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NEW ORLEANS — On the eve of World War II, Nazis in Austria seized a pastel by renowned impressionist artist Claude Monet, selling it off and sparking a family's decadeslong search that culminated Wednesday in New Orleans. At an FBI field office, agents lifted a blue veil covering the Monet pastel and presented Adalbert Parlagi's granddaughters with the artwork over 80 years after it was taken from their family. Helen Lowe said she felt that her grandfather would be watching and that he would be "so, so proud of this moment." Monet's 1865 Bord de Mer depicts rocks along the shoreline of the Normandy coast, where Allied forces stormed the beaches of Nazi-occupied France during D-Day in 1944, marking a turning point in the war. The Monet pastel is one of 20,000 items recovered by the FBI Art Crime Team out of an estimated 600,000 artworks and millions of books and religious objects stolen by the Nazis. "The theft was not random or incidental, but an integral part of the Nazis' plan to eliminate all vestiges of Jewish life in Germany and Europe, root and branch," U.S. State Department Holocaust adviser Stuart E. Eizenstat said in a March speech. After Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Adalbert Parlagi, a successful businessman and art lover, and his wife, Hilda, left behind almost everything they owned and fled Vienna, using British license plates to drive across the border, their granddaughters said. Though the Parlagis hadn't identified as Jewish for years and baptized their children as Protestants, they were still considered Jewish under Nazi laws, according to Austrian government records. Other relatives were killed in concentration camps. The Parlagis attempted to ship their valuable carpets, porcelain and artworks out of Vienna to London, but found out later that their property had been seized and auctioned off by the Gestapo to support the Third Reich. Multiple international declarations decried trading in Nazi-looted art, beginning with Allied forces in London in 1943. The 1998 Washington principles, signed by more than three dozen countries, reiterated the call and advocated for the return of stolen art. Yet Adalbert Parlagi's efforts were stonewalled by the Vienna auctioneer who had bought and sold the Monet pastel and another artwork owned by Parlagi. The records were lost after the fighting in Vienna, the auctioneer told Adalbert in a letter shortly after World War II, according to an English translation of a document prepared by an Austrian government body reviewing the Parlagi family's art restitution claims. "I also cannot remember two such pictures either," the auctioneer said. Many survivors of World War II and their descendants ultimately give up trying to recover their lost artwork because of the difficulties they face, said Anne Webber, co-founder of the London-based nonprofit Commission for Looted Art in Europe, which has recovered more than 3,500 looted artworks. "You have to just constantly, constantly, constantly look," Webber said. Adalbert Parlagi and his son Franz kept meticulous ownership and search records. After Franz's death in 2012, Françoise Parlagi stumbled upon her father's cache of documents, including the original receipt from her grandfather's purchase of the Monet pastel. She reached out to Webber's commission for help in 2014. The commission's research team reviewed archives and receipts, contacted museums and art experts and scoured the internet, but initially found "absolutely no trace," Webber said. Then, in 2021, the team discovered online that a New Orleans dealer acquired the Monet in 2017 and sold it to a Louisiana-based doctor and his wife. The FBI investigated the commission's research and, earlier this year, a federal court ruled the pastel should be returned to the Parlagis' descendants. "There was never a question" of returning the art to the rightful owners after learning of its sordid history, said Bridget Vita-Schlamp, whose late husband had purchased the Monet pastel. "We were shocked, I'm not going to lie," she said. The family recovered another work in March from the Austrian government but there are still six more artworks missing, including from acclaimed artists Camille Pissarro and Paul Signac. The U.S. is likely the "largest illegal art market in the world," said Kristin Koch, supervisory special agent with the FBI's Art Crime Program. The art world has a greater responsibility to investigate the origins of artworks and a moral obligation to return looted works to their rightful owners, Webber said. "They represent the life and the lives that were taken," Webber said. "They represent the world that they were exiled from." The granddaughters of Adalbert and Hilda Parlagi say they are grateful for what they have already gotten back. Françoise Parlagi, a broad smile on her face, said she hoped to hang a copy of the pastel in her home. She said the moment felt "unreal." "So many families are in this situation. Maybe they haven't even been trying to recover because they don't believe, they think this might not be possible," she said. "Let us be hope for other families."

