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Britain has a new government. Keir Starmer’s center-left Labour Party won a landslide victory in Thursday’s election with a 412-seat majority in Parliament. How might Britain’s role in the world change under Prime Minister Starmer? Henry Ridgwell has more from London.

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london — Britain has a new government after Keir Starmer's center-left Labour Party won a landslide victory in Thursday's election, winning 412 seats and a huge 172-seat majority in parliament. How might Britain and its role on the international stage change under Prime Minister Starmer National renewal Addressing the nation Friday from outside 10 Downing Street, the 61-year-old former lawyer promised to lead a "government of service" on a mission of national renewal. "From now on, you have a government unburdened by doctrine, guided only by the determination to serve your interest, to defy quietly those who have written our country off," Starmer said, promising to prioritize Britons who had been ignored until now. "No matter how fierce the storms of history, one of the great strengths of this nation has always been our ability to navigate away to calmer waters. And yet this depends upon politicians, particularly those who stand for stability and moderation as I do, recognizing when we must change course," Starmer added. Conservative losses The result brings a crushing end to 14 turbulent years of rule under the Conservatives. Their loss of 251 seats, and a final tally of 121 lawmakers in the 650-seat parliament, represents the party's worst result since its formation in 1834. Outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologized to the nation. "To the country, I would like to say, first and foremost, I am sorry. I have given this job my all,” Sunak said Friday morning before leaving Downing Street. “But you have sent a clear signal that the government of the United Kingdom must change, and yours is the only judgment that matters. I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss.” Turmoil The past decade has seen a period of relentless political turmoil, with five prime ministers in just the past eight years. Britain's vote to leave the European Union in 2016 prompted then-Prime Minister David Cameron to quit. His successor, Theresa May, repeatedly failed to get her Brexit deal through, forcing her resignation. Boris Johnson took over and won the last election in December 2019, just weeks before the coronavirus pandemic swept across the world. Revelations that Johnson and his staff had held parties in Downing Street during the COVID-19 lockdown, along with a series of party scandals, forced Johnson from office. Liz Truss won the Conservative leadership race in 2022 but quit just a month later following a financial and sterling currency crash, as the markets saw her economic policies as too risky. Sunak took over, but immediately faced an inflation crisis — and failed to inspire the electorate to stick with the Conservatives in Thursday's vote. Rwanda scheme scrapped Challenges lie ahead for Labour and Starmer. Immigration remains a big political issue. The Conservative scheme to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda for processing is set to be scrapped. "Labour is going to need to find a solution to the small boats coming across the Channel,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. “It's going to ditch the Rwanda scheme, but it's going to have to come up with other solutions to deal with that particular problem. Intelligence-led policing will be one of them, trying to smash the gangs is another, and faster processing of those asylum-seekers already in the country.” Ukraine Britain is unlikely to see dramatic changes in foreign policy under Starmer, according to Bale. "Keir Starmer's Labour government will continue to back Ukraine against Russia very strongly, will try to maintain the special relationship with the United States of America, although that will get a little bit more difficult if President Trump is reelected. "And when it comes to the European Union, I would expect to see Britain actually try to get a little bit closer to the European Union, in economic terms in particular. So, we will see a renegotiation of the trade and cooperation agreement next year. And Labour will try and reduce the trade friction that has damaged growth in this country," Bale told The Associated Press. With growing global instability, Starmer's strong mandate could give Britain a bigger role in global geopolitics, according to Malcolm Chalmers of the Royal United Services Institute in London. "Over the next four months, the presidents of both the U.S. and France will be focused on their own political survival, with their ability to shape world events correspondingly reduced,” Chalmers said. “The U.K., in contrast, has the most stable government of all the major Western democracies. It therefore has the opportunity, and responsibility, to help steady the ship of Western unity at a time of exceptional political fluidity.” China "The new government will also need to set a clearer course on the biggest geopolitical challenge of our time: how to manage the West's relationship with China,” Chalmers wrote in an email to VOA. “If recent trends are extrapolated, we are now in the foothills of a new Cold War between the U.S. and China. But the rules and limits of this competition remain in flux. Many countries — especially in the so-called Global South — are strongly resisting being drawn into either camp.” NATO summit Starmer's first foreign visit will likely be to next week's NATO summit in Washington. Alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Starmer's appointment Friday. "I know that he's a strong supporter of NATO, of the transatlantic alliance, and also committed to ensure that United Kingdom continues to be a strong and very committed NATO ally," Stoltenberg told reporters in Washington. Defense spending However, there are defense challenges at home, noted Anand Menon, a professor of international politics at King's College London. "We keep hearing in this country that our armed forces are stretched to the bone, that they haven't been invested in enough, that the U.K. military is incapable of defending U.K. territory,” Menon said. “So, a new government is going to immediately face the issue of what it wants to do about that. Labour have said they want to take defense spending up to 2.5% of GDP when economic circumstances allow." Labour's new chancellor, Rachel Reeves — the first woman to hold the post — warned Friday that there isn't "a huge amount of money" to spend. Any mission of national renewal will have to be a long-term project.

