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washington — As a young college student, Kamala Harris made the nearly 3-mile trip from Howard University to the National Mall to protest apartheid in South Africa. In 2017, as a senator, she returned to her alma mater to deliver the commencement address. In July, when she received word that she would likely be the Democratic presidential nominee, she was wearing her Howard sweatshirt in the vice president's residence. Howard, one of the nation's best known historically Black colleges, has been central to Harris' origin story, and now, as she seeks to become the first woman elected president, the university is having a capstone moment. The school has produced luminaries like Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, whose legacy inspired Harris to attend Howard, and author Toni Morrison, among others. Some at the university see Harris' elevation as vice president as another validation of one of the school's core missions of service. “There’s clearly a direct relationship between Howard and its relationship to democracy and the democracy that we envision, one that is practiced in a way that includes all of us,” said Melanie Carter, the founding director of the Howard University Center for HBCU Research, Leadership and Policy. If Harris won the White House, she would be the first woman elected president and the first graduate of a historically Black college to hold that office. With many HBCUs, like a number of liberal arts colleges, struggling financially, her ascent has bathed Howard in a positive light. “It empowers students to reach farther than what they thought was possible,” said Nikkya Taliaferro, a senior at Howard University from Honolulu who said the 2024 presidential election will be her first time voting. “Even if she doesn’t win, she’s already made such a big impact and I know for all of us, that alone, is unforgettable.” To Stefanie Brown James, a Howard alumna and co-founder of The Collective PAC, which is working to increase Black political representation, said that for Howard, the rise of Harris underscores “all the pieces fitting together. At this moment, she is the personification of the leadership, the excellence, the global responsibility to service, that Howard represents.” In her 2017 commencement address, Harris said Howard taught her to reject false choices and steered her to public service. In her memoir, she wrote that Howard taught that there is an expectation that students and graduates would “use our talents to take on roles of leadership and have an impact on other people, on our country and maybe even on the world.” Earlier this year, she wrote in a Facebook post that the investment in HBCUs is an investment “in the strength of our nation for years to come,” when she welcomed Howard’s men’s basketball team to the White House as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions. HBCUs have historically struggled to generate investment, despite recent influxes in funding and donations, causing them to flounder financially. Democratic Representative Summer Lee, a Howard Law graduate, said Howard’s “each one, teach one camaraderie” shaped how many alums in politics tackle the job. “It allowed us to root for each other in ways that I would not have gotten at another institution,” Lee said. “Those guidelines of being a social engineer, not being on the sidelines, and creating public policy, that’s rooted in the experiences of the most marginalized people. That is a Howard trait.” The Howard network is also providing some financial and organizational support to Harris' campaign. The Collective PAC utilized its HU Bison PAC, which held a virtual call for graduates with more than 4,000 attendees and raised over $150,000, according to James. The Bison PAC plans another call Wednesday. On campus, a group called Herd for Harris is campaigning to support her. Other student-led organizations are mobilizing students to register to vote and be engaged around presidential debates and policies that could most affect them. “It was instantaneous and that’s just Howard,” James said. “Something’s happening, we need to respond to it, so we get to work. It’s simply a Howard thing.” Even though Harris enjoys broad support on campus, there are students who are challenging Harris over policy, notably the war in Gaza. “What we expect of Kamala Harris in this election is really derived from the morals that Howard instilled in us, that we are an oppressed people, and that we also need to advocate for oppressed people abroad,” said Courtney McClain, a student senator at Howard who met Harris in 2020. She said she plans to support Harris, while holding her accountable. With the November election drawing near, Harris has been on extensive campaign travel and prepping for her first debate against Republican Donald Trump — including a mock session at Howard — on Sept. 10. Still, she made time to speak to the crowd of Howard’s largest incoming first-year class in front of Cramton Auditorium. Using a bullhorn, she told them that she was proud of them and urged that they enjoy this moment. "You might be running for the president of the United States,” she said to roaring cheers.

