Month: July 2019

Ride-hailing application Uber, after successful launches in Ghana and Nigeria, is looking to expand in West Africa to Senegal’s capital, Dakar.  But in a city full of taxis, and drivers without smartphones, the Silicon Valley company will have to overcome a lot of challenges to make a profit.  From Dakar, VOA’s Esha Sarai reports. …

The world is dealing with climate refugees, people whose homes have been inundated by rising sea levels. But in Wales, residents of one seaside town are confused and angry because of a political decision to let nature have its way and let the town sink back into the sea. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta has defended a plea deal he helped broker with Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 in Florida. The billionaire financier, who socialized with U.S. President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton, is detained in New York where federal prosecutors have charged him with sex trafficking of minors between 2002 and 2005. Acosta is under pressure to step down because as U.S. attorney in Florida, he agreed to a mild sentence for Epstein. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.   …

The U.S. women’s national soccer team celebrated their second straight World Cup win in New York City Wednesday, riding as the guests of honor in a ticker-tape parade that drew throngs of fans. Tina Trinh reports. …

The Cambodian government is abolishing a controversial “hotel” prison project, according to Ministry of Interior officials. The government had announced earlier this month that it would soon open the new prison facilities, in which inmates can pay to stay. The facilities are said to be more comfortable than the regular cells at prison Prey Sar, which have been criticized for being severely overcrowded. Interior Minister Sar Kheng had dubbed the new prison complex a “hotel,” and at other times Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak called it a “5-star prison.” Construction started in 2017 by Kunn Rekon Holdings Co Ltd. But in a turn of events, Interior Ministry Department of Prisons spokesman Nouth Savna told Voice of America those plans would now be scrapped, pending official notification. “I think the whole paid idea, the concept … has been dropped,” he said. “But we need to go through a formal process with clearing with the company and informing the government. … There will be no paid prison.” Savna declined to elaborate further on reasons for canceling the plan, and multiple attempts to reach him later for comment failed. FILE – Cambodian land activist Tep Vanny speaks to journalists outside Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh, Aug. 21, 2018. Change of plans Earlier, Savna explained that the government was concerned the company, Kunn Rekon Holdings Co. Ltd., would not be able to meet international and national standards for the facility, which was initially designed to hold up to 400 prisoners, and would …

Thailand’s new civilian government will retain the power to arbitrarily detain critics despite the imminent easing of junta-era security controls, prompting warnings from rights groups of enduring “martial law”. Nearly 2,000 people have been tried in military courts since now-prime minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha seized power in a 2014 coup. The junta eased a ban on political activities last year in the run-up to national elections and the former army chief phased out dozens of additional junta-enacted orders Tuesday, transferring military cases to civilian courts. But the government retained over 100 orders — including the right for the military to detain suspects for seven days on national security grounds. “This is martial law used during an emergency crisis, but we’ve had elections and a new government so why is it still imposed?” said Anon Chalawan, of the legal monitoring group iLaw. Prayut, who was also officially endorsed by Thailand’s king Wednesday as defence minister, has called his original invoking of junta-era powers as a way of “solving problems”. But political analyst Titipol Phakdeewanich said the continuing restrictions showed that full democracy remained a distant prospect for Thais. “I think they know people will be more critical of this government,” he said. Thailand held elections in March, and Prayut holds a slim majority in the lower house through a coalition of almost 20 parties, which — together with a military-appointed Senate — voted him in as civilian prime minister. Prayut’s political opponents slammed the process, which included the temporary suspension from parliament …

Wealthy American financier Jeffrey Epstein, charged with sex trafficking in underage girls, is now confined to a cell in a fortress-like concrete tower jail that has been criticized by inmates and lawyers for harsh conditions. After his arrest on Saturday at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport on arrival from Paris in his private plane, Epstein was likely put in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan, according to defense lawyers and others familiar with the jail. “When you have someone that’s allegedly a sexual predator like Jeffrey Epstein, he’ll need to be in protective custody,” Andrew Laufer, a lawyer who has represented MCC inmates in civil lawsuits against prison officials, said in an interview. Epstein pleaded not guilty in the nearby federal court on Monday to one count of sex trafficking and one count of sex trafficking conspiracy. He will remain in jail at least until a bail hearing on July 15. Federal prosecutors have said he is a flight risk because of his wealth and international ties. In the past, Epstein, 66, was known for socializing with politicians and royalty, with friends who have included U.S. President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and, according to court papers, Britain’s Prince Andrew. None of those people was mentioned in the indictment and prosecutors declined to comment on anyone said to be associated with Epstein. US: Once-Secret Jeffrey Epstein Sex Offender Deal Must Stand Some victims claim the deal, known as a non-prosecution agreement or NPA, should be …

