Month: April 2017

Thousands of Environmentalists to March in Washington

Posted on by SeeUS

Tens of thousands of environmental activists are expected to march in the U.S. capital city Saturday in an effort to draw support for climate-related causes.

The event, dubbed the People’s Climate March, is meant to coincide with President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, according to its organizers, who have condemned what they see as the administration’s lack of concern for environmental issues.

“The Trump administration’s policies are a catastrophe for our climate and communities, especially low-income and communities of color who are on the front lines of this crisis,” the People’s Climate Movement, a collection of about 50 liberal activist groups, said in a statement.

The group of partner organizations making up the event’s steering committee consists mainly of environmental groups, but also includes several trade unions, anti-war and minority advocacy groups, like the NAACP.

The presence of so many non-climate-related sponsoring organizations is reflected in the group’s “platform,” which lists issues the activists find important, but don’t feel are being adequately addressed by the Trump administration.

The platform blends the problems organizers say are created by climate change with economic and social justice issues, and calls for changes like increasing the national minimum wage to $15 an hour and fighting back against “the corporate trade-induced global race to the bottom.”

“This is a moment to bring the range of progressive social change movements together,” the group says on its website.

Protesters are expected to march from the U.S. Capitol building to the White House, where they will hold a rally. Dozens of “sister” marches are expected in cities across the country.

A similar event last weekend saw thousands of activists show up for the March for Science to protest what they claims are denials of science by the Trump administration.

 
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EU Votes Unanimously on Brexit Guidelines

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The European Union has voted unanimously to adopt guidelines to negotiate Britain’s exit from the bloc, the summit chairman said Saturday.

“Guidelines adopted unanimously. [The] EU-27’s firm and fair political mandate for the Brexit talks is ready,” said EU president Donald Tusk, who tweeted from the summit where EU leaders met in Brussels without British Prime Minister Theresa May.

The 27 leaders voted to approve the guidelines in less than 15 minutes.

Talks with Britain will begin shortly after its general elections on June 8.

These talks will focus on issues such as the welfare of EU citizens and families living in the UK, as well as the question of the country’s financial dues to the bloc, as the EU insists that the UK bear all financial responsibility for its withdrawal from the bloc — a bill that could be as high as $65 billion.

The relatively short summit was held exactly one month after May triggered two years of exit talks following a British referendum vote to leave the EU on June 23, 2016.

 
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Former Street Boy Jazzing Up Nairobi Streets with His Saxophone

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If you’ve been walking through downtown Nairobi lately, you may have seen Moses Odhiambo. The 29-year-old self-taught saxophonist has been drawing crowds and inspiring a love of music in young people who, like himself, are growing up on the streets.

Moses Odhiambo plays his saxophone amid the usual buzz of evening rush hour in Nairobi’s central business district.

 

He performs here every Tuesday and Thursday.

 

A small crowd gathers. Today marks one year since he started performing like this. But he is no stranger to the streets.

At 10 years old, he left home with his three brothers. Their mother couldn’t afford to feed them. Odhiambo spent several homeless years in the slums of Nairobi’s Kayole Soweto area. Through sponsorship programs, he was able to complete high school, where he played trumpet.

He showed a knack for music.   

“So the director called me and told me, before we get a professional teacher come and try teaching these students,” said Odhiambo. “So when I went there. I saw the saxophone and fell in love with it and I picked it up, taught myself from scratch up to where I am today”.

When he is not performing in the streets, Odhiamdo is teaching music in two public primary schools or giving private lessons. But the streets remain his source of inspiration.

“I could choose to be in the house and do my practice in the house but I saw that being not so productive for me so I wanted to go out and make a difference,” said Odhiambo. “Because of my background having been a street child, I thought of coming out into the streets and make a difference.”

After his performances, Odhiambo sets aside time to talk with street kids he meets.

“They can make a difference in life if indeed they pursue their passion,” he said.

Rafael Mwangi sings a song he composed. The 14-year-old has lived on the streets for over six years now.

He says “when I saw Moses play, it gave me so much hope. I felt it was time to also start singing… I started writing music and when I showed Mose my writings, he told me he could see my future.”

On Thursdays, Odhiambo is joined by another young musician, Steven Muthama, on the guitar.

 

Muthama says performing on the street creates a powerful connection.

“People just take time to come and listen,” said Muthama. “Tired people from work taking time to just stop in the street, not knowing you, just seeing you there, listening and appreciating, maybe dropping a shilling or two but just the time and the effort to stand there and listen is really amazing.”

 

Music has been Odhiambo’s ticket to a better life. He hopes to pass that opportunity on to the next generation.

 

 
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Missions Help Tell Dramatic History of Lone Star State

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San Antonio, Texas, is home to the greatest concentration of Catholic missions in North America, including The Alamo, the state’s first mission dating to 1718. The most visited historic landmark in Texas was also a fort and the site of a battle that played a pivotal role in the state’s dramatic history.

San Antonio Missions

In the 18th century, the government of Spain established Catholic missions in the American southwest, in an attempt to exert control and expand its influence in the region. The Spanish Crown looked upon the natives as potential subjects and saw the missions as a way to convert as many of them as possible to Catholicism.

