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Washington — Last week’s concert hall massacre in Russia demonstrates not only the capacity of Islamic State-Khorasan to stage complex attacks beyond its base in South-Central Asia, but also the inability of the Taliban and regional countries to counter its threats, experts say. The Islamic State group claimed the attack on a music venue near Moscow Friday that killed 143 people and wounded more than 180. Although it was the Islamic State, not its offshoot IS-Khorasan, that took the responsibility, U.S. officials said that IS-Khorasan was behind the murderous rampage. The Taliban’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, condemned the attack “in the strongest terms,” describing it as “a blatant violation of all human standards.” “The regional countries must take a coordinated, clear & resolute position against such incidents directed at regional destabilization,” Balkhi said Friday on X, previously known as Twitter. The Islamic State, in a 30-page statement published on social media platforms and sent to journalists Monday, praised the attack and mocked the Taliban for seeking relations with the United States, Russia, China and other countries. Homayoun Mohtaat, former Afghan deputy ambassador to Russia, told VOA that the attack made it clear that IS has the ability “to launch complex attacks that could inflict heavy casualties.” Using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State, he said the “Daesh attack shows the group’s maneuverability and ability to move from one place to another.” Mohtaat said that IS-Khorasan, also known as ISKP, has been able to expand its activities within the region and beyond. “But we can see that Afghanistan, because of its geopolitical location, has become an operational platform for Daesh,” he said. “It allowed the group to expand its operation to the Central Asian states and beyond, in Russia.” He said that the Taliban “neither has the will nor resources” to fight IS-Khorasan. The Taliban, however, have claimed success against the IS affiliate in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s defense minister, Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, claimed at a press conference in Kabul in December that because of their operations against IS-Khorasan, the number of the group’s attacks decreased by 90%. But a U.N. report released in January said IS-Khorasan "continued to pose a major threat in Afghanistan and the region.” In another report released in June 2023, the U.N. estimated that IS-Khorasan's fighters and their families number between 4,000 and 6,000, including citizens of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Turkey, and Central Asian countries and a small number of Arabs who traveled from Syria to Afghanistan. Kamran Bokhari, senior director of the Eurasian Security and Prosperity Portfolio at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, told VOA that IS-Khorasan is taking advantage of “weak security, weak governance and strategic vacuums” in the region. “Afghanistan is the strategic vacuum,” Bokhari said. “Yes, the Taliban are there, but it's not a robust state. The Taliban regime is still trying to consolidate power. Pakistan is in meltdown mode on all levels — political, social, economic and security wise. And Iran has its challenges internally.” IS-Khorasan is a major rival to the Taliban and has claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power. In January, the group said it was behind twin blasts in the Iranian city of Kerman that killed at least 95 people. Iranian Intelligence traced back the attacks to the Tajik fighters of IS-Khorasan. Russia has said that its security forces arrested four Tajik nationals for allegedly carrying out the Moscow massacre. Attacks will help recruitment Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told VOA that the attacks in Russia and Iran would “certainly” help IS-Khorasan to recruit more militants. “Those spectacular attacks have a great effect on recruiting. ... So, they might be able to poach some fighters from [other extremist] groups, the disaffected or those who want to see the result now,” Roggio said. The United Nations says that there are around 20 militant groups active in Afghanistan. Most of these, including al-Qaida and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, have close ties to the Taliban. But even before seizing power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban considered IS-Khorasan as an adversary and conducted military operations against the group. Riccardo Valle, Islamabad-based analyst and director of research for The Khorasan Diary, told VOA that the Taliban have been “successful” in their fight against IS-Khorasan. The Taliban “were able to decapitate the Islamic State leadership in several instances. They have been able to infiltrate Islamic State in Afghanistan and thus it has been able to prevent several attacks,” said Valle. But he said the group has been able to move across Turkey, Central Asia and Afghanistan. “This is coupled with the fact that [the relationship] between Afghanistan and Pakistan is extremely tense,” which makes it easy for the militants to move across that border. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of harboring and supporting TTP fighters involved in attacks in Pakistan, a charge the Taliban deny. Valle said that the Taliban alone would not be capable of “tackling the issue” of containing IS-Khorisan. “The real threat posed by the ISKP in Afghanistan and the whole region is fueling instability within the region, fueling mutual distrust between the countries and posing a major threat to the civilians,” Valle said. Ali Jalali, a former Afghan interior minister, told VOA he believes the threats will continue until the Taliban cut ties with all foreign extremist groups in Afghanistan. “During their war against the republic, they allied with many extremist groups. These groups supported them. Now they are in [Afghanistan], and they cannot cut their ties with them,” he said. Jalali said that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has not brought stability and the formation of a ‘lawful’ government. “And unless there is [political] stability, this will continue.” This story originated in VOA's Afghan Service.

