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A passenger plane with at least 98 people on board crashed in a populated area minutes before landing Friday afternoon in Pakistan’s biggest city Karachi, destroying multiple buildings on both sides of a narrow street. Huge plumes of dust and smoke, heat from the crash on an already hot afternoon, and narrow neighborhood streets made rescue efforts difficult. “Pak Army Aviation helicopters flown for damage assessment and rescue efforts. Urban Search & Rescue Teams are being sent on site for rescue efforts,” tweeted military spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar. Multiple civilian and military rescue agencies arrived at the scene soon after the crash. Ambulances of non-government aid agencies could be seen evacuating the injured. Large crowds of locals also gathered around the site. The plane from the national carrier Pakistan International Airlines was flying from Lahore to Karachi when it crashed in an area called Model Colony.The cause of the crash is still being investigated.  “Saying anything right now would be premature. Our crew is trained to handle emergency landings. All my prayers are with the families. We will continue to provide information in a transparent manner,” PIA spokesperson Abdul Sattar told local English language Dawn newspaper. The plane had a capacity of around 160 passengers but due to the social distancing guidelines linked to the novel coronavirus, the onboard numbers were kept low.  
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China’s plan to impose a national security law on Hong Kong to prevent and punish acts of “secession, subversion or terrorism activities” that threaten national security has drawn fire from critics and ordinary Hong Kongers alike, with many lamenting this is the end of the free and open city that the world has known.  The plan also would allow Chinese national security organs to set up agencies in Hong Kong “when needed.” China has long indicated its intention to bring Hong Kong under tighter control — it warned in a 2014 policy white paper that it has “comprehensive jurisdiction” or “comprehensive power to rule” over Hong Kong.  The millions-strong, often violent protests last year sparked by a controversial extradition law shocked the Chinese leadership and in recent months, Chinese officials have unequivocally ordered the city to enact legislation to bar subversion, separatism, and foreign interference to plug the national security “loopholes” that threaten the country’s stability. In the communique of a key Communist party meeting in November, the Fourth Plenum, Beijing told the city to “perfect” its legal system to safeguard national security.Critics say Beijing’s efforts to incorporate Hong Kong into its national security system through bypassing the city’s parliament amount to a breach of its promise of the “one country two systems” policy enshrined in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration that is meant to guarantee Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy.At the opening of China’s annual parliamentary session Friday, Wang Chen, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, said a draft version of the proposal had been submitted to the legislature for deliberation.  In the proposal, the parliament would authorize the standing committee to formulate laws on “establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for [Hong Kong] to safeguard national security” to prevent and punish acts in Hong Kong seen as subversion, terrorism, separatism and foreign interference, or “other acts that seriously endanger national security, as well as activities of foreign and external forces that interfere in the affairs of Hong Kong.”   He also told the parliament that “when needed,” China’s national security organs will set up agencies in Hong Kong to “fulfill relevant duties to safeguard national security.” He said relevant national security laws will be implemented through Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law’s Annex III, which allows national laws to be applied to the city.   However, Martin Lee, a drafter of the Basic Law and founder of Democracy Party, pointed out that the Basic Law mandates that national laws to be applied to Hong Kong in Annex III should be “confined to those relating to defence and foreign affairs” and “other matters outside the limits of the autonomy” of Hong Kong. Under the article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong is meant to enact laws “on its own” to prohibit “treason, secession, sedition [and] subversion” against the Chinese government, and other acts including the theft of state secrets and foreign political organizations engaging in political activities in the city.    Given the widespread opposition over the years, though, Hong Kong’s inability to legislate such a law of its own accord made it necessary for China to take action,  Wang told the parliament.  “More than 20 years after Hong Kong’s return, relevant laws are yet to materialize due to the sabotage and obstruction by those trying to sow trouble in Hong Kong and China at large, as well as external hostile forces,” Wang said.“Efforts must be made at the state level to establish and improve the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for [Hong Kong] to safeguard national security, to change the long-term ‘defenseless’ status in the field of national security,” Wang said.  He justified China’s move by saying “the increasingly notable national security risks in Hong Kong have become a prominent problem” and protests activities have “seriously challenged the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle, harmed the rule of law, and threatened national sovereignty and security.”The drastic move caused jitters across Hong Kong, among ordinary Hong Kongers and the business community.  “The national security law is clearly pushing Hong Kong towards an end.  Apart from the impact on freedom of speech …  it also tells us how useless the Legislative Council is because the National People’s Congress standing committee can totally bypass it,” said a 17-year-old student who did not want to give his name.  “If it can happen once, there is a high likelihood that the same thing will happen again for other laws.”Many said the move was a wake-up call that provided fresh impetus for the year-old anti-government movement that has largely stalled amid the COVID-19 pandemic and  authorities’ intensifying clampdown.“We cannot deceive ourselves anymore,” said a post on LIHKG.com, a site popular with protesters in the anti-government movement.“Many people have felt discouraged and helpless, while feeling there was nothing they could do except to watch Hong Kong die, then this national security law came along and our fighting spirit has returned!” said another post.  “I know this is the end of Hong Kong, but it’s also the beginning of the Hong Kong people.” Michael Davis, a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and former law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said Beijing’s imposition of the national security law “clearly flies in the face of the Basic Law.”Beijing’s hardening policies also show that it has not understood what caused discontent in Hong Kong in the first place, he said. “It has long been clear that most protests in Hong Kong are driven by Beijing’s interference that weakens Hong Kong’s autonomy and the rule of law. Instead of taking on board that message, they have continually doubled down on their interference.”China’s move is also expected to lead to the flight of capital and talent from the Asian financial hub, and some wealthy individuals have already begun to scout for investment options elsewhere, bankers and headhunters told Reuters. Hong Kong’s main stock market index tumbled the most in almost five years after Beijing’s plan was revealed.  The benchmark Hang Seng Index dived 5.6%, or 1,349.89 points, to 22,930.14 on Friday, its biggest decline since July 2015.The jitters have also caused some to want to emigrate.“We have kids, we really have to think about leaving,” said a parent on an online chat group.
