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This is VOA news. I'm Steve Karesh.
An angry Joe Biden lashed out reporters amid allegations Donald Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate his son. "Trump deserves to be investigated. He is violating every basic norm of a president." Democrats have condemned what they see as a clear effort to damage a political rival now at the heart of an explosive whistleblower complaint against President Trump. Trump is defending himself against the allegations asserting that it comes from a "partisan whistleblower" though the president also says he "don't know" who made the initial complaint. The U.S. is sending troops and air defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Pentagon said Friday night. The announcement came after last weekend's attacks on Saudi Arabian oil installations for which U.S. officials blame Iran, a charge Tehran denies. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said the U.S. was responding to requests from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to improve their air and missile defenses. Thousands of people in Hong Kong have taken to the streets for the latest round of pro-democracy demonstrations. The protesters began their sally Saturday after pro-China supporters tore down some of the city's so-called "Lennon Walls" created with colorful Post-it notes on which anti-government messages were written. The walls are named after the 1980 John Lennon Wall in Communist-controlled Prague. More than 1,300 people have been arrested since demonstrations began in early June. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 shook the Albanian capital of Tirana and the port town of Durres on Saturday. The Defense Ministry said it was the most powerful quake to hit Albania in 30 years. Local media report 49 people being treated for injuries. This is VOA. At a United Nations youth climate summit in New York on Saturday, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg says people showed the world how seriously they take climate change with a strike that took hundreds of thousands out of the classrooms and into the streets around the world. "We showed that we are united and that we, young people, are unstoppable." U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres was at the conference. He said the climate is of the utmost importance. "I have granddaughters. I want my granddaughters to live in a livable planet. My generation has a huge responsibility. It is your generation that must make us be accountable to make sure that we don't betray the future of humankind." Thunberg will also speak at the main U.N. Climate Action Summit in the presence of global leaders on Monday. A Sudan court Saturday adjourned for one week the trial of the country's ousted President Omar al-Bashir after a Khartoum court listened to witnesses for the defense. Bashir, who entered the courtroom to loud cheers from supporters, is charged with illicit possession of foreign currency and accepting gifts in an unofficial manner. His lawyer told reporters that millions of euros and Sudanese pounds discovered at Bashir's residence in April do not constitute a crime. After weathering multiple rebellions, economic crises, U.S. sanctions and coup attempts, Bashir was overthrown by the military in April after mass protests against his 30-year rule. The trial was adjourned until next Saturday. The streets of Cairo were jammed on Saturday morning as police checkpoints were erected across the city. Hundreds of armed soldiers and police officers in riot gear patrolled Tahrir Square, one of the locations where protests broke out Friday night and the epicenter of previous demonstrations that led to the fall of former Presidents Hosni Mubarak and Mohammad Morsi. Activists celebrated the demonstrations as a breakthrough after years of fear of police retaliation and called for continued protests against the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Pro-government news outlets blamed the demonstrations on "terrorists." The demonstrations began after Mohammad Ali, a former contractor and now actor living in Spain, began posting videos accusing el-Sissi and the military of squandering billions of Egyptian pounds on corrupt business deals and luxurious castles. Ethiopia said on Saturday it has arrested an unspecified number of members of the Islamist militant groups al-Shabab and Islamic State who were planning to carry out attacks in the country at various targets including hotels. I'm Steve Karesh, VOA news. |