The next time there is a census in the United States in 2030, Americans who trace their ancestral roots to the Middle East and North Africa will have their own demographic category – MENA. VOA’s Genia Dulot went to the Little Arabia neighborhood of Anaheim, California, to see what people think about the change.
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Month: August 2024
Fiji leader visits China ahead of Pacific Islands Forum
Taipei, Taiwan — Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is in China for a 10-day visit that includes meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. Rabuka is the third South Pacific leader to visit China since early July as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive with leaders and governments in the region.
Analysts say Rabuka is likely to use his trip to promote his vision for regional order in the Pacific and focus on Fiji’s economic development. The trip is Rabuka’s first to China since he was elected in late 2022.
“I expect Rabuka to use his trip as an opportunity to promote his ‘Zone of Peace’ vision for Pacific foreign policy,” said Parker Novak, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub and Indo-Pacific Security Initiative, adding that Rabuka may push Beijing to “be a friendly power” in the Pacific.
Other experts say Rabuka will also try to deepen economic ties with China, including restoring the bilateral tourism relationship.
“Rabuka does focus much more on the economic aspect of Fiji’s relationship with China, including the support for development and the infrastructure support,” Tess Newton Cain, an adjunct associate professor at Griffith Asia Institute in Australia, told VOA by phone.
In a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on August 12, Rabuka said he is looking to learn from China’s experience in poverty alleviation, describing Beijing’s achievement as an inspiration for countries in the Pacific and around the world.
Rabuka is also expected to seek support from Beijing to address Fiji’s development needs.
Following his meeting with Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s summit in San Francisco last November, Rabuka said Fiji might look to collaborate with China on modernizing port facilities and shipyards, which he said were the key focus of the island nation’s sustainable economic development.
Beijing may try to use the visit to shore up its security presence in the region, Novak told VOA.
“Beijing may try to entice Rabuka to increase security cooperation between China and Fiji, but I think Rabuka would be hesitant to do so,” he said in a phone interview.
Earlier this year, Fiji agreed to maintain a policing deal with China that has sparked concern on the island among some police and political leaders and from Australia. The deal, which was signed in 2011 when the country was still under military rule, allows for the exchange of intelligence, visits, training and the supply of police equipment.
Rabuka, however, has remained cautious about advancing Fiji’s security relationship with China since he took office. Despite agreeing to uphold Fiji’s policing cooperation agreement with China in March, his government removed Chinese police officers from the Fijian police force, reiterating his concern about Beijing’s growing security presence in the region.
During his visit to Australia last October, Rabuka said he was more comfortable “dealing with traditional friends” like Australia, which shares “the same brand of democracy” as Fiji.
Beijing will also seek to grow its regional influence through state visits by Pacific leaders, Novak adds.
“The recent trips to the PRC by Pacific leaders from the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and now Fiji show how Beijing continues to use high-level visits as a diplomatic tool to advance its interests in the region,” he told VOA, using the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Rabuka’s visit highlights the “close relations” between China and the South Pacific region.
“[Leaders] of the two countries will have in-depth exchanges of views on China-Fiji relations and important issues of mutual interest,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a statement released on August 9.
While Beijing looks to increase engagement with Pacific Island countries, Anne Marie Brady, a political science professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, told VOA that China is imposing more conditions on these relationships, such as accepting more military and intelligence links with Chinese government agencies.
China has been deepening security ties with South Pacific countries in recent years, signing several security-related agreements with the Solomon Islands in 2022 and providing policing assistance to Kiribati.
China has also supported some key infrastructure projects in several South Pacific countries, including the 10,000-seat sports stadium in the Solomon Islands, the presidential palace in Vanuatu, and an airstrip in Kiribati.
Novak said that while China has tried to reframe the nature of its development aid to the Pacific region and may be making small shifts towards grant-based aid, its approach remains largely the same.
“The vast majority of the PRC’s aid [to the Pacific region] continues to be provisioned through loans rather than grants, and I expect concerns about debt to continue among Pacific leaders,” he told VOA.
Beijing’s increasing presence in the security and development sector in the South Pacific has prompted democratic countries, including the United States, Australia, and Japan, to step up their engagement with regional countries as well, including unveiling a plan to open an undersea cable connectivity and resilience center and providing more support in areas such as climate change, economic development, and maritime security.
As geopolitical competition between large countries drives increased engagement with Pacific countries, Newton Cain said the time and energy required for Pacific Island countries to manage the increased tempo of visits and talks could lead to the de-prioritization of regional issues at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum, which begins on August 26 in Tonga.
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China says FM Wang to visit Myanmar, Thailand this week
BEIJING — China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will visit Myanmar and Thailand from Aug. 14 to 17, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.
“Wang Yi will visit Myanmar and travel to Thailand to co-chair the ninth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
Wang will also attend an “informal discussion” between counterparts from Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, Lin said.
Last week, China’s special envoy for Asian affairs met Myanmar’s junta chief in the capital Naypyidaw for talks on “peace and stability” along their shared border, Myanmar state media said, days after ethnic rebels seized a regional military command.
Myanmar’s northern Shan state has seen repeated clashes since late June after ethnic rebel groups renewed an offensive against the military along a vital trade highway to China.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing discussed “internal peace processes in Myanmar, peace and stability measures in the border region” with China’s Deng Xijun, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar.
