Colombians unhappy with President Ivan Duque’s response to nearly a week of boisterous protests over everything from job losses to shark hunting took to the streets again Wednesday in a continuing tide of unrest.

The daily protests jolting the South American country proclaim a wide array of complaints but echo one refrain: an opposition to a government that many believe only looks after the most privileged citizens.

“We feel defenseless to everything,” Lucy Rosales, 60, a pensioner in Bogota. “We don’t feel like we have a voice that represents us. It’s many things that they allowed to accumulate.”

Several thousand people blew whistles and waving their nation’s flag as they marched through the streets of the capital around mid-afternoon, while indigenous activists blocked part of a major highway in southwest Colombia.

The new demonstration came a day after Duque’s attempt to quell the discontent by holding talks with a protest steering group hit a snag: Members of the National Strike Committee refused to join broader talks the president has called with all social sectors, fearing their demands would be diluted.

“The government has not been able to learn from the Chilean and Ecuadorian experiences,” said Jorge Restrepo, an economics professor, referring to recent mass demonstrations in both of those countries. “It has made very many mistakes.”

The steering committee presented a 13-point list of demands Tuesday that asks Duque to withdraw or refrain from tax, labor and pension law changes that are either before the legislature or rumored to be in development. The labor and student leaders also want Duque to review free-trade agreements, eliminate a police unit accused in the death of an 18-year-old student protester and fully implement the nation’s historic peace accord with leftist rebels.

Organizers dismissed Duque’s calls to join his “National Conversation” that would run through March — an initiative that appears to take a page from French President Emmanuel Macron, who opened a “Great National Debate” to involve citizens in drafting reforms after months of angry protests in that country.

“It’s a monologue between the government and its allies,” said Diogenes Orjuela, president of the Central Workers Union, one of the main forces behind the National Strike Committee.

It remains unclear to what extent the Strike Committee represents protesters in what has become a largely citizen-driven outpouring of discontent. An invitation to gather in a park or bang pots and pans quickly goes viral on WhatsApp and soon hundreds fill neighborhoods with the angry sound of clanging metal and chants like “Get out Duque!”

“We’re tired,” Ana Maria Moya, a student, said. “We’re saying, ‘No more.’”

Though the National Strike Committee drew an estimated 250,000 people to the streets last Thursday, far fewer protesters were heeding their call for a new strike on Wednesday. Protesters filled the storied Plaza Bolivar but life continued as normal in much of the rest of the capital.

Various leaders have tried to capitalize on the momentum, but none yet has emerged as the unequivocal voice of the protesters.

“There is a contest over the ownership of the protesters,” Restrepo said. “I see students get out in the streets because they need more social mobility, higher levels of income, more opportunities at least in employment. But then the ones that claim they represent those students in the streets are the unions.”

Colombia is widely considered in need of labor and pension reform. Few retirees currently have access to pensions, with the lowest-income earners the least likely to get one. Labor laws make it difficult to hire new employees. Even as the nation’s economy grows at a healthy 3.3%, unemployment has risen to nearly 11%.

“I would characterize the demands of the National Strike Committee as highly conservative, regressive and counter-reformist demands,” Restrepo said.

Orjuela, a former schoolteacher who participated in Colombia’s last major strike, in 1977, said protest organizers would be willing to support a pension reform as long as it involves a state and not a private-run system.

Even as they parse out the details, the committee’s general message decrying Duque has resonated widely, tapping into the myriad frustrations of Colombians.

For some it is big-picture issues like not fully implementing peace accords, endemic corruption and persistent economic inequality. For others it is small indignities, like relatively pricey public transportation that is also slow and overcrowded.

One unexpected sight in the protests has been that of giant plastic sharks hoisted by at least one protester denouncing a government decision allowing a certain amount of shark fishing.

“It’s like all the groups are feeding off each other,” said Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, a human rights advocate with the Washington Office on Latin America.

Few expected that such a mixed bag of motivations could generate a prolonged protest and it remained unclear how long it might drag on. Thus far, four people have died, hundreds have been injured and tens of millions of dollars have been lost from businesses shuttering during demonstrations.The patience of some Colombians is beginning to wear thin.

