A nascent immigration deal between the United States and Guatemala continued to take shape Thursday, as the U.S. Homeland Security acting secretary visited the impoverished Central American nation.

According to reports, Kevin McAleenan and Guatemalan officials outlined details of the safe third country agreement signed between the United States and Guatemala five days ago.

Under the new deal, the Trump administration is planning to send asylum-seekers from Honduras and El Salvador back to Guatemala to process their requests for help outside the U.S. Their claims would not initially go through the U.S. immigration courts.

Phased in approach

McAleenan said the plan is expected to start slowly, with single adults and not children.

“We’re working on the details … and ensuring that the Guatemalans understand that we’re talking about a phased and measured approach to implementation that will not overwhelm Guatemalan resources and will be supported by U.S.-funded international organization capacity,” he said in an interview reported in The Washington Post.

Those who claim fear of return to their home country would still be eligible for a lesser form of protection, “withholding of removal,” which requires a much higher burden of proof and doesn’t lead to legal permanent residency.

Homeland Security officials did not respond to VOA requests for comment.

After meetings with Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales and other officials, McAleenan told reporters the agreement is part of an effort to address human trafficking and strengthen checkpoint controls.

Obstacles in Guatemala

Under the accord, the U.S. would also invest $40 million in Guatemala to increase its asylum system capacity for people who need protection, as well as create more work visas, reports said.

But there are still obstacles facing the agreement. The plan needs to be approved by the Guatemalan Congress. The Guatemalan presidential runoff election is scheduled for Aug. 11, and both candidates, Sandra Torres and Alejandro Giammattei, have shared criticism about the way in which the Trump administration pressured the current Guatemalan president to agree with the terms.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would institute tariffs, fees and travel restrictions that could have sent the Central American country into ruin if Guatemala did not sign an agreement with the United States.

President Donald Trump says he is considering a blockade or quarantine of Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro continues to hold power.

Trump gave no details about such plans when answering a reporter’s question Thursday about Chinese and Iranian backing for Maduro.

Russia and Cuba have also sent forces to Venezuela in support of Maduro.

Trump has always said a military option is on the table for Venezuela, but so far has relied on sanctions and support from other nations to try to drive out Maduro.

The United States was the first to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela after he used his constitutional power as National Assembly leader to declare Maduro’s presidency illegitimate.

Guaido claimed Maduro’s re-election last year was fraudulent. Guaido led a popular uprising against Maduro earlier this year, which appears to have fizzled.

The collapse in world energy prices, corruption and failed socialist policies have wrecked oil-rich Venezuela’s economy and millions have fled the country and its severe shortages of fuel, quality medical care and many food staples.
 

U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, an ex-CIA undercover officer and the lone African-American Republican in the House, says he won’t seek a third House term in next year’s elections.

The El Paso Republican’s announcement came in a Thursday statement posted on his House web page. He’s the third Texas Republican to announce that he won’t seek re-election to the House, joining Michael Conaway of Midland and Pete Olson of Sugar Land.

Hurd says he wants to work in the private sector toward solutions to “problems at the nexus between technology and national security.”

Hurd has served the sprawling 23rd Congressional District, which extends from San Antonio to El Paso. He was one of only four House Republicans to vote to condemn President Donald Trump’s racist tweets taunting four Democratic congresswomen.

The United States on Friday will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty to develop its own new warheads after the Russians refused to destroy their new missiles, which NATO says violate the pact. 

U.S. President Donald Trump is expressing optimism a new agreement can be made to replace the historic Cold War pact. 

“Russia would like to do something on a nuclear treaty and that’s OK with me. They would like to do something and so would I,” Trump said in response to a question from VOA on Thursday afternoon. 

But the president, speaking on the White House South Lawn before boarding the Marine One helicopter, said, “We didn’t discuss the INF” when he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin the previous day.

“When it expires tomorrow, the world will lose an invaluable brake on nuclear war. This will likely heighten, not reduce, the threat posed by ballistic missiles,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Thursday. “Regardless of what transpires, the parties should avoid destabilizing developments and urgently seek agreement on a new common path for international arms control.”

U.S. officials for months have complained that Russia turned a deaf ear to pleas from officials here and in Europe to halt its violations of the treaty, especially development and fielding of the SSC-8 ground-launched cruise missiles. 

Russian officials claim they have strictly observed the treaty’s provision and have not allowed violations.

Putin signed legislation a month ago suspending his country’s participation in the treaty, five months after the Trump administration made a similar move.   

The historic Cold War-era pact has been a pillar of European security for more than 30 years. It bans the development and deployment of ground-launched nuclear missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles).

Concerns for Europe, beyond

European leaders, fearing a renewed arms race if the treaty is jettisoned, called on Washington and Moscow to remain constructively engaged to try to preserve it.

There is also concern about the ramifications beyond Europe. 

“The prospect of new ground-based INF systems being introduced in Asia could conceivably spark similar political turmoil among Asian allies,” said Laura Kennedy, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkmenistan and former U.S. permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. 

“Even if the U.S. planned only to field such future systems on U.S.-territory such as Guam, such a move could be seen as threatening by China, which could respond by introducing a new wave of systems as a counter,” Kennedy, an adviser to Foreign Policy for America, told VOA. 

The 1987 INF agreement was signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It eliminated the medium-range missile arsenals of the two countries and went into effect in June of the following year. 

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres announced Thursday that he is setting up an internal inquiry into attacks in a de-escalation zone in northwest Syria, where numerous hospitals have been targeted in recent months.

“I believe that this inquiry can produce an important result,” Guterres told reporters. “I can guarantee that everything will be done to make sure that this board of inquiry acts with full objectivity, not to prove anything, but to simply say what the truth is.”

Since the end of April, the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with support from Russian aircraft, has stepped up bombing and shelling in the de-escalation zone in Idlib governorate. 

U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said earlier this week that satellite imagery shows 17 villages have been severely damaged and emptied since the military escalation began. He said at least 450 civilians have been killed, including more than 100 in the last two weeks alone, and about 440,000 people have been displaced.

There has also been a surge in the numbers of hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure that have been targeted in airstrikes in Idlib. 

