US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on the last day of his China tour Friday, where he stressed that it was important to manage bilateral relations responsibly.

"We are committed to maintaining and strengthening lines of communication to advance that agenda, and again deal responsibly with our differences so we avoid any miscommunications, any misperceptions, any miscalculations," Blinken said at a news conference.

Xi told Blinken the two "countries should be partners, not rivals," Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. 

"There are still a number of issues that need to be resolved, and there is still room for further efforts," CCTV cited the Chinese leader as having told Blinken. 

"We hope the US can also take a positive view of China's development," Xi said. "When this fundamental problem is solved... relations can truly stabilize, get better, and move forward." 

Blinken discussed concerns about "PRC support to the Russian defense industrial base" as well as Taiwan, the South China Sea and the situation in Middle East, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

US-China economic and tech competition 

Blinken said it was important to ensure healthy competition on economic and technology fronts. 

China is responsible for one-third of global production but one-tenth of global demand, which leads to a trade mismatch, Blinken said. 

Chinese goods are sold for lower prices, and that's something the US "stands against," he said.

China's multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the US, along with accusations of intellectual property theft, have long been sources of friction in bilateral relations.

It's not just a US concern, but also one of European partners, Blinken said.

"It is not about containing China or cutting off trade and investment," it is also about making sure trading practices proceed "fairly," he added.

China's support for Russia 

Regarding China's support for Russia's defense base, Blinken said he was "extremely" clear in expressing US concerns during the visit, adding that China has demonstrated in the past that it can take positive action. 

"It is now absolutely critical" that China stops supporting Russia as it has been, Blinken said. 

The US has said Chinese support comes in the form of arms, but also machines that can be retooled for military purposes.

European partners are equally wary about the situation, Blinken said.

"Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China's support," he added. 

State Department officials said before the meeting began that Washington was prepared to act against Chinese companies helping to resupply Russia's defense industry.

Relations have improved the last year but still 'fragile'

Earlier in the day, Blinken met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing's ancient gardens for a five-and-a-half-hour discussion on a number of contentious issues.

After the talks, Wang said US-China ties were "beginning to stabilize."

However, Wang added that differences persist and continue to grow, making talks more difficult.

"The negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building and the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions," Wang said.

Blinken sounded a positive note on recent progress made in bilateral cooperation, including in military communications, counter-narcotics and artificial intelligence.

DW correspondent Fabian Kretschmer explained that the relationship was "fragile" given the two countries continue to compete on trade and tech fronts.

Still, relations have improved since early last year when the US government accused China of trying to collect sensitive information by flying an alleged spy balloon over US airspace, Kretschmer said.

Differences over South China Sea, Taiwan

China's determination to assert its disputed sovereignty over the entirety of the South China Sea has sparked numerous clashes with its neighbors, including countries that are allies of the US. One such country and US ally is the Philippines.

Wang outlined, without being specific, Chinese complaints about US policies on the South China Sea and Taiwan. "China's legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges," he said.

Blinken said he raised Beijing's "dangerous actions in the South China Sea" and "made clear that while the US will continue to de-escalate tensions, our defense commitments to the Philippines remain ironclad."

Blinken added that the Biden administration placed a premium on US-China dialogue even on issues of dispute. He said there had been some progress in relations in the past year, but added that talks would continue to be difficult.

The meeting between the top diplomats followed a summit in November when US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in San Francisco.

Ahead of the meetings, Wang asked: "Should China and the United States keep in the right direction of moving forward with stability, or return to a downward spiral?"

US seeking 'active diplomacy'

Blinken's visit to China, which began Wednesday, came as US President Joe Biden signed a bill earmarking $8 billion (€7.5 billion) to counter China's growing aggressiveness toward Taiwan and in the South China Sea. 

It also follows a decision by the US government that seeks to force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform.

Despite the contentious issues, Blinken said he would be looking for "active diplomacy."

He added that the countries should be clear "about the areas where we have differences — at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations."

"That really is a shared responsibility that we have not only for our own people, but for people around the world," he said.

rm,km/sms (Reuters, AFP, AP) 

The Canadian province of British Columbia is reversing its policy of allowing the open use of hard drugs in public.

Premier David Eby said Friday that police will soon have the power again to enforce drug use laws in all public places, including hospitals, restaurants, parks, and beaches.

It brings to an end a much-criticized pilot program that allowed the personal use of some illegal drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, heroin, morphine, and fentanyl. 

The program launched in January last year, to remove the stigma associated with drug use that keeps people from seeking help, was supposed to run for three years. 

'Addiction a health issue'

On Friday, Premier Eby said he still believed addiction is a health issue and "not a criminal laws issue."

"But the compassion for people who are struggling does not mean anything goes," he said. He expressed empathy for those struggling with addiction, but insisted public safety is paramount.

"We’re taking action to give police the enforcement tools they need to keep parks, hospitals and transit safe from public drug use," the premier said on X, formerly Twitter.

Concerns over public disorder and drug use

The move comes after Vancouver's deputy police chief, Fiona Wilson, last week testified at a parliamentary committee about having "absolutely no authority to address problematic drug use" under the decriminalization pilot.

"If you have someone who is with their family at the beach, and there's a person next to them smoking crack cocaine, it's not a police matter," she told the House of Commons health committee.

Police will have the power to ask drug users to leave an area or seize drugs and "only arrest for simple possession of illicit drugs in exceptional circumstances." 

Drug use will still be allowed in private home or at supervised consumption or drug-checking sites.

ss/lo (AP, AFP, Reuters)

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Friday that pasteurized milk is safe, despite the recent outbreak of bird flu affecting herds of cows in the country.

It comes a day after they said one in five retail milk samples tested positive for viral fragments.

Additional tests showed that the pasteurization process killed the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) causing concern.

Preliminary results indicated "pasteurization is effective in inactivating HPAI," the FDA said on Friday.

Risk to public remains low

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed dairy cows in Colorado tested positive for bird flu, following earlier infections in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Idaho, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Dakota.

One person, a Texas farm worker, has been infected with bird flu and suffered mild symptoms.

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization said the risk to the public remains low. It is higher for those who are near infected animals.

According to the FDA's Friday release, information continues "to show no uptick of human cases of flu and no cases of H5N1, specifically, beyond the one known case."

Congress seeking further action

Despite that the US lawmakers want a stronger response from President Joe Biden's administration.

"Containing this before it spreads among humans is critical," Republican Senator Mitt Romney said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"Given lessons learned from COVID, this federal response is insufficient."

Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, a significant dairy state with no reported cases, has urged the USDA to "quickly deploy additional resources in states that have the opportunity to prevent the disease from entering herds."

In response, the White House has said that it is monitoring the avian flu situation.

An "immediate response team" had been launched to ensure the safety of the nation's food supply, monitor trends to mitigate risk and prevent the virus' spread.

Starting on Monday, the USDA will require dairy cows to test negative for bird flu before they are moved across state lines.

km/lo (AFP, Reuters)

An emergency exit slide fell off a Delta Air Lines Boeing on Friday shortly after takeoff from New York.

Delta said the Boeing 767 pilots felt a vibration in the plane, circled back, and landed safely at JFK airport.

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the latest incident involving a Boeing aircraft. 

Plane returned to JFK without further incident

"As nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, Delta flight crews enacted their extensive training and followed procedures to return to JFK," the airline said.

There were 176 passengers, two pilots, and five flight attendants on board the flight, which was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles.

They declared an emergency so the flight could be  routed quickly back to JFK airport.

Boeing has faced increased scrutiny over plane safety after a door plug blew out of a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Its not clear what caused the latest incident. 

The plane is now out of service and is being evaluated.  

km/lo (AP, Reuters)

ByteDance denied reports it intends to sell its popular TikTok app within the United States, after US President Joe Biden signed into law a legislation that would effectively ban the app should it not divest from the Chinese tech giant.

"ByteDance does not have any plans to sell TikTok," the company said, as the issue around the ban of TikTok further instigated rising tensions between Beijing and Washington.

During a visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China on Friday, Chinese chief diplomat Wang Yi warned of an increase in the "negative factors" in the relationship between the two countries, claiming that China's right to develop was being "unreasonably suppressed."

What did ByteDance say about a potential TikTok sale?

The Information, a tech-focused US news site, had reported that ByteDance was considering selling its popular app within the US, albeit without its secret sauce — the powerful algorithm that recommends videos to users.

"Foreign media reports about ByteDance exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue," ByteDance posted Thursday on Toutiao, a Chinese-language platform it owns.

TikTok argues it has spent some $1.5 billion (approximately €1.4 billion) on "Project Texas," which would store US data inside the United States. Critics, however, argue data storage is only part of the problem, and that the algorithm must be disconnected from ByteDance.

Even if a sale were to go through, it would be unlikely that the algorithm would be included. A recent Chinese law designated such algorithms as protected technology after former US President Donald Trump attempted to ban TikTok in 2020.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the social media company would put up a legal fight in court against the US law calling for its divestment from Chinese ownership, describing the law as a "ban."

Why is Washington trying to ban TikTok?

The newly signed law, which was passed through Congress in conjunction with a large-scale military aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, gives Chinese owner ByteDance nine months to sell the app, with a potential three-month extension if a sale was underway.

Under the law, ByteDance would have to sell the app or be excluded from Apple and Google's app stores in the United States.

TikTok is likely to challenge the bill on the basis of the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to freedom of speech, while some of TikTok's 170 million US users are also expected to take legal action.

