U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump says the Biden administration engineered his criminal convictions in New York to gain an advantage in this November’s election. President Joe Biden says the justice system should be respected. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns reports.
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Раніше журналіст Юрій Стригун, який підтвердив факт розсилання «темників» в агентстві, отримав повістку з вимогою з’явитися до ТЦК
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«Підрозділ Баранова співставляє координати цілей, з локаціями цивільних об’єктів на картах. Рашисти свідомо б’ють по українських мирних об’єктах»
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— Ugandan authorities objected Friday to new U.S. sanctions over what the United States calls significant corruption and gross human rights violations, saying the sanctions target parliament Speaker Anita Among and other officials who backed the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Law.
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department placed travel and financial sanctions on Among for what it called significant corruption tied to her leadership position.
Others sanctioned were ministers Amos Lugolobi, Agnes Nandutu and Mary Goretti Gitutu for allegedly misusing public resources and diverting materials from Uganda’s neediest communities.
Ugandan State Minister for Foreign Affairs Oryem Okello argued that all the ministers who were sanctioned are currently facing Ugandan courts of law, which have yet to find rule on the cases.
The sanctions also target Lieutenant General Peter Elwelu for his role in clashes between Ugandan security forces and a local militant group that resulted in the deaths of over 100 people.
However, Okello said the U.S. government’s action is really targeting Among.
“My belief is that this is an insult and undermines our judicial system,” Okello said.
“The sanctions are unjust. They are punitive,” he said. “They are bullish because they know that we cannot do anything against it. And it’s just deliberate to punish the speaker for her role and leadership to fight LBGTQ and homosexuality in Uganda.”
The U.S. State Department said it stands with Ugandans advocating for democratic principles, a government that delivers for all its citizens and accountability for actions committed by those who abuse their positions through corruption and gross violations of human rights.
Ugandan political analyst Mary Anne Nanfuka said that those people targeted by the sanctions are not acting on their own and that sanctions never work as a deterrent.
“I see that these Western countries want to pander to their electorate,” Nanfuka said.
“They know very well that they need the government to cooperate with them in certain areas. So, once push comes to shove, they will let it pass. Yes, it’s a gesture, but no, we are still not impressed,” she said.
Chris Obore, the head of public affairs in the Ugandan parliament, said the corruption allegations are political and vendetta-driven, otherwise they would have targeted the entire Ugandan cabinet.
The State Department specifically mentioned a giveaway of iron roofing sheets that were meant for a poor community but were instead shared by top government members among themselves.
“It is a sign of their latent anger against the speaker for presiding over the anti-homosexuality law,” Obore said. “It is clear that the U.K., U.S., Canada have been putting pressure when that law was being debated here. Because it is not about iron sheets. How did the speaker personally benefit from those iron sheets when public schools that were roofed are there?”
Okello said Uganda will engage U.S. government officials and get to the bottom of how the State Department decided to approve the sanctions.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday called on Hamas militants to agree to a new offer from Israel on releasing hostages in exchange for a Gaza cease-fire, saying this is the best way to begin winding down the deadly conflict.
“With a cease-fire, that aid could be safely and effectively distributed to all who need it,” Biden said.
“As someone who’s had a lifelong commitment to Israel, as the only American president who has ever gone to Israel at a time of war, as someone who just sent the U.S. forces to directly defend Israel when it was attacked by Iran, I ask you to take a step back, think what will happen if this moment is lost,” he said. “We can’t lose this moment.”
A hostage proposal put forward earlier this year called for the release of sick, elderly and wounded hostages in Gaza in exchange for a six-week cease-fire that could be extended to allow for more humanitarian aid to be delivered into the enclave.
The proposed deal fell apart earlier this month after Israel refused to agree to a permanent end to the war as part of the negotiations and ramped up an assault on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Hamas said on Thursday it had told mediators it would not take part in more negotiations during ongoing aggression but was ready for a “complete agreement,” including an exchange of hostages and prisoners if Israel stopped the war.
Talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and others to arrange a cease-fire between Israel and the Islamist movement in the Gaza war have repeatedly stalled, with both sides blaming the other for the lack of progress.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan would meet on Friday with diplomats from 17 countries who have citizens held hostage in Gaza by Hamas.
