Author: PolitCens

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — NASA decided Saturday it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule, and they’ll have to wait until next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months.

The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the trip back.

After almost three months, the decision finally came down from NASA’s highest ranks on Saturday. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will come back in a SpaceX spacecraft in February. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in a week or two and attempt to return on autopilot.

As Starliner’s test pilots, the pair should have overseen this critical last leg of the journey, with touchdown in the U.S. desert.

It was a blow to Boeing, adding to the safety concerns plaguing the company on its airplane side. Boeing had counted on Starliner’s first crew trip to revive the troubled program after years of delays and ballooning costs. The company had insisted Starliner was safe based on all the recent thruster tests in space and on the ground.

The astronauts

Retired Navy captains with previous long-duration spaceflight experience, Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, anticipated surprises when they accepted the shakedown cruise of a new spacecraft, although not quite to this extent.

Before their June 5 launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, they said their families bought into the uncertainty and stress of their professional careers decades ago. During their lone orbital news conference last month, they said they had trust in the thruster testing being conducted. They had no complaints, they added, and enjoyed pitching in with space station work.

Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, was equally stoic in an interview earlier this month with WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, their home state. She was already bracing for a delay until next February: “You just sort of have to roll with it.”

There were few options.

The SpaceX capsule currently parked at the space station is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They will return in late September, their stay extended a month by the Starliner dilemma. NASA said it would be unsafe to squeeze two more into the capsule, except in an emergency.

The docked Russian Soyuz capsule is even tighter, capable of flying only three — two of them Russians wrapping up a yearlong stint.

So, Wilmore and Williams will wait for SpaceX’s next taxi flight. It’s due to launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four for a routine six-month stay. NASA yanked two to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight in late February.

NASA said no serious consideration was given to asking SpaceX for a quick stand-alone rescue. Last year, the Russian Space Agency had to rush up a replacement Soyuz capsule for three men whose original craft was damaged by space junk. The switch pushed their mission beyond a year, a U.S. space endurance record still held by Frank Rubio.

History of problems

Starliner’s woes began long before its latest flight.

Bad software fouled the first test flight without a crew in 2019, prompting a do-over in 2022. Then parachute and other issues cropped up, including a helium leak in the capsule’s propellant system that nixed a launch attempt in May. The leak was deemed isolated and small enough to pose no concern. But more leaks sprouted following liftoff, and five thrusters also failed.

All but one of those small thrusters restarted in flight. But engineers remain perplexed as to why some thruster seals appear to swell, obstructing the propellant lines, then revert to their normal size.

These 28 thrusters are vital. Besides being needed for space station rendezvous, they keep the capsule pointed in the right direction at flight’s end as bigger engines steer the craft out of orbit. Coming in crooked could result in catastrophe.

With the Columbia disaster still fresh in many minds — the shuttle broke apart during reentry in 2003, killing all seven aboard — NASA embraced open debate over Starliner’s return capability. Dissenting views were stifled during Columbia’s doomed flight, just as they were during Challenger’s in 1986.

Despite Saturday’s decision, NASA isn’t giving up on Boeing.

NASA went into its commercial crew program a decade ago wanting two competing U.S. companies ferrying astronauts in the post-shuttle era. Boeing won the bigger contract: more than $4 billion, compared with SpaceX’s $2.6 billion.

With station supply runs already under its belt, SpaceX aced its first of now nine astronaut flights in 2020, while Boeing got bogged down in design flaws that set the company back more than $1 billion. NASA officials still hold out hope that Starliner’s problems can be corrected in time for another crew flight in another year or so.
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Seoul, South Korea — North Korea vowed Saturday to advance its nuclear capabilities, reacting to a report that the United States had revised its own nuclear strategic plan.

The country will “bolster up its strategic strength in every way to control and eliminate all sorts of security challenges that may result from Washington’s revised plan,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The New York Times reported this week that a U.S. plan approved by President Joe Biden in March was to prepare for possible coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China and North Korea.

The highly classified plan for the first time reorients Washington’s deterrent strategy to focus on China’s rapid expansion in its nuclear arsenal, the Times said.

KCNA said North Korea’s foreign ministry “expresses serious concern over and bitterly denounces and rejects the behavior of the U.S.”

