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GEORGETOWN, Texas — As with any desktop 3D printer, the Vulcan printer pipes layer by layer to build an object – except this printer is more than 45 feet (13.7 m) wide, weighs 4.75 tons and prints residential homes.

This summer, the robotic printer from ICON is finishing the last few of 100 3D-printed houses in Wolf Ranch, a community in Georgetown, Texas, about 30 miles from Austin.

ICON began printing the walls of what it says is the world’s largest 3D-printed community in November 2022. Compared to traditional construction, the company says that 3D printing homes is faster, less expensive, requires fewer workers, and minimizes construction material waste.

“It brings a lot of efficiency to the trade market,” said ICON senior project manager Conner Jenkins. “So, where there were maybe five different crews coming in to build a wall system, we now have one crew and one robot.”

After concrete powder, water, sand and other additives are mixed together and pumped into the printer, a nozzle squeezes out the concrete mixture like toothpaste onto a brush, building up layer by layer along a pre-programmed path that creates corduroy-effect walls.

The single-story three- to four-bedroom homes take about three weeks to finish printing, with the foundation and metal roofs installed traditionally.

Jenkins said the concrete walls are designed to be resistant to water, mold, termites and extreme weather.

Lawrence Nourzad, a 32-year-old business development director, and his girlfriend Angela Hontas, a 29-year-old creative strategist, purchased a Wolf Ranch home earlier this summer.

“It feels like a fortress,” Nourzad said, adding that he was confident it would be resilient to most tornados.

The walls also provide strong insulation from the Texas heat, the couple said, keeping the interior temperature cool even when the air conditioner wasn’t on full blast.

There was one other thing the 3D-printed walls seemed to protect against, however: a solid wireless internet connection.

“Obviously these are really strong, thick walls. And that’s what provides a lot of value for us as homeowners and keeps this thing really well-insulated in a Texas summer, but signal doesn’t transfer through these walls very well,” Nourzad said.

To alleviate this issue, an ICON spokeswoman said most Wolf Ranch homeowners use mesh internet routers, which broadcast a signal from multiple units placed throughout a home, versus a traditional router which sends a signal from one device.

The 3D-printed homes at Wolf Ranch, called the “Genesis Collection” by developers, range in price from around $450,000 to close to $600,000. Developers said a little more than one quarter of the 100 homes have been sold.

ICON, which 3D-printed its first home in Austin in 2018, hopes to one day take its technology to the Moon. NASA, as part of its Artemis Moon exploration program, has contracted ICON to develop a construction system capable of building landing pads, shelters, and other structures on the lunar surface.
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Як заявив під час презентації Володимир Зеленський, мета застосунку полягає в тому, щоб «звільнити українську армію від марудної паперової роботи»
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HUGER, S.C. — Tropical Storm Debby has made a second landfall in South Carolina on its way up the East Coast, where residents as far north as Vermont could get several inches of rain this weekend.

The National Hurricane Center says Debby came ashore early Thursday near Bulls Bay, South Carolina. The storm is expected to keep moving inland, spreading heavy rain and possible flooding all the way up through the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast by the weekend.

Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It is now a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph (80 kph).

Considerable flooding is expected across parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina through Friday, with an additional 3 to 9 inches (8 to 23 centimeters) of rain forecast, as well as in portions of Virginia, according to the hurricane center.

Days of rain have forced the deluge-hardened residents of a South Carolina community to begin the near-ritualistic task of assessing damage left behind by Debby, which continued spinning over the Atlantic Ocean and influencing thunderstorms from the East Coast to the Great Lakes on Wednesday. The National Weather Service’s office in Charleston also said survey teams confirmed four-Debby related tornadoes.

In Huger, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Charleston, Gene Taylor was waiting in the afternoon for a few inches of water to drain from his house along French Quarter Creek as high tide passed.

Taylor saw the potential for flooding last week and started moving belongings out or up higher in his home. It’s a lesson learned the hard way — Taylor estimated that this is the fourth time he has had floodwater in his home in the past nine years.

