Feed aggregator

This week on The Inside Story, we highlight the alarming rise in foreign interference and manipulation threatening the integrity of the U.S. presidential election. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the war intensifies with Russia's recent attacks targeting a hospital, raising global security concerns.

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.

Washington — A judge will hear arguments Thursday about the potential next steps in the federal election subversion prosecution of Donald Trump in the first hearing since the Supreme Court narrowed the case by ruling that former presidents are entitled to broad immunity from criminal charges. Prosecutors and defense lawyers submitted dueling proposals late Friday before the status conference. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is presiding over the case that charges Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump is not expected to be present, and it was not immediately clear whether Chutkan will make any rulings Thursday. Special counsel Jack Smith's team filed a new indictment last week to strip out certain allegations against Trump, the Republican nominee for president, and comply with the Supreme Court ruling. His team said it could be ready at any time to file a legal brief laying out its position on how to apply the justices' immunity opinion to the case.  Defense lawyers said they intend to file multiple motions to dismiss the case, including one that piggybacks off a Florida judge's ruling that said Smith's appointment was unconstitutional. Neither side envisions a trial happening before the November election, especially given the amount of work ahead. Chutkan is tasked with determining which of the acts alleged in the indictment can remain part of the case in light of the Supreme Court opinion. The justices in July ruled that former presidents enjoy absolute immunity for the exercise of their core constitutional duties and are presumptively immune from prosecution for all other official acts.  Smith's team responded to the ruling with a revised indictment last week that removed references to Trump's efforts to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to remain in power, an area of conduct for which the Supreme Court said Trump is immune.  The case is one of two federal prosecutions against Trump. The other, charging him with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, was dismissed in July by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. She said Smith's appointment as special counsel was unlawful. Smith's team has appealed that ruling. Trump's lawyers say they intend to ask Chutkan to dismiss the election case on the same grounds. 

Munich — Police in Munich exchanged fire with a man on Thursday, fatally wounding the suspect in an area near a museum on the city's Nazi-era history and the Israeli Consulate. According to a police spokesperson, officers were alerted to a person carrying a "long gun" in the Karolinenplatz area, near downtown Munich, at around 9 a.m. There was then an exchange of shots in which the suspect sustained fatal injuries, but there no was no indication that anyone else was hurt, spokesperson Andreas Franken told reporters.  There was no immediate information on the suspect's identity or on any motive, Franken said. The man, who was carrying an old make of firearm with a repeating mechanism, died at the scene. Bavaria's top security official, state Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, said the suspect had opened fire at police and they returned fire. It was unclear whether the incident was in any way related to the 52nd anniversary Thursday of the attack by Palestinian militants on the Israeli delegation at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which ended with the death of 11 Israeli team members, a West German police officer and five of the assailants. Police said there was no evidence of any more suspects connected to the incident. They increased their presence in the city, Germany's third-biggest, but said they had no indication of incidents at any other locations or of any other suspects. Five officers were at the scene at the time the gunfire erupted. Police later deployed to the area in force. Israel's Foreign Ministry said the consulate in Munich was closed when the shooting occurred and that none of its staff had been hurt. The nearby Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, which opened in 2015 and explores the city's past as the birthplace of the Nazi movement, also said all of its employees were unharmed. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he spoke with German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He wrote on the social media platform X that "together we expressed our shared condemnation and horror" at the shooting. Speaking at an unrelated news conference in Berlin, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser described Thursday's shooting as "a serious incident" but said she didn't want to speculate on what had happened.  She reiterated that "the protection of Jewish and Israeli facilities has the highest priority."

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.

Paris — President Emmanuel Macron named EU former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as France's new prime minister on Thursday after more than 50 days of caretaker government. The appointment of the 73-year-old Barnier follows weeks of intense efforts by Macron and his aides to find a candidate who might be able to build loose groupings of backers in parliament and survive possible attempts by Macron's opponents to quickly topple the new government that Barnier will now put together and lead. A statement from Macron's office announcing Barnier's appointment said he'd been tasked "with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people." "This appointment comes after an unprecedented cycle of consultations during which, in accordance with his constitutional duty, the President ensured that the Prime Minister and the future government would meet the conditions to be as stable as possible and give themselves the chances of uniting as broadly as possible," the statement said. 

