New Zealand, Australia, and surrounding Pacific Islands were among the first places to ring in 2018 with fireworks displays, parties, and other festivities. Nearly 1.5 million people gathered to watch a rainbow fireworks display above Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and opera house.
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Month: December 2017
Multiple Officers Shot, One Fatally, in Colorado
Five sheriff’s deputies and two civilians were shot as police responded to a domestic disturbance call Sunday in the Midwestern U.S. state of Colorado.
The Douglas County sheriff’s office said that one of the five deputies had been killed, and the suspect was shot and no longer a threat.
“Suspect shot & believed to be dead & no longer a threat,” the sheriff’s department wrote on Twitter.
Earlier in the morning, the sheriff’s office issued a “code red” in the surrounding area, advising residents nearby to stay indoors and avoid windows.
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Mistrust Remains Two Years After Poisoned Water Crisis
Two years after a state of emergency was declared in Flint, Michigan because of lead-poisoned water, residents have been assured their water is now safe. But residents are wary even though these assurances come from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. VOA’s Anush Avetisyan visited Flint and spoke to residents who face a battle for clean water every day.
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Library of Congress Will No Longer Collect Every Tweet Created
The U.S. Library of Congress says it will no longer collect every single tweet published on Twitter as it has been doing for the past 12 years.
The library said this week that it can no longer collect everything across the entire social media platform because of recent changes Twitter has made, including allowing longer tweets, photos and videos.
It said in a blog post this week that its first objective with collecting and archiving tweets was “to document the emergence of online social media for future generations.” The library says it has fulfilled that objective and no longer needs to be a “comprehensive” collector of tweets.
The Library of Congress said it will still collect and archive tweets in the future, but will do so on a more selective basis. It said going forward “the tweets collected and archived will be thematic and event-based, including events such as elections, or themes of ongoing national interest, e.g. public policy.”
The library said it generally does not collect media comprehensively, but said it made an exception for public tweets when the social media platform was first developed.
The library said it will keep its previous archive of tweets from 2006-2017 to help people understand the rise of social media and to offer insight into the public mood during that time. “Throughout its history, the Library has seized opportunities to collect snapshots of unique moments in human history and preserve them for future generations,” it said.
“The Twitter Archive may prove to be one of this generation’s most significant legacies to future generations. Future generations will learn much about this rich period in our history, the information flows, and social and political forces that help define the current generation,” it said.
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Pence Carving out a Role as Presidential Envoy
U.S. vice presidents historically have had widely varying influence in the White House, depending on their relationship with the president. As Donald Trump’s administration prepares for its second year, VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports on how Vice President Mike Pence’s role continues to broaden.
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Report: Australian Diplomat’s Tip a Factor in FBI’s Russia Probe
An Australian diplomat’s tip appears to have helped persuade the FBI to investigate Russian meddling in the U.S. election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told the diplomat, Alexander Downer, during a meeting in London in May 2016 that Russia had thousands of emails that would embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, the report said. Downer, a former foreign minister, is Australia’s top diplomat in Britain.
Australia passed the information on to the FBI after the Democratic emails were leaked, according to the Times, which cited four current and former U.S. and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians’ role.
“The hacking and the revelation that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information about it were driving factors that led the FBI to open an investigation in July 2016,” the newspaper said.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment, saying in a statement that the administration was continuing to cooperate with the investigation now led by special counsel Robert Mueller “to help complete their inquiry expeditiously.”
Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI and is a cooperating witness. Court documents unsealed two months ago show he met in April 2016 with Joseph Mifsud, a professor in London who told him about Russia’s cache of emails. This was before the Democratic National Committee became aware of the scope of the intrusion into its email systems by hackers later linked to the Russian government.
The Times said Papadopoulos shared this information with Downer, but it was unclear whether he also shared it with anyone in the Trump campaign.
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Daughter of Black Lives Matter Figure Garner Dies at 27
The daughter of key Black Lives Matter figure Eric Garner died Saturday after a weeklong hospital stay following a heart attack.
“She was a warrior to the end. She stood up for justice for her father,” the Reverend Al Sharpton said in announcing the death of Erica Garner, 27, at a New York hospital.
Garner’s official Twitter account, run by her family and friends since she became ill, asked that she be remembered as a mother, daughter, sister and aunt with a heart “bigger than the world.”
