The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on Belarus to immediately release a blogger arrested a week ago and allow him and other reporters to “freely and safely” cover Sunday’s presidential elections.The organization’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator in New York, Gulnoza Said, said President Aleksandr Lukashenko “wants an election to put a veneer of legitimacy on his longstanding leadership, but he is achieving the reverse by harassing and detaining journalists up and down the country who are trying to cover his opposition.”Belarusian police arrested Evgeniy Vasilkov, who also works as a mechanic, at his garage in Khoiniki July 31 and took him to a police station, local media reported.He was accused of writing a slogan used by Lukashenko critics on road signs.Vasilkov has denied the charge, saying his arrest was retaliatory because of his support for an opposition candidate.He appeared before a local judge who sentenced him to 10 days of detention for “disobeying” police, for allegedly refusing to show them the identification at his arrest.On July 31, Belarusian police also detained five reporters, working for Belsat, an independent satellite broadcaster, while they were livestreaming rallies in support of the opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.Her supporters had taken to the streets in large numbers at rallies in the capital, Minsk, and other Belarusian cities.Tikhanovskaya, 37, entered the race with the promise to free political prisoners and call new elections after the arrest in May of her husband, opposition blogger and presidential hopeful, Sergei Tikhanovsky. He was charged with attacking a police officer, a claim he rejected as a provocation.Lukashenko is campaigning for a sixth term amid an increase in opposition protests against his autocratic rule and economic difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Month: August 2020
Ivory Coast President Accepts Nomination for Controversial Third Term
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has formally accepted the nomination of the ruling party to be its presidential candidate in October’s election.Opponents say a third term for Ouattara is against the constitution.Ouattara told supporters of the Rally of the Republican Party on Thursday that he is accepting the call to run in the interest of the nation and in order to continue putting his experience at the service of the country.Ouattara was asked to reconsider seeking another term after his preferred successor, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died last month.Ouattara’s opponents say the two-term limit in the constitution bars him from running again, but Ouattara has said his first two mandates do not count under the new constitution adopted in 2016.Ouattara’s early rivals include former prime minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan of the Ivorian Popular Front party, former president Henri Konan Bedie of the Democratic Party of the Ivory Coast, and former foreign minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh.The election comes after a civil war that began in 2011 when former President Laurent Gbagbo refused to leave office after losing to Ouattara.The unrest claimed the lives of 3,000 people.Gbagbo, who remains in Belgium, awaiting a passport to return home after being cleared of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court at the Hague last year, still has sway in the Ivory Coast.Police in Abidjan broke up a street demonstration by Gbagbo’s supporters upset over his name not appearing on the electoral list ahead of the October 31 presidential election.
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Flooding, Landslides Devastate Much of Sudan; At Least 10 Killed, Thousands Displaced
Much of Sudan is in recovery mode after torrential rains caused widespread flooding and landslides, killing at least 10 and damaging or destroying more than 3,300 homes.Almost two dozen schools and several mosques were also destroyed.The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan said infrastructure was damaged in at least 14 of Sudan’s 18 states.The U.N. said over 50,000 people have been affected by the severe flooding in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.So far, Sudan confirmed that more than 11,700 people have the coronavirus and more than 760 have died.
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Once Again, Lebanon Picks Up the Pieces
Lebanon’s Chernobyl. That is how some are describing the mammoth blast that shook the capital city Beirut and left thousands injured. At least 300,000 people lost their homes and a number of hospitals also bore the brunt. Among the signs of international support was a visit by French President Emmanual Macron, who got a firsthand look at the worst-affected neighborhood. Anchal Vohra reports from Beirut.
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Trump Orders US Ban on WeChat, TikTok in 45 Days
U.S. President Donald Trump issued executive orders on Thursday banning any U.S. transactions with ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns video-sharing app TikTok, and Tencent, owner of the WeChat app, starting in 45 days.The orders come as the Trump administration said this week it was stepping up efforts to purge “untrusted” Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks and called the Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok and messenger app WeChat “significant threats.”The TikTok app may be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party, and the United States “must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security,” Trump said in one order.In the other, Trump said WeChat “automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.”The order would effectively ban WeChat in the United States in 45 days by barring “to the extent permitted under applicable law, any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd.”Trump said this week he would support the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft Corp if the U.S. government got a “substantial portion” of the sales price but warned he will ban the service in the United States on September 15.Tencent and ByteDance declined to comment.
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Trump Loses Bid to Add Fourth Debate with Biden in Early September
U.S. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign on Thursday lost its bid to add a fourth debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden in early September.In rejecting the request, the Commission on Presidential Debates said it remains committed to the current schedule of three 90-minute debates beginning in late September.It would only add a fourth debate, or move an existing debate to earlier in the month, if both sides in the campaign for the November 3 election agreed to it, it said.Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had asked for either a fourth debate in the first week of September or for the first debate to be moved up from September 29 because voters in some states would already be able to cast votes before then.The commission said voters will have a choice whether to watch a debate before casting a ballot, adding voters “are under no compulsion to return their ballots before the debates.”Trump, a Republican, is trailing Biden in most national opinion polls.The battleground state of North Carolina is scheduled to begin sending out mail-in ballots to registered voters who requested them on September 4, with several other states to follow in September. A massive surge in mail-in voting is expected because of fears the coronavirus may spread at public polling places.In a response to the commission, Giuliani said the campaign was “disappointed” by the rejection and still believed Americans deserve to see the candidates “compare their records and visions for the United States before actual voting begins.”The Biden campaign said it was pleased Trump had accepted the commission invitation to debate.”As we have said for months, the commission will determine the dates and times of the debates, and Joe Biden will be there,” Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo said.The commission has organized three debates and one vice presidential debate during each presidential campaign since 2000. The presidential debates are set for September 29 in Ohio, October 15 in Florida and October 22 in Tennessee.
