Author: CensorBiz

A sinkhole on a Mexican highway has exposed a water-filled cave teaming with fossils of sea life and rock formations dating as far back as 2.5 million years.Cave explorers are using the large crevasse between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, Quintana Roo, to enter the 60-meter-long cave, where they also uncovered living creatures, including crustaceans.The Mexico Daily News said specialists are now working on a topographic map of the cave.Robert Rojo, a biologist and cave explorer said the cave gets its water from the Caribbean Sea.Rojo also said filling in the sinkhole and closing off the entrance would be tantamount to “ecocide,” a total destruction of the natural environment.Rojo and other experts are working on a detailed report of the cave, with recommendations on how to preserve it.
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The United States said China was not forthcoming in Hawaii talks when U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member Yang Jiechi.The two discussed issues including Hong Kong, arms control, North Korea and the coronavirus pandemic, although Beijing did commit to following through on Phase 1 of the trade deal between the world’s leading economies.Top diplomats from the U.S. and China concluded closed-door meetings in Honolulu on Wednesday, as Washington asked China to take steps to create reciprocity and provide more information about COVID-19.”Whether or not [they] were productive, look at what comes up in the next couple of weeks,” said Dave Stilwell, the assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, in a phone briefing late Thursday afternoon. “Do we see a reduction in [Chinese] aggressive behavior or not?”China said Yang held constructive talks with Pompeo. China’s state-run outlets said both sides agreed to take action to implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two nations, without elaborating.“Trust is a function of words and deeds,” said Stilwell when asked by VOA to describe the trust level between the U.S. and China. He added “the U.S. can’t be accused of not investing significant effort in making sure the relationship has the opportunity to be productive.”Stilwell said how China implemented the Phase 1 trade deal would be a “good acid test” as to whether Beijing was a cooperative partner, adding Washington is clear about wanting a “results-oriented relationship” with Beijing.On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his threat to cut ties with China. Trump has made rebalancing trade with Beijing his top priority.Trump said in a tweet that “the U.S. certainly does maintain a policy option, under various conditions, of a complete decoupling from China.”It was not Ambassador Lighthizer’s fault (yesterday in Committee) in that perhaps I didn’t make myself clear, but the U.S. certainly does maintain a policy option, under various conditions, of a complete decoupling from China. Thank you!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2020The six-hour closed-door talks at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu were the first face-to-face meeting between Pompeo and Yang since August.  They were accompanied by Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai. Pompeo and Yang also met over a brief dinner Tuesday night.“The secretary stressed important American interests and the need for fully reciprocal dealings between the two nations across commercial, security and diplomatic interactions. He also stressed the need for full transparency and information sharing to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and prevent future outbreaks,” said State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus..@SecPompeo and Chinese Politburo Member Yang Jiechi met today in Honolulu to exchange views on U.S.-China relations. https://t.co/p0T33sEID6— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) June 18, 2020Relations between the world’s two largest economies have plunged to their worst point in decades over numerous issues, including trade, Beijing’s tightening grip on semiautonomous Hong Kong, its growing presence in the South China Sea and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected in central China late last December. Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told VOA she was “not optimistic that this conversation will halt the downward slide in bilateral relations.”As the Pompeo-Yang meeting was taking place, Trump signed legislation that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials over the mass incarceration of as many as 1 million ethnic Uighur Muslims and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province.China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Thursday denouncing the new law, accusing Washington of interfering in China’s domestic affairs. The statement warned that if the U.S. did not “immediately correct its mistakes,” Beijing would “resolutely take countermeasures” and the United States would have to fully bear the consequences.On Wednesday, the United States joined other members of the Group of Seven major industrial nations to underscore “grave concern” regarding China’s decision to impose a national security law on Hong Kong.“We strongly urge the Government of China to reconsider this decision,” said G-7 foreign ministers in a statement.“We are also extremely concerned that this action would curtail and threaten the fundamental rights and freedoms of all the population protected by the rule of law and the existence of an independent justice system.” 
