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Australia’s online safety watchdog has issued a legal notice to Twitter demanding an explanation of what the social media giant is doing to tackle a surge in online hate since Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought the platform. Australia’s eSafety Commission describes itself as the world’s first government agency dedicated to keeping people safer online. The agency said Thursday that it received more complaints about online hate on Twitter in the past 12 months than any other platform and had received an increasing number of reports of serious online abuse since Musk took over the company in October. The Australian agency’s boss, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, said she sent a notice to the San Francisco-based company Wednesday with 36 detailed questions on how Twitter's policies about hateful conduct are enforced. If Twitter does not respond with factual and truthful responses to all questions within 28 days, an Australian judge could fine the company up to 700,000 Australian dollars ($476,000) for every day of delay, Inman Grant said. “The whole idea of the basic online safety expectations is that global companies like Twitter are enforcing their own policies … and that they’ve got people and technology to keep their platforms safe,” Inman Grant said. “They have a Hateful Conduct policy that says you may not directly attack other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, etc., and I want to know if fundamentally they are enforcing this policy and how effectively they are doing so,” she added. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. The eSafety notice followed Musk's announcement in November that he was granting “amnesty” for suspended accounts. This led to 62,000 banned or suspended users being reinstated to the platform, including 75 accounts with more than 1 million followers each, eSafety said in a statement. Twitter’s global workforce had been slashed under Musk from 8,000 employees to 1,500, with trust and safety teams shed. Twitter had removed all public policy staff from Australia. Inman Grant said Indigenous Australians, disabled people and those who identify as LGBTQ+ experience online hate at double the rate of other Australians. “A third of all reports into our office of online hate are coming from Twitter. It’s been a huge surge since October '22 when Elon Musk took over," Inman Grant told Australian Broadcasting Corp. "Twitter has always been fiery in terms of discourse, but it’s turned into an absolute bin fire.” “A lot of the changes to the algorithms have made people feel like you see more toxicity, much more coarse discourse. But without lifting the hood and using these transparency powers, we really don’t know what’s happening and this is where we’re trying to get to the bottom of things,” she added. Australians are not alone in their increasingly hostile experience with Twitter. American advocacy group GLAAD said last week that all major social media platforms do poorly at protecting LGBTQ+ users from hate speech and harassment. But Twitter was the worst. In its annual Social Media Safety Index, GLAAD gave Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter low or failing scores, saying the platforms don’t do enough to keep their users safe. That said, most improved from a year ago. Twitter was the only exception. GLAAD’s scorecard called it “the most dangerous platform for LGBTQ people” and the only one that saw its scores decline from last year — to 33% from 45% a year ago. British rights group Center for Countering Digital Hate found instances of racial slurs on Twitter soared immediately after Musk bought the company. A racial epithet used to attack Black people was found more than 26,000 times in the week following Musk’s takeover — three times the average for 2022, the center found. The center also found users who pay for a Twitter Blue Check seemed to enjoy a level of impunity from the platform’s rules on online hate. Inman Grant chairs the Global Online Safety Regulators Network, which was formed with British, Irish and Fijian online harms regulators in November to coordinate on online safety issues. Each of the 27 European Union states will soon have its own online harms regulator. Inman Grant said Australia was discussing with other national regulators sharing information and how they might take joint regulatory actions. “We will be working with other governments to make sure that we’re shining a spotlight on these companies and getting them to improve their standards in doing the right thing,” she said.

