Month: May 2017

Egypt IS Leader Vows to Escalate Attacks on Christians

Posted on by SeeEA

The leader of the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt has vowed to escalate attacks against Christians, urging Muslims to steer clear of Christian gatherings and western embassies as they are targets of their group’s militants.

“Targeting the churches is part of our war on infidels,” the unidentified leader said in a lengthy interview published by the group’s al-Nabaa newsletter on Thursday. He also called on Muslims who don’t join jihadists to carry out lone wolf attacks across Egypt, and complained that a large number of Egyptians were antagonistic to his group’s call and mission.

The group claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings that struck two of the country’s Coptic Christian churches last month, killing more than 45 worshippers and prompting the president to declare a three-month state of emergency.
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Suicide Blasts Kill 5 in Nigeria

Posted on by SeeAF

At least five people were killed by a pair of female suicide bombers in northeast Nigeria, authorities said Friday.

Borno state police said two women detonated bombs strapped to themselves Thursday night in the Konduga area, “killing themselves and five others.”

“Six persons sustained various degrees of injuries,” police spokesman Murtala Ibrahim added in a statement about the attack.

Terrorist group Boko Haram has increasingly used girls and young women to carry out attacks in marketplaces and checkpoints.

Over the past seven years, Boko Haram violence has displaced more than two million people and killed at least 20,000, according to the United Nations.

The militant group has recently stepped up attacks after a lull that lasted months due to a leadership struggle.

Since Boko Haram first took up arms against the Nigerian government in 2009, trade routes and farming activity have been disrupted.
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Lighter Turnout Seen for Algerian Parliamentary Election; Ruling Party Reigns

Posted on by SeeEA

Voter turnout in parliamentary elections across Algeria appeared to be lighter than the government had hoped, although 38 percent of eligible voters reportedly cast their ballots, according to interior ministry figures. Participation was down from 43 percent in the previous parliamentary election in 2012, as some younger voters appeared to heed calls on social media to boycott the election.

Algerians in some parts of the country appeared to vote in larger numbers than in others. Despite the regional disparities, though, Interior Minister Noureddine Bedoui proclaimed the election a success, emphasizing the governing Front de Liberation Nationale party won the largest number of seats.

The FLN party won 164 seats, while the runner-up Tagama Party — with which it is allied — won 97, according to Bedoui. The next two largest parties, he adds, won 33 and 28 seats, respectively. He also says a large number of female candidates won seats in this year’s election.

Ripples of discontent, however, were evident on social media.

A number of videos on social media urging voters to boycott the election appeared to resonate with some younger voters, amid anger over high youth unemployment rates and accusations of corruption against the FLN party.

Older voters appeared to be more enthusiastic about voting, amid concerns for stability. Algerians worry about civil war and chaos in neighboring countries, and hope to avoid a similar fate. The country suffered its own bloody civil war during the 1990s, in which thousands of people died. President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika is widely credited for having brought an end to that civil war, and many worry about the fate of the country when he dies.

Algerian TV showed the ailing president, who suffered a stroke several years ago and remains wheelchair-bound, casting his ballot Thursday. Lingering concerns over Bouteflika’s health prompted many voters to cast their ballots amid hopes of staving off potential instability.

Female supporters of the government ululated to express support during a final campaign rally, in which Prime Minister Abdel Malek Selal defended his government’s record and claimed that the country is “doing well.”

Louisa Hanoune, who heads the socialist Parti des Travailleurs, disagrees with the prime minister, however, and claims many people are not satisfied with the government’s performance.

She says it is a citizen’s right to abstain from voting, because their decision to do so reflects anger and a rejection of the ruling parties, including what she calls their policies of marginalizing various parts of society.

Low oil and gas prices have put pressure on the government to cut back on spending, which has negatively affected young people and the less privileged portions of society.

Former Commerce Minister Amara Benyounes, who now heads the Mouvement Populaire Algerienne party, told journalists he understands why some Algerians are angry with the government, but said they need to channel their anger in a constructive way.

He says Algerians have the right to express their opinion, either by voting or by boycotting the election, but he doesn’t see any solution to the country’s problems outside the electoral process.

Despite claims of electoral fraud on social media, one election observer from the Arab League told journalists that voting took place under optimal conditions.

Algerian TV showed government helicopters flying in the skies of the capital Algiers as part of security measures to prevent violence during the election. It also showed police stopping vehicles to check on their owners’ identities in areas around polling stations.
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‘Last Men in Aleppo’ a Testimonial on Crimes Against Humanity

Posted on by SeeEA

In Aleppo, Syria, even as Bashar al-Assad’s regime destroys the city and its inhabitants with barrel bombs and airstrikes, many civilians risk their lives to rescue the injured and pull the dead from the rubble. Since 2013, these volunteers from all walks of life have created the Syrian Civil Defense, known to the world as The White Helmets. 

In his documentary, Last Men in Aleppo, Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad delivers an unprecedented testimonial of their sacrifices and love for their besieged city. While bombs explode all around, White Helmets set off in their makeshift van, siren on, speeding to the latest site of destruction.

Khaled is the main character, and though by no means the only hero, one gets attached to his stoic persona. Khaled is calm, a rock of strength to his community, a loving father to his two lively children. 

We follow his gaze as he looks to the sky, eyeing the approaching bombers. Sometimes, they are Assad’s, other times, they are Russian. The locals can tell them apart easily. Every sighting portends new attacks and death. 

After the bombs drop

In the middle of a city in ruins, Khaled is one of the last men left in Aleppo to drag the injured and the dying from under tons of concrete.

They dig with shovels, with their hands, with everything they’ve got. One of the most emotionally draining scenes is the gentle pulling of an infant from under the debris. The White Helmets drag the child out, head first, through a sharp jagged hole of a collapsed building. The baby is bleeding and powdered with dust, but he’s alive. 

Other children are not that lucky. The camera focuses steadily as they are dragged out, while people scream, sob and rush to cradle the small, limp bodies.

