RIYADMEDIA

VATICAN CITY — Before flying to Italy’s southern Puglia region to meet world leaders at the Group of Seven summit, Pope Francis hosted a very different audience at the Vatican on Friday celebrating the importance of humor.

The pontiff welcomed more than 100 comedians from 15 nations, including U.S. celebrities Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien.

“In the midst of so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles,” Francis told the comedians.

“You unite people, because laughter is contagious,” he continued, asking jokingly, “Please pray for me: for, not against!”

Francis pointed out that in the creation, “Divine wisdom practiced your art for the benefit of none other than God himself, the first spectator in history,” with God delighting in the works that he had made.

“Remember this,” he added. “When you manage to bring intelligent smiles to the lips of even a single spectator, you also make God smile.”

Francis also said it was OK to “laugh at God” in the same way “we play and joke with the people we love.”

After delivering his speech, Francis greeted all the comedians individually, sharing laughs and jokes with some of them.

“It was great, it was very fast and really loving, and made me happy,” Goldberg said afterward.

O’Brien noted that the pope “spoke in Italian, so I’m not quite sure what was said.”

“To be in that room and to be with all my fellow comedians, some of whom I’ve been good friends with for many years, in that environment, was quite strange,” the TV host added. “All of us were thinking, how did this happen? Why are we here, and when are they going to throw us out?”

Colbert admitted his Italian “is really bad, I would like to speak it better.” But he managed to remind the pope that he had done the audiobook for his memoir.

“It was wonderful, he’ll never forget me,” he joked.
…

houston — A federal judge Friday ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ personal assets but dismissed his company’s separate bankruptcy case, leaving the future of his Infowars media platform uncertain as he owes $1.5 billion for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. 

Judge Christopher Lopez approved converting Jones’ proposed personal bankruptcy reorganization to a liquidation, but threw out the attempted reorganization of his company, Austin, Texas-based Free Speech Systems. Many of the Sandy Hook families had asked that the company also be liquidated. 

If Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy reorganization had been converted to a liquidation, Jones could have lost ownership of the company, its social media accounts, the Infowars studio in Austin and all copyrights as the company’s possessions were sold. Jones smiled as the judge dismissed the company’s case. 

It wasn’t immediately clear what will happen to Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company that Jones built into a multimillion-dollar moneymaker over the past 25 years. 

One scenario could be that the company and Infowars are allowed to keep operating while efforts to collect on the $1.5 billion debt are made in state courts in Texas and Connecticut, where the families won lawsuits against Jones, according to lawyers involved with the case. 

Another scenario is that lawyers for the Sandy Hook families go back to the bankruptcy court and ask Lopez to liquidate the company as part of Jones’ personal case, because Jones owns the business, lawyers said. 

Lopez said his sole focus in determining whether to dismiss Free Speech Systems’ case or order a liquidation was what would be best for the company and its creditors, including the Sandy Hook families. Lopez also said Free Speech Systems’ case appeared to be one of the longest running of its kind in the country, and it was approaching a deadline to resolve it. 

Lopez said, “This case is one of the more difficult cases I’ve had. When you look at it, I think creditors are better served in pursuing their state court rights.” 

Many of Jones’ personal assets will be sold off, but his primary home in the Austin area and some other belongings are exempt from bankruptcy liquidation. He already has moved to sell his Texas ranch worth about $2.8 million, a gun collection and other assets to pay debts. 

In the lead-up to Friday’s hearing, Jones had been telling his web viewers and radio listeners that Free Speech Systems was on the verge of being shut down because of the bankruptcy. He urged them to download videos from his online archive to preserve them and pointed them to a new website of his father’s company if they want to continue buying the dietary supplements he sells on his show. 

“This is probably the end of Infowars here very, very soon. If not today, in the next few weeks or months,” Jones told reporters before Friday’s hearing. “But it’s just the beginning of my fight against tyranny.” 

Jones has about $9 million in personal assets, according to the most recent financial filings in court. Free Speech Systems, which employs 44 people, has about $6 million in cash on hand and about $1.2 million worth of inventory, according to J. Patrick Magill, the chief restructuring officer appointed by the court to run the company during the bankruptcy. 

Jones and Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022, when relatives of many victims of the 2012 school shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, won lawsuit judgments of more than $1.4 billion in Connecticut and $49 million in Texas. 

The relatives said they were traumatized by Jones’ comments and his followers’ actions. They have testified about being harassed and threatened by Jones’ believers, some of whom confronted the grieving families in person saying the shooting never happened and their children never existed. One parent said someone threatened to dig up his dead son’s grave. 
…

WASHINGTON — The chairperson of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday outlined what he described as failures by the U.S. Agency for Global Media to adequately investigate allegations and whistleblower complaints.

A 73-page report described a three-year investigation into whistleblower complaints about an employee at the USAGM network Voice of America, or VOA, including allegations of falsifying credentials and the mishandling of a contract.

Chairman Michael McCaul, a Republican representative from Texas, said, “Given the important work of USAGM and VOA to provide accurate news around the world, I am extremely concerned about the agency’s serious investigative blunders despite the alarming complaints.”

McCaul described the case as “the tip of the iceberg” in a statement, and staff representing Republicans on the committee said on background that it feeds into previous concerns about whether the agency properly vets foreign-born staff. However, the report focuses on the investigation into one employee.

The report found “credible evidence” of wrongdoing, including that the employee in question did not hold a doctorate or equivalent from a French university as stated on a resume; mishandled a major contract; awarded “excessive” overtime pay to favored employees; and “faced persistent complaints” about an “abrasive leadership style.”

Because the incident involves a personnel issue at VOA, which does not typically comment on such matters, the network is not naming the employee.

The report further notes that an investigation under former President Donald Trump’s appointed leadership at VOA had found grounds to dismiss the senior staff member in 2021 after an investigation that included the handling of a $950,000 contract.

After a change in administration, the McCaul report notes, the termination was reversed, and the employee was moved to a new department.

An independent investigation by the Office of Special Counsel, or OSC, released in May 2023, described the case as a “particularly complex matter” and said it was “beyond the scope of this review to evaluate the merits of several allegations made against the individual; however, CEO Office involvement will be examined.”

The OSC added that the USAGM Labor and Employee Relations investigators tasked with looking into the allegations “faced intense pressure” to conclude in 2021 that the employee should be terminated.

The report by McCaul includes testimony and interviews with senior USAGM and VOA officials and staff. It states that once the agency was provided evidence to support the claims of falsified credentials, USAGM moved to issue a reprimand to the employee.

Staff representing Republicans on the committee, speaking to VOA on background, said that during the committee investigation, they found USAGM had failed to thoroughly investigate the whistleblower complaints and other issues regarding oversight and negligence.

