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BEIJING — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in China on Sunday on a visit focused on the increasingly tense economic relationship between the sides and differences over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Scholz's first destination was the industrial hub of Chongqing, where he and his delegation of ministers and business leaders were to visit a partially German-funded company and other sites in the vast city, which is a production base for China's auto and other industries. Scholz is also scheduled to visit the financial hub of Shanghai during his three-day visit, before traveling to the capital, Beijing, to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. German companies such as BMW and Volkswagen are highly reliant on the Chinese market, even as Beijing's support for Russia creates frictions with the West. Germany's economy has benefited from China's demand for investment and manufactured items from cars to chemicals, but those ties have frayed amid increasing competition from Chinese companies and tightened regulations. Political interference has also been blamed for a sharp drop in foreign investment. German companies have argued they face unfair market barriers in China and the government has pushed for a policy of "de-risking" to reduce reliance on the Chinese market and suppliers. Despite that, China remained Germany's top trading partner for the eighth straight year in 2023, with 254.1 billion euros ($271 billion) in goods and services exchanged between the sides, slightly more than what Germany traded with the U.S. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed Scholz descending from his plane in Chonqing and leaving in a motorcade, but did not carry any comments made to the welcoming delegation. Prior to his arrival, Scholz posted on social platform X that he had discussed the "massive" Russian air attacks on civilian energy infrastructure with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday and declared that Berlin will "stand unbreakably by Ukraine's side." China has refused to criticize Russian aggression. It has maintained trade relations with President Vladimir Putin's government and aligned its foreign policy with Moscow in opposition to the U.S.-led liberal political order, while touting its authoritarian one-party system as a superior alternative.

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NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday vowed to boost social spending, develop infrastructure and make India into a global manufacturing hub as companies shift away from China, as he unveiled his Hindu nationalist party's election strategy. Modi hopes to return to power for a third five-year term. He and other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party unveiled their promises in the world's largest democracy days before the start of a multi-phase general election. Modi promised to expand social programs introduced during his party's 10-year rule, including millions of free homes for the poor, along with health care, cooking gas and free grain. His government has been paying 6,000 rupees ($73) a year to poor farmers. He said his government's policies have pulled 250 million people out of poverty since he came to power in 2014. India is the world's most populous country with over 1.4 billion people. The BJP's president, J.P. Nadda, said less than 1% of Indian people now live in extreme poverty. India holds its elections on different days in different parts of the country, stretching over weeks. Voting for the country's parliament will begin on April 19 and run until June 1, and results will be announced on June 4. Most polls have predicted a victory for Modi and the BJP. But the opposition Congress Party argues that Modi has undermined India's democracy and favored the interests of the rich. Modi has been campaigning extensively across the country, promising to expand India's economy to $5 trillion by 2027 from around $3.7 trillion. He also promises to put India on track to become a developed country by 2047, when the country celebrates 100 years of independence from British colonialists. On Sunday, he said his party would develop India as a hub for the pharmaceutical, energy, semiconductor and tourism industries. He also said India will modernize its infrastructure, including its railways, airways, and waterways. And he said he will seek to increase jobs for young people and access to cheap loans for young entrepreneurs. Modi is broadly popular in India, where he's considered a champion of the country's Hindu majority and has overseen rapid economic growth. But critics say another term for the BJP could undermine India's status as a secular, democratic nation, saying its 10 years in power have brought attacks by Hindu nationalists against the country's minorities, particularly Muslims, and a shrinking space for dissent and free media.

