Month: January 2018

Velib Bike-Sharing Scheme Hits Road Bump in French Capital

Posted on by SeeEU

Paris’ pioneering Velib bicycle hire service, which has been copied from London to Seattle, has ground to a virtual standstill after the new concession holder failed to install revamped docking stations on schedule.

In May 2017, Paris awarded a new contract to the French-Spanish Smovengo consortium to operate its bike-sharing scheme from 2018 to 2032, replacing outdoor advertising group JCDecaux, which had run it since 2007.

Under the 700 million euro ($838 million) contract, about half of the new bikes should have become available at the start of 2018, but fewer than 100 out of a planned 1,400 stations opened on time, while the old Velib bikes have been withdrawn.

“There are major delays to the new Velib system. Very few docking stations have been installed and hardly any bikes are available,” said Charles Maguin, head of Paris cyclist organization Paris en Selle.

A Smovengo spokeswoman said that of the roughly 100 newly-installed stations about 60 were operational and that the group aimed to get all 1,400 stations and more than 20,000 bicycles operational by the end of March.

The consortium — which includes bike share operator Smoove, car park operator Indigo, mobility group Mobivia and Spanish transport group Moventia — said in a statement that legal action by JCDecaux and technical problems with electricity supply to the new stations were part of the reason for the delays.

With fewer Velibs available, many Parisians have returned to using public transport or cars, or one of three new Asian-owned dockless bike-sharing schemes which have mushroomed during the switch between the old and new Velib.

Gobee.bike, oBike and Ofo’s brightly colored free-floating Asian bikes — which have no docking stations and can be parked anywhere — have already become a fixture in Paris, although with just a few thousand bikes on the road, they cannot make up for the missing Velibs.

Paris city hall is offering Velib subscribers three hours for free on Velib’s new electric bikes and a 50 percent discount on new subscriptions from January to March to compensate for the inconvenience.
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Netanyahu Calls for Closure of UN Aid Agency for Palestinians

Posted on by SeeEA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the closure of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, saying it perpetuates the Palestinian problem. Netanyahu also told his Cabinet meeting Sunday that the agency’s ultimate goal is to terminate the state of Israel and therefore must go. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Online Portal for US-Africa Trade Bypasses Obstacles

Posted on by SeeAF

A US entrepreneur is taking advantage of a demand for American goods in Africa — creating an online portal for cross border trade between the two countries. As VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
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Saved by A Ukrainian Family, Jewish Boy Lived to Become a Nobel Laureate

Posted on by SeeEU

January 27 is the day the international community observes Holocaust Remembrance Day by recalling the horrors committed during World War II by Nazi Germany and the bravery of those who risked their lives to save persecuted Jews and others from Nazi death camps. Tatiana Vorozhko and Kostiantyn Golubchyk of VOA’s Ukrainian Service tell the amazing story of a Jewish boy who was saved by a Ukrainian family and later grew up to be a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.
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Netanyahu: UN’s Palestinian Refugee Agency Should Be ‘Thing of the Past’

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet Sunday the U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees perpetuates the problem and should be shut down.

Netanyahu complained that the U.N. Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) is focused solely on Palestinian refugees and that its funding should instead be shifted to the U.N.’s blanket refugee agency.

“It also perpetuates the right of return narrative in order to eliminate the state of Israel,” the prime minister said. “Therefore UNRWA must become a thing of the past.”

The agency says there are 5 million refugees eligible for its services.

They are the Palestinians who left their homes during the war surrounding the establishment of Israel in 1948, or their descendants. Today, more than 1.5 million Palestinians live in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said the agency will continue its work until there is a “just and lasting solution” for the refugees.

“What perpetuates the refugee crisis is the failure of the parties to deal with the issue. This needs to be resolved by the parties to the conflict in the context of peace talks, based on U.N. resolutions and international law, and requires the active engagement by the international community,” Gunness said in a statement.

