Author: Selleco

The U.S. and Poland signed an agreement on Monday to cooperate on new 5G technology amid growing concerns about Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. Vice President Mike Pence and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki signed the deal in Warsaw, where Pence is filling in for President Donald Trump, who scrapped his trip at the last minute because of Hurricane Dorian.   The signing comes amid a global battle between the U.S. and Huawei, the world’s biggest maker of network infrastructure equipment, over network security.   The agreement endorses the principles developed by cybersecurity officials from dozens of countries at a summit in Prague earlier this year to counter threats and ensure the safety of next generation mobile networks.    “Protecting these next generation communications networks from disruption or manipulation and ensuring the privacy and individual liberties of the citizens of the United States, Poland, and other countries is of vital importance,” the agreement says.   Pence said the agreement would “set a vital example for the rest of Europe.”   The U.S. has been lobbying allies to ban Huawei from 5G networks over concerns China’s government could force the company to give it access to data for cyberespionage. Huawei has denied the allegation.   The U.S. has called for an outright ban on Huawei, but European allies have balked.   A senior Trump administration official told reporters during a briefing ahead of the trip that the agreement would help ensure secure supply chains and networks and protect against unauthorized access or …

Atop a string of green mountains in Saudi Arabia, a monthlong festival drew a medley of yoga enthusiasts, extreme adventure seekers, tourists and traditional Saudi families — many wearing colorful flower crowns native to the region as the kingdom looks for ways to revamp its image and build up tourism. The al-Soudah festival, which ran throughout the month of August, gave visitors a chance to experience a unique region in Saudi Arabia and take part in outdoor sports like hiking, mountain biking, paragliding, horseback riding, zip lining and bungee jumping. Thousands also attended concerts by Middle Eastern superstars. Scenes of women zip lining and young Saudis at concerts, while nevertheless in a remote village, are a stark departure from the ultraconservative policies that for decades barred concerts and gender mixing, as well as shunned women’s sports in the kingdom. The reforms are being pushed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the king’s powerful 34-year-old son. He is looking to revamp the country’s economy to become more resilient in the face of lower oil prices. Boosting domestic spending and opening the country to foreign tourists are seen as ways to create more jobs for the millions of young Saudis who will be entering the workforce and looking for jobs in the coming years. Saudi tourists wear helmets and keep their faces and hair covered according to local custom, as they pose for a photo before zip lining between cliffs, during the al-Soudah festival in Abha, southwest Saudi Arabia, Aug. 23, 2019. …

Afghan officials say U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Monday in Kabul to share details of a draft U.S.-Taliban peace agreement, but did not hand a copy of the deal to the president. Afghan presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told reporters that Khalilzad shared all the important details in the document and that the government will discuss it internally. Further discussions with Khalilzad’s team are expected to continue. Khalilzad announced Sunday via Twitter he had concluded the ninth round of peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar and was leaving for Kabul to brief Afghan leaders in his discussions with the insurgents. FILE – Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia, May 28, 2019. Members of Khalilzad team remained in Doha and some technician level talks took place on Sunday, said Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen. “We are at the threshold of an agreement that will reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together to negotiate an honorable & sustainable peace and a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does not threaten the United States, its allies, or any other country,” Khalilzad tweeted. In the midst of the negotiations, the Taliban continued to launch attacks.   On Sunday, the insurgents attacked its second city in two days. Officials in Baghlan province said the insurgents were on the outskirts of the capital. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said its fighters stormed Afghan security posts around Pul-e-Khumri and were inside …

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the United States will continue to support Ukraine in the country’s conflict with Russia and its right to full territorial integrity. Washington “stands with the people of Ukraine and most especially since 2014, we have stood strongly for the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Pence said after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Warsaw on Sunday. “And I can assure you that we will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine on your security, on territorial integrity, including Ukraine’s rightful claim to Crimea,” Pence said. The United States is an important ally for Kyiv, having imposed sanctions on Russia for annexing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backing pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine’s east. Pence and Zelenskiy were in Warsaw for commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II. U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton said on a recent visit to Kyiv that President Donald Trump could meet Zelenskiy in Warsaw this weekend. However, Trump cancelled his plans to attend the event in Poland, citing Hurricane Dorian, which is set to make landfall in Florida this weekend. …

