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«Коломойський нібито вносив готівкові грошові кошти на власний рахунок у ПриватБанку, надалі ці гроші продавалися Реал банку»
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Pentagon — The United States is planning to send Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, to China’s top annual security forum this month, two U.S. defense officials have confirmed to VOA.

One of the officials, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity ahead of the forum, called Chase’s upcoming attendance “consistent participation from the U.S.” 

Chase is more senior than the U.S. representative at last year’s Xiangshan Forum, but his rank is on par with historical norms for Pentagon representatives who attend the annual meeting. The Pentagon did not send a representative from 2020-2022 due to the pandemic.

“This engagement is meant to be more of the same” to keep the lines of military communication open and ensure that China has a clear understanding of the United States’ position on global security issues, the defense official told VOA. 

The forum comes on the heels of a face-to-face meeting in Singapore between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, in late May.

Austin spoke with Dong for the first time in April, marking the first dialogue between the two countries’ defense chiefs in nearly 17 months. The top U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown, spoke with his Chinese military counterpart in December.

“Of course talks can make a difference. Having those mil-to-mil communications, those senior channels open, actually allows for the avoidance of a miscalculation,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters earlier this year.

Chinese state media reports say that more than 90 countries and international organizations plan to send delegations to Beijing for the September 12-14 forum.

Reuters was first to report the decision.

Beijing has asserted its desire to control access to the South China Sea and bring democratically ruled Taiwan under its control, by force if necessary. President Joe Biden has said U.S. troops would defend the island from attack.

China’s defense ministry has said the Taiwan issue is the “core of China’s core interests.”

Tensions have risen sharply between China and U.S. ally the Philippines in the South China Sea, with China’s coast guard using water cannons to threaten Filipino fishing ships. China has also used collision and ramming tactics, undersea barriers and a military-grade laser to stop Philippine resupply and patrol missions.

Last year, Austin and his Philippine counterpart established the U.S.-Philippines Bilateral Defense Guidelines, which reaffirmed that an armed attack in the Pacific – including anywhere in the South China Sea – on either of their public vessels, aircraft, or armed forces, would invoke mutual defense commitments outlined in the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Boeing will attempt to return its problem-plagued capsule from the International Space Station later this week — with empty seats.

NASA said Wednesday that everything is on track for the Starliner capsule to undock from the space station Friday evening. The fully automated capsule will aim for a touchdown in New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range six hours later.

NASA’s two stuck astronauts, who flew up on Starliner, will remain behind at the orbiting lab. They’ll ride home with SpaceX in February, eight months after launching on what should have been a weeklong test flight. Thruster trouble and helium leaks kept delaying their return until NASA decided that it was too risky for them to accompany Starliner back as originally planned.

“It’s been a journey to get here, and we’re excited to have Starliner return,” said NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich.

NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will close the hatches between Starliner and the space station on Thursday. They are now considered full-time station crew members along with the seven others on board, helping with experiments and maintenance, and ramping up their exercise to keep their bones and muscles strong during their prolonged exposure to weightlessness.

To make room for them on SpaceX’s next taxi flight, the Dragon capsule will launch with two astronauts instead of the usual four. Two were cut late last week from the six-month expedition, which is due to blast off in late September. Boeing must vacate the parking place for SpaceX’s arrival.

Boeing encountered serious flaws with Starliner long before its June 5 liftoff on the long-delayed astronaut demo.

Starliner’s first test flight went so poorly in 2019 — the capsule never reached the space station because of software errors — that the mission was repeated three years later. More problems surfaced, resulting in even more delays and more than $1 billion in repairs.

The capsule had suffered multiple thruster failures and propulsion-system helium leaks by the time it pulled up at the space station after launch. Boeing conducted extensive thruster tests in space and on the ground, and contended the capsule could safely bring the astronauts back. But NASA disagreed, setting the complex ride swap in motion.

Starliner will make a faster, simpler getaway than planned, using springs to push away from the space station and then short thruster firings to gradually increase the distance. The original plan called for an hour of dallying near the station, mostly for picture-taking; that was cut to 20 or so minutes to reduce the stress on the capsule’s thrusters and keep the station safe.

Additional test firings of Starliner’s 28 thrusters are planned before the all-important descent from orbit. Engineers want to learn as much as they can since the thrusters won’t return to Earth; the section containing them will be ditched before the capsule reenters.

