Author: PolitCens

Washington — The post-pandemic spike in U.S. inflation eased further last month as year-over-year price increases reached a three-year low, clearing the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next week.

Wednesday’s report from the Labor Department showed that consumer prices rose 2.5% in August from a year earlier. It was the fifth straight annual drop and the smallest such increase since February 2021. From July to August, prices rose just 0.2%.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose 3.2% in August from 12 months earlier, the same as in July. On a month-to-month basis, core prices rose 0.3% last month, a pickup from July’s 0.2% increase. Economists closely watch core prices, which typically provide a better read of future inflation trends.

For months, cooling inflation has provided gradual relief to America’s consumers, who were stung by the price surges that erupted three years ago, particularly for food, gas, rent and other necessities. Inflation peaked in mid-2022 at 9.1%, the highest rate in four decades.

Fed officials have signaled that they’re increasingly confident that inflation is falling back to their 2% target and are now shifting their focus to supporting the job market, which is steadily cooling. As a result, the policymakers are poised to begin cutting their key rate from its 23-year high in hopes of bolstering growth and hiring.

A modest quarter-point cut is widely expected next week. Over time, a series of rate cuts should reduce the cost of borrowing across the economy, including for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.

The latest inflation figures could inject themselves into the presidential race in its final weeks. Former President Donald Trump has heaped blame on Vice President Kamala Harris for the jump in inflation, which erupted in early 2021 as global supply chains seized up, causing severe shortages of parts and labor. Harris has proposed subsidies for home buyers and builders in an effort to ease housing costs and backs a federal ban on price-gouging for groceries. Trump has said he would boost energy production to try to reduce overall inflation.

A key reason why inflation eased again in August was that gas prices tumbled by about 10 cents a gallon last month, according to the Energy Inflation Administration, to a national average of about $3.29.

Economists also expect the government’s measures of grocery prices and rents to rise more slowly. Though food prices are roughly 20% more expensive than before the pandemic, they have barely budged over the past year.

Another potential driver of slower inflation is that the cost of new apartment leases has started to cool as a stream of newly built apartments have been completed.

According to the real estate brokerage Redfin, the median rent for a new lease rose just 0.9% in August from a year earlier, to $1,645 a month. But the government’s measure includes all rents, including those for people who have been in their apartments for months or years. It takes time for the slowdown in new rents to show up in the government’s data. In July, rental costs rose 5.1% from a year ago, according to the government’s consumer price index.

Americans’ paychecks are also growing more slowly — an average of about 3.5% annually, still a solid pace — which reduces inflationary pressures. Two years ago, wage growth was topping 5%, a level that can force businesses to sharply raise prices to cover their higher labor costs.

In a high-profile speech last month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted that inflation was coming under control and suggested that the job market was unlikely to be a source of inflationary pressure.

Consumers have propelled the economy for the past three years. But they are increasingly turning to debt to maintain their spending and credit card, and auto delinquencies are rising, raising concerns that they may have to rein in their spending soon. Reduced consumer spending could lead more employers to freeze their hiring or even cut jobs.
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WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off on Tuesday night in Philadelphia in a debate that comes less than two months before the presidential election.

The race is tight between the two candidates. Among registered voters, Harris leads Trump by 1 point — 49% to 48% — according to the latest PBS/NPR/Marist poll. That result falls within the margin of error.

The ABC debate marks the first face-to-face meeting between Harris, 59, and Trump, 78.

A former prosecutor, Harris is the first woman, Black American and South Asian American vice president. Trump, a businessman who has been criticized for his sexist and racist remarks, is the first convicted felon to run for president and, if elected, would be 82 by the end of his term.

During what could be their only debate, Harris and Trump sparred on issues ranging from the economy and immigration to democracy, abortion and the Israel-Hamas war.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the debate.

Economy

The economy was the debate’s first topic, with Harris saying she wants to create an “opportunity economy.” She cited her plan to increase the tax credit for starting new small businesses from $5,000 to $50,000.

“I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class,” she said, adding that Trump wants to help the rich with tax cuts.

Trump has said he will further reduce the corporate tax rate from the current 21% to 15%. Harris wants to increase the rate to 28%. It was 35% before Trump’s 2017 tax bill.

Trump spent much of his answer on the economy talking about immigration. However, he also said he created one of the best economies in the United States, without offering specifics, and that he will do it again.

“Look, we’ve had a terrible economy, because inflation, which is really known as a country buster,” Trump said.

Immigration

Immigration has been one of the biggest issues in this presidential campaign. Throughout the debate, Trump lambasted the Biden administration’s handling of immigration – often when the moderators asked questions unrelated to immigration.

Trump repeated his false claims that immigrants are “taking over the towns. They’re taking over buildings. They’re going in violently.” He also cited baseless conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating pet dogs and cats.

Harris criticized Trump for killing a bipartisan bill earlier this year that would have put 1,500 more border agents on the U.S. southern border. Harris has said she would support the bill.

Abortion

Trump and Harris grew increasingly combative when debating the question of abortion.

