Boris Johnson, the man likely to become U.K. prime minister within weeks, on Thursday denied playing any role in the departure of Britain’s ambassador to Washington, who quit after coming under attack from President Donald Trump.

British politicians from both government and opposition parties have accused Johnson of spinelessness for failing to defend envoy Kim Darroch, and said the removal of a British ambassador because of pressure from a foreign leader was a severe blow to British diplomacy and power.

“This is a direct challenge to a sovereign nation,” said Tom Tugendhat, a Conservative lawmaker who heads Parliament’s foreign affairs committee. He added that Britain “shouldn’t be bullied.”

Johnson told The Sun newspaper it was “bizarre” people were blaming him for the departure of Darroch, who resigned following a furor over leaked diplomatic cables which labeled Trump’s White House dysfunctional, clumsy and inept.

Trump responded by branding Darroch a “pompous fool” and cut off the administration’s contact with him.

Darroch announced his resignation Wednesday, saying it had become “impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like.”

Politicians including Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Johnson’s rival for the prime minister’s job, criticized Trump’s tirades and defended Darroch.

But Johnson merely stressed his good relations with the White House and the importance of the trans-Atlantic relationship. Darroch resigned hours after Johnson made those comments.

“I can’t believe they’re trying to blame me for this,” Johnson told The Sun. “I’m a great supporter of Kim’s. I worked very well with him for years.”

Conservative lawmaker Nicholas Soames, however, said Johnson had “hung Kim Darroch out to dry … and I was ashamed to see it.”

Opposition Labour Party legislator Liz McInnes called Johnson’s behavior “the most craven and despicable act of cowardice I have seen from any candidate for public office, let alone someone running to be prime minister.”

Labour called for Prime Minister Theresa May to appoint Darroch’s successor before she leaves office later this month, to prevent Johnson from putting his own appointee in the post.

Johnson is the strong favorite to win a Conservative leadership contest and succeed May as party leader and prime minister. He is widely expected to defeat Hunt in a ballot of about 160,000 party members. The winner will be announced July 23.

May could try to replace Darroch in the two weeks she has left, but she is unlikely to have enough time.

British ambassadors are almost always professional diplomats rather than political appointees. Filling overseas posts involves a formal civil service process with advertisements, applications and interviews.

It’s unusual, but not unknown, for non-diplomats to become ambassadors, and some have suggested Johnson as prime minister might appoint someone seen as strongly pro-Brexit and friendly to Trump. The president has previously said Brexit champion Nigel Farage would be a good choice, though Farage this week ruled himself out.

May’s spokesman, James Slack, would not comment on the timetable, saying only that “in terms of this particular replacement, that will take place in due course.”

Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan said Darroch’s replacement would be appointed in the “proper way.”

“The next ambassador will be appointed in the usual way by the prime minister on the foreign secretary’s recommendation with the approval of Her Majesty The Queen,” he told lawmakers.

British officials are hunting for the culprits behind the leak of Darroch’s confidential memos, intended to be seen by a small group of senior politicians and officials. The cables published by the Mail on Sunday newspaper covered the period between 2017 and recent weeks.

Officials have said they think it’s 50-50 whether the mole is found.

Duncan said Thursday that the investigation had so far found no evidence that the security breach was a hack, rather than a leak.

“Our focus is on finding someone within the system who has released illicitly these communications,” he told lawmakers.

Retno Daru’s doctor told her to limit her outdoor activity and put her on medication to help relieve her swollen nasal passages inflamed by pollution in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta.

This is not an easy task for the English teacher who spends a lot of time outside often taking motorbike taxis to get around the congested city and exercising outdoors.

“It’s really inconvenient, because I swim and now I can’t,” she said.

The air pollution in Indonesia’s capital has become so bad that Jakarta regularly tops real-time charts of the world’s most polluted cities.

The heaviest average rainfall to lash a swathe of southern and eastern China in more than half a century brought torrential rain and floods, destroying houses, damaging crops and forcing the evacuation of nearly 80,000 people, state media said.

Even more rain is expected, state television said Thursday, after average rainfall in the affected areas this week was recorded as 51% higher than in the corresponding periods of previous years, and the largest since 1961.

State television showed images of half-submerged buildings and flooded streets in some of the worst-hit areas. Trains along the Beijing-Guangzhou railway were delayed after rising waters blocked a bridge in the southern province of Hunan, it added.

The latest episode has caused losses of 2.69 billion yuan ($392 million), with 126,100 hectares (311,600 acres) of farmland damaged and 1,600 homes collapsed, the Ministry of Emergency Management has estimated.

As many as 77,000 people had been evacuated, it added. The affected areas include the southern provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi, eastern Zhejiang, the southeastern province of Fujian, and the northern parts of the southwestern Guangxi region.

