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Washington — Multiple Secret Service failures ahead of the July rally for former President Donald Trump where a gunman opened fire were "foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day," according to a bipartisan Senate investigation released Wednesday.  Similar to the agency's own internal investigation and an ongoing bipartisan House probe, the interim report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee found multiple failures on almost every level ahead of the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting, including in planning, communications, security and allocation of resources.  "The consequences of those failures were dire," said Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the Democratic chairman of the Homeland panel.  Investigators found that there was no clear chain of command among the Secret Service and other security agencies and no plan for coverage of the building where the shooter climbed up to fire the shots. Officials were operating on multiple, separate radio channels, leading to missed communications, and an inexperienced drone operator was stuck on a help line after his equipment wasn't working correctly.  Communications among security officials were a "multi-step game of telephone," Peters said.  The report found the Secret Service was notified about an individual on the roof of the building approximately two minutes before shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire, firing eight rounds in Trump's direction less than 150 yards from where the former president was speaking. Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, was struck in the ear by a bullet or a bullet fragment in the assassination attempt, one rallygoer was killed and two others were injured before the gunman was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.  Approximately 22 seconds before Crooks fired, the report found, a local officer sent a radio alert that there was an armed individual on the building. But that information was not relayed to key Secret Service personnel who were interviewed by Senate investigators.  The panel also interviewed a Secret Service counter-sniper who reported seeing officers with their guns drawn running toward the building where the shooter was perched, but the person said they did not think to notify anyone to get Trump off the stage.  The Senate report comes just days after the Secret Service released a five-page document summarizing the key conclusions of a yet-to-be finalized Secret Service report on what went wrong, and ahead of a Thursday hearing that will be held by a bipartisan House task force investigating the shooting. The House panel is also investigating a second assassination attempt on Trump earlier this month when Secret Service agents arrested a man with a rifle hiding on the golf course at Trump's Florida club.  Each investigation has found new details that reflect a massive breakdown in the former president's security, and lawmakers say there is much more they want to find out as they try to prevent it from happening again.  "This was the result of multiple human failures of the Secret Service," said Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the top Republican on the panel.  The senators recommended that the Secret Service better define roles and responsibilities before any protective event, including by designating a single individual in charge of approving all the security plans. Investigators found that many of the people in charge denied that they had responsibility for planning or security failures, and deflected blame.  Advance agents interviewed by the committee said "that planning and security decisions were made jointly, with no specific individual responsible for approval," the report said.  Communication with local authorities was also poor. Local law enforcement had raised concern two days earlier about security coverage of the building where the shooter perched, telling Secret Service agents during a walk through that they did not have the manpower to lock it down. Secret Service agents then gave investigators conflicting accounts about who was responsible for that security coverage, the report said.  The internal review released last week by the Secret Service also detailed multiple communications breakdowns, including an absence of clear guidance to local law enforcement and the failure to fix line-of-sight vulnerabilities at the rally grounds that left Trump open to sniper fire and "complacency" among some agents.  "This was a failure on the part of the United States Secret Service. It's important that we hold ourselves to account for the failures of July 13th and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this again," said Ronald Rowe Jr., the agency's acting director, after the report was released.  In addition to better defining responsibility for events, the senators recommended that the agency completely overhaul its communications operations at protective events and improve intelligence sharing. They also recommended that Congress evaluate whether more resources are needed.  Democrats and Republicans have disagreed on whether to give the Secret Service more money in the wake of its failures. A spending bill on track to pass before the end of the month includes an additional $231 million for the agency, but many Republicans have said that an internal overhaul is needed first.  "This is a management problem plain and simple," said Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the top Republican on the Homeland panel's investigations subcommittee. 

Athens — Greece and Turkey will explore whether they can start talks aimed at demarcating their maritime zones, Greece's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Neighbors Greece and Turkey, both NATO allies but historic foes, have been at odds for decades over a range of issues from airspace to maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean and ethnically split Cyprus. An agreement on where their maritime zones begin and end is important for determining rights over possible gas reserves and power infrastructure schemes. Tensions have eased in recent years and both countries agreed last year to reboot their relations, pledging to keep open channels of communication and work on the issues that have kept them apart. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday and discussed bilateral ties, according to statements from the Turkish presidency and the Greek foreign ministry. "The two leaders tasked the foreign ministers to explore whether conditions are favorable to initiate discussions on the demarcation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone," Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said. Foreign ministers from the two countries will start preparations for a high-level meeting to take place in Ankara in January, the Greek prime minister's office said.

