A British military helicopter dropped sacks of ballast onto the outer slope of a reservoir dam on Friday in a bid to prevent it collapsing and flooding the town below.Police were evacuating more than 6,000 residents of Whaley Bridge, in central England, telling them to take pets and any medication they needed with them after the dam was badly damaged during heavy rains.Officials said the dam, holding back 300 million gallons of water in the reservoir above the town, was in danger of failing, putting lives at risk.”The structural integrity of the dam wall is still at a critical level and there is still a substantial risk to life should the dam wall fail,” the assistant chief constable of Derbyshire police, Kem Mehmet, said at a news conference.Police said the water level had fallen by 0.5 meters, but still needed to be lowered by several more meters until it was below the damage — an operation that could take several days.Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the area late on Friday, meeting with emergency services involved in the operation.Police said a Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter was shifting 400 tonnes of aggregate — a mixture of sand, gravel and stone — onto the reservoir wall to reinforce it.Engineers have been pumping water out of the reservoir to get the level down, to reduce pressure on the wall and allow repairs to begin.Evacuated residents would be allowed to briefly return to their homes to collect animals and belonging under police escort.Britain’s Environment Agency issued a severe flood warning for the area, saying river levels in the River Goyt, which runs through the town, could rise rapidly.Heavy rain this week led to flash floods in areas across northern England causing bridges to collapse and road closures. Britain’s Met Office said on Wednesday downpours had led to 50 mm (2 inches) of rain falling in just one hour.Gary Lane, the Royal Air Force liaison officer at the scene, said the helicopter only had a narrow space to drop the sacks of aggregate to avoid putting pressure on the dam.”It’s a bit like a big Lego block that we’re building, we’ve got a foundation in there and we’re carrying on building each on top of each other” he said.
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Month: August 2019
Quake Hits Off Indonesia Coast; No Major Damage Reported
Indonesian authorities lifted a tsunami alert issued after a strong earthquake that hit off the coast of Java island Friday, swaying buildings as far away as the capital and rattling nerves in coastal areas but not causing widespread damage.The U.S. Geological Survey reported the magnitude 6.8 quake was centered 151 kilometers (94 miles) from Banten province off the island’s southwest coast. It said it hit at a depth of 42.8 kilometers (26.5 miles).The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami warning, watch or advisory after the quake. Indonesian authorities, however, issued their own before lifting it two hours later when no wave materialized.Authorities had called on people living in coastal areas to move to higher ground but not to panic.Buildings in Jakarta swayed for nearly a minute during the evening quake. Television footage showed workers and residents running out of high-rise buildings.Radio and television reports said people felt a strong quake in Banten province and in Lampung province along the southern part of Sumatra island. The temblor caused a panic among residents in several cities and villages.Houses collapseThe quake brought back bad memories in Banten’s Pandeglang region, which encompasses Unjung Kulon National Park and popular beaches, and is where a deadly tsunami struck in the dark without warning last December.That tsunami followed an eruption and a possible landslide on Anaka Krakatau, one of the world’s most famous volcanic islands, about 112 kilometers (69.5 miles) southwest of Jakarta. The waves killed at least 222 people as they smashed into houses, hotels and other beachside buildings along the Sunda Strait.Irna Narulita, the Pandeglang district chief, said at least 22 houses collapsed in the region after Friday’s quake, and most people remained outside due to fear of aftershocks. She said villagers in Sumur, the village hardest hit by the tsunami in December, chose to stay on a hill even after the tsunami alert was lifted.She said no serious injuries were reported so far. Stadium, hospitals damagedThe National Disaster Agency spokesman, Agus Wibowo, said they were still gathering information of the damage and injuries. Local television footage and online video showed several houses and buildings in Banten, including a sport stadium and hospitals, suffered minor damage.After the quake hospitals in West Java’s cities of Bogor, Ciamis and Cianjur evacuated patients, some attached to intravenous drips, to the hospital grounds, television footage showed.
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US Secretary of State Defends Tariffs on China, Cites ‘Bad Behavior’
In a speech Friday to a regional youth leadership program in Thailand, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended new U.S. tariffs on China, saying, “We want free and fair trade, not trade that undermines competition.”Pompeo’s statements came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would impose a 10 percent tariff on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports starting September first.Pompeo chided China for “decades of bad behavior” that have stalled free trade. “It’s time for that to stop,” he said.He also mentioned the massive anti-government protests in Hong Kong. “We also believe in human rights and freedom,” he said. “The current unrest in Hong Kong clearly shows that the will and the voice of the governed will always be heard.”US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo crosses his arms for the traditional ‘ASEAN handshake’ with Chinese FM Wang Yi and fellow diplomats, during the 26th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 2, 2019.Pompeo, who has assured his Southeast Asian partners this week that they do not have to choose between the U.S. and China, used his speech Friday to contrast U.S. and Chinese investment.He described Chinese investment as exploitative, and U.S. investment as mutually beneficial.He said, “Ask yourself this: Who really encourages self-sufficiency and not dependence, investors who are working to meet your consumers’ needs, or those who entrap you in debt?”Pompeo stayed on message about the main priorities of his visit.New tariffsSeparately, Pompeo’s Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, told reporters in Bangkok that the new U.S. tariffs are not a correct or constructive way to resolve the trade dispute between the two countries.But Pompeo told the young leaders the Trump administration “is invested in the sovereignty, in the resilience and the prosperity of each southeast Asian nation.”Asked about the failure of North Korea’s foreign minister to come to Bangkok to meet with Pompeo or others, a senior U.S. administration official said, “There is ongoing communication with the North Koreans on a regular basis. While we would like to be further along in restarting working-level negotiations, we are in regular contact with the North Koreans.”U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his ASEAN counterparts attend the 26th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Bangkok, Thailand Aug. 2, 2019.As Pompeo met with top ASEAN diplomats Friday, at least four people were injured in six bomb blasts across Bangkok. Reporters traveling with the secretary said they did not hear the explosions from their location.”We’re aware of reports of several small explosions in Thailand,” the State Department told VOA. “We refer you to local authorities for additional information. There was no impact on Secretary Pompeo’s visit.”Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has ordered an investigation into the blasts, viewed as damaging to the country’s reputation during the high-profile event.A crowd gathers near the site where explosions were heard in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 2, 2019, in this image obtained via social media. (Twitter/@YRNMXSK)The bombings come just two weeks after the prime minister’s former military junta transformed into a civilian government.On Saturday, Pompeo will travel from Thailand to Australia. Along with Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, he will lead the U.S. delegation to the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN). The secretary will also meet with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.On Monday, Pompeo will depart for the last planned leg of this trip, the Federated States of Micronesia, to reaffirm the U.S. partnership with the Pacific Island country — the first-ever visit to Micronesia by a U.S. secretary of state.
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Sources: Bolton, Ross to Attend Venezuela Summit in Peru
U.S. national security adviser John Bolton will attend a summit in Peru to discuss Venezuela on Tuesday, but Venezuela’s allies Russia and Cuba turned down invitations to take part, two foreign ministry sources in Peru said.One of the sources said U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will also attend the meeting, which aims to discuss Venezuela’s political crisis and build support for early elections.Both sources asked not to be named because the list of attendees had not been announced.A spokesman for Bolton declined to comment. The U.S. Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Peru invited some 100 foreign ministers to the summit and had hoped to include Russia, Cuba, China and Bolivia. The idea was to foster dialog between supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his critics, Peru’s foreign minister said when he announced the summit last month.China and Bolivia have not confirmed whether they will attend, both sources said.The head of the Inter-American Development Bank, Luis Moreno, and the European Union’s representative on Venezuela, Enrique Iglesias, have confirmed their attendance, the sources added.