The first three areas are expected to be doused again in a fresh burst of torrential rain Friday and Saturday, weather officials said, along with the central province of Hubei, eastern Anhui and the province of Guizhou in the southwest.

The Yangtze River in Jiangxi is expected to exceed its warning level for the first time this year around Sunday, swelled by heavy rain that could last until Tuesday, state TV said.

Extreme weather is becoming increasingly frequent in China, with temperatures in some parts hitting records this year.

Weather officials warned on July 3 that rainfall in the south could surpass the average by 30% to 70% over a 10-day stretch.

Ride-hailing app Uber is considering expanding its services to Senegal’s capital.

But in a city full of taxis and drivers who don’t have smartphones, the San Francisco-based company will have to overcome a lot of challenges to be useful to Dakar residents and turn a profit.

The city, like most African capitals, has an abundance of taxis. In most parts of the city, any time day or night, it’s easy to find a ride. But the city is rapidly expanding, and Uber says it has seen an opportunity to move in.

“Any progressive, forward-thinking city that has a need for safe, reliable, efficient transportation is where we want to be,” Francesca Uriri, Uber’s head of communications in West Africa, told VOA. “We are part of a broader mobility movement in establishing smart cities of the future and will continue to explore what our options in West Africa.”

No fixed addresses

Among the challenges Uber will face in Dakar is a lack of fixed addresses. Taxi drivers know the city inside and out and tend to navigate based on landmarks. How the app could work in a city that rarely uses map applications is a big question for some residents.

“Like when you are coming to my house, I will not be able to tell you exactly where my house is located on the map. So, you will have to you know, I will have to tell you a building or somewhere, a school somewhere I can pick you from,” Sa Ngoné, a Dakar resident who has used Uber’s services while traveling in the United States, explained.

“It might work here, but it will require lots of investment because we don’t have the same organization as in the U.S.,” he said.

Unlike Ngoné, most Dakar residents haven’t heard specifically of Uber. But similar services, including Allo Taxi, a service you call and arrange rides with, already exist here.

Welcome addition

However, some say the services that already exist here aren’t fully developed, and Uber coming in would be a welcome addition.

“I think if this company came in it would create competition and add something new to the landscape of transportation in Dakar. I think it could work really well,” M. Dieye, a Dakar resident, told VOA.

For most taxi rides in Dakar, riders and drivers must negotiate prices before getting in. Both parties think they would be happier if the price was fixed based on mileage and time.

“If they hire us as drivers, for example, that could help us out a lot,” Modou N’Diaye, a taxi driver in Dakar, told VOA.

No haggling

Gora Séne, who has been driving a taxi since 1998, explained that often price negotiations lead to him getting paid less than he should, and sometimes arguments with riders end with him not being paid at all.

“[Uber] could work well here. If they hire drivers with experience here they could be successful — like if they hire us, that’s a possibility. But it depends on what they will offer,” he said.

But whether taxi drivers, most of whom don’t have smartphones, will be able to join Uber or compete with them, is yet to be seen.

Uber has expanded to 23 cities in Africa, including Abuja, Lagos and Accra in West Africa.

An art dealer who authorities called one of the most prolific smugglers in the world and seven others were charged with trafficking more than $140 million in stolen antiquities, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Authorities described the case as one of the largest of its kind, saying the conspiracy began more than three decades ago and involved more than 2,600 recovered artifacts, including statues and ancient masterworks.

A criminal complaint filed in Manhattan state court said the smuggling was orchestrated by Subhash Kapoor, a New York art gallery owner who was arrested in Germany in 2011 and later extradited to India, where he faces similar charges.

An email seeking comment was sent to Kapoor’s defense attorney.

Priceless works

The prosecution involves artifacts stolen from Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Pakistan and other countries that were sold for profit to dealers and collectors around the world. Some of the items appeared in world-renowned museums without officials realizing they were ill-gotten gains.

“These are, in many instances, priceless works that represent the culture and history of the countries from which they were stolen,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. told The Associated Press in an interview. “They are of enormous value.”

In all, authorities said, the network trafficked more than $143 million worth of antiquities. The international investigation was called “Operation Hidden Idol.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has described Kapoor as “one of the most prolific art smugglers in the world.” He faces 86 counts in the criminal complaint, including grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.

The lead prosecutor, Matthew Bogdanos, told the AP that none of the defendants is believed to be in the United States. He said the authorities asked Interpol to issue international warrants for their arrest.

Criminal complaint

Kapoor, 70, owned the Art of the Past gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, which authorities raided in early 2012.

The criminal complaint says Kapoor went to extraordinary lengths to acquire the artifacts, many of them statues of Hindu deities, and then falsified their provenance with forged documents.

It says Kapoor traveled the world seeking out antiquities that had been looted from temples, homes and archaeological sites. Some of the artifacts were recovered from Kapoor’s storage units in New York.