But the native tribes in what is now east Texas showed little interest in what Spain had to offer. So in 1731, the missions there were relocated westward to the San Antonio River, where, according to the U.S. National Park Service, the hunter-gatherer tribes proved “more receptive” to the Spanish message. Upon entering a mission, tribal members were expected to give up their traditional life, accept a new religion and pledge loyalty to a distant and unseen king.

Most of the missions lasted as fully functional religious sites for six decades.

A perfect union

National parks traveler Mikah Meyer, who’s on a quest to visit all of the more than 400 sites within the U.S. National Park Service, described the relationship between the Spanish government and its Catholic priests as “a perfect marriage.”

“The Crown of Spain wanted to expand the territory and the Catholic priests wanted to help spread [Catholicism], so within that, it was kind of a magical partnership,” he said. “So these mission sites preserve a lot of that heritage.”

Today the National Park Service operates the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, which helps preserve four of the five missions — San José, Concepción, San Juan and Espada. They were added to the list of national parks in 1978 under then-President Jimmy Carter.  

Meyer traveled on the scenic Mission Hike and Bike Trail that follows the San Antonio River and links all five sites. “Each of these mission sites tells part of the story in a different way, depending on how much of the site has been preserved,” he remarked.

“The outlying walls and buildings showcase where the religious figures would have lived, where the students would have lived who were being taught by the missionaries, and a lot of what the daily life would have looked like for these early Spanish colonizers,” he added.

And what life must have been like for Native Americans under Spanish rule, he noted.

“Some people would say they stole their culture from them. Other people would say they provided a means for survival in a changing world that was no longer nomadic and that was becoming agricultural,” he said.

 

“What’s really incredible about these sites are how well intact and preserved the churches are,” he said. “Most at least have their chapel still maintained.” In fact, all four of the churches remain active parishes, which means services are held in them every week.

The heart of San Antonio

Mission San Antonio de Valero, more commonly known as The Alamo, was established by the Franciscans in 1718. It is not a unit of the National Park Service but owned by the state of Texas and is a National Historic Landmark. The 3-century-old compound was a mission from 1718-1793, a fort from 1803-1835 and a battlefield from 1835-1836.

Many consider The Alamo the most enduring symbol of independence in Texas.

Remember The Alamo!

The historic compound is best known as the site of a 1836 battle that marked a turning point in the state’s history. At the time, Texas was a province of Mexico, and colonists (primarily from the United States) grew resentful of increasingly centralized Mexican government. On October 2, 1835, they launched a revolution for independence.

On February 23 the next year, Mexican President Santa Anna’s army began a siege of the Alamo Mission and overran it 13 days later, killing all of the defenders — known at the time as Texians. Among the dead were well-known men such as garrison commander William Travis, American pioneer Jim Bowie and Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett.

The deadly siege motivated many Texians to join the Texian Army. They defeated the Mexican forces the following month at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution, and starting Texas’ decade-long status as an independent republic, until it joined the United States as the 28th state.

Mission accomplished

Today, the Alamo compound is the state’s most visited landmark — two centuries after Spain lost most of its influence throughout the Americas.

Meyer noted that considering the historic, life-altering events that took place at The Alamo compound, “it’s not that big of a building … but it’s impressive that it’s become such a well-known part of our culture.”

“It really seems like the town has embraced this part of their history and built a lot of their current day infrastructure around it,” he added.

All five missions were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites on July 5, 2015

As he prepared to depart Texas and head west, Meyer remarked how impressed he was by the Lone Star state’s vast landscape and diverse culture.

“It’s so huge that you got a very rich diversity of natural landscapes, and with that comes a rich diversity of history,” he said.

The national parks traveler invites you to join him as he continues his journey across the American southwest by visiting his website, Facebook and Instagram.

 
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Le Pen Takes Heat for Father; Macron Courts Rural Votes

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French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron’s party on Saturday called for the resignation of Marine Le Pen’s father from the National Front after comments he made about a ceremony for the policeman killed in an attack in Paris.

The policeman was shot dead and two others were wounded April 20, three days before the first round of the presidential election that saw Macron and Le Pen go through to the May 7 second round. The Islamic State militant group claimed the attack.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front (FN) party’s founder from whom his daughter has sought to distance herself because of his controversial views, criticized a speech made at the remembrance service by the policeman’s partner.

“The long speech he made in some way institutionalized homosexual marriage, exalted it in a public way, and that shocked me,” Le Pen senior, 88, said in an interview on his website.

“Marine Le Pen has still not firmly condemned these comments,” a statement released by Macron’s En Marche! (On the Move!) movement said Saturday.

“I am asking the candidate to put an end immediately to the duties Jean-Marie Le Pen still carries at the FN,” Benjamin Grivaux, Macron’s spokesman, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Jean-Marie Le Pen was expelled from the party’s management in 2015 after he said World War II Nazi gas chambers were a “detail” of history, but he remains an honorary president of the National Front.

Conservative to back Le Pen

Le Pen did receive some welcome news Saturday: Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, a conservative who was eliminated in the first round of voting, has decided to back her campaign.

 

Florian Philippot, a FN vice president, told BFM television Saturday that the new alliance is “excellent news” and “a turning point in this campaign.”

 

Dupont-Aignan got nearly 1.7 million votes in the April 23 first-round ballot, 4.7 percent of the total. But his switch to Le Pen split his party, “Stand up France,” prompting the departure of a vice president, Dominique Jamet. 