The race against time to find a submersible that disappeared on its way to the Titanic wreckage site entered a new phase of desperation on Thursday morning as the final hours of oxygen possibly left on board the tiny vessel ticked off the clock. Rescuers have rushed more ships and vessels to the site of the disappearance, hoping underwater sounds they detected for a second straight day might help narrow their search in the urgent, international mission. But the crew had only a four-day oxygen supply when the vessel, called the Titan, set off around 6 a.m. Sunday. Also read: What we know about the Titanic-bound submersible that's missing with 5 people onboard Even those who expressed optimism warned that many obstacles remain: from pinpointing the vessel’s location, to reaching it with rescue equipment, to bringing it to the surface — assuming it’s still intact. And all that has to happen before the passengers’ oxygen supply runs out. The full area being searched was twice the size of Connecticut in waters as deep as 13,200 feet (4,020 meters). Captain Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District said authorities were still holding out hope of saving the five passengers onboard. “This is a search and rescue mission, 100%,” he said Wednesday. Also read:  The area of the North Atlantic where the Titan vanished Sunday is also prone to fog and stormy conditions, making it an extremely challenging environment to conduct a search-and-rescue mission, said Donald Murphy, an oceanographer who served as chief scientist of the Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol. Meanwhile, newly uncovered allegations suggest there had been significant warnings made about vessel safety during the submersible’s development. Frederick said while the sounds that have been detected offered a chance to narrow the search, their exact location and source hadn’t yet been determined. “We don’t know what they are, to be frank,” he said. Also read: Lost necklace unearthed in Titanic wreck after a century Retired Navy Capt. Carl Hartsfield, now the director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Systems Laboratory, said the sounds have been described as “banging noises,” but he warned that search crews “have to put the whole picture together in context and they have to eliminate potential manmade sources other than the Titan.” The report was encouraging to some experts because submarine crews unable to communicate with the surface are taught to bang on their submersible’s hull to be detected by sonar. The U.S. Navy said in a statement Wednesday that it was sending a specialized salvage system that’s capable of hoisting “large, bulky and heavy undersea objects such as aircraft or small vessels.” The Titan weighs 20,000 pounds (9,071 kilograms). The U.S. Navy’s Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System is designed to lift up to 60,000 pounds (27,216kilograms), the Navy said on its website. Also read: Himalayan glaciers could lose 80% of their volume if global warming isn't controlled, study finds Lost aboard the vessel are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert. OceanGate Expeditions oversaw the mission. Authorities reported the 22-foot (6.7-meter) carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night, setting off the search in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s. Officials have said the vessel had a 96-hour oxygen supply, giving them a deadline of early Thursday morning to find and raise the Titan. Frank Owen, a submarine search and rescue expert, said the estimated oxygen supply is a useful “target” for searchers, but is only based on a “nominal amount of consumption.” Owen said the diver on board the Titan would likely be advising passengers to “do anything to reduce your metabolic levels so that you can actually extend this.” At least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate’s submersible to the Titanic wreck site in 2021 and 2022, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that oversees matters involving the Titanic shipwreck. One of the company’s first customers characterized a dive he made to the site two years ago as a “kamikaze operation.” “Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a sheet of metal for a floor. You can’t stand. You can’t kneel. Everyone is sitting close to or on top of each other,” said Arthur Loibl, a retired businessman and adventurer from Germany. “You can’t be claustrophobic.” During the 2.5-hour descent and ascent, the lights were turned off to conserve energy, he said, with the only illumination coming from a fluorescent glow stick. The dive was repeatedly delayed to fix a problem with the battery and the balancing weights. In total, the voyage took 10.5 hours. OceanGate has been criticized for the use of a simple commercially available video game controller to steer the Titan. But the company has said that many of the vessel’s parts are off-the-shelf because they have proved to be dependable. “It’s meant for a 16-year-old to throw it around,” and is “super durable,” Rush told the CBC in an interview last year while he demonstrated by throwing the controller around the Titan’s tiny cabin. He said a couple of spares are kept on board “just in case.” The submersible had seven backup systems to return to the surface, including sandbags and lead pipes that drop off and an inflatable balloon. Jeff Karson, a professor emeritus of earth and environmental sciences at Syracuse University, said the temperature is just above freezing, and the vessel is too deep for human divers to get to it. The best chance to reach the submersible could be to use a remotely operated robot on a fiber optic cable, he said. “I am sure it is horrible down there,” Karson said. “It is like being in a snow cave and hypothermia is a real danger.” Documents show that OceanGate had been warned there might be catastrophic safety problems posed by the way the experimental vessel was developed. David Lochridge, OceanGate’s director of marine operations, said in a 2018 lawsuit that the company’s testing and certification was insufficient and would “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible.” The company insisted that Lochridge was “not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan.” The firm also says the vessel under development was a prototype, not the now-missing Titan. The Marine Technology Society, which describes itself as “a professional group of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers, and educators,” also expressed concern that year in a letter to Rush, OceanGate’s chief executive. The society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers. The New York Times first reported on those documents. The passengers lost on the Titan are British adventurer Hamish Harding; Pakistani nationals Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, whose eponymous firm invests across the country; and French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet. Retired Navy Vice Admiral Robert Murrett, who is now deputy director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law at Syracuse University, said the disappearance underscores the dangers associated with operating in deep water and the recreational exploration of the sea and space. “I think some people believe that because modern technology is so good, that you can do things like this and not have accidents, but that’s just not the case,” he said. End/UNB/AP/MB