Efforts to push forward Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been stalled for several years, and the prospects were further complicated last month with U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The decision was a break from longstanding U.S. policy and the path advocated by the United Nations, which sees Jerusalem’s status as an issue to be resolved through negotiation.

The Palestinians envision East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state under a two-state solution.

​Trump also threatened last week to cut aid to the Palestinians, and Netanyahu offered him praise in his own comments Sunday.

Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi rejected Trump’s threat, accusing him of sabotaging the peace process and then blaming the Palestinians for “the consequences of his own irresponsible actions.”

Ashrawi said further the Palestinians “will not be blackmailed.”

Trump did not specify exactly how much funding was involved in his threat.

The U.S. provides about one-third of UNRWA’s funding and provided more than $350 million to the agency in 2016.
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NAACP and Anti-Fascists Plan to Protest Trump in Atlanta

Posted on by SeeUS

The NAACP is urging people to wear white and hold anti-Trump signs on Monday. Another group says demonstrators will “take a knee” before the big game to protest President Donald Trump’s visit to Atlanta.

Atlanta police and the U.S. Secret Service say they worked with the Secret Service on preparations for months before the College Football Championship game between Alabama and Georgia.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said Sunday that wearing white is meant to mock the “snowflake” label Trump’s supporters use to describe their opponents.

Another group, Refuse Fascism ATL, says that before kickoff, they’ll “take a knee against Trump” outside CNN’s world headquarters, in solidarity with athletes who have knelt during the National Anthem to protest racial injustice.

 
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Trump Delays Fake News Awards

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Donald Trump has postponed his “Fake News Awards” to later in the month, instead of Monday so he can attend the college national championship football game.

Trump tweeted last week that he would be “announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 o’clock. Subjects will cover Dishonesty and Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!”

Trump had promised to hold the mock awards show to castigate mainstream news organizations for their coverage of his presidency. But now his fans and the journalists will have to wait another 10 days.

On Sunday, Trump tweeted: “The Fake News Award, those going to the most corrupt and biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th, rather than this coming Monday. The interest in and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated.”

It is not clear how the change in plans will affect “The Global Press Oppression Awards” which were to be presented by the Committee to Protect Journalists at the same time.

The journalism watchdog group CPJ had tweeted last week that it would hold its own awards ceremony to coincide with Trump’s.

“Subjects will cover Thinnest Skinned & Outrageous Use of Law, in various categories for world leaders. Stay Tuned!,” the group said in its tweet.

 
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Trump Keeps Spotlight on North Korea

Posted on by SeeUS

The Trump administration continues to put a spotlight on North Korea’s nuclear threat and possible avenues to resolve an increasingly tense and loud standoff between Washington and Pyongyang. VOA’s Michael Bowman has this report.
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Former Egyptian PM Shafiq Will Not Run for President

Posted on by SeeAF

Former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq announced Sunday that he would not be running for president in the country’s 2018 elections, reversing a former promise to challenge Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who is widely expected to win.

“I have seen that I will not be the ideal person to lead the state’s affairs during the coming period. Thus I have decided not to run in the upcoming 2018 presidential elections,” Shafiq said in a statement posted on Twitter, adding that his absence from the country for the past five years has distanced him “from being able to very closely follow what is going on” in Egypt.

 

Shafiq, who returned to Egypt last month from the United Arab Emirates, where he had been in exile since 2012, had earlier promised to run against sitting president Sissi, who has not yet officially announced his candidacy for re-election.

The 76-year-old, an ex-air force commander and former aviation minister, was seen as the most serious political challenger to el-Sissi. Shafiq narrowly lost a presidential election against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi in 2012, after which he fled the country.
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Wolf-Dogs Help Veterans Cope With PTSD

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The unpredictable and aggressive nature of wolf-dog hybrids makes them difficult to keep as household pets. But the founders of the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center in California say the dual nature of these animals makes them ideal therapists for combat veterans who suffer from PTSD. VOA’s Genia Dulot has more on the “Wolves and Warriors” program.
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Trump, Aides Scorn Book Depicting Chaotic White House

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U.S. President Donald Trump and aides on Sunday heaped scorn on a new book detailing his chaotic first year in the White House and suggestions that he is not mentally fit to be the U.S. leader.

