Bitcoin slumped more than 10% over the weekend to a two-week low as fears of a crackdown of cryptocurrencies grew on mounting scrutiny of Facebook’s planned Libra digital coin.Bitcoin fell 11.1% from Friday to $9,855 early on Monday, its lowest since July 2. The original cryptocurrency slumped 10.4% on Sunday alone, its second-biggest daily drop this year.It was last up 1.3% at $10,319.Politicians and financial regulators across the world have called for close scrutiny of Facebook’s Libra coin, with concerns ranging from consumer protection and privacy to its potential systemic risks given the social media giant’s global reach.In a sign of widening U.S. attention, a proposal to prevent big technology companies from functioning as financial institutions or issuing digital currencies has been circulated for discussion by Democratic lawmakers, according to a copy of the draft legislation seen by Reuters.U.S. President Donald Trump had last week criticized bitcoin, Libra and other cryptocurrencies, demanding that firms seek a banking charter and subject themselves to U.S. and global regulations if they wanted to “become a bank”.Bitcoin, which initially shrugged off Trump’s Tweet, fell sharply after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell called for a halt to Facebook’s project until concerns from privacy to money laundering were addressed.”Together they have increased the tail risk that the U.S. will look to crack down on it in some way,” said Jamie Farquhar, portfolio manager at crypto firm NKB Group in London.Underscoring the growing attention on Facebook’s plans, Japanese authorities have also set up a working group to look at Libra’s possible impact on monetary policy and financial regulation, government sources told Reuters.European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeure is due to deliver a preliminary report on the matter at a meeting of G7 finance ministers this week in Chantilly, north of Paris.Bitcoin climbed nearly 55% in nine days after Facebook unveiled its plans for Libra on June 18, touching an 18-month high of nearly $14,000. The project has boosted hopes among some investors that cryptocurrencies could gain wider acceptance.
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Month: July 2019
UN: 20 Million Children Missing Out on Life-Saving Vaccines
Two leading UN agencies report nearly 20 million children worldwide—more than one in 10—were not vaccinated against killer diseases, such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus in 2018. Global life-saving vaccine coverage remains at 86 percent. This is high, but the World Health Organization says it is not high enough. It says 95 percent coverage is needed to protect against outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. The worldwide measles outbreak is the starkest and most alarming example of what can happen when vaccine coverage across countries and communities falls below 95 percent. Last year, nearly 350,000 measles cases were reported globally, more than double that of 2017.WHO’s director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, Kate O’Brien warns measles outbreaks are not just persisting, but are increasing. She agrees some of the problem is due to misinformation and false information regarding the safety of the measles vaccine. But she says low coverage is mainly linked to sharp inequalities in both low-income and high-income countries.“Even in high-income countries, access to vaccines, inequality and quality of care are often the greatest obstacles for parents to get vaccines for their children. So, we want to emphasize both of these things that barriers to vaccination are not only about poor countries, they are also about the situation in high-income and middle-income countries,” she said. Nevertheless, O’Brien notes most unvaccinated children live in the poorest countries; especially in fragile or conflict-affected States. Almost half, she said, are in just 16 countries. Ten of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.WHO reports Nigeria, India and Pakistan have the lowest vaccination rates. It finds only two regions, the Americas and Western-Pacific had lower vaccination coverage in 2018 than in 2017. Vaccinations in every other region, it says, have gone up or have plateaued.While Africa remains the region with the lowest vaccine coverage, WHO says it has not gone backwards. However, due to expected population rise, WHO projects fewer children in Africa are likely to receive life-saving vaccines in the coming decades.
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Codebreaker Alan Turing To Be Face of New British Banknote
Codebreaker and computing pioneer Alan Turing has been chosen as the face of Britain’s new 50 pound note, the Bank of England announced Monday.Governor Mark Carney said Turing, who did ground-breaking work on computers and artificial intelligence, was a giant on whose shoulders so many now stand.''During World War II Turing worked at the secret Bletchley Park code-breaking center, where he helped crack Nazi Germany's secret codes by creating theTuring bombe,” a forerunner of modern computers. He also developed the Turing Test'' to measure artificial intelligence.After the war he was prosecuted for homosexuality, which was then illegal, and forcibly treated with female hormones. He died at age 41 in 1954 after eating an apple laced with cyanide.Turing received a posthumous apology from the British government in 2009, and a royal pardon in 2013.The U.K's highest-denomination note is the last to be redesigned and switched from paper to more secure and durable polymer. The redesigned 10 pound and 20 pound notes feature author Jane Austen and artist J.M.W. Turner.The Turing banknote will enter circulation in 2021. It includes a photo of the scientist, mathematical formulae and technical drawings, and a quote from Turing:This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be.”Former lawmaker John Leech, who led the campaign for a pardon, said he was absolutely delighted'' by the choice.I hope it will go some way to acknowledging his unprecedented contribution to society and science,” he said. “But more importantly I hope it will serve as a stark and rightfully painful reminder of what we lost in Turing, and what we risk when we allow that kind of hateful ideology to win.”
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Zuma Testifies at Corruption Probe
Former South African president Joseph Zuma is testifying at a judicial inquiry into corruption allegations against him during his time in office.He told the panel Monday there is a conspiracy against him and that there is “a drive to remove me from the scene, a wish that I should disappear . . .”The ex-South African leader said he has “been vilified” and has been a victim of “character assassination over 20 years.”Raymond Zondo, the lead judge in the probe, said, “The commission is not mandated to prove any case against anybody, but is mandated to investigate and inquire into certain allegations.” Zuma was forced to resign from office last year by his African National Congress after being implicated in numerous corruption scandals, including using some $20 million in public funds for improvements at his private estate.
