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washington — The United States said Monday that it did not expect policy changes from Iran after voters elected reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, and downplayed chances to resume dialogue. "We have no expectation that this election will lead to a fundamental change in Iran's direction or its policies," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters. Miller said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was expected to call the shots in Iran, an adversary of the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution. "Obviously, if the new president had the authority to make steps to curtail Iran's nuclear program, to stop funding terrorism, to stop destabilizing activities in the region, those would be steps that we would welcome," Miller said. "But needless to say, we don't have any expectation that that's what's likely to ensue." Asked if the United States was at least willing to reopen diplomacy with Iran after Pezeshkian's election, Miller said: "We have always said that diplomacy is the most effective way to achieve an effective, sustainable solution with regard to Iran's nuclear program." But at the White House, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, asked if the United States was ready to resume nuclear talks with Iran, said emphatically, "No." "We'll see what this guy wants to get done, but we are not expecting any changes in Iranian behavior," Kirby said. President Joe Biden took office in 2021 with hopes of returning to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that was negotiated under former President Barack Obama and ended by his successor, Donald Trump, who imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran. But talks, negotiated through the European Union, broke down in part over a dispute about the extent to which the United States would remove sanctions on Iran. Relations have deteriorated further since the October 7 attack on U.S. ally Israel by Hamas, which receives support from Iran.

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.

Italy is trying a new development-focused approach to preventing migrants from trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa. For VOA, Henry Wilkins reports from the Italian island of Lampedusa, where residents are welcoming the measure after thousands arrived there in a single week last year.

london — At first glance, elections in France and Britain were a triumph for leftists and reformers over authoritarians and the right. Even Iran — where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state — elected Masoud Pezeshkian, a lawmaker long associated with the reformist movement. In France, a leftist coalition beat the far right into third place in legislative elections. The U.K.'s center-left Labour Party swept back to power in a landslide after 14 years of Conservative rule. Iranian voters, offered a limited choice in a circumscribed presidential election, opted for the more moderate of two candidates to replace the late hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi. But with voters in many countries still divided and disillusioned against a backdrop of economic gloom, analysts say the march of the right may only have been slowed, not halted. “This is a crisis delayed, not averted,” said Eurasia Group analyst Mujtaba Rahman of the outcome in France, where voters repudiated the far-right National Rally — but also turned their ire on centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who called the surprise election. Macron’s centrist grouping ended in second place after Sunday’s second round of voting, ahead of the far-right National Rally. The outcome was a major disappointment for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which led after the first round on June 30. But with no political bloc holding a majority and no easy path to a durable government, it leaves France in turmoil at a time of European and global instability. “It’s not a good situation for France, for Europe or indeed NATO,” said Rahman, Eurasia Group’s managing director on Europe. “France is a G-7 member, a permanent [U.N.] Security Council member. … Anything that weakens Emmanuel Macron, anything that forces him to pay more attention to domestic affairs ... is of course going to subtract from his own influence, and also France’s influence, in the world.” In contrast, Britain’s new government is vowing to re-engage with the world after years that saw the U.K. sidelined and distracted by its exit from the European Union. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won a huge majority in Thursday’s election, taking 412 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservatives, who had governed since 2010, were reduced to 121 seats, the worst result in the party’s 190-year history. Labour will be able to implement its policies, but the picture is more unstable than that majority suggests. Labour’s victory was built on shifting sands: anger at the Conservatives, tactical voting to kick them out and an insurgent party on the right, Reform U.K., that ate into Conservative support. Reform won only five seats but took almost 14% of votes. Its leader, Nigel Farage, says his plan is to take over the role of true opposition to the Labour government from the diminished and demoralized Conservatives before the next election, which must be held by 2029. Europe in general is trying to deal with gradual loss of confidence on the part of the electorate in the government's ability to deal with globalization and the winners and losers that resulted, said Robin Niblett, former director of the Chatham House think-tank. “We’re just in a very, very bumpy