Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and land mines kill and injure thousands of Afghans every yea. One of the victims is 12-year-old Noorzya, from the Nangarhar province, who stepped on an IED and lost her legs. It has not been determined who planted the explosive, but Islamic State and Taliban militants were active in the area. VOA’s Zabihullah Ghazi spoke with Noorzya .
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Month: March 2018
White House Says Staffers Shouldn’t Be Concerned About Firings
No one is getting fired right now. That is what the White House is telling reporters and its own jittery staff.
Chief of Staff John Kelly gathered some personnel Friday and told them “people shouldn’t be concerned,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “We should do exactly what we do every day, and that’s come to work and do the very best job that we can.”
Sanders took to Twitter on Thursday night to rebut breaking news stories that President Donald Trump had decided to remove national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
“I spoke directly to the president last night,” Sanders told reporters Friday. “He asked me to pass that message along to General McMaster. I know the two of them have been in meetings today. Whether or not that came up, I don’t know.”
A little while later, McMaster was seen escorting guests out of the West Wing entrance.
“Sarah set it straight yesterday. Everybody has got to leave the White House at some point,” he said.
Asked by a reporter whether he was leaving sooner rather than later, McMaster replied, “I’m doing my job.”
Media reports on dismissal
The Washington Post and several other news organizations have reported the three-star general’s removal from the key post had already been decided by Trump, but it is not yet being announced to spare McMaster embarrassment.
There is also speculation the president will award the general a fourth star and send him back into the field to command troops, perhaps on the Korean Peninsula.
Trump has made little effort to hide his frustration with the active-duty career officer who is regarded as an iconoclastic battle veteran.
McMaster, according to White House insiders, also seems eager to leave, fed up with an unconventional administration and flummoxed by a commander-in-chief with whom he has failed to bond.
The president chastised McMaster last month after the national security adviser said Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election was “incontrovertible.”
“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems,” Trump tweeted.
Reports of McMaster’s impending removal followed the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week.
‘There will always be change’
There is also intense speculation that several members of the president’s Cabinet could be short-timers, primarily because of bad publicity about costly and dubious travel, as well as questionable cosmetic but expensive office modifications.
“There will always be change,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “And I think you want to see change. I want to also see different ideas.”
If the president follows through in replacing him, McMaster will become the second national security adviser to leave the job since Trump took office.
The first one, retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, was fired weeks into his tenure in 2017 after misleading White House officials about contacts with Russians.
Flynn has made a plea deal with federal prosecutors for lying about conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and is bound to fully cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
Mueller’s team appears to be examining a wide range of transactions involving Trump’s businesses, as well as those of his associates, and now has reportedly issued a subpoena for records from the Trump Organization.
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Some States Adopt ‘Red Flag’ Laws in Bid to Stem Gun Violence
Last month, San Diego police knocked on Brandon Snyder’s door and took away his rifle. They did it using a new tool: an emergency protective order issued by a court, just like orders that for years have been used to prevent spousal abuse or stalking.
California is one of only two states that allow family members to seek a gun restraining order when they see warning signs that a gun owner might pose a danger to himself or others. Five other states allow only police officers to seek gun proactive orders. Nearly 20 other states are considering such measures.
In the wake of last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school, many on both sides of the gun debate — from firearms control advocates to gun lobbyists — see so-called “red flag” laws like California’s as a politically viable solution to gun violence. And they’re pushing more states to adopt them.
Co-workers of Snyder, 31, a mechanic at a car dealership, became alarmed after he praised Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock for not “committing suicide until he’d gunned down enough people to set a modern record,” said Mara Elliott, San Diego’s top prosecutor.
That wasn’t all.
“What he told his co-workers is, if it was up to him, he’d have shot up a mosque and then shot it out with the cops,” recalled Elliott, whose office investigated the case.
Snyder, facing the prospect of dismissal, told his Ford dealership colleagues that if he was let go, he’d return with a gun. A co-worker called police.
Semiautomatic rifle surrendered
Unable to charge Snyder with a crime, prosecutors obtained an emergency firearms protective order. On February 27, he surrendered his semiautomatic rifle and “significant killing capability,” Elliott said.
“We take no chances,” she told VOA.
Snyder could not be immediately reached for comment. Tom Nicholl, the general manager of the dealership where Snyder worked, did not respond to requests for comment.
In the United States, where many citizens take their constitutional right to own firearms very seriously, removing a gun from a lawful owner is no easy task. But San Diego has done it 19 times in the past three months under California’s three-year-old law.
And Elliott said it’s working.
The law “gives people the opportunity to speak up and get a response before waiting for a crime or tragedy to happen,” the prosecutor said.
Last week, Florida passed a gun law that allows police officers, though not family members, to obtain gun restraining orders.
The state’s two senators, one a Republican and one a Democrat, recently introduced a bill in Congress that incentivizes states to adopt gun restraining order laws. The White House has spoken out for the measure.
In an about-face, the National Rifle Association (NRA), the nation’s main gun lobby, has thrown its support behind it.
“We need to stop dangerous people before they act, so Congress should provide funding for states to adopt risk protection orders,” Chris Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, said in a video message last week.
Does it work?
However, hard evidence that gun restraining orders are effective remains thin. In recent years, there has been only one major study on the topic, and it focused on the law’s effectiveness in preventing suicide in Connecticut.