ATLANTA — Voting machines have been at the center of a web of conspiracy theories after the 2020 election, with false claims that they were manipulated to steal the presidency from Donald Trump. There was no evidence of widespread fraud or rigged voting machines in the election, and multiple reviews in the battleground states where the Republican president disputed his loss to Democrat Joe Biden confirmed the results as accurate. In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems, one of the largest voting machine companies, $787 million to avoid a trial in a defamation lawsuit. In the years since his loss, Trump and his allies have continued to sow doubts about voting equipment. State and local election officials have tried to push back by explaining the layers of protection that surround voting systems and the measures they have in place to conduct fair and accurate elections. In November's presidential election, nearly every ballot cast will have a paper record that can be used to obtain an accurate count even if there are errors or cyberattacks. What is a voting machine? Election officials rely on various pieces of technology. Every office does things a little bit differently. Officials rely on a voter registration system that is a database of registered voters and have an election management system that workers use to create, issue and track ballots. They also use an election-night reporting system that reports unofficial results. Many jurisdictions use electronic pollbooks to check in voters at polling locations. All this depends on software and computers, a reliance that carries risks that officials work to identify and address. For example, election officials often will isolate critical systems from the internet and use storage devices, such as secured USB sticks, to transfer data. They limit access to sensitive equipment to only those who need it and have logs that track and monitor the devices. When an internet connection is needed, election officials will often use private networks to limit the risk of malicious activity and take other steps to scan their systems for potential vulnerabilities and threats. Voters in much of the country fill out ballots by hand, and then that ballot will be scanned and counted electronically. A few places, mostly small towns in the Northeast, will count their ballots by hand. In some areas, voters use a computer to mark their ballots electronically and then get a printout of their choices that they insert into a scanner for counting. In other cases, the ballot is cast electronically, and a paper record is printed that summarizes the votes cast. That record is then available if a hand-count is needed. Are voting machines connected to the internet? With a few exceptions, no. There are some jurisdictions in a few states that allow for ballot scanners in polling locations to transmit unofficial results, using a mobile private network, after voting has ended on Election Day and the memory cards containing the vote tallies have been removed. Election officials who allow this say it provides for faster reporting of unofficial election results on election night. They say the paper records of the ballots cast are used to authenticate the results during postelection reviews, and that those records would be crucial to a recount if one was needed. Computer security experts have said this is an unnecessary risk and should be prohibited. Are voting machines secure? Election officials say they have worked extensively to shore up security around their voting equipment after an effort by Russia to scan state voter registration systems for vulnerabilities in 2016. There was no evidence then that any data was changed or deleted, but it led the federal government to declare the nation's election systems as critical infrastructure. That allows the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to provide free cybersecurity reviews and vulnerability testing to election offices nationwide. "Today, eight years later, because of all the incredible work by election officials to strengthen the security and resiliency of our election process, election infrastructure has never been more secure, and the election stakeholder community has never been stronger," the agency's director, Jen Easterly, told reporters in September. Computer security experts have called for more to be done and for election officials to limit the use of certain technology, specifically machines that mark ballots for voters. A long-running court battle in Georgia has sought to compel the state to get rid of these machines in favor of hand-marked paper ballots. Experts have also raised particular concern about a series of security breaches that occurred after the 2020 election as Trump allies sought access to voting systems in Georgia and elsewhere as they tried to prove their unsubstantiated claims. The experts have warned that the public release of critical election software because of the breaches has raised "serious threats" and have called for a federal investigation. How do election officials ensure accuracy? Election officials say there are safeguards in place to ensure that voting systems are not manipulated. That begins with physical security, such as locked rooms with limited access and the use of tamper-evident seals. In addition, voting equipment is tested before the election, a process that includes running test ballots through the equipment to ensure votes are being counted correctly. Postelection reviews are conducted to identify any mistakes or errors that may have occurred. Around 98% of all ballots cast in this year's election will include a paper record, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice based on data collected by Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group that tracks voting equipment in the U.S. Officials say that's important for ensuring that any error or cyberattack will not prevent officials from producing an accurate record of the vote.

beijing — China said Saturday it would issue special bonds to help its sputtering economy, signaling a spending spree to bolster banks, shore up the property market and ease local government debt as part of one of its biggest support packages in years. The plan is part of a series of actions undertaken by Beijing to draw a line under a years-long property sector crisis and chronically low consumption that has plagued the world's second-biggest economy. Beijing's planned special bonds are aimed at boosting the capital available to banks -- part of a push to get them lending in the hopes of firing up sluggish consumer spending. China is also preparing to allow local governments to borrow more to fund the acquisition of unused land for development, aimed at pulling the property market out of a prolonged slump. No figures were provided on the planned special bonds announced at a highly anticipated news conference by Finance Minister Lan Fo'an and other officials, following a series of steps launched in recent weeks that have included interest rate cuts and liquidity for banks. But Lan said China still has room "to issue debts and increase the deficit" to fund the new measures. Officials have been battling to reverse China's slowdown and achieve a growth target of five percent this year -- enviable for many Western countries but a far cry from the double-digit expansion that for years boosted the Asian giant. On Saturday, Lan said Beijing was "accelerating the use of additional