Month: March 2018

US Refugee Families Pay It Forward

Posted on by SeeAF

Sahar, 11, and her siblings are setting up an apartment in Riverdale, Maryland, that will soon be the new home for a refugee family from Ethiopia.

“I came here to help,” she said. “I am happy.”

Sahar and her family are refugees themselves. They recently came from Afghanistan and live in a nearby apartment that was also fully furnished and ready for them to move in when they arrived a few months ago.

The volunteers say they want to repay the generosity they received when they came to America.

“When I came here, I was confused,” said Sajid Malik. “Today, I feel good by helping here because I have seen a difficult time like this.”

A Maryland-based nonprofit called Kindworks runs the program that helps refugees settle in. 

“We work with resettlement agencies,” said Salma Hasan Ali of Kindworks. “We find out from them which family is arriving when. Then we reach out to our members and ask them for items we need for a home.”

So far, Kindworks has set up 17 apartments for refugees from Afghanistan, Syria and several African countries.

“We are able to harness so much love, interest and care from Americans who know these refugees are coming,” said Alexa Clark Abdelatey of Kindworks. “They want them to feel welcome, which is so meaningful.”

In a few hours, the apartment is ready and waiting for its new residents who will soon arrive to start their new lives.
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Kenyan Conservationists Lament US Lifting Trophy Ban as Tillerson Visits

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Wildlife protection in Kenya has improved dramatically in recent years, thanks to widespread anti-poaching efforts, including some help from the United States. But as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits Kenya, conservationists there say the U.S. lifting a ban on imports of some African animal trophies sends the wrong message.

Tillerson praised Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officials Sunday as he toured a U.S.-supported forensics laboratory just outside of Nairobi National Park.

The laboratory, opened in 2015 with help from USAID and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, performs DNA analysis of illicit wildlife products and weapons used in animal poaching. 

Tillerson told reporters with him on his first trip to Africa that the U.S. considered wildlife conservation vitally important.

“You know Kenya’s really a leader in preventing trafficking in particular, and illegal poaching,” said Tillerson. “This is very interesting in terms of what this lab now allows them to do, and to also track outside Kenya where the trafficking networks are going. That’s really the key is to shut it all down out there as well so people are not going to — just because you get it out of Kenya doesn’t mean you’re safe. And so, extremely important.”

 

Laboratory officials told Tillerson their work led to fifty prosecutions in their first two years of operation.

Much of the poached and smuggled animal parts throughout Africa make their way to Kenya’s port in Mombasa, known as the world’s hub for ivory smuggling. But, Kenya has made fast progress cracking down on domestic poaching.

Elephant poaching for ivory in Kenya has been reduced from a recent high of 103 killed in 2012 to eight killed last year, says Tom Lalampaa with the Northern Rangeland’s Trust, a USAID-supported program.

Lalampaa credits stepped-up community policing, rangers, and mobile response teams for cracking down on poachers.

 

“And then also the legislation, the current wildlife law, is quite strong in terms of penalties-unlike before, which is good,” said Lalampaa. “I think Kenya Wildlife Services has also sort of geared up their efforts, improved their efforts. So, things are working. But, it’s not yet time to celebrate.”

 

Just ahead of Tillerson’s arrival on the continent, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service overturned Obama-era restrictions on imports of some African hunting trophies-including parts of lions and elephants such as ivory.

 

The agency was acting on a court’s ruling on a lawsuit brought by Safari Club International and the National Rifle Association. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in December found the Obama administration did not follow proper procedure when implementing its ban.

The decision lifts a blanket ban on imports of lion and elephant trophies from six African nations-Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Imports of the endangered animal parts will be decided instead on a case-by-case basis.

 

Kenya has banned trophy hunting since 1977 and many conservationists, like Lalampaa, oppose the U.S. decision.

 

“That sends a very wrong signal in this country. Because the communities are working tirelessly to try and stop poaching from the source. To try and ensure that there’s no poaching,” said Lalampaa. “And, then all of a sudden when such a policy announcement is made, it really hurts, it really discourages those communities who are taking care of this wildlife 24 hours a day.”

 

The U.S. move on wildlife imports expands a November decision to lift the ban on elephant trophies from Zambia and Zimbabwe, which U.S. President Donald Trump had indicated he planned to reverse.

Trump at the time tweeted it would be very hard to change his mind that trophy hunting – what he called a “horror show” – in any way helps conservation of elephants or any other animal.

Paula Kahumbu, a Kenyan conservationist with Wildlife Direct, notes the U.S. was instrumental in pushing China to ban the trade in ivory. But the U.S., she says, is sending confusing messages that started when it expanded the ivory trade with Zambia and Zimbabwe.

 

“These two countries are renowned for corruption. They’re renowned for their ivory disappearing from their national stockpiles and ending up in China and Thailand and other countries,” said Kahumbu. “So, that’s one big problem-they’ve created a loophole. But, secondly, the idea that it’s okay to hunt these animals, and that you’re helping those countries through hunting, is an idea that should be questioned rigorously.”

 

Big game trophy hunting advocates argue the high fees they pay – up to $100,000 per safari – directly benefit conservation efforts.

But critics of trophy hunting like Kahumbu say most of that money goes to organizers of the hunts while little reaches the local level.

 
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Macedonia Reinforces Tolerance and Respect for History as it Remembers Holocaust

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Thousands stood in silent respect in the southern Macedonian city of Bitola Sunday to remember the victims of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews during World War II.

Sunday was the 75th anniversary of the deportation of more than 7,100 Macedonian Jews to Nazi death camps in Poland.

“We will never forget the Holocaust. We will not allow for anti-Semitism, hate speech, intolerance, xenophobia or any other phenomena that represent the violation of human rights,” Talat Xhaferi, speaker of the Macedonian parliament, said.

Xhaferi said Macedonia will never allow history to be altered or denied. He pointed to Jewish property stolen by the Nazis and their cohorts were, by law, returned to their rightful owners.

