At a time when podcasts, e-books and smartphones are blossoming, old-fashioned books are still popular in the United States. That is why tiny free libraries, where people exchange books, are sprouting up across the nation to help book lovers. For VOA, Iryna Matviichuk visited some exchanges in the Washington area. Anna Rice narrates our story.
Tall buildings made of wood are beginning to pop up around the world, from the United States and Canada to Norway and soon England. Builders say wood may well be the construction material of the future. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
Barry rolled into the Louisiana coast Saturday, flooding highways, forcing people to scramble to rooftops and dumping heavy rain that officials had feared could test the levees and pumps that were bolstered after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.
After briefly becoming a Category 1 hurricane, the system weakened to a tropical storm as it made landfall near Intracoastal City, about 160 miles (257km) west of New Orleans, with its winds falling to 70 mph (112km), the National Hurricane Center said.
By early evening, New Orleans had been spared the worst effects, receiving only light showers and gusty winds. But officials warned that Barry could still cause disastrous flooding across a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast and drop up to 20 inches (50 cm) of rain through Sunday across a part of Louisiana that includes New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
“This is just the beginning,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said. “It’s going to be a long several days for our state.”
Levees overtopped south of New Orleans
The Coast Guard rescued a dozen people from flooded areas of Terrebonne Parish, south of New Orleans, some of them from rooftops, a spokeswoman said. The people included a 77-year-old man who called for help because he had about 4 feet of water in his home.
None of the main levees on the Mississippi River failed or were breached, Edwards said. But a levee in Terrebonne Parish was overtopped by water, officials said. And video showed water getting over a second levee in Plaquemines Parish, where fingers of land extend deep into the Gulf of Mexico. Terrebonne Parish ordered an evacuation affecting an estimated 400 people.
Nearly all businesses in Morgan City, about 85 miles west of New Orleans, were shuttered with the exception of Meche’s Donuts Shop. Owner Todd Hoffpauir did a brisk business despite the pounding winds and pulsating rain.
While making doughnuts, Hoffpauir said he heard an explosion and a ripping sound and later saw that the wind had peeled off layers of the roof at an adjacent apartment complex.
Still filling sandbags
In some places, residents continued to build defenses against rising water. At the edge of the town of Jean Lafitte just outside New Orleans, volunteers helped several town employees sandbag a 600-foot stretch of the two-lane state highway. The street was already lined with one-ton sandbags, and 30-pound bags were being used to strengthen them.
“I’m here for my family, trying to save their stuff,” volunteer Vinnie Tortorich said. “My cousin’s house is already under.”
In Lafayette, Willie Allen and his 11-year-old grandson, Gavin Coleman, shoveled sand into 20 green bags, joining a group of more than 20 other people doing the same thing during a break in the rain. Wearing a mud-streaked T-shirt and shorts, Allen loaded the bags onto the back of his pickup.
“Everybody is preparing,” he said. “Our biggest concern is the flood.”
Many businesses were also shut down or closed early in Baton Rouge, and winds were strong enough to rock large pickups. Whitecaps were visible on the Mississippi River.
Oil and gas operators evacuated hundreds of platforms and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly 70% of Gulf oil production and 56% of gas production were turned off Saturday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which compiles the numbers from industry reports.
Barry preceded by deluge
Barry developed from a disturbance in the Gulf that surprised New Orleans during the Wednesday morning rush with a sudden deluge that flooded streets, homes and businesses. For several days, officials braced for more flooding. But as sunset approached, the city saw only intermittent rain and wind, with occasional glimpses of sunshine.
Elsewhere, more than 120,000 customers in Louisiana and another nearly 6,000 customers in Mississippi and Alabama were without power Saturday, according to poweroutage.us.
During a storm update through Facebook Live, National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham pointed to a computer screen showing a huge, swirling mess of airborne water.
“That is just an amazing amount of moisture,” he said. “That is off the chart.”
Weekend of heavy rain
Barry was moving so slowly that heavy rain was expected to continue all weekend. Forecasts showed the storm on a path toward Chicago that would swell the Mississippi River basin with water that must eventually flow south again.
For a few hours, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), just above the 74 mph (120 kph) threshold to be a hurricane. Barry was expected to continue weakening and become a tropical depression Sunday.
Downpours also lashed coastal Alabama and Mississippi. Parts of Dauphin Island, a barrier island in Alabama, were flooded both by rain and surging water from the Gulf, said Mayor Jeff Collier, who drove around in a Humvee to survey damage. He said wind damage was minimal.
