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The United States on Monday slapped sanctions on the regional strongman leader of Russia’s republic of Chechnya over human rights violations including torture and extrajudicial killings. Ramzan Kadyrov, 43, has run Chechnya like his personal fiefdom, relying on his security forces to quash dissent. International human rights groups have accused Kadyrov and his lieutenants of abductions, torture and killings of their opponents. Rights defenders also hold the Chechen authorities responsible for a sweeping crackdown on gays over the past few years that has seen more than 100 people arrested, subjected to torture, with some of them killed. Chechen authorities have denied those accusations, and federal authorities said a probe found nothing to support the charges. In a statement announcing the sanctions, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed at “extensive credible information that Kadyrov is responsible for numerous gross violations of human rights dating back more than a decade, including torture and extrajudicial killings.” Pompeo said the restrictions will apply to Kadyrov’s wife and two daughters and he encouraged U.S. allies to take similar measures. Kadyrov responded on his blog, posting a picture of himself standing in a weapons storage room with a smile on his face and a machine gun in each hand. “Pompeo, we accept the fight. It’s going to be even more fun down the road,” he said. Russian lawmakers said that Moscow will find a way to reciprocate to the U.S. sanctions against Kadyrov, but wouldn’t say what a possible response could be.  The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars, providing generous federal subsidies and dismissing international criticism of his rule. The Kremlin also has stood by Kadyrov amid Russian opposition claims of his involvement in the 2015 killing of prominent Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, which the Chechen leader has rejected. An officer in Chechnya’s security forces was convicted of shooting Nemtsov on a bridge adjacent to the Kremlin and received a 20-year prison term.  
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Beijing is reported to be in the final stages of approving a $400 billion economic and security deal with Tehran, which some analysts say could give China a vast and secure source of energy and a strategic foothold in the Gulf. Iran’s foreign ministry has confirmed that the potential agreement includes significant infrastructure investments and closer cooperation on defense and intelligence sharing. It’s also rumored to include discounts for Iranian oil. The deal is the latest step in Beijing’s attempt to expand from a regional hegemony to a world power via its Belt and Road Initiative.China-Iran dealThere are no concrete details of the deal available yet, but reports about what is under discussion indicate massive investment. China is reportedly considering investing $280 billion in developing Iran’s oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors; and another $120 billion in upgrading Tehran’s manufacturing infrastructure.The deal’s scope was further illustrated when Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told parliament on July 5 that the country has been negotiating a 25-year accord with China “with confidence and conviction.”A report by the FILE – Natural gas refineries are seen at the South Pars gas field on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf, in Asaluyeh, Iran, March 16, 2019.How the United States fits inIran announced progress on the deal at a time when U.S. and China relations are fast sliding, raising the question if Tehran is joining forces with Beijing as part of a broader effort to counter Washington’s foothold in the Middle East.The agreement appears to have been in development since 2016, when China and Iran announced a 25-year-long “comprehensive strategic partnership” during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Tehran.Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the D.C.-based think tank Middle East Institute, told VOA that the deal was not initially meant to be an anti-American initiative.“Remember this was agreed in 2016. I think it was part of a broad Chinese ambition for Eurasia.” He said, “If you look at the Belt and Road initiative of China, Iran appears prominently in that.”Yet Vatanka said the timing of the Iranian announcement is tricky, adding there is a possibility that Iran wants to take advantage of deteriorating U.S.-China relations and go ahead and finalize the deal. But he says the Iranian government likely is also doing this for domestic purposes.“There is another driver. They want to show the Iranian people that they are not alone on the international stage,” said Vatanka. “The Americans are alone. Much of this is a game of psychology. Iranians leaders do not want to be seen in the eyes of the Iranian people that they brought the country to total isolation.”In 2018, the Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposed new rounds of sanctions on Iran’s energy, finance, and military sectors.Benjamin Friedman, policy director of military think tank Defense Priorities, argued that policy partly encouraged Iran to seek cooperation with China.“It’s a good opportunity for China because [of] the United States’ sanctions on Iran. It is desperate now, probably is willing to sell its oil at more of a discount,” he said.U.S. responseWhen asked about whether U.S. sanctions could have further strengthened the alliance between China and Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks to the media in the Press Briefing Room, at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., July 15, 2020. (State Department Photo by Freddie Everett)“We have a set of sanctions related to any company or country that engages in an activity with Iran. The sanctions are clear. We have been unambiguous about enforcing them against our companies from allies, countries from all across the world. We would certainly do that with respect to activity between Iran and China as well,” he said at a press briefing on July 15. Timothy Heath, a defense researcher at the RAND Corporation, said the China-Iran deal is just the latest example of escalating tensions between the U.S. and China.