Prosecutors said Kapoor had the items cleansed and repaired to remove any damage from illegal excavation, and then illegally exported them to the United States from their countries of origin.

“Kapoor would also loan stolen antiquities to major museums and institutions,” the complaint says, “creating yet another false veneer of legitimacy by its mere presence in otherwise reputable museums and institutions.”

The other defendants in the case include suppliers and restorers accused of conspiring with Kapoor.

Five boats believed to belong to Iranian Revolutionary Guards approached a British oil tanker in the Gulf on Wednesday and asked it to stop in Iranian waters close by, but withdrew after a British warship warned them, U.S. officials said.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense had no immediate comment.

The incident occurred almost a week after British Royal Marines boarded an Iranian tanker, Grace 1, off Gibraltar and seized it on suspicion that it was breaking sanctions by taking oil to Syria.

Earlier Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Britain would face “consequences” over the seizure of the Iranian tanker.

Economic sanctions

Tensions among Iran and the United States and its allies have risen sharply since Washington stepped up economic sanctions against Iran and moved to bring the country’s oil exports to zero as part of a “maximum pressure” policy to make Iran halt actions that it said undermined regional security.

Iran has responded to the sanctions by starting to breach limits put on its nuclear activities under a 2015 deal with world powers.

Several oil tankers were attacked in waters near Iran’s southern coast in May and June, for which the United States blamed Iran. Tehran denied any involvement.

Last month, Iran shot down a U.S. drone near the Strait of Hormuz, prompting President Donald Trump to order retaliatory air strikes, only to call them off.

British ships identified

The U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Wednesday’s incident happened as British Heritage was at the northern entrance of the Strait of Hormuz.

“The Royal Navy HMS Montrose, which was also there, pointed its guns at the boats and warned them over radio, at which point they dispersed,” one of the officials said.

“It was harassment and an attempt to interfere with the passage,” the other official said.

The United States hopes to enlist allies over the next two weeks or so in a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen, Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday.
 

A senior military officer has accused the Air Force general tapped to be the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of sexual misconduct, potentially jeopardizing his nomination. Members of Congress have raised questions about the allegations and the military investigation that found insufficient evidence to charge him.

The officer told The Associated Press that Gen. John Hyten subjected her to a series of unwanted sexual advances by kissing, hugging and rubbing up against her in 2017 while she was one of his aides. She said that he tried to derail her military career after she rebuffed him.

The Air Force investigated the woman’s allegations, which she reported days after Hyten’s nomination was announced in April, and found there was insufficient evidence to charge the general or recommend any administrative punishment. The alleged victim remains in the military but has moved to a different job.

“My life was ruined by this,” she told the AP.

The woman asked to not be identified by name. The AP routinely does not name victims of sexual assault.

Pentagon turmoil

The accusations against Hyten come at a time when the Pentagon has had an unusual amount of turmoil in its senior ranks, with only an acting defense secretary for the past six months. One of President Donald Trump’s nominees for that position recently withdrew after details of his contentious divorce surfaced. On Sunday, an admiral selected to be the top Navy officer withdrew because of what officials said was an inappropriate professional relationship.

It’s unclear when, or if, Hyten’s confirmation hearing will move forward. It has not been scheduled, despite the fact that the current vice chairman, Gen. Paul Selva, is scheduled to retire at the end of the month.

Air Force Col. DeDe Halfhill, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Wednesday that Hyten’s nomination remains on course.

“With more than 38 years of service to our nation, Gen. Hyten has proven himself to be a principled and dedicated patriot,” she said.

A senior Air Force official said investigators went through emails, conducted interviews and pursued every lead, but did not uncover evidence to support the allegations. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, added that they also found no evidence that the woman was lying.

Last month, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth sent a letter to acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper asking why Hyten was not removed from his post amid the investigation. The letter, obtained by the AP, raised questions about whether he received special treatment.

The woman making the allegations said she, too, wonders if Hyten received special treatment because of his rank, and she fears her honesty and motives will be questioned because of the circumstances and timing of her allegations.

Unwanted contact

The woman began working for Hyten in November 2016. Though he is an Air Force general, she is in another military branch, which she asked the AP not to disclose.

The officer said the unwanted sexual contact, kissing and hugging began in early 2017 and recurred several times throughout that year when she was working closely with Hyten. She said she repeatedly pushed him away and told him to stop.

In December 2017, when they were in Southern California for the annual Reagan National Defense Forum, Hyten came into her room wearing workout clothes and hugged her tightly and rubbed up against her, according to the woman. She said she told him to leave.

Hyten then asked the woman if she was going to report him. She said she told him no.

The woman said she didn’t report the incidents at the time in order to avoid embarrassment and out of fear of retaliation. She was also thinking about retiring, and believed Hyten was as well, so she concluded that he would not pose a risk to any other service members.