It added North Korea vowed to push forward the building of nuclear force sufficient and reliable enough to firmly defend its sovereignty.

Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The United States and Seoul have accused North Korea of providing ammunition and missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Pyongyang, which has declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear weapons power, has described allegations of supplying weapons to Russia as “absurd.”

However, it did thank Russia for using its United Nations veto in March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations just as UN experts were starting to probe alleged arms transfers.

China, also a key ally of North Korea, presents itself as a neutral party in Russia’s offensive on Ukraine and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

But it is a close political and economic ally of Russia, and NATO members have branded Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war.

Moscow has looked to Beijing as an economic lifeline since the Ukraine conflict began, with the two boosting trade to record highs as Russia faces heavy sanctions from the West.
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williamsburg, virginia — Archaeologists in Virginia are uncovering one of colonial America’s most lavish displays of opulence: an ornamental garden where a wealthy politician and enslaved gardeners grew exotic plants from around the world. 

Such plots dotted Britain’s colonies and served as status symbols for the elite. They were the 18th-century equivalent of buying a Lamborghini. 

The garden in Williamsburg belonged to John Custis IV, a tobacco plantation owner who served in Virginia’s colonial legislature. He is perhaps best known as the first father-in-law of Martha Washington. She married future U.S. President George Washington after Custis’ son Daniel died. 

Historians also have been intrigued by the elder Custis’ botanical adventures, which were well-documented in letters and later in books. And yet this excavation is as much about the people who cultivated the land as it is about Custis. 

“The garden may have been Custis’ vision, but he wasn’t the one doing the work,” said Jack Gary, executive director of archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum that now owns the property. “Everything we see in the ground that’s related to the garden is the work of enslaved gardeners, many of whom must have been very skilled.” 

Posts, paths

Archaeologists have pulled up fence posts that were 3 feet (1 meter) thick and carved from red cedar. Gravel paths were uncovered, including a large central walkway. Stains in the soil show where plants grew in rows. 

The dig also has unearthed a pierced coin that was typically worn as a good-luck charm by young African Americans. Workers have also found the shards of an earthenware chamber pot, or portable toilet, that likely was used by people who were enslaved. 

Animals appear to have been intentionally buried under some fence posts. They included two chickens with their heads removed, as well as a single cow’s foot. A snake without a skull was found in a shallow hole that had likely contained a plant. 

“We have to wonder if we’re seeing traditions that are non-European,” Gary said. “Are they West African traditions? We need to do more research. But it’s features like those that make us continue to try and understand the enslaved people who were in this space.” 

The museum tells the story of Virginia’s colonial capital through interpreters and restored buildings on 300 acres (120 hectares), which include parts of the original city. Founded in 1926, the museum did not start telling stories about Black Americans until 1979, even though more than half of the 2,000 people who lived there were Black, the majority enslaved. 

In recent years, the museum has boosted efforts to tell a more complete story, while trying to attract more Black visitors. It plans to reconstruct one of the nation’s oldest Black churches and is restoring what is believed to be the country’s oldest surviving schoolhouse for Black children. 

There also are plans to re-create Custis’ Williamsburg home and garden, known then as Custis Square. Unlike some historic gardens, the restoration will be done without the benefit of surviving maps or diagrams, relying instead on what Gary described as the most detailed landscape archaeology effort in the museum’s history. 

The garden disappeared after Custis’ death in 1749. But the dig has determined it was about two-thirds the size of a football field, while descriptions from the time refer to lead statues of Greek gods and topiaries trimmed into balls and pyramids. 

Correspondence with Briton

The garden’s legacy has lived on through Custis’ correspondence with British botanist Peter Collinson, who traded plants with other horticulturalists around the globe. From 1734 to 1746, Custis and Collinson exchanged seeds and letters via merchant ships crossing the Atlantic. 

The men possibly introduced new plants to their respective communities, said Eve Otmar, Colonial Williamsburg’s master of historic gardening. For instance, Custis is believed to have made one of Williamsburg’s earliest written mentions of growing tomatoes, known then as “apples of love” and native to Mexico and Central and South America. 

