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Margot Robbie Feels ‘Lucky’ to Become Face of Chanel Perfume

Margot Robbie says she feels lucky to build upon the Chanel legacy as the face for the brand’s newest perfume.
 
The “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood” star says she is ready to lead the campaign for the new Chanel Gabrielle Chanel fragrance. She spoke about her involvement as the company’s brand ambassador before hosting a private dinner on Thursday night to celebrate the launch of the perfume in Los Angeles.
 
Robbie says the new fragrance represents Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in her earlier days when she was “creating and building something that’s still here today.” The 29-year-old Australian actress danced and twirled with white and gold veils to the tune of Beyonce’s “Halo” in a recent commercial for the perfume.

Robbie joins Kristen Stewart and Keira Knightley as faces of the perfume empire.

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Pope Francis to Visit Thailand, Japan in November

Pope Francis will visit Thailand and Japan in November in a visit expected to highlight his call for complete nuclear disarmament and honor the small Catholic communities in each country.

The Vatican confirmed the Nov. 19-26 trip, and its diplomatic representative in Thailand, Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, announced the Thai stop on Friday. Francis will be in Thailand on Nov. 20-23 before heading to Japan, where government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said he would meet with the emperor.

It will be Francis’ fourth trip to Asia, where he has already visited South Korea, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Saint Pope John Paul II

The last pope to visit Japan was the late Saint Pope John Paul II in 1981. He was also the last pope to visit Thailand, in 1984.

During his official visit to Thailand, Francis will preside at religious ceremonies and pay pastoral visits to Catholic communities.

Francis’s Japan visit includes Tokyo as well as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were hit by U.S. atomic bombs at the end of World War II.

Francis has frequently spoken out about the risk of nuclear war, most emphatically during a 2017 disarmament conference at the Vatican where he signaled a shift in church teaching about nuclear deterrence. 

In that speech to Nobel laureates, NATO officials and diplomats, he warned that the Cold War-era strategy of deterrence was no longer viable and urged instead complete nuclear disarmament. 

“If we … take into account the risk of an accidental detonation as a result of error of any kind, the threat of (nuclear weapons’) use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned,” he said.

His comments marked a shift, given previous popes including St. John Paul II, had called for the abolition of nuclear weapons but had said the stockpiling of them could be morally acceptable as a form of deterrence.

Family reunion?

The pontiff’s arrival will lead to a reinvigoration of belief among the nearly 400,000 faithful here. But for Sister Ana Rosa Sivori, it also means the pleasure of a family reunion.

At St. Mary’s girls’ school in Udon Thani, about 570 kilometers (355 miles) northeast of Bangkok, the pupils have only recently realized their unassuming vice principal’s connection to the pope.

Sister Ana Rosa, originally from Buenos Aires in Argentina, came to Thailand in 1966 and has worked as a missionary in several parts of the country. She shares a great-grandfather with Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who, six years ago, became Pope Francis. So, she and the pontiff are second cousins.
 

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Trump Visits ‘Rodent Infested Mess’ Baltimore

U.S. President Donald Trump has arrived in Baltimore, the eastern U.S., majority-black city he recently called a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.”

Trump was there Thursday to address Republican congressional leaders attending an annual retreat.

Before he left the White House, Trump ignored a reporter’s question about what he would say to the residents of the city, instead saying only that it was going to be “a very successful evening.”

Demonstrators gather near the U.S. House Republican Member Retreat where President Donald Trump is speaking, in Baltimore, Sept. 12, 2019.

Ahead of the president’s visit, activist groups planned to protest “racism, white supremacy, war, bigotry and climate change,” organizers told The Baltimore Sun.

On Thursday, several hundred protesters lined the route Trump’s motorcade took to the city’s Inner Harbor area, where Trump was to speak.

Trump has denied charges of racism on his attacks on the city and its congressman, Elijah Cummings.

“There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know, that Elijah Cummings has done a terrible job for the people of his district, and of Baltimore itself,” he tweeted in July.

