Even during a year of sobering economic news for media companies, the layoffs of three Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists on a single day hit like a gut punch.

The firings of the cartoonists employed by the McClatchy newspaper chain last week were a stark reminder of how an influential art form is dying, part of a general trend away from opinion content in the struggling print industry.

Losing their jobs were Jack Ohman of California’s Sacramento Bee, also president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists; Joel Pett of the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky and Kevin Siers of the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina. Ohman and Siers were full-time staffers, while Pett worked on a freelance contract. The firings Tuesday were first reported by The Daily Cartoonist blog.

“I had no warning at all,” Ohman told The Associated Press. “I was stupefied.”

McClatchy, which owns 30 U.S. newspapers, said it would no longer publish editorial cartoons. “We made this decision based on changing reader habits and our relentless focus on providing the communities we serve with local news and information they can’t get elsewhere,” the chain said in a statement.

There’s a rich history of editorial cartooning, including Thomas Nast’s vivid takedowns of corrupt New York City politicians in the late 1800s and Herbert Block’s drawings of a sinister-looking Richard Nixon in The Washington Post.

At the start of the 20th century, there were about 2,000 editorial cartoonists employed at newspapers, according to a report by the Herbert Block Foundation. Now, Ohman estimates there are fewer than 20.

The last full-time editorial cartoonist to win a Pulitzer was Jim Morin of the Miami Herald in 2017. Since then, owing to the diminishing number of employed cartoonists, the Pulitzers have broadened the category in which they compete and renamed it “Illustrated Reporting and Commentary.”

While written editorials can sometimes be ponderous and intimidate readers, the impact of a well-done cartoon is instantaneous, Pett said.

While economics is clearly a factor in an industry that has lost jobs so dramatically that many newspapers are mere ghosts of themselves, experts say timidity also explains the dwindling number of cartoonists. Readers are already disappearing, why give them a reason to be angry?

Pett has been involved in a battle with Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s attorney general and a Republican candidate for governor. Cameron, who is Black, has accused Pett of being a race-baiter in his cartoons and called for his firing at a news conference — not knowing that hours earlier, his wish had been granted, said Pett, a Pulitzer winner in 2000.

His bosses never told him to avoid cartoons about Cameron, but gave him a series of guidelines, Pett said. For instance, he was told not to depict Cameron wearing a MAGA hat backward.

“There’s a broader reluctance in this political environment to make people mad,” said Tim Nickens, retired editorial page editor at the Tampa Bay Times in Florida. “By definition, a provocative editorial cartoonist is going to make somebody mad every day.”

Pett agrees.

“I could have looked at the guy who fired me and said, ‘I’ll do it for free,’ and they would have said no,” he said.

McClatchy insists that local opinion journalism remains central to its mission. The Miami Herald, a McClatchy newspaper, won a Pulitzer this year for “Broken Promises,” a series of editorials about a failure to rebuild troubled areas in southern Florida.

In the current atmosphere, however, opinion is less valued. Gannett, the nation’s largest chain with more than 200 newspapers, said last year the papers would only offer opinion pages a couple of days a week. Its executives reasoned that these pages were not heavily read, and surveys showed readers did not want to be lectured to.

That also meant less room for cartoons.

The reasoning is there are plenty of places to find opinions online, particularly on national issues. Political endorsements are more infrequent in newspapers. In 2020, only 54 of the nation’s top 100 newspapers endorsed a presidential candidate, down from 92 in 2008, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“When publications really don’t stand for anything in an editorial sense, that’s damaging, whether the pieces are widely read or not,” said Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at The Poynter Institute.

While the idea may be to steer clear of polarizing national issues to concentrate on local concerns, the irony is that newspapers that still want to use cartoons will be forced to turn more to syndicated services, whose pieces primarily deal with national or international issues.

That’s what Pett draws for his contract with the Tribune Media Co., not cartoons about Kentucky.

“This isn’t a crisis of cartooning particularly,” said Mike Peterson, a blogger at The Daily Cartoonist. “This is a crisis of newspapers failing to connect with their community.”

Like newspaper owners, some cartoonists themselves fear there is less taste now for political satire, and more for inoffensive, funny drawings of the type popular in the New Yorker magazine.

“At the end of the day, I think people like cartoons,” said Ohman, who won his Pulitzer in 2016. “But it’s hard for a cartoon to be ecumenical.”
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Five sheep are spending their summer at the former military base-turned-park on New York City’s Governors Island. Their mission: removing unwanted invasive plants from an urban forest in the Hammock Grove section. Nina Vishneva has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vladimir Badikov.
…

Despite not advancing on its goal to join NATO, Ukraine did receive security assurances by the military alliance’s members during their summit last week in Vilnius. And as VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, the Biden administration emphasized this Sunday again, that its’ support for Kyiv, remains strong.
…

Jack Mogannam, manager of Sam’s Cable Car Lounge in downtown San Francisco, relishes the days when his bar stayed open past midnight every night, welcoming crowds that jostled on the streets, bar hopped, window browsed or just took in the night air.

He’s had to drastically curtail those hours because of diminished foot traffic, and business is down 30%. A sign outside the lounge pleads: “We need your support!”

“I’d stand outside my bar at 10 p.m. and look, it would be like a party on the street,” Mogannam said. “Now you see, like, six people on the street up and down the block. It’s a ghost town.”

After a three-year exile, the pandemic now fading from view, the expected crowds and electric ambience of downtown have not returned.

Empty storefronts dot the streets. Large “going out of business” signs hang in windows. Uniqlo, Nordstrom Rack and Anthropologie are gone. Last month, the owner of Westfield San Francisco Centre, a fixture for more than 20 years, said it was handing the mall back to its lender, citing declining sales and foot traffic. The owner of two towering hotels, including a Hilton, did the same.

Shampoo, toothpaste and other toiletries are locked up at downtown pharmacies. And armed robbers recently hit a Gucci store in broad daylight.

San Francisco has become the prime example of what downtowns shouldn’t look like: vacant, crime-ridden and in various stages of decay. But in truth, it’s just one of many cities across the U.S. whose downtowns are reckoning with a post-pandemic wake-up call: diversify or die.

As the pandemic bore down in early 2020, it drove people out of city centers and boosted shopping and dining in residential neighborhoods and nearby suburbs as workers stayed closer to home. Those habits seem poised to stay.

No longer the purview of office workers, downtowns must become around-the-clock destinations for people to congregate, said Richard Florida, a specialist in city planning at the University of Toronto.

“They’re no longer central business districts. They’re centers of innovation, of entertainment, of recreation,” he said. “The faster places realize that, the better.”

Data bears out that San Francisco’s downtown is having a harder time than most. A study of 63 North American downtowns by the University of Toronto ranked the city dead last in a return to pre-pandemic activity, garnering only 32% of its 2019 traffic.

Hotel revenues are stuck at 73% of pre-pandemic levels, weekly office attendance remains below 50% and commuter rail travel to downtown is at 33%, according to a recent economic report by the city.

Office vacancy rates in San Francisco were 24.8% in the first quarter, more than five times higher than pre-pandemic levels and well above the average rate of 18.5% for the nation’s top 10 cities, according to CBRE, a commercial real estate services company.

Why? San Francisco relied heavily on international tourism and its tech workforce, both of which disappeared during the pandemic.

But other major cities including Portland and Seattle, which also rely on tech workers, are struggling with similar declines, according to the downtown recovery study, which used anonymized mobile phone data to analyze downtown activity patterns from before the pandemic and between March and May of this year.

In Chicago, which ranked 45th in the study, major retailers like AT&T, Old Navy and Banana Republic on the Magnificent Mile have closed or soon will as visitor foot traffic hasn’t rebounded.

