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Hungary’s prime minister on Friday touted what he called his victory at the European Union summit, where the bloc’s leaders decided on a massive seven-year budget and coronavirus recovery plan, but acknowledged he did not achieve his goal of de-linking EU funds from rule of law considerations.
Hungary and Poland, two nations led by right-wing populist governments, are both in the midst of EU proceedings over concerns that they are violating EU standards with laws and practices that threaten the independence of judges and press freedoms, and could face sanctions. At the marathon EU summit that ended Tuesday, leaders had debated tying receiving EU funds to demands that member nations follow EU democratic standards but did not explicitly do so.
“Polish and Hungarians … thwarted the attempt of others deciding about the money due to us,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday on state radio about the EU deal worth just over 1.8 trillion euros ($2 trillion) in which Hungary and Poland were considered to be among the greatest beneficiaries.
At the end of the summit, Orban said “any attempt to make a connection between the rule of law and the budget was … successfully rejected,” but on Friday he acknowledged the issue is far from settled.
“We didn’t win the war but simply only a very important battle,” Orban said.
According to news site portfolio.hu, Hungary may get as much as 52.8 billion euros ($61.3 billion) from the EU in the seven-year budget period starting in 2021, about 35% more than in the last budget.
Orban arrived at the EU summit with a resolution from the Hungarian parliament demanding, among other things, an end to an EU sanctioning process launched against Hungary in 2018 due to rule of law concerns.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the initiative to close the proceeding “must come from Hungary.”  
“Hungary would like — this is what Prime Minister Orban has told me — for this not to be such an impasse,” Merkel at the end of the summit. “We will support Hungary in this. But the decisive paths must, of course, be specified by Hungary.”
While Orban had mentioned even vetoing a deal at the summit if funds were tied to rule of law standards, it would have been highly risky to go directly against the wishes of Germany, which is Hungary’s largest trading partner and was strongly behind the coronavirus recovery package.
“Viktor Orban understood that he could not fundamentally oppose German aspirations and interests, which were for there to be an agreement by all means,” said Attila Tibor Nagy of the Center for Fair Political Analysis.
He said with Germany worried about a collapse of key export markets like Italy and Spain, “the Hungarian government realized that the rule of law clause was not worth vetoing over.”
After the EU summit, however, EU officials reiterated that nations still must adhere to democratic standards. There are also concerns that Hungary and Poland have refused to join the EU public prosecutor’s office, which will be investigating fraud connected to EU funds.  
Hungary has built a rash of large soccer stadiums in small towns under Orban’s rule. Some officials in Hungary and other EU nations have also been accused of obtuse land deals that gave them access to EU farm subsidies while impoverishing farmers.  
“Protecting our budget and the respect for the rule of law go hand in hand,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday in the EU Parliament. “We must also do everything we can to protect European money by stepping up the fight against fraud.”
“This means having the right controls in place, including a database that puts us in the position to know who the final beneficiaries of EU funding are,” she added.
Von der Leyen said the Commission would seek to again advance its proposal for funding cuts to member states that had a lack of judicial independence or other democratic failings. And EU Parliament President David Sassoli said this week that tying rule of law demands to disbursements was “a topic the Parliament cares a lot about.”  
The EU legislature on Thursday adopted a resolution by a wide majority which, while criticizing cuts to the 2021-2027 EU budget in research and health, also expressed lawmakers’ desire to make sure that governments violating the bloc’s “fundamental values” will have their access to EU funds blocked or limited.
The European Parliament has the final say in approving the budget.
Given that atmosphere, the Orban government is preparing supporters for new confrontations with the EU over its perceived democratic deficits.
Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga, who has faced strong criticism in the European Parliament while defending Hungarian policies, told the pro-government Magyar Nemzet newspaper that “the gist of the fight is yet to come.”
“I expect a new series of tougher, more unscrupulous attacks than ever before to begin in the fall,” Varga said.
Analysts said the trend in the EU was to reinforce rule of law principles.
“It’s evident that Viktor Orban sees, as do others, that the EU is increasingly going moving toward the implementation of these kinds of conditions and the retention of funds,” said Andrea Virag, strategic director at Republikon Institute, a Budapest-based liberal think-tank. “So while they may be talking about a victory, they are readying themselves and voters that a debate about this is still to come.”
