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This is VOA news. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he was directing his administration to begin the process of eliminating special treatment for Hong Kong in response to China's plans to impose new security legislation in the territory. Speaking at a White House news conference, Trump said China had broken its word over Hong Kong's autonomy. "China's latest incursion, along with other recent developments that degraded the territory's freedoms, makes clear that Hong Kong is no longer sufficiently autonomous to warrant the special treatment that we have afforded the territory since the handover." Trump's move comes after China moved forward with plans to impose new national security legislation and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the territory no longer warrants special treatment under U.S. law that has enabled it to remain a global financial center. Thursday night, Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government said that any changes in its relationship with the United States would a "double-edged sword." President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States is cutting all ties with the World Health Organization over its coronavirus response. We get more from AP's Sagar Meghani at the White House. The president's been railing against the WHO for weeks and argued today it's under China's total control. He says Beijing "ignored" its virus reporting obligations to the WHO, which in turn misled the world when the virus was discovered. "We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs." That's expected to do significantly weaken the WHO since the U.S. is its biggest source of financial support. Sagar Meghani, Washington. This is VOA news. A former Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer involved in the death of black motorist George Floyd has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. We get more from AP's Ed Donahue. The officer was on Floyd's neck for eight minutes as the man was pleading he could not breathe. "Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged by the Hennepin County Attorney's Office with murder and with manslaughter." Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says more charges are possible. Chauvin and three other officers were fired in Minnesota after Floyd died. This is Governor Tim Walz. "It is my expectation that justice for the officers involved in this will be swift, that it will come in a timely manner, that it will be fair." Minnesota's sentencing guidelines recommend 12 and a half years for a conviction on the murder count, four years for manslaughter. That's AP's Ed Donahue reporting. Taiwan's constitutional court on Friday decriminalized adultery in a landmark judgment aimed at upholding personal rights and privacy. As Reuters Joe Davies reports, it scraps a law that activists said discriminated against women. The adultery law meant those who had sex with a married person, or with a person outside marriage, could face a year in jail. Protesters in favor of abolishing the law were pleased with the news. Chuang Chiao-Ju is the Director of the Awakening Foundation. "The number of women prosecuted is higher than men, which is leading to an imbalance along gender lines. At the same time, the legal process of suing for adultery often times causes even more severe cracks in family relationships." Taiwan's scrapping of the adultery law follows South Korea in 2015 and India in 2018. Some argued the law was essential to uphold the sanctity of marriage. But to many it was an outdated infringement that restricted people's freedoms, and the process of enforcing it led to an invasion of privacy. That's Reuters Joe Davies. Consumer spending plunged in April as coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses and layoffs have sent the economy into a deep recession. We get more from AP correspondent Ben Thomas. The Commerce Department reports consumer spending dropped 13.6 percent in April by far the steepest in records that date back to 1959. Consumer spending is the primary driver of the economy, accounting for about 70 percent of economic activity and the declines were across the board - from durable goods like cars to non-durable items such as clothing and services ranging from doctor visits to haircuts. But even with employers cutting millions of jobs, personal incomes soared 10 and a half per cent in April. The increase reflected the billions of dollars in support the government has paid out through unemployment benefits and stimulus checks. Ben Thomas, Washington. For more on these stories and the rest of the day's news, visit voanews.com. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd. |