“It follows the trend of the U.S. government policy that describes China as a competitor and a threat. The other trend is the growing deterioration in the U.S. China relations,” he told VOA.“Issues keep piling up, and the relations keep getting worse,” he said, “China’s recent agreement with Iran is the country’s move to build up a partnership that would weaken U.S. presence in the Middle East. Both sides seem to be taking escalatory behavior to assert authority and to punish the other side, and this should be seen as another step in that broad trend.” 
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Organizers of a national workers strike say tens of thousands are set to walk off the job Monday in more than two dozen U.S. cities to protest systemic racism and economic inequality that has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.
Dubbed the “Strike for Black Lives,” labor unions, along with social and racial justice organizations from New York City to Los Angeles, will participate in a range of planned actions. Where work stoppages are not possible for a full day, participants will either picket during a lunch break or observe moments of silence to honor Black lives lost to police violence, organizers said.
“We are … building a country where Black lives matter in every aspect of society — including in the workplace,” said Ash-Lee Henderson, an organizer with the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of over 150 organizations that make up the Black Lives Matter movement.
“The Strike for Black Lives is a moment of reckoning for corporations that have long ignored the concerns of their Black workforce and denied them better working conditions, living wages and healthcare,” said Henderson, who is also co-executive director of the Tennessee-based Highlander Research and Education Center.  
Among the strikers will be essential workers: nursing home employees, janitors and delivery men and women. Fast food, ride-share and airport workers are also expected to take part in planned events.
The strike continues an ongoing global reckoning on race and police brutality set off by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police in late May. At noon in each U.S. time zone on Monday, workers are expected to take a knee for about eight minutes — the amount of time prosecutors say a white police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck.
Strikers are demanding sweeping action by corporations and government to confront systemic racism and economic inequality that limits mobility and career advancement for many Black and Hispanic workers, who make up a disproportionate number of those earning less than a living wage.
Specifically, they are calling on corporate leaders and elected government officials to use executive and legislative power to guarantee people of all races can thrive. That demand includes raising wages and allowing workers to unionize to negotiate better health care, sick leave and child care support.
When the strike was announced on July 8, partnering unions included the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the American Federation of Teachers, United Farm Workers and the Fight for $15 and a Union. Several more worker collectives have since joined, along with social and racial justice groups.
In Manhattan, essential workers will gather outside of the Trump International Hotel to demand the Senate and President Donald Trump pass and sign the HEROES Act. The House-passed legislation provides protective equipment, essential pay and extended unemployment benefits to workers who have not had the option of working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is expected to rally with workers.
Strikers in Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed on May 25, will include nursing home and airport workers demanding a $15-per-hour minimum wage, organizers said. In Missouri, participants will rally at McDonald’s locations in St. Louis and Ferguson, a key landmark in the protest movement sparked by the death of Michael Brown, a Black teenager who was killed by police in 2014. The Ferguson strikers will also march to a memorial site located on the spot where Brown was shot and killed.
Organizers said many strikers are taking particular aim at corporations such as Walmart and McDonald’s, which they say should be held accountable for widespread mistreatment and exploitation of hourly workers of color. In the wake of Floyd protests, McDonald’s expressed its support for Black victims of police violence and vigilante attacks.
On Friday, a group of McDonald’s workers filed a federal lawsuit against the corporation in Florida, alleging that managers at a corporate-run store in Lakeland subjected them to a “racially hostile work environment” and also had mistreated Black customers. The workers alleged that after they reported their concerns to corporate leaders, their managers retaliated by slashing their hours and changing their work responsibilities.
“McDonald’s, if you really believe Black lives matter, it’s time to stop with the lip service and start with real action: treat your Black employees like our lives matter,” said Faith Booker, a Black plaintiff in the lawsuit who also plans to join strikers on Monday.  