period of domestic politics. So, I don’t think it’s the return of the left either,” he said. "We’re in a very unstable and risky period, but one in which I’d say the parties of moderation still have the whip hand if they can be creative.” Meanwhile, Le Pen and her party in France “may bide their time and just wait,” said Philippe Marlière, professor of French and European politics at University College London. “Of course it is a setback for National Rally, but they can say, ‘We were defeated because all the other parties ganged up against us … without that funny tactical voting we would have prevailed,’” he said. “In particular if the situation gets messy, which is a possibility, they will bide their time. And in three years’ time, you’ve got the presidential election and Le Pen would be in a strong position to win.” In Iran, which held a presidential election after a May helicopter crash killed Raisi, two rounds of voting saw the country elect Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime lawmaker. He has been associated with a movement that aims to change the country’s Shiite theocracy from the inside while seeking better relations with the West – including Iran’s arch enemy, the United States. The first round of Iran’s election saw the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The theocracy selected the candidates and no internationally recognized monitors watched the vote. Iranians – and international watchers – hoping for major change may be disappointed. Pezeshkian has firmly stated he believes in Khamenei having the final say on all matters of state, and has honored Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which is labeled a terrorist organization by the United States. Pezeshkian “faces extensive restraints on his authority by Khamenei and his top aides and allies, all of whom are hardline conservatives,” the New York-based Soufan Center said in an analysis Monday. “Khamenei issued a call for unity and continuity after the results were declared, advising the president-elect to continue the path set by Raisi – an indirect warning to Pezeshkian not to push the limits on his authority,” the analysis reads. Underlying elections in many countries is an anti-politics mood in which anger toward incumbent governments remains strong. Rob Ford, professor of politics at the University of Manchester, said that around the world, voters hammered by soaring inflation and a cost-of-living squeeze have “expressed a great deal of discontent with the performance of government.” “Ideology is systematically overrated by those whose job it is to explain elections,” he said. “A lot of the time what you see with voting is what Ronald Reagan correctly identified: ‘Are you better off now than you are four years ago?’ If the answer is ‘no,’ do you stop and think through the various ideological aspects of why that might be? No, you don’t. You just kick out whoever is in charge.’’

NEW YORK — The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades-long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape.  It also signals the rise of a new power player, David Ellison, the founder of Skydance and son of billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of the software company Oracle.  Shari Redstone's National Amusements has owned more than three-quarters of Paramount’s Class A voting shares through the estate of her late father, Sumner Redstone. She had battled to maintain control of the company that owns CBS, which is behind blockbuster films such as “Top Gun" and “The Godfather.”  Just weeks after turning down a similar agreement with Skydance, however, Redstone agreed to a deal on terms that had not changed much.  “Given the changes in the industry, we want to fortify Paramount for the future while ensuring that content remains king,” said Redstone, who is chair of Paramount Global. The new combined company is valued at around $28 billion. In connection with the proposed transaction, which is expected to close in September 2025 pending regulatory approval, a consortium led by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital will be investing $8 billion.  Skydance, based in Santa Monica, California, has helped produce some major   Paramount hits in recent years, including Tom Cruise films like “Top Gun: Maverick” and installments of the “Mission Impossible” series.  Skydance was founded in 2010 by David Ellison and it quickly formed a production partnership with Paramount that same year. If the deal is approved, Ellison will become chairman and chief executive officer of what’s being called New Paramount.  Ellison outlined the vision for New Paramount on a conference call about the transaction Monday. In addition to doubling down on core competencies, notably with a “creative first” approach, he stressed that the company needs to transition into a “tech hybrid” to stay competitive in today's evolving media landscape.  “You’ve watched some incredibly powerful technology companies move into the ... media space and do so very successfully,” Ellison said. He added that it was “essential” for New Paramount to chart a similar course going forward.  That includes plans to “rebuild” the Paramount+ streaming service, Ellison noted — pointing to wider goals to expand direct-to-consumer business, such as increasing engagement time on the platform and reducing user churn. He also said that the company aims to transition to more cloud-based production and continue the use of generative artificial intelligence to boost efficiency.  Executives also outlined further restructuring plans for New Paramount on Monday’s conference call, with chairman of RedBird Sports and Media Jeff Shell noting that they had identified some $2 billion in cost efficiencies and synergies that they'll “attempt to deliver pretty rapidly.”  