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.

The Paris Olympics have just ended, but some diehard fans are already planning for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, California. Vivianne Robinson is one of them. The self-described Olympics superfan has been following the Games' flame all over the world. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Vazgen Varzhabetian.

phnom penh, cambodia — A year after succeeding his father as Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Manet is facing widespread public anger over a regional economic cooperation plan with Vietnam and Laos that is testing his political acumen. Thousands of Cambodians living in Japan, South Korea and Australia have staged protests against the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA) initiative, citing fears of ceding sovereignty or inviting large-scale immigration from Vietnam. Although the initiative has been in place for decades, regional meetings this year for a 2030 “master plan” have put it back in the spotlight. An 11-minute video posted on Facebook by government critics last month fanned historic resentment toward Vietnam and its perceived control over the current government, which Hanoi installed and backed throughout the 1980s. While political analysts say fears of the CLV-DTA may be overblown and fueled by online misinformation, they also blame the government for failing to provide transparent explanations about the initiative, instead seeking to suppress dissent, which has only fueled suspicions of ill intentions. Sophal Ear, an associate professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, told VOA Khmer in an email that the underlying concerns about Cambodia's sovereignty is a significant test for Hun Manet. “It challenges his ability to navigate complex regional projects while addressing domestic concerns about national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Successfully managing this controversy will be crucial in establishing his credibility as a leader who can protect Cambodia's interests while engaging in regional cooperation,” he said. “How he handles this situation could set the tone for his leadership and influence public perception of his capacity to govern effectively,” he added. Hun Manet took office on August 22, 2023, shortly after an election the United States deemed neither free nor fair. His father, Hun Sen, was the party’s prime minister candidate and arranged for his son to take power ahead of the formation of a new government. While the generational transfer of power allowed some Western countries to reset relations with Cambodia, there has been little change in the government’s reliance on China or its approach to critics and perceived opponents. Dozens of activists and political opponents have been arrested under Hun Manet. Earlier this month, authorities arrested more than 30 people across the country amid reports of a planned mass demonstration against the CLV initiative in Phnom Penh on August 18. The creators of the Facebook video were also arrested after it drew the ire of government leaders. Hun Sen, who is now president of the Senate, has threatened additional arrests should public criticism continue. Sophal Ear said the proactive arrests, along with the deployment of a heavy security presence across major cities, showed the government’s determination to quell any significant uprising before it gains momentum. “However, the situation remains fluid, and the government’s approach could either suppress the movement or further galvanize public opposition, depending on how it handles the protesters and addresses the underlying concerns,” he told VOA Khmer on Monday. In a public address on August 22 marking one year in power, Hun Manet addressed criticism and concerns about the development triangle area, saying it was meant to “create potential and development” in the four Cambodian provinces involved. He said the initiative would spur infrastructure construction in border regions, encourage more productive land use, and protect forests for joint development. In his speech, Hun Manet highlighted that the initiative would strengthen sovereignty of Cambodia while “boosting the development and maintaining stability and security” for its people. The attention of the CLV initiative also comes as Cambodia is pushing ahead with the controversial 180-kilometer Funan Techo Canal project that will rely significantly on Chinese funding, which carries its own regional implications as it would bypass traditional trade routes through the Mekong delta in Vietnam. The CLV furor has been a distraction from the Funan Techo project, which officially broke ground earlier this month. Political professor Em Sovannara, who is based in Cambodia, said Hun Manet seems unable to deal with the issue. “First, I think building the canal is part of creating political value for the new prime minister. Second, on the issue of the CLV project left from the past, the current prime minister has no ability to respond or deal with it based on our observation,” he said. Soeng Senkaruna, a former senior official at the human rights group ADHOC who fled to live in Australia, told VOA Khmer that he expected Hun Manet to continue trying to address the criticism by silencing it or creating distractions. “So, they will not solve the problems according to what the people are demanding, so they will keep defending this project," he said. “We are aware that this project is a long-term strategy between Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. That’s why the child prime minister and his father, the former prime minister, as we saw, we know that they can’t do anything with Vietnam. Thus, he has no capacity to deal with this issue. The new prime minister will do nothing.” Cambodia is expected to host a ministerial summit later this year for the review and adoption of the Master Plan for Socio-Economic Development in the CLV-DTA up to 2030. Cambodia’s exiled opposition leaders have seized on fears about the initiative, which could negatively impact four Cambodian border provinces — Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Kratie and Stung Treng — as well as provinces in Laos in Vietnam. The plan encourages freer flow of goods and people across the borders but entering a joint development with its larger and much more populous eastern neighbor also rekindles many Cambodians’ traditional fear of Vietnamese expansion and domination. “The project is in fact a cover for further illegal deforestation, land evictions and exploitation of natural resources for foreign gain,” the Khmer Movement for Democracy wrote August 14 on X. “Continued illegal Vietnamese immigration into the four Cambodian provinces concerned by the agreement, and the effective control that Vietnam will wield over the economy of the region, means that the provinces will effectively become vassals controlled by Vietnam,” it added. Cambodia’s government spokesman Pen Bona said Hun Manet was ensuring peace, security and national sovereignty, and denied restricting freedom of expression or dissent. “Lately, we have seen the people using opposition culture to cause destruction by a handful of people. So, the government must take very strict measures by not absolutely allowing such a group to use its own trick to spoil peace or harmony or national development,” he told VOA. He added, “I would like to clarify: Don’t consider the government measures as a restriction of freedom of expression [or] democratic freedom.”