He said the Holocaust memorial in downtown Skopje has a church on one side and a mosque on the other, a sign that all ethnic communities in Macedonia can live free and openly.

“We promote dialogue, tolerance and understanding for the settlement of global, regional and bilateral issues,” Xhaferi said.

German and Israeli visitors also joined Macedonians in a March for Life Sunday.

Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia when the Nazis and their allies occupied the region in 1941.

Backed by Soviet troops, they were driven out by Yugoslav partisans and Bulgarian forces who had been allied with the Germans before switching sides.

All but a handful of Macedonian Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis.
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Sierra Leone Political Parties Look to Likely Run-off

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Sierra Leone’s main opposition party took a slight lead in the country’s presidential race with 75 percent of votes counted. But with outright victory still out of reach, the candidates are now looking to form possible coalitions in the likely event of a runoff election.

The Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) candidate, retired Gen. Julius Maada Bio, holds 43.3 percent of the vote, edging in front of the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) party candidate, former foreign minister Samura Kamara, who garnered 42.6 percent of the ballots counted so far.

 

A candidate needs 55 percent to win in the first round.

Over 3 million people registered to vote in the election, which took place last Wednesday, and is one of the closest in the West African country’s history. Current President Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC must step down after serving two terms.

 

APC ran on a track record of infrastructure development, while SLPP and other opposition parties have promised change. APC has been accused of corruption and mishandling the response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak and a 2017 landslide, which together killed thousands of Sierra Leoneans.

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) said final results will be released before Wednesday but said recounts are underway in 82 polling stations across the country because some vote count forms had been printed without serials numbers. Lack of serial numbers had led to complaints from party agents monitoring the counting.

“For us to provide assurance, we informed all our district offices and regional tally centers that such recounts should be done, and we are starting today. And we are expecting to be finished by midday tomorrow,” Davis said at a press conference Sunday.

Davis said they are also investigating alleged cases of ballot stuffing and overvoting. He attributed overvoting incidents to technical errors in the counting process.

While the vote count wraps up, political parties are starting to look ahead to what looks almost certainly to be a runoff between SLPP’s Bio and APC’s Kamara.

To win a runoff, a candidate needs a simple majority, so both leading candidates will try to pull votes from some of the 14 other candidates who collectively hold 14.1 percent of the counted ballots.

In particular, two of those smaller candidates may emerge as kingmakers.

The National Grand Coalition’s Kandeh Yumkella, a former U.N. official, has won 7 percent of the ballots counted so far. Former Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana of the Coalition for Change (C4C) has taken 3.4 percent.

But both Yumkella and Sam-Sumana have complicated relationships with the bigger parties.

Sam-Sumana, who holds sway in the country’s east, had a bitter falling out with the APC when he was ousted from the party and sacked from the vice presidency in 2015.

Yumkella, meanwhile, was a member of the SLPP, but broke away to form the NGC last year. Yet, Yumkella also is at odds with the APC over the ruling party’s backing of a court case against his candidacy, said Andrew Lavali, executive director of the Sierra Leone-based Institute for Governance Reform.

Lavali said the SLPP may be the more attractive option for the two smaller parties’ supporters.

“Given the history of grievances between Kandeh Yumkella and the ruling APC at the moment, and the history between the ruling party and Sam-Sumana, it is likely that supporters of these two third and fourth parties will come in with the opposition [SLPP],” Lavali told VOA.

SLPP Secretary General Umaru Napoleon Koroma told VOA they are ready to capitalize on discontent with the ruling party, and in the event of a runoff, they will “definitely” strike a coalition with the smaller parties.

“The collective opposition voted against the APC,” he told VOA. “It is clear the people of this country don’t want APC anymore.”

Abu Daramy, a spokesman for the APC, told VOA they are still holding out for a first round win. He said they may reach 55 percent when all irregularities are smoothed out.

But he also said the APC is talking with other parties and would try to form a runoff coalition if that “is the will of the people and the will of the government.”

For now, NGC and C4C have not made any public declarations of their plans. NGC spokesman Julius Spencer said party officials have held internal discussions about joining a coalition during a runoff, but no decision would be made until after all votes are counted.

C4C spokesman Lawrence Coker did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment.
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Trump-Kim Meeting Tantalizes Washington and Beyond

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Washington is abuzz over what could prove to be the biggest diplomatic breakthrough of recent decades: a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, almost no concrete details are known about the encounter, which was announced without warning last week and took much of the world by surprise
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Trump Unleashes New Attacks Against Democrats and News Media

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U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed new attacks Sunday on two of his favorite targets, opposition Democrats and the national news media.

In one of a string of Twitter comments, the U.S. leader contended that Democratic lawmakers were continuing “to obstruct the confirmation of hundreds of good and talented people who are needed to run our government.” He said there is a record number of vacancies in the State Department.

“Ambassadors and many others are being slow walked” in the confirmation process, he said. “Senate must approve NOW!”

However, 13 months into his presidency, Trump has failed to nominate officials to fill key openings, including his ambassador to South Korea, even though he has agreed to meet by May with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the possible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. There has been a wave of retirements among State Department officials, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has left top positions unfilled.

Trump complained about the national news media’s reports on polls showing him with “somewhat low” voter approval ratings, while he said they underplay the Republican-leaning Rasmussen Reports poll showing him “at around 50%.”

“They know they are lying when they say it. Turn off the show — FAKE NEWS!” Trump said.

The Rasmussen tracking survey on Friday actually showed voters disapproving of his White House performance by a 54-44 percent margin, not much better than Real Clear Politics’s national average of polls giving Trump a negative 53.7-40.9 standing.

Trump claimed news reports have failed to report a 5-0 Republican run of victories in special elections for seats in the House of Representatives since he took office, when the actual number is 5-1, and Republicans lost a Senate seat in Alabama to a Democrat for the first time in 25 years.