rome, italy — Archaeologists excavating new sites in Pompeii have uncovered a sumptuous banquet hall decorated with intricately frescoed mythological characters inspired by the Trojan War, officials said Thursday.  The hall, which features a mosaic floor, was uncovered as part of a project to shore up the areas dividing the excavated and unexcavated parts of Pompeii, the ancient city near Naples that was destroyed in A.D. 79 when Mount Vesuvius erupted.  The banquet hall was used for refined entertaining and features black walls, a technique that prevented the smoke from oil lamps from being seen, said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii archaeological park.  The figures painted against that black backdrop include Helen of Troy and Apollo. Experts said the reference to mythological figures was designed to entertain guests and provide conversation starters.  The room, which is about 15 meters (16.4 yards) long and 6 meters (6.56 yards) wide, opens onto a courtyard near a staircase leading to the first floor of the home, the park said in a press release.  Excavations in Pompeii have recently focused on areas of the city where the middle classes and servants lived, while previous ones have concentrated on the elaborately frescoed villas of Pompeii's upper classes.  The excavations that yielded the new banquet hall are designed to improve the hydrogeological structure of the entire park, to make it more sustainable as the region copes with climate extremes — heavy rainfall and intense heat — that are threatening the UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

BANGUI, Central African Republic — It was too late for the mother to shield her children when the two masked and armed Russian fighters burst into her home, held her at gunpoint and took turns raping her. Her five children were forced to watch in the dark.  Seated in a restaurant in Central African Republic's capital, to which she fled after the attack, she wiped away tears. Two years on, the assault has "stayed with me in my core," she said. The Associated Press does not identify survivors of sexual assault.  She blamed the Russians who are part of the Wagner mercenary group that operates alongside Central African Republic's army and has been accused by locals and rights groups of abuses. She had seen them patrolling in her town of Bambari before. On the day of the assault, they were fighting rebels there.  Gender-based violence is rising in Central African Republic amid ongoing conflict, weak legal and care systems, and the stigma attached to speaking up, locals and aid groups say.  Since 2020, incidents have jumped from about 9,200 reported cases to 25,500, according to cases tracked by the U.N. and partners.  But international funding for the country has dropped, with gender-based violence receiving some of the least support. The humanitarian request for about $14 million received less than 15% of that, according to the U.N.  Central African Republic has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced the president from office. Mostly Christian militias fought back. A 2019 peace deal only lessened the fighting, and six of the 14 armed groups that signed later left the agreement.  Wagner, a U.N. peacekeeping mission and Rwandan troops are all on the ground to try to quell the violence.  "More than 10 years on since this crisis unfolded, many people are still displaced, vulnerable and live at the mercy of armed groups," said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director for Human Rights Watch. "A new dynamic has emerged as well whereby mercenaries aligned with the government are also, at times, preying on the local population."  Most likely don't report Doctors Without Borders, one of the main organizations working on gender-based violence, says it has seen an increase in patients due to the expansion of services and outreach. But it says the majority of survivors likely don't come forward, often because help is not available where they live.  The 37-year-old who fled to the capital, Bangui, said she received mental health treatment and assistance for her children from an international aid group. She's too afraid to return home and survives by selling charcoal in the market and on handouts from friends. She never reported the attack to police because she thought it was futile.  "Who can arrest the Russians in this country?" she asked.  A local fighter who works with Wagner asserted that he saw six of the Russians rape a local woman in the tent where he was sleeping at their base in Bambari in early 2023. He said the Russians give women canned food like sardines or bottled water afterward. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.  The Russian government didn't respond to questions.  Women don't usually blame Wagner because its fighters are so entrenched in communities that they fear retaliation, aid groups said. During a visit by The Associated Press in March, Russians could be seen driving trucks around Bangui and walking in the western town of Bouar.  Women who come forward find it hard to receive justice, said Lucie Boalo Mbassinga, vice president of the Association for Women Lawyers for Central Africa. She said they had 213 cases of sexual assault and rape reported in 2022 and 304 cases in 2023. Sometimes women open a case against local fighters but withdraw it because perpetrators' families pay survivors not to proceed, she said.  The challenges are compounded by funding cuts.  In November, Mbassinga's organization closed a program that was helping survivors across eight provinces, including in the capital, because there was no more money, she said. The cuts by the U.N. Development Program have prevented staff from reaching women in more rural areas, accompanying them to court, and providing medical and mental health support, she said.  "Victims are abandoned," Mbassinga said. She suggested having mobile courts to better reach rural areas.  Donor fatigue and multiple global crises are part of the reason for cuts in funding, but some diplomats and aid workers say the presence of Wagner mercenaries embedded so closely with the government and in communities makes it hard to justify giving aid. There are concerns that funding could be associated with Wagner.  Other culprits But not only Wagner fighters are accused of rape.  The AP spoke with three women who said they had been sexually assaulted. One blamed Wagner. One blamed an armed bandit. One, a security guard, blamed a U.N. peacekeeper.  The 39-year-old security guard said she was assaulted in November while on the night shift in Bangui at the peacekeeper's home. He left her about $65 when it was over, she said.  She asked her supervisor to be transferred to another house but never reported the attack. Her pastor cautioned against it to keep her job.  The U.N. mission didn't receive any allegation of sexual assault involving its personnel last November, spokesman Vladimir Monteiro said, and stressed that the U.N. takes such allegations seriously.  The U.N. has long wrestled with allegations of sexual assaults by U.N. peacekeepers in Central African Republic and elsewhere. Three years ago, the secretary-general ordered the immediate repatriation of the entire U.N. Gabonese peacekeeping contingent following credible reports of sexual abuse.  The government's justice ministry didn't respond to requests for comment. The new constitution has measures to tackle the issue, saying authorities must ensure that sexual assault is eliminated.  But that comes as little comfort for survivors.  In December, a 29-year-old woman said she was assaulted at a market about 124 miles (200 kilometers) from Bangui. Three men with knives and machetes robbed her and one raped her.  She didn't report it because she didn't know the man and thought police would refuse to investigate.  Now the mother of two wants to move on. She finds comfort in a program run by Doctors Without Borders, meeting weekly with a dozen other survivors.  "The advice I've been given is to not think about the aggressor and to stay busy," she said.

