Amid renewed concern among America’s allies about the U.S. president’s commitment to them, Donald Trump is seeking to offer reassuring words after arriving in Japan for the Group of 20 leaders’ summit.During his first meeting in Osaka — a working dinner with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison — Trump was asked by a reporter about a perception that an “America alone” approach is adversely affecting some of Washington’s traditional closest allies in the Asia-Pacific region.“We work with our allies. We take care of our allies,” Trump responded while noting he had “inherited massive trade deficits with our allies. And we even help our allies militarily.”During the dinner Trump “stressed his commitment to maximizing the economic partnership with Australia through fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial trade and investment,” according to White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley.G-20 host Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, is hoping for reassuring words to be uttered publicly by Trump when they meet Friday morning in Osaka.In recent days, the president has questioned the fairness of the U.S.-Japan defense alliance.“If Japan is attacked, we will fight World War III. We will go in and protect them with our lives and with our treasure,” Trump said during a telephone interview with Fox Business News on Wednesday. “We will fight at all costs …but if we are attacked, Japan doesn’t have to help us at all. They can watch on a Sony television.”This followed a Bloomberg report that Trump has been musing to confidantes that he wants to withdraw from the “unfair” U.S.-Japan defense treaty, the backbone of the two former enemies’ post-World War II alliance.Japan’s government welcomes the State Department and White House reassurances denying the report, Kevin Maher, former director of the State Department’s Office of Japan Affairs, tells VOA. “Nevertheless, privately some worry that he may not understand that the U.S. military presence in Asia, especially in Japan, ultimately is in the best interests of the United States, in that it maintains peace, stability and prosperity, which is good for the American people,”Trump in the Fox Business News interview also criticized the European Union, accusing its anti-trust commissioner of hating America. And on his way to the leaders’ summit, the president tweeted that retaliatory tariffs by India –- whose prime minister, Narendra Modi, he meets Thursday – are unacceptable and “must be withdrawn.”Trade is Trump’s priority at the summit over all other geo-strategic concerns, according to top U.S. officials traveling with the president.On the sidelines of the main event, Trump is also scheduled to hold a number of bilateral meetings, including with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saturday talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.The U.S.-China talks are likely to touch on trade after a breakdown in negotiations and an escalation of tariffs by both sides.U.S. officials say there is no fixed agenda for Trump’s meeting Putin, but acknowledge the two leaders would almost certainly discuss issues involving Ukraine, the Middle East and Venezuela.Trump is also expected to use the G-20 sessions to convey that his administration intends to continue applying economic pressure on Iran, seeking to deny the country its important oil revenue and bring about fresh negotiations on its nuclear program.After the summit, Trump flies to Seoul to discuss with South Korean President Moon Jae-in ways to ease tensions with North Korea. It is speculated that the U.S. president will make a visit to the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas but U.S. officials have ruled out that while Trump is on the peninsula he will also meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
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Month: June 2019
America’s LGBTQ Community Marks 50 Years of Gay Rights Movement
Fifty years ago today (June 27, 1969), police raided The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village. The violent protests that followed galvanized the gay rights movement in America. A half-century later, society’s attitudes toward the LGBTQ community has evolved, as highlighted in a groundbreaking exhibit at the Newseum in Washington, DC. For some members of the LGBTQ community, the exhibit is deeply personal. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
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Trump in Japan for G-20 Summit, Talks With World Leaders
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived Thursday in Osaka, Japan, where he is attending a summit with other leaders from the Group of 20.On the sidelines of the main event, Trump is scheduled to hold a number of bilateral meetings, including those with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday and Friday talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.The U.S.-China talks are likely to touch on trade after a breakdown in negotiations and an escalation of tariffs by both sides.U.S. officials said there was no fixed agenda for Trump’s meeting Putin, but acknowledged the two leaders would almost certainly discuss issues involving Ukraine, the Middle East and Venezuela.Trump is also expected to use the G-20 sessions to convey that his administration intends to continue applying economic pressure on Iran, seeking to deny the country its important oil revenue and bring about fresh negotiations on its nuclear program.After the summit, Trump flies to Seoul to discuss with South Korean President Moon Jae-in ways to ease tensions with North Korea.
