This Monday is Labor Day in the United States — a holiday linked to workers’ rights and wearing white.

That may sound strange, but it is true. Many Americans put away their white clothes on Labor Day and do not wear them again until the following May, after Memorial Day.

One reason for the clothing custom relates to the season. In the United States, the months between June and September are summer.

The weather is usually hot, including in Northeast cities like Boston, Massachusetts and New York, New York. Many people there historically wore light-colored clothing in the summertime to keep cool.

Judith Martin is an expert on manners – in other words, on how to behave politely. She spoke to Time Magazine about the history of wearing white in the summer.

She said that Americans in the 1800s and early 1900s wore formal clothes all year long. Wearing white clothes in the summertime may have felt more comfortable because “white is of a lighter weight,” Martin said.

Then, in about the 1930s, wearing white clothes in the summertime became fashionable, too. That is because some wealthy Americans in Northeast cities went on vacation for weeks or months in the summer. They stayed in costly hotels or summer houses. The white clothes they wore there became linked to ease, beauty and money.

But at the end of summer, around Labor Day, they put those white clothes away and returned to their lives in the city – as well as to their darker, heavier clothes. In time, not wearing white after Labor Day became a bit of a fashion rule. Following it showed that you were wealthy — or at least that you knew how to act like you were.

Today’s fashion magazines, however, advise readers to ignore the rule. They point to Coco Chanel, Kim Kardashian and Michelle Obama, who have appeared in white in all seasons.

But you may want to be careful about wearing white to an American-style Labor Day barbecue. 

The trouble is not fashion – it is ketchup. If it spills, the popular red tomato sauce can ruin a nice set of clothes.

Hundreds of people arrived in more than a dozen dinghies to the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos in a single afternoon, Greek authorities and aid groups said Friday, a significant increase in the numbers of refugees and migrants heading to Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast.
 
The coast guard confirmed that 13 boats carrying a total of 546 people arrived on Lesbos in the space of about an hour on Thursday, while another 32 people in another boat were rescued at sea and transported to Lesbos. A further 65 were rescued in two separate incidents off the island of Kos and the northern mainland town of Alexandroupolis.
 
Hundreds of people continue to head to Greece from Turkey each week, despite a European Union-Turkey deal restricting new arrivals to the islands pending deportation or a successful asylum application. But Thursday’s mass arrival was the largest of its kind since 2016, when the EU-Turkey deal came into effect, medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said on Twitter.

The EU-Turkey deal has led to a massive bottleneck on the eastern Aegean islands, where asylum seekers are housed in massively overcrowded camps, with aid groups frequently criticizing conditions. People deemed to be in vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, those with serious health problems or the very young, are the only ones transported to the mainland and housed in camps or apartments.
 
Official figures released Friday showed that more than 10,000 people were being held in Lesbos in a facility with a capacity of 3,000 people, while there was also severe overcrowding on the islands of Chios, Leros, Kos and Samos.

The Pakistani prime minister’s call for the country to show solidarity with Kashmiris by standing outside their homes, shops and offices for 30 minutes Friday seemed to receive a lackluster response. Many questioned its efficacy.

“Whatever they’re doing is without any planning. This kind of agitation is not effective. The public doesn’t think this will help Kashmir,” said trader Malik Tahir Mahmood, standing outside his shop in capital Islamabad.

Another shopkeeper, Shahwez Khattak, said he will follow what others in the market do regarding the protest, but added that he did not understand the actions.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced the measure to protest India’s recent decision to revoke the special status of Indian-controlled Kashmir — depriving the region of hitherto-granted autonomy. To avoid retaliation from the local population, the Indian government deployed thousands of additional security personnel, announced a curfew, suspended all phone service, and shut down television channels, effectively cutting off the region from the rest of the world.

Pakistan, which claims ownership of the disputed territory, responded by ousting the Indian high commissioner and partially cutting trade and transport links with India.

Government push

Khan said Friday’s protests would help generate international media coverage and bring Kashmir’s issue into focus.

Significant government resources were used to try to make the event a success. Employees in many government departments were told to show up to the prime minister’s secretariat to listen to his speech, and students from government schools were led to road sides and given small flags to wave.

Local TV channels, public and private, were ordered to run Kashmir-related programs as well as display a logo on their screens reading “Kashmir will become Pakistan.”