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Israel Denies Report it Planted Spy Devices Near White House

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is denying a report that Israel set up spying devices near the White House, saying it is a “complete fabrication.”

The spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington, Elad Strohmayer, also denied the report by the Washington-based news site Politico, telling VOA, “Israel doesn’t conduct espionage operations in the United States, period.”

Politico reported Thursday that the U.S. government believes Israel, a close U.S. ally, was probably responsible for planting eavesdropping devices found near the White House and other sensitive locations in the nation’s capital.

The small surveillance devices, commonly known as StingRays, “were likely intended to spy on President Donald Trump,” Politico wrote. But the report added, “It’s not clear whether the Israeli efforts were successful.”

Several former senior U.S. national security officials told Politico that analysis of the devices by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other U.S. agencies linked them to Israeli agents. The report says the U.S. government, citing the officials, concluded within the last two years that Israel was likely behind the placement of the devices.

Politico described the anonymous sources as having “knowledge about the matter” and that the devices were discovered some time ago.

Two years ago, an unknown number of the devices was found near potentially sensitive locations in Washington during a U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigative project.

The U.S., however, has not taken action against Israel for allegedly planting the devices. The report suggested the U.S. has downplayed Israel’s alleged actions due to the very close relationship Trump has with Netanyahu.

The report was published just before Israel’s general election next week that has Netanyahu locked in a close race for reelection. It also came in a week during which Trump appeared to distance himself from Netanyahu’s unwavering stance on Iran by signaling a possible meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

 

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CEOs Speak Out on Gun Violence, Want Congressional Action

The CEOs of more than 100 companies are stepping into the nation’s gun debate, imploring Congress to expand background checks and enact a strong “`red flag” law.
 
In a letter sent to the Senate on Thursday, CEOs from businesses including Airbnb, Twitter and Uber asked Congress to pass a bill to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong red flag law that would allow courts to issue life-saving extreme risk protection orders.
 
The country’s law on background checks needs to be updated, the CEOs argued, saying the current law doesn’t reflect how people buy guns today.
 
The New York Times was first to report on the letter .
 
The CEOs’ letter comes after shootings at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, as well as those in West Texas and Dayton, Ohio.
 
Walmart earlier this month decided to discontinue sales of certain gun ammunition and also will discontinue handgun sales in Alaska.
 

The retailer is further requesting that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms at its Walmart and Sam’s Club stores unless they are law enforcement officers. However, it said that it won’t be changing its policy for customers who have permits for concealed carry. Walmart says it will be adding signage in stores to inform customers of those changes.
 
Other retailers including Walgreens and Kroger have followed suit, with Publix – Florida’s largest supermarket chain – announcing Thursday it is also asking customers not to openly carry firearms in its stores.
 
Senators, who returned from recess this week, are pushing to require background checks for private gun sales and made a fresh pitch to President Donald Trump on Wednesday as part of an effort to break the gridlock over legislation to curb gun violence following a summer of more mass shootings.

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Facebook Sanctions Netanyahu Page Over Hate Speech Violation

Facebook says it has sanctioned the page of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because of a violation of the company’s hate speech policy.
 
Facebook said on Thursday that the social network had suspended for 24 hours the page’s bot, or automated chat function.
 
The page had called on voters to prevent the establishment of a government composed of “Arabs who want to destroy us all — women, children and men.” The post sparked uproar by opposition politicians.

FILE – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Sept. 10, 2019.

Netanyahu denied he wrote the post in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet radio. He said it was a staffer’s mistake and the post was removed.
 
Netanyahu is fighting for his political survival ahead of elections next week and has been shoring up nationalist voters with feisty language and hard-line promises.

       

 

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Trump: US ‘Hitting the Enemy’ in Afghanistan Harder After Canceled Talks

On the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States, President Donald Trump says the U.S. is “hitting the enemy” in Afghanistan harder than ever before. This just days after he announced he had canceled peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David. Some lawmakers and experts say Trump should be giving  greater priority to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani than the militants. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has more from the State Department.
 

