Voice of America’s immigration news

washington — Shortly after appearing in court for an appeal of a decision that found him liable for sexual abuse, Donald Trump stepped Friday in front of television cameras and brought up a string of past allegations of other acts of sexual misconduct, potentially reminding voters of incidents that were little-known or forgotten.  The former president has made hitting back at opponents and accusers a centerpiece of his political identity, but his performance at his namesake Manhattan office tower was startling even by Trump's own combative standards. At times he seemed to relish using graphic language and characterizations of the case, which could expose the former president to further legal challenges.  Trump's remarks came just four days before he will debate Vice President Kamala Harris, with early voting about to begin in some parts of the country and Election Day just two months away.  Trump is staying in the public eye while Harris prepares for the debate in private with her advisers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That's a reflection of their divergent campaign styles, with Trump frequently engaging with reporters — often in friendly settings — while Harris has done just one interview and no news conferences since taking President Joe Biden's place atop the Democratic ticket.  Trump on Friday repeatedly brought up Harris' lack of news conferences. But his own comments — in which he talked about the cases against him for more than half an hour without mentioning any campaign issues — threatened to cause him more legal jeopardy. And after convening reporters for what his campaign said was a news conference, Trump walked off without taking any questions.  Legal team makes arguments A jury returned a $5 million verdict finding Trump liable of sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996. His legal team made its appeal arguments Friday morning.  Juries now have twice now awarded Carroll huge sums for Trump's claiming she made up a story about him attacking her in a department store dressing room in 1996 to help her sell a memoir.  But that hasn't stopped Trump from continuing to make nearly identical statements to reporters. At his news briefing Friday, he said again that Carroll was telling a "made up, fabricated story."  Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, warned in March after a jury awarded Carroll another $83 million that she would continue to monitor Trump's comments and would consider suing again if he kept it up.  Earlier in court, he walked in quietly and passed in front of Carroll without acknowledging or looking at her.  The former president reacted at times during the proceedings, such as shaking his head when Carroll's attorney said that Trump sexually abused her client. He periodically tilted his head from side to side, but otherwise sat still and mostly alone.  A Manhattan jury in May found Trump responsible for sexual abuse. Carroll says Trump attacked her in a department store dressing room, but the former president's legal team says the verdict should be overturned because some evidence that was allowed during the trial should have been excluded while other evidence that should be excluded was allowed. He denies guilt.  In the midst of running for president and facing a series of other legal cases against him, Trump did not attend the Carroll trial and wasn't there when the charges were read — though he assailed the verdict as "a disgrace" on his social media site.  Later Friday, he's traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina, to address the Fraternal Order of Police.  More than 12 women make accusations Carroll is one of more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She went public in a 2019 memoir. Trump denied it, saying he never encountered Carroll at the store and did not know her. He has called her a "nut job" who invented her story to sell a memoir.  Trump faces unprecedented criminal and civil jeopardy for a major-party nominee.  He has separately been convicted on 34 felony counts in a New York state case related to hush money payments allegedly made to a porn actor. The judge in that case is expected to decide Friday whether to postpone Trump's sentencing.  Trump has also been ordered to pay steep civil fines for lying about his wealth for years.  And he's still contending with cases alleging his mishandling of classified documents, his actions after the 2020 election, and his activities during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — though none are likely to go to trial prior to Election Day. 

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.