The nongovernmental group Physicians for Human Rights told the U.N. that it has so far confirmed 16 of 46 reports of attacks on health care facilities since April 29. 

Russia has called the accusations “a lie,” while Damascus said the allegations are false because it considers several of the facilities it has struck to have been taken over by terrorist groups and no longer functioning medical facilities. 

On Thursday, Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said Moscow was “amazed” at the secretary-general’s decision to investigate the allegations. 

“We doubt very much that this is for the sake of investigation; this is for the sake of blaming Syria and Russia for the things we do not do,” Polyanskiy said in response to reporters’ questions. 

Ten of the 15 countries on the U.N. Security Council asked Guterres to investigate the attacks, including Britain. Ambassador Karen Pierce, who welcomed the creation of the board of inquiry, saying it is “a good first step.”

“I fully respect the right of the Russian Federation to disagree with me, as I also respect the position of 10 other members of the Security Council that had the opposite opinion,” Guterres said when asked about Moscow’s criticism. 

The board will investigate the incidents that have taken place in the Idlib de-escalation zone since it was established under an agreement between Russia and Turkey in September 2018, and report back to the secretary-general. 

“The inquiry should determine whether Russia and Syria have used coordinates provided by the U.N. to target hospitals,” said Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch. “To be effective, the investigators should attribute responsibility for any war crimes and make their report public.”

The board’s investigation will cover “destruction of or damage to facilities on the deconfliction list and U.N.-supported facilities in the area,” the U.N. said. The board members’ names have not been announced.

The secretary-general urged all parties to cooperate with the investigation. 

Zimbabwe’s opposition parties, human rights groups and churches marked the one-year anniversary Thursday of the day when the army killed about a dozen people protesting the delayed release of election results.

Members of the crowd say they will continue asking for divine intervention in this southern African nation, where the political landscape has been long tainted by violence. 

Loveday Munesi could not attend Thursday’s event. He was shot in the melee on Aug. 1, 2018, and a bullet lodged in his right buttock. Since then, he has been unable to work or walk comfortably.

“I can no longer go to work because of difficulties in walking,” he said. “With what has happened to me and where we are now, I just believe that there is a lot of abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. Because up to now, I haven’t received any medical help pertaining to my injuries from the government.”

Doctors say the 30-year-old needs at least $15,000 to go to South Africa or India for an operation to remove the bullet, something that can’t be done in Zimbabwe without damaging Munesi’s nerves.

At Thursday’s event marking the army killings, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party said Harare must compensate the injured, like Munesi, as well as the families of those who were killed. 

Daniel Molokhele, the spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, says this lack of compensation shows that the government is not taking the issue of human rights seriously.

“Obviously, the [victims’] families, they need compensation, they need to be recognized in public,” he said. “We need that social damage to be addressed, their welfare and so on. But most importantly, a public commitment by the government to make sure that we earned this situation, this cycle where state securities, state police, state army are heavily involved in the political discourse of this country.”

Rights group Amnesty International says it wants the soldiers who killed the protesters to be held accountable, as per recommendations of a government-appointed commission.

Ziyambi Ziyambi, Zimbabwe’s justice minister, said Thursday that financial issues are slowing the implementation of many government commitments, including paying the medical bills for people like Munesi.

Meanwhile, the U.S. secretary of state has banned a former Zimbabwean military officer from entering the U.S. because he led the army response to the protests. 

Anselem Sanyatwe, who led the Zimbabwe National Army’s Presidential Guard Brigade, is now heading to Tanzania to be Zimbabwe’s ambassador in the east African nation. 

Puerto Rico’s governing party was in full-blown crisis Thursday as the nominee to succeed departing Gov. Ricardo Rossello headed to a disputed and uncertain confirmation vote in the U.S. territory’s legislature.

Rossello is leaving Friday in the face of massive public protest and has nominated veteran politician and attorney Pedro Pierluisi to succeed him. Pierluisi is a former representative to the U.S. Congress seen by most ordinary Puerto Ricans as a conciliatory, relatively uncontroversial figure, unlikely to be met by continued street demonstrations over poor governance and corruption.

Pierluisi would succeed Rossello if he’s confirmed by the territorial House and Senate as secretary of state, the next in line to become governor under the Puerto Rican constitution. The post is currently vacant and Rossello’s New Progressive Party holds majorities in both chambers of the legislature, meaning a united party could easily name the next governor.  

Pierluisi’s main obstacle appeared to be Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, who has said he won’t vote for Rossello’s nominee and wants to be governor himself. Rivera Schatz is a powerful figure deeply associated with Puerto Rico’s political and business elite, and his elevation to governorship could re-ignite popular outrage.

House and Senate sessions on Pierluisi hadn’t started as planned at 11 a.m. Thursday even as ruling party lawmakers met in closed door sessions to seek a solution.

Many Puerto Rican legislators were predicting that Pierluisi did not have the votes to be confirmed.

Sen. Luis Vega Ramos, of the opposition Popular Democratic Party, said he was upset that lawmakers from Rossello’s party were meeting behind closed doors.

He called it “a political party squabble over who is going to lead the New Progressive Party and become the gubernatorial candidate for 2020.”

It wasn’t even clear if a vote would be taken on Thursday.

Rep. Gabriel Rodriguez Aguilo of the NPP said he supports holding public hearings before voting on Pierluisi, adding that an overwhelming number of constituents had called to ask for his confirmation.

”We ran out of paper,” he said in reference to secretaries taking notes on the calls.

Several lawmakers have already proposed Rivera Schatz, a declared candidate for the 2020 governor’s election, as their choice to replace Rossello.

After jubilation at the success of their uprising against Rossello, Puerto Rican protesters have been frustrated at the political infighting and paralysis that’s followed.

If a secretary of state is not named by Friday, Justice Secretary Wanda Vazquez would be next in line. She has said she doesn’t want the job and those further down the line of succession are either too young for the job or are barely known bureaucrats seen as unqualified for the position.

Some lawmakers complained about Pierluisi’s work for a law firm that represents the federal control board that was created to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances before the territory, saddled with more than $70 billion in public debt, declared a sort of bankruptcy. Pierluisi’s brother-in-law also heads the board, which has clashed repeatedly with Rossello and other elected officials over demands for austerity measures.