Flooding closed some roads in low-lying areas of Mobile County in Alabama, and heavy rains contributed to accidents, said John Kilcullen, director of plans and operations for Mobile County Emergency Management Agency.
Governors declared emergencies in Louisiana and Mississippi, and authorities closed floodgates and raised water barriers around New Orleans. It was the first time since Katrina that all floodgates in the New Orleans area had been sealed.
Still, Edwards said he did not expect the Mississippi to spill over the levees despite water levels already running high from spring rains and melting snow upstream. The barriers range in height from about 20 feet to 25 feet (6 meters to 7.5 meters).
Authorities told at least 10,000 people in exposed, low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast to leave, but no evacuations were ordered in New Orleans, where officials urged residents to “shelter in place.”
Despite the apparent calm in her city, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell cautioned that the storm continued to pose a threat.
“The slow pace pushed the timing of expected impacts further into today, tonight and Sunday,” Cantrell said. “This means that New Orleans residents are not out of the woods with this system.”
NEW YORK — Authorities said a widespread power shortage in Manhattan on Saturday evening left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled.
Power reportedly went out at much of Rockefeller Center, and the outage reached the city’s Upper West Side. The full extent of the outage, however, wasn’t clear.
A diner on Broadway at West 69th Street lost its lights, as did other surrounding businesses.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority tweeted that there were outages at various underground stations. The MTA was working with Con Edison to determine the cause.
Con Edison did not immediately respond to phone messages.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s education minister voiced support Saturday for so-called gay “conversion therapy,” drawing a disavowal from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government’s religious-rightist tilt has worried liberals at home and backers abroad.
Conversion therapy, an attempt to alter sexual orientation or gender identity through psychological, spiritual and, in extreme cases, physical means, has been widely discredited in the West and condemned by professional health associations such as the American Medical Association as potentially harmful.
Rafael Peretz, an Orthodox rabbi and head of the ultranationalist United Right party who assumed the education portfolio in the Netanyahu-led coalition last month, said in a television interview he believed conversion therapy can work.
“I have a very deep familiarity with the issue of education, and I have also done this,” he told Israel’s Channel 12 TV.
‘Let’s think’
Giving an example of a gay person he said he had tended to, Peretz said: “First of all, I embraced him. I said very warm things to him. I told him, ‘Let’s think. Let’s study. And let’s contemplate.’ The objective is first of all for him to know himself well … and then he will decide.”
The remarks sparked furor in Israel’s center-left opposition, which ahead of a September election has sought to cast Netanyahu as enabling Orthodox indoctrination in a country whose majority Jews mostly identify as secular or of less stringent religious observance.
Israel’s LGBT Task Force, an advocacy group, demanded Peretz be fired, saying in a statement his views were “benighted.”
Shortly after the interview aired at the end of the Jewish Sabbath, Netanyahu said he spoke to Peretz for “clarification.”
“The education minister’s remarks regarding the pride community are unacceptable to me and do not reflect the position of the government that I head,” the premier said in a statement.
Earlier furor
It was the second flap Peretz had caused in less than a week. Israeli media reported that he had told fellow Cabinet members on Tuesday that the intermarriage of Jews and gentiles in the diaspora amounted to a “second Holocaust.”
The comparison stirred up anger among U.S. Jews, who are mostly non-Orthodox, and drew a rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League, which said such statements cheapened the Holocaust.
Speaking to Channel 12, Peretz described himself as striving to balance respect for others, no matter their sexual orientation, with his duties as a religious leader.
“I honor everyone as people. I admit that I, personally — I am a rabbi of Israel. Our Torah tells us other things. But that does not mean that I look about now and give them grades,” he said.
A team of researchers across three universities is working on a cell-killing machine invisible to the naked eye.
“We want to be bacteria’s worst nightmare,” said James Tour, T.T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry at Rice University in Houston. He is also a professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and computer science.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose one of the biggest threats to global health, according to the World Health Organization. Researchers at Rice University, Durham University in Britain and North Carolina State University may have discovered a way to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
They’re experimenting with tiny, manmade nanomachines that can drill into a cell, killing it. The machines are single molecule motors that can spin at about 3 million rotations a second when a blue light shines on them. As they spin, they drill into the cell. Harmful bacteria cannot mutate to overcome this type of weapon, Tour said.
“We may have found something that the cell could never build a resistance to,” he added.
The nanomachines are so small that about 50,0000 of them can fit across the diameter of a human hair. In comparison, only about 50 cells can take up that amount of space.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are not the only enemies this weapon can fight.