And midwestern cities like Indianapolis and Cleveland already struggled pre-pandemic with diminished downtowns as they relied on a single industry to support them and lacked booming industries like tech, said Karen Chapple, director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto and author of the study.

San Francisco leaders are taking the demise of downtown seriously. Supervisors recently relaxed downtown zoning rules to allow mixed-use spaces: offices and services on upper floors and entertainment and pop-up shops on the ground floor. Legislation also reduces red tape to facilitate converting existing office space into housing.

Mayor London Breed recently announced $6 million to upgrade a three-block stretch by a popular cable car turnaround to improve walkability and lure back businesses.

But Marc Benioff, chief executive officer of Salesforce, the city’s largest employer and anchor tenant in its tallest skyscraper, said downtown is “never going back to the way it was” when it comes to workers commuting in each day. He advised Breed to convert office space into housing and hire more police to give visitors a sense of safety.

“We need to rebalance downtown,” Benioff said.

Downtown housing has been the key to success in Baltimore and Salt Lake City, Chapple said.

Real estate experts also point to office-to-housing conversions as a potential lifeline. Cities such as New York and Pittsburgh are offering sizeable tax breaks for developers to spur such conversions.

But for many cities, including San Francisco, it will take more than housing for downtowns to flourish.

Daud Shuja, owner and designer of Franco Uomo, a luxury clothier based in San Jose, said new customers who live in San Francisco drive at least an hour to the store. He plans to open a shop in a more convenient location in suburban Palo Alto next year.

“They just don’t want to deal with the homelessness, with the environment, with the ambience,” he said.

Still, San Francisco officials say the downtown, which stretches from City Hall to the Embarcadero Waterfront and encompasses the Financial District and parts of the South of Market neighborhood, is in transition.

Gap, which started in San Francisco in 1969, closed its flagship Gap and Old Navy stores near Union Square. But the company isn’t abandoning the city entirely, planning four new stores from its major brands at its headquarters near the waterfront and anticipating other new stores.

Marisa Rodriguez, CEO of the Union Square Alliance, said foot traffic is steadily up and a strong tourism season is expected. Sales tax revenue from fine and casual dining, as well as hotels and motels, is also up, said Ted Egan, the city’s chief economist, defying the narrative that San Francisco is in a doom loop.

Furthermore, new Union Square businesses include upscale fusion restaurants, a hot yoga studio favored by celebrity Jessica Alba and a rare sneaker shop. The area just has to overcome hesitation from local and national visitors due to negative press, Rodriguez said.

“When you’re making your plans to travel, and you’re like, ‘I’ve always wanted to go to San Francisco, but I just keep reading all this stuff.’ When in fact, it’s beautiful. It’s here to welcome you,” she said. “I just hope the noise settles quickly.”
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A 7.2 magnitude earthquake triggered a brief tsunami advisory for southern Alaska late Saturday, but the advisory was cancelled about an hour later, monitoring bodies reported. 

The earthquake was felt widely throughout the Aleutian Islands, the Alaskan Peninsula and Cook Inlet regions, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. 

In Kodiak, Alaska, sirens warned of a possible tsunami and sent people driving to shelters late at night, according to video posted to social media. 

The United States Geological Survey wrote in a social media post that the earthquake occurred 106 kilometers (65.8 miles) south of Sand Point, Alaska, at 10:48 p.m. Saturday. The quake initially was reported as 7.4 magnitude but downgraded to 7.2 soon after. 

The U.S. National Weather Service sent a tsunami advisory saying the quake occurred at a depth of 13 miles (21 kilometers). The agency cancelled the advisory about an hour after the first alert. 

Before the cancellation, the National Weather Service in Anchorage, Alaska, tweeted that the tsunami advisory applied to coastal Alaska from Chignik Bay to Unimak Pass, but Kodiak Island and the Kenai Peninsula were not expected to be impacted. 

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said shortly after the tsunami warning went out that there was no threat to the islands. 

There were an estimated eight aftershocks in the same area of Alaska, including one measuring 5.0 magnitude within three minutes of the original earthquake, KTUU-TV reported. 

Residents were advised not to reoccupy hazard zones without clearance from local emergency officials, KTUU reported. 

Small sea level changes were still possible, KTUU reported. 
…

California, the seventh-biggest U.S. crude oil producer, has put a near halt on issuing permits for new drilling this year, according to state data.

The state’s Geologic Energy Management Division, known as CalGEM, has approved seven new active well permits in 2023. That compares with the more than 200 it had issued by this time last year.

The stalled approvals represent the latest tension between California’s bold environmental ambitions and its role as a major oil and gas producer and consumer.

New drilling permits have steadily declined since Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019, but the current rate of approval represents a sudden and dramatic drop.

“It’s just fallen off the cliff,” Rock Zierman, chief executive of the California Independent Petroleum Association (CIPA), said in an interview. The industry has more than 1,400 permit applications for new wells awaiting CalGEM approval, half of which are more than a year old, he said.

In an email, CalGEM attributed the smaller number of approvals to both the broader decline in California oil production and litigation that has paused permitting by Kern County, the center of the state’s oil industry.

CalGEM is processing far more approvals to permanently close wells than for any other activity, the agency said.

“We expect this permitting trend to continue as California transitions away from fossil fuels,” CalGEM said.

The approved new wells include one for Sentinel Peak Resources in San Luis Obispo County and five for E&B Natural Resources Management in Kern County.

In an apparent concession to the oil and gas industry, approvals to improve or repair established wells are up nearly 50% to 1,650 in the first half of this year, according to an analysis of the CalGEM data by environmental group FracTracker Alliance that was provided to Reuters by the consumer advocacy non-profit Consumer Watchdog.

Reworking existing wells to boost their production cannot replace volumes from new wells that are needed to meet California’s energy needs, CIPA’s Zierman said.

The governor wants to phase out oil drilling in the state by 2045.

California also passed a law last year banning oil and gas drilling within 3,200 feet of structures including homes, schools and hospitals. But CIPA has blocked implementation of that law by qualifying a referendum to overturn it for the November 2024 ballot.

Nearly half of the wells with rework permits approved this year are within the contested buffer zone.

Consumer Watchdog criticized those approvals as a threat to public health because they extend the lives of low- and non-producing wells, which the group argues would likely have been plugged had the setback law not been paused.

“The state is simply helping the oil industry cut costs by issuing permits to tinker with unproductive wells rather than making them plug and remediate those wells that endanger the public and environment by emitting toxic compounds,” said Liza Tucker, a consumer advocate for Consumer Watchdog.

CalGEM said it is required to evaluate permits so long as the law is barred from being implemented.
…

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to effectively kill Biden’s earlier student debt forgiveness proposal, the White House is trying again to ease the burden on those carrying student loans using a different legal approach.

Biden’s original plan would have canceled up to $20,000 in federal student loans for 43 million people. Of those, 20 million would have had their remaining student debt erased completely.

With repayments set to begin in October, many borrowers are wondering if they still have to pay. Here’s what to know about where the new Biden plan stands.

What is the new plan and how is it different?

Under the proposed approach, the White House is now planning to use the Higher Education Act of 1965 — a sweeping federal law that governs the student loan program — to bring about relief for student borrowers.

Biden said the authority of the act will provide “the best path that remains to provide as many borrowers as possible with debt relief.”

The law includes a provision giving the education secretary authority to “compromise, waive or release” student loans.

In its previous attempt to forgive student loans, Biden’s White House appealed to a bipartisan 2003 law dealing with national emergencies, known as the HEROES Act, for the authority to cancel the debt. The court’s 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, said the administration needed Congress’ endorsement before undertaking so costly a program. 

Who will be eligible and how much debt will be canceled?

So far, it remains unclear which loan holders will qualify and how much of their debt will be forgiven. To figure it out, the Education Department will go through a process known as negotiated rulemaking. 

