Taylor Swift picked up two awards, including video of the year, in a girl-powered start to the MTV Video Music Awards show on Monday, while rapper Cardi B won best hip-hop video and newcomer Lizzo celebrated big women.
Swift opened the show with a rainbow-themed performance of her pro-LGBTQ single “You Need to Calm Down,” followed by her first live performance of the romantic ballad “Lover,” the lead single from her new, and already best-selling, album of the same name.
“You Need to Calm Down” brought the country-turned-pop singer one of the top prizes – video of the year – being handed out during Monday’s ceremony. It also took the “video for good” statuette for songs that have raised awareness.
Accepting the video of the year award, Swift said that since the VMAs are chosen by fans: “It means that you want a world where we are all treated equally under the law.”
Swift and pop singer Ariana Grande went into the fan-voted ceremony in Newark, New Jersey, with a leading 10 nominations each and also were competing for song of the year, best pop, and video of the year.
Grande, currently on tour in Europe and absent from Monday’s show, is also a contender for the top award – artist of the year – along with Cardi B, 17-year-old alternative pop newcomer Billie Eilish, Halsey, the Jonas Brothers and Shawn Mendes.
Missy Elliott accepts the Video Vanguard award at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center, Aug. 26, 2019, in Newark, N.J.
Cardi B beat out a male-dominated lineup to win best hip-hop video for “Money,” and ended a delighted acceptance speech saying: “Thank you, Jesus.”
The outspoken rapper was also on hand to present Missy Elliott with this year’s Vanguard Award for career achievement, calling her “a champion for women who want to be doing their own thing.”
Best new artist contender Lizzo, enjoying a breakout year, performed her hits “Truth Hurts” and “Good as Hell” in a yellow sequined bodysuit, accompanied by plus-size dancers, in a message for body positivity.
Mendes and Camila Cabello stoked reports they are dating in real life with a steamy live version of their romantic duet “Senorita,” which reached No. 1 this week on the Billboard singles charts.
Male winners included Korean boy band BTS, who won for best K-Pop; the recently reunited Jonas Brothers, who paid tribute to their New Jersey roots with a performance from Asbury Park; newcomer Lil Nas; and Mendes.
У Дрогобичі 27 серпня вручать Міжнародну премію імені Івана Франка в номінації «За вагомі здобутки (досягнення) у галузі україністики».
«Нагороду отримає доцент кафедри слов’янських мов Міланського університету, професорка Марія Ґрація Бартоліні за свою монографію «Пізнай самого себе»: неоплатонічні джерела в творчості Г. С. Сковороди» (Київ: Академперіодика, 2017)», – ідеться в повідомленні на сайті Міжнародного фонду Івана Франка.
Міжнародна премія імені Івана Франка присуджується у двох номінаціях: «За вагомі здобутки (досягнення) у галузі україністики» і «За вагомі здобутки (досягнення) у галузі соціально-гуманітарних наук».
Лауреати премії нагороджують грошовою винагородою і золотим знаком.
Лауреатами премії були: у 2016 році – верховний архієпископ-емерит Української греко-католицької церкви, кардинал Католицької церкви – Любомир Гузар; у 2017 році у номінації «За вагомі здобутки (досягнення) у галузі україністики» лауреатом став професор Віденського університету, президент Міжнародної асоціації україністів – Міхаель Мозер, а в номінації «За вагомі здобутки (досягнення) у галузі соціально-гуманітарних наук» нагороду здобув академік, почесний професор Львівського національного університету імені Івана Франка – Олег Шаблій.
У 2018 році у номінації «За вагомі здобутки (досягнення) у галузі україністики» лауреатом стала професор Українського католицького університету (Львів) і Українського вільного університету (Мюнхен) Ярослава Мельник, а у номінації «За вагомі досягнення у галузі соціально-гуманітарних наук» переміг Йоганнес Ремі – помічник професора Колумбійського університету (США). …
Native American representation in Congress made great strides with the 2018 election of two American women to Congress. Now, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma says it will send its own delegate to Congress, a move that will not only test the tribe’s sovereignty and the willingness of the U.S. to meet its treaty promises.
Cherokee Nation principal chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., announcing his intention to send a delegate to U.S. Congress, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Aug. 22, 2019.
Newly-elected Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., announced the decision on August 22, naming Cherokee Nation Vice President of Government Relations Kimberly Teehee as his choice to represent the tribe on Capitol Hill.
“As Native issues continue to rise to the forefront of the national dialogue, now is the time for Cherokee Nation to execute a provision in our treaties,” Hoskins said. “It’s a right negotiated by our ancestors in two treaties with the federal government and reaffirmed in the Treaty of 1866 and reflected in our Constitution.”
It was the 1785 Treaty of Hopewell that first gave the Cherokee “the right to send a deputy of their choice” to Congress.
Fifty years later, in December 1835, a breakaway faction of Cherokee tribe members met with U.S. officials in the Cherokee capital of New Enchota. Dissatisfied with the way their chief was handling negotiations with Washington, they signed a treaty giving up all land east of the Mississippi in exchange for $5 million.
That move led to the 1,900-kilometer “Trail of Tears,” the forced trek to Indian Territory — today, Oklahoma — by thousands of men, women and children, as many as a quarter of whom died of hunger, disease and exhaustion.
Signature page, Treaty of Enchota, 1835.
The Enchota Treaty states that the Cherokee “shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same.”
Long road ahead
The U.S. Constitution mandates that only members of states may serve in the House and Senate, but territories and properties “owned” or administered by the United States may send delegates, who have limited power: They may debate but not vote on the House floor, but may vote in committees on which they serve.
Today, six non-voting parties sit in Washington: A resident commissioner from Puerto Rico, and five individual delegates from the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
But is Congress prepared to welcome a seventh delegate?
Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole, a member of the Chickasaw Nation, said that the Cherokee claim would likely need the approval of the full House of Representatives, something that could take “a long time.”
FILE – U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., shown at a town hall meeting in Moore, Oklahoma, in Aug. 2015.
“There’s a lot of questions that have to be answered,” Republican representative from Oklahoma Tom Cole said in a town hall meeting that took place August 20 in Norman, Oklahoma. “Number one, I don’t know that the treaty still is valid. They’re basing it on something that is 185 years ago.”
Stacy L. Leeds, a Cherokee citizen, dean emeritus and professor of law at the University of Arkansas, expressed surprise at Cole’s remark.
“Many of these treaties have been upheld by the federal courts — two this last Supreme Court term alone, and the treaties that the Cherokees are talking about have been held to be in full force and in effect by federal courts within the last five years,” she said.
Leeds cited the example of the Mariana Islands, whose population of 55,000 is significantly smaller than that of the Cherokee Nation
“When the Mariana Islands seated non-voting delegates, that took congressional action, approval by the House and Senate,” she said. “A similar act of Congress would have to take place now. In terms of overall population, the Cherokee Nation is much larger and has a much longer diplomatic relationship with the United States.”
She sees no reason why the Senate, which historically approved these treaties, would fail to recognize them now.
‘Ready to defend’
Teehee is no stranger to Washington. She served as the first-ever senior policy advisor for Native American affairs in the White House Domestic Policy Council for three years under President Barack Obama. Earlier, she was senior advisor to the U.S. House of Representatives Native American Caucus Co-Chair, Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan.
Teehee said Hoskin’s nomination comes as a great honor.
“This is a historic moment for Cherokee Nation and our citizens,” she said. “A Cherokee Nation delegate to Congress is a negotiated right that our ancestors advocated for, and today, our tribal nation is … ready to defend all our constitutional and treaty rights.”
It was music to the ears of Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The British will be able to strike a “fantastic deal” with the United States once Britain has thrown off the “anchor” of the European Union, U.S. President Donald Trump told Johnson during a convivial bilateral meeting at the G-7 summit in the French resort of Biarritz, where they breakfasted Sunday on scrambled eggs and veal sausages.
“We’re going to do a very big trade deal, bigger than we’ve ever had with the U.K., and now at some point they won’t have the obstacle, they won’t have the anchor around their ankle, because that’s what they have,” Trump said.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets U.S. President Donald Trump for bilateral talks during the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France Aug. 25, 2019.
Later, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said the special relationship had “never been stronger.”
“Enjoyed accompanying Donald Trump at his working breakfast with Boris Johnson where we collaborated on ways to further deepen our security and economic relationship with the UK,” Bolton tweeted.
The U.S. embrace was welcome news for Johnson, who has invested politically in a close relationship with Trump and presented a fast-tracked Anglo-American trade deal as a major ingredient in the “global Britain” future he and other Brexiters have advertised.
Johnson has been buoyed by Trump’s praise of him since he succeeded Theresa May as prime minister. The U.S. leader has described him as “Britain Trump” and talked enthusiastically about the trans-Atlantic partnership the pair will forge.
Widening rifts
For a Britain struggling to work out its place in the world after it relinquishes its membership in the European Union, set for Oct. 31, the future challenge will be to balance relations between the U.S. and Europe, analysts say.
Johnson can’t afford to fall out with Britain’s European neighbors, especially if he wants to find a way out of the Brexit impasse and leave on good terms with the EU and a future trade deal.
Maintaining the balance won’t be easy amid widening rifts between Washington and Brussels on a host of key issues, including climate change, relations with Russia, rising nationalism, the role of multilateralism, and raging economic warfare between the U.S. and China.
Analysts say it will be made trickier by having to deal with a U.S. president who sees diplomacy as a zero-sum game, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who appears eager to define dividing lines between Europe and the U.S.
On Sunday, Macron surprised fellow G-7 leaders by announcing that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif would fly to Biarritz for unexpected talks on the summit’s sidelines — a bid to revive the 2015 nuclear accord from which the U.S. withdrew last year.
An Iranian government plane is seen on the tarmac at Biarritz airport in Anglet during the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, Aug. 25, 2019.
Britain has long had to navigate between the U.S. and Europe, and since World War II has positioned itself as the diplomatic interface between Washington and the Europeans. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair used to talk about Britain being a trans-Atlantic bridge.
That go-between role will likely be more difficult to pull off in the coming years, especially if Britain crashes out of the EU acrimoniously and without an exit deal, which analysts say could poison Britain’s relations with Europe.
‘Agonizing choices’ ahead
Brexit has coincided with an apparent inflection point in trans-Atlantic relations, with the U.S. and western Europe drifting further apart with unpredictable policy shifts.
“Agonizing choices face the United Kingdom this year, some of them immediate and obvious,” according to former Conservative lawmaker and columnist Matthew Parris. “But the biggest is less apparent, yet will shape our nation’s future in a way that no wrangles about EU deals ever can. Does Britain’s destiny lie with the States? As two global blocs, Europe and America, diverge, we shall be making that decision whether we know it or not.”
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump (not seen) at the end of the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, Aug. 26, 2019.
Britain is as divided on that — whether its future lies with Europe or America — as it is on the immediate issue of Brexit itself. Do its economic fortunes lie to the West or East? Is it more culturally and philosophically tied with the U.S. or Europe? The dilemma is further complicated by the likelihood that even after Brexit, Europe will remain its single largest trading partner. But Britain will need to compensate for the likely loss of post-Brexit trade with Europe and is eager for a trade deal with the U.S.