Custis’ gardeners also planted strawberries, pistachios and almonds, among 100 other imported plants. It’s not always clear from his letters which were successful in the Virginia climate. A recent pollen analysis of the soil indicates the past presence of stone fruits, such as peaches and cherries, which weren’t a big surprise. 

The garden existed at a time when European empires and slavery were still expanding. Botanical gardens often were used for discovering new cash crops that could enrich colonial powers. 

But Custis’ garden was primarily about showing off his wealth. A study of the area’s topography placed his garden in direct view of Williamsburg’s only church house at the time. Everyone would have seen the garden’s fence, but few were invited inside. 

Exotic lily

Custis delighted his guests with the likes of the crown imperial lily, which was native to the Middle East and parts of Asia, and boasted clusters of drooping, bell-shaped flowers. 

“In the 18th century, those were unusual things,” Otmar said. “Only certain classes of people got to experience that. A wealthy person today — they buy a Lamborghini.” 

The museum is still trying to learn more about the people who worked in the garden. 

Crystal Castleberry, Colonial Williamsburg’s public archaeologist, has met with descendants of the more than 200 people who were enslaved by the Custis family on his various plantations. But there is too little information in surviving documents to determine if an ancestor lived and worked at Custis Square. 

Two people, named Cornelia and Beck, were listed as property with the Williamsburg estate after Daniel Custis died in 1757. But their names prompt only more questions about who they were and what happened to them. 

“Are they related to one another?” Castleberry asked. “Do they fear being split up or sold? Or are they going to be reunited with loved ones on other properties?”
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Vice President Kamala Harris reaffirmed support for Israel in her Democratic National Convention acceptance speech. Pro-Palestinian delegates say they will push to condition U.S. military aid to Israel. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports from the convention in Chicago, Illinois.
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Chicago — Hundreds of pro-Palestinian delegates were sidelined at the Democratic National Convention that ended with Vice President Kamala Harris reaffirming her support for Israel.

“The people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7,” she said in her speech accepting the party’s presidential nomination Thursday evening.

As anti-war protesters filled the streets throughout the week, 270 pro-Palestinian Democrats calling themselves “cease-fire delegates” signed a petition demanding Harris, if she’s elected, enact an arms embargo on Israel.

The unheeded petition was pushed by leaders of the “Uncommitted” movement, which garnered hundreds of thousands of votes in Democratic primaries across the nation.

These delegates staged a sit-in outside Chicago’s United Center, the convention’s venue, to protest the Democratic National Committee, who denied a speaking request for Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric doctor who treats wounded children in Gaza.

The DNC, according to Uncommitted National Movement spokesperson Layla Elabed, didn’t want Harris to be “overshadowed.”

Asked by VOA for a reaction to Elabed’s claim, the Harris campaign said, “There have been a number of speakers who have spoken about the war in Gaza and the need to secure a cease-fire and hostage deal.”

Uncommitted delegates

Elabed spoke to VOA on behalf of the 30 “Uncommitted” delegates who voted present in the nomination roll call. That’s less than 1% of the roughly 4,700 delegates who voted for Harris.

The pro-Palestinian group, however, was given a speaking opportunity Monday in a panel event outside of the convention.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Muslim sympathetic to the Palestinian cause who spoke on the panel, was given time at the convention main stage on Wednesday. However, he did not mention Gaza in his speech.

The war in Gaza is “not the topic that I would decide” to speak about, Ellison told VOA before his speech, indicating that pragmatism is key to affect change within the party.

“I’m not one of those people who believe that we vote for perfection. What we vote for is conversation,” he said.

Party platform supports Israel

As the convention kicked off, Democrats voted to adopt the party’s platform that recommitted support for Israel, a cease-fire for hostage release deal and the two-state solution.

Pro-Palestinian delegates tried to include language backing enforcement of laws that ban giving military aid to individuals or security forces that commit gross violations of human rights.

“What we are asking is that our tax dollars not be used to kill men, women and children. This is not a controversial demand and is actually more aligned with our Democratic values,” Elabed said.

Compared to Biden, Harris appears to offer more sympathy for Palestinian suffering, repeating Thursday of the “devastating” situation in Gaza over the past 10 months.”

“So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again,” she said in her convention speech. “The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”

But policy-wise she signaled continuity from the current administration.

“President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination,” she said in her speech to thunderous applause.