US and other Western officials have claimed the social media platform allows Chinese authorities to collect data, spy on users and act as a conduit to spread propaganda. Beijing and ByteDance have both denied the allegations.

A number of Chinese national security laws compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.

TikTok has denied that it could be used as a tool for the Chinese government or that it has ever shared US user data with Chinese authorities, vowing never to do so even if asked.

rmt/sms (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

The announcement by the US on Wednesday that it had already provided Ukraine with long-range missiles has drawn focus to the ongoing debate in Germany over the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces. 

The US weapons system, called Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), has a range of up to 300 kilometers (180 miles).

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with the majority of German lawmakers, have repeatedly refused to send Ukraine long-range Taurus weapons system, arguing that doing so would bring Germany into direct conflict with Russia. 

On Wednesday at a press conference alongside UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Scholz reiterated his opposition to providing Taurus missiles. 

"My decision will not change," Scholz said, hours before the US disclosed it had quietly delivered ATACMS as part of an assistance package in March.

An unnamed senior US defense official on Thursday told reporters that delivering Taurus was up to Germany, but that given the US decision on supplying ATACMS, and similar decisions in London and Paris to provide long-range cruise missiles, "we would certainly hope that this could be a factor," on persuading Germany to change its mind. 

'It's time' to send Taurus to Ukraine, says CDU opposition

Chancellor Scholz's position has drawn harsh criticism from the conservative opposition CDU/CSU bloc. Others in his ruling coalition, namely the environmentalist Greens and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), are also in favor of sending the weapons.

"From my point of view, this is a very long-range weapon," Scholz told lawmakers in March. "Given the significance of not losing control over targets, this weapon could not be used without the deployment of German soldiers." 

 

Johann Wadephul, CDU deputy chairman in the German parliament responsible for foreign affairs and defense, said his party had been campaigning for months for the delivery of Taurus to Ukraine, but has so far failed to convince Scholz.

"It's now really the time to send Taurus because they are comparable to the ATACMS systems sent from the US, and they are very much needed in Ukraine," Wadephul told DW.

The Taurus missiles can make a difference, the politician said. "They have a little bit longer range than the American systems, and they are able to reach their their aims in a very sophisticated way," he said.

The Taurus KEPD-350 missile is considered one of the Bundeswehr's most modern weapon systems.

The missile, fired from the air by fighter jets, travels at almost the speed of sound and can strike targets as far as 500 kilometers (310 miles) away.

"It's not a silver bullet but Ukraine needs to really go deeper, strike deeper into the Russian head ground," Wadephul said.

Asked about Scholz's refusal to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine, Wadephul criticized the chancellor's "stubborn position."

"To stop a person like [Russian President Vladimir Putin], you need strengths, you need clearness and you need the will to win," he said.

How important are ATACMS missiles to Ukraine?

Yesterday, a US official said that the long-range ATACMS missiles were used for the first time on April 17 in a strike on a Russian airfield in occupied Crimea, about 65 kilometers (103 miles) from the Ukrainian front lines.

While the precision strikes behind Russian lines can make some Russian positions more vulnerable, the overall strategic value is limited, as Ukraine needs air defense systems to defend against Russian strikes on critical infrastructure, according to Marina Miron, from the Department of War Studies at London's King's College.

Miron told DW that ATACMS is an offensive weapon that is well-suited for destroying specific hard targets, such as command posts.

"But given small number of missiles that Ukraine has, they will have to choose the targets very carefully," Miron added.

She cautioned that ATACMS is only one part of a "very long equation" and Ukrainians continue to lack other essential equipment like artillery shells and air defense systems.

"While Ukraine will try to orchestrate those surgical attacks using the small number of ATACAMS they have at their disposal, the Russians will be pounding critical Ukrainian infrastructure with impunity because Ukraine does not have the necessary air defenses," she said.

"I don't think these ATACAMS will change the battlefield dynamics dramatically," she added.

Written with material from AFP news agency

Edited by: Wesley Rahn 

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

A New York appeals court on Thursday overturned 2020 sex crime charges against former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein and ordered a new trial.

The court said in a 4-3 decision that it found errors in the landmark trial that helped drive the #MeToo movement. 

Why was the New York Weinstein ruling overturned?

New York's Court of Appeals argued that the previous ruling had committed serious errors by admitting invalid testimony.

"We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes," the court's majority opinion said.

"The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial," it declared.

"It is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant's character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges lodged against them," the court said.

In making the appeal, Weinstein's lawyers had argued that judge James Burke swayed the trial by allowing three women to testify that weren't part of the case.

Dissenting Judge Madeline Singas said that the majority was "whitewashing the facts to conform to a he-said/she-said narrative."

She said that this continued a "disturbing trend of overturning juries' guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence."

"The majority's determination perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence and allows predators to escape accountability," she argued.

Weinstein accusers call reversal 'unjust'

"The news today is not only disheartening, but it's profoundly unjust," said a group of women called the "silence breakers" who banded together to reveal sexual misconduct against Weinstein and others. 

"But this ruling does not diminish the validity of our experiences or our truth; it's merely a setback," the group said in a statement. "We will continue to fight for justice for survivors everywhere."

Manhattan district attorney spokesperson Emily Tuttle said the office would "do everything in its power" to retry the case, and "remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault."

Arthur Aidala, the head of Weinstein's legal team, told reporters that "we knew that Harvey Weinstein did not get a fair trial."

"There are some people who are very unpopular in our society, but we still have to apply the law fairly to them," he said. 

What was Harvey Weinstein convicted of?

Weinstein has been serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison following his conviction on charges of criminal sex act for sexually assaulting a production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for attacking an aspiring actress in 2013.

The conviction had stood for more than four years.

The film producer was also convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 in another rape case and was sentenced to 16 years, meaning he will stay in prison even as the New York ruling is overturned. The New York Times reported that Weinstein remains convicted in California, and will be moved to prison there. 

Weinstein's trials came after dozens of allegations against him surfaced in 2017, which prompted a global reckoning over sexual misconduct and abuse in the film industry.

sdi/wmr (AP, Reuters, AFP)

The top US court heard arguments on Thursday from former President Donald Trump's legal team that he should be given immunity from criminal prosecution for any actions taken during his time in office.

However, Trump will not be present at the Supreme Court hearing, as he had hoped, due to another separate trial that he is facing in Manhattan. 

Among his maze of legal problems, the top court's decision could have the biggest impact on Trump's third run for the White House later this year — as well as setting a precedent for future US presidents.

Why is Trump seeking immunity?

The federal case before the Supreme Court pertains to charges that the former president conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which ended with thousands of his supporters storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 while lawmakers met to certify President Joe Biden's victory.

Lower courts have rejected Trump's claims that he is immune from criminal prosecution because he was still president at the time.

The ruling of the nine leading justices — three of whom were appointed by Trump — could be decisive in the outcome of the former president's main legal challenges.

However, if the Supreme Court justices do agree with the lower courts on the question of presidential immunity, their ruling may be too late for the trial to be held before the November elections.

Even if the trial goes ahead on time and Trump is convicted, some legal scholars say he would have the ability to pardon himself, if he wins the November election.

What was said during the arguments?

According to the Washington Post, during three hours of oral arguments, discussion centered on "which allegations in the indictment involve potentially official acts."

Trump's lawyers have argued that former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity for their official acts. 

Several US media outlets reported that judges seemed skeptical of Trump's absolute immunity claims, but that concerns remain over reasoning adopted by the federal appeals court that ruled against Trump. 

Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, said he had "concerns" with the lower court ruling.

"As I read it, it says simply, 'a former president can be prosecuted because he's being prosecuted,'" Roberts said.

"Why shouldn't we either send [the case] back to the Court of Appeals or issue an opinion making clear that that's not the law?"

Sending the case back for review to a lower court would delay any conspiracy trial until after election day in November. The judges' decision whether to allow the trial to go forward without further delay is expected by the end of June. 

Michael Dreeben, representing Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the election conspiracy charges against Trump, said that executive immunity would allow a president to commit "bribery, treason sedition and murder."

In the case of Trump, this would amount to using fraud to overturn election results, he added. 

Trump stuck in New York

The Supreme Court's decision will, however, not impact the New York trial as this revolves around 34 state felony charges related to paying hush money in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election in an attempt to suppress potentially embarrassing stories from emerging.

As a state case, Trump would also not be able to pardon himself if elected president. The charges carry a maximum sentence of four years in prison, but it is not clear the judge would seek jail time.

The 77-year-old Republican presidential hopeful had asked for his presence not be required at Thursday's criminal trial in order so he could sit in on the Supreme Court hearing, but Judge Juan Merchan denied the request.

"Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there, but a trial in New York Supreme Court is also a big deal," Merchan said last week.

sms,ab/wmr (AP, AFP)

The US economy grew less than anticipated in the first quarter of 2024, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

The US' economic performance is likely to be a major campaign issue as President Joe Biden seeks re-election in November in a rematch against his presumptive Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump.

What do we know about the US growth rate?

The US registered 1.6% GDP growth in the first three months of the year, according to the data. This was substantially lower than the rate of 2.4% predicted by analysts.

The growth rate for the previous quarter was 3.4%.

The fall in the growth rate comes alongside declining consumer spending and exports.

The Commerce Department also cited a downturn in state, federal and local spending as a factor in the decline in growth.

Although the inflation rate has dropped significantly, down to 3.5% compared to a rate of 9.1% in 2022, prices remain above levels from before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which slowed consumption and disrupted global supply chains.