Winder, Georgia — The 14-year-old suspect in a shooting that killed four people at a Georgia high school and his father, who was arrested for allowing his son to have a weapon, will stay in custody after their lawyers decided not to seek bail Friday.  Colt Gray, who has been charged with four counts of murder, is accused of using a semiautomatic assault-style rifle to kill two fellow students and two teachers Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta. His father, Colin Gray, faces related charges in the latest attempt by prosecutors to hold parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings.  The two appeared in back-to-back hearings Friday morning with about 50 onlookers in the courtroom, where workers had set out boxes of tissue along the benches, in addition to members of the media and sheriff’s deputies. Some victims' family members in the front row hugged each other and one woman clutched a stuffed animal.  During his hearing, Colt Gray, wearing khaki pants and a green shirt, was advised of his rights as well as the charges and penalties he faced for the shooting at the school where he was a student.  After the hearing, he was escorted out in shackles at the wrists and ankles. The judge then called the teen back to the courtroom to correct an earlier misstatement that his crimes could be punishable by death. Because he’s a juvenile, the maximum penalty he would face is life without parole. The judge also set another hearing for December 4. Shortly afterward, Colin Gray was brought into court dressed in a gray-striped jail uniform. Colin Gray, 54, was charged Thursday in connection with the shooting and answered questions in a barely audible croak, giving his age and saying he finished 11th grade, earning a high school equivalency diploma.  Colin Gray has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder related to the shooting, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said.  “His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Hosey said.  The charges come five months after Michigan parents Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting. They were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for not securing a firearm at home and acting indifferently to signs of their son’s deteriorating mental health before he killed four students in 2021.  The Georgia shootings have also renewed debate about safe storage laws for guns and have parents wondering how to talk to their children about school shootings and trauma.  The Barrow County hearings for the father and son came as police in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody said schools there and nationwide have received threats of violence since the Apalachee High School shooting, police said in a statement. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation also noted that numerous threats have been made to schools across the state this week.  Before Colin Gray’s arrest was reported, the AP knocked on the door of a home listed as his address seeking comment about his son’s arrest.  According to arrest warrants obtained by The Associated Press, Colt Gray is accused of using a “black semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle” to kill the two students and two teachers. Authorities have not offered any motive or explained how he obtained the gun or got it into the school.  He was charged as an adult in the deaths of Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Nine people were also hurt in Wednesday’s attack.  A neighbor remembered Schermerhorn as inquisitive when he was a little boy. Aspinwall and Irimie were both math teachers, and Aspinwall also helped coach the school's football team. Irimie, who immigrated from Romania, volunteered at a local church, where she taught dance.  Colt Gray denied threatening to carry out a school shooting when authorities interviewed him last year about a menacing post on social media, according to a sheriff’s report obtained Thursday. Conflicting evidence on the post’s origin left investigators unable to arrest anyone, the report said. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she reviewed the report from May 2023 and found nothing that would have justified bringing charges at the time.  The attack was the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control but there has been little change to national gun laws.  It was the 30th mass killing in the U.S. this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as events in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.

A school shooting in the southern state of Georgia has re-ignited the gun control debate in the US as the presidential election nears. Kamala Harris is campaigning on stricter regulations on guns, while Donald Trump wants fewer gun control rules. A conversation about Kyiv’s recent government re-organization and how right-wing victories elsewhere in Europe might affect aid to Ukraine. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is underway; what is Beijing looking for in exchange for the 51 billion dollars they’re sending to African nations. And as African nations look to modernize, some harmful tradition continues to affect the lives and health of millions of women and girls.

The Midwestern state of Indiana is testing a segment of roadway designed to charge electric vehicle batteries. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh visited the site near Lafayette, Indiana, and reports on how the technology could transform driving.