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The U.S. Navy is sending an increasingly obvious number of ships into a disputed Asian sea to prove that COVID-19 won’t stop it from resisting China’s maritime expansion, observers say.U.S. Cold War foe China, which claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, never halted military activities in the resource-rich tropical sea, despite the disease outbreak in its own country. Washington now wants its Asian allies – smaller countries fearful of China’s reach – to know they have not been forgotten as the pandemic rips through the United States, analysts say.“There is certainly an incentive to pack these activities on a back-to-back basis and make it more visible and gain more high intensity just to show they are in business,” said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.Washington sends ships into the South China Sea every year, and activity picked up after President Donald Trump took office in 2017.“China’s propaganda has been the U.S. government can’t control COVID and America is doing all this just to show it’s not weakened and declining and they’re just trying to bluff us,” said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia, referring to Beijing’s view of the latest U.S. Navy movement.An April 17 decision not to base bombers on the U.S. territory of Guam particularly raised questions about whether the U.S. military is “ready” for China or even “scared” of China’s People’s Liberation Army, Koh said.Freedom of navigation operationsThe U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship Montgomery passed near a disputed South China Sea island in January, the first publicized movement in that waterway this year. No operations were announced in February and March, an unusually wide gap. In late April, the Navy carried out two more South China Sea operations in as many days. Another pair of ships entered the sea May 7.American officials call the passages freedom of navigation operations and regard the South China Sea as an internationally open waterway despite China’s exclusive claims to much of it.“Through continued operational presence in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy supports transparency, the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, the principles that underpin security and prosperity for the Indo-Pacific, so that all nations in the region may benefit,” the Navy said in a statement that day.U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesperson Lt. James Adams confirmed four freedom of navigation operations this year so far and called the U.S. naval presence “near continuous.”“All of our operations … demonstrate the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows – regardless of the location of excessive maritime claims and regardless of current events,” Adams said.Fisheries, undersea energy reservesBrunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam claim all or parts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea that’s valued for fisheries and undersea energy reserves. China has taken a military lead over the others since 2010 by building up some of the sea’s larger islets, sparking opposition from the United States.The Southeast Asian countries will privately rejoice at the return of U.S. ships, Koh said. Over the past year, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines have run up against Chinese ships in waters they claim.U.S. officials returned to the South China Sea partly to ease fears around Asia about China’s expansion, said Huang Chung-ting, an assistant research fellow with the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei.“One aspect is to give [a signal to] normal people in surrounding countries or Taiwan where China has waged psychological warfare,” Huang said. The Navy ship passages, he said, “continue support and offset earlier when the United States wasn’t there.” 
