POPGAZETA

The U.N. human rights chief says in a new report that Venezuela’s government registered nearly 5,300 killings during security operations last year, saying the deaths stemmed from “resistance to authority.” Another 1,569 such killings were recorded in the first four to five months of 2019. The office of Michelle Bachelet decried a “shockingly high” number of extrajudicial killings during the operations.   Bachelet’s report focusing on the last 18 months follows her trip to the South American country in June, and draws on accounts from rights defenders, victims, witnesses of violations and other sources.   Bachelet also called for the disarming and disbanding of pro-government armed groups known as “collectivos.”     …

An earthquake rattled a large swath of Southern California and parts of Nevada on Thursday morning, making hanging lamps sway and photo frames on wall shake. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The 6.4 magnitude quake measured struck near in the Mojave Desert, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, near the town of Ridgecrest, California. The United State Geological Survey initially said it measured at a 6.6 magnitude. People from Las Vegas to the Pacific Coast reported feeling a rolling motion and took to social media to report it. Local emergency agencies also took to social media to ask people to only call 911 for emergencies. “We are very much aware of the significant earthquake that just occurred in Southern California. Please DO NOT call 9-1-1 unless there are injuries or other dangerous conditions. Don’t call for questions please,” the LAPD said in a statement published on Twitter. Ashleigh Chandler, a helicopter rescue EMT at Fort Irwin, California, said the quake happened as she was getting ready for a July 4th party. “I was just in the living room getting everything ready, we start to feel the shaking, so then I look up and …

Firefighters had to dodge exploding rockets to douse a spectacular fire that destroyed containers of fireworks stored for sale on the Fourth of July.   The blaze provided for an impressive, though sparsely attended show early Thursday as shells and rockets burst through the metal containers, sending colorful showers into the air above the Davey Jones Fireworks and the House of Fireworks stores in Fort Mill.   The York County Sheriff’s Office tweeted the fire appeared to spark in a storage unit in the parking lot between the stores, which are on Highway 21 near Interstate 77 and Carowinds.   A crew with the NBC affiliate WCNC happened to be at the scene for a holiday feature and was able to record video of the fire and response. …

In a sweltering capital threatened by storms, the traditional Fourth of July parade Thursday served as a warm-up act to a distinctly nontraditional evening event at the Lincoln Memorial, where President Donald Trump made plans to command the stage against the backdrop of a show of military muscle.   Protesters unimpressed by his “Salute to America” program inflated a roly-poly balloon depicting Trump as an angry, diaper-clad baby. With his decision to add his own production to the usual festivities, Trump set himself up to be the first president in nearly seven decades to address a crowd at the National Mall on Independence Day. “I will speak on behalf of our great Country!” he said in a morning tweet. “Perhaps even Air Force One will do a low & loud sprint over the crowd.” But thunderstorms threatened, with periods of “torrential rain” forecast by the National Weather Service and a flash-flood watch in effect. Not since 1951, when President Harry Truman spoke before a large gathering on the Washington Monument grounds to mark the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, has a commander in chief made an Independence Day speech to a sizable crowd on the …

The dog days of summer are upon us.   Competitive eaters will scarf down dozens of hot dogs and buns Thursday at the annual Nathan’s Famous July Fourth hot dog eating contest on New York’s Coney Island boardwalk.   California native and 11-time champion Joey “Jaws” Chestnut will face off against 17 opponents to defend last year’s record of 74 wieners and buns in 10 minutes.   Miki Sudo of Las Vegas, hopes to win her sixth consecutive women’s title. She ate 37 franks last year.   Thousands gather to watch the spectacle every year, with millions more tuning in on television.   ESPN released a documentary Tuesday featuring the rivalry between Chestnut and his longtime foe, Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi, who no longer takes part in the contest. …

Criticism of FIFA President Gianni Infantino over the handling of sexual abuse investigations was “ill-informed and unjustified,” the governing body said Thursday after the coach of the Afghanistan women’s national team said she was “disgusted” with him. Coach Kelly Lindsey had demanded Infantino’s departure from FIFA for claiming the organization was not being rigorous enough in pursuing officials in the Afghanistan soccer federation. FIFA has so far only sanctioned Keramuudin Karim, who was banned for life from soccer last month for repeated sexual abuse of female players while president of the Afghanistan Football Federation. But FIFA has now disclosed to The Associated Press that it is “carefully looking into allegations levelled against additional persons, and will not hesitate to take appropriate measures and impose sanctions if justified.” FIFA also said how it played a “leading role” in helping players forced to leave Afghanistan “to gain asylum in safe environments and out of immediate danger.” “We continue to stay in close contact with them and support them in rebuilding their lives and recovering from the abhorrent ordeal they have suffered,” FIFA said. “The former coach of the national team Kelly Lindsey is well aware of these efforts and the support that …