Cancer killer
The nanomachines can drill into cancer cells, causing the cells’ nucleus to disintegrate into fragments.
“We’ve tried four different types, and every cancer cell that it touches is toast,” said Tour, whose team tested the nanomachines on a couple strains of human breast cancer cells, cancerous skin cells and pancreatic cancer cells.
The way it works is that a peptide, also a molecule that consists of amino acids, is added to the nanomotor. That peptide recognizes specific cells and binds the nanomachine to that cell so that only cancer cells, not healthy cells, are targeted. A blue light activates the machine.
“Generally, it’s not just one nanomachine, it’s 50, and each cell is going to get 50 holes drilled in it generally,” Tour said.
The nanomachines can fight cancerous cells in the mouth, upper and lower gastrointestinal tracts and bladder “wherever you can get a scope in, a light, apply it right there, and use the light” to activate the motors, Tour said.
It would only take a few minutes to kill cancerous cells with nanomachines, in contrast to days or longer using radiation or chemotherapy, Tour said.
Sculpt away fat
In another application, nanomachines could be used to sculpt away fat cells when applied onto the skin through a gel.
“You just take a bright light and just pass it over and these start attacking the adipocytes, which are the fat cells and blow those open,” Tour said.
Next steps
Researchers have only worked with nanomachines in a lab, so using this method in a clinical setting is still some time off. Later this year, researchers will start testing nanomachines on staphylococcus bacteria skin infections on live rodents.
One challenge scientists will have to overcome as nanomachine research progresses is how to get the blue light deep into the body if the motors are to fight bacteria or tumor cells that are well below the skin’s surface.
A report submitted to the UN human rights council this week accuses Nicaragua of continuing to repress, threaten and harass human rights defenders and other opponents one year after the government’s violent crackdown on nationwide demonstrations.
More than 300 people were killed, 2000 injured, and hundreds arbitrarily arrested during last year’s violent repression of peaceful nationwide protests. More than 70,000 people also fled into exile to escape the heavy-hand of the Nicaraguan government.
U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kate Gilmore, says peaceful protests and dissent continue to be repressed in Nicaragua. She says more than 440 imprisoned protestors have been released, but more than 80 remain in custody under severe conditions.
“Our Office has received allegations that some of them were subjected to torture or ill-treatment by correction officers. . . . We are deeply concerned that human rights defenders and community leaders continue to be targets of attacks, of threats, harassment and constant surveillance,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore says people are deprived of the right to freedom of expression, including freedom of the media. She says journalists and other media workers are threatened, harassed and censored. She notes two prominent journalists were detained for more than five months under terrorism charges.
She urges the government of President Daniel Ortega to engage in a genuine and meaningful dialogue to address people’s legitimate demands for justice and reparation.
Nicaragua’s Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Carlos Ernesto Morales Davila dismisses the charges as ill-founded. He says human rights defenders are not persecuted. They can freely promote and defend human rights. However, he accuses some of these groups of perverting their cause and engaging in destructive activities.
He says they are trying to destroy the constitutional order of the country and to undermine the work of the government to restore peace and reconciliation.
New Zealand has held its first public fire-arms collection event in Christchurch Saturday as part of the government’s response to the city’s mosque shootings in March. Ownership of the types of high-powered weapons used in the attacks that killed 51 people has been restricted.
There were long lines at a racecourse in Christchurch as gun-owners waited to hand in weapons that are now illegal. It is the first of more than 250 buy-back events that will be held across New Zealand. The police expect that tens of thousands of guns will be surrendered, although the exact number is unknown.
Semi-automatic weapons were outlawed following attacks on two mosques in Christchurch that left 51 people dead. The government said the law would remove the most dangerous guns from the community.
The ban, which Prime Minister Ardern announced Thursday in Wellington, includes high-capacity magazines, which can hold multiple rounds of ammunition, and accessories that can convert ordinary rifles into fast-acting assault rifles.
Chris Cahill, from the New Zealand Police Association, which represents officers, believes the buy-back scheme will go smoothly.
“We know the vast majority of firearms owners are law-abiding citizens,” said Cahill. “While disappointed they have to lose these sorts of firearms they understand why and they want to abide by the law.”
More than $130 million has been set aside to compensate owners of semi-automatic weapons. The amount each individual will receive will depend on the value and condition of their guns.
But some owners are complaining that the compensation is inadequate. There are concerns, too, that farming communities, which rely on firearms for hunting and pest control, will suffer because of the ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons.
