Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are commemorating the 30th anniversary of the “Pan-European Picnic,” an event on the border of Austria and Hungary considered to have helped lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Both leaders are expected to make speeches during a religious ceremony Monday in the border town of Sopron before holding bilateral talks over lunch. Merkel on Saturday thanked Hungary for “having contributed to making the miracle of German reunification possible” by briefly opening the Iron Curtain on Aug. 19, 1989, allowing 700 refugees from Communist-ruled East Germany to cross the border into the West. Relations between Berlin and Budapest have grown frostier in recent years amid Orban’s hard-line stance against refugees and German criticism of Hungary’s authoritarian policies. …

Italy’s ruling League party would seek tax cuts in the 2020 budget by rising the country’s deficit a little bit, its economics spokesman said on Monday. League chief Matteo Salvini pulled the plug last week on its coalition government with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, starting a potential countdown to elections, which the country may need to tackle alongside preparing its budget in the fall. “We need to pursue a tax cut and it is obvious that a small proportion will be funded with the deficit”, League’s economics chief Claudio Borghi said in an interview with state-owned television RAI. …

Thousands of protesters in Indonesia’s West Papua province have set fire to a local parliament building.  Vice Gov. of West Papua province Mohammad Lakotani said Monday’s demonstration was sparked by accusations that security forces arrested and insulted dozens of Papuan students in the East Java province cities of Surabaya and Malang on Sunday.He said an angered mob set fire to tires and twigs in Manokwari, the provincial capital. Television footage showed orange flames and gray smoke billowing from the burning parliament building. Several thousand protesters also staged rallies in Jayapura, the capital city of the neighboring province of Papua, where an insurgency has simmered for decades. Many in the crowd wore headbands of a separatist flag. …

At least eight K-pop stars from China and even one from Taiwan and one from Hong Kong are publicly stating their support for Beijing’s one-China policy, eliciting a mixture of disappointment and understanding from fans.  Many of the statements came after protesters opposed to Beijing’s growing influence over semi-autonomous Hong Kong removed a Chinese flag and tossed it into Victoria Harbor earlier this month.  Lay Zhang, Jackson Wang, Lai Kuan-lin and Victoria Song were among the K-pop singers who recently uploaded a Chinese flag and declared themselves as “one of 1.4 billion guardians of the Chinese flag” on their official Weibo social media accounts. Wang is from Hong Kong and Lai is from Taiwan.  Some see the public pronouncements as the latest examples of how celebrities and companies feel pressured to toe the line politically in the important Chinese market. Yet they also coincide with a surge in patriotism among young Chinese raised on a steady diet of pro-Communist Party messaging. Song and Zhang, a member of popular group EXO, have shown their Chinese pride on Instagram, in Song’s case uploading an image of the Chinese flag last week with the caption “Hong Kong is part of China forever.” Such …

Imagine listening to a violin concert in one of New York City’s majestic cathedrals or in the National Arboretum, surrounded by blooming magnolias. Now anyone can experience this exquisite scene with the use of VR glasses. A team of researchers from the University of Maryland at College Park came up with new immersive technologies that allow people from all over the world to experience performing arts in a breathtakingly beautiful setting without getting up from their couch. Nastassia Jaumen has the story. …

Every day, cutting-edge research is being performed in government and university labs across the country. Tech transfer is the process of taking that research out of the lab and transforming it into a business. One company jump-starts the process by introducing entrepreneurs to that research. Tina Trinh explains. …

Sudan’s Transitional Military Council and opposition parties formally signed a political agreement this weekend after months of protests. Though many protesters are wary of the compromises made in the deal, the signing was marked by celebrations across the capital. In Khartoum, Esha Sarai and Naba Mohiedeen have more. …

Hong Kong pro-democracy protests that started in June have now spread around the world. Parallel demonstration took place in the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain, France and other countries on Sunday. But as, VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports, demonstrators in some places were confronted by pro-Beijing rallies. …

