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State Department — The United States is carefully studying a new mutual defense pact between Russia and North Korea, which Washington believes could aid Pyongyang in its nuclear and long-range missile development programs. There are also signs of tensions between North Korea and its longstanding ally, China, following the signing of the agreement. China anxious In a keynote address on sustaining U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific at the Council on Foreign Relations Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said China is probably worried that North Korea will be encouraged to take provocative steps that could lead to a crisis in Northeast Asia. “I think it is fair to say that China is somewhat anxious about what's going on between Russia and North Korea. They have indicated so in some of our interactions, and we can see some tension associated with this,” Campbell said. Campbell said he had a call with South Korean officials Sunday night to discuss next steps to enhance deterrence more clearly. "We believe that that there are discussions about what North Korea gets in exchange [from the deal with Russia] and they could be associated with its nuclear, long range missile development plans," he said. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang for the first time in more than 20 years. U.S. officials have said while there are limits to their partnership, it cannot be ignored. The State Department's second-ranking diplomat also voiced concerns over China and North Korea's support for Russia's efforts to rebuild its defense industrial base since the start of its war on Ukraine. South China Sea tensions Campbell said Washington has “significantly démarched Chinese interlocutors” following what he called “Beijing's military provocations” in the South and East China Sea and near the waters around the Second Thomas Shoal, known as Rénài Jiao in China and Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines. According to an international tribunal's legally binding decision issued in July 2016, the Second Thomas Shoal is located within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, and China has no lawful maritime claims to the waters around this low-tide feature. Beijing has rejected the ruling. “The Philippines are very cautious at this juncture. They do not seek a crisis with China. They are seeking dialogue,” Campbell said. “They're seeking discussion, and they want the United States to be purposeful with other allies and partners about our goals to maintain peace and stability and to send a very clear message of deterrence and reassurance.” However, he stopped short of stating whether Washington would invoke a mutual defense treaty with Manila. "I'm not going to speculate in public. I will say we have continually reaffirmed its significance and relevance to these situations at the highest level," he said. In a phone call with Philippine Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Maria Theresa Lazaro last week, Campbell reaffirmed that Article IV of the 1951 United States-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft — including those of its coast guard — anywhere in the South China Sea, according to the State Department.

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Gori, Georgia — Fresh flowers lie at the feet of an outsized statue of Josef Stalin. His mustachioed face overlooks the wide, marble entrance hall of the museum in the city of Gori, Georgia dedicated to the life of the Soviet dictator. Groups of tourists — a mixture of Western, Russian and Chinese — jostle for position to take perfect selfie photographs alongside the pallid carving.  Stalin was born in Gori in 1878. The city still celebrates its local hero. The vast museum — built in 1957, four years after his death — encapsulates Georgia’s struggle to reconcile a contested and turbulent twentieth-century history, as the country tries to forge a new future aligned to the West.  Stalin shrine  The museum appears to have changed little over the past seven decades. One of the most popular displays recreates Stalin’s office in the Kremlin, complete with original furniture and telephone. Canvases depict him holding aloft smiling children or holding Soviet committees in rapt attention with apparent oratorical flair. The gift store at the exit sells Stalin-branded wine, cigarette lighters bearing his beaming face, or mini bronze-cast busts.  One of the most jarring displays shows Stalin’s death mask on a spotlit plinth in the middle of a temple-like, circular atrium. It feels more like a shrine than a museum.   Stalin is lauded for helping to lead the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. He is also blamed for the deaths of an estimated 30 million people.   A small room under the stairs — added only in 2010 — sketches over Stalin’s crimes: the gulag prison camps, the forced famines, the killing of millions of citizens, including Georgians.  Russian occupation  Seventy-one years after Stalin’s death, Russia is still trying to exert power over the former Soviet republic.  A few kilometers north of Gori lies the Russian occupation line. Its troops still occupy 20 percent of Georgian territory after the civil war in the early 1990s and the Russian invasion of 2008, when Moscow’s troops briefly occupied the city before retreating toward the mountains.  The Russian troops still pose a danger for residents. “The key is to avoid crossing the occupation line. If you cross it, you will be detained,” local farmer Gela Bolatashvili told VOA.  Those past and present troubles form the backdrop for Georgia’s current political turmoil, as its people prepare for a crucial election in October. The government is led by the ‘Georgian Dream’ party, founded and backed by the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made billions of dollars in the chaos of 1990s post-Soviet Russia.   