Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS), the country’s intelligence agency, released a video showing its special forces attacking Islamic State sleeper cells in rural areas of Kabul on Wednesday.  The agency also says it arrested a key member of the terror group this week accused of coordinating suicide attacks and managing suicide bombers in the capital. 

The way we use land could be the key to adapting to climate change — or the final nail in the planet’s coffin, according to a landmark climate assessment from the United Nations on Thursday.

Human use directly impacts 70 percent of the ice-free land on Earth, and we’re degrading about a quarter of it, wrote the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in the report.

“Land is both a source and a sink of greenhouse gases,” says the 1,000 page document,  which found that land has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the planet since the pre-industrial age. The warming is leading to more frequent and severe droughts in some areas and extreme precipitation in others, as well as more heat waves. 

Those weather events, along with rising sea levels, thawing permafrost and more, are degrading our land and risking the food chains that billions of people rely on, the U.N. warned.

Cereal grain prices, for example, could increase by 7.6 percent by 2050, prompting the report to note, “The most vulnerable people will be more severely affected.” Increased levels of carbon dioxide are also making plants less nutritious.

Plants, animals face changes

And as deserts and arid climate zones expand, coupled with shrinking polar climate zones, plants and animals “have experienced changes in their ranges, abundances and shifts in their seasonal activities,” according to the report.

Scientists at  a Thursday news conference on the report, however, emphasized that Earth isn’t yet a lost cause.

“We don’t want a message of despair,” science panel official and Imperial College London professor Jim Skea told the Associated Press news agency. “We want to get across the message that every action makes a difference.”

Solutions offered

The report offered a range of land-based solutions, including sustainable food production, better forest and soil management, more ecosystem conservation and land restoration, reduced deforestation and degradation, and reduced food loss and waste.

But humans need to be careful. Though a third of the food produced on Earth is wasted or lost, according to the report, solutions that compete with farming for land could worsen desertification and land degradation and risk people’s food security. Irrigation can put salt in soil or deplete groundwater. When peatlands and other natural carbon reservoirs are disturbed by humans or extreme weather events, carbon dioxide accumulated over centuries can escape.

“There is a lack of knowledge” of the limits and side effects of adapting to climate change, the report acknowledged.

Action a must

But worse than taking action is doing nothing, scientists at the report’s release Thursday said. Forests and other forms of natural carbon storage won’t always be around, as business-friendly governments like those in Brazil capitalize on natural resources like timber from the Amazon Rainforest.

“This additional gift from nature is limited. It’s not going to continue forever,” said study co-author Louis Verchot, a scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia to the AP. “If we continue to degrade ecosystems, if we continue to convert natural ecosystems, we continue to deforest and we continued to destroy our soils, we’re going to lose this natural subsidy.”

China on Thursday denounced rules unveiled by the U.S. that ban technology giant Huawei and other Chinese firms from government contracts as “abuse of state power” in the latest move in the escalating China-U.S. trade war.

The interim rule, which will preclude any U.S. federal agency from purchasing telecom or technology equipment from the firms, is part of a sweeping effort by Washington to restrict Huawei, which officials claim is linked to Chinese intelligence.

“The abuse of state power by the United States to unscrupulously and deliberately throw mud at and suppress specific Chinese enterprises seriously undermines the image of the United States and its own interests,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

“We firmly support the relevant Chinese companies in taking up legal weapons to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests,” she said in an online statement.

The ban on Chinese tech firms comes amid a heated dispute between the two economic powers over international trade rules.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese imports and formally branded Beijing as a currency manipulator on Monday, in response to a drop in value of the yuan.

Huawei also faces moves from Washington to blacklist the Chinese tech firm citing national security concerns, cutting it off from American-made components it needs for products — though it was issued a 90-day reprieve in May.

That ban could prevent Huawei from getting key hardware and software including smartphone chips and elements of the Google Android operating system.

The latest restrictions unveiled on Wednesday also bar contracts to Chinese firms ZTE, Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company and Dahua Technology Company.

The rules, which require a 60-day comment period, implement a ban included in the defense authorization act Congress approved earlier this year.

Huawei said it would challenge the move in federal court.

 

Hundreds of Beatles fans came together outside London’s Abbey Road Studios on Thursday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band making one of the most iconic album covers of all time.

Fans mobbed the pedestrian crossing exactly five decades on from the moment when Britain’s legendary Fab Four walked across for the photo that was used on the sleeve of their final studio album, “Abbey Road”.

The shot of John Lennon leading band mates Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and George Harrison over the zebra crossing is instantly recognised all over the world.

Beatles tribute band Fab Gear pulled up in a psychedelic Rolls-Royce and recreated the moment, as fans halted the traffic.

Mary Anne Laffin, 66, flew in from New York to be at what she called a “holy shrine”.

As a youngster, she ran on the pitch when The Beatles played at New York’s Shea Stadium in 1966.