Hurricane Dorian, a dangerous Category 5 storm, made landfall in the northwestern Bahamas Sunday, slamming the island with 295 kilometer an hour winds. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Dorian is the strongest hurricane in modern history to hit the area and warned “catastrophic conditions” are occurring in the Abaco Islands. The hurricane agency had said the storm’s advance is expected to slow over the next day or two, followed by a gradual turn to the northwest as it edges closer to southeastern U.S. state of Florida Hurricane Dorian Lashes Northern Bahamas US forecasters call storm’s 260-kilometer-an-hour winds ‘catastrophic’ “It’s going to stall out…and it hasn’t even touched Florida or the southeast (U.S.) coast,” Peter Gaynor, acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told Fox News Sunday. “You’ve got to take this storm seriously.” He said emergency officials have been briefing President Donald Trump or his aides on an hourly basis on the storm’s advance. “He has his finger on the pulse,” Gaynor said. Trump visited FEMA headquarters Sunday, where he urged everyone in “Hurricane Dorian’s path to heed all warnings and evacuation orders from local authorities.” Dorian is expected to move near or over Grand Bahama Island on Sunday night and into Monday and “should move closer to the Florida east coast late Monday through Tuesday night.” The hurricane agency said the storm could dump as much as 76 centimeters of rain on the northwestern Bahamas, with life-threatening storm surges pushing tides as much as seven meters above …

Marvelous Nyahuye contributed to this report from New York. WASHINGTON –  Tererai Trent appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2009 and inspired the world with her story of overcoming enormous odds to pursue her dreams of education. This week, she finds herself immortalized alongside Winfrey with a bronze statue in New York City. She is the only African woman to have received this honor. The Zimbabwean educator and humanitarian is one of 10 “Statues For Equality” created by sculptors Gillie and Marc Schattner. Trent’s statue depicts her with her arms aloft, surrounded by the flame lily, the country’s national flower. “It comes without saying that, by projecting these women into larger-than-life-size sculptures, it will help change our society — a change that will elevate the lives of women all around the world. A change that can trigger gender equality in careers, industries and the home,” Gillie Schattner said at the ceremony. “I come from a very poor place, and I grew up very poor. I had four babies before I was even 18 years of age, and to think that because of the power of believing in a dream and today I am being celebrated,” Trent said. “And to think I have a statue in New York, the most celebrated city in the world? It’s just unbelievable. Even my own grandmother and my mother never dreamt of that.” Trent grew up in a village and was denied an education because she was a girl, like her mother and grandmother …

The U.S. and China imposed new tariffs on each other’s exported goods on Sunday, the latest skirmish in the lengthy and contentious trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. U.S. President Donald Trump levied 15% taxes on about $112 billion worth of Chinese exported products headed to the United States, with the tariffs likely resulting in higher prices paid by U.S. shoppers on some foods, sports equipment, sportswear, musical instruments and furniture. Meanwhile, Beijing started adding 5% and 10% tariffs on some of the $75 billion worth of U.S. exports being sent to China that it has said it will tax in the tit-for-tat tariff war with Washington. Initially, China said the American export of frozen sweet corn, pork liver, marble and bicycle tires were among the more the 1,700 products it would tax. Trump on Friday ruled out any delay in the new tariffs on the imported Chinese goods, saying, “They’re on.” As they took effect Sunday, Trump declared, “We can’t allow China to rip us off anymore.” China’s official Xinhua news agency said, “The United States should learn how to behave like a responsible global power and stop acting as a ‘school bully.’ As the world’s only superpower, it needs to shoulder its due responsibility, and join other countries in making this world a better and more prosperous place. Only then can America become great again.” FILE – Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, sits with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, second from left, and Treasury Secretary …

     The pro-Iranian Lebanese group Hezbollah fired several anti-tank missiles at an Israeli army base and a military ambulance, but there were no casualties, according to the Israeli army. The army said several of the missiles struck their targets and Israel fired dozens of mortars at Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. For the past week, Israel has been bracing for a Hezbollah attack, since an Israeli airstrike that targeted what Israel said was an Iranian plot to bomb northern Israel with armed drones. That attack killed several Iranian fighters, including two members of Hezbollah, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had threatened retaliation.   That came with several anti-tank missiles fired at northern Israel that hit an army base and a military ambulance but did not cause casualties. Hezbollah said the target was an armored personnel carrier and there were injuries.   In a news conference with the visiting president of Honduras, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked relieved that the Hezbollah strike had not caused casualties.   He said that Israel responded to the attack and that he has ordered the army to be ready to respond to any scenario.   An army spokesman said Israel had launched more than 100 airstrikes at Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.   Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri asked the international community to intervene to stop the attacks.   Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff and current Knesset member, said Hezbollah did not want a war with Israel.   He said …