ISLAMABAD — China joined a Pakistan probe Friday into the killing of five of its nationals in a suicide car bombing. That attack has led to the suspension of work on a multibillion-dollar Chinese-funded hydropower project.  Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi's office said that he met with a "special investigation team from China" at Beijing's embassy in Islamabad and "briefed them on the investigation so far" into Tuesday's deadly attack.   According to a statement, they also discussed efforts to enhance the security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan during the meeting.   The deadly violence occurred when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on the 4,320-megawatt Dasu hydropower project in northwestern Pakistan.   No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack that also killed the Pakistani driver of the slain foreigners.   "The perpetrators of the attack will be held accountable and brought to justice," Naqvi was quoted as assuring the Chinese investigators and diplomats.   'Eliminate security risks'   A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing told a news conference Friday that the head of its "inter-agency" team engaged with senior Pakistani officials immediately upon arrival.  "He asked the Pakistani side to conduct speedy and thorough investigations into the attack, properly handle ensuing matters, step up security with concrete measures, completely eliminate security risks, and do everything possible to ensure the utmost safety of Chinese personnel, institutions, and projects in Pakistan," Lin Jian said.   "The Pakistani side said that investigations and efforts to handle the ensuing matters are fully underway, and they are taking all possible steps to improve security for Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions," Lin added.   China has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in Pakistan, including road networks, power plants, and a deep-water Arabian Sea port in Gwadar district in southwestern Baluchistan province.   The estimated $62 billion bilateral collaboration, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is an extension of Beijing's global Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure program.   Chinese and Pakistani officials confirmed Friday that work on the Dasu project had temporarily been suspended but not stopped following Tuesday's attack. They said work on all other Chinese-funded projects, including CPEC, is still ongoing.   In mid-2021, a suicide car bombing targeted a bus convoy of Chinese engineers working on the biggest hydropower project in the South Asian nation, killing nine Chinese nationals and three of their local co-workers. No group claimed responsibility for that attack.   Pakistan has lately experienced a dramatic surge in insurgent attacks, killing hundreds of civilians and security forces, particularly in Baluchistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Dasu is located.  Over the past week, separatist insurgents stormed a government building in Gwadar and a significant naval aviation base in nearby Turbat. The ensuing gun battles killed around a dozen assailants and left several Pakistani security personnel dead.  Both attacks were claimed by the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army or BLA, which the United States has listed as a global terrorist organization.   The BLA and allied insurgent groups in Baluchistan, which is central to CPEC investments, defend their violent campaign, alleging that Pakistan and China are depriving Balochistan of its natural resources, charges both countries reject.