“I was 12 years old, saved up $5.50 to get a ticket and it was like being in heaven for 38 minutes,” the midwife said.

“I was overcome, climbed over all the seats and ran, trying to get to the stage. I got carted off by the police.”

She added: “It’s exciting to see all these people that also love them, and how much they’ve meant to the world.”

The idea stemmed from a sketch by McCartney of stickmen on the zebra crossing.

The picture was taken at around 11:35 am on August 8, 1969 by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan.

The time of day was chosen to avoid fans, who knew that the band typically turned up at the studios in the mid-afternoon.

Macmillan stood on a stepladder in the street, while a policeman stopped the traffic.

Macmillan took six frames, of which the fifth one was used — the only one with the band stepping in unison over the six zebra stripes.

The photo shoot was over in about 10 minutes.

– Conspiracy theories –

The album’s final recordings were done 12 days later on August 20.

“Abbey Road” was released on September 26 — six days after Lennon privately told his band mates he was quitting the group.

The album contained 17 tracks, including Harrison’s “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun”, Starr’s “Octopus’s Garden”, Lennon’s “Come Together”, and the closing medley of scraps of unfinished songs largely by McCartney.

The front cover, unusually, did not feature the name of the band or the album. However, the record, and its sleeve became cherished classics.

The cover also fuelled the “Paul Is Dead” conspiracy theory.

Some people believed that McCartney having a cigarette in his right hand despite being left-handed proved he was an imposter, and saw hidden messages in him walking out of step with the others and being barefoot.

– Pilgrimage site –

Abbey Road Studios is in St. John’s Wood, a wealthy residential part of northwest London, and McCartney still lives a few streets away.

Some 190 of The Beatles’ 210 songs were recorded at the world’s first purpose-built recording studio.

It has drawn Beatles pilgrims from across the world ever since, with countless fans having walked over the zebra crossing, replicating the picture.

The crossing is also continuously live-streamed on the studio’s website.

The crossing gained Grade II protected status in 2010, meaning that it is recognised as nationally important and of special interest.

“It was very emotional and moving. There was an aura about it,” said Janet Barnett, 68, from Broadstairs in southeast England, after joining in the 50th anniversary celebrations.

Chris Barnett, 63, added: “They changed music forever. They sang about love and peace and you could feel that.

“In another 50 years, people will still be here doing it.”

 

China has demanded that U.S. diplomats based in Hong Kong stop meddling in matters involving the city after a diplomat reportedly met with pro-democracy activists.

The foreign ministry said Thursday it expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with U.S. officials over a U.S. consulate official’s reported meeting with a local “independence group.”

The ministry called on the the U.S. consulate to “immediately make a clean break with various anti-China rioters” and to “stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs immediately.”

The Hong Kong newspaper Takungpao reported U.S. Consulate General political counselor Julie Eadeh met with members of the pro-democracy political party Demosisto, including prominent activist Joshua Wong.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told AFP representatives of the U.S. government “meet regularly with a wide cross section of people across Hong Kong and Macau.”

China has claimed the anti-government protests in Hong Kong are funded by the West, but has failed to produce evidence other than supportive statements from some Western politicians.

Tensions in the semi-autonomous region are high after two months of protests that have sometimes turned violent.

The unrest was initially triggered in June by a planned bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to China to face trial.

The protests have since evolved into a movement for democratic reforms.

Demosisto maintains it is fighting for more self-determination for Hong Kong and not independence.
 

On the ground, climate change is hitting us where it counts: the stomach — not to mention the forests, plants and animals.

A new United Nations scientific report examines how global warming and land interact in a vicious cycle. Human-caused climate change is dramatically degrading the land, while the way people use the land is making global warming worse.

Thursday’s science-laden report says the combination is making food more expensive, scarcer and even less nutritious.

“The cycle is accelerating,” said NASA climate scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig, a report co-author. “The threat of climate change affecting people’s food on their dinner table is increasing.”

But if people change the way they eat, grow food and manage forests, it could help save the planet from a far warmer future, scientists said.

Land warming faster

Earth’s land masses, which are only 30% of the globe, are warming twice as fast as the planet as a whole. While heat-trapping gases are causing problems in the atmosphere, the land has been less talked about as part of climate change. A special report, written by more than 100 scientists and unanimously approved by diplomats from nations around the world at a meeting in Geneva, proposed possible fixes and made more dire warnings.

“The way we use land is both part of the problem and also part of the solution,” said Valerie Masson-Delmotte, a French climate scientist who co-chairs one of the panel’s working groups. “Sustainable land management can help secure a future that is comfortable.”

The report said climate change has worsened land degradation, caused deserts to grow, permafrost to thaw and made forests more vulnerable to drought, fire, pests and disease. That’s happened even as much of the globe has gotten greener because of extra carbon dioxide in the air. Climate change has also added to other forces that have reduced the number of species on Earth.