Julio Contreras, a deliveryman who was tear gassed while trying to get 20 kilos (44 pounds) of chicken to restaurants, said he is ready for the protests to be done.

“They’re not letting us work,” he said. “The students should be in the universities and not affecting us.”

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U.S. prosecutors have arrested a Hawaii man they accuse of sending hundreds of unwanted service providers and others to a Utah home, including plumbers and prostitutes.

Loren Okamura was arrested Friday in Hawaii following his indictment last month on charges of cyberstalking, interstate threats and transporting people for prostitution, court documents show.

Okamura, 44, targeted a father and her adult daughter, sending the woman threatening messages and posting her picture and address online, authorities said. One posting said the homeowner wanted drugs and prostitutes at the house in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood in a Salt Lake City suburb.

The Gilmore family was “tormented” during the year-plus that the “extreme cyberstalking” endured, U.S. Attorney John Huber said Tuesday at a news conference.

Investigators had been focused on Okamura as the suspect since January when the Gilmores were granted a protective injunction in Utah. It took investigators time to gather enough evidence to charge Okamura because of his use of encryption and apps that made him appear anonymous, Huber said.

“For all the good that technology offers us in our modern lifestyles, there is also a darker, seedier side to it,” Huber said. “That’s what you have here.”

Huber declined to disclose the relationship between the victim and Okamura, but said it was not random. He noted that most stalkers had a previous intimate relationship with their victims and said, “those dynamics are present in this case.”

A sealed indictment was issued on Oct. 2, but Okamura wasn’t arrested until Friday as police struggled to find him because he doesn’t have a permanent address or job and is “savvy” with technology he used to mask his phone’s location.

A team of Utah officers flew to Honolulu and teamed with FBI agents on a 15-hour search Friday for Okamura that ended when they arrested him without incident at a supermarket, said Sgt. Jeff Plank of the Utah Department of Public Safety, who was assigned to the FBI’s cybercrime task force.

Okamura’s federal public defender, Sharron Rancourt, didn’t immediately return a phone message and emails seeking comment.

Okamura is scheduled to be in court in Hawaii on Wednesday for a detention hearing.

Prosecutors say Okamura’s online stalking began sometime in 2018 and led as many as 500 unwanted people to go to the house, according to Gilmore. Okamura sent food deliveries, repair services, tow trucks, locksmiths, plumbers and prostitutes to “harass and intimidate” the family, costing the service providers thousands of dollars in lost business, according to the charging documents.

Utah police went to the North Salt Lake house more than 80 times over a four-month period from November 2018 to February 2019. The activities affected the entire neighborhood, prosecutors say.

Okamura sent the woman extensive and repeated texts and voicemails.

In May, the woman received a threatening email telling her she should “sleep with one eye open and keep looking over her shoulder.” The email told her, “You should just kill yourself and do your family a favor,” charging documents show.

Prosecutors say they have records from Okamura’s cellphone and Apple ID to support the charges. His arrest was first reported by Hawaii News Now.

Walt Gilmore didn’t immediately return messages Tuesday. 

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Pennsylvania enacted legislation Tuesday to give future victims of child sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits and to end time limits for police to file criminal charges.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed new laws he said will help repair “faults in our justice system that prevent frightened, abused children from seeking justice when they grow into courageous adults.”

The legislative package was based on recommendations in last year’s landmark grand jury report about the cover-up of hundreds of cases of child sexual abuse in six of Pennsylvania’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses over much of the 20th century.

However, Republicans with majority control of the state Senate blocked the two-year window, which was a top priority of victim advocates, victims and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

They all want the state to temporarily lift time limits that currently bar now-adult victims of child sexual abuse from suing their perpetrators and institutions that may have helped hide it.

About two dozen states have changed their laws on statutes of limitations this year, according to Child USA, a Philadelphia-based think tank that advocates for child protection.

Wolf, a Democrat, signed bills to invalidate secrecy agreements that keep child sexual abuse victims from talking to investigators, and to increase and clarify penalties for people who are required to report suspected child abuse but fail to do so.

Wolf signed the bills at Muhlenberg High School in Reading, the home district of state Democratic Rep. Mark Rozzi, a champion of the legislation and who has spoken publicly about being raped as a 13-year-old boy by a Roman Catholic priest.