Critics accuse Ivanishvili and his party of turning away from Georgia’s constitutionally stated aim of joining the European Union and seeking to rekindle ties with Moscow. The party denies this, and insists it wants to join the EU by 2030.  Nevertheless, a stream of anti-Western government propaganda is accompanied by warnings that the United States and NATO are seeking to drag Georgia into Russia’s war on Ukraine. A recent ‘foreign agent’ law is widely seen as an attempt to silence critical Western-funded nongovernmental organizations and independent media ahead of the election, prompting Washington to impose sanctions earlier this month on some Georgian Dream MPs.  Recent polls suggest more than 80 percent of Georgians are in favor of joining the EU – and it’s likely to be a key issue in the lead up to October’s poll.  EU hopes  East from Gori, along the foothills of the Caucasus mountains, an ancient industry is hoping for a new future inside the EU. Archaeological evidence suggests wine has been made in Georgia’s Kakheti region for around 8,000 years, longer than anywhere else in the world, earning it the moniker ‘the birthplace of wine.’   The Nekresi wine estate makes 50,000 bottles a year for domestic and international markets, including the United States, France and South Korea. It aims to increase production to 250,000 bottles in the coming years.  “We are targeting foreign markets, particularly in Europe, to sell our products,” said Nara Silagadze, the manager of the Nekresi estate. “Georgia’s potential European Union membership would be a significant advancement for our business,” she told VOA.  The EU has invested over $2 billion of public and private money in Georgia under its ‘Global Gateway’ strategy. The bloc says the investment is aimed at strengthening "digital, energy, and transport connections in Georgia and between Georgia and the EU” and supporting small and medium-sized businesses.   Nekresi wine estate is among those to benefit.  “Until now, we have relied on our own resources. But as we have grown, we have acquired additional support. EU funds have provided this assistance. The hotel we are constructing is energy-efficient and the EU has decided to collaborate with us and support its development,” Silagadze said.  Geopolitical tensions  Both Europe and the United States have invested heavily in Georgia’s economy and democracy since it gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Amid renewed geopolitical tensions between east and west, the country’s political path is under renewed focus.  As the crucial October election approaches, Georgians are caught between contested histories and future hopes, overshadowed by a propaganda-fueled fear of renewed conflict. 

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Nairobi, Kenya — Kenyan police officers may be set for deployment to Haiti on Tuesday, according to local reports and the French news agency, AFP. Multiple inquiries to the government of Kenya for confirmation of such reports were not answered. This development comes after numerous delays and court challenges, including the newest lawsuit that accused Kenyan President William Ruto of contempt of court. Last year, a United Nations Security Council resolution approved the Kenyan-led mission, but earlier this year the High Court of Kenya ruled against the deployment, saying it was unconstitutional. Issues cited by the court include the lack of a "reciprocal agreement" between the countries. The Kenyan government eventually secured that agreement but the same people who sued the government in the first place filed another lawsuit seeking to block the deployment. From a legal perspective, the legitimacy of the agreement is still in question, lawyer Wallace Nderu told VOA. "The ground for this application is that when the then-prime minister of Haiti was signing this agreement with Kenya, there was no known government in Haiti. The president had been assassinated; there were no elected leaders in Haiti. So where does he drive the mandate to negotiate an agreement on behalf of his country Haiti comes into question," said Nderu, a lawyer and a program officer at ICJ Kenya, the International Commission of Jurists, a non-governmental, non-profit, member-based organization. Nderu also said Kenyans feel the agreement was hastily put together, noting its content has not been shared with the population. "Part of the provisions in the law … indicates that these agreements, after being signed, have to be gazetted in the official Kenya Gazette,” Nderu said. “So, concern is raised that this particular agreement is very secretive. We are not aware of the content of the agreement … it raises the legitimacy of the government deploying the police to Haiti." The Kenya Gazette is an official government publication that contains legal notices, government appointments, and other official announcements. A new commander for the police force was appointed Monday by the inspector general. President Ruto has maintained that stabilizing the troubled Caribbean nation is "a mission for humanity … a mission for solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Haiti." In addition to Kenya, other nations including Benin, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados and Chad said they will join the mission. While some Kenyans support the mission in Haiti, others have wondered why their country wants to lead the multinational force, given that nations more powerful and better equipped have not been willing to step forward. The reported deployment will take place on the same day that protests against proposed tax increases that have rocked Kenya in the past week are to resume.