KAMPALA, UGANDA — United Nations agencies, the World Athletics Federation and others reacted with shock and anger at the death of Ugandan Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei, who died Thursday after being set on fire by her ex-boyfriend. The case is shining a light on domestic violence in the region. Human rights groups are calling for stronger legal measures to protect women who suffer at the hands of their domestic partners. Every hour, six women lose their lives to femicide worldwide, according to U.N. Women and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Thursday told reporters in Geneva that Cheptegei’s brutal murder illustrates a much bigger, and too often ignored, problem. Back in Uganda, relatives waited for Cheptegei’s body to be returned from Eldoret, Kenya, where she was being treated for severe burns after her ex-boyfriend set her on fire during a dispute Sunday. Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said Monday that Dickson Ndiema bought a can of gasoline, poured it on Cheptegei and set her ablaze during a disagreement. Ndiema was also burned and was being treated at the same hospital. Beatrice Ayikoru, secretary general of the Uganda Athletics Federation, said Cheptegei’s death is a wake-up call that many elite athletes are targeted. “This is an eye-opener for many of us in sports,” she said. “There is a silent violence against women, especially the female athletes. We need to fight for safe sports.” Cheptegei’s death is a dark reminder of what’s been happening for years. In the East African country of Kenya, gender-based violence against women athletes came to public attention in 2021 when long-distance runner Agnes Tirop was stabbed and beaten to death. In 2022, Olympic runner Damaris Muthee Mutua was found strangled. Both women lost their lives at the hands of their male partners. In a statement, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said that it was time to assess how safety policies might be enhanced to include abuse outside of the sport and protect female athletes from abuse of all kinds. In 2021, after the death of Kenyan world-record holder Tirop, fellow marathoner Viola Cheptoo Lagat started a foundation called Tirop’s Angels and has since been speaking against domestic violence. She said prize money can be at the root of these attacks. “When they come from races, their boyfriends want their money, and then they go misuse the money,” she said. “And then another problem is the society. We have allowed it to happen that we don’t even condemn it anymore. We’ve made it a norm to see a woman being beaten — to see somebody snatching somebody’s property and us not screaming out loud about it until somebody is lost.” Kipchumba Murkomen, Kenya’s cabinet secretary for youth affairs and sports, said Thursday that gender violence has again reared its head in the world of elite sports, insisting that government officials are obligated to seek justice. Wangechi Wachira, executive director of the Center for Rights Education and Awareness, a feminist nongovernmental organization in Kenya, said it is time to stop calling these murders domestic violence, but rather acts of femicide. “By the time a woman has the courage to go to a police station, it means that they’ve gotten another level of courage to say, finally, beyond the social structures, ‘I am moving to a police station, then I can be able to get help.’ We don’t see the wheels of justice moving as fast as they should,” Whachira said. Cheptoo said there’s more work to be done. “It has to be a whole community coming together and working towards ending GBV,”she said, referring to gender-based violence. “That way we don’t have to say, ‘Not again.’” Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press.

New York — A dozen U.N. Security Council ambassadors strongly condemned on Friday the Afghan Taliban’s recent “morality law” which further erodes the rights of women and girls in that country and called for its reversal.  “On top of the existing edicts, this new directive confirms and extends wide-ranging and far-reaching restrictions on personal conduct and provides inspectors with broad powers of enforcement, thus deepening the already unacceptable restrictions on the enjoyment by all Afghans of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” said Japan’s U.N. ambassador, Yamazaki Kazuyuki.  “Day by day, Afghan women and girls lose their opportunities and hope for their future,” he added. “This is unacceptable.”  Envoys from Ecuador, France, Guyana, Malta, Mozambique, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States joined him as he read the statement before reporters.  The only Security Council members not to lend their support to the statement were Algeria, China and Russia.  On August 21, the Taliban announced the ratification of a detailed “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,” which includes among its restrictions a prohibition on Afghan women using their voices in public and orders them to completely cover their bodies and faces outdoors. Women are also forbidden from interacting with non-Muslims, using public transport alone, and looking at men who are not their husband or blood relative. The Taliban government, which is officially not recognized by any country, has dismissed U.N.-led foreign criticism of the law as offensive.   Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, asserted this week that “non-Muslims should first educate themselves about Islamic laws and respect Islamic values” before expressing concerns or rejecting the law. “We find it blasphemous to our Islamic Sharia when objections are raised without understanding it,” he said.   The United States, European Union, United Nations and others have condemned the edict, the latest in a series that have eroded the rights of Afghan women and girls.  “Today, we once again urge the Taliban to swiftly reverse all the policies and practices that restrict the enjoyment by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Ambassador Kazuyuki said.  “The Taliban need to listen and respond to the voices of Afghan women and girls by respecting their rights to education and for women to work, as well as the freedoms of expression and movement. It is a prerequisite for a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.”  The Japanese envoy noted that the 15-nation Security Council has repeatedly discussed the worsening human rights situation in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over in August 2021 and have “raised a united voice on multiple occasions.”  Last year, the council unanimously adopted Resolution 2681 which calls for the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and girls in Afghanistan.  The 12 Security Council members also called on those countries with influence over the Taliban to promote the “urgent reversal” of the policy, which violates Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights treaties to which it is a signatory.  They also urged the Taliban to allow the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan to visit the country. The Taliban have publicly said they will not allow Richard Bennett entry.  The U.N.’s agency for gender equality and women’s empowerment, U.N. Women, warned in a statement on August 28 that the new law is “effectively erasing women from public life and granting broad enforcement powers to the morality police.”  U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo warned last month that the law would only impede Afghanistan’s return to the international fold.  The Security Council plans to next discuss Afghanistan in a meeting on September 18.  Ayaz Gul in Islamabad contributed to this report.   

