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 half of which are elected every three years.
 
The results appeared to match or even exceed pre-election polls that indicated Abe’s ruling bloc was to keep ground in the upper house, with most voters considering it a safer choice over an opposition with an uncertain track record. To reach the two-thirds majority, or 164 seats, Abe needs 85 more seats by his ruling bloc and supporters of a charter change.
 
Opposition parties have focused on concerns over household finances, such as the impact from an upcoming 10% sales tax increase and strains on the public pension system amid Japan’s aging population.
 
Abe has led his Liberal Democratic Party to five consecutive parliamentary election victories since 2012.
 
He has prioritized revitalizing Japan’s economy and has steadily bolstered the country’s defenses in the backdrop of North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats and China’s growing military presence. He also has showcased his diplomatic skills by cultivating warm ties with President Donald Trump.
 
Abe was hoping to gain enough upper house seats to boost his chances for constitutional revision, his long-cherished goal before his term ends in 2021. Abe needs approval by a two-thirds majority in both houses to propose a revision and seek a national referendum. His ruling bloc already has a two-thirds majority in the more powerful lower house.
 
But Abe and his conservative backers face challenges because voters seem more concerned about their jobs, the economy and social security.
 
The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and three other liberal-leaning parties teamed up in some districts. They stressed support for gender equality and LGBT issues _ areas Abe’s ultra-conservative lawmakers are reluctant to back.
 
At a polling station in Tokyo’s Chuo district on Sunday, voters were divided over Abe’s 6 1/2-year rule.
 
A voter who identified himself only as a company worker in his 40s said he chose a candidate and a party that have demonstrated an ability to get things done, suggesting he voted for Abe’s ruling party and its candidate, as “there is no point in casting my vote for a party or a politician who has no such abilities.”
 
Another voter, Katsunori Takeuchi, a 57-year-old fish market worker, said it was time to change the dominance of Abe and his ultra-conservative policies.
 
“I think the ruling party has been dominating politics for far too long and it is causing damage,” he said.

…

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.
 

…

U.S. President Donald Trump contended Sunday that four minority Democratic congresswomen he has been feuding with are not “capable of loving our Country.”

“They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said,” Trump said on Twitter. “They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!”

I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2019

For days now, Trump has assailed Congresswomen Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayana Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, first telling them they should “go back” to their countries and “fix things” in their homelands before telling the U.S. what it ought to do. All of them are U.S. citizens, three of them by birth and Somali refugee Omar by naturalization.

Democrats and some Republicans have sharply criticized Trump’s week-old remarks and the U.S. House of Representatives condemned them as “racist,” but the U.S. leader has continued to assail the four women, all newcomers to Congress in January.

In turn, the lawmakers have attacked him, with Omar saying, “I believe he is fascist.”

The ongoing verbal warfare reverberated on the Sunday news talk television shows.

Mercedes Schlapp, a Trump campaign aide, defended the president, telling ABC News, “I have worked with President Trump for two years and he is not a racist. He is a compassionate man whose policies have focused on the minority community.”

Trump immigration adviser Stephen Miller, told Fox News that Trump’s critical remarks of U.S. policies during his 2016 campaign were made out of love for America.

But he said “there’s a huge difference” between Trump’s credo of promoting “America first” and the lawmakers’ ideology “that runs down America.”

Congressman Elijah Cummings, one of several House committee chairmen investigating Trump and his administration’s policies, told ABC he believes Trump is a racist.

“Yes, no doubt about it,” Cummings contended. “I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Cummings says the four congresswomen targeted by Trump “love their country” and want to move closer to the “more perfect union that our founding fathers talked about. When you disagree with the president, suddenly you’re a bad person.”

He concluded, “Our allegiance is not to the president. Our allegiance is to the Constitution of the United States of America and the American people.”

…

British officials are drawing up plans to target Iran with sanctions for its seizing of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait off Hormuz, and it may urge European Union countries to reimpose sanctions that were lifted in 2016 as part of Tehran’s agreement to curb its nuclear program.