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan's Taliban are touting a United Nations invitation to an international conference in Qatar later this month, viewing it as an acknowledgment of their administration's growing significance globally. The two-day U.N. meeting between the Taliban and international envoys on Afghanistan is set for June 30 in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state, amid sharp criticism from human rights groups for excluding Afghan women representatives. It will be the third session of what is known as the “Doha process,” and the fundamentalist de facto Afghan rulers have agreed to attend for the first time. “The Doha meeting will be held in the coming days, and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been officially invited to attend,” Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi announced in a video statement released by his office on Monday. The Taliban returned to power nearly three years ago and established their hardline male-only government in Kabul, named the Islamic Emirate, which has yet to be recognized by the international community. “We have developed good relations with neighboring and regional countries and are also actively pursuing positive and cordial ties with Western and U.S. governments,” Muttaqi said while addressing his ministry staff in the Afghan capital. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the Doha process a year ago to establish a unified international approach to engagement with the Taliban, who have banned Afghan girls from education beyond the sixth grade and many women from public and private workplaces. Guterres did not invite de facto Afghan rulers to the first Doha conference in May 2023, and they refused to take part in the second this past February, citing the participation of Afghan civil society representatives and human rights activists. U.N. officials have defended the upcoming rare dialogue with the Taliban, promising that special envoys from about 25 countries at the meeting will “forcefully” raise restrictions on women’s and girls’ rights, among other human rights concerns. On Friday, Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, emphasized the importance of the world community opening a direct dialogue with the Taliban, suggesting it could create opportunities for Afghan women to participate in future talks. “They would tell them [the Taliban] that, 'Look, it doesn’t work like this, and we should have women around the table and also provide them with access to the business,'” she told reporters in New York after briefing a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Afghan situation. Speaking at the meeting, Otunbayeva said that her mission had met with hundreds of Afghans, especially women, around the country in the run-up to the third Doha meeting. “These consultations revealed a broad agreement that it was important for the de facto authorities to attend the meeting but that there should also be no recognition of the de facto authorities until the issues of women’s rights, girls’ education, and an acceptable constitution were broadly addressed,” the UNAMA chief said. Otunbayeva stated that the U.N. would consult Afghan civil society and rights representatives in Afghanistan and abroad before the June 30 meeting. She noted that U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo and envoys from various countries will meet separately with Afghan rights activists in Doha on July 2, a day after the meeting with the Taliban ends. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have sharply criticized the U.N. for inviting the Taliban to the Doha talks rather than holding them accountable for “crimes” against Afghan women and girls. "Excluding women risks legitimizing the Taliban's abuses and triggering irreparable harm to the U.N.’s credibility as an advocate for women's rights and women's meaningful participation," Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch, said of the third planned Doha meeting. Otunbayeva said the Doha meeting would mainly focus on private sector business, the Afghan banking sector, and counternarcotics, issues she attributed to women's rights in the country. The Taliban have vehemently defended their governance, claiming it is aligned with Afghan culture and their harsh interpretation of Islamic law. The hardline group seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of engagement in the war with the then-insurgent Taliban. Guterres chaired the previous Doha meetings, but the coming session will be hosted by DiCarlo. She traveled to Kabul in May and invited Muttaqi to attend the talks. The Taliban have not yet confirmed whether their foreign minister will lead the delegation at the meeting. "We are trying to establish a process and preserve an important mechanism of consultation. We must be realistic about how much each meeting in this process can deliver, especially at this early stage where confidence and trust are insufficient,” stressed Otunbayeva in her speech to the U.N. Security Council on Friday.

