Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has stunned Republicans again, narrowly winning a second term Saturday as the Deep South’s only Democratic governor and handing Donald Trump another gubernatorial loss this year.

In the heart of Trump country, the moderate Edwards cobbled together enough cross-party support with his focus on bipartisan, state-specific issues to defeat Republican businessman Eddie Rispone.

Coming after a defeat in the Kentucky governor’s race and sizable losses in Virginia’s legislative races, the Louisiana result seems certain to rattle Republicans as they head into the 2020 presidential election. Trump fought to return the seat to the GOP, making three trips to Louisiana to rally against Edwards.

The president’s intense attention motivated not only conservative Republicans, but also powered a surge in anti-Trump and black voter turnout that helped Edwards.

Moderate candidate

Democrats who argue that nominating a moderate presidential candidate is the best approach to beat Trump are certain to point to Louisiana’s race as bolstering their case. Edwards, a West Point graduate, opposes gun restrictions, signed one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans and dismissed the impeachment effort as a distraction.

Still, while Rispone’s loss raises questions about the strength of Trump’s coattails, its relevance to his reelection chances are less clear. Louisiana is expected to easily back Trump next year, and Edwards’ views in many ways are out of step with his own party.

In the final days as polls showed Edwards with momentum, national Republicans beefed up assistance for Rispone. That wasn’t enough to boost the GOP contender, who wasn’t among the top-tier candidates Republican leaders hoped would challenge Edwards as they sought to prove that the Democrat’s longshot victory in 2015 was a fluke.

Little-known Republican

Rispone is a longtime political donor who was little-known when he launched his campaign, had ties to unpopular former Gov. Bobby Jindal and offered few details about his agenda. Edwards also proved to be a formidable candidate, with a record of achievements.

Working with the majority-Republican Legislature, Edwards stabilized state finances with a package of tax increases, ending the deficit-riddled years of Jindal. New money paid for investments in public colleges and the first statewide teacher raise in a decade.

Edwards expanded Louisiana’s Medicaid program, lowering the state’s uninsured rate below the national average. A bipartisan criminal sentencing law rewrite he championed ended Louisiana’s tenure as the nation’s top jailer.

Rispone, the 70-year-old owner of a Baton Rouge industrial contracting company, hitched his entire candidacy to Trump, introducing himself to voters in ads that focused on support for the president in a state Trump won by 20 percentage points.

But the 53-year-old Edwards, a former state lawmaker and former Army Ranger from rural Tangipahoa Parish, reminded voters that he’s a Louisiana Democrat, with political views that sometimes don’t match his party’s leaders.

“They talk about I’m some sort of a radical liberal. The people of Louisiana know better than that. I am squarely in the middle of the political spectrum,” Edwards said. “That hasn’t changed, and that’s the way we’ve been governing.”

Millions spent

Rispone poured more than $12 million of his own money into the race. But he had trouble drawing some of the primary vote that went to Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, after harshly attacking Abraham in ads as he sought to reach the runoff.

Rispone also avoided many traditional public events attended by Louisiana gubernatorial candidates and sidestepped questions about his plans when taking office. He promised tax cuts, without saying where he’d shrink spending, and he pledged a constitutional convention, without detailing what he wanted to rewrite.

Both parties spent millions on attack ads and get-out-the-vote work, on top of at least $36 million spent by candidates.

A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has upended a long-standing legal roadblock that has given the gun industry far-reaching immunity from lawsuits in the aftermath of mass killings. 
 
The court this week allowed families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre to sue the maker of the AR-15 used in the attack. The case against Remington will now proceed in the Connecticut courts. 
 
Remington is widely expected to win the case, but critics of the gun industry are eyeing what they see as a significant outcome even in the face of defeat: getting the gunmaker to open its books about how it markets firearms. 
 
Lawyers for the plaintiffs are certain to request that Remington turn over volumes of documents as part of the discovery phase. Those materials might include company emails, memos, business plans and corporate strategies, or anything that might suggest the company purposely marketed the firearm that may have compelled the shooter to use the weapon to carry out the slaughter. 

Message to gun companies
 
The plaintiffs also believe the ruling will put gun companies on notice about how they conduct business, knowing they could wind up in the courts in similar fashion. 
 
“If the industry wakes up and understands their conduct behind closed doors is not protected, then the industry itself … will take steps to try to help the massive problem we have instead of do nothing and sit by and cash the checks,” said Joshua Koskoff, the Connecticut attorney who represents a survivor and relatives of nine victims who died at the Newtown, Connecticut, school on December 14, 2012.  

The case hinges on Connecticut state consumer law that challenges how the firearm used by the Newtown shooter — a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle — was marketed, with plaintiffs alleging Remington purposely used advertisements that targeted younger, at-risk males. One of Remington’s ads features the rifle against a plain backdrop and the phrase: “Consider Your Man Card Reissued.” 
 