U.S. laboratories in Ukraine, African countries, and elsewhere work in cooperation with national authorities to predict and prevent bioterrorism, and outbreaks of diseases that pose a threat to public health.

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washington — The United States has flatly rejected Russia’s claim that it has not violated international sanctions imposed on North Korea, calling on Moscow to stop illegal arms transfers from Pyongyang. “The U.S. and like-minded countries have successfully highlighted Russia’s U.N. Security Council Resolutions violations,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email to VOA’s Korean Service on Wednesday, responding to an inquiry made about Russia’s denial of violating North Korea sanctions. “Unfortunately, we now have a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council willing to openly flout sanctions to support the Kim [Jong Un] regime’s priorities.” The spokesperson continued: “We call on the DPRK and Russia to cease unlawful arms transfers and urge the DPRK to take concrete steps toward abandoning all nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and related programs.” DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name. In a Monday press conference, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia insisted that his country had complied with international sanctions against North Korea. “We’re not violating the North Korea sanctions regime and all those allegations that come out. They are not proved by material evidence,” he said. The Russian ambassador went even further, questioning the integrity of a now-defunct U.N. panel of experts charged with monitoring North Korea sanctions. The panel’s annual mandate was not extended this year, following Russia’s veto at the U.N. Security Council in March. Nebenzia alleged that the panel of experts got involved in the politics after being encouraged by certain countries, adding that "that was the major mistake that they made." “The sanctions regime against DPRK is an unprecedented thing in the United Nations. It’s not time bound. It doesn’t have any provisions for reviewing, and this cannot be tolerated.” The Kremlin’s refusal to renew the expert panel’s annual mandate marked a drastic change from its earlier support for U.N. Resolution 1718, which put in place an arms embargo on North Korea by banning all imports and exports of most weapons and related material. The U.N. Security Council passed the resolution unanimously in October 2006, just several days after North Korea’s first nuclear test. This week’s exchange between Washington and Moscow comes as Russia has been deepening military ties with North Korea. Russian President Vladmir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty during their summit in Pyongyang last month. In recent months. the U.S. government has repeatedly blown the whistle on Russia’s alleged violations of international sanctions, accusing Moscow of financially and materially facilitating Pyongyang’s efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. In a May briefing, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby released specific figures of the refined oil Russia has provided to North Korea so far this year, stressing it has already exceeded the limit set by the U.N. Security Council. “Russia has been shipping refined petroleum to the DPRK. Russian shipments have already pushed DPRK inputs above [those] mandated by the U.N. Security Council. In March alone, Russia shipped more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to the DPRK,” Kirby said. In October last year, the White House released three satellite images showing containers moved by ships and trains, saying North Korea had provided Russia with more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and ammunition. Experts in Washington say this standoff between the U.S. and Russia over North Korea will likely persist for some time. Scott Snyder, president of the Korea Economic Institute of America, told VOA’s Korean Service via email on Thursday that the recent defense pact between Moscow and Pyongyang is not something the U.S. can afford to ignore. “North Korea will remain a source of conflict in U.S.-Russia relations as long as North Korea sustains their strategic relationship, which will continue at least until the end of military hostilities in Ukraine,” Snyder said. Evans Revere, who formerly served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said in an email to VOA’s Korean Service on Friday that Russia is setting itself up as North Korea’s backer. “Russia has made it clear that it intends to oppose U.N. Security Council sanctions, work with North Korea and others to find ways to get around current U.N. Security Council restrictions and strengthen its tactical and strategic coordination with North Korea,” Revere said. “Russia, which was once part of the important coalition supporting the use of pressure and sanctions to deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, has now gone over to the other side and become Pyongyang's de facto protector.” Jiha Ham contributed to this report.