Trump also attacked a story in the “failing New York Times” about his possible hiring of another attorney to bolster his response to the ongoing criminal investigation of possible collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia to help him defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. He described one of the writers of the story, Maggie Haberman, as “a Hillary flunky (who) knows nothing about me and is not given access.”
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11 Killed in Private Turkish Plane Crashes in Iran

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All 11 people aboard a private Turkish jet died Sunday after the jet crashed into a mountainside and burst into flames during heavy rain in southern Iran, authorities said.

Iran Civil Aviation Organization spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh told state television, “We can confirm that a Turkish private jet, while passing through our airspace, disappeared from the radar and crashed near Shahr-e Kord,” some 370 kilometers south of the capital, Tehran.

Those on board included Turkish heiress Mina Basaran and seven of her friends, all flying back from a party ahead of her planned wedding next month.

The semi-official Fars news agency said the plane took off from the United Arab Emirates on its way to Istanbul.

Sunday’s crash comes after an Iranian ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, crashed in southern Iran, killing all 65 people on board in February.
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Private Turkish Plane Crashes in Iran – State TV

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A private Turkish plane carrying 11 people has crashed in southern Iran, Iranian state television reported Sunday.

Iran Civil Aviation Organization spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh told state television, “We can confirm that a Turkish private jet … while passing through our airspace disappeared from the radar and crashed near Shahr-e Kord.”

The plane had reportedly taken off from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, and burst into flames when it crashed on a mountain.
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US Vows No Concessions to North Korea Ahead of Trump-Kim Talks

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U.S. officials vowed Sunday they would not make any concessions to North Korea ahead of a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and continue to pressure the Pyongyang regime.

“Make no mistake about it, while these negotiations are going on, there will be no concession made,” Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo told “Fox News Sunday.”

Pompeo said the North Korean ruler must “continue to allow us to perform our military-necessary exercises” with South Korea, “and then he’s got to make sure that he leaves on the table that discussion for denuclearization” of his military.

White House spokesman Raj Shah told ABC News, “The president has not adopted some of the failed policies we’ve seen over the last several decades, which is negotiations and concessions out of the gate from the United States. Our policy is pressure. It’s pressure from our partners and allies around the world, pressure from the United Nations, pressure through China.”

He added, “These have impacted Kim Jong Un’s behavior. It’s impacted his conduct. So we’re hoping that this pressure campaign, which is not going to relent in the coming months, is changing North Korea’s behavior.”

Shah said Trump “inherited a policy that wasn’t working for the previous eight years” during the administration of former President Barack Obama. In contrast, Shah said Trump had “adopted a policy of maximum pressure on the North Korean regime. We’ve seen China dramatically reduce trade with North Korea” and the United Nations adopt “some of the toughest sanctions” against Pyongyang.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told NBC News, “There’s no question these sanctions are working and that’s what brought them to the table.”

Shah said that in advance of the Trump-Kim talks, North Korea has agreed to cease missile and nuclear testing and “to not object publicly to upcoming U.S.-South Korea military exercises.”

Shah gave no hint about where the Trump-Kim meeting might be held. He did not rule out holding the meeting at the White House or in Pyongyang, but said, “I don’t think it’s highly likely” to be in the North Korean capital. He underscored the White House’s view of the importance of direct talks with a North Korean leader, something no previous U.S. president has undertaken.

“We think that Kim Jong Un is the only partner in North Korea that has any authority to make any decision,” the spokesman said. “He’s the only voice.

“We hope that  there can be a breakthrough,” Shah said. “Eventually a peaceful resolution is going to involve some level of negotiation. We hope this is the path forward.”

Shah offered no commitment that Trump would raise the issue with Kim of releasing three Americans currently held by North Korea.

“I’m not going to place any condition on any upcoming talks,” he said. “It is an important issue, but again, our policy is maximum pressure to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.”

Trump, at a political rally in Pennsylvania Saturday night, said of the negotiations, “I may leave fast or we may sit down and make the greatest deal for the world.”

He took credit for the success of the Winter Olympics that South Korea recently hosted, saying without his effort to reduce the threat of a nuclear attack, it “would have been a total failure.”

The president quipped: “A little hard to sell tickets when you think you’re going to be nuked.”

In the past, Trump has derided the possibility of direct talks with North Korea, in October telling Secretary of State Rex Tillerson he was “wasting his time” considering the possibility of negotiations.

But on Saturday Trump noted the historical significance of him accepting the North Korean leader’s offer to meet.

 

“Well, they say, well, [former President Barack] Obama could have done that. Trust me, he wouldn’t have done it. By the way, neither would [former President George W.] Bush or [former President Bill] Clinton,” Trump said. “Anybody could have done it. Obama could have done it. Obama had his chance.”

Departing the White House for the Pennsylvania rally, Trump replied to reporters who asked about why he decided at this juncture to accept Kim’s offer, “I think this is going to be something very successful. We have a lot of support.”

But skeptics remain about Trump’s agreement for a face-to-face meeting with Kim.

Asked what Trump could accomplish by being nice to Kim, Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told CNN on Sunday, “Not a whole lot.”

A Democratic opponent of Trump, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, said on NBC, “I want to see our president succeed, because if he succeeds, America succeeds. The world is safer. But I am very worried that they’re going to take advantage of him.”

 

 

 

 

 

 
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UK Health Officials: Public Risk ‘Low’ After Poisoning of Former Russian Spy

Posted on by SeeEU

British health officials said Sunday that traces of a nerve agent used in the suspected attempted murder of a Russian spy in Britain were found in a pub and restaurant he visited, but that the risk to public health remains low.

Health officials said those who visited the Mill pub and Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury, southwest England on March 4 and March 5 should take “simple” precautions, including washing their clothes.

“While there is no immediate health risk to anyone who may have been in either of these locations, it is possible, but unlikely, that any of the substance which has come into contact with clothing or belongings could still be present in minute amounts and therefore contaminate your skin. Over time, repeated skin contact with contaminated items may pose a small risk to health,” a statement released by Public Health England read.