Sundance award

Filmmaker Feras Fayyad won one of the top awards at the Sundance Film Festival for Last Men in Aleppo. But he does not take full credit. The recording of these scenes was the work of a group of cinematographers, The Aleppo Media Center, who followed the White Helmets day and night under relentless bombings. 

Fayyad said he wanted to call attention to the crimes against humanity committed in the city. He also wanted to show the world that these civilians who face death every day and live their lives in constant fear are no different than the rest of us.

“There are markets, houses with families, people who fight for common values,” he said. “No one is acting and the Syrians feel despondent. People did not choose this life. These people did not join ISIS. These people try to live,” he said.

Last Men in Aleppo focuses on those Syrians who chose to stay. Like Khaled.

He is very aware of the dangers his wife and children face daily. But he doesn’t want to run. He tells his friend Abu Yousef, another White Helmet, that refugees are treated inhumanely and fears that if he sends his kids away they could face a dire fate without him, and that he might never see them again. 

“This is my city. I was born and raised here. Should I leave it to some stranger? I will not leave,” he said.

Fayyad’s documentary is an indictment of crimes against humanity. But it is also about compassion and resilience. In the middle of destruction, people still find joy among friends and family.

Targeting civilians 

“This was one of the reasons that motivated me to make the story, the killings of civilians,” Fayyad said. “I started with the idea that the war brings out the worst in humans but also brings the best in humans.”

Fayyad started filming the siege of Aleppo in 2013. He said he was arrested and imprisoned twice and had to leave the city. He could not return because, “a huge number of people were being killed then by Russian bombings.” 

After that, he employed the help of others, such as The Aleppo Media Center, video journalists and citizen journalists, who under his instructions would pick up a camera and document life and death in Aleppo. Nowadays, he lives in exile. He would face death should he return to Syria.

“I have the feeling of anger for the Russians, of course. I have the feeling of anger for the regime killing the Syrians every day. Now I’m sitting here in the studio and there are bombings in places next to my family that is still living in Syria and I could lose my family any time,” he said. 

When asked if he was surprised by reports that Assad had gassed his own people, he said, “not at all.”

The film may be hard to watch but it must be watched. And though painful, it is also uplifting, depicting the altruism that cannot be smothered. 

While Last Men in Aleppo focuses on those Syrians who choose to stay in their war-torn country, it also helps us empathize with those who leave. During the filming of this documentary, Khaled, like countless others, was killed saving his neighbors.
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Putin Supports Plan to Investigate Reported Abuse of Gays

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Russia’s human rights ombudsman he will speak with law enforcement officials about the reported torture of gay men in Chechnya.

 

Tatyana Moskalkova asked Putin on Friday to support her request to form a group in Moscow to investigate the treatment of gays in the southern Russian region.

 

Putin agreed to her proposal for investigating what he called “the well-known information, or rumors” about what is happening to people “with a non-traditional sexual orientation.”

 

The abuse was first reported in April by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which said about 100 suspected gay men were rounded up and tortured, and at least three were killed.

 

Putin’s comments reflect how Russian officials have played down the report. Moskalkova earlier said she doubted such abuse took place.

 
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US Service Member Killed in Somalia

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A U.S. service member has been killed during an operation against al-Shabab militants in Somalia

The U.S. military said Friday that the service member was killed near Barii, Somalia, approximately 40 miles west of Mogadishu.

The statement from the military’s Africa Command said U.S. forces were conducting an advise and assist mission alongside members of the Somali National Army.

A small number of U.S. military personnel are stationed in Somalia to help the Somali government combat al-Shabab.  The group is an affiliate of al-Qaida and has tried for a decade to topple the government and turn Somalia into a strict Islamic state.

 

 
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Russia: No US Coalition Jets Allowed in Syrian De-Escalation Zones

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Russia says the proposed “de-escalation” zones in Syria will be closed to aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition.

Alexander Lavrentyev, Russia’s envoy to the peace talks in Kazakhstan, said Friday in remarks covered by Russian media that “the operation of aviation in the de-escalation zones, especially of the forces of the international coalition, is absolutely not envisaged, either with notification or without,” he said. “This question is closed.”

Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed to a Moscow-proposed deal Thursday to establish the so-called “de-escalation” zones in Syria to try to end the six-year conflict.

Representatives of the three Syria cease-fire guarantor nations signed a memorandum to that effect at the end of the latest round of peace talks in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

The proposal calls for taking measures to reduce fighting in four designated areas of Syria where rebels not associated with Islamic State terrorists control significant territory.

 

Progress on peace?

Despite what appears to be progress after four rounds of talks in Astana, there remains a great deal of skepticism about whether such a deal can be implemented.

No details were released on how the three countries, which support different sides in the conflict, would attempt to end the violence. And while the Syrian government voiced its support for the agreement, neither Damascus nor the Syrian rebels signed any deal.

Members of the Syrian opposition delegation in Astana walked out of the meeting Thursday shouting their dissatisfaction with Iran being part of the talks. The head of the opposition delegation, Mohammed Alloush, did not attend the second day of talks.

The rebel delegation suspended its participation Wednesday over ongoing airstrikes, but members returned to the table for the final day of talks.

While Russia and Iran support the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey backs the rebels.

 

Turkey – Russia agree on Syria

But during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s joint news briefing with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi Wednesday, Erdogan concentrated on condemning terrorism rather than Assad’s government.

Despite an earlier fallout over Syria, Putin declared a returning to normal cooperation with Turkey and expressed confidence they could set up “de-escalation” zones.

But analysts say there is much yet to be negotiated on Syria and remaining differences between Turkey and Russia.

The United States and some Arab countries back rebel groups that want to overthrow Assad. The U.S. sent its highest level official yet to observe the talks in Astana – Acting Assistant Secretary of State Stuart Jones.

The Kremlin’s plan is similar to calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for “safe zones” in Syria, and Putin said Trump seemed to support the idea when the leaders talked Tuesday by phone.