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Senegalese American Community Rallies After 5 Die in Denver Fire
Senegal’s president sent condolences Thursday after five members of a Senegalese family living in the U.S. died earlier this week when a fire swept through their home in Denver, Colorado.Police and fire officials are investigating the fire, which they suspect might be arson, Joe Montoya, division chief of investigations for Denver police, told the Associated Press. He did not elaborate.President Macky Sall tweeted: “I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and wish speedy recovery to the injured. It is a very serious matter that we are following closely.”J’ai appris avec émotion le décès de 5 de nos compatriotes dans un violent incendie à Denver, aux États-Unis. J’adresse mes condoléances attristées aux familles des victimes et souhaite prompt rétablissement aux blessés.C’est une affaire très grave que nous suivons de près.— Macky Sall (@Macky_Sall) August 6, 2020Djibril Diol, his wife, daughter, sister and niece were killed in the fire. Diol had graduated in 2018 from Colorado State University with a degree in civil engineering, the school said. Diol was working for the Kiewit construction company.This is Djibril Diol, his wife and daughter, three of the five who died. Djibril immigrated from Senegal. His American dream was to become a civil engineer. His brothers called him “a good person, a good worker, and a good Muslim.” pic.twitter.com/73XsTGg2yc— Ryan Haarer (@RyanHaarer) August 6, 2020Three other family members were able to flee the house fire early Wednesday by jumping from the second story, officials said. The three were being treated for injuries that weren’t life-threatening, Denver police said.Diol and his family were staying with another family at the home until they could get a home of their own, Ousman Ba, a member of the Senegalese community, told the Denver Post. Senegal is a country in West Africa.Ousmane Ndiaye, a friend of Diol, told the Post that Diol loved soccer and his family. Ndiaye also recounted how last week, on Eid, a holy day for their community, he and Diol went house to house to give greetings.Family and friends at the scene told the Post the family had emigrated to the U.S. a few years ago.Members of the Senegalese community in Colorado began showing up at the house Wednesday. The West African community is big and connected, Ndiaye told the Post.Amadou Ba, a friend of Diol’s, came “to bring my respect for the people who passed away” and to support the family and the community, he told the Associated Press. “He was a very good guy. … He liked to help everybody, help the community and do a lot of things for everybody.”On Thursday, Muslim Advocates, a national civil rights organization, released a statement urging Denver officials to open a hate crime investigation into the deaths of the Senegalese American Muslim family members.“Law enforcement authorities must take this suspected murder and arson seriously. Muslims in Colorado may have been threatened by hate-motivated arson before, and hate crimes in the state are on the rise,” the statement said. “We call on law enforcement to immediately investigate whether the deadly fire in Green Valley Ranch [neighborhood] was motivated by hate. The family of those lost and the Muslim community in Denver deserve justice and peace of mind.”A GoFundMe page has been established by family and friends to pay for funeral expenses and to return the bodies to Senegal for burial So far, more than $90,000 has been raised.“Djiby a young man with a promising future in Civil Engineering has left behind a community that he so deeply loved and cared for. We are saddened by the loss of a loving Dad, a nurturing husband, and a caring brother to all of us,” according to family members who set up the online fundraiser.Senegal Consul General Elhadji Ndao, who flew to Denver on Thursday, said he had been sent by President Sall to speak with the diaspora community and local officials.
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Young Teacher Challenging ‘Europe’s Last Dictator’ in Belarus
A 37-year-old teacher with no political experience has become an unlikely challenger to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko — widely known in the West as ‘Europe’s last dictator’. As Henry Ridgwell reports, huge crowds have turned out to support the opposition presidential candidate in recent weeks — but it’s unclear if the show of ‘people power’ will be reflected in the election on Sunday.Camera: Henry Ridgwell Produced by Henry Ridgwell
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Spain Ex-King’s Exile Reignites Questions on Monarchy’s Future
In select circles in Madrid, the rumor had been making the rounds for weeks: Beset by a financial scandal that would not go away, former King Juan Carlos I was preparing to go into exile.The whispers were proven right in spectacular fashion when the ex-monarch left Spain this week.In a letter published on the royal family’s website, Juan Carlos told his son, King Felipe VI, he was leaving the country due to the “public repercussions of certain episodes of my past private life”.Stunned Spaniards were left to play a guessing game as to the whereabouts of the man who had reigned over them for nearly 40 years until he abdicated in 2014.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
A newsrack displays copies of El Nacional newspaper with a page one headline that reads in Spanish: “The whereabouts of King Juan Carlos are unknown, but it is said that he is in the DR,” Aug. 4, 2020.Reigniting an old debateIn the wake of Juan Carlos’ abrupt departure, it has prompted a surge in republican sentiment in a country which has historically maintained a complex relationship with the institution of monarchy.Across the country there are 637 squares, streets or other public edifices named after Juan Carlos but since the 82-year-old’s departure, many of these were at the center of public anger towards the royal family.Students in Madrid called for the King Juan Carlos University to change its name, with an online petition garnering over 41,000 signatures by Wednesday.“Corruption cases surrounding the royal family keep appearing, torpedoing the image of a monarchy that had been presented to us as ‘wholesome’ and ‘humble,’” the petition read.In Gijón, in northern Spain, authorities said they would change the name of its Juan Carlos I avenue because they said the name of the former monarch “does not represent the institutional, moral and democratic values of our society anymore”, according to spokeswoman Marina Pineda.Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Socialist prime minister, said the departure of Juan Carlos would allow King Felipe to reign in a better way as the country confronted a period of instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.However, Pablo Iglesias, leader of the far-left Unidas Podemos, the junior partner in the coalition government with the Socialists, condemned the former king’s exit while he faced a possible investigation in Spain.