White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman contributed to this report.

Police officials in El Paso, Texas, say they are investigating as a possible hate crime the mass shooting Saturday at a Walmart that ended with at least 20 people killed and 26 wounded.

Police chief Greg Allen said the police have an online posting reportedly written by the 21-year-old white male suspect now in custody, that indicates the shooting spree was intended to target Hispanics.

The post appeared online about an hour before the shooting and included language that complained about the “Hispanic invasion” of Texas. The author of the manifesto wrote that he expected to be killed during the attack.

“This vile act of terrorism against Hispanic Americans was inspired by divisive racial and ethnic rhetoric and enabled by weapons of war,” Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas said in a statement.

“The language in the shooter’s manifesto is consistent with President Donald Trump’s description of Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders,’” said Castro, who is also the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “Today’s shooting is a stark reminder of the dangers of such rhetoric.”

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrado said three Mexicans were killed in the shooting and six Mexicans were wounded.

Trump posted Saturday on Twitter: “Melania and I send our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the great people of Texas.”

Today’s shooting in El Paso, Texas, was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice. I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2019

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who traveled to El Paso, told reporters, “We as a state unite in support of these victims and their family members. … We pray that God can be with those who have been harmed in any way and bind up their wounds.”

First calls come in 

Police began receiving calls at 10:39 a.m. local time with multiple reports of a shooting at Walmart and the nearby Cielo Vista Mall complex on the east side of the city.

Sgt. Robert Gomez, a spokesman with the El Paso Police Department, said most of the shootings occurred at the Walmart, where there were more than 1,000 shoppers and 100 employees. Many families were taking advantage of a sales-tax holiday to shop for back-to-school supplies, officials said.

“This is unprecedented in El Paso,” Gomez said of the mass shooting.

El Paso Mayor Dee Margo told CNN, “This is just a tragedy that I’m having a hard time getting my arms around.”

Originally, Margo, as well as several witnesses, said there were several shooters involved. But police said they believe there was just one shooter.

“I can confirm that it is a white male in his 20s,” El Paso police spokesman Gomez said. “We believe he’s the sole shooter.”

Gomez said an assault-style rifle was used in the shooting.

249th mass shooting so far this year

The El Paso shooting is the nation’s 249th mass shooting incident this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot or killed, excluding the gunman, at one location.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who formerly represented the El Paso district in the U.S. House, was at an event in Las Vegas when he heard of the shooting. 

“I just ask for everyone’s strength for El Paso right now. Everyone’s resolve to make sure that this does not continue to happen in this country,” he said, adding he was immediately returning home to El Paso, where his family lives.

Saturday’s shooting comes less than a week after a mass shooting at a festival in Gilroy, California, where three people, including two children, were killed and 13 others were injured. It was also the second fatal shooting in less than a week at a Walmart store. A gunman shot and killed two people and injured two others Tuesday in Mississippi, before he was shot and arrested by police.

El Paso, a city of about 680,000 people in western Texas, shares the border with Juarez, Mexico.
 

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There are an estimated 12,000 homeless people living in Seattle, in the Northwest U.S. state of Washington, according to the U.S. government. Among those homeless, a significant but difficult to quantify number don’t speak English. But one nonprofit is working to serve English learners and end homelessness all at the same time. VOA’s Valdya Baraputri reports.
 

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The NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program has been scouting and training girls and boys across the African continent for 17 years. Teenage girls taking part in the program say working with women from the continent who played for WNBA teams has motivated them to stay in the game. From Dakar, VOA’s Esha Sarai has more.
 

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper says he wants to see American ground-based intermediate-range conventional missiles deployed to Asia.

Speaking to reporters on his first international trip as head of the Defense Department, Esper said the weapons were important due to the “the great distances” covered in the Indo-Pacific region.

The United States previously was unable to pursue ground-based missiles with a range of 500-5,500 kilometers because of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a decades-old arms control pact with Russia. Washington withdrew from that pact on Friday, citing years of Russian violations.

“It’s about time that we were unburdened by the treaty and kind of allowed to pursue our own interests, and our NATO allies share that view as well,” Esper said.

He declined to discuss when or where in Asia they could be deployed until the weapons were ready, but said he hoped the deployments come within months.