More details, concerns and objections are expected to be aired in the coming weeks.

Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said the next round of expanded Syria talks in Geneva is set for late May while the next Russia, Turkey and Iran-brokered Astana meeting is set for mid-July.
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EU Official in Rwanda Predicts Kagame Election Victory

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A European Union official in Rwanda says President Paul Kagame is likely headed toward re-election, and says he doubts the EU will send monitors to observe the vote.

Michael Ryan, head of the EU delegation to Rwanda, spoke to journalists in Kigali Thursday, a day after a 35-year-old woman whose father was killed under unclear circumstances said she would challenge Kagame in the August election.

“I think you would not lose any money if you bet on Mr. Paul Kagame,” Ryan said in response to a question posed by VOA’s Central Africa Service.

“We have a leader who has evidence of his work in front of everybody. And you have candidates who have to prove [themselves]. They are untested and they have to prove,” he said.

Kagame has effectively ruled Rwanda for 23 years and is widely credited for stabilizing the country after the 1994 genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 people.

Critics say Kagame’s rule is autocratic and intolerant of opposition. They are outnumbered, however, and some observers think Kagame’s popularity is the reason the EU is not sending election monitors to Rwanda this year.

Ryan maintained Thursday that the decision is mainly a financial one. “It is a very expensive exercise,” he said, adding that there are fewer reasons to be in Rwanda than in other countries where elections could be more controversial.

Challenger announces candidacy

Diane Rwigara announced Wednesday that she would challenge Kagame, becoming the first female to announce her candidacy.

She is the daughter of a prominent businessman who was killed when his car was rammed by a truck. The Rwanda National Police called it an an accident but his family believes it was foul play and has appealed to Kagame to investigate.

“Other Rwandans face similar problems, not just my family alone and therefore I have to end their misery,” Rwigara said.

She said she knows how it feels to be a victim.

“Having dissenting views shouldn’t be a crime,” she said.

There are two other declared presidential candidates, one from Rwanda’s tiny opposition party and another independent.

Election process

In order to be allowed to run, the candidates must gather 600 signatures, including at least 12 from all of Rwanda’s 30 voting districts.

Once they make the ballot, candidates will have only three weeks to campaign.

Ryan says the EU told Rwanda’s election body that the rules are limiting to presidential challengers.

“Having to register only a few weeks before, having three weeks to campaign and if you are an independent having virtually no opportunity to raise money and to show yourself to the people… It’s that environment in which I suspect the outcome will be fairly predictable.”

 
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Controversy Over Former Black Cemetery Uncovers History of Forgotten Community 

Posted on by SeeUS

In 1950 Harvey Matthews remembers playing with friends in a cemetery across the street from their family farm outside Washington, D.C. 

“I was a kid, I played in it. So now where did the bodies go? Can you tell me where did the remains go? No one has answered that question for me yet” he said.

For decades stories about the black cemetery were mostly forgotten. 

In the1960s, construction of a high-rise and parking lot in Bethesda, Maryland, was thought to have covered over part of the burial ground. Matthews says the workers bulldozed over African American remains, while wiping away a century-old community founded by free slaves after the Civil War.

“My dad had a farm area, we had horses, chickens, and hunting dogs that my dad trained for white people who lived around the area. My dad trained the dogs for them and pretty much that’s how we lived.” the 73-year-old Matthews said.

Now known as the Westbard neighborhood in Bethesda, it’s filled with shopping centers and high-priced homes. Plans for a multimillion-dollar development project have been put on hold pending an archaeological investigation to determine if the project is being built on top of the historically significant cemetery.

History of a forgotten community

River Road was a popular trail, its history dating back to the Seneca Indian Trail. The rural land was owned by white plantation farmers. But by the end of the Civil War, land ownership changed.

“After the Civil War, several freed black slaves, [who] were probably from relatively close to that area, they started buying land and they appeared in the census decade after decade and built a whole community, which lasted about 100 years,” said Amy Rispin, local historian of the Little Falls Watershed Alliance (LFWA).

“By the turn of the [20th] century, the next generation was growing up and that’s where you start seeing vibrancy as well as new people entering in, and also businesses,” said Paige Whitley, another local historian of LFWA. “This is a time period of transportation bringing goods in, transportation setting up jobs, people there were taking advantage of those jobs.”

Developers, in the 1950s, began to buy parcels of land in the community. 

“The developers started to build shopping centers, started to build additional residences in the area, and therefore started to purchase the land that was then still in the ownership of the African-Americans that were there,” said David Kathan, local historian of LFWA.

By the early 1960s, all of the African-American families had left River Road and the area transformed from a residential to a commercial area.

Hope for the future

The last-standing building of the former African-American neighborhood is the Macedonia Baptist Church. Its congregation and others in the community want a museum built nearby that details the history of the black community that once thrived here.

“Our main goal, and our No. 1 priority, is to get a museum built so we can show whoever, where [or] how far they come [from], they can go into this museum and learn the history of River Road that once was.” Matthews said.

“I named it, as, it’s like a lost colony that once was and now is gone. You see it, and now you don’t, that’s how it turned out to be. We’re struggling, we’re fighting the fight. We might lose a little, a few battles along the way, but our main goal is to win the war,” he added.
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Ethiopian Girls Become Heroes of Their Own Story

Posted on by SeeAF

Three young Ethiopian girls use their superpowers to stop harmful practices against girls in rural areas and to promote access to school. That is the story behind “Tibeb Girls,” a new animated series developed in Ethiopia.

“Tibeb Girls” is the first animated cartoon in which Ethiopian girls play not only the lead characters, but are also portrayed as superheroes. “Tibeb” means wisdom in Amharic.

“For me, it was very important to have girls who look like me and who look like my child to be on the screen playing very good role models,” said Bruktawit Tigabu, who created “Tibeb Girls.”

The animated cartoon breaks taboos by discussing things such as menstruation and, in the first episode, the lead characters save a girl from child marriage.

Bruktawit screens the show at schools and events around Ethiopia.

