The ocean has untold wonders waiting to be discovered. A U.S. company has developed an improved, ultra-deep diving submersible craft to search for them. It will take a 5-person crew as deep as 4000-meters, with the wreck of the Titanic its first deep sea destination. If the craft can withstand the staggering water pressure found several kilometers below the surface, it can explore the riches of an unknown world. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
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Month: August 2018
Church Leaders in Congo Say Election Observers Are Critical
Catholic leaders who mediated a compromise on elections in Congo warned Monday that the credibility of the long-delayed vote scheduled in December depends “to a great extent” on the presence of national and international observers — and that “bias” will keep the country in crisis.
Monsignor Marcel Utembi, president of the National Episcopal Conference known as CENCO, encouraged the government to implement all provisions of the Dec. 31, 2016 agreement that it mediated — especially de-escalation measures — and to take into account concerns of opponents and civil society.
“If elections are biased, they will keep us in a crisis … and the lack of clarification in the situation will cause grave problems,” he warned.
The vast, mineral-rich nation is under pressure to ensure free and fair elections.
President Joseph Kabila, who became Congo’s leader in 2001 after the assassination of his father, former President Laurent Kabila, by law could not run again after his mandate ended in December 2016. But he remained in office because of delays in holding elections, which sparked deadly protests.
Kabila announced last month that he would not try to stay in office, giving one of Africa’s most turbulent nations the opportunity for what could be its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power. But there are concerns, raised not only by CENCO but by U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley and other council members, that Kabila will try to ensure that his chosen candidate, former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, will win.
Utembi outlined a series of recommendations from CENCO to the government and the Independent Electoral Commission known as CENI to ensure fair elections including: agree to facilitate national and international observation of the elections; reach consensus on whether to use voting machines; and prevent “arbitrary application of rules to certain candidates who wish to run.”
The opposition and some in the international community, including the United States, are objecting to the planned use of electronic voting machines despite warnings from watchdog groups that transparency and credibility could suffer. In response, Congo’s government declared it will fund the election itself and has not asked for help from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country.
Haley raised a series of “red flags and unanswered questions” at Monday’s council meeting including about the voting machines.
She asked: Will there be enough machines? Can authorities recharge them with only a 12-hour battery life? Have election organizers widely tested them? How is the electoral commission going to transport election materials to more than 90,000 polling places? Will voters know how to use touchscreens? Are organizers preparing paper ballots as a back-up?
“Paper ballots were good enough to get president Kabila elected, and they should be good enough as a fail-safe to elect his successor,” Haley said, adding that if the president was at the U.N. today she would ask whether self-financing the election and doing it without help from the U.N. peacekeeping mission is possible.
“It can’t help but raise suspicion when the Congolese government refuses the assistance that would help make free, fair and credible elections a reality, but continue to take the humanitarian assistance that so many of us continue to give them,” she said.
Haley said other “red flags” add to U.S. suspicions including the electoral commission’s Aug. 24 decision “to disqualify some opposition presidential candidates for what appear to be political reasons.”
Opposition candidates must be allowed to speak freely, without fear or harassment so that all parties compete “on a level playing field,” she said.
With 118 days left before the election, Haley said, “these problems are fixable,” and the hopes of 80 million Congolese citizens for a free and fair vote rest on the decisions the government and electoral commission make in the days and weeks ahead.
Leila Zerrougui, the U.N. envoy for Congo, told the council by video from Kinshasa that the lack of consensus on using voting machines and the absence of a definitive list of candidates because of appeals to the Constitutional Court are causing discord, she said. The list is expected on Sept. 19 after appeals are heard.
The court’s review and appeals process “will be key to the legitimacy of the electoral process going forward,” Zerrougui said. “A lack of confidence or a perceived lack of credibility in the CENI or in the decisions of the Constitutional Court would only serve to heighten tensions in this process.”
She warned that any indication that CENI went beyond its mandate in interpreting the electoral law and determining the eligibility of candidates “would only undermine confidence in the process as a whole.”
Congo’s U.N. Ambassador Ignace Gata Mavita responded to skepticism and questions saying CENI has been carrying out an awareness-raising campaign on the use of voting machines, is working on the issue of 6 million voters registered without fingerprints, and the government remains determined to finance the elections.
“Our country remains open to support from other partners as long as this support comes without preconditions and respects the sovereignty of the country,” Gata Mavita said.
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Tarnished by Bailout, Greek PM Eyes Reshuffle Before Election
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saw his interior minister take up a key post in his leftist Syriza party on Monday, heralding a cabinet reshuffle to shore up waning support after painful bailouts.
In a rousing speech, Tsipras ruled out early elections, telling his party faithful that polls would be held as scheduled in the autumn of 2019, but that his government and the Syriza movement needed ‘new blood.’
The country emerged from the biggest bailout in economic history last week but jaded Greeks found little reason to celebrate after nine years of cuts and job losses.
“It will be the mother of all battles,” Tsipras declared, referring to the election next year, effectively firing the opening salvo to what appears to be a long-drawn out election campaign.
“To give all these battles victoriously we need to rally together, unity and renewal. Our country, the government and the party, need new blood and more appetite to get to work,” he said.
Greece holds parliamentary elections every four years, with the next expected by October 2019 at the latest.
Based on the latest three opinion polls conducted by Greek media, Syriza is trailing the main opposition New Democracy conservatives by between 5.3 and 11.6 percentage points.
Panos Skourletis, the interior minister nominated by Tsipras to become new Secretary of Syriza’s Central Committee, is a party stalwart with widespread support at a grassroots level. He was backed by a wide majority of central committee members and was elected for the post late on Monday.
Tsipras was elected in 2015 promising to end years of austerity for Greece, imposed by international creditors. But he was forced to reverse course by the prospect of the country being kicked out of the euro zone and pursue deeper reforms under a third international bailout program.
“From now on… we no longer have the alibi of implementing a program which is not ours,” Skourletis told the central committee, adding that he saw potential for reform but also challenges for the party in the post-bailout period.
Austerity and political turmoil followed as the economy shrank by a quarter, pushing a third of the population into poverty and forcing the migration of thousands abroad.
The bailout programmes concluded last week. Greece has received 288 billion euros in financial aid since 2010.
Tsipras said the government now had the fiscal space to alleviate some tax burden on business and individuals, but was not specific. “We are ready to proceed with brave interventions,” he said.
