As Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters vow to keep up their fight, churches remain on the front lines. Christian groups hold regular public gatherings and sing hymns at demonstrations, both as a way to protest and to de-escalate clashes between police and more aggressive protesters. As VOA’s Bill Gallo reports, many churches in Hong Kong fear a crackdown on religion as China expands its influence.
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Month: July 2019
In Exclusive VOA Interviews, NASA Astronauts Reflect on Historic Moon Missions
As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the historic mission to land humans on the surface of the moon, VOA’s Kane Farabaugh presents this reflection of the monumental achievement through the eyes of the NASA astronauts themselves. In exclusive interviews Farabaugh gathered, the men of the Apollo program reflect on the path to the moon, and what lies beyond.
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‘Classrooms, Not Cages’: Educators Rally Against Detention of Migrant Children
More than 200 educators and activists, along with presidential candidate Jay Inslee, rallied outside the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) office Friday to protest the Trump administration’s continued detention of children and separation of families.Organized by the American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest teachers union in the country, protesters donned white shirts reading “CLASSROOMS NOT CAGES.”“Whatever it takes, let’s do [immigration] right,” AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus told VOA News.“But, until then, these kids are dying. These kids are suffering. These kids are not getting schooling the way they should,” DeJesus added. “And the teachers are here, ready to school them, to teach them, to love them.”People with candles attend as immigration rights activists hold a “Lights for Liberty” candlelit vigil at Cleveland Square Park in El Paso, Texas, July 12, 2019.During President Donald Trump’s time in office, Immigration rights activists hold a “Lights for Liberty” rally and candle light vigil in front of the White House in Washington, July 12, 2019.Linda Lindsey, a teacher from Massachusetts, described how her mother emigrated from Italy at the age of 6, fleeing Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Lindsey’s grandfather had papers that allowed the rest of the family to join him in the United States, she said.“I probably wouldn’t be here if these stricter [immigration] laws were in place,” she told VOA. “This issue is near and dear to my heart.”Lucia Ascencio of Venezuela, her husband and their two sons, arrive back to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, as part of the first group of migrants to be returned to Tamaulipas state as part of a program for U.S. asylum-seekers, July 9, 2019.Remain in MexicoToughened policies apply to asylum-seekers, too. The Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy forces asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico while their cases are decided.“They have a legal right to come into this country and claim asylum made by international laws,” said Jose Antonio Tijerino, president and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, a leadership nonprofit. “What’s happened is that they’ve been conflated (with criminals) — every time (Trump) talks about immigration, he immediately starts talking about (the gang) MS-13 and all of these other things.”The Trump administration has said this prevents migrants from using asylum to stay in the country illegally. Opponents argue the Immigration rights activists hold a “Lights for Liberty” rally and candle light vigil in front of the White House in Washington, July 12, 2019.Asked about the future, DeJesus, of the American Federation of Teachers, said the group would continue its efforts.“We’re going to look for legislation. We’re going to keep fighting. We’re going to knock on every door,” she said. “We are serious about this because this could be you. This could be me. They all look like us.”#LightsforLiberty#CloseTheCamps Lincoln, NE pic.twitter.com/ybhRB9BWrg— Kara Mitchell Viesca (@KaraViesca) July 13, 2019AFT members and other advocates protest again at a larger vigil Friday evening, one of nearly 800 sister events worldwide.