“Most of the issues we are raising are not well discussed in the community or in school or in the house,” she said. “So that is another inspiration to really break the taboo and give them a very entertaining, but also engaging way to talk about very serious subjects.”

The animated series is produced in Addis Ababa with a team of voice actors, artists and writers.

Representing and empowering girls is a big responsibility. Therefore the writers, such as Mahlet Haileyesus, put a lot of preparation into an episode.

“We try to include everybody, like the relevant stakeholders, government bureaus, specific target groups,” said Mahlet Haileyesus, one of the show’s writers. “And then once the synopsis is developed, we do prototyping, which means we go to the field and test it.”

“Tibeb Girls” is also published as a comic strip that Meaza Takele reads to her young children each night before they go to bed.

“When I ask my children why they love the cartoon, they say it’s because now they have a cartoon that is Ethiopian and where their own language is spoken,” she said.

Creator Bruktawit hopes to raise funds to further develop the TV show, as she tries to sell the first season to broadcasters in Ethiopia and other African countries where young girls face the same issues.
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Amid Speculation of China Tilt, US Reaffirms Ties with Myanmar

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A senior State Department official said the United States continues to enjoy a very good relationship with Myanmar, amid speculation that the country is tilting toward China and even though de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi skipped a chance to meet Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington this week.

Tillerson hosted foreign ministers from the region Thursday, a gathering meant to reinforce the strategic partnership between the United States and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to the State Department.

In a call with reporters in the region, W. Patrick Murphy, the deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, dismissed suggestions that Suu Kyi’s absence was anything other than a scheduling conflict.

“I want to emphasize that the United States and Myanmar, Burma, enjoy a very good relationship,” Murphy said. The U.S. still calls the country Burma, which the military government changed to Myanmar in 1989.

Letter to Tillerson

Murphy said Suu Kyi’s national security adviser represented Myanmar and that he delivered a letter to Tillerson from Suu Kyi, though he did not elaborate on what the letter said.

“He came with an explanation that State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi unfortunately had a previous commitment to international travel. She’s been in Europe this week. And that commitment was made before the meeting with the foreign ministers in Washington was arranged.”

Barred from the presidency by a military-drafted constitution, Suu Kyi assumed the role of foreign minister and state counselor when her party came to power last year following democratic elections that ended more than two decades of military rule.

She had a close relationship with the Obama administration, which lavished attention upon Southeast Asia in general and Burma specifically, dropping remaining sanctions against the country.

President Donald Trump’s administration has made efforts of late to reach out to ASEAN leaders. In addition to the Tillerson meeting, Trump issued separate invitations to Thai leader Prayuth Chan-ocha and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to the White House, raising protests from human rights advocates.

Prayuth has presided over an increasingly draconian Thailand, while Duterte unleashed a war on drugs that has killed thousands.

Beyond human rights abuse?

Those invitations, combined with the lack of attention paid toward Myanmar and Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, have created the impression that the administration is willing to look past human rights abuses while also suggesting a lack of vision for the region. 

The meeting Thursday was dominated by talk about disputed parts of the South China Sea and North Korea. Tillerson reportedly urged member states to distance themselves from Pyongyang.

“Contrary to the clarity and pro-activity of the Obama administration policies toward Southeast Asia (TPP, human rights, etc.), Trump’s policies toward ASEAN, and indeed toward Myanmar, have been bogged down in ambiguity, slow transfer of presidential power, State Department budget cuts and Trump’s publicly spouted prioritization of ‘America First,’” Paul Chambers, a lecturer at the College of ASEAN Community Studies in Thailand, said in an email.

“It is small wonder that Myanmar seems to currently be tilting toward China. Why not? Beijing is eagerly offering huge amounts of investment and ODA [Official Development Assistance] while the Trump administration appears lost in interpreting its own foreign policy.”

Myanmar and China

Myanmar recently inked an agreement to send oil to China via a pipeline, while China has been a factor in peace talks with ethnic armed groups.

Last month, a Chinese official told the Reuters news agency the government could help mediate a dispute between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have crossed into Bangladesh fleeing a deadly crackdown by Myanmar’s military as it seeks to rout a militant group responsible for attacks on border guard posts in October that killed nine police officers.

Earlier this week, however, a senior official with Myanmar’s ministry of foreign affairs told Reuters that “we don’t promote relations with any country at the expense of another.”
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France Prepares for Sunday’s Ballot Box ‘Revolution’

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For the first time in recent history, French voters Sunday will cast ballots in a presidential election with no candidates from traditional establishment parties. Their choice: Emmanuel Macron, a centrist from the left who is pro-business and pro-Europe, and Marine Le Pen, a nationalist who wants France out of the European Union and an end to most immigration, especially from Muslim countries. VOA Europe Correspondent Luis Ramirez reports from Paris.
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Former US President Obama Endorses France’s Macron 

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Three days before French voters elect the next president of their country, front-runner Emmanuel Macron received support from former U.S. president Barack Obama.

In a video message posted Thursday on Macron’s Twitter account, Obama said he was endorsing the centrist candidate “because of how important this election is.’’

“I have admired the campaign that Emmanuel Macron has run. He has stood up for liberal values,” Obama said. “He put forward the vision for the important role that France plays in Europe and around the world. And he has committed to a better future for French people.’’

Obama ended his message in French with the words “En Marche,” the name of Macron’s political movement, and “Vive La France.’’ Obama remains popular in France.

U.S. President Donald Trump has praised Macron’s opponent, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, although he has not explicitly endorsed her.

“She’s the strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France,’’ Trump said in an April 21 interview with The Associated Press. “Whoever is the toughest on radical Islamic terrorism, and whoever is the toughest at the borders, will do well in the election,’’ Trump said.

