The Little Saigon district in California’s Orange County is home to a large concentration of Vietnamese people. In hopes of engaging these voters, candidates for public office are putting up signs and holding events. VOA’s Long Nguyen reports, Elizabeth Cherneff narrates. Camera: Vu Nguyen.
…

WASHINGTON — Analysts warn that Apple’s removal of two apps from an independent media site from its Russian App Store sets a “dangerous precedent.”

The affected apps are for Current Time, a Russian-language network produced by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, or RFE/RL, in cooperation with VOA, and a Kyrgyz-language news app.

RFE/RL and VOA are independent media outlets funded by the U.S. Congress.

In a letter to RFE/RL, Apple said the action was in response to content that is deemed illegal in Russia. Apple added that in Russia, RFE/RL is labeled an “undesirable” organization.

RFE/RL President Stephen Capus said he is concerned about Apple’s compliance with Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulatory agency.

“We hope this decision — which is part of a trend to deny people in authoritarian countries access to uncensored information — will be reversed,” Capus said in a statement shared with VOA.

Digital rights experts condemned the move.

“These trends set a dangerous precedent in which tech companies could inadvertently aid state-sponsored information censorship,” Matt Mahmoudi of Amnesty Tech told VOA.

When tech companies comply with foreign government requests, it could be because they “place profit margins over their obligations under international law,” according to Mahmoudi. These bans violate the U.N. right to free expression, he said.

Apple did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, called on Apple to reinstate the apps.

Such bans “restrict access to vital information and embolden authoritarian regimes seeking to silence independent media in countries like Russia,” said CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Gulnoza Said.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, analysts have documented how Moscow has used internet blocks along with laws around false information about the war and so-called “undesirable” organizations to block independent media.

Access to independent news is limited, with websites, including RFE/RL and VOA, blocked. In February, Russia also designated RFE/RL an “undesirable organization.” The designation means that an entity is seen as a threat to national security. These organizations and their audiences can face penalties as a result.

Separately, Russia experienced a mass YouTube outage in August. The platform is one of the few remaining sites where audiences can access independent information.

The country has long experienced slow playback speeds, making video-watching nearly impossible.

Russia at the time blamed YouTube’s parent company Google. But investigative reporters found Russia’s state regulator responsible. YouTube also rejected claims that it was responsible for the slowdown.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment.

To circumvent censorship, audiences often rely on Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, to access banned apps, according to Anastasia Zhyrmont of the digital civil rights group Access Now.

Last month, Apple was criticized after it banned 98 VPN services from its Russian App Store. The media regulator in July had publicly requested 25 be removed.

“The trend is very concerning,” Zhyrmont told VOA. “VPNs are essential for users in restrictive environments, especially in Russia.”

Some media sites that Russia has banned use technologies embedded in apps to circumvent the firewalls and bans. The news website Meduza, which is blocked inside Russia, uses data obfuscation technology to reach Russian audiences without a VPN, according to a representative from their tech team.

“It is cat-mice game — they’re trying to block our tech, and we’re trying to come up with something new,” the representative, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told VOA in an email.

Zhyrmont wants Apple to offer transparency on its decision to remove the news apps from the Russian market and on what Roskomnadzor’s requests looked like.

Until then, she said, “There’s an agreement between digital rights experts and human rights defenders that all that is happening is an act of censorship.”

Russia scores 20 out of 100 on the Freedom on the Net index, where 0 shows the most restrictive digital environments.
…

Rome — A major Vatican meeting gathering clerics and laity across the globe to discuss the future of the Catholic Church closes this weekend, thwarting discussion of women becoming priests or deacons in the world’s largest Christian denomination.

But that didn’t stop a half-dozen Catholic women from “ordination” in a secret ceremony in Rome that was not authorized by the Vatican.

Jesuit Father Allan Deck, a professor at the Los Angeles-based Loyola Marymount University, told VOA that the Catholic Church under Pope Francis’ leadership recognizes the need for adaptability to realize its spiritual mission in the world at this time of significant change.

“Not the first time that the church in its 2,000-year history has experienced very significant shifts,” he said. “The church, in order to accomplish its mission, has to engage people, circumstances and times. And it has to be capable of development, while at the same time remaining faithful to its mission and to the revelation that has been communicated to it. This is hard. This is what’s happening.”

While Catholic women participated over the past month in what many consider the most significant Catholic gathering since the 1960s — called the “synod on synodality” — many of their number were let down by a Vatican decision to sideline talk of the ordination of female priests or deacons, instead referring the matter to a future study group.

Bridget Mary Meehan, an American co-founder of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, told VOA that her organization has performed 270 ordinations of women in 14 countries since its creation in 2002.

“We wanted to share with Pope Francis that it is time to build a bridge between the international women priests’ movement and the Vatican,” she said. “We are on the same page as he is about a synodal church. We believe all are called, all are equal and all are co-responsible for the mission of the church — to be the face of Christ in the world in loving and compassionate service. One of these ways is ordained ministry.”

Advocates say women play a huge role in daily Catholic ministries — also called the diakonia — in education, pastoral care and hospitals worldwide. In some places, women are especially active because there are no priests, such as in the Amazon. But often their leadership is not recognized.

Meehan “ordained” six Catholic women from France, Spain and the United States on a barge on Rome’s Tiber River earlier this month to acknowledge their central role in ministry around the world.

“We did it because we felt that it’s time for us, after 22 years of serving the church in the diakonia ministry, to really share the good news that women are being ordained by Catholic communities who want to call them forward to ministry among them,” Meehan said.

“It’s like a renewal of ministry that is already in the midst of the Catholic Church. It’s already occurring,” she said.

Although Pope Francis has appointed more women to top jobs at the Vatican than any of his predecessors, he has ruled out female priests or deacons ministering in the Catholic Church.
…

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Kiribati President Taneti Maamau, who has led the Pacific Island nation to build closer ties with China in recent years, secured his third term in office on Saturday. He defeated two other candidates in an election closely monitored by countries around the world.

Maamau won about 55% of the vote, while his nearest challenger, Kaotitaaake Kokoria, won 42% of the vote, New Zealand’s High Commissioner in Kiribati said. Kiribati’s chief justice, Tetiro Semilota, declared Maamau the winner and congratulated him.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon became the first international leader to congratulate Maamau for his victory on Saturday. “We look forward to working with the Government of Kiribati to deliver on our shared priorities,” he wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Kiribati is one of the countries that relies heavily on foreign aid. The cost of living, rising sea level and relations with China were the main issues leading up to Friday’s presidential election.

Saturday’s outcome is viewed as the Kiribati voters’ endorsement of policies Maamau’s government has implemented over the last four years, including deepening the Pacific Island nation’s ties with China.

During the parliamentary election in August, the ruling Tobwaan Kiribati Party, or TKP, secured 33 out of 44 seats in the new parliament, and Maamau won his seat by winning close to 83% of the votes in his district.

“The TKP has a very healthy majority [in the parliament], and it sort of shows that the people of Kiribati want to see more of what has been happening [over the last few years],” said Henryk Szadziewski, an expert on Pacific-China relations at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Since switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019, Kiribati has deepened its engagement with Beijing. The Maamau administration’s efforts to elevate security ties with the Chinese government have prompted concerns from partners such as Australia and the United States.

In 2021, China helped Kiribati revamp a World War II-era airstrip on the island of Kanton, which is less than 3,000 kilometers from Hawaii and Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, where major U.S. military bases are located.