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Hong Kong Protesters United Despite Differences
On July 1, a crowd in Hong Kong protesting a controversial bill allowing extradition to mainland China broke through tempered glass and charged into the city’s legislative chamber. They defaced officials’ portraits and spray-painted anti-government graffiti. Police gave the protesters until midnight to leave, or be expelled by force.Most protesters left, but four refused. Then, just before midnight, several people rushed into the chambers, shouting, “We leave together! We leave together!” They pulled away those remaining inside. That act, more than the broken glass and graffiti, has knit together the anti-government movement in Hong Kong and sustained a protest effort that has seen massive crowds for weeks. The unofficial policy of the campaign — “no division” — is a sharp contrast from the 2014 democracy campaign that dissolved into bitter fights that left the opposition camp fractured. FILE – Protesters are seen as they forcefully enter the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, July 1, 2019.”It was the government that created the desperation,” said Fernando Cheung, a lawmaker who was one of several legislators who tried to stop the July 1 break-in. Government officials “were hoping that after the storming they could win the public support and do it through condemnation and standing on the moral high ground.”But the public is not playing along, he said. “It is a political confrontation. It is a government issue. By resorting to treating these as crimes and criminals, it’s not dealing with the core of the problem.”‘We have to be united’People who have advocated for peaceful protests said the way the break-in ended drew widespread sympathy, not censure. “It’s the rescue [on July 1] that made people sympathetic,” said Shirry Heung, a volunteer in the 2014 movement called Occupy Central with Love and Peace. Like many protesters, she uses an English name for fear of being prosecuted for opposing the government.Heung joined the annual march for democracy July 1, the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China. As the march progressed, she heard youngsters begging participants to detour toward the legislature to support people trying to break in. “‘It’s very dangerous,'” she heard them say. “Come help us! You can ensure our safety!'”FILE – Protesters take part in a rally in Hong Kong, July 1, 2019.Heung said she didn’t agree with occupying the legislature, but the government had not responded to weeks of marches, vigils, ad campaigns, international appeals and requests for meetings.”What we have learned since 2014 is we have to be united and we will all do our part and try to see what we can do together, instead of splitting,” she said. During the 2014 campaign to get Beijing to allow voters to choose the Hong Kong chief executive without interference, student groups did not support an initial short-term occupation idea. Instead, they seized a public plaza that the government had gated off. That touched off the 79-day occupation of a highway, and shorter sit-ins in two major business districts that drew tens of thousands of people.The demands were met with silence from Hong Kong and Beijing.After that, the pro-democracy camp splintered more. The bitter fighting soured many residents on political protests altogether. What began to heal the divisions were prosecutions.The government put students, professors and longtime activists on trial for various public disorder charges related to the protests. Many of the defendants went to prison. A six-year prison sentence for Edward Leung, once a legislative candidate who promoted revolution, was widely condemned by pro-democracy supporters as a vindictive, political move to silence young people.Growing frustrationWhen Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, introduced the extradition bill in February 2019, she said it would allow a murder suspect held in Taiwan to be tried, which would bring justice to the family of his dead girlfriend. But the prospect of extradition to China provoked fury among activists and political opponents in Hong Kong.By early June, an estimated 1 million people marched against the law. On June 12, young people surrounded the legislature, only to be fired upon by police using rubber bullets and tear gas. Scores were seriously injured.FILE – A policeman fires a pepper ball gun toward protesters near the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, June 12, 2019.When Lam suspended the bill, but refused to abolish it, 2 million people protested, demanding Lam resign and release people arrested in the protests. She refused.Then, on July 1, hundreds of young people who began marching to commemorate Hong Kong’s return to China were beaten back by police with batons and pepper spray. Hours later, several young people used metal carts and poles to break most of the ground-floor windows and doors of the legislature. Once inside, they vandalized the building. One person noted that the government had taught them that peaceful protests do not work. Beijing officials, some international newspapers and some foreign officials criticized the forced entry. Some commentators worried that it would derail the massive democracy effort that had widened to demand full voting rights and free elections.Instead, the protests have continued. Sunday, July 7, saw the demonstrations move into districts away from the government center. Marchers walked on busy streets in Tsim Tsa Tsui, popular with shoppers from mainland China. “We don’t have to agree with every person,” said Nadia, a 29-year-old who works at an investment bank. “I’m not brave enough to take that step. … I didn’t know kids were brave enough. The grownups should be the ones protecting them. Instead, they are protecting us.”
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Civil Rights Advocates Vow to Fight Citizenship Tally
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday defended his decision to halt a legal fight to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census forms, one day after issuing an executive order directing the Department of Commerce to obtain citizenship data through other means.Speaking before departing the White House, Trump said he did not “back down” on the citizenship question.”I backed up because anybody else would have given this up a long time ago,” he said. The once-a-decade census, which aims to tally all people living in the United States, is required by the Constitution in order to draw the boundaries of the legislative districts that elect members to Congress. It also guides the federal government in allocating more than $800 billion in funding for services such as schools and law enforcement.Experts from the Census Bureau estimated 6.5 million people would not respond if the citizenship question were asked, leading to an undercount of the census.What is the U.S. Census?Now, instead of using census workers to tally citizens and non-citizens, the president has ordered federal agencies to provide data for establishing citizenship numbers. Many opponents of the citizenship question have vowed to fight on. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has threatened legal action, saying in a statement the organization will “scrutinize [new plans] closely and assess their legality.”Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told reporters Thursday that the group would use “every tool in our arsenal to police the administration, should their executive action violate constitutional or legally protected rights.”NAACP CEO Derrick Johnson said the organization was committed to ensuring the census does not systematically undercount communities. “We are prepared to fight against any plan that effectively turns the census into another form of voter suppression and economic disempowerment in our communities,” Johnson said.In June, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the citizenship question from the census.A court majority rejected the government’s original justification, but the ruling left open the possibility the Trump administration could try again in the future. Since 1950, the citizenship question has not been asked of U.S. households.