Government officials have previously said the government may scrap plans for further pension cuts next year.
Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, who steered the country’s exit from the third bailout, was likely to remain in his post, sources said.
Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, instrumental in brokering an accord ending years of dispute with Macedonia over its name, was also expected to stay on board.
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Turkey: US Trade Sanctions Could Destabilize Region
Turkey warned on Monday that U.S. trade sanctions against it could destabilize the Middle East and ultimately bolster terrorism and the refugee crisis, underscoring the regional impact of Ankara’s deepening rift with Washington.
Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, who is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law, used a visit to Paris to both take aim at the United States and highlight Ankara’s push for better ties with Europe, given the standoff with Washington.
The rift with the United States over an American evangelical Christian pastor detained in Turkey on terrorism charges has helped accelerate a crisis in the Turkish lira, which is down about 40 percent this year. U.S. President Donald Trump this month authorized a doubling of duties on aluminum and steel imported from Turkey.
Investors are also worried about a U.S. Treasury investigation into majority state-owned Turkish lender Halkbank, which faces a potentially hefty fine for allegations of Iran-sanctions busting. The bank has said all of its transactions were legal.
“These steps taken with political motivation will not only impact the global financial system but also global trade and regional stability,” Albayrak told a news conference following a meeting with his French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire.
“With the damage [the measures] will cause to regional stability, they will unfortunately contribute to chaotic problems that feed terrorism and also the refugee crisis.”
With the dollar stronger globally, the lira weakened as far as 6.2960 from 6.00 on Friday, when a holiday to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha came to an end. It stood at 6.1200 at 1529 GMT.
“The exchange rate sensitivity created by the tension between us and the United States continues,” said Seda Yalcinkaya Ozer, an analyst at brokerage Integral.
Diverging interests
Turkey and the United States are also at odds over diverging interests in Syria and U.S. objections to Ankara’s ambition to buy Russian defense systems.
The United States has expressed concern that NATO member Turkey’s planned deployment of the Russian-made S-400 could risk the security of some U.S.-made weapons and other technology used by Turkey, including the F-35 jet.
A committee from the U.S. Congress visited Turkey on Monday and held meetings with officials regarding the F-35 program, Turkey’s foreign ministry said.
In a conference call earlier this month, Albayrak told investors that Turkey would emerge stronger from the crisis, insisting its banks were healthy but that the authorities were ready to provide support to the sector if needed.
Turkey’s central bank and banking watchdog have taken steps to underpin the lira in recent weeks, including cutting limits for Turkish banks’ swap transactions. On Monday, the Istanbul stock exchange said it had started work on setting up a swap market as part of efforts to make the city an international finance center.
Investors remain concerned about the lira, given Erdogan’s opposition to high interest rates and with inflation near 16 percent in July, its highest in more than 14 years.
August inflation data will be released next Monday and the central bank will hold a policy-setting meeting Sept. 13, having left rates on hold at its last meeting, contrary to expectations.
Erdogan has cast the lira slide as the result of an “economic war” against Turkey, a comment echoed by his spokesman last week when Trump ruled out concessions to Ankara in return for Brunson’s release.
The main BIST 100 share index was up 1.22 percent at Monday’s close. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond dipped to 21.95 percent from 21.98 percent a week earlier.
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Trump Welcomes President of Kenya to White House
President Donald Trump on Monday welcomed the president of Kenya to the White House, where the two leaders talked trade, security — and Trump’s accomplishments.
Trump hosted President Uhuru Kenyatta as Kenya is emerging from a period of election turmoil. He’s the second African leader to meet with Trump at the White House, following a visit by Nigeria’s president earlier this year.
Trump has been criticized for paying too little attention to the continent and faced demands for an apology earlier this year after his private comments about “shithole countries” in Africa and other regions were leaked to journalists.
U.S. first lady Melania Trump, who helped welcome Kenyatta and his wife to the White House, is planning a solo trip to Africa this fall.
Trump and Kenyatta, during remarks to reporters in the Oval Office and Cabinet room, said they would be discussing a series of topics, including cooperation on terrorism and building trade and investment ties.
Later, Trump trumpeted a preliminary trade deal with Mexico he’d announced earlier in the day as well as recent stock market gains.
“Well, you were here on a very special day,” Trump told Kenyatta, adding: “Everything I said is going to happen, it ends up happening, so you picked a good day to come. We’re in a very good mood.”
Kenyatta said he hoped Trump would share the wealth with his country.
“We’ll bring that over to Kenya,” Trump joked.
Trump did not respond to repeated questions about Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday at 81 after a 13-month struggle with brain cancer. Trump tweeted condolences to McCain’s family but has made no reference to the Arizona senator, with whom he had a bitter feud.
Kenyatta has been trying to bolster his image following a crisis in which Kenya’s Supreme Court overturned the August presidential election, citing irregularities, and the opposition boycotted the fresh vote.
Kenya is the third highest recipient of U.S. security aid in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Security Assistance Monitor. Both Kenya and the U.S. have troops in Somalia, and the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group has crossed the border to carry out dozens of attacks inside Kenya, calling it retribution for sending troops. Nearly 100 Kenyan police officers have been killed since May 2017 in bombings and ambushes.
The Kenyan leader is also meeting with U.S. business leaders to promote investment in his country while in Washington. He’ll host British Prime Minister Theresa May in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, on Thursday.
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UN: In Battles Over Land Rights, Activists Branded as Criminals
Governments and corporations are increasingly using legal persecution to portray indigenous activists as criminals and terrorists, putting them at heightened risk of violence, the United Nations said Monday.
Indigenous leaders and campaigners fighting to protect land from development are being stymied and silenced by rising militarization, national security acts and anti-terrorism laws, according to a report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Globally, up to 2.5 billion people live on indigenous and community lands, which make up more than half of all land worldwide, but they legally own just 10 percent, according to rights groups.
The U.N. report cited a “drastic increase” in violence against indigenous people actively opposing large-scale projects such as mining, infrastructure, hydroelectric dams and logging.
“It’s a new war,” said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, who authored the report.
“It’s getting worse because many of the remaining resources in the world are found in indigenous territories,” Tauli-Corpuz told Reuters.
This month, an indigenous leader was murdered in Brazil, part of a battle over logging in the Amazon.
In Guatemala, seven indigenous members of farmers’ organizations advocating for land rights and political participation were killed, it said.
Last year, more than 200 activists were killed, the highest since 2002, according British campaign group Global Witness.