“Climate change is really slamming the land,” said World Resources Institute researcher Kelly Levin, who wasn’t part of the study but praised it.

And the future could be worse.

Less-nutritious food

“The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases,” the report said.

In the worst case scenario, food security problems change from moderate to high risk with just a few more tenths of a degree of warming from now. They go from high to “very high” risk with just another 1.8 degrees (1 degree Celsius) of warming from now.

Scientists had long thought one of the few benefits of higher levels of carbon dioxide, the major heat-trapping gas, was that it made plants grow more and the world greener, Rosenzweig said. But numerous studies show that the high levels of carbon dioxide reduce protein and nutrients in many crops.

For example, high levels of carbon in the air in experiments show wheat has 6 to 13% less protein, 4 to 7% less zinc and 5 to 8% less iron, she said.

Better farming, better diet

But better farming practices, such as no-till agricultural and better targeted fertilizer application, have the potential to fight global warming too, reducing carbon pollution up to 18% of current emissions levels by 2050, the report said.

If people change their diets, reducing red meat and increasing plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables and seeds, the world can save as much as another 15% of current emissions by midcentury. It would also make people more healthy, Rosenzweig said.

Reducing food waste can fight climate change even more. The report said that between 2010 and 2016 global food waste accounted for 8 to 10% of heat-trapping emissions.

“Currently 25-30% of total food produced is lost or wasted,” the report said. Fixing that would free up millions of square miles of land.

With just another 0.9 degrees of warming (0.5 degrees Celsius), which could happen in the next 10 to 30 years, the risk of unstable food supplies, wildfire damage, thawing permafrost and water shortages in dry areas “are projected to be high,” the report said.

At another 1.8 degrees of warming from now (1 degree Celsius), which could happen in about 50 years, it said those risks “are projected to be very high.”

Most scenarios predict the world’s tropical regions will have “unprecedented climatic conditions by the mid to late 20th century,” the report noted.

Agriculture and forestry together account for about 23% of the heat-trapping gases that are warming the Earth, slightly less than from cars, trucks, boats and planes. Add in transporting food, energy costs, packaging and that grows to 37%, the report said.

Great carbon ‘sink’

But the land is also a great carbon “sink,” which sucks heat-trapping gases out of the air.

From about 2007 to 2016, agriculture and forestry every year put 5.7 billion tons (5.2 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide into the air, but pulled 12.3 billion tons (11.2 billion metric tons) of it out.

“This additional gift from nature is limited. It’s not going to continue forever,” said study co-author Luis Verchot, a scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia. “If we continue to degrade ecosystems, if we continue to convert natural ecosystems, we continue to deforest and we continued to destroy our soils, we’re going to lose this natural subsidy…”

Overall land emissions are increasing, especially because of cutting down forests in the Amazon in places such as Brazil, Colombia and Peru, Verchot said.

Stanford University environmental sciences chief Chris Field, who wasn’t part of the report, said the bottom line is “we ought to recognize that we have profound limits on the amount of land available and we have to be careful about how we utilize it.”

The body of an Israeli soldier was found with stab wounds near a West Bank settlement south of Jerusalem early Thursday, the military said.

According to an army statement, Israeli troops and police officers were searching the area near the Etzion settlement bloc where the body was found in the “early morning hours.”

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that the soldier was a student in a pre-military Jewish seminary program and was neither armed nor in uniform. He said the military was investigating the circumstances of his death.

The soldier was later identified as 19-year-old Dvir Sorek, from the West Bank settlement of Ofra. His remains were found near the military seminary where he studied in the West Bank.

Army pursuing suspects

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying that security forces were “in pursuit now in order to capture the despicable terrorist and bring him to account.”

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin offered his condolences and said the security forces were “pursuing the murderers and will not rest until we find them.”

“Our prayers this morning are with the family of the murdered soldier and our hearts grieve for the life cut short,” Rivlin said. “We fight terrorism without compromise to ensure the security of our people.”

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim the territories as part of a future state.

West Bank

Most of the international community considers Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal and an obstacle to creating a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel considers the territories “disputed,” and says the fate of the settlements should be determined through negotiations, which have been moribund for years.

Yair Golan, a former army general and a Democratic Union party candidate in the elections next month, said in an interview with Israel’s Kan television that the settlements near where Sorek was found “needed to be encircled ages ago with a security fence that would help to separate between the Jewish population and the Palestinian population.”

He added that a diplomatic solution to the conflict was necessary.

Israel is holding an unprecedented repeat election Sept. 17 after Netanyahu failed to form a government following April’s vote.

Japan said Thursday it has granted the first permit for a South Korea-bound shipment of chemicals for use in high-tech materials under Tokyo’s new export requirement that has increased tensions with Seoul.

Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko made a rare announcement of such approval, saying that officials determined the transaction raised no security concerns. The move is apparently meant to calm South Korean anger over Tokyo’s export curbs and show there is no trade ban in place.

