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The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed over to his mother, aide says

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The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed over to his mother, a top aide to Navalny said Saturday on his social media account.

Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, made the announcement on his Telegram account and thanked “everyone” who had called on Russian authorities to return Navalny’s body to his mother.

Earlier on Saturday, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, accused President Vladimir Putin of mocking Christianity by trying to force his mother to agree to a secret funeral after his death in an Arctic penal colony.

“Thank you very much. Thanks to everyone who wrote and recorded video messages. You all did what you needed to do. Thank you. Alexei Navalny’s body has been given to his mother,” Zhdanov wrote.

Navalny, 47, Russia’s most well-known opposition politician, unexpectedly died on Feb. 16 in an Arctic penal colony and his family have been fighting for more than a week to have his body returned to them. Prominent Russians released videos calling on authorities to release the body and Western nations have hit Russia with more sanctions as punishment for Navalny’s death as well as for the second anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine.

Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, is still in Salekhard, Navalny’s press secretary Kira Yarmysh said on X, formerly Twitter. Lyudmila Navalnaya has been in the Arctic region for more than a week, demanding that Russian authorities return the body of her son to her.

“The funeral is still pending,” Yarmysh tweeted, questioning whether authorities will allow it to go ahead “as the family wants and as Alexei deserves.”

Earlier Saturday, Navalny’s widow said in a video that Navalny’s mother was being “literally tortured” by authorities who had threatened to bury Navalny in the Arctic prison. They, she said, suggested to his mother that she did not have much time to make a decision because the body is decomposing, Navalnaya said.

“Give us the body of my husband,” Navalnaya said earlier Saturday. “You tortured him alive, and now you keep torturing him dead. You mock the remains of the dead.”

Authorities have detained scores of people as they seek to suppress any major outpouring of sympathy for Putin’s fiercest foe before the presidential election he is almost certain to win. Russians on social media say officials don’t want to return Navalny’s body to his family, because they fear a public show of support for him.

Navalnaya accused Putin, an Orthodox Christian, of killing Navalny.

Women react as they lay flowers to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established, near the historical Federal Security Service (FSB, Soviet KGB successor) building in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. Navalny, 47, Russia’s most well-known opposition politician, unexpectedly died on Feb. 16 in the penal colony, prompting hundreds of Russians across the country to stream to impromptu memorials with flowers and candles. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Women react as they lay flowers to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established, near the historical Federal Security Service (FSB, Soviet KGB successor) building in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. Navalny, 47, Russia’s most well-known opposition politician, unexpectedly died on Feb. 16 in the penal colony, prompting hundreds of Russians across the country to stream to impromptu memorials with flowers and candles. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

“No true Christian could ever do what Putin is now doing with the body of Alexei,” she said, asking, “What will you do with his corpse? How low will you sink to mock the man you murdered?”

Saturday marked nine days since the opposition leader’s death, a day when Orthodox Christians hold a memorial service.

People across Russia came out to mark the occasion and honor Navalny’s memory by gathering at Orthodox churches, leaving flowers at public monuments or holding one-person protests.

Muscovites lined up outside the city’s Christ the Savior Cathedral to pay their respects, according to photos and videos published by independent Russian news outlet SOTAvision. The video also shows Russian police stationed nearby and officers stopping several people for an ID check.

Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, reacts as she speaks during the Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe, died Friday in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence, Russia's prison agency said. He was 47. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Pool Photo via AP)
Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, reacts as she speaks during the Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died Friday in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence, Russia’s prison agency said. He was 47. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Pool Photo via AP)

They included Elena Osipova, a 78-year-old artist from St. Petersburg who stood in a street with a poster showing Navalny with angel wings, and Sergei Karabatov, 64, who came to a Moscow monument to victims of political repression with flowers and a note saying “Don’t think this is the end.”

Also arrested was Aida Nuriyeva, from the city of Ufa near the Ural Mountains, who publicly held up a sign saying “Putin is Navalny’s murderer! I demand that the body be returned!”