BERLIN — German lawmakers on Friday approved legislation that will make it easier for transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to change their name and gender in official records. The "self-determination law," one of several social reforms that Chancellor Olaf Scholz's liberal-leaning coalition government pledged when it took office in late 2021, is set to take effect on November 1. Germany, the European Union's most populous nation, follows several other countries in making the change. Parliament's lower house, the Bundestag, approved it by 374 votes to 251 with 11 abstentions. The German legislation will allow adults to change their first name and legal gender at registry offices without further formalities. They will have to notify the office three months before making the change. The existing "transsexual law," which dates back four decades, requires individuals who want to change gender on official documents to first obtain assessments from two experts "sufficiently familiar with the particular problems of transsexualism" and then a court decision. Since that law was drawn up, Germany's top court has struck down other provisions that required transgender people to get divorced and sterilized, and to undergo gender-transition surgery. "For over 40 years, the 'transsexual law' has caused a lot of suffering ... and only because people want to be recognized as they are," Sven Lehmann, the government's commissioner for queer issues, told lawmakers. "And today we are finally putting an end to this." The new legislation focuses on individuals' legal identities. It does not involve any revisions to Germany's rules for gender-transition surgery. The new rules will allow minors 14 years and older to change their name and legal gender with approval from their parents or guardians; if they don't agree, teenagers could ask a family court to overrule them. In the case of children younger than 14, parents or guardians would have to make registry office applications on their behalf. After a formal change of name and gender takes effect, no further changes would be allowed for a year. The new legislation provides for operators of, for example, gyms and changing rooms for women to continue to decide who has access. Nyke Slawik, a transgender woman elected to parliament in 2021 for the Greens, one of the governing parties, recounted her experience of going through the current system a decade ago. She said she had had enough of being asked "is that your brother's ID?" when she had to identify herself. "Two years, many conversations with experts and one district court process later, it was done — the name change went through, and I was nearly 2,000 euros ($2,150) poorer," she told lawmakers. "As trans people, we repeatedly experience our dignity being made a matter for negotiation." The mainstream conservative opposition faulted the legislation for what it described as a lack of safeguards against abuse and a lack of protection for young people. Conservative lawmaker Susanne Hierl complained that the government is "ignoring the justified concerns of many women and girls." "You want to satisfy a loud but very small group and, in doing so, are dividing society," Hierl said. Martin Reichardt of the far-right Alternative for Germany blasted what he called "ideological nonsense." Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement that "there are numerous precautions against possibilities of abuse, however improbable they may be." He insisted that the new law takes into account the interests of the whole of society and said "much less will change with this law than some say." Among others, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Spain already have similar legislation. In the U.K., the Scottish parliament in 2022 passed a bill that would allow people aged 16 or older to change the gender designation on identity documents by self-declaration. That was vetoed by the British government, a decision that Scotland's highest civil court upheld in December. In other socially liberal reforms, Scholz's government has legalized the possession of limited amounts of cannabis; eased the rules on gaining German citizenship and ended restrictions on holding dual citizenship; and ended a ban on doctors "advertising" abortion services. Same-sex marriage was already legalized in 2017.