As president, Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped form the majority that overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. That decision laid the groundwork for states to impose restrictive rules on abortion around the country.

“The Supreme Court had great courage in doing it,” Trump said during the debate.

When asked if he would support a national abortion ban, he said: “No, I’m not in favor of abortion ban. But it doesn’t matter because this issue has now been taken over by the states.”

He also said he would not oppose abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk. He also falsely claimed that Democrats support abortions “after birth.”

In response, Harris emphasized the importance of women’s reproductive rights.

“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” she said. She added that she would support Congress passing a bill to codify federal abortion protections and, as president, sign it into law.

Rule of law, threats to democracy and Jan. 6

Harris was a prosecutor for a dozen years, first as San Francisco district attorney and then as California’s attorney general. A central component of Harris’ campaign has been portraying Trump as a threat to democracy.

During the debate, Harris highlighted Trump’s status as a convicted felon. Trump replied with the unsubstantiated accusation that Harris and the Biden administration are “weaponizing” the government to prosecute him

When asked by the moderator whether Trump would acknowledge that he lost the 2020 presidential election, he replied with the false claim that he actually won the election. On the Jan. 6 insurrection, Trump said, “I had nothing to do with that, other than they asked me to make a speech.”

“It’s time to turn the page,” Harris said.

“There is a place in our campaign for you to stand for our country, to stand for democracy, to stand for rule of law and to end the chaos and to end the approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy,” she added.

Russia-Ukraine War and Israel-Hamas War

In addition to domestic policy, the moderators also pressed Harris and Trump on foreign policy issues, including the ongoing wars between Ukraine and Russia, and Israel and Hamas.

On the Israel-Hamas war, Harris said the United States would defend Israel. She added that she supports a two-state solution. The war “must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a cease-fire deal, and we need the hostages out,” Harris said.

Trump claimed that “Israel will be gone” if Harris becomes president, which is unsubstantiated. Trump also repeated his claim that the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas in southern Israel would have never happened if he were president.

Trump said the Russia-Ukraine war would not have happened if he were president. When asked if he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia, Trump would only say, “I want the war to stop.”

Harris replied: “If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now.”
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In the U.S. presidential election, the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, clashed with his Democratic Party rival, Kamala Harris, Tuesday evening over issues such as abortion, immigration and foreign policy. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman has details from the candidates’ first debate in Philadelphia.
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WASHINGTON — Taylor Swift, one of the music industry’s biggest stars, endorsed Kamala Harris for president shortly after the debate ended on Tuesday night.

“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post.

She included a picture of herself holding a cat and signed the message “Childless Cat Lady,” a reference to comments made by JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate.

Swift has a dedicated following among young women, a key demographic in the November election.
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SINGAPORE — An Australian think tank that tracks tech competitiveness says China is now the world leader in research on almost 90% of critical technologies. In a newly released report, the research group adds there is also a high risk of Beijing securing a monopoly on defense-related tech, including drones, satellites and collaborative robots — those that can work safely alongside humans.

Analysts say the huge leap forward for China is the result of heavy state investment over the past two decades. They add that despite the progress, Beijing is still dependent on other countries for key tech components and lacks self-sufficiency.

The report from the government-funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI, released last Thursday, says China led the way in research into 57 out of 64 advanced technologies in the five years from 2019-2023.

ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker ranks countries’ innovation capabilities based on the number of appearances in the top 10% of research papers. It focuses on crucial technologies from a range of fields including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cyber and defense.

The report found that “China and the United States have effectively switched places as the overwhelming leader in research in just two decades.”

China led in only three of the 64 technologies between 2003 and 2007 but has shot up in the rankings, replacing the U.S., which is now a frontrunner in just seven critical technologies.

Josh Kennedy-White is a technology strategist based in Singapore. He says China’s huge leap is a “direct result of its aggressive, state-driven research and development investments over the past two decades.”

He adds that the shift toward China is “particularly stark in fields like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced aircraft engines, where China has transitioned from a laggard to a leader in a relatively short period.”

ASPI also determines the risk of countries holding a monopoly on the research of critical technologies. They currently classify 24 technologies as “high risk” of being monopolized — all by Beijing.

Ten technologies are newly classified as “high risk” this year, with many of them linked to the defense industry.

“The potential monopoly risk in 24 technology areas, especially those in defense-related fields like radars and drones, is concerning in the current and future geopolitical context,” Tobias Feakin, founder of consultancy firm Protostar Strategy, told VOA.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has sought to boost his country’s advanced manufacturing capabilities with the ambitious “Made in China 2025” initiative.

The policy, launched in 2015, aims to strengthen Beijing’s self-reliance in critical sectors and make China a global tech powerhouse.

Xi, according to Feakin, views advanced technologies as “strategic priorities for China’s development, national security and global competitiveness.”

He adds that technologies are seen as a “central component of China’s long-term economic and geopolitical goals.”

Beijing’s ambitions are being closely watched in Washington, with the Biden administration working to limit China’s access to advanced technology.