‘Toxic’ leadership behavior

She later learned that she was under investigation by Strategic Command for what officials said was “toxic” leadership behavior.

That allegation surprised her, she says, because Hyten was familiar with her leadership style and “encouraged” it. He had given her glowing performance reviews, some of which were reviewed by the AP.

“I was not the most popular officer in the command. In fact, one could say I was not popular at all,” she said. “But I was very successful in turning around an organization.”

In her interview with the AP, she showed copies of performance reviews from Hyten in which she was ranked as the top officer out of 71 on his staff. Hyten wrote that she had “unlimited potential to lead and serve with distinction as a multistar” general.

“Exceptionally competent and committed leader with the highest level of character,” Hyten wrote, adding that “her ethics are above reproach.”

The investigators issued her a letter of reprimand for her leadership and she was removed from her job at Strategic Command. She submitted her retirement.

Retirement rejected

But military officials in her branch of service determined her retirement was coerced and they rejected it. They then moved her to another senior job in the Washington area.

As she moved into her position, the officer received another negative evaluation by Hyten, which she appealed. During the appeals process, Hyten was nominated for the vice chairman position.

The woman said she decided she couldn’t live with the idea that Hyten might assault someone else if he was confirmed for the job. She reported the sexual misconduct to the Defense Department inspector general.

No charges

Because the charges involved criminal sexual assault, the case was referred to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and a formal investigation into Hyten was launched. Several weeks later, Gen. James Holmes, the officer in charge of the investigation, decided not to press charges.

Asked whether she has ever filed similar complaints, the officer said she was one of several who reported a commander for sexual harassment in 2007 in Iraq.

The woman told the AP she believes Hyten has committed “the perfect crime where no one will ever believe me.”

“I’ve already completed a successful career,” she said. “I had nothing to gain from doing this.”

The Justice Department is trying to prevent two former members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team from testifying behind closed doors in Congress next week, when Mueller will testify before lawmakers, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The department is opposing testimony by Aaron Zebley and James Quarles before the Democratic-led Judiciary and Intelligence committees in the House of Representatives, two sources said. 

The men were expected to testify on July 17, the same day that Mueller is due as a witness before the two panels. 

Democrats said they still expected Zebley and Quarles to appear, arguing that the Justice Department has no authority over the behavior of former employees. But a third source told Reuters that the former Mueller team members were still negotiating with the committees. 

“We expect them to appear,” California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters. “We’ve got two hours with the Judiciary and Mr. Mueller, and two hours for the Intel committee with Mr. Mueller, and then some time afterwards with his staff.” 

Justice Department officials had no immediate comment, and Zebley and Quarles could not be reached for comment. 

The episode is the latest example of the Trump administration’s efforts to stymie congressional investigations by directing current and former officials not to cooperate with investigators who are seeking evidence of corruption, obstruction of justice and abuse of power in the Trump presidency. 

Focus on findings

House Judiciary Democrats, who are poised to expand their probe of Trump, his family and associates with a slew of new subpoenas, say Mueller’s testimony will focus public attention on some of the more disturbing findings of his two-year investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. 

In a 448-page report, Mueller said the Trump campaign had numerous contacts with Moscow, though the investigation did not find sufficient evidence to establish conspiracy. 

He did not conclude that Trump obstructed justice by trying to impede the Russia probe, but also did not exonerate the president of doing so. 

The House Judiciary Committee is also investigating alleged hush payments during the 2016 campaign to two women who claimed to have had sexual liaisons with Trump, including porn star Stormy Daniels. 

“The Dems Witch Hunt continues!” Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday. He has regularly denounced the Mueller investigation while also claiming that the probe found “no collusion” with Russia and “no obstruction.” 

Judiciary Committee Democrats privately met on Wednesday to discuss details of conducting the Mueller hearing and his aides’ testimony, Democrats on the panel said. 

California Rep. Adam Schiff, who leads the Intelligence Committee, said he expected the special counsel’s office to live up to the agreements for Mueller and his aides to testify. 

Mueller, in his first public comments since starting his investigation, said on May 29 that Justice Department policies meant the probe was never going to end with criminal charges against Trump, and indicated it was up to Congress to decide whether he should be impeached. 

“If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller said. 

Afghanistan’s spy agency this week arrested four Islamic State operatives, including a university professor in Kabul. The arrests come as some of the students at Kabul University, the most prestigious school in the country, express concerns that extremism is rising at some of the country’s educational institutions, including Kabul University. VOA’s Haseeb Maudoodi reports from Kabul. 

The U.S. and Turkey remain on a collision course with the imminent delivery of Russian S-400 missiles. With reports one battery will be based in Ankara, analysts suggest Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a personal stake in the escalating crisis. 
 
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus warned Tuesday of “real and negative consequences” if the Russian missiles are procured. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said Wednesday that the United States should avoid “missteps to harm bilateral relations.” 
 