Beijing — Hundreds of African political and business leaders filed into China's Great Hall of the People on Thursday eager to forge new partnerships, sign contracts and make industry connections. "Business is business, we'll buy from anywhere. In China, the price is right," Abakar Tahir Moussa, a Chadian construction firm owner, told AFP, showing off the business card of a potential new Chinese partner.  He hoped to use the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which ends on Friday, to partner with Chinese firms on road and bridge projects. "I'm here to make contacts and get more business," Moussa said after he joined thousands of delegates from more than 50 countries at the forum's colorful opening ceremony. A housing developer from Burkina Faso, who asked not to be identified, said Chinese products were "cheaper than elsewhere." "We buy everything from China: lights, air conditioning, wires... The only thing we get elsewhere is cement," he told AFP outside the hall.  "If you want quality you can get quality (in China), and even the quality things are cheap," he said, kicking off his shoes and clutching a smartphone with a gold case. Bustling Beijing The atmosphere was hopeful and friendly ahead of meetings that many Africans hoped would spur much-needed development and investment back home. Leaders and their entourages from across Africa have flown in to Beijing since Saturday, keeping President Xi Jinping busy with bilateral meetings all week. South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa and Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu heaped praise on their Chinese hosts, even over the food served at a lavish banquet thrown by Xi on Wednesday evening. Broad-shouldered security guards in dark sunglasses kept watch outside the hall as delegates entered through airport-style X-ray machines.  Security around the capital has been tight all week with the steady arrival of heads of state. Passengers arriving at Beijing train stations have faced enhanced security checks, while authorities have increased scrutiny of vehicles entering the city through traffic checkpoints. Hotels have been booked out all week and surrounded by armed guards and new metal fences. Bars in Sanlitun, a central shopping and nightlife district, have been packed with visitors from across Africa. Xi pledged more than $50 billion in financing for Africa over the next three years -- more than half of it in credit -- telling delegates at the opening ceremony that China was "ready to deepen cooperation with African countries." China is Africa's largest trading partner and its loans have helped build much-needed infrastructure, but they have sometimes also stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts. Yet many delegates seemed hopeful that China, which seeks to tap Africa's vast natural resources, could help their countries develop.  The Burkina Faso developer said Chinese investment had been "good for the economy" and "improved people's lives", while increased trade meant there were "many more things for people to buy." "I hope the forum will improve relations even further and bring more cooperation."

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.

WINDER, Ga. — More than a year ago, tips about online posts threatening a school shooting led Georgia police to interview a 13-year-old boy, but investigators didn’t have enough evidence for an arrest. On Wednesday, that boy opened fire at his high school outside Atlanta and killed four people and wounded nine, officials said. The teen has been charged as an adult in the deaths of Apalachee High School students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and instructors Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference. At least nine other people — eight students and one teacher at the school in Winder, about an hour’s drive northeast of Atlanta — were taken to hospitals with injuries. All were expected to survive, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said. The teen, now 14, was to be taken to a regional youth detention facility on Thursday. Armed with an assault-style rifle, the teen turned the gun on students in a hallway at the school when classmates refused to open the door for him to return to his algebra classroom, classmate Lyela Sayarath said. The teen earlier left the second period algebra classroom, and Sayarath figured the quiet student who recently transferred was skipping school again. But he returned later and wanted back in the classroom. Some students went to open the locked door but instead backed away. “I’m guessing they saw something, but for some reason they didn’t open the door,” Sayarath said. When she looked at him through a window in the door, she saw the student turn and heard a barrage of gunshots. “It was about 10 or 15 of them at once, back-to-back,” she said. The math students ducked onto the floor and sporadically crawled around, looking for a safe corner to hide. Two school resource officers encountered the shooter within minutes after a report of shots fired went out, Hosey said. The teen immediately surrendered and was taken into custody. The teen had been interviewed after the FBI received anonymous tips in May 2023 about online threats to commit an unspecified school shooting, the agency said in a statement. The FBI narrowed the threats down and referred the case to the sheriff’s department in Jackson County, which is adjacent to Barrow County. The sheriff’s office interviewed the then-13-year-old and his father, who said there were hunting guns in the house but the teen did not have unsupervised access to them. The teen also denied making any online threats. The sheriff’s office alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the teen, but there was no probable cause for arrest or additional action, the FBI said. Hosey said the state Division of Family and Children’s Services also had previous contact with the teen and will investigate whether that has any connection with the shooting. Local news outlets reported that law enforcement on Wednesday searched the teen's family home in Bethlehem, Georgia, east of the high school. “All the students that had to watch their teachers and their fellow classmates die, the ones that had to walk out of the school limping, that looked traumatized,” Sayarath said, “that’s the consequence of the action of not taking control.” Authorities were still looking into how the teen obtained the gun used in the shooting and got it into the school with about 1,900 students in Barrow County, a rapidly suburbanizing area on the edge of metro Atlanta’s ever-expanding sprawl. It was the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to active shooter drills in classrooms. But they have done little to move the needle on national gun laws. Before Wednesday, there had been 29 mass killings in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI. On Wednesday evening, hundreds gathered in Jug Tavern Park in downtown Winder for a vigil. Volunteers handed out candles and also water, pizza and tissues. Some knelt as a Methodist minister led the crowd in prayer after a Barrow County commissioner read a Jewish prayer of mourning. Christopher Vasquez, 15, said he attended the vigil because he needed to feel grounded and be in a safe place. He was in band practice when the lockdown order was issued. He said it felt like a regular drill as students lined up to hide in the band closet. “Once we heard banging at the door and the SWAT (team) came to take us out, that’s when I knew that it was serious,” he said. “I just started shaking and crying.” He finally settled down once he was at the football stadium. “I just was praying that everyone I love was safe,” he 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.

