U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday had tough questions for the U.S. special representative for Venezuela, asking why the Trump administration has not done more to stop Russia, China, Iran and Cuba from propping up Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Under Maduro, more than five million Venezuelans have fled their once prosperous country. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.Produced by: Rob Raffaele 
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A court in the West African nation of Cape Verde has approved extradition of Colombian businessman Álex Saab to the United States, where he faces charges involving money laundering on behalf of Venezuela’s socialist government.The court made its decision Friday but did not inform the defense team until Monday evening, João do Rosário, an attorney on Saab’s legal team, told VOA’s Portuguese service.Rosário said the defense team would appeal Saab’s extradition to Cape Verde’s Supreme Court. He said it has 10 days from the date of notification to take such action. “We will necessarily have to appeal this decision,” Rosário said, adding that it was “not properly grounded.”He said the legal team also is considering an appeal to the country’s Constitutional Court. Saab, a 48-year-old Colombian lawyer and businessman, was arrested on the island of Sal on June 12, when his private plane stopped for refueling en route from Venezuela to Iran. The United States requested Saab’s extradition within days of his arrest. Venezuela’s government protested Saab’s arrest, contending he was on a “humanitarian mission” to get food and medical supplies, according to The Associated Press. Saab is considered a possible front man for the family of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The United States and other countries blame Maduro’s socialist policies for a political and economic crisis threatening regional stability. Saab and another Colombian businessman were indicted in July 2019 in U.S. federal court in Miami for their alleged participation in an illegal bribery scheme from late 2011 through at least September 2015, according to a U.S. Justice Department news release last year.  The men allegedly laundered money from bank accounts in Venezuela “to and through bank accounts located in the United States,” a U.S. Justice Department news release said when the indictment was issued.   In September, Saab was among three individuals targeted by the U.S. Treasury Department for allegedly enabling Maduro “and his illegitimate regime to corruptly profit from imports of food aid and distribution in Venezuela,” a U.S. Treasury Department news release said at the time.  This account originated in VOA’s Portuguese service, with Eugenio Teixeira reporting from Cape Verde and Alvaro Andrade from Washington.. 
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A top European Union diplomat has called for a delay in the vote to choose the Inter-American Development Bank’s new president, a closely watched election that has sparked controversy over the first-ever U.S. candidate.
In a July 30 letter seen by Reuters, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell cited the coronavirus pandemic and the nomination of President Donald Trump’s hawkish Latin America adviser Mauricio Claver-Carone as reasons to postpone the planned Sept. 12 vote until after March.
“This postponement is more advisable if we consider the submission, without precedent, of a candidacy to preside the Bank by the United States Government,” Borrell wrote in the letter to Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya.
 
Some U.S. lawmakers and former ministers and presidents in Latin America have publicly voiced their opposition to Claver-Carone, although he is favored to win the Sept. 12 election and has support from at least 15 countries.
 
Two Argentine government officials told Reuters the country, which has its own candidate, would favor postponing the IDB election. But with just over 11% of the voting power, they would need the support of other countries to delay the vote.
 
Claver-Carone dismissed the idea that Europe would oppose his candidacy in an interview last week, saying he was already in touch with European leaders about future plans.
 
“Do you think Europe is going to look at the majority of region which has already come out publicly in support of our candidacy and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to go with one country in the region versus the overwhelming majority of the region?’ The optics of that would be horrible,” Claver-Carone said.
 
A senior U.S. administration official told Reuters the EU was not party to the IDB as an entity, and all member states had agreed to the virtual September election.
 
“Any effort by a minority of countries, let alone by non-regional countries, to hijack the election process would be an affront to the region and be challenged,” the official said.
 
Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States, also pushed back in a tweet on Sunday: “The region is independent, sovereign and can maturely make its own decisions.”
  