A list of some of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States in the last two years:    — Aug. 31, 2019: Five people were killed in West Texas in shootings in the area of Midland and Odessa.    — Aug. 4, 2019: A gunman wearing body armor shot and killed nine people at a popular nightlife area in Dayton, Ohio. Police were patrolling the area and killed the suspect.     — Aug. 3, 2019: A gunman opened fire at a shopping center in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people and injuring more than two dozen. A suspect was taken into custody.    — May 31, 2019: Longtime city worker DeWayne Craddock opened fire in a building that houses Virginia Beach government offices. He killed 12 people and wounded several others before police shot him.    — Feb. 15, 2019: Gary Martin killed five co-workers at a manufacturing plant in Aurora, Illinois, during a disciplinary meeting where he was fired. He wounded one other employee and five of the first police officers to arrive at the suburban Chicago plant before he was killed during a shootout with police.    — Nov. 7, 2018: Ian David Long killed 12 people at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, California, before taking his own life. Long was a Marine combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan.   FILE – Flowers and other items are left as memorials outside the Tree of Life synagogue, Nov. 3, 2018, following a mass shooting there in Pittsburgh, …

Read more at https://projects.voanews.com/election-2020/english/candidates/background.html …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s next round of tariffs on Chinese imports is scheduled to take effect Sunday, escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies with a big hit to consumer goods. Trump has targeted about $300 billion in annual goods imports from China for 15% tariffs in two parts, on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15. If fully imposed, virtually all Chinese imports, worth about $550 billion, would be subject to punitive U.S. tariffs imposed since July 2018. Here is a look at U.S. tariffs and expected Chinese retaliation scheduled over the next several months. FILE – A woman shops for Chinese made shoes, Aug. 24, 2019, at a store in the Chinatown area of Los Angeles. Sept. 1 tariffs The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency will begin collecting tariffs for Chinese goods at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) Sunday. Guidance issued Friday indicated there will not be a grace period for cargoes that left China before that time, unlike that granted for goods in transit when the United States imposed a tariff increase in May. The Sept. 1 list covers about $125 billion worth of mostly consumer products, based on a Reuters analysis of 2018 U.S. Census Bureau data. The target list includes flat panel television sets, flash memory devices, power tools, cotton sweaters, bed linens, multifunction printers and many types of footwear. The largest category of targeted products covers smart watches, smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones and other internet-connected devices that were spared from an earlier …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Saturday that he and Poland’s president had agreed that sanctions ought to continue against Russia until Ukraine regained the territory it lost in Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.    Zelenskiy, accompanied by some members of his Cabinet, was on his first visit to Poland as president for political talks and to attend ceremonies planned for Sunday to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II.    He said he and Polish President Andrzej Duda had discussed the next steps needed to end the war in eastern Ukraine and to return the Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine.    “We have agreed on our next steps to stop the war in eastern Ukraine and to bring back occupied Crimea,” Zelenskiy said. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 in a move that Ukraine and almost all the world views as illegal. The European Union and the U.S. imposed sanctions.    In eastern Ukraine, a deadly conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has gone on for five years.     A member of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service gives a sign to people to stop as they approach a checkpoint at the contact line between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian troops in Mayorsk, Ukraine July 3, 2019. Zelenskiy said his and Duda’s “joint and principal position” is that the EU “sanctions should be reviewed only to be increased — not otherwise,” unless existing peace agreements are fully implemented and “the territorial unity of Ukraine according to its internationally agreed borders” is restored.    Duda said he assured Zelenskiy of his …

 At least five people were killed and 21 others were injured Saturday in a mass shooting in western Texas, officials said.    Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke called it a “horrific day” after the shooting deaths in Odessa and nearby Midland, Texas.    Police said the incident started when a suspect hijacked a U.S. Postal Service vehicle, then drove around and randomly fired at people.    The shooter, described as a white male in his 30s, was shot and killed after being trapped by police in the parking lot of a movie theater, authorities said. They did not provide a motive for the attack, in which three police officers were also injured.    Gerke declined to name the gunman.    Police did not release the conditions or ages of the victims. Odessa-Midland, Texas President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday night, “Just briefed by Attorney General Barr about the shootings in Texas. FBI and Law Enforcement is fully engaged. More to follow.”    Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a statement Saturday, saying: “The First Lady and I are heartbroken over this senseless and cowardly attack, and we offer our unwavering support to the victims, their families, and all the people of Midland and Odessa. The state of Texas and the Department of Public Safety are working closely with local law enforcement to provide resources as needed and deliver justice for this heinous attack.”  El Paso, Dayton   Saturday’s shooting came after a mass shooting in early August at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart, where many …