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US Farmers Put Off Equipment Purchases Amid Trade War

Increased costs for aluminum and steel, and lower prices for crops, mostly attributable to tariffs, are forcing many American farmers to hold off purchasing large, expensive equipment.  VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports from this year’s Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, farmers want new equipment that uses the latest technology but are struggling to afford it and encounter obstacles getting loans from banks.
 

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450 Miles of Border Wall by Next Year? In Arizona, it Begins

On a dirt road past rows of date trees, just feet from a dry section of Colorado River, a small construction crew is putting up a towering border wall that the government hopes will reduce — for good — the flow of immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Cicadas buzz and heavy equipment rumbles and beeps before it lowers 30-foot-tall (9-kilometer-tall) sections of fence into the dirt. 

“Ahi esta!” — “There it is!” — a Spanish-speaking member of the crew says as the men straighten the sections into the ground. Nearby, workers pull dates from palm trees, not far from the cotton fields that cars pass on the drive to the border.

South of Yuma, Arizona, the tall brown bollards rising against a cloudless desert sky will replace much shorter barriers that are meant to keep out cars, but not people.

Government contractors remove existing Normandy barriers that separate Mexico and the United States, in preparation for a section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River, Sept. 10, 2019, in Yuma, Ariz.

This 5-mile (8-kilometer) section of fencing is where President Donald Trump’s most salient campaign promise — to build a wall along the entire southern border — is taking shape.

The president and his administration said this week that they plan on building between 450 and 500 miles (724 and 806 kilometers) of fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,218-kilometer) border by the end of 2020, an ambitious undertaking funded by billions of defense dollars that had been earmarked for things like military base schools, target ranges and maintenance facilities.

Two other Pentagon-funded construction projects in New Mexico and Arizona are underway, but some are skeptical that so many miles of wall can be built in such a short amount of time. The government is up against last-minute construction hiccups, funding issues and legal challenges from environmentalists and property owners whose land sits on the border.

The Trump administration says the wall, along with more surveillance technology, agents and lighting, is key to keeping out people who cross illegally.

Critics say a wall is useless when most of those apprehended turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents in the hope they can be eventually released while their cases play out in immigration court.

Government contractors erect a section of border wall along the Colorado River, Sept. 10, 2019, in Yuma, Ariz. Construction began as federal officials revealed a list of Defense Department projects to be cut to pay for the wall.

In Yuma, the defense-funded section of tall fencing is replacing shorter barriers that U.S. officials say are less efficient.

It comes amid a steep increase since last year in the number of migrant families who cross the border illegally in the Yuma area, often turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents. Many are fleeing extreme poverty and violence, and some are seeking asylum.

So far this year, Border Patrol agents in the Yuma sector have apprehended more than 51,000 family units. That’s compared with just more than 14,500 the year before, about a 250% increase.

The Yuma sector is the third busiest along the southern border, with officials building a temporary, 500-person tent facility in the parking lot of the Border Patrol’s Yuma headquarters in June.

It spent just less than $15 million for the setup and services for four months, including meals, laundry and security, but officials are evaluating whether to keep it running past next month as the number of arrivals in Yuma and across the southern border have fallen sharply in recent months.

The drop is largely because of the Mexican government’s efforts to stop migrants from heading north after Trump threatened tariffs earlier this year to force Mexico to act.

Sections of Pentagon-funded border wall are stacked before installation, Sept. 10, 2019, in Yuma, Ariz. A 30-foot-high wall will replace a five-mile section of Normandy barrier and post-n-beam fencing along the Mexico-United States border.

The number of people apprehended along the southern border fell by 61 percent between this year’s high point in May and the end of August. In Yuma, it fell by 86 percent, according to government figures. Most people apprehended are either traveling as families or are unaccompanied children.