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Diyarbakir, Turkey — The death toll from last week's massive wildfire that ripped through Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast has risen to 15, hospital sources said on Monday with experts pointing to faulty wiring as a possible cause.    The blaze, which broke out on Thursday between the cities of Diyarbakir and Mardin, killed 12 people outright and left five more fighting for their lives.   Three succumbed to their injuries on Sunday, hospital sources said on Monday, while two others remained in intensive care.   Agriculture ministry figures showed more than 1,000 sheep and goats perished as a result of the blaze with locals in Koksalan village in Diyarbakir province telling AFP some victims died trying to save their animals.   The government said "stubble burning" was the cause but the Diyarbakir branch of the Chambers of Turkish Architects and Engineers (TMMOB) ruled that out and pointed to faulty electric cables as the likely trigger.    "The fire could have been caused by the power cables," it said in a report released late on Sunday, indicating that there was "no stubble" in the area and that electric wires there were in a state of disrepair.    "The cause of the fire was not the stubble. The electricity cables and poles were unmaintained and dangerous," it said, pointing to the absence of "fire prevention measures around the poles." It also accused private electricity distributor DEDAS, which is responsible for maintaining the area's power lines, of "replacing and repairing the poles the day after the fire, thus obscuring the evidence.” Faulty power cables in Koksalan village The findings came two days after an expert report sent to the local public prosecutor's office said conductive wire "broke and ignited the grass on the ground and it spread to a wide area due to the effect of strong wind."    The faulty wiring was on a pole in Koksalan village, in an area where the fields had not yet been harvested, the experts said.   They calculated the blaze had ravaged between 1,650 and 2,000 hectares (4,080 and 4,940 acres) of farmland, forest and residential areas.   In a post on X, Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said the fire destroyed nearly 1,500 hectares of land and that "924 sheep and goats perished in Koksalan." He said nearly 200 sheep and goats in the area were treated for burns, and another 83 "with severe injuries that could not be treated" were sent for slaughter.    Last June, a fire that broke out in the same area destroyed 68 hectares of land, with residents pointing to faulty wiring, and an expert report identifying DEDAS as "primarily" responsible.    The villagers filed a legal complaint and won, with a Diyarbakır court finding DEDAS guilty of not properly maintaining the infrastructure and ordering it to pay compensation. It was not clear how much.   The pro-Kurdish DEM party, which criticized the government's slow response to the fire, called for a parliamentary inquiry to determine responsibility and hold public bodies accountable for the blaze.    Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on Friday had blamed the fire on "stubble burning" with the justice ministry saying it opened a probe.   Turkey has suffered 81 wildfires so far this year that have ravaged more than 15,000 hectares of land, according to the latest figures from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).   Experts say human-driven climate change is causing more frequent and more intense wildfires and other natural disasters, and have warned Turkey to take measures to tackle the problem.

Dakar, Senegal — Senegal said Monday it had implemented voluntary COVID-19 screening tests and reimposed the wearing of masks at Dakar's international airport for returning pilgrims fearing the virus was linked to the deaths of some Mecca pilgrims.   Dakar suspects that a number of the some 1,300 deaths -- according to a Saudi tally -- are down to a respiratory syndrome ailment such as Covid-19, Health Minister Ibrahima Sy said on Sunday.   "Initially, we thought it was related to heatwaves because the temperature was excessively high, but we realized that there is a respiratory syndrome with the cases of death," Sy said of the deaths during the hajj pilgrimage, which took place during intense heat.   "We told ourselves that, probably, there is a respiratory epidemic, and it was our duty to be able to monitor the pilgrims on their return by putting in place a screening system for everything COVID-19 related," said Sy in remarks carried by Senegalese broadcasters.   The health ministry said it had "strengthened the health surveillance system" by deploying a team at the airport to provide voluntary screening tests and identify pilgrims suffering from flu-like illnesses.   The ministry also urged the population "to be vigilant, to show restraint and to be more serene to avoid an epidemic."   Out of 124 rapid diagnostic tests, 78 proved positive for the COVID-19 virus, 36 of which were later confirmed by PCR tests, the ministry said.   Charles Bernard Sagna, chief medical officer for the airport, said the alert was raised when the Senegalese medical team based in Jeddah had reported "a significant number" of passengers with respiratory problems.   "There is no cause for alarm but there also has to be prevention," the ministry said Sunday. Senegalese daily L'Observateur reported that five of the dead at the hajj were Senegalese nationals. They were among an around 12,000-strong officially registered Senegalese contingent.   Saudi Arabia's official SPA news agency earlier reported 1,301 deaths at the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, where temperatures climbed as high as 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the country's national meteorological center.   More than 80 percent of pilgrims attending mainly outdoor rituals were "unauthorized" and walked long distances in direct sunlight, according to SPA.   The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that all Muslims with the means must complete at least once in their lives.   Saudi officials have said 1.8 million pilgrims took part this year, a similar number to last year, and that 1.6 million came from abroad.