“Sooner or later, young people in our country will start a republic in Spain,” he added.A poll for the right-wing ABC newspaper, which supports the monarchy, found 68% thought Juan Carlos was wrong to leave the country.Javier Sanchez-Junco, a lawyer for the former king, said his client was not trying to escape justice by going into exile and would remain available to prosecutors. A view of the Royal Palace is pictured in Madrid, Spain, Aug. 4, 2020.Scandals The fall of a monarch who is respected by some in Spain for ushering in democracy after the death of longtime ruler General Francisco Franco began in 2018 in Switzerland when a prosecutor started an investigation into the ex-king’s murky finances.The prosecutor opened an investigation into Juan Carlos’ ex-mistress Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein and the former king’s lawyer and financial adviser, who are both based in Geneva. All deny any wrongdoing. The former king maintained a relationship with Sayn-Wittgenstein, a London businesswoman, between 2005 and 2009.The Swiss investigation, probing possible money laundering relating to a $100 million ‘gift’ to Juan Carlos, from the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2008, is ongoing. Juan Carlos is also being investigated for the first time by Spain’s Supreme Court over his role in alleged kickbacks to a high-speed train deal in Saudi Arabia.In March, after British newspaper The Daily Telegraph revealed that Juan Carlos and his son were both named as beneficiaries of a Panama-based fund started in 2008 with $100 million-dollars described as a “donation” from Saudi Arabia, King Felipe released a statement renouncing any financial inheritance from his father. Juan Carlos was also stripped of his royal allowance.Amid an almost daily drip feed of media revelations about his father, Felipe VI was coming under increasing pressure from Spain’s left-wing government to distance himself from the ex-monarch. Finally a deal was struck.Kings going into exile is nothing new in a country where Spaniards have long maintained an uneasy relationship with their monarchs. Alfonso XIII, Juan Carlos’ grandfather was forced into exile in 1931 after Spaniards voted for the Second Republic. The former monarch lived part of his young life in Italy, then Portugal before returning to Spain to become the nominated successor to General Francisco Franco.A man wearing a face mask walks past a graffiti by artist El Primo de Bansky of former Spanish King Juan Carlos in a street of Valencia, on Aug. 6, 2020.Popular figure Juan Carlos was lauded for helping to uphold a fragile new democracy after the death of Franco in 1975.In 1981, when armed police fired shots over the heads of terrified MPs in the Spanish parliament in an attempted coup d’etat, Juan Carlos made a televised address to the nation backing democracy and faced down the plotters. The coup failed.Despite his love of bullfighting, yachts and women to whom he was not married, the king was a popular figure.All this started to go wrong in 2012 when Juan Carlos had to be flown back to Spain after injuring himself during a secret elephant hunting safari in Botswana while in the company of Sayn-Wittgenstein. It caused outrage in a country struggling to survive a deep recession.A resident waves a Spanish Republican flag against Spain’s former monarch, King Juan Carlos I, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Aug. 5, 2020.However, El País, the left-wing newspaper, said this was not the moment for Spain to suffer a seismic shake-up by abolishing its monarchy.”Those who take advantage of the fall from grace of Juan Carlos I to reopen the debate on the monarchy must ask themselves whether beyond the legitimacy of the republican demand it now has sufficient parliamentary consensus to translate into a constitutional reform. The data indicates otherwise,” it said in an editorial.Some commentators believe a republic would not be the answer for a country riven by divisive politics.“I think the monarchy is not under threat because the alternative – a Third Republic – would be much worse,” William Chislett, a journalist who interviewed Juan Carlos’ father Don Juan in 1977, told VOA.“Spain is such a polarized country that a conservative or socialist president would be a disaster. What may happen next is Juan Carlos may give back some of the money which is involved in this but that will not happen soon.”Pilar Eyre, a writer and royal expert, doubted Spain would become a republic because the country’s two main parties supported the monarchy.“The two main parties, the Socialists and the (conservative) People’s Party are in favor of the monarchy and it needs their support to change the constitution and allow a referendum on a republic,” she told VOA.A spokesperson for the royal household declined to comment.When Felipe came to the throne in 2014, he promised a “renewed monarchy for new times” and vowing to “listen, understand, warn and advise”.The Spanish king faces an uphill struggle to convince many of his subjects of the validity of a monarchy.
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New York State Sues NRA, Accuses It of Corruption, Seeks to Dissolve Group
The New York State attorney general sued the National Rifle Association on Thursday, seeking to dissolve the powerful gun rights advocacy organization and charging its leadership with illegally diverting funds for their own gain.Attorney General Letitia James said the NRA’s leaders used members’ contributions and donations as “their own piggy bank” and misspent $64 million over three years for their personal use. She also said they awarded contracts to the financial gain of close associates and family and appeared to dole out lucrative “no-show” contracts to former employees to buy their silence and continued loyalty.She cited a shift in the organization’s finances, from a nearly $28 million surplus in 2015 to a $36 million deficit in 2018.New York state Attorney General Letitia James takes a question after announcing that the state is suing the National Rifle Association, during a press conference, Aug. 6, 2020, in New York.In response, the NRA sued James, saying she had violated the group’s right to free speech. Its lawsuit also seeks to block her investigation.James contended in the lawsuit that four defendants — Wayne LaPierre, the NRA executive vice president and CEO; Wilson “Woody” Phillips, former treasurer and chief financial officer; Joshua Powell, former chief of staff and director of operations; and John Frazier, general counsel — “instituted a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement and negligent oversight at the NRA that was illegal, oppressive and fraudulent.”“The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets,” said James, a Democrat. The organization, she said, “is fraught with fraud and abuse,” which is why her office is seeking to dissolve it, “because no organization is above the law.”NRA President Carolyn Meadows labeled James a “political opportunist” who was pursuing a “rank vendetta” with an attack on its members’ Second Amendment rights.“Our members won’t be intimidated or bullied in their defense of political and constitutional freedom,” the NRA president tweeted.(1/3) NRA PRESIDENT RESPONDS TO NY AG:
This was a baseless, premeditated attack on our organization and the Second Amendment freedoms it fights to defend. You could have set your watch by it: the investigation was going to reach its crescendo as…
— NRA (@NRA) FILE – In this April 26, 2019, photo, President Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action Leadership Forum in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on Thursday, Trump called the lawsuit a “very terrible thing” and suggested that the NRA move to Texas to “lead a very good and beautiful life.”Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, Trump’s sons, are NRA members.Though its headquarters are in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a nonprofit in New York in 1871 and continues to be incorporated in the state.Meanwhile, the Washington, D.C., attorney general has simultaneously sued the NRA Foundation, a charitable arm of the organization designed to provide programs for firearm safety, marksmanship and hunting safety, accusing it of diverting funds to the NRA to help pay for lavish spending by top executives.