In 2014, her father, Eric Garner, who was black, was stopped on Staten Island for selling untaxed cigarettes and died after a white police officer subdued him with a chokehold. A grand jury declined to indict the officer; the city agreed to pay a $6 million civil settlement.
Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe,” became a slogan for activists.
Erica Garner became a voice for police accountability after his death, criticizing Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio over policing matters. In 2016, she campaigned on behalf of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who ran for the Democratic Party’s nomination, for president.
Garner’s mother, Esaw Snipes, told The New York Times previously that Garner, who gave birth four months ago, had learned during the pregnancy that she had heart problems.
Snipes said Garner had a heart attack after an asthma episode and was placed in a medically induced coma.
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Turkey Rages After Coup ‘Plotter’ Is Granted Asylum in Greece
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Saturday slammed a decision in Greece to grant asylum to a Turkish helicopter co-pilot, who fled the country after last year’s failed coup, as “politically motivated” and warned of a negative impact on bilateral relations.
The co-pilot — who flew seven other Turkish military officers to Greece — was granted asylum after Greek authorities ruled that his human rights would be at risk, despite repeated requests for his extradition by Ankara.
The decision “again reveals that Greece is a country that protects and embraces plotters,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that the ruling was “politically motivated.”
“Greece has not shown the support and cooperation we expect from an ally in the fight against terrorism,” the statement added.
The ruling is an embarrassment to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who asked for the officers to be extradited during a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in December, as part of the first official visit to Athens by a Turkish president in 65 years.
Late Saturday evening, Tsipras tried to contain any fallout from the asylum ruling by calling for the decision to be annulled.
“The Greek government filed on Saturday a request for annulment of the asylum decision taken the day before by the asylum authority,” the office of the Greek prime minister said.
Co-pilot’s denial
The co-pilot, who landed in the Greek city of Alexandroupoli hours after the putsch was defeated on July 15, 2016, had denied being part of the coup attempt.
Despite Turkey’s assertions, the asylum judges said there was no evidence to suggest the co-pilot had participated in a plot to unseat Erdogan.
According a judicial source, the ruling took into account reports from human rights groups and the Council of Europe that warned Turkey has regularly committed human rights abuses against coup suspects.
A ruling on the seven other military officers is expected to be made in the coming weeks.
In January, the Greek Supreme Court blocked the extradition of the officers, saying that they would not have a fair trial in Turkey.
More than 140,000 people, including judges, lawyers, journalists and academics, have been sacked or suspended in Turkey since the failed coup, while 55,000 people have been arrested over suspected links to U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Turkey claims Gulen ordered the attempted coup, something he denies.
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Liberia President-elect Calls for Foreign Investments
George Weah gave his first public address as Liberia’s president-elect Saturday, telling potential investors that the nation is “open and ready for business” and calling on Liberians who live abroad to come home.
The former international soccer star spoke at Coalition for Democratic Change party headquarters, where he vowed to tackle corruption and asked members of his party to applaud the Liberians who elected him.
Weah won Tuesday’s runoff with 61.5 percent of the vote over Vice President Joseph Boakai, who got 38.5 percent, according to final results.
Liberia, a nation founded by freed American slaves, is seeing its first democratic transfer of power in more than 70 years as Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf steps aside. Sirleaf, Africa’s first female president, led the country’s recovery after back-to-back civil wars and saw it through a deadly Ebola outbreak.
“Two days ago the world saw me cry, not because I won, but for the lives of partisans who lost their lives in the struggle for change,” Weah said after being introduced by his running mate, Vice President-elect Jewel Howard-Taylor.
Salute to Sirleaf
Weah honored Sirleaf, calling her “the Iron Lady of Africa” and promising to “build upon the institutional gains” her administration has made.
Weah also paid tribute to Boakai, calling him “a statesman and neighbor.”
He called on Liberians living abroad to “come home; this is a new dispensation.” He also called for foreign investments as the flow of aid to Liberia is in decline.
“To investors, we say Liberia is open and ready for business,” he said.
He vowed to fight the types of scandals that have plagued the West African nation, saying, “Those looking to cheat the Liberian people through corruption will have no place.”
Benyan Kota, who listened to Weah’s speech on the radio, said he appreciated the statements about tackling corruption and about inclusion.