The death toll from an explosion which ripped through a barbecue restaurant in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on Wednesday night, has risen to 31, local authorities said Thursday. The blast happened at around 8:40 p.m. on a busy street in Xingqing District of Yinchuan, due to a leakage of liquefied petroleum gas from the operating area of a barbecue restaurant. N’ganj re-rolling mill explosion: Death toll now 7 The explosion resulted in 38 casualties, with 31 people confirmed dead despite rescue efforts, while seven individuals, including one in critical condition, are currently receiving medical treatment, according to Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China. 12 die in explosion, helicopter crash during Chinese holiday

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated Myanmar’s Ministry of Defense and two regime-controlled financial institutions that “facilitate much of the foreign currency exchange within Burma (Myanmar) and enable transactions between the military regime and foreign markets, including for the purchase and import of arms and related materiel,” according to a press release of the treasury department, dated June 21, 2023. Also read: Do more to cut Myanmar military's revenue, arms supply: UN to countries A statement from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reads: “Today, the United States is designating Burma’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) and two of Burma’s largest regime-controlled banks, Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB). MFTB and MICB have been instrumental in facilitating the regime’s use of foreign currency to procure arms from abroad for the MoD. These banks also allow Burma’s revenue-generating state-owned enterprises to easily access international markets using the banks’ offshore accounts, providing significant financial resources for the regime to exploit for military purposes.” Also read: UN human rights expert calls for targeted sanctions on Myanmar “The United States will not waver in its support for the people of Burma as they seek peace, justice, and a genuine democratic future for their country. We will continue to engage with our partners and allies in the broader international community to constrain the regime’s ability to exploit the international financial system to advance its violence and prolong the crisis, while restricting the regime’s ability to transfer hard currency to Russia’s defense sector,” the statement adds. Also read: Myanmar: UN expert calls for emergency coalition to end junta's 'reign of terror'

The president of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Alvaro Lario has called on world leaders attending the New Global Financing Pact Summit to prioritize the needs of small-scale farmers, who play a crucial role in feeding the world while facing poverty. The summit, taking place in Paris on June 22-23, aims to reshape the global financial architecture to ensure equitable access to financing for sustainable development, climate adaptation, and the transition to net-zero emissions in low- and middle-income countries, according to an IFAD press release. Lario emphasized the importance of building a more inclusive global financial order, as the current system often leaves the world's poorest countries struggling to finance agricultural development and support small-scale farmers. Also read: Poorest countries show strong support for IFAD in global efforts to combat hunger and poverty “This summit is an opportunity to build a consensus for a more inclusive global financial order which currently leaves the world’s poorest countries struggling to finance their own agricultural development and, most importantly, the small-scale farmers they depend on to feed local and national populations," said Lario. "Collectively, these farmers grow one third of the world’s food, making investments in their economic wellbeing and resilience to climate change, critical to global food security and stability,” he added. While Official Development Assistance (ODA) directed toward agriculture has remained stagnant at 4% to 6% for the past two decades, developing countries are facing increasing challenges in financing their agricultural sectors due to tighter credit conditions, rising costs, and global inflation. Also read: IFAD President lauds Bangladesh's remarkable achievements in food production, climate-smart agriculture Presently, at least 54 developing economies are experiencing severe debt exposure. Lario stressed the need for developing nations to have greater access to highly concessional financing. Multilateral organizations must optimize their balance sheets, offer more favorable financing terms, and possess suitable instruments to address emerging challenges. “Developed countries must also ambitiously replenish multilaterals so that they can effectively deliver development results, reduce hunger and poverty and build resilience within country programmes,” he said. Also read: G20: IFAD President Alvaro Lario advocates for increased investment in rural transformation “When fully replenished, institutions like IFAD can leverage significant additional financing to really make a difference in rural areas,” Lario added. Since 1977, IFAD has transformed every donor dollar into six dollars of investment in rural areas, empowering millions of rural families through increased food production, climate resilience, and improved access to knowledge, markets, and technologies, reads a press release. Between 2019 and 2021, IFAD investments positively impacted the incomes of 77.4 million rural people and enhanced food security for 57 million individuals. Lario also emphasized the critical role of the private sector in development and climate action. We need to develop the financial instruments and create the right regulatory and policy environment that reduce risks and incentivise the private sector to invest,” said the IFAD president. Mobilizing private sector funds is crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the targets of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Public funding alone cannot meet the estimated $330 billion required to eradicate hunger by 2030 or effectively combat global warming, according to IFAD.  