In a statement emailed to the AP, McDonald’s said it was taking the claims in the lawsuit “seriously.”  
“We stand with Black communities across the globe in our commitment to address unacceptable racial injustices and are disappointed that these allegations do not reflect the high standards we hold ourselves accountable to every day across all areas of our business,” the statement reads. 
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The sudden cancellation of an offshore drilling project commissioned by Vietnam is raising fears that the Chinese government pressured it to stop, part of Beijing’s ongoing maritime sovereignty spat with Hanoi.   London-based drilling contractor Noble Corp. said July 9 its Noble Clyde Boudreaux semi-submersible had cancelled a previously announced project with Vietnam. News reports placed the drilling site off Vietnam’s east coast in a zone watched by Chinese survey vessels.   It’s unclear whether officials from Beijing forced the cancelation, but they have pressured other Vietnamese seabed oil drilling contracts in the past. The two countries contest nearby tracts of the broader South China Sea.   “They’re playing some kind of cat and mouse with China,” said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. If, he said, “they’re doing drilling here and the Chinese vessel came, they might stop it for a few days or months and then resume it, and so on.”   Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim all or parts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer waterway, which is prized for fisheries as well as fossil fuel reserves. China says about 90% of the sea should come under its flag. Beijing has taken a military lead over other countries over the past decade.   Radio Free Asia reported July 13 that Vietnam had cancelled the contract as the Chinese government squeezes Southeast Asian nations that try to exploit South China Sea resources with foreign partners. A Chinese coast guard vessel is “patrolling” now near another Vietnamese oil rig, the report says.   FILE – A ship (top) of the Chinese Coast Guard is seen near a ship of the Vietnam Marine Guard in the South China Sea, about 210 km (130 miles) off shore of Vietnam, May 14, 2014.China has sent two survey ships to waters near Vietnam this year to date. China and Vietnam have rammed each other’s boats in the past. Their vessels got tangled in deadly clashes in 1974 and 1988.   In 2018, Spanish driller Repsol suddenly quit a Vietnamese project at the South China Sea feature Vanguard Bank, apparently under pressure from China. Vietnam still had outposts at the submerged feature as of mid-2019.   But Vietnam has not openly challenged China over the Noble Clyde project cancelation. Noble Corp. did not respond Monday to a request for comment.   Vietnam relies on oil drilling for resources, Oh said, and the Southeast Asian country has a history of “standing up” to China.   “Vietnam is known to stand up for its interests and they don’t want to be seen to be backing down from any kind of pressure from China, because the moment they do that, they would be susceptible to all kinds of pressure, domestically and in China,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.   Hanoi may be waiting to see whether the United States acts on its behalf, analysts believe.   U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said last week his government would help South China Sea claimant states if violated by China. He hinted at using diplomatic and legal means and rejected China’s legal claims to the sea. China cites historic records to justify its use of the waters.   “Vietnam feels the threats from China, and maybe it will hamper their behavior in the South China Sea if the U.S. doesn’t move forward,” said Nguyen Thanh Trung, Center for International Studies director at University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City.  The United States might intervene if it suits President Donald Trump’s politics but avoid armed conflict, said Alan Chong, associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.   Trump has ramped up military, trade and economic pressure on China, a fellow superpower and former Cold War foe, since taking office in 2017. A reelection campaign and the COVID-19 crisis now dominate Trump’s agenda.   “I wouldn’t put it past him, if it suited him as a tactical move, but in terms of an actual intervention military wise, I don’t think that is a possibility given the domestic distractions at the moment,” Chong said.   Vietnam will nevertheless be “extremely happy” with Pompeo’s statement since its language supports the Vietnamese claim to an exclusive economic zone in the contested sea, said Derek Grossman, senior analyst with the Rand Corp. research institution in the United States. 
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Canada’s Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the flight data recorders from a Ukrainian passenger plane downed by an Iranian missile are in Paris where they are expected to be taken to France’s Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority for analysis Monday. Champagne said on Twitter that officials from Canada’s Transportation Safety Board will be present for the investigation. Most of the 176 people on board the plane were Canadian citizens or residents, or were traveling to Canada.People gather for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the Ukraine plane crash, at the gate of Amrikabir University, where some of the victims were former students, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 11, 2020.Iran says its military accidentally shot down the Ukraine Airlines plane in January, shortly after it took off from Tehran’s airport, mistaking it for an incoming missile. The incident happened during a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, just after Iran had launched missiles at several bases in Iraq in response to the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qassim Soleimani. Canada, Ukraine and other nations whose nationals were on board the plane have demanded a thorough investigation, and the analysis of the so-called black box recorders recovered from the wreckage has been the subject of negotiation. The plane was manufactured by Boeing, a U.S. company, and due to U.S. sanctions on Iran the United States rejected sending Iran a piece of equipment needed to recover the data from the recorders. 
