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Madrid — Spain's government said Monday it plans to scrap so-called “golden visas" that allow wealthy people from outside the European Union to obtain residency permits on investing more than half a million euros (dollars) in real estate.  Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his minority coalition government would study the reform in the weekly Cabinet meeting Tuesday. Speaking Monday, Sanchez said the reform was part of the government's push to make housing “a right, not a speculative business.” The government says some 10,000 such visas have been issued since the measure was brought into law in 2013 by a previous right-wing Popular Party government as a means to attract foreign investors. “Golden visas” are strongly criticized for spurring property price hikes and speculation in the housing sector. Soaring house prices have long been a major problem for many Spaniards, particularly in the country’s major cities.

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Damascus — Iran's foreign minister inaugurated the country's new consulate in Damascus on Monday, a week after a deadly strike blamed on Israel destroyed the former premises, sending regional tensions skyrocketing.  Tehran, a key Damascus ally, has vowed to avenge last Monday's airstrike on the Iranian embassy's consular section that killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members, including two generals.  The strike came against the backdrop of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which began with the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.  Damascus and Tehran blame Israel for last Monday's raid, but it has not commented.  Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian inaugurated the new consular section in a Damascus building in the presence of his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, whom he also met earlier Monday, state news agency SANA said.  An AFP correspondent at the inauguration said the new consulate was not far from the premises destroyed by the strike in the upscale Mazzeh area, which also houses other foreign embassies and U.N. offices.  Amir-Abdollahian was also set to meet President Bashar al-Assad, and Syria's pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said his talks in Damascus would be "mainly focused" on repercussions of last week's strike.  Iran's foreign minister began a regional tour Sunday in Oman, long a mediator between Tehran and the West, where Muscat's foreign minister called for de-escalation.  An adviser to Iran's supreme leader warned on Sunday that Israeli embassies were "no longer safe" after the Damascus attack.  Analysts saw the raid as an escalation of Israel's campaign against Iran and its regional proxies that runs the risk of triggering a wider war beyond the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 16 people were killed in the consulate strike: eight Iranians, five Syrians, one member of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group and two civilians.  Among the dead were generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, both senior commanders in the Quds Force, the IRGC's foreign operations arm.  Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes in Syria since civil war broke out 13 years ago, targeting Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah as well as Syrian army positions and weapons depots.  It rarely comments on individual strikes, but Israel's raids have increased since the Gaza war began.  Tehran backs Palestinian militants Hamas but has denied any direct involvement in the group's October 7 attack, which sparked massive Israeli retaliation in Gaza.