Trump, in a Twitter comment, said, “I’ve had to put up with the Fake News from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author.”

Trump’s ire was aimed at journalist Michael Wolff, who, based on 200 interviews with Trump and numerous of his aides, described a dysfunctional White House in his book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, released Friday.

Trump said that three decades ago, another Republican president, Ronald Reagan, was also faced with stories questioning his mental acuity “and handled it well. So will I!”

Stephen Miller, Trump’s top policy adviser, assailed Trump’s former chief strategist Stephen Bannon for comments in the book alleging that Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, now a key White House adviser, and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort were “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” for meeting in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign with Russians claming to have incriminating information about Trump’s challenger, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Miller on CNN described Bannon as an “angry, vindictive person” whose “grotesque comments are so out of touch with reality.” Miller said the “whole White House staff is deeply disappointed in his comments” in the book.

Miller said the Wolff book “is best understood as a work of poorly written fiction. The author is a garbage author of a garbage book. …The betrayal of the president in this book is so contrary to the reality of those who work with him.”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper abruptly ended the interview with Miller, calling him “obsequious” and concerned only about pleasing “one viewer,” Trump.

A short time later, Trump tweeted, “Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!”

Two other Trump administration officials, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo also expressed support for Trump’s performance on Sunday news talk shows, a day after the U.S. leader described himself as “a very stable genius.”

Haley told ABC News that based on her once-a-week visits to the White House, “No one disrespects the president.” Pompeo told Fox News, “I have watched him take the information that the intelligence community delivers and translate that into policies that are of enormous benefit to America.”

Bannon has not disputed quotes Wolff attributed to him in the book but on Sunday voiced some regret over his role.

He told the Axios news site: “Donald Trump Jr. is both a patriot and a good man. He has been relentless in his advocacy for his father and the agenda that has helped turn our country around.”

Bannon, who returned to Breitbart News, an alt-right website with nationalist views, after leaving the White House, also avowed his continuing support for Trump.

“My support is also unwavering for the president and his agenda,” Bannon said, “as I have shown daily in my national radio broadcasts, on the pages of Breitbart News and in speeches and appearances from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Arizona and Alabama.

“I regret that my delay,” he added, “in responding to the inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr. has diverted attention from the president’s historical accomplishments in the first year of his presidency.”

Trump has claimed that he “authorized Zero Access” to Wolff at the White House to do his research for the book.

But Wolff told NBC that the president, personally, if reluctantly, allowed him to roam the corridors of the White House and conduct interviews with his aides, at one point saying, “Who cares about a book?”

But by Sunday, two days after its release, Fire and Fury was the top-selling book on the Amazon online retail site.

 

 

 

 

 
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UK’s May says She Has no Concerns About Trump’s Mental State

Posted on by SeeEU

British Prime Minister Theresa May has dismissed concerns about Donald Trump’s mental fitness, saying the U.S. president acts in what he sees as the best interests of his country.

 

A new book by journalist Michael Wolff quotes prominent Trump advisers as questioning the president’s competence.

 

Asked in an interview whether she thought concerns about Trump’s mental state were serious, May said: “No.”

 

She said that “when I deal with President Trump what I see is somebody who is committed to ensuring that he is taking decisions in the best interests of the United States.”

 

In the BBC interview broadcast Sunday, May reaffirmed that Trump would visit Britain. She did not give a date, or say whether it would be a full state visit or a lower-key working trip.

