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As major powers meet in Asia, the rest of the world is pressed to pick a side | CNN

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As major powers meet in Asia, the rest of the world is pressed to pick a side | CNN

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CNN
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World leaders are converging in Phnom Penh this weekend for the primary in a collection of worldwide summits in Southeast Asia over the approaching week, the place divisions between main powers and battle threaten to overshadow talks.

The primary cease is the Cambodian capital the place leaders from throughout the Indo-Pacific will meet alongside a summit of Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders, adopted subsequent week by a gathering of the Group of 20 (G20) leaders in Bali and of the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation discussion board in Bangkok.

The stacked diplomatic line-up will likely be a check of worldwide urge for food for coordination on points like local weather change, international inflation and rising meals costs on the again of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and financial restoration from the Covid-19 pandemic – and the primary time that each one three occasions are being held in particular person because the outbreak started in 2020.

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Sharp geopolitical divisions of the kind not seen in many years loom over this political calendar, because the struggle in Ukraine has radically reworked Russia’s relationship with the West, the highest two international economies US and China stay locked in intensifying competitors, and the remainder of the world is pressed to choose a aspect.

Whether or not Russian chief Vladimir Putin will make any look in the course of the stretch of diplomatic dates stays unsure. Each US President Joe Biden and Chinese language chief Xi Jinping are anticipated to attend two of the summits in Southeast Asia – a area that has lengthy been ground-zero for influence-jockeying between Beijing and Washington.

Xi is re-emerging on the world stage after years with out journey in the course of the pandemic, having secured a norm-breaking third time period in energy, whereas Biden heads east contemporary from a better-than-expected efficiency by his occasion within the US midterm elections. Each could be anticipated to pitch their nation as a stronger accomplice and extra accountable international actor than the opposite.

The 2 will meet face-to-face on Monday on the sidelines of the G20, their first in-person encounter since Biden’s election, the White Home mentioned on Thursday. Beijing on Friday confirmed Xi’s journey plans to the G20 and APEC summits, and mentioned he would maintain bilateral conferences with Biden and a number of other different leaders.

Talks between the 2 might assist to avert an escalation of tensions between the powers. However for the leaders assembly in the course of the string of summits in coming days, cinching sturdy agreements on tackling international points – already a tricky discount at one of the best of instances – will likely be a problem.

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Even probably the most regional of the conferences, the ASEAN summit of Southeast Asian leaders – which kicked off in Phnom Penh on Friday and is slated to handle strengthening regional stability in addition to international challenges – will replicate fractured world politics, specialists say.

However not like the weeks’ different main conferences, which can be extra squarely targeted on the fallout from struggle in Ukraine, ASEAN leaders are coming into the summit and associated conferences this weekend below stress to handle a spiraling battle inside their very own bloc: as Myanmar stays in turmoil and below army rule practically two years after a brutal coup ousted the democratically elected authorities.

Variations between Southeast Asian international locations on methods to deal with that battle, compounded by their criss-crossing allegiances with nice powers – and a reticence from the bloc to look to take sides between the US and China – will all influence how a lot the group can agree on and what it may possibly accomplish throughout the gamut of summits, specialists say.

“Usually this season could be very thrilling – you may have three main world summits in Southeast Asia – Phnom Penh, Bali and Bangkok,” mentioned Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Safety and Worldwide Research at Chulalongkorn College’s School of Political Science in Bangkok.

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“However (ASEAN) could be very a lot divided on Russian aggression, on the Myanmar coup disaster, on China’s belligerence within the South China Sea and so forth, and because of this ASEAN is in unhealthy form,” he mentioned.

At a United Nations vote final month, seven of the ten ASEAN international locations, together with the Myanmar consultant who just isn’t backed by the ruling army, voted to sentence Russia’s annexation of 4 areas of Ukraine, whereas Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam abstained.