The two major U.S. political parties are expressing concern ahead of November’s election about “election integrity” – meaning the process of registration, the casting of, counting and certifying of votes, as well as adequately addressing any serious issues that arise. More from VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman on Capitol Hill. (Camera: Adam Greenbaum)

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 — The U.S. government has seized a plane used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that officials say was illegally purchased through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States, citing violations of sanctions and export control laws. The Dassault Falcon 900EX was seized in the Dominican Republic and transferred to the custody of federal officials in Florida, the Justice Department said Monday. U.S. officials say associates of the Venezuelan leader used a Caribbean-based shell company to hide their involvement in the purchase of the plane, valued at the time at $13 million, from a company in Florida. The plane was exported from the U.S. to Venezuela, through the Caribbean, in April 2023 in a transaction meant to circumvent an executive order that bars U.S. persons from business transactions with the Maduro regime. The plane, registered to San Marino, was widely used by Maduro for foreign travel, including for trip earlier this year to Guyana and Cuba. "Let this seizure send a clear message: aircraft illegally acquired from the United States for the benefit of sanctioned Venezuelan officials cannot just fly off into the sunset,” Matthew Axelrod, an assistant secretary for export enforcement in the Commerce Department, said in a statement. CNN first reported the plane seizure. The seizure announcement comes just over a month after Venezuelans headed to the polls for a highly anticipated presidential election in which ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared Maduro the victor without showing any detailed results to back up their claim. The lack of transparency has drawn international condemnation against Maduro’s government. Meanwhile, the opposition managed to obtain more than 80% of vote tally sheets – considered the ultimate proof of results – nationwide. The documents, the faction said, show Maduro losing by a wide margin against former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez. It was also the plane that carried several Americans jailed for years in Venezuela to the Caribbean Island of Canouan last December where they were swapped for a close Maduro ally, businessman Alex Saab, imprisoned in the U.S. on money laundering charges. In March, it flew to the Dominican Republic, along with a Venezuelan-registered plane, for what was believed to be maintenance, never to leave again. The U.S. has sanctioned 55 Venezuelan-registered planes belonging to state owned oil giant PDVSA. It’s also offered a $15 million bounty for the arrest of Maduro to face federal drug trafficking charges in New York. The Venezuelan government’s centralized press office did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment Monday.

