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US President Joe Biden met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House on Friday to discuss support for Ukraine amid a push by Kyiv for Western partners to lift restrictions on using their long-range missiles to attack targets deep inside Russian territory. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.

Tokyo — The samurai in Shogun don't swing their arms as they walk -- just one of many authentic historical details that have helped make the hit television drama this year's top Emmys contender. The period drama, praised for its meticulous approach to accuracy, made TV history with 25 Emmy nominations, and has already swept up 14 prizes in minor categories ahead of Sunday's gala. Set in early 17th century feudal Japan, Shogun makes a break from decades of cliched and often bungled depictions of the country in Western-made film and television. An army of experts including several wig technicians from Japan worked behind the scenes to make the series realistic, poring over sets, costumes and the actors' movements. Kyoto-based historian Frederik Cryns advised on everything from the types of kimonos to the position of tatami mats. "My comments were compiled, and to my surprise, became a 2,100-page manual" that was followed almost to the letter, Cryns -- a professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies -- told AFP. Cryns said he had often felt a "sense of discomfort" when watching Japan-themed Hollywood movies because of their inaccuracy. But Shogun -- made by Disney-owned FX and co-produced by Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, who also stars in the series -- is the most realistic production of its kind, according to Cryns. "Honestly, tears welled up in my eyes after watching the show" for the first time, he said. 'Independent' women Shogun, which means “general” in Japanese, was adapted from a popular novel by James Clavell, and filmed in Canada. Some characters are inspired by real historical figures, including the protagonist Lord Toranaga (Sanada), who is based on Japan's famous warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu. In the show, Toranaga fights for his life against his enemies with his allies, British sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) and noblewoman Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai). In one scene, instead of a regular sword, Mariko wields a naginata -- a long pole with a curved blade on one end, used by women in Japanese warrior families. "Women in medieval Japan were independent," said Cryns, who recommended that weapon be used. "Samurai went into battle, of course, but women would also fight with naginata when they had to protect their castle." As a movement supervisor, Japanese dancer and kabuki actor Hannojo trained some of the show's main actors in Japan for three months. He was also in Vancouver during filming to advise on "shosa" -- stylized movements from kabuki, a traditional Japanese form of theatre. "There are correct ways to walk, sit and stand in a kimono, but it's difficult for young actors" who don't have regular experience wearing such outfits, Hannojo said. "For example, samurai don't swing their arms when walking. They glide without moving the upper body." Some of the cast struggled with more graceful motions, such as when noblewomen would stand up straight from the floor without crouching, he said. "It looks beautiful" and "Japanese people used to have muscles for that -- but not anymore, because we sit on chairs!" he quipped. '120%' Japanese is spoken in 70% of Shogun -- a choice producer Eriko Miyagawa described as "groundbreaking." Even though most people might not notice, the crew strove to make even the props authentic because they "wanted to do 120 %," she said. For example, the writing on the scrolls was done by a Vancouver-based Japanese calligrapher using the handwriting of the historical figures on whom the characters are based. Commitment to authenticity "came from the very top" within FX, according to Miyagawa. "They chose Justin Marks (as showrunner) ... who has an insatiable curiosity and respect for Japanese culture," she said. "They brought Hiroyuki Sanada and myself on as producers from the beginning," she added. "That's a big deal." FX is now working to develop more seasons of Shogun -- but not everything in the first instalment is true to life. Unlike the other samurai, Toranaga's hair was not shaved in the middle -- a creative decision made for visual reasons. Miyagawa, who began her career as a translator for Kill Bill in 2003 and worked as a co-producer for Martin Scorsese's Silence, said the team "probably couldn't have pulled off" the series 10 years ago. A previous TV miniseries adaptation of the novel made in 1980 was centered on Blackthorne's perspective. And yes, the samurai did swing their arms. "The world has changed and the market has evolved," which "paved the way" for the show's success, said Miyagawa. "I like to think Shogun pushed this evolution forward." 

