Author: CensorBiz

The United Nations marked the 75th anniversary of its founding on Monday, amid a global pandemic and other serious challenges that the U.N. secretary-general said highlight the urgency for stronger international cooperation. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer has more.Produced by: Jesusemen Oni   
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Ethiopia has begun circulating new currency notes to combat monetary crimes.  Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced Monday the release of the birr in denominations of 10, 50 and 100. The East African country also introduced its first 200 birr note. Ahmed hopes the new currency will also boost the inflation riddled economy impacted partly by the coronavirus pandemic. Ethiopians have three months to exchange old notes with the new ones. Authorities believe the new design and security features on the new birr note will prevent counterfeiting.  Banks had urged the government to demonetize, citing money circulating outside the banking system has worsened the liquidity problems banks are facing.  Ethiopia last changed its currency two decades ago at the end of the Ethiopian-Eritrean civil war. 
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U.S. President Donald Trump met at the White House on Monday with one of the five women on his list to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to sources.  The 87-year-old liberal icon died last Friday after a lengthy battle with cancer. Trump said he would announce his nominee after funeral services for her later this week.  The president mentioned Amy Coney Barrett by name, along with Barbara Lagoa, as he spoke to reporters before boarding his Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn. He did not confirm meeting with Barrett.  U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor at Notre Dame University, poses in an undated photograph obtained from Notre Dame University, Sept. 19, 2020.Later in remarks in Dayton, in the Midwestern state of Ohio, Trump said he would announce his choice probably on Saturday, but possibly the day before.  “It will be a brilliant person,” the president said. “It will be a woman.”  Both Barrett, a 48-year-old Midwestern Catholic, and Lagoa, a 52-year-old Cuban American from Florida, are conservatives whom Trump appointed to federal appellate court judgeships in recent years.  The president told reporters he might meet with Lagoa later this week when he travels to Miami. “I don’t know her, but I hear she’s outstanding,” he added.  Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Lagoa, currently a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, poses in a photograph from 2019 obtained Sept. 19, 2020.Others reported to be on Trump’s short list are Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Joan Larsen, Fourth Circuit Judge Allison Jones Rushing and deputy White House counsel Kate Todd.  Timing of voteThe president, in his Monday afternoon remarks to reporters, called on the Republican- controlled Senate to vote on confirmation before the Nov. 3 election. “I’d much rather have a vote before the election,” Trump said. “We have plenty of time to do it.” That is a reversal from the position he took four years ago when a Supreme Court seat became vacant in the final year of former President Barack Obama’s second term.  “I think the next president should make the pick,” he said in 2016.  Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee hoping to prevent Trump’s reelection, said the victor in the November election should make the court selection after being inaugurated for a new White House term in January.  Trump on Monday said there was “zero chance” that Democrats wouldn’t try to fill a Supreme Court vacancy if they controlled both the presidency and the Senate as Republicans currently do.  FILE – Allison Jones Rushing testifies before a Senate Judiciary confirmation hearing on her nomination to be a United States circuit judge for the Fourth Circuit, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 17, 2018.Ginsburg will lie in repose at the Supreme Court Wednesday and Thursday, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Ginsburg will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol on Friday.  Trump’s Supreme Court pick of another conservative, his third after winning Senate confirmation of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, would tip the current 5-4 conservative edge on the country’s top court to 6-3.  The new choice could affect decisions on legalized abortion in the U.S., immigration, health care, voting rights, gun ownership restrictions, religious liberty and an array of other issues for more than a generation.  ‘Ginsburg’s dying wish’Trump’s anticipated court selection has touched off a rancorous political debate in Washington: should the nomination be considered before the election or after? After would effectively allow the American electorate to have a say by deciding the presidential election, which would allow the winner — either Biden or Trump — to make the choice at the start of a new four-year term.  