warsaw — Sava Trypolsky couldn't wait for school to start. Days before the Ukrainian boy entered first grade Monday, his backpack was packed. Sitting on his bed in his home near Warsaw last week, he pulled out coloring pens, glue sticks and all manner of supplies emblazoned with Spider-Man, Minions and his favorite soccer player, Lionel Messi. Sava was almost 5 when he fled his home in Cherkasy, Ukraine, with his mother and older sister soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. But the war has dragged on for more than 2½ years, and he is now a 7-year-old starting his educational journey. For Ukrainian children, the last several years have been a time of severe disruption. First the COVID-19 pandemic brought online learning, and then war uprooted millions. That disruption was still evident in Ukraine, where it was also the first day of school Monday. An overnight Russian drone and missile attack in Kyiv forced the cancellation of classes for some because of damage from the attack. Many Ukrainians who fled to neighboring Poland never returned to a classroom at all, continuing their Ukrainian classwork remotely. But as this new school year began Monday, a new Polish law makes school attendance mandatory for Ukrainian refugees. In cases where the kids don't attend school, the government will enforce the law by withholding a monthly 800 zloty ($200) bonus that all citizens and refugees receive for each child under 18. Only those entering the last year of high school are exempt from this new requirement. Poland’s Education Ministry said it was unrealistic for them to master the Polish curriculum in language and culture in time to pass final graduation exams by spring. Sava can expect an easier time than many. Educators say kids his age learn Polish quickly. He has a best friend, Bart, going to his school, and a soccer group. Medals he earned while playing the sport decorate his room in Jablonna, a small community north of Warsaw. “I’ll have fun,” he said beaming. But his 16-year-old sister Marichka hopes to return to Ukraine for university and knows school can be hard for adolescents even without the pressure of being a refugee. She has one year left and opted to continue her home schooling. “Some people are just mean, you know, and I’ve heard many stories about just being excluded or bullied,” Marichka said. “That happens in every country, it’s not just Poland, it’s just kids who try to grow up in this world.” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that it was important to bring Ukrainian youth into the system to avoid the formation of social “pathologies.” “Since we do not know how many Ukrainian families will want to stay with us for longer, and perhaps forever, we are very keen for these children to be educated like their Polish peers,” Tusk said Friday. Some Ukrainians have already returned home, and many others plan to. That has led many of them to live in Poland, but to keep kids out of Polish schools and do remote learning with schools back in Ukraine. Jędrzej Witkowski, CEO of the Polish nonprofit Center for Citizenship Education, said that allowing online learning made sense during the initial crisis, but now Polish authorities can’t even track whether Ukrainian children are continuing with their education or dropping out. There isn't reliable data or research that can measure the educational loss, he said. “This would have been the fifth consecutive year of online learning,” Witkowski said. “We’re very happy with the move that the government has made.” Poland has the second-largest population of Ukrainian war refugees in the West after Germany, and most are women and children. UNHCR estimated the number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, a nation of 38 million, at slightly over 957,000 in June, the latest figures published on its website. UNICEF and UNHCR — the United Nations' children’s and refugee agencies — had expressed concern about the large numbers of children living in Poland but not attending schools in person, estimating the number at around 150,000 — a calculation based on administrative data and the number of Ukrainian kids with Polish identity numbers. Other countries with large Ukrainian populations, like Germany and Italy, required school attendance from the start, said Francesco Calcagno, chief of education for the UNICEF refugee response office in Warsaw, which is working with the national government, local authorities and nongovernmental organizations to help get kids back into schools. “Education is not just about academic achievement but also about fostering resilience, stability and hope,” Calcagno said. “Schools provide a crucial sense of structure and safety, which helps children from Ukraine to catch up on learning and supports their psychosocial wellbeing.”