treasury bonds, and ultra-long-term special treasury bonds are also being issued for use." "In the next three months, a total of 2.3 trillion yuan of special bond funds can be arranged for use in various places," he added. On top of that, Beijing also plans to "issue special government bonds to support large state-owned commercial banks," Lan said, although he did not say how much. Chinese authorities have been urging commercial banks to lend more and lower mortgage rates -- measures that would put more cash into the pockets of consumers. Beijing's bonds would therefore offer banks help to shore up their capital, giving them greater leeway to lend more. Bonds for buildings And local governments will be issued special bonds enabling them to acquire unused and idle land for development, Vice Finance Minister Liao Min said, in action that could prop up the housing market. The move would "help ease liquidity and debt pressures on local governments and real estate companies," he explained. Beijing will also encourage the acquisition of existing commercial properties to be used as affordable housing. However, analysts expressed frustration that Beijing had refrained from putting a number on further fiscal stimulus. "The key messages are that ... the central government has the capacity to issue more bonds and raise fiscal deficit, and... the central government plans to issue more bonds to help local governments to pay their debt," Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said. Beijing was likely "still working on the minute details of the fiscal stimulus," Heron Lim at Moody's Analytics told AFP. "In the meantime, investors might be taking a step back until they are absolutely certain of the direction fiscal policy is taking." 'Lack of forward guidance' China's economic uncertainty is also fueling a vicious cycle that has kept consumption stubbornly low. Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, said that "notably absent was any mention of large-scale handouts to consumers" on Saturday. "The lack of forward guidance on the scale of next year's budget deficit means it is still difficult to judge how large and long-lasting the fiscal boost will be," he pointed out. Chinese policymakers have in the last weeks unveiled a string of stimulus measures including a suite of rate cuts and a loosening of rules on buying homes, but economists said that more action is needed to pull the economy out of its slump for good. Earlier Saturday, China's top banks said they would cut lower interest rates on existing mortgages from October 25, state media said, following a government call for the action. "Except for second mortgages in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and some other regions, the interest rates on other eligible mortgages will be adjusted" to no less than 30 basis points below the prime lending rate, the central bank's benchmark rate for mortgages, state broadcaster CCTV said. CCTV reported that major banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank had announced that they would make the adjustments "in batches." The People's Bank of China last month requested that commercial banks lower such rates by October 31. Beijing also last month slashed interest on one-year loans to financial institutions, cut the amount of cash lenders must keep on hand and pushed to lower rates on existing mortgages. And the central bank this week boosted support for markets by opening up tens of billions of dollars in liquidity for firms to buy stocks. 

new york — Russian dissident Alexey Navalny, who was President Vladimir Putin's top political opponent before his death in February, believed he would die in prison, according to his posthumous memoir, which will be released October 22. The New Yorker published excerpts from the book Friday, featuring writing from Navalny's prison diary and earlier. "I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die here," he wrote on March 22, 2022. "There will not be anybody to say goodbye to ... All anniversaries will be celebrated without me. I'll never see my grandchildren." Navalny had been serving a 19-year prison sentence on "extremism" charges in an Arctic penal colony. His death on February 16 at age 47 drew widespread condemnation, with many blaming Putin. Navalny was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Russia after suffering a major health emergency from being poisoned in 2020. "The only thing we should fear is that we will surrender our homeland to be plundered by a gang of liars, thieves, and hypocrites," he wrote on January 17, 2022. The excerpts capture the loneliness of imprisonment, but also a touch of humor. For instance, on July 1, 2022, Navalny outlined his typical day: wake up at 6 a.m., breakfast at 6:20 a.m. and start work at 6:40 a.m. "At work, you sit for seven hours at the sewing machine on a stool below knee height," he wrote. "After work, you continue to sit for a few hours on a wooden bench under a portrait of Putin. This is called 'disciplinary activity.'" The book, entitled Patriot, will be released by U.S. publisher Knopf, which is also planning a Russian version. "It's impossible to read Navalny's prison diary without being outraged by the tragedy of his suffering, and by his death," wrote New Yorker editor David Remnick. In the last excerpt published in the magazine, dated January 17, 2024, Navalny responds to the question asked to him by his fellow inmates and prison guards: Why did he return to Russia? "I don't want to give up my country or betray it. If your convictions mean something, you must be prepared to stand up for them and make sacrifices if necessary," he said. 

Jerusalem — Israel observed Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, on Saturday amid a firestorm of international criticism over its military offensive in Lebanon and its soldiers firing on peacekeepers. As the holy day got under way Friday from sundown, Israel faced diplomatic backlash over what it acknowledged was a "hit" earlier in the day on a United Nations peacekeeping position in Lebanon. Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt in the second such incident in two days, the UNIFIL mission said Friday. The military said Israeli soldiers had responded with fire to "an immediate threat" around 50 meters from the UNIFIL post. As Israel faced a chorus of condemnation from UN chief Antonio Guterres and Western allies, the military pledged to carry out a "thorough review." Lebanese militant group Hezbollah meanwhile warned Israelis to stay away from Israeli army sites in residential areas in the north of the country, alleging the military "uses the homes" of locals and has military bases in residential neighborhoods. Hezbollah has repeatedly announced it has fired rockets at areas in northern Israel, where sirens blared in multiple locations early Saturday. 