Should borrowers still make loan payments?

Hours after the Supreme Court decision, President Joe Biden announced a 12-month grace period to help borrowers who struggle after payments restart. Biden said borrowers can and should make payments during the first 12 months after payments resume, but, if they don’t, they won’t be at risk of default and it won’t hurt their credit scores. Interest will resume in September, however, and it will accrue whether borrowers make payments or not. Biden reiterated that it is not the same as the student loan pause, adding that “if you can pay your monthly bills, you should.”

Experts at the Student Borrower Protection Center and Institute of Student Loan Advisors encourage borrowers not to begin to make payments again until the fall, when interest starts up again and the pause lifts, since there is no penalty for not doing so during the freeze. Instead, any savings that would have gone to payments can earn interest in those remaining few months.

Finally, after the year-long grace period, if you’re in a short-term financial bind, you may qualify for deferment or forbearance — allowing you to temporarily suspend payment.

To determine whether deferment or forbearance are good options for you, contact your loan servicer. One thing to note: Interest still accrues during deferment or forbearance. Both can also affect future loan forgiveness options. Depending on the conditions of your deferment or forbearance, it may make sense to continue paying the interest during the payment suspension. 

Following the year-long on-ramp offered by the Biden administration, if you don’t make student loan payments, you’ll risk delinquency and default, which will harm your credit score and potentially lock you out of other aid and benefits down the line. 

What about declaring bankruptcy?

The Biden administration is also working to make a clearer path for borrowers considering bankruptcy.

In November, the Justice Department announced a process with new guidelines for students with federal loans who are unable to pay. Under the new guidance, debtors will fill out an “attestation form,” which the government will use to determine whether or not to recommend a discharge of debt. If borrowers’ expenses exceed their income and other criteria are met, the government will be more likely to recommend a full or partial discharge of loans. 

How soon could the new plan happen?

Get ready to wait.

The overall idea is to create a new federal rule by gathering together lots of people with different views and hashing out the details. The goal is to reach a consensus, but the Education Department doesn’t need it to move forward.

It’s possible the Biden administration will go through the process, fail to reach a consensus but still proceed with whatever it decides is the best cancellation plan.

Still, this could take a long time. The absolute minimum for something like this would be about a year, according to Michael Brickman, who was part of multiple rounds of negotiated rulemaking as an education official for the Trump administration. There’s bureaucratic red tape to navigate, and the process is designed to slow things down and force a deliberate negotiation.

The process of negotiated rulemaking requires a period for written feedback from the public, a public hearing (a virtual hearing is scheduled for July 18) and negotiating sessions.

Given that the administration is just starting the process, Brickman said it’s possible it could take up to two years.

Asked why the Education Department didn’t try this route from the start, Secretary Miguel Cardona acknowledged Friday that it “does take longer.” 

Is this plan on firmer legal ground?

That’s up for debate.

In a 2021 memo, the former top education lawyer for the Obama administration cast doubt on the president’s authority to enact mass student loan cancellation. The memo, from Charlie Rose, first reported by The Wall Street Journal and obtained by the AP, warned that “the more persuasive analyses tend to support the conclusion that the Executive Branch likely does not have the unilateral authority to engage in mass student debt cancellation.” Instead, it found that the education secretary’s authority is “limited to case-by-case review and, in some cases, only to nonperforming loans.”

Some advocates had been urging Biden go this route all along, and the White House says it’s confident the plan will work. But it’s almost certain to face legal challenges. The Education Department has used the Higher Education Act to cancel student loans before, but never at the scale being discussed now. Backers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren have said the legal authority is clear, but lawyers for the Trump administration concluded in 2021 that mass student loan forgiveness was illegal. It could wind up being a gray area that courts need to sort out.

Brickman, who is now an adjunct fellow at AEI, a conservative think tank, predicts a similar fate to Biden’s previous plan. “The Supreme Court has told them no, and yet they’re undeterred,” he said. “I’m sure there’s a population out there that really admires that. But at some point the Constitution is the Constitution, and you have to just kind of accept that.” 
…

The U.S., South Korea and Japan held a joint naval missile defense exercise on Sunday to counter North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats, the South’s navy said, days after the North launched an intercontinental ballistic missile.

North Korea fired its latest Hwasong-18 missile, which Pyongyang describes as the core of its nuclear strike force, off the east coast on Wednesday in what it said was a “strong practical warning” to the adversaries.

Sunday’s trilateral drill was conducted in international waters between South Korea and Japan, bringing together destroyers equipped with Aegis radar systems from the three countries, the navy said.

Washington and its Asian allies have been working to improve their information-sharing system on North Korea’s missiles. South Korea and Japan are independently linked to U.S. radar systems but not to each other’s.

The exercise aimed at mastering the allies’ response to a North Korean ballistic missile launch with a scenario featuring a virtual target, the military said.

“We will effectively respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats with our military’s strong response system and the trilateral cooperation,” a South Korean Navy officer said.  

The North’s ICBM launch was denounced by the U.S., South Korea and Japan, though Pyongyang has rejected the condemnation, saying it was an exercise of its right to self-defense.  

The latest launch followed heated complaints from North Korea in recent days, accusing American spy planes of flying over its exclusive economic zone waters, condemning a recent visit to South Korea by an U.S. nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine and vowing to take steps in reaction. 
…

Tens of millions were battling dangerously high temperatures in the United States on Saturday as record heat forecasts hung over Europe and Japan, in the latest example of the threat from climate change.

A powerful heat wave stretching from California to Texas was expected to peak as the National Weather Service warned of an “extremely hot and dangerous weekend.”

Daytime highs were forecast to range between 10- and 20-degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the U.S. Southwest.

In Arizona, one of the hardest-hit states, residents face a daily endurance marathon against the sun.

The state capital, Phoenix, recorded 16 straight days above 43 degrees Celsius (109F), with temperatures hitting 44C (111F) on Saturday en route to an expected 46C (115F).

California’s Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, is also likely to register new peaks on Sunday, with the mercury possibly rising to 54C (130F).

Temperatures reached 48C (118F) by midday on Saturday and even overnight lows could exceed 38C (100F).

Authorities have been sounding the alarm, advising people to avoid outdoor activities in the daytime and to be wary of dehydration.

At a construction site outside Houston, Texas, a 28-year-old worker who gave his name only as Juan helped complete a wall in the blazing heat.

“Just when I take a drink of water, I get dizzy, I want to vomit because of the heat,” he told AFP.  

The Las Vegas weather service warned that assuming high temperatures naturally come with the area’s desert climate was “a DANGEROUS mindset! This heat wave is NOT typical desert heat.”

Southern California is fighting numerous wildfires, including one in Riverside County that has burned more than 1,214 hectares (3,000 acres) and prompted evacuation orders.

Further north, the Canadian government reported that wildfires had burned a record-breaking 10 million hectares (25 million acres) this year, with more damage expected as the summer drags on.  

Historic highs forecast

In Europe, Italy faces weekend predictions of historic highs, and the health ministry issued a red alert for 16 cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence.

The weather center warned Italians to prepare for “the most intense heat wave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time.”

The thermometer is likely to hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Rome by Monday and even 43C (109F) on Tuesday, smashing the record of 40.5C set in August 2007.

The islands of Sicily and Sardinia could wilt under temperatures as high as 48C (118F), the European Space Agency warned — “potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe.”

The Acropolis in Athens, one of Greece’s top tourist attractions, will close during the hottest hours on Sunday, the third day running.

In France, high temperatures and resulting drought are posing a threat to the farming industry, earning Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau criticism from climatologists on Saturday for having brushed aside conditions as “normal enough for summer.”  

This June was the second hottest on record in France, according to the national weather agency, and several areas of the country have been under a heat wave alert since Tuesday.  