Putin is often pictured at church, dunking himself in ice water to celebrate the Epiphany and visiting holy sites in Russia. He has promoted what he has called “traditional values” without which, he once said, “society degrades.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected allegations that Putin was involved in Navalny’s death, calling them “absolutely unfounded, insolent accusations about the head of the Russian state.”

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, April 24, 2022. The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny accused President Vladimir Putin of mocking Christianity by trying to force his mother to agree to a secret funeral after his death in a penal colony. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)
FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, April 24, 2022. The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny accused President Vladimir Putin of mocking Christianity by trying to force his mother to agree to a secret funeral after his death in a penal colony. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)

Musician Nadya Tolokonnikova, who became widely known after spending nearly two years in prison for taking part in a 2012 protest with her band Pussy Riot inside Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, was one of many prominent Russians who released a video in which she accused Putin of hypocrisy and asked him to release Navalny’s body.

“We were imprisoned for allegedly trampling on traditional values. But no one tramples on traditional Russian values more than you, Putin, your officials and your priests who pray for all the murder that you do, year after year, day after day,” said Tolokonnikova, who lives abroad. “Putin, have a conscience, give his mother the body of her son.”

Lyudmila Navalnaya said Thursday that investigators allowed her to see her son’s body in the morgue in the Arctic city of Salekhard. She had filed a lawsuit at a court in Salekhard contesting officials’ refusal to release the body. A closed-door hearing had been scheduled for March 4.

Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokesman, said that Lyudmila Navalnaya was shown a medical certificate stating that her son died of “natural causes.”

 

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Team USA Bowlers Collect Eight Medals on Final Day of Competition at 2024 Champion of Champions

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Credit: The Sport of Bowling – USBC
Team USA bowlers Bryanna Coté, Crystal Elliott, Matt Russo and Chris Via collected eight medals during Wednesday's final day of competition at the 2024 PANAM Bowling Champion of Champions in Lima, Peru Credit: The Sport of Bowling – USBC

LIMA, Peru (FNN SPORTS) – When Team USA traveled to Peru to compete in the 2024 PANAM Bowling Champion of Champions, it had the opportunity to collect a total of 12 medals, four in doubles, four in singles and four in all-events.

After the last shots had been thrown at the VIDENA Bowling Center of La Villa Deportiva Nacional (VIDENA) in Lima on Wednesday night and the final scores had been calculated, the Americans had managed to walk away with 10 of those 12 available medals.

Eight of those 10 were secured during Wednesday’s final day of competition when all four Team USA bowlers reached the podium two times each.

Bryanna Coté of Tucson, Arizona, was the most decorated American bowler on the day as she earned a gold medal in women’s all-events and a silver in women’s singles.

The other three Americans brought home one gold and one bronze medal each, which were earned as follows: Crystal Elliott of Palm Bay, Florida (women’s singles – gold; women’s all-events – bronze); Matt Russo of Ballwin, Missouri (men’s all-events – gold; men’s singles – bronze); Chris Via of Springfield, Ohio (men’s singles – gold; men’s all-events – bronze).

Team USA’s other two medals at the 2024 Champion of Champions were secured on Monday night when Russo and Via teamed up to capture silver in men’s doubles.

But Wednesday was all about individual action as the final eight-game blocks in each division determined both the singles and all-events medalists.

The women kicked things off during the morning session, and it didn’t take long to realize that the singles competition was going to be a two-player battle between Coté and Elliott from start to finish.

The American teammates pushed one another throughout the block, but, in the end, it was Elliott who emerged victorious, posting an eight-game mark of 1,602 (201, 198, 184, 202, 203, 204, 211 and 199) on Wednesday to finish with a 16-game total of 3,202 (a 200.13 average).

Coté finished just 21 pins behind at 3,181 (a 198.81 average) after a 1,568 final-round effort that included scores of 190, 225, 176, 204, 186, 171, 223 and 193.

Colombia’s Juliana Franco brought home the women’s singles bronze medal with a 16-game total of 3,112.