Hospital officials in Salisbury said there is no evidence of a wider attack on the town, aside from three people who have been hospitalized since the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, both of whom are hospitalized in critical condition.

Police have not publicly talked about the nerve agent that poisoned Skripal or who might have been responsible. But suspicions are pointing to Russia.

 

British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said Britain is being “pushed around” by the Kremlin.

Prime Minister Theresa May has promised an “appropriate” response if it is discovered that Russia is responsible for poisoning Skripal, but has urged caution.

 

Russian officials deny the Kremlin had anything to do with the assassination attempt.

 

Skripal served in Russia’s military intelligence agency, GRU, and was exchanged in a spy swap in 2010 on the runway at Vienna’s airport.

 

After serving four years imprisoned in Russia for spying for Britain’s espionage service, MI6, Skripal was one of four Russian double agents exchanged for 10 Russians expelled from the United States.
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Women Arrested for Asking Biya to Negotiate a Peaceful Transition

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Cameroon police have freed 40 of the more than 100 women arrested while trying to ask President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 36-years, to negotiate a peaceful political transition and solve the crisis caused by separatists groups demanding the independence of the English speaking from the French speaking regions of the central African state.

National coordinator of the opposition Cameroon Peoples Party (CPP) and former presidential aspirant, Edith Kahbang Walla, said she led the women in the protest march Thursday to commemorate Women’s Day.

She said Cameroon women could not celebrate the day against the backdrop of human rights abuses and conflicts that have left of hundreds civilians, separatists fighters, and soldiers dead in the English speaking regions of the central African state. She said Cameroon has been sailing from one crisis to another because of President Paul Biya’s poor leadership.

“As mothers of the nation, we feel it is our responsibility to stand up and to take the necessary steps to bring back harmony and peace. How do we facilitate a non-violent political transition for Cameroon. So this is a tremendous moment for the fight for respect of human rights, democracy, political transition in Cameroon.”

Edith, who is popularly known in Cameroon as Kah Walla, said some of the protesters were unlawfully arrested, tortured psychologically by Biyas police, and detained in the capital Yaounde for several hours.

“The women were amazing through out. They were feareless, they were determined, they were kept for about six hours … without any charge and without any apologies nor explainations from the government of Cameroon.” said Edith.

During the protest, the women demanded a meeting with Biya to discuss the failure of his government to provide basic services and facilities like water and electricity to a majority of the Cameroon population, despite the country’s natural and financial resources.

Hundreds of supporters of the women, including 31-year old Yaounde based teacher Rene Ahanda marched to the police charge office when the women were arrested to ask for their release. Ahanda said he does not understand why the women were arrested.

He said he totally supports Kah Walla for exercising her democratic rights and her freedom to express herself. He said Kah Walla is a big and educated political figure who understands her rights and assumes responsibility for what she does.

Since November 2016, Biya has been battling with the unrest in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions regions that started with teachers and lawyers, frustrated with having to work in French, took to the streets calling for reforms and greater autonomy. It degenerated with separatists’ calls for independence.

Last October secessionist groups declared the independence of an area in southwest Cameroon they call Ambazonia, declaring Ayuk Tabe Julius who was in exile in Nigeria as their president. Armed conflicts erupted prompting a crackdown of the military.

Biya has ruled Cameroon since November 1982. His party supporters have ben calling on him to run for president again in elections expected by September this year.
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Tunisian Women March for Equal Inheritance Rights

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Tunisian women have demonstrated to demand equal inheritance rights, amid national debate over the issue that has reverberated around the Muslim world.

Under a heavy police presence, they marched to parliament Saturday in Tunis to demand a law guaranteeing equal inheritance for daughters and sons.

The current system based on Islamic Shariah law generally grants daughters only half the inheritance given to sons.

The marchers insisted that Tunisian society has evolved and can remain devoutly Muslim while modernizing its laws. The protest was linked to recent events around the world for International Women’s Day.

Two women held a counter-protest, saying such a law threatens society.

Tunisia’s president prompted widespread anger when he proposed changes to inheritance laws last year. A special commission studying new rules will present conclusions in June.
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US Warns Syria Against Gas Attacks

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis warned Syria it would be “very unwise” to use gas as a weapon in its bombardment of rebel strongholds in eastern Ghouta.

Mattis said Sunday that “right now” the United States is “getting reports” that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are using chlorine gas in their three-week advance against the rebels outside the capital, Damascus, that has left nearly 1,000 dead, including 200 children.

The U.S. defense chief acknowledged to reporters traveling with him on a trip to Oman that, “I don’t have evidence that I can show you” about gas attacks, but said he was aware of “an awful lot of reports about chlorine gas use or about symptoms that could be resulting from chlorine gas.”

Mattis said Syrian troops are “at best, indiscriminately” attacking and “at worst, targeting hospitals. I don’t know which it is, whether they’re incompetent or whether they’re committing illegal acts, or both.” Syria has rejected claims that it is using poison gas in its ongoing attacks on eastern Ghouta, which are occurring during the U.N. Security Council demand for a 30-day cease-fire.

The defense chief said, “I just want to reiterate that it would be very unwise for them to use weaponized gas, and I think President Trump made that very clear early in his administration.”

President Donald Trump last April ordered a missile strike against a Syrian airbase at Shayrat after the United States said it had used the facility to launch a sarin nerve gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun.

Rebel fighters in eastern Ghouta have vowed not to surrender to the Syrian advance, but government forces, backed by Russian troops, have inflicted heavy damage and split the rebel-held areas into three parts.

 

 

 
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Fighting, Displacement Cause Hunger to Soar in DRC

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The United Nations says hunger is soaring in the Democratic Republic of Congo mainly because of fighting and widespread displacement in Kasai and Tanganyika in Central and Eastern DRC. 

The United Nations reports 7.7 million people in DRC, mainly in rural areas are suffering from acute hunger. This is a 30 percent increase since 2016 and the situation on the ground does not auger well for the future.

