The United Nations told the United States it is concerned by tight travel restrictions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during his visit to New York this week, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said on Monday.

Zarif arrived in New York on Sunday after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed off on the visit amid heightened tensions between the two countries. But Zarif is only allowed to travel between the United Nations, the Iranian U.N. mission, the Iranian U.N. ambassador’s residence and New York’s John F. Kennedy airport, a U.S. State Department official said.

Threat of blacklist

Late last month Washington threatened to blacklist Zarif, a move that could impede any U.S. effort to use diplomacy to resolve disagreements with Tehran. However, sources have told Reuters that Washington had decided to hold off for now.

Longtime U.S.-Iran strains have worsened since U.S. President Donald Trump last year quit a 2015 international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

Haq told reporters that the U.N. secretariat is “in close contact with the permanent missions of the United States and Iran to the U.N. and has conveyed its concerns to the host country.”

U.S. special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, said no U.S. government officials would meet with Zarif.

“There is no back channel currently going on between the United States and anybody in the Iranian regime. Everything that’s being said is being said by the president and the secretary of state publicly,” Hook told Fox News Channel.

The United States had restricted Zarif’s travel “in a manner that is fully consistent” with its obligations under a 1947 agreement with the United Nations, the U.S. State Department official said.

Mouthpiece of an autocracy

The official accused Zarif of using U.S. freedoms “to spread malign propaganda” and said Zarif “is a mouthpiece of an autocracy that suppresses free speech.”

Despite the travel restrictions, Zarif did interviews on Monday with Britain’s BBC and U.S. network NBC at the residence of the Iranian U.N. ambassador on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said that all of Zarif’s meetings, interviews and speeches would be done at the United Nations, the Iranian U.N. mission or the Iranian U.N. ambassador’s residence.

“Putting restrictions on his presence in some streets in New York will certainly not effect his work schedule,” he said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

SDG meeting

Zarif is due to attend a ministerial meeting at the United Nations on sustainable development goals, which aim to tackle issues including conflict, hunger, equality and climate change by 2030.

Iranian diplomats, like the envoys of North Korea, Syria and Cuba, are already confined to a radius of 25 miles from Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan.

Under the 1947 U.N. “headquarters agreement,” the United States is generally required to allow access to the United Nations for foreign diplomats. But Washington says it can deny visas for “security, terrorism, and foreign policy” reasons.

In April 2014, the United States would not grant a visa to Iran’s chosen U.N. ambassador, Hamid Abutalebi, because of his links to the 1979-1981 Tehran hostage crisis when radical students seized the U.S. Embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Abutalebi said he acted only as a translator.

Iran complained to a U.N. committee, but ultimately ended up appointing a new ambassador in early 2015.

Yemen’s warring parties have agreed new measures to enforce a ceasefire and facilitate a troop pullback from the flashpoint port of Hodeidah, the United Nations said on Monday.

Representatives of the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government met on a U.N. ship in the Red Sea for talks on Sunday and Monday, a U.N. statement said.

The United Nations is trying to broker a withdrawal from Hodeidah – the main entry point for food and humanitarian aid – so U.N.-supervised management can take over.

Yemen’s four-year war has killed tens of thousands of people and left millions on the brink of famine.

The U.N. statement said both sides were keen to reduce hostilities after a rise in ceasefire violations at Hodeidah.

“They agreed on a mechanism and new measures to reinforce the ceasefire and de-escalation, to be put in place as soon as possible,” it said, without giving more details.

The two sides met as members of the “Redeployment Coordination Committee,” a body set up by the United Nations and chaired by Danish Lieutenant General Michael Lollesgaard to oversee the ceasefire and troop exit.

The committee finalized conceptual agreement on troop withdrawals, which now required political leaders’ buy-in, the statement said. Political leaders would also have to agree on “local security forces, local authority and revenues,” the statement said, without elaborating.

New York’s mayor is fending off criticism because he was in Iowa campaigning for his presidential bid while Manhattan was in the grips of a major power outage.

Bill de Blasio said Monday on MSNBC that he was in frequent contact with agencies handling the emergency and that he thinks first responders did an “incredible job.”

The Saturday night blackout darkened more than 40 square blocks of Manhattan, including Times Square.

De Blasio sidestepped criticism from numerous quarters, including from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a fellow Democrat. A front-page New York Post editorial called for de Blasio’s ouster.

De Blasio said he took a four-hour car ride from Iowa to Chicago and got on the first available plane home.

He insisted that the blackout response was well-managed with his remote supervision.