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China has ordered the closure of the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu in retaliation for the U.S. decision to close China’s consulate in Houston, Texas, by Friday.There are also calls in Chinese media and in a Twitter poll for Beijing to “punch harder” by shutting the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong as U.S. President Donald Trump hints at closing more Chinese consulates in the U.S.Two analysts who spoke to VOA say that if the reciprocal closings escalate, the U.S.-China relationship will be on a downward spiral, with the worst yet to come.A new Cold War“It is an escalation (of diplomatic tensions). And it is a new cold war that’s been launched step by step by the U.S. and China,” said Sang Pu, a political commentator in Hong Kong.“U.S.-China relations have been hitting all-time lows since the [coronavirus] pandemic started or, in particular, Hong Kong’s national security law took effect,” Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Beijing’s Renmin University, told VOA.“There are still four months ahead of the U.S. presidential election and six months before the next administration takes office in the White House. During that period of time, Trump will no doubt make many other moves to worsen the relationship between both countries,” the professor projected.Election gambitShi believes the Houston consulate shutdown is not only designed to provoke China, but a gambit by Trump to turn around his polling decline.He said China finds accusations made by the U.S. State Department groundless — although the Trump administration said the closure of the Houston consulate was fully justifiable.David Stilwell, who overseas policy for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department, told The New York Times on Wednesday that the Houston consulate had a history of engaging in “subversive behavior” and was the epicenter of research theft in the U.S.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 16 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 34 MB1080p | 69 MBOriginal | 99 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioHe said Consul General Cai Wei and two other Chinese diplomats were caught using false identification to escort Chinese travelers on May 31 to the gate area of a charter flight from a Houston airport.Espionage and scientific theftsStilwell added that some of China’s attempted scientific thefts in the U.S. had accelerated in the past six months and could be related to efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, according to the Times.In response, Cai denied the claim in an interview with KTRK-TV in Houston. “Where is the evidence?” he asked. He called the U.S. official a liar.Cold War-style confrontationsThe U.S. has repeatedly clashed with China over trade and intellectual property issues, which Sang in Hong Kong said will not easily end because cold war-style confrontations between the two countries keep emerging.There is speculation the U.S. may next shut down China’s consulate in San Francisco, California, because a Chinese researcher, charged by the FBI for concealing her ties with the Chinese military, has taken refuge inside the facility.Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular media briefing that China’s Houston consulate has done positive work in the past 40 years, saying “the U.S. claimed that China’s Consulate in Houston was engaged in activities incompatible with its status, which is completely malicious slander.”He added the consulate shutdown “severely damages the U.S.-China relations and is breaking down the friendship bridge between both sides.”The CCP’s dissolutionInvestors in China and Hong Kong are worried the consulate shutdowns could lead to the U.S. cutting official ties with Beijing or an eventual disconnect between the U.S. and Chinese economies, according to Liao Qun, chief economist at China CITIC Bank International Ltd.The level of uncertainty is spelling bad news for investment, he said.If tensions escalate, “capitals may exit Hong Kong and China. In addition, the global trade will be hugely affected. If the U.S. cuts ties with China, their phase-one trade pact will be nullified, which will de-stabilize the (global) trade dynamics. So, it all depends on what comes next,” Liao said.  
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An international team has completed a preliminary investigative analysis of the black boxes from a Ukrainian passenger jetliner accidentally shot down by Iran in January, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.”The work in Paris is finished, but the investigation is far from over. There are still many key questions that need to be answered,” board chair Katy Fox said in a statement, without giving further details.Fox urged Iran, the country that is leading the investigation, to release information as soon as possible, adding that the country has not authorized the board to release details.Investigators from the countries of the victims of the plane crash met in Paris this week at France’s BEA accident investigation agency to begin extracting the data.The Ukraine International Airlines plane was hit by two missiles after taking off from Teheran for Kyiv on January 8 and crashed, killing all 176 people on board.Iran admitted days later its forces accidentally shot the airliner down.Most of the victims were Iranian and Canadian, and many were dual nationals.  