In 2016, Republicans refused to allow consideration of Obama’s final Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February of that year. They argued that high court vacancies should be left unfilled during an election year so the American people can weigh in on the choice. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the Republican Party’s change in position and said no vote should take place until next year.  “That was Justice Ginsburg’s dying wish. And it may be the Senate’s only, last hope,” Schumer said.  FILE – Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen moderates a panel discussion during the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention in Washington, Nov. 17, 2016.Trump is questioning whether Ginsburg actually told her granddaughter just before dying that she hoped her seat would not be filled until after the presidential election.  “It just sounds to me like it would be somebody else. It could be, and it might not be, too. It was just too convenient,” the president said to reporters. 2016 vs. 2020″No wonder Americans have so little faith in government and in this Senate, led by the Republican majority,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defended his positions in both 2016 and 2020, saying the difference is that four years ago, different parties were controlling the Senate and White House, whereas now, the same party controls both. He said historical precedent has been on his side in both cases. “There was clear precedent behind the predictable outcome that came out of 2016. And there is even more overwhelming precedent behind the fact that this Senate will vote on this nomination this year,” McConnell said.  Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said Monday that voters chose Republicans to lead the Senate in the 2018 elections in part because they were committed to supporting Trump’s Supreme Court nominees.  “We should honor that mandate,” he said, speaking from the Senate floor.  Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but two Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — said over the weekend they would oppose voting on Trump’s eventual nominee before the election.  Trump criticized both lawmakers, claiming they were “very badly hurt” politically by their statements.  If two more Republicans say no to a preelection vote, consideration of the nominee would be scuttled until at least the post-election, lame duck session of Congress. If one more Republican objects, Vice President Mike Pence could break the 50-50 deadlock in the Senate in favor of considering Trump’s nominee.  Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.
 
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An insurance and private equity executive pleaded guilty Monday to participating in a vast U.S. college admissions fraud and bribery scheme in which he agreed to pay $40,000 to rig his daughter’s ACT college entrance exam. Mark Hauser, 59, entered his plea during a hearing before a federal judge in Boston held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the latest wealthy parent to admit wrongdoing in the college admissions scandal. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to recommend that Hauser, who lives in Los Angeles, serve six months in prison and pay a $40,000 fine. He faces sentencing on Jan. 21. Fifty-eight people have been charged in the “Varsity Blues” scandal, in which prosecutors said parents conspired with California college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer to secure their children’s college admissions fraudulently. FILE – William “Rick” Singer, front, founder of the Edge College & Career Network, exits federal court in Boston, March 12, 2019, after he pleaded guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal.The parents include “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman, who received a 14-day prison sentence, and “Full House” star Lori Loughlin, who was sentenced to two months in prison. Singer pleaded guilty in March 2019 to facilitating cheating on college entrance exams and using bribery to secure the admission of students to colleges as fake athletic recruits. Hauser is the founder of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Hauser Private Equity and the owner of insurance firm Hauser Inc. Brown & Brown canceled a deal to acquire Hauser Inc. after his plea deal became public in August. Prosecutors said Hauser in 2016 agreed to pay Singer $40,000 to have an associate proctor his daughter’s ACT exam at a test center in Texas that Singer controlled through bribery and secretly correct her answers. The associate was Mark Riddell, a Florida private school counselor who has pleaded guilty to taking SAT and ACT college entrance exams in place of Singer’s clients’ children or correcting their answers while acting as a test proctor. 