“Whenever the world inclusion is mentioned it brings to us the feeling that a government wants to bring about protection for the underprivileged and underdeveloped,” said Kota, president of the Christian Association of the Blind.
Support from youth
Voter turnout for the runoff was low, but Weah drew overwhelming support from the younger generation, which makes up a majority of Liberia’s population of 4.6 million. Weah’s rags-to-riches story has been an inspiration to many supporters who call him “King George.”
Though hundreds sang his praises and chanted his name at the end of his speech, Weah did not mention how he intends to tackle the country’s economic woes, nor did he announce specific programs to address unemployment.
Expectations will be high for Weah to lift the nation from poverty and create jobs.
In addition to corruption, Liberia faces problems with electricity and a health care system decimated by the Ebola outbreak. Weah’s critics have said his brief experience in politics will be a challenge for the nation.
Weah had run in the country’s last two elections, winning the first round of the 2005 vote that eventually went to Sirleaf. He ran as the vice presidential candidate with diplomat Winston Tubman in 2011; they boycotted the runoff that granted Sirleaf her second term.
As Liberia grappled with the Ebola outbreak in 2014, Weah was elected as a senator, defeating Sirleaf’s son Robert for the seat.
Weah is expected to take office in January.
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World Cities on Alert Ahead of New Year’s Eve Festivities
Hundreds of thousands of law enforcement, military and security officials will be deployed in cities around the world to keep New Year’s Eve revelers safe as they gather to welcome 2018.
In the United States, New York City officials announced they would use two-step screening, snipers, street closures and specially trained dogs to secure Times Square, where an estimated 2 million people will gather to watch the annual ball drop at midnight.
In Las Vegas, 300 National Guard troops will join more than 1,500 police officers to keep safe the city’s famed Strip, home to a number of casinos, resorts and hotels. The security precautions to protect the expected crowd of more than 300,000 will include snipers positioned on rooftops and double the number of emergency response teams from previous years.
In South America, Rio de Janeiro police plan a security force of 12,000, nearly 20 percent more officers than last year, for New Year’s events. Military police say they are suspending vacations for security personnel to ensure there are enough police officers on duty.
Patrols in London
In London, a record number of armed officers and canine units will patrol celebrations and the city’s Underground subway system, although Metropolitan Police said they had received no specific threat. Steel and concrete barricades will ring main events that will be attended by an estimated 500,000 people, police said.
In Germany, all major cities, including Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Cologne, announced there would be enhanced police presence at all celebrations. They declined to reveal details.
In Africa, after at least nine people were killed Friday outside a church in suburban Cairo by a gunman on a motorcycle, Egyptian authorities have beefed up security for New Year’s Eve and Orthodox Christmas.
In an attempt to prevent further terrorist attacks, the Interior Ministry has raised the security alert to the maximum level throughout the country. The ministry has ordered heightened security near vital institutions such as churches and embassies.
More security patrols will be deployed to streets, squares and other areas where celebrations will be held.
In Istanbul, police have arrested 120 people with suspected links to Islamic State militants ahead of the New Year’s celebrations. The city also plans to more than double the number of police officers on the streets to prevent a repeat of last year, when a man armed with an assault rifle killed 39 Turks and foreigners at a nightclub. Police have also canceled some public celebrations in key districts of Turkey’s largest city.
Preparations in India
In India, more than 30,000 security personnel will guard the popular gathering sites across Mumbai. In the southern tech hub of Bengaluru, officials plan to deploy more than 15,000 officers, as well as use drones, security cameras and canine units. A 500-member, all-female police squad will also be deployed to ensure there is no repeat of last year, when several women were harassed and molested in the streets by male revelers.
In Australia, one of the first places to ring in the new year, security officials are guarding against any kind of terror attack on New Year’s Eve. Officials said police officers would be out in force on the ground, in the air and on the sea as part of the largest security operation in the country.
More than 1 million people are expected to gather in the center of Sydney and at least half that number in Melbourne to watch fireworks displays. Police said Melbourne’s city center would be on lockdown and remain closed until 6 a.m. New Year’s Day to protect the crowd.
Police in Melbourne last month arrested a man for allegedly planning to shoot revelers on New Year’s Eve.
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Media Group: 81 Reporters Died, Threats Soared in 2017
At least 81 reporters were killed doing their jobs this year, while violence and harassment against media staff has skyrocketed, the world’s biggest journalists’ organization says.
