Artists are often at the forefront of social change, as they use their works to address difficult political and cultural issues. Protecting the environment and cultural heritage are the focus of the annual Ballet in the Bush initiative. As Marize de Klerk reports from Sterkrivier, South Africa, American dancers recently joined international and South African ballet talent in the African bush for the sake of their art and an endangered species, the rhino. …
Artists are often at the forefront of social change as they use their works to address difficult political and cultural issues. While activist painters, filmmakers and musicians are probably most familiar, choreographers have also addressed social issues with their dance companies. In South Africa, protecting the environment and cultural heritage are the focus of the annual Ballet in the Bush initiative, where American dancers recently joined international and South African ballet talent for the sake of their art and an endangered species, the rhino. Ballet and rhinos are a duet in South Africa’s Limpopo Province. Every year, dancers from South …
Public health clinics in cities like Rio de Janeiro report spikes in arboviruses, or mosquito-borne viruses. One breed of mosquito is the major offender in causing illness. Researchers in Brazil invented traps to catch them before they strike. Arash Arabasadi has more. …
China’s economic growth slowed to its lowest level in a decade last quarter amid a tariff war with Washington, adding to pressure on Beijing to reverse a deepening slump. The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.2% over a year earlier in the three months ending in June, down from the previous quarter’s 6.4%, government data showed Monday. That was the slowest growth since the first quarter of 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Chinese leaders have stepped up spending and bank lending to shore up growth and avert politically dangerous job losses. But they face an avalanche …
The U.S. may approve licenses for companies to restart new sales to Huawei in as little as two weeks, according to a senior U.S. official, in a sign President Donald Trump’s recent effort to ease restrictions on the Chinese company could move forward quickly. Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, was added to a Commerce Department list in May that prohibits U.S. companies from supplying it with new American-made goods and services unless they obtain licenses that will likely be denied. But late last month, after meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump announced American firms could …
A 69-year-old man armed with a rifle threw incendiary devices at an immigration jail in Washington state early Saturday morning, then was found dead after four police officers arrived and opened fire, authorities said. The Tacoma Police Department said the officers responded about 4 a.m. to the privately run Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security detention facility that holds migrants pending deportation proceedings. The detention center has also held immigration-seeking parents separated from their children under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, an effort meant to deter illegal immigration. The shooting took place about six hours …
Pakistan and India have agreed to “expeditiously” work out issues related to a new border crossing that would allow Sikh pilgrims visa-free access to one of their holiest temples in Pakistan. High-level delegations from the two nuclear-armed rival countries met Sunday on the Pakistani side of the Wagah border checkpoint to discuss what is named the “Kartarpur Corridor.” The number and safety of pilgrims as well as infrastructure were among the issues on the agenda. The temple, known as Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism and it is believed to have been built on …
The former British ambassador to the U.S. believed President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal was an act of “diplomatic vandalism” against his predecessor Barack Obama, according to newly leaked memos published Sunday in a British newspaper. The Mail published the memo from Kim Darroch on Sunday. Last week the newspaper published other leaked memos from Darroch about Trump in which the diplomat described the U.S. leader as “inept,” “insecure” and “incompetent” and his administration as “uniquely dysfunctional.” Darroch resigned from his post Wednesday after the publication of the leaked diplomatic cables and Trump’s Twitter attack about …
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 struck southeast of the city of Ternate, in the Moluccas in the eastern area of Indonesia, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) at an area 168 km south-southeast of Ternate, the USGS said. There were no immediate reports of damages or casualties in the quake. Earlier Sunday, an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck west of Australia’s beach resort of Broome, the United States Geological Survey said, with residents saying the impact shook some buildings and pushed groceries off shelves. There were no immediate …
Thousands rallied in Hong Kong for a second day Sunday, in an area popular with mainland Chinese shoppers, as deep-seated anger and frustration at the government’s handling of an extradition bill refuses to dissipate. Demonstrators marched in heat of about 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees F) in Sha Tin, a town between Hong Kong island and the border with China that has previously been a battleground for those upset by the flood of Chinese day-trippers. “I never missed a march so far since June,” said a 69-year-old man who gave only his surname, Chen, referring to a wave of protests …