Massive protests break out across Israel after the death of six hostages in Gaza as anger over the government’s failure to secure a ceasefire deal reaches boiling point. Palestinian health authorities and U.N. agencies begin large-scale campaign to vaccinate children against polio in war ravaged Gaza Strip. And as children across Ukraine prepared to return to school, Russia launched a barrage of overnight attacks on Kyiv. And why is Iran arresting nurses across the country?

London — The British government said Monday it is suspending exports of some weapons to Israel because they could be used to break international law. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said there is a “clear risk” some items could be used to “commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.” He told lawmakers the decision related to about 30 of 350 export licenses for equipment “that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza," including parts for military aircraft and drones and items used for ground targeting. Lammy said it was “not a determination of innocence or guilt” about whether Israel had broken international law, and was not an arms embargo. Britain is among several of Israel’s longstanding allies whose governments are under growing pressure to halt weapons exports because of the toll of the 11-month-old war in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. British firms sell a relatively small number of weapons and components to Israel. Earlier this year the government said military exports to Israel amounted to 42 million pounds ($53 million) in 2022. The U.K.’s center-left Labour government, elected in July, has faced pressure from some of its own members and lawmakers to apply more pressure on Israel to stop the violence. In the election the party lost several seats it had had been expected to win to pro-Palestinian independents after leader Keir Starmer initially refused to call for a cease-fire shortly after Israel retaliated for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed about 1,200 people. In a departure from the stance of its Conservative predecessor, Starmer’s government said in July that the U.K. will not intervene in the International Criminal Court’s request for an arrest warrant against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Starmer also restored funding for the United Nations’ Palestine relief agency UNRWA, which had been suspended by his Conservative predecessor Rishi Sunak’s government in January. Lammy, who has visited Israel twice in the past two months as part of Western efforts to push for a cease-fire, said he was a “friend of Israel,” but called the violence in Gaza “horrifying.” "Israel’s actions in Gaza continue to lead to immense loss of civilian life, widespread destruction to civilian infrastructure, and immense suffering," 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.

Islamabad — Taliban authorities in Afghanistan reported Monday that a suicide bomb blast in Kabul killed at least six people, including a woman, and wounded 13 others. Police confirmed the deadly attack in the Afghan capital, saying it occurred in the city's southwestern Qala Bakhtiar area when a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body. Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that the victims were civilians and that investigations into the attack were ongoing. He shared no further details. There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but the Afghan offshoot of the Islamic State, IS-Khorasan, is the primary suspect. The terrorist outfit has taken credit for almost all recent attacks in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan.  Taliban officials say their sustained counterterrorism operations have "almost decimated" IS-Khorasan, and it has no "physical presence" in the country. The United States and regional countries dispute these claims.  “We know that we can't turn a blind eye to the threats from organizations such as ISIS-K and that we must keep a relentless focus on counterterrorism,” Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters in Washington last week while reiterating U.S. worries about the growing threat of terrorism in Afghanistan. He used an acronym for IS-Khorasan.  