 

 
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South Africa’s Parliament to Review rules on Removing President

Posted on by SeeAF

South Africa’s parliament said on Sunday it would review its rules relating to removing the country’s president, after the constitutional court said on Dec. 29 that lawmakers had previously failed to hold President Jacob Zuma to account.

The court ruling has piled pressure on Zuma and his allies as his opponents within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) are pushing for him to be removed as head of state before his term ends in 2019, when national elections will be held.

Zuma is in a weakened position after Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was elected leader of the ANC last month, narrowly beating Zuma’s ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

There is widespread local media speculation that Ramaphosa’s faction in the ANC will push for Zuma to be removed as the country’s president in the coming weeks, although Zuma still has allies at the top layer of the party.

A parliamentary subcommittee will meet this week to discuss a draft procedure on the section of the constitution relating to the removal of a president and the draft will then be debated in the house, the National Assembly said in a statement.

The national assembly’s subcommittee will review a draft procedure drawn up in April 2016 that was never finalized and a2015 study of impeachment proceedings of seven other parliaments around the world, the statement said.

Zuma, 75, has survived several no confidence votes in parliament over recent years, mostly relating to a string of corruption allegations. He denies any wrongdoing.

The constitutional court gave parliament six months to put in place a mechanism for removing a president after it said lawmakers failed to hold Zuma to account for a scandal relating to state-funded upgrades to his home.

The constitutional court ruled in 2016 that Zuma pay back some of the roughly $15 million in state money spent on ‘security upgrades’ on his sprawling country compound, which included a cattle pen, chicken run and a swimming pool.
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Historic Iron Church in Istanbul Reopens After Restoration

Posted on by SeeEU

Turkey’s president and the Bulgarian prime minister have unveiled the historic Iron Church in Istanbul after a seven-year restoration project.

 

In Sunday’s opening ceremony, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the 120-year-old Sveti Stefan Church remains the “single example” of a church built on an iron skeleton.

 

The cross-shaped Bulgarian church was built on the banks of Istanbul’s Golden Horn in 1898 with 500-tons of prefabricated iron components shipped from Austria. Its restoration since 2011 cost an estimated $3.5 million.

Erdogan said the church contributes to the “beauty and wealth of Istanbul” and is the latest example of Turkey’s efforts to restore synagogues, chapels and churches.

 

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said his country would work to “normalize and improve” Turkey-European Union relations as his country assume the EU’s presidency.

 

 
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Germany’s Merkel Embarks on New Talks to Form Government

Posted on by SeeEU

German Chancellor Angela Merkel embarked Sunday on talks with the center-left Social Democrats on forming a new government, with leaders stressing the need for speed as they attempt to break an impasse more than three months after the country’s election.

 

Merkel’s conservative Union bloc and the Social Democrats have run Germany together for the past four years. But the Social Democrats vowed to go into opposition after a disastrous election result Sept. 24, and only reluctantly reconsidered after Merkel’s attempt to build a coalition with two smaller parties collapsed in November.

 

The effort to form a government has already become post-World War II Germany’s longest ahead of the preliminary talks starting Sunday.

 

Leaders aim to decide by Friday whether there’s enough common ground to move on to formal coalition negotiations _ a move that would require approval by a Jan. 21 congress of the Social Democrats, many of whom are deeply suspicious of another coalition. Those negotiations, if they happen, would likely take weeks and the Social Democrats have promised to hold a ballot of their entire membership on any coalition deal that emerges.

 

If the parties don’t form a coalition, the only remaining options would be for Merkel’s conservatives to lead an unprecedented minority government, or a new election.

 

“I think we can succeed,” Merkel said as she arrived for the talks. “We will work very quickly and very intensely … and always have in mind what people in Germany expect of us – they of course expect of politicians that they solve their problems.”

 

“I am going into these talks with optimism, but it is clear to me that a huge amount of work lies ahead of us in the coming days,” she added.

The Social Democrats’ leader, Martin Schulz, said his party will take a “constructive and open-ended” approach.

