Deputy PM: Luxembourg’s Space Mining Mission Begins Tuesday

When Luxembourg’s new law governing space mining comes into force on Tuesday, the country will already be working to make the science-fiction-sounding mission a reality, the deputy prime minister said.

The legislation will make Luxembourg the first country in Europe to offer a legal framework to ensure that private operators can be confident about their rights over resources they extract in space.

The law is based on the premise that space resources are capable of being owned by individuals and private companies and establishes the procedures for authorizing and supervising space exploration missions.

“When I launched the initiative a year ago, people thought I was mad,” Etienne Schneider told Reuters.

“But for us, we see it as a business that has return on investment in the short-term, the medium-term, and the long-term,” said Schneider, who is also Luxembourg’s economy minister.

Luxembourg in June 2016 set aside 200 million euros ($229 million) to fund initiatives aimed at bringing back rare minerals from space.

While that goal is at least 15 years off, new technologies are already creating markets that space mining could supply, said Schneider.

He said firms could soon make carrying materials to refuel or repair satellites economically feasible or supply raw materials to the 3-D printers now being tested on the International Space Station.

Lifting each kilogram of mass from Earth to orbit costs between 10,000 and 15,000 euros ($11,000 to $18,000), according to Schneider, but firms could cut these costs by recycling the debris of old satellites and rocket parts floating in space.

The small European country, best known for its fund management and private banking sector, will on Tuesday begin the work of making such deals, with the security of a legal framework in place, said Schneider.

Luxembourg has already managed to attract significant interest from pioneers in the field such as U.S. operators Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, and aims to attract research and development projects to set up there.

A similar package of laws was introduced in the United States in 2015 but only applies to companies majority owned by Americans, while Luxembourg’s laws will only require the company to have an office in the country.

“I am already in discussions with fund owners for more than 1 billion euros which they want to dedicate to space exploration over here in Luxembourg,” Schneider said. “In 10 years, I’m quite sure that the official language in space will be Luxembourgish.”

Peruvian Ex-president Asks Appeals Court to Free Him from Jail

Peru’s former left-leaning president Ollanta Humala and his wife asked an appeals court on Monday to free them from jail where they have been ordered to spend up to 18 months before a trial over allegations they took illegal funds from Brazilian builder Odebrecht.

Humala and former first lady Nadine Heredia denied having any intent to evade or interfere with a money laundering probe and said a lower court’s ruling to jail them before trial violated due process.

Humala and Heredia turned themselves in to authorities after the lower court’s July 13 decision, which marked the second time that a former Peruvian president has been ordered jailed since Odebrecht admitted last year that it bribed local officials over three presidencies.

Ex-President Alejandro Toledo, believed to be in the United States, has refused to turn himself in.

“We ask this courtroom for a just decision because we stayed in our country and we plan to face this process in our country,” Humala told the appeals court from jail via videoconference.

Prosecutor Rafael Vela said Humala should not be given special treatment for being a former president.

Unlike Toledo, Humala is not accused of taking bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for lucrative contracts. Instead, prosecutors allege that Humala and Heredia took $3 million in campaign funds from Odebrecht that the company had obtained illicitly and that the couple used for personal enrichment.

The couple denies taking any money from Odebrecht, said defense attorney Wilfredo Pedraza, who added that if they had it would be an electoral infraction but not a criminal defense.

The three-member appeals panel is expected to decide whether to overturn the lower court’s ruling this week.

Freeing Humala and Heredia would mark a rare reversal in Peru’s judicial system that has preventively detained at least five people so far in connection with Odebrecht.

So-called preventive prison before trial is somewhat common in Peru and has been criticized by some as overused or unfair.

In Brazil, pre-trial detention has been used to secure confessions from dozens of suspects in the Car Wash graft scandal involving Odebrecht.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who once championed Humala, has been sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison for graft but is free on appeal.

Toledo denies wrongdoing and is not sought for arrest in the United States because authorities there have asked Peru for more evidence.

US Sanctions Maduro After ‘Illegitimate’ Vote

The United States has imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, over what it called his “illegitimate” election of an assembly to rewrite the constitution.

All of Maduro’s assets in the United States are frozen and Americans are forbidden from doing any business with him.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the sanctions Monday in Washington, calling Maduro a “dictator” who ignores the will of the Venezuelan people.

“By sanctioning Maduro, the United States makes clear our opposition to the policies of his regime and our support for the people of Venezuela, who seek to reform their country to a full and prosperous democracy.”

Maduro showed his apparent indifference to the sanctions late Monday, calling them a sign of President Donald Trump’s “desperation and hate.”

“I will not obey imperial orders. I do not obey any foreign governments. I’m a free president,” Maduro declared. “Why the hell should we care what Trump says? We care about what the sovereign people of Venezuela say,” he shouted Monday to a crowd of supporters in Caracas.