Trade controls

Japan imposed stricter controls on three key materials — fluorinated polyimides, photo resists and hydrogen fluoride — that are used mainly for South Korea’s semiconductor industry as of July 4. The rules also downgrade South Korea’s trade status beginning later this month.

Japanese chemical manufacturers have expressed concerns that case-by-case inspections may prolong approval process and may hold up production lines for their customers.

The first approval came after about a month, much faster than the standard 90 days.

“The permit merely demonstrates that export licensing by the Japanese government is not arbitrary, and is granted to any legitimate transactions that pass strict inspections,” Seko told reporters. “The step we took recently is not an export ban.”

Moon cautious

South Korean President Moon Jae-in remained cautious while expressing hope that the impact of Japan’s measures won’t be as severe as Seoul had feared.

“Our government has planned for worst-case situation since Japan converted export approvals of the three materials to a case-by-case basis and has been preparing and announcing both short-term and long-term measures,” he said. “Of course, Japan may not proceed with export restrictions and there might not be any actual damage caused (to South Korean companies). But what hasn’t changed is that uncertainty is still alive.”

South Korea says Japan is using trade to retaliate against its court decisions ordering Japanese companies to compensate Korean forced laborers before and during World War II, when the Korean Peninsula was under Tokyo rule.

Japanese officials have denied the export controls were retaliation for the court rulings, insisting that South Korean export controls were insufficient and may not be able to include shipments of sensitive materials to third countries.

Seko stood by Tokyo’s position and warned of a possibility of adding more items in addition to the three chemicals if export control officials suspect Seoul of inappropriate shipments.
 

The United States raised its travel warning for Hong Kong, urging travelers to exercise increased caution in the Chinese territory because of what it termed civil unrest after months of sometimes violent street protests.

The protests in the Asian financial hub began with opposition to a now-suspended extradition law and have evolved into a direct challenge to the government and calls for full democracy.

“The protests and confrontations have spilled over into neighborhoods other than those where the police have permitted marches or rallies,” said the advisory, which was posted on the U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong and Macau’s website Wednesday.

“These demonstrations, which can take place with little or no notice, are likely to continue,” it said. The advisory was raised to level two on a four-point scale.

Australia also warned its travelers in an updated advisory Wednesday.

The protests pose the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. Xi is also grappling with a debilitating trade war with the United States and a slowing economy.

Hong Kong is facing its worst crisis since it returned to China from British rule in 1997 because of the protests, the head of China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office said Wednesday.

More protests are planned across the city this weekend, starting Friday with demonstrators planning to rally at the city’s international airport.

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Canadian police said Wednesday they believe two fugitives suspected of killing a North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend as well as another man have been found dead in dense brush in northern Manitoba.

Authorities located two male bodies and are confident they are 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy. She said an autopsy will confirm their identities and causes of death.

Critical evidence found last week when police discovered items directly linked to the suspects on the shoreline of the Nelson River helped locate the bodies, MacLatchy said. Following that discovery, authorities were able to narrow down the search.

Police sent in specialized teams and began searching high-probability areas. On Wednesday morning, police located the two bodies within 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from where the items were found and approximately 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from where they left a burnt-out vehicle on July 22.

“We are confident that these are the bodies of the two suspects wanted in connection with the homicides in British Columbia,” MacLatchy said.

McLeod and Schmegelsky were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Leonard Dyck, a University of British Columbia lecturer whose body was found July 19 along a highway in British Columbia.

They were also suspects in the fatal shootings of Australian Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese of Charlotte, North Carolina, whose bodies were found July 15 along the Alaska Highway about 300 miles (500 kilometers) from where Dyck was killed.

A manhunt for the pair had spread across three provinces and included the Canadian military. The suspects had not been seen since the burned-out car was found on July 22.

The bodies were found near Gillam, Manitoba — more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from northern British Columbia.

“This is like traveling from London to Moscow coupled with the fact that they were traveling in areas that are not highly populated,” British Columbia RCMP Assistant Commissioner Kevin Hackett said.

Police had said Tuesday they were investigating all possibilities including the possibility that the suspects might have drowned.

Closure 

A police helicopter initially spotted a damaged boat along the Nelson River last week and a follow-up search in the area uncovered the items directly linked to the two in what MacLatchy described as “very tough terrain.”

MacLatchy said there is a sense of relief for families of the victims involved and the communities in the area.

“It’s huge to be able to hopefully give some people the opportunity to exhale and to hopefully go back to being normal and not be afraid of who is out in the woods,” she said.

Deese’s brother, British Deese, said the family needed time to process the news that the suspects’ bodies were apparently found.

“We are speechless,” he said in a text message, declining further comment.

Gillam Mayor Dwayne Forman said people in the community have been on an emotional roller-coaster and are relieved the manhunt is over.

“The closure is here for Gillam and the Fox Lake area. But the closure for the victims’ families is far from over,” he said.