“Historically this has been a huge crossing point for both vehicles as well as family units and unaccompanied alien children during the crisis that we’ve seen in the past couple of months,” Border Patrol spokesman Jose Garibay said. “They’ve just been pouring over the border due to the fact that we’ve only ever had vehicle bollards and barriers that by design only stop vehicles.”

Victor Manjarrez Jr., a former Border Patrol chief who’s now a professor at the University of Texas, El Paso, was an agent when the government put up the first stretch of barriers along the southern border in San Diego.

He’s seen barriers evolve from easily collapsible landing mats installed by agents and the National Guard to the sophisticated, multibillion-dollar projects now being done by private contractors.

Manjarrez says tall border fencing is crucial in some areas and less helpful in others, like remote stretches of desert where shorter barriers and more technology like ground sensors would suffice.

“One form doesn’t fit in all areas, and so the fence itself is not the one solution. It’s a combination of many things,” Manjarrez said.

A government contractor, surrounded by existing Normandy barriers that separate Mexico and the United States, pours a concrete footer in preparation for a section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River, Sept. 10, 2019, in Yuma, Ariz.

The ease of construction varies by place and depends on things like water, Manjarrez said, adding that just because a plot of land is flat “doesn’t mean it’s not complex.”

He said building 450 to 500 miles (724 and 806 kilometers) of fence by the end of next year would be tough if that figure doesn’t include sections of the wall that have been built recently.

“As it stands now, contractors are building pretty fast,” Manjarrez said. The real question is whether the government needs to build that much fencing, he said.

The Trump administration may face those issues along with lawsuits from landowners who aren’t giving up their property so easily and environmentalists who say the barriers stop animals from migrating and can cut off water resources.

The Tohono O’odham tribe in Arizona also has expressed opposition to more border fencing on its land, which stretches for nearly 75 miles (120 kilometers) along the border with Mexico.

Near Yuma, the Cocopah Indian Tribe’s reservation is near the latest fencing project, and leaders are concerned it will block the view to its sacred sites, spokesman Jonathan Athens said.
 

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Water Discovered for First Time in Exoplanet Atmosphere

British scientists say they have found water for the first time in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system.

Researchers at University College London said Wednesday they found water vapor in a planet’s air 110 light years from Earth that has temperatures suitable for life as we know it.

More than 4,000 exoplanets have been detected, but scientists say it is the only known exoplanet that has water, temperatures needed for life and a rocky surface.

It is not known if the planet, twice the size of Earth, eight times its mass, has water flowing on its surface.

But scientists say the so-called Super Earth is an ideal distance from its sun to conceivably harbor life.

The planet, known as K2-18b, was discovered in 2015 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

“Finding water in a potentially habitable world other than Earth is incredibly exciting,” said Angelos Tsiaras, lead author of the UCL report that was published in the journal Nature Astronomy. “K2-18b is not ‘Earth 2.0’ but it brings us closer to answering the fundamental question: Is the Earth unique?”

Scientists expect future space missions to detect hundreds of other exoplanets in coming decades.

A new generation of space exploration instruments will be able to describe exoplanet atmospheres in much greater detail.

The European Space Agency’s ARIEL space telescope, for example, is scheduled for launch in 2028 and will observe some 1,000 planets, a sampling large enough to identify patterns and outliers.

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South Sudan’s Kiir, Rival Machar Meet for 3 Hours in Juba

After meeting for three hours Wednesday at South Sudan’s State House, President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar pledged to resolve all outstanding issues holding up the formation of a unity government in November.  

The two leaders were all smiles as they shook hands and posed in front of flashing cameras outside the State House, but neither man announced any new agreements.

Left unresolved from last year’s peace deal are the number of states and their boundaries along with details over security arrangements involving opposition and government forces.

Still, President Kiir put a positive spin on things.

“Talks between us are going on well. And we will reach a deal soon, so let’s rest assured that things are going on well,” Kiir told reporters in Juba.

For his part, Machar noted that even though he is to become First Vice President once again under the terms of last year’s peace deal, he is still not a free man.

“Juba is home and I have come back to Juba even if I go away for some time. The next coming, maybe [East African regional bloc] IGAD will determine my status to be free to come and discuss more with you here. But our discussion here, we have made important progress,” said Machar.

The SPLM-in Opposition party says Machar is effectively under house arrest in his current home city, Khartoum, and IGAD said his movement was restricted when he lived in exile in South Africa.

SPLM-IO Deputy Chairman Henry Odwar said Wednesday’s talks focused on amending certain laws to come into compliance with the revitalized peace deal.

“We touched on issues of constitutional amendment, the draft that is going to be presented to the parliament and we also discussed the few security laws. We also talked about the issue of non-signatory parties,” said Odwar.

The peace deal mandates that the transitional constitution and laws that govern the national security agencies, the army and the national police service be amended by parliament ahead of the formation of a unity government.

But the country’s lawmakers are on a two-month recess that began two weeks ago. Last month, civil society activists warned that failure to amend the laws before November would affect the formation of a unity government.

Odwar said the two leaders discussed the number of states but only agreed to form another committee.

“The two principals have agreed that yes, we will have a committee and this committee will look into the IBC (Independent Boundaries Commission) report and if we reach a consensus, that will be great. If we don’t reach a consensus, then the principals will have to come together again and come up with a final statement on the number of states and boundaries,” Odwar told reporters.

Despite reaching no agreement on the unresolved issues, Information Minister Michael Makuei says Kiir and Machar are both confident a unity government will come together on time.

“When I say on time, it means on the 12th of November,” said Makuei.

It is not clear if Kiir and Machar will hold more face-to-face talks this week in Juba before Machar departs for Khartoum.
 

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Bahamas Officials: 2,500 Listed Missing in Dorian’s Wake

Officials in the Bahamas say 2,500 people are listed as missing more than a week after Hurricane Dorian ravaged Abaco and Grand Bahama islands.

Authorities say a number of those unaccounted for may be staying in shelters or were evacuated from the islands. They say official lists are still being drawn up.

“Everyone on the islands [is] missing someone. It’s totally devastating,” an Abaco tour guide said Wednesday. The guide said she has not seen a number of friends and several cousins since the storm.

The death toll from Dorian stands at 50, but as the search for victims goes on, officials expect that number to climb substantially.

Commercial flights to Abaco were set to resume on a limited schedule Wednesday, but authorities say relief flights and evacuation planes have priority.

Early estimates say the Category 5 hurricane — the strongest storm to ever strike the Bahamas — caused about $3 billion in damage.

 

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Egypt Sentences 11 Islamist Leaders to Life for Spying

An Egyptian court Wednesday sentenced 11 Muslim Brotherhood leaders to life in prison on espionage charges for allegedly passing state secrets to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
 
Among those sentenced in Cairo criminal court was the outlawed Brotherhood’s chief, Mohamed Badie. It was the latest of several sentences against Badie, who received a life sentence last week on charges related to mass prison breaks during the 2011 uprising that brought down the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak..
 

The court formally dropped charges against the late former president, Mohamed Morsi, who collapsed and died in June during an earlier court session on the case. His death brought criticism from local and international rights groups who accused the government of deliberately denying medical care to political prisoners.
 
Morsi, a senior Brotherhood figure, became Egypt’s first freely-elected president in 2012. The military, led by then defense minister Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, toppled Morsi in 2013 amid massive protests against his brief, one-year rule.
 

Authorities have since branded the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and arrested thousands of its members.
 
Wednesday’s court session also saw three others sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on the same national security charges. Two others got seven-year sentences, and five others were acquitted.

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Massive Rally for Catalonia’s Secession in Barcelona

Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards who support the secession of Catalonia gathered in Barcelona on the region’s main holiday Wednesday, just weeks before a highly anticipated verdict in a case against 12 leaders of the separatist movement.

Supporters of Catalan secession came from all parts of the wealthy northeastern region to its main city. Many carried flags or wore T-shirts supporting Catalan independence as they met for the rally in a large public square.

