The extradition case of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech firm Huawei, is winding its way through the Canadian legal system. For Meng, it means confinement to her Vancouver mansions and conferences with high-priced lawyers. For two Canadians, it means more uncertainty and more time in a Chinese jail. Throw in a U.S. presidential election and a rift in Canada-Chinese trade relations and it creates the makings of an international soap opera.If all goes according to schedule, the actual extradition hearing for Meng will start on April 23. Before that, she faces multiple court dates in front of the Supreme Court of the province of British Columbia and the Federal Court of Canada.The U.S. Justice Department is seeking her extradition from Vancouver on allegations of helping a Huawei subsidiary break U.S. sanctions against doing business in Iran. The daughter of Chinese technology giant Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport while in transit to a connecting flight to Mexico on December 1, 2018.That means the actual extradition hearing may take place more than 28 months after her arrest.Intensely watching the proceedings is Vancouver immigration lawyer and policy analyst Richard Kurland, who does not represent any party in the case.He said for a person like Meng, the case is actually not taking a long time.“It’s not slow,” Kurland said. “This is the typical, average, garden-variety vanilla extradition case processing times. I’m aware of at least three other extradition cases that required eight to 10 years to finish. So the Canadian extradition process does take about eight to 10 years when someone has the resources to dig their heels in and take advantage of every procedural possibility in the extradition case.”Kurland added that for those who lack Meng’s financial means – she has the resources of a giant company like Huawei and her father is said to be worth over $1 billion – the extradition process can be rather abrupt.“If you don’t have financial resources, the road is short,” he said. “Typically, in the overwhelming majority of cases, extradition from beginning to end is a matter of days, if not a short number of months.”’The two Mikes’Not long after Meng’s arrest, two Canadian citizens, now commonly referred to as “the two Mikes” – Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — were detained in China. Spavor, who specialized in travel from the People’s Republic of China and North Korea, and Kovrig, a former diplomat who works with a nonprofit research organization, live most the time in China. They were initially accused of “endangering Chinese security” but were not formally charged until June of this year. Spavor is facing charges of spying and transmitting secrets outside of China. Kovrig is facing charges of spying on Chinese state secrets for other countries.In the past, both men have been denied legal counsel or the ability to see family members and have only been granted infrequent visits by Canadian diplomatic staff in China.One former Canadian diplomat who used to visit Canadians in Chinese prisons is Colin Robertson, currently vice president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. One of his many diplomatic postings was in Hong Kong, from where he often traveled to China.He said conditions in such facilities are usually deplorable. While Meng is out on bail and lives in her choice of her two Vancouver mansions, the two Michaels are not so lucky. And Kovrig’s former diplomatic career is also an issue.“But certainly in the case of Kovrig, the Chinese were questioning him about his activities as a Canadian diplomat, day after day, hour after hour, which is in total violation of his privileges, and privileges of diplomats which Chinese diplomats also enjoy,” Robertson said. “Under the Vienna conventions, which take back to 1815.”Canada-China trade issuesRobertson said the relationship between Canada and China is at its lowest point since modern diplomatic relations were established under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the father of current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, over 50 years ago. He said that has led to a number of trade complaints.“And the Chinese continue to find things, more recently seafood and now looking at lumber, that are just basically trade harassment,” Robertson said. “And my own view is, I think we needed to be, we needed a more muscular response earlier on when they started going, because we just basically, Prime Minister [Trudeau] seemed to kind of turn the other cheek and just take this barrage of words which is straight out of the Chinese playbook. All this language that they use about irrefutable proof terms of the so-called crimes of the two Michaels, and the accusations of racism, white supremacy, and double standard — we’re not the first country they’ve applied this to.”A public opinion survey at the end of June by the Angus Reid Institute found that over 72 percent of Canadians backed Trudeau’s refusal to stop the extradition hearing and send Meng back to China in exchange for the two Michaels. Trudeau said doing so would set a dangerous precedent and that he would let the Canadian justice system, instead of politics, take care of the matter.Before that actual extradition hearing next April, Meng and her lawyers will spend the summer months tied up in legal maneuvers.The next scheduled federal court date is July 16. Defense lawyers are trying to get more information from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the country’s spy agency, that they claim can help Meng. Canada’s attorney general says that information needs to remain secret for reasons of national security.Defense claims rights violationsMeng’s lawyers are also alleging that U.S. and Canadian authorities improperly conspired to open a criminal investigation when Meng initially arrived at Vancouver’s airport. She was held for several hours, had her computers and cellphones seized, and was questioned at length. Meng’s lawyers say that instead, Canadian authorities should have simply taken her into custody on the existing arrest warrants. Not doing so, the defense says, violated her basic legal rights.Her lawyers are also claiming that the United States deliberately misled the court to get the legal proceedings underway. Hearings to secure documents and evidence for these arguments will be held in the British Columbia Supreme Court on August 17.As the summer turns into fall, a week in September has been set aside for Meng’s legal team to present evidence regarding the accuracy of the information in the U.S. charges filed in New York that instigated the extradition process.On February 16 of next year, there will be a hearing, scheduled to last three weeks, regarding Meng’s arrest and alleged interference by U.S. President Donald Trump. Shortly after the arrest, Trump remarked that the charges against Meng could be used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations.Assuming that none of the decisions arising from all these hearings is appealed, the court will move to the actual extradition hearing in April.Ironically, if the court does find Meng should be extradited and she loses all appeals, the Canadian legal extradition process does become political. Canada’s attorney general, who is also justice minister, would then have to decide whether or not to sign the extradition papers. 
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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is in Washington for meetings Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump days after a new trade deal among the two countries and Canada went into effect.Speaking to reporters in Mexico City before his departure Tuesday, López Obrador repeatedly said in response to questions about raising other issues such as immigration policy that his focus in the talks would be on the trade deal.“It is always important that there be cooperation for development, but now in a circumstance of global economic crisis this treaty is going to help us a lot, it is very timely,” López Obrador said.He noted the economic challenges facing Mexico, like many other countries, during the coronavirus pandemic and stressed the need for Mexico to have good relations with its neighbor.The Mexican leaders noted the agenda for bilateral talks does include other topics, and on those his delegation, which includes Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon and Economic Secretary Graciela Márquez Colín, will not take a confrontational approach, but rather try to have a dialogue of understanding with their U.S. counterparts.Trump, in brief comments ahead of the López Obrador’s visit, said the two will have “quite a meeting.”“He’s a good man. He’s a friend of mine. And we have a great relationship with Mexico,” Trump said.The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement updated the 1990s North American Trade Agreement and was a major policy push of Trump, who cast the former trade deal as harmful to U.S. businesses and workers.The pact includes new laws related to intellectual property protection, the internet, currencies, investment and state-owned enterprises. The new legislation includes more stringent rules on auto manufacturing, e-commerce and labor provisions, but leaves largely unchanged the trade flows among the North American countries valued at $1.2 trillion a year.In addition to private talks between Trump and López Obrador and wider meetings with their advisers, the two leaders will also take part in a dinner Wednesday night with business leaders from both countries.The Mexican foreign ministry said before going to the White House, López Obrador will make visits to the Lincoln Memorial and a statue of former Mexican President Benito Juárez in Washington. 
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Doctors in Brazil say an experimental treatment given to a man known as the Sao Paulo Patient may have cured him of HIV.  
 