The British government is under strong pressure from lawmakers to act decisively in the sharply escalating diplomatic quarrel between the two countries, but there’s growing domestic criticism in the House of Commons about the lack of naval protection for British tankers in the Strait.

The outgoing British Prime Minister, Theresa May, is being blamed by some parliamentarians and military officials for failing to agree to a system of joint naval patrols the U.S. was urging Britain and other European navies to establish with American forces. Downing Street took the view that if Britain joined an American-proposed “coalition off navies” it would be seen as endorsing President Donald Trump’s hard-line, sanctions-led approach to Iran, say British and U.S. officials.

British defense minister Tobias Ellwood told British broadcasters Sunday that Downing Street is is looking at imposing sanctions against Iran over the seizing of the British-flagged and Swedish-owned Stena Impero and its 23-strong crew. Sanctions could include the freezing of Iranian asset. Asked about sanctions, Ellwood said: “We are going to be looking at a series of options.”

On Sunday, too, new audio recordings were released of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Royal Navy both giving instructions to to the Britain-flagged tanker, with the Iranians ordering the vessel’s captain to change course. One Iranian officer can be heard saying, “If you obey, you will be safe.”

A British officer from the frigate HMS Montrose can be heard saying, “This is British warship F236. I reiterate, that as you are conducting transit passage in a recognized international strait, under international law your passage must not be impaired, impeded, obstructed or hampered.”

HMS Montrose was an hour away from the tanker as it was being swarmed by agile, high-speed Iranian small boats and a helicopter.

Later the British officer can be heard demanding from the Iranians in a dueling conversation to “please confirm that you are not intending to violate international law by unlawfully attempting to board the MV Stena.”

The British-registered ship’s crew is made up of Indian, Latvian, Filipino and Russian members.

As reports emerged in London of likely British retaliation, the Iranian ambassador to Britain, Hamid Baeidinejad, took to Twitter to warn the British not to escalate the quarrel. 

UK government should contain those domestic political forces who want to escalate existing tension between Iran and the UK well beyond the issue of ships. This is quite dangerous and unwise at a sensitive time in the region. Iran however is firm and ready for different scenarios.

— Hamid Baeidinejad (@baeidinejad) July 21, 2019

The European Union has warned the seizing of the British-flagged tanker “brings risks of further escalation.” But some European officials are critical of the British for the impounding of an Iranian tanker loaded with oil destined for Syria in the waters off Gibraltar earlier this month, saying while it was a legal seizure, it wasn’t “politically smart.”

Iran suggested the seizing of the Stena Impero was in retaliation for Britain’s detaining of the Iranian-owned Grace 1 tanker — despite initially claiming the British-flagged vessel was diverted and seized because it collided with an Iranian fishing boat. A spokesperson for Iran’s Guardian Council said “the rule of reciprocal action is well-known in international law.”

Iranian officials appeared to be trying Sunday to exploit divisions between the EU and Britain over the Gibraltar incident. Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, again reiterated Tehran’s contention that the U.S. had pushed Britain into a confrontation with Iran, blaming mainly U.S. national security adviser John Bolton. 

Make no mistake:

Having failed to lure @realDonaldTrump into War of the Century, and fearing collapse of his #B_Team, @AmbJohnBolton is turning his venom against the UK in hopes of dragging it into a quagmire.

Only prudence and foresight can thwart such ploys.

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) July 21, 2019

As British officials consider their next moves, a former head of the Royal Navy, Lord West, blasted Theresa May’s government, for failing to protect British tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Writing in Britain’s Observer newspaper, he said the government should have done much more to protect British ships, arguing that those responsible were distracted by the race between Boris Johnson and the current British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt to succeed May as prime minister. That race concludes Tuesday, with Johnson seen as the probable victor.

Lord West urged the new prime minister to ignore Brexit and focus fully on the crisis or risk a descent into war.