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Hurricane Warning for Louisiana as Tropical Storm Barry Approaches
Forecasters have issued hurricane warnings for parts of the Louisiana coast, as Tropical Storm Barry churns ominously in the Gulf of Mexico.U.S. President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in Louisiana Thursday night, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate federal funds and resources to help the state cope with the storm and its aftermath.The National Hurricane Center expects Barry to strengthen before landfall and hit the coast as a Category 1 storm late Friday or early Saturday. It would be the first Atlantic hurricane of the season.People walk past Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter before landfall of Tropical Storm Barry from the Gulf of Mexico in New Orleans, La., July 12, 2019.As of early Friday, Barry was about 170 kilometers southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, with top winds at 100 kph and crawling about 7 kilometers per hour. The slow movement is enabling Barry to suck up more moisture and energy from the warm Gulf waters.New Orleans, which is already dealing with floods from Wednesday’s fierce rainstorms, is under a tropical storm warning, increasing the chance of flash flooding. The city of Baton Rouge is also facing threats of flash flooding.As of Friday afternoon, Barry was on a path toward Morgan City, which is surrounded by water and nearly 140 kilometers southwest of New Orleans.Tropical Storm BarryForecasters predict the city can expect as much as 51 centimeters of additional rain from Barry, pushing the Mississippi River’s crest close to the top of the 6-meter-high levees protecting New Orleans.Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has already declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard.Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for about 10,000 people living near the stretch of the Mississippi closest to the Gulf. A storm surge warning is in effect for southern and southeastern Louisiana.Along with heavy rain and strong winds, Barry could bring dangerous storm surges and tornadoes before it moves inland and weakens.
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Explosions Rock Hotel in Somali Coastal City
Militants stormed a hotel Friday evening in the coastal Somali city of Kismayo, sparking gunbattles and fears of heavy casualties.
The attack began when an explosives-laden car detonated at the front entrance of the Asasey hotel, a popular meeting spot for regional officials and visitors from the diaspora. Militants then stormed inside and opened fire.
Witnesses told VOA’s Somali service that regional security forces were trading fire with the militants. The witnesses reported hearing several explosions, presumably from hand grenades.
Jihadist group al-Shabab immediately claimed the responsibility for the attack through al-Andalu Radio, the group’s FM station.
Reuters quoted an al-Shabab spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, as saying, “It was a suicide attack,” and that the fighting was continuing.
A VOA reporter in the town said the number of casualties was unclear. At least one member of Somalia’s federal parliament was thought to have been in the hotel at the time of the attack.
Al-Shabab frequently carries out bombings in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia against government, military and civilian targets.
The attack in Kismayo, about 485 kilometers south of Mogadishu, came amid preparation for regional elections. The port town once served as a major stronghold for al-Shabab militants.
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Power Blackouts Force Zimbabweans to Work Graveyard Shift
Most parts of Zimbabwe’s capital get electricity for only seven hours per day, and the hours usually come overnight, when there is less usage and power stations can meet demand. Once the electricity comes on around 10 p.m., Harare lives up to its local title as “the city that never sleeps.” For the next five to eight hours, businesses that need electricity to function spring to life, even on cold, blustery winter nights. Nelson Muzhuwe, who manufactures door and window frames, says he is recovering from a cold he caught while working overnight. He has an appeal to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
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Power Cuts Force Zimbabweans to Work Night Shift
Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst power shortage in years, forcing many workers onto the night shift, the only time when electricity is reliable. As Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, the government blames the shortage on businesses and industries for not paying their power bills.
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Russian, Ukrainian Leaders Talk at Last
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Friday held their first talks since the election of the Ukraine president last April — a 20-minute phone call noteworthy for its implications regarding efforts to end the simmering war between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s east.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quick to point out that Ukraine had initiated the call, in which Zelenskiy and Putin discussed a stalled peace agreement for Ukraine’s Donbas region, as well as the possibility of prisoner exchanges “from both sides.”
A Ukrainian presidential spokesman was even more expansive, saying Zelenskiy had raised the issue of an exchange for 24 Ukrainian sailors captured at sea by Russia last November.
Russia is holding dozens of Ukrainian citizens whom human rights groups have labeled prisoners of conscience. Ukraine also has sentenced several Russians to lengthy prison sentences for joining with armed Moscow-backed separatists fighting in Ukraine’s east.