new york — The extent of Hurricane Beryl's damage became clearer Friday, as communications were reestablished with the small, storm-ravaged eastern Caribbean islands and relief began to arrive.  The Grenadian islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique sustained the most severe damage when Beryl made landfall Monday as a Category 4 storm and later saw its winds strengthen to a Category 5. About 11,000 people inhabit the two islands.  "The desalination plants have been knocked out; all of the cell towers have been knocked out; all of the fiber optic cables have been knocked out," said Simon Springett, the United Nations resident coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. "The roads are impassable. We probably have about 95% of the housing stock destroyed. And by default, all of the local businesses, all the income-generating activities — and the list goes on."  Beryl is the first Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean in June. The hurricane season runs until November 30 and officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are forecasting 17 to 25 named storms. Springett, who briefed reporters from Grenada, said communications were only restored with Carriacou Thursday night. About 9,000 people live on the island known for its coral reefs and sandy beaches.  "The entire island is completely affected," he said.  Rough seas hamper delivery of help Springett said the relief operation has been complicated by extremely rough seas following the hurricane and airport control towers being knocked offline.  "So, there is only fly-by visibility," he said. "Even when things get into the airport, there are no roads to be able to access the goods."  He said a French naval vessel is due to arrive in Carriacou on Friday. Neighbors Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago also have sent support.  The United Nations, which has nine agencies active in Grenada normally, is surging more staff in. Springett said a supply ship would be arriving Saturday from St. Vincent and the Grenadines to bring aid to the outer islands of the Grenadines and then continue to Carriacou and Petite Martinique.  Three islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines also were hit badly: Canouan, Union Island and Mayreau. Springett said about 15,500 people live there.  One confirmed death in Jamaica Beryl hit Jamaica Wednesday. It was the strongest storm there in over a decade, but the island was spared the worst.  Dennis Zulu, U.N. resident coordinator for Jamaica, told reporters on the same briefing call that about 70% of people are without water and 40% without power.  The island is a major tourism destination and Zulu said the government had moved quickly to reopen the main tourist airport at Montego Bay and to clear road access to resorts.  "From preliminary assessments, very little harm came to the infrastructure in terms of tourist hotels and resorts," Zulu said.  "So that is really positive."  He said at least one person was confirmed dead in Jamaica from Beryl and a flash flood warning remains in effect. There was damage to homes, but some government shelters were shutting after people had returned home.  "Jamaica is up and running, if I may say that, and the government is moving seriously to ensure that," Zulu said.  The United Nations has made an initial allocation of $1.5 million from its emergency fund for Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Another $2.5 million has been allocated for Jamaica. 

washington — Donald Trump asked a federal judge Friday to freeze the classified documents case against him in light of a Supreme Court ruling this week that said former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. Trump's lawyers told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that the prosecution should be put on pause until she resolves pending defense motions that assert that Trump is immune from criminal charges in the case and that special counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a 6-3 opinion Monday that presidents enjoy absolute immunity from prosecution for actions involving their core constitutional powers and are presumptively immune for all other official acts. In a separate concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that Smith's appointment was invalid because there is "no law establishing" the office of the special counsel. The request Friday underscores the potentially far-reaching implications of the high court's opinion. On Tuesday, sentencing for Trump's hush money convictions was postponed until at least September as the judge in the New York case agreed to weigh the possible impact of the opinion. The opinion came in a separate case brought by Smith charging Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. But Trump's lawyers in the documents case in Florida, where he is charged with illegally retaining top secret records from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate, have challenged the indictment on the same legal grounds raised in Monday's Supreme Court opinion. Cannon heard arguments last month on the legality of Smith's appointment but did not immediately rule. She has also not ruled on the immunity question. "Resolution of these threshold questions is necessary to minimize the adverse consequences to the institution of the Presidency arising from this unconstitutional investigation and prosecution," defense lawyers wrote as they requested the opportunity to make additional paperwork. They said the case should be frozen, with the exception of a separate, and also unresolved, dispute over an effort by prosecutors to bar Trump from making public comments that could endanger FBI agents involved in the case.