The stuck astronauts — retired Navy captains — have lived on the space station before and settled in just fine, according to NASA officials. Even though their mission focus has changed, “they’re just as dedicated for the success of human spaceflight going forward,” flight director Anthony Vareha said.

Their blue Boeing spacesuits will return with the capsule, along with some old station equipment.

NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX a decade ago to ferry its astronauts to and from the space station after its shuttles retired. SpaceX accomplished the feat in 2020 and has since launched nine crews for NASA and four for private customers.
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Посол Василь Зварич відзначив роботу Радіо Свобода і закликав вшанувати пам’ять журналістів, які загинули за час повномасштабного вторгнення Росії
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Також слідство перевіряє інформацію щодо ймовірністі коригування удару по готелю
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Islamabad — An American diplomat has condemned the Taliban’s new morality law in Afghanistan, warning that it “aims to complete the erasure of women from public life.” 

Rina Amiri, the United States special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights, posted on social media late Tuesday that she raised concerns about the law during her recent meetings with counterparts in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. 

“My message was clear:  Our support for the Afghan people remains steadfast, but patience with the Taliban is running out,” Amiri wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The way to legitimacy domestically & internationally is respecting the rights of the Afghan people.” 

The U.S. warning comes days after the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, enacted the contentious decree that orders Afghan women not to speak aloud in public and cover their bodies and faces entirely when outdoors.  

The 114-page, 35-article law also outlines various actions and specific conduct that the Taliban government, called the Islamic Emirate, considers mandatory or prohibited for Afghan men and women in line with its strict interpretation of Islam.  

The legal document empowers the Ministry for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, which the Taliban revived after coming back to power in August 2021, to enforce it strictly.  

Enforcers are empowered to discipline offenders, and penalties may include anything from a verbal warning to fines to imprisonment. The law requires them to prevent “evils” such as adultery, extramarital sex, lesbianism, taking pictures of living objects and befriending non-Muslims. 

Official Taliban media quoted Akhundzada this week as ordering authorities to “rigorously enforce” the new vice and virtue decree across Afghanistan “to bring the people closer to the Islamic system.” 

The law was enacted amid extensive restrictions on Afghan women’s education and employment opportunities. 

Since regaining power three years ago, the Taliban have prohibited girls ages 12 and older from continuing their education beyond the sixth grade and restricted women from seeking employment, except in certain sectors such as health.  

Afghan females are not allowed to visit parks and other public places, and a male guardian must accompany them on road trips or air travel. 

The United Nations promptly responded to the new law last month, condemning it as a “distressing vision” for the impoverished country’s future and urging de facto authorities to reverse it. 

The Taliban government, which is officially not recognized by any country, has dismissed U.N.-led foreign criticism as offensive.  

 Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, asserted that “non-Muslims should first educate themselves about Islamic laws and respect Islamic values” before expressing concerns or rejecting the law. “We find it blasphemous to our Islamic Sharia when objections are raised without understanding it,” he said. 
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За уточненими даними під завалами може перебувати ще до пʼять осіб
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Peace continues to elude Gaza as the conflict there speeds toward the one-year mark, with public rage over the recent killing of hostages, fears over the spread of polio — and amid all this, ongoing, delicate negotiations helmed by Washington. Anita Powell files from the White House.
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new york — A federal judge on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump’s request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, thwarting the former president’s latest bid to overturn his felony conviction and delay his sentencing.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Trump’s lawyers permission to file paperwork asking the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to take control of the case. He said they had failed to satisfy the burden of proof required for a federal court to seize the case from the state court where Trump was convicted in May.

The ruling leaves Trump’s case in state court, where he is scheduled to be sentenced September 18.

Trump’s lawyers had sought to move the case to federal court so they could then seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling granting ex-presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts.

Hellerstein, who denied Trump’s request last year to move the case to federal court, said nothing about the Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling affected his “previous conclusion that the hush money payments” at issue in Trump’s case “were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.”

Hellerstein sidestepped a defense argument that Trump had been the victim of “bias, conflicts of interest, and appearances of impropriety” at the hands of the judge who presided over the trial in state court, Juan M. Merchan.

“This Court does not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Trump’s arguments concerning the propriety of the New York trial,” Hellerstein wrote in a four-page decision.

