1UA TV

Months after comic Michelle Wolf angered Trump administration officials with her blistering routine at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the group said on Monday it would feature a historian, not a comedian, at next year’s event.

The WHCA said Ron Chernow, who has written biographies of presidents George Washington and Ulysses Grant and founding father Alexander Hamilton, has been asked to speak on freedom of the press at next year’s black-tie affair in April.

“Freedom of the press is always a timely subject and this seems like the perfect moment to go back to the basics,” Chernow said in a statement released by the WHCA. President Donald Trump has repeatedly derided some media organizations as “fake news” and the “enemy of the people.”

The decision breaks with the association’s long-standing tradition of having a comic roast the president and the press at the dinner, and it drew a sharp response from Wolf.

“The @whca are cowards. The media is complicit. And I couldn’t be prouder,” she said on Twitter.

Presidents traditionally have been given the floor to make their own humorous remarks before the comic speaks. But President Donald Trump, who frequently found himself the target of jokes when he attended before he ran for office, including by then-President Obama, has refused to attend the dinner his first two years in office.

Wolf angered Trump administration officials last April with jokes that many felt were caustic and overly personal, saying of presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway “all she does is lie” and ridiculing press secretary Sarah Sanders’ eye makeup.

It was not the first time comics at the dinner have riled their targets. Stephen Colbert, Wanda Sykes and Seth Meyers have spoken at the dinner and also had their detractors.

But Wolf’s jabs at Trump administration officials prompted the New York Times to question in a headline last April: “Did Michelle Wolf kill the White House Correspondents’ Dinner?”

Although the dinner has become a high-profile event on Washington’s social calendar, it is primarily a fund-raiser to earn money for college journalism scholarships, journalism awards and to pay for other programs sponsored by the WHCA, which represents journalists covering the White House.

“While I have never been mistaken for a stand-up comedian,” Chernow said, “I promise that my history lesson won’t be dry.”
…

Two people were killed and two others critically wounded in a shooting at a Chicago hospital on Monday. Among the dead was the gunman, who started shooting in the parking lot and then burst into the medical facility and opened fire, according to local media.

A police officer was among those wounded in the shooting on Chicago’s South Side at Mercy Hospital, officials said.

Police cars and ambulances swarmed the hospital after the shooting.

ABC7 Chicago and CBS Chicago, citing sources, reported that two people died in the shooting, including the gunman, and that two other people were wounded.

Police searched the hospital, said Anthony Guglielmi, a Chicago Police Department spokesman. The hospital said on Twitter the shooting was over and patients were safe.

Eyewitnesses told reporters the shooting began in the parking lot before moving into a clinic area inside the hospital.

Police have not commented on a possible motive for the shooting.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Superintendent Eddie Johnson were on their way to University of Chicago hospital, where the wounded police officer was being treated, according to local media.

Sue Jimenez, the manager of Kozy’s Cyclery bike shop near the hospital, said she heard multiple gunshots separated by pauses. At one point, she heard five shots in quick succession, she said, but the shooting stopped after police arrived.
…

The U.S. and Afghan governments have made “little clear progress” recently in compelling the Taliban to negotiate a peace deal, according to a new U.S. assessment Monday that said military and political signs point toward continued stalemate.

“Progress toward peace remains elusive,” Glenn A. Fine, the acting Pentagon inspector general, wrote in an introduction to a comprehensive review of military, political and humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan during the July-September period. These were the final three months of the 17th year of a war that began in October 2001.

The report offered little support for the Trump administration’s assertions that its revised war strategy, announced in August 2017, is bringing the Afghan government and the Taliban insurgency closer to peace and reconciliation. When he visited Kabul in July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strategy “is indeed working.”

In the three months following Pompeo’s visit, the Taliban demonstrated their resilience even as the U.S. military continued its focus on training and advising the Afghan army and police while helping develop an Afghan air force.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Saturday that efforts to draw the Taliban into peace talks are being made “below the surface.” But he indicated that progress is insufficient. “We’re a long way from where we could say that we’re on the right path,” Dunford said at the Halifax International Security Forum, referring to effectively combining military, political and social pressure on the Taliban.

