The top US representative in talks with North Korea on Monday slammed Pyongyang’s demands as hostile and unnecessary as its end-of-year deadline approaches, but held open the door for fresh negotiations.

North Korea has insisted that Washington offer it new concessions by the end of 2019 with the process largely deadlocked since the collapse of a summit in Hanoi in February.

Pyongyang has issued a series of increasingly strident declarations in recent weeks, and US special representative Stephen Biegun told reporters in Seoul: “We have heard them all.”

“It is regrettable that the tone of these statements towards the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan and our friends in Europe have been so hostile and negative and so unnecessary,” he said.

“The US does not have a deadline, we have a goal.”

Pyongyang has said that if Washington fails to make it an acceptable offer, it will adopt a so-far-unspecified “new way.”

It has also carried out a series of static tests at its Sohae rocket facility this month, after a number of weapons launches in recent weeks, some of them described as ballistic missiles by Japan and others — which Pyongyang is banned from testing under UN sanctions.

Biegun added that the US was “fully aware of the strong potential for North Korea to conduct a major provocation in the days ahead.”

“To say the least, such an action will be most unhelpful in achieving lasting peace on the Korean peninsula,” he added.

Directly addressing “our counterparts in North Korea”, he went on: “It is time for us to do our jobs. Let’s get this done. We are here and you know how to reach us.”

Police fired tear gas against protesters in Hong Kong before meetings Monday between the territory’s leader and Communist Party officials in Beijing, ending a lull in what have become regular clashes between riot squads and demonstrators.

Police said they fired the choking gas after unrest erupted Sunday night in the Mongkok district of Kowloon.

Protesters threw bricks at officers and tossed traffic cones at a police vehicle, police said. They also set fires, blocked roads and smashed traffic lights with hammers.

Video footage showed truncheon-wielding riot officers squirting pepper spray at a man in a group of journalists and ganging up to beat and manhandle him.

The violence and scattered confrontations in shopping malls earlier Sunday, where police also squirted pepper spray and made several arrests, ended what had been a lull of a couple of weeks in clashes between police and protesters.

The uptick in tension came as Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam was in Beijing on Monday to brief President Xi Jinping on the situation in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

Hong Kong’s protest movement erupted in June against now-scrapped legislation that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts in mainland China.

It has snowballed into a full-blow challenge to the government and Communist leaders in Beijing, with an array of demands, including that Hong Kong’s leader and legislators all be fully elected.

With no end in sight to the Zimbabwe doctors’ strike over salaries and poor working conditions, desperate patients have looked to church-run mission hospitals for much-needed healthcare. Karanda Mission Hospital, about 200 kilometers north of the capital Harare, is overwhelmed by patients seeking treatment. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Mount Darwin, Zimbabwe.

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on two articles of impeachment approved by the House Judiciary Committee. It is likely that Donald Trump will become the third president in U.S. history to be impeached, with a Senate trial expected next year. Democrats have accused him of abusing the power of the presidency by soliciting Ukraine to investigate one of his chief 2020 Democratic challengers and of blocking Congress to investigate. Trump and his supporters insist he did nothing wrong. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.

Juni Martoyo says she has no interest in sending her third child to study in the United States, although her two other children are at universities in Virginia and New Hampshire.

One of her main concerns is security, as mass shootings in public places, including schools or universities, have become more frequent.

“Secondly, English language is not interesting anymore,” Martoyo from Blitar, East Java, said in a phone interview with VOA. “However, safety is the main reason. Mandarin language is now more attractive.”

Like many parents in Indonesia, Martoyo said she is looking for universities for her child in countries other than the United States.

Security and safety reasons contribute to the overall declining number of foreign students in the United States. Other reasons include the bureaucracy in obtaining permits, a decrease in scholarships because of budget cuts, and inconveniences caused by trade war and immigration limitations.

