…

KATHMANDU, NEPAL — A Nepal government committee formed after a bad mountaineering season on Mount Everest has recommended requiring climbers to have scaled tall peaks, undergone proper training, and possess certificates of good health and insurance that would cover rescue costs if required. 
 
A report by the committee released Wednesday says people must have successfully climbed a peak higher than 6,500 meters (21,320 feet) before they can apply for permits to scale Mount Everest. Each climber would also be required to have a highly experienced guide. 
 
Of the 11 people who died during the spring climbing season this year, nine were climbing from the southern side of the peak in Nepal, making it one of the worst years on the mountain.  
  
The government was criticized for allowing too many climbers on the world’s highest peak.  
  
Mountaineering authorities were also criticized for not stopping inexperienced climbers who had difficulty coping with harsh conditions on Everest and slowed down other climbers on the trail to the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit. 
 
The government is expected to amend its mountaineering regulations following the recommendations. 
 
The March-May climbing season is when weather conditions are best for climbing the Himalayan mountain. 

…

Thousands of women from across Brazil marched through the capital Wednesday, demanding better working conditions on farms and protesting against right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. 
 
“We are working from sun to sun, rain to rain, just to be able to bring food to the table,” one woman said, while another appealed to the government “to have mercy and do the original land reform for working people who want a piece of land to work with, raise their children and grandchildren.” 
 
The women also marched against Bolsonaro, who has been long accused of making racist and sexist comments. His cuts to education funding set off another large protest by students and teachers in Brasilia on Tuesday.  
 
Bolsonaro is also facing international criticism for his seeming indifference to Amazon rainforest destruction. 
 
Wednesday’s “March of the Margaridas” is held every four years. It was named for Brazilian union leader Margarida Maria Alves, who was murdered in 1983. 

…

Botswana is battling an influx of illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe, as the Zimbabwean government struggles to overcome a deep economic crisis. But authorities in Botswana appear to be losing the battle, as those who are deported are soon back in the country.

Prosper Kandanhamo and Thomas Gundani left Zimbabwe and entered Botswana illegally because of the moribund economy in their homeland.

“I came to Botswana because back home in Zimbabwe, there are no job opportunities,” Kandanhamo said.

The two are among the many illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe who line the streets of Gaborone looking for odd jobs.

Not so welcome

But they are an unwelcome sight for authorities and subject to frequent police raids.

The number of Zimbabweans arrested and deported in Botswana rose from 22,000 in 2015 to nearly 29,000 in 2018.

Kandanhamo, an accountant, says they are often caught.

“It’s better to be caught by the police,” he said. “At the (police) cells, they will give you food and transport to the border. They deport you, and you find your way back (rather) than to go back to Zimbabwe.”

Gundani, a painter, says they would rather risk arrest than return to face hardship in Zimbabwe.

“We just have to come back,” he said. “The situation here is difficult for us, but compared to Zimbabwe, it’s worse.”

Botswanan citizens like Moemedi Mokgachane say illegal immigrants contribute to rising crime and are demanding a solution.

“We take them back today, tomorrow they are here, because there is nothing to hide. There is nothing that can put them to stay where you are taking them. They will come back because they know there is a fruit here,” Mokgachane said.

Solution lies in Zimbabwe

Illegal immigration will persist as long as Zimbabwe’s economic crisis is not addressed, says Gaborone-based analyst Lawrence Ookeditse.

“For so long as economic and other opportunities are not quite there, people are going to move, and you can’t stop them from moving,” he said. “It is not nice going through a border hunted with guns and all those things. When you see people doing it, it means the cost of doing it is higher than the cost of staying.”

Botswana spends about $100,000 a year deporting Zimbabwean illegal immigrants.

…

This story originated in VOA’s Albanian Service. 

TIRANA, ALBANIA – Press freedom advocates and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Albania are fighting a government-proposed defamation law that, critics say, would grant the country’s top media regulator too much power.

According to the latest version of the draft law, Albania’s Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA) could impose fines nearing $10,000 on online media outlets that are accused of damaging a person’s reputation or infringing on their privacy before the outlets can elect to have the case heard in a court of law.

In most countries, such adjudicatory powers — the review of evidence, argumentation and legal reasoning for determining rights and obligations of the parties involved — are typically restricted to the courts.

If passed into law, the bill would require that online publications deemed in violation of the law could have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine.

For online publications with limited funding, such a law could decimate their finances, even if a court ultimately decides in their favor, especially in a country where administrative courts are extensively backlogged.

‘Fake news’ a major concern

Government officials who support the law say it would regulate a crowded online publication marketplace while fighting “fake news” — a term some Albanian government officials have used to describe factual reporting that is critical of their work.

While drafters of the law assure critics that its contents have been improved in ongoing parliamentary commission debates, media representatives and press freedom advocates disagree.

“The proposed defamation law establishes what I would call an AMA-court, which means an institution that issues verdicts without due process,” said Elvin Luku of the Tirana-based local media watchdog, Medialook.

“Such an act not only compromises the rights and fundamental principles of a free press, but, to a certain degree, strips a person penalized by the law of the right to send the case in a court of law,” said a statement issued by the Albanian Reporters Union.

Caka defends proposed law

Albanian Deputy Minister of Justice Fjoralba Caka defended the current draft of the law.