SAO PAULO — Brazil’s Supreme Court unanimously voted Monday that the armed forces have no constitutional power to intervene in disputes between government branches, a largely symbolic decision aimed at bolstering democracy after years of increasing threat of military intervention.   The court's decision came in response to an argument that right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies deployed in recent years. They have claimed that Article 142 of Brazil's Constitution affords the military so-called “moderating power” between the executive, legislative and judicial branches.   Bolsonaro presented this interpretation in an April 2020 meeting with his ministers, telling them that any of the three powers can request the armed forces take action to restore order in Brazil. In the years since, posters invoking Article 142 became a fixture at rallies calling for military takeover – and culminated in an uprising by Bolsonaro supporters seeking to summon the military to oust his successor from power.   All of the 11 justices — including both justices appointed by Bolsonaro — rejected that thesis.   While the constitution empowers the military to protect the nation from threats and guarantee constitutional powers, “that does not comport with any interpretation that allows the use of the armed forces for the defense of one power against the other,” the case’s rapporteur, Justice Luiz Fux, wrote in his vote.   Article 142’s vague wording had allowed room for some interpretation — although the one espoused by Brazil’s far right was “absolutely crazy,” said João Gabriel Pontes, a constitutional lawyer at Daniel Sarmento e Ademar Borges in Rio de Janeiro.   “This is not a Supreme Court ruling that will safeguard Brazilian democracy from new attacks,” Pontes said by phone. “However, it sends an important message to society that a military intervention has no constitutional basis.”   The constitution dates from 1988, three years after the country cast off its 21-year military dictatorship.   Bolsonaro’s 2018 election in a sense marked the return of the armed forces to power. The former army captain who openly waxed nostalgic for the dictatorship era appointed high-ranking officers to his Cabinet and thousands of active-duty service members and reservists to civilian positions throughout his administration.   For his 2022 reelection bid, he tapped a general as his running mate and tasked the military with auditing electronic voting machines whose reliability he cast doubt upon, without ever providing evidence. Following his defeat to leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his supporters set up camp outside military barracks for months to demand military intervention.   Bolsonaro never conceded defeat nor asked them to demobilize, and on Jan. 8, 2023 they stormed the capital, Brasilia, invading and vandalizing the Supreme Court, Congress and the presidential palace.   Federal Police later confiscated the cell phone of Bolsonaro’s aide-de-camp and found conversations between close advisers and military officials debating whether conditions and the constitution allowed for military intervention. The seizure was part of an investigation into whether the former president and top aides incited the uprising to restore him to power. He has denied any involvement. Debate over the constitutional role of the armed forces reflects “the historic vice of an institution that never conformed to subordinating itself to civil order,” and the court’s vote reaffirms what is clear from any constitutional law textbook, said Conrado Hubner, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sao Paulo. “Nothing has the power to avoid a coup in the future. Nothing," Hubner said. But the court's position helps to combat justifications for a coup, he said. Meantime, Lula has endeavored to stay on good terms with the military’s top brass. Last week, he forbade any official events observing the 60th anniversary of the date the military deposed the president and ushered in Brazil’s dictatorship, on March 31, 1964. Virtually all historians characterize it as a coup. Others disagree, including Bolsonaro’s then-vice president, Gen. Hamilton Mourão, who wrote Sunday on X that the date represents the day “the nation saved itself from itself!” and that history cannot be rewritten. In his vote, Justice Flávio Dino wrote that “echoes of that past stubbornly refuse to pass,” and that the court’s decision should be forwarded to Lula’s defense minister for dissemination to every military organization in the country. Doing so "would aim to eradicate misinformation that has reached some members of the armed forces,” Dino wrote. “Any theories that go beyond or distort the true meaning of Article 142 of the federal constitution must be eliminated.” 

The United Nations recommends that women hold at least 30% of political leadership positions so that women can influence decision-making. Russia is far below the UN threshold.

NEW YORK — Actor Jonathan Majors was sentenced to probation and ordered to complete a year-long counseling program but avoided jail time Monday for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in a high-profile case that derailed the once-promising star's career.  The 34-year-old star of "Creed III" and other films had faced up to a year behind bars after he was convicted of misdemeanor assault by a Manhattan jury in December.  Judge Michael Gaffey also ordered Majors to complete an in-person batterer's intervention program, and continue with his mental health therapy.  Following the guilty verdict, Majors was immediately dropped by Marvel Studios, which had cast him as Kang the Conqueror, a role envisioned as the main villain in the entertainment empire's movies and television shows for years to come.  The conviction stemmed from an altercation last March in which Majors' then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari accused him of attacking her in the backseat of a chauffeured car, saying he hit her head with his open hand, twisted her arm behind her back and squeezed her middle finger until it fractured.  During a victim impact statement Monday, Jabbari said the incident left her with extreme emotional and physical pain.  Majors claimed the 31-year-old British dancer was the aggressor, flying into a jealous rage after reading a text message from another woman on his phone. He maintained he was only trying to regain his phone and get away from Jabbari safely.  After the sentencing, Majors did not comment as he left the courtroom.  Majors had hoped his two-week criminal trial would vindicate him and restore his status in Hollywood. In a television interview shortly after his conviction, he said he deserves a second chance.  "As he eagerly anticipates closing this chapter, he looks forward to redirecting his time and energy fully toward his family and his art," Majors' lawyers said in a statement last week after losing their bid to have the conviction tossed out.  But the 34-year-old California native and Yale University graduate still faces other legal hurdles. Last month, Jabbari filed a civil suit in Manhattan federal court, accusing the actor of assault, battery, defamation and inflicting emotional distress.  She claims Majors subjected her to escalating incidents of physical and verbal abuse during their relationship, which lasted from 2021 to 2023.  Majors' lawyers have declined to respond to the claims, saying only that they are preparing to file counterclaims against Jabbari.  The actor had his breakthrough role in 2019's "The Last Black Man in San Francisco." He also starred in the HBO horror series "Lovecraft Country," which earned him an Emmy nomination, and as the nemesis to fictional boxing champ Adonis Creed in the blockbuster "Creed III."  As for Marvel, a looming question remains whether the studio will recast the role of Kang or pivot in a new direction.  Majors' departure was among a recent series of high-profile setbacks for the vaunted superhero factory, which has earned an unprecedented $30 billion worldwide from 33 films.

