Month: July 2020

There was a tight security presence outside the U.S. consulate in the city of Chengdu, China Sunday, as the American staff prepared to leave the premises. Three moving trucks were seen entering the building compound, while uniformed and plainclothes police lined both sides of the street, which were lined with metal barriers.The editor of China’s Global Times tabloid tweeted that the U.S. consulate in Chengdu was given 72 hours to close, or until 10 a.m. (0200GMT) Monday, July 27.China charged that some personnel at the Chengdu consulate were “conducting activities not in line with their identities.”Without giving any details, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Wang Wenbin said such activity had interfered in China’s affairs and harmed its security interests.China’s order to close the consulate in Chengdu was issued Friday in retaliation for a U.S. order to close the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas. FILE – The Chinese Consulate General is seen Wednesday, July 22, 2020, in Houston.Washington ordered China to close the Houston office “to protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information.”As Chinse consulate closure in Houston took effect on Friday, a group of men who appeared to be U.S. officials were seen breaking-in to the facility through a back door.Wang said on Saturday that violated international and bilateral agreements and China would respond, without specifying of how.The tit-for-tat closures further escalated the tensions between the two countries over issues from trade and industrial espionage to human rights. 
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At least one person has died after someone shot into a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the southwestern U.S. city of Austin, Texas.Emergency services officials say they are looking for other victims following the Saturday night shooting.Police say they are treating the incident as a homicide.
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For Shelly Hutchinson, a Georgia state representative, the message of Stone Mountain, the nation’s largest Confederate monument, is personal.The 250-meter-high mountain of quartz monzonite bears the largest bas-relief carving in the world, featuring the likenesses of Confederacy President Jefferson Davis and Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, in a grandiose piece of art plainly visible from a nearby highway.This homage to the Civil War – the war Americans fought at least in part over the right to own slaves — is located in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, where more than one-third of the population is black. And U.S. census numbers show that the village of Stone Mountain, within sight of the huge carving, has a population that is nearly three-quarters black.“Kids (are) molded by their environment,” Hutchinson said in a recent phone interview. “If you have schoolchildren who drive past that memorial or any other Confederate memorial, the message is that the Confederacy means more than you do.”Yet, there are others, like Martin O’Toole of Atlanta’s Sons of Confederate Veterans, who say getting rid of Confederate monuments would be akin to trying to erase history, and discussion of their significance is normal.“Diversity of opinion on these matters is essential,” he said in an email to VOA.Since 1915, the mountain has been a gathering place for the white supremacist group, the Ku Klux Klan, and other groups like it. For decades, the Klan met annually at the site, with the blessing of the family who owned it. Even now that the mountain is state property, historic Confederate flags fly at the site, and some visitors bring their own.This July 20, 2020, photo shows the statue of General Robert E. Lee at Antietam battlefield in Maryland. The National Park Service covered it after it was vandalized July 16, 2020. (M. Melton/VOA)Not only would it be difficult to destroy or alter a gigantic memorial literally carved in stone, but it is also protected by Georgia state law. When lawmakers removed Confederate imagery from the Georgia state flag in 2003, they added a compromise: a provision that Stone Mountain’s tribute to the Confederacy remain, as is, in perpetuity. Hutchinson has introduced legislation to get that changed – in fact, to outlaw Confederate memorials outright on Georgia public land, all of which are now protected by a law passed last year in Georgia’s Legislature.Georgia is not alone in passing laws to protect its monuments. A number of other Southern states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and until recently Virginia — had similar laws. They apply to all historical monuments, not just those related to the Civil War. They protect the even the most controversial of monuments from being hastily taken down.Hutchinson said the effort to hang on to Confederate symbols indicates, to her, that it is motivated by more than reverence for history. “This is a passive-aggressive way of saying, ‘We still have the upper hand,’” she said.Similarly, O’Toole questions the motivation of those who say the monuments are upsetting and should be taken down.“What monuments are agreed upon by all Americans?” he said. “What the censors are demanding is either destruction of the monuments they disagree with or ‘contextualization’ markers to promote their own viewpoints.”He suggested providing contextualization markers for all monuments, “not just Confederate or traditional American memorials.”Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a House subcommittee held a hearing on what to do about Confederate memorials on public lands – specifically, several in Washington, D.C., and a statue of General Lee at a Civil War battlefield in Maryland, all of which have been vandalized recently by supporters of Black Lives Matter.An image stating ‘No America Without Black America’ is projected on to the pedestal of the statue of confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue, July 22, 2020, in Richmond, Va.Robert W. Lee, a North Carolina pastor and descendant of General Robert E. Lee, told lawmakers that he supports removal of the statue of his ancestor in Maryland and the many others like it across the South.He read quotes from General Lee’s own congressional testimony, in which the Confederate general stated plainly that he did not believe Blacks were as capable of learning or of voting intelligently as whites.Following those comments with his own, Robert W. Lee said, “For us to continue to celebrate a man who questioned the education, disparaged the right to vote … and had previously fought for the continued enslavement of Africans on the North American continent, is an affront to those now suffering under the continued weight of oppression.”At that same hearing, Joseph Loconte of the Heritage Foundation criticized those who vandalized the monuments, saying, “This is not the way to bind up the nation’s wounds.”Loconte also said historians like himself study the past “in order for … history to speak its truths and warnings and lessons into our present reality,” he said. “In the history of the world, that is quite a story – a story worth remembering and defending.”Meanwhile, the times keep changing.Late Thursday, the state of Virginia swiftly and quietly removed all Confederate memorials from its state Capitol building in the city of Richmond, once the capital of the Confederacy. And Fairfax County, Virginia, just announced it will change the name of its Robert E. Lee High School to that of John R. Lewis, a Black civil rights leader and longtime U.S. congressman who died last week. 
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Seattle police declared a riot Saturday following large demonstrations in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood and deployed flash bangs and pepper spray to try to clear an area near where weeks earlier people had set up an “occupied protest zone” that stretched for several blocks.Via Twitter, police said they had made multiple arrests and were “investigating a possible explosive damage” to the walls of the city’s East Precinct police station. Authorities said rocks, bottles and mortars were thrown at officers as they attempted to clear the area.Earlier, protesters in Seattle broke through a fence where a youth detention facility was being built, with some people setting a fire and damaging a portable trailer, authorities said.Thousands of protesters had initially gathered peacefully near downtown Seattle on Saturday in a show of solidarity with fellow demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, where tensions with federal law enforcement have boiled over during protests stemming from the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.Initially there was no sign of law enforcement near the Seattle march. Later, Seattle Police said via Twitter that about a dozen people breached the construction site for the King County youth detention facility. Also, police said protesters broke out windows at a King County court facility.Protesters march near the King County Juvenile Detention Center, July 25, 2020, in Seattle in support of Black Lives Matter and against police brutality and racial injustice.Earlier this week King County Executive Dow Constantine, in response to long-standing demands by community activists, said he would work to eliminate youth detention centers in the county by 2025.After the fire at the construction site authorities said they had ordered people to leave a different area, in a section of Capitol Hill, near downtown, where the East Precinct is.Earlier this month police cleared the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone after two fatal shootings. A group had occupied several blocks around a park for about two weeks following standoffs and clashes that were part of the nationwide unrest over Floyd’s death.Prior to Saturday’s protests Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best had announced officers would be armed with pepper spray and other weapons, promising officers would not use tear gas and urging demonstrators to remain peaceful.”In the spirit of offering trust and full transparency, I want to advise you that SPD officers will be carrying pepper spray and blast balls today, as would be typical for events that carry potential to include violence,” Best said.At an emergency hearing on Friday night, U.S. District Judge James Robart granted a request from the federal government to block Seattle’s new law prohibiting police from using pepper spray, blast balls and similar weapons.The temporary restraining order halts the law that the Seattle City Council passed unanimously last month after confrontations that have largely been peaceful but were occasionally marked by violence, looting and highway shutdowns. The law intended to deescalate tensions between police and demonstrators was set to take effect on Sunday.But the U.S. Department of Justice, citing Seattle’s long-standing police consent decree, successfully argued that banning the use of crowd control weapons could actually lead to more police use of force, leaving them only with more deadly weapons. 