On Saturday, Hunt, the foreign secretary, said he’d spoken to his Iranian counterpart, to express “extreme disappointment” over Iran’s actions. Hunt said the tanker had been seized in Omani waters in “clear contravention of international law”, and denounced the tanker’s detention as “totally and utterly unacceptable.”

There is growing concern in London, too, about whether Johnson is up to the task of handling the rapidly escalating crisis. A former British foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, said it was a dangerous moment: “This is a critical test for the new prime minister which will put him and his team on their mettle.”

Alistair Burt, another former foreign office minister, says Johnson would already have had enough major problems to contend with, including Brexit, without the confrontation in the Strait of Hormuz. But now he will have “a fully formed international crisis sitting in the in-tray marked Iran.”

Johnson was strongly criticized for his handling when foreign secretary of the Iranian imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman and media worker for Reuters, who Iran detained, accusing her of spying. Her family say Johnson worsened her plight by misspeaking by saying she was in Iran working as a journalist, when in fact she was in the country to visit family.

…

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 them to increase survival rates. 

“We entice crocodiles to come in to the habitats FPL created,” Lloret said. “We clear greenery on the berms so that the crocodiles can nest. Because of rising sea levels wasting nests along the coasts, Turkey Point is important for crocodiles to continue.” 

Now ‘threatened,’ not ‘endangered’

The canals are one of three major U.S. habitats for crocodiles, where 25% of the 2,000 American crocodiles live. The FPL team has been credited for moving the classification of crocodiles on the Endangered Species Act to “threatened” from “endangered” in 2007. The team has tagged 7,000 babies since it was established in 1978. 

Temperature determines the crocodiles’ sex: the hotter it is, the more likely males are hatched. Lloret said this year’s hatchlings are male-heavy because of last month’s weather — it was the hottest June on record globally. 

Because hatchlings released are at the bottom of the food chain, only a small fraction of them survive to be adults. Lloret said they at least have a fighting chance at Turkey Point, away from humans who hunted them to near-extinction out of greed and fear, even though attacks are rare. Only one crocodile attack has ever been recorded in the U.S. — a couple were both bitten while swimming in a South Florida canal in 2014, but both survived. 

“American crocodiles have a bad reputation, when they are just trying to survive,” Lloret said. “They are shy and want nothing to do with us. Humans are too big to be on their menu.” 

…

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). 
 
The vote outcome is expected to become clear shortly after the polls close at 8 p.m., with pollsters suggesting turnout could be lower than 50 percent,  significantly less than usual. 

‘Disarray’ in opposition camp
 
Abe’s ruling coalition is forecast to win a solid majority of the 124 seats contested in the election, according to pre-election surveys. 
 
The two parties control 70 seats in the half of the chamber that is not being contested, meaning the projections put them on track to maintain their overall majority in the body. 
 
“Abe’s strength is largely based on passive support resulting from disarray in the opposition camp and a lack of rivals,” Shinichi Nishikawa, professor of political science at Meiji University in Tokyo, told AFP. 
 

A win means Abe should be able to stay in power until November, when he will break the service record of Taro Katsura, a revered politician who served three times as premier between 1901 and 1913. 
 
During campaigns, Abe’s ruling coalition has sought to win voter support for a rise in the nation’s consumption tax to 10 percent later this year as part of efforts to ease swelling social security costs in the “ultra-aged” country. 
 
Abe is also hoping that his coalition and a loose group of conservatives from smaller opposition parties can grab a two-thirds majority in the upper house, giving him the support to move ahead with plans to amend the constitution’s provisions on the military. 
 
“This is an election to decide whether to pick parties who take responsibility for firm discussions on the constitution,” Abe told voters in a campaign speech earlier this month. 

Self-defense provisions
 
Abe vowed to “clearly stipulate the role of the Self-Defense Forces in the constitution,” which prohibits Japan from waging war and maintaining a military. 
 
The provisions, imposed by the U.S. forces after World War II, are popular in the public at large, but reviled by nationalists like Abe, who see them as outdated and punitive. 
 
Local media predict that forces in favor of revising the constitution, led by Abe’s LDP, are likely to win close to 85 of the seats being contested, giving them a “supermajority” in the chamber. 
 