The sanctions against Maduro follow those imposed last week on a number of current and former senior Venezuelan officials.

Mnuchin would not comment on future sanctions, including a ban on Venezuelan oil exports. He said the U.S. will monitor the situation, but that “our objective is not to do anything to hurt the people of Venezuela.”

Peru has called for a meeting of Latin America foreign ministers in Lima next week to discuss the crisis in Venezuela.

The European Union also says it will not recognize the assembly, along with Canada, Spain, and nearly every Latin American country.

Maduro is defying the global condemnation, especially from what he regards as Venezuela’s arch enemy, the United States.

Maduro presses ahead

The Maduro government appeared determined to go through with forming the 545-member constituent assembly, even before it releases final results of the election.

The government said more than 8 million people cast ballots; the opposition, which boycotted the vote, said the turnout was much lower. Reporters on the ground in Caracas said dozens of polling places were almost deserted Sunday.

If 8 million people voted, that would be less than half of all registered voters. Pre-election polls showed more than 70 percent of all Venezuelans opposed the assembly.

Details on what is likely to be included in a new constitution are unclear. Maduro has said it is the only way to pull Venezuela out of its severe economic and social crisis and stop the seemingly endless violence.

The opposition said the measure would bring on a socialist dictatorship. It contended the vote was rigged, in order to pack the assembly with Maduro supporters who could dissolve the opposition-controlled national assembly and fire officials who disagree with the government. Maduro’s opponents are demanding early presidential elections.

Violent protests

Sunday’s election was the bloodiest day in four months of anti-government protests, with at least 10 people killed in clashes around the country. More than 120 have died since early April.

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin on Monday accused the Venezuelan government of “deliberately and repeatedly” using violence to repress the opposition.

The drop in global energy prices, together with political corruption, have destroyed oil-rich Venezuela’s economy. Gasoline, medicine, and such basic staples as cooking oil, flour and sugar are scarce, and many Venezuelans cross into neighboring Colombia and Brazil to buy food.

Maduro has blamed the country’s woes on what he calls U.S. imperialism and its supporters inside Venezuela. He has warned against intervention by the Organization of American States, saying that would surely lead to civil war.

Chemical Industry and US Call for Global Culture of Chemical Security

Securing petrochemical plants and keeping chemicals out of the hands of terrorists were the topics of discussion at a recent Chemical Sector Security Summit in Houston, Texas. Security experts say the countries that are producing chemicals are shifting and that is one of many reasons developed and developing nations need to share best security practices. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports from Houston, a petrochemical hub in the United States.

Peru Calls Latin America Meeting After Venezuela’s ‘Illegitimate’ Vote

Peru’s government is organizing a meeting of Latin American foreign ministers on what it calls Venezuela’s “illegitimate” vote Sunday approving a new government body charged with rewriting the country’s constitution.

 

The meeting, planned for August 8 in Lima, represents some of the international concern expressed Monday about the approval of a National Constituent Assembly. Its 545 members all support socialist President Nicolas Maduro and theoretically could supplant the opposition-led legislature, the National Assembly.

 

On Monday, the European Union joined Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Spain and at least seven other countries in saying they would not recognize the Constituent Assembly.

 

That kind of assembly, “elected under doubtful and often violent circumstances, cannot be part of the solution” to Venezuela’s crisis, European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said Monday in Brussels. She said he vote “has increased division and will further de-legitimize Venezuela’s democratically elected institutions.”

 

The EU’s foreign policy leader, Federica Mogherini, is overseeing a “joint response” from the 28-member bloc, Andreeva said.

 

Sunday’s election marked the bloodiest day in four months of anti-government protests, with at least 10 people killed in clashes around the country More than 110 have died since protests began in early April.

Maduro proclaimed the election Sunday was a resounding success. “The people have delivered the constitutional assembly,” he said.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council said more than 8 million people, representing more than 41 percent of eligible voters, went to the polls Sunday to cast their ballots.

The opposition in the South American country said the unpopular measure would result in a socialist dictatorship and had called on Venezuelans to boycott the vote. Dozens of polling places in Caracas, the capital, were empty.

Details on what is likely to be included in a new constitution are unclear. Maduro has said it is the only way to pull Venezuela out of its severe economic and social crisis and stop the seemingly endless violence.

Critics assert that only Maduro supporters were candidates, including first lady Cilia Flores, and the first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party, Diosdado Cabello.

The opposition contends the 545-member constituent assembly would dissolve the opposition-controlled congress and turn Venezuela into a socialist dictatorship. Maduro opponents are demanding early presidential elections.

The drop in global energy prices together with political corruption have destroyed oil-rich Venezuela’s economy.

Gasoline, medicine, and such basic staples as cooking oil, flour, and sugar are scarce. Many Venezuelans cross into neighboring Colombia and Brazil to buy food.