”That’s a serious conflict of interest,” Rep. Jose Enrique Melendez told The Associated Press.

House of Representatives President Johnny Mendez, a member of the governing party, has said Pierluisi does not have the votes needed in the house.

”The situation could not be more complicated,” said Sen. Jose Antonio Vargas Vidot, who ran for Senate as an independent. “This is absurd, what we’re going through. We never thought something like this could happen. In an extraordinary crisis, we have to take extraordinary measures.”

Sen. Eduardo Bhatia of the opposition Popular Democratic Party, accused Rivera Schatz of trying to maneuver himself into the top job.

”This attitude of [Rivera Schatz] taking the island hostage is very dangerous,” Bhatia tweeted. “`It’s him or no one’ is in keeping with what has been a life silencing and destroying democracy.”

Puerto Rico’s 3 million people are U.S. citizens who can’t vote for president and don’t have a voting representative in Congress. While politicians are members of the Democratic or Republican parties, the island’s main political dividing line is between the NPP, which favors statehood, and the PDP, which favors a looser association with the federal government. Those parties’ memberships both contain a mix of Democrats and Republicans.

Rossello is leaving after two weeks of massive street protests by Puerto Ricans outraged at corruption, mismanagement and an obscenity-laced chat that was leaked in which Rossello and 11 other men made fun of women, gay people and victims of Hurricane Maria.

More than a dozen officials have resigned in the wake of the chat, including former Secretary of State Luis Rivera Marin. Rivera Schatz, whose spokeswoman said he was not granting interviews, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that all problems have solutions and that Puerto Rico should be focused on finding them.

”We should promote unity, not discord,” he wrote.

Pierluisi, who took a leave of absence from the law firm, said in a statement Wednesday that much work remains to be done to recover the trust of federal authorities, U.S. Congress and the people of Puerto Rico as it also struggles to recover from Hurricane Maria.

”My goal is now to transform the energy shown by our people in constructive actions that help Puerto Rico go forward,” he said. “Puerto Rico is facing times never before seen and we all have to be part of the path to progress.”

Pierluisi represented Puerto Rico in Congress from 2009-2017 and then ran against Rossello in the 2016 primaries and lost. He also previously served as justice secretary under Rossello’s father, Pedro Rossello, when he was governor.

The United States on Thursday placed on its sanctions list a former Zimbabwean army general who commanded troops accused of killing six civilians after a disputed election a year ago.

The listing of Anselem Sanyatwe signals U.S. frustration over the lack of accountability in the Aug. 1, 2018 killings in the capital, Harare. There was no immediate response by Zimbabwe’s government to the U.S. announcement, which was likely to bring fresh anger from an administration that has pressed for the lifting of U.S. sanctions over past rights abuses.

Sanyatwe is the first to be sanctioned over the crackdown and the first Zimbabwean official listed since the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe in November 2017. Sanyatwe and his wife are now barred from traveling to the U.S.

Soldiers were deployed to suppress a protest against delays in announcing results of Zimbabwe’s first election without Mugabe on the ballot. The U.S. statement says it has “credible information” that Sanyatwe was involved.

The election had been peaceful, giving many people hope that the southern African nation was on the brink of change. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over after Mugabe’s forced resignation and was declared the election winner, had promised sweeping post-Mugabe reforms and re-engagement with the West.

Sanyatwe later defended the soldiers’ deployment while appearing before a commission of inquiry into the killings, but denied the army shot the protesters and instead accused the opposition.

He later retired from the army and was appointed ambassador to Tanzania.

Zimbabwe’s military has been sent into the streets since the killings. The U.S. sanctions statement also noted that “there has been no accountability for the excessive use of force by Zimbabwean security forces on civilians in January and February this year, which reportedly resulted in at least 13 deaths, 600 victims of violence, torture or rape, and more than 1,000 arrests.”

That crackdown came after protests in Harare over the country’s collapsing economy.

The U.S. and the European Union, which imposed sanctions almost two decades ago over alleged rights abuses, have in recent months issued several statements warning against continued violations.

Mnangagwa’s government has made the lifting of sanctions a top priority and has held several meetings with senior officials from the U.S. and EU to lobby for that and Zimbabwe’s readmission to the Commonwealth.

The killings “demonstrated to the whole world the crisis of governance that has defined the character and the nature of the problem in Zimbabwe,” opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, who placed second in last year’s election and lost a court challenge to the results, told a prayer meeting on Thursday to remember the killings. “After the departure of Mr. Mugabe, nothing has changed. The old cannot renew.”

Thousands of Sudanese people took to the streets of the capital, Khartoum, on Thursday to demand justice for the killing of at least six people — including four students — by security forces earlier this week during student protests in a central province.

Videos posted on social media by Sudanese pro-democracy activists showed protesters raising pictures of slain protesters, waving Sudanese flags and holding banners reading: “Our government is civilian and shall be protected by our revolution.” The marches were called by the Sudanese Professional Association, a group that has spearheaded the protests that drove longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir from power in April.

The demonstrations come as the country’s ruling military council was set to resume talks later in the day with protest leaders to finalize a power-sharing agreement, protesters said. The two sides had been set to hold talks Tuesday to on the agreement, but those were postponed after the deaths in North Kordofan province.

The protest leaders had agreed with the military on the outline of a power-sharing deal last month but remain divided on a number of key issues, including whether military commanders should be immune from prosecution for violence against protesters.

Earlier Thursday, state-run SUNA news agency reported that the military council arrested seven members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces who had fired live ammunition during Monday’s student protest. The military statement said the troops had responded in “an isolated manner” by shooting at the students.

An SPA statement called the marches a “safety valve” and “our way to bring culprits to justice, avenge martyrs and to ensure the transfer of power to an interim civilian government.” The group stressed the peaceful nature of the rallies, but warned that armed infiltrators might slip in among the crowd to instigate violence.

”We cannot reach any agreement while ignoring the blood of martyrs,” said Madani Abbas Madani, a leader of the protest coalition that’s negotiating with the military. Speaking to reporters ahead of Thursday’s demonstrations, he said both marches and negotiations remain part of the protesters’ toolkit to achieve their goals.