Ugandan pop star and opposition figure Bobi Wine said Monday he will challenge longtime President Yoweri Museveni in a 2021 election “on behalf of the people.”

But Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, said he is concerned about his safety after what he believes was an attempt on his life last August. His driver was shot dead in his car after protesters threw stones at the president’s motorcade.
 
Wine’s arrest at the time sparked protests in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. The 37-year-old said he is fearful of harm from running for president because “there has never been a threat to this regime like the threat we pose to it today as a generation.”
 
“I live every day as it comes, not being sure of the next day,” Wine said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I am not blind to the fact that the regime wants me dead and wants me dead as soon as possible.”
 
Authorities have repeatedly denied Wine is being targeted.
 
As the leader of a popular movement known as “People Power,” Wine has captured the imagination of many who want to see the exit of Museveni, a U.S. ally on regional security who has held power since 1986 and looks set to seek a sixth term.
 
Wine said his aim ahead of the election is “to multiply myself in various young men and women, so that there are as many Bobi Wines as possible.”
 
Uganda has never witnessed a peaceful transfer of power since the East African country gained independence from Britain in 1962.
 
“Power has been taken away from the people by those that wield guns, and that’s what we want to put an end to through the vote,” he said.
 
Wine first came to national prominence in 2017 when, as an independent candidate, he won election as a lawmaker representing a constituency near Kampala. He has since successfully campaigned for other opposition candidates, raising his profile as a leader and attracting encouragement to run for president.
 
Wine is “a symbol,” a potential catalyst for change in a country where many young people are jobless and angry over official corruption, said Mwambutsya Ndebesa, history lecturer at Uganda’s Makerere University. “He can still be symbolically a game changer in a system where the political space has been narrowed.”
 
Yet the singer’s candidacy comes with multiple challenges, including limited opportunities to hold rallies or stage concerts. Police violently foiled his recent attempts to hold public events, firing bullets and tear gas. Authorities insist such action is necessary in order to protect public order.
 
Wine also faces treason charges stemming from his alleged role in the incident in which the president’s convoy was attacked with stones. Prosecutors added additional charges of annoying the president over that incident. He also is charged with the offense of disobeying statutory authority after he led a demonstration against a new tax targeting social media. He denies all the charges.
 
Wine would be ineligible to run for president if he were to be convicted of any of those crimes.
 
“We know that the regime is going to try anything within their reach to block us from contesting,” Wine said.
 
Museveni, who is 74 and remains popular among some Ugandans, is expected to run again after parliament passed legislation removing a clause in the constitution that prevented anyone over 75 from holding the presidency.
 
As the bill was being debated, security personnel during one chaotic session entered the parliamentary chamber and roughed up opposition lawmakers, including Wine, who had been trying to delay a procedural vote.
 
The president accuses Wine and other opposition figures of trying to lure young people into deadly rioting.
 
Museveni’s party, which dominates the national assembly, has endorsed him as its sole candidate for the next election. The opposition is divided, with veteran opposition figures frequently attacking each other in public.
 
Although Wine’s rise as a possible presidential contender has energized the opposition, it also has exposed rifts among the opposition figures who hope to take power after Museveni.
 
As Wine’s stature rose, tensions grew between him and Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate who has been Museveni’s most serious election opponent. Besigye was criticized by Wine’s supporters after he suggested that the singer was not yet ready to become president, underscoring how difficult it will be for the opposition to unite against Museveni.  
 

Bitcoin slumped more than 10% over the weekend to a two-week low as fears of a crackdown of cryptocurrencies grew on mounting scrutiny of Facebook’s planned Libra digital coin.

Bitcoin fell 11.1% from Friday to $9,855 early on Monday, its lowest since July 2. The original cryptocurrency slumped 10.4% on Sunday alone, its second-biggest daily drop this year.

It was last up 1.3% at $10,319.

Politicians and financial regulators across the world have called for close scrutiny of Facebook’s Libra coin, with concerns ranging from consumer protection and privacy to its potential systemic risks given the social media giant’s global reach.

In a sign of widening U.S. attention, a proposal to prevent big technology companies from functioning as financial institutions or issuing digital currencies has been circulated for discussion by Democratic lawmakers, according to a copy of the draft legislation seen by Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump had last week criticized bitcoin, Libra and other cryptocurrencies, demanding that firms seek a banking charter and subject themselves to U.S. and global regulations if they wanted to “become a bank”.

Bitcoin, which initially shrugged off Trump’s Tweet, fell sharply after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell called for a halt to Facebook’s project until concerns from privacy to money laundering were addressed.