Shell and others addressed the declining growth of linear TV. Flagship linear brands will continue to represent a big chunk of the company's operations, but learning how to run this portion of business differently will be key, he said.  Paramount’s struggles The on-again, off-again merger arrives at a tumultuous time for Paramount, which has struggled to find its footing for years and its cable business has been hemorrhaging. In an annual shareholder meeting in early June, the company also laid out a restructuring plan that included major cost cuts.  Leadership at Paramount was also volatile earlier this year after its CEO Bob Bakish, following several disputes with Redstone, was replaced with an “office of the C.E.O,” run by three executives. Four company directors were also replaced.  Paramount is one of Hollywood’s oldest studios, dating back its founding in 1914 as a  distributor. Throughout its rich history, Paramount has had a hand in releasing films — from “Sunset Boulevard" and “The Godfather," to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Titanic.”  The studio also distributed several early Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including “Iron Man" and "Thor,” before the Disney acquisition. In addition to “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun,” Paramount’s current franchises include “Transformers,” “Star Trek” and “Jackass.”  While Paramount has not topped the annual domestic box office charts for over a decade, the wild box office success of “Top Gun: Maverick” in 2022 (nearly $1.5 billion worldwide) was an important boon to both movie theaters and the industry’s pandemic recovery.  Still, its theatrical output has declined somewhat in recent years. Last year it released only eight new movies and came in fifth place for overall box office at around $2 billion — behind Universal (24 films), Disney (17 films), Warner Bros. and Sony.  Movie plans This year the release calendar is similarly modest, especially with the absence of “Mission: Impossible 8,” which was pushed to 2025 amid the strikes. The studio has had some successes, with “Bob Marley: One Love” and “A Quiet Place: Day One,” and still to come is Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” sequel.  The National Association of Theatre Owners, a trade organization that represents over 35,000 screens in the U.S., said in a statement Monday that it plans to look closely at the details of the merger with an eye toward whether it will produce more or less theatrical releases.  “We are encouraged by the commitment that David Ellison and the Skydance Media team have shown to theatrical exhibition in the past,” said Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “A merger that results in fewer movies being produced will not only hurt consumers and result in less revenue, but negatively impact people who work in all sectors of this great industry — creative, distribution and exhibition.” 

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washington — While the 2024 NATO summit in Washington this week is expected to largely focus on Russia’s war in Ukraine, the alliance is also set to discuss threats posed by China and the security situation in the Indo-Pacific region. These matters are likely to include China's aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, sovereignty disputes in the sea between China and its neighbors, Taiwan's security, and the North Korean nuclear issue. Here are three key points you need to know about the summit as it relates to China. Why is NATO's strategic focus encompassing China?  U.S. and NATO officials have repeatedly pointed to the deepening relationship between Russia and China, particularly Beijing's exports to Moscow of goods that can be used for both civilian and military purposes and that enable Russia's war in Ukraine to continue. Outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Washington last month that "Beijing is sharing high-end technologies like semiconductors and other dual-use items. Last year, Russia imported 90% of its microelectronics from China, used to produce missiles, tanks and aircraft. China is also working to provide Russia with improved satellite capability and imagery. All of this enables Moscow to inflict more deaths and destruction on Ukraine, bolster Russia's defense industrial base, and evade the impact of sanctions and export controls." China has repeatedly denied exporting dual-use items to Russia. When asked about Stoltenberg’s criticism of Beijing’s support for Russia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said last week that NATO “has been challenging China, interfering in China’s domestic affairs, misrepresenting and vilifying our domestic and foreign policies, and seriously challenging China’s interests and security.” China's militarization in the South China Sea and its recent aggressive confrontation with the Philippines in disputed waters have also aroused NATO's concern. "Their main concerns are China's intimidation towards other nations in its region and NATO allies, its rapid and opaque conventional and nuclear military buildup, and its coercion through economic pressure, cyberattacks and disinformation," Sean Monaghan, a visiting scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA in an email. Monaghan said NATO allies are highly dependent on trade through the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region, so they have a clear interest in seeing that the area is stable and secure. "NATO allies do not feel they are going to the Indo-Pacific, but rather that China is coming to them, so they must adapt," he