No flights were to take off during the 30 minutes starting at noon local time, and all trains were to stop for a minute at noon. All traffic lights were to turn red for half an hour. At exactly 12 p.m., national anthems of both Pakistan and Kashmir were to be played on most TV and radio channels.

Forced participation

However, the participation from the public seemed mostly forced, rather than voluntary.

In capital Islamabad, where shops normally start closing around noon for Friday prayers, many decided to close early. Traffic flow was normal and other than a few cars here and there, no one stopped at noon until traffic police blocked all intersections and forced people to wait for 30 minutes.

At one such intersection, a VOA team recorded people arguing with the traffic police.  

Still, some people agreed with the PM’s step.

“The whole world will watch us and realize Kashmir’s issue is real,” said real estate broker Chaudhry Azhar.

Another man, Abu Bakr Chawla, said any actions that avoided conflict were good.

“We don’t want war. We want things to be resolved peacefully,” he said.

The nationwide demonstrations are supposed to take place weekly till Sept. 27, when the PM will address the United Nations General Assembly.

This week, on #VOAOurVoices: from afro beats and South Africa’s hypnotic gqom music, to the Ivorian sounds of Coupé-Decalé, African artists continue to reinvent the rhythms of Africa – and the world is taking note. This week, our hosts are joined by David Vandy, from VOA’s The African Beat. Together, they explore the global influence and reach of African music, and how that expansion benefits artists from the continent. In our #WomentoWatch segment, we highlight the women who are pushing the sounds of Africa to a new level, and feature a live performance from singer-songwriter ToluMiDe.

Among protesters on the streets of Kong Kong are many who are prompted by their religious faith.  Christians, like others in Hong Kong, are divided in their politics, but as Mike O’Sullivan reports, Christians in the pro-democracy movement say they hope to be a voice for peaceful change.
 

Scientists warn that Greenland’s melting ice sheet is a real doomsday scenario.  Rising temperatures and record heat this summer accelerated what has already been a much faster thaw than seen in previous years. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
 

An unusual regatta took place in Northern Virginia as thousands gathered in Reston to watch a cardboard boat race! More than 150 participants used duct tape, cardboard, their imagination and engineering skills to stay afloat as long as possible. Maxim Moskalkov went to Reston to watch the extraordinary regatta.
 

Villagers in Chakothi in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir are frustrated with living in constant fear of fighting along the heavily militarized frontier in the disputed Himalayan region.

Their situation has been exacerbated since India’s government, led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, imposed a security lockdown and communications blackout just over the Line of Control from Chakothi in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which is majority Muslim.

The move followed the Indian government’s Aug. 5 decision to downgrade the region’s autonomy, raising tensions with Pakistan and touching off anger in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

“India has been killing our brothers and sisters in Indian-occupied Kashmir and the world is silent,” 65-year-old Mohammad Nazir Minhas told reporters Thursday. “It compels us to say that freedom will come only through war. We are ready.”

Journalists were escorted to the village in Pakistan-held Kashmir by the military to show them the plight of villagers living along the frontier. From where Minhas stood, an Indian post could be seen without using binoculars.

Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety. Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over the disputed region since gaining independence from British rule in 1947.

India on Thursday said it has information that Pakistan is trying to infiltrate “terrorists” into the country to carry out attacks amid rising tensions between the two countries. 

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Ghafoor rejected the Indian claims, saying Pakistan was a responsible state and “we would be insane to allow infiltration” across the Line of Control.

Minhas, who said he lost his daughter in 1971 when she was shot in the chest by a soldier firing from the Indian side, is among local Kashmir residents who say they often spend sleepless nights because of nearby skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian forces.

The nuclear-armed rivals were close to going to war again in February, when a suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 40 paramilitary soldiers. India responded by bombing an alleged terrorist training camp in Pakistan. Pakistan then claimed it shot down two Indian air force planes and captured an Indian pilot who was later released amid signs of easing tensions.

The restrictions on Indian Kashmir have been easing slowly, with some businesses reopening, some landline phone service restored and some grade schools holding classes again, though student and teacher attendance has been sparse.

But tensions between India and Pakistan are high. 

“Even last night, there was an intense exchange of fire here,” said Mohammad Salman, 75, a Chakothi resident as he stood in the middle of a deserted market. The market stands about 200 meters (220 yards) from the region’s “Friendship Bridge,” which was opened for a much-awaited bus service in 2005.