Maduro has blamed the country’s woes on what he calls U.S. imperialism and its supporters inside Venezuela. He has warned against intervention by the Organization of American States, saying that would surely lead to civil war.

US Canada Border Crossing Poses Daunting Challenge for Both Countries

President Donald Trump’s plans to build a security wall along the U.S.-Mexican border are well known, but many argue the northern U.S. border with Canada also presents a challenging security problem for both countries. There is human and drug trafficking across the border in both directions and border patrol agents have limited resources to stop it. VOA’s Jeff Swicord has more in this report from the Canadian-U.S. border.

Mexico Rescues 147 Central American Migrants Headed for US

Mexican authorities said on Sunday they rescued 147 Central Americans abandoned in the wilderness of Veracruz state after suspected human smugglers forced them out of the cramped tractor trailer they were traveling in on their way to the United States.

The migrants, 74 from Honduras, 59 from Guatemala, 13 from El Salvador and one from Nicaragua were in the back of the poorly ventilated vehicle as they traveled to the border state of Tamaulipas, where they would eventually be smuggled into the United States, Mexico’s national immigration institute said.

Among those rescued were 48 minors, including 14 traveling without an adult companion.

They were abandoned near a highway in the city of Ozuluama, Veracruz.

Earlier this month, 10 people died and 29 were hospitalized after more than 100 illegal immigrants were packed into a stifling tractor trailer for a 150-mile (240-km) drive from the U.S.-Mexico border to San Antonio, where survivors spilled out into a Walmart parking lot in the Texas city.

“According to the testimony of migrants, the alleged traffickers, who used the Veracruz-Tampico route, in order to reach the United States, abandoned the migrants in the wilderness, where they were forced to hide in the bushes” without food or water, the immigration institute said.

Personnel from the immigration institute gave medical attention, food and water to the rescued Central Americans and contacted their respective embassies.

Plagued by gang violence and poverty, the trio of Central American nations, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, together send the bulk of migrants entering the United States illegally.

Turf wars between gangs have sparked a surge in violence in Mexico in the past 18 months, also raising the incentive for some young Mexicans to risk the crossing.

Maduro Sees ‘Success’ in Venezuela’s Violence-Marred Election

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is proclaiming Sunday’s election for a assembly to rewrite the constitution a “success” despite violence that left at least nine dead.

The opposition boycotted the vote, saying the unpopular measure would result in a socialist dictatorship.

Maduro brushed off protesters’ concerns: “It’s been and it is a successful day with large participation. Let those who have eyes see. The oligarchy doesn’t have eyes or ears for the people. They’ve always been invisible. … We care about the people’s truth.”

But death, protests, and violence overshadowed the voting. At least nine deaths have been reported since Friday, bringing the death toll over the last four months of protests to more than 120.

They include 39-year-old lawyer Jose Felix Pineda, a candidate for the constitutional assembly, who was shot in his home Saturday night.

On Sunday, four motorcycle policemen were hurt when someone threw explosives at a convoy in Caracas.

Protesters both for and against the assembly battled each other across Venezuela, with the opposition blocking roads and police reacting with tear gas and rubber bullets.

President Nicolas Maduro said anyone defying a ban on protests during the historic vote risks up to 10 years in prison.

Dozens of polling places deserted

The opposition said the vote was rigged and called for an election boycott. Reporters on the ground in Caracas said dozens of polling places were nearly deserted.

Maduro cast the first ballot Sunday, calling it “the first vote for peace, the first vote for the sovereignty and independence of Venezuela.”

The president urged the international community to accept the election.

“We’ve stoically withstood the terrorist, criminal violence. Hopefully the world will respectfully extend its arms toward our country,” he said.

The United States will not.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, tweeted Sunday that “Maduro’s sham election is another step toward dictatorship. We won’t accept an illegitimate government. The Venezuelan people and democracy will prevail.”

Details on what is likely to be included in a new constitution are unclear. Maduro has said it is the only way to pull Venezuela out of its severe economic and social crisis and stop the seemingly endless violence.

Critics assert that only Maduro supporters are candidates, including first lady Cilia Flores, and the first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party, Diosdado Cabello.

Prelude to dictatorship?

Polls show more than 70 percent of Venezuelans oppose the assembly.

The opposition contends the assembly would dissolve the opposition-controlled congress and turn Venezuela into a socialist dictatorship. Maduro opponents are demanding early presidential elections.

The Trump administration has already enforced economic sanctions on a number of high-ranking members of Maduro’s administration. A number of top U.S. lawmakers have expressed their support for the citizens of Venezuela.

The United Nations has also said it is deeply concerned about the situation in Venezuela.

The drop in global energy prices together with political corruption have destroyed oil-rich Venezuela’s economy.