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.

Ukraine has a new foreign minister, one of the latest moves as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy embarks on the largest overhaul of his administration since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports on the appointment of nine new ministers in the Cabinet shakeup. Videographer: Daniil Batushchak

baghdad — The United States and Iraq have reached an understanding on plans for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces from Iraq, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The plan, which has been broadly agreed but requires a final go-ahead from both capitals and an announcement date, would see hundreds of troops leave by September 2025, with the remainder departing by the end of 2026, the sources said. "We have an agreement, it’s now just a question of when to announce it," a senior U.S. official said. The U.S. and Iraq are also seeking to establish a new advisory relationship that could see some U.S. troops remain in Iraq after the drawdown. An official announcement was initially scheduled for weeks ago but was postponed because of regional escalation related to Israel's war in Gaza and to iron out some remaining details, the sources said. The sources include five U.S. officials, two officials from other coalition nations, and three Iraqi officials, all speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Several sources said the deal could be announced this month. Farhad Alaaldin, foreign affairs adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, said technical talks with Washington on the coalition drawdown had concluded. "We are now on the brink of transitioning the relationship between Iraq and members of the international coalition to a new level, focusing on bilateral relations in military, security, economic, and cultural areas," he said. He did not comment on details of the plan and the U.S.-led coalition did not respond to emailed questions. The agreement follows more than six months of talks between Baghdad and Washington, initiated by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in January amid attacks by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups on U.S. forces stationed at Iraqi bases. The rocket and drone attacks have killed three American troops and wounded dozens more, resulting in several rounds of deadly U.S. retaliation that threatened government efforts to stabilize Iraq after decades of conflict. The U.S. has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to combat Islamic State as it rampaged through the two countries. The group once held roughly a third of Iraq and Syria but was territorially defeated in Iraq at the end of 2017 and in Syria in 2019. Iraq had demonstrated its ability to handle any remaining threat, Alaaldin said. The U.S. initially invaded Iraq in 2003, toppling dictator Saddam Hussein before withdrawing in 2011, but returned in 2014 at the head of the coalition to fight Islamic State. Other nations, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, also contribute hundreds of troops to the coalition. Under the plan, all coalition forces would leave the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Anbar province and significantly reduce their presence in Baghdad by September 2025. U.S. and other coalition troops are expected to remain in Irbil, in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region, for approximately one additional year, until around the end of 2026, to facilitate ongoing operations against Islamic State in Syria. Exact details of troop movements are being kept secret because of their military sensitivity. The drawdown would mark a notable shift in Washington's military posture in the region. While primarily focused on countering Islamic State, U.S. officials acknowledge their presence also serves as a strategic position against Iranian influence. This position has grown more important as Israel and Iran escalate their regional confrontation, with U.S. forces in Iraq shooting down rockets and drones fired towards Israel in recent months, according to U.S. officials. Prime Minister al-Sudani has stated that while he appreciates their help, U.S. troops have become a magnet for instability, frequently targeted and responding with strikes often not coordinated with the Iraqi government. The agreement, when announced, would likely present a political win for al-Sudani as he balances Iraq's position as an ally of both Washington and Tehran. The first phase of the drawdown would end one month before Iraqi parliamentary polls set for October 2025. The State Department and U.S. Embassy in Baghdad did not respond to requests for comment.

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.