'Outrage' The UNIFIL peacekeepers have found themselves on the frontline of the Israel-Hezbollah war, which has killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures. The latest incident came a day after two Indonesian soldiers were hurt when, according to UNIFIL, tank fire hit a watchtower. Sean Clancy, the Irish military's chief of staff, said he did not believe Israel's explanation of Friday's incident. "So from a military perspective, this is not an accidental act," said Clancy, whose country has troops in UNIFIL. Guterres condemned the firing as "intolerable" and "a violation of international humanitarian law," while the British government said it was "appalled" by reports of the wounded. U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday he was "absolutely" asking Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers, while the French, Spanish and Italian leaders issued a joint statement expressing "outrage." French President Emmanuel Macron renewed his call for an end to exports of weapons used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, while saying the UN peacekeepers had been "deliberately targeted." The incidents came more than two weeks into Israel's war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has seen Israeli warplanes conduct extensive strikes since September 23 on the militants' strongholds, with multiple civilian areas hit, and ground troops deployed across the border. 'Immediate cease-fire' Israeli and Hezbollah forces fought along the border on Friday, with Israeli air strikes reported in the south and east of Lebanon. It marked a tense start to Yom Kippur. From sundown on Friday until nightfall on Saturday, Israeli markets are closed, flights stopped and public transport halted as observant Jews fast and pray on the Day of Atonement. Diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza have so far failed, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the UN Security Council to issue a new resolution calling for a "full and immediate ceasefire." Leaders from nine European countries around the Mediterranean Sea on Friday also called for an end to fighting in Lebanon, as well as Gaza. Mikati said that only the Lebanese military and peacekeepers should be deployed in the south of the country -- the essence of existing Security Council Resolution 1701 -- and "Hezbollah is in agreement on this issue." U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein said the United States was working "non-stop" towards a cease-fire. "We want the whole conflict to end," he told Lebanese television channel LBC from Washington. Lebanon's military said an Israeli strike on one of its positions in south Lebanon killed two of its soldiers on Friday. Hezbollah is heavily armed and controls large swathes of Lebanon, and successive Lebanese governments have failed to subdue it. The movement also fought Israeli troops during Israel's last invasion in 2006. Beirut attack In Beirut, residents of a central area of the capital targeted by twin Israeli air strikes on Thursday night salvaged their possessions and cleared rubble from the devastated streets. "There are a lot of families living here," said Bilal Othman, who explained that many people had sought shelter there from southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, which has been pummeled by Israeli raids since last month. "Do they want to tell us there is no safe place left in this country?" he said. The Israeli strikes apparently targeted Hezbollah's security chief Wafiq Safa, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP. Lebanon's health ministry said the strikes killed 22 people and wounded more than 100. Safa was close to Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on south Beirut last month. Children in Gaza Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, following the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity. Israel's military campaign has wrought devastation on Gaza and, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, killed 42,126 people, mostly civilians. Late Friday, Gaza's civil defense agency reported 30 people killed in Israeli strikes on Jabalia, north Gaza. An AFP journalist in Gaza reported heavy artillery shelling, explosions and gunfire Saturday further south in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood. The co-head of a Japanese atomic bomb survivors' group awarded the Nobel Peace Prize said the situation for children in Gaza reminded him of the plight of survivors after World War II. "It's like in Japan 80 years ago," Toshiyuki Mimaki said in Tokyo.

LITHIA, Florida — Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes. At least 10 people were dead, and rescuers were still saving people from swollen rivers, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn't worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized. Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water that could hide dangerous objects. "We're now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable," DeSantis said. "You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there." As of Friday night, the number of customers in Florida still without power had dropped to 1.9 million, according to poweroutage.us. St. Petersburg's 260,000 residents were told to boil water before drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth, until at least Monday. Also Friday, the owner of a major phosphate mine disclosed that pollution spilled into Tampa Bay during the hurricane. The Mosaic Company said in a statement that heavy rains from the storm overwhelmed a collection system at its Riverview site, pushing excess water out of a manhole and into discharges that lead to the bay. The company said the leak was fixed Thursday. Mosaic said the spill likely exceeded a 66,245-liter minimum reporting standard, though it did not provide a figure for what the total volume might have been. Calls and emails to Mosaic seeking additional information about Riverview and the company's other Florida mines received no response, as did a voicemail left with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The state has 25 such stacks containing more than 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum, a solid waste byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer mining industry that contains radium, which decays to form radon gas. Both radium and radon are radioactive and can cause cancer. Phosphogypsum may also contain toxic heavy metals and other carcinogens, such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and nickel. Florida's vital tourism industry has started to return to normal, meanwhile, as Walt Disney World and other theme parks reopened. The state's busiest airport, in Orlando, resumed full operations Friday. Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, Milton flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ' baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane. Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on Friday were assisting with rescues of people, including a 92-year-old woman, who were stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River. The river is 40 kilometers long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay. In Pinellas County, deputies used high-water vehicles to shuttle people back and forth to their homes in a flooded Palm Harbor neighborhood where waters continued to rise. Ashley Cabrera left with her 18- and 11-year-old sons and their three dogs, Eeyore, Poe and Molly. It was the first time since Milton struck that they had been able to leave the neighborhood, and they were now headed to a hotel in Orlando. "I'm extremely thankful that we could get out now and go for the weekend somewhere we can get a hot meal and some gas," Cabrera said. "I thought we'd be able to get out as soon as the storm was over. These roads have never flooded like this in all the years that I've lived here." Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water at a strip mall in Lithia, east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm. "I'm high and dry where I'm at, and I have a barn and 9 acres (3.6 hectares)," Evers said, adding that she will soon start to work to find the animals' owners. In the Gulf Coast city of Venice, Milton left behind dozens of centimeters of sand in some beachfront condos, with one unit nearly filled. A swimming pool was packed full of sand, with only its handrails poking out. Some warnings were heeded and lessons learned. When 2.4 meters of seawater flooded Punta Gorda during Hurricane Helene last month, 121 people had to be rescued, Mayor Lynne Matthews said. Milton brought at least 1.5 meters of flooding, but rescuers only had to save three people. "So people listened to the evacuation order," Matthews said. Heaps of fruit were scattered across the ground and trees toppled over after both Milton and Hurricane Helene swept through Polk County and other orange-growing regions, Matt Joyner of trade group Florida Citrus Mutual said Friday. Milton arrived at the start of the orange growing season, so it is still too early to evaluate the full scope of the damage. Florida has already seen orange production diminish over the years, with the industry still recovering from hurricanes of years past while also waging an ongoing battle against a deadly greening disease. Milton could be the knockout punch for some growers, Joyce said. In the western coastal city of Clearwater, Kelvin Glenn said it took less than an hour early Thursday for water to rise to his waist inside his apartment. He and seven children, ranging in age from 3 to 16, were trapped in the brown, foul floodwaters for about three hours before an upstairs neighbor opened their home to them. Later that day, first responders arrived in boats to ferry them away from the building. "Sitting in that cold, nasty water was kind of bad," Glenn said. Short-term survival is now turning into long-term worries. A hotel is $160 a night. Everything inside Glenn's apartment is gone. And it can take time to get assistance. "I ain't going to say we're homeless," Glenn said. "But we've got to start all over again." The Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough money to deal with the immediate needs of people impacted by Helene and Milton but will need additional funding at some point, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Friday. The disaster assistance fund helps pay for the swift response to hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters. Congress recently replenished the fund with $20 billion — the same amount as last year.

The week began with a somber milestone in the Middle East marking the one-year anniversary of the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel as the region edges closer to all-out war. Reflecting on the past year and what the future holds, a conversation with John Lyndon, Executive Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace. Two massive hurricanes that hit the United States became the poster child for climate change. We talked with Michael Wehner, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

STOCKHOLM — Meta Platforms said on Friday that it had removed a network of group accounts targeting Russian speakers in Moldova ahead of the country's October 20 election, for violation of the company's policy on fake accounts. Authorities in Moldova, an ex-Soviet state lying between Romania and Ukraine, said they had blocked dozens of Telegram channels and chat bots linked to a drive to pay voters to cast "no" ballots in a referendum on European Union membership held alongside the presidential election. Pro-European President Maia Sandu is seeking a second term in the election and called the referendum on joining the 27-member bloc as the cornerstone of her policies. The fake Meta accounts posted criticism of Sandu, pro-EU politicians and close ties between Moldova and Romania, and supported pro-Russia parties in Moldova, the company said. The company said its operation centered on about a dozen fictitious, Russian-language news brands posing as independent entities with presence on multiple internet services, including Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, as well as Telegram, OK.ru and TikTok. Meta said it removed seven Facebook accounts, 23 pages, one group and 20 accounts on Instagram for violating its "coordinated inauthentic behavior policy." About 4,200 accounts followed one or more of the 23 pages and about 335,000 accounts followed one or more of the Instagram accounts, Meta said. In Chisinau, the National Investigation Inspectorate said it had blocked 15 channels of the popular Telegram messaging app and 95 chat bots offering voters money. Users were told the channels "violated local laws" on political party financing. It had traced the accounts to supporters of fugitive businessman Ilan Shor — members of the banned party bearing his name or the "Victory" electoral bloc he had set up in its place from his base of exile in Moscow. Moldovan police said on Thursday that they searched homes of leaders linked to Shor as part of a criminal investigation into election-meddling. Police have said tens of thousands of voters were paid off via accounts in a Russian bank to derail the vote. Shor was sentenced to 15 years in jail in absentia last year in connection with the 2014 disappearance of $1 billion from Moldovan banks. He denies allegations of trying to bribe voters. Sandu accuses Moscow of trying to topple her government while Moscow has accused her of fomenting "Russophobia."

washington — The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that it had sued the state of Virginia for violating the federal prohibition on systematic efforts to remove voters within 90 days of an election. On August 7, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring the commissioner of the Department of Elections to certify that the department was conducting "daily updates to the voter list" to remove, among other groups, people who are unable to verify that they are citizens to the Department of Motor Vehicles. U.S. citizens who were identified and notified and did not affirm their citizenship within 14 days would be removed from the list of registered voters, the Justice Department said. It said this practice has led to citizens having their voter registrations canceled ahead of the November 5 election. "By canceling voter registrations within 90 days of Election Day, Virginia places qualified voters in jeopardy of being removed from the rolls and creates the risk of confusion for the electorate," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke. "Congress adopted the National Voter Registration Act’s quiet period restriction to prevent error-prone, eleventh-hour efforts that all too often disenfranchise qualified voters," Clarke added. The department said it was seeking injunctive relief that would restore the ability of affected eligible voters to cast their votes unimpeded on Election Day and would prohibit future violations. Youngkin called the move politically motivated and an attempt to interfere in the election. "With the support of our attorney general, we will defend these common sense steps that we are legally required to take with every resource available to us," he said in a statement on Friday. Republicans across the U.S. have pushed against noncitizen voting, which is already illegal, ahead of the November election. Some election officials have warned that the move could penalize eligible voters.

