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Washington — Two U.S. congressmen have introduced a bill to rename the street in front of Hong Kong’s de facto embassy in Washington as "Jimmy Lai Way" in honor of the jailed media entrepreneur. The bill would also apply the name change to the mailing address for the office, officially known as the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey announced the bill in a statement Thursday, saying he and the bill’s co-author, Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, wanted to honor the "renowned Hong Kong human rights defender who remains unjustly imprisoned by Hong Kong authorities." Authorities jailed the 76-year-old founder of Hong Kong media group Next Digital, formerly Next Media, in December 2020 after accusing him of fraud. They also charged him with "conspiracy to collude with foreign countries or external forces to endanger national security" under Hong Kong’s National Security Law.  The cases are still ongoing, and Lai has been denied bail. In the statement, Smith, who is chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, called the charges "fabricated" and "politically motivated." "Jimmy Lai is a man of faith and conviction, someone who fervently believed that Hong Kong's prosperity and vitality were built on the rights promised to its citizens," Smith said. "For peacefully acting on this belief, he is arbitrarily detained." Since Beijing imposed the tough Hong Kong security law in 2020, U.S. lawmakers from both parties have become increasingly concerned about the Asian financial hub’s autonomy and are looking at measures to put pressure on its government. Beijing says the security law is needed to maintain stability but has used it to arrest, jail and try hundreds of pro-democracy activists, stifling Hong Kong’s once vibrant civil society. In March, Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously and quickly approved their own sweeping national security law known as Basic Law Article 23, strengthening the government's ability to silence dissent. "We will continue to press for Jimmy Lai's unconditional release and seek ways to raise the diplomatic and reputational costs globally for the Hong Kong government and their Chinese Communist Party masters for their rough dismantling of democratic freedoms and the rule of law in Hong Kong," Smith said in the statement. Smith, who has long been concerned about human rights in China, nominated Lai and other jailed, well-known Chinese rights defenders Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi, along with Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize in February. U.S. lawmakers called them "advocates for peace and freedom." "The free world must continue calling attention to the Chinese Communist Party's crimes in Xinjiang, erosion of democracy in Hong Kong, and saber-rattling against Taiwan," Suozzi said in the statement. "Naming a street in Washington, D.C., after Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy advocate and journalist standing up for human rights in Hong Kong, will signal to the entire world that the United States stands in solidarity with those who oppose the tyranny and repression of the Chinese government," he added. The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office has locations in three U.S. cities — Washington, New York and San Francisco. VOA contacted the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office and the Chinese Embassy in Washington for their reaction to the proposed bill. They forwarded VOA’s inquiry to the Information Services Department in Hong Kong, which did not receive respond by publication time. U.S. lawmakers have on several occasions proposed name changes for roads in front of foreign embassies and territories to memorialize and honor rights defenders from those countries who were persecuted by their own governments. In 2014, a bill was introduced to rename a portion of International Place NW, a street that runs in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington after Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo. The Chinese writer and government critic died in custody in 2017. In 2020, U.S. lawmakers proposed renaming the same street "Li Wenliang Plaza" after the doctor who was punished for posting warnings on social media about the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 in Wuhan. He died that same year from the virus. In 2018, the city government in Washington renamed a section of the avenue in front of the Russian Embassy as "Boris Nemtsov Plaza" in honor of the Russian opposition activist who had been fatally shot in Moscow three years earlier. In 2022, the street in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy was renamed "Jamal Khashoggi Way" after the Washington Post columnist was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by government agents. In February, a bipartisan group of U.S. congressmen announced legislation to rename a section of the street near the Russian ambassador’s residence as "Alexei Navalny Way" to memorialize the late Russian opposition leader less than two weeks after his sudden death in prison.

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Lausanne, France — Between six and eight Palestinian athletes are expected to compete at the Paris Olympics, with some set to be invited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) even if they fail to qualify, its head, Thomas Bach, said. Bach told AFP on Friday that qualification events for the Paris Games, which start July 26, were ongoing for a number of sports. "But we have made the clear commitment that even if no (Palestinian) athlete would qualify on the field of play ... then the NOC (National Olympic Committee) of Palestine would benefit from invitations, like other national Olympic Committees who do not have a qualified athlete," he said in an interview at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. He said he expected the Palestinian delegation to number "six to eight." Bach said that the International Olympic Committee "from day one of the conflict" in Gaza had "supported in many different ways the athletes to allow them to take part in qualifications and to continue their training." Palestinian militants from Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of about 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed 34,356 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Bach dismissed suggestions the IOC has treated Russia differently over its invasion of Ukraine compared with Israel and its war in Gaza. Russia was suspended from many international sports after its invasion and its athletes have been banned from competing under the national flag at Paris 2024. In order to take part in the Paris Games, they are also required to have never publicly supported the war against Ukraine and not be employed by the military or security services. The sanctions against Russia were a result of Moscow violating the "Olympic truce" in its invasion of Ukraine soon after the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 and for annexing Ukrainian sports organizations. "The situation between Israel and Palestine is completely different," Bach said. He said he had been even-handed in his public statements on Ukraine, the Hamas attack on Israel and the "horrifying consequences" of the war in Gaza. "From day one, we expressed how horrified we were, first on the seventh of October and then about the war and its horrifying consequences," Bach said. "We have always been very clear as we have been with the Russian invasion in Ukraine."