The singles victory allowed Elliott to win the battle – and her first gold medal as a member of Team USA – but Coté managed to win the war by topping her American teammate and the other 28 players in the field en route to the women’s all-events gold medal.

Coté earned her place atop the overall standings thanks to a three-day, 24-game total of 4,758 (a 198.25 average), which included 3,181 in singles and 1,577 in doubles.

Aruba’s Kamilah Dammers was next in line, authoring a 4,735 total (3,086 in singles and 1,649 in doubles) to walk away with silver in women’s all-events while Elliott used 3,202 in singles and 1,519 in doubles to post a mark of 4,721 (a 196.71 average) and capture bronze.

By earning gold and bronze this week at the Champion of Champions, Elliott not only doubled her career Team USA medal count, but she also continued a run of incredible bowling that started with a win at the 2024 U.S. Amateur, continued during the 2023-2024 collegiate season and culminated with her earning Rookie of the Year honors during the 2024 Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour season.

But even though Elliott should be accustomed to success by now, she had a hard time figuring out what to say when asked how it felt to add an international singles gold medal to her list of accolades.

“I’m not really sure of the proper words to describe how I feel right now, but I would definitely say honored, fortunate and thankful,” Elliott said. “This past year has been nothing short of a dream, but that comes down to the hard work I put in because it’s not an easy sport. However, it helps to have a support system behind you that is always pushing you to be the best you can possibly be in practice and competition.”

In addition to trying to author a strong performance of her own, one of Coté’s primary goals for the 2024 Champion of Champions was to make sure Elliott knew that she could count on her for that support from start to finish.

It was a responsibility that Coté took very seriously, and it’s one that she clearly lived up to as both she and Elliott bowled well throughout the 24-game event.

“I think the idea of ‘having fun’ while doing work helped to ease Crystal’s mind on what was really going on around her,” Coté said. “We made a game plan the entire time. Being the veteran and leader for her felt rewarding. I felt like I did my job to help guide and push her while also maintaining my own composure and fight on the lanes. It just proves that you can do both.”

That composure and fight allowed Coté to secure her fourth and fifth career medals in Champion of Champions competition – she won gold in doubles and bronze in singles and all-events at the 2022 event in Brazil.

When asked what it is about this tournament that always seems to bring out her best, Coté pointed to its similarities to another event she’s quite fond of.

“The Champion of Champions reminds of the U.S. Women’s Open,” Coté said. “It’s an eight-game block, which can be long, grueling, mentally exhausting and hard. You really have to force yourself to stay patient and present. I knew going in that it was going to be hard and that execution and patience would be the key. Winning my first all-events gold medal here feels amazing.

“This week, like any week representing Team USA, is an absolute honor. I’m grateful for the opportunity and will always strive to be my best.”

Once the women’s competition had ended, Russo and Via took to the lanes for their final eight games and were hoping to call upon their best as well.

Via certainly accomplished that, putting up scores of 226, 191, 230, 195, 169, 223, 223 and 209 on Wednesday to add 1,666 pins to his total and bring home the men’s singles gold medal with a two-day, 16-game mark of 3,393 (a 212.06 average).

Canadian Francois Lavoie earned silver with 3,372.

The remaining spot on the men’s singles podium went to Russo, who used an eight-game total of 1,635 (208, 179, 245, 193, 238, 155, 201 and 216) on Wednesday to come in with a final score of 3,312 (a 207 average), which was good enough for third place in the 34-player field and the bronze medal.

Russo would get a gold of his own shortly thereafter, however, as the 3,312 from singles was added to the 1,623 he put up during doubles on Monday to give him a three-day, 24-game total of 4,935 (a 205.63 average), which was good enough for first place in the men’s all-events competition.

Mitch Hupe of Canada finished second and brought home silver thanks to a mark of 4,911.

Via collected bronze after posting 3,393 in singles and 1,509 in doubles to finish with a grand total of 4,902 (a 204.25 average).