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he has spoken with Apple Inc’s Chief Executive Tim Cook about the impact of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports as well as competition from South Korean company Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. Trump said Cook “made a good case” that tariffs could hurt Apple given that Samsung’s products would not be subject to those same tariffs. Tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, including consumer electronics, are scheduled to go into effect in two stages on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15. “I thought he made a very compelling argument, so I’m thinking about it,” Trump said. Trump made the comments while speaking with reporters on the Tarmac at the Morristown, New Jersey, airport. Apple was not immediately available for comment outside normal business hours.   …

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would likely wait until after Israel’s Sept. 17 elections to release a peace plan for the region that was designed by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is the main architect of a proposed $50 billion economic development plan for the Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon that is designed to create peace in the region.  …

Violence was largely averted in Portland, Oregon, where police established concrete barriers, closed streets and bridges, and seized a multitude of weapons to preempt clashes between right-wing groups and anti-fascist counterprotesters. on Saturday. But at least 13 people were arrested and the protesters vowed to return to the West Coast city …

Delegates at a U.N. wildlife conference in Geneva voted Sunday to ban the practice of taking baby elephants from their natural habitat and placing them in zoos and circuses. Forty-six countries at the UN Convention ion International Trade in Endangered Species voted to outlaw the practice, white 18 voted against it, including the United States. Nineteen abstained. The ban proclaims entertainment venues to be “unacceptable and inappropriate destinations” for elephants. “This decision will save countless elephants from being ripped away from their families in the wild and forces to spend their lifetimes imprisoned in substandard conditions at zoos,” the Humane Society International said Sunday. “The capture of baby elephants is horribly cruel and traumatic to both the mothers, their calves and the herds that are left behind.” Sunday’s decision specifically targets Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. CITES says Zimbabwe has sent more than 100 baby elephants to China since 2012, traumatizing the animals who it says are beaten, kicked, and treated cruelly by their handlers. Several have died.     …

The U.S. has opened up secret communications with Venezuela’s socialist party boss as members of President Nicolas Maduro’s inner circle seek guarantees they won’t face retribution if they cede to growing demands to remove him, a senior administration official has told The Associated Press.   Diosdado Cabello, who is considered the most-powerful man in Venezuela after Maduro, met last month in Caracas with someone who is in close contact with the Trump administration, said the official. A second meeting is in the works but has not yet taken place.   The AP is withholding the intermediary’s name and details of the encounter with Cabello out of concern the person could suffer reprisals. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss the talks, which are still preliminary.   Cabello is a major power broker inside Venezuela, who has seen his influence in the government and security forces expand as Maduro’s grip on power has weakened. But he’s also been accused by U.S. officials of being behind massive corruption, drug trafficking and even death threats against a sitting U.S. senator.   The administration official said that under no circumstances is the U.S. looking to prop up …

Mourners in Iceland gathered Sunday to bid a final farewell to 700-year-old Okjokull, the first Icelandic glacier lost to climate change. After about 100 people, including Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, Environment Minister Gudmundur Ingi Gudbrandsson, and former Irish President Mary Robinson, made a two-hour hike up the Ok volcano for the ceremony. Children installed a memorial plaque to the glacier, now called just “Ok,” its name missing “jokull”, the Icelandic word for glacier. People climb to the top of what once was the Okjokull glacier, in Iceland, Aug. 18, 2019. The plaque bears the inscription “A letter to the future”, and is intended to raise awareness about the decline of glaciers and the effects of climate change. “In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it,” it reads. The dedication, written by Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason, ends with the date of the ceremony and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air globally – 415 parts per million (ppm). “We see the consequences of the climate crisis,”Jakobsdottir said. …