JERUSALEM — Ballistic missiles fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels caused "minor damage" to a Panama-flagged oil tanker traveling through the Red Sea on Friday, authorities said. The attack follows an uptick in assaults launched by the Houthis in recent days after a relative lull in their monthslong campaign over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The rebels fired three missiles in the attack, one of which damaged the Panama-flagged, Seychelles-registered Andromeda Star, the U.S. military's Central Command said. The private security firm Ambrey described the tanker as being "engaged in Russia-linked trade." The vessel was traveling from Primorsk, Russia, to Vadinar, India, Ambrey said. Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree later claimed the attack early Saturday in a prerecorded statement aired by the rebels. He described the tanker as being "directly hit." Another vessel, the Antiqua-Barbados-flagged, Liberia-operated Maisha, was also nearby at the time of the assault, the U.S. said. The attack occurred off Mocha, Yemen, near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, since Wednesday, there have been at least two other attacks claimed by the Houthis. The first targeted the MV Yorktown, a U.S.-flagged, owned and operated vessel with 18 U.S. and four Greek crew members. Another targeted the MSC Darwin. The Houthis have said they will continue their attacks until Israel ends its war in Gaza, which the Hamas-controlled health ministry says has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage. Most of the ships targeted by the Houthis have had little or no direct connection to Israel, the U.S. or other nations involved in the war. The rebels have also fired missiles toward Israel, though they have largely fallen short or been intercepted.

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sydney — Analysis of more than 25,000 images from divers, tourism operators and recreational boats on Australia’s annual Great Reef Census is getting under way. Now in its fourth year, one of the world’s fastest-growing conservation projects is helping to gauge the health and degradation of the world’s largest coral system, which is suffering from another mass bleaching event. The Great Reef Census collects a trove of images of what is arguably Australia’s greatest natural treasure. Each picture can contain vital information about the health of the Great Barrier Reef. Together, the images create a vital evaluation of the state of the ecosystem. The barrier reef stretches for 2,300 kilometers down Australia’s northeastern coast. It is under increasing threat from global warming, pollution and overfishing, as well as coral-eating crown of thorns starfish. The surveillance project is urging so-called citizen scientists around the world to help in the analysis of the images. The survey also uses artificial intelligence to scan much of the data. The public is being asked to analyze the images to see which reefs fared better than others and potentially identify so-called new "key source reefs," which are those reefs that appear to have escaped the worst of the degradation. Anyone can help in the effort, said Nicole Senn, impact and engagement lead at Citizens of the Reef, which coordinates the survey. "Citizen scientists using our A.I assisted platform can actually provide data that is highly comparable in accuracy to a reef expert, and it takes as little as one minute to analyze an image, and the data you are generating helps to prioritize conservation efforts on the reef and identify key source reefs,” she said. “These are healthy reefs that are positioned in a way that they can help nearby reefs recover and this is just one of the many ways your analysis of these images can help." The Great Barrier Reef is suffering from another widespread bleaching event. Scientists say that corals bleach, or turn white, when they are stressed by changes in water temperature, light, or nutrients. In response, the coral expels the symbiotic algae living in their tissues that give them their color and energy, exposing their white skeleton. Not all bleaching incidents are due to warm water, but experts say the mass bleaching reported on the Great Barrier Reef is caused by a marine heatwave. Experts say reefs around the world last year and early this year have been affected by high ocean surface temperatures. Chris Lawson, a data scientist with the Great Reef Census’ Science Committee, told VOA that the situation appears to be dire. "The latest mass bleaching event has been designated as the fourth global mass bleaching event,” he said. “So, it is not just in Australia, it has been observed globally and by all accounts is the worst one on record in terms of its extent and its severity of bleaching." Experts say reefs’ extreme susceptibility to warming sea temperatures makes them one of the world's ecosystems that is most vulnerable to climate change.