 
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Americans’ household wealth rebounded last quarter to a record high as the stock market quickly recovered from a pandemic-induced plunge in March. Yet the gains flowed mainly to the most affluent households even as tens of millions of people endured job losses and shrunken incomes. The Federal Reserve said Monday that American households’ net worth jumped nearly 7% in the April-June quarter to $119 trillion. That figure had sunk to $111.3 trillion in the first quarter, when the coronavirus battered the economy and sent stock prices tumbling. Since then, the S&P 500 stock index has regained its record high before losing some ground this month. It was up 2.8% for this year as of Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has soared more than 20% this year.The full recovery of wealth even while the economy has regained only about half the jobs lost to the pandemic recession underscores what many economists see as America’s widening economic inequality. Data compiled by Opportunity Insights, a research group, show that the highest-paying one-third of jobs have almost fully recovered from the recession, while the lowest-paying one-third of jobs remain 16% below pre-pandemic levels. The wealth data “highlights the inequalities in the recovery in the sense that high-income workers not only have jobs that for the most part have come back; they also have savings that have continued to grow,” said John Friedman, an economist at Brown University who is co-director of Opportunity Insights.  The richest 10% of Americans owned more than two-thirds of the nation’s wealth, according to Fed data through the end of March, the latest period for which figures are available. The top 1% owned 31%. Possible spending cutsThe small financial cushion for most households could force many consumers to cut back on spending in the coming months, now that government financial aid such as enhanced unemployment benefits has expired. Any significant such cutback in spending would, in turn, weaken the economy. FILE – People form a line while waiting to pick up donated groceries from the Brooklyn Immigrant Community Support mutual aid program at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in the Brooklyn borough of New York, May 12, 2020.Household wealth reflects the value of Americans’ homes, plus bank accounts, stocks, bonds and other assets minus mortgage debt, auto loans, credit card debt and other borrowing. (The figures are not adjusted for inflation.) During the April-June quarter, the value of households’ stock portfolios rose $5.7 trillion, the Fed said. Home values grew $500 billion. Increase in savingsAmericans also sharply increased their savings last quarter, likely reflecting a cutback in spending by wealthier consumers nervous about the virus’s threat to the economy. The federal government’s financial assistance in the form of $1,200 checks and $600 in weekly unemployment benefits also likely allowed some lower-income households to save more. That government assistance has since expired. The amount of money in checking accounts jumped 33% to $1.8 trillion. Savings accounts rose 6.1% to $11.2 trillion.  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly expressed concern about widespread inequality in the U.S. economy and last week said it is likely inhibiting growth.  “Those are things that hold back our economy,” Powell said at a news conference. “If we want to have the highest potential output and the best output for our economy, we need that prosperity to be very broadly spread.” Yet many analysts say the Fed’s policies have inadvertently contributed to inequality by disproportionately benefiting stockholders. The central bank has cut its benchmark short-term interest rate to nearly zero and is buying about $80 billion in Treasurys a month. Both moves have kept rates on government bonds ultra-low, thereby encouraging investors to plow money into stocks and boosting share prices. Powell and many economists have said that another financial rescue package from Congress would boost the economy and help narrow inequality, because Congress can provide additional direct payments and more jobless aid. Yet there are no signs of a deal in Congress.  Racial disparityThe data the Fed issued Monday pointed to huge gaps in wealth along racial lines. White households owned nearly 85% of total wealth at the end of March. Black households owned just 4.4%, Hispanics 3.2%.Much smaller financial resources mean that many nonwhite households are forced to sharply cut spending after a job loss or reduced incomes. Research by economists Peter Ganong and Damon Jones at the University of Chicago found that Black Americans cut spending 50% more than whites when faced with the same income losses. Hispanics reduced theirs by 20% more. Even with household wealth at a record high, millions of people face the threat of eviction or going hungry. A Fed report released Friday found that nearly one-quarter of adults said their family had received some form of economic help since the pandemic began, whether from unemployment benefits, food stamps or donations of groceries from charitable groups.  Nearly 23 million adults live in households in which there wasn’t enough to eat at some point in the past seven days, according to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse survey.  The rebound in wealth “is not enough to say that the economy is back,” Jones said. “People have lost their jobs, they’re working less because it’s dangerous and risky and their hours have been cut.” 
 
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The Afghan government and the Taliban said Monday they have made some progress in their discussions over the rules for conducting the talks. However, they said both sides still must agree on a few remaining issues before starting the talks. Meanwhile, clashes between government forces and the Taliban have killed dozens of people in recent days. VOA’s Rahim Gul Sarwan reports from Kabul.