In its annual “Kill Report,” seen by The Associated Press, the International Federation of Journalists said the reporters lost their lives in targeted killings, car bomb attacks and crossfire incidents around the world.
More than 250 journalists were in prison in 2017.
The number of deaths as of December 29 was the lowest in a decade, down from 93 in 2016. The largest number were killed in Mexico, but many also died in conflict zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
The IFJ suspected but could not officially confirm that at least one other journalist was killed Thursday in an attack by an Islamic State suicide bomber on a Shiite cultural center in Kabul, in which at least 41 people died.
IFJ President Philippe Leruth said that while the drop in deaths “represents a downward trend, the levels of violence in journalism remain unacceptably high.”
He said the IFJ finds it “most disturbing that this decrease cannot be linked to any measure by governments to tackle the impunity for these crimes.”
Eight women journalists were killed, two in European democracies – Kim Wall in Denmark, who died on the submarine of an inventor she was writing about, and Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was blown up by a bomb placed in her car.
Beyond the deaths, the IFJ warned that “unprecedented numbers of journalists were jailed, forced to flee, that self-censorship was widespread and that impunity for the killings, harassment, attacks and threats against independent journalism was running at epidemic levels.”
Turkey, where official pressure on the media has been ramped up since a failed coup attempt in July 2016, is becoming notorious for putting reporters behind bars. Some 160 journalists are jailed in Turkey – two-thirds of the global total – the report said.
The organization also expressed concern about India, the world’s largest democracy, where it said that attacks on journalists are being motivated by violent populism.
Countries with the highest numbers of media killings:
Mexico: 13
Afghanistan: 11
Iraq: 11
Syria: 10
India: 6
Philippines: 4
Pakistan: 4
Nigeria: 3
Somalia: 3
Honduras: 3
your ad hereCameroon Begins Handing Out Free Laptops to College Students
Cameroon has begun giving out free computers to all university students in what the government says will boost education and research. But the distribution of what is said to be a gift from Paul Biya, one of the longest serving presidents in the world, months before presidential elections has generated criticism.
Thousands of students sang as they lined up at the University of Yaounde II in Soa, 15 kilometers northeast from Cameroon’s capital city, to receive free laptops. Among them was Eric Ambe, a 21-year-old second-year law student, who says he can now do online research. He says he could not raise $150 to buy a used laptop sold near his university.
“We are very happy because it will help us to study well, it will help us to prepare our courses well. With this gift, the youths can now study well,” said Ambe.
Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo, Cameroon’s minister of higher education, is distributing the laptops. He said all registered university students will have their own share of what is a gift from President Biya, who, said he, is helping young university students secure access to a modern-day digital economy.
“Students are very delighted because they receive a fantastic gift from their father, the head of state, who loves them and who knows that they are the future of our dear and beloved country. The university community thanks his excellency, Paul Biya, for this donation,” Ndongo said.
The first 80,000 laptops being distributed on the campus are part of a promise of 500,000 Biya made in 2016. The government has promised to distribute all of them by April 2018.
The computers, manufactured in the Chinese city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, are branded PB HEV, short for Paul Biya, Higher Education Vision.
First complaints
But at a computer repair shop at the student residential area of Bonamoussadi, three students have already sold their laptops, complaining that they are not of good quality. Pius Ayeneh, a hardware maintenance technician, says what is very frustrating to users is that the laptops are sluggish.
“The hard drive is too small. The capacity is 32 Gigabyte. The processing speed is just 1.44 Gigahertz. If you install like Microsoft Office and the operating system, you cannot run any other program,” Ayeneh said.
The government announced it secured a loan of more than $133 million from China to buy the computers. The government says each costs about $550 and they will use the remainder of the loan to train information technology instructors.
But opposition political parties say the loan should have been better used to set up a computer assembly plant in the central African country. The main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, (SDF) says Biya is using the computers as a campaign tool ahead of the September 2018 presidential election.
The SDF says Gambia invested $7.5 million to build a technology assembly plant and that Kenya also has one.
Cameroon government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma says the $133 million invested in the computer project includes a provision for high speed internet to all universities and institutions of higher learning. He refuted claims that Biya is using the laptops as a campaign tool.
“This project is a result of the head of state’s initiative for Cameroonian students to give them the necessary boost and beyond, create the psychological trigger for their insertion in the digital world,” Tchiroma said.