While analysts have primarily focused on what the INF treaty withdrawal means for signatory nations Russia and the United States, the change also allows the United States to strengthen its position against China. Esper said China has more than 80% of its missile inventory with a range of 500-5,500 kilometers.

“So it should not surprise them [China] that we would want to have a like capability,” he added.

China is the top priority of the Pentagon under the Defense Department’s National Defense Strategy. Beijing and Washington also have been embroiled for months in a trade dispute, with U.S. President Donald Trump announcing Thursday on Twitter that he would impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods starting September 1.

“China is certainly the center of the dialogue right now. It’s a competition, they’re not an enemy, but certainly they are pressing their power in every corner,” Rudy deLeon, a defense policy expert with the Center for American Progress, and a former deputy secretary of defense, told VOA.

In the event of a conflict with China, the United States needs to have various capabilities in place ahead of time in order to prevent sabotage during transport from China’s advanced sensors and artificial intelligence, according to Bradley Bowman, the senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“We need to distribute our assets, and we need to have them in the region when the conflict starts. The idea that we’re going to spend like we did in the first Gulf War, weeks or months, sending large cargo aircraft and cargo vessels across the ocean to get into conflict, they’ll never arrive,” Bowman told VOA.

Esper began his trip Friday with a stop at the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii to visit the head of the command, Admiral Philip Davidson. Esper arrived Saturday in Australia for a two-plus-two meeting on Sunday with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and their Australian counterparts.

Esper also will visit New Zealand, Japan, Mongolia and South Korea before returning to Washington.

Defense officials have for years referred to the Asia-Pacific as the “priority” theater.

Former secretary of defense Jim Mattis, Esper’s predecessor in the Trump administration, also started his time in office with a trip to Asia, visiting Japan and South Korea in February 2017.

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Pakistan has accused rival India of breaching international humanitarian laws by using “cluster munitions” in the latest cross-border skirmishes in Kashmir, saying the weapons killed at least two civilians and injured 11 others on the Pakistani side of the divided region.

The allegations come a day after India again rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate a resolution of the Kashmir dispute between the two nuclear-armed countries.

A statement by Pakistan’s military said Saturday the civilian casualties occurred on July 31 in the scenic Neelum Valley near the Line of Control (LoC), the defacto border separating Pakistani and Indian portions of the disputed Himalayan territory.

It alleged the Indian army used cluster ammunitions delivered by artillery on July 31 in the valley, deliberately targeting the civilian population.

Cluster munitions are weapons consisting of a container that opens in the air and scatters a large number of explosive submunitions over a wide area. The related global convention adopted in 2008 prohibits the use of cluster munitions.

There was no immediate reaction from India to the allegation. Indian authorities for their part also accuse Pakistani forces of indulging in unprovoked cross-border shelling, causing civilian and military casualties on their side

The Pakistani military statement urged the international community “to take notice of this Indian blatant violation of international laws on use of cluster ammunition targeting innocent citizens.”

It also released pictures of victims and the purported weapons it said were used by Indian forces. Independent verification was difficult to ascertain.

Trump Reiterates Kashmir Mediation Offer

Speaking together with visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan at the White House two weeks ago, Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently asked him whether he would like to be a mediator or arbitrator on Kashmir, assertions New Delhi swiftly denied.

Trump, however, reiterated his mediation offer on Thursday, saying he is willing to mediate but a decision would be up to Modi and Khan.

“If I can — if they wanted me to, I would certainly intervene,” Trump told reporters.

Indian Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar said he told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the sidelines of an Asian security forum in Bangkok that any discussion of the disputed Kashmir region would be strictly between India and Pakistan.

New Delhi has long opposed outside attempts to mediate its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir. Islamabad insists international help is required because of persistent Indian refusals to engage in bilateral talks.

India Accuses Pakistan-Backed Militants of Targeting Hindu Pilgrims in Kashmir

Indian security officials on Friday said they had found evidence of attacks planned by Pakistani military-backed militants on a major Hindu pilgrimage in the disputed Muslim-dominated region of Kashmir

Security Alert in Indian Kashmir

Saturday’s Pakistani allegations come as thousands of people, mostly, visitors, reportedly have started leaving the India-ruled portion of Kashmir since the local government warned of possible militant attacks.