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A U.S. F-15 fighter jet came within visual range of an Iranian passenger aircraft Thursday but it was at a safe distance, two U.S. officials told Reuters.The U.S. jet was on a routine mission near the At Tanf garrison in Syria and conducted a standard visual inspection of a Mahan Air passenger airliner from about 1,000 meters away, said Navy Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command. The visual inspection occurred to ensure the safety of coalition personnel at At Tanf garrison.“Once the F-15 pilot identified the aircraft as a Mahan Air passenger plane, the F-15 safely opened distance from the aircraft. The professional intercept was conducted in accordance with international standards,” Urban said.One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the incident took place over Syria.Earlier IRIB news agency reported that two U.S. fighter jets came close to an Iranian passenger plane over Syrian airspace, causing the pilot to change altitude quickly to avoid collision and injuring several passengers.The incident is likely to ramp up tensions between longtime foes Iran and the United States.The agency initially said a single Israeli jet had come near the plane but later quoted the pilot as saying there were two jets that identified themselves as American.The pilot of the passenger plane contacted the jet pilots to warn them to keep a safe distance and they identified themselves as American, IRIB reported.Video posted by the agency showed a single jet from the window of the plane and comments from a passenger who had blood on his face.The Iranian plane, belonging to Mahan Air, was heading from Tehran to Beirut and landed safely in Beirut, an airport source told Reuters.An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment and there was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.The incident is being investigated and Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said the necessary legal and political action would be taken, according to the Foreign Ministry website.Israel and the United States have long accused Mahan Air of ferrying weapons for Iranian-linked guerrillas in Syria and elsewhere.The United States imposed sanctions on Mahan Air in 2011, saying it provided financial and other support to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.Tensions have spiked between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have battered Iran’s economy.One passenger quoted in the IRIB report described how his head had hit the roof of the plane during the change in altitude and video showed an elderly passenger sprawled on the floor.All of the passengers left the plane, some with minor injuries, the head of the Beirut airport told Reuters.The plane arrived back in Tehran in the early hours of Friday morning, the Fars news agency reported.FILE – A U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jet takes off from Incirlik Air Base, near Adana, Turkey, Dec. 15, 2015.VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
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A UNICEF-sponsored COVID-19 Innovation Challenge saw some 80,000 young Nigerians submit community-based solutions to the coronavirus pandemic. The award-winning entries, from Nigerians aged 14 to 35, included one man who pitched the use of solar panels to create a sustainable water supply system to help combat the virus. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.Camera: Simpa Samson  
 
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Analysts say China is likely to soon order the closure of a U.S. consulate in China — possibly in the cities of Shenyang or Wuhan — in retaliation for the U.S. decision to close China’s consulate in Houston, Texas, by Friday.  There are also calls in Chinese media and in a Twitter poll for Beijing to “punch harder” by shutting the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong as U.S. President Donald Trump hints at closing more Chinese consulates in the U.S.  Two analysts who spoke to VOA said that if the reciprocal closings escalate, the U.S.-China relationship will be on a downward spiral, with the worst yet to come. A new cold war  “It is an escalation [of diplomatic tensions]. And it is a new cold war that’s been launched step by step by the U.S. and China,” said Sang Pu, a political commentator in Hong Kong. The Chinese Consulate is shown in Houston, July 23, 2020.”U.S.-China relations have been hitting all-time lows since the [coronavirus] pandemic started or, in particular, Hong Kong’s national security law took effect,” Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Beijing’s Renmin University, told VOA. “There are still four months ahead of the U.S. presidential election and six months before the next administration takes office in the White House. During that period of time, Trump will no doubt make many other moves to worsen the relationship between both countries,” the professor projected. Election gambit Shi believes the Houston consulate shutdown is not only designed to provoke China but is also a gambit by Trump to turn around his polling decline.      He said China finds accusations made by the U.S. State Department groundless — although the Trump administration said the closure of the Houston consulate was fully justifiable.  People remove bags from inside the Chinese Consulate to load into a van in Houston, July 23, 2020.David Stilwell, who oversees policy for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department, told The New York Times on Wednesday that the Houston consulate had a history of engaging in “subversive behavior” and was the epicenter of research theft in the U.S. He said Consul General Cai Wei and two other Chinese diplomats were caught using false identification to escort Chinese travelers on May 31 to the gate area of a charter flight from a Houston airport.Stilwell added that some of China’s attempted scientific thefts in the U.S. had accelerated in the past six months and could be related to efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, according to the Times.  In response, Cai denied the claim in an interview with KTRK-TV in Houston. “Where is the evidence?” he asked. He called the U.S. official a liar.    Cold war-style confrontations The U.S. has repeatedly clashed with China over trade and intellectual property issues, which Sang in Hong Kong said will not easily end because cold war-style confrontations between the two countries keep emerging.  There is speculation the U.S. may next shut down China’s consulate in San Francisco, California, because a Chinese researcher, charged by the FBI for concealing her ties with the Chinese military, has taken refuge inside the facility. China’s foreign ministry didn’t announce any retaliatory measures on Thursday.  Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gestures for questions during the daily briefing in Beijing, July 23, 2020.Its spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, told a regular media briefing that China’s Houston consulate has done positive work in the past 40 years, saying “the U.S. claimed that China’s consulate in Houston was engaged in activities incompatible with its status, which is completely malicious slander.” He added the consulate shutdown “severely damages the U.S.-China relations and is breaking down the friendship bridge between both sides.” CCP’s dissolution Investors in China and Hong Kong are worried the consulate shutdowns could lead to the U.S. cutting official ties with Beijing or an eventual disconnect between the U.S. and Chinese economies, according to Liao Qun, chief economist at China CITIC Bank International Ltd. The level of uncertainty is spelling bad news for investment, he said. If tensions escalate, “capitals may exit Hong Kong and China. In addition, the global trade will be hugely affected. If the U.S. cuts ties with China, their phase-one trade pact will be nullified, which will destabilize the [global] trade dynamics. So, it all depends on what comes next,” Liao said.
