South Korea and the United States are preparing to hold their annual joint military exercises despite warnings from North Korea that the drills could derail fragile nuclear diplomacy, Seoul’s military said Monday.   Choi Hyun-soo, spokeswoman of Seoul’s Defense Ministry, said the exercises will be focused on verifying Seoul’s capabilities for its planned retaking of wartime operational control of its troops from Washington. She did not confirm or deny reports that the drills, which are expected to be computer simulated and not involve actual combat troops and equipment, began on Monday.   North Korea recently has been ramping up its weapons tests, including two test firings of what it described as a new rocket artillery system last week, while expressing frustration over the continuance of U.S.-South Korea drills it sees as an invasion rehearsal and also the slow pace of nuclear negotiations with the United States.   North Korea had said it will wait to see if the August exercises actually take place to decide on the fate of its diplomacy with the United States and also whether to continue its unilateral suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests, which leader Kim Jong Un announced last year amid a diplomatic …

Nigerian technologist Chinenye Udeh wants to ensure schoolgirls learn Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for summer. Udeh says she is trying to boost gender parity in technology in Africa’s most populous nation, where less than 20 percent of women are involved in the industry. Girls between the ages of five and 17 chatter at a tech-based facility in the city center, where they converge to learn skills that include coding, animation and robotics for one month this summer. The program, known as the Smart Girls Tech Camp, was conceived by Nigerian female technologist Chinenye Udeh. She says she’s tackling gender inequality in Nigeria’s tech sector with this project. “What we’re trying to do is, how can we get these girls abreast? How can we let them know that it’s important that they get involved in technology, no matter how little? The knowledge is very important in their daily lives, businesses and careers, moving forward,” Udeh said. Nigeria’s bureau of statistics says women occupy only about 20 percent of the technology sector. The smart girls tech program hopes to improve that. The program targets 1,000 young girls every year and prepares them for a future in technology. Tech expert and instructor …

In a far-reaching move, India’s Hindu nationalist government has scrapped the special autonomous status given to Kashmir for decades, sparking fears of a backlash in its only Muslim-majority region.  Hours after a massive security clampdown in the state, Home Minister Amit Shah told parliament Monday that the president had signed a decree abolishing Article 370 that allowed the state to make its own laws and have independence over all matters except foreign affairs, defense and communications.  The provision also barred Indians from outside the state from permanently settling, buying land and holding local government jobs.   His announcement was met with massive protests from opposition parties, who slammed the move as “unconstitutional.” The new measures would effectively put New Delhi in charge of the violence scarred region, which since 1989 has witnessed a separatist uprising that has left tens of thousands dead.  More troops were airlifted to the state, where 10,000 additional paramilitary forces were deployed last week as speculation and uncertainty had mounted over an impending announcement on Kashmir’ special status.   Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has long asserted that special provisions for Kashmir should be scrapped so that the region can be integrated with the …

A multiple-car crash on a Cairo street in front of Egypt’s main cancer hospital set off an explosion that triggered a fire outside the building, killing a total of 19 people, authorities said Monday.  The crash and the explosion also injured 30 others, the health ministry said, but it wasn’t immediately clear if any of the casualties were inside the hospital.  The Interior Ministry said a vehicle driving against the traffic – for reasons that were not specified – had collided with up to three others late on Sunday, causing the explosion on the Nile-side street, the city’s famous Corniche. At least 54 patients were evacuated to other hospitals while the fire was later brought under control.  The blast damaged the hospital’s main gate and several patient rooms and wards, according to a statement from the Cairo University. Its Medical School uses the institute as an educational facility. Television stations on Monday morning broadcast footage of shattered windows and doors. The health ministry did not say if hospital patients or staff were among the casualties. There was no immediate explanation as to why the crash had caused such a large explosion and officials could not be reached for questions about …