Pakistan suspended the bus service and trade with India in response to the Aug. 5 changes to Kashmir’s status by New Delhi. Pakistan has also expelled the Indian ambassador and closed train service to and from India. 

Pakistan has indicated it may soon also close its airspace for Indian overflights, forcing them to take longer routes.

Residents of Pakistani Kashmir hail these measures, but they complain the government never constructed community bunkers to protect them from gunfire from the Indian side. 

“When our children go out to play, we don’t know whether they will come back alive as India opens fire ruthlessly,” said Mohammad Sajid, 45, as he stood at a nearby mosque. 

Authorities say mortar fired across the Line of Control divides Indian and Pakistani Kashmir struck a home in the village of Kail a day before, killing three civilians.

Pakistan’s army says it only returns fire when there is a cease-fire violation by India.

“Our response is always measured and we only target those Indian posts from where fire hits our civilian population,” Ghafoor, the army spokesman, told reporters. He said their troops cannot “ruthlessly return fire like the Indians do” because it could cause civilian casualties on the other side of Kashmir where divided families live.

India accuses Pakistan of training and arming insurgent groups that have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies. Pakistan says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to these groups.

Most Kashmiris support the rebels’ demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control. 

Villagers at Chakothi say they are waiting for the time when they will “ruin the Line of Control” to hoist Pakistan’s flag in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Ukrainian prisoners, including sailors and filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, are flying back to Ukraine after a prisoner swap was completed with Russia, according to comments that were reposted on Facebook by Ukraine’s general prosecutor.

The general prosecutor’s spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Russia had transferred Sentsov from a remote Arctic prison to custody in Moscow amid talks with Kyiv on a possible prisoner swap, news agencies TASS and Interfax reported Thursday.
 

Anger remained high Thursday as relatives began the slow, tearful task of mourning and burying the 28 people who died horrendously when gang members set a bar on fire after blocking its exits. 

The families complained that criminals are out of control and making life impossible in this southern Mexico oil town.

At least seven of the victims were buried Thursday, with the 3-year-old daughter of one woman, Xochitl Irineo Gomez, waving goodbye to her mother after her coffin was placed into the ground.

Vanessa Galindo Blas, 32, leaned over the brown metal coffin of her common-law husband, Erick Hernandez Enriquez, 29, who had dreamed of becoming a famous deejay. He was working at the club to support his three children.

“He wanted to be famous,” she sighed. “Look what they did to him.”

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the Coatzacoalcos attack “degrades us as a society, as a government, as a nation,” adding that crime and violence is the problem that worries him most.

Veracruz state, where Coatzacoalcos is located, has been one of many hot spots for that violence. Thousands have been kidnapped and disappeared in the state and in April gunmen broke into a family party and opened fire, killing 13 people and wounding at least four others.

Businessmen say gangs in Coatzacoalcos demand protection money from business owners, and at least two other bars were burned down in Coatzacoalcos in July to enforce such demands.

Authorities are searching for the men who burst into the White Horse nightclub late Tuesday, taking over the entrance at gunpoint and dousing it with gasoline and setting the bar afire.  The attack was apparently carried out by the Jalisco drug cartel in retaliation for the bar owner’s refusal to pay extortion demands.

But the state governor has acknowledged that authorities had several of the suspects in custody earlier on other crimes – but allowed them to be released.

Relatives of those killed at the White Horse bar said they have lost trust in authorities.

“We don’t want a war, but we do want more firm action,” Miguel Angel Ortiz said Wednesday as he waited for official confirmation that his mother, cleaning woman Rocio Gonzalez Ramos, 53, was among the dead.

“The justice system is upside down in Mexico,” Ortiz said. “Those who carry illegal weapons go free.”

Alicia Sierra, whose nephew Habib Ojeda Sierra, a 23-year-old grocery store worker and father of two, was among those killed, said she doesn’t want his death “to go unpunished, as have so many other crimes,” referring to the April killings.

“They should turn these suspects over to the people” so justice can be done, Sierra said, “because they (authorities) are just going to set them free.”

Lopez Obrador has said “violence cannot be fought with more violence,” and has praised soldiers who have held fire even as they were disarmed by mobs. He says his programs of scholarships and apprenticeships will eventually attack the root causes of crime.

He has spoken of addressing Mexico’s crime problems with “hugs, not bullets,” and has insisted that Mexicans are “happy, happy, happy.”