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Trump to Announce EU Beef Trade Deal Friday
U.S. President Donald Trump will announce a deal on Friday to sell more American beef to Europe, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said, marking a modest win for an administration that remains mired in a trade war with China.Kudlow told reporters that a scheduled announcement on trade with the European Union at 1:45 p.m. (1745 GMT) on Trump’s daily agenda was to unveil an agreement on beef.The European Commission has stressed that any beef deal will not increase overall beef imports and that all the beef coming in would be hormone-free, in line with EU food safety rules. An agreement would need to be approved by the European parliament.Two people familiar with the matter had told Reuters earlier on Friday that Trump planned to sign an agreement to open up European markets to more U.S. beef. EU sources and diplomats in June said a deal had been reached to allow the United States a guaranteed share of a 45,000 tonne European Union quota.The announcement coincides with Trump ratcheting up Washington’s trade dispute with China. On Thursday, Trump said he would impose a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese imports from Sept. 1 and threatened to raise tariffs further if Chinese President Xi Jinping failed to move faster on striking a trade deal.The dispute between the world’s two top economies has hurt world growth, including in Europe, as it enters its second year.U.S. and European officials have sought to lay the groundwork for talks on their own trade agreement but have been stymied over an impasse on agriculture. European officials last month said trade talks had produced mixed results.The agreement on beef could however, ease tensions between the two sides, which are each other’s largest trading partners.”America has great beef. We’re selling more,” Kudlow said.The Trump administration has been pursuing a host of new trade deals with Europe, China and others as part of the Republican president’s “America First” agenda as he seeks a second term in office, but difficulties in securing final pacts have roiled financial markets.European stocks on Friday were battered by Trump’s latest salvo against China and Wall Street also took a hit.Lingering issues remain in other areas of U.S.-EU trade, including import duties on industrial goods that Europe wants removed, and the threat of tariffs on European cars imported to the United States. EU governments cleared the agreement on July 15, but it still needs European Parliament approval.
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Talks on Sudan’s Gov’t Continue Despite Latest Protester Deaths
Tens of thousands of people marched in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities on Thursday to demand justice for those killed in recent protests. Sudan’s ruling Transitional Military Council acknowledged that its Rapid Support Forces were involved in the shooting deaths of six people in the city of El Obeid earlier this week. Despite the tension, talks on forming a transitional government are going ahead.The protesters marched in Khartoum to pressure the ruling Transitional Military Council to punish the troops accused of killing four students and two adults in El Obeid.The shootings took place Monday as students rallied against shortages of electricity and fuel.On Monday, the TMC said the Rapid Support Forces weren’t responsible for the killings. The council blamed “shadow troops” still loyal to the government of ousted President Omar al-Bashir, whom it said want to create instability.On Thursday, however, the council reversed course, and said seven Rapid Support Forces have been arrested for the shootings in El Obeid and will be put on trial soon.Amjad Farid is a spokesman for Sudan’s opposition umbrella group, the Sudanese Professionals Association, or SPA. Farid said the proposed transitional government to be formed by the TMC and opposition must still investigate the killings.“The announcement of the TMC doesn’t mean anything, because the political agreement has already decided that it will be an independent investigation committee that will be formed during the transitional period by the civilian government.”Analyst Alfatih Mahmoud thinks the announcement is a positive step. Mahmoud says the TMC’s announcement of RSF responsibility is a positive step, as there should be a named force responsible. Mahmoud said it is expected that greater transparency will be sustained and a step toward the agreement will be made, as well as the punishment of all who are guilty. During Thursday’s marches, four people were killed in Omdurman city and many others injured as soldiers opened fire on protesters who demanded justice for those killed during the recent Sudanese revolution.Some protesters, like Hadi Emad, are skeptical that the killing of protesters by security forces will ever stop. He says the crimes are repeated, and not stopped, because of a lack of transparency and the absence of punishment. He says if we consider the TMC’s admission to be a step towards accountability, we demand transparent trials and the punishment of the killers.Despite the killings and tension, the TMC and the opposition resumed talks late Thursday under the guidance of African mediators.The sides have already agreed to share power over the next three years until elections, although many details still have to be worked out.
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Critic of Ugandan President Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison
Updated at 2:35 p.m. Aug. 2A critic of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will spend the next nine months in prison after being convicted of cyber harassment. Makerere University researcher Stella Nyanzi has been jailed since November 2018 for her harsh online criticism of Museveni. She wrote a poem in which she wished that Museveni had died at childbirth. On Friday, Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu sentenced Nyanzi to 18 months in prison, with credit for time served. Supporters of Nyanzi jeered and hurled insults at the magistrate as she read her decision. But Kamasanyu pressed on, describing Nyanzi as unremorseful and asserting that the right to freedom of speech is not absolute. “At times, the damage that has been occasioned to the victims or the complainant cannot be reversed,” the magistrate said. “In this particular case, a whole president of this country was not spared. He fell victim. And in this matter, therefore, the convict is hereby sentenced to an imprisonment term of nine months.”
As soon as she completed her ruling, the magistrate was hit by a plastic bottle thrown from the court audience.
Nyanzi was arrested two months after she published her poem on Facebook on Sept. 16, 2018, a few days past Museveni’s 74th birthday.
In it, she condemned Museveni’s 33-year rule and said he should have died at childbirth. She used words such as nauseatingly disgusting, bitterly sad, horrifically cancerous and morbidly grave to describe his birthday.
Nyanzi, who appeared before the court through a video conferencing system, did not stay calm, throwing all manner of obscenities and baring her breasts in protest. ‘What is happening to justice?’
“Why are you muting my volume?” she asked. “Why did you bring me to this place without my consent? What is happening to justice in Uganda? Is this the sort of justice that works for us? A magistrate who is too cowardly to call my complainant?”
By the end of her trial, Nyanzi’s lawyers were no longer appearing in court. One of them, Isaac Ssemakadde, described the ruling as unlawful, unjustified and not backed by a valid conviction.
Ssemakadde told VOA the 18-month sentence was plainly harsh and excessive for the offense. “Sentences for offenses based on freedom of expression must be relatively short to recognize the importance of freedom of expression, despite the harm if any that may be perceived by any sector of the public,” he said. “There was no evidence led to show any statistics regarding computer misuse in this country.”
Prosecutors throughout the trial insisted that Nyanzi’s post and words directed at Museveni and his late mother were intended to disturb their peace or right to privacy.
Nyanzi still faces other charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication stemming from her post in which she referred to Museveni as a pair of buttocks.
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Canadian, Chinese Ministers Meet Amid Tensions, Pledge to Continue Talks
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday that she met her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to discuss tensions following Canada’s December arrest of a Huawei Technologies Co executive on a U.S. warrant, and the subsequent detention of two Canadians by China.”The fact that we were able to speak and discuss these issues face-to-face, directly with one another, absolutely is a positive step,” Freeland said in a teleconference from Bangkok, where she was attending an annual east Asia summit.Freeland said the two ministers met on the sidelines of the international gathering and “committed to continued discussions,” but she gave few details about their conversation.It was the first encounter between the two since Canada detained Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou — the daughter of the Chinese company’s founder — in December. Beijing is demanding her return.She is facing possible extradition to the United States to face charges that she conspired to defraud global banks about Huawei’s relationship with a company operating in Iran.”Minister Wang expressed concerns regarding the extradition process of Meng Wanzhou,” Freeland said without elaborating.After Meng was picked up in Vancouver, China detained Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig and later charged them with spying.Freeland said on Friday she expressed Canada’s concerns over the two men, “who have been arbitrarily detained in China.”
