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The United States will get a step closer to establishing a space force next week.  Vice President Mike Pence and Pentagon officials told the National Space Council on Tuesday the U.S. Space Command will officially be up and running Aug. 29. Creation of the new command is seen as a likely step toward the creation of a space force as a separate military entity. “The United States Space Force will ensure that our nation is prepared to defend our people, defend our interests, and to defend our values in the vast expanse of space and here on Earth with the technologies that will support our common defense for the vast reaches of outer space,” Pence said.  Pence said setting up the command still needs congressional funding and authority, but he said he expects that to happen soon.  The launch of the Space Command will accelerate what has been a decades-long effort to reorganize and improve the military’s technological advances in space, which at times have gotten less attention as the Air Force has focused on warplanes and other combat priorities. The military’s role in space has been under scrutiny because the United States is increasingly reliant on orbiting satellites that …

An asylum deal with the United States would “necessarily” depend on economic benefits to its country, Guatemala president-elect Alejandro Giammattei told VOA’s Latin America Division on Monday. After weeks of intense, and at times turbulent, U.S.-Guatemala negotiations on a “safe third country” asylum deal, the Trump Administration signed such an agreement with Guatemala’s outgoing government on July 26, two weeks before a second and final round of presidential elections in that country. The deal, already facing legal barriers from Guatemala’s Constitutional Court, would bar migrants who pass through Guatemala from applying for asylum in the United States if they did not apply in Guatemala first, a measure that would largely affect Honduran and Salvadoran migrants, among others. A man carries boxes past the Spanish message: “No third country” near Congress in Guatemala City, July 30, 2019. But since the country’s elections in August, the incoming president of Guatemala has voiced concerns and doubts about both the language and feasibility of such a deal, given the structural challenges of housing and employing thousands of asylees, in a country that faces extreme poverty of its own. The following is a partial transcript of VOA Noticias‘ interview with Giammattei. It has been edited for …

Russia told an agency that verifies a ban on nuclear tests that a military test accident in the country’s north this month was none of its business and that handing it any radiation data was voluntary, Interfax news agency reported Tuesday. The Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said on Monday that two Russian monitoring sites closest to the mysterious explosion went offline days after the blast, soon followed by two more, fueling suspicions that Russia tampered with them. The CTBTO said on Tuesday the radioactive-particle sensors of at least one of the four Russian monitoring stations in question were transmitting again. Russia’s state nuclear agency, Rosatom, has acknowledged that five of its nuclear workers were killed in the Aug. 8 explosion during a rocket engine test near the White Sea in far northern Russia. Two Russian military personnel were also reported to have been killed. FILE – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov arrives at the State Department in Washington, July 17, 2017. There has been contradictory information about the accident’s consequences. The Defense Ministry initially said background radiation remained normal after the incident, but Russia’s state weather agency said radiation levels in the nearby city of Severodvinsk had …

On a recent sweltering Saturday, a day now reserved for protest in Hong Kong, a demonstrator named Wayne stepped past a row of plastic barricades, lifted a pair of binoculars and squinted. Four hundred meters away, a line of riot police stood with full-length shields, batons and tear gas launchers. It was a familiar sight for Wayne after more than two months on the front lines of Hong Kong’s turbulent pro-democracy demonstrations. Along with hard hats and homemade shields, face-offs with police have become part of the 33-year-old philosophy professor’s new normal. The stories of Wayne and three other self-described “front line” protesters interviewed by The Associated Press provide insights into how what started as a largely peaceful movement against proposed changes to the city’s extradition law has morphed into a summer of tear gas and rubber bullets. They spoke on condition they be identified only by partial names because they feared arrest. The movement has reached a moment of reckoning after protesters occupying Hong Kong’s airport last week held two mainland Chinese men captive, beating them because they believed the men were infiltrating their movement. In the aftermath, pro-democracy lawmakers and fellow demonstrators — who have stood by the …