Russia’s space agency says a Russian Proton-M rocket has successfully delivered a cutting-edge space telescope into orbit after days of launch delays. Roscosmos said the telescope, named Spektr-RG, was delivered into a parking orbit before a final burn Saturday that kicked the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and on to its final destination: the L2 Lagrange point. Lagrange points are unique positions in the solar system where objects can maintain their position relative to the sun and the planets that orbit it. Located 1.5 million kilometers (0.93 million miles) from Earth, L2 is particularly ideal for telescopes such …
Pennsylvania’s message was clear: The state was taking a big step to keep its elections from being hacked in 2020. Last April, its top election official told counties they had to update their systems. So far, nearly 60% have taken action, with $14.15 million of mostly federal funds helping counties buy brand-new electoral systems. But there’s a problem: Many of these new systems still run on old software that will soon be outdated and more vulnerable to hackers. An Associated Press analysis has found that like many counties in Pennsylvania, the vast majority of 10,000 election jurisdictions nationwide use Windows …
President Donald Trump was defiant and declarative, with all the hammer-on-anvil subtlety that has charted a now-familiar pattern of his presidency: create a crisis, retreat, declare victory, move on. “Not only didn’t I back down, I backed up,” Trump insisted Friday. However he may phrase it, though, Trump walked away from his earlier vow to include a contentious question about citizenship on the 2020 census. The president shifted his bulldozer of an administration into reverse, announcing that he would drop his push to seek the citizenship status of all American residents on the census, instead ordering other agencies to share …
A British investigation into the leaking of confidential diplomatic memos is raising press freedom issues with a police warning that U.K. media might face a criminal inquiry if leaked documents are published. The Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command is investigating the leak of private memos written by Britain’s ambassador to the United States as a possible breach of the Official Secrets Act. Announcing the police inquiry, Counterterrorism police unit leader Neil Basu warned against any further publication of leaked documents. “The publication of leaked communications, knowing the damage they have caused or are likely to cause, may also be a …
Simona Halep was not focused on trying to prevent Serena Williams from winning a 24th Grand Slam title. All Halep cared about was winning Wimbledon for the first time. Pretty much perfect from start to finish, Halep beat Williams 6-2, 6-2 in stunning fashion in the final at the All England Club on Saturday. The whole thing took less than an hour. Halep made a mere three unforced errors, a remarkably low total and 23 fewer than Williams. This is the third consecutive Grand Slam final lost by Williams as she tries to equal Margaret Court with 24 major trophies, …
This week’s indictment of American multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges shows how public and political pressure fueled by the #MeToo movement is prompting prosecutors to take a closer look at sexual assault cases that most likely would have fallen by the wayside just a few years ago. In 2007, Epstein, then a jet-setting money manager for the wealthy who counted Donald Trump and Bill Clinton among his friends, avoided charges for alleged sexual crimes involving minors that, upon conviction, could have put him behind bars for decades. At the time, Epstein stood accused of sexually abusing dozens of …
On July 1, a crowd in Hong Kong protesting a controversial bill allowing extradition to mainland China broke through tempered glass and charged into the city’s legislative chamber. They defaced officials’ portraits and spray-painted anti-government graffiti. Police gave the protesters until midnight to leave, or be expelled by force. Most protesters left, but four refused. Then, just before midnight, several people rushed into the chambers, shouting, “We leave together! We leave together!” They pulled away those remaining inside. That act, more than the broken glass and graffiti, has knit together the anti-government movement in Hong Kong and sustained a protest …
The attorney general for the District of Columbia issued subpoenas Friday to the National Rifle Association and its charitable foundation seeking financial records in an investigation into their nonprofit status. District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine said in a statement his office “has issued subpoenas to the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and the NRA Foundation, Inc., as part of an investigation into whether these entities violated the District’s Nonprofit Act.” The announcement, first reported by the Washington Post, follows similar action in April by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who sought documents in a probe …
Mexicans are dismayed by the continued increases in the price for avocados, a staple of the country’s cuisine. The government says increased demand in the United States and a slight drop in production are to blame. The price in the United States hit $2.23 per pound this week. The most expensive stores in Mexico price them about the same, though the average price is just less than $2. Some Mexicans say they have cut back on buying avocados because of the high prices. But it’s also led to outrage, as recipes have begun appearing in Mexico for making so-called guacamole …
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday defended his decision to halt a legal fight to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census forms, one day after issuing an executive order directing the Department of Commerce to obtain citizenship data through other means. Speaking before departing the White House, Trump said he did not “back down” on the citizenship question. “I backed up because anybody else would have given this up a long time ago,” he said. The once-a-decade census, which aims to tally all people living in the United States, is required by the Constitution in order to …