The senior general “explained the implementation of objectives and a five-point roadmap in order to ensure peace, stability,” the state-run newspaper said.
China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta, but analysts say it also maintains ties with armed ethnic groups in Myanmar that hold territory near its border.
An unnamed spokesman from China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said Wang’s visit to Myanmar was “aimed at deepening bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields.”
China supports “Myanmar’s effort to uphold stability, grow the economy and improve people’s livelihood,” the spokesman added.
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Australian researchers herald new groundbreaking diabetes drug
SYDNEY — Researchers in Australia have developed a drug that could revolutionize treatment for millions of diabetes patients around the world.
Scientists in the U.S., China and Australia are designing treatments that imitate the body’s natural response to changing blood glucose, or sugar, levels and respond instantly.
The Australian team is handling one of several research projects that have developed different types of so-called ‘smart insulins,’ which sits in the body of a diabetes patient and is activated only when it is needed.
The aim is to keep glucose levels within a safe range, avoiding excessively high blood glucose, which is called hyperglycaemia, and excessively low blood sugar levels, known as hypoglycaemia.
The new treatments are not cures for diabetes but could ease the burden on patients.
Australian researchers say their new insulin delivery method would offer one injection every three days. Patients currently have to administer synthetic insulin up to 10 times a day.
Christoph Hagemeyer, a professor at the Australian Center for Blood Diseases at Monash University and a lead researcher in the study, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday how the technology works.
“Smart insulin is responding to sugar levels in the blood,” he said. “In our case we are not actually making the insulin molecule smart, but we are loading the insulin onto a nanoparticle, which has a built-in mechanism that it changes its charge from positive to negative when the sugar levels go up. And that is the trick how we can ensure that there is enough insulin onboard and it is released in a smart manner.”
Insulin is a type of hormone that lowers the level of glucose in the blood. Glucose is a type of sugar from food that gives people energy.
Diabetes affects glucose levels in the blood and is normally split into type 1 and type 2, the most common. Patients have a heightened risk of heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure.
Monash University in Melbourne is part of a global effort to develop different types of smart insulins. It includes teams at Stanford University in the United States and Zhejiang University in China. Each project aims to develop smart insulin to act faster and more accurately to help patients with diabetes and to start trials as soon as possible.
The World Health Organization has estimated that about 422 million people around the world have diabetes and that 1.5 million deaths are directly attributed to the chronic disease each year.
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Myanmar releases a Japanese executive after he was arrested for selling rice above set prices
Tokyo — A Japanese business executive who was detained in Myanmar for more than a month has been released after being convicted of violating rice pricing rules, officials said Tuesday.
Hiroshi Kasamatsu, a director of the Myanmar supermarket Aeon Orange, was in custody in Myanmar since his June 30 arrest for selling rice at prices above the official regulations. Japan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that the Japanese national was convicted of violating law related to daily necessities and service. He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined about $150.
Kasamatsu was freed Monday afternoon, said Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the Myanmar’s ruling military council.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry said it was unclear if Kasamatsu would stay in Myanmar or return to Japan. He was released from custody and is in good health, it said, but declined to give further details.
Rice is vital in Myanmar, a country struggling to stabilize its economy as civil war disrupts efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, triggering nonviolent protests that have evolved into armed resistance.
Aeon Orange is a part of Japan’s retail giant Aeon group, and operates several supermarkets in Myanmar. Aeon said it had no immediate comment.
Kasamatsu was among a number of foreign executives arrested on similar allegations in Myanmar.
The state-run Myanmar Alin newspaper reported in early July that the arrests for allegedly overpricing rice — from 31% to 70% over official prices set by the Myanmar Rice Federation — involved 62 suspects, 102 warehouses, 53 supermarkets and superstores, 25 mills and seven other shops in major cities.
Japan has historically maintained friendly ties with Myanmar. Compared with many Western nations, it took a softer approach toward Myanmar’s military government over its poor human rights record and undermining of democracy. Tokyo has not imposed economic sanctions though it does not acknowledge the legitimacy of the current government and urges restoration of democracy, and limits Japanese aid to humanitarian purposes.
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Ukraine’s surprise push into Russia sparks concerns of escalation
Ukraine took the fight to Russia in recent days, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Monday his army’s move to “push the war out into the aggressor’s territory” with attacks in Russia’s Kursk region. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
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Elon Musk interview of Trump marred by technical issues
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s interview with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk finally got underway on Musk’s social media platform X on Monday evening, following a lengthy delay caused by technical problems that kept many users from accessing the live stream.
Musk, who has endorsed Trump, began the event at 8:42 p.m., more than 40 minutes after the scheduled start time. He blamed the difficulties on a distributed denial-of-service attack, in which a server or network is flooded with traffic in an attempt to shut it down, though his claim was not confirmed.
More than 1.3 million people were listening about 45 minutes into the conversation, according to a counter on X.
Trump sought to turn the problems into a positive, congratulating Musk on the number of people trying to tune in.
The former president sounded at times as if he had a lisp, many listeners on X pointed out. Some said it made him sound like a cartoon character, others suggested it could be due to audio compression issues.
The technical issues recalled a similar event on X in May 2023, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a chaotic start to his bid for the Republican presidential nomination due to glitches on the platform.