The United Nations reports the small oasis town of Murzuq in southwestern Libya has suffered one of the largest losses of civilian life this month since civil war broke out in 2011 following the overthrow of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Escalating violence reportedly has killed at least 90 civilians and injured more than 200 in the small oasis town of Murzuq this month.  OCHA, the U.N. office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reports airstrikes by planes and drones, indiscriminate rocket attacks and shelling, as well as ground fighting have increased the casualty count on all sides of the fighting.   Additionally, the U.N. migration agency reports nearly 9,500 people have been displaced within the town municipality.  OCHA spokesman, Jens Laerke, told VOA people are fleeing from one area to another to get out of the way of aerial and drone attacks. “They are, of course, terrified that if they move, they will be perceived as affiliated to one side or the other and may be targeted.  So, that is why our call really is for those doing the fighting to allow people to leave if they so wish so they can reach a place where they can be …

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation Tuesday, blaming his decision to end his 14-month-old populist government on his rebellious and politically ambitious deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini. Conte told the Senate that the surprise move earlier this month by Salvini’s right-wing League party to seek a no-confidence vote against the coalition was forcing him to “interrupt” what he contended was a productive government. He said that government reflected the results of Italy’s 2018 election and aimed to “interpret the desires of citizens who in their vote expressed a desire for change.”   The coalition included two rivals, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and Salvini’s euroskeptic, anti-migrant right-wing League party.   Conte said he will go later Tuesday to tender his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella. As head of state, Mattarella could ask Conte to stay on and find an alternative majority in Parliament. That is considered an unlikely scenario, however, given the long-festering acrimony among the coalition’s partners and the deep divisions in the opposition Democrats, who would be a potential partner.   Or, after sounding out party chiefs in consultations expected to start as soon as Wednesday, Mattarella could come to the conclusion that another political leader or a …

Israel’s military says it has conducted a joint exercise with U.S. Special Forces simulating the retaking of a hijacked ship. The drill, held last Wednesday, comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf and efforts by the Trump administration to set up a naval security mission to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The military said Tuesday that the two militaries “exercised regaining control of a hijacked ship and extracting forces from enemy territory.” The army said the drill had no connection to recent events and was planned as part of its annual training plan. Israeli media this month quoted Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz as telling a parliamentary committee that Israel was taking part in the U.S.-led coalition.   …

 This is where Earth’s refrigerator door is left open, where glaciers dwindle and seas begin to rise. New York University air and ocean scientist David Holland, who is tracking what’s happening in Greenland from both above and below, calls it “the end of the planet.” He is referring to geography more than the future. Yet in many ways this place is where the planet’s warmer and watery future is being written.   It is so warm here, just inside the Arctic Circle, that on an August day, coats are left on the ground and Holland and colleagues work on the watery melting ice without gloves. In one of the closest towns, Kulusuk, the morning temperature reached a shirtsleeve 52 degrees Fahrenheit (10.7 degrees Celsius).   The ice Holland is standing on is thousands of years old. It will be gone within a year or two, adding yet more water to rising seas worldwide.   In this Aug. 16, 2019, photo, NY University air and ocean scientist David Holland, left, and field safety officer Brian Rougeux, are helped by pilot Martin Norregaard as they carry antennas out of a helicopter to be installed at the Helheim glacier. Summer this year is …

Jeffrey Epstein signed a will just two days before he killed himself in jail, new court records show, opening a new legal front in what could be a long battle over the financier’s fortune. Court papers filed last week in the U.S. Virgin Islands list no details of beneficiaries but valued the estate at more than $577 million, including more than $56 million in cash. The existence of the will, first reported by the New York Post, raised new questions about Epstein’s final days inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. Epstein signed the document Aug. 8. Less than 48 hours later, he was found dead in his cell, prompting an investigation that has cast a harsh light on staffing shortages at the Manhattan detention center. Prosecutors on Monday moved to dismiss the indictment against Epstein but have said they are considering charging others with facilitating his alleged abuse of dozens of girls. The filing of the will, meanwhile, had been closely followed by lawyers representing women who claim they were sexually abused by Epstein when they were teenagers and recruited into his residences to provide him massages. Several attorneys …

