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Broken levees left over 10,000 people stranded in eastern China on Tuesday, as flooding across the country becomes more severe.On Sunday, high water overcame flood defenses around Guzhen, a town in Anhui province.Flood water was up to 3 meters deep, according to Guzhen’s Communist Party secretary, Wang Qingjun.Since the flooding began in June, over 141 people have been reported dead or missing, 150,000 homes were damaged, and losses are estimated at $9 million.Many parts of Anhui Province resorted to drastic measures to mitigate the disaster. One dam was blasted open on Sunday to relieve pressure from flood water behind it, and sluice gates were opened on the Xiangjiaba Dam Monday. While crops and forests were flooded, it was hoped the intentional release will save the area from even greater damage later.The Xiangjiaba Dam has only opened its gates 15 times since it was built in 1953.An increase in rainfall along the Yellow River and the Huai River is expected through Friday, according to China’s Meteorological Administration.Despite torrential and devastating rainfall, the official Xinhua news agency reported that the country’s death toll and economic losses for 2020 so far are below the annual average.China’s heaviest recent flooding occurred in 1998, when over 2,000 people died and almost 3 million houses were ruined. The damage then was primarily along the Yangtze River. 
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President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer sued Attorney General William Barr and the Bureau of Prisons director Monday, saying he’s being unjustly held behind bars to stop him from finishing a book that criticizes Trump.The lawsuit on behalf of Michael Cohen was filed late Monday in Manhattan federal court, alleging his First Amendment rights were violated when he was returned to the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York, on July 9.
A message for comment was left with the Justice Department.
Cohen, 53, had been furloughed in May as part of an attempt to slow the spread of the virus in federal prisons.
He had served only a year of his three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges and lying to Congress, among other crimes.
Cohen’s campaign finance charges related to his efforts to arrange payouts during the 2016 presidential race to keep the porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal from airing claims of extramarital affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs.
Monday’s lawsuit said Cohen made it clear recently that he planned to release a tell-all book just before the November election.
“In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, he intends to tell the American people about Mr. Trump’s personality and proclivities, his private and professional affairs, and his personal and business ethics,” according to the lawsuit brought on Cohen’s behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union and attorneys Danya Perry and Samidh Guha.
The lawsuit said Cohen’s crimes related to “lying to Congress on behalf of Mr. Trump and committing campaign finance violations on behalf of Mr. Trump.”
According to the lawsuit, federal authorities moved to re-incarcerate Cohen after he tweeted on June 26 “#WillSpeakSoon” and on July 2 that he was finishing his Trump book.
The lawsuit said U.S. Probation officers, working on behalf of the Bureau of Prisons and its director, Michael Carvajal, demanded of Cohen that he agree not to speak to or through any media, including by publishing a book.
It said the officers made the unconstitutional demand, and Cohen and his lawyers sought clarification on and limitation on the prohibition on speaking, only to see him locked up after the officers said they would run his requests “up the chain” to Bureau of Prisons executives.
Cohen has remained in solitary confinement since he was taken to Otisville, the lawsuit said.
It said his health has also suffered, with his blood pressure spiking to critical levels, “leading to severe headaches, shortness of breath and anxiety.”
And, it added, he has made no progress on his book. The lawsuit sought a court order to return him to home confinement. 
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A deal on a massive economic rescue package reached by leaders of the European Union and reports of more promising coronavirus vaccines fueled a surge in global markets Tuesday. In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei index ended the day’s trading session up 0.7%.  The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong earned 2.3%, and Shanghai’s Composite index is up 0.2%. The S&P/ASX index in Sydney earned 2.5%.  Seoul’s KOSPI index finished 1.3% higher, and the TSEC index in Taiwan gained 1.8%.  Mumbai’s Sensex is up 1.3% in late afternoon trading. Over in Europe, London’s FTSE index is up 0.7%, the CAC-40 in Paris is 1.2% higher, and Frankfurt’s DAX index has gained 1.9%. Oil markets are also rising Tuesday. U.S. crude oil is trading at $41.85 per barrel, up 2.5%, and Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is up $44.45 per barrel, up 2.7%. And in futures trading, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are all trending positively, indicating a strong start for Wall Street at the opening bell Tuesday.   