The man, who was subjected to intensive anti-retroviral drug therapy with the purpose of removing all traces of the AIDS virus from his body, shows no signs of the virus after more than a year since he stopped receiving the treatment.
 
In an interview with The Associated Press, the patient said he was “very moved, because it’s something that millions of people want. It’s a gift of life, a second chance to live.”
 
The only other two known cases of HIV cures have been through bone marrow transplants, which gave patients new immune systems that were better equipped to respond to the virus.  
 
Bone marrow transplants are prohibitively expensive, though, and they come with life-threatening side effects, leading experts to disregard them as a viable option.
 
Although the treatment the Sao Paulo Patient received appears to be a much better alternative, he represents only a single case that requires more research and experimentation.  
 
“These are exciting findings but they’re very preliminary,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an AIDS expert at the University of California, San Francisco. “This has happened to one person, and one person only.”
 
Gandhi noted the four others in the same experiment did not respond similarly to the treatment.
 
If the Sao Paulo Patient’s case can be shown to work on a broader spectrum, it would be a huge breakthrough, as people with HIV currently are forced to stay on a treatment plan for the rest of their lives.  
 
HIV is difficult to treat because it lies dormant for long periods of time, during which it cannot be eliminated by medicines or the body’s normal immune response. Patients must stay on drugs to keep the virus dormant and prevent it from becoming active again. 
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is due to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on his first official visit to Washington Wednesday, pending the results of his coronavirus test. Lopez Obrador said, he will announce the results of his test on Tuesday and will undergo another test when arriving in the U.S. if it’s part of the protocol. The White House said in a statement that both leaders will recognize the historic United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which took effect on July 1. The Mexican leader said, his visit to Washington is important because the agreement aims to create jobs in North America at a time when the pandemic has crippled many of the world’s economies. Some political observers urged Lopez Obrador to reject the White House invitation, citing Trump’s characterization of some Mexicans as criminals during his 2016 campaign and his promotion of a border wall. Meantime, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau turned down the White House invitation, but Lopez Obrador said, Trudeau has agreed to visit him in Mexico. 
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Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro expects to get the results of another coronavirus test on Tuesday, a few days after showing symptoms, including a fever. Bolsonaro told supporters that after taking an x-ray, the exam showed his lungs “clean.” Bolsanaro has previously downplayed the risks posed by the coronavirus, once telling supporters because of his history of athleticism, he would not worry if he became infected.  He said, I would not feel it, it would be a like a little flu or like being under the weather.” Bolsanaro’s apparent disregard for the potential lethal effects of the virus has led him to challenge safeguard measures to prevent the spread of the virus, such as weakening laws requiring a face mask in public. The Associated Press says, Bolsonaro tested negative for COVID-19 three times after several aides were diagnosed with the virus in March, following a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump’s at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, estate. Brazil is one the  countries worst hit by the coronavirus, with more than 1.6 million cases and more than 65,000 deaths. 
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is due to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on his first official visit to Washington Wednesday, pending the results of his coronavirus test. Lopez Obrador said, he will announce the results of his test on Tuesday and will undergo another test when arriving in the U.S. if it’s part of the protocol. The White House said in a statement that both leaders will recognize the historic United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which took effect on July 1. The Mexican leader said, his visit to Washington is important because the agreement aims to create jobs in North America at a time when the pandemic has crippled many of the world’s economies. Some political observers urged Lopez Obrador to reject the White House invitation, citing Trump’s characterization of some Mexicans as criminals during his 2016 campaign and his promotion of a border wall. Meantime, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau turned down the White House invitation, but Lopez Obrador said, Trudeau has agreed to visit him in Mexico. 
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MEXICO CITY/OTTAWA – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will not visit Washington with Mexico’s president this week to celebrate a new North American trade deal, his office said Monday, after Canada raised concerns over potential U.S. aluminum tariffs.In a Monday morning phone call, Trudeau told Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador he hoped the talks with U.S. President Donald Trump would be successful.Lopez Obrador, who had urged Trudeau to join him, is to meet Trump at the White House on Wednesday on his first trip outside of Mexico since taking office 19 months ago.Trudeau will be attending Cabinet meetings and a sitting of parliament in Ottawa, his office said in a statement on Monday.”We wish the United States and Mexico well at Wednesday’s meeting,” the statement said.Trudeau last week said he was not sure about attending, citing tensions over possible U.S. tariffs on Canadian aluminum. Trudeau also flagged concerns over the novel coronavirus.In their call, Trudeau “expressed regret” to Lopez Obrador that he could not go to Washington, Trudeau’s office said.Their discussion also touched on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal that went into effect last week, efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and investment in renewable energy infrastructure.The two leaders expressed interest in meeting in person, Trudeau’s office said, without providing further detail.Lopez Obrador said Trudeau was invited to Mexico, and after their call announced that the Canadian prime minister had agreed to visit the country “as soon as possible.”Lopez Obrador said he will undergo a coronavirus test before leaving Mexico on Tuesday and was prepared to have another in the United States if necessary. Lopez Obrador said he plans to return to Mexico from Washington on Thursday.   
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The practice of mining precious metals and stones from the Earth dates as far back as recorded human history. The prized possessions of previous eras give clues to a culture’s technological advancement. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports on a mineral-mining operation recently discovered in underwater caves in Mexico.