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Britain’s Top Diplomat: Iran Nuclear Deal Can be Saved
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Monday that the international deal on Iran’s nuclear program “isn’t dead yet,” and that while the opportunity to find a resolution to the current crisis surrounding the agreement is closing, it is still possible to keep it alive.He spoke ahead of talks with other European Union foreign ministers in Brussels where they planned to discuss the Iran situation.The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was agreed to by Iran and a group of world powers that included Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States to allay concerns Iran was working to develop a nuclear weapon.Iran has long said its nuclear program was solely for peaceful purposes, and it won badly needed relief from sanctions in return for limiting its nuclear activity far below what would be needed to make a weapon.Hunt said Monday that Iran was more than a year away from having the capability to build a nuclear device.Boris Johnson, a leadership candidate for Britain’s Conservative Party, and Britain’s former Brexit Minister Dominic Raab visit a pub in Oxshott.Boris Johnson, a Conservative favorite to succeed Theresa May when she steps down as prime minister later this month, seemed to dismiss the importance of the leaked cables.He described them as “embarrassing but it is not a threat to national security.”“It is the duty of media organizations to bring new and interesting facts into the public domain,” said Johnson, himself a journalist and former editor.In May 2018, Johnson, then Britain’s foreign minister, went to Washington to try to persuade Trump to not abandon the Iran pact.
President Trump’s Iran Policy Challenged video player.
Embed” />CopyWATCH: President Trump’s Iran Policy ChallengedAfter British and U.S. officials met, Darroch reported back to London that there were divisions within the Trump administration over Trump’s intention to quit the Iran accord. The diplomat criticized the White House for a lack of long-term strategy to deal with Iran.“They can’t articulate any ‘day-after’ strategy; and contacts with State Department this morning suggest no sort of plan for reaching out to partners and allies, whether in Europe or the region,” he wrote.Trump has long attacked the 2015 international Iran nuclear deal aimed at restraining Tehran’s nuclear weapons development as ineffective and repeatedly blamed Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry for pushing for its adoption.Trump withdrew the United States from the deal last year and reimposed economic sanctions, hobbling the Iranian economy and limiting its international oil trade.Five other countries — China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain — along with the European Union have remained in the accord, but voiced their displeasure as Tehran has exceeded the size of the uranium stockpile and the uranium enrichment level allowed under the pact.
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How China Will Dominate Taiwan’s 2020 Presidential Election Campaign
Taiwan’s presidential race kicked off Monday with China the top issue as a Beijing-friendly mayor won the chief opposition party’s primary to face an incumbent who wants Beijing to keep a distance.The opposition Nationalists announced that Han Kuo-yu, now mayor of the Taiwanese port city Kaohsiung, had won the presidential primary Monday against four other candidates, including the founder of consumer electronics assembler Foxconn Technology. Han will go up against incumbent Tsai Ing-wen in the January 2020 general election.China is expected to define the late-year campaign because the two contenders differ on how to handle it, reflecting divisions among Taiwanese people.A policeman scuffles with a protester inside a mall in Sha Tin District in Hong Kong, July 14, 2019.Divided publicTaiwan and China have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, but Beijing still claims sovereignty over the island. Opinion surveys as recent as January show most Taiwanese oppose rule by China, and protests in Hong Kong since June against the territory’s own rule by Beijing have solidified that sentiment.“Now, incidents in Hong Kong actually are having an effect on youth,” said George Hou, mass communications lecturer at Taiwan-based I-Shou University who regularly talks to young people. “The Nationalist Party’s policies toward China and China’s policies make younger people feel discontent.”But many Taiwanese say they hope their government can keep peaceful economic ties with China while holding it off politically. They complain of low salaries and high housing costs at home. Some see China in turn as a source of investment or as a place to find work.“The Hong Kong matter will make people feel on guard, but when they vote for a president, they’ll hope to change their own lives, and voting will take that direction,” said Ku Chung-hua, standing board member with the Taiwan advocacy group Citizens’ Congress Watch.Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen talks to the press along with USTBC chairman/NASDAQ president Michael Splinter before they attend a Taiwan-US business summit organized by USTBC and Taiwan’s trade organization TAITRA in New York July 12, 2019.Competing candidate platformsHan, 62, has vowed to make peace with China. In March he signed deals with four Chinese cities including Hong Kong to sell $167 million worth of Taiwanese agricultural products. He won the mayoral race in November partly on an economic improvement platform.In April, Han visited the United States to meet members of Congress and encourage American investment in Kaohsiung. The former 10-year Nationalist Party lawmaker had once managed a company that markets Taiwanese agricultural goods.“Han Kuo-yu is the only candidate who has a really strong appeal to the lower middle class,” said Joanna Lei, CEO of the Taiwan-based Chunghua 21st Century Think Tank, comparing him to other Nationalist Party figures. He won the primary after party-commissioned public opinion polls returned a 45% support rate.Tsai, elected in 2016, supports economic ties with China but disputes China’s condition for dialogue — that the two sides fall under one flag — meaning the two sides never talk. China has grown increasingly impatient with Tsai over her term, using military aircraft flybys and diplomatic pressure abroad as warnings.After Chinese President Xi Jinping advocated earlier in January that China rule Taiwan under a “one country, two systems” setup as it governs Hong Kong, Tsai grew more vocal against the political pressure from China. The Hong Kong protests have added weight to her cause.Han opposes “one country, two systems” but backs the Chinese dialogue condition.Race too early to callTsai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party lost most mayoral and county magistrate seats in the November local elections that put Han into power. Voters had called Tsai’s management of the economy slow or ineffective. Now GDP growth is expected to slow slightly this year to 2.2%.But approval poll ratings for the president rose more than 10 percentage points in the months after she ramped up her anti-China comments.The presidential race is too close to call, Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei.“You can’t say, because the Nationalists now, according to polls, don’t have a candidate who could definitely win,” Huang said. “Changes in Taiwan’s elections happen fast.”