Remington did not respond to requests for comment after the U.S. Supreme Court denied its efforts to quash the lawsuit. 
 
Larry Keane, senior vice president and legal counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gunmakers, said he expected Remington to  ultimately prevail and that it was unfair to blame the gunmaker for Adam Lanza’s crime. 
 
“Adam Lanza alone is the responsible person. Not Remington,” he said. 
 
2005 law

Suing the firearms industry has never been easy, and it was made even harder after Congress enacted the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in 2005. The law backed by the National Rifle Association gave broad immunity to the gun industry. 
 
The plaintiffs’ chances of succeeding in this case are slim — a sentiment shared by the Connecticut Supreme Court, which said they face a “Herculean task” to prevail. 

Judges and juries generally have a tough time blaming anyone but the shooter for the crime, said Timothy D. Lytton, professor at Georgia State University’s College of Law and author of “Suing the Gun Industry: A Battle at the Crossroads of Gun Control and Mass Torts.”  

Add into the mix that Lanza himself didn’t own the firearm; he stole it from his mother after killing her in the home they shared, then went to the elementary school in Newtown, where he killed 20 children and six adults. 
 
“It makes it harder for juries to connect the dots. It’s a significant hurdle in all of these cases. It’s very rare that you have a very close time frame between the marketing of a weapon and a mass shooting,” Lytton said. 
 
Lanza’s mother purchased the Bushmaster AR-platform rifle in 2010 from a Connecticut gun shop. It’s unclear if she or her son were influenced by or had seen Remington’s advertising. 

Tough times for industry
 
Still, it’s been a tough few years for the industry. Sales plummeted with the election of President Donald Trump, and gun-control advocates have outspent perhaps his most loyal supporter: the NRA. With slumping sales, some companies, including Remington, have faced bankruptcy. And in the wake of high-profile mass shootings, corporate America has begun pushing back against the industry. 
 
AR-platform long guns have been a particular bone of contention for gun-control advocates who believe the firearms — once banned for a decade in the U.S. — are especially attractive to mass shooters for their ease of use and their ability to carry large-capacity magazines. 
 
While handguns remain used more often in mass shootings, ARs have been involved in some of the deadliest shootings, including when a gunman fired on a crowd of concertgoers outside his hotel room in Las Vegas in 2017, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds. 
 
The AR-15, its design based on the military M-16, has become one of the most popular firearms in the U.S. in recent decades. It’s lightweight, easy to customize and able to carry extended magazines, and its sales took off once the ban expired in 2004. There are now an estimated 16 million AR-platform long guns in the U.S. 

‘Embarrassing’ information
 
Robert J. Spitzer, chairman of political science at the State University of New York at Cortland and a longtime watcher of gun politics, said a case against Remington could cause “pretty embarrassing information” to come out. 

“And it is certainly possible [plaintiffs] will find memos or other documents that may significantly support their case that Remington was manifestly irresponsible in the way they marketed their guns,” he said. 

Even if embarrassing information isn’t uncovered, he said, it could have a long-lasting impact on the industry and, more specifically, Remington. Considered the oldest gunmaker in the United States, Remington — founded in New York in 1816 and now based in Madison, North Carolina — only emerged from bankruptcy in 2018. 
 
“They’re obviously in a precarious financial situation and this suit is certainly not helpful to them trying to restore their financial health,” Spitzer said. 

U.S. President Donald Trump made an unexpected visit to a military hospital Saturday afternoon for what the White House said was an early start to his annual health checkup.

“Anticipating a very busy 2020, the president is taking advantage of a free weekend here in Washington, D.C., to begin portions of his routine annual physical exam at Walter Reed,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

Trump, 73, was deemed fit by his official physician, U.S. Navy Commander Sean Conley, following an examination in early February at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

The president, who has a taste for red meat and fast food, does not drink alcohol or smoke. He is not known to have had any significant medical issues since becoming president in January 2017 but has a history of elevated cholesterol and had been taking a low daily dose of aspirin for cardiac health.

Four hours of tests

On February 8, Trump underwent four hours of routine tests at Walter Reed with Conley supervising a panel of 11 different board-certified specialists.

Following the annual examination, Conley, in a memo to the White House, said the president was “in very good health and I anticipate he will remain so for the duration of his presidency and beyond.”

That was the second such physical exam of his presidency. Questions were raised about the true health of the president after the first one in 2018.

The White House doctor at the time, Navy Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson, declared Trump in “excellent health,” attributing it to “incredibly good genes.”

The physician also declared that he had told the president he “might live to be 200 years old” if Trump would just eat food that was more healthful.

After the 2018 physical, Jackson told reporters the president weighed 108 kilograms (239 pounds) and could reasonably lose approximately 4 to 7 kilograms (10 to 15 pounds).

Jackson said Trump would undergo a colonoscopy in 2019. The procedure apparently was not performed in February of this year.  