Wednesday’s strong performances allowed both Russo and Via to finish the 2024 Champion of Champions a perfect three for three as both men medaled in all three events in which they competed.

Success at international events is certainly nothing new for Via as he came to Peru having already captured more than 10 medals during his tenure competing for Team USA and Junior Team USA; nevertheless, this week’s accomplishments in Lima are not something he will take for granted.

“Adding three medals to the trophy case is an amazing feeling,” Via said. “After missing out on a few close calls last year in the Dominican Republic, this was a nice rebound for me. A good performance like this, especially when the environment is so tough, is definitely rewarding and will be something I can use to build some confidence moving forward.”

But according to Via, that performance would not have happened if it weren’t for the support of his teammates and the contributions of another unsung hero.

“The work that Team USA Head Coach Bryan O’Keefe put in with us this week was incredible,” Via said. “He was at the bowling center for at least 12 hours each day working with us and the ladies. Those are long, hard days, especially with the grueling environment of how hard the lanes were here. A lot of the success from this tournament can be attributed to Coach O’Keefe and the work he did with me here and at camp a few weeks ago in Texas.”

For more information on Team USA, visit BOWL.com/TeamUSA.

United States Bowling Congress
The United States Bowling Congress serves as the national governing body of bowling as recognized by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC). USBC conducts championship events nationwide including the largest participation sporting events in the world – the USBC Open and Women’s Championships – and professional events such as the USBC Masters and USBC Queens.

Founded in 1895, today USBC and its 1,449 state and local associations proudly serve more than a million members. USBC is headquartered in Arlington, Texas, working toward a future for the sport. The online home for USBC is BOWL.com.

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U.S. Secretary Blinken Reaffirms Strong U.S.-Guyana Relations and Commitment to Regional Security

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WASHINGTON (FNN) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali to discuss the strengthening U.S.-Guyana partnership and the shared goals of enhancing security and prosperity across the region.

During their meeting, the two leaders reviewed growing U.S.-Guyana trade and economic cooperation and discussed the critical importance of supporting the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti to help restore democracy and security for the Haitian people.

Secretary Blinken further emphasized the United States’ commitment to Guyana’s territorial integrity and highlighted the significance of cooperation under the U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PACC 2030) to foster regional climate resilience and food security.

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President Biden’s key engagements for 2024 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)

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MODERATOR: This is Michael Feldman with the NSC press team. Just as a reminder for today’s call, it is on background and attributable to senior administration officials. The call is also under embargo until 5:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time tomorrow morning.

For awareness and not for attribution, on today’s call we have [senior administration official] and [senior administration official]. I will now turn the call over to [senior administration official] to give some opening remarks. Over to you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Excellent. Thank you. And good evening, everybody. We’re very excited for the President’s trip to this year’s U.N. General Assembly, the last one of his presidency.

So, at meetings at the U.N. this week, we’re going to get a lot of business done for the American people. The President, the Secretary of State, other Cabinet officials, and even some members of Congress are here in New York to advocate for our country’s interests and values.

At the General Assembly, the President will do what he has done throughout his presidency: rally global action to tackle some of our world’s biggest challenges. So, for example, he’ll be talking this week about the climate crisis and the environment. We’ll be talking about the need to strengthen our systems for providing humanitarian assistance; to end brutal wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan; and we’ll also be talking about the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

When President Biden came to office nearly four years ago, he pledged to restore American leadership on the world stage. And given that this is the President’s last General Assembly, it’s a chance for him to talk about how this approach has produced results, real achievements for the American people and for the world.

The President’s engagements this week reflect his vision for a world where countries come together to solve big problems. This stands in contrast to some of our competitors, who have a more cynical and transactional worldview, one where countries interpret their self-interest very narrowly and don’t work together for the common good.

An overarching theme at this year’s General Assembly will be the need to reform and strengthen our global institutions, including the U.N., to make them more effective and inclusive. And that’s been a big theme of the U.N. Secretary-General’s Summit for the Future, the marquee event at high-level week this year.