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A Hamburg court convicted a 93-year old German man of helping to murder 5,232 prisoners, many of them Jewish, at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II and gave him a suspended two-year sentence in one of the last cases against Nazi-era crimes.Rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair and hiding his face behind a blue folder, Bruno D. acknowledged he had been an SS guard in the Stutthof concentration camp near Gdansk in what was then occupied Poland, but he said his presence did not amount to guilt.This did not convince the court in Hamburg, which found him guilty Thursday of being involved in the killings from August 1944 to April 1945.”How could you get used to the horror?” asked Judge Anne Meier-Goering as she read the verdict.About 65,000 people, including many Jews, were murdered or died at Stutthof, the museum’s website says. Prosecutors argued that many were shot in the back of the head or gassed.As Bruno D. was only 17 or 18 years old at the time of the crimes, he was tried in a youth court and sessions were limited to two to three hours per day because of his frail health.Prosecutors had called for a prison sentence of three years. In his final testimony to the court, he apologized for the suffering of victims but stopped short of taking responsibility.”I would like to apologize to all the people who have gone through this hell of insanity and to their relatives and survivors,” he told the court on Monday, broadcaster NDR and other media outlets reported.Some 75 years after the Holocaust, the number of suspects is dwindling but prosecutors are still trying to bring individuals to justice. A landmark conviction in 2011 cleared the way to more prosecutions, as working in a camp was for the first time found to be ground for culpability with no proof of a specific crime.
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Thailand says it may be ready to begin human trials of a homegrown coronavirus vaccine by October, following promising results with mice and monkeys.   “We anticipate that ideally it’s October, or within Q4 of this year,” said Kiat Ruxrungtham, head of the vaccine research center at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University leading the trials.   If all goes well, he added, mass production could start by the third or fourth quarter of next year.   Scientists across the globe are scrambling to develop a vaccine that can beat back the COVID-19 virus, hoping to whittle a process that typically takes years down to months. About 180 vaccines are in development. More than 20 of them have already gone on to human trials, with some countries aiming to have a vaccine approved by the end of this year.   Most frontrunners are in richer countries, mainly in the West, leaving the less well-off worried they’ll be pushed to the back of the line when a vaccine is finally rolled out.   FILE – A subject receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine by Moderna for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.Recent history gives Thailand cause to fret. When H1NI swine flu hit Asia in 2009, a vaccine was ready within months. Thailand struck deals with overseas developers to buy 2 million doses, but they arrived only after the pandemic had passed. By the time it was over, the virus had infected more than 47,000 Thais and killed 347.   “We got it … after the pandemic [had] gone. So that [was] one of the lessons learned,” Kiat said.   That lesson was that Thailand should not rely on others to fight its way out of the next pandemic. It’s the main motive behind the country’s push for a vaccine against COVID-19, said Sophon Iamsirithavorn, director of the communicable diseases division in the Thai Public Health Ministry.    “Since the demand for [a] vaccine will be very high, if Thailand can develop a vaccine and have our own vaccine manufacturing in the country, it will guarantee [an] adequate amount,” he said.   “If we want to buy it from other vaccine companies, it may take a longer time to get the vaccine that we need for a significant proportion of the population.”   The trials make Thailand one of the few developing countries in the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine.   FILE – A lab technician holds a bottle containing results for a COVID-19 vaccine at a testing center run by Chulalongkorn University in Saraburi Province, north of Bangkok, Thailand, May 23, 2020.Kiat said his team’s vaccine convincingly boosted antibodies to the coronavirus in two rounds of trials each on mice and monkeys. To gauge its potency in humans and discern the right dosing, they will start injecting 90 volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 80 with low, medium and high doses in the next few months. If the vaccine continues to prove its mettle, a second phase of human trials with 1,000 volunteers would begin by early next year.   Human trials would normally move on to a third and final phase with several thousand volunteers after that. However, given the urgency, Kiat said the Thai  Food and Drug Administration could decide to skip that step and grant emergency use authorization for mass production if the second phase goes well and other governments have already approved coronavirus vaccines developed using similar technology.  Even then, other vaccines are likely to make it to market well before Thailand can ramp up the manufacture of its own design.   Sophon said another, and possibly speedier, route by which Thailand could get its hands on enough doses is to strike deals with the developers of those other vaccines to manufacture them in Thailand by way of technology transfer.   “If one of those successful candidates matches with the capacity in Thailand then I think technology transfer could be another very good way to ramp up production within Thailand and get more vaccine doses,” said Renu Garg, a medical officer with the World Health Organization’s country team.   Some Western developers have pledged to make their vaccines widely and quickly available when ready. India’s Serum Institute says it will distribute 1 billion doses of a leading candidate in Britain just for other low- and middle-income countries, 40% of them by the end of the year.   The WHO is also working with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, which helps to vaccinate children in developing countries, on a plan that would see richer countries pay for vaccine doses in poorer ones. They hope to have distributed 2 billion doses by next year. Garg said Thailand has shown interest in benefitting, but added that any one country will get enough doses for no more than 20% of its population, hopefully enough to cover its health care workers and others at high risk.   Thailand will want more. Having thus far weathered the global pandemic with fewer than 3,300 confirmed cases among a population of nearly 70 million, Sophon said the country has nearly none of the herd immunity that might come from mass infection. To protect the entire country, he said, it will need to inject nearly half its people with a vaccine.   “We have [a] very low level of transmission, so the number of people who are susceptible [is] probably over 95%. So that’s why if we want to make herd immunity in Thailand we need at least 30 million doses,” Sophon said.   To get there, Thailand believes it will need to make its own vaccine.  
