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Bangkok — Cambodia this week has seen an outpouring of support from journalists, media groups and embassies for Mech Dara, one of the country’s last remaining independent journalists, who recently was taken into custody and charged with incitement. The U.S. Embassy in Cambodia posted on social media platform X that it was deeply troubled by Monday’s arrest and called for Dara’s release. “He is a leading voice against human trafficking & online scams,” the embassy posted on X, noting that he was presented with an award by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last year for his work to combat human trafficking. Describing Dara as an advocate for the freedom of expression that is guaranteed in Cambodia’s constitution, the embassy added, “We encourage authorities to engage [with] diverse voices & foster a free, independent press.” Cambodian-state media confirmed that Dara, 36, was charged with incitement related to social media posts he made at the end of September. He is now in pre-trial detention and could face up to two years in prison for his alleged offenses. Local media quoted a family member saying Dara’s car was stopped while he was traveling from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh and that police arrived in a military vehicle and five other cars. The relative said police cited an arrest warrant, seized Dara’s phone and asked his family members to stay in their car. He has since been taken to a prison in Kandal Province, outside Phnom Penh, where he will remain until his trial. The Phnom Penh provincial court issued a statement saying Dara has been charged under two articles of Cambodia’s criminal code for incitement to provoke serious social disorder. It said Dara has admitted his guilt. His arrest came a day after authorities in Prey Veng accused Dara of posting “fake news.” The journalist had posted a photo on Facebook showing destroyed concrete stairs leading to a pagoda that serves as a religious site and tourist destination in the province. Neil Loughlin, an assistant professor in comparative politics at City University of London who specializes in Southeast Asia, described Dara as one of Cambodia’s most respected journalists. “His posts related to alleged damage to a temple site cut through, because there is a lot of this kind of thing in the country, where resource extraction and wealth concentration in the hands of the country’s elite is a central part of its elite political settlement,” Loughlin told VOA.  But a spokesman for Cambodia’s Ministry of Information said in a statement that Dara was charged for incitement intended to cause serious unrest impacting social security. The statement said the actions Dara is charged with are not a “journalism related affair.”  It added that “falsifying information and posting incident messages that distort the truth, slander, fabricate false information that is done with malicious intent to ignite anger among the public with confusions and misconceptions are not considered as freedom of expression.” Over the years, Dara’s investigative reporting has focused on human trafficking and its connection to illegal scam operations in Cambodia. Dara was once detained by police while reporting on the activities of a scam center in Sihanoukville. One of his best-known stories saw him link Cambodian tycoon and senator Ly Yong Phat to scam compounds. The U.S. imposed sanctions on the businessman in September. Cambodia is home to scam centers that have operated in several cities, towns and provinces throughout the country. These include “pig butchering,” in which victims generally are contacted via the internet and enticed to gradually invest in fake and fraudulent schemes over a period of time. According to a report by the United States Institute of Peace, 100,000 scammers have been involved in pig butchering in Cambodia, generating income estimated at $12.8 billion in 2023. But Chou Bun Eng, the permanent vice chair of Cambodia’s National Committee for Counter Trafficking, told the pro-government newspaper Khmer Times in March that 80% of human trafficking cases they’ve investigated are “false.” Journalists like Dara have long faced security risks when covering the illegal scam centers in Cambodia or reporting on other matters that show the government in a bad light. In 2020, journalist Sok Oudom was convicted and sentenced to 20 months in prison for broadcasting false news with the intent to cause incitement.  In 2021, reporter Khou Piseth was charged with incitement for criticizing officials on Facebook over COVID-19 measures. The same year saw Youn Chhiv sentenced to one year in prison for incitement to cause a felony after he made a Facebook post criticizing a provincial court prosecutor.   “The vague charge of incitement has often been used by Cambodian authorities to target critics, including journalists,” Beh Lih Yi, Asia program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, told VOA via email. “Arresting one of Cambodia's best-known journalists on vague charges like incitement is a clear attempt to muzzle any remaining independent reporting left in the country,” she wrote. Loughlin said incitement charges are typical of the government’s tactics against dissenting voices. “The charge of incitement to social unrest is telling. Over the past decade, as part of the broader crackdown on dissent, the CPP government has promoted a narrative of stability to legitimate its use of coercion to silence those who criticise it or shine a light on corruption etc.,” he wrote to VOA.  “It uses this narrative to legitimize its repressive control over the country in perpetuity, with anybody who the government doesn’t like targeted for repression, justified in the name of that stability,” he added. Cambodia has been ruled by the same political party, the Cambodia People Party (CPP), since 1979 and has maintained its grip on power by banning opposition parties and cracking down on dissidents. The CPP shared power with co-prime ministers from 1993-97 with a royalist party. Hun Manet came into power in 2023, taking over as prime minister from his father Hun Sen, who led Cambodia for nearly 40 years.  Reporters without Borders, a media watchdog that ranks 180 countries and territories worldwide for their level of press freedom, has ranked Cambodia at 151, a lowly position in its World Press Freedom Index for 2024. Cambodia's Ministry of Information says the country has taken a firm stand to promote the freedom of the press.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday visited areas hit hard by Hurricane Helene, where more than a million people remain without power and the death toll is climbing. Biden offered as many as 1,000 active-duty soldiers to support the response effort. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington.

