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VOA Contributor Greta Van Susteren interviews National Security Advisor John Bolton on topics including Venezuela sanctions, Russian and Chinese involvement in Venezuela, Hong Kong protests, North Korea, nuclear proliferation, Myanmar refugee crisis. Q: “Voice of America reaches all over the world, including directly into Venezuela and the surrounding countries. A lot of chaos going on there. What’s the message that you want to get to the people of Venezuela. What do they need to know about American policy?”  National Security Advisor John Bolton: “Well that we are entirely behind their justifiable desire to be able to control their own government to get rid of this authoritarian military regime that’s basically ruined the economy of the country over the last twenty years. The nations of the Western Hemisphere are almost unanimously behind their desire to see a peaceful transfer of power. Fifty six governments have recognized Juan Guaido as the legitimate interim president, that’s the first time that there’s ever been that kind of rejection of the Maduro regime. So times are hard in Venezuela now, that’s because of twenty years of mismanagement of the economy.  But our desire is to see this peaceful transfer of power and have really true …

A federal judge on Thursday ordered Georgia to stop using its outdated voting machines after this year and to be ready with hand-marked paper ballots if its new system isn’t in place for the presidential primaries. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg’s 153-page ruling Thursday is not a complete victory for either side.   A federal lawsuit filed by election integrity advocates and individual Georgia voters argues that the paperless touchscreen voting machines Georgia has used since 2002 are unsecure, vulnerable to hacking and can’t be audited. They have been seeking statewide use of hand-marked paper ballots.   A law passed this year provided specifications for a new system. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certified a new system last week and said new machines will be in place for the state’s presidential primary election on March 24.   But the plaintiffs had asked Totenberg to order the state to immediately stop using the current system, which it plans to use for special and municipal elections this year. They also said they feared that the timeline for the implementation of the new machines is too tight, which could result in the old machines being used for 2020 elections.   Totenberg’s order made …

In a show of force to discourage anti-government protests, Zimbabwe police with water cannons patrolled the capital’s streets and warned residents “you will rot in jail” if they participate in the demonstrations planned for Friday.   Six anti-government activists have been abducted and tortured this week ahead of the protests, as tensions rise over Zimbabwe’s deteriorating economic conditions, according to human rights groups. President Emmerson Mnangagwa urged the opposition to engage in dialogue, but at the same time his government is pushing for parliament to quickly adopt new security legislation criticized as repressive. The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party said it will roll out “peaceful” protests starting this week to try to force Mnangagwa to set up a transitional authority to address economic problems and organize credible elections. The protests will spread to other cities next week, the opposition said. Teams of police officers searched vehicles at checkpoints on roads leading into the city. Police said the protests are likely to be violent, and warned people to stay away. “Do not take part, you will rot in jail” shouted police officers using megaphones in downtown Harare and some residential areas. “Intelligence and concrete evidence on the ground has …

America’s top representative in Taiwan said Thursday that Washington expects the island to continue increasing its defense spending as Chinese security threats to the U.S. ally continue to grow.   W. Brent Christensen said the U.S. had “not only observed Taiwan’s enthusiasm to pursue necessary platforms to ensure its self-defense, but also its evolving tenacity to develop its own indigenous defense industry.” That was a nod to President Tsai Ing-wen’s drive to develop domestic training jets, submarines and other weapons technology, supplementing arms bought from the U.S. “These investments by Taiwan are commendable, as is Taiwan’s ongoing commitment to increase the defense budget annually to ensure that Taiwan’s spending is sufficient to provide for its own self-defense needs,” Christensen said in a speech. “And we anticipate that these figures will continue to grow commensurate with the threats Taiwan faces.”   Christensen is the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, which has served as the de facto U.S. Embassy in Taiwan since formal diplomatic relations were cut in 1979.   While China and Taiwan split during a civil war in 1949, Beijing still considers Taiwan Chinese territory and has increased its threats to annex the self-governing democracy by force if …

A newspaper in Gibraltar says the United States has applied to seize an Iranian supertanker that authorities in the British overseas territory were seeking to release from detention. The Gibraltar Chronicle says the development means a last minute application by the U.S. Department of Justice to extend the ship’s detention prompted the Supreme Court to adjourn its decision until later Thursday.  The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.  The tanker was seized last month in a British Royal Navy operation off Gibraltar. It’s suspected of violating European Union sanctions on oil shipments to Syria, and its seizure deepened international tensions in the Persian Gulf. The Gibraltar government says it is seeking to “de-escalate” the situation over the Grace 1. …