Conditions are particularly grim in the Kasai region. Spokeswoman for the World Food Program, Bettina Luescher tells VOA 3.2 million people there — or one in four — are suffering from severe food shortages.

“Malnourished children at risk of dying are 300,000 — at risk of dying. Just think of that — 300,000 little kids. We have 762,000 people that are still displaced,” she said.

The most worrying aspect, says Luescher is that the DRC has fallen off the international agenda and aid agencies are not receiving the money they need to provide life-saving assistance. She says WFP is so severely underfunded it was forced to cut food rations in half for beneficiaries in Kasai in November.

“The hard thing is how people are affected. People sometimes have fled into the bush,” she said. “People have died there because there was just no aid coming. So, I think it is a really, really tough one.”

The United Nations has appealed for $168 billion to provide humanitarian assistance for 10.5 million people in DRC this year. The response, so far, has been tepid.

In hopes of stimulating greater support, the U.N. plans to hold a large international donor’s pledging conflict in Geneva in mid-April.

 

 
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Britain’s Ruling Conservatives Under Pressure to Return Russian Donations

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British Prime Minister Theresa May is under pressure to return millions of dollars given by Russian oligarchs and their lobbyists to her ruling Conservative party. One of the biggest donors is the wife of a former Russian deputy finance minister, once nicknamed “Putin’s banker.”

When May took office 18 months ago she promised that Britain’s Conservatives would “sup with a long spoon” and distance themselves from Russian donors, but electoral commission records analyzed by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper show Russian-linked donations have continued.

Contributions have also been given to the Conservatives by British lobbyists and PR firms working for Russian oligarchs and even the Kremlin. New Century Media, a PR agency contracted by the Russian government to manage a marketing campaign in Britain to present a “positive image” of Russia, has donated more than $200,000 to Britain’s ruling party.

Opposition lawmakers called Sunday for the Conservatives to return the donations, arguing they raise doubts about the government’s determination to retaliate for what the country’s intelligence agencies believe was a Kremlin-approved attempt on March 4 to kill on British soil Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer who spied for the British, and his 33-year-old daughter.

British officials suspect the nerve agent used — likely either modified Sarin or VX — was developed near Moscow at the Yasenevo laboratory run by Russia’s intelligence service the FSB. Russian officials have dismissed the claims of FSB or Kremlin involvement in the assassination bid that has left father and daughter critically ill. They say the allegations are wild and hysterical, part of a Western campaign to demonize Russia.

The donations to the Conservatives “call into question how seriously Theresa May will be willing to challenge Russia’s conduct when her party is literally being bankrolled by some close allies of the Kremlin,” said Nia Griffith, the opposition Labour Party’s defense spokesperson.

In a statement, Britain’s Conservatives said, “All donations are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission.”

The most generous Russian donors to the Tories include Lubov Chernukhin, wife of former Putin finance minister, Vladimir Chernukhin, who has given more than $600,000 to the Conservatives since 2010. She bid successfully at a party fundraising auction to play tennis with former Prime Minister David Cameron and Britain’s foreign secretary, Boris Johnson. Her bid was $200,000.

Conservative officials say that Chernukhin, now a British citizen, is not a “Putin crony”, arguing her husband fell out with Russian leader Vladimir Putin after being dismissed from his job running a state-owned bank.

On Monday, Britain’s National Security Council is due to meet to discuss the latest findings of the Skripal investigation and to consider what retaliatory measures to take against Russia.

Party insiders say Johnson and Defense Minister Gavin Williamson are expected to demand tough retaliation. Both privately have expressed frustration with Theresa May’s order to ministers not to rush judgment and to avoid pre-judging the investigation’s conclusions.

They will join Home Secretary Amber Rudd in calling for the introduction of a new law to target Russian officials. They want a British version of America’s so-called “Magnitsky Act,” a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 2012 that targets Russians deemed by Washington to be complicit in human rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings and torture. Specific sanctions would include visa bans and asset freezes.

Retaliation by Britain would almost certainly trigger a response by the Kremlin, say officials. When the U.S. Congress passed the Magnitsky Act, Russia banned American couples from adopting Russian children.

In an interview Saturday with VOA, Bill Browder, the American-born financier who was instrumental in persuading Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act, said he expected a major Russian-funded lobbying effort in Britain to try to persuade the British government not to retaliate. “You can bet that anyone who is making money off Russia is doing their best to keep things calm here in Britain and to stop a reaction,” he said.

Browder, who ran one of the most successful investment funds in Russia before his expulsion in 2005 when his business was expropriated, lobbied hard for U.S. sanctions to be introduced after his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was arrested and died in Russian custody.

He worries the British will be limp in response to the attempted assassination, pointing out the cautious May has opposed past retaliation against Russia because of the risk of disruption to British business.

Browder says he has no doubt the Russian government was behind the assassination attempt on Skripal, dismissing suggestions it may have been a rogue operation. “No one would have the guts to go rogue. These operations are approved and planned by the Kremlin,” he says.

Britain does have a way of deterring the Kremlin, he argues. “Britain has gigantic leverage. All the Russians, members of Putin’s regime, come to London. They buy expensive property, they open bank accounts here, they send their kids to private schools, and so the easiest thing to do is seize their properties and ban their travel and that of their family members. That will immediately cause them never to do this again.”

 
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Tillerson Resumes Normal Schedule in Kenya

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has resumed his normal schedule in Kenya Sunday after canceling events the day before because he was “not feeling well.”

Tillerson laid a wreath at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi Sunday at a ceremony to honor those killed and injured in a bombing there 20 years ago.

“As all of you well know, in 1998, terrorists thought they could demoralize and destroy the Kenyan and American people by attacking the U.S. embassy here in Nairobi. Of course they were wrong. Nearly 20 years later, we meet here to honor those who we lost and those who were injured,” Tillerson told an audience including survivors of the attack.

Among the survivors present was Joash Okindo, who continues to work at the U.S. Embassy after having both of his legs broken in the blast. Okindo, who wore a medal of bravery to the ceremony, was a guard at the embassy the day of the attack.