New president, new rules
The election of Zelenskiy, an actor with no prior political experience, but who played the role of Ukraine’s president in a popular television sitcom, seemed initially to offer hope for progress toward resolving the Ukraine conflict.
FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he delivers a speech in Moscow, July 3, 2019.Putin has expressed disdain — openly and often —for Zelenskiy’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko. Moreover, Zelenskiy won a landslide victory over Poroshenko by campaigning on a promise to find a peaceful solution to the war.
Yet hopes for a reset in relations quickly faded.
The Russian leader refused to congratulate Zelenskiy on his election victory. Soon afterward, Putin signed an order streamlining procedures for Ukrainians in separatist-controlled regions of east Ukraine to receive Russian passports — a move denounced as provocative by Ukraine and Western powers.
Furthermore, the Russian leader, in power for nearly two decades, has occasionally taken pleasure in highlighting the new Ukrainian leader’s inexperience.
“Everything he said was talented and funny,” said Putin during a nationally televised call-in program while speaking of having seen Zelenskiy perform as a comedic actor in the early 2000s.
“What’s happening now is not funny,” added Putin.
New push for peace?
After five years, the war in east Ukraine has left more than 13,000 dead and thousands more displaced.
A cease-fire brokered with support from Germany and France in 2015 — the so-called Minsk peace accord — ended widespread fighting but has not stopped the drip of near-daily casualties.
Earlier this month, Zelenskiy issued an online video appeal proposing that U.S. President Donald Trump and the British prime minister join in a new round of negotiations with Russia aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the war. The Kremlin says it is considering the suggestion.
Yet it’s far from clear how the two sides can move past fundamental differences.
Russia continues to maintain it is not a participant in the war — insisting Russians fighting in the Donbas region are merely impassioned “volunteers” seeking to protect Russian-speakers from the threat of Ukrainian nationalists.
FILE – Members of the Donbas self-defense battalion train at a base of the National Guard of Ukraine near Kyiv, June 2, 2014.Western journalists have documented Russia’s hybrid presence in the Donbas, which includes active Russian army servicemen sent on instructions from Moscow. Crimea issue
Then there is Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
While the Kremlin insists Crimea’s “reunification” with Russia is irreversible, Ukraine and Western powers long ago imposed sanctions that they insist will remain until the territory is wrested from Russian control.
In a reminder of Russia’s continued sensitivity to the Crimea issue, over 50 Crimean Tatars — a predominantly Muslim group that makes up 15% of Crimea’s population — were arrested in Moscow this week for protesting what they said was persecution of the community for its opposition to Russian rule.
Russia has sentenced several members of the group on terrorism charges, alleging that they had ties to the banned Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir.
But for all the complexities in the Russian-Ukrainian relationship, Kremlin spokesman Peskov insisted Putin had a diplomatic knack for finding the right thing to say, even to perceived adversaries like Zelenskiy.
In this case, said Peskov, it was one simple word from the Russian leader.
“Hello.”
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South Sudan President Agrees to Meet Former Rebel Leader
South Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar has agreed to a face-to-face meeting with President Salva Kiir, a step that could energize the lagging talks on a government for the civil war-wracked country.In a letter dated July 8 and sent to President Kiir’s security adviser, Tut Gatluak, Machar said he is ready to talk with the president as long as he can freely move about in South Sudan.The Kiir administration invited Machar to meet with Kiir after the government and opposition groups missed a May deadline to form a transitional government of national unity. The period was extended for another six months.In the letter viewed by VOA, Machar said he will meet Kiir to discuss the challenges of implementing pre-transition activities since recent months have passed “without substantial progress.”Norway Ambassador to South Sudan Lars Anderson said two months of the six-month extension of the pretransitional period have already come and gone with little to show.He said the parties to last year’s peace deal must implement security arrangements immediately in order to pave the way for the formation of a unity government on time.“There shouldn’t be more extensions. That is clear from the agreement they have, according to themselves. Now it’s fairly predictable by November there will be another form of political crisis around that. And it is really going to be up to the parties how they manage this,” Anderson told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.Representatives of the various parties who sit on the National Pre-Transitional Committee have held several meetings on implementing the peace deal. Anderson said the international community wants Kiir and Machar to meet regularly to build trust and confidence among their supporters and to show they are working together to achieve peace.“I think at this point it’s not about people on the ground working together because we have also seen good working cooperation between the military with the different armed groups. So it is not about people on the ground, it is about top leadership now coming together and showing their strong commitment to this,” Anderson said.In May, shortly after the parties agreed to extend the pretransitional period, the Kiir administration pledged $100 million to fund pretransitional activities including security arrangements. It’s not clear if the government has released the money it pledged.Machar urged Kiir to “make a special request” to the Transitional Military Council in Khartoum, where he said he’s being held under house arrest. He wants Sudanese authorities to transport him to Juba and back to Khartoum after the talks.Stephen Par Kuol, SPLM-IO secretary for foreign relations, said Machar should be able to go wherever he wants once Machar arrives in South Sudan.“We had been demanding as a party that our chairman should be set free to participate physically in peace dissemination in this process of peace implementation,” Kuol told South Sudan in Focus.Paar said the two leaders will talk about how to quickly implement critical security arrangements that are behind schedule.CTSAMM, the body monitoring the implementation of the security arrangements, warned last week that by dragging out the pretransitional activities, the parties risk failing to establish the unity government in November. CTSAMM Chairman Desta Abiche confirmed the parties have yet to assemble and integrate their forces, a key component of the security arrangements.