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Nigeria’s Buhari Faces Flak Over Cabinet Picks
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has come under fire for stacking his new cabinet with ageing party loyalists despite hopes he might opt for more technocrats in his final term.The senate this week approved the list of 43 ministers after the former military ruler finally settled on their names some two months after his inauguration in May.Buhari, 76, is yet to hand out their portfolios but already his choice of stalwarts from his All Progressives Congress (APC) party has caused dismay.”One would have expected that the president would shop for more people with more expertise” to assuage worries about the future, said Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, head of Abuja-based Transition Monitoring Group organisation.She said she doubted the ability of those chosen “to push the agenda for development for Nigeria”.Buhari faces a raft of challenges in his second term at the helm of Africa’s most populous nation — from tackling a grinding Islamist insurgency and spreading insecurity to trying to bolster a fragile economic recovery.During his first four years he earned the nickname “Baba go-slow” after he took six months to name a cabinet and was seen to proceed with decisions at a glacial pace.Far from cutting lose for his second, and final stint in power, he now appears to have fallen back on familiar faces.In a country with more than half the population under 30, not one of the ministers is less than 40 years old.Only seven of those chosen are women.”16.3 percent representation is abysmal,” Ndi Kato, a 28-year-old female politician told local media.”We have an abundance of qualified women and we have been advocating throughout the process of selecting ministers. The disrespect of tossing out the requests of women like it doesn’t matter is traumatic.”‘More patronage’Analysts said the decision to reward loyalists and keep key players in place means there are unlikely to be major reforms in the years ahead.Fourteen of the ministers in the new cabinet served Buhari during his first term from 2015 to 2019.Among those coming back are heavyweights like Babatunde Fashola, a former Lagos governor, transport minister Rotimi Amaechi, who ran oil-rich Rivers state, finance minister Zanaib Ahmed, foreign minister Geoffrey Onyema and education minister Adamu Adamu.”Rewarding APC powerbrokers will improve party cohesion in the second term but also risks eroding first-term gains in curbing patronage,” said the Eurasia consultancy group in a note.The president appeared to be prioritising APC unity and making up for 2015 when some leading backers in the party complained they had been overlooked, the group said.”It also signals to party officials that Buhari will condone more patronage and possible leakages from government coffers than during his first term,” it said. The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is still challenging Buhari’s election victory, has been quick to criticise the government selection as uninspiring and unable to tackle the challenges ahead. “In recycling failed yesterday’s men for today’s assignment, President Buhari and the APC have left no one in doubt that they have no vision to move our nation out of the economic and security predicaments into which they have plunged us in the last four years,” the party said in statement.Rooting out graftAnti-graft crusaders also worried that the appointments did not look promising for attempts to seriously tackle Nigeria’s endemic corruption.Rooting out graft was one of Buhari’s big pledges in 2015 and he has promised to step it up this time round.But critics have accused him of using the corruption crackdown to target his political opponents.Debo Adeniran of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) pressure group, pointed to new ministers with major questions hanging over them.Although Adeniran did not give their names, Fashola has been asked by CACOL to step down over fraud allegations while at the helm in Lagos.Goodwill Akpabio, a former opposition leader, senator and governor of southern oil-rich Akwa Ibom state who defected to Buhari’s ruling party ahead of the 2019 elections has also faced accusations of looting his state treasury.Another name is former information minister Lai Mohammed, who has been summoned by a court to clear his name over a phony contract awarded in his department.”I don’t think there was due diligence on the nominees. Otherwise, the president would not have considered many of them,” Adeniran said.”For Buhari’s integrity and fight against corruption to be taken serious, he has to do away with many of his appointees.”
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African Nations, Western Partners Strive to Combat IED Threat
A U.S.-trained Kenyan bomb disposal technician stood in a field showing colleagues from more than 20 countries how to collect evidence after the detonation of a roadside explosive.Security experts who met in the Kenyan capital Nairobi this week say African nations must do more of such intelligence-sharing to counter weapons widely considered the greatest threat to their security forces: improvised explosive devices (IEDs).Popularized by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, homemade bombs were deployed by militants in nine African countries last year and killed about 3,600 people, according to U.S. Defense Department figures.Some groups now use the weapons in complex attacks targeting civilians, including in January when a suicide bomber and gunmen from Somalia-based al Shabaab stormed an office and hotel complex in Nairobi, killing 21 people.African officials at this week’s meeting, organized by the U.S. military, acknowledged IEDs pose a major challenge to their forces, in part because the devices are constantly evolving as are the militant groups who use them.”The enemy adapts faster than we react,” said a Western official at the conference who asked not to be identified.’Common enemy’Training for Africa’s police and military forces has typically focused on ways to avoid and defuse IEDs.Now governments are looking to the next step: attacking networks that deploy them. This requires new skills, including analyzing remnants of a bomb to glean information about who made it and how it works.But acquiring that intelligence is only half the battle, U.S. military and FBI experts told the conference. Ensuring it is disseminated throughout national security agencies and shared with counterparts in other countries is the other half.Groups such as al Shabaab and Nigeria-based Boko Haram launch attacks in multiple countries, they reminded the conference.”Unless intelligence is being shared at the appropriate levels and in a timely way, we’ll never get ahead of the curve in dismantling these networks,” said Matt Bryden, director of Sahan Research, a Nairobi-based think tank.The amount of cooperation between security agencies varies in Africa, said Michael Solis, who helps lead counter-IED programs at the U.S. Africa Command.”It is still a very nascent concept to share information,” he added. “We had the same evolution in the U.S. … We went through it decades ago, and now we have an effective multi-agency security sector.”Kenya, which is improving its bomb squad with training and support from the United States and other Western nations, is further ahead than most, U.S. experts said.”It’s essential for the military and the police to work together, so that we can win the battle against the common enemy,” said Patrick Ogina, senior superintendent of the Kenyan police and deputy head of its bomb disposal unit.
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Trump, Britain’s Johnson Discussed Trade, Security, 5G -White House
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about trade, next-generation 5G mobile networks and global security, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement on Friday.Trump told Johnson during a call on Thursday that he looked forward to meeting him at the G7 economic summit in France later this month, the White House said.The United States is pressuring its allies, including Britain, to avoid using equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd in its 5G mobile networks. Washington says Huawei is a national security risk.Britain’s National Security Council, chaired by Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May, had decided in principle to give Huawei limited access to sensitive parts of the 5G network. But the council has yet to make a final decision, and Johnson is more publicly aligned with Trump than May was.Trump has pushed for a trade deal between the United States and Britain following the latter’s planned exit from the European Union.
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Tsunami Warning as Powerful Quake Hits Southwest Indonesia
A powerful earthquake struck off the southern coast of Indonesia’s heavily populated Java island Friday, with the country’s disaster agency warning that it could generate a tsunami.The 6.8 magnitude quake struck offshore at a depth 42 kilometres (26 miles), some 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Labuan, southwest of the capital Jakarta, according to the United States Geological Survey. Indonesia’s disaster agency initially pegged the quake at magnitude 7.4 and a depth of 10 kilometres, warning it could spark a tsunami.Residents in Jakarta fled their homes as buildings in the megacity swayed from the force of the quake.”The chandelier in my apartment was shaking and I just ran from the 19th floor,” 50-year-old Elisa told AFP. “Everybody else ran too. It was a really strong jolt and I was very scared.”At least two people were killed and thousands were forced from their homes after a major 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit the remote Maluku islands in eastern Indonesia this month.Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide.Last year, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi island killed more than 2,200 people, with another thousand declared missing.On December 26, 2004, a devastating 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 across the Indian Ocean region, including around 170,000 in Indonesia.
