U.S. President Donald Trump insists discussions are going well at the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, despite apparent differences with leaders on issues including the trade war with China, how to handle Iran, the threat posed by North Korea and bringing Russia back into the grouping of the world’s most advanced democracies.

Sunday morning Trump appeared to be softening his stance on his trade war with China.

“I have second thoughts about everything,” when asked about the issue..

Hours later his press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the president’s statement has been “greatly misinterpreted”. She added, “President Trump responded in the affirmative – because he regrets not raising” tariffs on Chinese goods “higher.”

The statement appears to be the White House’s attempt to control the message. Trump often emphasizes that he is the only American leader that can “take on China”, and is betting that his aggressive stance will help him win support from his base as he vies for reelection in 2020.

G-7 leaders here have expressed concern about the escalation, with summit host French President Emmanuel Macron saying he hopes for leaders to pull back from an all-out war.

“I want to convince all our partners that tensions, and trade tensions in particular are bad for everybody,” he said in a speech.

Speaking alongside Trump during their working breakfast meeting, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson publicly refuted Trump’s statement that other leaders have not pressured him to give up the trade war with China, believed to be causing uncertainty in the global economy and volatility in stock markets.

“Just to register the faint, sheep-like note of our view on the trade war, we’re in favor of trade peace on the whole, and dialing it down if we can,” Johnson said.

Johnson is seen as a natural ally to Trump due to similarities in their populist policies and Brexit. 

Disagreement on Iran

During a bilateral meeting with Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Abe strongly condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s recent missile tests.

“Our position is very clear,” Abe said through a translator. “The launch of short range ballistic missiles by North Korea clearly violates U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

The South Korean military first reported on the two projectiles, suspected to be short-range ballistic missiles that North Korea launched on Saturday into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. The launch is the seventh carried out since North Korea ended a 17-month hiatus on testing at the end of July.

Trump sought to downplay the North Korean nuclear threat.

“I can understand how the Prime Minister of Japan feels,” Trump said. “It’s different.  But, I mean, I can understand that fully.”

Trump said he is “not happy” about the tests but did not consider it a violation. He said that the North Korean leader is not the only one testing those missiles.

“We’re in the world of missiles, whether you like it or not,” said Trump. 

Countries have agreed to protect more than a dozen shark species at risk of extinction, in a move aimed at conserving some of the ocean’s most awe-inspiring creatures who have themselves become prey to commercial fishing and the Chinese appetite for shark fin soup.

Three proposals covering the international trade of 18 types of mako sharks, wedgefishes and guitarfishes each passed with a needed two-thirds majority in a committee of the World Wildlife Conference known as CITES on Sunday.

“Today we are one step closer to protecting the fastest shark in the ocean, as well as the most threatened,” said Jen Sawada, who directs The Pew Charitable Trusts shark conservation work.

The move isn’t final but is a key sign before an official decision at its plenary this week.

Conservationists applauded and exchanged hugs after the tallies. Opponents variously included China, Iceland, Japan, Malaysia and New Zealand. The U.S. voted against the mako shark measure, but supported the other two.

Rima Jabado, a shark expert and lead scientist of the Gulf Elasmo project, said many of the species included in the CITES proposals are classified as “critically endangered.” Jabado said there has been an 80% decline in the number of wedgefishes, based on available data.

Like giant guitarfishes, the enigmatic wedgefish has an elongated triangle-shaped head and can be found in oceans in Southeast Asia, the Arabian Sea and East Africa.

Makos are the world’s fastest sharks, reaching speeds of up to 80 mph (nearly 130 kph). But they often get caught up in the nets of fishing trawlers hunting for tuna.

Jabado said some species of sharks and rays are becoming so difficult to find in the wild that scientists only often see them when they are on sale at local fish markets.

“How are we ever going to save these species if we only see them when fishermen bring them in?” she said, adding that even if actions are taken now, it will be decades before shark populations start to recover. Losing more sharks and rays could also have other unintended consequences since they are top ocean predators and help to balance the ecosystems, Jabado said.

Scientists warn that although warming oceans and climate change are also hurting sharks, it is the demand for shark fin soup that is threatening to drive some species to extinction. The Pew Trust estimates that between 63 million and 273 million sharks are killed every year, mostly to feed the shark fin trade centered in Hong Kong.

