MEXICO CITY — A U.S. federal judge in Massachusetts again dismissed a $10 billion Mexican government lawsuit against six U.S. gun manufacturers on Wednesday.

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

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

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

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

The case has been a legal rollercoaster.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, has since captured the Democratic nomination and is running against Trump.
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Following last week’s prisoner exchange between Russia and Western nations, several of the political prisoners released by Moscow have arrived in Germany, historically a refuge for Russians fighting for change in their homeland. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in Berlin.
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GENEVA — Soaring temperatures in July have had detrimental effects on the well-being of hundreds of millions of people worldwide who have found the monthlong extreme heat too hot to handle, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

“The extreme heat, which continued throughout July after a hot June … has had really, really devastating impacts on communities, on people’s health, on ecosystems, also on economies,” WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis told journalists Tuesday in Geneva.

“Extreme heat has a domino effect across society,” she said, noting that the world’s hottest day on recent record was registered on July 22. “All of this is really yet another unwelcome indication, one of many, of the extent that greenhouse gases from human activities are, in fact, changing our climate.”

WMO data show widespread, intense and extended heat waves have hit every continent in the past year and global average temperatures have set new monthly records for 13 consecutive months from June 2023 to June 2024.

“At least 10 countries in the past year have recorded daily temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius [122 degrees Fahrenheit] in more than one location,” Nullis said. “You can well imagine this is too hot for the body to handle.”

WMO reports that Death Valley in California, considered to be the hottest place on Earth, registered an average monthly temperature of 42.5 degrees Celsius (108.5 degree Fahrenheit) at Furnace Creek, “which is a record for the site and possibly the world.”

WMO normally does not measure monthly temperature records. But Randall Cerveny, chief rapporteur for the WMO’s committee for evaluating climate and weather extremes, said ”the record appeared to be reasonable and legitimate.”

While human-induced activity is largely responsible for the long-term warming trend, meteorologists cite above-average temperatures over large parts of Antarctica as another contributing factor.

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, this has resulted in anomalies of more than 10-degrees Celsius above average in some areas, and above-average temperatures in parts of the Southern Ocean.

WMO climate expert Alvaro Silva said two consecutive heat waves that hit Antarctica over the last two years have contributed to record global temperatures.

“The reason is still under research, but it seems to be related with the daily sea ice extent,” he said, noting the Antarctic daily sea ice extent in June 2024 “was the second lowest on record. … This follows the lowest extent that we have in Antarctica in terms of sea ice in 2023.”

Sea ice extent is the surface area of ice covering an ocean at a given time.

Speaking from the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, Silva provided a sobering regional overview of the heat waves and extreme heat events, which are contributing to record global temperatures.

He observed that July was the warmest on record in Asia, while in Africa, he cited record-breaking temperatures in Morocco as having had “an important impact in terms of human health and deaths.”

He said intense heat waves in southern and southeastern Europe have “caused casualties and severe impacts on health.” At the same time, he pointed out that the fallout of heat waves in North America have been quite severe, noting that on August 1, “more than 160 million people, about half of the United States population, were under heat alert.”

WMO officials say evidence of our rapidly warming planet underscores the urgency of the Call to Action on Extreme Heat initiative launched by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres July 25.

In issuing this call, the U.N. chief warned that “Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere” and this was posing an increased threat to “our socio-economic and environmental well-being.”

WMO officials also stressed the importance of adaptation to climate change as a lifesaving measure, noting that recent estimates produced by WMO and the World Health Organization indicate the global scale-up of heat-health-warning systems for 57 countries alone “has the potential to save an estimated 98,000 lives per year.”

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said bolstering heat early warning systems in line with her agency’s Early Warnings for All Initiative would ensure at-risk populations receive timely alerts so they can take “protective actions.”

But, she emphasized, climate adaptation alone is not enough.