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A month ago, a student-led movement ousted Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, after weeks of protests and clashes that killed over 600 people and pushed the country to the brink of chaos. What began as student protests over government jobs became a large-scale revolt against the country’s longest-serving prime minister. Hasina, 76, fled to India on Aug. 5 as anger against her government swelled. But the ouster triggered more violence. Police went on strike and mobs rampaged across the country until a new interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in. Here is where things stand now, a month after the country was roiled by its worst bloodshed in decades: What is the interim government focused on? Since he was sworn in, Yunus declared that his key tasks would be to restore peace and law and order, fight corruption, and prepare for new elections. His Cabinet, which includes two student leaders who spearheaded the protests, has fixed its sights on overhauling and reforming Bangladesh's institutions, from its courts and police to the Election Commission. To do this, it's also seeking support from the United Nations Development Program. Reforms have been a key priority as demonstrations against Hasina quickly escalated into anger against her increasingly autocratic rule. Her government had jailed opposition members, curbed independent media and curtailed civil society. Protesters also accused Hasina's Awami League of corruption and said that public institutions, including the Election Commission, had been eroded under her 15-year rule. What Yunus needs is time. The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who pioneered microcredit to help impoverished people, especially women, asked for patience in an address to the nation. He said his Cabinet has worked hard to curb the violence and lawlessness that set in after Hasina was ousted. “I request everyone to be patient," he said. “It is one of our objectives that public institutions regain public trust.” What is the mood in Bangladesh? Unrest persists. Garment workers demanding better wages have forced about 100 factories to shut down and tensions are simmering, with lingering but widespread anger against Hasina and her Awami League. Hasina, now in self-imposed exile, is facing murder charges in more than 100 cases. Key officials perceived as close to her resigned after mass protests. Many cases have also been registered against those associated with Hasina, her party or her government — from former ministers and judges to journalists and even a prominent cricket player. They’ve been attacked, stopped from leaving the country and even jailed. Rights groups have also condemned these lump charges. Most of the cases are legally weak and politically driven, said Zillur Rahman, executive director of the Center for Governance Studies, a Dhaka-based think tank. This form of “vigilante justice” has sparked fears that “the system that Hasina perpetuated is still alive, just the victims have changed,” Rahman said. What about the students? Within a week of unseating Hasina, the students who drove her out were directing traffic in the capital, Dhaka. Some schools and universities have since reopened, including Dhaka University, which became the epicenter for the protests against Hasina. But things are not back to normal yet. Many heads of educational institutions have been forced to resign and in some cases, even though classes have formally restarted, few students are attending them. Still, many students remain optimistic about the interim government’s potential to bring about real change. Sneha Akter, a student at Dhaka University, believes the removal of those who were previously in power is the first step. “By replacing them, we are correcting past mistakes,” she said. “It is not possible to change the entire country in one month. … We need to give the government some time.” There are those who say the Yunus-led temporary government should remain in power until meaningful reforms are enacted, “whether that takes three months, three years or even six years,” said Hafizur Rahman, another Dhaka University student. What's next? There is a sense that normalcy is slowly returning — Dhaka's streets are no longer a battleground between security forces and students. Internet is back on and a nationwide curfew with a shoot-on-sight order has been lifted. With much of the violence eased, there is hope for a new chapter. Shops, banks, hotels and restaurants are open, and police — who went on strike over fears for their own safety — are back at work. However, their morale is low. Officers are less visible on the streets and seemingly unwilling to tackle disturbances as their crackdown against the students remains fresh in the minds of many Bangladeshis. Dozens of police were killed during the uprising, their stations torched and looted. Another challenge is restoring the economy, which was disrupted by the weekslong shutdown during the uprising, sending prices of food and commodities soaring. The biggest question is: When will the new elections be held? Some experts say the interim government doesn't have the mandate to enact major reforms and that it should focus on building consensus among political parties on reforms — and schedule the polls. Hasina's Awami League has remained under the radar so far. Yunus is banking on the support he enjoys among the country’s youth, but Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, says that support may have an expiration date. “If security continues to be a problem and economic relief is slow to come … young people could grow impatient and anxious,” Kugelman said. Hasina’s chief opposition — the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP — is seen as having the greatest chance of winning the polls and has been pushing for the elections to happen soon. “That raises an unsettling question: What happens if the BNP, which has no formal role in the interim government, doesn’t get the elections it wants to see soon?" Kugelman said. “Will it launch a movement? Will it trigger unrest?” "That could pose new risks to law and order and deepen political uncertainty and volatility," he 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.