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Trump: North Korea Talks are ‘Doing Great’; North Korea Disagrees
U.S. President Donald Trump insists his North Korea policy is “doing great.” South Korean President Moon Jae-in says talks with Pyongyang are “making steady progress.”Ahead of Trump’s visit to South Korea later this week, the only side that seems to disagree about how great things are going is North Korea.North Korea’s foreign ministry Thursday lashed out at Washington and Seoul, suggesting it could completely pull out of stalled nuclear talks.FILE – Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the United Nations Jang Il Hun, right, is joined by Kwon Jong Gun at a news conference at the DPRK mission in New York, July 28, 2015.The statement, posted on the Korean Central News Agency, warned there is no guarantee negotiations would resume, even though the United States “repeatedly talks about resumption of dialogue like a parrot.”The article also reiterated North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s end-of-the-year deadline for the United States to change its approach to the nuclear talks.“The U.S. would be well advised to bear in mind that our repeated warning is not merely an empty word,” said Kwon Jong Gun, director-general of the Department of American Affairs at the North Korean foreign ministry.Widening gapThe comments underscore the widening gap between the conciliatory language used by U.S. and South Korean officials on the one hand, and the increasingly combative rhetoric from North Korea on the other.“There is a big disconnect,” said David Kim, who specializes in East Asia security policy at the Washington-based Stimson Center. “Optics are one thing, but I’m really hoping there is some forward momentum at the top.”Stalled talksTalks have been stalled since a February Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam ended without a deal. Kim was unhappy with the pace of U.S. sanctions relief, while Trump was upset Kim would not commit to completely giving up his nuclear program. Since then, North Korea has ignored U.S. requests to restart working level talks.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reads a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump, in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this picture released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency, June 22, 2019.There was some optimism after Trump and Kim recently exchanged personal letters. Trump called the notes “beautiful,” while Kim said he was “seriously contemplating” their “interesting” content.South Korea’s Moon announced Wednesday the United States and North Korea are involved in “behind the scenes” dialogue on a third Trump-Kim summit. He also suggested North and South Korean officials are holding talks.But the North Korean foreign ministry statement on Thursday denied the existence of any inter-Korean talks, and rejected the notion of Seoul as a mediator.“The South Korean authorities are now giving a wide publicity as if the North and the South are having various forms of exchanges and closed-door meetings,” the statement said. “But the reality is the contrary.”“The South Korean authorities would better mind their own internal business,” the statement added.South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivers his speech during a ceremony marking Korean Memorial Day at the National Cemetery in Seoul, South Korea, June 6, 2019.Trump to visit DMZ?During his two-day visit to South Korea, Trump is set to hold talks with Moon. Trump may also visit the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, according to South Korean officials.There was speculation Trump may use a DMZ visit to hold a third summit with Kim. But before leaving Washington, Trump said he would “not quite” meet with the North Korean leader.“But I may be speaking to him in a different form,” Trump said, without elaborating.Both Trump and Kim frequently praise their friendly relationship and have said they are open to a third summit. U.S. officials haven’t commented on Moon’s suggestion that planning for such a meeting is underway.Hostile rhetoric to continue?Though North Korea has escalated its hostile rhetoric, it appears to be doing so carefully. Instead of attacking Trump, North Korean officials and state media articles take aim at lower level White House officials.And though North Korea last month resumed testing ballistic missiles for the first time in a year and a half, it has refrained from testing longer-range missiles that would be seen as a major provocation.For now, many analysts expect the pattern to continue.“It’s a strategy to enforce their bargaining power,” said Won Gon Park, professor of international politics at South Korea’s Handong Global University. “Kim is willing to talk … but North Korea’s position remains unchanged.”
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In Remote Corner of Kenyan Coast, Red Cross Fights Drug Addiction
A new drug rehabilitation center on the Kenyan coast is working to help heroin addicts turn their lives around. The facility, run by the Kenya Red Cross, opened six months ago in the remote village of Lamu. The center is renewing hope for addicts, many of whom have easy access to hard drugs and often turn to a life of crime.In the kitchen of the drug rehabilitation center of the Kenya Red Cross in Lamu, Musa Mohamed, 43, a former drug user, is stirring a pan full of chicken and herbs.Musa is one of the 18 clients in the center. He started using heroin 14 years ago after his friends promised him it would improve his love life.“I tried once, and after trying I found out that it was true. Then I kept on trying and after a couple of days I wanted to stop and I was addicted already so I wasn’t able to stop,” he said.Thousands of usersKenya’s National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) says there are 40,000 heroin users across the Kenyan coast. Many reside in Lamu, frequenting drug dens.Red Cross volunteer Nurein Mohamed visits the drug dens. Here, the heroin high collides with the bleak reality of life as a desperate drug addict.Forty-three-year-old Yusuf Yunus wants to break the drug’s hold.“Now I have two children of mine who will get in trouble,” he said. “I don’t know what to do because I am high. I am not healthy for them and I don’t know how to get money. I cannot help my children when I am high.”Medication, counselingThe rehabilitation center helps by giving clients medication to suppress withdrawal symptoms. They also take part in group counseling.The manager of the Lamu center, Christine Mosiori, says high unemployment and easy access to drugs are fueling the drug problem.“When you combine these things it makes it easy for someone to just get into the drugs, the idleness, and also the availability of these drugs where they live,” she said.The program of the Kenya Red Cross takes three months, after which the clients go back on the street. To prevent relapsing, the Red Cross provides vocational training. Musa says he won’t go back using drugs.“My first daughter is 14 years now. She about the adolescent age and she is studying. So I don’t want to hurt my daughter and my family,” he said. “So I said enough is enough and I don’t think I’ll go back behind. Now it’s just going in front.”Pleased with progressDespite the magnitude of the drug problem, Mosiori says she is happy with what she and her colleagues have achieved in six months.“I feel that what we have done so far has helped our clients,” Mosiori said. “Even those we have discharged, we have followed them up so far and they are actually doing very well back home. So I feel that our program has been beneficial.”As the clients kneel for Islamic prayers, they share a bond of fighting against a stressful addiction. They pray that one day soon, they will regain control over themselves and their futures.
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New Hope for Drug Users at Kenya Rehabilitation Center
A new rehabilitation center on the Kenyan coast is working to help heroin addicts quit drugs and turn their lives around. The new facility, run by the Kenya Red Cross, opened six months ago in the remote village of Lamu. As Ruud Elmendorp reports from Lamu, the center is renewing hope for addicts, many of whom have easy access to hard drugs and often turn to a life of crime.
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U.S.-China Trade War Dominates G-20 As Leaders Gather in Osaka
World leaders are heading to the Japanese city of Osaka for this year’s G-20 summit, which starts Friday. The G-20 is aimed at promoting financial stability and sustainable growth, but as Henry Ridgwell reports, many of its members have sharply differing views on issues like trade and climate change.
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Photo of 2 Drowned Migrants Sparks Public Outcry
Warning: A graphic image in this report may be disturbing for some viewers.A photo of a father and daughter from El Salvador who drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande into the United States has caused a public outcry. Meanwhile employees of a U.S. house-goods retailer walked out Wednesday in protest of the company’s sale of bedroom furniture for use in border camps where immigrant children are detained. U.S. President Donald Trump blamed the Democrats Wednesday for the crisis at the border. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports the U.S. House and Senate have each passed their own version of a humanitarian aid package for the immigrants.