Jackson also said the president got a perfect score on a screening for cognitive impairment and was “mentally very sharp.”

Nomination

Jackson later was nominated by Trump to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, but the admiral withdrew his name after allegations of misconduct surfaced, including accusations he improperly dispensed medication.
 
The admiral denied the allegations, which Trump called “lies.”

The president subsequently recommended Jackson for a second star (higher military rank) and subsequently promoted him to White House chief medical adviser.

It’s looking like an anti-robocall bill will be sent to President Donald Trump this year, helping tackle an infuriating problem in the U.S.

House and Senate leaders said Friday they’ve reached an agreement in principle on merging their two bills against robocalls.

The House bill had gone further than the Senate one. Details about what’s in the final bill are still to come, but legislators say it will require phone companies to verify that phone numbers are real, and to block calls for free. It will also give government agencies more ability to go after scammers.

It’s the latest effort in a crackdown, building on steps by state attorneys general and the Federal Communications Commission as well as the phone companies.

Phone companies have been rolling out verification tools after prompting from regulators. These reassure customers that the number showing up on their phone is actually the number that called, and not a fraudster “spoofing,” or faking, the number to try to get people to pick it up. Numbers can be faked to look like they’re coming from the IRS, for example, or from a number with the same area code as you. But to combat this successfully, all carriers need to put the anti-spoofing system in place.

Telecom companies are also offering call-blocking apps for smartphones and many home phones, although not always for free. The FCC in June gave them permission to turn on call-blocking by default. While tools had been available before, customers might not have known to ask about them.

Robocalls have become almost inescapable as the cost of sending them dropped and going after callers is difficult. Tech vendor YouMail said there were 5.7 billion calls from scammers, telemarketers, debt collectors and others in October. Not all those calls are unwanted, though — you might want to get the call from your pharmacy saying your prescription is ready.
 

Palestinian militants fired two rockets deep into southern Israel from Gaza Saturday, and the Israeli military responded with a number of air strikes on militant targets, shaking an already tenuous truce. 

Sirens sounded in the middle of the night in Beersheba, the largest city in southern Israel, about 35 km (18 miles) from the Gaza border, warning of incoming fire. The military said its missile defenses intercepted the two rockets.

A few hours later, Israeli aircraft struck a number of militant outposts belonging to Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza. No injuries were reported.

The overnight rocket attack came nearly two days after a ceasefire ended a flare-up in cross-border violence between Israel and a smaller Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad.

The worst fighting in months was triggered Tuesday when Israel killed a top commander from the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, deeming him an imminent threat.

Gaza medical officials said 34 Palestinians had been killed in the two days of fighting, almost half of them civilians.

At the same time, hundreds of rocket launches by militants paralyzed much of southern Israel and reached as far north as Tel Aviv, sending entire communities to shelters. Dozens of Israelis were injured.

Throughout the fighting, Hamas, the dominant force in Gaza, appeared to have stayed on the sidelines. That may have helped stem the escalation.

Israel’s military, however, said Saturday that it would hold Hamas responsible for any attack emanating from Gaza.

“Hamas will bear the consequences for actions against Israeli civilians,” it said in a statement.

Texas’ top criminal appeals court on Friday halted the scheduled execution of inmate Rodney Reed, whose conviction is being questioned by new evidence that his supporters say raises serious doubt about his guilt. 

The stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals came just hours after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had recommended delaying the lethal injection. 

Reed, 51, had been set for lethal injection Wednesday evening for the 1996 killing of Stacey Stites, 19. Prosecutors say Reed raped and strangled Stites as she made her way to work at a supermarket in Bastrop, a rural community about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Austin. 

Celebrity support

Reed’s efforts to stop his execution have received support from such celebrities as Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey. Lawmakers from both parties, including Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz, have also asked that officials take a closer look at the evidence in the case. 

In its four-page order, the appeals court said Reed’s case should be returned to the trial court in Bastrop County so it could examine his claims that he is innocent and that prosecutors suppressed evidence and presented false testimony. 

Bryce Benjet, an attorney with the Innocence Project, which is representing Reed, said defense attorneys were “extremely relieved and thankful” to the appeals court. 

“This opportunity will allow for proper consideration of the powerful and mounting new evidence of Mr. Reed’s innocence,” Benjet said in a statement. 

The Texas Attorney General’s Office declined to comment Friday on whether it would appeal the order staying Reed’s execution. 

Earlier Friday, the parole board had unanimously recommended a 120-day reprieve for Reed. The board rejected Reed’s request to commute his sentence to life in prison. 

Next step: Governor’s office

The parole board’s decision was to go next to Governor Greg Abbott, who hasn’t said whether he would accept or reject it or do nothing. 

The stay likely makes Abbott’s decision moot. Since taking office in 2015, Abbott has halted only one imminent execution, in 2018. 