At his first G-7 summit as prime minister, Johnson trod a careful line — announcing Britain may be leaving the EU but maintaining that it isn’t leaving Europe. He maintained unity with the Europeans on Iran, climate change, international trade and Russia, pushing back, along with other EU leaders, on Trump’s idea for Russia to be readmitted to the G-7, from which it was ejected after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.
Despite that, Johnson appeared not to disrupt his relationship with Trump. Even British detractors of the new prime minister acknowledged Monday he managed to maintain poise on the geopolitical high wire he has to tread.
Johnson may have been aided inadvertently by Macron’s decision as summit host not to issue a final communique, avoiding the kind of highly public dust-ups that derailed last year’s event in Canada.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday “there’s a really good chance” he would meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the coming weeks to try to negotiate a new deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear weapons program to replace the 2015 international deal that Trump withdrew from last year.
Trump, speaking at the end of the G-7 summit of top world leaders in France, said, “I think Iran is going to want to meet.”
The U.S. leader said the economic sanctions he reimposed on Iran a year ago “are absolutely hurting them” as Trump has sought to sharply limit Iran’s international oil exports.
But Trump predicated any meeting with Rouhani on the condition that Iran not create more overseas tensions with military advances and attacks. He said a new deal would have to ban Iranian nuclear weapons and ballistic missile testing and cover a longer period than the 10-year time frame dictated by the 2015 accord.
Trump added, “I have good feelings about Iran…incredible people.” But he said it was too soon to meet over the weekend with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was a surprise visitor at the G-7 summit in the Atlantic coastal town of Biarritz, at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The French leader has been trying to broker U.S.-Iran peace talks. Macron told a joint news conference with Trump that he has had conversations with Rouhani and that the Iranian leader is willing to meet with Trump.
Macron said he had reached the “very cautious” conclusion that Washington and Tehran could reach an agreement if Trump and Rouhani meet.
Macron said France “will play a role” in the U.S.-Iran talks if they occur, along with the other signatories to the 2015 accord Trump pulled out of — Britain, Germany, the European Union, China and Russia.
Trump said Zarif’s visit to Biarritz was not a surprise to him.
Trump said he was in contact with Macron and that, “I knew everything he was doing and approved whatever he was doing.”
Macron had met with Zarif on Friday in Paris before the G-7 summit opened, but Macron invited him back to the site of the summit after tense exchanges among the world leaders about Iran at their Saturday night dinner.
Iran and the United States have been in a state of heightened strained relations since Trump withdrew last year from the international agreement that restrained Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump then added more sanctions, particularly targeting Iran’s key oil sector, that have hobbled the country’s economy.
Trump said Monday he is not seeking “regime change” in Iran, but wants the country to “stop terrorism.”
“I think they’re going to change. I really do. I believe they have a chance to be a very special nation,” Trump said.
Macron had lunch with Trump Saturday, and, according to French sources, outlined his plan to ease the West’s tensions with Iran. The French leader is calling for allowing Iran to export its oil for a short time, fully implement the 2015 agreement, reduce conflict in the Gulf region and open new talks.
Macron on Monday said Iran would need new funding to help stabilize its economy. Trump said that would not include outright cash grants but rather letters of credit that “would be paid back very quickly.”
The Justice Department is moving forward to expand the number of marijuana growers for federally-authorized cannabis research.
Uttam Dhillon, the acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, says Monday’s move would give researchers a wider variety of cannabis to study. He says the DEA supports additional marijuana research.
The DEA says the number of people registered to conduct research with marijuana and extracts has jumped more than 40 percent in the last two years. The agency is also planning to propose new regulations to govern the marijuana growers’ program.
Researchers at federally-funded entities have faced legal barriers in recent years because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, even as a growing number of states have legalized medical and so-called recreational marijuana.
Indonesia’s president announced Monday that the country’s capital will move from overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta to a site in sparsely populated East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, known for rainforests and orangutans.
President Joko Widodo said intense studies over the past three years had resulted in the choice of the location on the eastern side of Borneo island.
The new capital city, which has not yet been named, will be in the middle of the vast archipelago nation and already has relatively complete infrastructure because it is near the cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda, Widodo said.
He said the burden has been become too heavy on Jakarta on Java island as the center of government, finance, business, trade and services as well as the location of the country’s largest airport and seaport.
Widodo said the decision was made not to move the capital elsewhere on Java because the country’s wealth and people are highly concentrated there and should be spread out.
Currently 54% of the country’s nearly 270 million people live on Java, the country’s most densely populated area.
“We couldn’t continue to allow the burden on Jakarta and Java island to increase in terms of population density,” Widodo said at a news conference in Jakarta’s presidential palace. “Economic disparities between Java and elsewhere would also increase”
In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Widodo said he wants to separate the center of government from the country’s business and economic center in Jakarta.
Jakarta is an archetypical Asian mega-city with 10 million people, or 30 million including those in its greater metropolitan area. It is prone to earthquakes and flooding and is rapidly sinking due to uncontrolled extraction of ground water. The ground water is highly contaminated as are its rivers. Congestion is estimated to cost the economy $6.5 billion a year.
Mineral-rich East Kalimantan was once almost completely covered by rainforests, but illegal logging has removed many of its original growth. It is home to only 3.5 million people and is surrounded by Kutai National Park, known for orangutans and other primates and mammals.
Widodo said the relocation of the capital to a 180,000-hectare (444,780-acre) site will take up a decade and cost as much as 466 trillion rupiah ($32.5 billion), of which 19% will come from the state budget and the rest will be funded by cooperation between the government and business entities and by direct investment by state-run companies and the private sector.
He said the studies determined that the best site is between two districts, North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kertanegara, an area that has minimal risk of disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, forest fires, volcanic eruptions or landslides in the seismically active nation.
Indonesia’s founding father and first president, Sukarno, once planned to relocate the country’s capital to Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan province.
Infrastructure improvement has been Widodo’s signature policy and helped him win a second term in April elections.
Decades of discussions about building a new capital on Borneo island moved forward in April when Widodo approved a general relocation plan. He appealed for support for the move in an annual national address on the eve of Indonesia’s independence day on Aug. 16.
He said Monday that his government is still drafting a law on the new capital which will need to be approved by Parliament.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned on Monday “extraordinarily rude” comments made about his wife Brigitte by his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro.
“He has made some extraordinarily rude comments about my wife,” Macron said at a press conference when asked to react to statements about him by the Brazilian government.
“What can I say? It’s sad. It’s sad for him firstly, and for Brazilians,” he added.
On Sunday, a Bolsonaro supporter posted a message on Facebook mocking the appearance of Brigitte Macron and comparing her unfavorably with Brazil’s first lady Michelle Bolsonaro.
“Now you understand why Macron is persecuting Bolsonaro?” he wrote next to an unflattering picture of Brigitte Macron, 65, who is 28 years older than Bolsonaro’s wife, Michelle.
Bolsonaro replied on Facebook: “Do not humiliate the guy, ha ha.”
“I think Brazilian women will probably be ashamed to read that from their president,” Macron said. “I think that Brazilians, who are a great people, will probably be ashamed to see this behavior…
“And as I feel friendship and respect towards the Brazilian people, I hope that they will very soon have a president who behaves in the right way.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo has announced a coalition government.
The announcement comes eight months after President Felix Tshisekedi won a long-delayed presidential election.
“The government is finally here,” Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilukamba said Monday. “The president has signed the decree and we will begin work soon.”
Under the power-sharing deal, 23 posts are going to members of Tshisekedi’s Direction for Change, while the remaining 42 will be filled by members of former president Joseph Kabila’s Common Front for Congo.
The December vote was marred by disorganization at many polling stations, including missing voter rolls and malfunctioning electronic voting machines that pushed the vote well into nighttime hours, forcing election officials to conduct their activities by flashlight. A election observer mission set up by the Catholic Church said it had received at least 544 reports of malfunctioning voting machines.
Violence also overshadowed the vote, with four people killed in eastern South Kivu, including a police officer and an election official, over accusations of voter fraud.
The election to replace outgoing President Joseph Kabila was originally set to take place in 2016, but was called off when Kabila refused to step down after the end of his mandate. Kabila had ruled the DRC since his father’s assassination in 2001.
The election was initially scheduled for December 23, but was postponed by a week because of a warehouse fire in the capital Kinshasha earlier in the month that destroyed thousands of voting machines.
Election officials also decided to postpone the election in three cities until March. The eastern cities of Beni and Butembo were stricken with Ebola. The western city of Yumbi was experiencing ethnic violence. The move to delay the vote in the three locations affected more than one million voters.
З 21 липня по 20 серпня Об’єднані сили внаслідок обстрілів бойовиків втратили вісьмох військовослужбовців, 17 отримали поранення різного ступеня важкості. Про це йдеться у відповіді пресцентру операції Об’єднаних сил на запит телевізійного проекту Радіо Свобода «Донбас Реалії».
Також там заперечили інформацію волонтерської спільноти Informnapalm про заниження пресцентром ООС кількості обстрілів з боку незаконних збройних угруповань «Л/ДНР», пояснюючи розбіжності у цифрах різними методиками підрахунку.
Читайте також: «Тут немає пісень, танців, випивань»: про що говорять пасажири потягу «Київ-Війна» (рос.)
Як відомо, Тристороння контактна група щодо врегулювання ситуації на Донбасі оголосила про чергове припинення вогню, починаючи з півночі 21 липня.
Воно, як і попередні, було проголошене як всеосяжне, безумовне, стале і безстрокове. Та, як і всі попередні, перемир’я було порушене майже відразу після заявленого початку і відтоді порушується постійно.
Більше про місяць «хлібного перемир’я» та можливі його політичні наслідки у матеріалі програми «Донбас Реалії».
* Формулювання «спростували інформацію» змінено на «заперечили інформацію» після уточнення від волонтерської спільноти InformNapalm. Спільнота наполягає, що штаб ООС не міг спростувати її дані, а міг їх лише заперечити. Також додано посилання на підрахунки InformNapalm. …
З 21 липня по 20 серпня Об’єднані сили внаслідок обстрілів бойовиків втратили вісьмох військовослужбовців, 17 отримали поранення різного ступеня важкості. Про це йдеться у відповіді пресцентру операції Об’єднаних сил на запит телевізійного проекту Радіо Свобода «Донбас Реалії».
Також там спростували інформацію волонтерської спільноти «Informnapalm» про начебто заниження пресцентром ООС кількості обстрілів з боку незаконних збройних угруповань «ЛДНР», пояснюючи розбіжності у цифрах різними методиками підрахунку.
Читайте також: «Тут немає пісень, танців, випивань»: про що говорять пасажири потягу «Київ-Війна» (рос.)
Як відомо, Тристороння контактна група щодо врегулювання ситуації на Донбасі оголосила про чергове припинення вогню, починаючи з півночі 21 липня.
Воно, як і попередні, було проголошене як всеосяжне, безумовне, стале і безстрокове. Та, як і всі попередні, перемир’я було порушене майже відразу після заявленого початку і відтоді порушується постійно.
Більше про місяць «хлібного перемир’я» та можливі його політичні наслідки у матеріалі програми «Донбас Реалії». …
Один український військовослужбовець загинув, ще троє дістали поранення внаслідок обстрілів бойовиків у зоні проведення Операції об’єднаних сил – такі підсумки доби 25 серпня, повідомляє штаб ООС.
За даними штабу, протягом доби бойовики незаконних збройних угруповань 13 разів порушували режим тиші, використовуючи гранатомети різних систем, великокаліберні кулемети та стрілецьку зброю.
Зокрема, згідно з повідомленням, в зоні оперативно-тактичного угруповання «Схід» обстрілювали позиції Збройних сил України поблизу Миколаївки, Водяного, Мар’їнки, Авдіївки, Павлополя і Троїцького.
«В районі відповідальності оперативно-тактичного угруповання «Північ» противник здійснив три обстріли позицій Об’єднаних сил: поблизу Шумів з напрямку району Шахта 6-7 – з гранатометів різних систем, великокаліберних кулеметів та снайперської зброї; в районі Золотого-4 з напрямку Золотого-5 – з великокаліберних кулеметів та стрілецької зброї; неподалік Південного – з гранатометів різних систем та великокаліберних кулеметів», – йдеться у зведенні.
З початку доби 26 серпня обстрілів з боку бойовиків не фіксували.
Бойовики, своєю чергою, заявляють про обстріли окупованих ними територій з боку ЗСУ протягом доби 25 серпня.
Тристороння контактна група щодо врегулювання ситуації на Донбасі оголосила про чергове припинення вогню, починаючи з півночі 21 липня, так зване «літнє» або «хлібне». Воно, як і попередні, було проголошене як всеосяжне, безумовне, стале і безстрокове. Та, як і всі попередні, воно було порушене майже відразу після заявленого початку і відтоді порушується постійно, але інтенсивність цих порушень наразі менша, ніж попередніми разами.
Припинення вогню й раніше не раз проголошувалися як «безстрокові і сталі», але порушувалися практично відразу. При цьому сторони заперечують свою вину в цих порушеннях і звинувачують противників у провокаціях.
Унаслідок російської гібридної агресії на сході України з квітня 2014 року, за оцінками ООН станом іще на 31 грудня 2018 року, загинули від 12 тисяч 800 до 13 тисяч людей, із яких було 3 тисячі 320 цивільних, 4 тисячі українських бійців і 5,5 тисяч представників російських гібридних збройних формувань. …
Opera legend Placido Domingo was greeted with a standing ovation in Salzburg, Austria, at his first appearance on stage since nine women accused him of sexual harassment dating back three decades.
Even before he sang a single note, Domingo was greeted with a thunderous applause that grew to a crescendo until most of the house was on its feet.
“Wonderful public, good performance all,” the Spanish-born singer said as he signed autographs after the performance of Verdi’s tragic opera Luisa Miller. “I mean, so much love from the public.”
The Associated Press reported last week that nine women accused Domingo of using his position as general director at the Los Angeles Opera and elsewhere to try to pressure them into sexual relationships. Several of the woman said he offered them jobs and then punished them professionally if they refused his advances. Allegations included repeated phone calls, invitations to hotel rooms and his apartment, and unwanted touching and kisses.
In a statement to the AP, Domingo called the allegations “deeply troubling and, as presented inaccurate” and that he believed his interactions with the women were consensual.
Two U.S. opera houses, in Philadelphia and San Francisco cancelled performances by Domingo after the allegations surfaced, while others, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera, took a wait-and-see attitude pending an investigation.
As of Sunday, Domingo was still booked to star in Macbeth at the Met in New York next month.
Hong Kong police drew their guns and fired a warning shot Sunday night after protesters attacked officers with sticks and rods, and brought out water cannon trucks for the first time, an escalation in the summerlong protests that have shaken the city’s government and residents.
The day’s main showdown took place on a major drag in the outlying Tsuen Wan district following a protest march that ended in a nearby park. While a large crowd rallied in the park, a group of hard-line protesters took over a main street, strewing bamboo poles on the pavement and lining up orange and white traffic barriers and cones to obstruct police.
After hoisting warning flags, police used tear gas to try to disperse the crowd. Protesters responded by throwing bricks and gasoline bombs toward the police. The result was a surreal scene of small fires and scattered paving bricks on the street between the two sides, rising clouds of tear gas and green and blue laser lights pointed by the protesters at the police.
The protesters eventually decided to abandon their position. Two water cannon trucks and a phalanx of police vehicles with flashing lights joined riot police on foot as they advanced up the street. They met little resistance. Television footage showed a water cannon being fired once, but perhaps more as a test, as it didn’t appear to reach the retreating protesters.
Officers pulled their guns after a group of remaining protesters chased them down a street with sticks and rods, calling them “gangsters.” The officers held up their shields to defend themselves as they retreated. Police said that one officer fell to the ground and six drew their pistols after they were surrounded, with one firing the warning shot.
Some protesters said they’re resorting to violence because the government has not responded to their peaceful demonstrations.
“The escalation you’re seeing now is just a product of our government’s indifference toward the people of Hong Kong,” said Rory Wong, who was at the showdown after the march.
One neighborhood resident, Dong Wong, complained about the tear gas.
“I live on the 15th floor and I can even smell it at home,” he said. “I have four dogs, sneezing, sneezing all day. … The protesters didn’t do anything, they just blocked the road to protect themselves.”
Police said they arrested 36 people, including a 12-year-old, for offenses such as unlawful assembly, possession of an offensive weapon and assaulting police officers.
Earlier Sunday, tens of thousands of umbrella-carrying protesters marched in the rain. Many filled Tsuen Wan Park, the endpoint of the rally, chanting, “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” the South China Morning Post newspaper reported.
The march in Hong Kong’s New Territories started near the Kwai Fong train station, which has become a focal point for protesters after police used tear gas there earlier this month. Police with riot gear could be seen moving into position along the march route.
Protesters have taken to the semiautonomous Chinese territory’s streets for more than two months. Their demands include democratic elections and an investigation into police use of force to quell the protests.
A large group clashed with police on Saturday after a march in the Kowloon Bay neighborhood, building barricades and setting fires in the streets. Police said they arrested 29 people for various offenses, including unlawful assembly, possession of offensive weapons and assaulting police officers.
The clashes, while not as prolonged or violent as some earlier ones, ended a brief lull in the violence. The protests, which began in early June, had turned largely peaceful the previous weekend, after weeks of escalating violence.
In nearby Macao, another Chinese territory, a pro-Beijing committee chose a businessman as the gambling hub’s next leader with little of the controversy surrounding the government in Hong Kong.
Ho Iat-seng, running unopposed, will succeed current leader Chui Sai-on in December. Asked about the protests in Hong Kong, the 62-year-old Ho said they would end eventually, like a major typhoon.
Protesters in Hong Kong have demanded that the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, also chosen by a pro-Beijing committee, step down, though that demand has evolved into a broader call for fully democratic elections.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees rallied to mark the second anniversary of their exodus out of Myanmar.
Almost 200,000 Rohingya participated in a peaceful gathering, which was attended by UN officials, at the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar on Sunday.
More than a million Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar’s Rakhine state now live in southern Bangladesh in the world’s largest refugee settlement. The majority having fled military-led violence in 2017 that the United Nations says was executed with “genocidal intent”.
Refugees say Myanmar’s security forces and Buddhist civilians carried out mass killings and gang rapes during weeks of “clearance operations”. Myanmar has denied the charges, saying only that the military was conducting legitimate operations against Rohingya insurgents who attacked police posts.
The rally was held days after Bangladesh, with the help of the U.N. refugee agency, attempted to begin the repatriation of some 3,000 Rohingyas. But none of the refugees agreed to return to Myanmar without being granted a citizenship and guaranteed basic rights.
The UNHCR said that building confidence was essential for repatriation.
For centuries, Myanmar has refused to recognize the Rohingya as legitimate residents of the country. They were denied citizenship and subjected to tight restrictions on freedom of movement.
A U.N investigation last year recommended the prosecution of Myanmar’s top military commanders on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for the crackdown but Myanmar rejected the allegations.
Last week, another U.N. fact-finding mission on Myanmar released a new report concluding that rapes of Rohingya women by the state security forces were systemic and demonstrated the intent to commit genocide.
Heavy rainfall and flash floods have killed 62 people in Sudan and left 98 others injured, the official SUNA news agency reported on Sunday.
Sudan has been hit by torrential rains since the start of July, affecting nearly 200,000 people in at least 15 states across the country including the capital Khartoum.
The worst affected area is the White Nile state in the south.
Flooding of the Nile river remains “the biggest problem”, SUNA said, citing a health ministry official.
On Friday the United Nations said 54 people had died due to the heavy rains.
It said more than 37,000 homes had been destroyed or damaged, quoting figures from the government body it partners with in the crisis response.
“Humanitarians are concerned by the high likelihood of more flash floods,” the UN said, adding that the rainy season was expected to last until October.
The floods are having a lasting humanitarian impact on communities, with cut roads, damaged water points, lost livestock and the spread of water-borne diseases by insects.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said an extra $150 million were needed from donors to respond to surging waters, in addition to the $1.1 billion required for the overall humanitarian situation in Sudan.
Sudan’s new prime minister says in an interview that ending his country’s international pariah status and drastically cutting military spending are prerequisites for rescuing a faltering economy.
Abdalla Hamdok, a well-known economist, told The Associated Press on Sunday that he has already talked to U.S. officials about removing Sudan from Washington’s list of countries sponsoring terrorism and portrayed their reaction as positive. He says that “a democratic Sudan is not a threat to anybody in the world.”
He also hopes to drastically cut Sudan’s military spending which he says makes up a large chunk of the state budget.
Hamdok was sworn in last week as the leader of Sudan’s transitional government. His appointment came four months after the overthrow of autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir, who ruled for nearly three decades.
Two members of an Iran-backed Iraqi paramilitary force say that a new drone attack has killed one commander and wounded another near the border with Syria.
Officials from the Hezbollah Brigades, separate from the Lebanese groups of the same name, said the drone attack occurred Sunday near the Qaim border crossing.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists about the matter.
Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades operate under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.
If confirmed, it would be the latest in a series of attacks that have targeted PMF bases and weapons depot in Iraq. U.S. officials have said that Israel was behind at least one of them.
У дружини фігуранта другої сімферопольської групи «справи Хізб ут-Тахрір» Акіма Бекірова, який перебуває під арештом, 9 серпня народився хлопчик, повідомляє проект Радіо Свобода Крим.Реалії з посиланням на ініціативу «Кримське дитинство».
Як зазначається, це вже друга дитина у сім’ї.
Після російської анексії Криму навесні 2014 року на півострові регулярно проходять обшуки у незалежних журналістів, громадських активістів, активістів кримськотатарського національного руху, членів Меджлісу кримськотатарського народу, а також кримських мусульман, підозрюваних у зв’язках із забороненою в Росії організацією «Хізб ут-Тахрір». …
Конструкторське бюро «Південне» повідомило ввечері 24 серпня про успішні випробування одного зі ступенів ракети-носія «Циклон-4».
«23 серпня, напередодні 28-ї річниці незалежності нашої країни, вперше за часи її новітньої історії, були проведені вогневі випробування ступеня ракети-носія в цілому – відбувся прожиг третього ступеня ракети-носія середнього класу «Циклон-4», спроектований КБ «Південне» та виготовлений на Південмаші. Це заключні та найважливіші випробування перед першими льотними випробуваннями третього ступеня ракети-носія «Циклон-4» – саме він буде працювати безпосередньо у космосі та виводити супутники в цільову точку», – мовиться на фейсбук-сторінці бюро.
