In an effort to escape the insecurity and war in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans make a difficult journey to Turkey illegally each year. VOA’s Lima Niazi brings us the story of two friends whose journey through Turkey and Europe ended, back in Afghanistan. Bezhan Hamdard narrates.Camera: Lima Niazi   Produced by: Lima Niazi 
 
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During their summit in Geneva on June 16, U.S. President Joe Biden raised the issue of Kremlin pressure against RFE/RL’s Russian-language services in Russia with Russian President Vladimir Putin.   The United States has accused Russia of attempting to drive RFE/RL out of the country by listing it as a “foreign agent” media organization and imposing fines against it for failing to comply with requirements that all its materials be prominently labeled.   President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland.”I also raised the ability of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty to operate and the importance of a free press and freedom of speech,” Biden said at his press conference in Geneva when listing some of the issues the two leaders discussed.   The same day, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) agreed to hear an appeal by RFE/RL against the Russian government over the “foreign agent” label and the labelling requirements.   At his own separate news conference following the summit talks, Putin said that Biden “raised the question of the work of Liberty and, uh, their Free Europes in Russia.”   Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks during a news conference after his meeting with U.S President Joe Biden at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.He repeated the Kremlin’s assertion that the labeling of RFE/RL’s Russian-language outlets — including Current Time, a network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA — as “foreign agents” was a response to a 2017 decision by the United States to compel Russian state-controlled network RT, sometimes known as Russia Today, to register under a 1938 law called the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Russia Using Foreign Agent Law to Attack Journalism, Media SayExorbitant fines, repressive accounting of all personal spending, and labels that sow distrust are part of Russia’s ‘fight against the spread of ideas,’ say those affected by legislation”It should be noted that Russia Today fulfills all the demands of the [U.S.] regulators and the law — they registered as required and so on,” Putin said. “Unfortunately, the American media don’t completely comply with the requirements of Russian law.”   FARA does not require that every news story be prominently labeled as the product of a “foreign agent” media organization. The U.S. decision to compel RT to register came after a January 2017 U.S. intelligence finding that RT and Russia’s Sputnik news agency spread disinformation as part of a Kremlin effort to undermine faith in the U.S. democracy and influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Republican candidate and eventual winner Donald Trump.   Moscow has denied any such effort.   In Geneva, Putin expressed the “hope” that “we will manage to settle this” diplomatically.   ‘Patriotic Russians’ In a statement following the Geneva summit, RFE/RL President Jamie Fly rejected the “foreign agent” label.   “RFE/RL journalists are not ‘foreign agents,'” Fly said. “They are patriotic Russians who are only trying to serve their fellow citizens by giving them objective news and information. The Kremlin’s ongoing attacks against our journalists and other independent media outlets only serve to deprive the Russian people of their right to access uncensored information.”   Russia’s so-called “foreign agent” legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as “foreign agents,” and to submit to audits.   Later modifications targeted foreign-funded media. In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL’s Russian Service on the list, along with six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services and Current Time. The Russian Service of VOA was also added to the list.   At the end of 2020, the legislation was modified to allow the Russian government to include individuals, including foreign journalists, on its “foreign agents” list and to impose restrictions on them. Several RFE/RL contributors were placed on the list in December 2020.  Putin Signs Laws Imposing Fines for ‘Foreign Agent’ Law Violations, Protest-Related OffensesLatеst versions of the laws target foreign-funded media, including RFE/RL, and raise fines for acts of civil disobedienceThe Russian state media monitor Roskomnadzor last year adopted rules requiring listed media to mark all written materials with a lengthy notice in large text, all radio materials with an audio statement, and all video materials with a 15-second text declaration.   RFE/RL rejects the “foreign agent” designation and has refused to comply with the rules, so the agency has prepared hundreds of complaints against RFE/RL’s projects. The total fines levied could run to more than $3 million.   ‘Coercion and intimidation’ RFE/RL has called the fines “a state-sponsored campaign of coercion and intimidation,” while the U.S. State Department has described them as “intolerable.” Human Rights Watch has described the foreign agent legislation as “restrictive” and intended “to demonize independent groups.”   In April, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said that “Russia’s actions against RFE/RL and other media organizations labeled as so-called ‘foreign agents’ reflect significant intolerance and oppressive restrictions.”   “Should the Russian government continue to move to forcibly shut down RFE/RL, we will respond,” Price said, without elaborating.   While RT distributes its programs freely in the United States on cable television, RFE/RL and VOA have no access to cable television in Russia.   RFE/RL once had distribution agreements with nearly 100 radio channels inside Russia, but had lost them all by 2012 following a campaign of pressure by the authorities.   RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Each week, nearly 7 million people access RFE/RL’s news portals in Russia.   Robert Coalson is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL who covers Russia, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe. 
