MESCALERO, New Mexico — Anne Marie Brillante never imagined she would have to choose between being Apache and being Catholic.

To her, and many others in the Mescalero Apache tribe in New Mexico who are members of St. Joseph Apache Mission, their Indigenous culture had always been intertwined with faith. Both are sacred.

“Hearing we had to choose, that was a shock,” said a tearful Brillante, a member of the mission’s parish council.

The focus of this tense, unresolved episode is the 8-foot Apache Christ painting. For this close-knit community, it is a revered icon created by Franciscan friar Robert Lentz in 1989. It depicts Christ as a Mescalero medicine man and has hung behind the church’s altar for 35 years under a crucifix as a reminder of the holy union of their culture and faith.

On June 26, the church’s then-priest, Peter Chudy Sixtus Simeon-Aguinam, removed the icon and a smaller painting depicting a sacred Indigenous dancer. Also taken were ceramic chalices and baskets given by the Pueblo community for use during the Eucharist.

Brillante said the priest took them away while the region was reeling from wildfires that claimed two lives and burned more than 1,000 homes.

The Diocese of Las Cruces, which oversees the mission, did not respond to several emails, phone calls and an in-person visit by The Associated Press.

Parishioners, shocked to see the blank wall behind the altar when they arrived for Catechism class, initially believed the art objects had been stolen. But Brillante was informed by a diocesan official that the icon’s removal occurred under the authority of Bishop Peter Baldacchino and in the presence of a diocesan risk manager.

The diocese has returned the icons and other objects after the community’s outrage was covered by various media outlets, and the bishop replaced Simeon-Aguinam with another priest. But Brillante and others say it’s insufficient to heal the spiritual abuse they have endured.

Brillante said their former priest opened old wounds with his recent actions, suggesting he sought to cleanse them of their “pagan” ways, and it has derailed the reconciliation process initiated by Pope Francis in 2022. That year, Francis gave a historic apology for the Catholic Church’s role in Indigenous residential schools, forcing Native people to assimilate into Christian society, destroying their cultures and separating families.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declined comment on the Mescalero case. But last month, the conference overwhelmingly approved a pastoral framework for Indigenous ministry, which pointed to a “false choice” many Indigenous Catholics are faced with — to be Indigenous or Catholic:

“We assure you, as the Catholic bishops of the United States, that you do not have to be one or the other. You are both.”

Several of the mission’s former priests understood this, but Brillante believes Simeon-Aguinam’s recent demand to make that “false choice” violated the bishops’ new guidelines.

Larry Gosselin, a Franciscan who served St. Joseph from 1984 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2003, said he sought the approval of 15 Mescalero leaders before Lentz began the painting that took three months to complete.

“He poured all of himself into that painting,” said Gosselin, explaining that Lentz sprinkled gold dust on himself and skipped showering, using his body oils to adhere the gold to the canvas. Then he gave the painting to the humble church.

Albert Braun, the priest who helped construct the church building in the 1920s, respected Mescalero Apache traditions in his ministry and was so beloved that he is buried inside the church, near the altar.

Church elders Glenda and Larry Brusuelas said to right this wrong and to repair this damage, the bishop must issue a public apology.

“You don’t call or send a letter,” Larry Brusuelas said. “You face the people you have offended and offer some guarantee that this is not going to happen again. That’s the Apache way.”

While Bishop Baldacchino held a two-hour meeting with the parish council in Mescalero after the items were returned, Brillante said he seemed more concerned about the icon being “hastily” reinstalled rather than acknowledging the harm or offering an apology.

Still, some are hopeful. Parish council member Pamela Cordova said she views the bishop appointing a new priest who was more familiar with the Apache community as a positive step.

“We need to give the bishop a chance to prove himself and let us know he is sincere and wants to make things right,” she said.

The concept of “inculturation,” the notion of people expressing their faith through their culture, has been encouraged by the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, said Chris Vecsey, professor of religion and Native American studies at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

“It’s rather shocking to see a priest who has been assigned a parish with Native people acting in such a disrespectful way in 2024,” he said. “But it does reflect a long history of concern that blending these symbols might weaken, threaten or pollute the purity of the faith.”

Deacon Steven Morello, the Archdiocese of Detroit’s missionary to the American Indians, said the goal of the U.S. bishops’ new framework is to correct the ills of the past. He said Indigenous spirituality and Catholic faith have much in common, such as the burning of sage in Native American ceremonies and incense in a Catholic church.

“Both are meant to cleanse the heart and mind of all distractions,” he said. “The smoke goes up to God.”

Morello said Pope Francis’ encyclical on caring for the Earth and the environment titled “Laudato Si” addresses the sacredness of all creation — a core principle Indigenous people have lived by for millennia.

“There is no conflict, only commonality, between Indigenous and Catholic spirituality,” he said.

There are over 340 Native American parishes in the United States and many use Indigenous symbols and sacred objects in church. In every corner of the Mescalero church, Apache motifs seamlessly blend in with Catholic imagery.

The Apache Christ painting hangs as the focal point of the century-old Romanesque church whose rock walls soar as high as 90 feet. Artwork of teepees adorns the lectern. A mural at the altar shows the Last Supper with Christ and his apostles depicted as Apache men. Tall crowns worn by mountain dancers known as “gahe” in Apache, hang over small paintings showing Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

For parishioner Sarah Kazhe, the Apache Christ painting conveys how Jesus appears to the people of Mescalero.

“Jesus meets you where you are and he appears to us in a way we understand,” she said. “Living my Apache way of life is no different than attending church. … The mindless, thoughtless act of removing a sacred icon sent a message that we didn’t matter.”

Parishioners believe the Creator in Apache lore is the same as their Christian God. On a recent Saturday night, community members gathered to bless two girls who had come of age. Kazhe and Donalyn Torres, one of the church elders who authorized Lentz to paint the Apache Christ, sat in lawn chairs with more than 100 others, watching crown dancers bring blessings on them.

Under a half-moon, the men wore body paint and tall crowns, dancing to drumbeats and song around a large fire. The women, including the two girls donning buckskin and jewelry, formed the outer circle, moving their feet in a quick, shuffling motion.

In the morning, many from the group attended Mass at their church, the Apache Christ restored to its place of honor.

The painting shows Christ as a Mescalero holy man, standing on the sacred Sierra Blanca, greeting the sun. A sun symbol is painted on his left palm; he holds a deer hoof rattle in his right hand. The inscription at the bottom is Apache for “giver of life,” one of their names for the Creator. Greek letters in the upper corners are abbreviations for “Jesus Christ.”

Gosselin, the mission’s former priest, said he was struck by the level of detail Lentz captured in that painting, particularly the eyes — which focus on a distance just as Apache people would when talking about spirituality. He believes the painting was “divinely inspired” because the people who received it feel a holy connection.