Dried shark fin can draw up to $1,000 per kilogram. The fins are often turned into shark fin soup, a Chinese delicacy that symbolizes good fortune, in which the gelatinous fin is served in a broth whose recipe dates back to the 10th-century Song Dynasty. Fishermen often slice off a shark’s fin while the animal is still alive before tossing the writhing carcass back into the ocean.

While Chinese celebrities like retired basketball star Yao Ming are trying to persuade diners to abandon the soup, many aren’t convinced.

“Shark fin soup is a Chinese tradition so why should I stop eating it?” Wilson Kwan said outside a seafood restaurant in London’s Chinatown. “I know some people say it’s cruel to sharks, but sharks are killers too.”

Last year, there were an estimated 66 unprovoked shark attacks on humans globally, including four fatalities, according to the Florida Museum, which tracks such incidents. It is exceedingly rare for sharks to bite humans – and when they do, it’s often because they have mistaken them for seals or other prey.

Conservationists say movies like “Jaws” have unfairly maligned society’s perception of sharks and in turn, made it difficult to garner support to protect them.

“People would be outraged if they were serving dolphins in restaurants,” said Graham Buckingham of the British shark group, Bite-Back. “But because it’s a shark, they think it’s perfectly OK.”

Israel says it had attacked Iranian targets in Syria to foil an imminent attack by what it called  Iranian “killer drones” on Israel.

Despite Iranian denials of the attack, the incident has sparked new tensions between Israel and Iran. Israel ordered deployment of its Iron Dome missile to its border with Syria.

It is rare that Israel takes responsibility for air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria, although Israel is believed to have carried out hundreds of these attacks over the past few years. But this time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took credit in a tweet that praised the army’s major operational effort and said that Iran had planned to send killer drones with explosives into Israel. He warned Iran that it had “no immunity anywhere.”

The Israeli army said that four Iranian operatives had recently arrived in Syria to pilot so called Kamikaze drones, each armed with explosives.

The

South Korea has begun two days of war games near a set of disputed islands that are also claimed by Japan. 

The two countries have long disagreed on who has rightful claim to the islands known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese. 

The islands are “obviously an inherent part of the territory of Japan,”  Kenji Kanasugi, the director general of Japan’s foreign ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, told the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo in a statement. 

The drills began Sunday, just days after Seoul decided to scrap a military intelligence sharing agreement with Tokyo. 

The latest flare-up in tensions between the two Asian nations is rooted in Japan’s brutal 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula.  A major source of friction is how to compensate those forced into labor and sexual slavery in the colonist era. 

Japan says the reparation issue was resolved with a 1965 treaty that normalized Japan – South Korea relations.  

Japan has complained that subsequent South Korean governments have not accepted further Japanese apologies and attempts to make amends. 

An Iranian-flagged oil tanker pursued by the U.S. amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington changed its listed destination to a port in Turkey after Greece said it wouldn’t risk its relations with America by aiding it.

Meanwhile, Iran sanctioned a prominent Washington-based think tank that led criticism of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers over its alleged “economic terrorism,” something the organization described as a “badge of honor.”

The crew of the oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as the Grace 1, on Saturday updated its listed destination in its Automatic Identification System to Mersin, Turkey, a port city in the country’s south and home to an oil terminal.

However, mariners can input any destination into the AIS, so Turkey may not be its true destination. Mersin is some 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of a refinery in Baniyas, Syria, where authorities alleged the Adrian Darya had been heading before being seized off Gibraltar in early July.

Iranian state media did not acknowledge the new reported destination of the Adrian Darya, which carries 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil worth some $130 million. Nor was there any immediate reaction from Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan deals directly with Tehran and Russia over Syria’s long war.

The ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com showed the Adrian Darya’s position as just south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. At current speeds, it estimated the Adrian Darya would reach Mersin in about a week.

The State Department said it had “conveyed our strong position to ALL ports in the Mediterranean that should be forewarned about facilitating Grace 1,” without elaborating.

