China’s Jiang Ranxin and Pang Wei out-dueled their Russian rivals in a riveting contest to secure gold in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team event at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday. 

The Chinese pair scored a 16-14 victory against newly minted women’s Olympic champion Vitalina Batsarashkina and Artem Chernousov at the Asaka Shooting Range. 

Jiang and Pang, bronze winners in their individual events in Tokyo, overcame an 8-4 deficit to lead 14-10 before the Russians staged a comeback to level the scores. 

The Chinese shooters, however, held their nerve to reach the 16-point mark and claim gold. 

Russian athletes are competing in Tokyo under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) as part of sanctions for several doping scandals. 

Ukraine won the bronze medal match after Olena Kostevych and Oleh Omelchuk beat Serbians Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec 16-12. 

South Korean pistol great Jin Jong-oh will return empty-handed from his fifth, and possibly final, Olympics as his pairing could not get through the qualification round. 

The four-time Olympic gold medalist failed to qualify for the final of the men’s individual event on Saturday. 
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The United States and several other countries have called for calm in Tunisia after violent protests broke out following the suspension of parliament Sunday. Tunisia’s president invoked purported emergency powers to sack the prime minister following months of demonstrations over a worsening economic crisis. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.

 Camera: Henry Ridgwell
 
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On the Olympic podium stood three teenage girls — 13, 13 and 16 — with weighty gold, silver and bronze medals around their young necks, rewards for having landed tricks on their skateboards that most kids their age only get to see on Instagram.

After decades in the shadows of men’s skateboarding, the future for the sport’s daring, trailblazing women suddenly looked brighter than ever at the Tokyo Games on Monday.

It’s anyone’s guess how many young girls tuned in to watch Momiji Nishiya of Japan win the debut Olympic skateboarding event for women, giving the host nation a sweep of golds in the street event after Yuto Horigome won the men’s event.

But around the world, girls trying to convince their parents that they, too, should be allowed to skate can now point to the 13-year-old from Osaka as an Olympic-sized example of skateboarding’s possibilities.

A champion of few words — “Simply delighted,” is how she described herself — Nishiya let her board do the talking, riding it down rails taller than she is. She said she’d celebrate by asking her mother to treat her to a dinner of Japanese yakiniku barbecue.

The silver went to Rayssa Leal, also 13 — Brazil’s second silver in skateboarding after Kelvin Hoefler finished in second place on Sunday in the men’s event.

Both Nishiya and Leal became their countries’ youngest-ever medalists. The bronze went to 16-year-old Funa Nakayama of Japan.

“Now I can convince all my friends to skateboard everywhere with me,” Leal said.

She first caught the skateboarding world’s attention as a 7-year-old with a video on Instagram of her attempting, and landing, a jump with a flip down three stairs while wearing a dress with angel wings.

“Skateboarding is for everyone,” she said.

But that hasn’t always been true for young girls, even among the 20 female pioneers who rode the rails, ramps and ledges at the Ariake Urban Sports Park.

The field included Leticia Bufoni of Brazil, whose board was snapped in two by her dad when she was a kid to try to stop her from skating.

She was 10.

“I cried for hours,” she recalled. “He thought girls shouldn’t skate because he had never seen a woman skate before.”

Bufoni added, half-joking, that getting him to relent had been harder than qualifying for the Tokyo Games.

“So I want be that girl that the little girls can show their parents and be like, ‘She can skate. I want to be like her,'” Bufoni said.

Annie Guglia of Canada said she didn’t see any other girls skate during her first two years on her board. The first contest she entered, at the age of 13, had no women’s category, so organizers had to create one for her.

“And I won, because I was the only one,” the 30-year-old Guglia said. “We have come a long way.”

Skaters predicted that by time the next Olympics roll around, in Paris in 2024, the women’s field will have a greater depth of talent and tricks, built on the foundations they laid in Tokyo.

“It’s going to change the whole game,” U.S. skater Mariah Duran said. “This is like opening at least one door to, you know, many skaters who are having the conversations with their parents, who want to start skating.

“I’m not surprised if there’s probably already like 500 girls getting a board today.”
Nishiya is going places with hers. She said she aims to be at the Paris Games “and win.”

“I want to be famous,” she said.

But first — barbecue. Her delighted mom didn’t take much convincing.

“I’ll definitely take her,” she said.
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U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday said he remained adamant about the need to create a pathway for U.S. citizenship for so-called Dreamer immigrants, but it “remains to be seen” if that will be part of a $3.5 trillion budget measure.