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U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, remained tensely civil and cautiously polite before their much-anticipated summit in an eighteenth-century mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva. The press corps less so as American reporters and TV camerapersons were forced to jostle for space with obdurate Russian rivals.For some European newspapers, that seemed an apt metaphor. “If relations between the American and Russian press were anything to go by then the two nations have a real problem. While Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin sat in frosty silence the media contingents from their respective countries were involved in an unseemly scuffle with each other and officials,” Britain’s Daily Telegraph noted.“Mr. President, I’d like to thank you for your initiative to meet today. I know that you’ve been on a long journey,” Putin said before the shorter than expected meeting got under way in earnest.  “Thank you,” Biden responded. “I think it’s always better to meet face to face.”Body languageBut stony faces and body language belied the words. As they spoke, the pair hardly made eye contact, diplomatic observers say, with both mostly casting their glances elsewhere. Biden sat bolt upright; Putin slouched.U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.And in their subsequent solo press conferences following the talks both leaders made clear the huge gulf that divides them with President Biden issuing no threats but a series of clear warnings. That included emphasizing red lines over alleged Russian cyberattacks on the U.S.And the U.S. leader warned of “devastating consequences,” if Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, were to die in jail.  Several of Europe’s leading broadsheet newspapers, including the Financial Times, headlined that admonition.  “It was important to meet in person so there could be no mistake about or misrepresentations about what I wanted to communicate. I did what I came to do,” Biden said, adding the real outcome of the summit would become apparent later.Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a screen via a video link during a hearing at the Petushki district court in Petushki, May 26, 2021.“The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We’re going to know shortly,” he said. That remark sums up much of both media and official reaction in Europe to the Geneva summit. President Biden has come under criticism from political rivals in the U.S. for instigating a meeting with Putin, which they say gave the Russian leader a gift.But that criticism hasn’t been echoed much in Europe. Seasoned European politicians say a U.S.-Russian summit was needed so that the Kremlin can be in no doubt now of a change of gears in the West since Donald Trump left the White House.Hours before Biden and Putin met, a former British foreign minister, Malcolm Rifkind, no stranger to summitry, noted: “It seems pretty certain that they will not reach agreement — and may not even make any progress — on Ukraine, or on Russian hacking in the U.S., or on human rights. But there is important common ground on a number of issues, including nuclear weapons arms control, climate change and defeating global terrorism.”Rifkind hoped the summit may have laid the groundwork for at least some cooperation on issues of mutual interest. Not that he expected the Biden-Putin summit would match the breakthrough encounter between Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1984.“By the end of their meeting they understood each other better, were impressed by each other’s personal qualities and, most importantly, had begun to trust each other,” noted Rifkind in a Chatham House commentary. He was in attendance for that breakthrough summit.No kumbaya momentThere was nothing in Geneva Wednesday to suggest to European diplomats or Western commentators that seeds of friendship were sown between Biden and Putin, despite both leaders saying there were areas of agreement, including the need for further talks on nuclear weapons control. Putin said in his post-summit press conference that they “spoke the same language” and called the talks “frank” and “substantive.”“The tone of the entire meeting was good, positive, there wasn’t any strident action taken,” Biden said. Biden’s emphasizing in his solo press conference that there was no “kumbaya moment” was also picked up widely by Europe’s media. “In Geneva, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin started a strategic dialogue at slow pace,” France’s Le Monde newspaper said.Putin Characterizes Summit with Biden as ‘Constructive’Biden was still responding to reporters’ questions when Putin said both sides agreed to return ambassadors to their posts, hold talks on strategic stability, cybersecurity Some in Europe question whether there will be any improvement in U.S.-Russia relations as a result of this encounter. “Neither side appeared to be under any illusions about the nature of their relationship,” the Daily Telegraph said in an editorial.“The Russian president used a lengthy press conference to, among other things, defend his repressive rule,” it said. “Mr. Biden had said in advance that he wanted a ‘stable, predictable relationship’ with Moscow. Few would consider that an unworthy aim. Given the character and record of the man who shows no sign of loosening his grip on the Kremlin, however, that may turn out to be wishful thinking,” it added mournfully.The same concern was echoed by officials in Brussels midweek. While Washington’s EU allies hope the summit will at least stop what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called a “negative spiral” in relations with Russia, they harbor few illusions.As the Biden-Putin summit began, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was warning the bloc’s diplomats that Europe’s relationship with Russia is likely only to worsen. Borrell, who came under scathing criticism in February for a three-day visit to Moscow which several of the bloc’s member states saw as a propaganda disaster, said the EU “needs to be realistic and prepare for a further downturn of our relations with Russia.”He told reporters in Brussels that he placed the blame squarely on Moscow. “The deliberate policy choices of the Russian government over the last years have created a negative spiral in our relations,” Borrell said. “This further downturn is the most likely outlook for the time being,” he said at a press conference held to unveil a report outlining a new EU realpolitik approach towards Russia, the three main elements being “Push back, constrain and engage.”Not so dissimilar from what Biden was outlining in Geneva. 