WASHINGTON — Israel’s vow to make Iran pay a price for carrying out a large-scale missile strike on the Jewish state has prompted panic buying of gasoline in major Iranian cities and the temporary closure of Iranian airspace to all commercial flights. Iran fired about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel after nightfall on Tuesday, in a major escalation of a yearlong conflict between Israel and Iran’s regional proxy forces. The Israeli military intercepted most of the missiles with help from allied U.S. naval forces.  Speaking late Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran’s Islamist rulers had made a “big mistake” by attacking his nation. Other Israeli officials warned those rulers to expect a powerful and painful response.  Israel’s threats sparked long lines of cars outside gas stations in major Iranian cities as drivers rushed to fill their vehicles’ tanks.  One video posted to social media and vetted by VOA Persian showed dozens of cars waiting to fill up at a gas station in Tehran, apparently on Wednesday. Other social media clips reviewed by VOA Persian appeared to show similar long lines of vehicles outside gas stations late Tuesday in the Tehran provincial city of Eslamshahr and in the central city of Isfahan.  VOA could not independently confirm the panic buying at the gas stations seen in the videos because it is barred from operating inside Iran. In another apparent reaction to Israel’s threat of a retaliatory strike, Iran shut its airspace to all domestic and international flights after completing its missile attack. The Iranian Civil Aviation Organization’s Aerospace Committee said in a Wednesday statement that flights would remain suspended until at least 5 a.m. local time on Thursday to “maintain the safety of passengers.”  Western media reported on Wednesday that Israel may target Iran’s oil and other energy facilities in its threatened retaliation. There was no confirmation from Israel.  Any Israeli strike on Iranian oil or gas infrastructure would have a big economic impact on the country, according to Kpler’s Homayoun Falakshahi, a senior oil analyst for the Belgium-based global trade data firm.  In a message to VOA, Falakshahi said Iran sources most of its gasoline from domestically produced oil that it refines into petroleum products.  Iran’s Islamist rulers also rely heavily on revenue from energy exports to major customers such as China, a practice they have maintained for years in defiance of U.S. sanctions. Tehran has shipped an average of 1.54 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensate per day for the year to date, according to Falakshahi.  Iran does not publish official data on its energy exports as part of its efforts to circumvent sanctions. Kpler uses a variety of sources to estimate those Iranian exports, such as location data from oil tankers' Automatic Identification System transponders, satellite imagery, and information provided by personnel at ports.  The impact of an Israeli attack on Iran's energy exports would depend on whether Israel targets export infrastructure, Falakshahi said. “For now, I don’t think such an attack will be the case, because China would get quite upset,” he added.  This story was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian Service. 

Israel pressed forward on two fronts Wednesday, pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah that left eight Israeli soldiers dead and conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. Europe looks set to toughen migration laws amid a surge in support for far-right parties across the continent. And scientists have produced the first wiring diagram of the complete brain of a fruit fly. Why they did it and what it means for human brains.

washington — Zooming through Hong Kong traffic on the way to school every morning, Joey Siu often found herself flipping through various newspapers. Some were pro-democracy, others pro-government, but they were all readily available in the lobby of her apartment building and all over the city. “That’s something that we grew up having such an abundant access to,” Siu said. “That became such an essential part of our identity.” Now an exiled Hong Kong activist based in Washington, Siu looks back with nostalgia on that daily ritual. Much has changed since Siu’s elementary school days in Hong Kong, when she started the routine. In hindsight, Siu says she took for granted how easy it was to find newspapers, from her building’s lobby to the aunties hawking them on Hong Kong’s busy streets. “Unfortunately, I don’t think today, if I were still in Hong Kong, I would still be able to do that,” Siu said. Journalists in crosshairs That’s because the government has forced some newspapers, like Apple Daily, to close. Hong Kong authorities have also jailed journalists and activists to send the message that dissent is no longer tolerated in what was once a bastion of press freedom in Asia. In Apple Daily’s case, the newspaper’s publisher, Jimmy Lai, has been held in solitary confinement since late 2020. The 76-year-old British national is standing trial on charges of collusion with foreign forces and sedition. The charges, which Lai rejects, are widely viewed as politically motivated. Apple Daily’s forced closure in 2021 and Lai’s legal battle underscore the rapid downfall of press freedom and other civil liberties in Hong Kong since China’s strict national security law came into effect in 2020.   In the years since then, Hong Kongers say they have been left to grapple with stark feelings of grief and loss as they witness their home quickly transform from a place that was once imbued with freedom into something unrecognizable. Lai is counted among more than 1,800 political prisoners in Hong Kong, according to the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council. The publisher is one of many, but his case is arguably the most prominent, multiple activists said. Born in Guangzhou, China, in 1947, Lai fled to Hong Kong as a stowaway on a boat when he was 12. He worked in a garment sweatshop before eventually founding the successful clothing brand Giordano. A onetime billionaire, Lai founded the Apple Daily newspaper in 1995. The newspaper made a name for itself through its critical coverage of Hong Kong and China. But the outspoken nature of Apple Daily led to authorities arresting Lai and other top editors, freezing millions of the newspaper’s assets and forcing it to