Moscow — When Russians started being arrested for opposing the Ukraine offensive, Maria felt the same kind of fear she guessed her ancestors, victims of repression under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, must have lived through. Now 2½ years into its military offensive, Russia has imprisoned hundreds for protesting or speaking out against the campaign -- even in private -- in a crackdown that has paralyzed the Kremlin's domestic critics. "It's not normal when you start behaving like your ancestors did. Twitching every time the phone rings ... thinking all the time about who you are talking with and what you are talking about," Maria, a 47-year-old from Moscow, told AFP. "My fear is growing." Leafing through a book with photos of victims of Stalin's purges, Maria pointed to her great-grandfather. Of Polish origin, he was declared an "enemy of the people" and executed in 1938 for "spying." He was posthumously rehabilitated after Stalin's death in 1953. His wife was also targeted, spending four years in the gulag, the Soviet network of harsh prison labor camps. Maria's grandmother, who had to live with the stigma of her parents being dubbed "enemies of the people," constantly worried she too would be arrested. Maria now feels a similar fear, concerned she could be labelled a "foreign agent" -- a modern-day label with Stalin-era connotations that is used to marginalize critics of President Vladimir Putin's regime. Self-censorship Putin's Russia also has harsher legal tools at its disposal to target its opponents. Under military censorship laws, people can be convicted for up to 15 years for spreading "false information" about the military campaign in Ukraine. In such a climate, Maria, an English professor at a university, is cautious about how she behaves and what she says in public. Outside her circle of close friends, she hides her pacifist convictions and her fondness for Ukrainian culture. She doesn't discuss politics with her colleagues, and lives in fear that somebody could denounce her for reading Western news or social media sites blocked in Russia that she accesses through a VPN. English itself is now considered an "enemy language" that raises suspicions, said Maria, who asked for her surname to be withheld. When she is reading news articles on her phone on public transport, she said she "immediately closes" the page and starts playing a game "if I realize there is a person next to me not reading anything but just looking around." Fearing her phone will be searched at passport control, she cleanses it before traveling of any chats where the fighting in Ukraine might have been mentioned. She is also afraid to wear her vyshyvanka, a traditional stitched Ukrainian shirt, in public, and shuns combining yellow and blue clothes -- the colors of the Ukrainian flag. 'Do not dare' After a brief eruption of anticonflict rallies in February 2022, the Kremlin has since stymied almost all shows of public opposition. "People do not dare to protest, do not dare to speak out," said Svetlana Gannushkina, a prominent Russian rights activist who has been labelled a "foreign agent." Heavy sentences for regime critics along with harsh treatment of prisoners has scared many into silence, she said. Gannushkina pointed to what she called a "historical, maybe even genetic, fear" in a country that has seen multiple bouts of political repression -- from serfdom in the Russian Empire, the Bolsheviks' "Red Terror" after the 1917 Revolution and the 1930s purges under Stalin. Her Memorial group worked to preserve the memory of victims of Communist repression and campaigned against modern rights violations until Russian authorities shut it down in 2021. Through history, repression has repeatedly "divided society into those who were ready to submit and those who did not want to, understood that resistance leads to nothing, and left," Gannushkina told AFP. "History has made a kind of natural selection. ... And now we've got a whole generation of people who are not ready to resist." 'Slave to fear' For Soviet dissident Alexander Podrabinek, 71, fear "is not an ethnic, national or genetic peculiarity" specific to Russia. "I have visited several totalitarian countries besides the Soviet Union and the situation is basically the same everywhere," he told AFP. "Fear is the main obstacle to a normal life in our country. ... Fear demoralizes people, deprives them of their freedom." "Someone who is afraid is no longer free. They become a slave to their fear, living without being able to realize their potential," he added. Podrabinek was exiled to Russia's Siberia in 1978 and then imprisoned in 1981 after writing a book on punitive psychiatry in the USSR. Despite pressure from the KGB security services, he refused to leave the country. "The only thing that can overcome fear," he said, "is the conviction that you are right." 