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The husband of one of Iran’s most prominent jailed dissidents has strongly criticized authorities for not furloughing her from a coronavirus-plagued prison where he says her health is in danger.In a Thursday phone interview with VOA Persian from Tehran, Reza Khandan faulted the Iranian government for temporarily freeing thousands of common criminals from jails since late February in part to protect them from the virus, while refusing to do the same for dissidents such as his wife, Nasrin Sotoudeh. “In this very dangerous situation with the coronavirus spreading in Iranian prisons, authorities have treated the political prisoners more severely,” Khandan said.Sotoudeh is an Iranian defense lawyer who has been detained since June 2018 in Tehran’s Evin prison. Khandan previously has said she is serving a more than 30-year sentence for alleged national security offenses related to her work in defending Iranian women arrested for removing their compulsory hijabs or headscarves in acts of public protest against their Islamist rulers.Iran has detained several human rights defenders in recent years on similar pretexts. “The treatment of lawyers by the regime is conveying a specific message,” Khandan said. “The message is that law and justice are meaningless to the regime.”Khandan was detained in September 2018 and charged with subversion for his public campaigning for the release of his wife, who had been arrested three months earlier. He was released in December 2018 and sentenced the following month to six years in prison but has remained free pending an appeal.In a separate video interview with the U.N. Human Rights Office published Thursday, Khandan said he has major concerns about Sotoudeh’s health due to what he called inadequate medical facilities and a lack of basic hygiene and sanitary equipment in Evin prison.“My wife has underlying health conditions,” Khandan said. “When I talked to her yesterday, she told me that in the past two months, she had not gone to the medical ward as she is afraid of contracting COVID-19. Instead, she has tried to treat herself and put up with the situation.”Khandan also appealed for international support for Iran’s prisoners of conscience. “I hope that attention to the situation from public opinion and from international organizations will increase, and that they will make serious requests to the Iranian government to release political prisoners,” he said.Iran’s judiciary has said dissidents serving more than five years in prison on charges designated as national security offenses are not eligible for the coronavirus-related furloughs.In a statement accompanying its interview with Khandan, the U.N. Human Rights Office said it welcomed Iran’s temporary releases of thousands of prisoners in recent months as an urgent public health measure. But it said Iran also must free political prisoners, human rights lawyers and defenders, journalists, artists, conservationists and dual and foreign nationals who have been denied the furloughs.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story. 
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A string of violence against civilian targets in Afghanistan this month has set off a debate over the fate of the U.S.-brokered peace deal, with some experts warning that brutal onslaughts such as the Kabul maternity ward attack put the fragile peace process at risk.The May 12 gunman assault on Dasht-e-Barchi maternity ward in Kabul has left at least 24 people dead, including 16 mothers. Appalled by the unprecedented attack, the Afghan government vowed to avenge the deaths by changing its posture from defensive into offensive against the Taliban.Scott Worden, the director of Afghanistan and Central Asia programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, told VOA that the maternity ward attack means the Afghan government will have a difficult time to make “some sort of concessions to an insurgent group while such atrocities are happening.”The maternity hospital incident, charged Worden, fits the patterns of an IS attack. However, “it is true that the Taliban insurgency creates opportunities and space for groups like IS to operate.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyHe said that the Taliban should provide assurance that it would reduce violence in order to create “an atmosphere that is conductive to talks.”The Taliban has denied involvement in the maternity ward raid, and the U.S. has blamed the Islamic State for it. IS remained silent on the attack but claimed responsibility for the Nangahar funeral assault on the same day that left more than 50 people dead.Regardless of the U.S. position, Afghan officials insist that the Taliban were implicated in some way.Haqqani networkAhmed Zia Saraj, chief of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, said Monday in a news conference that his government has intelligence information showing that the Haqqani network, a faction of the Taliban, was also involved in the attack.It was soon clear after the attack that subsequent events could lead to more escalation. President Ashraf Ghani ordered Afghan forces to resume their offensive against the Taliban. The group, in response, stepped up attacks on government forces across the country.According to Sher Jan Ahmadzai, director of Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, even if IS group is found to be behind the Kabul hospital attack, most Afghans consider the Taliban to be mainly behind unrest in the country.“If more attacks like this take place, Taliban’s leadership would be held accountable,” he told VOA.The U.N. says it is “deeply concerned” by the rising violence in Afghanistan in recent weeks. Despite the U.S-Taliban agreement in late February, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan estimates at least 430 civilians have been killed and injured by Taliban and Afghan forces in the last six weeks.To salvage the peace deal signed with the Taliban, the U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has asked both sides not to fall into “that trap” but instead work together against terrorist groups like IS.Khalilzad on Wednesday confirmed meeting with President Ghani in Kabul following another “constructive meeting” with senior Taliban leaders in Doha. He said he discussed in the meetings the need for reducing violence towards a permanent ceasefire and implementing the U.S.-Taliban agreement.On his part, Taliban leader Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, in a statement Wednesday, said the group was committed to the deal, urging the U.S. “to not allow this critical opportunity to go to waste.”Taliban versus ISU.S. officials in the past have repeatedly stated that the Taliban and IS are “mortal enemies,” encouraging the Taliban to work with the Afghan government in defeating IS.Under the agreement signed on February 29, the Taliban committed to counterterrorism guarantees, including not allowing IS to operate in the areas they control. U.S. and NATO allies will withdraw all troops within 14 months if the group upholds the deal.While the two groups have a history of violent confrontation, experts argue that depending on the Taliban to uproot IS could prove futile in the fight against terrorism. They say the groups, regardless of different political objectives, have “overlapping interests,” such as seeking to establish an Islamic system and opposing Western values.“It does not seem like a sustainable strategy down forward to rely on one of your enemies to defeat another of your enemies,” said Colin Clarke, a senior fellow at the Soufan Center.Clarke added that IS in Afghanistan has lost the ability to control territory similar to the Taliban. However, the group will likely continue its militant insurgency, adding to the increase in violence in the war-torn country.As events following the maternity hospital unfold, some experts assert that a commitment from the Taliban to immediately reduce violence and engage in a prisoner swap with the government will give a boost to the peace deal.Prisoner swapLast week, the Afghan government held off releasing Taliban prisoners due to lack of commitment by the Taliban. The government said the group has so far set free 171 Afghans, of whom 105 are soldiers, in exchange for the government releasing 1,000 Taliban members.Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. and current director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute, said that the Taliban are unwilling to give up using violence in Afghanistan because they view instability as a tool to pursue their political goals.“The Taliban have not stopped fighting; therefore, they cannot be trusted,” Haqqani told VOA, adding the group’s “totalitarian ideology” is in contrast to the vision of an inclusive Afghanistan.“Are we trusting them to accept that Afghanistan has many voices, that Islam has practice in many ways, and that people have not to be limited in what they do? I do not think we can because that is their mind,” he added.The Taliban, according to Haqqani, considers its deal with the U.S. a war victory that gives it a free hand in Afghanistan. He concluded the militants believe “this is back to 1993-94 when they were seen victorious and the only force keeping Afghanistan together.” 
