POPGAZETA

China and Vietnam are continuing to clash over a maritime sovereignty dispute despite diplomacy and calm being displayed by other claimants to the same sea. The Communist neighbors talk regularly about their differences party-to-party as well as through diplomatic channels. Around the rest of the contested South China Sea, claimed by six governments total, other countries have largely avoided openhanded spats over the past three years. Yet a new dispute erupts between China and Vietnam about once a year. They’re locked in another one now over energy exploration in an area in the sea that both countries call their own. The two countries continue to spar because of decades, if not centuries, of distrust coupled with material ambitions in the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea, experts say. “I think the big picture on China-Vietnam relations is that they would go for diplomacy and they would go for hardball games,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school. “It’s a very long love-hate relationship between China and Vietnam.” FILE – A man rides a motorcycle past a poster promoting Vietnam’ sovereignty in the East Sea of the South China Sea, on Phu Quoc island, Sept. 11, 2014. …

President Donald Trump has renewed his attacks aimed at four Democratic congresswomen of color, alleging Sunday they are not “capable of loving our Country.”   This follows days of similar statements by the president. Critics have deemed his recent comments about Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayana Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan as ‘racist.’ …

U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to press Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan for help on ending the war in Afghanistan and fighting militants when the two leaders meet at the White House on Monday amid their countries’ strained relations. Last year, Trump cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance to Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of offering “nothing but lies and deceit” while giving safe haven to terrorists, a charge angrily rejected by Islamabad. Khan, who arrived in Washington on Saturday, is expected to try to mend fences and attract much-needed U.S. investment, hoping the arrest last week of a militant leader with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head will lead to a warmer reception. “The purpose of the visit is to press for concrete cooperation from Pakistan to advance the Afghanistan peace process and to encourage Pakistan to deepen and sustain its recent effort to crackdown on militants and terrorists within its territory,” a senior U.S. administration official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States wants to make clear to Pakistan that it is open to repairing relations if Pakistan changes how it handles “terrorists and militants.” FILE – …

Ireland’s Shane Lowry won golf’s British Open on Sunday, his first career major championship, in front of thousands of cheering fans at Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush course alongside the Atlantic Ocean. The bearded, 32-year-old Lowry led going in to the final round of professional golf’s last major championship of the year by four shots and was never seriously challenged. He finished the 72-hole tournament at 15 under par, shooting a one-over par 72 in gusty winds and intermittent rain during the last day of the four-day event. His playing partner, Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood, started Sunday in second and finished second, but six shots behind Lowry, with a final round 74. As the Irish throngs cheered Lowry’s final tap-in par on the last hole, Lowry raised his arms to the leaden skies and broke into a smile of satisfaction. Lowry’s victory meant that four different golfers won the sport’s major championships in 2019, with Americans winning the other three — Tiger Woods at the Masters, Brooks Koepka at the Professional Golfers championship and Gary Woodland at the U.S. Open.   …

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition secured a majority in Japan’s upper house of parliament in elections Sunday, according to vote counts by public television and other media. Exit polls indicated Abe could even close in on the super-majority needed to propose constitutional revisions. NHK public television said Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito had won 64 seats in the upper house after two hours of vote counting. The two-thirds majority needed for constitutional revision could be within reach if the ruling bloc can gain support from members of another conservative party and independents.     Up for grabs were 124 seats in the less powerful of Japan’s two parliamentary chambers. There are 245 seats in the upper house — which does not choose the prime minister — about half of which are elected every three years.   The results appeared to match or even exceed pre-election polls that indicated Abe’s ruling bloc was to keep ground in the upper house, with most voters considering it a safer choice over an opposition with an uncertain track record. To reach the two-thirds majority, or 164 seats, Abe needs 85 more seats by his ruling bloc and supporters of a charter …

U.S. authorities say a Venezuelan fighter jet “aggressively shadowed” an American intelligence plane flying in international airspace over the Caribbean, underscoring rising tensions between the two nations.  The U.S. Southern Command said Sunday that Venezuela’s action demonstrates reckless behavior by President Nicolas Maduro, whose government accused the U.S. of breaking international rules.   U.S. authorities say their EP-3 plane was performing a multi-nationally approved mission and the Venezuelan SU-30 fighter jet closely trailed the plane, which the U.S. says endangered its crew.   Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez says the U.S. plane entered Venezuelan airspace without prior notification.   He says it also endangered commercial flights from Venezuela’s main airport.   The U.S. backs opposition leader Juan Guaido’s attempt to oust Maduro.         …