Macron courts rural votes

Macron is hunting for votes in rural areas of France where Le Pen has made inroads among people who feel left behind, with difficult access to public services, mobile phone connections and other modern conveniences.

 

In a radio interview Saturday, the centrist Macron said that if elected, his government would intervene directly if mobile operators fail within 18 months to install high-speed fiber optic and phone networks everywhere.

 

Later, at the farmers market in the central town of Poitiers, Macron defending the European Union and free trade with farmers complaining of low-price competition and the difficulty of getting loans to upgrade farming technology. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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South Africa’s Zuma Signs Anti-Money-Laundering Bill

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South African President Jacob Zuma has signed the anti-money laundering bill FICA, which allows increased scrutiny of the bank accounts of “prominent individuals,” including himself, into law, his office said Saturday.

The country risked being kicked out of global fraud monitor, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), if the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment (FICA) bill was not signed by June.

Fight against global financial crime

The bill, intended to bolster the fight against global financial crime by making it easier to identify the ultimate owners of companies and accounts, including those of “domestic prominent influential persons,” was passed by parliament in May.

But Zuma sent in it back to the legislature saying he was concerned about the legality of provisions allowing searches without warrants.

“The President is now satisfied that the Act addresses the constitutional concerns he had raised about warrantless searches,” said the statement from the presidency.

Gupta suspicions

Opposition parties and civil society groups speculated that the stance was related to a fight between the Treasury, which sponsored the legislation, and the Guptas, a family of businessmen close to Zuma.

In December, former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan asked the High Court to rule he was not allowed to interfere with decisions by South Africa’s major banks to close business accounts of Oakbay Investments, owned by brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta.

Gordhan, axed by Zuma as finance minister in March, said in court papers the Gupta family was waging an “organized campaign” to smear him and the Treasury. The Gupta family in turn accused Gordhan of leading a conspiracy to ruin their business interests.

The court has yet to rule on the matter.

Zuma has said he is close to the family but denies being under their influence.
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Monitors: Turkey Blocks Access to Wikipedia

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Turkish authorities Saturday blocked access to online encyclopedia Wikipedia, an internet monitoring group said, the latest in what government critics say is a crackdown on free speech on the internet.

A block on all language editions of the Wikipedia website was detected at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) Saturday, monitoring group Turkey Blocks said on its website.

“The loss of availability is consistent with internet filters used to censor content in the country,” it said.

When attempting to access the webpage using Turkish internet providers, users received a notice the site could not be reached and a “connection timed out” error. 

Social media 

Monitoring groups have accused Turkey of blocking access to social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook, particularly in the aftermath of militant attacks.

The government has in the past denied that it blocks the internet, blaming outages on spikes in usage after major events.

There is no official statement on why the site has been blocked but Turkish media is reporting the cause as “terror-related content.”

Media reports

 

Daily Hurriyet newspaper said Turkey has been in communication with Wikipedia for the removal of content supporting terror and presenting Turkey as a “supporter of terror.”

 

NTV reported that Turkey demanded Wikipedia to open an office in the country, act in line with international law and abide by court decisions and “not be part of the blackout operation against Turkey.”

 

If these demands are met and the content removed, the site would be reopened, according to Turkish media.

 

When attempting to access the site without the use of a virtual private network (VPN), connections time out and browsers alert “this site can’t be reached.”
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Climate Change Science Removed from EPA Website

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is updating its website to reflect the views of the Trump administration. The agency has removed several pages from the Obama administration explaining the science behind climate change.

The EPA said in a statement the website is “undergoing changes that reflect the agency’s new direction under President Donald Trump and Administrator Scott Pruitt.”

The statement was released late Friday, just hours before thousands of people descend Saturday on Washington’s National Mall for the People’s Climate March, where scientists and activists are expected to condemn the president for what they call his disdain for the dangers of climate change.

Trump has stated he does not believe the science behind climate change.

Until now, content from the Obama administration had been available on the agency’s site.

“As EPA renews its commitment to human health and clean air, land and water, our website needs to reflect the views of the leadership of the agency,” said J.P. Freire, associate administrator for EPA public affairs. “We want to eliminate confusion by removing outdated language first and making room to discuss how we’re protecting the environment and human health by partnering with states and working within the law.”

Last Saturday, science marches were staged around the world. With Trump in the White House and populist and eurosceptic movements gaining popularity in Europe, scientists say their budgets are being reduced and their work is being taken less seriously.

The vast majority of scientists who study the climate say the planet is unequivocally warming, and that it is extremely likely the change is predominantly caused by humans.
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US Will Not Rule Out Military Response to North Korea

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that Washington would not rule out a military response to future North Korean aggression and that it would seek to increase the rogue nation’s financial and international isolation. VOA’s Margaret Besheer has more from the United Nations, where the secretary chaired a meeting of the Security Council on the North Korean issue.
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Macedonian Politicians Turn Parliament Violence in War of Words

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Macedonia’s rival parties are trading blame for violence in parliament, while world powers are giving opposing reactions to the events.

The European Union and the United States condemned Thursday’s attack, in which protesters stormed the Macedonian parliament in Skopje, attacking opposition lawmakers after they elected an ethnic Albanian speaker.

