President Donald Trump was defiant and declarative, with all the hammer-on-anvil subtlety that has charted a now-familiar pattern of his presidency: create a crisis, retreat, declare victory, move on.

“Not only didn’t I back down, I backed up,” Trump insisted Friday. However he may phrase it, though, Trump walked away from his earlier vow to include a contentious question about citizenship on the 2020 census.

The president shifted his bulldozer of an administration into reverse, announcing that he would drop his push to seek the citizenship status of all American residents on the census, instead ordering other agencies to share data with the Department of Commerce, which oversees the decennial survey.

The face-saving measure, announced to fanfare in the Rose Garden on Thursday, underscored the president’s obsession with projecting a “win” even in the face of defeat. He’s demonstrated a reluctance to acknowledge even the minor missteps that have plagued his administration from its start.

After fighting in court and in the press for nearly two years to include the citizenship question, Trump this week insisted it was unnecessary because federal data-sharing would lead to more accurate results.

“We’re already finding out who the citizens are and who they’re not,” Trump said without evidence, barely 12 hours after signing the executive order. “And I think more accurately.”

Critics, including the ACLU, which successfully sued the administration to block the citizenship question, disagreed.

“Trump may claim victory today, but this is nothing short of a total, humiliating defeat for him and his administration,” said Dale Ho, director of the organization’s Voting Rights Project.

And there were indications that Trump supporters, who were clamoring for the president to keep up the fight, also were unsatisfied with the outcome.

Trump’s announcement was met with silence from most of his allies, rather than the usual cacophony of supportive statements for presidential actions.

The scene was reminiscent of one six months earlier in the same spot. In that case, Trump declared he was “very proud” to announce an agreement to end a debilitating government shutdown that had been sparked by his own insistence that Congress fund his long-sought border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Despite Trump’s bravado, no such funding materialized from lawmakers, as the president backed down in the face of mounting criticism and claimed victory anyway.

Weeks later, after lawmakers again rebuffed Trump’s request for wall funding, he boasted that a wall “is being built as we speak.”

“You are going to have to be in extremely good shape to get over this one,” he added. “They would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier, I think.”

In fact, Trump has added strikingly little length to barriers along the Mexico border despite his pre-eminent 2016 campaign promise to get a wall done.

Trump followed a similar pattern the day after his party lost the House in the midterm elections, bringing about divided government and a flood of Democratic oversight investigations. The president was unbowed, telling reporters, “I thought it was a very close to complete victory.”

It’s no surprise that Trump has difficulty conceding defeat, even when it’s plain as day.

He rose to celebrity, and then the White House, with relentless self-promotion and touting the “Art of the Deal.” In Trump’s view, admitting defeat would pose an existential political risk to the candidate who famously rallied his supporters with promises that “We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning.”

Overseas, too, Trump rushes to claim victory when the facts paint a very different picture.

After his inaugural meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Trump flatly declared on Twitter that “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea” — despite no change to its established stockpile. And last month, he embraced Kim at the demilitarized zone and insisted their second summit in Vietnam earlier this year had been a success, despite his own highly publicized walkout.

Trump also postponed steep tariffs he had announced on Mexico last month in an effort to push that country to curtail a surge in illegal border crossings. Even as he backed off, though, the president found reason to declare a win on a central campaign promise that has been largely unfulfilled as he prepared to formally launch his 2020 campaign.

After Trump claimed the deal would “greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States,” he drew mockery from Democrats, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who sarcastically declared in response that it was “an historic night!”

A British investigation into the leaking of confidential diplomatic memos is raising press freedom issues with a police warning that U.K. media might face a criminal inquiry if leaked documents are published.

The Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command is investigating the leak of private memos written by Britain’s ambassador to the United States as a possible breach of the Official Secrets Act.

Announcing the police inquiry, Counterterrorism police unit leader Neil Basu warned against any further publication of leaked documents.

“The publication of leaked communications, knowing the damage they have caused or are likely to cause, may also be a criminal matter,” he said.

“I would advise all owners, editors and publishers of social and mainstream media not to publish leaked government documents that may already be in their possession, or which may be offered to them, and to turn them over to the police or give them back to their rightful owner, Her Majesty’s Government.”

His warning may be aimed specifically at preventing publication of any more memos that have already been leaked from Britain’s sprawling diplomatic and security services.

Basu also urged the leakers of the already published documents to “turn yourself in at the earliest opportunity, explain yourself and face the consequences.”

