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Nineteen Afghan civilians were killed in multiple roadside mine blasts in Kabul and Kandahar Sunday.  Two of the blasts occurred in Arghistan district of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.  In the first incident, a Toyota pickup carrying civilians hit a roadside mine near Shana Nari village killing nine and wounding two more Sunday afternoon, according to a spokesman for Kandahar provincial police, Jamal Barakzai. The second incident occurred near Tajaw village when a van hit a mine, killing eight Sunday night.  Meanwhile in Kabul, two civilians including a woman were killed while security personnel were trying to depose of a roadside landmine.      The civilian casualties happened on a day when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced he would release the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners—removing the last remaining hurdle to the start of direct negotiations with the militant group. Reducing civilian casualties and working toward a ceasefire is expected to be the highest priority of the Afghan team—an amalgamation of government representatives, other political factions, and civil society activists—when it meets the Taliban in Doha in the coming days. The two sides are supposed to negotiate a political settlement that ends four decades of conflict in Afghanistan.Afghan municipality workers clean a road in front of the damaged buildings, a day after an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, May 9, 2019.“In the next few days, we expect the completion of prisoner releases, then travel of the Islamic Republic team to Doha, and from there the immediate start of intra-Afghan negotiations,” Tweeted Zalmay Khalilzad, the United States Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, early Monday morning.    Khalilzad, who headed the U.S. negotiations with the Taliban, had been proposing to start the intra-Afghan negotiations urgently. However, parts of the U.S. deal with the Taliban—particularly the promise to release up to 5000 Taliban prisoners as a pre-requisite to start direct negotiations with the Afghan government—irked Ghani, who felt this took leverage away from him.  Ghani’s government had since been dragging its feet on the prisoner release issue, trying to link it to the announcement of a ceasefire by the Taliban. Not only was this demand repeatedly rejected by the group, according to the Ghani administration, it ratcheted up its attacks against the Afghan security forces. In a video address to a regional conference last month, Ghani said Taliban had killed or wounded more than 10,000 members of Afghan security forces in the months since the U.S.-Taliban deal in February.    The mood of the general public in Afghanistan seemed to be overwhelmingly upbeat about the start of talks. Although, there was some criticism in social media posts, particularly from human rights and women’s rights groups, over releasing the 400 hardcore Taliban. There was some concern that the team finalized to represent the Afghan government and other Afghan factions was not representative.  “The Kabul team is not qualified I feel. They are children of political big wigs. It seems like the same old sharing of the pie. Public opinion is not wholly reflected,” said Mushtaq Rahim, a Kabul based independent political analyst. He added however that at the time all everyone wanted was for intra-Afghan negotiations to start.    
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U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar praised Taiwan’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic as an example of the island’s “transparent, democratic nature.” Azar made the remarks Monday during a joint appearance in Taipei with President Tsai Ing-wen. His arrival Sunday at Taipei’s Songshan Airport marked the highest-level visit by an American official since Washington formally switched diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. His trip is the latest move by President Donald Trump’s administration to build stronger ties with the self-ruled island. “It is a true honor to be here to convey a message of strong support and friendship from President Trump to Taiwan,” Azar told President Tsai. Trump signed a law in 2018, the Taiwan Travel Act, that calls for high-level visits between the U.S. and Taiwan.  Taiwan has had surprising success in limiting the coronavirus outbreak to just 477 confirmed cases and seven deaths.Soldier wears a mask against COVID-19 outside military airbase in Taipei, Taiwan, Aug. 10, 2020.China has issued strong objections to Azar’s visit to Taiwan, as it considers the island a breakaway province and has vowed to annex it by any means necessary, including a military invasion. Beijing has acted aggressively in cutting Taipei off from the international community, including objecting to its participation in the World Health Assembly.   Tsai, who has strongly advocated for Taiwan’s recognition as a sovereign nation,  denounced China’s moves to bar it from the WHO in her remarks Monday.  “Political considerations should never take precedence over the rights to health,” she said. China and Taiwan split after the 1949 civil war when Chaing Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces were driven off the mainland by Mao Zedong’s Communist forces and settled on the island. Azar’s trip has sparked another flashpoint between Beijing and Washington, with tensions already inflamed over trade, technology, China’s tightening grip on Hong Kong, and the administration’s accusations over the coronavirus outbreak, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. China lodged a formal complaint with the United States last week after Azar announced his trip to Taiwan, and urged Washington to end all forms of official contact with the island.  
