Month: July 2023

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday pushed back against Australian demands for an end to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s prosecution, saying the Australian citizen was accused of “very serious criminal conduct” in publishing a trove of classified documents more than a decade ago. 

Australia’s center-left Labor Party government has been arguing since winning the elections last year that the United States should end its pursuit of the 52-year-old, who has spent four years in a British prison fighting extradition to the United States. 

Assange’s freedom is widely seen as a test of Australia’s leverage with President Joe Biden’s administration. 

Blinken confirmed on Saturday that Assange had been discussed in annual talks with Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Brisbane, Australia. 

“I understand the concerns and views of Australians. I think it’s very important that our friends here understand our concerns about this matter,” Blinken told reporters. 

“Mr. Assange was charged with very serious criminal conduct in the United States in connection with his alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of our country,” he added. 

Wong said Assange’s prosecution had “dragged for too long” and that Australia wanted the charges “brought to a conclusion.” 

Australia remains ambiguous about whether the United States should drop the prosecution or strike a plea bargain. 

Assange faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic and military documents in 2010. 

American prosecutors allege he helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk. 

Australia argues there is a disconnect between the U.S. treatment of Assange and Manning. Then-U.S. President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence to seven years, which allowed her release in 2017. 
…

WASHINGTON – An American nurse and her child have been kidnapped in Haiti, a Christian aid group said Saturday, days after the U.S. government ordered its nonessential personnel out of the impoverished Caribbean country because of spiraling insecurity.

Alix Dorsainvil and her child were kidnapped Thursday morning near Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, El Roi Haiti said in a statement on its website.

She is the wife of the group’s director, who is Haitian, and the mother and child were taken from the El Roi campus “while serving in our community ministry.”

“Alix is a deeply compassionate and loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family,” El Roi said.

“Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves the people of Haiti in the name of Jesus,” the group said.

Their kidnapping came after the U.S. State Department issued an updated travel advisory Thursday, saying Americans in Haiti should depart “as soon as possible … in light of the current security situation and infrastructure challenges.”

The U.S. government is “extremely limited in its ability” to assist Americans in the country who may need emergency help, it said, warning that “kidnapping is widespread.”

Washington also ordered its nonessential personnel and family of government employees to leave Haiti, which has seen compounding humanitarian, political and security crises.

Gangs control most of the capital and terrorize the population with kidnappings, rape and murder.

The State Department said Saturday it was aware of reports of two citizens kidnapped in Haiti.

“We are in regular contact with Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners,” a spokesperson said.
…

TOKYO — Toshihiro Mutsuda was only 5 years old when he last saw his father, who was drafted by Japan’s Imperial Army in 1943 and killed in action. For him, his father was a bespectacled man in an old family photo standing by a signed good-luck flag that he carried to war.

On Saturday, when the flag was returned to him from a U.S. war museum, where it had been on display for 29 years, Mutsuda, now 83, said: “It’s a miracle.”

The flag, known as “Yosegaki Hinomaru,” or Good Luck Flag, carries the soldier’s name, Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, and the signatures of his relatives, friends and neighbors wishing him luck. It was given to him before he was drafted by the army. His family was later told he died in Saipan, but his remains were never returned.

The flag was donated in 1994 and displayed at the museum aboard the USS Lexington, a WWII aircraft carrier, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Its meaning was not known until it was identified by the family earlier this year, said the museum director Steve Banta, who brought the flag to Tokyo.

Banta said he learned the story behind the flag earlier this year when he was contacted by the Obon Society, a nonprofit organization that has returned about 500 similar flags as non-biological remains to the descendants of Japanese servicemembers killed in the war.

The search for the flag’s original owner started in April when a museum visitor took a photo and asked an expert about the description that it had belonged to a “kamikaze” suicide pilot. When Shigeyoshi Mutsuda’s grandson saw the photo, he sought help from the Obon Society, group co-founder Keiko Ziak said.

“When we learned all of this, and that the family would like to have the flag, we knew immediately that the flag did not belong to us,” Banta said at the handover ceremony. “We knew that the right thing to do would be to send the flag home, to be in Japan and to the family.”

The soldier’s eldest son, Toshihiro Mutsuda, was speechless for a few seconds when Banta, wearing white gloves, gently placed the neatly folded flag into his hands. Two of his younger siblings, both in their 80s, stood by and looked on silently. The three children, all wearing cotton gloves so they wouldn’t damage the decades-old flag, carefully unfolded it to show to the audience.

