June 30 marks Asteroid Day, a U.N.-sanctioned campaign to promote awareness around the world of what’s up in the sky. In Milan, scientists are assembling a new telescope that uses “insect vision” to spot risky celestial objects. Faith Lapidus explains.
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U.S. President Donald Trump touted the Republican tax cut plan Friday, six months after he signed it into law, saying it was strengthening the U.S. economy and helping average Americans by increasing investment, jobs and wages.
“It is my great honor to welcome you back to the White House to celebrate six months of new jobs, bigger paychecks and keeping more of your hard-earned money where it belongs: in your pocket or wherever else you want to spend it,” he said.
A recent report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, however, projects a gloomy fiscal outlook in the U.S., which is experiencing rising debt under the Trump administration.
The CBO report predicts the country’s debt burden will double in 30 years, exceeding even the U.S. debt load during World War II.
The tax law, officially titled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, was the largest overhaul of the country’s complex tax laws in three decades. It cut the corporate tax rate, which was among the highest in the industrialized world, from 35 to 21 percent. It trimmed rates for millions of individual taxpayers as well, with the biggest cuts mostly benefiting the wealthiest earners, although some taxpayers saw bigger tax bills because of various changes in the tax regulations.
The CBO report, which cautioned the high debt levels also increase chances of a fiscal crisis, projects the tax cuts could spur short-term economic growth, but it quickly would fall back to a long-term average of 1.9 percent.
While most of the rising debt is due to increasing entitlement spending and other problems that existed before Trump’s 2016 election, the report said the new tax law is contributing to the short-term debt by cutting government revenue. Spending increases approved by both Republicans and Democrats are also raising deficits.
The Republicans’ $1.5 trillion in tax cuts and $1.3 trillion in spending enacted earlier this year have already helped push the CBO’s debt projections higher through 2041, the report said.
Some analysts say the country’s fiscal health is quickly deteriorating because of higher spending for entitlement programs such as Social Security, insufficient government revenue and spiraling interest payments on debt.
“The massive deficits caused by policymakers’ recent tax and budget decisions have drastically worsened the country’s long-term finances,” said Bipartisan Policy Center economic policy director Shai Akabas.
The Brookings Institution’s Tax Policy Center concluded in a June 13 report that “the new tax law will raise deficits and make the distribution of after-tax income more unequal.”
Former Federal Reserve Bank chair Janet Yellen, a Democratic appointee whom Trump replaced with Republican Jerome Powell, said Thursday that the tax cuts would probably provide only a meager boost to the growth of the U.S. economy.
“The calculations that I’ve seen and seem reasonable to me suggest that the payoff is likely to be in tenths of a percent, which in growth is a lot, but may not be what some people are hoping for,” she said.
Tariffs
Any benefits for individuals and corporations from the tax cuts may be undermined by Trump’s imposition of tariffs on foreign countries.
Tariffs have already been announced on Chinese products, foreign aluminum and steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, and on solar panels and washing machines and Canadian lumber and paper. Trump has also threatened tariffs on automobile imports and on other foreign products and materials.
“Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are a tax hike on Americans and will have damaging consequences for consumers, manufacturers and workers,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Republican, said May 31.
The Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady of Texas, said last month that the tariffs “hurt our efforts to create good-paying jobs by selling more ‘Made in America’ products to customers in these countries.”
Retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada, China, the EU and Mexico could hinder the ability of U.S. companies to sell products to other countries, which could in turn kill American jobs and suppress wages.
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President Donald Trump is denying any immediate plan to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“We have been treated very badly by the WTO,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One during a short Friday afternoon flight from Maryland to New Jersey.
But asked whether he intended to pull the United States from the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations, Trump replied, “Not at this point, but they have to treat us fairly.”
The remarks came as Trump appears increasingly intent on confrontation, rather than cooperation, with the European Union, the Group of Seven (G-7) nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the WTO. He has repeatedly suggested the United States would be better off pursuing trade and strategic deals with nations one on one.
“Rather than playing the U.S. president’s traditional role as leader of the free world, Trump looks like he is declaring war on the international rules-based order: undermining the G-7 and WTO, raising doubts about continued U.S. support for a strong NATO to counter Russia, and falsely declaring that the European Union was invented to take advantage of the United States,” Alexander Vershbow, a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and a former NATO deputy secretary-general, told VOA.
Trump, in less than two weeks, heads to Europe for the annual NATO summit before separate meetings in Britain with Prime Minister Theresa May and in neutral Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Putin couldn’t have scripted this better himself. And the Helsinki meeting could cement a new partnership between Trump and Putin at our allies’ expense,” added Vershbow, who also was a U.S. ambassador to Russia, South Korea and NATO.
Trump, on Friday’s Air Force One flight, said he would raise with Putin the issue of Russian election meddling, as well as differences between Washington and Moscow about Ukraine and Syria.
Macron mum
French President Emmanuel Macron was asked Friday whether it was true that Trump had suggested to him that France should leave the EU.
“What was said in the room stays in that room,” replied Macron about his private meeting with the U.S. president at the White House in April.
Trump, at the annual G-7 leaders meeting in Canada this month, clashed with some of Washington’s closest allies and advocated readmitting Russia, which was suspended from the group in 2014 for annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
NATO
The president, according to the online Axios news site, said to the other G-7 leaders that “NATO is as bad as NAFTA [the North American Free Trade Agreement that Trump wants renegotiated]. It’s much too costly for the U.S.”
Asked about NATO on Air Force One, Trump on Friday said Germany, Spain and France have to spend more money on the defense alliance.
“It’s not fair what they’ve done to the United States,” said the president.
Last year, Trump told The New York Times the United States would come to the aid of its NATO allies only if they “fulfill their obligations to us,” a reference to required spending by members of 2 percent of their gross domestic production on defense — a promise not kept by many NATO states.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty declares that an attack on one member is an attack on all. That is a cornerstone of the 1949 pact, the first peacetime military alliance that the United States entered outside the Western Hemisphere.
According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking last week to The Wall Street Journal, the president is attempting to “reset” the liberal world order, not wreck it.
That does not reassure globalists, such as former White House and State Department official Harry Blaney.
“The harsh truth today is that there is a wide consensus among foreign affairs experts on all sides of the ideological spectrum of fear and skepticism about the outcome of the NATO and Putin meetings,” Blaney told VOA.
“There is a clear sense of foreboding” that Trump is making an effort to undermine both the defense alliance and the EU, said Blaney, who was a key U.S. official for decades dealing with the EU and NATO.
“The sad fact is that these actions together spell for, not just the developed world but for the entire global community, a period of high risk and uncertainty for its economies, security, and brings a high level of risk for everyone,” Blaney predicted.
“What we don’t have, and everyone is asking, is: Why is he [Trump] doing this?” he said.
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There is momentum for improving Turkey’s frayed relations with the West even as it warms up to Russia, a senior Turkish government adviser told VOA on condition of anonymity, days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected.
Erdogan’s adviser said that in February, during a visit by then-U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, both sides committed to the creation of a road map to address many differences that had sent relations between Washington and Ankara plunging to a crisis point. The adviser noted that bilateral relations were “better than six months ago, thanks to steps agreed on during Tillerson’s visit.”
He said the process led to the recent withdrawal of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia from the Syrian city of Manbij.
Ankara accuses the YPG of being linked to Kurdish insurgents fighting in Turkey. Washington, however, has backed the militia in the war against Islamic State. The YPG’s presence in Manbij with U.S. forces had become a focal point in Turkey’s tense relationship with the United States, a NATO ally.
Ankara trumpeted the Kurdish militia withdrawal as a triumph and a template for a further rollback of YPG-controlled areas across northern Syria. “We expect this process to continue,” said the adviser.
Regarding areas of contention, he said, “There is a process to compartmentalize issues of disagreement.”
“Each issue is being addressed separately by working groups,” he added, so as to prevent differences on one issue from affecting others.
The adviser, however, acknowledged that no progress had been made on the key issue of a Turkish request for the extradition of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Ankara alleges Gulen initiated a failed 2016 coup that claimed 250 lives. The cleric, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, denies the accusations. The U.S. says extradition is a matter for the courts.
Adding to the souring of ties is the imprisonment in Turkey of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson. He has been jailed for nearly two years and is currently on trial on charges of supporting Gulen.
U.S. President Donald Trump has strongly criticized the case, with some members of Congress accusing Ankara of hostage-taking. Erdogan has linked the Brunson case to calls for Gulen to be extradited.
The Brunson case has become a lightning rod for wider U.S. concerns about Turkey. The worsening of bilateral relations is countered by Ankara’s warming ties with Moscow.