Nouméa, France — A fresh surge of unrest hit the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, with several buildings set on fire overnight, including a police station and a town hall, authorities said Monday. The new spike in violence comes as France prepares to vote in historic legislative elections this weekend and support for the far-right surges across the country. In mid-May, rioting and looting erupted in New Caledonia over an electoral reform plan that Indigenous Kanak people feared would leave them in a permanent minority, putting independence hopes definitively out of reach. The unrest left nine dead and damage estimated at more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion). In recent days French authorities had insisted that Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, which is located nearly 17,000 kilometers (10,600 miles) from Paris, was back under their control. But the new violence erupted after seven independence activists accused of orchestrating the deadly riots had been sent to mainland France for pre-trial detention over the weekend. On Monday, the pro-independence group CCAT denounced France's "colonial tactics" and demanded the "immediate release and return" of the activists, including its head Christian Tein, saying they should be tried in New Caledonia. French prosecutors said the independence activists had been sent to mainland France "in order to allow the investigations to continue in a calm manner, free of any pressure." 'Attacks on police and arson' The High Commission, which represents the French state in the archipelago, said in a statement that the night was "marked by unrest throughout the mainland [of the territory] and on the island of Pins and Mare, requiring the intervention of numerous reinforcements: with attacks on the police, arson and roadblocks." A 23-year-old man in a state of "respiratory distress" died during the night after visiting the barricades in Noumea, public prosecutor Yves Dupas said. The prosecutor's office has launched an investigation, Dupas said, adding that the victim had told his parents that he had not been "injured by the police." A motorist also died on Sunday evening in a head-on collision with another vehicle in Paita, near Noumea, after having been "forced to make a U-turn because of a roadblock erected by pro-independence militants," officials said. In Dumbea, north of the capital, the municipal police station and a garage were set alight. Four armored vehicles intervened, an AFP journalist said. Several fires broke out in the Ducos and Magenta districts of Noumea, while police and separatists clashed in Bourail, resulting in one injury, AFP learned. The High Commission reported "several fires were extinguished", particularly in Ducos and Magenta, adding that "premises and vehicles of the municipal police and private vehicles" were set on fire. "Abuses, destruction and attempted fires were also committed in several places in Paita," in the Noumea suburbs, added the High Commission, which said police in Mare had also been attacked. On Monday morning, many schools were closed due to the renewed unrest. The French government has responded to the violence by sending more than 3,000 troops and police to New Caledonia. Nearly 1,500 people have been arrested since the unrest began, including 38 on Monday. President Emmanuel Macron has said that the controversial voting reform would be suspended due to the snap parliamentary polls in France.

MEXICO CITY — Janette Navarro’s 1996 Volkswagen Beetle roars as it barrels up a steep hill overlooking concrete houses stacked like boxes on the outskirts of Mexico City.   She presses her foot on the pedal, passes a lime green Beetle like hers, then one marked with red and yellow, then another painted a bright sea blue.   “No other car gets up here,” she said. “Just the vocho.”   The Volkswagen Beetle, or “vocho” as it’s known in Mexico, may have been born in Germany, but in this hilly neighborhood on the fringes of Mexico City, there’s no doubt about it: The "Bug” is king.   The Beetle has a long history in the country’s sprawling capital. The old-school models like these — once driven as taxis — used to dot city blocks as the quirky look captured the fascination of many around the world. It was long known as “the people’s car.”   But after production of older models halted in Mexico in 2003, and the newer versions in 2019, the Bug population is dwindling in the metro area of 23 million people. But in the northern neighborhood of Cuautepec, classic Beetles still line the streets — so much so that the area has been nicknamed “Vocholandia.”   Taxi drivers like Navarro say they continue to use the vochos because the cars are inexpensive and the engine located in the back of the vehicle gives it more power to climb the neighborhood's steep hills.   Navarro began driving Beetles for work eight years ago as a way to feed her three children and put them through school.   “When they ask me what I do for work, I say proudly that I’m a vochera (a vocho driver),” Navarro said a day before the International Day of the VW Beetle on Saturday. “This work keeps me afloat … It’s my adoration, my love.” While some of the older cars wobble along, paint long faded after years of wear and tear, other drivers dress their cars up, keeping them in top shape.   One driver has named his bright blue car “Gualupita” after his wife, Guadalupe, and adorns the bottom with aluminum flames blasting out from a VW logo. Another painted their VW pink and white, sticking pink cat eyes on the front headlights.   Mechanics in the area, though, say driving vochos is a dying tradition. David Enojosa, a car mechanic, said his family’s small car shop in the city used to sell parts and do maintenance primarily on Beetles. But since Volkswagen halted production five years ago, parts have been harder to come by.   “With the current trend, it will disappear in two or three years,” Enojosa said, his hands blackened by car grease. “Before we had too many parts for vochos, now there aren’t enough … So they have to look for parts in repair shops or junkyards.” As he spoke, a customer walked up carrying a worn down bolt, looking for a replacement for his Volkswagen’s clutch.   The customer, Jesús Becerra, was in luck: Enojosa strolled out of his shop holding a shiny new bolt.   Less lucky drivers have to do laps around the neighborhood looking for certain parts. Even more cars fall into disrepair and don’t pass emissions inspections.   But Becerra is among those who believed that the vochos will endure in his neighborhood. “You adapt them, you find a way to make it keep running,” he said. “You say, ‘We’re going to do this, fix it and let’s go.’” Others like Joaquín Peréz say continuing to drive his 1991 white, Herbie-style Beetle is a way to carry on his family tradition. He grew up around Bugs, he explained as his car rumbled. His father was a taxi driver just like him and he learned how to drive in a VW. Now, 18 years into working as a driver himself, his dashboard is lined with trinkets from his family. A plastic duck from his son, a frog stuffed animal from his daughter and a fabric rose from his wife. “This area, always, always since I can remember has been a place of vochos,” he said. “This here is the car of the people.” 