washington — U.S. national security experts say it is unclear whether a new cost-sharing agreement with South Korea, hailed by the State Department as “a significant accomplishment,” will survive if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House next year. Concluded last week and effective from 2026, the five-year Special Measures Agreement, or SMA, requires South Korea to raise its contribution to the cost of stationing of U.S. troops in the country by 8.3% to $1.47 billion in the first year. The two allies reached the agreement earlier than expected, a move widely seen as key for Seoul and Washington to clinch before the U.S. presidential election in November, in which Trump is the Republican Party candidate. The U.S. State Department hailed the agreement as a “a significant accomplishment for both sides” in a statement released on October 4. But Trump, both in office and as a candidate, has consistently demanded that South Korea contribute significantly more to the cost of supporting U.S. forces in Korea. Most recently in April, Trump told Time magazine that “I want South Korea to treat us properly,” adding that Seoul is “paying virtually nothing for” the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. ‘Trump factor’ John Bolton, a former White House national security adviser during the Trump administration, told VOA Korean by phone on Friday that “it’s very likely that Trump would ask to renegotiate it.” “I know that the administration [of President Joe Biden] here tried to rush the coming-to-an-agreement on it, so that Trump couldn’t meddle with it, but that won’t slow him down at all,” said Bolton, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 2005-06. “He never thinks his predecessors make good enough deals, and in part, it’s not just the question of economics, but he doesn’t understand collective defense alliances,” Bolton said. “He thinks that not just with respect to the Republic of Korea, but also with NATO or Japan or whatever that we’re defending, these countries don’t pay us enough money.” The Republic of Korea is South Korea’s formal name. Bruce Klingner, the senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, pointed out the pact is “an executive agreement,” which makes it easier for Trump to undo since it does not require approval from Congress. “We really don’t know whether he would just see it as a done deal, or if he will seek to renegotiate it upward, where South Korea would pay much more,” Klingner said. “If you take a step back, it’s in our strategic interest to have allies, it’s in our strategic interest to have our forces stationed overseas, because actually, they’re less costly to the United States when they’re stationed overseas than when they’re stationed domestically.” Robert Rapson, who served as charge d'affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, told VOA Korean last week that he was concerned that the agreement wouldn't pass muster with a Trump administration should the former president win a second term in November. “Given his demands and expectations of U.S. allies with respect to security burden sharing, my strong fear is that he will seek to renegotiate today’s agreement with a much higher number in mind,” said Rapson, who was directly involved in the two sets of SMA negotiations in 2013-14 and in 2019-21. Evans Revere, who served as acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told VOA Korean on Thursday via email that he suspected there was “considerable dissatisfaction with the recently concluded SMA agreement in the Trump camp,” knowing how strongly the former president feels about the burden-sharing issue. Revere said he could not rule out the possibility that Trump will come up with “a demand to reopen talks on the SMA issue, and toward that end, he might make major new demands of Seoul” if he takes office again. 'It's in our interest' Other former government officials, like Klingner, believe it is too early to predict whether Trump will try to revise the cost-sharing agreement between the U.S. and South Korea. Richard Armitage, who served as deputy secretary of state during the George W. Bush administration, told VOA Korean on Wednesday on the phone, “He might try, but let’s not get fearful about this too soon.” “If he comes to the White House, he will have a secretary of state, defense, national security adviser, et cetera, who may have slightly different views and can help moderate Mr. Trump.” “Seoul and Washington understand that Trump is very transactional,” Armitage said. “But American soldiers are not Hessians. We’re not for rent. We’re in Korea because it’s in our interest.” VOA Korean contacted the Trump campaign this week and asked what Trump’s stance was on the newly reached agreement, but did not receive a reply by the time this article was published. Joeun Lee contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s Korean Service.

washington — A U.S. Army soldier was sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempting to help the Islamic State conduct a deadly ambush of U.S. troops, the Department of Justice said on Friday. Cole Bridges, also known as Cole Gonzales, 24, will undergo supervised release for 10 years following his release from prison, the department said. Bridges, who was a private first class at the time of his arrest, was charged in 2021 with giving "military advice and guidance on how to kill fellow soldiers to individuals he thought were part of ISIS," the department said. Bridges pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in June 2023. He joined the Army in 2019. Before joining, according to the department, he began researching and consuming online propaganda "promoting jihadists and their violent ideology, and began to express his support for ISIS and jihad on social media."