Last week, the U.S. introduced new export controls on critical technology to China, including chip-making equipment and quantum computers and components.

That announcement came shortly after U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan made his first ever visit to Beijing. He met with Xi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Sullivan told reporters that Washington “will continue to take necessary action to prevent advanced U.S. technologies from being used to undermine national security.”

The continued efforts to curb China’s chip industry mean that Beijing must look further afield for advanced technology.

“Even though it leads in areas like artificial intelligence and 5G, China still depends on Taiwan, the U.S. and South Korea to produce high-end semiconductors”, Kennedy-White told VOA.

Describing this as China’s Achilles’ heel, Kennedy-White says the lack of self-sufficiency in the semiconductor industry could “stunt Beijing’s progress in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and military applications.”

As China continues its dominance in critical technology research, questions have been raised over exactly how the country is making these breakthroughs.

Last October, officials from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) issued a joint statement accusing China of stealing intellectual property. U.S. FBI director Christopher Wray described it as an “unprecedented threat.”

Kennedy-White, managing director of Singapore-based venture catalyst firm DivisionX Global, agrees with this assessment. He says China’s jump up the ASPI rankings is “not entirely organic.”

“There is a correlation between China’s rise in certain technologies and allegations of intellectual property theft,” he added.

ASPI also recommends ways for other countries to close the gap on China. It advises the AUKUS alliance of Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. to join forces with Japan and South Korea to try to catch up.

The report also highlights the emergence of India as a “key center” of global research innovation and excellence.

The South Asian nation now ranks in the top five countries for 45 out of the 64 technologies that are tracked by ASPI. It’s a huge gain compared with 2003-2007, when India sat in the top five for only four technologies.

Feakin says countries across the Asia-Pacific “will benefit from leveraging India’s growing technology expertise and influence.”

It will also provide a counterbalance to “overdependence on China’s technology supply chain,” he added.
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WASHINGTON — A controversial law on “foreign influence transparency” is heading toward full implementation in Georgia, even though the country aspires to join the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

September 2 was the deadline for Georgian nongovernmental organizations and media organizations receiving more than one-fifth of their funding from abroad to register as “organizations serving the interests of a foreign power.” Only 1.6% of the country’s organizations chose to do so. Many organizations expect they will be forced to register and fined for allegedly serving foreign interests.

Georgia’s so-called “foreign agent” law has been labeled a “Russian-style law” and heavily criticized by Georgia’s Western partners, who say it undermines the hope of most Georgians that their country will join European institutions. Georgia’s government, however, insists the law simply seeks to ensure “transparency.”

On October 26, Georgians will head to the polls to elect a new parliament, and the political opposition believes these elections will be a referendum on whether the country will continue to move toward integration with Europe. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien spoke with Voice of America’s Georgian Service about what the Biden administration will be most closely watching.

VOA: The Georgian government is moving ahead with implementation of the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, which has triggered criticism and the imposition of travel restrictions against Georgian government officials by the U.S. and a pause in aid by both the U.S. and the EU. What message does the Biden administration have now for the Georgian leadership? Will the process of implementing the law affect whether the October parliamentary election will be seen as free and fair?

U.S.  Assistant Secretary of State James O’Brien: We want the Georgian people to be able to register their votes in a free and fair election. For that to happen, we need to see the whole process work well, all these organizations [being] able to work effectively over the next several months without fear of oppression or violence.

This law, as we’ve said repeatedly, is flawed fundamentally. There are ways that European states protect their election systems. This law does not do that. Having a government agency essentially force a registration and have access to all the data in that organization is at odds with modern European practice. … It’s caused an enormous amount of damage to Georgia’s prospects for joining the EU and NATO.

The elections need to be free and fair. It’s good that the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe will be able to have a mission to observe some parts [of the election], but it also depends on the community groups. All of that is one big system, and this law tries to kick one leg out from a three-legged stool. It doesn’t work. And so, I’m worried that it means the elections will not be free and fair, and they certainly won’t be seen as free and fair. Without that, Georgia can’t make the next step forward.

VOA: The U.S. and Georgia have been strategic partners for over three decades. The Biden administration has taken several steps, including visa restrictions, pausing aid and postponing joint military drills. What might the next steps be? What are the options on the table?

O’Brien: We’ve already put in place restriction on travel to the U.S. that’s affected dozens of people. We’re not allowed to say who exactly. But it’s a very significant step.  We have suspended help, assistance to a range of the Georgian society. That’s a shame, but it’s necessary. And the EU’s said that the process of joining the EU is effectively suspended. We do not want to see a return to the kind of violence, harassment and oppression that we saw in the spring, where civil society groups, individuals were visited by often-thuggish groups with Russian accents, they were visited by members of the government. All of those things can’t happen.

VOA: Meanwhile, [ruling party] Georgian Dream leaders have promised to “ban opposition parties” following the elections. How does this sound coming from the leadership of a country aspiring to EU and NATO membership, and what concerns does it raise about the ruling party’s intentions?

