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Особливо гостро проблема доступу до чистої питної води стоїть у країнах Африки, Центральної та Південно-Східної Азії
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STATE DEPARTMENT — The White House says U.S. officials continue to raise concerns about what they describe as unfair trade policies and non-market economic practices by the People’s Republic of China.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to unveil its final implementation plans for substantial tariff increases on selected Chinese imports in the coming days.

Some U.S. manufacturers, however, including those in the electric vehicle and utility equipment sectors, have requested that the higher tariff rates be reduced or delayed, citing concerns about rising cost.

On May 14, the White House announced a significant increase in tariffs on Chinese imports, raising duties on electric vehicles to 100%, doubling tariffs on semiconductors and solar cells to 50%, and introducing new 25% tariffs on lithium-ion batteries and other strategic products such as steel.

The move is seen as an effort to reshore U.S. manufacturing, enhance supply chain resilience, and protect domestic U.S. industries from what officials described as China’s overproduction.

This week, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their talks near Beijing that Washington will continue to take necessary actions to prevent advanced U.S. technologies from being used to undermine national security, while avoiding undue limitations on trade or investment.

In Beijing, China has vowed to take countermeasures.

Wang this week accused the U.S. of using overcapacity as an excuse for “protectionism.” He urged the U.S. to “stop suppressing China in the economic, trade, and technological fields and to stop undermining China’s legitimate interests.”

Sullivan and Wang have discussed arranging a call between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming weeks. Disputes over trade and tariffs are expected to be among the issues on the agenda.

Former U.S. officials told VOA that the leaders also are likely to have face-to-face talks before Biden leaves office next January.

“The first opportunity is the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) leaders’ summit in November, and the second is the G20 summit in November,” Ryan Haas, a former NSC senior official from 2013 to 2017 and currently a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told VOA on Wednesday.

Some analysts have downplayed the likelihood of immediate inflation, noting that the tariff increases announced in May target a relatively small portion of products — $18 billion in imports from China, which accounts for only 4.2% of all U.S. imports from China in 2023.

“Because many of the tariffs affect products that are not currently being imported in large quantities, and because they are phased in over two years, the immediate inflationary effect is likely to be small,” wrote William Reinsch, the Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in a CSIS analysis earlier this year.

This week, following the Biden administration’s May announcement, Canada said that it will impose a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicle imports and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from China, effective Oct. 1.

In Beijing, China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement expressing strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to Canada’s planned tariff increases, stating that they would disrupt the stability of global industrial and supply chains, severely impact trade relations, and harm the interests of businesses in both countries.

Some material in this report came from Reuters.
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FRESNO, Calif. — The second elephant calf in two weeks has been born at a California zoo.

African elephant Amahle gave birth early Monday morning, according to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. The event came 10 days after Amahle’s mother, Nolwazi, gave birth to another male calf.

The new additions are the first elephants born at the zoo, about 240 kilometers southeast of San Francisco, which has embarked on a program to breed elephants in the hope that they can be seen by zoogoers in years to come.

“To have two healthy calves is a historic milestone,” Jon Forrest Dohlin, the zoo’s chief executive, said in a statement Tuesday. “We cannot wait for the public to see the new additions to our herd and share in our excitement.”

The elephants and their calves will continue to be monitored behind the scenes for now, Dohlin said. While the zoo expanded its exhibit in anticipation of growing its herd, some animal activists have opposed the breeding program, saying elephants shouldn’t be in zoos because of their complex needs.

In 2022, the zoo brought in male elephant Mabu hoping he’d breed with the two females. The future of elephants — which have relatively few offspring and a 22-month gestation period — in zoos hinges largely on breeding.
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Washington — The 20-year-old gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump in July was dead set on carrying out an attack but appears to have seen the former U.S. leader and current Republican presidential candidate as a “target of opportunity.”

Senior FBI officials shared the updated assessment of Thomas Matthew Crooks on Wednesday, saying the findings are based on almost 1,000 interviews and extensive analysis of his internet search activity and social media accounts.

“We saw through our analysis of all his — particularly his online searches — a sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some event,” FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Rojek told reporters during a phone briefing.

“He looked at any number of events or targets,” Rojek said, adding that when the Trump campaign announced the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the shooter “became hyperfocused on that specific event.”

As for what motivated Crooks to carry out an attack in the first place, officials said that remains a mystery.