Gasoline, medicine, and such basic staples as cooking oil, flour, and sugar are scarce. Many Venezuelans cross into neighboring Colombia and Brazil to buy food.

Maduro has blamed the country’s woes on what he calls U.S. imperialism and its supporters inside Venezuela. He has warned against intervention by the Organization of American States, saying that would surely lead to civil war.

VOA’s Álvaro Algarra, Carolina Mayor contributed to this report.

Pence to Baltic Allies: ‘We Stand With You’

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is in Estonia for talks on military support with the three Baltic members of NATO, to assure them the United States supports its allies who are concerned about Russian expansionism.

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania all have asked for tangible demonstrations of U.S. military support. Concerns about Russian expansionism have increased sharply in the Baltic region with Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Pence was upbeat on his arrival in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, on Sunday: “President (Donald) Trump sent me to Eastern Europe with a very simple message, and that is that America first doesn’t mean America alone.”

Pence will meet with all three Baltic presidents on Monday, then travel on to Georgia, where troops from the U.S. and other NATO partners began military exercises Sunday, and later to Montenegro, NATO’s newest member.

“Our message to the Baltic States, my message when we visit Georgia and Montenegro will be the same,” Pence said in Tallinn. “To our allies here in Eastern Europe: We are with you, we stand with you on behalf of freedom and it’s a great honor for me to be here.”

The NATO military exercise that began Sunday at Georgia’s Vaziani military base, Tbilisi, marks the first time that U.S. and German heavy military machinery was deployed in the former Soviet republic, which borders Russia.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili attended the opening ceremony at the exercise, dubbed Noble Partner 2017. A total of 2,800 soldiers from five NATO members — the U.S., Britain, Germany, Turkey and Slovenia — joined troops from NATO partner countries Ukraine, Armenia, and Georgia.

Pence said the U.S. is making it very clear “that Russia’s destabilizing activities, its support for rogue regimes, its activities in Ukraine are unacceptable.”

 

Thousands Rally in Istanbul Against Israel’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Measures

Thousands of people rallied in Turkey’s largest city on Sunday against security measures Israel has imposed at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, shortly after Israel removed other measures that led to two weeks of violent Palestinian protests.

The rally in Istanbul, called “The Big Jerusalem Meeting” and organized by Turkey’s Saadet Party, drew some five thousand people to the Yenikapi parade ground on the southern edge of Istanbul.

Protesters were brought in by buses and ferries from across the city, waved Turkish and Palestinian flags, and held up posters in front of a giant stage where the chairman of the Saadet party and representatives from NGOs addressed the crowd.

“The Al-Aqsa mosque is our honor,” read a poster.

“You should know that not only Gaza, but Tel Aviv also has their eyes on this parade ground. Netanyahu does as well, and he is scared”, said Saadet Party Chairman Temel Karamollaoglu, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Turkey has opposed the security measures installed at the entry points of the mosque compound, with President Tayyip Erdogan warning Israel that it would suffer most from the dispute.

Erdogan accused Israel of inflicting damage on Jerusalem’s “Islamic character”, in comments that Israel’s foreign ministry called “absurd”.

The dispute over security at the mosque compound – where Israel installed metal detectors at entry points after two police guards were shot dead this month – has touched off the bloodiest clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in years.

On Friday however, the main prayer session at the Al-Aqsa mosque ended relatively calmly after Israel removed the tougher security measures, though it barred entrance to men under age 50.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City and the holy compound, in the 1967 Middle East war. It annexed the area in a move that has never been recognized internationally.

Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, sits in the heart of the Old City. It is also the holiest place in Judaism – the venue of two ancient temples, the last destroyed by the Romans. Jews pray under heavy security at the Western Wall at the foot of the elevated plaza.

Egypt Officials Say Resort Knife Attacker Tasked by IS

Security officials said on Sunday that the Egyptian man who stabbed to death three tourists and wounded three others earlier this month in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada was tasked by the Islamic State group to carry out an attack against foreigners.

The officials said that investigations revealed 29-year old Abdel-Rahman Shaaban had communicated with two IS leaders on social media after they recruited him online.

One of them gave Shaaban daily lessons for a month after which he got in touch with the other, who asked him carry out an attack against tourists in either the resort city of Sharm al-Sheikh or Hurghada, to prove his allegiance to the group, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Shaaban rode a bus from the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh to Hurghada on July 14 and headed to a beach hotel where he killed two German women and wounded two Armenians, a Ukrainian and a Czech woman, using a knife that he bought earlier from a store, the officials added. Shaaban was arrested shortly after he was chased by hotel workers and security guards who handed him over to the police.

The Czech woman, who was hospitalized with back and leg injuries after the attack, died last week.