“We need to tackle the root cause and urgently reduce greenhouse gas levels, which remain at record observed levels.”
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Tokyo — Japan this week restated its aim to rid the world of atomic weapons as it marks the 79th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — even as the Japanese government seeks assurances the United States would be willing to use its own nuclear arsenal to protect Japan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At the same time, say analysts, Japan must secure itself against multiple threats — not least from China itself.
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Now that both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have selected their running mates, the question is whether those picks will actually help boost the campaigns’ chances of winning the November election. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at the historical relevance of vice presidential candidates and what Tim Walz and JD Vance bring to their respective tickets.
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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey on Wednesday filed a request with a U.N. court to join South Africa’s lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, the foreign minister said. 

Turkey’s ambassador to the Netherlands, accompanied by a group of Turkish legislators, submitted a declaration of intervention to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. 

With the development, Turkey, one of the fiercest critics of Israel’s actions in Gaza, becomes the latest nation seeking to participate in the case. Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua and Libya have also asked to join the case, as have Palestinian officials. The court’s decision on their requests is still pending. 

“We have just submitted our application to the International Court of Justice to intervene in the genocide case filed against Israel,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan wrote on the social media platform X. “Emboldened by the impunity for its crimes, Israel is killing more and more innocent Palestinians every day.” 

“The international community must do its part to stop the genocide; it must put the necessary pressure on Israel and its supporters,” he said. “Turkey will make every effort to do so.” 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of genocide, called for it to be punished in international courts and criticized Western nations for backing Israel. In May, Turkey suspended trade with Israel, citing its assault on Gaza. 

In contrast to Western nations that have designated Hamas a terrorist organization, Erdogan has commended the group, calling it a liberation movement. 

South Africa brought a case to the International Court of Justice late last year, accusing Israel of violating the genocide convention through its military operations in Gaza. 

Israel has strongly rejected accusations of genocide and has argued that the war in Gaza is a legitimate defensive action against Hamas militants for their October 7 attack in southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and in which 250 hostages were taken. 

If admitted to the case, the countries who joined would be able to make written submissions and speak at public hearings. 

Preliminary hearings have already been held in the genocide case against Israel, but the court is expected to take years to reach a final decision. 

“No country in the world is above international law,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said on X earlier. “The case at the International Court of Justice is extremely important in terms of ensuring that the crimes committed by Israel do not go unpunished.” 

Keceli also called for the immediate implementation of precautionary measures ordered by the court, including a halt to military offensives and an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

Since Erdogan took power in 2003, former allies Turkey and Israel have experienced a volatile relationship, marked by periods of severe friction and reconciliation. The war in Gaza has disrupted the most recent attempts at normalizing ties.
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BARCELONA — Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont said on Wednesday he was returning after seven years in self-imposed exile to Spain, where he would likely be arrested over his role in the region’s 2017 independence bid. 

His arrest and potential imprisonment before he might face trial could unleash fresh turmoil in Catalonia and threaten the fragile Socialist-led coalition ruling Spain, which relies on Puigdemont’s hardline Junts party to pass legislation. 

To secure Junts’ legislative support for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government, Spain’s parliament in May approved an amnesty law designed to allow Puigdemont a safe return from Belgium. 

The amnesty aimed to cancel legal proceedings against hundreds of separatists involved in Catalonia’s 2017 illegal referendum, but Spain’s Supreme Court ruled last month that the law did not apply to an embezzlement charge against Puigdemont and upheld an arrest warrant he faces. 

Still, Puigdemont said he remained committed to attending the Catalan parliament’s session that is due to swear in the region’s new leader following an election in May, in which Puigdemont finished second. 

The swearing-in is scheduled for Thursday. Puigdemont said he would keep his word and be in Barcelona then. 

“I have started the return trip from exile,” he said in a video posted on X. He also said in the video message that his arrest would be illegal and arbitrary. 

Neither Puigdemont nor Junts on Wednesday said whether he had already entered Spain. 

Thursday’s session is poised to appoint Socialist Salvador Illa as the new Catalan president, ending over a decade of separatist governments. 

Puigdemont’s supporters plan to welcome him on Thursday morning on a Barcelona boulevard near the regional parliament, setting the stage for a potentially dramatic arrest witnessed by reporters and bystanders. 