Missile system purchase
Erdogan spokesman Ibrahim Kalin on Friday reaffirmed Turkey’s controversial purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system. Washington strongly opposes the deal, warning the missiles could compromise NATO systems.
The S-400 controversy comes as Ankara and Moscow increasingly cooperate over Syria. While Turkey strongly backs Syrian rebels, it is working with Russia and Iran, which support the Damascus government, to end the civil war under a peace effort named the Astana Process.
The Erdogan adviser sought to allay concerns by Turkey’s NATO allies about its intentions toward Moscow.
“Turkey is not moving away from the West,” he said. “Our relationship with Russia is specific to working on Syria, based on a necessity of cooperation. Our relationship with the West is a strategic relationship.”
“The situation is a failure of the West to intervene in the Syrian conflict. It left a vacuum, which Russia filled. That has created a situation where we have to work with Russia,” added the adviser.
Fears of a potential pivot toward Moscow are fueled by criticism of the decline in human rights in Turkey and Erdogan’s authoritarianism. Critics increasingly draw parallels between Erdogan’s rule and that of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Following Turkey’s June 24 elections, Erdogan is likely to use his renewed electoral mandate to answer critics regarding his democratic credentials. International monitors have criticized the fairness of the election, which he won by a wide margin, but the actual voting and counting were broadly accepted by the rival candidates.
The Turkish president also reportedly is set to lift the much-criticized emergency rule introduced after the failed coup. This past week also saw an Istanbul court release from jail Mehmet Altan, a high-profile Erdogan critic; however, police raids on those who oppose the president, including some news media, continue.
Analysts suggest such moves will be welcomed by Turkey’s Western allies, in particular the European Union. Human rights concerns are major obstacles to relations, but Brussels needs Turkey to continue a migrant deal that has markedly reduced the number of people seeking sanctuary in Europe.
With Turkey currently hosting more than 3 million refugees, mainly from Syria, Erdogan is also looking to build on that cooperation.
“There is a need for a strategic cooperation on refugees. The problem is going to continue with instability in the region. Turkey cannot take any more [refugees],” said the adviser.
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U.N. agencies are cautiously welcoming an agreement the European Union reached Friday after a marathon summit on problems posed by migrants who reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.
The European Union states in principle have agreed to set up so-called secure centers to process asylum claims. Under the proposed deal, these centers are to be established in EU states on a voluntary basis. The aim is to relieve front-line states, such as Italy, Spain and Greece, of having the sole responsibility of accepting and processing migrants rescued at sea.
A welcomed consensus
A spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, Leonard Doyle, said he was pleased with the solidarity and consensus that emerged from the summit in Brussels.
“Any solution that comes from the migration issue needs to be a European solution,” Doyle said, but it should come “with the absolutely indispensable engagement of the African Union at every step of the way.”
U.N. agencies report about 40,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea this year, a small fraction of the number over the same period in 2016. Despite the reduced numbers, positions against maritime refugees and migrants have hardened. Recently, Italy and Malta refused to disembark hundreds of migrants rescued at sea.
U.N. waiting for details
Charley Yaxley, a U.N. refugee agency spokesman, said the EU agreement was a promising first step. But he told VOA that the proof of the effectiveness of this proposal would be in its implementation. He said the details were yet to be developed.
“Ultimately, if this is a coming together of European states and states in the region to develop a more harmonized approach to asylum that relieves some of the disproportionate responsibility that is currently being placed on a small handful of states, then that is something that will be welcomed,” Yaxley said.
Yaxley said he wanted to see a unified approach that moves away from states unilaterally adopting actions that strengthen borders and restrict access by those seeking asylum from war and persecution.
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European Union leaders meeting Friday in Brussels hailed progress in reaching at least a partial deal on migration. But there appeared to be little breakthrough in two other key subjects: Brexit and reforming the eurozone financial union.
It took marathon talks lasting until early Friday for EU leaders to reach a partial and vaguely worded agreement on migration, a subject that bitterly divides the 28-member group.
EU chief Donald Tusk acknowledged a long road ahead.
“As regards our deal on migration,” he said, “it is far too early to talk about a success. We have managed to reach a deal in the European Council, but this is the easiest part of the task.”
The toughest part, Tusk said, will be in its implementation.
The leaders agreed to tighten the EU’s external borders, set up centers inside and outside Europe to screen asylum-seekers and more rapidly process their claims. But the centers are voluntary and it is not clear which countries would be willing to host them.
Many analysts say the deal merely papers over deep divides that have seen Italy insisting other countries take in more migrants — something Eastern European countries, in particular, refuse to do.
Still, a number of European leaders were upbeat about making any headway.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the agreement was a good signal. While more needed to be done to create a common asylum process, she said she was optimistic the EU could continue its work.
Merkel has been under pressure to come home with some kind of deal or face the possible collapse of her coalition government.
President Emmanuel Macron of France said the deal reflected European cooperation and values and that protected European citizens.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also seemed satisfied, saying his country was no longer alone in dealing with floods of migrant arrivals.
The number of migrants arriving in Europe has plummeted in recent months, down from more than a million in 2015 to tens of thousands so far this year. Many Europeans continue to view migration as a crisis — sentiments partly fueled by populist politicians and fears of Islamist extremism.
Humanitarian group MSF, or Doctors Without Borders, has sharply criticized the migrant deal as inhumane, claiming it would block people escaping horrors at home from reaching Europe.
It is clear the migration crisis is not going away. A pair of ships carrying migrants were at sea for several days until bickering countries finally gave them safe harbor. On Friday, Libya’s coast guard announced roughly 100 migrants were missing at sea and feared dead.
EU leaders failed to make headway on two other issues — closer integration of the eurozone monetary union, and Brexit, which is the term used to refer to Britain’s decision to leave the EU. As for the latter, EU chief Tusk said the most difficult issues in reaching a deal between the EU and Britain by October remained unresolved.
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Canada struck back at U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on Friday, vowing to impose punitive measures on C$16.6 billion ($12.63 billion) of American goods and unveiling a C$2 billion aid package for affected industries
and workers.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told a news conference the tariffs would come into effect on July 1.
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U.S. and Russian leaders have agreed to meet July 16 to discuss long-standing disagreements on global issues such as conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. elections and NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe. The summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin comes on the heels of the NATO summit in Brussels, but the two leaders have chosen neutral territory to meet. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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European Union leaders reached a deal early Friday morning on migration.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the agreement was “good news” and “European cooperation” prevailed over the talks that began Thursday evening and ended at dawn Friday.
EU Council President Donald Tusk said in a tweet early Friday that the 28 EU “leaders have agreed” on a compromise that was at the heart of their two-day summit.
The deal establishes reception centers for migrants and asylum seekers in EU member states that volunteer to have them.
Italy had blocked the adoption of any agreements at the European Union summit in Brussels, demanding that the bloc do more to help Rome’s migration crisis.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said Italy will decide later whether it will host any reception centers.
Italy’s month-old populist government had refused to sign any joint agreements, instead holding out for action by other European countries to help deal with the migrants and refugees coming to Italy from North Africa.
“Italy doesn’t need any more verbal signs, but concrete deeds,’’ Conte said.
EU sources described the talks as “virulent,” according to the French news agency.
Summit participants are planning to set up screening facilities in North African countries to slow the stream of people crossing the Mediterranean Sea to get to the EU, often through Italy. While no countries have as yet agreed to host such screening posts, EU leaders hope to entice them with aid money.
Arrivals to the continent have dropped sharply since a 2015 crisis that drew sharp divisions among the bloc’s 28 members about how they should respond. Some countries promoted more open-door policies, while others set up barriers to prevent those who reached Europe from crossing their borders.
The EU said in 2015 there were more than 1.8 million illegal border crossings into member countries. EU President Donald Tusk wrote in a letter ahead of the summit that the number of illegal crossings has dropped by 96 percent since its peak.
Policies already enacted have helped push that number down, notably an agreement with Turkey for the Turkish government to help cut off migration routes and to accept the return of those who make the journey from Turkey to Greece. The EU also began work to tackle the root causes pushing people from their home country.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was among the most open to accepting migrants during the height of the crisis, is under pressure at home from critics who say Germany has been too welcoming.
She told parliament Thursday before heading to Brussels that she made the right decision in an exceptional situation, but that with the current situation the EU should put in place tighter controls. Merkel said that while there is division among members, they are united in the need to reduce overall migration, stop smugglers and strengthen the EU’s external borders.
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Italy has blocked the adoption of any agreements at the European Union summit in Brussels, demanding that the bloc do more to help Rome’s migration crisis.
Italy’s month-old populist government refused to sign any joint agreements, instead holding out for action by other European countries to help deal with the migrants and refugees coming to Italy from North Africa.
“Italy doesn’t need any more verbal signs, but concrete deeds,” Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said.
Summit participants are planning to set up screening facilities in North African countries to slow the stream of people crossing the Mediterranean Sea to get to the EU, often through Italy. While no countries have as yet agreed to host such screening posts, EU leaders hope to entice them with aid money.
EU leaders have one more day at the summit to bring Italy on board on issues that include trade and defense along with migration.
Arrivals to the continent have dropped sharply since a 2015 crisis that drew sharp divisions among the bloc’s 28 members about how they should respond. Some countries promoted more open-door policies, while others set up barriers to prevent those who reached Europe from crossing their borders.
The EU said in 2015 there were more than 1.8 million illegal border crossings into member countries. EU President Donald Tusk wrote in a letter ahead of the summit the number of illegal crossings has dropped by 96 percent since its peak.
Policies already enacted have helped push that number down, notably an agreement with Turkey for the Turkish government to help cut off migration routes and to accept the return of those who make the journey from Turkey to Greece. The EU also began work to tackle the root causes pushing people from their home country.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was among the most open to accepting migrants during the height of the crisis, is under pressure at home from critics who say Germany has been too welcoming.
She told parliament Thursday before heading to Brussels that she made the right decision in an exceptional situation, but that with the current situation the EU should put in place tighter controls. Merkel said that while there is division among members, they are united in the need to reduce overall migration, stop smugglers and strengthen the EU’s external borders.
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Minnesota regulators on Thursday approved Enbridge Energy’s proposal to replace its aging Line 3 oil pipeline across the northern part of the state.
All five members of the Public Utilities Commission backed the project, though some cited heavy trepidation, and a narrow majority later approved the company’s preferred route despite opposition from American Indian tribes and climate change activists.
In discussion before the vote, several commissioners cited the deteriorating condition of the existing line , which was built in the 1960s, as a major factor in their decision.
“It’s irrefutable that that pipeline is an accident waiting to happen,” Commissioner Dan Lipschultz said ahead of the vote. “It feels like a gun to our head … All I can say is the gun is real and it’s loaded.”
Some pipeline opponents reacted angrily when it became clear commissioners would approve the project. Tania Aubid, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, stood and shouted, “You have just declared war on the Ojibwe!” Brent Murcia, of the group Youth Climate Intervenors, added: “We will not let this stand.”
Opponents argue that the pipeline risks spills in pristine areas in northern Minnesota, including where American Indians harvest wild rice. Ojibwe Indians, or Anishinaabe, consider wild rice sacred and central to their culture.
Winona LaDuke, founder of Honor the Earth, said opponents would use every regulatory means possible to stop the project — and threatened mass protests if necessary.
“They have gotten their Standing Rock,” she said, referring to protests that drew thousands of people to neighboring North Dakota to rally against the Dakota Access pipeline.
Others welcomed Thursday’s vote, including Bob Schoneberger, founder of Minnesotans for Line 3. He said Minnesota needs the line now “and will need it even more into the future.”
After commissioners agreed the pipeline upgrade was needed, the commission voted 3-2 in favor of Enbridge’s preferred route, which departs from the existing pipeline to largely avoid two American Indian reservations currently crossed.
The approved route does clip a portion of the Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa’s land, and commissioners said they would adjust the route if the Fond du Lac don’t agree. Tribal leaders had reluctantly backed a route that went much farther south as the least objectionable option.
After the commission’s work is formalized in the next few weeks, opponents may file motions asking it to reconsider. After that, they can appeal the decision to the state Court of Appeals.
Several commissioners said the overall issue posed a difficult decision. Chairwoman Nancy Lange choked up and took off her glasses to wipe her eyes as she described her reasoning for approving the project. Another commissioner, Katie Sieben, said it was “so tough because there is no good outcome.”
The pipeline currently runs from Alberta, Canada, across North Dakota and Minnesota to Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. Enbridge has said it needs to replace the pipeline because it’s increasingly subject to corrosion and cracking, and that it would continue to run Line 3 if regulators rejected its proposal.
Much of the debate has focused on whether Minnesota and Midwest refineries need the extra oil. Enbridge currently runs Line 3 at about half its original capacity of 760,000 barrels per day for safety reasons, and currently uses it only to carry light crude.
The project’s opponents, including the Minnesota Department of Commerce, have argued that the refineries don’t need it because demand for oil and petroleum products will fall in the coming years as people switch to electric cars and renewable energy sources. Opposition groups also argue that much of the additional oil would eventually flow to overseas buyers.
Enbridge and its customers strongly dispute the lack of need in the region. They said Line 3’s reduced capacity is already forcing the company to severely ration space on its pipeline network, and that failure to restore its capacity would force oil shippers to rely more on trains and trucks, which are more expensive and less safe. Business and labor groups support the proposal for the jobs and economic stimulus.
The Public Utilities Commission’s decision likely won’t be the final word in a long, contentious process that has included numerous public hearings and the filings of thousands of pages of documents since 2015. Lange said earlier this year that the dispute was likely to end up in court, regardless of what the commission decides.
Opponents have threatened a repeat of the protests on the Standing Rock Reservation against the Dakota Access pipeline, in which Enbridge owns a stake. Those protests in 2016 and 2017 resulted in sometimes violent skirmishes with law enforcement and more than 700 arrests.
Similar concerns over the role of tar sands oil in climate change, indigenous rights and the risk of spills has fueled opposition to other pipelines out of Alberta’s oil sands region. Opponents of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline to Nebraska are still fighting that project in court. The Canadian government agreed last month to buy Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline across Canadian soil to the Pacific Coast for $4.5 billion Canadian (US$3.4 billion) to ensure completion of the company’s plan to triple the line’s capacity.
Enbridge has already replaced the short segment of Line 3 in Wisconsin and put it into service. Construction is underway on the short segment that crosses northeastern North Dakota and on the longer section from Alberta to the U.S. border, and Enbridge plans to continue that work. Enbridge has estimated the overall cost of the project at $7.5 billion, including $2.6 billion for the U.S. segment.
A U.S. delegation traveled to Kenya on Thursday to attend the inaugural economic summit of the American Chamber of Commerce, Kenya.
About 500 delegates, including Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Gilbert Kaplan, U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade, other high-ranking government officials from both nations and representatives from nearly 30 major U.S. corporations, gathered at the summit, which was aimed at creating partnerships between the two nations’ public and private sectors in order to foster economic growth.
The Kenyan agenda was centered on advancing Kenyatta’s “Big Four” priorities — universal health care, manufacturing, food security and affordable housing — that he set out after his re-election to a second term last year.
American companies in attendance were looking for opportunities to expand and to increase trade and investment in Africa.
Kaplan told VOA that increasing business and economic development in Africa would benefit many Americans, which aligns with the promises of President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda.
“If we can export more and do more transactions here, do more investment here, that’s going to be incredibly helpful for the United States, for the people back home, because we’ll be making profitable ventures, and that will naturally help,” he said.
But the U.S. delegation also had a strong message for Kenya: Real, meaningful economic growth can’t happen unless Kenya commits to fighting corruption.
‘It’s got to stop’
“Corruption is undermining Kenya’s future,” said Robert Godec, U.S. ambassador to Kenya. “It’s clearly a major problem for the country. We welcome President Kenyatta’s commitment and the push recently to address this problem. Corruption is theft from the people, and it’s got to stop.”
In his speech to the delegation, Kenyatta pledged to “fight this animal called corruption and ensure that it is a beast that shall never infect or inflict future generations” of Kenyans.
Kaplan told VOA that the U.S. government was providing support and training to the Kenyan government to help tackle corruption.
“We’ve dealt with that — the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, rule of law and international standards,” he said. “I think we can convince Kenya that following those rules is ultimately to their benefit because it brings more businessmen and women into the system and being able to be successful.”
Part of the objective of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is to make it illegal for companies and their supervisors to influence foreign officials with personal payments or rewards.
C.D. Glin, president and chief executive of the U.S. African Development Foundation, told VOA that the U.S. government’s and private sector’s support of businesses in Africa that had ramped up under the previous administration was being continued by Trump.
For instance, the President’s Advisory Council for Doing Business in Africa, begun under the Barack Obama administration and still in force, “really is looking at Africa from a business standpoint and from an opportunity standpoint so that Africans can benefit from U.S. support, but also can support the U.S.,” Glin said.
