German students go back to school Monday even as federal and state leaders are still trying to figure out how to keep half a million children, their teachers, and other staffers safe from the coronavirus.  “There are conflicting priorities, health protection on the one hand, which is very important to us, and on the other hand that we want to ensure the right to education of every single child,” German education minister Sandra Scheeres said. She said keeping students 1.5 meters apart while inside a school is sometimes impossible. Scheeres recommends that schools divide pupils into groups and keep them separate. If anyone were to test positive for the coronavirus, only that person and their cluster would need to be quarantined instead of everyone.  The central government will require students and teachers to wear masks in the hallways but will not require them in classroom instruction or on playgrounds.  Many other countries are also struggling to decide how and when to reopen schools. President Donald Trump has been pushing for all U.S. schools to reopen for in-person learning. But many states say they aren’t ready and plan to begin the school year at the end of this month the same way they ended the old one in June – using virtual classrooms. Last week a photograph of a crowded hallway in a Georgia school showed only a few students wearing masks. The school was closed and students were sent home for online classes after nine students tested positive for the coronavirus.Students arrive to Dallas Elementary School for the first day of school amid the coronavirus outbreak on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020, in Dallas, Ga.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week of a possible “generational catastrophe” in education because of shuttered schools. He urged countries to make reopening schools a top priority once the coronavirus crisis subsides.  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an article in the Daily Mail newspaper that the country has a moral duty to reopen schools. He said restarting schools is a national priority and a social and economic necessity. Johnson asserted that British schools can operate safely and has previously said schools would be the last places to close if there is another COVID-19 shutdown.  The British school year is set to start in early September.  Face masks must be worn outside in most places in France starting Monday, and masks are also required in nearly every indoor setting in Britain and Scotland. Australia recorded 404 new cases Sunday, but New Zealand is reporting its 100th straight day with no new cases of COVID-19 spread by co-called community transmission, when there is no clear source.  Finally, for someone who believes an N95 mask just won’t do, there’s a $1.5 million white-gold-and-diamond-encrusted COVID-19 face mask. Israel’s Yvel jewelry company says it received a request for the special made-to-order mask from an unidentified Chinese businessman living in the United States. “Money maybe doesn’t buy everything, but if it can buy a very expensive COVID-19 mask and the guy wants to wear it and walk around and get the attention, he should be happy with that,” designer Isaac Levy said. “I am happy that this mask gave us enough work for our employees to be able to provide their jobs in very challenging times like these times right now,” he said. 
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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been arrested, accused of suspected collusion with foreign forces under the new national security law, his top aide said on Twitter, in what is the highest-profile arrest yet under the legislation. Lai has been one of the most prominent democracy activists in the Chinese-ruled city and an ardent critic of Beijing, which imposed the sweeping new law on Hong Kong on June 30, drawing condemnation from Western countries. The new security law punishes anything China considers subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison. Critics say it crushes freedoms in the semiautonomous city, while supporters say it will bring stability after prolonged pro-democracy protests last year. “Jimmy Lai is being arrested for collusion with foreign powers at this time,” Mark Simon, a senior executive at Lai’s media company Next Digital, which publishes local tabloid Apple Daily, said early on Monday. Police did not immediately comment. Apple Daily reported that Lai was taken away from his home in Ho Man Tin early Monday. The paper says one of Lai’s sons, Ian, was also arrested at his home. About 10 other people were expected to be arrested Monday, local newspaper South China Morning Post reported, without naming its sources. Lai was also arrested this year on illegal assembly charges, along with other leading activists, relating to protests last year. In an interview with Reuters in May, Lai pledged to stay in Hong Kong and continue to fight for democracy even though he expected to be one of the targets of the new legislation. Before Monday, 15 people had been arrested under the law, including four ages 16-21 late last month over posts on social media. The new legislation has sent a chill through Hong Kong, affecting many aspects of life. Activists have disbanded their organizations, while some have fled the city altogether. Slogans have been declared illegal, certain songs and activities such as forming human chains have been banned in schools, and books have been taken off shelves in public libraries. The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the territory’s current and former police chiefs and eight other top officials for what Washington says is their role in curtailing political freedoms in the territory. Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong described the sanctions as “clowning actions.” Beijing and the Hong Kong government have said the law will not affect rights and freedoms, and that it is needed to plug security loopholes. They said it will only target a small minority of “troublemakers.”  
