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South Korea and the United States will start their annual joint military drills on Tuesday in what local media said was a two-day delay after a South Korean officer tested positive for the new coronavirus.The drills will start on Tuesday, “considering the COVID-19 situation,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday.The training, which had been scheduled to begin on Sunday, was pushed back after the positive test on Friday of the army officer, who was to have taken part, Yonhap News Agency said.The combined drills are closely monitored by North Korea, which calls them a “rehearsal for war.” They have been reduced in recent years to facilitate U.S. negotiations aimed at dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.This year’s exercises will be scaled down, not mobilizing U.S.-based troops amid COVID-19 restrictions on the travel of U.S. personnel to South Korea.This year’s program, running to August 28, will focus on a “combined defense posture,” while exercises for the transition of wartime operational control on the Korean peninsula will be “partly conducted,” the joint chiefs said in a statement.This could delay President Moon Jae-in’s plan to take over wartime operational control from the United States before his term ends in 2022, experts say.South Korea and the United States had canceled their springtime drills due to the pandemic.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday he will try a controversial “snapback” to force a return of U.N. sanctions against Iran, after the Security Council rejected Washington’s bid to extend the arms embargo against the Islamic republic.
 
“We’ll be doing a snapback,” the president said, referring to the contested argument that the U.S. remains a participant in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — despite Trump’s withdrawal from it — and therefore can force a return to sanctions if it sees Iran as being in violation of its terms.
 
The president said the U.S. will make its move next week.  
 
Trump also said at the press conference at his private golf course at Bedminster, New Jersey, he would “probably not” participate in the 5 + 1 summit with Iran proposed by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
 
Putin called Friday for an online summit of the leaders of the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany and Iran over a possible extension of the international embargo on arms sales in Tehran.
 
It was in this so-called 5 + 1 configuration that the Iran nuclear agreement was negotiated and concluded with Iran, which Trump then denounced.
 
“Probably not, I think we will wait until after the election,” Trump said when asked about his possible participation in this summit.
 
The Trump administration’s defeat Friday at the Security Council highlighted its isolation on Iran since Trump withdrew from the accord in 2018.
 
Only two of the Council’s 15 members voted in favor of the U.S. resolution.  
 
Washington’s European allies all abstained, Russia and China voted against it, and Iran mocked the Trump administration for winning the support of just one other country, the Dominican Republic.
 
Trump argued Saturday that Iran was a “different ballgame” now and that the country no longer has the funds to sponsor terror.
 
“Iran wants me to lose so badly” in November’s presidential election, he added.
 
If Trump follows through, the snapback could plunge the Council into one of its worst diplomatic crises, experts warn.  
 
European allies have been skeptical on whether Washington can force sanctions and say the attempt may delegitimize the Security Council.
 
The embargo on conventional arms is to expire on Oct. 18.
 