“We know our work is not done today, it’s going to continue,” Rozzi said.

The grand jury report prompted a lengthy battle in the Legislature that pitted victims and their advocates who sought the two-year window to file claims over past abuse against top Senate Republicans, who argued it would be unconstitutional and instead offered the slower alternative of amending the state constitution.

The multi-year amendment process has begun, but the bill must again pass both the House and Senate in the 2021-22 legislative session before voters will decide its fate.

Shapiro, a Democrat, said the eliminated time limits means prosecutors could file charges against only two priests after the report was issued. Shapiro said that if the new legislation had applied, some 100 priests could have been charged.

Wolf and Shapiro urged lawmakers to take up the two-year window for lawsuits rather than wait for the constitutional amendment process to play out.

“By waiting, we are robbing the very victims who made this day possible, we are robbing them of the only closure before them,” Shapiro said. “Think about the many Pennsylvanians who have a story to tell about sexual abuse. Why should anyone who’s been a victim of sexual abuse or its cover-up be made to suffer while others get three or four more years of a free pass?”

The main bill in the legislative package ends any statute of limitations, in future cases, for criminal prosecution of major child sexual abuse crimes. Current law limits it to the victim’s 50th birthday.

Victims would have until they turn 55 to sue, compared to age 30 in current law. Young adults ages 18-23 would have until age 30 to sue, where existing law gives them just two years.

Police could file criminal charges up to 20 years after the crime when young adults 18-23 years old are the victims, as opposed to 12 years after the crime for victims over 17 in current law.

Other state have previously amended their laws.

In New Jersey, lawmakers expanded the civil statute of limitations from two years to seven years. The bill opened a two-year window, which starts on Dec. 1, to victims who were previously barred by the statute of limitations. It also allows victims to seek damages from institutions.

New York raised the victim’s age for which prosecutors can seek a felony indictment from 23 to 28. The law also gave anyone a year starting in August to file child sex abuse lawsuits against individuals and institutions, and civil lawsuits going forward can be filed until the victim is 55, up from 23.

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Donald Trump on Tuesday followed a White House Thanksgiving tradition by pardoning “Butter,” the turkey, and his alternate, “Bread.” The president also honored his own tradition of cracking jokes while granting clemency to the poultry. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.

…

Rescuers were pulling survivors and dead bodies from piles of rubble in Albania on Tuesday after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the country’s coastal area. The U.S. Geological survey placed the quake’s epicenter about 30 kilometers north of the capital Tirana and at a depth of about 20 kilometers. The earthquake was followed by about 100 aftershocks, including three with preliminary magnitudes of about 5. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports the death toll is rising.

…

WHITE HOUSE — President Donald Trump on Tuesday honored another White House tradition where he granted a pardon to “Butter,” the turkey, and his alternate, “Bread,” in the Rose Garden, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.  

Honoring his own tradition of cracking jokes while granting clemency to poultry, Trump said, “I expect this pardon will be a very popular one with the media. After all, turkeys are closely related to vultures.”

The turkeys have been “raised to remain calm under any condition, which will be very important because they’ve already received subpoenas to appear in Adam Schiff’s basement on Thursday,” Trump said, referring to impeachment hearings.

“Bread and Butter, I should note that unlike previous witnesses, you and I have actually met,” the president said in another jab to Democrats and their impeachment inquiry.

The president made a similar subpoena joke during last year’s turkey pardon, saying, “Even though Peas and Carrots have received a presidential pardon, I have warned them that House Democrats are likely to issue them both subpoenas.”

Trump has made political jokes during all of his Thanksgiving turkey pardons since coming to office. In his first turkey pardon in 2017, Trump joked that he has been “very active in overturning” executive actions taken by his predecessor Barack Obama, but would not subject the birds to it.

“I have been informed by the White House counsel’s office that Tater and Tot’s pardons cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked,” Trump said. “So, Tater and Tot, you can rest easy.”

Matthew Costello, assistant director of the David M. Rubinstein National Center for White House History, said that in these events presidents get to lighten up and show “who they are as a person.”

Costello recalled how President Obama used to make what his daughters call “bad dad jokes” during these ceremonies, while Trump is more focused on how he’s covered in the press. “I think he sees it as an opportunity then to sort of tease and make fun of some of those things,” added Costello.

