VOA Connect Episode 137 – Black Lives Matter comes to rural America and how restaurants are surviving amidst the pandemic. 
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When a Black Lives Matter protest comes to a small Ohio town, armed confrontation yields, at least in part, to conversation.Reporter/Camera:   Deepak Dobhal
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Спеціалізована антикорупційна прокуратура повідомила, що закрила кримінальне провадження в одній із частин так званої «справи «Роттердам +», у Національному антикорупційному бюро України заявили, що оскаржать це рішення як таке, що «суперечить засадам верховенства права».

Як повідомили в САП, експерти призначеної комісійної судово-економічної експертизи у своєму висновку від 11.08.2020 не змогли підтвердити заподіяння збитків, зазнаних покупцями (споживачами) електричної енергії станом на 01.06.2019 року внаслідок завищення фактичної вартості відпущеної (проданої) ДП «Енергоринок» електричної енергії з Оптового ринку електричної енергії України, яка відповідно до постанови НКРЕКП від 03.03.2016 № 289 про порядок формування прогнозованої оптової ринкової ціни електричної енергії за так званою формулою «Роттердам +» діяла від травня 2016-го до кінця 2-го кварталу 2019 року.

«У ході досудового розслідування не здобуто належних, допустимих, достовірних і достатніх доказів, які б беззаперечно вказували на те, що у результаті розробки, прийняття і застосування постанови НКРЕКП № 289 від 03.03.2016 «Про затвердження Порядку формування прогнозованої оптової ринкової ціни електричної енергії» будь-кому завдані тяжкі наслідки, тобто завдана пряма шкода або збитки. Усі сумніви щодо доведеності вини особи тлумачаться на її користь», – наголосили в САП.

«На теперішній час, у зв’язку з тривалістю досудового розслідування, фактичним обмеженням строків досудового розслідування, визначених п. 3 ч. 4 ст. 219 КПК України, і відсутністю інших процесуальних джерел доказів, вичерпано можливості отримати достатні докази для доведення винуватості підозрюваних та інших осіб у суді. З огляду на викладене, складено постанову, відповідно до якої 27.08.2020 кримінальне провадження закрито в частині щодо підозрюваних у зв’язку з невстановленням достатніх доказів для доведення винуватості особи в суді і вичерпанням можливості їх отримати, а також у зв’язку з відсутністю складу кримінального правопорушення. Проте в повному обсязі кримінальне провадження не закрито, в ньому триває досудове розслідування», – повідомили в САП.

Менш ніж через годину після публікації цього повідомлення в НАБУ відповіли, що оскаржать це закриття в генерального прокурора і в. о. керівника САП як таке, що, на думку бюро, «суперечить засадам верховенства права».

При цьому в НАБУ теж заявили, посилаючись на результати експертизи, цілком інші дані: «Розслідування цієї справи перебувало на завершальній стадії, детективи зібрали всі необхідні і переконливі докази для скерування її до суду і доведення винуватості підозрюваних осіб. Про підозру повідомили 6 особам, внаслідок дій яких споживачам електроенергії завдано 18,87 мільярда гривень збитків, що підтверджено відповідною експертизою».

«НАБУ категорично не згодне з таким рішенням. Ми переконані, що вирішення долі цього провадження поза межами судового процесу не відповідатиме законним інтересам громадянського суспільства і держави. Адже справа «Роттердам +» є знаковою для України, і про необхідність її завершення неодноразово заявляли найвищі посадовці. Ми робитимемо все можливе у законний спосіб, щоб відновити розслідування і передати цю справу до суду для її оцінки як неупередженим судом, так і громадянським суспільством», – заявили в НАБУ.

У березні 2016 року Національна комісія, що здійснює державне регулювання у сфері енергетики та комунальних послуг, запровадила нову формулу розрахунку гуртової ринкової ціни на електроенергію, одним із елементів якої була й вартість вугілля для ТЕС у вугільних хабах у портах Роттердам, Амстердам і Антверпен у Нідерландах і його доставки в Україну; цю формулу неформально охрестили «Роттердам +». За повідомленнями, ця формула була вигідною для енергогенерувальних підприємств (значною частиною яких володіють компанії Ріната Ахметова) і невигідною для підприємств із великим енергоспоживанням (яких багато серед активів Ігоря Коломойського і Віктора Пінчука). Споживання населенням ця формула не стосувалася. Ця формула перестала діяти з липня 2019 року, коли в Україні запрацював новий ринок електроенергії.