The Adrian Darya’s detention and later release by Gibraltar have added fuel to the growing tensions between Washington and Tehran, after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers over a year ago over concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile program and regional influence. In the time since, Iran lost billions of dollars in business deals allowed by the deal, as the U.S. re-imposed and created sanctions largely blocking Tehran from selling crude oil aboard, a crucial source of hard currency for the Islamic Republic.

In U.S. federal court documents, authorities allege the Adrian Grace’s true owner is Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary organization answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The U.S. declared the Revolutionary Guard a foreign terror organization in April, the first time America named a military force of a nation as such, giving it the legal power to issue a warrant for the vessel’s seizure. However, that would require another nation to acknowledge the writ.

The Adrian Darya had put its intended destination as Kalamata, Greece, even though the port did not have the infrastructure to offload oil from the tanker. The State Department then pressured Greece not to aid the vessel.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to hold the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which it seized in a commando-style raid July 19 after the taking of the Adrian Darya. Analysts suggested the release of the Adrian Darya would see the Stena Impero let go, but that has yet to happen.

Late on Saturday, Iranian state media reported the country’s Foreign Ministry had imposed sanctions on the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and its CEO for its role in promoting sanctions and “economic terrorism” against Iran. Reports accused the foundation and its CEO, Mark Dubowitz, of “intentionally” damaging vital interests of Iran through spreading lies and negative campaigning against Iran.

State media said the sanctions allow judiciary actions against the foundation, Dubowitz and Iranian colleagues. But like U.S. sanctions, they have little effect unless a person actively uses the Iranian financial system. Iran in recent years has sanctioned U.S. government officials and businesses in response to American pressure.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Dubowitz said his think tank “considers its inclusion on any list put out by the regime as a badge of honor.” Later, Dubowitz began describing the move as a “threat,” citing one English-language report by the semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr that said the “taking (of) any actions by the judicial and security apparatuses against the FDD and their Iranian and non-Iranian accomplices will be considered legitimate.”

The State Department similarly described Iran’s move against the foundation as a “threat.”

“The U.S. takes the regime’s threats seriously,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus wrote on Twitter. “We intend to hold Iran responsible for directly or indirectly compromising the safety of any American.”

Also on Saturday, the head of the Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, said it had successfully test-fired a “new missile” a day earlier, but did not elaborate on the type of weapon, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday debuted an Iran-made air-defense missile system, the Bavar-373. In June, Iran shot down an American surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump came close to retaliating but called off an airstrike at the last moment.

Seventy-five years ago, they helped free Europe from the Nazis. This weekend, U.S. veterans are back in Paris to celebrate, and commemorate.

Now in their 90s, these men aren’t afraid to cry about what they saw in World War II. And they want everyone to remember what happened back then, so that it doesn’t happen again.

“The veterans, all the veterans of World War II, I think we saved the world,” said Harold Angle, who came to France with the U.S. 28th Infantry Division in 1944, and recounted his experiences to The Associated Press in Paris. “To be under the domination of a dictatorship like the Hitler regime and some of the terrible, terrible things that they did.

“When you talk about taking little kids out on a firing range and shooting them for target practice….” Emotion choked his voice. “I can’t imagine anybody doing things like that. So I think we really did save the world. The guy had to be stopped.”

Now 96, he’s among Allied veterans, French resistance fighters and others taking part in ceremonies Saturday and Sunday marking the 75th anniversary of the military operation that liberated Paris from Nazi occupation.

Angle, from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, landed in Normandy in 1944 and moved into eastern France, where his division fought through a brutal winter. He saved a piece of a bullet that hit his helmet, and keeps it with a wartime photo of himself and a letter he wrote home to his mother, describing his scrape with death.

Steve Melnikoff, 99, of Cockeysville, Maryland, came ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, with the 29th Infantry Division. It was one of the most pivotal days in the war — but to him, just one of many life-and-death experiences infantrymen faced on the front lines of history’s deadliest conflict.

“What we went through, to do what we did, people don’t realize,” he said. He still has pictures in his head of a fellow soldier falling beside him, and another. Of the muddy holes he called home. Of the German machine guns, each capable of firing thousands of rounds.

War, he says, is “nasty, smelly, terrible.” But he maintains, “it was important for someone to do this,” to stop Hitler from taking over more of the world.