At the time, Trump mocked DeSantis on his own, social media platform, Truth Social. “My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!)” Trump posted, “Yours does not.”
Ahead of Monday’s event, Musk had written: “Am going to do some system scaling tests tonight & tomorrow in advance of the conversation.” X did not respond to requests for details or evidence of the alleged cyberattack.
Musk spent much of the early part of the interview lauding Trump for his bravery during the attempt on his life on July 13, when his ear was struck by a bullet.
Musk, the world’s richest person, announced his support for Trump shortly after the shooting. He backed Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 but has tacked rightward since.
Trump said he plans to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of the attack, for a rally in October.
As the conversation unfolded, Trump delivered his usual mix of grievances, exaggerated claims and personal attacks, with Musk offering occasional encouragement.
Trump claimed without evidence that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he were still president and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — all authoritarian strongmen — as at the “top of their game.”
He also expressed anger that Vice President Kamala Harris had been swapped in for Biden on the Democratic ticket.
“She hasn’t done an interview since this whole scam started,” Trump said, claiming falsely that Biden dropping off the ticket was a “coup.” Trump had been leading Biden in many polls of battleground states likely to be critical to the outcome of the Nov. 5 election but is now trailing Harris in some of the same states.
In an interview that was light on policy detail, Trump also appeared to praise Musk for firing workers.
“You’re the greatest cutter. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike — I won’t mention the name of the company — but they go on strike. And you say: ‘That’s OK, you’re all gone.'”
Trump back on X
The interview provided an opportunity for Trump to seize the limelight at a time when his campaign is facing new headwinds.
Harris has erased Trump’s lead in opinion polls and energized Democratic voters with a series of high-energy rallies since she replaced Biden as the party’s candidate three weeks ago. Her momentum could get another boost from the Democratic National Convention next week in Chicago.
Trump returned to X, formerly known as Twitter, with a series of posts on Monday for the first time in a year, reviving an account that had served as a main method of communication in previous campaigns and his four years in the White House, including his followers’ Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s access to his account, @realDonaldTrump, was restored a month into Musk’s ownership of X after being suspended by the platform’s previous owners following the Jan. 6 attack, citing concerns he would incite violence.
Trump frequently posts on his Truth Social platform, which was launched in February 2022, but his posts there reach a much smaller audience than on X.
Musk backs Trump
Musk, who heads electric car company Tesla, has echoed Trump’s false claims about voter fraud and Biden’s immigration policies.
Musk has started an external super PAC spending group to support Trump’s campaign. The political action committee is now under investigation in Michigan for possible violations of state laws on gathering voter information.
Trump, a longstanding critic of electric vehicles, shifted gears after Musk’s endorsement.
“I’m for electric cars. I have to be, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice,” Trump said at an early August rally.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fein, campaigning in support of Harris, called Trump a “sellout.”
The Biden administration has worked to popularize electric vehicles through tax breaks and other support as part of its broader goal of reducing carbon emissions blamed for climate change.
Republicans in Congress, including Trump’s running mate Senator JD Vance, have opposed those subsidies.
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Judge rules RFK Jr. not a state resident, can’t be on New York ballot
ALBANY, N.Y. — A judge ruled Monday that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name should not appear on New York’s ballot, saying that he falsely claimed a New York residence on nominating petitions despite living in California.
Kennedy’s lawyers quickly vowed to appeal ahead of the Aug. 15 deadline. If the judge’s ruling is upheld, it would not only keep Kennedy off the ballot in New York but could also lead to challenges in other states where he used an address in New York City’s suburbs to gather signatures.
The ruling came after a North Carolina judge decided earlier Monday that Kennedy can remain on that state’s ballot following a separate challenge on different grounds.
Judge Christina Ryba, in her 34-page decision, said the rented bedroom Kennedy claimed as his home in the state wasn’t a “bona fide and legitimate residence, but merely a ‘sham’ address that he assumed for the purpose of maintaining his voter registration” and furthering his political candidacy.
“Given the size and appearance of the spare bedroom as shown in the photographs admitted into evidence, the Court finds Kennedy’s testimony that he may return to that bedroom to reside with his wife, family members, multiple pets, and all of his personal belongings to be highly improbable, if not preposterous,” the judge wrote.
Ryba said evidence submitted in trial showed Kennedy had a “long-standing pattern” of borrowing addresses from friends and relatives so he could maintain his voter registration in New York State while actually residing in California.
“Using a friend’s address for political and voting purposes, while barely stepping foot on the premises, does not equate to residency under the Election Law,” the judge wrote. “To hold otherwise would establish a dangerous precedent and open the door to the fraud and political mischief that the Election Law residency rules were designed to prevent.”
Clear Choice Action, the Democrat-aligned political action committee that backed the legal challenge, said the ruling makes it clear that Kennedy “lied about his residency and provided a false address on his filing papers and candidate petitions in New York, intentionally misleading election officials and betraying voters’ trust.”
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of several voters in the state, claims Kennedy’s state nominating petition falsely listed a residence in well-to-do Katonah while actually living in the Los Angeles area since 2014, when he married “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Cheryl Hines.
Kennedy, who led a New York-based environmental group for decades and whose namesake father was a New York senator, argued during the trial that he has lifelong ties to New York and intends to move back.