 

“We are not drawing red lines, but we want to implement as many red policies as possible in Germany,” he said, referring to the party’s color. “Germans are entitled to have this go quickly.”

 
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Trump: ‘Great Thing for the World’ if Korean Talks Make Progress

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U.S. President Donald Trump says he hopes the newly arranged talks between North and South Korea will go “beyond the Olympics” and promised the United States will take part “at the appropriate time.”

Trump gave an unusual news conference Saturday from the Camp David presidential retreat, where he met with Republican lawmakers. Of the upcoming talks between Seoul and Pyongyang, Trump said, “I hope it works out.”

“I would love to see them take it beyond the Olympics,” he said. “And at the appropriate time,” he added, “we’ll get involved.”

Assessing the upcoming discussions between the two Koreas on Jan. 9, Trump said “if something can happen and something can come out of those talks that would be a great thing for all of humanity. That would be a great thing for the world.’’

The president also said that he had spoken with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, who “thanks me very much for my tough stance.’’

“You have to have a certain attitude and you have to be prepared to do certain things and I’m totally prepared to do that,’’ Trump said, suggesting that his tough language has helped persuade the North to sit down with the South.

Recently, Trump and Kim have traded barbs about their nuclear arsenals.

In a New Year’s address, Kim said he had a “nuclear button’’ on his office desk and threatened that “the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike.’’

Soon after, Trump tweeted: “Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!’’

North Korea on Friday accepted South Korea’s offer of high-level talks on the upcoming Olympic Games to take place Tuesday at the truce village of Panmunjom in the heavily fortified demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas.

On Sunday, North Korea announced a list of five officials who will represent Pyongyang, a day after South Korea confirmed its representatives.
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Thousands March in Honduras to Call for New Election

Posted on by SeeUS

Thousands of demonstrators led by opposition leader Salvador Nasralla gathered in Honduras’ second-largest city Saturday to protest the re-election of President Juan Orlando Hernandez in a vote they say was fraudulent.

“We will not stop until Hernandez says he’s leaving,” Nasralla told supporters, many of whom chanted “JOH out!” referring to Hernandez.

It was the first such march in San Pedro Sula since the Nov. 26 election, and the losing candidate once again appealed to the Organization of American States and the countries that have recognized Hernandez’s victory to listen to the protesters as they oppose an “illegal government.”

According to the official count, Hernandez won with 42.95 percent to 41.42 for Nasralla, a former sportscaster backed by a left-leaning coalition.

However the OAS, which had observers monitoring the election, called for a repeat of the vote, saying the official version of the count included “extreme statistical improbability.” An early lead by Nasralla disappeared after the public vote count mysteriously stopped for more than a day then restarted.

Hernandez denies the vote was fraudulent and has called on Hondurans to accept his re-election. Some countries, including the United States, have recognized his victory.

Street protests in Honduras left at least 17 dead last month but Saturday’s march went without incident.
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Cameroon Separatist Leader, Aides Arrested in Nigeria

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A leading member of a separatist movement in Cameroon has been taken into custody in the capital of neighboring Nigeria with his aides, sources and secessionists said Saturday.

The once-fringe Anglophone movement in majority Francophone Cameroon has gathered steam in the last few months following a military crackdown on protests. It represents the gravest challenge yet to the 35-year rule of President Paul Biya who will seek re-election this year.

Julius Ayuk Tabe, the Nigeria-based chairman of the Governing Council of Ambazonia separatist movement, was taken into custody with six others at a hotel in Abuja on Friday, said an official in the West African country and a member of the separatist group in Cameroon.

Bilateral relations have been strained by a separatist movement in Cameroon that has clashed with the Cameroonian army and prompted thousands to flee violence by traveling across the border to Nigeria.

Cameroonian troops last month crossed into Nigeria in pursuit of rebels without seeking Nigerian authorization, causing diplomatic wrangling behind the scenes.