The soldier’s daughter, Misako Matsukuchi, touched the flag with both hands and prayed. “After nearly 80 years, the spirit of our father returned to us. I hope he can finally rest in peace,” Matsukuchi said later.

Toshihiro Mutsuda said his memory of his father was foggy. However, he clearly remembers his mother, Masae Mutsuda, who died five years ago at age 102, used to make the long-distance bus trip almost every year from the farming town in Gifu, central Japan, to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, where the 2.5 million war dead are enshrined, to pay tribute to her husband’s spirit.

The shrine is controversial, as it includes convicted war criminals among those commemorated. Victims of Japanese aggression during the first half of the 20th century, especially China and the Koreas, see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japanese militarism. However, for the Mutsuda family, it’s a place to remember the loss of a father and husband.

“It’s like an old love story across the ages coming together … It doesn’t matter where,” Banta said, referring to the Yasukuni controversy. “The important thing is this flag goes to the family.”

That’s why Toshihiro Mutsuda and his siblings chose to receive the flag at Yasukuni and brought framed photos of their parents.

“My mother missed him and wanted to see him so much, and that’s why she used to pray here,” Toshihiro Mutsuda said. “Today her wish finally came true, and she was able to be reunited.”

Keeping the flag on his lap, he said, “I feel the weight of the flag.”
…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The cosmos is offering up a double feature in August: a pair of supermoons culminating in a rare blue moon.

Catch the first show Tuesday evening as the full moon rises in the southeast, appearing slightly brighter and bigger than normal. That’s because it will be closer than usual, just 357,530 kilometers (222,159 miles) away, thus the supermoon label.

The moon will be even closer the night of Aug. 30 — a scant 357,344 kilometers (222,043 miles) distant. Because it’s the second full moon in the same month, it will be what’s called a blue moon.

“Warm summer nights are the ideal time to watch the full moon rise in the eastern sky within minutes of sunset. And it happens twice in August,” said retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, dubbed Mr. Eclipse for his eclipse-chasing expertise.

The last time two full supermoons graced the sky in the same month was in 2018. It won’t happen again until 2037, according to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project.

Masi will provide a live webcast of Tuesday evening’s supermoon as it rises over the Coliseum in Rome.

“My plans are to capture the beauty of this … hopefully bringing the emotion of the show to our viewers,” Masi said in an email. “The supermoon offers us a great opportunity to look up and discover the sky.”

This year’s first supermoon was in July. The fourth and last will be in September. The two in August will be closer than either of those.

Provided clear skies, binoculars or backyard telescopes can enhance the experience, Espenak said, revealing such features as lunar maria — the dark plains formed by ancient volcanic lava flows — and rays emanating from lunar craters.

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the August full moon is traditionally known as the sturgeon moon. That’s because of the abundance of that fish in the Great Lakes in August  hundreds of years ago.
…

NIAMEY, Niger — The European Union has cut off financial support to Niger, and the United States has threatened to do the same after military leaders this week announced they had overthrown the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, receiving close to $2 billion a year in official development assistance, according to the World Bank.

It is also a key security partner of Western countries such as France and the United States, which use it as a base for their efforts to contain an Islamist insurgency in West and Central Africa’s Sahel region. Previously seen as the most stable country among several unstable neighbors, Niger is the world’s seventh-biggest producer of uranium.

Niger’s foreign allies so far have refused to recognize the new military government led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, previously head of the presidential guard, who officers declared head of state on Friday.

Bazoum has not been heard from since early Thursday when he was confined within the presidential palace, although the European Union, France and others say they still recognize him as the legitimate president.

“In addition to the immediate cessation of budget support, all cooperation actions in the domain of security are suspended indefinitely with immediate effect,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

Niger is a key partner of the European Union in helping curb the flow of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. The EU also has a small number of troops in Niger for a military training mission.

The EU allocated $554 million from its budget to improve governance, education and sustainable growth in Niger over 2021-2024, according to its website.

The United States has two military bases in Niger with some 1,100 soldiers, and it also provides hundreds of millions of dollars to the country in security and development aid.

“The very significant assistance that we have in place for people in Niger is clearly in jeopardy,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. U.S. support depends on the continuation of democratic governance, he said.