U.S. President Donald Trump contended Sunday that four minority Democratic congresswomen he has been feuding with are not “capable of loving our Country.” “They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said,” Trump said on Twitter. “They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!” I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) FILE – Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller waits to go on the air in the White House Briefing Room in Washington, Feb. 12, 2017. Trump immigration adviser Stephen Miller, told Fox News that Trump’s critical remarks of U.S. policies during his 2016 campaign were made out of love for America. But he said “there’s a huge difference” between Trump’s credo of promoting “America first” and the lawmakers’ ideology “that runs down America.” Congressman Elijah Cummings, one of several House committee chairmen investigating Trump and his administration’s policies, …

British officials are drawing up plans to target Iran with sanctions for its seizing of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait off Hormuz, and it may urge European Union countries to reimpose sanctions that were lifted in 2016 as part of Tehran’s agreement to curb its nuclear program. The British government is under strong pressure from lawmakers to act decisively in the sharply escalating diplomatic quarrel between the two countries, but there’s growing domestic criticism in the House of Commons about the lack of naval protection for British tankers in the Strait. FILE – In this image from file video provided by UK Ministry of Defence, British navy vessel HMS Montrose escorts another ship during a mission to remove chemical weapons from Syria at sea off coast of Cyprus in February 2014. HMS Montrose was an hour away from the tanker as it was being swarmed by agile, high-speed Iranian small boats and a helicopter. Later the British officer can be heard demanding from the Iranians in a dueling conversation to “please confirm that you are not intending to violate international law by unlawfully attempting to board the MV Stena.” The British-registered ship’s crew is made up of Indian, …

Lufthansa has resumed flying to Cairo following a one-day suspension due to safety concerns. The German airline’s website shows LH582 took off from Frankfurt after an almost two-hour delay and was expected to arrive in Egypt’s capital later Sunday. On Saturday, British Airways announced the suspension of its flights to and from Cairo for seven days for unspecified reasons related to security. British Airways attributed its cancellations to what it called its constant review of security arrangements at all airports, calling them “a precaution to allow for further assessment.” Lufthansa said it was suspending its flights as a precaution, mentioning “safety” but not “security” as its concern. Company spokespeople would not elaborate on what motivated the suspensions.   …

A Sudanese civilian detained and allegedly tortured by security agents in a central town has died in custody, a doctors committee linked to the country’s protest movement said Sunday. The man died on Saturday in the town of Dilling in the state of South Kordofan after he was detained by agents of the feared National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), the doctors committee said in a statement. The detainee “passed away on July 20, 2019 from torture while in detention at the NISS office in Dilling,” the statement said without elaborating on the circumstances of his arrest. “NISS continues to torture and claim innocent civilian lives illegally without facing any consequences.” Officers of NISS were not immediately available for comment. Rights groups and activists had regularly accused NISS agents of cracking down on dissidents and restricting freedoms during the regime of veteran leader Omar al-Bashir who was ousted in April. It was NISS that led a sweeping crackdown on protests against Bashir’s rule that first erupted in December. Dozens were killed and hundreds of protesters, activists and opposition leaders were arrested during the months-long campaign that led to Bashir’s overthrow and subsequent demonstrations calling for civilian rule. Last week a …

Some 1,000 firefighters are working to contain wildfires in central Portugal that have already injured eight firefighters and 12 civilians, authorities said Sunday.  Portugal’s Civil Protection Agency said the fires broke out Saturday across three fronts in the district of Castelo Branco, 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of Lisbon, the capital. Firefighters are being supported by 10 firefighting aircraft and hundreds of vehicles.   It’s the first major bout of wildfires in Portugal this year. Interior Minister Eduardo Cabrita gave the injury toll Sunday and said authorities are investigating the cause of the blazes.   State broadcaster RTP televised images of flames consuming wooded areas of the rural region that has seen recurrent wildfires in Portugal’s hot, dry summer months.   While most of the injured were from smoke inhalation, one civilian was evacuated to a hospital to be treated for burns, according to health authorities.   At least one road was closed and several residents were told to leave their homes. The Portuguese Army deployed a mobile kitchen to help feed those affected by the fire and was using its tracked vehicles to help clear roads for firefighting crews.     In recent years, the country has witnessed some …

India will make a second attempt Monday to send a landmark spacecraft to the Moon after an apparent fuel leak forced last week’s launch to be aborted. The South Asian nation is bidding to become just the fourth nation — after Russia, the United States and China — to land a spacecraft on the Moon. The mission comes 50 years after Neil Armstrong became the first person to step foot on the moon, an occasion celebrated by space enthusiasts globally on Saturday. The fresh launch attempt for Chandrayaan-2 — Moon Chariot 2 in some Indian languages including Sanskrit and Hindi — has been scheduled for 2:43 pm (0913 GMT) on Monday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. “Chandrayaan 2 is ready to take a billion dreams to the Moon – now stronger than ever before!” it said on Thursday. The first launch attempt was scrubbed just under an hour before the scheduled lift-off because of what authorities described as a “technical snag.” Local media, citing ISRO officials, said that issue was a fuel leak. The agency tweeted Saturday that a rehearsal for the launch was completed successfully. Chandrayaan-2 will be launched atop a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) MkIII, India’s most powerful rocket. …