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Jesse Jackson Pays Homage to Roma at Auschwitz Ceremony
American civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed and mourned at Auschwitz-Birkenau on Friday as he joined survivors paying homage to an often forgotten genocide — that of the Roma people — on a key 75th anniversary.In addition to the 6 million Jews killed in camps such as Auschwitz, the Nazis killed other minorities during World War II, including between 250,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti.Broadly speaking, Sinti are people who arrived from India and settled in Western and Central Europe many centuries ago, while Roma are centered largely in Eastern Europe. Since the term Gypsies is considered offensive, the groups are collectively usually referred to as Roma.Jackson drew comparisons between the suffering of the long-persecuted minority in Europe with that of African Americans. In turn, a German Roma leader, Romani Rose, said that the African American struggle that made vast achievements in the 20th century was a model and inspiration for his people, who still face marginalization and violence.Bowing his head as he began a visit of the camp ahead of official ceremonies, the 77-year-old Jackson, a Baptist pastor, prayed that such horrors never occur again. He appeared deeply moved as he visited a surviving gas chamber and crematorium and visited an exhibition depicting the mass murder of Roma and Sinti.During official ceremonies before a large crowd of diplomats and Roma from across Europe, he warned of the dangers presented today by a resurgence of racism and white nationalism.Other dignitaries at Friday’s observances were Germany’s deputy foreign minister, Michael Roth, who before his visit lamented the lack of broad knowledge about the systematic murder of the Roma communities during World War II.“For too long we have pushed the genocide of over 500,000 Sinti and Roma out of our historical memory and allowed the largest ethnic minority in Europe to be pushed to the margins of our society,” Roth said recently. “We have the responsibility to ensure that the stories of the victims’ suffering not be forgotten and that anti-Gypsy prejudices disappear from people’s minds.”The commemorations in southern Poland, which was under German occupation during World War II, fall exactly 75 years after thousands of the last remaining prisoners in the so-called Gypsy family camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau were killed.Organizers said that around 20 survivors, most of them Roma and Sinti but also some of them Jewish, were joining Friday’s commemorations, which have been organized by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Roma Association in Poland in cooperation with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.During the war, members of the Roma community faced deportation, sterilization, mass shootings in Soviet-occupied territories as well as the gas chambers. Many perished from starvation and disease.Despite their immense suffering, it took decades for them to achieve even small measures of recognition and justice.It was only in 1982 that West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt publicly declared that Sinti and Roma “were persecuted for reasons of race” and that “these crimes constituted an act of genocide.”More progress has come of late. In 2012, Germany erected a memorial in Berlin. Three years later, the European Parliament declared Aug. 2 to be “European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day.”And this year before International Roma Day on April 8, a bipartisan resolution was introduced in the U.S. Congress that said “Roma enrich the fabric of our nation” and that they have been “part of every wave of European migration to the United States since the colonial period, tying our country to Europe and building the trans-Atlantic bond.”In a statement Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called “on all governments to take steps to combat intolerance against the Roma and to enable their full participation in civic and economic life.”Recently, Pope Francis has highlighted the discrimination that Roma still face today, even in Rome.
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China Threatens Retaliation for Trump’s Planned Tariff Hike
China on Friday threatened retaliation if U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned tariff hikes go ahead, while the renewed acrimony between the two biggest global economies sent stock markets tumbling.China’s government accused Trump of violating his June agreement with President Xi Jinping to revive negotiations aimed at ending a costly fight over Beijing’s trade surplus and technology ambitions.Trump rattled financial markets with Thursday’s surprise announcement of 10% tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese imports, effective Sept. 1. That would extend punitive duties to everything the United States buys from China.If that goes ahead, “China will have to take necessary countermeasures to resolutely defend its core interests,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chuying.”We don’t want to fight, but we aren’t afraid to,” Hua said at a regular news briefing. She called on Washington to “abandon its illusions, correct mistakes, and return to consultations based on equality and mutual respect.”Washington and Beijing are locked in a battle over complaints China steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. The Trump administration worries American industrial leadership might be threatened by Chinese plans for government-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other technologies. Europe and Japan echo U.S. complaints those plans violate Beijing’s market-opening commitments.Washington earlier imposed 25% tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese products. Beijing has retaliated by raising import duties on $110 billion of U.S. goods.Beijing is about to run out of American imports for retaliation due to their lopsided trade balance.
China imported U.S. goods worth about $160 billion last year. But regulators have extended retaliatory measures to include slowing down customs clearance for American companies and putting off issuing license in insurance and other fields.Beijing also is threatening to release an “unreliable entities” blacklist of foreign companies that might face restrictions on doing business with China. Plans for that were announced after Washington imposed crippling restrictions in May on sales of U.S. technology to Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Ltd.Trump’s announcement surprised investors after the White House said Beijing promised to buy more farm goods. It came as their latest trade talks ended in Shanghai with no sign of a deal. Officials said they would resume next month in Washington.The announcement “is likely to put a comprehensive deal further out of reach,” said Fitch Solutions in a report.Tokyo’s main stock market index fell 2.5% by midday and Hong Kong’s benchmark lost 2.3%. Markets in Shanghai, Sydney and Seoul also declined.Earlier on Wall Street, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 fell for a fourth day, losing 0.9% to 2,953.56.The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1% to 26,583.42. The Nasdaq composite ended 0.8% lower at 8,111.12.Also Friday, China’s yuan fell to its lowest level this year against the dollar after Trump’s tariff threat fueled concerns about slowing economic growth, coming close to breaking the politically sensitive level of seven to the U.S. currency.The yuan tumbled to 6.9520 to the dollar, its weakest since December, but recovered slightly by midday.
Trump’s threat “will likely put more depreciation pressure” on the currency, said Tao Wang of UBS in a report. She said Beijing is likely to “tightly manage” the exchange rate “to avoid any significant depreciation.”The currency’s weakness is helping to fuel Washington’s trade complaints. The U.S. Treasury Department declined in May to label China a currency manipulator but said it was closely watching Beijing.The level of seven yuan to the dollar has no economic significance, but could revive U.S. attention to the exchange rate.Trump’s earlier tariffs were intended to minimize the impact on ordinary Americans by focusing on industrial goods. But the new tariffs will hit a vast range of consumer products from cellphones to silk scarves.China’s foreign minister criticized the move.”Imposing tariffs is definitely not the right way to resolve trade frictions,” Wang Yi told reporters in Bangkok, where he was attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Trump has long said he was preparing to tax the $300 billion in additional Chinese tariffs. But he had suspended the threat after meeting Xi at a gathering of the Group of 20 major economies in Osaka, Japan.The president accused Beijing of failing to follow through on stopping the sale of fentanyl to the United States or on purchasing large quantities of farm goods such as soybeans. Speaking to reporters Thursday at the White House, Trump complained Xi is “not moving fast enough.”
Talks broke down in May after the United States accused the Chinese of reneging on earlier commitments.