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The United Nations warns accelerating climate change is causing a dramatic intensification of global drought disasters, which are threatening agricultural production, the world’s safe water supply and other essential aspects of human development.   The U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has launched a “Special Report on Drought 2021.”  U.N. researchers say drought has affected more people around the world in the past four decades than any other natural disaster.  The U.N. report warns the impact of the climate-driven drought emergency on the lives and livelihoods of people across the planet will worsen in the coming years.  The U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Mami Mizutori says drought has directly affected 1.5 billion people so far this century.  She says most of the world will be living with water stress in the next few years as drought disasters grow.  She says drought is a major factor in land degradation and is responsible for declining yields of major crops.  She adds shifting rainfall patterns and variability pose a risk to the 70 percent of global agriculture that is rainfall-dependent.”A warming planet threatens to multiply the number of people without access to safe water and sanitation, thereby seriously increasing the spread of diseases, the risk of displacement and the potential even for conflict over scarce water resources,” Mizutori said. G-7 Ministers Discuss COVID Vaccines, Climate ChangeForeign ministers of world’s wealthiest democracies are meeting ahead of a summit of the group’s heads of state next month  While droughts always have been part of the human experience, the damage and costs resulting from them are seriously underestimated.  The report estimates the global economic costs arising from drought from 1998 to 2017 of at least $124 billion.The World Health Organization considers drought to be the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world.  It says water scarcity impacts 40 percent of the world’s population.  WHO projects as many as 700 million people are at risk of being displaced by 2030 because of drought.Leading co-author of the report Roger Pulwarty agrees the data contained within the report is grim but does not see an apocalyptic picture ahead.  “I do not think that there is in fact this issue surrounding the collapse of civilizations…We are not seeing truly an increase in the frequency of drought,” Pulwarty said. “But we are seeing that where they occur in the different regions in which they do exist, an increase in intensification when they occur and the rapid onset of drought.”   Over the millennia, Pulwarty notes people have found ways to adapt to risks from drought and other natural disasters.  He says lessons learned from over 20 cases around the world – including the Horn of Africa and the Euphrates and Tigris River system in Western Asia  – have been incorporated in the report. However, he says tried and true drought management measures taken in the past must be adapted to meet the challenges of today’s changing nature of drought risk.
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Teresa Marez spent 14 years building a strong clientele base as a hair stylist in San Antonio. When her son, who is autistic, had to switch to virtual learning because of the pandemic, she quit her job to help him.  
It’s been 10 months, and the clients are all gone.  
Marez is one of many Latinas who have been out of work since last year. Latinas have left the workforce at rates higher than any other demographic and have had some of the highest unemployment rates throughout the pandemic, according to a report by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, a Latino-focused think tank, provided to The Associated Press before its release on Wednesday.  
That could spell trouble not just for a post-pandemic economic recovery but for the long-term stability of the country as baby boomers continue to retire and women in general are feeling compelled to leave work. And women like Marez, who has used much of her savings, are missing out on years of economic gains.
Before the pandemic, Latinas were projected to increase their numbers in the workforce by nearly 26% from 2019 to 2029 — a higher rate than any other group, the report found. It’s unclear if or how that projection will now change.  
Marez isn’t sure what she’s going to do next.  
“If I did go back to doing hair, I would be starting from the beginning again, really,” she said. “I was kind of burned out anyway and I can’t see myself at like 45 years old starting from the beginning.”  
Marez is thinking about going back to school to study nutrition and Spanish, but she’s still working out a plan.  FILE – In this March 2, 2021, file photo, a woman, wearing a protective mask due to the coronavirus, walks past the signs of an employment agency, in Manchester, N.H. A new report finds that Latinas have left the workforce at rates higher than any…The UCLA study found that Latinas experienced the highest unemployment rate — 20% — of any demographic in April 2020, right after all of the business shutdowns began. By the end of 2020, when businesses were starting to reopen, Latinas and Black women still had nearly double the unemployment rate of their white counterparts, the study found.  
Also troubling: the rate at which Latinas dropped from the workforce altogether, which the government usually considers to be the case when someone hasn’t actively looked for work in four weeks.  
Participation in the labor force for Latinas aged 25 to 54 fell from 71% pre-pandemic to just below 67% in May 2021, according to the latest available data by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That translates to 465,000 fewer Latinas working or seeking work.
Kassandra Hernández, a lead researcher on the UCLA report, said this is crucial to how the economy recovers from the pandemic.  
“If we don’t recognize the complexities or the nuances of these narratives, of what’s happening with Latinas, we might actually be set back,” Hernández said.  
Simply put: The American workforce needs Latinas to fill the many jobs that are slowly starting to come back, and those that will be left behind by retiring baby boomers.  
Sylvia Allegretto, a labor economist at the University of California, Berkeley, said the U.S. economy already faces challenges from slowing birthrates, an aging workforce and declining immigration. Retirements among older Americans have also increased. A growing workforce is a key driver of economic growth.  
“The long-term trend is we don’t have enough workers,” she said. “If you want to make sure you have a vibrant, growing economy, you need more people.”
But Allegretto said businesses also need to offer higher pay and better benefits so that more of those who were laid off or quit jobs during the pandemic can re-enter the workforce. That may take more time as much of the economy is still reopening from the pandemic shutdown. California just lifted all its business restrictions Tuesday, she noted.  
“If (employers) have to start sweetening the deal, maybe with some benefits, maybe with some time off, that’s a good thing,” Allegretto said.
Latinas face many hurdles. Research has shown Latinas are more likely than all other U.S. mothers to stay home with children instead of work. They also tend to do much more work at home than the men in their lives, spending twice as much time on household activities and nearly three times more time caring for household members than Latinos.  
Latinas are overrepresented in low-wage jobs in the hospitality and broader service industries, stifling their upward mobility.
 