In February, Kiribati’s acting police commissioner, Eeri Aritiera, revealed that Chinese police would help Kiribati’s community policing program and IT department, raising concerns from the U.S. that the cooperation could negatively impact Kiribati’s sovereignty.

Some analysts say since China has ambitions to deepen its economic and security reach in the Pacific region, Australia and the United States are very concerned about any advancement in security relations between Beijing and Pacific Island countries.

“It’s unclear how the policing arrangement with Kiribati will evolve in Maamou’s next term, but it’s unlikely that Chinese engagement will cease or decrease,” said Meg Keen, a senior fellow at Lowy Institute in Australia.

Despite these concerns, Szadziewski said Kiribati’s efforts to build closer ties with China shouldn’t be viewed through a pure zero-sum lens. “The Kiribati economy is heavily reliant on tourism and fishing, and China has stepped up with infrastructure projects in that respect,” he told VOA by phone.

But China’s engagement with Kiribati hasn’t been “all benevolence,” Szadziewski said. “Kiribati has opened up its maritime domain for increased Chinese fishing, so there is something in it for China that’s economic,” he said.

During a reception celebrating the fifth anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic ties between China and Kiribati, the Chinese ambassador to Kiribati, Zhou Limin, said the relationship has further consolidated and vowed to strengthen synergy between the two countries in the future.

Under Maamau’s third term, Keen in Australia said, Kiribati will likely maintain its close relationship with China while also trying to seek assistance from other countries, such as Australia, to help improve the country’s infrastructure and climate resilience.

“There’s no indication that the relationship with China will change under another term for Maamau, and he will be seeking a strong legacy in his final term by working with any development partner that can assist with his ambitious development goals,” Keen told VOA in a written response.

She added that most Pacific leaders don’t view maintaining relations with China or other democratic countries such as Australia as “an either/or choice.”

In response to China’s elevated relations with Kiribati, Australia and the United States have also stepped up efforts to deepen ties with the Pacific Islands nation.

In 2023, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced that Canberra would “rapidly scale up” security and development with Kiribati during her visit to the country. In February, the U.S. Coast Guard conducted joint patrols with Kiribati in the country’s exclusive economic zone.

Despite these efforts, Szadziewski at the University of Hawaii said it’s important for democratic countries to understand the priorities of Pacific Island countries and try to engage with them on “equal footing.”

“Pacific Island states have heightened sensitivity about sovereignty, so they prefer to see exchanges with other states on an equal footing,” he told VOA, adding that democratic countries should ensure the priority of their engagement with Pacific Island countries is not solely about geopolitics.

“If China is your main concern and why you are in the region, that’s not going to be something of interest to the Pacific Island leaders,” Szadziewski said.

In addition to the presidential election in Kiribati, Palau is going to hold a general election on November 5, with the current president, Surangel Whipps Jr., running against former president Tommy Remengesau Jr. in a race that analysts say Beijing will be closely following.

Experts say competition for geopolitical influence between China and the U.S. as well as its allies will intensify as countries try to engage with winners emerging from these important elections in the Pacific region.

“Election periods will always heighten activities, and competition [between these countries] is only going to get more intense over the next couple of years,” Blake Johnson, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told VOA by phone.
…

Russian missile strikes killed three people including a child in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro while a teenager and another person died in attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region, officials said Saturday.

Overnight strikes on Dnipro wounded 19 others and damaged multiple buildings, said Sergiy Lysak, the governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

A two-story residential building was destroyed, he said.

Images shared by Lysak showed rescuers working in a pile of rubble, while another showed what appeared to be a hospital room with its windows blown out.

“Three people were killed in Dnipro, including a child. Nineteen were injured, four of them children. Eight are hospitalized,” Lysak said.

Separate night attacks on the capital Kyiv and surrounding region left two people dead, including a teenage girl who was killed in a drone strike, according to regional authorities.

Ukrainian cities including Kyiv have been subjected to deadly drone and missile attacks throughout Russia’s invasion.

Kyiv has been asking for more air defenses from its allies ahead of what is likely to be its toughest winter yet, as Moscow ramps up strikes on energy infrastructure. 
…

Shells fell on the Alaska Native village as winter approached, and then sailors landed and burned what was left of homes, food caches and canoes. Conditions grew so dire in the following months that elders sacrificed their own lives to spare food for surviving children.

It was Oct. 26, 1882, in Angoon, a Tlingit village of about 420 people in the southeastern Alaska panhandle. Now, 142 years later, the perpetrator of the bombardment — the U.S. Navy — is set to say it is sorry.

Rear Adm. Mark Sucato, the commander of the Navy’s northwest region, will issue the apology during a ceremony on Saturday, the anniversary of the atrocity. While the rebuilt Angoon received $90,000 in a settlement with the Department of Interior in 1973, village leaders have for decades sought an apology as well, beginning each yearly remembrance by asking three times, “Is there anyone here from the Navy to apologize?”

“You can imagine the generations of people that have died since 1882 that have wondered what had happened, why it happened, and wanted an apology of some sort, because in our minds, we didn’t do anything wrong,” said Daniel Johnson Jr., a tribal head in Angoon.

The attack was one of a series of conflicts between the American military and Alaska Natives in the years after the U.S. bought the territory from Russia in 1867. The U.S. Navy issued an apology last month for destroying the nearby village of Kake in 1869, and the Army has indicated that it plans to apologize for shelling Wrangell, also in southeast Alaska, that year, though no date has been set.

The Navy acknowledges the actions it undertook or ordered in Angoon and Kake caused deaths, a loss of resources and multigenerational trauma, Navy civilian spokesperson Julianne Leinenveber said in an email.

“An apology is not only warranted, but long overdue,” she said.

Today, Angoon remains a quaint village of about 420 people, with colorful old homes and totem poles clustered on the west side of Admiralty Island, accessible by ferry or float plane, in the Tongass National Forest, the nation’s largest. The residents are vastly outnumbered by brown bears, and the village in recent years has strived to foster its ecotourism industry. Bald eagles and humpback whales abound, and the salmon and halibut fishing is excellent.

Accounts vary as to what prompted its destruction, but they generally begin with the accidental death of a Tlingit shaman, Tith Klane. Klane was killed when a harpoon gun exploded on a whaling ship owned by his employer, the North West Trading Co.

The Navy’s version says tribal members forced the vessel to shore, possibly took hostages and, in accordance with their customs, demanded 200 blankets in compensation.

The company declined to provide the blankets and ordered the Tlingits to return to work. Instead, in sorrow, they painted their faces with coal tar and tallow — something the company’s employees took as a precursor to an insurrection. The company’s superintendent then sought help from Naval Cmdr. E.C. Merriman, the top U.S. official in Alaska, saying a Tlingit uprising threatened the lives and property of white residents.

The Tlingit version contends the boat’s crew, which included Tlingit members, likely remained with the vessel out of respect, planning to attend the funeral, and that no hostages were taken. Johnson said the tribe never would have demanded compensation so soon after the death.

Merriman arrived on Oct. 25 and insisted the tribe provide 400 blankets by noon the next day as punishment for disobedience. When the Tlingits turned over just 81, Merriman attacked, destroying 12 clan houses, smaller homes, canoes and the village’s food stores.

Six children died in the attack, and “there’s untold numbers of elderly and infants who died that winter of both cold, exposure and hunger,” Johnson said.

