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Vienna — After “frank” discussions in France where President Emmanuel Macron pressed him on Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade disputes and human rights, China’s President Xi Jinping heads Tuesday to meet more pro-Beijing governments in Serbia and Hungary.  Both countries have developed close ties with China and Russia under Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.  China has been investing billions in both countries, with projects ranging from factories and mining to electric vehicles and a railway to connect their capitals — Belgrade and Budapest.  China is both Hungary and Serbia’s largest trading partner outside the European Union.     Xi arrives in Serbia for the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999. The U.S. apologized for what it called a “mistaken” bombing that killed three Chinese nationals and injured 20. Xi is expected to pay tribute to those killed at the site, which was turned into a Chinese cultural center.  Ja Ian Chong, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, told VOA, "Xi will probably try to stress the PRC's [People's Republic of China] role in supporting stability and maybe suggest but not openly accuse the United States of being destabilizing and unnecessarily aggressive.” But analysts say Xi’s visits to Serbia and Hungary also reflect Beijing's limitations amid the ups and downs in China-EU relations. Francesco Sisci, an Italian sinologist, told VOA, “It's interesting that ... China didn't manage to secure more significant countries for Xi's visit to Europe. It seems that China is having greater difficulties in its ties with European countries, and it has good ties with two governments who have also good ties with Moscow. That is — Europe is moving faster away from China as it sees it too close to Moscow." Like Beijing, both Serbia and Hungary have spoken against sanctions by the U.S. and EU on Moscow over Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, though Hungary has voted for them.  Orban, despite leading a nation that is both a member of the EU and NATO, has friendly relations with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and held talks with him on the sidelines of a forum in Beijing in October. Hungary buys most of its fuel from Russia and, unlike other EU members, has shown no interest in stopping. Serbia is a candidate to join the EU.  During the third Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum, Xi also met with Orbán, the only EU leader who attended. Dragana Mitrovic, a political science professor at the University of Belgrade, says those relations have sparked tensions with Hungary’s partners in the West.     "In this moment of tense geopolitical competition and measuring economic and overall cooperation by strategic gains and losses, Hungary will continue to be under pressure from Brussels and Washington when pursuing cooperation with China," she said to VOA. While Hungary has benefited from billions in EU aid, Mitrovic notes Hungary is also one of the world’s biggest recipients of Chinese foreign investment.   China’s BYD, which last year sold more electric vehicles than Tesla, plans to build its first plant in Europe in Hungary. By building cars inside the EU, Beijing could avoid the threat of tariffs on electric cars imported from China.    Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

The world is watching students on U.S. college campuses protest Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza. Global reactions to the demonstrations, including to students’ arrests vary from pride and solidarity to alarm and condemnation. VOA's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.

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white house — President Joe Biden on Tuesday called out what he described as a "ferocious surge" of antisemitism, using a somber speech to tie together two grim anniversaries: his nation's annual commemoration of the Holocaust, and the beginning of the seventh month of hostilities in Gaza.   "This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world," Biden said as he delivered the keynote address at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony.   He spoke at the U.S. Capitol before a group of legislators and a few elderly survivors of Nazi Germany's move to systematically exterminate 6 million Jews during World War II.  In his remarks, Biden sought to tie that event to militant Palestinian group Hamas' stunning attack that killed about 1,200 Israeli civilians on October 7. The attack provoked a conflict that is ongoing to this day and has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.   "We've seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world," since the October attack, said Biden. "Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting, already forgetting, that Hamas unleashed this terror." 'You belong' Biden assured the Jewish community: "You belong. You always have, and you always will. … My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree."  Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, applauded Biden's speech and said in a statement that antisemitism is everybody's problem, not just one for Jews. "Rising antisemitic conspiracy theories and hate are a threat that undermines each and every American's safety and our core democratic norms and values," Spitalnick said. "We're grateful for President Biden's clear moral leadership confronting this threat, including through the historic U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.  "We urge Congress to quickly move the Countering Antisemitism Act forward for a vote, support robust implementation of the National Strategy, and significantly increase funding for the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights to investigate fully and address acts of antisemitism — and all civil rights violations — on campus. It's time to make clear that just, inclusive societies are ones in which Jews and all communities are safe and free."  Mounting pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. college campuses have raised questions about whether criticizing the world's only Jewish state as it continues to besiege Gaza should be seen as antisemitic speech.  "It is perfectly OK to object to the policies of a state," said Mirette Mabrouk, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. "It is never OK to be a bigot. So, when the state of Israel conflates the two — conflates being Jewish with the policies of the state of Israel — it makes it significantly more difficult for people to object to the policies of Israel, because you don't want to come across as being antisemitic. That is absolute nonsense."  VOA asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre where the Biden administration draws that line.   "I shouldn't have to talk about a line," she replied. "It's very clear. It presents itself in the most hateful, abhorrent way. And antisemitism is hate speech. It is just hate speech. I'm not going to stand here and give examples. That's not something I'm going to do — it is obvious." 