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Sudan Army’s Plan Is to Return to ‘Dark Days,’ Journalists Say
Plans by Sudan’s army to file legal complaints against journalists for cyber libel and “insulting” the armed forces have echoes of the intimidation tactics used under the rule of ousted President Omar al-Bashir, local reporters say.In a statement last month, the armed forces said a cybercrime military commissioner had been appointed. The commissioner, working under the military prosecutor, will monitor and document “insults” against the army, and any violations will result in criminal complaints brought against journalists in Sudan or outside its borders.The army said the measure was needed because of “systemic attacks and accusations” against the Sudanese military.The military is part of Sudan’s transitional government. A Sovereign Council, made up of six civilians and five military members, was set up to help the country return to civilian rule following the ouster of Bashir last year after mass protests.“It looks like the government is following the same path that the previous regime had followed, of stifling press freedom and silencing their critics,” Ravi Prasad, advocacy director at the media network International Press Institute, told VOA. “The army seems to be very, very sensitive to any kind of criticism, and the new law they’re trying to bring in would completely stifle press freedom in the country.”Aside from the army statement, the Ministry of Justice on July 10 announced several legal amendments — including more severe penalties under the cybercrime law to protect privacy and prevent the spread of rumors and harmful information.The Sudanese Embassy in Washington said it would provide comment but did not respond to VOA’s follow-up calls.Government should ‘mend their ways’Prasad said the army statement and cybercrime law were vaguely worded and open to interpretation, including on what constitutes insult or false news.“It is the right of journalists to report, and journalists speak truth to power. If the government of Sudan is sensitive to criticism, they should try to mend their ways rather than try to arrest journalists and stifle their voices,” he said. “Appointing a military commissioner to deal with media freedom is something that is unheard of.”FILE – Omar al-Bashir, then Sudan’s president, addresses the National Dialogue Committee meeting at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan, April 5, 2019.Khartoum-based freelancer Dawood Abdulziz said the moves harkened to Bashir’s rule, when authorities routinely cracked down on media freedom. Newspapers were confiscated before or after publication, publishing houses were shut down, and journalists and activists were arrested and harassed on criminal charges or for alleged offenses under the news-and-publication law.“Now we are going back to the Omar al-Bashir era, that dictatorship time, that crazy time,” Abdulziz said. “The former regime used the same language to target us, and now the same thing is happening. The army is now talking about spreading ‘false news.’ This is just a trick to use the Newspaper Act and Crimes Against the State.”Publishing false news or knowingly causing public panic or disrespecting the state carries up to a six-month prison term or fine. Violating the Crimes Against the State measure — which can refer to undermining the constitutional order or instigating war — carries more severe penalties. In extreme cases it can lead to a life sentence or death penalty.Sudan’s press freedom ranking improved after Bashir’s removal, moving 16 places to 159 out of 180 countries, where 1 is the most free, in Reporters Without Borders’ 2020 Press Freedom Index. “Bashir’s ouster in a popular uprising in 2019 ended three decades of dictatorship during which Sudan was one of the world’s most hostile terrains for journalists,” the media watchdog said.’Bad signals’The country’s journalists say these gains could be lost at a vital time for freedom of expression.“This new amendment is going to put press freedom back in the dark days and will not allow journalists to even criticize the military institution or the army,” Mohamed Ali Fazari, chief editor at the English-language news website Khartoum Today, told VOA.“This is one of the bad signals of the Sudanese civilian government, which people think [under it] a new era of democracy and press freedom will take place.”Salma Sleiman, a Khartoum-based activist originally from Darfur, added that the army should not be telling activists what they can and cannot say.“The country is in a phase of revolution, so you cannot tell me not to insult the army,” Sleiman said. “Besides that, there is the issue of freedom of speech — which is no excuse for insults — but at the same time the military institution is not benefiting the people and is implicated in violations of our human rights.”Reporters Without Borders, in its annual report, noted Sudan was at a critical time, with the promise of greater press freedom and access to the internet, despite repressive laws still on the books.”A free and independent press culture needs support, protection and training if it is to take hold after 30 years of oppression that entrenched self-censorship in most newsrooms,” RSF said.This article originated in VOA’s English to Africa Division.