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Bangkok — Guerrilla fighters from Myanmar's Karen ethnic minority claimed Monday to be close to seizing control of a major trading town bordering Thailand, as soldiers and civil servants loyal to the military government appeared to be preparing to abandon their positions. The occupation of Myawaddy town by the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union, or KNU, appeared imminent as the guerrillas seized or besieged strategic army outposts on the town's outskirts, a spokesperson and members of the KNU said Monday. Myawaddy, in Kayin state, is Myanmar's most active trading post with Thailand, and its fall would be the latest in a series of shock defeats suffered by the army since last October, when an alliance of three other ethnic rebel groups launched an offensive in the country's northeast.  Over the past five months, the army has been routed in northern Shan state, where it conceded control of several border crossings, in Rakhine state in the west, and is under growing attack elsewhere. The military government under Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has acknowledged it is under pressure, and recently introduced conscription to boost its ranks. The nationwide conflict in Myanmar began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule. Three residents of Myawaddy town, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear being arrested by either warring side, told The Associated Press by phone that they had heard no sounds of the fighting outside since Sunday afternoon. They said most residents were working as usual, while others were preparing to flee to Mae Sot, just across the border in Thailand. Two of them said they had not seen any members of the government's security forces since Sunday. The situation was highlighted Sunday night when a Myanmar plane made an unscheduled flight to Mae Sot from Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city. Thai media reported that the plane had received permission from Thai authorities to evacuate people fleeing Myawaddy. It was not clear if those fleeing, described as military and civil servants loyal to Myanmar's military government, had already crossed into Thailand over the river that marks the border. Thailand's Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed that approval was given for three flights on a Yangon-Mae Sot route to transport passengers and cargo, one each day on Sunday through Tuesday. Myanmar's government later canceled its requests for the remaining two flights. The Thai government was closely monitoring the situation along the border, and is ready to take all necessary measures to maintain peace and order, and to keep the people along the border safe, the Thai ministry said. In times of fighting along the frontier, Thailand has generally granted temporary shelter to Myanmar villagers. There are also about 87,000 living in nine long-term refugee camps. The KNU, which is the leading political body for the Karen minority, said in a statement posted on Facebook that its armed wing and allied pro-democracy forces on Friday had seized the army base on the road to Myawaddy at Thin Gan Nyi Naung. It had served for nearly six decades as the military's regional headquarters. It said that 617 members of the security forces and their family members had surrendered. The KNU posted photos of the weapons that it claimed to have seized and captured military personnel and their family members given shelter in a school. Two Karen guerrillas involved in their group's offensive told AP on Monday that they have surrounded an army garrison about 4 kilometers (3 miles) to the west of Myawaddy that is in charge of the town's security, and an artillery battalion to the south. Negotiations were underway for their surrenders, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release information. They also said the Karen have control of about 60% to 70% of Myawaddy township, and are almost certain to capture the town itself after the two bases surrender or are overrun. The Karen, like other minority groups living in border regions, have struggled for decades for greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government. Fighting between the army and Karen armed groups intensified after the military seized power in 2021. Several ethnic rebel groups including the Karen have loose alliances with pro-democracy militias after the military takeover, and also offer refuge to the civilian opponents of the military government.