Criminal justice activists have long complained that in the United States, routine traffic violations can turn poor people into criminals. The inability to pay fines leads to more fines and penalties, often turning communities against law enforcement. In Ferguson, Missouri, the unrelated shooting death of an unarmed black man five years ago led the community and the police to reassess these practices, sparking a national conversation.  Masood Farivar reports.   …

According to the polls, former Vice President Joe Biden continues to hold a lead over the large pack of Democratic presidential contenders for next year’s election. Despite his standing in the polls, concerns linger about Biden’s age and his habit of making verbal gaffes, and that has some Democrats questioning whether he is the best candidate to go up against President Donald Trump next year. Like most of his rivals, Biden has focused his campaign efforts in the early voting state of Iowa in recent weeks. Iowa will kick off the primary voting process with its caucus votes Feb. 3. President Donald Trump talks to reporters at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., Aug. 13, 2019. Targeting Trump In speaking to Democratic voters, Biden often makes the desire to defeat President Trump his primary campaign focus. “If we give him eight years, and I really believe this from the bottom of my heart, he will forever change the character and the nature of who we are,” Biden told a rally in Boone, Iowa, last week. “That is why we have to defeat Donald Trump in 2020. Period.” Biden remains atop national and key state polls for now but faces strong …

Opinion polls show that former Vice President Joe Biden continues to lead the large pack of Democratic presidential contenders for 2020. But concerns about Biden’s age and his habit of making verbal gaffes have some Democrats questioning whether he would be the best candidate to go up against President Donald Trump next year. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington on Biden’s status as the Democratic Party frontrunner.   …

Malaysian police said Thursday there were no signs of foul play in the death of a 15-year-old London girl who mysteriously disappeared from a nature resort, with an autopsy showing she succumbed to intestinal bleeding because of starvation and stress. Nora Anne Quoirin’s body was discovered Tuesday beside a small stream about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) from the Dusun eco-resort after she disappeared from her family’s resort cottage Aug. 4. Negeri Sembilan state police chief Mohamad Mat Yusop said the autopsy found no evidence the teenager had been abducted or raped. She was estimated to have been dead two or three days and not more than four when her naked body was found, he said. “For the time being, there is no element of abduction or kidnapping,” he told a news conference at a police station. “The cause of death was upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to duodenal ulcer, complicated with perforation … it could be due to a lack of food for a long period of time and due to prolonged stress,” he said. Mohamad said there were also some bruises on the girl’s legs but wouldn’t cause her death. Samples taken from her body will be sent to the …

Immigration raids in the U.S. led to the apprehension of more than 1,500 undocumented immigrants at job sites last year. They are among about 250,000 immigrants deported in 2018 by the Trump administration. On average about 15 employers per year face criminal charges for hiring undocumented workers. As VOA’s Brian Padden reports, advocates and opponents of tighter immigration restrictions argue that raids do little to deter illegal immigration as long as employers are not held accountable.    …

Uganda’s Communication Commission announced, Aug. 8, 2019, that all commercial online publishers must register with the government. The commission says the publishers have to be watched to ensure they are posting appropriate content.  Ugandan social media influencers and news organizations see the requirement as a step toward limiting freedom of speech and the press. Halima Athumani reports from Kampala. …

About 650 million girls worldwide were married before age 18. That is about 17% of the world’s female population, according to UNICEF. These marriages often keep girls from completing their education and can lead to devastating psychological and physical consequences. In a yearlong project, Voice of America met with child brides from Albania to Pakistan to Tanzania.Jesusemen Oni has more.   …

A group of Israeli volunteers recently brought some Palestinian families and their children to the beach, offering a chance for many of the kids to see the ocean for the first time. The trip to the beach was a way of making peace, one child at a time. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA News.   …

Next month, the National Football League, America’s professional football league, will open its 100th season with a game featuring its oldest rivalry, Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers, teams that first faced off in 1921. The Green Bay Packers, based in a city of just more than 100,000 in the state of Wisconsin, hold a number of distinctions, among them: they play in the smallest market for any major U.S. sports franchise, and they are publicly owned. VOA’s Jeff Custer has more from Green Bay.   …