The United States is unable to build a naval coalition to escort tankers in the Gulf because its allies are too “ashamed” to join it, Iran’s foreign minister said Monday. “Today the United States in alone in the world and cannot create a coalition. Countries that are its friends are too ashamed of being in a coalition with them,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told a news conference in Tehran. “They brought this situation upon themselves, with lawbreaking, by creating tensions and crises.” Iran and the United States have been locked in a battle of nerves since May 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal placing limits on Iran’s nuclear program and began reimposing sanctions. Tensions soared after the Trump administration stepped up a US campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran, with drones downed and tankers mysteriously attacked in Gulf waters. In response, the United States has been seeking to form a coalition whose mission — dubbed Operation Sentinel — it says is to guarantee freedom of navigation in the strategic Gulf waters. However, it has been struggling to build such a coalition, with European countries reticent and believed to be concerned about being dragged into …

Three top politicians in Indian Kashmir have been placed under house arrest and strict security measures have been ordered in the region where tensions have sparked after the government ordered visitors to evacuate and deployed more troops.  In a late night order Sunday, restrictions were placed on public movements in Kashmir, internet services suspended and educational institutions shut. The order said that indefinite security restrictions will be applicable in the main district of Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar. The latest measures come as thousands of pilgrims and tourists have been leaving Kashmir since Friday when authorities said that militants backed by Pakistan were planning an attack on an annual Hindu pilgrimage. In an unprecedented step, the pilgrimage was halted.  Just days ago, about 10,000 additional paramilitary troops were deployed in major towns across the region.  The series of measures in Kashmir have sparked speculation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government plans to revoke special privileges in the region, including one that prevents people from outside the state from buying property there. The politicians under house arrest, who head regional political parties, have warned the government that any attempt to revoke these privileges could spark a backlash in India’s only Muslim majority region.  …

A pair of mass shootings in Texas and Ohio over the Saturday and Sunday have dragged two of the most divisive issues in American politics — the rise of violent white supremacism and gun control — to the forefront of public conversation as politicians across the ideological spectrum are preparing for what is expected to be an extremely contentious 2020 election campaign. The two shootings, which left 29 people dead and at least 53 more wounded, combine to create a clear political crisis for the Trump administration and its allies in Congress. The first shooting, in El Paso, Texas, occurred early Saturday and was carried out by a 21-year-old white man who is believed to have published an explicitly racist manifesto that echoed U.S. President Donald Trump’s frequent charge that Hispanic immigrants from Mexico and Central America constitute an “invasion” of the United States. After he surrendered, he told police that he had set out to kill as many “Mexicans” as he could. He murdered 20 people and wounded another 27. The second, in Dayton, Ohio, was committed after 1 a.m. Sunday by a 24-year-old white man toting a legally-purchased military-style semi-automatic rifle equipped with two 100-round drum magazines that …

A general strike has paralyzed Hong Kong Monday, preventing people from getting to work and forcing cancellation of more than 200 flights. Speaking to reporters the city’s embattled leader, Beijing-backed Carrie Lam, said protesters were pushing the city to the verge of an “extremely dangerous situation.” Lam again rejected repeated calls from protesters for her resignation and said the government is determined to maintaining law and order. She also said that the government will not satisfy another key demand put forward by protesters to release those who have been arrested during protests of recent weeks.  Lam also charged the protests were putting Hong Kong on a path of no return and had hurt the city’s economy. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, center, reacts during a press conference in Hong Kong, July 22, 2019. Hong Kong marchers staged sometimes violent protests on multiple fronts Sunday night, introducing their latest tactic to evade riot police and tear gas as the demonstrations against a controversial extradition bill entered their ninth consecutive week.  Scrambling from the New Territories to Hong Kong island and then back across the harbor to northern Kowloon, the protesters demonstrated their hallmark levels of organization and decentralized decision-making over …

In the border town of El Paso, Texas, a shooter opened fire and left 20 people dead and more than two dozen injured. Hours later in Dayton, Ohio, a shooter killed 9 people and injured at least 27 others. Here are some of their stories: Jordan Anchondo: ‘Gave her life’ for her baby Jordan Anchondo was among those killed in El Paso, Anchondo’s sister said, and she apparently died while protecting her 2-month-old son from the hail of bullets. Leta Jamrowski of El Paso spoke to The Associated Press as she paced a waiting room at the University Medical Center of El Paso, where her 2-month-old nephew was being treated for broken bones – the result of his mother’s fall. “From the baby’s injuries, they said that more than likely my sister was trying to shield him,” she said. “So when she got shot she was holding him and she fell on him, so that’s why he broke some of his bones. So he pretty much lived because she gave her life.” Jordan, a mother of three, and Andre Anchondo had dropped off her 5-year old daughter at cheerleading practice before going to shop for school supplies on Saturday at …