The Sept. 11 holiday memorializes the fall of Barcelona in the Spanish War of Succession in 1714. Since 2012, it has become the date of massive rallies for the region’s secessionist movement.

The Barcelona police said that around 600,000 people turned out for the event.

Polls and the most recent election results show that the region’s 7.5 million residents are roughly equally split between those in favor and those against breaking with the rest of Spain.

Spain’s caretaker prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has tried to thaw tensions with Catalonia since taking power last year, wrote on Twitter that “Today should be a day for all Catalans. For the path of dialogue within the Constitution, harmonious coexistence, respect and understanding.”

This year’s rally comes while a dozen leaders of Catalonia’s 2017 failed attempt to secede await a verdict from the Supreme Court on charges that include rebellion. They face spending several years behind bars if found guilty, and a heavy punishment would most likely spark public protests in Catalonia. The verdict is expected this month or next.

The movement, however, is going through its most difficult period since separatist sentiment was fueled by the previous decade’s economic difficulties, from which Spain has only recovered in recent years.

The pro-secession political parties have yet to agree on what the response to a guilty verdict by the Supreme Court should be. That has earned the criticism of the leading grassroots groups which have fueled the secessionist drive.

Regional Catalan president Quim Torra says that a guilty verdict would provide an opportunity to make another push for independence, without specifying how that could be carried out.

“The objective of independence should be the horizon of this country after the verdict,” he said in a recent interview on Catalan public television.

Other separatist politicians think the best move is to call regional elections in an attempt to increase their representation in the regional parliament and focus on gaining the backing of more than half of Catalans. Those against independence complain that the separatists have monopolized the holiday for their political ends.

But some activists have accused all their political leaders of not taking concrete steps to achieve their goal. Radical activists recently expressed their anger by throwing garbage and excrement on the doors of the offices of pro-secession parties.

“Not only have we not advanced, but we have taken some steps backward,” Elisenda Paluzie, the head of the influential pro-secession grassroots group ANC, told the crowd. “We demand that our leaders don’t let us down.”

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Putin Election Defeat Signals Uncertain Future for Russia

Russian voters this week dealt the party of President Vladimir Putin a heavy blow in local elections that were marred by street protests and police crackdowns in Moscow.  Putin’s United Russia party lost control of key regions, including the capital, raising questions of how long he may continue to lead what some analysts say is an increasingly restive nation.  Ricardo Marquina and Olga Pavlova in Moscow, Mary Motta reports.

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Pompeo Says Bolton Ouster Won’t Change Foreign Policy, but Iran Hopes So

VOA’s Russian service and VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.

WHITE HOUSE — An Iranian government spokesman says the departure of National Security Adviser John Bolton could allow U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to deal with Iran in a “less biased manner.”

Ali Rabiei said Wednesday that Bolton was a “symbol of America’s hawkish policies” and animosity toward Iran. Officials, including Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, had repeatedly pointed to Bolton as a figure opposed to dialogue in resolving U.S.-Iran tensions.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that Trump’s firing of Bolton will not change the president’s foreign policy.

“I don’t think any leader around the world should make any assumption that because one of us departs that President Trump’s foreign policy will change in a material way,” Pompeo said less than two hours after Trump announced on Twitter that he had ousted Bolton.

Pompeo appeared on the White House podium along with U.S. Treasury Steven Mnuchin to discuss an executive order strengthening sanctions to combat terrorism.

Trump Fires His National Security Adviser video player.
FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump, left, conducts a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, May 22, 2018, as then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, right, looks on.

“It would seem it’s business as usual in this administration,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told VOA. “Of course, foreign nations watch the chaos, which the president relishes, with either glee or gloom, depending on how they feel about the U.S.”

Bolton had reportedly been opposed to plans to invite Taliban members and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to the Camp David presidential retreat for talks aimed at solidifying a U.S.-Taliban peace deal.

Trump canceled the meeting after a recent Taliban attack killed a U.S. soldier.