During the trial, which ran for less than four days, Kennedy said he currently rents a room in a friend’s home in Katonah, about 65 kilometers north of midtown Manhattan, though has only slept in that room once due to his constant campaign travel.
The 70-year-old candidate testified that his move to California a decade ago was so he could be with his wife, and that he always planned to return to New York.
Barbara Moss, who rents the room to Kennedy, testified that he pays her $500 a month. But she acknowledged there is no written lease and that Kennedy’s first payment wasn’t made until after the New York Post published a story casting doubt on Kennedy’s claim that he lived at that address.
The judge also heard from a longtime friend of Kennedy’s who said the candidate had regularly been an overnight guest at his own Westchester home from 2014 through 2017, but was not a tenant there as Kennedy had claimed.
Attorneys representing several New York voters grilled Kennedy in often heated exchanges as they sought to make their case, pointing to government documents including a federal statement of candidacy with a California address, and even a social media video in which Kennedy talks about training ravens at his Los Angeles home.
“Kennedy’s testimony that none of the furniture, bedding and other decorative items in the spare bedroom belonged to him, as well as his testimony that his wife and family, his extensive book collection, and his wide assortment of domestic and exotic pets all remained in California, was further compelling evidence that Kennedy lacks the necessary physical presence and intent to remain” at the Katonah address, the judge wrote in her ruling.
Kennedy has the potential to do better than any independent presidential candidate in decades thanks to his famous name and a loyal base. Both Democrat and Republican strategists have expressed concerns that he could affect their candidate’s chances.
Kennedy’s campaign has said he has enough signatures to qualify in a majority of states, but his ballot drive has faced challenges and lawsuits in several.
Kennedy has told reporters that getting knocked off the ballot in New York could lead to lawsuits in other states where his campaign listed the same address.
After the trial ended Thursday, Kennedy argued that people who signed his petitions deserve a chance to vote for him.
“Those Americans want to see me on the ballot. They want to have a choice,” he said.
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Media crackdown continues 4 years after contested Belarus election
San Diego, Calif. — Belarus sentenced two more journalists to prison last week in what media groups say is a continuation of a crackdown on media since the contested 2020 election and protest movement.
A court in the city of Mogilev sentenced freelance reporter Ales Sabaleuski to four years in prison and cameraman Yauhen Hlushkou to three years on extremism-related charges. Both were also ordered to pay fines of $2,450, according to media watchdogs.
The charges are linked to the journalists’ work with the independent news outlet 6TV Bielarus, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ. Belarus had earlier labeled 6TV Bielarus as an extremist group.
Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, condemned the closed-door trial that took place last Wednesday, calling the Belarusian judicial system “rigged.”
The sentences are “yet another example of the Belarusian authorities’ relentless harassment of members of the press,” she said in a statement.
Belarus-based human rights groups, including Viasna, issued a statement calling on authorities to release the journalists, and to stop using prosecution to limit rights and freedoms.
Media and civil liberties groups say Belarusian authorities have used arrests and prison to target critics and opposition voices since the 2020 disputed presidential election. Mass protests spread across Belarus that year, after President Alexander Lukashenko was voted in for a sixth term.
The election had been widely seen as fraudulent, with opposition leaders imprisoned or threatened.
Belarus has since arrested dozens of journalists and labeled several media outlets as extremist organizations.
Data collected by Viasna show thousands of politically motivated arrests in the past four years, with at least 1,385 still imprisoned. CPJ additionally found 28 journalists imprisoned in Belarus for their work as of late 2023. That makes Belarus the third-worst jailer of journalists in the world, after China and Myanmar, the watchdog says.
The press office of the Belarus Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment.
Among those detained are Ihar Losik and Andrey Kuznechyk, who worked for VOA sister network, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
On the four-year anniversary of the election on Friday, the Belarusian Association of Journalists issued a joint statement with other watchdogs, calling on authorities to release all jailed media workers.
“Lukashenko’s regime has been crushing free speech and stripping journalists of their freedom for too long,” the statement said.
“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of our unjustly imprisoned colleagues, and express our solidarity with those who were forced to flee their country and still have to live in fear abroad. Belarusian authorities must stop harassing and intimidating journalists.”
Belarus ranks 167 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index and is considered one of the most dangerous countries in Europe to be a journalist.
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Ancient Pompeii reveals 2 more victims of eruption, with coins, jewelry
ROME — Archaeologists in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have discovered the remains of two more victims of the volcanic eruption almost 2,000 years ago.
The skeleton of a man and a woman were found in a small, makeshift bedroom in a villa which was being restructured when the eruption struck, the Pompeii archeological site said in a statement Monday.
The woman was lying on a bed with gold, silver and bronze coins around her, along with jewelry including gold and pearl earrings. The man lay at the foot of the bed.
The once-thriving city of Pompeii, near Naples, and the surrounding countryside was submerged by volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius exploded in 79 AD.
The eruption killed thousands of Romans who had no idea they were living beneath one of Europe’s biggest volcanoes which buried the city in a thick layer of ash, preserving many of its residents and buildings.
The latest victims discovered had chosen the small room as a refuge, waiting for the end of the rain of rock fragments which had blocked the door and prevented them from escaping.
They were eventually buried under the flow of lava and other boiling hot material from the volcano, the statement said.
“The opportunity to analyze the invaluable anthropological data on the two victims … allows us to recover a considerable amount of data on the daily life of ancient Pompeians,” site director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said.