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The Bahamas begins a two-week national lockdown Tuesday due to a spike in coronavirus cases. Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced the restriction in a national address Monday night, saying the decision was based on the advice of health experts. Minnis said, officials will evaluate the impact of the lockdown after two weeks and the decision to relax or extend the lockdown will be made in part by the cooperation of the people living on the islands. Minnis said, citizens who break their quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus will be fined. Travel for essentials such as food, water, medicines is restricted to Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 7 am to 5 pm for the general public and essential workers have an additional day on Saturday from 7am to 1 pm. Minnis said, the onus is on the Bahamians and residents to work together and control the spread of COVID-19. The prime minister added that health care services and accommodations are being overwhelmed because of the rapid increase in coronavirus cases mostly among people 20 to 40 years old. The Bahamas confirmed the vast majority of the 679 COVID-19 cases occurred in the past month. So far, there are 14 coronavirus deaths.  
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A group of entrepreneurs believe their mobile crematorium is the solution to Bolivia’s surge in coronavirus deaths. Carlos Ayo, an environmental engineer, who is part of the group said, there are instances when dozens of bodies piled up in the street in Bolivia because families do not have the resources or aren’t finding places to bury or cremate the bodies of  loved ones and they end up throwing them in the streets to avoid contaminating themselves. Ayo says the mobile crematory represents a way of giving something back to his homeland. The group hauls the furnaces to communities that do not have the resources to meet the increasing demands brought on the COVID-19 pandemic. The Associated Press said, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, one of the hard-hit cities, bodies were placed in the streets because of a break down in funeral services.      So far, more than 3,200 people have died of the coronavirus in Bolivia and more than 81,000 people have been infected with the virus. 
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A group of entrepreneurs believe their mobile crematorium is the solution to Bolivia’s surge in coronavirus deaths. Carlos Ayo, an environmental engineer, who is part of the group said, there are instances when dozens of bodies piled up in the street in Bolivia because families do not have the resources or aren’t finding places to bury or cremate the bodies of  loved ones and they end up throwing them in the streets to avoid contaminating themselves. Ayo says the mobile crematory represents a way of giving something back to his homeland. The group hauls the furnaces to communities that do not have the resources to meet the increasing demands brought on the COVID-19 pandemic. The Associated Press said, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, one of the hard-hit cities, bodies were placed in the streets because of a break down in funeral services.      So far, more than 3,200 people have died of the coronavirus in Bolivia and more than 81,000 people have been infected with the virus. 
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After the United States, Brazil has the world’s highest number of COVID-19 deaths and confirmed cases — turning the South American nation into a coronavirus hotspot. Despite this grim situation, Brazil’s biggest cities — São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro — have decided to reopen businesses, even as epidemiologists warn that the rising death toll from the pandemic could grow exponentially. For VOA, Edgar Maciel reports from Sao Paulo.
Camera: Edgar Maciel, Courtesy TV Brasil  Produced by: Rod James 
 