Major boost
Nicholas Nesbitt, chairman of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, said the increased U.S. private sector investment had been hugely beneficial for the Kenyan economy.
“We see a lot more tourism coming to Kenya, a lot more trade and a lot more business,” he said. “We’re very excited to see the numbers of American companies — small, midsize and even large corporations — looking at Kenya as a destination. It’s also a gateway to east Africa, where there are 200 million potential consumers. So, the investments, the energy, the excitement is absolutely tremendous today at this summit between American and Kenyan business.”
Six commercial deals between Kenyan and American companies were signed at the summit. Maxwell Okello, chief executive of the American Chamber of Commerce, Kenya, called that a sign that significant economic change would be driven by private sector innovation.
“I think at the end of the day, with what we’re hearing today here, it’s really down to what the private sector wants to do from a commercial engagement,” he said. “And I believe conversations such as this is really where you spark that interest, where you create those linkages and the sort of engagement that you need. And the opportunities are there for anyone. They’re obvious.
“So, I think that various policies aside, from a commercial business engagement perspective, the sky is wide open.”
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Importers of Iranian oil are facing pressure from the United States to find another energy source or be hit with sanctions.
The Trump administration is threatening other countries, including close allies such as South Korea, with the sanctions if they don’t cut off Iranian imports by early November, essentially erecting a global blockade around the world’s sixth-biggest petroleum producer.
South Korea accounted for 14 percent of Iran’s oil exports last year, according to the U.S. Energy Department. China is the largest importer of Iranian oil with 24 percent, followed by India with 18 percent. Turkey stood at 9 percent, and Italy at 7 percent.
A State Department official told reporters this week that the “vast majority” of countries will comply with the U.S. request. A group from the State Department and the National Security Council is delivering the president’s message in Europe. The official added that the group had not yet visited China or India.
President Donald Trump announced in May that he would pull the United States out of a 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear program, and would re-impose sanctions on Tehran. Previously, the administration said only that other countries should make a “significant reduction” in imports of Iranian crude to avoid U.S. sanctions.
European allies will reluctantly go along to avoid sanctions on their companies that do business in the U.S., said Jim Krane, an energy and geopolitics expert at Rice University. However, China, India and Turkey might be less likely to fully cut off Iranian imports, he said.
Antoine Halff, a researcher at Columbia University and former chief oil analyst for the International Energy Agency, said it’s not unusual for the U.S. government to seek cooperation from other importers of Iranian oil — President Barack Obama’s administration did it during a previous round of sanctions.
“The difference is that there was broad international support for the sanctions then,” while the move to restore sanctions now over Iran’s nuclear program “is a unilateral decision from the United States alone,” Halff said.
The Trump administration is counting on Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members to supply enough oil to offset the lost Iranian exports and prevent oil prices from rising sharply.
The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. will be talking in a week or so “with our Middle Eastern partners to ensure that the global supply of oil is not adversely affected by these sanctions.”
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed over the weekend to boost oil production by about 600,000 barrels a day. Iran exported about 1.9 million barrels a day during the first quarter of this year, according to OPEC figures. It is the world’s seventh largest oil exporter.
“It would not be a heavy lift for OPEC to replace Iran’s contribution to world oil markets — Saudi Arabia could probably do it on its own,” Krane said. “Saudi spare capacity protects the U.S. motorist from U.S. foreign policy.”
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A U.K. parliamentary committee concluded Thursday that it is beyond doubt that British intelligence agencies knew the United States was mistreating people detained after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
A report by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee found Britain knew of the mistreatment at an early stage and that “more could have been done” by authorities to attempt to influence American behavior.
The report showed that in 198 cases, British authorities received intelligence obtained from detainees whom they knew —or should have suspected — had been mistreated.
In 232 cases, UK personnel continued to supply questions or intelligence to allies after they knew or suspected mistreatment, the report said.
The committee acknowledged that British authorities didn’t want to risk losing access to vital intelligence during frenetic efforts at the time to prevent another attack. But the seriousness of Britain’s position was “slow to dawn,” it said.
The agencies appeared to be “deliberately turning a blind eye so as not to damage the relationship and risk the flow of intelligence; if the agencies started raising concerns, the U.S. could have refused U.K. officers access to the detainees and stopped passing on any intelligence they obtained,” it said.
The committee, which took 50 hours of oral evidence and reviewed 40,000 documents, rejected the agencies’ claims that the cases cited were “isolated incidents.”
“It is difficult to comprehend how those at the top of the office did not recognize the pattern of mistreatment by the U.S,” it said.
Human rights campaigners have called for a judge-led inquiry into detentions and renditions in the so-called war on terror, describing the parliamentary report as too limited to give a full picture. Their concern was born out when the committee — chaired by Conservative Party lawmaker Dominic Grieve — underscored it was denied access to “those who had been on the ground at the time.”
“The committee has therefore concluded – reluctantly – that it must draw a line under the inquiry,” the report said. “This is regrettable.”
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will hold their first formal summit July 16 in Helsinki.
The summit confirmation by both sides came a day after Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton met with top Russian officials, including Putin, to lay the groundwork for the summit.
“President Trump asked me to come and speak to Russian authorities about the possibility of a meeting between him and President Putin,” said Bolton, speaking at a press briefing with international journalists in Moscow on Wednesday.
“There are a wide range of issues despite the differences between us where both President Trump and President Putin feel they can find constructive solutions,” added Bolton. “I’d like to hear someone say that’s a bad idea.”
Hawk becomes dove?
Appointed as a White House National Security Advisor just last March, Bolton — observers noted — made for an odd messenger for friendship with Moscow.
The former Bush administration official has long been regarded as a Russia ‘hawk’ and one of the Kremlin’s harshest critics over election interference, arms control, and other issues.
Yet challenged by reporters over his past statements — including calling President Putin a “liar” — Bolton claimed his past statements had no place in his current role as National Security Advisor.
“Right now I’m an advisor to President Trump. It’s his agenda that we’re pursuing and that’s the agenda I intend to advance,” said Bolton.
‘Political noise’
Wherever and whenever it occurs, the summit is all but certain to intensify scrutiny of the White House’s relationship with Russia amid ongoing U.S. federal investigations into contacts between Trump’s presidential campaign and Kremlin-linked officials on the road to Trump’s 2016 election win.
While the White House and the Kremlin have repeatedly denied those charges as a “witch hunt,” both sides recognized the shadow the investigation has cast over attempts at detente.
Bolton, who last year called Russian election interference “a true act of war,” seemed to comply with the Trump administration Wednesday, at least as far as any possible collusion between the president’s 2016 campaign and Russian operatives.
“A lot of the president’s critics have tried to make political capital out of theories and suppositions that have turned out to be completely erroneous,” said Bolton, adding that Trump had decided to disregard the “political noise.”
Indeed, that point was stressed by Putin in brief comments before cameras as talks got underway.
“From the beginning, it, unfortunately, must be said that Russian-American relations are not in the best shape,” said Putin in addressing Bolton.
“I’ve already said publicly more than once, and want to repeat again in our meetings, that this is mostly due to internal political struggles within the States themselves. Your arrival in Moscow instills hope that we can make at least initial steps towards the restitution of full relations between our governments.”
So many topics, so little time
Hovering over the next few weeks will be questions over what concrete deals can be worked out given the summit’s short notice.
Observers note that most presidential summits take months of planning and negotiations to present the right ‘optics’ and ‘deliverables’ worthy of a meeting at the highest level.
Bolton said he expected follow-on discussions between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to address those issues in the coming days.
The two sides will certainly have ample topics to choose from.
Both Washington and Moscow have expressed a desire to find common ground on issues such as arms control and combating terrorism. More vexing have been the fallout in relations over such issues as Ukraine, Syria, Western sanctions, and allegations the Kremlin was responsible for the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil last March.
But Bolton eschewed concerns that the summit would produce little of substance: “I think the fact of the summit itself is a deliverable and I don’t exclude that they will reach concrete agreements,” said Bolton.
Atlantic Council senior fellow Robert Manning told VOA the best case scenario for the summit would be progress on Ukraine and Syria, while maintaining current arms control agreements.
“I think Putin so far has been willing to accept Ukraine as another frozen conflict. I think there’s efforts afoot to try to find a way back to the Minsk agreement and to find a solution to the Ukrainian issue,” Manning said. “And it’s always easier to get into an intervention to get out of it, and I think probably Putin’s looking for an exit strategy in Syria as well.”
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European Union leaders are considering reforms to address migration as they begin a two-day summit Thursday.
Arrivals to the continent have dropped sharply since a 2015 crisis that drew sharp divisions among the bloc’s 28 members about how they should respond. Some countries promoted more open-door policies, while others set up barriers to prevent those who reached Europe from crossing their borders.
The EU said in 2015 there were more than 1.8 million illegal border crossings into member countries. EU President Donald Tusk wrote in a letter ahead of the summit the number of illegal crossings has dropped by 96 percent since its peak.
Policies already enacted have helped push that number down, notably an agreement with Turkey for the Turkish government to help cut off migration routes and to accept the return of those who make the journey from Turkey to Greece. The EU also began work to tackle the root causes pushing people from their home country.
Tusk is proposing further reforms, including setting up “regional disembarkation platforms” with the possible help of the U.N. refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration where the EU could assess asylum claims outside of its territory, and thus help to disrupt smugglers and the dangerous sea crossings many make to try to reach Europe.
Tusk is also asking EU members to cooperate with countries of origin, particularly Libya.
“More and more people are starting to believe that only strong-handed authority, anti-European and anti-liberal in spirit, with a tendency towards overt authoritarianism, is capable of stopping the wave of illegal migration,” he wrote. “If people believe them, that only they can offer an effective solution to the migration crisis, they will also believe anything else they say. The stakes are very high. And time is short.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was among the most open to accepting migrants during the height of the crisis, is under pressure at home from critics who say Germany has been too welcoming.
She told parliament Thursday before heading to Brussels that she made the right decision in an exceptional situation, but that with the current situation the EU should put in place tighter controls. Merkel said that while there is division among members, they are united in the need to reduce overall migration, stop smugglers and strengthen the EU’s external borders.
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Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Wednesday settled a seven-year patent dispute over Apple’s allegations that Samsung violated its patents by “slavishly” copying the design of the iPhone.
Terms of the settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, were not available.
In May, a U.S. jury awarded Apple $539 million, after Samsung had previously paid Apple $399 million to compensate for patent infringement. Samsung would need to make an additional payment to Apple of nearly $140 million if the verdict was upheld.
How much, if anything, Samsung must now pay Apple under Wednesday’s settlement could not immediately be learned. An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the terms of the settlement but said Apple “cares deeply about design” and that “this case has always been about more than money.” A Samsung spokeswoman declined to comment.
Apple and Samsung are rivals for the title of world’s largest smartphone maker, and the dollar sums involved in the decision are unlikely to have an impact on either’s bottom line. But the case has had a lasting impact on U.S. patent law.
After a loss at trial, Samsung appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In December 2016, the court sided unanimously with Samsung’s argument that a patent violator does not have to hand over the entire profit it made from stolen designs if those designs covered only certain portions of a product but not the entire object.
But when the case went back to lower court for trial this year, the jury sided with Apple’s argument that, in this specific case, Samsung’s profits were attributable to the design elements that violated Apple’s patents.
Michael Risch, a professor of patent law at Villanova University, said that because of the recent verdict the settlement likely called for Samsung to make an additional payment to Apple.
But he said there was no clear winner in the dispute, which involved hefty legal fees for both companies. While Apple scored a major public relations victory with an initial $1 billion verdict in 2012, Samsung also obtained rulings in its favor and avoided an injunction that would have blocked it from selling phones in the U.S. market, Risch said.
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Two major auto trade groups on Wednesday warned the Trump administration that imposing up to 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles would cost hundreds of thousands of auto jobs, dramatically hike prices on vehicles and threaten industry spending on self-driving cars.
A coalition representing major foreign automakers including Toyota Motor Corp, Volkswagen AG, BMW AG and Hyundai Motor Co, said the tariffs would harm automakers and U.S. consumers. The administration in May launched an investigation into whether imported vehicles pose a national security threat and President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to quickly impose tariffs.
“The greatest threat to the U.S. automotive industry at this time is the possibility the administration will impose duties on imports in connection with this investigation,” wrote the Association of Global Automakers representing major foreign automakers. “Such duties would raise prices for American consumers, limit their choices, and suppress sales and U.S. production of vehicles.”
The group added: “Rather than creating jobs, these tariffs would result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of American jobs producing and selling cars, SUVs, trucks and auto parts.”
On Friday, Trump threatened to impose a 20 percent tariff on all imports of EU-assembled cars. On Tuesday, Trump said tariffs are coming soon.
“We are finishing our study of Tariffs on cars from the E.U. in that they have long taken advantage of the U.S. in the form of Trade Barriers and Tariffs. In the end it will all even out — and it won’t take very long!” Trump tweeted.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co, Daimler AG , Toyota and others, urged the administration in separate comments filed Wednesday not to go forward.
“We believe the resulting impact of tariffs on imported vehicles and vehicle components will ultimately harm U.S. economic security and weaken our national security,” the group wrote, calling the tariffs a “mistake” and adding imposing them “could very well set a dangerous precedent that other nations could use to protect their local market from foreign competition.”
The Alliance said its analysis of 2017 auto sales data showed a 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles would result in an average price increase of $5,800, which would boost costs to American consumers by nearly $45 billion annually.
Automakers are concerned tariffs would mean less capital to spend on self-driving cars and electric vehicles.
“We are already in the midst of an intense global race to lead on electrification and automation. The increased costs associated with the proposed tariffs may result in diminishing the U.S.’ competitiveness in developing these advanced technologies,” the Alliance wrote.
Toyota said in a statement Wednesday that new tariffs “would increase the cost of every vehicle sold in the country.” The automaker said the tariffs would mean even a Toyota Camry built in Kentucky “would face $1,800 in increased costs.”
Both automotive trade groups cited a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics that the cost to U.S. jobs from the import duties would be 195,000 jobs and could be as high as 624,000 jobs if other countries retaliate.
The German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses said the “pattern of rising protectionism is very likely to continue if the U.S. decide to impose tariffs on foreign automobiles and automobile parts, thus causing tremendous damage to both economies.”
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, a state that produced nearly 1 million vehicles and 1.7 million engines built by foreign automakers last year, urged the Commerce Department not to invoke the tariffs. She said job losses from new levies could be “devastating.”
The proposed tariffs on national security grounds have been met by opposition among many Republicans in Congress.
Trump has made the tariffs a key part of his economic message and repeatedly lamented the U.S auto sector trade deficit, particularly with Germany and Japan. Some aides have suggested that the effort is a way to try to pressure Canada and Mexico into making more concessions in ongoing talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday the department aimed to wrap up the probe by late July or August. The Commerce Department plans to hold two days of public comments in July on its investigation of auto imports.
The Commerce Department has asked if it should consider U.S. owned auto manufacturers differently than foreign automakers.
The Association of Global Automakers rejected that contention, saying its members’ American workers “are no less patriotic or willing to serve their country in a time of crisis than any other Americans.”
The group questioned national security as grounds to restrict auto imports. “America does not go to war in a Ford Fiesta,” they added.
The Alliance said “there is no basis to claim that auto-related imports are a threat to national security” and noted that 98 percent of U.S. auto imports came from U.S. national security allies.
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Leaders in east Africa have agreed to work together to build a single railroad and highway network to enhance integration in the region. Leaders and representatives of eight countries met in Kenya Tuesday for the 14th time to discuss the northern corridor project aimed at improving trade and tightening security.
The representatives stressed the need for better movement of people, goods and services with better joint infrastructure.
Kenya got the go-ahead to continue building its standard gauge railways to the Uganda border. Kenya is about to finish the second phase of the rail line between the cities of Nairobi and Naivasha.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told his counterparts plans are under way to extend the line.
“Preliminary discussions for the funding of Naivasha and Kisumu sections are in progress and we expect to sign the framework agreement to the People’s Republic of China anytime this year,” he said.
Uganda and Rwanda are also planning to extend railway connections to the countries after Kenya completes its part.
The agenda included a way to improve a single customs territory by reducing the number of weigh bridges and police checks to speed up the delivery of goods in landlocked countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
Kenyatta said the border post between Kenya and Uganda has been effective.
“Malaba — one stop border post total time taken at the crossing has now been substantially reduced to less than seven hours for goods traveling under [a] single customs territory,” he said.
Following oil discoveries in Kenya and Uganda, the leaders agreed to come up with a joint refinery model to facilitate the exportation of petroleum products.
“The heads of state are looking at all these corridors and how they can enhance or support each other and ease the movement between their countries, both on road networks as well as railway network and all other means of transport within the region. So the northern corridor has been very important,” said Gerrishon Ikiara, an international economic affairs lecturer at the University of Nairobi.
The southern corridor network, which connects Tanzania to Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi is also under construction.
Countries in the region are focusing on at least 16 infrastructure projects, with the goal of transforming their people socially and economically.
Member countries of the global chemical weapons monitoring group voted in the Hague Wednesday to give the organization expanded authority to assign blame for toxic weapons attacks.
Members of the Organization for the Prohibition for Chemical Weapons voted 82 to 24, easily exceeding the two-thirds majority need for approval.
The proposal was presented by Britain and was supported by the United States and the European Union. It was opposed, however, by 24 countries including Russia, Syria and their allies.
British representative Peter Wilson said passage will allow the OPCW “not to just say when chemical weapons are used, but by whom.”
Before the vote, OPCW lacked the ability to say who was responsible for chemical attacks that had occurred in Syria and elsewhere.
The vote followed a diplomatic stalemate at the two-day meeting between Western allies and Russia and Syria.
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The Trump administration on Wednesday began dismantling the sanctions relief that was granted to Iran under the 2015 nuclear deal, a step that follows President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the international accord.
The Treasury Department announced it had revoked licenses that allowed U.S.-controlled foreign firms to export commercial aircraft parts to Iran as well as permitted Americans to trade in Iranian carpets, pistachios and caviar. It said businesses engaged in any such transactions have to wind down those operations by Aug. 6 or face penalties under U.S. sanctions. Another set of licenses covering other types of commerce, including oil purchases, will be revoked in coming weeks, with firms given until Nov. 4 to end those activities.
The step had been expected since May when Trump pulled the U.S. out of the landmark agreement under which Iran was given relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program. Trump said the accord, a signature foreign policy achievement of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, was the worst deal ever negotiated by the United States because it gave Iran too much in return for too little. Trump also complained that the agreement did not cover Iran’s non-nuclear malign behavior.
Other parties to the deal — Britain, China, Germany, France, Russia and the European Union — have criticized the U.S. withdrawal, which has left the agreement at risk of collapse. The Trump administration is stepping up efforts to isolate Iran and its faltering economy from international financial and trading systems.
On Tuesday, the administration said it was pushing foreign countries to cut their oil imports from Iran to zero by Nov. 4. Previously, the administration had said only that countries should make a “significant reduction” in their imports of Iranian oil or be subject to separate U.S. sanctions prohibiting all transactions between their central banks and Iran’s central bank.
A senior State Department official said the administration is now telling European and Asian countries that the U.S. expects their imports to hit zero by the time the grace period ends. A U.S. team from the State Department and the National Security Council is currently in Europe delivering the message, said the official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. The official added that the U.S. is working with other Middle Eastern countries to increase production so the global oil supply isn’t harmed.
Some close U.S. allies are among the largest importers of Iranian crude oil, including India and South Korea. Japan and Turkey also import significant amounts of Iranian oil, according to statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Agency. The biggest importer of Iranian oil last year was China.
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Authorities in Afghanistan have rejected latest Russian claims that thousands of Islamic State fighters are “consolidating” their presence in nine out of 34 provinces of the war-hit country.
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Radmanish, at a news conference Wednesday in Kabul, estimated that about 2,000 IS militants operate in four provinces, including Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan in the east, with Jowzjan in the north.
Radmanish was speaking a day after the Russian envoy to the U.N., Vasily Nebenzya, reinterated during a Security Council meeting on Afghanistan Moscow’s concerns about IS growing influence particularly in northern provinces that border Central Asian countries.
“This is a group, which has up to 10,000 fighters in its ranks, and it is already active in at least nine out of 34 provinces … and is constantly consolidating its positions in the north of the country, turning it into a springboard for its expansion into Central Asia,” said Nebenzya, while speaking through his official interpreter.
He went on to assert that IS is creating training camps for the fighters, including those who come from Central Asian states. “These are the facts we cannot shy away from,” said Nebenzya.
IS calls its Afghan branch Khorasan Province, and it routinely carries out suicide bombings against Afghan civilians and military targets around the country, including in capital city Kabul, inflicting hundreds of casualties.
The latest bombing occurred Tuesday, killing at least nine members of the Afghan police force in the western province of Kunar.
IS, through its Amaq News Agency, claimed responsibility for the attack on an Afghan Local Police camp in the Chawkay district, saying the blast killed 13 “militias loyal to the apostate Afghan government.” It also provided a photo of the bomber, according to SITE Intelligence Group.
American military commanders also dismiss Russian claims about the growing IS strength in Afghanistan, saying the campaign is aimed at justifying Moscow’s support to the Taliban insurgency, charges Nebenzya again rejected while speaking on Tuesday.
Senior U.S. State Department diplomat Alice Wells told a Congressional hearing last week that Russia has been “very unhelpful” in international efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.
“We see Russia adopting a posture that the Taliban are a legitimate bulwark against ISIS [IS], and we do not buy that as a justification of engagement with the Taliban,” Wells said.
The U.S. military say its close support to Afghan Special forces in conducting counterterrorism operations have enabled them to significantly degrade IS strength in Nangarhar, Kunar, Nuristan, and Jowzjan, which shares a border with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
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Enslaved on a Thai fishing vessel for 11 years, Tun Lin saw his fellow workers lose their minds one after another, with one fisherman jumping into the sea to end his
life.
Some would start murmuring or laughing to themselves as they worked day and night in Indonesian waters on the cramped boat, often surviving on fish they caught and drinking water leaking from an onboard freezer.
“It was like a floating prison – actually, worse than prison,” the Burmese fisherman, who was sold into slavery, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Samut Sakhon, a Thai fishing hub some 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the capital Bangkok.
The 36-year-old, who was rescued in 2015 after losing four fingers and being stranded on a remote island for years without pay, is now lobbying for fishermen’s rights with the Thai and Migrant Fishers Union Group (TMFG).
Under growing consumer pressure, Thailand has introduced a raft of modern technologies since 2015 – from satellites to optical scanning and electronic payment services – to crack down on abuses in its multibillion-dollar fishing industry.
It is one of a growing number of countries using innovation to deal with modern slavery, from mobile apps in India to blockchain in Moldova, but experts warn against over-reliance on tech as a silver bullet without stronger workers’ rights.
“Technology can be a double-edged sword,” said Patima Tungpuchayakul, co-founder of the Labor Rights Promotion Network Foundation, a Thai advocacy group. “It has become an excuse the government is using to justify they have done something, but in practice they don’t use it to solve the problem.”
More than half the estimated 600,000 industry workers are migrants, often from poor neighboring countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar, United Nations (U.N.) data shows.
Tracking Devices
After the European Union threatened to ban fish exports from Thailand, and the U.S. State Department said it was failing to tackle human trafficking, the Southeast Asian country toughened up its laws and increased fines for violations.
It banned the use of workers aged below 18 and ordered fishermen to be given contracts and be paid through electronic bank transfers.
Authorities ordered Thai vessels operating outside national waters to have satellite communications for workers to contact their families or report problems at sea, plus tracking devices to spot illegal fishing.
“We are serious in law enforcement regarding human trafficking and illegal labor cases,” said Weerachon Sukhontapatipak, a Thai government spokesman. “There might not be abrupt change … it will take time.”
Thailand is also rolling out an ambitious plan, using iris, facial and fingerprint scans to record fishermen’s identities to make sure they are on the boats they are registered with and help inspectors spot trafficking victims.
Rights groups meanwhile have tried to use satellites to pinpoint the location of ships that remain at sea for long periods, potentially indicating enslavement.
But human trafficking expert Benjamin Smith said using satellites to tackle slavery at sea was not easy unless there is a lead on where to track in the vast ocean.
“I think people underestimate the size of the ocean and the ability to pinpoint where something as small as a boat is,” Smith from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said. “If you have good information, intelligence, then satellite images can be good … It has to be a small part of a much bigger effort.”
Smith also highlighted difficulties prosecuting cross-border trafficking cases and maritime police funding shortages, adding that continued consumer pressure on firms to clean up their supply chains could be a potent force to help end slavery.
“That’s probably the best way you can start,” he said.
Good News
Fishermen remain at risk of forced labor and the wages of some continue to be withheld, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in March.
To combat slavery, firms must improve workers’ lives, rather than cutting labor costs and recruiting informally to meet demand for cheaper goods, experts say.
“Smaller owners are getting squeezed, and still rely on brokers and agents, who dupe workers and keep them ignorant of their rights and conditions on the boat,” said Sunai Phasuk, a researcher with lobby group Human Rights Watch in Bangkok.
Workers are set to become more vocal with the May launch of the Fishers’ Rights Network, which aims to combat abuses, backed by the world’s largest canned tuna producer, Thai Union, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
“Without enforceable rights at the workplace and the strength that comes from being represented by a union, labor rights violations and the mistreatment will continue,” said Johnny Hansen, chairman of ITF’s fisheries section.