“At this time, the FBI has not identified a motive,” said Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch.

Wells also said the FBI investigation has found no credible evidence to suggest that the shooter told anyone of his plans or that he had any help from any individuals or foreign governments.

“I want to be clear. We have not seen any indication to suggest Crooks was directed by a foreign entity to conduct the attack,” he said.

The FBI officials further rejected conspiracy theories that have been circulating on social media regarding a potential second shooter.

They said a forensic examination of the shooter’s gun, an AR-style rifle, conclusively linked the weapon to all eight shell casings found on the roof of the building where he carried out the attack.

The FBI officials said only two other shots were fired — one by a local law enforcement officer, and one by a U.S. Secret Service sniper — which hit the shooter in the head, killing him.

FBI investigators have been scouring Crooks’ internet searches and social media activity, and talking to anyone who knew him, ever since he climbed on a roof of a building overlooking the Trump campaign rally in rural, western Pennsylvania and began shooting, leaving Trump with a bloody ear and killing a rallygoer and injuring two others.

Last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers that Crooks appeared to have become fixated on high-profile public figures and that just a week before the attempted assassination, he searched for information on the 1963 killing of U.S. President John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald.

“On July 6, he did a Google search for, quote, ‘How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?’” Wray said.

“That’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” Wray added. “That is the same day that he registered for the Butler rally.”

FBI officials on Wednesday presented a more-detailed account of Crooks’ mindset and planning, saying the shooter appears to have started preparing to carry out an attack or shooting as far back as September 2023, using an online account to look at Trump’s campaign schedule.

Starting in April of this year, officials said, the shooter began researching campaign events for Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden.

“In the 30 days prior to the attack, the subject conducted more than 60 searches related to President Biden and former President Trump,” said the FBI’s Rojek, adding the shooter also looked up the dates and locations of the Republican and Democratic national conventions.

But Rojek said that Crooks’ focus on carrying out an attack appears to go back even further, and that he began researching how to make explosives in September 2019.

He said there is also no indication, so far, that Crooks was motivated by any political leanings.

“We’ve seen no definitive ideology associated with our subject either left leaning or right leaning,” Rojek said. “It’s really been a mixture, and something that we’re still attempting to analyze and draw conclusions on.”

It also appears Crooks was clear-headed and methodical in his attempt to kill Trump.  Lab tests showed no signs he was using alcohol or illicit drugs at the time of the attack, FBI officials said.
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Напередодні було отримано інформацію щодо погіршення стану води у річці Сейм
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Washington — U.S. President Joe Biden pressed on with plans for a troubled aid pier for Gaza despite internal warnings, a watchdog said, as the White House defended the operation Wednesday as a “comprehensive response” to a humanitarian crisis. 

Biden expressed disappointment with the performance of the pier operated by the U.S. military, which repeatedly had to be removed from shore due to bad weather. 

But the watchdog for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said in the report released Tuesday that there had been a series of warnings about rough seas and security challenges before Biden decided to deploy the problematic pontoon. 

“Multiple USAID staff expressed concerns” about the fact that the pier would distract from pushing Israel to open land crossings, a “more efficient and proven” way of getting aid to desperate Gaza, it said. 

“Once the president issued the directive, the Agency’s focus was to use (the pier) as effectively as possible.” 

The White House said Wednesday the pier was “part of a comprehensive response to dire conditions alongside air and land deliveries.” 

The pier delivered nearly 9 million kilograms of food and water and “significantly helped alleviate” conditions in northern Gaza at a time when experts were warning of imminent famine, National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said. 

“We are grateful to the heroic efforts of the men and women of the U.S. military who built and maintained the pier,” he added. 

Biden announced the project during his State of the Union address in March as Israel held up deliveries of assistance by land. 

But the USAID report said the pier problems meant it “fell short” of its goal of giving half a million Palestinians enough aid for three months, supplying only enough to feed 450,000 for one month. 

In the end the pier was only operational for 20 days during the two months before it was decommissioned, said the report. 

“From the start, rough weather posed a major challenge,” it said, adding that the pier was “detached or was shut down numerous times.” 

Pentagon guidance discussed at an initial planning meeting had said the pier was only suitable for use in short or moderate waves — but the Mediterranean often has “significant” winds and waves, the watchdog said. 