The separate discoveries of three bodies and burning cars shook rural northern British Columbia and Manitoba.

Hackett said it will be “extremely difficult” for authorities to ascertain a motive. He said there is significant evidence that links both murder scenes.

Schmegelsky’s father, Alan Schmegelsky, said last month that he expected the nationwide manhunt to end in the death of his son, who he said was on “a suicide mission.”

McLeod and Schmegelsky grew up together on Vancouver Island and worked together at a local Walmart before they set off together on what their parents thought was a trip to Yukon for work.

McLeod and Schmegelsky themselves were originally considered missing persons and only became suspects later.

Police were investigating a photograph of Nazi paraphernalia allegedly sent online by one of the suspects. Schmegelsky allegedly sent photographs of a swastika armband and a Hitler Youth knife to an online friend on the video-game network Steam.

Alan Schmegelsky had said his son took him to an army surplus store about eight months ago in his small Vancouver Island hometown of Port Alberni, where his son was excited about the Nazi artifacts.

Alan Schmegelsky said he didn’t believe that his son identified as a neo-Nazi, but that he did think the memorabilia was “cool.”

Fowler and Deese were found shot dead along the Alaska Highway near Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia.

Fowler, the son of a chief inspector with the New South Wales Police Department, was living in British Columbia and Deese was visiting him.

The couple had met at a hostel in Croatia and their romance blossomed as they adventured across the U.S., Mexico, Peru and elsewhere, the woman’s older brother said.

British Deese said the couple was on a trip to visit Canadian national parks when they were killed. He said the family believes they must have had engine trouble in their van.

U.S. officials said that some 680 undocumented migrants were detained in raids Wednesday at food processing plants in the southeastern United States, part of President Donald Trump’s announced crackdown on illegal immigration.

Most of those detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were Hispanic migrants, officials said.

“Special agents executed administrative and criminal search warrants resulting in the detention of approximately 680 illegal aliens,” said Mike Hurst, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi.

“They have to follow our laws, they have to abide by our rules, they have to come here legally or they shouldn’t come here at all,” Hurst said at a news conference.

The U.S. attorney did not spare the employers. 

“To those who use illegal aliens for competitive advantage or to make a quick buck, we have something to say to you: If we find that you have violated federal criminal law, we’re coming after you,” he said.

Matthew Albence, the interim ICE head, said the raids were the result of a year-long investigation.

He said that the children of detained parents will be sent to live with relatives or other families.

Some of the migrants will be released with electronic ankle monitors as they await a court hearing.

ICE agents raided food processing plants in the towns of Morton, Carthage, Canton, Pelahatchie, Sebastopol and Bay Springs, all in the state of Mississippi, officials said.

In June, Trump tweeted that ICE “will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States.”

Trump has also tweeted several times about an alleged “invasion” of people crossing the southern border into the United States.

GUATEMALA CITY — Conservative Alejandro Giammattei could prevail in Guatemala’s presidential runoff Sunday if misgivings about his opponent among urban voters outweigh her support in the Central American nation’s poor Mayan highlands. 

Whoever takes office in January will face a testy relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who last month strong-armed the outgoing government into signing an agreement that will turn Guatemala into a buffer zone for U.S.-bound migrants. 

Giammattei and his center-left rival, former first lady Sandra Torres, both criticized the deal, but Trump’s threats of economic sanctions are unlikely to leave either of them much room to maneuver if the next administration does not honor it. 

Potentially complicating such tough decisions, neither candidate is hugely popular. 

Torres, 63, has high negative ratings in the densely populated urban areas, in part because of her connections to an investigation being conducted into alleged illicit electoral financing in a previous campaign. 

Her base is in rural areas such as the highlands where she is remembered for social programs during her former husband’s administration. 

Turnout is expected to be low and the winner is unlikely to command a strong mandate, especially after electoral authorities excluded other popular candidates from the first round in June — conservative candidate Zury Rios on the ground that close relatives of coup leaders are barred from top office, and anti-corruption crusader Thelma Aldana because of an arrest warrant against her in a corruption case that supporters said was trumped up. 

Sliver of the vote

A former prisons director who himself spent a few months behind bars, Giammattei got barely 14 percent of the vote in the first round with a tough-on-crime message, and his Vamos party won just a smattering of seats in Congress. 

Giammattei’s prison time was linked to an investigation into 
extrajudicial killings, but he was later cleared. 

Torres’ National Unity of Hope had the strongest showing in Congress but also fell well short of a majority. 

A CID-Gallup opinion poll of 1,216 voters in conducted July 29-August 5 gave Giammattei the advantage going into the runoff, with 39.5% support, compared with 32.4% for Torres. The poll has a margin of error of 2.8 points. 

Another survey by polling firm Tendencias Globales in July gave Torres a lead of 10 percentage points over her rival. 