“To save everything, we’ve learned from the past it’s better be prepared for the worst. And unfortunately, I think we got it,” Taylor said.

A few doors down, Charles Grainger was cleaning up after about 8 inches (20 centimeters) of water got into his home.

“Eight inches disrupts your whole life,” Grainger said. “You don’t get used to it. You just grin and bear it. It’s part of living on the creek.”

In Georgia, at least four dams were breached northwest of Savannah in Bulloch County, but no deaths had been reported, authorities said at a briefing.

More than 75 people were rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, director of emergency management, and about 100 roads were closed.

“We’ve been faced with a lot of things we’ve never been faced with before,” Bulloch County Commission Chairman Roy Thompson said. “I’m 78-plus years old and have never seen anything like this before in Bulloch County. It’s amazing what has happened, and amazing what is going to continue to happen until all these waters get out of here.”

For residents on Tappan Zee Drive in suburban Pooler, west of Savannah, Georgia, the drenching that Debby delivered came with a painful dose of déjà vu. In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew overflowed a nearby canal and flooded several of the same homes.

Located roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, with no creeks or rivers nearby, the neighborhood doesn’t seem like a high-risk location for tropical flooding. But residents say drainage problems have plagued their street for well over a decade, despite local government efforts to fix them.

Debby also dumped rain on communities all the way up to the Great Lakes and New York and New Jersey. Moisture from the tropical storm strengthened another system Tuesday evening, which caused strong thunderstorms, according to weather service meteorologist Scott Kleebauer.

“We had a multi-round period of showers and thunderstorms that kind of scooted from Michigan eastward,” Kleebauer said.

As much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of New Jersey in less than four hours.

Emergency officials in New York City warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some neighborhoods to tell people in basement apartments to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. Multiple water rescues were reported in and near the city.

About 270,000 customers remained without power in Ohio as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, following severe storms including two confirmed tornadoes. Utility officials with FirstEnergy’s Illuminating Company said via social media that power restoration would take days due to the damage.

In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said his state was just entering Act 2 of a three-act play, after more than 60 homes were damaged but roads and water systems were without significant problems.

The final act may come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers as they flow to the Atlantic Ocean.

A state of emergency was in effect for both North Carolina and Virginia. Maryland issued a state of preparedness declaration that coordinates preparations without declaring an emergency.

At least six people have died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a 48-year-old man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank.
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Раніше СБУ повідомила посадовцю про підозру за виправдовування воєнних злочинів РФ та заперечення збройної агресії проти України
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MEXICO CITY — A U.S. federal judge in Massachusetts again dismissed a $10 billion Mexican government lawsuit against six U.S. gun manufacturers on Wednesday.

Mexico had argued the companies knew weapons were being sold to traffickers who smuggled them into Mexico and decided to cash in on that market.

However, the judge ruled that Mexico had not provided concrete evidence that any of the six companies’ activities in Massachusetts were connected to any suffering caused in Mexico by guns.

Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said Wednesday the ruling would allow the lawsuit to proceed against a seventh manufacturer and a gun wholesaler.

Regarding the dismissal against the others, the department said, “Mexico is analyzing its options, among them presenting an appeal.”

The case has been a legal rollercoaster.

In early 2022, six companies — not including the seventh manufacturer — filed to dismiss Mexico’s claims based on the broad protection provided to gun manufacturers by a 2005 U.S. law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA.

The law shields gun manufacturers from damages “resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse” of a firearm. Later in 2022, the federal judge ruled to dismiss the case on those grounds.

Mexico appealed that ruling, and in January the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts revived the lawsuit, saying the PLCAA did not apply to the claims the guns caused deaths, damages and injuries in Mexico.

The appeals court returned the case to the lower court, which again ruled to dismiss the claims against six of the companies.

The Mexican government estimates 70% of the weapons trafficked into Mexico come from the U.S., according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. 
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washington — President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he was not confident about a peaceful transfer of power in the United States if Republican Donald Trump loses the Nov. 5 presidential election.