Hernández said women need access to child care, better pay and educational opportunities to help them overcome not just the disparities in career opportunities but the setbacks that the pandemic brought.  
The pandemic forced many Latinas to leave work to care not just for their children but also for extended family — “the tios or abuelos or vecinos — you name it,” said Xochitl Oseguera, the vice president of MamásConPoder, the Spanish-language community that’s part of MomsRising, a grassroots organization that works to improve women’s economic security.
Latinos were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. They were more than twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as whites, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Their vaccination rates are much lower, too, so while many Americans feel the coronavirus is behind them, the pandemic lives in Latino communities.  
Oseguera works with Latinas in different industries and hears firsthand why so many haven’t returned to the workforce.
“They’re worried about going back and getting sick,” Oseguera said. “My hope is also that those jobs really reconsider the way that we have been working with essential workers to not only have a secure environment but also have access to paid family leave, paid sick leave, access to fair pay, so that we can really recover from the last year of not being part of the workforce.”
For Ciara Fernandez Faber, going back to work also depends on the work-life balance she needs to care for her toddler. Faber, who lives in Denver, left her job as an attorney when her son’s preschool closed. Her husband is a doctor, and it wasn’t an option for him to stay home with him.  
“To my experience, like, it doesn’t matter what profession it is, it just seems like across the board it’s impacted Latina women more. I don’t know if it’s like values that we place on work-life balance or child care issues. I don’t know,” Faber said. 
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U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ended their summit with positive assessments of their meeting, but clear differences remain. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report from Geneva.
Producer: Kimberlyn Weeks
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French forces in Mali have captured a man they describe as a “high-ranking fighter of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara” (EIGS), the French military said Wednesday.  Dadi Ould Chouaib, also known as Abou Dardar, was arrested June 11 in the flashpoint “tri-border” region between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, the site of frequent attacks by extremist groups, the military said in a statement. He was carrying “an automatic weapon, a night vision telescope, a combat vest, a telephone and a radio,” but surrendered without resistance. He was located during a helicopter sweep as part of a joint mission between troops from France’s Barkhane operation and Nigerien forces.  Niger’s army said in a statement late Wednesday that the joint operation, launched June 8, had led to a clash Tuesday with “armed terrorists” that left a Nigerien dead and “12 terrorists neutralized.”  The term “neutralized” means “killed” in West African military contexts.  Dardar was formerly a member of the al-Qaida-linked Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), many of whose fighters had joined EIGS. First arrested in 2014, he was handed over to Malian authorities.  But he was one of around 200 prisoners released in October 2020 in exchange for four hostages, including French aid worker Sophie Petronin.  Dardar is suspected to have been one of the armed men who mutilated three people at a market in Tin Hama in northern Mali on May 2, cutting off their hands and feet, according to local sources. According to the United Nations’ Mali mission, MINUSMA, the armed men were suspected of belonging to EIGS.  Dardar’s arrest will come as welcome news for France, after President Emmanuel Macron promised in February to step up efforts to “decapitate” extremist groups in the Sahel region. FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron visits French troops in Africa’s Sahel region in Gao, northern Mali, May 19, 2017.France, the former colonial power in all three “tri-border” countries, is pursuing a strategy of targeting the leaders of militant groups. Its military presence in the semiarid Sahel, Operation Barkhane, recently called for the elimination of a high-ranking fighter of the al-Qaida group in the Islamic Maghreb, an adversary of EIGS in the area.Baye Ag Bakabo was responsible for the kidnapping and death of two French RFI journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, who were killed in northern Mali in 2013.  Macron recently announced that France will wind down its 5,100-strong Barkhane force, which has battled extremist groups in the Sahel for eight years.  He said earlier this month that he sees France’s future presence as being part of the so-called Takuba international task force in the Sahel, in which “hundreds” of French soldiers would form the “backbone.” FILE – The France-led special operations logo for the new Barkhane Task Force Takuba, a multinational military mission in sub-Saharan Africa’s troubled Sahel region, is seen Nov. 3, 2020.It would mean the closure of French bases and the use of special forces who would be focused on anti-terror operations and military training, he said. But Macron’s plans have fueled fears that certain areas of the Sahel, in particular northern Mali, will pass completely into the hands of extremist groups, as local authorities appear unable to restore their grip on the region. 
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U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have ended their summit in Geneva, with Biden describing it as “good” and “positive.”  
 