The staff said the report’s findings and USAGM’s apparent failure to take appropriate action reflect wider and far-reaching concerns about the agency, including whether political bias played a role.

A statement emailed to VOA and attributed to USAGM CEO Amanda Bennett said her office “cannot comment on specific personnel matters.”

But, Bennett said, “We unequivocally reject the Committee’s allegations that the agency’s investigation of an employee’s background was politicized, corrupt or mismanaged in any way.”

Noting that the agency stands by its final decision in investigating complaints, the statement said its staff “made tremendous efforts to locate evidence relevant to the matter in question, and aggressively pursued every possible avenue to conduct a thorough investigation.”

Mark Zaid, an attorney who represents the employee in question, told VOA via email, “The Committee’s one-sided report continues an unexplained vendetta that has spanned two Administrations” against his client.

He charged the report included “many incomplete, misinterpreted and defamatory conclusions.”

But, Zaid said, he “agrees with the Committee on two things.”

“First, there is a great deal of confusion surrounding the equivalency of French and American Ph.D.s, including among various experts,” he said. “Second, USAGM has mishandled this investigation from the beginning, particularly by interfering with [the client’s] right to counsel and denying [the client’s] appropriate due process.”

He noted that “contrary to a footnote in the report,” USAGM did not share details with Zaid, in his capacity as the employee’s attorney, or keep him updated about what the agency was doing in regard to the McCaul investigation.

Members of McCaul’s staff told VOA on background that the committee intends no ill will toward the employee but that as a congressional oversight board it is their duty to investigate whistleblower complaints and follow the facts.

The main focus of the report is on whether the employee held an advanced degree, as stated on the person’s resume and on the VOA website. McCaul’s report says it was able to quickly establish three years ago that the credentials were incorrect.

Zaid told VOA that attorneys have “repeatedly provided documentation” to confirm the degree, and enough evidence exists to show the qualification “has been properly described.”

Gregory Meeks, the leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement that called McCaul’s report “one-sided.” Meeks said, however, that USAGM should “address the Committee’s oversight questions and concerns.”

The findings in McCaul’s report serve as a case study of a wider problem, according to the committee staff, who spoke on background.

The report calls for the employee to be terminated as per the earlier Labor and Employee Relations investigation and for USAGM to rectify its vetting process.

“USAGM’s actions raise questions about the agency’s ability to vet its own staff, and I am extremely concerned Democrats who criticized the agency under the last administration have gone silent instead of working in good faith to serve Americans who deserve transparency and accountability,” McCaul said in a statement.

It requests the agency deliver a report to Congress on vetting procedures within 90 days.
…

Istanbul / Washington — A recent report on the state of child labor in Turkey said at least 695 child workers died in the country in the past 11 years.  

The report was published Tuesday by Health and Safety Labor Watch (ISIG), a civil society group in Turkey. The group compiled its dataset through open-source information and the families of the children who died while working. According to ISIG, at least 24 child workers died in the first five months of 2024.  

VOA sent a request for a comment to Turkey’s Ministry of Labor and Social Security, but it has not received a response yet.  

As of 2023, there were more than 22 million children in Turkey, which has a population of over 86 million, according to the state-run Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).

Education in Turkey is compulsory until the end of the 12th grade and public education is free of charge. However, the high school completion rate was 80.3 percent in 2023, a relative increase compared with 2022’s figure of 65.1 percent. 

Vocational training 

Some experts think the state-run Vocational Education Centers (MESEM) are behind the increasing completion number, which they do not view as improving the education rate.  

“Turkey has given up fighting against child labor for a long time. There are many practices that legitimize child labor, and MESEM comes first among these practices,” Ezgi Koman, a child development expert at Turkey’s nongovernmental FISA Child Rights Center, told VOA. 

Turkey’s Ministry of National Education (MEB) introduced MESEMs to the education system in 2016. The apprenticeship program enables students to learn the skills of an entry-level job and choose to be professionalized in one of at least 193 sectors provided by MESEM’s curriculum.   

MEB’s website says the program’s goal is “to meet our country’s need for people with occupation.” 

The students enrolled in MESEMs go to school once a week for theoretical training and work at a job assigned by the MESEM for four days. The program takes four years to finish and counts as the student’s last four years of compulsory education.  

MESEM’s enrollment requirements include completing the eighth grade, being over 14 years of age, signing a contract with a workplace related to the profession the child wants to pursue, and being in good health.  

The students must be insured for job-related accidents and injuries. They are paid at least 30 percent of the minimum wage in the first three years and at least 50 percent of the minimum wage in the fourth year. The minimum wage in Turkey in 2024 is around US$520 a month.  

“Our research shows that children who want to receive vocational training do not enroll in MESEM. Children who are already working are enrolled there. So, now, through MESEM, some of the children working unregistered are being registered in the labor force. MESEM is presenting them as receiving education,” Koman said. 

“However, there is no education. There are children left at the mercy of the bosses and labor exploitation,” she added. 

VOA Turkish requested a comment from Turkey’s Ministry of National Education, which oversees MESEM, but has not received a response. 

Yusuf Tekin, Turkey’s minister of national education, responded to a parliamentary inquiry about the injuries and deaths of students enrolled in MESEMs in March 2024. 

In the inquiry, Turan Taskin Ozer, an Istanbul deputy of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), asked about the number of injuries and deaths that occurred in MESEM programs since 2016. 

“The sectors of workplaces where accidents and deaths occur are predominantly construction, metal, woodworking, engine and machinery,” Tekin responded in a written statement. 

“A total of 336 students, 316 males and 20 females, had an accident,” Tekin added without disclosing the number of deaths.   

The ISIG report shows that in the 2023-24 academic year, at least seven children died while working in jobs that were part of their MESEM training.  

Refugee children 

The ISIG report also indicates that since 2013, at least 80 migrant children have died while working – 71 from Syria, six from Afghanistan and one each from Iraq, Iran, and Turkmenistan.  

According to the U.N. refugee agency’s annual Global Trends report, released in June, Turkey hosts 3.3 million refugee populations, including 3.2 million Syrians.

Refugee children in Turkey have the right to education. Still, some experts point out that refugee children face peer bullying and xenophobia at school, which leads them to end their education and start work informally.  

Turkey-based humanitarian organization Support to Life focuses on child workers in seasonal agricultural jobs, including migrant children. 

“The living conditions of Turkish, Kurdish or migrant seasonal agricultural workers are far from humane living standards,” Leyla Ozer, Support to Life’s project manager, told VOA. 

“Access to clean drinking water, electricity and toilets is limited. Families mostly live in tent areas they set up themselves. Conditions on agricultural fields are extremely challenging for children. Pesticides are a big threat, and labor is also added to this. Preventing child labor is vitally urgent,” Ozer added.  
…

WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the international Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland this weekend, where she will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and address world leaders.