WASHINGTON — Hiring by America’s employers picked up a bit in August from July’s tepid pace, and the unemployment rate dipped for the first time since March in a sign that the job market may be cooling but remains sturdy.   Employers added a modest 142,000 jobs, up from a scant 89,000 in July, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2% from 4.3% in July, which had been the highest level in nearly three years. Hiring in June and July, though, was revised sharply down by a combined 86,000. July's job gain was the smallest since the pandemic.   “The labor market is weakening,” said Eugenio Aleman, chief economist at Raymond James Financial. “It is not falling apart, but it is weakening.”   The cooling jobs figures underscore why the Federal Reserve is set to cut its key interest rate when it next meets September 17-18, with inflation falling steadily back to its target of 2%. Friday’s mixed jobs report raises the question of how large a rate cut the Fed will announce. It could decide to reduce its benchmark rate by a typical quarter-point or by a larger-than-usual half-point. In the coming months, the policymakers will also decide how much and how fast to cut rates at their subsequent meetings.    Christopher Waller, an influential Fed policymaker, suggested in a speech Friday that the central bank is leaning toward a quarter-point reduction this month. But he left the door open for larger rate cuts, if necessary, later this year.   “I do not expect this first cut to be the last," Waller said in a speech at the University of Notre Dame. "With inflation and employment near our longer-run goals and the labor market moderating, it is likely that a series of reductions will be appropriate.”   “I am open-minded," he added, “about the size and pace of cuts, which will be based on what the data tell us about the evolution of the economy.”   Collectively, Friday’s figures depict a job market slowing under the pressure of high interest rates but still growing. Many businesses appear to be holding off on adding jobs, in part because of uncertainty about the outcome of the presidential election and about how fast the Fed will reduce its benchmark rate in the coming months.   Daniel Zhao, lead economist at the career website Glassdoor, said some of the details in the August jobs report indicate that businesses' demand for workers is slowing. The number of Americans who are working part time but would prefer full-time work rose, extending a year-long trend.   “When you look under the hood, you’re seeing numbers that confirm that the job market is on that cooling trajectory," Zhao said.   America's labor market is now in an unusual place: Jobholders are mostly secure, with layoffs low, historically speaking. Yet with the pace of hiring having weakened, landing a job has become harder.   In the past three months, hiring has averaged only 116,000 a month, down sharply from an average of 211,000 a year ago. And August's job gains were concentrated in just a few industries, with health care adding 44,000 jobs, restaurants, hotels and entertainment companies gaining 46,000, and construction 34,000. Steady hiring by restaurants and hotels could reflect ongoing gains in consumer spending, which rose last month even after adjusting for inflation.   In a major speech last month, Chair Jerome Powell suggested that the Fed’s policymakers have all but tamed inflation through high interest rates and don’t want to see the job market weaken further. The central bank is trying to achieve a “soft landing,” in which it succeeds in driving inflation down from a 9.1% peak in 2022 to its target level without causing a recession. A lower Fed benchmark rate will lead eventually to lower borrowing costs for a range of consumer and business loans, including mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.   For now, companies are posting fewer job openings and adding fewer workers, while Americans are far less likely to quit their jobs now than they were soon after the economy rebounded from the pandemic. In a strong job market, workers are more likely to quit, usually for higher-paying opportunities. With quits declining, it means fewer jobs are opening up for people out of work.   Becky Frankiewicz, North American president of the staffing firm ManpowerGroup, said that uncertainty around the presidential election and the Fed’s next moves are causing many companies to hold back on new investments and hiring.   “There’s a whole world waiting to see what happens with our election,” she said. “We have this great waiting game. No one wants to make big moves yet.”   Still, Frankiewicz said the job market appears to be stable for now.   “The bottom isn’t falling out, and we’re not seeing a rocket ship,” she said. “It’s stability.”   A slower pace of hiring is often a precursor to layoffs — one reason why the Fed’s policymakers are now more focused on sustaining the health of the job market than on continuing to fight inflation.   Recent economic data has been mixed, elevating the importance of the jobs report, which is among the more comprehensive economic snapshots of the government issues. The Labor Department surveys roughly 119,000 businesses and government agencies and 60,000 households each month to compile the employment data.   The Fed’s Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes from the 12 regional Fed banks, reported that many employers appeared to have become pickier about whom they hired in July and August. And a survey by the Conference Board in August found that the proportion of Americans who think jobs are hard to find has been rising, a trend that has often correlated with a higher unemployment rate.   At the same time, consumer spending, the principal driver of economic growth in the United States, rose at a healthy pace in July. And the economy grew at a solid 3% annual pace in the April-June quarter.