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.

The World Health Organization says more farmers in Malawi have begun to benefit from shifting away from tobacco cultivation, just months after the country ratified a treaty that aims to address public health risks associated with tobacco. However, some farmers say there are challenges due to a lack of markets for their crops. Lameck Masina reports from Blantyre.

Hong Kong — A suspected Chinese state-sponsored hacking group has stepped up its targeting of Taiwanese organizations, particularly those in sectors such as government, education, technology and diplomacy, according to cybersecurity intelligence company Recorded Future.  In recent years, relations between China and Taiwan, a self-governed island across the Taiwan Strait that Beijing claims as its territory, have deteriorated. The cyberattacks by the group known as RedJulliett were observed between November 2023 and April 2024, during the lead up to Taiwan's presidential elections in January and the subsequent change in administration.  RedJuliett has targeted Taiwanese organizations in the past, but this is the first time that activity was seen at such a scale, a Recorded Future analyst said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of safety concerns.  The report said RedJuliett attacked 24 organizations, including government agencies in places like Laos, Kenya and Rwanda, as well as Taiwan.  It also hacked into websites of religious organizations in Hong Kong and South Korea, a U.S university and a Djiboutian university. The report did not identify the organizations.  Recorded Future said RedJuliett accessed the servers of those places via a vulnerability in their SoftEther enterprise virtual private network, or VPN software, an open-source VPN that allows remote connections to an organization's networks.  RedJuliett has been observed attempting to break into systems of more than 70 Taiwanese organizations including three universities, an optoelectronics company and a facial recognition company that has contracts with the government.  It was unclear if RedJuliett managed to break into those organizations: Recorded Future only said it observed the attempts to identify vulnerabilities in their networks.  RedJuliett's hacking patterns match those of Chinese state-sponsored groups, according to Recorded Future.  It said that based on the geolocations of IP addresses, RedJulliett is likely based out of the city of Fuzhou, in China's southern Fujian province, whose coast faces Taiwan.  "Given the close geographical proximity between Fuzhou and Taiwan, Chinese intelligence services operating in Fuzhou are likely tasked with intelligence collection against Taiwanese targets," the report said.  "RedJuliett is likely targeting Taiwan to collect intelligence and support Beijing's policy-making on cross-strait relations," the Recorded Future report said. Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately comment. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson dismissed the allegations. "I don't know the specifics of what you mentioned, but I can tell you that it's not the first time the company you mentioned has fabricated disinformation on so-called Chinese hacking operations. There is absolutely no professionalism or credibility to speak of in what the company does," the spokesperson, Mao Ning, said. Microsoft reported in August last year that RedJuliett, which Microsoft tracks under the name Flax Typhoon, was targeting Taiwanese organizations.  China has in recent years stepped up military drills around Taiwan and imposed economic and diplomatic pressure on the island.  Relations between Taiwan and Beijing worsened further after the election in January of Taiwan's new president Lai Ching-te, who China has deemed a "separatist," after he said in his inauguration speech that Taiwan and China were not subordinate to each other. Like his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, Lai has said that there is no need to declare Taiwanese independence because it is already an independent sovereign state.  Like many other countries including the U.S., China has been known to engage in cyberespionage. Earlier this year, the U.S. and Britain accused China of a sweeping cyberespionage campaign that allegedly hit millions of people.  Beijing has consistently denied engaging in any form of state-sponsored hacking, instead saying that China itself is a major target of cyberattacks.  According to Recorded Future, Chinese state-sponsored groups will likely continue to target Taiwanese government agencies, universities and critical technology companies via "public-facing" devices such as open-source VPN software, which provide limited visibility and logging capabilities.  Companies and organizations can best protect themselves by prioritizing and patching vulnerabilities once they become known, Recorded Future's threat intelligence analyst said.