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Superior Backs U.S. Navy SEAL Charged with War Crimes
The immediate superior of a Navy SEAL standing trial charged with murdering a helpless Iraqi prisoner and shooting unarmed civilians testified Wednesday he had complete confidence in the defendant’s combat tactics and decision-making.Master Chief Petty Officer Brian Alazzawi, the first defense witness called to the stand in the trial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, also described how one of the main accusers in the case had seemed to harbor a grudge against Gallagher.Gallagher, a decorated career combat veteran, has denied all charges and says he is wrongly accused. The high-profile court-martial, conducted at U.S. Naval Base San Diego, has drawn the attention of President Donald Trump, who intervened months ago to ease the conditions of Gallagher’s pretrial confinement.The judge later released Gallagher from custody altogether while the proceedings remained under way. The war crimes case stems from his 2017 deployment in Mosul, Iraq.The Navy opened its investigation in September 2018, about a year after Gallagher and the platoon he led returned from Iraq.Gallagher is charged with premeditated murder of a wounded, teenage Islamic State fighter in his custody by stabbing the youth in the neck with a knife. He also is charged with attempted murder in the wounding of two civilians, a school girl and an elderly man, shot from a sniper’s perch.Medic said he did itIn a stunning setback to the government’s case last week, a Navy SEAL medic testifying for prosecutors asserted it was he, not Gallagher, who caused the Iraqi detainee’s death by blocking the youth’s breathing tube in what he described as a mercy killing.Prosecutors accused the medic, Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, of changing his story under oath. Sources close to the case said Wednesday the Navy is examining possible grounds under terms of Scott’s immunity agreement that might allow him to be prosecuted for perjury.The thrust of Gallagher’s defense has been that fellow SEAL team members testifying against him, several under grants of immunity, are disgruntled subordinates fabricating the allegations to force him from the Navy.Disgruntled comradesTestimony from Alazzawi, a multiple Bronze Star recipient who served as Gallagher’s supervising chief in Mosul, bolstered that narrative.He told jurors some SEAL team members had complained about items they suspected Gallagher of taking from a platoon care package, and that one of the group, then-Petty Officer Craig Miller, also complained of poor tactics and unnecessary risks by Gallagher.Alazzawi, however, said Miller and others among the disaffected troops were “very junior” personnel who were untrained for the daytime sniper operations the unit was engaged in under Gallagher’s direction.“I’ve had nothing but confidence in Chief Gallagher’s tactics and quality of his decisions,” Alazzawi said.Miller testified last week for the prosecution that he saw Gallagher inexplicably stab the Islamic State prisoner in the neck at least twice with a custom-made knife as the detainee was being treated for severe injuries.Alazzawi said Wednesday that Miller did not accuse Gallagher of the stabbing, or of firing on civilians, until after the care package theft was investigated and it became clear no reprimand was coming.Spotter testifiesAnother Navy SEAL called by the defense, Joshua Graffam, disputed the charge that Gallagher shot an unarmed elderly man by the Tigris River.Graffam said he was acting as Gallagher’s “spotter” in a sniper’s perch when the shooting occurred, and the person he targeted for Gallagher was an Islamic State fighter dressed in black.“I was confident it was a good shot. I never saw the elderly man in white,” Graffam said. He added, under questioning, that he would feel confident deploying with Gallagher again.
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US Official: US, China Plan to Meet on Civil Space in Autumn
U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in the United States this fall for bilateral talks about civil space, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, amid growing concerns about China’s behavior in the rapidly expanding commercial space market.The meeting, which will likely happen in Washington, is not pegged to progress in this week’s meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, the official said.“It’s completely separate. We have reason to talk to China about being a responsible actor in outer space, regardless almost of anything that happens,” David Turner, deputy director of the State Department Office of Space and Advanced Technology, told Reuters.Relations between Washington and Beijing have worsened since talks collapsed in May, when the United States accused China of reneging on pledges to reform its economy.That conflict could eventually spill over to the commercial space economy, but for now, Washington was keen to remain engaged on space matters with China, officials said.Beijing shocked the world in 2007 with an unexpected anti-satellite test that created massive amounts of debris in space and posed risks to the International Space Station.The last U.S.-Chinese talks on civil space took place in Beijing in November 2017 before the start of the escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.Kevin O’Connell, director of the Office of Space Commerce at the U.S. Commerce Department, said U.S. companies were voicing growing concern about artificial pricing offered by Chinese competitors and the forced transfer of intellectual property.He said the U.S. government was “greatly worried” about such reports, and what appeared to be Beijing’s different understanding of what constituted a “commercial” market.“It’s a conversation that this government wants to have in a civil space dialogue,” O’Connell said. “What do they mean by commercial, what kinds of behaviors would we consider to be off limits in a commercial context, etc.”O’Connell said U.S. companies were seeing China piling into the lucrative and growing commercial space market in both the technical and services sectors. There had also been several attempts by Chinese firms to purchase U.S. companies active in the market, although those bids had been rejected, he said.Asked if the Trump administration could consider imposing sanctions against China over the issue, O’Connell said it was too early to discuss such measures.”I don’t think we’re there in any way, shape or form because the United States is still very much in the lead in all of these (space-related) areas. And we’re doing everything that we can in the administration to fuel that advance,” he said.
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Voters Get First Up-Close Look at 2020 Democratic Contenders
It is more than 16 months until the next U.S. presidential election in late 2020, but 20 Democratic presidential contenders are set to debate each other Wednesday and Thursday nights to give Democratic voters a first look at whom they might want to pick as the party’s nominee to try to oust Republican President Donald Trump.Ten of the Democratic candidates, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, one of the current front-runners for the party nomination; Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas, are set to spar tonight for two hours. They will appear before a live audience in Miami, with millions more watching on national television.
