The leaders of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada will come together to discuss major global challenges in France on Saturday at the annual meeting  of the G-7 group of industrialized nations.As host, French President Emmanuel Macron, has made fighting inequality the theme of the summit, and has invited several other world leaders to attend. But Henry Ridgwell reports, any grand ambitions for the summit will likely be stymied by more pressing concerns.

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The leaders of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada will come together to discuss major global challenges in France on Saturday at the annual meeting  of the G-7 group of industrialized nations.As host, French President Emmanuel Macron, has made fighting inequality the theme of the summit, and has invited several other world leaders to attend. But Henry Ridgwell reports, any grand ambitions for the summit will likely be stymied by more pressing concerns.

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The leaders of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada will come together to discuss major global challenges in France on Saturday at the annual meeting  of the G-7 group of industrialized nations.As host, French President Emmanuel Macron, has made fighting inequality the theme of the summit, and has invited several other world leaders to attend. But Henry Ridgwell reports, any grand ambitions for the summit will likely be stymied by more pressing concerns.

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Few people have turned up for an opposition protest in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, on Monday as armed police maintained heavy presence on the streets and at a courthouse where the opposition is pressing to be allowed to hold the demonstration.

Business in Bulawayo’s usually bustling downtown was subdued with the most traffic from police trucks, water cannons and dozens of police officers patrolling on foot.

The opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, had called the protest as part of a planned series of demonstrations to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa to agree to a transitional government amid a rapidly deteriorating economy and rising political tensions.

But the police banned the protest in the southern city, citing security concerns. A Bulawayo magistrate is hearing the opposition party’s challenge to the ban.

The protest was planned as a follow up to demonstrations held in the capital, Harare, on Friday when several hundred demonstrators marched in defiance of a police ban that was upheld by the High Court. Police used tear gas and beatings with batons to quell the Harare protest.

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President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser is playing down fears of a looming recession after last week’s sharp drop in the financial markets and predicting the economy will perform well in the second half of 2019.

Larry Kudlow said in Sunday television interviews that consumers are seeing higher wages and are able to spend and save more.

“No, I don’t see a recession,” Kudlow said. “We’re doing pretty darn well in my judgment. Let’s not be afraid of optimism.”

A strong economy is key to Trump’s reelection prospects. Consumer confidence has dropped 6.4% since July. The president has spent most of the week at his golf club in New Jersey with much of his tweeting focused on talking up the economy.

Recession Fears Prompt Many to Rethink Global Economic Integration 

Downturn now could lead to major realignment of global trade 

Kudlow acknowledged a slowing energy sector, but said low interest rates will help housing, construction and auto sales.

Kudlow also defended the president’s use of tariffs on goods coming from China. Before he joined the administration, Kudlow was known for opposing tariffs and promoting free trade during his career as an economic analyst. Kudlow said Trump has taught him and others that the “China story has to be changed and reformed.”

“We cannot let China pursue these unfair and unreciprocal trading practices,” Kudlow said.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said the U.S. needed to work with allies to hold China accountable on trade. He said he fears Trump is driving the global economy into a recession.

“This current trade war that the president has entered our country into is not working,” O’Rourke said. “It is hammering the hell out of farmers across this country.”

Explainer Recession video player.

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Last month, the Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark rate — which affects many loans for households and businesses — by a quarter-point to a range of 2% to 2.25%. It’s the first rate cut since December 2008 during the depths of the Great Recession. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stressed that the Fed was worried about the consequences of Trump’s trade war and sluggish economies overseas.

“Weak global growth and trade tensions are having an effect on the U.S. economy,” he said.

Breaking with historical norms, Trump has been highly critical of Powell as he places blame for any economic weakness on the nation’s central bank for raising interest rates too much over the past two years.

Peter Navarro, who advises Trump on trade policy, shared that sentiment.

“The Federal Reserve chairman should look in the mirror and say, ‘I raised rates too far, too fast, and I cost this economy a full percentage point of growth,’” Navarro said.

Navarro also said that U.S. consumers are not affected by the administration’s trade war with China, though tariffs are taxes paid by U.S. importers, not by China, and are often passed along to U.S. businesses and consumers through higher prices.