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Copenhagen, Denmark — Sweden has expelled a Chinese journalist, saying the reporter was a threat to national security, Swedish media reported on Monday. The journalist, an unnamed, 57-year-old woman, was arrested by the Swedish security service in October and expelled by the government in Stockholm last week, Swedish broadcaster SVT reported. She is banned from returning. The woman arrived in the Scandinavian country some 20 years ago. She held a residence permit and was married to a Swedish man, with whom she has children, according to the broadcaster. The woman has had contacts with the Chinese Embassy and with people in Sweden who are connected to the Chinese government, SVT said. Her lawyer, Leutrim Kadriu, told SVT the woman doesn't believe she poses a threat to Sweden. "It is difficult for me to go into exact details given that much is shrouded in secrecy, as this is a national security matter," Kadriu told the broadcaster. In neighboring Norway, broadcaster NRK said the journalist had also reported from there, and from other Nordic countries including Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Relations between Stockholm and Beijing have been tense for years. In 2020, a court in eastern China sentenced Chinese-born Swedish national Gui Minhai to 10 years in prison for selling books that were critical of the ruling Communist Party. He was charged with "illegally providing intelligence overseas." China has rebuked Sweden's demands for Gui's release. He first disappeared in 2015, when he was believed to have been abducted by Chinese agents from his seaside home in Thailand. The case led to an investigation of Sweden's ambassador to China over a meeting she arranged between Gui's daughter and two Chinese businessmen whom the daughter said threatened her father. The ambassador, Anna Lindstedt, was eventually cleared. In 2018, a Swedish court found a man guilty of spying for China by gathering information on Tibetans who had fled to Sweden. Dorjee Gyantsan, a Tibetan who worked for a pro-Tibetan radio station, was found guilty of "gross illegal intelligence activity" and sentenced to 22 months in jail.

Thirty years after the Rwandan genocide, survivors continue to grapple with fear and trauma. Their plight, they say, is exacerbated by ongoing battles against misinformation and genocide denial, prompting calls for increased education and awareness to foster a genocide-free world. Senanu Tord reports from Kigali, Rwanda. Moki Edwin Kindzeka contributed to this report.