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An idea is percolating in Vietnam as it fights COVID-19: “send in the robots.”  The pandemic has brought artificial intelligence (AI) more of a spotlight as nations around the world look for uses, from combing data for clues to predict an outbreak, to robot waiters that reduce human contact. In Vietnam, which has reported remarkably low infection and death figures, the possible uses are still being tested. They include chatbots to dispense information, face recognition technology, predictive mapping, and software to combat rumors about the disease.  For instance, FPT Corp., the nation’s biggest telecommunications and software company, introduced a web application that uses automation to assess COVID-19 risk. How it works: Vietnamese go to the Corona Check website and enter data on where they have been recently. The app then cross references that with data on the location, timing, and quantity of cases nationwide to calculate the odds someone has come into contact with the coronavirus.  “Our AI system is continuously updating data to improve itself,” Tran Hoang Giang, the FPT Software vice president, said. “Currently it could predict the probability of coronavirus infection with 90% accuracy. But it’ll get even better as more people submit self-assessments on the web.” The process is helped in part by the fact that Vietnam, which has had 841 COVID-19 cases this year, publishes uniquely detailed, anonymized data on patients’ movements so that others can check if they went somewhere at the same time as an infected person. For instance, one record showed the times that a patient had gone to a mall, a cafe, and a market. Warning system The work on machine learning sends a good message, according to FPT chairman Truong Gia Binh.   “Not only tech enthusiasts in developed countries but also young, talented Vietnamese have the opportunity to exchange knowledge and research about AI,” he said. Vietnam has also joined in on a popular AI strategy globally to map out many data points that might predict where the next cluster of COVID-19 cases will occur. The data points can number in the dozens and may not seem directly related, such as weather, density in a shopping center, or popular Google searches. However, taken together, the right data can correlate with disease outbreaks and serve as a warning system that detects risks before humans do.  In addition to models that assess the threat of a disease, Vietnam has a COVID-19 map that is paired with news articles, which are updated through automation software to dispel misinformation. The Southeast Asian nation has taken a hard line against pandemic rumors, which could prove deadly and in other nations have encouraged unscientific home remedies. Telemedicine  Beyond machine learning, COVID-19 is also spurring more interest in another emerging technology called telemedicine. For instance, the company Doctor Anywhere now has physicians assessing Vietnamese patients for signs of the disease via video consultations, which are also conducted in Thailand and Singapore.  All of this is part of Industry 4.0, a term for the latest advancements that are supposed to help economies move to the next stage of development. Vietnam expects these advances to help it recover from the pandemic, too. “AI is considered a core technology for Industry 4.0 that has implications for post COVID-19 healing,” Chu Ngoc Anh, the Minister of Science and Technology in Vietnam, said. His government is working with Australia, which said last week it donated 650,000 Australian dollars “to find new ways to use AI as Vietnam recovers from COVID-19.” The money will fund things like a contest in which programmers submit competing ideas to put machine learning to use. “In the face of the global pandemic, it [innovation] has become more important than ever,” Robyn Mudie, the Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, said.  She added: “This AI initiative is a great example of how new technology can be adapted quickly to respond to Vietnam’s emerging needs.” 
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Six French aid workers with the nongovernmental organization ACTED and their local guide and driver were killed Sunday by gunmen riding motorcycles in an area of southwestern Niger that is home to the last West African giraffes, officials said.The six worked for the international aid group, Niger’s Defense Minister Issoufou Katambé told Reuters. Officials had earlier described them as tourists.”Among the eight people killed in Niger, several are ACTED employees,” said Joseph Breham, an NGO lawyer.No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault.  French President Emmanuel Macron denounced “the deadly attack which cowardly hit a group of humanitarian workers” in Niger and said in a statement Sunday the attack will be investigated.Macron, who spoke Sunday with his Nigerien counterpart Mahamadou Issoufou, added that “their determination to continue the common fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel” remained intact.The president “expresses his condolences and the support of the French nation to the families and relatives of the victims,” the statement said.It is believed to be the first such attack on Western tourists in the area, a popular attraction in the former French colony thanks to its unique population of West African or Niger giraffes.A source close to Niger’s environmental services said the assault took place around 11:30 a.m. (1030 GMT) 6 kilometers (4 miles) east of the town of Koure, which is an hour’s drive from the capital, Niamey.”Most of the victims were shot. … We found a magazine emptied of its cartridges at the scene,” the source told AFP.”We do not know the identity of the attackers, but they came on motorcycles through the bush and waited for the arrival of the tourists.”The source also described the scene of the attack, where bodies were laid side-by-side next to a torched off-road vehicle, which had bullet holes in its rear window.Around 20 years ago, a small herd of West African giraffes, a subspecies distinguished by its lighter color, found a haven from poachers and predators in the Koure area.Today they number in their hundreds and are a key tourist attraction, enjoying the protection of local people and conservation groups.  However the Tillaberi region is in a hugely unstable location, near the borders of Mali and Burkina Faso.  The region has become a hideout for Sahel jihadist groups such as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).The use of motorcycles has been totally banned since January in an attempt to curb the movements of such jihadists. 