Crowded Democratic Presidential Field Ready for First Debate video player.
Already, some of the Democrats are trying to diminish Biden’s nomination chances, attacking him for his recent recollection that 40 years ago when he was a young U.S. senator, he had working relationships in the Senate with segregationists adamantly opposed to the equality of blacks and whites.Although the candidates have been campaigning for months in the early states where Democrats next year will hold presidential party nominating contests — including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — for millions of Americans watching on television, it will be their first chance to size up the candidates and see whether they find someone they might favor over Trump.No shoo-inDespite a robust U.S. economy — a normal election-year barometer favoring an incumbent U.S. president’s re-election — Trump is by no means a shoo-in for a second four-year term.FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks at the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum, June 5, 2019, in Elkhart, Indiana.Polling shows the one-time New York real estate magnate, a surprise winner in 2016, has yet to win over many voters beyond the hard core of populist and Republican voters that has supported him through his 29-month presidency. More voters than not, surveys repeatedly show, disapprove of his performance in office.U.S. political pundits dismissed Trump’s chances of a victory three years ago, but he could win again.At the moment, however, surveys show several Democrats leading the 73-year-old Trump. Biden, who is 76 and was President Barack Obama’s two-term vice president, holds the biggest edge of more than 10 percentage points over Trump. But polls this far ahead of the election are not necessarily predictive and may be just a snapshot of a moment in time.In all, a dozen Democratic presidential debates are planned between now and the first months of 2020, although the number of candidates appearing in them will diminish over time as contenders drop out for lack of voter support and campaign funds. The first voting in Democratic primaries and caucuses to decide the presidential nomination starts February 3 in the Midwest farm state of Iowa.All of the Democratic presidential candidates, to one degree or another, have staked out positions on key issues they think are important to reshape policy debates in Washington, while at the same time attacking Trump for his views about domestic issues and international relations during his unprecedented presidency.The Democrats running for the U.S. presidency have broadly adopted a much more expansive liberal role for the federal government than either the more conservative Trump or Republicans who control the Senate. Democrats, in philosophical political agreement with many of their presidential candidates, took control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 congressional elections.Political differencesThe Democratic presidential candidates do have policy differences among themselves and often have emphasized a variety of issues they think might help them connect with voters when there is such a large field of candidates.Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden takes photos with supporters at an event at Iowa Wesleyan University in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, June 11, 2019.Warren and Sanders, neck and neck in second place behind Biden in nomination surveys, are both pushing for far-reaching changes to the country’s economic policies to help middle-class families, paid for with higher taxes on wealthy people. Warren wants new taxes on people with more than $50 million in assets, while Sanders called this week for wiping out all $1.6 trillion in student college debt.O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman, has called for a $5 trillion plan to combat climate change, an issue that resonates with many Democrats after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.Senators Booker and Klobuchar have advanced more moderate proposals on several issues in hopes of capturing the mass of voters not willing to go as far to the left politically as some of the other Democrats have.Biden, to a large degree, has stayed above the fray of debate over policy issues, preferring to present himself as the voice of American stability, a correction to Trump’s unpredictable, tweet-filled presidency.Mocking Trump’s long-standing political slogan, “Make America Great Again,” Biden recently told voters, “Let’s make America America again.”But appearing on the same stage with other Democrats may force him to explain and account for his four decades as a Washington political figure and twice-failed presidential campaigns.The candidatesThe other candidates debating Wednesday include Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.Thursday’s list of candidates also includes New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and self-help author Marianne Williamson.
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Migrant Ship Enters Italian Waters Despite Warnings
A German humanitarian ship carrying 42 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya has reached Italian waters, defying orders from Rome to stay away. By late Wednesday evening, the Sea-Watch 3 had stopped just outside Lampedusa island harbor. The ship’s captain, Carola Rackete, said on Twitter that she had run out of options. The vessel, operated by the German non-profit Sea-Watch, had spent two weeks on the open seas when no European country would accept it. “I know what I’m risking,” Rackete, said on Twitter, “but the 42 survivors I have on board are exhausted. I’m taking them to safety.”? “I decided to enter the port of #Lampedusa. I know what I’m risking, but the 42 survivors I have on board are exhausted. I’m taking them to safety.” 14 days the EU failed #SeaWatch3. Our commander has no choice. https://t.co/DKXXsUUfkS (pic: E. Ferrari) pic.twitter.com/rfeh0LLmm7— Sea-Watch International (@seawatch_intl) June 26, 2019She later tweeted a video in which she says that Italian authorities had boarded the ship to check documentation and the crew’s passports.Update from our captain #CarolaRackete on the bridge of #SeaWatch3.#IoStoConCarola#fateliscenderepic.twitter.com/Y7F0dAKeR2— Sea-Watch International (@seawatch_intl) June 26, 2019Italy’s anti-immigration Interior Minister has promised fines, arrests and seizures for any vessel that enters Italian waters without authorization. “We will use every democratic means to stop this mockery of law,” Salvini said. “Italy cannot be the landing spot for anyone deciding to unload human beings.”He has repeatedly accused charity rescuers of being complicit with people smugglers by waiting off the Libyan coast to pick up migrants from unseaworthy vessels that couldn’t make it all the way to Europe. Until recently, Italy had been the preferred landing spot for migrants fleeing North Africa for Europe. But in June 2018, the far-right government closed its ports to migrant rescue vessels. Migrant arrivals to Italy have plummeted since Salvini took office a year ago. So far this year, just 2,456 have arrived across the Mediterranean, according to official data, down 85% for the same period in 2018 and down 96% from 2017 levels.
