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Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it would permanently suspend accounts that violate its policies while tweeting about QAnon, a fringe group that claims “deep-state” traitors are plotting against President Donald Trump. Twitter, which announced the change on its Twitter Safety page, said it would not serve content and accounts associated with QAnon in trends and recommendations, and would block URLs associated with the group from being shared on the platform. The suspension, which will be rolled out this week, is expected to impact about 150,000 accounts globally, Twitter said. It said that more than 7,000 accounts have been removed in the last several weeks for violating the company’s rules against spam, platform manipulation and ban evasion. The suspensions will be applied to accounts “engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension — something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks,” Twitter said. Last year, the FBI issued a warning about “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists” and designated QAnon as a potential domestic extremist threat. QAnon also claims Democrats are behind international crime rings. 
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As the nation’s coronavirus cases continue to rise and amid national polls that show Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of his handling of the pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump Tuesday resumed his appearances at coronavirus press briefings and delivered his strongest endorsement yet on wearing facial coverings. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story.
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The U.S. says it has upheld its part of an agreement with the Taliban, drawing down its forces in Afghanistan to 8,600 troops. But peace in the war-ravaged country remains elusive, as Taliban violence against Afghans has surged. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine looks at the prospects for long-awaited peace talks between the Kabul government and the Taliban.Camera: Mohammad Ahmadi, Saine Skype Video interview 
 
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Nepal will restart commercial flights in mid-August, the country announced Tuesday, in a bid to jump-start its battered tourism sector.Nepal’s airports will reopen to international and domestic commercial air travel beginning Aug. 17, as decided Monday in a cabinet meeting. At first, flights will go only to countries less affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic; more destinations will be added gradually. To enter or exit the country, travelers will need to carry a certificate confirming that they don’t have COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Incoming international travelers will also need to self-isolate, but authorities did not specify for how long. New guidelines are coming, said Health and Population Ministry spokesman Samir Kumar Adhikari, according to The Himalayan Times.  Nepal also announced Tuesday that it would end its nearly four-month lockdown at midnight.”We are ending lockdown from tonight, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t have any threat of health risks,” government spokesman Yubaraj Khatiwada told reporters in Kathmandu. The lockdown, which began in March, came at the height of Nepal’s tourism season, when mountain climbers and other tourists typically flood in. The shutdown cost the tourism industry over 10 billion rupees a month, or over $83 million a month, reported The Himalayan Times. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said Tuesday that it would allow all tourism-related activities slated for the fall to go ahead, starting in mid-August.The announcements come shortly after India reimposed restrictions on movement in two of its states bordering Nepal, reported the Nepali Times. Nepal’s land borders with India and China will stay closed to most people until at least Aug. 16. Nepal has recorded nearly 18,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 40 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. About 5,500 cases are active.  
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Due to a rise in COVID cases, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti announced that he is considering another strict lockdown just a few of weeks after the metropolis started to ease restrictions. In state prisons, the problem has gotten so bad California officials are considering the release of about 8,000 prisoners convicted of minor offenses. VOA’s Angelina Bagdasaryan reports. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetyan 
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There’s an old saying in theater that the show must go on.  But when a global pandemic hits and the playbook on large gatherings is re-written, shows like the circus cannot go on.  As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, performers in Brazil took a page from drive-in movie theaters to save their circus.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
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Broken levees left over 10,000 people stranded in eastern China on Tuesday, as flooding across the country becomes more severe.On Sunday, high water overcame flood defenses around Guzhen, a town in Anhui province.Flood water was up to 3 meters deep, according to Guzhen’s Communist Party secretary, Wang Qingjun.Since the flooding began in June, over 141 people have been reported dead or missing, 150,000 homes were damaged, and losses are estimated at $9 million.Many parts of Anhui Province resorted to drastic measures to mitigate the disaster. One dam was blasted open on Sunday to relieve pressure from flood water behind it, and sluice gates were opened on the Xiangjiaba Dam Monday. While crops and forests were flooded, it was hoped the intentional release will save the area from even greater damage later.The Xiangjiaba Dam has only opened its gates 15 times since it was built in 1953.An increase in rainfall along the Yellow River and the Huai River is expected through Friday, according to China’s Meteorological Administration.Despite torrential and devastating rainfall, the official Xinhua news agency reported that the country’s death toll and economic losses for 2020 so far are below the annual average.China’s heaviest recent flooding occurred in 1998, when over 2,000 people died and almost 3 million houses were ruined. The damage then was primarily along the Yangtze River. 