“This has resonated in the spirit and their hearts,” he said. “Now, 35 years later, the Apache people are fighting for it.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainians urged their government to do more to get Russia to release prisoners of war, voicing their anger on Sunday at a ceremony commemorating the second anniversary of an explosion that killed more than 50.

Several thousand soldiers and civilians gathered at Kyiv’s Independence Square Sunday to commemorate the second anniversary of an explosion that killed more than 50 Ukrainians that Russia held in the Olenivka prison barracks.

Impassioned speakers at the ceremony urged the Ukrainian government to work harder to get the soldiers freed in a prisoner exchange.

The Olenivka explosion was one of the most painful pages in the war, according to many soldiers.

“I was there in Olenivka. I was rocked by the explosion,” said Sgt. Kyrylo Masalitin, who was later released. “Never before have I felt so helpless. And those still in captivity feel that helplessness every day. They must know that we have done everything we can do to get them released.”

Behind Masalitin, more than 300 soldiers of the Azov brigade stood in formation. In unison they recited a prayer before holding aloft red flares to honor their comrades.

Russia has claimed that the Olenivka explosion was caused by Ukrainian forces firing a missile that hit the prison barracks. But increasing evidence suggests that Russian forces set off the explosion, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.

The AP interviewed more than a dozen people with direct knowledge of details of the attack, including survivors, investigators and families of the dead and missing. All described evidence they believe points directly to Russia as the culprit. AP also obtained an internal United Nations analysis that found the same. Despite the conclusion of the internal analysis that found Russia planned and executed the attack, the U.N. stopped short of accusing Russia in public statements.

Two years after the explosion, many Ukrainians still want to know exactly how it happened. The demonstration Sunday brought together people who are commemorating Olenivka with others who are protesting Russia’s imprisonment of Ukrainian fighters who defended the Azovstal steel works and were taken prisoner when Russia seized the city of Mariupol.

Many were also pressing for the release of Ukrainian soldiers who were defending the Avovstal steel works and were captured when Mariupol fell in 2022. At least 900 soldiers from the Azov brigade are held as prisoners of war by Russia. The “Free Azov” campaign has become a vociferous pressure group in Kyiv and holds weekly vigils to urge President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government to do a prisoner exchange to get free Ukrainian prisoners held by Russia.

“We’re here to remember those who died and also those in captivity. We’re here to push our government to work hard on this,” said a soldier who identified himself as Stanislav.

He said he had been a defender of Mariupol when the Russians invaded in February 2022 and he was injured in an artillery attack, losing his left arm. He was treated in the army base inside the Azovstal steel works before he was taken captive by the Russian forces and then released. After physical rehabilitation, Stanislav returned to the army and now works in military headquarters in Kyiv.

He said he will keep pushing for the release of captive soldiers.

“We’re here for a special reason, to see that our brothers-in-arms in captivity come back,” he said. “All of those in captivity.”

The event in the center of Kyiv drew together many families, including the mothers, wives and children of soldiers who were killed at Olenivka or are currently imprisoned by Russia.

Her voice cracking with emotion, Halyna Stafiichuk, 71, said her son is being held by the Russians and she hasn’t heard from him in more than two years.

“I’m crying every day. I’m just praying for a note from him that says he is OK and that he will be home soon,” said Stafiichuk. “We trust that God and our government will bring all our soldiers back.”
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HOUSTON — The gold bikini-style costume that Carrie Fisher wore as Princess Leia while making “Return of the Jedi” in the “Star Wars” franchise has sold for $175,000, according to the auction house that handled the sale.

The costume was made famous when Fisher wore it at the start of the 1983 film when Leia was captured by Jabba the Hutt at his palace on Tatooine and forced to be a slave.

The costume, one of the most memorable in the ” Star Wars ” movies, was sold on Friday by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s executive vice president, said the costume that was sold was one that was screen tested and worn by Fisher on the movie’s set but ultimately did not make it onto the final version of the film as it was switched out for one that was more comfortable.

The auction house said the costume sparked a bidding war among collectors.

Maddalena said he wasn’t surprised by the attention bidders gave to the costume as well as to a model of a Y-wing fighter that took on the Death Star in the original “Star Wars” film that sold for $1.55 million. He said “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” have very avid fan bases.

“The power of ‘Star Wars’ proves itself again. These movies are just so impactful,” Maddalena said.

In a November 2016 interview with NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Fisher said wearing the costume was not her choice.

“When (director George Lucas) showed me the outfit, I thought he was kidding and it made me very nervous. I had to sit very straight because I couldn’t have lines on my sides, like little creases. No creases were allowed, so I had to sit very, very rigid straight,” said Fisher, who died about a month after the interview.

Richard Miller, who created the costume, said in an interview that’s included in a “Star Wars” box set that he used soft material to build the costume so that Fisher could move around more freely.

“However, she still didn’t like it. I don’t blame her,” said Miller, who was the chief sculptor for Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects company founded by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. “I did put leather on the back of it to help it feel better.”

The costume had its share of critics, who thought it sexualized Fisher for the franchise’s male fan base.

In “Interview” magazine in 2015, Fisher told actor Daisy Ridley, who starred in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “You’re going to have people have fantasies about you. That will make you uncomfortable, I’m guessing.” She pushed back against the idea of being a sex symbol and told Ridley to “fight for your outfit.”
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Houston, Texas — The lawyer of a powerful Mexican drug cartel leader who is now in U.S. custody pushed back Sunday against claims that his client was tricked into flying into the country, saying he was “forcibly kidnapped” by the son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada had eluded authorities for decades and had never set foot in prison until a plane carrying him and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of notorious drug kingpin “El Chapo,” landed at an airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, near El Paso, Texas, on Thursday. Both men, who face various U.S. drug charges, were arrested and remain jailed.

Frank Perez, Zambada’s attorney, said his client did not end up at the New Mexico airport of his own free will.

“My client neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the U.S. government,” Perez said in a statement. “Joaquin Guzmn Lopez forcibly kidnapped my client. He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquin. His legs were tied, and a black bag was placed over his head.” Perez went on to say that Zambada, 76, was thrown in the back of a pickup truck, forced onto a plane and tied to the seat by Guzman Lopez.

Known as an astute operator skilled at corrupting officials, Zambada has a reputation for being able to negotiate with everyone, including rivals. He is charged in a number of U.S. cases, including in New York and California. Prosecutors brought a new indictment against him in New York in February, describing him as the “principal leader of the criminal enterprise responsible for importing enormous quantities of narcotics into the United States.”