shutter. Lai’s trial began in late 2023 and was supposed to last around 80 days. It is now set to resume on November 20, when Lai is expected to take the stand. Lai’s international legal team continues to call for his release. “I think the Hong Kong authorities were frightened of the world seeing Jimmy Lai’s courage,” Caoilfhionn Gallagher, the head of Lai’s international legal team, told VOA about the delay. Lai knew that he would eventually be arrested, and he had the means to flee Hong Kong. The fact that he chose to stay and stand up for press freedom is why his case resonates with so many people, multiple analysts told VOA. “That’s the spirit that everyone respects,” said Frances Hui, a Washington-based policy coordinator at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation. “He has the courage that a lot of us don’t, and that’s very inspiring.” Rise and fall The story of Lai also reflects the story of Hong Kong itself. Established as a British colony and trading outpost in the 1840s, the territory was at the center of a period of great economic development when Lai arrived as a child. Lai’s business success grew as Hong Kong developed into a global financial hub. In turn, Apple Daily’s closure and Lai’s arrest came amid the broader deterioration of civil liberties in Hong Kong. That’s another reason Lai’s case resonates with so many people, according to his son. “His story mirrors Hong Kong’s rise and fall,” Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastien, told VOA during a recent advocacy trip in Washington. Assaults on press freedom haven’t stopped. In September, two journalists from Hong Kong’s now-shuttered Stand News were sentenced to jail for sedition. Also in September, the Hong Kong Journalists Association reported that dozens of Hong Kong journalists and their families had faced harassment since June. “There’s still these underlying anxieties in the media industry. People are still on edge,” the association’s chairperson, Selina Cheng, said. In an email to VOA, a Hong Kong government spokesperson denied that civil liberties and the rule of law have declined there. The spokesperson added that “rights and freedoms are not absolute” anywhere in the world. “In particular, journalists, like everyone else, have an obligation to abide by all the laws. Their freedom of commenting on and criticizing government policies remains uninhibited as long as they do not violate the law,” the spokesperson said. China’s foreign ministry did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment. A couple of years ago, the average Hong Konger probably still kept a close watch on Lai’s case, according to Anna Kwok, executive director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council. “But in 2024, we have seen a new phenomenon that a lot of Hong Kongers become numb to the political news,” she said. Treasure swallowed up For many years, Hong Kong’s identity was based on the freedoms its population had long enjoyed, according to fellow activist Sunny Cheung. “Hong Kong was like a treasure,” said Cheung, who now works at the Jamestown Foundation, a research group in Washington. But things have changed. “Hong Kong is no longer Hong Kong,” Cheung added. Hong Kongers built the city into something special, according to Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. “And now that city was essentially taken away from them by the Chinese government, swallowed up, and now what is being spat out is completely unrecognizable,” she said. The jarringly rapid degradation of the city’s freedoms has led to collective grief among Hong Kongers, multiple analysts said. Their home still exists, but their home is not exactly their home anymore because the things that made it special and beloved — the vibrant media landscape, the freedoms, the distinction from China — are no more. Hong Kongers are mourning Hong Kong. “It is heartbreaking that they managed to snuff out what made the place great,” Sebastien Lai said. The consequences are severe. Unrest and change in Hong Kong appear to have had a harmful effect on people's mental well-being, with multiple studies showing increased rates of depression and suicide, especially among young people. City’s soul Cities are more than just the buildings that comprise them, according to Jeffrey Alexander, professor emeritus of sociology at Yale University. “It’s like a living entity that has a soul. It has a consciousness. It has a sense of a collective identity,” Alexander told VOA from Connecticut. As a result, like grieving the death of a person, some Hong Kongers find themselves grieving the death of their home. The city’s famed skyline hasn’t changed, but the core of its identity has. “The sense of loss in Hong Kong is that you saw something that by every means possible you didn’t think could fall apart, and then you saw it fall apart,” said Mark Simon, who worked with Jimmy Lai for decades in Hong Kong. There’s a conflict and a connection between an individual Hong Konger’s identity and the collective identity of the city’s population, according to Alexander. On one hand, people in Hong Kong can still carry out their lives as long as they aren’t jailed. But at the same time, "you don’t live only as an individual,” he said. “You live as part of something larger than yourself.” Alexander agreed that grief over what has happened to Hong Kong resembles grief over the death of a loved one. But he also proposed an alternative: “Is it like a close friend dying, or your father dying or your wife dying, or is it as if they were murdered?” In many ways, Lai’s plight embodies that collective grief. “He’s going to become a martyr,” Alexander said. What makes matters even more difficult is that public expressions of this grief are tightly controlled in Hong Kong, according to Kwok. “People’s rights to feel and experience their own emotions, to express their feelings, are essentially taken away,” she said. Still, others, like Shirley Leung, who worked as a reporter at Apple Daily from 2018 until its closure in 2021, maintain that Hong Kong hasn’t died yet. Leung left Hong Kong in 2022 and is now the editor-in-chief of the exiled Hong Kong news outlet Photon Media in Taiwan. Rather than thinking of Hong Kong as dead, Leung says she prefers to think of it as in a hospital’s intensive care unit. "It is still too early to say it’s dead,” Leung said. “Because if it’s dead, then what’s the point of working so hard outside Hong Kong?”