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Afghan Dies in Australian Immigration Center
A 23-year-old man who fled conflict in Afghanistan six years ago has died at an Australian immigration detention center. Refugee groups say the death highlights serious concerns about the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.Emergency services were called to the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation Center late Friday. An Afghan national could not be revived and died. The cause of his death is unknown, but police say it is not being treated as suspicious.The man reportedly arrived in Australia seeking asylum as an unaccompanied minor in 2013, and had been asking for legal help to obtain a residency visa.Refugee campaigners believe the tragedy should be the subject of an official inquiry. They say that there are many other Afghan asylum-seekers “languishing” for indefinite periods in detention facilities.Carolyn Grayden is from the Asylum Seeker Resource Center, an independent organization in Melbourne.“What is really needed here is a broader inquiry into the circumstances of how he was treated arriving as an unaccompanied minor through a very protracted refugee determination process, a process that has been designed to punish people that arrive by boat,” she said.Asylum-seekers detainedAustralia automatically detains all asylum-seekers while health and security checks are carried out. It has been official policy since the early 1990s, and has the support of both major political parties.Since 2013, Australia began sending asylum-seekers arriving by boat to detention camps in the South Pacific. A facility in Papua New Guinea closed in 2017 after a local court ruled it was unconstitutional, but hundreds of former detainees remain in the impoverished country. A second center on the tiny island of Nauru continues to operate.Australia has argued offshore detention saves lives by deterring migrants from making hazardous sea crossings. Critics, though, say the policy is inhumane and breaks international law.Average detention: 500 daysAt the end of May 2019, official government figures show there were 1,270 people in immigration detention facilities on the Australian mainland. Detainees from Iran, New Zealand and Vietnam include asylum-seekers and others who have either breached immigration regulations or have overstayed their visas.The average period of time for those held in detention was more than 500 days.
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Ballet and Rhinos in the African Bush
Artists are often at the forefront of social change, as they use their works to address difficult political and cultural issues. Protecting the environment and cultural heritage are the focus of the annual Ballet in the Bush initiative. As Marize de Klerk reports from Sterkrivier, South Africa, American dancers recently joined international and South African ballet talent in the African bush for the sake of their art and an endangered species, the rhino.
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Ballet Performed in South African Bush for Rhinos’ Sake
Artists are often at the forefront of social change as they use their works to address difficult political and cultural issues. While activist painters, filmmakers and musicians are probably most familiar, choreographers have also addressed social issues with their dance companies.In South Africa, protecting the environment and cultural heritage are the focus of the annual Ballet in the Bush initiative, where American dancers recently joined international and South African ballet talent for the sake of their art and an endangered species, the rhino.Ballet and rhinos are a duet in South Africa’s Limpopo Province. Every year, dancers from South Africa and around the world — complete with tutus and pointe shoes — do a “special enclosure performance” for the calves in this rhino orphanage. The dancers in the Ballet in the Bush initiative showcase their talent, while shining a spotlight on the problem of rhino poaching.Cuban American Prima ballerina Adiarys Almeida was among the first participating dancers in 2014.“I was scared at first, but then it was fine,” she said. “It was actually amazing to have them so close. I came back for the experience, but also for the good cause, like saving the rhinos. And I think it’s just fantastic.”FILE – In South Africa, the race is on to save the lives of rhinos from being wiped out by poachers.Raising awareness of rhinos’ plightOne goal is to promote ballet in the impoverished province with the help of well-known teachers and dancers. Another is to create awareness about rhinos and the need for their protection, especially from poachers.As night fell, about 200 people watched the fifth annual Ballet in the Bush performance. The initiative raises on average $1,400 every year.About 50 local children join the professionals for workshops and performances. This year, Limpopo dance student Fran Makamola was one of them.“I enjoyed the show the most. I learned a lot of new things,” she said. “I also enjoyed watching the rhinos and learning about the rhinos, and that they are very special animals, and that we should care for them more.”Over the years, ballet dancers based in the U.S. have also been part of the program, said organizer and CEO of the South African International Ballet Competition, Dirk Badenhorst.“It shows that there is this working together and willing and wantingness to help achieve in South Africa what they have achieved in the United States of America,” he said.Facing extinctionAt the rhino orphanage, substitute moms help raise and rehabilitate calves at a cost of about $850 each per month. Arrie van Deventer, founder and director of the Now Or Never African Wildlife Trust, says they’re here because their mothers were killed by poachers.“They are facing definite extinction if this carries on. So, the more people that hear this message, that hear of the plight of the rhino, the better,” he said.Partnering classical ballet with everyday issues seems to help the artform revive in Africa. Joburg Ballet’s social media campaign to popularize ballet in South Africa won multiple international rewards, says Kabelo Moshapalo, executive creative director of the advertising agency TBWAHuntLascaris South Africa.“What ballet can do is not only inform, but also educate. One piece of content that we did was around the Cape Town drought. And what we borrowed from our African context is the Rain Queen to bring to attention the plight of the environmental damage that’s happened, you know, due to the shortage of water,” he said.Officials say there has been a decline in the number of reported poaching cases in South Africa. Since declining poaching statistics does not mean victory in the poaching war yet, all efforts addressing rhino conservation are welcomed.
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Protesters Back at Washington Immigration Jail After Attack
Demonstrators returned to an immigration jail in Washington state a day after an armed man threw incendiary devices at the detention center and later died.Willem Van Spronsen, 69, was found dead Saturday after four police officers arrived and opened fire.Demonstrators returned Sunday to the privately run Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, KOMO-TV reported. The demonstrators were protesting the facility and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement roundups that were supposed to begin Sunday.The facility holds migrants pending deportation proceedings. The detention center has also held immigration-seeking parents separated from their children under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, an effort meant to deter illegal immigration.The center’s operator, GEO Group, said in a statement it was aware of a “community gathering” Sunday. “We respect every individual’s right to use their voice and express their opinions,” the center said.’I think this was a suicide’Bullet holes riddled the scene Sunday, The News-Tribune reported. Police searched Van Spronsen’s Vashon Island home, the Tacoma newspaper reported.Van Spronsen’s friend, Deb Bartley, told The Seattle Times she thinks he wanted to provoke a fatal conflict. She described him as an anarchist and anti-fascist.“He was ready to end it,” Bartley said. “I think this was a suicide. But then he was able to kind of do it in a way that spoke to his political beliefs. I know he went down there knowing he was going to die.”Prior scuffle with policeVan Spronsen was accused of assaulting a police officer during a protest outside the detention center in 2018, The News-Tribune reported. According to court documents, he lunged at the officer and wrapped his arms around the officer’s neck and shoulders, as the officer was trying to detain a 17-year-old protester June 26, 2018, the newspaper reported.According to court documents, police handcuffed Van Spronsen and found that he had a collapsible baton and a folding knife in his pocket. Van Spronsen pleaded guilty to the charge of obstructing police, and he was given a deferred sentence in October, The News-Tribune reported.Van Spronsen had worked as a self-employed carpenter and contractor, according to court documents. He was also a folk singer, playing shows on Vashon Island and around the Seattle area, The Times reported.