“There must be a pathway to citizenship,” Biden told reporters as he returned to the White House after spending the weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

Dreamers are immigrants brought to the United States as children who are protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Democrats hope to provide legal status to some immigrants in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation measure they plan to pass with a simple majority, but details have not been released.

Asked if the reconciliation measure needed to include the pathway to citizenship, Biden said that “remains to be seen.”

Senate Democratic leaders have said the budget measure would open the door to legislation on climate measures, social spending, and extension of a child tax credit.

However, it remains unclear if the Senate parliamentarian, who decides which provisions may be included in a budget package, will approve inclusion of an immigration measure.

The DACA program, created by former President Barack Obama while Biden was vice president, faces new legal challenges.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen this month sided with a group of states suing to end the program, arguing that it was illegally created by Obama in 2012.

Biden last week vowed to preserve the DACA program and urged Congress to provide a path to citizenship.

DACA protects recipients from deportation, grants them work authorization and access to driver’s licenses, and in some cases better access to financial aid for education. It does not provide a path to citizenship. 
 
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, sounded new alarms Sunday about the surge in coronavirus cases in the country, especially in regions where people have been resistant to getting vaccinated even as the delta variant spreads rapidly.

“We’re going in the wrong direction,” Fauci said on CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “Fifty percent of the country is not vaccinated. That’s a problem.”

“We’re putting ourselves in danger,” said Fauci, the top medical adviser to President Joe Biden.

In the United States, hospitalizations and deaths are far below their peaks last winter. But the number of new infections has been rising sharply in parts of the country where skepticism about the need to get vaccinated, the safety of the vaccines and resistance to government suggestions to get inoculated remain a potent force.

More than 51,000 new infections were recorded in the U.S. on Saturday, a 172% increase over the last two weeks, and more than 250 deaths have been occurring daily in recent weeks.

As it stands, the government says more than 162 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, which corresponds to 49% of the country’s population and nearly 60% of adults.

But polls have shown that as many as 80% of unvaccinated Americans say they definitely will not get inoculated or are unlikely to, no matter how many officials urge them to get the shots.

Many conservative politicians previously had adopted a more cautious approach toward vaccinations or said whether to get inoculated was a matter of personal choice. Now some are voicing their exasperation at those refusing to get vaccinated.

Republican Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama said last week of the unvaccinated, “These people are choosing a horrible lifestyle.”

Another Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, has long urged vaccinations in his southern state but it still has one of the lowest rates of inoculations. Two adolescents recently died of COVID-19 in his state. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“These are alarm bells,” he told CNN. Nonetheless, he noted, “Certainly the resistance (to inoculations) has hardened.”

But Hutchinson voiced optimism that the unvaccinated will change their minds. 

“People can change their resistance,” he said. “That should be our focus.”

Fauci said those vaccinated “are highly protected,” including against the delta variant. But the pace of vaccinations has dropped in the U.S. by more than 80% since mid-April.

Some cities, including Los Angeles in the West and St. Louis in the middle of the country, have imposed new orders for people to wear masks in public indoor spaces regardless of vaccination status. Other cities are considering similar directives.

 
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Two days before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, Native athletes gathered in Fairbanks, Alaska, to compete in the 60th World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. Natasha Mozgovaya has more.
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With the coronavirus pandemic easing in the U.S., experts say an unprecedented number of people are choosing to quit their jobs. Deana Mitchell reports from Austin, Texas.
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Malawi’s government has paid thousands of dollars in compensation to women who allegedly were sexually assaulted by police officers during post-election protests. Lawyers for victims and human rights campaigners, however, say the money alone is not enough. They want suspects to be arrested and tried in court.  Police have promised a fresh investigation.     

The Malawi Human Rights Commission accuses police officers of raping victims in the capital city of Lilongwe in apparent retaliation for the fatal stoning of a police officer by residents during post-election violence on Oct. 8, 2019.  

In his ruling on August 13, 2020, High Court Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda ordered the Malawi Police Service to compensate 18 women and arrest 17 police officers implicated for the crimes. Nyirenda said the victims needed to be compensated for trauma they suffered at the hands of police.

Now that compensation has been paid, though, lawyers for the victims and human rights campaigners say money alone is not enough.

Atupele Masanjala is the spokesperson for the Women’s Lawyers Association, which represented the rape victims.