However ASEAN as a bloc has additionally taken a step to tighten ties with Kyiv at this week’s occasions, signing an amity and cooperation treaty with Ukraine in a ceremony with Ukrainian Overseas Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Phnom Penh on Thursday.

The bloc goals to make use of consensus amongst its states as its power when it brings bigger world gamers to the desk, for instance in its adjoining East Asia Summit that brings collectively 18 Indo-Pacific international locations, together with Russia, China and the USA, and likewise meets this weekend.

“If ASEAN can’t get its home so as, if ASEAN can’t rein in a rogue member just like the Myanmar army regime, then ASEAN loses its relevance,” Pongsudhirak mentioned. “Alternatively, if ASEAN is united, if it may possibly muster dedication and resolve … it may possibly have a number of pulling energy.”

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Almost two years because the army coup crushed Myanmar’s fledgling democracy, rights teams and observers say freedoms and rights within the nation have deteriorated sharply; state executions have returned and the variety of documented violent assaults by the ruling army junta on civilian infrastructure, together with colleges, has surged.

Quite a few armed insurgent teams have emerged towards the ruling army junta, whereas thousands and thousands of individuals have resisted its rule via types of civil disobedience.

The weekend’s summits in Phnom Penh will pull the battle again into worldwide focus, as Southeast Asian leaders attempt to discover a path ahead, after Myanmar’s ruling junta did not implement a peace plan negotiated in April of final 12 months. The nation stays a part of ASEAN, regardless of calls from rights teams for its ejection, however has been barred from sending political-level representatives to key occasions.

Protestors setup and guard makeshift barricades to block the road during the demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar in March 2021.

ASEAN overseas ministers held a last-ditch try and hash out a method late final month, with Cambodian Overseas Minister Prak Sokhonn, who chaired the assembly, stressing in a press release afterwards that the challenges have been all the way down to “the complexity and problem of Myanmar’s decades-long protracted conflicts, which has been additional exacerbated by the present political disaster.”

However observers have low expectations for a more durable line, at the least whereas Cambodia chairs the bloc, and are already seeking to subsequent 12 months when Indonesia assumes management in 2023.

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Addressing the “ongoing disaster” will be a magnet for Biden in talks with Southeast Asian leaders as he attends ASEAN summits over the weekend, the White Home mentioned on Tuesday. For the reason that coup, the Biden administration has launched focused sanctions towards the army regime and holds conferences with the opposition Nationwide Unity Authorities.

China, however, has proven assist to the ruling army junta and could be unlikely to again robust motion, observers say. A months-long inquiry into the state of affairs in Myanmar launched by a global workforce of lawmakers final month accused Russia and China of “supplying each weapons and legitimacy to an in any other case remoted regime.”

That, too, might have an effect on outcomes this weekend, in keeping with political scientist Chong Ja Ian, an affiliate professor on the Nationwide College of Singapore.

“Due to Russian and (Chinese language) assist for the junta, any efforts towards an answer by ASEAN would require some type of engagement with them, whether or not that is to get buy-in and even simply non-opposition,” Chong mentioned.

The disaster in Myanmar just isn’t the one space the place US and China division might loom over the ASEAN summits, whilst points like China’s aggression within the South China Sea – the place Beijing asserts territorial claims that battle with these of a number of Southeast Asian international locations – could also be of lesser significance this 12 months.

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ASEAN will maintain its regular aspect summits with each the US and China respectively, in addition to different international locations, and China’s quantity two chief, the economy-focused Premier Li Keqiang arrived earlier this week as Xi’s consultant.

As Southeast Asian leaders search to shore up their financial stability, they’re more likely to increase the considerations concerning the influence of US-China competitors on the area, its commerce and provide chains, for instance within the wake of a US export ban on semi-conductors to China, in keeping with Chong.

“ASEAN states are going to try to discover some strategy to navigate all this, and will likely be seeking to each Beijing and Washington to see what kind of leeway they will present,” he mentioned.