Moderate separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, currently governing Catalonia, called Puigdemont’s return an “exceptional moment” and said it would attend the welcoming event. 

That might require a delicate balancing act from the party, which as leader of the regional government is responsible for the regional police force that could arrest Puigdemont. Esquerra will also lend its key votes for Illa to be elected president in exchange for a deal under which Catalonia would gain autonomy in collecting and managing taxes. 

Both Esquerra and Junts have backed the Socialist-led national government in Madrid. 

If the judge in charge of his case issues a pre-trial imprisonment, Puigdemont is expected to appeal for his release to Spain’s Constitutional Court. 
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CHARLESTON, S.C. — Tropical Storm Debby is taking a breather Wednesday over the western Atlantic Ocean but it isn’t done dousing the coastal Carolinas before it slowly marches north.   

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It was hell all night,” Jones said.   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Debby is finally forecast to pick up speed Thursday, and it could move up the middle of North Carolina, through Virginia and into the Washington area by Saturday. 
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The two U.S. presidential tickets are set. Vice President Kamala Harris named her running mate Tuesday. But the presumed Democratic Party nominee wasn’t alone making news in one of America’s oldest cities, Philadelphia, in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania. That’s where we find VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti.
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LONDON — British police braced for further anti-Muslim riots on Wednesday as far-right groups pledged to target asylum centers and immigration law firms across the country, prompting anti-fascist protesters to plan counter demonstrations.

Britain has been gripped by an escalating wave of violence that erupted early last week when three young girls were killed in a knife attack in northwest Britain, triggering a wave of false messaging online that wrongly identified the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a former chief prosecutor who is facing his first crisis since winning a July 4 election, has warned rioters they will face lengthy jail terms as he sought to stamp out the worst outbreak of violence in Britain in 13 years.

“Our first duty is to ensure our communities are safe,” he told broadcasters.

“They will be safe. We are doing everything we can to ensure that where a police response is needed, it is in place, where support is needed for particular places, that is in place.”

In towns and cities groups of a few hundred rioters have clashed with police and smashed windows of hotels housing asylum-seekers from Africa and the Middle East, chanting “get them out” and “stop the boats” – a reference to those arriving in Britain in small dinghies.

They have also pelted mosques with rocks, terrifying local communities including ethnic minorities who have felt targeted by the violence.

Messages online said immigration centers and law firms aiding migrants would be hit on Wednesday, with one post saying: “Wednesday night lads. They won’t stop coming until you tell them.”

In response, anti-racism and anti-fascist groups organized counter demonstrations in towns and cities across the country.

One typical post about a planned far-right protest in the southern coastal city of Brighton said: “Racist scum are trying to target an immigration lawyer’s office. We won’t let it happen – wear face coverings and face masks.”

The government has put together a so-called “standing army” of 6,000 specialist police officers to respond to any outbreaks of violence, and say they will have a big enough presence to deal with any unrest.

“This country is faced with one of the worst spates of violent disorder in the last decade,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine, who is in charge of the policing operation in London, said.

“We will not tolerate this on our streets. We will use every power, tactic and tool available to prevent further scenes of disorder.”

Starmer has vowed a reckoning for those caught rioting, looting shops and burning cars.

He said more than 400 people had been arrested, 100 had been charged, and he was expecting sentencing to start soon.
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WASHINGTON — Harrison Li, the son of Kai Li, a Chinese American wrongfully detained in China since 2016, felt a mix of emotions after witnessing the recent return of Americans wrongfully imprisoned in Russia.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Families call for urgent action

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

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

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

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

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

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

Renewed focus

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

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

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

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

Travel advisory

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

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

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

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

Family appeals

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

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

The case has drawn the attention of U.S. Senators John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy, who are advocating for Nelson Wells Jr. to be recognized as “wrongfully detained.” Last October, Nelson and Cynthia Wells spoke with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who assured them he continues to address the issue.
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wichita falls, texas — Elon Musk’s social media platform X has sued a group of advertisers, alleging that a “massive advertiser boycott” deprived the company of billions of dollars in revenue and violated antitrust laws.