windhoek, namibia — Two alleged poachers were recently shot to death by Namibian law enforcement officials who say the men had opened fire on police while being pursued for suspected poaching in the Etosha National Park. A press release issued by the Namibian police on Friday said that an exchange of gunfire at the Etosha National Park earlier that week led to the death of two suspected poachers. They were pursued for more than 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) and opened fire on the police, resulting in them returning fire that led to their deaths. A Namibian activist says poverty and inequality lead to wildlife crime. But police say they may shoot at anyone who brings guns into the park, where weapons are banned. Namibia has seen a recent surge in rhino poaching, with 28 rhinos killed in the first four months of this year, compared to seven in the same period of 2023. The police commander for Etosha National Park, Theopolina Nashikaku, said officers will not hesitate to use deadly force against suspected poachers. "Only authorized personnel, and only authorized security personnel are permitted to carry firearms," said Nashikaku. "So, if we meet you being the person who wants to carry firearms in that restricted environment, if we just meet you trying to cross the boundary into the national park or if we find you inside the park off course, we shall assist you to return to your maker." Poverty fuels crimes Michael Amushelelo, a Namibian activist and commissar for Economic Development of the Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters, a political party in Namibia, said the high levels of poverty and inequality fuel wildlife crime. "You cannot tell me that you have an entire army, you have an entire police force, you have a directorate of ranger parks but still our wildlife are still being killed like there is no one protecting them," Amushelelo said. Romeo Muyunda, the spokesperson of the environment ministry tasked with the protection of Namibia's wildlife, said the killing of the suspects is an isolated incident that doesn't take into account the many arrests that are made without the suspects being harmed. "This incident is isolated," Muyunda said. "I am sure this is the first of many that one [may] have heard [of] in Namibia, happening in Namibia. That means that we have been apprehending poachers sometimes in the park sometimes outside the park without fire."

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In the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump are both using artificial intelligence to attract voters. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns reports on machine learning in this U.S. election.

Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his two-day visit to France Tuesday — his first trip to Europe in five years. As Henry Ridgwell reports, China and Europe are seeking to mend ties but face major obstacles — including trade disputes and Beijing’s support for Russia.