The United Nations said the coup has not affected its deliveries of humanitarian aid.

It is unclear how much support the military junta has among Niger’s population. Some crowds came out in support of Bazoum on Wednesday, but the following day coup supporters were demonstrating in the streets.

The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, will hold an emergency summit in Nigeria on Sunday to discuss the situation.

After an emergency meeting on Friday, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council issued a statement demanding the military return to their barracks and restore constitutional order within 15 days. It did not say what would happen after that.
…

Here are some Native American-related news stories that made headlines this week:

Archaeologists fail to find children’s remains at Indian boarding school site

Nebraska state archaeologists say they’ve ended a two-week search for the graves of former students at the Indian Industrial School in Genoa, Nebraska, after failing to find any human remains.

Researchers believe more than 80 students died at the school, most from infectious diseases. So far, they’ve identified 49 students who died at the school. Some were returned home for burial, but others are believed to have been buried at the school.

State archaeologist Dave Williams said his team will now reevaluate the data and consult with the dozens of tribes that lost ancestors to the school.

Read more:

Kansas university scholars accused of race shifting

Native American groups and individuals have accused three University of Kansas professors of “Pretendianism,” that is, falsely claiming Native American ancestry.

The most prominent of the three is Kent Blansett, associate professor of Indigenous studies and history and founder of the American Indian Digital History Project, which digitizes rare Indigenous newspapers, photographs and other archival materials.

As VOA has reported previously, Indigenous scholars complain that academics frequently manufacture an Indigenous identity for personal, professional and financial gain.

Read more:

US Appeals Court to review Wyoming convictions against Crow hunters

A federal judge in Wyoming has agreed to review a 34-year-old dispute over whether the Crow Tribe in Montana has the right to hunt beyond reservation borders.

In late 1989, Wyoming fined Crow citizen Thomas L. Ten Bear for shooting an elk in Wyoming’s Big Horn Forest.

The Crow sued Wyoming, arguing that the 1868 treaty signed with the U.S. gave them the right to hunt on unoccupied U.S. lands “so long as game may be found” and relations with whites were peaceful. Wyoming ruled against the Crow, saying those treaty rights expired when Wyoming became a U.S. state.

But 25 years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in another case that Crow hunting rights did not expire.

The Crow have since fought to have the original ruling overturned. This week, a federal appeals judge said he will “more thoroughly” review the facts.

Read more:

Oklahoma Senate overrides veto on compacts with tribes

Oklahoma’s majority-Republican Senate on Monday overrode Governor Kevin Stitt’s vetoes of two bills that would extend for another year tobacco and vehicle registration compacts the state has made with Oklahoma tribes.

The state currently holds agreements with tribes to split the tax revenue from tribal sales of tobacco to non-Natives and from motor vehicle registrations and tags.

The Cherokee Phoenix reports that, according to the current motor vehicle compact, the Cherokee Nation allocates 38% of car registration revenue to public school districts in or near the reservation — in 2023, that amount was $7.8 million; since 2002, the tribe has given more than $84 million to schools.

Stitt has said the compacts shortchange the state, and he is looking to limit the compacts to trust land only.

“I am trying to protect eastern Oklahoma from turning into a reservation, and I’ve been working to ensure these compacts are the best deal for all 4 million Oklahomans,” Stitt posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

It is a reference to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which held that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation was never formally disestablished and, therefore, at least for criminal jurisdiction purposes, covered half of the state.

Read more:

Native Americans: There’s nothing funny about smallpox joke

The new “Barbie” film, which opened last weekend to record profits, has provoked the ire of many Native Americans. At issue is a joke that referenced the devastating impact introduced diseases had on Indigenous populations.

Here’s the plot: Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) travel from the pink and perfect Barbieland to the real world, which isn’t so pretty.

Ken, inspired by the patriarchy of the real world, returns home and turns Barbieland into the patriarchal Kenland. Toward the end of the film, Ken jokes about how easy it was to make the change: “I just explained the immaculate logic of patriarchy, and they crumbled.”

The character Gloria (America Ferrera), exclaims, “Oh my god! This is like in the 1500s with the Indigenous people and smallpox. They had no defenses against it!”

Keeli Siyaka, Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota, has posted an online petition calling on Warner Brothers and film director Greta Gerwig to remove that line from the film.

“Seeing as no one in the audience laughed, I don’t think anyone would miss it, and if they do, we have a problem,” she stated.