Shaaban is a resident of Kafr el-Sheikh where he attended the business school of the local branch of Al-Azhar University – the world’s foremost seat of learning of Sunni Islam and the target of mounting criticism in recent months over its alleged radical teachings and doctrinal rigidity.

The resort attack took place just hours after five policemen were killed in a shooting near some of Egypt’s most famous pyramids in the greater Cairo area. The Interior Ministry said last week that its forces killed four suspects and arrested two others who were behind the killing of the policemen.

Egypt’s government has been struggling to contain an insurgency by Islamic militants led by an Islamic State affiliate that is centered in the northern region of the Sinai peninsula, though attacks on the mainland have recently increased.

The extremist group has been mainly targeting security personnel and Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority.

Britain Strips More than 100 Islamic State Fighters of Citizenship

Their home countries don’t want them back. Hundreds of foreign fighters who enlisted with Islamic State to fight in Syria and Iraq are being stripped of their citizenship and blocked from returning by Western governments.

Returning fighters are seen as a grim threat, the deadly legacy of a murderous movement being defeated and rolled back on the battlefield. Western intelligence officials say they are already over-stretched trying to monitor tens of thousands of suspected extremists who never left their home countries.

British officials say they have stripped more than 100 British fighters and brides of their citizenship, preventing them re-entering the country legally, according to British news reports. All those who have lost British citizenship are dual nationals. Under international law, governments can’t revoke someone’s citizenship if it would render them stateless.

According to Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, 152 IS recruits have been stripped of British citizenship since 2016, 30 since March.

Of the estimated 850 Britons who joined IS or al-Qaida-linked groups in Syria, 15 percent are thought to have been killed. A handful of returnees have been jailed, but officials say many cannot be prosecuted for lack of evidence. Some are thought to have become disillusioned with jihadism, but many are thought to pose a significant terror risk.

Britain isn’t alone in fearing the havoc returnees could wreak or the added burden they place on intelligence services already struggling to maintain surveillance on thousands of suspects who never left to fight. In June, following terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, British authorities admitted 23,000 radical Islamists had been considered a “person of interest” to the security services at any one time, more than six times the previous figures made public by the government.

Of those, 3,000 are considered serious threats, including about 400 people who have returned to Britain after fighting for IS in Syria and Iraq.

Other countries fearful

Since 2015, several Western governments have moved to amend their laws to make it easier to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals involved in terrorism. Even so, European governments have faced mounting criticism that they have little in the way of comprehensive plans ready for returnees, either in keeping tabs on them or requiring them to enter rehabilitation and de-radicalization programs.

There is fierce debate also over the effectiveness of de-radicalization programs on fighters who have not already become disillusioned.

Critics include Alex Carlile, a former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, who has complained about the British government’s inconsistency and has called for the reintroduction of tough “control orders” that were banned in 2012 over human right fears. The control orders allowed the authorities to restrict suspects’ movement and their use of phones and computers.

He said in a television interview last month it was a “grave mistake” to abolish the orders which “may have saved dozens of lives” between 2005 and 2011.

In February, the Australian government revoked the citizenship of Khaled Sharrouf, who slipped out of Australia in 2013 after serving a four-year jail term on terrorism-related charges.

He became internationally infamous after posting on the internet in August 2014 a photograph of his seven-year-old son holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier. In April a new video surfaced showing Sharrouf’s youngest son wearing a suicide vest being prompted by his father to issue threats to murder Australians.

At least 110 Australians are estimated to have joined terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. Seventy are thought to be dead, three were captured in Lebanon and are in jail there. Australian officials are considering revoking their citizenship.

It has been rare for Western fighters to be captured. In an interview last week with VOA, Gen. Andrew Croft, who oversees the coalition air campaign against IS in Iraq, said foreign fighters are certainly among the IS forces.

“One of the dynamics you see is that foreign fighters can’t just blend in with civilians and go to an IDP camp. So the foreign fighters often move around in groups, and they will often fight to the death,” he said.

A move by then-president Francois Hollande to pass legislation to make it easier to revoke French citizenship of terrorist suspects holding dual nationality failed last year. Opinion polls suggested the legislation had public backing, but political critics and rights groups argued the measure would do little to prevent terror attacks and risked worsening race relations by stigmatizing sections of the population, notably Muslims of North African descent.

 

 

Gunman Kills 1, Injures 3 in German Nightclub; Terrorism Ruled Out

A gunman who killed one person and injured three others in a nightclub in southern Germany on Sunday was an Iraqi citizen who had lived in the country for a long time and was not an asylum seeker, police said, ruling out terrorism as a motive.

Konstanz police spokesman Fritz Bezikofer told the n-tv broadcaster that after an initial investigation into the events surrounding the shooting at the nightclub in Konstanz on the border with Switzerland investigators ruled out terrorism.