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NEW YORK — Sharks attacked three people on beaches in Texas and Florida on Thursday as the Independence Day weekend got underway, according to officials, adding to a growing list of such incidents in the U.S. this summer.  A 21-year-old Ohio man was bitten on his foot while standing in knee-deep water at Florida's New Smyrna Beach, said Tamra Malphurs, interim director of Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue. He was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.  On the same day at South Padre Island on the Gulf Coast of Texas, four people encountered a shark and two were bitten, according to a press release by Texas Parks and Wildlife. The two victims were taken to a hospital, but their conditions were unknown.  There have been 28 reported shark attacks in the U.S. so far this year, according to the website Tracking Sharks. At least three others, in addition to Thursday's attacks, have occurred since June 2, including a California man who was injured by a great white shark and a man in Hawaii who was killed by a shark.  Three women were injured by what authorities believed to be a bull shark in Walton County, Florida, the state where shark attacks are most frequent, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File.  The museum found that unprovoked shark attacks and fatalities around the world rose slightly in 2023 — there were a total of 69 attacks, 10 of which were fatal.  The U.S. had the most incidents last year with 36 attacks and two fatalities. The number of shark attacks have trended downward since they spiked in 2021 with 47 attacks, the most ever recorded by the museum.  Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program, said that while the numbers may oscillate year by year, reported shark bites have dropped slightly decade by decade. He attributes the trend to commercial fisheries reducing global shark populations.  "But the number of people on beaches keeps going up. And as a few more shark populations are starting to recover, I think in the next 10 years we may see an increase in incidents," said Naylor. 

TOPEKA, Kansas — A former reporter for a weekly Kansas newspaper has agreed to accept $235,000 to settle part of her federal lawsuit over a police raid on the paper that made a small community the focus of a national debate over press freedoms.   The settlement removed the former police chief in Marion from the lawsuit filed by former Marion County Record reporter Deb Gruver, but it doesn't apply to two other officials she sued over the raid: the Marion County sheriff and the county's prosecutor. Gruver's lawsuit is among five federal lawsuits filed over the raid against the city, the county and eight current or former elected officials or law enforcement officers.  Gruver's attorney did not immediately respond to emails Friday seeking comment. An attorney for the city, its insurance company, the former chief and others declined to comment but released a copy of the June 25 settlement agreement after the Record filed an open records request. He also provided a copy to The Associated Press.   Former Police Chief Gideon Cody led the Aug. 11, 2023, raid on the newspaper's office, the home of publisher Eric Meyer and the home of a then-city council member who had been critical of the then-mayor. Marion is a city of about 1,900 people set among rolling prairie hills about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, Missouri, and the Record is known for its aggressive coverage of local government.  At the time, Cody said he had evidence that the newspaper, reporter Phyllis Zorn and the city council member had committed identity theft or other computer crimes in obtaining information about a local business owner's driving record. All his targets said they did nothing illegal, and no charges were ever filed.  A federal lawsuit filed by Meyer and the newspaper alleges that the raid caused the death the next day of his 98-year-old mother, who lived with him, and he and the paper's attorney have suggested that the raid was Cody's response to the paper investigating his background. Cody seized Gruber's personal cell phone and had her desk searched; she had no connection to the driving record but was looking into Cody's past.  The raid sparked national outrage, and Cody resigned as chief in early October, less than two months after the raid. Legal experts have said the raid likely violated state or federal laws.