“Together they have increased the tail risk that the U.S. will look to crack down on it in some way,” said Jamie Farquhar, portfolio manager at crypto firm NKB Group in London.

Underscoring the growing attention on Facebook’s plans, Japanese authorities have also set up a working group to look at Libra’s possible impact on monetary policy and financial regulation, government sources told Reuters.

European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeure is due to deliver a preliminary report on the matter at a meeting of G7 finance ministers this week in Chantilly, north of Paris.

Bitcoin climbed nearly 55% in nine days after Facebook unveiled its plans for Libra on June 18, touching an 18-month high of nearly $14,000. The project has boosted hopes among some investors that cryptocurrencies could gain wider acceptance.
 

The health ministry of Democratic Republic of Congo said Monday two community health workers engaged in Ebola prevention have been killed in the eastern North Kivu province. The ministry said the workers had been receiving death threats for months.

Ministry officials, meanwhile, have confirmed the first case of Ebola in Goma, a city of more than 2 million people, along the Rwandan border.

Authorities said the patient is a pastor who took a bus from Butembo, one of the towns hardest hit by Ebola, to Goma. He arrived in Goma on Sunday and was quickly taken to an Ebola treatment center.

The health ministry said in a statement: “Given that the patient was quickly identified, as well as all the passengers on the bus from Butembo, the risk of the disease spreading in the city of Goma is low.”

The French news agency AFP reports the bus driver and passengers are receiving vaccinations Monday.

Ebola has killed more than 1,600 people in DR Congo.

Efforts to contain the disease have been hampered by violent attacks on health care workers and treatment centers.

Some Congolese people have also contributed to the spread of the disease by refusing to take their loved ones to treatment centers and not adhering to burial guidelines designed to reduce Ebola transmission.
 

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Monday that the international deal on Iran’s nuclear program “isn’t dead yet,” and that while the opportunity to find a resolution to the current crisis surrounding the agreement is closing, it is still possible to keep it alive.

He spoke ahead of talks with other European Union foreign ministers in Brussels where they planned to discuss the Iran situation.

The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was agreed to by Iran and a group of world powers that included Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States to allay concerns Iran was working to develop a nuclear weapon.

Iran has long said its nuclear program was solely for peaceful purposes, and it won badly needed relief from sanctions in return for limiting its nuclear activity far below what would be needed to make a weapon.

Hunt said Monday that Iran was more than a year away from having the capability to build a nuclear device.

Boris Johnson, a Conservative favorite to succeed Theresa May when she steps down as prime minister later this month, seemed to dismiss the importance of the leaked cables.

He described them as “embarrassing but it is not a threat to national security.”

“It is the duty of media organizations to bring new and interesting facts into the public domain,” said Johnson, himself a journalist and former editor.

In May 2018, Johnson, then Britain’s foreign minister, went to Washington to try to persuade Trump to not abandon the Iran pact.

After British and U.S. officials met, Darroch reported back to London that there were divisions within the Trump administration over Trump’s intention to quit the Iran accord. The diplomat criticized the White House for a lack of long-term strategy to deal with Iran.

“They can’t articulate any ‘day-after’ strategy; and contacts with State Department this morning suggest no sort of plan for reaching out to partners and allies, whether in Europe or the region,” he wrote.

Trump has long attacked the 2015 international Iran nuclear deal aimed at restraining Tehran’s nuclear weapons development as ineffective and repeatedly blamed Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry for pushing for its adoption.

Trump withdrew the United States from the deal last year and reimposed economic sanctions, hobbling the Iranian economy and limiting its international oil trade.

Five other countries — China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain — along with the European Union have remained in the accord, but voiced their displeasure as Tehran has exceeded the size of the uranium stockpile and the uranium enrichment level allowed under the pact.
 

Taiwan’s presidential race kicked off Monday with China the top issue as a Beijing-friendly mayor won the chief opposition party’s primary to face an incumbent who wants Beijing to keep a distance.

The opposition Nationalists announced that Han Kuo-yu, now mayor of the Taiwanese port city Kaohsiung, had won the presidential primary Monday against four other candidates, including the founder of consumer electronics assembler Foxconn Technology. Han will go up against incumbent Tsai Ing-wen in the January 2020 general election.

China is expected to define the late-year campaign because the two contenders differ on how to handle it, reflecting divisions among Taiwanese people.

Divided public

Taiwan and China have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, but Beijing still claims sovereignty over the island. Opinion surveys as recent as January show most Taiwanese oppose rule by China, and protests in Hong Kong since June against the territory’s own rule by Beijing have solidified that sentiment.

