Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday reversed a move to loosen gun control laws by presidential decree, in a strategic retreat after lawmakers pushed back on one of the far-right leader’s key campaign promises. In May, Bolsonaro signed decrees easing restrictions on importing and carrying guns and buying ammunition, which needed congressional approval to become permanent law. After the Senate rejected a decree last week, Bolsonaro decided on Tuesday to revoke it and reconsider his strategy. The former army captain vowed last year to crack down on crime and ease access to guns, rolling back decades of arms control efforts as many Brazilians clamored for a dramatic response to rising violent crime. Bolsonaro’s reversal on Tuesday, published in a late edition of the government’s official gazette, contradicted comments made just hours earlier by his spokesman Otávio Rêgo Barros that the president would not revoke the guns decree. Bolsonaro also sent a new bill to Congress on Tuesday that aims to loosen restrictions on the possession of arms in rural areas, Senate President Davi Alcolumbre wrote on his Twitter account. …

U.S. sanctions on Cuba are deterring American firms from exploring its telecommunications sector even as Washington seeks to expand internet access on the Communist-run island, according to the final report of a U.S. government task force released on Tuesday. Chinese companies dominate Cuba’s telecoms sector, a status quo “worth challenging given concerns that the Cuban government potentially obtains its censorship equipment from Chinese Internet infrastructure providers,” the report said. Cuba’s government protested the U.S. State Department’s creation of a Cuba Internet Task Force last year as “foreign interference.” It remains unclear how open it would be to U.S. investment in the strategic telecoms sector. “U.S. companies informed the subcommittees they are often deterred from entering the market due to uncertainty caused by frequent changes to U.S. regulations concerning Cuba,” according to the task force, convened last year by the State Department. U.S. presidents have successively tightened and loosened the decades-old U.S. trade embargo on Cuba imposed in the years after its 1959 revolution. Former President Barack Obama created a loophole for U.S. telecommunications companies to provide certain services to Cuba. His successor, Donald Trump, maintained the loophole but tightened the broader sanctions, worsening the overall business climate. Banks are increasingly …

Denmark on Wednesday became the third Nordic country this year to form a leftist government after Social Democratic leader Mette Frederiksen finalized terms for a one-party minority government, making her the country’s youngest-ever prime minister. While the new left-leaning government is unlikely to fundamentally change Denmark’s economic policy, Frederiksen, 41, has promised to increase welfare spending after years of austerity. A bloc of five left-leaning opposition parties led by Frederiksen’s Social Democratic Party won a majority in a June 5 election, prompting center-right leader Lars Lokke Rasmussen to resign as prime minister. “It is with great pleasure I can announce that after three weeks of negotiations, we have a majority to form a new government,” she said. Ageing populations have prompted Nordic governments to chip away at the cradle-to-grave welfare state, but the June 5 election showed clear support among Danish voters for leftist parties. It also dealt a blow to right-wing nationalists, who lost more than half of their votes compared with 2015. While the leftist opposition bloc received a convincing majority, support for the Social Democratic Party declined slightly compared with the 2015 vote. But it remained the country’s biggest party. Despite differences among left-leaning parties over issues …

It took last-minute changes and a full-court press by top Democratic leaders, but the House passed with relative ease Tuesday a $4.5 billion emergency border aid package to care for thousands of migrant families and unaccompanied children detained after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.   The bill passed along party lines after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quelled a mini-revolt by progressives and Hispanic lawmakers who sought significant changes to the legislation. New provisions added to the bill Tuesday were more modest than what those lawmakers had sought, but the urgent need for the funding — to prevent the humanitarian emergency on the border from turning into a debacle — appeared to outweigh any lingering concerns.   The 230-195 vote sets up a showdown with the Republican-led Senate, which may try instead to force Democrats to send Trump a different, and broadly bipartisan, companion measure in coming days as the chambers race to wrap up the must-do legislation by the end of the week.    “The Senate has a good bill. Our bill is much better,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told her Democratic colleagues in a meeting Tuesday morning, according to a senior Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the …

