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Pentagon — The United States is planning to send Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, to China's top annual security forum this month, two U.S. defense officials have confirmed to VOA. One of the officials, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity ahead of the forum, called Chase’s upcoming attendance "consistent participation from the U.S."  Chase is more senior than the U.S. representative at last year’s Xiangshan Forum, but his rank is on par with historical norms for Pentagon representatives who attend the annual meeting. The Pentagon did not send a representative from 2020-2022 due to the pandemic. "This engagement is meant to be more of the same" to keep the lines of military communication open and ensure that China has a clear understanding of the United States’ position on global security issues, the defense official told VOA.  The forum comes on the heels of a face-to-face meeting in Singapore between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, in late May. Austin spoke with Dong for the first time in April, marking the first dialogue between the two countries’ defense chiefs in nearly 17 months. The top U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown, spoke with his Chinese military counterpart in December. “Of course talks can make a difference. Having those mil-to-mil communications, those senior channels open, actually allows for the avoidance of a miscalculation,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters earlier this year. Chinese state media reports say that more than 90 countries and international organizations plan to send delegations to Beijing for the September 12-14 forum. Reuters was first to report the decision. Beijing has asserted its desire to control access to the South China Sea and bring democratically ruled Taiwan under its control, by force if necessary. President Joe Biden has said U.S. troops would defend the island from attack. China’s defense ministry has said the Taiwan issue is the "core of China's core interests.” Tensions have risen sharply between China and U.S. ally the Philippines in the South China Sea, with China’s coast guard using water cannons to threaten Filipino fishing ships. China has also used collision and ramming tactics, undersea barriers and a military-grade laser to stop Philippine resupply and patrol missions. Last year, Austin and his Philippine counterpart established the U.S.-Philippines Bilateral Defense Guidelines, which reaffirmed that an armed attack in the Pacific – including anywhere in the South China Sea – on either of their public vessels, aircraft, or armed forces, would invoke mutual defense commitments outlined in the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is out as President Zelenskyy reorganizes his government. A victory for a right-wing political party in Germany and what it might mean for Kyiv. The U.S. Justice Department files criminal charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other militants connected to the October 7 attack in Israel. Massive demonstrations continue as outraged Israelis continue to demand Netanyahu secures a deal to release the remaining hostages. Opposition leader Bobby Wine shot in Uganda Plus, a look at recent hostilities in the South China Sea.

Washington — The Biden administration accused Russia on Wednesday of a far-reaching effort to influence the U.S. presidential election, including by promoting disinformation and enlisting unwitting American influencers to spread propaganda on Russian state media. The actions taken by the U.S. government include sanctions against leaders of RT, a state media organization that was forced by the Justice Department to register as a foreign agent, as well as visa restrictions. Intelligence agencies have previously charged that Russia was using disinformation to try to interfere in the election.  In a speech last month, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Russia was the primary threat to the election, even as Iran raised alarm this summer for a hack of Donald Trump's campaign and an attempted breach of the then-Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign. Russian President Vladimir Putin and "his proxies are using increasingly sophisticated techniques in their interference operations. They're targeting specific voter demographics and swing-state voters to in an effort to manipulate presidential and congressional election outcomes," she said. "They're intent on co-opting unwitting Americans on social media to push narratives advancing Russian interests." Much of the concern around Russia centers on cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns designed to influence the November vote. The tactics include using state media like RT to advance anti-U.S. messages and content, as well as networks of fake websites and social media accounts that amplify the claims and inject them into American's online conversations. Typically, these networks seize on polarizing political topics such as immigration, crime or the war in Gaza. In many cases, Americans may have no idea that the content they see online either originated or was amplified by the Kremlin. "Russia is taking a whole of government approach to influence the election including the presidential race," an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said this summer during a briefing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules worked out with that office. Groups linked to the Kremlin are increasingly hiring marketing and communications firms within Russia to outsource some of the work of creating digital propaganda while also covering their tracks, the officials said during the briefing with reporters. Two such firms were the subject of new U.S. sanctions announced in March. Authorities say the two Russian companies created fake websites and social media profiles to spread Kremlin disinformation. The ultimate goal, however, is to get Americans to spread Russian disinformation without questioning its origin. People are far more likely to trust and repost information that they believe is coming from a domestic source, officials said. Fake websites designed to mimic U.S. news outlets and AI-generated social media profiles are just two methods. Messages left with the Russian Embassy were not immediately returned.