Kudlow himself told Fox in May that U.S. consumers and businesses ultimately end up paying the tariffs that the administration imposes on billions of dollars of Chinese goods.

Trump acknowledge at least a potential impact when he paused a planned 10 percent tariff hike for many items coming from China, such as cellphones, laptops, video game consoles, some toys, computer monitors, shoes and clothing.

“We’re doing (it) just for Christmas season, just in case some of the tariffs could have an impact,” the president told reporters in New Jersey.

Navarro would not go even that far, saying Sunday “there’s no evidence whatsoever that Americans consumers are bearing any of this.”

Kudlow was interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and “Fox News Sunday.” O’Rourke spoke on NBC, and Navarro appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Trump’s trade war with China has been a target of criticism by Democrats vying to challenge him in 2020.

“There is clearly no strategy for dealing with the trade war in a way that will actually lead to results for American farmers or American consumers,” said Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, a Democratic presidential candidate. He said on CNN that it was “a fool’s errand” to think tariff increases will compel China to change its economic approach.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that she would meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday evening to discuss Britain’s planned departure from the European Union, adding that Berlin was also prepared for a disorderly Brexit.

Johnson is seeking to persuade European Union leaders to
reopen Brexit talks or face the prospect of its second-largest
member leaving abruptly on Oct. 31 with no deal in place to
mitigate the economic shock — a move that businesses expect
would cause major disruption.

“We are glad of every visit, and you have to talk, and you
have to find good solutions,” Merkel said during a panel
discussion at the Chancellery.

“We are prepared for any outcome, we can say that, even if
we do not get an agreement. But at all events I will make an
effort to find solutions — up until the last day of
negotiations,” she added.

“I think it’s always better to leave with an agreement than
without one. But if that’s not possible, we’ll be prepared for
the alternative as well.”

The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that Johnson would
tell Merkel that the British parliament could not stop Brexit.

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Protesters rallied in Hong Kong again on Sunday, as anti-government demonstrations, now in their 11th week, continue.  Mike O’Sullivan reports that the protests were first sparked by an extradition bill, but are now broadly aimed at maintaining Hong’s Kong’s special status within China.

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Last update: 1:45 p. m.

Iran said its seized oil tanker was expected to leave Gibraltar on Sunday after authorities there rejected a U.S. bid to detain it, but it was unclear where the ship might be headed next.

“The vessel is expected to leave tonight,” envoy Hamid Baeidinejad said on Twitter, adding that two engineering teams had been flown to Gibraltar to assist in its departure.

Tehran said it was ready to dispatch its naval fleet to escort the ship, loaded with 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil worth $130 million, but Iran gave no indication where it would set sail for.

The ship, called the Grace 1 but now renamed by Iran as Adrian Darya 1, was seized July 4 by Gibraltar, an overseas British territory, because authorities there believed the crude oil was headed to Syria, an Iran ally, in violation of European Union sanctions. Originally, the ship was flying under a Panamanian flag but after it was renamed, a red, white and green Iranian flag was hoisted over the ship.

The ship’s seizure was one of several related incidents in recent weeks triggering increased tensions between Tehran and Western nations. Later in July, Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker, the Stena Impero, in the Persian Gulf and is still impounding it.

The United States and Iran have shot down each other’s unmanned drones, and Western countries have accused Tehran of carrying out other attacks on ships in the Gulf, where a fifth of the world’s oil production passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

The incidents stem at least in part from U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal last year from the 2015 international nuclear agreement aimed at restraining Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. Trump then reimposed debilitating sanctions, which have hobbled the Iranian economy.

Gibraltar authorities on Thursday decided to release the Iranian tanker, saying they had received written assurances from Tehran that the crude oil would not be shipped to Syria.

On Friday, the U.S. government won a court order in Washington authorizing the seizure of the ship, the oil it carries and nearly $1 million. The U.S. contended that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, listed as a terrorist group by Washington, was making the illegal shipment to Syria in violation of the U.S. sanctions against Iran.

But Gibraltar said Sunday it “is unable to seek an order of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar to provide the restraining assistance required” by the United States.

The Gibraltar government said the European Union sanction “against Iran — which is applicable in Gibraltar — is much narrower than that applicable in the U.S.”