“In the worst instances, escalating militarization, compounded by historical marginalization, results in indigenous peoples being targeted under national security acts and antiterrorism legislation, putting them in the line of fire, at times literally, by the army and the police,” it said.
No global numbers
Governments and corporations are using legal means to designate indigenous people as trespassers subject to eviction, while arrests are made on vague charges or uncorroborated witness testimony, followed by long periods of pretrial detention.
Criminal charges have been filed against activists, showing prosecutors and judges colluding with companies and landowners in some cases, it said.
In Ethiopia, indigenous land rights defenders have been prosecuted and imprisoned under antiterrorist legislation, it said.
There are no tallies of criminal charges filed against indigenous peoples worldwide, but Tauli-Corpuz cited recent upticks in the Philippines, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Kenya, Mexico and Peru.
“What disarticulates a community? Arresting its leaders, criminalizing the leaders,” said Dinaman Tuxa, executive coordinator of Brazil’s Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples known as Apib, an umbrella group of advocacy groups.
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Iraqi President to Convene New Parliament on Sept. 3
Iraq’s new parliament will convene on Sept. 3, according to a decree issued on Monday by President Fuad Masum, preparing the way for lawmakers to elect a new government to start rebuilding the country after a three-year war with Islamic State.
Iraqis voted in May in their first parliamentary election since the defeat of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate, but a contentious recount process delayed the announcement of final results until earlier this month.
Uncertainty over the make-up of the new government has raised tensions at a time when public impatience is growing over poor basic services, high unemployment and the slow pace of rebuilding after the war with Islamic State.
“The president has held several substantive talks with all political groups, urging them to finalize their political agreements in order to meet constitutional provisions,” Masum’s office said in a statement.
The Federal Supreme Court ratified the election results on Aug. 19 and Masum had 15 days to call the new parliament into session, the first step in a 90-day process outlined in the constitution that will eventually lead to a new government.
Lawmakers will elect a parliamentary speaker and two deputies in their first session. They will later elect a new president and task the leader of the largest bloc to form a government as prime minister.
The recount delayed the process by three months yet showed little had changed from the initial results, with populist Shi’ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr retaining his lead.
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Qatar to Expand Air Base Hosting Major US Military Facility
Qatar will expand two air bases including Udeid, which hosts the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East, a senior military official said on Monday amid a year-long dispute between the tiny Gulf Arab state and its neighbors.
The development will help accommodate new aircrafts and systems introduced to the air force service including French Rafale fighter jets, American F-15 fighter jets and Eurofighter Typhoon jets, Deputy Commander of the Amiri Air Force Major-General (Pilot) Ahmed Ibrahim Al Malki said in comments published by the official state news agency QNA.
The other development will take place at Doha Air Base. Malki did not provide details about the projects’ expected cost or timeframe.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha denies that charge and says the boycott is an attempt to impinge on its sovereignty.
Doha has used the wealth it has accumulated as the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas to defy some of the largest and wealthiest Arab countries. It has repeatedly called for dialogue with its neighbors, although it has strengthened its military as relations with them have deteriorated.
Last December, Qatar entered into a 5 billion pound ($6.38 billion) contract with British defence group BAE Systems for the purchase of 24 Typhoon combat aircraft and a $6.2 billion deal with Boeing Co for 36 F-15 aircraft. It also agreed to buy 12 additional Dassault Aviation-made Rafale fighters with an option for 36 more.
The Gulf dispute has eluded mediation efforts by the United States, which has military bases in both Qatar and some of the countries lined up against it — including Udeid, from which U.S.-led coalition aircraft stage sorties against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Nonetheless, Qatari forces participated in joint military exercises in Saudi Arabia in April in an apparent sign of some compromise between the adversaries.
U.S. President Donald Trump publicly sided with the Saudis and Emiratis early in the crisis but then began pushing for a resolution to restore Gulf unity and maintain a united front against Iran.
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Russian Court Jails Kremlin Critic Navalny Over Protest
A Russian court sentenced opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 30 days in jail on Monday after convicting him of breaking public protest laws, a move he said was illegal and aimed at stopping him leading a rally against pension reform next month.
Navalny, who was detained by police outside his home on Saturday, was found guilty of breaking the law by organizing an unauthorized Moscow rally on Jan. 28 which called for a boycott of what he predicted would be a rigged presidential election.
Under Russian law, the time, place and size of such protests must be agreed in advance with the authorities who have a track record of rejecting applications to rally in central Moscow and of suggesting less prominent locations instead.
Navalny, who was barred from taking part in the March presidential election over what he said was a trumped-up suspended prison sentence, has been repeatedly jailed for going ahead with such protests anyway despite official rejections.
The 42-year-old politician, who told the court he would never give up trying to organize street protests, said on Monday he believed the authorities were jailing him now, more than six months after his alleged offense, to stop him taking part in a protest planned for Sept. 9 against plans to raise the retirement age in Russia.
That is the same day as Moscow elects a new mayor, a contest expected to be easily won by incumbent Sergei Sobyanin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, and authorities have rejected an application by Navalny’s supporters to rally in central Moscow.
‘Strange trial’
“This strange trial is happening with the single aim of not allowing me to take part in the protest,” Navalny told the presiding judge. “You and I both know it.”
As he was led out of the courtroom, he shouted out the date and time of the planned rally.
“Everyone come to the meeting,” he said. Navalny is hoping to tap into public anger over government plans to raise the retirement age to 65 from 60 for men and to 63 from 55 for women.
Opinion polls show most Russians strongly oppose the plan, which has been seen as responsible for a drop in Putin’s approval rating in recent months, prompting speculation that the Russian leader, whom Navalny has likened to an autocratic tsar, may decide to dilute the reform.
Putin, who makes a point of never saying Navalny’s name aloud when asked about him, has dismissed him as a troublemaker bent on sowing chaos on behalf of the United States.
Navalny has used protests and corruption exposes of the sometimes gilded lives of government officials to mobilize support. But many Russians, who still get much of their news from state TV which either ignores or derides him, say they do not know who he is.
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US Blocks WTO Judge Reappointment as Dispute Settlement Crisis Looms
The United States told the World Trade Organization on Monday it would block the reappointment of one of the WTO’s four remaining appeals judges next month, confirming trade experts’ fears of a crisis in the system for
settling global rows.
U.S. President Donald Trump has railed against the WTO, calling it a catastrophe and a disaster. He has said the United States loses cases because other countries have most of the judges.