There is little reprieve ahead for Spain, as its meteorological agency warned Saturday that a new heat wave Monday through Wednesday will bring temperatures above 40C (104F) to the Canary Islands and the southern Andalusia region.  

Killer rains

Parts of eastern Japan are also expected to reach 38 (100F) to 39C (102F) on Sunday and Monday, with the meteorological agency warning temperatures could hit previous records.

Relentless monsoon rains have reportedly killed at least 90 people in northern India, after burning heat.

The Yamuna River running through the capital, New Delhi, has reached a record high, threatening low-lying neighborhoods in the megacity of more than 20 million people.

Major flooding and landslides are common during India’s monsoons, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.

Morocco was slated for above-average temperatures this weekend with highs of 47C in some provinces — more typical of August than July — sparking concerns for water shortages, the meteorological service said.  

River Tigris shrinking

Water-scarce Jordan was forced to dump 214 metric tons of water on a wildfire that broke out in the Ajloun forest in the north amid a heat wave, the army said.  

In Iraq, where scorching summers are common, Wissam Abed usually cools off from Baghdad’s brutal summer by swimming in the Tigris River.

But as rivers dry up, so does the age-old pastime.  

With temperatures near 50C (122F) and wind whipping through the city like a hairdryer, Abed stood in the middle of the river, but the water only came up to his waist.

“Year after year, the water situation gets worse,” the 37-year-old told AFP.

While it can be difficult to attribute a particular weather event to climate change, scientists insist global warming, linked to dependence on fossil fuels, is behind the multiplication and intensification of heat waves.

The EU’s climate monitoring service said the world saw its hottest June on record last month.
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Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com. 

Canadian Immigration Initiative Allows US Work-Visa Holders to Go North  

Canada has unveiled an immigration initiative to attract highly skilled technology professionals from the United States with H-1B work visas. H-1B visas are for nonimmigrant foreign workers with specialized skills. Beginning July 16, up to 10,000 of these visa holders will be able to apply to work in Canada. The move is part of the country’s new Tech Talent Strategy. Immigration reporter Aline Barros has the story. 

Texas Set to Use Rio Grande Buoys in Bid to Curb Border Crossings  

Texas began Thursday to roll out what will become a floating barrier on the Rio Grande in the latest escalation of Governor Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar effort to secure the U.S. border with Mexico. The Associated Press reports.  

Supreme Court Allows Biden Policy to Take Effect Focusing Deportations on Public Safety Risks  

The Supreme Court said Friday it will no longer stand in the way of a long-blocked Biden administration policy to prioritize the deportation of immigrants who are deemed to pose the greatest public safety risk or were picked up at the border. The Associated Press reports.  

Immigration around the world 

VOA60 Africa: Sudan’s Six Neighbors in Cairo for Peace Talks, Refugees Share Harrowing Stories  

Thousands of refugees from neighboring Sudan pour into the small border town of Adré daily, often with harrowing stories of escaping the ongoing violence. 

300 Migrants Missing at Sea Near Spanish Canary Islands: Aid Group  

At least 300 people who were traveling on three migrant boats from Senegal to Spain’s Canary Islands have disappeared, migrant aid group Walking Borders said Sunday. Reuters reports.  

UNHCR Concerned About Forced Repatriation of Burkinabe Refugees From Ghana  

UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee agency, has expressed concern about reports that Ghana’s armed forces this week deported hundreds of asylum-seekers who were fleeing an insurgency in neighboring Burkina Faso. Ghana’s military said it only expels illegal immigrants and suspected terrorists, but an activist who made a recording of the forced deportations says the move involved mostly women and children seeking refuge from the violence. Kent Mensah reports from Accra.  

Smuggler Sentenced for Deaths of 39 Migrants Who Suffocated in Truck  

A Romanian man who was part of an international human smuggling ring was sentenced Tuesday to more than 12 years in prison for the deaths of 39 migrants from Vietnam who suffocated in a truck trailer on their way to England in 2019. The Associated Press reports.  

Refugees Married to Kenyan Citizens Seek Citizenship Rights  

Rights groups in Kenya are campaigning for refugees married to Kenyans to obtain citizenship. The Kenyan Constitution allows foreign nationals married to Kenyans to register for citizenship after seven years of marriage. But they must have residency status to apply, and this policy locks out refugees. Juma Majanga reports from the Dadaab refugee camps. 

Aid Group: Afghan Children Die as Families Flee Taliban Demolition of Refugee Camp 

A global aid agency said Tuesday that Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities had evicted 280 internally displaced families, or about 1,700 people, from a makeshift settlement in Kabul and demolished it in a breach of international obligations. Ayaz Gul reports.  

WFP: Growing Number of Refugees from Sudan’s Darfur Region Crossing Into Chad  

The United Nations food agency says thousands of people are crossing the border into the central African nation of Chad from neighboring Sudan to escape the nearly three-month-old violence that the world body’s humanitarian chief has described as a civil war “of the most brutal kind.” A VOA News report.  

Spain Rescues 86 People Near Canary Islands, but Scores of Migrants From Senegal Remain Missing  

Spanish authorities rescued 86 people Monday from a boat near the Canary Islands that appeared to be from Senegal, after an aid group reported that three boats from the African country went missing with 300 people aboard. 

News Brief 

—The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the implementation of new family reunification parole (FRP) processes for Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. 
…

Americans are not happy with the way democracy is working right now. 

According to a poll from The Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, nearly half of Americans, 49%, say democracy is not working well in the U.S.   

Only 10% say democracy is working very or extremely well, while 40% say it’s working somewhat well. 

The two main U.S. political parties also received low ratings on how each is upholding democratic principles. 

Forty-seven percent said Democrats are doing a bad job with democratic principles, while 56% of those polled say Republicans could do a better job.   

The Associated Press says the poll shows there is “widespread political alienation as a polarized country limps out of the pandemic and into a recovery haunted by inflation and fears of a recession.” 

The poll was conducted June 22-26. 
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Pianist André Watts, whose televised debut with the New York Philharmonic as a 16-year-old in 1963 launched an international career of more than a half-century, has died. He was 77.

Watts died Wednesday at his home in Bloomington of prostate cancer, his manager, Linda Marder, said Friday. Watts joined the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2004. He said in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Watts won a Philadelphia Orchestra student competition and debuted when he was 10 in a children’s concert on Jan. 12, 1957, performing the first movement of Haydn’s Concerto in D major.

He studied under Genia Robinor and made his New York Philharmonic debut in a Young People’s Concert led by music director Leonard Bernstein on Jan. 12, 1963, a program televised three days later on CBS.

“Now we come to a young man who is so remarkable that I am tempted to give him a tremendous buildup, but I’d almost rather not so that you might have the same unexpected shock of pleasure and wonderment that I had when I first him play,” Bernstein told the audience. “He was just another in a long procession of pianists who were auditioning for us one afternoon and out he came, a sensitive-faced 16-year-old boy from Philadelphia … who sat down at the piano and tore into the opening bars of a Liszt concerto in such a way that we simply flipped.”

Bernstein conducted Watts and the orchestra in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

“What Mr. Watts had that was exceptional was a delicacy of attack that allowed the piano to sing,” Raymond Ericson wrote in The New York Times.

Watts so impressed Bernstein that the conductor chose him to replace an indisposed Glenn Gould and play the Liszt concerto twice at Philharmonic Hall a few weeks later. Within months, he had earned a recording contract and became among the most prominent pianists.

“When I’m feeling unhappy, going to the piano and just playing gently and listening to sounds makes everything slowly seem all right,” he said on a 1987 episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

Born in Nuremberg, Germany, on June 20, 1946, to a Hungarian mother and a Black father who was in the U.S. Army, Watts moved with his family to Philadelphia.