said. The NATO military alliance, formed by countries from Europe and North America, was created in 1949 to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. Member states have long failed to agree on whether to include China in its strategic concerns. In a joint statement at the London summit in 2019 after years of adjustment, NATO's strategic goals mentioned for the first time the security challenges posed by China. Monaghan also said that China's "intimidation" against NATO ally Lithuania in recent years has "sounded the alarm" for the alliance. Lithuania has supported the promotion of Taiwan's international status and deepened political and economic ties with Taipei, resulting in diplomatic and economic retaliation from Beijing. NATO allies issued a declaration at last year’s summit in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, that "the People's Republic of China's stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values." The wording continues the consensus among NATO member states on security threats related to China since the 2021 summit in Brussels. What signal will NATO send to China? The summit is expected to send a tougher signal than ever on China issues. Stoltenberg previously said that China could not support Russia in the war in Ukraine while expecting to maintain good relations with the West. "Beijing cannot have it both ways. At some point, and unless China changes its course, allies need to impose a cost," Stoltenberg said. David Sacks, a researcher on Asia issues at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA, "I think this has deterrent power, because it's showing China that if it tries to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait through aggression, that it's not just the United States that will respond, but it potentially has to factor in as well NATO's economic response, which raises the costs to the Chinese leadership." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during Monday’s regular press briefing, "As a Cold War legacy and the world’s biggest military alliance, NATO claims itself to be a regional defensive alliance on the one hand, but on the other hand keeps breaching its boundary ... and stoking confrontation.” “NATO should stay within its role as a regional defensive alliance, stop creating tensions in the Asia-Pacific, stop peddling Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation. NATO should not try to destabilize the Asia-Pacific after it has done so to Europe," he said. Will NATO confront China head-on? Experts stressed that NATO's China program still has limitations, and that the allies' positions on China-related issues are inconsistent. NATO had planned to set up a liaison office in Tokyo, making it a useful platform for NATO to cooperate with Indo-Pacific partners. But because of opposition from some member states, no progress has been made. A U.S. administration official said last Friday that NATO's deterrence strategy will still focus on continental Europe and the Atlantic region. "The effort last year to try to create a liaison office in Tokyo, which was frankly fairly benign — it wasn't going to cause a big deal — but that probably isn't the right course of action. It was blocked by France and other European members and is unlikely to get off the ground," Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said at a background briefing on the NATO summit. U.S. State Department officials said NATO currently has no plans to set up a liaison office in Tokyo. Douglas Jones, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said there is no active discussion on the subject within NATO now.  Alicja Bachulska, a policy researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA via email, "The potential for NATO to become a platform for allies and partners to discuss China-related issues has been so far explored only to a limited extent." Sacks said not all NATO countries have the strength to confront China. "I don't think that most NATO allies necessarily have the capacity to really project power in a significant way into the Indo-Pacific," he said. "You'll see some freedom-of-navigation operations from some NATO members, which shows their interest or their stake in preserving freedom of navigation in the Pacific. But I don't think that really adds to the military deterrence in a meaningful way." He said the summit needs to avoid angering China in its wording and make it clear that NATO's expansion of membership will not include countries in the Indo-Pacific region.  "That's how you preempt the Chinese narrative that the United States is trying to create a NATO for Asia or expand NATO into Asia," Sacks said. Adrianna Zhang, Nike Ching and Paris Huang contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden will hold his first face-to-face talks with Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House on Wednesday, the White House said Monday.  Biden also will host an event Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit, which is taking place this week in Washington, national security adviser John Kirby told reporters.  Biden plans to "underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom" in his meeting with Starmer, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.  She said the two leaders would have the opportunity to discuss U.S.-U.K. cooperation across a range of issues from Ukraine to the Israel-Hamas war, and ensuring that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons, as well as confronting Iranian-backed Houthi threats to commercial shipping.  The leaders also will discuss furthering cooperation in areas such as protecting advanced technologies and developing climate and clean energy solutions.