Ancient Pompeii, rediscovered only in the 16th century, has in recent years seen a burst of archaeological activity aimed at halting decades of decay and neglect.
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Site of deadliest church shooting in US history is torn down over protests
sutherland springs, texas — Crews on Monday tore down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history.
A judge cleared the way last month for the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs to tear down the sanctuary where the attack took place, which until now had been kept as a memorial. Church members voted in 2021 to tear it down, but some families in the community of less than 1,000 people filed a lawsuit hoping for a new vote on the building’s fate.
Authorities put the number of dead in the November 5, 2017, shooting at 26 people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. After the shooting, the interior of the sanctuary was painted white and chairs with the names of those who were killed were placed there. A new church was completed for the congregation about a year and a half after the shooting.
John Riley, an 86-year-old member of the church, watched with sadness and disappointment as the long arm of a yellow excavator swung a heavy claw into the building over and over.
“The devil got his way,” Riley said, “I would not be the man I am without that church.”
He said he would pray for God to “punish the ones” who put the demolition in motion.
“That was God’s house, not their house,” Riley said.
For many in the community, the sanctuary was a place of solace.
Terrie Smith, president of the Sutherland Springs Community Association, visited often over the years, calling it a place where “you feel the comfort of everybody that was lost there.” Among those killed in the shooting were a woman who was like a daughter to Smith — Joann Ward — and Ward’s two daughters, ages 7 and 5.
Smith watched Monday as the memorial sanctuary was torn down.
“I am sad, angry, hurt,” she said.
In early July, a Texas judge granted a temporary restraining order sought by some families. But another judge later denied a request to extend that order, setting in motion the demolition. In court filings, attorneys for the church called the structure a “constant and very painful reminder.”
Attorneys for the church argued that it was within its rights to demolish the memorial while the attorney for the families who filed the lawsuit said they were just hoping to get a new vote.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that some church members were wrongfully removed from the church roster before the vote was taken. In a court filing, the church denied the allegations in the lawsuit.
A woman who answered the phone at the church said Monday that she had no comment then hung up.
The man who opened fire in the church, Devin Patrick Kelley, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he was chased by bystanders and crashed his car. Investigators have said the shooting appeared to stem from a domestic dispute involving Kelley and his mother-in-law, who sometimes attended services at the church but was not present on the day of the shooting.
Communities across the U.S. have grappled with what should happen to the sites of mass shootings. Last month, demolition began on the three-story building where 17 people died in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. After the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, it was torn down and replaced.
Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, New York, and the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where racist mass shootings happened, both reopened. In Colorado, Columbine High School still stands, though its library, where most of the victims were killed, was replaced.
In Texas, officials closed Robb Elementary in Uvalde after the 2022 shooting there and plan to demolish the school.
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Earth hit by ‘severe’ solar storm
Washington — The Earth was hit Monday by an intense solar storm that could bring the Northern Lights to night skies farther south than normal, a U.S. agency announced.
Conditions of a level-four geomagnetic storm — on a scale of five — were observed Monday from 1500 GMT, according to a specialized center at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
These conditions may persist for several hours but were not expected to increase further in intensity, NOAA added in a statement.
“A severe geomagnetic storm includes the potential for aurora to be seen faintly as far south as Alabama and northern California,” NOAA said in a statement, referring to the two U.S. states.
The new solar storm is caused by coronal mass ejections, which are explosions of particles leaving the sun. When these particles arrive on Earth, they disrupt the planet’s magnetic field.
“There are a lot of auroras now. … If it lasts until nightfall here, we might be able to see some,” Eric Lagadec, an astrophysicist at the Cote d’Azur Observatory in France, said on X, formerly Twitter.
On Sunday, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick published on X a superb photo of the aurora borealis — or Northern Lights — taken from the International Space Station, where he is currently stationed.
But solar or geomagnetic storms can also trigger undesirable effects.
For example, they can degrade high-frequency communications, disrupt satellites and cause overloads on the electricity grid. Operators of sensitive infrastructure have been notified to put in place measures to limit these effects, NOAA said.
In May, the planet went through the most powerful geomagnetic storms recorded in 20 years. They caused auroras to light up the night sky in the United States, Europe and Australia, at much lower latitudes than usual.
This type of event has increased recently because the sun is currently close to its peak activity, as per its 11-year cycle.
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24 dead in Uganda landfill collapse as rescuers find more victims
KAMPALA — The death toll from a mountain of rubbish that collapsed in the Ugandan capital rose to 24 on Monday as rescuers with excavators continued searching for victims, according to the city authority.
At least four children are among those killed by the collapse at the Kiteezi landfill Friday, police told reporters.
The collapse is believed to have been triggered by heavy rainfall. The precise details of what happened were unclear, but the city authority said there was a “structural failure in waste mass.”
Irene Nakasiita, a spokesperson for the Uganda Red Cross, said there was no hope of rescuing more people alive.
It was not clear how many people were unaccounted for. The Kiteezi landfill is a vast rubbish dumpsite in an impoverished hillside area that receives hundreds of garbage trucks daily. The city authority has been aiming to decommission it since declaring it full years ago.