“Only when a web portal refuses to withdraw the material based on made-up facts, the individual has the right to go to AMA,” she said. “AMA gives 48 hours to the publication to submit its counterpoints.”

Harlem Désir, OSCE’s press freedom representative, wrote that while he appreciates the constructive cooperation apparent in “many improvements” made throughout successive drafts of the law, “further improvements to the law are still needed.” 

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in 2015 suggested jail sentences of up to three years for “defamation against high officials,” a proposal he retracted in the face of public indignation.

Since that time, Rama has referred to journalists as “charlatans” and “public enemies.”

…

Updated at 9:15 p.m. Aug. 14.

At least six police officers were wounded Wednesday in what authorities said remained an “active and ongoing” shooting near Temple University in Philadelphia.  

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said all six officers had non-life-threatening injuries and were “going to be OK.”

Police said the shootout began when an officer tried to serve a warrant in the city’s Nicetown neighborhood. Live video from news stations showed a massive police presence in the area.

Police were trying to communicate with the shooter. “We are trying to talk to this male, trying to let him know that he can end this peacefully now,” Ross said. 
 
He said they had called the shooter multiple times and that he had picked up the phone but had not spoken.

The shooting prompted a lockdown at the Temple University Health Sciences Center Campus. The university issued a warning via Twitter:

Lockdown is in effect for Health Sciences Center Campus. Seek shelter. Secure doors. Be silent. Be still. Police are responding.

— Temple University (@TempleUniv) August 14, 2019

The White House said President Donald Trump “has been briefed on the shooting in Philadelphia and continues to monitor the situation.” 

…

The city of San Francisco and nearby Santa Clara County sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday, seeking to block a new rule that would drastically reduce legal immigration by denying visas to poor migrants.

Some experts say the new rule could cut legal immigration in half by denying visas and permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of people if they fail to meet high enough income standards or if they receive public assistance such as welfare, food stamps, public housing or Medicaid.

“This illegal rule is just another attempt to vilify immigrants,” San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement. Trump has made efforts to curb both legal and illegal immigration, an issue he has made a cornerstone of his presidency and one that he has stressed again as the campaign for the 2020 presidential election heats up.

The rule, unveiled on Monday and to take effect Oct. 15, expands the definition of a public charge, allowing denials to visa applicants who fail to meet income requirements or who receive public assistance.

“The final rule rejects the longstanding, existing definition of public charge, and attempts to redefine it to include even minimal use of a much wider range of non-cash benefits,” said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

“The final rule will worsen the health and well-being of the counties’ residents, increase risks to the public health, undermine the counties’ health and safety-net systems, and inflict significant financial harm,” the suit said.

San Francisco is both a city and a county. Santa Clara County includes the city of San Jose and various other parts of Silicon Valley.

The suit names U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security and their directors as defendants. The former agency declined to comment and the latter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The suit claims the new rule violates the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 by contradicting the longstanding definition of public charge as a person “primarily” dependent on public assistance for survival.

The suit also claims the new rule would split families, undermining immigration laws to prioritize family unification; misapplies the intent of Congress on the description of self-sufficiency of immigrants; and runs contrary to the statutes governing SNAP, also known as food stamps.

The National Immigration Law Center said it also will file a lawsuit to stop the rule from taking effect. The attorneys general of California and New York have also threatened to sue.

…

Kamala Harris is on the move.

During the course of a five-day sprint across Iowa that included 17 stops across 11 counties, the Democratic presidential candidate ordered tacos from a tacqueria in Storm Lake, sampled a pork chop at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, called bingo at a senior center in Muscatine and toured the Coyote Run farm in Lacona.

The Associated Press interviewed Harris on her bus, which blared her name in bold, vibrant colors as she traveled through a state that she repeatedly said has “made me a better candidate.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q:  What have you learned from the people you have met on this trip so far?

A:  I’ve heard from everyone from farmers to teachers, to people who have been laid off, to seniors who are worried about their Medicare coverage and their prescription drug costs, to students really worried about student loan debt. A lot of people worried about climate change, and there’s an intersection between some of those. What I’ve enjoyed about it is, you know, given the travel schedules we all have, to be in for me, with all of the states that we have to cover. Being in one state for five to six straight days, doing it on the bus in a way that we’re not just going to the places where there are airports and kind of … but instead can get out to places where there are no airports but where people live. How many people came up to me and said, ‘Thank you for coming,’ because they’re not necessarily used to seeing with any frequency at all presidential candidates. I’ve been saying from the beginning, and I’m still in that phase, that it’s really important for me to listen as much as I’m talking.
 
Q:  Why was it so important to be in Iowa for so long?

A:  There are some practical reasons, to be sure. The Senate’s not in session so I could actually do five straight days. Five straight days, it’s a luxury of sorts. To be able to do that, to do it and to stay, and, really, we’ve been all over the state. It’s almost like being embedded when you as a journalist do that, right? Which is being able to really just dive in and not to have split attention to really just be here. Like this, looking out the window and seeing the flooding and seeing … one of the things I am very focused on in Iowa is the water issue, both in terms of issues of rain and flooding but also clean water is just a big issue in the state. I was just in Michigan. It’s a big issue there. When you talk to a mother in Flint or in Detroit, and you talk to a mother here, they’re having the same conversation, which is that there is poison in the water that their babies are drinking. That’s real. And they’re saying, What is my government doing about it? And they’re saying, “I don’t have any other source of water, and sometimes I have to drink that water that I know has chemicals in it that my child shouldn’t be drinking.” That’s real. For me, that’s the thing about these kinds of trips, which is very affirming. It’s about proving my hypothesis, if you will, which is that we have more in common than what separates us.