Russia blamed the events on the West, saying it had meddled in the Balkan nation’s internal affairs.

Pointing fingers

In Macedonia, the previous night’s violence turned into a war of words between rival politicians on Friday.

Zoran Zaev, the head of the opposition Social Democrats, who were targeted in the attack, accused the attackers of attempted murder.

Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, whose supporters were among the mob that stormed the parliament, said he deplored the violence, but he accused the opposition of instigating it with an attempted power grab.

Interior Minister Agim Nuhiu announced his resignation Friday over the night’s events. He told reporters that 10 lawmakers and an unspecified number of journalists were among those hurt.

The interior ministry said 102 people were treated at city hospitals.

Speaker election

The violence began Thursday after lawmakers from the Social Democrats and ethnic Albanian parties elected former Defense Minister Talat Xhaferi speaker, even though the country has no functioning government.

Demonstrators stormed the parliament and began throwing chairs and attacking opposition lawmakers.

Demonstrators blocked the door of the chamber, refusing to let lawmakers leave as demonstrators waved flags in lawmakers’ faces and shouted “traitors.” Police outside the building fired stun grenades to break up the crowd.

 

 

Zaev’s Social Democrats and the ethnic Albanians would have enough seats to form a coalition government, but President Gjorge Ivanov has refused to give him a mandate.

The conservatives won December’s parliamentary election, but without enough seats to form a government. Coalition talks with other parties collapsed over ethnic Albanian demands to make Albanian an official language.

International reaction

The United States condemned Thursday’s violence “in the strongest terms.” In a statement posted on its State Department website, the U.S. Embassy in Skopje said the violence “is not consistent with democracy and is not an acceptable way to resolve differences.”

The U.S. called on all parties to “refrain from violent actions which exacerbate the situation.”

The European Union also condemned Thursday’s violence. 

“I condemn the attacks on MPs in Skopje in the strongest terms. Violence has no place in parliament,” enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said. “Democracy must run its course.”

However, Russia blamed the events on the West, saying the Macedonian opposition had “foreign patrons.”

A Foreign Ministry statement said Xhaferi’s election was an “unceremonious manipulation of the will of citizens” and said EU and U.S. representatives were quick to recognize the speaker, indicating the vote was planned in advance.

The United Nations said in a statement by the U.N. secretary-general’s spokesman that it is “following developments unfolding in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia with great concern and call for restraint and calm. Violence directed at democratic institutions and elected representatives of the people is unacceptable.”

Macedonia has a Slavic majority, but about a third of the population is ethnic Albanian. The Balkan country aspires to join the European Union and NATO.
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Iraqi Officials: Car Bomb Kills at Least 3, Wounds 8

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A car bomb at a police station in central Baghdad killed four people and wounded eight late Friday night, according to Iraqi police and hospital officials.

Saad Mann, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry and Baghdad Operations Command, told the Associated Press the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber and that only three were killed in the blast. He said all those killed were policemen. He did not offer any information as to the number of injured.

The differing accounts could not be immediately reconciled.

The explosion targeted an entrance to the traffic police station in Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood. Moments after the attack, the burning shell of a car could be seen sending up a plume of thick black smoke as police fired into the air to disperse a small crowd.

Hospital and police officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

 

The attack came as Iraqi forces struggled to push back Islamic State group militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the last pocket of significant urban territory the group holds in Iraq.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but IS has carried out similar attacks targeting Iraqi security forces in the past. Iraqi and coalition officials have warned that as IS loses ground in Iraq the group will increasingly return to its insurgent roots.

Last July, a massive truck bombing in the same Baghdad neighborhood killed more than 300 people on a busy street lined with shopping malls. The attack was the deadliest single bombing in Baghdad since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
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French National Front Has Third Leader in One Week

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France’s far-right National Front, the party of presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, has replaced its leader for the second time in three days.

Jean-Francois Jalkh, who was named interim president of the party on Tuesday after Le Pen stepped down, was forced to vacate the office in response to allegations he praised a Holocaust denier. He also expressed doubts about the reality of Nazi gas chambers, which killed millions of Jews during World War II.

Jalkh is being replaced by Steeve Briois. Each has served as one of the party’s five vice presidents.

Another party vice president, Louis Aliot — Marine Le Pen’s partner — told reporters that Briois would take over the interim leadership and “there’ll be no more talk about it.”

It is a blow to the campaign of Le Pen, who had a better-than-expected showing in French elections on Sunday and faces a runoff with centrist rival Emmanuel Macron on May 7.

Le Pen raised controversy earlier in the campaign by saying France was not responsible for the roundup and demise of thousands of Parisian Jews during World War II.

Ironically, she expelled her father, party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, from the party in 2015 because he referred to the Holocaust as a “detail of history.”

Macron is expected to win the May 7 runoff, but experts say an unexpected voter turnout could rock the results to one side or the other.
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Somali Lawmaker Narrowly Escapes Roadside Blast

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A member of Somalia’s parliament escaped unharmed Friday after a roadside explosion targeted his vehicle in Mogadishu, officials said.

Abdifatah Omar Halane, a spokesman for Mogadishu’s mayor, told VOA that the explosion targeted Mohamud Abukate, a member of the lower house of the parliament. Two soldiers who were riding with him and a civilian bystander were wounded in the explosion, he said.