Helsinki — Environmental activists sprayed red paint on Finland's parliament building on Wednesday to protest against the peat industry, sparking strong criticism from politicians. Activists from Extinction Rebellion Finland and Swedish organization Aterstall Vatmarker (Restore Wetlands) smeared several granite columns at the building's main entrance in red paint resembling blood. They told AFP they were protesting against the Finnish state-owned company Neova mining peat in Swedish wetlands. Peat extracted from wetlands is often used as an energy source or for farming purposes, emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide. In their natural state, peatlands store large amounts of carbon dioxide. "We have painted the columns with this easily washable paint to show that Finland is actively involved in accelerating the climate crisis," said Valpuri Nykanen, an activist from Extinction Rebellion Finland standing outside the building. "Finland is mining peat in Sweden, while we know that we must phase out oil, gas and all fossil fuels and peat is very fossil," added Lior Tell-Stefansson from Aterstall Vatmarker. Police arrived at the scene after 8:00 am (0500 GMT) and removed 10 protesters sitting on the stairs with signs in their hands. The incident was investigated as aggravated damage to property, the police said in a statement. Several Finnish politicians immediately condemned the act. Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat quoted Prime Minister Petteri Orpo as saying it was "completely incomprehensible and unacceptable vandalism." "Finland is a free democracy. We have the right to demonstrate and influence things, but we have civilized ways of doing it," Orpo said.

BANGKOK — Thailand's exports rose for a second straight month in August, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday as it maintained its forecast of 1% to 2% growth this year despite the baht strengthening to 30-month highs against the U.S. dollar. With demand picking up in key markets, further export growth was expected this year and it could even come in above forecast, although the baht's rise would impact Q4 shipments, said Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, head of the ministry's Trade Policy and Strategy Office. Exports, a key driver of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, rose 7% in August from a year earlier, and followed July's 15.2% rise, which was the fastest growth in 28 months. Economists in a Reuters poll had expected a rise of 5.8% Imports rose 8.9% in August from a year earlier, compared with a forecast rise of 7.30% in the poll. That led to a trade surplus of $0.26 billion in August, compared with a forecast deficit of $0.07 billion. In the first 8 months of 2024, exports rose 4.2% from a year earlier, while imports rose 5.2%, with the cumulative trade deficit at $6.35 billion. The baht has risen 4.6% since the beginning of the year, with large gains seen in the past month, to be the region's second-strongest performing currency after Malaysia's ringgit. "The stronger baht is impacting liquidity and profits, especially for agricultural goods," said Chaichan Chareonsuk, chairman of the Thai National Shippers' Council. "Some business could take a loss when negotiating new orders or not get orders," he said. The Finance Ministry and central bank are due to meet next week to discuss currency appreciation and inflation target. The Bank of Thailand said it was closely monitoring the currency and was ready to reduce volatility. For August, shipments to the United States rose 3% from a year earlier, while exports to China was up 6.7% but those to Japan were down 11.3%. Last month, rice exports rose 39.5% from a year earlier to 885,387 metric tons, and were up 46.6% in value terms to $562 million.