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Federal Law Enforcement Program Expands to 2 US Cities Amid Spike in Violent Crime
Federal law enforcement agents are being deployed in two additional American cities amid a spike in violent crime.The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday that it was expanding Operation Legend, a recently launched effort to fight violent crime, to Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri.That brought the number of cities to which federal agents have been deployed to crack down on violent crime to eight. Previously, agents were sent to Kansas City, Missouri; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Chicago; Cleveland; Detroit and Milwaukee.Operation Legend was launched July 8 in Kansas City. It is named after LeGend Taliferro, a 4-year old African American boy who died while sleeping in his bed when someone shot into his family’s home in Kansas City on June 29.’Systematic’ initiativeThe Justice Department describes the operation as “a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime.”Operation Legend is unrelated to the more controversial deployment of federal law enforcement agents to Portland, Oregon. Federal agents were sent there to protect a federal courthouse from protesters whom Trump administration officials had accused of committing acts of violence.FILE – Shelby County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Anthony Buckner talks to reporters about a shooting in which two deputies were injured and a suspect was fatally shot, Sept. 18, 2019, in Memphis, Tenn. Homicides in the city are up nearly 50% in 2020.“Today, we have extended Operation Legend to Memphis and St. Louis, two cities experiencing increases in violent crime that no resident of those cities should have to accept as part of everyday life,” Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.In Memphis, where homicides are up nearly 50% this year, the Justice Department is sending 16 federal agents on temporary assignment for 90 days. That will be followed by the permanent deployment of 24 agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and Homeland Security Investigations, the department said.In St. Louis, where last month 50 people were shot and killed, agents from the ATF, DEA, FBI and U.S. Marshals Service as well as 50 additional agents from the Department of Homeland Security will work with local police to combat gun and gang violence, the department said.Spike in larger citiesMajor American cities have experienced a spike in gun violence and homicides in recent months.New York City, the most populous U.S. city, has recorded an increase of 23% in homicides this year; Los Angeles, the No. 2 city by population, has seen murders rise by 14%; and Chicago has had 414 murders, an increase of 51%, according to police data released in late July.The exact driver of the recent spike in homicides in U.S. cities remains unclear. But criminologists cite several contributing factors. Among them are warm summer weather; more people on the streets as states reopen their economies; and a growing erosion of public trust in law enforcement amid the continued protests over the May death of African American George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.
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Tensions Mount over China’s Industrial Espionage in US
Tensions between the U.S. and China are escalating at a dizzying pace, with July 24 marking the lowest point of bilateral relations in decades. On that day, the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, was closed and taken over by U.S. officials.FILE – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, July 15, 2020.“We announced the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston because it was a hub of spying and intellectual property theft,” said Secretary of State FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during an oversight hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill, Feb. 5, 2020 in Washington.The FBI created a special economic espionage unit in 2010, and currently has over 2,000 active cases related to Chinese counterintelligence operations in the U.S. FBI director Christopher Wray recently said the bureau is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case about every 10 minutes.Economic espionage is certainly nothing new. When the U.S. passed the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, the focus was on Israel and France, and China wasn’t really in the picture.Hvistendahl said the shift of focus started in the mid-2000s, when the business community decided to join the intelligence community to address the issue. These U.S. companies had previously hoped that if they kept their mouths shut, they could eventually break into the Chinese market and begin to see significant market growth.“By the mid-2000s, it became clear to many companies that it was just not going to happen, they were going to get shut out of the market eventually,” Hvistendahl told VOA. “So many CEOs started to be more vocal about some of the problems that they have received with China.”The impact on the U.S. economy through loss of intellectual property (IP) is one of the main concerns among U.S. policy makers. According to a 2017 report by the Intellectual Property Commission, the cost of IP theft for the United States is somewhere between $225 billion and $600 billion. And China is responsible for 71% to 87% of that figure. (The percentage varies annually.) Apart from economic loss, there is also loss of domestic production capabilities, loss of industries, and loss of jobs along the way.Eric Zhang, former chief representative of the Oklahoma Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Office in China, told VOA that America is also realizing the potential security threat posed by these China-related industrial espionage activities.“Espionage activities in other countries are mainly for economic gain, but China is different. Since Xi Jinping came to power, China has started to deem the United States as a competitor, especially in terms of military,” said Zhang. “In this sense, the purpose of Chinese industrial espionage is different from that of other countries. This is why the U.S. is very concerned now.”Full-scale effortUnder the Trump administration, federal authorities have launched full-scale efforts to ferret out economic espionage.In some high-profile cases, the FBI has recently arrested four Chinese research scientists in the U.S. who concealed their relations with Chinese military during their visa applications. Apart from the FBI, the Justice Department has also launched the China Initiative in 2018, with the goal of identifying and prosecuting those engaged in economic espionage, trade secret theft, hacking and other related crimes. Yet Zhang said that although there has been ample pushback, China has not slowed down its pace of stealing innovative technologies and trade secrets from developed countries.“Innovative technology is key to China’s economic growth, which is the top reason to legitimize CCP (Chinese Communist Party) rule. So if they can’t get anything from the U.S., I think Beijing will strengthen its economic espionage efforts in other developed countries,” Zhang said.Hvistendahl warns that when addressing the issue of industrial espionage and IP theft, the U.S. needs to be careful and avoid discrimination.“You have to keep in mind that much of the research force in the U.S. is ethnic Chinese. So you have to deal with the issue in a way that it’s fair, that doesn’t give way to allegations of racial profiling, ethnic bias,” she said.She added that it’s to America’s own benefit to keep the U.S. as an innovative place to which researchers from all over the world would want to come and study.
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RFE/RL Journalists Assaulted at Ruling Party Rally in Bulgaria
Two RFE/RL journalists were assaulted at a rally for Bulgaria’s ruling GERB party in Sofia, where Prime Minister Boyko Borisov was speaking. RFE/RL has called for an investigation and for Bulgarian authorities to condemn the incident.