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The two-week coronavirus lockdown in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, ended Friday, following an announcement from the nation’s health minister, Dr. Lemogang Kwape,The decision was made despite a rise in local transmissions since August 1.“Since then, the number of cases has been increasing despite the lockdown,” Kwape said. “Of special importance is for all of us to note that we are registering a lot of high numbers, [more] than our country can cope with. Moreover, there is a clear indication of local transmission.”Kwape said there were 203 new coronavirus cases registered in the last two weeks. One death was recorded, bringing the number of COVID-19-related deaths to three since the outbreak.Kwape acknowledged there were economic considerations in lifting the lockdown.“To come out of this lockdown while cases continue to escalate is a precarious situation,” Kwape said. “This development has the potential to be dangerous if we do not have the appropriate controls and measures in place. At the same time the government recognizes our lives must continue and we have to live with the disease. But that said we must continue to put our health ahead of other considerations.”Economic analyst Lawrence Ookeditse argues there is a need to balance the health of the nation against economic considerations.“There were health considerations, yes,” he said. “That is paramount. But we know that people need to make a living and they cannot be kept at homes forever. We need to find ways to survive in the midst of this pandemic. It is a Catch-22 situation, but the economy has to be taken into consideration as well.”Street hawker Bakang Marumo welcomed the lifting of the lockdown. He said without government food parcels, they were starving.“We appreciate that the lockdown has been lifted,” he said. “At the same time, while there is fear that we might contract the virus, there is little option but to co-exist with the virus. Our livelihoods are at risk. We have to find a way of making a living during this time.”In lifting the lockdown, authorities maintained some restrictions. Gatherings of more than two people remain illegal, while Gaborone schools will open in a phased manner starting Tuesday.Schools remain open elsewhere in Botswana.Meanwhile, travel between zones within the country requires a permit. Authorities might require a COVID-19 test for those who travel through what are considered red zones.
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The number of migrants landing on Italy’s shores has more than doubled in the last year as an economic crisis in Tunisia fuels migration in boats across the Mediterranean, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said on Saturday.More than 21,000 people reached Italy between August 2019 and the end of July, up 148% year-on-year, the minister said, speaking at an annual Aug. 15 press conference.Lamorgese said the majority of the arrivals were “autonomous landings, hard to manage … with small boats and dinghies,” rather than those rescued at sea and brought ashore. Many of them land on Italy’s southern Mediterranean island of Lampedusa.In the 12-month period, just more than 5,000 people were rescued, mainly by ships operated by NGOs, according to data from the ministry.Over 80% of the migrants reaching Italy left from Tunisia and Libya, the data showed, with Tunisia’s crisis stoking the numbers attempting the treacherous crossing.”The numbers aren’t very high – they are certainly higher than last year’s, but we must put them into context: Tunisia is in a deep economic, social and political crisis,” Lamorgese told reporters.”We have seen entire families leave to reach Italian territory,” she said.For years Italy has been the primary route into Europe for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and other migrants and Libya’s west coast a main departure point for African migrants hoping to reach Europe.A peak was reached between August 2016 and July 2017, when almost 183,000 migrants reached Italy.Numbers started falling due to an Italian-led effort to disrupt smuggling networks and support the Libyan coastguard to intercept boats but have picked up in 2020.Lamorgese’s predecessor, head of the anti-immigrant League party Matteo Salvini, took a hardline against charity ships that rescued migrants at sea, closing Italian ports and accusing the rescue groups of de facto collaboration with human traffickers.Lamorgese said that she would meet Tunisian President Kais Saied on Monday to discuss the issue, along with Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio and EU Commissioners Ylva Johansson and Oliver Varhelyi. 
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Major tourist sites in Rio de Janeiro, including the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the Brazilian city, reopened to the public on Saturday after being closed for five months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
 
“The reopening of the Christ (monument) symbolizes the reopening of Brazil to tourism,” Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said at a ceremony at the base of the statue.  
 
Visitors will be required to wear masks and maintain social distancing, and will not be allowed to lie on the ground — as many do in attempting to get the best angle for photos at the feet of the huge Art Deco statue with its arms outstretched.
 
Located atop 710-meter-high (2,300-feet) Corcovado hill in the center of Rio in Tijuca national park, the monument offers a spectacular panoramic view of the city and its environs.   
 
Since social-distancing measures forced its closure in March, Christ the Redeemer has continued to function as a religious sanctuary, offering public masses and holding vigils to honor healthcare workers and victims of the pandemic.
 
Also reopening to the public on Saturday were the Pao de Acucar cable car, which offers its own panoramic view of the city, the AquaRio aquarium and the gigantic Rio Star, Latin America’s largest Ferris wheel, inaugurated only last year in the port area.
 
Brazil’s National Confederation of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC) estimates that the country’s tourism sector has lost 154 billion reales ($28.4 billion) over the last five months, operating at only 14 percent of its capacity.
 
The state of Rio de Janeiro, with 17 million inhabitants, has registered more than 14,500 deaths and nearly 190,000 cases of the novel coronavirus, according to official statistics.
 
The capital itself, which in June began a gradual economic reopening, has seen 33 deaths and 1,365 new cases in just the last 24 hours.
 
Brazil, with 106,500 deaths and 3.2 million cases to date, is the second hardest-hit country in the world, after the US.
 
With no certainty about when a vaccine might be available, Rio authorities have announced a new format for the year-end celebrations that traditionally bring millions of people to Copacabana beach for a huge fireworks display.
 
This year, the authorities are working to organize a series of smaller celebrations around the city and are urging people to watch the events online.
 