Q:  How do you think about balancing telling people why you want to be their president and responding to things that President Donald Trump says?

A:  I feel the need to speak about what he says when it is so clearly destructive, hateful or not reflective of the words of a leader, which is often. But I just think that this is a moment that is challenging leaders to have the courage to speak and say that is not effective of a leader, much less the leader of our nation and the so-called free world. People gotta speak up. There’s a speech that I give about hate, and it was actually part of my stump for a long time. Which is about the importance of speaking truth even when it makes people uncomfortable and speaking the truth about racism, anti-Semitism on and on. … We must agree that whoever is the subject of that and is being attacked should never be made to fight alone. That’s what is going on in my head when I hear certain statements that he makes. It’s about all of us collectively saying we’re not going to stand by and witness an attempt to beat people down without standing up, collectively, and saying we’re all in this together.

Q:  Your campaign’s headquarters are in Baltimore. What did you think of the president’s comments about the city and its residents?

A:  Our headquarters are in Baltimore, very purposely chosen. I remember spending time in Baltimore when I was at Howard. Baltimore is a great American city. It’s got a profound history, it’s got a profound culture. And yeah, it has challenges, but it also has made incredible contributions. I put his attack on Baltimore in the same lane of all of the other attacks, right? He is disrespectful. He clearly is not a student of history in terms of understanding the historical significance of certain moments in time or certain places, and the fact that he spoke the word he did about Elijah Cummings … it’s just continually further evidence of a person who does not understand the significance of the words of the president of the United States. Those words should be used in a way that is about lifting people up, not beating them down. The people of Baltimore are the people he represents. To speak of them like the other is just vivid evidence of the fact that the guy does not understand his job and therefore should not be in that job. Most other people, if they keep showing they don’t understand what the job requires, get fired. He needs to get fired. That’s why I’m running against him. Dude gotta go!

Q:  How did you come up with that line?

A:  It was a Saturday night in Las Vegas. It was one of our last events and I’m going on. I’m making the point about how our campaign is so much bigger than about getting rid of Donald Trump, it’s about the future of America and making the transition. As a point of emphasis, and also because I got very casual in my conversation because it was just late … So I said, just as a basic point, ‘We all know dude gotta go.’ At which point people — because it was Las Vegas on a Saturday night — people started chanting, ‘Dude gotta go, Dude gotta go.’ I don’t know how many times, the whole place. I did it again, I think, last night, and people kind of liked it. But it makes the point. At some point the conversation about what is not right … At some point, these things are just really self-evident, and so for me, the issue that our campaign is about is not only that kind of obvious point, but what are we going to build. That’s why I talk about the fact that people want a problem-solving president, somebody who can be transformative in a way that is about transforming lives, that is about building up our country in a way that is about strengthening us.

…

Kidnapping of aid workers has become “big business” as militants often work with crime networks to carry out abductions, a senior United Nations official and former hostage said on Tuesday.

Vincent Cochetel, who was held captive in Chechnya in 1998, said countries must bring kidnappers to justice to stem a steep increase in attacks, which are undermining aid operations.

“We need to absolutely get the perpetrators to court,” Cochetel, who works for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that it was usually possible to trace many of those involved.

“These people can be tried any time, anywhere, and they can be extradited, so it’s important to make sure that when those individuals are known everything is done to bring them to justice.”

Last year 130 aid workers were abducted, up from 45 in 2007, according to the Aid Worker Security Database, which records attacks on aid workers. High-risk countries included Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

Kidnapping is a longstanding problem in Afghanistan, either for ransom or to put pressure on Western governments, while rebels in South Sudan have carried out mass abductions of humanitarian convoys to control aid delivery.

Most kidnap victims are national staff, held on average for 12 days, according to database research in 2013. International staff are usually held for longer as demands for money or concessions are often steeper.

Cochetel, who spent 317 days in captivity, said attacks were increasing as militants teamed up with criminal organizations to form hybrid groups, which saw kidnappings as “part of their business model.”

Aid agencies and most governments do not pay ransoms, he said, but payments are sometimes made by third parties such as businessmen with connections to the country where a hostage is being held.

Although kidnapping aid workers is a crime under international law, it is rarely punished, which is fueling the violence, Cochetel said.

Even if hostage-takers cannot be held to account because they live in an area outside state control, states should hit them with travel bans and freeze their assets to stop them benefitting from their crimes and to deter others, he said.

Cochetel was working as head of the UNHCR office in the Russian republic North Ossetia when he was ambushed by armed men outside his flat.

Blindfolded and stuffed in a car boot, he was driven to Chechnya where he was kept handcuffed to a bed in darkness.

The kidnapping was ordered by Chechen militants but outsourced to criminals, said Cochetel, now UNHCR special envoy for the Mediterranean.

Three “small fish” were jailed afterwards, but he knew of few other cases where hostage-takers had faced justice.

Submarine syndrome

Aid agencies have boosted security in recent years, but it eats into resources that could be spent on assistance, and armed escorts and fortified offices create a distance between aid workers and the people they are trying to help.