As far as Bread and Butter are concerned, both birds got to stay at a luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., prior to the pardoning, and will spend the rest of their lives at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Turkey tradition

Turkeys are a staple main dish for the American Thanksgiving holiday, which falls on the last Thursday of November. According to the White House Historical Association, pardoning them became a presidential tradition since George H. W. Bush in 1989 but the custom has earlier roots.

“A White House reporter in 1865 published a report about President Lincoln pardoning a turkey that he grew fond of,” said Costello. However, that turkey was headed to become Christmas dinner, not Thanksgiving.

The first turkey pardon on record was in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy received a turkey as a gift for Thanksgiving dinner but decided to let it live on Nov. 19. Three days later, the president was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan deflected questions about the Iran-Contra scandal and whether he would pardon the actors involved, Oliver North and John Poindexter.

“If they’d given me a different answer on Charlie and his future, I would have pardoned him,” Reagan said, referring to the bird.

Before its pardoning, turkeys have been sent as gifts to American presidents from as early as the 1870s, said Costello. In the early 1920s, there had been such a huge poultry influx that President Calvin Coolidge discouraged Americans from sending them. He received not only turkeys for dinner, but quail, ducks, geese, rabbits, deer, even a raccoon, which became a Coolidge family pet named Rebecca.

In recent years, the White House has turned the pardon to be a social media event and encouraged people to participate, including voting on the name via the online poll.

After pardoning the turkeys, Trump and first lady Melania Trump departed the White House to spend Thanksgiving holidays at his Florida golf resort, Mar-a-Lago.
 

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This week on Healthy Living, we discuss access to safe abortionsin Africa and the impact of new U.S. restrictions on funding for abortions. Wakikona Rose, Senior Program Officer with the Center for Health, Human Rights, and Development joins the show from Kampala for more on this topic. Also, some tips on quitting smoking, how doctors in the DRC are taking steps to address sleeping sickness, and how researchers may have discovered a way to address antibiotic resistance. These topics and more on this episode of Healthy Living.

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Ukraine’s president says he has discussed a new contract for natural gas supplies from Russia during a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he discussed the gas deal with Putin during Monday’s phone call. Zelenskiy said Tuesday that the deal is a priority for Ukraine and important for Europe’s energy security.

Talks on a replacing a contract expiring this year have dragged, raising fears of disruptions of Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine.

Price and debt disputes led to disruptions of Russian gas deliveries to European customers during the winters of 2006 and 2009.

Relations between Russia and Ukraine have remained badly strained since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Moscow’s support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
 

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Russia’s foreign minister is warning Syria’s Kurds that relying on U.S. support “won’t bring them any good.”

Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday accused Syria’s Kurds of failing to abide by a Russia-Turkey deal that halted a Turkish offensive into Syria.

He says the Kurds are trying to stay allied with the U.S., and avoid engaging in dialogue with the Syrian government.

U.S. and Kurdish-led forces fought the Islamic State group for years. Washington’s support allowed the Kurds to set up an independent government in eastern Syria.

But American troops pulled out of most of the country in October, paving the way for Turkey’s offensive against the Kurds. Russia, which backs the Syrian government, helped broker a cease-fire.

Lavrov dismissed the Kurdish claims of Turkey’s violations of the cease-fire.

…

Two helicopters collided in midair and killed 13 French soldiers fighting Islamic extremists in Mali, France said Tuesday, in its biggest loss since its mission in West Africa’s Sahel region began in 2013.

The deaths draw new attention to a worrying front in the global fight against extremism. Attackers linked to the Islamic State or al-Qaida this month alone have killed scores of local troops in the region and ambushed a convoy carrying employees of a Canadian mining company, leaving at least 37 dead.
      
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “deep sadness” after the Monday evening crash. “These 13 heroes had only one goal: protecting us,” he tweeted.

The French military said both helicopters were flying very low when they collided and crashed in Mali’s Liptako region. No one on board survived.

The helicopters were supporting French commandos on the ground who were pursuing a group of extremists. French defense minister Florence Parly said an investigation has been opened into the accident.