US ahead of other industrialized states

While the US has seen lagging growth rates, its economic outlook has remained ahead of that of other major industrialized economies.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that the US economy will grow 2.7% for all of 2024, up 0.2 percentage points compared to last year.

This is also more than double the growth the IMF expects for the other six states in the G7 group of industrialized countries.

While Europe's largest economy has seen mildly improving indicators, including increasing consumer confidence due to wage hikes, Germany's government maintains a growth outlook of just 0.3%.

Most of the currencies of the G20 group of major economies have depreciated against the US dollar this year.

sdi/wmr (AP, AFP)

Los Angeles police said on Thursday that 93 people had been arrested for trespassing at the University of Southern California (USC) amid protests over the mounting death toll in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The pro-Palestinian protest at USC was among the latest to take place at campuses across the United States that have seen confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement. 

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7 that left around 1,200 people dead and saw 250 taken hostage. 

Since then, Israel has launched an expansive ground offensive throughout the Palestinian territory, which Hamas-led health authorities said has killed over 34,300 people, mainly women and children, and led to a humanitarian crisis.

What the LAPD said

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said it was "in the area" as numerous people were protesting on USC's Los Angeles campus. Officers then assisted the university when demonstrators refused to leave.

"The university is a private campus and the group had been violating some of their orders and it was a trespass at that point and we assisted with those arrests," LAPD spokeswoman Kelly Muniz told reporters.

USC says protests on campus have ended

USC on Thursday said the protest had ended, and the campus would remain closed until further notice.

"Students, faculty, staff, and people with business on campus may enter with proper identification," the university added.

The university had earlier said the LAPD was clearing the center of the campus and urged people to leave, warning that police would arrest those refusing to disperse.

The demonstrations in California were part of protests at US colleges and universities that started in earnest last week at Columbia University in New York. Pro-Palestinian supporters there set up a tent encampment that police attempted to clear, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 people. The rally, however, served as inspiration for protests elsewhere.

Warning National Guard could be called in

US House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Columbia on Wednesday. He met Jewish students over concerns about antisemitism on campuses.

Johnson called on university President Minouche Shafik to resign "if she cannot bring order in this chaos."

"If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard," Johnson said.

Universities have increasingly started turning to law enforcement to end campus demonstrations as graduation season approaches.

In Austin, Texas, hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — moved on protesters, at one point sending some tumbling into the street. At least 20 protesters were arrested.

Two were arrested at Ohio State University after around 50 protesters gathered at a campus amphitheater.

University spokesman Ben Johnson said the pair had become disruptive and were then arrested.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, limited access to those with identification and posted warning signs against those setting up tents or tables without permission. However, it didn't deter people from setting up tents on Wednesday.

kb/sms (AFP, AP)

The US Senate recently approved legislation that gives the short-form video app TikTok a nine-month deadline to either sell its US operations to an American company or face a nationwide ban. The reason: Chinese parent company ByteDance is allegedly subject to Chinese government influence, and may therefore pass on sensitive data from American citizens to the regime in Beijing.

ByteDance has denied the allegations, but the bill still became law on Wednesday when, following the Senate's approval, it was signed by President Joe Biden.

The TikTok discussions in Europe focus on a different aspect. EU authorities have argued that the app poses a high risk of addiction, especially for young users, and can also cause other forms of psychological damage. In response, the company has discontinued a reward function in the EU that had been part of the spinoff app TikTok Lite and which rewarded video views with gift certificates for real products.

Countries that have shut down or banned TikTok

China's neighbor, India, was among the first countries to have placed restrictions on TikTok and other Chinese apps. India banned some 60 Chinese apps, including TikTok, during a military confrontation along the Himalayan border that it shares with China. A permanent ban has been in place since 2020, with the stated justification being the data security of its citizens.

In contrast, moral concerns are what led the Taliban to ban the app in Afghanistan in 2022, roughly one year after it retook control of the country. The app is also not available to users in Iran. Within Iran, it's said TikTok has blocked Iranian IP addresses. For its part, however, the totalitarian regime in Tehran has blocked nearly all the major social media platforms such as YouTube, X, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram. 

The TikTok app has also been banned for similar reasons by the governments of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Nepal and Somalia.

Countries with a partial TikTok ban

Nearly all the governments that have placed restrictions on TikTok say they have done so in order to protect their citizens from negative consequences such as data abuse, suspected false information and "enemy propaganda," as well as moral and psychological harm.

The app has therefore not been entirely banned in all cases. Pakistan, for instance, has temporarily blocked TikTok for inappropriate content on multiple occasions.

In most cases, the app was subsequently made available again once the company adjusted its filters to block the offending content.

For example, in Russia such content includes anything that presents the country's invasion of Ukraine in a different light than that of the official Kremlin narrative. And in China, the app is blocked on foreign devices, so that only the Chinese version can be used. 

Other countries have temporarily blocked TikTok, such as Azerbaijan in 2020, when the conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh heated up, or Senegal in 2023, following the arrest of then-opposition politician Ousmane Sonko. 

Countries with TikTok restrictions for government officials

At present there are 16 countries, most of them in Europe, that have banned installing or using TikTok on government work cellphones.

The bans vary greatly in their reach. In the US and Canada, federal government employees have been prevented from installing the app on their work devices since early 2023, and most US states have introduced similar rules.

March 2023 brought a cascade of orders from governments, including in Australia and New Zealand, requiring their employees delete the app from their work phones. The same thing occurred in the UK, the Netherlands and Norway. In Denmark, the TikTok ban only applies to employees in the Defense Ministry, while in Latvia it's for workers in the Foreign Ministry.

TikTok in Germany

In Germany, the parties that make up the current government coalition (the Greens, the center-left Social Democrats and the neoliberal Free Democrats) are currently considering regulating TikTok or banning its use on federal government employee devices. The conservative Christian Democratic opposition has even pressed for a total ban.

However, there are currently no restrictions on TikTok in Germany. The far-right populist party Alternative for Germany has been particularly successful in using the app to target young voters.

This article was originally written in German.

Following the decision of the New York appeals court to overturn Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction and order a new trial, reactions have poured in, many expressing dismay at the turn of events.

The court on Thursday argued that the previous ruling had committed serious errors in recognizing invalid testimonies in the landmark trial that drove the#MeToo movement.

The decision was based on "erroneous" occurrences during the initial process, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren't part of the case.

'Unfair to survivors'

Charlotte Proudman, a barrister and equal rights activist, posted on X that "every survivor who relived their trauma and gave evidence in court, will probably have to do it ALL over again. When victims say the 'justice system' re-traumatizes them, this is what they mean."

Key figures in the #MeToo movement have also spoken out, including Ashley Judd, the first actress to come forward with allegations against the movie producer.

"That is unfair to survivors," Judd told a news conference on Thursday, according to The New York Times. "We still live in our truth. And we know what happened."

Katherine Kendall, another of Weinstein's accusers to speak out following the decision, told the Times that Thursday's development was "a terrible reminder that victims of sexual assault just don't get justice. I'm completely let down by the justice system right now," before adding, "I'm sort of flabbergasted."

DW spoke with Jayson Campadonia, news director at NBC News Radio & iHeart Media, who said the Weinstein court ruling is "sending shock waves" through Hollywood. 

'Tremendous victory,' says Weinstein lawyer

Weinstein's lawyer said Thursday that he always believed the law was incorrectly applied in the Hollywood producer's trial, and hailed the overturning of the conviction as a great day for the US justice system.

"From the bottom of our hearts, from our collective hundreds of years of experience, we knew that Harvey Weinstein did not get a fair trial," Arthur Aidala, head of Weinstein's legal team, told reporters. "We all worked very hard and this is a tremendous victory for every criminal defendant in the state of New York." 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose predecessor Cyrus Vance brought the case, will now have to decide how to proceed.

"We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault," Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson for Bragg, said in an email, according to the Reuters news agency.

 

The long US presidential election campaign is well underway, and Joe Biden can use all the good economic news he can get. The economy, or at least voters' perception of it, will have a lot to do with his chances for reelection. 

In March, employers created more than 300,000 jobs and unemployment stood at 3.8%. At the same time, March's inflation rate rose a bit over February and it's anyone's guess when interest rates will come down.  

One thing the president is convinced of is the importance of semiconductor chips — and making those chips in the US. In 2022, the government passed the CHIPS and Science Act and is now squeezing out every dollar it can to attract manufacturers, and that's adding up to be a lot of dollars.

Is Taiwan's weakness America's advantage?

Today, semiconductors power much of our modern life, from smartphones, vehicles and satellites to military equipment, data centers and generative artificial intelligence. 

Though semiconductor chips were invented in America, manufacturing has mostly moved elsewhere. Currently, most high-end semiconductor chips are made in Taiwan. Only about 10% of chips are made in the US, and none of the most advanced ones. Even superchips designed in the US by the likes of Nvidia, are made elsewhere.

One problem with this system is the vulnerability of global supply chains. Natural disasters, pandemics and human factors like embargoes and armed conflicts have had an impact on supply chains, said Alan Rae, director of the NYS Centers of Excellence and Advanced Technology at the University at Buffalo in New York.

The reliance on Taiwan is especially fraught. Nearby China claims the island and many fear a possible military strike or invasion that would substantially disrupt the world's economy. Plus, the island recently suffered from its strongest earthquake in 25 years.

Rae, an expert on semiconductor manufacturing with decades of experience, is a keen industry watcher. "Taiwan has done a superb job building a complete ecosystem for leading-edge chip production," he told DW. "Duplicating this will take significant money and effort but is achievable."