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Georgia’s security services have foiled a plot to assassinate television journalist Giorgi Gabunia, which, according to allegations by a local TV director, was ordered by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Counterterrorism officials arrested Russian citizen Vasambek Bokov in Tbilisi on June 12 as part of a probe that officials described as “preparation of murder by contract.” Bokov, who hails from Ingushetia, a republic in Russia’s restive North Caucasus, was arrested on charges of using forged documents. FILE – Chechnya regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov speaks during a news conference in Grozny, March 7, 2011.Nika Gvaramia, director of TV Mtavari, the station where Gabunia works, alleged at a press conference in Tbilisi on Monday that Kadyrov had ordered the killing over comments Gabunia made about Russian President Vladimir Putin, while working for a different broadcaster last year. At the time, Kadyrov said he would “punish” Gabunia after the journalist used foul language to describe Putin during a live broadcast of “Postscript,” a show he anchored for Rustavi 2.  Rustavi 2 suspended Gabunia for two months after the outburst. Kadyrov has denied ordering the killing, writing in a Telegram post in Russian: “Trust me, if someone is acting on my orders, he will carry them out.” Georgia Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia confirmed on Tuesday that the security service had “foiled a very serious crime.” He did not refer to the allegations against Kadyrov. In Chechnya, Message to Press Is Clear: Journalists Are Not Welcome or SafeThreats to Novaya Gazeta from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov will not deter reporting on abuses, journalists sayGabunia said he was not aware of a plot against him. He said that he knew he was under surveillance and that TV Mtavari’s head had hired a bodyguard after Kadyrov “threatened him openly last year.” In a statement on the arrest, Georgia’s Service for State Security did not mention the journalist or provide further details about the alleged assassination plot. It said the investigation was ongoing and called on individuals to “refrain from disseminating any clarified or unclarified information” to prevent the spread of “fake information.” The Media Advocacy Coalition, comprising more than a dozen civil society outfits, called on authorities to ensure the safety of journalists, and to provide timely information about the investigation. Rights groups have long accused Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya since 2007, of repressive measures to create a climate of fear for journalists and political opponents. This story originated in VOA’s Georgia service. 
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Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​.Daily DebunkClaim: In COVID-19 crisis, “only 20% of African Americans had jobs where they could work from home.”Verdict: TrueRead the full story at: PolitiFact​Social Media DisinfoScreenshotClaim: Former President Barack Obama gave $3.8 million to a lab in Wuhan, China.Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: FactCheck.org
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In Istanbul, a 36-year-old woman is a one-person traveling medical unit treating some of Turkey’s most vulnerable refugees at a time when, for many people, hospitals are not an option. Some refugees do not have their papers in order. Others cannot afford care or fear getting the coronavirus at a hospital. In Istanbul, VOA’s Heather Murdock reports about one woman’s mission to do good.Camera: Heather Murdock   Contributor: Shadi Turk 
 
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When Saifullah Khan’s friend and his father in Quetta got sick after going to a funeral in Chaman, a town bordering Afghanistan, he asked them to get tested for the new coronavirus. His friend refused.Two weeks later, his father died.“He had all the symptoms of COVID-19, but they never got him tested and never disclosed it to anyone even after his death. They had a regular funeral,” said Khan, a resident of the capital Islamabad who has most of his family in Quetta.This may be one of millions of cases in Pakistan of people not getting tested for coronavirus and not getting recorded in the national database of infected persons.Several statistical models, official statements, leaked government documents, and interviews with people in various cities suggest that the number of COVID-19 patients and deaths in Pakistan are grossly under-reported.