KATHMANDU, NEPAL — A Nepal government committee formed after a bad mountaineering season on Mount Everest has recommended requiring climbers to have scaled tall peaks, undergone proper training, and possess certificates of good health and insurance that would cover rescue costs if required.    A report by the committee released Wednesday says people must have successfully climbed a peak higher than 6,500 meters (21,320 feet) before they can apply for permits to scale Mount Everest. Each climber would also be required to have a highly experienced guide.    Of the 11 people who died during the spring climbing season this year, nine were climbing from the southern side of the peak in Nepal, making it one of the worst years on the mountain.      The government was criticized for allowing too many climbers on the world’s highest peak.      Mountaineering authorities were also criticized for not stopping inexperienced climbers who had difficulty coping with harsh conditions on Everest and slowed down other climbers on the trail to the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit.    The government is expected to amend its mountaineering regulations following the recommendations.    The March-May climbing season is when weather conditions are best for climbing the Himalayan mountain.  …

Christy Lee and Kim Young-gyo contributed to this report which originated on VOA’s Korean Service. WASHINGTON — The recent missile tests by North Korea, including one Saturday, show potential weapons that are designed to circumvent any preemptive strikes that would destroy them on their launch pads before being fired, experts said. North Korea wants to “be able to roll out a launcher, fire immediately, and not give the U.S. and South Korea an opportunity to attack the launcher and destroy them before they can launch their missiles,” said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense and analyst at the Rand Corp. North Korea said Sunday it FILE – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guides the test firing of a new weapon, in this undated photo released Aug. 11, 2019, by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency. What kind of missile is it? According to experts, the latest missiles North Korea launched are similar to the KN-23, which has specifications comparable to the Russian-made Iskander type missile that Pyongyang began testing in May. “It looks like it is the same diameter as the KN-23, the Iskander look-alike [but] is shorter,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “It is …

Thousands of women from across Brazil marched through the capital Wednesday, demanding better working conditions on farms and protesting against right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.    “We are working from sun to sun, rain to rain, just to be able to bring food to the table,” one woman said, while another appealed to the government “to have mercy and do the original land reform for working people who want a piece of land to work with, raise their children and grandchildren.”    The women also marched against Bolsonaro, who has been long accused of making racist and sexist comments. His cuts to education funding set off another large protest by students and teachers in Brasilia on Tuesday.     Bolsonaro is also facing international criticism for his seeming indifference to Amazon rainforest destruction.    Wednesday’s “March of the Margaridas” is held every four years. It was named for Brazilian union leader Margarida Maria Alves, who was murdered in 1983.  …

Botswana is battling an influx of illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe, as the Zimbabwean government struggles to overcome a deep economic crisis. But authorities in Botswana appear to be losing the battle, as those who are deported are soon back in the country. Prosper Kandanhamo and Thomas Gundani left Zimbabwe and entered Botswana illegally because of the moribund economy in their homeland. “I came to Botswana because back home in Zimbabwe, there are no job opportunities,” Kandanhamo said. The two are among the many illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe who line the streets of Gaborone looking for odd jobs. Not so welcome But they are an unwelcome sight for authorities and subject to frequent police raids. The number of Zimbabweans arrested and deported in Botswana rose from 22,000 in 2015 to nearly 29,000 in 2018. Kandanhamo, an accountant, says they are often caught. “It’s better to be caught by the police,” he said. “At the (police) cells, they will give you food and transport to the border. They deport you, and you find your way back (rather) than to go back to Zimbabwe.” Gundani, a painter, says they would rather risk arrest than return to face hardship in Zimbabwe. “We just have …

This story originated in VOA’s Albanian Service.  TIRANA, ALBANIA – Press freedom advocates and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Albania are fighting a government-proposed defamation law that, critics say, would grant the country’s top media regulator too much power. According to the latest version of the draft law, Albania’s Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA) could impose fines nearing $10,000 on online media outlets that are accused of damaging a person’s reputation or infringing on their privacy before the outlets can elect to have the case heard in a court of law. In most countries, such adjudicatory powers — the review of evidence, argumentation and legal reasoning for determining rights and obligations of the parties involved — are typically restricted to the courts. If passed into law, the bill would require that online publications deemed in violation of the law could have their cases heard in court only after paying the AMA-imposed fine. For online publications with limited funding, such a law could decimate their finances, even if a court ultimately decides in their favor, especially in a country where administrative courts are extensively backlogged. ‘Fake news’ a major concern Government officials who support the law say …