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President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer sued Attorney General William Barr and the Bureau of Prisons director Monday, saying he’s being unjustly held behind bars to stop him from finishing a book that criticizes Trump.The lawsuit on behalf of Michael Cohen was filed late Monday in Manhattan federal court, alleging his First Amendment rights were violated when he was returned to the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York, on July 9.
A message for comment was left with the Justice Department.
Cohen, 53, had been furloughed in May as part of an attempt to slow the spread of the virus in federal prisons.
He had served only a year of his three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges and lying to Congress, among other crimes.
Cohen’s campaign finance charges related to his efforts to arrange payouts during the 2016 presidential race to keep the porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal from airing claims of extramarital affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs.
Monday’s lawsuit said Cohen made it clear recently that he planned to release a tell-all book just before the November election.
“In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, he intends to tell the American people about Mr. Trump’s personality and proclivities, his private and professional affairs, and his personal and business ethics,” according to the lawsuit brought on Cohen’s behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union and attorneys Danya Perry and Samidh Guha.
The lawsuit said Cohen’s crimes related to “lying to Congress on behalf of Mr. Trump and committing campaign finance violations on behalf of Mr. Trump.”
According to the lawsuit, federal authorities moved to re-incarcerate Cohen after he tweeted on June 26 “#WillSpeakSoon” and on July 2 that he was finishing his Trump book.
The lawsuit said U.S. Probation officers, working on behalf of the Bureau of Prisons and its director, Michael Carvajal, demanded of Cohen that he agree not to speak to or through any media, including by publishing a book.
It said the officers made the unconstitutional demand, and Cohen and his lawyers sought clarification on and limitation on the prohibition on speaking, only to see him locked up after the officers said they would run his requests “up the chain” to Bureau of Prisons executives.
Cohen has remained in solitary confinement since he was taken to Otisville, the lawsuit said.
It said his health has also suffered, with his blood pressure spiking to critical levels, “leading to severe headaches, shortness of breath and anxiety.”
And, it added, he has made no progress on his book. The lawsuit sought a court order to return him to home confinement. 
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A deal on a massive economic rescue package reached by leaders of the European Union and reports of more promising coronavirus vaccines fueled a surge in global markets Tuesday. In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei index ended the day’s trading session up 0.7%.  The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong earned 2.3%, and Shanghai’s Composite index is up 0.2%. The S&P/ASX index in Sydney earned 2.5%.  Seoul’s KOSPI index finished 1.3% higher, and the TSEC index in Taiwan gained 1.8%.  Mumbai’s Sensex is up 1.3% in late afternoon trading. Over in Europe, London’s FTSE index is up 0.7%, the CAC-40 in Paris is 1.2% higher, and Frankfurt’s DAX index has gained 1.9%. Oil markets are also rising Tuesday. U.S. crude oil is trading at $41.85 per barrel, up 2.5%, and Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is up $44.45 per barrel, up 2.7%. And in futures trading, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are all trending positively, indicating a strong start for Wall Street at the opening bell Tuesday.   
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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is set to unveil Tuesday a series of economic proposals focusing on working families as he campaigns with just more than 100 days remaining before voters decide between him and President Donald Trump. Biden’s campaign said he “will outline how his plan will build a robust 21st century caregiving and education workforce” as part of his “Build Back Better” plan for the U.S. economy. Recent polls indicate Biden leading Trump, including a Reuters/Ipsos poll of registered voters conducted last week that put Biden 10 percentage points ahead. The Democratic candidate has detailed several other parts of his economic recovery plan while criticizing Trump’s coronavirus response and his handling of the economy. Trump has countered by positioning himself as the candidate best capable of boosting the economy, calling Biden “totally ill-equipped.”President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, July 20, 2020, in Washington.Earlier this month, Biden proposed a $700 billion manufacturing plan that he said would add 5 million new jobs to help cope with the spike in unemployment during the pandemic. Biden said his plan includes $300 billion for research and development projects in clean energy, telecommunications, artificial intelligence and other fields. It also includes $400 billion for the government purchase of U.S-built goods, such as environmentally clean products and construction materials. Last week, Biden proposed spending $2 trillion to fight climate change and cut carbon emissions from power plants to zero by 2035. The Biden campaign has said another piece of the plan to be revealed in a future speech involves efforts to advance racial equity in the aftermath of national protests against police brutality. 
