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Українська правозахисниця отримала шведську премію за документування злочинів РФ проти дітей

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«За виняткову стійкість і відданість правам людини, демократії і правам дітей визначати своє власне майбутнє Марія Суляліна отримала нагороду «Правозахисник року 2024»
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Blinken kicks off direct engagement with China ahead of tough talks

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State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the necessity for “direct” and “sustained engagement” between the United States and China during his first official meeting in Shanghai, a city home to more than 1,000 U.S. companies.

Thursday morning, Blinken held talks with Chen Jining, Chinese Communist Party Secretary for Shanghai. Chen is the highest-ranking local official and is a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.

Blinken said he would lay out “our differences, which are real” but seek to “work through them” as well as to “build cooperation where we can.”

Welcoming the Secretary to Shanghai at the city’s Grand Halls, Chen said through a translator that since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the relationship between the two nations has not always been smooth, there’s always been “twists and turns,” “but overall, it has progressed with historical development and progressed forward.”

Blinken was last in Shanghai in 2015 when he was deputy secretary of state.

“In a constructive and candid exchange, the secretary raised concerns about PRC trade policies and non-market economic practices and stressed that the United States seeks a healthy economic competition with the PRC and a level playing field for U.S. workers and firms operating in China,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.  He was referring to People’s Republic of China.

During a discussion with American and Chinese students from New York University Shanghai, Blinken underscored the importance of expanding exchanges between students, scholars, and business.

“We need to make sure that we are talking to each other, hearing each other, understanding each other,” he said.

According to the State Department, the NYU Shanghai student body currently consists of nearly 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students, half of whom are from China. Students from the United States and some 70 other countries represent the other half.  There are approximately 500 U.S. students.

Later Thursday, Blinken met with business leaders at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, advocating for the resolution of a range of trade issues facing the world’s two largest economies.

In a brief video, Blinken said late Wednesday he is in China “to make progress on issues that matter most to the American people, including curbing fentanyl trafficking,” against the backdrop of Shanghai’s skyline. He added that officials from the U.S. and China will also discuss other areas where the two countries have “significant disagreements.”

While Washington and Beijing are divided over a range of thorny issues, Blinken began his visit to China this week focusing first on the importance of direct engagement. It is something, he says, is essential for addressing key issues affecting people from both countries and the world. 

Analysts told VOA Blinken’s visit will surface a range of contentious issues but also maintain “the tactical thaw” that gained momentum following U.S. President Joe Biden’s face-to-face talks with PRC President Xi Jinping last November.

“The relationship continues to grow more competitive militarily, technologically, and diplomatically, but the increase is occurring in a more predictable, controlled manner than it was a year earlier due to both countries’ continued investment in high-level diplomacy,” Ali Wyne, a senior research and advocacy adviser for International Crisis Group, told VOA Mandarin in an email.

Intensive diplomacy between Washington and Beijing has yielded little progress in curtailing China’s supply of precursor chemicals used to manufacture illicit fentanyl that affects the United States.  Strains are escalating due to China’s support for Russia in its war on Ukraine, prompting the U.S. to warn further actions against China.

“I’m very pessimistic about this visit. Xi Jinping is committed to helping his close friend Putin and will not be very responsive to America’s requests,” Dennis Wilder, senior fellow for the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University, told VOA Mandarin.

A day before Blinken departed for Shanghai, he unveiled the State Department’s annual report on human rights practices, which said that the PRC government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.  Blinken told reporters that he would raise the issue of human rights with the Beijing government.

Blinken is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing Friday afternoon.

The State Department said Blinken will hold a press conference in Beijing before returning to Washington.   
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US police clash with students who demand colleges cut financial ties to Israel

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austin, texas — Police tangled with student demonstrators in the U.S. states of Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.

At the University of Texas at Austin, hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — clashed with protesters, pushing them off the campus lawn and at one point sending some tumbling into the street. At least 20 demonstrators were taken into custody at the request of university officials and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.

A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was arrested after being caught in a push-and-pull between law enforcement and students, the station confirmed. A longtime Texas journalist was knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff who bandaged his head.

At the University of Southern California, police got into a back-and-forth tugging match with protesters over tents, removing several before falling back. At the northern end of California, students were barricaded inside a building for a third day at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The school shut down campus through the weekend and made classes virtual.

Harvard University in Massachusetts had sought to stay ahead of protests this week by limiting access to Harvard Yard and requiring permission for tents and tables. That didn’t stop protesters from setting up a camp with 14 tents Wednesday following a rally against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.

Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling its monthslong conflict. Dozens have been arrested on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.

Columbia University averted another confrontation between students and police earlier in the day. The situation there remained tense, with campus officials saying it would continue talks with protesters for another 48 hours.

On a visit to campus, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, called on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign “if she cannot bring order to this chaos.”

“If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard,” he said.

