President Donald Trump said Friday he believes he has influence to rally Republicans around stronger federal background check laws as Congress and the White House work on a response to last weekend’s mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. At the same time, Trump said he had assured the National Rifle Association that its gun-rights views would be “fully represented and respected.” He said he was hopeful the NRA would not be an obstacle to strengthening the nation’s gun laws. Trump has promised to lead on tougher gun control measures before, including after the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, but little has come of it. He said Friday he now is looking for “very meaningful background checks” but is not considering a resurrection of an assault weapons ban. He said he also believes lawmakers will support “red flag” laws that allow guns to be removed from those who may be a danger to themselves and others.  “I see a better feeling right now toward getting something meaningful done,” Trump told reporters when asked why the political environment was different now. “I have a greater influence now over the Senate and the House,” he said at the White House.  Democrats and others …

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday unveiled a proposal that would curb state powers to block pipelines and other energy projects, as part of the Trump administration’s effort to boost domestic oil, gas and coal development. The move, swiftly criticized by an organization representing progressive states, comes four months after President Donald Trump ordered the EPA to change a section of the U.S. Clean Water Act that states like New York and Washington have used in recent years to delay pipelines and terminals. “When implemented, this proposal will streamline the process for constructing new energy infrastructure projects that are good for American families, American workers, and the American economy,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a press release announcing the move. The EPA’s proposal is centered on changes to Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which allows states and tribes to block energy projects on environmental grounds, it said. David Hayes, director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, part of the New York University Law School, which coordinates policy with state attorneys general, said the proposal runs counter to the Trump administration’s promises to support so-called “cooperative federalism” in which states are given broad authority to …

Shortly after the top military leaders in the U.S. and South Korea preached closer cooperation on multiple issues confronting Asia, U.S. President Donald Trump sided with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his opposition to U.S.-South Korean war games. Speaking to reporters Friday outside the White House, Trump said he received a “very beautiful letter” from Kim that said the North Korean leader “wasn’t happy with the war games.”  Trump added, “You know, I’ve never liked it [them] either.” U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to New York and New Jersey from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Aug. 9, 2019. The U.S. president said Kim explained in the letter that the ongoing war games are the reason Pyongyang has been conducting missile tests, despite a June 30 meeting between Trump and Kim, during which the two agreed to revive denuclearization talks, which have yet to resume.  Trump said Friday, before embarking on his annual August vacation at his New Jersey golf club, that he could meet again with Kim in an attempt to resolve North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but did not say when a meeting would occur. Esper …

Nearly half of all Americans expect another mass shooting will happen soon in the United States, according to a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll released on Friday, as the nation reels from rampages in California, Texas and Ohio. The Aug. 7-8 survey found that 78% of Americans said it was likely that such an attack would take place in the next three months, including 49% who said one was “highly likely.” Another 10% said a mass shooting was unlikely in three months and the rest said they did not know. The poll was conducted after two mass shootings earlier in August in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, and a third in Gilroy, California, last month that left 36 people dead. The attacks have rattled the country and renewed calls for tougher gun laws. “You are on guard because you never know when it’s going to happen and where,” said Suzanne Fink, 59, a Republican from Troutman, North Carolina. “It has been happening much too often and it’s like a copycat effect.” There is no set definition of a mass shooting, but the nonprofit organization Gun Violence Archive has tallied more than 250 such incidents so far this year alone – …

Israelis and Palestinians are bracing for an expected new peace plan announcement from Washington, which President Donald Trump has called the Deal of the Century. Yet there is deep mistrust on both sides and little hope that a deal can be made. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. …

Security forces in Burkina Faso have sealed off an Avesoro gold mine after a security guard killed an intruder and local people attacked the site in retaliation, security sources said on Friday. The Youga gold mine, in the south of the country, was shut down following the incident on Thursday, three employees told Reuters. Local and foreign staff have fled the site, they said. “A security guard in the Youga mine…opened fire on an outsider to the mine, killing them. Following this incident, the population retaliated, injuring several people and causing significant material damage,” a government statement said on Thursday. On Thursday, mine owner Avesoro Resources said an armed group of artisanal miners had attacked the site, but that mining and processing had continued throughout the incident in the early hours of Thursday. It did not mention the man who was killed. The victim was an artisanal gold miner from a nearby village, two workers at the Avesoro mine told Reuters, declining to be named for fear of reprisals. That prompted residents to burn buildings and vehicles and injuring an unknown number of people. No staff were seriously injured and the material damage was superficial, the company said in its …