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Democratic Party leaders in the U.S. state of Georgia are gathering Monday to select a candidate to replace the late Congressman John Lewis in the November general election. A spokeswoman said 131 people applied by the Sunday evening deadline to be considered. A nominating committee will select between three and five finalists, and then a committee of 44 party figures will vote on the final candidate. The Democrat chosen will go up against Republican Angela Stanton-King in November. Lewis served 17 terms in Congress, and in 2016, the last time he faced a Republican challenger in his district, he won with 84% of the vote.FILE – This Jan. 3, 2019 file photo shows Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., during a swearing-in ceremony of Congressional Black Caucus members of the 116th Congress in Washington.Georgia’s governor has the power to call a special election to fill out the remaining months of Lewis’ current term. Lewis, a prominent champion of civil rights for African Americans, died Friday at the age of 80 after a yearlong battle with advanced stage pancreatic cancer. He rose to fame as a leader in the modern-day American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. At age 23, he worked closely with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was the last surviving keynote speaker from the August 1963 March on Washington, where King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. 
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Astrophysicists on Monday published the largest-ever 3D map of the Universe, the result of an analysis of more than 4 million galaxies and ultra-bright, energy-packed quasars.The efforts of hundreds of scientists from about 30 institutions worldwide have yielded a “complete story of the expansion of the universe,” said Will Percival of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.In the project launched more than two decades ago, the researchers made “the most accurate expansion history measurements over the widest-ever range of cosmic time,” he said in a statement.The map relies on the latest observations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), titled the “extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey” (eBOSS), with data collected from an optical telescope in New Mexico over six years.The infant universe following the big bang is relatively well known through extensive theoretical models and observation of cosmic microwave background — the electromagnetic radiation of the nascent cosmos.Studies of galaxies and distance measurements also contributed to a better understanding of the Universe’s expansion over billions of years.’Troublesome gap’But Kyle Dawson of the University of Utah, who unveiled the map Monday, said the researchers tackled a “troublesome gap in the middle 11 billion years.”Through “five years of continuous observations, we have worked to fill in that gap, and we are using that information to provide some of the most substantial advances in cosmology in the last decade,” he said.Astrophysicist Jean-Paul Kneib of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, who initiated eBOSS in 2012, said the goal was to produce “the most complete 3D map of the universe throughout the lifetime of the universe.”For the first time, the researchers drew on “celestial objects that indicate the distribution of matter in the distant Universe, galaxies that actively form stars and quasars.”The map shows filaments of matter and voids that more precisely define the structure of the universe since its beginnings, when it was only 380,000 years old.  For the part of the map relating to the universe 6 billion years ago, researchers observed the oldest and reddest galaxies.For more distant eras, they concentrated on the youngest galaxies — the blue ones. To go back even further, they used quasars, galaxies whose supermassive black hole is extremely luminous.The map reveals that the expansion of the universe began to accelerate at some point and has since continued to do so.The researchers said this seems to be because of the presence of dark energy, an invisible element that fits into Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity but whose origin is not yet understood.Astrophysicists have known for years that the universe is expanding but have been unable to measure the rate of expansion with precision.Comparisons of the eBOSS observations with previous studies of the early universe have revealed discrepancies in estimates of the rate of expansion.The currently accepted rate, called the “Hubble constant,” is 10% slower than the value calculated from the distances between the galaxies closest to us.   