Removing him from the criminal landscape could set off a turbulent internal war for control over the cartel, as has occurred with the arrest or killings of other kingpins. Experts say it could also open the door for a more violent, younger generation of Sinaloa traffickers to move up.

Perez declined to offer much more comment beyond his Sunday statement, saying only that his client had been traveling with a light security detail and was set up after being called to a meeting with Guzman Lopez.

Perez’s comments were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Justice Department did not immediately return an email seeking comment Sunday on Perez’s claims. Court records did not list an attorney for Guzman Lopez, whose father is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

According to a U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the matter, Zambada was duped into flying into the U.S.

The cartel leader got on an airplane believing he was going somewhere else, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. The official did not provide details such as who persuaded Zambada to get on the plane or where exactly he thought he was going.

Zambada appeared in federal court in El Paso on Friday morning, where a judge read the charges against him and informed him of his rights. He is being held without bond and has pleaded not guilty to various drug trafficking charges, court records show. His next court hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Perez said.
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Forest Ranch, California — Wildfires across the western United States and Canada put millions of people under air quality alerts Sunday as thousands of firefighters battled the flames, including the largest wildfire in California this year.

The so-called Park Fire had scorched more than 1,430 square kilometers of land in inland Northern California as of Sunday morning, darkening the sky with smoke and haze and contributing to poor air quality in a large swath of the Northwestern U.S. and western Canada.

Although the sprawling blaze was only 12% contained as of Sunday, cooler temperatures and increased humidity could help crews battle the fire, which has drawn comparisons to the 2018 Camp Fire that tore through the nearby community of Paradise, killing 85 people and torching 11,000 homes. Paradise and several other Butte County communities were under an evacuation warning Sunday.

With the Park Fire, the initial effort by first responders was to save lives and property, but that has has shifted to confronting the fire head-on, Jay Tracy, a spokesperson at the Park Fire headquarters, told The Associated Press by phone Sunday. He said reinforcements would give much-needed rest to local firefighters, some of whom have been working nonstop since the fire started Wednesday.

“This fire is surprising a lot of people with its explosive growth,” he said. “It is kind of unparalleled.”

Although the area near the Park Fire is expecting cooler-than-average temperatures through the middle of this week, that doesn’t mean “that fires that are existing will go away,” said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

The Park Fire, which started Wednesday when authorities say a man pushed a burning car into a gully in Chico and then fled, has destroyed at least 134 structures, fire officials said. About 3,400 firefighters, aided by numerous helicopters and air tankers, are battling the blaze.

A Chico man accused of setting the fire was arrested Thursday and is due in court Monday.

The Park Fire was one of more than 100 blazes burning in the U.S. on Sunday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Some were sparked by the weather, with climate change increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the Western U.S. endures blistering heat and bone-dry conditions.

Despite the improved fire weather in Northern California, conditions remained ripe for even more blazes to ignite, with the National Weather Service warning of “red flag” conditions on Sunday across wide swaths of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, in addition to parts of California.

In Southern California, a fire in the Sequoia National Forest swept through the community of Havilah after burning more than 124 square kilometers in less than three days. The town of roughly 250 people had been under an evacuation order.

Fires were also burning across eastern Oregon and eastern Idaho, where officials were assessing damage from a group of blazes referred to as the Gwen Fire, which was estimated at 106 square kilometers in size as of Sunday.
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CLARK, Philippines — France renewed a commitment to help defend freedom of navigation and overflight in the Asia-Pacific Sunday and said that its supersonic fighter jets — a pair of which landed for the first time in the Philippines — and advance military power would enable it to respond rapidly to any humanitarian or security crisis in the region. 

France is also working to quickly conclude a defense pact that would allow it to deploy a larger number of forces for joint exercises to the Philippines, French Ambassador to Manila Marie Fontanel said. 

France has moved to broaden its defense engagements in the Indo-Pacific region, including with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations. 

That dovetails with the effort of the administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to boost his country’s territorial defense by allowing a larger U.S. military presence in the Philippines under a 2014 defense agreement and by building security alliances with Asian and Western nations as it deals with China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed South China Sea. 

An annual French air force mission called Pegase, which showcases its combat power and travels to friendly countries to deepen defense relations, arrived over the weekend at Clark air base, a part of the former U.S. Air Force base, north of Manila, with two French-made Rafale fighter jets and air force cargo and transport aircraft. 

The French air force flew a small group of journalists, including from The Associated Press, aboard an Airbus A400M cargo aircraft over Philippine waters facing the South China Sea Sunday to demonstrate its crucial capability to undertake aerial refueling. But pockets of turbulence prompted the French military to abort the maneuver for safety reasons. 

Philippine air force personnel will also get the chance to fly onboard the Rafale jets and familiarize themselves with the aircraft. The fighter jets have been a “game changer,” French air force Brig. Gen. Guillaume Thomas, who was heading the air force mission, told a news conference. 

“They enable us to go very far and very fast and to be able to react very quickly… in case of a humanitarian crisis or even security crisis,” Thomas said. “We are able to deploy forces from France to be in this area in the Pacific in a very short notice.” 

The French air force mission “is not designed to target any specific country or any specific situation” and does not aim to escalate regional tensions, Fontanel said. 

France and the Philippines have begun preliminary talks on a status-of-forces agreement that would provide a legal framework and enable troops from each country to hold exercises in the other’s territory. France has been tasked to finish an initial draft of the agreement by September that would be the basis of future talks, Fontanel said. 

Aside from France, the Philippines has been holding separate talks with Canada and New Zealand for such agreements. It signed a similar pact with Japan earlier this month. 

China has strongly criticized such alliance-building and large-scale U.S. military exercises in the Philippines, saying the Philippines is “ganging up” with countries from outside Asia, and warned that military drills could instigate a confrontation and undermine regional stability. 

Philippine military officials have dismissed China’s criticism, saying the drills and alliances are aimed at boosting Manila’s territorial defense and are not directed at any country. 
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LOS ANGELES — Billions of dollars have been spent on efforts to get homeless people off the streets in California, but outdated computer systems with error-filled data are all too often unable to provide even basic information like where a shelter bed is open on any given night, inefficiencies that can lead to dire consequences.

The problem is especially acute in Los Angeles, where more than 45,000 people — many suffering from serious mental illness, substance addictions or both — live in litter-strewn encampments that have spread into virtually every neighborhood, and where rows of rusting RVs line entire blocks.

Even in the state that is home to Silicon Valley, technology has not kept up with the long-running crisis. In an age when anyone can book a hotel room or rent a car with a few strokes on a mobile phone, no system exists that provides a comprehensive listing of available shelter beds in Los Angeles County, home to more than 1 in 5 unhoused people in the U.S.