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Dakar, Senegal — Gambian lawmakers adopted recommendations Monday for the country to maintain its ban on female genital mutilation ahead of a vote later this month on whether to decriminalize the practice. Female genital mutilation (FGM) has been outlawed in Gambia since 2015, but the deeply rooted cultural practice remains widespread in the West African nation and the first convictions last year fueled a backlash against the law. After a heated debate Monday, the recommendations contained in a report by the joint health and gender committee passed the full house sitting, with 35 lawmakers voting in favor of adopting the report, 17 against and two abstentions. A final vote on the bill on whether to decriminalize FGM is currently set for July 24. If parliament approves it, Gambia would become the first country to reverse a ban on FGM. It passed its second reading in March with only five out of 53 lawmakers voting against it and one abstaining. After the second reading, the joint committee carried out a national public consultation with religious and traditional leaders, doctors, victims, civil society groups and circumcisers among others. Its conclusions, presented Monday, described all forms of FGM as a "traumatic form of torture" and "discrimination against women." "Repealing the law would be a significant setback for the Gambia," said Amadou Camara, the lawmaker who read out the report. The first FGM conviction last August — of three women found guilty of cutting eight infant girls — sparked outrage and prompted independent lawmaker Almaneh Gibba to table the repeal bill in March. Gibba and his backers, who include influential religious leaders, say the ban violates citizens' rights to practice their culture and religion in the Muslim-majority country. Many Islamic scholars dispute this argument. The World Health Organization says FGM has no health benefits and can lead to excessive bleeding, shock, psychological problems and even death.

Harare, Zimbabwe — After her son, the family’s shining light and only breadwinner, was arrested last year, Tambudzai Tembo went into meltdown. In Zimbabwe, where clinical mental health services are scarce, her chances of getting professional help were next to zero. She contemplated suicide. “I didn’t want to live anymore. People who saw me would think everything was OK. But inside, my head was spinning,” the 57-year-old said. “I was on my own.” A wooden bench and an empathetic grandmother saved her. Older people are at the center of a homegrown form of mental health therapy in Zimbabwe that is now being adopted in places like the United States. The approach involves setting up benches in quiet, discreet corners of community clinics and in some churches, poor neighborhoods and at a university. An older woman with basic training in problem-solving therapy patiently sits there, ready to listen and engage in a one-on-one conversation. The therapy is inspired by traditional practice in Zimbabwe in which grandmothers were the go-to people for wisdom in rough times. It had been abandoned with urbanization, the breakdown of tight-knit extended families and modern technology. Now it is proving useful again as mental health needs grow. “Grandmothers are the custodians of local culture and wisdom. They are rooted in their communities,” said Dixon Chibanda, a psychiatry professor and founder of the initiative. “They don’t leave, and in addition, they have an amazing ability to use what we call ‘expressed empathy’… to make people feel respected and understood.” Last year, Chibanda was named the winner of a $150,000 prize by the U.S.-based McNulty Foundation for revolutionizing mental healthcare. Chibanda said the concept has taken root in parts of Vietnam, Botswana, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania and is in “preliminary formative work” in London. In New York, the city's new mental health plan launched last year says it is “drawing inspiration” from what it calls the Friendship Bench to help address risk factors such as social isolation. The orange benches are now in areas including Harlem, Brooklyn and the Bronx. In Washington, the organization HelpAge USA is piloting the concept under the DC Grandparents for Mental Health initiative, which started in 2022 as a COVID-19 support group of people 60 and above. So far, 20 grandmothers have been trained by a team from Friendship Bench Zimbabwe to listen, empathize and empower others to solve their problems, said Cindy Cox-Roman, the president and chief executive of HelpAge USA. Benches will be set up at places of worship, schools and wellness centers in Washington's low-income communities with people who “have been historically marginalized and more likely to experience mental health problems,” she said. Cox-Roman cited fear and