The company formerly known as Twitter filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a federal court in Texas against the World Federation of Advertisers and member companies Unilever, Mars, CVS Health and Orsted.

It accused the advertising group’s brand safety initiative, called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, of helping to coordinate a pause in advertising after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and overhauled its staff and policies.

Musk posted about the lawsuit on X on Tuesday, saying “now it is war” after two years of being nice and “getting nothing but empty words.”

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a video announcement that the lawsuit stemmed in part from evidence uncovered by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which she said showed a “group of companies organized a systematic illegal boycott” against X.

The Republican-led committee had a hearing last month looking at whether current laws are “sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion in online advertising.”

The lawsuit’s allegations center on the early days of Musk’s Twitter takeover and not a more recent dispute with advertisers that came a year later.

In November 2023, about a year after Musk bought the company, a number of advertisers began fleeing X over concerns about their ads showing up next to pro-Nazi content and hate speech on the site in general, with Musk inflaming tensions with his own posts endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

Musk later said those fleeing advertisers were engaging in blackmail and, using a profanity, essentially told them to go away.

The Belgium-based World Federation of Advertisers and representatives for CVS, Orsted, Mars and Unilever didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

A top Unilever executive testified at last month’s congressional hearing, defending the British consumer goods company’s practice of choosing to put ads on platforms that won’t harm its brand.

“Unilever, and Unilever alone, controls our advertising spending,” said prepared written remarks by Herrish Patel, president of Unilever USA. “No platform has a right to our advertising dollar.”
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Abuja, Nigeria — While nationwide protests appeared to have ebbed Tuesday, the Nigerian government said it will not tolerate calls for coups after some protesters in northwest Kano and Kaduna states waved Russian flags while marching in the streets Monday.

Nigeria’s defense chiefs told journalists that hoisting the Russian flags amounts to treason.

“We will not relent in pursuing those that have continued to encourage unconstitutional takeover of government or subversion or those ones that are into vandalism or destruction of lives and property,” Nigerian Defense Chief General Christopher Musa said.

Thousands in Nigeria took to the streets in Lagos, Abuja and elsewhere last week to denounce President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies and government. Security officers cracked down hard on protesters, using tear gas and live ammunition. Amnesty International says at least 13 protesters were killed nationwide.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters marched in northern Kaduna and Kano states, waving Russian flags and calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to come to their aid. Nigeria’s national police said nearly 900 protesters were arrested, including 30 who were carrying Russian flags.

Security analyst Kabiru Adamu criticized the military’s interpretation of the protesters’ intentions.

“There [are] instances where Nigerians do wave the flags of other countries,” he said. “So, one is a bit surprised with this interpretation. We’re in a democratic setting, and the role of security and defense organizations does not go beyond law enforcement or the implementation of security policies. They do not have in any way the role of interpreting or making judicial pronouncements.”

The Russian Embassy in Abuja on Monday distanced itself from protesters using the Russian flag and pledged Moscow’s support for Nigeria’s democracy. But Russia has been expanding its influence in Africa and forming security alliances, especially in the coup-ridden Sahel states.

Adamu, managing director of Beacon Security and Intelligence, said the acts of the protesters might be inspired by a growing resentment for Western influence in the region.

“The policies that are being implemented by the Bola Tinubu government have the backing of Western countries, especially the institutions of [the International Monetary Fund] and World Bank,” he said.

“So, when people in an organic manner endear themselves to Russia, it is perhaps an indication that they’re not happy with the policies that were supported by those countries and Russia perhaps may be a better partner or ally.”

Western nations, including the United States, have said Russia’s influence in Africa could set back democratic norms.

But political affairs analyst Ahmed Buhari said good governance from local authorities is all that is needed.

“These people are not oblivious of the fact that there’s a current wave across the Sahel,” he said. “They listen to the news. They can clearly see that Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso [have] presented very young leaders who are coming up with very strong policies that seemingly look like they’re going to benefit the people.