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Boeing will attempt to return its problem-plagued capsule from the International Space Station later this week — with empty seats. NASA said Wednesday that everything is on track for the Starliner capsule to undock from the space station Friday evening. The fully automated capsule will aim for a touchdown in New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range six hours later. NASA's two stuck astronauts, who flew up on Starliner, will remain behind at the orbiting lab. They'll ride home with SpaceX in February, eight months after launching on what should have been a weeklong test flight. Thruster trouble and helium leaks kept delaying their return until NASA decided that it was too risky for them to accompany Starliner back as originally planned. "It's been a journey to get here, and we're excited to have Starliner return," said NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich. NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will close the hatches between Starliner and the space station on Thursday. They are now considered full-time station crew members along with the seven others on board, helping with experiments and maintenance, and ramping up their exercise to keep their bones and muscles strong during their prolonged exposure to weightlessness. To make room for them on SpaceX's next taxi flight, the Dragon capsule will launch with two astronauts instead of the usual four. Two were cut late last week from the six-month expedition, which is due to blast off in late September. Boeing must vacate the parking place for SpaceX's arrival. Boeing encountered serious flaws with Starliner long before its June 5 liftoff on the long-delayed astronaut demo. Starliner's first test flight went so poorly in 2019 — the capsule never reached the space station because of software errors — that the mission was repeated three years later. More problems surfaced, resulting in even more delays and more than $1 billion in repairs. The capsule had suffered multiple thruster failures and propulsion-system helium leaks by the time it pulled up at the space station after launch. Boeing conducted extensive thruster tests in space and on the ground, and contended the capsule could safely bring the astronauts back. But NASA disagreed, setting the complex ride swap in motion. Starliner will make a faster, simpler getaway than planned, using springs to push away from the space station and then short thruster firings to gradually increase the distance. The original plan called for an hour of dallying near the station, mostly for picture-taking; that was cut to 20 or so minutes to reduce the stress on the capsule's thrusters and keep the station safe. Additional test firings of Starliner's 28 thrusters are planned before the all-important descent from orbit. Engineers want to learn as much as they can since the thrusters won't return to Earth; the section containing them will be ditched before the capsule reenters. The stuck astronauts — retired Navy captains — have lived on the space station before and settled in just fine, according to NASA officials. Even though their mission focus has changed, "they're just as dedicated for the success of human spaceflight going forward," flight director Anthony Vareha said. Their blue Boeing spacesuits will return with the capsule, along with some old station equipment. NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX a decade ago to ferry its astronauts to and from the space station after its shuttles retired. SpaceX accomplished the feat in 2020 and has since launched nine crews for NASA and four for private customers.

Harare — More than 70 activists were acquitted Wednesday after being arrested in Zimbabwe in June for disorderly conduct for allegedly planning to peacefully demonstrate during a meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Jeremiah Bamu of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights is representing 78 opposition activists who were arrested in mid-June at the home of Jameson Timba, the acting opposition leader of the Citizens Coalition for Change. The activists were charged with participating in a public gathering with the intent to promote public violence and disorderly conduct in a public place. “They were all found not guilty and were acquitted on the second count of one disorderly conduct in a public place,” Bamu said outside the Harare Magistrates Court. “And with respect to the first count of participating in a public gathering with intent to promote public violence, [at] least 11 of them were discharged at the close of the state’s case, with the remaining being put to their defense. We then made an application for an inspection in loco [on the spot] before we begin the defense case in earnest.” The minister of home affairs, Kazembe Kazembe, said the activists were arrested in June because of plans to protest at the Southern African Development Community meeting held last month in Harare. Others were arrested in other parts of the country, bringing the tally to more than 100. Among those was 25-year-old Namatai Kwekweza, a human rights activist and feminist advocate who was arrested along with Robson Chere and Samuel Gwenzi, and forcibly removed from a domestic plane. Later in court, the trio said they had been tortured while in police detention. They were granted bail and released on September 4. “We appeared before the court, and the appeal was dealt with, and the appellants have been granted bail,” said Charles Kwaramba of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who is representing them. “Our appeal succeeded — pay $150 as bail sums, and … report every Friday of the month end.” The activists’ arrests attracted international condemnation. “I am both delighted and relieved that the three have been released on bail,” said Mary Lawlor, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights defenders. “That being said, it is a travesty of justice that they were detained in the first place. .... The charges should be dropped, and an investigation opened into the circumstances of their detention, which the ruling party has admitted as being politically motivated and linked to the SADC summit.” She continued, “I further call for all those human rights defenders who remain in detention to be released. It is time for Zimbabwe to stop playing games and step up as a responsible member of the international community and abide by its freely assumed international human rights obligations.” Khanyo Farisè, Amnesty International's deputy regional director for East and Southern Africa, agreed that all those arrested should be discharged. “All these activists committed no offense but have been arbitrarily arrested and detained for exercising their human rights,” he said. “This, in violation of Zimbabwe’s constitutional and international human rights obligations. We therefore urge the government to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained for exercising their rights. The charges against them must be dropped.” Rights groups have criticized Zimbabwe for human rights abuses for decades, going back at least to the early 2000s, when the government of then-President Robert Mugabe engaged in alleged election rigging and forced thousands of white commercial farmers off their land. Mugabe’s successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa — who is in China — has maintained that he is a constitutionalist and respects human rights. Officials of his administration refused to comment Wednesday.