Taipei, Taiwan — China's central bank has released a series of economic stimulus plans, including cuts to mortgage interest rates and the required cash reserve ratio — the latter of which will allow commercial banks to inject $140 billion into the market — among other monetary policies aimed at reviving the housing market and stimulating economic growth.    Many Chinese internet users applauded this initiative, but few expressed immediate willingness to buy a house. Analysts said the policies are "too late and too few," since housing prices in China have fallen by half in some areas, leaving people wary of purchasing homes that could further decline in value. The heads of China's three major financial institutions — including Pan Gongsheng, the governor of the People's Bank of China; Li Yunze, the director of the National Financial Regulatory Administration; and Wu Qing, the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission — on Tuesday unveiled the country’s most powerful economic rescue effort since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pan said that soon, commercial banks will be advised to reduce the interest rate of existing mortgages by about 0.5 percentage points on average, and the minimum down payment ratio for second homes will be reduced from the current 25% to the same 15% as the first home. He said this policy is expected to benefit 50 million households and 150 million people by reducing the nation’s total interest bill by about 150 billion yuan, or $21.3 billion, annually. Pan said that depending on market conditions, the central bank may consider cutting the required cash reserve on commercial banks by another 0.25 to 0.5 percentage points before the year’s end. Most Chinese internet users lauded the mortgage rate cuts.  But no one answered affirmatively when a user under the name "Mushroom's Second Sister" in Zhejiang asked on Weibo, "Will everyone be more willing to buy a house?"  A Weibo user from Guangdong under the name "Chun Sheng Qi" said flatly, "No.” Another Weibo user in Zhejiang under the name "Little Lazy Pig Little Lin Lin" said, "Is there a possibility they cut the interest rate to entice you to buy homes, and then they will increase the interest rate after a few years? They have the final say on the interest rate increase and reduction anyway."   A real estate analyst in Taipei told VOA on the condition of anonymity due to the issue's sensitivity that the new policy may not help restore confidence for Chinese home-buyers, who will be less inclined to spend lifetime savings on properties amid China’s sluggish economy, which has been hard-hit in recent years by the pandemic, the U.S.-China trade war and the global economic recession. She said that while governments around the world have been easing monetary policies to stimulate post-pandemic economic recovery in the past two years, the Chinese government has not taken action, allowing the economy to deteriorate. It is "too late" to introduce the stimulus package, she said.   She added that China’s policymakers are still holding onto an old development model and counting on the property market to drive the economy. But China’s housing market is taking a hit from the country’s declining birthrate.  Young people who will inherit a house from elders will not invest in the housing market. Those whose families own no properties may not be able to afford one because of their financial obligations to support elders or children.   Francis Lun, CEO of Geo Securities in Hong Kong, said the policies are "too late and too few" but are better than nothing. He said that the People's Bank of China should have launched them a year ago, and the scale of 1 trillion yuan is not enough because developer Evergrande alone has $300 billion in debt.  Other Chinese real estate companies also sit on billions in debt, so Lun expects China’s central bank to ease the monetary policy again in coming months. Lun told VOA by phone that to advance structural reform, China should also “replace land sales with property tax revenue as local governments’ source of incomes… Or property prices won’t be stabilized, which will only worsen the local economy.” Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

New Delhi — Catapulted to power on an anti-corruption platform, Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, faces an uphill task in meeting his commitments to clean up the country’s political culture and improving lives for millions mired in poverty since the country’s economic collapse two years ago, say analysts. With his party having only three lawmakers in the 225-member parliament, Dissanayake has called for fresh elections a year ahead of schedule to choose a new house that could give him wider support for the sweeping reforms that he has promised. “Dissanayake’s hope would be to secure a comfortable majority in parliament,” according to Jayadeva Uyangoda, a political analyst in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, told VOA. “In the past, it was customary for mainstream parties to bribe opposition lawmakers to join them, but his main plank is clean governance, so he will need to win the numbers.” In a country that rejected mainstream parties in the presidential polls, there is what Uyangoda calls a “very good chance” that he will be able to substantially improve his party’s parliamentary tally. Elections will be held on Nov. 14. Currently, Dissanayake has the smallest cabinet in the country’s history as he lacks the numbers for a full-fledged cabinet. He has named a new prime minister, Harini Amarasuriya, and two ministers -- in Sri Lanka, only lawmakers can be appointed as ministers. Winning wider support will be crucial. “Otherwise attempts to deliver on his election promises can