Критики стверджували, що ця формула завищує кінцеву ціну електроенергії, й ініціювали судові позови проти неї ще з 2016 року, невдовзі після початку її застосування. Кілька судів визнали цю формулу законною.

Крім того, критику формули активно використовували супротивники п’ятого президента України Петра Порошенка, звинувачуючи його нібито в причетності до заподіяних нею збитків. Порошенко відкидає звинувачення і, вже втративши президентську посаду, закликав неупереджено розслідувати справу «формули «Роттердам +».

У НАБУ почали розслідування в справі цієї формули 2017 року. Після приходу до влади в Україні президента Володимира Зеленського він у травні 2019 року вимагав від НАБУ і САП протягом трьох місяців показати «відчутні результати в розслідуванні резонансних корупційних злочинів». Відтак у серпні 2019-го детективи НАБУ за процесуального керівництва САП повідомили шістьом особам, причетним до запровадження так званої формули «Роттердам +», про підозру у вчиненні дій, у результаті яких, за твердженням бюро, споживачам електроенергії було завдано 18,87 мільярда гривень збитків. Уже на початку серпня 2020 року в НАБУ навіть стверджували, що розмір шкоди від цієї формули, «встановлений на підставі низки науково-економічних досліджень і судових експертиз», становить уже 39 мільярдів гривень.

Тим часом наприкінці червня 2020 року голова САП Назар Холодницький заявив, що на той час не існувало висновків експертів про можливі збитки від застосування цієї формули і що з цього питання тільки призначені експертизи.

А в липні 2020 року державне підприємство «Центренерго» фактично повернулося до застосування формули «Роттердам +» при закупівлі вугілля українського видобутку від компанії «ДТЕК Енерго» Ріната Ахметова – його купують за ціною, прив’язаною до імпортного паритету, а саме до біржових котирувань вугілля на європейському хабі в порту Роттердам.
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Міжбанківський валютний ринок 28 серпня балансує на межі психологічно важливої позначки 27,5 гривні за долар США. Національний банк України, відбиваючи тенденції міжбанку, встановив опівдні довідкове значення курсу 27 гривень 47 копійок за долар, це на одну копійку менше за офіційний курс на сьогодні.

За даними Finance.ua, станом на 12:30 котирування становили 27 гривень 47–49 копійок за долар, це нижче від рівня відкриття торгів (27 гривень 49,5–52 копійки за долар).

«Торги по долару проходять при перевищенні пропозиції. На торги вже вийшов НБУ з покупкою долара по 27,45», – відзначали станом на 11:00 фахівці сайту «Мінфін».

Опівдні, за їхніми даними, торги вийшли на пік активності.
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Hundreds of demonstrators gathered around the White House for a “noise demonstration and dance party” in an attempt to drown out President Donald Trump’s speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination.
 
And later, a crowd enveloped U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky as he left the convention, yelling for him to say the name of police shooting victim Breonna Taylor, who was killed in his state, but there was no indication the protesters were the same.
 
“I hope you hear us, Trump,” the leader of the popular local band TOB shouted near the site of Trump’s speech. The band blared Go-Go music, a distinctive D.C. variant on funk, as it moved in the direction of the White House, where Trump delivered his acceptance speech to a crowd of more 1,500 people on the South Lawn.
 
One protester held up a sign, “Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue” — the street where the White House is located.  
 
There was no indication that Trump heard the protesters, but there were a few points when a mix of sirens, music and blowhorns could be heard in the background and spectators in the back turned to see where the sounds were coming from.
 
Acknowledging the coronavirus pandemic, the demonstrators wore masks but there was no social distancing.  
 
“Make some noise if you want to drown out Trump,” protest organizer Justin Johnson said.
 
After the convention concluded, there were skirmishes as protesters yelled and threw water bottles at police at the historic St. John’s Church near Black Lives Matter Plaza. There were some arrests.
 
Video posted online showed dozens of people confronting Senator Paul and his wife, who were flanked by police officers, on a street after midnight. Protesters shouted “No Justice, No Peace” and “Say Her Name” before one appears to briefly clash with an officer, pushing him and his bike backward, sending the officer into Paul’s shoulder.
 
Paul later tweeted that he had been “attacked” by a “crazed mob” a block from the White House. The senator and his wife kept walking and did not appear to have been touched by any of the protesters or to have suffered any injuries.
 