According to the Open Doors report released Nov. 18 by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the U.S. State Department, the numbers of new student enrollments from South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, Iran, England and Turkey showed decreases from 0.3% to 16.5%.

The number of Indonesian students enrolling in colleges or universities in the United States decreased by 3.4%, the IIE reported.

Where are those students headed?

Anondho Wijanarko, secretary of Directorate General Resources and Higher Education with the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, told VOA that the Overseas Postgraduate Scholarship (BPPLN) awarded by the Indonesian government to its students is more likely to be distributed at colleges and universities in Europe. It is easier to get an acceptance letter to those universities, which gets the visa process started, than U.S. schools.

However, Wijanarko did not have an exact number comparing Indonesian college students studying in Europe with students studying in other countries.

Offsetting the declining number of some international students at American universities were increases to U.S. schools in the number of students from Taiwan, China (up 1.7%), India (up 2.9%) and Brazil (up 9.8%), the IIE report showed. Students from China (369,548) and India (202,014) to the U.S. comprise more than half of the more than 1 million international students in the United States.

However, the overall growth in the number of international students in American universities during the 2018-2019 year is only 0.05%, which is the lowest growth in 10 years.

 

Attackers in northern Lebanon set fire to the offices of two major political parties on Sunday, the state-run National News Agency said.

The assaults came just hours after the capital Beirut was rocked by the most violent government crackdown on protesters since nationwide demonstrations began two months ago. Lebanese security forces fired rubber bullets, tear gas and used water cannons throughout the night to disperse anti-government protesters from the city center – the epicenter of the protest movement in Beirut – and around parliament.

The overnight confrontations in Beirut left more than 130 people injured, according to the Red Cross and the Lebanese Civil Defense.

In the northern Akkar district on Sunday, attackers broke the windows and torched the local office for resigned Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s political party in the town of Kharibet al-Jindi.

In a separate attack in Akkar district, assailants stormed the local office of the largest party in parliament, affiliated with President Michel Aoun and headed by Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. The party said the contents of the office in the town of Jedidat al-Juma had also been smashed and burned.

Lebanon is facing one of its worst economic crises in decades, and the protesters accuse the ruling political class in place for three decades of mismanagement and corruption.

The violence comes a day before the president is due to hold talks with different parliamentary blocs to name a new prime minister on Monday.

Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan on Sunday ordered an investigation into the clashes which she said injured both protesters and security forces. She said she watched the confrontations “with concern, sadness and shock.”

Al-Hassan blamed “infiltrators” for instigating the friction and called on the demonstrators to be wary of those who want to exploit their protests for political reasons. She didn’t elaborate.

Nationwide protests began on Oct. 17, and the government headed by Hariri resigned two weeks later.

Political parties have since been bickering over the shape and form of the new Cabinet. Protesters want a technocratic government, not affiliated with established political parties.

After weeks of back and forth, Hariri has emerged as the likely candidate for the job.

 

Arabica coffee, the higher-quality variety that Kenya grows, ends up in specialty coffees in Europe and the United States. It thrives in moderate temperatures and high altitudes. But rising temperatures are scorching plants, making them vulnerable to diseases like coffee leaf rust. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports

Several thousand people shouting words of thanks to the police turned out in Hong Kong on Sunday in an unusual display of support for a force broadly criticized as abusive by the territory’s protest movement.

People made heart signs with their hands at officers, with some calling them heroes for their policing of six months of demonstrations.

The rally attracted a bigger crowd than a protest against the government a few hundred meters (yards) away. It brought together a few hundred people in a square.

There were also scattered small protests against the government in shopping malls.

Tensions flared in one mall after police arrested about eight protesters. Police used pepper spray when people threw bottles of water at them.

Five Hong Kong teenagers have been arrested in connection with the death of a man hit on the head by a brick during clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters last month, police said Saturday.

The three males and two females aged 15 to 18 were arrested on Friday on suspicion of murder, rioting and wounding and had been detained pending further investigation, police said in a statement.