A former Blackwater private security guard was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison after a retrial on murder charges for his role in the notorious 2007 massacre of unarmed civilians in Baghdad. Nicholas Slatten was convicted in December of first-degree murder by a federal jury in U.S. District Court in Washington, the second time he had been found guilty on the charges. Slatten was convicted of murdering Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubia’y, 19, an aspiring doctor who was one of more than a dozen civilians killed by guards of the private security group Blackwater in Baghdad’s Nisour Square on Sept. 16, 2007. While escorting a diplomatic convoy, Blackwater guards opened fire in the bustling square with sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers — allegedly without provocation — leaving at least 14 civilians dead and at least 18 wounded. The Iraqi government says the toll was higher. The shooting deepened Iraqi resentment of Americans in the country four years after U.S. forces toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and raised questions about Washington’s expanded use of armed contract guards. In court for sentencing Wednesday, Slatten remained defiant, calling the decision a “miscarriage of justice that will not stand,” according to The New …

A vaping industry group sued the U.S. government on Wednesday to delay an upcoming review of thousands of e-cigarettes on the market. The legal challenge by the Vapor Technology Association is the latest hurdle in the Food and Drug Administration’s yearslong effort to regulate the multibillion-dollar vaping industry, which includes makers and retailers of e-cigarette devices and flavored solutions. The vaping group argued that the latest deadline of next May to submit products for review could wipe out many of the smaller companies. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Kentucky.    E-cigarettes first appeared in the U.S. more than a decade ago and have grown in popularity despite little research on their long-term effects, including whether they can help smokers quit cigarettes. FILE – A cashier displays a packet of tobacco-flavored Juul pods at a store in San Francisco, June 17, 2019. In recent years, health authorities have warned of an epidemic of vaping by underage teenagers, particularly the leading brand Juul, known for its high nicotine content and easy-to-conceal device, which resembles a flash drive.    Nicotine is what makes both cigarettes and e-cigarettes addictive, and health experts say the chemical is harmful to developing brains. …

Canada’s ethics commissioner said Wednesday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau improperly pressured the country’s former attorney general to halt the criminal prosecution of a company, a development that could imperil his re-election chances.  The report comes just before the official start of campaigning for the Oct. 21 general election and it threatens to re-inflame a scandal that rocked the government earlier this year, causing a drop in poll ratings that had since abated. Ethics commissioner Mario Dion said Trudeau’s attempts to influence the former attorney general and justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, were contrary to the constitutional principle of prosecutorial independence. “The prime minister, directly and through his senior officials, used various means to exert influence over Ms. Wilson-Raybould,” Dion wrote.  “The authority of the prime minister and his office was used to circumvent, undermine and ultimately attempt to discredit the decision of the director of public prosecutions as well as the authority of Ms. Wilson-Raybould.”  Trudeau said at a news conference that he takes responsibility “for everything,” but said he “can’t apologize for standing up for Canadian jobs.”   Wilson-Raybould believes she was demoted from her role as attorney general and justice minister to veterans’ affairs minister in January because …

Tunisia’s independent electoral body says 26 candidates have qualified to run in the country’s early presidential election on Sept. 15, out of 96 who were seeking the job. The number of candidates could increase when the final list is announced on Aug. 31, after the appeals process.     Among those sure to bid for Tunisia’s highest office, according to Wednesday’s announcement, are Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and his defense minister who resigned to run in the presidential race, Abdelkrim Zbidi. Lawyer Abdelfattah Mourou plans to be a candidate for Islamist party Ennahdha, which now holds the most seats in parliament.    The early election follows the July 25 death of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, 92, the North African nation’s first democratically elected president. …

Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Wednesday unveiled a package of welfare subsidies and tax cuts for lower-income workers to lessen the impact of an economic crisis just months before a re-election bid, but his announcement did not halt the peso currency’s collapse. Amid signs that Argentines are already cutting back on buying goods due to a currency crash this week, the peso closed 7.1% weaker on Wednesday to reach 60.2 per U.S. dollar. The peso has lost a quarter of its value since Monday due mostly to market concerns that opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez will bring back interventionist economic policies if he wins October’s presidential election as looks likely. Argentina is currently suffering a recession and an inflation rate of 55%. Macri said he would raise the minimum wage, temporarily freeze gasoline prices and increase the income tax bracket floor by 20%. That would allow a tax cut for two million workers worth some 2,000 pesos ($33) per month per person, the government said. Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri looks on during a news conference after the presidential primaries, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug. 12, 2019. Better known for austerity measures earlier in his time in office, Macri said the government …