Rio’s world-famous carnival, with its huge street parties, also risks being canceled by the pandemic.   
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Somali government troops, backed by African Union (AU) forces, have taken control from the al-Shabab militant group of a strategic town in the Lower Shabelle region, freeing dozens of children in the process, residents and official said.The town of Kuntuwaarey, in the southwest of Somalia, located 208 kilometers from the capital, Mogadishu, has for many years been a strategic stronghold for al-Shabab.The “Somali National Army, backed by units from the African Union peacekeepers, have taken control of this strategic town from the militants,” said Isaq Ali Subag, the minister of internal security for the region.US Not ‘Adequately’ Investigating Airstrikes That Killed Somali Civilians, Rights Group Says HRW considers the deadly attacks possible violations of humanitarian law Subag said al-Shabab had been using the town as a base to launch attacks on cities and towns in the region that are controlled by the Somali government.“The militants have used the city as a military base from which to organize attacks they carry out in other parts of the region, and to run courts in which they impose taxes and other unfair sentences to innocent people,” he said.Children freed Following the capture of the town, the joint troops carrying out house-to-house searches freed 33 children from the militants, according to Somali military commanders.“The 33 rescued children were held in an al-Shabab-run center in the town. They told us they were forcibly taken from their parents,” Colonel Isma’il Abdi Malin told government military radio. “The militants were indoctrinating the children to draft them into their ranks.”Al-Shabab has lost control of several towns in the past, but still controls large swathes of territory in rural areas and in the major cities, including the capital, Mogadishu. It remains capable of carrying out targeted assassinations and suicide attacks.Danab offensive Somalia’s U.S.-trained elite forces, known as Danab, along with Ugandan troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia, entered the town Friday, facing resistance from al-Shabab fighters. They killed at least four senior al-Shabab militants, including the group’s financial coordinator and operations commander, government military radio reported Saturday.“The militants’ financial coordinator in the region, Mohamud Ahmed Gaboobe, and its operations commander in the town were among those killed during the military operation,” the radio service said.Witnesses told VOA on the condition of anonymity they saw about a dozen non-African military personnel supporting the Somali and AU forces as they moved into the city.Residents said many of the al-Qaida-aligned militants had begun withdrawing from the town early Friday as the troops advanced
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Rising temperatures and falling humidity levels could spark new wildfires this weekend in the western U.S. state of California.Firefighters battled three wildfires Friday near the southern California city of Los Angeles.The so-called Lake Fire north of Los Angeles prompted evacuations after threatening more than 5,400 homes, destroying 21 buildings and at least five homes and torching more than 79.7 square kilometers of land, fire officials said.  A fire in the foothills above the Los Angeles suburb of Azusa remained uncontained Friday as it burned nearly 6 square kilometers of brush on Thursday. After the blaze moved away from homes, evacuation orders were lifted Friday morning.Fire crews also contained a blaze east of Los Angeles Friday after closing in on a neighborhood in the city of Corona.Friday’s wildfires were fueled by temperatures that peaked at 38 degrees. Forecasters expect more hot and dry weather conditions this weekend, along with the possibility of  gusty winds.Unusually high temperatures throughout the state prompted the California Independent System Operator Friday to declare an emergency and order utilities to rotate power outages. California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, tweeted it would shut off power for about an hour at a time to about 200,000 to 250,000 customers if needed.The state last ordered rolling outages during an energy crisis in 2011. 
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Many of the young people affected by the explosion that has decimated Lebanon’s capital Beirut are working to put the pieces back together again.  The UN children’s fund says they are among an estimated 100,000 children rendered homeless by the blast who need international support to rebuild their shattered lives. The United Nations issued a flash appeal Friday for $565 million to address Lebanon’s immediate lifesaving needs, with an eye toward achieving full social and economic recovery.  The U.N. Children’s Fund says it needs $46.7 million over the next three months to protect and help children and their families overcome the physical and mental impacts of this disaster.  UNICEF says it has three main objectives.  These are to keep children safe, rehabilitate essential services and provide young people with the skills they need to help rebuild their country.  It acknowledges the job ahead is huge.  UNICEF: At Least 3 Children Dead, 1,000 Injured, in Beirut ExplosionsMany of the surviving children were displaced in the blast, which destroyed over 300,000 homesThe agency’s appeal covers the rehabilitation of 16 damaged primary health care centers serving 160,000 people.   It says restoring the 120 schools that have been damaged or destroyed in the blast so children can keep on learning is a priority.Speaking on a video link from Beirut, UNICEF Lebanon Deputy Representative Violet Speek-Warnery says children are deeply traumatized by the level of destruction and loss they have experienced.“Mental health and psychosocial support for children and their parents is a huge priority for us moving forward—including child friendly spaces, for example where there are referral mechanisms ongoing,” said Speek-Warnery. “GBV, gender-based violence is a major aspect for us as well and making sure that these services are continued and also with hygiene supplies and hygiene supports.”   Speek-Warnery says one of the heartening aspects to emerge from this tragedy is the number of young people volunteering to clean up the mess and rebuild their city.“We have been overrun by young people who want to support, and they have been supporting amazingly,” said Speek-Warnery. “We have been supporting that with tools, resources and equipment for them to be able to be on the streets cleaning debris, cooking, cleaning.  And we will continue with that.  At the same time, we will extend the programs that we have across the country on skills building and cash for work.”   The UNICEF official says money from the appeal will provide thousands of adolescents with training in skills such as carpentry, construction, and plumbing that are crucially needed in the arduous task of rebuilding Lebanon. 