The 2016 study, widely cited by gun control advocates, showed that for every 10 to 20 gun restraining orders issued in the state from 1999 to 2013, a life was saved.
Though the NRA has come on board, other gun rights advocates say treatment, not gun seizure, is the answer to dealing with gun owners who show signs of trouble.
“If you really believe somebody is a danger to themselves or others, then you ought to think about involuntarily committing them to some type of mental health facility,” said John Lott, an economist and founder of the right-leaning Crime Prevention Research Center.
Others worry that gun protection order laws may infringe on free speech, due process and other constitutional rights.
“I don’t want a police officer simply judging somebody’s talk to be sufficient to seize their arms,” said Peter Langrock, a Vermont lawyer who says he’s not a supporter of the NRA.
Right balance
But supporters of gun restraining orders say the law strikes the right balance between public safety and civil liberties.
“The due process goes into balancing public safety,” said John Hemmerling, a prosecutor in the San Diego city attorney’s office.”The due process plays itself out within 21 days.”
On March 20 — 21 days after giving up his rifle — Snyder will have his day in court, where a judge will hear his side of the story and decide whether to allow Snyder to retrieve his gun or extend the restraining order for up to a year.
Researcher Lynn Davis contributed to this report.
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Tens of Thousands Rally in Slovakia, Demand Early Election
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Slovakia Friday to call for snap elections, saying the prime minister’s resignation is not enough to address their concerns following the murder of an investigative journalist.
In a third day of demonstrations, protesters rallied in 35 towns and cities. About 50,000 people gathered in the capital, Bratislava, despite Thursday’s resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico and his government. Demonstrators chanted “early elections’’ and said the whole government needs to change.
Investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, 27, and his fiancee were found shot to death at home last month. Kuciak reported on fraud allegations against businessmen with political ties, and protesters have demanded a through investigation of his killing as well as of the alleged government corruption.
Police said Kuciak’s death was most likely related to his investigation into alleged ties between top Slovakia politicians and the Italian mafia. Nobody has been charged in the killings.
On Thursday, Slovak President Andrej Kiska accepted Fico’s resignation and asked Peter Pellegrini, Fico’s deputy prime minister, to form a new government. The move keeps the government’s current three-party coalition in power and avoids an early election.
This week’s demonstrations have been the largest in Slovakia since the 1989 Velvet Revolution that toppled Communism in the former Czechoslovakia.
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Palestinian Motorist Rams Group of Israeli Soldiers, Kills 2
Israeli’s army says a Palestinian motorist rammed into a group of troops Friday in the West Bank, killing two soldiers and injuring two others.
A military spokesman said the Palestinian driver intentionally ran over the soldiers and called the incident a “terror attack.”
The military said the soldiers were on duty securing routes near the settlement of Mevo Dotan, close to the Palestinian city of Jenin, when they were attacked.
It said the Palestinian driver was arrested and taken to an Israeli hospital, where he is being treated for injuries. The military said the driver, identified as Alaa Kabha, had previously been jailed for security offenses.
Israeli military officials in the West Bank said in response to the attack they had rescinded the permits of 67 of the assailant’s family members to work in Israel.
The Islamist militant faction Hamas welcomed the ramming attack but did not claim responsibility for it.
The incident came as Hamas called for a day of rage in the West Bank and the Gaza border to mark 100 days since U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as their future capital and view Trump’s decision as siding with Israel in the Mideast conflict.
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‘Troll Factory’ Workers, ‘Putin’s Chef’ Among Russians Hit by New US Sanctions
The latest U.S. sanctions against Russians are aimed at punishing those responsible for cyberattacks and attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential elections.
Washington said the issuing of the sanctions was also motivated by other factors, including the poisoning of former double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury.
The U.S. treasury also referred to last year’s massive ransomware attack, known as NotPetya, that the U.S. and Britain have blamed on the Russian military.
The sanctions target 19 people and five legal entities, including Russian intelligence officials. They ban U.S. assets and citizens from business dealings with them.
‘Troll factory’
Most of the new sanctions target those involved in a so-called Russian “troll factory” operation that U.S. authorities say flooded social media with posts intended to sway the 2016 election.
Twelve of those hit by the new sanctions are said to have worked for the Internet Research Agency based in the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg, while the agency itself has also been blacklisted.
The U.S. special prosecutor investigating Moscow’s meddling indicted 13 Russians in February for allegedly running the secret campaign.
They are all included on the latest sanctions list.
‘Putin’s chef’
The most prominent name on the sanctions list is Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman who has been nicknamed “Putin’s chef” because his Concord company has provided catering for the Kremlin and he has been photographed with the president.
Prigozhin has been under U.S. sanctions since December 2016 for having “materially assisted” senior officials of the Russian Federation and for “extensive business dealings” with the defense ministry over the conflict in Ukraine.
The U.S. has now updated the details of his sanctions listing, adding that he and his Concord company provided “material assistance” to the troll factory, which Washington says he owns or controls. He has denied this.
Prigozhin brushed off the sanctions Thursday, saying he has no business interests in the U.S. or with Americans. “I’ll stop going to McDonald’s,” he joked in a comment to RIA Novosti state news agency.
Spies
The sanctions list also targets those described as “cyber actors operating on behalf of the Russian government.”