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Press groups called for justice Monday after unidentified gunmen in southern Mexico killed a journalist along with a police officer assigned to protect him after a 2016 attack. Pablo Morrugares was the fifth journalist to be killed in Mexico this year, in attacks that are increasingly killing police guards assigned to the victims. More than 140 journalists have been killed in the past 20 years. The prosecutors’ office in Guerrero state said Morrugares and a state police officer were at a restaurant Sunday when they were killed in a hail of bullets. Authorities found 55 shell casings from assault rifles at the scene in the city of Iguala. The killers apparently opened fire from a passing vehicle. Morrugares was director of the P.M Noticias Guerrero website, which frequently reports on the gang violence that plagues the region. Local media reported that threats against Morrugares had been displayed in the past on banners hung by roadsides, a tactic frequently used by drug gangs in Mexico. On Monday, the Inter American Press Association called on authorities to investigate the crime. It said Morrugares and his wife had survived a previous attack in 2016, when attackers opened fire on their car. The group called on Mexican authorities to provide better funding and protection for journalists registered in a government protection program. While the Mexican government has sometimes assigned police bodyguards for threatened journalists, killers have increasingly been gunning down both the journalists and their guards. In May, gunmen killed the owner of a newspaper and one of the policemen who had been assigned to protect him in northern Sonora state, following earlier threats. 
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Mexican police and armed forces arrested the leader of the violent Santa Rosa de Lima gang who have terrorized the north-central region of the country. Authorities in the state of Guanajuato announced the arrest of José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, widely known by his Spanish nickname “El Marro,” which means “The Sledgehammer.” The Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco cartel have been engaged in a bloody turf battle for years in the industrial hub of Guanajuato, home to many foreign auto plants and parts suppliers, turning it into the most violent state in Mexico. 2,293 people have been murdered in the first half of this year alone in the Guanajuato state.   Some observers say the Santa Rosa gang, which is not a drag cartel but a powerful violent group, is responsible for killing 27 men during an attack in July on a drug rehabilitation center in the city of Irapuato. However, Mexico’s top civilian security official, Alfonso Durazo, said El Marro would be charged with organized crime and fuel theft, but not murder. The Santa Rosa de Lima gang is accused of stealing fuel from government pipelines and refineries and robbing freight from trains in north-central Guanajuato state. 
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In southern Chile a confrontation between Mapuche indigenous protesters and residents turned violent Sunday. Several government buildings in the Araucanía region were damaged as the violence erupted. Local media reported that residents tried to force the Mapuche protesters out of the municipality buildings, before burning and overturning vehicles belonging to them. Chilean police intervened to evict the protesters and prevent other violent acts.  Interior Undersecretary Juan Galli said that authorities arrested 48 people during such “absolutely condemnable” unrest. The Mapuche protesters had occupied local government buildings for several days in a show of support for one of their leaders, Celestino Córdova, who is on a hunger strike in prison, and other Mapuche individuals whom they consider political prisoners.   The native Mapuche population, most of whom live in poverty, have been in conflict with authorities since the Spanish conquistadors forced them into Araucanía in the late 19th century after some 300 years of conflict. 
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The Mexican Army and state security forces have captured Jose Antonio Yepez, a prominent drug gang leader blamed for helping to fuel a major surge in violence in the country in recent years, authorities said on Sunday.Widely known as “El Marro” (The Mallet), Yepez was captured in an operation carried out early on Sunday morning, according to the federal government and authorities in the central state of Guanajuato, a principal flashpoint of gang violence.Yepez, boss of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, a Guanajuato-based gang, has been engaged in a bloody struggle for criminal control of the state with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the country’s most powerful and violent outfits.The Guanajuato attorney general’s office said security forces captured Yepez with five other people and rescued a kidnapped local businesswoman during the operation. An “arsenal” of weapons was also secured during the raid. 
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Opposition groups in Argentina organized a protest at the central Buenos Aires Obelisk Saturday to voice their objections to justice reform plans announced by President Alberto Fernández.Fernández announced his justice reform project Wednesday, saying his goal was a more agile judiciary, “independent of political power” and greater transparency.Opponents believe his actual intention is to protect from prosecution former president, and now vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who is being investigated for crimes that allegedly occurred while she was in office between 2007 and 2015.”They’re trying to protect the former president (Fernández de Kirchner), the most corrupt former president on the planet Earth,” said Marina Rios Flores, a protester. “This is the pact that they’ve made with the President Alberto Fernández that before he leaves office he would declare the pardon on her.”A female protester was holding a banner with a photo of Fernández de Kirchner reading in Spanish “Watch out Supreme Court. Imprison Cristina now!””The Peronist (ruling) party has never been republican, it will never be,” said a protester who gave him name only as Sergio. “It’s an organization formed to steal.”Fernández de Kirchner is being investigated for alleged money laundering and criminal association.She is also accused of covering up the role of Iranians alleged to be connected to a terrorist van bomb attack at a Buenos Aires Jewish center on July 18, 1994, that killed 85 people. 