Since Texas resumed executions in 1982, only three death row inmates have had their sentences commuted to life in prison by a governor within days of their scheduled executions. 

Reed has other appeals pending, including with the U.S. Supreme Court. His supporters have held rallies, including an overnight vigil on Thursday in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. It was unclear if a rally planned for Sunday in front of the Texas governor’s mansion would still take place. 

Reed has long maintained he didn’t kill Stites and that her fiance, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the real killer. Reed says Fennell was angry because Stites, who was white, was having an affair with Reed, who is black. 

Fennell’s attorney has said his client didn’t kill Stites. Fennell was paroled last year after serving time in prison for sexual assault. 

In their most recent motion to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Reed’s lawyers alleged prosecutors suppressed evidence or presented false evidence related to Fennell. 

Prosecutors say Reed’s semen was found in the victim, his claims of an affair with Stites were not proven at trial, Fennell was cleared as a suspect and Reed had a history of committing other sexual assaults. 

Reed’s lawyers say his conviction was based on flawed evidence. They have denied the other sexual assault accusations made by prosecutors. 

DNA testing sought

Reed’s attorneys filed a federal lawsuit in August to compel DNA testing of crime scene evidence, including the suspected murder weapon. His lawyers say the testing, which has been fought for years by prosecutors, could identify someone else as the murderer. The lawsuit is still pending. 

In recent weeks, Reed’s attorneys have presented affidavits in support of his claims of innocence, including one by a former inmate who claims Fennell bragged about killing Stites and referred to Reed by a racial slur. Reed’s lawyers say other recent affidavits corroborate the relationship between Stites and Reed and show Fennell was violent and aggressive toward her. 

Israel says its missile defenses have intercepted two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

The firings early Saturday raise more doubts about the fate of a fragile cease-fire that was announced Thursday.

The Egyptian-brokered lull ended two days of escalation between Israel and the Islamic Jihad.

A rare Israeli targeted killing of a senior commander from the Iranian-backed group triggered the worst bout of cross-border fighting in years.

Hamas, the larger Islamic group controlling Gaza, stayed on the sideline, fearing its participation could cause an all-out war.

The Islamic Jihad said it launched hundreds of rockets toward Israel in retaliation for the killing of the commander Bahaa Abu el-Atta.

Subsequent Israeli airstrikes killed 34 Palestinians, including eight children and three women. There were no Israeli deaths.

Somalia’s National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) has announced plans to register millions of Somalis to participate in what would be the country’s first popular elections in more than a half-century.

NIEC Chairperson Halima Ismail Ibrahim told VOA that the commission would start registering voters in March 2020 in a campaign that could last months to reach voters in Mogadishu and the regions.

She said hundreds of registration centers would be open to biometrically register voters.

“At minimum, we want to register 2 [million] to 3 million Somalis,” Ibrahim said in an interview this week.

The Somali population is estimated at 12 million, but realistically only half can be reached and registered, according to Ibrahim.

“Many people are living outside the country. Many are in refugee camps. Somaliland is separate. There are areas where [militant group] al-Shabab is present where significant number of people live,” she said.

Registering voters to directly elect their parliament representatives would be a major departure from recent elections in the country. In the 2017 election, 14,000 electoral delegates chose the current parliament, while in the 2012 election only 135 clan elders were given the power to select the MPs.

Remaining challenges

Ibrahim said foreign companies would come to Somalia early next year to meet election officials and discuss how the registration process can be technically achieved.

Ibrahim noted that before any registration began, however, parliament should approve the draft election bill now being considered. She also said the federal government and regions needed to resolve ongoing differences.

For more than two years, the federal government has been in conflict with federal member states over the distribution of powers and the role of government in regional elections.

The federal government recently imposed air travel restrictions on one of the main regional administrations, Jubbaland, after its leader, Ahmed Mohamed Islam, rejected government efforts to play a prominent role in the region’s August leadership elections, in which he was re-elected.

The federal government has argued it is constitutionally mandated to “facilitate” regional elections. In Southwest state last year, the government did not just facilitate — it prevented one candidate, former al-Shabab deputy leader Mukhtar Robow, from running.

Constitutional contradictions

The draft election bill would give the public, for the first time in over 50 years, the chance to directly elect representatives. The bill endorses the proportional representation system, which empowers the majority party or largest coalition in parliament to choose the president.

Even if the parliament approves the election bill as written, though, it would violate the provisional constitution, said the deputy speaker of the upper house of parliament, Abshir Mohamed Ahmed.  He said the constitution holds that the two houses of parliament — Lower (275 seats) and Upper (54) — choose the president.

The constitution also does not recognize the proportional representation system.

Former Chief Justice Ibrahim Idle Suleiman said the parliament first must amend the constitution before approving the election bill, which will mean a delay.

“Every bill must not contradict the constitution,” he said. “They [lawmakers] have to first make changes to the constitution and especially in articles governing the election of the president.”

