WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed Taiwan, artificial intelligence and security issues Tuesday in a call meant to demonstrate a return to regular leader-to-leader dialogue between the two powers.
The call, described by the White House as “candid and constructive,” was the leaders’ first conversation since their November summit in California produced renewed ties between the two nations’ militaries and a promise of enhanced cooperation on stemming the flow of deadly fentanyl and its precursors from China.
The call also kicks off several weeks of high-level engagements between the two countries, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set to travel to China on Thursday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to follow in the weeks ahead.
Biden has pressed for sustained interactions at all levels of government, believing it is key to keeping competition between the two massive economies and nuclear-armed powers from escalating to direct conflict. While in-person summits take place perhaps once a year, officials said, both Washington and Beijing recognize the value of more frequent engagements between the leaders.
Xi told Biden that the two countries should adhere to the bottom line of “no clash, no confrontation” as one of the principles for this year.
“We should prioritize stability, not provoke troubles, not cross lines but maintain the overall stability of China-US relations,” Xi said, according to China Central Television, the state broadcaster.
The two leaders discussed Taiwan ahead of next month’s inauguration of Lai Ching-te, the island’s president-elect, who has vowed to safeguard its de-facto independence from China and further align it with other democracies. Biden reaffirmed the United States’ longstanding “One China” policy and reiterated that the US opposes any coercive means to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control. China considers Taiwan a domestic matter and has vigorously protested US support for the island.
Taiwan remains the “first red line not to be crossed,” Xi told Biden, and emphasized that Beijing will not tolerate separatist activities by Taiwan’s independence forces as well as “exterior indulgence and support,” which alluded to Washington’s support for the island.
Biden also raised concerns about China’s operations in the South China Sea, including efforts last month to impede the Philippines, which the US is treaty-obligated to defend, from resupplying its forces on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal.
Next week, Biden will host Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House for a joint summit where China’s influence in the region was set to be top of the agenda.
Biden, in the call with Xi, pressed China to do more to meet its commitments to halt the flow of illegal narcotics and to schedule additional precursor chemicals to prevent their export. The pledge was made at the leaders’ summit held in Woodside, California, last year on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.
At the November summit, Biden and Xi also agreed that their governments would hold formal talks on the promises and risks of advanced artificial intelligence, which are set to take place in the coming weeks. The pair touched on the issue on Tuesday just two weeks after China and the US joined more than 120 other nations in backing a resolution at the United Nations calling for global safeguards around the emerging technology.
Biden, in the call, reinforced warnings to Xi against interfering in the 2024 elections in the US as well as against continued malicious cyberattacks against critical American infrastructure, according to a senior US administration official who previewed the call on the condition of anonymity.
He also raised concerns about human rights in China, including Hong Kong’s new restrictive national security law and its treatment of minority groups, and he raised the plight of Americans detained in or barred from leaving China.
The Democratic president also pressed China over its defense relationship with Russia, which is seeking to rebuild its industrial base as it presses forward with its invasion of Ukraine. And he called on Beijing to wield its influence over North Korea to rein in the isolated and erratic nuclear power.
As the leaders of the world’s two largest economies, Biden also raised concerns with Xi over China’s “unfair economic practices,” the official said, and reasserted that the US would take steps to preserve its security and economic interests, including by continuing to limit the transfer of some advanced technology to China.
Xi complained that the US has taken more measures to suppress China’s economy, trade and technology in the past several months and that the list of sanctioned Chinese companies has become ever longer, which is “not derisking but creating risks,” according to the broadcaster.
The call came ahead of Yellen’s visit to Guangzhou and Beijing for a week of bilateral meetings on the subject with finance leaders from the world’s second largest economy — including Vice Premier He Lifeng, Chinese Central Bank Gov. Pan Gongsheng, former Vice Premier Liu He, American businesses and local leaders.
An advisory for the upcoming trip states that Yellen “will advocate for American workers and businesses to ensure they are treated fairly, including by pressing Chinese counterparts on unfair trade practices.”