Thailand’s ratification this month of the ILO protocol on forced labor also offers hope. It is the first Asian country to promise to combat all forms of the crime, including trafficking, and to protect and compensate victims.
“We have … committed to changing the law to allow workers to form unions, so we can work together to solve the problems,” said Thanaporn Sriyakul, an advisor to the deputy prime minister. “But the process is long, and it will take time.”
Thailand has also pledged to ratify two other conventions on collective bargaining and the right to organize, which campaigners say would better protect seafood workers.
This would be good news for Lin’s fishermen’s group, which has helped rescue more than 60 people since 2015, but has no legal status as Thai law does not permit fisher unions, leading rights advocates to use other terms, like workers’ groups.
“There are still lots of victims, and I want to help them,” Lin said. “As fishermen who have suffered in a similar manner, we understand each other’s needs and are able to help better.”
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Warming waters have reduced the harvest of Alaska’s prized Copper River salmon to just a small fraction of last year’s harvest, Alaska biologists say.
The runs of Copper River salmon were so low that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game shut down the commercial harvest last month, halting what is usually a three-month season after less than two weeks. Earlier this month, the department also shut down most of the harvest that residents along the river conduct to feed their families.
The total commercial harvest for Alaska’s marquee Copper River salmon this year after it was halted at the end of May was about 32,000 fish, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported. That compares with the department’s pre-season forecast of over 1.2 million and an average annual harvest of over 1.4 million fish in the prior decade.
State biologists blame warming in the Gulf of Alaska for the diminished run of Copper River salmon, prized for its rich flavor, high oil content and deep-red color.
The fish spend most of their lives in the ocean, and those waters were 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal, thanks to a warm and persistent North Pacific water mass that climate scientists have dubbed “the Blob,” along with other factors, said Mark Somerville, a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Warmer temperatures caused the metabolism of the fish to speed up, Somerville said. “They need more food for maintenance,” he said. “At the same time, their food source was diminished.”
Other important salmon runs are also struggling, including those in the Kenai River — a world-famous sport fishing site — and along Kodiak Island. Others have had good numbers, though the returning fish are noticeably reduced in size, Somerville said.
In Alaska, where wild salmon is iconic, Copper River fish hold a special status.
Their high oil content is linked to their ultra-long migration route from the ocean to their glacier-fed spawning grounds. They are the first fresh Alaska salmon to hit the market each year. Copper River salmon have sold for $75 a pound.
Chris Bryant, executive chef for WildFin American Grill, a group of Seattle-area seafood restaurants, worries about trends for Alaska salmon beyond the Copper River.
“The fish are smaller, which makes it harder for chefs to get a good yield on it and put it on the plate,” he said.
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U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton is expected in Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and possibly Vladimir Putin, part of an effort to lay the ground for a summit between Putin and President Donald Trump.
Bolton, whom the Kremlin regards as an arch Russia hawk, is due to give a news conference after his meetings at 1630 GMT, where he might name the date and location of a summit, which the Kremlin has been trying to make happen for months.
Trump congratulated Putin by phone in March after the Russian leader’s landslide re-election victory and said the two would meet soon. However, the Russians have since complained about the difficulty of setting up such a meeting.
Relations between Washington and Moscow are languishing at a post-Cold War low. They are at odds over Syria, Ukraine, allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and accusations Moscow was behind the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain in March.
Expectations for the outcome of any Putin-Trump summit are therefore low, even though Trump said before he was elected that he wanted to improve battered U.S.-Russia ties and the two men occasionally make positive statements about each other.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday it wanted to talk about international security and stability, disarmament, regional problems and bilateral ties. It did not rule out a meeting between Bolton and Putin, but did not confirm one either.
Details unclear
The summit is expected to take place around the second half of July after Trump attends a NATO summit in Brussels and visits Britain. It is unclear where it would be held, with Vienna and Helsinki cited as possible venues.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the weekend he expected Bolton’s Moscow visit to lead to a summit “in the not too distant future.” He said Washington was “trying to find places where we had overlapping interests, but protecting American interest where we do not.”
Such a summit, if it happened, would be likely to cause irritation in parts of the West, where countries such as Britain want to isolate Putin. It would also go down badly among Trump’s foreign and domestic critics, who question his commitment to NATO and fret over his desire to rebuild ties with Russia even as Washington continues to tighten sanctions on Moscow.
The United States initially sanctioned Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and its backing for a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine. Subsequent sanctions have punished Moscow for what Washington has called its malign behavior and meddling in U.S. politics, something Russia denies.
Some Trump critics say Russia has not significantly altered its behaviour since 2014 and should therefore not be given the prestige that a summit would confer.
Daniel Baud is a veteran of Route 66, who fondly recalls riding the iconic highway spanning a large swath of the United States saddled on his motorcycle. Sporting a snowy goatee and a leather jacket speckled with American memorabilia, he speaks reverently about his vehicle of choice.
“I’ve dreamt of having a Harley-Davidson ever since I was a kid,” Baud said. “For me, it’s about liberty.”
Baud might fit comfortably into an upscale Hells Angels club. But the aging biker is not from Paris, Texas, but rather the French capital.
On a recent morning, he gathered with other Paris-area enthusiasts to plot out their next trip — to Prague. The lure of the open road has been transplanted from America’s heartland to Eastern Europe.
Now, as a transatlantic trade dispute deepens, Harleys, as the motorcycles are called, are a symbol of both what divides and what unites Europe and the United States.
“The French in general seem to have an overwhelming passion and enthusiasm for American culture,” said Richard Clairefond, co-director of the Harley-Davidson Bastille dealership in Paris, where Baud’s club meets most weekends. “And the Harley just kind of rolls up into that experience.”
In the crosshairs
At the moment, however, the motorcycle is better known for being in the crosshairs of a growing divide between Brussels and Washington. After the Trump administration introduced tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports, the European Union riposted, slapping taxes on a long list of U.S. products, including peanut butter, orange juice — and Harley-Davidsons.
WATCH: Caught in Trade Spat, Harley-Davidson Bridges Transatlantic Divides
Now, the Wisconsin-based motorcycle manufacturer is also feeling the heat at home. President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday that it would be “taxed like never before” after the company announced it would move part of its operations overseas — it hasn’t said where — to avoid the European tariff hike.
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire had a different take.
“Anything that creates jobs in Europe goes in the right direction,” Le Maire told members of the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris in an interview. “We don’t want a trade war, but we will defend ourselves. We aren’t the aggressors, but the aggressed.”
Even as he described “excellent” personal relations with Trump administration counterparts, Le Maire also defended Brussels’ apparent efforts to tax products from mostly Republican states ahead of U.S. congressional elections in November.
“It’s legitimate to use the means we have to make Mr. Trump understand we don’t accept his decision” to tax European metals exports, he said. “And if the sanctions hit Republican states and it makes Republicans understand that their decision is unacceptable, so much the better.”
For the Bastille Harley club, however, the sharpening dispute is being met with a somewhat Gallic shrug.
“It’s politics, that’s all. It’s a mistake on both sides,” said the club’s vice president, Patrick Sarfati, who believes European Harley fans will continue to buy the bike even at a higher price.
Baud is similarly philosophical.
“It’s too bad, but we can’t do anything about it,” he said. “But it won’t stop us from buying our Harleys.”
Dilemma mirrored in Europe
In some ways, Harley-Davidson’s dilemma is matched by the one faced by some European companies. They’ve been threatened with separate U.S. sanctions for doing business with Iran following Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear agreement. A growing number are pulling out of Iran, and Economy Minister Le Maire acknowledged that for the moment, European governments had little means of reversing the trend.
“For the moment, our requests remain unanswered,” he said of discussions with Washington.
France, in particular, is no stranger to rocky transatlantic relations — and the euros lost as a result. In 2003, French opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq led to a “freedom fries” retaliation by an irate U.S. Congress, and an American boycott of iconic products like brie and camembert.
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who was French prime minister at the time, is happy that Europe today is fighting for its principles.
“Maybe it’s Europe’s luck to have Mr. Trump,” he said in an interview. “Because it finds new unity in this adversity, and maybe this will allow it to react strongly.”
Experts say the U.S., for now, is in a position of strength, particularly given its booming economy, although it is confronted by multiple trade disputes. The EU, by contrast, is economically weaker, and splintered by political divisions over issues such as migration and closer economic unity.
Still, the former head of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, is confident, for the moment, that free trade will win in the long term.