Security officials said the MP was on his way to the residence of another MP in the Taleh area of Hodan district in Mogadishu.

Somali intelligence officials said this week that they had received information al-Shabab terrorists might be planning to attack high-profile targets, including installations and senior government officials.

Al-Shabab has been carrying out a series of attacks against both government and civilian buildings in Mogadishu and other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International is urging Somali authorities in Puntland to halt plans to execute two boys sentenced to death by a military tribunal in February for their alleged role in the assassination of senior regional officials.

Amnesty said the boys, Muhamed Yasin Abdi, 17, and Daud Saied Sahal, 15, could be put to death “at any moment.” The group said five other boys between the ages of 14 and 17 had been executed by Puntland earlier this month.

“These five boys were executed following a fundamentally flawed process during which they were tortured to confess, denied access to a lawyer and additional protections accorded to juveniles, and tried in a military tribunal,” said Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

Kagan added that the “lives of the remaining two boys must be spared.”

Amnesty said the death penalty is “cruel” and urged Puntland to halt the executions and retry the boys in a juvenile civilian court without turning to capital punishment.
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Trump Signs Order Opening Arctic for Oil Drilling

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President Donald Trump is re-opening for oil exploration areas that President Barack Obama had closed, a move that environmental groups have promised to fight.

In an executive order Friday, the president reversed the Obama administration’s decision to prohibit oil and gas drilling in the Arctic waters off Alaska.

The order also instructs the Interior Department to review current restrictions on energy development in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. In addition, it bars the creation or expansion of marine sanctuaries and orders a review of all areas protected within the last 10 years.

Trump cites advantages

The White House says 90 billion barrels of oil and 327 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are buried off the U.S. coastline, but 94 percent of the area is off limits.

“Renewed offshore energy production will reduce the cost of energy, create countless new jobs and make America more secure and far more energy independent,” Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House.

The action is the latest from the Trump administration aimed at boosting domestic energy production and loosening environmental regulations.

In his first 100 days, Trump has relaxed coal mine pollution rules and ordered a review of vehicle efficiency standards and power plant greenhouse gas rules. His administration has stopped defending Obama-era pollution regulations challenged in court.

The energy industry has cheered the moves. Environmental groups have promised strong opposition.

Fragile ecosystems

Conservationists have long opposed oil drilling in the Arctic. A spill would devastate the region’s fragile ecosystems, they say, while extreme conditions raise the risks of a spill and make cleanup harder.

Fishing and tourism on the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico would suffer from an accident, too, environmentalists note.

“By his actions today, President Trump has sent a clear message that he prioritizes the oil and gas industry over the needs of working Americans in our coastal communities who depend on healthy fishing and tourism economies for their livelihoods,” Environmental Defense Fund Vice President Elizabeth Thompson said in a statement.

Reviewing and rewriting the current offshore drilling plans are expected to take several years. Environmental groups plan legal challenges to the changes.

 
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MSF Evacuates International Staff in South Sudan’s Upper Nile

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Doctors Without Borders said it has evacuated international staff from two towns in South Sudan because of intense fighting between the army and rebel groups.

The medical aid group, known by its French acronym MSF, said Thursday it removed foreign staff from the towns of Aburoc and Kodok, in the former Upper Nile state.

MSF’s country head of mission, Marcus Bachman, told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus that domestic staff will maintain essential medical services in the area as long they remain safe.

Renewed fighting broke out between opposition forces and the South Sudan Army in and around Kodok on Tuesday. Bachman said his team is treating gunshot victims as well as vulnerable women and children suffering from diarrheal waterborne diseases, pneumonia, and respiratory infections.

 

 

 

Bachman said some 25,000 new South Sudanese families arrived at a displaced persons’ camp in Aburoc this week, seeking shelter from the latest fighting.

“The population we are serving is fleeing … out of fear of being targeted in the conflict,” he said. “This is what the population is telling us, the fear of being targeted. They also share with us accounts where either family members or neighbors have been targeted in the conflict.”

MSF said Aburoc can only be reached by air because of unpaved or poorly maintained roads. In February, aid agencies stepped up air drops of relief items to the area, but fighting has interrupted some of those deliveries.

Colonel Santo Domic, deputy spokesman for the government’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), said the army launched attacks on rebel bases around Kodok this week and accused the rebels of denying residents access to the Nile River.

He said the army “liberated” Kodok and the town of Galacel on Wednesday.

Brigadier General William Gathjiath, spokesman for the rebel SPLA-In-Opposition, said government forces captured one of their bases, but denied Kodok and Galacel are now under government control.

“They have not even flushed our forces out of the town,” he said. “So if they are claiming that they have already captured the town, that’s not true.”

The head of the United Nations mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), David Shearer, said the conflict in South Sudan can only be resolved through peaceful means.

He also said the decision by leaders from the East Africa region and South Africa to keep out rebel leader Riek Machar out of South Sudan could bring stability to South Sudan.

“The feeling very much within the region is that his role, in terms of bringing him back, wouldn’t necessarily be positive at this stage,” said Shearer. “So that’s the decision of regional governments and South Africa.”