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Six French aid workers with the nongovernmental organization ACTED and their local guide and driver were killed Sunday by gunmen riding motorcycles in an area of southwestern Niger that is home to the last West African giraffes, officials said.The six worked for the international aid group, Niger’s Defense Minister Issoufou Katambé told Reuters. Officials had earlier described them as tourists.”Among the eight people killed in Niger, several are ACTED employees,” said Joseph Breham, an NGO lawyer.No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault.  French President Emmanuel Macron denounced “the deadly attack which cowardly hit a group of humanitarian workers” in Niger and said in a statement Sunday the attack will be investigated.Macron, who spoke Sunday with his Nigerien counterpart Mahamadou Issoufou, added that “their determination to continue the common fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel” remained intact.The president “expresses his condolences and the support of the French nation to the families and relatives of the victims,” the statement said.It is believed to be the first such attack on Western tourists in the area, a popular attraction in the former French colony thanks to its unique population of West African or Niger giraffes.A source close to Niger’s environmental services said the assault took place around 11:30 a.m. (1030 GMT) 6 kilometers (4 miles) east of the town of Koure, which is an hour’s drive from the capital, Niamey.”Most of the victims were shot. … We found a magazine emptied of its cartridges at the scene,” the source told AFP.”We do not know the identity of the attackers, but they came on motorcycles through the bush and waited for the arrival of the tourists.”The source also described the scene of the attack, where bodies were laid side-by-side next to a torched off-road vehicle, which had bullet holes in its rear window.Around 20 years ago, a small herd of West African giraffes, a subspecies distinguished by its lighter color, found a haven from poachers and predators in the Koure area.Today they number in their hundreds and are a key tourist attraction, enjoying the protection of local people and conservation groups.  However the Tillaberi region is in a hugely unstable location, near the borders of Mali and Burkina Faso.  The region has become a hideout for Sahel jihadist groups such as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).The use of motorcycles has been totally banned since January in an attempt to curb the movements of such jihadists. 
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Mauritania’s president appointed a new government Sunday, a top official said, after the names of several former ministers appeared in a report on the financial dealings of ex-leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.Adama Bocar Soko, the secretary general of Mauritania’s presidency, told reporters in the capital Nouakchott that the move would allow all those named in the report “the time they need to prove their innocence.”  The move comes after President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani announced a government reshuffle and replaced his prime minister on Thursday, for reasons that were not disclosed at the time.  Sunday’s announcement marks the first time Ghazouani’s office has admitted that the reason behind the reshuffle was the controversial report on Aziz.A nine-member parliamentary committee set up in January was tasked with shedding light on aspects of Aziz’s 2008-19 tenure.Matters investigated included the handling of oil revenues, the sale of state-owned property in Nouakchott, and the liquidation of a state-owned food company, according to parliamentary officials.  Mauritanian prosecutors said last Wednesday that they had received the committee’s report and would open an inquiry.Three former ministers and ex-premier Ismail Ould Bedda Ould Cheikh Sidiya were named in the report.The new government remains substantially similar to the previous one, however, with 18 former ministers reappointed.Soko also said that the number of ministries had also been reduced to 22, after some were fused.  Mauritanian prosecutors are required by law to open an investigation into Aziz, itself a step toward possible judicial proceedings.”The investigations will be carried out impartially, in accordance with the legal procedures in force, while taking into account the time generally needed for this kind of inquiry,” a prosecution statement said.It is not clear when the investigation will begin, however.Aziz, a former army general, ignored a summons from the parliamentary committee last month to explain the issues at stake, according to a parliamentary official.MPs in the Saharan nation of some 4.5 million people subsequently adopted a law at the end of July establishing a High Court with jurisdiction to hear cases of “high treason” against former heads of state and government ministers.The court is due to be set up in the coming months.A parliamentary official told AFP at the end of July, however, that the decision was “not directed against anyone.”Such a court had existed in Mauritania before a constitutional reform in 2017, and was dissolved on a legal technicality.A case against Aziz would be heard at the High Court. But MPs would first have to vote on whether to proceed to trial.  Aziz first came to power in the poor West African state in a military coup in 2008, then won an election in 2009, followed by another in 2014.Ghazouani, who succeeded Aziz in August 2014, previously served as his chief of staff and minister of defense. 