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Organizations such as the World Bank, the IMF, and the Jack Ma Foundation have contributed aid worth more than $2 billion to aid Kenya’s fight against COVID-19.  But much of the money and donated medical supplies have gone missing, prompting President Uhuru Kenyatta to order an investigation into who might have taken it all.  Lenny Ruvaga reports from Nairobi.  Camera: Amos Wangwa 
Producer:  Rod James 
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U.S.-based retail giant Walmart has unveiled new initiatives to reduce its global carbon footprint while preserving the world’s natural land and sea habitats. The company announced Monday that it is aiming for zero carbon emissions by 2040 in all of its global operations by utilizing 100% renewable energy in all of its facilities, switching to an all-electric vehicle fleet, and transitioning to low-impact refrigerants for cooling and electrified equipment for heating in all of its stores and other facilities. The so-called “big box” retailer is also pledging to preserve at least 20 million hectares of land and 171 million square kilometers of ocean by 2030, including the preservation of at least one acre of natural habitat for every acre of land it develops in the United States, and adopt natural preservation techniques such as regenerative agricultural practices, sustainable fisheries management and forest protection and restoration. Doug McMillon, Walmart’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement the company aims to become one “that works to restore, renew and replenish in addition to preserving our planet, and encourages others to do the same” through its new environmental commitments. FILE – Customers shop at a Walmart store.According to the Fortune Global 500 list of 2019, Walmart is the world’s largest company by revenue.  It is also the largest private employer in the world with 2.2 million employees. 
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Hong Kong shares fell on Monday, dragged by financials after reports said HSBC and Standard Chartered were among banks moving allegedly illicit funds over the past two decades and as Sino-U.S. tensions hit index heavyweight Tencent.
 
At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 504.72 points, or 2.06%, at 23,950.69, its biggest daily percentage drop since July 24. All but three index constituents fell on the day.
 
Hong Kong shares of HSBC touched 25-year lows and finished down 5.33%, and Standard Chartered lost 6.18%, following media reports that they and other banks moved large sums of allegedly illicit funds over nearly two decades despite red flags about the origins of the money.
 
“The big banks … are quite a meaningful weight in the index, and that the banks are going to be under such scrutiny (after the reports) is going be a big distraction for investors in this part of the world,” said Jim McCafferty, head of equity research, Asia ex-Japan at Nomura in Hong Kong.
 
The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 1.66% to 9,640.42.
 
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking the financial sector ended 2.14% lower.
 
Shares of Tencent Holdings fell 1.62% after the social media giant said that its WeChat messaging platform may not be able to win new users in the United States amid a legal battle over a ban on the app.
 
A U.S. judge on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from requiring Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to remove WeChat for downloads by late Sunday.
 
China’s main Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.63% at 3,316.94 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended down 0.96%.
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Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the United Nations will not support reimposing sanctions on Iran as the United States is demanding until he gets a green light from the Security Council.The U.N. chief said in a letter to the council president obtained Sunday by The Associated Press that “there would appear to be uncertainty” on whether or not U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo triggered the “snapback” mechanism in the Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers.The Trump administration declared Saturday that all U.N. sanctions against Iran have been restored, a move most of the rest of the world rejects as illegal and is likely to ignore. The U.S. announcement is certain to cause controversy during the U.N.’s annual high-level meetings of the General Assembly starting Monday, which is being held mainly virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.The U.S. announcement came 30 days after Pompeo notified the council that the administration was triggering “snapback” because Iran was in “significant non-performance” with its obligations under the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.But the overwhelming majority of members in the 15-nation council call the U.S. action illegal because President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the plan in 2018.They point to Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the nuclear agreement. It states that “a JCPOA participant state” can trigger the “snapback” mechanism. The U.S. insists that as an original participant it has the legal right, even though it ceased participating.Guterres noted in the letter that “the Security Council has taken no action subsequent to the receipt of the letter of the U.S. secretary of state, neither have any of its members or its president.