“There’s a lot of apathy, mistrust and disinterest among the population,” said Jose Carlos Sanabria, a political analyst at the ASIES think tank in Guatemala City. “It’s quite hard to anticipate a winner.” 
 

Corruption 

As well as tussling with Trump, Guatemala’s next president will be under pressure to clean up corruption, a top-three issue for voters in a country in which 60% of the 17 million-strong population live in poverty. The other top concerns are crime and unemployment. 

Giammattei, 63, a surgeon, has proposed putting an “investment wall” on the border between Guatemala and Mexico to curb migration. 

Torres wants to put troops on the streets to fight drug gangs and use welfare programs to attack the poverty. 

Outgoing President Jimmy Morales, who is barred from running again, took power pledging to root out the public sector corruption that brought down his predecessor. 

Targeted himself

Instead, he fought with the U.N. body leading an anti-corruption drive in Guatemala, and narrowly escaped impeachment after becoming the target of a probe himself. 

Both Morales and Torres had to deny allegations made by the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) that they violated campaign finance rules in 2015. 

Jose Valladares, 42, brushed off the corruption allegations against Torres, saying she had a track record of effective government from her time as first lady in the 2008-11 presidency of her then-husband, Alvaro Colom. She was widely seen as a powerful figure in his administration. 

“I think the difference between Sandra and Giammattei is that even if she steals, she’ll fulfill her pledges because she’s done it in the past,” said Valladares, a business administrator. “That lady ruled behind her husband.” 

Lyft Inc posted a jump in revenue on Wednesday in its second-quarter results, allowing the ride-hailing company to lift its forecasts as more riders used the service and price competition with rival Uber eased.

The company boosted its revenue outlook for the year to above Wall Street estimates and estimated third-quarter sales would exceed expectations, sending shares up as high as 11% after hours before they came down to a 1.8% increase.

A loss of $2.23 per share in the quarter was worse than the $1.74 per-share loss expected, on average, by analysts, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Lyft also said its lock-up period — the time after a public offering in which large shareholders are prohibited from selling shares — would come early, Aug. 19 instead of Sept. 24.

Shares of Uber Technologies Inc rose after Lyft posted results, rising 2.6% in after-hours trade.

Lyft’s 72% jump in revenue was fueled by more active riders, who spent about a quarter more than they had a year ago.

“Wall Street has been eager for us to demonstrate our path for profitability,” Chief Financial Officer Brian Roberts told Reuters, saying strength in Lyft’s core ride-hailing business would “allow us to deliver more operating leverage.”

Roberts said that pricing for rides had become “more rational” in the quarter, meaning that Lyft spends less on promotions to beat rival Uber.

Shares of Lyft are down 25% since their market debut on March 29, erasing about $5 billion from its market capitalization, as investors continue to question whether the ride-hailing industry can be profitable.

Lyft and larger rival Uber, both loss-making, have historically relied on heavy subsidization to attract riders.

While the companies last quarter reported signs that price competition was easing, both are also spending to expand services into areas including self-driving technology for Lyft and food delivery for Uber.

On average, Lyft received $39.77 in revenue from each of its nearly 22 million active riders in its second quarter as a public company, a 22% rise in revenue per rider and 41% increase in riders over the same period in 2018.

“As a result of this positive momentum, we anticipate 2019 losses to be better than previously expected,” Chief Executive Officer Logan Green said in a statement.

Forecast, revenues

Lyft has said its ride-hailing services would be profitable in the future, without giving any timeline, while also warning regulators that as a company it might continue posting losses as it invests heavily in self-driving cars, renting scooters and other ventures.

The company forecast third-quarter revenue of $900 million to $915 million, above the average analyst estimate of $840.9 million.

Lyft also raised its forecast for full-year revenue to between $3.47 billion and $3.5 billion, up from its prior range of $3.28 billion and $3.3 billion.

Its revenue in the second quarter rose 72% to $867.3 million, above the average analyst estimate of $809.3 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

But its net loss widened to $644.2 million from $178.9 million a year earlier as costs more than doubled to $1.54 billion from a year earlier.

On a per share basis, it narrowed to $2.23 per share from $8.48 per share, a year earlier, as the number of outstanding shares rose.

Lyft, which beat Uber to go public first, operates in over 300 cities in the United States and Canada. It says it had over 30 million riders in 2018.

The rapid rise of tiny loans aimed at helping poor Cambodians has led to more debt, with many borrowers forced to sell land, migrate or put their children to work, human rights groups said on Wednesday.

The Southeast Asian nation has about 2.4 million borrowers with $5.4 billion in outstanding microloans, and among the world’s biggest average loan sizes, according to a report from human rights groups Licadho and Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT).

High interest rates, the use of land titles as collateral, and pressure to repay loans have led to a “predatory form of lending” by microfinance institutions (MFIs), they said.

“MFIs, as they currently operate, pose a direct threat to the land tenure security of millions of people in Cambodia,” they said in the report. “In most cases, the land that was lost was income-generating. Loss of land therefore jeopardizes a family’s livelihood and identity.”