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U.S. prosecutors say the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco is harboring a scientist who hid her affiliation with the Chinese military. Prosecutors charged Tang Juan, a researcher with the University of California in Davis, with one count of visa fraud on June 26.  According to court papers, Tang claimed on her visa application that she had no ties with the People’s Liberation Army.  However, FBI agents later found photos of Tang in a Chinese military uniform in a search of her home, as well as information that she had worked as a researcher at China’s Air Force Military Medical University.   The court filing says Tang denied the allegations when she was interviewed by FBI agents June 20, after which she sought refuge in the San Francisco consulate. Prosecutors’ claim about Tang Juan was first reported by the news website Axios Wednesday, hours after the U.S. State Department ordered the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, to shut down because of what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said was the persistent problem of Beijing’s theft of U.S. intellectual property.   Prosecutors say Tang is part of a program conducted by the PLA to send scientists to the United States on “false pretenses with false covers or false statements about their true employment” with the intention to steal intellectual property from U.S. colleges and research institutes.   Chinese researcher Chen Song, who worked at Stanford University, was arrested last month on a similar charge of visa fraud. The Chinese Consulate General is seen on July 22, 2020, in Houston.China was given until Friday afternoon to close the Houston facility, which has about 60 employees, and President Donald Trump said more consulate closures are “always possible.”    Relations between the world’s two largest economies have steadily worsened in recent months over issues including trade, technology and the new national security law imposed on Hong Kong aimed at squelching pro-democracy activists.  Two Chinese nationals were charged Tuesday with hacking hundreds of entities around the world, including U.S. biotech companies developing COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, while working with China’s security services.  
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An Iranian rights activist has denounced an Iranian court’s upholding of his eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence as unfair due to what he said were multiple injustices in the case against him.“I object to the verdict and have done nothing wrong,” Arsham Rezaee told VOA Persian in a phone interview from his home in Tehran this week.Rezaee, a 28-year-old construction worker, was referring to what he said was a Tehran appellate court’s decision Saturday to uphold the prison sentence handed to him last year after his January 7, 2019 arrest in the capital. He has been free on bail since November 13.A lower Iranian court had sentenced Rezaee to an eight-and-a-half-year prison term on February 27, 2019, on charges of spreading propaganda against Iran’s Islamist ruling system, conspiracy to act against national security, insulting the nation’s leadership and alcohol possession. The Revolutionary Court judge who issued the verdict was Mohammad Moghisseh, whom the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned in December for overseeing what it said was “countless unfair trials, during which charges went unsubstantiated and evidence was disregarded.”In a March 2019 interview with the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, the activist’s mother, Keshvar Rezaee, said her son, Arsham, was arrested for participating in peaceful anti-government protests, informing the Iranian public about the living conditions of political prisoners and meeting with their families.Speaking to VOA Persian, Arsham Rezaee described how Iranian authorities filed bogus charges against him to justify his detention.Rezaee said the charge of spreading antigovernment propaganda related to a picture of him that Iranian security agents found in his mobile phone, which they had confiscated during his arrest. He said the photo showed him holding up a sign saying “No to Execution” during a 2018 protest against a death sentence handed to Iranian Kurdish activist Ramin Hossein Panahi. Iran went on to execute Panahi in secret in September of that year.As for the other charges, Rezaee said the security agents who seized his phone accessed it to search for his friends, arresting two of them and using the arrests as a pretext to accuse him of being part of a conspiracy.Rezaee said the agents also claimed to have found a notebook, during a search of his home, containing the words “Death to the Dictator” — a popular chant of anti-government protesters venting their anger toward Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in recent years. That notebook entry was the basis for accusing him of insulting Iran’s leadership, he said. It was not clear if the activist had written the phrase in the notebook.Another injustice cited by Rezaee was his assertion that the Iranian security agents who interrogated him last year pressured him to sign a written confession in front of a camera. He did not elaborate on whether he had signed such a forced confession.Rezaee also noted that his lawyer, whose identity he did not reveal, was unable to access any files to help with his defense, despite the lawyer having made multiple visits to judicial offices.The activist expressed hope that he ultimately would not have to serve a full eight-and-a-half years in prison. Article 134 of Iran’s penal code stipulates that defendants only must service the longest prison sentence in cases involving convictions on multiple charges. In Rezaee’s case, the longest sentence applied to the four charges against him was five years.There was no word in Iranian state media about the appellate court’s upholding of Rezaee’s prison sentence or whether Article 134 would be applied in his case.Defendants whose prison sentences are upheld by Iranian appeals courts typically must wait several weeks until the rulings are delivered to prison authorities, who then issue a summons for the convicted person to appear at a jail to start the sentence.