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Yangon, Myanmar — Myanmar's junta chief made a rare request Saturday for foreign aid to cope with deadly floods that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people who have endured three years of war. Floods and landslides have killed almost 300 people in Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand in the wake of Typhoon Yagi, which dumped a colossal deluge of rain when it hit the region last weekend. In Myanmar more than 235,000 people have been forced from their homes by floods, the junta said Friday, piling further misery on the country where war has raged since the military seized power in 2021. "Officials from the government need to contact foreign countries to receive rescue and relief aid to be provided to the victims," Min Aung Hlaing said on Friday, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. "It is necessary to manage rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures as quickly as possible," he was quoted as saying. The junta gave a death toll on Friday of 33, while earlier in the day the country's fire department said rescuers had recovered 36 bodies. A military spokesman said it had lost contact with some areas of the country and was investigating reports that dozens had been buried in landslides in a gold-mining area in the central Mandalay region. Aid restrictions Myanmar's military has previously blocked or frustrated humanitarian assistance from abroad. Last year it suspended travel authorizations for aid groups trying to reach around a million victims of powerful Cyclone Mocha that hit the west of the country. At the time the United Nations slammed that decision as "unfathomable." AFP has contacted a spokesperson for the U.N. in Myanmar for comment. After cyclone Nargis killed at least 138,000 people in Myanmar in 2008, the then-junta was accused of blocking emergency aid and initially refusing to grant access to humanitarian workers and supplies. Military trucks carried small rescue boats to flood-hit areas around the military-built capital Naypyidaw on Saturday, AFP reporters said. On Friday hundreds of villagers waded or swam through chin-high waters to safety following floods around the capital. Some told AFP they had sheltered in trees overnight to escape the raging flood waters below. State media said flooding in the area around the capital had caused landslides and destroyed electricity towers, buildings, roads, bridges and houses. More than 2.7 million people were already displaced in Myanmar by conflict triggered by the junta's 2021 coup.

JUBA, South Sudan — The government in South Sudan has postponed elections scheduled for December for two years citing the need to complete processes such as a census, the drafting of a permanent constitution and the registration of political parties. The Presidential Adviser on National Security Tut Gatluak on Friday said the extension would provide an opportunity to complete critical processes before the new election date of December 22, 2026. This is the second time the country, which gained independence in 2011, is postponing elections and extending a transitional period that started in February 2020. President Salva Kiir and his former rival turned deputy, Riek Machar, signed a peace agreement in 2018 that ended a five-year civil war in which more than 400,000 people died. Cabinet Affairs Minister Martin Elia Lomuro said the extension followed recommendations from both electoral institutions and the security sector. Last month, the chairperson of National Election Commission, Professor Abednego Akok, told The Associated Press the country was behind the electoral calendar, which required voter registration to have started in June but was still pending due to a shortage of funds. The country is going through an economic crisis that has seen civil servants go unpaid for almost one year, after it's oil exports were affected by a damaged pipeline in war-torn neighboring Sudan through which it exports. The Tumaini initiative peace talks that have been going on in neighboring Kenya, believed to provide a foundation for the inclusion of non-signatory groups to sustain peace, have also stalled. A new security act that allows for warrantless detentions became law in August despite concerns from human rights groups that it would create fear in the runup to the elections. Andrea Mach Mabior, an independent political analyst, warned that any sham elections may result in a waste of resources and chaos. "Going for elections that do not meet international standards will be a waste of money," Mabior told the AP. But others like Edmund Yakani, executive director of the Community Empowerment Progress Organization, said delays to the elections or any extension of the transitional period would create a possibility of violence erupting across the fragile country. "If we fail to conduct the elections in December 2024 the chance of the country turning into violence is higher than if we go for the elections," Yakani told the AP in August. The country, which has gone through the shocks of civil war and climate change is in need of humanitarian aid with an estimated 9 million people — 73% of the country's population — projected to be in need of humanitarian assistance during 2024, according to the 2024 UN Humanitarian Needs Overview for South Sudan.