Shafik had set a midnight Tuesday deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment, but the school extended negotiations, saying it was making “important progress.”

On Wednesday evening, a Columbia spokesperson said rumors that the university had threatened to bring in the National Guard were unfounded. “Our focus is to restore order, and if we can get there through dialogue, we will,” said Ben Chang, Columbia’s vice president for communications.

Columbia graduate student Omer Lubaton Granot, who put up pictures of Israeli hostages near the encampment, said he wanted to remind people that there were more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas.

“I see all the people behind me advocating for human rights,” he said. “I don’t think they have one word to say about the fact that people their age, that were kidnapped from their homes or from a music festival in Israel, are held by a terror organization.”

Harvard law student Tala Alfoqaha, who is Palestinian, said she and other protesters want more transparency from the university.

“My hope is that the Harvard administration listens to what its students have been asking for all year, which is divestment, disclosure and dropping any sort of charges against students,” she said.

Columbia encampment inspires others

Police first tried to clear the encampment at Columbia last week, when they arrested more than 100 protesters. The move backfired, acting as an inspiration for other students across the country to set up similar encampments and motivating protesters at Columbia to regroup.

On Wednesday about 60 tents remained at the Columbia encampment, which appeared calm. Security remained tight around campus, with identification required and police setting up metal barricades.

Columbia said it had agreed with protest representatives that only students would remain at the encampment and they would make it welcoming, banning discriminatory or harassing language.

On the University of Minnesota campus, a few dozen students rallied a day after nine protesters were arrested when police took down an encampment in front of the library. U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, whose daughter was among the demonstrators arrested at Columbia last week, attended a protest later in the day.

A group of more than 80 professors and assistant professors signed a letter Wednesday calling on the university’s president and other administrators to drop any charges and to allow future encampments without what they described as police retaliation.

They wrote that they were “horrified that the administration would permit such a clear violation of our students’ rights to freely speak out against genocide and ongoing occupation of Palestine.”

Netanyahu encourages police response

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on U.S. college campuses in a video statement released Wednesday, saying the response of several university presidents has been “shameful” and calling on state, local and federal officials to intervene.

Students at some protests were hiding their identities and declined to identify themselves to reporters, saying they feared retribution. At an encampment of about 40 tents at the heart of the University of Michigan’s campus in Ann Arbor, almost every student wore a mask, which was handed to them when they entered.

The upwelling of demonstrations has left universities struggling to balance campus safety with free speech rights. Many long tolerated the protests, but are now doling out more heavy-handed discipline, citing safety concerns.

At New York University this week, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody and all had been released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges. More than 40 protesters were arrested Monday at an encampment at Yale University.
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Biden signs measure aimed at targeting Captagon trade in Syria

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Washington   — Largely overlooked in the massive foreign aid package signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday is a measure that targets the trafficking of a dangerous drug in Syria. 

The Illicit Captagon Trafficking Suppression Act is part of the package providing military and other aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. It provides for new sanctions against individuals, entities and networks affiliated with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who produce and traffic Captagon.   

Captagon is an addictive, amphetamine-like drug that is cheaply produced. Since the beginning of Syria’s civil war in 2011, the country has become a regional hub for the production and smuggling of Captagon. 

“This is a good step towards accountability and hindering and dismantling Assad’s illicit drug trade in Syria and the Middle East,” the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a Washington-based advocacy group, said in a statement.  

The measure is seen as a continuation of previous congressional actions that have targeted the growing Captagon trade in Syria.  

Mohammed Alaa Ghanem, policy chief of the American Coalition for Syria, said the new measure was sought by the Syrian American community “to address Assad’s pervasive involvement in the Captagon drug trade, which has tragically transformed Syria into a narco-state.” 

“We are encouraged by the enactment of this bill into law,” Ghanem told VOA in an email. “Its inclusion in the comprehensive legislative package which was signed by the president into law highlights Congress’ dedication to the objectives laid out in the original Captagon Act that Congress passed in Dec 2022.”  

The bill was introduced to Congress by Republican Representative French Hill from Arkansas, who said Wednesday on X, “With my bill now signed into law, those directly involved with the proliferation of this dangerous drug will be targeted and sanctioned. 

“It’s crucial that we take further action to disrupt and dismantle the production and trafficking of captagon as it generates billions of illicit funding for the Assad regime and devastates families in the region,” he said.   

Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, two major backers of the Syrian government, have also been involved in drug trafficking in Syria. Observers say the trade also has funded Tehran’s military activities in the region.   

Caroline Rose, director of the Strategic Blind Spots Portfolio at the Washington-based New Lines Institute, said the bill is part of a broader U.S. strategy that seeks to curb Captagon trafficking and production in the Middle East.  

“We have seen two rounds of sanctions against Captagon agents imposed by the U.S. Treasury in the last two years, so this will keep the pressure on the U.S. inter-agency strategy to identify more eligible Captagon producers and traffickers to target,” she said.
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