“And what I expect from the government of the day is to prove to the people that they’re better friends to the people than any foreign ally at a time like this,” he said.
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Washington — A Pakistani man alleged to have ties to Iran has been charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn announced criminal charges against Asif Merchant, accusing him of traveling to New York to try to hire a hitman for the assassinations. The plot was disrupted before it could be carried out.

Court documents do not identify any of the potential targets, but the case was unsealed just weeks after U.S. officials disclosed that a threat on Donald Trump’s life from Iran prompted additional security in the days before a Pennsylvania rally last month in which Trump was injured by a gunman’s bullet. That shooting, carried out by a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, was unrelated to the Iran threat.

U.S. officials have warned for years about Iran’s desire to avenge the 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani, who led the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. That strike was ordered by Trump.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement: “The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security.”
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WASHINGTON/SYDNEY — The United States and Australia kicked off high-level talks Tuesday that will focus on China’s “coercive behavior,” as well as the AUKUS nuclear submarine project, mounting tensions in the Middle East and climate change, officials said.

The annual Australia-U.S. AUSMIN talks, taking place in Annapolis, Maryland, include the top defense and diplomatic officials from both nations.

“We’re working together today to tackle shared security challenges, from coercive behavior by the PRC [People’s Republic of China], to Russia’s war of choice against Ukraine, to the turmoil in the Middle East,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

“And I know that [this] year’s AUSMIN will deliver results for both of our peoples.”

The U.S. and China are at odds on a range of issues, including U.S. support for Taiwan. Another topic will be Chinese military activity in the South China Sea. China claims control over most of the sea, including the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, where U.S. ally the Philippines has maritime claims.

Austin spoke in the wake of a rocket strike on Monday in Iraq that wounded seven U.S. personnel, as the Middle East braced for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following last week’s killing of senior leaders of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles held meetings in Washington on Monday, a day before the AUSMIN talks.

Marles highlighted the expanding role of a U.S. Marine rotational force in northern Australia and defense industry cooperation.

“We’re seeing America’s force posture in Australia grow really significantly. AUKUS is part of that, but it’s not the only part of that,” Marles said in talks with Austin, according to a statement.

Under the AUKUS program, Washington will sell three nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the next decade. Wong said there was bipartisan U.S. political support for the program.

U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy told ABC Television that China and climate change — priorities for the Pacific Islands, where the U.S. and Australia are competing with China for security ties — would be discussed.

“Obviously with China being such an important … trading partner and competitor for both of us, that is obviously one of the main topics,” she said.

“We are also talking about what we can do together to fight climate change [and] to help the Pacific Islands to build critical infrastructure to connect them,” she said.

As part of cooperating on environmental and resource issues, Australia will spend $200 million ($130 million U.S.) to upgrade ground station facilities in its remote central desert to process data from NASA’s Landsat Next satellite.

Landsat Next is an earth observation program the U.S. space agency says will provide early warnings on the onset of fires or ice melting. The program is scheduled to be launched in 2030.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the satellite data would also be used to target resource exploration in Australia, as the two nations develop a supply chain for critical minerals.

The U.S. and its allies are seeking to reduce China’s market dominance in rare earths and critical minerals used in electric vehicles and defense technology.
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New York — Some calm is returning to Wall Street, and U.S. stocks are holding steadier after Japan’s market soared earlier Tuesday to bounce back from its worst loss since 1987.

The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in early trading and on track to break a brutal three-day losing streak. It had tumbled a bit more than 6% after several weaker-than-expected reports raised worries the Federal Reserve had pressed the brakes too hard for too long on the U.S. economy through high interest rates in order to beat inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 47 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:43 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.

Stronger-than-expected profit reports from several big U.S. companies helped support the market. Kenvue, the company behind Tylenol and Band-Aids, jumped 13.5% after reporting stronger profit than expected thanks in part to higher prices for its products. Uber rolled 4.3% higher after easily topping profit forecasts for the latest quarter.