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Restrictions continued in much of Indian-administered Kashmir on Sunday, despite India’s government saying it was gradually restoring phone lines and easing a security lockdown that’s been in place for nearly two weeks.

Soldiers manned nearly deserted streets and limited the movement of the few pedestrians who came out of their homes in Srinagar, the region’s main city.

The security crackdown and a news blackout were installed following an Aug. 5 decision by India’s Hindu nationalist government to downgrade the Muslim-majority region’s autonomy. Authorities started easing restrictions on Saturday.

But the Press Trust of India news agency said authorities re-imposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar after violence was reported on Saturday.

About 300 Kashmiris returned to Srinagar on Sunday from a Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Many of them became emotional while reuniting with their family members who met them at the city’s airport. Due to the security and communications lockdown, many travelers were unable to contact anybody in the Kashmir region.

“Neither us nor our relatives here knew if we were dead or alive,” Muhammad Ali said after returning from the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.

Public transport buses started operating in some rural areas in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday. Cellphone and internet services resumed in some districts, but news reports said that happened only in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region, which was not threatened by anti-India protests.

The New Delhi government’s decision on Kashmir’s status has touched off anger in the region and raised tensions with Pakistan. Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India, but both claim the region in its entirety. The nuclear-armed archrivals have fought two wars over the territory.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan demanded that United Nations observers be deployed to the troubled region.

“This threatens 9 million Kashmiris under siege” in Kashmir, “which should have sent alarm bells ringing across the world with UN Observers being sent there,” Khan said Sunday on Twitter.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh dismissed the idea, and said that if talks are held between New Delhi and Islamabad they would only be on Pakistani-administered Kashmir, not on India’s part of the region.

An exchange of gun and mortar fire between Indian and Pakistani forces was reported on Saturday across the militarized Line of Control that divides Kashmir between the countries. India said one of its soldiers was killed in the exchange.

Meanwhile, ordinary people in the region continue to feel the impact of the restrictions.

Nazir Ahmad, a retired engineer who lives in Srinagar, said Saturday that residents were still facing difficulties in buying items such as vegetables, milk and medicine. He said his father is sick and needs a constant supply of medicine, which the family is finding difficult to procure.

“There is no internet, no telephone, no communication, no transportation,” said Ahmad, describing the situation as living through a “siege.”

“We are living like animals,” he said. “So I request everybody, please come and solve this situation. Nobody is coming out” of their homes.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended the Kashmir changes as freeing the territory from separatism, and his supporters have welcomed the move. One of the constitutional revisions allows anyone to buy land in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which some Kashmiris fear could change the region’s culture and demographics. Critics have likened it to Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.

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LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO – Officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory have plans for $13 billion worth of construction projects over the next decade at the northern New Mexico complex as it prepares to ramp up production of plutonium cores for the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal. 
 
They outlined their plans at a recent meeting attended by hundreds of representatives of construction firms from around the country. 
 
Beyond the new infrastructure related to plutonium assignment, other work most likely will be aimed at serving a growing workforce — from planned housing projects and parking garages to a potential new highway that would reduce commute times from Albuquerque and Santa Fe for the 60% of employees who live outside Los Alamos County. 

2,600 jobs
 
Lab Director Thomas Mason told the Albuquerque Journal the lab has 1,400 openings and plans to add another 1,200 jobs to its workforce of 12,000 by 2026.  
  
“It’s a busy time at the lab,” he said. “We’re probably busier than we have been since the height of the Cold War.” 
 
Mason said $3 billion in spending is planned for improvements to the lab’s existing plutonium facility for the core work. An accelerator project and a new-generation supercomputer also will require major investments. 
 
Roadwork would be the responsibility of surrounding communities or the state, but he said the lab is stressing the importance of transportation infrastructure and needs to communicate to the region about the lab’s growth projections. 
 
One piece of transportation infrastructure — Omega Bridge, which connects the town of Los Alamos with the lab site over Los Alamos Canyon — is owned by the federal government. One possibility is that it’s converted to a “greenway” with a new bridge added nearby.  
  
Mason said the question of what to do with the bridge is a long-term issue. 

Watchdogs have questions
 
Some watchdog groups have been concerned about the federal government’s plans to boost plutonium pit production at Los Alamos given the current infrastructure and the lab’s track record of safety concerns. 
 