LONDON — The growing mpox outbreaks in Africa that triggered the World Health Organization's emergency declaration are largely the result of decades of neglect and the global community's inability to stop sporadic epidemics among a population with little immunity against the smallpox-related disease, leading African scientists said Tuesday. According to Dr. Dimie Ogoina, who chaired WHO's mpox emergency committee, negligence has led to a new, more transmissible version of the virus emerging in countries with few resources to stop outbreaks. Mpox, also known as monkeypox, had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa before the disease prompted the 2022 outbreak in more than 70 countries, Ogoina said at a virtual news conference. "What we are witnessing in Africa now is different from the global outbreak in 2022," he said. While that outbreak was overwhelmingly focused in gay and bisexual men, mpox in Africa is now being spread via sexual transmission as well as through close contact among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups. And while most people over 50 were likely vaccinated against smallpox — which may provide some protection against mpox — that is not the case for Africa's mostly young population, who Ogoina said were mostly susceptible. Mpox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder symptoms like fever and body aches. It mostly spreads through close skin-to-skin contact, including sex. People with more serious cases can develop prominent blisters on the face, hands, chest and genitals. Earlier this month, WHO declared the surging mpox outbreaks in Congo and 11 other countries in Africa to be a global emergency. On Tuesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were more than 22,800 mpox cases and 622 deaths on the continent and that infections had jumped 200% in the last week. The majority of cases and deaths are in Congo, where most mpox infections are in children under 15. Dr. Placide Mbala-Kingebeni, a Congolese scientist who helped identify the newest version of mpox, said diagnostic tests being used in the country did not always pick it up, making it hard to track the variant's spread. In May, Mbala-Kingebeni, who heads a lab at Congo's National Institute for Biomedical Research, published research showing a new form of mpox that may be less deadly but more transmissible. The noted mutations suggested it was "more adapted to human transmission," he said, but the lack of tests in Congo and elsewhere complicated efforts to monitor outbreaks. The new variant has been detected in four other African countries as well as Sweden, where health officials said they have identified the first case of a person this month with the more infectious form of mpox. The person had been infected during a stay in Africa. WHO said that available data to date does not suggest that the new form of mpox is more dangerous but that research is ongoing. Marion Koopmans, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands who has been studying mpox, said scientists were now seeing some significant impacts of the disease, noting that pregnant women were miscarrying or losing their fetuses and that some babies were being born infected with mpox. Ogoina, a professor of infectious diseases at Niger Delta University in Nigeria, said that in the absence of vaccines and drugs, African health workers should focus on providing supportive care, like ensuring patients have enough to eat and are given mental health support, given the stigma that often comes with mpox. "It's very, very unfortunate that we have had mpox for 54 years and we are only now thinking about therapeutics," he said. Mbala-Kingebeni said strategies previously used to stop Ebola outbreaks in Africa might help, given the limited numbers of shots expected. He said authorities have estimated Africa needs about 10 million doses but might only receive about 500,000 — and it's unclear when they might arrive. "Finding a case and vaccinating around the case, like we did with Ebola, might help us target the hot spots," he said. Koopmans said that given the urgent need for vaccines in Africa, waiting for more doses to be produced was unrealistic. "The short term [question] really is about, who has vaccines and where are they to be best used next?" she said. Spain's health ministry announced Tuesday that it would dip into its mpox vaccine stockpile to donate 20% of its supply, about 500,000 doses, to African countries battling mpox. "We consider it senseless to accumulate vaccines where they are not needed," Spain's health ministry said in a statement, adding Spain will recommend to the European Commission to propose that all member states also donate 20% of their vaccine stock. Spain's donation alone is more than what the European Union, vaccine Bavarian Nordic and the U.S. have pledged. Last week, Africa CDC said the EU and Bavarian Nordic had promised 215,000 mpox vaccines while the U.S. said it was donating 50,000 doses of the same vaccine to Congo. Japan has also donated some doses to Congo. Meanwhile, the U.S. on Tuesday donated 10,000 doses of mpox vaccines to Nigeria where mpox has been common, making the vaccines the first to arrive in Africa since the global emergency was declared. The country has had a few dozen cases this year.

In New York, aspiring fashion designers often attend colleges like the Fashion Institute of Technology or Parsons School of Design. But for those without the means or access to higher education, a Harlem-based fashion incubator – a company that helps new fashion designers grow and learn the business – is providing alternative paths to the industry. VOA’s Tina Trinh shows us two emerging talents. Camera: Tina Trinh 