Donald Cobb of Evansville, Indiana, took part in the invasions of Normandy and of southern France from aboard ship, operating high-frequency antennae to detect German submarines and helping load ammunition. He’s back in peaceful Paris this week with the Greatest Generations Foundation, which organizes trips for veterans. He sometimes feels “survivor guilt,” and has one fundamental message for younger generations: “Learn history, and don’t repeat mistakes.”

Harold Radish, now a 95-year-old retired teacher, arrived in France in 1944, fought his way to Germany — and then was captured. Hunger, lice and dysentery dominated life as a prisoner of war. His family in Brooklyn thought they’d never see him again.

As a Jew, he remembers a German guard accusing him, and Wall Street, of starting the war. He remains surprised and grateful to have made it out alive.

He came to Paris later, and reveled in Parisians’ appreciation.

“That’s what’s important about the liberation of Paris, it was a new thing, something good had changed, the world was gonna get a little better. … You came in to Paris, you were a hero. There were the mademoiselles all around.” He smiled. “You know, we, in the prison camp, talked about food constantly. As soon as we were liberated that day, the talk was all sex.”

Gregory Melikian, 95, now a hotel owner in Phoenix, was a high-speed radio operator working at Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters in nearby Versailles when Paris fell.

“It was very important,” he said. “There was only one Paris.”

The fight for the French capital was faster and easier for the Allies than their longer-than-expected battle through Normandy and its gun-filled hedgerows. But it was still messy and deadly, with more than 1,400 Parisians and 3,200 German troops killed.

In May 1945, Melikian was in the Reims high school where the Germans surrendered. As the youngest radio operator available, Eisenhower wanted him to send out the encrypted news of the momentous occasion so that he could talk about it the rest of his life.

“And here I am,” he said, incredulous, “75 years later.”

Six people were injured Saturday when lightning struck a 60-foot pine at the Tour Championship where they were taking cover from rain and showered them with debris, Atlanta police said. 

The third round of the season-ending PGA Tour event at East Lake Golf Club had been suspended for about 30 minutes because of storms in the area, and fans were instructed to seek shelter. The strike hit the top of the tree just off the 16th tee and shattered the bark all the way to the bottom. 

Ambulances streamed into the private club about 6 miles east of downtown Atlanta. The players already had been taken into the clubhouse before the lightning hit. 

Brad Uhl of Atlanta was among those crammed under a hospital tent to the right of the 16th hole that was open to the public. 

“There was just a big explosion and then an aftershock so strong you could feel the wind from it,” Uhl said after the last of the ambulances pulled out of the golf course. “It was just a flash out of the corner of the eye.” 

Atlanta police spokesman James H. White III said five men and one female juvenile were injured in the lightning strike. He said they were taken to hospitals for further treatment, all of them alert, conscious and breathing. 

The PGA Tour canceled the rest of golf Saturday, with the round to resume at 8 a.m. Sunday, followed by the final round. 

Last week at the BMW Championship in the Chicago suburbs, Phil Mickelson was delayed getting to the golf course when lightning struck the top of his hotel, causing a precautionary evacuation. 

Syria’s air defenses responded late Saturday to “hostile” targets over Damascus, shooting down all incoming missiles before they reached their targets, state media reported, while Israel said its air force struck several targets southeast of the capital. 
 
State TV did not give further details about the Israeli attack, which occurred shortly before midnight.   
 
An Israeli military spokesman, Avichay Adraee, tweeted that warplanes struck several targets in the village of Aqraba, southeast of Damascus. He said the strikes aimed to abort a “terrorist attack” that Iran’s Quds Force, an elite wing of the Revolutionary Guard, and other Shiite militias were planning to carry out against Israeli targets.  
 
Israel frequently conducts airstrikes and missile attacks inside war-torn Syria but rarely confirms them. Israel says it targets mostly bases of Iranian forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Syria.  
 
The last such attack occurred Aug. 1, when Syria said Israel carried out a missile attack in the country’s south, causing material damage. 

U.S. President Donald Trump is in Biarritz, France, for the G-7 summit, where he will be meeting world leaders who oppose his stances on many issues, including tariffs, Brexit, climate protection, China, Iran and Russia. 

But in this meeting of the leaders of the world’s major industrialized countries, there could be areas of cooperation where Trump is willing to offer support, or at least not resist: women’s empowerment and Africa. 

French President Emmanuel Macron, as the G-7 2019 president and summit host, has chosen combating inequality as the theme, with gender equality and partnership with Africa as key issues. He will be pushing several initiatives, including the Biarritz Partnership for Gender Equality and Partnership for the African Sahel. Macron also will be calling for renewed support for Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa. 

Despite Trump’s skepticism of foreign aid and his rejection of globalism, including his famous statement in front of the 2018 U.N. General Assembly that the U.S. “will not tell you how to live or work or worship,” his administration has indicated it may support at least some of these initiatives, noting that the White House has launched similar efforts. 

On Sunday Trump will participate in a G-7 working lunch on inequality and a session on the partnership with Africa later in the afternoon. 

Biarritz partnership for gender equality 

Earlier this year, Macron formed a

The Taliban said Saturday that they expected negotiations with the United States to conclude the following day, finalizing a peace deal to end the 18-year-old war in Afghanistan. 

The crucial ninth round in the yearlong dialogue between the two adversaries started Thursday in the traditional venue, the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. Afghan-born U.S. diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad is leading the American team of negotiators.
 
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA on Saturday that the two sides were fleshing out details of a mechanism for U.S.-led foreign troops to withdraw from the country. 

‘We are hopeful’
 
“Inshallah [God willing], this time we are hopeful that each and every thing will be finalized. Work is underway to streamline the mechanism, but there is no such sticking point left that is not agreeable,” Mujahid said. 
 
He said the “mechanism” would outline the nature of an American troop drawdown, areas where it will begin and the duration needed to complete the process. 
 
Mujahid said Taliban and American negotiators would require “one more day” to shape up the details. He spoke to VOA just before the two sides resumed a third day of discussions Saturday night in Doha, Qatar. Mujahid would not discuss the foreign troop withdrawal timeline, nor has the American side shared specifics.  

Pro-Taliban media outlets, meanwhile, released a video message Saturday from the head of the insurgent negotiating team, Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanekzai, claiming his group had brought U.S. and its NATO allies “on their knees” in war. 
 
“I believe that Americans will leave Afghanistan very soon. Americans stand defeated and Afghanistan will again be liberated,” Stanekzai said while addressing his colleagues in the Qatar office just days before he entered into the current round of talks with American interlocutors. 

Stanekzai’s assertions strengthen fears that the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces would embolden the Taliban, and that the insurgents may not uphold their commitments.

Khalilzad plans to travel to Kabul after finishing the talks with the Taliban in Doha, reportedly to share details of the agreement with the Afghan leadership. 
 
Taliban political spokesman Suahil Shaheen, in a recent interview, told VOA the final agreement with the U.S. would be signed in the presence of international guarantors, including Russia, China, Pakistan and other neighbors of Afghanistan, as well as the United Nations. 
 
The U.S.-Taliban deal reportedly could mean the withdrawal of all 20,000 foreign troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2020. 

Residual force
 
Within the first few months, Washington would bring down the number of American forces to about 8,600 from roughly 14,000 now. The residual military force reportedly would remain in Afghanistan to ensure the Taliban are living up to their part of the commitments outlined in the agreement. 
 
Taliban officials have said the deal being negotiated with the U.S. would require the insurgent group to open a peace process with Afghan stakeholders to discuss a cease-fire or reduction in attacks against government forces and matters related to future political governance. 
 
U.S. officials say the Taliban also would be bound to prevent al-Qaida from establishing a safe haven in insurgent-controlled Afghan areas, and to help defeat Islamic State terrorists in the country. 
 
The Afghan branch of Islamic State has intensified its deadly attacks in the country lately, raising questions about whether a U.S.-Taliban deal could end violence in Afghanistan. Last week, Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a wedding ceremony in Kabul that killed more than 80 people and injured about 160 others. Almost all the victims were civilians. 
 
President Donald Trump has been a strong critic of U.S. involvement in overseas wars. He promised during his 2016 presidential campaign that he would extricate America from international conflicts. 
 
Trump appears to be eager to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan before next year’s presidential election. 

Afghan leader

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani’s aides have said a U.S.-Taliban deal must lead to a cease-fire and direct peace talks between the government and insurgents. 
 