Seeking diplomatic solutions to foreign conflicts. Immigration reform with aid for Central America. Trade deals that help U.S. workers, but do not involve trade wars. Democratic candidates used their time on the debate stage in Detroit to spell out policy initiatives that would represent a departure from Trump administration approaches, all while making the case they can beat the incumbent president in the 2020 election.

As might be expected among candidates from the same political party, there was a lot of general agreement about how to deal with big issues. But with 20 candidates split into two 10-person debates, nationally known names sought to maintain their leads in polls while others voters might not be as familiar with worked to generate the interest their campaigns badly need.

That led to a lot of sparring among the candidates and even direct questioning of each other’s records and proposals, particularly focused on the current favorites in the race — former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Health care

“We have seen health care as a place where there are more spirited disagreements within the party and between some of the leading candidates and the secondary candidates on what their health care proposal would be,” said David Hopkins, an associate professor of political science at Boston College. “That’s one of the reasons I think there was so much time spent on health care in these debates was that from the moderator’s point of view, it was a good place to really whip up a lot of deliberation debate and fireworks among the various candidates on stage.”

The candidates did agree that what is in place now is not delivering quality, affordable care. The arguments were about how drastically to revamp the system and how to pay for it.

Biden, who served when former President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act went into effect, said that law, commonly known as “Obamacare,” needs only reversals of changes done by President Donald Trump and the option for people to buy into a public market.

Senator Michael Bennet and Montana Governor Steve Bullock also want to build on the ACA. But Senator Kamala Harris said that approach leaves in place too much of what is not working.

“Your plan will keep and allow insurance companies to remain with status quo doing business as usual, and that’s going to be about jacking up co-pays, jacking up deductibles,” she said.

Former Congressman John Delaney says the option for people to buy into government health plans does not go far enough.

“I’m proposing universal health care where everyone gets health care as a basic human right for free,” he said.

Foreign wars

Trump campaigned in 2016 on a message of not involving the United States in endless foreign conflicts. With more than half of his term over, there are still U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and many of the Democratic candidates said they want to bring those forces home and spend money on domestic programs instead.

Former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke pledged to withdraw from Afghanistan during his first term.

“We’ve satisfied the reasons for our involvement in Afghanistan in the first place, and it’s time to bring those service members back home from Afghanistan, but also from Iraq, also from Yemen and Somalia and Libya and Syria,” he said.

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who served in Afghanistan, pledged that any authorization of military force would have a three-year limit, unlike the limitless one that authorized the war in 2001 and has been the subject of intense debate over its scope.

Another veteran, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who served in Iraq, called for an end to what she called “these wasteful regime-change wars.”

“This is not about arbitrary deadlines, this is about leadership, the leadership I will bring to do the right thing, to bring our troops home within the first year in office because they shouldn’t have been there this long,” she said.

Foreign policy and trade

Trump has pursued an “America first” approach to foreign policy, whether that is seeking better trade deals through tariff threats or withdrawing from international accords like the Paris climate agreement he argued would hurt the U.S. economy.

Biden said he would seek to counter China’s influence by returning to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal also negotiated during the Obama administration, but only after renegotiating terms.

“Either China is going to write the rules of the road for the 21st century on trade or we are,” he said. “We must have the rest of the world join us to keep them in check.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio objected to Trump’s new trade deal with Canada and Mexico, which Congress has not ratified, saying it would hurt workers and that trade treaties should “empower oranized labor” instead of multinational corporations.

Trump made campaign pledges to use his first day in office to withdraw from the TPP, repeal Obamacare and begin building a southern border wall. Hopkins said so far, the Democratic candidates have not been clear about what they would try to achieve first.

“A lot of these democrats are running on very ambitious platforms. They really have lots of ideas about how to change policy in a lot of different areas. But one of the most important things you do as president is you set priorities, you set the agenda,” he said. “What is going to be the first thing you do? What is going to be the second thing you do? The candidates I think differ on that, but that didn’t come out as much during the debates this time.”

Washington Governor Jay Inslee left no doubt in the debate that climate change would be the top priority of his White House.

“We have to act now,” he said. “Climate change is not a singular issue, it is all the issues that we Democrats care about. It is health. It is national security. It is our economy.”

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said she would rejoin the Paris climate agreement, and cited the U.S. space race with Russia of last century as a model for spurring innovation on climate solutions.

“Why not have a green energy race with China?” she said.

Senator Cory Booker expressed the need to approach trade deals, foreign aid and other policies with climate change in mind, and said the United States has to lead the world to a solution.

“Climate change is not a separate issue. It must be the issue and the lens with which we view every issue. Nobody should get an applause for rejoining the Paris Climate Accords. That is kindergarten.”

Immigration

Taking a more diplomatic approach extends to many candidate’s proposals for immigration. After Trump cut aid to Central American nations as he sought to cut the number of people who travel to seek entry into the United States, Democrats want programs to help those countries be safer and better economically.

“My immigration plan would also make sure that we put undocumented immigrants who haven’t committed a serious crime on a pathway to citizenship, that we do a 21st century Marshall Plan with Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala so that we can get to the root of this challenge, so people can find safety and opportunity at home instead of having to come to the United States,” said former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.

Sanders pledged to end what he called Trump’s “demonization” of those who flee violence to seek refuge in the United States.

“What we will do in the first week we are in the White House is bring the entire hemisphere together to talk about how we rebuild Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador so that people do not have to flee their own countries,” he said.

The right policy platform will be key for whichever Democrat emerges as the party’s candidate to face Trump in November 2020. Some in the debates, including Congressman Tim Ryan and former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, cautioned that the more progressive proposals such as universal health care, may end up handing the election to Trump.

But Warren said Democrats cannot be afraid to champion policies they believe in.

“There is a lot at stake and people are scared,” she said. “But we can’t choose a candidate we don’t believe in just because we’re too scared to do anything else. And we can’t ask other people to vote for a candidate we don’t believe in. Democrats win when we figure out what is right and we get out there and fight for it.”
 