This can fuel mistrust, and consequently increase security risks for staff, said Cochetel who saw the problems first-hand in Chechnya.

“For some (of the population) it was not clear who we were.

We spent so little time in the places we were visiting because we were scared for our own security,” he said.

“It was (a case of) go visit, deliver assistance, go back to the base, sleep in the bunker. And after some time you develop … submarine syndrome. You don’t understand the broader landscape around you.”

Cochetel said the UNHCR spent about 2% of its budget on security, but many smaller organisations could not afford to take the same measures – and even seemingly safe interactions could pose risks.

Earlier this year some colleagues were attending a cultural event with women leaders in southeast Niger when two female “dancers” blew themselves up.

Cochetel also called for more help for hostages following their release, including medical, psychosocial and financial support.

He said many were abandoned by their former employers, particularly if their contract had ended during their captivity or they had to stop working because of trauma.

“I’m aware of many … people who were dropped by their organizations. Some fell into depression, some even took their lives,” he said.

…

Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido warned President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday that any attempts to bring forward parliamentary elections would end in “disaster” for the government.

Elections to renew the National Assembly, the only branch of government under opposition control, are set for December 2020.

But the Constituent Assembly, a rival body created by the Maduro regime and given extraordinary powers superseding the National Assembly, has hinted at the possibility of ordering early elections.

Such a maneuver could threaten the opposition’s hold on the National Assembly and with it Guaido’s claim as head of the legislature to be the country’s legitimate president.

But Guaido insisted it would backfire, further isolating Maduro, who has so far withstood opposition challenges to his presidency with the support of the military.

“What would happen if the regime dared to — and it could — bring forward an irregular convocation for elections without any conditions?” said Guaido.

“They will drown in contradictions, in isolation — they will drown in disaster.”

Constituent Assembly president Diosdado Cabello, the most powerful regime figure after Maduro, admitted on Monday the move was a “counter-attack” after the United States increased its sanctions on the government.

Venezuela has been locked in a political crisis since the legislature branded Maduro a “usurper” in January over his controversial re-election last year in a poll widely denounced as rigged.

As the head of the National Assembly, Guaido demanded Maduro step down and declared himself acting president in a move recognized by more than 50 countries.

The government and the opposition have engaged in Norwegian-mediated talks but those negotiations appear blocked over the opposition’s demand that Maduro step down so new elections can be held.

In the meantime, the regime has stepped up pressure on opposition legislators by stripping 25 of them of their parliamentary immunity over their alleged support for a failed April uprising instigated by Guaido.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini’s spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said these moves were “another direct attack on the only democratically elected body in Venezuela.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton urged the “international community to hold the tyrant Maduro accountable.”

…

A longtime human rights lawyer who is running for Tunisia’s presidency as the country’s first gay candidate says he is receiving threats from radical Islamist groups.

Mounir Baatour, founder of the Tunisian Liberal Party, recently announced his candidacy for president, vowing to bring about justice and equality in the Muslim-majority, North African nation. 

“I have received a number of threats after my announcement, especially through social media,” Baatour told VOA in an interview. “Many of these threats are from extremist individuals. But no political parties have responded negatively to my announcement.”

Baatour, 48, said his campaign focuses on employment, equal rights for women and the country’s criminal code.

Law 230 of the Tunisian criminal justice system defines homosexuality as a crime and penalizes people convicted of being homosexual with up to three years in prison. 

Baatour founded the Tunisian Liberal Party in 2011 with a clear objective to promote human rights and to create a constitutional court that would protect the country’s constitution and its democratic tenets.

Tunisia’s presidential election will take place in November, following a parliamentary election that will be held in October.

Both elections are expected to involve fierce competition among several Islamic and secular groups, including two of the most powerful political parties in the country — the Islamic Ennahda Party and the secular Nidaa Tounes party. 

“For years, I have fought for human rights, mainly for LGBT rights, without any tangible progress,” Baatour said. “Therefore, I decided to run for (the) presidency and work toward positive change for individual freedoms and minorities’ rights.” 

Marginal candidacy 

Some experts say that Baatour is a marginal candidate and therefore his sexuality is not viewed as a major issue by many Tunisian voters. 

“I don’t think he will have any problems campaigning,” said Kouichi Shirayanagi, an American reporter who has lived in Tunisia since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

“He just won’t have much support, because there are certain parties who will get the vast majority of votes,” he told VOA. 

Despite Baatour’s low chances of winning, some gay advocacy groups have expressed concerns that his nomination could enrage extremist groups in the country and thus put the LGBTQ community in danger. 

Last month, 18 Tunisian organizations representing gay rights signed a petition that refused to support him.

“We think that Mr. Baatour represents not only a threat but also a huge danger for our community,” the petition said.

Baatour, however, successfully collected more than 10,000 signatures required for his nomination eligibility.

Past legal challenges 

Baatour is also the head of the Association Shams, a nongovernmental organization that promotes LBGTQ rights.

The Tunisian government has tried to shut down the organization through a court order for violating the law, which requires such organizations to respect Law No. 230. 

But the country’s appeals court ruled in favor of Shams, allowing the group to continue its activities. 

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement in February calling on the Tunisian government to stop its attempts to close the Shams Association. 

“If organizations that defend human rights and sexual minorities are shut down, Tunisia’s image as an island of freedom and democracy in the region will take a big hit,” Amna Guellali, Tunisia director at HRW, said in a report published in February.