Russia on Friday accused the U.S. Embassy of having meddled in Russia’s internal affairs when it published a map online showing the route of an unauthorized anti-government protest earlier this month. Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned a senior U.S. diplomat over what it said was a post on Twitter and the embassy’s website containing a map drawn up by Russia’s opposition ahead of the Aug. 3 rally in Moscow.   #Moscow#Russia: March planned for August 3 beginning at 1400. Gathering points along Moscow’s Boulevard Ring include Pokrovskiye Vorota, Nikitskiye Vorota, Trubnaya Square, Turgenevskaya Square, and Novopushinsky Park. Heavy police presence expected. Avoid the protest route. pic.twitter.com/5BMArRwLtr — Travel – State Dept (@TravelGov) August 2, 2019 Russian police detained over 1,000 people at the protest, the latest in a series of opposition rallies ahead of a Moscow city election next month that have led to the biggest standoff between the authorities and the opposition in years. The U.S. Embassy warned U.S. nationals in an English-language statement on its website on Aug. 2 to avoid the protest route, noting that the rally had not been sanctioned by Moscow authorities. The statement contained a map of the planned route …

A Canadian citizen held in Syria since last year was released in Lebanon on Friday and broke down in tears at a news conference, saying he thought he would be held forever. Kristian Lee Baxter, who was detained in Syria last year, appeared alongside Lebanese security chief Abbas Ibrahim, who last month mediated the release of U.S. citizen Sam Goodwin from Syria, and Canadian Ambassador Emmanuelle Lamoureux. Ibrahim said Baxter had been detained “for reasons related to breaking Syrian law.” Lamoureux thanked Ibrahim but said she could not give any details about the case. “I thought I would be there forever,” Baxter said, thanking the Canadian Embassy and Lebanese authorities for helping him get out of Syria. “I didn’t know if anyone knew if I was alive,” he added, and then began to sob, cutting short his comments. It was unclear what Baxter was doing in Syria at the time of his detention. Several Western citizens have been held in Syria since the civil war began there in 2011, including some by jihadist groups such as Islamic State. The United States has said it believes U.S. journalist Austin Tice, who has been held in Syria since 2012, is alive and …

The World Food Program says it’s planning to nearly quadruple the number of people that the U.N. agency helps in four central American countries affected by drought, seen as one of the drivers of migration through the region. WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel says the agency aims to provide food assistance to 700,000 people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua — up from 160,000 helped already this year. Five years of drought have affected more than 2 million people and increased food insecurity of subsistence farmers and their families. Governments as well as WFP and the U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organization recently reported that 8 percent of families indicated that they would resort to migration. “Migration is not a solution,” Verhoosel said Friday, but “longer-term food security systems” are. …

China issued its top warning for coastal areas of Zhejiang province Friday ahead of a strong typhoon carrying heavy rain and winds and expected to send an intense storm surge up the mighty Yangzte River.   Heavy rain was expected in Zhejiang, Shanghai and nearby provinces on Friday before Typhoon Lekima hits land on Saturday morning, then weakens as it moves north.   Parts of northern Taiwan closed offices and suspended classes at schools on Friday as the storm passed northeast of the island. The same area was hit by a magnitude 6.0 earthquake Thursday that caused minor damage but no deaths or injuries.   The red alert China issued is the most serious in its four-tired alert system, prompting authorities to prepare evacuations, suspend train and air travel and require vessels to return to port. In Zhejiang, ferry service had been cancelled and more than 200 tourists evacuated from popular Beiji island.   The National Meteorological Center said Lekima was gusting at 209 kph (130 mph) and traveling northwesterly at 13 kph (8 mph). Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau put its sustained winds at 173 kph (108 mph) and said the bands of wind and rains around the storm’s eye …

Police said a man carrying a rifle and wearing body armor entered a Walmart store in the Midwestern U.S. state of Missouri Thursday.  Springfield police said his appearance caused a “panic” in the store, but no shots were fired and no one was injured.  An off-duty fireman held the man at gunpoint until police arrived.  Lieutenant Mike Lucas told the Springfield News that the man had more than 100 rounds of ammunition.  “All we know is the fact that he walked in here heavily armed with body armor on, in military fatigues and caused a great amount of panic inside the store,” Lucas said.  “So he certainly had the capability, the potential to harm people.”  The incident comes just days after two U.S. mass shootings — one at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas that left 22 people dead and another shooting in Dayton, Ohio that killed nine.  …