Billy Jones, Tith Klane’s nephew, was 13 when Angoon was destroyed. Around 1950, he recorded two interviews, and his account was later included in a booklet prepared for the 100th anniversary of the bombing in 1982.

“They left us homeless on the beach,” Jones said.

Rosita Worl, the president of Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, described how some elders that winter “walked into the forest” — meaning they died, sacrificing themselves so the younger people would have more food.

Even though the Navy’s written history conflicts with the Tlingit oral tradition, the Navy defers to the tribe’s account “out of respect for the long-lasting impacts these tragic incidents had on the affected clans,” said Leinenveber, the Navy spokesperson.

Tlingit leaders were so stunned when Navy officials told them, during a Zoom call in May, that the apology would finally be forthcoming that no one spoke for five minutes, Johnson said.

Eunice James, of Juneau, a descendant of Tith Klane, said she hopes the apology helps her family and the entire community heal. She expects his presence at the ceremony.

“Not only his spirit will be there, but the spirit of many of our ancestors, because we’ve lost so many,” she said.
…

MIAMI, FLORIDA — The last Kmart on the U.S. mainland sits at the west end of a busy suburban Miami shopping center, quiet and largely ignored.

All around it are thriving chain stores attracting steady streams of customers in sectors where the former box-store chain was once a major player: Marshalls, Hobby Lobby, PetSmart and Dollar Tree.

But at this all-but-last outpost of a company once famed for its “Blue Light Specials,” only an occasional shopper pops in, mostly out of curiosity or nostalgia, then leaves after buying little or nothing.

“I hadn’t seen Kmart in so long,” said Juan de la Madriz, who came to the shopping center on a recent weekday to buy dog food at PetSmart. The architect spotted the Kmart and wondered if he could find a gift for his newborn grandson. He exited 10 minutes later having spent $23 on a stuffed dog and a wooden toy workbench.

“It will be sad if it closes,” he said about the store, “but everything now is on computers.”

The last full-size Kmart in the 50 states closed Sunday in Long Island, New York, making the Miami store — now a fraction of its former size — the last operating in the continental United States. At its peak 30 years ago, Kmart operated about 2,500 locations. Today, four others remain: three in the U.S. Virgin Islands and one in Guam. There is also a website.

Transformco, the Illinois-based holding company that owns Kmart and what’s left of another former retail behemoth, Sears, did not respond to email requests for comment or allow the store manager to speak. The company’s plans for the Miami location are unknown — but there is no indication it will close soon.

The last outpost

If the Miami Kmart were a brand-new mom-and-pop retailer, a shopper might think it could eventually thrive with advertising and a little luck. Kmart long had a reputation for clutter and mess, but this store is immaculate, and the merchandise is precisely stacked and displayed.

The size of a CVS or Walgreens drug store, the branch occupies what was its garden section during its big-box days. A couple years ago, an At Home department store took over the rest of the space.

“Get it all! Must Haves. Wish Fors. Friendly Faces,” the sign next to the door reads.

Halloween and Christmas decorations line the entryway, next to the 30 shopping carts that no one is using. A robotic voice says “Welcome,” as does a cheery employee, one of three spotted in the store. A lone customer checks out the Halloween candy.

Straight ahead are a few dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machines and dryers: the appliance department. In the store’s main room, there is a large section of toiletries and diapers, a few hardware essentials and some cleaning and pet supplies. The toy department comprises a couple rows of dolls, action figures, games and squirt guns. Sun dresses, summer tops and sweatshirts make up the small clothing section. Oh, and there are snacks.

Also still present: a recorded voice intoning a once-familiar message over a loudspeaker.

“Attention Kmart shoppers,” it says, announcing that almost all items are on sale.

If there were only customers to hear it, like there used to be.

A fast rise and a slow death

Kmart was founded by the retailer S.S. Kresge Company in Michigan in 1962 and grew quickly, reaching 2,000 stores in 20 years. The company sold almost everything, from clothing to jewelry, TVs to dog food, appliances to toys to sporting goods. By the mid-1980s, it was the nation’s second-largest retailer behind Sears, and there were stores in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The roots of Kmart’s decline were laid during that decade when management bought Waldenbooks, Borders Books, Builders Square, Sports Authority and a stake in OfficeMax, thinking the company needed diversification. They were wrong. By the late 1990s, the company had sold those retailers yet still needed $5 billion in refinancing — the equivalent of $9 billion today.

In 2002, Kmart declared bankruptcy as Walmart and Target devoured its market share. Its website never took off, allowing Amazon to beat it in the e-commerce space. There were executive pay scandals, a purchase by a hedge fund manager who stripped it bare and a disastrous 2005 acquisition of Sears.

Mark Cohen, a former Sears Canada CEO and former director of retail studies at Columbia University’s graduate school of business, said Kmart would have thrived if not for the top executives who ran it into the ground. It could have been Walmart.

“It sold in its heyday things that people continue to buy in large quantities today,” Cohen said. “Kmart went down the drain because it was led by incompetent managers.”

Transformco bought Kmart and Sears out of another bankruptcy in 2019 for $5 billion — its critics say mostly for the stores’ real estate. There were 202 Kmarts remaining.

Over the past five years, the firm has kept closing Kmarts until all that’s left in the states is Miami Store #3074.

Nostalgia does not translate into sales

On the day that de la Madriz dropped in to buy his grandson’s gift, only a few customers trickled in and out of the store every hour.

College students Joey Fernandez and Wilfredo Huayhua spent five minutes inside before leaving empty-handed. They knew about the chain’s near-demise, spotted the store while in the shopping center and went in to reminisce. It seemed small, they said, compared to the Kmarts they remembered.

“We were bummed out — I spent a lot of my childhood at Kmart,” said Fernandez, 18. Still, he might be back — the store has good prices on the facial cleanser he uses.

Teacher Oliver Sequin had been entering Marshalls when he spotted the Kmart. That, too, triggered nostalgia but also reminded him he needed Band-Aids for his 5-year-old son. That was all he purchased.

“I remember when Kmarts were bigger,” Sequin said. “But, to be honest, I like this one better. It is clean and organized, not like they were.”
…

Georgians headed to the polls Saturday in a ballot many citizens see as a make-or-break vote on the opportunity to join the European Union.

The pre-election campaign in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people has been dominated by foreign policy and marked by a bitter fight for votes and allegations of a smear campaign. Some Georgians complained of intimidation and being pressured to vote for the ruling party, Georgian Dream, while the opposition accused the party of carrying out a “hybrid war” against its citizens. 

Ahead of the parliamentary election, Bidzina Ivanishvili — a shadowy billionaire who set up Georgian Dream and made his fortune in Russia — vowed again to ban opposition parties should his party win. 

Georgian Dream will hold opposition parties “fully accountable under the full force of the law” for “war crimes” committed against the people of Georgia, Ivanishvili said at a pro-government rally in the capital Tbilisi Wednesday. He did not explain what crimes he believes the opposition has committed. 

Georgians will elect 150 lawmakers from 18 parties. If no party wins the 76 seats required to form a government for a four-year term, the president will invite the largest party to form a coalition.

Many believe the election may be the most crucial vote of their lifetimes; it will determine whether Georgia gets back on track to EU membership or embraces authoritarianism and falls into Russia’s orbit. 

“It’s an existential election,” Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said.