In fact, trade experts say, the United States has a similar, if not better, lose-win rate than other countries that have taken complaints to the WTO, and it has a rare privilege in that the judges on the WTO’s Appellate Body have always included one American.
Trump faces a barrage of disputes at the WTO against his trade policies, including global tariffs on steel and a tariff war with China. Since he came to power, Washington has blocked all appointments to the appeals chamber as existing judges’ terms end.
There are normally seven WTO appeals judges, but if Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing, a trade judge from Mauritius, is not reappointed when his term expires on September 30, only three will remain — the minimum for the system to function.
It looks set to break down finally when two more judges’ terms expire in December 2019, but it could seize up sooner if any judges need to recuse themselves from a case for legal reasons.
If the U.S. veto paralyses the dispute system, it would end 23 years of WTO enforcement, the keystone of international efforts to prevent trade protectionism, at a time of heightened global trade tensions.
At the WTO’s monthly dispute settlement meeting, 67 member states have repeatedly petitioned Washington to drop its veto and keep the system working.
But U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea told Monday’s meeting that the Appellate Body had consistently over-stepped its authority by reviewing and reversing factual findings by trade arbitration panels, and by interpreting WTO members’ domestic laws.
“The invention of an authority to review panel fact-finding … has added complexity, duplication and delay to every WTO dispute,” he told the meeting, according to a transcript of his prepared remarks.
Shea has previously promised to be “disruptive where necessary” to reform the WTO and has said the United States may choose not to accept appeals if they take longer than the allowed 90 days.
The United States has not followed through on the threat, but since legal rulings are routinely delayed, it effectively signaled that Washington reserved the right to ignore rulings that Washington does not like.
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EU Disagrees with Russia That Syrian Refugees Can Go Back
The European Union does not believe Syria is safe for refugees to go back, officials in Brussels said of a Russian push to have people return to the war-torn country and the international community to spend money on rebuilding it.
The bloc’s foreign ministers will discuss the matter in Austria later this week.
EU officials expect the bloc to stick to its line that it would not offer reconstruction money for as long as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — propped back to power by Russian and Iranian militaries — does not let the opposition share power.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said before talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this month that everything needed to be done for Syria refugees to return. “But the conditions are just not there. Russia would want us to pay for it but Syria under Assad is not safe,” said one EU official.
The EU has backed Syrian opposition groups in the multi-faceted war that has raged for more than seven years, largely because global and regional powers disagree on how to end it.
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McCain Remembered in South Asia
Among those remembering the life of U.S. Senator John McCain are leaders and politicians from South Asia and Iraq, where the late senator forged bonds over decades of diplomacy.
“We offer our condolences to the family and friends of Senator John McCain who was a great friend of AFG (Afghanistan). Senator McCain served his country honorably in uniform and his service in the Senate is truly exemplary,” wrote Afghan President Asharf Ghani on Twitter. McCain advocated for more troops and resources for Afghanistan in its fight against militants.
Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah also expressed condolences on McCain’s death on his Twitter page.
Condolence messages also poured in from neighboring Pakistan, a country McCain visited several times.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the thoughts and prayers of the people of Pakistan are with the family and friends of Senator McCain. “As Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator McCain always stood for strong Pakistan-US relations and a cooperative approach for promoting peace and building stability in the region.”
He will be greatly missed in Pakistan, Qureshi added. Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa also conveyed his condolences to McCain’s family.
In Bangaldesh, from where McCain adopted his daughter Bridget in 1993, the country’s foreign minister said he was deeply saddened by McCain’s passing and called the senator a great friend of Bangladesh “Late Senator McCain, who was a real American hero and a tall leader in the public service of the nation was always a strong voice for global humanity, which was reflected in his many commendable works in the Senate including in recent times his firm stand against the atrocities on the Rohingyas in Myanmar, and for holding the perpetrators accountable,” said Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mohmood Ali.
In Iraq, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government called McCain’s passing a “a tremendous loss for the people of Kurdistan.”
“He was a true friend and a staunch advocate of the rights of the Kurdistan people. He did his best, at every opportunity, to defend and protect the basic rights of the people of Kurdistan,” said Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.
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Dumbo Flies Off for $483,000 in $8.3 Million Disneyland Auction
An auction of Disneyland theme park vehicles, props and artifacts that turned into a Los Angeles attraction in its own right raised more than $8.3 million, organizers said Monday.
An original Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride car sold for $483,000 — more than four times the pre-sale estimate — while magician David Copperfield nabbed a neon letter D from the Disneyland hotel for $86,250, auctioneers Van Eaton Galleries said.
The 900-item collection was so vast that organizers and collector Richard Kraft staged a “That’s From Disneyland” public exhibit for the month of August in a former sporting goods store in suburban Los Angeles that was visited by tens of thousands of people. One couple even got married there.
Kraft, a Hollywood agent, began collecting 25 years ago spurred by nostalgia for his visits with his late brother to Disneyland in southern California. He kept many of the items, including the Dumbo car, in his own home.
“When I finally decided to let it go it became much more about throwing a grand Bon Voyage party to those magical artifacts than about making projections about their worth,” Kraft said in a statement after the two-day sale at the weekend.
“I’m still in a state of shock that Dumbo, Jose the talking parrot and trash cans from Disneyland could make me feel as if I won the lottery,” he added.
Jose, an animatronic bird from the Tiki Room, sold for $425,000 and the auction shattered several records for Disneyland posters and theme park signs. A Skyway gondola original vehicle from the 1950s, which sold for $621,000, set a new auction record for a Disneyland ride, Van Eaton Galleries said.
Kraft said he will donate a portion of the proceeds to two organizations benefiting children who, like his 4-year-old daughter Daisy, suffer from the rare genetic disorder Coffin-Siris Syndrome, and other special needs.
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Iran Asks UN’s Highest Court to Suspend US Sanctions
Iran warned Monday that reimposed U.S. sanctions would cripple its economy and plunge the volatile Middle East deeper into crisis as it urged the United Nations’ highest court to suspend the Trump administration’s economic pressure on Tehran.
In a written statement about the case at the International Court of Justice, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iran’s claims “meritless” and defended the sanctions as a way of keeping Americans safe.