Cameroon will be organizing parliamentary and presidential elections in September 2018. There have been calls from within Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement for him to run again for president. He is one of the longest serving leaders in the world, already having been president for 35 years.
your ad hereAP: Trump’s Initial Outreach to North Korea Backfired
The Associated Press reported early Saturday that in the first month of U.S. President Donald Trump’s term in office, he sent “an American scholar” to meet with North Korean officials and to relay a message.
The message was that the new administration was appreciative of a nearly four-month freeze of the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile tests – and thought it “might just offer a ray of hope,” the news agency said in its account.
However, the AP reported North Korean officials said the lack of testing wasn’t a sign of conciliation and insisted Kim Jong Un would order tests whenever he wanted. Two days later, the North launched a new medium-range missile, ushering in a year of escalating tensions.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported late Friday that “Russian tankers have supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months by transferring cargoes at sea.” Reuters attributed the information to two senior Western European security sources.
Russia is a member of the United Nations Security Council. The sale of oil and oil products to North Korea would be a breach of U.N. sanctions
One security source told Reuters “Russian vessels have made ship-to-ship transfers of petrochemicals to North Korean vessels on several occasions this year in breach of sanctions.”
Another security source told the news agency, “There is no evidence that this is backed by the Russian state, but these Russian vessels are giving a lifeline to the North Koreans.”
Reuters said both sources “cited naval intelligence and satellite imagery of the vessels operating out of Russian Far Eastern ports on the Pacific.”
Denials from China
The new reports come as China has denied facilitating oil shipments to North Korea in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions, one day after Trump accused Beijing of doing so.
“China has been completely and strictly implementing Security Council resolutions and fulfilling our international obligations,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters Friday at a media briefing. “We will never allow Chinese citizens and enterprises to engage in activities that violate Security Council resolutions.”
Despite China’s insistence the sanctions are being enforced, doubts persist in the U.S., South Korea and Japan that loopholes continue to exist. And China’s repeated denials did not preclude Trump from tweeting Thursday he was “very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea.”
The U.N. Security Council last week imposed new sanctions designed to limit North Korea access to oil in response to the country’s recent long-range missile test. In November, it test-launched its latest intercontinental ballistic missile, which many U.S. experts have warned would be capable of striking anywhere on U.S. soil. The sanctions seek to bar 90-percent of refined oil exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and limit crude oil exports at 4 million barrels annually.
Ship seized
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said earlier Friday the country had seized a Hong Kong-flagged ship that transferred oil to a North Korean vessel in international waters despite the sanctions.
Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported South Korean officials said the Lighthouse Winmore vessel transferred “600 tons of refined petroleum” to a North Korean ship on October 19 and that the ship was seized on November 24 after it sailed into South Korea’s Yeosu Port.
Yonhap reported the vessel was chartered by the Billions Bunker Group, a Taiwanese company. The ship’s “claimed destination” was reportedly Taiwan, but the ship instead “transferred oil to a North Korean ship, Sam Jong 2, and three other non-North Korean vessels in international waters in the East China Sea.”
Yonhap said South Korea informed the U.S. about its “detection of the illegal transaction” involving the Lighthouse Winmore, which is reportedly on the list of ships the U.S. has proposed blacklisting for prohibited trade with North Korea.
Hua, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said authorities investigated a report that an unnamed Chinese ship transferred oil to a North Korean vessel at sea on October 19 and determined it was erroneous. Hua also said she did not have any information about the Hong Kong-flagged vessel.
Satellite images
In November, the U.S. Treasury Department disclosed satellite images that displayed what it said was a North Korean ship receiving oil from an unidentified vessel on October 19. It was not immediately clear if the Lighthouse Winmore was involved in the transaction.
The photos received broader public scrutiny this week when the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reprinted them along with the report that suspected Chinese ships transferred oil to North Korean vessels about 30 times since October.
In an interview with the New York Times Thursday, Trump linked his trade policy with China to its cooperation in resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis.
“If they’re helping North Korea, I can look at trade a little bit differently, at least for a period of time. And that’s what I’ve been doing. But when oil is going in, I’m not happy about that.”
During a briefing Friday with reporters at the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was asked if the U.S. Navy could begin seizing ships suspected of providing oil to North Korea.