Obama has mostly stayed in the background in American politics since Trump moved into the White House.
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Ethiopian Girls Get Their Own Superheroes

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Three young Ethiopian girls use their superpowers to stop harmful practices against girls in rural areas and to promote access to school. That is the story behind the Tibeb Girls, a new animated series developed in Ethiopia. Marthe van der Wolf has the story for VOA from Addis Ababa.
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Analyst: Trump Tax Plan Benefits Skew Toward the Wealthy

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Small-business owners are applauding President Donald Trump’s plan to overhaul the tax system, saying lower taxes for everyone means more buying power for consumers and more money for businesses to hire workers. But can the White House plan simplify the nation’s cumbersome tax code fairly? And how would lower- and middle-income Americans fare? Mil Arcega spoke to tax analysts to find out.
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Trump Smoothes Relations With Australian PM at WWII Battle Anniversary

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U.S. President Donald Trump met with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in an effort to smooth relations that started off rocky after a dispute over immigrants. The meeting took place Thursday before a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea. In that World War II battle, the United States and Australia together fought the Japanese navy in the Pacific Ocean. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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State Department Recognizes 10 Youths as Emerging Young Leaders

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Each year, the Emerging Young Leaders Award program at the State Department recognizes 10 young people, ages 18-25, from around the world for their courage in resolving conflict, promoting security and creating economic opportunity in challenging environments.

Mark Taplin, acting assistant secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs, said older people often complain about millennials being self-absorbed, but he added that does not apply to these 10.

“Our honorees are climbing mountains that other 20-somethings would typically not do. They’re ascending to new heights through courage and conviction that few would aspire to reach, and especially at their age,” Taplin said.

Victim to changemaker

Some of the winners come from dangerous and difficult places, such as Moises Salazar Vila of Callao, Peru, who developed a mobile app to fight crime. He told VOA he went from being a victim of crime to a changemaker.

“Several times I have very bad experience with criminals,” Salazar Vila said. “So when I was working when I was young, I realized that maybe I can do something against this kind of problem.”

He said at first he tried to learn about computer programming languages and platforms on the internet, but he was stymied by “economical problems.” So he attempted to teach himself and “discovered my way and find out how to develop this kind of applications, in this case, Reach, for crime, but I also have another project.”

Salazar Vila said he ended up doing this on his own, but “I feel like I must do it. It was a big thing. But I feel like if I have a chance to do something against this, I must do it.”​

​Positive change

Amel Mohandi helped children with cancer and created a web TV program for youth. She told VOA she is honored to represent Algeria.

“My inspiration for doing my project is to make a positive change in my community and make young people in communication,” Mohandi said. “So in the future I hope that my web TV becomes a platform for different organizations. That we can talk about sensitive and different humanitarian causes like refugees, children, women, and young people because I believe that young people are the future of Algeria.”

Asked about what she thinks the situation will be like for girls and women in Afghanistan 10 years from now, Gharsanay IbnulAmeen told VOA she is very optimistic.

“We are giving leadership workshops to girls age 14-19 that [as] women, they find their potential and then this project is a path or a way for them to see their capabilities, to build upon those skills, to make the changes possible, to dream big, to take actions, to be the policy makers, be the leaders,” IbnulAmeen said.

Despite formidable challenges, the young winners envision a bright future, with youth on every continent leading the way.

The winners are:

Naomi Bugre of Malta. Bugre, an activist since age 16, is a law student and involved in issues including minority and human rights, and the rights of children and refugees, in Malta and across Europe.
Chamathya Fernando of Sri Lanka. Fernando’s efforts involve the causes behind gender-based violence. She also focuses on youth issues, including education, skills development, reproductive health and rights, and combating racial discrimination and extremism.
IbnulAmeen of Afghanistan. IbulAmeen organized the Afghan Girls Leadership Program and co-founded the Global Youth Development Initiative, which connects students and professional and peer mentors from across the world. Currently, she is a law student at the American University in Afghanistan.
Raj Kumar of Pakistan. Kumar became an active member of the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network following his participation in the State Department-sponsored Global Undergraduate Exchange Program in 2013. He secured grants totaling $10,000 for projects focusing on countering violent extremist voices.
Quyên Lưu of Vietnam. Quyên uses social media and creative arts to engage Vietnamese youth on key issues, such as raising awareness among Vietnamese youth about the government budgeting process and calling for greater transparency.
Mohandi of Algeria. Mohandi is active in protecting and promoting children’s rights, and founded a volunteer group to help children suffering from cancer.
Jahongir Olimov of Tajikistan. Jahongir works to fight violent extremism and radicalization in his conservative Rasht Valley region by implementing projects in the most vulnerable regions of Tajikistan reaching thousands of youth. He focused educational activities on the basics of the ideologies that lead to violent extremism, radicalism and terrorism.
Noé Petitjean of Belgium. Petitjean founded Our Shared Difference, an intercultural and interfaith project gathering youth from different cultural backgrounds to address the challenges of refugee integration in Europe.
Salazar Vila of Peru. Salazar Vila was born in the province of Callao, where the provincial government has declared a state of emergency more than five times because of high levels of crime. He created a mobile app called Reach that allows users to report criminal activity in real-time.
Hanna Tams of Jerusalem. Tams has been involved in youth engagement since 2012, when he established the Douban Dance Company in Jerusalem. Through his dance company, Hanna serves Palestinian youth who are at significantly higher risk of destructive behaviors than their peers in Israel and the West Bank.
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Aid Group’s Leader Detained in South Sudan

Posted on by SeeAF

Officials with Wau’s Unity Cultural and Development Center, a nonprofit humanitarian organization, said security operatives arrested its executive director and have yet to provide a reason for his arrest.

An official with the organization, who spoke to South Sudan in Focus, said Angelo Bensencio Mangu was detained two weeks ago and his colleagues have been contacting security operatives to try to find out the reason for his arrest.

Detained two weeks

His wife, Leticia Simom Adriano, says she has visited the security detention facility in Wau where he is being held but has not been allowed to see or speak to him. She says she worries about her husband’s welfare.

“We are really afraid for the past two weeks. I have been cooking and taking it to (the) detention (center) but I have never seen him. So how would you guarantee if he is there or not? Whenever I go there I cry,” she said.