There also have been indications that Bolton, a hard-liner on security issues, also differed with the president on the approach to Iran, North Korea and Venezuela.

FILE – President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 28, 2019. At left is then-National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the foreign relations committee, told reporters Bolton’s firing is emblematic of Trump’s style.

“He wants people who basically are yes men. I may not have agreed with Ambassador Bolton on a whole host of issues and his bellicose views, but the one thing about him is he obviously presented counterviews at times for his consideration. That’s not something the president wants,” Menendez said.

University of Houston political science professor Zachary Zwald told VOA’s Russian service the reported strife and disagreement among Trump’s foreign policy team is much more troubling than Bolton’s departure.
“It’s beyond debate that President Trump doesn’t have a coherent foreign policy perspective, a world view, a grand strategy that is motivating his positions. I don’t know how much the firing of Bolton communicates the consistency or inconsistency of President Trump’s policies,” Zwald said.

Trump picked Bolton in March 2018 to replace former Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster as national security adviser.

Trump’s first adviser, Michael Flynn, lasted less than a month in the job before being fired. He was subsequently convicted of lying to the FBI about December 2016 conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Flynn is awaiting sentencing.

Bolton is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He had served in three previous Republican administrations and also held roles in the Justice and State departments. He was brought into this administration after a stint as a commentator on the U.S. cable news network Fox News Channel, which is generally supportive of President Trump.

Trump had noted Bolton’s reputation as a hawk, once saying in the Oval Office that “John has never seen a war he doesn’t like.”

Trump never appeared to warm to Bolton and had expressed reservations about him prior to hiring him, including making comments about Bolton’s bushy mustache.

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China Keeps Tariffs on US Pork, Soy, but Eases Others

China announced Wednesday it will exempt American industrial grease and some other imports from tariff hikes in a trade war with Washington but kept in place higher duties on soybeans and other major U.S. exports ahead of negotiations next month.

The move adds to suggestions both governments might be settling in for extended conflict by fine-tuning import controls and trying to find alternative export markets and suppliers.

Sixteen products including lubricants, fish meal for animal feed and some chemicals will be exempt from penalties of up to 25% imposed in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes on Chinese imports, the Ministry of Finance said. Punitive duties on soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China, and thousands of other imports were left unchanged.

Trade talks in Washington

Negotiators are preparing for talks in Washington aimed at ending the tariff war over trade and technology that threatens global economic growth. The plan for talks has helped to calm jittery financial markets, but economists warn there has been no sign of progress and neither government has offered concessions aimed at breaking a deadlock.

Imports on Wednesday’s list are raw materials for farming or manufacturing, suggesting Chinese leaders want to limit damage to their own industries at a time of slowing economic growth.

Beijing’s earlier tariff hikes avoided processor chips and other U.S. technology required by Chinese industry.

Chinese leaders are resisting U.S. pressure to roll back plans for government-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other industries.

Washington, Europe, Japan and other trading partners say those plans violate China’s market-opening commitments and are based on stealing or pressuring companies to hand over technology.

FILE – A grain salesman shows locally grown soybeans in Ohio, April 5, 2018. Trump’s tariffs have drawn retaliation from around the world. China is taxing American soybeans, among other things.

Tariffs batter farmers, factories

Washington and Beijing have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s imports. That has battered farmers and manufacturers on both sides and fueled fears a global economy that was showing signs of a slowdown might tip into recession.

Trump has imposed or announced penalties on about $550 billion of Chinese imports, or almost everything the United States buys from China. Tariffs of 25% imposed previously on $250 billion of Chinese goods are to rise to 30% Oct. 1.

China has raised duties on about $120 billion of U.S. imports, economists estimate. Some have been hit with increases more than once, while about $50 billion of U.S. goods is unaffected, possibly to avoid disrupting Chinese industries.

In their latest escalation, Washington imposed 15% tariffs on $112 billion of Chinese imports Sept. 1 and is planning to hit another $160 billion Dec. 15. Beijing responded by imposing duties of 10% and 5% on a range of American imports.

