Australia’s annual influenza season started unusually early in 2019, and already there are more than 144,000 confirmed cases. At least 231 people have died, so far, including some children, although most of the victims were frail, elderly Australians. This year is likely to be one of Australia’s most severe for influenza, and the government, worried about a vaccine shortage, has ordered 400,000 more doses. Dr. Chris Zappala, vice president of the Australian Medical Association, hopes the community can cope. “We’ve had millions and millions of vaccines through the country already, and we hope it’s enough. I think we can put some trust in the epidemiologists who do this every year. Remember, what’s happened here is we’ve got an extremely wily organism that mutates and makes things difficult,” Zappala said. Multiple flu viruses circulate each year, and they are broadly grouped into two types: A and B. A particularly potent strain may well be to blame for an early start to Australia’s influenza season. Experts hope it will end before its usual peak in August, the last month of winter. But Professor Brendan Murphy, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, says it is hard to tell. “The one thing you can say definitely …

A man screaming “You die!” burst into an animation production studio in Kyoto, Japan, and set it on fire early Thursday, authorities said, killing 13 people and leaving at least 10 more presumed dead.  Kyoto fire department official Kazuhiro Hayashi says 36 others have been injured, some of them critically. Most were workers at Kyoto Animation, known for mega-hit stories featuring high school girls. The fire broke out in the three-story Kyoto Animation building in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, after the suspect sprayed an unidentified liquid to accelerate the blaze, Kyoto prefectural police and fire department officials said. Hayashi said firefighters found 13 people dead on the first and second floors, and later found more than 10 people presumed dead on the top floor of a three-story building. Firefighters were still searching inside the building in case anyone else was left behind, he added.   The suspect was also injured and taken to a hospital, officials said. Police are investigating the man on suspicion of arson. Social media video grab of smoke billowing from a fire at the Kyoto Animation studio in Kyoto Survivors who saw the attacker said he was not their colleague and that he was screaming “(You) die!” …

U.S. officials say Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 defense system is ‘inconsistent’ with its commitments to NATO …

Scientists are finally closing in on a goal they’ve spent years trying to achieve: a blood test to screen people for possible signs of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. At an international conference in Los Angeles, July 14-19, different research groups will present evidence to show how far they’ve progressed. Faith Lapidus reports.   …

India’s monsoon rains were 20% below average in the week ending on Wednesday, as rainfall was scanty over the central, western and southern parts of the country, the weather office said, raising concerns over the output of summer-sown crops. Monsoon rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth, as about 55% of India’s arable land is rain-fed, and agriculture forms about 15% of a $2.5 trillion economy that is the third biggest in Asia. Soybean- and cotton-growing central regions received 68% less rainfall in the week, while the rubber- and tea-growing southern state of Kerala received 71% lower rainfall, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed. Overall, India has received rains that were 16% less than average since the monsoon season began on June 1. …

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made religious freedom a centerpiece of his foreign policy, met Wednesday with victims of religious persecution from countries like China, Turkey, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar. Trump counts evangelical Christians among his core supporters and the State Department is hosting a conference on the topic this week that will be attended by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Four of the 27 participants in the Oval Office meeting were from China, the White House said: Jewher Ilham, an Uighur Muslim; Yuhua Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner; Nyima Lhamo, a Tibetan Buddhist; and Manping Ouyang, a Christian. Ilham told Trump her father was one of many Uighurs “locked up in concentration camps” in the Xinjiang region and that she had not spoken with him since 2017. China sanctions possible The Trump administration has been weighing sanctions against Chinese officials over the treatment of the Uighurs, including the Communist Party chief of Xinjiang, Chen Quanguo, but has so far held back amid Chinese threats of retaliation. Relations between the United States and China are already tense over a tit-for-tat trade war, with the United States alleging that China engages in unfair trading …

Police have begun arresting protesters gathered at the base of Hawaii’s tallest volcano, Mauna Kea, to stop the construction of a giant telescope on what they say is their most sacred ground. Protest leader Kealoha Pisciotta told The Associated Press that police had arrested 30 elders, called kupuna in Hawaiian, on Wednesday.   Some of the elders used canes and strollers to walk, while others were taken in wheelchairs to police vans. Those who could walk on their own were led away with their hands in zip ties. The elders were among about 2,000 people blocking the road to the summit of Mauna Kea in an attempt to stop construction material and workers from reaching the top.  The $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope is expected to be one of the world’s most advanced.  Opponents of the the telescope say it will desecrate sacred land. According to the University of Hawaii, ancient Hawaiians considered the location kapu, or forbidden. Only the highest-ranking chiefs and priests were allowed to make the long trek to Mauna Kea’s summit above the clouds. Supporters of the telescope, however, say it will not only make important scientific discoveries but bring educational and economic opportunities to Hawaii.  …