But he further described the summit in a realistic tone, saying the next several months would serve as a “test” of whether relations between the two countries can improve.
 
“I am not sitting here saying because the president and I agreed that we would do these things that all of a sudden it’s going to work,” Biden said during the press conference after his more than three-hour meeting with Putin. “I’m not saying that.  
 
“What I am saying is, I think there’s a genuine prospect to significantly improve the relations between our two countries, without us giving up a single, solitary thing based on principle and our values,” Biden said.
 
In his press conference after the summit, Putin, speaking through an interpreter, also described the meeting as “constructive.” He said there were “no hostilities,” calling the U.S. leader a “constructive person, well-balanced and experienced, a seasoned politician.”  
 
After the summit, both the White House and the Kremlin released identical statements, noting that “even in periods of tension,” both countries have demonstrated they are able to make progress on “shared goals of ensuring predictability in the strategic sphere, reducing the risk of armed conflicts and the threat of nuclear war.”  
 
Both governments said they will begin consultations on strategic stability to manage relations. In his press conference, Putin noted that as nuclear powers, the U.S. and Russia have a special responsibility to maintain relations.U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.”The recent extension of the New START Treaty exemplifies our commitment to nuclear arms control. Today, we reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” the White House and Kremlin statements said.
 
“Consistent with these goals, the United States and Russia will embark together on an integrated bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue in the near future that will be deliberate and robust. Through this Dialogue, we seek to lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures,” the statement said.
 Sticking points
 
While both leaders noted the talks were productive, it is clear divisions remain.  
 
Biden said there were disagreements, but “it was not done in a hyperbolic atmosphere,” adding that no threats were made during the meeting.
 
Those disputes include the issue of Ukraine, cyberattacks and human rights.
 
“I pointed out to him we have significant cyber capability, and he knows it. He doesn’t know exactly what it is, but it’s significant,” Biden said, noting that he told Putin that critical U.S. infrastructure should be “off limits” to cyberattacks.
 
Biden appeared to suggest that should Moscow launch such an attack, the U.S. may retaliate “in a cyber way.”
 
“I looked at him, I said, ‘Well, how would you feel if ransomware took on the pipelines from your oil fields?’” Biden said.
 
Putin denies U.S. accusations of election meddling and cyberattacks, including ransomware attacks on American businesses that U.S. intelligence agencies conclude may be coming from within Russian territories.Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference after his meeting with U.S President Joe Biden at the ‘Villa la Grange’ in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.Biden also said he “made it clear” to Putin the U.S. will continue to raise human rights issues.
 
“Human rights is going to always be on the table,” Biden sid. He said he brought up issues like the detention of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny and Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine imprisoned in Russia because “that’s who we are.”
 
Putin remained firm about his position on Navalny. “This man knew that he was breaking the law of Russia. He has been twice convicted,” Putin said, keeping his habit of not saying the opposition activist’s name aloud.  
 
Repeating Russia’s official claim, Putin said Navalny violated bail conditions last year by going abroad while unconscious after an apparent Novichok poisoning and by failing to check in with Russian officials as required.  
 
Biden underscored a demand for press freedom. “I also raised the ability of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to operate, and the importance of a free press and freedom of speech,” Biden said referring to the U.S.-funded media that were branded as “foreign agents” by the Russian government and accused of violating rules that could be punished with heavy fines, even imprisonment.
 
A recent incident in which a commercial airline was forced to land in Minsk, so that Belarusian authorities could arrest a prominent dissident, also was discussed, Biden said, adding that Putin “didn’t disagree with what happened.”
 
“He just said it’s a perspective of what you do about it,” Biden said. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko relies heavily on Putin for support.President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrive to meet at the ‘Villa la Grange’, June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland.Ukraine sovereignty
 
Ukraine appears to be another issue where the two leaders disagreed.  
 