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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been arrested, accused of suspected collusion with foreign forces under the new national security law, his top aide said on Twitter, in what is the highest-profile arrest yet under the legislation. Lai has been one of the most prominent democracy activists in the Chinese-ruled city and an ardent critic of Beijing, which imposed the sweeping new law on Hong Kong on June 30, drawing condemnation from Western countries. The new security law punishes anything China considers subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison. Critics say it crushes freedoms in the semiautonomous city, while supporters say it will bring stability after prolonged pro-democracy protests last year. “Jimmy Lai is being arrested for collusion with foreign powers at this time,” Mark Simon, a senior executive at Lai’s media company Next Digital, which publishes local tabloid Apple Daily, said early on Monday. Police did not immediately comment. Apple Daily reported that Lai was taken away from his home in Ho Man Tin early Monday. The paper says one of Lai’s sons, Ian, was also arrested at his home. About 10 other people were expected to be arrested Monday, local newspaper South China Morning Post reported, without naming its sources. Lai was also arrested this year on illegal assembly charges, along with other leading activists, relating to protests last year. In an interview with Reuters in May, Lai pledged to stay in Hong Kong and continue to fight for democracy even though he expected to be one of the targets of the new legislation. Before Monday, 15 people had been arrested under the law, including four ages 16-21 late last month over posts on social media. The new legislation has sent a chill through Hong Kong, affecting many aspects of life. Activists have disbanded their organizations, while some have fled the city altogether. Slogans have been declared illegal, certain songs and activities such as forming human chains have been banned in schools, and books have been taken off shelves in public libraries. The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the territory’s current and former police chiefs and eight other top officials for what Washington says is their role in curtailing political freedoms in the territory. Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong described the sanctions as “clowning actions.” Beijing and the Hong Kong government have said the law will not affect rights and freedoms, and that it is needed to plug security loopholes. They said it will only target a small minority of “troublemakers.”  
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Malawi’s new president Lazarus Chakwera says he is working on proposing legislation aimed at trimming his presidential powers in an effort to empower the citizens. In his national address Saturday, Chakwera said having a president who makes too many decisions has created problems in Malawi and this has led to government mismanagement in the past.
 
Trimming presidential powers was among the campaign promises Chakwera made during political rallies that helped him defeat former President Peter Mutharika in the June 23 presidential election re-run.    
 
In his address, Chakwera said the president has too much appointing authority and responsibilities that he says bring him into conflict.
 
 “Having a presidency that makes too many decisions has created problems for our country for a long time. Chief among them is that it has stifled a culture of responsibility and innovation among public institutions and private citizens,” he said.
 
Chakwera compared the running of the government to how parents run family affairs.
 
“Even as parents in our homes, we know that rigidly concentrating too much decision-making power in the parents hinders a child’s ability to develop critical life skills. This is a mistake we must stop making at a national level,” he said.
 
Chakwera faulted the present arrangement which puts the president as an appointing authority for top positions in the judiciary, legislature, executive, boards of statutory corporations, foreign embassies, and traditional leadership.
 
“This is unwise. No person is good or humble enough to be entrusted with that much appointing power, for it is not possible for a president to be the appointing authority of that many offices without at some point coming face to face with a conflict of interest,” he said.
 
Social commentator Humphrey Mvula supports the move, saying excess presidential powers have long made the presidents in Malawi not accountable to anyone.
    
“They have done what they so wished. They employed cronies, relatives, home-mates, tribesmen and all manner of individuals because there is no vetting process. They have decided to vary rules and regulations at whim,” Myula said.
   
Critics argue reducing powers would render the president useless, if he just becomes a mere rubber stamp at the expense of pleasing citizens.