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More Than 2 Dozen Detained at Moscow Election Protest
Updated July 14, 5:50 pm
Russian police have detained more than 25 demonstrators outside the Moscow Election Commission headquarters after opposition candidates called for a sit-in protest following their exclusion from city-council elections.Opposition candidates Ilya Yashin, Lyubov Sobol, and Yulia Galyamina were among those taken to police stations on July 14 after several hours of peaceful protest.Popular opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who had been released from 10-days of house arrest on July 11, did not attend the protest.The detentions came shortly after Sobol called on Muscovites to sit outside the headquarters until Moscow Election Commission Chairman Valentin Gorbunov met the opposition candidates, who demand they be included on the September ballot.”If we don’t defend elections now — then there won’t be any more in Moscow,” Sobol said in a Twitter post as she called for more citizens to join the protest.Sobol told them to bring water, tents, and padding to sit on as they waited for the chairman. She also said she would go on a hunger strike until Gorbunov met her.Gorbunov, who has overseen Moscow elections for the past quarter-century, was at his summer house for the day, the opposition leaders said they were told when they arrived at the headquarters.The chairman denied in comments to local media that his commission unfairly excluded the candidates from the September city elections and accused Sobol of whipping up sentiment on social media.Several hundred people gathered outside the headquarters, chanting, “This is not an election, this is fraud!” and “Allow fair elections!”Some heeded Sobol’s advice, carrying yoga mats for the sit-in while others brought food.Police first cordoned off the area as people arrived with food and mats before moving in to break up the demonstration.The opposition candidates held a protest earlier in the day in the center of Moscow to denounce their exclusion from the September city council race.About 1,000 people joined them as they symbolically knocked on the office door of Mayor Sergei Sobyanin so he would “hear” their anger over the election snub.They then made their way to the Moscow Election Committee headquarters to demand a meeting with Gorbunov.Candidates had to submit 4,500 verifiable signatures of support by July 6 to the commission to be eligible to run in the September elections.Voters had to give their address and passport details along with the name and signature.The election commission claimed that many of the signatures for opposition candidates were invalid, declaring that either names, addresses or passport details were incorrect.Sobol had nearly 15 percent of her signatures invalidated, surpassing the permissible number of 10 percent, Gorbunov told reporters July 14.”She does not have enough signatures for registration. And through social media she is pressuring the election commission,” he said.Sobol shared on social media several examples of signatures that she claims were unfairly invalidated because the commission’s database has incorrect voter information.One voter named Vladimir that signed the petition in support of her candidacy is listed in the election database as “Vladmir,” with the first “i” in his name missing.Another signature was stricken because the voter’s address was determined to be invalid. Yet the commission approved another person at the same address, she said.The Interior Ministry’s forensic handwriting expert concluded other signatures were fake, though Sobol has photos of the people signing their names.Sobol, a prominent investigator with opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, blamed her exclusion on Sobyanin.”I am sure that the decision not to allow me to participate in the election was made personally by Sobyanin. In any other cases, the commission would not have agreed to such an obvious sham in the final protocol.”Sobyanin’s office could not be immediately reached for comment nor had he or his office posted any comment on social media.Sobol earlier told RFE/RL that her campaign for the City Duma seat from Moscow’s 43rd district has faced an onslaught of dirty tactics clearly aimed at intimidating her and her supporters and derailing her candidacy.With reporting by Current Time, Vedomosti, and Interfax
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Hawaii Telescope Construction Expected to Draw Protesters, Police
Police and protesters are gearing up for a fight in Hawaii as construction is set to begin on a massive telescope on Mauna Kea, the islands’ highest peak, considered sacred by some native Hawaiians.State officials said the road to the top of Mauna Kea mountain on the Big Island will be closed starting Monday as equipment is delivered to the construction site.Scientists chose Mauna Kea in 2009 after a five-year, worldwide search for the ideal site for the largest telescope in the Northern Hemisphere. Construction was supposed to begin in 2014 but was halted by protests.Opponents of the $1.4 billion telescope will desecrate sacred land. According to the University of Hawaii, ancient Hawaiians considered the location kapu, or forbidden. Only the highest-ranking chiefs and priests were allowed to make the long trek to Mauna Kea’s summit above the clouds.Supporters of telescope say it will not only make important scientific discoveries but bring educational and economic opportunities to Hawaii.The company behind the telescope is made up of a group of universities in California and Canada, with partners from China, India and Japan. Astronomers hope the telescope will help them look back 13 billion years to the time just after the Big Bang and answer fundamental questions about the universe.It is not clear what the opponents of the project have planned for Monday but Gov. David Ige said unarmed National Guard units will be on hand to help enforce road closures and transport workers and supplies.
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Decorated US Green Beret Killed In Afghanistan Identified
A decorated member of the U.S. Special Forces has died during combat in northern Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Sunday.Green Beret Sgt. Maj. James “Ryan” Sartor died Saturday after being injured by enemy fire Saturday. His death brings the number of fatalities among the U.S. military this year in the Afghanistan to 11.Sartor’s death reportedly has brought the number of U.S. service members killed since the Afghan war started in October of 2001 to 2,430.Sartor, 40, of Teague, Texas, had served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) division.”We’re incredibly saddened to learn of Sgt. Maj. James “Ryan” Sartor’s passing in Afghanistan. Ryan was a beloved warrior who epitomized the quiet professional,” said commander of 10th SFG (A), Col. Brian R. Rauen. “He led his soldiers from the front and his presence will be terribly missed.”Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed on Saturday that the militant group was behind the killing but the claim has yet to be verified.The U.S. has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, where they primarily advise Afghan forces who are battling the Taliban.