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Spain Separatists’ Terror Link to Venezuela Appears Well-Trodden
When the Basque terrorist group ETA’s most wanted fugitive, Josu Ternera, accused of ordering a 1987 bombing that killed 11 people in Spain,was arrested across the border in France on May 17, he was using a Venezuelan passport with the false name of Bruno Marti.Days later, Spanish police dismantled the Guerrilla Army of the Free Galician People (EGPCG), another separatist group that had conducted bombings in northeastern Spain. That group’s leader, Jose Gil, had attempted an escape to Venezuela.When Anna Gabriel, a head of the Catalan far-left separatist organization CUP, fled Spain last year to avoid arrest for allegedly inciting violence, her first stop was: Venezuela.”There is clear evidence of Venezuelan support for terrorist and separatist movements,” said Ramon Peralta, a senior law professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, who believes that there are ideological ties between extremist groups and the Venezuelan government,which provides them key assistance.FILE – Swiss exiled pro-independence former member of the Catalan parliament Anna Gabriel gestures after a side event of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, March 19, 2018.’Keep close contact'”Police officials stationed at [Spain’s] embassies in countries where there is a terrorist presence keep close contact with the local governments about the matter,” a Spanish foreign ministry spokesmen told VOA, adding that “investigations have been conducted into ETAs presence in Venezuela over recent years.”Venezuela harbors the largest concentration of ETA fugitives, according to Spanish police, who say 13 members of the group are currently living there. About 50 militants from political organizations associated with ETA such as Batasuna, Bildu and Askapena have also traveled regularly to the South American country.Some ETA members are under government protection in Cuba, where their asylum was in some cases negotiated by the Spanish government.A retired police official said that he met with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro to arrange the deportation to Cuba of an ETA gunman from Algeria when the north African country expelled the group about 30 years ago. Spanish officials say that Cuban authorities have regularly reported on his status.But Venezuela has been less cooperative, according to Spanish police sources, who say that the government of President Nicolas Maduro has provided little information about the activities of ETA and refused to extradite its members, some of whom are on the Maduro government payrolls.Analysts say alleged Basque bomb maker Arturo Cubillos has worked for many years in the security department of Venezuela’s agriculture ministry, assisting ETA and other groups. Spain requested Cubillos’ extradition after the Colombian government accused him of conducting explosives training for leftist FARC guerrillas.The terrorist route to Venezuela is well-trodden. When the Chilean government learned militants of an indigenous Mapuche movement seeking the independence for southern Chile had traveled there, they contacted the U.S. State Department to inquire whether the American embassy in Santiago had picked up any information on the group’s possible fundraising in Venezuela, according to diplomatic cables seen by VOA.FILE – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a meeting with mayors and governors at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, May 19, 2014.Support networkVenezuela’s support network also appears to operate through well-placed agents in third countries. An individual of dual Spanish-Venezuelan nationality assisted EGPCG leader Gil in his attempt to escape to Venezuela through Portugal, where he tried to board a flight to Caracas, according to Spanish police.Most Venezuelans have to struggle through endless bureaucracy to obtain passports. But members of ETA, FARC and other insurgent groups get VIP treatment, Maduro’s critics allege.”Josu Ternera, who has never set foot in Venezuela, has received his passport under a false identity from SAIME (Venezuela’s Administrative Service of Identification, Migration and Immigration), while millions of Venezuelans can’t get access to identification and travel documents,” tweeted Pedro Burelli, a former executive board member of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA.Marco Ferreira, a retired brigadier of Venezuela’s National Guard, says he was ordered to process identity documents for several suspected terrorists when he headed SAIME under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez. At that time, the department was called ONIDEX.The list also included individuals of Middle Eastern origin, mainly Lebanese and Syrians connected with Hezbollah, according to Ferreira, who says he left ONIDEX when it came under the control of Cuba, which has taken over Venezuela’s national identification system.The system’s database is linked to Havana via underwater fiber-optic cables and Cuban security officers now hold key posts in the renamed agency. Cuba has trained the agency’s personnel and provided state-of-the-art technology.ETA renounced armed struggle last year shortly after FARC leaders signed a peace deal with the Colombian government. Ternera, prior to his capture, announced that the Basque struggle for independence was entering a “new phase.”Venezuelan President Maduro has openly backed separatists in Catalonia, where militant groups conducting campaigns of intimidation against opponents of independence have adopted the name of Colectivos, from Venezuela’s pro-government thug squads.Human Rights Watch, in a report last year, said the armed pro-government groups, along with security forces, attacked demonstrators at rallies attended by thousands of Venezuelans.
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Kushner Tells Palestinians Door Is Open to US Peace Plan
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said Wednesday that Palestinians would have a chance to help refine a multibillion-dollar economic plan for the West Bank and Gaza in the hope that the plan could lead to peace with Israel.
Palestinians have already rejected Kushner’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan because they say it ignores their political aspirations.
“It was important to bring out the economic vision before the political vision … because we need people to see what the future can look like,” Kushner said at an economic workshop in Bahrain aimed at getting his plan off the ground.
The plan would create more than 1 million Palestinian jobs through $50 billion in investment in infrastructure, tourism and schools in the Palestinian territories and other Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.
President Donald Trump calls it the “Deal of the Century” and the White House describes it as “the most ambitious and comprehensive international effort for the Palestinian people to date.”
Investors and donor nations are invited to pledge their support and their dollars.
But the Palestinian Authority boycotted Wednesday’s conference in Bahrain, calling the plan an “insult to our intelligence” and “totally divorced from reality.”