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Mexico now has the third most COVID-19 deaths in the world, behind Brazil and the United States, where a hurricane bearing down on the East Coast on Saturday is threatening to complicate efforts to contain the virus.Hurricane Isaias’ imminent arrival forced the closure of some outdoor testing sites even though Florida has become a major hot spot, and other states in the path of the storm prepared emergency shelters that comply with social-distancing measures.”We had to put safety first,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Friday.But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said no immediate evacuation orders have been given and that hospitals in general are not being evacuated of coronavirus or other patients.Meanwhile, Mexican health officials on Friday reported 688 new deaths, pushing the country’s confirmed total to over 46,600. That put Mexico just ahead of the United Kingdom, which has more than 46,100, according to the tally by Johns Hopkins University.Where Has the New Coronavirus Spread?New virus, denoted 2019-nCoV by the WHO, has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS in 2002-2003Some countries are seeing hopeful signs: China reported a more than 50% drop in newly confirmed cases in a possible indication that its latest major outbreak in the northwestern region of Xinjiang may have run its course.However, in Hong Kong and elsewhere, infections continue to surge. Hong Kong reported more than 100 new cases as of Saturday among the population of 7.5 million. Officials have reimposed dining restrictions and mask requirements.Tokyo on Saturday saw its third day straight of record case numbers, the metropolitan government said. Nationwide, Japan’s daily count of cases totaled a record 1,579 people Friday, the health ministry said.And Vietnam, a former success story, is struggling to control an outbreak spreading in its most famous beach resort. A third person died there of coronavirus complications, officials said Saturday, a day after it recorded its first-ever death as it wrestles with a renewed outbreak after 99 days with no local cases.All three died in a hospital in Da Nang, a hot spot with more than 100 cases in the past week. Thousands of visitors had been in the city for summer vacation and are now being tested in Hanoi and elsewhere.Twelve additional cases were confirmed on Saturday, all linked to Da Nang Hospital. Officials tightened security and set up more checkpoints to prevent people from leaving or entering the city, which has been in lockdown since Tuesday.A makeshift hospital was set up, and doctors have been mobilized from other cities to help.”I want to be tested, so I can stop worrying if I have the virus or not,” said Pham Thuy Hoa, a banking official who returned to the capital from Da Nang.In South Korea, prosecutors arrested the elderly leader of a secretive religious sect linked to more than 5,200 of the country’s approximately 14,300 confirmed cases. He has denied charges of hiding members and underreporting gatherings to avoid broader quarantines.The global pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of this year’s Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, with as few as 1,000 pilgrims already residing in Saudi Arabia taking part, down from 2.5 million last year.Poverty brought on by the pandemic is also making it harder for many to join in the four-day Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” in which Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.”I could hardly buy food for my family,” Somali civil servant Abdishakur Dahir said. “We are just surviving for now. Life is getting tougher by the day.”The Saudi Health Ministry said there have been no cases of COVID-19 among this year’s pilgrims. All were tested, their movements monitored with electronic wristbands and required to be quarantined before and after.Meanwhile, India recorded its steepest spike of 57,118 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking its coronavirus caseload close to 1.7 million, with July alone accounting for nearly 1.1 million infections.The country’s Civil Aviation Ministry delayed resumption of international flights by another month until Aug. 31. But it will continue to allow several international carriers from the United States, Europe and the Middle East to operate special flights to evacuate stranded nationals.In France, travelers entering from 16 countries where the virus is circulating widely now must undergo virus tests upon arrival at airports and ports. The country is not permitting general travel to and from the countries, which include the United States and Brazil. The testing requirement therefore only applies to people entering under limited circumstances, including French citizens who live in these countries. Those who test positive as of Saturday must quarantine for 14 days.As autumn approaches, nations around the world are grappling with how to safely reopen schools.A scientist advising the British government on the coronavirus pandemic says pubs in England may have to be closed to allow schools to reopen in September. Graham Medley, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, told the BBC that there may have to be a “trade off.”In Utah, the Salt Lake City School District Board of Education announced that its schools will start the year with all online-only classes in response to an increasing number of confirmed cases in the city. Just days after public schools around Indiana reopened their doors, at least one student and one school staff member in districts around Indianapolis have tested positive for the virus.The debate over school openings came as Dr. Anthony Fauci dismissed a tweet by President Donald Trump claiming the U.S. global lead in coronavirus cases is because of increased testing.Fauci ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About Coronavirus VaccineTop US infectious-disease expert tells lawmakers vaccine could be available in coming monthsFauci said the scale of the U.S. outbreak is the result of multiple factors, including some states opening up too quickly and disregarding federal guidelines.On Friday, the head of the World Health Organization predicted the effects of the pandemic will be felt for “decades to come.””Most of the world’s people remain susceptible to this virus, even in areas that have experienced severe outbreaks,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in London. “Although vaccine development is happening at record speed, we must learn to live with this virus.”
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There are more than 17.6 million worldwide COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins statistics.  The U.S. continues to lead in the number of infections with more than 4.5 million, followed by Brazil with 2.6 million cases, and India with almost 1.7 million.Mexico has replaced Britain as the country with the third largest number of deaths from COVID-19. Johns Hopkins says Mexico now has reported 46,688 deaths.The U.S. leads the world in the number of deaths from the virus with more than 153,000, followed by Brazil with more than 92,000.Where Has the New Coronavirus Spread?New virus, denoted 2019-nCoV by the WHO, has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS in 2002-2003Russia is gearing up to launch a mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus in September or October.  News media reports quote sources as saying the vaccine was developed at a state research facility.   Scientific data about the vaccine or test results have not been released.In South Korea, the leader of a secretive religious sect linked to more than 5,200 of the country’s more than 14,000 COVID cases has been arrested. Lee Man-hee has denied allegations that he hid members and underreported the sect’s activities in an effort to avoided quarantines.The coronavirus has burned through a summer sleep-away camp in the U.S. state of Georgia, perhaps providing a cautionary tale for school districts currently weighing the pros and con of reopening in the COVID era.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in a study that the camp observed the suggestions the agency provided but did not require the children to wear masks.  Only the staff members were required to wear masks.   A teenage staffer fell ill shortly after the camp opened.