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New York State Attorney General Sues NRA, Seeks to Dissolve It
The New York state attorney general sued the National Rifle Association on Thursday, seeking to dissolve the powerful gun rights advocacy organization and charging its leadership with illegally diverting funds for their own gain.Attorney General Letitia James presented her lawsuit at a news conference in New York City, alleging that the NRA’s leadership misspent $64 million over three years for personal use, awarded contracts to the financial gain of close associates and family, and appeared to dole out lucrative “no-show” contracts to former employees to buy their silence and continued loyalty.In the lawsuit, James contended that four defendants – Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre; Wilson “Woody” Phillips, former treasurer and chief financial officer; Joshua Powell, former chief of staff; and John Frazier, former director of operations — “instituted a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement and negligent oversight at the NRA that was illegal, oppressive and fraudulent.”“The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets,” James, a Democrat, said. The organization, she said, “is fraught with fraud and abuse,” which is why her office is seeking to dissolve it, “because no organization is above the law.”Though its headquarters are in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a nonprofit in New York in 1871 and continues to be incorporated in the state.Speaking to reporters Thursday as he left the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump called the suit a “very terrible thing” and said the NRA should move to Texas, which he said was “an appropriate place” for the organization.Meanwhile, the Washington, D.C., attorney general has simultaneously sued the NRA Foundation, a charitable arm of the organization designed to provide programs for firearm safety, marksmanship and hunting safety, accusing it of diverting funds to the NRA to help pay for lavish spending by top executives.
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Trump Ties COVID-19 Vaccine Timing to November Election
U.S. President Donald Trump is predicting a COVID-19 vaccine might be ready by this year’s election, less than 90 days away. “I’m optimistic that it’ll probably be around that date,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn on Thursday. “It wouldn’t hurt” his reelection chances to have the vaccine available by the November 3 election, acknowledged the president. “I’m doing it not for the election. I want it fast because I want to save a lot of lives.” The scientific community, including prominent infectious disease experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is member of the White House coronavirus task force, however, expects that none of the numerous vaccine candidates now undergoing human trials will be ready until the end of the year or early 2021.FILE – Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about his plans to combat racial inequality at a campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware, July 28, 2020.“We’re going to win bigger in Ohio than we did four years ago,” predicted Trump, speaking to a group of supporters on arrival in Cleveland on Thursday. “He’s against God. He’s against guns,” Trump said of Biden. “I don’t think he’s going to do well in Ohio.” No Republican candidate has ever won the presidential election, or reelection, without taking Ohio. Trump, in 2016, captured nearly 52% of the vote in the state against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Trump’s standing in Ohio and other key states this year has been hurt by unfavorable public perception of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. At Burke Lakefront Airport in downtown Cleveland, the president had been scheduled to be greeted on the tarmac by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. However, just prior to Trump’s departure from Washington, the governor’s office announced that DeWine had tested positive for the coronavirus following standard protocol testing ahead of meeting the president.FILE – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine speaks during an interview at the Governor’s Residence in Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 13, 2019.“Governor DeWine is returning to Columbus [the state capital] where he and First Lady Fran DeWine, who also has no symptoms, will both be tested,” according to a news release from the governor’s office, which said the couple will then quarantine at home in Cedarville for the next 14 days. DeWine becomes one of the highest-profile American politicians and only the second governor (after Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma) to test positive for the coronavirus. The governor’s infection sounds a sour note for the president’s visit, which was to underscore his administration’s gains against the coronavirus, and economic prosperity. Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, who also took a COVID-19 test Thursday but had a negative result, stood in for the governor to greet Trump. DeWine, in late July, issued a statewide mask mandate after previously reversing course on the idea in April. Breaking ranks with other Republican governors, DeWine was one of the first state leaders to take steps to slow the spread of the virus, including promoting wearing of masks and social distancing. Ohio has reported nearly 100,000 COVID-19 cases and about 3,600 deaths.
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Heavy Rain in South Korea Brings Flooding, Landslides
Days of torrential rain have pounded South Korea, closing parts of highways, officials said. Authorities issued a rare flood alert Thursday near a key bridge in the city of Seoul.The Han River Flood Control Office said its alert issued near one of its bridges is the first such measures since 2011.South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports the Han river reached a record level of 11.3 meters, submerging the Jamsu Bridge linking the southern and northern parts of the city.The swollen river also forced the flood control office to cut off access to riverside roads in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood and other areas. Officials said riverside parks have been flooded.The rainfall stopped near that Han River bridge late Thursday, but the flood alert remains effective, according to the agency.South Korea’s interior ministry said landslides and floods killed 16 people, left 11 missing, and at least 1,600 are displaced from their homes.Yonhap reports in the hardest hit provinces more than 5,000 houses and facilities were reported flooded or damaged. More than 8,000 hectares of farmland have been inundated.