Products covered by Wednesday’s exemptions include lubricants, insecticides and whey and fish meal for animal feed.

FILE – China Shipping Company containers are stacked at the Virginia International’s terminal in Portsmouth, Va., May 10, 2019.

China feels trade heat

Chinese imports of U.S. goods tumbled 22.5% in August from a year earlier and exports to the United States, China’s biggest foreign market, fell 16%.

Beijing has agreed to narrow its politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States but is reluctant to give up development strategies it sees as a path to prosperity and global influence.

Talks broke down in May over how to enforce any agreement.

China insists Trump’s punitive tariffs must be lifted once a deal takes effect. Washington says at least some must stay to make sure Beijing carries out any promises. 

Some analysts suggest Beijing might be holding out in hopes Trump will feel pressure to make a more favorable deal as his campaign for the 2020 presidential election picks up. Trump has warned China will face a tougher U.S. negotiating stance if he is re-elected. 
 

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Mugabe’s Body Believed to be Returning to Zimbabwe

A vehicle believed to be carrying the body of former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe left a Singapore funeral parlor Wednesday morning to be returned to his homeland for burial in the African nation he ruled for decades.

Police escorting the vehicle Wednesday morning said the convoy was heading to the airport.

Mugabe died Friday in a Singapore hospital at age 95. Zimbabwe’s Vice President Kembo Mohadi was seen arriving at the funeral parlor Tuesday afternoon, and a Zimbabwe state newspaper said his body would return to the country Wednesday.

Mugabe was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power in 1980 when Zimbabwe shook off white minority rule. He enjoyed strong backing from Zimbabwe’s people in the initial years, but that support waned following repression, economic mismanagement and allegations of election-rigging.

He is still regarded by many as a national hero, though, with some even beginning to say they missed him after his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, failed to revive the economy and used the army to crush dissent.

The Sunday Mail quoted presidential spokesman George Charamba in reporting Mnangagwa and family members will receive the body at the airport named after the former president in the capital, Harare. The body will be taken to his rural home before being placed in a giant stadium for public viewing.

Mnangagwa declared Mugabe a national hero and said official mourning will end after the burial at the National Heroes Acre, a hilltop shrine reserved exclusively for Zimbabweans who made huge sacrifices during the war against white-minority rule.

Zimbabwe’s information minister said Mugabe’s body will lie in state at two stadiums in the capital for three days. His burial is scheduled for Sunday.

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US Senators: Congress Likely to Restore Aid to Ukraine

Republican and Democratic senators said Tuesday they expected the U.S. Congress would pass legislation restoring $250 million in military aid for Ukraine if President Donald Trump goes ahead with plans to block the assistance.

“If he decides not to spend this money, I truly am fairly confident, that, on a bipartisan basis, Congress will reappropriate it,” Republican Senator Ron Johnson told reporters.

Johnson made his remarks at a news conference with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy about their recent trip to Europe, which included stops in Ukraine, Kosovo and Serbia.

Murphy also visited Germany.

The two lawmakers had requested visas to visit Russia, but Moscow denied their request.

Aid bill signed by president

Trump administration officials said last month that the White House was reviewing whether the $250 million in military assistance for Ukraine should be sent to the country, even though it had already been approved by Congress in legislation signed into law by the president.

The money is intended for use by Ukraine in its struggle with pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.

Johnson said he had spoken to Trump about the aid just before the trip, and Trump had told him his concern was about whether European countries, not the United States, should be providing funds to Ukraine because the country is in their “backyard.”

Reassuring Ukrainians

Murphy said it was clear in meetings with Ukrainian officials that they did not have a full understanding of why the money might be withheld. He said the Ukrainians brought up the issue in every meeting with the U.S. lawmakers.

The two senators said they had sought to reassure the Ukrainians that Congress was behind the country as it faces Russian aggression.

“Regardless of what the president does, the United States Congress is with you, and we support the courage of the Ukrainian people,” Johnson said.

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