America responds with CHIPS and Science Act

To diversify away from Taiwan and Southeast Asia, a number of countries like Germany are trying to attract chipmakers. But the US is more determined to onshore advanced chipmaking than most. The Biden administration sees this as a way to build up domestic jobs and overcome national security vulnerabilities.

The CHIPS and Science Act is its main tool. Here, "chips" stands for "Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors." One provision of the law gives $39 billion (€36.6 billion) in federal grants to the Commerce Department to lure companies to build or expand US-based semiconductor manufacturing. It allocates another $75 billion for loans, among other measures.

At a podium discussion in February, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said semiconductors are the "most important piece of hardware in the 21st century" and that the US must cement its leadership role in this crucial industry.

To help make this happen, her department is using money from the CHIPS Act to make "targeted investments in relentless pursuit of achieving our national security objectives," she said.

Importantly, they are focusing on research and manufacturing clusters and projects that will be operational by 2030 to "maximize our impact in this decade."

Billions in grants are being handed out

Now the money is starting to flow, with the first grants going to GlobalFoundries, Microchip Technology and BAE Systems.

In March, Biden announced a $8.5 billion grant for Silicon Valley-based Intel to help it build up chip production across four states. It was the biggest grant so far and comes with an additional $11 billion in loans.

In early April, another $6.6 billion in direct funding and $5 billion in loans was announced for Taiwan-based TSMC to build in Phoenix, Arizona. The company plans to invest more than $65 billion in three manufacturing facilities. The first site should be online 2025.

A week later, the US government announced $6.4 billion for South Korea's Samsung to expand an existing facility plus build two new ones in Texas. The company, which has been manufacturing in America since 1996, also promised to set up a research and development operation in the state. In total, the company is expected to invest more than $40 billion.

Building up an industry in an election year

Next in line is Micron Technology, the biggest maker of memory chips in the US. Micron is set to receive up to $6.1 billion in grants from the US government to help build semiconductor plants in New York and Idaho, the White House said Thursday.

That will bring total federal grants to more than $33 billion and leave just over $6 billion to splash out on the industry. In addition to these direct grants and loans are billions in promised tax credits to cover a large part of building costs.

Construction and manufacturing should create tens of thousands of well-paid jobs. But big investments are only one side of the equation; workforce development is also important, and so is access to a supportive supplier ecosystem, said Rae.

Creating jobs and bringing manufacturing back to the United States are a big part of Biden's economic policy. But investing billions in a single industry — no matter how important — may not woo enough voters.

Moreover, voters' memories are short, said John Mark Hansen, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago in Illinois. Still, evidence shows that "a strong economy benefits the party of the incumbent president and a poor economy hurts it."

And looking at the economy, "the best predictor of election outcomes is the growth in real disposable income per capita," Hansen told DW. In other words how much money people take home after inflation and taxes. There are still a few months before the election in November, "but it doesn't look as bad for Biden as everybody seems to think."

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

TikTok is one of the most popular apps with children and young people worldwide, but it has also sparked considerable controversy. The Chinese video-sharing platform has been in the news recently as both the United States and the European Union have taken action against it.

What steps is the US taking against TikTok?

US President Joe Biden has signed a bill into action that forces TikTok's Chinese parent company to sell the app or face a US ban. This comes after the US Senate voted in favor of bill on Tuesday.

The bill stipulates that parent company ByteDance must sell off TikTok within 270 days, though provides a possibility for a 90-day extension if progress is made. Failing to do so, TikTok will be removed from the Apple app store and Google's Play Store.

The US move stems from data protection concerns. Chinese TikTok parent company ByteDance is suspected of giving or being forced into passing on user data to the Chinese Communist Party. In the US, some 170 million people currently use the app. There are also concerns China could use TikTok to spread propaganda and disinformation. TikTok itself rejects these accusations.

Why is the EU taking aim at TikTok?

The EU has also set its sights on TikTok, albeit for entirely different reasons. A probe will examine whether TikTok Lite's reward function — allowing users to earn money for certain tasks — endangers the mental health of young app users and thus violates EU rules. The new app has been available in France and Spain since April.

Large social media platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok have had to comply with the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) since August 2023. The DSA is intended to prevent illegal or harmful online practices. The EU also prohibits "dark patterns" designed to keep users coming back to online platforms.

The EU Commission criticizes TikTok for launching the new TikTok Lite app in France and Spain without having sufficiently assessed the risks beforehand. TikTok had until April 18 to submit a risk report but initially missed the deadline. It was then given another deadline and submitted a risk assessment this Tuesday, according to TikTok.

In doing so, TikTok has for now avoided steep EU fines. The bloc, after all, can impose fines of up to 1% percent of total annual company revenue. The EU could also block TikTok Lite's controversial reward function.

Back in February, the EU already launched a probe into TikTok over child protection concerns.

Why is TikTok Lite considered so addictive?

TikTok Lite differs from the standard TikTok app in that it builds on a rewards system. Anyone who watches videos, likes content and invites friends to join TikTok Lite can earn digital coins in return, which can be exchanged for Amazon vouchers and other rewards. This rewards system is highly addictive, says the EU Commission.

TikTok Lite, which also features many music and dance videos, is particularly popular with children and young people. According to the terms of use, individuals must be at least 13 years old to use the app. Anyone under the age of 18 also needs either their parents or legal guardians to give their consent, although it is not clear whether the platform checks users' age, according to the Commission.

Is TikTok more addictive than other social media platforms?

The video-sharing platform's algorithms are slightly different than those used by other social media platforms and may therefore get users hooked faster. TikTok displays videos that other users find appealing instead of primarily focusing on content from accounts that a user subscribes to.

TikTok's algorithms are extremely intelligent. The more time users spend on TikTok, the more precisely the platform can predict what content they might like.

This is not without consequences. In March 2023, US daily The Washington Post cited a study which found that almost half of all adolescent girls on TikTok reported feeling addicted to the platform. Researchers found that when girls use TikTok, they spend more than 2.5 hours on the platform, with those experiencing symptoms of depression logging even longer times. Some of these girls reported using the app practically all the time.

A Pew Research Center later that same year found that 17% of teens described their TikTok use as "almost constant." No other app seems to have such a strong pull on young people.

This article was originally written in German. It was updated on April 25.

For sale: The lucrative US business of one of the world's most successful social media platforms with a billion users across 140 countries.

Sounds like a good deal for someone with ambition and money. But Chinese-owned TikTok isn't just any short-video-sharing app. It is a phenomenon changing social media and how people communicate.

Claims of national security concerns in the United States don't make things any easier. In addition, protectionist attitudes and sentiment on China in general have turned dark and Congress is moving fast to force the company's hand.

US Congress in control?

The US government now sees TikTok as more than entertainment — it's a news and information platform that can be used for propaganda, too. For decades, the US had restrictions on foreign ownership of traditional media like radio or cable stations; for policymakers restrictions on TikTok are a logical 21st-century consequence.

On April 24, US President Joe Biden signed a bill aimed at forcing a change of ownership of TikTok into law after the US Senate approved it by a large margin.

TikTok may be waiting for a knight in shining armor to save its US business. Yet the pool of available buyers is small and Elon Musk is already busy reworking X, formerly known as Twitter. Who else can they turn to? What will happen to the 170 million US users if TikTok just can't be sold?

A short history in 60 seconds

This isn't TikTok's first time on the possible selling block. Former President Donald Trump tried with an executive order to force ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, to sell the subsidiary to an American owner back in 2020.

It seemed a deal with Oracle was close, but those efforts failed, as did an attempt to keep the app out of app stores. 

Since then TikTok said it has gone to great lengths to delete the data on American users from ByteDance servers and move all that information to US-based servers, a move it calls Project Texas. This should, in theory, keep the data out of the hands of Chinese surveillance.

Experts like Milton Mueller, a cybersecurity expert at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, doubt there is any real security threat after having looked at all the evidence. Still, many US politicians and government intelligence and security agencies don't seem appeased and want to take it to the next level. 

Who would want to buy TikTok?

With all that in mind, buying all — or just the American part — of TikTok would not be a usual business transaction. It would be a geopolitical minefield. Would ByteDance still be a majority shareholder calling the shots in the background? Who would run and update its powerful algorithm?

Mueller, who looks at TikTok several times a week, thinks a sale is "theoretically possible but highly complicated and not likely." He added that "China's government might not allow it, and it is unclear what is gained, or even what it means, to sell 'part' of a globally interconnected social media service."

ByteDance seems ready for a legal fight. For its part, the Chinese government has been restrained. But they could try to prevent a sale by putting an export ban on the technology behind the app. Without its algorithm, TikTok would be less attractive.

Besides that, it's hard to put boundaries and prevent access to something as free-flowing as an app. App stores would have to block all new downloads and updates for those who have it already.

There is also a short timeline. Mueller has talked with a number of TikTok people recently who say as a technical or operational matter divestiture doesn't work in such a short period. They would have six months, "whereas the Grindr divestiture from a different Chinese company took a year," he said.

A big big-ticket item

The challenges just pile up. Any ban in America would surely lead to First Amendment constitutional challenges. "It would be US users whose speech would be suppressed, not foreigners or the Chinese government," Mueller said. 

Then there's the price. Several analysts think that despite all the difficulties, TikTok's US business could sell for over $50 billion (€45.8 billion). There are only a few companies that could afford to spend that much, like Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft or Netflix.