The world court’s wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice in The Hague is the latest backdrop for Washington and Tehran’s high-stakes dispute about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
President Donald Trump said in May that he would pull the U.S. out of a 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear program and would reimpose sanctions on Tehran. Washington also threatened other countries with sanctions if they don’t cut off Iranian oil imports by early November.
Iran filed a case with the court in July challenging the reimposition. Tehran alleges that the sanctions breach a 1955 bilateral agreement known as the Treaty of Amity that regulates and promotes economic and consular ties between the two countries.
The treaty was signed when the U.S. and Iran were still allies following the 1953 revolution — fomented by Britain and the U.S. — that ultimately cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
However, diplomatic relations were severed following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and takeover of the U.S. Embassy and ensuing hostage crisis. Despite that dramatic deterioration in relations, the treaty remains in force.
Iran and the U.S. have a history of litigation at the International Court of Justice, in cases covering crises including the embassy seizure and the shooting down of an Iranian passenger jet mistaken by a U.S. warship for a fighter jet.
Rulings by the world court, which settles disputes between nations, are final and legally binding. However, it remains to be seen if the U.S. would abide by a court order to suspend sanctions on Iran.
‘Naked economic aggression’
At Monday’s hearings, Tehran asked judges to urgently order a suspension of the sanctions while the case challenging their legality is being heard — a process that can take years. A decision on the urgent request for a suspension is likely to take weeks.
Iranian representative Mohsen Mohebi told the court the U.S. sanctions are a clear breach of the 1955 treaty because they are “intended to damage, as severely as possible, Iran’s economy.” He called Trump’s sanctions policy “nothing but a naked economic aggression against my country.”
Mohebi also warned that the sanctions could exacerbate regional tensions.
His comments came a day after Iran’s defense minister said his country will continue its support of the Syrian government to ensure improved security in the region. Israel has expressed concern over Iran’s growing influence in Syria, accusing Tehran of seeking to establish a foothold near the frontier with the Jewish state. The United States has been pressing for Iran to withdraw its fighters from Syria.
2015 nuclear deal
Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, brokered when Barack Obama was still in the White House, imposed restrictions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of most U.S. and international sanctions against Tehran.
However, the deal came with time limits and did not address Iran’s ballistic missile program or its regional policies in Syria and elsewhere. Trump called the accord the “worst deal ever.”
Some U.S. allies oppose the sanctions and are seeking to keep the nuclear deal alive. Last week, the European Union announced a financial support package to help bolster Iran’s flagging economy.
Pompeo called the world court challenge an attempt by Tehran “to interfere with the sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions, including reimposition of sanctions, which are necessary to protect our national security.”
The United States, which argues that the court does not have jurisdiction in the case, is to present its legal arguments to judges Tuesday.
Pompeo said lawyers would “vigorously defend” the U.S. and “we will continue to work with our allies to counter the Iranian regime’s destabilizing activities in the region, block their financing of terror, and address Iran’s proliferation of ballistic missiles and other advanced weapons systems that threaten international peace and stability. We will also ensure Iran has no path to a nuclear weapon — not now, not ever.”
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Tense Local Polls in Mozambique Could Signal Major Political Shift
The tension and complexity of Mozambique’s upcoming municipal elections — which may signal a major political shift in the Southern African nation — can be seen by looking at the poll’s highest-profile contest: the mayoral race in the capital.
Last week, the electoral commission kicked the two top candidates for mayor of Maputo off the ballot. They include the top candidate for the opposition Renamo Party, Venancio Mondlane, and the man who many thought would be a natural choice for the ruling party, Samora Machel Jr.
Machel is a son of Samora Machel, Mozambique’s first president and co-founder of the powerful Frelimo Party, which has ruled the nation since 1975.
But to many people’s surprise, Frelimo passed over Machel Jr. for the mayor post. He is now trying to run as an independent — if the electoral commission allows him on the ballot. That could set up an intrafamily conflict, as Machel’s father-in-law, former tourism minister Fernando Sumbana, made the ruling party shortlist for the mayoral race.
Mozambique’s Constitutional Court has the power to put both Mondlane and Machel Jr. back on the ballot. But journalist and commentator Fernando Lima says he has doubts it will be resolved in their favor.
“Having our legal bodies being strongly controlled by the political powers, I have very strong doubts that the constitutional council will rule in favor of the Renamo candidate and Samora Machel, Jr.,” he told VOA.
Nervousness ahead of 2019 polls
Alex Vines, head of the Africa Program for think tank Chatham House, said the October 10 local polls, which encompass 53 municipalities, could set the stage for contentious national elections in 2019.
Ahead of the polls, parliament has introduced fees starting at $2,500 for foreign journalists seeking to report in Mozambique. Journalists and rights groups have condemned the proposed fees, saying they amount to censorship.
In addition, “we can already see that there are some splits within Frelimo in the runup to the municipal elections,” Vines said. “Look at Samora Machel Jr., for example, contending for being mayor of Maputo, that against the official Frelimo candidate. So, this is interesting political times in Mozambique, for sure.”
The elections, Vines believes, are going to be extremely close, “and therefore, the authorities are nervous about this,” he said.
But this is no mere political contest, said journalist and commentator Fernando Lima. Renamo fought Frelimo in a brutal 16-year civil war. Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama resumed hostilities in 2014. Dhlakama died suddenly in May, as he was negotiating a peace deal with the government.
“We cannot forget that along with the election process, we have the peace process, which has not been concluded yet,” Lima said. “Renamo still have their armed forces in position, and if you do not manage politically the whole electoral process, yes, you can have a lot of trouble, especially coming from the Renamo side.”
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US, Mexico Reach New Trade Agreement
The United States and Mexico have reached a trade agreement, leaving Canada as the odd man out in efforts to revise or replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), according to U.S. President Donald Trump.
The new deal will be called the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, Trump said Monday.
“We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA, it has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years,” Trump said.
“It’s a big day for trade, it’s a big day for our country,” Trump said with reporters present, who were called to the Oval Office to watch as Trump spoke on the telephone with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
The Mexican leader expressed hope to “renew, modernize and update” NAFTA while Trump’s rhetoric indicated he sees that 24-year-old three-nation deal as dead.
“We’ll have a formal news conference in the not-too-distant future,” about the trade pact, Trump said to Pena Nieto.
“This is something very positive for the United States and Mexico,” Pena Nieto replied, saying he is looking forward to toasting Trump with tequila to celebrate, expressing to his American counterpart that he is “really grateful and greatly recognize and acknowledge your political will in all of this.”