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to give a speech Thursday in California about China at a time of escalated tensions between the two countries.The State Department said Pompeo’s address is titled “Communist China and the future of the free world.”The United States ordered the closure of China’s consulate in Houston, saying Wednesday the move was done to “protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information.”“We are setting out clear expectations for how the Chinese Communist Party is going to behave, and when they don’t, we’re going to take actions that protect the American people, protect our security, our national security, and also protect our economy and jobs,” Pompeo said Wednesday during a visit to Denmark.China rejected the U.S. action as a “political provocation” and said it would respond with “legitimate and necessary actions.”“China strongly condemns and firmly opposes such an outrageous and unjustified move which sabotages China-U.S. relations,” the Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement.  “The U.S. accusations are groundless fabrications, and the excuses it cites are far-fetched and untenable.” 
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U.S. weather forecasters are monitoring two tropical storms expected to get stronger Thursday.The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Tropical Storm Gonzalo was centered in the Atlantic Ocean about 1,800 kilometers east of the southern Windward Islands Wednesday evening with top sustained winds at 85 kph.Forecasters said if the storm keeps on its present easterly track, it could be at hurricane strength sometime Thursday and approach the Windward Islands by the weekend.There are no watches or warnings so far.Gonzalo is the seventh named storm in what is expected to be a busy Atlantic hurricane season. It is also the earliest in the season that a storm starting with “G” has formed.In the Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Douglas is getting stronger and could build into a major hurricane sometime Thursday.Douglas was 2,500 kilometers southwest of Baja California, late Wednesday with top sustained winds of 130 kph.As of now, the storm poses no threat to land, but the National Hurricane Center is urging “interests in the Hawaiian Islands” to monitor its progress.  
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Trustees of California State University, the nation’s largest four-year public university system, voted on Wednesday to make ethnic and social justice studies a graduation requirement.It would take effect in three years and would be the first change to the school’s general education curriculum in over 40 years, coming amid a national reckoning over racism and police brutality.Meanwhile, the state Legislature is on the verge of passing a bill to require ethnic studies, a more narrowly focused proposal that wouldn’t count social justice classes. If signed by the governor, it would overrule the school’s action, a scenario denounced by school leaders as an intrusion into academia.The Assembly has to review minor amendments before sending the bill Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has final say. Some trustees said if the Legislature’s proposal is also approved, it might result in students being required to take two 3-credit courses in course topics.The plan approved by California State University’s trustees allows students to choose from a wider array of ethnic studies topics to fulfill the course requirement than the Legislature’s bill. It allows students to take courses on social justice that explore issues such as the criminal justice system and public health disparities.”It’s grounded in ethnic studies, but it is broader, more inclusive, gives students choice,” said California State University Chancellor Timothy White before voting in favor on Wednesday.Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a San Diego Democrat and former professor, authored the Legislature’s bill. While trustees and legislators agree on the need for more ethnic studies, Weber and supporters of her proposal say the mandate adopted by the university system is weaker because it allows social justice classes.”This is not a requirement for ethnic studies,” said trustee Silas Abrego ahead of Wednesday’s vote. He was one of the few members to vote against the university’s plan, saying the ethnic studies faculty was not consulted on the school’s proposal. He favors Weber’s bill.Her bill would take effect sooner, in the 2021-22 academic year, and require students to take one course focusing on Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans or Latina and Latino Americans.The university system’s proposal would take effect in the 2022-23 academic year and offers a greater selection of topics than the Legislature’s bill, which critics said does not include some courses such as Jewish studies. The university’s plan would cost $3 million to $4 million, while the bill is estimated to need $16 million for implementation.Tony Thurmond, who as State Superintendent of Public Instruction sits on the board, voted against the university’s proposal. He spoke in favor of the bill’s tailored approach to four ethnic groups.As chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, Weber wrote earlier this week her legislation was prompted because the university was too slow on setting a requirement after announcing ethnic studies plans almost five years ago.She noted the California Faculty Association supports her bill. The association, which represents 29,000 faculty members at California State University, has said the aim should be teaching students about the experiences of minorities and people of color in the U.S.Trustee Lateefah Simon called the school’s proposal “exhaustive” and “thoughtful,” but voted against it, saying its “social justice umbrella” approach might allow students to “forgo ethnic studies curricula.” 
