Month: July 2019

The Trump administration's new asylum rule survived an initial court challenge Wednesday, keeping in place a directive that disqualifies a significant proportion of mostly Central American asylum-seekers who reach the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly denied requests to block the rule while a pending court case goes forward, saying, "It's in the greater public interest to allow the administration to carry out its immigration policy."  Announced earlier this month, the new rule bars asylum for migrants who reach the U.S. southern border without having applied for and been denied asylum in any country they passed through on their way to the United States. FILE - A group of Central American migrants surrenders to U.S. Border Patrol Agents south of the U.S.-Mexico border fence in El Paso, Texas,…

The Gulf of Guinea is a hot spot for illegal activities, which affect global trade and security. This week a conference in Ghana’s capital, Accra, seeks solutions to overcome issues that plague the region. Experts say collaboration will be the focus of a seaborne law enforcement effort. On board the USNS Carson City, which is visiting Sekondi, in Ghana's Western Region, Admiral James Foggo thanked the American crew, telling personnel how important its role is in building partnerships and bringing security to the Gulf of Guinea - a coastal region of West and Central Africa. The ship arrived for a port visit Sunday as part of the U.S. Navy’s effort to support African navies in anti-piracy, small boat maintenance and marine law enforcement. Personnel from Spanish, Portuguese and Italian forces…

Australian researchers are looking to Africa and the Middle East for drought- and heat-resistant crops as many grain farmers face another failed season. Key farming regions in southern Queensland are forecast to miss their third winter grain crop in a row. The national crop this year is expected to be about 10 percent below the 10-year average. Australia's Grains Research and Development Corporation, the GRDC, is carrying out a global search for climate-proof grains. GRDC's northern panel chairman, John Minogue, says crops in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa could be adapted to help farmers become more resilient in the face of a warming climate and less rainfall. "We have got people in Syria, in Africa, in all of the parts of the world, which have historically…

Venezuela's National Assembly approved a law returning the OPEC nation to a regional defense treaty on Tuesday, but opposition leader Juan Guaido sought to tamp down supporters' hopes it could lead to President Nicolas Maduro's imminent downfall. Opposition hardliners had been pressuring Guaido to join the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, as a precursor to requesting a foreign military intervention to oust Maduro, a socialist who has overseen an economic collapse and is accused of human rights violations. "The TIAR is not magic, it is not a button that we press and then tomorrow everything is resolved," Guaido told a rally of supporters in Caracas, using the treaty's Spanish initials. "In itself it is not the solution - it obliges us to take…

President Donald Trump on Tuesday told young people a number of falsehoods he's been relating to adults for months and took a misleading swipe at the female Democratic lawmakers he's trying to turn into foils. A sampling of his remarks at a Turning Point USA gathering of conservative youth: Trump, on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York: "She called our country and our people garbage. She said garbage. That's worse than deplorable. Remember deplorable?" The facts: Ocasio-Cortez did not label people "garbage." She did use that term, somewhat indirectly, to describe the state of the country. Arguing for a liberal agenda at a South by Southwest event in March, she said the U.S. shouldn't settle for centrist policies because they would produce only marginal improvement — "10% better" than the…

Most Americans think that tanking levels of distrust in the government and in other people are hindering efforts to solve pervasive, persistent issues, ranging from immigration and racism to healthcare, taxes and voting rights. Pew Research Center released results for the poll on Monday. It was conducted from November to December 2018 and included over 10,000 adults. “Many people no longer think the federal government can actually be a force for good or change in their lives,” Pew quoted one survey participant as saying. “This kind of apathy and disengagement will lead to an even worse and less representative government.” Nearly 70% of Americans say the federal government purposely withholds information that it could safely release, and a further 64% say that when elected officials speak, it’s hard to tell…

South Korea says it fired warning shots at a Russian military aircraft after the plane breached South Korea's airspace. South Korea's Defense Ministry says three Russian aircraft entered its air defense identification zone early Tuesday morning off its east coast before one of them breached the airspace. South Korean air force jets were deployed to intercept the plane and forced the Russian plane to leave the airspace.  But the aircraft violated the airspace 20 minutes later, and stayed briefly before South Korean fighter jets fired another warning shot. The ministry says it was the first time a Russian military aircraft violated South Korean airspace. Two Chinese aircraft also flew into the South's air defense identification zone off the east coast hours earlier. The ministry says it will summon both Russian…