She says the compensation marks the end of the civil case but there is a need to look at the criminal aspect.

“Because even if those women are compensated, the people who have done the wrong have not been held accountable,” Masanjala said. “The police officers are not the people who paid that money. That was the government paying on behalf of the police. But those police officers haven’t been identified, they haven’t been held accountable, they haven’t been arrested. So, as it is now, they are criminals just walking free and that’s unacceptable.”  

Habiba Osman is executive secretary for the Malawi Human Rights Commission. She says a criminal proceeding is needed.

“It means that now there is going to be individual liability or responsibility whenever people commit such crimes that would be seen to be violating the rights of other people,” Osman said. “So, what this is to also tell us is that even if they are state’s agents [tasked] to be enforcing the law, if they commit the crime the same organization can bite them.”

The government has paid $160,000 to the 18 victims, with compensation ranging from $5,000 to $12,000 per victim.

One victim from the Msundwe area, who did not want to be named in this report, said the compensation is too low.

She says, “I left my village [scene of the incident] to settle somewhere because people were laughing at me for what happened. So, I though the compensation would be enough to buy land and build a house. But this is not the case.”

She says she is looking forward to the arrest of the culprits, although she could not identify her attacker because she says he covered his face when he raped her.  

James Kadadzera is a spokesperson for the Malawi Police service.

He told VOA police are ready to start a new investigation after their previous investigation failed to identify suspects.

“In fact, there were many police officers that were on duty on that particular day,” Kadadzera said. “Probably 100 plus, so it was difficult to identify the suspects.”

Kadadzera hopes this time, however, they will identify the suspects because he says the investigation team will include members of the Malawi Human Rights Commission, Women Lawyers Association and other human rights organizations.
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On this edition of Encounter, Ambassador Michelle Gavin, senior fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Ambassador to Botswana, and Frans Cronje, CEO of the Johannesburg-based Institute of Race Relations, analyze with host Carol Castiel the political, economic and social situation in South Africa following the arrest and detention of former South African president Jacob Zuma given the protests, looting and violence which this incident triggered.  How did the celebrated multiracial democracy led by Nelson Mandela reach this critical juncture point, and what does the future hold for South Africa? 
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Kohei Uchimura, Japan’s top male gymnast, looking to end his long career in glory, instead slipped and fell Saturday during his high bar qualifying event.  Known for winning all-around gymnastic championships for years, the 32-year-old athlete was looking to compete only in the high bar this year, but his fall leaves him out of the competition.  

Tropical Storm Nepartak is headed for Japan, bringing the threat of heavy rains and strong winds. Olympic officials are rescheduling some rowing events to take place earlier than originally planned.     

Richard “The Locomotive” Carapaz is taking home the gold for cycling, Ecuador’s first cycling medal.  

The International Judo Federation has suspended Algerian athlete Fethi Nourine and his coach Amar Benikhlef after they both withdrew from the games to avoid a match against an Israeli athlete and in support of the “Palestinian cause.”   

Nourine told Algerian television, “We worked a lot to reach the Olympics, but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all this.”

The federation has confirmed the men’s withdrawals from the games and said in a statement, “The immediate response of the IJF Executive Committee was to form an investigative commission, which confirmed all the facts, leading to a temporary suspension of the athlete and the coach and assigning the case to the Disciplinary Commission of the IJF for further investigation, judgment and final sanctioning beyond the Olympic Games.”

The youngest Olympic athlete is out of the competition in Tokyo after losing her first match Saturday. Twelve-year-old table tennis athlete Hend Zaza of Syria lost to 39-year-old Liu Jia of Austria.  

Zaza told People magazine, “The main lesson was the loss of this match, especially in the first match so next time I will be working hard to pass the first, second, third round,” the youngster said. “Because I want to be in this competition longer, not only for the first round.”
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Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA senior diplomatic correspondent, Cindy Saine, and senior reporter for Marketplace, Nancy Marshall-Genzer, about growing congressional challenges on infrastructure, police reform, COVID-19 and the economy facing the Biden administration, the ramifications of a widespread cyber-attack on Microsoft allegedly conducted by China, controversial Israeli phone surveillance software allegedly misused amid a global hacking scandal, the Tokyo Olympics and global concern over the spreading of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to India next week, the State Department said on Friday, in the top U.S. diplomat’s first visit to the world’s largest democracy and an important U.S. ally in Asia.