“Now, incidents in Hong Kong actually are having an effect on youth,” said George Hou, mass communications lecturer at Taiwan-based I-Shou University who regularly talks to young people. “The Nationalist Party’s policies toward China and China’s policies make younger people feel discontent.”

But many Taiwanese say they hope their government can keep peaceful economic ties with China while holding it off politically. They complain of low salaries and high housing costs at home. Some see China in turn as a source of investment or as a place to find work.

“The Hong Kong matter will make people feel on guard, but when they vote for a president, they’ll hope to change their own lives, and voting will take that direction,” said Ku Chung-hua, standing board member with the Taiwan advocacy group Citizens’ Congress Watch.

Competing candidate platforms

Han, 62, has vowed to make peace with China. In March he signed deals with four Chinese cities including Hong Kong to sell $167 million worth of Taiwanese agricultural products. He won the mayoral race in November partly on an economic improvement platform.

In April, Han visited the United States to meet members of Congress and encourage American investment in Kaohsiung. The former 10-year Nationalist Party lawmaker had once managed a company that markets Taiwanese agricultural goods.

“Han Kuo-yu is the only candidate who has a really strong appeal to the lower middle class,” said Joanna Lei, CEO of the Taiwan-based Chunghua 21st Century Think Tank, comparing him to other Nationalist Party figures. He won the primary after party-commissioned public opinion polls returned a 45% support rate.

Tsai, elected in 2016, supports economic ties with China but disputes China’s condition for dialogue — that the two sides fall under one flag — meaning the two sides never talk. China has grown increasingly impatient with Tsai over her term, using military aircraft flybys and diplomatic pressure abroad as warnings.

After Chinese President Xi Jinping advocated earlier in January that China rule Taiwan under a “one country, two systems” setup as it governs Hong Kong, Tsai grew more vocal against the political pressure from China. The Hong Kong protests have added weight to her cause.

Han opposes “one country, two systems” but backs the Chinese dialogue condition.

Race too early to call

Tsai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party lost most mayoral and county magistrate seats in the November local elections that put Han into power. Voters had called Tsai’s management of the economy slow or ineffective. Now GDP growth is expected to slow slightly this year to 2.2%.

But approval poll ratings for the president rose more than 10 percentage points in the months after she ramped up her anti-China comments.

The presidential race is too close to call, Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

“You can’t say, because the Nationalists now, according to polls, don’t have a candidate who could definitely win,” Huang said. “Changes in Taiwan’s elections happen fast.”

China’s economic growth slowed to its lowest level in a decade last quarter amid a tariff war with Washington, adding to pressure on Beijing to reverse a deepening slump.

The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.2% over a year earlier in the three months ending in June, down from the previous quarter’s 6.4%, government data showed Monday. That was the slowest growth since the first quarter of 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Chinese leaders have stepped up spending and bank lending to shore up growth and avert politically dangerous job losses. But they face an avalanche of unexpectedly bad news including plunging auto sales as they fight a trade battle with President Donald Trump over Beijing’s technology ambitions.

The economy faces a “complex environment both at home and abroad,” the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

Growth in retail sales slowed to 8.4% in the first half of 2019, down 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter, the government reported. Growth in factory output decelerated to 6% in the first half, down 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter.

Chinese exports to the United States fell 7.8% in June from a year, depressed by Trump’s penalty tariff hikes.

Auto sales, reported earlier, fell 7.8% in June, extending a yearlong contraction in the industry’s biggest market.

The U.S. may approve licenses for companies to restart new sales to Huawei in as little as two weeks, according to a senior U.S. official, in a sign President Donald Trump’s recent effort to ease restrictions on the Chinese company could move forward quickly.

Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, was added to a Commerce Department list in May that prohibits U.S. companies from supplying it with new American-made goods and services unless they obtain licenses that will likely be denied.

But late last month, after meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump announced American firms could sell products to Huawei. And in recent days, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said licenses would be issued where there is no threat to national security.

Chip industry, China pressure

Trump’s reversal, and rapid implementation by the Commerce Department, suggests chip industry lobbying, coupled with Chinese political pressure, may well reignite U.S. technology sales to Huawei.

Two U.S. chipmakers who supply Huawei told Reuters in recent days they would apply for more licenses after Ross’s comments. They asked to remain anonymous.

A customer response management company and a firm that simulates cross-sectional radar for Huawei are also likely to file applications in the coming days, according to Craig Ridgley, a trade compliance consultant in Washington.

Out of $70 billion that Huawei spent buying components in 2018, about $11 billion went to U.S. firms, including Qualcomm, Intel and Micron Technology.