Mattis declined to speculate but said, “Obviously if a government finds that there is a ship in their port conducting trade that was forbidden under the U.N. Security Council resolution, then they have an obligation and so far we have seen nations take that obligation seriously.”
Mattis also predicted the global community will increase pressure on Pyongyang and said physical approaches are among the options under consideration.
“What form that pressure takes in terms of physical operations is something that will be determined by the cognizant governments,” he said.
China is North Korea’s primary trading partner, energy supplier and main diplomatic protector. But Beijing has expressed increasing frustration with North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests. And while China supports the latest sanctions against Pyongyang, it has argued against actions that may be harmful to North Korean citizens or destabilize its government.
your ad hereAmid Protests Across Iran, Trump Lashes Out at Tehran’s Leaders
U.S. President Donald Trump denounced the Iranian government Saturday amid pro- and anti-government demonstrations in Iran.
Supporters of the Iranian government took to the streets in Tehran as anti-government protests entered a third day and spread to other cities.
Using excerpts from a speech he delivered to the U.N. General Assembly on September 19, Trump lambasted the Iranian government on Twitter, charging it has long oppressed the Iranian people.
In Tehran, a relatively small group of government protesters rallied at the University of Tehran, but they were greatly outnumbered by thousands of pro-government supporters.
Interior Minister Abdolrahman Rahmani Fazli cautioned against more anti-government action, saying, “We urge all those who receive these calls to protest not to participate in these illegal gatherings as they will create problems for themselves and other citizens.”
Videos distributed on social media showed dozens of people around the university chanting slogans against the government, as similar protests erupted in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashad and several major towns.
Hundreds of conservative protesters, chanting, “Death to the seditionists,” later took control of the entrance to the university.
Saturday’s anti-government protests were staged in commemoration of massive pro-government rallies in 2009, following a disputed presidential election and months of unrest.
WATCH: Pro- and anti-government rallies in Iran
In a statement Friday, the State Department said, “Iran’s leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state, whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos.”
The State Department urged “all nations to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption.”
Earlier Friday, Iranians gathered in cities around the nation to voice their displeasure with the country’s economy and government policies.
Iran’s Fars news agency said about 300 people gathered in the western city of Kermanshah, where an earthquake killed 600 residents in November. The demonstrators were reportedly calling for government attention to their plight, as well as for the government to free its political prisoners. The gathering was eventually broken up by police, according to Fars.
In Tehran, government security official Mohsen Hamedani told reporters that fewer than 50 people had gathered for a protest at a public square. He said a few of them were “temporarily arrested” after they refused to leave when police broke up the demonstration.
Iran has an unemployment rate of 12.4 percent, a stagnant economy and rampant inflation.
Demonstrators have also spoken out against Iranian military personnel being deployed outside the country, particularly in Syria, for long periods of time.
Senior Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said Friday that some political factions were using the economy as an excuse to criticize the government. He said those who started the protests might not be able to control the movement.
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Trump Dismisses Last of Presidential HIV/AIDS Advisory Council
The Trump administration has fired the remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, also known as PACHA.
Council members received a letter this week saying that their appointments to the panel were terminated, “effective immediately,” according to a report in The Washington Post.
PACHA was established in 1995, during the Clinton administration, to advise the White House on HIV strategies and policies.
Six of the members of the council, upset by White House actions on health policy, resigned in June. Scott Schoettes, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, a LGBT rights organization, was one of them.
He wrote in Newsweek at the time that U.S. President Donald Trump “simply does not care” about people living with HIV. Schoettes said the Trump administration “pushes legislation that will harm people living with HIV and halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease.”
He told The Washington Post Friday, “The tipping point for me was the president’s approach to the Affordable Care Act,” which he said “is of great importance for people living with HIV like myself.”
Schoettes said in Newsweek that much of the public is unaware that “only about 40 percent of people living with HIV in the United States are able to access the life-saving medications that have been available for more than 20 years. It is not acceptable for the U.S. president to be unaware of these realities, to setup a government that deprioritizes fighting the epidemic and its causes or to implement policies and support legislation that will reverse the gains made in recent years.”
B. Kaye Hayes, PACHA’s executive director, said in a statement that the dismissals were part of the White House’s effort to “bring in new voices.”