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As the United States surpassed five million confirmed cases of the coronavirus, talks on Capitol Hill for a new coronavirus relief bill remain at an impasse, leading President Donald Trump to sign several executive orders to benefit Americans. VOA’s Esha Sarai has more.
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Public health experts agree: wear a mask, wash your hands, and observe social distancing. These are the guidelines to help control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. But as VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, while global cases approach 20 million (19.67M), an anti-mask movement threatens containment.
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Officials say an earthquake – the strongest in more than 100 years – shook much of North Carolina early Sunday, rattling homes, buildings and residents.The National Weather Service in Greenville said the 5.1-magnitude temblor struck at 8:07 a.m., following a much smaller quake several hours earlier. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.It was the largest earthquake to hit the state since 1916, when a magnitude 5.5 quake occurred near Skyland, the weather service said.The U.S. Geological Service said the quake’s epicenter was about 2.5 miles (four kilometers) southeast of Sparta, just south of the Virginia-North Carolina border. The USGS said the population in the affected region resides in structures “that are resistant to earthquake shaking, though vulnerable structures exist.”The quake was felt in nearby states including Virginia, South Carolina and Tennessee.  
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The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has asked the United Nations to extend an international arms embargo on Iran, a move pushed strongly by the United States.The secretariat of the GCC, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, said in a statement on Sunday that Iran’s continued interference in neighboring countries made an extension necessary.The arms embargo on Iran is currently set to end on Oct. 18 under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which Washington quit in 2018.The request, in a letter to the United Nations, is a show of unity from the GCC. In mid-2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed political, trade and transport ties with Qatar over accusations it had been supporting terrorism and cozying up to Iran. Qatar denies the accusations.”It is inappropriate to lift restrictions on the supply of weapons from and to Iran until Iran gives up its destabilizing activities in the region and stops supplying terrorist and sectarian organizations with weapons,” a statement from GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Mubarak al-Hajraf said.If the United States is unsuccessful in extending the embargo, it has threatened to trigger a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran under a process agreed in the 2015 deal.The U.S.-drafted resolution needs at least nine votes in favor to force Russia and China to use their vetoes, which Moscow and Beijing have signaled they will do. Some diplomats question whether Washington can even secure those nine, however. 
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Nagasaki on Sunday marked the 75th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city in a ceremony held at the grandiose Peace Statue, with the mayor and survivors urging world leaders to work for a ban on nuclear weapons.At 11:02 a.m. local time, Nagasaki survivors and others stood in a minute of silence to honor more than 70,000 people who died when the B-29 bomber Bockscar dropped a 4.5-ton plutonium-239 bomb dubbed “Fat Man” on the city.”As a country that has experienced the horrors of nuclear weapons, please sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and see to its ratification at the earliest possible date,” said Tomihisa Taue, Nagasaki mayor. “In addition, please examine the plan to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Northeast Asia. Please adhere for eternity to the peaceful principles of the Japanese constitution, which includes the determination not to wage war.”Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid a wreath at the memorial to remember the victims and made a speech but avoided any direct reference to the treaty.”The tragedy in Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the suffering caused to its people must never be repeated again,” Abe said. “As the only country that had experienced nuclear weapons during war, it remains the unchanged mission of our nation to firmly move forward step by step the efforts of the international community towards realizing a world without nuclear weapons.”Japan has not signed the treaty. Many survivors developed cancer or other illnesses because of radioactive contamination.U.N. Undersecretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu said in a message to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial that the world “must return to the understanding that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” adding that “there is an urgent need to stop the erosion of the nuclear order. All countries possessing nuclear weapons have an obligation to lead.”  