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BANGKOK — Dozens of Hong Kong journalists and their families have been harassed and intimidated in the past three months, according to the chair of a local press club. The Hong Kong Journalists Association or HKJA said Friday it had tracked "systematic" and "organized" attacks on journalists from June to August this year. At least 15 journalists and their family members, employers and neighbors were harassed both online and offline, the press club said. Selina Cheng, the chair of the HKJA, said in a press conference Friday that it is the biggest case of intimidation that the association has ever seen. "I don’t believe this is right, and that’s why we are making a loud call today to say we do not accept such behavior," she said. "This type of intimidation and harassment, which includes sharing false and defamatory content and death threats, damages press freedom," she added. Journalists from multiple Hong Kong media outlets have been affected, with anonymous threats and harassment made via social media email or in the mail, the HKJA said in a statement. Some of those targeted received threats to their personal safety and were warned to give up their employment or position within associations, the HKJA added. "HKJA has gathered detailed information on a number of affected journalists and organisations," the statement read. Those affected include two journalism education institutions and 13 media outlets, including the executive committee of the HKJA, Hong Kong Free Press, InMediaHK, and HK Feature. Many of the letters and emails warned that association with the named organizations or people could be a violation of Hong Kong’s national security laws. The emails and letters were sent anonymously, with emails sent from Microsoft Outlook accounts. On social media, posts showed photos of journalists and members of the HKJA executive committee pictured alongside images of knives, blood, shooting targets and "memorial" signs. The Hong Kong Free Press condemned the attacks. In a statement shared on social media, it said that the landlord of the news website’s director, Tom Grundy, had received threatening letters, saying "unimaginable consequences" would occur unless Grundy was evicted from his property. Grundy reported the threats to police, the news website said. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders or RSF called on the international community to take action. "We strongly condemn this harassment campaign led against the independent media outlets that managed to survive the previous waves of government repression," said Cedric Alviani, RSF’s Asia-Pacific bureau director. "We urge the international community to intensify its pressure on the Chinese regime so press freedom is fully restored in the territory." VOA requested comment late Friday from the Hong Kong Police Force but did not immediately receive a response. Hong Kong’s undersecretary for security, Michael Cheuk, told media "no one should be intimidated, insulted, or so-called harassed." Cheuk urged anyone who felt under pressure to report it to law agencies, Reuters reported. The HKJA said that it has contacted Meta, which owns Facebook, and Wikimedia Foundation, the two main platforms used in the harassment campaign. Cheng told VOA she believes a person or group of people are responsible. "Bots means they are machine-controlled. I don’t think that’s the case," she added. Details of the intimidation campaign come as critics warn that press freedom is being eroded in Hong Kong. Since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 — which carries life imprisonment for those found guilty of what are deemed as sedition, subversion, foreign interference or terrorism — news outlets have shuttered and there is greater self-censorship on sensitive issues, say media experts. Activists, political figures, lawmakers and reporters are cautious about speaking on the record to the media, with most declining to be interviewed for fear of reprisal. Media unions like the Hong Kong Journalist Association have also come under pressure, after being criticized by authorities and Chinese state media for alleged links to activist organizations. The governments of Hong Kong and China have said that the security law has brought stability back to the former British colony. But since 2020, dozens of people have been arrested under the legislation. At least 28 of those arrested were journalists or press freedom defenders. In August, two journalists from the now-defunct Stand News website were found guilty of sedition in a landmark case. And the pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai is in prison and on trial under the national security law for charges he denies.  

Severe flooding in northeastern Nigeria has killed at least 30 people and affected more than 1 million others, according to national emergency officials. Meanwhile, there’s desperation in camps housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Timothy Obiezu reports from Maidgurui.