A COVID diagnosis was confirmed the next day and the camp began sending the children home that day.  The CDC had tests results for only 344 of the 597 campers and 76% of them were positive.  The infection rate could have been higher since the CDC did not have results for everyone.The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told lawmakers Friday on Capitol Hill he is “cautiously optimistic” a coronavirus vaccine would be available in the coming months, as infectious continue to rise at an alarming rate in the U.S.”We hope at the time we get into the late fall and early winter, we will have in fact a vaccine that we can say will be safe and effective,” Fauci said before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. “One can never guarantee the safety and effectiveness unless you do the trial, but we are cautiously optimistic.”Fauci ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About Coronavirus VaccineTop US infectious-disease expert tells lawmakers vaccine could be available in coming monthsFauci said a Phase 3 trial, the last phase of the vaccine approval process, recently got underway.Fauci also cautioned against importing vaccines made in Russia or China due to concerns over safety.At the hearing’s open, panel chairman Democrat James Clyburn and the subcommittee’s ranking Republican, Steve Scalise, clashed over whether the Trump administration has a national strategy to contain the coronavirus crisis.”The administration’s approach to deferring to states, sidelining experts and rushing to reopen has prolonged this virus and led to thousands of preventable deaths,” Clyburn said. “In fact, the United States response stands out as among the worst of any country in the world.”Scalise dismissed Clyburn’s assessment, arguing with a stack of documents in hand that the administration has, indeed, issued guidance to the country about how to contain the pandemic.”These are just a few of the documents that your agencies have published to show states how to safely reopen, to show schools how to safely reopen, to show nursing homes how to care for their patients,” Scalise said to Fauci and the other government experts at the hearing.”If all governors would have followed those guidelines, thousands more seniors in nursing homes would be alive today, if just five governors would have followed your plan that was developed President Trump,” Scalise added.Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also testified Friday, saying it was in the “public health best interest” for K-12 schools to reopen.He also discussed a decision by the Trump administration to direct all hospitals to send all coronavirus data to a database in Washington and thus passing the CDC. Redfield said he did not know of the decision until after it was made.US Health Experts: COVID-19 Vaccine Could be Ready by 2021US has topped 150,000 deaths from COVID-19In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday he was delaying plans to ease lockdown measures by at least two weeks after the country reported its highest number of new COVID cases since late June.British Minister for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock said a second wave of the virus is rolling across Europe and that Britain must defend against it.British authorities added Luxembourg to the country’s quarantine list, meaning travelers from there must isolate for 14 days after entering Britain. Spain, which had been dropped from the list, has been reinstated and other countries may be added.Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, reimposed a two-week lockdown on Thursday after a surge in new confirmed COVID-19 cases. The increase came as the WHO warned against easing coronavirus restrictions throughout Africa. The WHO says the number of infections on the continent has doubled in the past month.”We are concerned that … we will see an increase in cases as we have seen in [other] countries” where restrictions have been eased too soon,” WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said.She said more than 20 African countries have recorded more new cases than in the previous weeks, with South Africa accounting for the most but increases also reported in Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Moeti said Uganda, Seychelles and Mauritius are doing well in controlling the virus.
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The clock is ticking for Canada’s withdrawal from an agreement with the United States on cross-border asylum-seekers. A recent Canadian court ruling that the Safe Third Country Agreement is unlawful has been suspended for six months, prompting debate on what the next steps should be.In a 60-page ruling, Justice Ann Marie McDonald of the Federal Court of Canada said the Safe Third Country Agreement violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in failing to guarantee “the right to life, liberty and the security of the person.”The 16-year-old agreement stipulates that any asylum-seeker entering Canada or the United States must file a petition in the first country of arrival. As such, people who flee a third country and attempt to cross a border checkpoint from the United States into Canada, or vice versa, are returned.Ethiopia nativeMcDonald found that refugee claimants returned to the United States are “detained as a penalty.”  She referred to one claimant, Nadir Mustefa, originally from Ethiopia, who after being returned to the United States from Canada alleged she was held in solitary confinement for a week and fed pork despite telling U.S. prison guards she is Muslim and could not eat that type of food.Defending the bilateral accord, the Canadian government argued that those being returned from Canada to the U.S. have access to a fair detention review — an argument McDonald rejected.The decision was suspended for six months to give the Canadian government a chance to respond, possibly with new legislation or a type of bilateral agreement with the United States. The decision can also be appealed.FILE – Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers greet migrants as they enter into Canada at an unofficial border crossing at the end of Roxham Road in Champlain, N.Y., Aug. 7, 2017.Peter Kent, opposition immigration critic for the Conservative Party, said the sour relationship between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump on immigration issues would make amending or replacing the law difficult. He said he hoped Trudeau would appeal the decision, but only to ask for more time to change the law.“I think it’s simply unrealistic to think that anything meaningful could be done within six months to correct what the judge found to be unconstitutional elements of the agreement,” Kent said.One view: Scrap the agreementOne plaintiff in the case who successfully fought for the decision is Justin Muhammed, the human rights law and policy campaigner at Amnesty International Canada.He said the Canadian government should not appeal the decision, but immediately discontinue the agreement itself.“And so that’s what we are presently encouraging the government to do, which is to suspend the application of the Safe Third Country Agreement, allow these claimants to make their claims in Canada and don’t appeal the ruling,” he said.Peter Noteboom, general secretary for the Canadian Council of Churches, which along with Amnesty International was a plaintiff in the case, said Trudeau has to give full protection of Canadian laws to all refugees that travel through the United States into Canada. It’s not dependent upon citizenship, he said: “If you’re in the territory of Canada, that’s the law that that applies.”In a written statement, Canadian Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair said the government had yet to decide the next course of action.The Safe Third Country Agreement applies to asylum-seekers only at recognized border points. Anyone who illegally crosses the 8,891-kilometer Canadian-U.S. border is eligible for asylum consideration.