KADUNA, Nigeria — His weak body stood in the doorway, exhausted and covered in dirt. For two years, the boy had been among Nigeria's ghosts, one of at least 1,500 schoolchildren and others seized by armed groups and held for ransom. But paying a ransom didn't work for 12-year-old Treasure, the only captive held back from the more than 100 schoolchildren kidnapped from their school in July 2021 in the northwestern Kaduna state. Instead, his captors hung on, and he had to escape the forests on his own in November. Treasure's ordeal is part of a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country where the mass abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear —with nearly 100 of the girls still in captivity. Since the Chibok abductions, at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped, as armed groups increasingly find in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation's mineral-rich but poorly policed northwestern region. The Associated Press spoke with five families whose children have been taken hostage in recent years and witnessed a pattern of trauma and struggle with education among the children. Parents are becoming more reluctant to send their children to school in parts of northern Nigeria, worsening the education crisis in a country of over 200 million where at least 10 million children are out of school — one of the world's highest rates. The AP could not speak with Treasure, who is undergoing therapy after escaping captivity in November. His relatives, however, were interviewed at their home in Kaduna state, including Jennifer, his cousin, who was also kidnapped when her boarding school was attacked in March 2021. "I have not recovered, my family has not recovered (and) Treasure barely talks about it," said Jennifer, 26, as her mother sobbed beside her. "I don't think life will ever be the same after all the experience," she added. Unlike the Islamic extremists that staged the Chibok kidnappings, the deadly criminal gangs terrorizing villages in northwestern Nigeria are mostly former herdsmen who were in conflict with farming host communities, according to authorities. Aided by arms smuggled through Nigeria's porous borders, they operate with no centralized leadership structure and launch attacks driven mostly by economic motive. Some analysts see school kidnappings as a symptom of Nigeria's worsening security crisis. According to Nigerian research firm SBM Intelligence, nearly 2,000 people have been abducted in exchange for ransoms this year. However, armed gangs find the kidnapping of schoolchildren a "more lucrative way of getting attention and collecting bigger ransoms," said the Rev. John Hayab, a former chairman of the local Christian association in Kaduna who has often helped to secure the release of abducted schoolchildren like Treasure. The security lapses that resulted in the Chibok kidnappings 10 years ago remain in place in many schools, according to a recent survey by the United Nations children's agency's Nigeria office, which found that only 43% of minimum safety standards such as perimeter fencing and guards are met in over 6,000 surveyed schools. Bola Tinubu, who was elected president in March 2023, had promised to end the kidnappings while on the campaign trail. Nearly a year into his tenure there is still "a lack of will and urgency and a failure to realize the gravity of the situation, or to respond to it," said Nnamdi Obasi, senior adviser for Nigeria at the International Crisis Group. "There is no focused attention or commitment of resources on this emergency," he added. Treasure was the youngest of more than 100 children seized from the Bethel Baptist High School in the Chikun area of Kaduna in 2021. After receiving ransoms and freeing the other children in batches, his captors vowed to keep him, said the Rev. Hayab. That didn't stop his family from clinging to hope that he would one day return home alive. His grandmother, Mary Peter, remembers the night he returned home, agitated and hungry. "He told us he was hungry and wanted to eat," she said of Treasure's first words that night after two years and three months in captivity. "Treasure went through hell," said the Rev. Hayab with the Christian association. "We need to work hard to get him out of ... what he saw, whatever he experienced." Nigerian lawmakers in 2022 outlawed ransom payments, but desperate families continue to pay, knowing kidnappers can be ruthless, sometimes killing their victims when their relatives delay ransom payments often delivered in cash at designated locations. And sometimes, even paying a ransom does not guarantee freedom. Some victims have accused security forces of not doing anything to arrest the kidnappers even after providing information about their calls and where their hostages were held. Such was the experience of Treasure's uncle Emmanuel Audu, who was seized and chained to a tree for more than a week after he had gone to deliver the ransom demanded for his nephew to be freed. Audu and other hostages were held in Kaduna's notorious Davin Rugu forest. Once a bustling forest reserve that was home to wild animals and tourists, it is now one of the bandit enclaves in the ungoverned and vast woodlands tucked between mountainous terrains and stretching across thousands of kilometers as they connect states in the troubled region. "The whole forest is occupied by kidnappers and terrorists," Audu said as he talked about his time in captivity. His account was corroborated by several other kidnap victims and analysts. Some of his captors in the forest were boys as young as Treasure, a hint of what his nephew could have become, and a sign that a new generation of kidnappers is already emerging. "They beat us mercilessly. When you faint, they will flog you till you wake up," he said, raising his hand to show the scars that reminded him of life in captivity. No one in the Peter family recovered after their experience with kidnapping. Jennifer says she rarely sleeps well even though it's been almost three years since she was freed by her captors. Her mother, a food trader, is finding it hard to raise capital again for her business after using most of her savings and assets inherited from her late husband to pay for ransoms. Therapy is so costly, that the church had to sponsor that of Treasure while other members of the family are left to endure and hope they eventually get over their experiences. "Sometimes, when I think about what happened, I wish I did not go to school," said Jennifer with a rueful grin. "I just feel sorry for the children that are still in boarding school because it is not safe. They are the main target."