France’s operation in West and Central Africa is its largest overseas military mission and involves 4,500 personnel. France intervened in 2013 after extremists seized control of major towns in northern Mali and implemented a harsh version of Islamic law. They were forced back into the desert, where they have regrouped and moved south into more populated areas.

Since 2013, at least 44 French soldiers have died.

A new surge in extremist attacks in Mali has killed well over 100 local troops in the past two months, with IS often claiming responsibility. The extremists loot military posts and profit from mining operations while finding refuge in forested border areas.

Before his death this year, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi congratulated “brothers” in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso for pledging allegiance.

Public outrage in Mali over the latest attacks also has been directed in recent weeks against France, the country’s former colonizer.

Mali’s Liptako region near the border with Niger and its Gourma region near the Burkina Faso border have become strategic crossings for extremist groups as they are largely unguarded, the International Institute for Strategic Studies wrote last month.

France’s operation became involved in the Liptako area in 2017 and this year it built a new base in Gossi in the Gourma region, IISS said.
 
“Despite increased French presence in this zone, military gains remain limited. Both sides barely ever engage in direct confrontation. Militants use guerrilla tactics, rely heavily on improvised explosive devices and hide within the civilian population before and after launching attacks,” it added.

France’s Barkhane military operation is one of multiple efforts against the growing extremist threat in the Sahel including a five-nation regional counterterror force that struggles to secure international funding and a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali. 

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A year after he won Europe’s top human rights award, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov has finally picked up the prize, following his release from a prison in Russia’s far-north where he was held on terror charges.

Sentsov was freed in a prisoner swap in September after spending five years in a Russian prison colony above the Arctic circle.

He has been one of the most vocal opponents of Russia’s 2014 annexation from Ukraine of his native Crimea region, and staged a 144-day hunger strike to protest the jailing of dozens of Ukrainians in Russia. He ended it faced with the prospect of being force-fed.

The EU award, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sentsov accepted it in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
 

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Two French citizens were shot dead in Port-au-Prince over the weekend shortly after flying into the Haitian capital to adopt a child, diplomatic and other sources told AFP Monday.

An official at the French embassy confirmed that a French couple had been killed, without giving further details of the exact circumstances of their deaths.

According to two other sources, however, the couple were from the Ardeche region of southeastern France and had arrived in the Caribbean country to adopt a child.

One of the sources said they were killed in an armed robbery that turned deadly.

A spokeswoman for the Ardeche department confirmed to AFP that the couple, from the town of Saint-Martin-d’Ardeche, had been given a green light last year to adopt their first child.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been roiled for two months by protests, which were triggered by fuel shortages but have turned violent and morphed into a broader campaign against President Jovenel Moise.

According to UN figures, at least 42 people have been killed and dozens injured during anti-government protests since mid-September.

The French foreign ministry recommends visitors “postpone their trip to Haiti until further notice.”  

“Demonstrations, accompanied by blockades on the main roads and violent acts (rock throwing, shots…) are very frequent. Violent groups are active and fueling a climate of insecurity,” the foreign ministry warned last month.   

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The holiday season officially began at the White House Monday, as first lady Melania Trump received the 2019 White House Christmas tree.
 
Unlike last year, President Donald Trump did not attend the tree presentation.
 
The tree arrived by jingle bell-adorned horse and carriage, continuing an annual White House tradition to highlight the holiday spirit.
 
“Just a few decades earlier they were still delivering the tree in pick-up trucks,” said historian Matthew Costello from the White House Historical Association. “So it’s nice that they’ve made it more festive, to do it with a Christmas-themed sled and a drawn carriage,” Costello added.
 
This year’s tree, is a 5.6 meters tall Douglas fir grown by Larry Snyder of Mahantongo Valley Farms in Pennsylvania, winner of the National Christmas Tree Association’s Christmas tree contest.

As the winner, Snyder has the honor of presenting a Christmas tree to the White House. He called it, “a memorable experience of a lifetime for our family, especially for our children and grandchildren, who are accompanying us for the presentation.”
 
The first lady chatted with Snyder and took pictures with the Snyder family.
 
Holiday tree tradition
 
The National Christmas Tree Association has presented the official White House Christmas Tree every year since 1966. Each year’s tree has to fit the exact specifications of the White House Blue Room, where it is displayed as part of the holiday décor with a theme selected by the first lady.
 