Blinken will also visit Kuwait and meet senior officials there at the end of the July 26-29 trip.

The United States sees India as an important partner in efforts to stand up to China’s increasingly assertive behavior. Blinken’s trip will follow a visit by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to China and coincide with one to Southeast Asia by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

In New Delhi on Wednesday, Blinken will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Among the subjects on the agenda will be “Indo-Pacific engagement, shared regional security interests, shared democratic values, and addressing the climate crisis” as well as the response to the coronavirus pandemic, a statement said.

Blinken is likely to discuss plans for an in-person summit of the Quad group of countries – Indian, Japan, Australia and the United States – that is seen as a counter to China’s rising influence. The meeting later this year is expected to focus on ways to develop regional infrastructure in the face of China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative.

The United States hosted a virtual summit of the Quad countries in March at which they agreed that Indian drugmaker Biological E Ltd would produce at least a billion coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of 2022, mainly for Southeast Asian and Pacific countries.

However, India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, was subsequently hit by a catastrophic wave of COVID-19 infections and halted vaccine exports amid intense criticism of Modi’s domestic vaccination efforts.

Washington sent raw materials for vaccines, medical equipment and protective gear to India after the spike.

India expects to receive 3-4 million doses of U.S.-made vaccines by August.

“(India) is such a critical country in the fight against COVID-19,” Blinken told MSNBC on Friday, explaining that India would eventually become a vital source of vaccines to the world.

“Of course, they’re focused understandably on their own internal challenges now, but when that production engine gets fully going and can distribute again to the rest of the world, that’s going to make a big difference.”

Last November, India, the United States, Japan and Australia conducted their largest joint naval exercises in over a decade as part of efforts to balance China’s growing military and economic power in the region.
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Members of a top Iraqi delegation expect to reach an agreement Friday with the Biden administration to end the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, the country’s foreign minister told VOA on Thursday.

In an exclusive interview with VOA’s Kurdish Service, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein discussed the proposed nature of cooperation between his country and U.S. forces once an agreement is reached, particularly in the fight against the Islamic State group.

“In my opinion, we will reach the agreement on Friday and then it will be announced that [American] fighting forces — I am talking about the fighting forces — will not remain in Iraq. But how they will not remain and when they exit is related to a timeline agreed on by both sides as well as technical matters and other issues related to the security of the forces,” Hussein told VOA.

The discussions in Washington are happening just days before a Monday meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at the White House. The two plan to discuss a wide array of topics, including cooperation on political, economic, security and cultural issues.

Hussein is to meet Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The Iraqi official told VOA that their discussions “will be on a range of issues including oil, energy, electricity, gas, culture, health, military and security, and finance.”

Earlier this week, a suicide bomb ripped through the Iraqi capital, killing at least 34 people. The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, is the kind of violence that Iraqi forces, trained and equipped by the United States, are trying to deter.

When asked about the threat posed by the Islamic State group, Hussein said, “Naturally, the security and military sector will be an important subject in the conversation. America and Iraq have been allies and will remain allies against IS.

“What was called the Islamic State, or IS, has been destroyed and has since turned from an organization owning a state into a terrorist organization. Assistance against IS will remain,” he said.

U.S. support is expected to continue and will be a key focus in al-Kadhimi’s meeting with Biden, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, responding to VOA.

“Their government is requesting continuous support from us and the coalition for training and enabling their forces — its forces — logistics, intelligence sharing and other areas of security cooperation,” Psaki said.

The U.S. withdrew troops at the end of the Iraq War in 2011. American forces returned after the Islamic State group’s resurgence across Iraq and Syria in 2014, though.

In April, the U.S. and Iraq agreed to change the American troops’ mission, focusing on training and advisory roles, allowing for the redeployment of combat soldiers from Iraq.

While Baghdad is eager to show it can handle its own security, Iranian-backed militia groups have been targeting U.S. and Iraqi troops with drone and rocket attacks.

“I do not know who did these attacks, but we condemn them. There are investigations on these attacks which are, of course, terrorist acts on Irbil airport, Baghdad airport and the Green Zone,” Hussein said. “They are a part of the discussion, and they have always been a part of the discussions in Baghdad and here also. We hope these attacks will stop; otherwise, it will be dangerous not only for our international security but also for the region.”

The Iraqi government is also facing pressure from Iranian-linked political factions pushing for American troops to leave.