More than 2 million Muslims are in Saudi Arabia at Mecca, Islam’s holiest site, for the yearly Hajj pilgrimage. The Hajj is one of the world’s largest religious gatherings. The faithful began the annual five-day ritual Friday by walking counterclockwise seven times around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure at the center of the Grand Mosque of Mecca, which Muslims believe is the spot where the Prophet Abraham built his first temple. Observant Muslims around the world face toward the Kaaba during their five daily prayers. During the Hajj, devoted Muslims perform a series of religious rituals. In addition to walking around the Kaaba, they also drink the alkaline water from the Well of Zamzam, believed to have healing qualities. They also perform a symbolic stoning of the devil. The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all able-bodied Muslims who can afford to do so are expected to take part in the Hajj at least once in their lifetimes. This year 200 survivors and relatives of the victims of the March mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 people are attending as guests of the king of Saudi Arabia. King Salman bin Abdulaziz is paying …

Updated Aug. 9, 6:09 a.m. HONG KONG — Thousands of protesters returned to Hong Kong International Airport for the second time in as many weeks Friday to raise global attention to their fight against the local government and a controversial extradition bill. The airport’s vast arrivals hall was filled with drumbeats and chants of “Free Hong Kong” and “Add Oil,” a Cantonese slogan of encouragement, as protesters sat on the floor of the arrival hall, careful to create channels for passengers to exit the airport. Dozens handed out pamphlets, stickers, and tote bags in English and simplified Mandarin to inform tourists about the protest movement, which is entering its 10th week Sunday. Others wore photos of violent clashes with police and a number of people held signs condemning police brutality. Protesters say they plan to occupy the airport for three consecutive days this weekend in an attempt to reach tens of thousands of international travelers. More than 74 million people transited through Hong Kong International Airport in 2018, according to government figures, which has connections to 220 destinations. Anti-extradition bill protesters hold up placards for arriving travelers during a protest at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Aug. …

Authorities plan to relax curbs in India’s Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir to allow people to offer Friday prayers, media said, as a five-day lockdown damped protests over the withdrawal of the Himalayan region’s special status. Seeking to tighten its grip on the contested region, the Indian government this week withdrew the state’s right to frame its own laws and allowed non-residents to buy property there. Since Sunday mobile networks and internet services have been suspended, at least 300 leaders detained and public gatherings banned, effectively confining residents to their homes to stop protests in the revolt-torn region. There will be “some relaxation” for Friday prayers, K. Vijay Kumar, an adviser to the state’s governor, told the Indian Express newspaper. The prayers are likely to be held in neighborhood mosques, and not the main mosque in the region’s main city of Srinagar, media said. “The forces have been given flexibility to impose prohibitory orders with minimum force and maximum compassion,” Kumar said, adding there had been only a few cases of stone pelting in parts of Srinagar. Indian security force personnel stand guard in a deserted street during restrictions after the government scrapped special status for Kashmir, in Srinagar …

U.S. President Donald Trump is renewing focus on mental illness as a major cause of gun violence, following two mass shootings in two days in the U.S. that killed 31 people. VOA’s Brian Padden reports that while Trump has called for more treatment and involuntary detention of mentally disturbed individuals, his administration has rolled back federal regulations to restrict the mentally ill from buying guns and has tried to abolish a health care law that expanded access to mental health services. …

Climate change is about to hit the world in the stomach, according to the United Nations. A new scientific report from the world body that examines land degradation concludes that climate change will imperil crops and worsen hunger.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the story.   …

Russia appears to be using one of its most powerful weapons — tourism — against Georgia, its smaller neighbor to the south. Moscow has banned direct flights between Russia and Georgia, after the latest wave of protests in Georgia against Russia’s occupation of two of its regions.  Moscow has also called for its citizens to return home. That is meant to damage the Georgian economy, which is highly dependent on tourism.  Ricardo Marquina reports from Tbilisi in this report narrated by Jim Randle.   …

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority says more than 15,000 people in Los Angeles County in the state of California live in their cars. It’s not just uncomfortable, it’s also unsafe. To make their life a little easier, a nonprofit called Safe Parking LA was founded in 2016 and is creating what they call “Safe Parking Lots.” Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story narrated by Anna Rice. …

Two Cambodian journalists who had worked for U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia were back on trial Friday on espionage charges that rights groups have characterized as a flagrant attack on press freedom. One of the journalists, Uon Chhin, said Thursday he still hoped the court would drop the case.  “It has been nearly two years now, and I thought this groundless charge would be finished, and I hope the court will drop all the charges against us, so that we can exercise our rights fully to make a living, like other Cambodians,” he said. Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin are charged with undermining national security by supplying information to a foreign state, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. They were arrested in November 2017 during a crackdown on the media and political opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government during the run-up to the 2018 elections. The pair testified two weeks ago in Phnom Penh Municipal Court that they had covered news events for RFA after leaving its employment, but they denied any wrongdoing. RFA left Cambodia in 2017 Radio Free Asia closed its Phnom Penh bureau in September 2017, citing “unprecedented” government intimidation of the …