Biden said he communicated to Putin “unwavering commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
 
“We agreed to pursue diplomacy, related to the Minsk Agreement,” he said, referring to the 2014 deal to halt the war in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
 
Prior to the summit, Ukrainian officials played down the prospect of ending the war in the eastern part of the country, which has been simmering for seven years between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army.
 
“We have made it very clear to our partners that no agreement on Ukraine reached without Ukraine will be recognized by us,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
 
On the issue of Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Putin gave a terse assessment. “I don’t think there is anything to discuss there,” he said.
 
The Kremlin has stated that Ukraine’s entry into NATO is a “red line” for Russia. Asked earlier this week about whether Ukraine should join NATO, Biden said, “It depends on whether they meet the criteria,” including cleaning up corruption.  
 
The administration announced earlier this month that Biden will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House sometime this summer. Biden has not invited Putin to Washington.U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meet for the U.S.-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)No Cold War
 
Biden emphasized the “last thing” Putin wants now is a Cold War. He said that while the summit’s end is not a “Kumbaya moment,” it’s in neither country’s interest to be in a “new Cold War” situation.
 
Biden went on to say he thinks Putin understands this, though it doesn’t mean Putin is “willing to lay down his arms.” Biden assessed the Russian leader is still concerned that the U.S. aims to “take him down.”
 
Putin said in a bid to lower tensions, he and Biden agreed to return their ambassadors to their posts in the future. U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan and Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov left their posts earlier this year amid worsening U.S.-Russia relations. They both participated in expanded bilateral discussions at the summit.   
 
According to a White House official, the summit ended at 5:05 CEST Wednesday when the expanded bilateral between the two delegations concluded. That meeting on the American side included five high-level officials in addition to Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The session was concluded after one expanded bilateral meeting, according to the official, not two as was previously scheduled.
 
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The State Department and Department of Homeland Security announced this week that they are expanding eligibility for legal migration to the U.S. for some minors from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.The Central American Minors (CAM) program allows immigrant parents or U.S.-based guardians with legal status in the country to petition for their children’s resettlement in the U.S. The Biden administration restarted the program in March after a four-year halt.FILE – An activist holds up a pro-refugee image during a demonstration outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 15, 2019.What is the difference between refugee status and being paroled in the U.S.? Being paroled is a temporary status that allows a migrant to enter the county under humanitarian relief but without a path to permanent residency, also known as a green card. By contrast, admittance as a refugee is permanent.“If you get refugee status, once you arrive in the U.S., you have lawful status so you can adjust to get a green card,” Abaya said, noting that eligibility for refugee status is “very specific” and that many CAM applicants may not qualify.“If you get paroled [into the country], then you don’t necessarily have [permanent] status in the U.S., but you’re allowed to be in the country for a temporary period of time,” she said.According to Abaya, the parole process serves a vital function for children who do not meet the definition of a refugee but are nevertheless in danger in their home countries, allowing them to be united with parents or guardians in the U.S.What impact has the program had since its inception in 2014?Immigration experts say that from the start, the program was slow to process applicants. The first minors began arriving in the U.S. in November 2015, almost a year after CAM’s creation under the former Obama administration.According to a report by the FILE – Children stand in line with some of the thousands of young immigrants at Chicago’s Navy Pier on Aug. 15, 2012.During the Obama administration, parents who had received humanitarian relief were allowed to petition for their children. Forms of relief included temporary protected status, deferred action, deferred enforced departure, parole, withholding of removal and permanent resident status.Under the Biden administration’s relaunching of the program, a parent or legal guardian in the U.S. who has a pending asylum case or pending U visa case can also file a petition. U visas are for victims of certain crimes who have assisted U.S. law enforcement investigations.
 What has been the reaction to the relaunching of the program?Critics of the program note that it is unlikely to significantly reduce the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization.“I’m worried that this effort is going to be somehow passed off as an effort to address the number of migrants at the southern border when it does nothing to stem the flow or address the crisis created by this administration,” Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. “There’s no evidence to suggest that arrivals at the southern border or illegal crossings were reduced when the Obama administration tried this years ago, so there’s no reason to think it will have that effect now.”Immigrant advocates, meanwhile, have welcomed the resumption of the CAM program but note that eligibility does not cover the full range of family members who may wish to apply to bring a minor to the U.S.“It’s not just parents and legal guardians that care for children. There are aunts, there’s a grandparent who is in the United States, and those family members don’t have any way to apply,” Abaya said.Even so, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and chief executive officer of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, noted that thousands of youths who would have been ineligible in 2014 may now qualify under the Biden administration’s limited expansion of the program.“The Biden administration’s decision to broaden admissions criteria is potentially transformative in extending a legal pathway to far more people in need,” Vignarajah said in a statement.
 