O’Brien: It doesn’t sound like a democracy. One party doesn’t get to decide what other party gets to compete. It’s for the citizens to decide what parties take their seats in parliament, according to fair rules that are understood in advance. So, I think that was a very revealing comment. And it suggests that this is not a government capable of bringing Georgia toward Europe.

VOA: Russian intelligence services are accusing the U.S. of plotting “regime change” in Georgia. Some Georgian Dream members also have accused U.S. organizations like the NDI or IRI [the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, both of which are American nongovernmental organizations funded by the U.S. government] of helping the opposition. What do you make of these accusations, and are you worried about possible Russian interference or malign influence in the Georgian elections?

O’Brien: Well, anyone who believes the Russian security services, I think, is fooling themselves. The American organizations are very transparent. It’s known who we work with, and we work to support the Georgian people so that they can organize themselves inside or outside government. That’s the full goal. We don’t pick winners and losers. We are for the Georgian people, most of whom, almost 90% of whom, want to move toward Europe, and it’s this government with its very bad legal drafting — like it’s just bad lawyering — that has caused this problem. And we would like them to fix it so that the Georgian people can organize themselves and could have a free and fair election.

If the government succeeds in … denying access to resources by all these groups, the only ones left standing will be Russian sources of information. So, whatever the case has been till now, what the government is doing [now] makes it much easier for Russia to dominate Georgia’s information space.

VOA: After so many high-level engagements with the Georgian authorities, and Prime Minister [Irakli] Kobakhidze speaking about the need for “resetting” the relationship, do you have any indication that they might be ready to change course?

O’Brien: No. And they’re in denial. They haven’t noticed we’ve suspended $95 million in assistance. The EU is suspending a proportionate amount: They are saying you don’t get to move toward Europe. And what Georgian Dream tries to tell its voters, and all Georgian citizens, is [that] everything is fine. It is not fine. Georgia wants to join the European Union. There are clear rules. The people responsible for those rules are saying you have made a mistake. You have written a bad law. They are on the verge of writing two new bad laws and those need to stop in order for the people of Georgia to get what they overwhelmingly want.

We’ve said again and again to the Georgian officials: The transparency you say you want is readily available. All the American organizations are transparent. The European organizations are transparent. There are ways to achieve that. But they’ve chosen to do it in a way that lets the [Georgian] Ministry of Justice control your local neighborhood organization. And that’s not democratic, and it’s not part of Europe. We want them to turn back so that the Georgian people can be part of Europe.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri — An amendment to restore abortion rights in Missouri will be on the ballot, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. 

The proposal to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution is expected to widely undo the state’s 2022 near-total abortion ban if passed. Judges ruled hours before the Tuesday deadline for changes to be made to the November ballot. 

Supreme Court judges ordered Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to put the measure back on the ballot. He had removed it Monday following a county circuit judge’s ruling Friday. 

The order also directs Ashcroft, an abortion opponent, to “take all steps necessary to ensure that it is on said ballot.” 

The court’s full opinion on the case was not immediately released Tuesday. 

Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the campaign backing the measure, lauded the decision. 

“Missourians overwhelmingly support reproductive rights, including access to abortion, birth control, and miscarriage care,” campaign manager Rachel Sweet said in a statement. “Now, they will have the chance to enshrine these protections in the Missouri Constitution on November 5.” 

Mary Catherine Martin, a lawyer for a group of Republican lawmakers and abortion opponents suing to remove the amendment, had told Supreme Court judges during rushed Tuesday arguments that the initiative petition “misled voters” by not listing all the laws restricting abortion that it would effectively repeal. 

The amendment is part of a national push to have voters weigh in on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Missouri banned almost all abortions immediately after that Supreme Court ruling. 

Eight other states will consider constitutional amendments enshrining abortion rights, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota. Most would guarantee a right to abortion until fetal viability and allow it later for the health of the pregnant woman, which is what the Missouri proposal would do. 

New York also has a ballot measure that proponents say would protect abortion rights, though there’s a dispute about its impact. 

Voting on the polarizing issue could draw more people to the polls, potentially impacting results for the presidency in swing states, control of Congress and the outcomes for closely contested state offices. Missouri Democrats, for instance, hope to get a boost from abortion-rights supporters during the November election. 

Legal fights have sprung up across the country over whether to allow voters to decide these questions — and over the exact wording used on the ballots and explanatory material. 

In August, Arkansas’ highest court upheld a decision to keep an abortion rights initiative off the state’s November ballot, agreeing with election officials that the group behind the measure did not properly submit documentation regarding the signature gatherers it hired. 

Seven states have previously had abortion questions on their ballots since Roe was overturned, and voters have sided with abortion-rights supporters each time.
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Thousands of revelers gathered in New Mexico to set ablaze a 15-meter-tall effigy stuffed with personal regrets and gloomy thoughts. Gustavo Martínez Contreras has our story from Santa Fe, where the festive conflagration turned 100 years old.
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More than 1.2 million Vietnamese immigrants live in the United States, many of them having settled after the Vietnam war. More recently, a new wave of Vietnamese migration has sparked debate in the community about immigration and has become one of the main talking points this election season. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details from Texas, the state with the second-largest Vietnamese immigrant population in the country.
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BEIJING — The United States and China held theater-level commander talks for the first time on Tuesday, Chinese authorities said, amid efforts to stabilize military ties and avoid misunderstandings, especially in regional hot spots such as the South China Sea.