The US and the Taliban met to thrash out elements of a deal to bring a close to Afghanistan’s 18-year conflict at the second day of renewed talks in Doha on Sunday. The US, which invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban in 2001, wants to withdraw thousands of troops and turn the page on its longest ever war. But it would first seek assurances from the insurgents that they will renounce Al-Qaeda and stop other militants like the Islamic State group using the country as a haven. The talks, now in their eighth round, began on Saturday but it was unclear if they would extend into a third day, with neither side commenting on progress by late Sunday. A Taliban source earlier told AFP efforts had been made to organize a direct meeting between US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar, who heads the movement’s political wing. The men have met previously, as recently as May but there was no confirmation of any meeting at this latest round of talks. A coalition led by Washington ousted the Taliban in late 2001 accusing it of harboring Al-Qaeda jihadists who claimed the September 11 attacks against the US …

France and Germany on Sunday condemned a Russian police crackdown on a banned opposition rally that saw hundreds detained, with Paris criticizing an “excessive use of force” after a second weekend of protests over the exclusion of opposition candidates from local Moscow polls next month. Berlin said the police action on Saturday “violated” Russia’s international obligations and undermines the right to fair elections in the country. The arrests on Saturday were “out of all proportion to the peaceful nature of the protests against the exclusion of independent candidates” from city elections in Moscow, the German government said. Crowds had walked along the capital’s central boulevard in a protest “stroll” over the refusal by officials to let opposition candidates run in September polls for city parliament seats — a local issue that has turned into a political crisis. Police say 1,500 people took part in the demonstration. AFP observed dozens of arrests along the route, as police formed human chains and grabbed people indiscriminately. Sobol detained again An ally of detained opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Lyubov Sobol, who is currently three weeks into a hunger strike after being barred from taking part in the election, was dragged from a taxi and …

VOA’s Ibrahim Rahimi contributed to this report from Paktia, Afghanistan. A mini-bus carrying the employees of a private television station in Afghanistan has been struck by a magnetic bomb pasted to the vehicle, killing two people and injuring three others, all civilians, Afghan officials said Sunday. Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs said Sunday that a bomb was placed inside the vehicle carrying the employees of Khorshid TV, a privately-owned TV station that is headquartered in the capital, Kabul. According to officials, two people have been killed in the attack including the driver of the vehicle and a civilian passing by. Three others were wounded, two are employees of Khorshid TV and the third person is a civilian who was near the vehicle. No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but this is not the first time that journalists have been targeted in the country by militant groups. Incident follows reporter’s killing Last month, unknown armed assailants killed a reporter for a local radio station in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktia province. Nader Shah Sahibzada, a reporter for Voice of Gardiz local radio, went missing in July and authorities found his body a day later …

After two mass shootings in a span of 13 hours, there have now been more than 250 such events this year in which at least four people were shot or killed, besides the shooter. Officials in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, report 29 fatalities and at least 50 injured from shootings this weekend in those cities.  Republican and Democrat politicians shared their reactions to the massacres. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …

Turkey will carry out a military operation in a Kurdish-controlled area east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, its third offensive to dislodge Kurdish militia fighters close to its border.   Turkey had in the past warned of carrying out military operations east of the river, but put them on hold after agreeing with the United States to create a safe zone inside Syria’s northeastern border with Turkey that would be cleared of the Kurdish YPG militia.   But Ankara has accused Washington of stalling progress on setting up the safe zone and has demanded it sever its relations with the YPG. The group was Washington’s main ally on the ground in Syria during the battle against Islamic State, but Turkey sees it as a terrorist organization.   Erdogan said both Russia and the United States have been told of the planned operation, but did not say when it would begin. It would mark the third Turkish incursion into Syria in as many years.   “We entered Afrin, Jarablus, and Al-Bab. Now we will enter the east of the Euphrates,” Erdogan said on Sunday during a highway-opening ceremony.   Asked about Erdogan’s comments, …