The royal commission — the most powerful judicial probe available under New Zealand law — will examine events leading up to the March 15 attack in which a lone gunman opened fire on two mosques in a mass shooting that shocked the world.
“This is a critical part of our ongoing response to the attack — the commission’s findings will help to ensure such an attack never happens here again,” Prime
Nicole McKee is a spokesperson for New Zealand’s Council of Licensed Firearms Owners.
“We are a rural and farming community here at the bottom of the world and we use firearms as a tool and there is quite a few of us that hunt as well to put food on the table,” said McKee.
New Zealand authorities hope the scheme will be as successful as one in Australia that was implemented after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 on the island of Tasmania, where a lone gunman murdered 35 people. It prompted more than 700,000 weapons to be surrendered.
The Australian man accused of the Christchurch shootings has denied 51 charges of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and a terrorism charge. He is expected to go on trial next year.
The gun collection event in Christchurch will continue Sunday.
As Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters vow to keep up their fight, churches remain on the front lines. Christian groups hold regular public gatherings and sing hymns at demonstrations, both as a way to protest and to de-escalate clashes between police and more aggressive protesters. As VOA’s Bill Gallo reports, many churches in Hong Kong fear a crackdown on religion as China expands its influence.
As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the historic mission to land humans on the surface of the moon, VOA’s Kane Farabaugh presents this reflection of the monumental achievement through the eyes of the NASA astronauts themselves. In exclusive interviews Farabaugh gathered, the men of the Apollo program reflect on the path to the moon, and what lies beyond.
Congressional Democrats are pushing for new protections for asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. They unveiled legislation this week that reflects the lawmakers’ increasing anger and concern over the Trump administration’s immigration policies. But Republicans accuse Democrats of refusing to acknowledge an immigration crisis exists and making the problem worse. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.
Islamic State media operatives appear to have regrouped, at least in part, intent on showing the world that the terror organization is living up to its motto of “remaining and expanding” despite its lack of a physical caliphate.
For almost a month, the group’s core media channels have been pumping out a series of videos showing fighters pledging allegiance, or renewing their pledges, to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Intelligence officials and analysts say, so far, the group, also known as ISIS or by its Arabic acronym, Daesh, has produced and disseminated eight of these videos under the title, “The Best Outcome is for the Pious.”
The video series “aims at proving that ISIS has not been defeated and that its militants in several parts of the world remain loyal to their leaders,” a U.S. counterterrorism official told VOA.
IS media operatives issued the most recent of the videos this past Wednesday, the first-ever video from the terror group’s Turkish province.
“If you think that by weakening the Islamic State and its soldiers, that they will divert from their path or leave their jihad, you have great delusions,” said a fighter, identified as Abu Qatada al-Turki, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group.
Turki further threatened Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling him an “arrogant tyrant.”
“Do not think that the swords of the soldiers of the Caliphate are far from you or from those who stand on your side,” he warned.
Previous videos highlighted fighters from IS provinces in West Africa, Sinai, East Asia (Philippines), the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Libya and Azerbaijan, another first.
Some of the videos have featured large groups of fighters. Others, like the video from Turkey and another from Azerbaijan, feature just five and three fighters, respectively.
Yet there is a sense that, in this case, size does not matter.
“Do we really expect ISIS to show us a terror training camp with 200 fighters primed and ready,” Raphael Gluck, the co-founder of Jihadoscope, a company that monitors online activity by Islamist extremists, told VOA in an email.
“ISIS is in insurgency mode but wants to remind you, its presence and influence remains everywhere,” he added.
And while IS has long been practiced in the art of smoke and mirrors, finding ways to make itself look bigger than it really is, dismissing the latest videos could be a mistake.
“There’s no doubt that the group has a presence in these spots,” according to Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Additionally, that the videos have been disseminated by the group’s official media outlets is significant.
“It is one thing for groups to make bay’at (pledges of allegiance), but it is a much more serious affair when the highest levels of Islamic State leadership accept their allegiance,” said Jade Parker, a former counterterrorism analyst in support of U.S. military activities.
“Is it possible that Islamic State central is recognizing their external governance entities earlier in the provincial development process than they previously did? Yes,” Parker added. “The external provinces would still need to surpass a common minimum benchmark of organizational requirements, though.”
That IS has retained such a strong degree of organizational integrity has worried U.S. intelligence officials for months, some warning that fighters fleeing the collapsing caliphate in Syria and Iraq would find refuge with IS branches in more than a dozen countries, including Turkey.