Washington seeks to open new channels of regular military communication with Beijing since ties sank to a historic low after the United States downed a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon last year.

Admiral Sam Paparo, head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, held a video telephone call with his counterpart Wu Yanan of the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s areas of responsibility include the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, two hot spots for regional tension that are also flashpoints in U.S.-China bilateral ties.

Both sides had an “in depth exchange of views on issues of common concern,” the Chinese defense ministry said in a readout.

Paparo urged the PLA “to reconsider its use of dangerous, coercive, and potentially escalatory tactics in the South China Sea and beyond,” the Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that described the exchange as “constructive and respectful.”

He also stressed the importance of continued talks to clarify intent and reduce the risk of misperception or miscalculation.

The call followed a meeting in Beijing last month between U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s leading military adviser, at which the talks were agreed.

U.S. and Chinese troops were also taking part in large-scale military exercises led by the Brazilian Armed Forces this week in the Brazilian city of Formosa in the state of Goiás.

American and Chinese troops had not trained side by side since 2016, when Beijing participated in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, or Rimpac, led by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

Most two-way military engagements between the U.S. and China were suspended for almost two years after Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited Taiwan in August 2022.

“I certainly worry about an unintended conflict between our military forces, an accident, an accidental collision,” Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China, told the magazine Foreign Policy in an online interview.

Later this week, the United States plans to send a senior Pentagon official to a major security forum in China.
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BATON ROUGE, La. — Tropical Storm Francine churned in the Gulf of Mexico with increasing strength and was expected to reach hurricane status on Tuesday before reaching landfall in Louisiana.

A storm surge warning was in effect for an area stretching from just east of Houston to the mouth of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans, according to the National Hurricane Center. Such a warning means there’s a chance of life-threatening flooding.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry urged residents “not to panic, but be prepared” and heed evacuation warnings. Forecasters said Francine’s landfall in south Louisiana was expected Wednesday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 155-175 kph.

“We do not want people to wait to the last minute to get on the road and then run out of fuel,” Landry said. “We put a lot of information throughout the summer, throughout hurricane season, so that people can be prepared. The more prepared we are, the easier it is for us.”

Francine is taking aim at a Louisiana coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida. Over the weekend, a 22-story building in Lake Charles that had become a symbol of storm destruction was imploded after sitting vacant for nearly four years, its windows shattered and covered in shredded tarps.

Francine’s storm surge on the Louisiana coast could reach as much as 10 feet (3 meters) from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said.

“It’s a potential for significantly dangerous, life-threatening inundation,” said Michael Brennan, director of the hurricane center, adding it could also send “dangerous, damaging winds quite far inland.”

He said landfall was likely somewhere between Sabine Pass — on the Texas-Louisiana line — and Morgan City, Louisiana, 350 kilometers to the east.

Louisiana officials urged residents to immediately prepare while “conditions still allow,” said Mike Steele, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

“We always talk about how anytime something gets into the Gulf, things can change quickly, and this is a perfect example of that,” Steele said.

Residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital, began forming long lines as people filled gas tanks and stocked up on groceries. Others filled sandbags at city-operated locations to protect homes from possible flooding.

“It’s crucial that all of us take this storm very seriously and begin our preparations immediately,” Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said, urging residents to stock up on three days of food, water and essentials.

A mandatory evacuation was ordered for seven remote coastal communities by the Cameron Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness. They include Holly Beach, a laid-back stretch dubbed Louisiana’s “Cajun Riviera,” where many homes sit on stilts. The storm-battered town has been a low-cost paradise for oil industry workers, families and retirees, rebuilt multiple times after past hurricanes.

In Grand Isle, Louisiana’s last inhabited barrier island, Mayor David Camardelle recommended residents evacuate and ordered a mandatory evacuation for those in recreational vehicles. Hurricane Ida decimated the city three years ago, destroying 700 homes.

Officials warn that flooding, along with high winds and power outages, is likely in the area beginning Tuesday afternoon through Thursday.

In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to prepare to shelter in place. “Now is the time to finalize your storm plans and prepare, not only for your families but looking out for your neighbors,” she said.

City officials said they were expecting up to 15 centimeters inches of rain, gusty winds and “isolated tornado activity” with the most intense weather likely to reach New Orleans on Wednesday and Thursday.

The hurricane center said Francine was last about 205 kilometers south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande, and about 690 kilometers south-southwest of Cameron, with top sustained winds of about 100 kilometers per hour. It was moving north-northwest at 7 kph.

As rain fell Monday in northern Mexico, more than a dozen neighborhoods in Matamoros — across the border from Brownsville, Texas — flooded, forcing schools to close Monday and Tuesday. Marco Antonio Hernandez Acosta, manager of the Matamoros Water and Drainage Board, said they were waiting for Mexico’s federal government to provide pumps to drain affected areas.