At the same time, he said President Salva Kiir’s national dialogue should include rebels loyal to Machar.
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Russia Cracks Down on Opposition Ahead of Planned Protest

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A Russian opposition movement founded by exiled Kremlin critic and oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky says it plans to go ahead with protests against President Vladimir Putin in 32 cities this weekend, despite the fact that authorities have banned the movement and declared it illegal, and police have raided its Moscow offices.

The Open Russia movement’s spokeswoman, Maria Galitskaya, said the action will be held as planned.

“We insist we do not breach the law since we do not conduct either a meeting, or a demonstration or a picket,” she said.  “We are carrying letters to the president’s reception (office), since someone does not hear us when we do that individually.”

The protests planned for Saturday afternoon will involve submitting letters of complaint to President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Russia.  

“It is difficult to forecast what will be going on at the action,” said Galitskaya.  “We hope we shall submit the letters and quietly leave. We do not plan any law violations from our side.”

“Open Russia” closed?

Russian authorities have not simply warned Open Russia not to conduct any activities, but have blacklisted the group.  

The Russian prosecutor general’s office Wednesday declared Open Russia and two other groups founded by Khodorkovsky to be “undesirable” organizations.  The three organizations are the U.K.-registered Open Russia, the U.S.-based Institute of Modern Russia, and the social movement Open Russia.  

The “undesirable” designation bans them from operating inside Russia, with any violation punishable by fines and jail time.  

Galitskaya spoke to VOA on Friday, just a day after police raided the group’s Moscow office.

“One started breaking open the doors of the rooms and desk drawers, though there was nothing illegitimate in the office,” she said.  “It is difficult to talk about the real reasons of the search but we connect that with tomorrow’s action and think that this is an effort at intimidation.”

The ban is the latest in a longstanding crackdown on civil society, said Amnesty International Russia Director Sergei Nikitin.

“These aren’t the first organizations banned in Russia as ‘undesirable’, but it’s the first time the authorities ban a civil society group that was founded by Russians and operates only in Russia,” he said. “Since its creation, Open Russia has done a lot to support victims of human rights violations in Russia and denounce Russia’s deplorable human rights record, and now itself has fallen victim to the system.”

Khodorkovsky was Russia’s wealthiest man and close to the Kremlin before his outspoken criticism of corruption raised tensions between him and President Putin.  He was sentenced to a decade in prison on fraud charges that were widely seen as politically motivated and the state stripped his Yukos oil company assets over alleged tax evasion and embezzlement.  

Khodorkovsky was pardoned and released from prison in December 2013 and left Russia. In exile, he became even more critical of President Putin and supportive of Kremlin opponents through Open Russia.

A Moscow court on Friday rejected Open Russia’s complaint against city authorities, who had offered an alternative location for its protest, citing public renovation work.  

The prosecutor’s office said the lack of agreement meant any protest would be unauthorized and anyone taking part could be arrested.  

Electioneering?  

Russian authorities have been tightening controls as the country heads toward 2018 presidential elections.  

The crackdown shows they plan to continue repressing political opposition to the Kremlin, says Andrei Kolesnikov, the Carnegie Moscow Center’s head of domestic politics and institutions.  

“The authorities have got two lines of behavior in regard to the opposition – propaganda efforts and repressions,” he said.  “And they provide this line step by step, expressing their readiness to continue this line.”

Russia enacted the law against undesirable organizations two years ago and has used it to ban seven international groups, including The National Endowment for Democracy, the Open Society Foundation, and the International Republican Institute.

Russia has also tightened laws and regulations to discourage public protests in an effort to prevent displays of opposition to the Kremlin from getting out of control or attracting too much attention.

Opposition leader attacked, again

Also Thursday, Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny was attacked for a second time this year with a green antiseptic liquid known as zelyonka, which was thrown in his face outside his Moscow office.  He was treated in hospital for damage to one eye.   

In mid-March, Navalny was attacked with the green chemical in a Siberian city by a man who pretended to want to shake his hand.  

Russian authorities are trying to shame and scare Navalny, says Kolesnikov.  

“They all try to do something with him – to detain him, etc.,” he said. “I think he is in great danger.”

Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation organized Russia’s largest unauthorized mass protests in years on March 26.  The demonstrations against alleged self-enrichment by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were broken up by riot police, who arrested hundreds of protesters, many of them minors.   

Navalny, who in 2012 led the biggest anti-Kremlin protests since Putin came to power, plans to run for president in 2018.  Russia’s politicized courts seem intent on stopping him.  In February, he was convicted, on flimsy evidence, of embezzlement. That conviction will disqualify him from running for office if not overturned.   

Throwing the green-staining, noxious zelyonka at critics is an increasingly common tactic of Kremlin supporters.  

This week, unknown assailants threw the antiseptic on investigative journalist Galina Sidorova in the city of Yoshkar-Ola.  A day earlier, Russian blogger Ilya Varlamov was attacked with zelyonka, eggs and flour at Stavropol airport.  

In late February, Putin critic and former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov was spattered with green paint at a memorial march for slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.  Nemtsov was shot in the back and killed two years ago on a bridge just meters from the Kremlin and Red Square.  

On Friday, the Russian opposition political party Yabloko (Apple) said one of its campaigners, Natalia Fedorova, was “almost blinded” after a chemical substance was thrown in her eyes by unknown attackers.  She was also hospitalized.  