Mexico has agreed to immediately begin purchasing as many agricultural products from the United States as possible, according to Trump.
Pena Nieto leaves office on December 1, turning over the Mexican government to his leftist successor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. That means the clock is ticking to give Mexico’s legislature enough time to ratify it before the change of administration.
Congressional notification expected
The White House is also expected to formally notify Congress by the end of this week of its intention to sign a new trade agreement within 90 days.
“It will be likely be signed at the end of November,” said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who was also in the Oval Office, along with Mexico’s foreign and trade ministers, for the Trump-Pena Nieto phone call.
The U.S. president, since the time of his 2016 election campaign has referred to NAFTA as the worst trade deal in history and repeated especially inflammatory rhetoric about America’s southern neighbor.
Trump, who blames NAFTA for the destruction of manufacturing jobs in the United States, repeatedly threatened to abandon the trade pact with Canada and Mexico, which came into effect during the Clinton administration in 1994.
Trump has rejected other multi-national deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (another trade pact) and the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation, expressing a strong preference for one-on-one negotiations on trade and other matters with countries.
Negotiations with Canada
Trump said he would call Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau soon and that the United States is open to talks with Canada if it is willing to negotiate fairly.
“I’ll be terminating the existing deal,” Trump said in reference to NAFTA.
The U.S. president also threatened America’s northern neighbor with penalties if there is no agreement.
“Frankly, a tariff on cars is the much easier way to go,” said Trump.
In Ottawa, officials are expressing resilience.
“We will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class,” said the Canadian foreign ministry in a statement, indicating Ottawa’s willingness to “continue to work toward a modernized NAFTA.”
“We hope that Canada can join in now,” Lighthizer subsequently told reporters during a conference call.
White House officials are denying that Monday’s announcement by the presidents of the United States and Mexico was designed to pressure the Canadians.
“Leaving Canada out of a new NAFTA would be a mistake and it is questionable whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has the authority under current Trade Promotion Authority legislation to conclude just a bilateral with Mexico,” a visiting scholar at the Cato Institute, Inu Manak, who focuses on trade conflicts, tells VOA News. “What happens next is anyone’s guess, but we should keep our eyes open for the return of Canada’s Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, to Washington to wrap up the discussions soon.”
The three North American countries do about $1 trillion in trade among themselves annually.
your ad hereIn Familiar Dance, Turkey Warms to Russia As US Ties Unravel
Relations between Turkey and Russia are cozy, prompting worries in the West of a potentially critical rift in the NATO alliance. But Turkey’s president may be engaged in a balancing act, tactically turning to Russia as ties with the United States further deteriorate over the detention of an American pastor.
President Donald Trump tweeted this month that U.S.-Turkey relations “are not good at this time!” and announced tariff hikes on the NATO ally, precipitating a nosedive in the Turkish currency. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on the phone with Russia’s Vladimir Putin that same afternoon, when they promised more cooperation in the areas of defense, energy and trade.
Switching partners is becoming a familiar dance for Turkey, which is strategically situated between Asia and Europe and often caught in the geopolitical push and pull of the turbulent Mideast region. Despite his country’s economic vulnerability, Erdogan seemed to be signaling that it had alternatives to the traditional alliances that date from its Cold War role as a regional bulwark against Soviet power.
In Turkey’s view, “the U.S. has become even more threatening than Russia” due to strains over critical issues, Sener Akturk, an associate professor of international relations at Koc University in Istanbul, said. The perceived threat makes the U.S. “an ally that has to be paradoxically kept at arm’s length and even balanced against with Russian cooperation.”
Points of contention between the U.S. and Turkey include American military support for Kurdish fighters in Syria who are considered terrorists by Turkey; Turkish appeals to the U.S. to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric Turkey accuses of plotting a failed 2016 coup; and American pastor Andrew Brunson, who is being prosecuted in Turkey on terror-related charges.
A lever in Turkey’s diplomatic maneuvering is its pledge to buy a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system, with deliveries starting next year. U.S. and NATO officials say the Russian system conflicts with NATO equipment and would lead to security breaches.
Trump signed a defense bill this month that would delay delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. Separately, the U.S. president has criticized NATO allies, saying they should pay more for their defense and rely less on American support.
Koc University’s Akturk said the missile deal with Russia makes sense since Western allies have sometimes suspended military deals with Turkey because of political disputes and concerns about the country’s human rights record.
Meanwhile, Russia and Turkey have come a long way in restoring their rapport since the Turkish military shot down a Russian military jet in 2015 along the Turkish-Syrian border.
Erdogan and Putin have met at least 11 times since August 2016. Outgrowths of the frequent contact between the two regional powers include the resumption of a deal for a natural gas pipeline through Turkey and Russian plans to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey.
The rapprochement “demonstrates a striking level of pragmatism in this relationship,” Anna Arutunyan, a Moscow-based senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, said.
“The prospect of a friendly NATO member is very valuable for Moscow” as it aims to bolster its influence in the Middle East, Arutunyan said. “Turkey is a good avenue to do that. Syria has been a good avenue to do that.”
Russia, along with Iran, supports Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country’s long war. Turkey backs some groups fighting Assad. Despite their support for opposing sides, the two countries are working together.
Turkey has dropped its insistence on the immediate departure of the Syrian president, while Russia has allowed Turkey to conduct cross-border operations against Kurdish militants in Syria. Turkey has also asked Russia to restrain Assad from launching an all-out offensive against the last major rebel stronghold in Idlib province, on the border with Turkey.
“Russia and Turkey, within the Syrian context, need each other, and the relationship is far more robust,” said Aaron Stein, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Atlantic Council. But he thinks Russia holds the upper hand, using the reconciliation to have Turkey bring the rebels under regime control.
Even if Putin and Erdogan find accommodation in Syria, their interests diverge further north in the Black Sea, a theater for conflicts since Russian and Ottoman imperial days. Russia’s war with Georgia a decade ago, its 2014 annexation of Crimea and ongoing military intervention in Ukraine have challenged Turkish influence and position in the Black Sea.
Russia’s moves prompted Erdogan to warn NATO in 2016 that the Black Sea, dubbed the “Turkish lake” under the Ottomans, was turning into a “Russian lake.” NATO now maintains a “tailored forward presence” with increased land, air and naval capabilities.
“Russia’s expansion makes the NATO alliance more and more significant for Turkey in the Black Sea,” the Crisis Group said in a June report, noting that Ankara has reversed a decades-long policy of keeping the Western military alliance out of the region.