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The controversial national security law imposed by China on Hong Kong has brought deep concern among its robust civil society and non-governmental organizations who use the territory as regional hub, prompting some to relocate their staff while others fear over their fate under the new legislation. After Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, the “one country two systems” formula allowed its freewheeling civil society, including many international and domestic NGOs, to continue operating. But the national security law passed on July 1, dubbed the “second handover,” is causing jitters in the non-profit sector.   Many nonprofit groups say they are worried about being implicated by the law, which aims to “prevent, suppress and impose punishment” for secession, subversion, terrorism and “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.”   The authorities have emphasized the need for a sweeping law to stamp out Hong Kong’s yearlong anti-government protests, which have often turned violent. On Monday, Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai insisted that the law will make Hong Kong’s business environment “more stable and secure.” Chinese officials have said the law was intended to act as a “deterrent” and hang over potential troublemakers “like the sword of Damocles.”   The law appears to have achieved its aim to intimidate.     At least one international NGO has moved all its workers out of Hong Kong while others are planning to shift some of their operations abroad. Some NGO workers have resigned while others have moved abroad or sought to relocate.  Those who have decided to stay in Hong Kong, for now, say they must tread a fine line when doing their work to avoid falling afoul of the law, which has broad and vague definitions of security crimes. All of those who spoke to the VOA declined to be identified for fears of retribution from the authorities.  “It’s a really difficult time for many NGOs,” a veteran human rights worker said. “We don’t know how this law will be implemented and to what extent they will use it.  Everyone is really nervous.”   NGO workers say clauses in the law, particularly those that criminalize “conspiring” with or receiving instructions, funding or support from foreign countries or organizations, make them particularly vulnerable. Groups that have advocated democratization or have criticized the dictatorial nature of the Chinese Communist Party also run the risk of being found guilty of “altering by unlawful means the legal status” of the regime, or “inciting hatred” towards the Chinese or Hong Kong governments, as stated in the law.Pro-democracy lawmakers raise white papers to protest during a meeting to discuss the new national security law at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, July 7, 2020.An international NGO worker said Hong Kong used to be a place that was convenient to work on projects in China while keeping in touch with the international community, but these advantages are no longer viable under the new law.   “There are no such freedoms anymore. The authorities’ hostility is very apparent, and they could arrest people any time under this broad and vague law,” she said. “When we’re under these threats and limitations, it is very difficult to work.”  She added that the fate of the two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, detained in China in December 2018 and now charged for espionage, could easily befall on foreign nationals or people working for international NGOs in Hong Kong. A board member of a small human rights group said most of its staff have resigned and the group must completely restructure its work and move some projects outside Hong Kong.   
 
“Our staff are worried, we really understand,” he said, adding that his group will need to give up some of its overseas funding due to the law’s restrictions on foreign “collusion.” 
 
“There’s so much about this sweeping law which is in the unknown and we can easily be accused of collusion with foreign powers (for our international advocacy),” he said. 
 
Groups that have projects in mainland China have already experienced severe restrictions under its national security law to the extent they can no longer operate there.    
 
The head of a small Hong Kong organization said her group has ceased operation in China for a few years, after the implementation of the national security law in 2015 and the overseas NGO law in 2017.  Now she feels the draconian measures and comprehensive government control over society have been extended to Hong Kong.  
 
“The National Security Law is only the first step,” she said, stressing that China’s all-round suppression of civil society will eventually end many NGOs operating in Hong Kong.   
 
She said her group will try to continue working in Hong Kong for as long as possible, but they will have to work under extremely tight limitations to avoid falling afoul of the law. 
 
“They’re implementing this law to intimidate organizations and hope they’d all close down without the authorities having to take actions,” she said.  “When civil society has shrunken sufficiently, it would be less costly for them to deal with them.” 
 
“Their aim is to bring them under control,” she said. 