A Maryland judge has ordered a two-phase trial for man accused of killing five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper one year ago.  Judge Laura Ripken granted the defense request Tuesday, ruling that part one would determine if Jarrod Ramos is guilty of gunning down the victims inside the newspaper office. If he is convicted, the second phase would determine if Ramos is not criminally responsible for his crime — the state of Maryland’s version of the insanity defense. Ramos has already pleaded not guilty and not criminally responsible. Prosecutors want to submit Ramos’ tax records dating back to 2003, saying they will show his mental state and prove he is able to tell right from a criminal action. The defense plans to argue the tax records are confidential and irrelevant. Ramos allegedly burst into the offices of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland last year with smoke grenades and a shotgun and barricaded the doors to stop people from escaping. Five people were killed, including editors and reporters. Police found Ramos hiding under a desk. Prosecutors say Ramos had a grudge against the newspaper over a story in which he pleaded guilty to harassing a former high school classmate. …

Illinois became the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana Tuesday, and the first to do so through its legislature rather than a ballot initiative. Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker signed the bill into law after the legislature passed it late last month. “As the first state in the nation to fully legalize adult-use cannabis through the legislative process, Illinois exemplifies the best of democracy: a bipartisan and deep commitment to better the lives of all of our people,” said Pritzker in a statement Tuesday. The law will go into effect Jan. 1, 2020. Illinois residents above 21 will be able to possess up to 30 grams of cannabis flower, 5 grams of cannabis concentrate and 500 milligrams of THC, with non-residents able to possess half the amounts. Those arrested for possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana will have their records automatically expunged, while Pritzker will pardon those convicted for possession. Individuals with convictions for violent crime will not be automatically eligible, though they or an attorney can still file suit to remove convictions. Illinois estimates that 700,000 people’s records will qualify for expungement. About 300,000 more will be able to file suit for convictions for up to 500 grams …

VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara at the White House, and Aline Barros and Eugenia Sagastume contributed to this report. As the U.S. attempts to strike an asylum deal with Guatemala, many of the Central American country’s own rural residents continue to flee persecution at alarming rates. President Donald Trump told VOA on Tuesday that the U.S. was “close” to reaching a safe third-country agreement with Guatemala. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Guatemalans accounted for the second-highest number of U.S. asylum applications in 2018 (31,000), second only to El Salvador. That same year, an additional 86,900 Guatemalans were awaiting decisions on pending claims. Ninette Kelley, UNHCR New York office director, said a struggle with “law and order” continues to plague the Northern Triangle, a region that includes Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. “There are very gripping accounts of situations where neighborhoods are controlled by rival gangs, and where the choice for a young male is, you either join a gang and murder others, or you be murdered yourself,” Kelley told VOA. “For a young woman, it can be conscripted into trafficking and sexual abuse.” In a pair of June 17 tweets addressing a possible asylum “fix” and a premature ICE …

Special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to provide open testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee next month. The chairmen of the two panels, Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Rep. Adam Schiff, announced in a letter late Monday that Mueller would appear July 17, and that they and all Americans looked forward to hearing from him. Mueller led a nearly two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and allegations that President Donald Trump obstructed justice by trying to shut down the probe. He issued a report, a redacted version of which was made public in April, that concluded the Trump campaign had not colluded with Russia during the election, but reached no conclusion on the question of obstruction of justice. Trump has been highly critical of the process, repeatedly calling the investigation a “witch hunt.” Mueller’s only public comments to this point have been at a news conference in May during which he read a prepared statement, but took no questions. Nadler and Schiff had issued subpoenas seeking to compel Mueller to testify, explaining that while they noted the special counsel’s desire for his written report to stand on its own, the public deserves …

In a world first, Facebook has agreed to hand over the identification data of French users suspected of hate speech on its platform to judges, France’s minister for digital affairs Cedric O said on Tuesday. O, whose father is South Korean, is one of French President Emmanuel Macron’s earliest followers, and has been influential in shaping the president’s thinking on Big Tech as an advisor at the Elysee palace in the first two years of Macron’s presidency. The decision by the world’s biggest social media network comes after successive meetings between Zuckerberg and Macron, who wants to take a leading role globally on the regulation of hate speech and the spread of false information online. So far, Facebook has cooperated with French justice on matters related to terrorist attacks and violent acts by transferring the IP addresses and other identification data of suspected individuals to French judges who formally demanded it. Following a meeting between Nick Clegg, Facebook’s head of global affairs, and O last week, the social media company has extended this cooperation to hate speech. “This is huge news, it means that the judicial process will be able to run normally,” O told Reuters in an interview. “It’s …