Videos showed other attendees also being confronted by protesters after leaving Trump’s event.
 
There was a robust police presence, but the noise demonstration outside the White House was generally peaceful. There was a moment of levity at the end.
 
“You guys gotta get some rhythm,” a protester told Secret Service officers.
 
“Would you have rhythm if you were wearing 30 pounds of gear,” one responded.
 
The demonstration was significantly smaller than the protests that rocked the nation’s capital this past spring after George Floyd died at police hands in Minneapolis.  
 
Floyd’s family and the families of other Black Americans who were victims of police violence were expected to participate Friday in a commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington that is being led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III.  
 
Before Trump spoke, there was a brief standoff between police and demonstrators, who shouted anti-police slogans. “Free the people, fight the power,” they chanted. Nearby protesters set up a small guillotine, with the District of Columbia flag as the blade.  
 
Lafayette Park, a traditional site of demonstrations across from the White House, was sealed off and there were some street closures.  
 
The groups ShutdownDC and Long-Live Go-Go had put out word in advance about the planned “noise demonstration and dance party” to coincide with Trump’s speech.  
 
“We’ll be at the White House on Thursday to drown out (Trump’s) racist rhetoric with another vision for the future of our country,” the groups said in a statement.
 
A longtime D.C. signature sound, Go-Go music emerged last year as a battle anthem for activists fighting fast-moving gentrification in the nation’s capital. The music has been a regular presence in recent protests against racial injustice and rolling Go-Go trucks with live bands have appeared frequently at the epicenter of the protests, which was renamed by the city as Black Lives Matter Plaza.
  
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In May, facing urgent international demands for action after a string of massive wildfires in the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro put the army in charge of protecting the rainforest.
 
Instead, The Associated Press has found, the operation dubbed as “Green Brazil 2” has had the opposite effect. Under military command, Brazil’s once-effective but recently declining investigation and prosecution of rainforest destruction by ranchers, farmers and miners has come to a virtual halt, even as this year’s burning season picks up.
 
The Brazilian army appears to be focusing on dozens of small road-and-bridge-building projects that allow exports to flow faster to ports and ease access to protected areas, opening the rainforest to further exploitation. In the meantime, there have been no major raids against illegal activity since Bolsonaro required military approval for them in May, according to public officials, reporting from the area and interviews with nine current and former members of Brazil’s environmental enforcement agency.  
 The AP also found that:
 
— The number of fines issued for environmental crimes has been cut by almost half since four years ago, especially under Bolsonaro.
 
— Two high-ranking officials from IBAMA, the environmental agency, say they have stopped using satellite maps to locate deforestation sites and fine their owners __ a once-widely used technique. IBAMA officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.  
 
— IBAMA is no longer penalizing the heads of big networks of illegal logging, mining and farming, according to two other officials. Meat packers who sell beef from deforested areas now operate freely, according to three IBAMA officials.
 
The order putting the military in charge of fighting deforestation was initially due to end in June, but it was recently extended by Bolsonaro until November despite widespread criticism that it is making the problem worse.  
 
At stake is the fate of the forest itself, and hopes of limiting global warming. Experts say blazes and deforestation are pushing the world’s largest rainforest toward a tipping point, after which it will cease to generate enough rainfall to sustain itself. About two-thirds of the forest would then begin an irreversible, decades-long decline into tropical savanna.
 
The Amazon has lost about 17% of its original area and, at the current pace, is expected to reach a tipping point in the next 15 to 30 years. As it decomposes, it will release hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
 
“From the occupation of the land to mining and the fires, it is all connected,” said Suely Vaz, who headed IBAMA between 2016 and 2019 and is now a specialist of the Climate Observatory, comprised of 50 non-governmental groups. “IBAMA should fight the whole network of deforestation. But it just doesn’t now.”  
 
Bolsonaro’s office and IBAMA did not respond to requests for comment, but Bolsonaro declared in May that “our effort is great, enormous in fighting fires and deforestation.” He also called reports of the forest on fire “a lie.”
 
Brazil’s Defense Ministry defended its record, saying its deployment was ’’an operation of multiple agencies” involving 2,090 people a day, along with 89 vehicles and 19 ships.
“Those figures are rising by the day, as resources become available and operations are gradually intensified,” the ministry said.  
 