Ghani, who is seeking re-election in the presidential vote set for Sept. 28, told a campaign rally in Kabul this week that his administration was determined to hold the election because only an elected government could represent Afghans in peace talks with the Taliban. 
 
The insurgent group refuses to engage in any talks with the government in Kabul, however, dismissing them as American puppets and an outcome of the “foreign invasion” of Afghanistan. The intra-Afghan talks, if and when they start, will include government officials among the delegates representing the Afghan society, but they will not participate as government representatives, Mujahid reiterated Saturday. 

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced Saturday a new state commission to review educational standards for teaching black history in the state, as officials observed the arrival of enslaved Africans to what is now Virginia 400 years ago. 
 
Northam, who noted “we are a state that for too long has told a false story of ourselves,” spoke at the 2019 African Landing Commemorative Ceremony in Hampton. The event was part of a weekend of ceremonies that are unfolding in the backdrop of rising white nationalism across the country and a lingering scandal surrounding Northam and a blackface photo.  

Northam said he signed a directive to create the commission to review instructional practices, content and resources currently used to teach African American history in the state.  
  
“We often fail to draw the connecting lines from those past events to our present day, but to move forward, that is what we must do,” said Northam, a Democrat. “We know that racism and discrimination aren’t locked in the past. They weren’t solved with the Civil Rights Act. They didn’t disappear. They merely evolved.” 
 
In February, Northam faced intense pressure to resign after a racist picture surfaced from his 1984 medical school yearbook page. He denied being in the picture but admitted to wearing blackface as a young man while portraying Michael Jackson at a dance party in the 1980s. 
 
On Saturday, Northam said he has met with people around the state over the past several months to listen to views about inequities that still exist, prompting him to confront “some painful truths.” 
 
“Among those truths was my own incomplete understanding regarding race and equity,” Northam said. “I have learned a great deal from those discussions, and I have more to learn, but I also learned that the more I know, the more I can do.” 

The event was held on Chesapeake Bay, where ships traded men and women from what’s now Angola for supplies from English colonists. The landing in August 1619 is considered a pivotal moment that presaged a system of race-based slavery. 
 
“The legacy of racism continues not just in isolated incidents, but as part of a system that touches every person and every aspect of our lives, whether we know it or not, and if we’re serious about righting the wrong that began here at this place, we need to do more than talk,” Northam said. “We need to take action.” 
 
U.S. Representative Karen Bass, a California Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus and attended the event, said it was important to hear the truth about the nation’s past, “not just the parts that make us feel good, but the difficult parts as well.” 
 
“The sad thing about our nation and why we continue to have the issues we do is because we have denied part of our history, and I believe that if the entire nation could experience, could learn and understand our true and full history, we might not be witnessing the resurrection of hate,” Bass said. 
 

Saturday’s event is one of several commemorating the arrival. A family that traces its roots to the Africans gathered at a cemetery Friday. A bell will ring at the landing spot during Sunday’s “Healing Day.” 
 
Bells also are scheduled to ring Sunday in Vicksburg National Military Park — a Civil War battleground in Mississippi — as well as during events in Alabama. 

In August of 1619, several Africans were brought to Virginia in bondage, beginning more than two centuries of slavery in the United States. 400 years later, scholars at VOA’s town hall with Norfolk State University take a look at slavery’s bitter roots and it’s lasting impacts in the nation.  VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has this report.

Migrants fleeing poverty and the threat of violence have found themselves caught up in fast-shifting U.S. immigration and asylum laws. Under a recently expanded U.S. program, some of those who arrived at a port of entry or were detained upon crossing into the U.S. are forced to await their immigration hearings in Mexico. As a result, migrant families and individuals have found themselves stranded with few resources, second-hand information from acquaintances, and fear for their lives — especially in a Mexican city like Nuevo Laredo known for cartel activity. VOA’s Ramon Taylor and Victoria Macchi report on the widespread confusion that is affecting migrants’ decision to wait and test their chances at asylum, or head home.

U.S. President Donald Trump has arrived in Biarritz, France, to attend the Group of 7 summit, a meeting of the world’s most advanced democracies.

Immediately after his arrival on Saturday, Trump had lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron. The two leaders reiterated their desire to work together as they discuss a range of issues including climate change, Syria, North Korea, Ukraine and Iran this weekend.