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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday that Republicans were set to roll out the next COVID-19 aid package Monday and assured there was backing from the White House after he and President Donald Trump’s top aide met to fine-tune the $1 trillion proposal that had floundered just days before.Mnuchin told reporters at the Capitol that extending an expiring unemployment benefit — but reducing it substantially — was a top priority for Trump. The secretary called the $600 weekly aid “ridiculous” and a disincentive for people to go back to work. He also promised a fresh round of $1,200 stimulus checks would be coming in August.”We’re prepared to move quickly,” Mnuchin said after he and Mark Meadows, the president’s acting chief of staff, spent several hours with GOP staff at the Capitol. He said the president would “absolutely” support the emerging Republican package.Mnuchin’s optimistic assessment came before Democrats weighed in publicly on the updated proposal, which remained only a starting point in negotiations with House and Senate leaders in the other party. He said he recently called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ahead of shuttle negotiations next week on the broader deal.The White House and Senate Republicans were racing to regroup after plans to introduce a $1 trillion virus rescue bill collapsed Thursday amid GOP infighting over its size, scope and details. It was expected to bring $105 billion to help schools reopen, new money for virus testing and benefits for businesses, including a fresh round of loans, tax breaks and a sweeping liability shield from COVID-related lawsuits.As Republicans struggled, the White House team downplayed the differences with the GOP senators as overblown and said Trump was focused on providing relief.”The president has been very clear. He wants to make sure that the American people have what they need during this unprecedented time,” Meadows said, “to make sure not only the money is there but the programs.”The expiration of the $600 weekly jobless benefits boost had been propelling the Republicans to act. Democrats already approved their sweeping $3 trillion plan from Pelosi two months ago. But with millions of Americans about to be suddenly cut off from the aid starting next Saturday, they were bracing to prevent social and economic fallout.The White House floated plans to cut the additional aid back to $100 a week, while Senate Republicans preferred $200, with general agreement about phasing out the flat boost in favor of one that ensures no more than 70 percent of an employee’s previous pay.Mnuchin also said the $1,200 direct payments would be based on the same formula from the earlier aid bill. Individuals making $75,000 or less, for example, received the full amount and those making more than $75,000 received less than $1,200 depending on their income. Individuals earning above $100,000 did not qualify for the payment.”We’ll get the majority of them out in August and those will help people,” Mnuchin said.The administration officials said the overall package remained at $1 trillion, apparently on par with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s original draft.That strategy enabled McConnell, who did not have full support from his GOP majority, to avoid having to force a vote and endure a failed outcome. But it also gave Democrats some leverage in insisting on their priorities as part of any final deal.The path ahead remained uncertain, but both sides were scrambling to reach a deal by the end of the month. 
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President Donald Trump in recent days suddenly acknowledged the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic and edged away from some of his most audacious falsehoods about it. That’s not to say he gave the public an honest accounting.Trump minimized the potential risk to children and those around them as he advocated reopening schools. He again marveled at the number of COVID-19 tests being performed in the U.S. even as the overwhelmed testing system crucially fails to deliver sufficient access and timely results.And he cited a low U.S. death rate from COVID-19 compared with other countries, when the global statistics appear to contradict him.All this while Trump canceled Republican National Convention events in Jacksonville, Florida, bowing to the reality that many Republicans were reluctant to go a state where the virus has been out of control.  Meantime his press secretary peddled false internet rumors that the “cancel culture” led to the cancellation of a cartoon about puppies.A review of some statements from the past week:TESTSTRUMP, on the U.S. approaching 50 million tests: “This allows us to isolate those who are infected, even those without symptoms. So we know exactly where it’s going and when it’s going to be there.” — briefing Tuesday.THE FACTS: This is by no means true.In many if not most parts of the country, people who manage to get a test can wait for many days for the results because labs are overwhelmed. In the meantime, those people could be and in some cases surely are spreading infection. And many people who want a test but report no symptoms can’t get one.Some labs are taking weeks to return COVID-19 results because of the crushing workload from the surge of new cases.”There’s been this obsession with, ‘How many tests are we doing per day?'” said Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The question is, how many tests are being done with results coming back within a day, where the individual tested is promptly isolated and their contacts are promptly warned?”KIDS and COVID-19TRUMP on young people and the virus: “Now, they don’t catch it easily; they don’t bring it home easily. And if they do catch it, they get better fast. We’re looking at that fact.” — briefing Wednesday.THE FACTS: That isn’t a fact. He doesn’t have the science to reach this broad conclusion.  His coronavirus task force coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, and other public health officials have said repeatedly that while children appear to get less sick from the virus than adults, the threat to young people and their ability to spread the virus are not understood because not enough research has been done on kids and COVID-19.Birx underscored the point Friday on NBC’s “Today” show. Whether children under 10 spread the virus the same as older children “is still an open question” she said.”We know that children under 18 are less sick, but there are some that suffer terrible consequences if they have underlying conditions,” she added. “Children under 10 do get infected. It’s just unclear how rapidly they spread the virus.”Trump has been pushing for schools to reopen and at one point threatened to withhold federal money if they don’t.  While his assurances about children were unsupported, they were a step back from his earlier rhetoric that portrayed kids as practically immune to infection. “It’s very unique how the children aren’t affected,” he said in early May. “Incredible.”U.S. DEATHSTRUMP on the U.S. and other countries in the pandemic: “We’ve done much better than most. And with the fatality rate at a lower rate than most, it’s something that we can talk about, but we’re working, again, with them because we’re helping a lot of countries that people don’t even know about.” — briefing Tuesday.THE FACTS: No, the U.S. does not shine in comparison with other countries. The U.S. has experienced far more recorded infections and deaths from COVID-19 than any other country, including those with larger populations, and it lags a number of other nations in testing and containment.Trump seems to have edged away from claiming that the U.S. mortality rate is the world’s best, after being confronted on that point in his Fox News interview a week ago with Chris Wallace. His more modest boasts since, though, also are not correct.Understanding deaths as a percentage of the population or as a percentage of known infections is problematic because countries track and report COVID-19 deaths and cases differently. No one can reliably rank countries in this regard.The statistics that do exist fail to support his assertion.In an analysis of the 20 countries currently most affected by the pandemic, the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center finds the U.S. with the fourth worst rate of deaths per 100,000 people — only Britain, Peru and Chile are seeing more reported deaths as a proportion of their populations.On another measure, looking at what percentage of reported cases lead to death, the U.S. is in the middle of that pack, with a case-fatality ratio of 3.6%Looking at deaths among all countries, not just the ones most suffering at this stage of the pandemic, the U.S. fares somewhat better but still not among the best. Its recorded 44 deaths per 100,000 compares favorably with Britain (68.6 per 100,000) as well as Spain (60.8), Italy (58) and Sweden (55.7), for example, but poorly with Canada (24), Brazil (40), Mexico (33) and dozens more countries.Disparities in reporting are only one reason not to take these numbers conclusively. Many factors are in play in shaping a death toll besides how well a country responded to the pandemic, such as the overall health or youth of national populations.’CANCEL CULTURE’KAYLEIGH McENANY, White House press secretary, on Trump: “He’s also appalled by cancel culture, and cancel culture specifically as it pertains to cops. We saw a few weeks ago, ‘Paw Patrol,’ a cartoon show about cops was canceled.” — briefing Friday.THE FACTS: No, ‘Paw Patrol’ was not canceled. Fake rumors online said it was. And it’s not about cops. It’s a cartoon about puppies. The lead puppy is a cop. There’s a firefighter puppy, too.MASKSMcENANY, when asked about Trump’s change in tone this past week in urging people to wear masks: “There has been no change. …The president has been consistent on this.” — news briefing Friday.THE FACTS: Trump’s messaging has been inconsistent, to say the least.Trump from the beginning has made clear that wearing masks is voluntary and shunned wearing one in public. He frequently ridiculed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for wearing a mask in public.  In May, when a reporter declined to pull down his mask to ask a question at a news briefing so Trump could hear better, the president mocked by saying, “OK, because you want to be politically correct.”And Trump told The Wall Street Journal last month that some people may wear them as a political statement against him.”People touch them,” he said. “And they grab them and I see it all the time. They come in, they take the mask. Now they’re holding it now in their fingers. And they drop it on the desk and then they touch their eye and they touch their nose. No, I think a mask is a — it’s a double-edged sword.”This past week, as his poll ratings on the handling of the coronavirus have fallen, Trump on Monday tweeted a photo of himself wearing a mask and called it an act of patriotism.  That evening, he was seen maskless at the Trump International Hotel in apparent defiance of D.C. coronavirus regulations, according to video footage of the event.”We’re asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask,” Trump said Tuesday at his first appearance at a coronavirus briefing since April. “Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact.”TRAVEL RESTRICTIONSTRUMP: “You know, one day, we had a virus come in, and I closed the borders, did a lot of things that were very good. … And nobody wanted to do it. I wanted to do it. We closed the border to China. We put on the ban. We didn’t want people coming in from heavily infected China.” — briefing Tuesday.THE FACTS: He didn’t ban travel from China. He restricted it. Dozens of countries took similar steps to control travel from hot spots before or around the same time the U.S. did.  The U.S. restrictions that took effect Feb. 2 continued to allow travel to the U.S. from China’s Hong Kong and Macao territories over the past five months. The Associated Press reported that more than 8,000 Chinese and foreign nationals based in those territories entered the U.S. in the first three months after the travel restrictions were imposed.Additionally, more than 27,000 Americans returned from mainland China in the first month after the restrictions took effect. U.S. officials lost track of more than 1,600 of them who were supposed to be monitored for virus exposure.  VETERANSTRUMP: “On the VA, we got Veterans Choice. Nobody thought that would be possible. That’s been many decades. They’ve been trying to get Veterans Choice. It’s called ‘Choice,’ where they can go get a doctor if they have to wait on line for two weeks or five weeks or two days.” — briefing Tuesday.THE FACTS: It’s false that he achieved Veterans Choice when other presidents couldn’t. President Barack Obama achieved it. Trump expanded it. It has not eliminated delays for care, including for those with waits of “two weeks” or “two days.”The program allows veterans to see a private doctor for primary or mental health care at public expense if their VA wait is 20 days (28 for specialty care) or their drive to a VA facility is 30 minutes or more. After the coronavirus outbreak, the VA took the step of restricting veterans’ access to private doctors, citing the added risks of infection and limited capacity at private hospitals.