washington — As China pursues tit-for-tat actions against the European Union in response to tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, Beijing's drive for global dominance in the automotive sector continues unabated. Over the past year, companies such as EV giant BYD and others have made inroads in markets from Southeast Asia to Latin America and Africa, even as they face tariffs of up to 100% in Canada and the United States, and up to 45% in the European Union. Chinese EV companies have announced plans to invest millions to build new factories in Thailand and Brazil, and they have opened showrooms in Zambia, Kenya and South Africa. And while most Chinese EV makers say they will continue to sell cars in Europe and not boost prices to offset the tariffs, analysts say it makes sense that they are equally focused, if not more so, on markets in the developing world as well. Ryan Berg, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the EV market is like a balloon that is fully blown up. "When countries like the U.S., the EU, Canada and others squeeze [the balloon], the air is going to go elsewhere. Well, the air right now is going to go to the developing world countries that haven't put the tariffs on Chinese cars in the first place," Berg said. Bangkok, Brazil and Ethiopia In Thailand, companies such as Great Wall and BYD are leading the way. BYD opened a production facility in Thailand in July and its company chairman, Wang Chuanfu, said BYD has already captured 40% of the market for EVs. Earlier this year, Great Wall became the first Chinese EV company to mass-produce electric vehicles overseas through its production facilities in Thailand. In addition to Thailand, BYD has also captured a large market share in Singapore and Malaysia. According to government statistics, the EV behemoth ranked as Singapore's second-most popular car brand by sales in the first half of 2024. BYD ranked among the top 10 car brands in Malaysia when compared with all registered vehicles, following BMW and Mercedes-Benz. In Latin America, BYD plans to launch a partnership with Uber that aims to bring 100,000 Chinese-made EVs to Uber drivers globally. In addition, BYD is planning a new auto factory in eastern Brazil to come online in 2025. Both BYD and Great Wall have local R&D, production and sales centers in Brazil. John Helveston, an assistant professor in engineering management at George Washington University, said from a business perspective, it makes sense for Chinese EV companies to move to markets where there is more room for profit. "I mean, just like we have Toyota and GM and Ford and Volkswagen … these companies like BYD very much are also global companies," Helveston told VOA. "They want to expand just like any other successful business." Paul Nantulya, a China specialist at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, said Africa provides huge market opportunities for Chinese EV companies. That opportunity, however, comes with its challenges. As in other countries, there is still a lack of infrastructure for EVs in Africa such as charging stations. Nantulya, who attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), said Beijing and Africa are building long-term relationships, particularly when it comes to green energy and EV sectors. About "122 green energy projects have been implemented since the last FOCAC, so between 2021 and 2024, 122 green energy projects have been implemented across the African continent across 40 countries. So, the demand is huge, and it is steady," he told VOA. "Chinese state-owned enterprises that are in this sector have been making a very, very aggressive push in developing economies … you know, the uptick of that technology in Africa is extremely high," he said. In March, China partnered with Ethiopia to announce an ambitious plan to shift toward electric mobility. The plan aims to introduce nearly half a million electric vehicles in Ethiopia over the next decade. Mutual benefits All three analysts said Beijing's penetration of global markets is boosted by the economic benefits that China offers in exchange. For example, Helveston said, many countries are willing to "leverage market access" in exchange for improved infrastructure and technology. Chinese companies have built roads, trains, schools and hospitals in some of the poorest countries in the world, and developing countries see "automotive trade [as] just building on top of those relationships that have already been there a while," he said. "It's a very transactional relationship." CSIS's Berg said countries in Latin America "have been really keen to court Chinese investment in technological industries like the EV industry." He noted that Latin American countries see the EV industry as "reliable" and "plentiful in terms of job opportunities." Nantulya added that Chinese technology is seen as a way to help African countries address energy challenges such as blackouts. "When you look at it from the African perspective, [China's presence] is helping them diversify their energy grids, which is a significant issue. It's also contributing to improving their energy mix," Nantulya said. China has taken a proactive approach by building large infrastructure projects in developing countries, whereas the United States has not yet undertaken projects of similar scale, he said. "I think that we're looking at some pretty big shifts in, let's say, 10 years from now with what the global situation might be. … A lot of these countries might be much more comfortable working with China than the U.S.," Helveston said. Washington, however, is not sitting back. At the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in 2022, the United States committed to $55 billion in pledges over three years that included investments in renewable energy infrastructure, clean energy and efforts to mitigate climate change. Berg said geopolitics also is a motivating factor in Beijing's push into developing countries in South America. "They are in their geopolitical competition with [the United States], engaging in reciprocity ... showing that they can be extremely active in some ways and especially in the economic domain in our neighborhood," he said.

Since the industrial revolution the United States has pumped more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other country on Earth. With less than a month before the U.S. presidential election, the outcome of that contest could determine if the U.S. will continue working on clean energy and decarbonization or throw the programs that do so to the curb. We’ve seen the effects of climate change this week in full force with extreme weather events in the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. Who will win the battle, the believers or the deniers? We speak with New York Times reporter Lisa Friedman who has been tracking where each of the presidential candidates stand on climate.