Security concerns in an active war zone where Israel was striking Hamas after the October 7 attacks “significantly impacted” aid delivery through the pier, it added.
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Washington — A militia group member who communicated with other far-right extremists while they stormed the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison.

For weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, Kentucky electrician Dan Edwin Wilson planned with others to attack the Capitol and stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, according to federal prosecutors.

Wilson told U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich that he regrets entering the Capitol that day but “got involved with good intentions.”

“Our country was in turmoil,” he said. “I believe it still is.”

The judge said there is “no question” that Wilson intended to interfere with the congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 electoral victory over Trump.

“He’s not being punished for what he said that day. His comments are reflexive of his intent,” the judge said.

Prosecutors recommended a five-year prison sentence for Wilson, who pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to impede or injure police officers. He also pleaded guilty to illegally possessing firearms at his home.

Wilson, 48, communicated with members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group and adherents of the antigovernment Three Percenters movement as he marched to the Capitol. Wilson has identified as an Oath Keeper and as a member of the Gray Ghost Partisan Rangers, a Three Percenter militia, according to prosecutors.

A co-defendant, David Scott Kuntz, has pleaded not guilty to Capitol riot charges and awaits a trial. Kuntz organized a Telegram group called “Coalition of the Unknown,” which included Three Percenters from different militia groups, prosecutors said.

Wilson posted in the group under the username “Live Wire.” On Nov. 9, 2020, Wilson wrote to the group, “I’m willing to do whatever. Done made up my mind. I understand the tip of the spear will not be easy. I’m willing to sacrifice myself if necessary. Whether it means prison or death.”

Wilson and Kuntz traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6. Defense attorney Norm Pattis said Wilson believed that the presidential election was stolen from Trump.

“Mr. Wilson did not plan an insurrection. He appeared at a protest and was swept up in events that turned violent,” Pattis wrote.

But prosecutors said Wilson planned with others to use the threat of violence to keep Trump in the White House.

“Wilson is in a rare class. Although he did not commit any acts of violence, his role in preparing for violence and helping to organize a conspiracy makes him particularly dangerous,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mariano wrote.

As he approached the Capitol, Wilson used the Zello app to communicate with other members of a group called “STOP THE STEAL J6” and provide them with updates on the erupting riot.

“How many patriots do we have pushing through at the Capitol, Live Wire?” another user asked Wilson.

“Hey, pass the word, Badlands, as fast as you can. The people are pushing on the Capitol. We need hands on deck,” Wilson responded.

“Heard, Live Wire. Will send,” the other user replied.

Wilson wore a gas mask as he entered the Capitol through a door on the Upper West Terrace. He took a selfie of himself flashing a Three Percenters hand sign during his roughly 12 minutes inside the building. Photos show him carrying what appeared to be a can of bear spray.

Prosecutors said Wilson “sought out violence and endeavored to organize others to join him in his violent aims.”

“Wilson’s crime was an attack on not just the Capitol, but the United States and its system of government,” Mariano wrote. “He joined a mob and struck a blow to a central feature of the American system: the peaceful transfer of power.”

Wilson was arrested in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on May 2023. Law enforcement seized six firearms and approximately 4,800 rounds of ammunition when they searched his home. Wilson had a criminal record that made it illegal for him to possess the firearms.

More than 1,400 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Approximately 950 of them have been convicted and sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from a few days to 22 years.
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За його словами, до кінця цього тижня в місті ще працюватимуть банки, але з понеділка залишаться тільки банкомати
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In the summer of 1993, 46 Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and American kids gathered at a camp in the state of Maine. The camp was the brainchild of journalist and author John Wallach, who wanted to provide children of war the chance to build a more secure future. Jeff Swicord reports. Videographer: Karina Chaudhury
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«Обидві зловмисниці займалися підготовкою псевдореферендумів Росії щодо «приєднання» східного та південного регіонів України до складу Росії»
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Чотирьох чоловіків госпіталізували в стані середньої тяжкості, ще одна жінка буде лікуватися вдома
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Через бойові дії та технічні порушення на ранок 28 серпня без електропостачання залишалися 564 населених пункти
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Washington — The White House welcomed on Tuesday the rescue of an Israeli hostage abducted October 7 by Hamas and said a Gaza cease-fire deal is being finalized.

But even if an agreement is reached, a truce is unlikely to extend beyond the six weeks of phase one of the three-phase deal. The next U.S. administration will still inherit the role of managing tensions in the region.