There are more than 150 patients at the “Alcor Life Extension Foundation.” Each had their body frozen cryonically shortly after death in the hopes that one day, medical science will find a cure for what killed them, and they can be revived and healed. It’s a scientifically dubious idea, but some people are willing to pay a lot of money in the hopes that one day they can come back for a long and healthy life. Iacopo Luzi has the story.  …

More than 400 teenagers from all over the US spent one week of their summer vacation renovating homes by day, and sleeping on the floor of local churches by night. As Faiza Elmasry tells us, the faith-based program is giving these young people a unique opportunity to learn and grow, while helping people in need. Faith Lapidus narrates. …

A family of Cuban luthiers has produced more than 500 musical instruments for Cuban schools over the past five years in an unprecedented agreement with the country’s ministry of culture, helping to fill a void in the state’s own ability to produce musical instruments. …

Officials in northwestern Pakistan say twin suicide bombings have killed at least eight people and wounded 25 others.  Police say a suicide bomber attacked a security post Sunday in Dera Ismail Khan.  Another suicide bomber, dressed in a burqa, attacked the hospital where the victims from the first explosion were taken, causing further casualties.  The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the incidents in an email sent to VOA. …

Ukrainians are going to the polls Sunday to cast their ballots in a snap parliamentary election that could consolidate the power of its recently elected president. A tidal wave of popular support in April carried Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian who played the president on a popular television comedy, to Ukraine’s highest office.  “By calling an early election, the new president hoped to keep the momentum of his presidential victory going,” says Agnese Ortolani of the Economist Intelligence Unit.  “He is backed in this attempt by a majority of Ukrainians who view parliament as inherently corrupt and have given Mr. Zelenskiy a mandate to ‘clean up’ the political class.”  Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People Party, named after the television show, is expected to do well, but may fall short of a majority, forcing it to form a coalition.  Political analysts say the composition of the new parliament could look dramatically different with up to 70 percent of its members being new lawmakers.   …

Health officials say an oppressive heat wave that has blanketed large swaths of the United States has contributed to the deaths of at least six people. Various news outlets have reported heat-related deaths in the states of Maryland, Arizona and Arkansas. The National Weather Service warned a “dangerous heat wave” paired with high humidity in the United States over the weekend could quickly cause heat stress or heat stroke, if precautions are not taken. Events were canceled throughout the nation, from festivals and concerts to sporting events. The NWS said temperatures would remain warm at night, in the upper 70s to low 80s, with more heat on the way Sunday for the East Coast. The agency also advised people to check in on relatives and friends, especially the elderly. During a span of three days in July 1995, more than 700 people died in Chicago, when temperatures rose above 36 degrees Celsius. Many of those who died were poor or elderly with no access to air conditioning. Many also lived alone. Despite the warnings, one runner in the nation’s capital planned to head out for a run early Saturday. “It’s brutal,” Jeffrey Glickman, 37, said, adding, “You just have to …

Britain on Saturday denounced Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf as a “hostile act” and rejected Tehran’s explanation that it seized the vessel because it had been involved in an accident.  Iran’s Revolutionary Guards posted a video online showing speedboats pulling alongside the Stena Impero tanker, its name clearly visible. Troops wearing ski masks and carrying machine guns rappelled to its deck from a helicopter, the same tactics used by British Royal Marines to seize an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar two weeks ago.  Friday’s action in the global oil trade’s most important waterway has been viewed in the West as a major escalation after three months of confrontation that has already taken Iran and the United States to the brink of war.  It follows threats from Tehran to retaliate for Britain’s July 4 seizure of the Iranian tanker Grace 1, accused of violating sanctions on Syria.  British Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt called the incident a “hostile act”. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had expressed “extreme disappointment” by phone to his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Britain also summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in London.  A spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier-General Ramezan Sharif, said Tehran had seized the ship in the Strait …