Greg Mello with the Albuquerque-based Los Alamos Study Group said “everywhere pit production has been done, in every country, has been an environmental disaster.” 
 
Pits were formerly made at Rocky Flats in Colorado, which was shut down in the early 1990s amid an environmental scandal. 
 
“We think it’s the wrong direction for this region,” Mello said. 
 
The National Nuclear Security Administration is under a mandate from Congress and the Department of Defense to make 80 pits a year by 2030 as part of a plan to modernize the nation’s arsenal. 
 
Only a handful have been produced in recent decades, all of them at Los Alamos. NNSA’s plan calls for making 30 pits a year at Los Alamos and 50 pits a year at the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. 
 
A recent congressionally funded study cast doubt on whether the pit production goals can be met and questioned the plan to ramp up production, which is estimated to cost $14 billion to $28 billion. The study stated that “eventual success of the strategy to reconstitute plutonium pit production is far from certain.” 

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s treasury minister, Nicolas Dujovne, resigned Saturday and will be replaced by the economy minister of the country’s most populous state, a senior official in the presidential office said. 
 
The resignation came three days after President Mauricio Macri announced his conservative administration was temporarily increasing the minimum wage, reducing payroll taxes and implementing other steps to help Argentine workers as the country struggles to overcome sizzling inflation, high unemployment and other economic problems. 
 
Macri acted after a leftist presidential slate that includes his predecessor, Cristina Fernandez, turned in a powerful showing last Sunday in primary voting for candidates going into October general elections. Macri’s slate did poorly, and the already weak Argentine peso slumped and stock prices fell sharply as investors worried about the vote results. 
 
In his resignation letter, Dujovne reportedly said the government needed to make “a significant overhaul in the economic area.” He said the administration had made strides in reducing the government’s deficit and reducing taxes, but added that “we undoubtedly made mistakes.” 
 
The presidency official, who agreed to confirm the resignation only if not quoted by name, said Dujovne would be replaced by Hernan Lacunza, the economy minister for Buenos Aires province. Lacunza previously was general manager of the Central Bank. 

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LONDON – Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that his nation’s Parliament cannot stop Brexit and a new deal must be agreed if Britain is to avoid leaving the EU without one. 

In his first trip abroad as leader, Johnson is due to meet his European counterparts ahead of a G-7 summit on Aug. 24-26 in Biarritz, France. 

He will say that Britain is leaving the European Union on Oct. 31, with or without a deal, and that Parliament cannot block that, according to a Downing Street source. 

The United Kingdom is heading toward a constitutional crisis at home and a showdown with the EU as Johnson has repeatedly vowed to leave the bloc on Oct. 31 without a deal unless it agrees to renegotiate the Brexit divorce. 

Refusing to reconsider

After more than three years of Brexit dominating EU affairs, the bloc has repeatedly refused to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, which includes an Irish border insurance policy that Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, agreed to in November. 

The prime minister is coming under pressure from politicians across the political spectrum to prevent a disorderly departure, with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn vowing to bring down Johnson’s government in early September to delay Brexit. 

It is, however, unclear if lawmakers have the unity or power to use the British Parliament to prevent a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31 — likely to be the United Kingdom’s most significant move since World War II. 

Opponents of no-deal say it would be a disaster for what was once one of the West’s most stable democracies. A disorderly divorce, they say, would hurt global growth, send shock waves through financial markets and weaken London’s claim to be the world’s preeminent financial center. 

Brexit supporters say there may be short-term disruption from a no-deal exit but that the economy will thrive if cut free from what they cast as a doomed experiment in integration that has led to Europe falling behind China and the United States. 

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TEJEDA, SPAIN – A wildfire in the Canary Islands led to the evacuation of a small town in Gran Canaria island on Saturday, and officials said the blaze had a “great potential” to spread. 

The wildfire started in the town of Valleseco, and an emergency area was also declared for the municipalities of Moya and Tejeda. In the latter, most parts of the town of 1,900 inhabitants were evacuated for precautionary reasons and roads were closed, the regional government said. 

Seven helicopters, as well as firefighters on the ground, were battling the blaze. 

Tejeda had been evacuated last week when another wildfire affected the area. 

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Updated at 5:52 p.m. Aug. 17.