“We are working hard to push tensions between other countries away from Iraqi soil. We do not want to be a part of the conflict between other countries. We are discussing this not only with the United States but also with Iran,” Hussein said. “We have good relations with the Iranian government and are open in our discussions with them. We are asking for support and help from various countries, including from the United States and the neighboring countries.”

However, Baghdad needs U.S. military support to maintain stability, said Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“So that points to more public statements saying that Iraq is ready and requiring a U.S. military withdrawal, or at least combat troops to disappear. On the U.S. side, it’s actually pretty much the same. There’s definitely a goal on behalf of the Biden administration to pivot away from the Middle East, to push it down in the list of priorities as well,” Hall said.

About 2,500 American soldiers remain in Iraq, and a shift in their role may not necessarily mean a reduction in numbers.

A formal announcement on ending their combat mission, however, could be seen as a political win for al-Kadhimi ahead of Iraqi parliamentary elections scheduled for October.

Jeff Seldin and Rikar Hussein contributed to this report. 
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Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline project designed to double the volume of Russian gas delivered to Germany via the Baltic Sea, continues to be a contentious topic in U.S.-European relations. It was hoped a statement issued by U.S. and German officials on Wednesday would ease tensions, but it instead drew resistance from some members of the U.S. Congress and criticism from Eastern Europe.

The joint statement followed last week’s summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who agreed to disagree on the pipeline. Germany sees it as a business project, and the U.S. sees it as a Kremlin geopolitical endeavor.

The statement vows to ensure that Russia will not misuse the Nord Stream 2 “to achieve aggressive political ends by using energy as a weapon.” It also pledges support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and security through investment in sustainable energy development. Germany also committed to help Ukraine negotiate an extension of the Russian gas transit treaty — about 18% of the European Union’s annual natural gas consumption comes from Russia via Ukraine —  and promises to respond if Russia uses the pipeline to pressure Ukraine.

VOA on Wednesday spoke with Yuriy Vitrenko, head of the Ukrainian state-owned energy company Naftogaz. Vitrenko was in Washington this week to explain Ukraine’s concerns about the new pipeline.

Nord Stream 2 “should never become operational,” Vitrenko told VOA’s Ukrainian Service. He argued that if Russia no longer needed Ukraine for gas transit to Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin would be much more likely to launch a full-fledged military offensive against its Western neighbor, with which it has been at war since 2014. He believes that canceling the State Department’s waiver on the sanctions against Nord Stream AG — the international consortium of energy and construction firms building the Nord Stream system of submarine pipelines — could thwart activation of Nord Stream 2, all segments of which were mechanically connected last month.

The following are excerpts from the interview, which has been translated into English and edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: Construction of Nord Stream 2 is almost finished. Do you think it is still possible to prevent its completion?

Vitrenko: Completion is a technical issue. The real question is for this pipeline to never become operational so that it does not transport gas to Europe.

VOA: What was the reaction to your position in your meetings here in Washington?

Vitrenko: Very positive. There is bipartisan support. Both major U.S. parties, Democrats and Republicans, support our fight against Nord Stream 2. They understand that the project should never become operational.

VOA: What is the reaction of Biden administration?

Vitrenko: We see statements from the Biden administration that it is a bad project, that the U.S. administration is opposed to it. There are technical issues, though, related to the fact that the most effective sanctions have not been used so far. However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress [during committee hearings in June] that the administration will follow the events and might still utilize the sanctions.

Now the Swiss company Nord Stream 2 AG has applied to be certified as the pipeline’s operator. We believe that this company should be sanctioned, because in reality this is a Russian company and it is key to the project.

VOA: What about the European rules governing the pipeline?

Vitrenko: The operator has to obtain certification from the German regulator. However, the European rules, the so-called Third Energy Package, prevent a single person or a group of people from simultaneously controlling the production, sale and transportation of gas. So, it is against the European rules for Gazprom and Putin to control production of gas in Russia and its transportation to Europe. These rules must apply to this case.

VOA: Do you think it is possible to compensate Ukraine for the negative outcomes from Nord Stream 2?

Vitrenko: Can a country be compensated for facing critical threats to its security? Ukraine is the target of Russia’s military aggression. We also say that the project is the symbol of Western corruption — it goes against Western values, so it discourages Ukraine from market reforms.

VOA: What is the primary threat that Nord Stream 2 poses to Ukraine?

Vitrenko: If physical flow of [Russian] gas through Ukraine stops, the risk of full-scale military aggression by Russia would go up substantially. Russia will expect nothing much from Europe beyond expressions of deep concern if the military actions do not have an impact on European consumers.