Just as concerning for analysts is that along with the videos, there has been a steady drumbeat of IS claims, celebrating attacks on government forces and civilians in places like Nigeria, Mozambique, Afghanistan, the Philippines and Tunisia.
Jihadoscope’s Raphael Gluck believes, at the least, the steady stream of propaganda is unlikely to abate.
“ISIS could possibly still spring a few surprises with more videos from Europe and the West,” he said. “From this point, it looks like ‘Wilayat Internet’ [ Internet province] is very much a thing.”
South Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar has agreed to a face-to-face meeting with President Salva Kiir, a step that could energize the lagging talks on a government for the civil war-wracked country.
In a letter dated July 8 and sent to President Kiir’s security adviser, Tut Gatluak, Machar said he is ready to talk with the president as long as he can freely move about in South Sudan.
The Kiir administration invited Machar to meet with Kiir after the government and opposition groups missed a May deadline to form a transitional government of national unity. The period was extended for another six months.
In the letter viewed by VOA, Machar said he will meet Kiir to discuss the challenges of implementing pre-transition activities since recent months have passed “without substantial progress.”
Norway Ambassador to South Sudan Lars Anderson said two months of the six-month extension of the pretransitional period have already come and gone with little to show.
He said the parties to last year’s peace deal must implement security arrangements immediately in order to pave the way for the formation of a unity government on time.
“There shouldn’t be more extensions. That is clear from the agreement they have, according to themselves. Now it’s fairly predictable by November there will be another form of political crisis around that. And it is really going to be up to the parties how they manage this,” Anderson told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.
Representatives of the various parties who sit on the National Pre-Transitional Committee have held several meetings on implementing the peace deal. Anderson said the international community wants Kiir and Machar to meet regularly to build trust and confidence among their supporters and to show they are working together to achieve peace.
“I think at this point it’s not about people on the ground working together because we have also seen good working cooperation between the military with the different armed groups. So it is not about people on the ground, it is about top leadership now coming together and showing their strong commitment to this,” Anderson said.
In May, shortly after the parties agreed to extend the pretransitional period, the Kiir administration pledged $100 million to fund pretransitional activities including security arrangements. It’s not clear if the government has released the money it pledged.
Machar urged Kiir to “make a special request” to the Transitional Military Council in Khartoum, where he said he’s being held under house arrest. He wants Sudanese authorities to transport him to Juba and back to Khartoum after the talks.
Stephen Par Kuol, SPLM-IO secretary for foreign relations, said Machar should be able to go wherever he wants once Machar arrives in South Sudan.
“We had been demanding as a party that our chairman should be set free to participate physically in peace dissemination in this process of peace implementation,” Kuol told South Sudan in Focus.
Paar said the two leaders will talk about how to quickly implement critical security arrangements that are behind schedule.
CTSAMM, the body monitoring the implementation of the security arrangements, warned last week that by dragging out the pretransitional activities, the parties risk failing to establish the unity government in November. CTSAMM Chairman Desta Abiche confirmed the parties have yet to assemble and integrate their forces, a key component of the security arrangements.
Editor’s note: We want you to know what’s happening, why and how it could impact your life, family or business, so we created a weekly digest of the top original immigration, migration and refugee reporting from across VOA. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.
U.S.: Undocumented people on alert for federal immigration raids, again.
For the second time in a month, there is talk of federal raids to detain undocumented immigrants across the United States. It’s a fearful time for those who are vulnerable.
U.S.: Break in the border spike
A months-long increase in border apprehensions reversed in June, shortly after the U.S. brokered a migration deal with Mexico amid threats of a tariff. It’s also the time of year when temperatures creep up in the southwestern U.S., leading to fewer attempts to enter the country through some of the nation’s remotest, most desolate areas. But it’s too early to say whether the downward trend in border arrivals will continue.
U.S.: Questions over fast-tracking asylum procedures
As the U.S. faces a monumental backlog of asylum cases and an increase in families and unaccompanied children seeking sanctuary in the country, the Trump administration wants to speed up the process. The move worries many immigration lawyers who tell VOA that hurrying cases could jeopardize asylum-seekers’ ability to seek help or advice.
U.N.: Bachelet blasts Washington over border facilities
The UN’s top human rights official joined a chorus of condemnation over the condition of migrant detention facilities in the southwestern United States. Michelle Bachelet is one of the most high profile international voices to criticize how Washington is handling a spike in young children and families crossing the border from Mexico without authorization, overcrowding Border Patrol facilities and being held in substandard conditions. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers again pushed for more oversight of the border detention system.