Brazil seized 25.3 tons of cocaine bound for Europe and Africa in the first half of 2019, up more than 90 percent on the same period last year, officials said Monday. Nearly half of the drugs were found at Santos port in southern Brazil, not far from where police recently arrested two men suspected of belonging to Italian mafia 'Ndrangheta. Customs officials attributed the increase in seizures to better intelligence and increased vigilance along Brazil's borders. "Last year we seized 31.4 tons of cocaine, a record that we will surely beat again," Arthur Cazella told AFP.  The amount of cannabis confiscated more than doubled to 10.2 tons in the January-June period, up from 3.9 tons year-on-year. Brazil, which has some 17,000 kilometers (10,500 miles)of land borders, is an important hub…

Four Turkish nationals have been kidnapped at gunpoint in central Nigeria, police said on Monday, in the latest such incident in the country. Gunmen stormed a bar in the village of Gbale in the state of Kwara and seized the men on Saturday, national police spokesman Frank Mba told AFP. "We are working frantically to secure their release," he added. Mba did not say if any ransom demands have been made. Local media said the Turks were working for a construction firm in the state. Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria, especially in the oil-rich south and the northwest. The victims are usually released after a ransom is paid although police rarely confirm if money changes hands. Earlier this month, two Chinese nationals were kidnapped in the southern state…

Poland's politicians are condemning violence against the first LGBT rights parade through the eastern city of Bialystok. Police said Monday that 28 “hooligans” have been detained and have heard charges of disturbing a legal gathering. Local police have published images of at least two more men suspected of having thrown bottles and stones at police and at the marchers Saturday.  Police responded with tear gas. The interior minister in the right-wing government, Elzbieta Witek, and the deputy prime minister Beata Szydlo, have condemned the violence and spoke in favor of tolerance.   The spokesman for Poland's Roman Catholic Church said that “violence and contempt” can't be accepted.   The government has tolerated marches by far-right extremists in Bialystok in the past.   ...

Puerto Rico braced early Monday for what many people expected to be one of the biggest protests ever seen in the U.S. territory as irate islanders pledged to drive Gov. Ricardo Rossello from office. Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to take over one of the island's busiest highways Monday morning to press demands for the resignation of Rossello over an obscenity-laced leaked online chat the governor had with allies as well as federal corruption charges leveled against his administration.   FILE - Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello speaks during a press conference in La Fortaleza's Tea Room, in San Juan, July 16, 2019. The anticipated march in the capital of San Juan came a day after Rossello announced that he would not quit, but sought to calm the…

Ireland's Shane Lowry won golf's British Open on Sunday, his first career major championship, in front of thousands of cheering fans at Northern Ireland's Royal Portrush course alongside the Atlantic Ocean. The bearded, 32-year-old Lowry led going in to the final round of professional golf's last major championship of the year by four shots and was never seriously challenged. He finished the 72-hole tournament at 15 under par, shooting a one-over par 72 in gusty winds and intermittent rain during the last day of the four-day event. His playing partner, Britain's Tommy Fleetwood, started Sunday in second and finished second, but six shots behind Lowry, with a final round 74. As the Irish throngs cheered Lowry's final tap-in par on the last hole, Lowry raised his arms to the leaden…

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition secured a majority in Japan's upper house of parliament in elections Sunday, according to vote counts by public television and other media. Exit polls indicated Abe could even close in on the super-majority needed to propose constitutional revisions. NHK public television said Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito had won 64 seats in the upper house after two hours of vote counting. The two-thirds majority needed for constitutional revision could be within reach if the ruling bloc can gain support from members of another conservative party and independents.     Up for grabs were 124 seats in the less powerful of Japan's two parliamentary chambers. There are 245 seats in the upper house — which does not choose the prime minister — about…