“The motives of the man who acted alone are unclear,” he said. “We are still investigating but the circumstances surrounding the events at the disco in the evening before the shooting are a bit clearer and this led us to rule out a terrorism background.”

The 34-year-old man was fatally wounded in a gunfight with police officers outside the music venue after they rushed to the scene shortly after the incident began around 0230 GMT. He died later in hospital. One police officer was also injured in the exchange of fire.

On Friday, a failed asylum seeker killed one person and injured six others in the northern city of Hamburg. Officials said he was an Islamist known to security forces and he was psychologically unstable.

 

At Least 20,000 Flee Concert as Stage Burns

A spectacular fire at a music festival in Spain has forced the evacuation of more than 20,000 concertgoers in Barcelona, the regional government says.

 

Images show towering flames consuming a large outdoor stage Saturday night at the Tomorrowland electronic music festival at Barcelona’s Parc de Can Zam.

 

Barcelona firefighters say there were no serious injuries during the concert evacuation. The event’s private security told authorities they treated 20 people for minor injuries or anxiety during the evacuation.

 

Firefighters are investigating the cause of the fire. The Tomorrowland website published a statement saying the “stage caught fire due to a technical malfunction.”

 

The festival in Barcelona was one of several offshoot events of a main Tomorrowland festival in Belgium. Organizers say the Barcelona event has been canceled following the fire.

Six Inspectors Die in Illegal Colombia Gold Mine Blast

Six security contractors working for Canadian-listed miner Continental Gold were killed after an explosion at an illegal gold mine in central Colombia, the company said Saturday.

The explosion took place Friday in the Buritica municipality of Antioquia province when the contractors surprised a group of illegal miners in a shaft they were inspecting, Continental said. One of the seven contractors survived.

Illegal mining is widespread in Colombia and accidents and civil unrest around mines are not uncommon.

“The contractors were performing routine underground inspections of a government-closed illegal mine,” Continental said in a statement on its website.

“Upon entering the underground mine, the contractors were accosted by illegal miners, followed by a subsequent explosion,” Continental said. “The company is looking to authorities to enforce the rule of law to prevent this kind of tragic event from ever happening again.”

The inspection of the illegal mine was mandated by the government.

The regional disaster authority earlier in the day released initial details of the incident but said the cause of the explosion was not yet clear. It did not provide details on the number or condition of the illegal miners.

The Continental statement did not elaborate on the cause of the explosion.

Maduro Says He Will Target Foes With New Assembly

President Nicolas Maduro pledged Saturday evening to go after his political foes with the virtually unlimited powers of a constituent assembly being elected Sunday, while Venezuela’s opposition made a last-ditch effort to flood streets across the country in defiance of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and police.

In an address on state-run television, Maduro made clear he wants the assembly to strip opposition legislators of their constitutional immunity from prosecution and jail at least one.

“This little Hitler has his cell guaranteed!” Maduro shouted, using his frequent nickname for Freddy Guevara, a hard-line opposition leader and one the highest-profile organizers of four months of protests against the government.

Opposition boycott

The opposition is boycotting Sunday’s vote, contending the election has been structured to ensure Maduro’s ruling socialist party continues to dominate. All 5,500 candidates for the 545 seats in the constituent assembly are government supporters.

The vote’s success will be measured by turnout, with the opposition urging Venezuelans to stay away and the government encouraging participation with tactics that include threats to state workers’ jobs and social benefits like subsidized food for the poor.

Maduro indicated he is eager to prosecute many more members of the opposition parties that control a handful of state governments along with the National Assembly, providing one of the few remaining checks on the power of the socialist party that has ruled this OPEC nation for nearly two decades.

“The right wing already has its prison cell waiting,” the president said. “All the criminals will go to prison for the crimes they’ve committed.”

He added that the constituent assembly’s first task in rewriting the constitution will be “a total transformation” of the office of Venezuela’s chief prosecutor, a former government loyalist who has become the highest-ranking official to publicly split from the president.

​Economic crisis

Once one of Latin America’s wealthiest and most stable nations, Venezuela has spiraled into a devastating socioeconomics crisis during Maduro’s four years in power, thanks to plunging oil prices and widespread corruption and mismanagement. Inflation and homicide rates are among the world’s highest and widespread shortages of food and medicine leave citizens dying of preventable illnesses and rooting through trash to feed themselves.

In April, Maduro’s supporters on the Supreme Court tried to strip the National Assembly of its powers, setting off protests and clashes between police and demonstrators that have left at least 113 dead and nearly 2,000 wounded. Although most of the dead have been protesters apparently shot by police and government-linked paramilitaries, Maduro’s government blames the opposition for the violence.

The government has arrested opposition mayors and party leaders but until now has refrained from going after higher-profile politicians whose posts grant them immunity from prosecution.