“The economic peace, which has been presented before repeatedly and which has failed to materialize because it does not deal with the real components of peace, is being presented once again, recycled once again,” top Palestinian official Hanan Ashwari said. She noted that the question of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories was not mentioned once in Bahrain. Head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, third from left, and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar protest the conference in Bahrain, which focuses on the White House’s plan for Mideast peace, in Gaza City, June 26, 2019.Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and a smaller number in the West Bank protested the U.S. initiative Wednesday. Some burned effigies of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while others chanted, “Palestine is not for sale.”
Kushner said the “door is open” to the Palestinian Authority if it wants to participate in the plan.
“If they actually want to make their people’s lives better, we have now laid out a great framework in which they can engage and try to achieve it. We’re going to stay optimistic,” he said.
No one from Israel was at the Bahrain talks, but Netanyahu said the Palestinian rejection of the plan was “not the way to proceed.”
About 2 million people live in poverty the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where the unemployment rate is 52%, educational opportunities are sparse, and neighborhoods remain full of burned out buildings and rubble from retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.
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Stampede in Madagascar Crowd Kills 15, Wounds 75
At least 15 people were killed and 75 wounded in a stampede at a stadium after a military parade in Madagascar’s capital Wednesday to mark the country’s independence day, authorities said.Joseph Ravoahangy Andrianavalona Hospital confirmed the casualties, said General Richard Ravalomanana, Secretary of State for the Gendarmerie.Defense Minister General Richard Rakotonirina said it was unclear what had caused the stampede. Some witnesses told Reuters people were trying to push their way into Mahamasina stadium but that authorities had only opened one small door.
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Huawei Loses Trade Secrets Theft Case Against US Chip Designer
A logo of Huawei marks one of the company’s buildings in Dongguan, in China’s Guangdong province, March 6, 2019.
A U.S. jury on Wednesday cleared California semiconductor designer CNEX Labs Inc of stealing trade secrets from Chinese electronics giant Huawei Technologies.Huawei had sued CNEX in U.S. District Court, Sherman, Texas, for misappropriation of trade secrets involving a memory control technology and for poaching its employees.A Huawei spokesman said the company was considering its next steps.
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Trump Heads to Japan for G-20 Summit
Just a month after a state visit to Japan, U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to the East Asian country again.In Osaka, Trump will attend the Group of 20 leaders’ summit, during which he is scheduled to meet one-on-one on the sidelines with such fellow world leaders as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Before leaving Wednesday, Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn that he’ll be meeting with leaders of a lot of different countries “many of whom have been taking advantage of the United States — but not anymore.”A senior administration official told reporters Monday that Trump is “quite comfortable [with] his position going into the meeting” with China’s President Xi following the breakdown of U.S.-China trade talks and increased tariffs on Beijing by Washington. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives at the State Council’s meeting in Moscow, Russia, June 26, 2019.U.S. officials say there is no fixed agenda for Trump’s meeting with Putin although they acknowledge issues involving Iran, Ukraine, the Middle East and Venezuela are almost certain to be discussed. When asked Wednesday if he would ask Putin not to meddle in future U.S. elections, Trump said it was “none of your business.”Casting a pall over the G-20 discussions will be nervousness about the deteriorating situation between Washington and Tehran. Leaders in both capitals have been reiterating they want to avoid war but have also repeatedly stated they will not hesitate to defend their interests if provoked.Economic pressure on IranTrump is to stress to his fellow leaders at the G-20 that the United States intends to continue to increase economic pressure on Iran, which finds itself under escalating U.S. sanctions, and eliminate all of the country’s petroleum exports. “I don’t think Iran is a distraction,” according to James Jay Carafano, vice president of the Heritage Foundation’s national security and foreign policy institute. “I think that’s under control. Trump should strive for a no drama G-20.” The G-20 itself no longer has the significance it did after the group’s first several summits late in the previous decade when it cooperated to avert a meltdown of the global economy.Trump prefers bilateral discussions and agreements over multinational events. Administration officials, however, are attempting to counter the notion that they no longer see these types of meetings as vital, pointing to U.S. leadership on advancing 21st century economic issues.”We believe that G-20 economies need to work together to advance open, fair and market-based digital policies, including the free flow of data,” a senior administration official told reporters Monday on a conference call, also stressing promotion of women’s economic empowerment.White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump and Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney walk from the Marine One helicopter as they depart Washington for the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, June 26, 2019.Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and a White House adviser, is to give a keynote address on the latter topic at a G-20 side event in Osaka.G-20 host Shinzo Abe, as prime minister of Japan, and many European participants are trying to maintain the international system and its principles.”This is where the absence of the U.S. is really harming it,” said Heather Conley, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and director of its Europe program. “We’re seeing the slow death of multilateralism in many respects. It’s a death by a thousand cuts.”While the U.S. pulls back from such groups, the world is witnessing “the Chinese using international organizations so effectively to shape agendas,” said Conley, a former deputy assistant secretary of state.
Trump-Xi meetingsSome analysts expect the Trump-Xi meeting in Osaka to be a repeat of their previous dinner last year in Buenos Aires, when the two leaders agreed to trade talks and tasked their trade ministers with reaching a deal within 90 days.
“I think that that is the most likely outcome, that they’re going to reach some sort of accommodation, a truce like that and push this forward,” said Matthew Goodman, a CSIS senior vice president and senior adviser for Asian economics. Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, June 25, 2019.”It’s not going to solve the immediate problems,” contended Goodman, who previously served as director for international economics on the National Security Council staff, helping then-President Barack Obama prepare for G-20 and G-8 summits. “Even if we get a deal, it’s unlikely to solve some of the deep structural differences between us in the role of the state in the economy, the governance of technology and data.”Much attention will also be on the Trump-Putin encounter.”Whenever President Trump and President Putin meet there is a very strong [U.S.] domestic backlash after that meeting,” noted Conley. “In part, it’s because there’s a total lack of transparency about the topics of discussion and what the agenda is, and I think the president would have a better policy approach domestically if, again, there was clarity of what the agenda would be, that there would be people participating in that meeting — secretary of state, national security adviser and others.”