U.S. authorities say a Venezuelan fighter jet ``aggressively shadowed'' an American intelligence plane flying in international airspace over the Caribbean, underscoring rising tensions between the two nations.  The U.S. Southern Command said Sunday that Venezuela's action demonstrates reckless behavior by President Nicolas Maduro, whose government accused the U.S. of breaking international rules.   U.S. authorities say their EP-3 plane was performing a multi-nationally approved mission and the Venezuelan SU-30 fighter jet closely trailed the plane, which the U.S. says endangered its crew.   Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez says the U.S. plane entered Venezuelan airspace without prior notification.   He says it also endangered commercial flights from Venezuela's main airport.   The U.S. backs opposition leader Juan Guaido's attempt to oust Maduro.         ...

MIAMI — American crocodiles, once headed toward extinction, are thriving at an unusual spot — the canals surrounding a South Florida nuclear plant.  Last week, 73 crocodile hatchlings were rescued by a team of specialists at Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant and dozens more are expected to emerge soon.  Turkey Point’s 168-mile (270-kilometer) man-made canals serve as the home to several hundred crocodiles, where a team of specialists working for FPL monitors and protects them from hunting and climate change.  From January to April, Michael Lloret, an FPL wildlife biologist and crocodile specialist, helps create nests for the creatures. Once the hatchlings are reared and left by the mother, the team captures them. They are measured and tagged with microchips to observe their development. Lloret then relocates…

TOKYO — Japanese voters cast ballots Sunday in an upper house election, with Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc looking to protect its majority and keep on track plans to amend the country's pacifist constitution.    Abe, 64, who is on course to become Japan's longest-serving prime minister, is also hoping to shore up his mandate ahead of a crucial consumption tax hike later this year, along with trade negotiations with Washington.    Opinion polls suggest his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner Komeito are likely to win a majority, mostly because of a lackluster opposition.    Sunday's vote is for half the seats in the House of Councilors — the less powerful house of parliament — and polling stations across the country open at 7 a.m. (2200 GMT Saturday). …

ABUJA — Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari condemns the killing of 37 people by bandits in the northwestern state of Sokoto, his spokesman said Saturday in a statement.  Armed gangs have killed hundreds of people in northwest Nigeria this year and forced at least 20,000 to flee to neighboring Niger, adding to security problems in a country also struggling with an Islamist insurgency in the northeast and clashes between farmers and herders in central states.  “President Muhammadu Buhari strongly condemns the killing of 37 innocent people by bandits in the Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State,” the presidency said in the statement.  Local media said the attacks took place late Friday.  Troops have been deployed to the areas hit in the latest flashpoint, the presidency statement said. Military and police have been dispatched to…

Summer in the city is hot. How hot? A team at the University of Georgia is developing a way to map how hot it is in so-called urban heat islands, down to the level of individual street blocks. Faith Lapidus reports. ...

Fifty years ago, two American astronauts became the first humans to walk on the Moon. But before humans had left Earth, animal astronauts had blazed a trail into space. VOA’s Kerry Hensley has more. ...

Many victims of an arson attack on an animation studio in the western Japanese city of Kyoto were young with bright futures, some joining only in April, the company president said Saturday, as the death told climbed to 34. Thursday’s attack on Kyoto Animation, famous in Japan and overseas for its series and movies, was the worst mass killing in two decades in a country with some of the world’s lowest crime rates. Company president Hideaki Hatta said many of the victims were young women. “Some of them joined us just in April. And on the eighth of July, I gave them a small, but their first, bonus,” he said. “People who had a promising future lost their lives. I don’t know what to say. Rather than feeling anger, I…

Hundreds of Catholics gathered in the nation's capital to protest the federal government's treatment of migrants, and about 70 sisters, clergy and parishioners were arrested. The Washington Post reports protesters armed with photos of migrant children who died in federal custody recited The Lord's Prayer as they demonstrated in the Russell Senate Office Building on Thursday. The children's names rang out as some protesters laid on the floor in the shape of a cross.   This is the second time this week people of faith protested in the District and called for the dissolution of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and an end to crowded detainment centers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Dozens of protesters blocked access to the ICE headquarters Tuesday and 10 were arrested on charges of unlawful entry.  …