distrust in the medical system, lack of social support and stigma as some of the factors limiting access to treatment. “People are hurting, and a grandmother can always make you feel better,” she said. More than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. “The mental health crisis is real. Where it’s a real crisis after the pandemic is that many clinicians have dropped out of the workforce,” said Dr. Jehan El-Mayoumi, who works as an expert with HelpAge USA and is a founding director of the health equity Rodham Institute at Georgetown University. She has struggled to get psychiatrists for acutely suicidal patients. El-Mayoumi said the Zimbabwean concept provides people with “someone you can trust, open up your heart to, that you can tell your deepest secrets [and] that requires trust, so that’s what’s so wonderful about the Friendship Bench.” The idea was born out of tragedy. Chibanda was a young psychiatrist, and one of just over 10 in Zimbabwe in 2005. One of his patients desperately wanted to see him, but she could not afford the $15 bus fare. Chibanda later learned that she had killed herself. “I realized that I needed to have a stronger presence in the community," Chibanda said. "I realized that actually one of the most valuable resources are these grandmothers, the custodians of local culture.” He recruited 14 grandmothers in the neighborhood near the hospital where he worked in the capital, Harare, and trained them. In Zimbabwe, they get $25 a month to help with transport and phone bills. The network, which now partners with the health ministry and the World Health Organization, has grown to over 2,000 grandmothers across the country. Over 200,000 Zimbabweans sat on a bench to get therapy from a trained grandmother in 2023, according to the network. Siridzayi Dzukwa, the grandmother who talked Tembo out of suicide, made a home follow-up visit on a recent day. Using a written questionnaire, she checked on Tembo’s progress. She listened as Tembo talked about how she has found a new lease on life and now sells vegetables to make ends meet. Dzukwa has become a recognizable figure in the area. People stop to greet and thank her for helping them. Some ask for a home visit or take down her number. “People are no longer ashamed or afraid of openly stopping us on the streets and ask us to talk,” she said. “Mental health is no longer something to be ashamed of.”

BALTIMORE — New parents in Baltimore could receive a $1,000 “baby bonus” if voters approve a proposal that aims to help reduce childhood poverty from birth with a modest one-time cash payment.  A group of Baltimore teachers is behind the effort. Organizers recently secured the necessary 10,000 signatures to bring the question to voters as a ballot initiative in November. Their campaign relied on extensive canvassing efforts and a cute logo: a flying cartoon stork with a bag of money in its beak.  The proposal is loosely modeled on a program implemented this year in Flint, Michigan, where women receive $1,500 during mid-pregnancy and $500 per month for the first year after giving birth. Officials said the Flint program was the first of its kind in the U.S.  Countries in Europe and Asia have experimented with larger cash payments, but those programs are meant to encourage more people to have more kids, not address child poverty. Italy, which has one of the world’s lowest birth rates, provides baby bonus checks and other benefits aimed at increasing the population.  Organizers behind the Baltimore campaign say more systemic change is needed on a national level to help lift families out of poverty, but giving new parents a modest financial boost could prove an important first step.  “If we’re going to spend a limited amount of money, where do you get the most bang for your buck? Research says at birth,” said Nate Golden, a high school math teacher who helped found the Maryland Child Alliance, which is pushing for the ballot initiative. “This could literally have a lifelong impact on a kid.”  Golden said he also hopes the program will demonstrate to elected leaders in Baltimore and beyond that there’s a real appetite among voters for implementing policies that help vulnerable children succeed.  The issue is particularly urgent in Baltimore, where an estimated 31% of school-aged children are experiencing poverty, according to census data. Nationally, childhood poverty fell during the pandemic thanks to federal relief programs, but it has since climbed again to about 12% in 2022.  It’s incredibly hard for the poor to move up the economic ladder, especially among communities of color. Research shows that most American children born into the lowest income bracket will remain at roughly the same socioeconomic status for the rest of their lives.  