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Top Republicans in Congress were expecting to meet Monday with President Donald Trump on the next COVID-19 aid package as the administration panned more virus testing money and interjected other priorities that could complicate quick passage.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was prepared to roll out the $1 trillion package in a matter of days. But divisions between the Senate GOP majority and the White House posed fresh challenges. Congress was returning to session this week as the coronavirus crisis many had hoped would have improved by now only worsened — and just as earlier federal emergency relief was expiring.Trump insisted again Sunday that the virus would “disappear,” but the president’s view did not at all match projections from the leading health professionals straining to halt the U.S.’s alarming caseloads and death toll.McConnell and House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy were set to meet with Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “to fine-tune” the legislation, acting chief of staff Mark Meadows said on Fox News.The package from McConnell had been quietly crafted behind closed doors for weeks and was expected to include $75 billion to help schools reopen, reduced unemployment benefits alongside a fresh round of direct $1,200 cash payments to Americans, and a sweeping five-year liability shield against coronavirus lawsuits.But as the White House weighed in, the administration was panning some $25 billion in proposed new funds for testing and tracing, said one Republican familiar with the discussions. The administration’s objections were first reported by The Washington Post.Trump was also reviving his push for a payroll tax break, which was being seriously considered, said another Republican. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks.The new push from the White House put the administration at odds with GOP allies in Congress, a disconnect that threatened to upend an already difficult legislative process. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi already passed Democrats’ vast $3 trillion proposal and virus cases and deaths had only increased since.FILE – Health care workers take information from people in line at a walk-up COVID-19 testing site during the coronavirus pandemic, in Miami Beach, Florida, July 17, 2020.Trump raised alarms on Capitol Hill when he suggested last month at a rally in Oklahoma that he wanted to slow virus testing. Some of Trump’s GOP allies wanted new money to help test and track the virus to contain its spread. Senate Democrats were investigating why the Trump administration had not yet spent some of $25 billion previously allocated for testing in an earlier aid bill.The payroll tax Trump wanted also divided his party. Senate Republicans in particular opposed the payroll tax break as an insufficient response to millions of out-of-work Americans, especially as they tried to keep the total price tag of the aid package at no more than $1 trillion.Trump said Sunday in the Fox News interview that he would consider not signing any bill unless it included the payroll tax break, which many GOP senators opposed.”I want to see it,” he said.Lawmakers were returning to a partially closed Capitol still off-limits to tourists to consider what will be a fifth COVID-19 aid package. After passing the $2.2 trillion relief bill in March, Republicans hoped the virus would ease and economy rebound so more aid would not be needed.But with COVID-19 cases hitting alarming new highs and the death roll rising, the pandemic’s devastating cycle was happening all over again, leaving Congress little choice but to engineer another costly rescue. Businesses were shutting down again, schools could not fully reopen and jobs were disappearing, all while federal emergency aid expired.”It’s not going to magically disappear,” said a somber McConnell, R-Ky., last week during a visit to a hospital in his home state to thank front-line workers.As McConnell prepared to roll out his $1 trillion-plus proposal, he acknowledged it would not have full support.The political stakes were high for all sides before the November election, but even more so for the nation, which now registered more coronavirus infections and a higher death count than any other country.Just as the pandemic’s ferocious cycle was starting again, the first round of aid was running out.A federal $600-a-week boost to regular unemployment benefits would expire at the end of the month. So, too, would the federal ban on evictions on millions of rental units.With 17 straight weeks of unemployment claims topping 1 million — usually about 200,000 — many households were facing a cash crunch and losing employer-backed health insurance coverage.Despite flickers of an economic upswing as states eased stay-at-home orders in May and June, the jobless rate remained at double digits, higher than it ever was in the last decade’s Great Recession.Pelosi’s bill, approved in May, included $75 billion for testing and tracing to try to get a handle on the virus spread, funneled $100 billion to schools to safely reopen and called for $1 trillion to be sent to cash-strapped states to pay essential workers and prevent layoffs. The measure would give cash stipends to Americans, and bolster rental and mortgage and other safety net protections.In the two months since Pelosi’s bill passed, the U.S. had 50,000 more deaths and 2 million more infections.”If we don’t invest the money now, it will be much worse,” Pelosi said. 
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The United States is calling on leaders in Afghanistan to conclude an ongoing prisoner swap and launch a peace dialogue with the Taliban insurgency without delay.In a series of tweets Sunday, acting U.S. ambassador to Kabul Ross Wilson also stressed the need for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival-turned-coalition partner, Abdullah Abdullah, to implement a power-sharing deal which the two signed in May.“We urge this country’s leaders promptly to establish the new government, create the High Council for National Reconciliation, complete the exchange of prisoners, and move to the opening of intra-Afghan negotiations,” said the American charge d’affairs.
 
