Top Stories Today – August 5, 2019
Top Stories Today – August 5, 2019
Trump condemns shootings amid criticism
On Saturday, a gunman killed 20 people at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, in what authorities said appeared to be a racially-motivated hate crime. Just 13 hours later, another gunman in downtown Dayton, Ohio, killed nine people. Dozens were also wounded in both attacks. President Donald Trump has said “hate has no place” after 29 people were killed in two mass shootings over the weekend, amid accusations that he bears some responsibility.
Opposition Democrats said he was part of the problem, citing anti-immigrant rhetoric and opposition to gun control. A 21-year-old white man arrested over Saturday’s shooting in Texas is believed to have posted an online document calling the attack a response to “the Hispanic invasion” of the state. The motives of the Ohio gunman, who killed his sister and eight others on Sunday before being shot dead by police, are unclear.
Trump on Monday called on lawmakers to pass legislation requiring strong background checks for firearm purchases following two mass shooting in Texas and Ohio over the weekend that killed 29 people. Trump, who is scheduled to deliver remarks at the White House later on Monday morning following the attacks, said the victims’ deaths could not be “in vain” and called on both political parties to take steps to require further screenings for gun buyers. BBC, Reuters
China lets yuan falls to lowest level
China let the yuan breach the key 7-per-dollar level on Monday for the first time in more than a decade, in a sign Beijing might be willing to tolerate more currency weakness that could further inflame a trade conflict with the United States. The sharp 1.4% drop in the yuan comes days after US President Donald Trump stunned financial markets by vowing to impose 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports from Sept. 1, abruptly breaking a brief ceasefire in a bruising trade war that has disrupted global supply chains and slowed growth.
Some analysts said the yuan move could unleash a dangerous new front in the trade hostilities – a currency war. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) provided the early impetus for yuan bears by setting a daily rate for the currency at its weakest level in eight months. Reuters
India strips disputed Kashmir of special status
India’s government has revoked part of the constitution that gives Indian-administered Kashmir special status, in an unprecedented move likely to spark unrest. Article 370 is sensitive because it is what guarantees significant autonomy for the Muslim-majority state. There has been a long-running insurgency on the Indian side.
Nuclear powers India and Pakistan have fought two wars and a limited conflict over Kashmir since 1947. Pakistan has condemned India’s decision to revoke the special status of its part of Kashmir as illegal, saying it would “exercise all possible options” to counter it. “India is playing a dangerous game which will have serious consequences for regional peace and stability,” said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. BBC
Japanese electronic makers test flying car
Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp. on Monday showed a “flying car,” a large drone-like machine with four propellers that hovered steadily for about a minute. The test flight reaching 3 meters (10 feet) high was held in a gigantic cage, as a safety precaution, at an NEC facility in a Tokyo suburb. The preparations such as the repeated checks on the machine and warnings to reporters to wear helmets took up more time than the two brief demonstrations. The Japanese government is behind flying cars, with the goal of having people zipping around in them by the 2030s.
US ride-sharing and transportation network Uber is planning demonstrator flights in 2020 and commercial operations in 2023, and has chosen Dallas, Los Angeles and Melbourne as the first cities to offer what it calls Uber Air flights. Dubai has also been aggressive about pursuing flying cars. Japanese officials say Japan has a good chance of emerging as a world leader because the government and the private sector will work closely together. The Associated Press
Iran: US can’t build Gulf coalition as allies ashamed
The United States is unable to build a naval coalition to escort tankers in the Gulf because its allies are too “ashamed” to join it, Iran’s foreign minister said Monday. “Today the United States in alone in the world and cannot create a coalition. Countries that are its friends are too ashamed of being in a coalition with them,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told a news conference in Tehran. “They brought this situation upon themselves, with lawbreaking, by creating tensions and crises.”
Iran and the United States have been locked in a battle of nerves since May 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal placing limits on Iran’s nuclear program and began re-imposing sanctions. Tensions soared after the Trump administration stepped up a US campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran, with drones downed and tankers mysteriously attacked in Gulf waters. The Voice of America
City-wide strikes keep happening in Hong Kong
Protesters are filling the streets of Hong Kong, joined by civil servants, teachers, pilots, construction workers, and others participating in a general strike across seven districts. Demonstrators have blocked roads and trains, and almost 200 flights in and out of Hong Kong have been canceled. The protests were first sparked nine weeks ago by a proposed bill that would have allowed extradition of people arrested in Hong Kong to China.
That bill has been suspended, but demonstrators are calling on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to completely withdraw the bill, launch a third-party investigation into police abuse of power, and drop all charges for the protesters who have been arrested. Lam on Monday said Hong Kong is “on the verge of a very dangerous situation.” The Guardian via The Week
New US defense chief slams China on 1st Asian visit
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has slammed China’s “destabilizing” actions in the Indo-Pacific region during his first trip to the region. Speaking to reporters in Sydney with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and their Australian counterparts, Esper said the United States is “firmly against a disturbing pattern of aggressive behavior, destabilizing behavior from China.” Esper and Pompeo pointed to Beijing’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea and accused it of promoting the state-sponsored theft of other nation’s intellectual property, and “predatory economics.”
The last was an apparent reference to so-called “debt traps” like a 2017 arrangement that gave China control of a port in Sri Lanka. After failing to keep up with its debt payments to China, Sri Lanka handed over the port and 15,000 acres of land to the Chinese government for 99 years. China has arguably undertaken the largest transfer of intellectual property in human history, according to Bradley Bowman, the senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Bowman told VOA that intellectual property stolen by Beijing has been used to modernize Chinese weapons which, in the event of a future military conflict, would be used to kill Americans and their allies. The Voice of America