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Washington — British officials formally charged two men Friday with spying on behalf of China in the latest in a series of European arrests of suspected Chinese intelligence agents. The two men, Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, were charged with violations of the Official Secrets Act by "providing prejudicial information to a foreign state, China” between 2021 and February 2023. Their arrests on Monday occurred at the same time that German authorities arrested three people suspected of spying for China and leaking information on military technology. German authorities separately arrested an assistant to a far-right European Parliament member. The Chinese Embassy in London said the charges Cash and Berry face are "completely fabricated" and "malicious slander," a part of British "anti-China political manipulation." Dominic Murphy, who leads the counterterrorism command of London’s Metropolitan Police, told The Associated Press the charges are the result of “an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations." Cash, a parliamentary researcher with the governing Conservative Party, and Berry, an academic, have been granted bail and released after a court appearance in London. They will next appear in court for a preliminary hearing on May 10. Cash maintains his innocence, while Berry and his lawyers have provided no public statements. British and EU officials have warned of the threat that Chinese covert activities pose, with Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, warning in 2022 that China has sought to target and influence British political officials. Last month, the U.S. and U.K. governments announced new sanctions against hackers with ties to the Chinese government, and both countries accused the hackers of targeting government officials and businesses at the direction of Chinese government leadership. Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press. 

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Washington — Iran's handing of a death sentence this week to dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi has drawn outrage from the Islamic republic's domestic and international critics, including a German lawmaker who says Tehran risks fueling the backlash if it moves toward executing the artist. In an interview for the Friday edition of VOA's Flashpoint Global Crises program, German parliament member Ye-One Rhie said the Iranian government is using the death sentence to monitor who is still reacting to developments in Salehi's case and how they are reacting. Rhie has been acting as a "political sponsor" or advocate for the 33-year-old Iranian singer since shortly after his initial arrest in October 2022. "The Islamic Republic of Iran is testing the waters," Rhie said, noting that Tehran did the same when it staged an unprecedented aerial assault on Israel earlier this month. Israeli forces largely thwarted the attack with military assistance from a coalition of Western allies and Arab neighbors. Iranian state-approved newspaper Shargh first reported the death sentence against Salehi in an article published Wednesday, citing one of his lawyers who vowed to appeal it. Salehi was charged upon arrest with "spreading corruption on earth," an offense punishable by death. Days earlier, he had posted videos on Instagram, showing himself joining a nationwide protest movement against Iran's Islamist government and releasing a music video denouncing the government for 44 years of "failure." The rapper was sentenced last July to six years in prison, but Iran's Supreme Court reviewed the ruling and declared it flawed, enabling his release in November. He was re-arrested two weeks later, after posting another video online complaining of being tortured in custody. Wednesday's report of Salehi's death sentence drew swift condemnations from other dissidents and artists in Iran and from Iranian teachers' trade unions. VOA's Persian Service also received and vetted several videos that appeared to show protest actions inside Iran. VOA could not verify the videos independently because it is barred from reporting inside Iran. One video shows a banner with Salehi’s image on a bridge over Tehran's Modarres Expressway, as a woman filming the scene says the date is April 25. Another clip shows a Persian slogan citing Salehi scrawled onto a building's exterior wall in an unidentified location. The graffiti says: "We will return to the streets with strength." Criticism of Salehi's death sentence also came quickly from the United States and U.N. human rights bodies. In a Wednesday post on the X platform, U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley said the U.S. "strongly" condemns the move. U.N. rights experts issued a statement Thursday demanding that Iran release Salehi immediately and reverse the sentence. As those calls were made, some Iranian state media appeared to downplay the possibility of Salehi being executed. In articles published Thursday, they cited Iran's Judiciary Media Center as saying that even if the Supreme Court confirms Salehi's death sentence upon appeal, a Pardon and Forgiveness Commission would review the case for possible commutation. Rhie said her efforts to raise international awareness of Salehi's plight for the past year-and-a-half have kept his case on the radar and agenda of Western media and governments. "It is important for the Iranian regime to know that Salehi has a status that they cannot touch. I would warn them against doing anything to him, because they don't want to know what the backlash would be," Rhie said. While Iran has signaled that Salehi's death sentence could be reversed, the German lawmaker said she will keep up her fight. "I don't think that there is anything that will stop us from our activism," she said. VOA's Persian Service contributed to this report.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced a military aid package for Ukraine valued at up to $6 billion. Analysts say the aid is desperately needed to help Ukraine regain the upper hand after months of having to ration ammunition. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has details.

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Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are digging in at Columbia University and inspiring more and more demonstrations at university campuses across the United States. The protests are causing rising tensions on all sides of emotionally charged issues that have leadership at institutions facing a delicate balance to encourage free speech while protecting students.

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