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China’s foreign ministry complained Saturday that American law enforcement officials improperly entered its consulate in Houston, which was ordered to close in an escalating diplomatic feud.The ministry gave no details, but U.S. federal agents checked the consulate’s doors and a locksmith was seen working on a lock Friday after Chinese diplomats left ahead of a 4 p.m. deadline to close.U.S.-Chinese relations have plunged to their lowest level in decades amid conflicts over trade, technology, Hong Kong, spying accusations and complaints of abuses against Chinese Muslims.US Closure of Chinese Consulate Expected to Bring Retaliation Analysts expect China to order the closure of a US consulate in China — possibly in the cities of Shenyang or Wuhan The Trump administration ordered the Houston consulate closed this week, saying Chinese agents tried to steal medical and other research in Texas. Beijing responded by ordering Washington to close its consulate in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu.”As for the U.S. side’s forcible entry into the premises of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston, China expresses strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition,” said a foreign ministry statement. “China will make a proper and necessary response to this.”The statement said that the Houston consulate was Chinese property, and that under diplomatic treaties American officials had no right to enter.In Chengdu, spectators snapped photos outside the U.S. Consulate on Saturday as police in T-shirts and surgical masks stood on the sidewalk and the closed-off street in front of the walled compound.A bus drove into the compound, but spectators saw few other signs of action.  On Friday, a man was detained by police after he set off firecrackers outside the consulate at about 7 p.m., Chengdu police said on their social media account. It said the man was given a warning. 
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Legal groups sued the U.S. government Friday to try to stop the expulsion of children detained in hotel rooms by the Trump administration under an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus.The owners of the Hampton Inn & Suites in McAllen, Texas, said Friday night that they ended any reservations on rooms used to detain minors. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also confirmed that all children had been taken away from the hotel, two days after The Associated Press reported that it was one of three hotels used nearly 200 times for detention of children as young as 1.But ICE repeatedly refused to answer questions about where contractors have taken the children, citing a potential security risk. “The Trump administration is holding children in secret in hotels, refusing to give lawyers access to them so it can expel them back to danger without even a chance for the children to show they warrant asylum,” said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit on behalf of the Texas Civil Rights Project. Gelernt said suing on behalf of unnamed children was necessary “because the government is refusing to provide any information about the children.” The lawsuit was filed in Washington federal court, and Gelernt said he would seek to include any minors detained at the hotel as of Thursday. Government data obtained by AP shows children were detained 123 times at the McAllen hotel in April and June. Castle Hospitality, which operates the McAllen location, refused to say how many rooms had been booked for use by ICE or its private contractor, MVM Inc. The other Hampton Inns are near the airports in Phoenix and El Paso, Texas, according to the data obtained by AP.Under federal anti-trafficking law and a court settlement, most children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border are supposed to go to facilities operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and eventually placed with family sponsors. But the Trump administration says it must expel children to prevent the spread of COVID-19, citing an emergency declaration in March by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 2,000 children have since been expelled without getting the chance to seek refuge in the U.S.Some children are as young as 1 and others have been held in hotels two weeks or longer, according to government data obtained by AP for April and June. Roberto Lopez of the Texas Civil Rights Project said when he entered the hotel last Friday, he saw people in scrubs going room to room on the fourth and fifth floors of the Hampton Inn caring for children. He saw one small child holding on to a gate in a doorway as an adult on the other side played with him. But on Thursday, when another advocate from the group went to the fourth floor, three men dressed in plainclothes stopped him, according to a video the group posted online. After the men asked for his identity, the advocate yelled in Spanish that he was a lawyer trying to help. The video shows the men in plainclothes shoving him and forcing him into an elevator, repeatedly refusing to identify themselves. On Friday, ICE described the lawyer and another person with him as people who “attempted to forcefully gain access” to an area its contract officers were restricting. A group of Congressional Democrats wrote Friday to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf expressing “deep alarm” about the detention of children in hotels.“We are gravely concerned that the CDC order is being grossly misused to circumvent asylum and child welfare protections,” the letter said.
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Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to grow into a hurricane by the time it makes landfall on the southern Texas Gulf coast Saturday afternoon or early evening. The U.S. National Weather Center says dangerous to catastrophic flash flooding is expected.Hanna is set to move southwesterly into Deep South Texas by Sunday morning before it crosses the Rio Grande into Mexico. Rainfall of 15 to 30 centimeters is likely, with as much as 46 centimeters possible, the weather service says. Hurricane force winds are predicted as Hanna travels across sections of the Texas ranchlands. Forecasters predict power outages. To the South and East, Tropical Storm Gonzalo is moving with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour, bringing gusty wind and heavy rains to the Southern Windward Islands Saturday.A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tobago, and Grenada and its dependencies. 
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A six-day series of events memorializing the life of the late civil rights icon and member of the U.S. House of Representatives John Lewis begins Saturday in his hometown of Troy, Alabama, and culminates next week with his funeral in the state of Georgia.A public service celebrating Lewis will take place Saturday morning at Troy University, where Lewis will lie in repose for visitors to pay their respects. Later in the day, a private ceremony will honor him at a chapel in Selma, Alabama, ahead of another public viewing.On Sunday, Lewis’ body will cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where he and other voting rights demonstrators were beaten in 1965 on a day known as “Bloody Sunday.”His body will be carried to Alabama’s capital, Montgomery, where Mayor Steven Reed is encouraging people to line the sidewalks on the final leg of that journey. Officials are asking the public to wear face masks and socially distance.Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on Saturday and Sunday in honor of Lewis.During the nearly weeklong memorial events, Lewis’ body will lie in state at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta and the U.S. Capitol in Washington.U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced earlier this week that visitors could pay their respects to Lewis in the U.S. Capitol on Monday and Tuesday.Due to the coronavirus, the public viewing will take place outside the Capitol building instead of inside in the traditional Capitol Rotunda. The lawmakers said social distancing will be “strictly enforced” and face masks will be required.The Georgia Democrat will be the second Black lawmaker to lie in state at the Capitol, following Congressman Elijah Cummings, who died last year.Lewis’ family said there will also be a procession through Washington next week and said members of the public will be able to pay their respects in a “socially distant manner.”Lewis’ funeral will be held Thursday at Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. was once the pastor. Following the service, which will be private, Lewis will be interred at South View Cemetery in Atlanta.Lewis died last Friday at age 80, after a yearlong battle with advanced pancreatic cancer.He rose to fame as a leader of the modern-day American civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. At 23, he worked closely with King and was the last surviving speaker from the August 1963 March on Washington where King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.The civil rights movement led Lewis into a career in politics. He was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1981 and to Congress in 1986, calling the latter victory “the honor of a lifetime.” He served 17 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia’s fifth district.  