Read more:
…

Australia will be seeing more U.S. troops, more U.S. planes, more U.S. ships and more U.S weapons as the two allies take what officials describe as a “major step” in strengthening and expanding their military alliance.

The United States and Australia unveiled the agreements to increase the rotational presence of American forces and capabilities, and to help integrate Australia into key U.S. defense production capabilities Saturday, following hours of talks by the top U.S. and Australian defense and diplomatic officials.

“Australia at this moment has no better friend than America,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told reporters following the conclusion of the 33rd annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations in Brisbane, Australia.

Marles said the agreements include a larger U.S. rotational presence at Australia’s northern military bases, additional visits by U.S. vessels and maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, and “an increased tempo of visits from U.S. nuclear-powered submarines” until Australia is able to acquire its own with U.S. help.

Just as importantly, according to U.S. and Australian officials, the new agreements will pave the way for Australia to join the United States in the production of missiles and ammunition at a time when the war in Ukraine, and Western support, has eroded key stocks.

“We hope to see manufacturing of missiles commenced in Australia in two years’ time,” Marles said.

The initial focus will be on Australian production of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, also known as GMLRS. However, U.S. officials said Washington also intends to support Australian production of 155 mm artillery shells, which have been in high demand in Ukraine.

“These initiatives will strengthen our ability to respond to crises in the region while enhancing our interoperability,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, describing the efforts as a “major step” for the U.S. and Australian defense industrial base.

‘Significant step forward’

Other U.S. officials agreed, suggesting Australia could eventually help with the production and maintenance of other weapons and systems.

“I think what we have seen very clearly is the value across the board on strengthening the defense industrial base, not just of the United States, but of our allies and partners,” a senior U.S. defense official told reporters, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “We see this as a significant step forward.”

Marles and Austin, along with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, also expressed confidence that despite the opposition of some U.S. lawmakers, an agreement to provide Australia with three nuclear-powered submarines will go through.

“This is in both our countries’ interest,” Wong said, speaking alongside the others outside the Queensland Government House in Brisbane.

“Whether it’s the acquisition of the AUKUS submarine capability or all of the other capabilities in which we are engaged … we see this as increasing the capability of our nations across many domains,” she said.

The agreements also include provisions for greater cooperation in space and for investments in Australia’s military infrastructure.

Blinken said such cooperation is critical if the United States and Australia are to be able to push back against China and maintain “a region where countries are free to chart their own path and choose their own partners.”

“We’re doing that in part by engaging China but also as necessary opposing its efforts to disrupt freedom of navigation and overflight in the South and East China seas, to upend the status quo that has preserved peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, to pressure countries through economic coercion or threats to their citizens,” he said.

Regional cooperation

U.S. officials, speaking on the sidelines of the ministerial, also said the two countries are looking to increase cooperation with other countries in the region. One example is a proposal for trilateral cooperation with Japan for exercises and training on the F-35 stealth fighter in Australia.

They also pointed to the current Talisman Sabre exercise, which this year has seen participation from India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, as well as Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga.

The officials also noted other agreements, such as the Defense Cooperation Agreement with Papua New Guinea and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the Philippines.

“It is evolutionary,” said a second senior U.S. defense official, like the first briefing on the condition of anonymity.

“There’s a number of mini lateral and multilateral arrangements that are complementary … each of them is providing, in some ways, overlapping but unique provisions of security,” the official said. “It is, again, a profound trend in the region.”
…

PHOENIX — A historic heat wave that turned the U.S. Southwest into a blast furnace throughout July is beginning to abate with the late arrival of monsoon rains.

Forecasters expect that by Monday at the latest, people in metro Phoenix will begin seeing high temperatures under 43.3 degrees Celsius for the first time in a month. As of Friday, the high temperature in the desert city had been at or above that mark for 29 consecutive days.

Already this week, the overnight low at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport fell under 32.2 C for the first time in 16 days, finally allowing people some respite from the stifling heat once the sun goes down.

Temperatures are also expected to ease in Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Death Valley, California.

The downward trend started Wednesday night, when Phoenix saw its first major monsoon storm since the traditional start of the season on June 15. While more than half of the greater Phoenix area saw no rainfall from that storm, some eastern suburbs were pummeled by high winds, swirling dust and localized downfalls of up to 2.5 centimeters of precipitation.