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Fake news about the coronavirus can do real harm. Polygraph.info is spotlighting fact-checks from other reliable sources here​.Daily Debunk”Trump’s alternate reality on COVID-19 threat,” Associated Press, July 20.​
 Social Media Disinfo ScreenshotClaim: The COVID-19 pandemic was planned by the Rockefeller Foundation in “Operation Lockstep.”Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: Snopes Factual Reads on CoronavirusContact Tracing, a Key Way to Slow COVID-19, Is Badly Underused by the U.S.
Despite tracing’s success in other countries, the U.S. government has failed to adequately fund or apply the tool
— Scientific American, July 21
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Virtual instruction. Mandated masks. Physical distancing. The start of school will look very different this year because of the coronavirus — and that’s OK with the vast majority of Americans.Only about 1 in 10 Americans thinks child-care centers, preschools or K-12 schools should open this fall without restrictions, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Most think mask requirements and other safety measures are necessary to restart in-person instruction, and roughly 3 in 10 say that teaching kids in classrooms shouldn’t happen at all.The findings are a sharp contrast to the picture that President Donald Trump paints as he pressures schools to reopen. The Republican president claims to have wide support for a full reopening, arguing that Democrats oppose it for political reasons.Few schools, however, plan to return to business as usual. Many of the nation’s largest school districts have announced that they’ll be entirely virtual in the fall or use a hybrid model that has children in classrooms only a couple of days a week.The poll found only 8% of Americans said K-12 schools should open for normal in-person instruction. Just 14% said they thought schools could reopen with minor adjustments, while 46% thought major adjustments would be needed. Another 31% thought instruction should not be in person this fall. It’s little different among the parents of school-age children.FILE – The cafeteria area of an elementary school is seen through a fence in Los Angeles, July 17, 2020.The poll also showed that Americans felt the same about colleges and universities reopening this fall.Those surveyed expressed little confidence in Trump’s handling of education issues. Only 36% said they approved of Trump’s performance, while 63% disapproved. But a stark political divide on opening schools suggested that many Republicans are taking cues from the president.About 9 in 10 Democrats said requiring students and staff to wear masks was essential to reopening, while only about half of Republicans said the same. Democrats were roughly twice as likely as Republicans to say schools should use a mix of in-person and virtual instruction to reduce the number of students in buildings, 77% to 39%.Kids shouldn’t be ‘guinea pigs’Patty Kasbek, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, said she desperately wanted her two children, ages 5 and 10, to return to school. After months at home, she said, the family was stressed and anxious. But with the virus surging, she said she didn’t see a safe way to reopen.“School shouldn’t even be considered right now,” said Kasbek, 40. “We need to get this under control before we play with the virus. It’s just too dangerous to put our kids out there like guinea pigs.”Her local school district is planning to reopen with new safety measures, she said, but she’s opting to enroll her children in a virtual school. She isn’t as worried about her own health but fears that reopening schools could spread the virus to others.”I just see it going very badly, and I’m very, very worried for the teachers,” said Kasbek, who considers herself a Democrat.Des Moines Public Schools custodian Joel Cruz cleans a teacher’s desk in a classroom at Brubaker Elementary School, July 8, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa.The poll found a majority of Americans, 56%, said they were very or extremely concerned that reopening schools would lead to additional infections in their communities; another 24% were somewhat concerned.Some, however, said they saw little risk. James Rivers, of Ramsey, Minnesota, said schools should reopen without protective measures against the virus. Rivers, a Republican, said Trump was doing a “fine job” and would have his vote in November.“I think it should be just business as usual,” said Rivers, 54. “Yes, there is a COVID virus, but is it any more deadly than the common flu? I don’t think so.”’Get it done’Rivers, who does not have school-age children, said parents who feared the virus could home-school. “As for everybody else who isn’t afraid of a virus that has a less than 2% chance of being fatal, send your kid back to school. Let’s get it done,” he said.Majorities said it was essential that buildings be disinfected daily, temperature checks and face masks be mandatory, and desks be spread apart if schools were to reopen.And 6 in 10 said they thought a mix of in-person and virtual instruction was necessary, to limit the number of students inside at one time. Some of the nation’s largest districts, including New York City’s schools, plan to use that model. But Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said that would fail students and taxpayers, arguing that students should be in the classroom every day.FILE – Amid concerns of the spread of COVID-19, Alma Odong wears a mask as she cleans a classroom at Wylie High School in Wylie, Texas, July 14, 2020.In his campaign to reopen schools, Trump has threatened to cut federal funding for schools that fail to reopen fully. The White House has said he wants to work with Congress to tie future relief funding to reopening. He argues that other countries have reopened schools safely, although some he cites have used the hybrid model that DeVos decried.The Trump administration also has argued that it’s not just about academics. Students need access to meal programs and mental health services, it says.But Trump’s demands put him at odds with his own health officials. He rebuked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for releasing school guidelines that he said were too tough.The poll found about half of parents said they were at least somewhat concerned about their children losing services like school lunches or counseling because of the pandemic.Slipping academicallyMore said they were worried about their children falling behind academically: 55% were very concerned, with another 21% somewhat concerned.A majority of parents, 65%, were at least somewhat concerned about their own ability to juggle responsibilities.Jimmy La Londe, 70, of Hiawassee, Georgia, said he thought schools should reopen with safety measures that local officials thought were necessary. Still, La Londe, who considers himself a Republican, said keeping schools closed would only hurt students and anger taxpayers.“They have to keep the momentum, they have to keep people used to going to school,” he said. “I don’t think you can stop school forever.”