The storm was expected to move in north-northeast motion through Monday evening and then accelerate to the northeast beginning Tuesday before nearing the upper Texas and Louisiana coastlines Wednesday.

 
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GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Arizona — There has been another fatality at Grand Canyon National Park, authorities announced Monday.

Park officials said Patrick Horton, 59, of Salida, Colorado, was on the 10th day of a noncommercial river trip along the Colorado River and was discovered dead by members of his party Saturday morning.

Officials said the National Park Service was investigating Horton’s death in coordination with the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Horton was believed to have been the seventh person to die at the canyon since July 31 and the 15th this year.

Park officials reported 11 fatalities in 2023 and say there are usually about 10 to 15 deaths per year. 
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washington — The U.S. Justice Department announced September 4 that two Russian nationals, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, had been charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the Southern District of New York.

“The Justice Department has charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. “The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing.”

That same day, the Justice Department announced the seizure of 32 internet domains used in the Russian government-directed “Doppelganger” foreign malign influence campaign, which it said violated U.S. money-laundering and criminal trademark laws.

Experts who study disinformation say disrupting the paid-influencer campaign is an important step in efforts to counter the Kremlin’s broader disinformation strategy of spreading propaganda that undermines support for Ukraine and stokes American political divisions.

Disrupting the Doppelganger campaign

“Persistent efforts to impersonate authoritative news websites and promote their content at scale in a coordinated manner can have a tangible impact, casting propaganda narratives far and wide consistently,” wrote Roman Osadchuk and Eto Buziashvili, researchers at the Disinformation Research Lab of the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.

According to an FBI affidavit, Russia’s “Doppelganger” campaign created domains impersonating legitimate media sites, produced fake social media profiles and deployed “influencers” worldwide.

According to the Atlantic Council researchers, the primary method used by those involved in “Doppelganger” is to post, on X and other social media platforms, links to fake news sites in replies to posts by politicians, celebrities, influencers and others with large audiences.

Osadchuk told VOA that while the FBI’s measures are unlikely to stop Russian influence activities, they will make them more costly, noting those involved in the Russian influence campaign will be forced “to rewrite scripts, change the operation’s infrastructure, etc.”

At the same time, according to Osadchuk, the U.S. government’s moves against those involved in the influence campaign, which were widely covered in the U.S. and international media, will educate a broader audience.

“Researchers of the Russian disinformation have known about the Doppelganger campaign for some time,” he said. “Now, Americans and people in other countries have learned about it and maybe will become more aware that not all information they consume is coming from legitimate sources and hopefully will be more attentive to the domain names and other signs that might indicate that the page they are reading is not The Washington Post or Fox News but a fake created by Kremlin-linked entities.”

Influencers will be more aware

In a statement it released after indicting the two RT employees, the Justice Department said that “over at least the past year, RT and its employees, including Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva, deployed nearly $10 million to covertly finance and direct a Tennessee-based online content creation company [U.S. Company-1],” and that “U.S. Company-1″ had “published English-language videos on multiple social media channels, including TikTok, Instagram, X and YouTube.”

While the Justice Department did not specifically identify “U.S. Company-1,” it is thought to refer to Tenet Media, a Tennessee company co-founded by entrepreneur Lauren Chen, who recruited six popular U.S. influencers with a large following.

YouTube subsequently took down Tenet Media’s channel on the platform, along with four other channels that YouTube said were operated by Chen.

Bret Schafer, a disinformation researcher at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a political advocacy group set up under the auspices of the German Marshall Fund, a Washington think tank, told VOA that by financing the U.S. content creation company, Russia was able to create an information channel with a large audience, and to use it for such messages as blaming the U.S. and Ukraine for the March terrorist attack at a Moscow concert hall.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack.

Shutting down that Russian information channel sent a powerful message to influencers and content creators to do “due diligence about people funding their work and to try to figure out who’s behind these companies and their motives,” Schafer added.

Ben Dubow, a disinformation researcher affiliated with the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington-based research group, believes that influencers contracted by Tenet Media are unlikely to lose their existing followers, but that they might have difficulty attracting new ones.

“Hopefully, people who might otherwise explore those influencers will recognize their names and understand them as untrustworthy now,” he told VOA.

The Justice Department’s indictment quotes RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonian, as saying in an interview on Russian television that RT built “an enormous network, an entire empire of covert projects,” to influence Western audiences.

The FBI affidavit also revealed that one of the sanctioned Russian companies had a list of 2,800 people active on social media in the U.S. and 80 other countries, including “television and radio hosts, politicians, bloggers, journalists, businessmen, professors, think-tank analysts, veterans, professors and comedians,” whom the company refers to as “influencers.”

Concrete steps and good timing

Several experts commended the U.S. government for taking concrete steps.