At least 32 people were killed in an attack on a military parade in the Yemeni port city of Aden Thursday, security and medical sources said.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it launched missile and drone attacks Thursday on a military parade in Aden, the seat of the Saudi-backed government, killing several people including a commander.

A Reuters witness saw nine bodies on the ground after an explosion hit a military camp belonging to Yemeni forces backed by the United Arab Emirates, which is a member of the Saudi-led military coalition battling the Houthis.

A pro-government military source said a commander was among those killed.

“The blast occurred behind the stand where the ceremony was taking place at Al Jalaa military camp in Buraiqa district in Aden,” the witness said. “A group of soldiers were crying over a body believed to be of the commander.”

The Houthi’s official channel Al Masirah TV said the group had launched a medium-range ballistic missile and an armed drone at the parade, which it described as being staged in preparation for a military move against provinces held by the movement.

The parade “was being used to prepare for an advance on Taiz and Dalea,” Masirah cited a Houthi military spokesman as saying.

In a separate attack in another district of Aden Thursday, an explosives-laden car blew up at a police station killing three soldiers, a security source said.

It was not clear if the incidents were related. Previous car attacks in Yemen have been carried out by Islamist militant groups like al-Qaida.

The Sunni Muslim coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government ousted from power in the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014. The Houthi movement says its revolution is against corruption.

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was center-stage for Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate, and Biden often found himself under attack by several of his nine rivals on stage.  But Biden was quick to counter-attack in what was a free-wheeling debate and also made an impassioned case that he is the Democrat best positioned to defeat President Donald Trump next year. VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone has more on the second night of the second round of Democratic debates.
 

A U.S. Navy fighter jet crashed Wednesday in Death Valley National Park, injuring seven people who were at a scenic overlook where aviation enthusiasts routinely watch military pilots speeding low through a chasm dubbed Star Wars Canyon, officials said.

The crash sent dark smoke billowing in the air, said Aaron Cassell, who was working at his family’s Panamint Springs Resort about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away and was the first to report the crash to park dispatch.

“I just saw a black mushroom cloud go up,” Cassell told The Associated Press. “Typically you don’t see a mushroom cloud in the desert.” 

A search was underway for the pilot of the single-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet that was on a routine training mission, said Lt. Cmdr. Lydia Bock, spokeswoman for Naval Air Station Lemoore in California’s Central Valley.

“The status of the pilot is unknown at this time,” Bock said about four hours after the crash.

A military helicopter searched for the pilot.

Ambulances were sent to the crash site near Father Crowley Overlook, but it wasn’t clear if anyone was transported for further medical treatment, said park spokesman Patrick Taylor. He said initial reports were that seven park visitors had minor injuries.

The lookout point about 160 miles (257 kilometers) north of Los Angeles is popular with photographers and aviation buffs who gawk at jets flying in the steep, narrow canyon.

U.S. and foreign militaries train pilots and test jets in the gorge officially called Rainbow Canyon near the park’s western entrance. Military flights there date back to World War II.

The chasm got its nickname because mineral-rich soil and red, gray and pink walls bring to mind the home planet of “Star Wars” character Luke Skywalker.

Training flights are almost a daily feature with jets thundering below the rim of the canyon and passing so close viewers can see the pilots’ facial expressions. 

Cassell said he heard jets roaring through the area and then saw the cloud of smoke. 

“It looked like a bomb,” Cassell said. “To me that speaks of a very violent impact.” 

A jet that was following the downed craft pulled up and began circling, Cassell said. He didn’t see any parachute.

His father drove up to the area after the crash and saw a large black scorch mark and shattered parts of the jet scattered throughout the area between the parking lot and lookout, Cassell said. A nose cone from the jet was the size of a bowling ball and the rest of the debris was no larger than a ball cap.

The jet was from strike fighter squadron VFA-151 stationed at Lemoore. The squadron is part of an air group attached to the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.

The Super Hornet is a twin-engine warplane designed to fly from either aircraft carriers or ground bases on both air-superiority and ground-attack missions.

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden clashed with Democratic presidential rivals Wednesday night on health care, immigration, crime and race as his challengers attempted to knock him off his perch as the leading Democrat to oppose President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

“I’m running for president to restore the soul of the country,” Biden declared at the opening of a second night of Democratic candidate debates on a theater stage in the Midwest industrial hub of Detroit, Michigan.

But as soon as Biden said he thought a health care plan offered this week by California Sen. Kamala Harris was “confusing,” Harris, standing alongside Biden, retorted, “He’s probably confused because he hasn’t read it.”

Biden objected to variations of a national government-run health care system favored by Harris and some other leading Democratic contenders, instead supporting improvements in the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, the country’s health care system approved in 2010 while he served as former President Barack Obama’s second in command.

Health care discussion

Biden contended the Harris plan “will cost $3 trillion (and) you will lose your employer-based insurance,” the system that now covers 150 million Americans at their workplace. “You can’t beat President Trump with double-talk on this plan.”

Harris contended that Biden’s claims on her proposal were “simply inaccurate,” adding that the cost of doing nothing is far too expensive. “We must act.”

Biden faltered in the first debate a month ago in Miami, seemingly uncertain how to effectively rebut a challenge from Harris about his opposition 40 years ago to forced busing to racially desegregate public schools, which Harris said, as a black girl, had allowed her to attend a better school while growing up in California. They confronted each other again Tuesday on the same issue, with Harris saying, “He still hasn’t admitted he was wrong.”

Standing on the opposite side of Biden, Sen. Cory Booker, an African American former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, assailed Biden’s support in 1994 for get-tough-on-crime legislation that led to the disproportionate imprisonment of black defendants.

Biden recently offered a new criminal justice plan, reversing key provisions of the law, such as ending the stricter sentencing for crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. But Booker assailed him for the law’s lingering effects, contending, “The house was set on fire because of your plans.” Biden responded by attacking Booker’s performance as the Newark leader in handling rampant crime and a troubled police department.

“There was nothing done for the entire eight years he was mayor to deal with the police department,” Biden snapped.

Booker responded that Biden was on shaky ground criticizing the past performance of his rivals in light of flaws in his own record as a senator and vice president.