WASHINGTON — Artificial Intelligence for good is the subject of a new exhibit at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, showing how Swedish companies and organizations are using AI for a more open society, a healthier world, and a greener planet. Ambassador Urban Ahlin told an embassy reception that Sweden’s broad collaboration across industry, academia and government makes it a leader in applying AI in public-interest areas, such as clean tech, social sciences, medical research, and greener food supply chains. That includes tracking the mood and health of cows. Fitbit for cows It is technology developed by DeLaval, a producer of dairy and farming machinery. The firm’s Market Solution Manager in North America Joaquin Azocar says the small wearable device the size of an earring fits in a cow’s ear and tracks the animal’s movements 24/7, much like a Fitbit. The ear-mounted tags send out signals to receivers across the farm. DeLaval’s artificial intelligence system analyzes the data and looks for correlations in patterns, trends, and deviations in the animals’ activities, to predict if a cow is sick, in heat, or not eating well. As a trained veterinarian, Azocar says dairy farmers being alerted sooner to changes in their animals’ behavior means they can provide treatment earlier which translates to less recovery time. AI helping in childbirth There are also advances in human health. The developing Pelvic Floor AI project is an AI-based solution to identify high-risk cases of pelvic floor injury and facilitate timely interventions to prevent and limit harm. It was developed by a team of gynecologists and women's health care professionals from Sweden’s Sahlgrenska University Hospital to help the nearly 20% of women who experience injury to their pelvic floor during childbirth. The exhibition “is a great way to showcase the many ways AI is being adapted and used, in medicine and in many other areas,” said exhibition attendee Jesica Lindgren, general counsel for international consulting firm BlueStar Strategies. “It’s important to know how AI is evolving and affecting our everyday life.” Green solutions using AI The exhibition includes examples of what AI can do about climate change, including rising sea levels and declining biodiversity. AirForestry is developing technology “for precise forestry that will select and harvest trees fully autonomously.” The firm says that “harvesting the right trees in the right place could significantly improve overall carbon sequestration and resilience.” AI & the defense industry Outlining the development of artificial intelligence for the defense industry, the exhibit admits that “can be controversial.” “There are exciting possibilities to use AI to solve problems that cannot be solved using traditional algorithms due to their complexity and limitations in computational power,” the exhibit states. “But it requires thorough consideration of how AI should and shouldn't be utilized. Proactively engaging in AI research is necessary to understand the technology's capabilities and limitations and help shape its ethical standards.” AI and privacy Exhibition participant Quentin Black is an engineer with Axis Communications, an industry leader in video surveillance. He said the project came out of GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation; an EU policy that provides privacy to citizens who are out in public whose image could be picked up on video surveillance cameras. The regulations surrounding privacy are stricter in Europe than they are in the U.S., Black said. “In the U.S. the public doesn’t really have an expectation of privacy; there's cameras everywhere. In Europe, it’s different.” That regulation inspired Axis Communications to develop AI that provides privacy, he explained. Black pointed to a large monitor divided into four windows, to show how AI is being used to set up four different filters to provide privacy. The Axis Live Privacy Shield remotely monitors activities both indoors and outdoors while safeguarding privacy in real time. The technology is downloadable and free, to provide privacy to people and/or environments, using a variety of filters. In the monitor on display in the exhibition, Black explained the four quadrants. The upper right window of the monitor displays privacy with a full color block out of all humans, using AI to distinguish the difference between the people and the environment. The upper left window provides privacy to the person’s head. The bottom left corner provides pixelization, or a mosaic, of the person’s entire/whole body, and the immediate environment surrounding the person. And the bottom right corner shows blockage of the environment, so “an inverse of the personal privacy,” Black explained. “So, if it was a top secret facility, or you want to see the people walking up to your door without a view of your neighbor's house, this is where this can this be applied.” Tip of the iceberg “I think that AI is on everybody's thoughts, and what I appreciate about the House of Sweden’s approach in this exhibition is highlighting a thoughtful, scientific, business-oriented and human-oriented perspective on AI in society today,” said Molly Steenson, President and CEO of the American Swedish Institute. Though AI and machine learning have been around since the 1950s, she says it is only now that we are seeing “the contemporary upswing and acceleration of AI, especially generative AI in things like large language models.” “So, while large companies and tech companies might want us to speed up and believe that it is only scary or it is only good, I think it's a lot more nuanced than that,” she said.