Як зазначається, до складу третього ступеня РН «Циклон-4» входить рідинний ракетний двигун РД-861К, призначений для створення тяги та маневрування. Також основні конструкторські рішення закладено до складу другого ступеня нової ракети-носія «Циклон-4М»
У вересні 2018 Кабінет міністрів затвердив концепцію Загальнодержавної цільової науково-технічної космічної програми України на 2018—2022 роки. …
Протягом доби 24 серпня штаб Операції об’єднаних сил зафіксував 5 обстрілів українських позицій. Втрат за добу немає, йдеться у зведенні станом на сьому ранку сьогодні.
За даними штабу, обстрілів зазнали позиції поблизу Мар’їнки, Павлополя, Водяного та Новолуганського Донецької області.
Угруповання «ДНР» наразі ранкових зведень не публікувало. Натомість представники угруплвання «ЛНР» заявили про один обстріл їхніх позицій за минулу добу.
Обстріли в зоні конфлікту на Донбасі тривають, попри оголошене там від 21 липня перемир’я. Сторони звинувачують одна одну в порушеннях режиму тиші.
Збройний конфлікт на Донбасі триває від 2014 року після російської окупації Криму. Україна і Захід звинувачують Росію у збройній підтримці бойовиків. Кремль відкидає ці звинувачення і заявляє, що на Донбасі можуть перебувати хіба що російські «добровольці».
За оцінками ООН, станом на 31 грудня 2018 року, унаслідок збройного конфлікту на Донбасі загинули від 12 тисяч 800 до 13 тисяч людей. …
Backed by military aircraft, Brazilian troops on Saturday were deploying in the Amazon to fight fires that have swept the region and prompted anti-government protests as well as an international outcry.
President Jair Bolsonaro also tried to temper global concern, saying that previously deforested areas had burned and that intact rainforest was spared. Even so, the fires were likely to be urgently discussed at a summit of the Group of Seven leaders in France this weekend.
Some 44,000 troops will be available for “unprecedented” operations to put out the fires, and forces are heading to six Brazilian states that asked for federal help, Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo said. The states are Roraima, Rondonia, Tocantins, Para, Acre and Mato Grosso.
The military’s first mission will be carried out by 700 troops around Porto Velho, capital of Rondonia, Azevedo said. The military will use two C-130 Hercules aircraft capable of dumping up to 12,000 liters (3,170 gallons) of water on fires, he said.
An Associated Press journalist flying over the Porto Velho region Saturday morning reported hazy conditions and low visibility. On Friday, the reporter saw many already deforested areas that were burned, apparently by people clearing farmland, as well as a large column of smoke billowing from one fire.
The municipality of Nova Santa Helena in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state was also hard-hit. Trucks were seen driving along a highway Friday as fires blazed and embers smoldered in adjacent fields.
The Brazilian military operations came after widespread criticism of Bolsonaro’s handling of the crisis. On Friday, the president authorized the armed forces to put out fires, saying he is committed to protecting the Amazon region.
Wildfires consume an area near Porto Velho, Brazil, Aug. 23, 2019. Brazilian state experts have reported a record of nearly 77,000 wildfires so far this year, up 85% over the same period in 2018.
Azevedo, the defense minister, noted U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer in a tweet to help Brazil fight the fires, and said there had been no further contact on the matter.
Despite international concern, Bolsonaro told reporters on Saturday that the situation was returning to normal. He said he was “speaking to everyone” about the problem, including Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and several Latin American leaders.
Bolsonaro had described rainforest protections as an obstacle to Brazil’s economic development, sparring with critics who say the Amazon absorbs vast amounts of greenhouse gasses and is crucial for efforts to contain climate change.
The Amazon fires have become a global issue, escalating tensions between Brazil and European countries who believe Bolsonaro has neglected commitments to protect biodiversity. Protesters gathered outside Brazilian diplomatic missions in European and Latin American cities Friday, and demonstrators also marched in Brazil.
“The planet’s lungs are on fire. Let’s save them!” read a sign at a protest outside Brazil’s embassy in Mexico City.
A woman holds up a banner saying ‘ Their life does not belong to us’ during a demonstration against the wildfires in the Amazon outside the Brazilian embassy in Paris, Aug. 23, 2019.
The dispute spilled into the economic arena when French leader Emmanuel Macron threatened to block a European Union trade deal with Brazil and several other South American countries.
“First we need to help Brazil and other countries put out these fires,” Macron said Saturday.
The goal is to “preserve this forest that we all need because it is a treasure of our biodiversity and our climate thanks to the oxygen that it emits and thanks to the carbon it absorbs,” he said.
In a weekly video message released Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Group of Seven leaders “cannot be silent” and should discuss how to help extinguish the fires.
Bolivia has also struggled to contain fires that swept through woods and fields. A U.S.-based aircraft, the B747-400 SuperTanker, is flying over devastated areas in Bolivia to help put out the blazes and protect forests.
On Saturday, several helicopters along with police, military troops, firefighters and volunteers on the ground worked to extinguish fires in Bolivia’s Chiquitanía region, where the woods are dry at this time of year.
Farmers commonly set fires in this season to clear land for crops or livestock, but sometimes the blazes get out of control. The Bolivian government says 9,530 square kilometers (3680 square miles) have been burned this year.
The government of Bolivian President Evo Morales has backed the increased cultivation of crops for biofuel production, raising questions about whether the policy opened the way to increased burning.
Similarly, Bolsonaro had said he wants to convert land for cattle pastures and soybean farms. Brazilian prosecutors are investigating whether lax enforcement of environmental regulations may have contributed to the surge in the number of fires.
Brazil’s justice ministry also said federal police will deploy in fire zones to assist other state agencies and combat “illegal deforestation.”
Fires are common in Brazil in the annual dry season, but they are much more widespread this year. Brazilian state experts reported nearly 77,000 wildfires across the country so far this year, up 85% over the same period in 2018.