Storms gradually increasing in strength are expected over the weekend.

Scientists calculate that July will prove to be the hottest globally on record and perhaps the warmest human civilization has seen. The extreme heat is now hitting the eastern part of the U.S, as soaring temperatures moved from the Midwest into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where some places are seeing their warmest days so far this year.

The new heat records being set this summer are just some of the extreme weather being seen around the U.S. this month, such as flash floods in Pennsylvania and parts of the Northeast.

And while relief may be on the way for the Southwest, for now it’s still dangerously hot. Phoenix’s high temperature reached 46.7 C Friday afternoon, which is far above the average temperature of 41.1 C.

“Anyone can be at risk outside in this record heat,” the fire department in Goodyear, a Phoenix suburb, warned residents on social media while offering ideas to stay safe.

For many people such as older adults, those with health issues and those without access to air conditioning, the heat can be dangerous or even deadly.

Maricopa County, the most populous in Arizona and home to Phoenix, reported this week that its public health department had confirmed 25 heat-associated deaths this year as of July 21, with 249 more under investigation.

Results from toxicological tests that can takes weeks or months after an autopsy is conducted could eventually result in many deaths listed as under investigation as heat associated being changed to confirmed.

Maricopa County confirmed 425 heat-associated deaths last year, and more than half of them occurred in July.

Elsewhere in Arizona next week, the agricultural desert community of Yuma is expecting highs ranging from 40 C to 44.4 C and Tucson is looking at highs ranging from 37.2 C to 43.9 C.

The highs in Las Vegas are forecast to slip as low as 34.4 C next Tuesday after a long spell of highs above 43.3 C. Death Valley, which hit 53.3 C in mid-July, will cool as well, though only to a still blistering hot 46.7 C.

In New Mexico, the highs in Albuquerque next week are expected to be around 35 C, with partly cloudy skies.
…

DES MOINES, IOWA — Donald Trump and his top rivals for the GOP presidential nomination took the stage one by one Friday night to address an influential gathering of Iowa Republicans, with none of the top-tier hopefuls mentioning that new federal charges had been filed against the former president just a day earlier.

Instead, Trump’s competitors mostly reserved their sharpest criticism for President Joe Biden and a Democratic Party they argued had lost touch with mainstream America — failing to pounce on additional counts over Trump’s retention of classified documents that might have otherwise been an opportunity to cut into his comfortable early lead in the polls.

“The time for excuses is over. We must get the job done,” said Ron DeSantis. “I will get the job done.”

The Florida governor also repeated his frequent promise to halt the “weaponization” of the Justice Department, an allusion to Trump’s legal troubles. But he offered no specific thoughts on the cases against him — even though Trump is also bracing to be charged soon in Washington over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The former president frequently avoids attending multicandidate events in person, questioning why he would share a stage with competitors who are badly trailing him in polls. Still, with Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus less than six months away, Trump joined a dozen other Republican hopefuls in speaking to about 1,200 Republican Party members and activists at the Lincoln Day Dinner.

“If I weren’t running, I would have nobody coming after me,” Trump said in his only veiled reference to his legal issues. He also insisted the same would be true if he were trailing in the polls.

While DeSantis didn’t mention the former president by name, meanwhile, Trump didn’t return the favor. He told the crowd, “I wouldn’t take a chance on that one,” and repeatedly branded him “DeSanctus.”

Trump was even blunter before the dinner as he opened a campaign office in Urbandale, outside Des Moines.

“I understand the other candidates are falling very flat … it’s like death,” Trump said.

More than 100 people packed the small office, many wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and shirts. They had waited in 37-degree Celsius weather to enter, and the poorly ventilated office quickly became sweltering. Staff handed out water bottles, and people fanned themselves with campaign handouts. Some used paper towels to wipe away sweat.

Similar strong support for the former president was evident during the dinner, when many attendees wore “Trump Country” stickers, including 72-year-old Diane Weaver of Ankeny, Iowa.

“I think he makes America great,” said Weaver, a retiree who plans to caucus for Trump. “I think he did it once and I think he can do it again.”

West Des Moines resident Jane Schrader chose to wear her “Trump Country” sticker on her pants instead of at eye level. “I’m not quite dyed-in-the-wool. I’m a supporter, but not that kind,” said the retired physician, explaining her sticker placement.