It’s also a kind of no-man’s land in the city of 3 million, attractive to women and children who scavenge plastic waste they aim to sell. Others have built permanent homes nearby.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered an investigation into the disaster, asking in a series of posts on the social platform X, formerly Twitter, why people were living in close proximity to an unstable heap of garbage.
“Who allowed people to live near such a potentially hazardous and dangerous heap?” Museveni said, adding that effluent or liquid waste from the site is hazardous enough that people should not be living there.
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Nigeria holds youth summit on national security after protests
Abuja, Nigeria — The United Nations and Nigerian police Monday held a youth summit in the capital to commemorate International Youth Day and discuss the role of youths in national security intelligence.
The summit came days after Nigerian youths led nationwide protests calling for a reversal of government policies that they say cause severe hardships.
More than 400 delegates – including government officials, security agencies and youth representatives – cheered as the Nigerian police chief, Kayode Egbetokun, took the stage at the summit.
The one-day event with the theme “Enhancing the Nigerian Youth’s Value for National Security Intelligence” was a partnership between the police and UNESCO and was part of the International Youth Day commemoration.
Authorities said the summit was designed to examine the role of youths in national security matters and create room to enhance youth participation.
“Let us remain steadfast in our commitment to our youths,” Egbetokun told the gathering. “Together we must pledge to support, empower and create a brighter future for all. The task before us is indeed significant, but I am confident that with the collective strength, creativity and enthusiasm of our youth, coupled with the support of our partners, we’ll rise up to the challenge and make a meaningful impact.”
The summit featured interactive sessions between the police and youths on crime prevention, conflict resolution, social media and community engagement.
The summit followed recent protests in several cities, by mostly young people, over the spiraling cost of living.
The “Ten Days of Rage” protests began on August 1. Protesters blame Nigeria’s worsening economic situation on government policies, including the scrapping of fuel subsidies introduced last year.
At the summit, police authorities said that while the protesters might have had good intentions, the protests gave rise to criminal elements with ulterior motives.
Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu, president of UNESCO’s Read and Earn Federation, said Nigeria’s youth are a valuable asset.
“Our focus today is on youths recognizing themselves as change agents,” he said. “It is imperative that our young people understand their potential to influence and drive positive change. They are the ones who can bridge the gap between innovative approaches to national security because of their familiarity with technology, social media and contemporary communication tools. This will strategically lead to more effective community policing, improve intelligence gathering and enhance crisis response.”
The protests ebbed earlier than scheduled because of security crackdowns, but Amnesty International said at least 22 protesters were killed, mostly in northern Nigeria.
On Saturday, Nigeria’s minister of industry, trade and investment, Doris Nkiruka, said the country lost about $325 million per day during the protests.
Olanrewaju Fagbohun, a former professor and the co-founder of the RouQ and Company law firm, delivered a keynote address during the summit.
“There’s a trust gap in terms of security agencies and the youth,” he said. “When that protest was brewing and when it eventually happened, there were two forces at play — those with genuine grievances who wanted the nation to listen to them, and there where those who had mischievous purposes who wanted to use it for other agenda, and that is why this kind of conversation is very important.”
Authorities at the summit pledged to improve youth participation in national security matters.
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Sudanese warlords likely to be no-shows at Geneva peace talks
geneva — Prospects for a cease-fire deal emerging from planned U.S.-sponsored peace talks on Sudan this week are off the table for now, as the warring parties have not yet confirmed their attendance. The talks are set to take place in Geneva.
“We have had preliminary engagements with RSF. We have had extensive engagements with SAF. But they have not yet given us an affirmation, which would be necessary today for moving forward on the 14th,” Tom Perriello, U.S. special envoy for Sudan, told journalists Monday in Geneva.
By RSF, he was referring to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The SAF is the Sudanese Armed Forces. The two sides have been at war with each other since April 2023.
“We will move forward with our international partners to reach an action plan, a concrete action plan about how we can advance to a cessation of violence and have full humanitarian access, and a monitoring enforcement mechanism. These are long past due,” Perriello said.
“We could do more together if SAF commits to arriving with a delegation that can make decisions. We would prefer that option, and we will mediate with the parties if they choose to do so,” he said. “The RSF is not here as far as I know. But they have committed to participating if there is a commitment from SAF. We are continuing to keep those options open.”
The United Nations considers Sudan to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The catastrophic conflict that has engulfed Sudan has displaced more than 10.7 million people inside the country and forced 2 million to flee to neighboring countries for refuge.
A recent U.N. food assessment finds 25.6 million people, or half the country’s population, are facing acute hunger, and while 13 areas are at risk of famine, the U.N.’s Famine Review Committee has declared a famine in Zamzam camp near El Fasher in North Darfur.
Previous efforts to get Sudanese peace talks under way have failed. While uncertainty regarding the presence of the two warring parties hovers over this week’s talks, Perriello stressed, “We will move forward with this event on the 14th.”
“It is still our goal to do everything we can along with our Swiss and Saudi co-hosts, and the participation of Egypt, the UAE, African Union and the U.N., to make progress this week,” he said.
He noted that one particularly critical issue likely to be discussed is the desperate need to protect and get aid to thousands of people trapped in El Fasher, the site of intense fighting between the SAF and RSF.
“The United States has been extremely clear from the beginning of the siege of El Fasher that the RSF needed to stand down from that siege,” Perriello said.