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The U.S. National Hurricane Center said early Saturday that Hurricane Isaias is getting “a little stronger” as it drenches the Bahamas and makes its way toward the U.S. mainland.Isaias is moving northwest with maximum sustained winds at 135 kph, according to meteorologists.Isaias, located about 185 kilometers south southeast of Nassau, is expected to make landfall on Florida’s southeastern coast late Saturday or Sunday.The southern U.S. states of Florida and North Carolina have declared hurricane warnings.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for a dozen counties on the Atlantic Coast. Heavy rains from the storm are expected to begin in Florida on Saturday and arrive over the Carolinas by early next week.In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper also declared emergencies in coastal counties and ordered the evacuation of Oracoke Island, which was hit by last year’s Hurricane Dorian.The hurricane has prompted authorities in parts of Florida to close coronavirus testing sites at a time when cases have been growing in the state.Officials in Miami-Dade County said they do not believe it will be necessary to open evacuation centers for this storm but said 20 centers remain on standby in case conditions change.In the Bahamas, officials evacuated people in Abaco and in the eastern end of Grand Bahama who have been living in temporary structures since Hurricane Dorian.Earlier, while still a tropical storm, Isaias lashed Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, causing power outages and small landslides.A man died in the Dominican Republic when he was electrocuted by a fallen electrical cable, according to the Associated Press.U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico, which has yet to fully recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria and a recent series of earthquakes.Isaias is the ninth named storm of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. This is the earliest date a storm beginning with the letter “I” has formed.   
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Canada’s attorney general says the requirements for extraditing Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou to the United States on charges of bank fraud have been met, documents submitted in a British Columbia court show.Meng, 48, was arrested in December 2018 on a warrant from the United States, which alleges that she misled the bank HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.Meng has been under house arrest in Vancouver since then, fighting extradition, and has said she is innocent. Her case has caused a diplomatic row between Canada and China, which has demanded that Meng be released. China detained two Canadians after Meng’s arrest.The documents, which were filed last week and released to media Friday, are a precursor to the formal hearing on committal, or whether Meng should be extradited to the United States. Those hearings will take place in April 2021.The documents outline the evidence in support of Meng’s custody and conclude that the test for committal has been met.Assessment of charges’ potentialThe extradition hearings are not a full trial on the charges laid by the United States, the documents state, only whether there is the potential for those charges to be found valid.”The evidence demonstrates that Ms. Meng deliberately made dishonest representations to HSBC in an attempt to preserve Huawei’s relationship with the bank,” lawyers for the Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney General David Lametti wrote.”Since Ms. Meng concedes that she is the person sought for prosecution for the conduct set out in the extradition request, all of the formal requirements for committal are established.”Huawei declined to comment and pointed instead to its past legal submissions on its arguments.In May, a judge in British Columbia’s Superior Court found that the legal standard of double criminality — meaning that Meng’s actions could be considered a crime in both Canada and the United States — had been met, dealing a blow to hopes for a quick end to the trial.The next hearings, scheduled for August 17-21 in Vancouver, will discuss whether the attorney general’s assertion of privilege in declining to release some documents requested by Huawei relating to Meng’s initial arrest is valid.Hearings for the trial are scheduled to wrap up in April 2021, although the potential for appeals of the decision from either side means the case could drag out over several years.
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A COVID-19-induced hunger pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean could threaten the stability of countries in the region, the World Food Program said. Latin America is the region with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases globally, accounting for more than a quarter of the more than 17 million cases reported by Johns Hopkins University. The disease is driving hunger and food insecurity in a region already facing economic, social and political instability, as well as drought and the start of the hurricane season, WFP said.   The agency projects the number of people in Latin America and the Caribbean facing severe food shortages in coming months will rise to 16 million.WFP Executive Director David Beasley recently visited a farming project run by the WFP in Ibarra, in Ecuador’s Imbabura Province.   In a video from the site, Beasley addressed the economic devastation created in Latin American countries by COVID-19. He said many farmers are barely eking out a living because of the pandemic, which is preventing them from selling their crops.   “Just in the areas where WFP [is] in this region alone, we have seen a substantial increase in over 11 million people that are marching toward the brink of starvation,” he said. “So, it is devastating, and it is why we must act, and we must act now so that we can bring some hope to people. Otherwise you will have political destabilization, mass migration, economic deterioration, supply chain disruption and many people will starve, in addition to COVID itself.”   The World Food Program said people in Haiti, countries along Central America’s Pacific coast — especially Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — as well as Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are most at risk of starvation and death.    The COVID and hunger pandemics must be tackled together, Beasley said, because they feed upon each other. The WFP is calling for $328 million to provide crucial aid in the region.   
 