“If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News when asked whether he thought there would be a peaceful transfer of power after the vote.

“He means what he says. We don’t take him seriously. He means it. All this stuff about if we lose there’d be a bloodbath,” Biden added.

During a March campaign appearance in Ohio, Trump warned of a “bloodbath” if he fails win the election. At the time Trump was discussing the need to protect the U.S. auto industry from overseas competition, and Trump later said he was referring to the auto industry when he used the term.

Trump has falsely claimed he won the 2020 election against Biden and was criminally charged in Washington and Georgia with illegally trying to overturn the results.

Biden dropped out of the campaign last month after fellow Democrats called for him to step aside following a poor debate performance against Trump that raised questions about the Democratic president’s age and health.

Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, has since captured the Democratic nomination and is running against Trump.
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Tokyo — Japan this week restated its aim to rid the world of atomic weapons as it marks the 79th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — even as the Japanese government seeks assurances the United States would be willing to use its own nuclear arsenal to protect Japan.

At 8:15 a.m. Tuesday — the time that the atomic bomb exploded 600 meters (1,969 feet) above Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 — people across Japan marked a minute’s silence to remember the horrors visited on the city.

“It is the mission of Japan, the only country to have suffered nuclear war, to pass on the reality of the atomic bombings to future generations,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told delegates gathered in Hiroshima.

The manner of Japan’s defeat in World War II changed the country, driving an aversion to war and military power that lasted for generations. However, after decades of pacifism, the country is undergoing profound changes in its attitude to military power amid multiple regional threats, said Yee Kuang Heng, a professor of international relations at the University of Tokyo.

“The DPRK’s [North Korea’s] nuclear missile programs; Chinese military assertiveness and territorial claims in the East China Sea; Russia’s closer military cooperation with China in the past couple of years. These are underlying drivers that have been around for the past couple of years,” Heng told VOA.

“There is Prime Minister Kishida’s oft-quoted fear that Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow, especially with potential flashpoints close to Japan, such as Taiwan.”

Those threats prompted Japan to last year announce a doubling of defense spending, to 2% of gross domestic product by 2027.

Last week, the United States, Japan’s closest ally, announced a major upgrade of its military command in the country. During the visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Tokyo again sought assurances from the U.S. that it would be prepared to use “extended deterrence” — that is, nuclear weapons — to defend Japan.

“They have always had doubts about the American commitment to use all their might to defend them. And that includes nuclear weapons, which gives you some idea of just how somewhat paradoxical Japan’s supposed nuclear allergy is,” said Grant Newsham, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Security Policy and a former U.S. Marines colonel who served in Japan.

For decades, anger among Asian neighbors over Japan’s actions in World War II prevented closer regional cooperation. That’s also changing, said analyst Heng.

“Countries like the Philippines, they’ve recently signed very important defense agreements with Japan, such as the Reciprocal Access Agreement, actually the first Asian country to do so with Japan,” he said. “South Korea, notably under President Yoon [Suk Yeol], has talked up a more forward-looking relationship with Japan.”

But 79 years after the trauma of defeat — the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — are the Japanese people ready to become a military power once more?

“There’s a sea change also in the public opinion in my country as well,” said Kunihiko Miyake of Japan’s Canon Institute for Global Studies.

“We are not rabbits. We are tortoises. We are probably slow, but we always go ahead, and one step forward at a time,” Miyake added. “Maybe this time, two or three steps forward.”

China has reacted with anger to the rapid changes in Japan’s military posture.

“During World War II, Japan invaded and colonized some Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, and committed serious historical crimes. Japan needs to seriously reflect on its history of aggression and act prudently in the field of military security,” said Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a press conference last month.