The incident occurred in mid-November as the pro-democracy movement was in its fifth month, with hardcore demonstrators engaged in a “blossom everywhere” campaign across the city to stretch police resources.

Footage of the event showed rival groups of protesters throwing bricks at each other, during which a man was hit by a brick and fell to the ground.

The 70-year-old was rushed to hospital unconscious and certified dead the following day.

He was the second person in less than a week to die in protest-linked incidents.

Alex Chow, a 22-year-old university student, died on November 8 from head injuries sustained during a fall in a multi-storey carpark while police and demonstrators were clashing.

Although the events leading to his fall are unclear and disputed, protesters have blamed police.

Allegations of police brutality are one of the movement’s rallying cries.

Thousands of Hong Kongers formed long lines to attend a memorial service for Chow on Thursday ahead of his funeral.

Chow’s death was followed three days later by police shooting an unarmed 21-year-old protester in the abdomen, sparking days of unrest that culminated in pitched battles on university campuses.

Meanwhile, police arrested three men, aged 27 to 40, on Saturday morning in relation to a test of explosive materials and remote control device in a remote area in northwestern Hong Kong.

Li Kwai-wah, senior superintendent of the organized crime and triad bureau, said they believed the men were planning to use the explosives during processions and that they were investigating who the potential target was.

Hong Kong has been upended by six months of massive pro-democracy protests that have seen violent clashes between police and hardcore demonstrators, as well as regular transport disruption.

The past three weeks have seen a lull in the violence and vandalism after pro-democracy parties won a landslide in local council elections.

 

Protests against a divisive new citizenship law raged Saturday as Washington and London issued travel warnings for northeast India following days of violent clashes that have killed two people.

Many in the far-flung, resource-rich northeast fear the new legislation will grant citizenship to large numbers of immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, whom they accuse of stealing jobs and diluting the region’s cultural identity.

Several thousand protesters rallied in New Delhi late Saturday to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to revoke the law, some holding signs reading: “Stop Dividing India.”

“People are not gathered here as Hindus or Muslims; people are gathered here as citizens of India. We reject this bill that has been brought by the Modi government and we want that equal treatment as is enshrined in our constitution,” said protester Amit Baruah, 55, a journalist.

Protests turned violent in West Bengal state, a hotbed of political unrest, with at least 20 buses and parts of two railway stations set on fire as demonstrators blocked roads and set fire to tires. No injuries were reported.

Epicenter of unrest

Tensions also simmered in Guwahati in Assam state, the epicenter of the unrest, where medical staff said two people were shot dead and 26 hospitalized late Thursday after security forces fired live rounds.

Assam police chief Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told the Press Trust of India late Saturday that 85 people had been arrested in connection with the protests, and that officials were working to identify violent demonstrators caught on video.

Friday’s funeral procession for Sam Stafford, 18, who was killed in the demonstration, was attended by hundreds of angry and distraught mourners who shouted, “Long live Assam.”

“We were watching news all day on TV about the protests when my nephew left home in the evening. We asked him not to go but he went with his friends,” the student’s aunt, Julie Stafford, told AFP.

Anticipating further unrest, authorities extended an internet ban across Assam until Monday. Most shops were shut and anxious residents stocked up on supplies Saturday when the curfew was relaxed during the day.

The Citizenship Amendment Act allows for the fast-tracking of applications from religious minorities, including Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but not Muslims.

Samujjal Bhattacharya from the All Assam Students Union, which has been at the forefront of the protests, told AFP the group would continue its fight against the new law “in the streets and in the court.”

‘Exercise caution’

Modi and Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe postponed a summit that was reportedly due to be held in Guwahati beginning Sunday, and the United States and Britain warned their nationals to “exercise caution” if traveling to the wider northeast region.

Islamic groups, the opposition and rights organizations say the law is a part of Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda to marginalize India’s 200 million Muslims.