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'Helping every dang soul': Beloved camp director was among those lost in Texas flooding

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'Helping every dang soul': Beloved camp director was among those lost in Texas flooding

Just after the summer session ended in late June, Heart O’ the Hills camper Sydney Sutton sent this photo to the camp’s director, Jane Ragsdale, who was killed in the July 4 flooding in Kerr County, Texas.

Erika Sutton


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Erika Sutton

Jane Ragsdale spent her summers by the Guadalupe, the very river that killed her a week ago today in the catastrophic July Fourth flood. Mention her name in Kerrville, Texas, this week, and folks tend to do two things: tear up and smile.

“I mean I can’t tell you how many people, acquaintances of mine say, ‘My dear, dear friend died.’ And then they said, ‘Did you know Jane Ragsdale?’ and I say, ‘Yeah, I did,’ ” said Karen Taylor, who lives in nearby Hunt, Texas. For her, Ragsdale was West Kerr County personified.

“Everybody’s friendly here, but she embodied that friendliness and generosity and love for others. I just can’t imagine life without her,” Taylor said.

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Ragsdale, who was in her late 60s, did a lot of things, but she’s best known as the owner and director of Heart O’ the Hills camp for girls. She was born into the business.

Jane Ragsdale ran the Heart O’ the Hills camp for girls in Kerr County, Texas. The camp was between sessions when the deluge hit. The only person killed there was Ragsdale.

Jane Ragsdale ran the Heart O’ the Hills camp for girls in Kerr County, Texas. The camp was between sessions when the deluge hit. The only person killed there was Ragsdale.

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Her family bought a boys’ camp, Camp Stewart in 1966, the year Ragsdale turned 9. They bought Heart O’ the Hills about a decade later. Ragsdale helped run it from the start. By 1988, she was in charge.

Unlike Camp Mystic, the girls camp where at least 27 perished when the deluge hit, Heart O’ the Hills was between sessions. The only person killed there was Ragsdale.

“I’ve never in my life met someone like Jane,” said Kathy Simmons, who was a good friend of Ragsdale’s.

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Simmons was at Heart O’ the Hills picking up her granddaughter just the week before the flood, on the last night the camp was open.

“We had a candlelight service on the river at 9 p.m., and it was so beautiful. There were prayers and there were songs,” Simmons said. “Jane always led the children in songs. And every one of those girls and those counselors absolutely idolized her.”

After Heart O' the Hills camper Sydney Sutton sent a photo of herself to Jane Ragsdale, the camp director wrote this letter back to Sydney.

After Heart O’ the Hills camper Sydney Sutton sent a photo of herself to Jane Ragsdale, the camp director wrote this letter back to Sydney.

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Erika Sutton

The summer camps on the Guadalupe River in Kerr County are institutions. Generations of girls and boys go through them, often forming life-long attachments. Simmons considered Ragsdale the heart and soul of her camp, both spiritual leader and educator.

“I mean, Jane taught these girls how to change a tire, how to ride a horse, how to swim, how to shoot a gun, archery, cooking. I mean, the necessities of life,” Simmons said.

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In the off-season, when she wasn’t running the camp, Ragsdale often traveled to Guatemala, where she volunteered as an interpreter and a project organizer. It was mission work she started doing when she was 19 and studying journalism. She was a badass. But she was also about the sweetest person in town.

“Jane was one of the most genuine, kind, honest people and very intelligent, very warm,” recalls Mindy Wendele, president and CEO of the Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce. “She had a smile that you knew Jane Ragsdale was smiling at you.”

Wendele grew up with Ragsdale, who she describes as a real go-getter: deeply involved in the Chamber of Commerce, a board member of the local liberal arts college, a class leader in high school.

“Anytime that we were out with Jane and her family at Heart O’ the Hills, we had just a fabulous time, just fabulous memories out there,” Wendele said.