The U.S. Air Force has a warning for the more than 1 million people who have signed up to “storm Area 51” in search of aliens as part of an internet joke that has gone viral.  “Any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged,” the Air Force said in a statement Wednesday.  The Air Force said it does not discuss its security measures and that the test and training range, known as Area 51, provides “flexible, realistic and multidimensional battle space” for testing and “advanced training in support of U.S. national interests.” The Facebook event “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All Of Us,” invites people to attempt to run into the mysterious site at 3 a.m. September 20.  “If we Naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets,” the event description says, referring to a Japanese manga character known for running with his arms stretched out backward and his head forward.  Area 51 is part of the vast Nevada Test and Training Range. It has been the subject of conspiracy theories that say the U.S. military keeps aliens and UFOs there. After decades of government officials refusing to acknowledge Area 51, the CIA released declassified documents …

Nearly 1,000 solar energy companies have sent a letter to Congress, urging it to extend the tax credits for solar energy projects, which begin to phase out starting next year. “If you want to show a commitment to addressing climate change, you extend the solar ITC [investment tax credit],” Solar Energy Industries Association President Abigail Ross Hopper wrote. She called the solar tax credit for homes and industries that switch to solar power one of the most successful clean energy tax policies ever created — leading to more than 200,000 American jobs and $140 billion in solar power investment “As we debate long-term solutions, now is not the time to abandon the single most successful policy on the books to deploy clean energy in the near term,” Hopper wrote. Congress passed the solar energy tax credit in 2005 and President George W. Bush signed it into law.  It was extended in 2015, but is set to start being phased out next year, so that by 2022, the tax credit will be 10% for businesses and zero for private homes. But some lawmakers oppose another extension because of a deal they made with oil interests who promised not to fight the temporary …

The heat wave that has been roasting much of the U.S. in recent days is just getting warmed up, with temperatures expected to soar to dangerous levels through the weekend. Communities are preparing by offering buildings as cooling centers and asking residents to check in on relatives and neighbors. Officials also are concerned about smog, which is exacerbated by the heat and makes it more difficult for certain people to breathe, including the very young, the elderly and people with asthma or lung diseases. More than 100 local heat records are expected to fall Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Most won’t be record daily highs but record-high nighttime lows, and that lack of cooling can be dangerous, meteorologists say. Temperatures in parts of the East won’t drop below the mid- to upper-70s or even 80 degrees (26.7 Celsius) at night, he said. The heat wave will likely be “short and searing,” said Greg Carbin, forecast branch chief for the weather service’s Weather Prediction Center. A high-pressure system stretching from coast to coast is keeping the heat turned on. The heat and humidity are made to feel worse by the large amount of moisture in the air coming from …

The lawyer and family of Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani physician who helped the United States track down former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, told VOA that Afridi continues to suffer in prison under dire conditions. Qamar Nadeem, Afridi’s lawyer, expressed optimism that the fate of his client would be discussed during the planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan next week at the White House. “Dr. Afridi can’t sleep properly, due to harsh conditions and sweltering heat, as there is no window in the cell where he is kept,” Nadeem said. “Imran Khan is visiting the U.S., but if Dr. Afridi remains in pain, then I think the visit won’t be a success.” Speaking to VOA, Jamil Afridi, Shakil Afridi’s brother, expressed frustration that the doctor’s case has not been resolved in more than eight years. “President Trump and the U.S. government should have resolved this issue by now,” he told VOA. Jamal Afridi said he last visited his brother, who he says has become very weak, July 6. “He cannot rest during the day, nor can he sleep at night. He is in great pain,” he said. FILE – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran …

A Republican senator blocked a bipartisan bill that would have made sure that a fund providing compensation to 9/11 workers would remain viable until 2090.  Rand Paul of Kentucky questioned the bill’s 70-year time frame and said any new spending should be offset by corresponding cuts so the U.S. government’s $22 trillion debt does not continue to grow.  “It has long been my feeling that we need to address our massive debt in the country,” Paul said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “And, therefore, any new spending … should be offset by cutting spending that’s less valuable. We need to at the very least have this debate.” Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., speaks during a town hall meeting during a campaign stop in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Presidential hopeful New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand had offered the bill for unanimous consent, which would have fast-tracked its approval.  Under Senate rules, an objection from a single senator can block a measure offered via unanimous consent, which is what Paul did.  A spokesperson for Paul later told The Hill that Paul “is not blocking anything,” adding that he is “simply seeking to pay for it.” The bill, which easily passed in the House …

GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s conflict-ridden North Kivu and Ituri provinces a public health emergency of international concern.  The declaration by an emergency committee at WHO headquarters in Geneva elevated the disease and the efforts needed to combat it to a significantly higher level of concern. Nevertheless, committee chairman Robert Steffen cautioned against overreacting to the meaning of the decision.      “This is still a regional emergency and by no way a global threat,” he said. “And, why this change of opinion … there is concern about the spread of Ebola from Goma, a gateway, even though so far no cases were newly infected in the city.”    On Sunday, the first case of Ebola was discovered in Goma, a city of 2 million.  The pastor infected with the virus later died.     Steffen said the recurrence of intense transmission in Beni, an earlier epicenter of the disease, and the recent killings of two Ebola health workers were among other factors that fed into the committee’s decision.      WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged that the risk that the disease could spread in the DRC was very high but said …

Zimbabwe’s ban on foreign currency, and the nation’s record inflation, has spurred demand for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to try to preserve wealth. Zimbabwean authorities last year banned banks from processing bitcoin and is warning that cryptocurrencies are open to hacking. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare. …

WASHINGTON — Fatal drug overdoses in the U.S. declined by 5.1 percent in 2018, according to preliminary official data released Wednesday, the first drop in two decades.    The trend was driven by a steep decline in deaths linked to prescription painkillers.    “The latest provisional data on overdose deaths show that America’s united efforts to curb opioid use disorder and addiction are working,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said, though he cautioned the epidemic would not be stopped overnight.    The total number of estimated deaths dropped to 68,557 in 2018 against 72,224 the year before, according to the figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.    But that number is still far higher than the 16,849 overdose deaths in 1999, a figure that rose every year until 2017, with a particularly sharp increase seen from 2014 to 2017.    Deaths attributed to natural and semisynthetic opioids, such as morphine, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and oxymorphone, which are prescribed as painkillers, saw a drop from 14,926 to 12,757, or 14.5 percent.    That was the steepest drop for any category of drug, though deaths linked to synthetic opioids excluding methadone (drugs like tramadol and fentanyl) continued …

A Russian court on Wednesday prolonged the detention of 24 Ukrainian sailors captured last year near Crimea, in the midst of sensitive prisoner-swap talks between the two ex-Soviet neighbors. Moscow’s Lefortovsky district court ruled that the sailors must stay in detention for an extra three months until Oct. 24.  After the hearings, the sailors were escorted out of the courtroom by masked security officers as relatives and supporters applauded. Some wiped away tears. Relatives sported yellow bracelets bearing the names of the sailors, who face up to six years in prison on charges of illegally crossing Russian borders. In the cramped courtroom, the sailors, who have described themselves as “prisoners of war”, were held in a metal-barred cage reserved for defendants.  Olena Zerkal, Ukrainian deputy foreign minister, condemned the extension of the sailors’ detention, saying it only complicated “diplomats’ complicated work” amid the current negotiations. The Ukrainians have been imprisoned since their three vessels were seized off Crimea last November, the most dangerous direct clash between Russia and Ukraine in years. This combination of photos created on July 11, 2019, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s new leader Volodymyr …

Massachusetts prosecutors on Wednesday announced they had dropped a criminal case alleging that former “House of Cards” star Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted an 18-year-old man at a bar in Nantucket over three years ago. Prosecutors said they made the decision to drop the felony indecent assault and battery charge against the Oscar winner after the alleged victim invoked his right under the U.S. Constitution against giving self-incriminating testimony. Spacey’s lawyers had previously accused the man of deleting text messages that would support the actor’s defense. The man invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during a hearing earlier this month concerning the whereabouts of his cellphone, which was missing. Spacey, who won an Academy Award in 2000 for his role in “American Beauty,” had pleaded not guilty to the charge. His lawyers had called the allegations against him “patently false.” Lawyers for Spacey and the accuser did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The actor, 59, was one of dozens of men in the entertainment industry, business and politics who have been accused of sexual misconduct following the emergence in 2017 of the #MeToo movement. Prosecutors had charged Spacey in the Nantucket case in December. The accuser told police Spacey had …

STATE DEPARTMENT — “My father is a fixer, a bridge-builder, a connector. He knows that a better future is one where Han Chinese and Uighur children are in school together, are friends together and have the same opportunities,” said Jewher Ilham, who pleaded for the release of her father, prominent jailed Uighur scholar and economist Ilham Tohti.    She also petitioned Chinese authorities to release all Uighur girls from so-called re-education camps before Beijing hosts the 2022 Winter Olympics.     Tohti has been serving a life sentence on separatism-related charges since 2014. Chinese authorities accused him of encouraging terrorism and advocating separatism in his lectures, articles and comments to foreign media.   The scholar and economist founded the website Uyghur Online, which is aimed at promoting understanding between Uighurs and Han Chinese. He also has been outspoken about Beijing’s treatment of the minority Muslim Uighurs in the far-western Xinjiang region.     “I have not spoken to him since 2014, and I have not seen him since we were separated at the airport in 2013. We were on our way to Indiana University, where my father was supposed to start a yearlong residency,” Jewher Ilham told participants of the second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, hosted by …