The leak led to the resignation of British Ambassador Kim Darroch after President Donald Trump said his administration would no longer work with Darroch, who had criticized Trump in the leaked cables.

Darroch’s defenders said his critical memos showed he was doing his job by providing candid assessments, as diplomats are expected to do, but he said the controversy had made it impossible to fulfill his duties.

British officials say they believe the leak was not a result of computer hacking and seems to have been carried out by an insider.

The Official Secrets Act prohibits public servants from making “damaging” disclosures of classified material. It is aimed at civil servants and others in the government with access to sensitive information and is not designed to target journalists.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is jousting with Boris Johnson to become the next prime minister, tweeted Saturday that the person responsible for the leak must be found and held responsible, but he differed with police over whether the publication of leaks is a possible crime.

“I defend to the hilt the right of the press to publish those leaks if they receive them & judge them to be in the public interest: that is their job,” he said.

Johnson, a former foreign secretary, also said it would be wrong to seek criminal charges against the press for publishing leaked material.

“A prosecution on this basis would amount to an infringement on press freedom and have a chilling effect on public debate,” he said at a campaign event.

The Mail on Sunday, which first obtained the trove of leaked memos, has not faced any legal repercussions for its decision to publish.

The Foreign Office criticized the leak but did not challenge the authenticity of the memos, which characterized the Trump administration as chaotic and inept.

Darroch’s defenders said his critical memos showed he was doing his job by providing candid assessments as diplomats are expected to do, but he said the controversy had made it impossible to function.

Taiwan on Saturday defended a proposal to purchase $2.2 billion in arms from the U.S., following a Chinese announcement that it would sanction any American companies involved in the deal.

U.S. weapons help strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense in the face of a growing military threat from China, the defense ministry said.

“The national army will continue to strengthen its key defense forces, ensure national security, protect its homeland and ensure that the fruits of freedom and democracy won’t be attacked,” the ministry said in a statement.

China threatens sanctions

China announced late Friday that it would impose sanctions on any U.S. enterprises involved in the deal, saying it “undermines China’s sovereignty and national security.”

Taiwan split from China during a civil war in 1949, but the mainland still considers the self-governing island as part of its territory.

The U.S., which recognized Beijing as the government of China in 1979, does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but U.S. law requires that it provide Taiwan with sufficient defense equipment and services for self-defense.

The Trump administration announced the proposed $2.2 billion sale, which would include 108 Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger surface-to-air missiles, earlier in the week.

Taiwanese president in US

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, speaking in New York Friday, said her government has strengthened Taiwan’s national defense to protect its democracy, according to a transcript posted on the presidential office website.

China has objected to her U.S. visit, which Taiwan calls a “two-evening transit stop” on the way to Haiti and three other Caribbean nations that recognize Taiwan.

“We urge the U.S. to abide by the ‘One China’ principle and … not allow Tsai Ing-wen’s stopover, cease official exchanges with Taiwan and refrain from providing any platform for separatist Taiwan independence forces,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Friday in Beijng.

Tsai dismissed Chinese criticism of both her visit and the arms deal. 

“We don’t need our neighbor to make irresponsible remarks,” she told reporters in New York, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency.

She has rejected Chinese pressure to reunite Taiwan and China under the “one-country, two-systems” framework that governs Hong Kong. She said Friday that the people of Taiwan stand with the young people of Hong Kong who are fighting for democratic freedoms in ongoing protests.

“Hong Kong’s experience under ‘one country, two systems’ has shown the world once and for all that authoritarianism and democracy cannot coexist,” she said.

A U.S. service member was killed in Afghanistan Saturday, the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said in a statement.

It gave no further details and withheld the name of the service member until the next of kin were informed.

The latest fatality brings the tally of U.S. service member deaths in Afghanistan to at least seven in 2019.

About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are in Afghanistan as part of a U.S.-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some U.S. forces carry out counterterrorism operations against hardline Islamist militant groups.

A record 3,804 Afghan civilians were killed last year because of stepped-up air attacks by U.S.-led forces and more suicide bombings, the United Nations said in a February report.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to secure a political settlement with the Taliban to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan. The Taliban, however, demand a complete foreign force pullout before entering into a formal peace agreement.
 

Somalia’s security forces Saturday ended an overnight attack by the al Shabab Islamist militant group on a hotel in the southern port city of Kismayu that killed at least 13, a police officer said.