Last week, President Biden released a video message ahead of the summit. I encourage you all watch it. You can find it on the Web. In the video, the President spoke about using this moment to reaffirm our commitment to the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And he talked about pushing for a stronger, more effective United Nations and a reformed and expanded Security Council. And he also talked about our efforts, investing billions in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and building on the global consensus that we achieved last spring in the United Nations General Assembly on principles for the use of artificial intelligence.

We’re going into a General Assembly this year with the world facing many steep challenges, problems so big no one country can solve them on their own, but that’s why the President feels so strongly the world needs strong and effective global institutions, including an adapted United Nations. This is his vision of countries working together. It has been a theme of his presidency and an important part of his legacy.

Let me just briefly note the President’s key engagements, and then I’ll turn over to my colleague to discuss the major event that he’s hosting on the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats.

On Tuesday morning, tomorrow, he will deliver and address to the U.N. General Assembly. It will have many of the themes that I’ve mentioned here and talk about — again, some of the achievements of his approach to the United Nations and global cooperation.

The President will also meet tomorrow with U.N. Secretary-General Guterres to talk about how the United States and the United Nations are working together to advance peace, safeguard human rights, and help countries develop.

On Tuesday afternoon, the President will host a summit of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, and I’ll turn over to my colleague in a second to talk about that.

The President is also giving a major address later that afternoon on the urgent need to combat climate change.

On Wednesday, the President will meet with the President of Vietnam, To Lam. The President of Vietnam just came into office four months ago, and this meeting will be an important opportunity for the two leaders to talk about our shared interest in stability and prosperity in Southeast Asia.

The President will also attend, that afternoon, a meeting focused on Ukraine reconstruction with other world leaders.

And then on Wednesday evening, at the Met, the President will host world leaders and senior U.N. officials for a reception.

This is just a small slice of all the diplomacy and business that we’re doing here at the U.N. General Assembly. There’ll be high-level meetings on the future of multilateral cooperation, sea level rise, antimicrobial resistance. Really, every big, major challenge will be addressed here, and we’ll have senior U.S. representatives at all of these main events on issues such as the impact of emerging technology and specific meetings on global crises such as the difficult situation in Haiti, Sudan, Venezuela, Ukraine, Syria, and the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Other U.S.-hosted and U.S.-attended side events will focus on climate; scaling clean energy for Africa; a major core group meeting of countries committed to LGBTQ rights that was attended by the First Lady; and partnering for a lead-free future.

So, again, this is just a small slice of everything that is going on, plus the countless private sector and civil society events focusing on the great challenges of the 21st century.

So, as I mentioned, we’re going to use this high-level week, the President’s last U.N. General Assembly, to get as much done for the American people in the coming days.

I’d like to now turn over to my colleague who will discuss the President’s summit on the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Great. Thanks so much, and thanks to all of you for joining this call.

I wanted to share with you the exciting news that, on Tuesday, President Biden will, as [senior administration official] already said, host a summit of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats. This is a coalition that President Biden launched in June 2023 to mobilize international action to tackle the synthetic drug crisis.

In just over one year, this global coalition has grown to include 158 countries and 15 international organizations working together to prevent the illicit manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs, to detect emerging drug threats, and to promote effective public health interventions.

With the summit as a motivating force, we now have 11 core coalition countries that will be joining the President tomorrow, and they will be announcing new initiatives that will continue to advance the work of the coalition, including work to prevent, detect, and disrupt the supply chain of synthetic drugs.

It’s important to emphasize that these international efforts complement intensive work that’s already been done and is being done domestically, including an increased focus on coordinated disruption of drug trafficking networks and concerted efforts to make the opioid overdose reversal medication, naloxone, widely available over the counter.

These are just some of a wide array of actions that the Biden-Harris administration has taken to tackle the synthetic drug threats.

And as a result of these efforts, we’re starting to see the largest drop in overdose deaths in recorded history. When President Biden and Vice President Harris came into office, the number of drug overdose deaths was increasing by more than 30 percent year over year. Now we have the latest provisional data released from the Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics, showing an unprecedented decline in overdose deaths of roughly 10 percent from April 2023 to April 2024.