After months of on-again, off-again talks, Sudan’s military and opposition leaders have signed a power-sharing deal that rotates control of an executive council, but leaves other key details to be determined. Under the deal, the 11-member Sovereign Council, the top level of government, will be made up of five civilians, five military officials, and one additional civilian to be selected by the 10 members. Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Transitional Military Council, will head the council for 21 months. A representative of the Forces for Freedom and Change Coalition then will head the council for the next 18 months. The transitional government will last for 39 months before a regular government is formed. The agreement stipulates that a Council of Ministers, which shall not exceed 20 people, shall be appointed by a civilian prime minister and that a legislative body will be formed within three months of the beginning of the transition. The more contentious details over a constitutional agreement that would spell out the division of powers has yet to be worked out. African Union and Ethiopian mediators celebrate after Sudan’s protesters and ruling generals inked an agreement in Khartoum, July 17, 2019. Omer Ismail, a senior adviser …

Civil liberties groups are asking a federal judge for a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s effort to effectively end asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.   The American Civil Liberties Union and others filed the request Wednesday, seeking a Thursday hearing in San Francisco. The groups sued Tuesday and want the judge to block the policy while the case is heard.   The Trump administration rules went into effect Tuesday and prevent most migrants from seeking protection as refugees if they have passed through another country first. It targets tens of thousands of Central Americans who cross into the U.S. through Mexico. But it also affects people from Africa, Asia, and South America who come to the southern border.   Immigrant advocates say the plan illegally circumvents the asylum process Congress established. …

Leaders of a small town in Texas are abandoning a proposal that would have essentially banned abortions in their community.   Mineral Wells Mayor Christopher Perricone says he proposed making his town a “sanctuary city for the unborn” after the town of Waskom became the first in Texas to do so . But at a meeting Tuesday in Mineral Wells, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Dallas, city leaders voted 5-2 to take no action at the recommendation of the city’s legal staff.   The Star-Telegram reports that earlier Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas sent a letter to Mineral Wells council members warning that its proposal was unconstitutional.   There are currently no abortion clinics in either Waskom or Mineral Wells, so the measures are largely symbolic.       …

Families of victims and their countries’ embassies are marking the fifth anniversary of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, amid mounting evidence of Russia’s involvement in shooting the passenger plane out of the sky. The airliner flying between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur was shot down by a Buk missile on July 17, 2014, over territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists, killing all 298 people on board, including 80 children. In the Netherlands, which lost 193 citizens, commemorations began on July 16, when family members of 15 of the victims assembled in the town of Hilversum for a vigil. It was led by a priest who grows sunflowers from seeds brought from eastern Ukraine where the plane was shot down. A separate MH17 conference took place in the Netherlands on July 16, as well as a roundtable in Washington, D.C. Speaking in Washington, George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, said that “Russia set the stage for the shoot-down of MH17 by financing, organizing, and leading proxies in eastern Ukraine.” He also said that “Russia continues to deny the presence of its forces …

As a trade dispute rooted in historical tensions spirals toward a full-blown trade war between Japan and South Korea, there are signs the United States is starting to take a bigger mediating role. The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, who visited Japan earlier this week, met Wednesday with top South Korean officials in Seoul, where he urged a quick resolution to the dispute. “The U.S., as close friends and allies to both, will do what it can to support their efforts to resolve [the situation],” said David Stillwell, the new U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha talks with David Stilwell, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, during a meeting at the foreign ministry in Seoul, July 17, 2019. The crisis erupted earlier this month when Japan restricted exports of high-tech materials to South Korea. The materials are used to produce semiconductors and displays in smartphones and other electronics that are key to South Korea’s export-driven economy. In restricting the materials, Tokyo cited national security reasons. But the move is widely seen as retaliation for recent South Korean court rulings ordering …

Asylum-seekers gathered in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Texas, grappled to understand what a new U.S. policy that all but eliminates refuge claims by Central Americans and many others meant for their bids to find a better life in America amid a chaos of rumors, confusion and fear. The policy went into effect Tuesday and represents the most forceful attempt to date by President Donald Trump to slash the number of people seeking asylum in the United States. It denies asylum to anyone who shows up on the Mexican border after traveling through another country, something Central American migrants have to do. In some parts of Nuevo Laredo, migrants continued to trickle into shelters, including seven members of a family from the Mexican state of Michoacan, who fled the shootings and extortions in their violent region and were happy to find shelter even though some had to sleep in the hallway. They hoped they could get asylum because they did not pass through another country to reach the border. But about 70 mostly Central American migrants, who had crossed Mexico to reach the border, were returned to Mexico with an appointment with a judge tucked in a transparent plastic …