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U.S. reaction was swift Thursday to reports that China’s Parliament will propose legislation to protect security in Hong Kong in response to pro-democracy protests in the territory last year that often turned violent.“Reports that the CCP [Communist Party of China] will introduce legislation implementing Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law at this week’s National People’s Congress indicate Beijing will begin an unprecedented assault against Hong Kong’s autonomy,” Senators James Risch, Marco Rubio and Cory Gardner of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said in a statement.Article 23 of the Basic Law says the Hong Kong government shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition or subversion against the central government. An attempt to implement the article failed in 2003 in the face of large demonstrations.’Grave concern’ to US“The United States will stand resolute in its support of the Hong Kong people. These developments are of grave concern to the United States and could lead to a significant reassessment on U.S. policy towards Hong Kong,” the senators’ statement added.“I strongly urge the Chinese Communist Party not to impose additional oppressive legislation disguised as ‘national security’ on Hong Kong,” U.S. Representative Michael McCaul of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement. “Any law passed by the CCP that further stifles the freedom of the people of Hong Kong would only further erode the foundations of One Country, Two Systems, and will not be tolerated by the United States. We stand with the people of Hong Kong, who are fighting for freedom over oppression, and for democracy over the CCP’s tyranny.”Journalists attend a news conference by Zhang Yesui, a spokesman for the National People’s Congress, broadcast remotely to the media center on the eve of the annual legislature opening session in Beijing, May 21, 2020.National People’s Congress spokesman Zhang Yesui announced the plan Thursday at an annual high-level political conference in Beijing.Zhang said the ceremonial Parliament would consider a measure aimed at “establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security.”Zhang’s announcement seemed to confirm speculation that Beijing would bypass Hong Kong’s own legislature in approving legislation to prevent opposition activity in the territory.Security laws for Hong Kong have long been considered, but Beijing accelerated efforts to enact them after months of anti-government protests in the former British colony that was handed over to China in 1997.The legislation could lead to a change in its special status in the U.S. and could trigger more unrest.Calls for protests began appearing online Thursday night, and dozens of people were seen yelling pro-democracy slogans in a Hong Kong shopping mall as riot police stood nearby.FILE – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo holds a news conference at the State Department, March 25, 2020, in Washington.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this month that he was delaying a report evaluating whether Hong Kong was autonomous enough to justify Washington’s special economic treatment that has helped it remain a global financial center. Pompeo said Wednesday that he was “closely watching what’s going on” in the territory.People in Hong Kong regularly protested legislation, since withdrawn, that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China. The protests evolved into a movement that also called for more democratic freedoms.Zhang’s announcement was made at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which began Thursday, as the government touted what it said was a victory over the coronavirus outbreak that started in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.Chinese President Xi Jinping gestures as he arrives for the opening session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 21, 2020.The CPPCC session will be followed Friday by the commencement of the National People’s Congress, the ceremonial Parliament. Premier Li Keqiang is scheduled to deliver a keynote address outlining economic and social objectives for the year.It is not publicly known whether Li will give the usual report on economic growth projections for the world’s second-largest economy, which has been devastated by the pandemic.This year’s meetings of the CPPCC and the National People’s Congress will be shortened from two weeks to one week because of the pandemic.Supported by a state propaganda campaign, President Xi Jinping has been praised at home for containing the virus, while his handling of the initial outbreak has been questioned by the U.S. and some other countries.