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GENEVA — Human rights experts accuse all parties to the conflict in the Central African Republic of perpetrating serious human rights abuses and violations against the civilian population. The experts, who held a high-level dialogue at the United Nations Human Rights Council Thursday to assess developments in the CAR, warned that the ongoing violence and instability in the country have adversely affected the human rights of civilians and kept the country mired in poverty. Nada Al-Nashif, the U.N. deputy high commissioner for human rights, blamed armed groups for “51% of the abuses and state actors for the remaining 49% of violations.” She said between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, 2,100 abuses and violations were reported by U.N. peacekeeping forces, known as MINUSCA, affecting 4,676 victims. Among the victims, she said, were hundreds of women and girls who were “subjected to conflict-related sexual violence.” “These violations were mainly attributable to armed groups, but also to the military and other security personnel,” she said, adding that the warring parties have committed other serious violations, as well, such as extrajudicial executions, trafficking, forced recruitment and use, and forced marriage. She said children also are victims of grave human rights violations, “with the recruitment and use of children and abduction and sexual violence being the most frequent. …Armed groups remain the main perpetrators in this regard.” Al-Nashif pointed out the government has taken some steps to improve the country’s deplorable human rights situation. However, she stressed that was only a first step, saying strengthened measures are urgently needed to eliminate all forms of exploitation and abuse. Responding to the deputy high commissioner’s remarks, Arnaud Djoubaye Abazene, CAR’s minister of state for justice, explained that his country’s years of experience with recurrent conflict and turbulence have led to “serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law of which women and girls are the main victims.” He said President Faustin-Archange Touadera was intent on rectifying the situation, noting that the president has placed “the promotion and protection of human rights at the epicenter of his public policy,” with particular emphasis on the rights of women and girls. He listed and recounted in detail the many new and revised constitutional laws and other legal remedies that have been implemented by his government related to gender-based violence. Some, he said, are aimed at ending discrimination, strengthening the rights of women, protecting women and children from abuse, and seeking justice for crimes against them. “During the criminal sessions of the Bangui Court of Appeal in 2020 and 2023, several criminal cases of rape were tried, and the perpetrators and accomplices found guilty were severely punished,” he said, adding that “several cases are currently being investigated at the level of the courts.” Joanne Adamson, deputy special representative of the secretary-general of the United Nations for MINUSCA, praised the government for “the significant progress it has made on human rights,” including the adoption of a national human rights policy, the extension of a plan of action to combat conflict-related sexual violence, and the government’s commitment to combat against impunity for sexual violence linked to conflict. “However, despite these efforts and the improvements in certain areas, the security situation remains volatile throughout the country and continues to bring challenges in the context of human rights, particularly in remote areas where armed groups remain active,” she said. “Conflict-related sexual violence remains a reality because of the ongoing gender inequalities and harmful traditional practices,” and that often causes abused women to remain silent. Adamson said many victims do not seek justice because they “fear reprisals, are ashamed or fear stigmatization and do not speak out.” She said allowing women to participate more fully in political and public life would help to “consolidate peace, reconciliation and development.” Deputy High Commissioner Al-Nashif noted that the Central African Republic ranks 188th out of 191 countries in terms of gender equality. “Gender-based discrimination and exclusion from public and political life remain deeply entrenched,” she said. “It is regrettable that the revised Electoral Code, adopted by the National Assembly in January 2024, did not include a provision on the implementation of a 35% quota for women in line with the Gender Parity Law of 2016.” Adamson called on the government to “ensure the political participation of women in all decision-making bodies through effective legal frameworks and policies.”

Two female entrepreneurs in Mozambique have started businesses that help fight climate change and reduce pollution. Amarilis Gule has this story from the capital, Maputo. Michele Joseph narrates.