Dr. David Kilmnick, CEO of the New York LGBT Network, saw the move differently. The firing of the council members “is another outlandish and despicable move by the Trump administration in his year-long effort to erase the LGBT community and the issues that disproportionately affect us,” he said in a statement Friday.
“From ending protections against bullying for trans youth in our schools to his attempt to ban the transgender community from the military to no mention of Gay Pride month during June to leaving out the LGBT community on World AIDS Day to banning words such as transgender, diversity and other, this president has been nothing but a complete train wreck that is a danger to the safety and lives of all Americans,” Kilmnick continued.
A notice on the Federal Register says the Department of Health and Human Services is seeking nominations for new council members. Nominations must be submitted by Tuesday.
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Nature Delivers a Disastrous Year in 2017
At the hands of Mother Nature, 2017 was a deadly, devastating year. Wildfires in the US, volcanos in Indonesia, and mudslides and hurricanes across the world. Natural disasters took homes, power, water and lives. Arash Arabasadi looks back at some of the stories that made headlines.
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Gun Violence Surges to Record in 2017
Gun violence in the US reached record heights in 2017 — more than 60,000 incidents, killing more than 15,000 people, according to a nonprofit organization that tracks gun violence. VOA’s Mariama Diallo looks back at some of the year’s deadliest US mass shootings.
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The Biggest Consumer Electronics Show Opens in Two Weeks
January is almost here, and the world is bracing for the unofficial opening of this year’s race for the hearts, minds and pockets of tech enthusiasts. The international Consumer Electronics Show, CES for short, is the venue where technology manufacturers, from giants to startups, show their products, hoping they will become among the next must-haves worldwide. VOA’s George Putic looks at what may be expected.
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A Crystal Ball of Serenity for the New Year
It’s called the Crossroads of the World. New York City’s Times Square is the location for one of the biggest parties of the year, marked by the dramatic descent of a crystal ball on a huge pole, from high above a crowd of about a million people celebrating New Year’s in New York. Bob Leverone narrates this report by VOA’s Evgeny Maslov.
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U.S. Urging Kosovo Leaders Not to Abolish War Crimes Court
The U.S. is urging Kosovo leaders to leave unchanged a war crimes court established to hear serious cases arising from the country’s war for independence.
“The United States is deeply concerned by recent attempts of Kosovo lawmakers to abrogate the law on the Specialist Chambers,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement Friday. “We call on political leaders in the Republic of Kosovo to maintain their commitment to the work of the Chambers and to leave the authorities and jurisdiction of the court unchanged.”
The U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on December 21 that “the pursuit of justice in the Balkans is not over,” and the U.S. “remains committed to supporting justice for the victims,” the statement said.
The Kosovo political leaders enacted the law and constitutional amendment in 2015 to establish the Specialist Chambers, a court that would hear cases of alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other serious crimes committed during the 1998-2000 conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
Last week, however, lawmakers from the governing coalition, who hold a majority, pressed for a vote to abolish the court, but they failed twice because of opposition from other parties.
The U.S. and other Western countries swiftly condemned the move, warning that if successful, it would hamper efforts for Euro-Atlantic integration.
The U.S. has been a key ally and financial backer of Kosovo since it broke away from Serbia and declared independence in 2008.
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Militants Say IS-linked Group Carried Out Russian Market Attack
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack earlier this week in a Russian supermarket in St. Petersburg.
The militants said the explosion was carried out by an Islamic State-linked group, according to a statement made Friday by its Amaq news agency.
The group did not provide any evidence for its claim.
At least 13 people were injured when a homemade bomb detonated in a branch of the Perekrestok supermarket chain on Wednesday.
Health officials said none of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries.
Russian investigators initially said they were treating the case as an act of attempted murder.
However, on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the explosion was an act of terrorism. He made the assertion at the Kremlin during an awards ceremony for Russian servicemen who had served in Syria.
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Russia Reports Virulent H5N2 Bird Flu at 660,000-bird Farm
Russia has reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N2 bird flu on a farm in the central region of Kostromskaya Oblast that led to the deaths of more than 660,000 birds, the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said Friday.
The virus killed more than 44,000 birds in an outbreak first detected on December 17, the OIE said, citing a report from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture.
The rest of the 663,500 birds on the farm were slaughtered, it said in the report. It did not specify the type of birds that were infected.