“We have spent four weeks trying to negotiate a local cease-fire for humanitarian access agreement between the parties and we will continue to be very focused on anything we can do to get relief to the affected people of El Fasher,” he said. Perriello added this is not the only acute crisis in Sudan – a crisis that “has not been sufficiently heard by the international community.”
This first round of peace talks is expected to last up to 10 days. The U.S. envoy said the negotiations might involve a combination of proximity talks, but that it was his intention to have “at least some in-person conversations, which is by far the best opportunity to make progress.”
He added, “We will not be able to do in-person mediated talks with the parties if the parties are not there – even if only one party is not there.”
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South Korea deploys sniffer dog to screen for bedbugs after Paris Games
INCHEON, South Korea — South Korea has deployed a bedbug sniffer dog at its main Incheon international airport in a bid to reduce the risk of the tiny insects entering the country when athletes, officials and fans return from the Paris Olympics.
Leading the campaign is a beagle named Ceco, 2, who pest control company Cesco said is the first and so far only canine trained in the country to detect the odor of pheromones, the chemicals released by bedbugs.
Ceco is capable of sweeping a standard hotel room in under two minutes, company official Kim Min-su said.
The pest control company has teamed up with South Korea’s ministries of security and transportation, as well as the Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and is working with airlines and Incheon airport to screen travelers on arrival.
Last year, authorities in Paris raced to contain a nationwide panic over bedbugs as the city geared up for the Olympics, worried that the tiny wingless critters might ruin the event. It conducted a campaign to root out any infestation.
“As the global community is gathering in Paris, France, on the occasion of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, there’s a chance bedbugs will enter the country following the event,” a South Korean government press release said.
“Therefore, we are taking a preemptive response to intercept the entry through the Incheon international airport, which is the main gateway to the country.”
Ceco and his team were deployed on Friday as more athletes and officials started arriving from Paris, and they will continue to work through to September 8, the government said.
South Korea sent 144 athletes to the Olympics in Paris, which ended on Sunday.
Flights arriving directly from Paris are being disinfected once a week compared with a rate of once a month normally, and the airport quarantine service is being prepared to swing into action if an outbreak is detected in an aircraft or the airport.
South Korea also went through a period of national hysteria in 2023 after reports of suspected infestations at microapartments, motel rooms and a traditional spa called a “jjimjilbang,” and it conducted a widespread disinfection campaign.
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Conservationists say large-tusked elephants on Kenya-Tanzania border are endangered
Nairobi, Kenya — Scientists and conservationists in Kenya are sounding the alarm over the killing of elephants with large tusks. According to scientists, the elephants were killed by trophy hunters in Tanzania. They say other elephants in the group are in danger if they cross into Tanzania where hunting is allowed.
In a news briefing Monday, conservationists and scientists said five large-tusked elephants were targeted and killed in the last eight months by trophy hunters in Northern Tanzania.
They added that only 10 of the elephants, with tusks weighing 45 kilograms (100 pounds) each, remain in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, which has the highest density of the animals.
Conservationist Paula Kahumbu is the chief executive officer at Wildlife Direct.
“This is bigger than Kenya, this is bigger than Tanzania. It’s actually a global issue because elephants cannot speak for themselves. We as the people of the world have to speak for these elephants. They cannot go to court; they cannot go to the east African court,” she said.
In March, Tanzanian authorities issued controversial hunting permits for the large-tusked elephants, known as “super tuskers,” in the greater Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro border area.
Festus Ihwagi, a research scientist for conservation group Save the Elephants, called on Kenya to raise the issue with Tanzania.
“They may not overhaul it immediately but for the interest of cross border conservation initiatives it would be very good if our president engaged [with] his counterpart in Tanzania and we come up with an arrangement whereby no more hunting blocks are allowed within the defined range,” said Ihwagi.
To mark the August 12 World Elephant Day, the group of scientists say they have handed the Tanzanian government a global petition with over 500,000 signatures, calling for an end to trophy hunting along the country’s border with Kenya in Tanzania’s portion of the park.
In a telephone interview, Conservation Commissioner Mabula Misungwi Nyanda of the Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority said the hunters are required to follow protocol.
“Hunting depends on whether the procedure has been followed or not. If you found them, they would explain whether they follow the procedure or not, but the animals should be protected as required.” said Nyanda.
Kenya is home to over 2,000 different species of elephants. About 600 of them, conservationists say, cross over to Tanzania regularly.
Kenya has banned elephant hunting for more than four decades. Authorities hope the campaign to stop hunting the “super tuskers” in Tanzania will help save the remaining elephant families.
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Iran shows long-range drones at Russian event, state news reports
dubai, united arab emirates — Iran has put its long-range Mohajer-10 drones on display at a defense exhibit in Russia, Iran’s official news agency reported Monday.
U.S. officials have accused Iran of sending drones to Russia, including the Mohajer-10’s predecessor, the Mohajer-6, that Moscow had used in its invasion of Ukraine. Tehran denies this.
Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency said the more advanced system was being shown at the Army 2024 International Military-Technical Forum, an event that runs from Monday to Wednesday in Patriot Park outside Russia’s capital.
The report came as the Middle East braces for Iran’s threatened retaliation against Israel after the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
Iran released details of the Mohajer-10 system in August last year, saying it had an enhanced flight-range duration and could carry a greater payload.