He denies this and says that Muslims from the three countries are not covered by the legislation because they have no need of India’s protection.

Modi’s right-hand man, Amit Shah, on Saturday sought to reassure the northeastern states, saying the government would protect their “culture, social identity, language and political rights.”

Nellie massacre

Assam has long been a hotbed of ethnic tensions. In 1983, 2,000 people, mainly Bengali Muslims, were butchered in what became known as the Nellie massacre.

This year a citizenship registry left off 1.9 million people — many of them Muslims — unable to prove that they or their forebears were in Assam before 1971, leaving them to face possible statelessness.

“There has been this agitation [against] illegal migration from Bangladesh over many years,” Sanjoy Hazarika, a professor at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University, told AFP. “They feel that their rights to land, to jobs, and the entire social fabric, education, existing social services and so on will be impacted by this.”

On Friday, university students in Delhi clashed with police, who used batons and tear gas shells to quell the protests.

The passage of the bill also sparked angry scenes in both houses of parliament this week, with one lawmaker likening it to anti-Jewish legislation by the Nazis in 1930s Germany.

China has suspended additional tariffs on some U.S. goods that were meant to be implemented on Dec. 15, the State Council’s customs tariff commission said on Sunday, after the world’s two largest economies agreed a “phase one” trade deal on Friday.

The deal, rumours and leaks over which have gyrated world markets for months, reduces some U.S. tariffs in exchange for what U.S. officials said would be a big jump in Chinese purchases of American farm products and other goods.

China’s retaliatory tariffs, which were due to take effect on Dec. 15, were meant to target goods ranging from corn and wheat to U.S. made vehicles and auto parts.

Other Chinese tariffs that had already been implemented on U.S. goods would be left in place, the commission said in a statement issued on the websites of government departments including China’s finance ministry.

“China hopes, on the basis of equality and mutual respect, to work with the United States, to properly resolve each other’s core concerns and promote the stable development of U.S.-China economic and trade relations,” it added.

Beijing has agreed to import at least $200 billion in additional U.S. goods and services over the next two years on top of the amount it purchased in 2017, the top U.S. trade negotiator said Friday.

A statement issued by the United States Trade Representative also on Friday said the United States would leave in place 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods.

 

The UN refugee agency is calling for intensified support for millions of Afghans who remain displaced after more than four decades of war

A record-breaking 70.8 million people globally are forcibly displaced by conflict and persecution.  Among them are some 4.6 million Afghans.  More than half are registered as refugees and another 2 million are displaced inside Afghanistan.

The UN refugee agency says Afghans represent the longest-displaced and the longest-dispossessed population in the world.  UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told VOA 90 percent of Afghanistan’s 2.7 million refugees are in Pakistan and Iran.

“In terms of their hosting countries, 1979 was the first year when Afghans started to flee the conflict, today we are 2019,” Baloch said.  ” After four decades and 40 years, Afghans are still being hosted by Pakistan, by Iran.”  

Baloch said Afghans are increasingly fleeing to Europe to escape the sharp deterioration in security inside Afghanistan and the growing financial pressure on their countries of refuge. 

“Afghan asylum seekers constitute the majority of people arriving in Europe in terms of their asylum applications.  This year, we have seen in the eastern Mediterranean around 70,000 in total arrivals by the sea, 37.4 percent of them are Afghans.”  

Baloch said this mass exodus highlights the need for continuing protection and support for Afghans both inside and outside their country.  The overwhelming majority of these Afghans, he noted, are young people.  

He said they are the future of Afghanistan.  However, without international support, he warns their ability to create a peaceful, stable society will be difficult.  According to Baloch, less than half of UNHCR’s more than $500 million appeal for Afghan refugees and internally displaced has been met this year.

A Congolese city at the center of the Ebola epidemic has again come under attack from rebels, leaving at least six people dead.

Witnesses said Saturday that the rebels from the Ugandan-based group known as ADF had launched an assault in Beni overnight.