SEOUL/TOKYO/WASHINGTON — When Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a final summit this week with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, he will be sending a signal of support not only to the neighboring nation, but his would-be successors as well. Prodded by U.S. President Joe Biden, the two leaders orchestrated an about-face in ties that had sunk to their lowest level in decades amid acrimonious diplomatic and trade disputes over Japan's occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. But the strength of their new partnership is set to be tested by Kishida's imminent departure and the prospect of a shake-up in the White House with November's presidential election. "Prime Minister Kishida may have to show that what he did with President Yoon is the right direction and he expects whoever succeeds him to follow the current direction of the Japan-Korea relationship," said Tetsuo Kotani, a senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. As Kishida's response to Yoon's overtures had spurred pushback from Japan's political right, his successor could face pressure from conservatives to take a harder line, Kotani added. "We know that in the past, that when Japan and Korea have found their way to rapprochement, political change has sometimes contributed to setback, or set the conditions for setback," a senior U.S. administration official said. "So while... our confidence is high in the future of our relationship with Japan and all of our multilateral engagements, Kishida’s step here is really important," added the official, who sought anonymity in discussing diplomatic matters. While few major announcements are expected from the summit, officials said they saw Kishida's final visit to Seoul as crucial to U.S. efforts to present a unified front against challenges from neighboring North Korea and China. Kishida's visit is not just a signal of support and thanks to Yoon, but also a message to the Japanese government and prime ministerial candidates that the partnership has to be a lasting part of Tokyo's foreign policy, the U.S. official added. Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party will hold elections on Sept 27 to choose Kishida's successor. Last year U.S. President Joe Biden invited Yoon and Kishida to Camp David where the three leaders committed to deepen military and economic co-operation. They also delivered their strongest joint condemnation yet of "dangerous and aggressive behavior" by China in the disputed busy waterway of the South China Sea. The Camp David initiatives were explicitly designed to prompt long-term partnership so that "no one of us would have an incentive to pull away from that deeper co-operation if political change did happen," the U.S. official said. Yoon has said the partnership will remain effective in part because of the diplomatic pacts both sides had adopted. "There could always be some anxiety about the new prime minister, especially given the personal synergy between the two leaders," said a senior South Korean government official who sought anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters. "But the fundamentals of relations won’t change, and Kishida’s visit will reaffirm the significance of having good relations with Korea and could send a message to the incoming leader, whoever that might be." 'Strong request' Kishida made a "strong request" to see Yoon a final time before he leaves office, the South Korean official said. The summit is expected to yield a memorandum of understanding on evacuating civilians from each other's countries during emergencies in third countries, he added. The South Koreans hope for conciliatory comments from Kishida about Koreans forced to work for Japan during its occupation, but even without these the visit could help to keep "shuttle diplomacy" on track, he said. Tokyo wants to broaden ties to reach a "more dynamic phase," a Japanese foreign ministry official told a briefing, without elaborating. Yoon's moves have not always been popular at home, where many believe Japan has not done enough to atone for its occupation, which included forced labor and other abuses. Japan says the issues were resolved by a treaty that normalized relations in 1965, but some South Korean governments and court rulings have disputed that.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti has expanded its state of emergency to cover the entire nation's territory, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Garry Conille said on Wednesday, as the Caribbean country battles violent gangs that have taken over much of the capital and started expanding into nearby regions. Haiti's populous Ouest department, where the capital Port-au-Prince is located, was put under a state of emergency on March 3 under the administration of Conille's predecessor Ariel Henry, as a dramatic escalation in violence paralyzed the capital and thousands of inmates scaped in two prison breaks. The state of emergency was repeatedly renewed and other departments were later added, including the farming region of Artibonite that has suffered some of the worst violence, the Centre department and Nippes, on the southern peninsula. Earlier on Wednesday, Conille said he had helped distribute materials and weapons for the Haitian army and national police in order to recover territories taken by gangs. The announcement comes a day ahead of a planned visit to the Caribbean nation by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The U.S. is the largest funder of a U.N.-backed security mission that Henry requested in 2022 to help fight the gangs and reclaim territory. A first contingent of 400 Kenyan police officers arrived in June and July, while a handful of other countries have pledged at least 2,500 more troops. These have yet to arrive and the mission's mandate is set to expire at the start of October. Nearly 580,000 people have been internally displaced by the conflict, hundreds of thousands deported back to Haiti, and cose to 5 million people are facing severe hunger.