LONDON — Instagram says it's deploying new tools to protect young people and combat sexual extortion, including a feature that will automatically blur nudity in direct messages. The social media platform said in a blog post Thursday that it's testing out the features as part of its campaign to fight sexual scams and other forms of "image abuse," and to make it tougher for criminals to contact teens. Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading a person to send explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or engages in sexual favors. Recent high-profile cases include two Nigerian brothers who pleaded guilty to sexually extorting teen boys and young men in Michigan, including one who took his own life, and a Virginia sheriff's deputy who sexually extorted and kidnapped a 15-year-old girl. Instagram and other social media companies have faced growing criticism for not doing enough to protect young people. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Instagram's owner Meta Platforms, apologized to the parents of victims of such abuse during a Senate hearing earlier this year. Meta, which is based in Menlo Park, California, also owns Facebook and WhatsApp but the nudity blur feature won't be added to messages sent on those platforms. Instagram said scammers often use direct messages to ask for "intimate images." To counter this, it will soon start testing out a nudity-protection feature for direct messages that blurs any images with nudity "and encourages people to think twice before sending nude images." "The feature is designed not only to protect people from seeing unwanted nudity in their DMs, but also to protect them from scammers who may send nude images to trick people into sending their own images in return," Instagram said. The feature will be turned on by default globally for teens under 18. Adult users will get a notification encouraging them to activate it. Images with nudity will be blurred with a warning, giving users the option to view it. They'll also get an option to block the sender and report the chat. For people sending direct messages with nudity, they will get a message reminding them to be cautious when sending "sensitive photos." They'll also be informed that they can unsend the photos if they change their mind, but that there's a chance others may have already seen them. As with many of Meta's tools and policies around child safety, critics saw the move as a positive step, but one that does not go far enough. "I think the tools announced can protect senders, and that is welcome. But what about recipients?" said Arturo Béjar, former engineering director at the social media giant who is known for his expertise in curbing online harassment. He said 1 in 8 teens receives an unwanted advance on Instagram every seven days, citing internal research he compiled while at Meta that he presented in November testimony before Congress. "What tools do they get? What can they do if they get an unwanted nude?" Béjar said "things won't meaningfully change" until there is a way for a teen to say they've received an unwanted advance, and there is transparency about it. Instagram said it's working on technology to help identify accounts that could be potentially be engaging in sexual extortion scams, "based on a range of signals that could indicate sextortion behavior." To stop criminals from connecting with young people, it's also taking measures including not showing the "message" button on a teen's profile to potential sextortion accounts, even if they already follow each other, and testing new ways to hide teens from these accounts. In January, the FBI warned of a "huge increase" in sextortion cases targeting children — including financial sextortion, where someone threatens to release compromising images unless the victim pays. The targeted victims are primarily boys between the ages of 14 to 17, but the FBI said any child can become a victim. In the six-month period from October 2022 to March 2023, the FBI saw a more than 20% increase in reporting of financially motivated sextortion cases involving minor victims compared to the same period in the previous year.