It adds Sergei Afanasyev and Grigory Molchanov, who are both referred to as senior officials in the military intelligence agency GRU.
The list also includes secret service officials who are already under U.S. sanctions, including the head of GRU, Igor Korobov, and three of his deputies.
The military intelligence agency itself and the FSB security agency, the successor to the KGB, are also sanctioned.
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12 Dead in Central Somalia as Villagers Resist Al-Shabab Taxes
Clashes in central Somalia between Somali army troops and al-Shabab militants have left at least 12 people dead, witnesses say.
The clashes Thursday started after armed al-Shabab members tried to impose taxes on residents of villages around the town of Mahas, in the Hiran region.
Resident Dahir Muse Osoble told VOA Somali that government soldiers backing cattle herders engaged in more than six hours of battle with the militants.
“The fighting started at around 11 a.m. local time when heavily armed militants simultaneously entered into the villages of Kaadiley, Lebi Butale, Bulucle and Muse Geel, ordering pastoralists to hand over some of their livestock as a zakat demand, or tax. Then we took up arms to defend ourselves and our livestock from the militants’ flagrant aggression, with the backing Somali National Army,” Osoble said.
Somali government officials in Mahas, contacted by VOA, confirmed the army had moved in to back up the cattle herders.
“The pastoralists and habitants in these villages, who are already struggling economically after losing hundreds of livestock in the recent drought, dismissed the demand for taxes, leading to the fighting. And it is our job to defend our citizens from terrorists,” said one official.
Multiple residents said at least 12 combatants, including five militants and one civilian, were killed in the fighting.
Clashes involving pastoralists resisting al-Shabab taxes began in Somalia’s Hiran and Middle Shabelle regions in 2013.
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School Children Across Africa Face Threats Beyond Kidnappings
On February 19, Boko Haram insurgents abducted 110 girls from their school in Dapchi, a town on the Komadugu Gana River in northeast Nigeria.
Days after the kidnapping, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Twitter, “I share the anguish of all the parents and guardians of the girls that remain unaccounted for. I would like to assure them that we are doing all in our power to ensure the safe return of all the girls.”
Nearly a month later, agonized families wait and hope for their loved ones’ release while the government prepares for a potential negotiation with Boko Haram.
Prevalence of violence across continent
Kidnappings and shootings terrorize communities and command international attention. But millions of students in Africa experience other kinds of school-based violence, with profound effects on their development and well-being.
In 2012, researchers with the Center for Justice and Crime Prevention concluded that more than 20 percent of students in South Africa were either threatened with or became victims of assault, sexual assault or robbery.
The researchers found that violence in schools often mirrors an overall pattern of abuse that children experience in their homes and communities.
Last year, Human Rights Watch reported that, in Tanzania, “adolescent girls frequently face sexual harassment or are persuaded or coerced into sexual relationships by their teachers.”
Sexual assault
Rather than provide safe haven, schools too often become venues for the sexual exploitation of children, especially girls.
In 2003, researchers at the University of Sussex concluded that girls in Zimbabwe, Ghana and Malawi “were subjected on a routine basis to aggressive sexual advances from older male pupils and male teachers within the school.”
They determined that “sexual aggression goes largely unpunished, dominant male behavior by both pupils and teachers is not questioned, and pupils are strongly encouraged to conform to the gender roles and norms of interaction which they observe around them.”
In the school setting, sexual assault often involves a breach of trust by caretakers.
In South Africa, where researchers have documented widespread school-based sexual abuse, the parliament in October said that “the safety of the school environment must be reasserted to ensure that parents feel free to send their children to school.”
Their statement followed ongoing reports of sexual abuse perpetrated by educators, including a guard alleged to have assaulted 87 girls in Gauteng, one of South Africa’s nine provinces.
Now, the district attorney in Gauteng has issued a memorandum of complaint to the local police department with allegations that an investigating officer himself assaulted multiple girls in the course of the inquiry.
Corporal punishment
Many African school children experience daily violence in the form of corporal punishment, which the United Nations defines as “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light.”
The Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded that corporal punishment harms children’s physical, psychological and social development. Researchers have found that degrading forms of punishment interfere with learning and produce behavioral problems.
In Africa, corporal punishment remains widespread. Five countries — Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania, Mauritania and Botswana — have no prohibitions in any settings, according to the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, an advocacy group founded in Geneva in 2001. A combined 128 million children live in those countries.
An additional 22 countries have prohibitions in only some settings, of which 12 have no prohibitions in schools.
There are some bright spots. In 2007, Togo became the first African country to prohibit corporal punishment fully, followed by Kenya, Tunisia and the Republic of Congo in 2010, South Sudan in 2011, Cabo Verde in 2013, and Benin in 2015. An additional 18 countries have committed to full prohibition, according to data from the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children.
Cycles of violence
Experts highlight education’s potential to unlock opportunities and break cycles of violence and oppression, especially for girls. Violence in school settings, however, remains widespread and can negate those benefits.
Researchers have documented the harmful fallout: unwanted pregnancies, dropouts, and long-term physical, psychological and social consequences.
That’s a concern for the millions of school children exposed to violence, and for the Dapchi schoolgirls — and the more than 100 Chibok girls, kidnapped in 2014 — who remain missing.