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The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday added 11 Chinese companies implicated in what it called human rights violations in connection with China’s treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang to the U.S. economic blacklist. The department said the companies were involved in using forced labor by Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups. They include numerous textile companies and two firms the government said were conducting genetic analyses used to further the repression of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. Blacklisted firms cannot buy components from U.S. companies without U.S. government approval. It was the third group of companies and institutions in China added to the U.S. blacklist, after two rounds in which the Trump administration cited 37 entities it said were involved in China’s repression in Xinjiang in Western China. “Beijing actively promotes the reprehensible practice of forced labor and abusive DNA collection and analysis schemes to repress its citizens,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement. The Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment. China disagreesIn May the Chinese Foreign Ministry criticized U.S. entity list additions, arguing the United States “overstretched the concept of national security, abused export control measures, violated the basic norms governing international relations, interfered in China’s internal affairs.” The companies added to the blacklist include Nanchang O-Film Tech, a supplier for Apple’s iPhone, which hosted Apple chief executive Tim Cook in December 2017, according to O-Film’s website. It is also a supplier to Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft, according to an April congressional letter. The U.S. companies did not immediately comment. The list includes two subsidiaries of Beijing Genomics Institute, a genomics company with ties to the Chinese government, Senator Marco Rubio said. He said the additions will “ensure that U.S. technology does not aid the Chinese Communist Party’s crimes against humanity and egregious human rights abuses against Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, including the forced collection of DNA.” Clothing companies involvedAlso added are KTK Group Co, which produces more than 2,000 products used to build high-speed trains, from electronics to seats; and Tanyuan Technology Co, which assembles high thermal conductive graphite reinforced aluminum composites. Another company is Changji Esquel Textile Co, which Esquel Group launched in 2009. Esquel Group produces clothing for Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss. In a letter to Ross on Monday, Esquel Chief Executive John Chen asked that its unit be removed from the list.  “Esquel does not use forced labor, and we never will use forced labor. We absolutely and categorically oppose forced labor,” Chen wrote. Efforts to reach other companies in China for comment were unsuccessful outside of normal business hours. Also on the blacklist is Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories Co. On May 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said it was halting imports of the company’s hair products, citing evidence of forced labor. On July 1, CBP seized in Newark a shipment of almost 13 tons of hair products worth more than $800,000 with human hair that it said originated in Xinjiang. Commerce previously added 20 Chinese public security bureaus and companies including video surveillance firm Hikvision, as well as leaders in facial recognition technology SenseTime Group Ltd and Megvii Technology in connection with China’s treatment of Muslim minorities. 
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U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched the second phase of a military campaign to destroy remnants of the Islamic State terror group in eastern Syria. The SDF said its “Deterrence of Terrorism” campaign, which was launched Friday, targets IS militants in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour.SDF units, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition against IS, have already captured several IS militants, including a senior leader, and seized large quantities of weapons and ammunitions belonging to IS cells, the group’s media office said Sunday. In June, SDF forces launched the first phase of their anti-IS operation in the Syrian province, which borders Iraq. At least 100 IS militants were detained in the weeklong operation, SDF and coalition officials said at the time. Since its territorial defeat in March 2019, IS has carried out terror attacks against civilians and SDF forces, especially in areas along the border with Iraq. Coalition support U.S. military officials said IS militants could no longer hide in Deir el-Zour. “The SDF-led Deterrence of Terrorism operation is essential to clear ISIS operatives from Deir el-Zour and southern Hasakah,” said Col. Myles Caggins, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS, using another acronym for the terror group. He said the global coalition is supporting the multiday mission with “advising, intelligence sharing, and occasionally partnered special operations.” Caggins told VOA that IS sleeper cells in al-Busaryah and al-Shuhail towns of Deir el-Zour have “harmed local leaders and innocent civilians,” adding that “several ISIS lieutenants were captured by the elite antiterrorism commandos.” Local military officials believe the recent surge in IS attacks in eastern Syria is partially because of a security vacuum created during the coronavirus pandemic. Local authorities in Deir el-Zour and elsewhere in eastern Syria have imposed a lockdown on the region to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. Steady-state insurgency Experts believe the militant group now represents a major insurgent threat throughout the Syrian desert, including Deir el-Zour. This military campaign “might help to disrupt IS attacks to some degree, but I think we are going to be stuck with a ‘steady-state’ IS insurgency in the province at best,” said Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a Syria researcher at Swansea University in the U.K. He told VOA that any actor controlling Deir el-Zour would face the same security challenges.  “These were the longest-held IS areas,” al-Tamimi explained, adding that “the security in the wider province is divided between two actors where security cooperation is limited.” The western bank of the Euphrates River, which divides Deir el-Zour, is under the control of the Syrian regime troops and its allied Russian forces and Iranian-backed militias. US concerned U.S. military officials have expressed concerns that Syrian and Russian troops in the western part of Deir el-Zour are not capable of stabilizing the region. Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, speaks with U.S. troops while visiting Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sept. 9, 2019.“I am concerned because I don’t believe they have any concept of stabilization as we know stabilization,” Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told VOA in an interview last week. McKenzie, who recently visited Syria and met with SDF officials, said Russian and Syrian forces “have no idea how to actually manage that area after you’ve cleared it militarily.” “The conditions that led to the rise of ISIS still obtain out there in the west… that’s unfortunate, and I am worried about that,” he said. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report from Washington.  