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The Dominican Republic heads to the presidential polls on Sunday in a pandemic-driven drama, with delays caused by one of Latin America’s worst outbreaks and the leading candidate briefly suspending appearances after testing positive for coronavirus. Voters are choosing who to tackle the pandemic’s impact on the Caribbean’s largest economy which is heavily dependent on tourism, an industry leveled by the crisis. Polls suggest the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) is set to lose power after 16 years as its mismanagement of the outbreak, infighting, corruption allegations and inequality overshadow its strong economic performance. The PLD’s candidate, Gonzalo Castillo, 59, is trailing in second place behind Luis Abinader, 52, of the opposition Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM). Both parties are centrist. The polls suggest, however, that Abinader may not get the absolute majority needed to win, in which case a run-off will be held on July 26. Results are expected late on Sunday or on Monday. “It’s time for change,” Abinader said at his closing rally on Wednesday, which was private in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus but broadcast live on television. The republic is holding the presidential and parliamentary elections even as coronavirus cases hit record daily highs, four months after the first reports. The country of 10.4 million has registered 36,184 cases and 786 deaths so far. Critics say the government did not act quickly enough, reopened the economy too soon last month, and is too slow with testing. The opposition PRM, however, has not laid out a strong alternative strategy. Candidates held fewer rallies than usual, campaigning instead on social media and television. Abinader had to suspend campaigning for a while after testing positive for coronavirus last month. He says he has since recovered and tested negative. After postponing the elections from May, the government would have had to amend the constitution to postpone them again. Instead, electoral authorities have announced sanitary measures and social distancing at the polls. The ruling party was seriously weakened after former President Leonel Fernandez, 66, alleged fraud in its primaries for the presidential candidate and broke away to form a splinter party in October. His candidacy is polling a distant third. In a dramatic twist however, his wife and Vice President Margarita Cedeño has remained with the PLD and is running on Castillo’s ticket. The PLD has achieved 7% annual growth over the last decade but the 20% most wealthy Dominicans still control about half the country’s wealth. The Dominican Republic has dropped 38 places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (IPC) over the last decade to 137 out of 180 countries. 
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Canada suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong Friday after local authorities moved swiftly to implement China’s new security law in the territory.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country is a firm believer in the principle of one country, two systems for Hong Kong and will support the demands of its people for freedom and democracy.”Canada joins the international community in expressing its grave concern with the passage of national security legislation for Hong Kong by mainland China…,” said Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. “We will continue to support the many connections between Canada and Hong Kong while also standing up for its people. In the days and weeks to come. We’re also looking at additional measures, including around immigration.”“Canada will treat exports of sensitive goods to Hong Kong in the same way as those destined for mainland China,” Trudeau said, adding that “effective immediately Canada will not permit the export of sensitive military items to Hong Kong.”  In Hong Kong, China Threatens to Snuff Out Press FreedomSweeping new law lets government do ‘pretty much anything it wants’China unilaterally passed the legislation that took effect Tuesday ignoring Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and consultations with the public.”We are extremely concerned about the situation in Hong Kong,” said Trudeau. “We will continue to look at responses, working closely with our allies, including our… allies who have made very strong statements in regards to the decision by the Chinese government to move forward and weaken the one country two systems principle that is so important not just to us, but to the 300,000 Canadians who live in Hong Kong and to the millions of people who live in Hong Kong.” Under Beijing’s direction Wednesday, Hong Kong police arrested about 370 people, ten of them on suspicion of directly violating the law, while thousands took to the streets in protest.China’s security law punishes secessionist movements, subversive or terrorist acts, and what it interprets as collusion with foreign forces intervening in the city’s affairs. 
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday he was still unsure whether he would go to Washington next week to celebrate a new North American trade treaty, citing concern about possible U.S. tariffs on aluminum.Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is to meet U.S. President Donald Trump next week, has said he would like Trudeau to attend.Mexican sources had previously said Lopez Obrador’s visit was planned for Wednesday and Thursday, with the possibility of a trilateral meeting on Thursday.FILE – Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during an event to sign an update to the North American Free Trade Agreement, at the national palace in Mexico City, Dec. 10. 2019.”We’re still in discussions with the Americans about whether a trilateral summit next week makes sense,” Trudeau said in a news conference. “We’re obviously concerned about the proposed issue of tariffs on aluminum and steel that the Americans have floated recently.”U.S. national security tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, including from Canada and Mexico, were a major irritant during negotiations for the United States-Mexico-Canada trade deal, which was reached last year and entered into force on July 1.But now, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is considering domestic producers’ request to restore the 10% duty on Canadian aluminum to combat a surge of imports.Coronavirus concernsConcern about the “health situation and the coronavirus reality that is still hitting all three of our countries” is another factor in his decision on whether to go to Washington, Trudeau said.Also next week, Trudeau said he would hold a two-day virtual Cabinet retreat — without saying which days — to discuss how to prepare for a potential second wave of COVID-19, among other things.The spread of the novel coronavirus has slowed steadily in Canada over the past eight weeks, but new cases are spiking in many U.S. states.As of July 2, Canada had recorded a total of 104,772 coronavirus cases, with 68,345 recovered and 8,642 deaths. 
 