“Since the ruling coalition is widely expected to win the election, attention is now focused on whether the pro-revision forces can win a two-thirds majority,” Nishikawa said. 
 
But even if Abe secures it, any constitutional revision also requires approval in a national referendum, a result that is far from guaranteed. 

…

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 tackle criminal gangs blamed for a spate of killings and kidnappings over the last year. 

Buhari, a former military ruler, began his second four-year term in May after winning a presidential election in February. 

During his campaign he vowed to improve security but — against the backdrop of the northwest’s wave of banditry, high-profile kidnappings nationwide and attacks by Islamist insurgents — he has reiterated that it remains a priority. 

…

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan meets with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday in the White House. VOA’s Aman Azhar spoke to experts and Pakistani residents in United States about their expectations for the visit and filed this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.

…

PANAMA CITY — Panama on Saturday became the first Central American nation to ban single-use plastic bags to try to curb pollution on its beaches and help tackle what the United Nations has identified as one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges. 

The isthmus nation of roughly 4 million people joined more than 60 other countries that have totally or partially banned single-use plastic bags, or have introduced taxes to dissuade their use, including Chile and Colombia in the region. 

Supermarkets, pharmacies and retailers in Panama must stop using traditional polyethylene plastic bags immediately, while wholesale stores will have until 2020 to conform to the policy approved in 2018. Fines can be applied for non-compliance but there are exceptions for the use of plastic bags for sanitary reasons, such as with raw food. 

On the streets of Panama City, signs with the phrase “less bags, more life” reminded passers-by that the measure had gone into effect. 

“This seems like a good measure because you avoid continuing to pollute the streets and the community,” said Victoria Gomez, 42, a secretary in downtown Panama City. 

Birds, turtles, seals, whales and fish often become entangled in or ingest the remnants of plastic bags in Latin America, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Along Panama’s coast, it is common to see plastic waste littering 
beaches, especially near populated areas. 

Given projected growth in consumption, without new anti-pollution policies, oceans are expected by 2050 to contain more plastics than fish by weight, according to the New Plastics Economy report published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2016. 

The report also found that the entire plastics industry would consume 20% of total oil production by then. 

…

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 just don’t have words,” Hatta said.

Fifteen of the victims were in their 20s and 11 were in their 30s, public broadcaster NHK said. Six were in their 40s and one was at least 60. The age of the latest victim, a man who died in hospital, was not known. The names of the victims have not been disclosed.

The studio had about 160 employees with an average age of 33, according to its website.

Police have confirmed the identity of the suspect as Shinji Aoba, but have declined to comment further.

Aoba had been convicted of robbery and carried out the attack because he believed his novel had been plagiarized, NHK and other media have said.

But Hatta said he had no idea about any plagiarism claim, adding he had not seen any correspondence from the suspect.

Police have not arrested Aoba, as he is being treated for heavy burns, NHK said, although police have taken the unusual step of releasing his name.

Two days after the fire, animation fans gathered near the burned studio to add to a growing pile of flowers, drinks and other offerings.

Bing Xie, 25, a Chinese student at Kyoto University, said she could not forgive the arsonist.

“The criminal who does this seems to have been mentally disturbed, but I can’t forgive him. The young people at Kyoto Animation were beautiful and warm and it is hard to accept they are gone.”

Police guarded the site as investigators, some on the roof near where many died in a connecting stairwell, examined the blackened building. The smell of smoke lingered over the quiet suburban neighborhood.

Hatta said the building needed to be torn down because it was so badly damaged.

Tributes to the victims lit up social media, with world leaders and Apple Inc.’s chief executive offering condolences. The hashtag #PrayforKyoAni, as the studio is known among fans, has become popular.
 

…

Officials in Hawaii said Friday that they will not call up additional National Guard troops or use force on peaceful telescope protesters blocking access to the state’s highest peak.

Gov. David Ige said that his priority is to keep everyone in the community safe, including the activists at the base of Mauna Kea. The 80 guard members on the Big Island since the start of the protests will remain, state officials said.