“The actual numbers will be two to three times more than what the government is reporting,” Atta ur Rahman, chairman of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s task force on science and technology, told Bloomberg news Wednesday.The current official figure puts the countrywide infections at approximately 160,000 and deaths as approximately 3,000. However, data scientists and other analysts fear the real number may already be in millions of infections and tens of thousands of deaths.Random testing in Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, by the health department of Punjab province in May showed that at least 6 percent of all tests came back positive for COVID-19 while in some areas the percentage was as high as 14 percent.Based on the city’s population and the sampling data, the health department working group, comprised of epidemiologists, public health specialists, applied economists, statisticians, and public policy specialists, calculated the number of cases in Lahore to be 670,800 on May 15.A woman walks past shops that are closed due to an escalation of cases of the coronavirus in Peshawar, Pakistan, June 17, 2020.The rate at which the infection was spreading alarmed those involved.“Our calculations said the numbers were doubling every two weeks,” said Dr. Waheeduzzaman Tariq, a senior virologist who was part of the group and sits on multiple government committees dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.According to those numbers, on June 15, the figure should be approximately 2.7 million infected people in Lahore city alone.The summary of the sampling project was presented to the Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and was later leaked to local media and circulated widely in several WhatsApp groups. VOA has a copy of the document.This week, the government declared Lahore, along with 20 other cities, a coronavirus hot spot and locked down multiple areas in the city.Last Sunday, a senior health official in Balochistan province claimed that 40 percent of the population of the province was already infected. According to a 2017 census, Balochistan’s population is 12.3 million people. Forty percent of that would be close to 5 million. The officially recorded number of infections in Balochistan are still under 9,000.“People are not informing the government about infected patients, and deaths are occurring in various parts of Balochistan,” said Dr. Saleem Abro, the director general of health in the province.Health experts worry the lack of accuracy in data collection was misleading people and creating apathy about the disease, a problem the prime minister himself acknowledged.“Common people thought this was not even a disease. When they saw so many people getting sick in the world, they thought Pakistanis don’t catch this disease,” PM Imran Khan said in an address to the nation Sunday.His critics, however, blame him for creating confusion about the pandemic and sending out mixed signals to the public.In his earlier addresses, like one in March, the prime minister called the pandemic “a kind of flu” that spreads quickly but “97 percent cases recover completely, and out of those 90 percent get really mild symptoms.”Toward the end of April, he reiterated that Pakistan’s case was not as bad as other countries and the death rate was “lower than expected.”Health workers take a nasal swab sample during a door-to-door testing and screening operation for the new coronavirus, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, June 17, 2020.Outside of big cities, awareness about the prevalence of the disease has been slow to take hold. In Peshawar and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, multiple eyewitnesses reported lack of social distancing, masks, or other safety measures. Some said their friends got offended when they defied local traditions of shaking hands or hugging.Toward the end of May, VOA’s Urdu Service reporter based in Peshawar, Shamim Shahid, noticed that people in various villages of Tehsil Khadukhel in district Buner of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province suddenly started dying in large numbers.“Every day you would hear of five to six deaths.  People said they were dying of typhoid, but no one got tested for coronavirus. I cannot remember a similar breakout of typhoid before,” said Shahid, whose family lives in that area.When one of Shahid’s brothers got sick and got a test, he came out to be COVID-19 positive. He has since recovered.The shortage of free government testing facilities has also contributed to the lack of testing. Getting tested by a private lab is expensive for ordinary Pakistanis, approximately $50 per person. Pakistan’s average salary is less than $200 per month, according to CEIC that collects macro and micro economic data. Twenty-five percent of the country’s population is below the poverty line. In many parts of the country, especially smaller towns and villages, no testing facilities are available.According to the website of Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Center, set up to deal with the pandemic, the country has 111 labs to handle coronavirus tests, including private labs. Forty-two of them are in three cities: Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. The country has a population of around 207 million people.The lack of data collection in Pakistan adds to the difficulty of gauging the current scenario, according to Syed Tajammul Hussain, CEO of Love For Data (LFD), one of the largest data analysis companies in Pakistan.Pakistani police officers stand guard at a checkpoint of a restricted area to help contain the spread of new coronavirus, in Peshawar, Pakistan, June 16, 2020.