Baatour was imprisoned for three months on sodomy charges in 2013. 

“The humanitarian situation of the LGBT community in Tunisia is very bad. Our community is always threatened, and access to justice is hindered,” Baatour said. 

Extremism threat 

Arab Spring began in Tunisia in 2011, leading to the ousting of the country’s longtime autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. 

Despite Tunisia’s relatively smooth political transition, the country continues to suffer from corruption, a stalled economy and threats by extremist groups. 

Since mid-2015, the country has been in a state of emergency. In July, Tunisia’s first freely elected president after the uprising, Beji Caid Essebsi, died at the age of 92. During his funeral procession, tight security measures were taken to prevent any terrorist attacks.

According to various reports, approximately 5,500 Tunisians have traveled to Syria to fight primarily with IS. 

Tunisian Interior Minister Lofti Ben Jeddou said recently that authorities have blocked about 8,000 jihadists from leaving the country.

…

A senior U.S. diplomat says Washington is consulting with its allies as it proceeds with plans to deploy intermediate-range missiles in Asia, a move China says it will respond to with countermeasures.

Washington has said it plans to place such weapons in the Asia-Pacific following the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
 
The U.S. accused the other treaty signatory, Russia, of cheating by developing weapons systems banned under the treaty. However, many analysts say Washington has long sought to deploy intermediate-range missiles to counter China’s growing arsenal.
 
 In a conference call Tuesday, State Department Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs Andrea Thompson said governments would decide whether or not to host such missiles.
 
 “That’s a sovereign decision to be made by the leaders of those governments,” Thompson said. “Any decision made in the region will be done in consultation with our allies — this is not a U.S. unilateral decision.”
 
U.S. mutual defense treaty allies Japan, South Korea and Australia are considered the prime missile base candidates, although Beijing has warned that any nation that accepts such an arrangement will face retribution, likely in the form of an economic boycott or similar sanctions. Although China maintains a large stock of intermediate-range missiles, it says those are unable to reach the U.S. homeland, while missiles deployed by the U.S. in Asia would be within striking distance of mainland China.
 
 While the U.S. decision to leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty has placed the future of arms control agreements in doubt, Thompson said the move had brought a “positive response from partners and allies globally, not only tied to the Indo-Pacific but our NATO partners as well.” 
 
She also said Washington hopes Beijing will join in discussions with the U.S. and Russia on a nuclear arms limitation pact after the current agreement, known as New START, expires in 2021. China has said it has no intention of entering into any such trilateral negotiations.
 
 “Part of being a responsible actor … you need to have transparency and responsibility. So we encourage China to come to the table as well,” Thompson said. “The world demands it. That’s what responsible nations do.”

…

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son and his Indonesian business partner said Tuesday that a theme park that also features a Trump hotel and condos will no longer have Chinese financing.

In a move that alarmed Trump critics, MNC Land, the Indonesian company that is developing the theme park owned by Indonesian billionaire Hary Tanoesoedibjo, said in May that it had hired a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned Metallurgical Corp. of China to build the park in its West Java Lido City development just outside Jakarta.

“The theme park has nothing to do with the Trump Organization, we have to make it clear,” Tanoesoedibjo said at a news conference in the capital that was also attended by Donald Trump Jr. to introduce the launch of Trump Residences in West Java and Bali.

Tanoesoedibjo said his company and a Chinese bank had discussed a loan for his theme park.

“It was done by our team, but finally we dropped it,” he said, without elaborating.

News reports said a Chinese government-backed $500 million loan for the project had been signed, but that was denied by the company in May.

“It has nothing to do with Trump,” Trump Jr. said. “Obviously he (Tanoesoedibjo) has got a large development, and the two have nothing to do with each other.”

The property owner signed a deal four years earlier for the development to include a Trump-branded hotel along with a golf course, country club, luxury condominiums, mansions and villas — billed in its promotional material as “Trump Residences.” Together with a theme park, hotels, shops, homes and a dining and entertainment district that MNC is developing on its own, this first stage of “Lido City” is to occupy 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres).

Trump Residences in Lido alone sits on a 350-hectare (865-acre) plot that can be accessed directly through the newly opened Bocimi highway from Indonesia’s capital.

The two groups are also working together on the 102-hectare (250-acre) Trump International Resort, Golf Club and Residences located near Bali’s sacred Hindu temple of Tanah Lot. They promise breathtaking views and a super-sized golf course overlooking the temple.

The two Trump Residences projects in West Java and Bali are to cost about $1.7 billion. The Trump Organization will manage the properties under an agreement made with MNC Land in 2015, before Trump was elected.

Even though Trump’s involvement in the project predated his election, both deals raised concerns that foreign governments could influence his administration, which has been in a bitter trade war with China.

“My father is not at all involved, and he won’t make decisions that affect a country based on a real estate deal,” said Trump Jr., who is executive vice president of the Trump Organization. “We should be very … very clear about that.”

Tanoesoedibjo said the projects are basically funded by his group of companies.

…

Libyan officials say the fighting around Tripoli has resumed, following a two-day truce observed during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

The officials said on Tuesday that the self-styled Libyan National Army led by commander Khalifa Hifter carried out airstrikes overnight on the southern outskirts of Tripoli.
 