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baghdad — Iraqi forces and American troops have killed a senior commander with the Islamic State group who was wanted by the United States, as well as several other prominent militants, Iraq's military said Friday.  The operation in Iraq's western Anbar province began in late August, the Iraqi military said, and involved members of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service and Iraq's air force.  Among the dead was an IS commander from Tunisia, known as Abu Ali Al-Tunisi; the U.S. Treasury Department had offered $5 million for information about him. Also killed was Ahmad Hamed Zwein, the IS deputy commander in Iraq.  Despite their defeat, attacks by IS sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria have been on the rise over the past years, with scores of people killed or wounded.  Friday's announcement was not the first news of the operation.  Two weeks ago, officials said that the U.S. military and Iraq launched a joint raid targeting suspected IS militants in the country's western desert that killed at least 15 people and left seven American troops hurt.  Five of the American troops were wounded in the raid itself, while two others suffered injuries from falls during the operation. One who suffered a fall was transported out of the region, while one of the wounded was evacuated for further treatment, a U.S. defense official said at the time, speaking on condition of anonymity.  In Friday's announcement, the Iraqi military said the operation also confiscated weapons and computers, smartphones and 10 explosives belts. It added that 14 IS commanders were identified after DNA tests were conducted. It made no mention of the 15th person killed and whether that person had also been identified.  The U.S. military has not commented on the August raid. The Islamic State group seized territory at the height of its power and declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 but was defeated in Iraq in 2017. In March 2019, the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled in eastern Syria.  At its peak, the group ruled an area half the size of the United Kingdom where it enforced its extreme interpretation of Islam, which included attacks on religious minority groups and harsh punishment of Muslims deemed to be apostates. Earlier Friday, the U.S. Central Command said its forces killed an IS attack cell member in a strike in eastern Syria. It added that the individual was planting an improvised explosive device for a planned attack against anti-IS coalition forces and their partners, an apparent reference to Syria's Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.  In August last year, the U.S. had agreed to enter into talks to transition U.S. and anti-IS coalition forces from their long-standing role in assisting Iraq in combating IS. There are approximately 2,500 U.S. troops in the country, and their departure will take into account the security situation on the ground, and the capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces.

BEIJING — Starting next year, China will raise its retirement age for workers, which is now among the youngest in the world's major economies, in an effort to address its shrinking population and aging work force. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's legislature, passed the new policy Friday after a sudden announcement earlier in the week that it was reviewing the measure, state broadcaster CCTV announced. The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and for women to 55 or 58 years depending on their jobs. The current retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women doing white-collar work. "We have more people coming into the retirement age, and so the pension fund is (facing) high pressure. That's why I think it's now time to act seriously," said Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Victoria University in Australia who studies China's population and its ties to the economy. The previous retirement ages were set in the 1950's, when life expectancy was only around 40 years, Peng said. The policy will be implemented starting in January, according to the announcement from China's legislature. The change will take effect progressively based on people's birthdates. For example, a man born in January 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 7 months in August 2032, according to a chart released along with the policy. A man born in May 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 8 months in January 2033. Demographic pressures made the move long overdue, experts say. By the end of 2023, China counted nearly 300 million people over the age of 60. By 2035, that figure is projected to be 400 million, larger than the population of the U.S. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences had previously projected that the public pension fund will run out of money by that year. Pressure on social benefits such as pensions and social security is hardly a China-specific problem. The U.S. also faces the issue as analysis shows that currently, the Social Security fund won't be able to pay out full benefits to people by 2033. "This is happening everywhere," said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. "But in China with its large elderly population, the challenge is much larger." That is on top of fewer births, as younger people opt out of having children, citing high costs. In 2022, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported that for the first time the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of the year than the previous year, a turning point from population growth to decline. In 2023, the population shrank further, by 2 million people. What that means is that the burden of funding elderly people's pensions will be divided among a smaller group of younger workers, as pension payments are largely funded by deductions from people who are currently working. Researchers measure that pressure by looking at a number called the dependency ratio, which counts the number of people over the age of 65 compared to the number of workers under 65. That number was 21.8% in 2022, according to government statistics, meaning that roughly five workers would support one retiree. The percentage is expected to rise, meaning fewer workers will be shouldering the burden of one retiree.