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – Authorities in Afghanistan said a massive bomb blast late Saturday inside a packed wedding hall in Kabul “killed and injured dozens of civilians.” 

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the bombing in a western part of the Afghan capital. The victims were mostly members of the minority Shiite Hazara community. 

Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi confirmed the blast and blamed “enemies of Afghanistan” for plotting the carnage. He did not explain further. 

Rahimi said police and ambulances quickly reached the site, and victims were transported to city hospitals. He said the nature of the blast was being determined, and he promised to issue soon an exact casualty toll and other details. 

Local journalists quoted survivors as saying they saw dozens of bodies all around the hall following the powerful explosion. 

Taliban insurgents routinely carry out attacks against government security forces in Kabul. But almost all recent bombings against the Hazara community in the city have been claimed by Islamic State’s Afghan branch, known as Khorasan Province. 

Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict in Afghanistan, where more than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in July alone, according to the United Nations. 

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Media organizations say Australia has become a secretive state that is actively restricting the press. The leaders of the country’s major newspapers and broadcasters have made the claims at the first public hearing of a parliamentary inquiry investigating Australia’s security laws and their impact on journalism.

Australia’s media bosses say journalists must be able to do their jobs without fear. The inquiry in Sydney was told that reporters who published stories based on leaked government documents were being treated as though they had received “stolen goods.”

The Australian parliament’s powerful intelligence and security committee is investigating the impact national security laws have on press freedom.

The probe was launched after the Australian Federal Police raided a newspaper journalist’s home in Canberra and the headquarters of the national broadcaster, the ABC, in June, over stories based on leaked confidential documents. The raids were widely condemned as heavy-handed and an “utter violation” of a free media.

The ABC was targeted for publishing allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan. They were based on hundreds of pages of classified military papers.

Media chiefs are calling for so-called “public interest protections” for reporters to be able to tell sensitive stories without fear of prosecution.

Michael Miller, the executive chairman of News Corp Australasia says national security concerns are unfairly outweighing the public’s right to know.

“We may not be living in police state, but we are living in a state of secrecy,” he said. “We have many laws that criminalize journalism. They are creating a secret society that most Australians would not recognize as our own.”

Police defend raids

Senior Australian Federal Police officers have insisted the raids on the media in June were in defense of national security and that the compromise of sensitive material “could cause exceptionally grave damage or serious damage” to Australia’s interests.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has stressed the importance of a free and open press in Australian democracy.

The parliamentary inquiry into press freedom is expected to report its findings by October.
 

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U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar has rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertions that she and fellow lawmaker Rashida Tlaib had no intention of meeting with Israeli officials before Netanyahu barred them from visiting Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank next week.

Omar posted her Israeli itinerary on Twitter Friday, which included meeting with Jewish and Arab members of Israel’s parliament and Israeli security officials.

Let’s be clear: the goal of our trip was to witness firsthand what is happening on the ground in Palestine and hear from stakeholders —our job as Members of Congress.

But since we were unable to fulfill our role as legislators, I am sharing what we would have seen. (THREAD)

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) August 16, 2019

Israeli military veterans had planned to give the lawmakers a tour of Hebron where “settlement expansion has resulted in a two-tiered city, with Palestinians under military occupation forced to walk on the opposite side of the street from Israelis.” She said Israeli military veterans would have conducted the tour and talked about “their experiences with the occupation.”

The U.S. lawmaker said her delegation had also scheduled a briefing on the Bedouin community in East Jerusalem, while the United Nations was set to deliver a briefing on the effects of humanitarian aid cuts on Palestinians.

A video conference with Gazan youth was planned. Omar noted that Israeli officials do not allow members of Congress to visit Gaza.

Tlaib decides not to go

Earlier Friday, Tlaib had reversed her decision to travel to the West Bank, just hours after the Israeli Interior Ministry said it would allow the U.S. lawmaker to see her Palestinian grandmother on “humanitarian grounds.”

In a Tweet Friday morning, Tlaib said, “It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in — fighting against racism, oppression & injustice.”

Tlaib had written a letter to the Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri on Thursday, requesting admittance to see her grandmother, saying it could be the last opportunity to see her. In the letter, Tlaib said she would “respect any restrictions and not promote boycotts against Israel.”