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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus said Saturday it's suspending processing all asylum applications by Syrian nationals because large numbers of refugees from the war-torn country continue to reach the island nation by boat, primarily from Lebanon. In a written statement, the Cypriot government said the suspension is also partly because of ongoing efforts to get the European Union to redesignate some areas of the war-torn country as safe zones to enable repatriations. The drastic step comes in the wake of Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides' visit to Lebanon earlier week to appeal to authorities there to stop departures of migrant-laden boats from their shores. The request comes in light of a 27-fold increase in migrant arrivals to Cyprus so far this year over the same period last year. According to Cyprus Interior Ministry statistics, some 2,140 people arrived by boat to EU-member Cyprus between Jan. 1 and April 4 of this year, the vast majority of them Syrian nationals departing from Lebanon. In contrast, only 78 people arrived by boat to the island nation in the corresponding period last year. On Monday, Christodoulides and Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the European Union to provide financial support to help cash-strapped Lebanon stop migrants from reaching Cyprus. Just days prior to his Lebanon trip, the Cypriot president said that he had personally asked EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to intercede with Lebanese authorities to curb migrant boat departures. Although the EU should provide "substantial" EU support to Lebanon, Christodoulides said any financial help should be linked to how effectively Lebanese authorities monitor their coastline and prevent boat departures. Lebanon and Cyprus already have a bilateral deal where Cypriot authorities would return migrants attempting to reach the island from Lebanon. But Cypriot Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou has said that Lebanon is refusing to hold up its end of the deal because of domestic pressures. Lebanon — which is coping with a crippling economic crisis since 2019 — hosts some 805,000 U.N.-registered Syrian refugees, of which 90% live in poverty, the U.N.'s refugee agency says. Lebanese officials estimate the actual number is far higher, ranging between 1.5 and 2 million. Many have escaped the civil war in their country which entered its 14th year. Ioannou this week visited Denmark, Czechia and Greece to drum up support for a push to get the EU to declare parts of Syria as safe. Doing so would enable EU nations to send back Syrians hailing from those "safe" areas. The Cypriot interior minister said he and his Czech and Danish counterparts to draft an official document for the EU executive to get a formal discussion on the Syrian safe zone idea going. Additionally, Ioannou said he hand his Czech counterpart agreed on a sending joint fact-finding mission to Syria to determine which areas in the country are safe. However, U.N. agencies, human rights groups, and Western governments maintain that Syria is not yet safe for repatriation.

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WASHINGTON — Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but the country's restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he sees interest among fellow scholars wane even after China reopened. Common concerns, he said, include restrictions on academic freedom and the risk of being stranded in China. These days, only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of close to 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at U.S. schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see as diminishing economic opportunities and strained relations between Washington and Beijing. Whatever the reason for the imbalance, U.S. officials and scholars bemoan the lost opportunities for young people to experience life in China and gain insight into a formidable American adversary. And officials from both countries agree that more should be done to encourage the student exchanges, at a time when Beijing and Washington can hardly agree on anything else. "I do not believe the environment is as hospitable for educational exchange as it was in the past, and I think both sides are going to need to take steps," said Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. The U.S. has advised its. citizens to "reconsider travel" to China over concerns of arbitrary detentions and widened use of exit bans to bar Americans from leaving the country. Campbell said this has hindered the rebuilding of the exchanges and easing the advisory is now under "active consideration." For its part, Beijing is rebuilding programs for international students that were shuttered during the pandemic, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited tens of thousands of U.S. high school students to visit. The situation was far different after President Barack Obama started the 100,000 Strong initiative in 2009 to drastically increase the number of U.S. students studying in China. By 2012, there were as many as 24,583 U.S. students in China, according to data by the Chinese education ministry. The Open Doors reports by the Institute of International Education, which only track students enrolled in U.S. schools and studying in China for credit, show the number peaked at 14,887 in the 2011-12 school year. But 10 years later, the number was down to only 211. In late 2023, the number of American students stood at 700, according to Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China, who said this was far too few in a country of such importance to the United States. "We need young Americans to learn Mandarin. We need young Americans to have an experience of China," Burns said. Without these U.S. students, "in the next decade, we won't be able to exercise savvy, knowledgeable diplomacy in China," warned David Moser, an American linguist who went to China in the 1980s and is now tasked with establishing a new master's program for international students at Beijing Capital Normal University. Moser recalled the years when American students found China fascinating and thought an education there could lead to an interesting career. But he said the days of bustling trade and money deals are gone, while American students and their parents