Israel will not agree to any halt in fighting that is not part of a deal that includes the return of surviving hostages, a senior Israeli security official said Friday.
Overshadowing Biden was an Israeli airstrike in Rafah on Sunday that killed 45 Palestinians.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday that recent Israeli ground operations in Rafah would not prompt a U.S. withdrawal of more military aid.
Palestinian health authorities estimate more than 36,280 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel attacked the enclave in response to an October 7 Hamas assault in southern Israel. The Hamas attack killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
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Тарифи ще якийсь час не змінювалися б, якби Росія не атакувала енергетичну інфраструктуру України, заявив міністр енергетики
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«Під керівництвом фігуранта загарбники незаконно «продали» «Массандру» російському олігарху та «другу» Путіна – Юрію Ковальчуку», заявляє відомство
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Singapore — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun held their first in-person meeting on the sideline of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday.
The two officials exchanged views on a range of contentious issues, including the rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, the ongoing confrontation between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, as well as major global conflicts like Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Middle East conflict.
During the 75-minute meeting, Austin and Dong both highlighted the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the two militaries and vowed to resume the hotline between theater commanders from both sides in the coming months.
Austin reiterated Washington’s concern about China’s recent two-day military exercise encircling Taiwan and urged Beijing not to use Taiwan’s political transition, which he characterized as part of a routine democratic process, as “a pretext for coercive measures” against the democratic island.
At a news conference Friday following the meeting between the two defense officials, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian told journalists from more than a dozen Chinese and foreign media outlets, including VOA, that the Taiwan question remains purely China’s internal affairs and that external forces “have no right to interfere in the issue.”
Washington’s behavior “severely violated the commitments made by the U.S. side” and sent wrong signals to “the Taiwan independence separatist forces,” Wu said during the 50-minute news conference.
In addition to the rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, Austin and Dong also exchanged views on the ongoing confrontation between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.
Austin said the United States will continue to “fly, sail, and operate” wherever international law allows safely and responsibly while stressing the importance of respecting high seas freedom of navigation under international law, especially in the South China Sea.
During the meeting, Dong said the Philippines has broken its promises due to support from “outside forces” and keeps making provocations on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, which both Beijing and Manila view as its territories, according to Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu.
The Chinese defense minister also criticized Washington for deploying mid-range missile systems to the Philippines “under cover of a military exercise,” warning that such a move poses a real threat to regional security.
“We remain committed to resolving the disagreements with the Philippines side through consultation on an equal footing, but our tolerance for continued and intensified provocations will have a limit,” Wu told journalists during the press conference.
Apart from the two contentious issues in the Indo-Pacific region, Austin and Dong also exchanged views on the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The U.S. defense secretary expressed Washington’s concerns about North Korea’s “direct contributions to Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine.”
Dong reiterated that China has maintained a “just and impartial position” on the Ukraine conflict, honored the promise of not providing weapons to either side in the war and strictly controlled the “export of military items and dual-use goods in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.”
He urged the United States not to shift the blame for the ongoing war onto China and said that Beijing will continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace talks, according to Wu.
The Chinese Defense Ministry said the two sides will have ongoing consultations regarding future exchanges between the two militaries, with engagements between military academies and potential bilateral policy dialogues being the potential starting point.
“We believe that having meetings is better than no meeting and having dialogues is better than having no dialogue at all,” Wu told journalists, adding that bilateral exchanges like this meeting can help develop “the sound and stable” military-to-military relationship.
Some analysts say the meeting between Austin and Dong is mainly focusing on “posturing” and sharing the fundamental and core interests and red lines from Beijing and Washington’s perspectives.
“The talk is not about negotiation or high-level diplomacy but more about establishing lines of communication for the hard work that usually goes on at the lower level,” Stephen Nagy, a regional security expert at the International Christian University in Japan, told VOA.
While military-to-military communication between Beijing and Washington is important and has the effect of de-escalating growing regional tensions, one thing that remains to be seen is whether the Chinese side will “pick up the phone” in the event of an actual crisis.
“Due to the nature of China’s political system, power has been highly centralized under Xi Jinping, [so] we are not sure if our Chinese counterpart would be able to pick up the phone, communicate and make decisions in a crisis situation,” he added.