Turkey’s position on the Black Sea points to what Akturk described as co-existing “a la carte alliances,” in which the Turkish government moves between Russia and the West depending on what’s at stake.
That makes it hard to know if Turkey’s pivot toward Moscow will last in a region of shifting allegiances and periodic crises. But it’s a remarkable turnaround in the three years since Putin described the downing of the Russian jet as a “stab in the back.”
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Russia Indefinitely Postpones Meeting on Afghan Peace Talks
Afghanistan’s government says that the Russia has indefinitely postponed a meeting on the Afghan peace process planned for next week.
A statement released Monday by the office of the Afghan presidency said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have decided to postpone the meeting and hold it at another date.
President Ghani insists the peace talks should be “Afghan owned and led,” according to the statement.
Lavrov said Russia agrees the peace process should be under the auspices of the Afghans and it is “ready to cooperate,” the statement added.
your ad herePope’s Visit Reveals Decline of Church’s Power in Ireland
Pope Francis has apologized for the abuse perpetrated by the powerful Catholic Church in Ireland, but critics say it is not enough. The victims of abuse and their supporters gathered in Ireland’s capital Dublin on Sunday to protest what they call the Church’s attempt to silence and marginalize the abuse. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports the protests come as a senior Vatican official calls on the pontiff to resign for failing to act sooner against a former U.S. cardinal.
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Turkey’s Erdogan Says Will Bring Safety and Peace to Syria, Iraq
Turkey’s Erdogan says will bring safety and peace to Syria, Iraq
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Sunday to bring peace and safety to Iraq and areas in Syria not under Turkish control and said terrorist organizations in those areas would be eliminated.
Turkey, which has backed some rebel groups in Syria, has been working with Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al Assad, and Iran for a political resolution to the crisis.
It has so far carried out two cross-border operations along its border with Syria and set up a dozen military observations posts in the northern Syrian region of Idlib.
The rebel-held Idlib enclave is a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria as well as for powerful jihadist forces, but has been hit by a wave of air strikes and shelling this month.
The attacks posed a possible prelude to a full-scale Syrian government offensive, which Turkey has said would be disastrous.
Speaking in the southeastern province of Mus to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Manzikert of 1071, Erdogan vowed to bring peace and safety to Syria and Iraq.
“It is not for nothing that the only places in Syria where security and peace have been established are under Turkey’s control. God willing, we will establish the same peace in other parts of Syria too. God willing, we will bring the same peace to Iraq, where terrorist organizations are active,” he said.
Erdogan also linked regional conflicts and an ongoing currency crisis in Turkey, which he has cast as an “economic war”, to previous attempts to invade Anatolia, warning that the this would lead to the collapse of surrounding regions.
“Those who seek temporary reasons behind the troubles we have been facing recently are wrong, very wrong. The attacks we face today… are rooted in history,” he said.
“Don’t forget, Anatolia is a wall and if this wall collapses, there will no longer be a Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Balkans or Caucasus.”
Turkey’s lira has tumbled nearly 40 percent this year as investor concerns over Erdogan’s grip on monetary policy and a growing dispute with the United States put pressure on the currency.
Ankara has accused Washington of targeting Turkey over the fate of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor being tried in Turkey on terrorism charges that he denies.
“Some careless people among us think this is about Tayyip Erdogan or the AK Party. No, this is about Turkey,” Erdogan said.
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British-Iranian Woman Returns to Prison After Temporary Release
Three days after she was given a temporary release, a British-Iranian woman returned to prison in Tehran Sunday after authorities there refused to extend the furlough.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, has been jailed since early 2016 following her arrest at the Tehran airport as she tried to return to Britain with her daughter following a family visit. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was born in Iran, is married to a British man and has dual British and Iranian citizenship. She was given a five year sentence for “plotting to topple the Iranian regime.”
Last week she received a three day release “to reunite with her family,” according to a tweet from Iran’s ambassador to Britain, Hamid Baeidinejad.
Family members and supporters hoped that the furlough would be extended or even made permanent, but her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said Sunday that after mixed messages from Iranian authorities as to whether Zaghari-Ratcliffe could remain free longer, she returned to Evin prison. Ratcliffe said his wife went back to prison voluntarily to avoid having their daughter, who is living with relatives in Iran, see her “dragged out of bed in the middle of the night.”
Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, tweeted that he had spoken to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif last week in an effort to win Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s freedom “but that clearly wasn’t enough.”
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Cohen Guilty Pleas Encourage Calls for Trump Impeachrment
Some critics of U.S. President Donald Trump have urged impeachment proceedings against him after his former attorney implicated the president in a possible campaign finance violation. But in Congress, where an impeachment would take place, the president’s political opponents are taking a cautious stance.
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Lane Brings Record Rain to Hawaii, but Loses its Wallop
Hurricane Lane secured its place in the history books before it quickly dissipated into a tropical storm and moved off from Hawaii. The storm caused damage, mostly on the Big Island, where rivers raged near Hilo and nearly 40 people had to be rescued from homes.
There were no deaths from the storm, which had the potential to cause much more destruction.
Here’s a look at the storm and its impact on Hawaii.
Rain Maker
The storm named Lane was barreling toward the Hawaiian Islands as a powerful Category 5 hurricane in the middle of the week. But then it slowed down, moving as slow as 2 mph at times.
As it lingered, the storm’s outer bands were already over the Big Island, allowing Lane to drop 51.53 inches (131 centimeters) of rain as of early Sunday morning, according to preliminary figures from the National Weather Service.
That puts it in third place for the most rain from a storm in the United States since 1950. Hurricane Harvey, which stalled over Houston last year, dropped the most rain in that span with 60.58 inches (154 centimeters), Bingaman said. Hurricane Hiki dropped 52 inches (132 centimeters) in Hawaii in 1950, and Amelia produced a 48-inch (122 centimeter) rainfall in 1978.
Rain was still falling on the Big Island, and the total could still increase.
So what happened to Lane?
Residents and businesses across the islands prepared for the worst, boarding up windows and stocking up on supplies. Tourists in hotels along Waikiki Beach in Honolulu didn’t heed warnings to get out of the water. But many visitors stocked up on snack food and beer at convenience stores just in case.
While the Big Island took the brunt of the storm, the worst of fears never materialized as Lane quickly fell apart.