VOA: While in the U.S. last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany “will be actively acting should Russia not respect Ukraine’s right as a transit country.” Do you think Germany will really limit Russian gas exports to Europe in this scenario?

Vitrenko: Frankly, I don’t think that if there were a full-fledged war in Ukraine and everybody knew [a substantial amount of gas] was coming from the Kremlin, Germany would impose effective sanctions on gas exports to Germany. That would mean German consumers would go without gas and heat in winter.

Let’s be realistic. Let’s anticipate the risks and prevent them from happening or we will find ourselves in the situation when nothing can be done except to express deep concern, as has been the case with the occupation of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk.

VOA: What about the assurances that Germany can guarantee transit of Russian gas via Ukraine?

Vitrenko: I cannot understand how Germany can guarantee transit of gas via the territory of Ukraine if neither of those countries is in charge of producing and transporting the gas. Theoretically, such guarantees could come only from Russia. But at what price? Ukraine already had the Budapest Memorandum [a 1994 document in which the United States, Russia and Britain provided security assurances to Ukraine, under which Kyiv agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal], which was supposed to guarantee its security. We don’t find the idea of Budapest Memorandum No. 2 appealing.

How can we believe if somebody promises us something instead of Russia? You cannot trust that scenario even if it were Russia itself making the promises.
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Senior U.S. and Chinese diplomats are set to meet Sunday at a time of rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.  

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, the No. 2 American diplomat, will meet with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and others in Tianjin, China, as part of an Asia trip which includes stops in Japan, South Korea and Mongolia as well as Oman. 

“In the context of relationships that are complex, that are challenging, that are dynamic, we believe it’s important to maintain open lines of communication between high-level officials. And that includes in times of, as in the case with the PRC (People’s Republic of China), sustained competition,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price during a briefing on Wednesday.  

Sherman’s meetings with Chinese officials come as the Biden administration accuses China of instigating a large-scale hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software. On Monday, the U.S. indicted four Chinese nationals on charges they tried to steal U.S. trade secrets, technology and disease research. China rejected the allegations.  

Sherman’s trip, which is widely seen as a step toward future higher-level meetings between the U.S. and China, comes as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visits Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Austin will be the first official from President Joe Biden’s Cabinet to head to Southeast Asia. Sherman’s meeting with Wang in Tianjin will be the highest-level direct talks since March’s meeting in Alaska between the two nations’ top diplomats. 

U.S. officials say Beijing’s aggressive activities in the South China Sea are high on the agenda. Washington has rejected China’s “unlawful” maritime claims in the sea, accusing China of continuing to “coerce and intimidate Southeast Asian coastal states” and threatening freedom of navigation in the critical global waterway. 

“I’ll emphasize our commitment to the freedom of the seas and also make clear where we stand on some unhelpful and unfounded claims by China in the South China Sea,” said Austin on Wednesday at the Pentagon.  

“We don’t believe that any one country should be able to dictate the rules, or worse yet, throw them over the transom,” added the Defense chief. 

ASEAN policy and Myanmar 

In early August, Brunei is hosting foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the U.S. in a mostly virtual gathering to address issues including regional security. 

Addressing a videoconference on the U.S.-ASEAN relationship, senior U.S. officials and American lawmakers renewed a call for the Southeast Asian bloc to work on the restoration of democracy in Myanmar, pressing its military leaders to cease violence and release all those unjustly detained. 

Henrietta Levin, the National Security Council director for Southeast Asia and ASEAN affairs, said Washington is calling on ASEAN members “to quickly hold the Burmese military accountable to the ASEAN five-point consensus.” 

Levin was referring to a statement by ASEAN leaders issued in late April that urged ending the violence as well as establishing political talks and naming a regional special envoy on Myanmar. 

U.S. Representative Steve Chabot, an Ohio Republican who is also the co-chair of the U.S.-Philippine Friendship Caucus in the U.S. Congress, said “fostering relationships” with U.S. allies from the Southeast Asian bloc through “economic engagement” is an effective approach to address challenges posed by China and “its bid for regional and global hegemony.” 

U.S. Representative Young Kim, a Republican from California, urged American businesses and companies to “hold principles” when operating in Myanmar as people in the country seek to restore the rule of law and democracy. 

“I am struck by the continuing violence and abuses” in that country, said Kim.   