washington — U.S. engagement with a string of Pacific Island nations must continue, regardless of which party wins the White House, the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation said in a newly published report. The islands, situated between Hawaii and Australia, are the latest front of competition between Washington and Beijing. In the 45-page report, Andrew Harding, a research assistant in the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center, argues that it's time to make the case to taxpayers and Washington policymakers that investing in the Pacific Islands is money well-spent because it "counters Chinese ambitions" and denies Beijing a foothold "that can threaten U.S. national security interests and complicate possible future military operations in Asia." That argument appears convincing to some China hawks in the Republican Party. Alexander Velez-Green, former national security adviser to Republican Senator Josh Hawley, called the report "a compelling vision," telling VOA in a statement, "The Pacific Islands are key terrain in America's efforts to balance power against China." Likewise, former Asia adviser in the Trump administration Alexander Gray said the Heritage report would benefit "whoever is president in January 2025." "I expect a Trump 2.0 would only expand on this important work," Gray wrote in response to VOA's emailed questions. The Heritage Foundation now employs many former Trump administration officials. Last year it released Project 2025, a controversial series of proposals to staff and shape policy for a second Trump White House. Former President Donald Trump has sought to distance himself from the effort, even as his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, claims it defines his policies. John Hennessey-Niland, who served as U.S. ambassador to Palau from 2020 to 2022, argues that Harding's message may convince policymakers in Washington but addresses only one of the region's problems. "The Pacific Islands are concerned about PRC interference and coercion, but it is not the only threat they face. Other concerns include climate and their own capacity to provide for their people," Hennessey-Niland told VOA via a statement, using the abbreviation for the People's Republic of China. Kathryn Paik agrees. She served as director for the Pacific and Southeast Asia at the National Security Council under President Joe Biden and now works as a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "Making U.S. Pacific engagement 'all about China' neglects precisely what can enable the U.S.-Pacific relationship to grow deeper than anything China could ever hope to have — our history, our culture and our shared values," she told VOA in response to emailed questions. Harding said he is just saying the quiet part out loud. "America's primary driver is U.S.-China competition and the threats that it poses to America's national interests and the security of its people," he told VOA Tuesday in an interview. Chinese President Xi Jinping has traveled to the Pacific Islands to meet one on one with the leaders of Fiji and Papua New Guinea. He also has hosted numerous other Pacific Islands heads of state in Beijing. In contrast, the White House has only held joint meetings with Pacific Islands leaders, and Biden has not traveled to the nations. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to VOA's request for comment. While analysts differ over the report's rationale for deeper engagement in the Pacific, they say many of the 31 policy recommendations have bipartisan appeal, including appointing a special envoy for the Pacific Islands, creating more positions at key departments to oversee outreach and planning a presidential visit to a Pacific Islands state. Greg Brown, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the appointment of a special envoy is vital to sustained U.S. engagement. He said the real challenge is convincing the 535 members of the U.S. Congress to increase foreign assistance to the Pacific Islands when few American voters even know where they are, much less why they're important to U.S. national security. "Anything requiring funding from Congress will be a chore — not because the demands are large or fiscal-burden heavy, but because members and staffs need constant reminders why securing U.S. interests in this region are imperative," Brown told VOA in an interview. He added that the special envoy should be a "heavyweight appointment ... with the ear of the president" and the "diplomatic skill to navigate and drive changes" across Washington.

For months, U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Israel against allowing its war with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza to spread against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran itself. But with Israel fighting in Lebanon and vowing retaliation for Tehran’s missile attacks, many fear that moment has come. VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara looks at the potential for further escalation and the possibility of U.S. direct involvement.