Separatists, including armed radical elements, seek an independent state for the nation’s Anglophone regions they call Ambazonia.

A Nigerian official said Tabe and six of his supporters were placed in custody at around 7 p.m. (1800 GMT) Friday.

“They were having a meeting at Nera Hotels in Abuja,” the official said on condition of anonymity. The official did not know who rounded up the separatists.

The separatist group later issued a statement saying that Tabe and six others were taken from Nera Hotels by Cameroonian gunmen in an “illegal abduction.” Reuters was unable to independently verify the allegation.

The unrest in Cameroon began in November, when English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, frustrated with having to work in French, took to the streets calling for reforms and greater autonomy.

French is the official language for most of Cameroon, but English is spoken in two regions that border Nigeria.

Protests by separatists prompted a violent crackdown by Cameroon’s military last year in which troops opened fire on demonstrators.
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Pentagon Watchdog Sharply Critical of Afghan Air Force Reform Efforts

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The Pentagon’s inspector-general has released a report sharply criticizing NATO-led, U.S. supported attempts to reform Afghanistan’s air force, citing gaps in training, support, and a lack of a coherent overarching strategy that has left coalition advisers insufficiently prepared.
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Kosovo War Rape Survivors Say Justice Elusive Despite Compensation

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In January 2018, Kosovo women who were raped by Serbian forces during the 1998-99 armed conflict will begin receiving recognition and compensation for their suffering. For nearly two decades, the women hesitated to tell their stories for fear of being marginalized, stigmatized and shunned. VOA’s Edlira Bllaca and Keida Kostreci report that the trauma is part of the women’s daily lives, and few perpetrators have been convicted for their crimes. Keida Kostreci narrates.
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Refugees, Migrants Attempt to Escape Italy on Pass of Death

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The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Italy may have dropped, but it doesn’t feel that way in the picturesque town of Ventimiglia, near the French border. As winter bites, hundreds live in grim conditions as they wait for their chance to make it into France, and some have paid for their efforts with their lives. John Owens reports from Ventimiglia.
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Report: Britain’s May to Shuffle Cabinet; Top Spots Safe

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British Prime Minister Theresa May will announce changes to her ministerial Cabinet Monday, but her foreign, finance, interior and Brexit ministers will keep their jobs, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

The Sunday Times said the reshuffle was aimed at bringing younger women and non-white lawmakers into the Cabinet in attempt to appeal to voters who dealt May a setback in an election last year.

May is also expected to announce a new first secretary of state, effectively her No. 2, after long-standing ally Damian Green was forced to resign from the post last month, the newspaper said.

May, who became prime minister shortly after the Brexit vote in mid-2016, has been widely expected to shuffle her ministerial team after a damaging 2017 when she called a snap election only to lose her parliamentary majority.

May’s Conservative Party is running neck and neck with the left-wing Labour Party in opinion polls and has been split by differences about what kind of relationship Britain should seek with the European Union after it leaves the bloc in 2019.

The foreign, finance, interior and Brexit ministries are run by Boris Johnson, Philip Hammond, Amber Rudd and David Davis.

The Sunday Times said the ministers who were expected to lose their jobs or move to different roles included Conservative Party chairman Patrick McLoughlin, education minister Justine Greening, business minister Greg Clark and Andrea Leadsom, the government’s leader in the lower house of parliament.
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Low Tides, High Winds Spur N.J. Nuclear Plant to Reduce Power 

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The United States’ oldest operating nuclear plant has reduced its power after unusually low tides and high winds affected the water levels in its intake canal.

Oyster Creek declared an unusual event around 5:25 a.m. Saturday. That’s the lowest of four emergency classification levels used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Although water levels later returned to normal, plant officials said the unusual event declaration would remain in place until operators confirmed that the environmental anomaly wouldn’t recur with the next tidal change.