Yhohanna Philip, program coordinator for the organization, also is concerned.

“Unfortunately, the director continues to be in detention for two weeks now without any charges or official investigation. Our office also confirmed that his close family members were denied access to see him after visiting the detention twice, and together with the family, we are also concerned about his health status,” he said.

Philip said the same day Bensencio was arrested, security operatives stormed their office and confiscated two vehicles, five laptops, a printer and files.

He said the office has been paralyzed since.

Humanitarian aid suffers

“UCDC is one of the lead agencies in food assistance distribution in six IDPs sites including Cathedral, Lokoloko, Nazareth, Sikka Hadid, Abunybuny and South Sudan Red Cross compound in Wau. We definitely regret the suspension and the consequences that it is already having on the vulnerable communities that we serve in Wau,” Philip said.

Philip said some of the assets confiscated by security operatives in Wau are being used by the military, which is a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

“Surprisingly, it has come to our notice that the detained Land Cruiser pickup plate No. SSD 822 G- was seen last Thursday moving in and around Wau town carrying armed soldiers and supplies. Notes that it was also seen late Friday evening between Kwajok and Gogirial town. And as we speak now it is also seen on the way moving to Awiel,” Philip said.

Philip and Bensencio’s wife are urging the Wau state authorities and rights groups to intervene and secure his release.

Stephen Robo Musa, who heads a civil society network in Wau, is condemning Bensencio’s detention, saying it will hamper the important humanitarian work among the communities in Wau. Robo is calling on the security operatives to release Bensencio or have him tried him in a court of law if he has committed any crime.
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‘Slum Pope’ and the Billionaire: Francis to Meet with President Trump

Posted on by SeeEU

Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

 

When Pope Francis meets with President Donald Trump at the Vatican at the end of this month, the world will be watching how the Argentine “slum pope” interacts with the brash, New York billionaire-turned-president.

 

On many issues and priorities, the two men couldn’t be more different. Francis wants bridges between nations, not the walls Trump is building. Francis brought back a dozen Muslim Syrian refugees with him when he went to Greece last year, while Trump has tried to impose a travel ban on people from a half-dozen mostly Muslim nations.

 

The pope sleeps in a two-room hotel suite. Trump lived in a skyscraper with his name on it before being elected.

 

Francis wants to end the use of fossil fuels, while Trump has pledged to cancel payments to U.N. climate change programs and pull out of the Paris climate accord. U.S. bishops have praised the Trump administration for its anti-abortion stance, but have opposed Republican health care plans because of their impact on the poor.

 

Those issues and more are likely on the table when Trump arrives May 24 at the Apostolic Palace in Rome for the 8:30 a.m. audience that was announced Thursday.

 

Despite their obvious differences, Trump and Francis share a populist bent. Both were elected on reform mandates and speak with a simplicity that has endeared them to their bases. And both share a common concern about the plight of Christians in the Middle East at the hands of Islamic militants.

 

“They’re both populists, but populists of a different kind,” said Mathew Schmalz, associate professor of religious studies at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. While agreeing they are both concerned about Islamic extremism, he said they differ in approaches and vision.

 

“I’m not sure the Vatican at this stage wants to play along with the role envisioned by … Catholic advisers of Donald Trump, who want to resurrect the imagery of a civilizational conflict between Christianity and Islam,” he said.

 

Yet in announcing his first foreign trip itinerary Thursday, which includes stops in Saudi Arabia and Israel, Trump said he chose Saudi Arabia as his first stop precisely because it’s the home of two of the holiest sites in Islam. He said he wanted to “begin to construct a new foundation of cooperation and support with our Muslim allies to combat extremism, terrorism and violence and to embrace a more just and hopeful future for young Muslims in their countries.”

 

The thrice-married Trump was raised as a Presbyterian and described himself as a “religious person” during his campaign, but often struggled to affirm his Christian credentials as he wooed the Evangelical voters who helped elect him.

 

Francis hasn’t commented on Trump’s presidency other than to say, on the day of his inauguration, that he’d take a wait-and-see approach. But Francis has railed against the “false forms of security” promised by populist leaders who want to wall themselves off and has called for world leaders to seek a future of greater solidarity.

 

The two got off to a rocky start when, during the U.S. presidential campaign, Francis said anyone who wants to build a wall to keep out foreigners is “not Christian.” Trump, who campaigned on plans to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, shot back, saying it was “disgraceful” for a religious leader to question someone’s faith.

 

More recently, Francis has urged the U.S. and North Korea to step away from the brink and use negotiations and diplomacy to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula.

 

Francis also wrote an entire encyclical about the environment and the moral imperative to save God’s creation, denouncing how the wealthy had destroyed the Earth at the expense of the poor. At the end of the audience, he will most certainly hand over a copy of “Praise Be” to Trump, who has sought to get rid of regulations he feels are burdensome to business.

 

Dennis Doyle, a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton, said both men are seen by their supporters as having an authenticity that shakes up the status quo. But beyond that, there’s not much in common, he said.

 

“I really don’t see a lot of middle ground here,” he said.

 

The Vatican and the White House have often had different views over the years. During the previous two papacies, divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality often defined relations between the White House and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — which then carried over to U.S.-Holy See relations.

 

But the two always found ways to collaborate, promoting initiatives to fight human trafficking and working to bridge the U.S. detente with Cuba.

 

U.S. bishops did strongly challenge the Obama administration’s health care mandate requiring insurance coverage for birth control. Trump on Thursday signed an executive order promising “regulatory relief” for groups with religious objections to the requirement.
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Iraq Grapples With Dilemma of Displaced Mosul Civilians

Posted on by SeeEA

The Iraqi government is struggling to accommodate the thousands of people fleeing fighting in west Mosul, and some civilians are being sent back to Islamic State-free sectors in the eastern part of the city to make room, Kurdish officials told VOA.

People have been fleeing Mosul in large numbers since the start of the Iraqi offensive against IS in October 2016. Their ranks rose to 600,000 this week, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement said.