Jacqueline Kennedy started the tradition of selecting a theme for the official White House Christmas tree in 1961.

Historian Costello said that the choice of themes tells us a little bit about the president and first lady who are living there.  He said it shows “what they see as important to have this representation on the traditional Christmas tree.”
 
Melania Trump is scheduled to unveil the theme of her 2019 White House Christmas décor in early December.
 
Next up in the White House holiday events schedule is the Thanksgiving turkey pardon by President Trump later this week.

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Activists on Monday criticized as insufficient new French government efforts to fight one of Europe’s highest rates of so-called femicides, or the killing of women by their partners.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Monday announced millions of dollars in measures to protect women from spousal killings. They include beefing up shelters and the national hotline for victims, electronic bracelets and firearms seizures targeting abusers, educational programs and stiffer penalties for those convicted. The announcement coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Philippe said he hoped the measures will create an “electric shock” that he says French society needs to fight so-called femicides. Activists say nearly 140 women have been killed by their partners or ex-partners in France so far this year — one of Europe’s highest rates.

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Paris Saturday, in the latest protest against femicides. The new measures come after weeks of discussions between authorities and women’s rights groups on the problem.

But, some activists say both the measures and the funds to realize them are not enough. Camille Bernard is a member of #NousToutes, a women’s rights group which organized the demonstrations.

“We are really disappointed about this, because we must have more money to make things [i.e. measures to crack down] for the violence, and the prime minister says it will not be more [new] money. We don’t know how they think they will do more things against violence without more money,” he said.

Domestic violence has also become a hot-button issue elsewhere in Europe. A day after the Paris demonstrations, thousands protested violence targeting women in Brussels. Similar demonstrations also took place recently in Spain, despite a raft of government measures more than a decade ago to address the problem.

…

Got secrets? They’ll be safe in here. VOA Explains what a SCIF is.

…

Kosovo prosecutors have filed terrorism charges against three women repatriated from Syria for allegedly joining terror groups there.
                   
Prosecutors said Monday that the three women had left Kosovo in 2013, 2014 and 2015 to join the Islamic State group in Syria and Al-Nusra in Iraq. Spouses of two of them had died, apparently in fighting there.
                   
The three women were among 110 Kosovo citizens repatriated from Syria in April.
                   
If convicted, they could face a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
                   
Kosovo authorities say 30 of the country’s citizens are still actively supporting terror groups in Syria.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has asked Navy Secretary Richard Spencer to resign, citing his handling of the case of a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes in Iraq.

Esper asked for the resignation Sunday and Spencer submitted it, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said.

The request involved the case of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was accused of war crimes committed during his deployment to Iraq in 2017. He was acquitted of the more serious charges of murder but found guilty of posing with the body of a teenaged Islamic State militant. As a result, Gallagher was demoted.

But U.S. President Donald Trump intervened in the case and pardoned him and restored his rank and pay.

When Trump learned last week that the Navy planned to bring Gallagher before a review board to determine if he could continue to wear the Trident Pin, which signifies membership in the elite commando unit, he intervened again.

Trump tweeted: “The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin. This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!”

The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin. This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!

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

The Pentagon said Esper asked for Spencer’s resignation after learning that the secretary had privately proposed to White House officials that if they stopped meddling in the Gallagher case, Spencer would make sure that Gallagher would be able to resign as a Navy SEAL. The Washington Post first reported this story.

That information was not disclosed to Esper during conversations he had with Spencer, Hoffman said.

“Unfortunately, as a result, I have determined that Secretary Spencer no longer has my confidence to continue in his position,” Esper said in a statement released Sunday.

Esper has told the president to consider Kenneth Braithwaite, current U.S. ambassador to Norway and a retired Navy rear admiral, as the next secretary of the Navy, Hoffman said.

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Read more at https://projects.voanews.com/descent-into-is/

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Hong Kong pro-democracy forces appear headed for a landslide victory in local elections that saw record turnout, delivering a stunning rebuke to Beijing.

Early voting results Monday showed pro-democracy candidates winning nearly every seat they contested in Hong Kong’s 18 district councils. Pro-democracy candidates led the pro-establishment camp, 278 seats to 42.

