.
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Washington — The U.S. is sending an additional “few thousand” troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to be prepared to defend Israel if necessary, the Pentagon said Monday.

The increased presence will come from multiple fighter jet squadrons, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters.

It follows recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a significant escalation in the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and Hezbollah.

The additional force includes squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16, A-10 and F-22 fighter jets and the personnel needed to support them. The jets were supposed to rotate in and replace the squadrons already there. Instead, both the existing and new squadrons will remain in place to double the airpower on hand.

On Sunday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also announced that he was temporarily extending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and its associated squadrons in the region.

The jets are not there to assist in an evacuation, Singh said, “they are there for the protection of U.S. forces.”
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Atlanta, Georgia — When he returned to Plains, Georgia, in 1981, President Jimmy Carter was defeated — rejected by voters in a landslide election to Republican Ronald Reagan. The pouring rain at Carter’s welcome home reception reflected his gloomy mood and that of the country.

“In office, he was a political failure. He lost overwhelming[ly] to Ronald Reagan. But he was a substantive and visionary success,” says author and historian Jonathan Alter, who recognizes what many know Carter for today — humanitarian work with his Carter Center, “waging peace, fighting disease and building hope” around the world that led to Jimmy Carter receiving the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

“He’s done terrific work supervising elections in more than 100 countries. But former presidents don’t have as much power as presidents, not nearly as much, and the list of his accomplishments as president that were ignored, minimized, or forgotten entirely was very long,” said Alter.

The Iran hostage crisis, rising inflation and oil embargoes of the 1970s doomed Carter’s White House tenure, casting a long shadow over his legacy. However, the onetime peanut farmer, Georgia governor, president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s 100th birthday milestone comes as authors and historians reevaluate his failures and accomplishments as a one-term U.S. president.

Alter’s biography, “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life,” is among several that conclude his four years in the White House were anything but a failure.

“Not just famously [the] Camp David accords and opening relations with China,” Alter told VOA in an interview in August at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, “but a long string of legislative accomplishments on the environment and many other issues that actually exceed the legislative accomplishments of both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.”

Carter signed the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act protecting more than 100 million acres — including land, national parks, refuges, monuments, forests and conservation areas — which Alter says is now considered one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation ever passed.

“The story I tell in my book is a surprising one,” says Alter. “It’s of somebody who worked hard in ways that actually bore fruit.”

“I think we’ll remember President Carter as a president who served in very enormously difficult times who had to deal with circumstances that were far beyond his control,” says Emory University’s first “Jimmy Carter Professor of History” Joseph Crespino. Carter routinely visited with Crespino and his students in Atlanta to discuss the good and bad decisions he made while president.

“Putting human rights front and center in American foreign policy — no president had done that in the way that Jimmy Carter had,” Crespino told VOA during a recent interview at his office on campus at Emory University. “It was important in shifting the balance of power in the Cold War, but it was also an important moment in the aftermath of the Vietnam War to reassert once again America’s moral responsibilities in the world.”

Crespino says some of Carter’s overlooked domestic accomplishments include reorganizing the federal government and deregulation of the airline, trucking and beer industries. “We oftentimes associate a kind of freeing up of the free enterprise economy with the conservative turn that came in with Ronald Reagan, when in fact Jimmy Carter before Reagan was already doing a lot of deregulatory work in his presidency in recognizing the kind of limits of government oversight of these private industries.”

Members of Carter’s Cabinet, including former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, are grateful his long life has allowed him to witness the longer lens of history reflect more positively on his legacy.

“There’s no place in the world I know where people don’t have some good things to say about him,” Young told VOA as he spoke with reporters September 17 at Carter’s 100th birthday concert at the Fox theater in Atlanta. “Whether he succeeded or not … he gave it as good a try and came as far as the world would let him go.”

A world that continues to benefit from the Carter Center’s work, including fighting diseases including Guinea worm, which is down to a few cases in Africa and could become only the second disease ever eradicated.
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