“Since there’s no downside, companies are absolutely submitting applications, as required by the regulations,” said Washington lawyer Kevin Wolf, a former Commerce Department official.

A Huawei spokesman said “the Entity list restrictions should be removed altogether, rather than have temporary licenses applied for US vendors. Huawei has been found guilty of no relevant wrongdoing and represents no cybersecurity risk to any country so the restrictions are unmerited.”

Not all sales need OK

U.S. companies can currently sell goods in order to maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets, but are prohibited from making new sales of American-made goods and services.

Furthermore, not all U.S. sales to Huawei hinge on government approvals of license requests. Some U.S. chipmakers’ sales to Huawei may not need licenses because their products could be beyond the scope of U.S. export controls since many are manufactured abroad with few U.S. components. 

U.S. officials have sought to clarify the new policy in recent weeks, saying they will allow sales of non-sensitive technology readily available abroad if national security is protected. But they have also reiterated that Huawei remains on the entity list, and relief would be temporary.

The U.S. semiconductor industry has been lobbying for broader relief, arguing that U.S. security goals should be advanced in a way that does not undermine the ability to compete globally and retain technological leadership.

Suppliers want to be allowed to provide customer service support for chips they build and sell overseas, or the approval to ship new American-made equipment to Huawei and its subsidiaries around the world.

Chip suppliers unclear

Still, it is unclear which products will be granted licenses. Some U.S. suppliers sought clarity at a conference the Commerce Department held in Washington this week. One manufacturer’s representative was told by the senior U.S. official that licenses could be granted in two to four weeks at the conference on Thursday.

The person, who did not want to be identified, said the official did not delineate the criteria for license approvals, but she came away believing they would be made on a case-by-case basis, at least at first, as the agency seeks to form more broad opinions.

When asked about the guidance from the senior official, a Commerce Department spokesman said the agency is “currently evaluating all licenses and determining what is in the nation’s best national security interest.”

The United States has pending cases against Huawei for allegedly stealing American intellectual property and violating Iran sanctions. It also has launched a lobbying effort to persuade U.S. allies to keep Huawei out of next-generation 5G telecommunications infrastructure, citing concerns the company could spy on customers. Huawei has denied the allegations. 

Eric Hirschhorn, a former undersecretary of Commerce, said the problem for government officials now reviewing the licenses is that they don’t know where the administration is going. 

“The policy two minutes ago may not be the policy two minutes from now,” Hirschhorn said.
 

Demonstrators returned to an immigration jail in Washington state a day after an armed man threw incendiary devices at the detention center and later died.

Willem Van Spronsen, 69, was found dead Saturday after four police officers arrived and opened fire.

Demonstrators returned Sunday to the privately run Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, KOMO-TV reported. The demonstrators were protesting the facility and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement roundups that were supposed to begin Sunday.

The facility holds migrants pending deportation proceedings. The detention center has also held immigration-seeking parents separated from their children under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, an effort meant to deter illegal immigration.

The center’s operator, GEO Group, said in a statement it was aware of a “community gathering” Sunday. “We respect every individual’s right to use their voice and express their opinions,” the center said.

‘I think this was a suicide’

Bullet holes riddled the scene Sunday, The News-Tribune reported. Police searched Van Spronsen’s Vashon Island home, the Tacoma newspaper reported.

Van Spronsen’s friend, Deb Bartley, told The Seattle Times she thinks he wanted to provoke a fatal conflict. She described him as an anarchist and anti-fascist.

“He was ready to end it,” Bartley said. “I think this was a suicide. But then he was able to kind of do it in a way that spoke to his political beliefs. I know he went down there knowing he was going to die.”

Prior scuffle with police

Van Spronsen was accused of assaulting a police officer during a protest outside the detention center in 2018, The News-Tribune reported. According to court documents, he lunged at the officer and wrapped his arms around the officer’s neck and shoulders, as the officer was trying to detain a 17-year-old protester June 26, 2018, the newspaper reported.

According to court documents, police handcuffed Van Spronsen and found that he had a collapsible baton and a folding knife in his pocket. Van Spronsen pleaded guilty to the charge of obstructing police, and he was given a deferred sentence in October, The News-Tribune reported.

Van Spronsen had worked as a self-employed carpenter and contractor, according to court documents. He was also a folk singer, playing shows on Vashon Island and around the Seattle area, The Times reported.

The treatment of migrants in U.S. detention centers has generated friction between the Trump administration and opposition Democrats. Each side is casting blame on the other for the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. VOA’s Marcus Harton has more.

The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has said that the number of Hezbollah fighters in Syria has decreased.