Macron called Trump his “special guest.” Dismissing reports of a rift with his host, Trump said that he and Macron “actually have a lot in common” and “have been friends a long time.”

“So far, so good,” Trump said, “The weather is fantastic. Everybody’s getting along. I think we will accomplish a lot this weekend.”

French wine

As he left the White House on Friday night, however, Trump threatened to to impose tariffs on French wine if France imposed a tax on U.S. tech companies.

“If they do that …we’ll be taxing their wine like they’ve never seen before,” Trump said.

Trump first hinted at taxing French wine in a tweet last month.

France just put a digital tax on our great American technology companies. If anybody taxes them, it should be their home Country, the USA. We will announce a substantial reciprocal action on Macron’s foolishness shortly. I’ve always said American wine is better than French wine!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

The United Nations reports nearly two months of heavy rains and flooding in Sudan have wiped out livelihoods, rendered tens of thousands of people homeless and created a humanitarian emergency that needs a swift international response.

At least 54 people are known to have died from the torrential rains that have hit Sudan since the beginning of July.  Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commission reports nearly 194,000 people have been affected and more than 37,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports 15 of Sudan’s 18 states have been affected, with White Nile State taking the biggest hit.

OCHA spokesman, Jens Laerke, said flood victims urgently need emergency shelter, food, health services, and clean water and sanitation.   He says vector control to limit the spread of water-borne diseases by insects is crucial.

“In many places families have lost their livestock which may aggravate already rising food insecurity.   Across Sudan, the number of severely food-insecure people rose to an estimated 5.8 million at the beginning of the lean season in July this year, an increase of more than two million compared with the start of the 2018 season,” Laerke said.

Laerke said many homeless people are living with family and friends. Others are seeking shelter in schools and other public places.  He told VOA the government is responding as best it can by providing tents, sheeting and emergency shelter.

“There has been political turbulence in Sudan of late.  I also mentioned that the government has maintained its coordination of the response.  It is the government’s humanitarian aid commission that is leading the so-called flood task force, which is co-chaired by OCHA,” Laerke said.

The United Nations has appealed for $1.1 billion for humanitarian aid for Sudan this year.  Donors have provided just 30 percent of that amount.  The U.N. estimates it will need an additional $150 million to respond to the most urgent flood needs.  

If that money is not provided, Laerke said funds will have to be re-directed from one place or activity to another to meet immediate emergency needs.  He warned shifting money around in this manner has a negative impact on humanitarian operations as a whole.

Two years ago, Myanmar’s army drew international condemnation for driving more than 750,000 Muslim Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh. This week the Myanmar and Bangladesh governments announced the beginning of a voluntary repatriation plan for many, however not a single person volunteered to go back. Steve Sandford spoke to refugees and rights workers about the prospect of returning home amid security and rights concerns.
 

Kim Dong-hyun and Han Sang-mi contributed to this report, which originated with VOA’s Korean Service.

WASHINGTON — Seoul’s decision to end a military intelligence pact with Tokyo could have far-reaching consequences that could put its own security at risk, reducing its ability to defend against potential North Korean aggression, experts say.

Seoul announced Thursday it would

For years, dozens of scammers from Nigeria and other countries swindled millions of dollars from U.S. businesses and individuals, funneling the stolen money through accounts provided by two fellow Nigerian “brokers” based in Los Angeles.

In the burgeoning underworld of online fraud, Nigerian nationals Velentine Iro and Chukwudi Christogunus Igbokwe were well-known operators who went by a raft of pseudonyms, including “Iro Enterprises” and “Chris Kudon.”

Between 2014 and 2018, Iro and Igbokwe, working with nearly 80 other international swindlers, facilitated a series of schemes that resulted in the theft of at least $6 million and the attempted theft of $40 million more from victims in more than 10 countries, according to a 252-count federal indictment unsealed Thursday.

The scammers victimized individuals and small and large businesses. In targeting businesses, they used a tactic called “business email compromise,” also known as CEO fraud. Under that scheme, a fraudster gains access to a company’s computer system and then, posing as a company executive, tricks an employee into making an unauthorized wire transfer into a bank account the fraudster controls.

The victims

The indictment documents several corporate victims.