state department — The United States’ and China's new climate envoys are holding their first in-person talks on Wednesday and Thursday in Washington, leading a bilateral working group discussion to accelerate concrete climate action. Some analysts caution that political and economic tensions between the world’s two largest emitters of carbon dioxide, or CO2, could hamper progress on the climate front. This week’s talks will take place against the backdrop of the Biden administration's probe into Chinese-made electric vehicles, or EVs, and calls to increase tariffs on the import of solar panels from China to protect domestic producers. John Podesta, senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden for international climate policy, and Liu Zhenmin, the People's Republic of China's special envoy for climate change, along with relevant officials from both countries, will convene this week's working-group talks. “The meeting will focus on areas identified in the Sunnylands Statement, including energy transition, methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases, circular economy and resource efficiency, low-carbon and sustainable provinces/states and cities, and deforestation, among others,” according to the State Department. Sunnylands statement In November 2023, John Kerry, then-U.S. special presidential envoy for climate, and Xie Zhenhua, China’s former special envoy for climate change, met in Sunnylands, California, to reaffirm their commitments to jointly address the climate crisis. The agreement focuses on many less competitive areas, according to analysts. “For example, in a first, both sides agreed to include methane in their 2035 climate goals and the agreement highlighted a target of promoting at least five large-scale cooperative projects in carbon capture, utilization and storage, or CCUS,” said Jennifer Turner, the director of the Washington-based Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum. CCUS is a process that captures carbon dioxide emissions from sources like coal-fired power plants and either reuses or stores it so it will not enter the atmosphere. In the Sunnylands statement, the U.S. and China also said they are determined to end plastic pollution. “The two countries have been meeting at the table for the Global Plastic Treaty but neither has made plastic a part of the bilateral talks. As is true in energy, we are also plastic waste superpowers and what actions we take in this space could also be game changing,” Turner told VOA on Tuesday. Digitally connected vehicles and solar panels However, the climate envoys are likely to steer clear of electric vehicles as an area for climate cooperation because they have become a huge area of tension. The Biden administration has said it would investigate Chinese-made digitally connected vehicles, citing potential national security risks and concerns over their capability to collect sensitive information about American users. On February 29, Biden criticized what it called PRC’s unfair practices in its auto industry.   “China’s policies could flood our market with its vehicles, posing risks to our national security,” Biden said in a statement. U.S. officials have also criticized China’s excess production in solar panels and lithium-ion batteries. In April, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said China’s subsidizing of clean energy and industrial overcapacity “hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world.” In October 2023, the European Commission, responsible for trade policy in the 27-nation European Union, launched an investigation into potential distortive subsidies for battery electric vehicles manufactured in China, possibly leading to additional tariffs. The investigation is ongoing. Chinese officials said the Biden administration’s actions are discriminatory. They have asked the U.S. to “stop overstretching the concept of national security” and “stop its discriminatory suppression against Chinese companies.” “I would like to stress that Chinese-made cars are popular globally not by using so-called ‘unfair practices,’ but by emerging from the fierce market competition with technological innovation and superb quality,” said a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, on March 1 during a briefing in Beijing. She called the U.S. investigation “trade protectionism” and said, “such acts of politicizing economic and trade issues will only hinder the development of the U.S. auto industry itself.”

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washington — The U.S. military has finished construction of its Gaza aid pier, but weather conditions are making it unsafe to move the two-part facility into place, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.  The pier, which the U.S. military started building last month and which will cost at least $320 million, is aimed at boosting deliveries of desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza, which has been ravaged by seven months of Israeli operations against Hamas.  "As of today, the construction of the two portions of the JLOTS — the floating pier and the Trident pier — are complete and awaiting final movement offshore," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, using an acronym for Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, the official name for the pier capability.  "Today there are still forecasted high winds and high sea swells, which are causing unsafe conditions for the JLOTS components to be moved. So the pier sections and military vessels involved in its construction are still positioned at the port of Ashdod," in Israel, Singh said.  U.S. Central Command "stands by to move the pier into position in the near future," she added.  The vessels and the under-construction pier were moved to the port because of bad weather last week. Once the weather clears, the pier will be anchored to the Gaza shore by Israeli soldiers, keeping U.S. troops off the ground.  Aid will then be transported via commercial vessels to a floating platform off the Gaza coast, where it will be transferred to smaller vessels, brought to the pier, and taken to land by truck for distribution.  Plans for the pier were first announced by U.S. President Joe Biden in early March as Israel held up deliveries of assistance by ground, and U.S. Army troops and vessels soon set out on a lengthy trip to the Mediterranean to build the pier.  Some two months later, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. The United Nations said Tuesday that Israel had denied it access to the Rafah crossing, the key entry point for aid into the territory. 