Another contentious article in the bill relates to the delay of elections if serious circumstances arise — including widespread insecurity, natural disasters, diseases, droughts and “technical problems.” That term could be interpreted in different and competing ways, Somali law experts said.

Ibrahim said the maximum time that an election could be delayed is six months. An election is expected to take place in early 2021 before the president’s term expires on Feb. 8.

“The commission is the one that can propose to the parliament a delay for technical issues for two months, and again for an additional four months,” she said.

Feuds and bribery

Experts believe the biggest challenges to elections taking place on time are the ongoing political differences between the stakeholders, in particular the feud between federal and regional leaders.

Deputy Speaker Ahmed said the two sides needed to take confidence-building steps. He said both sides needed to follow the constitution on their respective responsibilities and work together on issues that are not well-defined in the constitution.

“They need to adopt an intergovernmental relationship act that defines their discussions and cooperation,” he said.

The bill also fails to address one of the key challenges that marred past elections — bribery and payment of large sums to regional lawmakers in return for votes.

A report by the U.N. Somalia Panel of Experts alleged that 82 Southwest MPs were transported to Mogadishu in early November 2018 to receive an initial payment of approximately $5,000 each.

Interviews conducted by the panel also confirmed the MPs were offered a further $20,000 to $30,000 to support specific candidates, the report said.

Suleiman said either the election bill or the political parities law must criminalize dirty money and bribery.

This week Ayen Bior, Auriane Itangishaka and Hayde Adams FitzPatrick discuss the authority, influence and persuasion promoting the culture of #sexforgrades on Africa’s academic campuses. Back in the international spotlight after the release of an undercover BBC investigation, our panel examines how the multifaceted issue can be resolved. Former media personality and student at Uganda’s Makerere University, Tattu Sophie Katasi joins us in-studio. With lecturer at the University of Professional Studies Accra, Fred Awaah and Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, executive director of Stand to End Rape, joining via Skype.

Exceptionally high tidal waters returned to Venice on Friday, prompting the mayor to close the iconic St. Mark’s Square and call for donations to repair the Italian lagoon city just three days after it experienced its worst flooding in 50 years.
                   
The high tide peaked at 1.54 meters (5 feet) above sea level just before noon on Friday, flooding most of the historic center.
                   
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told reporters he was forced to ask police to block off St. Mark’s Square, which was covered in knee-high water. Even as the water started to subside, workers in high boots began removing the platforms used by the public to cross the square without getting wet.
                   
The city saw the second-worst flooding on record late Tuesday when the water level reached 1.87 meters (6 feet, 1 inch) above sea level, prompting the Italian government to declare a state of emergency.
                   
On Thursday, the government also approved 20 million euros in funding to help Venice repair the most urgent damage.
                   
Venice’s mayor said the damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of euros and blamed climate change for the “dramatic situation” in the historic city. He called for the speedy completion of the city’s long-delayed Moses flood defense project.
                   
He also called for donations from Italy and abroad to help repair the damage caused by the flooding.
                   
“Venice is the pride of all of Italy,” Brugnaro said in a statement Friday. “Venice is everyone’s heritage, unique in the world. Thanks to your help, Venice will shine again.”
                   
The leader of the right-wing opposition League party, Matteo Salvini, visited Venice on Friday morning and also called for a common effort to complete the Moses project, which the Italian government now expects to be completed by 2021.
                   
“We can’t waste time, this city is crying for help,” Salvini said, adding that similar incidents must be avoided.
                   
Tuesday’s devastating floods have reignited a yearslong debate on Moses, a multibillion-euro flood defense project that has been under construction since 2003. The project has not yet been activated, after being delayed a number of times due to corruption scandals, costs overruns and environmentalist opposition over its effects on Venice’s lagoon ecosystem.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said a breakthrough in talks with the Trump administration on the trade pact with Mexico and Canada could be imminent and that she wanted to pass the deal by the end of the year. 

“We are moving positively in terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. Again, it all comes down to … enforcement,” she told reporters at a news conference. “I do believe that if we can get this to the place it needs to be, which is imminent, that this can be a template for future trade agreements.” 

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), signed by 
the three countries about a year ago to replace the $1 trillion North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), must be passed by lawmakers in all three countries. Mexico has already ratified the new deal, while Canada has said it is waiting to move in tandem with the United States.  

The office of Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was not immediately available for comment on Pelosi’s remarks. 

Complaints from White House

U.S. President Donald Trump and other administration officials have complained that Pelosi and her fellow Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, are holding back the U.S. economy by slow-walking USMCA’s passage. 

But a major U.S. labor leader, AFL-CIO union chief Richard Trumka, said last month that the deal was unlikely to pass as is if put to a vote in November, given lingering concerns about labor and other issues. 