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Egypt’s Top Movie Critic Youssef Cherif Rizkallah Dies
Egypt’s legendary movie critic and film historian Youssef Cherif Rizkallah, the man who helped popularize Hollywood movie reviews on Egyptian and Middle East televisions, died Friday.His death comes two days after revealing he had kidney problems. He was 76.The famed broadcast journalist, best known as Egypt’s mobile movie encyclopedia, was an invaluable film resource for Arab media. He wrote thousands of movie reviews for Egyptian and Arab newspapers, magazines, radio and TV shows. Italian actress Claudia Cardinale holds an old photo that was presented to her at a press conference by Festival Artistic Director, Youssef Cherif Rizkallah, Cairo Egypt, Nov. 11, 2015.Rizkallah, who prepared and co-hosted three iconic and popular movie review shows on Egyptian television, including, Oscar, Telecinema, and The Magic Lantern, started his career as a news editor with the Egyptian TV News in the 1960s after graduating with a political science degree at Cairo University. In the 1980s, he hosted a show that introduced Hollywood stars to Egyptian and Arab audiences.The Jesuit-educated movie critic, Rizkallah, was drawn most in his early career to romance and classical storytelling of Hollywood greats like Michael Curtiz, David Lean, Blake Edwards, Richard Attenborough, Garry Marshall, and Rob Reiner. He introduced several Hollywood stars via satellite on Egyptian televisions, including actress Meryl Streep and American film actor and director Peter Bogdanovich.
“It is a sheer joy for me to invite Hollywood stars to Egypt, watch their movies and write about them,” he once said. He helped establish more than 40 years ago the Cairo International Film Festival, where many colleagues describe him as a perceptive and world movie guide. French movie star Michel Piccoli (L) stands next to Egyptian movie critic Youssef Cherif Rizkallah at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 1987. (Photo: Diaa Bekheet)Multi-lingual Rizkallah won several awards for film criticism over the past 20 years, during which he travelled the world to cover film festivals, including Cannes in France, where he was a frequent guest critic. He was also granted The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an Order of France.Rizkallah was buried Friday in Cairo. He is survived by his wife Mervat el-Ebiary, the daughter of a famed screenplay writer, and their two sons – Ahmed and Karim.
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Judge Sides With Pentagon and Amazon in Cloud Bidding Case
A federal judge is dismissing allegations that bidding for a $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon was rigged to favor Amazon.Friday’s ruling dismissing Oracle’s claims clears the Defense Department to award the contract to one of two finalists: Amazon or Microsoft.It will be a boon for whichever company gets to run the 10-year computing project, which the U.S. military sees as vital to maintaining its technological advantage over adversaries and accelerating its use of artificial intelligence in warfare.Oracle and IBM were eliminated during an earlier round, but Oracle persisted with a legal challenge claiming conflicts of interest.Court of Federal Claims Judge Eric Bruggink said Friday that Oracle can’t demonstrate favoritism because it didn’t meet the project’s bidding requirements to begin with. Bruggink also sided with a Pentagon contracting officer’s earlier finding that there were no “organizational conflicts of interest” and no individual conflicts that harmed the bidding.The Pentagon says it wants to pick a vendor as soon as Aug. 23.Formally called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure plan, or JEDI, the military’s computing project would store and process vast amounts of classified data, allowing the Pentagon to use artificial intelligence to speed up its war planning and fighting capabilities.Amazon was considered an early favorite when the Pentagon began detailing its cloud needs in 2017, but faced protests from rivals that opposed the idea of a one-vendor approach. Rivals also accused Amazon executives and the Pentagon of being overly cozy.Oracle had its final chance to make its case against Amazon — and the integrity of the government’s bidding process — in oral arguments Wednesday. The judge ruled two days later.Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger didn’t address the ruling in a statement Friday but said the company looks forward to working with the Defense Department and other agencies in the future because Oracle’s cloud products offer “significant performance and security capabilities” over competitors.Amazon said in a statement that it “stands ready to support and serve” the Defense Department’s mission. It has characterized Oracle’s objections as meritless and its conflict claims as “tabloid sensationalism.”In a court filing last month, Lt. Gen. Bradford Shwedo said further delays in the Oracle case would “hamper our critical efforts in AI” as the U.S. tries to maintain its advantage over adversaries who are “weaponizing their use of data.” Shwedo said JEDI’s computing capabilities could help the U.S. analyze data collected from surveillance aircraft, predict when equipment needs maintenance and speed up communications if fiber and satellite connections go down.