Georgians want “European integration, want to move forward and want policies which will bring us a better, more stable, future,” Qristine Tordia, 29, told The Associated Press shortly after voting in the capital, Tbilisi.

Around 80% of Georgians favor joining the EU according to polls and the country’s constitution obliges its leaders to pursue membership in that bloc and NATO.

But Brussels put Georgia’s bid for entry to the EU on hold indefinitely after the ruling party passed a “Russian law” cracking down on freedom of speech in June. Many Georgians fear the party is dragging the country towards authoritarianism and killing off hopes it could join the EU.

The opposition parties have ignored Zourabichvili’s request to unite into a single party but have signed up to her “charter” to carry out the reforms required by the EU to join. 

Zourabichvili told the AP on Thursday she believed most Georgians would mobilize to vote “despite some instances of intimidation, despite the use of state resources … and the use of financial resources” by the government.

Georgian Dream took out billboards across the country contrasting black-and-white images of destruction in Ukraine with colorful images of life in Georgia alongside the slogan, “Say no to war — choose peace.”

The governing and opposition parties told voters they would pursue EU membership even though laws passed by Georgian Dream have put that hope on hold.

“The EU decided to stop Georgia’s integration process unilaterally,” said Vakhtang Asanidze, who spoke to AP at a pro-government rally in Tbilisi. He said he saw no reason why Georgia could not join the EU in spite of the laws. 

At the EU summit last week, EU leaders said they have “serious concerns regarding the course of action taken by the Georgian government.”

While Georgian Dream has adopted laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on its critics, voters at the pro-government rally said they did not view the election as a choice between Russia or Europe.

“We remember everything about Russia, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” said Latavra Dashniani at the rally, referring to Russia’s occupation of 20% of Georgian territory after the two countries fought a short war in 2008. 

Voting for the ruling party, she said, would ensure Georgia enters Europe “with dignity,” alluding to its conservative values, including opposition to rights for LGBTQ+ people.

Polls opened in the parliamentary election at 8 a.m. local time and will close 12 hours later. 

Georgian Dream stands against three coalitions: the Unity National Movement, the Coalition for Changes Lelo, and Strong Georgia.

The Gakharia for Georgia party, set up by former prime minister Giorgi Gakharia, said it will not go into an alliance with anyone but will support the opposition to form a government. 
…

Mexico city — The fate of Latin American economies, deeply reliant on remittances from the United States, hangs in the balance with the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, Fitch Ratings said on Friday.

Why it’s important

The potential disparity in immigration policies between the Republican and Democratic administrations could significantly affect Central American nations, which are heavily dependent on remittances from the U.S.

Key comment

“Central America is highly vulnerable to U.S. immigration policies, as remittances fund a large component of their economic activity,” said Fitch, a U.S.-based credit rating agency.

In countries like El Salvador and Nicaragua, remittances currently account for more than 30% of their gross domestic product, the ratings agency said, adding that Mexico is also one of the largest recipients of remittances globally, where inflows have steadily increased over the past decade to close to 3.5% of GDP, from 2%.

By the numbers

Remittances to Nicaragua have tripled in the past five years, while those to other countries, specifically El Salvador and Jamaica, have considerably slowed.

A study based on data from the U.S. Current Population Survey showed that a 1% increase in the country’s household earnings results in a 0.2% to 0.3% increase in remittances sent abroad.

Context

The U.S. elections could usher in changes in immigration policies, with Donald Trump’s campaign showing a willingness to restrict border crossings and increase deportations, while the potential Kamala Harris administration would aim to pass a bipartisan law to reform the asylum process and limit immigration parole.

Policy changes could significantly affect migrants and the Central American economies that are heavily dependent on the money they send back home from the United States.
…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A NASA astronaut was taken to the hospital for an undisclosed medical issue after returning from a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing’s capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton, the space agency said Friday.

A SpaceX capsule carrying three Americans and one Russian parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station at midweek. The capsule was hoisted onto the recovery ship where the four astronauts had routine medical checks.

Soon after splashdown, a NASA astronaut had a “medical issue” and the crew was flown to a hospital in Pensacola, Florida, for additional evaluation “out of an abundance of caution,” the space agency said in a statement.

The astronaut, who was not identified, was in stable condition and remained at the hospital as a “precautionary measure,” NASA said.

The space agency said it would not share details about the astronaut’s condition, citing patient privacy.

The other three astronauts were discharged and returned to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

It can take days or even weeks for astronauts to readjust to gravity after living in weightlessness for several months.

The astronauts should have been back two months ago. But their homecoming was stalled by problems with Boeing’s new Starliner astronaut capsule, which came back empty in September because of safety concerns. Then Hurricane Milton interfered, followed by another two weeks of high wind and rough seas.

SpaceX launched the four — NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin — in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us … and helped us to roll with all those punches.”

Their replacements are the two Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, and two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago. Those four will remain up there until February.

The space station is now back to its normal crew size of seven — four Americans and three Russians — after months of overflow.
…

Nearly 3.5 million voting-age adults have become U.S. citizens since the 2020 election, according to the National Partnership for New Americans. Some experts say this growing group could prove pivotal in shaping the election results. VOA’s immigration reporter Aline Barros reports. Camera and contributor: Jeff Swicord.
…

A Kurdish militant group on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack on a major state-run defense company in Turkey’s capital, an action that analysts say could complicate prospects for renewed peace talks between the Turkish government and the country’s Kurdish minority.

Two assailants set off explosives and opened fire Wednesday at the aerospace and defense company TUSAS in Ankara, killing five people and wounding 22, Turkey’s interior ministry said.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, said in a statement Friday that the attack on the defense firm was for its role in producing weapons used in attacks against Kurdish civilians.

The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The Kurdish militant group has engaged in a four-decade armed conflict with the Turkish government for greater Kurdish rights in Turkey.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, designed and assembled by TUSAS, have been instrumental in Turkey’s fight against Kurdish militants.

Wednesday’s attack came a day after Devlet Bahceli, leader of Turkey’s far-right nationalist party and a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suggested the possibility of granting parole to PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, if the Kurdish group laid down its arms.

A peace process between the two sides that started in 2013 collapsed in 2015.

Yerevan Saeed, director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at American University in Washington, said the attack in Ankara represented a significant strategic blunder for the PKK.

“This incident highlights a concerning lack of strategic vision at this important time,” he told VOA. “While the Turkish government’s initiative to restart peace talks could be seen as a tactical maneuver, the Kurdish armed group must avoid providing the state with any justification to abandon the dialogue, which could in turn diminish international sympathy for the Kurdish cause.”

Shortly after the Ankara attack, Turkey’s military struck Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria that Turkish officials said belonged to offshoots of the PKK. The Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency said Friday that 120 targets had been struck in Iraq and Syria since Wednesday.

Erdogan, on a flight back from the BRICS summit in Russia, told reporters Friday that the perpetrators of the Ankara attack had infiltrated from Syria, and he vowed to continue efforts to combat terrorism.

In Kurdish-controlled Syria, some of the strikes hit power grids and water pump stations, causing outages of water and electricity in several cities in northeast Syria. Reporters for VOA Kurdish in the region visited several sites that had been damaged in the strikes.

Sinan Ciddi, a Turkey expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, said Turkish citizens would demand “a strong military response” from the government for the Ankara bombing.

He told VOA that “the terror attack also reduces the chances for renewed negotiations between Erdogan and the PKK for a peace process.”