As the nation reeled from two mass shootings in less than a day, President Donald Trump spent the first hours after the tragedies out of sight at his New Jersey golf course, sending out tweets of support awkwardly mixed in with those promoting a celebrity fight and attacking his political foes. Trump was to travel back to Washington later Sunday and aides said he would likely address reporters, but the nation did not glimpse the president in the immediate aftermath of a shooting in El Paso, Texas, that killed at least 20 people and, hours later, one in Dayton, Ohio, that claimed at least nine lives. Never seemingly comfortable consoling a nation in grief, Trump will be carefully watched for his response to the attacks, again inviting comparison to his predecessors who have tried to heal the country in moments of national trauma. Investigators focused on whether the El Paso attack was a hate crime after the emergence of a racist, anti-immigrant screed that was posted online shortly beforehand. Detectives sought to determine if it was written by the man who was arrested. In recent weeks, the president has issued racist tweets about four women of color who serve in …

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has slammed China’s “destabilizing” actions in the Indo-Pacific region during his first trip to the region. Speaking to reporters in Sydney with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and their Australian counterparts, Esper said the United States is “firmly against a disturbing pattern of aggressive behavior, destabilizing behavior from China.” Esper and Pompeo pointed to Beijing’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea and accused it of promoting the state-sponsored theft of other nation’s intellectual property, and “predatory economics.” The last was an apparent reference to so-called “debt traps” like a 2017 arrangement that gave China control of a port in Sri Lanka. After failing to keep up with its debt payments to China, Sri Lanka handed over the port and 15,000 acres of land to the Chinese government for 99 years. China has arguably undertaken the largest transfer of intellectual property in human history, according to Bradley Bowman, the senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Bowman told VOA that intellectual property stolen by Beijing has been used to modernize Chinese weapons which, in the event of a future military conflict, would be used …

Updated Aug.4, 2:10PM In 13 hours of carnage in the United States, two shooters in separate incidents killed 29 people and injured dozens, leaving authorities searching for motives behind the mayhem. A gunman wearing body armor and carrying extra magazines of ammunition was shot to death by police less than a minute after he opened fire early Sunday in a popular nightlife area in the Midwest city of Dayton, Ohio. The man killed nine people including his own sister and injured at least 27, four of them seriously. Law enforcement officers work the scene of a shooting at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, Aug. 3, 2019. Police said they believe there was only one shooter in the incident, but have yet to suggest a motive. News accounts identified the shooter as 24-year-old Connor Betts, who identifies himself on social media as a psychology student at a community college in the Dayton area. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said the quick response by police “saved literally hundreds of lives” in the crowded Oregon district of the city filled with bars, restaurants and theaters. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley speaks during a news conference regarding a mass shooting earlier in the morning, …

Nuon Chea, the chief ideologue of the communist Khmer Rouge regime that destroyed a generation of Cambodians, died Sunday, the country’s U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal said. He was 93. Nuon Chea was known as Brother No. 2, the right-hand man of Pol Pot, the leader of the regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The group’s fanatical efforts to realize a utopian society led to the death of some 1.7 million people — more than a quarter of the country’s population at the time — from starvation, disease, overwork and executions.   Researchers believe Nuon Chea was responsible for the extremist policies of the Khmer Rouge and was directly involved in its purges and executions.   He was serving life in prison after convictions by the U.N.-backed tribunal on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.   But Nuon Chea never admitted his guilt.   At the long-awaited Khmer Rouge trials, he told a court that he and his comrades were not “bad people,” denying responsibility for any deaths.   For decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, Nuon Chea lived quietly with his family in a wooden house in Pailin, a former guerrilla stronghold near the border with …

Lawmakers from Israel’s ruling Likud party say they will only accept Benjamin Netanyahu as the party’s candidate for prime minister, “regardless of the election results.” Netanyahu’s party issued a statement Sunday saying that all of its Knesset members signed a “unity petition” affirming that Netanyahu “is the only Likud candidate for prime minister – and there will be no other candidate.” The move appeared aimed at quashing any demand by potential coalition partners that Netanyahu step down. Netanyahu passed David Ben-Gurion last month as Israel’s longest serving prime minister and seeks re-election for a fourth consecutive term. Israel is holding an unprecedented repeat election on September 17 after Netanyahu failed to form a government following April’s vote. He also faces a pre-indictment hearing in a series of corruption cases.   …