CAR and Cameroon: Refusing to return home
Central African Republic refugees seeking safety in Cameroon are reluctant to return home. They aren’t confident life will be better if they go back, either in terms of security, work or education.
Bangladesh and Burma: Monsoon mayhem
The U.N. relocated thousands of refugees living in a Bangladeshi camp after a monsoon brought heavy rains through Cox’s Bazar, triggering dozens of landslides and destroying hundreds of shelters. The camp primarily houses Burmese refugees, many from the Rohingya community.
Libya: Detainees march for help, freedom
People detained at a Tripoli facility protested and pleaded for aid organizations to relocate them, in the wake of a recent bombing that killed 53. VOA’s Heather Murdock spoke with one detainee.
China is criticizing a short visit by Taiwan’s president to the United States, saying it violates the “one-China” principle.
Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang urged the U.S. on Friday to cease official exchanges with Taiwan and not allow stopovers by President Tsai Ing-wen.
Tsai is already in New York on a two-night stay en route to an official visit to four Caribbean nations. She was scheduled to deliver a speech to a U.S.-Taiwan business summit on Friday and attend a dinner with members of the Taiwanese-American community.
The United States recognizes Beijing as the government of China, but provides military and other support to Taiwan. The self-governing island split from China during a civil war in 1949.
A reporter in Mississippi who was denied access to cover a candidate for governor because she is a woman is calling the rejection sexist and a violation of press freedom.
The candidate, Robert Foster, said in an emailed statement he was just following the “Billy Graham” rule where a man is never alone with a woman besides his wife. The reporter, Larrison Campbell, said she was told he was concerned about the optics for his campaign of being alone with a woman.
Foster’s campaign manager said people could use her presence as a smear tactic and it was too close to the primary election to risk it, according to the post Campbell published in “Mississippi Today”.
Campbell said in a phone interview she offered to wear a press pass the whole time, write the article quickly so the campaign could point to it as an explanation, and pointed out she wouldn’t be alone with him because the male campaign manager would be there all day.
Campbell told VOA this is an example of sexism and it hurts freedom of the press.
“The only reason you would think people might see a woman’s presence with a man as being improper is if you think that a woman’s presence in a political arena needs an explanation because she doesn’t belong there,” Campbell said. “Any time a reporter is denied access it hurts freedom of the press. It’s not a question of not being able to publish, it’s a question of there not being access.”
In a statement, Foster reiterated his decision was based out of respect for “my wife, character and our Christian faith.”
“Before our decision to run, my wife and I made a commitment to follow the ‘Billy Graham Rule’, which is to avoid any situation that may evoke suspicion or compromise of our marriage. I am sorry Ms. Campbell doesn’t share these same views,” Foster said in an emailed statement. “We don’t mind granting Ms. Campbell an interview. We just want it to be in an appropriate and professional setting that wouldn’t provide opportunities for us to be alone.”
Campbell said sexism in the industry can prevent women from getting the access they need.
“Your work should be what determines how well you do and if you get access to the bigger candidates you’re going to break bigger stories. It hurts you as you aren’t taken as seriously, that hurts your access to stories,” she said. “I have some fantastic sources, on both sides of the political spectrum. It does ultimately hurt your access and I’m definitely not the only woman who feels that way.”
Gaye Tuchman, a professor of sociology emerita at the University of Connecticut elaborated on the importance of access to the first amendment.
“The reason that a free press exists is because it enables people who read the press, or in the 21st century use other media, to find out things,” said Tuchman. “In that sense the constitution guarantees the right to find out things.”
Kayleigh Skinner, a colleague of Campbell’s at “Mississippi Today”, said she often finds the people she covers do not treat her with as much respect as her male colleagues. She also said after the #MeToo movement women might have more difficulty doing their jobs.
“Maybe now women are seen as threats, something to gain out of accusing someone. I think men are more cautious now of getting caught up in a compromising situation,” Skinner said. “This is not the way to handle it. We are just doing our jobs.”
Campbell said while this is the most overt sexism she has experienced, sexism is a problem everywhere.
“I think that this story is obviously getting traction. It’s in Mississippi, it’s a Mississippi Republican. This does fit a narrative,” she said. “But there’s a problem everywhere. It’s not going to change unless we talk about it and analyze it and understand it.”
President Donald Trump unloaded via Twitter on Republican former House Speaker Paul Ryan after Ryan’s comments critical of Trump appeared in excerpts from a new book.