DeSantis, who like most of Friday’s speakers vowed to visit all of Iowa’s 99 counties, is Trump’s strongest primary competitor but has been trying to reset his stalled campaign for two weeks. He’s increasingly focusing on Iowa in its efforts on trying to derail Trump, and spoke at the dinner in the midst of a two-day bus tour of the state.

The governor’s stumbles have raised questions about whether another candidate might be able to emerge from the field and catch the former president. Some evangelicals, who can be determinative in Iowa’s caucuses, have pointed to South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s upbeat message and pulpit-style delivery as strengths that could help him rise there.

Scott, who also spoke Friday night and didn’t mention Trump or the cases against him, took a swipe this week at DeSantis over the Florida governor’s support for new standards that require the state’s teachers to instruct middle school students that slaves developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.”

The only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, Scott said all Americans should recognize how “devastating” slavery was. “There is no silver lining” to slavery, he added.

DeSantis has also faced criticism from teachers and civil rights leaders, as well as mounting pushback from some of his party’s most prominent Black elected officials. Florida Rep. Byron Donalds said he hoped officials might “correct” parts of the curriculum addressing lessons on the developed skills of enslaved people. Texas Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt, Michigan Rep. John James and Will Hurd, a former Texas congressman now also running in the GOP presidential primary, have also criticized DeSantis.

Still, the governor continued to dig in on the issue, saying at a pre-dinner event in Oskaloosa on Friday, “D.C. Republicans all too often accept false narratives, accept lies that are perpetrated by the left.”

John Niemeyer, 52, from Kalona, Iowa, attended DeSantis’ event and was impressed. But, as a high school teacher, he’s not a fan of some of the governor’s positions on education policy.

“I don’t want to make our classrooms a political battlefield,” he said, adding that it would be a “mistake” to make the issue the forefront of his campaign.

Vice President Kamala Harris made her own Iowa stop on Friday, seeking to draw a contrast with the Republicans as she looked to lift President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. Harris met in Des Moines with activists and discussed abortion rights, after Reynolds recently signed a ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

“I do believe that we are witnessing a national agenda that is about a full-on attack on hard won freedoms and hard won rights,” the vice president said.

Trump, meanwhile, did face criticism Friday night from some Republican opponents, but only those considered long shots. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison declared, “As a party, we need a new direction for America and for the GOP (Republican Party),” drawing only muted reaction from the crowd.

Loud and sustained boos came, however, for Hurd, who said, “The reason Donald Trump lost the election in 2020 is he failed to grow the GOP (Republican) brand.”

The former congressman pressed on, saying: “Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again. … Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison.”

That was the only reference to locking Trump up on the night, except for a surprising — and potentially coincidental — snippet of walk-on music played as the former president took the stage. Like all the candidates, the event’s organizers played parts of Brooks & Dunn’s Only in America as Trump approached.

But his part included the lyrics: “One could end up going to prison. One just might be president.” 
…

President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly acknowledged his seventh grandchild, a 4-year-old girl fathered by his son Hunter with an Arkansas woman, Lunden Roberts, in 2018.

“Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward,” Biden said in a statement. It was his first acknowledgement of the child.

“This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter,” he said. “Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy.”

Hunter Biden’s paternity was established by DNA testing after Roberts sued for child support, and the two parties recently resolved outstanding child support issues. The president’s son wrote about his encounter with Roberts in his 2021 memoir, saying it came while he was deep in addiction to alcohol and drugs, including crack cocaine.

“I had no recollection of our encounter,” he wrote. “That’s how little connection I had with anyone. I was a mess, but a mess I’ve taken responsibility for.”

The president, who has made a commitment to family central to his public persona, has faced increasing criticism from political rivals and pundits for failing to acknowledge the granddaughter. According to a person familiar with the matter, he was taking the cue from his son while the legal proceedings played out. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.

Biden’s statement was first reported by People magazine.
…

The U.S. is sending Taiwan $345 million in security assistance as part of a long-awaited aid package meant to help the island defend itself from a potential invasion by China.

The announcement from the White House on Friday said the aid, going to Taiwan as part of a drawdown from existing U.S. weapons stocks, will include “defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training.”

Word of the drawdown came as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken were in Brisbane, Australia, meeting with their Australian counterparts for the 33rd annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations.