“The operation is over,” police officer Major Mohamed Abdi told Reuters by telephone from Kismayu. “So far we know 13 people died. Many people have been rescued. The four attackers were shot dead.”

Members of the al-Qaida-linked group stormed the hotel after targeting it with a car bomb Friday while local elders and lawmakers were meeting to discuss approaching regional elections.

A second witness put the death toll at 14.

“The operation was concluded at 7 a.m. We know at least 14 people died including journalists and (local election) candidates. These are the prominent people. The death toll is sure to rise,” local elder Ahmed Abdulle told Reuters.

A journalists’ group had confirmed Friday that two journalists were among the dead; Somali-Canadian journalist Hodan Naleyah, the founder of Integration TV, and Mohamed Sahal Omar, reporter of SBC TV in Kismayu.

Separately, Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, general secretary of the Federation of Somali Journalists, said in a statement: “We are saddened and outraged by this loss of life, and condemn in the strongest possible terms this appalling massacre.”

Al Shabab was ejected from Mogadishu in 2011 and has since been driven from most of its other strongholds.

It was driven out of Kismayu in 2012. The city’s port had been a major source of revenue for the group from taxes, charcoal exports and levies on arms and other illegal imports.

Kismayu is the commercial capital of Jubbaland, a region of southern Somalia still partly controlled by al Shabaab.

Al Shabaab remains a major security threat, with fighters frequently carrying out bombings in Somalia and neighboring Kenya, whose troops form part of the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force that helps defend the Somali government.
 

More than 200 educators and activists, along with presidential candidate Jay Inslee, rallied outside the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) office Friday to protest the Trump administration’s continued detention of children and separation of families.

Organized by the American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest teachers union in the country, protesters donned white shirts reading “CLASSROOMS NOT CAGES.”

“Whatever it takes, let’s do [immigration] right,” AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus told VOA News.

“But, until then, these kids are dying. These kids are suffering. These kids are not getting schooling the way they should,” DeJesus added. “And the teachers are here, ready to school them, to teach them, to love them.”

During President Donald Trump’s time in office,

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy American financier, was charged this week with child sex trafficking and alleged abuse of dozens of girls as young as 14.

Despite living a life of private jets, celebrity friends and private islands, Epstein remains an enigma.

In a profile published in 2002, New York Magazine called Epstein an “international moneyman of mystery.”

Author James Patterson, who has written a book about Epstein, called him “a total mystery person.”

On CBS News, Patterson compared Epstein to author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s character Jay Gatsby: an impenetrable rich man who “liked to be around famous people and he liked to throw parties.”

Humble beginnings

Epstein’s start was a humble one. He was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. His father worked for the city parks department.

In the mid-1970s, Epstein attended a private college in New York called The Cooper Union. He later attended New York University. Even though he failed to earn a degree from either school, Epstein managed to land a job teaching math at the Dalton School, an elite private school in Manhattan.

He was reportedly hired by then-headmaster Donald Barr, father of Attorney General William Barr, according to Newsweek magazine.

Epstein quit Dalton in 1976 and started work at the Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns, advising clients on tax strategies. By 1980, he “did well enough to become a limited partner — a rung beneath full partner,” Vanity Fair reported.

He left Bear Sterns in 1981 and set up a money management firm, J. Epstein and Co., which later became the Financial Trust Company, based in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Epstein’s company is shrouded in secrecy. While Epstein has long claimed to represent several billionaires, his only known client is Les Wexner, the founder of Victoria’s Secret, The Limited and other retail brands.

And despite his claims of wealth, Forbes magazine says Epstein is not a billionaire. He has never appeared on the magazine’s list of 400 richest Americans.

Notable friends

Along with lavish properties, Epstein also appears to like to collect notable friends.

In 2015, the now-defunct site Gawker published what it said was Epstein’s address book. It contained entries for U.S. President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump; actors Alec Baldwin, Dustin Hoffman and Ralph Fiennes; the Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, singers Courtney Love and Jimmy Buffett, and high-profile lawyer Alan Dershowitz among others. He is also known to have traveled on his private jets with former President Bill Clinton and actor Kevin Spacey.

None of his high-profile friends have been linked to the crimes for which Epstein was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York this week.
 

A federal appeals court gave President Donald Trump a rare legal win in his efforts to crack down on “sanctuary cities” Friday, upholding the Justice Department’s decision to give preferential treatment in awarding community policing grants to cities that cooperate with immigration authorities.