‘No military solution’

Amy Austin Holmes, a professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, said in every peace process there are spoilers who want to sabotage it.

“There is no military solution to what is an inherently political and social issue of equal citizenship. President Erdogan and the Kurdish movement both recognize this,” she told VOA. “In order for the dialogue process not to be derailed by the PKK’s attack in Ankara, and Turkey’s bombardment of northern Syria and Iraq, cooler heads need to prevail.”

Henri Barkey, professor of international relations at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, said the PKK-claimed attack made no sense.

“The only thing I can think of is that operations such as this one take months to prepare, so these guys had orders and it was never called off because they may have been under a blanket-of-communication order,” he said.

“This is bad for the PKK given that a process is supposed to start and that they could not prevent it from happening,” he added. “The other half of the explanation is that there may be divisions in the organization and the group in charge of this chose not to stop it.”

But other analysts, like Brussels-based Kurdish affairs researcher Hosheng Ose, believe that regardless of the attack in Ankara and the strikes on Iraq and Syria, there seems to be a decision within the Turkish political establishment to reach a settlement with the country’s Kurds.

“There are elements within both the Turkish state and the PKK that oppose any prospects for peace, but I don’t believe that will have any effect on what the Turkish government wants to achieve,” he told VOA. 

“Turkey is really concerned with the recent developments across the Middle East, and it wants to ensure that no Kurdish group would play a role that could threaten Turkey’s long-term objectives,” said Ose.

This story originated in VOA’s Kurdish Service.
…

washington — Hackers linked to the Chinese government have broken into parts of the U.S. telecommunications system in a breach that might be connected to an attempt to access data from the presidential campaigns of Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.  

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency late Friday said they were investigating “unauthorized access” to commercial telecommunications infrastructure, attributing the attack to Chinese-affiliated actors.

The agencies said they immediately notified affected companies once the breach was detected and had offered assistance, though there might be additional victims.

“The investigation is ongoing, and we encourage any organization that believes it might be a victim to engage its local FBI field office or CISA,” the statement said.

“Agencies across the U.S. government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” it added.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed the U.S. hacking allegations as disinformation, calling the U.S. “the origin and the biggest perpetrator of cyberattacks.”

“For some time, the U.S. has compiled and spread all kinds of disinformation about the so-called Chinese hacking threats,” said embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu in an email to VOA.

“China’s position is consistent and clear,” he said. “China firmly opposes and combats cyberattacks and cyber theft in all forms.”

Word of the breach linked to China followed a report by The New York Times on Friday that Chinese hackers are thought to have broken into telecommunications networks to target the Trump campaign.

People familiar with the investigation told the Times that the Chinese hackers specifically looked to access data from phones used by Trump and his running mate, Republican Senator JD Vance.

Separately, a person familiar with the investigation told VOA that people affiliated with the campaign of Vice President Harris were also targeted. 

Investigators are still trying to determine what data the hackers were able to get, if any, and whether the hackers could listen in on conversations in real time.  

The FBI declined to comment on the Trump and Harris campaign breaches.

In a statement shared with VOA, the Trump campaign acknowledged the breach and blamed Harris for letting it happen.

“This is the continuation of election interference by Kamala Harris and Democrats who will stop at nothing, including emboldening China and Iran attacking critical American infrastructure, to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House,” said Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign communications director.

“Their dangerous and violent rhetoric has given permission to those who wish to harm President Trump,” Cheung added.

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions asking for more details on how Harris or her campaign enabled the Chinese hack.

The Harris campaign has yet to respond to VOA’s request for comment.

U.S. intelligence agencies have warned for months that foreign adversaries have been using a combination of cyberattacks and influence operations to meddle with the November 5 U.S. presidential election.

According to a declassified intelligence assessment issued this week, “foreign actors — particularly Russia, Iran and China — remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the U.S. democratic system consistent with what they perceive to be in their interests.”

It further warned that Russia and Iran were formulating plans to spark election-related violence.

In addition, reports issued this week by private cybersecurity firms likewise indicated a significant uptick in activity by actors linked to Russia, China and Iran.

All three nations have repeatedly denied accusations of election meddling.

And while U.S. intelligence officials assess there is little agreement among the three countries on the desired outcomes of the presidential election — Russia is said to want a Trump win, Iran is said to be rooting for Harris, and China sees both as equally bad — the Trump campaign has become a frequent target of attacks.

Last month, the U.S. Justice Department charged three Iranian hackers tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in connection with a hack-and-leak operation seeking to undermine Trump’s reelection bid.

U.S. intelligence officials have also accused Iran of trying to ensnare the campaign of current U.S. President Joe Biden before he stepped down in favor of Harris.

But U.S. security officials have been even more leery of China.

U.S. agencies, led by CISA and the FBI, have been warning that China-linked hackers have burrowed into U.S. computer systems and networks, in some case hiding for years.

The China-linked group, known as Volt Typhoon, has been “positioning itself to launch destructive cyberattacks that would jeopardize the physical safety of Americans,” according to an advisory issued in February.

“What we’ve found to date is likely the tip of the iceberg,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement at the time.
…

WASHINGTON — Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of major government contractor SpaceX and a key ally of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the last two years, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, confirmed to The Associated Press that Musk and Putin have had contact through calls. The person didn’t provide additional details about the frequency of the calls, when they occurred or their content.

Musk, the world’s richest person who also owns Tesla and the social media platform X, has emerged as a leading voice on the American right. He’s poured millions of dollars into Trump’s presidential bid and turned the platform once known as Twitter into a site popular with Trump supporters, as well as conspiracy theorists, extremists and Russian propagandists.

Musk’s contacts with Putin raise national security questions, given his companies’ work for the government, and highlight concerns about Russian influence in American politics.

Here’s what to know:

What they talked about

Musk and Putin have spoken repeatedly about personal matters, business and geopolitics, The Journal reported Thursday, citing multiple current and former officials in the United States, Europe and Russia.

During one talk, Putin asked Musk not to activate his Starlink satellite system over Taiwan as a favor for Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose ties to Putin have grown closer, The Journal reported. Putin and Xi have met more than 40 times since 2013. 

Russia has denied the conversations took place. In 2022, Musk said he’d spoken to Putin only once, in a call 18 months earlier focused on space.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Friday that it was “not aware of the specifics” of any requests made by Putin on China’s behalf.

There was no immediate response to messages left with X and Tesla seeking Musk’s comment.

What the talks mean for national security

Musk’s relationship with Putin raises national security questions given the billions of dollars in government contracts awarded to SpaceX, a critical partner to NASA and government satellite programs.

Trump also has vowed to give Musk a role in his administration if he wins next month.

The head of any large defense contractor would face similar questions if they held private talks with one of America’s greatest adversaries, said Bradley Bowman, a former West Point assistant professor and Senate national security adviser who now serves as senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based defense think tank.

Bowman said the timing of the calls as reported by The Journal and Musk’s changing views on Ukraine was a “disturbing coincidence.”

“The policy of the U.S. government is to try to isolate Vladimir Putin, and Elon Musk is directly undercutting that,” Bowman said. “What is Putin doing with Musk? Putin is trying to reduce his international isolation and impact American foreign policy.”

The request from Putin on Starlink as a favor to China is also likely to get attention, given U.S. support for Taiwan and concerns about the growing partnership between the Kremlin and Beijing.