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Saturday that President Donald Trump relished a chant by the crowd at a campaign rally this week that called for a Democratic congresswoman to be sent back where she came from.  Trump renewed his criticism of four minority women lawmakers on Friday, saying that they had said horrible things about the United States, and defended himself from criticism over his comment that they should leave the United States if unhappy.  A day after saying his audience in North Carolina went too far when they chanted “Send her back!” about Somalia-born Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, on Friday he defended the crowd members as “incredible patriots.”  Appearing before her constituents in New York City for the first time since the latest flare-up between Trump and the four Democratic congresswomen, Ocasio-Cortez rejected the president’s statement that he had tried to quiet the crowd, saying he had egged them on instead.  “Roll back the tape … He relished it. He took it in and he’s doing this intentionally,” the freshman U.S. lawmaker told about 200 constituents gathered for a town hall meeting on immigration at a school in the Corona section of Queens.  Video of the crowd in North …

White House national security adviser John Bolton departed on Saturday for a trip to Japan and South Korea as the two countries are in the middle of a trade dispute.  A White House National Security Council spokesman said on Twitter that Bolton planned to “continue conversations with critical allies and friends.”  President Donald Trump on Friday offered his help to ease tensions in the political and economic dispute between the United States’ two biggest allies in Asia, which threatens global supplies of memory chips and smartphones.  Lingering tensions, particularly over the issue of compensation for South Koreans forced to work for Japanese occupiers during World War Two, worsened this month when Japan restricted exports of high-tech materials to South Korea.  Japan has denied that the dispute over compensation is behind the export curbs, even though one of its ministers cited broken trust with Seoul over the labor dispute in announcing the restrictions.  The export curbs could hurt global technology companies.  Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that South Korean President Moon Jae-in had asked him if he could get involved.  A spokeswoman for Moon confirmed Moon had asked Trump for help at their summit in Seoul on …

MIAMI — American crocodiles, once headed toward extinction, are thriving at an unusual spot — the canals surrounding a South Florida nuclear plant.  Last week, 73 crocodile hatchlings were rescued by a team of specialists at Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant and dozens more are expected to emerge soon.  Turkey Point’s 168-mile (270-kilometer) man-made canals serve as the home to several hundred crocodiles, where a team of specialists working for FPL monitors and protects them from hunting and climate change.  From January to April, Michael Lloret, an FPL wildlife biologist and crocodile specialist, helps create nests for the creatures. Once the hatchlings are reared and left by the mother, the team captures them. They are measured and tagged with microchips to observe their development. Lloret then relocates them to increase survival rates.  “We entice crocodiles to come in to the habitats FPL created,” Lloret said. “We clear greenery on the berms so that the crocodiles can nest. Because of rising sea levels wasting nests along the coasts, Turkey Point is important for crocodiles to continue.”  Wildlife biologist/crocodile specialist Michael Lloret points out a crocodile nest on one of the berms along the cooling canals next to the …

TOKYO — Japanese voters cast ballots Sunday in an upper house election, with Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc looking to protect its majority and keep on track plans to amend the country’s pacifist constitution.    Abe, 64, who is on course to become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, is also hoping to shore up his mandate ahead of a crucial consumption tax hike later this year, along with trade negotiations with Washington.    Opinion polls suggest his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner Komeito are likely to win a majority, mostly because of a lackluster opposition.    Sunday’s vote is for half the seats in the House of Councilors — the less powerful house of parliament — and polling stations across the country open at 7 a.m. (2200 GMT Saturday).    The vote outcome is expected to become clear shortly after the polls close at 8 p.m., with pollsters suggesting turnout could be lower than 50 percent,  significantly less than usual.  ‘Disarray’ in opposition camp   Abe’s ruling coalition is forecast to win a solid majority of the 124 seats contested in the election, according to pre-election surveys.    The two parties control 70 seats in the half of the chamber that …

ATHENS — Greece will submit a 2020 budget later this year that will fully respect the fiscal targets agreed upon with its lenders, newly elected Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Saturday.  Outlining his main policies after a landslide victory in a July 7 election, Mitsotakis told Greek lawmakers that the budget would not put fiscal targets for 2019 and 2020 at risk.  Greece emerged from economic adjustment programs overseen by its lenders last August but still needs to meet fiscal targets, including a primary budget surplus — which excludes interest payments on its debt — of 3.5 percent of annual economic output up to 2022, which many consider unrealistic.  “In the draft budget for 2020, the given fiscal balance is not disrupted and the primary surplus targets for the years 2019 and 2020, agreed by the previous government, are not disputed,” Mitsotakis said.  Mitsotakis, who takes over from former leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, was elected on a pledge to cut taxes and speed up investments to spur growth in a country that lost a quarter of its output during the Greek debt crisis.  He said that planned tax cuts and bold reforms of the economy and public administration would lead to higher growth and help Greece persuade its lenders to lower fiscal targets after 2020.  “In …