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Steve Jobs Pre-Apple Job Application Fetches $174,000 at Auction
A one-page job application filled out by Steve Jobs more than four decades ago that reflected the Apple founder’s technology aspirations sold for $174,000 at a U.S. auction, more than three times its presale estimate.
An Internet entrepreneur from England was the winning bidder, Boston-based auction house RR Auction said on Friday, but the buyer wished to remain anonymous.
The application dated 1973, complete with spelling and punctuation errors, had been expected to fetch about $50,000.
The sale price reached on Thursday was $174,757, the auction house said.
The form lists his name as “Steven jobs” and address as “reed college,” the Portland, Oregon, college he attended briefly. Next to “Phone:” he wrote “none.”
Under a section titled “Special Abilities,” Jobs wrote “tech or design engineer. digital.—f rom Bay near Hewitt-Packard,” a reference to pioneering California technology company Hewlett-Packard and the San Francisco Bay area.
The document does not state what position or company the application was intended for. Jobs and friend Steve Wozniak founded Apple about three years later.
RR Auction said the high price reflected the continuing influence of Jobs, who died of cancer in 2011 at the age of 56.
“There are many collectors who have earned disposable income over the last few decades using Apple technology, and we expect similarly strong results on related material in the future,”
Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, said in a statement.
Other highlights from the online auction included an Apple Mac OS X technical manual signed by Jobs in 2001 that sold for $41,806 and a rare signed newspaper clipping from 2008 featuring an image of Jobs speaking at the Apple Developers Conference that sold for $26,950.
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Britain, France, Germany Propose New Iran Sanctions in Confidential Paper
Britain, France and Germany have proposed fresh EU sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missiles and its role in Syria’s war, according to a confidential document, in a bid to persuade Washington to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
The joint paper, seen by Reuters, was sent to European Union capitals Friday, said two people familiar with the matter, to sound out support for such sanctions because they would need the support of all 28 EU member governments.
The proposal is part of an EU strategy to save the accord signed by world powers that curbs Tehran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons, namely by showing U.S. President Donald Trump that there are other ways to counter Iranian power abroad.
Trump delivered an ultimatum to the European signatories Jan. 12. It said they must agree to “fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal,” which was sealed under his predecessor Barack Obama, or he would refuse to extend U.S. sanctions relief on Iran. U.S. sanctions will resume unless Trump issues fresh waivers to suspend them May 12.
Frustration with Tehran
“We will therefore be circulating in the coming days a list of persons and entities that we believe should be targeted in view of their publicly demonstrated roles,” the document said, referring to Iranian ballistic missile tests and Tehran’s role in backing Syria’s government in the seven-year-old civil war.
The steps would go beyond what a U.S. State Department cable seen by Reuters last month outlined as a path to satisfy Trump: simply committing to improving the nuclear deal.
It also reflects frustration with Tehran.
“We’re getting irritated. We’ve been talking to them for 18 months and have had no progress on these issues,” a diplomat said.
Iran defiant; EU talks Monday
European Union foreign ministers will discuss the proposal at a closed-door meeting Monday in Brussels, diplomats said.
Analysts say the nuclear agreement, touted at the time as a breakthrough reducing the risk of a devastating wider war in the Middle East, could collapse if Washington pulls out.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif struck a defiant note towards Washington on Friday.
“If the United States makes the mistake of pulling out of the JCPOA, it will definitely be a painful mistake for the Americans,” Iranian state television quoted Zarif as saying. The JCPOA is the formal name of the nuclear deal.
Zarif did not refer to the possibility of new EU sanctions.
The commission overseeing the nuclear accord said Friday in Vienna that Iran was meeting its obligations under the deal.
Talks with US
The joint document by Britain, France and Germany said they were engaged in intensive talks with the Trump administration to “achieve a clear and lasting reaffirmation of U.S. support for the (nuclear) agreement beyond May 12.”
The proposal follows weeks of talks between the State Department and European powers as they try to mollify the Trump administration, which is split between those who want to tear up the agreement and those who wish to preserve it.
A U.S. State Department official declined to comment.
“We don’t want to get ahead of the EU’s decision-making process. … There is broad agreement on the areas that need strengthening, but how that’s done in each of the three areas is the subject of our negotiations,” the official added.
A different U.S. official cited “very good” talks with London, Paris and Berlin this week in Vienna on the issue.
‘Proliferation’ of Iranian missiles
The document referred to sanctions that would “target militias and commanders.” It proposes building on the EU’s existing sanctions list related to Syria, which includes travel bans and asset freezes on individuals, and a ban on doing business or financing public and private companies.
It was strident in its criticism of Iran’s ballistic weapons, which Tehran says are for defensive purposes, saying there were “transfers of Iranian missiles and missile technology” to Syria and allies of Tehran, such as Houthi rebels in Yemen and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Shi’ite Hezbollah.
“Such a proliferation of Iranian missile capabilities throughout the region is an additional and serious source of concern,” the document said.
Still, the issue is highly sensitive because the 2015 pact between Iran and six major powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — lifted international sanctions that crippled Iran’s oil-based economy.
While the EU retains some sanctions on Iranians over human rights abuses, it rescinded its economic and financial restrictions on Iran in 2016 and does not want to be seen to be reneging on the agreement.