Some of these companies would then end up in the crosshairs of antitrust officials for owning too much important technology.

Alternatively, all or part of TikTok could be spun off as an independent publicly listed company. Or US-based private equity giants could step in.

After the House of Representatives vote in March, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he is working to put together a group of investors to take over the company without announcing any details. Ironically, Mnuchin was one of the people pushing for a sale four years ago while he was a member of Trump's Cabinet. 

It's likely not about apps at all

Yet, in the end, it's not about good business or even national security, said Mueller. "It is a pawn in the broader US-China power competition, and it is also exploited for symbolic reasons."

"Equating a commercial social media app with espionage, and calling TikTok's Singaporean CEO an agent of the Chinese Communist Party, is obviously inaccurate," but sells well to both Republicans and Democrats "who see the US as engaged in a competition with China to retain US hegemony," he said.

Forcing an ownership sale would also set a dangerous precedent that could be used by other governments against US social media companies.

In the end, Mueller expects such digital protectionism to lead to "less competition and innovation in the social media market." And there is always the next national security threat. Perhaps Chinese-made electric vehicles or battery systems? The retaliation may never end.

So, anyone interested?

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

Editor's note: The article, originally published on March 20, 2024, has been updated to reflect President Joe Biden's signing of the bill to force a change in ownership of TikTok's US business into law.

The great lawn in the center of Columbia University's Manhattan campus is normally where students meet up to study in the sun, or before heading out into the Morningside Heights neighborhood for drinks. These days, it has become the central gathering point for protesters in a movement that has spread from the Middle East to New York and universities across the United States.

Columbia president called police on protesters

On April 18, Columbia University's president, Nemat (Minouche) Shafik, called the New York City Police Department to campus, where officers in riot gear arrested more than 100 students who had set up tents on the campus green to protest Israel's military operations in Gaza.

"I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances," Shafik wrote in a campus-wide email Thursday afternoon, saying she had made the decision with "deep regret."

Columbia also suspended the students who were arrested; nevertheless, tents have since started to pop back up.

Professors walk out in solidarity with students

On Monday, hundreds of Columbia faculty members staged a walkout to demonstrate their solidarity with the student protesters and criticize university leadership. The university announced that classes would be held remotely on Monday, and later said they would be taught in a hybrid model for the remainder of the school year.

The students are protesting the military strikes the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been carrying out in Gaza in response to the terror attack by militant-Islamist Hamas on October 7, 2023, which saw 1,200 people killed by Hamas and around 240 people taken hostage. More than 34,000 people have since died in Gaza according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory has been described by international organizations as catastrophic, with barely any food, water or medication available to the population.

"We demand our voices be heard against the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza," Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of pro-Palestinian Columbia student groups, wrote in a statement shared Monday on Instagram. "Our university is complicit in this violence and this is why we protest." 

NYU, Yale and other universities also see protests

In recent days, pro-Palestinian student protests have spilled over from Columbia to other universities. At New York University, a subway ride away from Columbia, a student encampment swelled to hundreds of protesters on Monday. After university authorities asked people to leave and claimed the scene got disorderly, they, too, called police, who arrested several students.

Harvard Yard, a central area at Harvard University outside of Boston, was closed to the public Monday, and structures, including tents and tables, were only allowed into the yard with prior permission.

At Yale University in Connecticut, police officers arrested about 45 protesters and charged them with misdemeanor trespassing on Monday. All were released on promises to appear in court later, police said.

Across university campuses, protesters have called for their schools to back a ceasefire in Gaza and divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Accusations of antisemitism

There have also been accusations of antisemitism against the protests.

NYU leadership said it had learned of "intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents" at its student protest.

Shafik said antisemitic harassment had recently taken place on the Columbia campus. "The decibel of our disagreements has only increased in recent days," the university president said. "These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas."

The student coalition organizing the protest at Columbia has rejected antisemitism accusations against the protest as a whole, saying it was a few individuals trying to co-opt their cause who behaved in an unacceptable manner.

"We firmly reject any form of hate or bigotry and stand vigilant against non-students attempting to disrupt the solidarity being forged amount students — Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, Black, and pro-Palestinian classmates and colleagues who represent the full diversity of our country," the group said in its Instagram statement.

US's Israel policy unpopular with young Americans

The widespread protests make clear that many young Americans are unhappy with President Joe Biden's Israel policy. Historically, the US has always been a close ally of Israel, and Washington continues to be Israel's strongest backer in its current conflict with Hamas.

When Israeli troops began military operations in Gaza, Biden emphasized the US's strong allegiance with Israel. But as more and more civilians in Gaza have been killed, many people on the liberal spectrum in the US — especially young voters — have voiced dismay about their tax dollars being used to fund Israel. They want the president to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and stop all aid to Israel.

The US stance does have an effect on Israel's actions. After a series of Israeli airstrikes killed several aid workers this spring, Biden issued an ultimatum, saying the US would change its supportive policy if Israel didn't address civilian suffering in Gaza and the safety of aid workers. After the statement, Israel immediately announced steps aimed at increasing the flow of aid to Gaza.

Edited by: Jon Shelton

The US House of Representatives passed on Saturday a bill that could see the popular video creation and sharing app TikTok banned in the country unless it divests from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

The bill passed with 360 votes in favor, and 58 against. It is expected to go to the Senate for a vote next week.

The bill was included as part of a larger legislative package providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

TikTok warned that, if passed into law, the bill would "trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion (€22.5 billion) to the US economy, annually."

US President Joe Biden has said he would approve the legislation if it makes its way to him.

What does the bill stipulate?

The bill gives Chinese owner ByteDance nine months to sell the app, with a potential three-month extension if a sale was underway. The parent company would also be barred from controlling TikTok's algorithm, which feeds users videos based on their needs.

Steven Mnuchin, who served as US treasury secretary under former President Donald Trump, has said he is interested in acquiring the app and has assembled a group of investors.

The latest bill is a revision of an earlier one passed by the House in March, which required ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months. However, some senators were concerned six months would be too short a deadline.

Why is there opposition to TikTok?

US officials have sounded the alarm over the app's growing popularity, particularly among young people, claiming it could allow Beijing to spy on its some 170 million users in the country.

A number of Chinese national security laws compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering. Lawmakers and officials are also wary that Beijing could directly influence TikTok content based on its interests.

TikTok has denied that it could be used as a tool for the Chinese government or that it has ever shared US user data with Chinese authorities, vowing never to do so even if asked.

The bill's opponents argue that Beijing could easily get data on US citizens in other ways, including through commercial data brokers that sell or rent personal information.

Among the opponents of the bill is billionaire Elon Musk, who now owns the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

"TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform," Musk said. "Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression."

rmt/wd (AFP, AP)

The United States House of Representatives on Saturday approved a bill clearing the way for billions of dollars in funding for Ukraine.

The $61 billion (€57 billion) package, that includes economic assistance and weapons, had been delayed by Republicans for months.

It was passed with a bipartisan majority of 311-to-112 votes. The bill also allows the US to confiscate and sell Russian assets and give the money to Ukraine for reconstruction.

Addressing the issue, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram that the US had shown leadership and resolve in fighting for peace and security, adding: "We will receive an important resource for victory and reconstruction. I call on other countries where Russian assets are held to follow this example."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was grateful to US lawmakers for a decision "that keeps history on the right track."

The bill was part of a foreign aid and arms package valued at $95 billion (€89 billion) that also includes aid for Israel and Taiwan. 

It will head to the Senate next, where passage in the coming days is all but assured as Democrats hold a slight majority in the upper chamber.

US President Joe Biden praised lawmakers from both parties, saying that "at this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history's call."  

"I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs," he added.

How did the world react to the vote?

Ukraine's Zelenskyy welcomed the vote, saying it would, "save thousands and thousands of lives."

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, he added: "We hope that bills will be supported in the Senate and sent to President Biden's desk. Thank you, America!"

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also hailed the US House of Representatives approval of a long-awaited aid package for Ukraine's war effort.

"I welcome that the US House of Representatives has approved a major new package of aid to Ukraine. Ukraine is using the weapons provided by NATO Allies to destroy Russian combat capabilities. This makes us all safer, in Europe and North America," Stoltenberg said on X.

And European Council President Charles Michel said approving aid to Ukraine sends a "clear message" to Russia. "Those who believe in freedom and the UN charter will continue to support Ukraine and its people," he wrote on X.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said it was a day of optimism for Ukraine and European security. "A major hurdle for US aid to Ukraine has been cleared. The hearts of Ukraine's most important supporters are beating in unison again," she wrote on X.

Moscow's reaction was decidedly less enthusiastic, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: "The decision to provide aid to Ukraine was expected and predicted. It will further enrich the United States of America and further ruin Ukraine. It will lead to even more dead Ukrainians."

Why was the aid package stalled?

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has faced a protracted uphill battle from hardline Republicans over the bill, with continued financing of Ukraine's defensive effort against Russia's invasion hanging in the balance for months.  

The foreign aid legislation is similar to a measure passed by the Senate in February, but it contains some differences designed to win over House conservatives. 

Republicans who opposed the bill had demanded that stronger controls first be put in place to curb the arrival of migrants at the southern US border.

With Republicans holding only a slim majority, Johnson was dependent upon Democratic votes to pass the legislation

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has meanwhile been making desperate attempts to try and shore up support among allies as resources and ammunition stockpiles dwindle.

Funding for Israel and Taiwan

Around $14 billion has been allocated for Israel as it continues its fight against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, while around $9 billion would be for providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the West Bank.