A plant spokeswoman says minimum water levels were established “as one of many conservative measures” to ensure that operators have access to multiple and redundant sources of cooling water should the plant need to be shut down quickly.

Oyster Creek is located in Lacey Township, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of Philadelphia. 
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Big Freeze Begins to Loosen Its Grip on Northeast

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About 100 million people faced a new challenge after the whopping East Coast snowstorm: a gusty deep freeze, topped Saturday by a wind chill close to minus 100 on New Hampshire’s Mount Washington that vied for world’s coldest place.

Jaw-clenching temperatures to start the weekend throughout the Northeast hit Burlington, Vermont, at minus 1 and a wind chill of minus 30. Both Philadelphia and New York were shivering at 8 degrees.

And in Hartford, Connecticut, a brutal cold of 10 degrees yielded a wind chill of minus 20.

​Wind chill hits minus 93

On Saturday, winds of more than 90 mph swirled Mount Washington, the Northeast’s highest peak, at a temperature of minus 37 degrees and a wind chill of minus 93. It tied for second place with Armstrong, Ontario, as the coldest spot in the world. It was minus 38 in Eureka, Nunavut, Canada.

Boston, at a relatively balmy 11 degrees, was wrangling with a different kind of challenge: a shortage of plumbers as the weather wreaked havoc on pipes that froze and cracked, Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh reported.

A 3-foot tidal surge brought on by the nor’easter along the Massachusetts coast was the highest recorded in nearly a century. Residents of Boston and its suburbs were cleaning up Saturday after the tide that came in Thursday, flooding streets and forcing some residents to evacuate as the water started to freeze.

​Flights limited

In New Jersey, many people stayed home instead of dealing with single-digit temperatures. Others were cleaning up from the storm that dropped more than a foot of snow in some spots earlier in the week.

“My car felt like an icebox this morning, even though I had the heat on full blast,” Julie Williams said as she sipped coffee inside a Jackson Township convenience store. She was headed to work at a local supermarket and expecting it to be packed.

“People think it’s nuts before a storm happens, with everyone getting milk, bread, etc.” she said, adding with a laugh, “but it’s even worse in the days afterward, because they do the same thing but they’re a little crazy from cabin fever.”

The operators of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport were struggling to recoup from Thursday’s storm.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, said it was working with airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration to limit flights into Kennedy on Saturday “until there are adequate gates available to handle the backlog of flights due to recovery of flight schedules in the wake of Thursday’s storm.”

Normal temperatures next week

In Rhode Island, hospitals were treating dozens of storm-related injuries as the region grits through a deep freeze that followed a powerful blizzard.

In Providence and Newport, at least 40 people were treated for various weather-related conditions, from heart attacks, snowblower or shoveling injuries, frostbite and more, according to The Providence Journal.

The storm dropped more than 14 inches of snow on Providence.

Monday is expected to be the first day above freezing since last month. In New York City, temperatures should reach 40 degrees next week.

Even more southern locations didn’t escape the cold; the mercury dipped into the single digits in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., during the weekend, about 20 degrees below normal for this time of year.

Too cold to ski

The high winds and frigid temperatures prompted several ski resorts to close some of their lifts. Bolton Valley in Vermont said there was a general “lack of demand and enthusiasm from skiers and riders.” With a temperature of minus 14 at the summit and minus 11 at the base, the resort canceled evening skiing because of a frostbite warning.

In Vermont’s capital city of Montpelier, with the temperature at minus 5 Saturday, business was slow at La Brioche Bakery but soups were a big seller, said bakery clerk Caroline Cunningham. “Nobody wants to be outside,” she said.

The key strategy for most East Coast residents was to wear layers of clothing.

Brooklyn resident Zelani Miah, who was walking home from running errands Saturday morning, said he wore lots of them.

“Right now, the only thing I put on was just some gloves, a couple sweaters of course, like five or six of them, and two pants basically and boots,” Miah said. “Keep warm, make sure you wear hats.”
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