VOA’s Afghanistan Service contributed to this report. WASHINGTON — Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, the country’s intelligence agency, released a new video showing its special forces attacking Islamic State sleeper cells in rural areas of Kabul Wednesday. The agency also said it arrested this week a key member of the terror group accused of coordinating suicide attacks and managing suicide bombers in the capital. The agency said in a statement that it acted on prior intelligence about three locations around the capital, killing two IS suicide bombers and seizing a large amount of explosives and ammunitions. “We have killed two IS suicide bombers and seized heavy weaponry, suicide vests, explosives and materials used to improvise vehicular bombs,” the statement said. At least two members of the Afghan security forces also died in the operation. Afghan National Directorate of Security Attacks IS Sleeper Cells video player. An injured man receives treatment inside an ambulance at a hospital after a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 7, 2019. Increase in violence The recent crackdown on IS comes amid an increase in violence in the city perpetrated by both Taliban and IS militants, officials said. On Wednesday, a car bomb exploded outside a police station …

A U.S. judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot withhold millions of dollars in law enforcement grants from Oregon to force the nation’s first sanctuary state to cooperate with U.S. immigration enforcement. U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane in Eugene said in his ruling late Wednesday that the Trump administration lacks the authority to impose conditions on the grants that were provided by Congress. Gov. Kate Brown and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum had sued President Donald Trump in November to get a total of $4 million in grants from fiscal years 2017 and 2018 restored to the state, saying Oregon was “unlawfully deprived” of the money.  Funding for public safety purposes Rosenblum welcomed the judge’s ruling. “We look forward to having these moneys we have relied upon continue to be available for critical public safety purposes,” Rosenblum said in an email. A Veterans Treatment Court in Eugene and 40 other specialty courts, including mental health and civilian drug programs, risked losing all or part of their budgets if the money was withheld. The Trump administration in 2017 threatened to withhold law enforcement grants from 29 cities, counties or states it viewed as having sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration …

A judge on Thursday ordered the publisher of a neo-Nazi website to pay a Jewish real estate agent $14 million for inciting his readers to harass her family with hundreds of threatening and anti-Semitic messages and calls. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen entered Tanya Gersh a default judgment in her civil lawsuit after The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin refused to appear for a scheduled deposition in the case.  He ordered Anglin to pay Gersh over $4 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages, and told him to permanently remove all posts, comments and images about Gersh, her husband and son. Anglin accused Gersh of trying to run the mother of white nationalist Richard Spencer out of the mountain resort town of Whitefish in 2016. He published the personal information of the Gersh family on his website and wrote to his readers, “Are y’all ready for an old fashioned troll storm?”  Gersh said she and her family received threatening and horrifying messages for months. Christensen’s order adopts the findings of a magistrate judge who called Anglin’s conduct against Gersh “egregious and reprehensible.” FILE – Muslim comedian Dean Obeidallah speaks at a news conference in New York, June …

Dialing back annual joint summer U.S.-South Korea military drills runs counter to North Korea’s continued missile launches and lack of denuclearization, said experts pointing to the computer simulation training unaccompanied by field combat exercises that is underway. “If there were no North Korean threat, maybe I wouldn’t be as concerned,” said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corp. “But North Korea keeps building its nuclear capabilities so they’re increasing their threat. They’re testing more missiles, which is increasing their threat. Scaling back the U.S. and South Korean preparations to deal with that threat doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Bennett continued. South Korean protesters shout slogans during a rally demanding withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Korea Peninsula near the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, July 31, 2019. Following the launch Tuesday, North Korean leader People watch a TV showing an image of North Korea’s rocket launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 1, 2019. ‘Ramping up’ exercises This year’s drills are not a proportional response to Pyongyang’s continued provocations and military buildup, Bennett said, because the U.S. Army soldiers are seen during a military exercise in Yeoncheon, …

The leader of Italy’s ruling League party, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, declared the governing coalition to be unworkable on Thursday after months of internal bickering and said the only way forward was to hold fresh elections. The shock announcement follows a period of intense public feuding between the right-wing League and its coalition partner, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, and it throws the eurozone’s third-largest economy into an uncertain political future. Salvini said in a statement he had told Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who belongs to neither coalition party, that the alliance with 5-Star had collapsed after barely a year in power and “we should quickly give the choice back to the voters.” Parliament, which is now in its summer recess, could reconvene next week to carry out the necessary steps, Salvini said, referring to the need for a no-confidence vote in the government and the resignation of the premier. Tensions came to a head on Wednesday when the two parties voted against each other in parliament over the future of a project for a high-speed train link with France. 5-Star has more parliamentary seats than the League, but Salvini’s party now has twice as much voter support, according to …