Caterpillar veered from an early loss to a gain of 1.7% after reporting stronger earnings than expected but weaker revenue.

Several technical factors may have accelerated the recent swoon for markets, beyond the weak U.S. hiring data and other reports, in what strategists at Barclays call “a perfect storm” for causing extreme market moves. One is centered in Tokyo, where a favorite trade for hedge funds and other investors began unraveling last week after the Bank of Japan made borrowing more expensive by raising interest rates above virtually zero.

That scrambled trades where investors had borrowed Japanese yen at low cost and invested it elsewhere around the world. The resulting exits from those trades may have helped accelerate the declines for markets around the world.

But Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 10.2% Tuesday, following its 12.4% sell-off the day before, which was its worst since the Black Monday crash of 1987. Stocks in Tokyo rebounded as the value of the Japanese yen stabilized a bit against the U.S. dollar following several days of sharp gains.

“The speed, the magnitude and the shock factor clearly demonstrate” how much of the moves were driven by how traders were positioned, rather than just worries about the economy, according to the strategists at Barclays led by Stefano Pascale and Anshul Gupta.

Still, some voices along Wall Street are continuing to urge caution.

Barry Bannister, chief equity strategist at Stifel, is warning more drops could be ahead because of a slowing U.S. economy and sticky inflation. He had been predicting a coming “correction” in U.S. stock prices for a while, including an acknowledgement in July that his initial call was early. That was two days before the S&P 500 set its latest all-time high and then began sinking.

While fears are rising about a slowing U.S. economy, it is still growing, and a recession is far from a certainty. The U.S. stock market is also still up a healthy amount for the year so far. The S&P 500 has romped to dozens of all-time highs this year, in part due to a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology and critics have been saying prices looked too expensive.

Elsewhere, European markets were mostly left out of the rebound, with stock indexes down modestly in Germany France and the United Kingdom.
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HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. — Tropical Storm Debby moved menacingly into some of America’s most historic Southern cities and was expected to bring prolonged downpours and flooding throughout the day Tuesday after slamming into Florida and prompting the rescue of hundreds from flooded homes.

Record-setting rain from the storm that killed at least five people was causing flash flooding, with up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) possible in some areas, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm’s center was over southeast Georgia early Tuesday with maximum sustained winds near 45 mph (75 kph) and it was moving northeast near 7 mph (11 kph). The center is expected to move off Georgia’s coast later Tuesday. Some strengthening is forecast Wednesday and Thursday as Debby drifts offshore, before it moves inland Thursday over South Carolina.

“Hunker down,” Van Johnson, the mayor of Savannah, Georgia, told residents in a social media livestream Monday night. “Expect that it will be a rough day” on Tuesday, he said.

More than 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain had fallen through Monday at Savannah’s airport, but more rain fell overnight and was continuing Tuesday, the National Weather Service reported.

Flash flood warnings were issued in Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, among other areas of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. Both Savannah and Charleston announced curfews Monday night into Tuesday.

In South Carolina, Charleston County Interim Emergency Director Ben Webster called Debby a “historic and potentially unprecedented event” three times in a 90-second briefing Monday.

In addition to the curfew, the city of Charleston’s emergency plan includes sandbags for residents, opening parking garages so residents can park their cars above floodwaters and an online mapping system that shows which roads are closed due to flooding.

In Edisto Beach, South Carolina, a tornado touched down Monday night, damaging trees, homes and taking down power lines, the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office said on social media. No injuries were immediately reported, officials said.

The weather service continued issuing tornado warnings well into Monday night for parts of the state including Hilton Head Island.

At the edge of Hilton Head Island, musician Nick Poulin wasn’t overly concerned about Debby since his equipment was inside and he made sure that his car wasn’t parked under trees so it won’t be hit by falling branches.

“I’m born and raised here, so we’ve had plenty of storms,” he said. “It’s usually not as bad as people hype it up to be.”

Debby made landfall along the Gulf Coast of Florida early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane. It has weakened to a tropical storm and is moving slowly, drenching and bringing areas of catastrophic flooding across portions of eastern Georgia, the coastal plain of South Carolina and southeast North Carolina through Wednesday.