At the same time, say analysts, Japan must secure itself against multiple threats — not least from China itself.
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Now that both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have selected their running mates, the question is whether those picks will actually help boost the campaigns’ chances of winning the November election. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at the historical relevance of vice presidential candidates and what Tim Walz and JD Vance bring to their respective tickets.
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Підозрюваному обрано запобіжний захід у вигляді тримання під вартою
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The two U.S. presidential tickets are set. Vice President Kamala Harris named her running mate Tuesday. But the presumed Democratic Party nominee wasn’t alone making news in one of America’s oldest cities, Philadelphia, in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania. That’s where we find VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti.
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Приблизно йдеться про евакуацію 6000 людей, серед них – 425 дітей.
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CHARLESTON, S.C. — Tropical Storm Debby is taking a breather Wednesday over the western Atlantic Ocean but it isn’t done dousing the coastal Carolinas before it slowly marches north.   

Debby was expected to restrengthen and turn north toward the South Carolina coastline for a second landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday, weather officials said. The storm carried the threat not only of additional rainfall but also of tornadoes in coastal sections of the Carolinas spreading north into southeast Virginia on Thursday.   

The slow-moving storm drenched coastal cities in Georgia and South Carolina late Monday into Tuesday, stirring up tornadoes and submerging streets with waist-high floodwaters. The storm has dropped more than a foot (30 centimeters) of rain in some places already and could dump staggering rain totals of up to 25 inches (64 centimeters) in places by the time it ends.   

Charleston and Savannah, Georgia, were deluged into Tuesday, with curfews set and roads blocked by police. Dozens of roads were closed in the city of Charleston because of flooding similar to what it sees several times a year because of rising sea levels.   

As Debby swirls just offshore, the heavy rain is expected to move into parts of South and North Carolina that have already seen two billion-dollar floods in eight years.   

In one Savannah neighborhood, firefighters used boats to evacuate some residents and waded through floodwaters to deliver bottled water and other supplies to those who refused to leave.   

Michael Jones said water gushed into his home Monday evening, overturning the refrigerator and causing furniture to float. Outside, the water seemed to be everywhere and was too deep to flee safely. So Jones spent a sleepless night on his kitchen table before firefighters going door to door came in a boat Tuesday morning.   

“It was hell all night,” Jones said.   

In Charleston, Mayor William Cogswell said the road closures have kept businesses and homes from unnecessary damage and avoided the need for any high-water rescues.   

“We especially don’t need any yahoos driving through the water and causing damage to properties,” Cogswell said.   

Up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain was expected in some places in the Carolinas, totals that are close to what the region saw in a historic flood from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Two years later, many of those records were broken during Hurricane Florence. Both storms killed dozens.   

North Carolina and Virginia have both declared a state of emergency.   

Several areas along North Carolina’s coastline are prone to flooding, such as Wilmington and the Outer Banks. Virginia could see impacts including strong winds, heavy rains and flooding.   

Debby’s center was about 90 miles (145) kilometers east of Savannah on Wednesday morning, according to a bulletin from the National Hurricane Center. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (73 kph) and was heading east at 5 mph (8 kph).   

“Tropical cyclones always produce heavy rain, but normally as they’re moving, you know, it doesn’t accumulate that much in one place,” said Richard Pasch, of the hurricane center. “But when they move very slowly, that’s the worst situation.”   

There will be lulls in the rain as dry spells appear between bands around the center of the poorly organized storm, forecasters said. But some bands will be heavy and keep moving over the same places.   

Green Pond in rural Colleton County, South Carolina, reported the most rain so far, just over 14 inches (36 centimeters). A nearby dam had water run over its top but did not crumble, while trees and washouts blocked a number of roads, county Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief David Greene said.   

Close to a foot (30 centimeters) fell down-coast from Charleston to Savannah, where the National Weather Service reported 6.68 inches (17 centimeters) just on Monday. That’s already a month’s worth in a single day: In all of August 2023, the city got 5.56 inches (14.1 centimeters).   

Tornadoes knocked down trees and damaged a few homes on Kiawah Island and Edisto Island.   

Crooked Hammock Brewery in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, decided to close early Tuesday.   