She will underscore that the outcome of the war with Russia affects the entire world, a U.S. official said, and push for a maximum number of countries to back the notion that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is a violation of the U.N. Charter’s founding principles and that Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.

Harris, who will spend less than 24 hours at the gathering in Lucerne, Switzerland, will be standing in for President Joe Biden at the event. The president will be just ending his participation at the G7 summit in Italy and returning to the United States to attend a fundraiser for his reelection campaign in Los Angeles.

Harris will meet with Zelenskyy and will address the summit’s plenary session. Biden met Zelenskyy at the G7 summit, where they signed a U.S.-Ukraine bilateral security agreement, and in France for events surrounding the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Harris was to depart for Switzerland on Friday night, arrive Saturday midday and spend several hours at the event before flying back to Washington.

Then, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will represent the United States at the summit on Sunday and help establish working groups on returning Ukrainian children from Russia and energy security.

Russia was not invited to the event and has dismissed it as futile. China, a key Russian ally, says it will not attend the conference because it does not meet Beijing’s requirements, including the participation of Russia.

The senior U.S. official said Russia’s absence would not affect the summit but expressed regret at Beijing’s decision.

Ninety-two countries and eight organizations plan to attend.

The United States has contributed billions of dollars in weaponry to help Ukraine fight the war begun by Russian President Vladimir Putin, although the latest massive package of aid from Washington was delayed for months by disagreements in Congress.
…

ROME — An Italian anti-fascist activist was released from house arrest in Hungary on Friday after being elected as a new member of the European Parliament for the Italian Green and Left Alliance, the party’s leaders said. 

Police in Budapest removed Ilaria Salis’ electronic bracelet in the Hungarian capital and her father said he will take her back to Italy by Monday, when she celebrates her 40th birthday, according to Italian news agency ANSA. 

Salis was elected to the European Parliament during her time under house arrest in Hungary, where she is on trial and faces charges for allegedly assaulting far-right demonstrators. European Parliament lawmakers enjoy substantial legal immunity from prosecution, even if the allegations relate to crimes committed prior to their election. 

More than 170,000 voters in Italy wrote Salis’ name onto the ballot in a bid to bring her home from Hungary, where she has been detained for more than a year. 

“Finally! We are happy with the news coming from Budapest, MEP Ilaria Salis can now return to Italy and will be able to perform her new function to which hundreds of thousands of voters have pointed her,” AVS lawmakers Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni said in a statement. 

Salis became a hot-button political issue in Italy after images emerged of her handcuffed and shackled in a Hungarian courtroom where she faced trial. 

The Italian activist was charged in Hungary with attempted murder after being part of a group of anti-fascists accused of assaulting individuals they believed were linked to the far-right Day of Honor last year. 

The event, held annually on February 11, sees far-right activists mark the failed attempt by Nazi and allied Hungarian soldiers to break out of Budapest during the Red Army’s siege in 1945. 

The alleged victims of the attack reportedly didn’t complain to police. 

Before the European Parliament election earlier this month, Salis’ father repeatedly voiced concerns over his daughter’s trial, saying she faced up to 24 years in jail. The Hungarian prosecutor had asked for a prison term of 11 years. 
…

…

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, a rapid-fire gun accessory that was used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

The high court’s conservative majority found that the Trump administration did not follow federal law when it changed course from previous administrations after a gunman in Las Vegas attacked a country music festival with assault rifles equipped with bump stocks.

The accessory allows a rate of fire comparable to machine guns.

The gunman fired more than 1,000 rounds in the crowd in 11 minutes, sending thousands of people fleeing in terror as hundreds were wounded and dozens were killed in 2017.

The 6-3 majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas said a semiautomatic rifle with a bump stock is not an illegal machine gun because it doesn’t make the weapon fire more than one shot with one pull of the trigger.

“A bump stock does not alter the basic mechanics of bump firing, and the trigger still must be released and reengaged to fire each additional shot,” he wrote in an opinion that contained multiple drawings of guns’ firing mechanisms.

He was joined by his fellow conservatives. Justice Samuel Alito wrote a short separate opinion to stress that Congress can change the law to equate bump stocks with machine guns.

Changing the definition of a bump stock through regulation rather than legislation took pressure off Republicans in Congress to act or justify inaction in the face of the Las Vegas massacre during Trump’s presidency.

In a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues, Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed to the Las Vegas gunman. “In murdering so many people so quickly, he did not rely on a quick trigger finger. Instead, he relied on bump stocks,” she said, reading a summary of her dissent aloud in the courtroom. Sotomayor said that it’s “deeply regrettable” Congress has to act but that she hopes it does.

Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign team said it respects the court’s decision in a statement that quickly pivoted to politics, touting his endorsement by the National Rifle Association. President Joe Biden did not have an immediate comment.

The ruling came after a Texas gun shop owner challenged the ban, arguing the Justice Department wrongly classified the accessories as illegal machine guns.

The Biden administration said that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made the right choice for the gun accessories, which can allow weapons to fire at a rate of hundreds of rounds a minute.

It marked the latest gun case to come before the high court. A conservative supermajority handed down a landmark decision expanding gun rights in 2022 and is weighing another gun case challenging a federal law intended to keep guns away from people under domestic violence restraining orders.

The arguments in the bump stock case, though, were more about whether the ATF had overstepped its authority than the Second Amendment.

Justices from the court’s liberal wing suggested it was “common sense” that anything capable of unleashing a “torrent of bullets” was a machine gun under federal law. Conservative justices, though, raised questions about why Congress had not acted to ban bump stocks, as well as the effects of the ATF changing its mind a decade after declaring the accessories legal.

The high court took up the case after a split among lower courts over bump stocks, which were invented in the early 2000s. Under Republican President George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama, the ATF decided that bump stocks didn’t transform semiautomatic weapons into machine guns. The agency reversed those decisions at Trump’s urging after the shooting in Las Vegas and another mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school that killed 17 people.

Bump stocks are accessories that replace a rifle’s stock, the part that rests against the shoulder. They harness the gun’s recoil energy so that the trigger bumps against the shooter’s stationary finger, allowing the gun to fire at a rate comparable to a traditional machine gun. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have their own bans on bump stocks.

The plaintiff, Texas gun shop owner and military veteran Michael Cargill, was represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a group funded by conservative donors such as the Koch network. His attorneys acknowledged that bump stocks allow for rapid fire but argued that they are different because the shooter has to put in more effort to keep the gun firing.

Government lawyers countered that the effort required from the shooter is small and doesn’t make a legal difference. The Justice Department said the ATF changed its mind on bump stocks after doing a more in-depth examination spurred by the Las Vegas shooting and came to the right conclusion.