Indian authorities announced Friday they had found evidence of attacks by militants allegedly backed by Pakistan on a major Hindu pilgrimage in Kashmir. The revelation prompted the regional government to order the pilgrims and tourists to return home.  

Regional military tensions have remained high since February 14, when a vehicle-born bomb rammed into an Indian paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, killing 40 security personnel and triggering an aerial dogfight between Indian and Pakistani air force planes. New Delhi blamed Pakistan-based militants for plotting the attack. The subsequent escalation in tensions brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a fourth war before international diplomatic intervention helped defuse the situation.

New Delhi has suspended official talks with Islamabad since Modi came to power in 2014, demanding Pakistan first stop militants plotting cross-border attacks in India.

Separatist violence and the ensuing Indian crackdown are estimated to have killed more than 70,000 people in Indian Kashmir.

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The U.N. refugee agency welcomes the closure of three detention centers in Libya but voices concern about the whereabouts and fate of the refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who were held in the facilities.

The U.N. refugee agency has been advocating for the release of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants from Libya’s detention centers for a long time.  And, so it says it is pleased that three of the country’s largest facilities–Mistrata, Tajoura and Khoms–have been shut.

Five EU Countries Agree to Take in Migrants, Ending Standoff in Sicilian Port

Five EU countries agree to take in migrants, ending standoff in Sicilian port

However, UNHCR spokesman, Andrej Mahecic tells VOA he has no idea what has happened to the inmates.

“To our knowledge, there are 19 official detention centers run by the authorities that are currently active in Libya with nearly 5,000 refugees and migrants that are arbitrarily detained there,” Mahecic said.

Mahecic says UNHCR is closely following developments. He says refugees should not be put in detention.   In Libya, he says people held in facilities near battle zones are at particular risk, as was seen in the tragic events that unfolded in Tajoura last month.

The Tajoura detention center on the outskirts of the capital Tripoli was hit by an airstrike on July 2.  More than 50 people, including children were killed and 130 injured.   The vast majority were sub-Saharan Africans trying to reach Europe.  

EU States to End Arbitrary Detention of Refugees, Migrants in Libya

The move was triggered by the deadly July 5 bombing of the Tajoura detention center on the outskirts of Tripoli

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, says the attack could amount to a war crime.  Mahecic says children should never be locked up and, in all cases, detention should only be a measure of last resort.

“What we are calling on now is for an orderly release of all refugees in detention centers to urban settings and we stand ready to provide these people with assistance through our urban programs that would include some form of financial assistance, medical and psycho-social support,” Mahecic said.

The United Nations describes Libyan detention centers as appalling, overcrowded places.  It says detainees are denied sufficient food and medical care and are subject to abusive treatment, including torture and rape.

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Hong Kong is experiencing another round of anti-government weekend protests.

The demonstrations were first staged to protest against an extradition law that would send criminal suspects to mainland China for trials.

That bill has been suspended, but the protests persist, transforming into demonstrations for democratic reforms and an end to Beijing’s tightening grip on the territory.

The demonstrations are the worst social turmoil to rock the former British colony since it was returned to Chinese rule 22 years ago.

In addition to this weekend’s protests, Hong Kong is bracing for a citywide strike Monday in support of the democratic reforms.  

Civil servants gathered in a public park Friday evening to show their support for the protesters.

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July saw the highest number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in a single month since 2017, the U.N. mission said Saturday.
 
Its preliminary findings indicate more than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded, mainly due to a spike in casualties from insurgent attacks. It did not provide a breakdown of deaths and injuries, but said the overall number was the highest for a single month since May 2017.
 
It said more than 50% of casualties were caused by bombings. A roadside bomb tore through a bus in western Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least 32 people. A complex attack on the office of the Afghan president’s running mate last weekend killed at least 20 people. The target of the attack, former intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh, escaped unharmed. No one has claimed either attack.
 

Two Americans Killed in Apparent Insider Attack in Afghanistan

Deaths come as the US prepares to draw down troops despite concerns Afghan forces are still ill-equipped to maintain a potential peace deal

The Taliban, who effectively control half the country, carry out daily attacks on security forces and government targets that often kill and wound civilians. An Islamic State affiliate also operates in Afghanistan, targeting security forces as well as minority Shiites.
 