Cruising around Caracas in a convoy with five cellphones full of valuable contacts, Gen. Manuel Cristopher Figuera displayed trappings that befitted his reputation as a loyal soldier who rose from an upbringing in a dirt-floored hut to become Venezuela’s spy chief. But as President Nicolas Maduro began to lean on the brawny 55-year-old to do his dirty work — in Cristopher Figuera’s telling, ordering him to jail opponents and victims of torture — the Cuban and Belarusian-trained intelligence officer gradually lost faith. In a show of nerve, he betrayed the leader he met with almost daily and secretly plotted to launch a military uprising that he said came close to ousting Maduro. Now one of the most prominent defectors in two decades of socialist rule in Venezuela has come to Washington seeking revenge against his former boss. He is looking to help the same U.S. “empire” he was taught to hate investigate human-rights violations and corruption. On Tuesday, he met with the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams. It’s unclear whether Cristopher Figuera still has influence inside the government and can collect evidence against his former comrades. But he’s talking a big game. “I’m like a soldier who raises …

A spokesman for one of Libya’s two rival armies has denied targeting civilians after an airstrike blamed on the armed group killed as many as 55 people in Tripoli on Tuesday night.  The victims of Tuesday night’s bombing fled war, violence or extreme poverty, risking their lives to find a safe place. When they got to Libya, they found Europe had tightened its borders, and many of their boats were returned to shore by the Libyan Coast Guard. A migrant carries his belongings at a detention center for mainly African migrants, that was hit by an airstrike in the Tajoura suburb of Tripoli, Libya, July 3, 2019. Then, detained and hoping for another chance to travel to Europe, they were caught up in a war that had nothing to do with them. The bomb, dropped by a drone, hit a building inside an Interior Ministry compound Tuesday night. On the morning after, investigators searched the rubble for bodies while dozens of survivors looked on.  They had spent the night outside, without food or water, as emergency services rescued whoever they could. “As you see there are a lot of people that died because we are looking for a better life,” …

Migrants who survived the deadly airstrike on a Libyan detention center said Thursday they had been conscripted by a local militia to work in an adjacent weapons workshop. The decision to store weapons at the facility in Tajoura, to the east of Tripoli, may have made it a target for the self-styled Libyan National Army, which is at war with an array of militias allied with a weak, U.N.-recognized government in the capital.   The Tripoli government has blamed Wednesday’s pre-dawn strike, which killed at least 44 migrants and wounded more than 130, on the LNA and its foreign backers. The LNA, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, says it targeted a nearby militia position but denies striking the hangar where the migrants were being held. Hifter, whose forces control much of eastern and southern Libya, has received aid from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Russia. The U.N. and aid groups have meanwhile blamed the tragedy in part on the European Union’s policy of partnering with Libyan militias to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean Sea to seek a better life in Europe. Critics of the policy say it leaves migrants at the mercy of brutal traffickers …

California is a leader in renewable energy, and the state has pledged to use only clean sources for electricity, including wind and solar power, by 2045.  One hurdle is energy storage, but as we hear from Mike O’Sullivan, an old solution involving water, and improving battery technology, may help the state reach its goal of zero emissions. …

A record-breaking number of Americans, close to 50 million, are expected to travel on Independence Day this year, which is 4% more than the same time last year. While many travelers fly to their destination, most are driving even if they have to cover a long distance. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports Americans are willing to spend hours in the car and drive hundreds of kilometers to visit family or reach a getaway destination. …

A super tanker believed to be breaching European Union sanctions by carrying a shipment of Iranian crude oil to war-ravaged Syria has been detained in Gibraltar.  In a statement, authorities on the British overseas territory at the tip of Spain said the port and law enforcement agencies, assisted by the Royal Marines, boarded the Grace 1 early Thursday. It added that the vessel was believed to be headed to the Baniyas Refinery in Syria, which is a government-owned facility under the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad and subject to the EU’s Syrian Sanctions Regime.  Syrian sanctions The EU, and others, has imposed sanctions on Assad’s regime over its continued crackdown against civilians. They currently target 270 people and 70 entities.  The Gibraltar authorities didn’t confirm the origin of the ship’s cargo, but Lloyd’s List, a publication specialized in maritime affairs, reported this week that the Panama-flagged large carrier was laden with Iranian oil. Experts were said to have concluded that it carried oil from Iran because the tanker was not sending geographic information while in Iranian waters. According to a United Nations list, the ship is owned by the Singapore-based Grace Tankers Ltd.  According to the data firm Refinitv, …