Washington claims the missiles will compromise NATO’s military defense systems, in particular the stealth technology of its latest F-35 fighter jet, and it is threatening sanctions against Ankara if it goes ahead with the purchase.  

Despite mounting diplomatic pressure and Washington’s offer of its Patriot missile system as an alternative, Erdogan has stood firm. In the past year, a presidential source repeatedly insisted Erdogan had made up his mind on buying the S-400 missile system from the Russians. 
 
Reports this week in pro-government media that one of the two missile batteries will be based in Ankara are seen by analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners, a business management consultancy based in New York, as an explanation for Erdogan’s stance. 

Protection for Ankara?
 
“If one of the batteries is truly located in Ankara, where it would have no defensive purpose in protecting vital assets against foreign threats, then I would think President Erdogan would have a personal stake in this,” Yesilada said, “as the only asset worth protecting in Ankara is the parliament and the palace. 
 
“But I don’t want to think that our president or any president has become so paranoid that he fears his own air force. To me that doesn’t seem rational.” 

The S-400 battery reportedly would be located at the Akinci Air Base near Ankara. The air base was the headquarters of plotters convicted in the 2016 failed coup attempt, in which 251 people died. Erdogan’s palace and parliament were repeatedly bombed during the putsch. 
 
Three years on from the coup attempt, mass arrests of military personnel are continuing. On Monday, prosecutors issued 176 warrants for armed forces members in an operation encompassing the army, air force and navy. Since the coup attempt, Turkey has purged 716 fighter pilots.  

Ankara blames Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen for masterminding the takeover attempt. The U.S.-based Gulen vehemently denies the charge. 
 
“How often do you expect your air force to bomb you?” said international relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University, adding, “The choice of the S-400 also suggests where you expect your enemies to come from.” 

“If the country has not resolved these [perceived military threat] issues, we are in deeper trouble,” said Ozel. “This is not an S-400 matter any longer. It’s about Turkey’s political system, the legitimacy of the system, the unity of that system and all sorts of things.” 
 
Ankara blames Washington for its decision to buy the S-400, claiming the reluctance of then-President Barack Obama and Congress to sell Patriot missiles forced it to turn to Moscow. However, questions remain about the military rationale of procuring Russian missiles. 

‘No logic at all’
 
“From a military point of view, there is no logic at all,” said retired Turkish Gen. Haldun Solmazturk, who now heads the 21st Century Turkey Institute, an Ankara-based research organization.  
 
“Air defense requires the highest degree of integration,” he said. “This is a NATO-wide integration, including fighter-bombers, the command-control air defense system, et cetera.” Air defense in NATO is a solid and integrated system, he said, and “introducing the Russian-made S-400 system would be unthinkable.” 
 
Turkey’s long borders have meant the country’s air defenses relied for decades on fighter jets, rather than less mobile missiles. Two years ago, several Turkish towns on Syria’s border were hit by short-range missile attacks blamed on Syrian-Kurdish rebels. However, observers say any missile threat has now passed. 
 
“Turkey does not need an anti-missile system,” said Yesilada. “Who possibly would attack us with missiles?  The only countries that have such potential are Russia and Iran, and they are allies. No one else has an arsenal with long-range missiles.” 
 
However, Ankara insists, the S-400 will also enhance its rapidly expanding indigenous defense industry, through technology transfer. “With God’s will, we will start joint production. There are no problems,” Erdogan told reporters Wednesday. 
 
Technology transfer was and is a stumbling block in Ankara’s efforts to procure U.S. Patriots. But observers point out it remains unclear how much of the technology from its most advanced missile system Moscow is prepared to share, given Turkey’s NATO membership. 
 

Washington is also warning that if the S-400 missile sale is completed, Turkish defense companies will be thrown out of the consortium building the F-35 jets, losing billions of dollars in contracts. 
 
The rising cost for Ankara of procuring S-400s can only result in greater scrutiny into why Erdogan remains so determined to complete the purchase. 
 

President Donald Trump is directing the government to revamp the nation’s care for kidney disease, so that more people whose kidneys fail have a chance at early transplants and home dialysis — along with better prevention so patients don’t get that sick to begin with.

Senior administration officials told The Associated Press that Trump is set to sign an executive order Wednesday calling for strategies that have the potential to save lives and millions of Medicare dollars.

That won’t happen overnight — some of the initiatives will require new government regulations.

And because a severe organ shortage complicates the call for more transplants, the administration also aims to ease financial hardships for living donors, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

Another key change: steps to help the groups that collect deceased donations do a better job. Officials cited a study that suggests long-term, it may be possible to find 17,000 more kidneys and 11,000 other organs from deceased donors for transplant every year.

Federal health officials have made clear for months that they intend to shake up a system that today favors expensive, time-consuming dialysis in large centers over easier-to-tolerate at-home care or transplants that help patients live longer.