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Tropical Storm Barry Downgraded to Tropical Depression
Forecasters have downgraded Tropical Storm Barry to a tropical depression, but Barry is still a major rainmaker and tornado threat as it drifts northward.Parts of Louisiana could still see as much as 38 centimeters of rain with lesser amounts in sections of Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee.”This rainfall is expected to lead to dangerous life-threatening flooding,” forecasters warn anyone who may think the storm is no longer a threat.Barry made landfall Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane, sparing New Orleans from a direct hit, but knocking out power and bringing floods to other parts of the state.No serious injuries or major damage have been reported. But some residents in Louisiana say the ground was already saturated before Barry hit, raising fears of large trees coming down on homes and cars.U.S. President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in Louisiana ahead of the storm, authorizing federal funds to help local officials cope with whatever storm recovery is needed.Barry was the first named storm of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, which started on June 1 and lasts until November 30.
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Taiwan President Visits Haiti, But No New Deals Announced
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen made a quick visit to Haiti Saturday during which she expressed her hopes for peace and stability in the Caribbean country. During the four-hour stop, which included the official opening of a Taiwanese product expo and a visit to the national museum – Musee du Pantheon National – the Taiwanese leader made no new announcements but rather reiterated her country’s support for her host, President Jovenel Moise and the bilateral projects already in place.“During my visit here in Haiti I personally witnessed President Jovenel Moise’s ardent desire to achieve national development and I hope with all my heart that Haiti will see political and social stability,” Tsai said.Taiwan’s leader, who arrived in Port-au-Prince with a delegation of officials including three parliament members, the president of the private business sector association and Taiwanese entrepreneurs, said she hoped the two countries would be able to cooperate in new areas in the future.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen Arrives in Haiti video player.
The sides hold a bilateral metting chaired Haitian President by Jovenel Moise and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 13, 2019. (@jovenelmoise Instagram)“Apart from the bilateral agreements that already exist, we hope to be able to develop new areas of cooperation such as education, commerce, infrastructure and others,” Tsai said.Moise was more specific and said there were five prospective areas where Taiwan and Haiti could cooperate in the future.“There’s infrastructure for roads, agriculture, mass transport, affordable housing and a port in the northwest,” he said, adding “to bring these projects to fruition we must have serenity, peace and peace of mind.”Haiti is the first stop on Tsai’s 12-day tour which began on July 11 and includes visits to four countries. Taiwan is looking to boost ties with Caribbean allies at a time when China is making inroads in the region.The Dominican Republic, which broke off ties with Taiwan in 2018 in favor of China has been offered $3 billion in loans from Xi Jinping’s government according to reports.Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen signs the guest book during her visit to the Musée de Panthéon Nationale, in Port au Prince, Haiti, July 13, 2019. (@jovenelmoise Twitter)Meanwhile, Taipei’s $150 million loan to Haiti for electrical projects has not been disbursed because the Haitian parliament has not yet approved it.“Taiwan is a loyal friend and partner to Haiti and we will accompany Haiti on its road toward development,” Tsai said, adding that she hopes her visit will contribute to the continuation of more bilateral exchanges in the future.The visit got mixed reviews on social media.“When will these projects launch, because I want to work president,” @wadda.m17 commented on VOA Creole’s Instagram page.“Hmmm… I always hear about projects other countries are coming to launch but they never go anywhere,” @cleverboy_dabright commented.“Long live China,” @benaldo_paul said.Tsai’s next stop was St. Kitts and Nevis, where she landed Saturday night for a four-day visit, the first ever by a Taiwanese president. She will also visit St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia.
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Hong Kong Demonstrators Again Clash With Police
Police used batons and pepper spray to disperse thousands of protesters who again took to the streets of a Hong Kong suburb to demand the complete withdrawal of a bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China, as well as the resignation of the Beijing-approved leader Carrie Lam.
The protest in Sha Tin was peaceful through most of Sunday, but scuffles broke out between police and the demonstrators as the day came to an end. Some protesters ran into a local shopping mall where the scuffles continued.
Riot police used pepper spray and batons to clear protesters from the mall while demonstrators were seen using umbrellas and other make-shift weapons to fight police.
Protesters have begun taking their marches to farther-flung areas of Hong Kong in an effort to reach the wider population. Sha Tin is located in the New Territories close to the border with mainland China, and is popular with mainland visitors.
Organizers said 110,000 protesters took part, while police put the number at 28,000, according to broadcaster RTHK.Anti-extradition bill protesters rally in Sha Tin district, Hong Kong, July 14, 2019. Hong Kong has been the site of weekend demonstrations for weeks.
The protests began because of the controversial extradition bill that would have allowed the extradition of Hong Kong criminal suspects to mainland China.
After several weeks of controversy and large, angry street protests, Lam recently said the extradition bill is “dead.”
But the protests have continued. Some are demanding Lam’s resignation, others an investigation into complaints of police violence and some called genuine elections.
Residents of Hong Kong do not directly choose their leaders, rather they are picked from a pool of candidates approved by the Communist regime in Beijing.
The former British colony was granted special autonomy for 50 years after it returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. But many in Hong Kong are concerned that China is slowly encroaching on those rights and tightening its grip on the territory.