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Washington — The United States will host a NATO summit in Washington next week, at which more military support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's ongoing invasion will top the agenda.  Douglas Jones, deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, told VOA earlier this week that NATO will put forward "concrete ways" to accelerate Ukraine's eventual membership in the alliance.  Retired U.S. Air Force four-star General Philip Breedlove was the commander of U.S. European Command and the 17th Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations from 2013 to 2016.   In an interview with VOA, Breedlove said that NATO should use next week's summit to detail how it will help Ukraine "win the war against Russia and to expel Russian forces from Ukrainian lands."   Allowing Russia to keep that Ukrainian territory it has occupied would amount to "capitulation," Breedlove said, adding that whoever wins the U.S. presidential election in November must remember that capitulation to Russia's ambitions in Ukraine "is not a way forward."   The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity:  VOA: What are the main challenges for NATO ahead of the summit in Washington?  Retired four-star U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove: I think the main challenge is going to be how to move forward with Ukraine. There are quite a number of NATO nations that want to get started on Ukraine's program to join [NATO], there are other nations that are not ready for that yet. And so I think that the compromise is this "bridge" to NATO, whereby Ukraine will be invited to join in the headquarters on a U.S. base somewhere. I hear that maybe Wiesbaden [Germany] is that place. More importantly though, since there will not be a formal offer to Ukraine for membership, the members of NATO are going to need to discuss how do we begin to guarantee the security of Ukraine.  VOA: How do you think the elections in Europe and the U.K. will affect — and maybe already have affected — NATO's immediate future?   Breedlove: So I would broaden that scope. In elections in America, elections in many of our countries, we see a growing nationalistic trend, some isolationist trends, and these are all going to have to be addressed by NATO as a body. Because the strength of NATO is solidarity first, and so we have to figure out how to maintain that solidarity in the alliance when we have several nations that are now challenging norms. NATO has always made it through this. I remind people — and some of my French friends hate it when I do — but we were once thrown out of a capital of a NATO country. And so NATO has faced challenges in the past.   And I think that NATO will survive this current set of issues as well and frankly maybe be stronger. The absolute audacity, the criminality, the inhumane war that [Russian President] Mr. [Vladimir] Putin is waging on Ukraine is in a way drawing NATO closer together, even though there are less than perfect conversations about how we should go about fixing things. Broadly now, people understand what Mr. Putin is, what Russia represents, and the problems that this is going to give us in the future. And we see nations now realizing that they have to invest in their defense.   VOA: According to Politico, some Trump-aligned national security experts are saying that he is "mulling a deal" where NATO commits to no further eastward expansion, specifically into Ukraine and Georgia, and negotiates with Putin over how much Ukrainian territory "Moscow can keep" in exchange for a cease-fire. What would that mean for Georgia and Ukraine?   Breedlove: So, what you're talking about, to me, amounts to capitulation. I don't believe that Mr. [Donald] Trump would capitulate in quite that manner to Russia and give in to all of Russia's demands. I think what we need to focus on is what changes in respect to Russia in these conversations, remembering that Russia is a nation that amassed its army, marched across internationally recognized borders and is now trying to subjugate one of its neighbors. I do not believe that even Mr. Trump will sign up to that as an end result.  At some point we will have to sit down at the table, and what it looks like coming away from the table, I think, is a long way from being determined. And I do not believe that the American people will support capitulation. … And so I think that whoever is the next president, as their team sits down to try to resolve this, we're going to have to remember that capitulation is not a way forward.  VOA: If Georgia's domestic political problems grow, what effect will that have on its prospects for joining NATO?  Breedlove: I think that the question should be asked like this: if Russia's interference in Georgia's internal affairs continues and gets worse, what does that mean? Because I believe that there is Russian bad money and Russian bad people and politics involved in Georgia right now. Georgia is a hybrid warfare battleground whereby Russia is trying to use all manner of influence to drag Georgia away from the West and to regain control of Georgian politics.  VOA: It's clear that during next week's summit, Ukraine will not be offered NATO membership. But apart from the offer to establish a "bridge" at a NATO base, what do you think can be done to bring Ukraine and NATO closer together?    Breedlove: Well, the first thing to do is to help them win this war. Our policies are very weak. We say things like "we're going to be there for as long as it takes" or "we're going to give them everything they need." What we fail to say is — we're going to be there as long as it takes to do what? We're going to give them everything they need to do what? And that "to do what" should sound something like "to completely defeat the Russian forces inside of Ukraine and drive them back behind Russia's borders." But we are not doing that. And so one of the most important things about this upcoming summit … is that we need a demonstrative public declaratory policy on how we would support Ukraine to win the war against Russia and to expel Russian forces from Ukrainian lands. 