“Most camps are full now,” Ghayath Surchi, spokesman for the Kurdistan Patriotic Union in Mosul, told VOA. “The Iraqi government is accelerating the return of civilians from the east to make space for residents who will flee IS in the west. There is internal pressure to appropriately accommodate the displaced civilians and international pressure to continue advances against the terrorists.”

Backed by the U.S.-led coalition, Iraqi forces declared eastern Mosul “fully liberated” in January. Since then, as many as 133,000 residents have returned to their homes in neighborhoods designated as safe, according to the Iraqi migration ministry.

But tens of thousands of people have refused to go back, fearing for their safety if IS returns and wary of renewed clashes. Their ranks continue to swell refugee camps even as thousands are fleeing fighting in the western part of the city.

Cramped camps

IS controls several western neighborhoods, locally known as Old Mosul. At least 400,000 people are believed to be stranded there, and the U.N. refugee agency has warned that they could swamp the already overwhelmed refugee camps.

That lack of a safe haven has affected the pace of the military offensive against IS, Kurdish officials said.

“The concern that thousands more civilians will flee their homes in Old Mosul without a shelter to go to has even slowed the Iraqi operation against IS,” Surchi said. “The government should first make sure there is space for them in the refugee camps.”

According to the Iraqi government and relief organizations, about 50 percent of displaced Mosul residents are housed in 19 camps near the city. The remainder are sheltering with relatives and tribal communities, or squatting in unfinished or abandoned buildings in other cities.

Those in the cramped camps often complain about a lack of food and water. They report increased infectious skin diseases and diarrhea because of poor sanitary conditions.

“We are put in this camp as if we live on air,” said Khadijah Muhsein, 54, who fled the Bab al-Beid district of western Mosul last month. She and her family of seven are housed along with more than 30,000 other displaced people in the Hammam al-Alil camp, south of Mosul.

She said dozens of people were arriving every day, forcing camp organizers to overload tents.

“Why do they keep bringing more people if there is no food to eat and no work to do here?” asked Muhsein.

Dire situation

Fathi Unis, who heads the camp’s food distribution, said the Iraqi government is doing its best to meet residents’ needs.

“Each person in the camp receives nine kilograms of flour, three kilograms of rice, two kilograms of sugar and one bottle of oil per month,” Unis said.

The dire situation in the camps, combined with government efforts to return residents to recaptured neighborhoods, is encouraging many civilians to return home.

But returning residents say most neighborhoods remain unsafe because of IS rockets and car bombings. They complain about shortages of clean water, medicine and government services. They say most businesses remain shuttered, forcing them to depend on savings and charity.

“We’re only brought untreated water from the wells. It is very unhygienic,” Zaynab Mustafa, who recently returned to Mosul’s al-Shuhada area, told VOA.

Mustafa’s family members burned most of their furniture for heating because of a lack of fuel during the winter, and they cut back to one meal a day, he said.

“The government is only paying attention to neighborhoods controlled by IS, while we’re forgotten here,” said Mustafa.
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In Latest Airline Video, Delta Boots Family From Flight

Posted on by SeeUS

California family says they were forced off a Delta plane and threatened with jail after refusing to give up one of their children’s seats on a crowded flight.

A video of the April 23 incident was uploaded to Facebook on Wednesday and adds to the list of recent encounters on airlines that went viral, including the dragging of a passenger off a United Express plane.

Brian and Brittany Schear of Huntington Beach, California, told KABC-TV in Los Angeles that they were returning from Hawaii with their two toddlers when they were removed from the plane.

On the video, Brian Schear can be heard talking with a person off-camera — it is not clear whether that person is a Delta employee, a security officer, or somebody else.

Schear explains that he wants to put one of the toddlers in a seat originally purchased for his 18-year-old son. Schear says older child returned home on an earlier flight. Delta policy generally prohibits passengers from using a ticket bought in another person’s name.

After Schear says that the airline would have to remove him, the person off-camera replies, “You and your wife will be in jail … it’s a federal offense if you don’t abide” by an airline crew’s order.

“I bought that seat,” Schear protested.

Delta issued a statement Thursday saying, “We’re sorry for what this family experienced. Our team has reached out and will be talking with them to better understand what happened and come to a resolution.” The Altanta-based airline did not immediately explain why the family was removed from the flight.

Congress held two hearings this week on airline customer service — a response to the video of Chicago airport security officers dragging a 69-year-old man off a United Express flight to make room for crew members who were traveling for work.

Executives from United, American, Southwest and Alaska testified at one or both hearings. Delta was notably absent.
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Trump Tax Plan a Hastily Drawn Wish List, Analyst Says

Posted on by SeeUS

Last week, the White House unveiled what it called “the largest tax reform in U.S. history.”  Gary Cohn, who heads the President’s National Economic Council said, “We’re going to cut taxes for businesses to make them competitive and we’re going to cut taxes for the American people, especially low- and middle-income families.”

But analysts say to call the one page proposal a plan, may be a bit of a stretch. 

Policy documents from the White House usually provide pages of detail says Scott Greenberg, a tax analyst at the conservative leaning Tax Foundation.  He says it’ s more of a wish list.

“That being said, it opens a window onto what the administration’s main priorities are,” he said.

Aside from simplifying the nation’s notoriously complicated tax forms, the plan includes doubling the current standard deductions. For individual tax filers, that means zero taxes on the first $12,000 of income, and for couples filing jointly, no taxes on the first $24,000.  

According to Greenberg, “We estimated that the average household making between the 40th and 60th income percentile, so households right in the middle would be about 1.3 percent richer as a direct result of the various tax cuts.”

But the Tax Foundation’s estimates show wealthier Americans would enjoy much larger gains, up to 16 percent more of their after tax income. 

William Gale, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution says, “It’s basically a massive tax cut for the very highest income households.”

While Trump’s tax plan eliminates some loopholes used by wealthy Americans, the Tax Foundation says the proposal aims to level the playing field for high income earners who have traditionally shouldered the country’s tax burden.