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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is set to unveil Tuesday a series of economic proposals focusing on working families as he campaigns with just more than 100 days remaining before voters decide between him and President Donald Trump. Biden’s campaign said he “will outline how his plan will build a robust 21st century caregiving and education workforce” as part of his “Build Back Better” plan for the U.S. economy. Recent polls indicate Biden leading Trump, including a Reuters/Ipsos poll of registered voters conducted last week that put Biden 10 percentage points ahead. The Democratic candidate has detailed several other parts of his economic recovery plan while criticizing Trump’s coronavirus response and his handling of the economy. Trump has countered by positioning himself as the candidate best capable of boosting the economy, calling Biden “totally ill-equipped.”President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, July 20, 2020, in Washington.Earlier this month, Biden proposed a $700 billion manufacturing plan that he said would add 5 million new jobs to help cope with the spike in unemployment during the pandemic. Biden said his plan includes $300 billion for research and development projects in clean energy, telecommunications, artificial intelligence and other fields. It also includes $400 billion for the government purchase of U.S-built goods, such as environmentally clean products and construction materials. Last week, Biden proposed spending $2 trillion to fight climate change and cut carbon emissions from power plants to zero by 2035. The Biden campaign has said another piece of the plan to be revealed in a future speech involves efforts to advance racial equity in the aftermath of national protests against police brutality. 
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The controversial national security law imposed by China on Hong Kong has brought deep concern among its robust civil society and non-governmental organizations who use the territory as regional hub, prompting some to relocate their staff while others fear over their fate under the new legislation. After Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, the “one country two systems” formula allowed its freewheeling civil society, including many international and domestic NGOs, to continue operating. But the national security law passed on July 1, dubbed the “second handover,” is causing jitters in the non-profit sector.   Many nonprofit groups say they are worried about being implicated by the law, which aims to “prevent, suppress and impose punishment” for secession, subversion, terrorism and “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.”   The authorities have emphasized the need for a sweeping law to stamp out Hong Kong’s yearlong anti-government protests, which have often turned violent. On Monday, Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai insisted that the law will make Hong Kong’s business environment “more stable and secure.” Chinese officials have said the law was intended to act as a “deterrent” and hang over potential troublemakers “like the sword of Damocles.”   The law appears to have achieved its aim to intimidate.     At least one international NGO has moved all its workers out of Hong Kong while others are planning to shift some of their operations abroad. Some NGO workers have resigned while others have moved abroad or sought to relocate.  Those who have decided to stay in Hong Kong, for now, say they must tread a fine line when doing their work to avoid falling afoul of the law, which has broad and vague definitions of security crimes. All of those who spoke to the VOA declined to be identified for fears of retribution from the authorities.  “It’s a really difficult time for many NGOs,” a veteran human rights worker said. “We don’t know how this law will be implemented and to what extent they will use it.  Everyone is really nervous.”   NGO workers say clauses in the law, particularly those that criminalize “conspiring” with or receiving instructions, funding or support from foreign countries or organizations, make them particularly vulnerable. Groups that have advocated democratization or have criticized the dictatorial nature of the Chinese Communist Party also run the risk of being found guilty of “altering by unlawful means the legal status” of the regime, or “inciting hatred” towards the Chinese or Hong Kong governments, as stated in the law.Pro-democracy lawmakers raise white papers to protest during a meeting to discuss the new national security law at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, July 7, 2020.An international NGO worker said Hong Kong used to be a place that was convenient to work on projects in China while keeping in touch with the international community, but these advantages are no longer viable under the new law.   “There are no such freedoms anymore. The authorities’ hostility is very apparent, and they could arrest people any time under this broad and vague law,” she said. “When we’re under these threats and limitations, it is very difficult to work.”  She added that the fate of the two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, detained in China in December 2018 and now charged for espionage, could easily befall on foreign nationals or people working for international NGOs in Hong Kong. A board member of a small human rights group said most of its staff have resigned and the group must completely restructure its work and move some projects outside Hong Kong.   
 