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – US Secretary of State Pompeo visits United Nations to submit complaint to Security Council calling for restoration of sanctions against Iran at UN headquarters in New York on Aug. 20, 2020.China and Russia have been particularly adamant in rejecting the U.S. position, but U.S. allies have not been shy either.In a letter sent Friday to the Security Council president, Britain, France and Germany – the three European participants who remain committed to the agreement – said the U.S. announcement “is incapable of having legal effect,” so it cannot reimpose sanctions on Iran.Russia’s deputy ambassador to the U.N., Dmitry Polyanskiy, said the U.S. had only isolated itself. “It’s very painful to see how a great country humiliates itself like this, opposes in its obstinate delirium other members of U.N. Security Council,” he wrote on Twitter.European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who coordinates the JCPOA Joint Commission, reiterated that the U.S. cannot be considered “a JCPOA participant state and cannot initiate the process of reinstating UN sanctions.” Consequently, he said, the sanctions remain lifted.China’s U.N. Mission tweeted: “US unilateral announcement on the return of UN sanctions on IRAN is devoid of any legal, political or practical effect. … It’s time to end the political drama by the US.”In its own letter to the Security Council on Saturday, Iran said the U.S. move “is null and void, has no legal standing and effect and is thus completely unacceptable.”The White House plans to issue an executive order on Monday spelling out how the U.S. will enforce the restored sanctions, and the State and Treasury departments are expected to outline how foreign individuals and businesses will be penalized for violations.“The United States expects all U.N. member states to fully comply with their obligations to implement these measures,” Pompeo said. “If U.N, member states fail to fulfill their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures and ensure that Iran does not reap the benefits of U.N.-prohibited activity.”It remains unclear how the administration will respond to being ignored, particularly by its European allies, which have pledged to keep the nuclear deal alive. A wholesale rejection of the U.S. position could push the administration, which has already withdrawn from multiple U.N. agencies, organizations and treaties, further away from the international community.
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Quirky comedy “Schitt’s Creek,” media family saga “Succession,” and dystopian drama “Watchmen” dominated the Emmy Awards on Sunday in a show where the coronavirus pandemic meant most celebrities took part from their sofas and backyards dressed in a variety of gowns, hoodies and sleepwear.”Hello, and welcome to the PandEmmys!” said Jimmy Kimmel, opening the show, which had multiple skits and jokes about life under lockdown.HBO’s “Succession,” the wickedly juicy tale of a fractious media family, was named best drama series, while Jeremy Strong won best actor for his role as a downtrodden son.”Succession” also won for writing and directing.The biggest shock of the night came when former Disney Channel actress Zendaya, 24, was named best drama actress for playing a teen drug addict in HBO’s “Euphoria,” beating presumed favorites Laura Linney (“Ozark”) and Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Show.”)“Schitt’s Creek,” a sleeper hit on the small Pop TV network about a wealthy family that is forced to live in a rundown motel, won seven Emmys, including best comedy series and acting awards for Canadian stars Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy and Annie Murphy.It was the first time in the Emmy Awards’ 72 years that a comedy won all seven categories in the same year, organizers said.HBO’s alternative-reality show “Watchmen,” infused with racial themes, won for best limited series, while actress Regina King won for her performance as the show’s top-notch police detective and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II took best supporting actor. “Watchmen” also won for writing.Creator Damon Lindelof dedicated the Emmy to the victims and survivors of the 1921 massacre of the Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which partly inspired the series.The coronavirus pandemic meant no red carpet and no physical audience for the show, which was broadcast live on ABC. Instead, producers sent camera kits and microphones to all the nominees, scattered in 125 places around the world, who chose how and where they wanted to be seen. 
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As the country mourns Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday, President Donald Trump has vowed to nominate a successor this week. The head of the Senate said he would move to confirm the nominee, but Democrats are pushing back. Two key Republican senators said they would argue to wait for a Supreme Court confirmation vote until after election. What’s clear is that both parties see this as a key battle just six weeks before Election Day. Michelle Quinn reports.