If the trend continues, it would be a major symbolic blow to pro-China forces that dominate virtually all levels of Hong Kong’s politics.

It is the latest evidence of continued public support for a five-month-old pro-democracy movement that has become increasingly aggressive.

“Hong Kongers have spoken out, loud and clear. The international community must acknowledge that, almost six months in, public opinion has NOT turned against the movement,” student activist Joshua Wong said on Twitter.

The vote will not significantly change the balance of power in Hong Kong’s quasi-democratic political system. District council members have no power to pass legislation; they deal mainly with hyperlocal issues, such as noise complaints and bus stop locations.

However, the district council vote is seen as one of the most reliable indicators of public opinion, since it is the only fully democratic election in Hong Kong.

On Edge From Violence, Hong Kong Holds Local Elections video player.

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Massive turnout

Nearly 3 million people voted in the election — a record high for Hong Kong, and more than double the turnout of the previous district council election, in 2015.

Voters formed long lines that snaked around city blocks outside polling stations across the territory, many waiting over an hour to vote.

“This amount of people I’ve never seen. There are so many people,” said Felix, who works in the real estate industry and voted in the central business district.

By nighttime, most of the long lines at voting stations had tapered off, but nearby sidewalks remained filled with candidates and their supporters who held signs and chanted slogans in an attempt to persuade passersby to cast last-minute votes.
 
“I’m tired, but I think it’s more important to fight,” said Elvis Yam, who waited in line for an hour to vote in the morning and then volunteered to hold a campaign sign for a pro-democracy candidate in the University District.

 
Mr. Ma, a voter in the South Horizons West constituency, said he sees the election as a continuation of the protest movement. “Many would like to have a change. So this election is very important,” he said.
 
Police promised a heavy security presence at voting locations. But outside many polling stations, there was no visible police presence. At others, teams of riot police waited in nearby vans. There were no reports of major clashes.

Hong Kong has seen five months of pro-democracy protests. The protests have escalated in recent weeks, with smaller groups of hard-core protesters engaging in fierce clashes with police.

The win “very clearly” shows the public is in support of the movement, says Ma Ngok, a political scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“This will, I think, give (Hong Kong) much better support internationally, and also create much more pressure for the Hong Kong government to respond to the demands of the protest,” Ma said.

Wider impact?

Even though district councils have little power, the vote could affect how the territory’s more influential Legislative Council and chief executive are selected in the future.

District councilors are able to select a small number of people to the 1,200-member election committee that chooses Hong Kong’s chief executive. They also have the ability to select or run for seats in the Legislative Council.

“That’s a big deal,” said Emily Lau, a former Legislative Council member and prominent member of the pro-democracy camp. “Because of this constitutional linkage, it makes the significance of the district council much bigger than its powers show you.”
 
Hong Kong saw a major surge in voter registration, particularly among young people. Nearly 386,000 people have registered to vote in the past year — the most since at least 2003.

Many Hong Kongers are concerned about what they see as an erosion of the “one country, two systems” policy that Beijing has used to govern Hong Kong since it was returned by Britain in 1997.

…

Minorities make up the majority of the latest group of U.S. college students to be named Rhodes Scholars, and the class includes the first transgender woman selected for the prestigious program.

The Rhodes Trust announced the 32 selections late Saturday after two days of discussions over 236 applicants from 90 different colleges and universities across the country.

Along with University of Tennessee graduate Hera Jay Brown, who is the first transgender woman in the program, this year’s class also includes two non-binary scholars.

“As our rights and experiences as women are under threat, this moment has given me pause to reflect on what an honor it is to pave this path,” Brown posted on Twitter after the announcement.

There are students from universities well known for their academics, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Duke University. The list also includes the first Rhodes Scholar from the University of Connecticut.

The 32 people chosen will start at least two years of all-expenses paid study next fall at Oxford University in England along with students from over 60 countries.

The studies undertaken by the scholars include research into the escape from danger reflex in zebrafish to better understand how the human brain deals with stress and how to make computer vision more humanlike.

The research also includes studies into human behavior, including the prevalence of sex work among refugees, the impact of nuclear testing on the American Southwest, how to use online cryptocurrency to improve conditions in the world’s largest Syrian refugee camp and defending the rights of migrants to the United States.