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The United States on Monday slapped sanctions on the regional strongman leader of Russia’s republic of Chechnya over human rights violations including torture and extrajudicial killings. Ramzan Kadyrov, 43, has run Chechnya like his personal fiefdom, relying on his security forces to quash dissent. International human rights groups have accused Kadyrov and his lieutenants of abductions, torture and killings of their opponents. Rights defenders also hold the Chechen authorities responsible for a sweeping crackdown on gays over the past few years that has seen more than 100 people arrested, subjected to torture, with some of them killed. Chechen authorities have denied those accusations, and federal authorities said a probe found nothing to support the charges. In a statement announcing the sanctions, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed at “extensive credible information that Kadyrov is responsible for numerous gross violations of human rights dating back more than a decade, including torture and extrajudicial killings.” Pompeo said the restrictions will apply to Kadyrov’s wife and two daughters and he encouraged U.S. allies to take similar measures. Kadyrov responded on his blog, posting a picture of himself standing in a weapons storage room with a smile on his face and a machine gun in each hand. “Pompeo, we accept the fight. It’s going to be even more fun down the road,” he said. Russian lawmakers said that Moscow will find a way to reciprocate to the U.S. sanctions against Kadyrov, but wouldn’t say what a possible response could be.  The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars, providing generous federal subsidies and dismissing international criticism of his rule. The Kremlin also has stood by Kadyrov amid Russian opposition claims of his involvement in the 2015 killing of prominent Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, which the Chechen leader has rejected. An officer in Chechnya’s security forces was convicted of shooting Nemtsov on a bridge adjacent to the Kremlin and received a 20-year prison term.  
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Beijing is reported to be in the final stages of approving a $400 billion economic and security deal with Tehran, which some analysts say could give China a vast and secure source of energy and a strategic foothold in the Gulf. Iran’s foreign ministry has confirmed that the potential agreement includes significant infrastructure investments and closer cooperation on defense and intelligence sharing. It’s also rumored to include discounts for Iranian oil. The deal is the latest step in Beijing’s attempt to expand from a regional hegemony to a world power via its Belt and Road Initiative.China-Iran dealThere are no concrete details of the deal available yet, but reports about what is under discussion indicate massive investment. China is reportedly considering investing $280 billion in developing Iran’s oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors; and another $120 billion in upgrading Tehran’s manufacturing infrastructure.The deal’s scope was further illustrated when Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told parliament on July 5 that the country has been negotiating a 25-year accord with China “with confidence and conviction.”A report by the FILE – Natural gas refineries are seen at the South Pars gas field on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf, in Asaluyeh, Iran, March 16, 2019.How the United States fits inIran announced progress on the deal at a time when U.S. and China relations are fast sliding, raising the question if Tehran is joining forces with Beijing as part of a broader effort to counter Washington’s foothold in the Middle East.The agreement appears to have been in development since 2016, when China and Iran announced a 25-year-long “comprehensive strategic partnership” during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Tehran.Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the D.C.-based think tank Middle East Institute, told VOA that the deal was not initially meant to be an anti-American initiative.“Remember this was agreed in 2016. I think it was part of a broad Chinese ambition for Eurasia.” He said, “If you look at the Belt and Road initiative of China, Iran appears prominently in that.”Yet Vatanka said the timing of the Iranian announcement is tricky, adding there is a possibility that Iran wants to take advantage of deteriorating U.S.-China relations and go ahead and finalize the deal. But he says the Iranian government likely is also doing this for domestic purposes.“There is another driver. They want to show the Iranian people that they are not alone on the international stage,” said Vatanka. “The Americans are alone. Much of this is a game of psychology. Iranians leaders do not want to be seen in the eyes of the Iranian people that they brought the country to total isolation.”In 2018, the Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposed new rounds of sanctions on Iran’s energy, finance, and military sectors.Benjamin Friedman, policy director of military think tank Defense Priorities, argued that policy partly encouraged Iran to seek cooperation with China.