During the summit, Alvaro Lario said he will advocate for expediting progress on key global initiatives, including the reallocation of the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights through international financial institutions. This transformative measure would convert liquidity assets into vehicles for climate action and development investments, he said. According to IFAD, small-scale farmers, responsible for growing one third of the world's food and up to 70% in low- and middle-income countries, face significant challenges related to poverty and food insecurity. “With 80% of the world's poorest individuals residing in rural areas of developing countries, and three billion rural people already impacted by climate change and extreme weather events, urgent action is necessary to support their livelihoods and enhance global food security,” the press release read.  

China on Wednesday called comments by U.S. President Joe Biden referring to Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a dictator “extremely absurd and irresponsible,” as a new rift threatened to upset tentative efforts to stabilize the relationship between the two countries. The clash of words comes just over a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded a visit to Beijing that sought to break the ice in a relationship that has hit a historical low. While both sides saw those talks as productive, they did not result in any significant breakthroughs beyond an agreement to return to a broad agenda for cooperation and competition. Also read: Blinken and Xi pledge to stabilize deteriorated US-China ties, but China rebuffs the main US request Biden, at a fundraiser in California on Tuesday night, said Xi was embarrassed by recent tensions over a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down by the Air Force over the East Coast. “That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened,” Biden said. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, responding to a question about Biden’s remarks, said they “go totally against facts and seriously violate diplomatic protocol, and severely infringe on China’s political dignity.” Also read: Xi meets Blinken in Beijing “It is a blatant political provocation. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition,” Mao said at a daily briefing. “The U.S. remarks are extremely absurd and irresponsible,” Mao said. Mao reiterated China's contention that the balloon was for meteorological research and had been accidentally blown off course. “The U.S. should have handled it in a calm and professional manner,” she said. "However, the U.S. distorted facts and used forces to hype up the incident, fully revealing its nature of bullying and hegemony.” Also read: US ‘does not support’ Taiwan independence, Blinken says Biden has previously used the term dictator, along with war criminal, to refer to Russian President Vladimir Putin over his country's invasion of Ukraine. While Xi heads a country formally named the People's Republic of China, he faces no limits on his terms as head of state, commander of the military and leader of the ruling Communist Party, which brooks no challenges to its authority. Blinken’s visit, during which he met with Xi, was aimed at easing tensions between the two superpowers. The trip was originally scheduled for February but was put on hold after the balloon incident. While the visit marked a return to high-level contacts between the sides, China continues to refuse talks between their militaries. In recent days, the U.S. says Chinese warplanes and naval ships have maneuvered in ways that threaten their U.S. counterparts in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, despite agreements between them on protocols for avoiding such incidents. During Blinken's visit, China reiterated its strong objections to U.S. support for the self-governing island democracy of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory. The U.S. has also sought to block China's access to cutting-edge computer chip manufacturing technology that could be used for military purposes and accused Beijing of stealing American intellectual property. In his comments at the fundraising event for his 2024 re-election campaign, Biden said he believed the balloon incident had caught Xi unaware. “It was blown off course up through Alaska and then down through the United States. And he didn’t know about it,” Biden said. “When it got shot down, he was very embarrassed. He denied it was even there.” Xi was likely upset by the implication that he hadn't been fully informed about the facts surrounding the balloon incident, said Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the London University School of Oriental and African Studies and a longtime observer of Chinese politics. “My sense is that Xi may not want to overreact and put the relationship back on ice again,” Tsang said in an e-mail. Despite their sharp political divide, the countries continue to have deep economic and cultural links. Bilateral trade passed $690 billion last year and an estimated 300,000 Chinese are believed to be studying in the U.S., shoring up American institutions that have come under financial pressure. After meeting with Xi on Monday, Blinken acknowledged entrenched differences. “We have no illusions about the challenges of managing this relationship. There are many issues on which we profoundly, even vehemently, disagree,” he said. Xi sounded a similar note but suggested the rivalry could be overcome. “The competition among major countries is not in line with the trend of the times and cannot solve the problems of the United States itself and the challenges facing the world,” he told Blinken. “China respects the interests of the United States and will not challenge or supplant the United States. Similarly, the United States should also respect China and not harm its legitimate rights and interests.”