The bill also covers reimbursement for US military operations in the region in response to recent attacks.

The rest of the funds are set aside for US partners in the Pacific to counter China, with some $3.3 billion allocated toward the development of submarine infrastructure.

The US House of Representatives on Saturday also passed a bill that would force ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell the popular video platform or face a nationwide ban in the United States, where it has about 170 million users.

kb,dh/nm,lo (AFP, AP)

The record-breaker was vintage Caitlin Clark: a 3-point shot from such a long-distance that it's known as a "logo shot” because she is beyond even the extended mid-court logo of the arena at the University of Iowa. The shot was slightly off-balance, but swished through and sent all of those recording the moment on their mobile phones into a state of delirium.

"I don't know if you could script it any better," Clark said. "Just to do it in this fashion, I'm very grateful and thankful to be surrounded by so many people who have been my foundation in everything I've done since I was a young little girl. Y'all knew I was going to shoot the logo 3 for the record, c'mon now."

"It was absolutely perfect," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said, "for her to go over and reach this record with a logo 3."

The record in question was to become the all-time women's career scoring leader in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history. After a timeout to mark the moment, Clark continued her hot hand finishing with a school-record 49 points on nine 3-pointers, and with 13 assists. Iowa, the fourth-ranked team in the country, defeated rival Michigan, 106-89.

No.1 Pick

Clark's huge night in February put her at a record 3,569 points in her four-year career. Among those offering congratulations on her record on social media were former president Barack Obama and well-known former American football players Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and his brother, Eli Manning.

In April, Clark was chosen as the number one pick in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. It was no surprise as the former Iowa star has become a household name among basketball fans and she is now tasked with reviving the Fever's fortunes.

Olympics on the horizon

After the much-watched NCAA ‘March Madness' tournament, Clark is now set to play her first professional game in mid-May when the league's season begins. 

It is also possible, despite her youth, she could be invited to the next Team USA pre-Olympic camp with a good chance she could display her prowess before a global audiencein Paris starting in late July. 

The 21-year old could prove an extraordinary asset to the US side, which has won seven consecutive Olympic gold medals.

Clark's 3-point success percentage, even including the logo bombs from more than 35 feet, or 10.6 meters, is over 40 percent in the season just finished, and has hovered in that range during all four years of her university career. For comparison, WNBA star Kelsey Plum, whose career scoring record Clark broke, has a career 3-point success rate of over 39 percent. NBA 3-point ace Stephen Curry owns a career success rate of over 42 percent.

Clark is the face of women's basketball, and is expected to quickly become a star in the quicker and more physical professional ranks. Whether at the Paris Games in 2024, or in 2028 and 2032, she is likely to became a known commodity internationally, if not an outright global star. 

Editing by: Mark Meadows

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee for the November 2024 US presidential election, is no stranger to the courtroom. In January 2024, a jury in New York ruled that he would have to pay writer E. Jean Carroll millions of dollars in damages for sexually abusing and then defaming her, a decision that Trump is appealing. That was a civil case.

Now, Trump is about to become the first former US president ever to go on trial for criminal charges. The case, which will be heard in a New York court beginning on April 15, centers on whether he paid hush money to bury stories about an extramarital sexual encounter with a porn star to protect his 2016 campaign for the White House.

It's the first of four criminal trials — two state and two federal — that Trump has coming up. The other state case centers on alleged attempts to overturn his loss in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election; one federal case charges that he knowingly pushed election fraud lies in 2020 to try to stay in power; and another charges that he illegally retained classified government documents when he left the White House, a violation of the Presidential Records Act. 

Can Donald Trump still run for president if convicted? 

Yes. No matter how any of these cases end, Trump will still be able to run for president. The US Constitution sets only three eligibility requirements for persons wanting the job: They must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years old and have resided in the US for at least 14 years. Nowhere does it say that a convicted criminal cannot run for or become president. 

"There are several arguments over whether a presidential candidate who is indicted or is involved in an ongoing legal case should still run for office," Laura Merrifield Wilson, associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis, told DW in December 2023. "But those are based on morals, judgement and preferences, not overt laws or procedural barriers."

Could Trump be disqualified under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution?

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution states that people who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" after taking an oath to support the constitution are disqualified from holding "any office, civil or military, under the United States."

Activists who want Trump disqualified under this clause say the then-president's actions in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol constitute participation in an insurrection. They say his lies about how Democrats stole the election encouraged the right-wing mob that stormed the US Capitol that day.

Attempts have been launched to have Trump removed from primary ballots in a number of states under this amendment, "which was originally used to prevent secessionists from returning to their government positions after the American Civil War," explained former DW journalist Brandon Conradis, now a campaign editor with political news site The Hill.

But in March 2024, the Supreme Court struck down one such attempt in Colorado, saying states do not have the authority to bar individuals from running for federal office.

The "responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress," wrote the Supreme Court in the opinion that accompanied its verdict. The decision thus voided similar attempts in other states.

Since Congress is split, with Republicans holding the majority in the House of Representatives and Democrats having a one-seat majority in the Senate, it seems highly unlikely that Trump will be disqualified under the 14th Amendment.

Could Trump vote in the US election if convicted? 

Probably not. Trump is registered to vote in Florida, where convicted felons are disenfranchised.

"Most felons in Florida regain voting rights after completing their full sentence, including parole or probation, and paying all fines and fees," politics reporter Maggie Astor wrote in The New York Times.

But Trump's parole would likely not be up in time for him to regain his right to vote. So, if convicted, Trump could still run for president, but not vote for himself.

But what happens if Trump actually has to go to prison? 

No one knows.

"We're so far removed from anything that's ever happened," Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law expert at the University of California, Berkeley, told The New York Times. "It's just guessing."

Legally, Trump would remain eligible to run, even from behind bars. But of course a president who's elected while in prison would present a logistical challenge.

Journalist Astor speculated that "Trump could sue to be released on the basis that his imprisonment was preventing him from fulfilling his constitutional obligations as president."  

But again ― since nothing like this has ever happened in the course of US history — it's impossible to say how things might play out.

If elected, could Trump dismiss the cases against him or pardon himself? 

In theory, Trump could commute his prison sentence and leave his conviction in place, or even try to fully pardon himself, but these would be extreme assertions of presidential power that would likely go before the Supreme Court (where conservative justices hold a 6-3 majority) to be vetted for their constitutionality.

Alternatively, President Joe Biden could pardon a victorious Trump on his way out the door so that the man elected by US voters could govern the country.

Such actions, however, would only apply to Trump's federal cases, not the upcoming New York state hush money trial, nor the Georgia election interference case, as presidents do not have the power to grant pardons for state convictions.

Edited by: Jon Shelton

Rocks, soils and minerals — the elements that make up the land we live upon — have no protection from the weather. They are struck by lightning, flooded by rains and baked by blistering sunlight. This natural process, which represents the gradual chipping away of the surface of our Earth, is called weathering.

Over the past two decades, and particularly in the past few years, public health researchers have been using this term in a different context: to describe a process they say occurs in the bodies of Black people who grow up in white American society.

The theory is gaining traction — data from 2021 found deaths due to Covid-19 were 2.8 times higher in Black/African Americans compared to whites, and studieshave linked this to weathering. 

The term "weathering" was first used in the context of public health by Arline Geronimus, now a professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan in the US. While facilitating research on teenage mothers in the 1990s, she came upon an unexpected finding: babies born to Black mothers in their 20s and 30s had more health complications than those born to mothers in their teens. This was the opposite of what was observed in white women, who tended to have better outcomes if they gave birth in their 20s and 30s compared to Black women.

Geronimus concluded that the health of Black women deterioriated more quickly than their white counterparts because of racism-induced stress experience in their daily lives.

'Wear and tear' on the body

Years of research appear to have given credibility to her theory.

Around the same time as Geronimus's initial findings, researchers who study chronic stress introduced the concept of allostatic load, which refers to the ‘wear and tear' to the body caused by stress.

A person's allostatic load can be quantified by measuring their levels of a series of different indicators: cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), epinephrine, norepinephrine, cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin, resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, and waist-hip ratio. A high allostatic load is linked to many health problems like migraine and heart disease.

The higher a person's score, the more likely they are to experience negative health effects. In a 2006 paper, Geronimus and her team set out to measure peoples' allostatic load scores.

They found that the differences in these scores between Black and white and wealthy and poor participants started to widen in their early 20s and grew largest between the ages of 35 and 64. Blacks had higher scores across the board than white participants.

What backed up Geronimus' theory was that these differences could not be connected to poverty: Black women, regardless of income status, were most likely to have high scores, before poor white men and women and poor Black men.

The 'caps' that indicate aging

In recent years, scientists have also started measuring telomeres to better understand weathering. Telomeres are "caps" on the ends of our chromosomes that play a key role in the process of aging. They protect our chromosomes during cell division, like the plastic on the ends of a shoelace protects it from unraveling.

The more our cells divide, the shorter the telomeres become. Once the telomeres are gone, the cell division process ends and they die. Once that happens, our tissues start to age.

That's why the length of our telomeres is relevant for studying aging. The longer they are, the longer it takes for us to experience the detrimental side effects of getting old.

A 2014 Harvard study found that although telomere length in young Black adults in their 20s was longer than those of their white counterparts, lengths evened out among 50-60-year-olds, indicating the Black adults were aging at a quicker rate. Among 80-year-olds, whites had longer telomeres than the Black participants.

Weathering across the globe?