Winds ultimately caused the demise of Lane, National Weather Service meteorologist Vanessa Almanza said.
The storm moved in the central Pacific along a high-pressure ridge last week, when there wasn’t much wind shear to affect the hurricane.
But then the storm began moving north toward Hawaii around the high-pressure ridge, and that’s when its winds died down and it lost speed.
The jet stream “just kind of pushed the top off of the hurricane and what happens is it loses exhaust so it just starts collapsing,” Almanza said.
It was downgraded to a tropical storm on Friday, and all warnings for Hawaii were cancelled Saturday morning after the storm turned west and moved away from the state.
LAVA
Hawaii’s Big Island has had more than its fair share of natural disasters this year, with Kilauea volcano destroying more than 700 homes with lava.
If there’s any silver lining, it’s that the lava rock might have helped absorb some of the rainwater better than soil because it’s more porous, Bingaman said.
Matthew Purvis, president of the Mainstreet Pahoa Association, said land in the Puna district on the southern part of the island is so porous, there are few waterways that will get clogged or overflow.
Speaking of Kilauea
The volcano is still erupting. In fact, it’s been in a continuous state of eruption since 1983, and it opened up several vents beginning in May. It was those vents that sent lava down rural streets, destroying entire neighborhoods as it flowed to the ocean.
The volcano has settled down since, but it is still active.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says Tropical Storm Lane had little effect on the volcano beyond some minor rock falls at the summit. The observatory also lost communication with some monitoring stations.
The observatory also says whiteout conditions could occur on the new lava field because of steam created when rain falls on the still-hot lava flows.
Need a break
It’s been a trying few months as Mother Nature — or Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, has set her sights on the Big Island, first with destruction from the volcano to storm damage.
“Definitely we need a break,” Hawaii County Managing Director Will Okabe said, quickly adding that it’s hurricane season and other storms could still develop.
“We are going to be prepared, and we always do that well on the Big Island,” he said.
Hurricane and wildfires
It’s not known if the storm played any role in the start of several wildfires near the historical coastal town of Lahaina on Maui. But the high winds early Friday morning certainly helped spread the fire, according to Maui county officials.
The hurricane also played a role in helping firefighters contain the fires, with about 12 inches of rain falling on the island in a 24-hour period through Saturday.
The wildfires in a dry part of the county burned 2,000 acres (810 hectares); destroyed 21 structures and forced more than 600 people into shelters. One woman was injured and flown to Honolulu for treatment.
Brush fires also started on Oahu, which is also dry but got only a fraction of the rains that the Big Island and Maui received from the storm.
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Pope Apologizes for Catholic Church ‘Crimes’ in Ireland
Pope Francis issued a sweeping apology Sunday for the “crimes” of the Catholic Church in Ireland, saying church officials regularly didn’t respond with compassion to the many abuses children and women suffered over the years and vowing to work for justice.
Francis was interrupted by applause as he read the apology out loud at the start of Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.
Hundreds of kilometers (miles) away, somber protesters marched through the Irish town of Tuam and recited the names of an estimated 800 babies and young children who died at a Catholic Church-run orphanage there, most during the 1950s.
“Elizabeth Murphy, 4 months. Annie Tyne, 3 months. John Joseph Murphy, 10 months,” the protesters said in memory of the children who were buried in an unmarked mass grave whose discovery was confirmed only last year.
Francis, who is on a weekend visit to Ireland, told the hundreds of thousands of people who turned out for Mass that he met Saturday with victims of all sorts of abuses: sexual and labor, as well as children wrenched from their unwed mothers and forcibly put up for adoption.
Responding to a plea from the adoptees, the pope assured their aging biological mothers that it wasn’t a sin to go looking for the lost children they had lost. The woman had been told for decades that it was.
WATCH: Pope’s apology
“May the Lord keep this state of shame and compunction and give us strength so this never happens again, and that there is justice,” he said.
Ireland has thousands of now-adult adoptees who were taken at birth from their mothers, who had been forced to live and work in laundries and other workhouses for “fallen women.”
One forced adoptee, Clodagh Malone, said Francis was “shocked” at what the group that met with the pope told him and “he listened to each and every one of us with respect and compassion.”
The survivors asked Francis to speak out Sunday to let all the mothers know that they did nothing wrong and that it wasn’t a sin — as church officials had told them — to try to find their children later in life.
They said the Argentine pope understood well their plight, given Argentina’s own history of forced adoptions of children born to purported leftists during its 1970s military dictatorship.
“That is a big step forward for a lot of elderly women, particularly in the countryside in Ireland, who have lived 30, 40, 50, 60 years in fear,” another adoptee, Paul Redmond, told The Associated Press. “That would mean a lot to them.”
Francis’ first day in Ireland was dominated by the abuse scandal and Ireland’s fraught history of atrocities committed in the name of purifying the Catholic faith. He received a lukewarm reception on the streets, but tens of thousands of people thronged Dublin’s Croke Park Stadium on Saturday night for a family rally featuring Ireland’s famous Riverdance performers and tenor Andrea Boccelli.
The abuse scandal has devastated the church’s reputation in Ireland since the 1990s and has exploded anew in the United States.
The American church’s scandal took a new twist Sunday, when two conservative Catholic news outlets, the National Catholic Register and LifeSiteNews, published a letter attributed to a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S.
The letter attributed to Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano accused Vatican officials of knowing about the sexual escapades of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick since 2000, but making him a cardinal anyway. Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation as cardinal last month after a U.S. church investigation determined an accusation he molested a minor was “credible.”
In the letter, Vigano said McCarrick initially was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2009 or 2010, but that Francis rehabilitated him in 2013 despite being informed of McCarrick’s penchant to invite young seminarians into his bed.
The Vatican didn’t immediately comment on the letter.
In Tuam, meanwhile, survivors of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home They lit candles and placed hundreds of pairs of tiny shoes around a tiny white coffin at the site near a sewage area on the home’s former grounds where the babies and children were buried.
Irish government-appointed investigators reported last year that DNA analysis of selected remains confirmed the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks to 3 years old and were buried chiefly in the 1950s. The Tuam home closed in 1961.
An amateur Irish historian, Catherine Corless, led to the discovery of the grave after she tracked down death certificates for nearly 800 children who had died as residents of the facility, but could find a burial record for only one child.
Corless and Tuam survivors are seeking an apology from the pope, as well as a decision to exhume the children’s remains to give them a proper church burial.
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