“They are sanctioning individuals and disrupting the supply chain of influence available to these threat actors,” noted Olga Belogolova, director of the Emerging Technologies Initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

“Punitive measures absolutely have to be part of the package,” said Jakub Kalenský, a senior analyst at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki. “Otherwise, the aggressors have a free hand to continue their aggression unopposed. And in order to identify those who deserve to be punished, a proper investigation from the authorities is necessary.”

Experts also said that the Justice Department’s actions were taken early enough to prevent influence in the November U.S. elections and to signal to Russia and other foreign actors that the U.S. government is monitoring their actions and will respond aggressively.

“Of course, that was what the Obama administration was concerned about in 2016 and led to them not being as transparent as they probably should have been with the American public about what they knew about Russian interference,” Schafer said.

In announcing their actions against the Russian disinformation campaign, U.S. government representatives did not mention which political party or candidate they thought that the Russians were trying to assist.

“I know that the U.S. government, including agencies and the Foreign Malign Influence Center at ODNI [Office of the Director of National Intelligence], have been doing a lot of thinking over the last few years about how to strategically communicate these actions without unintentionally amplifying the very campaigns they are trying to thwart or politicizing the topic. And I think they’ve actually done a good job of striking that balance, at least from what I’ve seen thus far,” Belogolova said.

Ihor Solovey, who heads the Ukrainian government’s Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security, welcomed the U.S. government’s actions but told VOA that more steps are needed to thwart Russian activities on social media.

“X, TikTok or even more so the Russian Telegram – they are unlikely to want to spend on the fight against bots, troll farms or planned disinformation,” he said, adding that only pressure by a state, or even a coalition of states, will be able to force these social media platforms to block intruders and malicious content.

Andrei Dziarkach of VOA’s Russian Service contributed to this report.
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Washington — Leading terror groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State, once pushed to the brink after years of military pressure from the United States and its allies, have found ways to recover and once again represent a serious and lethal threat, according to a top U.S. counterterrorism official. 

The rare public assessment from the acting director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center comes just days before the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida terror attacks on the U.S. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, and emphasized the impact of more recent terror strikes and of technology in galvanizing the terror landscape. 

“We are today in the midst of another transformative moment in the global terrorism threat landscape,” said the NCTC’s Brett Holmgren, speaking to a counterterrorism symposium in New York. 

“Groups like ISIS just a few years ago were at their nadir,” he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group, also known as IS or Daesh.  

But now the U.S. sees “a much more distributed threat, in part because of some of the counterterrorism pressures that have been applied,” Holmgren added.  

“We see a real proliferation of the threat and really a shift towards, at least for al-Qaida, the center of gravity in parts of Africa,” he said. “You see, frankly, al-Qaida basically [was] kicked out of Afghanistan over the last few years, and they have a very small footprint left there.

“You also see the Islamic State and others that have been pushed out of their safe havens in Syria, where they are now deliberately operating in much smaller cells to evade detection,” he added.  

As a result, the threat posed by al-Qaida and IS to the U.S. are not the same as they once were, according to Holmgren, echoing statements by other top U.S. intelligence officials that while the terror organizations and their affiliates have a desire to strike at the U.S., they are, for now, lacking the ability to do so. 

“The capacity and the capability is not there,” Holmgren said, citing sustained counterterrorism pressure from the U.S. and its allies. 

Instead, U.S. counterterrorism officials see al-Qaida and IS embracing the online environment to recruit and, in some cases, provide resources to individuals in the West to carry out attacks on their own. 

Other nations, however, including some U.S. allies, are not as convinced that the threat from hotspots like Afghanistan and Syria have diminished. 

A United Nations report this past July, based on intelligence from member states, argued that al-Qaida has thrived in Afghanistan, benefiting from the protection of the Taliban government while expanding its network of training camps and safe houses. 

And U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, said separately in July that the pace of IS attacks in Syria and Iraq is set to double compared to last year. 

The political wing of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic forces has issued similar warnings in the past year. 

But Holmgren and other U.S. intelligence officials argue the biggest danger, for now, is what al-Qaida, IS and other terror groups can organize online. 

U.S. officials see signs that al-Qaida, IS and even Iranian-backed terror groups like Hezbollah have embraced AI, or artificial intelligence, using the technology to produce higher-quality and more targeted propaganda. 

And while the use of AI may not be sophisticated, officials say there is evidence it has been effective, both in gaining followers and in using AI-generated voices and images, to help terrorist operatives evade detection. 

Additionally, the new push by terror groups like al-Qaida and IS continues to be super-charged by last year’s October 7 Hamas terror attack carried out against Israel in which the group — designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., United Kingdom and European Union — killed about 1,200 people, with another 250 taken hostage.  

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed due to Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas. And a range of terror groups has seized on the conflict to call for attacks against the West. 

The Hamas attack sparked a “tectonic shift in the threat environment,” said Rebecca Weiner, the New York Police Department’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism. 

“The ripple effects that we have experienced since October 7, that we will experience over the years to come, they’re not really ripples. They’re waves,” she said, speaking at the symposium in New York. “I don’t really expect things to get too much better, unfortunately, in the months ahead.” 