Golden said he sees similar scenarios playing out in his classroom every school year — with students who are experiencing homelessness, food insecurity, gun violence and countless other challenges.  “When you see what they’re going through outside school, I’m still going to demand their best in the classroom but it’s just not enough,” he said. “We have to take care of these underlying needs before we can get kids to focus on learning.”  If the ballot initiative is approved, all new parents in Baltimore will receive a one-time payment of at least $1,000.  An estimated 7,000 children are born in Baltimore each year, so the program would cost about $7 million annually, which is roughly 0.16% of the city’s annual operating budget, according to supporters. The initiative won’t result in higher taxes, but it will be up to Baltimore’s City Council to allocate funds if it passes.  Advocates say taking a blanket approach to distributing the funds ensures that no one falls through the cracks. It also means some of the money goes to affluent parents who don’t need assistance, but Golden said it’s worth including them to avoid leaving out the poorest families.  Considering the payments are relatively small, the universal approach makes sense because researching and developing a qualification system could add significant costs and delay implementing the program, said Christina DePasquale, associate professor of economics at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.  Above all, DePasquale said, the initiative will raise awareness about childhood poverty   and could lead to more comprehensive changes down the road.  “It’s worthwhile in the sense that it gets people thinking about it,” she said. “It’s something to build off of. Even if you don’t have something perfect, the less perfect version of it is better than not having it at all.”  While no one contends that $1,000 is a life-changing amount of money, it could help cover some of the many costs that come with having a baby, including paying for diapers, formula, strollers, cribs and more. And for new parents living on society’s margins, that could make a real difference, said Nadya Dutchin, executive director of the Baltimore-based organization ShareBaby, which distributes free diapers and other baby essentials.  “I don’t think people really pay enough attention to the material insecurities that contribute to parental stress,” she said. “If you don’t have enough money to purchase diapers to keep your child dry, safe and healthy, you’re going to be stressed and your baby is going to be stressed.”  She said requests for supplies increased a huge amount last year amid rising inflation and stagnant wages.  The largest federal program aimed at addressing childhood poverty is the child tax credit, which was temporarily expanded during the pandemic. Although shown to be effective, advocates say it leaves out some families because of necessary paperwork and qualification requirements.

Washington — China and Belarus began joint anti-terrorism exercises Monday in Brest, Belarus, that will last for 11 days.  The two countries will conduct drills in the exercises titled Eagle Assault, and “soldiers from both sides will jointly carry out hostage rescue operations and counterterrorism missions,” China’s state news agency Xinhua said.  Together, they “will work out the issues of night landing, overcoming water obstacles, and conducting operations in a populated area,” according to a statement from the Belarusian Ministry of Defense.  China and Belarus have a history of conducting joint military exercises, having conducted four anti-terrorism exercises in territories of both countries from 2011 to 2018.  Eagle Assault occurs against a backdrop of increasing Chinese-Belarusian cooperation, with Belarus being the newest country to join the Chinese and Russian-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In recent days, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi have also met with their Belarusian counterparts. Monday in Beijing, the foreign ministers of both countries met, and Wang Yi “expressed China’s willingness to deepen high-level exchanges, strengthen strategic synergy and deepen all-round cooperation with Belarus to advance their all-weather, comprehensive strategic partnership,” Chinese state media reported.   The countries also agreed to “oppose external interference and resist unilateral bullying,” Chinese state media CGTN said.  Amid tensions in Northern Europe, the exercises will occur 80 miles kilometers (50 miles) north of Ukraine on the Belarusian border with Poland, a NATO member.  Belarus has remained a close Russian ally throughout the war in Ukraine, supporting the war effort by allowing Russia to store tactical nuclear weapons in the country.  China has yet to condemn the war and has continued to provide Moscow with economic support to buffer the effects of Western sanctions.