Mark Goldin, chief technology officer for Better Angels United, a nonprofit group, described L.A.’s technology as “systems that don’t talk to one another, lack of accurate data, nobody on the same page about what’s real and isn’t real.”

The systems can’t answer “exactly how many people are out there at any given time. Where are they?” he said.

The ramifications for people living on the streets could mean whether someone sleeps another night outside or not, a distinction that can be life-threatening.

“They are not getting the services to the people at the time that those people either need the service, or are mentally ready to accept the services,” said Adam Miller, a tech entrepreneur and CEO of Better Angels.

The problems were evident at a filthy encampment in the city’s Silver Lake neighborhood, where Sara Reyes, executive director of SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, led volunteers distributing water, socks and food to homeless people, including one who appeared unconscious.

She gave out postcards with the address of a nearby church where the coalition provides hot food and services. A small dog bolted out of a tent, frantically barking, while a disheveled man wearing a jacket on a blistering hot day shuffled by a stained mattress.

At the end of the visit Reyes began typing notes into her mobile phone, which would later be retyped into a coalition spreadsheet and eventually copied again into a federal database.

“Anytime you move it from one medium to another, you can have data loss. We know we are not always getting the full picture,” Reyes said. The “victims are the people the system is supposed to serve.”

The technology has sputtered while the homeless population has soared. Some ask how can you combat a problem without reliable data to know what the scope is? An annual tally of homeless people in the city recently found a slight decline in the population, but some experts question the accuracy of the data, and tents and encampments can be seen just about everywhere.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has pinpointed shortcomings with technology as among the obstacles she faces in homelessness programs and has described the city’s efforts to slow the crisis as “building the plane while flying it.”

She said earlier this year that three to five homeless people die every day on the streets of L.A.

On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies to start removing homeless encampments on state land in his boldest action yet following a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces.

There is currently no uniform practice for caseworkers to collect and enter information into databases on the homeless people they interview, including notes taken on paper. The result: Information can be lost or recorded incorrectly, and it becomes quickly outdated with the lag time between interviews and when it’s entered into a database. 

The main federal data system, known as the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, was designed as a desktop application, making it difficult to operate on a mobile phone.

“One of the reasons the data is so bad is because what the case managers do by necessity is they take notes, either on their phones or on scrap pieces of paper or they just try to remember it, and they don’t typically input it until they get back to their desk” hours, days, a week or even longer afterward, Miller said.

Every organization that coordinates services for homeless people uses an HMIS program to comply with data collection and reporting standards mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. But the systems are not all compatible.

Sam Matonik, associate director of data at L.A.-based People Assisting the Homeless, a major service provider, said his organization is among those that must reenter data because Los Angeles County uses a proprietary data system that does not talk to the HMIS system.  

“Once you’re manually double-entering things, it opens the door for all sorts of errors,” Matonik said. “Small numerical errors are the difference between somebody having shelter and not.”

Bevin Kuhn, acting deputy chief of analytics for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the agency that coordinates homeless housing and services in Los Angeles County, said work is underway to create a database of 23,000 beds by the end of the year as part of technology upgrades.

For case managers, “just seeing … the general bed availability is challenging,” Kuhn said.

Among other changes is a reboot of the HMIS system to make it more compatible with mobile apps and developing a way to measure if timely data is being entered by case workers, Kuhn said.

It’s not uncommon for a field worker to encounter a homeless person in crisis who needs immediate attention, which can create delays in collecting data. Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority aims for data to be entered in the system within 72 hours, but that benchmark is not always met.

In hopes of filling the void, Better Angels assembled a team experienced in building large-scale software applications. They are constructing a mobile-friendly prototype for outreach workers — to be donated to participating groups in Los Angeles County — that will be followed by systems for shelter operators and a comprehensive shelter bed database.

Since homeless people are transient and difficult to locate for follow-up services, one feature would create a map of places where an individual had been encountered, allowing case managers to narrow the search.

Services are often available, but the problem is linking them with a homeless person in real time. So, a data profile would show services the individual received in the past, medical issues and make it easy to contact health workers, if needed.

As a secondary benefit — if enough agencies and providers agree to participate — the software could produce analytical information and data visualizations, spotlighting where homeless people are moving around the county, or concentrations of where homeless people have gathered.

One key goal for the prototypes: ease of use even for workers with scant digital literacy. Information entered into the app would be immediately unloaded to the database, eliminating the need for redundant reentries while keeping information up to date.

Time is often critical. Once a shelter bed is located, there is a 48-hour window for the spot to be claimed, which Reyes says happens only about half the time. The technology is so inadequate, the coalition sometimes doesn’t learn a spot is open until it has expired.

She has been impressed with the speed of the Better Angels app, which is in testing, and believes it would cut down on the number of people who miss the housing window, as well as create more reliability for people trying to obtain services.

“I’m hoping Better Angels helps us put the human back into this whole situation,” Reyes said.  
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KYIV — Five civilians died and 15 more were wounded following Russian strikes Saturday and overnight in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, its governor said, as Moscow claimed further gains in its monthslong grinding offensive in the country’s war-battered industrial heartland.

Shortly after Donetsk Gov. Vadym Filashkin reported on the casualties Sunday, other local Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling wounded more civilians in the east and south.

At least eight people suffered wounds after Moscow’s forces Sunday struck the eastern Ukrainian city of Nikopol, local Gov. Serhii Lysak reported that same day. Lysak said a toddler and a 10-year-old girl were among the victims, six of whom had to be hospitalized.

Russian shelling Sunday also wounded eight more civilians, including a 10-year-old and two teenagers, in a village in Ukraine’s southern Kherson province, local official Roman Mrochko reported.

Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022, sending millions of people fleeing to neighboring countries. Taking control of all of Donetsk is one of the Kremlin’s main war goals.

In the Donetsk region, Russian troops continued to eke out gains as they pushed westward toward the towns of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had taken control of two neighboring villages some 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Pokrovsk, Prohres and Yevhenivka. The day before, Moscow claimed the nearby village of Lozuvatske, one of nearly a dozen it says it has captured in the province this month.

Earlier Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said seven Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russian territory, while a regional official said a drone strike set fire to an oil depot in southern Russia. Firefighters were battling the blaze Sunday morning after three fuel tanks went up in flames in the Kursk region, according to acting regional Gov. Alexey Smirnov. Smirnov said nobody was hurt.
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TOKYO — The United States announced plans Sunday for a major revamp of its military command in Japan to deepen coordination with its ally’s forces, as the two countries labeled China the “greatest strategic challenge” facing the region. 

The announcement followed security talks in Tokyo between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and their respective Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara. 

“The United States will upgrade the U.S. Forces Japan to a joint force headquarters with expanded missions and operational responsibilities,” Austin told reporters after the so-called “2+2” talks. 