“We will not be utilizing tear gas, as some of the rumors have been (saying),” Ige said. “We are looking for the best way forward without hurting anyone.”

The governor said last week that National Guard units would be used to transport personnel and equipment as well as to enforce road closures.

Ige said Friday no more troops would be called in to the Big Island, but he stopped short of removing an emergency proclamation that he enacted Wednesday. The emergency order broadened the state’s authority to remove protesters from the mountain, including the use of National Guard for security.

Big Island Mayor Harry Kim, who met with Ige Friday morning as about 800 to 1,200 activists gathered on the mountain, said he hopes the protesters and state officials will take some time to discuss a better way forward.

“We all need to step back a little bit,” Kim said. “This is still our home, this is still our family. On both sides.”

Presidential candidates comment

The move comes after some notable politicians weighed in on the issue Friday.

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii followed fellow Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in supporting protesters.

She said in a statement that Ige should withdraw the emergency declaration and sit down with protesters to find a peaceful way forward.

“Trust must be earned — it is wrong that state leaders have approved the development of a new telescope on a new site on Mauna Kea, without first ensuring the timely removal of decommissioned facilities along with full restoration of those sites,” Gabbard said. “This failure and a history of broken promises has resulted in the standoff that we are seeing today.”

Earlier in the day, Sanders said in a tweet that has since been deleted: “We must guarantee native people’s right to self-determination and their right to protest. I stand with Native Hawaiians who are peacefully demonstrating to protect their sacred mountain of Mauna Kea.”

Sanders’ campaign didn’t immediately respond to an email asking why the tweet was deleted.

Protesters brace for arrests

Protest leader Kaho’okahi Kanuha said protesters have been bracing for law enforcement to show up in force ever since the governor signed the emergency proclamation. That was the day officers arrested 34 protesters.

…

The Trump administration has told federally funded family planning clinics it is considering a delay in enforcing a controversial rule that bars them from referring women for abortions. That comes after clinics had vowed defiance.

Two people attending meetings this week between the Department of Health and Human Services and clinic representatives told The Associated Press that officials said the clinics should be given more time to comply with the rule’s new requirements. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly before any decision has been announced.

HHS said Friday that its policy has not changed.

Rule announced, to take effect immediately

On Monday, agency officials announced that the government would immediately begin enforcing the rule, catching the clinics off-guard and prompting an outcry. Planned Parenthood said its 400 clinics would defy the requirement. Some states, including Illinois and Maryland, backed the clinics. The family planning program serves about 4 million women a year, and many low-income women get basic health care from the clinics.

The administration’s abortion restrictions, cheered by social and religious conservatives, are being challenged in court by groups representing the clinics, several states, and the American Medical Association. The litigation is still in its early stages. An enforcement pause may allow for a clearer indication of where the court cases are headed.

The people who spoke to AP said that HHS Office of Population Affairs Director Diane Foley told representatives of the clinics the administration is considering rewinding the clock on enforcement. Instead of requiring immediate compliance, the administration would issue a new timetable and start the process at that point.

Some requirements would be effective in 60 days, others in 120 days, and others would take effect next year.

The clinics had complained to HHS that the agency gave them no guidance on how to comply with the new restrictions, while expecting them to do so immediately.

No abortion referrals

The rule bars the family planning clinics from referring women for abortions. Abortion could still be discussed with patients, but only physicians or clinicians with advanced training could have those conversations. All pregnant patients would have to be referred for prenatal care, whether or not they request it. Minors would be encouraged to involve their parents in family planning decisions.

Under the rule, facilities that provide family planning services as well as abortions would have to strictly separate finances and physical space.

Known as Title X, the family-planning program funds a network of clinics, many operated by Planned Parenthood affiliates. The clinics also provide basic health services, including screening for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. The program distributes about $260 million a year in grants to clinics, and those funds cannot be used to pay for abortions.