It follows Xi’s meeting in Beijing with US business leaders last week, when he emphasized the mutually beneficial economic ties between the two countries and urged people-to-people exchange to maintain the relationship.
Xi told the Americans that the two countries have stayed communicative and “made progress” on issues such as trade, anti-narcotics and climate change since he met with Biden in November. Last week’s high-profile meeting was seen as Beijing’s effort to stabilize bilateral relations.
Ahead of her trip to China, Yellen last week said that Beijing is flooding the market with green energy that “distorts global prices.” She said she intends to share her beliefs with her counterparts that Beijing’s increased production of solar energy, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries poses risks to productivity and growth to the global economy.
US lawmakers’ renewed angst over Chinese ownership of the popular social media app TikTok has generated new legislation that would ban TikTok if its China-based owner ByteDance doesn’t sell its stakes in the platform within six months of the bill’s enactment.
As chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which reviews foreign ownership of firms in the US, Yellen has ample leeway to determine how the company could remain operating in the US
Meanwhile, China’s leaders have set a goal of 5 percent economic growth this year despite a slowdown exacerbated by troubles in the property sector and the lingering effects of strict anti-virus measures during the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted travel, logistics, manufacturing and other industries.
China is the dominant player in batteries for electric vehicles and has a rapidly expanding auto industry that could challenge the world’s established carmakers as it goes global.
The US last year outlined plans to limit EV buyers from claiming tax credits if they purchase cars containing battery materials from China and other countries that are considered hostile to the United States. Separately, the Department of Commerce launched an investigation into the potential national security risks posed by Chinese car exports to the US.
Biden and Xi discuss Taiwan, AI and fentanyl in a push to return to regular leader talks
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Biden and Xi discuss Taiwan, AI and fentanyl in a push to return to regular leader talks
- The call, described by the White House as “candid and constructive,” was the leaders’ first conversation since their November summit in California
Palestinian student sues Michigan school over teacher’s reaction to her refusal to stand for Pledge
- Danielle “suffered extensive emotional and social injuries,” including nightmares, stress and strained friendships, the lawsuit says
DETROIT: The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of a 14-year-old student who said a teacher humiliated her for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in protest of US support of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Danielle Khalaf’s teacher told her, “Since you live in this country and enjoy its freedom, if you don’t like it, you should go back to your country,” according to the lawsuit.
Danielle, whose family is of Palestinian descent, declined to recite the Pledge over three days in January.
“We can only marvel at the conviction and incredible courage it took for her to follow her conscience and her heart,” ACLU attorney Mark Fancher said.
The lawsuit says her teacher admonished her and told her she was being disrespectful.
As a result, Danielle “suffered extensive emotional and social injuries,” including nightmares, stress and strained friendships, the lawsuit says.
The ACLU and the Arab American Civil Rights League said Danielle’s First Amendment rights were violated, and the lawsuit seeks a financial award.
“It was traumatizing, it hurt and I know she could do that to other people,” Danielle said at a news conference in February, referring to the teacher’s treatment.
At that time, the school district said it had taken “appropriate action,” though it didn’t elaborate.
“Discrimination in any form is not tolerated by Plymouth-Canton Community Schools and is taken very seriously,” the district said.
The school district declined Wednesday to comment further, citing the litigation.
Michigan has more than 300,000 residents of Middle Eastern or North African descent, second in the US behind California, according to the Census Bureau.
Suspect in US fire attack on Jewish protest faces new hate crime charges
- Alongside the newly announced federal charges, Soliman faces 28 attempted murder charges
LOS ANGELES, United States: The suspect in a Molotov cocktail attack on a march by Jewish protesters in Colorado will face an additional 12 charges for carrying out a hate crime, the US Justice Department said Wednesday.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national, already faces over 100 criminal counts for allegedly throwing firebombs and spraying burning gasoline at a group of people who gathered on June 1 in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
President Donald Trump cited the attack, which injured 15 people, to justify his decision to ban travel from 12 countries to the United States to “protect” the nation from “foreign terrorists.”
Authorities have said Soliman, 45, was in the United States illegally at the time of the incident as he had overstayed his tourist visa.