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President Reagan’s Daughter Apologizes For Father’s Racist Comments
The daughter of U.S. President Ronald Reagan has asked for forgiveness for her father’s racist remarks. Patti Davis said in an opinion piece published Thursday in The Washington Post she “wasn’t prepared for the tape of my father using the world ‘monkeys’ to describe black African delegates to the United Nations who had voted in a way that angered him.”Members of the Tanzanian delegation had voted in 1971 against recognizing the People’s Republic of China. “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries – damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes,” then California Governor Reagan said in a telephone call with then-President Richard Nixon, who taped the conversation. The tape of Reagan remarks accompanied an article about the comments Wednesday on the website of The Atlantic. “There is no defense, no rationalization, no suitable explanation for what my father said on that taped phone conversation,” Davis wrote. “If I had read his words as a quotation, and not heard them, I’d have said they were fabricated,” she wrote. “Because I never heard anything like that from him.” “. . . but it doesn’t remove the knife cut of the words I heard him say on that tape. That wound will stay with me forever,” Davis said. She added that she believed “if my father had, years after the fact, heard that tape, he would have asked for forgiveness.” “But the words he used in his conversation with Nixon,” Davis said, “cannot be interpreted as anything but ugliness.”The Atlantic article was written by Tim Naftali, a professor at New York University, who was the director of the Nixon Presidential Library from 2007 to 2011. The comments about the Africans were “apparently withheld to protect Reagan’s privacy ” when the tape was originally released in 2000, Naftali wrote. Reagan’s death in 2004 “eliminated the privacy concern” and Naftali wrote that last year he requested a review of Reagan’s conversations. That move resulted in the National Archives releasing Reagan’s complete October 1971 conversation with Nixon.
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Hong Kong Civil Servants to Rally, as Wave of Protests Planned
Thousands of Hong Kong civil servants are planning to rally Friday night in support of protesters and to urge authorities to rebuild confidence in the government as escalating protests rock the Asian financial hub.Hong Kong police said Friday they had arrested eight people, including a leading pro-independence leader, after seizing weapons and suspected bomb-making material in a raid.A wave of protests are planned across Hong Kong this weekend, as well as a strike that could bring the city to a standstill.The protests in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China in 1997, pose one of the gravest populist challenges to Communist Party rulers in Beijing.A protester throws a tear gas canister that was fired by riot police during a rally in Hong Kong, July 28, 2019.Civil servants to rally for first timeThe protests against a now suspended extradition bill, which would have seen people sent for trial in Communist Party controlled mainland courts, have expanded to demands for greater democracy and the resignation of Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam.Under Chinese rule, Hong Kong has been allowed to retain extensive freedoms, such as an independent judiciary, but many residents see the extradition bill as the latest step in a relentless march toward mainland control.The civil servants rally will be the first time government employees have actively promoted a demonstration in Hong Kong.An open letter by a group of civil servants asked Lam to respond positively to five public demands: withdraw the extradition bill completely; stop calling the protests “rioting”; waive all charges against those arrested; set up an independent commission of inquiry; and restart political reform.“At present the people of Hong Kong are already on the verge of collapse. HK has always been well behaved and enjoys a high degree of freedom. It is a pity that we have seen extreme oppression,” the letter said.On Thursday night the government said the city’s 180,000 civil servants must maintain politically neutral.“At this difficult moment, government colleagues have to stay united and work together to uphold the core values of the civil service and not to affect the effective operation of the government,” said the statement.Medical workers also plan to demonstrate late Friday, with large-scale protests planned for the weekend in Mong Kok, Tseung Kwan O and Western districts.A police officer points a gun toward anti-extradition bill protesters who surrounded a police station where detained protesters are being held during clashes in Hong Kong, July 30, 2019.Police criticized; army issues warningClashes between protesters and police have become increasingly violent. Police have been criticized for excessive use of force and failing to protect protesters from attacks from what opposition politicians suspected are criminal gangs.In a blatant warning to protesters, China’s People’s Liberation Army in Hong Kong Wednesday released a video showing footage of “anti-riot” exercises and its top brass warned violence is “absolutely impermissible.”The PLA has remained in barracks since protests started in April, leaving Hong Kong’s police force to deal with protests.Supporters gather outside the Eastern Courts to support the arrested anti-extradition bill protesters who face rioting charges, in Hong Kong, July 31, 2019. The placard reads, “There is no thugs, only tyranny.”Arrests growingPolice said seven men and one woman, between 24 and 31 years old, were arrested Friday after a raid on a building in the New Territories district of Sha Tin, where police seized weapons and suspected petrol bombs. Making or possessing explosives illegally can carry a sentence of up to 14 years in jail.Andy Chan, a founder of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party that was banned last September, was among those arrested. His arrest prompted about 100 protesters to surround a police station to demand his release, television footage showed.On Wednesday, 44 people were charged in a Hong Kong court with rioting over their role in a recent protest that turned violent when thousands of activists clashed with police near Beijing’s main representative office in the heart of the city.The escalating protests, which have shut government offices, blocked roads and disrupted business, is taking a toll on the city’s economy and scaring away tourists from one of the world’s most vibrant shopping destinations.Hong Kong’s Law Society said in a statement Thursday that the violence must stop and called for an urgent solution. It said it supported an independent commission of inquiry, which may pave the way for reconciliation.
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Japan Removes South Korea from ‘White List,’ Escalating Trade Dispute
Updated on Aug. 2, at 2:32 a.m.SEOUL — Japan has removed South Korea from a list of its preferred trading partners, a major escalation in a trade dispute rooted in historical tensions.The Cabinet of Shinzo Abe, Japan’s conservative prime minister, Friday approved plans to remove South Korea from the list of so-called “white countries” with preferred trade status.Beginning Aug. 28, Japanese companies must now seek case-by-case approval from Japan’s trade ministry before shipping certain products, which could be diverted for military use, to South Korea.South Korean President Moon Jae-in called the move “selfish” and a “grave challenge” to Korean-Japan relations, warning it could damage the global economy.Earlier, a South Korean presidential Blue House spokesperson vowed a “resolute” response.Japan last month restricted exports of high-tech materials to South Korea. The materials are used to produce semiconductors and displays in smartphones and other electronics that serve as the backbone of South Korea’s export-driven economy.FILE – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a press conference at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo, June 26, 2019.Retaliation for court rulingsJapan’s moves are widely seen as retaliation for recent South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese companies to compensate Koreans who were forced to work during Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea.Tokyo insists its trade decisions were motivated by national security concerns. It has cited “improper incidents” involving exports to South Korea, but hasn’t provided many details. Some Japanese officials have also appeared to link the decisions to historical disputes.A trade war between Japan and South Korea, the world’s third and 11th largest economies respectively, would have wide-ranging ramifications.It could threaten global technology supply chains, since South Korea produces 70 percent of the world’s memory chips.Impact depends on JapanThe economic impact depends on how exactly Japan decides to enforce its restrictions, says Tobias Harris, a Japan analyst at the Teneo consultancy group.When Japan imposed the first restrictions on trade with South Korea last month, officials in Tokyo strongly implied it would be very difficult for Japanese companies to export the affected products to South Korea, Harris notes.“This time around, the messaging from Tokyo has been marginally less strident, noting, for example, that this simply puts Korea at the same level as Japan’s other trading partners in Asia,” he adds. “Presumably it won’t be a total embargo so as to limit the direct impact on Japanese firms.”The move could also hamper U.S. efforts to present a unified front to challenges like North Korea and China.South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, left, talks to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before the East Asia Summit meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 2, 2019.U.S. officials have encouraged both sides to resolve their differences, but Washington is reluctant to get too involved in issues related to Japan and Korea’s historical disputes.“Japan and South Korea are both incredibly important relationships,” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is in Thailand for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.“We’re very hopeful that those two countries will together themselves find a path forward, a way to ease the tension that has risen between them over the past handful of weeks,” said Pompeo, who said he plans to meet with leaders of the two countries Friday.FILE – Victims of Japan’s forced labor and their family members arrive at the Supreme Court in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 29, 2018. The sign reads ” Mitsubishi Heavy Industries apologize and compensate victims.”Historical disputeThe trade dispute is the latest flare-up in tensions rooted in Japan’s brutal 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula. A major source of friction is how to compensate those forced into labor and sexual slavery in the colonial era.Japan says the reparations issue was resolved with a 1965 treaty that normalized Japan-South Korea relations. Japan has complained that subsequent South Korean governments have not accepted further Japanese apologies and attempts to make amends.The issue re-emerged last year after South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy, to compensate Korean forced labor victims. The companies have not complied with the rulings, leading some victims to begin the legal process to seize or liquidate the companies’ assets in Korea.Japan says the rulings are unacceptable. But South Korea says it cannot overturn them, saying that doing so would amount to interference in South Korea’s independent court system.“Tokyo’s frustration with the forced-labor issue and concerns about technology leakage are understandable, but this move is likely to set back the progress Japanese Prime Minister Abe has made over the past few years as an economic leader in the region and the world,” said Matthew P. Goodman, senior vice president and senior adviser for Asian economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.People watch a TV that shows a file picture of a North Korean missile for a news report on North Korea firing short-range ballistic missiles, in Seoul, South Korea, July 31, 2019.The trade dispute could also hurt U.S. interests in Asia. If the dispute worsens, South Korea has said it may pull out of an intelligence sharing agreement with Japan. The accord, known as GSOMIA, was negotiated with the help of the United States. It is aimed in part at countering North Korea.“As Japan cited security reasons for its trade restrictions, I said we will have no option but to review the various elements that form the framework of security cooperation with Japan,” South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said this week.The trade dispute has prompted a backlash among South Korea’s citizens, with customers boycotting a wide range of Japanese products.