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Huge crowds took to the streets of the Russian city of Khabarovsk Saturday in continued protests following the arrest of former governor Sergey Furgal.Since his arrest on July 9, residents have demonstrated daily in the city, with attendance significantly increasing on weekends.”I do not agree with this government’s course, this is a criminal government, they rob our cities, our regions,” said Elvira, a protester. “I’m against Moscow. All evil comes from the Kremlin.”The governor was arrested by federal law enforcement officers on charges related to murders in 2004 and 2005. He was flown to Moscow, where he was ordered jailed for two months.Furgal, a member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, has denied the charges.The protesters in the Far East city near the border with China, 6,100 kilometers east of Moscow, believe the charges leveled against him are politically motivated.Khabarovsk protesters also expressed support for the opposition in Belarus, where election officials declared longtime authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko the winner of the August 9 election.”We are very worried about them (Belarusian people),” said Oleg, a businessman who wouldn’t give his last name. “The things president Lukashenko gets away with there – well, president for now still – are just totally unacceptable, you can’t do that to your own people. (Reporter: Do you think they will succeed?) I think so. But it will take time, not so fast.”The Belarusian Central Election Commission said on Monday that after all ballots were counted, Lukashenko took 80.23% of the votes and the main opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had 9.9% of the vote.”I’ve never actually been to Belarus, it’s just that I understand we have a common historical past, which connects us,” said Yelizaveta Lipatova, an engineer. “Our political systems grew up side by side as well in the 90s and before that. And so I believe we have to follow each other closely, support each other, not lose sight of each other. I think that Belarusians are doing great, and we can learn a lot from them.” Some rally participants did not give their last names for fear of being arrested later.Aleksei Vorsin, Khabarovsk’s regional campaign chief for opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was detained Saturday after calling for a strike.
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Foreigners who temporarily worked in the U.S. and mistakenly received federal stimulus checks are expected to return the money to the Internal Revenue Service, legal experts told VOA.Thousands of foreign workers are believed to have found $1,200 in their bank accounts or received a check signed by President Donald Trump in the mail. Some reportedly have spent the money while others are taking steps to ensure their visa and immigration status is not imperiled for having received it.“Now you’ve got a bunch of people out there wondering, what are they supposed to do? And what they’re supposed to do is return [the money] to the IRS,” Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, told VOA.Holtzblatt explained that most foreign workers must use the 1040-NR form when they pay taxes. The NR stands for nonresident.“But it appears that some people were confused. … Maybe they were confused by which form to file, and some people — who would be considering nonresident aliens under the tax code — filed the regular 1040,” she said.The 1040 is a form used by individual U.S. taxpayers and was the basis for receiving stimulus checks.“So, the IRS did not know that they were non-resident aliens because the only way that the IRS knows is by their reporting,” she added.A significant proportion of the recipients are believed to be among the hundreds of thousands of college students who lived in the U.S. temporarily while working at seasonal low-wage jobs.$1,200 eligibilityThe CARES Act, which mandated federal payments to moderate and low-income Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, had specific rules on eligibility.US Government Sent $1.4B in Coronavirus Cash to Deceased Taxpayers, Watchdog FindsGovernment Accountability Office says more than a million dead Americans were sent stimulus payments The bottom line for foreign workers, according to Holtzblatt, is that non-resident aliens could not receive it.Though the IRS has not published guidance on how these foreign workers can return the money, the agency’s official website has a detailed page on how a taxpayer can return an “erroneous refund.”Immigration implicationsAccording to Atlanta-based immigration lawyer Robert Johnson, the broader question is, “Were they lawfully entitled to the money notwithstanding their immigration status?”If the answer is no, then Johnson said foreign workers should absolutely return the stimulus check.When it comes to consequences of keeping the money, Johnson explained that though criminal laws and immigration laws are separate, the trouble comes if the U.S. government charges foreign workers with fraud.“But how in the world is the government going to follow up with everybody? I’m not saying they couldn’t, but there has to be some kind of charge filed against them so that they are [placed] in some sort of database,” he added.A U.S government official from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said at this time “there are too many variables” to take into consideration before talking about immigration enforcement.But consequences to keep stimulus money would depend on whether the mistake was made by the U.S. government.“Also, the impact to [a foreign worker] admissibility [into the U.S.] would likely rest on whether a crime was committed, and if that person was charged and convicted,” the official said.In addition to foreign workers, some federal aid was mistakenly sent to deceased Americans.  
  