The attack comes just days after Congo’s military began stepping up its efforts to fight armed groups in the area.

Repeated attacks by ADF rebels and other armed groups have disrupted efforts to contain the Ebola virus outbreak in eastern Congo, which has killed more than 2,200 people.

Anger over the continued attacks also has erupted into violent demonstrations in Beni. Late last month, residents burned the town hall and stormed the United Nations peacekeeping mission in protest.
 

Several thousand people took part in Thailand’s biggest protest since a 2014 coup on Saturday after authorities moved to ban a party that has rallied opposition to the government of former military ruler Prayuth Chan-ocha.

The demonstration in Bangkok, called just a day earlier by Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a 41-year-old billionaire, revived memories of the spasms of street protest that have roiled the Thai capital periodically during the past two decades of political turbulence.

But there was no sign of any attempt to block the biggest demonstration since Prayuth seized power in 2014 on promises to end such unrest.

“This is just the beginning,” Thanathorn told the cheering crowd that spilled across walkways and stairways close to the MBK Centre mall, in the heart of Bangkok’s shopping and business district.

Thanathorn has emerged as the most outspoken opponent of the government headed by Prayuth, 65, since an election in March that the opposition said was manipulated to favour the army.

Thailand’s election panel has asked the Constitutional Court to dissolve the Future Forward party, accusing it of infringing the laws governing political parties by accepting multi-million dollar loans from Thanathorn.

Last month, the Constitutional Court disqualified Thanathorn as member of parliament for holding shares in a media company on the date his election candidacy was registered. Thanathorn disputed the ruling.

Among Saturday’s crowd were some veteran “red shirt” protesters, supporters of ousted populist leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who had once clashed in Bangkok with the “yellow shirt” conservatives – hardline loyalists of the palace and army.

New generation

But there were more younger anti-government protesters, many of whom said it was their first protest.

“It’s time,” said office worker Pantipa Tiakhome, 30. “They have done everything to hinder democracy from flourishing.”

Helped by social media, Thanathorn has struck a chord with younger Thais. Meanwhile, the army has made plain its dislike of a movement it accuses of trying to rally the young against the monarchy and the armed forces.

“Today is a show of strength so that in the future others may join us. We’re just here today as a test run. Prayuth, don’t be afraid yet. The real thing is next month,” Thanathorn told the protest.

A party spokeswoman said more than 10,000 people had joined the demonstration. Authorities did not give an estimate.

Many gave the three-finger salute of resistance to the former junta, a symbol drawn from the film The Hunger Games.

Government opponents are also planning a “Run Against Dictatorship” for Jan. 12.

Thanathorn signed an agreement on Saturday with six parties in an opposition alliance to push for changes to the constitution that was drawn up by the junta before the election.

He also won their support for the protest.

Among those parties was Pheu Thai, linked to Thaksin, who lives in self-exile since he was overthrown in 2006. His sister was ousted as prime minister by Prayuth.

Pheu Thai won the most seats in the 500-member lower house but has adopted a quieter approach to challenging the government than Future Forward, which came third in the election.

Palang Pracharat, the pro-military party formed last year by members of the junta’s cabinet, came second. Prayuth told reporters on Friday it was inappropriate to organize a demonstration towards the end of the year.
 

Canada’s opposition Conservative leader said Thursday he will resign as party leader after weeks of infighting and a disappointing performance in parliamentary elections.

Andrew Scheer, 40, called resigning “one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made.” He will stay on until a new leader is elected.

“Serving as the leader of the party that I love so much has been the opportunity and the challenge of a lifetime,” Scheer said on the floor of Parliament.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a second term in Canada’s October elections despite losing the majority in Parliament. It was an unexpectedly strong result for Trudeau following a series of scandals that had tarnished his image as a liberal icon.

The vote led several Conservative officials to call for Scheer to step aside.