There will be plenty of time to discuss global tensions during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the U.S. this week. But he's starting his day Wednesday by highlighting a pursuit of inner tranquility. After arriving in New York on Tuesday afternoon and holding private meetings, the leader of the world's most populous nation kicks off his public schedule Wednesday with a group yoga session on the United Nations' north lawn. U.N. General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and many other diplomats and U.N. officials are expected to attend the event. It honors the International Day of Yoga, which Modi persuaded the U.N. to designate in 2014 as an annual observance. The yoga-themed U.N. visit is a savvy and symbolic choice for a premier who has made the ancient discipline both a personal practice and a diplomatic tool. First practiced by Hindu sages, yoga has now become one of India's most popular cultural exports, and Modi has energetically promoted it as a — rather literal — feel-good way of stretching the country's influence abroad. Modi, a Hindu nationalist, casts himself as an ascetic who adheres to his religion’s strictures on vegetarianism and yoga. He has posted social media videos over the years of himself practicing yoga poses (to say nothing of providing live visuals of him meditating in a Himalayan mountain cave after national elections in 2019). Modi last visited the U.N. during the 2021 General Assembly, where he said that “all kinds of questions have been raised about the U.N.” and its effectiveness on matters ranging from climate change to the coronavirus pandemic to terrorism. Read: Biden hosting Modi as US sees India as a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come He also made a point of staking out his country's place in the international community, noting that “every sixth person in the world is Indian.” In the years since his speech, India surpassed China to claim the world's largest population, at 1.425 billion. India has long sought a permanent seat on the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful organ. India has been elected to a two-year seat several times, most recently for 2021-22. Modi heads to Washington later Wednesday for a three-day visit that includes an Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden, an address to a joint meeting of Congress, a White House state dinner and more. Among the plans: a State Department luncheon hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris, whose mother was born in India, and by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The visit comes as both countries are interested in strengthening ties. The U.S. has been looking to India, also the world's biggest democracy, as a key partner on matters that include checking China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region. India, meanwhile, wants to bolster military and trade connections with the U.S. However, human rights advocates are urging Biden to press Modi on human rights issues, both international and within India. Modi has faced criticism over legislation that fast-tracks citizenship for some migrants but excludes Muslims; a rise in violence against Muslims and other religious minorities by Hindu nationalists; and the recent conviction of India’s top opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, for mocking Modi’s surname. (Gandhi recently visited the U.S. himself, speaking to private organizations and university students.) Read: Modi to lead foreign dignitaries in a session on Int'l Yoga Day at UN Secretariat The Indian government defends its human rights record and insists that the nation's democratic principles remain rock-solid. On Tuesday evening, Modi met with a range of prominent U.S. academics and health experts, scientists and business leaders, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Speaking to media afterwards, Musk said he was excited about India’s future and the opportunities it presented. “I think India has more promise than any large country in the world,” Musk said, adding that he was confident Tesla “will be in India … as soon as humanly possible.” The tech billionaire last month said his company may pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year and that India was an interesting place for it. Read more: Indian PM Narendra Modi invited to address Congress

No one would mistake them for best of friends. But U.S. President Joe Biden, the son of blue-collar Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who rose from tea seller's son to premier, have developed a relationship based on mutual respect of their scrappy backgrounds and a pragmatism about the shared challenges their two countries face. Biden is hosting Modi for a state visit this week as he looks to tighten his relationship with the leader of a nation of 1.4 billion that the U.S. administration sees as a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come. The pomp-filled visit will mark the two leaders' 10th in-person or virtual engagement since Biden became president in 2021. They're expected to meet again in September in India at the Group of 20 summit. The U.S.-India relationship is complicated. There are deep differences over Russia's war in Ukraine and India's human rights record. But the frequent engagement between the leaders is seen by both sides as a reflection that, whatever their personal dynamics, Biden and Modi see the U.S.