Trump is also scheduled to hold talks in Osaka with leaders from Australia, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.From Japan, Trump flies to Seoul, where he will be hosted by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to discuss how to further ease tensions with North Korea.White House officials brush off speculation Trump could meet on the Korean peninsula with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which would be their third encounter after summits in Singapore and Hanoi. And U.S. officials are not commenting on a possible presidential visit to the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the two Koreas.There is little pressure on Trump to make any breakthroughs during his visit to Japan and South Korea, according to Carafano. “I think the U.S. is in the driver’s seat with regards to both North Korea and China negotiations,” Carafano told VOA. “If they come to the table now, fine. If not, fine. Trump can wait until after the 2020 election.”
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Ex-Trump Aide Manafort to Be Arraigned Thursday in New York
Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for U.S. President Donald Trump, will be arraigned Thursday in a New York court in Manhattan on state criminal charges, after having been convicted last year on federal fraud charges.Manafort, 70, is scheduled to appear before Justice Maxwell Wiley of the state Supreme Court at 2:15 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT) Thursday, court spokesman Lucian Chalfen told Reuters.Manafort faces 16 felony charges brought by the Manhattan district attorney. The state charges include mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records, and relate to alleged efforts by Manafort and others to obtain millions of dollars in loans on New York properties.Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance made the indictment public in March, on the same day Manafort was sentenced on federal crimes.Manafort is serving a 7 1/2-year federal sentence for tax fraud, bank fraud and other charges.Federal prosecutors accused him of hiding $16 million from U.S. tax authorities that he earned as a consultant for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, and then lying to banks to obtain $20 million in loans when the money dried up.The federal charges stemmed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.Manafort faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the top charges in the New York case.
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Ironman of the Irons
Mark Brooks is no stranger to golf. In fact, he says, “I chose golf, I certainly had designs on maybe doing something else if golf didn’t work out, but it has worked out for me and it is an interesting game.” Mark Brooks plays on the Champions Tour of the Professional Golfers Association. Brooks has seven wins on the PGA Tour, including one major win, the 1996 PGA Championship. He turned became a professional in 1983, and he holds the record for most career starts on tour: over 800 and counting. “I went straight to the PGA Tour. I never played any other tours around the world. I did not have to play the ‘mini tours,’ you know, where you’re scraping by. I went straight to ‘the show.’ You have to qualify. It’s a big qualifier. A six-round golf tournament, played in the fall, and it’s been that way for quite a few years,” he says. “I was fortunate enough to get my first shot right of college.” Brooks says playing with professional golf players right out of college helped him to realize his own shortcomings and the need for learning how to improve his play. “Once I got on tour, I basically saw that everything about my game needed to be improved. I had a pretty good swing but I needed these things to change. I made some changes after about five years of struggling, trying to stay on tour, you know, pretty much just kind of gutting it out, playing on instinct. And within probably four or five months, I saw some dramatic improvement in my ball striking, which, you know, it’s how close you hit it to the hole and hit fairways and all that. And after about five years on tour, things kind of clicked.” Brooks says although physical abilities matter when playing, the game of golf tests a player’s mental stamina, but he says the game has changed. “One of the things we’re seeing, the equipment gotten so much better, the golf ball itself, which is integral to playing the game, the ball has changed quite a bit in the last 20 or 30 years. It goes straighter. It goes further. It fights the elements better as far as the wind. Technologies kind of entered the game in a strong way in the last 15 or 20 years, so it’s allowed a different style of athlete, I’m going to say, to do really well in golf,” he says. “So, we’re seeing a little bit of a change, unfortunately, in my opinion, with golf and the characteristics of a person that make you probably be a good player, not a great player. And so, I think a little bit of the mental part has been taken out. They have to figure out how to make golf become more of testing a player’s mental ability other than just a few weeks of the year when you turn on the Masters or U.S. Open. Golf is supposed to be a game of, you know, testing oneself against oneself. The golf course is just an element that’s there to bring those things out.” Brooks still plays on the tour. He says now that he is older, the toughest challenge is dealing with less than perfect play. “You want to go out there and produce shots that you know you’re capable of, but you know when you’re in your prime years, you can go reproduce a shot eight or nine out of 10 times. Three in a row is easy. As you get older, it is far more difficult to have your body repeat those things. In my opinion, your mind wants your body to do certain things and sometimes your body doesn’t listen. I’ve had knee issue, shoulder issue, you know, back issues, herniated disc, so playing mediocre golf doesn’t feel good. As I’ve gotten older, I think it’s not just patience, it’s just I just don’t enjoy going out there playing really crappy golf. And I think I’m not alone in that regard.” Mark Brooks holds a significant record in the Pro Golfers Association: most career starts. “I’ve played over 800 tournaments that are just the PGA tour alone, and when you start doing the math, you just go, ‘That’s insane.’ I mean, if you play 20 tournaments a year, that’s 40 years. It’s ridiculous,” Brooks says. “So, I would say that’s probably my greatest achievement.” Brooks says choosing a time to retire from golf has been difficult. “I had a shot at something pretty big in the early 2000s. I said at the time I would retire if I won that week and I was dead serious and I didn’t win.” So, to my body’s demise and my family, I am still doing it because I did not win that playoff. Retiring is difficult. Golf sort of wanes you off. You are weaned off the competitive circuit. And then I’d love to spend the rest my life, the next 10 or 15 years doing television and teaching good players because I think that’s what I have the most experience with, and the most expertise in.”
