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GENEVA — Three years after Myanmar’s military junta overthrew the country’s democratically elected government, the U.N.’s top human rights official is calling on the international community to redouble efforts “to hold the military accountable” for the many crimes and abuses it has committed against the country’s civilian population. “Myanmar’s ever deteriorating human rights crisis is now in freefall, with insufficient world attention paid to the misery and pain of its people,” Volker Türk, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Amid all of the crises around the world, it is important no one is forgotten. The people of Myanmar have been suffering for too long,” he said. Ahead of the anniversary of the military coup February 1, 2021, the high commissioner said that “pitched battles between the military and armed opposition groups have resulted in mass displacement and civilian casualties” and as the military has suffered multiple setbacks on the battlefield, it has lashed out by launching “waves of indiscriminate aerial bombardments and artillery strikes.” According to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, credible sources in Myanmar have verified that more than 554 people have died since October, when an alliance of three ethnic armed groups mounted an offensive against the military. Overall last year, 1,600 civilians reportedly have been killed by the military. As of January 26, the sources have documented the arrests of nearly 26,000 people on political grounds—of whom 19,973 remain in detention, “some reportedly subjected to torture and abuses, and with no hope of a fair trial.” Over the last three years, it says some 1,576 individuals “have died while being held by the military.” The October offensive by the alliance of ethnic armed groups has emerged as the biggest threat to Myanmar’s military coup leaders. This reportedly persuaded the junta to accept a cease-fire agreement with the armed groups brokered by China on January 12th. “The fighting has subsided to a large degree,” said James Rodehaver, head of the U.N. Human Rights Office Myanmar Team. “However, there still continues to be airstrikes and some artillery barrages by the military against positions by these three-armed groups,” Speaking from Bangkok Tuesday, Rodehaver said “the armed groups have made it very clear that the cease-fire has repeatedly been violated by the Myanmar military…There still are instances where civilians are being killed as a result of these barrages.” He noted that the armed groups are in control of the areas they have captured and, in some cases, have handed over the administration of some towns and villages to the civilian inhabitants. “We are quite keen to see what impact that has had and also, of course, whether or not humanitarian access is going to expand in those areas and that the needs of the civilian population are going to be cared for,” he said. High Commissioner Türk says that Rakhine State has been particularly hard hit since fighting restarted there in November. He said, “Many communities, especially the Rohingya, were already suffering from the impacts of Cyclone Mocha and the military’s months-long limitation of humanitarian access and provision of assistance. “There have now been several reports of Rohingya deaths and injuries amid the military’s shelling of Rohingya villages,” he said, noting that fighting between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military on January 26 “reportedly left at least 12 Rohingya civilians dead and 30 others wounded.” Rodehaver notes there are very few places to where people can flee. “The Rohingya have very limited options, which is one of the reasons why so many are trying to find any way to get out and into a safe location. And that includes even trying to flee on unseaworthy boats either directly from Myanmar or out of Cox’s Bazaar,” he said. The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, says 569 Rohingya perished or disappeared last year in Southeast Asian waters, with nearly 4,500 embarking on deadly sea journeys—the highest number since 2014, when the total reached 730. “Estimates show one Rohingya was reported to have died or gone missing for every eight people attempting the journey in 2023,” said Matthew Saltmarsh, UNHCR spokesperson. “This makes the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal one of the deadliest stretches of water in the world.” The UNHCR says that most of those embarking on deadly unseaworthy journeys are refugees departing from Cox’s Bazaar. Bangladesh, where more than a million refugees who fled violence and persecution in Myanmar in August 2021 are living in cramped, overcrowded camps.