Even members of his own party said Scheer is bland. They once touted it as a virtue, the antidote to Trudeau’s flash and star power. In the words of Canada’s former Conservative foreign minister, John Baird: “He’s not the sizzle, he’s the steak.”

But Scheer was criticized during the campaign for embellishing his resume by saying he had worked as an insurance broker when, in fact, he was never licensed.

He also took heat for holding dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship — something he and his party had blasted other Canadian political figures for and never mentioned until the Globe and Mail newspaper revealed it during the election campaign.

He stumbled at several points in the campaign. He was widely panned after a debate when Trudeau grilled Scheer about his stance on abortion and the Conservative refused to answer.

In 2005, he gave a speech in Parliament attacking same-sex marriage and his social conservative beliefs hurt him in Eastern Canada.

Following the resignation, Trudeau said in Parliament, “I want to thank him deeply for his service to Canada on behalf of all Canadians.”

Scheer plans to stay on as the member of Parliament for the Saskatchewan district he has represented since he was first elected in 2004 when he was 25. The Conservative caucus chair Tom Kmiec later announced Conservative Party Members of Parliament voted unanimously for Scheer to remain as leader until a new leader is elected.

Political career

He has spent most of his adult life in politics. At age 32, he became the youngest speaker of the House of Commons, a non-partisan role overseeing debate in Parliament.

Scheer became Conservative leader in 2017 after other prominent Conservatives decided not to run because they thought Trudeau could not be beaten in the 2019 election.

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said leaders of the Liberal and Conservative parties are now expected to win at the first opportunity.

“If they don’t, the knives are out,” Wiseman said. “Scheer could see the writing on the wall; he would have almost certainly failed to win a majority at his party convention’s scheduled review of his leadership in April.”

Antonia Maioni, McGill University’s dean of arts, said Scheer’s party recognized that he and his social conservative beliefs were not a winning strategy for forming a government in Canada.

Dustin van Vugt, the executive director of the Conservative Party, issued a statement that appeared to dismiss suggestions the resignation could be tied to reports that party funds were used to subsidize private school education for Scheer’s five children.

“Shortly after Mr. Scheer was elected leader, we had a meeting where I made a standard offer to cover costs associated with moving his family from Regina to Ottawa. This includes a differential in schooling costs between Regina and Ottawa. All proper procedures were followed and signed off on by the appropriate people,” van Vugt said.
 

Large crowds of protesters turned out in the capital, Algiers, on Friday despite word from the country’s electoral commission that former Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune won a resounding victory in the presidential election.

Commission head Mohammed Sharfi  said the preliminary results showed that Tebboune won 4,950,000 votes, or 58.15% of all ballots cast.

Sharfi said second-place finisher Abdel Qader Ben Grina captured 1,500,000, or 17%.

Official figures put voter turnout at 40% for Thursday’s election, although many analysts said the real number was probably much lower.

Paul Sullivan, a professor at the U.S. National Defense University, told VOA that it was not clear where things might be heading in the postelection period, but that many Algerians were not pleased by the results.

“Where we might be heading now, I hope, is not toward violence, but Algeria has a history of violence related to elections,” Sullivan said. “The people of Algeria seem to be saying with the low turnout that they don’t believe in how these elections are run and that their voice is not being listened to.”

Sullivan added that the “length of the new president’s tenure will reflect how well he listens to the voice [of the Algerian people].”

Algeria’s protest movement opposes the predominance of the ruling elite in governing the country since independence from France in 1962.

Algerian analyst Ammar Ben Jeddah told Arab media that the new president “must offer some sort of concession to the protest movement, because if there is no national consensus, he won’t be able to accomplish anything.”

Ben Jeddah added, however, that he thought Tebboune understood the critical situation and the need to make a gesture toward the protest movement.

A picture posted on social media, showing Tebboune chatting with Army Chief of Staff General Ahmed Gaid Salah, caused some Algerians to question the new president’s close ties to the military. Salah is widely thought to be the most powerful man in Algeria.