Johannesburg — After pledging $51 billion in financial support for Africa over the next three years and positioning China as a fellow developing country in contrast to the West’s colonialist past, President Xi Jinping told dozens of African leaders gathered in Beijing this week that “the China-Africa relationship is now at its best in history.” This year’s Forum on Africa-China Cooperation, held every three years, was the first since the pandemic and China’s own economic slowdown. It comes amid growing geopolitical rivalry between Beijing and the West, and Xi was blunt in his assessment of the latter’s influence on the continent. “Modernization is an inalienable right of all countries,” he said in his opening speech to more than 50 African leaders. “But the Western approach to it has inflicted immense sufferings on developing countries.” Lucas Engel, an analyst with the Global China Initiative at Boston University, said China is reacting to increased competition in the region. “Xi’s reminder of the ‘immense suffering’ inflicted on Africa by the West in his keynote speech this year is a sharper rebuke of Africa’s Western partners than we’ve seen in the past,” he told VOA. “It is likely that China is feeling the heat as Western partners ramp up cooperation with Africa.” The theme of FOCAC 2024 was “joining hands to promote modernization,” and analysts told VOA beforehand they expected China to focus on green technology and the green energy transition, agricultural modernization and trade, and education and training. The money announced was an increase on the $40 billion pledged at the last FOCAC, in 2021, but still fell short of previous pledges, such as the $60 billion earmarked for Africa in 2018 and 2015. For some time, China has been seen to be moving away from the massive infrastructure projects of the early years of Xi’s trademark Belt and Road Initiative and toward what it has dubbed “small is beautiful projects.” Some of the announcements made at FOCAC, however, surprised analysts by bucking that trend. Xi announced China would be undertaking a $1 billion upgrade of the TAZARA railway, which will link mineral-rich, landlocked Zambia with Tanzania’s coast. He signed an agreement with the presidents of those two countries on Wednesday. “There was already a sense that infrastructure would be one of those asks that would not be entertained by the Chinese side, so I think that has come as a bit of a surprise,” Paul Nantulya, a research associate with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, told VOA. “I think African countries were also quite concerned about infrastructure financing. … Now it seems like the Chinese side may have finally backed down,” said Nantulya, who was in Beijing for FOCAC. “That would indicate that China does not want to be locked out of the infrastructure game, given what the U.S. is doing with the Lobito Corridor.” Nantulya was referring to the G7-backed strategic economic corridor that Washington says is designed to create jobs and enhance export potential for resource-rich Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. As the first big infrastructure project in Africa the U.S. has undertaken in a generation, Washington recently announced it could extend the railway to Tanzania and on to the Indian Ocean. “China’s offer to refurbish the TAZARA railway connecting copper-rich Zambia with Tanzania on Africa’s eastern coast appears to be a direct answer to the Western-led Lobito Corridor,” said Engel of Boston University. Did African leaders get what they wanted? China was not the only country with an agenda at FOCAC, as African leaders also laid out their priorities for relations with their largest trading partner. For South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who leads the continent’s most developed economy, the primary aim was to reduce a long-standing trade imbalance and to get China to import more agricultural products. He also wants to see more value-added exports made in South Africa. Ramaphosa embarked on a state visit to China ahead of FOCAC and made several announcements, including that South Africa would sign up for China’s Beidou satellite navigation system and inviting Chinese electric vehicle company BYD to use South Africa as a manufacturing hub. Xi said China would in turn expand market access to African agricultural products and exempt 33 countries from import tariffs. He also announced that China would support 60,000 vocational training opportunities for Africans. Nantulya said there seemed to be a lot of attention to detail regarding this year’s announcements. “What that tells me is that the Chinese side has been responding to the African side,” he said. “You know, the African delegates are very mindful of the fact that one of the big criticisms of FOCAC is that it's very high on pledges and very low on actual concrete tasks.” Yunnan Chen, a researcher at London-based research group ODI, told VOA the pledged areas of cooperation spanned almost every sector. “I think what's interesting to note about them is this very striking emphasis on areas of technological cooperation — in industry, in agriculture, in science and technology,” she said. “There's a lot of emphasis on training and initiatives that would support knowledge transfer from China to African parties, and I think this is something that's been very much an African demand for many years,” she added. “Even though we have seen a decline in Chinese financing in Africa and we know that China is experiencing a lot of domestic financial troubles, there's still a very clear and very emphatic political commitment,” she said. Aside from Ramaphosa’s trade demands, other African leaders who held bilateral meetings with Xi had specific areas of concern. Kenyan President William Ruto had infrastructure at the top of his list, asking that Beijing fund an extension of Kenya’s Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway. It marked a sharp change from Ruto’s campaign rhetoric, in which he criticized his predecessor’s policy of taking Chinese loans. Ruto made the request even though Kenya is heavily in debt to Western financial institutions such as the IMF and lenders such as China and has been experiencing violent anti-government protests. Other key areas of cooperation announced at the conclusion of FOCAC included the military and security sectors, with Beijing vowing to allocate some $140 million in military assistance grants alongside training programs for thousands of military personnel from across the continent. Green energy was also a focus, with Xi announcing China would launch 30 new clean energy projects on the continent.