WASHINGTON — The United States imposed sanctions on three entities and one individual based in Turkey and Lebanon on Wednesday for giving "critical financial support" to a financial network used by Iran's Quds Force, or IRGC-QF, and Lebanon's Hezbollah. "These entities have generated hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of revenue from selling Iranian commodities, including to the Syrian government," the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. "These commodity sales provide a key source of funding for the IRGC-QF and Hezbollah's continued terrorist activities and support to other terrorist organizations throughout the region," it added. The Treasury Department said it had imposed sanctions on Turkey-based Mira Ihracat Ithalat Petrol, which purchases, transports, and sells Iranian commodities on the global market, and its chief executive and owner Ibrahim Talal al-Uwayr, who is also known under the alias Ibrahim Agaoglu. It also targeted two Lebanon-based entities, Yara Offshore SAL, a company affiliated with Hezbollah that has facilitated large sales of Iranian commodities to Syria, and Hydro Company for Drilling Equipment Rental, which is involved in financing the IRGC-QF by facilitating the shipment of Iranian commodities worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Syria. As a result of the sanctions, all property of those targeted in the United States or that fall under the control of U.S. persons is blocked. U.S. regulations generally bar U.S. persons from dealing with property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. Further, non-U.S. financial institutions and others that engage in certain dealings with those sanctioned may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action.

Moses Lake, Washington — It’s mid-winter in east Washington state, yet despite the chilly fog, two construction sites in the town of Moses Lake are brimming with activity. Several hundred workers are on an ambitious timeline to complete two new factories slanted to begin production of the next-generation components for electric vehicle batteries later this year. Two American start-ups, backed by $100 million in federal grants each, in addition to commercial partnerships, are racing to secure the domestic supply chain with the next-generation battery materials for EV automakers. “That's going to go into everything from electric vehicles to IoT [Internet of Things] devices to smartphones and wearables and a lot of battery-based applications that we don't even know exist yet,” explains Nik Anderson, director of program management with Group 14 Technologies, as he walks through the company’s vast construction site. Washington is one of the American states planning to ban sales of new gasoline-powered vehicles starting in 2035. For now, electric cars account for 8.6% of new vehicle sales in the United States. Affordable electric vehicles would require a significant scaling of domestic battery production, experts say. According to the Biden administration, affordable electric vehicles and reliable supply chain would require a significant scaling of domestic battery production and the national charging infrastructure. Once fully operational, the two companies’ factories in Moses Lake will be able to annually produce enough material to make batteries for about 400,000 electric vehicles. They also promise to produce a better battery, reducing the ‘charge anxiety’ of electric cars by replacing the graphite in conventional lithium-ion batteries with silicon-based components, which will allow for a faster charge. “The thing that makes our battery better, that uses our SCC55 [silicon-carbon composite] versus traditional graphite, is that it can have up to 50% more energy density, it can allow for extremely fast charging,” said Grant Ray, vice president for global market strategy with Group 14. “When we think about charge times, you know, right now we're hearing 10% to 80% in ten minutes. Well, what if that changes and it comes down to five minutes? What if it starts to get closer to what it really is for, you know, the way we think about refueling a car?” he said. One of the challenges for U.S. EV production with traditional lithium-ion batteries is the need to rely on imports. Daniel Schwartz, director of the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington, says the silicon-based component provides solutions for several challenges. “The primary mineral for what's going in Moses Lake is sand, silica — the most widely distributed mineral in the crust of the earth. Graphite is lower performance, and we are trade-exposed as a nation,” he said. The Biden administration invested in domestic EV battery production as part of its ambitious clean energy agenda. Among the Republican presidential candidates, most reject the urgency surrounding EV adoption, with former President Donald Trump calling it an “all-electric car hoax.” Last September, speaking in front of hundreds of people attending a rally in Clinton Township, Michigan, Trump called prioritizing EVs a “transition to hell,” telling auto workers that Democrats “want to go all electric and put you all out of business." Gene Berdichevsky, CEO of Sila Nanotechnologies, the second startup planning to start EV battery components production in Moses Lake, says the transition to electric vehicles is going to happen regardless of whether the U.S. is taking the lead in the process. “Renewables and batteries are really going to form the basis of 21st-century energy,” he said. “It's critical for the U.S. to build the capacity to be able to have battery production. Catching up to the world leaders in Asia is quite challenging. And so, the way to do that is not to build the same thing, it's to build the next generation of battery technologies.” In Moses Lake, a town of about 25,000 an hour and-a-half drive from the nearest city, all-electric cars are not a common sight. Berdichevsky is convinced that EV adoption in the area is just a matter of time. “We have to recognize that consumers want choice, and some consumers are going to want electric cars with 500 miles (range),” he says. “What we need to do is increase the choices for folks, and the way you do that is through better batteries.” Rosendo Alvarado, a Moses Lake native who took a job as a plant manager for Sila Nanotechnologies, says the remote town became an attractive spot for EV production thanks to the combination of several factors: cheap hydro power provided by local dams; existing manufacturing infrastructure and legacy companies, such as REC Silicon that could become a partner in the EV batteries production; and Washington state policies embracing clean energy initiatives. The cutting-edge industry promises to bring hundreds of new jobs to Moses Lake. Alvarado says he saw the town transforming over time from traditional farming to an industrial community — and expects further change. “We worked in the fields that this building is sitting on today,” he recalls. “It's been fast paced, but super exciting — the opportunities that we are able to bring here for the community and for the EV market.” He says the companies partnered with the local Columbia Basin Technical School and Big Bend Community College to start developing a new workforce as early as during high school classes. “It's a small, tight community. Kind of like everyone knows everyone type thing,” shrugs Nicholas Cruz, a young man out of school walking with his friend down the main street of Moses Lake, when asked about the EV projects coming to town. “It's gonna be exciting in the sense, like, there's more job opportunities and new opportunities to go here because Moses Lake is small, there's not much to it. I am not sure if it will impact me personally — I guess time will tell,” he said.