A video accompanying that report showed the drone alongside other military hardware, with text saying “prepare your shelters” in both Hebrew and Persian.
According to Iranian media reports, the drone has an operational range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) and can fly for up to 24 hours. Its payload can reach 300 kilograms (661 pounds), double the capacity of the Mohajer-6, the reports have added.
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US to resume sales of ‘offensive’ weapons to Saudi Arabia
Washington — The United States said Monday it would resume sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, ending a yearslong suspension triggered by the kingdom’s bloody operations in Yemen.
With Saudi Arabia once again seen as a pivotal player for the United States as the Gaza war enters its 10th month, the State Department said it would return to weapons sales “in regular order with appropriate congressional notification and consultation.”
“Saudi Arabia has remained a close strategic partner of the United States, and we look forward to enhancing that partnership,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
President Joe Biden took office in 2021 pledging a new approach to Saudi Arabia that emphasizes human rights and immediately announced that the administration would only send “defensive” weaponry to the longtime U.S. partner.
The step came after thousands of civilians were estimated to be killed in Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen, including children, in a campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who have taken over much of the country.
But geopolitical considerations have changed markedly since then. The United Nations, with U.S. support, brokered a truce in early 2022 that has largely held.
Since the truce, “there has not been a single Saudi airstrike into Yemen and cross-border fire from Yemen into Saudi Arabia has largely stopped,” Patel said.
“The Saudis since that time have met their end of the deal, and we are prepared to meet ours,” Patel said.
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Elon Musk to interview Trump on X social media network
washington — Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is due to interview Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on the X social media network on Monday in an event that could inject more surprises into the turbulent U.S. presidential election.
The interview, scheduled for 8 p.m. Eastern Time (0000 Tuesday GMT), could provide the former president an opportunity to seize the limelight at a time when his campaign is seen as sagging.
His Democratic rival for the Nov. 5 election, Vice President Kamala Harris, has erased Trump’s lead in opinion polls and energized Democratic voters with a series of high-energy rallies.
The interview on Musk’s social media platform could allow Trump to reach a different audience than the conservative faithful who attend his rallies and watch his interviews on Fox News. However, similar events on the platform have been plagued by technical problems.
“Am going to do some system scaling tests tonight & tomorrow in advance of the conversation,” Musk wrote on the platform, formerly known as Twitter.
The interview will be hosted live using Trump’s official X account, his campaign said on Sunday. Trump’s access to his account, @realDonaldTrump, was restored a month into Musk’s ownership of X after being suspended by the platform’s previous owners following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress by his supporters.
Trump frequently posts on his Truth Social social media platform, which was launched in February 2022. On Monday morning, Trump returned to X for the first time in a year, posting an ad that highlighted his claim that the four criminal prosecutions he faces are politically motivated.
His last X post before Monday was one in August 2023 appealing for donations and showing a mug shot after he was booked at an Atlanta jail in relation to felony charges tied to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.
Musk could prove to be an unusual interviewer. The world’s richest person backed Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 but has tacked rightward since and endorsed the Republican following the attempted assassination of Trump in July.
Musk, who heads electric car company Tesla, also started a fundraising organization to support Trump’s campaign. The political action committee is now under investigation in Michigan for possible violations of state laws on gathering voter information.
Trump, a longstanding critic of electric vehicles, shifted gears after Musk’s endorsement.
“I’m for electric cars. I have to be, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice,” Trump said at an early August rally.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fein, campaigning in support of Harris, called Trump a “sellout.”
The Biden administration has worked to popularize electric vehicles through tax breaks and other support as part of its broader goal of reducing carbon emissions blamed for climate change.
Republicans in Congress have opposed those subsidies. Senator JD Vance, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, said the Biden policy merely subsidizes rich people who purchase the cars.
Advertisers have fled X since Musk bought it in 2022 and subsequently reduced content moderation that has resulted in a dramatic increase in hate speech, civil rights groups have said.
In the meantime, the entrepreneur has been involved in a swirl of additional controversies. He has falsely accused Biden and the Democratic Party of opening U.S. borders to undocumented immigrants in a ploy to boost the number of potential Democratic voters. Non-citizens are not allowed to vote in federal elections.
Musk in November 2023 endorsed an antisemitic post on X that said members of the Jewish community were stoking hatred against white people. He defended himself, saying the user was speaking “the actual truth.” Musk has also attacked the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that works to fight antisemitism, accusing it, without evidence, of being responsible for a drop in advertising on X.
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London police say man arrested after child and adult stabbed in busy square
London — A man has been arrested after an 11-year-old girl and a 34-year-old woman were stabbed in central London, London’s Metropolitan Police said Monday.
The attack occurred in Leicester Square, a magnet for tourists with its shops, theaters and cinemas. The square and surrounding area have an estimated 2.5 million visitors every week.
Police said the two victims were taken to a major trauma center. The extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.
The stabbing occurred as Britain is on edge after violence for the past week as crowds spouting anti-immigrant and Islamophobic slogans clashed with police. The disturbances have been fueled by right-wing activists who used social media to spread misinformation about a knife attack that killed three girls during a Taylor Swift-themed dance event.
It was not immediately clear whether the stabbing had any link to the unrest.
Police had been braced for further riots over the weekend, but no widespread unrest emerged. Ministers remained on high alert, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said, adding its work was not done in dealing with the fallout from the violence.
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