“We have not had a mortality census in a while. Since we have limited COVID testing (testing per million compared to other countries) we have a very high possibility of under-reported cases and deaths as well,” he said.Another apparent deterrent to testing is widespread conspiracy theories about the virus. One such theory, shared frequently through social media, is that hospitals are killing suspected COVID-19 patients with poisonous injections and then selling the bodies to the United States for experimentation.“They give the family a casket full of nothing to bury that no one is allowed to open whereas the real body is sold for ten thousand dollars,” one such posts on Facebook claimed.A doctor in Islamabad’s Shifa hospital, who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity, said a patient he suspected of being infected with coronavirus refused testing despite his repeated insistence.Some people fear that if tested positive, local health authorities may force them into dirty, over-crowded quarantine centers or hospitals wards filled with COVID-19 patients and few facilities. Videos of such places have circulated on multiple social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. Many say they would rather isolate themselves at home.Then there is the social stigma.People think that if someone dies of the disease, few will come to his or her funeral. In parts of Pakistan, the number of people attending one’s funeral are supposed to reflect his or her worth as a person — the larger the number of attendees, the more respected the person and the family.In addition, Pakistanis traditionally bury loved ones in a family graveyard close to their ancestral homes. Even those living in other countries often fly bodies of dead relatives back to their hometowns for their last rites and burial.However, if a death is linked to coronavirus, government health and safety protocols make transporting a body across city lines and back to ancestral homes difficult.A VOA Deewa Service reporter said he knew of at least two deaths in Peshawar due to COVID-19 where the families bribed the hospitals to declare the patients coronavirus free to be able to bury the bodies in their family graveyards and to have big funerals.Without accurate data, many fear that the health system, which is already fragile, would not be able to prepare for the onslaught of critical patients that may require hospital care, leading to an even higher number of deaths.   
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Democratic and Republican police reform proposals are moving ahead with both the House of Representatives and Senate planning to hold votes next week. The House Judiciary Committee gave its approval Wednesday to the plan from majority Democrats, sending to the full House a measure that would ban the use of chokeholds, limit qualified immunity for police officers to make it easier for people who feel aggrieved by police actions to sue them for damages and to end no-knock warrants in federal drug cases. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday the Republican plan would move to a procedural vote.   That legislation would require state and local governments to report to the U.S. Justice Department on the use of no-knock-warrants in police raids to capture criminal suspects. It also would limit eligibility for federal funding if police agencies do not have policies prohibiting the use of chokeholds “except when deadly force is authorized.”WATCH: Katherine Gypson’s video report Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – Minneapolis police officers stand in a line facing protesters demonstrating against the death of George Floyd, outside the 3rd Police Precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 27, 2020.Qualified immunity
Democrats want to eliminate such protections, called qualified immunity, while Republicans and President Donald Trump oppose the move. “By removing qualified immunity, what you’re doing is essentially not allowing police to do their job,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday. “Taking away qualified immunity would make this country much less safe.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the White House position “just wrong” and said Democrats would fight to change it. “For someone who wants to sue everyone he believes wrongs him, President Trump doesn’t want to let American citizens sue police officers who violate their constitutional rights?” Schumer said. McConnell said the police reform bills should be an effort that is above bipartisan squabbling, and Sen. Tim Scott, who led the crafting of the Republican measure, said addressing police reform should not be shaped by binary choices. “Too often we’re having a discussion in this nation about are you supporting the law enforcement community or are you supporting communities of color,” Scott said Wednesday.  “The answer to the question of which side do you support is I support America, and if you support America, you support restoring the confidence that communities of color have in institutions of authority. If you support America, that means you know that the overwhelming number of officers in this nation want to do their job, go home to their family.” FILE – Philonise Floyd, a brother of George Floyd, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., arrive for a House Judiciary Committee hearing on proposed changes to police practices and accountability on Capitol Hill, June 10, 2020, in Washington.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said House Democrats “hope to work in a bipartisan way to pass legislation that creates meaningful change to end the epidemic of racial injustice and police brutality in America,” and that the Senate Republican proposal does not go far enough. “The Democratic proposal will fundamentally and forever transform the culture of policing to address systemic racism and put an end to shielding police from accountability,” she said in a statement Wednesday.  “During this moment of national anguish, we must insist on bold change to save lives.”   WATCH: Which country spends the most on policing?Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 3 MB480p | 4 MB540p | 5 MB720p | 11 MB1080p | 20 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks with China’s chief diplomat, Politburo member Yang Jiechi, in Hawaii on Wednesday.The six-hour closed-door talks at Hickam Air Force base in Honolulu was the first face-to-face meeting between Pompeo and Yang since August. They were accompanied by Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai. Pompeo and Yang also met over a brief dinner Tuesday night.Although neither side revealed the exact nature of the discussions, China’s state-run media described the talks as “constructive,” while a spokesperson for Pompeo stressed to Yang “the need for fully reciprocal dealings” between Washington and Beijing.Relations between the world’s two largest economies have plunged to their worst point in decades over numerous issues, including trade, Beijing’s tightening grip on semi-autonomous Hong Kong, its growing presence in the South China Sea, and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected in central China late in December.Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told VOA she was “not optimistic that this conversation will halt the downward slide in bilateral relations.”As the Pompeo-Yang meeting was taking place, President Donald Trump signed legislation that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials over the mass incarceration of as many as 1 million ethnic Uighur Muslims and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province.China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Thursday denouncing the new law, accusing Washington of interfering in China’s domestic affairs.  The statement warned that if the U.S. did not “immediately correct its mistakes,” Beijing will “resolutely take countermeasures” which the United States will have to fully bear the consequences.The meeting was also overshadowed by excerpts from an upcoming book by John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, which were released by The New York Times and Washington Post. Bolton alleges the U.S. president asked Xi to increase China’s purchase of American agricultural products to help Trump secure votes in farm states in his 2020 November re-election campaign, in return for a more favorable tariff rate on Chinese goods.Bolton also alleges that Trump signaled his approval of China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.  During an opening dinner of the 2019 G-20 meeting in Osaka, Japan attended only by interpreters, Xi explained to Trump “why he was basically building concentration camps” in the northwest Chinese province. According to Bolton, the American interpreter said that Trump expressed that Xi should go ahead with building them.Also on Wednesday, the United States joined other members of the Group of 7 major industrial nations to underscore “grave concern” regarding China’s decision to impose a national security law on Hong Kong.“We strongly urge the Government of China to re-consider this decision,” said G-7 foreign ministers in a statement.“We are also extremely concerned that this action would curtail and threaten the fundamental rights and freedoms of all the population protected by the rule of law and the existence of an independent justice system.” 
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Colombian President Ivan Duque said he will use the full force of the military to bring to justice the drug gang that killed at least six soldiers and wounded eight of them during an ambush, near the country’s jungle region.Authorities said Wednesday’s attack on the army unit occurred as soldiers were conducting an offensive against drug trafficking in a rural area known as San Juan de Lozada, Caqueta.Duque called the fallen soldiers “heroes.”Separately, Duque on Wednesday hailed a new United Nations report that showed a 9 percent decrease in the illegal coca leaf plantations in Colombia in 2019 from the previous year.Still, Colombia remains the world’s largest cocaine producer. 