BEIJING — At 53, Guan Junling is too old to get hired at factories anymore. But for migrant workers like her, not working is not an option.  For decades, they have come from farming villages to find work in the cities. Toiling in sweatshops and building apartment complexes they could never afford to live in, they played a vital role in China's transformation into an economic powerhouse.  As they grow older, the first generation of migrant workers is struggling to find jobs in a slowing economy. Many are financially strapped, so they have to keep looking.  "There is no such thing as a 'retirement' or 'pensions' for rural people. You can only rely on yourself and work," Guan said. "When can you stop working? It's really not until you have to lie in bed and you can't do anything."  She now relies on house cleaning gigs, working long days to squirrel away a little money in case of a health emergency. Migrant workers can get subsidized health care in their hometowns, but they have little or no coverage elsewhere. If Guan needs to go to hospital in Beijing, she has to pay out of pocket.  As China's population ages, so are its migrant workers. About 85 million were over 50 in 2022, the latest year for which data is available, accounting for 29% of all migrant workers and up from 15% a decade earlier. With limited or no pensions and health insurance, they need to keep working.  About 75% said they would work beyond the age of 60 in a questionnaire distributed to 2,500 first-generation migrant workers between 2018 to 2022, according to Qiu Fengxian, a scholar on rural sociology who described her research in a talk last year. The first-generation refers to those born in the 1970s or earlier.  Older workers are being hit by a double whammy. Jobs have dried up in construction due to a downturn in the real estate market and in factories because of automation and the slowing economy. Age discrimination is common, so jobs tend to go to younger people.  "For young people, of course, you can still find a job, positions are available, though the wage is not high enough," said Zhang Chenggang of Beijing's Capital University of Economics and Business, where he directs a center researching new forms of employment.  "But for older migrant workers, there simply are no positions," said Zhang, who conducted field studies at four labor markets across China late last year. "Now, the problem is that no matter how low the wage is, as long as someone pays, you will take the job."  Some job recruiters contacted by AP said older workers don't work well or have underlying illnesses. Others declined to answer and hung up.  Many are turning to temporary work. Zhang Zixing was looking for gigs on a cold winter day late last year at a sprawling outdoor labor market on the outskirts of Beijing.  He said he was fired from a job delivering packages because of his age about three years ago, when he reached 55. In December, he was earning 260 yuan (about $35) a day installing cables at construction sites.  Zhang Quanshou, a village official in Henan province and a delegate to China's National People's Congress, said some older migrant workers are just looking for work near their hometowns, while others still head to larger cities.  "Some older migrant workers are finding temporary jobs, so it is important to build the temporary job market and provide a better platform for such services," Zhang, the Communist Party secretary of the village, said in an emailed response to questions during a recent annual meeting of the Congress.  Guan, who comes from a rice-farming region in the north, worked on a clothing factory assembly line until she was laid off when she was in her 40s. She then worked various jobs in different cities, winding up in Beijing in 2018.  She works seven days a week, partly because she's afraid labor agencies won't call again if she turns an offer down.  Over February's Lunar New Year holiday, when migrant workers traditionally go home to visit their families, she stayed in Beijing as a caretaker for an elderly woman, because the woman needed help and she needed the money.  "People either want someone who's educated or young, and I don't meet either of those requirements," said Guan, who dropped out after middle school because her parents had only enough money to educate their son. "But then I think, regardless of how other people look at me, I have to survive."  Guan worries jobs will be even harder to find when she reaches 55. The retirement age for women in China is 50 or 55, depending on the company and type of work. For men, it is 60.  Lu Guoquan, a trade union official, has proposed relaxing age limits for jobs, judging workers by their physical condition instead of their age and making it easier for older people to find work through labor markets and online platforms.  "A large number of farmers have entered cities, making an important contribution to the modernization of our country," said his proposal, made to an advisory body during the recent national congress and seen by the AP.  As workers grow older, "they are gradually becoming a relatively vulnerable group in the labor market and face a number of thresholds and problems in continuing to work," it said.  Lu, director of the general office of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, declined an interview request.  Duan Shuangzhu has spent 25 years collecting trash in one Beijing neighborhood after giving up a life of raising sheep and cows in north China's Shanxi province when he was in his 40s. He gets up at 3:30 a.m. seven days a week to make his rounds. For that, he earns 3,300 yuan ($460) a month and has a basement room to live in.  Duan's wife stayed on the farm, where she looks after their grandchildren. Duan has managed to save money for himself, his children and his grandchildren, but never paid into a pension system, directing what little he earns to his family.  That fits the pattern Qiu found in her research, which she published in a book last year. Older migrant workers moved to the cities to improve the lives of their children and other relatives, not themselves, she found. Most have limited or no savings, and few have climbed the economic ladder. They hoped their children would, but most ended up as migrant workers, too.  Most migrant workers' earnings were spent on their children's marriages, homes and education, Qiu said in her talk. "Basically, they did not begin working for themselves and planning for their own late years until the age of 55."  Duan, at 68, has no plans to quit.  "As long as I can work every day, it's enough to survive," he said, standing next to a set of community rubbish bins, color-coded for recycling. "I didn't grow up in a wealthy family — just filling my stomach each day is enough for me."