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Mnuchin Urges Congress to Increase Debt Limit Before Leaving for August Recess
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is telling congressional leaders that Congress should raise the debt ceiling before leaving for its August recess. He says he could run out of maneuvering room to avoid an unprecedented default on the national debt before lawmakers return.
In a letter Friday to House and Senate leaders, Mnuchin says that based on updated projections, “there is a scenario in which we run out of cash in early September, before Congress reconvenes.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she would like to complete a deal with President Donald Trump this month to raise the borrowing limit and set spending levels for the coming budget year.
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Turkey Challenges US as Russian Missiles Arrive
Updated: July 12, 2019, 1:37 p.m.Russia is delivering its S-400 missile system to Turkey, a move that threatens to rupture Turkish-U.S. relations and puts Russian military technology inside a key NATO alliance member.A Russian transport jet Friday brought the first delivery of the $2.2 billion missile system to a Turkish military air base outside Ankara, causing concern from Brussels to Washington.Washington says the S-400, with its advanced radar that could potentially be used to target NATO jets, threatens to compromise NATO military systems in Turkey. The United States has ruled out delivery of its latest F-35 jet if the Russia missiles are deployed, and Turkish firms face being frozen out of the consortium that is building the F-35.Video shared by Turkish Ministry of Defense, Friday, July 12, showed parts of S-400 missile defense system being unloaded from Russian cargo planes.FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting of a pro-government trade-union, Ankara, Turkey, July 10, 2019.Erdogan is blaming former U.S. President Barack Obama and Congress for the crisis, for blocking the purchase of U.S. Patriot Missiles.International relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University said Turkey “feels more and more alone in the Western world” without direct support from any of these countries.”The Russians are the winner of the day, “he added. “The Russians are very successfully creating a conflict between Turkey, NATO and the United States. And the Americans have made a lot of mistakes. They are the architects of this.”Russian-Turkish tiesTurkey’s purchase of S-400s, in the face of strong opposition from Western allies, is part of a broader process of improving Russian-Turkish ties. Erdogan has developed a good relationship with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.Russia and Turkey are increasingly cooperating economically and within the region in particular in Syria. The rapprochement comes as Ankara and Washington face a myriad of differences not only confined to the S-400.Some analysts see Turkey’s escalating crisis with Washington over Russian missiles as part of a more fundamental problem, where the NATO allies’ strategic interests have been increasingly diverging since the end of the Cold War. Ozel, for one, warns that any break between Ankara and the alliance will have serious consequences.”This is not a new relationship with the United States,” he said. “It started in 1947. And NATO membership is 67 years old. And everything about Turkish defense and security is calibrated in the Western alliance. So to say we are leaving this is a fairly revolutionary step, and revolutions bring a lot of destruction.”
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China Says US Should Not Allow Visit by Taiwan’s Leader
China is criticizing a short visit by Taiwan’s president to the United States, saying it violates the “one-China” principle.Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang urged the U.S. on Friday to cease official exchanges with Taiwan and not allow stopovers by President Tsai Ing-wen.Tsai is already in New York on a two-night stay en route to an official visit to four Caribbean nations. She was scheduled to deliver a speech to a U.S.-Taiwan business summit on Friday and attend a dinner with members of the Taiwanese-American community.The United States recognizes Beijing as the government of China, but provides military and other support to Taiwan. The self-governing island split from China during a civil war in 1949.