Instead, Hellerstein noted, Trump can pursue a state appeal or, after exhausting that path, seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It would be highly improper for this Court to evaluate the issues of bias, unfairness or error in the state trial,” Hellerstein wrote. “Those are issues for the state appellate courts.”

Hellerstein’s ruling came hours after Trump’s lawyers filed paperwork seeking his permission to pursue federal court intervention. Trump’s lawyers had initially asked the federal court to step in last week, but their papers were rejected because they hadn’t first obtained Hellerstein’s permission to file them, as required.

Messages seeking comment were left with Trump’s lawyers and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case.

Earlier in the day Tuesday, Manhattan prosecutors raised objections to Trump ‘s effort to delay post-trial decisions in the case while he sought to have the federal court step in.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office argued in a letter to the judge presiding over the case in state court that he had no legal obligation to hold off on post-trial decisions and wait for Hellerstein to rule.

Prosecutors urged the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, not to delay his rulings on two key defense requests: Trump’s call to delay sentencing until after the November election, and his bid to overturn the verdict and dismiss the case in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.

Merchan has said he will rule September 16 on Trump’s motion to overturn the verdict. His decision on delaying sentencing has been expected in the coming days.

Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to disrupt his 2016 presidential run. Trump has denied her claim and said he did nothing wrong.

Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation or a fine.
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washington — Top U.S. election security officials are asking American voters to tune out the noise and reject what they describe as unfounded claims that the coming presidential election will be rigged. 

Instead, in the first of a series of election security briefings planned in the run-up to November’s election, they say U.S. voters should have confidence that when they go to the polls their votes will be counted accurately. 

“Throughout the next few months, you are going to hear a lot of different things from different sources. The most important thing is to recognize the signal through the noise, the facts from the fiction,” said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is responsible for election security. 

“Our elections process, election infrastructure has never been more secure, and the election stakeholder community has never been stronger,” Easterly said, briefing reporters Tuesday. “It’s why I have confidence in the integrity of our elections and why the American people should, as well.” 

Easterly’s effort to reassure voters comes a little over a month after the U.S. intelligence community issued its own warning that U.S. adversaries, led by Russia, Iran and China, are seeking to meddle with the November election. 

But those efforts highlighted in the intelligence community warning are spearheaded by influence operations or disinformation campaigns designed to sow doubt about the U.S. election process and to help or hinder certain candidates. 

In contrast, efforts by U.S. adversaries to attack or hack systems used to carry out the election, and tally votes, have so far been nonexistent. 

“We have not seen any intent to interfere in the elections process,” Cait Conley, CISA senior adviser, told reporters.  

And while some of that could be explained by what officials describe as a steady stream of investments in election security infrastructure — including the hiring of more field offices and election security advisers — CISA officials are not taking the lack of malicious activity for granted. 

“That is something that could change at any moment,” Conley said. “When we look at this threat landscape for this election cycle, it truly is arguably the most complex yet.” 

CISA said other efforts to safeguard the upcoming presidential election include a variety of election security exercises, accuracy testing for voting machines, and enhanced security measures to protect election-related computer networks. 

They also emphasize that none of the systems that record votes are connected to the internet and that 97% of U.S. voters will cast ballots in jurisdictions that have paper ballots as back-ups. 

None of that, however, will stop countries such as Russia, Iran and China from trying to convince voters that things are going wrong. 

Easterly said one of the biggest concerns is that U.S adversaries will portray minor hiccups as major scandals. 

“It’s almost inevitable that somewhere across the country someone will forget to bring the keys to unlock the polling location,” she said. “Someone will unplug a printer to plug in a crockpot. A storm may cause a polling site to lose electricity.” 

Cybercriminals might even find a way to temporarily disable what officials describe as election-adjacent systems, including websites for state and local agencies that record and tally votes. 

“We can absolutely expect that our foreign adversaries will remain a persistent threat to attempting to undermine American confidence in our democracy and our institutions and to sow partisan discord,” she said. “It is up to all of us not to let our foreign adversaries be successful.” 

Easterly and Conley said the best way to avoid unnecessary panic is for American voters to rely on state and local election officials for information. 

But if Americans rely on word-of-mouth social media accounts, it could cause trouble. 

“It’s a hard problem for social media companies,” a senior U.S. intelligence official said at a recent briefing, speaking to reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. 