WASHINGTON — A recent report by the U.S. Institute of Peace highlights the resurgence of scam hubs, particularly in Myanmar's Karen State, due to China's softened stance toward the country's military regime. China's posture has shifted, said Jason Tower, co-author of the report and the country director for Burma at the institute.  "They're now much more focused on regime survival, looking at how they can prevent the [Myanmar] regime from toppling," Tower told VOA Burmese. "As a result, China has shown much less interest in taking forceful action to pressure the Myanmar military to address these problems." According to the report, these criminal networks benefit from the complex dynamics between Myanmar's military and Chinese interests. China's focus has shifted from cracking down on scams to supporting the Myanmar military. This change in strategy has allowed the criminal organizations to flourish, using Myanmar as a base of operations. After contacting the Chinese Embassy in Washington about the issue, VOA received a statement that did not directly address cyber scam operations. Instead, it emphasized China's focus on peace and stability in Myanmar. "China and Myanmar are close neighbors with a deep bond of friendship," wrote embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu. "As a friendly neighbor, China has always paid close attention to the development and evolution of the situation in Myanmar and northern Myanmar. We do not hope to see conflict or chaos in Myanmar and sincerely hope for an early restoration of stability."  China's Ministry of Public Security portrayed the situation differently, according to a report published Monday by China's state-run Xinhua news agency. In a recent statement on its crackdown on cyber scams, the report said, the ministry highlighted joint efforts with Myanmar authorities, noting that "a total of 870 suspects, including 313 Chinese and 557 Myanmar nationals, were arrested during a crackdown on telecom and online fraud in northern Myanmar."  Myanmar's state-controlled media Global New Light of Myanmar also focused on crackdowns, noting that Myanmar's police had worked closely with China in extraditing 20 Chinese nationals in September. Shift in China's priorities China's view on the conflict constantly evolves based on events inside Myanmar, said Thomas Kean, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental think tank. "Since 2021, we've seen different phases, but ultimately, China wants stability in Myanmar to pursue its strategic objectives, keep its borders safe, and ensure that Chinese nationals and the economy aren't affected," Kean said. Tower described how China's priorities have shifted from addressing scams to focusing on maintaining its strategic interests in Myanmar. "The Chinese government began prioritizing the advancement of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, which includes infrastructure and trade routes, giving China access to the Indian Ocean," he said. Tower said some Chinese strategists had suggested that China had perhaps gone too far in its crackdown on the scam syndicates, losing sight of its broader strategic goals.  As a result, Chinese authorities pushed hard to broker cease-fire agreements between Myanmar's military and ethnic armed groups to stabilize the region. 'Pig butchering' scams The Chinese scams emanating from Myanmar have grown in sophistication, the U.S. Institute of Peace report noted. The United States has become one of the primary targets, losing billions of dollars annually to "pig butchering" scams. "Pig butchering" is a type of investment fraud where scammers lure victims on social media only to defraud them for significant amounts of money, often in cryptocurrency. Many Americans have fallen victim to scams originating from Myanmar, said Erin West, a deputy district attorney with California's REACT Task Force to combat high-tech crime. "They've liquidated retirement accounts, children's college funds, only to find out that the entire thing is fictitious, and they've lost everything," West told VOA. Victims are lured into fraudulent online relationships, believing they are investing in cryptocurrency, she said. While some criminals are deported back to China, Tower said, broader networks remain primarily untouched and continue to operate with the protection of local warlords and military elites. He is concerned that these scams will increasingly become a threat to U.S. national security. "These scams are currently causing estimated losses in the range of $5.5 billion per year for the U.S., but other estimates place the numbers as high as $15 billion," Tower said. These actors are often under the protection of the Myanmar military or other corrupt regional elites, he added, making it difficult for law enforcement to intervene. "This is a serious crisis," Tower said. "We're seeing a massive transfer of wealth from the United States to bad actors in Southeast Asia — actors that are undermining democracy, highly corrupt and often under the protection of the Myanmar military or other corrupt elites. This is bad news for the U.S. on many fronts."