Under his power-sharing deal with Ghani, Abdullah has been appointed as the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, which is tasked to lead a team of Afghan negotiators in still-unscheduled talks with the Taliban.
 
The proposed negotiations, however, hinge on the prisoner swap, in which Kabul is required to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners in return for around 1,000 Afghan security force captives held by the insurgent group.  
 
Afghan officials have said that about 4,400 prisoners have been freed. But the government has refused to release the last batch of around 600 inmates, describing them as “too dangerous” and insisting some foreign governments also want them to remain in jails.
 
“The Afghan people have made clear their impatience. Start intra-Afghan negotiations now so that discussions on a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire can begin,” said the ambassador, underscoring Washington’s apparent frustration at Kabul’s refusal to move forward with more prisoner releases.FILE – Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and his rival-turned-coalition-partner Abdullah Abdullah attend a ceremony to sign a political agreement in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 17, 2020.The prisoner exchange was agreed to in a landmark deal signed by Washington and the Taliban in February to end the nearly 19-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest.  
 
The Taliban says it has already released 845 Afghan security force captives from its custody and is working to free the remainder. However, insurgent officials have ruled out participation in peace talks until all 5,000 Taliban prisoners are set free.  
 
On Sunday, the Taliban criticized Kabul for “creating hurdles” in the way of intra-Afghan talks by not releasing the remaining prisoners. The insurgent group’s statement dismissed as “lame excuses” the claim by Afghan officials that foreign governments opposed the prisoner releases. It noted that the U.S.-Taliban agreement has been endorsed not only by the United Nations but also by a number of countries.
 
The completion of the prisoner exchange process was “one of the most fundamental issues” of the Afghan peace process, the Taliban said.
 
“If the Kabul administration officials truly seek intra-Afghan negotiations then they must execute their responsibilities related to completion of the prisoner exchange process,” the group said.
 
Under its deal with the Taliban, the Trump administration has committed to withdraw all American and allied troops from Afghanistan by July 2021.  
 
In return, the insurgents have pledged to prevent al-Qaida and other terrorist groups from using Afghan soil for international attacks, and promised to seek reconciliation with other Afghan groups through a dialogue process.  
 
The Taliban also pledged in its deal with the U.S. to cease all attacks on international forces in the country. But insurgent battlefield raids against Afghan security forces have spiked in recent weeks, killing scores of government personnel and civilians.  
 
The May 17 power-sharing deal gave Abdullah the right to appoint half of the cabinet. But the political situation in Kabul remains tense.
 
The Ghani-Abdullah deal grew out of last September’s fraud-marred presidential election, which both leaders claimed to have won. The two formed parallel governments in March before reaching the deal, mainly under pressure from the United States and other international partners of Afghanistan. 
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The Iranian judiciary has suspended the executions of three men linked to anti-government protests in November, one of their attorneys, Babak Paknia, said on Sunday. Rights activists had said the death sentences were aimed at intimidating future protesters. With hardship mounting because of U.S. sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic, Iran’s clerical rulers have been trying to prevent a revival of anti-government protests that took place in November last year, when hundreds are believed to have been killed in the worst street violence since the 1979 revolution. Photos received by VOA Persian, appearing to show Iranians staging an anti-government protest in the southwestern city of Behbahan on July 16, 2020.Last Thursday, security forces fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in the southwestern city of Behbahan, witnesses said, who were protesting against the economic problems but also the death sentences against the three men. The Farsi hashtag “Don’t execute” was tweeted millions of times last week. In a rare acknowledgement of popular dissent, government spokesman Ali Rabiei wrote a commentary in Saturday’s Iran newspaper, saying that the tweets were “a civil action by citizens [trying] to be heard.”  
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Myanmar’s public marked one of the Southeast Asian nation’s darkest moments on Sunday with tributes to slain independence heroes, though the annual Martyrs’ Day gatherings were muted by the coronavirus pandemic due to social distancing measures.Flanked by senior government and military officials, state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi laid a wreath at a mausoleum dedicated to Aung San, her father and the country’s independence hero, who was assassinated alongside members of his cabinet on July 19, 1947.Crowds also laid flowers beside statues of Aung San, who remains a potent political force in the country, with his image used by his daughter and some of her rivals to garner support among a public that continues to revere him. The former ruling military junta for years curtailed use of his image for fear it would help the democracy movement that emerged in 1988 led by Suu Kyi.In the commercial capital of Yangon on Sunday, crowds queued to approach a statue of Aung San clutching portraits of the independence leader and his daughter, waiting on markers painted in the road to encourage people to keep a distance.”The Martyrs’ Day was once extinct, during the political crisis,” said Yin Yin Phyo Thu, as she laid flowers.”We young people are responsible for preserving the image of Martyrs’ Day not to fade away during COVID-19,” she said.Myanmar has reported 340 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.The country goes to the polls again in November in a vote that will serve as a test of the fledgling democracy.”We came here to pay respects and also to get ourselves politically motivated in 2020, the election year,” said Kyaw Swar, a university student. 
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As in the past several U.S. presidential election cycles, the outcome of the 2020 contest between Republican President Donald Trump and presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden depends on how a handful of states vote. VOA’s Steve Redisch explains the geography of America’s Electoral College.
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