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WASHINGTON — On February 21, 2023, just before the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, or CCP, and the Two Sessions in Beijing, a lone protestor projected a massive red slogan on the outer wall of the Wanda Plaza in Jinan, the capital of northeastern Shandong Province. The slogan said: "Overthrow the Communist Party. Overthrow Xi Jinping." For months, little was known about who was behind the rare protest and how someone managed to stage such an audacious act in authoritarian China. But last week, VOA’s Mandarin Service conducted an exclusive telephone interview with the lone protester — 29-year-old Chai Song, a former real estate rental broker who fled to the United States last year. His protest was inspired by the actions of Peng Lifa, who hung a long cloth banner on a bridge along a busy road in Beijing on October 13, 2022. Unlike Chai, Peng was immediately arrested and is in police custody at an undisclosed location. Following his own act of protest, Chai said, authorities immediately dispatched many police to arrest his girlfriend and two friends and cut off their contact with the outside world to reduce the social impact of the incident. Until recently, he said, he has kept quiet for the safety of his friends, but now he believes that widespread public attention is a better way to protect them. VOA: When did you come up with the idea to carry out the protest? Chai Song: What influenced me was Peng Zaizhou [Peng Lifa's online name], the White Paper Revolution and the fire in Xinjiang. After that, the disorderly reopening after the pandemic made me determined to do this. … After seeing so many people die, I decided that this was no place for people. It's trampling on life. So, I decided I had to do this. VOA: Why did you decide to use a projector? Chai: I had to consider my safety because Peng gave me some inspiration. He was brave when he did it. He was waiting on the bridge to be arrested. The impact of his arrest was even greater. I'm not as brave as he is. I just wanted to operate it remotely to ensure my personal safety. I hoped to continue to speak out more, not like that [scenario wherein] once a person makes a sound, [they] disappear. VOA: How did you set this all up? Chai: This preparation process was very cumbersome. To decide where to place [the projector], I checked out some places and finally chose the Wanda Plaza in Jinan. It had a huge passenger flow, so the effect was very good. After I decided on a place, I started preparing to rent a place. I rented a place on the 13th floor. The projector display surface was very good and very high. I decided to rent it. Then I went to buy some equipment, including that projector. After that, how do I get the characters I need? At that time, there were firms making advertising signs in China that could make the characters, but no one would make the kind of characters I needed for the slogan. And once I [ask] someone to [make the necessary characters], I might be exposed very quickly. So, I bought a laser engraving machine myself, and then I carved the characters myself. I did not use those characters to test but replaced them with a few other words: "Quzhou Spicy Duck Heads, Always Fresh." I tested it without arousing any suspicion. After testing the equipment, I replaced the lens with what I carved ["Overthrow the Communist Party. Overthrow Xi Jinping"] and then turned on the power. I bought a smart meter to control its power and turned the computer off so my phone could control it. Then, I turned it on remotely. I also installed a surveillance camera in that room to monitor whether my operation was exposed and whether I was discovered. VOA: After setting up the projector, you left China before turning it on, right? What were your expectations? Chai: I was very hesitant and struggling at the time. I was also very scared. I knew that once the operation started, people who were in contact with me or my parents would be affected. But I didn't expect it to be on such a big scale. I told my friend beforehand to help me shoot a video. I wanted to see what I did, but I was not in China. After I turned it on, he took a video for me. My friends and my girlfriend saw this video, and they were shocked. They also posted it on WeChat to spread the word. [Chai says he turned the projector on remotely from a hotel room in Panama.] VOA: When the incident happened, was there any reaction at the Wanda Plaza? Were the police dispatched? Chai: When my friend took the video for me — you may also be able to see in the video that the police car was already there — it happened very fast. But no matter how fast it was, I probably displayed the slogan for about 10 minutes. That night, around 8 or 9 o'clock, I contacted my friends, but none of them were reachable. They were probably arrested that night. Later, I learned from my friend's girlfriend that about 50 police went to his place that night to take him away. VOA: What did they do to your family and friends? Chai: The authorities interrogated everyone, especially my parents. They were basically interrogated for a week. Then my girlfriend, the friend who helped me shoot the video, and another friend — all three of them couldn't be reached at the same time and were arrested. The authorities sent people from the Provincial [Public Security] Department to Hebei Province, and the Hebei Provincial Department sent people down to my hometown to investigate my background, such as my teachers from elementary school and junior high school and the places I used to work for. VOA: Why did you post that specific slogan, “Overthrow the Communist Party. Overthrow Xi Jinping”? Chai: I think this is what I really wanted to come true. Of course, this realization may be very difficult, even a bit out of reach, and it is not something one person can accomplish. But it is really what I wanted to say most in my heart, so I chose to use this, and it is exactly what I wanted to do in my heart. VOA’s Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