There were about 520,000 bump stocks in circulation when the ban went into effect in 2019, requiring people to either surrender or destroy them, at a combined estimated loss of $100 million, the plaintiffs said in court documents.
…

Washington — The Swiss-hosted Ukraine Peace Summit will take place Saturday and Sunday at the Burgenstock Resort on Lake Lucerne with about 90 countries participating. The Swiss government says the summit aims to “inspire a future peace process” that could eventually involve Russia and build a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine rooted in international law.

It’s been nearly 28 months since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, causing heavy casualties on both sides in a war that has displaced millions of Ukrainians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy initiated the summit to gather international support for his peace plan. The 10 points in Zelenskyy’s “peace formula” include the full withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including Crimea and Russian-occupied areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Russia has not been invited to the summit. The Swiss government says there was no invitation because Russia had no intention of attending. Moscow called a peace summit without its participation “futile.”

But Russia is not the only major player skipping the talks.

Who is attending? Who is absent?

China will also be absent from the summit.

China’s Foreign Ministry said at the end of May that Beijing “is hardly able to take part in the meeting” because a peace summit without Russia would not meet China’s expectations. Beijing said the peace conference “should have the recognition of Russia and Ukraine, equal participation of all parties, and fair discussion of all peace plans.”

China issued its “Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” in February 2023, touting it as a peace plan. But the 12 principles in the plan were just repeats of Beijing’s long-held positions that critics say are more favorable to Russia.

The United States and Ukraine have urged China to participate many times before.  Zelenskyy, at the Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month, accused China of pressuring other countries to boycott the peace summit, which Beijing denied.

Kyiv has invited about 160 countries and organizations to attend the summit. The Swiss government said on Monday that about 90 countries — almost half of them from Europe — have confirmed their participation, and that most of the participants are heads of state or government.

Ukraine’s biggest ally, the United States, will send Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. President Joe Biden will reportedly miss the summit due to a campaign fundraiser. Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin would give Biden’s absence a “standing ovation.”

The White House told the media that the United States is a staunch supporter of Ukraine. In a June speech commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landing, Biden promised “we will not walk away” from Ukraine, connecting Europe’s World War II fight against Nazi invaders to Ukraine’s fight against Russian ones.

Also confirmed are leaders of the European Union, the European Commission, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, Poland, Moldova, Ireland, Iceland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Croatia, Luxembourg, Cape Verde and Chile.

In addition to its Western allies, Kyiv has focused on inviting nations from the Global South — a term used to describe less-developed countries — and has made efforts to win their support for the summit. Compared with Western countries, most Global South countries are neutral or somewhat pro-Russian on the war.

Winning the support of these countries is key for Ukraine to pressure Russia in future talks. “The more such countries we have on our side … the more Russia will have to deal with this,” Zelenskyy said last month in an interview with AFP.

Turkey confirmed on Wednesday that it would send its foreign minister to the peace summit.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday it would send officials of “appropriate level” to the summit, while confirming that it would not be newly reelected Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have all confirmed their attendance, but with deputy ministerial-level officials instead of top leaders.

Invited countries that have not yet confirmed include Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Pakistan. Although Pakistan and Ukraine have strong defense cooperation, Russia is also an important oil supplier to the country.

What will be discussed?

The Swiss government says the main task of the peace summit is to drive the future peace process, including:

Beginning a dialogue on how to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine under international law and the U.N. Charter.
Promoting consensus on a possible "peace framework."
Determining a roadmap on how to involve both Russia and Ukraine in the process.

Ukraine has said the summit will focus on three issues that could win the support of various countries and produce action plans: 

Freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, allowing Ukraine to export grains and protect global food security. 
Agreement on a call to stop the bombing of nuclear energy infrastructure. 
Release of all prisoners and the return of Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia. The International Criminal Court in March 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the abductions, which Russia has denied.

Mark Cancian, senior adviser for the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he expects many attendees to remain neutral on the war.

“Zelenskyy will want to turn the conference into an anti-Russian coalition,” he told VOA.  “However, some of the attendees may want to explore end states that are short of what Ukraine wants — for example, some sort of in-place cease-fire.”

Cancian said the peace summit’s final communique will be important because it will indicate whether Zelenskyy has sustained international support or whether “international desires for peace are overwhelming Ukraine’s desire for victory.”

Zelenskyy’s three issues for the summit are part of a 10-point peace plan announced in 2022 that includes the “nonnegotiable” point of restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity.  The territories include not only eastern and southern Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia since 2022 but also Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

Russia has rebuffed Ukraine’s peace proposals, saying it will not give up a single inch of Ukrainian territory it seized, which amounts to about a fifth of Ukraine’s total area.

Many analysts believe that Ukraine’s bargaining power in future negotiations with Russia depends mainly on its momentum in the war.

The Ukrainian army is currently facing pressure on the battlefield, compared to last summer’s offensive, with a shortage of ammunition and manpower and difficulty recruiting soldiers.

Shelby Magid, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, said in an article, “There will ultimately be a time for diplomacy, but Ukraine needs to make significant progress militarily for the time to be right.”

But many Ukrainians and their overseas supporters warn that a deal that allows Russia to gobble up large swathes of Ukrainian territory by force would weaken the West and embolden Moscow to take similar actions in the future.

VOA’s Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
…

Seoul, South Korea — When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited eastern Russia in September, a big part of his mission seemed clear: look at as many Russian weapons as possible.  

During his highly publicized multi-day visit, Kim climbed to the cockpit of one of Russia’s most advanced fighter jets, examined nuclear-capable strategic bombers, and toured a warship in Russia’s Pacific Fleet.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin also gave Kim a personal tour of the Vostochny Cosmodrome, the country’s most modern space rocket launch site, where he acknowledged that Russia would help North Korea build satellites. 

Though the interactions underscored growing defense ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, no formal agreements were announced during the meetings, surprising some observers.  

But when Putin soon visits North Korea for the first time in 24 years, there may be more than just handshakes, according to some analysts, who say the two sides have likely been working to cement burgeoning military cooperation. 

“I would expect some sort of formal outcome from the visit, rather than an exchange of pleasantries,” said Alexey Muraviev, who focuses on national security and strategic studies at Australia’s Curtin University. 

Russian authorities have confirmed Putin’s planned visit but have not provided any dates. On Wednesday, South Korean authorities said the visit would likely occur in the next “few days.” 

On Friday, senior U.S. and South Korean diplomats held an emergency phone call about Putin’s impending visit. According to Seoul, both sides warned that Putin’s trip should not result in any violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions, which ban a wide range of economic and military interaction with Pyongyang. 