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U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration continued to make the case Friday for schools to reopen for the academic year, saying schools and teachers are “essential” despite a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases.”It is our firm belief that our schools are essential places of business, if you will, that our teachers are essential personnel,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a news briefing Friday.When asked why Trump is canceling the Republican convention but is encouraging schools to open, McEnany said children are “not affected in the same way as adults” and that “we can make precautions and take measures to protect” children.Several studies have suggested that children are less likely to become infected by the coronavirus than adults and are more likely to have milder symptoms.However, Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, told the television program Today on Friday that it was “still an open question” on how quickly young children can spread the virus. She also said that children with underlying health conditions can “suffer terrible consequences” if they become infected.U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said during a talk Friday at Marian University in Indianapolis that “opening up our schools again is the best thing for our kids.”“It’s also the best thing for working families,” he added, arguing that having children return to classrooms is a necessary step to seeing more parents return to their jobs.Presumptive U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Friday told the ABC television affiliate in Phoenix that Trump “just wants to order schools to open because he’s afraid if he doesn’t, it will hurt his reelection chances.”On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that school leaders and local officials take into account the virus’ rate of transmission in their area in deciding when to reopen schools. It recommended that students return to in-person learning if there is minimal or moderate spread in an area. 
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A U.S. judge has ruled against Oregon, which sought to restrain federal officers’ actions during daily protests in Portland that have often spiraled into violence.The presence and actions of federal officers in Portland have raised concerns of a possible constitutional crisis on the ground that the agents have been deployed without local consent.U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman ruled Friday that the state lacked standing to sue on behalf of protesters. The state lawsuit sought to restrict federal agents’ actions when they arrest people, including prohibiting federal agents from detaining protesters without probable cause.The protests against racial injustice and police brutality pit local officials against the Trump administration and have increased the nation’s political tensions.Disturbances erupted again Friday with protesters clashing with agents who were dressed in fatigues and were positioned behind a steel fence by a federal courthouse, firing tear gas. Agents said they were hit with projectiles and lasers and forced protesters away from the building after declaring an unlawful assembly.Friday’s events came a day after another court ruling over the Portland protests. A different federal judge Thursday blocked U.S. agents from arresting or using physical force against journalists and legal observers at demonstrations. That case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon.Earlier this week, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was among a group of protesters who were tear-gassed when federal agents broke up a protest at the courthouse.According to the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, policing is a state power, not the authority of the federal government.“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,” the amendment states.Wheeler has said he wants the agents to leave, calling their presence an abuse of federal authority and an incitement for violence.Federal officers use chemical irritants and projectiles to disperse protesters at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, July 24, 2020.Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Thursday announced an investigation into the use of force by federal agents in Portland and Washington, where tear gas was used to clear an area across from the White House last month before President Donald Trump crossed the street to stand in front of a church.Also Thursday, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari announced an investigation into allegations of improper behavior by DHS law enforcement in Portland recently.Demonstrators have marched in Portland every day in response to the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody in Minneapolis. Some protests have led to vandalism and other crimes.Elsewhere, federal law enforcement agents are also being dispatched to Chicago, Illinois, after a surge in gang violence that has left about 100 dead in the last several weeks. Agents are also being sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Kansas City, Missouri. The deployment to these three cities is part of what has been dubbed “Operation Legend” to fight violent crime.The mayors of these three cities and 12 others have sent a letter to federal authorities calling for the immediate withdrawal of their forces and to “agree to no further unilateral deployments in U.S. cities.”Trump has emphasized “law and order” as he finds himself fighting for re-election in November against former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee.David Chipman, a senior policy adviser at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told VOA that when he was an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “I was proud to work with local leaders when they needed help righting wrongs.”Chipman said Trump’s recent actions in Portland and his statements about problems in other cities “make clear he thinks federal law enforcement are his personal chess pieces for partisan power grabs.”VOA’s Steve Herman contributed to this report.
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Amid rising diplomatic tensions, China has ordered the United States to close its consulate in Chengdu. Experts see the move as retaliation for the U.S. closing of China’s consulate in Houston, and they say it reflects a new level of hostility between the two countries ahead of U.S. presidential elections in November.  VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.Videographers: Stella Hsu, Zoom video interviews; Jela de Franceschi, Skype interview
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As public health officials warned Friday that the coronavirus posed new risks to parts of the Midwest and South, enhanced federal payments that helped avert financial ruin for millions of unemployed Americans were set to expire — leaving threadbare safety nets offered by individual states to catch them.Since early in the pandemic, the federal government has added $600 to the weekly unemployment checks that states send. That increase ends this week, and with Congress still haggling over next steps, most states will not be able to offer nearly as much.The extra federal aid helped keep Wally Wendt and his family afloat.  Wendt, 54, of Everett, Washington, was laid off from the fitness company where he worked for 31 years. The extra federal benefits helped him pay a loan to put a new roof on his house that he took out before the virus struck and the economy cratered.The money also helps his daughter, who lost her restaurant job. With the boost, she can afford diapers, baby formula, rent and utilities. Without it, Wendt said, his daughter and her two children might move in with him.”The politicians need to get their ducks in a row.” Wendt said. “The pressure’s not on them, it’s on all of us blue-collar workers who are struggling to make a living.”In addition to the end of the $600 payments, federal protections against evictions also are set to expire.Standard unemployment benefits often leave recipients with poverty-level incomes, but at least they are sure to continue, even as states wrestle with diminishing unemployment trust funds.Every state offers assistance for at least some unemployed workers based on a portion of their previous earnings. The maximum amounts vary widely, from $235 a week in Mississippi to $1,234 in Massachusetts. Benefits are available for as few as six weeks in Georgia and up to 28 weeks in Montana. Most states normally cut people off after 26 weeks.Aside from the pandemic’s economic damage, the virus itself threatens to overwhelm parts of the country that have been relatively unscathed.White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx warned in a television interview that the surge of cases in the South and Southwest could make its way north.”What started out very much as a Southern and Western epidemic is starting to move up the East Coast, into Tennessee, Arkansas, up into Missouri, up across Colorado,” Birx told NBC’s “Today” show. She implored people to wear masks, wash hands and keep at least 6 feet apart.In Missouri, confirmed cases have risen sharply since Republican Gov. Mike Parson allowed the state to reopen in mid-June. The number of positive tests set a record three days in a row this week.  Masks continue to be a national flashpoint. Police in Green Bay, Wisconsin, were investigating death threats made against elected city officials over a new mandate requiring face coverings in public buildings.Birx said health professionals have “called out the next set of cities” where they see early warning signs because if those cities make changes now they “won’t become a Phoenix.” Arizona’s sprawling capital has suffered a severe outbreak, though Birx said Friday the federal government was seeing encouraging declines in positive test results there and in San Antonio, which like much of Texas has been hard hit.The governor of Vermont, where cases have been among the nation’s lowest, responded Friday by issuing an order requiring people to wear masks in public. “We are still in very good shape, but it is time to prepare,” Republican Gov. Phil Scott said.Sunbelt states that have been besieged in recent weeks are still struggling. Florida, for example, reported 135 new deaths and 12,000 new cases, pushing its total of identified infections past 400,000.  Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington were negotiating a new coronavirus relief bill as state and local governments, schools, businesses and others pushed for a new dose of aid. Congressional Democrats have sought to keep the extra $600 in unemployment checks rolling. Republicans who control the Senate have proposed benefits worth 70% of what people made before.The $600 weekly bonus is technically set to expire July 31, though this is the last week recipients will get the extra money. Some new aspects of the coverage are not ending, including coverage for some gig workers and freelancers who are usually ineligible for unemployment payments, as well as a 13-week extension of regular benefits that the federal government promised to help states pay.Critics noted that the extra cash payments meant many workers were receiving more for not working than they did working — a possible disincentive for returning to the job. Supporters cast that as an acknowledgement that wages were too low, and said the extra money was a chance for workers to build up a cushion in case they remained unemployed after benefits expire.The federal government is offering interest-free loans to states that deplete their unemployment insurance trust funds, and 10 states have received them so far. But paying the U.S. back after a crisis can keep states from building up reserves. Pennsylvania just finished paying off its loans from the Great Recession.Hawaii is one state that is preserving part of the boost, increasing unemployment checks by $100 a week for the rest of the year. To pay for it, the tourism-dependent state is using nearly one-fifth of its main pot of federal coronavirus aid.Georgia is allowing people to earn more from part-time jobs while still receiving unemployment benefits. In most places, however, similar measures have not taken hold.The New Hampshire Legislature, controlled by Democrats, approved a bill to increase the maximum payment by $100 weekly, to $527. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed it, saying that some of the details could have jeopardized federal funding.In Arizona, Democrats have also pushed for adding $100 to the maximum weekly benefit of $240, but Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, deferred to Congress.
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U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen left prison on Friday to finish his criminal sentence at home, a spokesman for Cohen’s attorney said, a day after a judge found he was imprisoned two weeks ago as retaliation for planning to publish a book about Trump.  Cohen was picked up at a prison in Otisville, New York, about 70 miles (110 km) northwest of New York City, by his son, the spokesman said. He is expected to return to his Manhattan apartment. In May, Cohen was furloughed from the prison because of concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus.U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein on Thursday ordered Cohen to be released by 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) Friday. “We’re just waiting to get him home and then will be considering all next steps, including what the conditions of release will be, who will be supervising him and what, if any, additional legal actions he’ll take,” E. Danya Perry, who represents Cohen, said in an interview on Friday.
 
On July 9, Cohen and his lawyer, Jeffrey K. Levine, met with prison officials to convert his furlough to a home confinement for the final two years of his three-year sentence. After Cohen questioned a provision that barred him from publishing the book, engaging with news organizations and posting on social media, officials shackled him and returned him to prison.
 
Hellerstein said in Thursday’s court hearing that he had never seen such a gag provision in his 21 years on the bench. “It’s retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book,” Hellerstein said. Cohen may file a lawsuit seeking compensation for his unlawful imprisonment and violation of his First Amendment rights, his attorney said.”The lawsuit will get deeper into how this happened and who ultimately was responsible,” Levine said.  The probation officer who drafted the agreement for Cohen with the no-media provision told the court that he had not been aware of the book.  The Federal Bureau of Prisons also issued a statement after the judge’s ruling saying said the book played no role in the decision to return Cohen to prison. The bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cohen’s departure from prison.Cohen, who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump, was sentenced in 2018 for directing hush payments to pornographic film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said they had affairs with Trump. The president has denied having the encounters and has called Cohen a “rat.”  In court papers, Cohen said the book will contain his experiences and observations from the decade he worked for Trump, including both before and after he became president. Cohen said it would provide “unflattering details” of Trump’s Behavior.Even as he turned on Cohen, Trump has voiced his support for people who remained loyal to him.A day after Cohen was sent back to prison, Trump commuted longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone’s prison sentence for lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s outrage over a Republican lawmaker’s verbal assault broadened into an extraordinary moment on the House floor Thursday as she and other Democrats assailed a sexist culture of “accepting violence and violent language against women” whose adherents include President Donald Trump.  
A day after rejecting an offer of contrition from Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., for his language during this week’s Capitol steps confrontation, Ocasio-Cortez and more than a dozen colleagues cast the incident as all-too-common behavior by men, including Trump and other Republicans.  
“This issue is not about one incident. It is cultural,” said Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., calling it a culture “of accepting a violence and violent language against women, an entire structure of power that supports that.”
The remarkable outpouring, with female lawmakers saying they’d routinely encountered such treatment, came in an election year in which polls show women leaning decisively against Trump, who has a history of mocking women.  
“I personally have experienced a lifetime of insults, racism and sexism,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. “And believe me, this did not stop after being elected to public office.”  
Trump was captured in a 2005 tape boasting about physically abusing women, and his disparagement of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has included calling her “crazy.” In an apparent reference to that tape, which drew attention during the 2016 presidential campaign, Ocasio-Cortez said men accost women “with a sense of impunity” every day, including when “individuals who hold the highest office in this land admit, admit to hurting women.”
She also recalled that last year, Trump said she and three colleagues on the “squad” of progressive Democratic women of color should “go back” to their home countries — even though all but one were born in the U.S. and all are American citizens.  
The lawmakers joining Ocasio-Cortez represented a wide range of the chamber’s Democrats, underscoring their unity over an issue that is at once core to the party and capable of energizing its voters.  
On the establishment side was No. 2 House leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, a moderate 20-term veteran. His appearance, along with supportive words at a separate news conference by Pelosi, D-Calif., were a noteworthy contrast to occasional clashes Ocasio-Cortez has had with party leaders.  
Ocasio-Cortez, 30, is a freshman who has made her mark as one of Congress’ most insistent and outspoken progressives. Those speaking up included the three other “squad” members — Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.  
No Republicans spoke on the House floor. A Yoho spokesman emailed a statement in which the lawmaker said “no one was accosted, bullied, or attacked” during what he called a brief policy discussion.  
Yoho, one of Congress’ most conservative lawmakers, said Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t have the “right to inflate, talk about my family, or give an account that did not happen for political gain. The fact still remains, I am not going to apologize for something I didn’t say.”
In a separate appearance, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., defended Yoho, 65, who will retire in January.
“When someone apologizes they should be forgiven,” McCarthy said. He added later, “I just think in a new world, in a new age, we now determine whether we accept when someone says ‘I’m sorry’ if it’s a good enough apology.”
But Bread for the World, a nonpartisan Christian group that combats hunger, suggested it was reconsidering Yoho’s continued membership on its board. Asked about his status, the organization said his recent behavior “does not reflect the values of respect and compassion that Jesus calls on us to exhibit.” They said they have asked to speak to him “before we determine any further action.”
Pelosi herself weighed in a separate news conference.
“It’s a manifestation of attitude in our society really. I can tell you that firsthand, they’ve called me names for at least 20 years of leadership, 18 years of leadership,” Pelosi said of Republicans.
Pelosi, who has five children, recounted that during a debate years ago on women’s reproductive health, GOP lawmakers “said, on the floor of the House, Nancy Pelosi think she knows more about having babies than the Pope.”  
In an encounter Monday witnessed by a reporter from The Hill, Yoho berated Ocasio-Cortez on the House steps for saying that some of the increased crime during the coronavirus pandemic could be traced to rising unemployment and poverty.  
Ocasio-Cortez described it on the House floor Thursday. She said Yoho put his finger in her face and called her disgusting, crazy and dangerous.
She also told the House that in front of reporters, he called her, “and I quote, a fucking bitch.” That matched The Hill’s version of what Yoho had said. Ocasio-Cortez was not there for that remark.
Ocasio-Cortez said Yoho’s references to his wife and daughters as he explained his actions during brief remarks Wednesday actually underscored the problem.
“Having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man,” she said. She added that a decent man apologizes “not to save face, not to win a vote. He apologizes, and genuinely, to repair and acknowledge the harm done, so that we can all move on.”  
Her voice trembled slightly as she said that her father, “thankfully,” was no longer alive to see Yoho’s treatment of her. But she said her mother saw it, “And I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter, and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.”
Other Democrats recalled their own experiences, taunted House Republicans’ overwhelmingly white male membership and warned that the numbers of women lawmakers will only grow. Eighty-eight House Democrats and 13 Republicans are women.  
“We’re not going away,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. “There is going to be more power in the hands of women across this country.” 