Harris’ current and former aides say her Israel policy is unlikely to diverge from President Joe Biden. Halie Soifer, national security adviser to Harris while she was in the Senate, said that the vice president has always been a “strong supporter of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” while upholding humanitarian values.

“She does not want to see the suffering of innocent civilians, nor do the vast majority of Americans and Jewish Americans,” said Soifer, who is now CEO of Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“We don’t have to view it through binary lens,” she told VOA. “We support both.”

Not discouraged

Uncommitted delegates say they’re not discouraged.

Inga Gibson, a delegate from Hawaii, a state where seven out of 31 delegates are uncommitted, said she has made “tremendous progress” with her fellow delegates.

“I found that a lot of people are really with us on this issue, but they don’t know where to begin or how to get involved,” she told VOA.

She and other uncommitted delegates gave out keffiyehs, “Democrats for Gaza” flyers and “No More Bombs” pins. The pro-Palestinian symbols are emblematic of a key area of disagreement among Democrats – how much support to give to Israel.

Pro-Israel delegates say it should not create division within the party.

“We can all do better to try to understand the complications of the conflict,” Andrew Lachman, a delegate from California told VOA. “We’re all concerned about the civilians of Gaza, but we’re also concerned about the people of Israel and their safety and security.”

Polls show an increasing number of Americans want their leaders to reduce support for Israel. Some say Harris missed an opportunity.

As a former prosecutor, Harris can and should strictly enforce laws and suspend weapons even to allies who violate international or U.S. law, said Nancy Okail, president and CEO of the Center for International Policy, a left-leaning think tank.

“She could make clear this doesn’t just apply to their misuse by Israel to cause disproportionate civilian harm in Gaza, but to their misuse by Netanyahu’s extremist government to dispossess and abuse Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” she told VOA.

Turning protest into agenda

Scholars of social movements say it takes time and work to turn protests into a political agenda. Elisabeth Clemens, a sociologist from the University of Chicago, said that includes building coalitions, negotiating and compromising.

“Finding a way forward that almost never gets all the way to where the protesters hoped it would get but is nevertheless an important change,” she told VOA.

And on an issue as complicated as the Middle East peace process, there are different pressures exerted on multiple sides.

“American domestic politics only garners a slice of that,” she said.

Elabed said they’re in for the long game.

“Our strategy is not to abandon the Democratic Party, but to essentially revolutionize the Democratic Party and listen to its core base.”

For now, the vice president is their best bet.

“I don’t care what you think, you need to win to have power,” Ellison said. “Harris, the numbers are up everywhere. The chances for success are higher.” 
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BEIJING/SINGAPORE/NEW YORK — State-linked Chinese entities are using cloud services provided by Amazon or its rivals to access advanced U.S. chips and artificial intelligence capabilities that they cannot acquire otherwise, recent public tender documents showed.

The U.S. government has restricted the export of high-end AI chips to China over the past two years, citing the need to limit the Chinese military’s capabilities.

Providing access to such chips or advanced AI models through the cloud, however, is not a violation of U.S. regulations since only exports or transfers of a commodity, software or technology are regulated.

A Reuters review of more than 50 tender documents posted over the past year on publicly available Chinese databases showed that at least 11 Chinese entities have sought access to restricted U.S. technologies or cloud services.

Among those, four explicitly named Amazon Web Services, or AWS, as a cloud service provider, although they accessed the services through Chinese intermediary companies rather than from AWS directly.

The tender documents, which Reuters is the first to report on, show the breadth of strategies Chinese entities are employing to secure advanced computing power and access generative AI models. They also underscore how U.S. companies are capitalizing on China’s growing demand for computing power.

“AWS complies with all applicable U.S. laws, including trade laws, regarding the provision of AWS services inside and outside of China,” a spokesperson for Amazon’s cloud business said.

AWS controls nearly a third of the global cloud infrastructure market, according to research firm Canalys. In China, AWS is the sixth-largest cloud service provider, according to research firm IDC.

Shenzhen University spent $27,996 (200,000 yuan) on an AWS account to gain access to cloud servers powered by Nvidia A100 and H100 chips for an unspecified project, according to a March tender document. It got this service via an intermediary, Yunda Technology Ltd Co, the document showed.