 
However, Edge Kanyongolo a, legal expert at the University of Malawi, disagrees. He said trimming presidential powers is the only thing Malawi can do to consolidate its democracy.   
    
“People who are talking about ‘maybe a president could become a rubberstamp,’ I suspect they may be people who may be more inclined towards an authoritarian president who exercises [a] heavy hand, and I think that is inconsistent with democracy. So I think that it is not true to say that limiting the powers of [the] president renders the presidency powerless,” Kanyongolo said.
 
Meanwhile, Chakwera has asked Malawians to demand from their members of Parliament to vote for the changes once the proposed legislation is presented in the legislature.
 
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As the United States surpassed five million confirmed cases of the coronavirus, talks on Capitol Hill for a new coronavirus relief bill remain at an impasse, leading President Donald Trump to sign several executive orders to benefit Americans. VOA’s Esha Sarai has more.
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The White House and top Democratic lawmakers sparred Sunday over President Donald Trump’s executive orders to extend expired benefits to tens of millions of American workers left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic and defer payroll taxes for many workers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, called Trump’s action “meager, weak and unconstitutional” in an interview on the “Fox News Sunday” show. She said it “will take a while to put money into the pockets of Americans” and again called for the White House to “meet us halfway” on new spending to assist the more than 30 million workers who remain unemployed and state and municipal governments that need more aid. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, right, walk out of a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, Aug. 7, 2020.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Trump’s orders on Saturday were “not his first choice,” but blamed Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer for the collapse of two weeks of talks on a coronavirus aid package. “I’ve told them anytime they have a proposal, I’m willing to talk,” Mnuchin said. He said the White House is willing to provide more aid for state and local governments “but not a trillion dollars” that Democrats are seeking. Schumer, on ABC’s “This Week” show, described Trump’s directives as “faulty,” “unworkable,” “weak” and “far too narrow” a solution to assist the flagging U.S. economy and the economic needs of millions of out-of-work Americans.  U.S. President Donald Trump shows signed executive orders for economic relief during a news conference amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, Aug. 8, 2020.”The event at the country club is just what Trump does — a big show, but it doesn’t do anything,” Schumer said. “If the American people look at these executive orders, they’ll see that they don’t come close to doing the job.” In the fruitless negotiations, Democrats sought to extend the $600-a-week federal government boost to less generous state unemployment benefits through the end of 2020 after they expired at the end of July. Trump cut the figure to $400 and said states should pay $100 of that amount. “States don’t have the money to do that,” Pelosi said. Mnuchin countered that the states do have such funds “from money we already gave the states” from previous coronavirus aid legislation that has yet to be spent.   Trump and White House officials expect his orders will be contested in court suits since under U.S. law, Congress must approve spending legislation. It cannot be done by presidential fiat, although Mnuchin said Trump’s actions were cleared by his legal advisers. Asked whether he considers the Trump orders legal, Schumer replied, “Well, you know, I’ll leave that up to the attorneys. It doesn’t do the job … it’s not going to go into effect in most places for weeks or months because it’s so put together in a crazy way.” FILE – Motorists take part in a caravan protest in front of Senator John Kennedy’s office at the Hale Boggs Federal Building asking for the extension of the $600 in unemployment benefits in New Orleans, La., July 22, 2020.He said the $600-a-week unemployment payments would have continued to “flow smoothly” had the president acted to continue them. Many Republican lawmakers have protested that the amount was too big, in many cases more than workers were being paid before they were laid off. Pelosi told CNN, “We’re at a stalemate because Republicans have never understood the gravity… of the pandemic.”  The spread of the pandemic remains unchecked in the U.S. with the country’s number of confirmed cases topping 5 million on Sunday and the death toll more than 162,000. Both figures are the biggest national totals across the globe. Trump signed his orders at a golf resort he owns in New Jersey and justified cutting the unemployment aid from $600 a week to $400.  “This is the money [unemployed workers] need, this is the money they want, this gives them an incentive to go back to work,” Trump said. But he left it up to the states to decide how much to actually send unemployed workers, so the benefits could be smaller still. U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive measures for economic relief during a news conference amid the spread of the coronavirus disease, at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., Aug. 8, 2020.In one of the other orders, Trump suspended 7.65% payroll taxes for workers who make less than $100,000 a year through the end of 2020. Unemployed workers, who do not pay the tax because they aren’t collecting a paycheck, won’t benefit. The taxes are used to fund pensions and health care for older Americans. The money would need to be paid back eventually unless Congress acts to write off the deferred taxes.  “This fake tax cut would also be a big shock to workers who thought they were getting a tax cut when it was only a delay,” said one Trump critic, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. “These workers would be hit with much bigger payments down the road.” Trump also said he was extending protections for tenants threatened with eviction and further delaying student loan payments and zero percent interest on federally financed loans. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Trump’s opponent in the Nov. 3 national election, called the orders a “series of half-baked measures” and accused Trump of putting Social Security pensions “at grave risk” by delaying the collection of payroll taxes that pay for the program. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Saturday, “Struggling Americans need action now. Since Democrats have sabotaged backroom talks with absurd demands that would not help working people, I support President Trump exploring his options to get unemployment benefits and other relief to the people who need them the most.”   