It said the operation had led to the destruction of 253 machines involved in illegal logging as of Aug. 24 but did not specify what type of machines or say anything about other illegal activities like mining.  
 
While the threat under Bolsonaro’s administration is the latest and most severe, efforts to preserve the Amazon have been struggling for years.  
 
In the 2003-2011 administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil developed a multi-agency plan to slow Amazon deforestation that worked well, according to virtually all observers. That ended in 2012 when the government of his successor, Dilma Rousseff, pardoned illegal deforestation prior to 2008, among other measures that emboldened violators. Many believe Bolsonaro will issue new pardons.
 
IBAMA once had more than 1,300 agents. That has dropped to about 600 since 2012, when the agency stopped hiring under Rousseff in an attempt to rein in spending.
 
The weakening of IBAMA accelerated after Rousseff was ousted in 2016 and replaced by right-wing Michel Temer. Observers on all sides say the change has been far more fast-moving and dramatic since Bolsonaro was elected in 2018, after a campaign that dismissed the threat of deforestation and pledged more development of the rainforest.  
 
In the field, IBAMA has hundreds of inspectors who are supposed to conduct investigations, raid illegal sites, issue fines, destroy equipment and request arrests by local and federal police, along with a corps of temporary contract firefighters. But after the last major raid by IBAMA against illegal mining in April, the two inspectors in charge were fired by the environment ministry, allegedly for “political-ideological bias.″
 
A former Bolsonaro minister, Gen. Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, told the AP that the army is best at supporting inspections in the Amazon, not leading them.
 
“In some places you cannot find any other institution, no police or IBAMA. There’s no structure and the military steps up,” he said. “The armed forces can help and they are helping. But inspections need to be done by those that are experts. And you have to work with local authorities, they are the ones who know who the criminals are.”
 
In 2016, the year Temer took office, there were almost 10,000 fines nationwide for environmental crimes, according to IBAMA’s website. In 2019, the first year of the Bolsonaro presidency, that shrank to 7,148. In the first six months of 2020, it stood at 3,721.
 
Defense Ministry numbers confirm that fines under operation Green Brazil 2 have continued at a lower rate, with 1,526 fines so far over about three months’ worth almost $80 million.
 
“There is a reduction in fines because the president doesn’t like them, campaigns against them,” an IBAMA inspector based in the Amazon said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press by agency heads in the capital, Brasilia.
 
“Appointees to local IBAMA offices know that,” the official said. “If a given unit fines too much, they get a call from Brasilia.”
 
Last week, a group of five soldiers and five IBAMA firefighters drove into Nova Fronteira, a remote district of Pará state. Satellite images showed a big fire threatening a part of the forest on the edges of a private property.
 
Upon arrival, they saw a wooden gate closed with a single padlock. In the past, IBAMA staff would enter private properties in emergencies, as allowed by Brazilian law. That policy has changed with the army’s arrival.
 
“We can’t come in if the owner is not here,” said one soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press.
 
A simple but effective change could be issuing fines to land owners through satellite imagery-aided investigation. An IBAMA specialist on data said 70% of deforestation in many areas can be located on aerial maps by Brazil’s space agency. That alone would allow IBAMA to find who owns the land and hold them accountable — which is not happening under the army, agency veterans said.  
 
“We are not even trying now,” one high-ranking official said.  
 
A former top IBAMA official said the army didn’t know how to lead investigations and could not legally issue fines, seize equipment or block construction. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he has received death threats from people involved in Amazon development.  
 
“The army could use their technology to see where deforestation is growing, map it all and go after who is responsible,” he said. “But they spend their time either stopping IBAMA from doing that or working on construction projects.”  
 
Another IBAMA agent who has organized hundreds of raids nationwide said the agency also is no longer investigating the heads of big networks of illegal logging, mining and farming. That type of high-end investigative work slowed down under Temer, with a few prominent exceptions, and stopped entirely under Bolsonaro, with new regional leaders of IBAMA offices tending to be former or active military or police officials seconded to civilian positions.
 
Those who support development applaud the army’s foray into the Amazon.  
 
Part-time farmer Antonio Silva has noticed the changes in the operations of Brazil’s environmental enforcement agency — and he loves them. Silva struggled for years doing odd jobs in northern Brazil before he moved to the country’s Amazon frontier and bought himself a 4-acre poultry farm outside the city of Novo Progresso, where he also works as a security guard.  
 