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Jean Arnault, the U.N. secretary-general’s personal envoy to Bolivia, said in a statement Friday he “welcomes the agreement” the Andean nation’s legislature reached Thursday to hold the country’s general election October 18.Arnault said the “consensus is a fundamental achievement that provides guarantees regarding the date of the elections” and “helps to overcome political divisions and the uncertainty that worried many sectors of Bolivian society.”The election had been scheduled for September 6 but was pushed back as the country dealt with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.Many Bolivians were anxious about the delayed elections, following the election last year that prompted protests around the country and the resignation of leftist President Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous leader. Right-wing lawmaker Jeanine Anez was sworn in as Bolivia’s interim president.  She will be on the October ballot.Luis Arce will be the candidate for Morales’ Movement for Socialism party.Arnault said with this week’s legislative agreement, “the path towards a reliable electoral process whose results are respected by all actors is effectively consolidated.” 
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China will dramatically expand its pilot program for digital currency to include all major large cities, the country’s Commerce Ministry said Friday.To date, the central-bank-led trial program has been under way in four cities and in places related to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. With Friday’s announcement, the pioneering initiative to launch an electronic payment system will cover 28 provinces and cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the neighboring cities of Hong Kong and Macau.The ministry said the initiative will “carry out digital RMB pilot programs in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the pilot regions in the central and western regions where conditions permit.”China, like the rest of the world, mainly relies on the U.S. dollar payment system in international deals, which makes it vulnerable to possible U.S. sanctions. The government has been researching and developing the digital currency since 2014, in part as a way of shifting away from U.S. dollars and bypassing international financial systems subject to U.S. law.The risks that the country’s banks are sanctioned by the U.S. are becoming increasingly real after the Trump administration sanctioned 11 mainland and Hong Kong officials for their role in suppressing freedom in Hong Kong. China’s economy “for the foreseeable future will be dependent on U.S. dollar transactions,” Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, a co-sponsor of legislation to sanction Chinese officials for violating Hong Kong’s independence, said in May.Chinese officials and economists have in recent months been very outspoken about the possibility that the Trump administration would go for the so-called “nuclear option” and cut China off from the dollar payment system. Fang Xinghai, a vice chairman at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said that China must prepare, “real preparations, not just psychological preparations,” Fang said at a forum organized by Chinese media outlet Caixin.Yu Yongding, a senior fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank, said that one scenario would be Washington imposing sanctions on Chinese banks, as it did in 2012 on the Bank of Kunlun, a regional Chinese lender for financing deals with Iran.Yu said that the U.S. may not have reached the point where it wants to kick China out of SWIFT, the international financial system that provides a network that enables banks worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions.”But China must take action and prepare in advance to prevent accidents just in case,” Yu said last Wednesday at an event organized by a state media.In Friday’s statement, the Commerce Ministry said the government’s effort is aimed at “adapting to the profound and complex changes in the domestic and international environment,” and “hold fast to the bottom line and prevent and control risks.” 
 
 
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