“This will be the most significant change to U.S Forces Japan since its creation and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years.” 

The ministers said in a joint statement that the new command structure would be implemented in parallel with Tokyo’s own plans to establish a joint command for its forces by March 2025. 

The overhaul is among several measures taken to address what the countries said was an “evolving security environment,” noting various threats from superpower China. 

The statement criticized what it called Beijing’s “provocative” behavior in the South and East China Seas, joint military exercises with Russia and the rapid expansion of its nuclear weapons arsenal. 

Beijing’s “foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others,” the ministers said in their statement. 

“Such behavior is a serious concern to the alliance and the entire international community and represents the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.” 

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. 

Austin told reporters the command upgrade was “not based on any threat from China” but reflected the allies’ desire to work more closely and effectively. 

Japan provides a base for the U.S. to project military power in Asia, hosting 54,000 American troops, hundreds of U.S. aircraft and Washington’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group. 

Prompted by China’s growing military might and regular missile tests by nuclear-armed North Korea, Japan has in recent years shifted dramatically from decades of postwar pacifism. In 2022 it unveiled a plan to double defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product. 

The new U.S. command in Japan will be headed by a three-star general, a U.S. official said, however Austin said the U.S. would not rule out appointing a four-star commander to Japan in the future as it has in neighboring South Korea. 

Nuclear umbrella 

For the first time, the ministers also discussed “extended deterrence,” a term used to describe the U.S. commitment to use its nuclear forces to deter attacks on allies. 

It is sensitive subject in Japan, which has pushed for non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and is the only country to have suffered atomic bomb attacks. 

The countries discussed reinforcing extended deterrence to promote regional stability and deter the outbreak of conflict, according to an official readout that was scant in detail. 

“Amidst increasingly severe nuclear threats in the vicinity of Japan, it is important to further strengthen extended deterrence. I welcome the continuously deepening discussion on this matter,” Japan’s Kamikawa told reporters at the outset of the talks. 

The allies also expressed deep concern about Russia’s procurement of ballistic missiles from North Korea to aid its war in Ukraine and the potential for Moscow to transfer weapons of mass destruction or missile-related technology to Pyongyang. 

North Korea has vowed to “totally destroy” its enemies in case of war, North Korean state media KCNA reported Sunday. 

Austin and Kihara also met South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, signing an agreement to “institutionalize” trilateral cooperation through efforts like real-time sharing of North Korean missile warning data and joint military exercises. 

The Biden administration has been pushing for deeper cooperation between Tokyo and Seoul, whose strained relations date back to Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea. 

“This memorandum strengthens the cooperation between Japan, the United States and South Korea, making our partnership unshakable, no matter how the international situation changes,” Japan’s Kihara told reporters after the trilateral meeting. 

Washington also wants to tap Japanese industry to help ease pressure on U.S. weapons makers stretched by demand generated by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. 

Tokyo and Washington are pursuing various collaborations in this field, including advancing missile co-production efforts as well as building supply chain resilience and facilitating ship and aircraft repair. 

However, one flagship project — a plan to use Japanese factories to boost production of Patriot air defense missiles — is being delayed by a shortage of a critical component manufactured by Boeing, Reuters reported this month. 

After leaving Tokyo, Blinken and Austin will hold security talks with another Asian ally, the Philippines, as the Biden administration seeks to counter an increasingly bold China. 

Blinken met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Laos on Saturday and repeated that Washington and its partners want to maintain a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to a U.S. readout of the meeting. 
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Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned the United States that if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany, then Russia would station similar missiles in striking distance of the West.

The United States said on July 10 that it would start deploying long-range missiles in Germany from 2026 in preparation for a longer-term deployment that will include SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles and developmental hypersonic weapons.

In a speech to sailors from Russia, China, Algeria and India to mark Russian navy day in the former imperial capital of St. Petersburg, Putin warned the United States that it risked triggering a Cold War-style missile crisis with the move.

“The flight time to targets on our territory of such missiles, which in the future may be equipped with nuclear warheads, will be about 10 minutes,” Putin said.

“We will take mirror measures to deploy, taking into account the actions of the United States, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world.”

Putin, who sent his army into Ukraine in 2022, casts the war as part of a historic struggle with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after Soviet Union fell in 1991 by encroaching on what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence.

Ukraine and the West say Putin is engaged in an imperial-style land grab. They have vowed to defeat Russia, which currently controls about 18% of Ukraine, including Crimea, and parts of four regions in eastern Ukraine.

Russia says the lands, once part of the Russian empire, are now again part of Russia and that they will never be given back.

Cold War?

Russian and U.S. diplomats say their diplomatic relations are worse even that during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and both Moscow and Washington have urged de-escalation while both have made steps toward escalation.

Putin said that the United States was stoking tensions and had transferred Typhon missile systems to Denmark and the Philippines, and compared the U.S. plans to the NATO decision to deploy Pershing II launchers in Western Europe in 1979.

The Soviet leadership, including General Secretary Yuri Andropov, feared Pershing II deployments were part of an elaborate U.S.-led plan to decapitate the Soviet Union by taking out its political and military leadership.

“This situation is reminiscent of the events of the Cold War related to the deployment of American medium–range Pershing missiles in Europe,” Putin said.

The Pershing II, designed to deliver a variable-yield nuclear warhead, was deployed to West Germany in 1983.

In 1983, the ailing Andropov and the KGB interpreted a series of U.S. moves including the Pershing II deployment and a major NATO exercise as signs the West was about to launch a preemptive strike on the Soviet Union.

Putin repeated an earlier warning that Russia could resume production of intermediate and shorter range nuclear-capable missiles and then consider where to deploy them after the United States brought similar missiles to Europe and Asia.
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LONDON — When Donald Trump suggested during the 2016 presidential campaign that he might not honor a U.S. commitment to defend other NATO countries if they were attacked, it triggered alarm throughout the trans-Atlantic alliance.

With Trump’s “America First” rhetoric drawing cheers from fervent supporters, the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is once again on the agenda. But this time, European leaders acknowledge the alliance must evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century and say they are ready to shoulder more responsibility for their own defense.

A lot has changed in eight years.

First, Trump’s presidency forced Europe to recognize that U.S. military support was no longer guaranteed, then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underscored the threat on its eastern border. Meanwhile, the U.S. has increasingly focused on China’s expansion in the Asia-Pacific, as well as Iran and North Korea.

“Confronted with powers such as Russia and China, and a United States whose pivot to Asia seems inevitable, no matter who wins the next election, we Europeans need to do more to ensure our own security,” Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, wrote last weekend in The Times of London.

After relying on U.S. leadership of NATO to protect them with overwhelming nuclear and conventional capability for the past 75 years, European nations must take on a larger role in funding and leading the 32-nation alliance because their interests are increasingly diverging from those of the United States.