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In sending federal law enforcement agents to several cities beset by a spate of shootings and violence, U.S. President Donald Trump is primarily laying the blame on politically left-leaning mayors and governors and efforts to “defund” police departments.“To look at it from any standpoint, the effort to shut down policing in their own communities has led to a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders, and heinous crimes of violence,” Trump said Wednesday as he announced dispatching federal law enforcement agents to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico. “This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end.”But experts say the picture is more complicated than the one the president paints. Although overall crime levels declined this year as people stayed home during the COVID-19 pandemic, a perfect storm of forces has led to spikes in homicides and shootings in many cities in recent weeks.Meanwhile, murder rates have declined in other cities.Criminologists say the exact drivers of the violence are hard to pinpoint. But they cite several contributing factors. Among them: warm summer weather, more people on the streets as states reopen their economies and a growing erosion of public trust in law enforcement amid the continued protests over the death of African American George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May.“There has certainly been an increase in homicides and shootings this summer, but it is not possible to tell whether this is due to the pandemic, other factors, or just typical variation,” said David Abrams, a University of Pennsylvania professor of law and economics who has been tracking crime during the pandemic.Here are some key factors in understanding the violence:Where are the killings and shootings happening?Most, though not all, major U.S. cities are seeing a spike in homicides and shootings. On average, homicides in 25 major American cities surged by double digits through early July.FILE – Police tape litters the ground at the scene of a shooting in Chicago, Ill..Chicago is the deadliest city in the U.S. The third largest city by population has seen 414 murders this year, an increase of 51%, and 1,653 shooting incidents, up 47%, according to Chicago police data.New York City, the largest U.S. city, recorded an increase of 23% in homicides this year, while Los Angles, the No. 2 city by population, has seen murders rise by 14%.Smaller cities have also seen a surge in homicides. In Kansas City, where the fatal shooting of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro in June prompted the Trump administration to dispatch agents there and to other cities, there have been 106 murders this year, up 34%.It has been a different story in other major cities. Dallas and San Jose, among the ten most populous U.S. cities, recorded decreases in homicides of 4% and 21%, respectively.What’s more, by historical standards, U.S. crime levels remain well below their peaks in the 1990s. In 1992, Chicago recorded 943 murders—or more than twice this year’s level.Violence is concentrated in ‘hot spots’Shootings and homicides, as is often the case, typically are concentrated in so-called hot spots of cities—small slices of poor neighborhoods, sometimes the size of a city bock, with chronically high crime rates. For example, 28% of murders in Chicago took place in three of the city’s 25 districts.Christopher Herrmann, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former New York Police Department data analyst, said the majority of shootings and homicides are gang- and drug-related.In the latest instance in Chicago, 15 people were injured in a gang-related drive-by shooting on Tuesday at the funeral of a victim of an earlier drive-by shooting.Police officers investigate at the scene of a shooting outside a funeral home in Chicago, Illinois, July 21, 2020.“There is a multiplication factor that happens when shootings like that happen,” Herrmann said. “The shooting that happened at the funeral is a classic kind of retribution style shooting.”What’s driving the violenceWhile there is no single driver of the violence, criminologists say several factors may be contributing to the surge.One is hot summertime weather. Typically, as the weather warms up and people spend more time outdoors, crime goes up. On average, shootings and homicides increase by about 30% in most cities, according to Herrmann.Another factor is what Herrmann calls a “backlog of crime” created as would-be criminals stayed home at the height the pandemic. In April and May, homicides in 64 major American cities fell by 21.5% and 10%, respectively, according to a recent report by Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy.“A lot of that violence that would have taken place in March, April and May, is now taking place in June, July, and August,” Herrmann said.A loss of faith in law enforcement, amplified by protests over police brutality and racism, may also contribute, according to some criminologists.”A lot of people feel like they need to take law into their own hands and become a vigilante and do their own thing as opposed to maybe wait on the police to try to solve the problem,” Herrmann said.After the fatal shooting of African American Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, sparked protests over police brutality, a fall-off in policing activity was blamed for driving up homicides in cities such as Chicago and Baltimore.Under-policing, according to some criminologists, could lead to a similar crime spree now.“We may be in for the same thing in the wake of the George Floyd protests,” Thomas Abt, one of the authors of the Arnold Ventures report, told the philanthropy’s website.
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China has ordered the closure of the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu in retaliation for the U.S. decision to close China’s consulate in Houston, Texas, by Friday.There are also calls in Chinese media and in a Twitter poll for Beijing to “punch harder” by shutting the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong as U.S. President Donald Trump hints at closing more Chinese consulates in the U.S.Two analysts who spoke to VOA say that if the reciprocal closings escalate, the U.S.-China relationship will be on a downward spiral, with the worst yet to come.A new Cold War“It is an escalation (of diplomatic tensions). And it is a new cold war that’s been launched step by step by the U.S. and China,” said Sang Pu, a political commentator in Hong Kong.“U.S.-China relations have been hitting all-time lows since the [coronavirus] pandemic started or, in particular, Hong Kong’s national security law took effect,” Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Beijing’s Renmin University, told VOA.“There are still four months ahead of the U.S. presidential election and six months before the next administration takes office in the White House. During that period of time, Trump will no doubt make many other moves to worsen the relationship between both countries,” the professor projected.Election gambitShi believes the Houston consulate shutdown is not only designed to provoke China, but a gambit by Trump to turn around his polling decline.He said China finds accusations made by the U.S. State Department groundless — although the Trump administration said the closure of the Houston consulate was fully justifiable.David Stilwell, who overseas policy for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department, told The New York Times on Wednesday that the Houston consulate had a history of engaging in “subversive behavior” and was the epicenter of research theft in the U.S.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 16 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 34 MB1080p | 69 MBOriginal | 99 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioHe said Consul General Cai Wei and two other Chinese diplomats were caught using false identification to escort Chinese travelers on May 31 to the gate area of a charter flight from a Houston airport.Espionage and scientific theftsStilwell added that some of China’s attempted scientific thefts in the U.S. had accelerated in the past six months and could be related to efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, according to the Times.In response, Cai denied the claim in an interview with KTRK-TV in Houston. “Where is the evidence?” he asked. He called the U.S. official a liar.Cold War-style confrontationsThe U.S. has repeatedly clashed with China over trade and intellectual property issues, which Sang in Hong Kong said will not easily end because cold war-style confrontations between the two countries keep emerging.There is speculation the U.S. may next shut down China’s consulate in San Francisco, California, because a Chinese researcher, charged by the FBI for concealing her ties with the Chinese military, has taken refuge inside the facility.Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular media briefing that China’s Houston consulate has done positive work in the past 40 years, saying “the U.S. claimed that China’s Consulate in Houston was engaged in activities incompatible with its status, which is completely malicious slander.”He added the consulate shutdown “severely damages the U.S.-China relations and is breaking down the friendship bridge between both sides.”The CCP’s dissolutionInvestors in China and Hong Kong are worried the consulate shutdowns could lead to the U.S. cutting official ties with Beijing or an eventual disconnect between the U.S. and Chinese economies, according to Liao Qun, chief economist at China CITIC Bank International Ltd.The level of uncertainty is spelling bad news for investment, he said.If tensions escalate, “capitals may exit Hong Kong and China. In addition, the global trade will be hugely affected. If the U.S. cuts ties with China, their phase-one trade pact will be nullified, which will de-stabilize the (global) trade dynamics. So, it all depends on what comes next,” Liao said.  
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out the current U.S. policy on China at the Nixon Library in Southern California, calling it a choice between “freedom and tyranny” — 48 years after President Richard Nixon reopened relations with China. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details from Los Angeles.
Camera: Elizabeth Lee
Produced by: Barry Unger
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The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, a $740 billion bill setting policy for the Pentagon that President Donald Trump has threatened to veto over a provision removing Confederate names from military bases.The vote was 86-14, one of the few times the Republican-led Senate has broken from the president, and could pave the way for a fight later this year with the White House.The Senate and Democratic-led House of Representatives each passed versions of the bill, known as the NDAA, with far more than the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto.The House bill also voted to include a provision to change the names of military facilities named after generals who fought on the pro-slavery side during the Civil War 155 years ago.Tributes to the Confederacy, and slave owners — like base names and statues — have come under increasing scrutiny amid widespread protests over racial injustice sparked by police killings of Black Americans.Now that the House and Senate have both passed versions of the bill, congressional negotiators will spend several weeks negotiating on a final, compromise NDAA, reconciling differences between the two versions.That compromise must pass both chambers before it can be sent for Trump’s signature or veto.The requirement to change the base names is likely to survive the process because it was passed by both chambers. Senate Republicans, who rarely break from Trump and have never overridden one of his vetoes, have urged the president to back off his veto threat.One difference is that the Senate bill does not include an amendment — offered by Republican Senator Mitt Romney — that would have restrained Trump’s plan to move troops from Germany to other parts of Europe.The House bill includes such a provision.