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Former Spain King’s Exile Raises Questions About Monarchy’s Future
Spain’s former King Juan Carlos the First left his country this week as he faces possible accusations of financial wrongdoing. The besieged monarch, who handed the crown to his son, Felipe, six years ago, is not formally under investigation. In this report narrated by Jonathan Spier, Alfonso Beato in Barcelona reports the former king’s scandals – and his exile – have reignited questions on whether Spain should keep its monarchy.PRODUCER: Jon Spier
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Ethiopian Refugees in Egypt: ‘If Egyptians Go Thirsty, We Will Go Thirsty’
“They sicced a dog on him,” says Taher Omar Huru, a 47-year-old Ethiopian refugee and a local community leader in Cairo, pointing to different body parts. “The dog bit him here, and here and here … His only crime was being Ethiopian.”Taher Omar, an Ethiopian refugee and community leaders says complaints about racist incidents come in daily to his office in Cairo on July 27, 2020. (VOA/Hamada Elrasam)In recent weeks, harassment, hate-speech and violence against Ethiopian refugees in Egypt has grown increasingly common, adds Huru, as the long-running dispute comes to a head between Egypt and Ethiopia over the use of the Nile River.Three hundred million people depend on the Nile to survive, and in Egypt, 95% of the population lives along the river. Egypt is downstream of Ethiopia, and Ethiopia has built a dam.The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has taken nine years and nearly $5 billion to build, and the reservoir behind it is just starting to fill. The process going forward will take years, but Ethiopia says the dam will provide electricity to 65 million people and help lift the country out of poverty. Egypt sees the possibility of lower water levels as a threat to its very existence.Ethiopian refugees in Egypt are caught in the middle. “When I tell someone where I’m from,” says Huru, “they immediately respond, ‘You are cutting off our water.’”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 14 MB540p | 19 MB720p | 37 MB1080p | 76 MBOriginal | 84 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioGrowing animosityOnline, Egyptians and Ethiopians are taunting each other.Ethiopian TikTok users suggest Egypt soon will be completely cut off from the Nile, which would make the country uninhabitable.Egyptian users retort with posts about Egypt’s considerable military prowess.One Ethiopian woman smiles and dances next to a post that has an Egyptian flag and says, “You can’t fill without permission so [if] you do it [you] will get bombed.” There is additional writing over her post that says “We already started filling the dam.”Egypt is in no immediate danger of suffering a sharp decrease in the amount of water, according to experts, but their long-term fears are warranted.“One question that keeps coming up is: Will Ethiopia be willing to release enough water from the reservoir to help mitigate a drought downstream?” writes John Mukum Mbaku, a Brookings Institute senior fellow.Michael Thabet, 28, says online bickering has lead to on the ground anger between Egyptians and Ethiopians on July 25, 2020 in Cairo. (VOA/Hamada Elrasam)This fear and the online bickering are fueling tensions on the ground, says Michael Thabet, a 28-year-old architect and Cairo resident.“The videos provoke people to anger,” he says. “They show people claiming they can stop our country from getting water, as is our right.” Refugees are among the poorest people in Egypt, where a third of the population of 100 million already live below the poverty line.And this tension is making everyday life even harder for Ethiopian refugees, and refugees perceived to be Ethiopian, according to Nour Khalil, a legal consultant for refugees and migrants.Nour Khalil, a legal consultant for refugees and migrants in Cairo says recent Nile Dam tensions have caused a spike in abuses of refugees on July 24, 2020. (VOA/Hamada Elrasam)“For example, one young Sudanese man tried to get on a microbus,” says Khalil, “And the driver said to him: ‘You are Ethiopian, and you want to block our water. Blacks are not allowed on this microbus.’” Negotiations continue Egypt wants a legal guarantee that when there is a drought, Ethiopia won’t hog the water. Ethiopia says the dam won’t affect Egypt’s access to water.Leaders are negotiating this month, as the reservoir starts to fill with rain, over Egyptian objections. So far, negotiations have been marred by threats of walkouts and delays, from both Egypt and Sudan.Critics of Ethiopia say that without a legally binding agreement regulating the use of the dam, the country could devastate its downstream neighbors and violate international law. Egypt’s critics say it has long used its power to bully its neighbors and control the Nile. Sub-Saharan refugees in Egypt say anger on the ground is misdirected against them, the people who fled their countries, looking for safety in Egypt. “If Egyptians go thirsty,” says Haru. “We will go thirsty, too.”
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Ethiopians Living in Egypt Say Racism is Intensifying
The long-running dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Nile River dam remains unresolved, and on the streets of Cairo Ethiopian residents say racism and hostilities against them are intensifying. This comes as rains in Ethiopia are filling the reservoir of the controversial dam upstream, a development Egyptians see as an existential threat. VOA’s Heather Murdock has more from Istanbul with Hamada Elrasam in Cairo.
Camera: Hamada Elrasam
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Tokyo Governor Urges Residents to Refrain from Summer Holiday Travel
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike called on residents Thursday to refrain from traveling outside the capital as Japan enters its summer holiday period because of a recent surge in COVID cases.At a Thursday news briefing, Koike said she understands that it is the “Obon” festival, a period during which Japanese people customarily travel to visit family, but she urged residents to refrain from travel or even going out to restaurants to protect “loved ones, family and medical fields.”Reported coronavirus cases have been surging recently, totaling 360 new cases for Thursday. Koike noted the number of new cases surpasses the levels from April, when the city was under a state of emergency.She said she does not believe they need to make a similar declaration at this time, but said, “if the situation worsens further, we may have no choice but to issue a state of emergency in Tokyo. In order to avoid such a situation, we must do everything possible to curb infections this summer.”Japan has never had a total lockdown but asked businesses to close and people to work from home after the government issued a national state of emergency in April. The restrictions were lifted in late May.Japan has more than 43,400 confirmed coronavirus cases and about 1,000 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University.
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Africa Approaches 1 Million Coronavirus Cases
The African continent is fast approaching 1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, with South Africa alone accounting for more than half-a-million cases. World Health Organization officials say they’re sending a team of experts to South Africa in coming weeks, as the health minister warns the nation could see a “second wave.” Meanwhile, other African nations are looking at creative ways to respond to the pandemic.Five months after the first case of coronavirus case was recorded in Africa, the continent’s known caseload remains a small share — just five percent — of the global burden. But, says Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, officials are concerned about the continent’s hotspot, South Africa, and the rest of the continent, as it approaches a grim milestone.“The realization is dawning strongly that we will have to live with this virus for some time,” Moeti said. “There are now almost 1 million reported cases of COVID-19 in Africa, so we have not yet reached that milestone, and over 21,000 people have sadly lost their lives. South Africa remains the worst affected country on the continent and is now the fifth most affected country globally. In partnership with the Department of Health in South Africa, WHO is deploying more than 40 regional experts to provide support at the national and provincial levels in the country.”But, she said, experts worry the true burden could be higher than they know, because of a lack of testing kits and other barriers. “I’m often asked whether they reflect the true picture of the epidemic or not. One of the constant and concerning challenges in many African countries is a shortage of kits to test people for COVID-19,” she said. “At the same time, some countries have increased their testing per capita while maintaining a low positivity rate, countries such as Mauritius, Rwanda, Cabo Verde and Botswana. Through the UN supply portal, we are supporting countries to replenish test kits and other commodities.”An woman reacts as a heatlh worker collects a sample for coronavirus testing during the screening and testing campaign aimed to combat the spread of COVID-19, in Eldorado Park outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug. 3, 2020.South African Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize said the nation’s strict nine-week lockdown has helped slow the spread of the virus but that unless the country keeps up its guard, he fears a second wave may be imminent. “It is possible that instead of these lines going down, when we start opening up the movement of provinces and opening more sectors of the economy and people move more easily, exporting and all the others, then this whole surge can come back again at a much higher level than what we’re seeing here” said Mkhize.In Rwanda, health minister Dr. Daniel Ngamije says officials are looking at novel ways of handling treatment with a national preparedness plan that, so far, has cost $73 million. The tiny, landlocked country has reported 2,104 cases so far. Although Rwanda is small, he said, officials quickly realized they needed to study how to manage the virus within the home and at the district level.“We came to realize that at the beginning, our response was driven by the central government, I mean, at the central level, from the Ministry of Health,” said Ngamije. “And it appears that we could not sustain that kind of intervening interventions initiated from the central level. That’s why we decided to decentralize COVID-19 response.”Globally, the Americas have the highest number of cases, with over 9 million. Of those, 4.6 million are in the United States. More than 18 million cases have been reported worldwide.