-India relationship as a defining one in the face of an increasingly assertive China and monumental challenges posed by climate change, artificial intelligence, supply chain resilience and other issues. Read: 41 women die in grisly riot in Honduran prison that president blames on 'mara' gangs "They get along well personally, but even more important, I think both realize it is in the interest of the U.S. and India to advance the relationship," said Arun K. Singh, a former Indian ambassador to the U.S. “For both Biden and Modi, there is a convergence of interests and you can see both leaders are invested personally in moving ties ahead.” Biden and Modi haven't developed the sort of tight bond that former President Barack Obama had with Modi’s predecessor, Manmohan Singh. Singh was the first leader that Obama honored with a state visit during his presidency. In his post-presidency memoir, “A Promised Land,” Obama heaped praise on the former Indian premier as “wise, thoughtful, and scrupulously honest” and credited Singh as the “chief architect of India’s economic transformation." Nor will Biden and Modi be co-headlining raucous stadium rallies like Modi and former President Donald Trump did together in Houston and Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Trump likened Modi to Elvis Presley for his star appeal at a joint rally in Houston in September 2019 that drew about 50,000 to NRG Stadium. The two leaders more than doubled that crowd about five months later with a massive rally at a cricket stadium. In Ahmedabad, Modi praised Trump as a “unique friend of India" and Trump called Modi “an exceptional leader.” Read: US and China are talking at a high level again, but their rivalry remains unchecked Even without big rallies, though, the Biden White House says there is still plenty of evidence that the U.S.-India relationship is growing. Trade between the U.S. and India in 2022 climbed to a record $191 billion. Through the Quad, an international partnership of the U.S., Australia, India and Japan, the countries launched a plan in 2021 to donate 1.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the Indo-Pacific. Earlier this year, the two countries launched the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies that sets the path for collaboration on semiconductor production, developing artificial intelligence, and a loosening of export control rules that could allow U.S. defense contractors to transfer critical technology. U.S.-based General Electric is now awaiting approval from the administration to produce jet engines in India. “I think with Biden you don’t have these explosive warmth moments,” said Richard Rossow, chair of U.S.-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “But the tenor and pace of engagement has escalated quite a bit.” The two leaders — Biden, a center-left Democrat, and Modi, a Hindu nationalist leading the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party — aren't exactly cut from the same political cloth. Still, the leaders have connected over each other's relatively humble beginnings, according to a senior Biden administration official. The prime minister was the third of six children born to Damodardas Modi, who ran a small tea shop at the local railway station in the tiny town of Vadnagar, in the western state of Gujarat. The family struggled to make ends meet, which meant Modi had to help his father run the shop. Biden, who has been in elected office more than half his life, often speaks of his father’s own struggles to maintain a foothold in the middle class as shaping his own worldview. Read: Modi to lead foreign dignitaries in a session on Int'l Yoga Day at UN Secretariat Both leaders seem to appreciate each other's “scrappiness," said the official who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Biden-Modi relationship isn't without tension. Biden last year publicly called India’s response to the war in Ukraine “shaky.” India abstained from voting on U.N. resolutions condemning Russia and refused to join the global coalition against Russia. Since the start of the war, the Modi government has also dramatically increased its purchase of Russian oil. Human rights groups and press freedom advocates are also pressing Biden to publicly raise concerns with Modi about democratic backsliding in his country. Modi has faced criticism over legislation amending the country’s citizenship law that fast-tracks naturalization for some migrants but excludes Muslims, a rise in violence against Muslims and other religious minorities by Hindu nationalists, and the recent conviction of India’s top opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, for mocking Modi’s surname. But in the leadup to the trip, Biden administration officials have sought to focus on the countries' “shared values" and India's critical role in finding solutions to some of the biggest problems facing the world. “If you want to make a dent in the energy transition, it’s not even remotely possible to do that without India,” Amos Hochstein, a senior White House adviser, told U.S. and Indian business leaders at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce gathering ahead of Modi’s visit. Hochstein added, “I think what brings Prime Minister Modi and President Biden together is great ambition.” Biden and Modi have had their lighter moments. When Modi came to Washington in September 2021, he brought with him documents about people with the last name “Biden” in India. “Are we related?” Biden asked. Modi without missing a beat responded jokingly, "Yes." At the Group of Seven summit in Japan last month, Modi greeted Biden by wrapping him in a tight hug that grabbed headlines around India. Nirupama Rao, a former Indian ambassador to the United States and China, says Modi has an “aptitude and a talent” for the softer skills of politics. It's something that the Indian premier and Biden share, she said. “This state visit, I think, affords an opportunity and provides the backdrop perhaps for Mr. Modi to develop a very good understanding with President Biden and vice versa for Mr. Biden,” Rao said.