“When I was young, I was in the peculiar position with my school chums of not being white and not being Black, either,” Watts told The Christian Science Monitor in 1982. “Somehow I didn’t fit in very well at all. My mom said two things, ‘If you really think that you have to play 125% to a white’s 100% for equal treatment, it’s too bad. But fighting will not alter it.’ And, ‘If someone is not nice to you, it doesn’t have to be automatically because of your color.’

“(That advice) taught me that when I’m in a complex personal situation, I don’t have to conclude it is a racial thing. Therefore, I think I have encountered fewer problems all along the way.”

Watts’ career was interrupted on Nov. 14, 2002, when he was stricken by a subdural hematoma before a scheduled performance with the Pacific Symphony at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California. He had surgery in Newport Beach.

Watts then had surgery in 2004 to repair a herniated disk that caused nerve damage in his left hand. He made the last of more than 40 Carnegie Hall appearances with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in 2017. He had been scheduled to appear at the New York Philharmonic this November to mark the centennial of “Young People’s Concerts.”

He was nominated for five Grammy Awards and won Most Promising New Classical Recording Artist in 1964 for the Liszt concerto with Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. He was nominated for a 1995 Emmy Award for Outstanding Cultural Program and received a 2011 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal from then-President Barack Obama.

Watts is survived by his wife Joan Brand Watts, stepson William Dalton, stepdaughter Amanda Rees and seven step-grandchildren. There were no immediate funeral plans.
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Visitors to Las Vegas on Friday stepped out momentarily to snap photos and were hit by blast-furnace air. But most will spend their vacations in a vastly different climate — at casinos where the chilly air conditioning might require a light sweater.

Meanwhile, emergency room doctors were witnessing another world, as dehydrated construction workers, passed-out elderly residents and others suffered in an intense heat wave threatening to break the city’s all-time record high of 47.2 degrees Celsius this weekend.

Few places in the scorching Southwest demonstrate the surreal contrast between indoor and outdoor life like Las Vegas, a neon-lit city rich with resorts, casinos, swimming pools, indoor nightclubs and shopping. Tens of millions of others across California and the Southwest, were also scrambling for ways to stay cool and safe from the dangers of extreme heat.

“We’ve been talking about this building heat wave for a week now, and now the most intense period is beginning,” the National Weather Service wrote Friday.

Nearly a third of Americans were under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings. The blistering heat wave was forecast to get worse this weekend for Nevada, Arizona and California, where desert temperatures were predicted to soar in parts past 48.8 degrees Celsius during the day and remain above 32.2 C overnight.

Sergio Cajamarca, his family and their dog, Max, were among those who lined up to pose for photos in front of the city’s iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. The temperature before noon already topped 37.8 C.

“I like the city, especially at night. It’s just the heat,” said Cajamarca, 46, an electrician from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

His daughter, Kathy Zhagui, 20, offered her recipe for relief: “Probably just water, ice cream, staying inside.”

Meteorologists in Las Vegas warned people not to underestimate the danger. “This heatwave is NOT typical desert heat due to its long duration, extreme daytime temperatures, & warm nights. Everyone needs to take this heat seriously, including those who live in the desert,” the National Weather Service in Las Vegas said in a tweet.

Phoenix marked the city’s 15th consecutive day of 43.3 degrees Celsius or higher temperatures on Friday, hitting 46.6 degrees Celsius by late afternoon, and putting it on track to beat the longest measured stretch of such heat. The record is 18 days, recorded in 1974.

“This weekend there will be some of the most serious and hot conditions we’ve ever seen,” said David Hondula the city’s chief heat officer. “I think that it’s a time for maximum community vigilance.”

The heat was expected to continue well into next week as a high pressure dome moves west from Texas.

“We’re getting a lot of heat-related illness now, a lot of dehydration, heat exhaustion,” said Dr. Ashkan Morim, who works in the ER at Dignity Health Siena Hospital in suburban Henderson.

Morim said he has treated tourists this week who spent too long drinking by pools and became severely dehydrated; a stranded hiker who needed liters of fluids to regain his strength; and a man in his 70s who fell and was stuck for seven hours in his home until help arrived. The man kept his home thermostat at 26.7 C, concerned about his electric bill with air conditioning operating constantly to combat high nighttime temperatures.

Regional health officials in Las Vegas launched a new database Thursday to report “heat-caused” and “heat-related” deaths in the city and surrounding Clark County from April to October.

The Southern Nevada Health District said seven people have died since April 11, and a total of 152 deaths last year were determined to be heat-related.

Besides casinos, air-conditioned public libraries, police station lobbies and other places from Texas to California planned to be open to the public to offer relief at least for part of the day. In New Mexico’s largest city of Albuquerque, splash pads will be open for extended hours and many public pools were offering free admission. In Boise, Idaho, churches and other nonprofit groups were offering water, sunscreen and shelter.

Temperatures closer to the Pacific coast were less severe, but still made for a sweaty day on picket lines in the Los Angeles area where actors joined screenwriters in strikes against producers.

In Sacramento, the California State Fair kicked off with organizers canceling planned horseracing events due to concerns for animal safety.

Employers were reminded that outdoor workers must receive water, shade and regular breaks to cool off.

Pet owners were urged to keep their animals mostly inside. “Dogs are more susceptible to heat stroke and can literally die within minutes. Please leave them at home in the air conditioning,” David Szymanski, park superintendent for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the wildfire season was ramping up amid the hot, dry conditions with a series of blazes erupting across California this week, Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, said at a media briefing.

Global climate change is “supercharging” heat waves, Crowfoot added.

Firefighters in Riverside County, southeast of Los Angeles, were battling multiple brush fires that started Friday afternoon.

Stefan Gligorevic, a software engineer from Lancaster, Pennsylvania visiting Las Vegas for the first time said he planned to stay hydrated and not let it ruin his vacation.

“Cold beer and probably a walk through the resorts. You take advantage of the shade when you can,” Gligorevic said. “Yeah, definitely.”
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The chief executives of Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc are planning to visit Washington next week to discuss China policy, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The executives plan to hold meetings with U.S. officials to talk about market conditions, export controls and other matters affecting their businesses, one of the sources said. It was not immediately clear whom the executives would meet.

Intel and Qualcomm declined to comment, and officials at the White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

The sources said other semiconductor CEOs may also be in Washington next week. The sources declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.  

U.S. officials are considering tightening export rules affecting high-performance computing chips and shipments to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, sources told Reuters in June. The rules would respectively affect Intel, which is preparing a new artificial intelligence chip that could be shipped to China, and Qualcomm, which has a license to sell chips to Huawei.

The Biden administration last October issued a sweeping set of rules designed to freeze China’s semiconductor industry in place while the U.S. pours billions of dollars in subsidies into its own chip industry.

The possible rule tightening would hit Nvidia particularly hard. The company’s strong position in the AI chip market helped boost its worth to $1 trillion earlier this year.

The chip industry has been warmly received in Washington in recent years as lawmakers and the White House work to shift more production to the U.S. and its allies, and away from China. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon have met often with government officials.

Next week’s meetings, which one of the sources said could include joint sessions between executives and U.S. officials, come as Nvidia Corp NVDA.O and other chip companies fear a permanent loss of sales for an industry with large amounts of business in China while tensions escalate between Washington and Beijing.

One of the sources familiar with the matter said the executives’ goals for the meetings would be to ensure that government officials understand the possible impact of any further tightening of rules around what chips can be sold to China.

Many U.S. chip firms get more than one-fifth of their revenue from China, and industry executives have argued that reducing those sales would cut into profits that they reinvest into research and development.
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Move comes after Iran tried to seize two oil tankers last week, opening fire on one of them
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Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations again condemned the violence in Myanmar, triggered by the military junta’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy opponents. At a summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought support to counter China’s support for the junta and Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea. VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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The House passed a sweeping defense bill Friday that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members. But the bill strays from traditional military policy with Republican additions that block abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care that deeply divided the chamber. 