Indigenous African grains such as millet and sorghum are known to be nutritious but are not popular with many, especially the Gen Zers who view the grains as food for the poor. To change this narrative, a Kenyan entrepreneur is using the grains to make snacks and breakfast cereals to promote consumption of indigenous grains and foster environmental sustainability, as Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi. Video by Amos Wangwa.

Yaounde, Cameroon — Communication ministers from the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS, are meeting in Bangui, Central African Republic, this week to map out ways to stop the spread of hate speech. Officials from central African states say some influential politicians, business moguls and community leaders are using radio, television and social media to propagate information that has fueled regional crises, resulting in the displacement of millions of people.  Simplice Mathieu Sarandji, prime minister of the Central African Republic, said leaders of the 11-member ECCAS expect communication ministers at the meeting in Bangui to propose lasting solutions to xenophobic statements that are propagated on media outlets. Sarandji said humanitarian crises are spiraling in ECCAS states because of widespread hate speech.   A separatist crisis in western Cameroon, which has killed more than 6,000 people, was fueled in part by social media propaganda by rebel leaders who are based in Europe and the United States, according to Cameroonian officials.   Hate on social media also fueled an ongoing conflict between ranchers and fishers in northern Cameroon and Chad. Clashes there have killed more than 100 people and displaced more than 80,000.   The 1994 genocide in Rwanda was sparked by hate speech, mostly over radio, by Hutu extremists against Tutsis.  Joanne Adamson, deputy head of MINUSCA, the U.N. stabilization mission in the Central African Republic, spoke about the Bangui meeting on state TV in the CAR. She said the focus on hate speech is an important step toward finding solutions to fighting that sparked a mass movement of people fleeing in search of safety. By organizing the forum, Adamson added, the 11 ECCAS member states indicate they are ready to support and defend values that are vital to consolidate peace and security and promote human rights.  The ministers said they will enact legislation to punish people who use TV, radio and print media to propagate hate speech, but gave no further details. They also have agreed to control harmful content they say runs rampant on social media. Charly Gabriel Mbock, an anthropologist and conflict resolution specialist at the Yaounde-headquartered Catholic University of Central Africa, said the ministers should launch campaigns against hate speech in restive central African towns and villages. To do this, Mbock said, ECCAS communication ministers must educate clerics and traditional rulers that peace is priceless, before using radio, television and print media to call on civilians to reject and denounce calls for violence, especially on social media. He said central African governments should also make sure media laws being prepared against hate and xenophobic language do not infringe on press freedom. The communication ministers say they will submit their recommendations to ECCAS governments with the hope that if hate speech and xenophobic statements can be stopped, peace will return to restive areas.  