But there’s a lot more to be done, and the Global Coalition’s work recognizes that we need a global solution to a global problem.

We are thrilled that we have so many countries coming together tomorrow to celebrate the work of the coalition, and we also will be announcing a new pledge that all of the core coalition members will be announcing — will be signing on to tomorrow, and we will be working over the coming months to ensure that all coalition members sign on to this pledge.

And we truly think that this is a reflection of President Biden’s commitment to work both domestically and globally on the most important challenges that we face, recognizing that we need both domestic action and global action working together.

And with that, I’ll turn it back to [senior administration official].

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks, Michael. I’ll turn it back to you.

MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, [senior administration officials]. All right, with that, we will take some questions.

The first question is going to go to Zeke Miller. You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q Thanks so much for doing this. You mentioned this is the President’s last U.N. of his presidency. He’s going to deliver remarks to the General Assembly tomorrow. Can you give us a preview, potentially, of what his message will be? And will it be different from his prior remarks, in the sense — you know, obviously, world events have changed, but, you know, with an eye towards his legacy? Or is there some message he’s trying to give on the world stage before he leaves office in January? Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: You know, the themes I — thanks, Zeke. The themes I previewed at the beginning will be really central to the President. So, again, he came into office four years ago with a vision of America returning to the world stage, having a new way of interacting with other countries, bringing countries together to solve some of these big challenges. This will be a good opportunity for him to look at the results that have been achieved.

We live in a world with many problems, with many divisions, but we have a story to tell about what we’ve done to rally the world to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty, uphold principles of the U.N. Charter; what we’ve done to manage responsibly our competition with other countries including China; and also what we’re doing to deal with the ongoing and serious conflicts in our world in places like Gaza, where the President has worked tirelessly to get a hostage ceasefire deal, and conflicts like Sudan, where you have absolutely unprecedented displacement and a really serious crisis that we think needs to get more attention.

So I think that will be the frame, and I’ll leave the details for the President’s speech tomorrow.

MODERATOR: Great. Thank you very much. Our next question is going to go to Asma Khalid. You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q Yes. Hi. Thanks for doing this. Similarly, sort of on the speech, could I get a sort of broad, I guess, framework or tone that you all are thinking about? I know you say that the President came into office talking about building international coalitions, wanting to rebuild the United States stature on the world, but this is a really different moment than when the President even gave the speech last year, before October 7th. He is now leaving office, and there are multiple sort of intractable problems right now in the world. And can you just kind of give us any sense of tone in how the President is thinking about that and the very limited time he has left to solve them?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks, Asma. Look, I think it’s a good question. The world has changed. The world has gotten more difficult in many ways, as you noted.

But, you know, as I said, the President came into office with a vision of how countries need to work together, how they need to work through institutions, how they need to partner to solve big global challenges. And the fact that we do have these challenges, the fact that we do have Gaza, the fact that we do have Ukraine and Sudan, still serious issues in our world, just underscores the need for that kind of cooperation. And I think you’ll hear that in his speech.

Yes, he’ll talk about the significant accomplishments, achievements of his approach, but also talk about how we need the spirit, we need to continue working together to solve these big challenges, whether it is the wars you mentioned or other challenges such as the climate crisis or managing the implications of some of the new technologies.

So I think this will be an important moment to say: Where do we go and what are the principles in which we’re going to solve these problems? Thanks.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Our next question is going to go to Paris Huang. You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q All right. Hi. Thank you, Michael. Thank you, [senior administration official]. Two-parts question. So, kind of follow up on the questions from Zeke and Asma. So, of course, we know China and Russia have been heavily influencing the U.N. for years. You know, we see all those voting records. And President Biden have been doing a lot of reform during the four years. Does he believe that those changes will sustain after he leaves the White House?