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Johnson Loses a Seat in Parliament to Liberal Democrats
Britain’s pro-European Union Liberal Democrats have won a parliamentary seat from the governing Conservatives, a blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his first electoral test since taking office.The loss reduces Johnson’s working majority in parliament to one ahead of an expected showdown with lawmakers over his plan to take Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31 without an exit agreement if necessary.Johnson’s government already relies on the support of a small Northern Irish party for its wafer-thin majority, with just a handful of rebels in his own Conservatives needed to lose key votes.’No mandate’ for no-deal BrexitThe Liberal Democrats won the Welsh seat of Brecon and Radnorshire with a majority of 1,425 votes.“Boris Johnson’s shrinking majority makes it clear that he has no mandate to crash us out of the EU,” Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, whose party now have 13 seats in parliament, said in a statement following the result early Friday.“I will do whatever it takes to stop Brexit and offer an alternative, positive vision. … We now have one more MP (Member of Parliament) who will vote against Brexit in parliament,” Swinson added.Wales, and the Brecon area, voted to leave the EU at the 2016 Brexit referendum, but it is also a region where sheep outnumber people and where the prospect of steep EU tariffs being slapped on Welsh lamb exports in a no-deal Brexit have prompted widespread concern among farmers.The Brecon vote was triggered when Conservative lawmaker Chris Davies was ousted by a petition of constituents after being convicted of falsifying expenses. Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds won with 13,826 votes.Davies, who ran again for the Conservatives, came second with 12,401 votes. The Brexit Party came third with 3,331 votes, while the main opposition Labour Party was fourth on 1,680 votes.The Liberal Democrats had previously held the seat from 1997 until 2015, when it was won by Davies. In the 2017 snap election he held the seat with a majority of just more than 8,000 votes.No plans for electionJohnson, who took office last week, has said he does not plan to hold an election before Britain leaves the EU but could be forced to if lawmakers try to stop him pursuing a no-deal exit by collapsing the government in a no confidence vote.The result in Brecon, where the combined vote for pro-leave parties outnumbered pro-remain, would likely add to calls for a possible Conservative-Brexit Party alliance in any upcoming election.
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Who Will Be New Governor? Puerto Ricans Are Unsure
Less than 24 hours before Gov. Ricardo Rossello was expected to leave office, Puerto Ricans had no idea who would replace him as political chaos threatened to paralyze the island with a constitutional crisis.Rossello has promised to step down at 5 p.m. Friday in response to huge street protests by Puerto Ricans outraged at corruption, mismanagement and an obscenity-laced chat that was leaked in which the governor and 11 male allies made fun of women, gay people and victims of Hurricane Maria.“It’s frustrating. We’re in limbo,” said Jose Ramos, a taxi driver. “The island doesn’t have a path forward.”Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello announces his resignation in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 25, 2019.As one of his last acts, Rossello put forward veteran politician and lawyer Pedro Pierluisi to fill the vacant secretary of state post, next in line for the governorship under the U.S. territory’s constitution.Pierluisi is a former representative to the U.S. Congress seen by most ordinary Puerto Ricans as a conciliatory, relatively uncontroversial figure, unlikely to be met by continued street demonstrations.“I offered to take a step forward for Puerto Rico at this moment given my love for my country,” Pierluisi said. “My only loyalty as governor, if I have the support of legislators, is to the people of Puerto Rico.House of RepresentativesThe Puerto Rican House of Representatives is expected to vote on Pierluisi’s confirmation Friday afternoon. If he is rejected, Justice Secretary Wanda Vazquez automatically becomes governor as the next in the order of succession, even though she has said she would unwillingly accept the job.Some lawmakers said a House vote for Pierluisi would count as confirmation and allow him to assume the governorship. Opponents said he requires Senate approval, too, and they would sue to stop him becoming governor without that.“The situation could not be more complicated,” said Sen. Jose Antonio Vargas Vidot, an independent. “This is absurd, what we’re going through. We never thought something like this could happen.”Rep. Rafael Hernandez, a leader among opposition legislators, said he believes a “yes” vote by the House for Pierluisi on Friday would mean Vazquez becomes governor at 5 p.m. and Pierluisi her secretary of state.He said he would sue to stop any attempt to make Pierluisi governor, throwing the island into even more uncertainty.“We would go to the courts early Saturday or Friday afternoon,” he said. “Anything can happen.”Senate presidentAnother obstacle for Pierluisi is Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, who has said he would not vote for Rossello’s nominee and wants to run for governor himself next year. Several legislators have said they prefer Rivera Schatz over Pierluisi, but the Senate leader is a powerful figure deeply associated with Puerto Rico’s political and business elite and his elevation to the governorship could re-ignite popular outrage.Rivera Schatz delivered a scathing attack on his critics Thursday afternoon and said the Senate would hold a hearing on Pierluisi on Monday.“Let’s give him the chance to defend himself,” Rivera Schatz said. “I don’t think I’m going to be convinced.”He criticized Pierluisi for being an attorney with the law firm that represents the federal control board overseeing the island government’s finances, calling it “Puerto Rico’s No. 1 enemy.”FILE – Puerto Rico Justice Secretary Wanda Vazquez answers reporters’ questions, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Jan. 16, 2018.Rossello’s New Progressive Party holds majorities in both chambers of the legislature, meaning a united party could have easily named the next governor.Many Puerto Rican legislators were predicting that Pierluisi did not have the votes to be confirmed.But Rep. Gabriel Rodriguez Aguilo of the governing party said that an overwhelming number of constituents had called to ask for his confirmation.“We ran out of paper,” he said in reference to secretaries taking notes on the calls.FILE – A demonstrator bangs on a pot that has a cartoon drawing of Governor Ricardo Rossello and text the reads in Spanish “Quit Ricky” in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 19, 2019.Frustrating processAfter jubilation at the success of their uprising against Rossello, Puerto Rican protesters have been frustrated at the political infighting and paralysis that has followed.Some lawmakers joined Rivera Schatz in complaining about Pierluisi’s work for the law firm representing the control board, which was created by Congress to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances before the territory, saddled with more than $70 billion in public debt, declared a form of bankruptcy. Pierluisi’s brother-in-law also heads the board, which has clashed repeatedly with Rossello and other elected officials over demands for austerity measures.“That’s a serious conflict of interest,” Rep. Jose Enrique Melendez told The Associated Press.Sen. Eduardo Bhatia of the opposition Popular Democratic Party, accused Rivera Schatz of trying to maneuver himself into the top job.“This attitude of (Rivera Schatz) taking the island hostage is very dangerous,” Bhatia tweeted. “‘It’s him or no one’ is in keeping with what has been a life silencing and destroying democracy.”US Citizens, but no votePuerto Rico’s 3.2 million people are U.S. citizens who can’t vote for president and don’t have a voting representative in Congress. While politicians are members of the Democratic or Republican parties, the island’s main political dividing line is between Rossello’s statehood-favoring party and the Popular Democratic Party, which favors a looser association with the federal government. Both parties’ memberships contain a mix of Democrats and Republicans.More than a dozen officials have resigned in the wake of the chat that drove Rossello from office, including former Secretary of State Luis Rivera Marin.Pierluisi, who took a leave of absence from the law firm, said in a statement Wednesday that much work remains to be done to recover the trust of federal authorities, Congress and the people of Puerto Rico as it also struggles to recover from Hurricane Maria.Pierluisi represented Puerto Rico in Congress from 2009 to 2017 and then ran against Rossello in the 2016 primaries and lost. He also previously served as justice secretary under Rossello’s father, Pedro Rossello, when he was governor.