Officials of his administration have even begun talks with vigilante groups, many of which are linked to drug cartels, though Lopez Obrador says he disapproved of those talks.

But patience in Coatzacoalcos was thin among the families preparing for funeral services for those who died of burns and smoke inhalation at the bar.

Lenit Enriquez Orozco, who has led a group of relatives of the disappeared in Coatzacoalcos, after her own brother vanished in 2015, said drug cartels “are feeling very empowered.”

“Lopez Obrador says the people are happy, but this is not what you would call being happy,” she said, motioning toward the grieving families of the nightclub victims.

Anti-crime activist and businessman Raul Ojeda said the attack had all the hallmarks of an unmet demand for extortion payments. He said the Zetas and the Jalisco New Generation cartels and local gangs are currently fighting over control of the city

“They have been threatening all the businesses like that,” Ojeda said. “The ones that don’t pay close down or pay the consequences, as in this case.”

Lopez Obrador said local prosecutors should be investigated because “the alleged perpetrators had been arrested, but they were freed.” Veracruz Gov. Cuitlahuac Garcia identified the chief suspect as a man known as “La Loca” and gave his name as Ricardo “N” because officials no longer give the full names of suspects.

Garcia said the man had been detained by marines in July, but was released after being turned over to the state prosecutor’s office.

The state prosecutor’s office disputed that version, saying it had turned the man over to federal officials.

Gambia’s first president after independence from Britain in 1965, Dawda Jawara, was buried Thursday in Banjul, the capital.

Speaker of The Gambia National Assembly, Mariam Jack Denton, said he was known for his integrity, kindness and sense of humour.

“Our hearts are heavy with this lost. He was an ardent promoter of human rights. He was a patriot and a true son of this country.”

Sedia Jatta, one of the opposition leaders who contested 1987 elections against Dawda Jawara, described his former opponent as a democrat and a tolerant person.

“We are not only here to pay homage to who brought independence to this country, but to learn from the challenges he faced as a leader. We have to learn tolerance from him.”

Gambia President Adama Barrow said: “It is with deep regret that I deliver this statement on this solemn occasion. The entire Gambian nation is in a state of mourning. We are mourning because our nation has lost its first premier, prime minister and president for over 30 years.”

Dawda Jawara, who died Tuesday at age 95, was a Glassgow trained veterinary doctor who ruled the small West African country from independence to 1994 when he was overthrown in a bloodless military coup led by Yahya Jammeh who ruled the country for 22 years.

He sought refuge in the U.K. where he lived with his family up to 2002, when he returned home after President Yahya Jammeh granted him amnesty and returned his assets, which were seized by a Commission of Inquiry established by the military junta to investigate cabinet members and officials of the previous regime.

This story originated in

The owner of Timberland, Vans and several other shoe and clothing brands says it has stopped buying leather from Brazil as fires continue to destroy the Amazon rainforest in that country.

VF Corp. says it won’t purchase leather and hide from Brazilian suppliers until it’s assured that the materials “do not contribute to environmental harm in the country.”

The current fires in the Amazon were set by those who are clearing the forest for cattle ranching and crops. About 60% of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil.

VF, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, says a small amount of the leather it buys comes from Brazil, but didn’t provide specific numbers. 

Besides Timberland boots and Vans sneakers, VF also makes The North Face jackets, Eastpak backpacks and Dickies clothing. 

Britain’s Princess Charlotte will soon be starting school, and she’ll have her older brother to help her get used to a new place.

Kensington Palace said Thursday that the 4-year-old princess will attend her first day of school on Sept. 5.

Charlotte and 6-year-old Prince George will be students at Thomas’s Battersea school in London.

The palace says parents Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, will take their two oldest children to school that day.

 Australian universities will be required to work with security agencies to ensure they guard against undue foreign interference, Minister for Education Dan Tehan said on Wednesday.

Foreign students are worth about A$35 billion ($23.64 billion) a year to the Australian economy, with Chinese students accounting for about a third of that figure.

But after a spate of cyberattacks and fears that China could influence research and students, Tehan said a task-force of university representatives and security agencies would be set up.

“Universities are an attractive target given their research across a range of fields and the intellectual property this research generates,” Tehan said in a speech in Canberra. The task-force would ensure universities had sufficient cyber defenses, he said.

In June, the Australian National University said hackers had in 2018 breached its cyber defenses to obtain sensitive data, including students’ bank account numbers and passport details, going back 19 years.