Musk, whose Tesla operates Gigafactory Shanghai, has developed a close relationship with China’s top leaders. His remarks about China have been friendly, and he has suggested Taiwan cede some control to Beijing by becoming a special administrative region.

Moscow has growing ties to other American adversaries. The U.S. has accused Russia of sending ballistic missiles to Iran and said North Korea sent troops to Russia, possibly for combat in Ukraine.

On Ukraine, Musk’s views have shifted since he initially supported Kyiv following Russia’s invasion in 2022 and provided it with his Starlink system for communications.

Musk then refused to allow Ukraine in 2023 to use Starlink for a surprise attack on Russian soldiers in Crimea.

He also floated a proposal to end the war that would have required Ukraine to drop its plans for NATO membership and given Russia permanent control of Crimea, which it seized in 2014. The plan infuriated Ukrainian leaders.

One person familiar with the talks between Musk and Putin told The Journal that there is no evidence the contact between Musk and Putin represents a security problem for the U.S.

Asked about Musk’s contacts with Putin, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Friday that he had no information to share.

The CIA, Pentagon and National Security Agency had no comment. The State Department didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Musk’s close ties to Trump

Musk recently appeared at a Trump rally, sporting a Make America Great Again hat and delivered an ominous warning that if Trump lost the race, “this will be the last election.”

Last year, Musk mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request for aid for his country with a meme and said in February that the U.S. should cut its assistance because Ukraine couldn’t win.

Trump, who has praised Putin’s leadership and criticized the NATO alliance and U.S. aid for Ukraine, has raised questions about what he would be willing to concede if he’s elected in a negotiation over Ukraine’s future.

U.S. intelligence officials and private tech analysts have concluded that Russia is working to covertly support Trump with disinformation and propaganda targeting his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Since he took over X, it has become a leading online source of Russian propaganda and disinformation aimed at Americans.

Trump has faced scrutiny over his own recent contacts with Putin, outlined in a new book by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward.

Woodward quoted an unnamed Trump aide who said the former president and Putin may have had as many as seven conversations since Trump lost reelection in 2020.

Before one of the calls, the aide said they were asked to leave Trump’s office to give the two privacy.

The Trump campaign and the Kremlin have denied those calls occurred.

In response to questions about Musk and Putin, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the billionaire “a once-in-a-generation industry leader” whose ideas could benefit “our broken federal bureaucracy.”

“As for Putin, there’s only one candidate in the race that he did not invade another country under, and it’s President Trump,” Leavitt said in a statement. “President Trump has long said that he will re-establish his peace through strength foreign policy to deter Russia’s aggression and end the war in Ukraine.”

Russia confirms one conversation

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday rejected The Journal’s report as “absolutely false information.”

Peskov said Putin and Musk once held a “medium-length phone conversation” prior to 2022 that was “as more of an introductory nature” and that the two talked about “visionary technologies, technological solutions for the future.”

“After that, Musk had no contacts with Putin,” Peskov said, dismissing The Journal’s article as political.

“The election has entered its home stretch, and of course the opponents stop at nothing,” Peskov said. “Remember that a week ago they were saying that Putin allegedly talks to Trump all day long. Now he allegedly talks to Musk all the time. It’s all untrue.”

Ukraine’s military intelligence told the AP that they would “refrain from commenting” about communication between Putin and Musk.
…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Russia is expected to deploy North Korean soldiers to combat as early as Sunday. 

In a statement posted to his official X social media account, Zelenskyy said the prediction is based on military intelligence he received in a Friday briefing from armed forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. 

Zelenskyy called the move a “clear escalation by Russia,” adding that “the world can clearly see Russia’s true intentions: to continue the war.” 

Calling for a “principled and strong response” from global leaders, Zelenskyy said, “North Korea’s actual involvement in combat should not be met with indifference or uncertain commentary, but with tangible pressure on both Moscow and Pyongyang, to uphold the U.N. Charter and to hold them accountable for this escalation.” 

Responding Thursday to a Ukraine intelligence report that the North Korean troops were in Russia’s Kursk region, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was up to Moscow to decide how they might be deployed, including possibly sending them to fight on the front lines against Ukraine. He did not deny a U.S. claim that North Korea has dispatched some 3,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces. 

On Friday, North Korean state broadcaster KCNA carried a statement by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong Gyu, who would not comment directly on reports of the deployment, but said if there were such a thing, “I think it will be an act conforming with the regulations of international law.” 

Ukraine has argued North Korean participation in the war violates international law; U.S. officials earlier this week called such a deployment a major escalation. But Putin argued the West had escalated the war in Ukraine by sending NATO officers and instructors to help Kyiv defend itself against Russian aggression. 

Meanwhile, in an interview with Russian television Friday, Putin spoke about possible cease-fire negotiations with Ukraine, saying Russia was ready to seek compromises. He said Turkey had presented a number of peace initiatives to both Russia and Ukraine, which he claimed Ukraine has rejected. 

Regarding possible compromises, Putin said: “Any outcome must be in Russia’s favor. … This outcome should be based upon the realities which are taking shape on the battlefield. Without any doubt, we are not going to make any concessions. There will be no exchange [of territory], whatsoever.” 

Putin blamed Ukraine for what he described as “irrational behavior” in negotiations, saying, “It is not possible to build any plans on this basis.” 

Bio lab construction 

In an exclusive report Friday, The Washington Post said satellite images from the past two years have shown substantial construction at a site-restricted military facility northeast of Moscow that was once a major research center for biological weapons.  

The report said the site has a history of experiments that included viruses that cause smallpox, Ebola and hemorrhagic fevers. 

The satellite imagery of the Russian site, called Sergiev Posad-6, shows construction vehicles renovating the Soviet-era laboratory and breaking ground on 10 new buildings, totaling more than 250,000 square feet, with several of them bearing hallmarks of biological labs designed to handle extremely dangerous pathogens. 

The report said there has been no sign such weapons are being used in the Ukraine conflict, but the construction is being closely watched by U.S. intelligence agencies and bioweapons experts. 

Ukraine’s Kyiv Independent reported Friday the apparent deployment of North Korean troops could be at least in part a result of Russia’s losses on the battlefield. 

In a report on its Facebook social media account, the Ukraine General Staff of the armed forces reported Russia has lost 685,910 troops since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. This includes, the general staff report said, 1,630 casualties over a 24-hour period ending Friday. 

Ukraine has closely guarded its battlefield troop casualties, even from Western allies, but a U.S. official in September estimated Ukraine has likely seen an estimated 57,500 troops killed and 250,000 wounded, according to a report by The New York Times. 

Battlefield casualties are difficult to verify, and Russia has made claims that Ukrainian casualties are much higher than those indicated by Ukrainian and U.S. estimates. 

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

LAVEEN VILLAGE, Arizona — President Joe Biden on Friday formally apologized to Native Americans for the government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated children from their parents, calling it a “blot on American history” in his first presidential visit to Indian Country. 

“It’s a sin on our soul,” said Biden, his voice full of anger and emotion. “Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make.” 

It was a moment of both contrition and frustration as the president sought to recognize one of the “most horrific chapters” in the national story. Biden spoke of the abuses and deaths of Native children that resulted from the federal government’s policies, noting that “while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing” and that great nations “must know the good, the bad, the truth of who we are.” 

“I formally apologize as president of United States of America for what we did,” Biden said. “The federal Indian boarding school policy, the pain it has caused, will only be a significant mark of shame, a blot on our record history. For too long, this all happened with virtually no public attention, not written about in our history books, not taught in our schools.” 