Taliban and U.S. negotiators are scrambling to rewrite a draft agreement that will outline the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from Afghanistan and a verifiable Taliban guarantee to fight terrorism ahead of an all-Afghan peace conference Sunday. Officials familiar with the talks, but not authorized to speak about them, say negotiations went late into the night Wednesday and were to resume again Thursday, the sixth day of direct talks between the insurgents and U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, told The Associated Press Thursday that “the talks are continuing and they will continue tomorrow as well. We have made some progress.” Previously he said that a draft agreement was being rewritten to include agreed-upon clauses. On Thursday he said the two sides had broadened their discussion, without elaborating. Troop withdrawal timing Until now the two sides had been divided on the withdrawal timetable, with the United States seeking more time. Taliban officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, earlier said the U.S. was seeking up to 18 months to complete a troop withdrawal even as U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News earlier this week that a withdrawal had quietly begun …

U.S. federal courts and states that challenged the Trump administration’s decision to include a citizenship question on the country’s 2020 census are asking for clarity after the Departments of Justice and Commerce suddenly reversed what had been an acceptance of finalizing the questionnaire without inquiring about citizenship status. The Supreme Court has ruled that the government’s reasoning for including the citizenship question did not meet standards for a clear explanation of why it should be asked during the count of people in the United States that takes place every 10 years. The matter seemed further settled Tuesday when the DOJ and Commerce Department made public statements and comments in legal cases that the process of printing the census was going forward without a citizenship question in order to meet deadlines for carrying out the count on time. The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) FILE – U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross speaks at the 11th Trade Winds …

The United Nations says at least 55 people were killed and more than 130 injured in the Tuesday night airstrike on a detention center holding illegal migrants in Libya’s capital.  VOA’s Heather Murdock is on the scene in Tripoli and files this report. …

An Australian student was released Thursday after a week in detention in North Korea and flew to Beijing, where he described his condition to reporters as “very good.” Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced to Parliament that Alek Sigley, 29, had been released hours earlier following intervention from Swedish diplomats Wednesday. Sigley looked relaxed when he arrived at Beijing airport. He did not respond to reporters’ questions about what had happened in Pyongyang. “I’m OK, I’m OK, I’m good. I’m very good,” Sigley said. His father, Gary Sigley, said his son would soon be reunited with his Japanese wife Yuka Morinaga in Tokyo. “He’s fine. He’s in very good spirits. He’s been treated well,” the father told reporters in his hometown of Perth. Swedish diplomats had raised Sigley with North Korean authorities in Pyongyang where Australia does not have an embassy. “Alex is safe and well. Swedish authorities advised the Australian government that they met with senior officials from the DPRK yesterday and raised the issue of Alex’s disappearance on Australia’s behalf,” Morrison said, using the official name for North Korea. Morrison thanked Swedish authorities for “their invaluable assistance in securing Alek’s prompt release.” “This outcome demonstrates the value of …

Editor’s note: A look at the veracity of claims by political figures WASHINGTON — In his Fourth of July remarks, President Donald Trump will be celebrating the armed forces and showcasing what he’s done for them. But in recent days, he has falsified his record on military matters on several fronts. He’s claimed, for example, that he came up with the “genius idea” of giving veterans private health care so they don’t have to wait for Veterans Affairs appointments, only to find out that others had thought of it but failed to get it done. President Barack Obama signed the law getting it done in 2014. Trump also made the flatly false statement that he won troops their first raise in a decade, suggested he’s made progress reducing veteran suicides that is not backed up by the numbers, and contradicted the record in claiming that North Korea is cooperating on the return of the remains of U.S. troops. A look at his statements on military matters and personnel, some of which may be heard from the stage Thursday or in tweets: FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump take a selfie with U.S. troops at Ramstein Air …

A tornado swept through the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning Wednesday, killing six and injuring 190, the state broadcaster said, amid a series of “extreme” weather events that government forecasters have linked to climate change. The tornado damaged nearly 3,600 homes and affected more than 9,900 residents in Kaiyuan, a city of around a half-million people, according to China Central Television. Footage posted by CCTV on its official Weibo account shows dozens of flattened buildings in an economic development zone in Kaiyuan. A tornado in northeast China has reportedly killed six people and injured at least 190. https://t.co/IWsCJ57j49pic.twitter.com/F6HovboTwH — ABC News (@ABC) July 4, 2019 China’s Global Times newspaper said that tornadoes were rarely seen in the area. The country’s weather bureau Tuesday said climate change could cause more extreme weather events, following floods, drought and extreme high temperatures in some regions this year. It said rainfall had broken records in some areas and that as many as 40 weather stations had this year registered their hottest temperatures ever. The northern Chinese province of Hebei issued an extreme heat “red alert” Thursday, with temperatures set to soar beyond 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in its major cities and putting the area’s …