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U.S. lawmakers are rushing to address the demands for police reform heard in the historic nationwide protests over the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis. Senate Republicans announced Wednesday they will vote on a proposal next week just as House Democrats are set to pass their own reform legislation. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on the chances both sides can reach an agreement in a tough election year. Produced by: Katherine Gypson 
 
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Security forces in Mozambique continue to curb a growing Islamist insurgency in the northern part of the country, where violence has killed hundreds of civilians and forced thousands to flee their homes.Since 2017, Islamist militants, some of which are affiliated with the Islamic State terror group, have carried out attacks against civilians and government security forces in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.According to the United Nations, 11 of the 16 districts in the Muslim-majority province have experienced attacks claimed by the insurgents. Locally known as al-Shabab, Ahlu Sunna wa Jama is the main militant group responsible for the attacks in Cabo Delgado. It is considered the Mozambique affiliate of IS.Exploiting grievancesExperts say Islamist insurgents have exploited social and economic grievances of the local population in the resource-rich region.”The insurgents seem to grow in areas where the population has been marginalized by the government, particularly young people, who in some cases sold what little they had and went to join the [armed] groups,” said José Mateus M. Katupha, associate professor at Eduardo Mondlane University in Pemba, the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado.During a webinar Tuesday hosted by Chatham House, a London think tank, Katupha said Islamist militants have been able to set up “an efficient network of logistics and information-gathering formed by young people inserted into the community.”He added that these networks provide critical information about the movement of government security forces in the region.Ignoring root causesSome experts argue that since the inception of the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, the Mozambique government has not been able to identify the root causes of radicalization in that part of the country.”The government should not hinder the work of journalists, researchers and civil society groups to collect the whole story from both sides of the conflict in order to understand the root causes of this problem,” Liazzat Bonate, a lecturer at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago, said during the webinar.FILE – A woman holds her child while standing in a burned out area in the attacked village of Aldeia da Paz outside Macomia in Cabo Delgado province, in Mozambique, Aug. 24, 2019.She charged that Mozambican authorities have sought help from others, including private security companies and mercenaries, “instead of engaging with their own citizens. If the situation has worsened in the last three years, it indicates that probably the government strategies were wrong.”Regional supportOther experts stress that Mozambican armed forces have had difficulties providing adequate security in northern Mozambique.When the militants attacked the districts of Mocimboa da Praia and Quissanga in late March, the Mozambican military could not defend the areas, where insurgents briefly took control of government buildings.Alex Vines, director of the Africa program at Chatham House, said the current security crisis requires the government to develop short-, medium- and long-term strategies.”After a series of setbacks in April, the government has pushed back the insurgency. And there are signs of some improvement both internally, but also getting neighbors, and particularly Tanzania, to assist in counterinsurgency efforts,” he told VOA.Tanzania, which borders Cabo Delgado to the north, recently deployed troops to the border area to prevent a spillover of the unfolding violence in the northern Mozambican province. Some of the militants fighting in Mozambique are allegedly Tanzanian nationals.Mozambique reportedly has also been in talks with neighboring South Africa for possible support in combating the militants.During the U.K.-Africa Summit in January, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi asked for foreign assistance to counter the insurgency. This month, he again requested regional support.In the long run, “the government will need to improve the military units deployed and focus on community development,” Vines said, adding that Mozambique could learn from similar conflicts in other regions such as the Sahel, Great Lakes and the Middle East.”There is obviously a short-term need for an effective military response to the insurgency, but longer term, this needs to be backed up with an effective developmental strategy that reduces poverty, provides jobs and shows that the state offers public goods,” he said.Pedro Esteves, a managing partner at Africa Monitor in Lisbon, has similar views.”First, we have to solve the problem militarily. But then, we have to have political and humanitarian approaches,” he said during the webinar.Esteves added that regional support is needed, “but there are many domestic and internal factors influencing what’s going on in Cabo Delgado. So, the solution must be internal.”  
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Donald Trump pleaded with China’s leader Xi Jinping for help to win re-election in 2020, the U.S. president’s former aide John Bolton writes in an explosive new book, according to excerpts published Wednesday.Trump met with Xi at a summit last June when he “stunningly turned the conversation to the US presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability to affect the ongoing campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win,” former national security adviser Bolton claims in his upcoming tell-all.In excerpts published by The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, Bolton writes that Trump stressed the importance of America’s farmers and how “increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat” could impact the electoral outcome in the United States. 
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The World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday that while nations must continue to fight the spread of COVID-19, it sees what it calls “green shoots of hope” in the fight to slow the pandemic.At its regular briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as of Wednesday there have been more than 435,000 deaths in the Americas, Africa and South Asia, with cases still rapidly rising in some areas.But he pointed to encouraging results from drug trials this week as “green shoots of hope” amidst the ongoing pandemic.Trial results announced on Tuesday by British researchers showed dexamethasone, an inexpensive steroid commonly used since the 1960s to reduce inflammation, cut death rates by around a third among the most severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital.WHO officials stress it does not actually treat the coronavirus itself and does not prevent infection. But it treats some of the more life-threatening symptoms of COVID-19 in critical patients.The officials stressed that dexamethasone should only be used under close medical supervision. They said the drug is one of the many breakthroughs that are going to be needed to effectively deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. 