“My own sense is that we’ve reached a stage of globalization that will make de-globalization extremely unlikely” unless protectionist and populist parties strengthen further, Lamy said in recent remarks to Anglophone reporters.
Harley-Davidson’s eventual reprieve from EU sanctions, following its production shift, will help maintain business, said Clairefond of the Bastille motorcycle store — especially when it comes to newer riders with less loyalty and financial means than those in the bikers club.
But he is less upbeat about the broader standoff.
“I think anytime you have a trade war, there’s bound to be winners and losers,” Clairefond said. “But more losers in the end.”
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The European Union is preparing for a crunch two-day summit beginning Thursday in Brussels – as differences over immigration policy threaten to tear the bloc apart. Henry Ridgwell reports on the summit that some analysts say could make or break the European Union.
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Historic levels of violent crime in Mexico have sparked a record increase in the country’s car-armoring business, with an industry group predicting a double-digit jump in the number of vehicles bulletproofed this year.
There were more than 25,000 murders across Mexico last year, the highest annual tally since modern records began, government data shows, with 2018 on track to be even worse.
That insecurity will help drive a 10 percent rise in car-armoring services this year to 3,284 cars, above the previous all-time high in 2012, according to the Mexican Automotive Armor Association (AMBA).
That figure is small relative to the 15,145 cars armored in 2017 in Brazil, which expects to see a 25 percent jump this year.
Demand in Mexico has grown so strong that more global automakers have started bulletproofing cars on their own Mexican production lines as opposed to the usual practice of after-market armoring.
Audi began making an armored version of its Q5 light sport utility vehicle exclusively in the central state of Puebla in mid-2017 for local sale and export to Brazil and Argentina. The company declined to give recent sales figures.
Audi’s Mexico arm said its factory-made armored Q5, which cost $87,000 locally, was cheaper for consumers than using an after-market firm, which one industry expert estimated would boost the car’s cost to more than $95,000 and void the factory guarantee.
BMW, Jeep and Mercedes-Benz have made armored cars in Mexico for several years.
After being assaulted and robbed multiple times in recent years, Arturo Avila, who owns a security company, now only travels in armored cars to traverse the streets of Mexico City.
“One of the crimes that hurts us most is kidnapping, that’s what we’re afraid of,” he said, adding he changed his car every two years.
About 1.5 million cars were sold in Mexico in 2017, but just a tiny portion were armored, since the cars remain a luxury for the affluent and for companies that require executives to travel in bulletproof vehicles with bodyguards, said Avila.
Those companies include Mexico’s largest banks and multinationals like Unilever and Procter & Gamble. Both companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mexican security companies have also expanded rental and leasing offerings, services that are increasingly popular.
About 80 percent of armored car providers’ business is in the private sector, which seeks to protect executives and their families, with the rest from government.
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To treat snake bites, bathe in a tea brewed from yellow button-shaped flowers, advises Melissa Espinoza Paez as she describes the medicinal properties of Costa Rica’s jungle plants, pointing out towering vines used to combat kidney problems.
In the lush mountains close to the Panama border that make up the Bribri indigenous territory, Espinoza hopes the country’s first certified indigenous tour agency can deliver a bigger slice of income from ecotourism directly to local women.
“When other agencies brought tourists to our territory, sometimes they’d give a small amount to the people here, but it wasn’t really the value of their work,” said Espinoza, 38, indicating a green dart frog trying to hide in the undergrowth.
“We’re giving a tourism experience that is truly cultural… We are trying to live a more dignified life,” she said at the Siwakabata farm near Bribri town, some 220 km (140 miles) southeast of the capital San Jose.
Based in Talamanca canton, one of the poorest in Costa Rica, the recently licensed Talamanca Indigenous Bribri Tour Guides Association (AGITUBRIT) wants to ensure the financial benefits start to trickle down to local families, said Espinoza.
Alongside medicinal plant and gastronomy tours, hiking, jungle and river trips are run through a network of indigenous guides who stamp their cultural identity on the expeditions.
Costa Rican tourists, who often have little knowledge of indigenous culture, as well as Europeans, have so far made up the visitors who come to find out more about the relatively isolated Bribri people.
Tourists often stay with local families in thatched wooden houses to absorb Bribri traditions and learn the language, while some make appointments with traditional doctors who prescribe plant-based medicines.
Home to dense jungles and cloud forests teeming with wildlife, Costa Rica has become one of the world’s best-known ecotourism destinations. A quarter of its territory is now national parks or protected reserves.
But while ecotourism offers an incentive to protect the biodiversity that pulls in visitors, there has been less success in channeling benefits to those who provide services and protect the local environment, say some in the industry.
“The tourism sector in general is still learning how to deal with the social factors,” said Saul Blanco Sosa, a sustainable tourism specialist with the Rainforest Alliance conservation group. “Dealing with people is more complicated than dealing with natural reserves.”
Tour companies need to think about ways to become more socially responsible and inclusive, and avoid disrupting communities with their activities, he added.
Culture Crash Course
Ecotourism ranks as one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global travel market, and is worth around $100 billion a year, according to a 2017 report by the U.N. World Tourism Organization and United Nations Development Program.
The World Travel & Tourism Council says about 13 percent of Costa Rica’s gross domestic product comes from tourism, which is expected to employ 265,000 people directly and indirectly in 2018 to deal with its 3 million annual visitors.
Tourists have long come inland from Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast to explore the mountains, swim in waterfalls or float in long wooden canoes along the rivers lacing the Bribri territory.
But by the time middlemen have taken a hefty slice of their money, little is left for local people offering trips or cultural demonstrations, said Espinoza, who is learning English to help bring in more international tourists.
Guides from outside the area explaining the Bribri’s spirituality and strong connection with nature usually just learn their spiel from a book or the internet, she added.
“We live it, we feel it – but for the others, it’s just about money,” said Nora Paez Mayorga, who helps runs the 15-hectare (37-acre) Siwakabata agro-ecology project with her daughter Melissa.
No Jobs
For many women living in Costa Rica’s remote southeast corner with few formal qualifications, jobs other than raising chickens or growing crops such as plantain are hard to come by.
Younger people often have little choice but to head to San Jose to find work, said Paez, as she served up fried pastries and mugs of bitter chocolate drink.
Alongside its eight guides, the tour organization works with about 40 women from local indigenous communities. Some are employed at Siwakabata to cook for visitors, while others come to sell handicrafts, clothes, fruit and chocolate.
Demonstrating how to remove cacao seeds from their padded pods, dry and toast them on an open stove before grinding them to a paste, Basilia Jackson Jackson said she was looking to attract tourists to her home village of Coruma two hours away.
Growing bananas and cacao, her family’s fortunes depend on the prices set by buyers, she explained, turning the wheel of a metal grinder.
“We’ve never dealt with tourists, we’re just getting involved with it… we could have a little bit more income – it wouldn’t be much, but it would help the family,” said Jackson, who traveled to Siwakabata with her daughter Flor. “In this area, we don’t have much work. Between women, we’ve got to get organized to see how we can help each other.”
Espinoza, who left to work in a factory in San Jose before returning to study and finally helping set up AGITUBRIT, is optimistic the agency will prove invaluable in strengthening the position of local women while protecting their culture.
“As indigenous women from here, we know what we need. We can help each other to develop this project – valuing, maintaining and respecting our world view and our culture,” said Espinoza.
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The British Parliament has overwhelmingly approved plans to expand Europe’s biggest airport after decades of debate over its potential impact.
The House of Commons on Monday voted 415-119 to build a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government and business groups strongly backed the expansion, saying it would be tantamount to putting out an “open for business” sign as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.
But small communities around the airport and environmental groups have vehemently opposed the expansion on environmental, noise and financial grounds. Friends of the Earth described it as a “morally reprehensible” move that would result in Heathrow emitting as much carbon as all of Portugal.
Greenpeace UK said it was ready to join London councils and the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, in a legal challenge to the third runway. The environmental watchdog said if ministers wouldn’t protect people from toxic air, opponents would ask a court to do so.
May had directed Conservative Party lawmakers to vote for the project. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who once pledged to lie down in front of bulldozers to stop the expansion, avoided a confrontation with the prime minister by visiting Afghanistan on Monday.
His absence did not go unnoticed. Shouts of “Where’s Boris?” could be heard in the Commons, as opposition lawmakers spoke out against the $18.6 billion project.
The government has vowed the airport will be built at no cost to the taxpayer and will create some 100,000 jobs.
But former Conservative Party transport secretary Justine Greening — who broke with her party to reject the expansion — told lawmakers the story of Heathrow was one of “broken promises, broken politics and broken economics.”
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