Iran signed up to limits on its uranium enrichment activity, which it has repeatedly said is for peaceful power generation, not bombs, but has refused to discuss its missiles.
The Islamic Republic has dismissed Western assertions that its activities in the Middle East are destabilizing and also rejected Trump’s demands to renegotiate the nuclear accord.
Legal arguments
In the joint document, Britain, France and Germany set out questions and answers that seek to show that legally, the European powers would not be breaking the terms of the nuclear deal. It said they are “entitled to adopt additional sanctions against Iran” as long as they are not nuclear-related or previously lifted under the nuclear agreement.
The European powers said new sanctions are justified because Iran “did not commit further to stop undertaking ballistic missile destabilizing activities” under the nuclear agreement.
The nuclear deal’s terms did not cover ballistic missile activity.
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UN Chief ‘Deeply Concerned’ for Syrians Fleeing Eastern Ghouta, Afrin
The U.N. secretary-general said Friday that he was “deeply concerned” about Syrians’ mass exodus from the enclaves of eastern Ghouta and Afrin.
“I profoundly regret that Resolution 2401, concerning the cessation of hostilities throughout Syria, has not been implemented,” António Guterres said of the Security Council’s unanimous March 4 decision that has failed to de-escalate the violence.
“The United Nations and its partners are fully mobilized to bring immediate lifesaving relief to all those in need,” Guterres said in a statement. “I call on all parties to ensure safe and unimpeded humanitarian access in all areas.”
‘Alarming reports’
The U.N. Human Rights Office warned Friday that it had received “alarming reports” from the northwestern town of Afrin, where Turkish forces are battling Kurdish fighters. Civilians there reported being prevented from leaving the city by Kurdish forces.
“We have received reports that only those civilians who have contacts within the Kurdish authority or the Kurdish armed forces have been able to leave,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said. She noted that even those who could leave faced grave dangers as they exited and then had to pay government-backed armed groups to let them leave Afrin.
The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said it had finalized plans to assist as many as 50,000 people fleeing the opposition district of eastern Ghouta, which the Syrian government has been fighting to recapture since last month.
“We have been working, planning to respond to evacuations for a while and specifically to provide shelters with emergency assistance,” UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado told reporters in Geneva.
Airstrikes continued for a second day Friday in the area, killing dozens of people.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director said thousands of civilians had fled eastern Ghouta’s town of Hammouriyeh on Thursday. Russia said the number of people who left Thursday exceeded 12,000, while Syria’s U.N. ambassador said Friday that 40,000 had left all of eastern Ghouta and were transported to temporary shelters, where they were provided with assistance.
Aid for Douma
International Committee of the Red Cross President Peter Maurer accompanied an aid convoy into eastern Ghouta on Thursday. The 25-truck interagency convoy carried a month’s worth of assistance for the 26,100 residents of Douma.
“The people I have met are exhausted,” Maurer said afterward. “Exhausted from bombs and rockets dropping on civilian neighborhoods; exhausted from not knowing details about missing or detained family members.”
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A Sweet Way to Help Syrian Refugees in US
Namoura. Ma’amoul. Barazek. The names are unfamiliar to American consumers, but the tastes of honey, cinnamon and nuts are not.
These Syrian pastries are for sale at the Syrian Sweets Exchange in Phoenix, Arizona, held at local farmers markets and a series of special sales like one recently at Changing Hands Bookstore. Bake sales are a fundraising fixture of American life, so it was no stretch for a group of volunteers who wanted to do something to help the 300 Syrian families in the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas.
Syria is famous for its sweets, but program co-founder Tan Jakwani said volunteers learned about them firsthand.
“When the volunteers would visit the Syrian refugees … to bring them donated furniture, they would bring out delicious sweets to greet the volunteers,” she said.
Through the exchange, the bakers’ skills have been turned into revenue. All proceeds are given back to the 20 bakers, who are licensed by the state of Arizona to bake goods at home and sell them.
The bakers
“I sell my sweets every Saturday in the farmers market … and it sells very well,” said baker Noor al Mousa. “I have customers every Saturday coming for me for selling my sweets and thank me. And I thank them.”
Al Mousa was an engineer in Syria. Now, her husband supports the family of seven — four children born in Syria and one in the U.S. — by driving cars at the Phoenix airport while she bakes.
“We send a lot of money to my family in Syria and in Jordan,” Al Mousa said. “My sister and my aunts and the brother of my husband are all in Syria. … I am very worried for them.”
After al Mousa and one of her young daughters were shot in Syria and their house collapsed, the family walked to Jordan overnight where they stayed for four years before arriving in the U.S.
“I made sweets just for family in my country,” al Mousa said. “Now volunteers help me sell my sweets in farmers markets.
“When I bake, I am happy. I am very happy,” she added.
The volunteers
The sweets exchange is part of a larger group called Refugee Connection Phoenix, whose volunteer members have grown from 60 to 800 over the last year. The Facebook-based group also has other programs, such as helping expectant mothers and teaching refugee children to read.
The Syrian Sweets Exchange founders and other volunteers, who drive the bakers to the sales and interpret for them, are mostly women who come from various walks of life and from different faiths.
Tan Jakwani’s motivation to help refugees stems from her own background. Her father — a major in the South Vietnamese Army — was evacuated at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and took refuge in the U.S. It was 10 years before Jakwani, her mother and three siblings arrived in the U.S.