Deri said in a tweet he had approved Tlaib’s request as a gesture of goodwill “but it was just a provocative request, aimed at bashing the state of Israel. Apparently her hate for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother.”

Congresswomen denied entry

Israel had said Thursday it would deny both Tlaib and Omar entry, setting off a new round of controversy in the debate over U.S. support for its ally in the Middle East.

The two Democratic lawmakers have been vocal critics of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians. They were set to visit Israel and several cities in the West Bank.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told public broadcaster Kan on Thursday, “We won’t allow those who deny our right to exist in this world to enter Israel. In principle, this is a very justified decision.”

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted shortly before Thursday’s announcement, writing, “It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds.”

It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2019

Later in the day, Trump defended the Israeli decision. “I can’t imagine why Israel would let them in,” he said, repeating that the two lawmakers were “very anti-Jewish and very anti Israel.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president’s comments “are a sign of ignorance and disrespect, and beneath the dignity of the Office of the President.” Pelosi reaffirmed her love of Israel but said the move to deny entry to Omar and Tlaib “is a sign of weakness, and beneath the dignity of the great state of Israel.”

Omar and Tlaib’s frequent criticism of Israel has drawn accusations of anti-Semitism for months. Omar was condemned by the congressional leadership in her own party for invoking an offensive trope about Jews and money in social media postings earlier this year.

Omar said the Israeli government’s ban on her entry into the country prevented her from fulfilling her duties as a member of the U.S. Congress.

Tlaib tweeted a photograph of her Palestinian grandmother, who she said “deserves to live in peace & with human dignity.”

This woman right here is my sity. She deserves to live in peace & with human dignity. I am who I am because of her. The decision by Israel to bar her granddaughter, a U.S. Congresswoman, is a sign of weakness b/c the truth of what is happening to Palestinians is frightening. pic.twitter.com/GGcFLiH9N3

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 15, 2019

Omar and the Palestinian-American Tlaib are supporters of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), a nonviolent movement that seeks to economically pressure Israel into ending its occupation of the West Bank, among other goals. Some advocates of BDS support a single-state solution that critics say would lead to the destruction of the Jewish state.

The freshman members of Congress have repeatedly presented a challenge for the House Democratic leadership, as their outspoken statements on U.S. policy in the Middle East have drawn Trump’s attention.

Omar and Tlaib were two of four House Democratic freshman members of color whom the president has said should “go back” to their home countries. Omar, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia, is the only one of the four who was born outside the United States. The president’s supporters chanted, “Send her back” after Trump mentioned the congresswoman at a rally earlier this year. The president later said he did not like those chants.

The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution in July condemning the BDS movement. Both Omar and Tlaib voted against that resolution.
 

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SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to extend a reprieve given to Huawei Technologies that permits the Chinese firm to buy supplies from U.S. companies so that it can service existing customers, two sources familiar with the situation said.

The “temporary general license” will be extended for Huawei for 90 days, the sources said.

Commerce initially allowed Huawei to purchase some American-made goods in May shortly after blacklisting the company in a move aimed at minimizing disruption for its customers, many of which operate networks in rural America.

An extension will renew an agreement set to lapse Aug. 19, continuing the Chinese company’s ability to maintain existing telecommunications networks and provide software updates to Huawei handsets.

The situation surrounding the license, which has become a key bargaining chip for the United States in its trade negotiations with China, remains fluid and the decision to continue the Huawei reprieve could change ahead of the Monday deadline, the sources said.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss Huawei in a call this weekend, one of the sources said.

Huawei did not have an immediate comment. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

When the Commerce Department blocked Huawei from buying U.S. goods earlier this year, it was seen as a major escalation in the trade war between the world’s two top economies.

The U.S. government blacklisted Huawei alleging the Chinese company is involved in activities contrary to national security or foreign policy interests.

As an example, the blacklisting order cited a criminal case pending against the company in federal court, over allegations Huawei violated U.S. sanctions against Iran. Huawei has pleaded not guilty in the case.

The order noted that the indictment also accused Huawei of “deceptive and obstructive acts.”

At the same time the United States says Huawei’s smartphones and network equipment could be used by China to spy on Americans, allegations the company has repeatedly denied.