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The United States has more coronavirus cases than any other country.  There are more than 5 million infections in the U.S., according to a New York Times database. Brazil and India follow as numbers two and three, respectively, in the number of infections.  Brazil has more than 3 million cases and India has more than 2 million.Brazil on Saturday became the second country in the world to pass 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus, second to the United States, which has more than 162,000 deaths.Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, said last week he had “a clear conscience” despite the toll. Bolsonaro himself survived COVID-19 last month and said he had done “everything possible to save lives.” Because of insufficient tests, experts say, the number of Brazilians with the virus could be six times higher.In the U.S., the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has released a model predicting nearly 300,000 deaths by December 1 if Americans don’t start consistently wearing face masks.IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray said in a statement that if 95 percent of Americans started wearing masks, more than 66,000 lives would be saved.Naga women, wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus, sit by the side of a road selling poultry on the eve of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, in Kohima, India, Aug. 8, 2020.Mexico’s health ministry reported nearly 6,500 new COVID infections Saturday and almost 700 deaths. Mexico follows only the U.S. and Brazil in the numbers of COVID deaths.  Mexico has more than 46,000 COVID deaths, according to John Hopkins University data.In France, the government ordered face masks must be worn outside in busy areas — except around some tourist sites, including the Eiffel Tower — starting Monday. The government said the French tourism industry has lost at least $35-$47 billion due to the health crisis.”The French are participating massively in the revival of the tourism sector by favoring France,” and 70 percent of those who have gone on vacation have chosen to stay in their country, Secretary of State Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche.New mask mandates went into effect Saturday in Britain, where people are now required to wear masks in most indoor settings. In England and Scotland, masks must be worn in places of worship, banks, libraries and in many other indoor places.Masks were already required in shops and on public transit, but more stringent measures were imposed to contain a surge in coronavirus infections in Britain after easing lockdown requirements.Travelers arriving in Germany from most non-European countries and regions within the European Union with high infection rates must now undergo testing for the coronavirus Travelers from high-risk areas were previously required to self-quarantine for 14 days or until they could produce a negative test.Australia recorded 404 new cases Sunday – 10 in New South Wales and 394 in Victoria.  Seventeen deaths were reported in Victoria.New Zealand reports it has experienced 100 days of zero community transmission of the coronavirus.  
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Nonprofit organizations and other outside groups that don’t disclose their donors are spending record amounts of money on the 2020 U.S. presidential and congressional races, signaling their growing influence in national politics.These so-called “dark money” groups so far have funneled at least $177 million to independent political action committees, known as super PACs, in the 2020 election cycle, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group that tracks money in politics.By comparison, those groups gave $178 million in the entire campaign cycle two years ago, according to the center. In addition, dark money groups this time have spent more than $19 million on direct political advertising, a figure that is likely to rise as campaigning picks up its pace in the coming months.Anna Massoglia, a researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics, said spending by super PACs and other outside groups that take money from unidentified sources is on track to set a new record in this two-year election cycle.“Dark money spending has continued to flow into the 2020 election cycle,” Massoglia said in an interview. “We’ve seen dark money influencing and impacting 2020 elections in a few different ways.”Super PACsProponents of political groups that are beneficiaries of contributions from unidentified donors, such as nonprofits and shell corporations, reject the “dark money” label used by their detractors.Regardless of what this practice is called, the prevalence of outside money exploded after a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that said the government could not restrict political spending by corporations and labor unions. That gave rise to the emergence of a new breed of political spending juggernauts – the super PACs.In the decade since the Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United, dark money groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have reported nearly $1 billion in direct spending on U.S. elections to the Federal Election Commission, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.While that’s a small fraction of the overall spending on U.S. elections, critics say it has enabled wealthy donors to influence the outcome of elections while keeping voters in the dark about their role.“This is a growing problem, and millions of dollars are going to be flowing into super PACs in the weeks ahead before Election Day,” said Michael Beckel, research director for Issue One, a Washington-based group that monitors the role of money in politics. “Some of that money could be coming from mysterious sources that the public has no idea who it is,” he told VOA.Conservative defenders of anonymous spending dismiss claims of nefarious intent and say that disclosing the names of individual donors could subject them to political intimidation and harassment.When organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Planned Parenthood give money to super PACs, they say, voters know that the funds come from their members and backers.