About 500 people were rescued Monday from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, a beach city popular with tourists, the Sarasota Police Department said in a social media post. Just north of Sarasota, officials in Manatee County said in a news release that 186 people were rescued from flood waters.

“Essentially we’ve had twice the amount of the rain that was predicted for us to have,” Sarasota County Fire Chief David Rathbun said on social media.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that the state could continue to see threats as waterways north of the border fill up and flow south.

“It is a very saturating, wet storm,” he said. “When they crest and the water that’s going to come down from Georgia, it’s just something that we’re going to be on alert for not just throughout today, but for the next week.”

Five people had died due to the storm as of Monday night, including a truck driver on Interstate 75 in the Tampa area after he lost control of his tractor trailer, which flipped over a concrete wall and dangled over the edge before the cab dropped into the water below. Sheriff’s office divers located the driver, a 64-year-old man from Mississippi, in the cab 40 feet (12 meters) below the surface, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

A 13-year-old boy died Monday morning after a tree fell on a mobile home southwest of Gainesville, Florida, according to the Levy County Sheriff’s Office. In Dixie County, just east of where the storm made landfall, a 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy died in a car crash on wet roads Sunday night.

In south Georgia, a 19-year-old man died Monday afternoon when a large tree fell onto a porch at a home in Moultrie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

More than 140,000 customers remained without power in Florida and Georgia on Tuesday morning, down from a peak of more than 350,000, according to PowerOutage.us and Georgia Electric Membership Corp. Nearly 12,000 more were without power in South Carolina early Tuesday. 

More than 1,600 flights were also canceled nationwide on Monday and more than 550 flights were canceled early Tuesday, many of them to and from Florida airports, according to FlightAware.com.

President Joe Biden approved a request from South Carolina’s governor for an emergency declaration, following his earlier approval of a similar request from Florida. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he has asked Biden to issue a preemptive federal emergency declaration to speed the flow of federal aid to the state.

Vice President Kamala Harris postponed a campaign stop scheduled for Thursday in Savannah.

North Carolina is also under a state of emergency after Gov. Roy Cooper declared it in an executive order signed Monday. Several areas along the state’s coastline are prone to flooding, such as Wilmington and the Outer Banks, according to the North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program.

North Carolina and South Carolina have dealt with three catastrophic floods from tropical systems in the past nine years, all causing more than $1 billion in damage.

In 2015, rainfall fed by moisture as Hurricane Joaquin passed well offshore caused massive flooding. In 2016, flooding from Hurricane Matthew caused 24 deaths in the two states and rivers set record crests. Those records were broken in 2018 with Hurricane Florence, which set rainfall records in both Carolinas, flooded many of the same places and was responsible for 42 deaths in North Carolina and nine in South Carolina.
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Frankfurt, Germany — German factory orders rose more strongly than expected in June, official data showed Tuesday, boosting hopes that a recovery in Europe’s top economy could be gaining momentum.

Orders in the country’s crucial manufacturing sector rose 3.9% from a month earlier, according to federal statistics agency Destatis, an uptick that followed five consecutive months of falls.

That was higher than an increase of 1% forecast by analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet.

But the order data, closely watched as an indicator of future business activity, was 11.8% lower from the same month a year earlier, according to Destatis.

June’s month-on-month rise was driven by domestic orders, which rose by 1.2%, while demand from abroad continued to fall and was down by 3.1%.

The uptick comes after a recent run of lackluster data and may boost optimism a rebound is finally taking hold after the German economy shrank last year due in part to an industrial slowdown.

Along with recent positive figures on eurozone bank lending, the orders data “could suggest a recovery in fixed investments in the second half of the year,” said the economy ministry in a statement.

“However a more general revival in industrial activity is unlikely for now given the subdued mood among businesses and continued weak foreign demand,” it added.

Jens-Oliver Niklasch, analyst at LBBW bank, said that while June’s figures “exceeded all expectations,” they were “not enough to break the downward trend.”
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