Speaking to reporters in Brisbane, Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Martin Meiners said the package “includes self-defense capabilities that Taiwan will be able to use to build to bolster deterrence now and in the future.”

Systems included in the package “address critical defensive stockpiles, multidomain awareness, anti-armor and air defense capabilities,” he said.

Some media reports have quoted anonymous U.S. defense officials as saying the aid package also includes MQ-9 Reaper drones. Taiwan has previously bought MQ-9s from the U.S.

Pentagon officials declined to say how soon items in the package would arrive in Taiwan but said that they were “working expeditiously” to deliver the systems.

Meiners said the announcement of the package did not indicate any new or emerging threats to Taiwan. And unlike similar security assistance packages done under the presidential drawdown authority for Ukraine, this aid package does not require the declaration of an emergency.

Meiners also said the aid package to Taiwan would not affect ongoing U.S. assistance to Ukraine.

U.S. military and intelligence officials have said Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the Chinese military to be ready to launch an invasion to reunify Taiwan with China by 2027.

“I wouldn’t underestimate President Xi’s determination to assert China’s control, the People’s Republic of China’s control, over Taiwan,” CIA Director William Burns said at a security forum earlier this month in Aspen, Colorado.

VOA has reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Washington for comment.

Speaking at the same conference as Burns, China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, insisted Beijing wants a peaceful reunification with Taiwan.

“No one is more eager or sincere than China to see a peaceful solution,” Xie said, though he said what he called Taiwanese separatists were taking actions that only serve to destabilize the situation with U.S. support.

“The first and foremost thing we should bear in mind is that Taiwan is China’s Taiwan,” he added.

Congress has authorized the U.S. to send Taiwan up to $1 billion in security assistance through the presidential drawdown authority this fiscal year.

Defense Secretary Austin has previously said he intends to use all the drawdown authority to support Taiwan.

“The administration continues to review Taiwan’s self-defense requirements and we will continue to assess the best authority to meet these requirements going forward,” said Meiners. “We have no further assistance to announce today.”

There had been expectations and hopes among some U.S. lawmakers that the White House would rush the aid package to Taiwan, given what they and defense officials see as increasingly aggressive behavior from China.

Defense officials, though, said the package took time to put together because it required “substantial coordination with multiple U.S. government stakeholders, because this was the first PDA [presidential drawdown authority] package for Taiwan.”

The House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, Republican Michael McCaul, praised the package as “much-needed … as Communist China eyes further aggression.”

But he criticized President Joe Biden and his administration for not sending it sooner.

“This administration’s repeated fear of escalation in providing critical weapon systems — in the midst of a great power competition — has only served to embolden Chairman Xi and his unholy alliance,” McCaul said in a statement. “The U.S. must remain committed to providing necessary defense articles to enable Taiwan in maintaining deterrence and self-defense capability.”
…

Seven leading tech companies recently agreed to abide by a request from President Joe Biden to develop their artificial intelligence technologies in a safe and transparent way. But are their promises realistic? VOA’s Julie Taboh reports.
…

President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Japan and South Korea next month for a summit at Camp David, the White House announced Friday.

The August 18 meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is the latest sign of warming relations between their nations as they move to set aside generations of tensions and mistrust while the United States deepens its commitment to Asia.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the leaders “will discuss expanding trilateral cooperation across the Indo-Pacific and beyond.” Expected topics include the threat posed by North Korea and ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and with the Pacific islands.

The invitation spun out of a brief photo-op that the three leaders had at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in May. The Biden administration has been urging stronger economic and defense ties between South Korea and Japan as it looks to bolster the region against China’s assertive territorial moves, as well as to secure their cooperation to support Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion.
…

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian doctors have been seeing more abdominal cavity wounds in military and civilian patients. Some U.S. doctors are stepping in to help their Ukrainian colleagues treat these wartime injuries. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story. Camera and edit: Pavel Suhodolskiy
…

Arizona’s saguaro cacti, a symbol of the U.S. West, are leaning, losing arms and in some cases falling over during the state’s record streak of extreme heat, a scientist said on Tuesday.

Summer monsoon rains the cacti rely on have failed to arrive, testing the desert giants’ ability to survive in the wild as well as in cities after temperatures above 43 Celsius degrees (110 Fahrenheit) for 25 days in Phoenix, said Tania Hernandez.