“So the idea that this is something that the American people know nothing about and don’t know who’s trying to influence them, I think is often quite false,” said Bradley A. Smith, a former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission who now heads the Institute for Free Speech, a conservative group that opposes campaign finance restrictions.Veil of secrecyDark money groups don’t just give money to super PACs and other political organizations. Increasingly, they are funding so-called issue advocacy ads. While carefully avoiding terms such as “vote for” or “vote against” a candidate, these ads can nonetheless cast a candidate in a certain light, Massoglia said.“In doing so, they effectively operate as political ads without having to disclose to the FEC,” Massoglia said.The goal of transparency is at the heart of the U.S. campaign finance system, even if it often is not achieved. By law, all political organizations must disclose their donors to the Federal Election Commission to help voters make more informed decisions about which party or candidate to support. Super PACs are no exception.But examining a super PAC’s FEC disclosure filings won’t lift the veil of secrecy over the true source of their funds.Take, for example, Victory 2020, a new joint fundraising committee involving two super PACs working to elect Democrats this November. One is called American Bridge 21st Century and the other is the pro-Joe Biden group Unite the Country.Victory 2020’s FEC filing shows that $5.7 million out of the $5.9 million it has raised this election cycle came from a progressive outfit called the Sixteen Thirty Fund. But because the Sixteen Thirty Fund is registered as a social welfare organization whose primary purpose is not political, it is not required to disclose its donors. The group says it helps “nonprofit leaders and advocates confront a wide range of challenges,” from climate change to racial justice.This lack of transparency runs the political gamut. On the Republican side, the super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund received $9 million from the conservative American Action Network in June. Like the progressive Sixteen Thirty Fund, the American Action Network is registered as a social welfare organization not required to disclose its donors.On its website, the group says that its “goal is to put our center-right ideas into action by engaging the hearts and minds of the American people and spurring them into active participation in our democracy.”The role of shell companiesWhile nonprofit groups are the most common vehicle for funneling dark money into elections, wealthy donors also use shell companies to fund super PACs.In a recent report, Issue One identified a dozen such shell corporations. Among them: a New York-based company that gave $75,000 to a liberal super PAC in Texas. Issue One said it could not conclusively link the company to any one individual. Other shell companies were apparently formed for the sole purpose of making donations to super PACs.“We’re completely in the dark about where some of these shell companies got the funds,” Beckel of Issue One told VOA.This is a loophole that could be exploited by foreign actors seeking to meddle in U.S. elections, Beckel warned.“The threat is serious, and anyone across the political spectrum could be benefiting from secret money,” he added.In recent years, the Justice Department has charged several individuals accused of giving foreign money to pro-Obama and pro-Trump super PACs.“This is a problem that needs action now, and it is a glaring loophole in campaign finance law that is just waiting to be abused,” according to Beckel.Transparency advocates want Congress to beef up disclosure requirements. A bipartisan bill introduced on Capitol Hill called the Shell Company Abuse Act would make it a crime to set up a shell company with the intent of concealing foreign campaign donations.“Unless Congress puts more teeth in the law, we expect foreign actors to continue to try to abuse this loophole in the system,” Beckel said.
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Belarusians vote Sunday in a presidential election in which opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is challenging the five-term authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.Tikhanovskaya, 37, a stay-at-home mother, entered the race after the May arrest of her husband, opposition blogger and presidential hopeful Sergei Tikhanovsky, with the promise to free political prisoners and call new elections.Tikhanovsky, 41, was charged with attacking a police officer and organizing mass unrest. He has rejected the charges as provocations.Although Tikhanovskaya, a teacher of English and German by training, lacked political experience, she quickly emerged as the country’s top opposition figure and Lukashenko’s strongest challenger, with tens of thousands of Belarusians supporting her bid.Election officials registered Tikhanovskaya, likely considering her to have no chance of winning, while refusing to register two other potential presidential challengers — Valery Tsepkalo, a former diplomat, and Viktor Babary, an ex-banker, who is now in jail.Police in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, made 10 arrests Saturday evening as hundreds of opposition supporters drove through the center of the city waving flags and brandishing victory signs from vehicles.Lukashenko, who has been in power since Belarus declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, is running for a sixth term in office, while the country is experiencing an increase in opposition protests against his autocratic rule and economic difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 
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