“Our staff are worried, we really understand,” he said, adding that his group will need to give up some of its overseas funding due to the law’s restrictions on foreign “collusion.” 
 
“There’s so much about this sweeping law which is in the unknown and we can easily be accused of collusion with foreign powers (for our international advocacy),” he said. 
 
Groups that have projects in mainland China have already experienced severe restrictions under its national security law to the extent they can no longer operate there.    
 
The head of a small Hong Kong organization said her group has ceased operation in China for a few years, after the implementation of the national security law in 2015 and the overseas NGO law in 2017.  Now she feels the draconian measures and comprehensive government control over society have been extended to Hong Kong.  
 
“The National Security Law is only the first step,” she said, stressing that China’s all-round suppression of civil society will eventually end many NGOs operating in Hong Kong.   
 
She said her group will try to continue working in Hong Kong for as long as possible, but they will have to work under extremely tight limitations to avoid falling afoul of the law. 
 
“They’re implementing this law to intimidate organizations and hope they’d all close down without the authorities having to take actions,” she said.  “When civil society has shrunken sufficiently, it would be less costly for them to deal with them.” 
 
“Their aim is to bring them under control,” she said. 
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The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday added 11 Chinese companies implicated in what it called human rights violations in connection with China’s treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang to the U.S. economic blacklist. The department said the companies were involved in using forced labor by Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups. They include numerous textile companies and two firms the government said were conducting genetic analyses used to further the repression of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. Blacklisted firms cannot buy components from U.S. companies without U.S. government approval. It was the third group of companies and institutions in China added to the U.S. blacklist, after two rounds in which the Trump administration cited 37 entities it said were involved in China’s repression in Xinjiang in Western China. “Beijing actively promotes the reprehensible practice of forced labor and abusive DNA collection and analysis schemes to repress its citizens,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement. The Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment. China disagreesIn May the Chinese Foreign Ministry criticized U.S. entity list additions, arguing the United States “overstretched the concept of national security, abused export control measures, violated the basic norms governing international relations, interfered in China’s internal affairs.” The companies added to the blacklist include Nanchang O-Film Tech, a supplier for Apple’s iPhone, which hosted Apple chief executive Tim Cook in December 2017, according to O-Film’s website. It is also a supplier to Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft, according to an April congressional letter. The U.S. companies did not immediately comment. The list includes two subsidiaries of Beijing Genomics Institute, a genomics company with ties to the Chinese government, Senator Marco Rubio said. He said the additions will “ensure that U.S. technology does not aid the Chinese Communist Party’s crimes against humanity and egregious human rights abuses against Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, including the forced collection of DNA.” Clothing companies involvedAlso added are KTK Group Co, which produces more than 2,000 products used to build high-speed trains, from electronics to seats; and Tanyuan Technology Co, which assembles high thermal conductive graphite reinforced aluminum composites. Another company is Changji Esquel Textile Co, which Esquel Group launched in 2009. Esquel Group produces clothing for Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss. In a letter to Ross on Monday, Esquel Chief Executive John Chen asked that its unit be removed from the list.  “Esquel does not use forced labor, and we never will use forced labor. We absolutely and categorically oppose forced labor,” Chen wrote. Efforts to reach other companies in China for comment were unsuccessful outside of normal business hours. Also on the blacklist is Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories Co. On May 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said it was halting imports of the company’s hair products, citing evidence of forced labor. On July 1, CBP seized in Newark a shipment of almost 13 tons of hair products worth more than $800,000 with human hair that it said originated in Xinjiang. Commerce previously added 20 Chinese public security bureaus and companies including video surveillance firm Hikvision, as well as leaders in facial recognition technology SenseTime Group Ltd and Megvii Technology in connection with China’s treatment of Muslim minorities. 
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U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched the second phase of a military campaign to destroy remnants of the Islamic State terror group in eastern Syria. The SDF said its “Deterrence of Terrorism” campaign, which was launched Friday, targets IS militants in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour.SDF units, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition against IS, have already captured several IS militants, including a senior leader, and seized large quantities of weapons and ammunitions belonging to IS cells, the group’s media office said Sunday. In June, SDF forces launched the first phase of their anti-IS operation in the Syrian province, which borders Iraq. At least 100 IS militants were detained in the weeklong operation, SDF and coalition officials said at the time. Since its territorial defeat in March 2019, IS has carried out terror attacks against civilians and SDF forces, especially in areas along the border with Iraq. Coalition support U.S. military officials said IS militants could no longer hide in Deir el-Zour. “The SDF-led Deterrence of Terrorism operation is essential to clear ISIS operatives from Deir el-Zour and southern Hasakah,” said Col. Myles Caggins, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS, using another acronym for the terror group. He said the global coalition is supporting the multiday mission with “advising, intelligence sharing, and occasionally partnered special operations.” Caggins told VOA that IS sleeper cells in al-Busaryah and al-Shuhail towns of Deir el-Zour have “harmed local leaders and innocent civilians,” adding that “several ISIS lieutenants were captured by the elite antiterrorism commandos.” Local military officials believe the recent surge in IS attacks in eastern Syria is partially because of a security vacuum created during the coronavirus pandemic. Local authorities in Deir el-Zour and elsewhere in eastern Syria have imposed a lockdown on the region to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. Steady-state insurgency Experts believe the militant group now represents a major insurgent threat throughout the Syrian desert, including Deir el-Zour. This military campaign “might help to disrupt IS attacks to some degree, but I think we are going to be stuck with a ‘steady-state’ IS insurgency in the province at best,” said Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a Syria researcher at Swansea University in the U.K. He told VOA that any actor controlling Deir el-Zour would face the same security challenges.  “These were the longest-held IS areas,” al-Tamimi explained, adding that “the security in the wider province is divided between two actors where security cooperation is limited.” The western bank of the Euphrates River, which divides Deir el-Zour, is under the control of the Syrian regime troops and its allied Russian forces and Iranian-backed militias. US concerned U.S. military officials have expressed concerns that Syrian and Russian troops in the western part of Deir el-Zour are not capable of stabilizing the region. Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, speaks with U.S. troops while visiting Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sept. 9, 2019.“I am concerned because I don’t believe they have any concept of stabilization as we know stabilization,” Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told VOA in an interview last week. McKenzie, who recently visited Syria and met with SDF officials, said Russian and Syrian forces “have no idea how to actually manage that area after you’ve cleared it militarily.” “The conditions that led to the rise of ISIS still obtain out there in the west… that’s unfortunate, and I am worried about that,” he said. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report from Washington.  
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