The U.N. food agency on Sunday said it reached an agreement with Yemen’s rebels to resume food deliveries to rebel-controlled parts of the country after suspending the aid for over a month. The partial suspension of aid to the capital, Sana’a, began in June amid accusations that the rebels, known as Houthis, were diverting the food from the hungriest people in the war-torn country, which has been pushed to the brink of starvation. The suspension affects 850,000 people in Sana’a, where the World Food Program says the bulk of the looting takes place. The Houthis, who have controlled the capital since 2014, denied the charges and accused the WFP of sending spoiled food. The agency said some of the food that was held for long periods of time in rebel-controlled areas had indeed gone bad. WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel told The Associated Press that the agreement to resume food deliveries was “an important step towards safeguards that guarantee the accountability of our humanitarian operation in Yemen.” Verhoosel did not detail the provisions of the deal or when the agency would resume aid deliveries. He said the two sides were working out technical details, which they “hope can be agreed in …

Hong Kong protests devolved into violence for a second consecutive night Sunday, with police firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators who threw rocks and bricks at a police station. The weekend marches have continued for the past two months to protest what they see as Beijing’s growing control over the officially autonomous Chinese territory. In an ominous warning Sunday, a major Chinese news outlet warned that Beijing will not let the protests continue. As with previous marches, Sunday’s protests began peacefully with demonstrators singing and playing musical instruments as large crowds filled the streets. But as evening fell, smaller groups marched on a police station and the Liaison Office, the local headquarters of the mainland government. Hundreds of masked demonstrators blocked streets in a district in Hong Kong’s New Territories and hurled rocks and bricks at a police station, smashing windows. Police responded with tear gas to drive back the crowd. A separate group of protesters was turned back from the Liaison Office. A day earlier, protesters marched across Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po on Hong Kong’s Kowloon peninsula before converging in Tsim Sha Tsui, a waterfront shopping district popular with tourists from China, where they briefly barricaded a …

Pope Francis is offering prayers for the dead and the injured in three U.S. mass shootings this week. Francis told a crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly Angelus blessing Sunday that “I am spiritually close to the victims of the episodes of violence that have bloodied Texas, California and Ohio, in the United States, striking defenseless people.” He appealed to the faithful “to join my prayer for the people who lost their lives, the injured and their family members.” Nine people in Ohio have been killed in the second mass shooting in the United States in less than 24 hours, following the shooting deaths of 20 people Saturday at a Texas shopping area. Just days before, on July 28, a gunman killed three people at a food festival in California.   …

Iranian media say the Revolutionary Guard has seized an oil tanker carrying 700,000 liters of “smuggled fuel” in the Persian Gulf. The semi-official Fars news agency says seven crew members were detained when the ship was seized late Wednesday. It did not provide further details on the vessel or the nationality of the crew. This would mark the third commercial vessel seized by Iranian forces in recent weeks and the second accused of smuggling fuel. Tensions have soared in the Gulf in recent months as the U.S. has boosted its military presence and oil tankers have been seized by Iranian forces or targeted by unknown saboteurs. The tensions are rooted in the U.S. decision last year to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear accord and impose sweeping sanctions on Iran.   …

Thousands of protesters took to Hong Kong’s streets Sunday, a day after violent clashes between anti-government protesters and police, and as China’s official news agency warned Beijing will not let the situation in the Asian financial hub continue. The Chinese-controlled city has been rocked by months of protests against a proposed bill to allow people to be extradited to stand trial in mainland China and a general strike aimed at bringing the city to a halt is planned for Monday. Police said in a statement early Sunday that they had arrested more than 20 people for offenses overnight including unlawful assembly and assault. On Saturday, police fired multiple tear gas rounds in confrontations with black-clad activists in the city’s Kowloon area. On Sunday, thousands of demonstrators marched peacefully in the town of Tseung Kwan O in the New Territories brandishing colorful banners and leaflets. Dressed in black, the protesters cheered as they called for a mass strike across Hong Kong Monday. Henry Tong, wearing a helmet and a first aid vest associated with the anti-extradition bill protests, poses for pictures with his wife, Elaine To, after getting married in Hong Kong, Aug. 4, 2019. The placard reads,”Let’s go for it …