The NCTC’s Holmgren called the October 7 attack a “unique flashpoint.” 

“That is, in our view, the most consequential event when it comes to violent Islamic extremism in terms of radicalization and recruitment since 9/11,” he said. “It’s really remarkable in how it’s united these really disparate groups, from neo-Nazis to al-Qaida to Iranian-linked groups.” 

There are also fears the AI-enhanced propaganda and recruitment drives have been especially efficient at targeting young adults and teenagers. 

“We have a whole new generation of homegrown violent, violent extremists, especially younger individuals and juveniles, to worry about,” said the NYPD’s Weiner. “The younger people who are radicalizing, who [are] unable to incorporate all this information that they’re receiving in a digital world and bring that into the 3D context in a way that’s safe.
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Washington — The transfer of ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia would signify a “dramatic escalation” of Tehran’s support for Moscow, and the United States is prepared to respond with “significant consequences,” the State Department said Monday. 

U.S. media outlets reported last week that Washington believed Iran had transferred the weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, and the European Union has said allies shared “credible” intelligence that Tehran had done so. 

“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told journalists. 

“We have been clear … that we’re prepared to deliver significant consequences,” he said. 

Tehran has rejected the accusation that it transferred the missiles, but the Kremlin has not explicitly denied it. 

Faced with punishing Western sanctions, Moscow has turned to Iran and North Korea for weapons supplies to keep its war machine going in Ukraine. 

Ukraine says it has been attacked with Iranian-designed Shahed drones on an almost daily basis from Russia and has found fragments of North Korean missiles on its territory. 

The reported delivery of missiles to Russia comes as the Kremlin has once again stepped up its bombing campaign against Ukraine’s key infrastructure ahead of winter. 
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nicosia, cyprus — Cyprus and the United States have signed a defense cooperation framework agreement that outlines ways the two countries can enhance their response to regional humanitarian crises and security concerns, including those arising from climate change.

Cyprus Defense Minister Vassilis Palmas and U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander hailed the agreement Monday as another milestone in burgeoning Cypriot-U.S. ties in recent years that saw the lifting in 2022 of a decades-old U.S. arms embargo imposed on the east Mediterranean island nation.

“The Republic of Cyprus is a strong partner to the United States, in Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, and plays a pivotal role at the nexus of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East,” Wallander said after talks with Palmas.

The U.S. official praised Cyprus for acting as a haven for American civilians evacuated from Sudan and Israel last year and for its key role in setting up a maritime corridor to Gaza through which more than 20 million pounds of humanitarian aid has been shipped to the Palestinian territory.

“It is evident that Cyprus is aligned with the West,” Wallander said.

Palmas said Cyprus would continue building toward “closer, stronger and beneficial bilateral defense cooperation with the United States.”

According to a joint statement, the agreement also foresees working together on dealing with “malicious actions” and bolstering ways for the Cypriot military to operate more smoothly with U.S. forces.

 
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BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — Tropical Storm Francine formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and was expected to drench the Texas coast with rain before coming ashore in Louisiana as a hurricane on Wednesday night. 

“We’re going to have a very dangerous situation developing by the time we get into Wednesday for portions of the north-central Gulf Coast, primarily along the coast of Louisiana, where we’re going to see the potential for life-threatening storm surge inundation and hurricane force winds,” said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. 

Heavy rain was already falling in northeastern Mexico and deep South Texas, where some places could get up to 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) into Monday night, Brennan said. 

Francine is taking aim at a stretch of coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida. Over the weekend, a 22-story building in Lake Charles that had become a symbol of the destruction was imploded after sitting vacant for nearly four years, its windows shattered and covered in shredded tarps. 

The storm surge pushed by Francine could reach as much as 3 meters (10 feet) along a stretch of Louisiana coastline from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay. And if the current track holds, the storm could blow northward up the Mississippi River, into the Illinois area by Saturday. 

“Francine is expected to bring multiple days of heavy rainfall, considerable flash flooding risk,” Brennan said. 

Residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s riverfront capital, began forming long lines as people filled up their gas tanks and stocked up on groceries. Others went to fill sandbags at city-operated locations to try to keep floodwaters from entering their homes. 

“It’s crucial that all of us take this storm very seriously and begin our preparations immediately,” Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said during a news conference Monday morning. 

She urged residents to prepare a disaster supply kit, complete with enough food, water and essential supplies for three days. 

The hurricane center said Monday morning that Francine was located about 395 kilometers (245 miles) southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande, and about 770 kilometers (478 miles) south-southeast of Cameron, Louisiana, sustaining top winds of about 85 kilometers (53 miles) per hour. 

The storm is expected to be centered just offshore through Tuesday, and then intensify significantly from Tuesday night into Wednesday as it nears the upper Texas coast and Louisiana, according to the hurricane center. 

A storm surge watch has been issued from just east of Galveston, Texas, to the Mississippi-Alabama border, while a hurricane watch has been issued for much of the Louisiana coast, from Cameron to Grand Isle. 
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