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UK PM May Takes Swipe at Front-Runner Boris Johnson
Outgoing British Prime Minster Theresa May has leveled a thinly disguised swipe at Conservative Party front-runner Boris Johnson as she underscored the necessity of character in taking on the country’s top post.May told the Daily Mail in an interview published Friday that the job of prime minister is not about power but about public service. Though she didn’t mention Johnson by name, he has made a career out of being the biggest personality in the room.All too often, those who see it as a position of power see it as about themselves and not about the people they are serving,'' she said.There is a real difference.”May stepped down from being Conservative Party leader after her failure to get Parliament to approve a plan for Britain’s departure from the European Union. Johnson and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt are in a runoff for that post, which will also make the winner Britain’s next prime minister. The runoff vote will be announced July 23.May underscored she had done all she possibly could to try to get her Brexit deal approved and did nothing to conceal her frustration with the fact that some of her most strident opponents on Brexit are those now backing Johnson.She added it’s unlikely that her successor will negotiate further Brexit concessions from the EU.I had assumed mistakenly that the tough bit of the negotiation was with the EU, that Parliament would accept the vote of the British people and just want to get it done, that people who'd spent their lives campaigning for Brexit would vote to get us out on March 29 and May 27,'' she told the Mail.But they didn’t.”May, who will return to Parliament as a lawmaker, also took issue with those who chided her for becoming emotional as she announced her departure from the post.If a male prime minister's voice had broken up, it would have been saidwhat great patriotism, they really love their country.” But if a female prime minister does it, it is `Why is she crying?”’ she said.
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2020 Democrats Paint Contrast with Trump on Immigration
Democratic presidential candidates promised major changes to U.S. immigration law, contrasting their ideas to the hardline policies of President Donald Trump during a forum with Latino political activists in Milwaukee.
The White House hopefuls gathered Thursday as Trump’s detention policies have sparked fierce Democratic pushback and intense public debate. They uniformly panned Trump’s approach to immigration on a day when the president abandoned his contentious effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren drew one of the biggest audience reactions of the night when asked about the issue.
Wow, he's going to follow the law?'' Warren said to laughter and applause.This is not about trying to find real information about citizenship and noncitizenship in America. This is just about trying to stir up some more hate.”The other candidates at the forum hosted by the League of United Latin American Citizens included former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Castro promised his administration would not put families in detention centers for crossing the U.S. border illegally.
I will not stand by it. I'm not going to do it,'' he said. He said children who are being crowded in pens, away from their parentsare going to be traumatized for the rest of their lives.”Castro said his immigration plan would also address veterans who have been deported after serving in the military.
One of the things I call for is to immediately ensure that veterans who have been deported can come back to the United States and pursue citizenship in the United States because they served our country honorably,'' he said.They did their duty for our country. We owe them a debt of gratitude and the last thing we should do is see them deported away from their families.”Sanders sounded a rare personal note during his remarks by recalling that his father, Eli, was an immigrant who came to the United States from Poland as a 17-year-old without a nickel in his pocket and could not speak one word of English.'' His father, Sanders added, isthe kind of person” Trump is seeking to prevent from emigrating today.On immigration, Sanders offered a sweeping vision.
We will end the hatred, we will the end the xenophobia that currently exists in this country,'' he said.We will provide immediate legal status to the 1.8 million young people eligible for the DACA program.” That program _ Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals _ protects about 700,000 people, known as dreamers, who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children or came with families that overstayed visas.Sanders continued: We will move to comprehensive immigration reform and a path for citizenship for all 11 million undocumented. And we will develop a humane policy at the border, not one that criminalizes desperate people for having traveled a thousand miles.''from top to bottom” and new limits on the detention of migrants who enter the country.Warren’s plan would not go so far as to “abolish” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a progressive effort last year that failed to reach critical mass even with Democratic voters and drew harsh criticism from Trump and the GOP. But she called for a wholesale reorientation at both ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, which enforces immigration laws at the border.
The day began with Warren releasing a far-reaching immigration agenda that includes the remodeling of immigration enforcement agencies
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Rights Groups Urge China to Investigate Death of Activist in Police Custody
International rights groups and activists are calling for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of grassroots legal activist Ji Sizun. Ji died of cancer Wednesday in a police-guarded hospital in the southeastern province of Fujian, two months after his release from prison.
Ji’s remains were cremated by local authorities just hours after his death.
Ji, who was known as an unregistered barefoot lawyer, provided legal advice and training to socially-disadvantaged groups including women forced to have abortions and victims of forced evictions and land expropriation.
Investigate
“Chinese authorities need to investigate Ji Sizun’s hospitalization and death and hold accountable anyone responsible for wrongdoing,” said Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, in a press statement.