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An armed person wounded a sailor at a Texas naval air station Thursday before being killed by security forces, officials said.The U.S. Navy said the security team “neutralized” an active shooter at the Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi about 6:15 a.m. Thursday. The shooter was shot and killed by security personnel, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details about an ongoing investigation.One sailor assigned to the security team was injured but was in good condition, the Navy said.The injured Navy sailor was shot but was wearing body armor, said another U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide information not yet made public.The FBI in Houston said it will lead the investigation. Neither investigators nor the Navy provided details on the shooter or a possible motive.Attorney General William Barr was briefed on the shooting, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.The facility was on lockdown for about five hours Thursday morning, but that was lifted shortly before noon. One gate remained closed.  The station had a similar lockdown last December. In another incident at the base last year, a man pleaded guilty to destruction of U.S. government property and possession of a stolen firearm for ramming his truck into a barricade at the Corpus Christi station.
 
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Eid Al Fitr, the most festive Muslim holiday, is marked with celebrations, friends and family reunions, and a lot of feasting. This year, the coronavirus is threatening to dampen that spirit. VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem reports on how Muslims in various parts of the world are planning to celebrate Eid this year.Camera: Malik Waqar Ahmed, Hamada Elsaram, Ifiok Ettang    Produced by: Barry Unger   
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Venezuela’s defense minister said Wednesday that planes and ships from the nation’s armed forces will escort Iranian tankers arriving with fuel to the gasoline-starved country in case of any U.S. aggression.  
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said Venezuela’s navy and air force will welcome the five Iranian tankers, seeing them through the nation’s maritime territory and into port. He compared the fuel tankers to humanitarian aid that China and Russia have sent to help Venezuela combat the new coronavirus pandemic.  
A force of U.S. vessels, including Navy destroyers and other combat ships, patrol the Caribbean on what U.S. officials call a drug interdiction mission. Venezuelan officials paint them as a threat, but U.S. officials have not announced any plans to intercept the Iranian tankers, or threatened to try that. Both countries have been hit with U.S. economic sanctions.
Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, also lashed out at the U.S., saying any attempt to stop the tankers would be illegal.  
“Forbidding those boats from reaching their destination would thus constitute a crime against humanity,” Moncada said at a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss recent turmoil in Venezuela.
The five Iranian tankers now on the high seas are expected to start arriving to Venezuela in the coming days. They are carrying gasoline to help alleviate days-long lines at service stations even in Caracas, which had normally been immune to shortages as the capital and seat of political power.
Earlier Wednesday, Iran’s ambassador to Venezuela defended broadening trade relations between the two nations, which includes the five tankers, as their right to trade freely. International conventions protect the expanding ties between the two U.S.-sanctioned nations, Ambassador Hojjatollah Soltani said.
“This relationship between Iran and Venezuela doesn’t threaten anybody. It’s not a danger to anyone,” Soltani said in a meeting with reporters at the Iranian Embassy in Caracas.  
In addition to sending the tankers, Iran has flown in shipments of a chemical needed to restart an aging Venezuelan oil refinery with the goal of producing gasoline.  
While Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, its oil production has plummeted in the last two decades, which critics blame on corruption and mismanagement under socialist rule. Recent U.S. sanctions designed to force President Nicolás Maduro from power have also hurt Venezuela’s production.  
Trump’s National Security Council tweeted Monday that few financial lifelines remain for Maduro. The U.S. is among nearly 60 nations that recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.  
“Our maximum pressure campaign, which includes financial & economic sanctions, will continue until Maduro’s tyrannical hold ends,” the council said. “The humanitarian & economic crisis endured by Venezuelans is the fault of 1 person – Maduro.”
For Iran’s government, the business ties with Venezuela represent a way to bring money into its cash-starved coffers and apply its own pressure on Washington.
Soltani denied claims that Iranian planes returned from Venezuela loaded with gold to pay for Iran’s support. He accused U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of spreading “fake news” to undermine the trade, which the ambassador called a “win-win” for both Venezuela and Iran.  
“They can sanction whoever they want,” Soltani said. “Iran will always advance.”  
Adm. Craig Faller, the top U.S. military official in Latin America, said Monday that he was “concerned” by the news reports that Iran was shipping gasoline to Venezuela. He said it fits a larger pattern of Iran trying to gain “positional advantage in our neighborhood in a way that would counter U.S. interests.”
“I’ve seen those same news reports that the tankers are in route,” Faller said in a webcast event. “We see the long hand of that Iranian malfeasance at work each and every day.” 