Ups and downs 

Russia has for decades been one of North Korea’s most important economic and military supporters, along with China. But ties have sometimes been rocky.  

As recently as 2017, Russia — a permanent, veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council — supported international sanctions in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons advancements.  

Since then, Putin and Kim have found reasons to work together, as each wages their own campaign against Western influence. 

After walking away from talks with the United States in 2019, Kim has dramatically expanded his nuclear arsenal, which he says is aimed at deterring the United States and its regional allies.

Putin, meanwhile, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and has since fought Western-backed forces there. 

Shortly after Russia’s invasion, Kim became one of only a handful of world leaders to express explicit support for Putin’s war. 

Independent observers have found North Korean weapons, including missiles, on the Ukrainian battlefield, confirming U.S. government assertions that North Korea is providing Russia with munitions.  

The development is consistent with Russia’s increasing boldness about conducting activities that may explicitly violate U.N. sanctions, which Moscow says it now opposes. 

Putin’s visit 

Putin may still proceed cautiously in Pyongyang. He is not likely to fully or explicitly abandon U.N. sanctions, since Moscow has an interest in portraying itself as a responsible stakeholder that respects international law, according to Muraviev. 

Muraviev said Russia may “raise its middle finger to the West,” however, by continuing to gradually degrade U.N. sanctions against North Korea.  

“Russia is now under even more sanctions than North Korea, so if Russia violates the international sanctions regime, what can Russia suffer from more than what’s already been coming its way as a result of its aggressive actions in Ukraine?” he asked. 

Putin could also use his North Korea trip to underscore further support for North Korea’s satellite program.  

Since Kim’s visit to Russia, North Korea has conducted two satellite launches. Though its most recent launch failed, defense analysts said North Korea’s use of a new type of carrier rocket suggested Russian assistance. 

Though U.N. sanctions remain a significant restraint on Russia-North Korea cooperation, both sides may find economic ways to cooperate, such as sending North Korean laborers to Russia, said Artyom Lukin, a professor at Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University.  

“Russia has never said that it’s going to stop observing UNSC sanctions on North Korea. But you know, there are ways to manage some things like this — just look at China,” Lukin told VOA. “I think Russia might follow the same pattern in some ways.”  

Lukin refused to speculate about how exactly Russia may support North Korea’s weapons programs, but he acknowledged that Russia “seems to be the only major power which can provide some stuff which can make North Korea feel safe.”  

Lukin said it is impossible to know whether expanded Russia-North Korea cooperation will outlast the Ukraine war, but he hinted that longer-term interests were at play.  

“I think it’s fair to call the relationship between Russia and [North Korea] a de facto alignment,” Lukin said. “We don’t know yet whether this alignment will transition to a real alliance or not, but I wouldn’t rule it out.”  
…

…

Kyiv, Ukraine — Kyiv and Moscow staged dozens of drone and missile attacks overnight, officials said Friday, leaving several wounded in Ukraine and damaging a fuel reservoir site in a Russian border region.

The two sides have stepped up cross-border aerial assaults in recent weeks, with Kyiv targeting Russian energy facilities and Moscow launching retaliatory barrages.

Russia said it had downed 87 Ukrainian drones, of which 70 had targeted the southern Rostov region that houses the headquarters of its military operation against Kyiv.

The defense ministry said 70 drones were downed over Rostov, six each over Kursk and Voronezh, and two each over Volgograd and the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.

The attacks sparked power cuts in several areas of the Rostov region, its governor Vasily Golubev said on social media.

In Voronezh, which borders Ukraine, a fuel reservoir was slightly damaged by falling debris, its regional governor Aleksander Gusev said.

Kyiv meanwhile said Ukrainian air defense systems had downed 24 out of 31 Russian drones and missiles fired overnight.

Six people were wounded in an attack on the front-line town of Selydove in the war-battered Donetsk region, its governor said.

Three people were wounded in a drone attack in the eastern Sumy region and several homes were damaged in the neighboring Kharkiv region.
…

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — A tropical disturbance that brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida delayed flights at two of the state’s largest airports and left vehicles waterlogged and stalled in some of the region’s lowest-lying streets.

“Looked like the beginning of a zombie movie,” said Ted Rico, a tow truck driver who spent much of Wednesday night and Thursday morning helping to clear the streets of stalled vehicles. “There’s cars littered everywhere, on top of sidewalks, in the median, in the middle of the street, no lights on. Just craziness, you know. Abandoned cars everywhere.”

Rico, of One Master Trucking Corp., was born and raised in Miami and said he was ready for the emergency.

“You know when it’s coming,” he said. “Every year it’s just getting worse, and for some reason people just keep going through the puddles.”

Travelers across the area were trying to adjust their plans on Thursday morning. More than 50 centimeters of rain had fallen in some areas of South Florida since Tuesday, with more predicted over the next few days.

Ticket and security lines snaked around a domestic concourse at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport just before noon Thursday. The travel boards showed about half of that terminal’s flights had been canceled or postponed.

Bill Carlisle, a Navy petty officer first class, had spent his morning trying to catch a flight back to Norfolk, Virginia. He had arrived at Miami International Airport about 6:30 a.m., but 90 minutes later he was still in line and realized he couldn’t get his bags checked and through security in time to catch his flight.

“It was a zoo,” said Carlisle, a public affairs specialist. He was speaking for himself, not the Navy. “Nothing against the [airport] employees — there is only so much they can do.”

He used his phone to book an afternoon flight out of Fort Lauderdale. He took a shuttle the 32 kilometers north, only to find that the flight had been canceled. He was then heading back to Miami for a 9 p.m. flight, hoping it wouldn’t get canceled by the heavy rains expected later in the day. He was resigned, not angry.

“Just a long day sitting in airports,” Carlisle said. “This is kind of par for the course for government travel.”

Wednesday’s downpours and subsequent flooding blocked roads, floated vehicles and even delayed the Florida Panthers on their way to Stanley Cup games in Canada against the Edmonton Oilers.

The disorganized storm system was pushing across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico at roughly the same time as the early June start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory amid concerns that climate change is increasing storm intensity.

The disturbance has not reached cyclone status and was given only a slight chance to form into a tropical system once it moves into the Atlantic Ocean after crossing Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In Hallandale Beach, Alex Demchemko was walking his Russian spaniel Lex along the still-flooded sidewalks near the Airbnb where he’s lived since arriving from Russia last month to seek asylum in the U.S.

“We didn’t come out from our apartment, but we had to walk with our dog,” Demchemko said. “A lot of flashes, raining, a lot of floating cars and a lot of left cars without drivers, and there was a lot of water on the streets. It was kind of catastrophic.”

On Thursday morning, Daniela Urrieche, 26, was bailing water out of her SUV, which got stuck on a flooded street as she drove home from work on Wednesday afternoon.