As ranching and mining ate into the rainforest, the city grew from a few thousand to 25,000 residents, and the market for Silva’s chicken and turkeys grew. There are now three electronics stores in town, instead of just one.  
 
 
He said IBAMA used to aggressively patrol around his little farm, seeking out those who seized public lands and chopped and burned the rainforest for profit. A few years ago, they came in by helicopter, bringing police with machine guns. They arrested people and destroyed machinery.
 
“It was shocking,” Silva said. “It is better now….they come twice a week to put out some fires, talk and that’s it.”
 
Every morning the city is covered in smoke from the previous days, which dissipates before fires start again in the afternoon. Novo Progresso has a dozen IBAMA inspectors and firefighters.
 
Residents say inspectors have barely left the office since the army arrived and firefighters are being called only in urgent situations or long after the blazes are out.
Last week, a group of IBAMA firefighters drove two hours to a fire started three days earlier. An area equivalent to eight soccer fields had already been burned and some trees were still on fire, endangering a region of dense forest.
 
A man who did not identify himself blamed a neighbor for starting the blaze, but did not name the person or file a complaint. Agents saw a chainsaw on the ground and the man took it away, without answering whether he had a license for it, as required by Brazilian law. Records show no investigation was opened, no fines were issued.
 
The former top IBAMA official said the professional corps of inspectors used to have little fear of fining violators, confiscating their equipment or even destroying the whole operation. After the inspectors had their powers cut back, poorly paid and locally hired firefighters started giving them less information on wrongdoing.  
 