pentagon — A U.S. MQ-9 drone was struck but safely recovered while operating in the Middle East this week, a U.S. defense official told VOA on Friday. "We can confirm that a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone was struck but then landed safely and was recovered by U.S. partner forces on September 9. An investigation into the incident is underway. There were no reported injuries," the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss national security sensitivities, said in a statement. The news came days after Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants claimed they shot down an MQ-9 drone flying over that country. Houthi spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a prerecorded video message Sunday that the drone had been shot down over Yemen's Marib province, home to key oil and gas fields. The province has been held by allies of a Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with the Houthis for years. It was unclear from the U.S. statement where in the Middle East the drone was struck or who struck it. It was also unclear if the drone was struck and recovered on the same day — Monday — or struck before the Monday recovery. When VOA asked for clarification, it was told there were "no additional details to share at this time." The Houthis have downed U.S. drones several times since 2014, when the Iranian-backed group seized Yemen's capital. The attacks on U.S. drones, along with attacks on commercial and military vessels transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, have drastically increased since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The Houthis' continuous assault campaign has disrupted commercial shipping in the important corridor, prompting many shipping companies to reroute ships. The militants have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October, seizing one, sinking two and killing at least four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets. The Houthi militant campaign began after Israel launched a retaliatory attack against Hamas in Gaza following Hamas' October 7 terror attack, and the Houthis claim they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians during the war. MQ-9 drones, also known as Reapers, cost around $30 million each, can fly up to 24 hours before landing, and can reach altitudes of about 15,000 meters. The aircraft have been flown by both the U.S. military and the CIA over Yemen for years. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press. 

washington — Recent moves by Pyongyang have focused attention on what will be one of the first major foreign policy challenges facing the next U.S. president: how to deal with North Korea’s rapidly developing nuclear threat. In a set of rapid-fire developments on Friday: — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an “exponential increase” in the size of his nation’s nuclear arsenal, according to the state-run news agency KCNA. He made the same call in speeches on Tuesday and on the last day of 2022. — State media released photos for the first time of the Nuclear Weapons Institute where North Korea processes uranium for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. The photos, which showed a sophisticated array of centrifuges, were made public as Kim toured the facility. — North Korea announced that it had tested a new type of 600 mm multiple rocket launcher the previous day. South Korea said on Thursday that North Korea test-fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the waters off the eastern coast. The developments came in the context of enhanced military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, which is believed to be helping Pyongyang to develop its weapons capabilities in exchange for munitions used in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “The threat from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs has been growing steadily and virtually unchecked over the course of several U.S. administrations,” said Evans Revere, a former State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea. “Whoever the next U.S. president is, she or he will face a more sophisticated and dangerous North Korean threat.” Revere said in an interview that the winner of the U.S. election would have to find ways to weaken the link between Moscow and Pyongyang “and demonstrate to Beijing that its ‘partnership without limits’ with Russia is a dangerous and ill-advised path that will yield no benefits” for China. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping declared in May a “new era” in opposition to the U.S. and reaffirmed the “no limits” partnership that was first announced just days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While China has held back on providing Russia with arms for its war effort, the United States has accused it of delivering electronic components and other dual-use items that are keeping Moscow’s arms industry afloat. Pyongyang, for its part, denies participating in any arms transfers to Russia, an act that would violate United Nations sanctions. But a report this week by Conflict Armament Research, a U.K.-based group that tracks weapons in armed conflicts, said parts from four North Korean missiles have been found in Ukraine. The missiles, examined by Kyiv, are either KN-23 or KN-24, known as Hwasong-11 short-range missile series, and thought to have been used in attacks in July and August, the report said. Pyongyang-Moscow military ties have also been expanded to include tourism, trade, and economic and technical cooperation. This makes the use of sanctions less effective as a policy tool to counter North Korea’s nuclear buildup, according to Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration. “That’s not as much leverage now as it was before because of the Russian-North Korean relationship,” said Samore. “The U.S. doesn’t have very strong economic leverage that it can use with North Korea.” With few obvious policy options available, the two presidential candidates – former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris – have largely confined themselves to criticizing each other’s approach without laying out any specific plans to roll back the North Korean threat. At Tuesday night’s televised debate, Harris criticized Trump for exchanging “love letters with Kim Jong Un” during his presidency while Trump disapproved of the current administration’s handling of the issue, saying, “Look at what’s going on in North Korea.” During his presidency, Trump held three summits with Kim but the diplomatic effort ultimately failed when Trump refused Kim’s demand for sanctions relief in exchange for a partial rollback of his nuclear program. There have been no formal talks between the two countries since, although the Biden administration insists it is open to negotiations without preconditions, a policy that Harris could be expected to continue if elected. The Biden administration also maintains that its goal remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, even as many experts suggest it is time to acknowledge that Pyongyang will not give up its weapons and say the international community should focus on containment. Samore predicted that a Harris administration would continue to say that “as an ultimate objective ... the U.S. seeks denuclearization in the long term.” A second Trump administration, he theorized, may say “denuclearization is no longer possible” and “accept North Korea as a nuclear power.” Robert Rapson, who served as charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, said much would depend on how the winner of the election decides to work with regional allies South Korea and Japan. “In the likely absence of any grand outreach towards Pyongyang, Harris will have to carefully manage the relationship with ally Seoul, with a focus for the foreseeable future on maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula,” he said. He added that it was “uncertain at this moment” whether Trump would feel compelled to reach out to Kim and whether he would diminish the value of the alliances with South Korea and Japan. Eunjung Cho contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met at the White House Friday as Ukraine intensifies pressure to loosen restrictions of U.S. and U.K. provided weapons to strike Russia. With the U.S. presidential election less than two months away, the next president will have to contend with ongoing conflicts and other serious foreign policy issues. A look at the differences in potential approach of each candidate and what’s at stake. And despite their historically low record of turnout, could young voters tip the scales in deciding the winner?