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copenhagen, denmark — Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, who steered the Scandinavian country along a sometimes bumpy road to NATO membership and stood tall on supporting Ukraine, stunned the political establishment Wednesday by saying he was leaving the Swedish government next week. "It has not been an easy decision but something that I have thought about and processed for some time," Billström wrote on X. Billström became foreign minister in October 2022, when Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson formed a coalition government with his own conservative Moderate Party, the smaller Christian Democrats and the Liberals. In May 2022, Sweden and neighboring Finland sought NATO membership, ending decades of post-World War II neutrality and centuries of broader non-alignment with major powers as security concerns in Europe spiked following Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After 18 months of delays, Sweden's membership bid cleared the final hurdle in February Hungary gave its consent. Turkey also objected to Sweden joining the alliance, but on January 23, Turkish legislators voted in favor. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put forth a series of conditions including a tougher stance from Stockholm toward groups that Turkey regards as threats to its security, such as Kurdish militants and members of a network it blames for a failed coup in 2016. Sweden became the 32nd member of the military alliance in Marc. Billström, 50, said on X that he had taken Sweden through "a sometimes challenging NATO process." On Facebook, Kristersson said that Billström had discharged his duties with "flying colors." Billström said on X that he would "leave politics completely. This means that I am also leaving my seat in the Riksdag," the Swedish parliament. The 349-member assembly will convene next week after the summer recess. Billström has not announced what he'll do next and his replacement has not yet been named.

New Delhi — An Indian state that was rocked by the gruesome rape and murder of a trainee doctor last month is set to introduce tougher penalties for rape that include life imprisonment and death sentences.   But activists question whether stringent laws alone can help stem cases of sexual assault against women, whose numbers have remained high, although India has ramped up punishments for rape over the last decade.   The Aparjita Woman and Child Bill, unanimously passed by the West Bengal state assembly on Tuesday, raises prison terms for people convicted of rape — from 10 years that the federal law presently stipulates to either life imprisonment or execution. It also includes measures to accelerate rape investigations.   The bill still must be approved by the president before becoming law. It was passed amid outrage over the violent assault of a 31-year-old doctor at a hospital in the city last month. Three weeks on, enraged doctors in the state capital, Kolkata, continue to hold protests demanding safety for medics and justice for the victim. A police volunteer working at the hospital has been arrested and charged with the crime.   The West Bengal government said the bill aims to enhance protection for women and children and create a safer environment for them.   But stiffer punishment will do little to deter offenders in a country with a slow-moving justice system, according to lawyers and women rights activists.   “There is little fear of the law. That is because trials seldom result in convictions — the conviction rate in rape cases is only about 28%,” pointed out Abha Singh, a lawyer and social activist.   She said police investigations often face hurdles. “We have too few forensic laboratories, and the police are sometimes short staffed. Then, witness protection is not effective, so witnesses often turn hostile. So, we first need to first fix the justice system if we want women and girls to be safe.”    Women’s rights activists point out that the federal government brought in sweeping changes to criminal laws in 2013 following the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in New Delhi. Five years later, the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl led to even stiffer punishments — the government enhanced minimum prison terms from 10 to 20 years for the rape of a girl younger than 16 and from seven to 10 years for older women.  But statistics show those changes had little impact on cases of sexual violence against women. About 25,000 cases were recorded in 2012. Ten years later, in 2022, that number stood at more than 31,000, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.    In a country where executions are rare, some also oppose the bill’s provision for giving a death sentence for rape in cases where the victim dies or enters a vegetative state. India has capital punishment for only the most serious cases, or what are called the “rarest of rare cases,” such as gruesome murders and terror attacks.   The Supreme Court imposed the death penalty on four men convicted of the 2012 rape of the 23-year-old woman after calling it the “most brutal, barbaric and diabolical” crime.   “I think stiffer punishments, particularly the death penalty, is not the way to go. Such laws come in response to the public outcry when there is a particularly horrific case,” according to Mary John, a former director at the Centre for Women’s Development Studies in New Delhi. “The death penalty is not a demand that has come from women’s groups.”   Women’s rights activists also say that rather than harsher punishments, the major challenge is to change attitudes and patriarchal mindsets that are blamed for the continuing tide of sexual violence against women.   “The need of the hour is to empower women and create safer workplaces for them. This rape in Kolkata, for example, happened inside the hospital premises,” according to Ranjana Kumari, director for Center for Social Research in New Delhi. “And what is failing women is not the existing laws but their implementation.”   In the wake of the rape of the trainee doctor, India’s Supreme Court has set up a national task force of doctors who will make recommendations on the safety of health care workers at their workplace.