The “fundamentals” of the U.S. economy are solid, the White House asserted, invoking an ill-fated political declaration of a decade ago amid mounting concern that a recession could imperil President Donald Trump’s reelection. Exhibiting no such concern, senior adviser Kellyanne Conway declared to reporters on Monday, “The fact is, the fundamentals of our economy are very strong.”   It’s a phrase with a history. Republican John McCain was accused of being out of touch when he made a similar declaration during the 2008 presidential campaign just hours before investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, setting off a stock market crash and global financial decline.   A case can be made for the White House position. The U.S. job market is setting records for low unemployment, and the economy has continued uninterrupted growth since Trump took office. But growth is slowing, stock markets have swung wildly in recent weeks on recession fears, and indicators in the housing and manufacturing sectors have given economists pause. A new survey Monday showed a big majority of economists expecting a downturn to hit by 2021 at the latest, according to a report from the National Association of Business Economics. Trump begs to disagree.   …

An environmental analysis shows the proposed site for David Beckham’s Major League Soccer stadium in Miami is far more toxic than previously expected. The Miami Herald reports the analysis found arsenic contamination reaching more than twice the legal limit, and surface-level soil samples containing hazardous debris at the Melreese golf course site, where people have played golf for more than 50 years. The consultant’s report says almost the entire site near Miami International Airport is contaminated by ash from a municipal incinerator shut down long ago. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Monday night that team officials said the findings could increase cleanup costs to $50 million at the site. The sprawling $1 billion commercial and stadium complex would serve as home to Beckham’s MLS team, Inter Miami.   …

Democrats still shaken by the 2010 tea party wave that netted Republicans six governors’ offices, flipped 21 statehouse chambers and drove nearly 700 Democratic state legislators from office are mounting a comeback, pouring millions of dollars into state level races.   In a longtime Republican district covering a wealthy enclave of Dallas, Democratic challenger Shawn Terry has raised $235,000, an eye-popping amount for a statehouse race that’s more than a year away. In Virginia, where the GOP holds a slim majority, Democrats have outraised Republicans for the first time in years. Democrats are even putting some money in deeply Republican Louisiana.   The cash deluge shows how the consequences of next year’s elections run far deeper than President Donald Trump’s political fate. The party that controls state legislatures will take a leading role in the once-in-a-decade redistricting process that redraws congressional maps. Newly empowered Republicans used that process to their favor following the tea party victories, and Democrats want to use the same playbook. “There is, especially for this cycle, a very strong focus on redistricting,” Terry said.   The stakes are particularly high following a recent Supreme Court ruling that decided federal courts have no business policing political boundary …

Few Muslim Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have responded to plans for their repatriation to Myanmar, and all who did said they don’t want to go back, officials from the U.N. refugee agency and Bangladesh’s government said Tuesday. Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, Abul Kalam, said only 21 families out of 1,056 selected for repatriation starting Thursday were willing to be interviewed by officials about whether they wish to return. He said all the families said they would not go back. He said the mood in the sprawling camps in Cox’s Bazar where about 1 million Rohingya refugees are sheltered was calm and cordial. “There has been no chaos like in the past. They have gone to the officials for the interviews and talked freely. This is very positive, they now understand the situation better,” he said. “We have tomorrow, I am hopeful that many other families will face the interviews,” he said. Louise Donovan, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, said in an email that a second interview would be conducted with refugees who agree to go back in “intention surveys” like the ones conducted Tuesday. Some Rohingya interviewed Tuesday said they would not return unless Myanmar gives them citizenship. Myanmar has refused to …

Joe Biden won’t be among the parade of White House hopefuls in California this week, skipping the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting to campaign in New Hampshire instead. The former vice president will have the nation’s first primary state essentially to himself as his top rivals jockey for attention from hundreds of Democratic officials gathered in San Francisco for the party’s last national meeting before presidential voting begins in February.   Biden’s choice is partly a reflection of Democrats’ new rules that strip DNC members of their presidential nominating votes on the first 2020 convention ballot. But it’s just as much an indication of Biden’s deliberate front-runner strategy as he continues to lead national and state primary polls: The 76-year-old candidate is choosing carefully when to appear alongside the candidates who are trying to upend him, and he’s keeping a distance, at least publicly, from the party machinery that ultimately proved an albatross to Hillary Clinton in her 2016 loss to Donald Trump.   “He has a real commitment to be in the early states,” said Biden’s campaign chairman, Cedric Richmond, pointing to Biden’s recent four-day swing through Iowa, the first caucus state, along with upcoming trips to South Carolina …

Growing up with albinism, 24-year-old Allan Herbert, a Kenyan journalism graduate, knew he was different. While he did not experience the same stigmatism and discrimination of his peers living with albinism, he had to be shielded from the sun by his peers.  It is this special treatment and media stories of the brutal attacks suffered against albinos that made Herbert start a football team — his way of helping people with the genetic disorder fight for their space in Kenya. This past weekend, the team won its debut match in what Herbert says he hopes is a first of many.  Herbert, founder and team captain of Black Albinism Football Club, Kenya’s first football team made up entirely of young people living with albinism, says the sport brings people together. “Football brings people of different diversity together, and when we decided on a sport, we said football is the easiest, and it is also in the school curriculum so people relate with it easier,” Herbert said. Across East Africa, people with albinism have been targeted in brutal ritual killings for their body parts to be used in witchcraft, mainly due to their white skin — a condition that is caused by …

Britain’s Foreign Office says it is “extremely concerned” by reports that an employee at its Hong Kong consulate has been detained in mainland China.   Hong Kong’s local news website HK01 says the employee, identified as Simon Cheng, failed to return to the former British colony from the neighboring southern city of Shenzhen on August 9, where he had gone to attend a business meeting. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a statement  says it is providing support to Cheng’s family and “seeking further information from authorities in Guangdong province and Hong Kong.” Hong Kong has been gripped by nearly two months of heated and often violent anti-government protests. Beijing was angered when British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had a telephone conversation with Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Friday about the demonstrations earlier this month. China’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying it “solemnly demands” that the British “immediately stop all actions that meddle in Hong Kong affairs and interfere in China’s internal affairs.”   …

Seattle is home to giant multinational companies such as Microsoft and Amazon. But it’s also the home of glass art in the United States. The Chihuly Glass Museum is home to thousands of glass artworks by artist Dale Chihuly. Valdya Baraputri from VOA’s Indonesian Service reports. …

This year, 700 leaders from Sub Saharan Africa participated in the Young African Leaders Initiative, or YALI fellowship, across the U.S. Launched in 2014, YALI’s flagship program – the Mandela Washington Fellowship — is funded by the U.S. Department of State. The program brings young African leaders between the ages of 25 to 35 who excel in business, public management, or civic engagement to the U.S. Sahar Majid has more about the program and the YALI fellows in this report narrated by Kathleen Struck.  …

An investment fund designed for animal rights advocates and environmentalists, the first of its kind according to financial experts, is set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) next month. VEGN, as it will show on the NYSE’s floor, enters the fray of hundreds of funds that consider environmental, social or governance (ESG) factors in their investment decisions but will be unique in going animal cruelty-free, experts said. U.S. assets under management that follow ESG principles have been surging, representing one in four dollars last year, up from one in five in 2016, according to The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, a Washington-based non-profit. Holding such investments is a way to pressure companies to change their behavior in order not to miss investors, said Tensie Whelan, who heads the New York University’s Center for Sustainable Business. “It’s an interesting offering because it’s the only one of its kind,” she said in a telephone interview. VEGN, the ticker symbol for the exchange-traded fund (ETF), whose full name is US Vegan Climate Exchange Traded ETF, will exclude stocks among the 500 largest U.S. companies that “rely on animal exploitation”, said its creator Beyond Investing. It will be listed …

Russia’s Norilsk smelter complex and a town in South Africa’s eastern coal mining province have the highest sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions in the world, according to satellite data from U.S. space agency NASA. The NASA-compiled data published on Monday was commissioned by environmental group Greenpeace India and used the space authority’s satellites to track anthropogenic sulphur dioxide emission hot spots around the world. Scientists say that excessive exposure to SO2 particles causes long-term respiratory difficulties and stunted growth in infants among other problems. Norilsk, 300km (186 miles) inside the Arctic Circle, has the largest individual SO2 emissions, followed by the South African town of Kriel, about 150km east of Johannesburg, Monday’s report found. The industrial city of Norilsk is home to Norilsk Nickel, the world’s leading nickel and palladium producer. The company is implementing  a massive program to improve the ecology of the city and its surroundings. The first stage of the program is complete. After the closure of an old nickel plant and reconstruction of nearby plants, emissions in the city’s residential area fell by 30%, Nornickel told Reuters on Monday. The second phase will involve a $2.5 billion sulphur project to help to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions in …