“Right now every financial incentive is toward dialysis and not toward transplantation and long-term survivorship,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whose father experienced traditional and at-home dialysis before getting a living donor transplant, told a Senate hearing in March. “And you get what you pay for.”

About 30 million American adults have chronic kidney disease, costing Medicare a staggering $113 billion.

Careful treatment — including control of diabetes and high blood pressure, the two main culprits — can help prevent further kidney deterioration. But more than 700,000 people have end-stage renal disease, meaning their kidneys have failed, and require either a transplant or dialysis to survive. Only about a third received specialized kidney care before they got so sick.

More than 94,000 of the 113,000 people on the national organ waiting list need a kidney. Last year, there were 21,167 kidney transplants. A fraction — 6,442 — were from living donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation’s transplant system.

“The longer you’re on dialysis, the outcomes are worse,” said Dr. Amit Tevar, a transplant surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who praised the Trump administration initiatives being announced Wednesday.

Too often, transplant centers don’t see a kidney patient until they’ve been on dialysis for years, he said. And while any transplant is preferable, one from a living donor is best because those organs “work better, longer and faster,” Tevar said.

Among the initiatives that take effect first:

—Medicare payment changes that would provide a financial incentive for doctors and clinics to help kidney patients stave off end-stage disease by about six months.

—A bonus to kidney specialists who help prepare patients for early transplant, with steps that can begin even before they need dialysis.

—Additional Medicare changes so that dialysis providers can earn as much by helping patients get dialysis at home as in the large centers that predominate today. Patients typically must spend hours three or four times a week hooked to machines that filter waste out of their blood.

Home options include portable blood-cleansing machines, or what’s called peritoneal dialysis that works through an abdominal tube, usually while patients are sleeping.

Today, about 14% of patients in kidney failure get at-home dialysis or an early transplant. By 2025, the goal is to have 80% of people with newly diagnosed kidney failure getting one of those options, officials said.

These changes are being implemented through Medicare’s innovation center, created under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act and empowered to seek savings and improved quality. The Trump administration is relying on the innovation center even as it argues in federal court that the law that created it is unconstitutional and should be struck down entirely.

Other initiatives will require new regulations, expected to be proposed later this year. Among them:

—Allowing reimbursement of lost wages and other expenses for living donors, who can give one of their kidneys or a piece of their liver. The transplant recipient’s insurance pays the donor’s medical bills. But they are out of work for weeks recuperating and one study found more than a third of living kidney donors reported lost wages, a median of $2,712, in the year following donation. Details about who pays — and who qualifies — still have to be worked out.

—Clearer ways to measure how well the nation’s 58 organ procurement organizations collect donations from deceased donors. Some do a better job than others, but today’s performance standards are self-reported, varying around the country and making it hard for government regulators or the OPOs themselves to take steps to improve.

“Some OPOs are very aggressive and move forward with getting organs allocated and donors consented, and there are those that are a little more lackadaisical about it,” said Pittsburgh’s Tevar. Unlike the medical advances in transplantation, “we haven’t really made big dents and progress and moves in increasing cadaveric organs or increasing live donor options.”

Marc Maron never set out to be an actor, but he’s been expanding his resume beyond standup and his popular podcast lately.
 
In addition to his role on the Netflix series “GLOW,” Maron has been dabbling more in movies including a lead in the indie comedy “Sword of Trust” and a smaller part in this fall’s “Joker.”
 
Maron says he’s not gunning for the big stuff, although he did go out for a part in the “Avatar” sequels he didn’t get.
 
He often is cast to play a variation of himself, but he says he’d like to get to a point where he can lose himself in a role, too.

Bulgaria’s government has decided to buy eight new F-16 fighters in a bid to replace its aging Soviet-built jets and bring its air force in line with NATO standards.

The government gave the go-head Wednesday for the defense minister to sign the contract for the purchase of eight multi-role F-16 Block 70 fighter aircraft.

Deputy defense minister Atanas Zapryanov told reporters that the $1.25 billion deal includes the aircraft, ammunition, equipment and pilot training, and that there is an option for the U.S. Congress to contribute $60 million. He said that six single-seat and two two-seat F-16s would be delivered by 2023.
 
The decision still needs parliamentary approval, but it is expected to get that easily given that the ruling coalition has a majority.
 
Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004.

 

Australia will hold a national vote within three years on whether to include recognition of indigenous people in its constitution, the government said on Wednesday, an issue that has spurred decades of often heated debate.

Australia has struggled to reconcile with descendants of its first inhabitants, who arrived on the continent about 50,000 years before British colonists but are not recognized in the national constitution.

However, with public support on the issue growing, Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt promised a referendum before 2022.

“I will develop and bring forward a consensus option for constitutional recognition to be put to a referendum during the current parliamentary term,” Wyatt said in a speech in Canberra.