They say the militias allied to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli also shelled Hifter’s forces in the area. On Saturday, both sides had accepted a U.N.-proposed truce during Eid al-Adha, which began Sunday.
 
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
 
Hifter’s forces launched an offensive in April to capture Tripoli. The fighting has killed over 1,100 people, mostly combatants, and displaced more than 100,000 civilians.
 
The battle lines have changed little over recent weeks.

…

Amid revelations about the circumstances around Jeffrey Epstein’s death , federal authorities have intensified parallel inquiries into what went wrong at the Manhattan jail where he was behind bars and who now may face charges for assisting or enabling him in what authorities say was his rampant sexual abuse of underage girls.

One of the new details provided by people familiar with the Metropolitan Correctional Center was that one of Epstein’s guards the night he died in his cell wasn’t a regular correctional officer.

Serene Gregg, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3148, told The Washington Post that one of the guards was a fill-in who had been pressed into service because of staffing shortfalls.

In addition, Epstein was supposed to have been checked on by a guard about every 30 minutes. But investigators have learned those checks weren’t done for several hours before Epstein was found, according to one of the people familiar with the episode. That person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Disgraced Financier Epstein Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

He was being held without bail on sex-trafficking charges; US attorney general says death ‘raises serious questions’

A second person familiar with operations at the jail said Epstein was found with a bedsheet around his neck. That person also wasn’t authorized to disclose information about the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Epstein, 66, was found Saturday morning in his cell at the MCC, a jail previously renowned for its ability to hold notorious prisoners under extremely tight security. At the time of his death, he was being held without bail and faced up to 45 years in prison on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges unsealed last month.

Attorney General William Barr at a police conference on Monday said that he was “frankly angry to learn of the MCC’s failure to adequately secure this prisoner.”

He added: “We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability.”

At the same time, Barr warned on Monday that any co-conspirator in the ongoing criminal probe “should not rest easy. … The victims deserve justice, and they will get it.”

In the days since Epstein’s death while awaiting charges that he sexually abused underage girls, a portrait has begun to emerge of Manhattan’s federal detention center as a chronically understaffed facility that possibly made a series of missteps in handling its most high-profile inmate.Epstein had been placed on suicide watch after he was found in his cell a little over two weeks ago with bruises on his neck. But he had been taken off that watch at the end of July and returned to the jail’s special housing unit.

Federal New York Lockup Draws New Scrutiny in Epstein Death

The apparent suicide of Jeffrey Epstein has brought new scrutiny to a federal jail in New York that, despite chronic understaffing, houses some of the highest-security inmates in the country

The manner in which Epstein killed himself has not been announced publicly by government officials. An autopsy was performed Sunday, but New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson said investigators were awaiting further information.

The Associated Press does not typically report on details of suicide, but has made an exception because Epstein’s cause of death is pertinent to the ongoing investigations.

In the criminal case, authorities are most likely turning their attention to the team of recruiters and employees who, according to police reports, knew about Epstein’s penchant for underage girls and lined up victims for him. The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of pages of police reports , FBI records and court documents that show Epstein relied on an entire staff of associates to arrange massages that led to sex acts.

If any Epstein assistants hoped to avoid charges by testifying against him, that expectation has been upended by his suicide.

“Those who had leverage as potential cooperators in the case now find themselves as the primary targets,” said Jacob S. Frenkel, a former federal prosecutor.

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Trying to hold support in the manufacturing towns that helped him win the White House in 2016, President Donald Trump is showcasing growing efforts to capitalize on western Pennsylvania’s natural gas deposits by turning gas into plastics.

 Trump will be in Monaca, about 40 minutes north of Pittsburgh, on Tuesday to tour Shell’s soon-to-be completed Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex. The facility, which critics claim will become the largest air polluter in western Pennsylvania, is being built in an area hungry for investment.
 
The focus is part of a continued push by the Trump administration to increase the economy’s dependence on fossil fuels in defiance of increasingly urgent warnings about climate change. And it’s an embrace of plastic at a time when the world is sounding alarms over its ubiquity and impact.
 
Trump’s appeals to blue-collar workers helped him win Beaver County, where the plant is located, by more than 18 percentage points in 2016, only to have voters turn to Democrats in 2018’s midterm elections. In one of a series of defeats that led to Republicans’ loss of the House, voters sent Democrat Conor Lamb to Congress after the prosperity promised by Trump’s tax cuts failed to materialize.
 
Today, Beaver County is still struggling to recover from the shuttering of steel plants in the 1980s that surged the unemployment rate to nearly 30%. Former mill towns like Aliquippa have seen their populations shrink, while Pittsburgh has lured major tech companies like Google and Uber, fueling an economic renaissance in a city that reliably votes Democratic.
 
The region’s natural gas deposits had been seen, for a time, as its new road to prosperity, with drilling in the Marcellus Shale reservoir transforming Pennsylvania into the nation’s No. 2 natural gas state. But drops in the price of oil and gas caused the initial jobs boom from fracking to fizzle, leading companies like Shell to turn instead to plastics and so-called cracker plants — named after the process in which molecules are broken down at high heat, turning fracked ethane gas into one of the precursors for plastic.
 
The company was given massive tax breaks to build the petrochemicals complex, along with a $10 million site development grant, with local politicians eager to accommodate a multibillion-dollar construction project.
 