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The United States surpassed five million coronavirus cases on Sunday, the most in the world. The figures were released Sunday by Johns Hopkins University, which said the U.S. death toll is above 162,000. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has released a model predicting nearly 300,000 deaths by December 1 if Americans don’t start consistently wearing face masks.   IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray said in a statement that if 95% of Americans started wearing masks, more than 66,000 lives would be saved. Meanwhile, Brazil has become the second country in the world to pass 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus, second to the United States. FILE – Nurse Eva Fiori updates a medical record of a patient suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Emilio Ribas Institute in Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 17, 2020.Brazil’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, said last week he had “a clear conscience” despite the toll. Bolsonaro himself survived COVID-19 last month and said he had done “everything possible to save lives.” Because of insufficient tests, experts say, the number of Brazilians with the virus could be six times higher. Mexico’s Health Ministry reported nearly 6,500 new COVID infections Saturday and almost 700 deaths. Mexico follows only the U.S. and Brazil in the numbers of COVID deaths.  Mexico has more than 46,000 COVID deaths, according to John Hopkins University data.   In France, the government ordered face masks must be worn outside in busy areas  — except around some tourist sites, including the Eiffel Tower. The government said the French tourism industry has lost at least $35-$47 billion due to the health crisis. A man wearing a masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 crosses the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, Aug 9, 2020.”The French are participating massively in the revival of the tourism sector by favoring France,” and 70% of those who have gone on vacation have chosen to stay in their country, Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche. New mask mandates went into effect Saturday in Britain where people are now required to wear masks in most indoor settings. In England and Scotland, masks must be worn in places of worship, banks, libraries and in many other indoor places. Masks were already required in shops and on public transit, but more stringent measures were imposed to contain a surge in coronavirus infections in Britain after easing lockdown requirements. A sign helps passengers to find the COVID-19 test center at the airport Tegel in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 8, 2020.Travelers arriving in Germany from most non-European countries and regions within the European Union with high infection rates must now undergo testing for the coronavirus Travelers from high-risk areas were previously required to self-quarantine for 14 days or until they could produce a negative test.  Australia recorded 404 new cases Sunday — 10 in New South Wales and 394 in Victoria.  Seventeen deaths were reported in Victoria.   New Zealand reports it has experienced 100 days of zero community transmission of the coronavirus.  
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The United Nations warns COVID-19 poses a critical threat to hundreds of millions of indigenous people worldwide.   To mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling on countries to respond to their needs and to respect their cultural, social and political rights.  
Many of the more than 476 million indigenous people around the world now live in remote locations.  Their traditional way of life and distance from heavily populated areas have largely insulated them from many diseases commonly circulating.  However, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres notes that throughout history, indigenous peoples have been decimated by diseases brought from elsewhere, to which they had no immunity.  Unfortunately, the coronavirus is following the same trajectory.   FILE – Indigenous people from Yanomami ethnic group are seen, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease, at the 4th Surucucu Special Frontier Platoon of the Brazilian army in municipality of Alto Alegre, state of Roraima, Brazil, July 1, 2020The U.N. chief says the inequalities, stigmatization and discrimination to which indigenous peoples are subjected are helping to spread the coronavirus through their communities.  He says limited access to healthcare, clean water and sanitation makes it difficult to contain the disease.    “Indigenous peoples work primarily in traditional occupations and subsistence economies or in the informal sector,” he said. “They have all been adversely affected by the pandemic.  Indigenous women, who are often the main providers of food and nutrition for their families, have been particularly hard hit with the closures of markets for handicrafts, produce and other goods.”    The U.N. reports COVID-19 has infected more than 70,000 indigenous people in the Americas, the epicenter of the pandemic.  Among them, it says are nearly 23,000 members of 190 indigenous peoples in the Amazon basin.  More than 1,000 have lost their lives.   The Amazon and other tropical forests that are home to indigenous peoples have suffered environmental damage and economic deprivation.  Guterres says these people are at the forefront in demanding environmental and climate action to protect their precious reserves. FILE – In this file photo United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the African Union headquarters during the 33rd African Union (AU) Summit on Feb. 8, 2020, in Addis Ababa.“Lapsed enforcement of environmental protections during the crisis has brought increasing encroachment on indigenous peoples’ territories by illegal miners and loggers.  Many indigenous people have been victims of threats and violence, and many have lost their lives in the face of such threats,” he said.     The United Nations says indigenous peoples will have a better chance of tackling the coronavirus if they can exercise their rights to self-government and self-determination.   The world body is calling for universal respect and protection of their inalienable rights.      