Noting that U.S. officials as recently as a year ago called the war a stalemate, Dunford said, “it hasn’t changed much” since.

Pulling the Taliban into peace negotiations has been the central feature of the Trump administration’s Afghanistan strategy, with little result so far. The effort has intensified since Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Kabul, was appointed a special U.S. envoy to Afghanistan in September. The Associated Press reported on Sunday that Khalilzad held three days of talks with the Taliban in the Gulf state of Qatar.

Without referring explicitly to the talks in Qatar, Khalilzad told a news conference Sunday in Kabul, “I am talking to all interested parties, all Afghan groups… and I think there is an opportunity for reconciliation and peace.”

“The Afghan government wants peace,” he said. “The Taliban are saying they do not believe they can succeed militarily, that they would like to see the problems that remain, resolved by peaceful means, by political negotiations.”

Monday’s report, which was a combined assessment by inspectors general of the Pentagon, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, said available measures of security in Afghanistan showed little change in the July-September quarter. Progress toward reconciliation with the Taliban also as scant.

“Despite continued efforts and activities, there was little clear progress toward reconciliation during the quarter,” the report said, adding that Afghan security force casualties are rising and humanitarian needs are growing as the conflict drags on.

The U.S. military does not publicly report the number of casualties among Afghan security forces, saying it is forbidden by the Afghan government. However, just last week Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said during a visit to Washington that 28,529 Afghan forces have been killed in the past four years, compared to 58 Americans in the same period.

The U.S. has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan.
…

Authorities in the western U.S. state of California were able to determine Sunday that nearly 300 more people are safe after the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history swept through their town.

But more than a week after the Camp Fire began in Paradise, nearly 1,000 people are still unaccounted for as search crews go through the remains of burned buildings and others try to contact those reported missing by friends and family. 

The official death toll rose to 77 people Sunday. The Butte County Sheriff’s Office said that so far authorities have identified 67 of the dead.

The fire itself is still burning, 65 percent contained as thousands of firefighters work to bring it under control. 

Fire officials said crews made progress Sunday in creating and reinforcing the containment lines they hope will eventually halt the fire’s advance.

They are due to get some help this week with several days of rain in the forecast for northern California.

But while the shift in weather from the dry, hot conditions that allowed the blaze to spread so rapidly will help firefighters, it will also make the work of those searching for remains among ash more difficult. And with the fire leaving behind terrain stripped of vegetation, there is also a heightened risk of floods and mudslides.

California’s governor expressed optimism Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump would support the state.

Following Trump’s visit to California the day before, Democratic governor Jerry Brown said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the president has “got our back” and has pledged to continue to help.

​”The president not only has signed a presidential declaration giving California substantial funding, but he said and pledged very specifically to continue to help us, that he’s got our back,” Brown said. “And I thought that was a very positive thing.”

Brown also suggested in Sunday’s interview that California’s wildfires will make the most ardent of climate change skeptics believers in the coming years.

Trump visited California Saturday to get a close-up look at the widespread damage that raging wildfires have inflicted on the state.

“Nobody would have ever thought this could have happened,” he said to reporters after walking through burned-out ruins in Paradise. “It’s like total devastation.” 

At least 10,000 homes have been destroyed.

“I think people have to see this really to understand it.” Trump said. 

Trump was accompanied on his visit by Paradise Mayor Jody Jones, California Governor Brown, Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, and Federal Emergency Management Agency head Brock Long.

He pledged to the California officials the support of the federal government, saying, “We’re all going to work together.” He vowed also to work with environmental groups on better forest management and added, “Hopefully this is going to be the last of these because this was a really, really bad one.”

But when asked if the fire had changed his mind on climate change, Trump said, “No, no.” He said he believes a lot of factors are to blame. 

The president also visited a local command center in Chico, California, and praised the firefighters and other first responders. “You folks have been incredible,” he said, adding that those battling the flames are “fighting like hell.”