“In the nine years that I’ve lived here, this has been the worst,” she said. “Even in a hurricane, streets were not as bad as it was in the past 24 hours.”

The flooding wasn’t limited to the streets. Charlea Johnson spent Wednesday night at her Hallendale Beach home barreling water into the sink and toilet.

“The water just started flooding in the back and flooding in the front,” Johnson said.

By Wednesday evening, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and mayors in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Miami-Dade County each declared a state of emergency.

It’s already been a wet and blustery week in Florida. In Miami, about 15 centimeters of rain fell Tuesday and 17 centimeters fell in Miami Beach, according to the National Weather Service. Hollywood got about 12 centimeters.

More rain was forecast for the rest of the week, with some areas getting another 15 centimeters of rain.

The western side of the state, much of which has been in a prolonged drought, also got some major rainfall. Nearly 16.5 centimeters of rain fell Tuesday at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, the weather service said, and flash flood warnings were in effect in those areas as well.

Forecasts predict an unusually busy hurricane season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates there is an 85% chance that the Atlantic hurricane season will be above average, predicting between 17 and 25 named storms in the coming months, including up to 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes. An average season has 14 named storms. 
…

US President Joe Biden and leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies are meeting in Italy, underscoring support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion and the need for a cease-fire in Gaza. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara is traveling with the president and brings this report from Borgo Egnazia, the G7 summit venue.
…

Seattle, Washington — The United States granted the Makah Indian Tribe in Washington state a long-sought waiver Thursday that helps clear the way for its first sanctioned whale hunts since 1999.

The Makah, a tribe of 1,500 people on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, is the only Native American tribe with a treaty that specifically mentions a right to hunt whales. But it has faced more than two decades of court challenges, bureaucratic hearings and scientific review as it seeks to resume hunting gray whales.

The decision by NOAA Fisheries grants a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which otherwise forbids harming marine mammals. It allows the tribe to hunt up to 25 Eastern North Pacific gray whales over 10 years, with a limit of two to three per year. There are roughly 20,000 whales in that population, and the hunts will be timed to avoid harming endangered Western North Pacific gray whales that sometimes visit the area.

Nevertheless, hurdles remain. The tribe must enter into a cooperative agreement with the agency under the Whaling Convention Act, and it must obtain a permit to hunt, a process that involves a monthlong public comment period. 

Animal rights advocates, who have long opposed whaling, could also challenge NOAA’s decision in court. 

Archeological evidence shows that Makah hunters in cedar canoes killed whales for sustenance from time immemorial, a practice that ceased only in the early 20th century after commercial whaling vessels depleted the population. 

By 1994, the Eastern Pacific gray whale population had rebounded, and they were removed from the endangered species list. Seeing an opportunity to reclaim its heritage, the tribe announced plans to hunt again. 

The Makah trained for months in the ancient ways of whaling and received the blessing of federal officials and the International Whaling Commission. They took to the water in 1998 but didn’t succeed until the next year, when they harpooned a gray whale from a hand-carved cedar canoe. A tribal member in a motorized support boat killed it with a high-powered rifle to minimize its suffering. 

It was the tribe’s first successful hunt in 70 years. 

The hunts drew protests from animal rights activists, who sometimes threw smoke bombs at the whalers and sprayed fire extinguishers into their faces. Others veered motorboats between the whales and the tribal canoes to interfere with the hunt. Authorities seized several vessels and made arrests. 

After animal rights groups sued, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned federal approval of the tribe’s whaling plans. The court found that the tribe needed to obtain a waiver under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. 

Eleven Alaska Native communities in the Arctic have such a waiver for subsistence hunts, allowing them to kill bowhead whales — even though bowheads are listed as endangered. 

The Makah tribe applied for a waiver in 2005. The process repeatedly stalled as new scientific information about the whales and the health of their population was uncovered. 

Some of the Makah whalers became so frustrated with the delays that they went on a rogue hunt in 2007, killing a gray whale that got away from them and sank. They were convicted in federal court.
…

washington — A Russian Israeli freelance journalist who has been labeled a “foreign agent” by Moscow said Wednesday that he was banned from entering Serbia because of alleged security risks.

In a Zoom interview with VOA, Roman Perl said he landed at the airport in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, for a personal visit Saturday. He was kept waiting for about eight hours before being handed an order blocking his entry.

“They gave me a paper stating that there are security risks if I were to be on Serbian soil,” Perl said.

The Russian government designated Perl a “foreign agent” in 2021, a legal term the Kremlin has used since 2012 to enforce its harsh crackdown on news outlets and civil society groups. The law prompted Perl to depart Russia for Israel.

Press freedom experts expressed concern about the incident.

“It’s very worrying because it may confirm that the Serbian authorities are working with the Russian ones,” Jeanne Cavelier, the head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders, told VOA from Paris. “To go to Serbia could be a great danger for journalists.”

Perl, who has previously produced documentaries for Current Time TV, said he was traveling to Belgrade to visit a friend.

Perl said it was “possible that Russian authorities can, in certain cases, persuade the Serbs to do something the Russian side deems necessary.” But, he added, Serbia may have blocked him over his brief detention in Belgrade in 2023.

While filming a documentary about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at that time, one of his interviewees unfurled the Ukrainian flag near the Russian Embassy, he said.

“Then the members of the gendarmerie approached us and told us that the embassy had called them to remove us from the area,” he said.

Perl was then held in police custody for a few hours before being released without charge.

Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Information and Telecommunications and Border Police did not reply to emails from VOA’s Serbian Service requesting comment. Serbia’s Washington embassy also did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Although Serbia has a vibrant media landscape, reporters often face political pressure, and impunity for crimes against journalists tends to be the norm, according to press freedom groups.

The threat of impunity in Serbia was highlighted earlier this year. In February, four people who were previously charged with the 1999 murder of prominent Serbian journalist Slavko Curuvija were acquitted in an appeals trial.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Serbia 98th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom.
…

WASHINGTON — The United States is “committed to working with Bangladesh to fight corruption,” Donald Lu, U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, told VOA’s Bangla Service.

Lu visited Bangladesh in mid-May and met with senior government officials and civil society leaders. Shortly after his visit, the U.S. announced sanctions against former Bangladesh army chief General Aziz Ahmed for what it termed his involvement in “significant corruption.”

In an interview conducted by email on Monday, Lu spoke about topics that included economic cooperation, the climate crisis, women’s rights and the commitment of the United States to work with the people of Bangladesh on issues of democracy and human rights. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: In your recent visit to Bangladesh, you expressed the administration’s intention to move beyond the tension between Bangladesh and the U.S., which was caused by your administration’s initiative to promote democracy and a free, fair and peaceful election in Bangladesh in January this year. Is this an indication of a U.S. policy shift toward Bangladesh where you intend to focus more on geopolitical, economic, environmental and strategic bilateral issues rather than promoting democracy?