Exports to China of the two Nvidia chips that are used to power large-language models, or LLM, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are banned by the United States.

Shenzhen University and Yunda Technology did not respond to requests for comment. Nvidia declined to comment on Shenzhen University’s spending or on any of the other Chinese entities’ deals.

Zhejiang Lab, a research institute developing its own LLM, called GeoGPT, said in a tender document in April that it intended to spend 184,000 yuan to purchase AWS cloud computing services as its AI model could not get enough computing power from homegrown Alibaba.

A spokesperson for Zhejiang Lab said that it did not follow through with the purchase but did not respond to questions about the reasoning behind this decision or how it met its LLM’s computing power requirements. Alibaba’s cloud unit, Alicloud, did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters could not establish whether the purchase went ahead.

Moving to tighten access

The U.S. government is now trying to tighten regulations to restrict access through the cloud.

“This loophole has been a concern of mine for years, and we are long overdue to address it,” Michael McCaul, chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, told Reuters in a statement, referring to the remote access of advanced U.S. computing through the cloud by foreign entities.

Legislation was introduced in Congress in April to empower the Commerce Department to regulate remote access of U.S. technology, but it is not clear if and when it will be passed.

A department spokesperson said it was working closely with Congress and “seeking additional resources to strengthen our existing controls that restrict PRC companies from accessing advanced AI chips through remote access to cloud computing capability.”

The Commerce Department also proposed a rule in January that would require U.S. cloud computing services to verify large AI model users and report to regulators when they use U.S. cloud computing services to train large AI models capable of “malicious cyber-enabled activity.”

The rule, which has not been finalized, would also enable the Commerce secretary to impose prohibitions on customers.

“We are aware the Commerce Department is considering new regulations, and we comply with all applicable laws in the countries in which we operate,” the AWS spokesperson said.

Cloud demand in China

The Chinese entities are also seeking access to Microsoft’s cloud services.

In April, Sichuan University said in a tender document it was building a generative AI platform and purchasing 40 million Microsoft Azure OpenAI tokens to support the delivery of this project. The university’s procurement document in May showed that Sichuan Province Xuedong Technology Co Ltd supplied the tokens.

Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment. Sichuan University and Sichuan Province Xuedong Technology did not respond to requests for comment on the purchase.

OpenAI said in a statement that its own services are not supported in China and that Azure OpenAI operates under Microsoft’s policies. It did not comment on the tenders.

The University of Science and Technology of China’s Suzhou Institute of Advanced Research said in a tender document in March that it wanted to rent 500 cloud servers, each powered by eight Nvidia A100 chips, for an unspecified purpose.

The tender was fulfilled by Hefei Advanced Computing Center Operation Management Co Ltd, a procurement document showed in April, but the document did not name the cloud service provider. Reuters could not determine its identity.

The University of Science and Technology of China, or USTC, was added to a U.S. export control list known as the “Entity List” in May for acquiring U.S. technology for quantum computing that could help China’s military, and for involvement in its nuclear program development.

USTC and Hefei Advanced Computing Center did not respond to requests for comment.

Beyond restricted AI chips

Amazon has offered Chinese organizations access not only to advanced AI chips but also to advanced AI models such as Anthropic’s Claude, which they cannot otherwise access, according to public posts, tenders and marketing materials reviewed by Reuters.

“Bedrock provides a selection of leading LLMs, including prominent closed-source models such as Anthropic’s Claude 3,” Chu Ruisong, president of AWS Greater China, told a generative AI-themed conference in Shanghai in May, referring to its cloud platform.

In various Chinese-language posts for AWS developers and clients, Amazon highlighted the opportunity to try out “world-class AI models” and mentioned Chinese gaming firm Source Technology as one of its clients using Claude.

Amazon has dedicated sales teams serving Chinese clients domestically and overseas, according to two former company executives.

After Reuters contacted Amazon for comment, it updated dozens of posts on its Chinese-language channels with a note to say some of its services were not available in its China cloud regions. It also removed several promotional posts, including the one about Source Technology. Amazon did not give a reason for removing the posts and did not answer a Reuters query about that.

“Amazon Bedrock customers are subject to Anthropic’s end user license agreement, which prohibits access to Claude in China both via Amazon’s Bedrock API [application programming interface] and via Anthropic’s own API,” the AWS spokesperson said.