The 2-1 opinion overturned a nationwide injunction issued by a federal judge in Los Angeles. The court said awarding extra points in the application process to cities that cooperate was consistent with the goals of the grant program created by Congress.

“The department is pleased that the court recognized the lawful authority of the administration to provide favorable treatment when awarding discretionary law-enforcement grants to jurisdictions that assist in enforcing federal immigration laws,” the Justice Department said in an emailed statement.

Court block some efforts to withhold money

Federal courts have blocked some efforts by the administration to withhold money from sanctuary cities, including an executive order issued by the president in 2017 that would have barred them from receiving federal grants “except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes.” Courts also barred the Justice Department from imposing new immigration enforcement-related conditions on Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants, the biggest source of federal funding to state and local jurisdictions.

The 9th Circuit’s ruling Friday concerned a different grant program, Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, grants, which are used to hire more police officers. Previously, the Justice Department has given extra points to cities that agree to hire veterans, or that operate early intervention systems to identify officers with personal issues, or that have suffered school shootings.

Immigration points

In 2017, under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department for the first time decided extra points would go to cities that listed immigration enforcement as a priority or that certified it would cooperate with federal immigration authorities by allowing them access to detainees in city jails and giving 48 hours’ notice before an undocumented immigrant was released from custody.

Los Angeles applied for a grant that year, but declined to list immigration enforcement as a priority — it listed building community trust instead — or to make the certification. It failed to win, and it sued.

The Justice Department had introduced conditions that impermissibly coerced the grant applicants to enforce federal immigration law, the city said. It also said the immigration-related conditions were contrary to the goals for which Congress had approved the grant money: to get more police on the beat, developing trust with the public.

Opinion ‘Orwellian’

The judges in the majority, Sandra Ikuta and Jay Bybee, both appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, rejected that.

“Cooperation relating to enforcement of federal immigration law is in pursuit of the general welfare, and meets the low bar of being germane to the federal interest in providing the funding to ‘address crime and disorder problems, and otherwise … enhance public safety,’” Ikuta wrote.

Several other jurisdictions did win funding without agreeing to the DOJ’s immigration enforcement preferences, she noted.

Judge Kim Wardlaw, appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, dissented, calling the majority’s opinion “Orwellian” in the way it tried to equate federal immigration enforcement with enhanced community policing.

“Nothing in the congressional record nor the act itself remotely mentions immigration or immigration enforcement as a goal,” she wrote. “In the quarter-century of the act’s existence, Congress has not once denoted civil immigration enforcement as a proper purpose for COPS grants.”

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Supporters of sanctuary cities say that encouraging local police to participate in federal immigration enforcement is counterproductive: People will be less likely to report crimes if they believe they’ll be deported for doing so. But the 9th Circuit’s opinion found that to be a question of policy, not law, said David Levine, a professor at University of California Hastings College of the Law.

“What the Justice Department was doing before, they were trying to force sanctuary cities to do things, and yank money from them retroactively if they didn’t,” Levine said. “They’ve gotten a little more sophisticated now. They’re saying, ‘You don’t have to take this money, but if you want it, it comes with strings attached.’ That’s a well understood way the federal government gets states to do things. You don’t use a stick, you use a carrot.”
 

Forecasters have issued hurricane warnings for parts of the Louisiana coast, as Tropical Storm Barry churns ominously in the Gulf of Mexico.

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

The National Hurricane Center expects Barry to strengthen before landfall and hit the coast as a Category 1 storm late Friday or early Saturday. It would be the first Atlantic hurricane of the season.

As of early Friday, Barry was about 170 kilometers southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, with top winds at 100 kph and crawling about 7 kilometers per hour. The slow movement is enabling Barry to suck up more moisture and energy from the warm Gulf waters.

New Orleans, which is already dealing with floods from Wednesday’s fierce rainstorms, is under a tropical storm warning, increasing the chance of flash flooding. The city of Baton Rouge is also facing threats of flash flooding.

As of Friday afternoon, Barry was on a path toward Morgan City, which is surrounded by water and nearly 140 kilometers southwest of New Orleans.

Forecasters predict the city can expect as much as 51 centimeters of additional rain from Barry, pushing the Mississippi River’s crest close to the top of the 6-meter-high levees protecting New Orleans.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has already declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for about 10,000 people living near the stretch of the Mississippi closest to the Gulf. A storm surge warning is in effect for southern and southeastern Louisiana.

Along with heavy rain and strong winds, Barry could bring dangerous storm surges and tornadoes before it moves inland and weakens.