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

pentagon — The Pentagon says it has nearly $6 billion in funding for Ukraine left that could expire at the end of this month unless Congress or the State Department acts to extend the military's authority to draw weapons from its stockpiles to send to Kyiv. "We have $5.9 billion left in Ukraine Presidential Drawdown Authority, all but $100 million of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year," Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said Friday. "The department will continue to provide drawdown packages in the near future and is working with Congress to seek an extension of PDA [presidential drawdown] authorities beyond the end of the fiscal year." A defense official, who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity, said Congress' monthslong deadlock in passing the supplemental funding bill for Ukraine was a "contributing factor" as to why billions of dollars for weapons remained unspent. The money was expected to be allocated for Ukraine last year, but the U.S. House was unable to pass the $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan until late April of this year. Of that, about $61 billion was earmarked for Ukraine. The official said the delay left the Pentagon with less time to identify and send military aid to Kyiv from its stockpiles. The nearly $6 billion left in funding amounts to less than 10% of the aid allocated in April to address the conflict in Ukraine. Speaking in response to a VOA question earlier this month, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said the Pentagon would "use everything we can that's available to us to make sure that we are continuing to provide Ukraine what it needs, both in the short term and the long term." "We're in this fight with Ukraine for the long haul," she said. Two ways to ensure access There are two ways to make sure that access to the remaining funds will not expire at the beginning of October, Mykola Murskyj, director of advocacy for the NGO Razom for Ukraine, told VOA. The first is that Congress has to approve it again. This requires lawmakers to pass a provision that would extend the authority to use the remaining amount in the next budget year. House members from both sides of the aisle have expressed support for extending the authorities so that all the allocated funding for Kyiv can be used. "If we need to extend it, we'll extend it," Representative Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told VOA. Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, added that he would "push to get it done" if the funding was not all spent by the deadline. The second way to ensure the military can access the remaining funds is for the State Department to notify Congress of its intent to use the funds, according to Murskyj. In this case, lawmakers will not need to vote on the extension, but formal notification must be issued by the secretary of state, as has been done in the past. A State Department spokesperson would not comment on whether it would issue the extension, saying it would not discuss communications with lawmakers and their staffs, but would continue "to coordinate closely with Congress concerning the steadfast support that the United States, our allies and our partners worldwide are providing to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified war." Murskyj told VOA his advocacy group was working with members of Congress to extend the funds. "However, I am not going to put all of my eggs in that basket," he said, because "it is very difficult to predict what Congress will do, and there's always the potential for some kind of last-minute derailment." In a letter to the administration, members of pro-Ukrainian nongovernmental organizations said extending these funds "would send a powerful message to Ukraine, Russia and American voters that the administration wants Ukraine to win." Kateryna Lisunova of VOA's Ukrainian Service contributed to this report.

Parenthood has become politicized this election season. As U.S. birthrates decline and more Americans choose not to start a family, some portend the collapse of the U.S. economy and society. But experts say it’s not that simple. Tina Trinh reports.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.