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A woman suspected of sending an envelope containing the poison ricin, which was addressed to White House, has been arrested at the New York-Canada border, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Sunday.  The letter had been intercepted earlier this week before it reached the White House. The woman was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Peace Bridge border crossing near Buffalo and is expected to face federal charges, the officials said. Her name was not immediately released.The letter addressed to the White House appeared to have originated in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have said. It was intercepted at a government facility that screens mail addressed to the White House and President Donald Trump and a preliminary investigation indicated it tested positive for ricin, according to the officials.  The officials were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.There have been several earlier instances in which U.S. officials have been targeted with ricin sent through the mail.A Navy veteran was arrested in 2018 and confessed to sending envelopes to Trump and members of his administration that contained the substance from which ricin is derived. The letters were intercepted, and no one was hurt.In 2014, a Mississippi man was sentenced to 25 years in prison after sending letters dusted with ricin to President Barack Obama and other officials. 
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The United States on Monday will sanction more than two dozen people and entities involved in Iran’s nuclear, missile and conventional arms programs, a senior U.S. official said, putting teeth behind U.N. sanctions on Tehran that Washington argues have resumed despite the opposition of allies and adversaries.Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Iran could have enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon by the end of the year and that Tehran has resumed long-range missile cooperation with nuclear-armed North Korea. He did not provide detailed evidence regarding either assertion.The new sanctions fit into U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to limit Iran’s regional influence and come a week after U.S.-brokered deals for the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize ties with Israel, pacts that may coalesce a wider coalition against Iran while appealing to pro-Israel U.S. voters ahead of the Nov. 3 election.The new sanctions also put European allies, China and Russia on notice that while their inclination may be to ignore the U.S. drive to maintain the U.N. sanctions on Iran, companies based in their nations would feel the bite for violating them.A major part of the new U.S. push is an executive order targeting those who buy or sell Iran conventional arms that was previously reported by Reuters and will also be unveiled by the Trump administration on Monday, the official said.The Trump administration suspects Iran of seeking nuclear weapons — something Tehran denies — and Monday’s punitive steps are the latest in a series seeking to stymie Iran’s atomic program, which U.S. ally Israel views as an existential threat.”Iran is clearly doing everything it can to keep in existence a virtual turnkey capability to get back into the weaponization business at a moment’s notice should it choose to do so,” the U.S. official told Reuters.The official argued Iran wants a nuclear weapons capability and the means to deliver it despite the 2015 deal that sought to prevent this by restraining Iran’s atomic program in return for access to the world market.In May 2018, Trump abandoned that agreement to the dismay of the other parties, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, and restored U.S. sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.Iran, in turn, has gradually breached the central limits in that deal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including on the size of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium as well as the level of purity to which it was allowed to enrich uranium.”Because of Iran’s provocative nuclear escalation, it could have sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon by the end of this year,” the official said without elaborating, except to say this was based on “the totality” of information available to the United States, including from the IAEA.The Vienna-based agency has said Iran only began significantly breaching the 2015 deal’s limits after the U.S. withdrawal and it is still enriching uranium only up to 4.5%, well below the 20% it had achieved before that agreement, let alone the roughly 90% purity that is considered weapons-grade, suitable for an atomic bomb.”Iran and North Korea have resumed cooperation on a long-range missile project, including the transfer of critical parts,” he added, declining to say when such joint work first began, stopped, and then started again.Asked to comment on the impending new U.S. sanctions and the U.S. official’s other statements, a spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations dismissed them as propaganda and said they would further isolate the United States.”The U.S.’ ‘maximum pressure’ show, which includes new propaganda measures almost every week, has clearly failed miserably, and announcing new measures will not change this fact,” the mission’s spokesman, Alireza Miryousefi, told Reuters in an email.”The entire world understands that these are a part of (the) next U.S. election campaign, and they are ignoring the U.S.’ preposterous claims at the U.N. today. It will only make (the) U.S. more isolated in world affairs,” he said.The White House declined comment in advance of Monday’s announcements.’Snap back’ of UN sanctions?The U.S. official confirmed Trump will issue an executive order that would allow the United States to punish those who buy or sell conventional arms to Iran with secondary sanctions, depriving them of access to the U.S. market.The proximate cause for this U.S. action is the impending expiration of a U.N. arms embargo on Iran and to warn foreign actors, U.S. entities are already barred from such trade, that if they buy or sell arms to Iran they will face U.S. sanctions.Under the 2015 nuclear deal the U.N. conventional arms embargo is set to expire Oct. 18.The United States says it has triggered a “snap back,” or resumption, of virtually all U.N. sanctions on Iran, including the arms embargo, that took effect at 8 p.m. Saturday/0000 GMT Sunday.Other parties to the nuclear deal and most U.N. Security Council members have said they do not believe the United States has the right to reimpose the U.N. sanctions and that the U.S. move has no legal effect.On Friday, Britain, France and Germany told the Security Council that U.N. sanctions relief for Iran, agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal, would continue beyond Sunday, despite Washington’s assertion.In letters to the Security Council on Saturday, China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun and Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia both described the U.S. move as “illegitimate” and said the U.N. sanctions relief for Iran would continue.Also Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council he cannot act on the U.S. declaration that U.N. sanctions had been reimposed because it was not clear whether they had snapped back.”It is not for the secretary-general to proceed as if no such uncertainty exists,” he said.Targets include Iran’s nuclear, missile, arms groupsThe new executive order will define conventional weapons broadly as any item with a potential military use, meaning it could cover such things as speed boats that Iran retrofits to harass vessels in international waters, the U.S. official told Reuters.It would also apply to conventional circuit boards that can be used in ballistic missile guidance systems, he added.The more than two dozen targets to be hit with sanctions Monday include those involved in Iran’s conventional arms, nuclear and missile programs, the official said, saying some of the targets are already sanctioned under other U.S. programs.That could prompt criticism that the U.S. move is redundant and designed for public relations purposes to look tough on Iran, a charge critics have made about past U.S. sanctions actions.Among the targets will be Iran’s “most nefarious arms organizations,” about a dozen senior officials, scientists and experts from Iran’s nuclear complex, members of a procurement network that supplies military-grade dual-use goods for Iran’s missile program, and several senior officials involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program, the U.S. official said.The official declined to name the targets, saying this would be made public Monday, and stressed that the United States wants to deter foreign companies from dealing with them even if their governments believe this is legally permitted.”You might have a split in some countries where a foreign government may claim that the U.N. sanctions don’t snap back, but their banks and companies will abide by U.S. sanctions because they want to make sure they are not a future target,” he said.
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Relatives of some of the 12 Hong Kong people arrested by China at sea last month demanded the city’s government check on their condition and ensure that lawyers appointed by the families and not the Chinese government can meet with them.The 12 were arrested on Aug. 23 for illegal entry into mainland Chinese waters after setting off from Hong Kong in a boat bound for self-ruled Taiwan.All were suspected of committing crimes in Hong Kong related to anti-government protests that erupted last year. Ten had been charged, released on bail and not allowed to leave the former British colony, and all are now being detained in neighboring Shenzhen.Relatives of some of the detainees held a news conference outside the Hong Kong police headquarters Sunday to express their frustration with local authorities.”We want our son back. … Even though we can’t visit him, at least give us a photo or letter from him to confirm that he’s there,” said the father of one detainee, Li Tsz Yin.The relatives also asked police “to give an account of the date, time, place and process of the arrest” and whether there were any injuries or casualties, and the Marine Department to release radar records of the day of the arrest.In a statement late Sunday, Hong Kong police said authorities had reviewed the marine traffic records from Aug. 23 and “did not find sign of any China coast guard vessels entering or staying in Hong Kong waters.” It said marine police records would not be released to the public.”Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) are now maintaining close communication with the mainland law enforcement department to obtain the latest update of the case and take timely follow-up actions. No further information has been received so far,” the statement said.Earlier, the detainees’ family members said the Hong Kong government “only shirked responsibility and confused the public with mere excuses.””However, up to now, the lawyers appointed by the families have been refused (the chance) to meet with the detainees. In other words, the conditions of the so-called arrested persons are still known only to the Chinese authorities,” a statement said.On Tuesday, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam voiced discontent with the group being characterized by some as “democratic activists being oppressed,” saying they were running away from the law. Lam said they would have to be “dealt with” by mainland authorities but pledged to provide “feasible” assistance.Police in Shenzhen said last Sunday they were suspected of illegal entry, their first public comment on the matter. The same day, China’s foreign ministry labeled the group as “separatists.”