Militants stormed a hotel Friday evening in the coastal Somali city of Kismayo, sparking gunbattles and fears of heavy casualties. 
 
The attack began when an explosives-laden car detonated at the front entrance of the Asasey hotel, a popular meeting spot for regional officials and visitors from the diaspora.  Militants then stormed inside and opened fire.  
 
Witnesses told VOA’s Somali service that regional security forces were trading fire with the militants.  The witnesses reported hearing several explosions, presumably from hand grenades. 
 
Jihadist group al-Shabab immediately claimed the responsibility for the attack through al-Andalu Radio, the group’s FM station. 
 
Reuters quoted an al-Shabab spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, as saying, “It was a suicide attack,” and that the fighting was continuing. 
 
A VOA reporter in the town said the number of casualties was unclear. At least one member of Somalia’s federal parliament was thought to have been in the hotel at the time of the attack.  
 
Al-Shabab frequently carries out bombings in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia against government, military and civilian targets. 
 
The attack in Kismayo, about 485 kilometers south of Mogadishu, came amid preparation for regional elections. The port town once served as a major stronghold for al-Shabab militants. 

Officials on Hawaii’s Maui Island say a wildfire has burned over 4,000 hectares and forced thousands of people to evacuate.
 
Authorities say the fire is not yet contained, but say evacuated residents have been allowed to return to their homes because the immediate threat has passed.
 
Officials cautioned residents and visitors Friday to be on alert for possible changing conditions in the wildfire.
 
The aggressive brushfire broke out in Maui’s central valley on Thursday morning, local time, and quickly spread because of steady winds of up to 30 kph.
 
Two coastal communities were evacuated on Thursday, Maalaea and Kihei, with shelters being set up in nearby areas to accommodate people. Residents have been allowed to return home, but officials say the shelters will remain on standby in case the fire flares up again.
 
No injuries or significant property damage has been reported from the fire.
 
On Thursday, Hawaii Gov. David Ige thanked television star Oprah Winfrey for allowing local authorities access to her private road near her home on Maui to help with the evacuations.
 
“A big mahalo to Oprah for giving mauicounty access to your private road for use to assist in the Mauifire,” he wrote on Twitter.
 
Kahului Airport was briefly closed on Thursday and flights were diverted because of the smoke.

House Democrats are considering a delay of special counsel Robert Mueller’s high-profile hearing next week because of concerns over the short length of the scheduled hearings before two committees.  
 
The House Judiciary and Intelligence committees are considering delaying the July 17 hearing as they negotiate with Mueller’s representatives and the Justice Department over the hearing’s format, according to two people familiar with the talks. The delay would be in exchange for more time for questioning.

One of the people said the hearing would be delayed a week, to July 24. The people requested anonymity to discuss the private negotiations and because the talks were still fluid.
 
Mueller is scheduled to testify before the two committees in open session. He had expressed his reluctance to testify, and has said he won’t go beyond the report.

A spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee would not confirm the possible delay.
 
“At this moment we still plan to have our hearing on the 17th and we will let you know if that changes,” said Daniel Schwartz, spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is getting support from an unlikely source — the president — in her fight with freshmen Democrats.

Republican Donald Trump is defending top Democrat Pelosi and says Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York should treat Pelosi “with respect” — in Trump’s words.
Trump also says Pelosi is “not a racist.”

Ocasio-Cortez has accused Pelosi of “singling out” her and fellow freshmen – all women of color – for criticism.

Tensions between Pelosi and some younger, more progressive first-term House Democrats have become public recently and it’s threatening party unity.

Just last month, as House Democrats clamored for impeachment proceedings against Trump, the president told Fox News Channel that Pelosi is a “nasty, vindictive, horrible” person.

The California Democrat later said of Trump: “I’m done with him.”

U.S. authorities plan to start arresting immigrants eligible for deportations in 10 cities this weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.

Trump previously warned last month about the planned deportations, which were earlier reported by the New York Times.

Courses in Islamic studies are being offered at many colleges and universities in the United States. And it’s not just Muslims signing up for those classes, as VOA’s Ali Orokzai notes in this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.

Bariatric surgery shrinks the stomach so people battling obesity can lose weight and regain their health. It’s a drastic, life-changing procedure, but as VOA’s Carol Pearson reports, some doctors think it should be done more often, before patients become severely obese.