President Donald Trump is still committed to a pressure campaign to force Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step aside to make way for opposition leader Juan Guaido, Washington’s envoy for Venezuela said on Tuesday. The campaign has failed to dislodge Maduro, who has the support of Russia and China. Arguing that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate, Guaido invoked Venezuela’s constitution in January to declare himself interim president with backing from the United States and other Western countries. Elliott Abrams, U.S. special representative for Venezuela, brushed aside questions over whether Washington had lost interest amid other pressing foreign policy issues such as tensions with Iran and China trade talks. He also firmly rejected the possibility that Maduro could be part of a unity government in Venezuela. “It is hard to see how he is part of the solution or could be part of a transition government,” Abrams told reporters. Citing examples that Venezuela remained a priority for the administration, Abrams said Trump raised the topic with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during their June 20 meeting. Vice President Mike Pence also traveled to Miami to help send off the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort on a medical mission to South …

Fascist-era street names will be returned to Cordoba, the Spanish city’s new rightist administration decided at its first meeting on Tuesday, overturning the left’s move to change them. The conservative Peoples’ Party which now governs in Cordoba along with the center-right Ciudadanos, said it wanted to “recover popular street names” changed last year under the city’s previous administration. More than four decades after his death, General Francisco Franco’s legacy remains a source of deep divisions in Spanish society, exacerbated in the past months by the rise of the far-right Vox, which won about 10 percent of the vote in a national election in April. A group of activists and victims of the dictatorship, the Truth Commission Platform, said it would fight Cordoba’s decision, which it considers illegal as it challenges a 2007 law that formalised condemnation of Franco’s rule and ordered its symbols removed from public view. Franco’s regime killed or imprisoned tens of thousands of people to stamp out dissent, and up to 500,000 combatants and civilians died in the 1936-39 Civil War. Two streets and one square in Cordoba had originally been named in honor of Francoist military and political figures: Jose Cruz Conde, Conde de Vallellano and …

Argentina indicated its interest on Tuesday in moving forward with China on initiatives including construction of the country’s fourth nuclear power plant and exporting locally processed soymeal to China, the government said following bilateral meetings in Beijing. If finalized, the nuclear plant, reportedly worth up to $8 billion, would be one of the biggest projects financed in Argentina by China, which has become a key trading partner for Argentina and its biggest non-institutional lender. Argentina’s cabinet chief Marcos Pena said “there is an intention to move forward” with the plant’s construction in a government statement following his meeting in Beijing with China’s Vice Premier Minister Hu Chunhua. Pena will head from Beijing to the G20 summit in Japan. An Argentine government official said in April that China’s own Hualong One reactor design would be a good choice for the plant. This month, China completed the outer safety dome at its first overseas “Hualong One” nuclear reactor in Pakistan. The Argentine nuclear project, agreed under former President Cristina Fernandez, has stalled under the administration of Mauricio Macri, though government officials have signaled their intentions to reach a final agreement with China in the past year. Pena also highlighted bilateral discussions aimed …

Nigeria’s movie Industry, Nollywood, for many decades has largely depended on local movie distribution. But in the last decade, producers have been shifting focus from low budget, high volume production to quality, earning the industry more international recognition. In 2015, America’s streaming giant, Netflix, started streaming Nigerian made movies. But poor internet infrastructure and high data costs mean stunted growth for streaming services in Nigeria. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja. …

A Kenyan ice hockey team, the only one in East Africa, has hosted an exhibition tournament with teams made up by foreign diplomats.  The Kenya Ice Lions hope to bring more attention to the sport and its bid to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics.  Sarah Kimani reports from Nairobi. …