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The United States set a one-day record with over 1 million coronavirus diagnostic tests being performed, but the country needs 6 million to 10 million a day to bring outbreaks under control, according to various experts.   The country performed 1,061,411 tests on Saturday, according to data from The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the outbreak.   The record comes after testing fell for several weeks.   The United States tested on average 650,000 people a day in the week ended Sept. 13, down from a peak in late July of over 800,000 people a day.   Since the start of the pandemic, testing shortages have hampered efforts to curb the spread of the virus.   At one point during the summer, Houston residents lined up in cars and waited hours for tests, even sleeping in their vehicles overnight. Miami saw similar lines.   Once tested, people may have to wait up to two weeks to learn if they have the virus, which has killed nearly 200,000 Americans and infected more than 6.7 million. Such delays defeat the purpose of trying to prevent further infections.   In March, President Donald Trump said “anyone who wants a test, gets a test.” That goal has yet to be achieved.   At the heart of the crisis is a reliance by labs on automated testing equipment that locks them into using proprietary chemical kits and other tools made by a handful of manufacturers.   The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorization to several saliva tests, which require no swabs and use readily available reagents.   The United States has also authorized pooled testing, a method that tests samples from several people at once and can expand testing capacity.   However, pooled testing is only more efficient in areas with limited outbreaks. In mid-September, 27 of 50 states had positive test rates above 5%, according to a Reuters analysis, including South Dakota at 17%.   The World Health Organization considers positivity rates above 5% concerning. 
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Syrian opposition sources said Russian jets bombed rebel-held northwestern Syria on Sunday in the most extensive strikes since a Turkish-Russian deal halted major fighting with a cease-fire nearly six months ago.   Witnesses said the warplanes struck the western outskirts of Idlib city and that there was heavy artillery shelling in the mountainous Jabal al-Zawya region in southern Idlib from nearby Syrian army outposts. There were no immediate reports of casualties.   “These thirty raids are by far the heaviest strikes so far since the cease-fire deal,” said Mohammed Rasheed, a former rebel official and a volunteer plane spotter whose network covers the Russian air base in the western coastal province of Latakia.   Other tracking centers said Russian Sukhoi jets hit the Horsh area and Arab Said town, west of the city of Idlib. Unidentified drones also hit two rebel-held towns in the Sahel al-Ghab plain, west of Hama province.   There has been no wide-scale aerial bombing since a March agreement ended a Russian-backed bombing campaign that displaced over a million people in the region which borders Turkey after months of fighting.   There was no immediate comment from Moscow or the Syrian army, who have long accused militant groups who hold sway in the last opposition redoubt of wrecking the ceasefire deal and attacking army-held areas.   The deal between Turkish President and Russian President Vladimir Putin also defused a military confrontation between them after Ankara poured thousands of troops in Idlib province to hold back Russian-backed forces from new advances.   Western diplomats tracking Syria say Moscow piled pressure on Ankara in the latest round of talks on Wednesday to scale down its extensive military presence in Idlib. Turkey has more than ten thousand troops stationed in dozens of bases there, according to opposition sources in touch with Turkish military.   Witnesses say there has been a spike in sporadic shelling from Syrian army outposts against Turkish bases in the last two weeks. Rebels say the Syrian army and its allied militias were amassing troops on front lines.  
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