NAIROBI, Kenya — Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has died, hospital officials said on Thursday, days after she was doused in petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend. Kenyan and Ugandan media reported that Cheptegei, 33, who competed in the Paris Olympics, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in the attack in Kenya on Sunday, making her the third female athlete to be killed in the country since October 2021. "We have learnt of the sad passing on of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei ... following a vicious attack by her boyfriend," Donald Rukare, president of Uganda Olympics Committee, said in a post on X. "May her gentle soul rest in peace and we strongly condemn violence against women. This was a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete." Cheptegei, who finished 44th in Paris, was admitted to a hospital in the Kenyan Rift Valley city of Eldoret after the attack. Cheptegei "passed today morning at 5.30 am after her organs failed," Owen Menach, senior director of clinical services at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, told Reuters, adding that a full report regarding the circumstances of her death would be released on Thursday afternoon. Peter Ogwang, Uganda's minister of state for sports, described her death as "tragic." "Kenyan authorities are investigating the circumstances under which she died and a more detailed report and program will be provided in due course," he said. Cheptegei's death shines a spotlight on violence experienced by sportswomen in Kenya, where she lived when she trained. In October 2021, Olympian runner Agnes Tirop, a rising star in Kenya's highly competitive athletics scene, was found dead in her home in the town of Iten, with multiple stab wounds to the neck. Ibrahim Rotich, her husband, was charged with her murder and has pleaded not guilty. The case is ongoing. The 25-year-old's killing shocked Kenya, with current and former athletes setting up Tirop's Angels in 2022 to combat domestic violence. Joan Chelimo, one of the founders of the non-profit, told Reuters that female athletes were at high risk of exploitation and violence at the hands of men drawn to their money. "They get into these traps of predators who pose in their lives as lovers," she said.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Japan and Australia agreed on Thursday to increase joint military training exercises as their government ministers shared concerns over China’s recent incursions into Japanese airspace and territorial waters. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara met for a regular summit with their Australian counterparts, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles in the Australian coastal town of Queenscliff. They discussed greater security cooperation in the context of the ministers’ shared support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and concerns over China’s increasingly aggressive territorial claims in the South and East China Seas, Wong said. The ministers agreed on more engagement in training exercises involving the two air forces after F-35A Lighting II stealth fighters from both countries joined in combat training over Japan last year in Exercise Bushido Guardian, Marles said. Next year, Australia will participate for the first time in Orient Shield, the largest annual field training exercise between the U.S. Army and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Australia and Japan also plan to involve the Japanese Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, a marine unit of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, in annual training rotations of U.S. Marines in the northern Australian city of Darwin. China’s increasingly assertive activity around Japanese waters and airspace has caused unease among Japanese defense officials, who are also concerned about the growing military cooperation between the Chinese and Russian air forces. Japan lodged a formal protest through the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo against what it called an incursion by a Chinese survey ship in its waters last weekend. This followed Tokyo’s protest after a Chinese military aircraft briefly entered Japan’s southwestern airspace on Aug. 26. It was the first time the Japan Self-Defense Forces detected a Chinese military aircraft in Japan’s airspace. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said later his country had “no intention” to violate any country’s airspace. Kihara confirmed the incidents were discussed with the Australian counterparts. “We have shared very strong concern over these incidents and, for the East China Sea and South China Sea, any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or by coercion, we have put forward our strong opposition,” Kihara told reporters through an interpreter. Marles said he and Wong “did express our support for Japanese sovereignty in that moment.” “It really underlined our shared commitment to asserting the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific, in our neighborhood,” Marles said. “The countries of the region and indeed the world want to be in a world where disputes are resolved not by power and might but by reference to international law,” Marles added.