 

“When it’s cold, that’s when I feel pain,” he said.

Tillerson had cancelled events to seek respite from what has been an extraordinarily busy schedule, according to the State Department.

“The secretary is not feeling well after a long couple days working on major issues back home such as North Korea and has cancelled his events for the day,” said  Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein.

Tillerson added a meeting Sunday with Kenyan Foreign Minister Monica Juma, as he was only able to speak with her during a brief pull-aside on Friday.

After meeting Friday in Nairobi with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Tillerson hailed the political reconciliation between Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga as “a positive step toward healing Kenya’s ethnic and political divisions,” the State Department said in a statement.

Kenyatta and Odinga met for the first time since last summer’s contentious presidential elections to start what they called a joint push for national unity.

Tillerson underscored at the meeting with Kenyatta “strong U.S. support for democratic institutions” — including the media — and voiced concern over “restrictions to political space.”

The Kenyan government shut down three television channels in January on the day that Odinga took a symbolic presidential oath in a mock inauguration. The government defied a court order to allow the stations, which had planned to live-stream the oath, to resume broadcasts.

U.S. Institute of Peace senior adviser Johnnie Carson said in an interview with VOA a free and independent media instills public confidence.

“It is time for the parties to move forward, but it is the government’s responsibility to act responsibly in defense of the rule of law, in defense of the judiciary, in the defense of free speech and defense of protection of the media,” Carson said.

Other topics of discussion during Tillerson’s meeting with Kenyatta were defeating terrorism in neighboring Somalia, political unrest in South Sudan and strengthening U.S.-Kenyan business relations.

Tillerson said the U.S. will seek to work with African nations, providing them with incentives to improve governance and meet their long-term security and development goals. He is on a five-nation trip to Africa that began earlier this week.

He arrived in Nairobi Friday from Djibouti. Tillerson kicked off his trip with a visit to Ethiopia on Wednesday, where he met with the country’s prime minister and the African Union Commission chief. 

 

 
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Most Stores Shut in Poland As Sunday Trade Ban Takes Effect

Posted on by SeeEU

A new Polish law banning almost all trade on Sundays has taken effect, with large supermarkets and most other retailers closed for the first time since liberal shopping laws were introduced in the 1990s after communism’s collapse.

The change is stirring up a range of emotions in a country where many feel workers are exploited under the liberal regulations of the past years and want workers to have a day of rest. But many Poles experience consumer freedom as one of the most tangible benefits of the free market era and resent the new limit.

 

In Hungary, another ex-communist country, a ban on Sunday trade imposed in 2015 was so unpopular that authorities repealed it the next year. But elsewhere in Europe, including Germany and Austria, people have long been accustomed to the day of commercial rest and appreciate the push it gives them to escape the compulsion to shop for quality time with family and friends.

The law was introduced by a leading trade union, Solidarity, which has argued that employees should have the chance to rest and spend time with their families. It found the support of the conservative and pro-Catholic ruling party, Law and Justice, whose lawmakers passed the legislation. The influential Catholic church, to which more than 90 percent of Poles belong, has also welcomed the change.

Among the Poles who see it as a good step toward returning a frazzled and overworked society to a more a more traditional lifestyle is 76-year-old Barbara Olszewska, who did some last-minute shopping Saturday evening in Warsaw.

She recalled growing up in the Polish countryside with a mother who was a full-time homemaker and a father who never worked on Sundays.

 

“A family should be together on Sundays,” Olszewska said after buying some food at a local Biedronka, a large discount supermarket chain.

 

Olszewska said that before she retired she sold cold cuts in a grocery store, and was grateful that she never had to work Sundays.

The new law at first bans trade two Sundays per month, but steps it up to three Sundays in 2019 and finally all Sundays in 2020, except for seven exceptions before the Easter and Christmas holidays.

Pro-business opposition parties view the change as an attack on commercial freedom and warn that it will lead to a loss of jobs, and in particular hurt students who only have time to work to fund their studies on the weekends.

Poles are among the hardest-working citizens in the European Union and some Poles complain that Sundays are sometimes the only days they have free time to shop. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, only the Greeks put in longer working hours than Poles in the 28-member European Union. According to OECD statistics, the average Polish employee worked 1,928 hours in 2016.

 

Another last-minute shopper on Saturday evening, Daniel Wycech, 26, saw more drawbacks than benefits.

“It’s not really a problem to do more shopping a day ahead of time, but if something breaks in my kitchen or bathroom on a Sunday, there will be no way to go to the store and fix it,” said Wycech, an accountant loaded down with bottled water, bananas and other groceries.

 

“I am angry because this law wasn’t prepared properly. It would have been much better to force store employers to make two Sundays per month free for each worker,” Wycech added.

There are some exceptions to the ban. For instance, gas stations, cafes, ice cream parlors, pharmacies and some other businesses are allowed to keep operating Sundays. Stores at airports and train stations will also be allowed to be open, as will small mom-and-pop shops, but only on the condition that only the owners themselves work.

 

Anyone infringing the new rules faces a fine of up to 100,000 zlotys ($29,500), while repeat offenders may face a prison sentence.

Mateusz Kica, a 29-year-old tram driver in Warsaw, did his weekly shopping early Saturday to avoid the huge crowds he expected later in the day. He complained that the new law only relieves shop employees, but that workers like himself will still have to keep working weekends.

“This law isn’t really just,” Kica said.
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India, France Call for Affordable Solar Technology to Address Climate Change

Posted on by SeeEU

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged over $850 million for solar projects in emerging economies, as both India and France called for affordable solar technology for emerging nations at the first conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) held in New Delhi.

 

The alliance was co-founded by both countries two years ago on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit to boost the use of solar power, countering the impact of climate change.

 

Dozens of country leaders, including many from Africa, attended the meeting in the Indian capital and emphasized the need for access to solar technology and concessional financing to address massive energy shortages in many of their sun-drenched nations.