The world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker is still prohibited from buying American parts and components to manufacture new products without additional special licenses.

Many Huawei suppliers have requested the special licenses to sell to the firm. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters late last month he had received more than 50 applications, and that he expected to receive more.

Out of $70 billion that Huawei spent buying components in 2018, about $11 billion went to U.S. firms including Qualcomm, Intel and Micron Technology.

The Commerce Department late Friday declined to comment, referring to Ross’ comments to CNBC television earlier this week in which he said the existing licenses were in effect until Monday.

Asked if they would be extended he said: “On Monday I’ll be happy to update you.”

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President Donald Trump is warning U.S. voters that the economy could crash if he is turned out of office next year. His warning came this week as he sought to reassure supporters in New Hampshire about the state of economy amid signs of a possible recession on the horizon, something analysts say could cripple his re-election hopes next year. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
 

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As Hong Kong braces for more mass protests, Trump administration officials are watching events carefully, but also sending mixed messages to China about fears of a potential violent crackdown by Beijing. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
 

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COPENHAGEN – Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world’s biggest island.

“We are open for business, but we’re not for sale,” Greenland’s foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger told Reuters.

Trump is due to visit Copenhagen in September and the Arctic will be on the agenda during meetings with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

Talk of a Greenland purchase was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that the notion had been laughed off by some advisers as
a joke but was taken more seriously by others in the White House.

Danish politicians on Friday poured scorn on the idea.

“It has to be an April Fool’s joke. Totally out of season,” former prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Twitter.

“If he is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof, that he has gone mad,” foreign affairs spokesman for the Danish People’s Party, Soren Espersen, told broadcaster DR.

“The thought of Denmark selling 50,000 citizens to the United States is completely ridiculous,” he said.

Greenland, a self-ruling part of Denmark located between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, is dependant on Danish economic support. It handles its own domestic affairs while
Copenhagen looks after defence and foreign policy.

“I am sure a majority in Greenland believes it is better to have a relation to Denmark than the United States, in the long term,” Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, Danish MP from Greenland’s
second-largest party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), told Reuters. “My immediate thought is ‘No, thank you’,” she said.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod were not available for comment but officials said they would respond later on Friday. The U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen
was also not immediately available for comment.

“Oh dear lord. As someone who loves Greenland, has been there nine times to every corner and loves the people, this is a complete and total catastrophe,” former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford, said in on Twitter.

Greenland is gaining attention from global super powers including China, Russia and the United States due to its strategic location and its mineral resources.

In May, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was behaving aggressively in the Arctic and China’s actions there had to be watched closely as well.

A defense treaty between Denmark and the United States dating back to 1951 gives the U.S. military rights over the Thule Air Base in northern Greenland.

There has been no indication that a Greenland purchase will be on the agenda for Trump’s talks with Danish officials. Martin Lidegaard, senior lawmaker of the Danish Social Liberal Party and a former foreign minister, called the idea “a grotesque proposal” which had no basis in reality.

“We are talking about real people and you can’t just sell Greenland like an old colonial power,” he told Reuters. “But what we can take seriously is that the U.S. stakes and interest in the Arctic is significantly on the rise and they want a much bigger influence,” he added.

In 1917 Denmark sold off the then Danish West Indies islands for $25 million to the United States, which renamed them the United States Virgin Islands.

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Two suspicious objects that prompted an evacuation of a major lower Manhattan subway station during the morning commute Friday are not explosives, police said.

The bomb squad cleared the items found at the Fulton Street station, New York Police Department Counterterrorism Chief James Waters said on Twitter.
 
 Waters posted photos of the objects, which looked like pressure cookers or crockpots.
 
 “The suspicion is that they were placed there to suggest that they were electronic devices and possible bombs,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on WCBS-AM after the all clear was given.
 
 The devices were found at the line that carries No. 2 and 3 trains around 7 a.m.
 
 The station is a busy transit hub a few blocks from the World Trade Center.
 
 In 2017, a would-be suicide attacker set off a homemade pipe bomb in an underground passageway at the Times Square subway station during rush hour, seriously injuring himself.

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Botswana is battling an influx of illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe, as the Zimbabwe 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.  Mqondisi Dube reports has more from Gaborone.

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