South African singer and musician Johnny Clegg, one of the loudest voices in pop during the anti-apartheid movement, is being widely mourned in the country following his death earlier this week.   The so-called “White Zulu” -- so named for his use of indigenous South African music and dance – passed away at age 66, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Musician Sipho Mchunu was just 17 when he met the young man who would change his life -- and South Africa’s music scene.   Mchunu was walking down the street when Clegg, just 16, approached him and asked him to sing him a song. He did, and the rest, he says, is history: the two formed a band, Juluka, and became known for their inventive use of Zulu songs…

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee who will question former special counsel Robert Mueller next week plan to focus on a narrow set of episodes laid out in his report, an effort to direct Americans' attention to what they see as the most egregious examples of President Donald Trump's conduct. The examples from the Mueller report include Trump's directions to White House counsel Donald McGahn to have Mueller removed and, later, orders from Trump to McGahn to deny that happened. Democrats also will focus questioning on a series of meetings Trump had with former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in which the Republican president directed Lewandowski to persuade then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit Mueller's investigation. Mueller laid out several episodes in which Trump tried to influence his investigation and wrote…

VALLETTA, MALTA — Three suspects were formally charged this week in the 2017 slaying of Maltese anti-corruption journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia.    Brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio and Vince Muscat, all in their 50s, were arrested in December 2017. The Justice Ministry's confirmation of the charges, which allows a trial to be held, came Tuesday, days before a 20-month deadline.    The public prosecutor now has another 20 months to set a date for the trial, which legal experts said might not take place for years.    Late last week, the government of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, at the recommendation of the Council of Europe, said it would create a public commission of inquiry within two months that would investigate whether the Oct. 16, 2017, attack could have been prevented.   …

House lawmakers voted Wednesday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. In a vote that mostly followed party lines, House members passed the Raise The Wage Act, the first minimum wage increase since 2009. The measure has not yet come up in the Senate. The bill would more than double the national minimum wage over the next 6 years, a marked increase from the current $7.25 federal minimum wage. The bill would also raise the minimum wage for tipped employees to the same level from the current $2.13 an hour. In the 231-to-199 vote, three Republican representatives joined the majority and voted for the bill, while six Democrats voted against it. "This is about workers, it's about their economic and financial security and today is a bright…

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that China's mistreatment of its Uighur Muslim minority had created one of the most significant human rights crises in contemporary world history.    Speaking at a conference on religious freedom in Washington, Pompeo said, "China is home to one of the worst human rights crises of our time" and that "it is truly the stain of the century."    The nation's top diplomat also accused Chinese government officials of intimidating countries to keep them from attending the conference and said the U.S. had "taken note" of the countries that succumbed to China. While not naming them, Pompeo urged the countries to "find the courage" to stand up to China.    Pompeo said earlier this week that representatives of more than 100 countries…

The heat wave that has been roasting much of the U.S. in recent days is just getting warmed up, with temperatures expected to soar to dangerous levels through the weekend. Communities are preparing by offering buildings as cooling centers and asking residents to check in on relatives and neighbors. Officials also are concerned about smog, which is exacerbated by the heat and makes it more difficult for certain people to breathe, including the very young, the elderly and people with asthma or lung diseases. More than 100 local heat records are expected to fall Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Most won't be record daily highs but record-high nighttime lows, and that lack of cooling can be dangerous, meteorologists say. Temperatures in parts of the East won't drop below…

The lawyer and family of Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani physician who helped the United States track down former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, told VOA that Afridi continues to suffer in prison under dire conditions. Qamar Nadeem, Afridi’s lawyer, expressed optimism that the fate of his client would be discussed during the planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan next week at the White House. “Dr. Afridi can’t sleep properly, due to harsh conditions and sweltering heat, as there is no window in the cell where he is kept,” Nadeem said. “Imran Khan is visiting the U.S., but if Dr. Afridi remains in pain, then I think the visit won’t be a success.” Speaking to VOA, Jamil Afridi, Shakil Afridi’s brother, expressed frustration that…