Australians must return to the polls by 2022 after Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative coalition government was returned in a “miracle” election win in May.

However, to meet the timetable Wyatt will need to facilitate an agreement between the government and indigenous leaders, who have demanded a bigger voice in the running of the country.

Indigenous leaders proposed in 2017 establishing an advisory body comprised of elected indigenous Australians enshrined in the constitution. The government rejected the proposal, insisting it would create a de facto third chamber in parliament.

The government has come under growing pressure since then to revisit the issue, with several corporate giants insisting that meaningful recognition is the only way to bridge the divide in Australia’s population.

“A first nations voice to parliament is a meaningful step towards reconciliation,” BHP Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie said earlier this year.

Indigenous Australians account for about 700,000 people in a total population of 23 million and have tracked near the bottom in almost every socio-economic indicator, suffering disproportionately high rates of suicide, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and imprisonment.

Denied the vote until the mid-1960s, they face a 10-year gap in life expectancy compared with other Australians and make up 27% of the prison population.

The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it will continue to deal with British diplomats in Washington as usual, unless directed differently by the White House. U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his Twitter attack on British ambassador to Washington Kim Darroch, whose unflattering reports on the White House had angered him. Trump also did not mince words in his tweeted references to outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports British officials have come to the defense of their ambassador.
 

The survival of wild animals such as elephants and tigers are at risk, and one of the main reasons is poaching. These animals are being hunted, even in protected wildlife parks, for their body parts such as elephants’ tusks and tigers’ skins. Park rangers may soon have a powerful tool to help fight poachers thanks to artificial intelligence. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee explains.

Smoke and soot from central Alaska wildfires have afflicted the subarctic city of Fairbanks with some of the world’s worst air pollution in recent days, forcing many residents indoors and prompting one hospital to set up a “clean air shelter.”

Fine particulate matter carried by smoke into the Fairbanks North Star Borough over the past two weeks has been measured at concentrations as high as more than double the minimum level deemed hazardous to human health, borough air quality manager Nick Czarnecki said.

The hazardous threshold was exceeded again on Tuesday in the Fairbanks suburb of North Pole, the borough reported.

The problem is mostly linked to two fires burning since June 21 on either side of the Fairbanks borough – Alaska’s second-most populous metropolitan area, totaling some 97,000 residents.

The Shovel Creek and Nugget fires, both sparked by lightning strikes, have scorched nearly 20,000 acres (8,094 hectares) of timber and brush combined, fire authorities said.

Farther north, the massive Hess Creek blaze, also sparked by lightning, has raged across nearly 173,000 acres (70,000 hectares) of remote timber and grasslands, making it the largest U.S. wildfire so far this year, according to fire command spokeswoman Sarah Wheeler.

Thick smoke drifting into Fairbanks has prompted air quality alerts warning that outdoor exertion is dangerous to health and urging the elderly, the very young and individuals with
respiratory problems to limit their exposure by staying indoors.

That restriction has proved difficult for some because few homes in Fairbanks, a city just 200 miles (322 km) south of the Arctic Circle by road, are equipped with air conditioning, and a heat wave in the region has driven temperatures into the 80s and 90s Fahrenheit.

Fairbanks Memorial Hospital has opened a round-the-clock clean-air room where members of the public can find respite from the pollution. A Fairbanks auto shop was also giving away breathing masks to help residents cope.

“All the HEPA filters and everything are sold out in town, and the smoke is terrible,” Pearson Auto employee Michelle Pippin said.

A similar but somewhat less dire predicament faced residents of Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, about 350 miles (560 km) to the south, where smoke from a major fire raging for the past month in the neighboring Kenai National Wildlife Refuge has caused unhealthy air.

The Swan Lake blaze has charred nearly 97,000 acres (39,200 hectares) of the Kenai Peninsula since it was triggered by lightning on June 5.

Anchorage has also baked in unusually high temperatures, with three of its hottest days on record posted during the past week, including the city’s first-ever 90-degree Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) reading on July Fourth.

The record heat has only added to the general misery index in Alaska, where the National Interagency Fire Center reports about 40 large wildfires have burned more than 810,000 acres (32,780 hectares) across the state.

Wildfires have consumed more than 1 million acres (404,685 hectares) in all so far this year, but that pales in comparison with the record 6.5 million acres (2.6 million hectares) that went up in flames across Alaska in 2004.

Creditors holding Venezuelan debt on Tuesday pushed back on debt restructuring plans backed by opposition leader Juan Guaido, urging a “fair and effective” framework for talks and improved communications with investors holding defaulted bonds.

The main committee of Venezuela creditors said it opposed requests for a U.S. executive order that would prevent asset seizures by investors and disagreed with a proposal to give different treatment for debts to Russia and China.