“We are talking about a NATO which the United States is still part of, but which the United States is no longer the indispensable leader (of),” said Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank focused on defense and security. “I mean, that is what JD Vance and Donald Trump are talking about. They’re talking about a NATO that is transformed and one in which the Europeans take the greatest share of the burden.”

NATO grew out of secret talks among U.S. officials after World War II about how to supply military equipment to Western Europe and ensure a coordinated response to any attack by the Soviet Union. The 12 founding members signed the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949.

NATO’s military structure is headed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, who is also the commander-in-chief of American forces in Europe. The U.S. is expected to spend almost twice as much on its military this year as all the other alliance members combined, according to NATO statistics.

Trump’s skepticism about NATO was underlined last week when he named Vance as his running mate. Vance has opposed U.S. support for Ukraine, has criticized European nations for slashing defense spending since the Cold War, and said it’s time for “Europe to stand on its own feet.”

Europe got another wakeup call on Sunday when President Joe Biden, whose strong support for NATO was cemented during standoffs with the Soviet Union in the 1970s, said he would not seek reelection. Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, has backed the administration’s position on NATO and aid to Ukraine, but she entered politics long after the Cold War and is better known for her work on domestic issues.

“The question is whether she will have that same strong trans-Atlantic view that’s kind of part of her blood in the way that Biden had it,” said Armida van Rij, an expert on European security policy at the Chatham House think tank in London.

Trump’s threat to renege on NATO’s collective security guarantee, a cornerstone of the alliance, is based on his belief that member states aren’t living up to their funding commitments, forcing U.S. taxpayers to subsidize Europe’s defense.

That argument has weakened since 2016.

Twenty-three of the alliance’s 31 non-U.S. members will meet or exceed their commitment to spend at least 2% of economic output on defense this year, up from just three 10 years ago, according to figures compiled by NATO. Overall, the non-U.S. members now spend 2.02% of gross domestic product on defense, compared with 3.4% by the U.S.

Besides that, the European Union has ambitious plans to boost its defense industry in response to the threat posed by Russia’s war on Ukraine. France’s President Emmanuel Macron has urged European nations to seek more independence on airspace defense and relocate production to the continent rather than purchasing material off the shelf from American arms merchants.

The EU plans center on streamlining arms procurement and to increasingly produce them within the 27-state bloc in a multibillion-dollar pivot away from the United States.

The risks for Europe, as well as the United States, are evolving. It’s not just about Russian tanks on Europe’s borders. NATO, as a defensive alliance, must also consider the threats posed by Iran, China and North Korea and be prepared for cyber warfare and foreign interference in elections, as well as conventional military attacks, van Rij said.

That means European nations need to increase troop numbers, upgrade equipment such as tanks, fighter planes and transport aircraft, and improve their ability to counter technological threats, she said. “We need to look at this not as Trump-proofing, but as future-proofing European security and the NATO alliance as a whole,” van Rij said. “Because yes, while there are concerns about U.S. engagements in Europe … — and the JD Vance appointment as Trump’s running mate has only accelerated concerns — there is a bipartisan focus on China, which in the medium- to longer-term could mean that we see resources being reallocated elsewhere.”

One model may be NATO’s newest members, Finland and Sweden, which joined the alliance to bolster their security in the face of Russian aggression.

As historically non-aligned nations, they were forced to develop strategies to fight off any Russian incursion largely on their own, equipping their militaries with a full range of capabilities sometimes missing in NATO countries that are used to relying on the U.S. for commanders and battle plans. Both have military service, important weapons industries and large standing armies.

“The Finnish defense people would say … we planned up to now to fight Russia by ourselves, now NATO is definitely a bonus…,” Chalmers said. “NATO countries have the opposite problem. They’re so used to thinking about fighting with others and particularly fighting with the Americans, they sometimes get out of the habit of thinking about fighting for themselves.”

The risks of over-reliance on the U.S. were highlighted this year when the House of Representatives blocked $61 billion of military aid for Ukraine for months while conservative Republicans argued the government should focus on domestic border security and the nation’s rising debt.

While the funding was eventually approved, the delay left Ukraine short of ammunition and hardware as Russia launched a brutal spring offensive.

A second Trump presidency would bring that mindset to the White House.

“Today … we peer apprehensively across the Atlantic at a worst case in which an erratic, ignorant, self-obsessed prospective U.S. president might cut us loose,” historian Max Hastings wrote in The Times. “Trump is right about one big thing: behind an American shield, since the 1950s Europeans have enjoyed an almost free ride. This is now over, and Vladimir Putin is licking his lips.”
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Helsinki, Finland — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit China from Friday to Tuesday for a trip that analysts say aims to repair the rift caused by Rome’s withdrawal last year from China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global infrastructure and transportation plan sometimes called the New Silk Road.

China’s foreign ministry said Thursday that during her trip, Meloni would hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee Zhao Leji.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella plans to visit China in October. Analysts say the trips show that Rome hopes to repair relations damaged when Italy became the first country to pull out of the BRI since it was launched in 2013. 

Meloni has long been critical of the partnership, calling the decision to join the BRI a “serious mistake” that had not delivered promised economic benefits to Italy.

Italy is China’s fourth-largest trading partner in the European Union, and China is Italy’s largest trading partner in Asia, with bilateral trade at $80 billion, mostly Chinese exports to Italy.

Italian data show exports to China reached nearly $18 billion in 2022 from $14 billion in 2019, while Chinese exports to Italy nearly doubled during that same period from more than $34 billion to more than $62 billion.

Despite Meloni’s criticism of the BRI, China’s state media Global Times on Thursday suggested that the withdrawal from BRI did not reflect her own views.

It quoted Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of European Studies researcher Zhao Junjie saying: “This visit once again demonstrates that Italy’s withdrawal from the BRI was not due to a reluctance to cooperate with China or Meloni’s own political beliefs, but rather due to the huge pressure from the US and other major Western powers at the time.”

Under some pressure from the European Union and the United States, Meloni’s new government in December made a low-key exit from the BRI, which was seen as a major blow to Xi’s global ambitions and the failure of the BRI in Europe. The Chinese side also kept a low profile and didn’t publicly criticize Italy’s withdrawal.

Francesco Galietti, adjunct professor of political risk analysis at Rome’s Luiss University and co-founder and CEO of consulting agency Policy Sonar, told VOA, “It’s unclear whether she’s taken note of this and thought about her own ‘hedging’ strategy. She should have. For while Italy is world famous for geopolitical yo-yoing, she’s the current G7 chair. Moreover, it’s only been a few months since Italy opted out of China’s BRI, so by all accounts, relations should be delicate right now. And yet, reading the tea leaves is all but simple.”

