Top Stories Today – July 20, 2019
Top Stories Today – July 20, 2019
Putin: Russians and Ukrainians are one people
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he believes Russians and Ukrainians constitute one nation and that the countries should find a way to integrate. Putin made the comments in an interview with the American film director Oliver Stone on June 19; material from the interview was used in a Stone film about Ukraine and the full transcript was published by the Kremlin on Friday.
“I believe that Russians and Ukrainians are one people … one nation, in fact,” Putin said. “When these lands that are now the core of Ukraine joined Russia … nobody thought of themselves as anything but Russians.” The Associated Press
Monsoon flooding death toll rises to 152 in South Asia
The death toll in monsoon flooding in South Asia has risen to 152 as millions of people and animals continue to face the brunt in three countries, officials said Saturday. At least 90 people have died in Nepal and 50 in northeastern India’s Assam state over the past week. A dozen have been killed in Bangladesh.
Shiv Kumar, a government official in Assam, said 10 rare one-horned rhinos have died in Kaziranga National Park since the Brahmaputra River burst its banks, flooding the reserve. Some 4.8 million people spread over 3,700 villages across the state are still affected by the floods, though the frequency of rains has decreased in the past 24 hours, the Assam Disaster Response Authority said. More than 2.5 million have also been hit by flooding in India’s Bihar state. The Associated Press
Hong Kong braces for another mass protest
Tens of thousands gathered in Hong Kong on Saturday to voice support for the police and call for an end to violence, after a wave of protests against an extradition bill triggered clashes between police and activists and plunged the city into crisis. The rally, called “Safeguard Hong Kong”, comes a day ahead of another mass protest planned against the government and its handling of the now-suspended extradition bill that would have allowed people in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China for trial.
Police have called for calm ahead of Sunday’s protest, where security is expected to be tight. Authorities have removed metal barriers – which activists have used to block roads during previous demonstrations – from areas around the march route. Reuters
Iran says it seized a British ship in the Strait of Hormuz
Iran has seized a British-flagged oil tanker and a Liberian-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, it said via state TV on Friday. The U.K.’s Stena Impero was heading to Saudi Arabia in international waters when it “was approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter,” the ship’s owner said. They soon lost contact with the 23 people onboard and the Stena Impero started heading northward toward Iran. No injuries have been reported.
Iranian state TV reported that the country’s Revolutionary Guard seized the ship for “violating international regulations.” Soon after, Iran reportedly seized a Liberian-flagged tanker as well. The seizure comes just hours after a British court decided to continue detaining an Iranian oil tanker that allegedly breached European sanctions on Syria. CNN, The Wall Street Journal via The Week
Heat warnings cover all US East coast
Temperatures hopped into the low 90s on Friday evening along America’s midwest and east coast in the first sign of the weekend’s coming heat wave. About 195 million people were under a heat watch, warning or advisory Friday morning, and the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning across the entirety of some states going into Saturday. Philadelphia is projected to see a heat index of 115 degrees on Saturday, while cities stretching from Boston to Oklahoma City are expected to break into the triple digits.
The National Weather Service has cautioned that heat is the top cause of weather-related deaths. The heat puts this month on track for the Earth’s warmest July ever recorded, coming after the hottest June on record as well. The Washington Post, National Weather Service via The Week
2 Million in Mozambique at risk of food shortages
The World Food Program warns 1.9 million Mozambicans battered by two devastating cyclones earlier this year are at risk of severe food shortages without urgent international assistance. Hundreds of people were killed, tens of thousands made homeless and livelihoods lost when Cyclones Idai and Kenneth hit Mozambique with devastating force in March and April.
The destructive power of the two storms has wreaked havoc on the country’s infrastructure and agriculture. Many crops that were about to be harvested and farm infrastructure were destroyed. The impact of these two disasters lingers on, threatening widespread hunger among survivors of these twin disasters. The Voice of America
US may set refugee cap at zero next Year
The Trump administration is considering more dramatic cuts to the US refugee program, with one official suggesting the White House not allow any refugees into the country in the coming fiscal year. In a Politico report released Thursday, government officials from several federal agencies attended a meeting last week and discussed several options that included a ceiling of 10,000 — well below the current refugee ceiling of 30,000, which is already an all-time low for the program.
The US resettled 23,190 refugees since the beginning of fiscal 2019 last October. With 2½ months remaining until the count resets, the US is on track to fall short of this year’s cap, according to US State Department data. Since the so-called “refugee ceiling” is an upper limit, and not a quota, the government is not required to meet the annual admissions number. The Voice of America