WORLD ROUNDUPCentral Asian Fighters and Global Jihad | A Distracted Washington Is a Win for Beijing | Africa’s Scary New Age of High-Tech Warfare, and more

Trump Urges Congress to ‘Kill’ Voice of America as Its Leader Defends Gutting It.  (Minho Kim and Megan Mineiro, New York Times)
Kari Lake, the close Trump ally and senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, urged Congress on Wednesday to gut the Voice of America and other federally funded news organizations she oversees, as lawmakers of both parties expressed concern about the move.
In a hearing on Capitol Hill that grew testy at times, Ms. Lake defended proposed cuts to the global news organizations, while Democrats and some Republicans warned that they could make it impossible for the United States to disseminate information to countries with limited press freedoms, such as Iran, China and Russia.
“What is going out on V.O.A. airwaves — it’s outrageous, and it has to stop,” she told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She called independent reporting from international news agencies funded by the government “corrupt” and “biased,” and made clear that President Trump’s goal was not to overhaul but to shut down the global media agency, which she called “a rotten piece of fish.”

Promise of Victory Over H.I.V. Fades as U.S. Withdraws Support  (Stephanie Nolen, New York Times)
A new drug that gives almost complete protection against the virus was to be administered across Africa this year. Now, much of the funding for that effort is gone.

A Distracted Washington Is a Win for Beijing  (James Palmer, Foreign Policy)
China is happy to step back from the Middle East so that it can challenge the United States where it counts.

Central Asian Fighters and Global Jihad  (Andrew C. Kuchins, National Interest)
Why is Central Asia a hotspot for the financing and recruitment for extremist movements?

The Critical Mineral Up and Downstream: Drivers and Stabilizers of US Foreign Policy  (Caleb Slayton, National Interest)
Critical minerals will continue to be drivers and stabilizers of US foreign policy for the foreseeable future.

Africa’s Scary New Age of High-Tech Warfare  (Economist)
The proliferation of new technology could make conflicts even longer and deadlier