Emanuele Scimia, an Italian foreign affairs journalist and analyst and contributing foreign policy writer for the South China Morning Post, says the visit is more an attempt to balance the Meloni administration’s concerns about China’s market distortions and support for Russia’s war against Ukraine with Italy’s need to attract Chinese investments, especially in new technologies such as electric vehicles.

“Italy is a trade-oriented country and does not want an economic and geopolitical confrontation with China,” Scimia told VOA. “They see China as a key export market but at the same time are worried by the flow of Chinese-dumped and -subsidized goods.

“The majority of Italy’s companies are small- and medium-sized, which are less equipped to resist Chinese unfair competition. And the signing of the BRI MoU [memorandum of understanding] in 2019 has not substantially improved Italy’s trade deficit with China,” Scimia said. “The reality is that the BRI agreement only benefited Beijing in political terms, creating friction between Rome and Washington.”

The visit underscores the fact that China remains a key geopolitical actor, said Beatrice Nicolini, a history professor at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Milan.

“Despite exiting the BRI, Italy aims to keep an open dialogue with Beijing,” she told VOA. “Meloni is navigating a delicate balance, seeking to avoid aligning too closely with either the United States or China. This strategy of ‘equidistance’ reflects Italy’s geographical position at the heart of the Mediterranean.”

But Beijing’s increasingly close relations with Moscow after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine have made improving ties with China trickier for EU nations like Italy, which are supporting Kyiv and its defense, said Christopher Lamont, a professor of international relations at Tokyo International University.

“It is also important to keep in mind that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to complicate China’s relationships with European capitals, and Meloni’s visit could also be seen from Beijing as an opportunity to foster greater influence in this context,” he told VOA.

Earlier this month, NATO, of which Italy is a founding member, accused China of being a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

China has consistently denied supplying weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine and says it has strict controls on dual-use technology that could be put to military purposes.

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
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Dakar, Senegal — Mali’s army and its Russian allies suffered a major setback and significant losses on Saturday while fighting separatists in the country’s north, a spokesman for the rebels told AFP. 

The West African nation’s military leaders, who took power in a 2020 coup, have made it a priority to retake all of the country from separatist and jihadi forces, particularly in Kidal, a pro-independence northern bastion. 

“Azawad fighters are in control in Tinzaouaten and further south in the Kidal region,” said Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesman for an alliance of predominantly Tuareg separatist armed groups called CSP-DPA. 

“Russian mercenaries and Malian armed forces have fled,” he added. “Others have surrendered.” 

He also shared videos of numerous corpses of soldiers and their allies. 

“The Malian army has retreated,” a local politician told AFP, citing at least 17 dead in a provisional toll. 

“The CSP people are still in Tinzaouaten. The army and Wagner are no longer there,” he said, referring to the Russian mercenary group.  

Fighting also took place further south toward Abeibara, the politician said.  

A former United Nations mission worker in Kidal said: “At least 15 Wagner fighters were killed and arrested after three days of fighting” adding that “the CSP rebels have taken the lead in what happened in Tinzaouaten.”  

Mossa Ag Inzoma, a member of the separatist movement, claimed that “dozens and dozens” of Wagner fighters and soldiers had been killed and taken prisoner. 

Fighting on a scale not seen in months broke out Thursday between the army and separatists in the town of Tinzaouaten, near the border with Algeria, after the army announced it had taken control of In-Afarak, a commercial crossroads in Kidal.  

Mali has been unsettled by violence by jihadi and criminal groups since 2012. 

A junta led by Colonel Assimi Goita took power in 2022 and broke the country’s traditional alliance with France, in favor of Russia. 
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HAVANA — Havana residents watched from shore on Saturday as Russian warships arrived for the second time in as many months in a visit that Cuba called routine. 

Cuban authorities fired shots into the air to signal their welcome, while curious fishermen watched from Havana’s waterside promenade as the ships advanced up the bay. Russian residents were also among the few up early to see the fleet’s arrival. 

The patrol ship Neustrahimiy, training vessel Smolniy and support vessels, all from the Baltic Fleet, are scheduled to depart on Tuesday. 

A brief statement by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces described their arrival as routine. 

A Russian nuclear submarine, frigate and support ships in June also flexed Moscow’s muscles in the port of Havana, less than 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) from Florida. 

“Russia’s deployments in the Atlantic pose no direct threat or concern to the United States,” a U.S. Northern Command spokesperson said, adding the command monitored all approaches to North America. 

Tensions between the United States and Russia have increased since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and Russian naval activity — though routine in the Atlantic — has ratcheted up because of U.S. support for Ukraine, U.S. officials say. 

Simultaneously, relations between Cold War allies Russia and Cuba have markedly improved as the Communist-run country battles an economic crisis it charges is due mainly to U.S. sanctions. 

High-level contacts between the countries have increased to a level not seen since the fall of Cuba’s former benefactor, the Soviet Union, with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel visiting Moscow four times. 

Russia has sent oil, flour and increasing numbers of tourists to the Caribbean nation, which is short of cash and goods. Citizens suffer through daily power outages and other travails, resulting in scattered protests and record migration. 

Ana Garces, a 78-year-old retiree, told Reuters she remembered the Soviet Union was the only country to help Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis, the peak of tensions with Washington, when the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war. 

“We are very grateful,” she said. “Why should we not receive it with open arms? This is friendship. All kinds of ships have entered here.” 

“It shows how other countries do support us and takes away a little of the world’s mentality about our country,” said her husband, 71-year-old retiree Rolando Perez. 
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HANOI, Vietnam — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Vietnam on Saturday to pay his respects following the death of Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, underlining warmer ties between the countries a half-century since they fought a brutal war.

Blinken arrived in Hanoi late Saturday after attending a regional summit in Laos and visited the family home of Trong, a Marxist-Leninist ideologue who as party chief was Vietnam’s most powerful figure for 13 years and who died last week at 80.

Trong’s “bamboo diplomacy” trod a delicate balancing act between rival superpowers the United States and Communist neighbor China, helping to elevate Vietnam’s ties with both of its two biggest trade partners.

Blinken greeted Trong’s family before lighting an incense stick in front of a shrine displaying the general secretary’s photo. He then stood for a moment with his hands clasped in a show of respect.

He wrote a page-long message in a condolence book and, during conversations with Trong’s family, conveyed the condolences of President Joe Biden.

Trong’s two-day state funeral, which ended Friday, drew more than 250,000 Vietnamese mourners in ceremonies in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and his home in Dong Anh on the outskirts of the capital, state media reported.

Blinken’s brief visit comes at a sensitive time for U.S.-Vietnam relations, which have improved of late given shared concerns about China’s growing regional clout and interest from U.S. investors in a country with an economy that grew an average 5.8% annually during Trong’s time in office.