The family planning rule is part of a series of Trump administration efforts to remake government policy on reproductive health to please conservatives who are a key part of its political base.

Other regulations tangled up in court would allow employers to opt out of offering free birth control to women workers on the basis of religious or moral objections, and grant health care professionals wider leeway to opt out of procedures that offend their religious or moral scruples.

Legal procedure

Abortion is a legal medical procedure, but federal laws prohibit the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the woman.

Planned Parenthood is also the nation’s leading abortion provider, and abortion opponents see the family-planning money as a subsidy, even if federal funds cannot be used to pay for abortions.

Planned Parenthood is in the midst of a leadership upheaval, after its board abruptly ousted the organization’s president this week.

Leana Wen, a physician, had sought to reposition Planned Parenthood as a health care provider. In her resignation letter, she said the organization’s board has determined the top priority should be to “double down on abortion rights advocacy.”
 

…

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 and dance. In 1990, they became the biggest-selling world music group on the planet.

‘He taught me a lot also’
 
Clegg was no ordinary singer — and, Mchunu says, no ordinary South African. His goal was to unite South Africans across color lines. But Mchunu says the learning went both ways.
 
 “I’ve never been to school so I can’t read and write,” he told VOA this week in Johannesburg. “So he made me understand the white people, a little bit of the culture. I guess you could say he helped me a lot. I helped him too. But I don’t feel like, when the people they say, “you taught him a lot.’ I say, ‘he taught me a lot also.’ So in Zulu, we call that ‘izandla ziyagezana,’ the hands wash each other.”
 
‘He captured the imagination’

On the streets of the hip Johannesburg suburb of Melville, South Africans of all races mourned the loss.
 
“You can compare him to any international performer,” said music fan Philip Brook. “For instance, Queen was a true performer, a true artist. So was Johnny Clegg. He captured the imagination of the people, he told a beautiful story.”
 
He also continues to inspire a new generation of musicians, like 20-year-old student Nipo Mubaiwa.
 
“When we speak about legends and icons we’re actually speaking about people like Johnny Clegg, people like Freddie Mercury and so I think for me that’s a really iconic moment,” she said. “And you know that you created such a big impact when you pass away and so many people are just in a state of shock because of the amount of impact that you had on their lives.”
 
Mchunu taught Clegg how to dance and stick-fight like a Zulu man, and was by Clegg’s side as they rocketed to stardom with hits like “Asimbonanga” and “Impi,” a song so controversial it was banned by the apartheid regime.

Fans big and small
 
But Clegg’s music, which dealt with big issues and major figures like former South African President Nelson Mandela, also touched the hearts of ordinary South Africans. Street guard Konose Kula says he will forever carry Clegg’s music in his heart.
 
“Johnny Clegg was the best,” he said. “He was a super musician. Yeah. He was a legend.”
 
Kula, too, is a musician, and plays the guitar and the piano. And, he says, the legend himself may be gone, but the White Zulu’s music will never die.

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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 that he could not exonerate the president on obstruction of justice.

Democratic aides say they believe the McGahn and Lewandowski narratives, explained in detail in the 448-page report, are clear examples of such obstruction and will be easy to understand as lawmakers try to educate the American public on a report that they believe most people haven’t read. The aides requested anonymity to freely discuss members’ plans for questioning.

The House Judiciary and intelligence committees will question Mueller in back-to-back hearings July 24. The testimony had been scheduled for July 17 but was delayed . Time will be extremely limited under an agreement with Mueller, who is a reluctant witness and has said he will stick to the contents of the report.

To effectively highlight what they see as the most damaging parts of the report, lawmakers said Thursday that they will have to do something that members of Congress aren’t used to doing: limit the long speeches and cut to the chase.

“Members just need to focus,” said Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, a Democratic member of the intelligence panel. “Nobody’s watching them. Keep it short, keep focused, listen to each other, work together. Make this as productive as possible.”

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the Judiciary panel, said: “You will find little or no editorializing or speechifying by the members. This is all about allowing special counsel Mueller to speak.”