Democrats voted against the package, which had sailed out of the House Armed Services Committee on an almost unanimous vote weeks ago before being loaded with the GOP priorities during a heated late-night floor debate this week. 

The final vote was 219-210, with four Democrats siding with the GOP and four Republicans opposed. The bill, as written, is expected to go nowhere in the Democratic-majority Senate. 

Efforts to halt U.S. funding for Ukraine in its war against Russia were turned back, but Republicans added provisions to stem the Defense Department’s diversity initiatives and to restrict access to abortions. The abortion issue has been championed by Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, who is singularly stalling Senate confirmation of military officers, including the new commandant of the Marine Corps. 

“We are continuing to block the Biden administration’s ‘woke’ agenda,” said House lawmaker Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican. 

Turning the must-pass defense bill into a partisan battleground shows how deeply the nation’s military has been unexpectedly swept into disputes over race, equity and women’s health care that are driving the Republican Party’s priorities in America’s widening national divide. 

During one particularly tense moment in the debate, Democratic lawmaker Joyce Beatty of Ohio, a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke of how difficult it was to look across the aisle as Republicans chip away at gains for women, Black people and others in the military. 

“You are setting us back,” she said about an amendment from lawmaker Eli Crane, an Arizona Republican, that would prevent the Defense Department from requiring participation in race-based training for hiring, promotions or retention. 

Crane argued that Russia and China do not mandate diversity measures in their military operations and neither should the United States. 

“We don’t want our military to be a social experiment,” he said. “We want the best of the best.” 

When Crane used the pejorative phrase “colored people” for Black military personnel, Beatty asked for his words to be stricken from the record. 

Friday’s vote capped a tumultuous week for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, as conservatives essentially drove the agenda, forcing their colleagues to consider their ideas for the annual bill that has been approved by Congress unfailingly since World War II. 

“I think he’s doing great because we are moving through — it was like over 1,500 amendments — and we’re moving through them,” said House lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia. She told reporters she changed her mind to support the bill after McCarthy offered her a seat on the committee that will be negotiating the final version with the Senate. 

Democrats, in a joint leadership statement, said they were voting against the bill because Republicans “turned what should be a meaningful investment in our men and women in uniform into an extreme and reckless legislative joyride.” 

“Extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to hijack the historically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to continue attacking reproductive freedom and jamming their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people,” said the statement from House lawmakers Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California. 

The defense bill authorizes $874.2 billion in the coming year for defense spending, keeping with President Joe Biden’s budget request. The funding itself is to be allocated later, when Congress handles the appropriation bills, as is the normal process. 

The package sets policy across the Defense Department, as well as in aspects of the Energy Department, and this year focuses particularly on the U.S. stance toward China, Russia and other national security fronts. 

Republican opposition to U.S. support for the war in Ukraine drew a number of amendments, including one to block the use of cluster munitions that Biden just sent to help Ukraine battle Russia. It was a controversial move because the weapons, which can leave behind unexploded munitions endangering civilians, are banned by many other countries. 

Most of those efforts to stop U.S. support for Ukraine failed. Proposals to roll back the Pentagon’s diversity and inclusion measures and block some medical care for transgender personnel were approved. 

GOP Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas, who served as a White House physician, pushed the abortion measure that would prohibit the defense secretary from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services. 

Jackson and other Republicans praised Tuberville for his stand against the Pentagon’s abortion policy, which gained prominence as states started banning the procedure after the Supreme Court decision last summer overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade law. 

But it’s not at all certain that the House position will stand as the legislation moves to the Senate, which is preparing its own version of the bill. Senate Democrats have the majority but will need to work with Republicans on a bipartisan measure to ensure enough support for passage in their chamber. 

Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee, led by lawmaker Adam Smith of Washington state, dropped their support because of the social policy amendments. 

Smith lamented that the bill that the committee passed overwhelmingly “no longer exists. What was once an example of compromise and functioning government has become an ode to bigotry and ignorance.” 
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Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Guterres writes to Putin about grain deal

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter Tuesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin outlining a proposal aimed at removing hurdles affecting financial transactions through the Russian Agricultural Bank, while allowing for the continued flow of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea grain deal. The deal could expire on July 18 if Moscow decides to pull out, as it has repeatedly said it is not benefiting enough from the nearly year-old initiative.

Food security report shows unprecedented hunger

Hopes of ending hunger by the end of this decade have all but evaporated as multiple crises — climate change, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, including the war in Ukraine — have pushed more than 122 million people into hunger since 2019 to reach an unprecedented high of 735 million. 

Russia uses veto to block aid to millions of Syrians

On Tuesday, Russia vetoed the continuation of a U.N. aid operation that is a lifeline to more than 4 million Syrians living in areas outside government control. U.N. aid trucks stopped rolling through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Turkey and northwest Syria at midnight on Monday when the Security Council authorization expired. On Thursday, the Syrian government announced it would allow the U.N. to use Bab al-Hawa for six months – removing the need for council authorization. Not everyone was pleased. Some aid groups and Western diplomats said this would mean that control of the crossing (and the aid that goes through it) would now shift from a neutral party – the United Nations – to the Syrian government, which is responsible for much of the suffering in northwest Syria. The U.N. says it is studying the Syrian offer and, as of Friday, had not moved any aid through the crossing.

Global public debt hit $92 trillion in 2022

The secretary-general warned Wednesday that nearly 40% of the developing world is in serious debt, as public debt reached a record $92 trillion last year. “Some 3.3 billion people — almost half of humanity — live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on education or health,” Guterres said, calling for reform of the international financial system.

Rights chief slams Russia’s ‘costly, senseless’ war in Ukraine 

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a costly, senseless war that has killed or injured thousands of civilians and violated the human rights of millions. Turk presented an oral update on the  situation in Ukraine and Crimea on Wednesday to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. 

In brief      

— The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Thursday that his office is investigating reports that at least 87 people were found in a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur state. The U.N. human rights office said the dead, including women and children, were found outside El Geneina and included members of the Masalit ethnic group. The U.N. said there is credible evidence that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces and an allied militia were responsible for the killings.  

— The U.N. children’s agency said Friday that in the first six months of this year, approximately 11,600 children are believed to have made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe and nearly 300 have died. Both figures are double those from the same time last year, making the Mediterranean one of the deadliest migration routes in the world for children. UNICEF said the deaths are preventable and called for safe, legal and accessible pathways for children to seek protection and reunite with their family members. 

— It is possible to end AIDS by 2030 if countries demonstrate the political will to invest in prevention and treatment and adopt nondiscriminatory laws, UNAIDS said in a report Thursday. Of the estimated 39 million people living with HIV globally, 29.8 million are receiving lifesaving antiretroviral therapy. UNAIDS says prevention and treatment must be scaled up and sustainable and adequate funding is needed.  

— A peacekeeper from Rwanda was killed Monday when his patrol came under attack by an armed group in the Haute-Kotto prefecture in the northeastern Central African Republic. Sergeant Eustache Tabarao, 39, was on his second deployment to the C.A.R. with the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission known as MINUSCA.

— The United States officially rejoined the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Monday. Under the Trump administration, Washington pulled out of UNESCO, citing what it said was its anti-Israel bias and need for reform. In June, the U.S. informed the Paris-based organization that it wanted to rejoin as a full member and would pay about $619 million in arrears over several years. On June 9, members voted 132 in favor and 10 against to readmit the United States. Washington’s return will boost UNESCO’s bottom line, as it funds 22% of the organization’s regular budget.