WASHINGTON — Nearly a month out from Election Day, the head of the nation's cybersecurity agency is forcefully reassuring Americans who have been swept into the chaotic churn of election disinformation and distrust that they will be able to feel confident in the outcome. State and local election officials have made so much progress in securing voting, ballot-counting and other election infrastructure that the system is more robust than it has ever been, said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. As a result, she said, there is no way Russia, Iran or any other foreign adversary will be able to alter the results. "Malicious actors, even if they tried, could not have an impact at scale such that there would be a material effect on the outcome of the election," Easterly told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. Easterly's trust in the election process comes as intelligence officials have warned of escalating efforts by foreign adversaries to influence voters, deepen partisan divides and undermine faith in U.S. elections. Her comments stand in contrast to the doubts millions of Americans, especially Republicans, have held since the 2020 election when former President Donald Trump refused to accept his loss. He has built on his false claims of vote rigging since then, setting the stage to claim the election has been stolen if he loses again this November. Easterly touched on a range of election-related concerns — including misinformation, her agency's role in interacting with social media companies and ongoing threats to election workers — during the 40-minute interview, which came as mail ballots are being sent out and some states have started early in-person voting. She also said her agency is in touch with election officials throughout the regions of the Southeast that have been ravaged by Hurricane Helene and praised those workers for "displaying enormous and admirable resilience" as they try to ensure that voters are able to cast their ballots despite the devastation. Recognizing that many Americans' confidence in elections "has been shaken," Easterly emphasized how prepared election officials are for emergencies, simple mistakes and attacks — and how motivated they are to protect Americans' votes. Election officials have worked in recent years to boost cybersecurity defenses around the nation's voting systems, implementing procedures ranging from access controls to regular testing to identify potential vulnerabilities. Officials also test voting equipment before every election to ensure it works properly. Easterly pointed to layers of security and transparency — such as the paper record of votes in more than 97% of voting jurisdictions — as protections that will help verify the results. "Things will go wrong. There could be another storm. There could be a ransomware attack, a distributed denial of service attack," she said. "These disruptions will create effects, but they will not impact the ability and the votes being cast or those votes being counted." U.S. officials have spent recent months warning through criminal charges, sanctions and public advisories that foreign adversaries are ramping up their efforts to influence voters in the race for the White House. The Biden administration last month seized more than two dozen Kremlin-run fake websites and charged two Russian state media employees in a scheme to covertly fund right-wing influencers. Last week, three Iranian operatives were charged with hacking the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Intelligence agencies and tech companies have tracked both Russian and Iranian actors using fake websites and social media profiles to spread misinformation, stoke division and potentially sway American voters. Iran and Russia have sought to influence past U.S. elections through online disinformation and hacking. Easterly noted that China also was "very interested" in influencing the 2024 election. Beyond the influence campaigns, she said her agency had not detected any activity targeting election systems. "We have not seen specific cyber activity designed to interfere with actual election infrastructure or processes," Easterly said. The prevalence of election misinformation has become a widespread concern. One consequence is what Easterly described as a troubling uptick in physical threats against election officials of both parties and, in some cases, their families, often based on false claims about the 2020 election. She called it "corrosive" to democracy and said it's something the public needs to collectively fight. "Those election officials, they are not faceless bureaucrats," Easterly said. "They're folks we see in the community every single day. And they're not doing this for pay. They're not doing it for glory. They are doing it because they believe in the process of democracy." Many secretaries of state and some larger local election offices have established specific efforts to combat the misinformation. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee, last week wrote a letter to Easterly that urged the agency to take further steps against election misinformation and disinformation, including coordinating with social media platforms to combat false claims. In the interview, Easterly acknowledged "a very convoluted, very confusing information environment," and said her agency works with election officials to promote accurate information. However, she also made it clear that her agency does not monitor social media sites or attempt to moderate their content. "That is not our role," she said. On the heels of Trump's running mate, Senator JD Vance, accusing the federal government of "censorship" in Tuesday night's debate between the vice presidential candidates, Easterly strongly defended her agency, known as CISA. "CISA does not censor, has never censored," she said. "And allegations against CISA are riddled with factual inaccuracies." CISA, along with other federal agencies, was part of a lawsuit filed by Republican-led states claiming the federal government had applied "unrelenting pressure" to coerce changes in online content on social media platforms. In a 6-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court said the states did not have a legal right to sue. Easterly encouraged voters who question how elections are run to contact their local election office and even volunteer to serve as poll workers so they understand the process and the safeguards already in place. She also warned that foreign adversaries almost certainly will seek to take advantage of the vote-counting process after Election Day as a way to undermine confidence in the results. She urged voters to be patient, emphasizing that it could take several days for a presidential winner to be determined. "We need to come together as Americans to protect and preserve what is most precious," she said. "And that is the foundation of our democracy — fair, free, safe and secure elections."