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Djokovic Defeats Federer in Longest Wimbledon Final
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic outlasted Roger Federer of Switzerland in five sets (7-6 1-6 7-6 4-6 13-12) to capture his 5th Wimbledon championship, in the longest final in tournament history.After splitting the first four sets, Federer had two match points in set number five but couldn’t close out the match. The set eventually ended up in a tiebreaker which was dominated by Djokovic. This is the first year a tiebreaker was played in a 5th set of a Wimbledon final with the score tied at 12-12. In previous years, the match would continue on until a player was able to win the final set by two games.Sunday’s match lasted four hours and 57 minutes.With his latest win, Djokovic has a total of 16 Grand Slam titles.Federer was seeking his ninth Wimbledon title but just fell short.
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Trump Tweets about Non-White Lawmakers Prompt Fresh Outrage
In a series of Sunday morning tweets quickly deemed racist and xenophobic by critics, U.S. President Donald Trump has provoked new controversy with taunts at several new members of Congress.Trump on Twitter, targeted Progressive Democratic Congresswomen, telling them to “go back” and help fix the “crime infested” countries from which they came.So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly……— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) FILE – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, left, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Jan. 16, 2019.The White House has not responded to a request from VOA on whether the president was aware prior to sending the tweets that three of the four are citizens by birth.The progressives have been squabbling with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over immigration policy and other issues. The dispute has attracted Trump’s attention in recent days, even prompting him to utter rare public support for at least when it comes to her attempt to reign in the newly elected foursome.Trump’s tweets about the minority novice female members of Congress, known as ‘the squad,’ came about 20 minutes after a segment about them on the Fox News Channel. The president frequently reacts quickly on social media to what he sees on Fox.FILE – Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks at the 2019 Essence Festival at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, July 6, 2019.Omar, in particular, has been a frequent topic of critical coverage on the cable television channel, in part due to her frequent criticism of Israel and comments perceived as anti-Semitic.Omar and Tlaib are the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress.Many on social media are condemning Trump’s tweet — which even by his provocative norms are viewed as crossing a new line.Among the most prominent is Pelosi, who terms Trump’s remark xenophobic, “meant to divide our nation” and “reaffirm his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making American white again.”When U.S. President Donald Trump, in golf attire, departs the White House for the drive to his Trump National Gold Club in Sterling, Virginia, in Washington, July 14, 2019.Trump made the series of tweets prior to emerging from the North Portico of the White House clad in dark pants, a white short-sleeved shirt and a red “Make America Great Again” ball cap.As his motorcade traveled to one of his private golf courses in northern Virginia, Trump took to Twitter again to refute what reporters described who had accompanied Vice President Mike Pence during a visit to two detention centers for migrants in Texas.“Great Reviews!” declared Trump of the tour by politicians and media to the facility for children. He characterized the pen holding adult men as “clean but crowded.”Friday’s tour showed vividly, to politicians and the media, how well run and clean the children’s detention centers are. Great reviews! Failing @nytimes story was FAKE! The adult single men areas were clean but crowded – also loaded up with a big percentage of criminals……— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey, who filed the collective print report from the scene, described a guarded area where nearly 400 men were crammed behind caged fences with not enough room for all of them to lie down on the concrete floor.“A stench from body odor hung stale in the air,” wrote Dawsey, who said some of the men screamed they had been held for more than 40 days.At the location, Pence had commented “this is tough stuff” as a group of detainees shouted, “no showers.”Trump has repeatedly warned that if he is unseated by a Democrat in next year’s presidential campaign that the opposition party would turn the United States into a socialist country and open its borders to dangerous immigrants.An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey of voters released on Sunday shows Trump trailing the top four Democratic Party contenders in a hypothetical matchup.
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Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Protesters Fire Up Fight in the Suburbs
Tens of thousands rallied in Hong Kong on Sunday driven by deep-seated anger at the government’s handling of an extradition bill which has revived
fears of Beijing attempting to erode freedoms in the former British colony.Millions have taken to the streets over the past month in some of the largest and most violent protests in decades over an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland
China for trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party.Demonstrators marched in sweltering heat of about 32 degrees Celsius (89.6°F) in Sha Tin, a town between Hong Kong island and the border with China, as the protests sweep outwards from the heart of the financial center into surrounding neighborhoods.”These days there is really no trust of China, and so the protesters come out,” said Jennie Kwan, 73.”Didn’t they promise 50 years, no change? And yet we’ve all seen the changes. I myself am already 70-something years old.What do I know about politics? But politics comes to you.”Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that guarantees its people freedoms for 50 years that are not enjoyed in mainland China,
including the liberty to protest and an independent judiciary.Beijing denies interfering in Hong Kong affairs, but many residents worry about what they see as an erosion of those freedoms and a relentless march toward mainland control. Journalists hold up their press cards as they stage a silent march to police headquarters to denounce media treatment during protest against a proposed extradition bill, in Hong Kong, July 14, 2019.
Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, has said the bill is “dead”, but opponents say they will settle for nothing short of its formal withdrawal.
Some protesters at Sunday’s event waved banners appealing to U.S. President Donald Trump to “Please liberate Hong Kong” and “Defend our Constitution”, scenes certain to rile Beijing which
has been angered by criticism from Washington and London over the bill.Others waved British and American flags, while banners calling for independence for Hong Kong billowed in the wind from makeshift flagpoles.
One placard featured a picture of Chinese leader Xi Jinping with the words: “Extradite to China, disappear forever.”Chants of “Carrie Lam go to hell,” rang through the crowd.The bill triggered outrage across broad sections of Hong Kong society amid concerns it would threaten the much-cherished rule of law that underpins the city’s international financial
status. Young, elderly and families joined the latest protest.Youth support The protests have fuelled the former British colony’s biggest political crisis since China regained control of Hong Kong, and pose a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing.
“I never missed a march so far since June,” said a 69-year-old man who gave only his surname, Chen, referring to the wave of protests.”I support the youngsters, they have done something we haven’t done. There is nothing we can do to help them, but come out and march to show our appreciation and support.”
Protesters are also demanding that Lam step down, the withdrawal of the word “riot” to describe demonstrations, the unconditional release of those arrested and an independent
investigation into complaints of police brutality.One woman, in her mid-50s, said protesters had harassed her after she tried to defend the police, whom activists described as “dogs.”