While most migrants who arrive at America’s southern border are from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the U.S. Border Patrol in Texas’ Del Rio Sector reports apprehending people from more than 50 countries in the last year. VOA’s Ramon Taylor and Victoria Macchi spoke with asylum-seeking families who have journeyed across the Atlantic and through the Americas en route to the US-Mexico border, desperate for a new beginning.   …

In Russia, countrywide celebrations have been held to mark the 350th anniversary of the national flag. Yet, only 50 percent of respondents polled in a recent survey could correctly name the sequence of the colors on the flag. Russia recently saw a surge of patriotic celebrations orchestrated by local and federal authorities. Yulia Savchenko has more from Moscow on the state-promoted events.   …

Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg took her Friday school strikes to the gates of the United Nations, surrounded by hundreds of other young activists, calling on adults to take action on climate change. Thunberg will speak at a climate change summit of world leaders next month at the U.N. General Assembly. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has more from Washington.   …

While millions of people continue to live under a prolonged security lockdown in Indian-controlled Kashmir, villagers near the border on the Pakistani side of the disputed territory complain intensified military skirmishes between the two countries are also impacting their routine life. Ayaz Gul reports from the border town of Chakothi.   …

Sirhan Sirhan, imprisoned for more than 50 years for the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was hospitalized Friday after being stabbed by a fellow inmate at a San Diego prison. A statement from the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the stabbing occurred Friday afternoon at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego. “Officers responded quickly, and found an inmate with stab wound injuries. He was transported to an outside hospital for medical care, and is currently in stable condition,” the statement said. The statement did not name Sirhan, but a government source with direct knowledge confirmed to The Associated Press that he was the victim. The source spoke under condition of anonymity, citing prison privacy regulations. The stabbing was first reported by TMZ. Corrections officials reported that the alleged attacker has been identified and has been segregated from the rest of the prison population pending an investigation. Kennedy assassination Sirhan, 75, was convicted of shooting Kennedy shortly after midnight June 5, 1968, immediately after the New York senator had declared victory in the previous day’s California Democratic presidential primary. Kennedy had just finished delivering his victory speech to cheering supporters at Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel when he decided to walk through the hotel kitchen. He had stopped to shake hands with a busboy who had delivered food to his room the day before when he was shot in the head. He died the next day. Sirhan was originally sentenced to death. But when California …

The first legal challenge to prevent British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from suspending Parliament has been delayed in a Scottish court. The Court of Session in Edinburgh refused Friday to take immediate legal action to prevent Johnson from suspending Parliament for several weeks during part of the period ahead of the Brexit deadline of Oct. 31. Judge Raymond Doherty, however, said a full hearing on the case will be heard Tuesday, raising the prospect that the government’s move could still be blocked. He said there is no need for an immediate injunction because a “substantive” hearing on the case will be heard next week. The full hearing had originally been set for Sept. 6, but was moved up. Law professor Nick McKerrell at Glasgow Caledonian University said the decision to speed up the hearing may be significant because it indicates the matter is being treated with urgency. “This is not the end of the matter,” he said after the judge declined to take immediate action. The case was brought by a cross-party group of legislators seeking to broaden the period for parliamentary debate in a bid to prevent a disorderly departure by Britain from the European Union. Two other legal cases are in progress, one in Northern Ireland and another in London. Former Prime Minister John Major said Friday he is seeking to join the case in London to argue against suspension. “If granted permission to intervene, I intend to seek to assist the court from the perspective of having …

The Russian military says Syrian government forces will begin a unilateral cease-fire in the northwestern province of Idlib in the coming hours. The Russian military reconciliation center says the cease-fire will go into effect Saturday morning at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT).    Friday’s report comes as government forces have intensified their offensive over the past weeks capturing rebel-held areas in Hama province and nearby Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the country.  The Russian military called on the opposition to end “provocations” and engage in peaceful settlement. Russia is a main backer of Syrian government forces. The announcement came as hundreds of protesters in Idlib marched toward a border crossing with Turkey demanding that Ankara either open the border or demand an end to the government attack. …