Woolsey Fire

Late Saturday afternoon, Trump landed in Southern California, where the Woolsey Fire has burned nearly 390 square kilometers. Fire officials say the blaze had been about 60 percent contained by Friday. Evacuated residents are returning to the area.

En route from Northern to Southern California, Trump told reporters he had not discussed climate change with Governor Brown and Governor-elect Newsom, both of whom accompanied him on the flight. 

“We have different views,” Trump said. “But maybe not as different as people think.”

On the same issue, Brown told reporters, “We’ll let science determine this over a longer period of time. Right now we’re collaborating on the most immediate response and that’s very important.”
…

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Sunday he’s donating $1.8 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, to boost financial aid for low- and middle-income students.

The Baltimore university said the contribution – the largest ever to any education institution in the U.S. – will allow Johns Hopkins to eliminate student loans in financial aid packages starting next fall. The university will instead offer scholarships that don’t have to be repaid.

University President Ronald Daniels said Bloomberg’s contribution will also let the institution permanently commit to “need-blind admissions,” or the principle of admitting the highest-achieving students, regardless of their ability to pay for their education.

“Hopkins has received a gift that is unprecedented and transformative,” he said in a statement, noting the prestigious school was founded in 1876 by a $7 million gift from Baltimore merchant Johns Hopkins that was, similarly, the largest gift of its kind at the time.  

By way of comparison, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Gates Millennium Scholars program in 1999 with a $1 billion commitment over 20 years. The Chronicle of Higher Education listed it as the largest private donation to a higher-education institution in the U.S. earlier this month.

Bloomberg said he expects the money will allow Hopkins to offer more generous scholarships and ease the debt burden for graduates.

“America is at its best when we reward people based on the quality of their work, not the size of their pocketbook,” he said in a statement. “Denying students entry to a college based on their ability to pay undermines equal opportunity.”

The 76-year-old founder of the global finances services and media company, Bloomberg L.P., is among the world’s richest people. He graduated from Hopkins in 1964, served as New York mayor from 2002 to 2013 and has for years weighed running for president, including in 2020.

 
…

Confusion continues in Washington over what the Trump administration has concluded regarding the death of Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi – and the implications for U.S.-Saudi relations. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, President Donald Trump has repeatedly deflected questions about the kingdom’s crown prince amid news reports the CIA believes Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing, last month in Turkey.
…

An acrimonious meeting of world leaders in Papua New Guinea failed to agree Sunday on a final communique, highlighting widening divisions between global powers China and the U.S.

The 21 nations at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Port Moresby struggled to bridge differences on the role of the World Trade Organization, which governs international trade, officials said. A statement was to be issued instead by the meeting’s chair, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

“The entire world is worried” about tensions between China and the U.S., O’Neill told a mob of reporters that surrounded him after he confirmed there was no communique from leaders.

It was the first time leaders had failed to agree on a declaration in 29 years of the Pacific Rim summits that involve countries representing 60 percent of the world economy.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were differences between several nations, including China and the U.S. Draft versions of the communique seen by The Associated Press showed the U.S wanted strong language against unfair trade practices that it accuses of China. China, meanwhile, wanted a reaffirmation of opposition to protectionism and unilateralism it says the U.S. is engaging in.

“I don’t think it will come as a huge surprise that there are differing visions on particular elements in regard to trade and those prevented there from being a full consensus on the communique,” Trudeau said.

Rising West-China rivalry

The two-day summit was punctuated by acrimony and underlined a rising rivalry between China and the West for influence in the usually neglected South Pacific. China is a relative newcomer to providing aid, and its loan-heavy, no-strings attached approach has unsettled Western nations that have been the mainstay donors to developing nations and often use aid to nudge nations toward reforms.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Chinese President Xi Jinping traded barbs in speeches Saturday. Pence professed respect for Xi and China but also harshly criticized the world’s No. 2 economy for intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers and unfair trading practices.

The U.S. has this year imposed additional tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods, and Beijing has retaliated with its own tariffs on U.S. products.