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea — A magnitude 6.2 earthquake rattled Papua New Guinea on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said, striking off the country's northern coast. A USGS map showed the tremor centered in a patch of ocean some 300 kilometers east of the town of Vanimo, which is preparing to host Pope Francis over the weekend. A photographer based in the provincial capital of Wewak told AFP there did not appear to be major damage in the immediate aftermath of the quake. Earthquakes are common in Papua New Guinea, which sits on top of the seismic "Ring of Fire" -- an arc of intense tectonic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. Although they seldom cause widespread damage in sparsely populated areas, they can trigger destructive landslides. Pope Francis arrived in Indonesia earlier this week on the first leg of his 12-day tour. On Friday he heads to Christian-majority Papua New Guinea for a three-night visit that will see him briefly stop in Vanimo, a remote coastal town close to the country's border with Indonesia.

Brussels — Elon Musk's woes are hardly limited to Brazil as he now risks possible EU sanctions in the coming months for allegedly breaking new content rules. Access to X has been suspended in South America's largest country since Saturday after a long-running legal battle over disinformation ended with a judge ordering a shutdown. But Brazil is not alone in its concerns about X. Politicians worldwide and digital rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about Musk's actions since taking over what was then Twitter in late 2022, including sacking many employees tasked with content moderation and maintaining ties with EU regulators. Musk's "free speech absolutist" attitude has led to clashes with Brussels. The European Union could decide within months to take action against X, including possible fines, as part of an ongoing probe into whether the platform is breaching a landmark content moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA). Nothing has yet been decided but any fines could be as high as 6% of X's annual worldwide turnover unless the company makes changes in line with EU demands. But if Musk's reactions are anything to go by, another showdown is on the cards. When the EU in July accused X of deceptive practices in violation of the DSA, Musk warned: "We look forward to a very public battle in court." The temperature was raised even further a month later with another war of words on social media between Musk and the EU's top tech enforcer, Thierry Breton. Breton reminded Musk in a letter of his legal duty to stop "harmful content" from spreading on X hours before an interview with U.S. presidential challenger Donald Trump live on the platform. Musk responded by mocking Breton and sharing a meme that carried an obscene message. EU ban 'very unlikely' Despite the bitter barbs, the European Commission, the EU's digital watchdog, insists that dialogue with X is ongoing. "X continues to cooperate with the commission and respond to questions," the commission's digital spokesman, Thomas Regnier, told AFP. Experts also agree that a Brazil-like shutdown in the 27-country EU is unlikely, although it has the legal right. The DSA would allow the bloc to demand a judge in Ireland, where X has its EU headquarters, order a temporary suspension until the infringements cease. Breton has repeatedly insisted that "Europe will not hesitate to do what is necessary." But since X has around 106 million EU users, significantly higher than the 22 million in Brazil, the belief is that Musk would not want to risk a similar move in Europe. "Obviously, we can never exclude it, but it is very unlikely," said Alexandre de Streel of the think tank Centre on Regulation in Europe. Regardless of what happens next, de Streel said the case would likely end up in the EU courts, calling X "the least cooperative company" with the bloc. Jan Penfrat of the European Digital Rights advocacy group said a ban was "a very last resort measure" and that X would "probably" not close shop in the EU. "I would hope that the commission thinks about this very, very hard before going there because this (a ban) would have a tremendously negative effect on the right to freedom of expression and access to information," Penfrat said. EU's X-File The commission in July accused X of misleading users with its blue checkmarks for certified accounts, insufficient advertising transparency and failing to give researchers access to the platform's data. That allegation is part of a wider probe into X, launched in December, and regulators are still probing how it tackles the spread of illegal content and information manipulation. X now has access to the EU's file and can defend itself including by replying to the commission's findings. The list of governments angry with Musk is growing. He also raised hackles over the summer in the UK during days of rioting sparked by online misinformation that the suspect behind a mass stabbing that killed three girls was a Muslim asylum seeker. The billionaire, whose personal X account has 196 million followers, engaged in disputes with British politicians after sharing inflammatory posts and claiming a "civil war is inevitable" in the country. Non-EU member Britain will soon be able to implement a similar law to the DSA with enforcement expected to start next year.