Anthropic said it does not support or allow customers or end-users within China to access Claude.

“However, subsidiaries or product divisions of Chinese-headquartered companies may use Claude if the subsidiary itself is located in a supported region outside of China,” an Anthropic spokesperson said.

Source Technology did not respond to a request for comment.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Fires broke out Friday on a Greek-flagged oil tanker that was attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels this week, with the vessel now appearing to be adrift in the Red Sea, authorities said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the oil tanker Sounion, which was abandoned by its crew Thursday and reportedly anchored in place.

The Houthis didn’t immediately acknowledge the fire. The rebels are suspected to have gone back and attacked at least one other vessel that later sank as part of their monthslong campaign against shipping in the Red Sea over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The attacks have disrupted a trade route that typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it annually.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported the fires in a note to mariners Friday night.

“UKMTO have received a report that three fires have been observed on vessel,” the center said. “The vessel appears to be drifting.”

A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said American officials were aware of the fires and continued to monitor the situation.

The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who were taken by a French destroyer to nearby Djibouti, the EU’s Aspides naval mission in the Red Sea said Thursday.

The Sounion has 150,000 tons of crude oil aboard and represents a “navigational and environmental hazard,” the mission warned. “It is essential that everyone in the area exercises caution and refrains from any actions that could lead to a deterioration of the current situation.”

The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors.

Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

As Iran threatens to retaliate against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the U.S. military told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area. Early Thursday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said that the Lincoln had reached the waters of the Middle East, without elaborating.

Washington also has ordered the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the region, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group was in the Gulf of Oman.

Additional F-22 fighter jets have flown into the region, and the USS Wasp, a large amphibious assault ship carrying F-35 fighter jets, is in the Mediterranean Sea.
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State Department — U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is heading to China next week for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to sources familiar with the plan.

The discussions are expected to include a potential meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.

This would be Sullivan’s first trip to China as the White House national security adviser. The planned meetings would be the latest in a series of high-level diplomatic moves aimed at stabilizing U.S.-China relations.

The talks, described as broad and strategic, would come after China suspended discussions with the U.S. on nuclear safety and security. China said in July it had halted nascent arms-control talks with Washington.

“The U.S. would like to deepen discussions on strategic stability, but the Chinese are reluctant. They prefer to discuss an agreement on the no first use of nuclear weapons, but the United States is not prepared to adopt such a doctrine,” former CIA China analyst Dennis Wilder, now a Georgetown University professor, told VOA.

“As a result, there’s been a bit of an impasse, with little progress made in the few working group meetings that have occurred,” he said.
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CHICAGO — It was U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s big night Thursday, but she wasn’t the only U.S. Democrat to knock it out of the park during a week of rousing speeches, celebrity cameos and lashings of hope and joy.

Here are some takeaways from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago:

Star-studded convention

Oprah Winfrey stole the show, exhorting voters to “choose joy” and Stevie Wonder took the convention to Higher Ground.

John Legend lit up the United Center with a tribute to Prince, while comic actress Mindy Kaling shared stories of cooking lessons from the vice president.

And there was comedy with a serious message from Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson, who brought a giant book on stage to represent the radical Trump-linked Project 2025 governing agenda.

There was feverish speculation over a potential appearance by global superstar Beyonce, but it didn’t pan out.

Family affair

On the biggest stage of their careers, political leaders often look to dewy-eyed family moments that, if seen as genuine, can humanize them and make them relatable to voters.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s 17-year-old son, Gus, touched a nation as he wiped away joyous tears, pointed to his father accepting the vice presidential nomination and sobbed: “That’s my dad!”

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff provided another indelible memory, referring to Harris as “my wiiiiife” as he recounted the goofy, endearing story of their romance.

And President Joe Biden’s daughter Ashley was a highlight of the opening night as she paid tribute to “the O.G. Girl Dad.”

Obamas sizzle

Barack and Michelle Obama — the undisputed power couple of Democratic politics — partied like it was 2008 as they gave the convention a shot of star power on Day Two.

The 44th president got the night’s biggest laugh as he goaded Donald Trump over the Republican’s “obsession with crowd sizes.”