Ryan condemns Trump in “American Carnage,” by Tim Alberta of Politico, in excerpts running in various publications. Alberta wrote the former speaker, who retired from Congress in 2018, could not stand the idea of another two years with the Republican president and saw retirement as the “escape hatch,” according to The Washington Post. Ryan is quoted saying: “I’m telling you, he didn’t know anything about government. I wanted to scold him all the time.”
Trump blasted Ryan as a “lame duck failure.”
“He had the Majority & blew it away with his poor leadership and bad timing,” Trump tweeted late Thursday. “Never knew how to go after the Dems like they go after us. Couldn’t get him out of Congress fast enough!”
Ryan had no comment Friday on the president’s tweets about him, his spokesman Brendan Buck said.
Trump may have been angered by various revelations in the book, including accounts recalling widespread negative GOP reactions to his off-color videotaped comments in the “Access Hollywood” scandal in the closing weeks of the 2016 election campaign. Ryan’s reaction was particularly harsh.
The book recounted Ryan, who served in Congress for 20 years, saying Trump’s presidency was slipping as he was less willing to accept advice from Republicans to moderate his approach.
“Those of us around him really helped to stop him from making bad decisions. All the time,” Ryan said. “We helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to kind of what his knee-jerk reaction was. Now I think he’s making some of these knee-jerk reactions.”
And Ryan, who often was Trump’s wing man on some congressional issues but had a strained relationship with him, was the main focus of Trump’s Twitter rage.
“Paul Ryan, the failed V.P. candidate & former Speaker of the House, whose record of achievement was atrocious (except during my first two years as President), ultimately became a long running lame duck failure, leaving his Party in the lurch both as a fundraiser & leader,” Trump tweeted.
Trump tweeted that when presidential candidate Mitt Romney chose Ryan as a running mate “I told people that’s the end of that Presidential run.”
“He quit Congress because he didn’t know how to Win,” Trump tweeted. “They gave me standing O’s in the Great State of Wisconsin, & booed him off the stage. He promised me the Wall, & failed (happening anyway!)…”
Women in the Syrian city of Raqqa say their lives have changed dramatically after U.S.-backed forces freed their city from the Islamic State terror group.
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Women in the Syrian city of Raqqa say their lifestyle drastically changed after U.S.-backed forces freed their city from the Islamic State terror group.
The Syrian Democratic Forces liberated the city in October 2017. Since then, Raqqa residents have been determined to bring a sense of normalcy back to their city, which was once the de facto capital of IS’s self-proclaimed caliphate.
Throughout the partially restored market in downtown Raqqa, shops selling women’s clothing and cosmetics now openly showcase their merchandise, something unthinkable during IS rule.
“Now, I can exhibit anything I want in front of my store,” said a 37-year-old man who owns a women’s boutique.
“When Daesh was here, we had to hide things like revealing clothes and lingerie in the back of the store. Men couldn’t sell these things to women, so we had to hire women to sell to other women,” he told VOA, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
Under IS rule, strict social codes were imposed on the local population. Men and women who were not related weren’t allowed to interact.
Women, in particular, were required to wear black dresses covering their entire bodies and faces. Those who disobeyed received harsh punishments, including imprisonment and flogging.
“I remember how my friend’s older sister was humiliated on the street by two female IS members because they thought her face wasn’t covered properly,” said a 21-year-old woman who was a teenager when IS ruled Raqqa. She declined to be identified for security reasons.
The terror group had established a vice police force, locally known as al-Hisbah, whose sole mission was to implement Islamic laws and persecute those who did not adhere to them.
“There is no comparison between now and then,” said Khitam al-Musa, 30, of Raqqa.
“At least now, I can walk on the street freely. I can buy what I want. In the past, I could have been arrested for the silliest reason,” she told VOA. “I was taken to interrogation a few times because I painted my fingernails and wore open-toe sandals. It was unbearable to be a woman under [IS] rule.”
The SDF, a Kurdish-led military alliance that has been an effective partner of the United States in the fight against IS, has established a progressive governing system in areas under its control in northeast Syria.
Women’s rights and gender equality are the basis of SDF’s newly formed entity, SDF officials claim.
“What the SDF has offered is a very unique alternative form of governance not only compared to IS’s style, but also compared to the Syrian regime,” said Sadradeen Kinno, a Syrian researcher who closely follows Islamic militancy in the war-torn country.
Kinno told VOA that while residents in Raqqa and other areas recently liberated from IS enjoy the liberty the SDF offers, it would take a long time before the group could enforce its progressive ideas among a largely conservative population.