“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] definitely uses influence actors on social media to try to at least stir discord in the United States,” the official said. “So, I would expect that platform to be [used].” 

And there is growing evidence that China may be ramping up its efforts. 

Graphika, a social media analytics firm, issued a report Tuesday warning that a Chinese-linked disinformation operation known as “Spamoflage” has grown increasingly aggressive. 

Graphika said it has identified more than a dozen accounts on platforms including X, formerly known as Twitter, and on TikTok “claiming to be U.S. citizens and/or U.S.-focused peace, human rights, and information integrity advocates frustrated by American politics and the West.” 

“These accounts have seeded and amplified content denigrating Democratic and Republican candidates, sowing doubt in the legitimacy of the U.S. electoral process, and spreading divisive narratives about sensitive social issues,” the Graphika report said, though it added that few of the accounts had managed to gain much traction. 

Graphika’s conclusions seem to be consistent with earlier assessments by Meta, the social media company behind Facebook and Instagram, when it first identified the effort last year. 

“Despite the very large number of accounts and platforms it used, Spamouflage consistently struggled to reach beyond its own [fake] echo chamber,” Meta said at the time. “Only a few instances have been reported when Spamouflage content on Twitter and YouTube was amplified by real-world influencers.” 
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Washington — Turkey placed 10 people in pretrial detention Tuesday in connection with an assault of two U.S. Marines in Turkey’s western port city of Izmir.

Several members of a Turkish nationalist group, Turkey Youth Union, or TGB, on Monday attacked two U.S. Marines from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, which docked in the city’s port on Sunday, according to the Izmir Governorate.

Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday that the two Marines were not injured and are “safe.” He said they were aided by other Marines in the area during the incident and were subsequently taken to a local hospital for evaluation as a precaution before returning to the Wasp.

“This is clearly a troubling incident. We are grateful for the support of the Turkish authorities who are looking into this,” Ryder said.

He added that no Marines have been detained by authorities, and that those involved in the incident are cooperating with investigators.

Turkish authorities arrested 15 people on Monday over the incident, and a Turkish court released five of them under judicial control on Tuesday. The remaining 10 were ordered held in pretrial detention until they hear charges against them.

According to a video shared by the TGB on social media, TGB members were seen as they put a sack over a U.S. Marine’s head.

“No one will be able to respond to the cries for help from U.S. soldiers. Your hands are stained with the blood of our brave soldiers and thousands of Palestinians. You will leave our lands!” the TGB wrote on X, tagging the X accounts of the U.S. Embassy in Turkey and the U.S. Department of Defense.

“[U.S. soldiers] put a sack over the head of our soldiers in Sulaymaniyah,” a TGB member said in the video, referring to an incident in which U.S. troops arrested at least 11 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq in 2003.

Turkish media reported that the heads of the arrested Turkish soldiers were covered in sacks, and the arrests stirred a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and the United States. The incident is widely known as the “Hood event” in Turkey.

The video also showed several TGB members chanting, “Yankee, go home,” a historical anti-American slogan associated with 1960s leftist protests in Turkey.

Reports confirmed

In a statement on Monday, the Izmir Governorate announced that two women and 13 men, who are members of the TGB, physically attacked two U.S. military personnel in civilian clothes.

“Five U.S. soldiers in civilian clothes joined the incident after seeing it from a distance, and our security forces quickly intervened,” the governorate said.

The U.S. Embassy in Turkey confirmed reports of the attack on Monday. “We thank Turkish authorities for their rapid response and ongoing investigation,” the embassy said on X.

In a statement to VOA, a White House National Security Council spokesperson also said, “We are troubled by this assault on U.S. service members and are appreciative that Turkish police are taking this matter seriously and holding those responsible accountable.”

On Sunday, Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, or DVIDS, reported that the Wasp was in Turkey “for a regularly scheduled port visit” that “provides an opportunity to further enhance strategic partnership between the U.S. and Turkiye.”

According to the DVIDS, the schedule of the U.S. personnel included “tours organized by the ship’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation team, such as a visit to the Ephesus historical site, snorkeling and scuba diving, and a guided tour of Izmir’s cultural sites.”

U.S. Sixth Fleet spokesperson and Navy Commander Timothy Gorman told VOA the two assaulted Marines were from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Middle East tensions

The U.S. sent the Wasp to the eastern Mediterranean for deterrence reasons in June amid the increased tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. The USS Bataan and the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford were previously deployed to the region after the October 7 attack.