“Mr. Vice President, you’re dipping into the Kool-Aid and you don’t even know the flavor,” he said.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio attacked Biden repeatedly for refusing to say whether he had attempted to counsel Obama to end the deportation of 3 million undocumented migrants, mostly from Central America, who had crossed the U.S.-Mexican border when Obama and Biden were in power from 2009 to 2017.

Biden deflected de Blasio’s attack, saying, “I keep my recommendations private.”

Several Democratic contenders, including former U.S. housing chief Julian Castro, are calling for the end to criminal charges against migrant border crossers, instead making it a civil penalty. But Biden rejected the idea, claiming, “If you say you can just cross the border, you should be able to be sent back” to the migrants’ home countries.

Even with his front-runner status in national polls, questions remain about Biden’s standing, whether at 76 he is too old to lead the country, even though Trump is 73, and whether Democratic voters want a candidate with more progressive views than the moderate, left-of-center Biden on health care, prevention of crime, migrant immigration at the U.S.-Mexican border and other issues.

Sharper on stage

Biden appeared to be much sharper and far more aggressive in dealing with his rivals, especially with Harris and Booker, than he was during the first debate. Still, he occasionally stumbled over a word or a thought, and seemed to struggle to recall Castro’s name.

The two nights of debates — depending on how voters and political pundits perceive them — could help winnow the crowded field of candidates before the next debate in mid-September, when the qualifications become more stringent to reach the debate stage. The debates could also solidify the top tier of candidates, now generally accepted as Biden, Harris, Booker, and the two most liberal candidates in the race, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who were among 10 who debated Tuesday night.

National surveys show Biden defeating the Republican Trump in hypothetical election match-ups 15 months ahead of the Nov. 3, 2020, election. But after the first debate Tuesday, Trump dismissed all the Democratic challengers looking to make him the country’s first single-term president in nearly three decades.

If I hadn’t won the 2016 Election, we would be in a Great Recession/Depression right now. The people I saw on stage last night, & you can add in Sleepy Joe, Harris, & the rest, will lead us into an economic sinkhole the likes of which we have never seen before. With me, only up!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2019

Others on the Wednesday debate stage included Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

Tuesday night debate

U.S. health care was the primary topic during Tuesday night’s debate, with more moderate challengers attacking Warren, a former Harvard law professor, and Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, the leading progressives looking to oust Trump.

Warren and Sanders have both called for a sweeping end to the country’s current health care system centered on private company insurance plans offered to 150 million workers through their employers. But moderate Democratic challengers attacked their views almost from the start of the debate and said their calls for a government-run health care system would help Trump win re-election to another four-year term.

“We don’t have to go around and be the party of subtraction and telling half the country who has private health insurance that their health insurance is illegal,” former Maryland Congressman John Delaney said. “It’s also bad policy. It’ll underfund the industry, many hospitals will close, and it’s bad politics.”

Warren, from the northeastern state of Massachusetts, and Sanders, from neighboring Vermont, are friends of long-standing and often political allies. They now are both looking for votes from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Both defended their position calling for a government-run health care system.

“This is not radical,” Sanders shouted at one point, noting that numerous other Western democracies already have adopted government-run systems. “I get a little tired of Democrats who are afraid of big ideas.”

Warren assailed her critics, saying, “I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.”

But their challengers lobbed multiple attacks at the pair, saying their proposals would, over four years or longer, upend the long-standing U.S. health care system, including government-subsidized insurance for moderate and low-income families under the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

Also taking part Tuesday were Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, former Congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Montana Governor Steve Bullock, self-help guru Marianne Williamson and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Five other Democratic candidates did not qualify for the Detroit debates, but the 20 who did had to have collected campaign donations from at least 65,000 individuals and hit a 1% threshold in at least three separate polls.

It gets tougher to appear on the stage at the third debate six weeks from now. To qualify then, candidates must have 130,000 campaign contributors and at least 2% support in four polls.

Only seven of this week’s 20 debaters have met the third debate criteria: Biden, Harris, Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, Booker and O’Rourke.
 

The son and heir of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden is presumed dead, apparently killed in a U.S.-supported operation, according to reports.

Officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the suspected death of Hamza bin Laden, believed to be in his 30s, Wednesday as first reported by NBC News.

The New York Times subsequently reported the younger bin Laden had been killed within the past two years in an operation that involved the U.S. in some capacity. But officials told the Times the government had yet to confirm his death and refused to share additional details.

The U.S. had been offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the capture or death of Hamza bin Laden, who was by his father’s side when al-Qaida launched the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks against New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Groomed from an early age

According to letters found at Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Hamza bin Laden had been groomed from an early age to one day take command of his father’s terror group.

The correspondences, recovered by U.S. forces following the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, also indicated the al-Qaida founder had been hoping his son might be able to join him in Pakistan in what turned out to be his final days.

But notes to the former al-Qaida leader from senior operatives expressed concern it would not be possible to safely smuggle Hamza bin Laden out of Iran, where he had been placed under house arrest.

Prominent voice

In recent years, Hamza bin Laden had become an increasingly prominent voice within al-Qaida, first having been officially introduced to the terror group’s followers by current al-Qaida leader Ayman al Zawahiri in a 2015 audio recording.

The U.S. first designated Hamza bin Laden as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in January 2017.

In his most recent video, issued in March 2018, Hamza bin Laden picked up on one of his father’s favorite themes, denouncing the founders of Saudi Arabia’s current monarchy as traitors to Islam. He also blamed the kingdom’s close ties with the U.S. for the deaths of “hundreds of thousands” of Muslims.

Previously, Hamza bin Laden also issued multiple calls for attacks on the U.S. to avenge his father’s death.

Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza urging Muslims to “rise in rebellion…against the agents of the Americans” in new speech, per @siteintelgrouppic.twitter.com/FzOAAohePu

— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) November 7, 2017

A blow to al-Qaida

According to former FBI agent and counterterror expert Ali Soufan, the operation to kill Hamza bin Laden could have far-reaching implications.

“Hamza’s death will be a significant blow to al-Qaida’s future plans on passing the leadership to the younger generation, and to reunifying the salafi-jihadi movement under another Bin Laden,” Soufan told VOA via email.