Good news

Preparatory work for the transfer of a million barrels of oil from the decaying floating supertanker FSO Safer onto a rescue vessel off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea has begun, the United Nations said Monday. The transfer should start next week and be completed by early August, allaying fears of a potentially catastrophic oil spill. 

Next week 

On July 18, the U.N. Security Council will hold its first meeting on artificial intelligence. While the technology has the potential to benefit humanity, experts are also raising alarm about grave potential dangers. The council will hear from briefers, including Guterres and two AI experts, on how to harness international cooperation for its safe and responsible use.
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The U.S. national team, like most of the rest of the field, faces a long flight to the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Already seasoned travelers, the American players have strategies for wiling away the time. And they’ll certainly need those tactics: The flight to New Zealand, where they’ll spend the group stage of the tournament, is 12 hours. Midfielder Andi Sullivan plans on napping, while defender Emily Fox intends to keep with a soccer theme and finally watch “Ted Lasso.”

Midfielder Andi Sullivan plans on napping. Defender Emily Fox intends to keep with a soccer theme and finally watch “Ted Lasso.”

The U.S. national team — like most of the rest of the field — faces a long flight to the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Already seasoned travelers, the Americans have strategies for wiling away the time. And they’ll certainly need those tactics: The flight to New Zealand, where they’ll spend the group stage of the tournament, is 12 hours.

“I need suggestions!” midfielder Kristie Mewis exclaimed about the shows she plans to download for the flight. “Honestly, I’m rewatching ‘Suits’ right now. I love ‘Suits.'”

Once they get there, the players will retreat into a self-imposed bubble where they shut out the noise and the distractions for some seven weeks. Most stay off of social media platforms for the duration.

Forward Trinity Rodman, making her World Cup debut, is taking the advice of the veterans. Rodman’s dad is former NBA star Dennis Rodman, so she gets a lot of attention just because of her name.

“They have been very open about making sure you have entertainment and ways to distract yourself outside of your phone and social media, because I do think with social media you can get consumed by it and you can definitely get sucked up in it,” Rodman said. “But I think finding those ways to isolate yourself, finding hobbies in the hotel room: Coloring, journaling, reading, Fortnite. I’m a bit of a gamer so that has definitely helped me to just like relax.”

The United States plays Wales in a send-off match on Sunday in San Jose, California. That same night, they’ll fly to training camp in New Zealand.

The World Cup kicks off July 20. The United States opens with a game against Vietnam on July 22.

 
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New York is famous for being the city that never sleeps, but officials in the Big Apple, and other major U.S. urban centers, only recently woke up to the need to give nightlife the respect it deserves rather than treat it like a nuisance that must be contained.

“Nightlife contributes $35 billion in economic activity in New York City’s economy and supports nearly 300,000 jobs, and $700 million in local tax revenues,” says José Soegaard, deputy director of the city’s Office of Nightlife, which was created about five years ago. “We see the Office of Nightlife as a necessary lifeline to serve the industry… and the work that we’ve been doing since has really set out to fill that void.”

Including New York, 15 cities around the United States, including Washington, Pittsburgh, Orlando and New Orleans, have created “night mayor” positions to provide a liaison between local government and nightlife businesses. Most night mayors do not have regulatory authority.

It’s a trend that started overseas. More than 50 cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Paris, London and Berlin, have night mayors.

“It’s a paradigm shift in how we view nightlife. In general, nightlife has been seen as a liability or a sector that needs heavy regulation,” says Salah Czapary, informally known as the night mayor of Washington, although his actual title is director of the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife & Culture. “That shift has seen nightlife, and the cultural economy, more as an asset that needs to be elevated, that needs to be regulated within reason, that needs policies and practices that support its growth.”

Washington’s nightlife industry brings in $7.1 billion in annual revenue, contributing $562 million in annual tax revenue to the city. The industry also provides about 65,000 jobs.

The Office of Nightlife & Culture, which was created in 2018, also focuses on issues including the needs of night-shift workers, noise and trash complaints, permitting challenges, and late-night transportation.

“The nightlife economy, the cultural economy, can be a second economy for cities,” Czapary says. “But that economy operates generally when the government is closed and so there was a need to have an advocate and a liaison for the nightlife, the cultural economy, the hospitality industry, in general, within government to further policies that benefit that sector.”

The position of night mayor is currently vacant in New York City, but the Office of Nightlife there continues to provide constituent services to the mostly small- and medium-sized businesses that dominate nightlife, helping them navigate the city’s bureaucracy and agencies.

“We created free mediation services for nightlife establishments and their neighbors to help resolve quality-of-life disputes before enforcement becomes necessary,” Soegaard says. “Typically, we’re talking about things related to sound, or perhaps line management, or when the trash goes out on the curb. … There’s all kinds of different ways where what goes on in, and around, an establishment might have impacts on someone who lives upstairs, next door, across the street.”

The city of Orlando in Florida hired a night mayor after experiencing issues in its central business district in the evening and overnight hours.

“There was a lot of crowding and congestion, particularly traffic at 2 a.m., when the bars close and people head home. There was a lot of inefficiency,” says Dominique Greco, Orlando’s first night mayor. Her official title was “nighttime economy manager,” a position she held for four years, until March 2021.

“It was surprising to me how little the authorities, the municipality, knew about the nightlife world and what happens in their downtown at night, and how best to be more progressive and more proactive on it,” Greco says.

Under her leadership, Greco says Orlando became the first city in the country to create rideshare hubs in the downtown entertainment area.

“Ultimately organized with Uber and Lyft, the rideshare giants, to pull people out of the district,” she says. “Then we could make more traffic flow and people could have security and proper lighting.”

Jess Reia, an assistant professor of data science at the University of Virginia, was a member of the night council in Montreal, Canada, from 2020 to 2022, where Reia worked on data research and nighttime governance policies. Reia says it’s about time that American cities shift the perception of nightlife from a liability to an asset.

“This is more of a global movement, and I’m very happy to see that the United States is finally catching up,” Reia says. “Having a night mayor is a way of saying we care about our citizens during the 24-hour cycle. We want to have more vibrant nightlife. We want to have less conflict at night.”
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U.S. lawmakers Thursday charged the Chinese Communist Party is using coercive economic practices to achieve worldwide dominance over the United States.

The accusations came at a hearing of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party days after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the nations’ economic relationship.

Yellen said that while the United States was taking targeted national security actions, “a decoupling of the world’s two largest economies would be disastrous for interests for both countries and destabilizing for the world, and it would be virtually impossible to undertake. We want a dynamic and healthy global economy that is open, free and fair.”

Diplomatic relations between the two countries have been tense since the U.S. downed a Chinese spy balloon earlier this year. Witnesses told the House panel Thursday U.S. companies are facing increasing threats operating inside China.

“There’s no such thing as a private company in China, a raft of legislation like the updated counterespionage law, the data security law, the anti-foreign sanctions law has codified what was always true. China reserves the right to swipe any data, to seize any assets and take IP that it wishes,” committee Chairman Mike Gallagher said.

According to committee members, China’s restrictive environment is resulting in a so-called “brain-drain” of its own business people, turning China into the top country in the world for the departure of wealthy individuals, fleeing what they fear is the Communist Party’s ability to arbitrarily seize assets.

Witnesses testified the environment in China is becoming increasingly restrictive for American companies and individuals.

“In the last few months, PRC authorities are now charging any domestic or foreign businessperson with espionage simply for providing any services using PRC information to grant or give to third-country-based customers,” Piper Lounsbury, chief research and development officer at Strategy Risks, a risk management firm for companies doing business in China, said.

“The crackdown on consulting businesses, the enhanced data, secrecy laws and the flow of PRC information just highlight the negative symmetry that we have with China. This means that even companies now can’t even do due diligence in advance of any sort of business transaction,” Lounsbury, said.