Most of the research on weathering so far has been conducted in the US, meaning it's difficult to generalize the theory to other countries round the world. 

But Devon Payne-Sturges, a professor at the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, said it is likely that weathering is occurring "anywhere where you have this social hierarchy where you have a group of people who are discriminated against, put at the bottom of society, more marginalized," she said. "I'm afraid that's just about everywhere."

One thing that could be preventing the concept of weathering from study at an international level could be a lack of data on race. In the US, health data accessed by researchers includes sections that denote race. That is not the case in countries like Germany.

Although it took time — some three decades — to catch on in the US (Geronimus published a book that received widespread media attention in 2023), the concept of weathering could, with more research, help explain race-based health disparities across the globe.

That information could lead to conclusions on how to improve health in minority groups. One study is already on its way: A survey of indigenous mothers in New Zealand found that those who said they had experienced an "ethnically motivated physical attack" had children with shorter telomeres than mothers who didn't report such an attack.

The paper noted that conversely, mothers who had positive feelings about their culture gave birth to babies with "significantly longer" telomeres.

Sources

Application of the Weathering Framework: Intersection of Racism, Stigma, and COVID-19 as a Stressful Life Event among African Americans: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7912903/

"Weathering" and Age Patterns of Allostatic Load Scores Among Blacks and Whites in the United States: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470581/ 

Allostatic Load and Its Impact on Health: A Systematic Review: https://karger.com/pps/article/90/1/11/294736/Allostatic-Load-and-Its-Impact-on-Health-A

Race-Related Health Disparities and Biological Aging: Does Rate of Telomere Shortening Differ Across Blacks and Whites?: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/41275527/14635%20aam%20nihms-728952.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

The weathering hypothesis and the health of African-American women and infants: evidence and speculations: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1467758/

Maternal racism experience and cultural identity in relation to offspring telomere length: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-37555-6

Edited by: Fred Schwaller

Around midday on April 8, 2024, the sky over parts of North America will suddenly go dark for a few minutes.

The reason is a total solar eclipse that will begin over the continent from near Mazaltan, Mexico and go beyond Montreal, Canada, passing through nearly a dozen states in the US. The path along which the total solar eclipse can be seen is approximately 115 miles (about 185 kilometers) wide, according to NASA.

For the millions of people in the path of the eclipse, sunshine will be blocked momentarily, causing a momentary dark dusk-like state during the prime of the day.

Residents will have to wait until 2045 for the next solar eclipse over North America if they miss this one. 

What happens during a total solar eclipse?

When the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, it blocks out some of the light traveling to Earth and casts a shadow over its surface. This event is called a solar eclipse. 

It's no different than your palm causing a shadow on your face when you try to block the sunshine, only eclipses happen at a much larger cosmic scale.

During an eclipse, observers may notice strange crescent-shaped shadows on the floor, a sudden drop in the temperature, and odd behavior among birds and animals.

How to watch a solar eclipse?

It's not safe to look directly at the sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing, eclipse or not. Direct radiation from the sun can damage the retina. 

Viewing the sun through a camera lens, binoculars or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter will instantly cause severe eye injury.

Make sure to grab a pair of eclipse glasses, or eyeglasses with solar filters, to watch the event. Glasses that have the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 12312-2 code on the inside are the ones that are safe to wear.

If finding glasses is a hassle, you can make a simple pinhole projector at home, which you can use to see a projection of the sun on a white sheet of paper.

Is a solar eclipse dangerous?

A solar eclipse is simply the moon blocking our sun's view — the moon just causes a shadow and won't introduce any new harmful radiation.

A solar eclipse is not a bad omen, but the moon and the sun making a shadow theater. It's safe to go out during an eclipse. 

The eerie ring-like glow you see coming from the sun during a solar eclipse is just your regular sunshine. 

So, your food will not go bad during an eclipse. It's safe to cook and eat. And there is no harm for pregnant women, either.

How easy is it to see a solar eclipse?

While total solar eclipses occur nearly every one-and-a-half to two years, many of them sweep across remote areas, making them hard to observe.

The 2024 eclipse will pass through several major cities in the United States including Dallas, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo and Burlington.

How long you can observe the eclipse, however, depends on where you're watching it from. According to NASA, the 2024 eclipse is likely to be visible for about four to four-and-a-half minutes along the different locations on its path.

If the weather is good enough, the sun's corona — the outer layer of its atmosphere — will be visible from Earth during a solar eclipse.

However, there could be bad weather — there is a high chance of clouds on April 8, 2024, which could obscure the view of the eclipse.

Some parts of New York, Vermont, Maine and Quebec are expected to have better luck with a clearer view than the southern regions along the eclipse's path.

Edited by: Fred Schwaller

Sources:

NASA: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024

NASA: Eclipse Misconceptions https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-misconceptions

National Weather Service USA: https://www.weather.gov/sgf/SolarEclipse

Historically, accepting a call up to join the United States Women's National Team (USWNT) has meant far more than agreeing to play football for your home country.

Donning a USWNT jersey has meant standing for and speaking up for the rights of minorities, be it women's rights, ethnic minorities right or the rights of those within the LGBTQ+ community.

However, as the furor surrounding the decision by Korbin Albert, a player for the US national women's football team, to repost homophobic and transphobic content on social media has shown, the emerging generation is diverging from the principles and standards laid by those who have come before.

Trust in USWNT damaged

According to multiple media outlets, the 20-year-old Albert recently shared a video on TikTok from a Christian sermon that described being gay and "feeling transgender" as wrong.

Soon after, Instagram screenshots emerged of Albert liking a post that seemed to celebrate Megan Rapinoe's Achilles injury four minutes into last year’s National Women's Soccer League final, in the final professional match of her career. 

Former US striker Rapinoe had long been the face and very vocal voice of the international team's support of the LGBTQ+ community during her 17-year playing career, before her retirement in 2023.

The indirect shot at the LGBTQ+ community from Albert sent a clear message to those it targeted, longtime USWNT supporter Elizabeth Brown, who identifies as queer, explained.

"I do not want a person who sees my very existence as 'wrong' representing me on the world stage," Brown told DW.

"I have always felt so much pride in seeing myself projected by those in the USWNT. Supporting the team has always felt like a safe space but I am no longer sure of that."

Swift response from teammates 

After Albert's posts came to light, Rapinoe was quick to respond on Instagram. Without naming anyone, she wrote that people who chose to hide behind their beliefs, "only believe in hate".  

Current captain Lindsay Horan and veteran striker Alex Morgan publicly rebuffed their teammate.

Before the national side went on to win a seventh SheBelieves Cup, an invitational women's association football tournament, the pair unexpectedly appeared at the beginning of a virtual press conference ahead of the start of April's competition.

Reading from a prepared statement, Horan said: "We've worked extremely hard to uphold the integrity of this national team through all of the generations, and we are extremely, extremely sad that this standard was not upheld.

"Our fans and our supporters feel like this is a team that they can rally behind, and it's so important that they feel and continue to feel undeniably heard and seen."

Morgan added: "We [USWNT] stand by maintaining a safe and respectful space, especially as allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and this platform has given us an opportunity to highlight causes that matter to us, something that we never take for granted." 

Though Albert herself offered an apology for the hurt and offense caused by her social media activity, the midfielder was resoundingly booed when she was substituted during the US-Japan game at the SheBelieves Cup.

USWNT is a platform for more than football

Albert's publicly visible opinion came in stark contrast to the causes many of her countrywomen have championed for years, on the understanding of the platform they are afforded while being a part of the USWNT.

During the 2023 World Cup several countries, including Canada, Nigeria and Zambia, were playing at the tournament while fighting their governing bodies for basic rights and higher pay.

American defender Naomi Girma told DW last July that the US team understood the importance of not sitting back and watching on simply because they had won their own battles.

"When you are a part of this team, you know it means that you have to use this platform to help raise up others," she explained.

"Sometimes it's about doing it at the right time, or listening to the players and what they want from us, but it is always about offering support and showing we're here and ready to stand side by side with anyone taking on a fight we have, either as a team or individually, already gone through."

Progress lost?

During her career, Rapinoe had led the US charge for equal rights and equal pay with their male counterparts, a battle the team eventually won in February 2022. 

Rapinoe also used the publicity that came with playing for the four-time World Cup champions to highlight other causes. In 2016, she knelt during the US national anthem in support of former San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick. 

Kaepernick had begun choosing to sit instead of stand when the anthem was played, in protest of the treatment of Black people in the US.

In 2023, former captain Becky Sauerbrunn wrote an op-ed in support of transgender rights, as her home state of Missouri proposed a 'Save Women's Sports Act' that sought to exclude transgender athletes from participating in women's sport.

While those actions attracted plenty of negative reactions, including from former US President Donald Trump, they were also appreciated by many, including USWNT supporter Brown.

However, Albert's recent action left Brown fearing for the future of the US team and their advocacy.

"I worry that as the older generation — who have had to fight for every inch on and off the field — reach the end of their careers, this team will change what it stands for," said Brown.

"The younger players are reaping the rewards of what the previous generations have fought for, and I wonder if they will truly keep trying to speak up to protect our community and others, or if they will choose an easier way of life."

Edited by: Michaela Cavanagh

The opinion research institute YouGov has found that, with regard to the economy, a majority of the US population has greater faith in Donald Trump than in the incumbent president, Joe Biden. Only 26% of the voters canvassed by the institute in February of this year considered Biden a capable economic policymaker. By contrast, Trump reaches approval ratings of 47%.

But do the survey results align with US economic data?