It is the first outbreak of the H5N2 strain in Russia this year, but the country has been facing regular outbreaks of H5N8 since early December last year, with the last one reported to the OIE detected late November.
Bird flu has led to the deaths or culling of more than 2.6 million birds on farms between December last year and November this year, a report posted on the OIE website showed.
Neither the H5N2 or H5N8 strains has been found in humans.
The virulence of highly pathogenic bird flu viruses has prompted countries to bar poultry imports from infected countries in earlier outbreaks.
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Ukraine Kidnappers Free Bitcoin Analyst After $1 Million Ransom Paid
Kidnappers in Ukraine have released an employee at a United Kingdom-registered cryptocurrency exchange after getting more than $1 million in bitcoins as ransom, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister told Reuters on Friday.
Pavel Lerner, a leading analyst and expert in blockchains, or decentralized public ledgers, was abducted by unknown masked people on December 26, according to a statement by his company, EXMO Finance, on its website.
“This is the first such case in Ukraine linked to bitcoins,” Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, said in a phone text message.
It was unclear who paid the ransom. Lerner’s work at EXMO did not involve access to the financial assets of its users, the company said, adding that the platform was operating normally.
“At the moment, he is safe, and there was no physical harm inflicted on him,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, Pavel is currently in a state of major stress. Therefore, he will not provide any official comments in the coming days.”
News of the release came as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rebounded after two days of losses partly related to regulators toughening rules on digital currencies in an effort to curb excessive speculation. Many digital currencies surged in value this year.
Balaclavas
Strana.ua, a local news website, had earlier reported that six gun-toting men in dark clothing and balaclavas had snatched Lerner and pushed him into a minibus with stolen number plates.
Police have begun a criminal investigation after a man was kidnapped in the Obolon district of Kyiv, Oksana Blyshchyk, the Kyiv police spokeswoman, said by phone without revealing the name of the victim.
EXMO has 900,000 users as of December 2017, according to its website.
“We would like to note that the story of Pavel’s abduction has overgrown with rumors that might tamper with the official investigation,” EXMO said in its statement. “That said, EXMO currently refrains from any comments or suggestions of own versions of the possible scenario, in the nearest future.”
Separately, the company announced Thursday that it had been hit by a denial-of-service attack.
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Putin Signs Law Allowing Expansion of Russian Naval Facility in Syria
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law ratifying an agreement enabling Russia to expand operations at its naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus.
The document was posted on the official website for Russian legislation after Putin signed it Friday.
It could help cement what Putin has said would be a “permanent” Russian presence at the Tartus facility and the Hmeimim air base, key platforms for Russia’s campaign backing Syria’s government in the nearly seven-year war in the Middle Eastern country.
The agreement, signed in Damascus in January 2017, allows for the Russian navy to expand the technical support and logistics facility at Tartus, which is Moscow’s only naval foothold in the Mediterranean.
It allows Russia to keep up to 11 warships, including nuclear-powered vessels, at Tartus at any time for the next 49 years. The deal is to be prolonged automatically for 25-year periods upon its expiration.
It also allows Russian ships to enter Syria’s territorial waters, internal waters and ports, to use the Tartus facility free of charge.
The agreement also provides Russian military personnel at the facility with immunity and regulates the status of the military personnel and members of their families there.
Critical Russian support
Russia has given President Bashar al-Assad’s government crucial support throughout the war, which began with a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011 and has resulted in hundreds of thousands of people killed and millions driven from their homes.
Moscow helped Assad avoid possible defeat by starting a campaign of airstrikes in September 2015, in many cases using Hmeimim as a base. It has also launched strikes from warships in the Mediterranean.
During a visit to the air base on December 11, Putin declared victory over “the most combat-capable international terrorist group” — a reference to the extremist group Islamic State — and announced a partial withdrawal of Russian troops.
Western officials say that the Russian campaign, particularly in its earlier stages, has focused heavily on targeting rebels seeking Assad’s ouster rather than IS militants.
Putin said on Thursday that more than 48,000 Russian military personnel have served in the operation in Syria, and that the facilities at Hmeimim and Tartus would continue to operate “on a permanent basis.”
With IS in retreat and diplomats pressing ahead with efforts to forge a political solution, analysts say Russia is eager to make its position in Syria as strong as possible in order to wield influence on future developments.
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