RIYADMEDIA

washington — President Joe Biden on Monday launched a task force aimed at addressing the “systemic” problem of mishandling classified information during presidential transitions, days after a Justice Department special counsel’s sharply critical report said he had done just that.

The Presidential Records Transition Task Force will study past transitions to determine best practices for safeguarding classified information from an outgoing administration, the White House said. It will also assess the need for changes to existing policies and procedures to prevent the removal of sensitive information that by law should be kept with the National Archives and Records Administration.

The report from special counsel Robert Hur listed dozens of sensitive documents found at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and at his former Washington office. The papers were marked as classified or later assessed to contain classified information.

The majority of the documents, Hur’s report stated, appeared to have been mistakenly removed from government offices, though he also detailed some items that Biden appeared to knowingly retain. He concluded that criminal charges were not warranted in the matter.

“I take responsibility for not having seen exactly what my staff was doing,” Biden said last week after Hur’s report was released. He added that “things that appeared in my garage, things that came out of my home, things that were moved were moved not by me but my staff.”

First findings

Biden aides first discovered some of the documents as they cleared out the offices of the Penn-Biden Center in Washington in 2022, and more were discovered during subsequent searches by Biden’s lawyers and the FBI.

Biden promptly reported the discoveries to federal authorities, which prompted the special counsel probe. By contrast, former President Donald Trump is accused of resisting efforts to return classified government records that he moved to his Florida residence before leaving office in 2021 and of obstructing the investigation into them in a separate special counsel investigation.

In even the best of circumstances, presidential transitions can be chaotic as records of the outgoing administration are transferred to the National Archives and thousands of political appointees leave their jobs to make way for the incoming administration.

Officials of multiple administrations have said there is a systemic problem with mishandling of classified information by senior government officials, particularly around transitions, magnified by rampant overclassification across the government.

Former Vice President Mike Pence turned over some classified documents discovered at his home last year. And several times a year, former officials from all levels of government discover they possess classified material and turn it over to the authorities.

“Previous presidential transitions, across administrations stretching back decades, have fallen short in ensuring that classified presidential records are properly archived at NARA,” the White House said. “In light of the many instances that have come to light in recent years revealing the extent of this systemic issue, President Biden is taking action to strengthen how administrations safeguard classified documents during presidential transitions and to help address this long-standing problem going forward.”

Hur’s report said many of the documents recovered at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, in parts of Biden’s Delaware home and in his Senate papers at the University of Delaware were retained by “mistake.”

Subjects of documents

Biden could not have been prosecuted as a sitting president, but Hur’s report states that he would not recommend charges against Biden regardless. Investigators did find evidence of willful retention of a subset of records found in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, house, including in a garage, office and basement den, but not enough to suggest charges. The files pertain to a troop surge in Afghanistan during the Obama administration that Biden had vigorously opposed. He kept records that documented his position, including a classified letter to Obama during the 2009 Thanksgiving holiday.

Biden also retained his personal notebooks after leaving the vice presidency, some of which investigators found contained classified information, though other officials have kept similar documents as their personal property.

“President Biden takes classified information seriously – he returned the documents that were found, he fully cooperated with the investigation, and it concluded that there was no case,” said Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office. “Now he is taking action to help strengthen future transitions to better prevent classified documents from being accidentally packed up and removed from the government, like we have seen with officials from every administration for decades.”

The task force will be led by Katy Kale, deputy administrator of the General Services Administration, who was assistant to the president for management and administration during the Obama administration, the post that oversees the human resources and document retention functions at the White House.

The panel will include representatives from the White House, General Services Administration, NARA, the National Security Council and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The task force is to produce its recommendations ahead of the next presidential transition. It is set to operate independently from the White House Transition Coordinating Council, which is chaired by the White House chief of staff and required by law to be stood up six months before any presidential election.
…

…

washington — Since the Taliban seized control in August 2021, China, Iran and Russia have been steadily courting Afghanistan’s de facto government for influence. The three countries have kept their embassies open in Kabul and were among the first to hand over Afghan embassies to the Taliban at home.