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European markets are trading higher Wednesday with investors riding on new hopes of a swift post-pandemic recovery.     The FTSE index in London has gained 0.5% in midday trading, the CAC-40 in Paris is up 0.7%, and Frankfurt’s DAX index is 0.4% higher. Asian markets ended their Wednesday trading sessions mostly higher, with Sydney’s S&P/ASX index gaining 0.8% to lead the region.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended 0.5% higher, Shanghai’s Composite and Seoul’s KOSPI indices both gained 0.1%, and Taiwan’s TSEC is 0.2% higher.      A man stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm as a vehicle goes by in Tokyo, June 17, 2020.Tokyo’s Nikkei index finished its trading session 0.5% lower, while Mumbai’s Sensex was down 0.2%.     Oil markets are in a slump Wednesday, with U.S. crude selling at $38.09 per barrel, down 0.7%, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, selling at $40.79, down 0.4%.    All three U.S. indexes continue to trend in a positive direction Wednesday indicating a good opening for Wall Street a day after making solid gains thanks to new data showing U.S. retail sales rose a record 17.7% in May, the biggest one-month increase in history.   
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South Australia has become the first state in the country to relax its border controls imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.  From Wednesday, travellers from Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania are allowed to enter South Australia without going into quarantine.  Australia has had 7,300 confirmed coronavirus cases.  102 people have died.                       
South Australia closed its borders to other parts of the country in March when the COVID-19 crisis was intensifying.  It was an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.  The state of 1.7 million people has not had a new infection for three weeks, and authorities have reopened internal borders with neighboring Western Australia and the Northern Territory, along with the island of Tasmania.  However, they remain closed to the two most populous states — New South Wales and Victoria — which have had the bulk of Australia’s confirmed new coronavirus cases.  Those borders are expected to be opened in late July.  “We have lifted the restriction at midnight on anybody coming in from [the] Northern Territory, Western Australia or Tasmania.  This means we will no longer be requiring them to do fourteen days of self-isolation,”  said South Australian premier Steven Marshall. There is, though, frustration that travel into South Australia is only one-way.   Other Australian jurisdictions have yet to reopen their borders.  Western Australia says it will do so when health officials say it is safe. Jobs are a key reason why state leaders want Australia’s federated system to be fully reopened.  National unemployment figures will be released Thursday, and are expected to reflect the dire economic consequences of lockdown measures, which have helped Australia contain COVID-19.   The federal government has consistently argued for all internal borders to reopen but has met with resistance from state authorities. From Friday, public gatherings of up to 300 people will be allowed in South Australia as disease controls continue to be wound back. 
 
Australia’s international borders are expected to remain closed for weeks, if not months.  
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A U.S. Air Force sergeant with ties to an anti-government extremist group has been charged in the shooting death of a federal courthouse security officer in Oakland, California.   Staff Sergeant Steven Carillo is accused of killing David Patrick Underwood and wounding his partner in a drive-by shooting on May 29 during a violent protest over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died as he was being arrested by police in Minneapolis earlier that month.   Robert Alvin Justus, the man prosecutors say drove Carillo’s vehicle, has been charged with aiding and abetting the Oakland attack. Carillo has been in state custody since June 6 on charges of killing an officer with the Santa Cruz County sheriff’s department and the wounding of four other officers outside of San Francisco.  The sheriff’s department says the officers were investigating a tip that the vehicle used in the Oakland shooting had been located when they were ambushed by Carillo.  Carillo engaged in a gun battle with the officers, then stole a car in an attempt to escape before he was eventually arrested.  Authorities say Carillo is a follower of the so-called “boogaloo” movement, prominent on social media, which calls on its followers to prepare for a violent uprising against the U.S. government. Carillo and Justus allegedly planned the Oakland attack during an online chat with a third person the day before.  A search of his van turned up a bullet-proof vest with a boogaloo insignia patch sewn on it.   Three other men associated with the boogaloo movement were arrested by the FBI earlier this month in Las Vegas and charged with planning to incite violence and cause destruction during a Black Lives Matter protest. 