The Justice Department can’t replace nine lawyers so late in the dispute over whether to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census without explaining why it’s doing so, a judge says. U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman, who earlier this year ruled against adding the citizenship question, put the brakes on the government’s plan on Tuesday, a day after he was given a three-paragraph notification by the Justice Department along with a prediction that the replacement of lawyers wouldn’t “cause any disruption in this matter.”   “Defendants provide no reasons, let alone `satisfactory reasons,’ for the substitution of counsel,” Furman wrote, noting that the most immediate deadline for government lawyers to submit written arguments in the case is only three days away.   The judge said local rules for federal courts in New York City require that any attorney requesting to leave a case provide satisfactory reasons for withdrawing. The judge must then decide what impact a lawyer’s withdrawal will have on the timing of court proceedings.   He called the Justice Department’s request “patently deficient,” except for two lawyers who have left the department or the civil division which is handling the case.   President Donald Trump tweeted about the judge’s decision Tuesday night, questioning whether the attorney change denial was unprecedented.   “So now the Obama appointed judge on the Census case (Are you a Citizen of the United States?) won’t let the Justice Department use the lawyers that it wants to use. Could this be a …

They don’t talk to each other much, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But they’re lately speaking at one another in a way that threatens party unity and underscores broader tensions reshaping the Democrats. Their power struggle has spilled open in what could be a momentary blip or a foreshadowing of divisions to come. It started with a rare public rebuke — Pelosi chiding AOC, as she’s called, in a newspaper interview; AOC responding pointedly on Twitter — that’s now challenging the House agenda and rippling into the 2020 presidential campaign. A new test will come this week on a must-pass defense bill that the White House on Tuesday threatened to veto. At its core, the tension between the most powerful Democrat in the country and one of the party’s newest, most liberal members embodies a debate over how best, in style and substance, to defeat President Donald Trump. And both sides think they’re right. For allies of the longtime California congresswoman, Pelosi’s off-handed dismissal of Ocasio-Cortez and the three other liberal freshmen House members who opposed a border security package last month was a necessary comeuppance for “the squad” of newcomers who are trying to push the party leftward. “These people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi told The New York Times. “But they didn’t have any following.” In the speaker’s world, they lack what Pelosi often calls “the currency of the realm” — the power to turn their high-volume activism into a coalition …

Nigeria’s President Muhammadi Buhari will submit his cabinet nominees this week, the senate president said on Wednesday. The senate must vet and approve the nominees, and it is scheduled to go into recess until September by the end of the month. …

A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled President Donald Trump cannot silence critics on his Twitter account, maintaining that blocking them violates the Constitution’s right to free speech. The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled in a 3-0 decision Tuesday the First Amendment prohibits Trump from blocking critics from his account, a public platform. On behalf of the three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Barrington Parker wrote “The First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise-open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees.” Trump has used his Twitter account, which has more than 60-million followers, to promote his agenda and to attack critics. The court ruled on a lawsuit filed by Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute on behalf of seven people who were blocked by Trump after criticizing his policies. Institute director Jameel Jaffer said the ruling “will ensure that people aren’t excluded from these forums simply because of their viewpoints” and added “It will help ensure the integrity and vitality of digital spaces that are increasingly important to our democracy.” Justice Department spokesman Kelly Laco said the agency is “disappointed with the ruling and is “exploring possible next steps.” He reiterated the administrations’ argument that “Trump’s decision to block users from his personal Twitter account does not violate the First Amendment.” The decision upheld a May 2018 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern …

The political action committee for a group founded by former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has reported raising $3.9 million in the past six months. Abrams founded Fair Fight to support voting rights after narrowly losing to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in November. She accused Kemp of using his previous position as Georgia’s chief election officer to suppress votes in their race, which Kemp has vehemently denied. The report filed Monday with the state ethics commission shows Fair Fight PAC has raised $4.1 million since its inception and made $3 million in expenditures, leaving $1.1 million in cash on hand. Expenditures include more than $1.2 million given to the group’s nonprofit arm and $100,000 given to abortion rights groups after Georgia’s passage of a restrictive abortion ban. They also include political contributions to various candidates, payments to consultants, staff salaries and travel expenses. Many of the contributions came from small donors around the country. The group says that it has had more than 15,000 individual contributions from all 50 states. The largest contribution was over $1 million from Silicon Valley-based physician and philanthropist Karla Jurvetson. The group banked another $250,000 from the Service Employees International Union, a labor union with 2 million members in service occupations including within the health care industry.    “Fair Fight PAC is grateful for the overwhelming support we have received from across Georgia and around the country,” Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo said in a statement. “Fair Fight is advocating for voting rights, supporting …