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U.S. officials frowned upon the opening of an Iranian supermarket in Venezuela’s capital, saying Thursday that any presence of Iran in the Western Hemisphere is “not something we look very favorably on.”  
 
Acting Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Michael Kozak told journalists in a call that the opening of the market shows this is like an alliance of “pariah” states.
 
“I would be surely surprised if Venezuela is able to obtain much benefit from Iran,” said Kozak in his response to a reporter’s question about the supermarket. “Iran is willing to play around, is willing to sell stuff to Venezuela when Venezuela really does not have the money to be buying very much.”
 
An Iranian cargo ship docked in Venezuela in June carrying food for the new market in Caracas, weeks after the Islamic Republic had already sent five tankers loaded with gasoline to the fuel-starved nation. The recent deliveries signal a newly blossoming relationship between the two nations in defiance of stiff financial sanctions by the Trump administration against each of them.  
 
The new Megasis supermarket, in the east of Caracas, was launched Wednesday amid a tightening of the coronavirus quarantine. The inauguration was a private event attended only by Venezuelan government officials, Iranian diplomatic personnel and businessmen, according to images a journalist for the Telesur television channel posted on her Twitter account.  
 
The supermarket is expected to open to the public this week.
 
Kozak described Iran on Thursday as “the world’s biggest sponsor on terrorism.”
 
“Iran is not going to save Venezuela from the situation it has put itself in, but it does put itself in a more dangerous situation by playing these games,” he said.
 
Megasis is headed by Iranian businessman Issa Rezaei, who runs a chain of 700 supermarkets in Iran.  
 
On Tuesday, Rezaei said on Twitter that “our goal is commercial.” He also said he is buying Venezuelan products like mangos, pineapples and wood to take to Iran.
 
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, and critics of President Nicolás Maduro point to the nation’s reliance on Iran for gasoline as an example of the socialist government’s failure.  
 
The U.S. seeks to oust Maduro, backing his political rival Juan Guaidó.  
 