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Pelosi Calls Kushner, Trump Son-In-Law, a ‘Slumlord’
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday called U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a “slumlord” because of the poor conditions of housing he owns in Baltimore.These were Pelosi’s first public remarks since Trump called the part of her hometown — represented in Congress by Elijah Cummings — “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and a “very dangerous and filthy place. No human being would want to live there.””The president — this comes as no surprise — really doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Pelosi told reporters. “But maybe you could ask his son-in-law, who’s a slumlord there, if he wants to talk about rodent infestations.”A mail carrier delivers mail at a home at the Dutch Village apartments, July 30, 2019, in Baltimore. The apartment complex is owned by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump, who days earlier vilified Congressman Elijah Cummings.Kushner’s real estate company owns thousands of apartments and homes in the Baltimore region and has been cited hundreds of times for such infestations as black mold and mice. Residents in many of these homes have complained about poor responses to their complaints and harassment when the rent is due.FILE – Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, speaks during the TIME 100 Summit, in New York, April 23, 2019.Trump’s tweet about Baltimore was directed more at Cummings, who has been a sharp critic of the conditions of migrant facilities along the U.S. – Mexican border. Although Cummings’ district has problems with crime and poverty, just like all big American cities, the Census Bureau says the median income for those living there exceeds the national average.”Elijah Cummings is the pride of Baltimore. To see the president demean a great leader like Elijah Cummings shows his own insecurity and his own lack of understanding about what progress really is,” Pelosi said.Cummings is African-American. Trump’s tweet came weeks after another tweet in which he said four black congresswomen should stop criticizing the U.S. or “go back where they came from.”But the White House denies charges that Trump’s tweets about the representatives are racist, and Trump has called himself the least racist person one could ever know.Pelosi represents the San Francisco district in Congress, but she was born and grew up in Baltimore. Her father and brother — Thomas D’Alesandro and Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr. — were both mayor and are still highly respected in the city, especially in the Little Italy neighborhood.
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N. Korea Conducts Third Launch in Eight Days, Amid Stalled Talks
Updated Aug. 1, 2019, 10:22 p.m.SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korea launched a fresh round of short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast early Friday, U.S. and South Korean officials say. It is the third such launch in just more than a week.The North launched two projectiles around 3 a.m. local time from South Hamgyong province, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The projectiles traveled an estimated 220 kilometers, reaching an altitude of 25 kilometers, it later added.U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials assess the projectile is likely a “short-range ballistic missile” that shares flight characteristics with other recent North Korean launches, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said in a statement to reporters.The Friday launch was first reported by U.S. officials, who said the weapons appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles that did not threaten North America.North Korea has test-fired at least six short-range weapons over the past eight days, an apparent attempt to increase leverage over the United States ahead of possible nuclear talks.Last week’s launch involved North Korea’s version of a Russian Iskander ballistic missile, which appears specially designed to evade U.S. and South Korean missile defenses.Nicolas de Riviere, French ambassador to the United Nations, Karen Pierce, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the U.N., and Jurgen Schulz, German deputy ambassador to the U.N., deliver a statement after a U.N. Security Council meeting on North Korea’s latest missile launches, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Aug. 1, 2019.On Wednesday, North Korea tested what it called a “newly developed large-caliber, multiple launch, guided rocket system.” U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials say they see the test as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban North Korea from any ballistic missile activity.“We are concerned by the launches of ballistic missiles by North Korea in the past few days,” said Karen Pierce, Britain’s permanent representative to the United Nations following a closed-door Security Council meeting to discuss the matter Thursday.“We reiterate our condemnation of such launches, which are violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” said Pierce, who spoke on behalf of Britain, France and Germany.That statement is a strong contrast to the approach of U.S. President Donald Trump, who on Thursday dismissed the tests as “short-range missiles.”President Donald Trump talks to reporters before departing for a campaign rally in Cincinnati, on the South Lawn of the White House, Aug. 1, 2019.“We never made an agreement on that. I have no problem,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens, but these are short-range missiles. They’re very standard.”U.S. officials say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally promised Trump not to conduct longer-range missile or nuclear tests.Kim in 2018 declared a self-imposed moratorium on intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear tests, but that promise hasn’t been included in any public documents that have come out of Trump and Kim’s three meetings.Trump, who wants to continue talks with North Korea, is playing down North Korea’s short-range launches. The talks have been stalled since a February Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi ended without a deal.FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands before their one-on-one chat during the second U.S.-North Korea summit at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 27, 2019.At the end of June, Trump and Kim met at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. White House officials described the meeting as a breakthrough, saying North Korea had agreed to resume working-level talks.But since then, North Korea has gradually ramped up its threats and provocations, saying it may not engage in talks if the U.S. and South Korea go ahead with planned joint military exercises.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in Thailand for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), says he remains willing to talk with North Korean officials but that a meeting in Bangkok is unlikely.“We stand ready to continue our diplomatic conversation with the North Koreans,” Pompeo said Thursday. “I regret that it looks like I’m not going to have an opportunity to do that while I’m here … but we’re ready to go.”FILE – Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., speaks during a news conference, Feb. 11, 2016, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers are expressing more skepticism about Trump’s approach to North Korea.“The Trump administration should recognize that every new missile launch by North Korea is yet another play from the same old Kim family playbook,” said Senator Edward Markey, ranking member of the East Asia Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement.“Not only has President Trump failed to codify in writing a nuclear and missile testing freeze, but when he says he has ‘no problem’ with shorter range missile launches, he gives North Korea a green light to violate UN Security Council resolutions and threaten our allies,” Markey said.