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.

For over a century, dams have blocked fish migration on California’s second-largest river. VOA’s Matt Dibble takes us to the removal of the last of four dams, a major victory for Native Americans who depend on the river.

Washington — Unlike Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign slogan, "I'm With Her," there is no overt gender messaging in Kamala Harris' run for the presidency in 2024. Yet, gender is on the ballot as the Harris campaign and that of her Republican rival, Donald Trump, present competing narratives on masculinity, the latest front line in America's culture war. The contrast was clear at the parties' conventions. At the Republican National Convention, retired pro wrestler Hulk Hogan took off his suit jacket and ripped off his shirt to reveal the muscles bulging under his Trump-Vance tank top. Hogan was preceded by Tucker Carlson, TV personality and star of "The End of Men," a documentary on American men's "collapsing testosterone levels." The message was unambiguous: Former President Trump, who days earlier had survived an assassination attempt, is the self-proclaimed "warrior" who will "Make America Great Again." He was introduced by Dana White Jr., CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship, and a day earlier walked into the arena to James Brown's song, "It’s A Man's Man's Man's World." The audience greeted him with raised fists, chanting "Fight, fight, fight!" Trump's persona is coupled with the traditionalist view of gender roles of his running mate, JD Vance. The Ohio senator introduced his spouse as "my beautiful wife, Usha, an incredible lawyer and a better mom." The 40-year-old father of three and Catholic convert has advocated pro-natalist views, including in a 2021 interview where he criticized the "anti-child ideology" of women who do not want to bear children. In the same year, he called Harris and other high-profile Democrats "childless cat ladies" who didn't have a "direct stake" in the country. Harris has two stepchildren from her marriage to Doug Emhoff but no biological children. At the Democratic National Convention, speakers focused on reproductive rights and all-gender inclusivity. As the country's first female vice president, Harris has not focused much on her own gender identity. But her take on gender roles was in clear view as she ended her acceptance address at the DNC, sharing the stage with her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Emhoff. Before entering politics, Walz was a high school teacher and football coach who served in the military. Emhoff is a lawyer who stopped his practice to dedicate himself full time to being the country's first second gentleman. In their professional and personal backing of Harris, Walz and Emhoff, respectively, are outliers in the traditional thinking on presidential partnerships, where women usually play the supporting role. Toxic vs tonic masculinity Walz and Emhoff are portrayed by the left as embodying "tonic masculinity," a term coined to contrast stereotypical male dominance over other groups that some brand as "toxic masculinity." Trump and Vance have "evidenced a desire for and a love for this old style of masculinity," said Christine Emba, author of Rethinking Sex: A Provocation. "The idea that men are in charge and are making the decisions," she told VOA. "A particular kind of man, a sort of theatrically strong man, a man who has paternalistic control of the family." In many ways, Walz is a counter to that narrative. While he is known for being an avid hunter and outdoorsman who shares home and car repair tips, he is also famous for his award-winning "hotdish" recipe. On gender inclusivity and reproductive freedom — key issues for Democratic voters — Walz speaks from personal experience as a former faculty adviser for a high school LGBTQ club and by going public with his family's struggle with infertility. In doing so, he is messaging empathy and vulnerability, traits that stand in contrast with more traditional masculine leadership qualities, such as assertiveness and dominance. That view of leadership