The Taliban have kept up a steady tempo of attacks despite holding several rounds of peace talks with the United States in recent months. The two sides appear to be closing in on an agreement in which U.S. forces would withdraw in exchange for guarantees that Afghanistan would not become a haven for terrorist groups.
 
“As peace efforts have intensified in recent weeks so too has the conflict on the ground,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the U.N. envoy to Afghanistan. “I call on all parties not to ramp up military operations thinking that doing so will give them a stronger position in talks about peace.”
 

Kabul Seeks Clarification on Trump Talk of Wiping Out Afghanistan

US president said he could win Afghan war in just 10 days by wiping out Afghanistan but did not want to kill 10 million people, remarks followed a meeting with Pakistan PM Imran Khan at the White House on Monday

On Tuesday, the U.N. released a report saying most civilian deaths in the first half of the year were caused by Afghan forces and their international allies. The report apparently referred to civilians killed during Afghan and U.S. military operations against insurgents. The Afghan government disputed the results and methodology of Tuesday’s report, saying it makes every effort to prevent civilian casualties.

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says his pick for national intelligence director has decided to withdraw from the running, citing unfair media coverage. 
 
In a tweet Friday, Trump said Republican Representative John Ratcliffe of Texas had decided to stay in Congress. Questions about Ratcliffe’s experience had dogged him since Trump announced his candidacy Sunday. 
 
Trump didn’t cite any specific media reports but tweeted that “rather than going through months of slander and libel,” Ratcliffe would be returning to Capitol Hill.  
  
Trump accepted the resignation of former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats last week.  
  
Ratcliffe is a frequent Trump defender who fiercely questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week. Intelligence experts had criticized his lack of experience in the field of intelligence.  
  
In a statement, Ratcliffe said, “While I am and will remain very grateful to the president for his intention to nominate me as director of national intelligence, I am withdrawing from consideration.” 
 
“I was humbled and honored that the president put his trust in me to lead our nation’s intelligence operations and remain convinced that when confirmed, I would have done so with the objectivity, fairness and integrity that our intelligence agencies need and deserve,” the statement said. 
 
“However,” he added, “I do not wish for a national security and intelligence debate surrounding my confirmation, however untrue, to become a purely political and partisan issue.” 

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San Francisco International Airport is banning the sale of single-use plastic water bottles.
 
The San Francisco Chronicle reports Friday that the unprecedented move at one of the major airports in the country will take effect Aug. 20.
 
The new rule will apply to airport restaurants, cafes and vending machines.
 
Travelers needing plain water will have to buy refillable aluminum or glass bottles if they don’t bring their own.
 
As a department of San Francisco’s municipal government, the airport is following an ordinance approved in 2014 banning the sale of plastic water bottles on city-owned property.
 
SFO spokesman Doug Yakel says the shift away from plastics is also part of a broader plan to slash net carbon emissions and energy use to zero and eliminate most landfill waste by 2021.

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Military authorities in Sudan have arrested more suspects in the shooting deaths of protesters in the cities of el-Obeid on Monday and Omdurman on Thursday.

Four Sudanese paramilitary soldiers were arrested Friday in the deaths of six protesters in el-Obeid. On Thursday, the Transitional Military Council arrested seven members of the Rapid Support Forces in connection with that incident.

Another two suspects have been arrested for the killing of four demonstrators in Omdurman.

Despite the killings and the tensions, the TMC and civilian Forces for Freedom and Change Coalition resumed talks Thursday evening on forming a power-sharing government. The sides are trying to agree on a constitutional outline for a government that will lead Sudan for the next three years, until elections.

This week’s protests were sparked by demands for justice for all those killed and wounded in the protests of the past six months.

Alaa Abdulahadi, who joined a march Thursday in the Burri neighborhood east of Khartoum, said her cousin was killed during the June 3 military crackdown on protesters outside army headquarters in Khartoum.

“We have lost so many lives and the old regime destroyed our country. We have witnessed the deterioration of our economy and the abuse of human rights. … [O]ur lives doesn’t matter to them, as long as they are in charge,” Abdulahadi told South Sudan in Focus.