Last month, Moscow, Beijing and Tehran were the most high-profile participants at the Taliban’s first conference on regional cooperation in Kabul.

But what are the real prospects of China, Russia, Iran and the Taliban cooperating in the region?

Analysts tell VOA that while Beijing, Moscow and Tehran may be united in a common goal to oppose the U.S. in the region, that is perhaps the only area where their interests align, analysts say.

“Anti-Americanism is the one idea” that brings China, Iran and Russia together, said Alex Vatanka, founding director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

He told VOA that Tehran, Moscow and Beijing “want to push the United States out of Eurasia and Central Asia … [but] how much can they on the operational level cooperate? That’s a big question.”

He added that “anti-Americanism” alone cannot keep the partnership together as there “is nothing ideological to bring them together.”

According to a newly released U.S. State Department’s strategy document, China, Iran and Russia seek “strategic and economic advantage, or at a minimum, to put the U.S. at a disadvantage.”

“China, Iran and Russia have cultivated very close ties with the Taliban,” said Nilofar Sakhi, a lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, adding that they are trying to “have political and economic influence in the region.”

Despite close ties, none of the three countries has formally recognized the Taliban’s government and their interests in the region all differ.

Pragmatic approach

Late last month, China was the first country to formally accept the credentials of the Taliban’s ambassador.

Some former diplomats and analysts say the move was akin to formal recognition. Sun Yun, the director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington does not agree.

China still has to “formally extended political recognition to the Taliban’s government,” Sun told VOA. Even so, compared to Western countries, China has established “very close” relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“China adopts a pragmatic approach in Afghanistan,” said Sun, adding that early on Beijing realized that the U.S.-backed former Afghan government did not have “the popular support to continue” governing Afghanistan.

Beijing had been cultivating ties with the Taliban for years before the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul.

Sun said that “what has happened in the past two and a half years substantiated that assessment that the Taliban regime is not going anywhere.”

She added that security, economic and political factors are “all part of a broader consideration that comes to the foundation of China’s policy toward Afghanistan.”

For China, one key concern is about any breach of militancy from Afghanistan into its western region of Xinjiang.

Beijing also has economic interests in Afghanistan, including extending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship of the Belt and Road Initiative, to Afghanistan and investing in minerals in Afghanistan.

China has also been vocal in criticizing the U.S. and NATO for freezing Afghanistan’s assets and “leaving the Afghan people in a serious humanitarian crisis” in the country.

Complicated past

Though Iran has not formally recognized the Taliban, it handed over the Afghan embassy in Tehran to the Taliban in February 2023.

The Middle East Institute’s Vatanka said that the Iranian regime has not recognized the Taliban because of some bilateral issues, including border security and water distribution.

Last year, tensions between Iran and the Taliban over the Helmand River’s flow of water escalated to a deadly clash, which killed two Iranian security guards and one Taliban border guard.

Iran and the Taliban have had complicated relations in the past.

During the civil war in Afghanistan in the 1990s, Iran was supporting the forces fighting against the Taliban, particularly after the Taliban killed nine Iranian diplomats in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif in 1998.

“It is still too early for the Iranians to forget what the Taliban was” when it was in power in the 1990s, said Vatanka.

Full of contradiction

Like Iran, Russia was another country that supported forces fighting the Taliban during the civil war in the 1990s.

Ghaus Janbaz, a former Afghan diplomat to Moscow, told VOA that Moscow’s policy toward Afghanistan has been “full of contradictions” in recent years.

Janbaz added that Russia is politically supporting the Taliban, but at the same time, its “military and security officials criticize the Taliban and cite an uptick in terrorist activities in Afghanistan.”

He said that before the Taliban’s takeover, Moscow had diplomatic relations with the former Afghan government, but it also supported “the Taliban at all the levels.”

“It is similar now. Russia has ties with the Taliban, but an anti-Taliban leader was invited to Moscow,” Janbaz said. “They say it was not an invitation by the government, but nothing happens without the approval of the government in Russia.”

An Afghan anti-Taliban leader, Ahmad Masoud, participated in a conference on Afghanistan in Russia in November 2023.