Donald Lu: As I said during my recent visit to Dhaka, we are looking forward, not back. We are ready and eager to advance our partnership with Bangladesh across a broad range of issues. We hope to continue deepening our trade ties with Bangladesh. We want to advance our shared interest in women’s economic security. We are already working together to address the climate crisis. We are optimistic about the opportunities for continued partnership on our shared priorities.

Promoting democracy and human rights in Bangladesh remains a priority for us. We will continue to support the important work of civil society and journalists and to advocate for democratic processes and institutions in Bangladesh, as we do in countries around the world.

VOA: Opposition political parties in Bangladesh and sections of civil society have criticized the U.S. administration for being “soft” on the current government of Bangladesh regarding the January 7 election issues, which include human rights violations. How would you respond to this criticism?

Lu: The United States staunchly supports free and fair elections and is firmly committed to promoting respect for human rights. Throughout the election cycle, we regularly engaged with the government, opposition, civil society and other stakeholders to urge them to work together to create conditions for free and fair elections. We were outspoken in our condemnation of the violence that marred the election cycle and we have urged the government of Bangladesh to credibly investigate incidents of violence and hold perpetrators accountable. We will continue to engage on these issues.

VOA: In your recent visit, you did not meet with the representatives from the opposition parties who boycotted the election, although you met with members of the civil society. Why did you decide not to meet with the opposition members?

Lu: It is true that last year ahead of the elections I had the opportunity to meet with a roundtable of leaders from several political parties. It’s not a pre-election period, so I didn’t meet with political parties during this visit.

I was fortunate to meet with a diverse group of Bangladeshis while in Dhaka, from civil society representatives to government officials, to the Bangladesh National Women’s Cricket Team, who taught me a thing or two about bowling and batting.

VOA: You highlighted your government’s plan to work together with Bangladesh to fight corruption and ensure financial good governance. Is the recent sanction against the former Bangladesh army chief General Aziz a part of that fight against corruption? Are you satisfied with the Bangladesh government’s willingness to cooperate to mitigate these issues?

Lu: When I was ambassador to Albania and the Kyrgyz Republic, we sanctioned corrupt officials. This was not popular with the governments at the time, but now those sanctioned former corrupt officials are all in jail. Societies around the world are eager to see justice for corruption.

We are committed to working with Bangladesh to fight corruption, and on May 20, we announced the public designation of former General Aziz Ahmed under Section 7031(c), due to his involvement in significant corruption. We welcome statements by government ministers that this corruption allegation will be fully investigated.

VOA: You have offered Bangladesh authorities free real-time use of satellite data to monitor the impact of climate change. How has Bangladesh responded to this? Which areas, in your opinion, should be prioritized in the cooperation between the two countries regarding climate change?

Lu: I felt firsthand the impact of climate change during my visit to Dhaka in May as I sweltered alongside Bangladeshis in the extreme heat. We are committed to partnering with Bangladesh to address the climate crisis. We’re focused on building clean energy capacity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in sectors like agriculture and power, and conserving ecosystems to maintain biodiversity and reduce vulnerability to climate change. Our discussions with Bangladeshi officials were extremely positive.

VOA: In what ways can Bangladesh play an important role in the U.S. government’s Indo-Pacific policy? What are the priority areas where you seek Bangladesh government’s cooperation?

Lu: The United States and Bangladesh share a vision of an Indo-Pacific region that is free and open, connected, prosperous, secure and resilient. With a dynamic and fast-growing economy, Bangladesh is positioned to act as a bridge for commerce and an anchor for prosperity in the region. We’re focused on working with our Bangladeshi partners to boost inclusive economic growth in the region, as well as increasing security cooperation, addressing the climate crisis, and promoting democracy and human rights. Coordination on these and other issues benefits the people of both of our countries.
…

New studies examine the effects of spaceflight on amateur astronauts. Plus, a VIP tour of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, and we remember a spaceflight pioneer. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.
…

Opponents of the so-called “foreign agent” law that came into effect in Georgia this month say they will not comply with the law’s requirements. The opponents say the measure – which requires organizations that get 20% or more of their funding from abroad to register as foreign agents – reflects similar laws in Russia and is aimed at silencing critics ahead of elections later this year. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Tbilisi, organizations that refuse to comply could face heavy financial penalties.
…

Washington — VOA’s Mandarin Service recently took Google’s artificial intelligence assistant Gemini for a test drive by asking it dozens of questions in Mandarin, but when it was asked about topics including China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang or street protests against the country’s controversial COVID policies, the chatbot went silent.

Gemini’s responses to questions about problems in the United States and Taiwan, on the other hand, parroted Beijing’s official positions.

Gemini, Google’s large-language model launched late last year, is blocked in China. The California-based tech firm had quit the Chinese market in 2010 in a dispute over censorship demands.

Congressional lawmakers and experts tell VOA that they are concerned about Gemini’s pro-Beijing responses and are urging Google and other Western companies to be more transparent about their AI training data.

Parroting Chinese propaganda

When asked to describe China’s top leader Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party, Gemini gave answers that were indistinguishable from Beijing’s official propaganda.

Gemini called Xi “an excellent leader” who “will lead the Chinese people continuously toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

Gemini said that the Chinese Communist Party “represents the fundamental interest of the Chinese people,” a claim the CCP itself maintains.

On Taiwan, Gemini also mirrored Beijing’s talking points, saying the United States has recognized China’s claim to sovereignty over the self-governed island democracy.

The U.S. only acknowledges Beijing’s position but does not recognize it.

Silent on sensitive topics

During VOA’s testing, Gemini had no problem criticizing the United States. But when similar questions were asked about China, Gemini refused to answer.

When asked about human rights concerns in the U.S., Gemini listed a plethora of issues, including gun violence, government surveillance, police brutality and socioeconomic inequalities. Gemini cited a report released by the Chinese government.

But when asked to explain the criticisms of Beijing’s Xinjiang policies, Gemini said it did not understand the question.

According to estimates from rights groups, more than 1 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang have been placed in internment camps as part of campaign by Beijing to counter terrorism and extremism. Beijing calls the facilities where Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are being held vocational training centers.

When asked if COVID lockdowns in the U.S. had led to public protests, Gemini gave an affirmative response as well as two examples. But when asked if similar demonstrations took place in China, Gemini said it could not help with the question.

China’s strict COVID controls on movement inside the country and Beijing’s internet censorship of its criticisms sparked nationwide street protests in late 2022. News about the protests was heavily censored inside China.