“These plants are adapted to this heat, but at some point the heat needs to cool down and the water needs to come,” said Hernandez, a research scientist at Phoenix’s 140-acre (57-hectare) Desert Botanical Garden, which has over 2/3 of all cactus species, including saguaros which can grow to over 12 meters (40 feet).

Plant physiologists at the Phoenix garden are studying how much heat cacti can take. Until recently many thought the plants were perfectly adapted to high temperatures and drought. Arizona’s heat wave is testing those assumptions.

Cacti need to cool down at night or through rain and mist. If that does not happen they sustain internal damage. Plants now suffering from prolonged, excessive heat may take months or years to die, Hernandez said.

Cacti in Phoenix are being studied as the city is a heat island, mimicking higher temperatures plants in the wild are expected to face with future climate change, Hernandez said.
…

NEW YORK — More than 100,000 people in the U.S. have become allergic to red meat since 2010 because of a weird syndrome triggered by tick bites, according to a government report released Thursday. But health officials believe many more have the problem and don’t know it.

A second report estimated that as many as 450,000 Americans have developed the allergy. That would make it the 10th most common food allergy in the U.S., said Dr. Scott Commins, a University of North Carolina researcher who co-authored both papers published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials said they are not aware of any confirmed deaths, but people with the allergy have described it as bewildering and terrifying.

“I never connected it with any food because it was hours after eating,” said one patient, Bernadine Heller-Greenman.

The reaction, called alpha-gal syndrome, occurs when an infected person eats beef, pork, venison or other meat from mammals — or ingests milk, gelatin or other mammal products.

It’s not caused by a germ but by a sugar, alpha-gal, that is in meat from mammals — and in tick saliva. When the sugar enters the body through the skin, it triggers an immune response and can lead to a severe allergic reaction.

Scientists had seen reactions in patients taking a cancer drug that was made in mouse cells containing the alpha-gal sugar. But in 2011 researchers first reported that it could spread through tick bites, too.

They tied it to the lone star tick, which despite its Texas-themed name is most common in the eastern and southern U.S. (About 4% of all U.S. cases have been in the eastern end of New York’s Long Island.)

One of the studies released Thursday examined 2017-22 test results from the main U.S. commercial lab looking for alpha-gal antibodies. They noted the number of people testing positive rose from about 13,000 in 2017 to 19,000 in 2022.

Experts say cases may be up for a variety of reasons, including lone star ticks’ expanding range, more people coming into contact with the ticks or more doctors learning about it and ordering tests for it.

But many doctors are not. The second study was a survey last year of 1,500 U.S. primary care doctors and health professionals. The survey found nearly half had never heard of alpha-gal syndrome, and only 5% said they felt very confident they could diagnose it. Researchers used that information to estimate the number of people with the allergy — 450,000.

People with the syndrome can experience symptoms including hives, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, severe stomach pain, difficulty breathing, dizziness and swelling of the lips, throat, tongue or eye lids. Unlike some other food allergies, which occur soon after eating, these reactions hit hours later.

Some patients have only stomach symptoms, and the American Gastroenterological Association says people with unexplained diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain should be tested for the syndrome.

Doctors counsel people with the allergy to change their diet, carry epinephrine and avoid tick bites.

The allergy can fade away in some people — Commins has seen that happen in about 15% to 20% of his patients. But a key is avoiding being re-bitten.

“The tick bites are central to this. They perpetuate the allergy,” he said.

One of his patients is Heller-Greenman, a 78-year-old New York art historian who spends summers on Martha’s Vineyard. She has grown accustomed to getting bitten by ticks on the island and said she has had Lyme disease four times.

About five years ago, she started experiencing terrible, itchy hives on her back, torso and thighs in the middle of the night. Her doctors concluded it was an allergic reaction but couldn’t pinpoint the trigger.

She was never a big meat eater, but one day in January 2020 she had a hamburger and then a big, fatty steak the following evening. Six hours after dinner, she woke up nauseated, then suffered terrible spells of vomiting, diarrhea and dizziness. She passed out three times.

She was diagnosed with alpha-gal syndrome shortly after that and was told to avoid ticks and to stop eating red meat and dairy products. There have been no allergic reactions since.

“I have one grandchild that watches me like a hawk,” she said, making sure she reads packaged food labels and avoids foods that could trigger a reaction.

“I feel very lucky, really, that this has worked out for me,” she said. “Not all doctors are knowledgeable about this.”
…