Talks on Sudan’s Gov’t Continue Despite Latest Protester Deaths

Sudan’s ruling Transitional Military Council acknowledged that its Rapid Support Forces were involved in the shooting deaths of six people in the city of El Obeid earlier this week

Sudanese rights activists say they want the upcoming transitional government to ensure that justice is also carried for survivors of sexual violence. A recent report issued by a military-appointed fact-finding committee into the abuse of protesters during the months-long sit-in in Khartoum concluded that no rapes were committed by security forces.

Nahid Jabrallah, head of the Seema Women Center in Khartoum, said women’s rights activists recorded dozens of rape cases between December and early June when security forces cracked down on protesters outside the military headquarters in Khartoum.

Jabrallah said her center provided rape victims with health services and counseling and she believes that many women who suffered sexual violence will speak up in the days ahead.

“As civil society, there is evidence and many victims got to the service points of different actors and we will continue doing that for both the support of survivors and victims and for the preparation of the investigation,” Jabrallah told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.

Jabrallah said cultural norms in Sudan often prevent survivors from seeking support because of the social stigma attached to rape, but some survivors bucked tradition and spoke up.

“There are eyewitnesses and there are victims who came out and spoke [with] very high courage,” she said. “So, the main lesson we learned from this experience [is] that sexual abuse as a weapon failed to break the courage and the power of the people on the streets and that all people were encouraged more by what happened to continue struggling for the real change in Sudan.”

Women’s rights activist Naimat Abubakar said the transitional government should form a justice mechanism that ensures justice for victims of Sudan’s revolution.

“The way that people have been killed, women have [been] harassed, reports about rape, so this is the main task for the transitional government. I think, bringing justice for the victims of the sit-in; this is the first thing, and then, prepare the country for the elections,” Abubaker told South Sudan in Focus.

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In a speech Friday to a regional youth leadership program in Thailand, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended new U.S. tariffs on China, saying, “We want free and fair trade, not trade that undermines competition.”

Pompeo’s statements came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would impose a 10 percent tariff on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports starting September first.

Pompeo chided China for “decades of bad behavior” that have stalled free trade. “It’s time for that to stop,” he said.

He also mentioned the massive anti-government protests in Hong Kong. “We also believe in human rights and freedom,” he said. “The current unrest in Hong Kong clearly shows that the will and the voice of the governed will always be heard.”

Pompeo, who has assured his Southeast Asian partners this week that they do not have to choose between the U.S. and China, used his speech Friday to contrast U.S. and Chinese investment.

He described Chinese investment as exploitative, and U.S. investment as mutually beneficial.

He said, “Ask yourself this: Who really encourages self-sufficiency and not dependence, investors who are working to meet your consumers’ needs, or those who entrap you in debt?”

Pompeo stayed on message about the main priorities of his visit.

New tariffs

Separately, Pompeo’s Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, told reporters in Bangkok that the new U.S. tariffs are not a correct or constructive way to resolve the trade dispute between the two countries.

But Pompeo told the young leaders the Trump administration “is invested in the sovereignty, in the resilience and the prosperity of each southeast Asian nation.”

Asked about the failure of North Korea’s foreign minister to come to Bangkok to meet with Pompeo or others, a senior U.S. administration official said, “There is ongoing communication with the North Koreans on a regular basis. While we would like to be further along in restarting working-level negotiations, we are in regular contact with the North Koreans.”

As Pompeo met with top ASEAN diplomats Friday, at least four people were injured in six bomb blasts across Bangkok. Reporters traveling with the secretary said they did not hear the explosions from their location.

“We’re aware of reports of several small explosions in Thailand,” the State Department told VOA. “We refer you to local authorities for additional information. There was no impact on Secretary Pompeo’s visit.”

Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has ordered an investigation into the blasts, viewed as damaging to the country’s reputation during the high-profile event.

The bombings come just two weeks after the prime minister’s former military junta transformed into a civilian government.

On Saturday, Pompeo will travel from Thailand to Australia. Along with Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, he will lead the U.S. delegation to the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN). The secretary will also meet with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

On Monday, Pompeo will depart for the last planned leg of this trip, the Federated States of Micronesia, to reaffirm the U.S. partnership with the Pacific Island country — the first-ever visit to Micronesia by a U.S. secretary of state.

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