“There are probably other veteran al-Qaida operatives ahead of him in the pecking order, so I doubt that he was next in the group’s line of succession,” Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told VOA. “But there’s no question al-Qaida groomed him to be a key leader, someone who could articulate his father’s conspiratorial worldview to a younger generation of jihadists.”

Threat of al-Qaida has not ended

How al-Qaida will now seek to win over younger jihadists is not the only question facing the terror group, which has been competing with the Islamic State terror group for followers and for pre-eminence within the jihadist movement.

“For al-Qaida, this has left the group without a charismatic and recognizable voice, which may limit its presence on the global stage,” said Katherine Zimmerman, a research manager with the Critical Threats Project. 

“But the decapitation strategy does not end the threat al-Qaida poses to the U.S.,” she added.

United Nations report

A United Nations report released to the public this week, based on the intelligence of member states, said terror groups aligned with al-Qaida appear to be stronger than their IS-aligned rivals. But it also raised concerns about al-Qaida’s central leadership.

“The immediate global threat posed by al-Qaida remains unclear, with Aiman Muhammed Rabi al-Zawahiri (sic) reported to be in poor health and doubts as to how the group will manage the succession,” the U.N. report said.

Hamza bin Laden was married to the daughter of al-Qaida senior leader Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah.

Abdullah was charged in the U.S. in connection with the August 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, which killed 224 people and wounded thousands of others.

Hamza bin Laden is also thought to have had at least one son, named Usama.

In December 2017, al-Qaida insiders distributed a letter purportedly from Hamza bin Laden, in which he announced the death of the then-12-year-old Usama.

Letter posted online announcing the death Hamza bin Laden’s son – grandson of #alQaida founder #OsamabinLaden – “We announce to the Islamic Ummah… the Ummah of sacrifice and jihad, the news of the martyrdom of the brave cub” per @siteintelgroup translation pic.twitter.com/awEt3Plyga

— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) December 31, 2017

“In the last few days of his life, as he was playing with the other children, he used to enact his own martyrdom, throwing his body on the ground and shutting his eyes and smiling a simple smile like this is the way I will be when I become a martyr,” the letter said, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday backed General John Hyten to be the second-highest ranking U.S. military official, a day after he denied sexual assault allegations against him. 

The vote was 20-7 in favor of Hyten’s becoming the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

Hyten, the outgoing commander of the U.S. military’s Strategic Command, must still be confirmed by the full Senate. A date for that vote has not been announced. 

Hyten on Tuesday vehemently denied the sexual assault allegations against him at his confirmation hearing. His accuser, Army Colonel Kathryn Spletstoser, sat quietly in the room during the hearing, occasionally shaking her head in disagreement, and afterward told reporters that Hyten had lied to the senators under oath. 

An official Air Force investigation did not substantiate the accusations against Hyten.  

Hyten’s nomination has posed a challenge to the Senate, which for years has criticized the military for failing to do enough to combat sexual assault in its ranks. 

In a rare and dramatic move, the United States has imposed sanctions against the top diplomat of a foreign country.

“This is obviously a highly unusual action,” a senior administration official acknowledged when discussing the U.S. move against Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The executive order accuses Zarif of acting or purporting to act on behalf of his country’s supreme leader, Ali Husseini Khamanei, who was recently added to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.

“And today, President [Donald] Trump decided enough is enough,” a senior U.S. official told reporters on a background briefing conference call. “We will continue to build on our maximum pressure campaign until Iran abandons its reckless foreign policy that threatens the United States and our allies.”

The United States “is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime that its recent behavior is completely unacceptable,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “At the same time, the Iranian regime denies Iranian citizens’ access to social media, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif spreads the regime’s propaganda and disinformation around the world through these mediums.”  

In a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the action is “another step toward denying the Iranian regime the resources to enable terror and oppress the Iranian people.”

Zarif quickly responded, saying the U.S. action will have no effect on him or his family as they have no property or interests outside of Iran.

“Thank you for considering such a huge threat to your agenda,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

The US’ reason for designating me is that I am Iran’s “primary spokesperson around the world”
Is the truth really that painful?
It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran.
Thank you for considering me such a huge threat to your agenda.

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) July 31, 2019

Such sanctions generally prohibit a designated person from visiting or even transiting the United States.

The State Department “will evaluate specific circumstances related to this designation on a case-by-case basis, consistent with existing laws and obligations and this includes the United Nations Headquarters Agreements,” a senior administration official told reporters.

Zarif would be immune from arrest while on official travel to and from the U.N. in New York City, the official added.

U.S. officials made clear on Wednesday they no longer consider Zarif of any value for diplomacy. The previous administration of Barack Obama dealt with him to work out a multinational nuclear deal. But the Trump administration a year ago withdrew from the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).  

“We do not consider him to be our primary point of contact,” a U.S. official in the briefing said to reporters. “If we do have an official contact with Iran, we would want to have contact with somebody who’s a significant decision-maker.”

In its announcement, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control accuses Zarif of overseeing a ministry that coordinates with Iran’s “most nefarious state entities,” including the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force and of involvement with efforts to influence elections and facilitating payments to a foreign judiciary official for the release of two IRGC-Quds Force operatives.

Members of the LightSail 2 team declared their mission a success in a teleconference Wednesday. The citizen-funded spacecraft is the highest-performing solar sail to date and the first to demonstrate the ability to orbit Earth in a controlled way. 
 
“This is a very exciting day for us, and for me personally,” said Bill Nye, chief executive officer  of the Planetary Society, the organization behind the mission. “This idea that you could fly a spacecraft with nothing but photons is surprising, and for me, it’s very romantic that you could be sailing on sunbeams.” 
 
LightSail 2 is the latest demonstration of solar sail technology, which uses the gentle pressure of photons — the particles of light — on a lightweight, reflective surface to propel a craft through space, similar to the way the wind pushes a sailing ship across the ocean. However, instead of canvas, solar sails are made of thin sheets of Mylar, the same crinkly silver material often used for helium-filled balloons. 