ASEAN is collectively the third-largest economy in the Indo-Pacific and the fifth-largest economy in the world. The U.S. exports over $122 billion in American-made goods to ASEAN annually. 
 
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At least 12 people are dead in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou after massive floods triggered by several days of heavy rains. 

The rains washed out streets throughout the capital of Henan province, forcing stranded motorists to wade through waist-deep waters that submerged cars and even sent them floating away. 

The floods also washed out Zhengzhou’s subway system, with riders posting videos on social media awaiting rescue in waist-high muddy waters. A passenger named Xiaopei posted on Weibo that “the water in the carriage has reached (their) chest.”   

Dozens of reservoirs and dams have reached critical levels, with local authorities warning that the Yihetan dam in the nearby city of Luoyang had sustained a 20-meter breach and was on the verge of imminent collapse. 

Authorities have evacuated 100,000 residents to safe zones.  

Henan province, home to about 94 million people, has experienced severe rains through the past week. Forecasters say Zhengzhou received as much rainfall in three days as it normally gets in a year.  

A representative of the city of Xu Liyi, a member of the Standing Committee of Henan Provincial Party Committee, and secretary of the Zhengzhou Municipal Party Committee said the high levels of rainfall were unusual. 

Extreme weather events have surged this summer in China, with recent flooding in Sichuan province killing hundreds of citizens and forcing thousands to evacuate the area. Officials of Greenpeace International, an environmental group, warn that China’s rapid urbanization will increase the frequency of climate disasters.  

Speaking to the Chinese media, Liu Junyan of Greenpeace said, “because of the highly concentrated population, infrastructure and economic activity, the exposure and vulnerability of climate hazards are higher in urban areas.” 

This report contains information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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More than half of the Kenyan capital’s nearly 5 million people live in slums, where many young people are lured by drugs and crime. In one neighborhood, a group is using the game of chess to help transform the lives of young people. Lenny Ruvaga reports from Nairobi.

Camera: Amos Wangwa 
 
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The Vatican has stressed Pope Francis is recovering well from his recent colon surgery and a ten-day post-operative stay in hospital.  Later this year, he has trips to Hungary and Slovakia planned. Vatican officials also confirmed last week that the pope will attend in November the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

Nonetheless, some Vatican observers say the 84-year-old’s surgery earlier this month, undertaken at the Gemelli hospital in Rome, may later be seen as a turning point in his papacy and it will likely add greater urgency to his reform plans, including efforts to overhaul the notoriously change-resistant Curia, the administrative institutions of the Holy See.

Already in Rome, there is speculation about who might succeed Francis, with some Vatican watchers pointing out that Francis has hinted in the past he may follow his predecessor, Benedict XVI, and step aside, if his health seriously deteriorates, rather than follow tradition and die in office.  

Benedict became in 2013 the first pope to relinquish office since 1415, possibly setting a modern-day precedent.

Two weeks after surgeons removed a large portion of his colon because of an intestinal narrowing, Pope Francis resumed his weekly appearances from a Vatican window Sunday for his regular blessing of the faithful in St Peter’s Square. He spoke for 14 minutes, but at one point appeared short of breath.   

Among the crowds in the square were a number of Cuban residents waving banners supporting recent anti-government protests in their homeland. “I am near to the dear Cuban people in these difficult moments, especially to the families who are suffering more,” Francis said during his address.

But aside from weekly Sunday appearances the pontiff, who had one of his lungs removed as a teenager because of infection and who suffers sciatica causing him to walk with a limp, has no other public appearances listed for the rest of July. Vatican officials say he will be spending the rest of the month and early August largely focusing on recuperating.

But while there are no immediate health alarms, some Vatican watchers suggest the Pope’s lengthy hospitalization — it was double the time slated — is already focusing minds on what and who will follow Francis and also how the rest of his papacy will likely unfold.

Beginning of the end

His surgery may be “the moment that marked the beginning of the end of his papacy,” noted American Jesuit priest and influential Catholic columnist Thomas Reese in an opinion article published last week by the Religion News Service, a nonprofit news site.

“Even with the best prognosis, age is catching up to Francis. Barring a miracle, he will only be expected to continue as pope for five or six years,” Reese wrote. He indicated that Francis has much to do, if he’s going to leave an enduring legacy of change.