Janbaz says that despite Moscow’s close ties with the Taliban, “I do not think that in the near future, Moscow will extend recognition to the Taliban’s regime.”

He said that similar to China and Iran, Russia’s policy toward the Taliban is driven by regional geopolitics.

“Tactically they might have an alliance against the West, but there are strategic differences” between these countries, Janbaz said.

This story originated in VOA’s Afghan Service.
…

LOS ANGELES — The casts of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” gathered Monday for the annual Academy Award nominees’ luncheon along with other Oscar hopefuls coming together for photos, hugs and congratulations. 

The luncheon is a warm, feel-good, egalitarian affair where little-known first-time nominees in categories like best animated short get to rub shoulders and share tables with acting nominees like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. 

Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, whose snubs for best director and best actress, respectively, for “Barbie” caused a major stir, were both present for the nominations they did get and were all smiles before lunch. 

Gerwig, nominated for adapted screenplay, was surrounded by selfie-seekers as soon as she entered the ballroom. 

Robbie, up for best picture as a “Barbie” producer, beamed nearby as she hugged and chatted with a woman who got one of the best actress spots, Sandra Hüller of “Anatomy of a Fall.” 

The centerpiece of the event in Beverly Hills, California, is a class photo of the entire group of nominees. Nearly all of them usually attend, both as part of the Oscars experience and as part of their unspoken campaigns for votes. 

Before the luncheon began, nominees including Cillian Murphy, a favorite for best actor for “Oppenheimer,” and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, a favorite for best supporting actress for “The Holdovers,” made the rounds of media outlets whose reporters are set up in cabanas around the Beverly Hilton pool. 

Steven Spielberg, nominated for best picture as a producer of “Maestro,” chatted with a small group on the patio. 

Less famous nominees packed into the ballroom and posed for group pictures.

They’ll later be seated for a vegetarian menu of king oyster mushrooms and wild mushroom risotto.

The event is also a chance for the leadership of the Academy, including President Janet Yang to give speeches and address their prominent members in person.

She used last year’s luncheon to address what she called the Academy’s “inadequate” response to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the previous year’s ceremony. 

Yang’s remarks this year had a much lighter tone, and dealt with more banal matters, like the timing of the Oscars ceremony.

“In case any of you have been in a nominations haze, we are starting an hour earlier this year,” she said.

When she saw surprise around the room she said, “Ooh, some people didn’t know! I’m glad I reminded you!”

She drew groans when she added that the Oscars come on the first day of daylight-saving time. 
…

washington — President Joe Biden ’s reelection campaign Monday defended its new TikTok account as a vital way to boost its appeal with young voters, even as his administration continued to raise security concerns about whether the popular social media app might be sharing user data with China’s communist government.

The campaign’s inaugural post featured the president being quizzed on Sunday’s Super Bowl — and included a reference to the latest political conspiracy theory centering on pop superstar Taylor Swift.

“The president’s TikTok debut last night — with more than 5 million views and counting — is proof positive of both our commitment and success in finding new, innovative ways to reach voters in an evolving, fragmented and increasingly personalized media environment,” Biden reelection deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty said in a statement.

At the White House, though, national security communications adviser John Kirby said that “there are still national security concerns about the use of TikTok on government devices, and there’s been no change to our policy not to allow that.”

Kirby referred most questions about TikTok to the Biden campaign and ducked a more general query about whether it was wise to use the app at all. He said the potential security issues “have to do with concerns about the preservation of data and potential misuse of that data and privacy information by foreign actors.” 

Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, could share user data — such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers — with that country’s authoritarian government. Biden in 2022 signed legislation banning the use of TikTok by the federal government’s nearly 4 million employees on devices owned by its agencies, with limited exceptions for law enforcement, national security and security research purposes.

Separately, the secretive and powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has been reviewing the app for years while trying unsuccessfully to force TikTok ownership to divest from its parent company. The White House said Monday the review was continuing.

With 150 million U.S. users, TikTok is best known for quick snippets of viral dance routines. But Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, posted on X that Biden’s campaign is “bragging about using a Chinese spy app even though Biden signed a law banning it on all federal devices.”