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European markets are all down in midday trading Thursday as bad economic news from Japan, and China’s worsening trade and diplomatic relations with Australia and the United States, are having a ripple effect with investors across the globe.   The FTSE index in London is 0.9% lower, the CAC-50 in Paris has lost 1% and the DAX index in Frankfurt has plunged 1.3% lower.   A masked woman walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, May 21, 2020.Thursday’s trading doldrums began in Asia, with Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei index losing 0.2% at its closing bell after the government announced that Japan’s exports fell 21.9% last month, the biggest drop since the 2008 global financial crisis.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.4%, while Shanghai closed 0.5% lower and the S&P/ASX 500 in Sydney was down 0.4%.   Seoul and Taipei provided the regions few bright spots, earning 0.4% and 0.9% respectively.   Monday’s major rally on global markets after news of a potential coronavirus vaccine have faded after Beijing imposed massive tariffs on Australian barley imports, plus the Trump administration’s increasingly heated rhetoric against China over its initial response to the coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected late last year in Wuhan.    The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all 0.5 lower in futures trading, indicating a lower opening on Wall Street Thursday as investors brace for another grim unemployment report from the Labor Department.   Oil markets are in positive territory Thursday, with U.S. crude trading at $34.13 per barrel, up 1.9%, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, is trading at $36.37 per barrel, up 1.7%.        
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Leaders of the G-7 nations are considering U.S. President Donald Trump’s idea of meeting for an in-person summit, perhaps next month, while the world continues to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.Trump floated the idea Wednesday as he tweeted that the United States is “Transitioning back to Greatness.””The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK,” Trump said.  “It would be a great sign to all — normalization!”Japan’s top government spokesperson, Yoshihide Suga, said Thursday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s attendance “is still under consideration,” and that the two countries have “been in close contact.”Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the question of meeting in person or virtually will involve examining what safety measures are in place and the recommendations of experts.French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he is open to traveling for the talks, if “health conditions allow,” while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will “wait and see what happens.”All of the G-7 members have begun lifting lockdown restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the virus.Japan’s economy minister said Thursday experts approved a government plan to lift a state of emergency in Osaka and two other prefectures, while keeping in place the orders for Tokyo.Cases increasingThe World Health Organization said Wednesday that a record 106,000 new coronavirus cases were identified globally, the highest daily number since the outbreak began.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a news briefing that almost two-thirds of the new cases were confirmed in just four countries. He did not name them, but several news reports name the four countries as the United States, Russia, Brazil and India.Brazil had a record number of new cases Wednesday since the outbreak began there: close to 20,000 in one day.  Officials in the country’s most populous city, Sao Paulo, announced a six-day holiday aimed at keeping people from going out and spreading the virus.Close to 5 million people worldwide have been infected with the novel coronavirus, and the death toll has topped 328,000. The United States has the most confirmed cases, about 1.5 million, and the highest death toll, more than 93,000.Italy reported Wednesday that its number of new cases fell from 813 to 665, while Spain reported fewer than 100 deaths for the fourth consecutive day.  Both countries were early hot spots for the pandemic. 
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Japan is planning to lift a state of emergency for three more prefectures as the number of new coronavirus cases falls.Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Thursday in Tokyo a group of experts have approved a plan to lift the emergency imposed for the western prefectures of Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo.The three prefectures were among seven, including Tokyo, that were first placed under a state of emergency last month by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe out of fear the coronavirus outbreak would overwhelm the country’s health care system.  The prime minister briefly expanded the decree for the entire country.Tokyo and four other prefectures, including the northern island of Hokkaido, will remain under the state of emergency.The COVID-19 outbreak has pushed Japan’s economy into a recession for the first time since 2015, as its gross domestic product shrank by an annual 3.4 percent in the first three months of 2020, following a contraction in the last quarter of 2019.Further evidence of the financial blow came Thursday, with the finance ministry releasing figures showing Japan’s exports fell 21.9 percent last month, the biggest drop since the 2008 global financial crisis.Japan has been mildly affected by the coronavirus compared to the rest of the world, with more than 16,000 confirmed infections, including over 700 deaths. 