Almost a year and a half ago, President Donald Trump famously tweeted that ‘trade wars are good and easy to win.’  But shortly after he announced another ten-percent increase in tariffs on 300-billion-dollars’ worth of Chinese goods, global stock markets dropped and economists warned of a looming recession.  Trump’s top trade official and a Democratic presidential hopeful shared their views Sunday on ABC’s ‘This Week.’  Arash Arabasadi has more. …

Thousands of people were left homeless when a fire raged through a slum in Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka. “According to our investigation committee 1,200 shanties were damaged and out of this 750 shanties burnt totally,” said Enamur Rahman, junior minister for Disaster Management and Relief on Sunday. The official count put the number rendered homeless at 3,000, but most media reports said at least 10,000 were left without shelter and some even put the count as high as 50,000. Officials said four people were injured in the fire but luckily there were no fatalities since most people were away celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. As the government tries to find a more sustainable solution for those who lost their homes, it is also trying to address immediate needs. “We are providing them with food, water, mobile toilets and electricity supply,” municipal official Shafiul Azam told The Guardian. Fires at factories, slums and markets are common in Bangladesh. At least 25 people were killed in March this year when fire broke out in a 22-story commercial building in Dhaka’s upscale area of Banani.   …

Secret British government documents have warned of serious disruptions across the country in the event that the U.K. leaves the European Union without a trade deal on Oct. 31, according to a report. The Sunday Times newspaper published what it said was what the British government expects in the case of a sudden, “no-deal” Brexit. Among the most serious: “significant” disruptions to the supply of drugs and medicine, a decrease in the availability of fresh food and even potential fresh water shortages due to possible interruptions of imported water treatment chemicals. Although the grim scenarios reportedly outlined in the government documents have long been floated by academics and economists, they’ve been repeatedly dismissed as scaremongering by Brexit proponents. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is ready to leave the EU regardless of whether he is able to renegotiate the Brexit deal struck with Brussels by his predecessor, Theresa May. His own officials, however, have warned that with a no-deal Brexit, the sharing of law enforcement data and the health of Britain’s crucial financial services industry could be in jeopardy after Oct. 31. The documents published by the Times also quote officials as warning that up to 85% of …

Last week, militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) terror group stormed into a Christian village in northern Mozambique, burning houses and forcing residents to flee their homes, local reports said. A few days before that, militants entered another village in the same province, torching houses throughout the region. IS has claimed responsibility for both attacks via its social media outlets. The recent attacks in the southeast African country signals a growing presence of IS militants who have carried out similar attacks against the military and local residents in the Muslim-majority northern part of Mozambique. “We were no longer safe in the village,” said Mariamo Assy, a resident of Ntuleni village in Cabo Delgado, who was displaced due to last week’s violence. She told VOA that they sought refuge in a nearby village to avoid getting caught up in the militants’ onslaught. North Mozambique Since 2017, such attacks in northern Mozambique have increased, killing more than 200 people and wounding hundreds more, local sources said. Militants also have burned or destroyed over 1,000 homes over the past two years. Experts say that economic grievances, which have particularly increased in recent months following tropical cyclones that have struck Mozambique, have made …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that she would meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday evening to discuss Britain’s planned departure from the European Union, adding that Berlin was also prepared for a disorderly Brexit. Johnson is seeking to persuade European Union leaders to reopen Brexit talks or face the prospect of its second-largest member leaving abruptly on Oct. 31 with no deal in place to mitigate the economic shock — a move that businesses expect would cause major disruption. “We are glad of every visit, and you have to talk, and you have to find good solutions,” Merkel said during a panel discussion at the Chancellery. “We are prepared for any outcome, we can say that, even if we do not get an agreement. But at all events I will make an effort to find solutions — up until the last day of negotiations,” she added. “I think it’s always better to leave with an agreement than without one. But if that’s not possible, we’ll be prepared for the alternative as well.” The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that Johnson would tell Merkel that the British parliament could not stop Brexit.   …