“For human rights defenders in China, prison sentences are increasingly turning into death sentences,” she added.
Ji was first jailed in 2009 for three years on the charge of “forging official seals and documents” after he applied for a permit to organize protests during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In 2016, he was given another four-and-a-half-year jail term on charges of “gathering a crowd to disrupt public order” and “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” after he helped petitioners organize protests and for his support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Ji is not the first rights defender to die in official custody, rights groups note.
Over the past few years, several Chinese dissidents have suffered a similar fate – seriously ill in detention, denied adequate care, and dead – either in detention or shortly after being released.
Those who died include dissident writer Yang Tongyan in 2017, revered Tibetan lama Tenzin Delek Rinpoche in 2015 and activist Cao Shunli in 2014, according to Human Rights Watch.
FILE – Pro-democracy lawmakers and activities hold picture of Liu Xiaobo during protest outside China’s liaison office in Hong KongJuly 13th marks the second anniversary of the death of Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died of liver cancer while serving an 11-year sentence.
The fact that Ji’s remains were hurriedly cremated suggests a cover-up, said Albert Ho, chairman of China Human Rights Concern Group in Hong Kong.
Not an isolated incident
“This is not [an] isolated incident. There are so many cases where people die in official custody and after that, the bodies were immediately disposed of without the consent of the family members. And hence, their opportunity to call for [an] examination and investigation into the cause of death are actually declined,” Ho said.
Another rights activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity said Ji’s situation was “filled with more questions than answers.”
Ji was released in late April, but was kept incommunicado for 10 days before his family could finally see him, at which point he was barely conscious and in intensive care, the activist said.
With Ji’s health deteriorating, local authorities placed guards outside his room to block family and friends from visiting him or monitoring his slow death.
In June, authorities even forced the family to sign a power of attorney agreement allowing them to cremate his remains without the family’s consent.
“Taken together, it’s hard not to suspect something far worse than a man succumbing to death from natural illness,” the activist said.
Ji’s family reportedly said he was in good physical condition when he entered the prison in 2014. But during his imprisonment, he suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and coronary artery disease. His lawyers’ applications for a medical parole were repeatedly declined.
Seeking justice
Justice for the deaths of Ji and many others must be sought, or many more lives will be lost, rights groups say.
“The government’s failure to publicly account for these deaths will only mean more unnecessary loss of life in the future,” Wang of Human Rights Watch added.
Ho called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to look into this and urged China to set up a special court with inquiries conducted under public observation.
The NGO Chinese Human Rights Defenders, in a press statement, further expressed concern over the condition of many gravely ill detainees. Those placed on its medical watch list include Huang Qi, Hu Shigen and Li Yuhan, all of whom CHRD says, continue to suffer from deprivation of proper medical treatment – an internationally recognized form of torture or inhumane treatment.
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Skull Fragments Could Push Back Human Timeline
Anthropologists know that humans migrated to Europe out of Africa thousands of years ago. But it’s been hard to get a firm date on when and how or even why. Now, thanks to new technology, some old bones may help scientists narrow down the “when” of human migration. Faith Lapidus narrates this report from VOA’s Kevin Enochs.
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Far-Right Nationalism Surges in South African Politics
South Africa’s Freedom Front Plus party, whose aim is to establish a white homeland in this majority black country, surprised political observers by winning 10 parliamentary seats in the May elections. That result has vaulted the party to prominence for the first time, and highlights how extremists are edging into the mainstream of South African politics. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Klerksdorp, South Africa.
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Far-Right Nationalism Surges in South African Politics
South Africa’s Freedom Front Plus party, whose aim is to establish a white homeland in this majority black country, surprised political observers by winning 10 parliamentary seats in the May elections. That result has vaulted the party to prominence for the first time, and highlights how extremists are edging into the mainstream of South African politics. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Klerksdorp, South Africa.
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Escape Room Craze in Washington With a Hollywood Twist
After teaching high school math for years, Ginger Flesher-Sonnier decided she wanted a change. So she opened an adult funhouse of sorts known as an escape room, in which a group of people go into a special room and have to work as a team to solve a mystery within a set time period to “escape.” But, Flesher-Sonnier transformed the challenge into a Hollywood-themed escape room. VOA’s Maxim Moskalkov has more.
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Nigerian Businesses Assess Future Impact of New Continental Trade Deal
A recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is intended to increase trading among African nations and eliminate tariffs and bottlenecks. Some manufacturers in Nigeria, however, say that wading into the continental market could undermine local players and have negative implications. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
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