Since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris has aimed to strike a balance between reaffirming U.S. support for Israel and advocating for Palestinian humanitarian needs — in essence, signaling a continuation of President Joe Biden’s policies on the Israel-Hamas war and, more broadly, the Middle East.

Harris summed up her position in her acceptance speech as the Democratic presidential nominee at the party’s convention in Chicago.

“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.

Democrats are enthusiastic about Harris, even though she has not yet laid out her own policies. And unlike Biden, a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, most of Harris’ exposure to foreign policy was during her tenure as vice president.

Not having “foreign policy baggage” might benefit Harris in the eyes of Democratic voters, said Natasha Hall, senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Hall pointed out that in October 2002, Biden was one of 77 senators who gave President George W. Bush the authority to use force in Iraq, a decision that eventually became a liability for Biden, much as his staunch support for Israel has become the most divisive issue in his own party.

Adviser’s influence

Those looking to see whether Harris’ Mideast policy will diverge from Biden’s can look to her national security adviser, Phillip Gordon, who is expected to remain in the role if she is elected. He would be the principal adviser to the president on all national security issues, including foreign policy.

“Phil Gordon is the type of adviser that colors in the lines,” Hall told VOA. “He’s the kind of person that I think very much is sort of old-fashioned American foreign policy.”

Gordon was against ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power in 2003. He chronicled American efforts to overthrow leaders in the Middle East in his 2020 book, “Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East.”

“The U.S. policy debate about the Middle East suffers from the fallacy that there is an external American solution to every problem, even when decades of painful experience suggest that this is not the case,” he wrote. “And regime change is the worst ‘solution.'”

Such an outlook would make a Harris administration “very, very cautious to deal assertively with Iran,” said Jonathan Rynhold, head of the Political Studies Department at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.

From an Israeli perspective, however, Harris’ direct involvement in the administration’s recent decision to deploy more military assets to the Middle East to deter Iran is good news, Rynhold told VOA.

“If that is the policy that she goes on to adopt, then that crosses the minimal threshold of what Israel needs on Iran,” he said. “It may not be what Israel desires, which is a more forceful approach, but it is not a passive one.”

Current Harris aides have told VOA that Harris she intends to stay on the path that Biden has laid out: working beyond a cease-fire toward a two-state solution without sacrificing Israel’s security.

Harris’ former national security adviser while she was in the Senate, Halie Soifer, agreed.

“The vice president and the president have supported U.S. military assistance to Israel, not just for the existing agreement that we have with Israel,” said Soifer, who is now the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. “But also an increase this year because of their security needs,” she told VOA

Generational and personal background

Biden’s generation, with a more visceral sense of the Holocaust, views Israel as a tiny democracy surrounded by hostile Arab powers. People of Harris’ generation and younger see Israel for what it is today: a thriving democracy and the region’s top military power. While Biden and Harris may share the same goal for Israel’s security, there’s not the same emotional resonance, Rynhold said.

Younger Americans “don’t remember a time when Jews and Israel were extremely vulnerable,” he said. “So they don’t have a same sense of that continuing vulnerability that President Biden really has.”

And for the president, Israel is integral to the story of America’s role in the world.

“America is there to prevent the Holocaust. America is there to support democracies, and Israel is central to his way of understanding that role,” Rynhold said.

If elected, Harris would become the first person to hold the highest office in the land whose parents are both immigrants. Barack Obama’s father was born in Kenya, and Donald Trump’s mother was born in the U.K. Harris’ father came from Jamaica and her mother, from India.

Unlike Biden, who often underscores that he is a Zionist, a loaded term often viewed with scorn in many parts of the world, Harris may be more sensitive to views from the Global South.

In a 2018 speech to an Indian American group, Harris spoke fondly of childhood visits to the home of her maternal grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, describing him as someone who had fought for “freedom and for justice and for independence.”

“She is aware of how the rest of the world may feel about the Middle East, about neocolonialism, neoimperialism,” Hall said. “I really hope that she has the opportunity to bring those experiences to bear if she becomes the president.”

But it’s hard to tell what a Harris doctrine would eventually look like.

“What she says now is directed to winning an election and keeping the Democratic Party together,” Rynhold said.

And since the party is evenly split between those sympathetic to Israel and those sympathetic to the Palestinians, she must express platitudes, he said.

“And that’s what she has done.”
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