Boost for Harris

Democrats hope Biden’s visit to the Gila River Indian Community’s land on the outskirts of Phoenix’s metro area will also provide a boost to Vice President Kamala Harris’ turnout effort in a key battleground state. The moment gave Biden a fuller chance to spotlight his and Harris’ support for tribal nations, a group that historically has favored Democrats, in a state he won just by 10,000 votes in 2020. 

The race between Harris and former President Donald Trump is expected to be similarly close, and both campaigns are doing whatever they can to improve turnout among bedrock supporters. 

“The race is now a turnout grab,” said Mike O’Neil, a nonpartisan pollster in Arizona. “The trend lines throughout have been remarkably steady. The question is which candidate is going to be able to turn out their voters in a race that seems to be destined to be decided by narrow margins.” 

Biden has been used sparingly on the campaign trail by Harris and other Democrats since he ended his reelection campaign in July. 

But analysts say Biden could help Harris in her appeal with Native American voters — a group that has trailed others in turnout rates. 

In 2020, there was a surge in voter turnout on some tribal land in Arizona as Biden beat Trump and became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1996. 

Biden, whose presidency is winding down, had promised tribal leaders nearly two years ago that he would visit Indian Country. 

For decades, federal boarding schools were used to assimilate children into white society, according to the White House. Not everyone saw the apology as sufficient. 

“An apology is a nice start, but it is not a true reckoning, nor is it a sufficient remedy for the long history of colonial violence,” said Chase Iron Eyes, director of the Lakota People’s Law Project and Sacred Defense Fund. 

973 deaths

At least 973 Native American children died in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period that ended in 1969, according to an Interior Department investigation that called for a U.S. government apology. 

At least 18,000 children, some as young as 4, were taken from their parents and forced to attend schools that sought to assimilate them. 

“President Biden deserves credit for finally putting attention on the issue and other issues impacting the community,” said Ramona Charette Klein, 77, a boarding school survivor and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. “I do think that will reflect well on Vice President Harris, and I hope this momentum will continue.” 

Both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, met with tribal leaders in Arizona and Nevada this month. And Clinton, who has been serving as a surrogate for Harris, last week met in North Carolina with the chairman of the Lumbee Tribe. 

The White House says Biden and Harris have built a substantial track record with Native Americans over the last four years. 

The president designated the sacred Avi Kwa Ame, a desert mountain in Nevada, and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon in Arizona as national monuments and restored the boundaries for Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. 

In addition, the administration has directed nearly $46 billion in federal spending to tribal nations. The money has helped bring electricity to a reservation that never had electricity, expand access to high-speed internet, improve water sanitation, build roadways and more. 

Biden picked former New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland to serve as his interior secretary, the first Native American to be appointed to a Cabinet position. Haaland is a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico. 

She, in turn, ordered the comprehensive review in June 2021 of the troubled legacy of the federal government’s boarding school policies that led Biden to deliver the formal apology.
…

washington — North Korea is likely anticipating Russian technical assistance to perfect its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for sending its troops to support Russia in the Ukraine war, U.S. experts say.

On Wednesday, the U.S. government confirmed for the first time the presence of at least 3,000 North Korean troops in Russia. Last Friday, South Korea’s intelligence agency said North Korea had sent 1,500 special forces troops to Russia for training and likely deployment for combat in the war in Ukraine.

Seoul has expressed grave concerns about the development.

“North Korea will expect a generous payoff from Moscow in return for its troop contribution,” Hwang Joon-kook, South Korean ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday at a United Nations Security Council Briefing on Ukraine. “It could be either military or financial assistance; it could be nuclear weapons-related technology.”

Weapons upgrades

North Korea has recently been more open about showing its nuclear and missile ambitions. State media outlets last month released photos showing leader Kim Jong Un visiting what they said was a uranium enrichment facility.

The Kim regime has exported dozens of ballistic missiles and more than 18,000 containers of munitions and munitions-related material to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, according to the U.S. State Department.

Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, told VOA Korean on Wednesday that Kim Jong Un is now in a position where he can “leverage Russia to get much more” by deploying his own soldiers to the Ukraine war.

“As they were doing their nuclear tests, they would have discovered that some things didn’t work,” Bennett said. “I think Kim has got a lot of technology he would like to get from Russia.”

Robert Peters, research fellow for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Heritage Foundation, said sending in North Korean troops “could be a token of goodwill on the part of Kim,” and Kim’s expectation would be that “the quid pro quo is Russian technical assistance.”

“The ultimate goal for Kim is a revitalized alliance with Russia that helps North Korea catch up its missile program and its nuclear program with those in the West,” Peters told VOA Korean Tuesday on the phone. “I think that’s part of his game.”

Peters added that Kim could ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide technical assistance for effective miniaturization of nuclear warheads that could go on the tip of intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, targeting the United States.

Sung-Yoon Lee, a fellow with the Wilson Center’s Indo-Pacific Program, told VOA Korean in an email that he believes Russia likely promised “to provide Pyongyang with sensitive nuclear technology like nuclear-powered submarines, military satellites, and ICBM reentry into the earth’s atmosphere” in return for North Korea sending troops to the war in Ukraine.

Economic benefits

Another benefit for North Korea is that its troops might be paid in hard currency that can be exchanged internationally.

“The financial benefits from this initial deployment may seem relatively small, but they are comparatively important for North Korea,” Troy Stangarone, director of the Center for Korean History and Public Policy at Wilson Center, told VOA Korean via email Thursday.

“If Russia is compensating North Korea at the same rate as new Russian recruits, we could expect Pyongyang to earn a little less than $10 million a month from the 3,000 troops that are reported to have already been deployed.”

Stangarone says that amount would be equal to about 40% of North Korea’s legal exports to China over the course of a full year. China is North Korea’s main trading partner, with some studies saying China makes up as much as 95% of North Korea’s total trade.

Robert Abrams, a retired U.S. Army four-star general who served as commander of U.S. Forces Korea from 2018 to 2021, said the deployment of North Korean soldiers will not be a military game changer for Russia. But, he said, it shows “the depth of commitment by Kim Jong Un to be a strategic partner of Russia.”

“Russia is losing 10,000 soldiers about every 10 days, so this deployment of 10,000 North Korean soldiers will not noticeably change the outcome,” Abrams told VOA Korean via email Wednesday.

“However, this deployment of North Korean soldiers has significant symbolism for both North Korea and Russia; this is an obvious outcome of the recent North Korea-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership agreement.”

Putin and Kim signed their partnership treaty in June, vowing to challenge the U.S.-led world order.

The new treaty mandates Russia and North Korea to immediately provide military assistance using all available means if either of them is attacked by a third country.

Putin did not deny the presence of North Korean soldiers in Russia during a Thursday press conference at the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

“We have never doubted at all that the North Korean leadership takes our agreements seriously,” Putin said. “What and how we will do within the framework of this article [of the agreement] is our business.”
…

Vice President Kamala Harris says she believes the U.S. should lead by building alliances to manage conflict. Former President Donald Trump says his projection of strength, and unpredictability, can stop wars before they begin. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara spoke to experts on which foreign policy approach would be better at reducing conflict, amid wars in the Middle East and Europe.
…

Elections in Georgia are taking place as the government faces accusations of being increasingly influenced by Russia, raising concerns about the nation’s pro-Western future. Ani Chkhikvadze reports from the capital, Tbilisi. Videographer: Giorgi Akhalaia
…

MOSCOW — The Kremlin on Friday denied a Wall Street Journal report about regular contacts between Elon Musk and President Vladimir Putin.