“I’d like to see us get it done this year. That would be my goal. I don’t imagine that it would take much more in the Senate to pass,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday. Trump’s fellow Republicans control the U.S. Senate. 

Separately, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, testifying before a House of Representatives panel, said that the deal’s passage would help remove uncertainty and would be very constructive for the U.S. economy. 

Russia’s security services moved money through Estonia to finance operations overseas, the Baltic country’s finance minister, who is leading a cleanup after a money laundering scandal, told Reuters.

Martin Helme said that Estonian authorities are also investigating whether individuals under U.S. sanctions benefited from the movement of money through Estonia, which is undertaking reforms after 200 billion euros ($220 billion) in suspect transactions flowed through Danske Bank’s branch in the country.

The Kremlin, Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Security Service and Investigative Committee did not reply to emailed requests for comment.

“There are two sorts of money that come from Russia. One is stolen money that wants to escape Russia,” Helme said during a telephone interview with Reuters, adding that the remainder was “very closely entangled” with Russia’s security services.

Helme, who heads a committee including police and prosecutors tackling money laundering and terrorism financing, said some of the money “has been used by the Russian security services to finance their operations abroad”.

Danske Bank was ejected from Estonia, a former Soviet satellite, this year after admitting suspicious money flowed through its branch there between 2007 and 2015.

A spokesman for Danske Bank, which has said it had Russian clients in Estonia, declined to comment because of ongoing investigations into its activities.

Helme did not specify which Russian entities he was referring to or cite any evidence to support his allegations.
The head of Russia’s Federal Service for Financial Monitoring told President Vladimir Putin this week that Moscow was winning international recognition for its efforts to tackle money laundering.

Estonia is investigating money that flowed through the country in recent years and is sharing information with U.S. authorities, Helme said, adding that this included whether people subject to U.S. sanctions were involved.

“We are very worried about that,” he said.

As in neighboring Latvia, the United States has been the driving force behind the cleanup of banks in the Baltics, many of whom offered a bridge for Russians moving money to the West.

Reforms are taking place against the backdrop of Washington’s efforts to diminish Russia’s influence in countries like Estonia, which has historically fraught relations with Moscow and hosts NATO troops to deter any potential incursion.

Helme said he had discussed international sanctions during an October meeting in Washington with Marshall Billingslea, the U.S. Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing.

Latvian echo

The allegations by Helme echo an earlier warning by a minister in Latvia that Russian citizens, including people subject to U.S. sanctions, had put money in Latvian banks, some of which may have been used for political manipulation.

Three senior Latvian officials told Reuters last year that authorities investigated the movement of funds from Russia through a Latvian bank to support an attempted coup in 2016 in Montenegro. A Kremlin spokesman denied any such activity.

Helme said Russian authorities had recently visited Estonia, which is home to a large Russian-speaking population and was once governed by Moscow.

“They are here to find out what we know and use that information to better conceal their operations,” he said.
The Russian General Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.

Russia’s central bank has revoked hundreds of bank licenses in recent years as part of efforts to strengthen the sector and fight money laundering.

($1 = 0.9074 euros)
 

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalized 833,000 people – an 11-year high in new oaths of citizenship – in fiscal year 2019, which ended September 30. This fiscal year, USCIS administered the Oath of Allegiance to 60 of America’s newest citizens, from 51 different countries, during a special naturalizing ceremony Tuesday at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Holding American flags in their left hands, the group raised their right hands, and placed them over their hearts, and took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America.

“It means a lot, joining one of the world’s greatest country of all times and able to serve this country,” said Sandra Amoah, a new U.S. citizen originally from Ghana.

For these 60 people from 51 different countries, young and old, this was the final step to become a naturalized citizen of the United States of America. But it also marked a new beginning in their lives.

“It’s going to open more doors for me for a young guy growing up, it’s a great opportunity right here,” Ghana native Yaw Opoku Amoah told VOA.

“I found it very emotional and I feel that it is a privilege that not very many people can obtain,” Virginia Growich, a new U.S. citizen who was born in England said.

Becoming a U.S. citizen bestows many privileges, including being able to bring family members to the U.S., as well as being eligible for federal jobs and to run for public office. But in this crowd, many were excited to able to vote in upcoming presidential elections.

“I got my citizenship, and the most exciting part … next year it’s going to be vote and I will vote, yes,” said Sumreen Amer, a new citizen originally from Pakistan.

 “I am very interested in being able to vote,” Growich agreed.

While the Trump administration has proposed major cuts to legal and family immigration, and capped the number of refugees to the U.S. in 2020 at 18,000, USCIS, the government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States, naturalized 833,000 people in fiscal year 2019, an 11-year high in new oaths of citizenship.

Sarah Taylor, acting director of the Washington District, says one reason for the increase in naturalizations might be the upcoming election.

“So we did have a big uptick always before a presidential election. It stayed high in the last couple of years and we anticipated it will remain high,” Taylor said.