More than half of those fires occurred in the Amazon region.
President Donald Trump is threatening to use the emergency authority granted by a powerful but obscure federal law to make good on his tweeted “order” to U.S. businesses to cut ties in China amid a spiraling trade war between the two nations.
China’s announcement Friday that it was raising tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. imports sent Trump into a rage and White House aides scrambling for a response.
Trump fired off on Twitter, declaring American companies “are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China.” He later clarified that he was threatening to make use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in the trade war, raising questions about the wisdom and propriety of making the 1977 act used to target rogue regimes, terrorists and drug traffickers the newest weapon in the clash between the world’s largest economies.
It would mark the latest grasp of authority by Trump, who has claimed widespread powers not sought by his predecessors despite his own past criticism of their use of executive powers.
“For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977,” Trump tweeted late Friday. “Case closed!”
For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Case closed!
The act gives presidents wide berth in regulating international commerce during times of declared national emergencies. Trump threatened to use those powers earlier this year to place tariffs on imports from Mexico in a bid to force the U.S. neighbor to do more to address illegal crossings at their shared border.
It was not immediately clear how Trump could use the act to force American businesses to move their manufacturing out of China and to the U.S, and Trump’s threat appeared premature — as he has not declared an emergency with respect to China.
Even without the emergency threat, Trump’s retaliatory action Friday — further raising tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. — had already sparked widespread outrage from the business community.
“It’s impossible for businesses to plan for the future in this type of environment,” David French, senior vice president for government relations at the National Retail Federation, said in a statement.
The Consumer Technology Association called the escalating tariffs “the worst economic mistake since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 — a decision that catapulted our country into the Great Depression.”
And trade association CompTIA stressed the logistical strain that would follow if companies were forced to shift operations out of China, saying it would take months for most companies.
“Any forced immediate action would result in chaos,” CEO Todd Thibodeaux said in emailed comments.
The frequent tariff fluctuations are making it hard to plan and are casting uncertainty on some investments, said Peter Bragdon, executive vice president and chief administration officer of Columbia Sportswear.
“There’s no way for anyone to plan around chaos and incoherence,” he said.
Columbia manufactures in more than 20 countries, including China. This diversification helps shield the company from some fluctuations, but China is an important base for serving Chinese customers as well as those in other countries, Bragdon said. The company plans to continue doing business there.
“We follow the rule of law, not the rule of Twitter,” he said.
Presidents have often used the act to impose economic sanctions to further U.S. foreign policy and national security goals. Initially, the targets were foreign states or their governments, but over the years the act has been increasingly used to punish individuals, groups and non-state actors, such as terrorists.
Some of the sanctions have affected U.S. businesses by prohibiting Americans from doing business with those targeted. The act also was used to block new investment in Burma in 1997.
Congress has never attempted to end a national emergency invoking the law, which would require a joint resolution. Congressional lawmakers did vote earlier this year to disapprove of Trump’s declared emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border, only to see Trump veto the resolution.
China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement Saturday condemning Trump’s threat, saying, “This kind of unilateral, bullying trade protectionism and maximum pressure go against the consensus reached by the two countries’ heads of state, violate the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and seriously damage the multilateral trading system and normal international trade order.”
Thousands of angry and frustrated Rohingya refugees marked the second anniversary of their exodus from Myanmar into Bangladesh on Sunday by demanding their citizenship and other rights in the country they fled from.
The event came days after Bangladesh with the help of the U.N. refugee agency attempted to start the repatriation of 3,450 Rohingya Muslims but none agreed to go back voluntarily. Myanmar had scheduled Aug. 22 for the beginning of the process but it failed for a second time after the first attempt last November.
The repatriation deal is based on an understanding that the return has to be “safe, dignified and voluntary.” The refugees also insisted on receiving Myanmar citizenship and other rights, which the Buddhist-majority nation has refused to grant so far.
More than 1 million Rohingya live in Bangladesh.
On Sunday morning, more than 3,000 gathered at a playground in Kutupalong camp. Some carried placards and banners reading “Never Again! Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day,” and “Restore our citizenship.”
A prayer session was scheduled for the victims of the killings, rape and arson attacks by Myanmar soldiers and Buddhist militias. Security was tight in the camps despite the Rohingya groups’ pledge that they would protest peacefully.
Muhib Ullah, one of the organizers, said they planned a massive rally later Sunday when tens of thousands of refugees are expected to join.
“We want to tell the world that we want our rights back, we want citizenship, we want our homes and land back,” he said. “Myanmar is our country. We are Rohingya.”
Myanmar has consistently denied human rights violations and says military operations in Rakhine state, where most of the Rohingya fled from, were justified in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents.
A U.N.-established investigation last year recommended the prosecution of Myanmar’s top military commanders on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for the crackdown on the Rohingya. Myanmar dismissed the allegations.
On Thursday, the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar released a new report concluding rapes of Rohingya by Myanmar’s security forces were systemic and demonstrated the intent to commit genocide. The report said the discrimination Myanmar practiced against the Rohingya in peacetime aggravated the sexual violence toward them during times of conflict.
Fortify Rights, a human rights group that has documented abuses in Myanmar, called on the Myanmar government on Saturday to implement recommendations from the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, which was appointed by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2016 and led by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The commission recommended that the government end enforced segregation of Rakhine Buddhists and Rohinya Muslims, ensure full humanitarian access, tackle Rohingya statelessness and “revisit” the 1982 Citizenship Law and punish perpetrators of abuses.
“Rather than deal with ongoing atrocities, the government tried to hide behind the Advisory Commission,” said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer of Fortify Rights. “The commission responded with concrete recommendations to end violations, and the government should act on them without delay. The government needs to urgently address the realities on the ground.”