Hassan Nasrallah said in a recent interview with al-Manar TV, Hezbollah’s official television, that the Syrian regime has been recovering militarily after years of fighting rebel groups seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“We are present where we are needed to be,” Nasrallah said, referring to his group’s military presence in war-torn Syria.

The Syrians “have realized that they don’t need us anymore. That’s why we don’t have a real presence on frontlines,” the militant leader said.

Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to support the Assad regime.

The Lebanese Shi’ite militant group has been instrumental in major gains made against Syrian rebel forces throughout the country, particularly in Aleppo, Homs and Damascus suburbs.

Backed by Iran, Hezbollah fighters also have a strong presence in parts of oil-rich, eastern province of Deir al-Zour that are under the control of the Syrian regime.

Improved security

Throughout the Syrian war, Hezbollah fighters have been in control of much of Syria’s border with Lebanon. That arrangement has begun to change due to new military dynamics, he said.

Some experts like Seth Frantzman, the executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis, say that Hezbollah forces in Syria are not needed in the same numbers as the country enters a political phase.

“Nasrallah believes Syria is entering a political phase, with less need for boots on the ground, and after seven years of major involvement it makes sense for him to bring the fighters home,” he told VOA.

With Syrian regime troops regaining control of most territory once held by rebel fighters, experts believe that the Syrian government’s dependence on Hezbollah may be limited now.

Nasrallah, however, said that his fighters remain committed to backing Syrian troops for any potential battle in the future.

“A total withdrawal of our forces from Syria is unlikely in the near future. It depends on how the situations unfold in east of the Euphrates and Idlib. The decision is up to the Syrian leadership,” Nasrallah said.

Focus on Israel

In his interview, Hezbollah’s leader said that his group is now capable of striking anywhere in Israel, adding that “in all fields, the resistance has developed in quantity and quality.”

Some experts say that Hezbollah’s redeployment in Syria could be seen as a sign of the group’s “growing confidence and strength, as well as a threat to shift the focus to Israel.”

“In the context of [Nasrallah’s] threats against Israel, including claims that Hezbollah could reach the Galilee in a future war, Hezbollah needs its forces at home to rest up and also provide a kind of ‘lessons learned from Syria’ to future recruits,” analyst Frantzman said.

In response to Nasrallah’s comments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, “If Hezbollah dares to do something stupid and attack Israel, we will strike it and Lebanon, a crushing military strike.”

Since the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war, the two sides have occasionally exchanged attacks. In the wake of Syria’s war, Israel has also hit Hezbollah targets inside Syria.

Labeled as a terrorist group by the United States, Hezbollah has been increasingly targeted by U.S. sanctions in recent months. Last week, the U.S. government announced new sanctions on three senior Hezbollah officials for their role in assisting Iran’s agenda in Lebanon.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic outlasted Roger Federer of Switzerland in five sets (7-6 1-6 7-6 4-6 13-12) to capture his 5th Wimbledon championship, in the longest final in tournament history.

After splitting the first four sets, Federer had two match points in set number five but couldn’t close out the match.  The set eventually ended up in a tiebreaker which was dominated by Djokovic.  

This is the first year a tiebreaker was played in a 5th set of a Wimbledon final with the score tied at 12-12.  In previous years, the match would continue on until a player was able to win the final set by two games.

Sunday’s match lasted four hours and 57 minutes.

With his latest win, Djokovic has a total of 16 Grand Slam titles.

Federer was seeking his ninth Wimbledon title but just fell short.  

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are set to launch nationwide raids Sunday aimed at arresting immigrants in the country who are facing deportation, so they can be sent back to their homelands.

The campaign, confirmed Friday by President Donald Trump, is expected to focus on hundreds of families in nine major cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

“People are coming into this country illegally, we are taking them out legally,” Trump said.

ICE agents will target mostly immigrants who are considered dangerous. Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence said the immigrants being sought are on an “accelerated docket” of immigration court cases.

Trump’s immigration raids are expected to be well received by voters who voted for him on his repeated promises to crack down on migrants illegally in the U.S. Opposition Democrats have denounced the operation, declaring it is inhumane to target families, many of them from Central America, looking for a better life in the United States.

Trump claimed that a “big percentage of criminals” are already being held at detention centers in Texas, near the southern U.S. border with Mexico, where Vice President Mike Pence visited on Friday.

“Sorry, can’t let them into our Country,” Trump said on Twitter. “If too crowded, tell them not to come to USA, and tell the Dems to fix the Loopholes – Problem Solved!”