Now, with some of the camps and almost all of the riverfront in ruins, Kerr County faces a monumental clean-up and rebuilding effort.

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Another reason to miss Jane Ragsdale.

“Oh, she would be out there volunteering. She would be out there clearing property,” Simmons said. “She would have her boots on, her gloves on, she would be helping every dang soul that needed to be helped.”

So the flood took one of Kerr County’s most capable citizens, but Ragsdale’s influence on the community and the girls who came through Heart O’ the Hills camp is going to last a long time.

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Video: Clashes After Immigration Raid at California Cannabis Farm

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Video: Clashes After Immigration Raid at California Cannabis Farm

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Clashes After Immigration Raid at California Cannabis Farm

Federal agents fired crowd control munitions at protesters who blocked a road outside of the farm. Some demonstrators threw objects at the agents’ vehicles.

Please make a path for emergency vehicles or chemical munitions will be deployed.

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Trump heads to Texas as recovery efforts from deadly flood continue

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Trump heads to Texas as recovery efforts from deadly flood continue

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will travel to Texas on Friday to meet with first responders and grieving families in the aftermath of last week’s catastrophic flooding that has left more than 100 people dead.

During his visit, Trump is expected to receive a briefing from local elected officials and meet with victims’ relatives. He will be joined by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn told reporters this week that they planned to travel with Trump to tour the flood damage. It is unclear whether state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a staunch ally of the administration who is challenging Cornyn in next year’s GOP primary, will join them.

Authorities continue to search miles of the Guadalupe River for more than 150 people who remain missing as hopes of finding more survivors dwindle. Among those confirmed or feared dead are 27 children and counselors at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp in Hunt.

Trump on Sunday signed a major disaster declaration for Texas to make federal funding available for hard-hit Kerr County, where nearly 77% of voters backed him in the 2024 election.

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The trip to Texas will be Trump’s second to the site of a natural disaster since he was inaugurated for his second term; he visited Los Angeles in January after a wildfire devastated large swaths of Southern California. During his first term, he made multiple trips to Texas in 2017 in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and its deadly floods. The same year, he traveled to Puerto Rico to survey damage caused by Hurricane Maria.

The Trump administration has faced criticism from officials and lawmakers at various levels of government who have argued that recent job cuts at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, alongside plans to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency, prevented accurate forecasting and worsened the effects of the floods. Administration officials have repeatedly rejected those assertions.

Trump has pledged to “get rid” of FEMA, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, and his administration has overseen a largely voluntary exodus of experienced personnel at the agency, fueling concerns about its ability to promptly respond to disasters. The concerns were heightened by a new policy from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem mandating her approval for any agency spending in excess of $100,000.

Asked by NBC News on Thursday whether the new policy delayed FEMA’s response to the tragedy in Texas, Trump defended Noem.

“We were right on time. We were there — in fact, she was the first one I saw on television,” Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in a phone call. “She was there right from the beginning.”

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Criticism of the disaster response has also focused on Kerr County’s emergency management system after reports indicated local officials did not use warnings from FEMA to send text alerts when the severity and speed of the flooding heightened, catching hundreds of people in a region known as “flash flood alley” by surprise. In addition, Kerr County, which has a population of more than 50,000 people, had no siren system to alert residents, in part because some local officials felt it was too expensive to install.

Trump called for additional flood alarms in Texas on Thursday, though he argued that the storm was unprecedented and that “nobody ever saw a thing like this coming.”

“After having seen this horrible event, I would imagine you’d put alarms up in some form, where alarms would go up if they see any large amounts of water or whatever it is,” he told NBC News.

Joe Herring, the mayor of Kerrville, told MSNBC’s Katy Tur this week that the state rejected an effort to install a siren system nearly a decade ago.

“The county government looked into that in 2017, and from what I heard, their grant application was denied,” Herring said. “I wasn’t in government at that time, but it sounds like we talked about it, we asked for help, and we were denied before.”

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