 

But given the widening income gap, Gale says it makes no sense to reward wealthier Americans with more tax breaks. 

“They’ve done enormously well over the last two, three, four decades, their average tax rates is actually lower now than it was in the past,” he said.

Without corresponding cuts to government programs, analysts say the Trump tax cuts are likely to “blow a hole in the deficit” (expand the deficit shortfall). 

New estimates show the revenue lost to tax cuts would add between $5 to $7 trillion to the U.S. debt over 10 years.  But U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says tax reforms combined with sensible trade policies would, over time “help the economy grow at a sustained rate of three to four percent”, a claim many economists say is unrealistic.  

“What I like about this plan is that it is bold in attempting to lower the business tax burden in the United States and to create a more competitive economic climate.  In that I think perhaps the heart of the plan is in the right place,” says Greenberg.

Small business owners like Rick McVey who runs the Dilly Lily Flower Shop says the tax cuts would help his business grow. 

“I think with the decrease in the tax rate, I may be able to re-invest the money to buy some capital equipment,” he said.

And Donna Seabusch, the owner of Cookie Creations in Atlanta, says tax cuts will help businesses still trying to recover from the downturn. 

“The economy was so bad several years ago, it hurt everyone.  And I think this is going to give people a jump start.  When your taxes are lowered – from your income tax, corporate taxes – it gives more people more money to spend,” she said.

The administration says slashing the the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent could also potentially bring back trillions of dollars from companies that have moved capital and investments offshore in search of lower tax rates.  But William Gale, who is also co-director at the Tax Policy Center, says it’s a mistake to think other countries will not respond. 

“If we cut our rate to 15 percent other countries are going to cut theirs, and we’ll end up in a sort of race to the bottom on the corporate rate,” he said.  

Analysts who spoke with VOA believe there is little chance the president’s tax reform proposal will become law in its current form.  But at a recent panel discussion hosted by the Conference Board on the president’s first 100 days, William Hoagland at the Bipartisan Policy Center added yet another political wrinkle. 

Hoagland told the audience, “I think its going to be very difficult for Congress and Democrats to provide that 60 votes for tax reform unless the president of the United States releases his tax forms.”
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US Congress Funds Federal Government Through September

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. Senate cast aside partisan acrimony Thursday and overwhelmingly passed a trillion-dollar spending bill that keeps the federal government funded through September.

The 79 to 18 vote came one day after the House of Representatives approved the measure, which now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature to become law.

“This represents the first demonstration of Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress working with the White House in order to pass an important piece of legislation and keep the government up and running,” said Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas.

“It [the spending bill] is proof that Washington can work when we work together,” said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. “In my view this is a very good bill for the American people.”

The product of weeks of negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House, the bill boosts U.S. military spending and provides increased funding for U.S. border security.

“This funding will help the Department of Homeland Security hire more border patrol agents and customs officials, improve the infrastructure at our ports of entry and checkpoints, and hire more immigration judges to process more immigration cases,” Cornyn said.

To the delight of Democrats, the bill sidesteps numerous promises made by Republicans in general and Trump in particular. There is no money for constructing a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and no provision to punish local governments that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities in identifying and removing undocumented immigrants. The spending bill continues funding for Obamacare as well as Planned Parenthood, a women’s health organization that performs abortions.

“Not only does it preclude funding for an unnecessary and ineffective border wall, it increases investments in programs that the middle class relies on,” Schumer said. “The National Institutes of Health will get an additional $2 billion. Infrastructure programs … will get an increase.”

Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, whose home state of Florida includes Cape Canaveral, praised a boost in funds for NASA.

“We now stand on the precipice of a new golden age of exploration and discovery,” Nelson said. “The can-do little agency, NASA, is now on the way [for a mission] to Mars.”

But the bill’s bipartisan nature rankled hardline conservative Republicans who argued minority Democrats won too many concessions.

“Last November, the American people voted to give Republicans control of both houses of Congress and the White House,” said Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in a statement. “We should be funding our priorities, not perpetuating Democrats’ big government programs.”

Taking to Twitter, Trump has praised the spending bill but also said a government shutdown may be necessary at the beginning of the next fiscal year, which begins October 1.

Senators of both parties rejected the president’s thinking.

“We were elected to govern, not to shut down the government,” Cornyn said.

Schumer said that if congressional leaders “work as well on the 2018 budget as we did on the 2017 budget, we will have a product we can be proud of with no worries about any kind of government shutdown.”
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German Military Chief: Not Clear If Arrested Officer Part of Network

Posted on by SeeEU

Germany’s top general on Thursday said it was unclear if the officer arrested last week on suspicion of planning a racially motivated attack was part of a broader network.

“We don’t know that at this point. … We are trying to examine the environment around the suspect,” General Volker Wieker, inspector general of the German Bundeswehr, told the broadcaster ARD.

German media reports have said officials are looking into a possible network of five people around the 28-year-old lieutenant, identified only as Franco A.

Wieker met Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen in Berlin on Thursday, along with 100 top generals and admirals, to discuss what she has described as “weak leadership” in the military.

Von der Leyen on Wednesday visited the barracks in the French town of Illkirch where Franco A. was serving in the German-French Brigade, set up in 2010 as a showcase of cross-border cooperation.

Von der Leyen had ordered an investigation into why the suspect’s superiors had failed to report to military intelligence concerns voiced about the content of a master’s thesis he had submitted during his time at a French military academy, ministry sources said.

Under German military rules, any report of extremism among soldiers must be investigated by military intelligence, the sources said, and the failure to do so in this case was a breach of civil service rules.

Wieker said the investigation was being led by the Federal Criminal Office and federal prosecutors, but military officials were assisting.

Wieker has this year begun a series of structural reforms after a sexual abuse and hazing scandal rocked the armed forces’ special operations training center in southern Germany.

Von der Leyen last month fired the general in charge of training for failing to crack down on the problems at the site.
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