Francis has sought to reduce the power of the clerical establishment and to rebrand the papacy to make it more outgoing, less dogmatic and focused on pastoral duties and inclusivity. “Where he has been less successful is in winning over the clerical establishment to his vision for the church. In his eight years as pope, Francis has hardly dented the clerical establishment that he inherited,” according to Reese.

The sense of time running out may have been behind the pontiff’s decision last week to reverse one of Benedict XVI’s signature decisions and to crack down on the spread of the old Latin Mass in what is being seen as a major challenge to traditionalist Catholics. They immediately condemned it as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy.  

His move to re-impose tight restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass beloved by conservative doctrinal opponents has prompted a ferocious reaction with commentator Damian Thompson, host of the Holy Smoke podcast in Britain, describing it as “a poison-pen letter from the pontiff.”

Other conservative Catholics accused the pope of high-handedness and treating traditionalists as “second-class Catholics.”

The pontiff said he was making the move because the use of the Latin Mass had become a source of division in the church and was being used by Catholics opposed to modernization of the Church. In 2007, Benedict relaxed restrictions on the use of Latin Mass.

Critics of Pope Francis say his repudiation was highly unusual in the thoroughness of reversing a predecessor’s policy — and even more eye-opening considering Benedict is still alive and living in the Vatican. Under the terms of the new rule, priests who want to celebrate the Latin Mass rather than in the vernacular will require the prior approval of their bishops who will have to consult the Vatican.

Francis has been engaged in a series of sharp skirmishes with conservative clerics and their supporters ever since his election as pope in a long-running doctrinal struggle between progressives and conservatives over church reform.

The clashes have included how to handle clerical sex abuse scandals and his tacit approval of parish priests giving communion to divorced-and-remarried couples.

His supporters say Francis has tried to make the Church less rigid and dogmatic.

His opponents say he has been undermining the moral consistency of the Catholic Church.
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Iranian police opened fire late Sunday night amid protests against water shortages in southwestern Iran, a video showed, the latest unrest after days of demonstrations that have seen at least one person killed. 

The video from the Human Rights Activists News Agency by Human Rights Activists in Iran showed the shooting in Susangerd, which has been an epicenter of demonstrations in Iran’s restive Khuzestan province. 

A police officer fires into the air with a pistol and at least one other shot can be heard in the footage. Riot police on motorcycles race around a corner, firing at the protesters. 

The video corresponded to other Associated Press reporting of the demonstrations in Khuzestan, home to ethnic Arabs who complain of discrimination by Iran’s Shiite theocracy. The video also matched known features of Susangerd and the protest depicted took place where other demonstrations occurred in recent days. 

On Sunday, the deputy governor of Khuzestan province in charge of security affairs acknowledged the unrest had killed at least one person. The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Valiollah Hayati as blaming “rioters” for killing a citizen in the city of Shadegan in Khuzestan. Iran’s government long has blamed protesters for deaths during demonstrators in unrest, despite its history of bloody crackdowns. 

Arab separatists have long operated in Khuzestan, which Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein tried to seize in his 1980s war with Iran. They have blown up oil pipelines in the past and have been blamed for attacks, including a 2018 assault on a military parade that killed at least 25 people in Ahvaz. 

Water worries in the past have sent angry demonstrators into the streets in Iran. The country has faced rolling blackouts for weeks now, in part over what authorities describe as a severe drought. Precipitation had decreased by almost 50% in the last year, leaving dams with dwindling water supplies. 

The protests in Khuzestan come as Iran struggles through repeated waves of infections in the coronavirus pandemic and as thousands of workers in its oil industry have launched strikes for better wages and conditions. 

Iran’s economy also has struggled under U.S. sanctions then-President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, crashing the value of the Islamic Republic’s currency, the rial. 
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Professor William LeoGrande, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs in the Department of Government at the American University, and Professor of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, Eduardo Gamarra, analyze with host Carol Castiel the roots and ramifications of twin crises in the Caribbean: the assassination of Haiti’s President, Jovenal Moïse, and ensuing power struggle and the largest and most widespread protests in Cuba in decades. How does the turmoil affect US policy toward the region? Given the large Cuban and Haitian Diaspora communities in the United States, how does the Biden Administration deal with both domestic and international dimension of policy? 
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Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson and correspondent for Marketplace Kimberly Adams about the ongoing battle between Democrats and Republicans over voting rights legislation, what’s next after Senate Democrats agree to a $3.5 trillion human infrastructure package, the impact of the crises in Haiti and Cuba on the Biden Administration, and much more.
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