Despite this uncertainty, some experts say conversations between defense leaders remain “incredibly helpful.” The two officials “can have a conversation about intentions that’s incredibly stabilizing to the overall relationship, [but] I don’t think there is a lot of room for adjusting each side’s red lines,” Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, told VOA by phone.
But with tensions rising in several parts of Asia, including the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, and the Korean Peninsula, some observers, say Friday’s dialogue between Austin and Dong will be increasingly crucial for the region, especially at a time when there are two ongoing military conflicts in the world.
“It is a way both sides can turn down the temperature, exchange information in a multilateral security forum, and have corridor diplomacy, which is extremely important for high-context Asian culture that shies away from talking about volatile issues openly and frankly in the public,” Lim Tai Wei, Professor at the National University of Singapore, told VOA in a video interview.
VOA Seoul Correspondent William Gallo contributed to this report.
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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, in person for the first time Friday on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the details.
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CAIRO — The U.S. and British militaries said they launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday as part of efforts to deter the militant group from further disrupting shipping in the Red Sea, with Houthi media reporting at least two people killed.
The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that U.S. and British forces had hit 13 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
The British Defense Ministry said the joint operation targeted three locations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, which it said housed drones and surface-to-air weapons.
The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported at least two deaths and 10 injuries from strikes against a radio building in Hodeidah’s Al-Hawk district.
“As ever, the utmost care was taken in planning the strikes to minimize any risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure,” the British Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“Conducting the strikes in the hours of darkness should also have mitigated yet further any such risks.”
The Houthi-run media said a total of 13 strikes had been launched against Yemen, including six on the capital Sanaa.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital and most populous areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas militants, drawing U.S. and British retaliatory strikes since February.
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STATE DEPARTMENT — Senior officials from the United States and the People’s Republic of China held diplomatic talks in Washington on Thursday to try to defuse tensions, to discuss efforts to maintain military-to-military communication, and to advance cooperation.
Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Kurt Campbell hosted China’s Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu at the State Department for talks aimed at maintaining open communication to prevent miscalculations and unintended conflicts, especially during times of tension.
Following two hours of face-to-face discussions, U.S. and Chinese officials had a working lunch at the State Department. Later in the afternoon, U.S. deputy national security adviser Jon Finer continued discussions with Ma.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan also stopped by the meeting to greet Ma and exchanged views on key issues.
“The two sides discussed ongoing work to continue military-to-military communication and advance cooperation in areas where our interests align, such as counternarcotics,” the White House said in a statement, ahead of the expected meeting between U.S. and China defense chiefs during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
They also discussed areas of disagreement.
“Finer affirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. He underscored U.S. support for international law and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. The two sides also discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine, challenges in the Middle East, and efforts to advance the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the White House statement said.
The visit by Ma follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Shanghai and Beijing in April. Officials said it builds on the U.S.’s intensive diplomacy with the PRC to responsibly manage competition in the relationship, even in areas where the two countries disagree.
The State Department has said the U.S. is engaging in face-to-face diplomacy with China to clearly and directly communicate Washington’s positions and intentions, aiming to make progress on bilateral, regional and global issues.
A spokesperson from PRC’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Ma would also “interact and communicate with representatives from various sectors in the U.S.” during his visit to the country Thursday to Sunday.
State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday that the U.S. would continue its engagement with China at senior levels while raising concerns over contentious issues, including Beijing’s support for Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.
“If China does not curtail its support for Russia’s defense industrial base, the U.S. would be prepared to take further steps,” Patel told reporters during a briefing.
He added, “The PRC’s reconstitution of the Russian defense industrial base not only threatens Ukrainian security but also threatens European security,” a view held by the United States, the G7, the European Union and NATO countries.
However, Patel declined to preview any potential U.S. sanctions.
While in Beijing last month, Blinken voiced “serious concern” regarding China’s support for Russia’s defense industry, warning Chinese leaders that Washington could impose sanctions over the matter.
China has defended its approach to Russia, saying it is engaged only in normal economic exchanges with a major trading partner.