Austin, Texas — Chinese migrants coming across the southern U.S. border say they made the treacherous journey to flee China’s authoritarian rule, to seek the American dream or escape growing political and economic uncertainty at home. But the challenges do not end after they arrive, and some are deciding to return to China, while others have no choice. Last April, Xia Yu arrived in the United States after traveling through more than 10 countries over a period of two months. Xia, a Chinese man in his 40s, asked to use a pseudonym so he could speak more freely with VOA Mandarin about his journey. On his way to the U.S. border, he says, all his property was stolen, and his American dream did not come true: In immigration custody, he failed to pass the "credible fear interview” for asylum-seekers. 2023 surge According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, 52,700 Chinese immigrants arrived at U.S. borders without valid entry visas in fiscal 2023 — more than twice the number of just two years earlier. About half of them entered somewhere along the southern U.S. border where they were apprehended by Border Protection agents and sought asylum. Individuals who pass the screening and establish that they have a credible reason to fear torture, persecution, or returning to their country, are allowed to stay in the U.S. to pursue their cases in immigration court. Xia remained in the detention facility in the U.S. for months as he was processed for deportation, eventually landing at Shanghai Pudong Airport last August. Entering Chinese customs, he was fined $71 and had to sign a document admitting his crime of being deported after illegally entering another country. His passport was confiscated, and he was notified that he would be barred from leaving the country for three years. The public security bureau in his hometown also questioned him about whom he encountered while on U.S. soil. "They asked me to delete my foreign social media apps and foreign contacts,” he told VOA. “Then they told me not to contact these people because I would be deceived."  Xia said he thinks his WeChat account is being monitored to prevent him from inciting others to emigrate illegally. He said spending tens of thousands of dollars without even staying in the U.S. is nothing to brag about, and that he’d rather not mention his experience again. 'A full life at home’ At 33, Wang Zhongwei from China’s Anhui Province now lives in Los Angeles, where has become a vocal advocate for immigrants since entering the United States in May. Many Chinese who have crossed the border or are attempting to do so reach out to him for advice. Wang tells VOA Mandarin that while most who make the journey across the border stay, there are those who return because of loneliness, deceit, or family pressure. Wang's friend, Liu Ming, from Sichuan Province, came to the United States in the second half of 2023. Liu, 31, first stayed in Los Angeles for a month or two and then moved to New York to find work. After a long wait, he found a job working for a Chinese boss, but the pay wasn’t good. In January, Liu's boss refused to pay him, so he had no choice but to call the police. After receiving his salary the following day, Liu immediately went to the airport, messaging Wang: "I'm at the airport now and about to go back to China. I don't like it here. See you again if destiny has it." In March, when Wang contacted him again, he found that Liu had used the self-service kiosk when entering China and wasn’t even interviewed by government staff. Within months, Liu had returned to a life in China much as he knew it before. "I am now working in a restaurant in my hometown. I work eight hours and the food is super good,” he told Wang via WhatsApp. "I used to work 12 hours non-stop in a restaurant in the U.S., [where] I was bored and lonely ... but I live a full life at home. At one point, when he got sick in the U.S., he worried about dying in a foreign land. He also complained about not being able to meet women there. "I don't regret the trip to the U.S.,” Liu continued, allowing, however, that on getting sick he’d worried about dying in a foreign land, and that he’d found it difficult to meet women. “What I saw in real life was different from what I saw online,” he concluded. “There are both good and bad things in America." Room for regret Zhang Lin, who is in his 30s and asked to use an alias to protect his privacy, describes himself as a person of double regrets. He first regretted coming to the United States, and now he regrets returning to China. Crossing the U.S. border, Zhang found a job as a massage therapist in Los Angeles because he had the training. There, he made about $150 a day, a substantial wage for an undocumented immigrant. But after only a month he returned to China, where he now runs a foot spa in his hometown. "There were so many things I wasn't used to in the U.S., and I was lonely," he said. "I felt very homesick, so I came back impulsively." When he went to the U.S., Zhang said, he’d hoped to make a lot of money and make his family the envy of his hometown neighbors. But now, after returning to China, where he faced a 12-hour interrogation at customs but faced no penalties, he says he regrets his impulsive decision to return. “Life in my hometown is really hopeless," Zhang said, adding that he hopes to go to the U.S. illegally again. "When you go out, you realize that the outside world is different. Your mind is opened up.” Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