“It’s a good opportunity for China because [of] the United States’ sanctions on Iran. It is desperate now, probably is willing to sell its oil at more of a discount,” he said.U.S. responseWhen asked about whether U.S. sanctions could have further strengthened the alliance between China and Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks to the media in the Press Briefing Room, at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., July 15, 2020. (State Department Photo by Freddie Everett)“We have a set of sanctions related to any company or country that engages in an activity with Iran. The sanctions are clear. We have been unambiguous about enforcing them against our companies from allies, countries from all across the world. We would certainly do that with respect to activity between Iran and China as well,” he said at a press briefing on July 15. Timothy Heath, a defense researcher at the RAND Corporation, said the China-Iran deal is just the latest example of escalating tensions between the U.S. and China.“It follows the trend of the U.S. government policy that describes China as a competitor and a threat. The other trend is the growing deterioration in the U.S. China relations,” he told VOA.“Issues keep piling up, and the relations keep getting worse,” he said, “China’s recent agreement with Iran is the country’s move to build up a partnership that would weaken U.S. presence in the Middle East. Both sides seem to be taking escalatory behavior to assert authority and to punish the other side, and this should be seen as another step in that broad trend.” 
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Organizers of a national workers strike say tens of thousands are set to walk off the job Monday in more than two dozen U.S. cities to protest systemic racism and economic inequality that has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.
Dubbed the “Strike for Black Lives,” labor unions, along with social and racial justice organizations from New York City to Los Angeles, will participate in a range of planned actions. Where work stoppages are not possible for a full day, participants will either picket during a lunch break or observe moments of silence to honor Black lives lost to police violence, organizers said.
“We are … building a country where Black lives matter in every aspect of society — including in the workplace,” said Ash-Lee Henderson, an organizer with the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of over 150 organizations that make up the Black Lives Matter movement.
“The Strike for Black Lives is a moment of reckoning for corporations that have long ignored the concerns of their Black workforce and denied them better working conditions, living wages and healthcare,” said Henderson, who is also co-executive director of the Tennessee-based Highlander Research and Education Center.  
Among the strikers will be essential workers: nursing home employees, janitors and delivery men and women. Fast food, ride-share and airport workers are also expected to take part in planned events.
The strike continues an ongoing global reckoning on race and police brutality set off by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police in late May. At noon in each U.S. time zone on Monday, workers are expected to take a knee for about eight minutes — the amount of time prosecutors say a white police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck.
Strikers are demanding sweeping action by corporations and government to confront systemic racism and economic inequality that limits mobility and career advancement for many Black and Hispanic workers, who make up a disproportionate number of those earning less than a living wage.
Specifically, they are calling on corporate leaders and elected government officials to use executive and legislative power to guarantee people of all races can thrive. That demand includes raising wages and allowing workers to unionize to negotiate better health care, sick leave and child care support.
When the strike was announced on July 8, partnering unions included the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the American Federation of Teachers, United Farm Workers and the Fight for $15 and a Union. Several more worker collectives have since joined, along with social and racial justice groups.
In Manhattan, essential workers will gather outside of the Trump International Hotel to demand the Senate and President Donald Trump pass and sign the HEROES Act. The House-passed legislation provides protective equipment, essential pay and extended unemployment benefits to workers who have not had the option of working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is expected to rally with workers.
Strikers in Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed on May 25, will include nursing home and airport workers demanding a $15-per-hour minimum wage, organizers said. In Missouri, participants will rally at McDonald’s locations in St. Louis and Ferguson, a key landmark in the protest movement sparked by the death of Michael Brown, a Black teenager who was killed by police in 2014. The Ferguson strikers will also march to a memorial site located on the spot where Brown was shot and killed.
Organizers said many strikers are taking particular aim at corporations such as Walmart and McDonald’s, which they say should be held accountable for widespread mistreatment and exploitation of hourly workers of color. In the wake of Floyd protests, McDonald’s expressed its support for Black victims of police violence and vigilante attacks.