 

Promising more loans and donations for solar projects by 2022, Macron stressed the need to remove obstacles in scaling up clean energy.

“We only have one planet, and we are sharing it,” he said.

 

Pointing to African women called “solar mamas” who are trained in India to use solar technology to light up homes and villages, Macron said they had continued their mission, even after “some countries decided just to leave the floor and leave the Paris agreement” — apparently alluding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the Paris climate accord.

 

“Because they decided it was good for them, for their children, their grandchildren. They decided to act and keep acting, and that’s why we are here, in order to act very concretely,” Macron said amid applause.

 

One hundred and twenty-one countries, situated between the tropics, have signed on to the ISA. Backed by the World Bank and other multilateral agencies, it aims to raise $1 trillion for projects by 2030 for a massive deployment of solar energy.

 

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who is chairman of the African Union, pointed out that half the members of the ISA are African countries.

“The sunniest countries in the world should not lack for energy,” he said. “The fact that they do is an unacceptable irony.”

 

The solar alliance initiative is seen as a bid by India to be at the forefront of countries addressing the challenge of climate change — a departure from its stand some years ago that developed economies should cut their emissions more drastically, rather than pressure developing countries.  

 

After the U.S. walked out of the Paris accord, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to abide by it. India, which is the world’s third largest polluter, is ramping up solar energy rapidly in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint. The country plans to source at least 40 percent of its energy from renewables by 2030.

 

“If you want all of humanity to benefit, then I am confident that we all will come together and think like one family, so that we are able to bring unity in our objectives and efforts,” said Modi, advocating a solar revolution worldwide.

United Nations environment chief Erik Solheim, who attended the meeting in New Delhi, called the ISA a “milestone” in the fight against climate change and pollution.

 

 

 

 

 
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French Far-Right Party Definitively Severs Ties With Founder

Posted on by SeeEU

France’s far-right National Front party has definitively severed its ties to firebrand founder Jean-Marie Le Pen as it tries to revive its fortunes.

 

The party also re-elected his daughter, Marine Le Pen, to a new term as president at party congress where she was its only candidate for the post. A new 100-member governing council was also named.

 

The party tweeted Sunday that more than 79 percent of members who participated in a vote approved new party statutes that included abolishing Jean-Marie Le Pen’s position of party president for life.

 

The party expelled him in 2015 over anti-Semitic remarks but he kept the honorary position. Sunday’s vote is a crushing blow for the 89-year-old, who founded the party in 1972 and was runner-up in the 2002 French presidential election.

 

 
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Trump Touts Tariffs at Rally for Embattled Pennsylvania Republican

Posted on by SeeUS

President Donald Trump said Saturday that his controversial tariffs would bring back the U.S. steel industry, as he campaigned in Pennsylvania steel country for a Republican congressional candidate in a tight race.

Trump’s appearance was aimed at helping Republican Rick Saccone in a district Trump won overwhelmingly in 2016 as part of a narrow win in Pennsylvania.

Trump spent a lot of time talking about his own fortunes in a “Make America Great Again” rally for Saccone in an airport hangar at the Pittsburgh International Airport.

Economic boost forecast

A day after getting news that the U.S. economy produced 313,000 jobs last month, Trump said his policies were paying off. He said 25 percent tariffs on steel imports would help boost Pennsylvania’s economy.

Critics say the tariffs could trigger retaliatory trade measures and damage the U.S. economy. There are also doubts about how far Trump’s policies will go toward resuscitating the battered American steel industry.

“Your steel is coming back. It’s all coming back,” Trump told several thousand cheering supporters.

Trump vowed to fight any retaliatory trade measures by, for example, slapping taxes on imported European cars.

Trump also said he hoped to run against Oprah Winfrey, although the entertainer has ruled out a run despite pressure on her to seek the presidency.

“I’d love to beat Oprah. I know her weakness,” said Trump, without giving details.

Saccone is trying to win an election Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s 18th District to replace Republican Tim Murphy, who resigned last fall while enmeshed in a sex scandal.

Close race

Saccone is competing against Democrat Conor Lamb, and polls show a close race. Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway campaigned for Saccone on Thursday at a Lincoln Day dinner in Allegheny County.

A Saccone loss would be a blow to Trump, the first loss by Republicans of a seat in the House of Representatives since he took office in January 2017.

The results will not affect Republican control of the chamber.

The race could signal how much help Trump can provide Republican congressional candidates trying to keep control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm elections next November.

Typically the party that controls the White House loses seats in the U.S. Congress in the first election after a new president takes office. But Trump hopes a strong economy and tax cuts he pushed through Congress in December will help him beat the odds. 
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StoryCorps: The Last Viewing

Posted on by SeeUS

A father who lost his son in Iraq is comforted by a chance meeting in Washington with the nurse who cared for the soldier in his last moments, and after.
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Former Confederate Statue Site in Maryland Rededicated to Harriet Tubman 

Posted on by SeeUS

A space at a Baltimore park that had long honored two Confederate generals has been rededicated to abolitionist Harriet Tubman. 

 

The Baltimore Sun reported that hundreds of people gathered Saturday for the ceremony at Wyman Park Dell. The ceremony took place just feet from the now-empty pedestal where a large statue of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson once stood. 

The statue was removed in August after a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, reignited the national debate over what to do with symbols of the Confederacy.

Saturday was the 105th anniversary of Tubman’s death. The space was renamed Harriet Tubman Grove.

Tubman was born a slave on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke called Tubman a “heroine and beacon for all ages.”
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US Narrows Travel Alert for Mexico’s Playa del Carmen

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico has narrowed its travel warning for the Caribbean resort city of Playa del Carmen amid what it calls an unspecified “ongoing security threat” just as the spring holiday season is kicking into high gear.

In a notice posted Friday on its website, the embassy also said the U.S. Consular Agency in the city would reopen and resume normal operations Monday after a shutdown of several days — “absent additional changes in the security situation.”