 
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Number of US Visas to Citizens of Trump Travel Ban Nations Drops

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States issued about 40 percent fewer temporary visas in March to citizens of seven countries covered by President Donald Trump’s temporary travel bans than it did in an average month last year, according to a Reuters analysis of preliminary government data released on Thursday.

At the same time, the data showed that the total of U.S. non-immigrant visas issued to people from all countries was up by nearly 5 percent in March compared to the 2016 monthly average.

Citizens of the seven Muslim-majority nations under the bans – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – received about 3,200 non-immigrant visas in March 2017, compared to about 5,700 on average per month during the 2016 fiscal year and more than 6,000 on average per month in 2015 and 2014.

Trump’s travel bans were later blocked by the courts.

The State Department released the data to comply with a directive from Trump asking it to publish monthly breakdowns of the number of visas issued around the world.

The department did not release data on the total number of all types of visa applications, so it is unclear whether the lower number of temporary visas for citizens of the seven countries is because of a higher rate of rejections or other

factors, such as fewer applicants or slower processing times.

A State Department official noted that “visa demand is cyclical, not uniform throughout the year, and affected by various factors at the local and international level. Visa issuance numbers tend to increase during peak travel seasons, such as during the summer and the winter holidays.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

March is neither a busy nor slow time for temporary visa issuances to people from the seven countries, several immigration lawyers said. Therefore, the significant drops are notable, they said.

The data is preliminary and numbers could be subject to minor revision, the State Department said.

Previously, such data was only available in aggregate by fiscal year, and the department declined to break out March visa data from previous years.

Nevertheless, some immigration attorneys said the numbers released on Thursday provide a glimpse into how Trump’s policies are affecting visa decisions.

“Either there are many fewer people applying because they believe they will be denied, or a much higher rate of denials is already happening even though the executive orders have been blocked,” said William Stock, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Executive Orders

Trump, who has said the travel bans were intended to make Americans safer from attacks by terrorists, signed an executive order on Jan. 27 barring people from the seven countries from entering the United States for 90 days.

The order was blocked by federal courts and the Trump administration replaced it with a revised, narrower travel ban effective March 16 which dropped Iraq from the list. Courts have also halted parts of the second order.

The number of non-immigrant visas issued to Iranians dropped to 1,572 in March from 2,450 per month on average in 2016 according to the data. Iraqis received 684 such visas in March, compared to nearly twice that number per month on average in 2016, the data showed.

Iranians also received fewer immigrant visas, which are granted to family members of U.S. citizens or those with jobs in the United States, than the average in previous years – 393 received immigrant visas in March, compared to 644 on average per month in 2016 and nearly 600 on average per month in 2015 and 2014.

Although visitor visas were down across the board for the seven targeted countries, two of them saw the number of immigrant visas issued tick up slightly. Forty-one Libyans received immigrant visas in March, compared to 32 per month on average in 2016. Somalians received 171 visas in March compared to 150 on average in 2016.

Immigration lawyers said that although the travel bans have been halted by courts for now, the administration’s vow to put stricter controls on immigration is likely to have changed how U.S. consulates evaluate visa applicants.

Stephen Pattison, a former State Department consular official now working as an immigration attorney, said consulates “are going to probably err more on the side of denying some people that they’d be on the fence about.”

Anecdotally, several U.S.-based lawyers with Iranian clients say their visa applications are taking longer to process and are being rejected more often since Trump took office on Jan. 20.

They cite shortages of interview appointments for Iranians, interviews cancelled at the last minute and longer “administrative processing” periods than they are accustomed to.

“If you can’t get an interview, you can’t get a visa,” said Babak Yousefzadeh, a San Francisco-based attorney and member of the board of directors of the Iranian American Bar Association.

Some Iranians have decided that for now, it is not worth it to risk the expense and time of making U.S. visa applications, said Kiyanoush Razaghi, a Maryland-based immigration attorney.

In addition to paying a standard $160 visa application fee, Iranians must typically travel to Turkey, Armenia or the United Arab Emirates for their interviews, since there is no U.S. diplomatic presence in Iran.

“That’s a fundamental change that I am seeing, at least in the community and among the clients that I have,” Razaghi said.

“They have a general feeling that now is not a good time to apply for a visa.”

 
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Los Angeles Looks Back on 1992 Riots

Posted on by SeeUS

Saturday, April 29 will mark the anniversary of the outbreak of riots in Los Angeles, sparked by the acquittal of white police officers accused of beating a black motorist, Rodney King.  Mike O’Sullivan spoke to police and community members about the state of race relations, 25 years later.
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Trump Delivers National Rifle Association Keynote Address Amid Protests

Posted on by SeeUS

As U.S. President Donald Trump delivered the keynote address Friday at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in downtown Atlanta, scores of gun control advocates are planning to demonstrate across town against the nation’s most powerful gun lobby group.

Trump, who supported tougher gun restrictions before he entered the political arena, became the first president to address the NRA’s annual convention since Ronald Reagan in 1983.

WATCH: President’s speech in Atlanta

Gun control advocates face a reinvigorated NRA, which spent more than $30 million to help Trump win the presidency.

After Trump’s surprising victory last November, NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre said it was time to “defeat the forces that have aligned against our freedom once and for all.”