fort worth, Texas — Relatives of passengers who died in two crashes of Boeing 737 Max planes came to a federal court in Texas on Friday to listen as their lawyers asked a judge to throw out a plea agreement that the aircraft manufacturer struck with prosecutors and put the company on trial. Their lawyers argued that Boeing's punishment — mainly a fine amounting to about $244 million — would be too light for misleading regulators about a flight-control system that malfunctioned before the crashes. They accused Boeing and the Justice Department of airbrushing facts and ignoring that 346 people died in the crashes. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor asked a Boeing lawyer why he should accept the prepackaged plea deal and a sentence negotiated by a defendant. The Boeing lawyer, Ben Hatch, said Boeing "is a pillar of the national economy and the national defense” and needs to know the punishment before it agrees to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, a felony. Otherwise, he said, the company could be disbarred from federal contracting. “All the employees of the company, the shareholders of the company and a global and national supply chain ... all of those are put into doubt if the sentencing" isn't known, possibly for months, Hatch said. The answer stunned and angered relatives of the victims. “Boeing is too important for the economy — they're too big to jail. That's what he's saying,” Michael Stumo, whose daughter Samya died in the second crash, said after the hearing. “It allows them to kill people with no consequences because they're too big and because their shareholders won't like it.” The government joined Boeing in asking the judge to accept the deal that they struck in July. Sean Tonolli, senior deputy chief of the Justice Department's fraud section, said the conspiracy count is the most serious crime prosecutors can bring — they can't prove that Boeing's deception of regulators caused the crashes. And, he said, going to trial is risky. “We are confident in our case, but we don’t take for granted that we might not win," he said. The judge, who had received written arguments from all sides before the hearing in Fort Worth, asked questions but gave no indication if he is leaning one way or the other. He has expressed sympathy for the passengers' families before, writing in a 2023 ruling about "Boeing’s egregious criminal conduct.” “You have given me a lot to think about,” O'Connor said to all the lawyers as Friday's hearing ended. “I'll get a ruling out just as soon as I can.” In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy to commit fraud for allegedly deceiving Federal Aviation Administration regulators who were writing pilot-training requirements for the Max. The FAA approved minimal, computer-based training for Boeing 737 pilots before they could fly the Max, the latest version of the 737. That helped Boeing by avoiding the need for training in flight simulators, which would have raised the cost for airlines to operate the Max. Airlines began flying the Max in 2017. The first crash occurred in Indonesia in October 2018, followed in March 2019 by the second, in Ethiopia. The plea agreement calls for Boeing to pay a fine of up to $487.2 million, but the fine would be cut in half by giving the company credit for $243.6 million it paid as part of a $2.5 billion settlement in 2021 to avoid prosecution. The Justice Department decided in May that Boeing violated terms of that settlement, leading to the new plea deal. Boeing, which is based in Arlington, Virginia, would also invest $455 million in compliance and safety programs, and be placed on probation for three years. The case is among a host of issues with which the manufacturer most contend. Talks broke down this week with striking factory workers who assemble some of the company’s best-selling planes. The company withdrew its offer and S&P Global Ratings put it on its credit watch list, citing increased financial risk because of the labor unrest. On Thursday, the company filed a complaint over what it calls unfair labor practices against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Boeing in its complaint with the National Labor Relations Board said that the union’s public narrative is misleading and has made it difficult to reach a resolution.

london — The U.K. government was urged Friday to raise the case of jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai with China, after reports that David Lammy, the foreign minister, is heading to Beijing.  Lai, 76, is the founder of the now-shuttered popular Chinese-language tabloid Apple Daily, which supported mass pro-democracy protests in the economic hub.  Detained in 2020, he is awaiting trial on charges including colluding with foreign forces and sedition.  In London, his legal team said they hoped Lammy would put Lai's case "front and center" during his visit, which has not been confirmed by his department.  Lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher told reporters it had been "made crystal clear to the U.K.” government that if it is looking to reset relations with China, it needed to use the case "as leverage to ensure that Jimmy Lai is released."   At a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) event in London, Lai's son Sebastien said his father, who holds British citizenship, was in deteriorating health after being in prolonged solitary confinement for nearly four years.  “His health could get much worse at any time,” he added.  Lai's delayed trial began in December 2023, and he is due to testify for the first time on November 20.   “The [U.K.] government does need to stand behind him - much stronger than they even have before,” said Sebastien Lai.  Give priority to it  Both the legal team and Sebastien have met U.K. foreign ministry officials, but Gallagher said they were disappointed that neither Lammy nor British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had yet met Lai's son.  "If this is a top-priority case for the U.K. government, why is Sebastien not being met by the foreign secretary directly?" asked Gallagher.  “Why is Sebastien not being met by the prime minister directly?”  Gallagher works for the law firm Doughty Street Chambers, where Starmer made his name as a human rights lawyer before entering politics.   The U.K. Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in response said Lammy had raised Lai's case when he met his Chinese counterpart in July.  “British national Jimmy Lai's case is a priority for the U.K. government,” an FCDO spokesperson added. “We continue to call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their politically motivated prosecution and immediately release Jimmy Lai."  Lai denies the charges, which were brought under sweeping national security laws meant to quell dissent in the former British colony, which was returned to China in 1997.  If convicted, he could face life imprisonment. Six other senior Apple Daily staff members are also in prison.  Britain has been critical of China's crackdown on press freedom and protests in Hong Kong, which has strained diplomatic ties.  RSF head of campaigns Rebecca Vincent said no one from the organization would be able to attend Lai's trial.  A staff member was detained and deported while trying to enter Hong Kong to monitor the trial previously.