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A U.S. F-15 fighter jet came within visual range of an Iranian passenger aircraft Thursday but it was at a safe distance, two U.S. officials told Reuters.The U.S. jet was on a routine mission near the At Tanf garrison in Syria and conducted a standard visual inspection of a Mahan Air passenger airliner from about 1,000 meters away, said Navy Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command. The visual inspection occurred to ensure the safety of coalition personnel at At Tanf garrison.“Once the F-15 pilot identified the aircraft as a Mahan Air passenger plane, the F-15 safely opened distance from the aircraft. The professional intercept was conducted in accordance with international standards,” Urban said.One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the incident took place over Syria.Earlier IRIB news agency reported that two U.S. fighter jets came close to an Iranian passenger plane over Syrian airspace, causing the pilot to change altitude quickly to avoid collision and injuring several passengers.The incident is likely to ramp up tensions between longtime foes Iran and the United States.The agency initially said a single Israeli jet had come near the plane but later quoted the pilot as saying there were two jets that identified themselves as American.The pilot of the passenger plane contacted the jet pilots to warn them to keep a safe distance and they identified themselves as American, IRIB reported.Video posted by the agency showed a single jet from the window of the plane and comments from a passenger who had blood on his face.The Iranian plane, belonging to Mahan Air, was heading from Tehran to Beirut and landed safely in Beirut, an airport source told Reuters.An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment and there was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.The incident is being investigated and Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said the necessary legal and political action would be taken, according to the Foreign Ministry website.Israel and the United States have long accused Mahan Air of ferrying weapons for Iranian-linked guerrillas in Syria and elsewhere.The United States imposed sanctions on Mahan Air in 2011, saying it provided financial and other support to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.Tensions have spiked between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have battered Iran’s economy.One passenger quoted in the IRIB report described how his head had hit the roof of the plane during the change in altitude and video showed an elderly passenger sprawled on the floor.All of the passengers left the plane, some with minor injuries, the head of the Beirut airport told Reuters.The plane arrived back in Tehran in the early hours of Friday morning, the Fars news agency reported.FILE – A U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jet takes off from Incirlik Air Base, near Adana, Turkey, Dec. 15, 2015.VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
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A flight bound for Shanghai carrying U.S. diplomats has left the United States as Washington presses ahead with its plan to restaff its mission in China a day after a U.S. order to close the Chinese Consulate in Houston sharply escalated tensions.A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the flight, carrying an unspecified number of U.S. diplomats, left Washington on Wednesday evening. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.An internal State Department email dated July 17, seen by Reuters, said the department was working to arrange a charter flight to Shanghai from Washington’s Dulles International Airport departing on Thursday. The source said this flight had departed earlier than initially planned.The email said a tentative July 29 flight to Tianjin and Beijing was in the initial planning stages and a target date for another flight, to Guangzhou, was still to be determined.The memo said priority was being given to reuniting separated families and returning section/agency heads. The U.S. is working to fully restaff its mission in China, one of its largest in the world, which was evacuated in February because of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.Thursday’s flight went ahead despite a dramatic move by Washington to close China’s consulate in Houston amid sweeping espionage allegations.Response pledgedChina warned Thursday that it would be forced to respond to the U.S. move, which had “severely harmed” relations. It gave no details, but the South China Morning Post reported that China might close the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, while a source told Reuters on Wednesday it was considering shutting the consulate in Wuhan, where the United States withdrew staff at the start of the coronavirus outbreak.Two flights have so far taken place to return some of the more than 1,200 U.S. diplomats with their families to China since negotiations for the returns hit an impasse in early July over conditions China wanted to impose on the Americans. The impasse caused the State Department to postpone flights tentatively scheduled for the first 10 days of July.U.S.-China relations have deteriorated this year over a wide range of issues, including China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, bilateral trade and a new security law for Hong Kong.Washington and Beijing have been negotiating for weeks over the terms of how to send U.S. diplomats back amid disagreement over COVID-19 testing and quarantine procedures, as well as frequency of flights and how many each can carry.
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Analysts say China is likely to soon order the closure of a U.S. consulate in China — possibly in the cities of Shenyang or Wuhan — in retaliation for the U.S. decision to close China’s consulate in Houston, Texas, by Friday.  There are also calls in Chinese media and in a Twitter poll for Beijing to “punch harder” by shutting the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong as U.S. President Donald Trump hints at closing more Chinese consulates in the U.S.  Two analysts who spoke to VOA said that if the reciprocal closings escalate, the U.S.-China relationship will be on a downward spiral, with the worst yet to come. A new cold war  “It is an escalation [of diplomatic tensions]. And it is a new cold war that’s been launched step by step by the U.S. and China,” said Sang Pu, a political commentator in Hong Kong. The Chinese Consulate is shown in Houston, July 23, 2020.”U.S.-China relations have been hitting all-time lows since the [coronavirus] pandemic started or, in particular, Hong Kong’s national security law took effect,” Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Beijing’s Renmin University, told VOA. “There are still four months ahead of the U.S. presidential election and six months before the next administration takes office in the White House. During that period of time, Trump will no doubt make many other moves to worsen the relationship between both countries,” the professor projected. Election gambit Shi believes the Houston consulate shutdown is not only designed to provoke China but is also a gambit by Trump to turn around his polling decline.      He said China finds accusations made by the U.S. State Department groundless — although the Trump administration said the closure of the Houston consulate was fully justifiable.  People remove bags from inside the Chinese Consulate to load into a van in Houston, July 23, 2020.David Stilwell, who oversees policy for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department, told The New York Times on Wednesday that the Houston consulate had a history of engaging in “subversive behavior” and was the epicenter of research theft in the U.S. He said Consul General Cai Wei and two other Chinese diplomats were caught using false identification to escort Chinese travelers on May 31 to the gate area of a charter flight from a Houston airport.Stilwell added that some of China’s attempted scientific thefts in the U.S. had accelerated in the past six months and could be related to efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, according to the Times.  In response, Cai denied the claim in an interview with KTRK-TV in Houston. “Where is the evidence?” he asked. He called the U.S. official a liar.    Cold war-style confrontations The U.S. has repeatedly clashed with China over trade and intellectual property issues, which Sang in Hong Kong said will not easily end because cold war-style confrontations between the two countries keep emerging.  There is speculation the U.S. may next shut down China’s consulate in San Francisco, California, because a Chinese researcher, charged by the FBI for concealing her ties with the Chinese military, has taken refuge inside the facility. China’s foreign ministry didn’t announce any retaliatory measures on Thursday.  Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gestures for questions during the daily briefing in Beijing, July 23, 2020.Its spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, told a regular media briefing that China’s Houston consulate has done positive work in the past 40 years, saying “the U.S. claimed that China’s consulate in Houston was engaged in activities incompatible with its status, which is completely malicious slander.” He added the consulate shutdown “severely damages the U.S.-China relations and is breaking down the friendship bridge between both sides.” CCP’s dissolution Investors in China and Hong Kong are worried the consulate shutdowns could lead to the U.S. cutting official ties with Beijing or an eventual disconnect between the U.S. and Chinese economies, according to Liao Qun, chief economist at China CITIC Bank International Ltd. The level of uncertainty is spelling bad news for investment, he said. If tensions escalate, “capitals may exit Hong Kong and China. In addition, the global trade will be hugely affected. If the U.S. cuts ties with China, their phase-one trade pact will be nullified, which will destabilize the [global] trade dynamics. So, it all depends on what comes next,” Liao said.