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U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar arrived in Taiwan Sunday, leading a U.S. delegation for a three-day visit during which he will meet President Tsai Ing-wen.FILE – Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks during a roundtable discussion with President Donald Trump on the coronavirus outbreak and storm preparedness at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, July 31, 2020.This is the highest-level visit by an American official since the break in diplomatic relations between Washington and Taipei in 1979.The visit comes as relations between the United States and China have plunged to historic lows.China objects to official contact between the U.S. and Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory, while the Taiwanese president has strongly advocated Taiwan’s recognition as a sovereign nation.Beijing has strongly and repeatedly objected to recognition of self-ruled Taiwan and has vowed to seize the island by force if necessary.Last week, China described Azar’s visit as a threat to “peace and stability,” while its defense minister warned against “dangerous moves” by Washington.Washington has said the Taiwan trip is an opportunity to learn from the island’s success story in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and to acknowledge its progressive values.”This trip is a recognition of Taiwan’s success in combating COVID-19 and a testament to the shared beliefs that open and democratic societies are best equipped to combating disease threats like COVID-19,” a Health and Human Services official said to reporters before the trip.Taiwan has recorded fewer than 500 COVID-19 cases and only seven deaths. 
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French President Emmanuel Macron will host a U.N.-backed international donors’ virtual conference Sunday to raise funds for Lebanon following a massive blast at the port of Beirut last week that killed at least 158 people and injured about 6,000 others.U.S. President Donald Trump announced his participation in a tweet Friday, after he talked with Macron and his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Aoun, tweeting that “everyone wants to help!””We will be having a conference call on Sunday with President Macron, leaders of Lebanon, and leaders from various other parts of the world,” he said.In the meantime, the U.S. has delivered emergency aid to Lebanon, starting with food, water, and medical supplies, under Trump’s direction. Initially it has pledged more than $17 million in disaster aid for the country.In other developments, Lebanese security forces fired tear gas Saturday at thousands of demonstrators who gathered in Beirut’s main square to protest the government’s management of the recent explosion that devastated large parts of the city.At the beginning of a planned protest, a small group of men started throwing stones at security forces as they tried to jump over barriers blocking entry to the parliament building. Police responded by firing tear gas at the protesters.A police spokesman said an officer was killed during scuffles. A police officer at the scene said that the officer died after falling down an elevator shaft when he was chased by protesters into a building in the area.The demonstrators also stormed the foreign ministry building while others in Martyrs Square set up symbolic nooses for politicians and chanted “the people want the fall of the regime.”The protesters later set fire to a truck that was reinforcing barriers on a street leading to the parliament building.The Lebanese Red Cross said more than a dozen protesters were hospitalized and scores of others received medical treatment on the scene.The protest, the first significant demonstration since the explosion, occurred amid mounting anger at Lebanon’s political leadership.The country’s leaders have been accused of widespread corruption and incompetence that contributed to Tuesday’s devastating explosion.Prime Minister Hassan Diab said Friday he will draft legislation calling for early elections and is willing to remain in the position for two months to allow political leaders time to implement structural reforms.The head of the Kataeb Party, Sami Gemayal, told mourners at the funeral of party Secretary-General Nazar Najarian Saturday that he was withdrawing three party members from parliament in the wake of the fallout from the explosion.Progressive Socialist Party and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt told Arab media he was calling for early parliamentary elections and that protesters have the right to demand that political leaders resign.Jumblatt said, however, it is up to Christian protesters and Christian political parties to call for an end to the mandate of President Michel Aoun.Christian political leader Samir Geagea has also called for early parliamentary elections but stopped short of withdrawing his party’s members from parliament.The U.S. Embassy in Beirut said Saturday the U.S. government backs the demonstrators’ rights to peaceful protest and is urging them to “refrain from violence.” In a tweet, the embassy also said the Lebanese people “deserved leaders who listen to them and change course to respond to popular demands for transparency and accountability.”