During a visit by Biden to Hanoi last year, the U.S. and Vietnam upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has promoted Vietnam as a “friend-shoring” destination to shift U.S. supply chains away from China.

On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department is set to announce whether to upgrade Vietnam to market economy status, something Hanoi has long sought.

The upgrade is opposed by U.S. steelmakers, Gulf Coast shrimpers, honey farmers and members of the U.S. Congress representing them, but backed by retailers and some other business groups.

After visiting Trong’s home, Blinken also met Vietnam’s president, To Lam, the former internal security agency chief who has assumed Trong’s duties, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Blinken told Lam Trong was a “visionary leader” who built a lasting bridge between the two countries and showed the world they could move forward despite their difficult past.

In his meeting with the prime minister, Blinken said one of the highlights of the Biden administration was its elevation of its strategic ties with Hanoi.
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VIENTIANE, LAOS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Beijing’s “escalating and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea at a summit on Saturday, where his Russian counterpart said Washington has stoked anxiety in its plan for a nuclear deterrence with ally Seoul for the Korean peninsula.

Blinken singled out China over its coast guard’s hostile actions against U.S. defense treaty ally the Philippines in the South China Sea, but he also lauded the two countries for their diplomacy after Manila completed a resupply mission earlier on Saturday to troops at a disputed shoal, unimpeded by China.

Blinken was attending the security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum on Saturday alongside diplomats of major powers that included Russia, India, China, Australia, Japan and the European Union, which included discussions on the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and tension in the South China Sea.

The Philippines’ small troop presence on a grounded former U.S. navy ship at the Second Thomas Shoal has for years angered China, which has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines over its resupply missions, causing regional concern about an escalation that could potentially lead to U.S. intervention.

The two sides this week reached an arrangement over how to conduct those missions.

“We are pleased to take note of the successful resupply today of the Second Thomas Shoal,” Blinken told foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, the host of the meetings in Laos.

“We applaud that and hope and expect to see that it continues going forward.”

Blinken held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the gathering, in their sixth meeting since June 2023, when Blinken’s visit to Beijing marked an improvement in strained ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

Blinken discussed Taiwan with Wang and concerns about Beijing’s recent “provocative actions,” included a simulated blockade during the inauguration of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, a senior U.S. State Department official said.

They agreed to continue progress on military-to-military ties, the official said, adding Blinken also discussed Beijing’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base and warned of further U.S. action against Chinese firms, but received no commitment from Wang.

China’s foreign ministry had no immediate statement on the meeting.

Korean peninsula

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the forum said guidelines on the operation of U.S. nuclear assets on the Korean peninsula, officially aimed at establishing an integrated deterrence to North Korean threats, were adding to regional security concerns.

“So far we can’t even get an explanation of what this means, but there is no doubt that it causes additional anxiety,” Russia’s state-run RIA news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

“They are actively inflaming the atmosphere around the Korean peninsula, militarizing their presence there and conducting exercises that are frankly aimed at being ready for military action,” he said, according to Interfax.

War in Gaza

Blinken said earlier the United States was “working intensely every single day” to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza and find a path to more enduring peace and security.

His remarks followed those of Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, who said the need for sustainable peace was urgent.

Retno also said international law should be applied to all, a veiled reference to recent decisions by two international courts over Israeli’s Gaza offensives.

“We cannot continue closing our eyes to see the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Retno said.

The fighting has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza since Israel launched its incursion, according to Palestinian health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants.

Israeli officials estimate that 14,000 fighters from militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or captured, out of an estimated force of more than 25,000 at the start of the war, which began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.

Myanmar fighting

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Myanmar’s military rulers to take a different path and end an intensifying civil war, pressing the generals to abide by their commitment to follow ASEAN’s peace plan.

The conflict pits Myanmar’s well-equipped military against a loose alliance of ethnic minority rebel groups and an armed resistance movement that has been gaining ground and testing the generals’ ability to govern.

The junta largely ignored the peace effort, and ASEAN has hit a wall as all sides refuse to enter dialogue.

“We see the instability, the insecurity, the deaths, the pain that is being caused by the conflict,” Wong told reporters. “My message from Australia to the regime is, this is not sustainable for you or for your people.”

An estimated 2.6 million people have been displaced by fighting. The junta has been condemned for its air strikes on civilian areas and accused of atrocities, which it has dismissed as Western disinformation.

ASEAN issued a communique on Saturday stressing it was united behind its peace plan and condemned violence against civilians, urging all sides in Myanmar to end hostilities and start dialogue.

ASEAN also welcomed unspecified practical measures to reduce tension in the South China Sea and prevent accidents and miscalculations, while urging all parties to halt actions that could complicate and escalate disputes.
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In the U.S. presidential campaign, Democrats say former President Donald Trump will destroy democratic institutions if he’s reelected in November. But Trump’s Republican Party says it is Democrats who are thwarting democracy by pressuring President Joe Biden to quit the race after party primary elections were over. VOA’s Dora Mekouar explores whether any one president really has the power to destroy democracy.
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BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday that Russia’s leadership was “hyper rational” and that Ukraine would never be able to fulfill its hopes of becoming a member of the European Union or NATO.

Orban, a nationalist in power since 2010, made the comments during a speech in which he forecast a shift in global power away from the “irrational” West toward Asia and Russia.

“In the next long decades, maybe centuries, Asia will be the dominant center of the world,” Orban said, mentioning China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia as the world’s future big powers.

“And we Westerners pushed the Russians into this bloc as well,” he said in the televised speech before ethnic Hungarians at a festival in the town of Baile Tusnad in neighboring Romania.

Orban, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, has sharply differed from the rest of the bloc by seeking warmer ties with Beijing and Moscow, and he angered some EU leaders when he went on surprise visits to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing this month for talks on the war in Ukraine.

He said that in contrast to the “weakness” of the West, Russia’s position in world affairs was rational and predictable, saying the country had shown economic flexibility in adapting to Western sanctions since it invaded Crimea in 2014.

Orban, whose own government has passed several anti-LGBT measures, said Russia had gained clout in many parts of the world by severely restricting LGBTQ+ rights.

“The strongest international appeal of Russian soft power is its opposition to LGBTQ,” he said.

He added that Ukraine would never become a member of the EU or NATO because “we Europeans do not have enough money for that.”

“The EU needs to give up its identity as a political project and become an economic and defense project,” Orban said.

The EU opened membership talks with Ukraine late last month, although a long and tough road lies ahead of the country before it can join the bloc.

A declaration at the end of the NATO summit this month said the alliance will support Ukraine on “its irreversible path” toward membership.
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