Faster speeds
 
Although the pressure of the sun’s rays is no greater than the weight of a paperclip dropping on the sail, sunlight is a constant source of energy. Scientists expect that as long as sunlight reaches them, solar sails will keep accelerating to much higher speeds than what is provided by traditional propulsion methods using chemical or nuclear fuel. 
 
By tracking the location of the spacecraft, the team found that it had traveled 1.7 kilometers (1.1 miles) farther from Earth in just four days thanks to the gentle influence of sunlight. This is the first time solar propulsion has been successfully demonstrated in Earth’s orbit. 
 
The technology has been tested before. In 2010, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched a spacecraft called IKAROS, which used a solar sail to propel it past Venus and into orbit around the Sun. 
 
The Planetary Society, which aims to advance space exploration, deployed its first solar sail in 2015. The LightSail 1 mission successfully unfurled a solar sail before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere a week later. 
 
LightSail 2 follows the same trajectory. The $7 million project was funded by Planetary Society members as well as individuals who contributed to a Kickstarter campaign in 2015. 
 
The goal of this project is to demonstrate that solar sails can be used to propel small satellites called CubeSats. These tiny satellites weigh as little as 1 kilogram and can carry scientific instruments like cameras. Specifically, LightSail 2 is carrying a 5-kilogram (11-pound) CubeSat into a controlled orbit around Earth. 

Small package
 
LightSail 2 was launched on June 25, 2019, carefully folded into a spacecraft the size of a loaf of bread. Last week, it successfully unfolded to its full 32-square-meter (344-square-foot) extent — about the size of a boxing ring. 
 
The spacecraft orbits Earth along an elliptical path. Propelled by sunlight, the spacecraft will rise to a higher orbit through Aug. 23, 2019. As the maximum distance between Earth and LightSail 2 increases, part of its orbit will inch closer to Earth. Eventually, the spacecraft will dip low enough into the atmosphere that it will begin to slow down, re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, concluding its mission. 
 
The team members acknowledged the mission’s 50,000 financial backers, who hail from 109 countries. Jennifer Vaughn, chief operating officer of the Planetary Society, thanked the people who “have the dream and who are willing to put down their own financial support to make it happen.” 
 
LightSail 2’s success is encouraging for the future of solar sailing. Nye said solar sails may enable us to travel to distant destinations in the solar system, including his personal goal to “ferry cargo to Mars, look for signs of life and change the course of human history.” 
 
Nye added that LightSail 2 is part of the bigger idea that humanity seeks to explore the universe and understand our place in it. 
 
“Space exploration brings out the best in us,” he said. 

Every day, the soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (“The Old Guard”) carry out the sacred duties of the U.S. Army Caisson Platoon.

The platoon conducts eight full honors funerals a day, carrying fallen servicemen and women to their final resting places at Arlington National Cemetery. This special honor is reserved for former presidents of the United States, military members of high rank, and service members killed in action.

Sergeant 1^st Class Michael Skeens is the caisson platoon Sergeant.

“I have served with the Old Guard from April 2016 until now, and I’ve been given a tremendous opportunity to serve in this platoon. So, from the care of the horses and equipment, to the soldiers’ appearance and riding style, it is an honor and privilege to be a part of this platoon,” he says.  “Every horse in this platoon has its own personality, just like every soldier here. I have 59 soldiers in the platoon and 61 horses. So, this is a pretty big organization,” says Skeens.

Sgt. Skeens says every soldier volunteers for duty in this specialty platoon and must go through the basic horsemanship course.

“We run a 10-week course over our 10-acre ranch on Fort Belvoir. Each soldier, whether they have horse experience or not, is trained on everything they need to know about a horse, from picking the feet to grooming to different types of groundwork. Whether it’s the lead and pass, and half circles or full circles, things like that, all the way up into the saddle into a canter. Even cleaning all the leather and making sure it’s in pristine condition, as well as polishing the brass. So, the instructors of that course have been great at identifying and teaching soldiers exactly how to conduct the mission and how to treat the horses.”

Sgt. Skeens says there are four riding teams, and the horses have to withstand some severe distractions.

“Each horse has to be able to endure different things, like sounds from trumpets playing, airplanes, rifles and even cannons going off. The horses must learn to ride as a team with the caissons. I have two squads of black horses, two squads of gray horses. At any given time, two teams are riding. We rotate them in the cemetery every day. So one black team goes out with a white team and they conduct four full honor funerals per day.”

Sgt. Skeens says a caisson horse typically serves for a decade, and in that period, it will participate in thousands of funerals for service members. The Caisson Platoon of the 3rd U.S. Infantry is the last full-time equestrian unit in the Army.

“One horse, ‘Sergeant York,’ has been with the caisson platoon for 22 years. He’s actually twenty nine years old this year which in horse years makes him about one hundred and one and a half. And he’s still out there performing missions every day. Most notably, he walked in the presidential procession for Ronald Reagan.”

Sgt. Skeens says for him, it’s a solemn duty of honor and respect to serve his part in The Old Guard. 

Algeria’s interim president fired the justice minister on Wednesday and named the Algiers public prosecutor to replace him, the presidency said, amid a series of corruption investigations involving allies of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Abdelkader Bensalah appointed Belkacem Zeghmati to replace Slimane Brahmi “after consultation with the prime minister,” the presidency said in a statement.

The judiciary has been conducting probes and several former senior officials, including ex-prime ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, have been placed in custody over charges including “dissipation of public funds.”

The investigations followed mass protests that erupted in the North African country on Feb. 22, with demonstrators calling for the removal of the ruling elite and the prosecution of people involved in corruption cases.

Bouteflika resigned under pressure on April 2, but the demonstrations continued as protesters sought the departure of the remaining symbols of the elite that has governed the country since independence from France in 1962.

The army is now the main player in Algeria’s politics, and its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah has promised to help the judiciary and protect it from pressure.

The departing justice minister, Brahmi, had been in the job since March 31, when Bouteflika named a new government shortly before his resignation.

Protesters are now demanding the departure of Bensalah, a former head of the upper house of parliament, and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, regarding them as part of the old guard.

Authorities have postponed a presidential election previously planned for July 4, citing a lack of candidates and have not set a new date for the vote. Bensalah last week named a panel to start talks with the opposition over the election.