Washington has imposed successive rounds of sanctions on members of Maduro’s administration and Vice President Mike Pence on Friday promised “strong and swift economic actions” after Sunday’s vote. He didn’t say whether the U.S. would sanction Venezuelan oil imports, a measure with the potential to undermine Maduro but cause an even deeper humanitarian crisis here.

The opposition has organized a series of work stoppages as well as a July 16 protest vote that it said drew more than 7.5 million symbolic votes against the constitutional assembly. It called Saturday for roadblocks to start before dawn Sunday and a mass march on Caracas’ main highway.

Opinion polls say more than 70 percent of the country is opposed to Sunday’s vote. But as many as half of all Venezuelans support neither the government nor the opposition, a phenomenon evident in the glum paralysis that has gripped much of the country as protesters and police wage nightly battles.

Apple Accused of Bowing to Chinese Censors

Apple, Inc. has confirmed that it is removing some applications providing virtual personal networks, or VPNs, from its China App Store, to comply with new Chinese regulations — a move critics say is capitulating to internet censorship.

Apple confirmed the move in an email to National Public Radio on Saturday, after several VPN providers announced that their apps had been removed from the China App Store.

Software made outside China can sometimes be used to get around China’s domestic internet firewalls that block content that the government finds objectionable. Critics call China’s “great firewall” one of the world’s most advanced censorship systems.

VPN apps pulled

“Earlier this year,” Apple said, “China’s MIIT [Ministry of Industry and Information Technology] announced that all developers offering VPNs must obtain a license from the government. We have been required to remove some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations.”

App maker Express VPN said in a blog post that its app was removed from the China Apple Store, and it noted that “preliminary research indicates that all major VPN apps for iOS [Apple operating systems] have been removed.”

The statement continued, “We’re disappointed in this development, as it represents the most drastic measure the Chinese government has taken to block the use of VPNs to date, and we are troubled to see Apple aiding China’s censorship efforts.”

Another company, Star VPN, also announced it had been contacted by Apple with the same notice.

China successful

Golden Frog, a company that makes security software, told the New York Times that its app also had been taken down from the China App Store.

“We gladly filed an amicus brief in support of Apple and their backdoor encryption battle with the FBI, so we are extremely disappointed that Apple has bowed to pressure from China to remove VPN apps without citing any Chinese law or regulation that makes VPN illegal,” said Sunday Yokubaitis, president of the company.

The Times reports that this is the first time China has successfully used its influence with a major foreign technology platform such as Apple, to flex its muscle with software makers.

China is Apple’s largest market outside the United States.

Seven Turkish Journalists Released From Prison

Seven Turkish journalists were freed Saturday after spending nine months in prison, but they expressed sorrow that four of their colleagues were still being detained on charges of having aided terror groups.

The staff members from Cumhuriyet, a Turkish opposition newspaper, were released from Silivri jail on the outskirts of Istanbul. They must still stand trial, with the next hearing scheduled for September 11. If convicted, they face terms of up to 43 years in prison.

The journalists are charged with using their news coverage to support three groups Turkey considers terrorist organizations: the Kurkistan Workers’ Party, or PKK; the leftist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party; and the followers of a U.S.-based spiritual leader, Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of backing last year’s coup attempt.

“To be honest, I thought I would be very happy the moment I was released,” said cartoonist Musa Kart in a statement. “But I cannot say that I am very happy today. Unfortunately, four of our friends are still incarcerated in Silivri Prison. I do not think that the image of journalists in prison is one that becomes this country.”

An Istanbul court ruled Friday that the seven journalists should be freed, but it kept the most prominent of the Cumhuriyet journalists behind bars: commentator Kadri Gursel, investigative journalist Ahmet Sik, editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and chief executive Akin Atalay.

Sik, who was jailed in 2011-12 over a book he’d authored, was jailed again in December over the content of his Twitter feed. Prosecutors said they planned to charge him additionally for a statement in court Wednesday that was fiercely critical of Turkey’s ruling party.

Indictment called ‘trash’

In what was expected to be a defense statement, Sik lashed out with a tirade about press freedom. He called the indictment against him and his colleagues “trash” and referred to the judiciary as a “lynch mob.” He said the purpose of the charges against him and his colleagues was to scare and silence people who would speak out against the government.

Following last year’s coup attempt, Turkey instituted a crackdown on journalists that resulted in the closure of more than 100 media outlets.

The independent watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists, which tracks press freedom issues, says Turkey jails more journalists than any other country, due to broadly worded laws on supporting terrorism and “insulting Turkishness.” As of December 2016, at least 81 journalists were being held in Turkish jails, all of them facing charges that they were working against the state, CPJ said.

Venezuelan Polls Open for Controversial Vote

Polls have opened in Venezuela for a controversial vote called by President Nicolas Maduro.

Voters are ballots for a “Constituent Assembly” whose 545 members will be charged with rewriting the country’s constitution.