“It’s verbal violence,” said the woman, who gave her name only as Catherine. “People just surrounded me and shouted rude language and that makes me feel I am living in fear.”
Controversy over the bill triggered mass protests since June, before morphing into demonstrations over democracy and broader grievances in society.On Saturday, a largely peaceful demonstration in a town close to the Chinese border turned violent as protesters hurled umbrellas and hardhats at police, who retaliated by swinging
batons and firing pepper spray.The government condemned violence during Saturday’s protests against so-called “parallel traders” from the mainland who buy goods in bulk in Hong Kong, to carry into China for profit.
It said that during the last 18 months it had arrested 126 mainland visitors suspected of infringing the terms of their stay by engaging in parallel trading, and barred about 5,000
mainland Chinese also suspected of involvement.Earlier on Sunday, hundreds of journalists joined a silent march to demand better treatment from police at protests.
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US Set to Raid Immigrant Homes in Nine Cities
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are set to launch nationwide raids Sunday aimed at arresting immigrants in the country who are facing deportation, so they can be sent back to their homelands.The campaign, confirmed Friday by President Donald Trump, is expected to focus on hundreds of families in nine major cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.”People are coming into this country illegally, we are taking them out legally,” Trump said.ICE agents will target mostly immigrants who are considered dangerous. Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence said the immigrants being sought are on an “accelerated docket” of immigration court cases.Trump’s immigration raids are expected to be well received by voters who voted for him on his repeated promises to crack down on migrants illegally in the U.S. Opposition Democrats have denounced the operation, declaring it is inhumane to target families, many of them from Central America, looking for a better life in the United States.Trump claimed that a “big percentage of criminals” are already being held at detention centers in Texas, near the southern U.S. border with Mexico, where Vice President Mike Pence visited on Friday.”Sorry, can’t let them into our Country,” Trump said on Twitter. “If too crowded, tell them not to come to USA, and tell the Dems to fix the Loopholes – Problem Solved!”…..Sorry, can’t let them into our Country. If too crowded, tell them not to come to USA, and tell the Dems to fix the Loopholes – Problem Solved!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019 He said the Friday tour “showed vividly, to politicians and the media, how well run and clean the children’s detention centers are. Great reviews!”Friday’s tour showed vividly, to politicians and the media, how well run and clean the children’s detention centers are. Great reviews! Failing @nytimes story was FAKE! The adult single men areas were clean but crowded – also loaded up with a big percentage of criminals……— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019Ken Cuccinelli, the Trump-appointed acting director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services office, rejected the suggestion that the raids are a political stunt. He told CNN, “While lots of people in this government were saying it is a manufactured crisis… those people are now coming to the border and realizing we do have a real crisis.”Sunday’s raids are also set to occur in Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Miami and San Francisco.In the days leading up to the raids, the mostly Democratic mayors who run the cities have reiterated their policies of not cooperating with ICE officials on deportations and also have publicized telephone helplines immigrants can call to understand their rights.Additionally, Democratic lawmakers and others have been informing immigrants of their rights and advising them not to open their doors for ICE unless the agents show a court-ordered warrant, and not to speak or sign anything without first talking with a lawyer.Trump has said on Twitter his agents intend to arrest millions of immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally, while administration officials have said about 2,000 people would be targeted.Albence said ICE agents will go after entire families who have been ordered to leave the country, but that some families may be separated if some members, but not others, are in the country without the proper documentation.Trump made the unusual move of announcing the raids ahead of time and said Friday he was not concerned the early notice could help some of the targeted immigrants evade arrest.Trump’s confirmation of the raids came amid widespread criticism of the overcrowded, unsanitary conditions detained immigrants are allegedly residing in at facilities along the southwestern U.S. border. There also is considerable criticism that border officials are separating children from their parents.
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Doctors: Sudan Paramilitaries Shoot Dead Civilian
Members of a feared Sudanese paramilitary force shot dead a civilian Sunday in a town southeast of the capital as angry residents protested against the paramilitaries, witnesses and doctors said.The incident occurred in El-Souk in the state of Sinnar when residents of the town rallied demanding that members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leave the town, witnesses told AFP.”Residents of the town had gathered outside the office of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) to complain about the RSF,” a witness said.”RSF members deployed and initially started shooting in the air but later they opened fire at residents, killing a man and wounding several other people,” said the witness, who declined to be named for security reasons.A committee of doctors linked to the country’s umbrella protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, confirmed the incident.The resident “was killed by gunshot in his head fired by Rapid Support Forces militia,” it said in a statement, adding that several other people were wounded.Witnesses said El-Souk residents had gone to the NISS office to complain after the RSF raided a youth club on Saturday during a rally held to mourn the deaths of demonstrators killed in a Khartoum sit-in on June 3.”During that rally the RSF raided a youth club and beat the youths there,” one witness said.On Saturday, protesters held rallies in several cities and towns across the country, including in Khartoum, to mourn those killed in a raid on a protest camp on June 3 in the capital.Protesters and rights groups allege that the raid on the sit-in outside the army headquarters in central Khartoum was carried out by members of the RSF.More than 100 demonstrators were killed in the raid on that day when armed men in military fatigues cracked down on protesters who had been camping out there for weeks, doctors close to the protesters have said.RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo is the deputy chief of Sudan’s ruling military council that seized power after the army’s ouster of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in April following nationwide protests against his rule.Dagalo has dismissed claims that the RSF was responsible for the deadly June crackdown, saying it was an attempt to distort the image of his force.