But the statement added that restructuring would not begin until the end of a “humanitarian crisis,” in reference to the hyperinflationary collapse overseen by President Nicolas Maduro that has fueled malnutrition and disease.

“A new government should work with creditor parties, such as the Committee, to agree on the design of the restructuring process and to negotiate the financial and other terms of the restructuring,” the statement said.

Guaido in January cited articles of the constitution to assume an interim presidency after calling Maduro’s 2018 election a fraud, quickly winning recognition by more than 50 countries including the United States.

Maduro’s government, which continues to exercise power thanks to the loyalty of the military, has failed to pay creditors some $11.4 billion in principal and interest since 2017, according to the creditors.

Jose Ignacio Hernandez, Guaido’s overseas legal representative, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The committee opposed requests by Guaido and his allies for an executive order by the White House that would block creditors from seizing U.S. refiner Citgo, which is owned by state oil company PDVSA.

“An executive order issued by the US government that undermines good faith negotiations would not further the long-term interests of Venezuela or its stakeholders,” the statement said.

The committee also took exception to the idea that debts to Russia and China would be treated differently than others.

“It is critical that the burden placed on creditors must be equitably shared among all creditors, public and private,” the committee wrote.

U.S. and Chinese trade officials held a “constructive” phone conversation on Tuesday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said, marking a new round of talks after the world’s two largest economies agreed to a truce in a year-long trade war.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Minister Zhong Shan on Tuesday in a further effort to resolve outstanding trade disputes between the countries, a U.S. official said earlier in an emailed statement.

Kudlow said the talks “went well” and were constructive. He said the two sides were talking about a face-to-face meeting, but warned that there was not a magic way to reach what has so far been an elusive deal.

“There are no miracles here,” Kudlow told reporters at the White House. “There was headway last winter and spring, then it stopped. Hopefully we can pick up where we left off, but I don’t know that yet.”

Trade talks stalled in May after China backed away from commitments it had made to secure legal changes to its system, according to U.S. officials.

Kudlow’s comments suggested it was still unclear whether the two sides would resume work from the draft text agreed before that pull-back, as U.S. officials want, or whether they will use a different starting point.

A face-to-face meeting between the two negotiating teams would be a good thing and could take place in Beijing, Kudlow said, but no details were available yet.

“Both sides will continue these talks as appropriate,” the separate U.S. official said in an email, declining to provide details on what was discussed and the next steps for talks.

The negotiations picked up after a two-month hiatus, but a year since a tit-for-tat tariff battle began between the two countries. Washington wants Beijing to address what U.S. officials see as decades of unfair and illegal trading practices.

The United States and China agreed during a Group of 20 nations summit in Japan last month to resume discussions, easing fears of an escalation. After meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to suspend a new round of tariffs on $300 billion worth of imported Chinese consumer goods while the two sides resumed negotiations.

Trump said then that China would restart large purchases of U.S. agricultural commodities, and the United States would ease some export restrictions on Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei Technologies.

“President Xi is expected, we hope in return for our accommodations, to move immediately, quickly, while the talks are going on, on the agriculture (purchases),” Kudlow said on Tuesday at an event hosted by CNBC. “That’s very, very important.”

He also said relaxed U.S. government restrictions on Huawei could help the technology giant but would only be in place for a limited time.

Kudlow, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, later told reporters there was no specific timeline for the agricultural buys, or for reaching an agreement. “No timeline. Quality not speed,” he added.

Three sources familiar with the state of the talks said the Chinese side did not make firm commitments for immediate purchases. It’s unclear that the two sides’ differences have narrowed, even as the discussions resume.

The sister of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman went on trial Tuesday in Paris over the alleged beating of a workman at her family’s apartment.

Princess Hassa bint Salman is accused of ordering her bodyguard to beat an Egyptian workman after he was seen taking a photograph inside the home on Paris’ exclusive Avenue Foch in 2016.

According to the indictment, the workman Ashraf Eid told police that he took a picture of the bathroom where he was working so he he could remember where items were placed before he started. 

The princess reportedly accused him of taking the photo in order to sell the image of the toney home. 

Eid told police the bodyguard bound his hands, punched and kicked him, and forced him to kiss the princess’ feet.  

The bodyguard was held by police but the princess left France soon after the incident. France issued a warrant for her arrest in December 2017. 

The bodyguard told the court Tuesday: “When I heard the princess shouting for help, I got there and saw them grasping the phone with their hands.”

“I seized [him] and overpowered him, I didn’t know what he was after,” he said, according to AFP.

The princess’ lawyers have said she is the victim of false accusations. “The princess is a caring, humble, approachable and cultured woman,” her lawyer, Emmanuel Moyne, said before the trial began.

The Saudi crown prince was under the media spotlight recently for his alleged involvement in the murder of dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi.

Agnes Callamard, a United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said in a report released last month that there was “credible evidence” linking the crown prince to the strangulation and dismemberment of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.