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A day after blowing up the de facto inter-Korean embassy, North Korea continued to ratchet up military pressure on the South, announcing the re-deployment of its forces near the border and angrily rejecting Seoul’s offer to send envoys to reduce tensions.   As of Wednesday, North Korea’s military will reenter the area near the Mt. Kumgang resort area and the Kaesong industrial complex, according to a spokesperson for the Korean People’s Army in the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).  In addition, guard posts that had previously been abandoned “will be set up again to strengthen the guard over the front line,” and North Korea will also resume “all kinds of regular military exercises” in the area near the country’s sea border with South Korea, KCNA reported.  Combined with its moves over the past week, North Korea has now reversed many of the achievements made during a series of historic 2018 meetings between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.  On Tuesday, North Korea used controlled explosives to demolish the inter-Korean liaison center just north of the border. Last week, Pyongyang said it would cut off all official channels of dialogue with Seoul.  North Korea is ostensibly angry at the South for not doing more to stop defectors and other activists from floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets and other materials across the border. But in reality, the North’s anger appears to be a staged provocation cycle, possibly meant to unify domestic public opinion and force concessions from South Korea and the United States.  In an unsigned KCNA commentary Wednesday, North Korea described the liaison office destruction as a “first stage step,” saying further action will depend on South Korea’s response. But in a corresponding statement, senior North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rejected South Korea’s offer to send envoys. Kim called the offer “unrealistic,” “tactless,” “absurd,” “sinister,” “a petty farce,” “reckless,” “preposterous,” and “disrespectful.”A woman passes by a TV screen showing an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his sister Kim Yo Jong during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 2, 2020.Another KCNA commentary hinted North Korea could soon resume its threats to set Seoul “on fire,” a warning Pyongyang has repeatedly made during past cycles of provocation. South Korea pushes back On Wednesday, a South Korean presidential spokesperson called Kim Jong Un’s  remarks “absurd.”  “This is fundamentally undermining the trust that has been built between the leaders, and we warn that we will not tolerate their unreasonable words and actions,” said the spokesperson.  South Korea’s Blue House also expressed outrage that North Korea publicly disclosed Seoul’s private offer to send envoys. “Unprecedented nonsense,” said a South Korean official, adding he hoped the North would show “basic courtesy” in the future. South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense also warned North Korea will “definitely pay for its behavior” if it conducts any military provocation.   Past provocations  North Korea has a long history of deadly military provocations against the South.  In March 2010, a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship off Korea’s west coast, killing 46 sailors. A few months later, the North shelled the border island of Yeonpyeong, killing several more people.  Tuesday’s liaison office destruction falls far short of those steps, says Duyeon Kim, a senior adviser for Northeast Asia and nuclear policy at the International Crisis Group.     “It’s technically not an attack on South Korea nor an act that would invite a military response from Seoul,” she says. “We can expect Pyongyang will continue with similar military acts but not enough that would force Seoul to retaliate in kind with force.”  Though the destruction of the liaison office is a slap in the face to Seoul, the move was primarily symbolic, since the office had been nonfunctional for months. South Korean staff left the facility in late January due to coronavirus concerns.      “Blowing up the North-South Liaison Office conveys Kim Jong Un’s graphic rejection of President Moon’s attempts at rapprochement,” says Daniel Russel, a former top U.S. diplomat for East Asia. “It is also a reminder to the United States that North Korea cannot be ignored. Ramping up pressure through escalating provocations is how Kim makes the point that without sanctions relief, sooner or later he will also blow up Trump’s claim to have ‘ended the threat’ from North Korea,” said Russel who is now at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Trump and Kim have met three times, including in June 2018 where they agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But those talks have been mostly stalled since last year over disagreements on how to pace sanctions relief with steps to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program. Some analysts say North Korea’s provocations against the South are intended to indirectly pressure the United States. But so far there are few signs Trump is interested in prioritizing the issue ahead of his presidential election in November.  
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