The revised restrictions say U.S. government employees must avoid five neighborhoods in and around a downtown tourist zone filled with hotels, restaurants, shops and bars. 

Blanket ban ended

But they lifted a blanket ban issued this week for the city that had covered several all-inclusive resorts. The embassy said employee travel was now permitted “to resort areas in Riviera Maya including those near Playa del Carmen that are outside the restricted neighborhoods.”

After the first travel alert Wednesday, Mexican officials came out to defend public safety in Playa del Carmen, apparently concerned about a possible hit to tourism in one of the country’s most traveled regions.

The Quintana Roo state government noted that President Enrique Pena Nieto and dignitaries from around the globe were convening there for the World Ocean Summit on March 7-9, saying tourist activity was normal in the city with hotel occupancy at 80 percent.

Parts of Mexico’s Caribbean coast, which also includes the resorts of Cancun and Tulum, have been hit by drug violence, albeit infrequently, and the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel has been moving into Quintana Roo.

But the exact nature of the new threat was not clear, and the embassy said it was separate from incidents involving ferries on the route between Playa del Carmen and the nearby island of Cozumel.

Ferry blast

A February 21 explosion on a ferry injured 26 people, including several American citizens. What appeared to be explosives were later found attached to the underside of another vessel operated by the same company, Barcos Caribe.

Both incidents are under investigation. 

The U.S. Embassy said government workers were still prohibited from taking ferries between Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, and it recommended that U.S. citizens avoid them as well.

Mexico’s National Security Commission said Saturday that 60 federal police officers and four sniffer dogs trained to detect weapons, explosives and narcotics had been deployed to bolster security at the maritime terminals of Playa del Carmen and Cozumel.

It said in a statement that they would be tasked with searching and watching over ferries and guarding cargo zones, waiting areas and docks.
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Gunman’s Victims Had Devoted Lives to Veterans

Posted on by SeeUS

Three women, including one who was pregnant, who had devoted their lives to helping traumatized veterans were killed by a patient who had been kicked out of their Northern California treatment program, authorities and a relative of a victim said.

A daylong siege at The Pathway Home ended Friday evening with the discovery of four bodies, including that of the gunman. He was identified as Albert Wong, 36, a former Army rifleman who served in Afghanistan in 2011-12.

Investigators were still trying to determine when and why Wong killed two executives and a psychologist at The Pathway Home, a nonprofit post-traumatic stress disorder program at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville in the Napa Valley wine country region.

It was “far too early to say if they were chosen at random” because investigators had not yet determined a motive, California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Chris Childs said.

Governor Jerry Brown ordered flags flown at half-staff at the Capitol in memory of the victims. They were identified as The Pathway Home executive director Christine Loeber, 48; clinical director Jennifer Golick, 42; and Jennifer Gonzales, 29, a clinical psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System who was seven months pregnant.

Salute to victims

“The three women that were lost yesterday dedicated their lives to helping our veterans. They lived their lives selflessly to serve others,” Yountville Mayor John Dunbar, who is also a board member of The Pathway Home, said Saturday. “We also lost one of our heroes who clearly had demons that resulted in the terrible tragedy that we all experienced here.”

Loeber, who had taken over The Pathway Home 18 months ago, was known by all as dedicated and caring.

“She would sleep in her office more often than not because she had to be there to fill a shift. That’s the kind of personal dedication she showed all of us,” Dunbar said.

Family friend Tom Turner said Loeber would be helping others understand and deal with the tragedy if she were still alive.

“She’d have a better perspective than I would,” he said. “And she wouldn’t be as angry I am.”

Marjorie Morrison, the founder of a nonprofit organization known as PsychArmor, recalled Gonzales as a “brilliant” talent who did amazing work with veterans with PTSD.

“This was, like, her work and her passion,” she said.

Gonzales was supposed to travel to Washington, D.C., this weekend to celebrate her wedding anniversary, family friend Vasiti Ritova said.

Golick’s father-in-law, Mike Golick, said in an interview she had recently expelled Wong from the program.

The Pathway Home is located on the sprawling campus of the veterans center, the largest veterans home in the nation, which cares for about 1,000 elderly and disabled vets.

Slipped into a party

Wong went to the campus about 53 miles (85 kilometers) north of San Francisco on Friday morning, slipping into a going-away party for some employees of The Pathway Home.

Larry Kamer told The Associated Press that his wife, Devereaux Smith, called him to say that the gunman had entered the room quietly, letting some people leave while taking others hostage.

Golick called her husband, Mark, to say that she had been taken hostage by the former soldier, her father-in-law said.

Mark Golick didn’t hear from her again.

A Napa Valley sheriff’s deputy exchanged gunshots with the hostage-taker about 10:30 a.m., but after that, nothing was heard from Wong or his hostages despite daylong efforts to contact him, authorities said.

Sandra Woodford, an Army veteran who was working across the street at the crafts center, heard the gunfire from her vantage about 150 feet away.

Inside The Pathway Home facility, “we heard this racket, this rapid live fire of rounds going on, at least 12,” she said.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom,” she said. “There was that initial fire burst. Then, not a peep.”

Army veteran and resident Bob Sloan, 73, was working at the home’s TV station when a co-worker came in and said he had heard four gunshots coming from The Pathway Home. Sloan sent alerts for residents to stay put.

President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday morning: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic situation in Yountville and mourn the loss of three incredible women who cared for our Veterans.”

The bodies of Wong and the women were found about 6 p.m. While authorities had the building under siege for about eight hours, they didn’t enter it.

‘What’s your magic here?’

Yvette Bennett, a wound-care supply worker who supplies the veterans center, was turned back when she tried to deliver what she called urgently needed medical supplies for two patients inside.

Of all the medical institutions she has worked with, “this is the most placid, calm, serene place,” she said.

Earlier this week, when she last visited, she asked a doctor, “What’s your magic here?”

“And then 48 hours later, this happens,” Bennett said.
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