washington — The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it would ban the import of goods from a Chinese steel manufacturer and a Chinese maker of artificial sweetener, accusing both of being involved in the use of forced labor from China's far-west region of Xinjiang.  The action broadens the scope of the U.S. effort to stop products from entering the country that the government says are tied to human rights abuses.  The additions to the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act marked the first time a China-based steel company or aspartame sweetener business had been targeted by U.S. law enforcement, DHS said. "Today's actions reaffirm our commitment to eliminating forced labor from U.S. supply chains and upholding our values of human rights for all," said Robert Silvers, undersecretary of homeland security for policy. "No sector is off-limits. We will continue to identify entities across industries and hold accountable those who seek to profit from exploitation and abuse."  The federal law that President Joe Biden signed at the end of 2021 followed allegations of human rights abuses by Beijing against members of the ethnic Uyghur group and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has rejected the claims as lies and has defended its practice and policy in Xinjiang as fighting terror and ensuring stability.  The new approach marked a shift in the U.S. trade relationship with China to increasingly take into account national security and human rights. Beijing has accused the U.S. of using human rights as a pretext to suppress China's economic growth.  Enforcement of the law initially targeted solar products, tomatoes, cotton and apparel, but over the last several months, the U.S. government has identified new sectors for enforcement, including aluminum and seafood.  "That's just a reflection of the fact that, sadly, forced labor continues to taint all too many supply chains," Silvers told a trade group in June when marking the two-year anniversary of the creation of the entity list. "So our enforcement net has actually been quite wide from an industry-sector perspective."  He said the law "changed the dynamic in terms of putting the onus on importers to know their own supply chains" and that its enforcement had shown that the U.S. could "do the right thing" without halting normal trade.  Since June 2022, the entity list has grown to 75 companies accused of using forced labor in Xinjiang or sourcing materials tied to that forced labor, Homeland Security said.  Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. and Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co. Ltd. were the Chinese companies newly added to the list.

washington — It came as no surprise that one of the tensest moments in Tuesday night's vice presidential debate between Democratic Governor Tim Walz and Republican Senator JD Vance was over immigration, one of the most divisive issues in America. Debate moderators muted Vance's microphone after he claimed that "millions of illegal immigrants" had overwhelmed American cities, including Springfield, Ohio, where many Haitians have been encouraged to find jobs. When Walz joined in, both candidates' microphones were muted, and the moderators reminded them the audience couldn't hear them. Hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants, including those who live in Springfield, hold Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS, or other forms of legal protection, such as humanitarian parole. "These are people who have a lawful status. They have a lawful presence. They have work authorization," Sarang Sekhavat, chief of staff at the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, told VOA. What is TPS? Congress established TPS in 1990 when it said migrants whose home countries were considered unsafe could live and work in the U.S. temporarily if they met certain requirements established by the U.S. government. The secretary of homeland security is responsible for designating a foreign country for Temporary Protected Status. Currently, 16 countries have TPS designations: Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Haiti, Ethiopia, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen. "Usually what happens is the administration will designate a country for TPS because of some kind of catastrophe. It could be a natural disaster ... very often it's used in times of war," Sekhavat said. "Basically, the idea is recognizing that, 'OK, this individual here perhaps doesn't have permission to be here, but it would be inhumane of us to actually send them back home to their home country under the conditions their country is suffering right now.' " TPS and legal immigration Tom Jawetz, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told VOA that people covered by TPS should not be confused with undocumented immigrants. "It's an immigration status that people can have the statutory right to travel on," he said. "In order to get TPS, people file an application. That application is reviewed individually. It's adjudicated. They get identification materials attesting to their TPS. Get work authorization by statute. So, these are not individuals who are undocumented by any means." Haitian immigrants and TPS Haitian nationals were first given TPS in 2010 after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, killing more than 100,000 people and overwhelming the government. This protection was renewed several times during the administration of former President Barack Obama and was extended for six months under former President Donald Trump. Trump decided to end TPS for Haitians in 2019, but this decision faced several legal challenges that lasted until the end of his administration. Who can apply for TPS? Protections under TPS are reserved for people who are already in the United States at the time of the designation. To be eligible, a person must be a national of a designated TPS country and have been continuously physically present in the United States since the date specified by the U.S. government. For Haitian immigrants, this date was August 4, 2024. People must apply during the registration period. For Haitians applying for the first time, this period began July 1, 2024, and runs through February 3, 2026. For those renewing their TPS status, the re-registration period began July 1, 2024, and ran through August 30, 2024. "For example, when we had the earthquake in Haiti, there were many Haitians who came to the U.S. on valid transit or tourist visas, intending for their stay to be temporary. But due to the situation in Haiti, they couldn't return, making them eligible to apply for TPS," Sekhavat said. Filing for TPS can cost about $545. TPS and US citizenship TPS alone does not lead to U.S. permanent residence or citizenship unless the applicant seeks to change status through other immigration processes. "If you don't have some other means through which to get permanent residence — whether that's because you qualify for asylum or you have a family member or an employer who is petitioning for you to get a permanent residence — TPS is not going to get you there," Jawetz said. But TPS allows a person to legally work, and it can open a pathway to an employment-based green card — a process immigration experts say can be long and complicated. TPS ineligibility An applicant is ineligible for TPS if convicted of a felony or two or more misdemeanors in the United States, or if subject to mandatory restrictions for asylum, such as having taken part in the persecution of someone else or having engaged in terrorist activities. People are also ineligible if they do not meet the requirements for continuous physical presence and residency in the United States, fail to register for TPS on time, or do not re-register for TPS when required without a good reason. Travel authorization for TPS holders TPS holders must request travel authorization to leave the U.S. Applicants must show U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that they need to travel for urgent humanitarian reasons, such as a sick relative. If permission for the TPS holder to travel is requested by a nonprofit organization, it must prove the travel will further social and cultural interests of the United States. The current filing fee is $575. If a TPS holder leaves the United States without first obtaining travel authorization, the person may lose the TPS status and will not be able to reenter the United States. Can an administration end TPS at any time? The secretary of homeland security has to review conditions and decide whether conditions on the ground in a country continue to merit TPS. Only if the secretary concludes that conditions do not merit a continuation of TPS can the secretary issue a determination ending temporary protected status at that point.