Winners of the scholarships include Daine A. Van de Wall, who is a brigade commander at the United States Military Academy, which is the highest-ranking cadet position at West Point.

Other scholars selected this year include students who were homeschooled before their university studies and some who are the first people in their families to go to college.

Arielle Hudson is a second-generation student at the University of Mississippi who remembered visiting campus with her mother, who holds two degrees from the school. She always thought she would go to college out of state until she received a full scholarship through a Mississippi teaching program.

“When I received the scholarship, I started to think about how I would make a difference here,” Hudson told the university in a statement.

Now her work will come full circle. Hudson plans to seek master’s degrees in comparative social policy and comparative international education, then come back to Mississippi’s poor Delta region to teach for five years to fulfill her scholarship requirement.

Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902 in the will of Cecil Rhodes, a British businessman and Oxford alum who was a prime minister of the Cape Colony in present-day South Africa.

The recipients are chosen not just for academic skill, but for their leadership and a willingness to do good for the world.

Previous Rhodes Scholars include U.S. President Bill Clinton, astronomer Edwin Hubble, singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and author Naomi Wolf. Among 2020 Democrats running for president, Cory Booker and Pete Buttigieg both studied at Oxford under the scholarship program.

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The U.S. first family is gearing up for the holidays. First lady Melania Trump will receive the official White House Christmas tree Monday.

The more than 5-meter-tall Douglas Fir was cut at Mahantongo Valley Farms in Pitman, Pennsylvania. Owner Larry Snyder won the honor of providing the White House with its official tree after winning an annual contest held by the National Christmas Tree Association.

“I feel extremely lucky to be the person who is providing the tree to the White House,” said Snyder, who has been growing Christmas trees for more than 30 years. “It’s the home of the president. I feel very honored to have this opportunity to present this tree for display.”

The 16-year-old tree will arrive at the White House in a horse-drawn carriage. It will be the focal point of the White House decorations and will be displayed in the Blue Room.  

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will promise to bring his Brexit deal back to parliament before Christmas when he launches his manifesto Sunday, the cornerstone of his pitch to voters to “get Brexit done.”

Voters face a stark choice at the country’s Dec. 12 election: opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist vision, including widespread nationalization and free public services, or Johnson’s drive to deliver Brexit within months and build a “dynamic market economy.”

Opinion polls show Johnson’s Conservative Party commands a sizeable lead over the Labour Party, although large numbers of undecided voters means the outcome is not certain.

“My early Christmas present to the nation will be to bring the Brexit bill back before the festive break, and get parliament working for the people,” Johnson will say, according to excerpts of his speech that he will make at an event in the West Midlands region of England.

Contrasting with Labour

Contrasting with Labour’s unabashed tax-and-spend approach, Johnson’s manifesto, titled “Get Brexit Done, Unleash Britain’s Potential,” will pledge to freeze income tax, value-added sales tax and social security payments.

Johnson will also announce a 3 billion pounds ($3.85 billion) National Skills Fund to retrain workers and an extra 2 billion pounds to fill pot-holes in roads. He will also pledge to maintain the regulatory cap on energy bills.

Labour spokesman Andrew Gwynne said Johnson’s plans were “pathetic.”

“This is a no hope manifesto, from a party that has nothing to offer the country, after spending 10 years cutting our public services,” Gwynne said.

Think tanks like the Institute for Fiscal Studies have raised questions about the credibility of plans to fund investment from both the Conservatives and Labour.

Tired of voting

Held after three years of negotiations to leave the European Union, the December election for the first time will show how far Brexit has torn traditional political allegiances apart and will test an electorate increasingly tired of voting.

Amid a heated campaign in which the Conservatives have been criticized for disseminating misleading social media posts, Johnson, 55, will say he will “turn the page from the dither, delay and division” of recent years.

Labour has said it will negotiate a better Brexit deal with the EU within six months that it will put to the people in a new referendum — one which will also offer the choice of remaining in the bloc.

Corbyn has said he would remain neutral in such a vote.

“We now know the country can be carbon (neutral) by 2050 and Corbyn neutral by 2020, as the leader of the opposition has decided to duck the biggest issue facing our country today,” Johnson will say.

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