And second question: In last year’s UNGA remarks, President Biden talked about the peace and stability of Taiwan Strait, which was the first time a U.S. president actually talked about Taiwan at the UNGA. So, will he include Taiwan again in his remarks this year? Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks. And I appreciate the question. I think it’s a good question in terms of, you know, have we left the United Nations as an institution better off. I think we do have results, and the President will talk about that. You know, it’s a time of great divisions, and the U.N. has already been — has always been a reflection of the world as it is.

That said, when you look at what we’ve done, including through the United Nations, to, for example, rally the world to defend the U.N. Charter after the Ukrainian invasion, we secured a U.N. General Assembly resolution in which 141 countries stood up and said, “We condemn this, and we stand in favor of the U.N. Charter.”

You’ve also seen a more progressive and forward-leaning position on institutional reform. For example, two years ago, the President announced a shift and a more forward-leaning position in reforming and expanding the United Nations Security Council. And that’s definitely a piece of this well as well.

I won’t get into the details on, you know, specifically what he’ll mention on individual issues, but I will say that an important part of the President’s legacy has been thinking about how we responsibly manage our competition with China, and that includes many facets, economic security, and those will be addressed in the speech.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Our next question is going to go to Sheryl Gay Stolberg. You should be able to unmute yourself, Sheryl.

Q Hi. Thank you for doing this call. You know, this is not a political speech, but it does occur in the context of an election in which one of the candidates has an isolationist vision that is far apart, diametrically opposed to that of the President. And I’m wondering, to what extent can the President use this speech to ensure that his own vision of global alliances survives? Is he concerned that that vision will unravel?

And will this speech be in any way directed to the American people, as much as to world leaders, as a reminder of the importance of America’s place in the world?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Look, as you said, this is not a political speech, but the President, again, he has a vision. He came into a vision — into office. That vision has produced results. And there are many opponents and critics of that vision, not just internationally but at home. It has been the President’s view that he needs to explain why this vision of working together with countries to solve these big challenges actually produces results, and that’s actually how we’re going to be measured.

And when I say “produces results,” that means internationally, in terms of ending war, in terms of tackling challenges like sustainable development, the debt crisis, climate, but it also means that he needs to explain how his vision has produced results for the American people. And that’s where I think there’s a very strong record, and some of it is very, very tangible.

For example, the summit on the coalition on synthetic drugs, that is him bringing together countries, all of whom share a challenge — dealing with synthetic drugs — but convening them here, talking about deliverables, talking about how we’re going to work together. And this is something that directly affects the situation of the American public, as my colleague briefed earlier, in terms of the overall record on issues like fentanyl.

So I think he’ll lay that out tomorrow, and I think it will stand as representing that vision and what it’s achieved.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much. We will go to Danny Kemp. You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q Thanks very much for doing this. I just wanted to ask about the current situation in the Middle East. I mean, you know, the speech tomorrow is really going to be a bit overshadowed by the events in Lebanon, where we’ve seen nearly 500 people killed in the space of a day. How’s he going to address that? And more particularly, how will the President be seeking to — will he be talking to other leaders about that? What’s he actually going to be doing at the UNGA more generally to try and get this thing sorted out? Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: This is one of the advantages of the U.N. General Assembly: You literally have the whole world here. So when you do have crises of the day, they’ll be addressed. And I have no doubt that the situation in the Middle East will be an important theme in a lot of the meetings, not just that the President has, but other senior U.S. officials who will be convening to talk about various aspects of the crisis and what we can do to stabilize the situation.

He will address the Middle East, especially this very, very difficult year that we have all gone through. And again, I think it’s an opportunity to talk about what we have achieved and what we still need to do, given a situation that is just heartbreaking where hostages have not been returned, the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and, as you know, just such a sensitive issue, such a delicate and dangerous situation between Israel and Lebanon right now.

Thanks.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much. And unfortunately, that is all the time we have today. Thank you all for joining this call. Thank you to our speakers. And feel free to follow up with our team at the NSC press team with any questions.

And again, this call is under embargo until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. Thank you all again, and hope you have a great rest of your evening.

5:53 P.M. EDT

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