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LONDON — Chinese President Xi Jinping offered few concessions to his counterpart and host Emmanuel Macron as he wrapped up a two-day visit to France on Tuesday evening. Both presidents are seeking to mend ties on Xi's first trip to Europe in five years, after relations were soured by trade disputes and Beijing's support for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Macron invited Xi high into the Pyrenees Mountains, the home region of the French president's maternal grandmother. Beneath snowy peaks shrouded in fog, the two leaders and their wives watched traditional dancers before dining on locally produced ham, lamb, cheese and blueberry pie. French officials said the mountain trip on Tuesday would provide a chance for less- formal one-on-one discussions after the pomp and ceremony of Xi's official state welcome in Paris on Monday. Relations have worsened significantly since Xi last visited the region in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic. Europe accuses Beijing of subsidizing industries that are undercutting its own companies in areas such as electric vehicles — but Macron told his Chinese guests that the European Union is not seeking to cut economic ties. "Our shared objective is to continue our relationship," Macron told delegates Monday at the Franco-Chinese Business Council in Paris. "There is no logic in decoupling from China. It's a desire to preserve our national security, just as you do for your own. It's a desire for mutual respect and understanding, and a desire to continue to open up trade, but to ensure that it is fully fair at all times, whether in terms of tariffs, aid or access to markets.” WATCH: While visiting France, Xi offers few concessions over trade, Russia China's response Xi made no immediate concessions, said analyst Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. "Xi Jinping does not feel that China has an overcapacity issue. And he feels that the European position on Chinese EVs, for example, is unreasonable. But then of course he is also trying to engage with the French and potentially having a leading Chinese car manufacturer setting up facilities in France, as a kind of incentive to persuade that maybe it's in France's interest to engage with China and welcome Chinese EVs," Tsang told VOA. The trade relationship is tilted in Beijing's favor, according to Nicholas Bequelin, a senior fellow at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center. China "has a major export economy towards Europe. The trade deficit in Europe is huge and growing. The de-risking or anti-subsidy policies that the European Union wants to put in place will take a lot of time — and because they affect the different countries in the European Union differently, it is very difficult to get to an agreement," Bequelin said. Russia threat Europe faces the more pressing security threat of Russia, as the Kremlin's forces slowly advance in eastern Ukraine. China has given Moscow diplomatic and economic support, despite Western appeals for Beijing to help end the illegal invasion. Xi declared a "no limits" partnership when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing in February 2022, just days before the Kremlin's tanks rolled across the Ukrainian frontier. A recent U.S. assessment concluded that China is providing vital components such as machine tools and microelectronics that Russia is using to make weapons. Last year, trade between China and Russia hit a record $240 billion. Speaking in Paris Monday, Xi rejected European accusations that China was aiding Russia's war. "China is neither the creator of the crisis, nor a party, a participant of the war. However, we didn't just watch the fire burning across the river but have been playing an active role in achieving peace," Xi told reporters. Europe's message China's claim is demonstrably false — and European leaders must take a tougher line, said analyst Igor Merheim-Eyre, a policy adviser at the European Parliament and research fellow at the University of Kent. "We've already had [German] Chancellor Olaf Scholz, we've had Macron, we've had Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, we have [EU Commission] President [Ursula] von der Leyen, all making trips to Beijing and repeating the same message: that China should not be supporting Russia in its aggression against Ukraine. And in those two years, I see no change," Merheim-Eyre told VOA. "What they've really failed at is spelling out to Xi Jinping what will be the cost of China supporting Russia's war of aggression — which it clearly is. I mean if it wasn't, we wouldn't already have four Chinese companies on the EU sanction list. And the circumventions are much broader than that," he said. Costs for China Europe should make the costs clear, said analyst Tsang, because China's "policy has always been one of declaring neutrality, supporting Putin and refusing to pay a price for that." Sanctioning Chinese companies that are supplying Russia's military would likely be effective, he said. "For Xi Jinping, the important thing is that he stays in power, and that means he has to keep the Chinese economy on an even keel. Supporting Putin is a desirable thing — but fundamentally staying in power overrides the aspirational goal of undermining U.S. global preeminence and leadership." Tsang said. “Shared interest” Von der Leyen on Monday urged Beijing to help end the war. "We agree that Europe and China have a shared interest in peace and security. We count on China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," she said in a recorded video address. But European leaders should be more realistic about Beijing's ambitions, argued analyst Merheim-Eyre. "I'm looking at my world map, and I'm trying to see where exactly this common interest lies. Because wherever I look, from Africa to the South China Sea to Ukraine, China is playing a destructive role, and I do not see common areas of interest in these matters." After visiting France, Xi was headed Tuesday for Serbia, a key Balkan partner in Beijing's Belt and Road investment program. On Wednesday, Xi is due to travel to Hungary, his closest European ally and a longtime thorn in the side of EU unity on Russia and China policy. VOA’s Mandarin Service contributed to this story.