The world, according to Xi’s speech, is facing a choice between cooperation and confrontation as protectionism and unilateralism grows. He said the rules of global institutions set up after World War II such as the World Trade Organization should not be bent for selfish agendas.

Pence told reporters that during the weekend he had two “candid” conversations with Xi, who is expected to meet President Donald Trump at a Group of 20 summit at the end of this month in Buenos Aires.

“There are differences today. They begin with trade practices, with tariffs and quotas, forced technology transfers, the theft of intellectual property. It goes beyond that to freedom of navigation in the seas, concerns about human rights,” Pence said.

​China rejects US criticism

The U.S. is interested in a better relationship “but there has to be change” from China’s side, Pence said he told Xi, who responded that dialogue is important.

China’s foreign ministry rejected the U.S. criticism that it was leading other developing nations into debt bondage.

“The assistance provided by China has been warmly welcomed by our partners in this region and beyond,” Wang Xiaolong, a foreign ministry official, told a news conference.

“No country either in this region or in other regions has fallen into a so called debt trap because of its cooperation with China. Give me one example,” he said.

Countering Belt and Road

In Port Moresby, the impact of China’s aid and loans is highly visible. But the U.S. and allies are countering with efforts to finance infrastructure in Papua New Guinea and other island states. The U.S. has also said it will be involved in ally Australia’s plan to develop a naval base with Papua New Guinea.

On Sunday, the U.S., New Zealand, Japan and Australia said they’d work with Papua New Guinea’s government to bring electricity to 70 percent of its people by 2030. Less than 20 percent have a reliable electricity supply.

“The commitment of the United States of America to this region of the world has never been stronger,” Pence said at a signing ceremony. A separate statement from his office said other countries are welcome to join the electrification initiative provided they support the U.S. vision of a free and open Pacific.

China, meanwhile, has promised $4 billion of finance to build the first national road network in Papua New Guinea, among the least urbanized countries in the world.
…

The small town of Utqiagvik, Alaska, is the northernmost town in the United States. Entertainment is scarce and so is the list of jobs. A lot of locals still hunt and fish, and there is room for art here as well. As Natasha Mozgovaya reports, indigenous carvers have been creating beautiful figurines, intricate miniature sculptures and jewelry from very Alaskan materials.
…

A Houston-based charity is helping disabled children from Pakistan rebuild their lives by bringing them to United States and treating them with the help of U.S. doctors and surgeons. VOA’s Nadeem Yaqub recently visited the medical center where they are treated, and filed this report.
…

The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that U.S.-led coalition airstrikes killed more than 40 people in the village of Abu Husn in the region of Deir el-Zor, near the Iraqi border.

Arab media announced the deaths of several dozen people, most of whom appeared to have been Islamic State group fighters, during bitter fighting in the Deir el-Zor region of eastern Syria, not far from the Iraqi border.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that about three dozen Islamic State fighters were killed in the airstrikes on the village of Abu Husn. A number of civilians and family members of the IS fighters also were killed.

Abdel Rahman insisted that “it was the highest death toll in coalition airstrikes since (U.S.-aligned Kurdish fighters) launched their attack against this (particular northeastern Syrian) Islamic State pocket in September.

U.S. Coalition spokesman Sean Ryan told the French news agency earlier this week “the avoidance of civilian casualties is our highest priority when conducting strikes against legitimate military targets with precision munitions.”

Khattar Abou Diab, who teaches political science at the University of Paris, tells VOA that bad weather conditions in recent days have allowed IS fighters to gain ground against the U.S.-led alliance of Kurdish SDF fighters, alongside U.S. and French forces, prompting strong efforts to push them back.

He says that the final pockets of Islamic State fighters have taken advantage of poor weather conditions (and cloud cover) to capture positions and equipment belonging to the U.S. coalition, prompting fierce fighting in an effort to recapture lost ground.

Abou Diab says the Islamic State pocket in the region of Deir el-Zour is one of several he says are supported by different countries involved in the Syria conflict. He argues that a separate Islamic State faction, supported by the Syrian government, has been involved in attacking Druze civilians and holding them hostage in the southern region of Sweida.
…