“Individual freedoms are important for women and people in general, especially if you’ve just experienced life under one of the most oppressive groups in the world,” he said. “But it will certainly be a major challenge for the SDF to find a receptive population for its broader gender democracy.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could be facing his biggest political challenge, with the resignation of his former economic czar Ali Babacan threatening to split his ruling AKP Party. Party discontent is escalating amidst economic malaise and deteriorating human rights.
“Under the current conditions, Turkey needs a brand-new vision for its future,” Babacan said Monday upon resigning. “It has become inevitable to start a new effort for Turkey’s present and future. Many of my colleagues and I feel a great and historic responsibility toward this effort.”
New political party
Babacan is expected to launch a new political party as early as September. A founding member of AKP, Babacan served as foreign and economy minister in the early years of the party’s rule. He is widely credited with presiding over Turkey’s economic transformation with unparalleled record growth.
“We can normalize the society, end the polarization within society,” said Osman Can, a former national AKP board member, who now supports Babacan’s movement. “We can normalize relations with the United States and Europe. We can also be a hope for the region. This is why I am hopeful, for Babacan lives as a conservative but his thinking is liberal.”
The AKP originally was a coalition of liberals and religious conservatives, ushering in wide-ranging democratic reforms in its early years of rule. However, criticism of Erdogan’s leadership within the party has been building, with his centralizing of power and accusations of increasing authoritarianism. Following the 2016 failed coup, hundreds of thousands have been purged from their jobs or jailed, in a crackdown that continues.
“After the coup attempt, Mr. Erdogan came to the decision [that] he is under attack and only needs loyal people and family advising and working for him,” said Can. “In the AKP, there is only one will, the will of Mr. Erdogan. There is no person able to criticize or willing to criticize.”
Analysts suggest the tipping point for an AKP split and whether a new party succeeds is the economy. For the last year, Turkey has fallen into an economic malaise of recession, near-record unemployment and double-digit inflation.
“According to a recent poll, 30% of AKP voters are extremely unhappy with the economic management,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners, a business management consultancy. “The message is simple, if Erdogan improves the economy they [the new party] will have less of a chance. If he screws up once again, then Mr. Babacan, with proven crisis management skills, will be well-placed.”
Gul to support Babacan
According to sources linked to the new movement, Babacan is receiving financial support from conservative businesses, who traditionally back the AKP. Such support is likely facilitated by former President Abdullah Gul. He is another AKP founder, who is backing Babacan and has close links to conservative companies.
However, analysts warn Babacan has to look for support beyond the AKP. “If it becomes a movement or party built and run by former AKP party members, then forget it. It will be a huge failure,” said sociology professor Mesut Yegen of Istanbul’s Sehir University.
“I think Turkish people are really demanding a new style of politics,” he added, “and you can see this in other parties as well. This is why they [Babacan’s party] need to find some new faces to introduce to the Turkish public.”
“There should be new faces,” agreed Can, “from the center-right and center-left, not just conservatives. It should be people who are rational, not rigid, and Babacan and others are in talks with such people.”
There could be risks
However, openly challenging Erdogan has risks. Observers say some AKP dissidents who’ve sought to set up a new party or break ranks have run into legal troubles on trumped-up charges from a compliant judiciary.
“There are strong voices in Ankara to make pressure, to make accusations and investigations,” said Can, a law professor at Istanbul’s Marmara University and a former judge-rapporteur at Turkey’s Constitutional Court.
“Their [AKP’s] power in Ankara is dissolving. They are losing support within the state, within the bureaucracy, the judiciary,” he added. “These people see things are changing. They are changing their minds, and they are starting not to work with the government. They know change is coming and they are protecting themselves.”
For now, Erdogan is dismissing Babacan, saying he “will not reach anything by doing this.” Setting up a new party infrastructure in Turkey is challenging and time-consuming, given the country’s size and population of 80 million.
Erdogan plans tour
However, in a move widely interpreted as shoring up support and containing any defections to Babacan’s movement, Erdogan is set to tour Turkey, visiting party branches.
The president is already reeling from last month’s loss of the Istanbul mayorship in a shock opposition landslide victory. Yegen suggested Babacan’s move against Erdogan could benefit from a new mood in Turkey.
“There are signs that Turkey is thirsty for new forms of leadership, and this can be translated into new programs and new styles of politics. But on the other hand, we cannot be sure this change will take place in a gradual manner or suddenly,” said Yegen.