Tebboune maintains, however, that he hopes he is supported by the people and that he ran as an independent despite the fact that he belongs to the largest political party in the country.

The Trump administration and China are close to finalizing a modest trade agreement that would suspend tariffs that are set to kick in Sunday, de-escalating their 17-month trade war.

“We’re close to a deal,” said Myron Brilliant, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s head of international affairs, who has been briefed by both sides.

Brilliant said the administration has agreed to suspend Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on $160 billion in Chinese imports Sunday and to reduce existing tariffs, though it wasn’t clear by how much.

In return, Beijing would buy more U.S. farm products, increase Americans companies’ access to the Chinese market and tighten protection for intellectual property rights.

The deal awaits final approval from President Donald Trump.

Trump took to Twitter early Thursday to declare: “Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!”

Earlier Thursday, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, Gao Feng, had told reporters that “the economic and trade teams of both sides have maintained close communication.” He offered no additional details to release.

Beijing had threatened to retaliate if Trump proceeded with plans to raise tariffs on $160 billion of Chinese imports Sunday.

The two sides are negotiating a so-called Phase 1 agreement as part of the effort to resolve their sprawling trade dispute.

Still, the truce leaves unsettled the toughest and most complex issues that have divided the two sides.

The administration accuses Beijing of cheating in its drive to achieve global supremacy in such advanced technologies as driver-less cars and artificial intelligence. The administration alleges _ and independent analysts generally agree – that China steals technology, forces foreign companies to hand over trade secrets, unfairly subsidizes its own firms and throws up bureaucratic hurdles for foreign rivals.

Beijing rejects the accusations and contends that Washington is simply trying to suppress a rising competitor in international trade.

Since July 2018, the Trump administration has imposed import taxes on $360 billion in Chinese products. Beijing has retaliated by taxing $120 billion in U.S. exports, including soybeans and other farm products that are vital to many of Trump’s supporters in rural America.

On Sunday, the U.S. is scheduled to start taxing another $160 billion in Chinese imports, a move that would extend the sanctions to just about everything China ships to the United States.

Repeated rounds of negotiations had failed to achieve even a preliminary agreement. The prolonged uncertainty over Trump’s trade policies has slowed U.S. business investment and likely held back economic growth. Many corporations have slowed or suspended investment plans until they know when, how or even whether the trade standoff will end.

A far-reaching agreement on China’s technology policies will likely prove difficult. It would require Beijing to scale back its drive to become a global powerhouse in industrial high technology, something it sees as a path to prosperity and international influence.

Efforts to acquire foreign technology are a theme that runs through Chinese law and government. Security researchers have asserted that Beijing operates a network of research institutes and business parks to turn stolen foreign technology into commercial products.

The Trump administration has been seeking a way to enforce any significant trade agreement with China, reflecting its contention that Beijing has violated past promises. One way to do is to retain some tariffs as leverage.

 

 

The U.S. special envoy for North Korea will arrive in South Korea on Sunday ahead of a year-end deadline set by Pyongyang for Washington to soften its approach to stalled denuclearization talks, Seoul said on Friday.

Stephen Biegun will be in Seoul for a three-day stay and hold consultations with his counterpart Lee Do-hoon and other officials, South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Friday.

“The two sides will exchange extensive views on the recent situation on the Korean peninsula and discuss ways to bring substantial progress on achieving a complete denuclearization and enduring peace,” the ministry said in a statement.

Tension has been rising in recent weeks as Pyongyang has conducted a series of weapons tests and waged a war of words with U.S. President Donald Trump, stoking fears the two countries could return to a collision course that they had been on before launching diplomacy last year.

Biegun’s trip sparked speculation he might try to salvage negotiations by reaching out to North Korea, or by publicly sending a message.

North Korea has vowed to take an unspecified “new path” if the United States fails to address its demands before the end of the year.