“When we came, he already had a small house for us. So we did not have to go through the phase of living as refugees,” Jakwani said. “But my dad always told us about the time when he first came. He had a family sponsor who helped him with getting his driver’s license, getting a library card, and helped him get a job.”
Refugees have a lot of needs, Jakwani says, but she adds that if everyone does a little, “a lot can be done” to help.
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Thousands in DRC Flee Ethnic Violence, Sexual Abuse
The United Nations refugee agency says inter-ethnic violence and sexual abuse have sent more than 4,000 people from eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo fleeing to Uganda over the past three days.
The latest exodus from the DRC has pushed the number of refugees that have fled to Uganda this year to 57,000.
UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told VOA a large majority, 77 percent, are women and children.
“Some of them are arriving in traumatized conditions. As soon as they land, UNHCR has been trying to work with our partners to identify those who need our urgent assistance. But the scale of violence being reported of the increasing numbers is quite alarming and worrying,” Baloch said.
The refugees are fleeing the DRC’s Ituri and North Kivu provinces. Most are crossing into Uganda by boat across Lake Albert.
Baloch said they arrive with few or no belongings. He said many are exhausted, hungry, thirsty and sick. He said they recount chilling tales of violence, including rape, murder and separation from family members.
“Armed men are reported to be attacking villages, looting and burning down houses, indiscriminately killing civilian populations and kidnapping young men and boys. A growing number of reports indicate that the violence is taking on ethnic dimensions as tribal groups engage in retaliatory attacks,” Baloch said.
Uganda currently is home to an estimated 1.4 million refugees from South Sudan. The UNHCR fears the number of refugees from the DRC will continue to rise if the violence and horrific incidents of sexual and other abuse continue, sending thousands more fleeing for their lives.
your ad hereNigerians Express Anger at Lawmakers’ ‘Outrageous’ Monthly Allowance
The revelation by a Nigerian senator that lawmakers in the upper house of parliament receive about $37,500 each month for personal expenses has prompted anger in the west African country, where most people live on less than $2 a day.
Senator Shehu Sani, who represents people in the northwestern state of Kaduna, said Senate lawmakers earn about 750,000 naira a month, with a further monthly “running allowance” of 13.5 million naira which equates to $37,500 on the black market rate of 360 naira per dollar most commonly used.
Sani’s disclosure sparked outrage in parts of the press and social media. While the elite in Africa’s biggest crude producer have long benefited from the country’s oil wealth, most of its 190 million inhabitants live in poverty.
“We must stop our lawmakers being the ones to determine how they are paid,” said development economist Odilim Enwegbara.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who has not said whether he will seek a second term in elections next February, came to power in 2015 vowing to improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
But the IMF recently said the people were getting poorer. Public outrage over the gap between rich and poor could become an election campaign issue in the coming months.
Usman Mohammed, a civil servant in Abuja, said the money allocated for lawmakers’ expenses was “outrageous.”
“They are supposed not to earn up to that amount of money when people hardly survive,” he said.
A man selling wallets to drivers stuck in traffic on the gridlocked streets of the commercial capital Lagos, who gave his name only as Chijioke, said Nigeria’s leaders were failing their people.
“Our leaders will not think about us. We are hustling not because we like it but we have to help ourselves,” he said.
Chijioke makes around 800 naira – just $2.22 – a day by weaving between cars under the equatorial sun for several hours each day.
Africa’s largest economy is only slowly emerging from recession. Inflation, despite slowing down for 13 months in a row, remained in double figures at 14.3 percent in February.
Food inflation, which hovered around 20 percent throughout last year, stood at 17.6 percent last month.
The expense figures discussed by Sani, a member of Buhari’s All Progressives Congress party with a reputation for being a firebrand politician, had not previously been disclosed.
“When that light of transparency is cast on all these personalities and offices, then Nigerians will come to know whether it is worth their while to support or sustain the big government as we have now,” said Sani.
your ad hereAt SXSW, African Entrepreneurs Promote Tech for Problem-Solving
South by Southwest is a pop-up marketplace of ideas. Held in Austin, Texas, it combines music and film festivals with a tech conference. Its nine days of events draw people from around the world, including Africa, as Tigist Geme of VOA’s Horn of Africa Service reports.
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Washington’s Famous Cherry Trees Blossoming Soon
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people flock to Washington in the spring to see the cherry blossoms bloom. The buds on the trees can survive chilly temperatures but need warm days to burst open with their white or pink flowers. But because of fluctuating spring temperatures, it is not always easy to predict when the trees will bloom. As we hear from VOA’s Deborah Block, it appears this year’s flowers may come out a bit earlier than usual.
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US Congress Weighs Next Steps in Gun Law Debate
What comes next in the U.S. Congress to address gun violence, after thousands of students walked out of their classrooms to demand action in the wake of the Florida school massacre? As VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, it appears there is still no clear path forward as lawmakers consider gun laws and how to deal with school safety.