Washington — A Chinese bookstore reopened in Washington on Sunday, six years after the Chinese government forced it to close its doors in Shanghai. JF Books was teeming with books — and customers — when it opened its doors in Washington’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. In the storefront, the shop’s name is displayed in English and Mandarin in neon green lights. The sporadic rain was perhaps fitting considering the bookstore’s namesake “jifeng” means “monsoon” in Mandarin. The bookstore is located next to Kramers, an indie bookstore that has been a Washington fixture for decades. Yu Miao, who runs JF Books, says he hopes his bookstore becomes an institution for the local community, too. “I hope the bookstore can establish a connection between people in the Chinese community, and this connection could be established through knowledge,” Yu told VOA shortly before the shop opened for business. “Also, I hope the bookstore’s function can go beyond the Chinese community. It can also contribute to the local community.” The shop sells Chinese-language books from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, in addition to a selection of English-language books. It will also regularly host speakers for events. Founded in Shanghai in 1997 as Jifeng Bookstore, the shop ran into trouble in 2017 when its landlord said the lease couldn’t be extended. The bookstore looked for a new location, but the prospective landlords at each potential site received warnings or notifications from the government. Jifeng Bookstore is one of several independent bookstores that Beijing has forced to close in recent years. The fact that bookstores have become a battleground underscores the Chinese government’s broader repression of free expression and crackdown on anything deemed to be critical of the government, according to Sophie Richardson, the former China director at Human Rights Watch. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping and his government have clearly targeted a great deal of hostility at scholars,” Richardson told VOA at the bookstore. “Their books are regarded as potential threats, and so the party does what the party knows how to do, which is to send people into exile, to send them to jail, to shut down bookstores.” China’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment for this story. Gesturing at the throngs of people who were looking at books about everything from Chinese history to science, Richardson, who is now a visiting scholar at Stanford, added that there is a clear hunger for Chinese books. “It’s amazing to see this clear demand for this kind of material in an environment where people can get it free of fear of persecution,” she said. That’s another reason why Yu wanted to reopen the bookstore: It can be difficult to find Chinese-language books in the United States, he said. “And so, I think there must be many others that have the same concern,” he said. When Jifeng Bookstore closed its doors in 2018, Yu never expected it to reopen. “I thought it was closed, then its story ended,” Yu said. “I never imagined to reopen the bookstore.” Now, JF Books has joined a rising number of independent Chinese bookstores that are being opened by members of the diaspora in cities around the world. They sell books and hold discussions about politics and history in a way that the Chinese government has stifled inside China. JF Books already has scheduled three speakers for September. Howard Shen, a graduate student at Georgetown University, told VOA that he’s especially excited about the upcoming events. “It’s such a big thing in the Chinese speaking community in D.C. We are all very excited to have this bookstore. It’s such a meaningful place for all Chinese in the world who love freedom,” said Shen, who is from Taiwan.  One corner of the store features farewell messages that customers wrote back when the store was forced to shutter in 2018. Leading up to the bookstore’s second floor, photos on the wall memorialize the bookstore’s two-decade history in Shanghai. At the top of the staircase, photos show the bookstore’s final day in 2018. “Jifeng Bookstore will soon depart from Shanghai,” the caption of one photo reads, “but the monsoon will continue to blow.”

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.

Tehran — Jailed Iranian activist and former Cabinet member Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent figure of the Islamic Republic's reformist camp, has been charged with "propaganda" against the state, local media said Monday. Tajzadeh, jailed since July 2022 in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, served as deputy interior minister under the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who oversaw a rapprochement with the West between 1997 and 2005. He was sentenced to five years in prison in October 2022 on charges of "plotting against state security" among others, his lawyer said at the time. Reformist daily Ham-Mihan said Monday that new charges had been brought against Tajzadeh, accusing him again "of plotting against state security" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic." He had already spent a total of seven years behind bars, having been arrested in 2009 alongside other reformist leaders following the reelection of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a vote contested by the opposition. Tajzadeh, an outspoken commentator on national politics via social media channels operated by his relatives, said in a letter "that he would not appear in court" in the new case, according to Ham-Mihan. If convicted, Ham-Mihan said, Tajzadeh could face up to six more years in jail. In recent years, he has urged democratization and called on authorities to enact "structural changes" in the Iranian political system.