On Thursday, it said Washington had “nothing to offer” even if talks were to reopen, and the United States warned against any resumption of “unfortunate ill-advised behavior”.

“In any case, Biegun would try to give an impression that they won’t be manipulated by the North Koreans, while making clear that they want to keep talking,” a diplomatic source in Seoul said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Trump met three times since last year to negotiate an end to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, but there has been scant progress, with working-level talks led by Biegun in October in Stockholm breaking down.

U.S. officials came to that meeting seeking a “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization,” and a moratorium on weapons tests as a first step, while a North Korean negotiator accused them of sticking to their “old viewpoint and attitude.”

Russia said on Friday it was alarmed after the United States tested a ground-launched ballistic missile that would have been prohibited under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the RIA news agency reported.

The United States carried out the test on Thursday. Washington formally withdrew from the 1987 INF pact with Russia in August after determining that Moscow was violating the treaty, an accusation the Kremlin has denied.

“It alarms us. Of course we will take this into account,” said Vladimir Ermakov, head of the foreign ministry’s arms control and non-proliferation department.

It was the second test by the United States that would have been prohibited under the INF treaty and too place as the future of another major nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States is under question.

New START, the last remaining major nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries, is due to expire in February 2021 and Moscow has warned there is already not enough time left to negotiate a full-fledged replacement.

A 30-year-old Laotian blogger has been imprisoned for five years for questioning the adequacy of the government’s response to deadly flooding in the country’s south this fall.

In September, Tropical Storm Podul and Tropical Depression Kajiki dumped an estimated 40 centimeters of rain across Laos’ six southern provinces, killing at least 19 people and displacing an estimated 100,000, according to the United Nations and ASEAN humanitarian and disaster relief agencies.

The Vientiane Times put the death toll at 28, and international media reported that flooding also damaged hospitals and schools, and destroyed hundreds of roads and nearly 100 bridges.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said video blogger Houayheuang Xayabouly, known online as Muay Littlepig, posted a video to Facebook on September 12 drawing attention to what she described as a negligent government response to the disaster in her native Champasak and neighboring Salavan provinces.

As of Thursday, the video had been viewed more than 172,000 times.

RSF learned Tuesday that Houayheuang had already been given the maximum sentence and incarcerated for “spreading propaganda against the Lao People’s Democratic Republic,” and “trying to overthrow the party, state and government.” 

“By disseminating anti-government messages, she violated Article 117 of Criminal Law. So, she could be imprisoned between one and five years, and be fined between 5 and 20 million Kip ($568 and $2,272),” Lieutenant Colonel Phaychit told VOA’s Lao service shortly after the September 12 arrest.

Phaychit also said she “pleaded guilty as alleged and provided the important information of her association with the anti-government groups both inside the country and overseas.”

‘Grim warning’

“By acting as the voice of her fellow citizens with great courage, Muay Littlepig served the public interest in a country where the news media are completely ossified,” said Daniel Bastard, RSF’s Asia-Pacific chief, who is quoted in RSF’s news alert.

“Her harsh sentence is a grim warning to the entire Laotian population,” he said. “As the charges lacked any substance, we call for her immediate and unconditional release.”

According to Bastard, Houayheuang had “previously posted videos about cases of corruption and the failure to adequately address the widespread damage in the southern province of Attapeu, resulting from the collapse of a dam in July 2018.”

Survivors Recount Horror of Laos Dam Collapse

Samled Inthavong had almost finished hoisting his family members into a boat when a building uprooted by the collapse of a dam upstream slammed into his house.Bobbing atop the surging floodwaters in the inky midnight darkness, he could only watch as his house caved in on his grandparents trapped inside.“My grandparents couldn’t move.

RSF describes Laos as “a news and information black hole in which the state apparatus has complete control over the media, and relatively few people have internet connections.”

The international press freedom watchdog ranks Lao 171 out of 180 countries in its 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

Phaysarn Vorachak of VOA’s Lao service contributed to this report.