The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry pushed back against criticism of its business practices Monday in response to a U.S. State Department travel advisory issued this month warning Americans citizens of the “risk of wrongful detention.”

“China is a country under the rule of law. The decision of relevant departments to carry out security review of foreign companies according to law is based on laws and facts. China welcomes citizens and enterprises from all over the world to visit China and do business in China, and protects their safety and legitimate rights and interests in China, including freedom of exit and entry,” said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the ministry.

Witnesses, though, told the committee told lawmakers that American businesses face a restrictive environment led from the top down by President Xi Jinping, potential intellectual property theft and the constant threat of seized assets.

“The issue is how much do I need to lose to have access to the market, so it’s a balancing act,” said Desmond Shum, a businessman whose ex-wife, Whitney Duan, was arrested by the Chinese. Shum, the author of Red Roulette: An Insider’s Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption and Vengeance in Today’s China, told U.S. news program 60 Minutes that he and his then-wife participated in corrupt business practices in China.

In its latest report to Congress in 2022, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, set up by Congress in 2000 to monitor and report on the national security implications of the U.S.-China economic relationship, as well as make recommendations, said U.S. businesses and investors are reevaluating their reengagement in China.

“China has subverted the global trade system and moved further from the spirit and letter of its obligations under its WTO accession protocol,” the report said. “China’s subsidies, overcapacity, intellectual property theft, and protectionist nonmarket policies exacerbate distortions to the global economy. These practices have harmed workers, producers, and innovators in the United States and other market-based countries.”

The commission went on to say the United States’ ability to overcome harmful trade practices was undermined by the lack of a coherent strategy.
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The Justice Department urged a judge Thursday to reject Donald Trump’s efforts to postpone his classified documents trial, saying there was no basis for an “open-ended” delay sought by the former president’s lawyers.

Federal prosecutors last month proposed a December 11 trial for Trump, who is charged with 37 felony counts related to the mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, though the actual date will be up to the judge.

Trump’s lawyers countered this week with a request for an indefinite delay. They did not propose a specific date but said the case concerned novel legal issues and that proceeding with a trial within six months was “unreasonable” and would “result in a miscarriage of justice.”

On Thursday, prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith’s team responded by asking U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to not postpone the trial beyond the December date they recommended.

They rejected the idea that any of the legal arguments the defense intends to raise requires the trial to be delayed. They said they’ve already turned over significant amounts of evidence, including grand jury transcripts and unclassified witness statements, and that in the next week they will produce additional witness statements for interviews conducted through June 23 — or two weeks after the indictment was returned.

Though the defense lawyers had said a continuance was necessary because they hadn’t yet received classified evidence, prosecutors noted that as of Thursday afternoon, only two of the attorneys on record had submitted an application for a security clearance that even would enable them to access such evidence. Later Thursday, Trump’s lawyers submitted a filing stating, “Counsel has completed all outstanding applicant tasks required to obtain the requisite security clearances in this matter with one exception.”

Defense lawyers had also argued that Trump’s busy campaign schedule in pursuit of the 2024 Republican nomination needed to be taken into account in scheduling a trial. But prosecutors said that, too, was not a basis for an indefinite delay.

“Many indicted defendants have demanding jobs that require a considerable amount of their time and energy, or a significant amount of travel,” they wrote.

The Justice Department also disputed the suggestion that an impartial jury could not be selected before the election.

“Our jury system relies on the Court’s authority to craft a thorough and effective jury selection process, and on prospective jurors’ ability and willingness to decide cases based on the evidence presented to them, guided by legal instructions from the Court,” the prosecutors wrote.

“To be sure,” they added, “the Government readily acknowledges that jury selection here may merit additional protocols (such as a questionnaire) and may be more time-consuming than in other cases, but those are reasons to start the process sooner rather than later.”
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President Joe Biden wrapped up his European trip in Finland, meeting with NATO’s newest member and other Nordic leaders as conflict in Ukraine casts a pall over the continent’s future. VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports from Helsinki.
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday welcomed the opening of a new Huawei Innovation Center in Johannesburg, praising the Chinese company for its “confidence in the South African economy and its potential.”

Ramaphosa said that adopting Huawei’s new technologies would help Africa “leapfrog into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

Huawei was sanctioned in the United States in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump over concerns that Beijing was trying to monopolize networks and possibly use them for espionage. The company, however, already has a huge digital foothold in most of Africa, much of which struggles with low connectivity. 

Ramaphosa attended the center’s launch, alongside Chinese Ambassador Chen Xiaodong and the president of Huawei sub-Saharan Africa, Leo Chen.

“For South Africa, expanding digital infrastructure is one of the primary engines of economic growth. The development of information technology is key to the competitiveness of our economy,” Ramaphosa said, after touring the facility and watching presentations by Huawei employees.

Pretoria and Beijing have strong relations, with the latter having supported the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Additionally, both countries are members of the BRICS group of emerging nations. BRICS encompasses Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.  

Ramaphosa quoted China’s leader in his address, saying, “President Xi Jinping described science and technology as ‘a primary productive force, talent as a primary resource, and innovation as a primary driver of growth.’ This is a sentiment that we share.”

He said the innovation hub would now focus on knowledge and skills transfer as well as cultivating local talent through various programs. He also said it would be focusing on the development of small, micro- and medium enterprises, known as SMMEs.

According to a Huawei statement, Ambassador Chen said the innovation center showed “the Chinese private business sector and players are ready to stand by South Africa’s side to accelerate the 5G application.”  

For his part, Leo Chen said, “We’ve been encouraged by the South African government’s strong vision for the digital economy. South Africa is becoming a role model for the continent, as well as the global stage, in fields such as 5G deployment and 5G-driven industrial digital transformation.”

While South Africa is the continent’s most industrialized country, it is suffering high rates of unemployment. Ramaphosa said he hoped the Huawei Innovation Center would help launch new local information and communication technology, or ICT, enterprises to help with job creation.

The president added that he welcomed plans for Huawei to invest in data centers and cyber security industries in Africa.

US concerns

Earlier this year, a group of U.S. lawmakers criticized Pretoria for its ties to Beijing, including its use of Chinese tech. Telkom, South Africa’s partly state-owned telecom operator, launched its 5G network throughout the country last year using Huawei technology.

China has been expanding its “Digital Silk Road,” a part of its wider Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, in sub-Saharan Africa, where less than 30% of people use the internet. Huawei subsidiaries own up to 70% of all 4G networks across the region.  

In 2022, Ethiopia celebrated the launch of a 5G network powered by Huawei in Addis Ababa.

Washington has been playing catch-up to China in Africa, announcing last year that U.S.-backed telecom company Africell had invested to deliver a 5G network in Angola.  

China’s foreign ministry has regularly criticized U.S. officials’ warnings to Africa against relying on Chinese technology.

“Chinese companies including Huawei have conducted mutually beneficial cooperation with many countries in Africa and the world beyond, contributed to the improvement and development of the countries’ communications infrastructure, provided advanced, quality, safe and affordable services for the local people and won great support,” a ministry spokesman said last year.

And earlier this year, the ministry accused the U.S. of “technological hegemony” in its bans on Huawei.

The Chinese Embassy in Pretoria did not respond to a VOA request for comment.

Iginio Gagliardone is an associate professor of media and communications at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand and author of the book China, Africa and the Future of the Internet. The professor said he didn’t think South Africa or other African states were choosing China over the West when it came to new technologies.  

Asked why South Africa and other Global South countries don’t necessarily share Washington’s aversion to Chinese tech, Gagliardone said, “Because they see any provider of technology as a way to get to a specific vision.” 

Huawei recently partnered with South African company Vuma to provide higher speeds for fiber internet. 
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