Support for gun rights

President Trump has already taken action in support of gun rights proponents. He signed a bill that reversed a rule implemented by President Barack Obama that would have required the federal government to provide information about mentally ill people undergoing background checks for gun purchases.

Still, the NRA has a busy legislative agenda. It is pushing for a federal “concealed-carry reciprocity” law that would validate nationwide any state’s concealed-carry permits. The gun lobby group also aims to eliminate gun-free zones at schools and relax state requirements for background checks.

Gun control advocates maintain validating state permits throughout the U.S. would effectively turn the weakest state standards into national law.

Gun control proponents admit achieving legislative gains on a national level are unlikely. But they cite victories in the states where laws have been enacted requiring universal background checks and tighter access to guns for domestic abusers.

Atlanta protests

Two of the groups planning to demonstrate in Atlanta are Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense of America, which was formed after the 2012 shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in the northeastern town of Newtown, Connecticut.

Moms Demand Action co-founder Shannon Watts said in a statement to VOA that a top priority for gun control groups is defeating the concealed-carry reciprocity initiative.

“That’s why Moms Demand Action volunteers and gun violence survivors are in Atlanta this weekend, and it’s why we’ll continue to show up in D.C. (the District of Columbia) and in statehouses and boardrooms across the country until our nation’s lawmakers put the safety of our families and communities above the profits of the gun lobby,” Watts said.

 
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Court Grants Trump Request to Hold Climate Regulations Case

Posted on by SeeUS

A U.S. appeals court on Friday granted a Trump administration request to put on hold a legal challenge by industry and a group of states to former President Barack Obama’s regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants, rules that the Republican president is moving to undo.

A 10-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the request to put the litigation involving the regulations known as the Clean Power Plan in abeyance for at least 60 days while the administration plans its next steps.
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Congo’s Ethnic Violence Displaces More Than 1M People

Posted on by SeeAF

The United Nations has issued a flash appeal of $64.5 million to provide emergency assistance over the next six months to hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s southern Kasai, Lomami and Sankuru provinces.

The United Nations reports that more than 1 million people have been forcibly displaced since violence erupted in August, when government soldiers killed a local tribal leader in Kasai province. Over the past eight months, the violence between militia and government forces has intensified and expanded to Lomami and Sankuru provinces.

Spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, said children are at extreme risk and in need protection. He said  many women have been raped and need medical care and psychological counseling.

“The violence behind the displacement has already led to civilian deaths in the hundreds and human rights violations, including the discovery of mass graves, and severely disrupted people’s livelihoods and education of thousands of children,” he said. “It has also exacerbated the risks of malnutrition and epidemics in a region already known for high malnutrition rates and a weak health system.”

Laerke said the flash appeal is on top of the regular $750-million humanitarian response plan for the DRC. He told VOA the additional money is urgently required to deal with the humanitarian needs, which he described as astronomical.

“To have 1 million displaced is really a lot of people,” he said, “We know that affects every aspect of life, including the ability for families to access food and to obtain the nutrition for the children that they need. So, it is indeed a very acute concern.”

Laerke said the crisis is worsening pre-existing tensions between communities and ethnic groups, and it also has driven tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in neighboring Angola.
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11 Dead of Mystery Illness in Liberia as Ebola Is Ruled Out

Posted on by SeeAF

United Nations officials say at least 11 people have died from a mysterious illness in Liberia, and tests have been negative for the Ebola virus.

The World Health Organization said Friday that authorities are looking into whether the people were sickened by something they ate or were exposed to a chemical or bacteria.

Five others remain hospitalized in Sinoe County, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) outside the capital, after complaining of abdominal pains. Two are critically ill.

The cases over the past week have evoked painful memories in Liberia, where more than 4,800 people died during the Ebola epidemic.

Those who fell sick this week all had attended a relative’s funeral. That was how many Ebola victims contracted the disease when they came in contact with victims’ corpses.
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Russian Prosecutors Seek 3½ Years for ‘Pokemon Go’ Blogger

Posted on by SeeEU

Russian prosecutors requested a 3½ year prison sentence Friday for a blogger charged with inciting religious hatred for playing “Pokemon Go” in a church.

Prosecutors made the request as the trial of Ruslan Sokolovsky, 22, wrapped up in the city of Yekaterinburg. A judge said a verdict in the case would be issued May 11.

Sokolovsky posted a video on his blog showing him playing the smartphone game in a church built on the supposed spot where the last Russian tsar and his family were killed. He has been in detention since October.

He is charged with inciting religious hatred. It is the same offense that sent two women from the Pussy Riot punk collective to prison for two years in 2012.

“Honestly, I’m really in shock that the state prosecutors asked for 3 ½ years,” particularly because it wasn’t a violent offense, Sokolovsky was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

He said he is studying and working and could lose everything, if he is sent to prison.

The state RIA Novosti news agency quoted his lawyer, Alexei Bushmakov, saying he hoped for acquittal or a suspended sentence.
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Pope Visits Cairo During Tumultuous Times for Egypt’s Christians

Posted on by SeeAF

Pope Francis is making a two-day visit to Egypt intended to strengthen inter-faith efforts in a region boiling with religious turmoil. Security was tight surrounding the visit Friday, but some locals say they are still nervous after Islamic State attacks on churches in recent weeks. VOA’s Heather Murdock has more from Cairo.
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