Coming from such countries as Afghanistan and Yemen, these new citizens are hopeful for a bright future for themselves and their families, as they said: naturalization will open new doors for them in this land of opportunities.

Facebook Inc signed a lease for over 1.5 million square feet of office space across 30 floors and three buildings in New York City’s Hudson Yards, according to a statement by the luxury and commercial real estate development on Thursday.

Hudson Yards is a $25 billion complex of commercial and residential skyscrapers built on Manhattan’s far west side above the rail yards.

The deal includes about 1.2 million square feet in 50 Hudson Yards, about 265,000 square feet in 30 Hudson Yards and about 57,000 square feet in 55 Hudson Yards, the statement added.

“We’re excited to expand our offices there starting in 2020”, said John Tenanes, vice president of Facebook’s global facilities and real estate.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Former President Jimmy Carter was already “up and walking” just a day after undergoing surgery to relieve pressure on his brain from bleeding linked to recent falls, his pastor said.

The Rev. Tony Lowden of Maranatha Baptist Church visited Carter, 95, in an Atlanta hospital on Wednesday.

“His spirits are good and he is up and walking,” Lowden told reporters.

Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo has said there were no complications during Carter’s Tuesday surgery at Emory University Hospital for a subdural hematoma, blood trapped on the brain’s surface.

She said he would remain hospitalized under observation. It’s unclear when he’ll be released.

The center said the bleeding was connected to Carter’s recent falls. A Spring fall required Carter to get hip replacement surgery. He fell twice in October, hitting his head at least once.

Lowden said he expects Carter to ask when can he resume teaching Sunday School. The former president has been teaching Sunday School regularly at Maranatha Baptist for decades.

“I am going to tell him that we have everything in order at the church and he doesn’t have to worry about anything,” Lowden said. “There is no need to rush.”

Fresh protests erupted Wednesday in Bolivia just hours after opposition Sen. Jeanine Áñez was sworn in as interim president. The United States recognized Áñez as Bolivia’s temporary president. The country’s longtime leader, Evo Morales, said he was removed by a coup and that he would continue to fight. He spoke from Mexico where he was granted asylum. The leftist leader resigned  Sunday after weeks of protests over a disputed presidential election result. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports Morales still has supporters in his country, especially among indigenous Bolivians.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the release on bail of more than 70 opposition activists arrested in recent weeks and accused of plotting to overthrow the government, he said Thursday.

Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 34 years, has been under increasing international pressure to improve his human rights record, with the European Union threatening the withdrawal of important trade benefits.

“There are over 70 people, please hurry up work on this case so that these brothers can be released on bail,” Hun Sen said in a speech at a new cement factory in the southern province of Kampot, in comments directed at judicial authorities.

Cambodia arrested dozens of people in the run-up to last Saturday, when veteran opposition figure Sam Rainsy had said he would return from self-imposed exile to rally opposition to authoritarian ruler Hun Sen.

But Sam Rainsy did not return to Cambodia, saying he had been stopped in Paris from boarding a flight to neighboring Thailand. He instead flew to Malaysia before arriving in Indonesia on Thursday.

On Saturday, Cambodia also relaxed the house arrest conditions on opposition leader Kem Sokha, who was arrested on treason charges more than two years ago. He says the charges are ridiculous and has called for them to be dropped.

Kem Sokha and Sam Rainsy co-founded the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was banned in 2017. By then, Sam Rainsy had flown into self-exile in France after a defamation conviction and other charges he says are political.

On Tuesday, the European Union voiced concern at human rights in Cambodia as it gave a one-month deadline to authorities to respond to a report on its investigation before deciding whether to suspend trade benefits.

Hun Sen said that in addition to ordering the release of the opposition activists, he had ordered the Justice Ministry to withdraw arrest warrants for other opposition activists who had fled to Thailand or were in hiding in Cambodia.

Security forces killed two protesters and wounded 35 others in Baghdad Thursday, police and medical sources said, as thousands of Iraqis continued a wave of anti-government protests.

One protester died immediately after a tear gas canister hit his head and another died in a hospital from wounds from a stun bomb fired by security forces, the sources said.

Security forces used live fire, rubber bullets and shot tear gas canisters in a bid to disperse hundreds of protesters gathered near Tahrir Square, a Reuters cameraman said.

Most of those hurt had choked on tear gas or had been hit by rubber bullets and were taken to hospital, medical sources said.

Protesters said the security forces had stepped up their firing of tear gas canisters and rubber bullets early Thursday morning.

More than 300 people have been killed since Oct. 1, as security forces have fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at crowds of protesters.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government has taken some measures to try to quell the unrest, including handouts to the poor and creating more job opportunities for college graduates.

But it has failed to keep up with the growing demands of demonstrators who are now calling for an overhaul of Iraq’s sectarian political system and the departure of its entire ruling elite.