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As the U.S. continues its withdrawal in Afghanistan, the commander in the region says help from NATO allies will be essential in keeping the pressure on terror groups. Help has arrived with the deployment of Britain’s newest aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb made a stop on the carrier as the only reporter traveling with the head of the U.S. Central Command.
Camera: Mike Burke
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Germany on Wednesday withdrew a platoon of its forces from Lithuania amid charges of serious misconduct.Allegations include sexual harassment, racially charged comments and “extremist” behavior.”Particularly in Lithuania, where we stand side-by-side with our NATO partners for common values, such behavior by individuals isn’t just completely inexcusable, it’s absolutely shameful to us all,” Defense Ministry spokesperson Christina Routsi told reporters in Berlin.The German defense ministry said some 30 troops would be repatriated, adding that if the allegations prove true, some will face immediate dismissal.”The misconduct of some soldiers in Lithuania is a slap in the face of all those who serve the security of our country day after day in the #Bundeswehr,” wrote Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Twitter, using the word for Germany’s federal armed forces.Kramp-Karrenbauer has vowed to take a tough stance against extremism in the German military. Last year she disbanded a company of soldiers amid revelations some members held neo-Nazi beliefs.    
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The European Union (EU) Wednesday announced it is recommending that member nations lift COVID-19 restrictions on tourists from the United States, potentially making it easier for U.S. tourists to travel to Europe.Nonessential travel from the U.S. and other nations had been banned in the EU as a precaution to avoid the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. But EU member representatives, meeting in Brussels, agreed Wednesday to add the U.S. to the list of nations from which the ban may be lifted.The recommendation is non-binding, and national governments have authority to require test results or vaccination records and to set other entry conditions.EU officials said the decision to add the U.S. to the list was based on the pace of the U.S. vaccination process, among other factors.In addition to the U.S., EU representatives also added North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Lebanon and Taiwan to the tourist travel list. The recommendations are expected to be formalized on Friday and come into effect immediately.The move is part of an attempt to restore tourism within and from outside the bloc. Travel into the EU was all but suspended throughout most of the pandemic, causing tourism-dependent national economies to suffer. Last week, the EU approved digital COVID-19 certificates for fully vaccinated citizens to use during travel among the 27 EU member nations. 
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German police say they are investigating a protest by the environmental group Greenpeace at a soccer match in Munich Tuesday that apparently went wrong, injuring at least two people.Before the start of a Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) game between France and Germany at Munich’s Allianz Arena, a man piloting a motorized parachute flew into the stadium.The parachute, with “Kick Out Oil” and “Greenpeace” written on the back, went out of control after hitting overhead cables, landing hard on the field and sending debris into the stands.Police say at least two of those injured were taken to the hospital, but none of the injuries were serious. They say the parachutist was slightly injured but was able to walk as he was led away by police.On its Twitter account, Greenpeace Germany apologized for the act.“This protest was never intended to disrupt the game or injure people. We hope everyone is fine and no one was seriously injured. Greenpeace actions are always peaceful and nonviolent. Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan with this campaign.”In a statement, the UEFA called the stunt an “inconsiderate act” which could have had very serious consequences.“Law authorities will take the necessary action,” the organization said.The Greenpeace protest was apparently aimed at Volkswagen, one of the sponsors of the match, demanding them to stop selling “climate-damaging diesel” and gasoline-powered cars. 
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The United Nations is urging reforms that make it easier for migrants to send money back to their home countries, as it observes its annual International Day of Family Remittances.
 
“Migrants have shown their continued commitment to their families and communities during the pandemic with more remittances transfers made digitally than ever before,” Gilbert Houngbo, president of the U.N.’s International Fund for Agricultural Development, said in a statement.  “Unfortunately, families in rural and remote areas — where remittances are a true lifeline — battle to access cash outlets or even more convenient alternatives such as mobile money accounts. Governments and the private sector need to urgently invest in rural digital infrastructure to address this.”
 
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used his own statement to call for remittance fees to be set “as close to zero as possible,” and for those in the industry to “foster the financial inclusion of migrants and their families.”
 
“Looking forward, we must continue efforts to support and protect migrants, who — as the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear — play such an important role in keeping essential services and the economy at large running in many parts of the world,” Guterres said.
 
Data from the World Bank showed remittances to low- and middle-income countries hit $540 billion in 2020, a decline of 1.6% from the previous year.  It said last month it expects the amount of money sent to those countries to increase by 2.6% this year and 2.2% in 2022.
 
Latin America and the Caribbean saw an increase of 6.5% in remittances received last year, according to the World Bank, followed by 5.2% in South Asia and 2.3% percent in the Middle East and North Africa.
 