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

Washington — China’s efforts to target U.S. critical infrastructure pose an urgent threat that needs to be addressed now, according to a new warning from one of Washington’s top law enforcement officials. FBI Director Christopher Wray tells U.S. lawmakers that Chinese government hackers are actively targeting America’s electrical grid, wastewater treatment plants, gas pipelines and transportation systems. “The risk that poses to every American requires our attention — now,” Wray said in prepared testimony, released ahead of a congressional hearing Wednesday on competition with China. “China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if or when China decides the time has come to strike,” Wray said. The FBI director also alleged Beijing is running cyber campaigns to limit U.S. freedoms, “reaching inside our borders, across America, to silence, coerce, and threaten our citizens and residents.” The Chinese Embassy in Washington has yet to respond to a request for comment. Wednesday’s warning about China’s cyber efforts against U.S. critical infrastructure is not the first from top level U.S. officials. Earlier this month, the FBI along with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, and the Environmental Protection Agency, or RPA, cautioned cyberattacks were posing “a real and urgent risk to safe drinking water.” CISA has also warned about threats from Chinese-manufactured drones, warning they could access or steal sensitive information that could put the U.S. security and health and safety at risk.  This past September, the commander of U.S. Cyber Command, said he expected China to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to impact the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. “Russia, China, others are going to try to use this technology," General Paul Nakasone told an audience in Washington.    CISA Director Jen Easterly also warned this past June that in the event of a conflict with China, Beijing “will almost certainly use aggressive cyber operations to go after our critical infrastructure, to include pipelines and rail lines to delay military deployment and to induce societal panic." 

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — The number of people uprooted by the war between rival generals in Sudan is around 8 million, the United Nations said on Wednesday. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, who was visiting Ethiopia, rallied international donors to open their wallets to fight the crisis, describing the situation as "serious.” "The conflict has increased in intensity and in impact on civilians," Grandi told reporters in Addis Ababa. "Since April 2023, so less than a year ago, 8 million people have been displaced from their homes in Sudan," he said, adding that more than 1.5 million had fled to six neighboring countries. The conflict between Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, erupted last April. Diplomatic efforts to end the violence continue after numerous cease-fires have been broken. Grandi, who was later to visit Sudan, called on donors to boost support for the influx of refugees, warning that only 40% of funding had been provided. "This is not acceptable," he said. "I understand that there are more crises that are more visible. But it does not mean that this is not urgent. "I heard stories of heartbreaking loss of family, friends, homes and livelihoods," UNHCR quoted him as saying. As of January 21, the number of people displaced stood at 7.6 million, with children accounting for about half, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA. Over 100,000 people, nearly half of them Sudanese, have fled into Ethiopia, according to the latest U.N. estimates. The number of people who have gone to Chad since the war began crossed 500,000 last week, and an average of 1,500 flee into South Sudan each day, the U.N. statement said. By January 21, almost 517,000 people had been recorded crossing the border from Sudan to South Sudan, OCHA said. The war — which has flared in the capital, Khartoum — has killed thousands, including between 10,000 and 15,000 in a single town in the western Darfur region, according to U.N. experts. Sudan's army-aligned government this month spurned an invitation to a summit organized by the East African bloc IGAD and subsequently suspended its membership in the group for engaging with Daglo. Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, torture and arbitrary detention of civilians.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Container shipping through the Red Sea has dropped by nearly one-third this year as attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels continue, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday. "Container shipping ... has declined by almost 30%," said Jihad Azour, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia department, adding that "the drop in trade accelerated in the beginning of this year." The Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 30 attacks on commercial shipping and naval vessels since November 19, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. The rebels say the attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinians and in protest of the Israel-Hamas war that has been raging in the Gaza Strip since October. The IMF's PortWatch platform indicates that the total transit volume through the Suez Canal was down 37% this year through January 16 compared with the same period a year earlier. The canal connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Houthi attacks have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, a vital route that normally carries about 12% of global trade, according to the International Chamber of Shipping. "The level of uncertainty is extremely high, and the developments will determine the extent of change and shift in trade patterns in terms of volume but also in terms of sustainability," Azour told reporters in an online briefing. "Are we on the verge of major change in trade routes,” he said, “or is it temporary because of the increase in costs and the deterioration of the security costs?" Revised regional outlook The United States heads a coalition to protect Red Sea shipping and is seeking to apply diplomatic and financial pressure by redesignating the Houthis as a "terrorist" group. The Red Sea is particularly vital for European trade. Last week the European Union's trade commissioner said maritime traffic through the Red Sea shipping route had fallen by 22% in a month because of the rebel attacks. The European Union is pushing to launch its own naval mission in the Red Sea to help protect international shipping. EU countries have given initial backing to the plan and are aiming to finalize it by a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers on February 19. The United States and Britain have launched repeated strikes against Houthi capabilities in Yemen, but the Iran-backed movement is still able to hit vessels. Wednesday's IMF briefing came as the Washington-based fund released a revised economic outlook for countries in the Middle East and North Africa due to the Israel-Hamas war. The IMF now sees the economies of the region expanding 2.9% this year, a decrease of half a percentage point from its October forecast. The economic downturn in the occupied West Bank and the war-ravaged Gaza Strip was "immense," said Azour. In 2023, real GDP growth in Gaza and the West Bank was estimated to have dropped to about minus 6%, the IMF said, adding that it reflected a 9-percentage point downgrade from its October outlook. "We project that the economy will keep on contracting in 2024 if there is no fast and quick cessation of hostilities and reconstruction," Azour said. For emerging market and middle-income economies in the region, total funding requirements over 2024 were projected to $186 billion, the IMF said, up from $156 billion in 2023.