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Protests Swell in Russia’s Far East
Over the past month, protests have roiled Russia’s Far East, where locals have come out against the arrest of a popular local governor. As Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, public anger is increasingly directed at President Vladimir Putin.VIDEOGRAPHER: Ricardo Marquina
PRODUCER: Barry Unger
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‘See You in Court’: ACLU Files Nearly 400 Cases Versus Trump
The day after Donald Trump’s election in November 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a message to him on its website: “See you in court.”
As president, Trump hasn’t personally squared off against the ACLU from the witness stand, but the broader warning has been borne out. As of this week, the ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration, some meeting with setbacks but many resulting in important victories.
Among other successes for the ACLU, it prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court case blocking the administration from placing a citizenship question on the 2020 census. It also spearheaded legal efforts that curtailed the policy of separating many migrant children from their parents.
“The assault on civil liberties and civil rights is greater under this administration than any other in modern history,” said the ACLU’s president, Anthony Romero. “It’s meant we’ve been living with a three-alarm fire in every part of our house.”
Since the day Trump took office, the ACLU — according to a breakdown it provided to The Associated Press — has filed 237 lawsuits against the administration and about 160 other legal actions, including Freedom of Information Act requests, ethics complaints and administrative complaints.
Of the lawsuits, 174 have dealt with immigrant rights, targeting the family separation policy, detention and deportation practices and the administration’s repeated attempts to make it harder to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The other lawsuits address an array of issues high on the ACLU’s agenda: voting rights, LGBT rights, racial justice and others. In one long-running case, the ACLU succeeded in blocking the administration’s policy of barring young immigrant women in government custody from getting abortions.
“Donald Trump has provided a full employment program for ACLU lawyers on all of our issues,” Romero said.
By comparison, the ACLU says it filed 13 lawsuits and other legal actions against President George W. Bush’s administration in his first term, mostly alleging encroachments on civil liberties related to counter-terrorism policies.
Many of the ACLU’s recent lawsuits remain unresolved. Of those that have been decided, Romero said, the ACLU has won far more often than it has lost, though a precise breakdown was unavailable.
Among the setbacks, ACLU national legal director David Cole said, one of the most disappointing involved Trump’s efforts to ban foreign nationals from several predominantly Muslim countries. Lawsuits by the ACLU and its allies successfully blocked implementation of the first two versions of the ban, but the Supreme Court allowed a third version to go into effect in 2018.
By a similar 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court also allowed the implementation of the Trump administration policy barring transgender people from enlisting in the military. Lower courts had supported efforts by the ACLU and other groups to scrap the ban.
Another LGBT rights case recently ended in a major victory for the ACLU and its allies when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that gays, lesbians and transgender people were protected from employment discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One of the ACLU’s clients, Aimee Stephens, was fired from her job at a Michigan funeral home because she was transgender; she died just a few weeks before the high court ruled in her favor.
There’s no question the ACLU has caught the attention of Trump and his administration.
The Republican president, at an “Evangelicals for Trump” rally in January, derided the ACLU as a “group of beauties” who had filed a lawsuit accusing public schools in Smith County, Tennessee, of improperly promoting Christian religious beliefs.
“We will not allow faithful Americans to be bullied by the hard left,” Trump said.
In a May 2018 speech, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions assailed the ACLU for a lawsuit that led to a drop in stop-and-frisk arrests by Chicago police.
“If you want crime to go up, let the ACLU run the police department,” Sessions said.
Recently, the ACLU has drawn criticism from a longtime supporter, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. He worries that the organization is aligning too closely with the Democratic Party and is now less willing than in the past to support unpopular causes, such as the free-speech rights of far-right activists.
In an email, Turley questioned the wisdom of the “torrent of lawsuits” against the Trump administration.
“The result was less of a sniper strategy and more of a saturated bombing strategy,” he wrote.
Even as it spars with the administration, the ACLU notes that Trump’s presidency has been beneficial in some respects — fueling huge increases in donations and membership.
Romero says the ACLU national office and its state affiliates received about $175 million in donations in the three months after Trump’s election. It says it has increased its headquarters staff from 386 to 605 and now has 122 attorneys, up from 84 in November 2016.
Membership has soared from about 400,000 to more than 1.8 million. Romero says many of the newcomers have been asking how they can help as volunteers in bolstering voting rights, immigrants’ rights and other causes.
Demonstrating its increased interest in electoral politics, the ACLU had directed $28 million of its national funds to its affiliates in battleground states such as Florida, Arizona and Texas. Since 2016, Romero said, the ACLU of Texas has been able to double its budget to $8.5 million and its staff to 65 employees.
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