Remittances declined 7.9% to East Asia and the Pacific, and 9.7% to Europe and Central Asia.  Remittances to sub-Saharan Africa rose 2.3%, not counting Nigeria, which saw the amount of money sent there by migrants plummet 28%.
 
India, China, Mexico, the Philippines, Egypt and Pakistan were the top destinations for migrants to send money in 2020.
 
Migrants working in the United States, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Germany sent the most money home, according to the World Bank.
 
Worldwide, the U.N. says there are 200 million migrant workers who send money to support more than 800 million family members, and that in 2020, 75% of that money was spent on “immediate needs.”
 
The United Nations has set a target for those facilitating remittances to charge no more than a 3% fee.  But the World Bank said that at the end of last year, the global average fee to send home $200 was 6.5%.
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Iran’s reported desire to purchase a Russian advanced satellite system is not “particularly concerning” to U.S. security in the region, according to the commander who oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East.   In an interview with VOA, Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said Russia’s Kanopus-V satellite is not effective at targeting. “You really can’t do much with it,” he said. “It would probably allow them to see something the size of a school bus, which is not going to be particularly concerning to us.” Earlier this month, U.S. and Middle East officials told The Washington Post that Iranian military officials have been deeply involved in the satellite acquisition and have made multiple trips to Russia since 2018 to work on an agreement to buy the system. While the Kanopus-V is marketed for civilian use, Iranian military officials have been heavily involved in the acquisition, and leaders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have made multiple trips to Russia since 2018 to help negotiate the terms of the agreement, the officials said. The Koanupus-V is marketed for civilian use, and McKenzie said some commercial imagery options provide better visuals than what the satellite’s high-resolution camera could capture.   “While it might seem attractive to put it (the satellite) into space on a Russian rocket, if that’s the way they want to spend their money and do it, they should go ahead,” he said.    Drone Attacks   Meanwhile, Iranian-backed militia have continued to attack U.S. and NATO forces in Iraq with small, armed drones.    “We’ve been attacked three times over the last little over a month,” McKenzie said. He and other military officials have told VOA that Iran has shifted to using compact, kinetic attacks because their armed drones can cause damage to U.S. resources without amassing casualties, keeping the threat just below a level that might spark retaliation from the United States. “It’s a very dangerous path that they’re on,” warned McKenzie, “and they’re doing it because, as we should remember, they failed and their principal aim, which was a political objective of having us leave Iraq.”   
 
The military is still conducting forensic analysis right now to determine exactly where the drones used in the latest attacks on U.S. forces originated. 
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Turkey’s Sea of Marmara is battling an explosion of sea algae, dubbed sea snot, which is now threatening an ecological disaster. As Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Istanbul, the mucus-like substance is fast becoming politically toxic as well.
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Several spectators were treated in the hospital for injuries caused by a protester who parachuted into the stadium before France played Germany at the European Championship, UEFA said Tuesday.Debris fell on the field and main grandstand, narrowly missing France coach Didier Deschamps, when the parachutist struck wires for an overhead camera attached to the stadium roof.The governing body of European soccer called it a “reckless and dangerous” act and said “law authorities will take the necessary action.””This inconsiderate act … caused injuries to several people attending the game who are now in hospital,” UEFA said.The incident happened just before the start of the Euro 2020 match between the last two World Cup champions. Deschamps was shown ducking into the team dugout to avoid falling debris.France won the match, 1-0.”We as the German soccer federation condemn it of course, because it wasn’t just him, but others that he endangered and injured. It’s unacceptable from our point of view,” German team spokesman Jens Grittner said. “And the incident is being checked by the police, the authorities here in Munich and at UEFA. But of course we also condemn what happened there. It could probably have turned out much worse.”The protester’s parachute had the slogan “KICK OUT OIL!” and “Greenpeace” written on it.He glided into the stadium and seemed to lose control after connecting with the wires. He veered away from the playing area toward the main grandstand and barely cleared the heads of spectators.The parachutist managed to land on the field and Germany players Antonio Rüdiger and Robin Gosens were the first to approach him. He was led away by security stewards and given medical attention on the side of the field.UEFA and one of its top-tier tournament sponsors, Russian state energy firm Gazprom, have previously been targeted by Greenpeace protests.In 2013, a Champions League game in Basel was disrupted when Greenpeace activists abseiled from the roof of the stadium to unfurl a banner protesting Russian oil and Gazprom, which sponsored the visiting team, German club Schalke.Greenpeace later donated money to a charity supported by Basel, which was fined by UEFA for the security lapse.UEFA defended its environmental credentials in Tuesday’s statement.”UEFA and its partners are fully committed to a sustainable Euro 2020 tournament,” UEFA said, “and many initiatives have been implemented to offset carbon emissions.”
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