The National Bank of Cambodia did not respond to emails seeking comment.

An official at industry group the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) said all members followed the law, as well as CMA’s lending guidelines to check over-indebtedness.

“CMA and other stakeholders watch the growth in the sector carefully and take appropriate measures to ensure long-term sustainable growth,” acting executive director Chea Saren said.

Microfinance took off in Cambodia in the 1990s as a way to provide easier access to credit for those left impoverished after decades of war, allowing many to purchase farming equipment or set up small businesses.

After the government introduced more formal microfinance policies in 2007, outstanding loans more than quadrupled to $1.3 billion in 2013 from just $300 million in 2009, data compiled by Licadho and STT showed.

At the end of 2018, average loan size was about $3,370, more than twice the country’s gross domestic product per capita of $1,384 in 2017.

The World Bank, in a report earlier this year, warned of risks to the Cambodian economy from bigger microloans. In 2017, the United Nations said that “for many Cambodians, microfinance loans only serve to push borrowers further into poverty.”

Cambodia imposed an annual interest-rate cap of 18 percent on MFIs in 2017. But that had proven “ineffective” in slowing credit growth, Licadho and STT said.

The impoverished Southeast Asian country of 16 million has struggled to establish land ownership since the deadly Khmer Rouge destroyed all property records to establish a form of communism in the 1970s.

Over the last two decades, the government has driven efforts to title land to help alleviate poverty.

About half of MFI loans in Cambodia are secured by land titles, according to Licadho and STT.

“Collateralised credit is most risky when it is given to people who are already at the margins of economic vulnerability,” said Nathan Green at the University of Wisconsin who is researching microfinance in Cambodia.

“It is especially risky in Cambodia because the microfinance market is already saturated, and because there is almost no government oversight,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

About 10-15% of land held by Cambodian farmers has been lost due to failure to repay microloans, according to Milford Bateman, a professor of development studies at Saint Mary’s University in Canada, who has studied microfinance.

Moscow’s children’s rights ombudsman and other public figures have reacted with outrage to Russian prosecutors’ moves to remove a 1-year-old boy from his parents because they allegedly took him to an unauthorized protest.

Prosecutors claimed that Dmitri and Olga Prokazov endangered the child by taking him to the July 27 rally in the Russian capital that was violently dispersed by police, and that they handed him to another man who is now being sought on charges of organizing mass riots.

The case against the parents follows a tough police crackdown on rallies protesting the exclusion of opposition candidates from September’s city council election. Police detained more than 1,400 people during the July 27 protest and rounded up a further 1,001 during another demonstration on Saturday, according to an independent monitoring group.

Children’s rights ombudsman Yevgeny Bunmovich harshly criticized the prosecutors’ action, denouncing what he called “political blackmail involving children.” He said he has written to Moscow’s prosecutor urging him to drop the charges.

Members of the presidential human rights council also criticized the prosecutors’ action, which comes amid a slew of criminal cases launched in the wake of protests that challenged the Kremlin.

Most of those detained were released within hours, but some have remained in custody and face criminal charges that may carry prison terms.

Speaking on independent Dozhd TV late Tuesday, Dmitri Prokazov denied that the couple had taken part in the rally and said they had simply gone for a walk across central Moscow. He said they were aware of the protest and sympathized with the demonstrators, but didn’t want to take part in it since they were walking with their child.

Prokazov insisted that they did nothing wrong by letting a close friend carry their child.

The man is now being sought by authorities on charges of inciting riots, and the investigators have claimed that he used the child as a shield to cross police lines.

Prokazov denied that, saying they weren’t anywhere near police cordons and the child was never in jeopardy.

”We didn’t feel any danger,” he said. “It never occurred to me that I was doing something wrong.”

He and his wife said they were scared when police knocked on their door just before midnight, searching their apartment and treating them as if they were dangerous criminals.

”We were shocked. We felt as if some monsters wanted to take our child from us,” Prokazov said. “It’s barbaric.”

A Myanmar court on Wednesday sentenced a veteran Australian media publisher to 13 years in jail after a police raid uncovered a stash of drugs at his home last year.

Ross Dunkley, 60, has long had links with the media industry across Southeast Asia, co-founding English language newspaper The Myanmar Times when the country was in the tight grip of a military dictatorship.

He also used to be a co-owner of Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Post.

Police arrested him, his business partner John McKenzie and seven Myanmar nationals during a June 2018 raid on his home in the commercial capital Yangon.

Officers uncovered a stash of crystal methamphetamine, low-grade “yaba” pills, three opium cakes, marijuana and a small amount of heroin, police said.

One man and one woman, who were working as house helpers for Dunkley, were later released.

“Ross Dunkley and John McKenzie are sentenced to 13 years,” judge Myint Myint Maw told Yangon’s Western District court Wednesday.