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WILMINGTON, Del. — The Biden administration pledged on Monday to provide up to $6.6 billion so that a Taiwanese semiconductor giant can expand the facilities it is already building in Arizona and better ensure that the most-advanced microchips are produced domestically for the first time.  Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the funding for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. means the company can expand on its existing plans for two facilities in Phoenix and add a third, newly announced production hub.  "These are the chips that underpin all artificial intelligence, and they are the chips that are the necessary components for the technologies that we need to underpin our economy," Raimondo said on a call with reporters, adding that they were vital to the "21st century military and national security apparatus."  The funding is tied to a sweeping 2022 law that President Joe Biden has celebrated and which is designed to revive U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. Known as the CHIPS and Science Act, the $280 billion package is aimed at sharpening the U.S. edge in military technology and manufacturing while minimizing the kinds of supply disruptions that occurred in 2021, after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when a shortage of chips stalled factory assembly lines and fueled inflation.  The Biden administration has promised tens of billions of dollars to support construction of U.S. chip foundries and reduce reliance on Asian suppliers, which Washington sees as a security weakness.  "Semiconductors – those tiny chips smaller than the tip of your finger – power everything from smartphones to cars to satellites and weapons systems," Biden said in a statement. "TSMC's renewed commitment to the United States, and its investment in Arizona represent a broader story for semiconductor manufacturing that's made in America and with the strong support of America's leading technology firms to build the products we rely on every day."  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. produces nearly all of the leading-edge microchips in the world and plans to eventually do so in the U.S.  It began construction of its first facility in Phoenix in 2021, and started work on a second hub last year, with the company increasing its total investment in both projects to $40 billion. The third facility should be producing microchips by the end of the decade and will see the company's commitment increase to a total of $65 billion, Raimondo said.  The investments would put the U.S. on track to produce roughly 20% of the world's leading-edge chips by 2030, and Raimondo said they should help create 6,000 manufacturing jobs and 20,000 construction jobs, as well as thousands of new positions more indirectly tied to assorted suppliers in chip-related industries tied to Arizona projects.  The potential incentives announced Monday include $50 million to help train the workforce in Arizona to be better equipped to work in the new facilities. Additionally, approximately $5 billion of proposed loans would be available through the CHIPS and Science Act.  "TSMC's commitment to manufacture leading-edge chips in Arizona marks a new chapter for America's semiconductor industry," Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters.  The announcement came as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is traveling in China. Senior administration officials were asked on the call with reporters if the Biden administration gave China a head's up on the coming investment, given the delicate geopolitics surrounding Taiwan. The officials said only that their focus in making Monday's announcement was solely on advancing U.S. manufacturing.  "We are thrilled by the progress of our Arizona site to date," C.C. Wei, CEO of TSMC, said in a statement, "And are committed to its long-term success." 

BEIJING — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned China on Monday that Washington will not accept new industries being decimated by Chinese imports as she wrapped up four days of meetings to press her case for Beijing to rein in excess industrial capacity.  Yellen told a media conference that U.S. President Joe Biden would not allow a repeat of the "China shock" of the early 2000s, when a flood of Chinese imports destroyed about 2 million American manufacturing jobs.  She did not, however, threaten new tariffs or other trade actions should Beijing continue its massive state support for electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels and other green energy goods.  Yellen used her second trip to China in nine months to complain that China's overinvestment has built factory capacity far exceeding domestic demand, while fast-growing exports of these products threaten firms in the U.S. and other countries.  She said a newly created exchange forum to discuss the excess capacity issue would need time to reach solutions.  Yellen drew parallels to the pain felt in the U.S. steel sector in the past.  "We've seen this story before," she told reporters. "Over a decade ago, massive PRC government support led to below-cost Chinese steel that flooded the global market and decimated industries across the world and in the United States."  Yellen added: "I've made it clear that President Biden and I will not accept that reality again."  When the global market is flooded with artificially cheap Chinese products, she said, "the viability of American and other foreign firms is put into question."  Yellen said her exchanges with Chinese officials had advanced American interests and that U.S. concerns over excess industrial capacity were shared by allies in Europe, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines and other emerging markets.  Pushback  China's parliament, the National People's Congress, said in March the government would take steps to curb industrial overcapacity.  But Beijing says the recent focus by the United States and Europe on the risks to other economies from China's excess capacity is misguided.  Chinese officials say the criticism understates innovation by their companies in key industries and overstates the importance of state support in driving their growth.  They also say tariffs or other trade curbs will deprive global consumers of green energy alternatives key to meeting global climate goals.  Trade curbs on Chinese electric vehicles would be disruptive to a growing industry and contravene World Trade Organization rules, the industry and information technology ministry said in a statement carried by state media CCTV and China Daily.  The ministry added that it was committed to support EV exports and would help "accelerate the overseas development" of the industry including planning for shipping and logistics and support for firms to innovate and meet global standards.  State news agency Xinhua quoted Li as saying the U.S. should "refrain from turning economic and trade issues into political or security issues" and view the topic of production capacity from a "market-oriented and global perspective."  Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao voiced more pointed objections during a roundtable meeting with Chinese EV makers in Paris, saying U.S. and European assertions of Chinese excess EV capacity were groundless.  Rather than subsidies, China's electric vehicle companies rely on continuous technological innovation, perfect production and supply chain systems and full market competition, Wang said on his trip to discuss a European Union anti-subsidy inquiry.  Yellen said a possible short-term solution was for China to take steps to bolster consumer demand with support for households and retirement, and shift its growth model away from supply-side investments.  Yellen spoke about the issue at length with Premier Li Qiang and also met Finance Minister Lan Foan on Sunday. She met People's Bank of China (PBOC) governor Pan Gongsheng and former vice premier Liu He on Monday.  In a CNBC interview after the meetings, Yellen said she was "not thinking so much" about trade curbs on China, as much as shifts in its macroeconomic environment. But she reiterated she would notrule out tariffs.   

