A television documentary has made allegations linking Australia’s gambling giant, Crown Casino, to organized crime, money laundering and human trafficking. The company has taken out newspaper ads denying the allegations. 

The investigation into Crown Casino was carried out by Australia’s Channel Nine television network and two newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The story was based on tens of thousands of documents apparently leaked from the company that owns casinos in the cities of Melbourne and Perth, and is planning another in Sydney.

The documentary alleged links between Crown and organized crime and claims the company turned a “blind eye” to money laundering and exploited weaknesses in Australia’s immigration processes to fly wealthy Chinese gamblers into the country without proper checks. There are also claims it had business links with an Australian brothel that has been investigated over human trafficking.

MP seeks investigation

Independent Member of Parliament Andrew Wilkie told the Australian parliament that Crown has operated above the law in the state of Victoria.

“I now know of three police officers — two currently serving — who have openly said to my staff that in Victoria, Crown is regarded as the Vatican, an independent sovereign state all to its own where the laws of Victoria, the laws of the Commonwealth (of Australia) do not apply.”

Wilkie has failed in his bid to have the claims investigated by the Australian parliament. But federal Attorney-General Christian Porter has referred the allegations to the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. It can only investigate the behavior of federal law enforcement officials, and not Crown employees.

The state of Victoria has ordered the state’s gambling office to examine the claims against Crown Casino “as a matter of priority.”

Experts have also demanded Australia’s anti-money laundering regulator AUSTRAC examine claims that criminals have passed money through Crown Casino.

Company denies accusations

The company has strongly denied the allegations. 

In a series of newspaper advertisements, the company said it wanted to set the “record straight in the face of a deceitful campaign against Crown.” Crown Casino accused the TV documentary of unfairly attempting to damage its reputation. It also said it takes its regulatory obligations very seriously.

Life can have its obstacles, but facing those obstacles with a disability is even more challenging. Saba Shah Khan introduces us to a lawyer in Parkland, Florida, who is defying the stereotypes associated with autism.

VOA’s Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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

“Russia failed to return to full and verified compliance through the destruction of its noncompliant missile system, the SSC-8 or 9M729 ground-launched, intermediate-range cruise missile,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “Russia is solely responsible for the treaty’s demise.”

Pompeo, in a statement, added the United States “will not remain party to a treaty that is deliberately violated by Russia. Russia’s noncompliance under the treaty jeopardizes U.S. supreme interests as Russia’s development and fielding of a treaty-violating missile system represents a direct threat to the United States and our allies and partners.”

New agreement?

U.S. President Donald Trump he is hopeful 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 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.

In his statement, Pompeo called on Russia and China “to join us in this opportunity to deliver real security results to our nations and the entire world.”

A ‘brake on nuclear war’

With the expiration of the treaty, the world loses “an invaluable brake on nuclear war,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Thursday. “This will likely heighten, not reduce, the threat posed by ballistic missiles,”

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.

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

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

Pillar of European security

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. European leaders, fearing a renewed arms race if the treaty is jettisoned, called on both 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,” says 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. 

“We are literally years away before we would be at a point where we would talk about basing of any particular capability,” says a senior administration official, downplaying such immediate concerns.

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

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.”