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U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be reduced to “a number less than 5,000” by the end of November.The reduction in force comment was made by the defense chief in an interview broadcast Saturday on Fox News.Earlier last week, President Donald Trump said in an interview with Axios that he would like to see the approximately 8,600 U.S. troops in Afghanistan decreased by “anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000.”  
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Britain’s armed forces have been asked to help deal with boats carrying migrants across the Channel from France, the Defense Ministry said Saturday after a spate of arrivals on the southern English coast.Taking advantage of a spell of hot weather and calm seas, hundreds of people including children and pregnant women have made the dangerous 33-km (21-mile) crossing in recent days, many in overloaded rubber dinghies and other small vessels.The Defense Ministry said it had received a formal request from the Home Office, or interior ministry, to assist the UK Border Force with its operations in the Dover Straits.”We are assessing the requirements … and are working hard to identify how we can most effectively assist,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.A Home Office spokeswoman declined to comment.300-plus arrivalsMore than 200 people arrived on the English coast on Thursday, followed by 130 on Friday, and media reported more arrivals on Saturday as the hot weather persisted.A junior Home Office minister in charge of immigration compliance, Chris Philp, called the rise in arrivals “shameful” and sought to put pressure on France ahead of a meeting with his French counterpart in Paris next week.”The French need to stop these illegal migrants from getting in the water in the first place,” he said in an opinion column published in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, adding that Britain would seek to return to France those who made it across.France’s interior ministry said surveillance teams on the northern coast were intercepting migrants daily and it had mobilized extra resources. It said five times as many migrant boats had been caught between January and July as were caught during the same period in 2019.FILE – French gendarmes patrol the beach in Ambleteuse near Calais, northern France, Jan. 18, 2019, looking to halt migrants’ bid to cross the English Channel.”This is a joint problem … which needs a joint operational response,” a spokesman said.The Sunday Telegraph reported that France would ask Britain to pay 30 million pounds ($39.12 million) to police the English Channel and that the UK had not yet decided whether to accept that demand.’Not a crisis’Uncontrolled arrivals of asylum-seekers and migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia have long been a source of tension between European countries struggling to find an effective joint response.Britain left the European Union in January and a transition period during which most EU rules and accords are still in force will end December 31, which could further complicate cooperation with EU member France.Immigration has been an especially polarizing issue in Britain since the Brexit referendum in 2016 because “taking back control” of immigration and border policy was presented as one of the key advantages by pro-Brexit campaigners.Home Secretary Priti Patel, an enthusiastic Brexiteer, made the link in a tweet on Friday about the Channel crossings: “I know that when the British people say they want to take back control of our borders, this is exactly what they mean.”Critics such as groups campaigning for the rights of immigrants and refugees accuse the government of stoking some voters’ xenophobic fears by magnifying the issue.”Britain is better than this. The arrival of small numbers of people by boat is not a crisis,” said Stephen Hale, chief executive of Refugee Action, who urged the government to focus on the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic crisis.The numbers crossing the Channel are tiny compared with the flows of people who try to reach EU countries such as Malta, Greece, Italy and Spain every year by crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa or Turkey, thousands of them dying on the way.
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Twitter Inc has approached TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to express interest in acquiring the U.S. operations of the video-sharing app, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, as experts raised doubts over Twitter’s ability to put together financing for a potential deal.It is far from certain that Twitter would be able to outbid Microsoft Corp and complete such a transformative deal in the 45 days that U.S. President Donald Trump has given ByteDance to agree to a sale, the sources said on Saturday.The news of Twitter and TikTok being in preliminary talks and Microsoft still being seen as the front-runner in bidding for the app’s U.S. operations was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.Twitter has a market capitalization of close to $30 billion, almost as much as the valuation of TikTok’s assets to be divested, and would need to raise additional capital to fund the deal, according to the sources.”Twitter will have a hard time putting together enough financing to acquire even the U.S. operations of TikTok. It doesn’t have enough borrowing capacity,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan.”If it (Twitter) tries to put together an investor group, the terms will be tough. Twitter’s own shareholders might prefer that management focus on its existing business,” he added.One of Twitter’s shareholders, private equity firm Silver Lake, is interested in helping fund a potential deal, one of the sources added.Twitter has also privately made a case that its bid would face less regulatory scrutiny than Microsoft’s, and will not face any pressure from China given that it is not active in that country, the sources said.TikTok, ByteDance and Twitter declined to comment.TikTok has come under fire from U.S. lawmakers over national security concerns surrounding data collection.Earlier this week, Trump unveiled bans on U.S. transactions with the China-based owners of messaging app WeChat and TikTok, escalating tensions between the two countries.Trump said this week he would support Microsoft’s efforts to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations if the U.S. government got a “substantial portion” of the proceeds. He nevertheless said he will ban the popular app on September 15.Microsoft said on Sunday it was aiming to conclude negotiations for a deal by mid-September.  