On his farm near Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, Clark Lungren studies and breeds wild animals, some of them endangered species. The Canadian, who has been living in the country for several decades, is also giving tourists an opportunity to see his animals up close. But fighting and unrest in the country has put the farm at risk. VOA’s Gildas Da has more in this report narrated by Jackson Mvunganyi. (Solomane Nikiema contributed to this report)

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 — French and British troops on Monday swapped roles to take part in the changing of the guard ceremonies outside the palaces of the other country's head of state, in an unprecedented move to celebrate 120 years since the Entente Cordiale. Signed in 1904, the Entente Cordiale accord cemented an improvement in relations after the Napoleonic Wars and is seen as the foundation of the two NATO members' alliance to this day. "Even after Brexit and with war back in Europe, "this entente cordiale is somehow the cornerstone... that allows us to maintain the bilateral relationship," French President Emmanuel Macron said in a video address on X, formerly Twitter. "Long live the entente cordiale and long live the Franco-British friendship," he said, switching to English. Macron and British ambassador to France Menna Rawlings on Monday morning watched British guards taking part in the changing of the guard outside his Elysee Palace. French guards were to do the same in London outside Buckingham Palace, the official residence of King Charles III. At the Elysee, 16 members of the Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards of the UK embassy, wearing their traditional bearskin hats, relieved French counterparts from the first infantry regiment. The French army choir then sang the two national anthems -- God Save the King and La Marseillaise. 'More to defeat Russia' British Foreign Minister David Cameron and his French counterpart, Stephane Sejourne, celebrated their countries' "close friendship" in a joint op-ed published late on Sunday. They said it was key at a time when NATO is mobilized to ensure Ukraine does not lose its fight to repel the Russian invasion. "Britain and France, two founding members and Europe's nuclear powers, have a responsibility in driving the alliance to deal with the challenges before it," the diplomats wrote in Britain's The Telegraph newspaper. "We must do even more to ensure we defeat Russia. The world is watching –- and will judge us if we fail." A French presidential official said it was "the first time in the history of the Elysee" that foreign troops had been invited to participate in the military ritual. At the end of 2023, Macron made the changing of the Republican Guard public again, on the first Tuesday of each month, although the ceremony is much less spectacular than its counterpart outside Buckingham Palace. Two sections of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiment of France's Republican Guard were to participate in the London ceremony alongside guards from F Company Scots Guards and other British forces, the French presidential official said. It would be watched by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh -- Prince Edward and his wife Sophie -- accompanied by the UK chief of the general staff, General Patrick Sanders, and French chief of the army staff Pierre Schill. The event on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace was to mark the first time a country from outside the Commonwealth -- which mostly includes English-speaking former British colonies and possessions -- has taken part in the changing of the guard. Tensions after Brexit The signing of the Entente Cordiale on April 8, 1904, is widely seen as preparing the way for France and Britain joining forces against Germany in World War I. While the accord is often used as shorthand to describe the Franco-British relationship, ties have been bedeviled by tensions in recent years, particularly since the United Kingdom left the European Union.  Migration has been a particular sticking point, with London pressuring Paris to halt the flow of migrants across the Channel. But a state visit by King Charles last autumn -- one of his last big foreign engagements before his cancer diagnosis -- was widely seen as a resounding success that showed the fundamental strength of the relationship. 

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