Washington — U.S. police and ambulances rushed to a high school in Georgia on Wednesday after reports of an active shooter and possible injuries, with students evacuated from the scene.  The Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia, sent a message to parents saying it was "currently in a hard lockdown after reports of gunfire," according to U.S. media.  "Law enforcement is here. Please do not attempt to come to the school at this time while officers work to secure the area," it added.  The local sheriff's office reported an "active shooter situation," according to USA Today.  CNN, citing the local sheriff's office, reported that there had been casualties, and that a suspect had been taken into custody.  At least one air ambulance took a patient from the scene.  The school is located in the town of Winder, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta, the state capital.  Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on X that state agencies were responding to the incident.  Local television footage showed ambulances driving across a school field, and scores of vehicles parked around the school.  A crowd of people was visible on the football field. 

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rome — Workers mounted a crane Wednesday to secure Rome’s Constantine Arch near the Colosseum after a lightning strike loosened fragments from the ancient structure. A violent thunder and lightning storm that felled trees and flooded streets in the Italian capital damaged the honorary arch late Tuesday afternoon. Fragments of white marble were gathered and secured by workers for the Colosseum Archeological Park as soon as the storm cleared, officials said. The extent of the damage was being evaluated. “The recovery work by technicians was timely. Our workers arrived immediately after the lightning strike. All of the fragments were recovered and secured,’’ the park said in a statement. Tourists visiting the site Wednesday found some stray fragments that they turned over to park workers out of concern they might have fallen from the arch. “It is kind of surreal that we found pieces,″ said Jana Renfro, a tourist from the U.S. state of Indiana, who said found the fragments about 3 meters (12 feet) from the base of the monument. The group’s tour guide, Serena Giuliani, praised them for turning over the found pieces, saying it showed "great sensitivity for Roman antiquities.” The honorary arch, more than 20 meters (nearly 70 feet) in height, was erected in A.D. 315 to celebrate the victory of Emperor Constantine over Maxentius following the battle at Milvian Bridge.

BARCELONA, Spain — A British woman has been found dead while emergency services search for a man of the same nationality after both were apparently swept away in a flash flood while hiking on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, Spanish police said Wednesday.  Spain's Civil Guard said that both people were taking a trail that leads through a small canyon to the sea when the storm hit on Tuesday.  The police initially issued the erroneous information that they had found the corpse of the man and were searching for the woman. They later corrected themselves and said it was the woman who had been found dead on Wednesday.  Firefighters collaborated with police in the search.  More inclement weather was forecast for the island and parts of Spain's mainland. The Balearic Islands and a large swath of Spain's eastern coast was under alert for strong winds and heavy rains.  More thunderstorms over Barcelona forced the organizers of the America's Cup sailing event to postpone racing. That decision came after lightning struck near a yacht on Tuesday, forcing a race to be abandoned.