Lawmakers on the Judiciary panel said that they have been working with committee staff on which members will ask what. The staff wants to make sure that they ask targeted questions, such as on Trump’s directions to McGahn and Lewandowski.

“It’s going to be fairly scripted,” said Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, another Democrat on the Judiciary panel. “The main goal is to get Robert Mueller to say what Robert Mueller wrote in the Mueller report. And then get it on national TV, so people can hear him saying it.

The Judiciary Committee aides said that they want lawmakers to take multiple pieces of information in Mueller’s report and connect the dots for viewers. Besides the episodes with McGahn and Lewandowski, they said lawmakers also will focus on the president’s conduct toward his former lawyer Michael Cohen and his former campaign manager Paul Manafort. The report looks at how Trump praised both men when he perceived they were on his side, contacting Cohen to tell him to “stay strong” and publicly praising Manafort for “refusing to break.” There also were subtle hints that he could pardon each.

Cohen eventually started cooperating with the government, and Trump then publicly called him a “rat” and suggested his family members had committed crimes.

The House intelligence panel, which has fewer members, is expected to focus on the first volume of Mueller’s report, which details multiple contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Mueller found that there was not enough evidence to establish a conspiracy between the two.

House intelligence committee aides, who also declined to be identified to discuss the confidential preparations, said that lawmakers on that panel are expected to focus on those contacts and on what the report says about WikiLeaks, the website that released Democratic emails stolen by the Russians.

As the Democrats methodically work through the highlights of the report, it could start to feel a bit like a class: Mueller 101.

Raskin, a longtime constitutional law professor, says he plans to use some visual aids, like posters, to help people better understand what Mueller wrote.

“We have different kinds of learners out there,” Raskin said. “And we want people to learn, both in an auditory way but also in a visual way, about these dramatic events that Mueller will be discussing.”

Republicans are preparing as well and are expected to focus more on Mueller’s conclusions that there isn’t enough evidence of a conspiracy and no charges on obstruction _ than the individual episodes detailed. The top Republican on the Judiciary panel, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, said his members will be asking questions that aim to confirm what is in the report.

But while the Democrats are eagerly anticipating the opportunity, many of the Republicans are weary.

“Frankly the American people have moved on,” Collins said. They “want to get it behind us.

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Former South African President Jacob Zuma has decided to stop testifying at a public inquiry into state corruption.

Zuma’s lawyers said Friday their client feels that he has been questioned unfairly.

“Our client from the beginning . . . has been treated as someone who was accused,” said Zuma’s lawyer, Muzi Sikhakhane.

The former president has given testimony this week at the so-called “State Capture” commission.

Raymond Zondo, the lead judge in the probe, has said, “The commission is not mandated to prove a case against anybody, but is mandated to investigate and inquire into certain allegations.”

Zuma has denied allegations of corruption, saying he was a victim of conspiracies to end his career, ruin his reputation and kill him.

Zuma was forced to resign from office last year by the ruling African National Congress party after being implicated in numerous corruption scandals.  In one instance, prosecutors accused him of using some $20 million in public funds for improvements at his private estate.

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The German rescue ship captain who allegedly disobeyed Italy’s ban on migrant ships, voiced hope Thursday that EU countries would allow migrants in the future. Carola Rackete spoke after she was questioned by a Sicilian court on suspicion of aiding illegal immigration.

Shouts of “Brava,” along with applause, greeted Carola Rackete as she left court in the town of Agrigento after just under four hours of questioning. Demonstrators outside the courtroom held banners which read, “Saving lives at sea is not a crime.”

Sea-Watch 3 Captain Calls for EU Action on Migrants Rescues

A German humanitarian ship captain who eluded an Italian effort to block her from docking at an Italian port after rescuing migrants has called for the European Commission to do its best to avoid new migrants’ standoffs

The 31-year-old Rackete told reporters she was pleased to have told the court why she entered the port of Lampedusa in late June after two weeks at sea in international waters. Rackete was arrested June 29 after defying orders to stay out of the port and hitting a police boat with her ship, the Sea-Watch 3, with migrants on board.