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UN: Killing of Saudi Journalist Khashoggi Is International Crime
A U.N. investigator is calling on governments to prosecute and bring to justice Saudi officials responsible for what she says was the premeditated execution of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in October. The investigator presented findings of her six-month probe into Khashoggi’s murder to the U.N. Human Rights Council Wednesday in Geneva. Special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard said evidence she has gathered in the course of her inquiry suggests the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible for the extrajudicial killing of Khashoggi.She said his killing was carefully planned and premeditated.“The inquiry was a human rights inquiry, not a criminal investigation. It has nevertheless found credible evidence warranting further investigation, of high-level Saudi officials’ individual liability, including that of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia [Mohammed bin-Salman] and of his key adviser, Saud al-Qahtani,” she said.FILE – Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks at an event hosted by Middle East Monitor in London, Sept. 29, 2018.Callamard said Khashoggi’s killing was not just a domestic matter. She said his murder constitutes an international crime because it was carried out at the Saudi consulate in Turkey, motivated by a desire to silence a journalist in self-imposed exile in the United States.She called on countries to exercise their right of universal jurisdiction under international law to prosecute suspects on their territory. She said the establishment of a U.N. criminal investigation also is essential to answer the many outstanding questions that remain to be resolved. She said those responsible for the targeted killing of Khashoggi must be held accountable.“There are clear signs of increasingly aggressive tactics by state and non-state actors to permanently silence those who criticize them. The international community must take stock of this hostile environment. It must take stock of the findings of my investigation into the killing of Mr. Khashoggi,” Callamard said. Saudi Arabian officials dismiss Callamard’s report as being full of lies, unfounded allegations and lacking credibility.In a statement issued after the release of the report last week, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir called Khashoggi’s death a deplorable and grievous crime, which could not be condoned. He said the kingdom was taking the requisite steps to bring the perpetrators of that crime to justice.
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Kenya Court Halts Building of Coal Plant on Coast
A Kenyan court has halted construction of what would be the country’s first coal plant. The National Environment Tribunal found the process of awarding a license for the plant was irregular and lacked effective public participation. Environmentalists had gone to court opposing the plant, which they said is unnecessary.The plan to build a coal-burning power plant in Lamu County on the Kenyan coast hit a snag Tuesday when the court ordered a fresh environmental impact assessment study on the project.Judges effectively blocked the decision by Kenya’s Environmental Management Authority to issue a license to the Amu Power Company, which wants to build the 150 megawatt plant.FILE – Vae Buno Vae has been fishing around Lamu for 35 years, but now he’s afraid fishing as a livelihood is about to vanish, Nov. 26, 2014. (Hilary Heuler/VOA News)Environmentalists filed a challenge to the license in October 2016. During court arguments, the appellants highlighted climate change, health concerns, and a lack of nationwide public input about the project.Justice Mohammed Balala said officials who approved the plant did not consider the national impact it could have.“It was still imperative that such study consider the wider view beyond the project area, where the nature of the project meant its impact could potentially extend beyond the geographical location of Lamu County as was alleged in the submissions. This is the reason for nationwide as opposed to localized participation,” he said.Proponents of the project argue that coal is an inexpensive power option that would attract investors. But activists say there is no reason for Kenya to have a coal-fired power plant since the country has renewable sources of energy that it could use without harming the environment.Most of Kenya’s electricity is generated by renewable sources such as water and wind energy.At a news conference last week, a Kenyan government spokesman said those questioning the suitability and viability of the coal plant were misinformed.
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Beauty Pageant Winner Accuses Ex-Gambia President of Rape
A beauty pageant winner is accusing Gambia’s former dictator of raping her four years ago.The young woman is one of several now coming forward and accusing Yahya Jammeh of sexual violence while he was in power.Jammeh fled into exile in the reclusive nation of Equatorial Guinea in 2017 after losing the presidential election and initially refusing to step down.
The young woman, Fatou Jallow, plans to testify before Gambia’s truth and reconciliation commission that is investigating crimes committed during Jammeh’s rule.
Human Rights Watch described Jammeh as a sexual predator who lavished gifts on young women and their families before violently attacking them.
The human rights organization says it will take international pressure for Jammeh to be extradited from Equatorial Guinea.
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Opposition Leader: Ethiopia, AU Join Forces in Sudan Efforts
A leading Sudanese opposition figure says the African Union and Ethiopia have joined forces in renewed efforts to mediate the crisis in Sudan and bring the ruling generals and protest leaders back to the negotiating table.
Sadek al-Mahdi, who heads the Umma party, told reporters on Wednesday that Ethiopia and the AU plan a joint proposal on how to break the impasse.
Earlier, Ethiopia and the AU tried to mediate separately in Sudan’s crisis, which erupted after the military’s ouster of longtime President Omar al-Bashir.
The Umma party is part of an alliance representing Sudanese protesters who demand the military hand over power to civilian rule.
Al-Mahdi has criticized the protesters over calls for mass demonstrations on Sunday, the anniversary of a 1989 coup that brought al-Bashir to power.
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US Protests Spying Suspect’s Treatment in Russian Jail
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow says that it has officially protested the reported mistreatment of a U.S. national who is kept in jail on spying charges.
The U.S. Embassy said in a statement on Wednesday that it has sent a note of protest to the Russian foreign ministry, asking it to investigate the allegations that Paul Whelan has been mistreated while in custody and that his safety is ensured.
Whelan, who also holds British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, was arrested in a hotel room in Moscow at the end of December and charged with espionage, which carries up to 20 years in prison.
The former U.S. Marine, who denies the charges, has publicly complained of poor conditions in prison and said his life is in danger.
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