But he was upstaged by the former first lady — by far the country’s most popular Democrat — who spoke of the “contagious power of hope” in the most cheered speech of the week.

The party made use of a deep bench of luminaries, including former president Bill Clinton, whose raspy speech was more than twice the allotted time but included some memorable applause lines.

Gaza fizzles

There were protests across Chicago against the administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, and particularly over the decision not to allow a Palestinian American to speak from the main stage.

The largest protest Thursday featured several thousand marchers but was still much smaller than the demonstrations of tens of thousands predicted by organizers, and it was not the fly in the ointment that the Democrats had feared.

Protests were largely peaceful, although several demonstrators were arrested when they broke through a security fence earlier in the week around the United Center where the main program was staged.

Although the activists were largely pro-Palestinian, they were joined by others marching against a variety of progressive causes, from reproductive rights to migrant welfare.

Bye-bye Biden

The president gave an emotional keynote speech to open a conference that he thought just weeks ago he would be headlining.

Biden took to the stage, dabbing his eyes, and spoke at length about his achievements while making a case for Harris that was criticized for lacking the pizzazz of the Obama endorsements.

Flanked by first lady Jill Biden and Harris, the veteran Democrat’s final bow marked at long last the passing of the torch for a politician who has been in the public eye for more than half a century.

“Democracy has prevailed. Democracy has delivered. And now democracy must be preserved,” he declared, to one of many standing ovations from the rapt audience. 
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Just a month after US President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection, Kamala Harris accepted the nomination to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. She contrasted her record and vision to that of her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
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CHICAGO — Pro-Palestinian protests during the final hours of the Democratic National Convention began Thursday night much like they had earlier this week — largely peaceful with a family-friendly atmosphere.

The crowd of thousands slowly snaked through residential areas surrounding the United Center. Some wore red T-shirts that said “Not In Our Name” while others held signs that said “End U.S. Aid to Israel.” Pausing at the edge of a park to turn toward the convention center, they chanted: “DNC, you will see. Palestine will be free.”

There was heavy police presence as protesters walked the blocks by the United Center, including at a park where a small group of activists breached an outer perimeter fence earlier in the week. In addition to police on bikes along the route, about 100 officers in riot gear and more than 20 law enforcement vehicles followed the marchers.

Stephen Watts, a 28-year-old from Tennessee, said he came to Chicago out of frustration with feeling ignored by the Democratic Party. He said he was heartened by the size of the protests, but felt the presence of hundreds police officers was “a threat.”

At Union Park ahead of the march, the grassy field teemed with Palestinian flags, and a speaker system played Palestinian dance songs. The gathering was organized by the Coalition to March on the DNC, a group of more than 200 organizations that also ran a similar event on Monday night.

The largely festive atmosphere was briefly interrupted by the arrival of Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, who said he was interested in “hearing alternative points of view.” After describing himself as a supporter of Israel, Ramaswamy was driven from the park by protesters chanting “racists go home.”

Protesters attempted to call attention to what they see as a lack of Palestinian voices within the arena hosting the DNC. Standing at the edge of the crowd, Lisa Pint, a 61-year-old volunteer wearing buttons in support of the Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, said she wanted to see the protest as a “neutral” observer. But after speaking with an activist, Pint said she’d come to the conclusion that a Palestinian voice should have been represented on the convention stage.

“I didn’t think of it until a protester said it. It’s a good point,” said Pint, a nurse in the Chicago suburbs. “I’m very strong for Kamala and Walz, but they should have been included.”

Leaders of an “Uncommitted” movement, which garnered hundreds of thousands of votes in Democratic primaries across the nation in protest of the Israel-Hamas war, expressed frustration ahead of the convention when weekslong negotiations to secure a speaking slot for a Palestinian American at the DNC stalled.

Chicago police said Thursday that they are not changing any of their tactics and are ready for a final night of pro-Palestinian demonstrations outside the convention, after a peaceful march that resulted in no injuries or arrests.

On Wednesday night, more than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully past a park where pro-Israel demonstrators had gathered earlier. That demonstration came a day after violent clashes between police and protesters led to 56 arrests at a much smaller, unsanctioned protest outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown Chicago.

Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said the protest Wednesday night ended without arrests and that no one was injured.