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After Britain, US Imposes New Sanctions Against Russia
The United States has imposed sanctions on several Russian organizations and individuals for alleged destructive cyberattacks and interference in the 2016 U.S. election. The 19 entities sanctioned Thursday include 13 individuals charged last month by Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller. U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday Russia is likely behind the poisoning of a former Russian agent in Britain. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Experts: US, North Korea Heading for Collision Over Meaning of ‘Denuclearization’
A difference in how the United States and North Korea define denuclearization could potentially derail the summit scheduled for May between President Donald Trump and Kim Jon Un, according to experts.
Last week, Trump accepted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s summit invitation, which was conveyed by South Korean envoys who had met with Kim in Pyongyang.
If the U.S. military threat to North Korea is removed and the safety of the Kim regime is guaranteed, the “North side clearly affirmed its commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” said South Korean National Security Chief Chung Eui-yong after meeting with Kim. Days later, Chung delivered Kim’s proposal to Trump.
WATCH: US Moving Forward with Proposed US- North Korea Talks
What is denuclearization
But the fate of the summit scheduled could hinge on the definition of denuclearize, which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “to remove nuclear arms from or prohibit the use of nuclear arms in” — in this case, North Korea.
In the past, Pyongyang has interpreted denuclearization as the removal of what it perceives as threats, including the U.S. nuclear umbrella over the Korean Peninsula, the U.S.-South Korea security alliance, and the presence of the U.S. troops in the South, according to experts, while Washington interprets denuclearization as the complete dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
“A rift in views of denuclearization could make Trump-Kim summit difficult and possibly even be canceled,” said Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Evans Revere, a former State Department official who was involved in previous talks with North Korea, warned that Trump should not expect denuclearization to be the topic that Kim wants to discuss at the summit.
“A very complicated situation has just gotten a lot more complicated primarily because the invitation seems to have been accepted on the premise or with the assumption that the North Korean leader is interested in denuclearization, even though I see no evidence whatsoever that he’s actually interested in discussing denuclearization,” Revere said.
North Korea’s focus
North Korea will most likely attempt to shift the focus from dismantling its nuclear program to demanding the U.S. remove what North Korea perceives as threats posed against its regime as a condition for giving up its nuclear program, according to experts.
Withdrawing its military from the South, “will be unacceptable to the U.S.,” Manning said.
Ken Gause, director of the International Affairs Group at the Center for Naval Analyses, thinks divergent demands resulting from the differing views of denuclearization will prevent the U.S. from finding “a common ground to begin negotiations.”
Former State Department official Revere believes diplomatic progress will be severely impeded if Trump and Kim have different outcomes in mind.
“There is a rule in diplomacy that you never agree to a summit unless you understand the outcome that you are seeking in the summit, and your adversary also understands and agrees with the outcome that both parties are seeking. That doesn’t seem to be the case here,” Revere said.
North Korea’s commitment
North Korea’s commitment to denuclearize is highly deceptive, according to Revere.
“What Ambassador Chung, whom I have a lot of respect for, … heard from the North Koreans is not a commitment to denuclearization,” Revere said. “It’s a commitment to North Korea’s vision of the end of the U.S.-South Korean alliance and the end of the U.S. military presence. And that’s not an acceptable condition.”
North Korea has not made an official public pledge to give up its nuclear weapons program. The message that Pyongyang is willing to denuclearize was conveyed by the South Korean envoys who met with Kim. Without a direct statement from Kim, there is room to misinterpret North Korea’s definition of, and willingness to denuclearize, according to experts.
Manning warned that possible clashes over denuclearization at the summit could potentially lead to a diplomatic breakdown and raise the possibility of U.S. military action.
“There is a danger that if there is a Trump-Kim summit and President Trump feels played or betrayed, military action might be more likely,” Manning said.
“If diplomacy fails, the voices in the U.S. calling for military strikes will gain momentum,” Gause said. “The voices for diplomacy will be drowned out.”
Trilateral diplomacy
The trilateral diplomatic move began when South Korean envoys traveled to Pyongyang early in March at Kim’s invitation. Their trip was followed by the announcement of the inter-Korean summit to be held in April. The delegation then visited Washington to deliver Kim’s invitation for the U.S-North Korean summit that Trump agreed to have by May.
Youngnam Kim from VOA Korean Service contributed to this story.
your ad hereUS Moving Forward with Proposed US- North Korea Talks
A major shakeup in U.S. President Donald Trump’s Cabinet has not derailed plans for an unprecedented meeting between the president and the leader of North Korea, according to the State Department. But foreign policy experts warn caution may be necessary. VOA’s Korean service spoke with a former CIA analyst on Korean issues about the high stakes summit. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more.
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UN Security Council Threatens South Sudan with Arms Embargo
The U.N. Security Council on Thursday renewed its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan for another year and threatened an arms embargo if fighting continues.
The U.S.-sponsored text “expresses the council’s intention to consider all appropriate measures against those who take action that undermines the peace, stability and security of South Sudan.”
It says cutting off the export and sale of arms would deprive all sides of the means to keep fighting.
South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011. Ethnic violence and civil war broke out two years later between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former vice president Riek Machar.
A peace agreement signed in December has failed to take hold.
South Sudan also faces severe food shortages. The flight of an estimated 4 million civilians from war, poverty and impending starvation has resulted in one of the world’s worst refugee crises.
U.N. human rights experts say more than 40 South Sudanese officials and army officers face charges of crimes against humanity for alleged torture, including beheading their victims, burning them alive or gouging their eyes out.