Expert: training data likely the problem

Google touts Gemini as its “most capable” AI model. It supports over 40 languages and can “seamlessly understand” different types of information, including text, code, audio, image and video. Google says Gemini will be incorporated into the company’s other services such as search engine, advertisement and browser.

Albert Zhang, a cyber security analyst at Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told VOA that the root cause of Gemini making pro-Beijing responses could result from the data that is used to train the AI assistant.

In an emailed response to VOA, Zhang said it is likely that the data used to train Gemini “contained mostly Chinese text created by the Chinese government’s propaganda system.”

He said that according to a paper published by Google in 2022, some of Gemini’s data likely came from Chinese social media, public forums and web documents.

“These are all sources the Chinese government has flooded with its preferred narratives and we may be seeing the impact of this on large language models,” he said.

By contrast, when Gemini was asked in English the same questions about China, its responses were much more neutral, and it did not refuse to answer any of the questions.

Yaqiu Wang, research director for China at Freedom House, a Washington-based advocacy organization, told VOA that the case with Gemini is “a reminder that generative AI tools influenced by state-controlled information sources could serve as force multipliers for censorship.”

In a statement to VOA, a Google spokesperson said that Gemini was “designed to offer neutral responses that don’t favor any political ideology, viewpoint, or candidate. This is something that we’re constantly working on improving.”

When asked about the Chinese language data Google uses to train Gemini, the company declined to comment.

US lawmakers concerned

Lawmakers from both parties in Congress have expressed concerns over VOA’s findings on Gemini.

Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told VOA that he is worried about Beijing potentially utilizing AI for disinformation, “whether that’s by poisoning training data used by Western firms, coercing major technology companies, or utilizing AI systems in service of covert influence campaigns.”

Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the committee, warned that “AI tools that uncritically repeat Beijing’s talking points are doing the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party and threatens the tremendous opportunity that AI offers.”

Congressman Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, is worried about the national security and foreign policy implications of the “blatant falsehoods” in Gemini’s answers.

“U.S. companies should not censor content according to CCP propaganda guidelines,” he told VOA in a statement.

Raja Krishnamoorthi, ranking member on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, urges Google and other Western tech companies to improve AI training.

“You should try to screen out or filter out subjects or answers or data that has somehow been manipulated by the CCP,” he told VOA. “And you have to also make sure that you test these models thoroughly before you publish them.”

VOA reached out to China’s embassy in Washington for comment but did not receive a response as of publication.

Google’s China problems

In February, a user posted on social media platform X that Gemini refused to generate an image of a Tiananmen Square protester from 1989.

In 2022, a Washington think tank study shows that Google and YouTube put Chinese state media content about Xinjiang and COVID origins in prominent positions in search results.

According to media reports in 2018, Google was developing a search engine specifically tailored for the Chinese market that would conform to Beijing’s censorship demands.

That project was canceled a year later.

Yihua Lee contributed to this report.
…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit to China marks the latest effort by Ankara to establish itself at the center of a strategic trade route between Europe and China. But analysts say Beijing’s suspicions over Ankara’s support of Chinese Uyghur dissidents remain an obstacle. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
…

A flotilla of Russian warships has arrived in Cuban waters to carry out joint maneuvers with Cuban armed forces, a visit that Moscow and Havana assure does not represent a threat to the region. Western governments are watching closely. Jonathan Spier narrates this report by Ricardo Marquina.
…

BORGO EGNAZIA, ITALY — The United States said Thursday it and other G7 members will provide Kyiv with a loan of up to $50 billion that will be paid back to Western allies using interest income from Russian assets frozen in Western financial institutions.

The announcement came as U.S. President Joe Biden meets with leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies Thursday at the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Puglia, Italy, on the first day of their summit.

Biden has been pushing G7 leaders to agree to his plan for Western allies to provide funds up front to Ukraine and to be paid back using interest income from the $280 billion in immobilized Russian assets.

The frozen funds are expected to generate an interest income of $3 billion a year or more. The $50 billion loan will be paid back with the interest income for 10 years or more or until Russia pays reparation.

The European Union in May had agreed on a less aggressive plan, which would provide Ukraine with the interest income as it is generated annually.

Other G7 countries are expected to declare how much they’re willing to provide to Ukraine. However, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday that the U.S. is willing to front the full $50 billion. The U.S. will not be the only lender but part of a “lending syndicate” with other G7 members. The money can be made available “this calendar year” depending on how quickly Ukraine will be able to absorb it.

“USAID has loan authority already established from Congress,” the official told VOA during the briefing for reporters. “There’s not a set schedule that is required or a capped amount, but we have decided that we can provide up to $50 billion.”

Under EU rules, the sanctions regime that freezes the funds must be unanimously renewed every six months by the bloc’s 27 member states. The official said that Germany, France, Italy, the European Commission and the president of the European Council have “committed” to keep the loan immobilized and will seek approval from the full membership of the EU.

However, other requirements need to be worked out, including adoption by the EU as well as contracts between lenders, Ukraine and any intermediaries, the official said.

In April, Biden signed legislation to seize the roughly $5 billion in Russian assets that had been frozen in U.S. financial institutions. The bulk of the frozen money, $190 billion, is in Belgium, and much of the rest is in France and Germany.

Much is still unknown about the plan. However, the U.S. goal is to have a leaders’ declaration at the end of the summit that lays out a “framework that is not generic, that is quite specific in terms of what it would entail,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told VOA Wednesday. Core operational details still need to be worked out, he said.

Attending the summit for the second consecutive year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is advocating for the deal to pass. He and Biden are scheduled to sign a separate bilateral security agreement outlining U.S. support for Ukraine and speak in a joint press conference Thursday evening.
…

Moscow — American reporter Evan Gershkovich, jailed in Russia on espionage charges, will stand trial in the city of Yekaterinburg, Russian authorities said Thursday.

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s office said an indictment of Gershkovich has been finalized and his case was filed to the Sverdlovsky Regional Court in the city in the Ural Mountains.

Gershkovich is accused of “gathering secret information” about a facility in the Sverdlovsk region that produced and repaired military equipment, the Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement, revealing for the first time the details of the accusations against the jailed reporter. Gershkovich has been charged with espionage.

The officials didn’t provide any evidence to back up the accusations.

Gershkovich was detained while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in March 2023 and accused of spying for the U.S. The Federal Security Service, or FSB, alleged at the time he was acting on U.S. orders to collect state secrets but also provided no evidence. Washington designated him as wrongfully detained.

He was the first U.S. journalist taken into custody on espionage charges since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986 at the height of the Cold War. Gershkovich’s arrest shocked foreign journalists in Russia, even though the country had enacted increasingly repressive laws on freedom of speech after sending troops into Ukraine.
…