A grisly riot at a women’s prison in Honduras Tuesday left at least 41 women dead, most burned to death, in violence the country's president blamed on “mara” street gangs that often wield broad power inside penitentiaries. Twenty-six of the victims were burned to death and the remainder shot or stabbed at the prison in Tamara, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, said Yuri Mora, the spokesman for Honduras’ national police investigation agency. At least seven inmates were being treated at a Tegucigalpa hospital. “The forensic teams that are removing bodies confirm they have counted 41,” said Mora. Video clips shown by the government from inside the prison showed several pistols and a heap of machetes and other bladed weapons that were found after the riot. Honduran President Xiomara Castro said the riot was “planned by maras with the knowledge and acquiescence of security authorities.” Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber for years of attacks that killed 3, dies in prison at 81 "I am going to take drastic measures!" Castro wrote in her social media accounts. Prisoners belonging to the feared Barrio 18 gang reportedly burst into a cell block and shot other inmates or set them afire. Relatives awaiting news about inmates gathered outside the morgue in Tegucigalpa. They confirmed that inmates in the prison had told them they lived in fear of the Barrio 18 gang. Johanna Paola Soriano Euceda was waiting for news about her mother Maribel Euceda, and sister, Karla Soriano. Both were on trial for drug trafficking, but were held in the same area as convicted prisoners. Soriano Euceda said they had told her on Sunday that “they (Barrio 18 members) were out of control, they were fighting with them all the time. That was the last time we talked.” Another group of dozens of anxious, angry relatives gathered outside the prison, located in a rural area about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the capital. South Korean arrested for opening plane emergency exit door, faces up to 10 years in prison “We are here dying of anguish, of pain ... we don't have any information,” said Salomón García, whose daughter is an inmate at the facility. Azucena Martinez, whose daughter was also being held at the prison, said “there are a lot of dead, 41 already. We don't know if our relatives are also in there, dead.” Julissa Villanueva, head of the country's prison system, suggested the riot started because of recent attempts by authorities to crack down on illicit activity inside prisons and called Tuesday's violence a reaction to moves "we are taking against organized crime.” “We will not back down,” Villanueva said in a televised address after the riot. Gangs wield broad control inside the country's prisons, where inmates often set their own rules and sell prohibited goods. They were also apparently able to smuggle in guns and other weapons, a recurring problem in Honduran prisons. “The issue is to prevent people from smuggling in drugs, grenades and firearms,” said Honduran human rights expert Joaquin Mejia. “Today's events show that they have not been able to do that.” The riot appears to be the worst tragedy at a female detention center in Central America since 2017, when girls at a shelter for troubled youths in Guatemala set fire to mattresses to protest rapes and other mistreatment at the badly overcrowded institution. The ensuing smoke and fire killed 41 girls. The worst prison disaster in a century also occurred in Honduras, in 2012 at the Comayagua penitentiary, where 361 inmates died in a fire possibly caused by a match, cigarette or some other open flame. Tuesday's riot may increase the pressure on Honduras to emulate the drastic zero-tolerance, no-privileges prisons set in up in neighboring El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele. While El Salvador's crackdown on gangs has given rise to rights violations, it has also proved immensely popular in a country long terrorized by street gangs.