is shifting, said Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Voters have shown they also value "warmth and compassion and empathy, all of which are traits that are more likely to be associated with femininity," she told VOA. The campaign is positioning Walz to resonate with voters who seek those values in their leaders. At the same time, they hope his handy and helpful Midwestern dad persona will appeal to more traditional voters. "Guys who hunt, the guys who fix their cars, the dads, the heads of families, showing that he can still be male and masculine, but also in support of a female candidate," Emba said. This narrative stands in contrast to the Trump-Vance take on masculinity that aligns with the campaign's broader Make America Great Again message, said Matthew Levendusky, professor of political science at University of Pennsylvania. Their strategy is to appeal to a particular vision of American life, "a kind of imagined past," he told VOA, where a woman's value "comes from being a wife and mother." The gender divide Polls show an overwhelming divide along gender lines. Women favor Harris and men favor Trump, with the gap most apparent among young people. Anxiety over shifting gender roles may be a contributing factor, coupled with the fact that American men are doing less well than women in general. In his book, Of Boys and Men, Richard Reeves, a senior fellow focusing on gender inequality at Brookings Institution, outlined various indicators, including education, income, health and access to a social support network, to argue that while American girls and women are making huge strides in recent decades, boys and young men are struggling. "Profound economic and social changes of recent decades have many losing ground in the classroom, the workplace and in the family," Reeves wrote. "While the lives of women have changed, the lives of many men have remained the same or even worsened." At the same time, with the rise of the #MeToo feminist movement, liberals were increasingly seeking to disrupt the way that power is distributed, Dittmar said. These conversations can be alienating for some men. "There was a sense that their masculinity and their manhood was in some ways precarious, and that they needed to reassert or reclaim that power that has been threatened or lost," she said. Male grievance The Trump campaign has been aggressively courting male voters through what's called the manosphere — online forums with male-centric audiences that promote masculinity and, in many cases, opposition to feminism. It's a continuation of Trump’s 2016 strategy of "tapping into male grievance politics," particularly that of white males, Dittmar said. On the other hand, Democrats are leaning into rights to abortion and in vitro fertilization. All these issues, in addition to how the candidates "talk about women and talk to women" could influence voter enthusiasm by motivating turnout among different groups, she added. In many places around the world there is societal discomfort about how quickly women are coming into roles outside the home. However, competing narratives on masculinity may be unique to American politics. Countries with female leaders have not faced the same struggles; neither in Northern European countries that in general are more advanced in closing the gender gap, nor in developing countries where female leaders are often related to the male leaders who preceded them. "There's sort of a generational continuity that is soothing and attractive," Emba said. "In the United States, we just simply haven't had that." Instead, the idea of women's role in society "feels very unstable in a comparatively new way," she added. "America is experiencing that quite strongly in this moment, it's just showing up everywhere."

Unlike Hillary Clinton — whose 2016 campaign featured the slogan “I’m With Her,” Kamala Harris has no overt gender messaging in her 2024 presidential run. Yet both her gender — and that of her rival, Donald Trump — are on the ballot. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara looks at the two campaigns and their competing narratives on masculinity.