Five Myanmar women also on trial broke down in tears as they were each sentenced to 11 years, while watching relatives shouted out in anger.

Dunkley appeared shaken and declined to speak to reporters as he was led away from the court room.

All defendants had denied the charges and it is not yet clear if any will appeal.

Myanmar is now believed to be the largest producer of methamphetamine in the world in a shadowy, multi-billion dollar industry.

Crystal meth pumped out from labs in eastern Shan state is trafficked as far away as Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney.

“Yaba” pills, made of cheap methamphetamine, are meanwhile scooped up by users across Thailand, Bangladesh and Myanmar at rock-bottom prices.

Last year’s raid was Dunkley’s second run-in with Myanmar authorities.

In 2011 he was sentenced to a month in prison for the assault of a woman at a Yangon nightclub, though the court allowed him to walk free after taking into account time already served.

Papua New Guinea’s new leader has asked China to refinance its entire 27 billion kina ($7.8 billion) government debt and enter into free trading arrangements with Pacific island nations, even as competition for influence in the region intensifies between Beijing and Washington.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement issued out of Port Moresby on Monday that the requests were raised during a recent meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Xue Bing.

PNG, a country rich in natural gas, crude oil, gold and copper, among other commodities, has fallen into large budget deficits in recent years. The government said in a fiscal update earlier this year “cash became tight” due in part to delays over a proposed $300 million budget loan from China.

The island nation’s total public debt accounts for just over 30% of its annual gross domestic product, according to a mid-year budget document, though it does not provide regular updates on how much of that is owed to China.

The request to Beijing coincides with aggressive warnings from U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper who said on Sunday that China was using “predatory economics” to destabilize the Indo-Pacific.

Reuters’ analysis of Pacific nation budgets has found that China ramped up its system of concessional loans over the past decade from almost zero to become the largest financier in the Pacific, bankrolling everything from ports and airports to sports stadiums and boulevards.

The sudden geopolitical interest in the Pacific has brought with it access to cheap financing, grants and gifts that were unimaginable to many of the small island economies only a few years ago.

Alison Stuart, division director of small states for the International Monetary Fund’s Asia Pacific department, said in a statement to Reuters that borrowing could support growth in Pacific island countries and address large infrastructure gaps.

She said the island economies were also vulnerable to a rapid build-up in debt burdens.

Pacific leaders are scheduled to attend the annual Pacific Islands Forum on the island of Tuvalu next week.

Tuvalu is one of six Pacific islands to recognize Taiwan, which Beijing views as a wayward Chinese province with no right to diplomatic relations.

In recent months China has intensified its lobbying of those countries to switch their diplomatic ties to Beijing.

Marape, who came to power in May, said in the statement he wanted Pacific island nations to enter into free trading arrangements with China “to boost economic corridor zones in the region.”

A quarter of the world’s people are just a few dry spells away from facing dangerous water shortages, a U.S. think tank warned on Tuesday, with India home to the bulk at risk of running dry.

Seventeen countries face “extremely high water stress” because they consume 80 percent of their available water annually, a situation worsened by more frequent dry shocks tied to climate change, the World Resources Institute (WRI) said.

“We’re currently facing a global water crisis,” said Betsy Otto, director of WRI’s global water program.

New data in WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas showed the lion’s share of the most thirsty countries are located in the largely arid Middle East and North Africa region.

Qatar is the most water-stressed country, followed by Israel and Lebanon.

India ranked 13th among “extremely high” water-stressed nations. But with a population of more than 1.3 billion, it has over three times more people than the other 16 countries combined whose agriculture, industry and municipalities depend on avoiding water “bankruptcy.”

In recent weeks, India’s sixth-largest city, Chennai, was the latest metropolis worldwide to warn its taps could run dry, as reservoir levels plunged.

That followed similar countdowns to water “Day Zero” in South Africa’s Cape Town last year and Brazil’s Sao Paulo in 2015, WRI said.

“We’re likely to see more of these kinds of ‘Day Zeros’ in the future,” said Otto.

The world’s water supplies are threatened by many factors, from climate change to mismanagement in the form of water waste and pollution, Washington-based WRI said.

A high reliance on depleting groundwater supplies – difficult to measure and manage because they are buried deep – is an additional concern, Paul Reig, who leads work on the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, told journalists.

Nearly a third of the world’s fresh water is groundwater, according to the United States Geological Survey.

“Because we don’t understand (groundwater), and don’t see it, we manage it very poorly,” Reig said.

WRI’s atlas ranked 189 countries on water stress, drought and river flood risk in collaboration with universities and research institutes in the Netherlands and Switzerland, using data from the 1960s to 2014.

One day after the U.S. imposed a full economic embargo on Venezuela, National Security Advisor John Bolton says the U.S. can now sanction anyone who supports the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro’s government denounced the sanctions as a “grave aggression” that will lead to “the failure of political dialogue.” VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has more from the State Department.