Australia has not identified the culprits behind that attack.

The task-force would also ensure academic research and students are free from any undue influence, Tehan said.

This month, Australia’s most populous state said it was scrapping a Chinese-funded education program that teaches Mandarin in several university amid fears of foreign influence. Asked about the steps, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it was nonsense to suggest China was seeking to infiltrate Australia.

“Politicizing cooperation in education and artificially putting up barriers is not good for either side and does not enjoy popular support,” he told a daily news briefing.

“We hope the Australian side can objectively view China-Australia cooperation in all areas, cherish the fruits of bilateral cooperation and do more to benefit Sino-Australia friendship and mutual trust.”

Relations between Australia and China have been strained in recent years over Australian fears of Chinese activity, both in Australia and the Pacific region.

In 2017, then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull accused China of meddling in domestic affairs. China denied it.

Tension between the two countries was exacerbated again this week with confirmation of the arrest in China of a Chinese-born Australian writer on suspicion of espionage.

Haiti’s president says he will serve out his term despite rising violence, poor economic performance and months of protests over unresolved allegations of corruption in his predecessor’s administration.

President Jovenel Moise pledged in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday to respect the findings of a commission investigating the corruption allegations.
 
“It takes a lot of courage to stay in power, but I am pledging to you to have the courage to continue moving forward,” Moise said, saying he would resist pressure to resign.
 
Moise was named in two reports resulting from a corruption investigation by judicial authorities into the spending of funds from Petrocaribe, a Venezuelan government program that provided subsidized oil to Caribbean nations. Protesters have repeatedly taken to the streets in recent months in demonstrations prompted by the findings of widespread fraud in government contracts awarded to contractors to build roads, buildings and administer social programs.
 
Moise was described as receiving potentially improper payments as a private contractor to build a road in northern Haiti before he became president.
 
The audits revealed millions of dollars of aid money siphoned off by contractors for shoddy and substandard work, like an overpass built over busy Delmas avenue that cost more than $30 million, but should have cost around $2 million.
 
Once revealed, the extent of the corruption sparked widespread protests and street violence, and calls for Moise to step down.
 
Moise has refused to resign, though he promised to criminally charge anyone found by the audit board to have stolen funds from the government.
 
“Of course we must know the truth and the truth about this investigation must be released. That is very important. The investigation must reveal the truth so that justice can be served and the guilty jailed. Those who misspent the government’s money, they should be arrested and locked up,” Moise said Wednesday.
 
The protests, economic downturn and increasing insecurity and gang-related crime have made Moise’s political future uncertain despite his determination to stay in power.
 
Moise said he was not concerned about more allegations of his involvement in potentially improper contracting, saying: “The judicial audit does not involve the executive branch. This is a concern of the judicial branch.”
 
The president insisted that Haiti must move beyond the crisis and let the judicial process play  out.
 
“We must go beyond talking about the survival of the government, because political stability in Haiti is the most important thing for us,” he said. “If the opposition wants power they must participate in democratic elections and win the vote of the people.”
 

The World Health Organization warns of serious consequences if nations do not take immediate action to stop the escalation of measles infections, which have reached alarming new heights. 

Nearly 365,000 cases of measles have been reported globally so far this year, the highest number since 2006.  The World Health Organization says that is almost three times as many cases than at the same time last year.  And, with four more months left in 2019, it warns more bad news is in store.

The WHO said measles is increasing in all regions of the world, with the exception of the Americas.  WHO Director of the Department of Immunization Vaccines and Biologicals Kate O’Brien said the world is backsliding and is not on track to eliminate the dangerous, but largely preventable disease by 2020.

“We are absolutely backsliding on the measles situation and that is extremely worrying for, certainly the health of children,” O’Brien said.  “Absolutely the health as well of adolescents and adults as I mentioned … And, it also signals that there is a complacency in some way about our immunization systems.”  

A European regional report finds four countries, Albania, Czech Republic, Greece and Britain have lost their measles elimination status.  However, Austria and Switzerland attained elimination status, having interrupted transmission of the disease for at least 36 months.

O’Brien said children are not getting vaccinated against the disease for a variety of reasons.  She told VOA it sometimes is physically difficult for parents to go to a clinic to have their child vaccinated.  She said vaccine hesitancy and complacency, as well as misinformation about the safety of vaccines play a role.

“We do see in high income countries to some degree there are small, well-defined communities that have religious or ethnic or social beliefs where a community as a whole is declining vaccines,” O’Brien said. 