Chinese authorities have declined to renew the press credentials of a Beijing-based Wall Street Journal reporter, effectively expelling a journalist who extensively covered President Xi Jinping and Communist Party politics. The foreign ministry said Friday in response to a faxed question about Singaporean reporter Chun Han Wong’s visa that some foreign journalists with the “evil intention to smear and attack China” are “not welcome.” The action comes one month after Wong co-wrote a story detailing an Australian investigation into alleged links between Xi’s cousin and money laundering and suspected organized crime. A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the WSJ’s parent company, said in a statement that authorities declined to renew Wong’s press credentials. The spokesperson said the company is looking into the matter but did not elaborate. Wong declined to comment. …

A 9-year-old Congolese girl who tested positive for Ebola in neighboring Uganda has died, officials said Friday, as the World Health Organization said that the outbreak has neared 3,000 cases. The young girl’s body will be repatriated with her mother back to Congo for a funeral, according to Dr. Eddy Kasenda, Ebola representative in the Congolese border town of Kasindi. “We are finalizing the administrative formalities so that the body is repatriated and buried here in Congo, her native country,” Kasenda said. “We are collaborating with the health services of neighboring Uganda and we will strengthen the sanitary measures here in Kasindi.” A Ugandan official at the hospital where the girl had been in isolation confirmed her death overnight. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. The girl, who was traveling with her mother, was identified at a border screening Wednesday as a possible Ebola patient and isolated. Porous borders   Although cases of cross-border contamination have been rare, this case highlights the risk of Ebola spreading across the border into neighboring Uganda and Rwanda. Borders in the region are often porous, and many people traveling at night use bush paths to cross over.   FILE – School-going pupils from the Democratic Republic of Congo cross the Mpondwe border point separating Uganda and the DRC, Aug. 14, 2019. In June, a family of Congolese with some sick family members crossed into Uganda via a bush path. Two of them later died of Ebola, …

Hurricane Dorian is expected to strengthen into “a major hurricane later today,” the National Hurricane Center said Friday.  “Dorian is likely to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane while it moves near the northwestern Bahamas and approaches the Florida peninsula through the weekend,” the center said.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to the media as Hurricane Dorian approaches the state, at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Aug. 29, 2019. The Bahamian government has issued a hurricane watch for the northwestern Bahamas, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for the entire state. Rainfall from Dorian could produce life-threatening flash floods, the hurricane center says.   Dorian is moving with maximum sustained winds of 165 kilometers per hour.  Forecasters predict that Dorian could slam into southeastern Florida early Monday as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of at least 209 kilometers per hour. Category 4 storms are capable of what experts describe as catastrophic damage — destroying homes and stores, ripping up roads, and knocking down trees and power lines. U.S. President Donald Trump has canceled a planned trip to Poland to “ensure that all resources of the federal government are focused on the arriving storm … it’s something very important for me to be here,” he said Thursday.  Residents along Florida’s Atlantic Coast have been told to stand by for possible evacuation. They are filling their gas tanks and stocking up on food, water, and emergency supplies. Dorian largely spared Puerto Rico and the U.S. and …

A large scientific study into the biological basis of sexual behavior has confirmed there is no single “gay gene” but that a complex mix of genetics and environment affects whether a person has same-sex sexual partners.  The research, which analyzed data on DNA and sexual experiences from almost half a million people, found there are thousands of genetic variants linked to same-sex sexual behavior, most with very small effects.  Five of the genetic markers were “significantly” associated with same-sex behavior, the researchers said, but even these are far from being predictive of a person’s sexual preferences.  “We scanned the entire human genome and found a handful — five, to be precise — of locations that are clearly associated with whether a person reports in engaging in same-sex sexual behavior,” said Andrea Ganna, a biologist at the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Finland who co-led the research.  He said these have “a very small effect” and, combined, explain “considerably less than 1% of the variance in the self-reported same-sex sexual behavior.”  Other factors This means that nongenetic factors — such as environment, upbringing, personality, nurture — are far more significant in influencing a person’s choice of sexual partner, just as with most other personality, behavioral and physical human traits, the researchers said.  The study, which was the largest of its kind, analyzed survey responses and performed analyses known as genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on data from more than 470,000 people who had given DNA samples and lifestyle information to the UK Biobank and to the U.S. genetics testing company 23andMeInc.  Asked why they had wanted to conduct such research, the team  told reporters on a teleconference that previous studies on this topic had mostly been …