…..Sorry, can’t let them into our Country. If too crowded, tell them not to come to USA, and tell the Dems to fix the Loopholes – Problem Solved!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019

He said the Friday tour “showed vividly, to politicians and the media, how well run and clean the children’s detention centers are. Great reviews!”

Friday’s tour showed vividly, to politicians and the media, how well run and clean the children’s detention centers are. Great reviews! Failing @nytimes story was FAKE! The adult single men areas were clean but crowded – also loaded up with a big percentage of criminals……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019

Ken Cuccinelli, the Trump-appointed acting director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services office, rejected the suggestion that the raids are a political stunt. He told CNN, “While lots of people in this government were saying it is a manufactured crisis… those people are now coming to the border and realizing we do have a real crisis.”

Sunday’s raids are also set to occur in Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Miami and San Francisco.

In the days leading up to the raids, the mostly Democratic mayors who run the cities have reiterated their policies of not cooperating with ICE officials on deportations and also have publicized telephone helplines immigrants can call to understand their rights.

Additionally, Democratic lawmakers and others have been informing immigrants of their rights and advising them not to open their doors for ICE unless the agents show a court-ordered warrant, and not to speak or sign anything without first talking with a lawyer.

Trump has said on Twitter his agents intend to arrest millions of immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally, while administration officials have said about 2,000 people would be targeted.

Albence said ICE agents will go after entire families who have been ordered to leave the country, but that some families may be separated if some members, but not others, are in the country without the proper documentation.

Trump made the unusual move of announcing the raids ahead of time and said Friday he was not concerned the early notice could help some of the targeted immigrants evade arrest.

Trump’s confirmation of the raids came amid widespread criticism of the overcrowded, unsanitary conditions detained immigrants are allegedly residing in at facilities along the southwestern U.S. border. There also is considerable criticism that border officials are separating children from their parents.

Militants targeted a gas pipeline in government-controlled central Syria, putting it out of order Sunday, according to state media.

The SANA news agency didn’t name the attackers. The area in the central Homs province is close to where remnants of the Islamic State group are still holed up after losing all the territory they once held in the country.

SANA said technical teams are working to fix the pipeline, which links the Shaer fields to the Ebla processing plant. It did not elaborate on the extent of the damage or the nature of the attack.

The agency said the pipeline carries about 2.5 million cubic meters of gas to the processing plant and onward to power stations.

Islamic State militants briefly seized the Shaer fields in 2014 and 2016 before pro-government forces recaptured them in heavy fighting. Today much of Syria’s oil fields and infrastructure are held by U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led forces in the east.

In recent weeks, IS militants have increased their attacks against government troops, putting up checkpoints and ambushing convoys. While the government now controls over 60 percent of Syria, there is still a rebel stronghold in the northwest, where the government is waging a limited but stalled offensive. Smaller armed groups in northern, central and eastern Syria have vowed to target government and Kurdish-controlled facilities.

Israel’s prime minister says it will deliver a “crushing” strike against Hezbollah if the Lebanese militant group attempts to attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reacting to comments made by Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

In an interview Friday, Nasrallah boasted that his group is much stronger than during the 2006 war and is capable of striking anywhere in Israel. Pointing to a map, Nasrallah identified a list of targets he said his group could strike, saying “in all fields, the resistance has developed in quantity and quality.”

Speaking to his Cabinet Sunday, Netanyahu criticized what he called Nasrallah’s “arrogant” words.

He says “if Hezbollah dares to do something stupid and attack Israel, we will strike it and Lebanon, a crushing military strike.”

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 struck southeast of the city of Ternate, in the Moluccas in the eastern area of Indonesia, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) at an area 168 km south-southeast of Ternate, the USGS said.

There were no immediate reports of damages or casualties in the quake.

Earlier Sunday, an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck west of Australia’s beach resort of Broome, the United States Geological Survey said, with residents saying the impact shook some buildings and pushed groceries off shelves.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in the quake, which the agency initially said was of magnitude 6.9, hitting at a depth of 33 km (21 miles), about 203 km (126 miles) offshore from the town in the state of Western Australia.

Videos posted on social media showed cars and buildings shaking and groceries being knocked from shelves, with some residents reporting minor damage to businesses.

“We just had an earthquake in Broome,” one resident of the town said on Twitter. “The whole house was shaking and it went for ages. Never experienced anything like it before – quite amazing.”

The earthquake was widely felt in Perth, the capital of Western Australia, a distance of more than 2,000 km (1,242 miles) away, data from Geoscience Australia showed. An aftershock of 4.1 was also recorded.
 

Barry, which made landfall as a hurricane Saturday along the Louisiana Gulf Coast, quickly weakened to a tropical storm.