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BEIJING — Beijing wants the EU to scrap its preliminary tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles by July 4, China's state-controlled Global Times reported, after both sides agreed to hold new trade talks.  Provisional European Union duties of up to 38.1% on imported Chinese-made EVs are set to kick in by July 4 while the bloc investigates what it says are excessive and unfair subsidies.  China has repeatedly called on the EU to cancel its tariffs, expressing a willingness to negotiate. Beijing does not want to be embroiled in another tariff war, still stung by U.S. tariffs on its goods imposed by the Trump administration, but says it would take all steps to protect Chinese firms should one happen.  Both sides agreed to restart talks after a call between EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and China's Commerce Minister on Saturday during a visit to China by Germany's economy minister, who said the doors for discussion are "open."  China's Global Times, citing observers, said the best outcome is that the EU scraps its tariff decision before July 4.  But the Commission, analysts and European trade lobby groups stressed that talks would be a major undertaking and China would need to come willing to make major concessions.  "Nobody will dare to do this now. Not before the elections in France," said Alicia Garcia Herrero, senior fellow at Bruegel, an influential EU affairs think tank, on whether the planned curbs could be dropped.  "The Commission can't change a decision it has been pondering for months on months on months," she added. "Yes, China is putting pressure on the member states, but they would need to vote with a qualified majority against the Commission."  The tariffs are set to be finalized on Nov. 2 at the end of the EU anti-subsidy investigation.  "The EU side emphasized that any negotiated outcome to its investigation must be effective in addressing the injurious subsidization," a Commission spokesperson said on Monday.  The Chinese commerce ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.  Talks are a 'good sign'   Siegfried Russwurm, head of Germany's biggest industry association BDI, said it was a "good sign" that both sides would hold talks in the ongoing dispute.  "You know the old saying: as long as there are talks you're not shooting at each other," he told German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.  Russwurm, who also serves as chairman for German conglomerate and car supplier Thyssenkrupp, said tariffs was the last thing Germany needed as a major exporting nation.  At the same time, Brussels' move to apply tariffs of varying degrees suggested a thorough analysis has taken place and that this was not an effort that targets the entire Chinese car sector in equal measure.  Meantime, Maximilian Butek, executive director at the German Chamber of Commerce in China, said there was "zero chance" that the preliminary tariffs would be removed by July 4 unless China eliminated all the issues flagged by the European Commission.  EU trade policy has turned increasingly protective over concerns that China's production-focused development model could see it flooded with cheap goods as Chinese firms look to step up exports amid weak domestic demand.  China has rejected accusations of unfair subsidies or that it has an overcapacity problem, saying the development of its EV industry has been the result of advantages in technology, market and industry supply chains.   "When European Commission President Von der Leyen announced she would investigate China's new energy vehicles ... I had an intuitive feeling it was not only an economic issue but also a geopolitical issue," said Zhang Yansheng, chief research fellow at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.  Armed and ready  Trade relations between the 27-strong bloc and the world's No. 2 economy took an abrupt turn for the worse in May 2021 when the European Parliament voted to freeze ratification of what would have been a landmark investment treaty because of tit-for-tat sanctions over allegations of human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region.  They came to blows again that year when China downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania and told multinationals to sever relations with the Baltic state after Vilnius invited democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, to open a representative office in the capital.  Although calling for talks, Beijing has also indicated that it has retaliatory measures ready if the EU does not back down, and that it considers Brussels wholly responsible for the escalating tensions.  The Global Times, which first reported China was considering opening a tit-for-tat anti-dumping investigation into European pork imports — which the commerce ministry confirmed last week — has also teed up an anti-subsidy investigation into European dairy goods and tariffs on large engine petrol cars.  Chinese authorities have dropped hints about possible retaliatory measures through state media commentaries and interviews with industry figures.  "It seems probable that Beijing will raise tariffs up to 25% for Europe-made cars with 2.5 or above liter engines," said Jacob Gunter, lead analyst at Berlin-based China studies institute MERICS.  "Pork and dairy are already on the table for Beijing, and likely more agricultural products will be threatened," he added.  "On the EU side, there are a variety of ongoing investigations ... so we should expect some sort of measures targeting distortions on [Chinese] products ranging from medical devices to airport security scanners to steel pipes." 