Booming economy?

Claim: "Biden is destroying law and order, and our economy is in a free fall. Under Donald Trump … our economy was strong. We need four more years of Donald J. Trump," US Senator Tim Scott wrote on X on March 28. Other X users also hark back to the "booming economy" under Trump.

DW Fact Check: Misleading

The first three years under Donald Trump were economically promising, with growth rates of over 2% (see graph). This does not, however, constitute a sustained "boom". The definition of a boom is a period characterized by "a pronounced increase in economic activity, reflected in high growth rates, significantly above-normal capacity utilization, noticeable employment growth, and a bullish stock market."

Trump started his first term in office on January 20, 2017, with US economic growth at 2.4%. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the economy declined by 2.2%, then recovered in the final quarter, surging to 5.8%.

The economy is not "in free fall" under Biden, as US Senator Scott has claimed. It has stabilized at a growth rate of around 2% (see graph), with growth of 2.1% predicted for 2024.

Conclusion: The comparison shows that the US has not experienced an economic boom under either Trump or Biden. Rather, it has been struggling to deal with the economic consequences of severe crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Rising national debt

Claim: "In the last four years, reckless spending has driven the national debt past $34 trillion." This accusation was made by the Trump-aligned organization Americans for Prosperity, whose website supposedly offers a "fact check" of Biden's economic policy.

DW Fact Check: Misleading

It is true that, according to official sources, US public debt rose to a historic high of 34 trillion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2023. This corresponds to 124% of US GDP.

However, it is also true that, proportionally, the national debt increased more under Trump's presidency than under Biden. Between 2017 and 2021, under Trump, outstanding debt rose from $19.84 trillion to $28.13 trillion — an increase of 41.62%.

Under Biden, debt rose from $28.13 trillion to $34 trillion in December 2023 — an increase of 20.86%.

Contrary to the claim of Americans for Prosperity, which accuses Biden of "reckless spending," the US Department of the Treasury blames two main factors for this development: additional spending as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, as well as a simultaneous drop in tax revenues.

Tax revenues decreased not only because of the economic downturn during the pandemic, but also as a result of Trump's 2018 tax reform. This is a fact his followers like to suppress.

The reform reduced corporate taxes from an average of 35% to 21%. Income tax rates were also lowered. The increase in government spending was financed by taking on debt.

Conclusion: Trump shares the responsibility for the rising national debt.

Biden and inflation

Claim: "Joe Biden unleashed inflation on America, at record levels, and it doesn't go away." This accusation was made by Glenn Allen Youngkin, governor of the US state of Virginia, in an interview with the broadcaster Fox News on March 21, 2024.

DW Fact Check: False

The statement ignores important statistical data, because it fails to mention that the inflation rate in the United States has been steadily dropping for a year (see graph).

According to the White House, the rate in 2023 was 3.4%. In February, it dropped to 3.2% compared to the same month last year. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the rate stood at 8%.

When Trump took office in 2017, inflation was at 2.1%. It dropped to 1.2% in 2020, but rose during the COVID-19 pandemic to 4.6% in 2021.

Conclusion: The real causes of rising inflation are COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused energy prices to explode — not Biden's economic policy.

Stock market high

Claim: "This is the Trump stock market because my polls against Biden are so good that investors are projecting that I will win, and that will drive the market up." Trump made this claim on his network Truth Social on January 29, 2024, in response to a US stock market high.

DW Fact Check: False

In fact, over the past year, between April 2023 and April 2024, the S&P 500 stock index rose by 27 percent.

Along with the Dow Jones and Nasdaq, the S&P 500 is the third major US stock market indicator. It includes the 500 largest stock-exchange-listed companies in the United States.

The boom in the US stock market has less to do with Trump's poll ratings and more with the interest rate policy of the Federal Reserve (FED). The US stock market recovery began in late 2023, when the FED chairman, Jerome Powell, hinted that the historic tightening of monetary policy was probably over, as inflation was falling faster than expected.

On April 3, 2024, Powell stated that, given the good development of the US economy, and "if the economy evolves broadly as we expect," a rate cut could be forthcoming at some point this year. 

According to analysts, other factors have also contributed to the stock market high, such as "optimism with regard to artificial intelligence."

Conclusion: Trump's post indicates inflated self-esteem rather than economic competence.

This article was originally written in German.

In hyperpartisan Washington, DC, there has long been one policy point that Democrats and Republicans could agree on: the sacrosanctity of the US-Israeli relationship. Power has oscillated between the two parties over the decades, but commitment to Israel has not.

Leaders from both parties have stuck to the refrain that Israel has no closer ally than the United States and that  the country's security is nonnegotiable.

Since 1948, Israel has received nearly $300 billion (€280 billion) in assistance from the United States, most of that for military means, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. That's about double the aid to the second-highest recipient, Egypt, which has a population of 111 million people compared with Israel's 9.5 million. 

"This is an incredible relationship," Chuck Freilich, a former deputy Israeli national security adviser who now teaches at Columbia, New York and Tel Aviv universities, told DW. "It doesn't have many precedents."

"Shared values," strategic interests and a strong lobby that keeps Israel in Washington's good graces are the "pillars" of the relationship, Freilich said. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), for example, is one of the most effective lobby groups in the US capital, advocating strong ties no matter the political season.

'A strategic asset'

After the US faced criticism for not doing enough to save Jews in Europe from the Holocaust, it was swift to recognize the state of Israel when leaders of the Zionist movement declared independence in May 1948. Since then, Israel has promoted itself as a like-minded liberal democracy that projects US interests in a region not always friendly to them. 

"In the old days, Israel was considered to be a pure liability," Freilich said, because regional conflict with Israel's Soviet-leaning Arab neighbors during the Cold War risked escalation between the nuclear superpowers. "Since the '90s, it came to be viewed as a strategic asset by the Pentagon." 

With the USSR gone, Israel became a way for the US to keep lesser adversaries, such as Iran and its nonstate proxies, in check. 

That commitment triggered the "closest strategic cooperation in US-Israeli history," Freilich said.

In response to the Hamas terror attack on October 7, the United States rushed weapons to Israel, sent carrier battle groups to the region and vetoed ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council. 

"Biden responded I think absolutely magnificently from Israel's perspective," Freilich said.

The US president set aside disagreements with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the interest of Israeli defense.

The mounting toll

Over nearly six months Israel's campaign has killed more than 33,000 people in Gaza, prompting global condemnation. Now, the Biden administration speaks of not conflating "the Israeli government with the Israeli people," as Vice President Kamala Harris recently told the US broadcaster CBS. 

"That's what you say about banana republics," Freilich said, concerned by the change in tone. "If Netanyahu doesn't change his approach very soon, if there isn't a new government very soon, it will have a lasting impact." 

For some observers of the US-Israeli relationship, soon is not soon enough. 

"This has been an agonizingly slow process by which the United States has been moving from green light to yellow lights and now orange lights," Ian Lustick, an Israel specialist and political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told DW. 

"Orange lights" refers to the recent US abstention during a UN Security Council vote, which allowed a resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire to pass after earlier attempts failed. In protest, Netanyahu pulled the plug on an upcoming trip of Israeli officials to the US. 

Still, the Biden administration has approved more than 100 military sales to Israel since October 7, as first reported by The Washington Post, including 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs that can level city blocks. 

"It's surprising to me how slowly the administration has moved toward the red light," Lustick said. That is a risk, he added, both to US interests elsewhere and to Biden at home in an election year.

The state of Michigan, for example, is home to a sizable Arab population and considered a must-win in November. In its primary in February, 13% of Democratic voters chose no candidate over Biden — an "uncommitted" protest that has spread to other states. 

"It's the first time I can remember when the political clout of critics of Israel has become a newsworthy, politician-attention attracting force in American politics," Lustick added. 

Tensions between friends

Israel has been drifting further to the right for decades, and religious extremists have gained more political power, largely under different kinds of Netanyahu-led governments. Creeping Israeli efforts to normalize the occupation and cement control over Palestinians have put Israel at odds with Democratic administrations, especially. They have clashed with him over key issues like Iran, Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Palestinian statehood.

Biden's public comments on Israel are themselves a reflection of an evolving US position. On one hand, he is a self-described committed "Zionist," who has repeated the trope that global Jewry is only safe thanks to Israel. Critics like Lustick call that logic outdated.

“If anything, Israel is now endangering Jews throughout the world," he said. "This rise in antisemitism directly connected to Israeli policies right now, especially when Israel says, 'We are the Jewish state.' It portrays itself as acting as Jews act. This is a terrible threat."

Increasingly, the US administration has criticized the enormous civilian toll. Its position more broadly is "equal measures of freedom, opportunity, and democracy" for Israelis and Palestinians. Israel's expanding occupation undermines that vision. 

Evolving US public opinion of Israel may eventually force a course correction in the relationship. Polls suggest a growing divide between older voters — who remember the Israel of the Oslo Accords days, when a path to two states appeared possible — and younger voters, who have only known an Israel that uses its lopsided military advantage to avoid a political settlement with Palestinians. 

That includes a growing number of American Jews, who identify as secular and liberal and thus feel increasingly estranged from an Israel they see going in the other direction.  That split presents not only cultural but also national security implications.

"In the long run, the values that the younger generation embraces will become stronger and stronger in the United States. Israel will keep running right into them, and American politicians will find, 'Wait a minute, although 25 years ago this used to work, we actually get into more trouble by trying to cater to AIPAC," Lustick said. 

Edited by: M. Gagnon