Snelling praised the organizers of the Wednesday protest, saying it’s an example of how people can hold First Amendment-protected demonstrations peacefully by collaborating in advance with law enforcement.

“Did we have a couple dustups? Sure, but those things were quickly rectified,” he said.

The biggest protest so far, which attracted about 3,500 people on Monday, was largely peaceful and resulted in 13 arrests, most related to a breach of security fencing. They did not gain access to the inner security perimeter at the United Center, where the convention is taking place.

Two people were arrested Sunday night during another mostly peaceful march.
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seoul, south korea — North Korea’s foreign ministry denounced a U.S. planned sale of Apache helicopters to South Korea, state media KCNA said on Friday, vowing to take additional steps to bolster its self-defense.

The Pentagon said on Monday that the U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of Apache helicopters and related logistics and support to South Korea for an estimated $3.5 billion.

An unnamed senior official in charge of foreign news at North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a press statement on Thursday criticizing the sale plan as a move to aggravate tension, alongside ongoing annual military drills by the allies.

“This is a reckless provocative act of deliberately increasing the security instability in the region,” the official said, according to KCNA.  

The official accused Washington of escalating military confrontation, “disturbing the military balance and thus increasing the danger of a new conflict” in the region by supplying lethal weapons to its allies and friends.  

Pyongyang’s “strategic deterrence will be further strengthened to protect the national security and interests and the regional peace,” the statement said, pledging to steadily conduct military activities to boost self-defense.  

 
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a Republican push that could have blocked more than 41,000 Arizona voters from casting ballots for president in the state that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, won by fewer than 11,000 votes four years ago.

But in a 5-4 order, the court allowed some enforcement of regulations barring people from voting if they don’t provide proof of citizenship when they register.

The justices acted on an emergency appeal filed by state and national Republicans that sought to give full effect to voting measures enacted in 2022 following Biden’s narrow win over Republican Donald Trump.

The court did not detail its reasoning in a brief order. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch would have allowed the law to be fully enforced, while Justice Amy Coney Barrett would have joined with the court’s three liberals in fully rejecting the push, the order states.

The legal fight will continue in lower courts.

The court’s action came after a lower court blocked a requirement that called for state voter registration forms to be rejected if they are not accompanied by documents proving U.S. citizenship. A second measure, also not in effect, would have prohibited voting in presidential elections or by mail if registrants don’t prove they are U.S. citizens. Federal law requires voters to swear they are U.S. citizens under penalty of perjury but does not require proof of citizenship either to vote in federal elections in person or cast ballots by mail.

The measures were passed on party-line votes and signed into law by then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, amid a wave of proposals that Republicans introduced around the country after Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump, including in Arizona.

For state and local elections, voters must provide proof of citizenship when they register or have it on file with the state. Since that isn’t a requirement for federal elections for Congress or president, tens of thousands of voters who haven’t provided proof of citizenship are registered only for federal elections.

There were 41,352 of those voters registered as of August 9 in Arizona, said Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat.

Fontes warned in a court filing that an order in favor of the state and national Republicans this close to the November election “will create chaos and confusion.”

The voters most affected would include military service members, students and Native Americans, Fontes said. About 27% of those voters are registered Democrats and 15% are Republicans. More than half, 54%, are registered independents, according to state data.

Voting rights groups and the Biden administration had sued over the Arizona laws.

Federal-only voters have been a subject of political wrangling since the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that Arizona cannot require documentary proof of citizenship for people to vote in national elections. The state responded by creating two classes of voters: those who can vote in all races and those who can vote only in federal elections.

One of the new laws sought to further divide voters, allowing votes in congressional elections without proof of citizenship, but denying the vote in presidential contests.

The 2022 law has drawn fierce opposition from voting rights advocates, who described the statute as an attempt to get the issue back in front of the now more-conservative Supreme Court.

Proponents say the measure is about eliminating opportunities for fraud. There is no evidence that the existence of federal-only voters has allowed noncitizens to illegally vote, but Republicans have nonetheless worked aggressively to restrict federal-only voting.

The Legislature’s own lawyers had said much of the measure was unconstitutional, directly contradicted the earlier Supreme Court decision and was likely to be thrown out in court.
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