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a Social Media Summit Thursday, inviting conservative media, pundits, think tanks and social media influencers. Trump claims that conservative views are being censored online, by platforms including Twitter, Google and Facebook — tech-giants who were not invited to the summit. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday criticized Bitcoin, Facebook’s proposed Libra

digital coin and other cryptocurrencies and demanded that companies seek a banking charter and make themselves subject to U.S. and global regulations if they wanted to “become a bank.”

“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” Trump wrote on Twitter.”If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National and International,” he added.

Trump’s comments come one day after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers that Facebook’s plan to build a digital currency called Libra cannot move forward unless it addresses concerns over privacy, money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability.

Powell said the Fed has established a working group to follow the project and is coordinating with other government’s central banks. The U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators that identifies risks to the financial system, is also expected to make a review.

Hours earlier on Thursday, Trump criticized large technology companies at an event at the White House, who he said treated conservative voices unfairly.

The Internet Association, a trade group representing major tech firms like Facebook, Twitter and Google, said, “Internet companies are not biased against any political ideology, and conservative voices in particular have used social media to great effect.”

An expanded alliance between Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG that includes a partnership in Ford self-driving unit Argo AI could redraw the balance of power in autonomous vehicles.

A Ford-VW collaboration with Argo, the Pittsburgh-based startup that has spearheaded Ford’s self-driving development since 2017, could help reduce the engineering and financial burdens on each automaker. It could also accelerate the deployment timetables of both, which have said they plan to put autonomous vehicles into operation in 2021.

Argo has been overlooked as Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving subsidiary, has deployed its robo-vans, and General Motors Co.’s Cruise Automation subsidiary has raked in billions of dollars in investments.

Scale and resources

With VW, the world’s biggest automaker by sales volume last year, Argo would be aligned with a partner with substantial scale and resources.

Ford and VW said Thursday they are expanding their global alliance and that the two companies’ chief executives would hold a news conference in New York Friday, where they are expected to announce details on a technology-sharing agreement.

A Ford-VW deal that involves Argo could also have broader implications for similar alliances, as well as valuations of related startup companies.

Earlier estimates of Argo’s value have ranged from $2 billion to $4 billion. Depending on the size of a VW investment, that valuation could rise to $7 billion, according to a source familiar with the Ford-VW discussions.

Other players

In comparison, the value of Cruise jumped to $19 billion earlier this year after it attracted more than $6 billion in investments from SoftBank Group, Honda Motor Co. and T. Rowe Price.

The value of ride services firm Uber Technologies’ Advanced Technologies Group climbed to more than $7 billion earlier this year after SoftBank, Toyota Motor Corp. and Denso Corp. invested $1 billion.

Those valuations are dwarfed by the estimates for Waymo, which is widely acknowledged as the sector leader. Morgan Stanley values Waymo at up to $175 billion, while Jefferies values the company at up to $250 billion.

Both estimates take into account Waymo’s nascent robotaxi business and potential future revenue streams from a delivery service and from streamed in-vehicle services, including e-commerce and infotainment.

VW, whose Audi unit heads the German automaker’s Automated Intelligence Driving (AID) unit in Munich, reportedly considered a $13.7 billion investment last year in Waymo for a 10 percent stake that would have valued Waymo at $137 billion.

VW recently concluded a development agreement with Aurora, the Silicon Valley self-driving startup that includes Hyundai Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles among its customers. Fiat Chrysler also supplies vehicles to Waymo.

Aurora is valued at $2.5 billion. Investors include Hyundai and Amazon Inc.

Argo, which is majority-owned by the No. 2 U.S. automaker, is part of Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC. Ford set up the unit in 2018, pledging to invest $4 billion until 2023.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted to launch an investigation into the alleged killings of tens of thousands of Filipinos during the government’s war on drugs.

The measure, put forward by Iceland, was approved 18-14 Thursday. It cites extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and disappearances at the hands of police since President Rodrigo Duterte launched the anti-narcotics campaign in 2016.

Philippines ambassador in Geneva,  Evan Garcia,  immediately rebuked the U.N. move saying it “does not represent a triumph of human rights, but a travesty of them.”

Filipino activists have claimed that about 27,000 people have been killed as police terrorize poor communities, using cursory drug “watch lists” to identify users or dealers. The government counters that about 6,600 people have been killed by police in shootouts with drug dealers.

The resolution was welcomed by human rights groups. “This vote provides hope for thousands of bereaved families in the Philippines,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “It’s a crucial step towards justice and accountability.”