In 2014, a San Diego clothing distributor wired nearly $46,000 into a bank account controlled by one of the scammers, believing it was paying a Chinese vendor for an order of men’s shirts.

In 2016, an unidentified Texas company was tricked into wiring $187,000 into a fraudulent account. The company thought it was making a payment for an oil extraction equipment order.

The conspiracy also targeted the elderly and victims of so-called romance scams.

For example, in 2016 a Japanese woman, identified in court documents as F.K., lost more than $200,000 during a 10-month romance scam with a fraudster who impersonated a U.S. Army captain stationed in Syria.

In 2017, an 86-year-old man with dementia and Alzheimer’s wired nearly $12,000 to a bank account controlled by one of the fraudsters.

The Justice Department unsealed the indictment after the arrest of 14 people, including Iro and Igbokwe, early Thursday. Three others were already in custody. Six defendants remain at large in the United States, while authorities are working with partners in nine other countries to arrest 57 others, most of whom are believed to be in Nigeria.

Nigerian statement

In a statement, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Nigerian in Diaspora Commission Chief, urged “those accused in Nigeria to voluntarily turn themselves in to American authorities to clear their names.” She added that Nigeria should extradite the defendants “if relevant international treaties between the two governments are invoked.”

Citing a Justice Department policy, a department spokeswoman declined to say whether the U.S. has made an extradition request. Since 2014, Nigeria has extradited three people wanted in the United States.

While the sheer number of defendants named in the indictment is extraordinary in an online fraud case, the investigation also shed light on the evolving tactics and growing sophistication of scammers. Once targeting mostly individuals, they are increasingly victimizing businesses.

“They were very inclusive as to the fraud they were perpetrating and laundering money for,” said Alma Angotti, a managing director at the consulting firm Navigant in London who advises government and corporate clients on anti-money laundering strategy.

Pervasive

Online fraud has become increasingly pervasive in recent years. In its annual Internet Crime Report in April, the FBI said online theft, fraud and exploitation were responsible for $2.7 billion in financial losses in 2018, up from $1.4 billion in 2017. Meanwhile, romance scams cost Americans $143 million last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The Nigerian fraudsters targeted victims around the world, some of whom lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. At least 16 companies were among the victims.

Iro and Igbokwe, the men at the heart of the scam, hail from the Nigerian city of Owerri, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

Many fraudsters knew them from Owerri. Others were directed to them through middlemen.

“I am known all over the world,” Iro once bragged to a fellow Nigerian con artist, according to the complaint. “Even people I never meet before call me and give me better business.”

For swindlers seeking a temporary haven for stolen funds, Iro and his partner allegedly provided a valuable service.

“They would collect bank account information … field requests for bank account information from co-conspirators all over the world, and then send out bank account information to multiple coconspirators,” according to the complaint.

Using a network of “money exchangers,” they then helped the fraudsters funnel the money out of the country.

The men took a cut of 20% to 50% of each transaction. It was a lucrative business.

In 2017, according to the indictment, Iro and Igbokwe sent at least $5 million to the Nigerian accounts of the fraudsters, family members and themselves, according to the complaint.

Evidence seized by the FBI indicates the two men were using the stolen funds to build large houses in Nigeria.

Comedian Dave Chappelle plans to host a special block party and benefit concert in Ohio for those affected by the recent mass shooting.

Chappelle will be among national and local entertainers planned for the main stage at the “Gem City Shine” event in Dayton Sunday.

WDTN-TV reports the City of Dayton along with the Downtown Dayton Partnership and the Chamber of Commerce will help organize the tribute.

The organizers say the event will be an effort to reclaim the entertainment district after 24-year-old Connor Betts’ 32-second rampage in front of Ned Peppers that killed nine people and left dozens injured Aug. 4.

Chappelle, a resident of nearby Yellow Springs, urges attendees to “live in the moment” by enjoying the experience live rather than recording it on their cellphones.

Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, a stronghold of Islamic State’s Khursan branch, was hit with more than a dozen bomb blasts recently, wounding more than 120 people, including 30 children. Among those children was Basharyar, who fled Afghanistan with his family years ago to neighboring Pakistan. VOA’s Zia Urahman Hasrat reports from Nangarhar.