Alongside the newly announced federal charges, Soliman faces 28 attempted murder charges as well as a bevvy of other counts relating to his alleged use of violence.
He also faces a count of animal cruelty for a dog that was hurt.
Police who rushed to the scene of the attack found 16 unused Molotov cocktails and a backpack weed sprayer containing gasoline that investigators say Soliman had intended to use as a makeshift flamethrower.
In bystander videos, the attacker can be heard screaming “End Zionists!” and “Killers!“
It came less than two weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, where a 31-year-old suspect, who shouted “Free Palestine,” was arrested.
Who is Zohran Mamdani? State lawmaker seeks to become NYC’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor
NEW YORK: When he announced his run for mayor back in October, Zohran Mamdani was a state lawmaker unknown to most New York City residents.
On Tuesday evening, the 33-year-old marked his stunning political ascension when he declared victory in the Democratic primary from a Queens rooftop bar after former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded.
While the race’s ultimate outcome has yet to be confirmed by a ranked choice count scheduled for July 1, here’s a look at the one-time rapper seeking to become the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor, and its youngest mayor in generations.
Mamdani’s mother is a famous filmmaker
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian parents and became an American citizen in 2018, shortly after graduating college.
He lived with his family briefly in Cape Town, South Africa, before moving to New York City when he was 7.
Mamdani’s mother, Mira Nair, is an award-winning filmmaker whose credits include “Monsoon Wedding,” “The Namesake” and “Mississippi Masala.” His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is an anthropology professor at Columbia University.
Mamdani married Rama Duwaji, a Syrian American artist, earlier this year. The couple, who met on the dating app Hinge, live in the Astoria section of Queens.
Mamdani was once a fledgling rapper
Mamdani attended the Bronx High School of Science, where he cofounded the public school’s first cricket team, according to his legislative bio.
He graduated in 2014 from Bowdoin College in Maine, where he earned a degree in Africana studies and cofounded his college’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.
After college, he worked as a foreclosure prevention counselor in Queens helping residents avoid eviction, the job he says inspired him to run for public office.
Mamdani also had a notable side hustle in the local hip hop scene, rapping under the moniker Young Cardamom and later Mr. Cardamom. During his first run for state lawmaker, Mamdani gave a nod to his brief foray into music, describing himself as a “B-list rapper.”
“Nani,” a song he made in 2019 to honor his grandmother, even found new life — and a vastly wider audience — as his mayoral campaign gained momentum. His critics, meanwhile, have seized on lyrics from “Salaam,” his 2017 ode to being Muslim in New York, to argue his views are too extreme for New Yorkers.
Early political career
Mamdani cut his teeth in local politics working on campaigns for Democratic candidates in Queens and Brooklyn.
He was first elected to the New York Assembly in 2020, knocking off a longtime Democratic incumbent for a Queens district covering Astoria and surrounding neighborhoods. He has handily won reelection twice.
The Democratic Socialist’s most notable legislative accomplishment has been pushing through a pilot program that made a handful of city buses free for a year. He’s also proposed legislation banning nonprofits from “engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity.”
Mamdani’s opponents, particularly Cuomo, have dismissed him as woefully unprepared for managing the complexities of running America’s largest city.
But Mamdani has framed his relative inexperience as a potential asset, saying in a mayoral debate he’s “proud” he doesn’t have Cuomo’s “experience of corruption, scandal and disgrace.”
Viral campaign videos
Mamdani has used buzzy campaign videos — many with winking references to Bollywood and his Indian heritage — to help make inroads with voters outside his slice of Queens.
On New York’s Day, he took part in the annual polar plunge into the chilly waters off Coney Island in a full dress suit to break down his plan to “freeze” rents.
As the race was entering the final stretch, Mamdani walked the length of Manhattan, documenting the roughly 13-mile trip by posting photos and videos of his interactions along the way.
In TikTok videos, he’s even appealed to voters of color by speaking in Spanish, Bangla and other languages.
Progressive promises
Mamdani has offered a more optimistic vision, in contrast to candidates like Cuomo, who have largely focused on crime and law and order issues.
His campaign has been packed with big promises aimed at lowering the cost of living for everyday New Yorkers, from free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for people living in rent-regulated apartments and new affordable housing — much of it by raising taxes on the wealthy.
The big promises have, unsurprisingly, endeared him to the Democratic Party’s liberal wing.
Mamdani secured endorsements from two of the country’s foremost progressives, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Pro-Palestinian views
Mamdani’s outspoken support for Palestinian causes was a point of tension in the mayor’s race as Cuomo and other opponents sought to label his defiant criticism of Israel as antisemitic.
The Shia Muslim has called Israel’s military campaign in Gaza a “genocide” and said the country should exist as “a state with equal rights,” rather than a “Jewish state.” That message has resonated among pro-Palestinian residents, including the city’s roughly 800,000 adherents of Islam — the largest Muslim community in the country.
During an interview on CBS’s “The Late Show” on the eve of the election, host Stephen Colbert asked Mamdani if he believed the state of Israel had the right to exist. He responded: “Yes, like all nations, I believe it has a right to exist — and a responsibility also to uphold international law.”
Mamdani’s refusal to condemn calls to “globalize the intifada” on a podcast — a common chant at pro-Palestinian protests — drew recriminations from Jewish groups and fellow candidates in the days leading up to the election.
In his victory speech Tuesday, he pledged to work closely with those who don’t share his views on controversial issues.
“While I will not abandon my beliefs or my commitments, grounded in a demand for equality, for humanity, for all those who walk this earth, you have my word to reach further, to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree, and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements,” Mamdani said.
Trump meets with Zelensky and says higher NATO defense spending may deter future Russian aggression
- “Europe stepping up to take more responsibility for security will help prevent future disasters like the horrible situation with Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said
- Zelensky, on social media, said he discussed with Trump the possibility of Kyiv producing drones with American companies and buying US air defense systems
THE HAGUE: President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit Wednesday and suggested that increased spending by the trans-Atlantic alliance could help prevent future Russian aggression against its neighbors.
NATO members agreed to raise their spending targets by 2035 to 5 percent of gross domestic product annually on core defense requirements as well as defense-and security-related spending. That target had been 2 percent of GDP.
“Europe stepping up to take more responsibility for security will help prevent future disasters like the horrible situation with Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said at the summit-ending news conference shortly after seeing Zelensky. “And hopefully we’re going to get that solved.”
Trump also reiterated his belief that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to end the war in Ukraine that began with Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.
“He’d like to get out of this thing. It’s a mess for him,” Trump said. “He called the other day, and he said, ‘Can I help you with Iran?’ I said, ‘No, you can help me with Russia.’”
Trump’s meeting with Zelensky was their first face-to-face session since April, when they met at St. Peter’s Basilica during Pope Francis’ funeral. Trump also had a major confrontation with Zelensky earlier this year at the White House.
Zelensky, on social media, said he discussed with Trump the possibility of Kyiv producing drones with American companies and buying US air defense systems. “We can strengthen each other,” he wrote.
He said he also talked to Trump about “what is really happening on the ground.”
“Putin is definitely not winning,” Zelensky said.
Trump left open the possibility of sending Kyiv more US-made Patriot air defense missile systems.
Asked by a Ukrainian reporter, who said that her husband was a Ukrainian soldier, Trump acknowledged that sending more Patriots would help the Ukrainian cause.
“They do want to have the antimissile missiles, OK, as they call them, the Patriots,” Trump said. “And we’re going to see if we can make some available. We need them, too. We’re supplying them to Israel, and they’re very effective, 100 percent effective. Hard to believe how effective. They do want that more than any other thing.”
Over the course of the war, the US has routinely pressed for allies to provide air defense systems to Ukraine. But many are reluctant to give up the high-tech systems, particularly countries in Eastern Europe that also feel threatened by Russia.
Trump laid into the US media throughout his news conference but showed unusual warmth toward the Ukrainian reporter.
“That’s a very good question,” Trump said about the query about Patriots. “And I wish you a lot of luck. I mean, I can see it’s very upsetting to you. So say hello to your husband.”
Ukraine, which is not a NATO member, has been front and center at recent alliance summits. But as the group’s latest annual meeting of leaders opened in the Netherlands, Zelensky was not in the room. The Trump administration has blocked Ukraine’s bid to join NATO.
The conflict with Russia has laid waste to Ukrainian towns and killed thousands of civilians. Just last week, Russia launched one of the biggest drone attacks of the war.
During Trump’s 2024 campaign for the White House, the Republican pledged a quick end to the war. He saw it as a costly boondoggle that, he claimed, would not have happened had he won re-election in 2020. Since taking office in January, he has struggled to find a resolution to the conflict and has shown frustration with both Putin and Zelensky.
Zelensky spent Tuesday in The Hague shuttling from meeting to meeting. He got a pledge from summit host the Netherlands for military aid, including new drones and radars to help knock out Russian drones. The White House did not allow press coverage of Zelensky’s nearly hourlong meeting with Trump.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the United Kingdom will provide 350 air defense missiles to Ukraine, funded by 70 million pounds ($95 million) raised from the interest on seized Russian assets.
French farmer bets on camel milk in camembert country
- Camel milk is highly perishable and pasteurization is essential to bringing it to wider markets
FEIGNIES, France: In a small village in northern France, where cows have grazed green pastures for as long as anyone can remember, one farmer has defied national traditions by producing camel milk and cheese.
The tall, gangly silhouettes of Julien Job’s herd of 80 camels and dromedaries — one of the largest in Europe — make for an unusual sight in a country globally renowned for its cow and goat milk cheeses.
“You have to like the unknown,” said Job, 43, who used to transport animals for zoos and circuses before opening his “Camelerie” farm in the village of Feignies in 2015.
Job was the first farmer in France to obtain approval from EU health agencies to commercialize camel milk and dairy products.
But demand for camel milk is growing as its ecological and health benefits become better known.
Containing up to five times more iron than cow’s milk, it is non-allergenic and some studies have suggested that it has immune-boosting and anti-inflammatory properties.
On its website, the Camelerie farm offers pasteurised camel milk, kefir (fermented milk) and sometimes “Bosse des Fagnes” and “Camelhoumi” — two cheeses developed with the support of researchers that earned Job a medal at the 2024 World Cheese Awards in Kazakhstan.
Camel milk is highly perishable and pasteurization is essential to bringing it to wider markets.
The milk is richer in vitamin C than cow’s milk, easier to digest for lactose-intolerant people and high in unsaturated fatty acids.
Some studies are also exploring its potential effects on cancer cells, blood sugar regulation in diabetics and autism.
“There is a mix of myths, empirical observations and scientific truths around this milk,” said Bernard Faye, a researcher at the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development.
Camel milk has traditionally been produced by nomads in arid or semi-desert regions and reserved for their own consumption.
But in recent decades, farms have appeared in Gulf countries and global demand has surged, up more than 8 percent year on year in Europe.
With climate change, new countries are also turning to camel farming, from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States.
Camels can live off poor vegetation and consume much less than a cow of the same weight. And because they have no hooves, they cause less damage to the soil.
They can also be used in ecological grazing to clear pastures.
“It is one of the only animal species that survives between minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) and plus 40C,” says Christian Schoettl, president of the French Federation for the Development of Camelids.
The camels of Feignies display beautiful humps that tend to be fatter than those of desert camels.
The only potential issue is humidity — a problem that Job addressed by administering dewormers more often than he would for cattle.
At 17 euros ($19.7) per liter, camel milk remains a luxury product unlikely to replace cow milk anytime soon.
Making cheese from camel milk also requires large quantities of liquid, and its consumption is expected to remain even more marginal for the time being.
“A female camel produces two to three liters per day, every other year,” Job said, or about 10 times less than a Norman cow.
Job has found a workaround, earning his income from selling milk but also tourism — offering camel rides — and from selling the young male camels.