On Wednesday, Campbell renewed the U.S. warnings, saying Chinese support was helping to revitalize Russia’s military capabilities, including long-range missiles, artillery, drones and battlefield tracking.
During his visit to Brussels, Campbell emphasized the urgent need for European and NATO countries “to send a collective message of concern to China about its actions, which we view are destabilizing in the heart of Europe.”
The latest U.S.-China talks occur just days after China conducted a large-scale, two-day military exercise involving 111 aircraft and 46 naval vessels around Taiwan. Washington has strongly urged Beijing to exercise restraint and has reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Mark Lambert, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for China and Taiwan, met virtually on May 23 with Hong Liang, the PRC’s director-general for boundary and ocean affairs. During the meeting, Lambert expressed profound concerns regarding People’s Liberation Army joint military drills in the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan.
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Washington — A 35-year-old Chinese national is facing charges related to committing cybercrimes that FBI Director Christopher Wray described as “likely the world’s largest botnet ever.”
The arrest in Singapore was the result of an international coordinated effort that included law enforcement agencies from Germany, Singapore, the United States and Thailand.
YunHe Wang, arrested on May 24, is accused of being the creator of the 911 S5 botnet, a residential proxy service.
Wang, along with other unnamed parties, created the 911 S5 botnet to facilitate “cyber-attacks, large-scale fraud, child exploitation, harassment, bomb threats, and export violations,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a Department of Justice press release on Wednesday.
Wang sold access to infected IP addresses to cybercriminals in exchange for crypto or fiat currency. From these transactions, he received at least $99 million in profits, the DOJ stated.
The cybercriminals Wang transacted with were allegedly able to use the infected IP addresses to “bypass financial fraud detection systems and steal billions of dollars from financial institutions, credit card issuers, and federal lending programs,” according to the DOJ release.
The compromised IP addresses allowed Wang’s customers to create fraudulent unemployment claims that targeted pandemic relief programs. The United States estimates they lost $5.9 billion from these fraudulent claims.
Wang used his profits to buy property in China, St. Kitts and Nevis, the United States, Singapore, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. Wang also spent his money on luxury cars and watches.
Wang faces several charges including substantive computer fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Wang could face up to 65 years in prison if convicted.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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United Nations — The U.N. General Assembly drew criticism Thursday for its tribute to the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash, with Washington boycotting the gathering.
Following a minute’s silence, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered his condolences to the families of the victims of the May 19 incident, as well as to the Iranian people.
“I wish to assure that the United Nations stands in solidarity with the Iranian people and in the quest for peace, development and fundamental freedoms,” Guterres said.
“For that, the United Nations will be guided by the Charter to help realize peace and security, sustainable development and human rights for all,” he added.
Asked about the U.N. chief offering condolences in the days after the leader’s death, Guterres’s official spokesman defended his position.
The secretary-general “has never been shy about expressing his deep concerns about the human rights situation in Iran, notably on the issues of women,” Stephane Dujarric said.
“It does not stop him from expressing condolences when the head of state of a Member State of this organization, and a foreign minister, with whom he met regularly … dies in a helicopter crash,” he added.
The General Assembly pays tribute to any head of state of a U.N. member country who dies in office, including Namibian President Hage Geingob, an independence stalwart, last February, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2011.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.N., Munir Akram, spoke for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and hailed what he called Raisi’s legacy of “socio-economic and political transformation” in Iran.
No representatives of Western countries spoke at the tribute and some, such as France and the United States, did not send representatives.
“The U.N. should be standing with the people of Iran. Raisi was involved in numerous, horrific human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killings of thousands of political prisoners in 1988,” said Nate Evans, spokesman for the U.S. delegation.
“Some of the worst human rights abuses on record took place during his tenure,” Evans added.
Outside the U.N. headquarters in New York several dozen protesters opposed to the Iranian authorities chanted “shame on U.N.”
Israel’s ambassador Gilad Erdan, who condemned the initial minute silence at the Security Council on May 20, also criticized Thursday’s event.
“The UN was founded to prevent atrocities, but today it salutes mass-murdering dictators!” he wrote on X last week.
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Документи та інтерв’ю, в якому Львов не спростовував, що мав родичів і нерухомість в Москві, були опубліковані Радіо Свобода 29 травня
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