be blocked by knee-jerk opposition, due to differences in ideology or political opportunism,” Rajni Gamage, a research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, told VOA. Meeting expectations of relief from the punishing austerity measures imposed by a $ 2.9 billion bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund is the first big test Dissanayake faces. He will handle the key finance portfolio. His pledge to renegotiate Sri Lanka’s deal with the IMF – which he says is not favorable to working class citizens — will not be easy at a time when the country is still heavily debt-ridden and has limited room to expand welfare measures. The package has helped steer the economy back to a nascent growth path, but the government will need to stick to the program’s criteria of keeping the budget deficit in check. An IMF spokesman in Washington said on Monday that it looked forward to working with President Dissanayake “towards building on the hard-won gains that have helped put Sri Lanka on a path to economic recovery." While options for providing relief may be limited, analysts said Dissanayake is expected to reduce income taxes for lower income groups and lower taxes on food and medicine. There is also concern among the business community about the position the Marxist leader, the son of a laborer, will take on free market policies. The policies of his Marxist party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, are aligned with protectionism, according to Gamage. “Their party’s economic growth policy is woven around prioritizing industrialization and domestic manufacturing, supporting local businesses and agriculture.” However, Dissanayake now heads a coalition, the National People’s Power, an umbrella group of small political parties, youth, civil society and women’s groups and trade unions. In recent years he has also moderated his party’s hard-left stance and said he believes in an open economy. “The business class is uneasy because of the Marxist tradition to which he belongs. But my sense is that Dissanayake is a very pragmatic and rational man,” Jehan Perera, who heads the National Peace Council in Colombo, told VOA. “And the coalition the president heads is not a Marxist group.” Delivering on the clean governance he has promised could also face a pushback. “Corruption is very deep-seated in the system. It is endemic in society and goes from top to bottom, so rooting it out is very tough,” said Perera. “He will face strong vested interests to rebuild a system that has broken down. But on the positive side, he has the support of the people.” After taking the oath of office, Dissanayake sounded a note of caution amid the widespread optimism raised by his victory among millions of Sri Lankans, saying he is not a “magician” but an “ordinary citizen.” “There are things I know and don’t know. My aim is to gather those with the knowledge and skills to help lift this country," he said on Monday. The coming months will be crucial for a country that is navigating a vastly altered political landscape. “The management of the economic crisis and management of public expectations will be his biggest challenge, otherwise discontent will grow again,” said analyst Uyangoda. “Past leaders have all belonged to the political elite. This is the first time there is a president who belongs to the working class, so the hopes of the ordinary people are very, very high.”

MANILA, Philippines — Developing Asia is on track to grow 5% this year, supported by strong consumption and high demand for tech exports, the Asian Development Bank forecast on Wednesday, and said China was expected to roll out more economic support measures. In an update to its Asian Development Outlook report, the ADB left most growth projections for economies in the region unchanged from its July report, maintaining its growth outlook for developing Asia at 5.0% this year and 4.9% next year. It revised down its inflation forecasts for developing Asia, which groups 46 countries in the Asia-Pacific, to 2.8% for this year and 2.9% for next year from previous forecasts of 2.9% and 3.0%, respectively. The Manila-based lender highlighted some downside risks to its outlook, including rising protectionism, escalating geopolitical tensions, adverse weather conditions, and a deterioration in China's property market. China, the world's second-largest economy, is battling deflationary pressures, and struggling to lift growth despite a series of policy measures aimed at spurring domestic spending. On Tuesday, China's central bank announced broad monetary stimulus and property market support measures as authorities look to restore confidence in the economy. "Whether that will work remains to be seen because a lot of the structural problems in the property sector remain persistent," ADB Chief Economist Albert Park said at a briefing. "It may take more effort and work by their government" to alleviate concerns of consumers and investors, Park said, adding "more proactive government policy would be helpful." Park also said the ADB was not so concerned about deflation in China as it sees prices recovering. Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve kicked off its own easing cycle with a hefty half-percentage-point rate cut. "With the Fed's 50 basis point rate cut, central banks have more space to ease, and we expect more of them to do so," Park said. The ADB kept its 2024 growth forecast for China at 4.8%, below the government's official target of about 5%. Growth for 2025 is still forecast at 4.5%. "The PRC (People's Republic of China) growth forecast is retained despite the prolonged downturn in the property sector, on the assumption that further fiscal and monetary easing will help sustain the economy," Park said.