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A horrific scene in Ukraine’s capitol Kyiv following a barrage of Russian missile strikes hit Kyiv's main Children’s hospital. Anna Chernikova on scene describes the destruction and says it will likely take days for rescue workers to search under the rubble. As NATO prepares to convene its three-day summit in Washington with expectations the alliance will reinforce its support for Ukraine. VOA attended a roundtable with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. We hear what he had to say following the Prime Minister of Hungary's visit to Moscow. Preparing for the upcoming Olympics in Paris, a Ukrainian high jumper talks about trying to stay focused on the raised bar, while her mind is fixed on the war.

Islamabad/Washington — Two hearings at high courts in Pakistan in July are being viewed as a further sign of the eroding digital rights in the country.  In Islamabad, a submission to the high court said that telecom companies had been ordered to install a mass surveillance system. And in Peshawar, the Chinese social media app TikTok told the high court it would allow the Telecoms Ministry access to remove content deemed “blasphemous.”  Digital and free expression advocates criticized the moves. Haroon Baloch, a digital rights activist at Bytes for All, said mass surveillance has no place in a democratic society.  “Physical or online surveillance needs a legal justification. The government should justify the need and gauge for online surveillance,” he told VOA.  The Islamabad case focuses on the surveillance of citizens whose phone calls were recorded and later released on social media, the news website Dawn reported.  Among those affected are the wife of former leader Imran Khan and the son of the former chief justice, both of whom petitioned the courts over their leaked calls.   A submission to the court said that Pakistani telecom companies were ordered to “finance, import, and install” a Lawful Intercept Management System at a surveillance center for the use of designated agencies.   In Pakistan, “agencies” often refer to the country’s powerful intelligence service.   The court noted that the software provides the ability to surveil up to 2% of their consumers, or 4 million citizens, “at any given time.”   People will lose their privacy through such surveillance, said Aftab Alam, executive director of the Islamabad-based think tank Institute for Research Advocacy and Development. “This [mass surveillance] is against the constitution and laws.”  Nighat Dad, who serves on Meta’s oversight board, told Dawn it was “mind boggling” that Pakistan’s telecom companies “do not feel the need to be transparent towards their own consumers.”  Separately in Peshawar, TikTok told the court on July 1 that it would provide access to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.   In that case, a petitioner is seeking a countrywide ban on TikTok for allowing what he described as “‘un-Islamic posts.”  Like Instagram, TikTok is a popular platform in Pakistan where users access it for diverse views, entertainment and marketing.   The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment.   With traditional media restricted or navigating official and unspoken red lines of what can and cannot be discussed, social media offers a rare platform in the country for independent or diverse views.   Issues off limits, including for broadcast journalists, include subjects that go against anything deemed as “national interests,” as well as missing persons, criticism of the armed forces, voices of dissent, and the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement or PTM. After an army spokesperson said in 2019 the media should avoid giving coverage to the PTM, most local stations stopped reporting on the movement and its rallies.   But as more viewers turn to social media, Pakistan has seen more restrictions on digital platforms.   The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority banned X after users on the platform questioned the transparency of February elections.  The ban was not announced formally, but officials told a high court in April it was imposed “in the interest of upholding national security, maintaining public order and preserving the integrity of our nation.”   The social media platform can still be accessed via VPN.  Digital rights activist Farieha Aziz told VOA that Pakistan is moving toward greater “control” of the technology sector. As a result, she said, “We will have to suffer.”  This article originated in VOA’s Deewa and Urdu services.