The United States is convening an economic workshop in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain Tuesday aimed at jumpstarting the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. America’s Middle East allies are attending but the key players are not there.    The “Peace to Prosperity” conference was initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Mideast envoy, Jared Kushner. The aim is to revive the peace process with economic incentives, while putting aside the thorny political issues until later. The plan offers $27 billion in aid to the Palestinians, most of which would be financed by wealthy Arab states led by Saudi Arabia. Some $23 billion would be earmarked for poorer Arab states bordering Israel, namely, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. The Palestinian Authority is boycotting the workshop, declaring that the plan is a whitewash and dead on arrival. “I have not seen in the document any reference to [Jewish] settlements,” said  Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. “We have not seen in the document any reference to ending [the Israeli] occupation. This workshop is simply a political laundry for settlements and a legitimization of occupation.” Israel is not attending the conference either, because of Arab opposition to normalizing relations before the Palestinian …

China hopes an upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will help build trust and deescalate the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The two leaders are scheduled to meet later this week at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, their first face-to-face meeting since trade talks broke off in May.   Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters Tuesday in Beijing the meeting will hopefully “promote mutual trust” and “resolve some of the outstanding issues we are facing now.” During a phone call Monday between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, they exchanged opinions on trade and and agreed to maintain communications, China’s Commerce ministry said. China’s state-owned Xinhua News Agency said the phone call was requested by U.S. officials. A senior U.S. official said Monday the meeting will provide Trump the chance to get China’s position on the escalating trade war. The official added that Trump would be “comfortable with any outcome” of the meeting. Trump has said he is prepared to impose tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese imports. The move would extend tariffs to everything China transports to the U.S., since …

Mexico’s government vowed on Monday to identify thousands of human remains that have accumulated in morgues and mass graves during more than a decade of gang violence and stirred anger among bereaved families. The government said it would initially commit 400 million pesos ($21 million) to work through the backlog, including updating forensic databases, establishing five new forensic centers, bringing in experts and using new technologies. More than 200,000 people have been killed in gang-fueled violence, and over 40,000 have disappeared since former President Felipe Calderon sent in the armed forces to tackle Mexico’s powerful drug cartels at the end of 2006. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leftist who took office in December, has vowed to end the lawlessness and bring justice for the families, calling previous governments the violators “par excellence” of human rights in the country. Still, 2019 is on track to be the most violent year on record, and protesters shouted at the president during a news conference in which the plans were unveiled. “There will be all the support and all the funds necessary to address this outcry,” Lopez Obrador said at the event in his presidential office. “This is the worst legacy left to …

More men than women in Iraq say they have been sexually harassed, while only 6% of Lebanese people think being gay is acceptable, according to a major survey of public opinion in the Middle East published on Monday. The wide-ranging study, conducted by researchers at Princeton University, found although support for women’s rights and for female leaders was growing, many people still felt men should have the final say in family matters. “Opinions regarding women’s rights and their roles in society are progressing unevenly in the Middle East and North Africa,” said Aseel Alayli of Arab Barometer, the research network that conducted the survey. “There is little agreement that women should play equal roles in public or private life.” Arab Barometer surveyed more than 25,000 people across 10 countries and the Palestinian territories for the study, which was commissioned by BBC News Arabic. Its findings have revealed the complex and often conflicting views held by people in the region on LGBT+ and women’s rights. Attitudes are shifting on certain topics, the research showed, with Jordanians and Moroccans more supportive of women gaining a university education than they were in 2006. Several Gulf governments including Saudi Arabia refused “full and fair …

At least four Chinese nationals have been charged in connection with a building collapse in Cambodia that killed 28 construction workers last Saturday. The four nationals, including the building’s owner, have been charged in the Preah Sihanouk provincial court with involuntary homicide, involuntarily causing injuries and conspiracy related to those charges. The unfinished seven-story condominium project, located in the ocean resort town of Sihanoukville, doubled as temporary housing for at least 50 to 60 workers.  At least 26 workers were injured in the disaster, while two men were pulled out alive Monday.   In a statement released Monday, the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh said it “supports a thorough investigation of the accident and necessary measures by competent Cambodian authority in accordance with the law.” It also said it was mobilizing Chinese assistance for the rescue effort.   Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who visited the site late Sunday, announced on his Facebook page that he was establishing a special committee to exert control of Chinese building projects in the town.  He also said in his Facebook message that he asked provincial Governor Yun Min to resign and he agreed to do so. Sihanoukville has seen a boom in Chinese …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered an unprecedented election defeat when his political rivals won control of his home city of Istanbul Sunday. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …