POPGAZETA

President Donald Trump says he’s still considering whether to sign commutation papers freeing former Illinois governor and one-time “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant Rod Blagojevich from federal prison in Colorado. Trump told reporters Thursday before leaving from Morristown, New Jersey, that he “floated” the prospect of commutation “to see where the Democrats stood, where the Republicans stood.” Republican Congressman Darin LaHood of Illinois told WLS-TV on Thursday that he told Trump a commutation wouldn’t send the right message. The office of Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois also said Trump called Durbin last week to discuss Blagojevich’s sentence and Durbin didn’t take a position on a possible commutation. Trump previously told reporters he believed the seven years the Democrat Blagojevich has served on a 14-year sentence for corruption was enough. …

Nine Chinese and eight Ukrainian seamen were abducted Thursday when two merchant vessels came under attack in Cameroonian waters in the Gulf of Guinea, sources said Friday. “Seventeen Chinese and Ukrainians were kidnapped … (of whom) nine (are) Chinese who were abducted on one of the ships,” an official in the port of Douala told AFP. A security official, likewise speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the account. The abduction was reported Thursday by sources in the Cameroonian navy and the country’s port service, who said their number and nationalities were unknown. …

Joe Darby, a South Carolina pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, pondered a sensitive question that he knew was on the mind of his congregation. Would black voters be able to reconcile their conservative religious doctrine with voting for a gay candidate for president? “It’s a heavy lift in the black church,” says Darby, who is also a Charleston-area NAACP leader. “Just as nobody who is racist likes to say, ‘I’m a racist,’ nobody who is homophobic in the black community likes to say, ‘I’m homophobic.’” In South Carolina, the first state with a predominantly African American electorate, part of the dialogue focuses on a conflict between a cultural openness for same-sex marriage and the deeply held religious convictions that could impede support for the 2020 race’s only gay candidate — Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. The historically diverse field of Democratic presidential hopefuls is overflowing with options. But it is also forcing conversations about the roles — if any — that gender, race and, for the first time, sexuality should play in voters’ decisions. Black voters comprise more than 60% of South Carolina’s Democratic electorate. But an overwhelming majority of African Americans — 79%, according …

Israel will allow U.S. lawmaker Rashida Tlaib to visit her family in the occupied West Bank on humanitarian grounds, the interior ministry said Friday, after barring an official visit under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he would not allow Tlaib and congresswoman Ilhan Omar, both Democrats, to make a planned trip to Israel. Tlaib and Omar have voiced support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement over Israel’s policies toward Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under Israeli law, BDS backers can be denied entry to Israel. However, Netanyahu said that if Tlaib submitted a request to visit family on humanitarian grounds, Israel would consider it as long as she promised not to promote a boycott against Israel. Tlaib sent a letter to Israel’s Ministry of Interior Thursday requesting permission “to visit relatives, and specifically my grandmother, who is in her 90s,” adding that it “could be my last opportunity to see her.” “I will respect any restrictions and will not promote boycotts against Israel during my visit,” Tlaib wrote in the request, which was circulated by the Ynet website Ynet and other Israeli media. Israel’s interior ministry said …

Australia is offering vulnerable South Pacific nations $340 million to help them deal with the effects of climate change. The announcement came ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to Tuvalu for the Pacific Islands Forum this week, where Australia’s reliance on fossil fuels was a dominant issue. Australia wants to help its Pacific neighbors invest in renewable energy and make their roads, hospitals and schools able to withstand extreme weather events. But Morrison met resistance in Tuvalu at a meeting of Pacific leaders. They have been urging Australia to phase out the use of coal that generates most of its electricity and generates billions of dollars in export earnings. Australia’s Scott Morrison arrived at a meeting of Pacific island leaders in Tuvalu, Aug. 14, 2019, with Canberra’s regional leadership in question amid intense scrutiny of his government’s climate change policies. Questions about aid That appears unlikely, and Australia recently approved a huge new coal mine in the state of Queensland to be run by an Indian company, Adani. Island nations fear that fossil fuels are endangering their way of life as global temperatures increase and the seas rise. Some low-lying communities have already been inundated, and there …

Zimbabwe’s deteriorating economy is forcing many families to put their children to work to put food on the table. Child rights activists say an increasing number of children are selling things on the street to supplement family income. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare for VOA.   …

In Sudan, women are well-represented in the workforce. They are not lacking in any public spaces. And over the past few months, they have made up half, if not more, of the protest crowds making demands of their new transitional government. Women were an integral part of protests that led to the ouster of longtime president Omar al-Bashir, as well as in demonstrations after his fall. However, many female leaders now say they feel they have been locked out of political agreements and do not expect to be named to any positions in the Regional Council. Many feminists have been pushing to negotiate a 50% quota for women in government. Others have argued that 40% would be a more reasonable demand, as the current rate is 30%. But even the 40% has not been met. A young woman protests for more transparency outside the SPA headquarters (E. Sarai/VOA) “Our ambition was to have 50% representation in the government, or at least 40%, but this didn’t happen,” Haifa’a Farouq, a feminist and representative of the Sudanese Professional Association (SPA), told VOA. Farouq is in a unique position; though she works with and for the SPA, she has also taken part in …

Scary folk tales and urban legends have always captivated people’s imaginations, especially those of the young. Now, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” a collection of short stories for children by author Alvin Schwartz and illustrator Stephen Gammell has been adapted by Oscar-winning producer Guillermo Del Toro and director André Øvredal. During its opening weekend, the movie grossed more than $20 million, proving again that teen horror flicks are a lucrative genre. Penelope Poulou has more. …

Women were an integral part of protests that led to the ouster of Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir and in demonstrations after his downfall. But many leaders now say they feel they have been locked out of political agreements and do not expect to be named to any positions in the regional council. In Khartoum, Esha Sarai and Naba Mohiedeen speak with female politicians and feminists who are pushing for more representation.   …

The Trump administration is under renewed fire from environmentalists following its move earlier this week to weaken the Endangered Species Act. At the same time, more than two dozen states and cities as well as a coalition of health and environmental groups are suing the administration over its rollback of the Clean Power Plan, one of President Barack Obama’s signature regulations to reduce the nation’s carbon emissions. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has more. …

With the Philadelphia shooting suspect behind bars, U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday engaged in a blame game with city authorities. The president said the suspect, who has a criminal record, should not have been on the street. A U.S. attorney appointed by Trump blamed Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for the shooting that left six officers wounded. But as VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports, the incident has helped put pressure on the administration to tackle long-avoided gun legislature.   …

For most of his life as a Samburu warrior, Lesaiton Lengoloni thought nothing of hunting giraffes, the graceful giants so common a feature of the Kenyan plains where he roamed. “There was no particular pride in killing a giraffe, not like a lion. … (But) a single giraffe could feed the village for more than a week,” the community elder told AFP, leaning on a walking stick and gazing out to the broad plateau of Laikipia. But fewer amble across his path these days: In Kenya, as across Africa, populations of the world’s tallest mammals are quietly, yet sharply, in decline. Population down sharply Giraffe numbers across the continent fell 40 percent between 1985 and 2015, to just less than 100,000 animals, according to the best figures available to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). But unlike the clarion calls sounded over the catastrophic collapse of elephant, lion and rhino populations, less attention was paid to the giraffe’s private crisis. “The giraffe is a big animal, and you can see it pretty easily in parks and reserves. This may have created a false impression that the species was doing well,” said Julian Fennessy, co-chair of the IUCN’s specialist …

Tie-dyed pilgrims and white-haired Woodstock festival veterans converged at the generation-defining site to celebrate its 50th anniversary, while Arlo Guthrie came back to sing — what else? — “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is hosting a series of events Thursday through Sunday at the bucolic 1969 concert site, 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of New York City. Guthrie, an original Woodstock performer, played an evening set atop the famous hill, but said he also wanted to play at least one song near where the 1969 stage was located. Picking up a guitar, he sang the Bob Dylan classic for a group of reporters gathered on the grass under the wilting afternoon sun. “It was a great time,” Guthrie told reporters, his long white hair flowing from a straw hat. “For me, the Woodstock festival was a celebratory end of an era. It was not the beginning of anything. It was the end of something, and it was an end of a very turbulent time that was also very wonderful.” People hold hands in a circle around a large, illuminated peace sign on the original site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Fair in …

North Korea has launched a fresh round of projectiles toward the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s military reported, Pyongyang’s latest apparent outburst of anger at continued U.S.-South Korean military drills. The North fired two projectiles Friday from Gangwon province in the northeast part of North Korea, according to a statement from Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The statement gave no other details, but said South Korea’s military is on alert for additional launches. North Korea has conducted six launches in about the past three weeks. Combined with a series of aggressive statements toward South Korea, the launches mark a return to a more provocative stance for North Korea, which has refused to hold talks with Seoul or Washington.  Though it isn’t clear what North Korea launched Friday, the North’s other recent tests involved short-range ballistic missiles that appear designed to evade U.S.-South Korean missile defenses. People watch a TV news program reporting about North Korea’s firing projectiles with a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 16, 2019. North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity under United Nations Security Council resolutions. But U.S. President …

Spaceport America is no longer just a shiny shell of hope that space tourism would one day launch from this remote spot in the New Mexico desert. The once-empty hangar that anchors the taxpayer-financed launch and landing facility has been transformed into a custom-tailored headquarters where Virgin Galactic will run its commercial flight operations. The interior spaces unveiled Thursday aim to connect paying customers with every aspect of the operation, providing views of the hangar and the space vehicles as well as the banks of monitors inside mission control. Two levels within the spaceport include mission control, a preparation area for pilots and a lounge for customers and their friends and families, with each element of the fit and finish paying homage to either the desert landscape that surrounds the futuristic outpost or the promise of traveling to the edge of space. Virgin Galactic employees gather at the coffee bar that serves as the heart of the company’s social hub at Spaceport America near Upham, New Mexico, Aug. 15, 2019. From hotel rooms to aircraft cabins, the Virgin brand touts its designs for their focus on the customer experience. Spaceport is no different.  A social hub includes an interactive digital …

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Florida legislators are moving to officially condemn white nationalism, with Democrats and Republicans alike drafting resolutions against hate-spurred violence, but the unity could be short-lived as elected officials plunge into debates over how the government should intervene to prevent more mass killings and rein in white supremacists.    The condemnations come amid an outcry over a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, in which authorities believe the gunman posted a racist screed online shortly before the attack.      Following the shooting, Florida Senate President Bill Galvano, a Republican, called the violence a “reminder that we have more work to do,” and he called on a legislative committee to review what can be done to address white nationalism.     Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris speaks at the Presidential Gun Sense Forum, Aug. 10, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa. Earlier this week, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, a Democratic presidential hopeful, called for a federal “red flag” law that would allow law enforcement to take away guns from white nationalists, if a judge agrees if a person poses an imminent danger.    While Galvano says he’s open to possibly expanding the Florida’s “red flag” laws, he told the Associated Press on Thursday that …

North Korea said Friday it will never sit down with South Korea for talks again, rejecting a vow by the South’s President Moon Jae-in to pursue dialog with Pyongyang made the previous day as he pledged to bring in unification by 2045. The North has protested joint military drills conducted by South Korea and the United States, which kicked off last week, calling them a “rehearsal for war” and has fired several short-range missiles in recent weeks. The loss of dialog momentum between the North and South and the stalemate in implementing a historic summit between their two leaders last year is entirely the responsibility of the South, a North Korean spokesman said in a statement. Blaming US-Korea exercises The spokesman repeated criticism that the joint U.S.-South Korea drills was sign of Seoul’s hostility against the North. “As it will be clear, we have nothing more to talk about with South Korean authorities and we have no desire to sit down with them again,” the North’s spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country said. The committee is tasked with managing the North’s relationship with the South. The rival Koreas remain technically at war under a truce …

CINCINNATI – The gunman in Dayton who killed nine people had cocaine, an antidepressant and alcohol in his system during the mass shooting and was cut down by a barrage of at least two dozen police bullets that penetrated gaps in his body armor, a coroner said Thursday.      Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger said authorities found a pipe device and a baggie of cocaine on Connor Betts, 24. Harshbarger also reported in his preliminary autopsy findings that Betts had more than 50 entry and exit wounds.     “This incident involved an intense firefight that is rarely seen other than combat and an active-shooter incident,” Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said. “The officers were confronted with a moving shooter wearing body armor, actively executing victims with an AR-15-type weapon and high-capacity magazines.”  Police bullets hit two   The coroner said police gunfire hit two people. One of them died, but Harshbarger said the gunman, not police, fired the lethal round.    Police investigators will review the medical records of the 17 who were wounded to determine if any of them were struck by the officers’ bullets, Biehl said.    Police haven’t yet determined a motive for the shooting.   A …

President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States and Britain were moving rapidly towards a deal on trade that would be “fantastic and big.” “I think we’ll make a fantastic and big trade deal with the UK,” Trump told reporters before departing for a political rally in New Hampshire. “That’s moving along rapidly.” He said he had talked to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday and would be speaking with him again. “He and I are very much aligned,” Trump said. The two countries are discussing a partial accord that could take effect on Nov. 1, the day after Britain is due to leave the European Union, a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday. Officials from the two nations have discussed the possibility of a temporary agreement covering all sectors. Such a deal could last for something like six months, the official told reporters. Supporters of Britain’s exit from the EU are hoping for a wide-ranging deal with the United States that could help cushion the nation from any disruption to trade with European neighbors. …

VOA’s Michael Atit contributed to this report from Khartoum. The United States has imposed a visa ban on the former director general of Sudan’s national intelligence and security services for his alleged involvement in gross human rights violations. The State Department, in announcing the ban Wednesday, said it has “credible information” that Salah Abdalla Mohamed Mohamed Salih, also known as Salah Gosh, “was involved in torture during his tenure as head of NISS.”  Gosh, 63, resigned his position as security chief in April, after the military forced out Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir. Gosh had worked with the security force for nearly four decades, according to The National, a Middle East news organization. He faces charges in Sudan of incitement and involvement in the deaths of protesters who pressed for Bashir’s removal after 30 years in power.    The ban blocks Gosh and his family members from entry to the United States. That includes his wife, Awatif Ahmed Seed Ahmed Mohamed, and his daughter, Shima Salah Abdallah Mohamed. “We will continue to hold accountable those who violate human rights,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet.  Reactions from Sudanese Sudanese citizens had a mixed reaction to the U.S. move. “This …

The United States criticized Thursday the government in Afghanistan for releasing from jail and into house arrest a key “fraud perpetrator” before the conclusion of his sentence, allegedly in return for a multimillion-dollar campaign donation. The U.S. reaction came after a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani confirmed the former Kabul Bank chief executive, Khalilullah Ferozi, had been transferred to his residence because of his deteriorating health. “This action, along with the continued failure to execute warrants for those accused of corruption, calls into question the government’s commitment to combating corruption and making best use of donors’ support,” U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass tweeted Thursday. An Afghan woman walks past an election poster of current president and presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani during the first day of campaigning in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 28, 2019. Presidential spokesman Sediq Seddiqi, however, rejected as baseless allegations that Ferozi was granted the concession after a substantial donation to Ghani’s election campaign. “Countless Afghans suffered in the past decade because international assistance funds were stolen for personal gain,” lamented ambassador Bass. Ferozi, along with another senior colleague, Sherkhan Farnood, were tried and sentenced to 10 years and five years, respectively, for their roles in the nearly …

Zimbabwe’s deteriorating economy is forcing many families to put their children to work. Child rights activists say an increasing number of children are selling items on the street to supplement the family income. On a busy corner, a 16-year-old we shall call Tribunal sells wares. Tribunal said this has been her story for the past two years since her mother died and she dropped out of school. She now lives with her 22-year-old sister. She said she gets about $5 a day in sales. Tribunal said she actually wishes for a decent life and does not want to sell stuff here, but that she felt she could not force her father to pay her school fees because he is no longer employed. Tribunal said her father is even failing to pay fees for her 12-year-old brother, which she is now doing. She said she hopes her brother makes it in life. On Thursday, Health and Child Welfare Minister Obadiah Moyo said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government was aware of the plight of Tribunal and other children. He said Harare was working with organizations like UNICEF and other rights groups to remedy the situation. Ratidzai Moyo, a program manager at children’s rights group Childline Zimbabwe, …

The U.N. children’s fund reports the number of children orphaned by Ebola or separated from their parents because of the disease in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has more than doubled since April. Since the epidemic was declared more than one year ago, aid agencies have registered 1,380 children who have lost one or both parents to Ebola. During the same period, nearly 2,470 children have been separated from parents undergoing treatment for the disease or isolated because they have come in contact with an infected person. World Health Organization figures put the number of Ebola cases at 2,831, including nearly 1,900 deaths. UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado says more children are getting sick and dying in this epidemic than in previous ones. FILE – Health workers begin their shift at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, July 16, 2019. “In this epidemic, about 30 percent of the cases are among children, whereas in previous epidemics, the proportion was about 20 percent,” Mercado  said. “As of the fourth of August, there were 787 children below 18 who were infected with Ebola and there have been 527 deaths.” Mercado says the children are under enormous stress and need …

When Chad Johansen voted for Donald Trump in 2016, he hoped he was picking someone who could help small-business owners compete with bigger companies. But that hasn’t happened, and now the 26-year-old owner of NH iPhone Repair feels what he calls “Trumpgret.”   The Republican president has done little to address health care issues for a small employer, he said, and the Manchester man remains on edge about how Trump’s tariffs could affect his business, which employs fewer than 10 people. Beyond that, he said, unrelenting news about bigotry and racism in the Trump administration is “a turnoff.”   “The president’s supposed to be the face of the United States of America,” said Johansen, who voted for Democrat Barack Obama in 2012. “And supposed to make everyone be proud to be an American and stand up for everyone who is an American. And I don’t feel that President Trump’s doing that. I feel like it’s chaos.”   That sentiment is concerning for Trump as he travels to New Hampshire on Thursday for a reelection rally. The state, which he lost by about 2,700 votes in 2016, is doing well economically, at least when using broad measures. But beneath the top-line …