The Biden campaign said it had been mulling establishing a TikTok account for months and had ultimately done so at the urging of youth activists and organizations, who argued that the app was key to reaching young voters.

The campaign said it was using a separate cellphone to engage on TikTok to isolate the app from other work streams and communications, including emails. The campaign said it was taking additional steps but declined to name them, citing security concerns.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she wasn’t in contact with the campaign and had no advance warning that its TikTok account was going live.
…

A new bill allowing authorities to confiscate the property of Russians convicted of deliberately spreading what is deemed as fake news about Russia’s armed forces could soon become law. If signed into law, it would also allow the state to seize the property of Russian emigres who criticize the war in Ukraine. Kateryna Besedina has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: David Gogokhia.
…

…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has seized a Boeing 747 cargo plane that officials say was previously sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline to a state-owned Venezuelan firm in violation of American export control laws.

The Justice Department said Monday that the American-built plane had arrived in Florida and would be disposed of.

The plane had earlier been transferred from Iranian airline Mahan Air — which officials have alleged provides support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force — to Emtrasur, a Venezuelan cargo airline and subsidiary of a state-owned firm that had previously been sanctioned by the United States. Officials said the sale, done without U.S. government authorization, violated export control laws and improperly benefited Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Mahan Air has for years been subject to U.S. government restrictions on its business.

“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that the full force of U.S. laws deny hostile state actors the means to engage in malign activities that threaten our national security,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the department’s national security division, said in a statement.

The plane was detained in June 2022 by Argentine law enforcement, and U.S. officials moved several weeks later to take possession of it. Argentina officially transferred custody of the plane to the U.S. on Sunday, officials said.

The Justice Department said the plane would now be “prepared for disposition,” though it did not elaborate.

The Justice Department has identified the registered captain of the plane as an ex-commander for the Revolutionary Guard. Officials also cited a flight log they say was recovered that shows additional flights after the transfer to Emtrasur to locations including Moscow, Caracas and Tehran — all without U.S. government approval.

Mahan Air has denied any ties to the aircraft, and Venezuela has demanded that Argentine authorities release the plane.

On Sunday, members of a Venezuelan-led, left-leaning alliance condemned Argentina for its role in the plane being seized by the U.S., characterizing the actions as “theft.” The Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America — Peoples’ Trade Treaty argued that the actions violate international law.

“This aggression is another consequence of the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the government of the United States that threaten the sovereignty of Venezuela and violate the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and International Law,” the group, commonly known as the Alba Alliance, said in a statement.

The alliance was created in 2004 by Venezuela and Cuba in a bid to counter U.S. influence in the region. Nicaragua, Bolivia and some Caribbean nations are among its current members.  
…

…

VATICAN CITY — Argentina’s President Javier Milei visited his compatriot Pope Francis in the Vatican on Monday, bearing pastries and gifts as he seeks to make up with the pontiff he had long dismissed and derided.

Milei, a maverick right-wing libertarian, had heaped insults on Francis during his vote campaign, calling him an “imbecile who defends social justice.” But he has shifted tone in office as he tries to shore up support at home amid mounting challenges.

He hailed the pope as “the most important Argentine in history” in an interview at the weekend. On Monday, he brought alfajores de dulce de leche pastries and a brand of lemon biscuits the pope likes, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said.

Francis and Milei met as Argentina faces its worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation at more than 200% and the newly installed Milei in difficulty following parliamentary rejection of a major reform package. 

They spoke for about one hour, the Vatican said.

Francis, a former archbishop of Buenos Aires who has angered some of his compatriots by not visiting his homeland since becoming pope in 2013, has said he may finally visit “suffering” Argentina in the second half of this year.

Securing such a visit could help Milei shore up support from his conservative Catholic base, and help the president push ahead with his reforms.

On the weekend, Milei stressed Francis’ moral leadership role for a majority-Catholic country like Argentina.

Francis has previously said he did not want to be politically exploited by Argentinian politicians. On Friday, he said “radical individualism” permeates society like a “virus,” in words that may jar with Milei’s radical free-market instincts.

Francis and Milei exchanged warm words on Sunday, at the end of a canonization Mass in St Peter’s Basilica for the first female Argentine saint, Maria Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, an 18th century consecrated lay woman better known as “Mama Antula.”

Francis, who is 87 and has difficulty walking, was in a wheelchair as he went to greet Milei after the service. He smiled at him, extended his hand and told him, “You cut your hair!”

Milei, who still wears his hair unconventionally long for a politician, joked about having cleaned up his act and asked if he could hug and kiss the pope. A smiling Francis replied: “Yes, son, yes.”
…

NICOSIA — Closer relations between Turkey and the European Union are contingent on Turkish engagement in solving the decades-old partition of Cyprus, the EU country’s president said on Monday.

Turkey has been an official candidate to join the EU for decades, but accession talks have stalled in recent years over EU concerns about Ankara’s record on human rights and respect for the rule of law.

Cyprus, an eastern Mediterranean island that was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 prompted by a brief Greek-inspired coup, has veto rights over Turkey’s EU ambitions, like all other members of the bloc.

The Republic of Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, while the northern half of the island is a self-declared state recognized only by Turkey.

“Cyprus is a strong supporter of closer relations between the EU and Ankara; [such] closer relations pass through developments and a solution to the Cyprus problem,” Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters after meeting Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s president in Nicosia.

Steinmeier, on an official visit to the island, said Turkish actions on Cyprus should be taken into account in assessing its overall relations with the EU.

“Member states should send this message to Turkey,” he said, speaking through an interpreter.

Peace talks to resolve the longstanding conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriots collapsed in 2017. Nicosia wants the EU to appoint an emissary to oversee attempts to revive talks, though says it would be supportive of any role of the United Nations, which takes the lead in Cyprus peacemaking.

Violence between the two Cypriot communities broke out in 1963, prompting the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force that still patrols a 180-km (116-mile) long cease-fire line.

Germany’s cabinet last week approved the dispatch of police officers who will join the civilian police contingent of the U.N. force, Steinmeier said.
…

…

…

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Washington Monday and the two leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing effort to free hostages held in Gaza, and growing concern over an Israeli military operation in the port city of Rafah.

It is the first meeting between the allies since three American troops were killed last month in a drone strike against a U.S. base in Jordan. Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the fatalities, the first for the U.S. after months of strikes by such groups against American forces across the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The meeting with King Abdullah II comes as Biden and his aides are working to broker another pause in Israel’s war against Hamas in order to send humanitarian aid and supplies into the region and get hostages out. The White House faces growing criticism from Arab-Americans over the administration’s continued support for Israel in the face of growing casualties in Gaza.

It appeared a deal for another pause in the fighting was getting close. A senior U.S. administration official said Sunday that after weeks of shuttle diplomacy and phone conversations, a framework was essentially in place for a deal that could see the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a halt to fighting.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations, acknowledged that gaps remained but declined to specify what they are. The official said Israeli military pressure on Hamas in Khan Younis over the last several weeks has helped bring the militant group closer to accepting an agreement. The potential for an agreement took up the majority of Biden’s call Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The official said the two leaders also had a significant back and forth about the potential expansion of Israeli military operations into Rafah and that Biden reiterated U.S. opposition to the idea under the “current conditions” while more than 1.3 million people are sheltering there.

It was the most forceful language yet from the president on the possible operation. Biden, who last week called Israel’s military response in Gaza “over the top,” also sought “urgent and specific” steps to strengthen humanitarian aid. Israel’s Channel 13 television said the conversation lasted 45 minutes.

The official said the Israelis “made clear they would not contemplate an operation” in Rafah without safeguarding the civilian population. The official said the U.S. is not sure there is a feasible or implementable plan to relocate civilians out of Rafah to allow military operations to take place.

Jordan and other Arab states have been highly critical of Israel’s actions and have eschewed public support for long-term planning over what happens next, arguing that the fighting must end before such discussions can begin. They have been demanding a cease-fire since mid-October as civilian casualties began to skyrocket.

Biden had planned to visit Jordan during his trip to Israel in October shortly after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, but the trip was scrapped. On his way home from Israel, Biden announced he’d helped broker the first deal to pause fighting temporarily and to open the crossing in Rafah to humanitarian aid.

In the months since, members of his administration have made repeated trips to the region to engage with leaders there.
…

ATHENS, Greece — More than 1,500 protesters gathered in central Athens on Sunday to oppose legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in Greece. The bill is set for a vote in parliament in the coming days.

Greece’s conservative government is sponsoring the bill, but it will require votes from center and left opposition parties to be approved. However, even some center-left lawmakers have gone on record as opposing the bill.

Organizers of Sunday’s rally — religious groups — described the bill as a threat to the traditional family. Many of the protesters chanted “hands off our children.”

“Unfortunately, the woke agenda has also reached Greece and that agenda includes the marriage of homosexuals,” Dimitris Natsios, leader of the far-right and strongly religious Niki party told The Associated Press.

“Greece is a Christian Orthodox country, and our tradition does not allow this. … We know and respect one type of marriage: The Orthodox Christian wedding. Our Constitution also does not provide for this, so this bill is unconstitutional and runs counter to our faith in Christ,” Natsios said.

The Niki party, founded in 2019, entered Parliament in 2023. In the most recent election, in June, it came in sixth, with 3.70% of the vote and elected 10 lawmakers to the 300-member assembly.

Many same-sex couples in Greece seeking to start a family currently get married in countries where same-sex weddings are legal.

Greece has legalized “cohabitation contracts” for same-sex couples since December 2015. It also allowed sex identity change by simple declaration without mandating psychiatric evaluation and sex reassignment surgery in October 2017.

If the bill is approved, Greece would become the first majority Orthodox country to legalize same-sex marriage.
…

New York — New York is expanding a curfew to additional migrant shelters after violent incidents attributed to migrant shelter residents gained national attention in recent weeks.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration will impose an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew at 20 migrant shelters starting Monday, after initially placing the restrictions at four other locations, spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said Sunday.

The curfew impacts about 3,600 migrants, with the largest of the emergency centers housing nearly 1,000 migrants in Long Island City, Queens, according to a listing provided by the mayor’s office.

City officials initially placed a curfew on four shelters last month in response to neighborhood complaints.

Mamelak said the curfews are in line with restrictions already in place at NYC’s traditional homeless shelters and allow for “more efficient capacity management” of migrants in the city’s care.

“New York City continues to lead the nation in managing this national humanitarian crisis, and that includes prioritizing the health and safety of both asylum seekers in our care and New Yorkers who live in the communities surrounding the emergency shelters we manage,” she said in an emailed statement.

The additional curfews come after a spate of migrant-related violence and crime has prompted increasingly dire rhetoric from city and police officials.

A 15-year-old teen from Venezuela was arrested Friday for opening fire in Times Square while fleeing from police after being stopped by security for suspected shoplifting. The shooting injured a tourist from Brazil.

A video showing a group of migrants brawling with police in Times Square last month also went viral and led to several arrests.

The total of 24 migrant shelters now subject to the restrictions represents a fraction of the more than 200 such facilities the city operates to house some 66,000 newly arrived asylum seekers.
…

The vibrant streets and towering skyscrapers of New York City are an imposing, yet promising allure for migrants around the globe. Nevertheless, conflicting messages from officials and stalled legislation in the U.S. Congress are helping to create a controversial election issue. Aron Ranen brings us the story from Manhattan.
…

ATHENS, Greece — Greece has announced new measures to protect locals from a deluge of mainly Chinese nationals purchasing homes and property in exchange for residency rights in the West — what is commonly known as a “Golden Visa” scheme.

For many of China’s newly well-off citizens, the incentive to emigrate has been rising, feeding what is being dubbed worldwide as “investment migration” businesses.

In recent years, there has been a massive rush of Chinese nationals to Greece, and that has created a serious housing crisis.

On Friday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he would increase the threshold of real estate investment from $269,491 to $862,372 in certain pockets of the country to ease the crisis.

“It is a major investment boost for the country but also a serious measure we are considering to shield the local market,” he told lawmakers in the Greek parliament.

In a rare show of bipartisan support, opposition leaders sided with the plan.

Because of a lingering housing shortage, they are now urging the government to block foreign homebuyers, like the Chinese, from making a fortune off their investments, leasing them for short-term rentals rather than occupying them for residential purposes alone.

A local near the foot of the Acropolis, Greece’s star attraction and the hub of Chinese and other tourists — says finding an affordable apartment to lease in the area has become difficult.

“All you see are tourists staying in these flats. The prices for locals have become excessively high,” he said.

Since launching the Golden Visa program in 2014, Greece has been granting five-year renewable residence permits to foreigners in exchange for a minimum property investment of nearly $270,000.

In the last year alone, the number of permits issued has quadrupled, with Chinese nationals topping the list at 80 percent. Turks fleeing the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are second, with Lebanese nationals and Israelis both taking third position, according to data released from the Bank of Greece.

Government sources tell VOA the highest charges for Greece’s Golden Visas will apply for the country’s most coveted property — in central Athens and glitzy Greek islands like Mykonos and Santorini — a favorite among Chinese nationals.

 
…

Budapest, Hungary — Antifascist activists gathered in Hungary’s capital Saturday to oppose an annual commemoration held by far-right groups, underscoring diplomatic tensions between Budapest and Rome over the detention of an Italian citizen in a Hungarian jail.

Hundreds of activists marched through central Budapest alongside a heavy police presence and called for “freedom for every antifascist.” They said they sought to prevent the far-right from observing the “Day of Honor,” an annual event marking the failed attempt by Nazi and allied Hungarian soldiers to break out of Budapest during the Red Army’s siege of the city in 1945.

The demonstration came as an Italian antifascist activist is being held in a Hungarian jail for allegedly being involved in assaults against suspected participants in the Day of Honor commemoration in Budapest last year.

Images of the activist, Ilaria Salis, chained and shackled at a Budapest court hearing sparked official protests by the Italian government. Prosecutors are seeking an 11-year sentence for the woman.

Luca Kruczynski, 35, a participant at the antifascist march Saturday, said he had  

traveled from Berlin with friends “to protest against the neo-fascist groups that are  

having their events here now every year.”

He said he had concerns that Salis’ prosecution would be a “political trial.”

“We see that Nazis are going to group up on different occasions and in different cities all over Europe,” he said. “There are people who say no to this, and who have a close eye on this and tell them, ‘Here and no further.’”

A separate group of activists gathered in Milan on Saturday to call attention to Salis’ case. Hungary’s government has denied that Salis is being held in inappropriate conditions.

Italy’s government has called on Hungary to observe European and international law, which calls for the need to respect the dignity of prisoners, “including the way in which defendants are transferred to court and the guarantees of a fair trial.”

Last week, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni spoke about Salis’ detention with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The case is delicate for the far-right-led government of Meloni, who has forged friendly ties with the nationalist Orban.

Italy’s foreign and justice ministers have refused a request to seek pre-trial detention at home in Italy or in the Italian embassy in Budapest for Salis, citing the sovereignty of Hungary’s court system.

Salis’ father met with Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Justice Minister Carlo Nordio on Monday in a bid to persuade them to intervene on his daughter’s behalf but walked away disappointed. 

In a joint statement Monday, Nordio said he suggested to the father that Salis’ Hungarian lawyer make the case in court to change the conditions of her confinement, while Tajani said that he has twice personally intervened with the Hungarian government on her behalf.

The leader of the Italian opposition, Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein, noted Monday that Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right-led government only moved on behalf of Salis after seeing “the chains and shackles.”

“It is difficult not to think that Meloni is embarrassed” in front of her European ally, Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, Schlein said. 
…

…

Washington — The U.S. military said Sunday it had struck more devices and missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen that were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.

The strikes occurred Saturday between 4-5 p.m. (1300-1400 GMT) north of the city of Hodeida, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on social media. 

American “forces successfully conducted self-defense strikes against two unmanned surface vessels (USV) and three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM)… that were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” the statement said.

The Houthi-run Al-Masirah television on Saturday night reported three strikes on the Salif port area, while an AFP correspondent in the area heard loud blasts.

The strikes are part of a series of actions taken by the United States and its allies against the Houthis, aimed at halting the Iran-backed rebels’ repeated attacks on vital Red Sea shipping lanes.

On Saturday, the Houthis confirmed that 17 of their fighters had been killed in recent strikes, following a previous announcement Thursday by the United States that it had struck missile launchers.

The Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen including the port of Hodeida, began their attacks in November, saying they were hitting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war. 

U.S. and British forces have responded with strikes against the Houthis, who have since declared the two countries’ interests to be legitimate targets as well.

On Tuesday the Houthi rebels said they had struck U.S. and British ships in two attacks in the Red Sea, causing minor damage but no casualties.

The Red Sea attacks have raised insurance premiums for shipping companies, forcing many to avoid the Red Sea, a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of global maritime trade.
…

Russia attacked Ukraine with another barrage of drones. This comes as additional U.S. funding for Kyiv’s efforts to defend itself faces hurdles in a divided U.S. Congress. As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, the two U.S. presidential front-runners have diametrically opposed views on Ukraine and NATO.
…

…

WILMINGTON, Del. — President Joe Biden’s personal attorney said Sunday he went to both the special counsel and the attorney general to register concerns over what he viewed to be pejorative and unnecessary digs at the president’s memory. 

“This is a report that went off the rails,” Bob Bauer said on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday. “It’s a shabby work product.” 

The special counsel was investigating whether the president mishandled classified documents during his previous positions as vice president and senator, and found this week that no criminal charges were warranted. 

But in building his argument for why no charges were necessary, Special Counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, detailed in part that Biden’s defense of any potential charges could possibly be that: “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” 

And then he went on to cite examples where investigators said the president’s memory lapsed, including over when his older son Beau had died. In particular, the comments about Beau Biden enraged the president, who has been very open about his grief over his son’s death, speaking often of him. 

“How the hell dare he raise that,” Biden questioned angrily following the report’s release. “Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, was it any of their damn business?” 

Biden’s age has already been a concern for voters. Democrats are now answering the widespread questions about the 81-year-old president’s age and readiness by affirming that Biden is capable of being commander in chief and trying to discredit people who portray him feeble. First lady Jill Biden wrote a letter to donors Saturday questioning whether those comments were politically motivated; it fetched the most money in donations of any email since Biden launched his campaign. 

Bauer, who is married to Biden’s top White House aide Anita Dunn, said he raised concerns over the inclusion of these details to both Hur and Garland, which he viewed to be a violation of the Justice Department norms that essentially work to avoid prejudicing the public against people who are not charged with a crime. But the appeal failed. 

“It’s evident that he had committed to make the report public the way that the special counsel had written it,” said Bauer. 

The president sat down with investigators over several hours just as the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas happened. He said he answered the questions truthfully and to the best of his knowledge. 

Bauer argued that what didn’t make it into the report were moments when the president deconstructed questions by investigators and when the special counsel notes that he’d be taking Biden through “events that are many years ago,” and notes that he should just give his best recollection. 

He said the special counsel made a decision “to cherry pick in a very misleading way” what references made it in and what didn’t. 

Bauer, too, suggested there was political pressure on the Justice Department, which is prosecuting former President Donald Trump for refusing to turn over a trove of classified documents as well as his role in the Jan. 6 violence at the U.S. Capitol and has been excoriated by Trump and others as biased and that his prosecution represents a “two-tiered system of justice.” 

Hur is a Republican, and a former U.S. attorney under Trump. 

“So you have to wonder with those pressures impinging on the investigation from the outside knowing the attacks that Republicans have levied on the law enforcement process, did he decide we would have to ask that we reach the only legal conclusion possible and then toss in the rest of it to placate a certain political constituency?” Bauer asked. 

The Justice Department has not commented on the criticism. 

 
…