Protesters rallied in Hong Kong again on Sunday, as anti-government demonstrations, now in their 11th week, continue.  Mike O’Sullivan reports that the protests were first sparked by an extradition bill, but are now broadly aimed at maintaining Hong’s Kong’s special status within China.     …

Last update: 1:45 p. m. Iran said its seized oil tanker was expected to leave Gibraltar on Sunday after authorities there rejected a U.S. bid to detain it, but it was unclear where the ship might be headed next. “The vessel is expected to leave tonight,” envoy Hamid Baeidinejad said on Twitter, adding that two engineering teams had been flown to Gibraltar to assist in its departure. Tehran said it was ready to dispatch its naval fleet to escort the ship, loaded with 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil worth $130 million, but Iran gave no indication where it would set sail for. The ship, called the Grace 1 but now renamed by Iran as Adrian Darya 1, was seized July 4 by Gibraltar, an overseas British territory, because authorities there believed the crude oil was headed to Syria, an Iran ally, in violation of European Union sanctions. Originally, the ship was flying under a Panamanian flag but after it was renamed, a red, white and green Iranian flag was hoisted over the ship. In this July 21, 2019 photo, an aerial view shows a speedboat of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard moving around the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero which …

Restrictions continued in much of Indian-administered Kashmir on Sunday, despite India’s government saying it was gradually restoring phone lines and easing a security lockdown that’s been in place for nearly two weeks. Soldiers manned nearly deserted streets and limited the movement of the few pedestrians who came out of their homes in Srinagar, the region’s main city. The security crackdown and a news blackout were installed following an Aug. 5 decision by India’s Hindu nationalist government to downgrade the Muslim-majority region’s autonomy. Authorities started easing restrictions on Saturday. But the Press Trust of India news agency said authorities re-imposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar after violence was reported on Saturday. About 300 Kashmiris returned to Srinagar on Sunday from a Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Many of them became emotional while reuniting with their family members who met them at the city’s airport. Due to the security and communications lockdown, many travelers were unable to contact anybody in the Kashmir region. “Neither us nor our relatives here knew if we were dead or alive,” Muhammad Ali said after returning from the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. Public transport buses started operating in some rural areas in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday. …

 Jaffar Mjasiri contributed to this article. A Tanzanian regional governor is calling for a nationwide public database listing married men as a means of protecting prospective brides from humiliation and heartbreak, he says. Paul Makonda, the top official in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, announced his plan earlier this week. He proposed the database after saying women had complained to him of lovers who had pretended they were single and promised marriage but then deserted them, along with children they’d fathered. The women were left without financial or other support. “We can see from our women, they are suffering a lot,” Makonda told VOA in a phone call Wednesday. He said that at least one despondent woman had become suicidal “because somebody has been cheating [on] her. … We have to find a way to protect these women.” The official offered this rationale for the campaign: “If the family is not going well, don’t expect the country to be in a good position. Everything starts from the family. … So it is our responsibility as a government to make sure that people are living in harmony.” Anna Henga, executive director of the independent Legal and Human Rights Center  …

The World Food Program warns that millions of people in Burkina Faso are facing what it calls an unprecedented humanitarian emergency because of growing hunger, instability and displacement. Fighting in Burkina Faso has intensified over the past six months, raising intercommunal tensions. Attacks, killings and targeted kidnappings by different armed groups have increased. The United Nations reports escalating fighting, some fueled by ethnic and religious beliefs, has forced more than 237,000 people to flee their homes. The insecurity and large-scale displacement, it says, has led to the closure of dozens of health centers and thousands of schools, depriving nearly 330,000 children of an education. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people are facing severe food shortages. World Food Program spokesman, Herve Verhoosel, told VOA that hunger is particularly high during the so-called lean season. This, he explains, is the period between June and September when food stocks are particularly low before the next harvest. “People have the problem to find food. Sometimes a problem of access. Then because of the security issues they cannot always access to markets or to go to work in the farms for example. That is why the combination of those two problems are giving the …