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Two former presidents of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela, have been charged with money laundering in separate cases.After leaving the prosecutor’s office in Panama City on Thursday, Martinelli said he was angered by prosecutors continuing to link him to the so-called “New Business” case in which a publishing group was allegedly purchased with government money during his five-year term, ending in 2014.The French News Agency (AFP) said prosecutors accuse former President Juan Carlos Varela of taking illegal campaign donations from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht during his term ending in 2019.Varela has pledged to cooperate with prosecutors to clear his name.Both Martinelli and Varela share more than identical legal challenges.Martinelli won the 2009 election with Varela as his running mate, but their partnership collapsed when Varela was fired as foreign minister in 2011. 
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Colombia has captured eight leftist rebels accused of killing at least 22 people in a bombing attack on a police academy.The National Liberation Army (ELN) claimed responsibility for the January 2019 car bombing in the capital Bogota. The rebel group claimed the attack was in retaliation for President Ivan Dugue’s refusal to respect a unilateral cease-fire declared by the leftist group in 2018.Duque on Thursday praised police and prosecutors for arresting those behind the terrorist attack.The eight suspects face multiple charges, including murder and financing terrorism.The latest arrests bring to 13 the number of people detained in connection to the bombing. 
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Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is calling for an evaluation of justice and police officials in Guanajuato state, where gunmen killed 26 people and wounded five others at an unlicensed rehabilitation center.Authorities said gunmen attacked the rehab center in the city of Irapuato in Guanajuato state on Wednesday.A day after the attack, Lopez Obrador called on the opposition-led Guanajuato government to launch an investigation saying, “The problem (violence, murders and gang confrontations) grew a lot, they let it grow and we’ll have to see if there is no criminal association between criminals and the authority.”Pedro Cortes, secretary of public security in Irapuato, said street-level drug dealers are known to seek shelter from drug gangs in the rehabilitation centers.The attack occurred northwest of Mexico City in an area where the Jalisco cartel has been part of a violent turf battle.The La Jornada newspaper said there have been four attacks since December on annexes in Irapuato, where people were abducted, some killed, and a building was set on fire. 
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Venezuela is expecting the European Union to take a more objective stance on events in the country after reversing its decision to expel the bloc’s ambassador.Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told local media Thursday that Caracas was making “a gesture” in order “not to hinder the dialogue with the European Union.” He said the government hopes “therefore, that there will also be gestures from Europe to have a much more objective position on the events in our country.”President Nicolas Maduro said the decision to rescind the expulsion was made after a joint communiqué was issued calling for a new stage of dialogue between EU High Representative Josep Borrell and Arreza.Maduro on Monday gave EU ambassador Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa 72 hours to leave the country, in response to European sanctions against 11 Venezuelans including a travel ban and a freeze on assets.Borrell condemned the expulsion, saying the EU would call Venezuela’s envoy to the bloc.Venezuela’s opposition-controlled parliament criticized the attempt to expel the EU ambassador as an “unacceptable expulsion.”   
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United Nations High Commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet warns Venezuela’s social and economic crisis will not go away until its profound political standoff is resolved through government negotiations with political opponents. Bachelet presented her latest update on the human rights situation in Venezuela Thursday to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
 