The storm made landfall in Louisiana near Intercoastal City, according to the National Hurricane Center, which warned that Barry is likely to bring dangerous storm surges, plus strong winds and heavy rain that could cause “life threatening flooding” in parts of the Gulf Coast and the Lower Mississippi Valley.

The storm had been expected to dump up to 50 centimeters (nearly 20 inches) of rain throughout the state by Sunday. The main threat from the storm is expected to be its flood potential rather than its high winds.

On Saturday night, Gov. John Bel Edwards urged residents across south Louisiana to stay “vigilant,” warning that Barry could still cause disastrous flooding across a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast overnight.

“This storm still has a long way to go before it leaves this state,” Edwards said. “Don’t let your guard down.”

The storm, the first Atlantic hurricane of the season, was briefly a Category 1 hurricane. By late Saturday night, its maximum sustained winds had fallen to 50 mph (80 kph).

National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham said Barry has collected “a big slug of moisture” and is expected to rain on the region throughout the weekend.

Residents in New Orleans fortified their homes and stocked up on supplies as Barry began to roll in from the Gulf of Mexico. However, by late Saturday night, the city had been spared the worst of the storm, receiving only light showers and gusting winds.

By early Sunday, forecasters had downgraded rainfall estimates for New Orleans through the day to between 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters). Forecasters earlier said New Orleans could get up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain.

City officials have advised residents to shelter in their homes, with the exception of two coastal parishes south of the city, where mandatory evacuations were ordered.

Two parishes harder hit

No levees along the Mississippi River failed or were breached, but two levees were overtopped in Terrebonne and Plaquemines parishes.

Officials said an estimated 400 people were ordered evacuated in Terrebonne Parish, which is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of New Orleans. The Coast Guard also rescued a dozen people from flooded areas in the parish. Some had sought refuge on rooftops, a parish spokeswoman said.

Late Saturday night, authorities were trying to rescue a family of five trapped by high water in the south Louisiana town of Franklin, according to KTBS-TV. The National Guard had to halt its initial rescue mission because waters were too high to safely reach the family’s home. Franklin is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of Lafayette.

In other parts of Louisiana on Saturday, Barry flooded highways, forced people to scramble to rooftops and dumped heavy rain. Downpours also lashed coastal Alabama and Mississippi.

Tourists had largely left New Orleans Friday. Some airlines canceled outbound flights Saturday.

The storm is widely seen as a test of the city’s weather defenses put in place following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which left about 1,800 people dead.

U.S. President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency in Louisiana Thursday night, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate federal funds and resources to help the state cope with the storm and its aftermath.

In Mandeville, a city on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain across from New Orleans, storm surge and choppy waters sent waves over the seawall and into nearby communities. Dozens of people waded through knee-high water to take a look at the pounding surf. 

A bull broke from the pack and gored three runners Sunday during the final bull run of this year’s San Fermin festival, health officials from the northern Spanish city of Pamplona said.

That took the number of gorings to eight for the eight bull runs that provide a high-adrenaline morning rush to the nonstop party that draws around 1 million people each year.

One bull raises havoc

While five of the bulls stayed in a group and charged through the twisting streets with their guiding steers, one bull drifted back and provoked havoc in the crowds of runners. The bull flipped one man over its horns and slammed him onto the cobblestone street. It then clipped another two runners who were trapped against a wall.

Regional hospital spokesman Tomas Belzunegui said the man who had been tossed by a bull named Rabanero was gored in the leg, while another man was gored in the right arm and a third in the armpit. He said all three were hospitalized.

The Red Cross reported several other injuries from knocks received from the bulls and steers, or from runners tumbling out of the way.

The previous seven bull runs had produced five goring: three Spaniards and two Americans.

The six bulls from the Miura breeder, who celebrated the farm’s record-extending 53rd showing at the festival, completed the 930-yard (850-meter) run to the bullring in 2 minutes, 42 seconds. They will be killed at the ring later Sunday.

Hemingway novel

The San Fermin fiesta was made famous internationally by Ernest Hemingway in his 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises.” Most revelers stay up all night or rise early enough to gape from balconies or barricades as hundreds of runners dressed in the traditional white outfit with a red sash make their mad dash.

Animal rights protesters have also become a fixture at the festival in recent years. On the eve of the festival, dozens of semi-naked activists staged a performance simulating speared bulls lying dead on Pamplona’s streets to draw attention to what they see as animal cruelty for the sake of entertainment.

Bullfights are protected under the Spanish Constitution as part of the country’s cultural heritage.