New York — Women in the U.S. have saved just a third of the amount that men have set aside for retirement, setting up a potential crisis among female retirees, according to a Prudential Financial survey released on Monday.   On average, men had saved $157,000 for retirement, while women had only put aside $50,000 according to a survey of 905 U.S. adults between the ages of 55 and 75.   "The financial futures of certain cohorts – such as women – are especially precarious," Caroline Feeney, CEO of Prudential's U.S. Businesses, said in a statement. "Women have a more challenging time saving for retirement," she added, citing inflation, housing prices and changes in tax policies as the main barriers.   Compared with the men surveyed, women were three times more likely to be focused on providing for their families and children than saving.   Of the respondents, 46% of men said they were looking forward to retirement and had more plans, compared with 27% of women polled, the survey showed.

New York — In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned women's constitutional right to abortion, political contributions aimed at protecting abortion rights have far outstripped those to support anti-abortion causes. In the 2023-2024 election cycle leading up to the Nov. 5 vote, pro-abortion rights interests have given $3.37 million to federal candidates, political parties, political action committees (PACs) and outside groups, compared to about $273,000 from anti-abortion interests, according to data from OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics. The level of spending by pro-abortion rights interests is expected to offer a financial boost to the campaigns of some Democratic candidates including U.S. President Joe Biden, who has made protecting abortion rights a central part of his campaign message for reelection. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, in 2022 overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade precedent that had legalized abortion nationwide, prompting 14 states to since enact measures banning or sharply restricting the procedure. Groups like super PACs received 65.8% of contributions from those backing abortion rights in this election cycle, according to a Reuters analysis of OpenSecrets data. Republican candidates and party committees got the bulk — about 75.9% — of contributions from anti-abortion rights interests. PACs are typically set up to gather funds for candidates or political causes. They differ from outside money groups like super PACs, which can receive donations of unlimited size but cannot coordinate with campaigns directly. So far this election cycle, PACs and super PACs allied with anti-abortion causes have raised $3.54 million, while abortion rights groups have raised $15.3 million, OpenSecrets data showed. "The balance of spending between pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion rights groups always reflected the fact that there are more people who support abortion rights than who don't," said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at University of California, Davis. Ziegler said she would not be surprised if political donations to support or oppose abortion rights rose for the 2024 election cycle compared to the 2020 election cycle. 2020 election cycle set records The sums reported so far are dwarfed by those in the 2020 election cycle, in which abortion rights interests poured in $11.33 million in political contributions, with spending in the 2022 midterm election cycle coming in second with $10.67 million in contributions, OpenSecrets data showed. Contributions from anti-abortion interests totaled $6.41 million in the 2020 cycle, and $2.7 million in the 2022 midterm cycle, during which the outcomes for ballot measures and competitive races seemed to suggest that voters were eager to protect abortion access at the state level. With more than four months to go before the November election, it remains to be seen whether contributions this election cycle from abortion rights and anti-abortion causes will outstrip those in the 2020 cycle, when Biden beat the incumbent Donald Trump, a Republican. The impact of political contributions on race outcomes is complicated, Ziegler said, as voters have various priorities at the ballot box. "You can't dismiss the importance of it, but it's not like [more contributions] definitely means ballot initiatives are going to pass, Democrats are going to win, etc. It's not that simple," Ziegler said. During Trump's term as president, which started in 2017, he appointed a third of the current members of the Supreme Court and half of its conservative bloc, with all three of his picks coming from a list compiled by conservative legal activists. Trump's campaign earlier this month said he supports the rights of states to make decisions on abortion, supports exceptions for abortions in cases of rape, incest and life of the mother, and also supports protecting access to contraception and in vitro fertilization. Two of the top contributors to candidates and groups are Planned Parenthood - which advocates for abortion rights — and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America — which lobbies against abortion rights. So far this election cycle, Planned Parenthood has contributed $2.53 million, most of that to liberal groups, the Democratic party and its candidates. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has contributed about $92,600, almost all of it to Republican candidates and their party.