WASHINGTON — Since the start of Israel's war with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza in October 2023, President Joe Biden has warned the U.S. ally against widening the conflict with Tehran's other proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, and with Iran itself. Many fear that moment has come. In the past 10 days, Israel has unleashed an air campaign on Lebanon, striking over 3,600 Hezbollah-linked targets, according to Israel Defense Forces statements. On Tuesday, Israel launched what it called a limited ground offensive into southern Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also vowed retaliation for Tehran's launching of 180 missiles toward Israel on Tuesday, an attack that damaged a school in the Israeli city of Hod Hasharon and killed at least one person in the West Bank. Meanwhile, in Damascus, Syrian state media said that three civilians had been killed in Israeli strikes Tuesday. More strikes were reported in the Syrian capital on Wednesday. Biden said his administration was giving Israel "advice" and urging it to respond proportionally. He told reporters Wednesday that he had discussed the matter with leaders of the Group of Seven and that he might speak with Netanyahu "relatively soon." "We'll be discussing with the Israelis what they're going to do, but they — every — all seven of us [G7 leaders] agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond in proportion," he told reporters.  Netanyahu has threatened retaliation beyond Iran, to countries where Tehran's proxies are located. "We fight the axis of evil everywhere," he said Tuesday. "This is true for Judea and Samaria [West Bank]. It is true for Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria. And it is also true for Iran." Iran has for years used its proxies — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen — to attack Israel. It launched its first direct attack with a barrage of missiles and drones on Israeli soil in April, two weeks after Israel's deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria. At that time, Israel's retaliatory attack against Tehran was measured, and as many analysts point out, calibrated to stop the escalation. They predict Israel will respond more strongly this time, possibly targeting Iranian nuclear or oil facilities. When asked, Biden said he would not support any Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites. He said more G7 sanctions would be imposed on Tehran. Tehran said its barrage of missiles Tuesday was in retaliation for Israel's recent killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and an Iranian military commander. Fears US will be dragged into war Washington fears further escalation could drag the United States directly into war should Iran retaliate again against Israel, especially if it hits American interests. "That could mean attacking oil-producing facilities in Saudi Arabia," said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. negotiator for the Middle East who is now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "That could mean empowering pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria to attack American forces." "And yes, it could provide an avenue, a pathway, for the United States to get into this war," he told VOA.  With the largest military presence in the region compared with other external actors, the U.S. is already indirectly involved. Two U.S. Navy destroyers deployed to the eastern Mediterranean, the USS Bulkeley and USS Cole, joined Israeli air defense units Tuesday in firing about a dozen interceptors to shoot down inbound Iranian missiles, said Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blamed the U.S. and European countries for the wars in the Middle East. "If they rid the region of their presence, no doubt these conflicts, wars and clashes will completely go away," he said. The White House has not responded to VOA's requests for comment on Khamenei's remarks. Containing the conflict It is unclear whether Biden will use offensive capabilities to strike Iran directly. What's clear is that despite calls for a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon, Washington has not succeeded in containing the conflict.  "The key drivers of events in the Middle East today are the players that are engaged in these combat operations," said Brian Katulis, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. "It's Israel, it's Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and it's Iran and its networks across the region, including the Houthis in Yemen." Washington has been largely operating "as a bystander," trying to prevent the worst outcomes, Katulis said. The administration's approach has been "largely reactive, tactical crisis management," he added. Biden has so far refused to condition military aid to Israel — his biggest leverage in pressuring the country to agree to a cease-fire. He and others in his administration frequently underscore that they support Israel's right to defend itself. It's "almost inconceivable now" that Biden would restrict military assistance to Israel, Miller said. In any case, he said, U.S. pressure is unlikely to have an impact. Over the past weeks, Hezbollah's capacity as an organized military force has been degraded. And having been pummeled for almost a year by Israel's campaign, Hamas no longer stands as an organized military structure. "The Israelis are determined with this momentum to break with what the Iranians and the axis of resistance called the ring of fire," Miller said, referring to Tehran's strategy of surrounding Israel with its proxies.  Even if Israel succeeds, Miller said he is skeptical that it can turn its military victories into political agreements that would lead to peace. Miller grimly predicted that the three wars of attrition between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Hezbollah, and Israel and Iran will continue, albeit with less intensity. Natasha Mozgovaya contributed to this report.