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are teaming up on a plan that would designate climate change as an emergency, and at least one of Sanders’ fellow Democratic presidential candidates is planning to sign on. The measure to be introduced in the House on Tuesday is designed to highlight Democrats’ focus on global warming and push back against President Donald Trump, who’s declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.   Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is competing with Sanders for the support of liberal voters in the presidential primary, plans to sign onto the resolution when it’s introduced in the Senate, according to a spokeswoman. Sanders tells reporters that “strong American leadership” is needed to compel effective worldwide action on climate change.   …

The House Judiciary Committee said Tuesday it was preparing subpoenas of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and former attorney general Jeff Sessions as it probes Trump’s alleged obstruction of the Russia investigation. The Democrat-led committee said it intends to authorize subpoenas of up to 12 current and former administration officials if they don’t readily agree to testify in its investigation. The officials also include former national security advisor Mike Flynn, former White House chief of staff John Kelly, former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, and former White House deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn. Committee chairman Jerry Nadler said they wanted to question the individuals on Trump’s actions to interfere with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian election meddling investigation, as well as about the administration’s policy of separating families who arrive in the country as undocumented immigrants. The committee wants to question them “as part of our ongoing investigation into obstruction, corruption and abuse of power by the president and his associates,” Nadler said in a statement. The committee recently interviewed two top sources for Mueller’s investigation, former senior White House officials Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson. Both provided Mueller significant information supporting his depiction of a number of alleged acts of obstruction by Trump. But in closed-door interviews with the committee, both refused to answer numerous questions on the same subject, saying the White House had directed them not to reply based on a claim of Executive Branch “confidentiality interests.”   …

Uma Valeti slices into a pan-fried chicken cutlet in the kitchen of his startup, Memphis Meats. He sniffs the tender morsel on his fork before taking a bite. He chews slowly, absorbing the taste. “Our chicken is chicken … you’ve got to taste it to believe it,” Valeti says. This is no ordinary piece of poultry. No chicken was raised or slaughtered to harvest the meat. It was produced in a laboratory by extracting cells from a chicken and feeding them in a nutrient broth until the cell culture grew into raw meat. Memphis Meats, based in Emeryville, California, is one of a growing number of startups worldwide that are making cell-based or cultured meat. They want to offer an alternative to traditional meat production that they say is damaging the environment and causing unnecessary harm to animals, but they are far from becoming mainstream and face pushback from livestock producers. “You are ultimately going to continue the choice of eating meat for many generations to come without putting undue stress on the planet,” said Valeti, a former cardiologist who co-founded Memphis Meats in 2015 after seeing the power of stem cells to treat disease. The company, which also has produced cell-grown beef and duck, has attracted investments from food giants Cargill and Tyson Foods as well as billionaires Richard Branson and Bill Gates. A report released in June by consulting firm A.T. Kearney predicts that by 2040, cultured meat will make up 35 percent of meat consumed worldwide, while …

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is among the least popular since the country’s return to democracy three decades ago, but his rating in a poll released on Monday showed his numbers stabilizing. The Datafolha polling institute found that 33% of respondents said Bolsonaro was doing a “great or good” job. That is technically tied with the 32% in an April Datafolha poll. Those who think Bolsonaro is doing a “bad or awful” job rose to 33% from 30% in the April poll. The latest polls show Bolsonaro technically tied with former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso as the leader with the least support at this point in his first term. Thirty-four percent of those asked by Datafolha in June 1995 thought Cardoso was doing “good or great.” The poll of 2,086 people across Brazil on July 4-5 has a margin of error of 2 percentage points. Bolsonaro easily won last year’s election over leftist rival Fernando Haddad, who stepped in to take the top place on the Workers Party ticket after a graft conviction prevented imprisoned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from running. Datafolha polls last year showed Lula far more popular than Bolsonaro – even after he had been imprisoned. Lula’s conviction has come under scrutiny since the publication of leaked messages last month by news website The Intercept Brasil showed former federal judge and current Justice Minister Sergio Moro stepping over ethical, and possibly legal, lines by coaching the prosecution in Lula’s trial. Moro, who presided over …