Critics assert that only Maduro supporters are candidates, and that they could revise the constitution to keep him in office indefinitely.

The political opposition is urging a boycott of the vote, which leaves only supporters of the president to cast ballots. The opposition says the vote is fraudulent and has called for demonstrations.

Protests early in the week gave way to a tense calm Friday and Saturday after Maduro banned public demonstrations through next Tuesday. Maduro said anyone defying the ban risks up to 10 years in prison.

But opposition leaders are urging their supporters to defy the order Sunday and make their voices heard in the streets.

“This is for elections, for the freeing of political prisoners, for change,” opposition Congressman Freddy Guevara told reporters Saturday. He warned that election day would not be the last of the protests. “From Monday,” he said, “this crisis will deepen.”

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence released a statement Friday after speaking by phone with a prominent Venezuelan dissident, Leopoldo Lopez, who recently has been moved from prison to house arrest. Pence praised Lopez’s courage and called for the “unconditional release of all political prisoners in Venezuela, free and fair elections, restoration of the National Assembly, and respect for human rights in Venezuela.”

The United Nations has said it is deeply concerned about the situation in Venezuela.

Elisabeth Throssell, a spokesperson for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters Friday in Geneva, “We hope that the poll scheduled for Sunday, if it goes ahead, will proceed peacefully and in full respect of human rights.”

On Thursday, Michael Fitzpatrick, State Department deputy assistant secretary for the Western hemisphere, told VOA that the United States holds out hope for a “peaceful and democratic” resolution to the Venezuelan crisis. But he said the U.S. has not ruled out the option of economic sanctions directly against Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “… the government of Nicolas Maduro is the greatest danger to Venezuelan democracy.”

Runaway inflation has caused shortages of food, medicine, and staple products, resulting in long lines at grocery stores and hunger at home.

One Caracas resident told the French news agency AFP that he has bought enough food supplies to last several days, in case things grow more difficult.

“The U.S. has pulled out its people, my boss has disappeared and we don’t know when he’ll be back. Best to be prepared,” said the 34-year-old resident, who said his name was Maximiliano.

As Caracas readies itself for more upheaval, at least one activist was to face authorities Saturday for defying the protest ban.

Wuilly Arteaga, a 23-year-old musician, has gained fame for playing his violin at anti-government protests. His lawyer told reporters that Arteaga was not breaking any laws when he was arrested Thursday playing his violin on the streets of Caracas.

VOA’s Lina Correa contributed to this report.

Putin Pardons 2 Women Given Prison Terms for Text Messages

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday pardoned two women who were sentenced to prison terms for sending text messages to Georgian acquaintances about the movement of Russian military equipment on the eve of a war in 2008.

Two orders published by the Kremlin said Annik Kesyan and Marina Dzhandzhgava would not have to complete the rest of their sentences. It cited humanitarian principles for the decision.

Kesyan and Dzhandzhgava were found guilty of treason for sending text messages about the movement of Russian military hardware near the border with Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia not long before a war broke out in 2008.

Kesyan was sentenced to eight years in prison, while Dzhandzhgava was given a prison term of 12 years, according to Team 29, an association of lawyers based in St. Petersburg.

Putin in March pardoned a third woman, Oksana Sevastidi, who was also convicted of treason for sending a text message to a Georgian acquaintance about a train carrying Russian military equipment.

Rights groups had criticized the sentences given to the women.

Team 29 said in an article on its website that in April 2008 Kesyan had sent a text message to a friend saying “Yes, they are moving”, in response to a question about whether Russian tanks were moving in Sochi.

Dzhandzhgava was accused of treason for sending a text message to a Georgian acquaintance about the movement of a train carrying Russian troops, Team 29 said.

EU Launches Legal Action Over Poland’s Court Reforms

The European Union has launched an infringement procedure against Poland over reforms the country made to its judiciary, which the EU fears will affect the impartiality of Poland’s courts.

EU commissioners decided to start the legal action Wednesday, prior to the publication of the new Polish law, with the main concern that the justice minister now can extend the mandates of judges, and dismiss and appoint court presidents.

“The new rules allow the minister of justice to exert influence on individual ordinary judges through, in particular, the vague criteria for the prolongation of their mandates thereby undermining the principle of irremovability of judges,” the European Commission said in a statement on Saturday.

Also of concern to commissioners is that female judges are required to retire five years earlier than their male counterparts.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party wants to push forward with the court reforms because it says the courts are too slow and bogged down with communist-era thinking.

According to the EU statement, the Polish ruling party has a month to respond to the notice, which informed the country it is infringing on EU laws.

The Polish government has called the court reforms an internal matter. Poland’s deputy foreign minister for European affairs, Konrad Szymanski, told the PAP news agency that the EU decision was “unfounded,” and he said the new law met legal requirements.