Abuja, Nigeria — Human rights group Amnesty International raised concerns Friday about the Nigerian government's hiring of two firms with past dealings with Shell to assess the proposed $2.4 billion sale of the company's onshore assets in the Niger Delta. Amnesty said the choice cast doubt on the independence and transparency of the process and called again for accountability in the proposed sale. Amnesty described the hiring of the Boston Consulting Group, or BCG, and S&P Global by the Nigerian oil regulator as “concerning,” saying the firms are in business with Shell. Amnesty said S&P Global plays a role in rating Shell's debt and credit worthiness, while BCG performs a variety of services for Shell. Amnesty's Isa Sanusi said that BCG and S&P could be influenced by their commercial interests and that they may become lenient in their review of problems caused by Shell's activities. "I don't think that it is possible for these companies to be independent,” Sanusi said. “In fact, the whole exercise of assessing Shell's plan has now been jeopardized by this conflict of interest. There's no way a company working for Shell can be hired to examine the books of Shell. I don’t think that is right." In January, Shell announced plans to sell its onshore properties to a local consortium of five companies for $2.4 billion. Shell said the move would enable it to focus on more-profitable offshore business as it plans to transition away from fossil fuels. But the proposed sale has sparked concern among environmental and human rights activists calling on authorities to delay the deal until a review of Shell’s activities and assets in the region is done. The groups say years of exploration by Shell have caused massive environmental damage and a loss of livelihoods for residents. Energy expert Emmanuel Afimia agreed with Amnesty International, saying, “The consultants have existing relationships with Shell. This might compromise the consultants’ ability to conduct an impartial review. “We need to understand that the independence of these consultants is crucial to ensure a fair assessment, and their ties to Shell could undermine trust in the process," she said. Nigerian law mandates Shell provide money for cleanup and decommissioning of its assets before exiting. But Shell, like other foreign energy firms, has often blamed sabotage and theft for oil spills. Earlier this year, the company released on its website a list of eight cleanup operations it planned to carry out — all for spills of less than 100 barrels of oil. Amnesty said that unless the right thing is done, enormous human rights risks are at stake. "There must be an examination of all the environmental liabilities, community liabilities and human rights liabilities,” Sanusi said. “Shell has to pay for it before going ahead to sell its assets in the region. It is about human life, and that should be the priority of Nigerian authorities." In March, the Netherlands-based nonprofit Center for Research on Multinational Corporations accused Shell of trying to avoid responsibility for oil spills and warned that if allowed, it could set a negative example for other foreign firms seeking to leave the Niger Delta.

washington — A grant of nearly $1 million is being provided to Alaska Public Media as part of a two-year plan to strengthen local news for rural communities. The nonprofit Cooperation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, awarded the $936,000 grant to the Alaska Public Media, which is made up of radio and TV media outlets. Lori Townsend, news director for Alaska Public Media, or APM, said the funding will help deepen “the connection between the local community and its public broadcasting station.” Investing in this way, she told VOA via email, means “the community will continue to support the local and regional journalism they can only get from their local newsroom.” Townsend said the grant will allow Alaska Public Radio to help rural station partners better reach remote areas that have less coverage. An NPR-member station, Alaska Public Radio produces national and state-specific daily news programming such as Alaska News Nightly. The award-winning statewide program has been broadcast for over four decades. The stations also relay national and international news through NPR and the BBC. But many of the 733,400 Alaska residents receive important information in their regions from local stations, information such as emergency messages related to fires, earthquakes or other disasters as part of emergency messaging system for the state. Most of Alaska's communities are not on the road system and public radio is a lifeline, said Townsend. “The public radio system in Alaska has been a more than four-decade model of collaboration and providing critical news, information and public safety service to Alaskan communities,” she added. Federal investment in rural communities is critical for the 99% of the U.S. population who have access to public broadcastings, said Brendan Daly, of CPB. The nonprofit oversees federal investment in public broadcasting. Rural and Indigenous communities depend on the state’s public media for news and public affairs, said Daly. “This is especially true in Alaska, which is such a large and rural state.” The two-year grant will be used to fund reporters and editors, travel and equipment. “The editors and reporters will mostly likely be a mix of new hires and existing Alaska journalists, currently working in the APM network and other newsrooms in Alaska," said Townsend. Stations will apply to host the new hires, Townsend said. The idea is to put the staff in stations across the state to make it easier to collaborate. “We are in an exciting time of increased recognition of the importance of journalism in supporting and strengthening the bedrock of democracy,” said Townsend. She added that the Alaska desk will work closely with communities on local priorities and on “elevating voices that are seldom heard.” The plan is to produce stories that “resonate with not only Alaskans, but the rest of the nation and world, as geopolitical conflicts and world resource needs draw more attention to the Arctic,” she said.