The unrest is among the biggest and most complex challenges to the current ruling elite since it took power after the U.S. invasion and the toppling of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

China’s industrial output grew significantly slower than expected in October, as weakness in global and domestic demand and the drawn-out Sino-U.S. trade war weighed on activity in the world’s second-largest economy.

Industrial production rose 4.7% year-on-year in October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Thursday showed, below the median forecast of 5.4% growth in a Reuters poll.

Indicators showed other sectors also slowing significantly and missing forecasts with retail sales growth back near a 16-year trough and fixed asset investment growth the weakest on record.

Disappointing data

The disappointing economic data adds to the case for Beijing to roll out fresh support for the economy after China’s economic growth slowed to its weakest pace in almost three decades in the third quarter as the bruising U.S. trade war hit factory production.

Broad activity in China’s manufacturing sector remains weak with data over the weekend showing factory gate prices falling at their fastest pace in more than three years in October.

China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) also showed activity in the factory sector remained in contraction for a sixth straight month.

“Admittedly, optimism surrounding a phase-one U.S.-China trade deal could provide a boost to corporate investment in the near term,” Capital Economics China Economist Martin Lynge Rasmussen said.

“But even if a minor deal is agreed upon in the coming months, this would merely allow the focus to shift to the more intractable issues that we think will eventually lead the trade talks to break down. The case for further monetary easing remains intact,” he added.

Other data Thursday showed China’s property investment growth in the first 10 months of the 2019 slowing year-on-year.

Trade war hits global demand

The tariff war between China and the United States has hit global demand, disrupted supply chains and upended financial markets.

While some signs of recent progress in trade negotiations between the superpowers have cheered investors, officials from both sides have so far avoided any firm commitments to end their dispute.

That uncertainty has continued to weigh on manufacturers and their order books.

Thursday’s data also showed fixed asset investment, a key driver of economic growth, grew 5.2% from January-October, against expected growth of 5.4%. The January-October growth was the lowest since Reuters record began in 1996.

Private sector fixed-asset investment, which accounts for 60% of the country’s total investment, grew 4.4% in January-October.

On Wednesday, China’s State Council said Beijing would lower the minimum capital ratio requirement for some infrastructure investment projects.

Retail sales rose 7.2% year-on-year in October, missing expected growth of 7.9% and matching the more than 16 year low hit in April.

Consumers have been hit with higher food prices over the past few months, as pork and other meat prices soared.

At the same time, consumers have been reluctant to make big purchases with auto sales falling for the 16th straight month in October, data showed Monday.

Anti-government protesters paralyzed parts of Hong Kong for a fourth day Thursday, forcing school closures and blocking highways and other transportation links to disrupt the financial hub amid a marked escalation of violence.

Protesters have torched vehicles and buildings, hurled petrol bombs at police stations and trains and vandalized prime shopping malls over the past week in some of the worst violence seen in more than five months of unrest.

Black-clad protesters and university students maintained their blockades of major roads, including the entrance to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel that links Hong Kong island to the Kowloon area, and a major highway artery between Kowloon and the rural New Territories.

Police fired tear gas near the tunnel early Thursday to try to clear the protesters.

Thousands of students barricaded themselves inside campuses with makeshift fortifications at several universities, blocking entrances and occupying nearby roads, preparing stockpiles of food, bricks, petrol bombs and other makeshift weapons as they hunkered down for possible clashes with police.

Commuters queued at metro stations across the city after some rail services were suspended and roads closed. Some citizens, dressed in office wear, shouted at riot police who were deployed on station platforms.

Demonstrators are angry about what they see as police brutality and meddling by Beijing in the freedoms guaranteed under the “one country, two systems” formula put in place when the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

China denies interfering and has blamed Western countries, including Britain and the United States, for stirring up trouble.

Police said on Wednesday that violence in the Chinese territory had reached a “very dangerous and even deadly level.”

Authorities said Thursday 64 people were injured during Wednesday’s clashes, which left two men in critical condition. There were no further details about the injuries they sustained.

Police said in a statement a man had died after falling from an unspecified height Wednesday but gave no further details.

One woman, a 24-year-old worker caught in the traffic gridlock who gave her name as Kristy, said: “The government and the police have escalated the violence.”

“If the government wants the violence to stop they need to listen to our demands,” she said.

Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, met senior officials late Wednesday, media reported, amid speculation of fresh emergency measures to deal with the crisis.

The city’s Education Bureau announced that all schools would be closed Thursday because of safety concerns, a decision that typically only happens during severe typhoons or natural disasters.

Several universities also announced there would be no classes on campuses for the rest of the year from Thursday, meaning they would rely on online learning and other assessment methods for the remaining weeks of the term.

A number of major shopping malls also announced they would close Thursday over safety concerns as protesters planned further demonstrations throughout the day.

Lam said this week protesters paralyzing the city were “selfish” and were now the people’s enemy.