A judge in Agrigento subsequently released her from house arrest, saying the captain followed the “law of the sea,” which is first and foremost to save the lives of endangered people.

The captain has said she docked at Lampedusa because she feared for the health of her migrant passengers.

Rackete told journalists she hoped the new European Union Commission would let migrants such as those she had rescued enter those countries without facing added impediments.

“I sincerely hope that the European Commission now after the new election of the parliament will do their very best to prevent situations like that happening and that all the European countries will work together in the future to accept any people which the civilian fleet has rescued,” said Rackete.

The Italian government has adopted a tough position against illegal immigration. Authorities have imposed a policy that effectively stops non-governmental organization ships with rescued migrants from entering Italian waters.

In the case of Rackete, investigators say she will not undergo further questioning. Rackete’s lawyers also say she is free to return to Germany if she so desires and that no arrest has been confirmed. Additionally, the lawyers say Rackete is no longer the captain of the Sea Watch as there has been a change in crew.

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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. 
 
Caruana Galizia, described as a “one-woman WikiLeaks,” was responsible for a number of corruption exposes targeting both Muscat and opposition figures. 
 
In the wake of the killing, Malta asked American and Dutch experts to help in the probe. 
 
After her death, her sons demanded Muscat’s resignation, accusing him of surrounding himself with crooks, creating a culture of impunity and turning the tiny Mediterranean state into a “mafia island.” 

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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 day because it affects so many people in our country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters at a news conference.

Skepticism

While the vote was nearly unanimous by Democrats, some members were skeptical.

Democrats Tom O’Halleran of Arizona and Stephanie Murphy of Florida introduced an amendment that would mandate the Government Accountability Office to track the bill’s effects and report to the House before the entire wage increase is implemented. It passed 248-181.

Republican lawmakers voiced sharp opposition, arguing it will stifle economic growth.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise said that the bill would “eviscerate millions of American jobs,” referencing a report by the Congressional Budget Office that projected between 1 million and 3 million Americans could lose their jobs if the bill were to become law. 

The CBO also predicted that the bill would give over 30 million Americans raises, lifting 1 million from poverty.

In the Republican-controlled Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell questioned why the Senate would “depress the economy at a time of economic boom,” in an interview with the Fox Business Network, indicating that he would not bring the bill for a vote.
 

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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 would attend the three-day conference that ends Thursday, but a State Department spokesman could not confirm the number. 
 
“We know the Chinese government called countries specifically to discourage participation,” the spokesman said, but “we cannot prove the exact number they successfully impacted.”

The Chinese government has dismissed accusations it violated rights to religious freedom. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a Beijing news briefing Thursday that “this situation of so-called religious persecution does not exist.”  
 
Lu also said China “demand[s] that the United States correctly view China’s religious policies and the status of religious freedom in China, and stop using the issue of religion to interfere in other countries’ affairs.” 
 
U.N. experts and activists contend China has placed at least 1 million ethnic Uighurs in detention centers. Nearly two dozen countries on the U.N. Human Rights Council earlier this month called on China to stop its persecution of Uighurs in the country’s western Xinjiang region. 
 
The U.S. has been considering sanctions against Chinese officials over their policies in Xinjiang but has yet to impose them amid Chinese threats of retaliation. 
 
U.S.-China relations are already tense because of a trade war between the world powers. 

Pence offers solidarity
 
Vice President Mike Pence also addressed the conference, telling attendees that U.S. trade talks with China would not influence America’s commitment to religious freedom in the East Asian country. 
 
“Whatever comes of our negotiations with Beijing, you can be assured that the American people will stand in solidarity with people of all faiths in the People’s Republic of China,” he said. 

Pence, offering rare criticism of U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, also called on the kingdom to release jailed blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for insulting Islam. 
 
Pence also demanded the release of detained religious dissidents in Eritrea, Mauritania and Pakistan and vowed the U.S. would press for religious freedom in North Korea amid efforts to denuclearize the country. 

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