“The firefighters would do it at their own risk,” the former official said. “And what for? After that gig ends six months later they have to live in the same place.”
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Taiwan has registered 22 newly arrived foreign journalists so far this year, including some barred from working in China, a political rival of Taipei, which lures them with media freedoms.The journalists registered “because we provide for freedom of speech and press and respect these rights in practice,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Thursday in a statement for VOA. China monitors journalists, censors the internet and expelled several American reporters earlier this year.Seven of the 22 had been based before in China, excluding Hong Kong, including some who were expelled from Beijing in March over published content that the Chinese government resented. The expelled journalists had worked for The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.“As a result of the expulsion order by the Chinese government, we have relocated some affected correspondents in various locations in the region, including Taipei,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, New York Times Co. communications vice president.China and Taiwan struggle to get along. Each is self-ruled, but China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, and it has threatened use of force to make the two sides unify.Covering ChinaForeign correspondents normally prefer a Beijing base as a news hub for Chinese government announcements and major diplomatic events. Reporters in Taiwan would have to cover China using internet tools and occasional travel, as allowed.Both locations are in the same time zone and a flight from Taiwan to China takes as little as 80 minutes. Flights from Taipei to major cities in Southeast Asia take two to four hours each. Japan and South Korea are each about three hours away.“Even when they’re away from China, they can still do a lot of research interviews on the internet,” said Ku Lin-lin, associate journalism professor at National Taiwan University.Reporters in China risk being tracked by police and sometimes detained as they work on politically sensitive stories. The Communist Party and Chinese government agencies “have long sought to influence public debate and media coverage” of their country “through obstruction of foreign correspondents,” the Freedom House advocacy group said in a study this year. The past 10 years have seen a “dramatic expansion in efforts to shape media content,” the study says.Chinese authorities sometimes secretly assign people to follow foreign correspondents, said George Hou, mass communications lecturer at I-Shou University in Taiwan.“They will assign some people to supervise you or to monitor you,” Hou said.As a democracy, Taiwan legally allows reporters to cover any topic and interview anyone. The 2020 Freedom House report on global freedom ranks Taiwan among the freest places in Asia.“It wants to present itself as a value-based country and the values around democracy and human rights have been articulated, and not just for itself,” said James Gomez, regional director at the Bangkok-based think tank Asia Center.“I think it also wants to set an example for others, so it kind of wants to walk the talk,” he said.A total of 114 journalists from 68 foreign media outlets are now based in Taiwan.Hong Kong risksMedia outlets that focus on Asia news traditionally station Asia correspondents in Hong Kong, Bangkok or Singapore, except for those covering Japan or the Koreas, Gomez said. Those three cities are likely to stay ahead of Taiwan, he said, although reporters shy away from covering Thailand or Singapore when based there – in line with those governments’ expectations.Foreign reporters in Hong Kong risk being denied visas by a new national security unit under the Chinese territory’s Immigration Department, media outlets in the territory have reported.“You could be ousted anytime,” said Cedric Alviani, East Asia bureau director with the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. “Your visa renewal might be denied. This is a major threat for the stability of the operation.”However, many people in Taiwan lack the English skills and widespread international awareness that have drawn journalists to places such as Hong Kong and Singapore, Ku said. And Taiwan may need new legislation to smooth the legal process for media outlets hoping to open news bureaus, Gomez said.Reporters covering China from Taiwan will eventually find their work hobbled by lack of face-to-face encounters with sources in China unless they visit the other side periodically, Ku added. Those without Chinese visas would need to apply for them outside Taiwan, which lacks Chinese consular services, and risk being rejected.
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The U.S. capital is the site of another March on Washington on Friday, 57 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom during which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech.This year’s march follows months of demonstrations about police violence against Black people. The protests were ignited by the death in May of George Floyd, a Black man, who died who died while in police custody in Minneapolis, a city in the Midwestern state of Minnesota.Floyd’s death has come to symbolize the long history of deaths of Black people in the U.S. while in police custody or being apprehended by the police.Friday’s event has been dubbed the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks March, a reference to Floyd’s death.Earlier this week, a police officer shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man in Kenosha, a city in the U.S. Midwestern state of Wisconsin. Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down.Friday’s event was organized by the Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Martin Luther King III, and other organizations, including the NAACP, the country’s oldest civil rights organization, as well as the Hispanic Federation, the National Urban League, and other civil rights groups and unions.The event will begin on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and hours later demonstrators will march to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.Speakers will include lawmakers and relatives of people who have died due to police violence.Originally, up to 100,000 people were expected to attend Friday, but estimates have been lowered to about 50,000, according to a permit issued by the National Park Service this week.COVID-19, which has affected every aspect of life, has also affected Friday’s event. Organizers say everyone’s temperatures will be checked. Also, there will be 200 hand-sanitizing stations, and everyone will be required to wear a face mask.Sharpton’s organization canceled several chartered buses from states with high COVID-19 rates, as Washington has imposed a two-week quarantine for people entering the city from these states, including Florida, Georgia and Texas.People attending the event will be sectioned off into areas where they will be able to maintain appropriate social distances while they watch and listen to activities on Jumbotron screens.
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As a shell-shocked Gulf Coast region began to assess the damage from Hurricane Laura, the downgraded Category 4 storm bolted north out of Louisiana Thursday, leaving in its wake snapped tree trunks, leveled neighborhoods, shattered buildings and more than 875,000 people without power.Winds above 240 kph barreled off the Gulf of Mexico into the 80,000-person city of Lake Charles, making it the most powerful hurricane to hit Louisiana since 1856.And while the hurricane proved less lethal and destructive than state and local officials at first feared Wednesday evening, a video posted on the internet showed the storm knocking a full-size RV on its side.First responders reported winds peeling the roof off the casino they were being staged in overnight. Trees were thrown into homes and blocked major roads, and a riverboat that became unmoored was pushed into the supports holding up an interstate freeway.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 6 MB480p | 8 MB540p | 11 MB720p | 24 MB1080p | 46 MBOriginal | 50 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioThe historic hurricane killed at least six people, according to the Associated Press, following warnings from authorities in Texas and Louisiana of “unsurvivable” flooding and catastrophic winds.Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said, “It is clear that we did not sustain and suffer the absolute, catastrophic damage that we thought was likely.”Louisiana is likely to continue to see tropical storm-level wind and rain throughout   Friday. But as residents and first responders began surveying the damage early Thursday afternoon, it was clear that many Louisianians will require months if not longer to rebuild from the impact of this storm.”We haven’t seen this kind of crisis before,” said Todd Terrell, founder and president of United Cajun Navy, a Louisiana-based group of volunteers who assist in the aftermath of disasters around the United States.Terrell explained to VOA that a convergence of preexisting conditions — including a damaged economy, tense race relations, and a global coronavirus pandemic — are making the early response to Laura’s damage especially challenging.COVID-19 makes everything differentTerrell said COVID-19, in particular, has made a difficult situation even worse.”It’s not just a matter of worrying if the person you’re rescuing on your small boat has a virus,” he said. “But it’s also about making sure people are spaced apart when we’re giving them supplies or food. Most importantly for us, though, our volunteer numbers are a lot lower than we’re used to.”When Hurricane Florence hit North and South Carolina in 2018, the United Cajun Navy counted more than 1,000 volunteers in the first two days after the storm. In contrast, as of Thursday afternoon, Terrell estimated there were between 150 and 200 taking part in rescue efforts in southwestern Louisiana.The reason, he explained, is that a lot of his volunteers are connected to the military.”They either can’t be around big groups because the military won’t let them, or they’re retired and older, so it’s not safe for them during a pandemic. No matter the reason, though, we need more volunteers fast.”The first dayAnother thing making the aftermath of Hurricane Laura different from other recent storms is that it appears much of the destruction to heavily populated areas is a result of wind instead of water damage.”United Cajun Navy is kind of known for using boats to rescue people during disasters, but they’re not quite as important this time around,” Terrell explained. “Day One has been about finding people who are missing and getting supplies to those who need them.”United Cajun Navy sent 125,000 pounds of supplies on the first day — mostly snacks and water — but also items like diapers.”When you come back and find your house is destroyed, those are the kind of supplies you need right away,” said Terrell, who expects more residents will return to survey the damage over the weekend.That’s the plan for Victor Daigle, who decided with his family to evacuate from their home in Westlake, which borders Lake Charles, and go to his grandmother’s home outside of the storm’s path.As of late Wednesday, they thought they would stay put.”You see so many hurricanes and tropical storms that don’t do anything. We figured we were OK to stay,” Daigle explained. “But then when it strengthened to a Category 4 — we’ve got two kids, so, it was time to go.”The things that matterOne of those children, Ellis, is less than a month old. He was born premature and was released from the hospital less than a week ago.”My wife and I are eager to see the damage to our home,” Daigle admitted, “but we’ve seen pictures of Lake Charles and Westlake, and I don’t think it’s safe to drive around at the moment. There are trees everywhere.”Many of the roads are littered with fallen trees and other debris. A large stretch of the interstate has been shut down because of a hurricane-caused chemical fire at a nearby plant. The fire prompted the governor to advise all residents to shelter in place with doors and windows closed.This is not possible for many residents of southwest Louisiana, including Daigle and his family.”Most people who evacuated know at least one person who was crazy and decided to stay,” he said. “So, it’s pretty common for people to go send a text or go online and say, ‘Hey, can you check out my place and make sure everything’s OK?'”Daigle said his friend sent him a picture that showed two large uprooted trees in his front yard, and a large pine tree that had fallen on top of his house.”Yeah, that kind of got me when I saw that picture,” he said.The Daigles moved into the home two years ago. Victor, a carpenter, has been doing most of the renovations on his own.”We finally got it looking beautiful, and now there’s a tree laying across the roof,” he said. “Who knows what kind of damage that’s caused to our house and how long it’s going to take to fix.”But Daigle said when he and his wife stopped to talk about it, it’s easy to see how lucky they are.“No matter what’s wrong with the roof, or the house, or whatever — that can be fixed,” he said. “My family’s still with me, and that’s the only thing that matters. Everything that’s important is still here.” 
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Top leaders in Afghanistan announced Thursday that U.S.-backed peace talks with the Taliban insurgency will start next week to negotiate a political settlement to the country’s long conflict.The proposed dialogue stems from a landmark pact the United States sealed with the Taliban in February to promote a negotiated settlement to the Afghan war, the longest U.S. overseas military intervention.Abdullah Abdullah, who leads the state peacemaking High Council for National Reconciliation, told a seminar in Kabul his team “is well prepared” to enter what he referred to as intra-Afghan negotiations.Just hours later, Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar confirmed to an online forum in Washington that his government has moved to finally settle the dispute over a prisoner swap that had prevented the Taliban from joining the talks.“We are optimistic that next week we will be making big progress in this respect. The last hurdles in terms of release of prisoners are being addressed successfully. So, hopefully we will be soon done with all those initial hurdles that were in the way of starting the peace negotiations,” Atmar said in his speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace.Atmar noted he was “cautiously optimistic” that there will not be a further hurdle on the way to the talks. He also said he expected the Taliban to meet its promise that the freed prisoners will not return to the battlefield, saying the inmates are a “very dangerous” group of people.“With the release of the last batch of the Taliban prisoners, we will have released by the end of next week over 5,600 of the Taliban’s prisoners … Second, we want a reduction in [Taliban] violence,” the Afghan foreign minister stressed.’The ball was in their court’Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen swiftly but cautiously welcomed Thursday’s announcements by the Afghan government.“The ball was in their court, and if they have decided to free the prisoners and remove the last hurdle in the way to negotiations, then it is, indeed, good news,” Shaheen told VOA.The February 29 U.S.-Taliban agreement calls for the insurgents to free 1,000 Afghan security personnel from their captivity. Kabul, which is not part of the pact, was required to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners to pave the way for the two adversaries to come to the negotiation table.While the Taliban already has set free the prisoners to meet their obligation, the Afghan government released all but 320 insurgent fighters citing security concerns. Kabul also insisted that foreign governments were opposing the release of some of the detainees for allegedly killing their nationals.The Taliban clarified in a recent statement that the start of intra-Afghan negotiations will not mean a cease-fire or reduction of violence by insurgents, saying the subject will be part of the agenda in the intra-Afghan talks. The insurgent group also has stated that its leadership has instructed all Taliban members released by Kabul to go back to their families and not to rejoin the fighting.For its part, the U.S. has already reduced its forces in Afghanistan to about 8,600 since signing the deal with the Taliban. President Donald Trump said earlier this month that the number of American troops would be cut to “between 4,000 and 5,000” by the November U.S. presidential election.Washington has committed itself to pull out all U.S. forces from the country by mid-2021 in return for assurances the Taliban will prevent the use of Afghan soil for international terrorism and successfully negotiate a deal with rival Afghan factions.Pakistan’s rolePakistan, which shares a long border with Afghanistan, has played a key role in organizing and facilitating the U.S.-Taliban deal. The neighboring country’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is known for its traditionally close ties with Afghan armed groups, including the Taliban, since the time of the former Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.The latest positive developments in the troubled Afghan peace process followed Tuesday’s talks between Pakistan and a visiting high-level Taliban delegation in Islamabad.On Wednesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan telephoned Abdullah and told him that “Pakistan looks forward to the commencement of intra-Afghan negotiations at the earliest.”Renewed hopes for peace talks come as deadly clashes continued in Afghanistan, inflicting heavy casualties on combatants and civilians. The United Nations reported Thursday that days of fighting between government forces and insurgents in the northern province of Kunduz have also displaced more than 64,000 people.Meanwhile, Afghan officials said the death toll Thursday had risen to at least 150 after two days of rain-triggered heavy flooding in northern and eastern parts of the country.The calamity compounded challenges for authorities as they struggled to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has infected more than 38,000 Afghans and killed 1,400.
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European governments are preparing to reopen schools in the coming days for the new academic year, as health experts say it’s vital for children to resume education. Most students have not attended school for six months after lockdowns were imposed in March to contain the coronavirus pandemic. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, some teachers unions have voiced concerns for the safety of staff as infection rates continue to rise on the continent.
 