In talking about South Sudan’s leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently said he “had never seen a political elite with so little interest in the well-being of its own people.”
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US Demands Assad, Russia, Iran Be Held to Account for Syrian Atrocities
The United States is demanding the world hold Syria’s government, Russia and Iran responsible for what a top official calls “some of the worst atrocities known to man.”
The statement, by U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster, came Thursday during an event at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington marking the seventh anniversary of the start of the Syrian conflict.
“The Assad regime has killed indiscriminately, tortured, starved, raped and used chemical weapons on its own people,” McMaster said, referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “It has attacked hospitals and schools, and countless Syrians have been arrested, abducted or simply disappeared.”
But McMaster, one of the most senior advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump, also accused Russia and Iran of enabling Assad, and said they, too, must be held accountable.
“All nations must respond more forcibly than simply issuing strong statements,” McMaster said. “Assad should not have impunity from his crimes and neither should his sponsors.”
Political, economic pressures
So far, McMaster and other U.S. officials have emphasized an approach using political and economic pressure, pointing to ramped-up sanctions against both Iran and Russia.
“The president and General McMaster are continuing to work together to put pressure on Russia to do the right thing,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters when asked about McMaster’s comments.
“Again, I think you can see what the administration’s viewpoint is simply by looking at the actions that we took today by placing new sanctions on Russia,” Sanders said.
But while the U.S. has repeatedly criticized Russia, Thursday’s sanctions were not aimed at its support for the Syrian regime.
Instead, the actions were aimed at five entities and 19 individuals accused of interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and for cyberattacks targeting U.S. infrastructure.
There are also questions about how far the Trump administration is willing to go to stop attacks on civilians in Syria, including in eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus that has been bombed repeatedly by Russia and Syria.
“The U.S. seeks to halt Assad’s atrocities and constrain and ultimately reduce the buildup of Iranian proxy forces and Iranian influence in Syria,” said Jennifer Cafarella, with the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. “The means the U.S. is willing to use will not accomplish the stated goals.”
And there are few signs the U.S. is going to change course, at least for now.
“We urge Russia to compel the Assad regime to stop killing innocent Syrians and allow much-needed aid to reach the people of east Ghouta,” chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters Thursday.
“We are going to be consistent in that message and we are going to continue to urge them to do that,” she added.
When pressed on whether the U.S. military would consider taking any action to help ensure the safety of civilians, White said that Syria’s Assad would be “ill-advised to use any gas [chemical weapons].”
U.S. action against Syria
The U.S. has taken action against Assad once before, launching a barrage of 59 cruise missiles at Shayrat airfield, in western Syria, in April 2017. Officials said it was in retaliation for a gruesome sarin gas attack by Assad’s forces that killed about 100 civilians.
But despite more recent reports alleging Assad’s use of chemical weapons and chlorine gas, the U.S. has not acted. Military officials say while they are looking into the reports, they have yet to find conclusive evidence that chemical weapons were used.
There are also no indications that Washington, which has said a political settlement is the only way forward, is willing to use air power or ground forces already in the region to stop the onslaught against civilians, including the most recent bombing campaign in eastern Ghouta, or to forcibly remove Assad from power.
“Our mission in Syria is to defeat ISIS,” said the Pentagon’s White, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group. “It is not our intention to be part of a civil war. … We are pushing toward the Geneva process.”
On Wednesday, the commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command, General Joseph Votel, told lawmakers he would advise against the use of military force.
“I don’t recommend that at this particular point,” Votel said. “Certainly, if there are other things that are considered, you know, we will do what we are told.”
But when asked whether Assad, with the backing of Russia and Iran, had “won” the civil war in Syria, Votel suggested that was the case.
“I do not think that is too strong of a statement,” Votel said.
VOA’s Steve Herman contributed to this report from the White House.
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US Military Aircraft Crashes in Western Iraq, 7 Aboard
A U.S. military helicopter has crashed in western Iraq with seven service members on board, U.S. officials said Thursday.
The officials said that so far there is no indication that the Pave Hawk helicopter was shot down.
The helicopter is used by the Air Force for combat search and rescue, and was in transit from one location to another when it went down Thursday afternoon near the town of Qaim in Anbar Province
Officials said that rescuers were responding to the location, but other details were not yet available. It’s not clear if there were any survivors.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the crash before it was made public.
Coalition outpost
The U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State insurgents in Iraq and Syria have an outpost in Qaim, which is near the Syrian border. The anti-IS campaign accelerated through much of last year, as coalition and Iraq forces battled to take back a string of cities and towns.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over IS in Mosul in July. In the following months Iraqi forces retook a handful of other IS-held towns including Tal Afar in August, Hawija in September and Qaim in October. In November, Iraqi forces retook the last Iraqi town held by IS — Rawah, near the border with Syria.
The U.S.-led coalition has continued to work with Iraq and Syrian Democratic Forces to shore up the border region to make sure that foreign fighters and insurgents can’t move freely across the region.
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Civilians Pay Heavy Price as Fighting Nears Afrin in Northern Syria
Dozens of civilians were killed and injured in northern Syria’s Afrin as the Turkish army and allied militias fight Kurdish YPG fighters near the city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 30,000 civilians have recently fled surrounding villages. Newroz Rasho reports.
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