On Friday, a group of McDonald’s workers filed a federal lawsuit against the corporation in Florida, alleging that managers at a corporate-run store in Lakeland subjected them to a “racially hostile work environment” and also had mistreated Black customers. The workers alleged that after they reported their concerns to corporate leaders, their managers retaliated by slashing their hours and changing their work responsibilities.
“McDonald’s, if you really believe Black lives matter, it’s time to stop with the lip service and start with real action: treat your Black employees like our lives matter,” said Faith Booker, a Black plaintiff in the lawsuit who also plans to join strikers on Monday.  
In a statement emailed to the AP, McDonald’s said it was taking the claims in the lawsuit “seriously.”  
“We stand with Black communities across the globe in our commitment to address unacceptable racial injustices and are disappointed that these allegations do not reflect the high standards we hold ourselves accountable to every day across all areas of our business,” the statement reads. 
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The sudden cancellation of an offshore drilling project commissioned by Vietnam is raising fears that the Chinese government pressured it to stop, part of Beijing’s ongoing maritime sovereignty spat with Hanoi.   London-based drilling contractor Noble Corp. said July 9 its Noble Clyde Boudreaux semi-submersible had cancelled a previously announced project with Vietnam. News reports placed the drilling site off Vietnam’s east coast in a zone watched by Chinese survey vessels.   It’s unclear whether officials from Beijing forced the cancelation, but they have pressured other Vietnamese seabed oil drilling contracts in the past. The two countries contest nearby tracts of the broader South China Sea.   “They’re playing some kind of cat and mouse with China,” said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. If, he said, “they’re doing drilling here and the Chinese vessel came, they might stop it for a few days or months and then resume it, and so on.”   Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim all or parts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer waterway, which is prized for fisheries as well as fossil fuel reserves. China says about 90% of the sea should come under its flag. Beijing has taken a military lead over other countries over the past decade.   Radio Free Asia reported July 13 that Vietnam had cancelled the contract as the Chinese government squeezes Southeast Asian nations that try to exploit South China Sea resources with foreign partners. A Chinese coast guard vessel is “patrolling” now near another Vietnamese oil rig, the report says.   FILE – A ship (top) of the Chinese Coast Guard is seen near a ship of the Vietnam Marine Guard in the South China Sea, about 210 km (130 miles) off shore of Vietnam, May 14, 2014.China has sent two survey ships to waters near Vietnam this year to date. China and Vietnam have rammed each other’s boats in the past. Their vessels got tangled in deadly clashes in 1974 and 1988.   In 2018, Spanish driller Repsol suddenly quit a Vietnamese project at the South China Sea feature Vanguard Bank, apparently under pressure from China. Vietnam still had outposts at the submerged feature as of mid-2019.   But Vietnam has not openly challenged China over the Noble Clyde project cancelation. Noble Corp. did not respond Monday to a request for comment.   Vietnam relies on oil drilling for resources, Oh said, and the Southeast Asian country has a history of “standing up” to China.   “Vietnam is known to stand up for its interests and they don’t want to be seen to be backing down from any kind of pressure from China, because the moment they do that, they would be susceptible to all kinds of pressure, domestically and in China,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.   Hanoi may be waiting to see whether the United States acts on its behalf, analysts believe.   U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said last week his government would help South China Sea claimant states if violated by China. He hinted at using diplomatic and legal means and rejected China’s legal claims to the sea. China cites historic records to justify its use of the waters.   “Vietnam feels the threats from China, and maybe it will hamper their behavior in the South China Sea if the U.S. doesn’t move forward,” said Nguyen Thanh Trung, Center for International Studies director at University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City.  The United States might intervene if it suits President Donald Trump’s politics but avoid armed conflict, said Alan Chong, associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.   Trump has ramped up military, trade and economic pressure on China, a fellow superpower and former Cold War foe, since taking office in 2017. A reelection campaign and the COVID-19 crisis now dominate Trump’s agenda.   “I wouldn’t put it past him, if it suited him as a tactical move, but in terms of an actual intervention military wise, I don’t think that is a possibility given the domestic distractions at the moment,” Chong said.   Vietnam will nevertheless be “extremely happy” with Pompeo’s statement since its language supports the Vietnamese claim to an exclusive economic zone in the contested sea, said Derek Grossman, senior analyst with the Rand Corp. research institution in the United States. 
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