U.N. agencies report more than four million Venezuelans have fled poverty, hunger, human rights violations and political persecution in recent years. The situation has created the largest recorded refugee and migration crisis in the Americas. Most have sought refuge in countries in Latin America.
 FILE – U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is seen at a session of the Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 30, 2020.Bachelet told the U.N. rights council that conditions in Venezuela remain grim.
 
“People in Venezuela continue to suffer grave violations of economic and social rights due to low salaries, high food prices, persisting deficiencies in public services such as electricity, water and fuel shortages, as well as precarious access to health care. The crisis has been exacerbated by the increase in sectoral sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.   
 
Bachelet criticized U.S. economic sanctions on the government of Nicolas Maduro for intensifying the suffering of millions of Venezuelans.    
 
The U.S. sanctions include the freezing of individual accounts and assets; prohibiting individuals, companies and countries from doing business with the Venezuelan government; seizing of assets, arms embargoes and travel bans.
 
In August, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed new economic sanctions targeting Venezuela’s petroleum, gold, mining, food and banking industries.
 
In a letter to the U.S. Congress, Trump explained that he had imposed the new measures “in light of the continued usurpation of power by Nicolas Maduro and persons affiliated with him, as well as human rights abuses, arbitrary arrest and detention of Venezuelan citizens.”
 
The Venezuelan ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Jorge Valero, lambastes the new measures imposed by the Trump administration. Speaking via video link, he blamed them for causing pain, death, and suffering of the Venezuelan people.
 
“We see the continuation of the seizure of Venezuela’s assets abroad, the freezing and pillaging of billions of dollars in foreign banks, which deny the Venezuelan state the resources it needs to acquire food, medicine and medical inputs abroad,” Valero said.   
 