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The head of TikTok resigned Wednesday as tensions mount between the Chinese-owned video platform and the White House, which contends TikTok is a security risk in the U.S.
 
Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mayer announced his resignation days after the company filed a lawsuit challenging a U.S. government crackdown on the company over claims the social media app can be a tool to spy on U.S. citizens.
 
Mayer, a former Disney executive who joined the company in May, said in letter to employees his decision to quit came after the “political environment has sharply changed” in recent weeks.
 
“I understand that the role that I signed up for, including running TikTok globally, will look very different as a result of the U.S. administration’s action to push for a sell-off of the U.S. business.”
 
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 6 banning TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells its U.S. operations to an American company within 90 days.FILE – The logo of the TikTok application is seen on a screen in this picture illustration taken Feb. 21, 2019. Computer software firm Microsoft, headquartered in the northwestern U.S. city of Redmond, Washington, has confirmed it is negotiating to purchase TikTok’s operations in the U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Bloomberg News has reported that technology business Oracle Corp., based in the western U.S. city of Redwood City, California, is also entertaining a bid for the company.
 
TikTok argues in its lawsuit that Trump’s executive order was an abuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because it is not “an unusual and extraordinary threat.”
 
The company provides a platform on which short videos are shared. Since its launch in 2017, TikTok has become very popular, with hundreds of millions of users worldwide, many of them teens.
 
U.S. officials are concerned that TikTok may pose a security threat, fearing that the company might share its user data with China’s government. However, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has said it does not share user data with the Chinese government and maintains that it only stores U.S. user data in the U.S. and Singapore.
 
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