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Ugandan activist Bobi Wine has launched a new political party ahead of a presidential election in which he hopes to be the face of a united opposition against the country’s long-time leader.  
The popular singer and lawmaker, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has led a political pressure group known as People Power, which has captured the imagination of many Ugandans with its calls for President Yoweri Museveni’s retirement.
Wine is calling his new party the National Unity Platform, with an umbrella as its emblem. He has been calling for a united opposition against Museveni, a U.S. ally on regional security who has led this East African country since taking power by force in 1986. The 75-year-old Museveni is increasingly accused of relying on the armed forces to stay in power.  
Wine has been arrested or detained many times, including over a treason charge that he denies. With political rallies now banned, presidential aspirants play cat-and-mouse with security forces seeking to break up anti-government gatherings.  
Museveni accuses Wine and other opposition figures of encouraging young people into rioting.  
“We have consistently said that we are a non-violent movement and we have no plans of establishing a military wing,” Wine said in a statement. “What we are doing today is to launch a political wing of our movement so as to ensure that our mission to use the election as a strategy within the liberation struggle succeeds.”
Wine won a seat in the national assembly in 2017 as an independent candidate not backed by any of major party. His popularity grew when he opposed divisive efforts to prolong Museveni’s rule.
Museveni is eligible to seek another term next year after lawmakers removed constitutional age limits on the presidency.  
This week attorneys for Museveni collected his presidential nomination papers, signaling he wants to run again. Museveni’s party insists he remains its most popular member.
But opponents such as Wine, who is 38, say corruption is thriving and accuse Museveni of personalizing power through his firm grip on the military, the most powerful institution in Uganda.
 
The army has become even more influential amid the coronavirus pandemic as men in military uniform enforce lockdown measures, sometimes with brutal force.  
Despite criticism by some that Wine is unprepared for national leadership, he remains popular among impoverished urban dwellers and his supporters urge him to test his popularity across the country.
“If Bobi Wine cannot lead Uganda but he is the politician voters want to lead them, I do not know what anyone can do about this. Abolish democracy? Change the constitution? Jump into Lake Victoria?” said analyst Musaazi Namiti, a columnist writing in the local Daily Monitor newspaper. “Now is the time for Bobi Wine to test his popularity. He should be the candidate.”
If Wine is to credibly represent the major parties as the sole opposition candidate, he will need to strike a deal with Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential challenger who has not yet revealed his plans. Besigye and Wine announced what they called an alliance in June, although it remains unclear if one will stand down for the other to run.
Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1962. 
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The New York Times reported Tuesday that according to several people familiar with the matter, U.S. Ambassador to Britain Robert Johnson told colleagues in February 2018 that President Donald Trump asked him to reach out to the British government for possible help in getting one of Trump’s golf courses selected as a site for the British Open. The Times said its story was based on information from three people with knowledge of the events. FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump waits on the fourth tee at Turnberry golf course, Scotland, July 14, 2018.The newspaper reported that Johnson brought up the idea of trying to get the tournament assigned to the Trump Turnberry course in Scotland with the secretary of state for Scotland David Mundell, who told the newspaper it would be inappropriate for him to discuss his interactions with Johnson. The report said Mundell instead referred reporters to a British government statement that said Johnson had not made any requests about the tournament. The Times also said Johnson, the State Department and White House all declined to comment. The British Open site is selected by a private organization. 
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