The report presented by the Bachelet documents restrictions to the civic and democratic space in Venezuela. It says the government continues to violate freedom of expression and to detain political leaders, journalists and people protesting for public services.
 
She also expressed concern about what she called a pattern of arbitrary detentions and violations, including allegations of torture and enforced disappearances by security forces. 
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Colombia says it has seized more than 7.5 tons of cocaine worth $286 million in a joint operation with the United States. Colombia Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said the cocaine was seized inside a Colombian-flagged vessel near Panama. Trujillo said the drugs were mixed with a construction product and smuggled from Colombia’s coastal city of Cartagena bound for the port of Colon in Panama. Authorities said the drugs are tied to the Gulf Clan organized armed group, with an eventual destination to Central America and Europe. There was no immediate word of any arrests.  Although Colombia has been the focus of years of anti-narcotics measures, the country remains one of the world’s top cocaine producers.   
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A British judge on Thursday refused to give Venezuela control of over $1 billion in gold sitting in a Bank of England vault, ruling that it is unlawful to give it to the President Nicolás Maduro since Britain does not recognize him as the president.
Maduro has demanded the gold to help his cash-starved nation fight the coronavirus pandemic.
But the central bank for the United Kingdom, whose government recognizes Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as his country’s legitimate leader, had refused to hand it over to Maduro’s socialist administration.
Guaidó has sought to preserve the gold stash at the Bank of England to keep it out of the hands of the Maduro government.
Banco Central de Venezuela sought to release the gold, which it wants to sell for food and medical equipment that is desperately needed to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
A lawyer representing Maduro’s side promised to appeal.
Sarosh Zaiwalla said in a statement that the judgment “entirely ignores the reality of the situation on the ground” in Venezuela.
“Mr Maduro’s government is in complete control of Venezuela and its administrative institutions, and only it can ensure the distribution of the humanitarian relief and medical supplies needed to combat the coronavirus pandemic,” he said. “This outcome will now delay matters further, to the detriment of the Venezuelan people whose lives are at risk.” 
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Authorities in Brazil say nine people were killed and more than 1,000 others were forced to leave their homes after a cyclone raced across southern Brazil, off the coast of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.Meteorologists said Tuesday’s “extratropical bomb cyclone,” originated in the South Atlantic Ocean.The storm packing nearly 110-kph winds damaged homes across dozens of towns in Santa Catarina.Structures in Florianopolis, the capital of Santa Catarina, suffered the greatest damage.The storm prompted officials in Rio Grande Mdo Sul, Santa Catarina and Parana to issue flood warnings.      
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Mexican officials are trying to identify the gunmen who attacked a drug rehabilitation center in central Mexico on Wednesday, killing at least 24 people and wounding seven others in the town of Irapuato.Pedro Cortes, secretary of public security in Irapuato, told the French News Agency (AFP), the suspects forced the victims to the ground and opened fire before fleeing in a red vehicle.Cortes said the victims were in an unregistered annex of the rehabilitation center, where street level drug dealers are known to seek shelter from drug gangs.In response to the attack, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his government would not allow the country “to fall into anarchy and disorder.”The attack occurred northwest of Mexico City, in Guanajuato state, where the Jalisco cartel has been part of a violent turf battle. But it is unclear if Wednesday’s attack is linked to an organized crime group.The La Jornada newspaper said there have been four attacks since December on annexes in Irapuato, where people were abducted, some killed, and a building was set on fire. 
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A showdown that could determine if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will solidify his grip on power is set for early December. The opposition is already rejecting the December 6 poll as a sham, which favors Maduro’s ruling Socialist Party.  Opposition leaders say Maduro is maneuvering to end rival opposition politician Juan Guaido’s leadership of the legislative body.  Guaido is considered Venezuela’s leader by several countries, including the United States, following Maduro’s disputed 2018 re-election. Guaido has also led unsuccessful efforts supported by the  United States to remove Maudro from office. During a televised address Wednesday,  Maduro seemed to reference Guaido, without mentioning his name.  He said,  “Venezuela needs a new National Assembly, legit and constitutional. Maduro then expressed confidence in the outcome of the upcoming vote, saying, he is already   imagining, January 5, 2021, Federal Legislative Palace, the lawmakers elected by the people arrive and a new National Assembly is born.” Maduro also urged voters to turn out in large numbers, and he said election officials assured him they will take measures to ensure a safe voting process amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.  
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A modernized U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact took effect Wednesday, ensuring continuity for manufacturers and agriculture, but the threat of disputes is exposing cracks in what was meant to be a stronger North American fortress of competitiveness.As the deal kicks in, the Trump administration is threatening Canada with new aluminum tariffs, and a prominent Mexican labor activist has been jailed, underscoring concerns about crucial labor reforms in the replacement for the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement.The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement includes tighter North American content rules for autos, new protections for intellectual property, prohibitions against currency manipulation and new rules on digital commerce that did not exist when NAFTA launched in 1994.Trump had lambasted NAFTA as the “worst trade deal ever made” and repeatedly threatened to end it.Virus-related recessionsUSMCA launches as the coronavirus has all three countries mired in a deep recession, cutting their April goods trade flows — normally about $1.2 trillion annually — to the lowest monthly level in a decade.”The champagne isn’t quite as fizzy as we might have expected — even under the best of circumstances — and there’s trouble coming from all sides,” said Mary Lovely, a Syracuse University economics professor and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “This could be a trade agreement that quickly ends up in dispute and higher trade barriers.”FILE – Workers check screens for faults at an LG flat screen TV assembly plant in Reynosa, Mexico, across the border from McAllen, Texas, March 23, 2017.Issues dogging USMCA include hundreds of legal challenges to Mexico’s new labor law, seeking to ensure that workers can freely organize and unions are granted full collective bargaining rights.A ruling against the law would harm Mexico’s ability to deliver on provisions aimed at ending labor contracts agreed upon without worker consent that are stacked in favor of companies and have kept wages chronically low in Mexico.Tougher labor provisionsDemocrats in the U.S. Congress had insisted on the stronger labor provisions last year before granting approval, prompting a substantial renegotiation of terms first agreed upon in October 2018. The arrest of Mexican labor lawyer Susana Prieto in early June has fueled U.S. unions’ arguments that Mexican workers’ rights are not being sufficiently protected.”I remain very concerned that Mexico is falling short of its commitments to implement the legislative reforms that are the foundation in Mexico for effectively protecting labor rights,” U.S. Representative Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Tuesday, adding that USMCA’s success “truly hinges” on its new labor enforcement mechanism.On Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a FILE – U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 18, 2019.But Lighthizer has also said he will file dispute cases “early and often” to enforce USMCA provisions, citing Mexico’s failure to approve U.S. biotech products.That could lead to increased tariffs on offending goods, such as products from individual factories where labor violations are found. Former USTR general counsel Stephen Vaughn, a legal architect of the Trump administration’s “Section 301″ tariffs on Chinese goods, was appointed on Wednesday to a U.S. roster of panelists to settle state-to-state dispute cases under USMCA.Carlos Vejar, a former Mexican trade negotiator, said it was in the country’s interest to uphold pledges made to strengthen unions and end child labor.”If Mexico isn’t mindful of this, there will be cases against Mexico, and Mexico will lose them,” Vejar said.U.S. national security tariffs on imported steel and aluminum — including from Canada and Mexico — were a major irritant during USMCA negotiations until a deal for exemptions was reached last year. But now, USTR is considering domestic producers’ request to restore the 10% duty on Canadian aluminum to combat a “surge” of imports.Energy sectorAnother source of disputes may be the energy sector, where the main U.S. oil and gas lobby has complained that recent actions by Mexico favoring state oil company Pemex already violate USMCA’s protections for private investors.Canada has also complained about new Mexican rules formally threatening investment in renewable energy.USMCA will put new compliance burdens on the region’s automotive manufacturers as the coronavirus craters consumer spending and auto production. Within three to five years, vehicles’ minimum North American content rises to 75% from 62.5%. Automakers must also produce 40% of their vehicles’ content in “high wage” areas — effectively the United States and Canada.A U.S. International Trade Commission study found this would draw more auto parts production to the United States, but may curb U.S. vehicle assembly and raise prices, limiting consumer choice in cars. The same panel found that after 15 years, the deal would add $68.5 billion annually to U.S. economic output and create 176,000 jobs compared with a NAFTA baseline.
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will travel to Washington next week to meet with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced on Twitter Tuesday that Lopez Obrador will spend two days in Washington beginning July 8. Ebrard said further details about the visit will be released later Wednesday. The visit with President Trump will be the first foreign trip for Lopez Obrador since he first took office in December 2018.  He said earlier this week that his trip to the United States will celebrate the start of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, which goes into effect Wednesday.  But Lopez Obrador has come under intense criticism for his planned visit with Trump,  who is widely disliked for demonizing Mexican immigrants as drug dealers and criminals when he launched his presidential campaign, as well as his vow to make Mexico pay for building a proposed wall at U.S.-Mexican border. 
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Canada has failed to take back dozens of Canadian citizens detained in Syria for suspected links with the Islamic State (IS) terror group, an international rights watchdog said. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Monday that Canadian authorities have not repatriated any of the estimated 47 Canadians who have been detained in overcrowded camps in northeast Syria. The HRW said during the coronavirus outbreak Canada has repatriated 40,000 Canadian citizens from 100 countries, including 29 from Syria, but has failed to bring back those held in Syrian detention camps. “If Canada can bring home tens of thousands of citizens from around the world in a matter of weeks, surely it can find a way to repatriate fewer than 50 others trapped in horrific conditions in northeast Syria,” Letta Tayler, a senior crisis and conflict researcher at HRW, said in a statement Monday. “The lives of Canadians are on the line, and the time to bring them home is now.” Among those detainees are 26 children, most of whom are under the age of six. Canadian officials say they are aware of Canadian citizens held in northeast Syria and that they are “particularly concerned with cases of Canadian children in Syria.” “Canadian consular officials are actively engaged with Syrian Kurdish authorities to seek information on Canadians in their custody. We continue to monitor the situation very closely,” Barbara Harvey, a spokesperson for Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry, told VOA. Given the security situation on the ground and the current COVID-19 context, Canada’s ability to provide any kind of consular assistance in Syria remains limited, Harvey added. Despite Canada’s security concerns, the HRW report said that dozens of other countries, including the United States, Germany and France, have repatriated their citizens from Syria.  Last week, France took back 10 children of IS fighters who were held in Kurdish-run camps in northeast Syria. Dire conditions There are about 12,000 foreigners held at three camps for displaced people in northeast Syria, including al-Hol Camp where humanitarian groups say they suffer malnutrition and disease. Amarnath Amarasingam, an assistant professor who teaches extremism and terrorism at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, visited al-Hol Camp last year. “Al-Hol can only be described as an urgent humanitarian catastrophe… It’s crowded, it’s dirty, violence breaks out often, and there are just small children everywhere,” he told VOA. Amarasingam said, “Around April 2018, there was definitely contact between Canadian officials and their Kurdish counterparts.” “Canadian officials even spoke to some of the detainees and started paperwork to get them identification documents and so on,” he said, “Then, a month later, the whole process was mysteriously shelved. It’s not clear why, but there has been no new attempt to repatriate Canadians.” Contacted by VOA, Kurdish officials declined to comment on whether there has been recent contact between them and Canadian authorities regarding Canadian citizens held in Syria, including 8 men who are accused of fighting for the Islamic State. But a Canadian official told VOA on a condition of anonymity that, “Investigating, arresting, charging and prosecuting any Canadian involved in terrorism or violent extremism is a priority for the Government of Canada.” Foreign fighters Syrian Kurdish officials have called on countries to take back their detained citizens, cautioning they do not have enough resources to keep IS prisoners and their families indefinitely. In addition to women and children, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has more than 10,000 IS fighters in their custody, including about 2,000 who come from more than 50 countries.  U.S. military officials say their SDF partners in Syria have been overwhelmed to keep IS prisoners. “The global coalition believes that through appropriate international laws and protocols, there should be a final resolution for what happens with the foreign terrorist fighters,” Col. Myles Caggins, spokesman for the anti-IS global coalition, told VOA in a recent interview.  He added that the coalition continues to support the SDF with stipends for the detention center guards and equipment “to make the detention centers safer for the Asayish [Kurdish security forces] who are providing security, as well as safer and more humane treatment  for the detainees.” Over the past few months, there have been several prison break attempts by IS prisoners held in a detention facility in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah. The most recent one was on Monday when a riot took place inside a major IS detention center in the city, triggering a rapid response by SDF fighters and their coalition backers to contain the situation, local news reported. In a congressional testimony in March, General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of United States Central Command, said the best way to alleviate the problem of IS prisoners in Syria is to repatriate them. “While some countries have made efforts to reclaim their foreign fighters, full resolution requires a comprehensive diplomatic and international effort,” Gen. McKenzie said, adding that, “This problem will not go away by ignoring it, and can only be addressed by the international community working together to accept its shared responsibilities.” Local Kurdish authorities have said since the international community doesn’t have concrete plans to repatriate and prosecute IS prisoners in their home countries, they would proceed to try them in local courts in Syria. However, rights groups fear that given the current security situation in Syria, it would be challenging to make sure IS prisoners receive fair trials. “The fact that the Syrian government led by [President Bashar] Assad has little real control over the country and no due process, and SDF territory has a multitude of militias and foreign militaries present, the process of trying detainees in court is convoluted and difficult,” Philippe Nassif, Advocacy Director for Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, told VOA. 
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