White House spokesman Judd Deere said Trump would be touring the plant and delivering remarks “touting his Administration’s economic accomplishments and support for America’s expanding domestic manufacturing and energy production.” Shell announced its plans to build the complex in 2012, when President Barack Obama was in office.
 
But “fracking for plastic” has drawn alarm from environmentalists and other activists, who warn of potential health and safety risks to nearby residents and bemoan the production of ever more plastic. There has been growing alarm over the sheer quantity of plastic on the planet, which has overwhelmed landfills, inundated bodies of water and permeated the deepest reaches of the ocean. Microplastics have also been found in the bodies of birds, fish, whales and people, with the health impacts largely unknown.
 
While many in town see the plant as an economic lifeline, other local residents, community organizations and public health advocates are planning a protest Tuesday to coincide with Trump’s visit. Cheryl Johncox, a local organizer with the Sierra Club who lives in Ohio, said she expects several hundred people to attend to voice opposition to the plant, as well as demonstrate against Trump’s immigration and gun policies.   
 
In addition to concerns about the safety of their air and groundwater, her group has heard from residents “dismayed these facilities will create single-use plastic,” she said.
 
 “Of all the things we could invest in, of all the things we should be prioritizing, of all the companies we should be giving our taxpayer money to, this seems like the worst of all worlds,” said David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment, a statewide environmental advocacy organization, who called the project “a pretty big taxpayer boondoggle for a pretty dirty project.”
 
A spokesman for the company, Ray Fisher, said Shell has “dedicated a great deal of time and resources” to ensure emissions from the plant meet or exceed local, state and federal requirements. “As designed, the project will actually help improve the local air shed as it relates to ozone and fine particulates,” he said.
 
Republicans, who worry that Trump has failed to expand his voter base beyond his 2016 supporters, are eager to shift the focus from recent controversies to economic gains made on his watch.
 
The project currently has 5,000 construction workers. Once operational, however, the site will employ far fewer — 600 — permanent employees.
 
And the area still faces other headwinds. The nearby Beaver Valley Power Station, a nuclear plant that has employed 850 people, has announced plans to close in 2021.
 
More importantly, the area lacks younger workers, with college graduates moving east to Pittsburgh for better opportunities. The median age in the county is now 44.9, compared to 32.9 in Pittsburgh.
   

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British beverage giant Diageo Plc signed a joint venture deal with state-run Cuba Ron SA on Monday to market Santiago de Cuba Rum, in defiance of U.S. efforts to dissuade investment in the Communist-run country.

The new 50-50 venture, Ron Santiago SA, will have exclusive international rights to the premium brand, considered the best by local residents along with Havana Club, which is marketed by French firm Pernod Ricard under a similar arrangement signed in the 1990s.

The agreement comes at a time when the United States is ramping up sanctions on Cuba and trying to thwart foreign investment there.

The Trump administration in May allowed Title III of the 1996 Helms Burton Act to take effect, enabling U.S. citizens to bring lawsuits against foreign companies profiting from property taken from them after Cuba’s 1959 revolution. It had been suspended by President Donald Trump’s predecessors. The Santiago distillery and related properties were reportedly nationalized.

Cuban rum is banned in the United States, but popular throughout Europe and other parts of the world.

“Cuban rum represents 9% of retail sales of premium rum worldwide,” a news release from the new company said.

Regarding the implementation of the long-dormant section of the Helms-Burton Act, Luca Cesarano, general director of the new joint venture, said he was confident the company would not be affected.

Cesarano said a subsidiary of Diageo with no ties to the United States was the partner and no company personnel who work with or in the United States were involved in the project or would be in the future.

“Neither the subsidiary of Diageo which is the partner, nor the venture, will interact with any Diageo entity or person that interacts with the United States,” he said at a Havana news conference.

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Catholic authorities in Mexico said that Cardinal Sergio Obeso Rivera has died at the age of 86.

The Episcopal Conference of Mexico said Monday that the cardinal from Veracruz state spent 65 years as a priest and was president of the conference for three terms. The Episcopal Conference is the leadership council of the Catholic Church in Mexico.

It added that Obeso Rivera was instrumental in improving ties between Mexico and the Vatican in the 1980s. He also participated in peace negotiations with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in 1996. 
 
The Episcopal Conference did not mention a cause of death, but local media had reported on recent health problems.

Obeso Rivera was named a cardinal in 2018 by Pope Francis after being named as a bishop in 1971.

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Apple is giving a first look at its upcoming web television series that is centered on a behind-the-scenes view of early morning TV news.

The company posted a teaser Monday of “The Morning Show.” It stars Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell and is set to debut will debut this fall on AppleTV+.

Apple’s new original video subscription service will feature original shows, movies and documentaries without ads and will be available on demand.

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Bill Cosby’s lawyers will fight to overturn his sexual assault conviction Monday as the 82-year-old comedian serves a three- to 10-year prison term in Pennsylvania.

Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the(hash)MeToo era. He insists the sexual encounter with a young woman seeking career advice was consensual.

A jury last year found Cosby drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia estate in 2004.

Defense lawyers contend the trial judge erred in letting five other accusers testify to bolster the prosecution’s case.

A three-judge Superior Court panel will hear arguments Monday but is not expected to rule for several months.

The decision will be closely watched by both sexual assault victims and lawyers for Harvey Weinstein and other high-profile men accused of similar misconduct.