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Blantyre, malawi — Malawi's Vice President Saulos Chilima was arrested in November of 2022 after being named among 84 individuals suspected to have received bribes from a U.K.-based businessman, Zuneth Sattar.  Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau accused Chilima of receiving kickbacks from Sattar in exchange for government contracts.    However, early this month, Director of Public Prosecutions Masauko Chamkakala filed a notice to the High Court to drop the case in which Chilima had not taken a plea after 18 months.  An order from High Court Judge Redson Kapindu issued Monday says all charges Chilima was answering to in connection to the case have been dropped.  Moses Mkandawire, the chairperson for the National Alliance Against Corruption, told VOA that the Malawi government should have let the case proceed in court if it wants to be taken seriously in its efforts to curb corruption.  "We have to look at what the law says if someone has offended, violated, abused a particular law," Mkandawire said. "It's extremely important that that person is brought before the courts of law because otherwise, we are just paying lip service to the fight against corruption."  Mkandawire said it's unfortunate that Malawi's fight against corruption continues to favor high-profile individuals despite commitments by President Lazarus Chakwera to fight corruption without fear or favor.    In May of last year, the DPP dropped a corruption case against former President Bakili Muluzi, who was accused of diverting $11 million donation to his personal bank account while in office between 1994 and 2004.  This came a month after President Chakwera pardoned a former minister of homeland security, Uladi Mussa, as an act of mercy during Easter. Musa was jailed in 2020 for corruption and placed on a U.S. travel ban.  In July of last year, Chakwera also pardoned the country's former minister of information Henry Mussa on poor health grounds. He was serving a nine-year jail term after being convicted of conspiracy to steal government property.  George Phiri, a former lecturer of political science at the University of Livingstonia, said dropping the case against Chilima is detrimental to the fight against corruption.  "Discontinuing a high-profile case, forgiving people whom the court has justified that they were guilty of an offense, I think, does not send a good message in the fight against corruption in Malawi," he said. Malawian government authorities said dropping court cases is constitutional because the country's laws give the director of public prosecution the power to discontinue any case.  Reacting to the development, members of the United Transformation Movement party of Chilima on Tuesday took to the streets of the capital, Lilongwe, to celebrate the discontinuation of the case.  "We are excited of course as a party but the chief factor in this whole thing is the behavior of the vice president during the process," said party spokesperson Felix Njawala. "We have understood that really he is a man who respects the rule of law because he advised members of the party not to interfere with the process."  According to the court order, the director of public prosecutions must brief parliament on the reason for dropping the case against Chilima within 10 days. 

The US and Turkey have resumed security cooperation talks, and analysts say Turkish forces are poised to fill a vacuum should American forces pull out of Syria. Pentagon officials say there are no plans for a withdrawal, but analysts point to signs it may happen. Meanwhile, the speculation is causing concern among Kurdish forces in Syria. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.