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Moscow Protesters Demand Opposition Candidates Be Included on City-Council Ballots
Around 1,000 people have gathered in central Moscow to demand that opposition candidates be included on ballots for the September 8 Moscow City Duma elections.The protest on July 14 was billed as a meeting between opposition leaders and their voters after signatures sponsoring several candidates were rejected by the Moscow election commission.The candidates had to submit 4,500 verifiable signatures of support by July 6 to be eligible to run in the September elections.The Moscow mayor’s office has described the rally as “illegal” and demanded the action be postponed.Demonstrators chanted, “We are the authority here,” “Putin is a thief,” and “Putin resign.”However, the police have not detained anyone yet and the protest has continued peacefully.Ilya Yashin, one of the candidates who saw signatures invalidated, called on demonstrators to march with him to the mayor’s office to state their election demands.Once there, they symbolically knocked on the door so that Mayor Sergei Sobyanin would “hear” their anger over the election snub.Then Yashin and Lubov Sobol, another opposition candidate who was denied the chance to run, led the crowd to the headquarters of the Moscow Election Commission, where they demanded Commissioner Valentin Gorbunov exit the building to meet them.As they stood outside the headquarters, the crowd chanted “This is not an election, this is fraud,” “We are the authority here,” and “Allow fair elections!”Gorbunov is at his dacha, Yashin later told the crowd.Sobol, a 31-year old lawyer, said she would continue her hunger strike outside the commission headquarters until Gorbunov came to meet her and other candidates.Protesters in the crowd told RFE/RL that they planned to stay through the night as well to support the candidates.However, some lamented that the turnout was small and said they did not think the demonstration would have an impact on the commission.Russian opposition politician and anti-corruption blogger Aleksei Navalny, who was released from 10-days of house arrest on July 11, has not yet arrived at the rally.During the protest outside the commission, Sobol shared on social media examples of signatures she said were unfairly rejected.The politician said one of her signatures was denied because the commission considered the voter’s address invalid. Yet, another voter at the same address was approved by the commission, she saidSobol also said the commission rejected her very first supporter even though the voter posed for a photograph after signing his name at her campaign office.
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Macron Showcases Europe Military Prowess at Paris Parade
President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday sought to showcase European military cooperation in France’s annual Bastille Day parade at a time of growing tensions between Europe and the United States.Key EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, joined Macron in Paris to watch the parade down the Champs-Elysees that commemorates the July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille fortress in Paris during the French Revolution.Some 4,300 members of the armed forces, including regiments from other European armies, marched down the avenue’s famed cobblestones in a tradition that dates back to the aftermath of World War I.Army dogs festooned with medals, members of France’s celebrated Foreign Legion and mounted cavalry in glittering uniforms brandishing ceremonial sabres all paraded in front of the high-ranking guests.Meanwhile, French inventor and entrepreneur Franky Zapata showed off his futuristic flyboard, soaring above the Champs Elysees and the assembled leaders.Zapata CEO Franky Zapata flies a jet-powered hoverboard or “Flyboard” during the Bastille Day military parade down the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, July 14, 2019.”The army is transforming: it is modernizing for our soldiers, our sovereignty and our independence,” Macron told France 2 television in brief remarks.Standing in an open-top command car alongside France’s chief of staff General Francois Lecointre, Macron was met with some jeers and whistles from supporters of the “yellow vest” movement who have staged weekly protests against the government since last fall.Two prominent members of the movement, Jerome Rodrigues and Maxime Nicolle, were both detained by the police, sources told AFP.’Europe never so important’Closer European defense cooperation has been one of Macron’s key foreign policy aims and the president shows no sign of wavering despite growing political turbulence in Germany and Britain’s looming exit from the European Union.At the 2017 parade, Macron’s guest of honor was the newly inaugurated President Donald Trump as the young French leader sought to take the initiative in forming a bond with his U.S. counterpart.But since then ties between Trump and Macron have soured over the U.S. pullout from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal, as well as France’s new law for a tax on digital giants, mostly U.S. companies.”President Trump has been an excellent ambassador for a Europe of defense,” Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told the Parisien newspaper Sunday, pointing to “questions, even thinly veiled threats he made towards Europe or on the durability of American commitment.”Macron, who pushed the idea of the European Intervention Initiative (EI2) to undertake missions outside of existing structures like NATO, insisted on the importance of European defense cooperation.”Never, since the end of World War II has Europe been so important,” Macron, who after coming to power in 2017 controversially dispensed with the president’s traditional July 14 television interview, said in a written statement.Merkel told reporters after the event that the parade was a “great gesture for a European defense policy” and Germany was “honored” to have taken part.Forces from all nine countries taking part alongside France in the initiative — including Britain and Germany — were represented at the parade.In a sign of France’s ambition to be a leading modern military power under Macron, the president Saturday announced the creation of a national space force command that will eventually be part of the air force.Eyes on MerkelA German A400M transport plane and a Spanish C130 took part in fly-bys, as well as two British Chinook helicopters.The Chinooks are a major symbol of British-French defense cooperation even as Brexit looms, with Britain deploying three of the aircraft and 100 personnel for France’s operation in the African Sahel region.Outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May had been expected to attend, but Britain was instead represented by senior cabinet minister David Lidington, the Elysee said.
Also present were members of the 5,000-strong Franco-German Brigade (BFA), which was created in 1989 as a symbol of postwar unity between France and Germany, and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.Merkel, who is battling to keep her grand coalition together at home, was again under close scrutiny after she suffered three episodes of shaking at official events in recent weeks.But she appeared to suffer no problems and also stepped off the tribune with Macron to greet wounded veterans.
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Trump’s Withdrawal from Iran Nuclear Deal Was ‘Diplomatic Vandalism’
The former British ambassador to the U.S. believed President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal was an act of “diplomatic vandalism” against his predecessor Barack Obama, according to newly leaked memos published Sunday in a British newspaper.The Mail published the memo from Kim Darroch on Sunday. Last week the newspaper published other leaked memos from Darroch about Trump in which the diplomat described the U.S. leader as “inept,” “insecure” and “incompetent” and his administration as “uniquely dysfunctional.”Darroch resigned from his post Wednesday after the publication of the leaked diplomatic cables and Trump’s Twitter attack about the memos. Trump posted Darroch was “a very stupid guy” and a “pompous fool.” The U.S. president said he would “no longer deal” with the British ambassador. The leaked cables were meant to be seen only by senior British ministers and civil servants.
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