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The Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates met in Mecca Monday with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman over the latest developments in Yemen. Yemen’s southern separatists have seized control of the southern capital, Aden, from the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi, but say they will continue to work with the Saudi-led coalition. 

Arab media showed the UAE’s Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Zayed meeting with the Saudi King as the Crown Prince looked on. The visit coincided with the capture of government buildings in the southern Yemeni capital, Aden, by the country’s southern separatists in recent days.

The separatists have reportedly agreed to attend a meeting in Saudi Arabia to iron out their differences with the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen’s internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi. Separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi indicated in a speech Sunday that his forces would continue to cooperate with the coalition.

He says that his side is ready to behave as a faithful and reliable ally and to act on the ground with total transparency, insisting that his men will respect the cease-fire that the Saudi coalition has called for.

Southern separatist militia commander Mokhtar al-Nubi indicated that his forces were just about finished mopping up, after taking control of most of Aden, including the presidential palace, from President Hadi’s forces.

He says that his forces have won a major victory in the (southern) capital Aden and that a number of divisions (loyal to the separatists) have just about accomplished the task of taking full control of the region.

Interior Minister Ahmed al-Mayssari admitted that his forces had been defeated by the southern separatists, claiming that the UAE had given their militiamen sufficient arms to capture Aden.

He says that he is admitting defeat, but claims that this will not be the last battle. He says with irony that he thanks his opponents for robbing and destroying houses and vehicles of Hadi’s forces, and claims that the separatists are behaving just like the Houthis in the north of the country. He claims that the recent battle was foisted on his forces by the UAE, which heavily armed the separatists.

Yemen’s former ambassador to Syria, Abdel Wahab Tawwaf, told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV that “the UAE has armed militias loyal to the Hadi government to retake territory from the Houthis [in the north], but have also armed the southern separatists, bringing about the situation we are now facing.” “The separatists,” he says, ” have captured the institutions of state in the south and are attacking all of their opponents.”

Gulf analyst Theodore Karasik tells VOA that the separatists’ latest actions are “meant to force a negotiation to occur in Riyadh about the future of Yemen.” He stresses that part of that discussion will be “about whether it is useful to split the country in order to settle specific issues.” Arab media outlets with ties to Qatar, long at loggerheads with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, claim that ties between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have been strained over the latest developments in Yemen, but Karasik disputes the claim.
 

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A Belgian company has become the first to announce it is cutting ties with Myanmar’s military after a United Nations fact-finding mission called on businesses to sever all financial links to the country’s generals. 

Satellite communications firm Newtec said in a statement it would “follow the recommendations by the UN and stop commercial ties with Mytel,” a local mobile phone operator partially owned by the military. 

The call from a panel of three UN experts came a year after they first said Myanmar’s top generals should be prosecuted for genocide for their role in a 2017 crackdown believed to have killed thousands of Rohingya Muslims. 

“We will never knowingly sell to any organization or company linked to the Tatmadaw’s campaign of violence… and the atrocities committed against the Rohingya,” Newtec said, using the local name for Myanmar’s military.

A company that handles public relations for Mytel did not respond to a request for comment. 

Mixed Reactions

Christopher Sidoti, a human rights lawyer and member of the UN panel, praised Newtec for following the recommendations. 

“It’s a very welcome decision. We’re pleased to see such prompt action on their part and certainly hope that it’s the first among many,” he told VOA. 

But Mark Farmaner, a human rights campaigner who named Newtec on a “dirty list” of firms doing business with Myanmar’s military early this year, said Newtec should have acted sooner. 

“Newtec have known for nine months that they were working for the Burmese military, and didn’t care,” he told VOA, using an alternative word for Myanmar.   

“They are only ending their involvement now because of negative publicity after the fact-finding mission report, not because it is morally the right thing to do.”

Threat of Legal Action

In a letter sent last November, the company’s CEO, Thomas Van den Driessche, threatened to sue Farmaner’s pressure group, Burma Campaign UK, if it publicized Newtec’s relationship with the military. 

“If you would decide on including Newtec on your ‘Dirty List’, we reserve all rights and will hold you liable for any damages that Newtec might suffer from such actions,” he wrote.   

He also incorrectly stated that Mytel was “28% owned by the government” and “in no way involved” with the military. “Your allegations are therefore slanderous,” he added. 

In fact the 28% share is held by a military-owned company named Star High.

In response Farmaner wrote: “You seem a little uninformed about the situation in Burma and your own client in the country.”

He added: “You may think that as a large company you can bully a small campaign group with legal threats but we will not be intimidated.”

Newtec did not respond to a request for comment about its threat of legal action. 

Companies Reviewing Military Ties

Sidoti said Newtec’s decision was “one of several pieces of good news” the UN mission had received since publishing a report last week detailing the generals’ business interests and naming dozens of foreign companies with ties to the military.

“We’ve had a number of reports coming back to us of questions being asked in parliaments and companies that are reviewing their associations with some of the Myanmar military-aligned companies,” he added. 

Myanmar’s military has not responded to last week’s report but it has repeatedly denied the mission’s allegations and says its campaign against the Rohingya was a legitimate counter insurgency operation. 

The country’s foreign ministry said in a statement last week that it “categorically rejects the latest UN report and its conclusions.” It added that the fact-finding mission was established “based on unfounded allegations.” 

Officials at the ministry did not answer several calls seeking comment on Newtec’s decision to cut ties with Mytel. 

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