President Donald Trump is suggesting the United States start manipulating its currency to match the “big currency manipulation game” he accuses China and Europe of playing. “We should match or continue being the dummies who sit back and politely watch as other countries continue to play their games as they have for many years!” Trump tweeted Wednesday. Countries that manipulate currency sell their own currency and buy foreign money, intending to artificially drive down the value of their own money. The intention is to make their exports cheaper and more competitive on the world market, giving their products an unfair advantage. Trump constantly accused China of such action during his 2016 presidential campaign. But since Trump took office, the Treasury Department has found that no country can be labeled a currency manipulator. Eight countries are on the manipulator watch list, including China, Germany, Ireland and Italy.   …

Pakistani counterterrorism officials have registered 23 cases related to terrorism financing against more than a dozen people, including Hafiz Saeed, a central figure in the Mumbai attacks of 2008 that killed more than 170 people. Counter Terror Department (CTD) Punjab said in a statement the individuals were using various charities and trusts to raise funds to finance terrorism. Saeed and the other individuals are said to be from the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), which are all organizations banned by the U.N. The U.N. sanctions committee considers the three groups, founded by Saeed, to be aliases of one another, with the latter two formed to bypass a ban Pakistan imposed on LeT in 2002. Saeed has been sanctioned by both the United Nations and the U.S. for his role in the Mumbai attacks. The crackdown is seen as a response to the pressure the country is facing from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international terrorism financing watchdog that last year placed Pakistan on its “gray list” of countries. Such countries, the FATF warns, lack adequate controls over money laundering and terrorism. Supporters of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chant slogans during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan, June 27, …

At least 26 people died after a lobster-fishing boat capsized off the Atlantic coast of Honduras during poor weather conditions, an armed forces spokesman said Wednesday, in one of the country’s worst accidents at sea. Forty-seven people were rescued after the accident near Puerto Lempira, said Jose Domingo Meza, the armed forces spokesman. Various boats have gathered off the Honduran coast for lobster-fishing season, which began this month and runs through February. Another fishing boat capsized earlier in the day in the same region because of the poor weather, but all 49 people onboard were rescued, Meza said. Honduras lobster exports generated $46 million in 2018, according to official data, and were sent mostly to the United States.   …

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Pope Francis on Thursday, a day before Ukraine’s Catholic leaders meet at the Vatican to discuss the crisis in their country, and amid speculation that the visit could be a prelude to the first trip by a pope to Russia. Putin, who has met Francis twice before, is due to arrive at the Vatican in the early afternoon at the start of a lightning visit to Italy that will also include talks with Italian leaders. Ukraine, which remains a difficult issue in relations between the Vatican and Russia, is expected to be a main topic of discussions in the official papal library in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. When they last met in 2015, the pope urged Putin to make a “sincere and great effort” to achieve peace in Ukraine and help bring an end to fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatist rebels in the East. On Friday, leaders of Ukraine’s Catholic Church and Vatican officials begin two days of meetings to discuss various problems in their country, a former Soviet republic. Church’s independence Ukraine’s religious world was made tense last year when the country’s Orthodox Church, which for centuries effectively …

An appeals court on Wednesday upheld a freeze on Pentagon money to build a border wall with Mexico, casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s ability to make good on a signature campaign promise before the 2020 election.    A divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with a lower-court ruling that prevented the government from tapping Defense Department counterdrug money to build high-priority sections of wall in Arizona and New Mexico.    The decision is a setback for Trump’s ambitious plans. He ended a 35-day government shutdown in February after Congress gave him far less than he wanted. He then declared a national emergency that the White House said would free billions of dollars from the Pentagon.    The case may still be considered, but the administration cannot build during the legal challenge.     A freeze imposed by U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. of Oakland in May prevented work on two Pentagon-funded wall contracts — one spanning 46 miles (74 kilometers) in New Mexico and another covering 5 miles (8 kilometers) in Yuma, Ariz.      While the order applied only to those first-in-line projects, Gilliam made clear that he felt …

This article originated in FILE – An employee walks past oil tanks at a Sinopec refinery in Wuhan, Hubei province April 25, 2012. In further reports published since Tuesday, oil tanker monitoring groups said a second Iranian tanker completed a delivery of 2 million barrels of oil to Chinese state-owned producer Sinopec in recent days. FILE – China, India Imports of Iranian Crude Oil, March 2018 vs 2019 Beijing has criticized the U.S. for implementing a unilateral ban on Iranian oil exports, but has not declared any purchases of crude from Iran since the ban took effect in May. In April, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said China’s economic ties with Tehran were “reasonable and legitimate.” US sanctions The U.S. re-imposed sanctions on Iranian oil last November and granted China and seven other governments waivers to keep importing a limited amount of crude from Iran until May. China previously had been Iran’s biggest oil customer. In a Wednesday phone call with VOA Persian, Katherine Bauer, a former senior U.S. policy adviser for Iran in the Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, said it appears that China is continuing to import a limited amount of Iranian crude as …