Maduro blames many of the problems on U.S. sanctions and other measures to undermine his rule. He says the U.S. wants to install a puppet government so it can exploit Venezuela’s vast resources.
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Argentinian authorities are battling the country’s largest locust invasion this year, in the northern province of Formosa.The plague of locusts is said to be double the size of two other swarms.Officials fear the locusts, known for destroying crops, will jeopardize the food supplies for livestock.Hector Emilio Medina, the director of Argentina’s National Locusts Control Program, told the Associated Press the locusts are very difficult to control.Medina also warned a new locust cloud was just spotted in the Bolivian region of Macharetí.The alert comes as Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay are appealing to their neighbors, Brazil and Uruguay, to seek financial help to upgrade the regional detection systems. 
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Meteorologists say Tropical Storm Isaias could strengthen into a hurricane and threaten the East Coast of the U.S., after causing power outages and small landslides across Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said late Thursday that Isaias is moving with maximum sustained winds of 95 kph.The Associated Press reports that the storm’s powerful winds in Puerto Rico, still recovering from other hurricanes and earthquakes, has transformed “several streets into fast-flowing rivers and toppled trees and some telephone and electrical cables.”More than 100,000 people are without fresh water.According to AP, 14 percent of Puerto Rico’s cell towers are out.Emergency workers had to rescue several families who were reluctant to leave their homes for public shelters because of fear of being exposed to the coronavirus at the shelters.Isaias also blew down trees in the Dominican Republic. Police arrested surfers who refused to heed warnings to find shelter. The U.S. National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm watch for parts of Florida’s east coast, and the government of the Bahamas issued a similar warning for swaths of its territory.Other areas under a tropical storm watch or warning include parts of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands.A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 36 hours. A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 48 hours.The latest forecast map shows Isaias striking the Florida coast as a hurricane Saturday afternoon and working its way up the Atlantic seaboard.U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico, which has yet to fully recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria and a recent series of earthquakes.Isaias is the ninth named storm of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. This is the earliest date a storm beginning with the letter “I” has formed.  
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The resurgence of the coronavirus in many countries is “driven in part by younger people letting down their guard during the Northern Hemisphere summer,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday.Young adults, many without masks, are ignoring social distancing recommendations to pack bars, nightclubs, and beaches that have been reopened since authorities lifted coronavirus restrictions.“The majority of young people infected tend to have more mild disease. But that’s not always consistent,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist who called nightclubs “amplifiers of transmission.”Young people who show mild or no symptoms can spread the virus to more-vulnerable older people.In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro, who tested positive for the coronavirus on July 7 and then negative last Saturday, said that after 20 days indoors he had mold on his lungs. He is being treated with antibiotics. He had repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as “a little flu.”Brazil, as of Thursday evening, had 2.6 million confirmed cases and 91,263 deaths, according to the Muslims queue up to enter a disinfection chamber set up as a precaution against the new coronavirus outbreak, upon arrival for an Eid al-Adha prayer at Al Mashun Grand Mosque in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, July 31, 2020.“We are concerned that … we will see an increase in cases as we have seen in [other] countries” where restrictions have been eased too soon,” WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said.She said more than 20 African countries have recorded more new cases than in the previous weeks, with South Africa accounting for the most but increases also reported in Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Moeti said Uganda, Seychelles and Mauritius are doing well in controlling the virus.Cuba reported nine new cases Thursday, and 37 new cases earlier this week. Just 10 days ago, Cuba reported no new cases for the first time since the outbreak began in March. However, it has reported no deaths for more than two weeks.Cuba has so far been relatively successful in fighting COVID-19, but the island’s top epidemiologist, Francisco Duran, said Thursday that Cubans are getting careless.“People are holding different types of gatherings without taking into account distancing and often without even using a face mask,” he said. “Each small peak underscores a lack of discipline … prompting stricter measures.”Muslim women wearing face masks as precaution against the new coronavirus outbreak, take a selfie after an Eid al-Adha prayer at a mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 31, 2020.In Florida, Key West police arrested a couple who tested positive for COVID-19 for being in public in defiance of a quarantine order.Neighbors who videotaped the couple strolling and shopping gave the tapes to police.The couple’s arrest is among the first in the state for violating a quarantine.Florida, with 461,000 coronavirus cases and 6,600 deaths, is second only to California, which has 492,000 confirmed cases and 8,965 deaths, among U.S. states.National Geographic magazine is reporting that the first dog in the United States sickened by COVID-19 has died.Buddy, a 7-year-old German shepherd in New York became ill in April while his owner was recovering from the coronavirus.Buddy had the same symptoms as human patients, including difficulty breathing. He was euthanized earlier this month after he started vomiting and urinating blood and could no longer walk.Buddy’s doctors said he was also suffering from cancer. Doctors say humans with pre-existing conditions are more susceptible to COVID-19.The WHO says pet-to-people transmission of the coronavirus is unlikely.National Geographic says 12 dogs and 10 cats have tested positive for coronavirus in the U.S. 
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Tropical Storm Isaias could strengthen into a hurricane and threaten the East Coast after battering Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, according to U.S. forecasters. The A man guides a tow truck under a downed power line pole after Tropical Storm Isaias hit the area in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, July 30, 2020.President Donald Trump has signed an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico, which has yet to fully recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria and a recent series of earthquakes. Tropical Storm Isaias knocked out power across Puerto Rico and caused widespread flooding and a number of small landslides. More than 100,000 people were in need of fresh water. Emergency workers had to rescue several families who were reluctant to leave their homes for public shelters because of the coronavirus.  Isaias also blew down trees in the Dominican Republic. Police arrested surfers who refused to heed warnings to find shelter. Isaias is the ninth named storm of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. This is the earliest date a storm beginning with the letter “I” has formed. 
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Tropical Storm Isaias is churning across the Caribbean after forming near Puerto Rico on Wednesday night.Isaias became the earliest ninth named storm on record in the Atlantic, eclipsing a nearly 15-year record set by Irene, which formed on August 7, 2005.Tropical storm warnings are in place for much of the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, U.S. and British Virgin Islands, St. Martin, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Turks and Caicos, and part of the Bahamas.Heavy rains, flash flooding and strong winds are expected for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Thursday.The current path of Tropical Storm Isaias could move the storm towards Florida by this weekend.
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