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China on Saturday sealed off another village in Inner Mongolia after a resident died from bubonic plague, the second lockdown in the region in two days.According to a statement issued by the Health Commission of Bayannaoer, a local patient suffering with the centuries-old disease died Friday of multiple organ failure. He was the second victim of the plague reported this month in the northern Chinese region.”The place of residence of the deceased is locked down, and a comprehensive epidemiological investigation is being carried out,” the announcement posted on the commission’s website said.The first lockdown was announced Thursday in an adjacent city when the health commission of Baotou announced a villager there had died of circulatory system failure.Map of China showing Inner Mongolia regionThe bubonic plague is a highly infectious and often fatal disease, “with a case-fatality ratio of 30% – 100% if left untreated,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO).The authorities in both cities issued a third-level alert – the second lowest in a four-level system – effective immediately until the end of 2020, to prevent the spread of the disease.While the disease is spread mostly by rodents, authorities in both cities have warned that human-to-human transmission is possible. “Currently, there is a risk of human plague spreading in our city,” the statement reads.All close and secondary contacts of the patients have been quarantined, the two commissions said. They also urged people to reduce contact with wild animals and avoid hunting, skinning or eating animals that could cause infection.Cases are becoming increasingly rare in recent years in China. According to China’s National Health Commission, there were five cases in 2019, with one death. Worldwide, there are 1,000 to 2,000 cases each year that are reported to the WHO.
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Chinese tech giant Huawei is running out of processor chips to make smartphones because of U.S. sanctions and will be forced to stop production of its own most advanced chips, a company executive says, in a sign of growing damage to Huawei’s business from American pressure. Huawei Technologies Ltd., one of the biggest producers of smartphones and network equipment, is at the center of U.S.-Chinese tension over technology and security. The feud has spread to include the popular Chinese-owned video app TikTok and China-based messaging service WeChat. Washington cut off Huawei’s access to U.S. components and technology including Google’s music and other smartphone services last year. Those penalties were tightened in May when the White House barred vendors worldwide from using U.S. technology to produce components for Huawei. Washington also is lobbying European and other allies to exclude Huawei from planned next-generation networks as a security risk. Production to stopProduction of Kirin chips designed by Huawei’s own engineers will stop September 15 because they are made by contractors that need U.S. manufacturing technology, said Richard Yu, president of the company’s consumer unit. He said Huawei lacks the ability to make its own chips.  “This is a very big loss for us,” Yu said Friday at an industry conference, China Info 100, according to a video recording of his comments posted on multiple websites.  “Unfortunately, in the second round of U.S. sanctions, our chip producers only accepted orders until May 15. Production will close on September 15,” Yu said. “This year may be the last generation of Huawei Kirin high-end chips.”  More broadly, Huawei’s smartphone production has “no chips and no supply,” Yu said.  Yu said this year’s smartphone sales probably will be lower than 2019’s level of 240 million handsets but gave no details. The company didn’t immediately respond to questions Saturday. Spying a concernHuawei, founded in 1987 by a former military engineer, denies accusations it might facilitate Chinese spying. Chinese officials accuse Washington of using national security as an excuse to stop a competitor to U.S. tech industries. Huawei is a leader among emerging Chinese competitors in telecoms, electric cars, renewable energy and other fields in which the ruling Communist Party hopes China can become a global leader. Huawei has 180,000 employees and one of the world’s biggest research and development budgets at more than $15 billion a year. But, like most global tech brands, it relies on contractors to manufacture its products.  Huawei became the world’s top-selling smartphone brand in the three months ending in June, passing rival Samsung for the first time because of strong demand in China, according to Canalys. Sales abroad fell 27% from a year earlier.
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