“Flash flooding is super unpredictable, and we’d rather our staff and guests be home and safe,” marketing coordinator Georgena Dimitriadis said.   

Far to the north in New York City, heavy storms that meteorologists said were being enhanced by Debby flooded some streets and expressways, stranding motorists. The weather service issued a flood watch until noon Wednesday for the entire city.   

Emergency officials warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some New York City neighborhoods to tell people in basement apartments to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice.   

Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday along the Gulf Coast of Florida.   

At least six people have died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a 48-year-old man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank, WTSP-TV reported.   

About 500 people were rescued Monday from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, police said. Just north of Sarasota, Manatee County officials said more than 200 people were rescued.   

Officials said it may take two weeks to fully assess the damage in parts of north-central Florida as they wait for rivers to crest.   

“You’re going to see the tributaries rise. That’s just inevitable. How much? We’ll see,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday. “It may be that it’s not flooded today and it could be flooded tomorrow.”   

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also warned of more rain and flooding to come, saying, “Do not let this storm lull you to sleep.”   

President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations making federal disaster assistance available to Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.   

Debby is finally forecast to pick up speed Thursday, and it could move up the middle of North Carolina, through Virginia and into the Washington area by Saturday. 
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З початку повномасштабного вторгнення Росії Україна продовжує воєнний стан і мобілізацію дванадцятий раз поспіль
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NEW YORK — Gone is the bullhorn. Instead, New York City emergency management officials have turned high-tech, using drones to warn residents about potential threatening weather.

With a buzzing sound in the background, a drone equipped with a loudspeaker flies over homes warning people who live in basement or ground-floor apartments about impending heavy rains.

“Be prepared to leave your location,” said the voice from the sky in footage released Tuesday by the city’s emergency management agency. “If flooding occurs, do not hesitate.”

About five teams with multiple drones each were deployed to specific neighborhoods prone to flooding. Zach Iscol, the city’s emergency management commissioner, said the messages were being relayed in multiple languages. They were expected to continue until the weather impacted the drone flights.

Flash floods have been deadly for New Yorkers living in basement apartments, which can quickly fill up in a deluge. Eleven people drowned in such homes in 2011 amid rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

The drones are in addition to other forms of emergency messaging, including social media, text alerts and a system that reaches more than 2,000 community-based organizations throughout the city that serve senior citizens, people with disabilities and other groups.

“You know, we live in a bubble, and we have to meet people where they are in notifications so they can be prepared,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Adams is a self-described “tech geek” whose administration has tapped drone technology to monitor large gatherings as well as to search for sharks on beaches. Under his watch, the city’s police department also briefly toyed with using a robot to patrol the Times Square subway station, and it has sometimes deployed a robotic dog to dangerous scenes, including the Manhattan parking garage that collapsed in 2023.
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WASHINGTON — Harrison Li, the son of Kai Li, a Chinese American wrongfully detained in China since 2016, felt a mix of emotions after witnessing the recent return of Americans wrongfully imprisoned in Russia.

Last Thursday, President Joe Biden and the families of those released celebrated the return of three Americans and a permanent resident, including two journalists and an activist, as part of the largest prisoner exchange since the Soviet era.

Kai Li is one of at least three Americans wrongfully detained in China. He was arrested in Shanghai in September 2016 and in 2018 was sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage, which he has consistently denied. The other two wrongfully detained by China are Texas businessman Mark Swidan and California pastor David Lin.

The U.S. State Department does not disclose the number of wrongful detention cases due to privacy concerns and the sensitivity of efforts to secure the release of wrongfully detained U.S. nationals.

“U.S. citizens are not required to register their travel to a foreign country with us, and we do not maintain comprehensive lists of U.S. citizens residing overseas,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA in an email when asked about the total number of wrongfully detained Americans in China.

For the past eight years, Harrison Li has urged two consecutive U.S. administrations to secure his father’s release.