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ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND — Rebuilding Baltimore's collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge could take anywhere from 18 months to several years, experts say, while the cost could be at least $400 million — or more than twice that.  It all depends on factors that are still mostly unknown. They range from the design of the new bridge to how swiftly government officials can navigate the bureaucracy of approving permits and awarding contracts.  Realistically, the project could take five to seven years, according to Ben Schafer, an engineering professor at Johns Hopkins University.  "The lead time on air conditioning equipment right now for a home renovation is like 16 months, right?" Schafer said. "So, it's like you're telling me they're going to build a whole bridge in two years? I want it to be true, but I think empirically it doesn't feel right to me."  Others are more optimistic about the potential timeline: Sameh Badie, an engineering professor at George Washington University, said the project could take as little as 18 months to two years.  The Key Bridge collapsed Tuesday, killing six members of a crew that was working on the span, after the Dali cargo ship plowed into one its supports. Officials are scrambling to clean up and rebuild after the accident, which has shuttered the city's busy port and a portion of the Baltimore beltway.  The disaster is in some ways similar to the deadly collapse of Florida's Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which was struck by a freighter in Tampa Bay in 1980. The new bridge took five years to build, was 19 months late and ran $20 million over budget when it opened in 1987.  But experts say it's better to look to more recent bridge disasters for a sense of how quickly reconstruction may happen.  Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, cited the case of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota, which collapsed into the Mississippi River in 2007. The new span was up in less than 14 months.  "It's the best comparison that we have for a project like this," Tymon said. "They did outstanding work in being able to get the approvals necessary to be able to rebuild that as quickly as possible."  Tymon expects various government agencies to work together to push through permits, environmental and otherwise.  "It doesn't mean that all of the right boxes won't get checked — they will," Tymon said. "It'll just be done more efficiently because everybody will know that this has to get done as quickly as possible."  One looming issue is the source of funding. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the federal government will pay for the new bridge, but that remains to be seen.  "Hopefully, Congress will be able to come together to provide those resources as soon as possible so that that does not become a source of delay," Tymon said.  Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota helped to obtain funding quickly to rebuild the I-35W bridge in her state. But she said replacing the Baltimore span could be more complicated.  She noted that the I-35W bridge, a federal interstate highway, was a much busier road with about 140,000 vehicle crossings a day, compared with about 31,000 for the Maryland bridge.  "But where there's a will there's a way, and you can get the emergency funding," Klobuchar said. "It's happened all over the country when disasters hit. And the fact that this is such a major port also makes it deserving of making sure that this all gets taken care of."  Badie, of George Washington University, said the cost could be between $500 million and $1 billion, with the largest variable being the design.  For example, a suspension bridge like San Francisco's Golden Gate would cost more, while a cable-stayed span, like Florida's Skyway Sunshine Bridge, which handles weight using cables and towers, would be less expensive.  Whatever is built, steel is expensive these days and there is a backlog for I-beams, Badie said. Plus, the limited number of construction companies that can tackle such a project are already busy with other jobs.  "A project like this is going to be expedited, so everything is going to cost a lot more," Badie said.  Hota GangaRao, a West Virginia University engineering professor, said the project could cost as little as $400 million. But that's only if the old bridge's pier foundations are used; designers may want to locate the new supports farther away from the shipping channels to avoid another collision.  "That's going to be more steel, more complicated construction and more checks and balances," GangaRao said. "It all adds up."  Norma Jean Mattei, an emeritus engineering professor at the University of New Orleans, said replacing the Key Bridge likely will take several years. Even if it's a priority, the process of designing the span, getting permits and hiring contractors takes a lot of time. Then you must build it.  "It's quite a process to actually get a bridge of this type into operation," she said. 