The United States and China may be back to talking at a high level, but their battle for global power and influence remains unchecked and mutual suspicion still runs deep. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken set low goals for his visit to Beijing this week, and he met them. About the most the rivals can hope for these days is to stop things getting much worse. Blinken pointed to difficult days ahead, while China’s foreign ministry warned the relationship was in a downward spiral. “It was clear coming in that the relationship was at a point of instability, and both sides recognized the need to work to stabilize it,” Blinken said of the reason for his trip. “And specifically, we believe that it’s important to establish better lines of communication, open channels of communication, both to address misperceptions, miscalculations and to ensure that that competition doesn’t veer into conflict.” The two-day visit to the Chinese capital helped restore top-level ties, but China rebuffed a U.S. request to resume military-to-military contacts. Neither government appears convinced of the other's honesty. While the two countries say they're not enemies intent on harming each other, they're not pretending to be friends. Blinken and Xi pledge to stabilize deteriorated US-China ties, but China rebuffs the main US request After meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, Blinken acknowledged entrenched differences. “We have no illusions about the challenges of managing this relationship. There are many issues on which we profoundly, even vehemently, disagree,” he said. Xi sounded a similar note, but suggested that the rivalry could be overcome. “The competition among major countries is not in line with the trend of the times and cannot solve the problems of the United States itself and the challenges facing the world,” he told Blinken. “China respects the interests of the United States and will not challenge or supplant the United States. Similarly, the United States should also respect China and not harm its legitimate rights and interests.” Danny Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia during the Obama administration who is currently vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, said these so-called “negative assurances” -– that China respects the U.S. and is not looking to displace the United States. and that the U.S. is not trying to contain or hinder China -– are important to prevent a collapse in ties. Blinken to meet Xi, State Department says, in bid to ease US-China tensions “Both sides clearly used the visit to help stabilize the relationship, which has been lurching toward dangerously intense confrontation,” he said. And, although both the U.S. and China mentioned specific disagreements, especially about Taiwan, Russel said that “the public statements by the two sides were notably positive, particularly by recent standards.” But Washington and Beijing remain deeply suspicious of each other's actions and intentions. From the U.S. perspective, China’s rise has challenged its global position. Washington is racing to repair and shore up its relationships in regions where China has made inroads, particularly Africa and the Indo-Pacific, where the U.S. has opened or plans to open at least five new embassies this year. Behind the scenes, the U.S. believes China has ulterior and perhaps nefarious motives. An internal U.S. State Department document prepared earlier this year that focuses on China’s role at the United Nations and other international organizations said Beijing “believes that the People’s Republic of China must dominate and shape international institutions, standards and values in order to advance both its domestic and global agenda.” “It views the established rules and norms in the U.N. system and other international organizations as privileging Westerns countries, supporting liberal democratic principles, and posing a threat to its monopoly on domestic political power and assertive global ambitions,” said the document, which is marked “SBU,” which means “sensitive but unclassified” and was obtained by The Associated Press. The document accuses China of having “undertaken a systematic campaign to subvert existing principles and standards, promote authoritarian ideology and policy (and) reprioritize economic development over human rights and democratic governance.” In addition, it says China is working “to undermine or reshape international law and standards, institutions, and values to legitimize its own development and governance models, including related to human rights (and) using its economic and political influence to compromise institutions’ transparency, effectiveness, independence and alignment with foundational norms and values.” From the Chinese perspective, the U.S. is clinging to fading glory as the world's lone superpower, and seeking to sabotage China's development and growing international stature by sowing mistrust about Beijing's intentions. China's top diplomat Wang Yi demanded on Monday that the U.S. stop “hyping the ‘China threat theory’" and “urged the United States not to project on China the template that a strong country must seek hegemony.” He also said China should not be judged “in the vein of traditional Western powers,” concluding that a change of perspective “is the key on whether the U.S. policy towards China can truly return to objectivity and rationality.” The rivals are now trying to negotiate more visits: Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang agreed in principle to an invitation to visit Washington and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to visit China later this summer, while there are also discussions about a new meeting between Xi and President Joe Biden. But it’s not clear if China and the U.S. have found any issue of substance they can negotiate about. More talks could help with short-term easing of tensions, but it's unlikely to change the fact of a global rivalry.