“Our family is extremely pleased to see the return of Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Evan Gershkovich back to the U.S. and wish them and their families the best in the long road to recovery,” Li told VOA in a written statement.

“Once again, President Biden has shown his willingness to make difficult decisions that prioritize the safety of Americans unjustly detained abroad … except in China.”

Li expressed frustration over the lack of attention given to his father’s case by the U.S. administration.

“All we can do is once again remind the President that my dad has suffered unjustly for almost 8 years now, and that he must act to ‘finish the job’ before it’s too late,” Li wrote.

Several members of Congress are also urging the Biden administration to secure the release of Americans wrongfully detained in China.

Congressman Michael McCaul, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, told VOA that Americans wrongfully detained in China and elsewhere deserve to be home with their families.

“One American wrongfully detained abroad is too many,” he said. “As wrongfully detained Americans returned home this week from Russia, we cannot forget about those held around the world, including those in China — particularly Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and David Lin.”

Families call for urgent action

Katherine Swidan, the mother of Mark Swidan, revealed that her son has been on a hunger strike for many days. He has been detained in China since 2012 on narcotics trafficking charges, which he denies.

“Mark’s been on a hunger strike for 115 days. He’s lost a lot of weight, and he’s been sick. His leg was swollen, and they did a very sparse medical exam,” Swidan told VOA.

According to Swidan, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns visited her son in the past.

“When he went to see Mark, he told Mark the next time I come to see you, hopefully it will be to bring you home,” Swidan said.

That message left both her and Mark full of hope, but Mark continues to experience disappointment and anger and has had suicidal tendencies.

“When I talked to him, he said he was in a room with, like, nine other people, seven to nine people. He is doing gardening, planting stuff. But he is furious because he doesn’t understand why they are not pushing for him to come home,” she said.

Renewed focus

Peter Humphrey, a former British reporter in China, was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to two and a half years in prison for illegally obtaining citizen information. He was released early in June 2015 due to health reasons and was deported after medical treatment in Shanghai.

Now a nonresident researcher at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for China Studies, Humphrey uses his experience to assist foreign citizens detained in China and help them contact government officials. He says he has supported some American detainees whose cases remained unreported for fear that publicity would make their situations worse.

Humphrey believes that after last week’s U.S.-Russia prisoner exchange, the United States should refocus its attention on Americans improperly detained in China and elsewhere.

“These people are arbitrarily detained, and the American government should wake up and understand the fact that it is their duty of care to protect American citizens in China who become victims of this false and cruel process of Chinese justice,” he told VOA. “Some talks are happening but not like significant progress.”

Travel advisory

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas.

“Secretary Blinken, Ambassador Burns, and other senior U.S. government officials continue to advocate for the immediate and unconditional release of wrongfully detained U.S. citizens in meetings with PRC officials,” the spokesperson told VOA. “The U.S. mission in China will continue to offer consular services to every U.S. citizen detained in the PRC.”

The Department of State travel advisory is at Level 3 for mainland China, recommending that U.S. citizens reconsider travel due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws, exit bans and the risk of wrongful detentions.

“The sad facts are that the PRC has blocked U.S. citizens, including college students, minors, businesspeople and tourists from leaving the country. U.S. citizens have been wrongfully detained by the PRC, and the PRC often arbitrarily enforces its own laws,” the spokesperson said.

Family appeals

Nelson and Cynthia Wells, whose son Nelson Wells Jr. was detained in China in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment for “drug smuggling” (later commuted to 22 years), have written letters to three consecutive U.S. presidents about their son’s imprisonment but have never received a response.

“We also don’t know if they received the letters,” they said. “I really believe that if we’re high-profile people, well, if we’re famous, or we’re a top athlete, or we have a lot of money, or we have any type of political connections, then we might get some recognition,” Nelson Wells told VOA.

The case has drawn the attention of U.S. Senators John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy, who are advocating for Nelson Wells Jr. to be recognized as “wrongfully detained.” Last October, Nelson and Cynthia Wells spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who assured them he continues to address the issue.
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