On the other hand, O’Brien notes in countries of conflict and other fragile settings, getting and delivering life-saving vaccines to the populations is often very difficult.

She said she is very concerned about the politicization of vaccines. She said vaccines have no role in political conflict and should never be used in this way.

Jet-car speed racer Jessi Combs, known by fans as the “fastest woman on four wheels,” has died in a crash in Oregon’s Alvord Desert while trying to break a speed record, local authorities said Wednesday.

Combs, 39, died Tuesday afternoon while racing in a dry lake bed in a desert in remote Harney County, sheriff’s Lt. Brian Needham said in a statement. The cause is under investigation.

Terry Madden, Combs’ teammate on the North American Eagle racing team, said in an Instagram post Wednesday that he was heartbroken and added a video collage of photos and video clips of Combs with various team members.

“She was the most amazing spirit that I have ever or will ever know,” Madden wrote.

“Unfortunately we lost her yesterday in a horrific accident, I was the first one there and trust me we did everything humanly possible to save her.”

Combs was widely known in the niche sport of jet-car racing and was attempting to break the Women’s Land Speed Record of 512 mph (823 kph) set in 1976 by Kitty O’Neil when she died. Jet cars are race cars propelled by jet engines.

She currently held the record as the fastest woman on four wheels — O’Neil piloted a three-wheeled vehicle — for a 398 mph performance in 2013 and had driven even faster in follow-up runs, but mechanical problems prevented those from making the record books.In an Instagram post on Sunday, Combs indicated that she hoped to break O’Neil’s record in the Oregon desert.

She wrote, “People say I’m crazy. I say, ‘thank you.’”

In a statement, Combs’ family said her “most notable dream was being the fastest woman on Earth.”

Combs, who was born in Rapid City, South Dakota and lived in Long Beach, California, dabbled in snowboarding earlier in life and was also an accomplished artist and craftswoman, according to a biography on North American Eagle, her racing team.

She studied automotive design and fabrication and appeared as a host on Spike TV’s Extreme 4X4 before a freak accident with a piece of heavy machinery that broke her spine.

After months of rehabilitation, Combs recovered and appeared on and guest hosted a number of TV shows, including Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters” while honing her skills as a professional driver for movies and commercials.

The Alvord Desert is an extremely remote and sparsely populated region in southeastern Oregon, about 400 miles (643 kilometers) southeast of Portland.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says if the United States wants to engage in negotiations, it must observe the 2015 agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief.

Speaking Thursday during a visit to Malaysia, Zarif accused the United States of “engaging in economic terrorism against the Iranian people.”

He pointed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 deal, which Iran agreed to after two years of talks with the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the European Union.

“We did not leave that mechanism.  We are still sitting around the table with five other countries and the EU.  The United States was the sixth country, which decided to leave,” Zarif said.  “So if it wants to come back to the room, there is a ticket that they need to purchase, and that ticket is to observe the agreement.”

Trump has been a sharp critic of the nuclear deal, saying it was too friendly to Iran and left it with too easy of a potential path to developing nuclear weapons.  Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

Trump said earlier this week that in new negotiations his administration would be focused on not only banning Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but also place limits on its ballistic missile program, which is not included in the 2015 agreement.  He also wants the measures to be in place for longer than the 10-year period called for in the original deal.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said if new talks are to take place, Trump must “take the first step” and lift economic sanctions against Iran.

The two countries do not have diplomatic relations, and as they stake out their positions with public statements both have said this week they are not looking to ratchet up tensions.

“We are not seeking conflict with Iran,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

That followed Zarif’s comments Tuesday stating that while Iran is not seeking to intensify disagreements with the United States, Iran believes “every nation should be allowed to exercise its own rights under international law.”

China’s military has rotated a new batch of troops into Hong Kong describing the move as routine, state media said Thursday, as protests against Beijing continue to rock the Asian financial hub. 

Asian and Western diplomats in Hong Kong watching the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) movements had been expecting a routine rotation about this time and will be looking closely for any sign of increased numbers or unusual activity.

Hong Kong has been engulfed in angry and sometimes violent protests against the government for three months, sparked by a now-suspended extradition bill and concerns that Beijing was trying to bring the territory under greater mainland control. 

The protests are the greatest political threat to Hong Kong’s government since the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997, and one of the biggest popular challenges to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.