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Navy Confirms Pilot Died in Jet Crash in Death Valley
The pilot of a U.S. Navy jet fighter that crashed in Death Valley National Park was killed, the military said Thursday.The identity of the pilot will be withheld until 24 hours after notification of next-of-kin in accordance with Defense Department policy, the Navy said in a statement.The F/A-18E Super Hornet was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-151 based at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California’s Central Valley. The unit goes by the nickname Vigilantes.The jet went down Wednesday during low-level flying in what was described as routine training.The crash injured seven people who were at a scenic overlook where aviation enthusiasts routinely watch military aircraft speeding low through a chasm dubbed Star Wars Canyon.The crash sent dark smoke billowing in the air, said Aaron Cassell, who was working at his family’s Panamint Springs Resort about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away and was the first to report the crash to park dispatch.FILE – Tourists walk along a ridge at Death Valley National Park, Calif., April 11, 2010. A U.S. Navy fighter jet crashed July 31, 2019, in the national park, injuring several people who were at a scenic overlook.”I just saw a black mushroom cloud go up,” Cassell told The Associated Press. “Typically you don’t see a mushroom cloud in the desert.” Tourist spot closed
Ambulances were sent to the crash site near Father Crowley Overlook, said park spokesman Patrick Taylor. He said initial reports were that seven park visitors had minor injuries. KABC-TV spoke to the group of French tourists who said they were treated at a hospital for minor burns and cuts from flying fragments after the plane crashed and exploded.The injured tourists told the news station they were taking photos of the sweeping landscape when the jet screamed into view and slammed into the canyon wall.
The lookout point about 160 miles (257 kilometers) north of Los Angeles is popular with photographers and aviation buffs who gawk at jets flying in the steep, narrow canyon. Officials closed the area after the crash.
U.S. and foreign militaries train pilots and test jets in the gorge officially called Rainbow Canyon near the park’s western entrance. Military flights there date back to World War II.The chasm got its nickname because mineral-rich soil and red, gray and pink walls bring to mind the home planet of “Star Wars” character Luke Skywalker.Training flights are almost a daily feature with jets thundering below the rim of the canyon.’Looked like a bomb’
Cassell said he heard jets roaring through the area and then saw the cloud of smoke.
“It looked like a bomb,” Cassell said. “To me that speaks of a very violent impact.”
A jet that was following the downed craft pulled up and began circling, Cassell said. He didn’t see any parachute.His father drove up to the area after the crash and saw a large black scorch mark and shattered parts of the jet scattered throughout the area between the parking lot and lookout, Cassell said. A nose cone from the jet was the size of a bowling ball and the rest of the debris was no larger than a ball cap.The Super Hornet is a twin-engine warplane designed to fly from either aircraft carriers or ground bases on both air-superiority and ground-attack missions.
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Croatia Deepens Ties With US Beyond ‘Game of Thrones’
Croatia is known to most Americans for its picturesque walled city of Dubrovnik, the setting for many of the scenes in the immensely popular television series Game of Thrones.That is a source of satisfaction for Croatia’s ambassador in Washington, Pjer Šimunović. But he also wants Americans to recognize his country as a security partner contributing to the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan and elsewhere, as well as an increasingly notable economic and trade partner, including as a major importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), a rising field in American business.Pjer Šimunović, Croatia’s ambassador to the U.S., is pictured in Washington, July 2019. (N. Liu/VOA)American tourists have flocked to Croatia in recent years to walk through the settings of fictional warfare and intrigue in the fantasy drama, which boasts millions of viewers worldwide.But Šimunović noted in an interview with VOA that Croatian soldiers have participated in very real battles in Afghanistan alongside their counterparts from the United States, which he describes as “by far the most important” ally of his country. “Everything else pales by comparison,” he says. “Our soldiers have been fighting shoulder to shoulder with our American friends, in all theaters,” including the Middle East, Africa and southeast Europe, and have been providing maritime security in the Mediterranean Sea. A Croatian soldier died in a suicide attack outside Kabul just last week.Šimunović says the two countries are looking to match their security relationship with increased trade and economic cooperation, and that liquefied natural gas, delivered by ship from the United States, will play a major role in that effort.”We’re building in the northern Adriatic an LNG import terminal, which is a major part of the European effort to diversify energy routes in Europe, to get rid of the unhealthy reliance on Russian gas,” Šimunović says.FILE – In this Sept. 7, 2018 photo, tourists walk through Dubrovnik. Crowds are clogging the entrances into the ancient walled city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, used as a major location for “Game of Thrones.”The terminal is under construction on the island of Krk, which Šimunović describes as “a beautiful tourist spot” at the north end of the Adriatic Sea, which lies between Croatia and Italy. It also happens to be home to some of his family.Once the terminal is completed “in a couple of years’ time,” the liquefied gas will be offloaded from ships and converted back into its natural gaseous form to be pumped through pipelines to customers in Croatia and elsewhere in Europe.The State Department, the U.S. Department of Energy, the White House and various U.S. companies have all been involved in discussions on the project, the ambassador says. European authorities are also enthusiastic, seeing the enterprise as a way of reducing the region’s dependence on natural gas from Russia.In giving a green light to the project this week, European Union antitrust regulators in Brussels said the project will “further key strategic objectives of the EU, including diversifying gas supply sources and increasing the EU’s security of gas supply, notably in the central and southeastern regions, without unduly distorting competition.” The European Commission says more than half of the EU’s gas needs are currently met through imports, with 39% coming from Russia.Being able to contribute to EU security is important to Croatia, the bloc’s newest member, having gained admission in 2013. The EU already “has become part of our identity,” Šimunović says.”We have our state, which is Croatia,” he said. “At the same time, we’re part of a wider community of trans-Atlantic democracies, so we’re a member of the EU and NATO.” Beginning in January, Croatia will begin its first six-month term at the helm of the EU’s rotating presidency.
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Maker of Gun Used in Sandy Hook Massacre Asks Supreme Court to Block Lawsuit
The maker of the assault-style rifle used in the 2012 mass shooting at a Newtown, Connecticut, school asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn a court ruling that allowed families of the victims to sue the company over its marketing practices.Gun maker Remington Outdoor Co made its plea to the nation’s top court after the Connecticut Supreme Court in March reinstated a wrongful death lawsuit against the gun maker by the families of nine people slain and one survivor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.The families argued that the Remington AR-15 Bushmaster rifle that a 20-year-old gunman used to kill 20 children aged 6 and 7 and six adult staffers was a weapon of war that was wrongly marketed to civilians for use in combat-style missions.FILE – A heart is emblazoned with crosses to commemorate the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims in Sandy Hook village in Newtown, Connecticut, Dec. 13, 2013.The gun maker argued that the lawsuit should never have been allowed to proceed because a 2005 federal law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, shields gun manufacturers in most cases from liability when the firearms they produce are used in crimes.While the law has an exemption for claims involving manufacturers who knowing violate the law to sell or market guns, Remington’s lawyers argued that the Connecticut Supreme Court interpreted it too broadly to allow the case to proceed.”This case is an archetypical example of the kind of lawsuit Congress sought to preempt,” Remington’s lawyers wrote.They argued the Connecticut ruling threatens to unleash a flood of lawsuits against the firearms industry, despite Congress’ intention in 2005 to protect them from liability after an earlier wave of similar lawsuits against gun manufacturers.The filing was long expected. Josh Koskoff, a lawyer for the family members, said Remington’s filing made no new or unexpected arguments.”Our state’s highest court has already ruled that the families deserve their day in court and we are confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will defer to that well-reasoned opinion,” he said in a statement.The family members filed the lawsuit in 2014 against Remington and other defendants, including the gun’s distributor and the gun shop where the shooter’s mother had bought the AR-15.A lower-court judge in 2016 dismissed the case. In a 4-3 decision, the Connecticut Supreme Court said while most of the lawsuit’s claims could not proceed, Remington could still be sued over its marketing under Connecticut law.
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