“No, this is not true,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Peskov said that Putin had one contact with Musk — the world’s richest man — and it was before 2022.

The Journal said Musk had been in regular contact with Putin since late 2022. Peskov said the report was absolutely false.
…

Striking workers’ rejection of planemaker Boeing’s BA.N latest contract offer has created a fresh threat to operations at aerospace suppliers such as family-run Independent Forge.  

If the strike by more than 33,000 U.S. Boeing workers persists another month, the Orange County, California supplier might need to cut its operations from five to three days a week to save money and retain workers, president Andrew Flores said.  

While Independent laid off a few employees already, letting more go is not an appealing option, he said. The 22 workers who remain are critical for the company, especially when the strike eventually ends and demand for its aluminum aircraft parts rebounds.  

“They are the backbone of our shop,” Flores said this week. “Their knowledge, I can’t replace that.”  

Wednesday’s vote by 64% of Boeing’s West Coast factory workers against the company’s latest contract offer, further idling assembly for nearly all of the planemaker’s commercial jets, has created a fresh test for suppliers such as Independent, which opened in 1975.  

Boeing’s vast global network of suppliers that produce parts from sprawling modern factories or tiny garage workshops, was already stressed by the company’s quality-and-safety crisis, which began in January after a mid-air panel blow-out on a new 737 MAX.   

Demand for parts has dropped, hitting suppliers after they spent heavily to meet renewed demand for planes in the post-pandemic era.   

How small suppliers such as Independent navigate the strike, which began on Sept. 13, is expected to affect Boeing’s future ability to bring its plane production back online.   

More job cuts?   

Five Boeing suppliers interviewed by Reuters this week said continuation of the strike would cause them to furlough workers, freeze investment, or consider halting production.  

Boeing declined comment.  

Seattle-area supplier Pathfinder, which runs a project to attract young recruits to aerospace and trains them alongside its skilled workers, will likely need to lay off more employees, CEO Dave Trader said.  

Pathfinder, which let go one-quarter of its 54 workers last month, will also need to send more of its aerospace students back to their high schools, instead of training them in the company’s factories, Trader said.  

Suppliers on a regular call on Thursday with Boeing supply-chain executives said they expect the strike will continue for weeks, one participant told Reuters.  

About 60% of the 2.21 million Americans who work in the aerospace industry have jobs directly linked to the supply chain, according to the U.S. industry group Aerospace Industries Association.  

Those suppliers’ decisions to reduce staffing could create a vicious cycle, as they will put added strain on Boeing’s efforts to restore and eventually increase 737 MAX output above a regulator-imposed cap of 38 after its factories re-open, analysts say.  

“Once we get back, we have the task of restarting the factories and the supply chain, and it’s much harder to turn this on than it is to turn it off,” CEO Kelly Ortberg told an analyst call on Wednesday.  

“The longer it goes on, the more it could trickle back into the supply chain and cause delays there,” Southwest Airlines LUV.N Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said of the strike on Thursday.   

Shares of Boeing suppliers fell on Thursday. Howmet HWM.N lost 2%. Honeywell HON.O and Spirit AeroSystems SPR.N fell 5% and 3%, respectively, following weak results.  

Spirit Aero, Boeing’s key supplier, which has already announced the furlough of 700 workers on the 767 and 777 widebody programs for 21 days, has warned it would implement layoffs should the strike continue past November.  

“It’s starting up the supply chain that is likely to be the biggest worry, especially if they have taken action to cut workers due to a lack of Boeing orders,” Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard said by email.  

A strained supply chain, Spirit Aero’s challenges and increased regulatory oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration over MAX production, means it could take up to a year from the strike’s end to get 737 output back to the 38-per-month rate, Stallard said. 
…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to deepen defense ties with New Delhi and bring the two countries’ militaries closer, he said on Friday, after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Germany has not traditionally had close defense ties with India, but is now pitching to join the latter’s effort to wean its arms base from decades of dependence on Russia, at a time when the West seeks to counter China’s growing influence.

“Our overall message is clear, we need more co-operation, not less,” Scholz said.

“At our inter-governmental consultations with India, we also want to deepen co-operation in defense and agree to bring our militaries together.”

Scholz, accompanied by most of his cabinet, is leading a high-level delegation to New Delhi, betting that greater access to the vast Indian market can reduce Germany’s reliance on China.

German Thyssenkrupp is one of two bidders to have partnered with Indian firms to build six conventional submarines in India, in a deal estimated to be worth $5 billion.

The Indian Navy is expected to pick between the German company or Spain’s Navantia soon.

New Delhi and Berlin are working on renewable energy projects, Modi said, among many possible investments in transport infrastructure.

“India is completely transforming its physical infrastructure,” Modi told the Asia-Pacific conference of German business in the Indian capital, attended by Scholz.

“Record investments are being made. This offers many possibilities for German and Indo-Pacific region companies.”

In 2022 Germany pledged 10 billion euros to help India achieve its climate goals.

German state lender KfW’s unit DEG, which focuses on the private sector, plans to more than double investment in India to $1 billion over the next few years, focusing on renewable energy and infrastructure, an official, Jochen von Frowein, has said.

India-EU FTA

Scholz reiterated his economy minister’s push for swift progress on talks for a free-trade pact between India and the European Union.

“I am sure that if we work on this together, prime minister, this could happen in months rather than years,” Scholz said.

Earlier, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal warned that India would be unable to strike such a deal if the bloc insisted on getting access to the Asian giant’s dairy industry.

A trade deal could be swiftly reached if sensitivities were respected on both sides, Goyal told the conference, following Thursday’s comments by German Economy Minister Robert Habeck that agriculture was the talks’ “most problematic” area, and suggesting that they first tackle the industrial sector.

Progress has been slow on the talks, initially targeted to be wrapped up by the end of 2023, with India blaming the EU for what it called “irrational” standards, as one reason.
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Russia sent two waves of drones at the Ukrainian capital overnight in its 15th air attack on Kyiv this month, city officials said on Friday.

More than a dozen drones were downed over the city during the strike, which lasted around four hours, city military administrator Serhiy Popko said on Telegram.

He added that authorities had not received any reports of injuries and that debris had ignited a fire that was later extinguished.

Reuters correspondents reported hearing multiple explosions early on Friday.

Overall, Ukrainian air defenses destroyed 36 out of 63 drones launched overnight by Russia over various parts of Ukraine, Kyiv’s air force said.

Most were downed over the Kyiv and southern Odesa regions, it added, while another 16 were “locationally lost.”

Russia has denied targeting civilians in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, but has regularly fired missiles and drones at towns and cities behind the front line.
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Four astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing’s capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton.

A SpaceX capsule carrying the crew parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station mid-week.

The three Americans and one Russian should have been back two months ago. But their homecoming was stalled by problems with Boeing’s new Starliner astronaut capsule, which came back empty in September because of safety concerns. Then Hurricane Milton interfered, followed by another two weeks of high wind and rough seas.

SpaceX launched the four — NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin — in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us … and helped us to roll with all those punches.”

Their replacements are the two Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, and two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago. Those four will remain up there until February.

The space station is now back to its normal crew size of seven — four Americans and three Russians — after months of overflow.
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