Credible international sources have documented Afghanistan's healthcare crisis under the Taliban.

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 Biden administration’s push for clean energy solutions has turned a rural Washington state town into a hub for electric vehicle battery production. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya reports from Moses Lake.

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.

BERLIN — Chancellor Olaf Scholz reminded Germans of their Nazi past on Wednesday as he called on citizens to reject the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which is second in most national polls. Hundreds of thousands of people have joined demonstrations across Germany against the AfD after a report that two senior party members had discussed plans for the mass deportation of citizens with foreign backgrounds — a term called remigration. Addressing the Bundestag lower house of parliament after a special session marking the Holocaust and dressed in a black suit and tie, Scholz said democrats must stand together and stop the shift to the right. "The word 'remigration' is reminiscent of the darkest times in German history," Scholz said. "Those who remain silent are complicit," he said, adding he wanted voters to see the AfD for what it was. Support for the AfD dipped slightly in a poll published this week following the protests but the party, which has a strong focus on migration, is still second in most polls before this year's European elections. Scholz also said that "Dexit", the idea of Germany leaving the European Union, which AfD co-leader Alice Weidel has talked about, would lead to "the greatest destruction of prosperity that could happen to Germany and Europe." In an unusually combative speech during which he waved his clenched fists in the air, Scholz argued for a stronger EU. "If the world becomes even more difficult, for example if you look at what is possible in the U.S. election, then the European Union must become all the stronger," he said, adding the bloc must complete a banking and capital market union. Support for Social Democrat Scholz and his awkward three-way coalition with the Greens and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) is hovering around record lows.