Omer Celik, the spokesperson for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, criticized the deployments.

“Every warship, every aircraft carrier sent there by other countries will provide an opportunity that will benefit those who say violence should continue and violence should spread even more to the region,” Celik said.

The Wasp participated in bilateral at-sea training with two Turkish navy ships in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea from August 13 to 17. U.S. Marines shared information about the joint training, but Turkey’s National Defense Ministry did not publicly announce it.

Later in August, Turkish media reported that the Wasp docked in Cyprus as part of the increased U.S. presence in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party criticized the government for not disclosing the joint training.

VOA Turkish Service’s Ogulcan Bakiler from Izmir and Begum Donmez Ersoz from Istanbul contributed to this story. VOA’s Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb also contributed.
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Причина вимкнень – пошкодження енергосистеми України через російські удари
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SEOUL, South Korea — An Apple TV+ documentary series, “K-pop Idols,” premiering Friday, offers an intimate look at how the K-pop industry is embracing diversity while grappling with challenges in a field that demands perfection.

The six-part series features Korean American star Jessi and up-and-coming K-pop bands like Cravity and Blackswan, documenting the highs and lows of their careers.

K-pop is known for its blend of vocals with precise choreography.

Blackswan members Fatou and Nvee told The Associated Press they practice up to 10 hours daily, including choreography and vocal sessions before the “comeback” season which refers to a string of events to promote their latest songs.

The grueling practice starts early.

Once under contract, K-pop trainees enter a system that includes classes in manners, language, dance, and choreography. As of 2022, there were 752 K-pop trainees under entertainment labels, according to a Korea Creative Content Agency report.

Despite recent pushback against the perennial “dark side of K-pop” narrative, the documentary shows that some industry problems persist.

Former Blackswan member Youngheun said members had a curfew and were not allowed to drink or date. “We even had to report when we were getting our nails done and going to the convenience store in front of our house,” she shared in the documentary.

Rigid control extends to diet.

Blackswan member Gabi is seen eating a meal of egg, chicken breast and what resembles sweet potato sticks during her trainee period. “I am dieting because Mr. Yoon [the label’s head] told me I need to lose weight,” Gabi said.

The pressure applies to boy bands, too.

Cravity member Wonjin shared that he was given two weeks to lose weight to join the label. “I would eat like one egg a day […] I lost about 7kg,” he said in the documentary.

Bradley Cramp, one of executive producers of the documentary, noted that such restrictions exist in other competitive industries as well.

“I honestly don’t know one idol or elite sports athlete or entertainer that doesn’t deal with the issue of diet and self-image and mental health to some degree or another,” he told The Associated Press.

The documentary also touches on K-pop’s new challenge: embracing diversity.

Following BTS’ international success, K-pop labels have been actively recruiting foreign talents, which sometimes brings unfamiliar challenges.

In the documentary, Yoon Deung Ryong, the founder of Blackswan’s label DR Music, struggles to settle internal conflicts among members, which later escalated to online clashes between fans.

“If the company says, ‘don’t fight,’ they won’t fight,” he said, referring to traditional K-pop groups. He added that he can’t control a “multinational group” the same way because of language and cultural differences. There are currently no Korean members in Blackswan after member changes.

With K-pop’s global expansion, fundamental questions remain about the essence of K-pop.

“In a K-pop group, if there are no Korean members, I feel like it’s just a K-pop cover group, isn’t it?” Blackswan’s former Korean member Youngheun said in the documentary.

However, Cravity’s Hyeongjun disagrees. “If foreigners come to Korea and sing in other languages, I am not sure if I can call that K-pop, but since they [Blackswan members] are active in Korea and use Korean, they are K-pop.”

Cramp said social media has impacted K-pop’s ecosystem in various ways, including creating a “symbiotic relationship” between K-pop stars and fans, and forcing stars to live their lives “under a microscope.”

“There’s a desire to be real. But on the other hand, you have to obviously keep certain things kind of out of the public spotlight,” he told the AP. “You want to be famous, but yet at the same time, you still want your privacy and you want to be able to go and have dinner with your friends and have a good time and not be filmed doing it.”

“K-Pop Idols” is now available on Apple TV+.
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