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COVID-19 infections in the U.S. are quickly approaching 4 million as hundreds of thousands of more American workers affected by the pandemic sought federal aid while lawmakers consider another rescue package. The U.S. continues to lead the world in COVID-19 infections with more than 3.97 million of the world’s 15.2 million confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. The U.S. also remains the world leader in COVID-19 deaths with nearly 143,200, far greater than the 82,771 deaths in second-ranked Brazil. Unemployment spike
Amid the surge in coronavirus infections, there was also a sharp spike in the number of  U.S. workers who applied for jobless benefits last week. The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that some 1.4 million workers adversely affected by business closures and other lockdown measures filed for unemployment benefits, ending 15 consecutive weeks of declines in new filings. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, July 20, 2020, in Washington.The disappointing unemployment figures were released as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell prepares to unveil Thursday a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package. The Democratic-led House passed a $3.5 trillion rescue bill over two months ago and is calling for much more funding to assist state and local governments.  The Republican-led Senate insists on limiting the funding to about $1 trillion and using that funding on new legal protections for schools, businesses and charities that are set on reopening. Record-breaking death toll
Meanwhile, the U.S. reached another grim milestone on Wednesday by recording more than 1,000 deaths for the second consecutive day.California reached its own milestone on Wednesday when it surpassed New York with the most confirmed coronavirus cases. The western state has over 422,000 cases, including more than 12,100 on Wednesday, a one-day record, while New York has more than 413,000.  Healthcare workers take information and samples from people waiting to be tested for Covid-19, July 21, 2020, in Pleasanton, Calif. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday the U.S. government will provide an additional $5 billion in aid, equipment and training to the nation’s nursing homes, many of which are hotspots in the coronavirus pandemic.    FILE – A health worker disinfects the area next to a coffin with the remains of a recently deceased resident of the San Jose nursing home in Cochabamba, Bolivia, July 16, 2020.According to federal estimates, nursing home residents accounted for roughly 37,000 COVID-19-related deaths. Nursing homes received nearly $5 billion in pandemic relief funds approved by Congress earlier this year.  Progress on vaccine
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. government announced it will pay $1.95 billion to American drugmaker Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech SE for 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, if it proves to be safe and effective.  The United Nations Development Program released a report Thursday recommending that nearly 3 billion of the world’s most impoverished people should get a temporary income to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. The report said $199 per month would give 2.7 billion people a basic income and the “means to buy food and pay for health and education expenses.” Australia mandates masks
In Australia, a mandatory face mask order officially took effect Thursday in the country’s second-largest city, Melbourne, which has become the epicenter of the country’s rising number of novel coronavirus cases. The mandate is the latest order imposed on Melbourne’s five million residents in an attempt to control the spike in COVID-19 infections. Anyone over the age of 12 caught in public without any kind of face mask or covering could be fined up to $143, while employers who discourage their workers from wearing a mask face a potential fine of more than $7,000. A member of the public is seen getting a test for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Crossroads Hotel testing centre following a cluster of infections in Sydney, Australia, July 16, 2020. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi via Reuters)Premier David Andrews of Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, said the face mask mandate was imposed due to the increase of confirmed COVID-19 infections, and a refusal by residents who tested positive for the virus to isolate themselves. Victoria state posted a single-day record of 484 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.  The city is in the second of a six-week lockdown that bans all residents from leaving home unless going to work, school, medical appointments or shopping for food.    
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The White House reluctantly dropped its bid to cut Social Security payroll taxes Thursday as Republicans unveil a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package, yielding to opposition to the idea among top Senate allies.”It won’t be in the base bill,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking on CNBC about the payroll tax cut, killing the idea for now. The cut in the tax that finances Social Security and Medicare has been a major demand of President Donald Trump.”The president is very focused on getting money quickly to workers right now, and the payroll tax takes time,” Mnuchin said at the Capitol. Only Sunday, Trump said in a Fox News interview that “I would consider not signing it if we don’t have a payroll tax cut.”The long-delayed legislation comes amid alarming developments on the virus crisis. It was originally to be released Thursday morning by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but the Kentucky Republican instead hosted an unscheduled meeting with Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.Afterward, Mnuchin declared the administration had reached a “fundamental agreement” with Senate Republicans.Given the hold-up, however, Mnuchin and Meadows floated the idea of passing a bill next week that would be limited to maintaining jobless benefits that would otherwise expire and speeding aid to schools. It wasn’t clear whether the measure would still be introduced Thursday, they said.McConnell’s $1 trillion package is an opening GOP bid in talks with top Capitol Hill Democrats — who back a $3.5 trillion House bill that passed two months ago — in a negotiation that could be rockier than talks in March that produced a $2 trillion rescue package. GOP senators and Trump are at odds over priorities, and Democrats say the Republican plans are not nearly enough to stem the health crisis, reopen schools and extend aid to jobless Americans.”Our Republican colleagues have been so divided, so disorganized, and so unprepared that they have to struggle to draft even a partisan proposal within their own conference,” said Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.  The must-have centerpiece for McConnell is a liability shield to protect businesses, schools and others from coronavirus-related lawsuits.  The package is not expected to provide any new money for cash-strapped states and cities, which are clamoring for funds, but Republicans propose giving $105 billion to help schools reopen and $15 billion for child care centers to create safe environments for youngsters during the pandemic.The GOP measure does forge an immediate agreement with Democrats on another round of $1,200 checks to most American adults.The $600 weekly unemployment benefit boost that is expiring Friday would be cut back, and Mnuchin said it would ultimately be redesigned to provide a typical worker 70% of his or her income. Republicans say continuing the $600 benefit as Democrats is a disincentive to work, but some Republicans are pressing for a temporary extension of the current benefit if the talks drag.”We cannot allow there to be a cliff in unemployment insurance given we’re still at about 11% unemployment,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.  The bill is likely to be silent on the potential housing crisis as a federal eviction moratorium on millions of rental units expires in days.One key holdup in the talks was Trump’s push for a payroll tax cut, according to a Republican granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. Hardly any GOP senators support the idea. Instead, McConnell and some other Republicans prefer the direct $1,200 cash payments to Americans.Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said there will be another boost for small business lending in the Paycheck Protection Program. “It’s going to be big,” he said.The bills will also include tax breaks for businesses to hire and retain workers and to help shops and workplaces retool with new safety protocols. A document circulating among lobbyists claims the package would increase the deduction for business meals to 100%, offering help to the restaurant industry.The breakthrough on testing money was key after days of debate between Republicans and the White House. Republicans wanted $25 billion, but the Trump administration said the $9 billion in unspent funds from a previous aid deal was sufficient. The two sides settled on adding $16 billion to the unspent funds to reach $25 billion, senators said. There will also be fresh funds for vaccines.Of the $105 billion for education, Republicans want $70 billion to help K-12 schools reopen, $30 billion for colleges and $5 billion for governors to allocate. The Trump administration wanted school money linked to reopenings, but in McConnell’s package the money for K-12 would likely be split between those that have in-person learning and those that don’t.Democrats, who already approved House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s more sweeping $3 trillion package two months ago, said the GOP infighting with Trump was delaying needed relief to Americans during the crisis.”We are just days away from a housing crisis that could be prevented,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.  In their package, Democrats are calling for $430 billion to reopen schools, bigger unemployment benefits and direct aid checks and a sweeping $1 trillion for state and local governments. They also want a fresh round of mortgage and rental assistance and new federal health and safety requirements for workers.McConnell calls his proposal a “starting point” in negotiations with Democrats. Congress in March approved the massive $2.2 trillion CARES package, the biggest of its kind in U.S. history.The severity of the prolonged virus outbreak is upending American life. Schools are delaying fall openings, states are clamping down with new stay-home orders and the fallout is rippling through an economy teetering with high unemployment and business uncertainty. A new AP-NORC poll shows very few Americans want full school sessions without restrictions in the fall.Still, some Republicans said they are unlikely to approve any new aid.”I just don’t see the need for it,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told reporters on Wednesday.
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U.S. federal agents fired tear gas at protesters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, late Wednesday.Mayor Ted Wheeler was among those standing by a fence in front of the courthouse when the agents fired the tear gas.Protesters have demonstrated in Portland for 56 consecutive days, rallying against police violence, racial inequality and the recent deployment of the federal forces in the city.The mayor arrived at the protest area earlier in the day and pledged his solidarity with the crowd, but his presence was largely rejected as many yelled at him.Critics have faulted Wheeler for not controlling the city’s police force, which threatened its own use of force with tear gas and arrests Wednesday night as Portland police declared the gathering a riot. Others, including business owners who have seen their operations disrupted by the protests say Wheeler has failed to bring the situation under control. A riot has been declared outside the Justice Center. Disperse to the north and/or west. Disperse immediately. Failure to adhere to this order may subject you to arrest or citation, or riot control agents, including, but not limited to, tear gas and/or impact weapons.— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) July 23, 2020Also Wednesday, the Oregon attorney general filed a lawsuit accusing the federal agents of arresting protesters without cause and using excessive force, which federal authorities have disputed.  
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