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In East Africa, long-distance truckers are suspected of carrying the dreaded coronavirus along with their cargo. So for weeks, trucks have stalled at border crossings — with trucks sometimes stretching back hundreds deep at some points — as governments restrict access and implement mandatory COVID-19 testing to protect their residents.“They are calling us ‘corona.’ We are not corona, and we have certificates on the vehicles, but they are still calling us corona. Why?” asked Muhammed Ali, a Tanzanian trucker halted last week at Uganda’s Mirama Hills border crossing with Rwanda. He carried a paper certifying he had tested negative for the virus.With truck drivers seen as high-risk COVID-19 carriers after some cases were traced to them, the Kigali government ordered that they turn over their vehicles to Rwandan drivers in a system of relay driving. The other option was to offload merchandise onto Rwandan trucks.Drivers from other countries refused, saying they had no authorization from their employers and could be held liable for any lost merchandise.“We drivers don’t like that thing of handing the trucks to other drivers from Rwanda,” said Benjamin Ngugi, a Kenyan trucker also stalled at Mirama Hills.As trucks stacked up for days, Rwanda and neighboring Tanzania worked out a deal that scrapped plans for relay drivers but mandated transferring cargo at the border, “except for trucks carrying perishable goods and petroleum products destined to Rwanda,” the Kigali government A technician carries samples from truck drivers testing for COVID-19 at the laboratory of Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Busia, a town bordering with Uganda in western Kenya, on May 14, 2020.On Saturday, the Nairobi government closed entry points with Tanzania and Somalia, except for cargo trucks whose drivers have tested negative. In an apparent retaliatory move, Tanzania shuttered several crossings on its eastern side Monday.Kenya’s ambassador to Tanzania, Dan Kazungu, attempted to ease the situation Tuesday, saying at a news conference that leaders of the East African Community (EAC) were working together to address the region’s trucking industry problems.But Wednesday, a day after Kenya announced the return of more than 180 foreigners to Tanzania because of positive COVID test results, a Tanzanian regional official accused the Nairobi government of faulty testing.Mrisho Gambo, a commissioner in Tanzania’s northern Arusha region, said in a statement that 19 truckers who had tested positive in Kenya subsequently had negative results after retesting in his country. He accused Kenya of “a deliberate sabotage strategy” against tourism in his country, according to local news reports.Zambia also had closed its border with Tanzania for several days last week after several truck drivers, immigration officers and sex workers tested positive for COVID, Reuters reported.Several heads of state in the EAC bloc — including Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Salva Kiir of South Sudan — last week agreed to double testing of truckers. They will be allowed to drive through the EAC upon testing negative in their country of origin and at the border.The leaders also agreed to adopt a harmonized system for certifying and sharing COVID-19 test results and other information. Kiir and his wife, Angelina Teny, who is Uganda’s defense minister, have tested positive for COVID, it was announced Tuesday.Transportation and trade barriers threaten to increase food insecurity in Africa, where an estimated one in five people already are malnourished, a World Health Organization official warned.“Hunger and malnutrition heighten vulnerability to diseases, the consequences of which could be far-reaching if not properly addressed,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, director of the Africa regional office, said last week in a COVID-19 online news briefing organized by the World Economic Forum.Speaking on the same panel, Chris Nikoi, the World Food Program’s regional director for West Africa, said border delays were “leading to increase in prices.” He said the WFP, part of the United Nations, was consulting with governments, agriculture and trade organizations to ensure that “the flow of food and goods is not overly restricted.”Amid the pandemic, Nikoi added, “it becomes even more critical to allow trade and commerce to function in the most efficient manner.”This report originated with VOA’s Swahili and English to Africa services. Catherine Nambi reported from Kigali, Rwanda, and Amina Chombo reported from Mombasa, Kenya. Jonathan Muriithi, Kennes Odongo and Carol Guensburg contributed from Washington. 
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The vice president of the United States walked into a hamburger joint and ordered lunch Wednesday.That normally would not be headline news. Amid a pandemic, however, it is significant — a singular act to shift the spotlight from a nationwide public health emergency to economic recovery.Pence, at Beth’s Burger Bar in Orlando, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at his side, stood before the cash register and ordered a cheeseburger with a pickle and a side of fries. The vice president paid for his lunch and the governor’s (a total of$24.72).It was a token amount toward the recovery of the Sunshine State’s economy, heavily dependent on tourism and crippled by the coronavirus.Mingling, unmaskedThe two politicians, before sitting at an indoor table for their meal, mingled with customers who wanted to talk about basketball, not pandemics or politics.No one wore masks.Protesters wave signs at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as he and Vice President Mike Pence visit Westminster Baldwin Park, May 20, 2020, in Orlando, Fla.Some will see Pence’s seemingly mundane act of ordering a meal as sending a mixed message while the novel coronavirus, having already infected 1.5 million people and killed more than 93,000 in the United States, continues to spread in some areas of the country.“We really know that we have slowed the spread. Now we’re opening up,” the vice president told the restaurant’s owner, Beth Steele.“We’re ready to get back to work,” replied Steele, who said she lost 80% of her business during the shutdown, relying on takeout and delivery orders.The restaurant resumed indoor dining at 25% capacity Monday and 50% capacity Tuesday.Many remain leeryDespite the urging of the administration of President Donald Trump for America to get back to work, many businesses and potential customers are wary that a sit-down dinner or a professional haircut remain risky.In great part, bending the curves of soaring unemployment and declining gross domestic product depends on the confidence of the public to resume normal activity. To help ease the concerns of those nervous Americans, Pence’s day trip to Florida was intended to demonstrate it is safe to return to restaurants and other places of public commerce.“If we don’t get people back to work quickly, it’s over. Orlando is struggling. Orlando is suffering and is in deep depression,” Harris Rosen, the founder and chief executive officer of Rosen Hotels & Resorts, said as he sat alongside Pence at a round-table discussion that included executives of Disney, Universal and Sea World theme parks.Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia, right, participates in a discussion, May 20, 2020, in Orlando, Fla. The discussion was held with hospitality and tourism industry leaders regarding plans for re-opening during the coronavirus outbreak.The amusement resort representatives said they were looking at fully reopening as soon as next month but in a way that would maintain, for now, social distancing and by implementing other measures so guests can feel safe, such as requiring masks to be worn.Florida is generally embracing a robust return to commercial activity, and its choice exemplifies a deep red-blue divide in the country.Republicans in the red states bristled at what they viewed as draconian measures to keep schools and offices closed and cancel sporting and music events — making the act of just putting a blanket on the beach or in a public park illegal.Caution in blue statesThe blue states with Democratic leadership have been exercising greater caution, cognizant that reopening too fast could prompt a second wave of COVID-19 cases.Florida’s governor is a Republican and the state helped elect Trump and Pence in 2016. Pollsters see the state as being in play during this year’s election, another reason for the vice president’s visit Wednesday.Trump, restless in the White House, could soon visit (he is now officially a Florida resident).FILE – President Donald Trump talks to reporters before flying to Phoenix, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., May 5, 2020. The coronavirus pandemic is complicating what has been a May reelection campaign launch for recent presidents.The Trump-Pence reelection campaign is reportedly planning for the president to resume campaign rallies. Trump would like to see the events on the scale he has previously enjoyed, with thousands of supporters packed into arenas.The COVID-19 pandemic could compel social distancing on the campaign trail for some time to come. The president’s reelection team views such events as a way to contrast Trump with the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, who has stayed home amid the coronavirus crisis.The Biden campaign, like the blue states, is expected to play it safe for a longer period than the Republicans, emphasizing that saving lives is the priority, even if that means prolonging economic misery.
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The University of Cambridge in Britain announced late Tuesday that due to the coronavirus pandemic it would cancel all in-person lectures until summer 2021.
 
The prestigious university is the first among Britain’s prominent schools to move all classes online for the next academic year.   
 
The university stated that small-group instruction which follows safe physical distancing might be possible. Its decision follows a plan by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to phase out the existing lockdown slowly. Britain has the fourth-highest number of coronavirus cases globally, with more than 250,000 confirmed cases as of May 20.  
In New York, where COVID-19 cases are concentrated, major institutions like Cornell University and Columbia University initially transitioned to virtual lectures in early March but have yet to announce plans for the 2020/21 academic year.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyCalifornia State University last week became the first major U.S. college to announce it will move to a primarily virtual classroom this fall.
 
As U.S. colleges have grappled with this dilemma, there have been many disappointed college seniors and incoming college freshmen, canceled sports teams and unique challenges facing historically black colleges and universities. Some students have demanded refunds and discounts, saying the level of instruction is inadequate, and virtual classes should come at a reduced tuition.  
 
The move to online education in higher education and lower grades has raised questions about the quality and effectiveness of virtual learning.
 
A 2017 Brookings Institution study provided evidence that students in online courses “perform substantially worse than students in traditional in-person courses,” and such experiences can “impact performance in future classes and their likelihood of dropping out of college as well.”
 
A 2014 MIT study produced different results, saying an on-campus experience was not superior to a virtual one.
 
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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 DebunkClaim: Former Vice President Joe Biden said that under the Trump administration, the CDC cut its staff in China to four people.Verdict: FalseRead the full story at: FactCheck.org​Social Media DisinfoScreenshotCirculating on social media: Claim that COVID-19 quickly spread around the world as early as October 2019.Verdict: Partially CorrectRead the full story at: Health Feedback Factual Reads on CoronavirusCoronavirus vaccine trials have their first results — but their promise is still unclear
Scientists urge caution over hints of success emerging from small human and animal studies.
— Nature, May 19
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More than 1,100 former U.S. federal prosecutors on Wednesday blasted the attempt by Republican President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to dismiss a charge against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying the move puts Trump’s personal interests ahead of the public good. 
The criticism came in a legal brief the nonprofit The Protect Democracy Project plans to file in federal court in Washington. They accused Attorney General William Barr of abusing his oath of office by asking to dismiss the criminal charge against Flynn, who has pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI.
 
The group included former Acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson — who served in that role under Democratic then-President Bill Clinton, and former Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer, who served under Republican then-President George H.W. Bush — marks the latest development in an escalating drama over whether U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan will grant the department’s bombshell request to drop the case. 
“The government’s request in this case does not appear to advance the interests of justice or the public, nor does it appear to be free of impermissible and unlawful taint,” they wrote in a prepared filing seen by Reuters, adding that the request “appears to serve President Trump’s personal political interests, rather than the interests of the public.” 
Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general who was briefly Trump’s national security adviser, pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about interactions with Russia’s U.S. Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the weeks before Trump took office. 
After agreeing to cooperate, Flynn switched lawyers and tactics, arguing the FBI tricked him and asked that his plea agreement be dismissed. 
Sullivan has made it clear he is not willing to simply rubber-stamp the request. 
He appointed retired Judge John Gleeson to present arguments on whether Flynn should face an additional criminal contempt charge for perjury. 
 
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