LOS ANGELES — Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries "Roots," has died. He was 87.  Gossett's first cousin Neal L. Gossett told The Associated Press that the actor died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California. No cause of death was revealed.  Gossett's cousin remembered a man who walked with Nelson Mandela and who also was a great joke teller, a relative who faced and fought racism with dignity and humor.  "Never mind the awards, never mind the glitz and glamour, the Rolls-Royces and the big houses in Malibu. It's about the humanity of the people that he stood for," his cousin said.    Louis Gossett always thought of his early career as a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him from an early age and propelling him forward, toward his Academy Award for "An Officer and a Gentleman."  He earned his first acting credit in his Brooklyn high school's production of "You Can't Take It with You" while he was sidelined from the basketball team with an injury.  "I was hooked — and so was my audience," he wrote in his 2010 memoir "An Actor and a Gentleman."  His English teacher urged him to go into Manhattan to try out for "Take a Giant Step." He got the part and made his Broadway debut in 1953 at age 16.  "I knew too little to be nervous," Gossett wrote. "In retrospect, I should have been scared to death as I walked onto that stage, but I wasn't."  Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and drama scholarship. He was soon acting and singing on TV shows hosted by David Susskind, Ed Sullivan, Red Buttons, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar and Steve Allen.  Gossett became friendly with James Dean and studied acting with Marilyn Monroe, Martin Landau and Steve McQueen at an offshoot of the Actors Studio taught by Frank Silvera.  In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in the Broadway production of "A Raisin in the Sun" along with Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Diana Sands.  He went on to become a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in "Golden Boy" with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.  Gossett went to Hollywood for the first time in 1961 to make the film version of "A Raisin in the Sun." He had bitter memories of that trip, staying in a cockroach-infested motel that was one of the few places to allow Black people.  In 1968, he returned to Hollywood for a major role in "Companions in Nightmare," NBC's first made-for-TV movie that starred Melvyn Douglas, Anne Baxter and Patrick O'Neal.  This time, Gossett was booked into the Beverly Hills Hotel and Universal Studios had rented him a convertible. Driving back to the hotel after picking up the car, he was stopped by a Los Angeles County sheriff's officer who ordered him to turn down the radio and put up the car's roof before letting him go.  Within minutes, he was stopped by eight sheriff's officers, who had him lean against the car and made him open the trunk while they called the car rental agency before letting him go.  "Though I understood that I had no choice but to put up with this abuse, it was a terrible way to be treated, a humiliating way to feel," Gossett wrote in his memoir. "I realized this was happening because I was Black and had been showing off with a fancy car — which, in their view, I had no right to be driving."  After dinner at the hotel, he went for a walk and was stopped a block away by a police officer, who told him he broke a law prohibiting walking around residential Beverly Hills after 9 p.m. Two other officers arrived and Gossett said he was chained to a tree and handcuffed for three hours. He was eventually freed when the original police car returned.  "Now I had come face-to-face with racism, and it was an ugly sight," he wrote. "But it was not going to destroy me."  In the late 1990s, Gossett said he was pulled over by police on the Pacific Coast Highway while driving his restored 1986 Rolls Royce Corniche II. The officer told him he looked like someone they were searching for, but the officer recognized Gossett and left.  He founded the Eracism Foundation to help create a world where racism doesn't exist.  Gossett made a series of guest appearances on such shows as "Bonanza," "The Rockford Files," "The Mod Squad," "McCloud" and a memorable turn with Richard Pryor on "The Partridge Family."  In August 1969, Gossett had been partying with members of the Mamas and the Papas when they were invited to actor Sharon Tate's house. He headed home first to shower and change clothes. As he was getting ready to leave, he caught a news flash on TV about Tate's murder. She and others were killed by Charles Manson's associates that night.  "There had to be a reason for my escaping this bullet," he wrote.  Louis Cameron Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, to Louis Sr., a porter, and Hellen, a nurse. He later added Jr. to his name to honor his father.  Gossett broke through on the small screen as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries "Roots," which depicted the atrocities of slavery on TV. The sprawling cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and John Amos.  Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the supporting actor category in 1983. He won for his performance as the intimidating Marine drill instructor in "An Officer and a Gentleman" opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.  "More than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor," he wrote in his memoir.  "The Oscar gave me the ability of being able to choose good parts in movies like 'Enemy Mine,' 'Sadat' and 'Iron Eagle,'" Gossett said in Dave Karger's 2024 book "50 Oscar Nights."  He said his statue was in storage.  "I'm going to donate it to a library so I don't have to keep an eye on it," he said in the book. "I need to be free of it."  Gossett appeared in such TV movies as "The Story of Satchel Paige," "Backstairs at the White House, "The Josephine Baker Story," for which he won another Golden Globe, and "Roots Revisited."  But he said winning an Oscar didn't change the fact that all his roles were supporting ones.  He played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of "The Color Purple."  Gossett struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction for years after his Oscar win. He went to rehab, where he was diagnosed with toxic mold syndrome, which he attributed to his house in Malibu.  In 2010, Gossett announced he had prostate cancer, which he said was caught in the early stages. In 2020, he was hospitalized with COVID-19.  He also is survived by sons Satie, a producer-director from his second marriage, and Sharron, a chef whom he adopted after seeing the 7-year-old in a TV segment on children in desperate situations. His first cousin is actor Robert Gossett.  Gossett's first marriage to Hattie Glascoe was annulled. His second, to Christina Mangosing, ended in divorce in 1975 as did his third to actor Cyndi James-Reese in 1992.

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WASHINGTON — After nearly three decades in Hong Kong, VOA's sister outlet Radio Free Asia has closed its physical bureau in the city and no longer has full-time staff there due to the declining press freedom landscape, the outlet announced in a statement Friday. "Concerns about the safety of RFA staff and reporters in Hong Kong have led us to restructure our on-the-ground operations there. While RFA will retain its official media registration, at this time we no longer have full-time personnel in Hong Kong and have closed our physical bureau," RFA President Bay Fang said in the statement. The announcement comes less than a week after Hong Kong enacted Article 23, a national security law that media watchdogs warn will further erode press freedom in the city. The new law is a domestic extension of the controversial national security law that Beijing imposed in 2020 that criminalized secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Article 23 builds on that legislation to also criminalize acts such as espionage, external interference and theft of state secrets. Press freedom groups, including Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, expressed concern about the new law. "By transposing the national security provisions imposed by Beijing into Hong Kong's domestic laws, the government hopes to restore the illusion of a territory governed by the rule of law while carrying on its campaign against independent voices," Cedric Alviani, RSF's Asia-Pacific bureau director, said in a statement before the law was enacted. "We urge democracies to build up pressure on Chinese authorities so that full press freedom is restored in the territory," Alviani continued. RFA, which opened its Hong Kong bureau in 1996, specifically cited Article 23 as a reason behind its departure from the city. "Actions by Hong Kong authorities, including referring to RFA as a 'foreign force,' raise serious questions about our ability to operate in safety with the enactment of Article 23," Fang said in the statement. VOA has reached out to the Hong Kong Security Bureau for a comment. For years, Hong Kong was lauded for its lively and free media environment, but the city's press freedom, along with other civil liberties, quickly deteriorated following the introduction of the national security law in 2020. Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have denied that the law is harming Hong Kong's media environment and instead say it has helped stabilize the city. The threats facing independent media in Hong Kong are exemplified by the ongoing national security trial of pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai. The 76-year-old British national stands accused of "collusion with foreign forces" under the national security law and sedition, both of which he rejects. If convicted, Lai faces life in prison. Hong Kong officials have denied that the trial against Lai is unfair, but press freedom groups and Western governments have condemned the charges as politically motivated and baseless. Although RFA is physically leaving Hong Kong, the outlet said it would continue to cover the city. "This restructuring means that RFA will shift to using a different journalistic model reserved for closed media environments," Fang said in the statement. "For our audiences in Hong Kong and mainland China, who rely on RFA's timely, uncensored journalism: rest assured, our programming and content will continue without disruption," she said.

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

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