The first American spacecraft expected to land on the moon in nearly 50 years will be a robotic moon lander built by closely held Astrobotic Technology and launched in two years by United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, the companies told Reuters on Monday. Astrobotic was one of nine companies chosen in November to compete for $2.6 billion to develop small space vehicles and other technology for 20 missions to explore the lunar surface over the next decade. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic picked Vulcan, being developed by a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to launch its Peregrine lander from Florida’s Cape Canaveral in summer 2021.  Barring schedule slips, Astrobotic said Peregrine would be the first American spacecraft to touch down on the moon since Apollo astronauts touched down in 1972. The mission will ferry technology and experiments to the moon under a NASA program that will lay the groundwork for astronaut trips by 2024 under the optimistic schedule laid out by the Trump administration. “Our first flight on Vulcan is also the first big step in going back to the moon,” United Launch Alliance Chief Executive Tory Bruno told Reuters ahead of the announcement. Astrobotic said in May that NASA awarded …

Walt Disney Co. said on Monday it will launch its Disney+ video streaming service in Canada and the Netherlands on Nov. 12, the same date as its previously announced United States launch. Disney+ will also launch in Australia and New Zealand a week later, the company said in a statement, adding that the service will be priced between $6 to $8 per month in these countries. Disney’s new service will exclusively stream its latest movies including “Avengers: Endgame,” “Aladdin” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” the company said. The service will also draw upon Disney’s library of its existing films. The owner of ESPN and theme parks had announced earlier this month that it would offer a bundle of its three streaming services, Disney+, sports service ESPN+, and Hulu, at a discounted price of $13 per month. That price is the same as Netflix Inc’s most popular plan, which allows streaming on two devices simultaneously. Video streaming competition is set to intensify, with Apple, WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and Comcast’s NBCUniversal planning to roll out new services. U.S. customers are increasingly cutting the cord on cable TV, but now must decide how much they want to pay for digital offerings. …

Polish opposition parties have joined forces to try to win a majority in the upper house of parliament, the Senate, in parliamentary elections on Oct. 13, as they struggle to oust the ruling nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) from power. Opinion polls show PiS winning a second four-year term with more than 40 percent of the vote for the more powerful lower house, the Sejm, which is elected on a system of proportional representation based on party lists. But the Senate is chosen on a system of first-past-the-post, whereby the candidate who wins most votes in a given constituency is duly elected. By agreeing not to put up rival candidates, the opposition parties increase their chances of defeating PiS. “We believe that a list of jointly agreed candidates for the Senate offers us an opportunity to win the Senate elections,” Krzysztof Gawkowski, secretary-general of the leftist Wiosna party, told private Radio Zet on Sunday. The Senate scrutinizes, debates and can reject legislation passed by the Sejm. Critics say PiS has used its current majority in both the Sejm and the Senate to rush through bills without proper oversight or time to analyze their impact. PiS, a socially conservative, eurosceptic …

Three stone pillars were placed Monday near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, marking the final step in a $2 million effort to memorialize the bombing that killed three people. The understated monument of granite and bronze, which took four years to plan and develop, was supposed to be ready last year for the fifth anniversary of the April 15, 2013, attack, but underwent significant redesigns and other delays. “We hope that this will help demarcate the sacredness of this spot and give people the opportunity to slow down when they’re here,” said Bolivian-born sculptor Pablo Eduardo as he put finishing touches on the monuments Monday. Nichola Forrester, a Milton, Massachusetts, resident who completed the 2013 race long before the bombs detonated, was among those pausing to reflect on their lunch break. “I said a prayer for them,” she said after asking a bystander to take a photo of her beside one of the pillars. “I’m pretty sure these three victims had cheered for me when I was going through the finish line, so the least I could do was come out and show my support.” Patricia Campbell, the mother of bombing victim Krystle Campbell, said she was grateful …