World Geography And Politics Daily News

Biden downplays calling Xi a ‘dictator,’ decries ‘hysteria’ over US-China relations

President Biden said Thursday that he doesn’t think that calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator impacted the U.S.-China relationship. “I don’t think it’s had any real consequence,” Biden said during remarks at the White House alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Biden on Tuesday, while fundraising in Kentfield, Calif., said to a group of donors that…

President Biden said Thursday that he doesn’t think that calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator impacted the U.S.-China relationship. “I don’t think it’s had any real consequence,” Biden said during remarks at the White House alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “When we’re talking to our allies and partners around the world, including India, we let the idea of my choosing and avoiding saying what I think is the facts with regards to the relationship … with China is just not something that I’m going to change very much,” Biden said. “I believe —and I’ve said this for some time — that the hysteria about the relationship with China is collapsing and moving, etc., etc.” “We had an incident that caused some confusion, you might say,” he added, referring to the spy balloon being shot down in February. When asked on Thursday if his comments at the fundraiser undermine or complicate the progress the Biden administration has had with China, he replied, “no, no.” And, he added that he expects to meet with Xi “sometime in the future.” The last time the two met one-on-one was in Bali in November. The president also added Thursday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was just in China, had “a great trip.” He previously praised Blinken this week for doing a good job in China to mend the U.S.-Chinese relationship. Updated at 3:32 p.m.

Dismissing tensions, Biden expects to see Xi despite 'dictators' jab

US President Joe Biden voiced confidence Thursday that he would meet Xi Jinping soon, as he refused to back down after angering Beijing by likening the Chinese leader to "dictators."Asked Thursday if he concurred with Biden's assessment of China's leader, Hipkins said "no," adding that "the form of government that China has is a matter for the Chinese people."

US President Joe Biden voiced confidence Thursday that he would meet Xi Jinping soon, as he refused to back down after angering Beijing by likening the Chinese leader to "dictators." Biden rejected "this theory that the relationship with China is collapsing" and praised talks Monday in Beijing between Xi and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who sought to keep tensions between the two powers in check. "Secretary Blinken had a great trip to China. I expect to be meeting with President Xi sometime in the future -- in the near term," Biden told a news conference alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Implicitly doubling down on his earlier comments on Xi, Biden said he would not be "avoiding saying what I think (are) the facts" on China. "It's just not something I'm going to change very much," he said. Biden, speaking two days after Blinken's trip, said that Xi -- who has cemented power like no Chinese leader in decades -- was unaware of an alleged surveillance balloon that flew over the US mainland in February. "The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment is he didn't know it was there," Biden told a political reception at which reporters were present. "I'm serious. That was the great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn't know what happened." The balloon caused a public uproar in the United States, leading Blinken to cancel his originally scheduled trip to Beijing, even though administration officials privately doubted the threat from the object. China's ambassador to Washington, Xie Feng, lodged a protest with the White House and State Department over Biden's "disparaging" remarks about Xi, the Chinese embassy said. Biden's comments are "erroneous, absurd and irresponsible and form an open political provocation," an embassy statement said, echoing condemnation from Beijing. - Chances soon for summit - Biden in his decades in politics has been known for his loose tongue but also for his belief in the power of personal diplomacy. Biden says he spent more than 24 hours talking to Xi when they were both vice presidents, contributing to the cordial mood when they met for the first time as presidents in November on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Bali. Xi and Biden are both set to be in New Delhi in September for the next G20 summit. Biden is also inviting Xi to San Francisco in November when the United States plays host to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The Bali talks came after tensions had soared over then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's defiant visit to Taiwan, with Beijing responding through major military exercises around the self-ruling democracy which it claims. Biden's outspokenness was not shared by at least one fellow Western leader -- New Zealand's Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who is visiting Beijing next week. Asked Thursday if he concurred with Biden's assessment of China's leader, Hipkins said "no," adding that "the form of government that China has is a matter for the Chinese people." The United States frequently criticizes China's human rights record, although it insists it is not seeking regime change. In a speech last year, Blinken said the United States needs to prove that democracy is more effective than Beijing's "party-led centralized system," but added, "We do not seek to transform China’s political system." sct/caw

FDA warns stores to stop selling Elf Bar, the top disposable e-cigarette in the US

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it has sent warning letters to dozens of retailers selling fruit- and candy-flavored disposable e-cigarettes, including the current best-selling brand, Elf Bar. It’s the latest attempt by regulators to crack down on illegal disposable vapes that have poured into U.S. stores in recent years. Last month, the FDA issued orders allowing customs officials to seize shipments of Elf Bar, Esco Bar and two other brands at U.S. ports.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it has sent warning letters to dozens of retailers selling fruit- and candy-flavored disposable e-cigarettes, including the current best-selling brand, Elf Bar. It’s the latest attempt by regulators to crack down on illegal disposable vapes that have poured into U.S. stores in recent years. In the latest action, the FDA said it issued warnings to 189 convenience stores, vape shops and other retailers. “We’re not going to stand by as bad actors are profiting off the sale of illegal products that are addicting our nation’s youth,” Brian King, the FDA’s tobacco center director, said in an interview. “Today’s action is just part of our long-standing efforts to address those products, particularly flavored disposable products.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis showed the number of e-cigarette brands in the U.S. grew from 184 in early 2020 to 269 by late 2022. The rise coincided with the growing popularity of disposable e-cigarettes. The analysis showed disposables’ share of vaping sales more than doubled from 24.7% in early 2020 to nearly 52% by late last year. Researchers from the CDC and a nonprofit, Truth Initiative, analyzed data from IRI, which collects sales records from convenience stores, gas stations and other retailers. Elf Bar was the best-selling disposable in the U.S. and the third-best selling e-cigarette by late last year. Only the reusable e-cigarettes Vuse, from Reynolds American, and Juul had higher sales. The FDA and CDC also cited Elf Bar in a separate report about thousands of calls to U.S. poison centers concerning e-cigarettes, mainly involving children under age 5. When accidentally ingested, liquid nicotine can cause seizures, convulsions, vomiting and brain injury. Reports of nicotine poisoning have gone up and down over the past decade, but government scientists said calls increased more than 30% between last spring and March this year. Brand information was not reported in 95% of cases, but when it was, Elf Bar was the most frequently named product. Despite the missing data, FDA's King called the high number of reports involving Elf Bar a “canary in the coal mine.” “What we want to do is nip things in the bud before they're allowed to expand even further,” King said. Manufactured by a Chinese firm, iMiracle Shenzhen, Elf Bar is part of a wave of copycat e-cigarettes that have followed a path paved by Puff Bar, a popular brand of disposables that briefly racked up hundreds of millions in sales after regulators cracked down on older vaping products like Juul. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Wagner chief accuses Russian top brass of lying to Putin

Mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has accused the Russian top brass of lying to Vladimir Putin about the scale of Russian losses and setbacks in Ukraine.

The president’s confidant portrays Wagner as Russia’s most effective fighting force, and has enjoyed unusual freedom to publicly criticise Moscow – albeit not Putin, on whose support he and Wagner ultimately depend. In a series of audio messages over two days, Mr Prigozhin escalated his criticism of Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, a close Putin ally, and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, by accusing them of hiding Russia’s “very serious losses on the front” from Putin. “Total trash is being put on the president’s desk. Shoigu and Gerasimov have a simple approach. The lie must be monstrous for people to believe it. That is what they are doing,” Mr Prigozhin said in one message. “It’s all being hidden from everyone. Russia will wake up one day and learn that [Russian-annexed] Crimea has been handed over to the Ukrainians. “They are misleading the Russian people and if it keeps on like this, we’ll be left without the most important thing: Russia.” There was no immediate response from the defence ministry, which has ignored previous complaints, in public, at least.

RFK Jr. says Russia ‘acting in good faith’ in Ukraine invasion, US in part to blame for war

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested Wednesday that Russia has been “acting in good faith” in various efforts to end the war in Ukraine and placed blame on the U.S. for the 16-monthlong conflict. Kennedy said in an interview on SiriusXM’s “The Briefing with Steve Scully” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “repeatedly…

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested Wednesday that Russia has been “acting in good faith” in various efforts to end the war in Ukraine and placed blame on the U.S. for the 16-monthlong conflict. Kennedy said in an interview on SiriusXM’s “The Briefing with Steve Scully” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “repeatedly said yes” to negotiations. “In fact, he negotiated, two times he agreed to agreements,” Kennedy said. “He agreed to the Minsk Accord, and then he agreed in 2022 to an agreement that would’ve left Ukraine completely intact.” The Minsk agreements were two separate international agreements in 2014 and 2015 that sought to end fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Fighting never ended entirely, and Putin claimed that the agreements did “not exist” shortly before launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February. It’s not immediately clear what 2022 agreement Kennedy is referring to. However, the long-shot Democratic candidate accused the U.S. of tanking the negotiations in Wednesday’s interview. “It was us who forced [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky to sabotage that agreement. It was already signed,” Kennedy claimed. “So, you know, the Russians were acting in good faith. … So, no, I think we’re the ones who have not been acting in good faith.” Kennedy has previously criticized America’s involvement in the war in Ukraine, suggesting at an event in New Hampshire on Tuesday that the conflict is the “creation of a relentless mentality of foreign domination” on the part of the U.S.

Gadhafi’s detained son taken to hospital due to hunger strike in Lebanon

A son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was briefly taken to hospital this week after his health deteriorated nearly three weeks into a hunger strike to protest his detention without trial in Beirut, a person familiar with the case said Thursday. The health of Hannibal Gadhafi, who has been only drinking small amounts of water, deteriorated on Wednesday the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Gadhafi, who started his hunger strike on June 3, was taken to Beirut’s Hotel-Dieu de France hospital on Wednesday after suffering a drop in blood pressure and inflammation in the spine.

BEIRUT (AP) — A son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was briefly taken to hospital this week after his health deteriorated nearly three weeks into a hunger strike to protest his detention without trial in Beirut, a person familiar with the case said Thursday. The health of Hannibal Gadhafi, who has been only drinking small amounts of water, deteriorated on Wednesday the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Gadhafi was given serum, antibiotics and food supplements and after his health stabilized he was taken back to the jail where he is held in Beirut, the person said. A doctor checked on Gadhafi in his cell on Thursday and he is in stable condition, the person said. He had been suffering back pain due to being held in a small room where he cannot move freely or exercise. He was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information on the whereabouts of prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr, who went missing in Libya 45 years ago. Lebanese police later announced it had collected Hannibal from the northeastern city of Baalbek where he was being held. He has been detained in a Beirut jail without trial since then. The disappearance of al-Sadr in 1978 has been a long-standing sore point in Lebanon. The cleric’s family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, though most Lebanese presume al-Sadr is dead. He would be 94 years old. Al-Sadr was the founder of the Amal group, Arabic for “hope,” and an acronym for the militia’s Arabic name, the Lebanese Resistance Brigades. The group later fought in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. Lebanon’s powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads the group. Most of al-Sadr’s followers are convinced that Moammar Gadhafi ordered al-Sadr killed in a dispute over Libyan payments to Lebanese militias. Libya has maintained that the cleric and his two traveling companions left Tripoli in 1978 on a flight to Rome and suggested he was a victim of a power struggle among Shiites. Gadhafi was killed by opposition fighters in 2011, ending his four-decade rule of the north African country. Hannibal Gadhafi was born two years before al-Sadr disappeared.