are watching China and the United States move away from each other. "So people think investment in China as a career is a dumb idea," Moser said. After 2012, the number of American students in China dipped but held steady at more than 11,000 for several years, according to Open Doors, until the pandemic hit, when China closed its borders and kept most foreigners out. Programs for overseas students that took years to build were shuttered, and staff were let go, Moser said. Amy Gadsden, executive director of China Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, also attributed some of the declining interest to foreign businesses closing their offices in China. Beijing's draconian governing style, laid bare by its response to the pandemic, also has given American students a pause, she said. Garrett, who is on track to graduate this summer from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, said he is ambivalent about working in China, citing the lack of access to information, restrictions on discussions of politically sensitive issues and China's sweeping anti-spying law. He had lived in Hong Kong as a teenager and interned in mainland China, and said he is still interested in traveling to China, but not anytime soon. Some American students remain committed to studying in China, said Andrew Mertha, director of the China Global Research Center at SAIS. "There are people who are interested in China for China's sake," he said. "I don't think those numbers are affected at all." About 40 U.S. students are now studying at the Hopkins-Nanjing center in the eastern Chinese city, and the number is expected to go up in the fall to approach the pre-pandemic level of 50-60 students, said Adam Webb, the center's American co-director. Among them is Chris Hankin, 28, who said he believed time in China was irreplaceable because he could interact with ordinary people and travel to places outside the radar of international media. "As the relationship becomes more intense, it's important to have that color, to have that granularity," said Hankin, a master's student of international relations with a focus on energy and the environment. Jonathan Zhang, a Chinese American studying at the prestigious Schwarzman Scholars program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said it was more important than ever to be in China at a time of tense relations. "It's really hard to talk about China without being in China," he said. "I think it's truly a shame that so many people have never stepped foot in China." Zhang was met with concerns when he deferred an offer at a consulting firm to go Beijing. "They're like, 'Oh, be safe,' or like, 'What do you mean, you're going back to China?'" Zhang said. "I feel like the (Chinese) government is trying with an earnest effort, but I feel like a lot of this trust has been broken." Gadsden said U.S. universities need to do more to nudge students to consider China. "We need to be more intentional about creating the opportunities and about encouraging students to do this deeper work on China, because it's going to be interesting for them, and it's going to be valuable for the U.S.-China relationship and for the world," she said. In China, Jia Qingguo, a professor of international relations and a national political adviser, has suggested Beijing clarify its laws involving foreign nationals, introduce a separate system for political reviews of foreign students' dissertations, and make it easier for foreign graduates to find internships and jobs in Chinese companies. Meanwhile, China is hosting American high school students under a plan Xi unveiled in November to welcome 50,000 in the next five years. In January, a group of 24 students from Iowa's Muscatine High School became the first to travel to China. The all-expenses-paid, nine-day trip took them to the Beijing Zoo, Great Wall, Palace Museum, the Yu Garden and Shanghai Museum. Sienna Stonking, one of the Muscatine students, now wants to return to China to study. "If I had the opportunity, I would love to go to college in China," she told China's state broadcaster CGTN. "Honestly, I love it there."

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

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

SYDNEY — Police have identified the man they say stabbed six people to death at a busy Sydney shopping center before he was fatally shot by a police officer. New South Wales Police said Sunday that Joel Cauchi, 40, was responsible for the Saturday afternoon attack at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, in the city's eastern suburbs and not far from the world-famous Bondi Beach. NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke told reporters at a media conference on Sunday that Cauchi suffered from unspecified mental health issues and police investigators weren't treating the attack as terrorism-related. "We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved," Cooke said. "There is still, to this point ... no information we have received, no evidence we have recovered, no intelligence that we have gathered that would suggest that this was driven by any particular motivation — ideology or otherwise," he added. The attack at the shopping center, one of the country's busiest and which was a hub of activity on a particularly warm fall afternoon, began around 3:10 p.m. and police were swiftly called. Six people — five women and one man — were killed in the attack and 12 others were injured, including a 9-month-old child, whose mother died during the attack. Two of the six victims were from overseas and have no family in Australia, Cooke said Sunday. Video footage shared online appears to show many people fleeing as a knife-wielding Cauchi walked through the shopping center and lunged at people. Other footage shows a man confronting the attacker on an escalator in the shopping center by holding what appeared to be a post towards him. Cauchi was shot dead by a lone female police officer at the scene. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the officer was doing well under the circumstances and will be interviewed Sunday. "She showed enormous courage and bravery," Webb said, adding other responding police, civilians and staff at the center had too. "It was an awful situation ... but it could have been much worse." The shopping center remains closed Sunday and will be an active crime scene for days, police said.