According to the latest U.S. census, in 2022 over 8 million Americans moved within the country. Dozens of thousands have left California, while Florida has become the fastest growing state population-wise, with 22 million residents and counting. Angelina Bagdasaryan took a look at the stories behind the demographics. Anna Rice narrates her story. (Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian) 

Paris — Farmers have captured France's attention by showering government offices with manure and besieging Paris with traffic-snarling barricades of tractors and hay bales. The farmers say their protests aren't a moment too soon. Grievances have long been brewing in the European Union's leading agricultural power. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused painful economic shocks, including higher costs, bringing farmers' anger to a head in France and other European countries. Climate change and pressure for more sustainable and more productive agriculture are also squeezing the 500,000 or so French farmers, who already have to compete against counterparts from far afield. Here's a look at the movement, its origins and future:  Why are farmers protesting? Protesters say it's becoming harder than ever to make a decent living from their fields, greenhouses and herds. For the worst off, it's impossible.  Energy costs surged with the Feb. 2022 launch by Russia of full-scale war in Ukraine and hit hard for farmers reliant on tractors, harvesters and other fuel-guzzling equipment. Prices also soared for other inputs that underpin intensive farming, notably fertilizers. French farmers were already struggling to compete in the increasingly globalized economy. To cite just two examples, chicken imports have surged and imports of cherry tomatoes from Morocco have exploded from 300 tons to 70,000 tons per year since 1995, according to a Senate study in 2022 about the dwindling competitive strength of French farms. “Everything we warned of 30 years ago is coming true,” said Damien Brunelle, a farmer of cereals and other crops in the Aisne region northeast of Paris. “Our countryside is emptying.” “Everything we buy has gone up," Bruelle said. "But we're not getting the same revenue.” When the Ukraine war pushed up prices, Brunelle got 400 euros (U.S. $430 at current rates) per ton for the wheat he grows, he says. A ton now brings him less than half that: 190 euros. Another common grievance from protesters is that they're being suffocated by red tape and tied down by French and EU rules that govern farming, land use and the distribution of billions of euros (dollars) in agricultural subsidies. Farmers complain that they're losing to rivals from countries with fewer constraints and lower costs. On the barricades, Ukraine in particular is on some protesters' lips. Fast-tracked for EU membership talks, it's seen as a potentially fearsome rival with its vast fields of grain and other agricultural products that have flooded into Europe since the invasion. “We’re worried because they don’t have the same regulations as us,” said Stéphanie Flament, a farmer of cereals and beets east of Paris. "It will be cheaper for the consumer, so where will consumers or companies turn to process flour and so on? To products that cost less.”  How big are the protests? In terms of numbers, the movement has attracted fewer protesters than the yellow vest demonstrations against economic injustice that gripped France in 2018-2019 and lastingly dented the popularity of President Emmanuel Macron. Nor are these protests as disruptive or widespread as violent unrest that swept the country last year after the fatal police shooting of a teenager with North African roots, Nahel Merzouk. But by using their lumbering agricultural vehicles to slow and block traffic and deposit stinky piles of agricultural waste outside government buildings, protesters have made themselves impossible to ignore and hard for police to stop. The movement had a low-key start, with protesters turning roads signs upside-down to denounce what they argue are nonsensical agricultural policies. When that failed to get much attention, they brought out the big guns, their tractors. This week, the farmers encircled Paris with barricades on major highways leading to the capital, ratcheting up pressure on Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. “We are obliged to make a show of strength and have clashes to be heard,” Brunelle said.  What might happen next? Under orders to tread lightly, police have largely looked the other way when protesters vented their anger with scattered acts of destruction. Officers have even provided motorcycle escorts to some tractor convoys.  The soft approach suggests the government hopes the movement might blow itself out given time and more concessions, on top of pro-agriculture measures the government announced last week. But protesters quickly declared them insufficient. The stakes are high: Paris will host the Olympic Games in six months. Protests could spoil the party if they spread from farms to other sectors of the economy with workers squeezed by inflation and other difficulties.  But French farmers also aren't a cohesive group. They have disagreements about the future direction they believe their industry should take, and the help they say it needs. The National Federation of Organic Agriculture, for example, takes a dim view of protesters' demands that they should have a freer hand in the use of pesticides, and hasn't joined the movement. Its president, Philippe Camburet, said the protests are being exploited by prosperous farmers, who are faring well but playing up hardships faced by some farmers to extract concessions. Farmers also have animals to feed and fields to tend to and it could be tough for them to continue manning barricades for the long haul. If the FNSEA, the dominant agricultural union, decides that it has squeezed enough measures from the government and declares victory, protests could peter out. “If the FNSEA stops,” said Brunelle, “it's going to be very complicated for the movement to continue.”